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║Ｅｌｌａ ＰＯＶ║

The two of us walked down the long hallway, no monsters were inside. The closer we got to the dining room where the party was being held, the louder the music could be heard. I assumed everyone was already there partying out and enjoying the night.

"This is it," I said as we stopped right in front of the double doors that lead to the party inside. I could see the door bounce a little from the intense vibration the music gave.

Johnny lets out a nervous laugh. "Yeah. let's do this."

The two of us pushed through the doors, leading us to a room filled with other monsters. The loud music got even louder once the door opened and revealed the monsters inside, all danced around clearly enjoying themselves.

As the two of us walked further into the room, we could see from the stage that held a band of monsters playing. It wasn't the skeleton guys like usual. It was Frankenstein playing the guitar, Murray playing the bass, Wayne who was playing the electric piano, and finally Griffin who was playing the drums.

♪ ᴳⁱʳˡ ♪

"Hey! Looks like Dracula agreed to have them play for the twin's party!" Johnny yelled making sure I could still hear him because of the loud music and people around us.

♪ ᴵ ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ᵇᵉˡⁱᵉᵛᵉ ⁱᵗ'ˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵇⁱᵍ ⁿⁱᵍʰᵗ ♪

"I knew he would!" I yelled back while laughing.

♪ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃᵗᵉ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᶠʳᵒᵍˢ, ⁿᵒʷ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵃʳᵗʸ'ˢ ˢᵒ ʳⁱᵍʰᵗ ♪

Monsters surrounded us as we went deeper through the dance floor, accidentally bumping into other monsters that were there, it was inevitable. I suddenly felt some wind above me, my hair wasn't being covered by my hat moving with the gush of wind.

My head automatically looked up and to my surprise, I saw a floating table flying through the room. As I kept watching I could see lots of Wayne's and Wanda's pups on top of the table. The table also had a face on the cloth, though he looked scared and concerned.

Those must have been the tables Johnny was talking about when he was flying around with Dracula! I looked back over towards Johnny whose attention was still on the band on the stage.

"Johnny look! It's those tables you talked about flying on!" I grabbed his arm and started shaking it excitedly. Sadly he was too focused on the band to even lookup. When I looked back to the table filled with pups, one girl stood out from the rest.

I saw six boys dancing crazily on the table while one girl danced calmly. What surprised me was one moment she was fine then next, she karate chopped all her brothers doing flips and kicks, knocking them off the table.

Wow, she just yeeted them out.

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Then there was only one standing on the table, which she swayed back and forth on the table acting cute.

♪ ᴬⁿᵈ, ᵍⁱʳˡ, ʸᵒᵘ ᵘˢᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ˢᵘᶜᵏ ᵃ ᵇⁱⁿᵏʸ ♪

I reached out to the side of me hoping to catch Johnny, but to my surprise, he was not there. I looked over to where I thought he was but I saw nothing but other monsters.

♪ ᴸᵒᵒᵏ ᵃᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ⁿᵒʷ ♪

"Johnny?" I said mostly to myself, knowing no one would hear me because of the loud music around me. I looked around me and spotted Johnny a few feet away from me now with Mavis.

♪ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ˢᵘᶜᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᵇˡᵒᵒᵈ ʳⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵒᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵒʷ ♪

I walked over to them while also congratulating Mavis on her big day, but Markus wasn't there with her. "Mavis! Happy birthday! You look great."

"Thanks. Also, thank you two for the party." Mavis responded shyly while giving a smile.

"Yeah, you like our little touches?" Johnny hunched a little while talking to Mavis. I could tell he was nervous to talk to her, now knowing Mavs has a thing for him. Aw young love, it's cute.

I saw a few fireflies flying past us as we talked, then went up and we all followed their movement. Mavis walked a little ahead of us while looking mesmerized at the fireflies. The fireflies gathered together and created a crazy view of pictures. All main points of different areas around the world, Paris with the Eiffel tower, the statue of liberty, etc.

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Mavis walked around as the fireflies surrounded her, her reaction was priceless. I knew this was a good idea! The hard part was to orchestrate it and teach the bugs how to make and show pictures.

Who knew they didn't know how to spell, so I am just glad they could spell Paris, not so much Hawaii they did Haweewee. Good enough.

A sudden low voice showed up behind me. " This was really unexpected. You two did great,"

I jumped and turned to see who was behind me. Only to face Markus who had both hands behind his head as he smirks. " Thanks for the amazing party Little Witch" He finished while taking a few steps back. Giving me a chance to look at him fully [̶M̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶]̶, unlike Mavis he chose to wear his regular outfit, but I could tell he fixed his hair a little.

I couldn't help but smile as I saw him. "I am glad you like it."

"Follow me. I want to show you something," Markus said while reaching out his hand towards me expecting me to grab it. I reached out to grab it but I was hesitant, knowing I shouldn't leave the party room because then I won't be able to sneak out.

"Hey, why the hesitation?" He raised his eyebrow while walking closer towards me.

On instinct, I took a few steps back. "I shouldn't leave this party room, you know...because I am the party planner and everything." I tried to make an excuse, I rubbed my left arm nervously.

