Count Dracula's P.O.V

Vampires did not eat garlic. Vampires did not go out in public and drain the blood from an entire town. And, perhaps most importantly, vampires did not spend a lot of time in direct sunlight.

I hadn't ever broken that first rule since I had been an overly curious child. The second one I had not touched in centuries, but the third...the third one I'd had to break, knowingly, several times in my long, immortal life; when the situation was serious, sometimes the burning sun light was unimportant. And I didn't know of anything more important in my life than my daughter's happiness. If anything was worth risking immortality for, it was my Mavis. Although I couldn't say I'd ever chased an aeroplane in broad daylight before; I guess there really was a first time for everything even when you were immortal.

The force of the air rushing past me as I clung onto the window was enough to peel the hairs from my small bat body, and my wings flapped uselessly while my claws dug further into the metal.

"Quit your whining. I'm burning up out here!" I yelled, whilst still maintaining my control of the pilot. I tried to sound good-natured even though it felt as though I was quite literally dying a slow and painful death.

Because I was so old I had a lot more tolerance to the light than my young and vulnerable daughter did, but even I would not be recovering from this little outing in a heartbeat. I couldn't remember in all my years, feeling anything so psychically painful as too much sunlight; and then Mavis wondered why I didn't want her going into the outside world. But in truth, even though I was in agony right now I was also relieved; I had found Jonathan and he was coming back to Mavis with me, meaning she would no longer be unhappy.

After the plane landed and I flew us back to the hotel, the beating of Jonathan's heart seemed to get louder and louder and louder with each passing second. I kept to the shadows as much as I could, but shadows in daylight were never very dark. I knew it would've been smarter to wait until sundown, but Mavis was unhappy now, and it would only get worse. As a father I was duty bound to get to her as soon as I could.

"Hey, Drac...you okay?" Jonathan asked me.

"...Fine..." I managed to croak.

"Only...you don't look so good...y'know...the smoke an' all..."

"I'm fine," I repeated, with, I hope, more confidence than last time.

"Right..." he nodded, "We can stop...if you want..."

"No," I growled and I looked up, away from the pale skin - only a thin barrier protecting the blood which was calling to me. I had only been wounded severely a handful of times before, and each time it happened, human blood always developed a greater attraction than it had when I was not injured.

It was because of desperation; I had lived so long because I wanted to, I allowed the thing which made me Vampire to take over when I was close to death, but I couldn't let it loose now. If I did, Jonathan would die and Mavis would hate me and it would all have been for nothing. I would set monsters back by centuries if I killed a human, especially if I did so out of hunger. It would prove that we really were the monsters in life and we would be hunted with even more ferocity than I remembered.

But after meeting this human, and after seeing that 'Monster Festival', I honestly didn't know what to believe about their kind anymore. Were they the monsters that killed my beloved Martha or was there something else? Not all monsters were good, so perhaps not all humans were bad. It was very confusing and not something I had the energy to contemplate at the moment.

Even flying as fast as I could it was a good while before I finally saw the turrets of the hotel and I quickly located Mavis' window, then I closed my eyes and flew slight toward it.

Third person perspective

The Count crashed through Mavis' bedroom window in a blur of black fabric and grey smoke. Fortunately the thick smoke acted as a curtain against the sun light streaming into the room and the old vampire was able to lie there without burning up even further, for now.,

"Dad?" the younger vampire asked, confused. She stood quickly and began to waft away the smoke with her hands as she moved through the room cautiously. Her father, was slumped in the shadows in the corner of the room, with smouldering holes burnt into his suit and cape revealing charred and reddened skin. "Dad!" Mavis cried.

"Oh man, Dracula!" a concerned voice breathed, and Mavis jumped.

"You! What're you doing here?" she demanded.

"Looking for you," Jonathan replied, then he looked back at Dracula. "He's...not doin' too good...is he?"

"Dad," Mavis knelt down beside Dracula and gasped. She'd never seen her father look so...defeated. She'd heard stories about how terrifying he had been, but never had she heard one about him being beaten.

"Mavis..." the Count said, "I am...sorry..."

"W...what? What're you..."

"I know how it feels...to lose your Zing...I am sorry," he groaned and turned his face away from the light which was creeping through the smoke. He hissed and winced as the rays of light got more and more intense.

"But...dad, he's not my...he...he hates monsters," Mavis frowned.

"No..." the Count shook his head, and then looked to Jonathan.

