Doug

THIS STORY IS NOT SUITABLE FOR READERS UNDER 12

Chapter 6 continues from yesterday. If you want to read Velma’s stories from the beginning, click here

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Velma caught the night bus right outside her building and bought a single to the town centre. She alighted outside the multi-story carpark and took the lift to the roof. No one parked on the roof since the CCTV cameras had been vandalised. It was 3.33 am. Not much more than 3 hours till sunrise. No one was around. Velma stepped off the roof, became the bat, and headed to the seaside.

She had followed the odious Doug on social media for a couple of weeks and all those photos of his idiot face grinning over the fish he was proud of killing were hard to stomach, but she’d learned that he was chartering a boat for the weekend with two mates, as he did every year. They enjoyed spending time outdoors like real men, drinking and fishing.

After flying for less than half an hour, Velma was feeling sluggish. The harbour from which Doug’s boat set off was no more than ten miles from home – less than an hour’s flight for the Velma Bat in calm weather. But the closer she got to the coast, the windier it became and that slowed her down considerably.

After reaching the harbour, she had no easy task in finding the boat at sea, but her persistence was rewarded when she finally spotted it. The Dominator was being tossed energetically by the waves and she didn’t expect to see anyone on deck. When she dropped onto the boat, in human form, she had to immediately grab the guard rail to stay on her feet. It was a full moon and her view of the distant horizon told her that there was less than an hour and a half until sunrise. It started to rain. Slow at first but the drops were heavy. She had to get a move on.

She forced open the hatch for access to the lower cabins, expecting to find Doug there, but before she descended, the wind dropped for a second and she heard a sound behind her. She closed the hatch and approached the man vomiting over the rail.

She touched his arm. “Doug?” He turned and confirmed she was right. “Having a rough time?”

He was confused and shouted over the noise of the wind and waves. “What the hell -? Where did you come from?”

“Oh I just dropped in for a minute,” she shouted back, “I’m Roz’s friend.”

His attempt at a reply was thwarted by another resurgence of his dinner. He spat over the side and turned back to look at her. “How the hell – did you stow away or something?”

“Or something, yes,” Velma replied, but he couldn’t hear her very well and she realised she was wasting time she didn’t have.

The rain was coming down hard now and her chances of making it home before sun-up were diminishing by the second. She stepped closer to him so that he could see her true face, looked forcefully into his terrified eyes and shouted above the sounds of the storm. “Sorry about this, but it has to be done.”

With her left hand gripping the rail, she took his right hand in hers and sunk her teeth into his cold wrist. He was unable to resist. When she’d drained almost all of his blood, she threw him overboard and then stood for a moment, watching as the serial killer’s remains were swallowed by the dark, angry ocean. She felt slightly guilty for her insincere apology. She wasn’t sorry.

“A vampire’s gotta eat,” she whispered.

She climbed onto the highest point of the boat, what she liked to call the roof of the steering wheel bit, and jumped off it to become the bat again and head for home. Now she knew she had to make her best flight time, in the worst flight conditions. Her little bat body fought bravely against the wind, a struggle made harder as her fur soaked up the heavy rain. It was only a couple of miles to shore but she was exhausted by the time she got there. The sky was getting lighter every second, at the horizon it was orange and she knew there was no way she would make it home. She needed a cave or a tunnel but she wasn’t familiar with this town and, with only minutes before sunrise, started to scan the landscape in a panic, looking for somewhere safe.

Then she saw it – the miniature railway. The track went through a short tunnel under a hill and Velma headed straight for it. There, safe in the dark, she tucked one wing tightly against her body while fully extending the other. The resultant mid-air flip enabled her to grab the earth ceiling in her claws. And there she hung, safe upside down in the dark, while sunlight painted the train tracks just a few metres away. Now she could sleep.

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Come back tomorrow for the beginning of chapter 7, unless you want to read it now 😉

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Velma the Vegan Vampire belongs to Violet Plum © 2026

Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, exciting and always entertaining vegan fiction since 2012