"Hey don't worry. It's still within this room," He said quietly but not too quiet for me not to hear. He reached and grabbed my left hand while reaching down to kiss me. I quickly ducked away from him and walked past him. I didn't need to see his face to know he was hurt by my actions.

"Well let's go then!" I pretended not to notice his hurt reaction while looking back at him. His face changed quickly back to happiness while he led me over towards an area of the dance floor. As we walked I could see lots of other monsters dancing and enjoying themselves. The zombies that were originally going to play for the party, are now changing heads while dancing.

Markus was leading the way but then stopped right in front of me, making me run into him for not paying attention. I rubbed my hurt nose while saying sorry to Markus.

"It's cool. Now look" He said while guiding my head towards a certain spot on the dance floor. There I saw Dracula and two of his guard armor. What I saw after completely left my mouth wide open.

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Dracula started doing tricks and flips all around as his two guards supporting him all the way. My god, this is amazing. It's like watching a dance-off happening, whoever was the opposing team would surely lose.

"I can see you are enjoying the show," Markus said cheeky, as I heard a laugh from him.

"Of course, who knew he could dance like that. And who knew he would even do this!" I said excitedly. My hands pointing over to Dacula who's currently doing some freestyle.

"Oh, he wouldn't. But he would if it was one of his precious kids' 118 birthday wishes," Markus implied, his attention moving between his dad and Me. My attention stayed on him, my face in shock.

"No. You didn't!" I was shocked.

"Well. He didn't agree on it at first but eventually did. Though I didn't think he would go this far out. It looks like he's enjoying this way too much," Markus then continued to laugh.

I also joined in on laughing while I playfully punched him in the arm. He then rubbed his arm, faking to have it actually hurt.

"Ouch. How could you! And on my birthday," He exaggerated.

"Oh, I am soooo sorry. I couldn't control my amazing strength," I joined in on his act. I flexed my arm muscles, but nothing really showed.

He looked over at my arms, pausing for a bit. "Wow. That's hot," He quickly added with a straight face.

By that point, I couldn't help but burst into laughter. My arms fell back down towards my stomach as I held myself from laughing so much.

"You know. I haven't gotten a present from you yet," he then started a new topic.

"What do you mean? I planned this party," I said while also calming down my laugh.

"No. That was for me and my sister. I want one from just you to me," He sounded more childish, his arms now crossed.

By then I stopped laughing and calmed down." Alright, sure. What kind of present do you want, dear Marky," I said mostly out of jokes.

After my response Markus puts on a smirk, then he gets down and closer towards my face. I backed away slowly as he got closer. I could only go so far because of the people around us. "What about continuing our kiss? We got interrupted last time?" His eyes moved between my eyes and down at my lips.

My heart rate shot up, I can't tell from fear or nervousness. Fear because I know that if Dacula sees this, I am dead. Nervousness because Markus boldly asked for a kiss and DRACULA WOULD KILL ME!

I brought up my hands and held them against his chest, stopping him from going any closer. I looked into his eyes, and what I saw clearly wasn't happy.

This hurts me to do this but we can't Markus...

"No Markus. I am sorry. We can't. Not this, or anything else," I gave a small push and it was enough to make him step back a few inches.

"What do you mean by that? I thought..." Markus's voice started to sound hush but I could still hear him.

"I am sorry. You thought wrong." I looked away from him. " That kiss was a mistake."

I could feel his hands grab my wrist that was still on his chest giving them some pressure, not enough to hurt me though. "What?!" His voice sounded shocked and hurt. He tried to step closer but my hands only held him back.

"You are lying. I know it. Stop lying, was it because of my dad? Don't worry he likes you, he wouldn't care if we stay together." He pulls away from my hands from his chest and that gives him space to move slowly towards me.

I turn away from him, my emotions fall more. He lets go of one of my wrists and rests his hand on my face. Cupping my cheek and forcing me to look at him.

His eyes, oh how desperate he looks for me to agree with him. The look of doubt and distrust, while also fear and pain. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream out and tell him it was all a lie.

"No. Your dad had nothing to do with it."

Ｌｉｅ

"Markus. I don't think we are good for each other."

Ｌｉｅ

"And I don't like you in that way. I am sorry for leading you on."

Ｌｉｅ

"So let's just stay friends, or maybe it would be better if we never see each other again. And forget about all this. Okay?" I finished as I got out of Markus's grip. I moved away from his hands and started walking away from him, Markus didn't move from his spot. That gave me time to put distance between us, but eventually, I heard Markus call out to me. Pleading me to stop and talk to him, I couldn't, knowing that if I did I might just spill everything. I hugged myself as I walked away further, once I knew he couldn't see my face, it instantly turned from serious to heartbroken.

I saw that he used his powers and flew over every monster to try and find me. Markus was now a bat and desperately calling out my name, I kept my head low and hidden from sight, luckily all these monsters are good to hide in.

I need to find Johnny. I pushed past other monsters while trying to get back to Johnny where I last saw him. He's probably with Mavis still. Should I interrupt them?

