Chapter 2
Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley and Daphne Blake, three members of the detective agency known as Mystery Inc. stood in the combination study and library of the Jones ancestral family home: an ancient castle located in the Southeastern portion of Germany; at the moment Fred, Daphne and Velma were sitting at a wooden table, joined by Fred's Uncle Von Jones, who had recently moved from his home, coincidentally a castle in the United States to the family's ancestral family home; but all was not well as Fred's uncle had told his nephew over the phone that he felt he was in danger and that there might be some trouble in the castle, so Fred and the girls headed for Germany to help the blond teen leader of the group's relative.
After the castle's caretaker Mr. Wilkins left the room, Fred's Uncle Von Jones began to relate the story of the castle and it's somewhat colorful history to the trio of sleuths; eventually Fred's uncle came to the present day and why he had called his nephew to Europe.
"So Uncle Jeff, why did you want me to come over here to Germany?" Fred asked.
"Very simple nephew, you see for many years the Jones family has lived in prosperity and solitude; even during the Great Depression and World Wars I and II were somewhat simple and stress free for the family, despite the circumstances surrounding both events" Uncle Jeff began.
"Interesting, go on Uncle Jeff" Fred replied.
"Very well; unfortunately for the past several months, since I moved into the castle, strange things have been happening here" Uncle Jeff explained.
"Jeepers, like what Mr. Jones?" Daphne asked.
"Well, like the lights flickering on and off every so often and at night no less, or the fact that I could swear that the paintings in the castle have real eyes and are watching me every so often, or in the dark of night seeing strange white figures that looked like phantoms or apparitions floating through the air, I tell you I'm not a superstitious man at all, but if I did believe in that sort of thing at all, I would say that this castle is haunted" Uncle Jeff replied.
"But there's no such things as ghosts or phantoms Mr. Jones" Velma remarked.
"I know Velma, I know, but all these happenings might be too much for me; I might have to move out if this keeps up and I don't really want to do that, I mean this castle has been home to generations of Jones family members and it's hard to leave somewhere that has been part of your family for hundreds of years" Uncle Jeff responded.
"Don't worry Uncle Jeff, we'll solve this mystery for you; besides no one can scare us off" Fred replied.
"I certainly hope so Fred, I certainly hope so" Uncle Jeff remarked as he glanced over at a clock hanging on the wall of the castle's study/library and realized that it was getting quite late.
"My goodness, I didn't realize what time it is, it's almost 11:00 PM; and I'm getting a bit sleepy" Fred's uncle continued.
"Yeah, it is getting pretty late, and I need my beauty sleep" Daphne commented.
"Actually I think we could all use some sleep after that long drive and flight here" Velma replied.
"I agree, let's get our luggage and then Uncle Jeff can show us to our rooms, right Uncle Jeff?" Fred said.
"I think I can I do that nephew, come on let's go back into the main hall and retrieve your luggage and then I'll show you where you three will be staying for the duration of your stay here" Uncle Jeff replied.
"Sounds good Uncle Jeff, lead the way" Fred remarked.
With that Fred's uncle closed and locked the door behind him, making sure that the blond teen, Daphne and Velma were all in the hallway outside the door; once the unofficial leader of the group's uncle saw that his nephew and the two female members of the group were outside the door, the quartet began walking back into the main hall of the castle; however Fred, Daphne and Velma noticed something very peculiar as they returned to the main part of the structure, mainly that the castle caretaker, who had let them inside was nowhere in sight, so the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. decided to ask his uncle about this development.
"Uncle Jeff?" Fred inquired.
"Yes Fred?" Uncle Jeff replied.
"I don't seem to see Mr. Wilkins around, I wonder where he went?" Fred answered with a questioned look on his face.
"Hmm, you know I don't see him either; after he left the study he must have went to his cabin to get some rest" Uncle Jeff replied.
"I guess so, although if I lived or had to work in a place like this I might be too nervous to sleep" Fred responded.
"Freddie, I thought you weren't scared of anything" Daphne commented.
"Yeah Fred, why would you not be able to sleep if you lived or worked here?" Velma asked.
"Well girls to tell you the truth, this place actually does seem a bit creepy; I mean I know we've stayed at haunted places before and the villain would always turn out to be a man or woman in a mask or costume but still, there's something really weird about this place, I just can't put my finger on it" Fred remarked with a look of concentration and a little worry on his face.