"See...long story short...I only said that 'cause...well, I was afraid your dad would've drained all my blood if I didn't..." he shrugged nervously and Mavis sighed lightly but she smiled at him a second later.

By now, almost all of the thick smoke was gone and so the sunlight had free reign in the room, and the Count backed further away from the window. He focused all his power on transforming himself into a bat or even into smoke so he could escape the light room and retreat into the shadows - the nice safe shadows, but as soon as he felt his power working, he felt drained and he failed.

"Johnny, get the shutters," Mavis told her Zing and he nodded as he shot up and raced over to the window.

The second he bolted the old, thick shutters closed, the Count tried once again to change his form and, as purple smoke, he slipped under the door and out into the corridor. He couldn't stand to stay in Mavis' room any longer; all he could ear was the 'thump-thump, thump-thump' of Jonathan's heart beat and it was deafening.

He raced down the long corridor as fast as he could but it was difficult to keep his form as a bat because his vision was blurry and his body felt heavy as lead. The Count shifted into and out of his bat form as he moved slowly down the corridor, flying up when he could and then landing back onto the floor.

"Argh..." Dracula grunted quietly as he fell from the air for what felt like the thousandth time. He lifted himself to lean against the wall and held his aching head with one pale hand. Everything in his line of sight was shifting from the usual warm colours of brown and gold to the tantalising colour of blood.

Mavis and Jonathan watched from the doorway of her room, holding back out of fear as the Undead King's eyes shone red and his fangs protruded more prominently than ever from his lips.

"What's wrong with him?" Johnny asked, immediately drawing the vampire's attention.

"No...Jonathan...get away!" the Count yelled.

"Holy rabies..." Mavis jumped. She'd never seen a vampire look so rabid, but like everything else, her father had told her stories about how feral vampire could get when they were hurt - and her Zing just so happened to be walking, talking 5 litre vampire meal. "I'm sorry, Johnny, but you gotta get back, go to the lobby, I'll take my dad to his room," she said quickly and he reluctantly nodded.

Mavis watched as Johnny ran back down to the left and then round a corner out of sight, them she flew over to her father who was down the opposite end of the corridor. "He's gone, dad," she told him sadly, "...You shouldn't have done this."

"...Had to," Dracula replied slowly.

"You could've killed yourself," Mavis worried, but her father only sighed at her as she began to help him up from the ground. "You...are gonna be okay...right?"

"Of course, sweetfang," he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt, but he broke off into a fit of painful sounding coughs.

"Dad!" Mavis yelled.

"I'm...I am alright..."

"You really shouldn't have done this..." she said, her eyes watery.

"Oh, Mavey-wavey, don't cry," Dracula breathed, looking across at his daughter.

"'M'kay, dad," she nodded and sniffed. "Come on," she then spoke with more confidence, "Lets get you back to your room."

"Yes, mom," her dad mocked and she giggled slightly and placed her father's right arm over her shoulders, then they began to make slow progress down the corridor.

Johnny walked slowly with his hands in his pockets and his head down; he was almost to the lobby and the hotel was in silence. He felt utterly and completely useless; because he had left, Dracula had risked burning up in the sun to find him and now he was...dying. He didn't know what to do, if he should do anything at all.

Since he's first seen Dracula there'd been a handful of times when he'd actually been scared of the vampire, and seeing his eyes burn red and his fangs glint in the torch light not too long ago, was definitely one to add to the list.

A minute later, Johnny was standing at the top of the lobby stairs hiding amongst the drapery and he heard a loud engine pull to a stop just outside the spotless revolving door. Then Wayne, Frank, Murray and Griffin (aka the pair floating glasses) ran into the room, and Wanda and Eunice rushed in from an adjoining room on the ground floor.

"So, how'd it go? Did you find him?" Eunice asked quickly.

"Where's Drac? Is he back?" Griffin demanded of one of the zombie staff, at the same time as Eunice spoke.

"Urgh...mhh..." the zombie shrugged uselessly.

"Hey, guys," Johnny spoke quietly and stepped out so they'd see him.

"Johnny!" Frank cried, "He found you!"

"Yeah," the human nodded sadly, "He found me."

"What? What's wrong?" Wanda asked.

"It's...it's Drac..."

"Drac? What's wrong with him? Where is he?" Murray panicked.

"He's in his room I think...but he's..."

"He's what?" Frankenstein asked.

"I think it was all the sun..."

"Sun? But...I thought we sorted that," Griffin frowned, but of course no one saw him do so.

