When Elanore woke up, her head was resting on a different lap than she was used to. A hand reached down and stroked her hair. Elanore's vision slowly came into focus, and she saw a familiar face. Her mother looked down at her with a small smile, but there was a difference. I never knew her hair started graying.
"You had everyone worried..."
Elanore listened to the words, but she saw her mother's smile fade. She could hear the thumping of Penelope's heart. She could see the wrinkles that started to paint her mother's age. Ella swallowed nervously.
"Mom, I'm sorry I..."
Penelope lifted her daughter up into her arms. She embraced Ella into a tight hug, pressing the vampire to her chest as if she was still a little girl. Soft whimpers exited Penelope's mouth, and tears ran down her face. "I missed you so much," she sniffled between words, "I knew that you were still alive."
Ella felt her mother's warm embrace, and the words made her swallow again, choking down her own tears. The two of them sat there for a while in a silence where all they did was hug each other. Nothing else in the world seemed to matter, except for a mother and a daughter.
When they finally separated, Penelope looked like she still wanted to hold Ella even more.
The vampire's eyes flickered around the dark temple room. They were truly alone, besides a pedestal in the center of it. She stood up and reached a hand out to help Mom to her feet.
Penelope grinned and took the outstretched hand.
Ella took a deep breath. "How did you know it was me? And what happened while I was out? Where did the others go?"
"Those two girls told me everything. At first I was so confused, but when I saw your pink hair and that witch outfit, I knew it was true. Those two girls are nice. They gave us some space. The one girl...Naela, she told me that I should scold you."
Ella's eyes widened and a small laugh left her mouth. She summoned her staff and held it in the air before casting a small light spell, illuminating the area. "I don't even know what I should start with. A lot has happened since the last time we saw each other."
Penelope's eyes adjusted to the room's light. "Can you start there? Why did you stop talking to me this whole time? Was I a bad mother?"
Ella shook her head. Her mother's words hit where it hurt, even if she didn't mean to. It was soul crushing and made the vampire recall all of those phone calls that she let ring. She'd even considered blocking her mother's number altogether, but the torment of the phone calls was Ella's own kind of reminder. I am not that person anymore.
"No," the witchpire said, "you were not a bad mother. You were the best mom I could ever ask for, and I left you alone. I took my frustration out on you, and you didn't deserve it. I was a terrible person and did a terrible thing."
"That's not..."
"It is true. I resented you for all of the moving. Every time we moved somewhere else for your job, I could never make friends. I ended up feeling lonely, and I always blamed you in the end. Even though you were just doing your best to keep a roof over our heads, I started resenting you."
Penelope reached out and held onto Elanore's cheeks, wiping the vampire's tears away with her fingers. "How long did you feel this way?"
"It was there ever since middle school. Remember when we moved to the second house in Roggsboro? I lost the few friends I started to make, and I felt hurt."
"My little Ella, I knew it was hurting you the whole time, but I didn't know how I could make you feel better. I wanted you to grow up in a nice home with loving parents. But each time we moved, I could see how much my little girl was hurting. I wanted to make things better between us. I wanted you to smile again."
The witchpire sighed. "It's not your fault. I am sorry I left you alone all of this time. You say all of this, and you ask me if you were a bad mother. Meanwhile, you never blamed me for anything. No matter how much I hurt you, you still tried to call me."
"A mother will never give up on her daughter. After all, I love you more than anything."
"I-I love you too, mom."
Penelope hugged her daughter once again and spoke softly into her ear. "This is the best gift you could have given me."
"Can you forgive me for leaving you?"
"Of course...Better yet, why don't we start over again?" Penelope nudged her daughter away and smiled. "After all, you are a completely different person now."
Elanore's cheeks reddened slightly. "I would love that. Is it really okay?"
"Yes, the only thing I wanted was to see you again. I never wanted to lose you. To me, you are the most important thing that's ever happened in my life."
"Really? What about my dad?"
"He was important, too, but there is a world of difference. When I held you in my arms for the first time, I knew that I never wanted to let go." Penelope squeezed pinched both of Elanore's cheeks slightly. "You had the chubbiest little baby cheeks. Now my little girl is all grown up...and pink."
Elanore couldn't help a laugh from leaving her mouth. "Did you expect it?"
"Are you kidding me? You always had those pink posters in your room, even from a young age. You loved those magical girl shows and those with witches. When you were really little, you would play in the yard and tell me you were going to be a great witch." Penelope looked at the floating pink light in the room. "It seems that you were right."
Ella fidgeted shyly with her staff. "What do you think?"
"I think you are the cutest thing I ever laid my eyes on, but I also thought that when you were a baby." Elanore's mother looked around the room. "Are we really in another world?"
"Yep, I expected you to panic more."
"Oh, trust me, I was scared at first. I think I fainted when you brought me over here, and when I opened my eyes again, there were two strange girls. One of them had horns and a tail! Imagine my surprise...
But then I learned that she was a good person. When I saw you on the ground, I had a strange feeling. There was a part of me that already knew who it was, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. The longing to see my daughter again overwrote all of the fear inside of me."
Elanore's eyes widened. "Wow, you are so strong. I wish that I knew how strongly you felt before..."
"We have been reunited. That is the wish I longed for, and you gave it to me."
The witchpire scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Mom, there is something I need to tell you. That girl, Naela, she is..."
"She is your girlfriend?"
"Huh? How did you..."
"It was only a guess, but I guess I was right all along."
Ella swallowed again. "You really don't mind? I mean...that it's not a boy?"
Penelope shook her head. "I really don't mind. I did want a granddaughter some day, but I wanted you to be happy more than that. However, it seems I might already have a granddaughter?"
The witchpire blinked several times in confusion before it dawned on her. "Neshy?"
"That's the one."
Ella chuckled. "She is not really my daughter. At least, not in a biological sense, but I think I might have created her?"
"I see. Nonetheless, I will treat her as a granddaughter anyways." Mother walked forwards and grabbed the hem of Ella's robes. "I must say that I love how cute you look. It makes me remember a silly fantasy that I had when I was younger."
"What? What kind of fantasy?"
Penelope laughed nervously. "Just like how you were when you were younger, I also had a silly dream when I was younger. I always wanted to be a bunny girl."
"What? Seriously? You never told me about this."
"That's because it was just a silly childhood dream. Normally kids grow out of these things, yet you kept wanting to be a witch. Every day, I got more and more worried that older kids would pick on you."
"Wait, wait, wait, did you really want to be a bunny girl? Why a bunny girl?"
Penelope laughed. "Are you that curious about it? When I was a little girl, there were certain cartoons that were popular, and a lot of them had bunny girls. I actually used to hop around, and on one Halloween, your grandpa gave me a bunny costume. That was one of my best childhood memories."