"I know what you mean nephew, ever since I moved into this place it's made me a bit nervous as well; although hopefully nothing will happen to you or your friends while you're here" Uncle Jeff replied.
"Well now that we're here nothing will happen to you or to any of us, we'll make sure of it right girls?" Fred asked.
"Right!" Daphne and Velma declared.
"Good, well now since that's settled I can show you to your rooms" Uncle Jeff remarked.
"Sounds good Uncle Jeff, lead the way" Fred replied.
So after each member of Mystery Inc. gathered their luggage, they followed Fred's uncle to a long winding staircase which looked to be made of marble; Fred's uncle then started walking up the staircase with the gang following close behind, after a few minutes the blond teen's uncle walked away from the staircase and into an old looking hallway filled with several dozen doors, a couple of which were open which surprised the three members of Mystery Inc. a little.
"Before you arrived here I told Mr. Wilkins to make up bedrooms for the three of you, I guess he forgot to close the doors after he finished" Uncle Jeff said as he explained why two of the doors in the passage were slightly ajar.
"That's okay Uncle Jeff, so which room is which; that is which room will each of us be staying in?" Fred asked.
"Fred, that room over there is going to be your room and the girls' room will be right next door" Uncle Jeff said, pointing out two rooms in the middle of the hallway.
"Sounds good" Fred replied.
So with that Fred took his luggage into his room, while Daphne and Velma took their respective luggage into their bedroom; the blond teenager was in the midst of unpacking his clothes and putting them in the closet, when he felt someone tapping on the shoulder, which made him a little nervous, after all staying in a haunted castle and having someone tapping on your shoulder would probably make you nervous too; although Fred did know that someone or something wanted his attention, so he turned around to face this person, however Fred was quite thankful that at least this time it was not a ghost or ghoul or monster, but instead it was his Uncle Jeff.
"Uncle Jeff, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Fred remarked, albeit with his voice raised a little.
"I'm sorry Fred, I didn't mean to startle you or anything, I just wanted to let you know that the upstairs bathroom is down the hall and that the kitchen is downstairs, it's the third door on the right side of the main hall, you can't miss it" Uncle Jeff replied.
"Thanks" Fred commented.
"Oh and Fred, if you need me for anything my bedroom is downstairs, second door on the right in the main hall, ok?" Uncle Jeff remarked.
"Sure, thanks again Uncle Jeff and good night" Fred replied.
"You're welcome Fred and good night" Uncle Jeff commented.
With that Fred's uncle walked out of the hallway and back towards the long, winding marble staircase, once he made his way to the staircase he walked back down it and out of sight, specifically downstairs to his bedroom.
After Fred took a shower and brushed his teeth he returned to his bedroom and got into bed, and after a few minutes drifted off to sleep; after a few hours of sleep Fred heard a strange noise which was coming from somewhere inside the very room he was sleeping in, which even though he was the bravest member of Mystery Inc. made him quite nervous; after a few minutes of shaking nervously in his bed the blond teenager realized just what this noise was, specifically it was not a monster or phantom, but rather it was own his own stomach which was beginning to rumble.
"I guess my stomach is trying to tell me something, like that I'm hungry; I guess in all the excitement of planning our trip over here to visit my uncle I've forgotten to eat anything since breakfast, well I guess there's no harm in getting a nice midnight snack" Fred remarked to no one in particular as he put on some slippers, he then walked over to a nearby nightstand and pulled out a candle and a candle holder and walked out of the bedroom; however he was unaware that a sinister presence was lurking in the very room and hallway he was currently in, specifically when he was beginning to walk out of his bedroom a painting which hung above his bed's eyes slid away and were replaced by a pair of red eyes, which looked far from human as possible, in fact if you got a good look at them you would think that they belonged more to a nightmarish evil creature then to a human being.
With candle in hand Fred journeyed into the upstairs hallway, making sure to not wake up his female companions, after all they had a long journey as well and Fred figured that the two girls would like a good night's sleep, so he made sure to be quiet as possible while venturing downstairs; Fred then made it to the marble staircase and walked down it, finally he made it into the main hall of the castle and began looking for the kitchen.
