Werewolves @ MindSay

The Monster Ball

Sarah Wolf walked out of the castle, towards the Transylvanian village behind it. Normally her father wouldn't let her out of the castle in the middle of the afternoon but, she was tired of not having a costume for All Hallow's Eve. Dracula, her father, always stressed the importance of not letting the humans catch you and stick a bloody stake through you. She knew that. That's why she chose this small village behind her father's Castle. She pointed this out to him and she was finally able to convince him to let her find a Halloween costume. Skipping along the dusty trail, she finally reached the village. She was a short vampire, was at least 816 years old, had long dark black hair and had big green eyes like her mother.

The Monster Ball was what Sarah looked forward to every year. It was held in her father's villa in Budapest. This year, however, she will be allowed to stay up past midnight, instead of retiring to hunt. She had been looking forward to that as well. Every year for most of her life, Dracula refused to let her stay up past midnight. After nagging from not only her but her mother, she finally convinced him to let her stay past midnight. Tonight was going to be cool. This Halloween was on a full moon.

As she walked along the cobblestone street she finally looked up and found the costume shop that her mother often went to, ran to it and opened the door to walk in. It was a rustic little shop. Judging by the structure, it had to have been made in the Renaissance period. To the left were men's costumes and to the right were women's costumes. The cash register was right in the center of the shop with a middle aged woman behind the counter, knitting. The bell on the door rang, when Sarah opened it and the woman looked up from her knitting and smiled through her glasses. Judging by her appearance, Sarah guessed her to be mid to late 60s. She had her graying hair braided and was pinned on top of her head in the fashion of the Germans. Her face was wrinkled in a smile and her blue eyes had the look of profound wisdom in them. Sarah took a liking to her immediately.

"What can I help you with?" The kind old lady asked in German.

"My mother, Anastasia, recommended this store to help me find a costume," Sarah replied in the same language. She was glad that her father insisted upon her learning different languages. The lady smiled again, got up from her chair, set her knitting down and started walking towards the women's section of the store, gesturing for her to follow, which Sarah did. The lady pulled a couple of costumes off the rack and handed them to her.

"Here, dear, try these on in the room over there," she said pointing to a door right next to the register. Sarah smiled and went into through the door and closed it. After she turned on the light, she noticed that it was a bathroom. A dingy toilet stood in front of her with an old sink next to it. By the looks of it, it hadn't been in use for years. The chain above the toilet that flushed it was rusted, covered with cobwebs and half of it was in the toilet, which was also dirty and full of cobwebs. She peered into the toilet and noticed that it was dry and had a huge wolf spider in the middle. Her castle was full of spiders and bats, so she didn't mind in the least that she was sharing a fitting room with one. The brown spider proceeded to open it's eyes and looked up at her with a sleepy annoyance.

"Do you mind? You are disturbing my nap," the spider snapped. Sarah's brown eyes widened. She was not used to spiders talking to her.

"Sorry, I'm trying on these costumes for the Monster Ball on Halloween," she said setting the clothes on the sink, after checking to make sure that nothing was in that. By this time the spider crawled out of his place in the toilet and sat on top of the toilet, watching her put on the piratess costume.

"Really, I didn't know that Halloween was so soon," the spider said. Sarah looked at her reflection in the mirror that hung over the sink. She kind of liked the Pirate costume, but wanted to try on the two others that the kind lady picked out for her.

"Halloween is in about a week," Sarah explained, pulling off the costume, picked up the witch's costume, unzipped it and stepped into it. Seeing that she was having difficulty with the costume, the spider climbed up his web and landed on the sink, zipping up her dress with ease. She felt the spider tickle her back as he climbed off and scurried back up to the toilet so he could chat with her again. She was the first civilized person that he had talked to in years. The lady who owned the store was civil enough but kept trying to kill him instead of chat with him. That was something that he hoped the girl would understand.

"Do you realize, that you are the first civilized person that I've talked to in years?" He asked her, unzipping her dress for her. He had given up staying on the toilet and had sat in the sink. Sarah shook her head.

"You mean the woman at the register doesn't talk to you?" She asked. The spider shook his head.

"She seems more interested in killing me than even pausing to chat with me," he explained. Sarah understood that.

