Monster High: Sleepover

Monster High is copyright of Mattel

While reading about the new characters and plot of Frights Camera Action, I caught on the note in Elissabat's doll diary that she and Draculaura were friends when they were younger. It got me thinking that maybe Elissa was there when Laura decided to stop drinking blood, and what happened...

This is set after Frights Camera Action, but is spoiler free.

Elissabat could hear Laura gently humming as she ran a comb through the actress' hair, colouring it with a pre-treated dye. She remained perfectly still, not wanting to ruin her friend's work.

"Annnd, we're done!" Laura took a picture of her friend with the 'Vampire Proof' camera on her phone and handed it to her. "What do you think?"

Elissa examined the picture, delighted with how the red streaks in her hair looked. "They do look nice... they really stand out on my shade of hair."

"I knew you'd like it!" Laura smiled, pointing to a yellow streak next to the pink in her own hair. "Nothing like adding a touch of colour to cheer yourself up."

"Indeed." Elissa agreed. "It's a shame I'll have to wash it out in a few days. I can't exactly greet my adoring public looking like this. My agent would go batty."

Laura giggled and sat before her. "So now I've done that..." She pouted. "Could you pleeeeese tell me who you're dating?"

Elissa sighed. "I keep telling you, I'm not seeing anyone right now."

"Come on, you hang out with all those famous, handsome actors all day and you're not tempted to go out with one of them?! You must be seeing one of them in secret. Ooh, it's Robert Batterson isn't it? No, it's Chris Damnsworth!"

"Laura..." Elissa spoke firmly but calmly. "As goregeous as those guys are, I'm not really interested in dating someone in the same line of work. I've seen too many Hauntlywood romances crash and burn because they can't cope with the media attention. Besides..."

She smiled wistfully. "I'd rather be with someone who loves me for myself and not my status or fame. Like your dear Clawd does."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. That's one of the things I love about him, he's not intimidated by my family or their reputation. He loves me for me."

"You're lucky to have him."

Laura nodded in agreement. Then she heard the mansion's mighty doorbell ring. "Ooh, that must be the pizza."

"I'll get it." Elissa hopped up and rushed out of the room.

As she walked down the stairs, she reflected on how much fun she'd been having tonight. She could remember, over 400 years ago, how she and Laura had spent many nights at each others houses for sleepovers, playing games and doing their makeup and chatting about the latest gossip. Of all the things she had missed during her self imposed exile, not being able to see her closest friend had hurt the most.

Now that the whole Vampire Queen debacle was past them, she had leaped at the chance to reconnect with her old friend, to have another sleepover just like the old days. It didn't matter that she was perhaps a bit old for such things, she just wanted to have fun with Laura again.

At the door she found a delivery monster with their pizza (half vegan, half meat of course) and a box full of side dishes, including cheesy bites, breaded mushrooms and a full bottle of fresh cow blood. She paid the monster and made her way back to the room, meal in hand.

"Pizza's here." She placed the boxes on a table, smirking as she noticed Laura staring at it longingly.
"Oh good. I'm famished."

Elissa began arranging the sides on the table. "I've not had pizza in a long while, so I'm really looking forward..."

She stopped when she realized Laura was staring at her with a look of surprise, her face paler than usual.

"Laura? What's wrong?" She stepped closer, and Laura visibly flinched. She then realized Laura wasn't looking at her, but at the item she held in her hand. The bottle of blood.

"Did.. you want a drink?" She extended the bottle toward her. Laura's face dissolved into pure horror, and she leapt away from her.

"Keep it away!" She shrieked. Her breathing was becoming erratic, as if she was suffering a panic attack.

Elissa didn't understand at first, but then she remembered. An 400 year old memory, one she had never thought she would recall ever again.
She quickly placed the bottle outside the door, then ran back, dropping to her knees and holding Laura tightly.

"It's okay. It's gone."

Laura calmed down, and looked up at her with sad eyes. "I.. I'm sorry.."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I... I had no idea." Elissa apologized. "I just assumed after 400 years, you'd finally gotten over that phobia of blood."

