I do not own any characters from Hanna-Barbarra, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only.

Velma's Tail

By LJ58

3

Ian smelled her. He remembered that smell, too.

Rich. Earthy. Arousing.

He was walking down the street to his truck, deciding to leave town early, just in case, and then he smelled that smell. A very familiar smell.

He turned, and saw a garishly painted van drive by, a lean blonde at the wheel.

"Mystery, INC, huh," Ian smiled. "Looks like the whole gang showed," he murmured. "Good eating tonight," he grinned to himself.

"You say something there, Waters," Lem Polanski, the aging sheriff of Deacon's Hollow asked as he walked out of a café just then.

"Uh, just staring at the hippies, sheriff," he smirked, pointing out the van that had pulled up in front of the local library. "Ain't ever' day you see something like that."

"No, it's not," the old man murmured, and nodded at him before he walked past his cruiser, and headed up the street toward the library.

Ian grinned.

"Have fun, old man. But tonight, they're mine," he murmured.

Lem, apparently not hearing, kept heading over to intercept the kids climbing out of the van with a huge hound.

"Hey, kids. What brings you into town," the aging lawman asked as he eyed the big dog. And the brunette standing close to him.

"We, ah, heard about a lot of mysterious attacks," Velma told the lawman. "We thought we might come, and check them out," she added.

"Yeah, you see, we're amateur detectives."

"We don't care for vigilantes around here," Lem told the blonde kid who looked a bit of a pushover to him. How he managed to solve anything was beyond him.

"We're not," Daphne assured him. "In fact, we prefer working with the law. We just came to check out the library, and see if they might have anything…..uh, telling in the archives. I understand this region has a history of strange animal attacks," she asked suggestively.

"Look, kids. You seem okay to me. So, do yourselves a favor, and go home. These mountains can be dangerous to people that do know them. They're downright unforgiving to strangers."

"We've faced danger before," Fred put in. "Mystery, Inc.," he smiled, indicating the colorful logo on the van. "We've faced lots of danger, and always come out on top."

"Not always, man," Shaggy muttered sourly.

Lem eyed the obvious beatnik, but didn't smell anything like pot on him. Still, it wouldn't surprise him. Skinny kid like that had to be using something.

"Look, just visit the library if you want, but don't go making trouble in my county. Got it, kids," the old lawman demanded.

"Yes, sir. We understand. We aren't here for trouble," Velma said earnestly. "We just try to help where we can, when we can."

"All the same, you stay out of those mountains. They ain't safe at certain times. Especially to outsiders."

"Like….full moons, dude," the beatnik asked, sounding genuinely terrified. "Are you saying…..?"

Lem sighed, and eyed the obvious craven.

"I'm saying, stay out of other folks' business, boy."

"Yes, sir," Shaggy told him quickly. "No problem. Absolutely. You heard him, guys. Nothing to see here. We might as well go home. Right?"

"Shaggy," Velma glared at him.

"But he said…."

"Inside," Fred said, shoving the beatnik past Lem.

He shook his head, and watched the group go inside.

Weird, but that dog of theirs actually sounded like it had snickered at the one kid. Weird.

SD

"We know something is going on," Daphne said as they drove out of town a few hours later. "An entire town that knows nothing about werewolves," she sniffed.

"Yet they all said to stay off the mountain," Velma nodded at her. "Which is very close to where we were attacked last month."

"So, like, shouldn't we avoid that place, then? I mean, we never did find any silver bullets."

"Shaggy," Velma scowled. "We're here to find answers. Not shoot anyone."

"But werewolves aren't people," he protested.

"Really," Velma asked dryly.

"Uh…. Uh….. Uh….."

"Sun's going down," Fred said quietly, eyeing the stocky brunette. "So, what's the plan, Velms?"

"We try to catch this guy," Daphne said. "We'll find a likely place, set a trap, and try to lead him to it."

"Catch him," Shaggy whined.

"If we can hold him till sunrise, we can find out who he is, and get the answers we need from him," Velma agreed. "Of course, that also means I'd better….leave soon. Just in case."

"I trust you, Velma. I know you won't hurt us," the redhead said firmly, nodding her head as Fred checked the rearview mirror, and then pulled off the road.

"That makes one of us," Shaggy muttered uneasily.