"Now let's see, Uncle Jeff said that the kitchen was the third door on the right? Yeah, that was it, the third door" Fred thought to himself, although considering no one was awake at this time of night he figured it wouldn't hurt to think aloud as well, albeit softly in order to not awaken anyone.
As Fred ventured through the main hall, the same sinister presence that had been in the hallway upstairs and in his room was still present, in this case it was in the form of each painting in the hallway watching him, observing him in his search for the kitchen; not to mention a suit of armor in the hall's eyes were also watching him, although Fred didn't know it or see it at the time.
Finally the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. made it to the castle kitchen, but once he opened the door he was surprised by what he saw; the castle's kitchen was almost as big as the kitchen and pantry of Daphne's house back in the United States, the blond teenager stood in the doorway amazed as he saw untold shelves full of all sorts of food, in fact if Shaggy and Scooby had joined them they probably would have been amazed as well; also in the kitchen were a microwave, oven, refrigerator/freezer and a dishwasher, in short everything that would usually be found in a kitchen, albeit much, much bigger.
Fred then looked through the shelves of food and the well stocked refrigerator for a snack, before deciding on a simple sandwich, but oddly enough Fred didn't have a simple sandwich; instead he decided to experiment and built a sandwich that featured ham, roast beef, turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, mayo and mustard on two slices of white bread; after building the sandwich and placing it on a plate, the blond teen then grabbed a napkin and fixed a glass of milk for him to drink while he enjoyed his sandwich, finally he sat down at a large wooden table and began eating.
"I still can't understand why Shaggy and Scooby like having big sandwiches, I can hardly eat this, although it is quite good" Fred remarked to no one in particular in between bites of his massive sandwich.
Eventually Fred finished the sandwich and milk and put the dirty plate and glass in the dishwasher; after this was done he walked back upstairs and returned to his bedroom, and after a few more minutes he drifted off to sleep once again, now with a full stomach which meant that he wouldn't have to deal with it rumbling for quite a while.
While the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. slept the sinister presence that had been around him since he had ventured out of his bedroom was about to strike and when it did, it would snare Fred Jones in its evil clutches; above his bed hung a painting of one of the blond teenager's distant relatives, previously its eyes had only slid open and had been replaced by a pair of human eyes, now the entire painting slid open and a pair of arms reached down towards Fred; the arms moved towards the blond teenager's head and once they did, they slipped a medium sized gold medallion similar to the size of an Olympic medal around his neck, Fred fidgeted for a few seconds in his sleep but quickly resumed his slumber which made the person who had slipped the medallion around his neck quite pleased.
Fred was unaware that someone had placed the gold medallion around his neck, and slept soundly for several more minutes before something strange began to happen; the medallion began to glow, but it wasn't a bright glow per say, it was actually a rather soft glow, in addition to the medallion glowing a strange voice, almost ghostly in nature began to speak.
"Frederick Jones, Frederick Jones" the unseen voice said, speaking in a sinister sounding tone.
Suddenly Fred awoke from his sleep, at least to the untrained eye he had awoken, but in reality his eyes had a strange almost blank and empty look to them, as if someone was controlling the blond teenager's movements and thoughts; in fact someone was controlling the teen sleuth, specifically speaking he was hypnotized and the medallion was what was controlling him, putting him under as it would turn out, an sinister spell.
"Frederick Jones, you are in my power, I now control your thoughts; do you understand?" the voice declared.
"Yes master" Fred replied, in a trance like voice.
"Good, good; you will do whatever I say and you will follow all of my instructions to the letter, do you understand?" the voice said.
"Yes master, I will comply" Fred remarked.
"Excellent, now walk over to the bookcase in your bedroom" the voice said.
The blond teenager complied with the strange voice's request and a few moments later he was standing in front of a large bookcase filled with four of five shelves of volumes covering vastly different subjects such as the paranormal and the supernatural, history and science; once the teen stood in front of the bookcase he waited for further instructions from the unseen voice.
"I am now standing in front of the bookcase master" Fred commented.
"Good, good; on the third shelf there is a book with a red cover, it is in the middle of the shelf, once you locate it, turn it to the right; once you have pulled it, wait a few seconds because it opens up into a secret passage which is built right behind your bed; the bed and the wall will then swing around into the passage where I will be waiting to give you more instructions" the voice explained.
