Only Human

Chapter 8 - A Day with Ericka

The next several days were of a treacherous nature to Dracula.

After being carted into an ambulance and wheeled through the hallways of the Hawaii State Hospital in Honolulu, he was brought into the emergency room, where several doctors immediately got to work in treating his wounds. The man was bandaged, gauzed, and wrapped in casts, left to be temporarily bedridden and monitored for any further complications. Though nothing had been broken, the vampire-turned-human still ached terribly, unable to really even move a finger without feeling a shooting pain. So he lay there, eating the mushy hospital food and watching cheesy sitcoms on the television in his half-conscious state as the nurses occasionally came in to switch out his bandages or take his vital readings.

It was on the fourth day that the settling routine finally changed, when he heard his nurse speaking to three familiar voices coming from outside his room. One sweet, one small, and one frantic, all tinged with the same sense of worry.

"He's right in here."

"Oh, good!"

"Remember, just try and keep your voices low. He's still recovering."

"Okay!"

"Not a problem."

"Can we go in now?"

"Yes.."

The door flew open a moment later, Drac barely catching sight of Johnny before he rushed at him and threw his arms around the resting man.

"DRAC! YOU'RE OKAY!"

"Yes," Drac wheezed at the crushing hug, "but not for much longer if you keep this up!"

"Whoops! Sorry!" Johnny let go and sat at the edge of the bed. "Actually, I'm SUPER sorry. I shouldn't have forced you into riding that glider if you didn't feel comfortable."

Johnny tittered a nervous laugh as Drac's face darkened. "Johnny," he growled through gritted teeth.

The redhead gulped, knowing that he was going to be in for an earful. "Yes, Drac?"

"Don't you DARE... say that you're sorry!"

Johnny glanced at him, confused. "Huh?"

Drac sat up and gripped the boy by the shoulders, shaking him. "That was SO. MUCH. FUN!"

A smile spread across Johnny's face. "Whoa! For real, man?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course it was!" Drac laughed at the memory. "I was all up in the sky and I was really flying! And there was the wind, and the beach, and oh, the volcanos, so beautiful! And then I crashed, of course, but hey, I was alive! Right? Come on, slap me some skin, dude man!" He extended his hand out, and Johnny gladly gave him a high-five, the two proceeding to exchange a sort of complicated handshake of sorts led by Johnny. Drac messed up a couple of times with some of the fist bumps and thumb pokes, but otherwise kept up with the whole thing pretty well. The two men laughed amongst each other as two other presences made themselves known.

"Well, you seem surprisingly fine with everything," Ericka chuckled.

Drac looked over, even more delighted to see his wife and little Dennis approaching the bed. He opened his arms out for his grandson. "Denisovich!"

"Papa Drac!" the little boy cried, leaping up to meet his grandfather's embrace and giggling as the man kissed his cheeks. "You were the coolest. Just like a superhero!"

"Oh, like Batman?" Drac asked.

Dennis giggled. "No, Batman can't fly. But Superman can!"

"Ahhh, except your Papa Drac did it even better! Like SuperVampa!" He tickled Dennis, and the boy laughed some more, giving him a hug.