"Re, roo," Scooby declared. "Relma ris roray," he nodded.

"Scoob? Are you nuts?"

"Rope," the big Dane grinned. "Ry roof."

Scooby rolled his eyes.

"Man, has the whole world gone nuts?"

"You always ask that," Fred said, finally stopping just out of sight of the road. "Now, let's get that gear we brought, and get to work. Night isn't far off."

SD

Ian had a sour expression as he walked out of his house that night, and lifted his head to sniff the air.

Ben, the coward, had already bolted himself behind the reinforced storm cellar doors.

Well, maybe that was smart. Ian was having a lot more trouble controlling his other side lately. It was like he was getting….meaner. Not that he cared. He was sure the new bitch, who had very obviously lived, would help temper his sour moods.

They could even get married, and live in the wild, and enjoy the moon times together while they hunted trespassers on their mountain.

It would be great, he decided.

Stripping off his clothes, he began loping into the forest even before the moon came up. He didn't really need it. He just enjoyed the wild more and more of late, and at times he wished he could just lose himself to the wolf, and never have to go back.

That would be paradise to his mind just then.

He was almost down the slope near the highway when he heard voices.

That was when he saw the redhead standing near the chubby girl that smelled strongly of wolf. His bitch.

He grinned, and stepped out.

"Ladies. I think we've got some unfinished business," he grinned, and suddenly shook his head, one eye twitching as the wolf just…..rose up, and consumed him.

One moment he was upright, and the next he was on all fours, snarling as he eyed the redhead that had just stared at him as he changed.

"Fred," she shrieked even as Velma changed, and dropped to all fours as she just shredded her clothes. "It's here!"

Velma rolled over by then, all wolf, and looked up at her as a low growl rose out of her throat.

"Velma. Velma, it's me," Daphne cried, her eyes bright as the big, black wolf snarled, stalking her as the boys had gone one way, and she and Scooby another as they had scoured the woods for clues. "Remember? C'mon, Velma, you have to….."

The snarl took her by surprise as a huge, dark-brown blur Velma had become streaked past her, slamming into the darker wolf, and sending it bowling.

The newcomer snarled viciously, and then turned to Daphne, eyeing her with golden eyes.

"Velma," she squeaked, gaping at the pair circling one another with cold eyes.

"Rets ro," Scooby barked, running to join them from wherever he had been, all but grabbing Daphne's hand, and tugging. "Raph, rets ro!"

She could see the fear in his eyes. He was scared.

Daphne was terrified.

"Find the guys, Scooby! Quick! I'll climb a tree. Wolves can't climb," she said as the two wolves now circled one another, snarling low as they regarded one another.

Every time the black brute neared Daphne, still trying to clamber up the tree, the brown wolf charged, herding him back.

Daphne gave a sigh of relief, and then ran for a more likely tree, using her natural agility to swing up, and into the branches as Scooby ran. Likely for his life. Big as he was, she knew he was no match for a genuine werewolf.

And if she had seen anything tonight, it was a real man, turn into a wolf, and start attacking her.

She settled in the branches, and stared down, watching as Velma kept herself between the bigger wolf, and the tree. Just in case.

The wolf snorted at Velma, growling, then started sniffing.

It suddenly made an angry snarl, and Velma growled right back in renewed fury, baring very large fangs.

The wolf lunged again, this time sounding even more vicious.

Just before it could close on Velma, twin booms echoed through the forest as the big, black wolf was flung back, landing in a rolling heap before it stilled. Daphne gasped as the old sheriff walked out of the night, holding up a big shotgun as he loaded it even as Velma eyed the fallen wolf.

Then Daphne realized the old man had now aimed the reloaded weapon at her friend.

"No," Daphne shouted as the sheriff raised the old shotgun up to aim at the winded, and bloodied brown wolf now. "She's not a killer!"

"That right," the old man asked, just eyeing Daphne as she ran from the tree where she had just dropped down, then came over, and knelt at Velma's side without hesitation. Even putting her arms around the winded animal.

"See? She's my friend. She's no killer. She was saving my life. That other….other….."

Daphne looked, and could only stare.

The wolf was gone now. Only a lanky man with too-long hair lay sprawled where it had been. A very large hole blown in his chest where his heart had been.

Velma looked up, and whimpered as she put a big paw on Daphne's lap.

