Chapter 2: The Harvest Moon (Part 2)
Jacob, Daphne, and Velma were howling under the Harvest Moon, their transformation complete. Their whole bodies were covered in brown fur, their hair withstanding. Not only that, but their eyes have also become cat's eyes, their mouths had become partial snouts with sharp fangs, their hands grew sharp claws, their legs had become hind legs, and they grew long tails near their bottom cheeks. They'd fully embraced the Curse of the Cat God in their heated passion. The trio caught their breaths for a moment until the girls got a good look at themselves.
"Oh… Jeepers~" Daphne said, becoming well-accustomed to her Cat Person form. "I always knew I'd be a cat person, but this… is something else." Velma sat up and looked at her long legs and started to groom them. Daphne and Jacob were puzzled with how Velma is acting, although it looked hot just the same. She paused for a moment and looked at them just as confused.
"What? I'm grooming." She explained. "That's normal when we're mating."
"Normal for cats, you mean. Which I guess we are…" Daphne said. But in her attempt to correct her, she understood what she meant.
"And speaking of mating~" Jacob leaned close to Daphne and purred near her head, making her moan. "Hold still. It might hurt a little." Daphne was confused about why he'd say it, but she found her answer when he clamped his fangs on her neck! He didn't go deep into her like a vampire, but she screamed delightfully in the resulting stimulation.
"O-Ohhh, holy fuck~! That was really good~!" Daphne wailed joyfully. But he wasn't done yet. In her walls, she felt small bumps on his cock, as if becoming barbed. Daphne shuddered excitedly as he began to pump into her, said bumps adding more to the shocking sensation of pleasure, her voice moaning louder and louder as he thrusted inside her pink folds.
At the same time, Velma took interest in their mating during her grooming. And yet, the longer she watched, the more her attention waned from her legs… and moved to her vulva. Her hunger reawakened, Velma stuck out her tongue and gave it a lick. She wasn't as flexible in her normal form, but this one didn't have the issue at all.
The next thing she knew, Velma got a jolt of pleasure through her entire body. And she couldn't get enough. Velma started to groom her crotch, spreading her legs up only to bring them down on her head to get closer to her lower region and lick it as much as she wanted to.
"Jinkies…~!" Velma excitedly shuddered before proceeding with her licking. Daphne, meanwhile, was going crazy with his dick. Her furry breasts were swinging and smacking against themselves at the cleft of her chest. Her tail mingled with Jacob's as her ass clapped against his pelvis. They were acting just like the animals that they've become. And they loved it.
"Ohhh, Jacob~! I… I'm about to cum…!" Daphne warned, panting heavily with adrenaline.
"You're not the only one…!" Jacob grunted, pushing himself harder and harder into Daphne until finally, he breached her cervix and released his seed right into her womb just as Velma achieved her own climax, swallowing her own juices as she moaned. Their heightened sensitivity had allowed them to find their climax much sooner than when they were human.
After a few minutes, Jacob pulled himself out of Daphne's snatch, making her moan loud with ardor as a fountain of his semen poured out of her. At the same time, Velma caught her breath and trailed her hands over her hairy bust.
"Mmm~ This feels less scarier than I thought…~" Velma replied, sounding as though she'd discovered catnip. Daphne crawled beside Velma and laid down next to her with a purr.
"I agree~" Daphne purred. "I'm already feeling like I could go for round two~"
"And don't forget about me, either, hot stuff~" Velma flirted, showing him her clit with lustful hunger.
"Really? Uh, sure!" Jacob agreed with an elated smile.
Later, Daphne was on all fours as Jacob thrust himself inside her glory hole, making her moan and groan in spurts as her tits wobbled and smacked against each other in the cleft of her chest. And her tail was wrapped around his waist to pull herself closer to him. At the same time, Velma's tits were being fondled by Daphne, who towered above her and watched as her teats bounced around. Unable to suppress her hunger, Velma suckled on one of her hairy nipples, making her moan loud as Jacov released his load deep inside her womb again, and at the same time, she lactated deep into Velma's mouth, letting her swallow up the milk in her mouth as the other nipple sprayed some all over her.
Next, Daphne and Velma were kissing and licking each other, the former dragging her tongue all over Velma's fur to lick up the milk she had sprayed all over her earlier. Then, during their makeout, Jacob's rod grew big again, and the girls decided to give it more appreciation.
They licked all over his dick on both sides like a pair of feasting lions sharing a steak. Watching them trying to kiss each other as he thrusted in-between their lips made his nutsack stir uncontrollably until finally he shot out another load, shooting it all over Daphne and Velma, including their waiting mouths to drink it all up. After swallowing the load that got on their mouths, they groaned excitedly with dirty smiles that mirrored their sexy Werecat bodies completely covered in his seed on their boobs and their legs.
The next thing they knew, Jacob was pushing himself inside Daphne's wobbling ass as she and Velma laid on top of and kissed each other. Their tongues were open in the air, and their mouths exhaled their hot breath as they moaned and mewled like horny animals mating with their lover. Their nipples rubbed against each other as their voices grew higher and higher in euphoria, not caring if the whole world could hear their rapture. As his balls smacked against her cleft, Jacob could feel himself building up for a powerful shot inside Daphne.
"D-Daphne…! I'm cumming close…~!" Jacob warned.
"Go ahead, Jacob~! Cum all the way inside me~!" Daphne pleaded in her horny state. And within moments, the trio moaned simultaneously as he filled up Daphne. Her belly started to bloat on Velma's as they shared a lewd open-mouth kiss. After a few minutes, Jacob pulled out and made her groan with pleasure as she shot out a pool of cum from her snatch all over Velma's cooch and the ground. Daphne rolled over beside Velma and cuddled beside her as she hummed.
"Wow… who'd have thought our lives would come to this?" Velma asked with an odd mixture of disbelief and satisfaction.
"I won't complain. Maybe I can get used to being like this~" Daphne said with a warm, soft tone.
"That's easy for you to say. You got to have his cock breed you." Velma complained.
