"Let's go, Jane" Johnny ushered her after he loaded their backpacks in the taxi.
Janette looked one last time into the woods, the sun just barely visible at the distance. They were lucky to find a flight and a ride to the airport in a short amount of time, right now the only thing she felt like doing was sleeping and trying to forget the crippling pain that had set in her heart after leaving Markus behind.
Both settle in the back seats, Johnny glances at her side, worried in his face by the lack of light in her eyes. His young sister, his best friend and partner in crime was hardly a shadow even as the sun illuminated her.
"We should get going," He tells the driver.
➽──────────────❥
"Oh. Here he comes." A shrunken head said "Count Crock-ula, I'm just glad my eyes are stitched shut, 'cause I don't even want to..."
Dracula didn't ever bother to acknowledge it as he opened the door to his son's bedroom.
"Markus, honey, are you in there? Markus? Markus? Markus, where are you? Markus?"
The room was silent, no one was there. Dracula got worried and started looking around the place, when he found nothing there he transformed into a bat to circle the castle to try and find Markus, he calmed down when he saw his figure sitting on the roof of the hotel.
He detransform a few steps behind Markus, moving carefully until he was beside him. Markus remains seated, his face hidden.
"Dad, can you do me a favor?" He turned to his father.
"Yes, yes, of course, darling." Dracula noded "Anything."
"Will you erase my mind?"
"No, no, no, no." Dracula was horrified by the request "No, I won't do that. There's too much I want you to remember."
"You were right, Dad. Humans hate us."
"Sweetheart, there are so many eligible monsters out there. You're so young to..." He noticed something in Markus' hands "What is it? What are you reading?"
Markus passed his birthday gift to his father, a book he found lying on his bed that his father had left for him before the party fiasco. It was from his mother.
Two lonely bats crashed in the night.
They felt a Zing. Love at first sight.
They knew right then they would be husband and wife.
For a Zing only happens once in your life.
Your Zing will come, my love.
Cherish it.
Love, Mommy.
"I thought we Zinged, Dad." Markus murmured, pulling Dracula out of his thoughts and causing him to gasp.
"You and Janette?"
"I guess it was only me." He got up "But you should be happy, Dad. There's no reason for me to leave, I have no more dreams. I'm just like you now." And he walked away, head down.
"Martha, what have I done?"
In the lobby there was a mess as all the guests wanted to check out, having to raise their voice and make their way to the desk as the zombies in turn tried to attend to them.
"Where is my bill? Over here. I'm next.
"I'm checking out."
"Take my key! Take my key!"
"What is this minibar charge? Honey, the kids threw the minibar out the window."
"And that's our fault? Well..."
"Excuse me! Pardon, yeah."
"Excuse me, I got a couple of people to express mail." Murray moved to the front, two big carton boxes being placed on the desk.
"Friends, please, stop." Dracula flies to the front desk.
"It's too late, rat-bat!"
"Please, I'm begging you. I need you to help me find Janette."
"The human? They could've killed us!"
"He touched my guitar!"
"He put his hand in my mouth to see if it would disappear."
"They let me eat his SCOOTER!"
"I know I lied, I was wrong. But you have to believe this: Janette and Johnny weren't bad kids. The truth is, I don't even know if humans are bad anymore." He looked at one of the boxes "Frank, come on, buddy, you understand."
"He's not talking to you. First you tell us humans are bad, now they're good. What else? Up is down, cold is hot, gremlins don't smell." Eunice complaint.
"Hey!"
"I really liked Johnny and Janette, related or not. They told fun stories and were fun to hang out with."
Dracula debated for a moment before revealing the news. "I think they Zinged."
"They Zinged?"
Frank popped out the box and Eunice followed suit.
"But I got in the way."
"You only Zing once in your life." Frank started tearing.
"Oy, now you're short-circuiting."
"I don't care!"
"Well, what are we doing?" Griffin said "Let's get them. Come on! Yeah, let's do it! Come on! Yeah!" Frank, Murray, Dracula and Wayne followed him into a carriage that was parked outside "Okay, okay, where am I going?"
"The human world, before they are gone forever."
"But what about the sun?" Dracula's friends looked at the sun, concerned.
"I don't know, I'll just have to roll."
"He just rolls. Rollability."
"So we follow their boot-prints. When they run out, that's where you come in, Wayne."
"Me? There!"
"Yes, I knew something would fall out of that backpack. Yowch! That stinks! Work your magic." Dracula Thames out the smelly sock of Johnny.
"Wait, you want me to track the smell? No, my sniffing tracking days are way behind me. Do you know how many diapers I've changed? How many number twos have destroyed this thing? But..." He whistles.
It takes a moment in which everyone else only stares at Wayne questioning what he just did, but soon they are watching as all his children fight one another.
"Hey! Take it easy! Watch it! Sit. Smell." He puts the sock forward but gets ignored "I said the smell. Not me, the shirt! The shirt!"
"Do any of your kids still respect you?" Dracula wonders.
"Mm, give me a second." He thinks and smiles "Oh, yeah. Winnie! Front and center!"
The kids stop fighting as a young wolf girl moves through the crowd and to her father. As soon as she reaches her destination, her brothers continue their play.
"They got into a car. A '86 Fiat. It needs a little transmission work, but otherwise okay. It drove through town to the airport. Flight 497. 8:00 a.m. departure."
"That's in 15 minutes."
"Seat 23A and B. He ordered the vegetarian meal."
"Okay, thank you, cutie."
"Now, all of you, go back to your mother!"
➽──────────────❥
"You want to talk about it?" Johnny looked at his sister with increased worry, she had puffy eyes and seemed too pale.
"No" She whispered.
"Well by tomorrow we shall be back home so hopefully we can go to the park? Or go cycling? You always have fun laughing at me"
"I just want to sleep"
Johnny doesn't say anything else, they just remain silent waiting for the signal for them to board and they walk to enter the plane.
"Hey, you think you can change the seat? I'd like to sit by the window" Janette asks him as they walk down the aisle.
"Sure"
Janette is leaning on the window, taking the last sight she would have of Romania before returning home. It's a really sunny day, surprisingly.
When the plane is already on the air, Janette decides to lay down a little the window and put on her earphones to listen to music, and smiles a bit when she sees the guy in front of her watching Sundown.
Now that she has met vampires and werewolves, the movie has a new extra layer of hilarious to the whole premise.
Johnny is scrolling through his phone when a noise catches his attention, coming from Janette's side but she hasn't moved at all so he waits a moment to try and hear it again.
Thump.
"Hey," He nudges Janette, asking her to take her earphones off "do you hear that?"
"What?" She waits and also hears the knock at her side.
It's coming from the window.
"You heard that too?" Both asked at the same time.
When Janette pulls up the curtain they are heated by the image of a bat holding to the window from the outside, there's smoke coming from him.
"Drac?" Johnny wonders as he and Janette stare eye wide open.