Part 10

Daphne sat on her knees, looking sadly beside her at Fred, tears still falling at a slower pace from her eyes. She felt alone, alone with no friends beside her to comfort her in this time of loss or to tell her that everything was going to be alright, that this was all just a bad dream…that's all it was, just a bad dream. None of this was actually real, she was just going to close her eyes and will wake up in her room in her bed with Scooby, Shaggy, and Fred all still alive and well and Velma still her best friend. She won't be sitting alone in a murderer's house next to Fred's dead body just waiting to be picked off next. Daphne wished so much that was how life still was, but no matter how much she tried she couldn't wake up from this horrible nightmare.

"Why can't this all be a bad dream? Why does this have to be real?" Daphne cried into her hands. She has been having a hard time accepting her reality but she knew she had no choice in the matter. She only wishes that Velma were beside her…

Daphne put her hands over her eyes not wanting to look down at Fred anymore, then suddenly felt something fly over her mouth. She gasped and her eyes flew open. She felt her arms pinned to her body and she moved her eyes down to see a large hand covering her mouth and an arm wrapped around hers keeping them tight to her chest. Daphne began to panic, trying to loosen herself from her bonds but the arm tightened its grip and she felt like crying even harder. No doubt in her mind she was in major trouble, she knew that she was completely helpless in the arms of this man and she couldn't escape no matter how hard she tried. She felt her body give up and her ears picked up an evil laugh right behind her that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. This is it…

"Now, now Daphne, remember what I told you what would happen if you try and escape," the killer's voice sent chills down her spine and her eyes forced themselves shut. "So what did you do? You went and escaped anyway, very, very bad, although I guess Velma did lend you a hand in that but we shouldn't point fingers now should we? Oh well, you always said you wanted to be with Fred no matter what."

Tears burst out of Daphne's eyes as she felt the arm that was wrapped around her arms loosen but the hand stayed right where it was. Daphne's heart was racing and beating so hard that it felt like it was going to fly right out of her chest. Suddenly, she felt a sharp object pierce through her back and out through her stomach. She let out a painful scream but the sound was muffled no matter how loud she tried to make herself. She could hear him snicker in her ear, the sound made her cry harder and she felt the sharp object being pulled out of her. Pain scourged through her body and her heart raced faster to more deathly rate. Her breathing became heavy out of pain and panic and her head was spinning in all directions. She felt herself being pulled around with the killer's hand being pulled off her mouth though she didn't feel the need to scream. She didn't feel like screaming for help was going to help, she honestly felt there was nothing she could do. He was too strong, he overpowered her to the highest degree and she was trapped in his domain not her own. She leaned her back against Fred, clutching her stomach tightly over the stab to try and stop the blood. She looked in front of her at the killer and he gave her a cocky smirk.

"Now I would love to stay and watch, but I have some unfinished business with your friend that seemed to not want to stay for the excitement," and he got up and left. He left Daphne there to die and honestly she expected no less.

Daphne turned her head to face Fred, her eyes continued to flood with tears. He was right, she wanted to be with Fred but not like this, not with him dead and her clinging on to her life. She never in a thousand years would have thought that their fearless leader could have been taken down so easily…he was strong, he overpowered almost every bad guy they have ever faced and now when it comes to the most, if not the most, dangerous villain they have faced he has been defeated and not able to protect them any longer. He's supposed to be the hero that saves the day, the guy that dies in the middle of everything. He's supposed to get up any minute now and ran to save a now defenseless Velma who was god knows where to stop her from dying and to also save Daphne herself from dying right next to him. Daphne suddenly felt a ting of anger come over her, she felt like screaming at someone beneath her tears.

"Why did you have to leave us?!" Daphne cried at Fred. "Why did you have to go and die right when we needed you the most…when I needed you the most…"

Daphne screamed into her free hand furious at everything and anything. She didn't know how to feel, what to feel, her emotions were just on a never ending rollercoaster of ups and downs. She would be crying one minute, engulfed in paranoia the next, and then mad about everything. Her emotions have caused her to be nothing but trouble the whole night. She hasn't been able to help with anything concerning this mystery making her feel like dead weight and now here she is waiting to die making the feeling go more towards the reality side than the imagination side. She hurt her best friend bad causing her to leave her behind and because of her the man she loves is now dead. Nothing but trouble…that's all she was…maybe she deserved to die for everything, but she knows that Velma doesn't deserve to die for this and now she probably will and that was all Daphne's fault too.

