Monster High: Talent

Monster High is copyright of Mattel

This little story came about while thinking about Draculaura's powers, or lack of them compared to every other cast member. Th fact that she never uses vampire powers in the webisodes or movies always made me wonder if she could use them at all, and what she could do about it. I hope the upcoming Frights Camera Action movie will address this issue, but until then... here's my take on it. I hope you enjoy.

Many people believed that vampires never needed sleep, that they never got tired. Dracula would dearly love to take those people and drag them along on a normal day at his work just to show them how tired a vampire could get. Long meetings with bankers, signing agreements with dignitaries from Transylvania, writing up reports... sometimes he felt leading a war campaign against the Turks had been easier than running a bank.

As he plodded towards the stairs, eager to fall into his coffin and sleep for a few centuries, he noticed a light was on in the library. He opened the ajar door and peered inside. It was pitch black, save for a candle-lit lantern on one of the reading desks.

Laura was sat at the desk, resting her head atop her crossed arms as she dozed. Surrounding her were several large dusty books, left open at several passages.
Dracula couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Even centuries later, his daughter could still be rather adorable.
He moved closer to drape his coat over her shoulders, but stopped when he noticed the books around her. They were all about vampire lore and history, about famous vampires and their feats.

Laura awoke, and looked up blearily at her father. "Oh... hello Papa. How was your day?"

"Very long, and very boring." He sighed, taking a chair and sitting next to her.

Laura smiled. "Well, my day consisted of reciting from Umberto Eeko books, studying math, and helping clean the Home Ick kitchen, so we're about even."

Dracula smirked, then glanced at the books. "So, what are all these about? Some homework?"

"Not really. It's more of a... personal thing." She spoke, a nervous timbre in her voice.

He raised an eyebrow. "Anything I can help you with?"

She lowed her eyes away from him. "Maybe... I don't know..."

Despite his tired state, he could sense something was bothering her. "Come on now, what's the matter?"

Laura sat quietly for several moments, before she looked back up at him. "I want a special power."

He blinked. "What... kind of power?"

"Any kind!" She raised her voice, her frustration evident.. "To be able to turn into a bat, to mesmerize people, to fly.. I don't care. I just want something like every other vampire!"

"Calm down. Now, where has this come from? You've never complained about not having powers before."

Laura stared at him darkly. "Papa, in the last two years I've been kidnapped by a Van Hellscream, nearly been molested by my ex boyfriend, bore witness to an army of normies trying to destroy the school, and been trapped inside a magical deathtrap by an evil genie. Who knows what's going to happen to me next! That's why I need a power."

He had to admit, she had a point. A lot of strange things had happened to her since joining that school. "Yes, but you got through all that unscathed.."

"Only because my friends helped me." She replied angrily.

She looked into the darkness surrounding them, thinking about the past. "All of my ghoulfriends have these amazing powers which have saved us time and again whenever we got into trouble. Frankie can just zap anything that gets in her way. Abbey can do incredible things with her ice powers. Clawdeen's so fast and agile that nothing can catch her. Lagoona can go anywhere under the ocean. And Ghoulia's so smart than she can think of any solution to any problem. Even Cleo's got all those magical idols in her purse she can use in a pinch."

She looked down at her hands. "But me? I can't do anything. I've got no powers, no talents... I can't even move quickly like a proper vampire. I have to rely on everyone else to save me. I'm the most useless vampire in the world and I'm sick of it! I want to be able to save myself, and my friends if need be. And to do that I need some kind of power."

She gestured towards the books. "So I've been reading about vampire powers. How they came about, how famous vampires discovered theirs.. I thought I would be able to find some kind of way to awaken my powers. Like a special ritual or something."

She slumped back in her chair, a defeated look on her face. "But no matter how far I look, all the books say the same thing."

"A vampire's powers only manifest when they have reached full maturity." Dracula finished, knowing this all too well from his own distant youth. "And in order to reach that state..."