"Well...he chased after my plane...and then he flew me back here...and there wasn't really much shade so..." Johnny stuttered, "Does the sun really kill vampires? 'Cause he didn't look that bad earlier...I mean...he was smoking but I..."

"Oh man," Murray sighed deeply, "...He have really eyes...really big fangs...he looked pretty creepy...more than normal?" he questioned.

"Yeah...how'd you..." Johnny nodded as the group of monsters looked at each other with concern. "What's it mean? What's wrong with..."

"He's hungry," Wayne said quickly, "...For more than just blood substitute."

"Oh...oh...duh..." Johnny sighed, watching as they walked up the stairs to stand with him. "And it's all my fault..." he muttered.

"No, sweetie, it isn't," Wanda said kindly, putting an arm round his shoulders.

"Yeah...he knew the risk," Griffin stuttered.

"We did warn him about the sun," Murray said.

"Wait a minute, did you say he chased after a plane?" Wayne snapped his head across to stare at Johnny.

"Um...yeah..." the human shrugged and the werewolf shook his head incredulously.

"Huh," Griffin hummed into the silence which now fell across the room.

"...Well..." Frank began after a minute of looking at the others who'd said nothing, "I'm gonna go check in on him," he said.

"But he's..." Johnny stuttered.

"Not dangerous to us," Murray spoke over him, "Frank and me, we don't have any blood."

"Oh...right...I mean...of course you don't..."

"And he's never been interested in werewolf blood," Wayne added.

"...And he can't even see mine," Griffin chuckled and Johnny sighed.

"Right," he nodded, "Go...say 'hey' for me...I guess."

"Look...kid," Wayne said, "Don't beat yourself up about this, okay...Drac knew what'd happen...and he's the one who lied about everything."

"I know, but...I went along with it...'cause...he told me...he told me 'bout how his wife died, and...and I thought something bad'd happen if I stuck around, so..." Johnny said sadly and the others shared a look of old sadness.

"Yeah...he's never really been the same since," Wanda sighed.

"Don't let him hear you say that," Wayne rolled his eyes, "Are we gonna go find him or what?"

"You go, we'll stay here," Wanda said looking at Eunice and then at the distracted looking Johnny.

"No, you guys go, I'll just stay here..." the young human said quickly.

"In the lobby?" Griffin scoffed, "No, no, no, not in this hotel."

"Y'know, that sounded almost like Drac," Wayne smirked.

"Funny," the invisible man replied, "But I'm sure Drac would say he'd rather you stayed in a proper room rather than the lobby."

"Mm-hm, he's right," Wanda nodded.

"I don't really feel like..." Johnny sighed.

"Well, tough, 'cause that's what you're getting," Eunice began, "Now, me and Wanda can get that sorted than we can leave you be, okay?"

"...Yeah...yeah, okay..."

"Good," Wanda smiled as Frank and the other three left to find their friend.

It didn't take long for her and Eunice to get the silent and now strangely reticent Johnny settled into one of the hundreds of rooms in the hotel, and then they set off reluctantly for Count Dracula's rooms.

Minutes later when they pushed open the heavy wooden door that lead into the darkest room in the whole hotel they could hear Mavis talking loudly and there were flashes of purple light as the Count tried over and over to maintain his bat form for some reason.

"Wayne?" Wanda spoke quietly as she walked with ease through the dark.

Dracula flew over his black coffin and the dusty vases as a bat but he struggled to stay airborne, purple smoke was circling him, threatening to change his form at any moment. His deep red eyes seemed unfocused and his sporadic actions were startling.

"Hey, Drac, maybe you shouldn't be..." Frank trailed off.

"...He's still here..." the vampire thought aloud.

"Who?" Wayne asked.

"The human...Jonathan...I can smell him."

"Dad..." Mavis began but her fathers' subsequent loud growl was enough to make them all cover their ears in shock.

It didn't last long though and then wounded bat flapped his wings sporadically, making his way across the room towards the door. "Dad, no!" Mavis yelled and flew quickly to block his path.

"Mavis!" Dracula hissed and changed back. He stood towering over his daughter, even wounded he was still intimidating, perhaps even more so than normal, but Mavis had never been scared of him.

"What's wrong with you? Why won't you drink this?" she asked, holding a bottle of blood substitute.

"Mavis...no..." he sighed, rubbing his temples.

"But it's right here...please...it'll help you..."

"...It's not enough!" the older vampire groaned.

"...But...you always said it's no different..." Mavis frowned, confused.