"I know what you mean; I'm a vampire and humans are too afraid to realize that I'm perfectly harmless; they think I'm going to suck their blood out," she replied. The spider's eyes widened. He never met a vampire before, but found them fascinating and told her so. At this she smiled.

"My name's Sarah, what's yours?" She asked.

"My name's Henry," he replied. She had finally decided to go as a Renaissance witch and noticed that the outfit was surprisingly accurate for it's time-period. Henry and Sarah had decided that since, he didn't really have anything keeping him there in the bathroom, that he would journey back with her to the castle. She was glad; she always wanted a pet spider. However, Henry made it quite clear that he did NOT want to be treated like a pet. Walking out of the bathroom, with Henry in her purse, Sarah told the lady that she wanted the witch's costume, along with the accessories that the lady, who finally introduced herself as Helga Litzser, picked out. They were the following:

a broomstick

a cape

makeup

and a hat. Sarah paid Frauline Litzser and left with the promise that she would tell her mother that Helga said hello. Sarah had decided to wear the cape over her face, since the humans were coming home from work. Henry remained comfortable in her purse until she reached the edge of town. She finally let him know that the only thing left in the village was a pub, so he pulled himself halfway out of the purse to chat with Sarah. Right as she was approaching the pub, a group of rowdy men came out of it and were seen carrying a young man. Sarah did not want to be recognized as Dracula's daughter so she looked down on the ground, told Henry to get back into her purse and started walking fast. The men were obviously drunk because their speech was slurred and several of them were staggering. She slowed down when she saw that the young man was handsome. He looked at her and seemed to be giving her a pleading look. He was quite taller than she was, had long brown hair and the prettiest green eyes she had ever seen. Sarah stopped. The men threw him down to the ground and bounded right back into the bar. Taking immediate pity on him, she gently set down her purse, the broomstick and bag that contained her makeup, costume and hat and raced to the young man's side. Sarah gently rolled him over and he coughed, sitting straight up. Finally, he looked at her again.

"You're still here?" He asked in awe. Sarah nodded, her hood had fallen off when she ran. Realizing this she started to pull it back on then decided that he wouldn't care.

"Why did they throw you out like that?" She asked gently batting the dust off of his clothes. The cobblestone road ended when she came out of town and had turned into the dusty road that she came to the village in the first place. The man rolled his eyes and glowered at the pub's doors.

"I...made the mistake of telling them that I'm a werewolf," he stammered not looking at her. Sarah sank down beside him. What would be next? She thought to herself. She had already befriended a spider, now she rescued a handsome werewolf. She may as well make a friend of a human, a witch and a zombie while she was at it. Hearing what was in her mind, he laughed out loud.

"I don't think humans would want to see me," he explained. Sarah was startled at first but relaxed when she remembered from reading that werewolves read minds. The young man regarded her for a moment. It suddenly hit him that she didn't react like he thought she would when he told her that he was a werewolf. His first instinct was to run but he hesitated. Why hadn't she freaked out about him?

"You didn't freak when I told you that I was a werewolf," he said, getting up off the ground, dusting his blue jeans and turning around to help her up as well. Sarah looked at him with confusion on her face.

"Why should I?" She asked. Again this was not the reaction that he was expecting. He walked beside her, picked up her bag with her costume and accessories in it, and her broomstick. Sarah picked up her purse, with Henry still in it and pulled her hood back over her face. The sun was now setting and she knew that her father would start to get worried.

"You mean you aren't?" He asked, confused. Sarah looked at him and laughed.

"I'm a vampire. I know what it's like to have humans hate you. Believe me," she answered. The werewolf looked at her in amazement.

"You are? But, I thought that vampires couldn't come out in daylight," he spluttered. Sarah rolled her eyes.

"That's just a myth; we also don't despise garlic. Actually, we eat garlic bread everyday," she replied. At this, he didn't know what to say. He had always knew the myths and legends about his kind to be false but, he didn't think that vampires' legends would be false either. But then, you can't really believe everything you hear. Especially when humans are the ones who made them up.

"So what's your name?" She asked him realizing that they hadn't been introduced.

"Hanzi Flanders, and yours?" Hanzi asked.

