In this week's episode: Fred's desire for gruesome clickbait for their podcast nearly gets everyone killed, Velma takes Daphne to new places. This will be the last in the series for the moment. We'll probably come back to the gang with a refreshed format that focuses more on their hijinks.
Cold Open:
"I'm really going to die here." Velma had very little doubt. She was lying face up on a massive ebony dining table, her arms and hands encased in thick tape behind her back, and secured to her waist. Trying to cry for help, she had found her mouth stuffed with fabric, and more tape wrapped around her lower face trapped it firmly in. Finally, heavy shackles around each ankle held her legs wide to the edges of the table, with chains crisscrossing up her legs and torso. The table sat in the center of a cavernous, decaying dining room. Dark, figured mahogany scrollwork climbed the peeling yellowed plaster walls around the room, up to a steeply pitched cathedral ceiling. A heavy wooden chandelier hung from the beam stretching across the center of the room above her. The entire room gave off "gothic serial killer" vibes in every way.
"The Blood Dragon has been waiting for you to wake," a menacing growl drifted from a shadowy figure in a leather highback chair across the room. A fully stoked fire burned in the massive stone fireplace, with an iron cauldron bubbling in the flames. It cast an insidious, flickering glow across the leather-masked figure, as he stood, holding a long, serrated knife in his right hand.
"You have been chosen to be a vessel for Sleep. You will see me feast, and you will bear to him an army of servants." He stalked over to the table and traced a pentagram on her chest with the hilt of the knife, before slipping the blade through her sweater above her abdomen and fluidly slicing up through the orange fabric.
Velma was completely petrified. "This is why we investigate ghost divers and haunted amusement parks, and not fucking psychotic mass killers! How did she get talked into this???" she raged.
Fred had promised they'd take a quick look around the abandoned Gothic manor on the edge of town, and then call the police. They just needed to make sure that the owner was actually the one the press was calling "The Wakeview Butcher." Then like always, they had "split up to search for clues." Velma had been briefly relieved to find a friendly cat in the basement, before stumbling onto several gruesome sets of remains, and then everything had gone black.
"Shaggy?? Daphne???" Velma heard Fred's stupid voice booming up the stairs from the foyer.
"Sure, idiot. Just start yelling in the murder mansion. How was I the first one he found?" Velma thought acidly.
"Excellent. The first sacrifice," the baritone voice breathed. Licking the blade of the knife, the killer silently glided across the room to the top of the stairs.
Velma was astonished at his grace. "No wonder he surprised me. I never even stood a chance," she thought. "Well...at least I'll get to watch Fred die. Silver linings."
The Butcher began his way down the stairs when his left foot suddenly shot out in front of him and he pitched back. Velma felt like the world had slowed as she watched the base of his skull hit the top step. A brittle snap echoed across the room and the black-clad figure lay motionless.
Dumbfounded, Velma stared at the body in disbelief. Out of the darkness, a small black and white face appeared over the top of the killer's head. The true apex predator of the manor had been lying in wait on the stairs the entire time.
"Mrooww?" The cat from the basement sat on the killer's chest in understated triumph and cocked his head at Velma. Briefly licking a paw, the cat strolled up the dead killer's face, hopping off as the head rolled unnaturally to the side, crossed the room, and casually jumped up on the table next to Velma. Sauntering onto the helpless sleuth's chest the cat sat again, and began licking her nose.
As she rolled her head back and forth to get away from her persistent rescuer, the door next to the fireplace burst open and Shaggy charged in holding a broadsword. In alarm, the cat leapt up a nearby shelf, while Shaggy surveyed the room frantically. His eyes met Velma's and then drifted beyond her, widening as he saw the killer lying partially on the stairs with his head facing the wrong way. Shaggy quickly retreated back the way he came, leaning through the doorway retching.
"Oh shit! He's not gonna be in Part 4." Fred clumsily clunked his way up the stairs, stopping over the killer, while he fished his phone from his pocket. "Hang tight, I'll call the police after I narrate this sweet intro for the episode I thought up."
Velma desperately willed the killer's body to reanimate and stab Fred in the groin without success.
Fred's narration was rudely interrupted by the front door exploding open. Police rushed in, followed by Daphne, who sprinted up the stairs to Velma's side. Tearing off the tape around Velma's mouth, the redhead pulled the wadded up cloth from her friend's mouth.
