Hotel Transylvania: Changeling Branch
Chapter 1 - An Old Secret
A chill wind blew through the quiet castle corridor, causing the tapestries to ripple and shift. In the autumn, nights in Transylvania could sometimes get incredibly cold, and tonight was looking to be no exception. Flickering torches provided the only vestige of warmth, and threw wild shadows across the walls as a woman strolled silently past them
Young by the standards of her people, Mavis had deathly pale skin with shoulder-length jet-black hair, and was wearing a set of black tights, a long black sweater that hugged her figure, and matching black lipstick.
Another breeze swept through the corridor, and Mavis decided that she had better bring it up with one of the staff. The cold didn't bother her in the slightest, but some of the newer guests were less inured to the cold than her, and her father would undoubtedly go ballistic if even a small aspect of the hotel wasn't absolutely perfect.
That was what this castle was; Hotel Transylvania. Once a refuge for a very specific kind of clientele, Mavis' father had recently opened it up to a far wider demographic, which brought with it a far wider selection of things to be careful of. More importantly, at least as far as Mavis was concerned, it was her home.
Walking a little faster now, Mavis kept an eye and an ear out for any of the hotel staff. As she turned a corner at the end of the corridor, she finally spotted one of the porters shambling quietly along, wearing the hotel's bright red uniform with matching hat. "Excuse me?"
The porter turned to face her slowly. His skin was pale and waxy, his eyes were bloodshot, and a faint scent of rotten flesh rose from within his uniform. The zombie groaned and took a faltering step towards her.
"Oh, hey, just letting you know that there's a breeze coming through the corridor back there. I guess someone left a window open somewhere," Mavis told him. The zombie moaned curiously, and she held up a hand. "I know, we don't have any cold-sensitive monsters here at the moment, but there's humans here now. You know what my dad will be like if one of them catches a chill or something."
"Vhat's going on, who has caught a chill?" A deep voice echoed from the shadows. A shade split off from the others and suddenly morphed into the shape of a tall man with deathly pale skin, short black hair styled into a widow's peak, an elegant black suit with a billowing cape and, drawing the eye like a sabre, a pair of elongated fangs poking out from his top lip.
Dracula. The most famous vampire in the world. He also happened to be the owner and founder of Hotel Transylvania, and Mavis' father.
"No-one has caught a chill, dad," Mavis replied quellingly. "I just noticed that there's a bit of a breeze in the corridor back there. I guess there's a window open somewhere."
"A breeze?" Dracula turned a furious glare on the zombie. "Vhat do you think you're doing leaving a vindow open? Vhat if Dennis catches a cold?"
Mavis rolled her eyes. Of course Dracula's first thought would be about his grandson. "Dad, Dennis can't catch colds. He's a vampire, remember? You got your wish." She scowled at the memory of how desperate her father had become at the thought that her son might not be an actual vampire.
Dracula gave her a sheepish smile. "Ah, yes, of course. Vell, ve still have humans here, ve cannot risk vun of them catching a cold. Find the vindow and- vait a minute?" He looked around curiously. "This is an interior corridor, there aren't any vindow's here?" Dracula frowned and glanced at Mavis. "Show me vhere you you felt the breeze."
"Okay." Surprised by her father's shift in expression, Mavis obediently led him to where she had first felt the breeze leaving the zombie porter behind. Dracula's expression became ever more grim as they approached the breezy corridor. Sudden mood swings were hardly abnormal for Dracula, he had a tendency to be more than a little childish, but this sort of dourness was rare. It was unsettling. "Well, uh, here we are?"
"Hmmm." As if on cue, a chill breeze blew through the corridor, ruffling Dracula's cape. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
"What's wrong, Dad?" Mavis asked, but Dracula had already stalked off down the corridor. Curious, she followed him until he stopped before a stretch of blank wall.
"The breeze isn't coming from outside, it's coming from inside," Dracula said cryptically. Reaching above his head, he pressed down on a certain brick and a chunk of the wall suddenly slid inwards, then swung open with a loud grinding sound.
Mavis blinked in surprise. The castle was riddled with secret passageways, she had known that ever since she was a child, decades ago, but she had never once seen this one before. The passageway within the walls was dark, musty, and draped from wall to wall in immense spiderwebs. It couldn't be more obvious that no-one had been in there in a long time. "What's in here, dad?"