"See? She knows me. She won't hurt anyone. She's never been a killer. You don't have to kill her," Daphne told the sheriff as he kept his weapon at the ready.

"Velma! Daph!"

She turned to see the boys running up with Scooby just then, and the big hound eyed the dead man before circling around to join the girls.

"Relma? Ru roray"

"Your dog…..talks," Lem blinked as the big Dane eyed the brown wolf with evident concern.

"Doesn't everyone's," Shaggy grinned uneasily.

"You kids were the ones Ian attacked last month, weren't you," Lem finally said, lowering his shotgun.

Velma pushed to her feet, the bloody wounds on her body from her fight healing even as Daphne stared at her.

"Yes," Daphne said. "We came back to find out what was going on. Especially after…."

"Your friend started turning into a wolf?"

"Yeah," Shaggy said. "But I thought if you killed the old werewolf, you were cured, man. Why isn't Velms changing back?"

The sheriff just eyed him, then turned to Daphne.

"Superstition aside, I can tell you sure that the wolf is like a virus. Once it's in you, there ain't but one way to be rid of it."

He drew a finger across his own neck.

"Velma isn't a killer," Daphne said again, still kneeling beside the big wolf, stroking its dark head.

"And how about you, little lady?"

"Me? But…..?"

"I been hunting wolves most of my life," the sheriff told her. "I got a sense for them. You been touched, too. I half expected you to turn tonight, too, since you're together."

"But I wasn't bitten," she protested as Velma gave a whine as she put her very big head against her chest.

"Let me guess. You two are lovers?"

Daphne blushed as Shaggy gaped, and Fred sputtered, blurting out, "Of course not!"

"Actually, Fred….."

"You? And the Velmster," Shaggy exclaimed. "Man, I did not see that coming."

"Ry roofs," Scooby drawled in his canine voice, eyeing the sheriff coolly.

"That'll do it," Lem nodded as the boys eyed the girls with obvious shock. "You share anything. Blood. Saliva. Sex," the sheriff told the redhead, "And the wolf gets you. I told you, it's like a virus."

"Remind me not to drink after her any more," Shaggy whispered to Scooby, who sniggered at him.

Daphne just stared, then finally looked up at the old man, and said, "I'm not a killer either," she told him quietly.

The old man nodded, then pulled out two shotgun shells.

"Pure silver loads," he told Daphne, handing them to her. "Just in case."

She took the shells, and stared at them as Velma just stared up at them.

"Must be a right good friend," the sheriff finally said. "Never seen a wolf wasn't trying to rip you apart. Never. I hope that don't change," he told the group. "Now, best you kids leave town, while I conjure up a hunting accident that folks will find believable."

"Thank you, Sheriff Polanski," Daphne said, rising to her feet as Velma stayed close to her side.

"Just be careful. And remember, don't take chances," he nodded at Fred. "Wolves are wild at heart, and if you try to chain one, they'll only fight all the more to be free."

Velma snorted, and leaned her head into Daphne's side.

"Then again, they're also damned protective of their own. Maybe that was your ace, little lady," Lem told Daphne. "I hope it stays true. For all of you."

No one said anything to that as Daphne looked over at Scooby, who was looking back at her with bright eyes.

Eyes flecked with amber.

She swallowed hard.

"Let's get out of here, guys. Looks like this case is over," the redhead told the boys quietly.

"Rah. Rover," Scooby agreed with relief as they walked back toward the clearing where the Mystery Machine was hidden.

"Talking dogs, and lesbian werewolves. Just when I didn't think I would ever see anything new," he chortled as the sheriff turned, loaded the shotgun with two spent standard shells, and then leaned it over a nearby branch as if it had fallen there.

"Too bad you weren't watching where you lay that gun, Ian. Too bad," the sheriff said, and loped off toward his car, his dark glasses hiding the gleam of crimson red in his own eyes. A souvenir left him from a bad hunt that got him tangled up in a nest of vamps.

Still, he had survived.

They didn't.

He genuinely hoped the kids made out, though. They did seem decent enough.

You just never knew, though. Not when it came to the spook stuff. You just never knew.

SD

Ben was chopping wood when Lem drove up to his cabin where he and Ian lived after the family house burned down, killing everyone inside except the brothers.

Ben knew better. Sometimes, he thought the sheriff did, too.