"I have to drink blood." Laura spoke, downfallen. "So its hopeless."

Silence passed before Dracula decided to state the obvious. "You could always just start drinking blood."

"You know that's not an option for me."

"No one will think any less of you if.."

"I can't!" Laura cried out, glaring at him harshly. "I'm sorry... I just can't..." Her voice trailed off as she turned away from him.

Dracula shrugged. Well, it was worth a shot. He edged his chair closer and put his arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. Any fatigue he felt was pushed aside by the desire to cheer his daughter up, even if he couldn't convince her to do what was natural.

"Darling, do you remember when our... old friend Valentine came to town?"

"Regrettably."

"He thought that with his power to hypnotize people, he had the world in the palm of his hand. He could seduce anyone he wanted and no one could stop him. You know what happened next though, right?"

Laura nodded, a small smile returning to her face. "I remembered how much I love Clawd and broke his spell."

"And without that, the poor fool didn't have a leg to stand on." Dracula grinned at the memory. Learning how that little pimple had gotten his comeuppance had been very satisfying.

He looked his daughter in the eye. "Laura, the powers we monsters have are great gifts, and can be very useful. But they are not the solution to every problem we face, and they are not what define us. I mean, look at me. Did I get where I am today by flapping around as a bat and sucking everyone's blood? No. It took a lot of hard work, determination and centuries of experience to make my business a success."

"And scaring the living daylights out of all your enemies." Laura finished, smirking.

"Well, that helped." He shrugged. "The point is, all of us are more than just the powers we possess. Do we respect Dr Stein because of his strength and power over electricity, or because he's the best damn doctor in town? Do you stay with your friends because their powers are useful, or because they're good friends? Do you like Clawd because of his skill and status as a football player, or..." He frowned. "For whatever inexplicable reason you adore him so much?"

Laura could help but giggle at the face he made as he mentioned Clawd in a positive light for once.
"I know what you mean, Papa." She spoke. "I do understand. Its just hard to remember sometimes. Everyone else has such amazing talents compared to me."

"You're hardly untalented. You're an excellent writer. You're the only cook I know who can make tofu taste good. And I recall when you were a little girl, you were quite a talented gymnast."

Laura raised an eyebrow. "I don't think climbing every beam and rafter in our old castle in Dacia so I could feed the bats counts me as a gymnast."

"You were good at it though." Dracula smiled. "It drove your mother mad with worry every time you went up to the roof, but you never fell down once. And judging from your fearleading sessions, you still remember some of it."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Perhaps one day, you will develop a power. Instead of worrying about when that time comes, you should work on developing the talents you already have. If you spend more time on them, they're sure to come in useful when you need them. And if there's one thing we've got, its plenty of time."

Laura crossed her arms, thinking. "I would like to improve my art. Everything I paint looks like a two year old drew it."

She sighed. "But still, painting and writing aren't going to be much help if someone's trying to hurt me."

"So really, it's not so much a power you want, but a way to protect yourself and your friends." Dracula rubbed his chin in thought. "You know.. I might be able to help you with that."

"You could?" Laura stared at him with eager eyes. "How? Tell me please!"

"I'll explain in the morning. Right now, I think we both need some sleep."

"What? But I want to know now..."

"In the morning, I promise."

Laura pouted, though she had to admit she was tired. "Oh alright..."

Father and daughter headed upstairs, where Dracula waited for Laura to get changed before tucking her in and planting a kiss on her forehead as she closed her coffin.
Satisfied she was asleep, he moved downstairs. While he was feeling tired himself, there were a few things he needed to get ready in the morning. He pulled out his phone.

"Renfield? Whatever you're doing, drop it. I need you to drag a few things out of storage..."

Laura had trouble sleeping that night, too excited about whatever it was her father was going to show her. When she came down to eat breakfast the next morning, she was practically vibrating in her seat.