"I lied...I didn't want you to know...I didn't want you to have to see me...like this."

"...W...what did you mean...'it's not enough'..." Mavis asked slowly.

"Mavey..." Dracula sighed and winced as he rubbed a particularly bad burn on his right forearm. His clothes remained torn and singed and his pale skin was still charred as well.

"No, dad, no more lies...please," she begged and he turned and walked not the room to sit leaning against his coffin. Mavis followed him and sat beside him on the cold stone steps.

"Didn't you ever wonder why I never let you feed from human blood?" he asked her suddenly.

"Yeah...I guess, but you always said..."

"It's fatty, yes, yes," he waved a dismissive hand, "But it's addictive...like you and your scream cheese," he said with a smile, and she laughed slightly. "I haven't touched human blood for centuries...but substitutes were not always around."

"I remember those days," Murray shuddered.

"I would rather not," Dracula said sadly looking down at the painful burns covering his body. "Ah...this is all my own fault," he muttered, his fangs still protruding more than was normal.

"Thanks for bringing Johnny back, dad," Mavis smiled honestly.

"...You look like your mother when you smile," Dracula said to her, reaching out a shaky, sunburned hand to brush her black hair from her face.

"I..." Mavis began, but her father spoke over her.

"And speaking of Johnny," he continued, "I think he could use some company."

"But, dad, you..."

"Will be fine after I rest," Dracula said sternly, and he finally took the bottle she still held in her hands, "...And eat," he added.

"But you were..."

"I am fine, Mavey, I have been sunburned before, trust me."

"Well...I..."

"All I need is rest, you might as well go and work things through with him than watch an old vampire sleep in the dark," her father said.

"...If you're sure you're..."

"Yes, yes, I am sure," he smiled, "Go, sweetfang, I am not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Okay, dad, but I'll be back soon," Mavis nodded with some reluctance. She gently gave her father a hug, mindful of his burns and she walked slowly from the room. With one last backward glance she sighed and closed the door behind her.

"Nice acting, you almost had me going for a second there," Wayne scowled as soon as the door closed.

"Good, good," Dracula muttered and fell sideways onto the floor, unable to even prop himself up against the coffin anymore. "Ah...no more sunlight..." he hissed and he tried weakly to remove the cap from the bottle of substitute blood but he didn't even have the strength to do that.

A second later the bottle floated out of his hands and the cap removed itself, curtesy of the Invisible Man, "Here, buddy," Griffin said.

"Thank you," the vampire sighed as his friend put the bottle into his hand and he drank from it.

"So...what're you gonna do?" Frank

"Do?"

"About Mavis and...Johnny...they'll wanna go and see the world, won't they?" Eunice shrugged.

"Yes," Dracula sighed deeply.

"And...will you let her?"

"...Yes," he repeated. "I can't keep her here forever; she needs to live her life."

"And what about you?" Wayne asked.

"What about me?" Dracula glowered, "I lived a long time before Mavis was born and I was fine; I will be fine for a long time after she leaves," he added, draining the last of the blood and tossing the empty bottle aside. It wasn't nearly enough to heal him completely, but it was enough to start the process.

"No you won't," Wanda said sadly and the vampire turned to look at her with loneliness in his red eyes. He slowly pushed himself up off the floor with a degree of his old strength and he then tried to scowl at them all.

"I...w...what are you all doing here? Can't you see I am trying to sleep?!" he growled and pried open the lid on his coffin. "Ach!" Dracula then cursed as his sharp movement pulled at his wounds.

"Look, Drac," Wayne said, walking over to his friend, "It's not like she'll go away forever; she'll come back. You know she loves you," he said.

"The world is a big place," Dracula sighed, "Too big to see in just one lifetime."

"But Mavis has more than one lifetime," Griffin replied, confused.

"Exactly," the vampire nodded sadly, "Exactly," he repeated and they sighed. Dracula then carefully climbed into his coffin and then closed his eyes, "Now, please, let me sleep," he said gently, and with a swish of his pale fingers, the coffin lid lowered itself without a sound.

The six other monsters shared a look of defeat before they turned from the room and walked out into the corridor, leaving Dracula alone in the darkness. "Martha..." he breathed into the silence, "What will I do?" he asked, but of course he got no answer.