"There's still plenty of time." Daphne said. But Jacob couldn't say the same about him being used to it. While he was happy that he got to make love with Daphne and Velma, the curse of the Cat God came with a far heavier price than they realized. How could he smile knowing that?
It was quite some time ago. After he'd first transformed, he tried to look for Brad and Judy. Even if he never wanted to see them again after what they put him through, they were still his only ride back to home. Back then, he was naive enough to think he could still go home the way he was.
"Brad?! Judy?! I hope you're happy!" Jacob shouted, expecting a snide remark. But there was nothing. Ideally, that would be a good thing. In this case, though, it didn't give him the slightest bit of comfort. "Huh… probably ditched me just to go screw each other in the—"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
A shrill shriek pierced the otherwise quiet atmosphere. And it came from all the way to the mansion. But where he was might as well be on the other side of the island for all he knew. Yet, he heard it like he was there himself…!
"What the hell…? That sounded like Judy! Or Brad." Jacob realized. "Either way, something's happening. And I'm not sure I'll like it."
He couldn't be more right. While making his way to them, he had to acclimate himself with his Werecat state and get used to walking on hind legs, let alone running. By the time he got to the mansion, he was met with a mortifying sight. Both the bodies of Judy and Brad were drained dry, their skin the sight of zombies! Jacob didn't think that it'd happen like this, but Brad and Judy were dead. He thought he'd be happy with it, but he was the farthest thing from it. And it got worse when he saw the two monsters who did it staring back at him, baring their fangs and growling like hungry beasts.
As he recollected his past, Daphne and Velma looked up to see his worried, anxious face.
"Hmm? Is something wrong, Jacob?" Daphne asked, getting worried over his look.
"Hm? Oh. Yeah. I was just thinking about something." Jacob dismissed. "Anyway, we've got a mystery to solve, right? We should head back to the mansion and see what else we can find."
"Good idea. But how do we change back?" Daphne asked. For Jacob, anyone in their right mind would ask that first. He held his hands onto Daphne's, making the Redhead Cat Person look up at him.
"That's easy enough. Just close your eyes and focus." Jacob advised. The two of them closed their eyes and took a deep breath. As their breaths synchronized, Jacob and Daphne's cat ears shrunk into the fur along with their tails, her fangs, and even the fur itself. And their hind legs reshaped themselves into normal feet. Velma watched, mystified by the findings of the supernatural that happened before her very eyes. Even if she needed glasses, she still couldn't believe it.
Daphne and Jacob were back to normal, standing in the nude locked together by their hands. When they opened their eyes, Daphne gasped gently in astonishment.
"I'm back to normal…" Daphne said in wonderment.
"Yeah. But we're still cursed." Velma pointed out.
"Yeah, we are. The good news is, we can change forms easier now, though." Jacob said with a smile.
"Well… I guess it's not so bad. Although, I'm still baffled by all the supernatural turning out to be true…" Velma admitted.
"It'll take some getting used to, Velma. I don't blame you one bit." Jacob patted her on the back as he tried to cheer her up.
"That makes me feel a little better," Velma said, her mouth forming a small smile. "But what I'd like to find out is why these ghosts want us off the island."
"We can head back to the mansion and look at the history book for clues. But maybe after dinner." Jacob suggested. "Lena's making dinner as we speak, and I don't think she'd like it if we were late."
"Good plan." Velma nodded. "But first… can you help me out with this?" She pointed at her own body, still stuck as a cat person. Jacob and Daphne had a feeling about the kind of hell she was talking about. They shook their heads with smiles on their faces.
"Sure. Just keep your eyes closed, like I said." Jacob advised. Velma sighed and closed her eyes. But it wasn't only the key to changing back. Jacob lowered himself down on Velma's body and positioned his rod near her entrance. Once it was lined up, he slid himself in slowly, making Velma shudder and groan in delight.
Jacob pumped his hardwood inside Velma's babymaker, smacking his nutsack against the cleft of her furry ass cheeks and making them wobble in turn. The sensation of pleasure was so strong with Velma, she put her clawed hands on his back and raked them, drawing blood with a hard moan.
Jacob groaned from the pain, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The scratches weren't deep, so it served to heighten his libido, as well. "Ahhh~! You really like this, don't you, Velma?" Jacob guessed.
"I do~! Oh, I want to be fucked by your dick every day, Jake~! I want to be your bitch forever~!" Velma wailed. Daphne especially was not expecting to hear that comment from the usually logical Velma.
"Whoa, Velma! You really are kinky, aren't you?" Daphne asked with a chuckle. "I can't help it, Daphne~! I just want his cock deep inside me~! I want his cum in my womb~! Please, Jake~! GIVE ME YOUR CUUUUM~!"
In her moaning wail, Velma wrapped her legs around Jacob's waist to give him full control. After a hot minute of his hard grunts and groans, Jacob finally burst into a climax! He instantly flooded Velma with his essence, making her howl and yowl sensually to the Harvest Moon. While his substance overflowed out of her hole, she stared upon the moon, as if hypnotized by it. At the same moment, her body changed back to normal at the same rate as Daphne and Jacob have. By the time he pulled out of her pussy, leaking his cum all over the floor, she was back to her human form, quivering and moaning in fits with her tongue out. Daphne laid down beside her with a soft hum.
"That felt really good, huh, Velma~?" Daphne asked.
"Yesss…~ So good~~" She answered.
"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Jacob smiled warmly, brushing her brown hair gently. "And as much as I'd like to do it again, we've still got a mystery to solve here. You know that, right?" After catching her breath, Velma smiled at her new lover and nodded.
"You're right. We have to get to the bottom of this." She said with her lust subsided for the time being. But her stomach told a different story. It grumbled, making her blush bashfully.
"Maybe after we eat…" Velma said with a light chuckle.
Later on, Jacob, Daphne, and Velma, now dressed back in their clothes, went inside the mansion as they talked about what they went over. Thanks to their love session prior, their clothes didn't get damaged, so they were able to keep the ruse.
"So, Moonscar and his pirates attacked the settlers who lived there…" Daphne began.
