Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 7: Investigation Party

The detective almost felt like he was in a sauna, a large warmth quickly drying him out. He let out a bit of a relieved sigh, shuddering some. Once the smoke cleared up, the detective was revealed once more, his hair frizzed up quite a bit. Phantasma managed to restrain a giggle, pushing her hand to her growing smile as the man merely shook his head and chuckled, fixing his hair up. He did look much dryer and more comfortable, as if he wasn't even in the rain in the first place. After the slight comedic moment, the detective continued speaking.

"I can see that you all took my advice in searching this school out," He spoke, directing his attention to Mystery Incorporated. "While the rumors of this school were kept somewhat hidden, I always figured it would be true. After all, why would anyone even talk about it if it didn't exist?" He chuckled darkly, putting his hands into his hoodie pocket.

At this point, his eyes began to scan over the ghoul students with vast interest. As his eyes darted from ghoul to ghoul (with a brief glance at Googie), he continued with his little talk. "So... what have you all found out?" The humans took another uncomfortable look at each other.

Daphne cleared her throat, finding her voice first. "Well, we haven't actually... discovered anything new right now." Her fingers fidgeted as she couldn't maintain eye contact with him, since he quickly moved his sights over to her. The detective's eyes narrowed very slightly, his grin not lessening.

"Hm, a shame. At least I haven't missed anything." At this point, Winnie finally managed to say something in between her low growls.

"What are you talking about?" Her eyes didn't leave his figure for one second, his own gaze turning to her. His smile flashed a bit more, although he sounded surprised in his response.

"You mean they haven't told you?" The detective sounded quite amused, although it was mostly because he got to see a werewolf first hand.

"I thought it was because Coach wanted to teach us again..." Elsa added, sounding somewhat disappointed, if nervous. After his eyes darted over to the tall flesh golem, his face looked a tiny bit more thoughtful, though no less excited.

"Hm, well that may be his motive," He began, flashing a gaze to Shaggy, who was now looking down in an uncomfortable manner, rubbing his arm awkwardly and trying to not look at anyone. "As for everyone else, they're here for a different reason." After a small pause of anticipation, the man blinked and continued on, saying, "I'm the homicide detective for the nearby town, and recently, someone was killed. And not by anything human."

Tension seemed to rise a bit, the ghoul's eyes widening some. Phanty, naturally, let out a loud dramatic gasp, Tanis's and Elsa's being a bit less loud. For Sibella and Winnie, their eyes merely widened. This did nothing to lessen the werewolf's menacing gaze on the man, while Sibella decided to speak up in defense of her schoolmates.

"If you don't mind me saying this, detective, but there is no reason for you to search around here," She began coolly, her bored gaze staring into his own wide eyes, which were now turned to her. The sheer cheek of her statement made a few others look at her, Miss Grimwood looking quite shocked as well. The man raised an eyebrow and she continued on. "I assure you that all of us here keep our distance away from others. We do not harm mortals." As she stared into his eyes, anyone observant enough would notice his left eye twitch a little.

The man's smile grew wider as he lifted a finger at her. "Vampire, correct?" Sibella gave a simple nod, not removing her own gaze. He tapped his temple a little bit with a dark chuckle. "You're gonna have to do better than that," He began. Most everyone at the table gave the vampire a confused look as she merely flipped her hair off of her shoulder. Miss Grimwood raised an eyebrow at her vampire student in bemusement before the detective continued. "Anyways, while that may be true, I still have a job to do. Your gracious headmistress has allowed me to stay as long as needed to conduct my investigation. As I'm sure she allowed you all," He said, flashing a smile to the human group.