Long after the sun had set that night Dracula pushed up the lid on his coffin and he sat looking up at the large portrait on the wall. He knew what his beloved wife would say; she'd say that he was being an overly clingy father and he had been keeping Mavis locked up for too long. But it had all been done for the right reasons, even if all humans had changed now - a hundred years ago they had killed Martha, he had a right to want to hide his child from them for as long as possible. However, that child was now growing up and he couldn't keep her locked up forever, no matter what the reasons were.

He lost track of how many hours he had sat there alone with his thoughts, but before long he could hear two sets of hesitant footsteps approaching his room, and then a quiet knock sounded on his door.

"Yes?" he spoke up.

"Dad?" Mavis spoke as she leaned into the room, "...Johnny wants to talk to you...but if you're..."

"I'm fine," Dracula replied, turning to look at her, "Let him in."

"Are you sure?"

"Mavey," he sighed.

"...Okay," she nodded, and turned back to Johnny who stood behind her in the corridor. Mavis let him walk past her into the dark room and then she flew away.

"Hey, Drac," Johnny said as he walked across to the coffin. "You erm...you look...better..." he stuttered while stopping nervously a few feet away from the coffin.

"I assume you talked things through with Mavis," the vampire said, once he was sure that his daughter was gone from the corridor.

"Yeah..." Johnny answered nervously, "...You're not gonna suck all my blood...are you?!"

"What, after all the trouble I went through to get you back here? No," Dracula chuckled.

"Oh, good," the young human let out a relieved sigh, "Not that I thought you would if anything, it's just..." he stuttered.

"I meant what I said; my love was taken from me, I cannot do that to Mavis," Dracula mourned.

"...She wants to go to Hawaii," Johnny said suddenly after a minutes' silence.

"I know."

"...And...you're...you're cool with that?"

"No," Dracula stared at him, "But I won't stop her; she's growing up, she doesn't need me now."

"We'll...it's not like we'll just go and never come back, I mean, I love it here and so does Mavis..."

"But she has been here for so long she is bored, it is everything out there she will love."

"Maybe...there's lots of cool places, but this is her home, right? You always go home no matter where else you go," Johnny consoled.

"And when was the last time you went 'home'?"

"Oh, me...erm...well..." Johnny shrugged nervously, "Well that's different..."

"Of course it is," Dracula smiled sadly. "I never meant to ruin her birthday," the vampire sighed, "I will speak to her about this later...and I will let her go."

"Really?"

"Really," Dracula nodded once and then he flew out of his coffin. He didn't feel completely healed, but he could move easier and he could control his blood lust now; of course he could still hear the beating of Johnny's heart, but it wasn't calling so loudly to him anymore. "I told you before that a father will risk breaking his family's trust to keep them safe, but sometimes they have to make sacrifices as well."

"Drac..."

"I don't want to hear it," the vampire interrupted, "But you must promise me one thing."

"...What?"

"Don't ever tell her how hard it is for me to let her go."

"...W...won't she know?" Johnny asked curiously.

"Probably, but she'll be so excited it won't cross her mind until after you've both gone," Dracula shrugged.

"And...what'll you do...y'know...when...if we leave?" the young human asked the vampire.

"Who knows," the vampire sighed simply and for a split second he met the dark eyes of his wife in his precious portrait. "Now come, I wish to speak to Mavis," he began, turning to Jonathan with a smile, he walked over to the thick dusty curtains and pulled out a pink back back with the hotel insignia on it. "Her birthday present," he said as an explanation, and then he walked from the room with Johnny following him.

Dracula found his daughter sitting in the library with his friends and as soon as he walked into the room, all eyes turned to stare at him, and Jonathan stood awkwardly by his side.

"Dad..." Mavis began to say, but Dracula held up his hand and she stopped.

"Mavis...Mommy already gave you her birthday present...but...with everything that happened, I never got to give you mine," Dracula said to her. Then, from out of nowhere, he held up the back pack and Mavis stared at it in confusion.

"What's this for?" she asked as the older vampire handed the pack to Johnny.

"For seeing new things," Dracula answered, as though it was obvious.

"...What d'you..."

"I had my paradise...you need to make your own," he explained sincerely.

"...I'm not gonna stay away forever," she said slowly, easily sensing her dad's fears.

"I know," Dracula gave a small, rueful smile, "But you take as long as you need."

"Thanks, dad," Mavis cried, flying over and throwing her arms around her fathers' broad shoulders, she buried her face into his soft cape.

"Anything for you, my child," Dracula replied, wrapping his arms round her small form as though to keep her safe, because he knew it would be a while before he would see her again after she left.

- Cue Celebration End Scene -