"…and then the followers of the Cat God must've used this statue to retaliate against them, assuming Shaggy and Scooby were right about that zombie coming back to life." Velma finished.
"That's right. But we still don't know why they're coming back to life." Jacob said. "For now, I think we need to—" Suddenly, they heard Shaggy and Scooby's ever-iconic screams from upstairs, followed by a loud crash!
"Shaggy? Scooby?" Daphne began to worry.
"What's happened now?" Velma asked.
"Only one way to find out." Jacob said. The trio rushed up the stairs and to the hall. What they found immediately were Shaggy and Scooby on top of Simone, who quickly became disgusted.
"Get this beast off of me!" Simone demanded. Shaggy and Scooby quickly got off of her as Fred apologized on their behalf.
"Uh, we're t-terribly sorry." Fred said. Even Scooby felt bad about it.
"Sorry." Scooby said. But when he tried dusting her off, Simone scowled.
"That is quite enough." Simone snapped with a leer. Jacob knelt down near her and helped her to her feet.
"Simone, I'm sure Scooby didn't mean it." Jacob said. "He did restrain himself around Mittens."
"And where have you been, Jacob?" Simone asked, wondering where he'd gone after being shown their rooms. That question made Jacob blush like crazy, considering what came afterwards.
"Well, uh…" Jacob began, hesitating to answer.
"Velma and I wanted to take a look back at the cave." Daphne answered.
"The cave?" Simone asked with curiosity.
"We looked there before when we first heard Shaggy and Scooby outside. And then we had this nagging feeling telling us to look back there and investigate more." Velma added.
"We found a lot of interesting clues back there. Like the Cat God statue." Daphne said.
"Cat God statue?" Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby asked in unison.
"Is that so?" Simone said with intrigue. At first, they had her curiosity. Now, they've gotten her attention. "And what else have you found?"
"Nothing of note." Jacob answered with a small glare to Daphne, making her puzzled. But she read into that worrying expression. It gave her the impression that she said something she shouldn't have to the wrong people. For the moment, Jacob put it aside to continue. "But we might be getting closer to figuring this out. Speaking of which, what got you two on edge?" Before Shaggy and Scooby could answer, Lena spoke up from behind.
"Dinner!" Lena called out. "From all the screaming up here, I'd say you two must be starving." Shaggy and Scooby weren't the only ones. Velma and Daphne's stomachs growled in tune.
"You have no idea…" Daphne said with a light blush. That gave Jacob an opportunity.
"If it's alright, can Daphne, Velma and I eat in our room tonight, Simone?" Jacob asked. That got her really curious.
"Really? Why do you ask?" Simone questioned, puzzled by his request, whereas Fred found it suspicious.
"Good question. Why?" Fred asked, getting right into Jacob's face. Of course the young man hadn't taken into account the chance of dealing with a suspicious (and potentially jealous) Fred.
"It's because of something between me, Daphne, and Velma, Fred." Jacob explained. "If I told you, at this moment, you'd just laugh." That part got Fred thrown off.
"Is that what you think?" Fred asked, concerned about his way of thinking. "That I'd laugh at you? How can you think that?"
"Let's just say my old friends didn't exactly give me good faith and leave it at that..." Jacob said. The telltale look of exhausted misery on his face gave him the gist that he overstepped in asking that of all questions. He began to feel terrible.
"Oh. Sorry…" Fred apologized. But Jacob didn't hold it against him.
"Forget about it. It's fine. I know you're not like them." Jacob said.
"Well… what exactly did happen?" Fred asked, wanting to know the whole story sooner rather than later. That's when Jacob's own stomach grumbled.
"We'll talk later. Preferably when our bellies are full." Jacob insisted.
Later, in his room, Jacob, Daphne, and Velma were eating plates of gumbo and biscuits while Shaggy and Scooby ate their fill of crawdads and biscuits in the van. Lena hadn't anticipated them eating in their new rooms, but she agreed to it nonetheless, especially when she saw how cozy they were getting with Jacob. At the very least, she felt that he deserved to be happy with them before the end of the night. And, of course, Fred was the only one sitting at the dinner table with Simone and Lena. Even so, Daphne was curious about why Jacob looked at her the way he did when she told Simone and Lena about what they found. It seemed like he knew more about them than he let on.
"Jacob," Daphne began to ask, "did I say something wrong back there?"
"No. But you need to be careful around Simone and Lena. Really careful. Especially Simone." He warned. That perplexed Velma. He didn't need to caution them about those two before. Why would he need to act on that now?
"Why?" she asked. "What makes you think they're the suspects in all this?"
"Well, how do you think I knew about the curse in the first place?" Jacob answered with that question. It reminded Velma of the book she read earlier before she went to the cave with them. "I guess that would explain the ancient book that told us about the Cat People. Are you saying they're involved in this somehow?" Jacob knew for a fact that they weren't somehow responsible. The truth was, they were.
Jacob could still see the shriveled corpses of his former friends, Brad and Judy. They were drained nearly to dust. And to make matters worse, he was confronted with the two monsters who've done it. They were in the same form as he was, and he never would've recognized them if it weren't for their ripped blue dress sleeves, the torn red blouse, or their familiar blonde and black hair. The monsters hissed and turned to Jacob, only to gasp in surprise when they saw him.
"Simone…? Lena?" Jacob asked, completely stunned to see their transformed state. And for that matter, they seemed just as surprised to see him like they were! Lena was the first to approach him. She seemed rather concerned for him especially.
"Jacob?" Lena asked with disbelief.
"How is this possible?" Simone asked herself, much more so in disbelief than Lena. All in all, the three of them were completely surprised by this turn of events.
"You are… H-How are you—?" Jacob stuttered, trying to say what was on his mind. But Lena put her paws gently on his.
"It's okay. Ms. Lenoir and I won't hurt you." Lena said, her face showing a type of concern his mother would when their children are this stressed. But the irrefutable evidence of drained bodies made him skeptical.
"How can I believe that?!" Jacob shouted, moving his hand away from Lena and starting to panic. "Y-You just drained my friends dry!"
