"Where could he have taken him to?" Janette murmured under her breath as her eyes scan the hall.
"Hey, I've been wanting to ask you..."
Janette glanced at Markus' side for a moment, before nodding and continuing walking.
"What were you and Johnny doing at the cemetery outside the castle grounds?"
She stops and turns to look at him directly, eyes wide open and lips parted.
"Why?" She nervously laughs "We were just wondering around"
"Then why did Jonathan think I was my father?" He got closer "He seemed pretty scare by the idea"
"Well, you know Johnny" she answered "He sometimes messes around and then has to confront the consequences"
"What did he do?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because you were leaving without saying goodbye" His voice was low enough to make Janette wonder if she had heard correctly.
"I wouldn't do that, though I must admit I'm not good with goodbyes, I prefer see you later"
Markus stopped and looked at her without saying a word for a moment, his eyes filled with emotions that took Janette breath away.
"Then don't say goodbye"
She felt her heart falter. "For now"
She walked past him and to the elevators, without looking back to see if Markus was following her.
Or never. He thought, before following her.
When they got to the lobby they managed to find Dracula, though he was alone.
"Why are you still up? The sun is out. It could kill you, my honey guts."
"I couldn't sleep." Markus tried to leave the part where the reason for his insomnia was the pretty girl at his side. His father didn't need to know that, neither did the girl.
"Do you know where Johnny went?" Janette looked around, as if her brother would appear trying to scare them as he had done when they were children.
"I don't know." He won't tell anything with Markus present, even if her brother was on the verge of being served dinner.
"Maybe we should continue looking for him somewhere else?" Markus turned to Janette.
"Where?" With her low voice and the watering of her eyes, something in Markus demanded him to move and hug the girl, regardless of the presence of his father beside him.
"Whoa!" Dracula moved closer "When did this happen?" He separated and grabbed Markus by his shoulders, speaking low to not be heard.
"Oh! Uh..." Markus' blush was enough to put Dracula near a heart stroke, though there was no way it would ever affect an undead.
"Do you like her?" He asked urgently.
"What?" Markus' voice calmed some octaves higher before he cleared his throat "Pfft! No! Come on, Dad. She's so weird and awkward. It's like, are you an idiot, or do you know you're adorable?" He stared lovingly behind him at the girl looking at them.
"Eh... Hold that." An armor got close and Dracula moved to his side, leaving both young adults together, not that he was thrilled about it. "Do you have a location on Quasimodo?"
"Yes, sir. They're heading through the lobby, towards the kitchen."
"I need them stopped immediately. Is that clear?"
"Yes, quite. We are on it."
"Look, honey, there's no falling in love at your age."
Markus narrowed his eyes at him, crossing his arms.
"Mom was my age. Eunice says Mom kissed you first 'cause you were too scared to make the first move."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." Dracula awkwardly laughs "Forget about me and Mom and kissing."
"Dad, at some point, I'm going to get married. I can't be here forever."
"What?" Dracula's voice caused people to stop and look at them for a moment "Why not? You're barely out of your training fangs."
"Dad!"
"But why all the sudden interest? Every time we used to talk about love, it was always, "Ooh, Dad, that's gross," and "Ooh, Dad, I don't want to know about that."
"I don't know."
The armor appeared at their side again.
"Sir, he made it into the kitchen."
"He what? What do I pay you for?" He screamed "I'm sorry, honey. I have to go." And then he left.
"He doesn't pay me." The armor turned to Markus who remained unmoving not knowing what to do.
"Hey," Janette approached. "Hi, not to cut your talk but where did your father go?"
"He went to the kitchens, miss" The armor answered.
"Where are the kitchens?"
"Down the stairs..." Before he could finish Janette was sprinting at the place he had pointed.
"Wait, Janette, should I go with you?" Markus screamed.
"You should rest!"
When Janette finally arrived at the kitchens after wandering through many rooms -seriously, this place needed signs- she heard the distinct voices of Dracula and Johnny.
"The mouse? Pfft! Without a doubt."
