Chapter 10
Inside another bedroom in the same hallway of Shaggy's grandparents' mansion, Fred who had been sound asleep and was dreaming about playing quarterback in the NFL and in the Super Bowl was instantly awoken by his red haired companion's screaming and ran over to her bedroom to check on her.
"Daphne, Daphne; what's going on, are you OK?" Fred yelled as he knocked on the door.
After a few seconds the blond teenager didn't hear Daphne answering and decided to break open her door; he succeeded in doing so and ran inside to see what had made his female companion scream the way she did.
"Daphne what happened? I heard you screaming" Fred asked.
"Oh it was horrible, I heard a strange noise then I got up from the bed, walked over to the window and saw a creepy looking figure outside" Daphne replied.
"Are you sure?" Fred asked with a somewhat disbelieving tone in his voice.
"Sure I'm sure, come on over to the window with me and I'll show you" Daphne replied somewhat surprised that he didn't believe her.
The blond teen walked over to the window with his female companion and the two of them looked outside the window; the pair of sleuths looked throughout the grounds outside for anything strange or unusual, suddenly the blond teen pointed towards a large tree and gasped as he had indeed seen something peculiar.
"Daphne look!" Fred said as he pointed out a strange figure to her.
"That's what I saw a few minutes ago" Daphne replied.
"Then that settles it, it looks like this mystery isn't going to wait until morning; come on let's get dressed and walk back outside to look for whoever or whatever that was" Fred said.
Daphne and Fred quickly changed out of their bedroom clothes and into their regular outfits, after that the pair walked back down the staircase and headed back outside to look for the figure that had frightened the red head a few minutes ago.
"Whoever or whatever that was, he must have gotten away" Fred said.
"Well let's not give up, let's keep looking for him and try to track him down" Daphne replied.
"Good thinking Daphne, we might find him and hopefully we can locate Velma, Shaggy and Scooby as well" Fred commented.
The two of them looked high and low for the figure but whatever they did, it appeared that the creature had given them the slip, at least for now.
Back in the creepy mausoleum Shaggy, Velma and Scooby remained fast asleep; however unknown to the trio, their slumber would soon be broken as well.
As the three investigators slept, one of coffin lids behind them began to slowly open; with his keen sense of hearing Scooby was able to pick up the peculiar noise and opened one of his eyes, the coffin lid then opened fully and a black caped figure with long fangs sat straight up.
The Great Dane who had already opened one of his eyes heard this as well and opened his other eye; he got up, stretched his arms and looked over to the coffins and as he did so he saw the figure slowly climbing out of the coffin and began yelping up a storm.
"Ra-ra-ra rampire!" Scooby shrieked.
At first Velma and Shaggy didn't hear this, however Scooby Doo sensing that his friends might be in danger went over to the bespectacled teenager and quickly tapped her on the shoulder.
Velma stirred a little bit but did not wake up, meanwhile the Great Dane continued to tap her on the shoulder; finally feeling Scooby's tapping on her shoulder, the investigator woke up just as the vampire reached out his arms trying to capture her.
"Scooby, it's the middle of the night what's up?" Velma asked somewhat groggily.
The Great Dane pointed behind Velma directly at the vampire; the bespectacled young detective did not understand what was going on at first so she turned around and saw the vampire trying to grab her.
"Jinkies, the Vampire!" Velma shrieked.
At that moment Shaggy slowly awoke from his sleep as well hearing Velma yelling and wondered what was going on.
"Like what's up?" Shaggy asked.
"Shaggy, the vampire!" Velma cried out as she tried to warn her companion of the impending danger.
"Vampire, Zoinks!" Shaggy shrieked.
The trio quickly ran over to the door of the mausoleum but found that it was locked from the inside.
"Like what do we now? That Vampire's after us again!" Shaggy shrieked.
"We have to get out of here somehow" Velma replied.
"Scooby like don't just stand there, do something!" Shaggy cried out.
The Great Dane was deep in thought for a second, trying to think of a way out of the dark and dismal crypt that the gang was locked in; finally a proverbial light bulb went off above the canine's head as he had figured out a way to escape the mausoleum and the vampire.
"Ri've rot rit!" Scooby exclaimed; the canine then stuck out one of the claws on his right paw and put it inside the keyhole, it unlocked and the gang opened the door and ran out of the crypt.
"Good going Scooby, you did it!" Velma declared as she happily hugged the canine.
"Raw rucks" the canine replied with a smile while blushing a little.
"Now like let's get as far away from this crypt as humanly and doggedly possible" Shaggy commented.
"Good thinking guys, let's get going" Velma replied.
With that the trio of investigators began walking away from the dismal looking stone structure that the gang had been trapped inside for quite some time.
Meanwhile Fred and Daphne were continuing to search every square inch of the grounds when the red-haired young investigator began hearing footsteps.
"Jeepers, Fred what's that?" Daphne wondered aloud.
"I don't know but I have an idea" Fred replied.
"What's your idea Freddie?" the redhead asked.
"Simple we'll wait for whoever or whatever is making those footprints to show and as soon as we see whoever or whatever it is coming we jump him" Fred noted.