"Sarah Wolf; and this spider in here is Henry," she replied holding out her purse with Henry finally peeking out.

"Pleasure to meet you, Hanzi," he said smiling a spidery smile. Hanzi's eyes went wide. Now he had seen everything.

"Never met a talking spider before," he said, still in shock. Sarah agreed with him and Henry settled contentedly in her purse. He thought again of running but, he didn't want to. Sarah captivated him and was by far the prettiest vampire he'd ever seen. Pretty soon, they started sharing their life stories.

Henry, ironically enough, was born in the very pub that threw out Hanzi. His father died while mating and so his mother raised him and his three little sisters and one brother in the basement. That is, until the owner of the pub bought a cat, who ate his mother while she told them to escape. They decided to split up and so that's how he had ended up at the Costume Shoppe, where he and Sarah met.

Sarah's was the most boring, in her opinion. She was born in London, where her father and her mother were living at the time. Abraham Van Helsing swore to kill them but, Dracula managed to escape back to Transylvania, where he and her mother lived in fear that the humans would discover what they were and try to force them out like Frankenstein.

Hanzi's was sad. His pack was killed, along with his mate, by humans in America. He then came to Transylvania on hopes and false promises. But he liked it there so far. He didn't dive into the details of the killing nor did Henry or Sarah want to press for any. Henry finally crawled out of the purse for the threesome were finally approaching her castle. With the spider perched on Sarah's shoulder she opened the door and gestured for Hanzi to follow.

"Are you sure that your father would approve of me?" He asked.

"Well, if her father approves of a talking spider as her pet, then I'm quite certain that he'd approve of her being friends with a Werewolf," Henry said with dignity. Sarah agreed but was still a little nervous about the confrontation as well. Hanzi held the door open for her and reluctantly followed the young vampire and the spider inside and down the hall. Sarah was not sure what her welcome would be since she took so long. She walked into the Great Hall to find her father pacing in front of the fireplace and her mother nervously glancing outside the window. Nickolai, their butler, was the first to notice the company walk into the room and hastily announced their entrance. Dracula immediately ceased pacing and strode the yards between him and Sarah and grabbed her shoulders.

"Sarah, what took you so long??? We were worried sick about you!" He exclaimed. Sarah looked down and nodded.

"Father, I'm sorry," she said as her mother pulled her and spider into her arms. Dracula had by now turned to Hanzi who was standing back and letting them get over with the affections.

"And you are?" Sarah's father asked.

"Oh! Father, Mother, this is my new friend Hanzi Flanders...he's a werewolf," she explained. Dracula seemed wary but, Anastasia Wolf welcomed him warmly. Henry had crawled into Sarah's hood when her mother hugged Sarah. He now crawled out of the hood and was practically panting on her shoulder. Sarah's father extended his hand, after she explained to him what had happened. After he and Hanzi shook hands Dracula had Nickolai get him some brandy and Sarah sat down after she introduced them to Henry as well. Henry crawled off of Sarah's shoulder to the couch's armrest and sat there chatting with Dracula about the economy in Romania. Nickolai came back with two glasses of Brandy and Absinthe mixed with Code Red Mountain Dew, which was Sarah's favourite drink. Their butler then retired to the coffin to sleep in until they needed his services. Hanzi, Sarah and Anastasia were talking about the Monster Ball. Sarah and Anastasia begged for him to come. Henry was already invited and would rest on Sarah's shoulder. Hanzi was finally talked into it was going to dress up as a Warlock, since Sarah and Hanzi were going to escort each other to the Ball. Dracula, as an inside joke, was going as a Werewolf and Anastasia was going to be a Renaissance Queen. She looked the part already. She had long blonde hair and big green eyes. Sarah's mother also had a thick British accent, which was the one thing that Sarah had of her mother's besides her eye colour. When it was time for bed, Sarah took Hanzi's hand and led him to the bedroom adjourning hers. It was large and had a normal king sized 4-poster bed with long black velvet curtains. Next to the bed was a nightstand that had an alarm clock and a telephone on it. Hanzi looked around and realized that this would be the first time he slept in a bed in 800 years. He sat on the edge of the bed and noticed that there was a door that opened up to a balcony. Sarah stood in the doorway to the room and watched him open the door to stand at the balcony and look at the Transylvanian Sunset. Silent as a cat, she walked over to him. He didn't freak when she stood next to him in silence watching the sky turn bright red with splashes of orange, yellow and pink.