"An old secret. One I had hoped vould remain buried for another few hundred years or so," Dracula replied. He gestured for Mavis to follow before heading inside, sweeping the cobwebs aside.
The passageway curved around after a short distance, twisting and turning like a miniature maze. After a few minutes of walking, the two came to a small, dark room. Dracula snapped his fingers and several torches around the room blazed into life, illuminating a tall object, a full head taller than Drac himself, leaning against the wall, covered in a thick black sheet. The sheet shifted as a cold wind blew out from whatever was underneath it.
"Unbelievable. Vhat is that oversized cockroach trying to do this time?" Dracula kept muttering under his breath as he stepped over to the sheet and whipped it off in one smooth movement, revealing an ornate mirror set in intricately carved black stone. Neither Mavis nor her father cast any reflection, though that was hardly out of the ordinary, but not even the torches and the stone walls could be seen in the mirror; there was just a black expanse where the reflection shoul be. Even as they watched, a cold wind blasted out of it.
Mavis stared at it in amazement. "Whoa, what is that thing?"
"A portal to another vorld," Dracula replied. "And a particularly annoying former guest of the hotel. I kicked her out over a century ago, back vhen you vere still a little baby." He growled as another gust of wind blew out of the mirror. "For the love of all that is dark and unholy, vhat kind of game are you playing this time, Chrysalis? I still haven't forgotten vhat you did all those years ago, so if you think you can pull a fast one over me you've got another thing coming!"
Muffled voices came from the mirror. The two heard footsteps coming closer, then suddenly moonlight shone through the mirror as someone swept what looked like vines from the other side of it.
The creatures on the other side of the mirror were like nothing Mavis had ever seen before. They looked like giant bugs, coming up almost to her waist. One had a bright orange carapace, with pale blue wings and matching compound eyes, while the other had a muted green carapace with yellow wings and eyes.
"Who the heck are you?" Dracula asked with a scowl. "If this is another one of Chrysalis' schemes tell her I'm not falling for it! She's banned from this place, permanently!"
The two bugs looked at each other in surprise. "I think we should tell Thorax about this," the orange one said bluntly.
The green one nodded. "Yeah. You go find him, I'll wait here."
Mavis watched curiously as the orange bug hurried off, four chitinous legs carrying it out in a jittery kind of trot. "What are those things, dad?" She whispered.
"Changelings. Horrid little creatures that feed on stolen love," Dracula replied, not bothering to lower his voice. "And they are still all banned! I haven't forgotten!" He snapped at the remaining changeling.
"Hey, we don't follow Chrysalis anymore!" The changeling shot. "She's banished from the Changeling Kingdom, and we haven't stolen love since King Thorax took over and showed us how to share it instead."
Dracula opened his mouth to retort, then closed it again and stared suspiciously at the changeling, stroking his chin while humming thoughtfully.
Mavis didn't have the faintest clue what was going on, but the thought of another world, and other monsters, was too interesting for her to easily turn away from. "Um, dad? What exactly happened between you and this Chrysalis person?"
"She tried to kidnap you and take your place vhen you vere a baby, to try and feed off of my love for you," Dracula replied, not taking his eyes off the changeling. "Luckily, ve found out and put a stop to her schemes, banishing her back to her own vorld for good."
Stunned at the thought that an otherworldly villain had tried to kidnap her as a baby, Mavis suddenly gained an extra appreciation for why her father had been so overprotective over the years. Casting a sideways glance at the changeling, she pulled her father aside and whispered, "They say they don't follow Chrysalis anymore, but…"
Dracula nodded. "Yes, it could just be a trick, and I don't want to risk exposing Dennis to a cruel beast like Chrysalis, but that changeling might actually be telling the truth." Seeing Mavis' stunned expression, he explained, "Chrysalis is one of the most egotistical fiends you can imagine. She demands that all of her changelings call her Queen Chrysalis, so if they're not calling her that now, there's a chance that she's actually not around anymore."
"You don't think it could just be a trick?!" Mavis asked incredulously.
"Maybe," Dracula admitted. "I guess we'll have to see what this King Thorax has to say." He glanced back at the mirror. "Speak of the devil."
Mavis looked around and saw a large changeling standing in the mirror. This one was much taller, with bright green carapace, jewel-like amethyst eyes and matching wing covers, three gemstones embedded in its chest, and a huge pair of curved orange antlers.