"Well, I haven't." Laura replied.

"So.. you still don't drink blood?"

"I haven't touched a drop in centuries." Laura frowned at her. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't give me any grief about it. I get enough of that from Daddy."

"Of course." Elissa replied, concern in her voice. "Still, I'm rather surprised. How on earth have you gone without it so long?"

"Substitutes, mostly. I still take those iron drinks Hexiciah Steam taught me to make, and plenty of vegetables. And when father and I came out of hibernation a few years back, we discovered they made iron pills and supplements for monsters like me."

"But why? Why go to all that trouble when we can just buy blood in a store nowadays..."

"I think... you know why." Laura looked at her with an almost pleading gaze. "And I'd rather not talk about it, if that's alright."

"Al..right then." Elissa replied hesitantly. She didn't want to upset Laura further, but there was a nagging feeling that she should say something...

But then Laura instantly perked up, her cheery smile returning in a flash. "Hey come on, lets enjoy the rest of the night."

She grabbed a slice of pizza from the vegan side and took a bite, before reaching for her diePad. "I want to show you this hilarious cartoon I found online. It's called Scarbie: Life in the Screamhouse..."

Elissa was a bit perturbed by her friend's sudden mood swing, but decided to go along with it. As long as they were both enjoying themselves, there seemed to be no cause for alarm. Clearly Laura didn't consider her blood phobia that much of a problem.
She settled beside her to watch the cartoon, laughing as she watched two plastic dolls slapping each other to win a date with Scarbie.

For a vampire, Elissabat was a light sleeper. It didn't take much to rouse her, and the strange, muffled noises she could hear were definitely doing just that. As she sat up, she tried to make out the noise, and realized it was a voice.

"No... please... stop.."

She looked to the center of the bedroom, where Laura's coffin bed lay, closed up. She realized the voice was Laura herself, speaking loud enough to be heard through the lid.

"Laura?"

"No... don't do it. Please, this is wrong..."

Elissa got up and stepped cautiously toward the coffin, wondering if she should wake her friend up. Perhaps she was just having a vivid dream.
Suddenly, there were hard thumps coming from within the coffin, as if Laura was hitting the lid with her fists. She cried out, her voice full of terror and anguish.

"No no no... no! Stop! Please stop! They're just children! No... noooo!"

Elissa rushed forward and practically flung the lid off the coffin. Inside, Laura was thrashing about, flailing her arms and legs as if trying to hit something.

"Don't do it! Stop..."

Elissa grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Laura! Laura, wake up!"

Laura's eyes opened, and she gasped in shock. She panted for breath as Elissa pulled her upright, looking around as if trying to remember how she got here.

"Laura.. it's okay. You're safe, you're safe." Elissa spoke in a soothing voice, stroking her friend's hair. Laura seemed to calm down for a moment.

But as she remembered what happened, she burst into tears, prompting Elissa to hold her to her chest. Several moments of sobbing passed before Elissa asked. "What happened?"

"That dream... I had that dream again." Laura whimpered. "I was watching myself... in the hospital... and I tried to stop myself but i couldn't. I had to watch as I... I.."

She sobbed and buried her face into Elissa's shoulder. "You know... what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Elissa nodded stiffly.

"I try not to think about... that night." Laura continued. "But when I see blood... it just reminds me of what happened... what I did."

She broke into tears again. Elissa was silent as she held her close, thinking of the past. 400 years had passed, but she remembered that night all too well.

It had started innocently enough. They had decided to celebrate Laura's 1200th birthday not with a party, but with a night on the streets of Sebes. They had frequented many bars, both regular ones and vampire ones which served various bloods mixed with strange ingredients. They had laughed and danced, and tasted many fine wines and blood types.

Far, far too many wines and blood types.

Getting drunk on both alcohol and blood is a dangerous combination. Your common sense and restraint is deteriorated, and the thirst for more blood is stronger than ever. Neither of them cared, they were too busy enjoying the warm giddy feeling their indulgence gave them.