"There's nothing like a Transylvanian sunset," she declared finally. Hanzi smiled at her. She seemed to glow in the fading sunlight.

"This is the first time in over 800 years that I've actually been able to enjoy a sunset so pretty," he said quietly. It was her turn to smile. At the door, Nickolai brought Henry to Sarah. He was a tall chap, with silver hair and icy blue eyes. Nickolai was more than just their butler. He was practically part of the family.

"Would you like to have you snack now, Miss Sarah?" He asked her with a sneaky smile. Sarah nodded and asked for a double of it. Nickolai bowed and went to ask the Cook for her usual snack and one for Hanzi as well. Hanzi, by this time, was hungry. He looked back at her with curiosity.

"Do I want to know what your snack is?" He asked her. Sarah smiled.

"I think you do; it's pizza," she said. Hanzi laughed with relief and they went back inside and sat on the bed.

"Don't vampires drink blood?" He asked.

"We do occasionally, but we also eat food as well," she explained. She also pointed out that they don't drink human blood, the smell of it was revolting to her. They preferred to drink animal blood and they only did that once a month.

"When Father was younger, he used to drink human blood but, that was a long time ago," she said. Hanzi nodded. He explained to her that Werewolves aren't monsters like the human legends say, but they looked like ordinary wolves and hunted deer and elk like normal wolves do. They not once killed a human. Only in self-defense would they kill humans but, only if the human attacked them first. They would NEVER eat a human either. Sarah understood completely. She was the first person he came across who understood him for what he was. Henry had by this time crawled into the water bowl on the table across from his bed to sleep. He seemed to find their conversation a tad boring. Nickolai came in with Sarah's chicken and garlic pizza and Hanzi's pepperoni pizza. The Butler stood and chatted with them, telling Sarah that tomorrow would be filled with decorating the Castle for Halloween and such. Nickolai was also a vampire and also despised human blood. In fact, Sarah had two slices of pizza and shared the pizza with him, as they always did.

Hours later, after Nickolai had left the room to go hunting, Hanzi and Sarah closed their eyes for a time to rest. The night was quiet, save for the occasional boom, coming from her father's laboratory. Dracula was constantly performing scientific experiments. Sarah used to tease him about it. She once told him that he was turning into Dr. Viktor Frankenstein. He had laughed at that comment and took it as a compliment. Hanzi and Sarah's slumber was interrupted when they heard a loud scream coming from the forest below their balcony. Both of them immediately sat up and glanced fearfully at each other. Henry opened two of his eyes and glowered at Hanzi and Sarah.

"What is making that infernal racket??" He demanded. "Is that you?" Sarah and Hanzi both shook their heads. Somewhat satisfied he curled up in his new home and fell back asleep. The loud scream came again so this time, Sarah pulled on her cloak and Hanzi changed into his wolf form, he saw her plan of jumping off the balcony, so that's why he changed into a wolf. Sarah cascaded off the balcony first, her black cape ballooning up above her head. Hanzi leaped off last landing first and waiting for her. When she did finally land, he jokingly pretended that he was asleep. Sarah glared and playfully hit him. Yelping and faining injury he sulked off leaving her to chase after him towards the sound of the screaming. Sarah reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a flashlight, which she turned on. She found Hanzi sitting on the ground near a tree that seemed to have a human underneath it screaming in pain. Seeing that, she raced to the human's side and switched off her flashlight. She could hear her parents and Nickolai behind her running towards the sound as well. Hanzi changed back into his human form which seemed to have scared the child even more. Sarah could see in the dim light of the moon that the human was a young girl. Blood was shooting out of her leg and her arm had a bad gash on it. Henry decided to stay on Hanzi's shoulder and remained quiet.