Velma ran downstairs, tears filling her eyes from the impact of the argument that just occurred. She has never been so hurt by someone's words in her life and to hear them come from her best friend made it all the more worse. She never would have thought that Daphne would purposely hurt her like that. To tell her that all she cares about is Shaggy and cares nothing about the others makes Velma mad and so sad at the same time. Sure she loves Shaggy in a romantic way, but she everyone in Mystery Inc. the same amount and she would never put one over the others in the priority stand point.

Velma turned into the combined kitchen and living room and plopped herself on a black leather sofa somewhere towards the middle. The couch was placed in front of an unlit fireplace with story high bookcases on both sides that were full on each shelf. Her knees barely missed a coffee table that had stacks upon stacks of papers and books on it. The guy obviously didn't throw much away, he needed the information that was on all of the papers for something but she hadn't the slightest clue and quite honestly she didn't really care. He had gotten what he wanted, he was successfully killing them all off with Scooby, Shaggy, and Fred already dead. All that is left now is her and Daphne and now Daphne doesn't want anything to do with Velma. She is all on her own, Daphne didn't try to stop her from leaving and Velma gave her time to no doubt, maybe that meant she didn't care about Velma anymore…no…that couldn't be true, and she knew it. Velma knows that Daphne wouldn't throw away their close friendship just like that, she loves Velma just as much Velma loves her. Velma had to go back up those stairs and apologize to her friend to get her back on her side even if that meant no apology back, she still had no choice.

Velma threw her hands down onto her knees and pushed herself up off the leather couch. She turned her body in the direction of the staircase she immediately froze when she saw a person standing in front of her dressed in all black. Velma's stomach sunk and her heart about stopped. She swallowed a huge gulp feeling her body become paralyzed with fear. To finally be face to face with him was frightening, nerve-racking for that matter, but she had to stay calm, maybe distract him long enough to get away and find Daphne. She had to at least try.

"Hello Velma," he had a smirk on his lips, looking very calm and confident.

"Oh, so we are conversing now?" Velma tried to make her own voice sound unshaken while on the inside she was about to jump out of her skin.

He lightly chuckled, "Well, I mean, I can go ahead and kill you now if that's what you want. It would be perfectly fine with me to just skip this whole thing wouldn't you agree?"

"No…no that's not what I want," Velma hesitated to keep calm. There was no way she could show her true fear in front of him, that would only let him have what he wants and she wasn't about to give in to that.

"Didn't think so, though now I'm kind of convincing myself of the option. With you being the only one left to get rid of, my job would finally be done."

"What do you mean?" Velma was confused, Daphne was still alive as well, and no way would he not want to kill her too.

"Well, let's see, Shaggy is dead, Fred is dead, and Daphne is dead so that only leaves you...you know Velma, you really shouldn't have walked out on Daphne like that what with her being in such a vulnerable state as she was," he cocked his head and his smirk turned more evil as he faced her. Velma's expression dropped, what had she done… "I had to go ahead and take the opportunity, it would have been bad if I didn't."

"No…" the realization hit her and she put her hands on her head looking down slightly.

"You know and I thought that you two were best friends. I thought it would hard to separate the two of you, but looks like it was easier than I thought. Such a shame it is really," he mockingly bit his lip and folded his hands together.

"No!" Velma yelled and pushed past the killer in the direction of the stairs. He let her push past him, for he didn't try to stop her but just watched her hurry to go save her friend. He actually found it quite amusing seeing her so rushed and panicked, though he knew that she would get to her in time. He stabbed Daphne only in a place that wouldn't kill her immediately but if left unattended for a period of time would kill her. It was part of his little game, to give the two girls a glimmer of hope when they make up and try to take care of things on their own like he expected them to do. He wasn't the slightest bit worried though, as soon as the time was right he would kill them both. Daphne would be easy, she was weak and couldn't defend herself, Velma on the other hand would be a little tougher. He had to strike at the right time, but knowing those two he would have plenty of time to come up with something clever…