It was a calm, quiet evening at the Scare B&B. Miranda has come over to visit her favorite family of monsters, the Hauntleys.
Miranda and Vampirina were watching one of Miranda's favorite movies, 'Field of Screams'.
And Vee was loving it! She loved Miranda's scary movies. It wasn't just her. Demi, Gregoria, even Chef Remy Bones were watching the movie!
"This movie is delightful!" Remy said, munching on his popcorn.
"You bet! It's a scream a minute! Literally!" said Demi.
"They don't make 'em like this anymore!" Gregoria said. "You always bring the best movies, Miranda!"
Miranda smiled. "Only the best for my best friends."
Boris and Oxana Hauntley chuckled as they walked in. "We wish we could stay and watch the movie, but we have to go to Vee's uh..." Boris scratched his head. "What was it called again?"
"Parent teacher conference." Miranda said. "You just go in and talk to the teachers, mingle with other parents, and just see how Vee's doing in school. And knowing our little vamp here, she's gonna get a good review from Mr. Gore." She ruffled Vee's hair.
Vee giggled. "Thanks, Miranda."
"We can't thank you enough for running the hotel, Miranda." Oxana said. "Ms. Juniper, a human guest is coming tonight. So make sure she's welcome and comfortable!"
Miranda gave the motherly vampire a thumbs up. "You can count on me, Mrs. H!"
And so, Vee and her parents left for the school conference. The movie was over, so she got up and stretched. "Alright! So, what do you want to do now, guys?"
"I suggest I will prepare a spooktacular meal for our guest tonight!" Remy suggested.
"Good idea! And we'll make sure to hide anything abnormal." Miranda said. "I don't want our guest getting scared off."
And so, Miranda, Demi, and Gregoria got to work. Demi triple locked the dungeon door, Gregoria hid the living portrait of Uncle Deeder, and Miranda showed Penelope, the mummy and the dancing skeletons down to the basement.
"Okay, everyone! We've got a human guest tonight so let's lay low down here!" Miranda said.
Everyone nodded and voiced their agreement.
"Miranda! Fetch me some canned cobwebs for my stew!" Remy called from upstairs.
"Coming!" Miranda went to the pantry to get the canned cobwebs. "I hope Remy's stew isn't too monstrous."
Back upstairs, Demi and Gregoria were rummaging through Miranda's scary movie DVDs.
"Ooooh! This one looks good! It's called, 'The Slime'." Demi giggled with excitement.
"Well, what are waiting for? Let's pop it in!" Gregoria was going to put in the disc when a news bulletin stopped her.
"We interrupt this program to bring you this newsflash from Officer Johnson of the Pennsylvania PD." The officer's face was shown on TV. "People of Pennsylvania, please be on the lookout for notorious neighborhood thief Scott Freeman. We will apprehend this fugitive. We ask that everyone should keep their doors and windows locked."
A picture of Scott Peterson was shown. He was a young man in his early twenties with short, spiky blonde hair, brown eyes and a piercing on his lower lip.
"Holy haunted houses!" Demi screamed. "We gotta lock everything down!"
The ghost and gargoyle ran all over the house and locked everything that had a lock on it. The doors, windows, chests that contained supernatural terrors.
Demi rushed into the kitchen and went through Miranda. "AAAAH!" She shivered as she felt ghostly chills down her spine. "Demi! What did I tell you about that?!"
"Sorry! But we need to barricade the doors! A robber is on the loose! They just reported it on TV!" The ghost grabbed a chair, a suit of armor, and Uncle Deeder then put them against the door.
Chef Remy jumped in alarm, nearly dropping his mixing spoon. "Oh, my! This is bad! This is very bad!" He went a drawer and took out several sharp knives. "We must prepare ourselves!"
"GUYS!" Miranda shouted. Everyone froze.
Miranda sighed. "Listen it'll be fine. We live in the creepiest, most haunted house in Pennsylvania! No thief in their right mind would think about robbing this place. We will lock the doors and windows, but no rearranging the furniture or arming ourselves with kitchen knives! Demi, go upstairs and lock the windows. Remy and I will prepare for Ms. Juniper."
Demi saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!" He went upstairs to lock the windows.
The doorbell screamed.
"Perfect timing." Miranda said. "Remy, you know where to go."
"Oui. To the basement I go!" With a tip of his chef hat, Remy went down to the basement.
Miranda went to the door and there was Ms. Juniper. She had long grey hair, wore dark sunglasses, a grey sun hat and trench coat. In her hand was a large carpet bag.
"Hello, dear." Ms. Juniper said in a smooth, famine voice.
"Hello, Ms. Juniper! Welcome to the Scare B&B!" Miranda brought the guest inside. "May I take your coat? Help you with your luggage?"
"Oh, no thank you. But I would like to see my room."
"Sure thing!"
Upstairs, Demi had just finished locking the windows upstairs. He was in the master bathroom of one of the rooms admiring himself in the mirror.
"Hello there, Handsome." He raised an eyebrow and brushed back the wisp on his head. "You've got nothing to be afraid of you magnificent fool..."
Demi heard a door open and let out a squeal. He peeked from behind the bathroom door and saw Ms. Juniper writing settled in. She locked the door and took off her coat, hat, and sunglasses.
That's when Demi made the startling discovery that Ms. Juniper wasn't a Ms. Juniper at all!
It was Scott Freeman! He was disguised as a female guest. He looked around the dusty room and snorted. "Even the cops won't look for me in this dump." He wandered around. "Maybe I can find some antiques worth stealing."
Hearing enough, Demi flew downstairs to warn the others.
"Are you sure this soup is safe for humans?" Miranda asked as he stared at Remy's soup.
"Of course! A few cobwebs can't possibly hurt!" Remy insisted.