When Dracula, Anastasia and Nickolai finally reached them, the child's screams were reduced to quiet sobbing, while Sarah cradled the young girl in her arms singing a Romanian Lullaby. Sarah looked up at her parents; Nickolai held up a lantern, while Dracula gently carried the girl in his arms towards the castle. On the journey back, not a word was said. Hanzi and Sarah were carrying on a telepathic conversation on where the girl should go and if she had parents, when and where to locate them and notify them of their daughter's disappearance. Sarah's theory was that the girl could have been an orphan, who wanted to sleep somewhere that night and a tree was all that she could find. Their conversation turned to a quiet-out loud discussion for Henry had several theories as well. It wasn't long before they all reached the castle and by this time Nickolai and Anastasia were also participating. Anastasia was the one who went to Oxford and received her degree in medicine, so she was the one who was to take care of the girl. Sarah had her put the child in her room. She never slept at night hardly anyways. Dracula reached Sarah's room and had her placed on her bed.

“There, there, dear, we won’t hurt you,” Sarah said trying to calm the poor child down.

“You....you...promise?” The little girl asked, her sobs were starting to turn into hiccups and Anastasia told Nickolai to go and get some water. Sarah stroked the girl’s hair as her mother gently examined her leg and arm. Nickolai came back with the water and the little girl drank it down in huge gulps. After a moment, she diagnosed the child with a broken leg and the gash needed stitches. She told her husband to go and fetch her medical supplies.

“What’s your name, young lady?” Anastasia asked.

“My name is Sofia Pope but call me Sophie,” she murmured timidly. Anastasia and Sarah introduced themselves and so did Hanzi who sat down on one of the many chairs in Sarah’s room to watch Sarah. Henry had already climbed off of Hanzi and crawled onto Sophie’s lap, letting her know that he wasn’t going to hurt her. Sophie didn’t care. To Sarah, she didn’t strike her as a traditional human. For one, she didn’t freak when she saw her father. For another, the only part of Hanzi that bothered her was when he changed from Wolf to his human self. When Dracula came back, Anastasia set Sophie’s leg and put it in a cast. After that, she deadened Sophie’s entire arm and proceeded to stitch up the gash in her arm. It only took 5 stitches to close it back up. She then bandaged it up and gave her low dosage pain killers, after learning that she was ten years old. Sophie went to sleep and Anastasia told Sarah, Henry and Hanzi to go back to whatever they were doing. Dracula, Anastasia and Nickolai took turns watching over little Sophie.

The next morning Sarah opened up the curtains in Hanzi’s room. By dawn, Sophie had already awakened to be somewhat disoriented. Hanzi had already went hunting and came back when Sarah finally got out of bed. He had slept on the floor to let Sarah sleep in his bed. At first she had protested but he didn’t mind and morphed into his wolf self, sleeping just fine on the floor. When he came back, Nickolai had brought Sarah her breakfast and updated Henry and Sarah on how Sophie was doing.

What Sophie had told him was that she was abandoned as a baby and left at an orphanage, who treated her very kindly. But some jerk set it on fire. She was the only survivor. Hanzi mouthed the word, wow, to Sarah. She nodded her head in agreement. Hanzi and Sarah decided to visit her in the next room. Nickolai thought that it was a good idea. Hanzi told Sarah that he was going to get dressed, in the clothes that Dracula had purchased for him, and that he would be in there shortly. Sarah nodded and was going to do the same thing. Sarah walked into her room and saw Sophie sitting up sipping her juice.

“Good morning, Miss Sarah,” the young girl said respectfully. Sarah laughed.

“You can just call me Sarah; you aren’t my servant,” she said. Sophie looked confused as Sarah turned on the lamp next to the closet and opened the door.

“If I’m not your servant then what am I?” She asked scratching her head. Sarah reached in and pulled out her favourite black dress. It was made in the medieval style, with fancy laced sleeves, the same lace covered the skirting of the dress. Underneath the lace was taffeta and the top part was made out of silk. Sarah reached out and pulled out her Japanese screen and got dressed behind it.

“You are our guest of course!” She exclaimed zipping up the back only halfway. Giving up she turned around and walked backwards toward Sophie.

“Would you like me to zip that for you?” Sophie asked laughing at the comical way Sarah kept running into stuff. She laughed with her.