"Okay. Here we go" And just as she appeared through the door she found the most bizarre things she had seen coming from Johny. Him trying to scare a rat "Blargh! Bleegh! Blargy-bliggy-blargh!"
The rat squeaked and scared Johnny, the dude dressed as a chef stared at her and then back to her brother.
"A human! A human!" The man started to scream and jump all around the kitchen "Monsieur Dracula has brought a human into the..." He gets frozen by Drac.
"Uhm, what happened?" Janette asked in the room.
"Hey, thanks for saving me back there. That guy's crazy! Trying to eat me." They begin walking up to the lobby "That's only happened to me one other time. This weird dude at a Slipknot concert."
"Why does this always happen to you?"
Dracula sight, turning to look at Johnny before narrowing his eyes at Janette. "There's something I need to show you."
They walked to the top of the castle, passing door after door as the dim light of the torches was overshadowed by the moonlight filter through the big windows.
Dracula opens a door and lets them enter the room, the place has no light at all, the small warmth that the torch gave wasn't enough to scare the chill feeling that crawled to Janette skin.
There was something melancholic haunting the place and when Janette saw the coffin she shivered.
"Wow. Hey, are we at a funeral right now?" Johnny moved to examinate the coffin "Oh, wait, no, it's your bed. So creepy and cool."
Dracula didn't even spare a glance to Johnny as he moved closer to a big portrait that was half covered by a red fabric.
"Wow! I know her! I've seen that picture at the ruins of Lubov."
"That's my favorite castle." Janette smiled and moved closer to the painting "There's a whole legend around that lady."
"A legend?" Dracula's voice was low, he was hidden in the dark only looking at them over his shoulder as his body never moved from it's place in front of the paint.
"The Lady Lubov." Janette began the story that she knew from memory "The story is that a lonely count met her by chance, and they say that no two souls were ever more meant for each other. Eventually, they settled down at Castle Lubov and had a child. But then, a horrible tragedy happened. A fire started mysteriously one night, and it killed both of them. When I was at the castle, I could still feel their powerful love. They say it's as if a soul is still trapped in the ruins themselves."
"The legend is wrong. It was only the wife that died." He pulls the curtain.
"Oh." Johnny and Janette are dawn with realization.
"And it was no mystery who killed her." He turns to look at them, his eyes red with fury and sadness "She was killed by your kind!"
"Drac"
"They are the real monsters." He walked to the big window at the side of the portrait, looking at the distance "I built this place for my love, to protect her child. As a father, you do everything to keep your family safe, even if you have to break their trust." He sighs and gets close to Janette, smiling tired "But now, Markus has feelings for you."
"What? I just..." She felt her heart beat rapidly as a blush spread through her cheeks. How often does one get confirmation of their crush's love by their parents? Hopefully not often, it's a little bit too embarrassing.
"It's all right, you are a good one. If the world was different, maybe it would be possible."
"Drac, this is the 21st century." Johnny said " People aren't the same as they were back then."
"Can you tell me for certain that if we came out in the open, everyone would accept us? Everyone?"
"No." Both men looked at her but Janette's eyes were glued to the floor "You're right. I'll go for good this time, you can just say I had some emergency, or the gremlin lady ate me or something.
"No, no, no, no, no." He shook his head "I don't want to ruin his birthday party, you can sneak out after it's all done."
"I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted was to hurt him or you."
"You know, you guys are not the smoothest Frankenstein, but you'd make a great vampire."
Johnny perked at this, his mood lightning instantly.
"For real? 'Cause I think I kind of got your hypno-eyes down."
"Oh, boy, here we go." Dracula rolled his eyes playfully "Let me see it."
"Beware! For you are in my power. I command you to be the werewolf man!"
Dracula howls. "I have too many kids. Someone scratched me, I have fleas."
"'Cause he's a wolf, he'd get those."
"Johnny, it's no longer funny when you explain the joke."
"Yeah, no, don't explain it."
♡✩°｡⋆🕷- - - - -☽───⛧ ༺♰༻ ⛧───☾ - - - -🕷⋆｡°✩♡
ᴬᵗᵗ: ᴿᵉᵈQᵘᵉᵉⁿ-¹🌸