Chapter 4

Velma and Rufus patrolled the corridors of floor one of the hotel, both somewhat bored. The dreary corridors stretched on endlessly. There was nothing to really distinguish one corridor from another. Just cheap beige wallpaper, green patterned carpeting and a slightly stale smell. The whole place definitely looked better on the outside. Most disappointingly, not a supernatural occurrence in sight.

"So, you don't have like any problem with me being here, do you Velmy? I don't drink no more! My sense of judgement is better than ever!" Rufus proudly stated.

Velma shrugged. "Well, Fred's the leader and if he wants to give you another shot, I'm just going to go with that. But you need to show us you can do it."

"I'm gunna do it!"

"Well, you have to do it. How about that? Because you're here now, and we can't afford mistakes."

"I reckon this is our case, V. Me and you are going to be the Batman and Robin of mystery solving. The terrific twosome. Getting our monsters and living the dream."

Velma smiled grudgingly, but didn't reply. She doubted very much that anyone would know how to respond to the statement Rufus had just made. Instead, she said nothing, and the two of them continued down the corridors. Bedroom doors flashed by, either side of them. Many were silent, but the occasional voice could be heard. But nothing remotely resembling supernatural activity. Velma wondered whether Fred and Daphne on the upper levels, or Scooby out in the gardens might have had more success.

"Velma..." Rufus said, breaking the awkward silence which had otherwise fallen between them.

"What?"

"If I was trying to impress a girl...not saying I am, dude, but...what kind of things should I get for her?"

"Well...chocolates or flowers? Just something simple..." Velma replied wearily.
"Yeah, well I'll be honest, I have been chasing this girl for a while and she's kind of like you. I gotta make myself stand out to her, homie. Are chocolates and flowers enough?" Rufus asked.

Velma shut her eyes and sighed. However, despite herself, she was vaguely amused by the conversation. "Well, I think you draw attention just by going out in public to be honest...but if you don't feel it's enough then go that extra mile! Anyway, can this wait until we're done?"

Rufus shrugged. "This is boring, man. The Alcorn Monkey ain't gunna suddenly appear if we keep wandering around. Let's do some cold calling."

"What? Rufus, we can't go kno-"

But it was too late. Before she could stop him, Rufus marched boldly up to room 056 and hammered his fist on the door. Velma shuddered. Blaskov made it emphatically clear to Fred over the phone that he didn't want the guests being disturbed. Luckily there was no reply.

"Come on!" Velma hissed. "We aren't meant to be disturbing the guests!" but Rufus wasn't listening. He pressed his face against the door and shouted out to whoever was inside.

"If you're in there dude, I'm gunna have to come in. Listen, I can hear you're TV, whoever you are. Let me in, or I will unfortunately have to force my way in. Believe me, I'm good at breaking into places. I'll smash your door in if I need to man."

"No you bloody won't!" screeched Velma, trying to tug Rufus away. "What do you want to go in there for anyway?"

"To investigate, man!"

Suddenly the door was wrenched open, and a short, overweight, red faced man in his forties stormed out to find out who was disturbing him. From the awkward angle of his trousers, as well as his crumpled shirt, Velma guessed that the man had been in the middle of something that they should not have disturbed.

"Who are you? Why are you here at this hour?" the man blustered.

Rufus surveyed the man behind his red sunglasses. "You need to calm down, dude. This isn't cool behaviour." he drawled.

"You threatened to break down my door! Who are you, you hippie freak?"

Rufus suddenly took two steps right towards the man, and loomed over him, invading his personal space in a very threatening way. The man hastily backed away into his room, and despite Velma's protest, Rufus followed him in. "I'll tell you who I am!" he jeered, as he continued to walk towards the man, causing him to back up into a wall. "I'm your new best friend, and because you love me, you're gunna calm down, dude!" the short man was terrified out of his wits, as he backed into a wall, with Rufus edging closer by the second.

"F...fine, just get the hell away from me!"

"Boo!" Rufus exclaimed very suddenly, making a sudden movement with his arms. The short man jumped, and whimpered slightly.