“How could you tell?” The young vampire asked sarcastically. This made for a good show for Hanzi, who had got dressed and was standing in the doorway watching with amusement Sarah walking backwards like a penguin learning how to walk for the first time. Sophie zipped her dress up, still laughing really hard. Sarah looked at the doorway to see Hanzi staring at her with avid amusement. She then looked down at the floor, in obvious embarrassment. This made him start laughing.

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see YOU put on a dress, mongrel!” Sarah yelled grabbing the pillow that Sophie handed her, running towards Hanzi in break-neck speed and hit him on the head with it. He started running and she chased him all through the castle, screaming at him in Latin, Italian, German, Romanian, Sanskrit and Greek. Her parents heard her yelling and looked at each other, terrified and wondering where on earth she learned to use such language. Sarah chased him all the way into the dungeons and outside the Castle. With a loud yell she lunged forward at him, knocking him to the ground wrestling with him in between whacking him with the pillow. He wriggled his arms free, grabbed her around the waist and rolled her to the ground, knocking the pillow out of her hand in the process. For a while there, they lay with him on top of her laughing till both of their sides hurt. Hanzi gently moved a piece of hair from her face and looked deeply into her eyes. For the longest time, she thought he was going to kiss her and to be honest, he wanted to. His face was inches from hers but, Nickolai came running out of the Castle.

“Miss Sarah! Mr. Hanzi!” He shouted. Hanzi quickly got up and helped her up right as he came up them.

“Yes, Nickolai?” Sarah asked glancing sideways at Hanzi.

“Your parents want to see both of you in the Great Hall,” he said panting a little bit. Sarah shot Hanzi a mental question to which he shrugged. They followed Nickolai after he caught his breath back into the Castle. When they reached the Great Hall and Nickolai formally announced them, Sarah was worried that they may have heard her insults at Hanzi and may be scolding her, directing this mentally at Hanzi, to which he shrugged again and gave her a look that said, “Beats me.”

“Sarah and Hanzi, I suppose you both think that you are in trouble,” Dracula stated matter-of-factly. Sarah searched her father’s face but could find no emotion whatsoever. Neither could Hanzi read his thoughts. Dracula may be boyish at times but, he was frugal about his thoughts.

“Your father and I are astonished at your language and don’t recommend that you do it again but, that is not why we summoned you both here,” Anastasia seemed to finish her husband’s thought.

“We summoned you here, because Halloween is in less than a week away and we still have yet to decorate this house and then pack everything up to move to Budapest,” Dracula said once again. To Hanzi, it was like a rehearsed skit. It was kind of amusing.

“So we want the both of you to help us pack and also to put Sophie into the car with us, since her leg’s still broken and can’t really get out of bed,” Anastasia once again spoke her turn. By this time, Hanzi was almost to the point of laughing out loud.

“Sarah, that means you cannot go outside for the next few days,” her father concluded. So it was finally agreed that they were going let Sophie stay and obviously Hanzi was also going to stay. He figured that he may as well; he didn’t really have anywhere else to live now that his job at the Pub and Inn was officially terminated.

The next few days before All Hallow’s Eve were extremely hectic. The cooks were going insane, packing up all of the dishes necessary. Sarah and Henry were packing up clothes and potential homes for Henry to sleep in. Hanzi packed up all the clothes that Dracula had made for him and his costume that Anastasia actually DID make for him. They decided to carry Sophie in a litter out to the car, and Nickolai would drive her to the palace. They were finally ready four days before All Hallow’s Eve.

Sarah got dressed in all black, as it was evening and wouldn’t attract attention to them. Her shirt was black velvet; the sleeves were long and flared. Her skirt was a gothic black one with a black silk underskirt with black soft lace over it. She wore long black leather boots and a black fuzzy cloak. Henry was riding in a big pouch that Sarah made especially for him, the pouch was tied around her waist. The help were busy loading up the car. There was a light breeze blowing through the trees and made Sarah’s and Anastasia’s capes billow around them. Hanzi came out with his suitcase, wearing dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt. His long brown hair blew back and Sarah noticed he was starting to grow a beard. As he gave the suitcase to one of the servants he noticed that the car was packed full.

“Sarah, there’s no room for us in the car but Nickolai and Sophie,” he said puzzled. At this, Sarah laughed.

“We aren’t taking the car, we’re flying,” she said. Hanzi’s eyes went wide.

