Dacula and Ericka drove steadily along the newly revitalized dirt road in the woods. They were still on Dracula's land but by order of the Vampire Court he had to host the new Little Vampire Campgrounds since he had burned down and publicly exposed the old camp location.
Between them sat their newly adopted daughter, Winnie the werewolf. Her fellow adopted brothers wrestled in the back of the hearse avoiding any damage to their human clothes hung above.
Ericka pet Winnie's head, "Don't worry, sweety, you're going to have tons of fun at camp. Dana said they've had plenty of other monsters attend over the years, your father even attended a couple times. And Dennis will be there too."
Winnie wagged her tail excitedly. "Oh, I wasn't scared momma-Helsing. I've been practicing for show and tell night. And Counselor Dana said I could help Dennis learn to be a wolf."
Dracula struck a zombie in the road. "Oh, come on! Beside the,... I specifically told them to walk beside the road, not on it. He was supposed to be back at the hotel hours ago, but this is what happens."
As they pulled up to a large log building Ericka pulled the back curtain open, "OK, boys, enough roughhousing. Woodrow, Wolfgang, human clothes, NOW!"
The hearse was greeted by a couple of counselors including Dana. Drac emerged and whistled at the building's construction. "Wow, going to be honest, when I sent my zombies up here to build the camp I wasn't expecting anything this nice."
Dana tapped his clipboard before stepping up to the ancient Count. "Well then, it is my great pleasure to reaffirm your expectations. This isn't the work of your zombies. Their craftsmanship is atrocious, we had to tear it all down and start over using telekinesis. Except for that gazebo, oddly perfect, really. It inspired several of our design choices for the rest of the camp."
Erica took Winnie and the boys up to the lavish cabin to check in while Dracula stayed to talk with Dana. "Soooo, how's the new camp working out then? Plenty of fun activities for the little vampires, I expect, and their guests?"
Dana squinted suspiciously at the Count's gestures of seemingly genuine curiosity. "Of course. We have three weeks of rotating content scheduled for the entire summer. Thanks to the judge's fairly generous allotment for the camp, we are able to accomodate more campers than ever before. I, I suppose I should extend the olive branch of peace and admit that when we asked for the whole realm of Walachia for the camp, I had no idea how vast the realm actually was. Much as I detest the idea of working with you on this every year, our organization could not have managed the entire realm on our own. So, you do your part, and we will do ours, forwarding the success of our future generations."
Dana was about to walk back but Dracula pushed with another question. "More campers, by how many? I mean, how many young vampires can there even be?"
Dana pushed his glasses up, "Well, sir, again, much as I am loath to admit any contribution you've made since meeting you, due to the generations of fear you instilled into the humans, vampires have been able to survive along-side the humans quite well all over the world. And due to the work of Judges like your great-grandfather, we haven't been killing each other either.
"But that is the past, and though our population has soared to over 35000, and about 3000 will be attending this summer, we are dwarfed by the human's growth rate. So, many of our lessons focus on living among the humans as friends and neighbors. We have to teach our young vampires not to follow in your legendarily bloody footprints."
Dracula nodded, "Yes, and I suppose I was too hard on you before. You are just going… how to say this? Well, I guess, I mean, I raised my daughter, er, my first daughter, without all the violence and stuff, well, without most of it, and I guess I just felt you were going several steps farther than I have been willing to, than I've been comfortable with. Ericka has been helping me see things from others perspectives and find my own hangups. But, I guess I should be going. I'll see you later, Dana. Take good care of my family."
Dana watched as Dracula got back into his herse and drove away. "Well, that went far better than I imagined it would." It wasn't until he got to the main cabin that he realized Ericka hadn't left with the Count. Even knowing she was married to a legendary vampire, Dana couldn't help but imagine the negative press if parents found out there was a fully trained Vanhelsing loose in the campgrounds.
"Hello, Director."
Dana looked to see the voice of whichever Counselor was addressing him by his internal leadership title. To anyone else, he was just another Counselor, but to the Board and to the other Counselors, he was the Camp Director. The voice had come from a familiar looking woman with a young werewolf on her black-T-shirt-uniformed shoulders. It took a moment to realize that her name badge read 'Counselor Vanhelsing (Ericka).'
"No, no no no. I am sorry, Ms. Dracula, Vanhelsing, whatever, but there is simply no way the board will…"
She held up a dossie. "The board already approved my position, and the new advertising campaign. The older campers will learn about dating humans from the toughest human vampires have ever known. They get a 'Date With a Vanhelsing' and I teach them how to be tender with any humans they might want to court, before or after they 'zing', better helping our peoples live together."
Dana looked over the information, honestly surprised at her impressive resume. "And what if a camper bites you? Many families still hate you."
"I've had a garlic infusion, and silver, and gold, platinum, cold iron, and the water in my body has been blessed to be holy water. As added protection, a coven of witches have placed some pretty powerful wards and counter-curses on me and my cabin. I assure you, Director, this was not done on a whim, I am well prepared to serve you and your campers."
Winnie whooped from above Ericka's head. "Yeah! Way to go, momma-helsing!"
Ericka high fived her new little girl on her shoulders before grabbing her sons' hands. "Now, I'm going to get my kids situated in the guest cabin and then I will join the pre-arrival meeting so I know what you want me to do when greeting the campers."