"Good thinking Fred" Daphne replied.
The pair of investigators stood silently behind a large bush waiting for the figure to come as the footsteps the duo had been hearing were beginning to get closer and closer.
"Those footsteps sound like they're coming from just around the corner, get ready Daphne" Fred said.
Fred and Daphne got into position, as whatever was coming was only a few feet away, finally the two of them heard this and jumped right into action.
"Ready Daphne, Now!" Fred yelled as he and Daphne jumped on the figures.
The two of them saw that they were on the backs of three familiar figures and smiled as both of them breathed a huge sigh relief.
"Shaggy, Velma, Scooby thank goodness it's you guys" Daphne sighed.
"Like we're glad to see you guys too" Shaggy replied.
"Well now that we're back together again, now what?" Fred asked.
"I don't know" Daphne replied.
"Well since we're all together again maybe we should get back to the house," Shaggy said.
"Good thinking Shaggy that might be a good idea, that way we can regroup and check around the mansion for any more clues" Fred replied.
"Like what time is it anyway?" Shaggy wondered.
"According to my watch it's about 4:30 in the morning" Velma replied.
"Hey if my math is correct I only have to stay here until 3 in the afternoon today, then I get my inheritance and become a Warlock" Shaggy noted.
"Hey that's right, come on let's go back to the mansion and hopefully we can make it until this afternoon" Fred replied.
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby began walking back towards the gothic looking and very gloomy mansion, unaware that giant bats and owls among other creatures were hiding in the trees and keeping a close watch on them.
After a while the gang arrived back at the house, opened one of the doors and walked into the mansion; the four teenage sleuths and one dog-tired Great Dane found their way into the front foyer of the house and sat down on some chairs and a sofa.
"Phew, now we can at least relax for a while" Velma said.
"Like you've got to be kidding me, over the past couple of days we've been chased by a Werewolf, a Vampire, a Phantom and numerous other creeps around this place" Shaggy replied.
"Yeah, for once Shaggy's right although I suppose we don't have to worry about being chased by anything or anyone, at least for now" Daphne said.
"Well now that we're in the house and we can relax for a while, what should we do?" Fred wondered.
"I have an idea, maybe we could do some reading, that always relaxes me" Velma replied.
"Sounds good to me, let's go get some books from the library" Fred said.
"And like it's getting close to breakfast time, so Scooby and I will fix some breakfast" Shaggy remarked trying to think of something to get he and his canine companion's minds off of the creepy mansion, after all what better thing for two chowhounds to concentrate on than food.
"Good thinking Shaggy; Velma you can go get some things for us to read, Shag you and Scooby go into the kitchen and fix us something to eat" Fred commented.
With that the bespectacled girl ventured into the Library to pick some books out, while she did that the cowardly pair of sleuths began making breakfast for the gang.
Shaggy and Scooby began cooking up a storm in the kitchen making all sorts of food for themselves and the gang; the pair made all sorts of breakfast dishes including Waffles, Pancakes, Sausage, Eggs and many other items.
Over in the library Velma looked through the shelves and shelves of books at the various titles available for reading; the intelligent teenager went over to one of the shelves and began perusing it's contents, it was filled with all sorts off volumes about the supernatural among other subjects; she took a particular volume off the shelf which she found particularly intriguing and began to read through it.
"Hmm interesting" Velma said as she poured through the mysterious volume; the bespectacled girl then decided to take the book from the shelf, then walked over to a small table in the middle of the room, pulled out a chair and sat down.
As she began reading the intelligent female sleuth was unaware that she was being watched; while she perused the book, she was unaware that one of the portraits in the room's eyeholes slid open and a pair of human eyes had replaced the painted ones.
The intelligent female investigator finished reading the volume and decided to take it with her as she left the library to rejoin the rest of the gang in the kitchen; meanwhile Shaggy and Scooby had been working hard in the kitchen making breakfast for their friends, they had finished cooking most of the food and were waiting for a couple items to finish before they could take everything into the dining room.
"Hey Scoob, how are you coming with the Toast?" Shaggy asked.
"Rit's rust rabout ready Raggy" Scooby replied.
"Terrific, I'll get the condiments and silverware while you keep an eye on the food" Shaggy commented.
"Right Raggy" Scooby replied.
Shaggy got out forks, spoons, plates and napkins from the various cabinets and the kitchen pantry, then went over to the fridge to get the various condiments that they would need; while the cowardly teen was doing that, Scooby Doo was continuing to watch breakfast cook; finally the toast popped up and Scooby took it out of the toaster and placed it on a large plate.
The two of them took the condiments, silverware and food into the dining room and placed them on the kitchen table; after marveling at all of the food on the table that Shaggy and Scooby had made, the five sleuths began to eat breakfast as each of them thought about the events that had happened to them so far.
After about a half hour or so Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby had finished eating their respective breakfasts; with that the gang took the dirty dishes and trash from their meal back into the kitchen, after all the dishes were done and the garbage had been taken care of the five of them returned to the main room of the house and sat down on the sofa as well as some nearby chairs.