"Don't fool yourself. Were they really your friends?" Simone asked him with a trademark "really?" kind of look. Jacob paused for a short moment. While he wouldn't exactly call them that, this was beyond cruel, even for them.
"No, but still! Even they didn't deserve this!" He countered.
"Didn't they?" Simone asked, puzzling him. "Lena told me about how you've been suffering under their so-called 'friendship'. Frankly, you deserved better."
"I…!" Jacob was about to counter. But like it or not, she did have a point.
"Okay, you're not wrong." He admitted. "But what's the police gonna think if they find out these two are missing?!"
"Let us worry about them." Lena said, hugging Jacob in her arms. "It's okay. You're free now." Jacob tried to form a word and counter them. But he couldn't. Why would he even bother anyway? They certainly didn't care about what he wanted. But now that they were gone, his torment was finally over.
Before Jacob knew it, he started to break down and fall onto his knees. He sniffled and sob, lamenting over how much of his time was wasted just by being around them. He could never get that time back. And now that he's become this Werecat, how could he even go back home?
"I… I just want to go home…" he sniffled. He sobbed quietly as Lena tended to him.
"It's alright. You don't have to be alone." Lena gently brushed her hand on his back to soothe him.
"This can be your home if you choose." Simone offered. "There is much about this form that you don't understand. But it doesn't have to be seen as a curse. In its own way, it can be a blessing as well."
"Really? And what blessing is that?" Jacob asked, having doubts about it.
"For starters… immortality." Simone said with a devilish grin.
In the present, Jacob was staring into his gumbo in deep thought as a rumble of thunder echoed outside. Jacob took a deep breath before he looked at the girls and spoke to them.
"Daphne, Velma, I'm glad you guys can trust me." He said. "Right now, I need to know that I can trust you with what I'm about to say." Daphne and Velma looked at him with a puzzled expression. But if they were going to get to the bottom of it, there had to be a mutual trust.
"Of course." Velma said.
"We'll trust you." Daphne said.
"Okay. This isn't gonna be easy for me to say… but here it goes." Jacob began, ready to come clean about the reason behind his 1-year stay at Moonscar Island.
Meanwhile, Fred was enjoying Lena's gumbo in the dining room with her and Simone.
"Your dining room is beautiful, Simone. Daphne would've said the same thing." Fred complimented.
"Thank you, Frederick. You come off much nicer than Jacob's old friend for certain." Simone replied as she sat down.
"Speaking of friends, where is Beau?" Fred asked, wondering about where he was.
"He usually has dinner in his room above the carriage house." Simone explained.
"I brought him some food, but he wasn't there." Lena added. Fred thought it was typical of someone who was grouchy with people.
"Huh, figures." Fred scoffed. "So, how long has he been working for you, Ms. Lenoir?"
"Several months." She answered. "And it's Simone, Frederick."
"Uh, just Fred's fine." He insisted. "Anyway, he looks kinda suspicious."
"He had excellent references." Simone said, confused that Beau would come off as suspicious. "More so than Jacob's 'companions', at least."
"About that… I hope I'm not being insensitive, but Jacob told me that his friends didn't give him good faith back then. Is that true?" Fred asked with concern.
"I did get that impression when they first came to the island." Lena answered. "They always seemed to make fun of him at his expense."
"And they even made a dare for him that got him lost in the river once." Simone added. "If we hadn't found him in time, he likely would have drowned, or worse..."
"Whoa, that bad?" Fred asked, increasingly appalled by his so-called friends.
"We tried to look for them after helping him out to make them own up to their mistake, but we couldn't find them anywhere." Lena continued.
"Well, at least not until the next day." Simone pointed out. "By that point, their bodies were turned into shriveled corpses. That was when the first haunting started. And as luck would have it, they were his only transportation back home, and he didn't feel right to ask us to leave the island despite our offer to help."
"So he stayed this whole year with you because you were like a family." Fred realized. No wonder Daphne hadn't seen him for so long. "Wow. I had no idea. I guess he must be really lucky to have you two by his side."
"Yeah. Lucky…" Lena replied with a solemn look. Despite how things have turned out, she didn't believe he was all that lucky. How could he be when they forced him to go through with what they were doing?
Meanwhile, in Daphne and Jacob's room, the girls were utterly stunted by what he'd told them.
"No way!" They said in unison. "You've been helping them for the past year?!" Velma asked in shock.
"Not exactly." He replied with a guilty look. "It's not like I wanted them to do what they did."
"But you didn't try to stop them?" Velma asked in disbelief.
"Oh, I've tried." Jacob said with exhaustion. "I felt Lena was more likely to listen than Simone. And I tried to talk to her about it. But…"
"But Simone couldn't let her stop." Daphne guessed.
"Bingo." Jacob sighed.
"But why do this to people for 200 years?" Velma asked. "Why would they want to live forever when they've already got their revenge on Moonscar?"
"Why wouldn't they?" Jacob answered. "It's because they're afraid."
"You mean they did all this because they're afraid to die?" Daphne asked, starting to feel outraged by their crimes. "What about them?! The men, the women! Even the children! They didn't want to die either!" Jacob understood her anger, but he held his hand over hers to ground her back to reality.
"Daphne. I get where you're coming from. I'm angry at them, too." Jacob said. "But it's not just them that would die. They're the only ones left of the Cat God's followers. If they die, so does their culture, their way of life. All memory of it would burn away. And then… there'd be nothing left to say they existed at all. For them, that's a fate worse than death."
Daphne's hand still trembled, filled with a fury she was unfamiliar with.
"Still… those people…" Daphne breathed out.
"I know. Lena's no happier with it than I am." Jacob told her gently, putting his hand on her cheek.
"She isn't…?" Daphne asked. But before she could think more on that, they heard Shaggy and Scooby yelling out in the distance again.
"Now what?" Velma and Fred asked simultaneously, starting to get annoyed from their preemptive screaming. But downstairs, Simone's cat took it as a bad omen and hopped off of her lap.
"I told you the hauntings get worse at night." Simone reminded him. At that point, Jacob, Daphne, and Velma came down the stairs in a hurry.
"We heard them scream from upstairs." Jacob said. "Think they found something again?"
