Fanfiction- Laura Dracul
Title: Laura Dracul
Fandom: Monster High/Hammer horror films
Summary: Laura doesn't want to remember her life back in the castle, before she was taken in by the Van Helsings.
Challenge: 30 Day Dark Fandom Challenge
Prompt: Bad memories
Warnings: Childhood trauma
It was partly the case that Laura could not remember her life before the Van Helsings adopted her, and partly that she didn’t want to. Why should she want to return to the dark hallways and sad-faced adults, the scent of something salty forever clinging to the air? Now she lived in a house filled with sunlight, and her parents never forced her to so much as touch meat if she didn’t want to. She had brothers, and though tiresome at times they could be good company when they stopped being foolish for half a moment. She had a mother and father who loved her, who read to her whatever stories she wanted to hear, who taught her English and French (though she could never manage to entirely lose her native accent.) Her father even mentioned something about Chinese, but her mother had laughed and said to wait until the girl was older.
Why should she ever think back to before the night that she had been brought away from the castle? Van Helsing (that was what she thought of him as back then, before he adopted her) had found her in her room, and his face had filled with despair to see her. He had taken her hand and felt for her pulse (faint and slow, but still present), then asked her to come with him into town. She never wanted to be put in another home, nor to return to the one she’d left. And in time, she came to call Van Helsing her father, and to try to forget the tall, angry man who used to claim the title.
Laura grew steadily (to the obvious relief of her parents) and settled into a cozy countryside life, eventually becoming an older sister and an eager student. By the age of sixteen, she was lovely- she knew because her mother had said so. She was delicate, and screamed when little Leland tried to tease her by waving a dead mouse near her face (he’d apologized later, saying he had no idea it would upset her that much.) She was happy and kind and everything a daughter should be, and looking forward to being more.
Once she finally wiped away the last memories of her father and his lovers, she might even begin to investigate the village boys. Even with her peculiarities, she’d get on well enough.
Perhaps none of it would have come to mind at all if she hadn’t heard her parents whispering one night. Laura pressed her ear to the door and listened as best she could to them, as she could tell from their tones that it was something important.
“-only rumors, but we can’t afford to ignore them.”
“I know, my love, I know.”
“He hasn’t come for us yet, but we can’t be sure.”
“It isn’t us I’m worried about. What if he comes to claim his child?”
The next morning, her father came to her with a smile on his face.
“You’re growing so quickly, Laura. It isn’t fair that a young lady should be forced to stay in a place with so few girls her own age. How would you like to go to a school in the mountains? It’ll be lovely, and you’ll make friends fast, I’m sure!”
Laura didn’t need to ask to know the school would be far away. If she hadn’t overheard anything, she would have jumped at the chance. Since she had, she took it as the only option available. All she could hope for was to drown out the old memories with new ones; that, and keep safe.