"That was a pretty good breakfast you two" Fred remarked.
"Yeah, I haven't eaten that good in a long time" Daphne replied.
"Like no problem gang, Scooby and I are pretty good in the kitchen if I do say so myself" Shaggy commented.
"Reah" Scooby replied.
"Well now that breakfast's over, what next?" Fred asked.
"That depends, what time is it?" Shaggy replied.
"By my watch it looks like it's about five minutes after six o' clock in the morning" Velma responded.
"Which means there's only about eight more hours left until you get your inheritance Shag" Fred remarked.
"Yeah, I can hardly wait" Shaggy replied.
"You know Shaggy things will sure be different after you get your magical powers" Velma commented.
"Like yeah, just think; all those times when Scooby and I were scared by ghosts and monsters, now that will never happen again because I'll be able to fight back with magic" Shaggy replied.
"True, Mystery Inc. will never be the same now that one of the members is a Warlock" Fred remarked.
"Yes but we'll still always be the same Mystery Inc. that we've always been; magic or no magic right everybody?" Daphne asked.
"Right" The gang said in unison.
Velma, who still had the book that she had taken from one of the shelves in the library, put the book on the table; Shaggy looked at the volume with a curious look on his face and decided to ask her about it.
"Like what's that Velma?" Shaggy asked.
"It's some kind of old book I got from one of the library" Velma replied.
"Hmm, mind if I see it Vel?" Shaggy responded.
"Sure Shaggy, here you go" Velma said as she handed the cowardly teen the book.
The beatnik looked at the cover and gasped at the strange volume; Velma, who had been watching him, looked over at her companion and was curious as to why Shaggy's reaction to the book had been what it was.
"What's wrong Shaggy?" Velma asked.
"This-this book" Shaggy said with a trembling sound in his voice.
"What about it?" Velma asked.
"It-it's a book about my family's involvement with magic and the history of this area" Shaggy replied.
"Why would you be scared of that Shaggy?" Fred asked.
"I-I really don't know, just a peculiar reaction I guess" Shaggy responded.
"Well, what are you waiting for Shag, open it" Velma replied.
"Okay, here goes" Shaggy responded.
With some trepidation Shaggy opened the book and began reading; the book contained the complete family tree of the Rogers family including each member of his family that had been Warlocks or Witches, the family's comprehensive history including several members of the family in the mid 1700's being burned at the stake for witchcraft, and numerous other frightening items such as the documentation of ghost sightings, and other paranormal occurrences in the house and surrounding area.
"Zoinks, l-like I never knew that my family had such a colorful history, I wonder if that's why my grandparents wanted me to come here to claim my inheritance" Shaggy remarked.
"Why Shaggy?" Velma asked.
"Maybe because of my family's history involving magic and the fact that several members of my family were burned at the stake; not only that but maybe there's a chance that my grandparents wanted me to become a Warlock so I can clear my family name once and for all; wait, that's it, that's what the test was!" Shaggy exclaimed.
Still holding the book in his hands, the cowardly teen failed to see a slip of paper sticking out of the middle of it; however Velma saw it and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Shaggy look" Velma remarked as she pointed to the piece of paper.
The beatnik opened the book up to see what Velma was pointing to; "Ah I get it, I must have somehow missed that," he commented as he turned to the correct page.
He saw the piece of paper that Velma was talking about and began to read it, however Shaggy thought to himself for a second and decided against reading the paper until he rejoined the rest of the gang in the living room; the cowardly teen then walked from the Library back into the living room; meanwhile Velma had decided to rejoin him and wondered what was going on.
"Shaggy, what's the matter?" Velma asked.
The rest of the gang having noticed the piece of paper that was on top of the book decided to inquire about exactly it was and if Shaggy had read it yet.
"What's with that piece of paper Shaggy?" Daphne wondered aloud.
"Well, I'll sit down on the living room couch and let you guys see and read it" Shaggy replied.
He took the paper from the top of the book and placed it on the seat next to him, Daphne then picked it up from the sofa and handed it over to Fred.
The blond teen then took the sheet of paper from Daphne and began to read it; after quickly looking over the paper he decided to hand it over to Shaggy.
Shaggy read the note to himself and smiled after doing so; as he finished going over the paper he then decided to let the rest of the gang hear what he had read.
"Listen to this everybody; Dear Norville, congratulations grandson you have figured out what the test was that your grandmother and I concocted for you; as you have figured out the main reason why the two of us wanted to hand down our magical abilities to you so that you can use them to not only clear our family name but to also help your friends and all of mankind by using your newfound powers for good and to never use them for evil or abuse them in any way; thank you Norville for being so brave in staying in our house when anyone else would be scared away easily, also when you are finished reading this your grandmother and I will be paying you a visit, looking forward to seeing you, signed Grandpa and Grandma" Shaggy read aloud to the rest of the group.
Shaggy continued to smile as he sat back down on the sofa; finally it seemed like he and the rest of Mystery Inc. could relax without being scared out of their wits by any ghosts, ghouls, monsters or any other supernatural occurrences.