“So, you DO turn into bats?” He asked. Sarah shook her head and explained that they don’t turn into anything; they just fly. Finally, he got it. Sarah and Anastasia had to put their hoods over their heads because it was starting to rain. Hanzi pulled his jacket on and slipped his hood over his head as well. Her father was the last to finish loading the car. Sarah grabbed Hanzi’s hand and led him to the balcony, where they were to climb up to the rooftop above her room. Her parents stood on the tower next to them. The help were able to fly off the ground so they didn’t climb anywhere. Nickolai and Dracula had already carried Sophie into the car and stuck her and the litter in it. Dracula finally gave the signal for them to take off. Nickolai was allowed a head start and was already disappearing into the wild and thick forest. Sarah told Hanzi to grab a hold of her waist and they jumped. She spread her arms and her cape ballooned out around her and Hanzi. Her parents and the servants followed them. Sarah decided to fly on the low side, and kept to the forest cover, to avoid humans spotting them. Every year, her parents relied upon her to plan the route which they take to their Palace in Budapest.

At first Hanzi was so scared that he kept his eyes closed and clung tight to Sarah. But after Sarah having to reassure him that it was all right and Henry’s shouts at him that he was being squashed, he loosened up. By this time, they reached the outskirts of Budapest and had already landed in the forest bellow them. The rain was coming down harder by this time and was starting to turn to snow. Sarah smiled up at the Heavens; she loved snow and hoped that the snow would stay on the ground for a long time. Looking down, she noticed with a secret happiness that Hanzi had not let go of her waist. He eventually did and let go, blushing in the process.

They waited for everyone to land around them and finally made their way towards the palace. The main street was empty, save for them, so they could walk right in the middle of the street. They finally reached the palace at the other side of town and when Dracula pulled out the keys to it, he opened the door and everyone walked inside. Hanzi and Sarah again got settled in adjoining rooms; it was actually Sarah sleeping in her room and he slept in the sitting room across from her bed. Henry’s sleeping spot was her water bowl, which he quickly made a web and spent most of his time there or chatting with Dracula or Sophie.

The next day, Sophie, Nickolai and the rest of their things arrived. The Butler announced that it was officially a blizzard outside, to Sarah’s delight, and requested to Sarah and Hanzi that they did not go outside. Her parents decided to take that day to decorate the ballroom and Great Hall and Dining Hall for the Monster Ball. Sarah and Hanzi helped, but also played lots of pranks on each other. Sarah took a fake skeleton from her Mother’s lab and hung it in the closet where he put all of his clothes in. He answered that with a fake skull on her pillow. Sophie was in stitches half the time for they liked to chase each other around the palace.

On the day before All Hallow’s Eve, it stopped snowing long enough for Sarah, Anastasia and Henry to go out shopping for Sophie’s costume. By this time, Dracula had found an old wheel chair and let her sit in that. He had also taught her how to maneuver around the palace with it. This beat using crutches. Sophie had agreed to go as Sarah and Hanzi’s witch daughter. She seemed excited about the prospect of being able to go to the Ball. Anastasia knew exactly where to find the best costumes for them all. To this Sarah was grateful, for she was at a loss to find a costume to fit little Sophie. They had all told her that they were vampires and Hanzi a Werewolf, which she had already guessed. At first Sophie was scared but Sarah assured her that they did NOT drink human blood.

Her mother seemed to find a costume and accessories for Sophie in no time. They were walking back to the palace in less than an hour. By this time, it was starting to flurry again. It didn’t seem to matter, most of their guests were flying in anyways. Already half of their invites were staying at the Palace anyways. Hanzi was glad that he and Sarah sort of shared her room. It was starting to get a little crowded. That evening all of their guests were going to stay there for the entire weekend because of the snow. Sarah and Hanzi talked until late that night. Neither of them could sleep. Henry had decided to sleep in Sophie’s room and so Hanzi had Sarah’s undivided attention.

“Man, I’ve met so many of your friends and relatives, I’m going to need a list,” he said laughing. Sarah joined him.