"Yes master, I will do whatever you say" Fred replied.
The blond teenager then followed the strange voice's instructions exactly; first Fred searched through the third shelf of the book case until he found the book that the voice was talking about, next he turned the book to the right, like the voice said, next the bed that Fred had been sleeping in and the wall both turned around revealing a dark and dusty passage, which looked to have been included in the design of the castle when it was originally built; finally Fred walked through the now open doorway and into the now open secret passage, of course it was probably a good idea that he walked through the passage since a few moments after the blond teen walked through it, it closed behind him and slammed shut.
The blond teenager and unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. was now standing in a dark, dismal, cobweb filled passageway, but he was not alone; standing a few feet away was a familiar looking black haired man wearing what looked to be a black tuxedo and white dress pants; however because he was hypnotized Fred didn't know that standing a few feet in front of him was none other than the castle's caretaker Mr. Wilkins.
Mr. Wilkins had a sinister smile on his face and he looked quite pleased that the blond teenager had joined him in the secret passageway; the black haired caretaker then chuckled a little as he prepared to give the blond teen more instructions, however unknown to the blond teen, these instructions were going to be quite the opposite of simply walking into a secret passageway and standing in front of the caretaker.
"This Frederick Jones is responding quite well to my hypnotism so far; not only that but he makes the perfect person to help me in my plans" Mr. Wilkins thought; normally the blond teenager would be trying to capture the strange individual, actually with the caretaker only a few feet away in would have been no problem for Fred to tackle the man to the ground, however because the teen was hypnotized he was unable to do so.
With one of the members of Mystery Inc. under his control, specifically the leader and one of the strongest members of the group, Mr. Wilkins began thinking yet again; only this time he was considering what he could accomplish with Fred under his power.
"With this simple minded teenager under my hypnotic spell I can force him to do whatever I wish him to do; I could have him commit crimes for me throughout Germany, I could use him to take over the country or the continent; I could be the richest and most powerful man in all of Europe!" Mr. Wilkins thought as he laughed evilly once again.
However Mr. Wilkins thoughts quickly shifted, as his sinister smile turned into a look of disgust; he realized that even if he wanted to use the blond teenager in his plans, there were a few obstacles he would have to get past first; three to be specific, which made him clench his fist in anger as he began thinking once again.
"Unfortunately I can't begin my plans with this blond teenager's meddling friends in the castle and that uncle of his as well; I must figure out someway to get rid of those two girls and that relative of his once and for all, but how?" Mr. Wilkins wondered.
Finally after a few moments the castle caretaker came up with the perfect plan, an evil smirk passed his lips once again as he began to formulate his idea, once his plan was fully constructed, he laughed evilly and began speaking aloud once more.
"I should have thought of this before; my family has been caretakers of this castle for centuries so I know all of the family's history, or at least most of it; because I know the family's history so well I can use the old Jones family legend against them; how could I not remember this previously? This is the perfect idea: according the old family legend, that medallion is said to turn any member of the Jones family that sets foot inside this castle into a vampire for an entire night, and it just so happens it's about six or seven hours from sunrise which means I shall have young master Frederick in my control for the rest of the night" Mr. Wilkins said as he laughed evilly once again.
"Luckily I prepared for Frederick's arrival and planned this situation completely out; first, if either of those friends of his or his uncle try to get the medallion off, they'll receive quite a surprise, specifically that I used super glue on it so there's no way any of those three will be able to remove the medallion and second, what better way to eliminate those interfering friends of his then by having their former leader put the bite on them and turning them into vampires" Mr. Wilkins remarked as he continued to laugh wickedly.
With the caretaker's evil plan carefully and painstakingly constructed, he then decided it was time to fully put his scheme into motion; so he took a deep breath and began speaking to the hypnotized Fred once more, only this time he was now prepared to instruct the blond teen in what his part of the caretaker's plot was to be.
"Now Frederick, I have a little job for you" Mr. Wilkins said with a devious smile.
"What is the job master?" the hypnotized teen sleuth asked.