What did Papa have planned? Was he going to give her some kind of magical amulet which would enable her to turn into a bat? Had he asked some mad scientist to create a potion to give her psychic powers? It didn't matter. At last she would finally stop being useless and be able to help her friends.

After breakfast, Renfield the butler told her that her father was waiting for her in the large room at the back of the mansion, which was usually reserved for large parties and her father's business meetings. Puzzled, she headed to the room and opened the door. A gasp of surprise left her lips as she saw what was inside.

The once empty room was now filled with several pieces of dusty gymnastic training equipment. Balance beams, a pommel horse, uneven bars and a springboard. There was also a wooden stand filled with fencing foils and wooden sticks. The majority of the floor was covered by a large, soft mat.
And standing in the center, clad in a white full-body protective suit, was her father, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Ah, my dear daughter. Good to see you're awake. We have a busy day ahead of us."

"Father... what is all this?" Laura gestured around the room.

"Oh, it's Monster High's old gymnastic equipment." He replied casually. "The school used to have a decent gymnastics program back in the seventies, but they were forced to shut it down due to lack of funds. So Mrs Bloodgood put all this into a storage facility my company owns..."

"I mean, what's it all doing in our house?"

"It's for you. You can use these to practice your techniques for fearleading and gymnastics. And this..." He indicated the mat and sword stand. "Is so I can teach you sword fighting and self defense."

"Sword fighting?" Laura gasped. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am." Dracula smiled. "I promised you that I would give you a way to protect yourself and your friends, did I not?"

"Well, yes..." Laura replied, still rather stunned. "I just thought you were going to do something a bit more... supernatural."

Dracula snorted. "What, give you some magical table ornament like the ones Ramses keeps giving to his daughter? Please. If you want great power, you have to work for it. And besides, this is much more beneficial. You'll get exercise, you'll learn discipline, and you're always saying we need to spend more time together. It'll be fun."

Laura stepped toward the sword stand and pulled out a fencing foil. She held it up, apprehension on her face as she studied the weapon.

"Papa... don't think I don't appreciate all this effort you made but... I'm not sure about this."

"What for? It's not hard to pick up, you should be able to learn all the skills you need in a few months..."

"Not that. It's just... a ghoul like me, sword fighting? How would that look? I mean, who even sword fights anymore?"

"Dracula frowned. "Oh don't tell me you're worried that your classmates are going to laugh at you if you know how to fight."

"Well.. maybe.. I mean, ghouls don't normally carry swords around. Or fight" Laura crossed her arms, staring at her feet in worry. "What if I scare my friends and Clawd away because they think I'm some kind of axe-wielding, violent weirdo?"

"Well, you'd be no stranger than anyone else at that school. I've met your friends Laura. Annoying as they are, I know they wouldn't reject you over something like this. And if they do, then clearly you need better friends."

"Papa, I'm serious."

"And so am I. Maybe a few centuries ago I would have found the idea of a woman fighting preposterous, but times change, and so must our perceptions of what society says we can and can't do. You showed me that a vampire can live without blood. Let me show you that a ghoul can fight when she needs to. At least try for a week or so. If you don't think it's for you, then I'll drop it."

Laura stared at him with awe. "Do you really think I can do it?"

"I know you can, if you're willing." Dracula held her shoulder. "So, how about it?"

Laura looked at the foil in her hand once again. While she still wasn't a hundred percent sure this was for her, she had to admit she was curious to see if she could really do it. And her father had gone to all this effort, the least she could do for him was give it a go.

"Okay." She held the sword toward him. "I'll try."

Two months later...

Rain was beginning to fall as Laura led the Fear Squad, along with Abbey, Lagoona and Ghoulia, toward her mansion for a study session.

"Uggh, I hate when it rains. It always freezes to my skin." Abbey moaned.

"At least you don't short out." Frankie replied, checking her phone. "And it looks like it's going to rain heavily all night."

"Thank Ra you invited us here to study." Cleo spoke gratefully to Laura. "My palace just doesn't keep in the heat as well as your place."