“You think that this is bad? Wait till Christmas; EVERYONE comes here to celebrate Christmas,” she replied. Hanzi was a little frightened by that prospect. Her family had decided that he would stay with them indefinitely. He would make good protection for them and companionship for Sarah. Her parents and the guests noticed the chemistry between the young vampire and the werewolf. The next day, was even more hectic than when they all packed up and headed towards the palace. Everyone was getting their costumes ready and making sure that everything was going to run smoothly for the Monster Ball that evening.

Sarah and her mother had Sophie try on the costume the day before and found that it fit perfectly, after Anastasia made a few minor adjustments to the costume. When the girl came rolling out, everyone gushed and fussed over her. Even Hanzi agreed that she looked adorable. He, on the other hand felt like an eejit in his costume. Sarah disagreed to this and thought he looked handsome. Dracula improved the costume a little bit by making a magic staff. He thought that Sarah looked beautiful in her witch’s costume. The hat seemed to frame her pale face. He could tell that her mother helped with the make-up and hair.

That evening, everyone headed into the ballroom. Hanzi escorted Sarah into the room and Sophie rolled in next to Sarah. Henry was sitting on Sarah’s shoulder, at the moment, and was chatting with Sophie. The next few hours were filled with eating, dancing and chatting with everyone. Hanzi stuck to Sarah’s side like glue. After midnight, he took her outside where he could finally breathe. The snow was coming down hard and in huge chunks. Henry had crawled off of Sarah’s shoulder and was resting on the armrest of Sophie’s rocking chair, chatting with Dracula’s cousin, Amelia, about the country where she’s from.

“Thank goodness, I’m wearing my warmest cape!” Sarah exclaimed, wrapping it tight around her. Hanzi laughed. He wasn’t in the least cold but, he was a werewolf.

“This was the most fun, I’ve ever had,” he said after a moment of silence. The cloud-cover was so dense that they couldn’t see the moon, even if they wanted to. Sarah agreed. Bending over, she picked up a snowball and chucked it at his head. She missed and had to duck when he sent one flying at her. They chased each other down the steps and out to the snow-packed courtyard. Sarah was thankful that her parents kept it lit. Giving up on snowballs Hanzi made a lunge at Sarah, knocking her on the ground and sending her hat off in the process. They wrestled around for a long time until, he let her pin him to the ground. This time, he didn’t miss a beat, grabbing her around the shoulders, he gently brought her face down in a cold wet kiss. Her hands moved through his hair and sneakily grabbed a clump of snow and stuffed it on his head. He broke off, laughing and shoving snow down her shirt. Sarah screamed as the snow melted in her back. She got off of him and their snowball fight resumed. Hanzi sent a snowball rocketing towards her, ducking the snowball went right into her father’s face. He had come rushing out when he had heard Sarah squeal. Dracula wiped the snow off of his face and there was a terrible silence. Sarah stood wide-eyed and seemed to Hanzi, torn between wanting to burst out laughing and horrified as to how Dracula would react.

The vampire then did what no one thought he would do and picked up two snowballs and chucked them at Sarah, which hit her in the chest and at Hanzi, which hit him in the beard. By this time, everyone was outside and throwing snowballs at each other. Sophie, Nickolai, who was allowed the evening off and joined the party, Sarah, Anastasia, Hanzi and Dracula formed a team and the rest of the group formed two other teams and were pitted against each other. Hanzi proved formidable, Sarah had a deadly cannon to her arm, Dracula was unpredictable, Nickolai was sneaky, Anastasia mischievous and Sophie also had a cannon arm. If the Mannings had joined and Elway had joined their team, they would be even more deadly. Pretty soon they all grew tired and retired into the Dining Hall for hot chocolate and desert. Of course everyone was dripping wet, so they had to change into dry clothes, especially Sophie. Dracula soon announced that Sophie and Henry were also a permanent part of the Dracula family.

Sarah and Hanzi went to bed that night, knowing that things would get a lot better from then on. And they did. Sarah and Hanzi finally admitted to being in love with each other and got married. They stayed with her parents. Henry found out that his siblings had been living in Dracula’s castle all along and reunited with them happily. Sophie was eventually healed from her broken leg and made a vampire. She and Nickolai eventually got married. Dracula was eventually pardoned by the Pope and was allowed to travel freely and unharmed in Europe. They all lived happily ever after.