"Maybe." Fred answered with a nod. In preparation, he got the camera ready in his hand. "Just in case…" He walked to the group as Simone turned to Lena.
"Lena, get them some lanterns." She ordered.
"Right away." She nodded. Then, she paused for a moment and walked to him and Jacob. "But please, Fred, Jacob, you two must be careful." Fred and Jacob nodded to her. Although, the former was more smiley with her than Jacob was. And Daphne especially couldn't think of a way to smile for her, whether she was angry at her or not. She was stuck in a rock at a very bad place.
And so, the mystery gang and Jacob went to look for Shaggy and Scooby. The first place they looked was the woods. It had a beautiful setting with the Harvest Moon shining over the bayou river. Jacob had suggested that they began their search there due to his excellent hearing (though he hadn't disclosed it to Fred). All the while, Daphne and Velma in particular were anxious. They knew it was going to be tough to explain their situation. But for now, they were fortunate not to worry about it. Finding Shaggy and Scooby was the top priority.
"Shaggy! Scooby! Where are you?" Velma shouted, hoping to find a response. A few seconds went by. Sadly, there wasn't any response. And yet, Jacob did hear something. He could hear footsteps approaching. He looked to the clearing on his right, where a bright glow was headed this way.
"Guys?" Velma said, hoping that they found Shaggy and Scooby. But Jacob knew better.
"Hold on. It's not them." Jacob told her. And he was right. It was Beau. He was holding up a lantern in his hand.
"So, it's you!" Fred said, believing that they found a suspect.
"Not likely, Fred." Jacob said. "Do you know where Shaggy and Scooby went?"
"Your crazy friends are near the bayou screaming about zombies. Well, I didn't see any." Beau answered, not as nonchalant as before, but just as fed up. Velma didn't take to that tone well at all.
"You never do!" Velma snapped. "For all we know this is life and death!"
"Is it?" Fred asked with a suspicious tone.
"Fred, what are you trying to say?" Jacob asked.
"Velma said it herself. He never saw any of the zombies that Shaggy and Scooby did. And he's never around when those ghosts and zombies appear. Now, isn't that a coincidence?" Daphne got in between Fred and Beau to cut the argument short. Curse or no curse, she wasn't going to waste any time.
"Save your suspicions for later, guys." Daphne urged. "Right now, we have to find Scooby and Shaggy."
"Good point." Jacob agreed. "We'll have to split up and find them."
"Good idea." Fred concurred. But what Daphne had to say made him uneasy.
"I'll go with Beau." Daphne insisted.
"Bad idea." Fred and Jacob said simultaneously. The boys looked at each other in confusion over their stance on Beau. In Fred's case, he didn't trust him one bit. But for Jacob, he was worried about what Beau would think if her secret was exposed. If things were as bad as he'd think, she might be forced to transform and give it away. He couldn't risk that.
"Actually, I'll go with Beau, Daphne." Jacob suggested. "I've been meaning to get to know the guy more along the way, anyway." Truth be told, it was more than that. He'd only been working with Simone and Lena for several months. There's a chance that he didn't know about who they were, and under that assumption, he had to make sure he knew about them, and soon.
And so, Daphne and Velma went with Fred while Jacob went with Beau. He kept a stoic and distant angry look on his face as he trudged through the puddle. Jacob kept pace with him, wondering what his role could be in all of this. He never did get to know the guy much, albeit not for lack of trying.
"So, Beau… I hope you're not too mad about us getting in the way." Jacob said with an awkward expression. "I know you didn't ask for any of this to happen the way they have." Jacob paused for a moment to work up the nerve to tell him. "But there's something about this place that you really need to know." While it normally would've been nice to have an apology for what he had to put up with, Beau found it strange that he'd be the one to care about him like this. He stopped just in front of him and turned to Jacob.
"Hey, why do you keep trying to get close to me?" Beau asked with his own amount of suspicion.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Beau." Jacob urged. "I'm trying to help you!" But his words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Beau picked up a nearby rock and set down his lantern. He looked about ready to bash his head in, but Jacob ducked. Beau tossed the rock above his head and onto the ground behind him. The rock began to sink like the stone that it was.
"Quicksand." Beau pointed out.
"Oh. Crafty." Jacob said with astonishment.
"I appreciate your concern. But I can handle myself just fine." Beau told him with a glare. Beau walked along as Jacob glanced at him.
"Can't get a read on that guy…" Jacob said to himself. "What was Daphne thinking?" Suddenly, he heard her shriek of surprise, making him intensely worried. "Daphne?!" With his expert hearing, he looked to where her scream echoed. And without thinking, he grabbed Beau by his arm and dragged him along.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Beau shouted with confusion and surprise.
"We have to find them!" Jacob shouted.
Meanwhile, just moments earlier, Fred, Velma, and Daphne were searching for Shaggy and Scooby on their end. And their search didn't take too long. Daphne and Velma found tire tracks in the woods, and lo and behold, that's when they've found it.
"Fred, over here!" Daphne shouted.
"We found the Mystery Machine!" Velma added. The trio went up to the van to get a look. They hoped Shaggy and Scooby would be inside it hiding for cover. It had been pretty much their MO at times like this. Daphne set down the lantern on the ground and opened it up, only to find a pile of Crawdad Shells falling out of the van. Daphne let out a shriek of surprise when it happened. And the shriek came out so loud, it may have been heard through the whole forest. Velma and Fred went up to check on her. Daphne sighed when she got a good look at them.
"Oh… Crawdad shells." Daphne said, a bit upset that they got that reaction out of her. "It looks like Shaggy and Scooby liked Lena's cooking, too."
"It doesn't look like they're inside." Velma pointed out, looking inside the van to be sure. As she did, Fred began to wonder what Jacob himself was like. What could've made him so anxious?
"So, Daphne… did Jacob tell you guys anything at dinner?" Fred asked. That made Daphne cautious. She had to be careful about what she had to say to him, or she'd give everything away.
"Why do you ask?" Daphne said. But an idea popped in her head. "You're not jealous, are you?" That remark made Fred all flustered.