It didn't take long to find Johnny with Mavis, but what was surprising was Dracula was there too. The two vampires started yelling back at each other.

"No, you're not allowed to kiss!" Dracula yelled out to Mavis. Oh, Johnny got a kiss, good for him.

" Dad, I'm allowed to do things. I'm not 83 anymore. I'm allowed to like people or go see the world again." Mavis responded back. And for a few more minutes the two went back and forth.

"What?! You saw it! You-you said you didn't like it!"

" Maybe I want to give the village another chance. I need to learn, you know, how to roll with it as Johnny does and Ella."

" No, no, you can't go to the village again!"

"Maybe you can make them see that we can be friends."

Should I stay back and let them be or should I go over towards Johnny and help him? From a distance, I could hear Markus again call out my name.

"Ella! Please!" Markus's voice ranged out but only a muffle could be heard over the loud music.

I should go with Johnny to help keep my distance from Markus. My feet moved on their own and I was already walking up to Johnny, who was behind Mavis. I let Johnny know I was behind him by setting a hand on his shoulder. He jumps a little and turns, calming down once seeing me.

He gave me a smile, but once he saw my own emotion, he knew I just talked with Markus and told him my feelings. My fake feelings. He gave me a sympathetic back rub from his left hand and I gave him a small smile in return.

"Because THAT VILLAGE DOESN'T REALLY EXIST!" Dracula yelled out very loud, making the music stop and letting everyone know what he just said. Johnny and my attention turned back to the two arguing vampires, confused as to what they were yelling about.

The party was now silent and everyone's eyes were over towards us. Mavis didn't respond for a few seconds while Dracula's face was in pain, not willing to look over at his daughter. Markus showed up after flying over every monster's head and landing next to his sister.

I am sure he heard everything his dad said, I wonder if he also knows what they were saying. Markus once in his human form looked over at me hurt, making me look away from him and walking a little behind Johnny. Hoping that would hide me away from him.

║Ｔｈｉｒｄ ＰＯＶ║

Mavis, sounding confused and hurt, spoke up once her brother showed up. "What do you mean... "doesn't exist"?"

Her brother glared at their father "You lie to us?" his voice didn't change but everyone could tell he was angry.

No one knew about this news which prompted the other monsters nearby that was close with the Dracula family to come forward. Wanda, Wayne, Griffin, Murray, Frankenstein, and his wife Eunice, all are either confused or angry.

" What did you do?!" Frankenstein asked. The group stopped near the two humans, everyone was looking at Dracula while he just had his back towards them. His arms crossed and his back straight.

" I--I did what I had to do," Dracula said hesitantly while trying to defend himself.

Mavis, now getting angry at her dad, spoke up, now with more anger. "What was it? What 'exactly' did you have to do?! Tell me!"

Mavis' demand towards her father made him frown and his mood started to plummet. His confidence was getting low and the idea of keeping his two beloved kids away from the human world was getting very scary low...

"Dad!" Markus yelled while walking closer to the dad with Mavis.

"I-- I built the town, the staff put it all together, the... the zombies dressed up as the townspeople. " Dracula finally confessed. The two humans eventually caught on to what the issue was and was shocked. Now knowing why the two keep asking weird questions about the human world.

The shock and betrayal from the news hit the twins. Mavis slowly walked away from her father, looking dazed.

Markus on the other hand took it a different way, he was angry and hurt. It didn't help that he just got heartbroken by the person he loved, making this another painful truth he gets during his birthday. He balled up his fist, making them ghostly white from the pressure, he knew he couldn't lash out. But oh did he want to be very bad, just let out his anger, sadness, hurt.

Dracula tried to convince his kids about his choices and how he had to, trying very hard to persuade his reasoning. He looked between his two kids.

" Please" He pleaded desperately. " If the two of you really went out there and something happened to you two, I... I just couldn't live with myself!" His voice became raspy from the thought of even losing either one of them.

"But you could live with this? Lying to us? Tricking us? Keeping ME and MARKUS here forever when you knew our dream was to go?" Mavis, now acknowledging the fact that her father lied, started building up the anger. She started walking slowly towards her father, making him back up a little. Markus now joins in with his sister.

"Not only that but you used our trust and used it for your own gain! Only thinking about yourself and not others. Wanting us here because you were scared for us to leave you alone in this place. This cage!" Markus finished his anger clearly shown by how loud his voice was and how his eyes glowed bright blue. Just like how Dracula's eyes were when talking about his wife.

Dracula opens his mouth to say something, but a muffled noise is heard interrupting his sentence. Shock and confusion were shown around the crowd as Quasimodo entered the ballroom. He was still frozen, his position was still the same when Dracula and Johnny left him. His right hand was still stuck in his nose and the left high up in the air with a frying pan.

He was in an old wooden wagon that was being pushed by his trusted Esmeralda. Muffles could be heard from him again, indicating he was trying to yell out something.

Upon seeing him, Dracula instantly knew things were going downhill. Johnny's reaction was the same, he grabbed onto Ella's hand