"Rufus!" Velma screamed. She ran into the room, and tried to pull Shaggy's cousin away from the obviously jittery man. "Get your ass out of this gentleman's room, right now!"

Rufus shook his head. "Can't do that, V. I'm here to protect you, and I cant do that out there! This guy is a huge threat!" he poked the short man hard in the chest as he stood cowered against the wall, whimpering. "He could snap and hurt you any moment now."

"He's on the verge of a bloody heart attack, Rufus!" Velma was practically screaming. "Get yourself out of this room, right now. You know all that second chance rubbish? Gone. Already gone, unless you get out of here!"

Rufus chuckled and reluctantly backed out of the room. "You ain't seen the last of Rufus Rogers, boy!" he called out to the shell shocked guest as he left. Velma slammed the door shut behind him, and turned to the guest. "I don't really know what to say to you" she muttered awkwardly to the guest. "I completely apologise for that...I'm ashamed and embarrassed about what just happened..."

By now, the man had reclaimed his nerve and he himself was embarrassed. "I don't know what's going on and I don't care. Just get out of my room." he spat. Velma knew better than to argue.

She made her way out of the room and back into the corridors of the Blaskov Hotel. To her annoyance, Rufus was nowhere to be found. She'd taken her eye off him for about fifteen seconds. And he was gone. Shaking her head, she took her phone out of her pocket and dialled Fred's number.

"Got a clue?" Fred asked. The phone reception sounded warped and faulty in the hotel.

"No, man. Listen...so far, Rufus has been useless! Other than randomly attacking a guest, he has contributed nothing. Nothing at all. I'd have made better progress by myself!"

Velma heard Fred sighing in fury down the phone "Put him on the phone. I want a word with him."

"I don't even know where he's gone! Look, Fred. This is doomed to failure if he stays. He hasn't even lasted an hour without getting us into trouble!"

There was a high pitched scream.

Velma nearly jumped out of her skin. "Can't talk" she said, hanging up on Fred. All throughout the first floor, doors opened and confused and irate poked their heads out.

"What's that?"

"Who screamed"

"Is someone throwing a party?"

Velma ignored everyone, and hurried towards the source of the scream. She already had a pretty good idea what she might find; Rufus holding an innocent old lady hostage or some such scenario.

But it wasn't to be. She had assumed that a woman had screamed, but wrong again. It had been Rufus. She found him, staring out of the window, into the hotel gardens.

"What?" she said.

"I saw it, M-C Vel D! I saw it!" Rufus was beside himself with glee.

"The Awthorn Monkey? Where?"

"Out of the window! See those bushes over there? He was in there! This big ass hairy thing with a real long neck! It was he, V! The monkey of death! The bringer of decay and doom! The apelike undertaker! Th-"

"All right, all right, I get the point! If we wanted you to be an over melodramatic queen, we'd have asked. Look, height, build, anything? It's all important. What was it doing?"

Rufus grinned broadly. "He had a cutlass!" he announced.

"I whh..w.h...What?"

"A proper sword, homie! It looked lethal! There was blood on it as well! And I could have sworn he was holding a dog's head! Man, this is great! Ain't it great Velma?"

"Not really..." Velma replied, looking extremely concerned. "Scooby's out there...wait..oh please no...a dog's head?" Velma felt a hideous swooping sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"Late April Fools!" Rufus announced proudly, laughing hysterically at his own joke.

Velma turned away. "That's it. I'm done." she spat. "I'm finished. Done. I'm calling Fred. Either you're leaving or I am. That was the sickest joke I've ever heard, and I'm not spending another minute in your company."

"Spoilsport!" Rufus sulked, genuinely surprised at Velma's reaction.

They turned a corner.

And suddenly there it was.

Right at the end of the corridor. A seven foot tall, hairy brute. It's neck was twice the length of a normal man's. But the most grotesque thing of all? It was standing with it's back to Rufus and Velma. But the hideous, grinning face was there, on the small head, leering down at the "terrific twosome." And despite the fact it was smiling, it didn't look happy to see them...not at all happy.

Note: Sorry for the delay and stuff. I hopes thou made enjoyments of thee chapter.