"J-Jealous?" Fred replied with his cheeks as red as the hot peppers that grew on the island. "T-That's not what I was trying to say! I mean, did he tell you about his old friends?"
"Actually, yeah…" Daphne said with a solemn nod. It was a much easier thing to talk about than what he told them about the curse in comparison, and that was still a lot for Jacob to deal with. "Brad and Judy weren't really that great for him. I just wish he could've told me about them sooner. I might've done something to help…" Just then, Daphne felt someone's hand grip onto her shoulder. It was rough and brittle. Daphne's instincts jumped into overdrive as she pulled the creature out of the bushes and near the van. Fred saw Daphne's reaction time and was astonished.
"Whoa…" Fred said with an impressed look.
"Like that." Daphne smirked. Fred, Velma, and Daphne took a look at the one who apparently attempted to kidnap her. Withered skin aside, it wore a blue letterman jacket with white sleeves and a letter B at the forefront of it. His pants were dark blue jeans, and his blonde hair was shriveled and looked likely to fall apart. And it fit Shaggy's earlier description of the zombie in question.
"It's probably the gardener." Fred hypothesized.
"But that can't be right." Daphne said. "Beau's with Jacob, remember?"
"Well, we'll just have to see about that." Fred began to try to take off the "mask" when Daphne heard another rustle in the bushes. On instinct, she reached for the arm and pulled out a surprise guest. "Shaggy?" Daphne, Fred, and Velma asked simultaneously. And where Shaggy went, so did, "Scooby?" He had come out of the bushes behind Shaggy, relieved that he'd found the gang.
"Guys! We found you!" Scooby whimpered with relief as Daphne soothed him.
"It's okay, Scooby. You're alright." Daphne said, brushing along his back gently. When Shaggy recovered from the sudden pull, he saw the zombie staring right in front of him! He screamed and jumped back as Fred tried to reassure him.
"Take it easy, Shag. It's just a mask." Fred told him. But Daphne didn't believe it. She held her hands on the man's head, trying to pry the "mask" off of him. "If this is a mask, Fred, it's a pretty darn good one." Shaggy and Scooby were hiding behind Fred and Velma as they watched. Fred, on the other hand, was still skeptical.
"Good one?" Fred scoffed. "It's the fakest, cheesiest mask I've ever seen." But Velma, though she'd agree with him normally, knew better than to write it off with her and Daphne's curse.
"Alright, say it is a mask, Fred." Velma said. "Who do you think is under it?"
"It's the gardener!" Fred immediately guessed.
"No." Daphne replied.
"It's the fisherman." Fred guessed almost on the spot following that.
"No!" Shaggy shook his head with fear.
"It's the ferryman!" Fred said, his voice starting to sound more desperate as Daphne had very little success taking the "mask" off.
"No!" Scooby shook his head. At that moment, Daphne ripped the zombie's head right off, her eyes agape with horror when she saw it sitting in her hands.
"Fred, what do you have to say about this?!" Daphne showed the head to Fred, who's just as fearstricken as she was.
"Maybe it's… real!" Fred realized.
"I told you it wasn't a mask!" Daphne said to him with an anxious look.
"It must be animatronic." Fred theorized. But his theory went right out the window when the zombie stood up on its own and grabbed its head from Daphne's hands. The zombie put the head back on itself and groaned. Right at that moment, Jacob and Beau got to the others.
"Daphne, what happened?!" Jacob shouted. But he immediately gasped with fear when he saw the zombie in front of him. "Brad? You're here?! But how?!"
"You know that guy?" Beau asked with confusion.
"Lena told me he was found drained of life, that's all I would know." Fred said.
Just then, a major storm began to stir in the air. A dark spiral appeared in the clouds as lightning struck the air, followed by a loud thunder that sounded powerful enough to shake the Earth itself! Then, came the eerie green light that snaked its way down into the bayou. Jacob, Daphne, and Velma recognized that light from anywhere. It was the same light that transformed them all. And now, it's gone into the bayou to resurrect the dead.
Before they knew it, the zombies rose up from the water, moaning and groaning as Shaggy and Scooby trembled.
"Like, it's deja vu all over again!" He shouted. "And we all know what to do, right, Scoob?"
"Yeah! RUN!" Scooby yelled. The two of them tried to take off, only to find themselves cornered at another section of the bayou by more zombies!
"Yikes! It's a regular zombie jamboree!" Shaggy panicked.
"Let me guess, you think these are animatronics?!" Jacob asked, knowing how skeptical Fred would be.
"Well, it is a possibility, Jacob!" Fred said, trying to keep a sane grip on himself, but Jacob didn't have the time for this.
"You're not a skeptic, Fred. You're in denial!" Daphne shouted.
"Even I know these monsters are real!" Velma added. "And you have no idea how hard that was for me to say!"
As if the situation couldn't get any worse, they heard a shrill scream from the mansion!
"It's Lena! We left her and Simone unprotected!" Fred realized.
"Oh, no…" Jacob knew what it meant. "We have to get out of here!"
Play Skycycle Music: "It's Terror Time Again (Studio Version)"
"Come on!" Daphne shouted. She grabbed Fred's hand and took off with him. Jacob, Beau, Shaggy, and Scooby followed suit, only for Fred to trip. Jacob saw the camera and grabbed it with his reflexes before it could sink into the quicksand.
"Got it, Fred! This way!" Jacob held onto the camera and pointed to the other end of the woods as the zombies followed them.
While the zombies slowly pursued them, Jacob, Fred, and Daphne went to a nearby tree branch and pulled back on it as a horde of them came closer and closer. But when they let it go, it swung right at them, knocking them back! But a pair of legs, specifically Brad's, was still walking toward them. Daphne felt it wasn't ideal, but at the very least, it was more harmless. So, she took advantage of it and kicked him squarely in his chops, making it double down and keel over before they resumed their getaway.
During their chase, they jumped over the rocks and branches on the bayou to get to the other side. However, to their horror, one of the branches turned out to be a crocodile. It glared at Daphne and was about to chow down, but Jacob couldn't let it happen.