That had been the first time Ian changed. He killed the family. Parents. Ben's wife. Even the kids. If Ben had not been working late that night, he'd be dead, too. He came home to a grizzly scene, and a blandly staring brother who had never so much as raised his hand against anyone.

Except he had been covered in blood.

Surrounded by mauled, almost completely eaten bodies.

That was when they moved into the woods. That was when Ben took to hiding in the storm cellar.

When Lem drove up, he wondered if he had finally figured it out.

"Ian ain't here," he told the man.

"I know. Hiker found him out in Gray Woods south of the ridge."
"Found him," Ben frowned now.

"Looks like a hunting accident. Although I'm not sure why he was naked," Lem drawled casually. "That boy never did have sense, though. Looked like his shotgun went off, and blew out his chest when he tripped."

"He's…..dead," Ben frowned.

Part of him was horrified. Another part relieved.

Still, he had seen Ian survive some hellish things since he had changed. When he went through a suicidal phase, he tried almost everything, and didn't so much as have a scar for hit. They heard about silver, of course, but that was expensive. Somehow, the brothers didn't think asking to borrow enough silver to make a bullet to kill a werewolf would have gone over too well.

Not in their town.

"He's really dead," he finally croaked.

"Well, he's got a hole where his heart used to be. That's about as dead as you can get, Ben," he told him. "Gonna be an autopsy, of course, but…. Well, it's just standard stuff. Ain't gonna be any doubt about what happened," he said so blandly that Ben knew Lem knew the truth. He definitely knew.

"Maybe….it's for the best," Ben finally managed to say.

"Good Lord sends good and bad to all of us, Ben," Lem told him. "It's up to us to play the hand."

"Yeah. Guess you're right, Sheriff. Uh, when can I….see him?"

"Down at Duggins' Mortuary by now. I reckon you can go by any time, being as you're family."

Ben nodded.

Ian was gone.

The wolf was gone.

Then he had another thought.

What had happened to the wolf that had turned him? Sure, they ran him off that long ago night, but he was still out there. Then, too, what had happened to the bitch he wanted? That girl that Ian had turned?

Maybe he better keep that cellar ready all the same, he decided. Just in case.

SD

"Man, Velma's drooling," Shaggy complained, backing away from the big wolf in the back of the van with him.

"I think she smells those burgers we ordered," Daphne laughed, and handed the sacks back. "Better give her something to eat before her belly rumbles any louder than yours."

"Very funny. I'm not that….."

She laughed as Shaggy reached for the sacks, but never got them as Velma snapped with her big jaws, rending both sacks, and then snapping up the fallen food with large, quick bites, wrappers, and all.

"Man," the beatnik groaned. "That is so unfair."

"And now you know how we usually feel," Daphne laughed.

"So," Fred murmured. "You think the old man was right? You think you're going to change, too, Daph?"

Daphne stared over at him as he drove them home, the moon shining high overhead in the sky.

"What I think…..is as long as we're together, we'll all be all right. After all, Velma didn't really change. She's still our friend, and she saved my life tonight," she smiled.

"And you guys really…..? That is, you….?"

Fred stopped stammering, then shook his head.

"You know," he finally blurted.

Velma's big head suddenly rested on Daphne's shoulder, amber eyes flitting between them.

"She's my friend, Fred. Our friend. I still love you, too, Fred, but we're going to have to be really careful until we're sure one way, or the other. Because from what the sheriff said, just having sex….."

Fred swallowed hard.

"I'm not really sure I want to be an over-grown dog," he stated tactlessly.

Velma snorted, and Daphne laughed as Scooby growled, "Rey! Rhats rong ri'h rogs?"

"Man, this scene just keeps weirder, and weirder," Shaggy complained, and eyed a burger that Velma hadn't gobbled. He was reaching for it, when she looked back at him, and very blatantly winked at him.

Shaggy snatched the fat, greasy burger, and gobbled it down almost as fast as she had.

Only he first pulled off the wrapper.

"Rheres rine," Scooby complained.

Daphne only chortled as they drove away from the small town they had just left behind.

Far away, on the edge of a mountain, the echoing howl of a wolf sounded before it faded away. Overhead, the full moon shone in the sky, lighting up the area for miles around. Showing everything, and revealing nothing.

End…?