They had still wanted more, so when all the bars closed up, she had suggested that they break into the nearby hospital and partake of the stores of blood for transfusions there. Both of them wouldn't normally be so stupid as to try something so dangerous, but reason was not with them on this night.

Getting into the building had been easy, but to find what they were looking for, they had decided to split up and search the floors. And that, in her opinion, had been a grave mistake.
She had been searching through a ward when she heard a high pitched scream. She'd darted to the other side of the building, and come across a room marked 'Children's Ward.'

To her utter horror, Laura was inside. And feeding on the children.

Several of the children lay in their beds, soaked in their own blood and moaning in pain. They were still alive, but only just. Laura was bent over a small girl, greedily sucking at her throat.

She wasn't sure if it was her own cry of protest or the girl crying out for her mother, but either way Elissa saw Laura release the girl and stand back, her eyes wide and her blood stained face pale. She had collapsed to the floor, shivering in shock. Elissa had to quickly treat the children, applying some saliva to the bite marks to heal their wounds, before grabbing Laura and dragging her out of the building.

They returned home and remained indoors for several days until the coast was clear. Miraculously, the children had just survived their ordeal. The human populace were terrified though, and had called on the services of local vampire hunters, including Van Hellscream himself, to keep watch over the town.
When Laura had visited her a short time later, she had seemed fine, apologizing over and over for getting them into trouble. Elissa had accepted, knowing there was little point in beating themselves up over it, and that it could have been worse.

But when she had offered Laura a glass of cows blood, she had refused. Not just refused, but flat out retreated in terror from the goblet she had offered.

Elissa thought it was just a one time thing, a bad memory from the night before resurfacing. But in the month that followed, Laura had refused to drink blood of any kind. Her father was absolutely livid with worry. But Laura had insisted that she was fine, and was just a little worried about losing control after what had happened.

Her quiet voice, and the haunted look in her eyes whenever Elissa pressed the subject, suggested that there was something much more at the root of this sudden phobia of hers. That night had changed her.

She never got the chance to find out. Shortly after, the encroaching vampire hunters had forced their families to move to new homes. And then Elissa had been chosen as the new Vampire Queen, and everything had changed. It would be centuries before she saw Laura again.

She'd always assumed that if they ever met again Laura would have gotten over the incident and her fear of blood. 400 years was plenty of time to get over anything, surely.
Now as she sat there holding her distraught friend, it was clear that the events of that night had never truly left her.

She gently stroked Laura's hair. "Laura... what happened was an accident. A horrible accident, but that's all. You couldn't have known there were... people on that floor. And in your state, you couldn't have stopped yourself."

"It doesn't matter." Laura sobbed. "I... I almost killed them."

"But you didn't. And ever since then, you have been nothing but good and kind to everyone. You've done so many good things since then. You saved my life from Lord Stoker. You shouldn't have that night hanging over your head. You've more than made up for it."

"I know..." Laura whimpered. "But I can never take it back. And I will always fear that it might happen again.."

Elissa nodded in understanding. "Yes... remembering the past is important... but no one should have to relive it all the time."

They fell silent again, Elissa continuing to stroke her friend's hair in a soothing motion.
"Do you feel a little better? She asked after some time.

Laura nodded. "I think so.."

"Could you sleep? You might feel better in the morning."

She laid Laura gently onto her mattress. Laura looked at her pleadingly. "Could you stay next to me? Just in case I panic again?"

"Of course."

"Thank you Elissa." Laura smiled gratefully as she settled under the covers and made space for Elissa. "You're a wonderful friend."

No. No she wasn't.

A true friend would have known there was something wrong earlier. A true friend wouldn't have run away from the country when her best friend needed her most. If she had stayed and tried to help, perhaps she wouldn't be suffering years later.

But she could be here for her now. And after this, she could give her support at the times when her friends could not.

She owed her that much.

She laid down, snuggling next to Laura and holding her hand tightly. She didn't drift off to sleep until she heard Laura's quiet breathing.

END