"The job I have for you is this: the passageway you and I are currently in leads into the hallway which contains the bedroom that belongs to your two female friends, you shall walk through the passageway and enter the bedroom of those two meddling associates, then once you are inside their bedroom you shall walk up to the bed and bite the red haired girl and the one with the glasses on their necks, turning them into vampires, then the girls will take care of your uncle and then no one will stand in my way and I will be on my way to ruling Europe!" Mr. Wilkins said with a deep sinister laugh that echoed through the passageway.
"Now my young apprentice, it is time to prove your worth to me; the medallion around your neck now glows brighter, as my control over your mind and thoughts gets stronger, you will listen to and obey my commands Frederick Jones and once the medallion finishes glowing, you will be fully transformed into a creature of the night: a vampire; hear me young apprentice, you are becoming one with the night, you are becoming one with the darkness, you are now a vampire!" Mr. Wilkins declared, his voice getting stronger and sounding more evil with every passing second.
A few seconds later right in front of the caretaker the hypnotized Fred began transforming; his blond hair became somewhat sharper, almost similar to what a crew cut or buzz cut in the military would like, his face changed from a normal human's face into one that looked to be a shade of dark blue; his teeth began changing from a set of normal human teeth into sharp fangs, while his hands were turning a shade of dark blue as well and his fingernails began growing out into what looked like sharp claws; finally the teen sleuth's human clothing, specifically his bedroom wear had disappeared, replaced by a long red and black cape and black pants; after several minutes, Mr. Wilkins plot had, at least for now succeeded: Fred Jones was a vampire.
"Excellent, excellent; now come with me Count Frederick" Mr. Wilkins said as he and the blond vampire walked through the passageway; in the part of the blond teen's mind which contained his conscience and detective skills, the small portion of Fred that hadn't been hypnotized and turned into a vampire began screaming at him, hopefully trying to make him understand that what he was doing was wrong and not like him at all.
"Fred Jones, What are you doing? You're not a Vampire, you are a human being, Daphne and Velma are your friends, you can't turn them into vampires! You can't listen to this Mr. Wilkins, he's evil and he's trying to force you to do his bidding, you can't do this, you just can't! Think for one minute of Daphne and Velma, what would they say? Please for the sake of your friends and your uncle, do not listen to what's he's telling you Fred Jones, DO NOT LISTEN!"
Alas, even his conscience and detective skills couldn't reach the blond teenager, the wheels of Mr. Wilkins plot began turning and the castle caretaker had succeeded, where his ancestors had failed; he had hypnotized Fred Jones and turned him into a vampire and now he was preparing to bring Fred into the hallway where he would attempt to transform Daphne and Velma into vampires as well.
"Now, the room that the two young women are staying in is a few doors down; since I hypnotized you, you probably don't have any idea where the room is, but I will lead you there, now come with me" Mr. Wilkins said as he lead the blond vampire down the hall, past several doors before coming to one that seemed familiar to Fred, or at least the small portion of Fred that was free from the hypnotism and Vampire spell.
"Here we are, the room that your, shall we say former friends are sleeping in as we speak; I will stay hidden behind one of the suits of armor in the hallway, meanwhile you will enter the room and bite them; once you have done that, they will be vampires and then I can proceed with the rest of my plan" Mr. Wilkins explained.
"Yes master" the vampire Fred replied with what sounded like a hiss.
"Very good, now my young apprentice go to work" Mr. Wilkins said.
While the caretaker fulfilled his promise and quickly hid behind a suit of armor, Fred entered Daphne and Velma's room; normally the girls room would probably be locked and shut, however while Fred and his uncle were talking earlier in the evening Mr. Wilkins had taken the opportunity to remove the locks from the door and left it ajar, just in case he needed to enter any of the rooms for his plan.
The blond teenage vampire opened the door slightly and entered the room to see the two female members of Mystery Inc. asleep as expected, the room had two beds, the one on the left had Velma slumbering on it while the second had Daphne, Fred's girlfriend sleeping on it; almost on instinct Fred walked over to the red head's bed first, the blond vampire then slowly lowered his neck down towards the beautiful red haired young woman, preparing to make her a creature of the night.
Author's Notes: Ooh, another cliff-hangar; how are Daphne and Velma going to get out of this one? Well, whatever happens during the rest of this mystery, it will be one of the few times Fred won't be around to help solve it; by the way, there's one more chapter after this one and it will be a doozy; by the way, thank you to everyone for reviewing and favoriting my stories, I greatly appreciate it as always
