Safe and Sound (Hotel Transylvania Fanfic)

Chapter Two: Haweewee

            "All aboard, for Honolulu Hawaii!" The captain's voice shouted as people boarded the ship.

"Ha-what-what?" Dracula muttered to himself from where he rested within one of the tiny cabins on the ship.

It had taken him two months to reach North America, where he had suddenly felt the urge to head westward again. He had assumed that he had simply lost his desire for travel, but the captain's words troubled him. Sticking carefully to the shade and away from human sight, he crawled his way to the captain's quarters and found a map sprawled out on a large desk. Annoyed with his poor eyesight as a bat, he let the blue mist engulf him once again and turned into a man. As his vision cleared, he noted the tiny island far from the American shores. What was so special about it? In any case, it couldn't hurt to make a small stop; he wasn't expected home for months.

v----v

It was the dead of night when the island came into view. Dracula stood at the fore of the ship in human form while most of the humans slept. Two slow, agonized weeks, and as soon as he saw the soft outline of the shore he shifted into a bat and took off from the deck, streaking into the night against the countless stars. He breathed deeply, enjoying the feel of the warm, humid air as it flowed smoothly over his wings and whistled in his ears.

It took several long hours for him to reach the island. The very first cave he saw he flew into hurriedly, relieved at having the opportunity to rest. When the sun fell again he woke to hundreds of bats flying from the cave and immediately jumped out to join them. He flew a short ways before his growling stomach, unfed for over two weeks, urged him away from the colony to find his own food. A wild cow caught his eye, and with a swift flight he killed it, drained it of blood, and carried on with his flight. To his surprise, he found no trace of the bat colony he had flown with. With a screech he took off again, and after a while he stopped caring about where the others had gone. He got lost in the beautiful scenery of...whatever the island was called. On the beaches he could hear some humans, though they were far off and he couldn't say what they were doing there, and at night no less.

He drifted above the trees for a few minutes, half-blind and refusing to disturb the sounds of nature with his squeaks. He let out a loud grunt of surprise as he crashed into something and fell to the ground. He shook his head to clear it, and noticing that he was in human form he used his hand to gently massage his throbbing skull. He heard something stir and looked up into the two bright blue-green eyes of a woman. A chill ran down his back, and the faintest trace of color crept into his cheeks. A moment later he was pulled out of his reverie and smiled sheepishly.

"S-sorry, I uh...wasn't watching where I was..."

"Flying...yeah," the woman finished for him, a similar giddy expression on her face. Her eyes widened after a moment as her head seemed to clear. "Oh I'm sorry; I really should have watched where I was going."

"No, no, no; it was my fault," he answered quickly. "Wasn't watching where...well you know that."

The woman smiled warmly at him. "I'm Martha."

"Dracula," he answered, returning her smile.

v----v

"How old are you?" Dracula asked curiously. It was one of the many questions they had discussed that night.

"118," Martha answered. "I know it's young but...I wanted to go out and see the world. I grew up in a human town with my parents. It was small, cramped, and dangerous, so I decided to explore when I turned 118 a few months ago. I arrived here about a week ago and decided I liked this place."

"What is it called again?"

"Hawaii."

Dracula made a mental note of it in his head as they passed over a bridge. The moon was only a sliver in the sky above them, but it was enough to make the world shimmer with a beauty he hadn't noticed before.

"I need to leave; promised a friend I would meet her before sunrise. I will see you tomorrow won't I?" Martha asked, sounding overwhelmingly sorry at having to leave.

"I will be here when the sun goes down," Dracula promised, looking deeply into her eyes and silently relishing their resemblance to the beautiful ocean that surrounded them, and audibly lapped at the Hawaiian shore a short distance away.

Dracula felt like kissing her, but blushed at the thought and turned away towards the side of the bridge, watching the moon. He didn't want her to think he was weird or be scared away. But before she turned to leave, she turned him around to face her and kissed him herself. He was too shocked to move.

She pulled away a moment later, shamefaced, and started to speak, "Sorry, I just-"

Dracula interrupted her by leaning forward and pressing his lips against hers, enjoying the feel of her cool skin. He brushed a lock of thick, curly hair from her face, letting his fingers trace a light path across her cheek. When they finally pulled apart they were both smiling.

"See you tomorrow," he said gently, making her smile as she slowly turned and strode off into the night.