"No problem ghouls. It's always nice to have company. It can get a bit lonely when Papa's at work and it's just me and Renfield." Laura grinned.

She opened the mansion doors and led them inside the foyer. The dark painted room was lit by a couple of chandeliers hanging overhead, illuminating the large staircase at the back of the room.
Laura closed her umbrella and shook off the excess water. "Do you ghouls want a bite to eat before we get started..."

Lagoona abruptly gasped. The other ghouls followed her frightened gaze towards the stairwell. Standing at the top was a tall figure dressed completely in black, including shades and a bandana covering his face.

Laura stepped forward. "Who are you?! What are you doing in my house?"

"Someone call the police!" Cleo wailed.

The stranger didn't say anything. Instead he reached into his jacket and pulled out a large sword, which he pointed at them.

With speed not possible from anyone human, he leapt into the air towards them, the sword raised ready to strike. The ghouls cried out in fright. Abbey was so stunned, she barely remembered to call upon her ice powers.

But then the unexpected happened.

Laura stepped forward and held up her umbrella horizontally, blocking the swing of the assailant's sword as he landed. She pushed the sword away and thrust the umbrella into the man's chest, pushing him back.
The assailant recovered and readied his sword. Laura responded by holding her umbrella in a classic fencing stance. The other ghouls watched, stunned and wondering what would happen next.

The two charged at each other, swinging their weapons. The stranger moved with inhuman speed, his sword a blur of grey as he swung and thrust it at her. But every time, Laura moved her umbrella at just the right moment to block the blow.

For several tense minutes they continued like this, weapons clashing and colliding, each fighter attempting to disarm and stagger the other. But despite the intruder's agility, Laura never once let up an opening. She never missed a beat, maneuvering her umbrella to block every blow with no effort at all.

Her face was fixed in a determined frown, her eyes set in a cold, angry gaze on her opponent. The ghouls watched in quiet amazement, they had never seen Laura like this before.

The intruder managed to back Laura up against the wall. He then reared his sword back and charged forward, his sword pointed right at her.

Laura responded by throwing her body to the side at the last moment. She performed a small cartwheel towards the stairwell, before leaping up to balance perfectly atop the stair rail. The intruder turned and swung at her, only to miss as she performed a backflip in the air. She flew over him in a perfect arc, landing behind him. Before he could even react, she ducked and swung her leg in a sweeping kick, knocking him off his feet.

As he fell, Laura spun around, swinging the umbrella at him with as much force as she could muster. It hit him in the chest, the impact sending him skidding across the wooden floor and smack into a wall.
Seeing him sprawled against the wall in an obvious daze. Laura slowly approached him, the umbrella raised ready to retaliate.

The other ghouls warily edged nearer, still stunned by what they had just seen.

"Wh.. what the hell was that?!" Clawdeen exclaimed.

"Laura..." Frankie murmured, staring at her friend with wide eyes. "How... how on earth did you do that?"

"My father taught me." Laura replied, keeping her gaze fixed on the intruder. She pointed the umbrella an inch from his face. "Now... why did you break into my house?!"

The intruder raised his arms in surrender. "Wait Miss Laura, it's me!" He quickly removed his shades and bandana.

Laura gasped as she recognized the gaunt face of the family butler. "Renfield?!"

She knelt down to examine him. "Omigod, are you alright?! Did I hurt you?!"

"Why in the name of Anubis is your butler trying to kill us?!" Cleo cried out.

"Renfield, why would you..." Laura began, but then realization hit her. She stood up, her face etched in anger. "Father, where are you?! I know you set this up!"

There was a brief gale of wind, and Dracula suddenly appeared before them, seemingly out of nowhere. He clapped his hands, looking uncharacteristically happy.

"Well done my dear, well done!" He cheered. "I saw the whole thing, you were fantastic! I can see there's little more I need to teach you."

Laura was not pleased. "Father, how could you? I could have hurt Renfield!"