"It's about time I got to rescue you for once," Daphne said quietly as she began trying to find where to start with the tape and chains. "Boy, this guy really did not want you going anywhere, huh?"
"Please get me loose before any of the police meet Fred. I'm pretty sure we can convince them the Butcher got him before they got here," Velma rasped, her mouth parched from the gag.
"You're not going anywhere anytime soon I'm afraid" the redhead replied. "Although didn't you tell me you could escape from anything?"
"Oh hush you," the immobile sleuth chided. "Well at least get Shaggy out of here; my new cat doesn't like him."
Chapter 3
Daphne's heart was pounding as Velma led her through the walnut stained front door of the bungalow. She had no idea what to expect on the inside after glimpsing the devious machinations of her friend on the porch. However, it wasn't heavy leather and dungeon chic that greeted her in the foyer, but an airy oasis. The living area was almost entirely open, with a modest den flowing into a light-washed dining area and kitchen. A veritable jungle of ferns and broad leafed plants grew on light wood shelving under every window. A pair of monstrous monsteras arced from large clay pots in the corners of the living room toward a large picture window in the center of the wall.
"I had no idea you could even find something this tranquil in the city!" Daphne turned to her friend as she sauntered toward the kitchen.
"It's only this peaceful when the cat is out. Otherwise it's a little more fraught in here. He's on probation for murdering my fiddle leaf last week. He also has a penchant for bothering helpless girls, so we'll keep him out there until I'm through with you." Velma smiled as she spoke. She had been waiting to have Daphne here for as long as she could remember, and adrenaline was coursing through her. "Why don't you step this way and we can start your last lesson for the day?"
Daphne practically danced across the room as she trailed her friend through a doorway in the kitchen into a small den. The room was bathed in sunlight, but was nearly completely empty except for some padding on the floor, and two thick wooden posts anchored to the floor and ceiling about eight feet apart from one another. The redhead noted with some curiosity a network of rope coiling its way down the left post, wondering at its purpose. On one wall was a row of pegs with coils of natural hemp rope hanging over them. Just to the right of the rope was a rack of canes of varying thickness, and several floggers, while a wide table lay just below with a meticulously laid out buffet of clamps, gags, vibrators and other paraphernalia.
Her pulse had slowed in the serenity of the home, but it had accelerated precipitously as she processed all of the possible things that could happen to her with the wide array of tools in the room.
Grabbing a length of rope off the wall, Velma moved behind her and slipped her dress off her shoulders. Daphne sighed contentedly as the brunette kissed the newly bare skin on her collar bone, and allowed her friend to unhook the modest white bra she had been wearing underneath and guide her hands behind her back. Tying her arms parallel to the ground, Velma worked swiftly and firmly. She wrapped the rope around her almost-nude friend's torso, securing Daphne's arms tightly to her body, and running the rope over her shoulders and under the ropes just below her breasts, Velma pulled the rope tight and tied it off, completing a textbook box tie. It wasn't the most exotic work she had done, but knowing it was likely Daphne's first time experiencing it there wasn't any harm in that, right?
Velma ran her fingers along the ropes wrapped around Daphne's chest and arms, ensuring that the tension was distributed evenly, and that they weren't lying across the nerves in her arms. She took the opportunity to run her hands over her friend's breasts, pinching her nipples harder and harder until the redhead squeaked and tried to squirm away.
"Oh no you don't!" Velma reasserted her grip on her captive's arms and firmly pushed her back against the rope-covered post. "Let's make sure you don't try to dance off from me again."
Daphne shivered in anticipation as her friend crossed the room and grabbed several more coils of rope. Velma started wrapping the ropes around the redhead's chest, weaving them into the mesh of rope already on the post and pulling her back tightly up to the wood. More wraps followed around her waist, and soon Velma stepped back to admire her friend firmly affixed to the thick wood support.
It took a moment for Velma to collect herself as she gazed at the flawless creature bound in her living room. Daphne stood with a dazed smile on her face, her generous breasts perfectly framed by lines of hemp rope, and her naturally slim waist even more tapered by the constricting bonds. There was just one thing amiss.
Velma stepped forward and gently pulled down on the white panties her friend had been wearing. She was pleased that not only did Daphne not object, but gave a supportive shimmy to help get them off her hips. Velma immediately noticed that they were beyond damp; clearly her friend was enjoying this just as much as she was!