"Hold this." He told Fred, handing him the camera before he charged in and pushed Daphne out of the way, only just in time to get in the crocodile's jaws himself. Everyone grew very anxious about the outcome, especially Daphne.
"Jacob…?" was all Daphne would say as she hoped for the best. After a moment of silence, the crocodile erupted out of the water, but not on its own. Jacob was holding it up in the air, teeth bared, and his eyes glowing bright yellow. His skin began to grow dark brown fur all over him, and he also grew a tail, as well as two cat ears on the top of his head as he growled.
"Jacob…?!" Fred said in astonishment and shock. With that, Jacob chucked the crocodile onto a broken down branch, splintering it to pieces and scattering big chunks of debris near the zombies, who ended up knocked away by them. Jacob turned to the others and pointed to the exit.
"This way, and hurry!" Jacob shouted.
"Like, you don't have to tell us twice!" Shaggy agreed. He and Scooby dashed to the direction he pointed to as Fred, Velma, Daphne, and Beau followed suit. Jacob caught up to them with his agility. And after a long moment of the exhaustive chase, they were near the mansion.
End Skycycle Music: "It's Terror Time Again (Studio Version)
As everyone caught their breath, Jacob sat himself down on the grass to look at himself. As it turned out, the crocodile took a good bite of him underwater, especially on his arm. His green-brown jacket and white shirt were torn in places during their bout underwater. And his jeans were torn apart at the legs, likely from the transformation. But it was hardly his concern at the moment.
"Are you guys okay?" Jacob asked. But most of the people around him were cautious because of what he had become. Shaggy and Scooby were especially afraid.
"What kind of monster are you?" Shaggy asked.
"Yeah." Scooby added.
"Guys, I know how this looks, but I promise. I'm not going to hurt you." Jacob insisted.
"And how are we supposed to believe that?" Beau asked, very skeptical of him in particular. But Daphne and Velma walked over to him.
"Beau, he just risked being eaten and fought a crocodile to save me." Daphne said. "Why wouldn't you believe him?"
"And how do you know that he's on our side, Daphne?" Fred asked more out of genuine concern than any suspicion he might've had. Daphne wasn't sure if she should tell him now. She looked back at Jacob out of worry, but he knew of her hesitation. He gave her a solemn nod. With the fact that he transformed, the damage was already done.
"He told me and Velma about this. It's the curse of the Cat God." Daphne said.
"Cat God?" Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, and Beau asked simultaneously.
"I know. I couldn't believe it, either." Velma added. She didn't feel too proud of knowing it, to be frank.
"So, you're saying that all the supernatural stuff was real this whole time?" Fred asked in surprise.
"Yes. They are, Fred. But it doesn't mean that–" Daphne began, trying to comfort Fred, but he was completely shaken by this revelation. So much so that he walked to a nearby tree.
"We've been stopping real-estate developers when we could've been hunting Dracula?!" Fred shouted, banging his head against the tree. "Are you kidding me?! My life is meaningless!"
"Fred! Calm down!" Jacob insisted.
"Jacob's right. This is no time to be hysterical." Daphne added.
"Like, it's the perfect time to be hysterical, man!" Shaggy countered her. "We told you, every freaking time! But did you listen to Scoob and me?! No!"
"We're doomed." Scooby added.
"ENOUGH!" Jacob shouted, making Shaggy and Scooby back up in fear and panic before Jacob felt the stinging pain of his damaged arm. He held onto it and growled in pain. Thinking quickly, he looked at the ground and saw a half-branch. He knelt down slowly and picked it up before he tore off a ripped sleeve of his jacket to wrap it around his bloodied arm. After which, he sat down and took a deep breath.
"Okay. It's time you guys knew the truth." Jacob said.
"What truth?" Fred asked, starting to get curious about what he had to say.
"The truth… about Moonscar Island." Jacob answered with a heavy tone.
Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, and Beau all looked at each other with puzzled glances.
"Uh… I'm not totally following you." Fred replied. Jacob sighed and facepalmed himself.
"Okay. I'll start at the beginning." Jacob said.
To begin, he started with the history of Moonscar Island, how it used to be a home for a religious people who believed in the Cat God. They'd lived there in peace and merriment until Morgan "Moonscar" McReight came along. He and his pirates assaulted them and fed them to the alligators. It was then that the two remaining followers called upon the Cat God to seek vengeance upon him. And they've succeeded. However, afterwards, they realized that using the power had cursed them. But they found a trade off that made it all worth it: Immortality.
They used that immortality for 200 years to feed themselves the life force of their victims, most of whom were an unsavory lot, much like Brad and Judy were to Jacob. And to this day, they've remained on this island by themselves, desperate to preserve their culture and their lifestyle, along with their lives. And those two followers were living right in the mansion. And they were known as Simone Lenoir and Lena Dupree.
"And that's the story." he finished.
"So, you're telling me that Simone and Lena were luring people here for 200 years?" Fred asked in disbelief.
"I didn't believe it myself when they told me." Jacob said. "But when they were just like me, how couldn't I? I thought I could make my own life with them after what they've done for me. But a few weeks after I found out, I realized what the true cost was of using the Cat God's power."
In the past, Jacob was sitting at the dining room table with Simone and Lena. The young man was obviously overcome with shock at what he had heard.
"What…?!" Jacob gasped. "You're telling me I have to drain people now, too?!"
"Unfortunate, I know." Simone said sadly. "But it is necessary."
"Is it, though?!" He retorted. "Brad and Judy, maybe I could let slide, but doing this to innocent people?! You can't ask me to go through with any of that!"
"Not all the victims we drained were innocent." Simone reminded.
"And what makes you so sure?" Jacob asked in accusation.
"You said it yourself. They'd destroy the whole world, and they wouldn't care." Simone reminded him.
"I wasn't talking about other people!" Jacob reiterated.
"Jacob, please, calm down." Lena begged.
"But I can't calm down!" Jacob shouted. "I didn't sign up for this!"
"Neither of us did, either, Jacob." Simone sternly spoke, making the young man cease his temper momentarily. "It would be simple for us to let go of our immortality if we could."