Miranda took a spoonful and sniffed it carefully. "Well, bone appetit." She sipped a little and made an odd face. "Whoa!" She blinked twice. "That's got some...zing!"
Remy smiled. "It's the ghost pepper spice! Guaranteed to haunt your tastebuds!"
Gregoria already slurped her bowl clean. "You can say that again!" She locked her lips with satisfaction.
Demi appeared in the kitchen. "GUYS! We have a serious problem!"
"That Remy's soup is monstrous but oddly satisfying?" Miranda said before taking another spoonful of soup.
"No! That our guest is really notorious criminal on the loose Scott Freeman!" Demi squeaked.
"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted.
"That guest is no woman! It was Scott in disguise! He's planning to rob this place!" Demi started flying around in panicked circles. "What are we gonna dooooo?!"
Miranda grabbed Remy before causing a huge scene. "Demi! Calm down! We just need to keep cool and use our heads! Demi! What's he doing now?"
Demi flew back upstairs and peeked through the wall. He watched Scott enter the bathroom and heard the shower turn on. The ghost returned to the kitchen. "He just got in the shower!"
"Then this our only chance!" Miranda said. "Demi, go back upstairs and bring his bag down here!"
"Why?"
Miranda narrowed her eyes. "He could be armed."
"Armed?!" Demi panicked and started hyperventilating.
"Oh, my!" Remy's bones rattled with fear. Even Gregoria looked scared!
"Guys!" Miranda shouted not too loudly. "You all have to remain calm! It's the only way to stop this crook! Besides, you're monsters! People are scared of you guys! Not the other way around!"
"She's right!" Gregoria said. "No human crook is gonna steal from us!"
"Indeed!" Remy said, holding his mixing spoon high.
Demi gave a salute. "You're right, Miranda! I'll get that bag!" The ghost flew back up Scott's room and picked up the bag. He tried to go through the door, but he couldn't get the bag through the solid door.
"Oh, right." Demi unlocked the door, opened it and left. Then he put his hand through the door and locked it.
"I got the bag!" Demi dropped the bag on the kitchen table.
Miranda opened it. "Let's see..." She rummaged through the bag and found a change of clothes, cigarettes, a lighter, a wallet with several driver's licenses, zip ties, and-
Everyone gasped.
"A gun..." Miranda found a handgun and ammunition at the bottom of the bag.
"I think I'm gonna faint..." Demi almost fell over until Miranda caught him.
"Get a grip, Demi. We got his gun, so he can't hurt anyone. Now it's time for phase two."
"And phase two would be...?" asked Gregoria.
Miranda smiled. "The best part." She whispered her plan to the monsters.
Hearing the plan, they all shared Miranda's enthusiasm.
"Get Penelope out of the basement!" Miranda said. "This is gonna be a good one!"
Upstairs, Scott finished his shower and was all dressed in his street clothes. He didn't bother packing pajamas since he was going to loot the place in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep.
Once he stepped out, he paused.
"Where's my bag?" Scott looked around. The door was still locked. The windows were shut. So who could have taken his bag?
Another thing Scott noticed was the large, strange looking plant in the corner of the room.
"What-?!" Scott didn't remember seeing that plant there before. Curious, he moved closer towards the plant.
When he reached a hand out to touch the plant, Penelope opened her huge mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Scott fell backward and scuttled backward like a crab as Penelope came closer, snapping her jaws at him.
Scott ran out of his room screaming, he tried to enter another room, but Demi popped out through the door and wailed at him.
Turning around to see Penelope's gaping maw, Scott ran downstairs and tried to get out the front door, but the door did not open. When he tried to break the door down, the door swung open and hit him in the face.
Scott tried to escape from the back, but Chef Remy blocked the door. The skeleton cackled as he ran his knives together, sparks flew from the sharp blades.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Scott screamed in pure terror and tried to find another way out, but Penelope had him cornered.
Unable to take anymore, Scott's eyes rolled to the back of his head and fainted.
Later that evening, driving down the street in the family hearse was Vee and her parents returning from the parent teacher conference.
"I still can't believe Mr. Gore was concerned about your essay." Boris said.
"Yes, I thought your report on 'How to Howl For Young Werewolves' was such a thrilling read!" Oxana said.
"Well, I guess werewolf howling isn't a hot topic in Pennsylvania." Vee said with a shrug.
"I just hope everything is okay at the hotel." Oxana said. But she got the shock of her afterlife when she saw the police outside the Scare B&B!
The Hauntleys pulled over and rushed over to see Miranda with the police officers.
"Sweet bat cakes, Miranda! What happened?!" Oxana asked. "And what are the police doing here?!"
Officer Johnson approached Oxana. "Well, you see, Ma'am. This brave young lady just caught Scott Freeman! We've been after him for weeks!"
Scoot looked like all the life was sucked out of him as the cops took him away. "Just take me to jail! THIS PLACE IS A HAUNTED NUT HOUSE I TELL YA!" He willingly got in the car and they drove away.
The officer shook Miranda's hand. "Well, thanks for your help, young lady. We've got our criminal and the right evidence thanks to your brave efforts. Have a good night."
"You too, Sir." Miranda waved the officer goodbye. Once they were one, everyone gathered inside and Miranda explained everything.
"Wow! You all saved the day!" Vee said.
"You bet! These guys scared the pants off that crook!" Miranda laughed. "But I gotta tell ya, Penelope really stole the show."
The pet monster plant tickled Miranda's sides with her leafy hands. Miranda giggled as she hopped off the couch and Penelope snapped in her direction.
"Looks like Penelope wants to play keep away!" Boris said excitedly.
"Oh, yeah!" Vee and Miranda took off while Penelope chased them.
"Y'know, Miranda's getting better and better at being a part of this family." Demi said.
"She sure is." Oxana said. "She sure is."