"Oh he was in no danger. You forget he served in the War of the Roses before he came to work for me."

"That's not the point! You can't just tell people to attack other people, even if they do work for you. This isn't the Dark ages!"

Dracula held up his hands. "Alright, I'm sorry. Besides, it was partly Renfield's idea." He pointed at the butler, who nodded. "We just wanted to give you a little test, to see how much you had learned."

"You could have just asked for a duel."

"Ah, but I know that you tend to hold back a little when we spar, for fear you may injure me. This way, by making you think you were really in danger, we could see what you could really do."

"But Father, you can't..." She shut her eyes and growled in frustration. It was pointless to argue with him, she knew from experience that he could wrangle his way out of anything . "God, you are so maddening sometimes!"

"Oh, look on the bright side." Dracula said. "You've shown you can be brave when the situation calls for it, and you've proven to your friends that you can protect them."

Laura nearly fell over when she realized her friends had seen the entire thing. Even now they were still looking at her with amazement in their eyes.
She froze on the spot. She hadn't wanted her friends to know about her training, not like this! They were terrified of her now, she just knew it.
She cringed as she saw Clawdeen step toward her. She had no idea what to say.

"Laura... that... was.."

Laura turned away. "I'm sorry..."

"Freaking clawsome!"

"Eh?" Laura blinked as she saw Clawdeen's excited expression.
"That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen anyone do!" Clawdeen gushed.

"It was amazing!" Frankie joined in, equally enthralled. "It was a little scary too, but watching you defend yourself... I had no idea you could do that!"

Abbey nodded in agreement. "Know warriors from home village who could learn few tricks from you."

Laura rubbed the back of her head, suddenly feeling embarrassed by all this praise.

"And you saved us from that mugger!" Cleo spoke up. "I mean, he wasn't really a mugger, but still... you saved our lives! More or less."

"Well.. I couldn't just stand by again and let you ghouls get hurt. I've done it too many times before. That's why I learned to sword fight with Father. So I could help you."

"You... you did this for us?" Frankie said. "Why didn't you tell us about this?"

"I love you ghouls, and I hated being useless you when you were in danger. I hated not having powers like you. So I decided to learn from Father and develop my own way to protect others. But I was scared this might weird you out..."

"Why would we be scared?" Clawdeen raised an eyebrow. "You're still the same ghoul we know and love. We're not going to be scared of you just because you suddenly know how to kick some ass."

"In fact, I think this just makes you an even more awesome friend." Lagoona smiled confidently. "We were a tough bunch of ghouls before, but now we're totally unbeatable."

The next thing they knew, Laura was rushing toward them, arms outstretched. They all gathered together for a tight, affirming group hug.

"Thank you ghouls.." She whispered.

"Well, I'm glad that turned out for the better." Dracula spoke up, interrupting the ghoul's close moment. "Now then, to make up for my little joke back there. I would like to invite you all to have dinner with us."

"Oh, thank you Mr D." Frankie replied. "Just let us check with our parents."

Dracula nodded, then glanced at Renfield. "Make a start on dinner, would you?"

Renfield rolled his eyes and hobbled off, rubbing his sore back.

As the ghouls moved to text and call their parents, Laura sidled up to her father.

"Alright dad, they didn't mind after all. You were right."

"Well, I usually am." He replied.

She frowned at him. "I'm still mad at you for pulling that stunt and scaring my friends."

"Well, how can I make it up to you? Some new shoes, perhaps?"

"I have a better idea... dinner at Chez Sangre for me and Clawd tomorrow?"

Dracula flinched at the notion of paying to feed her annoying boyfriend, but the stern look in her eyes told him she wasn't about to let this go. "I suppose I could book you a table..." He sighed.

Laura laughed and hugged him tightly. "Thank you Papa... for everything."

Dracula said nothing, but had a small grin on his face. His daughter could drive him batty sometimes, but it was worth it to see her smile.

END