"Then why can't you?" Jacob asked, clearly more than cross with her.
"Because we're the only ones left! That's why!" Simone shouted with anger. "If we die, what happens to our way of life, then?! Our history?! Our culture?!" As she shouted, she started to break down. "Everything would be erased! If anything, you shouldn't expect us to go through that!" Jacob was shocked. And it took Simone a moment to realize she went way out of line with that last sentence.
"Jacob… I didn't mean to–" She tried to apologize, but it was already too late.
"So, you think that because you're endangered, you have every right to murder innocent people? No." Jacob said with a heavy undertone. "I'm not doing this just so those people can be as miserable as you are for losing those precious to them. End. Of. Story." Jacob walked out of the mansion and slammed the door so hard, it broke the wood on and near the door to splinters. If this wasn't the indicator that he was more than furious with Simone, what else could it be? She and Lena were left speechless and at a loss for words, not that he would have cared at the time. But if he had bothered to look behind him… he would've seen their guilt.
"As long as they have the curse, they need to feed on people's life force on the Harvest Moon to preserve their immortality. And they can't just let it go." Jacob said. "Even if they wanted to. That's why they would've tried to drain you guys, too. And I just couldn't let that happen. Not ever again. Not to good people like you guys."
"Like, wow. That's heavy, man." Shaggy said, feeling sympathetic to Jacob's plight.
"Yeah." Scooby agreed with a nod.
"But if you guys fought, how are you able to keep calm around Simone knowing all this?" Daphne asked. She and Velma knew of the truth before, but they never got to know how his relationship wasn't so strained by now.
"And more importantly, why didn't you stop them when you had the chance?" Beau asked with a suspicious glance.
"We were both out of line that day." He said. "I can't go through with draining innocent people to be immortal. But I also couldn't let them die scared and alone. So, we agreed to disagree. And I helped them be more selective in bringing people to the island. I had to bring unsavory faces to the island. Like a gang leader, a mob boss, criminals on the lam to escape prison time, you name it. But deep down, I knew that it wouldn't change where they'd end up if they died. Before I came along, they drained innocent people, too. And we all know where those people go when they die."
Daphne remembered how she initially panicked in the cave when she found out about the curse being real. She was worried about her going to Hell. But after hearing this, now she was more worried for them.
"To Hell..." Daphne nodded solemnly. She worried she might end up there out of panic, but she had a feeling Jacob was more concerned about Simone and Lena ending up there for circumstances beyond their control.
"So you tried to keep them alive the right way this whole time." Velma realized.
"Right." He nodded. "A lot of good that did, though. Are you guys…? No, I know you've gotta be mad about all of this. But I'm so sorry I dragged you into this. I just wanted to have some semblance of a normal life again." Daphne and Velma walked near him and gave him a hug to comfort him.
"It's okay, Jacob. We understand." Daphne said with a gentle tone.
"At least we have an opportunity to set things right, once and for all. Right guys?" Velma added. She looked at Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby to pitch in. Beau, on the other hand, was still on the fence. It was hard for him to make heads or tails about it all.
"Well… jealous or not, I would've thought you were the prime suspect, Jacob. But after the way you fought off that gator, especially for Daphne's sake, I think you've more than earned my trust by now." Fred walked to Jacob and put his hand upon his shoulder near Daphne's hand, which rested on the makeshift wooden cast. "What about you, guys?"
Shaggy and Scooby were still cautious around Jacob. In their minds, monsters were scary beyond all else. And naturally to them, anything scary was bad. But on the other hand, Jacob did help them escape the zombies. "Well… like, we're just glad you're on our side." Shaggy sighed.
"Yeah, thanks a lot." Scooby added with a smile. Jacob turned towards Beau, wondering what his stance was now that he knew the truth.
"Beau? What about you?" Jacob asked. He had a feeling that he wouldn't entirely believe the story at face value.
"Try asking me again once it's all said and done. We'll see how it goes, then." Beau bluntly replied, holding his stoic expression and crossed arms.
"Okay, then." Jacob shrugged. "Probably the best answer I'll ever get…" Suddenly, they heard Lena's shrill scream once again.
"It's Lena, again…!" Fred gasped worried that something would've happened to her.
"But should we believe her?" Daphne asked. She was worried about their trickery with what Jacob had told them.
"I don't know. But we've got to do something." Fred answered, torn over who to believe. But Velma had an idea.
"Hold on." Velma piped up, having one eyebrow raised. "I think I might have a plan for Simone and Lena. If they're really who Jacob says they are, there's only one way to find out."
"Like, how?" Shaggy asked.
"Yeah, how?" Scooby repeated. Before anyone knew it, Velma closed her eyes and made a low growl. Her mouth grew sharp fangs, skin began to grow brown fur and a tail. Her hair had two catlike ears pop up from the top, her hands grew long claws, and her feet turned into hind legs, ripping up the sleeves of her shirt in the process. When she opened her eyes again, they were yellow with a black slit in the middle.
Fred, Beau, Shaggy, and Scooby gasped with horror at the sight before Daphne followed suit, groaning as the transformation took root of her, too. When she fully transformed, the sleeves of her jacket tore apart near the shoulders. The four of them were utterly shocked by this new revelation, Shaggy and Scooby most of all.
"ZOINKS!" Shaggy screamed, hopping into Scooby's front legs to be held close.
Outside the Bayou, the yowls of Daphne and Velma could be heard from afar. At the boat, Jacques could hear it all the way from there.
"Hey, now… that don't sound like no one I know." Jacques said. He wondered what brought that noise all about. Then, his face became a grin as his teeth became sharper than normal, like knives.
"Good…" He said with a sinister chuckle.
A/N: And here, we nearly reach the end of Zombie Island's story. But there's more of the Yowling to come soon. So look forward to it. ;)
Also, to reiterate, I don't have the money to do a request for a commission. And even so, I currently do not need one, so kindly please stop asking me to do a commission for arts and leave me be until I feel otherwise, and thank you for your time. That said, I hope you will continue to follow my stories and read along for the stories' sake. Have a good day. :)