THIS STORY IS NOT SUITABLE FOR READERS UNDER 12
For all the Velma chapters, click here
Chapter 17: Thunderstorm
As Muriel was clocking out she overheard Tom talking to Linda. She peered discreetly around the lockers to watch them.
“I don’t want to get her into trouble,” he said, “I mean, she’s a nice person. Just very slow.”
“So she’s still not doing her share of the work?”
“Not as much as she should, no.” He lowered his voice as if worried he might be overheard. “Maybe I’m just a pushover but she’s always complaining about aching knees, or stiff hands or some such thing. So I feel guilty not doing things for her.”
Linda shook her head. “She should come to me if she’s got medical problems, it’s not your job to pick up her slack.”
“Sorry,” Tom looked full of regret that he’d had to mention it, “but you said to keep you informed.”
He turned to walk away and Muriel quickly stepped back behind the lockers so he didn’t see her.
“What a sleaze,” she thought to herself. “He’s the one who’s been complaining about Velma!” She would tell her later. No, tomorrow. She wouldn’t see her until tomorrow.
Muriel needed some fruit and greens for her smoothies, and some bread, so she turned right out of the department store and walked towards the indoor market. She knew it closed soon but hoped she would make it in time. It was getting dark already. It had been very dull and grey all day. Thick black clouds filled the sky and rain seemed imminent.
As she walked down the steep hill she had a funny feeling. She stopped suddenly and a man almost bumped into her.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry,” keep your distance mate! That was one thing she’d enjoyed about the Covid days – people didn’t crowd you. She scanned the street and, not seeing anything to worry about, continued her walk to the market.
The fruit and veg stall was packing up but they were still happy to serve her so she put a few apples, pears and satsumas in a basket. “Have you got any cavolo nero?” she asked.
“No, sorry,” the woman told her, “but we’ve got curly kale. And spring greens.”
“Oh, spring greens will do. Thank you.” Muriel paid the woman, said goodbye and went to the bread stall.
Unfortunately, it had just closed. Damn! Then she heard a crash of thunder and hurried to exit the building in an effort to get home before the rain started.
She looked down to zip up her jacket as she reached the door and one of her apples toppled out of her bag. Blast! It rolled across the floor and stopped at the feet of a man who was also on his way out. He picked it up and gave it to her.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” He walked past her and through the door into the street. He was wearing the same dark blue anorak and black beanie as the guy who bumped into her ten minutes ago.
Is that the same guy? She wondered. Well, what if it is? He happened to be going the same way as her, that’s all. She put the apple back in her bag and left the building. A big wet drop hit her on the head, and another hit her arm. Damn! She pulled up her hood and hurried. Thankfully she didn’t live far away. No more than ten minutes’ walk.
The rain started to come down hard and fast. She was getting drenched. She took long strides and was making good progress but her heavy bag kept slipping off her shoulder and her supposedly waterproof jacket was not living up to its hype. The rain was soaking into her sweatshirt underneath. But she was nearly home now. She’d soon be able to get out of her wet things.
***
On the other side of town, Andy was looking out of his living room window, wondering if the rain was likely to stop soon. He needed to take Sammy for a walk but he might as well wait if it was going to stop soon. He sat back down at his computer to check the forecast and discovered there was an 80% chance of rain until past midnight.
“Okay Sammy, let’s go out for a shower.” After shutting down the computer he grabbed his coat and Sammy’s lead, put on his wellies and went to brave the weather. When he opened the street door, Sammy was reluctant to step outside.
“Come on boy, just take care of your business and then if you don’t want to go any further, I’ll bring you home.”
Sammy had no clue what had just been promised but understood from the tone that his wish to stay in was not being respected. Andy stepped out but Sammy refused to follow.
Andy made his voice sound stern. “Samm-eee.” The lead stretched taught as he tried to move forward while Sammy didn’t. “I’m getting soaked! Come on Sammy, just go in the garden then, and we’ll go for a proper walk when the rain stops. Quick quick quick.”
Suddenly Sammy barked and ran past Andy down the garden path. At edge of the pavement he snapped and growled at a man walking past.
“Sammy!” Andy said in a futile effort to quieten him. “Sorry, he’s not usually like that,” he told the passing man.
The man just kept on walking and didn’t respond. Sammy shook some of the raindrops out of his hair and walked back to the front door which was now closed.
“You don’t need to go?” Andy concluded. “Okay, we’ll go out later. But don’t you dare pee on the carpet.” As he put his hand in his pocket for his keys he absent-mindedly looked down the street. The man Sammy had growled at was nowhere to be seen so he assumed he’d gone into one of the other houses. Andy unlocked the front door and took his wet dog and his wet self inside.
***
Velma stepped onto the number 57 bus. She was going to the next town over, to a community meeting at the local tech. It was one of many community meetings that Dairy-GB were holding all over the country. They wanted to set the record straight (their words not hers) about the nutritional value of milk because there were a lot of milk myths (their words again) going around. Two other people got on the bus at the same stop as her and all of them were glad to get out of the rain. It would take about an hour to get there.
Velma was hungry again. She’d never eaten at a community meeting before but she was doing things differently these days. If the government intended to keep vampires a secret, she had to go all out to get as many witnesses as possible. Eating in public went against all her instincts but it was the only way she was going to get her message across. Disguise was more important than ever now. People knowing vampires were real was one thing. People knowing she was one of them was quite another. She couldn’t help thinking it would be good if they had more vampires on the team. They’d be harder to track down if they were in several places at once. But she didn’t know how to find a vampire any more than anyone else did. And it would be risky anyway, to tell another vampire what she was doing. They might be angry about her going public. Then again, the other vampires must already know what she’s done and no one had yet sought her out to tell her that. But of course they don’t know the vampire in question is her. Her mind went back and forth through these thoughts until the bus stopped outside Merville Technical College.
Thankfully the rain had stopped. She got off the bus, entered the college and followed the signs to the gym where the meeting was being held. She took a seat in the sparsely-populated front row and looked around at the other attendees. It was quite a good turnout. She noticed the man who’d got on the bus with her. That was unfortunate. She didn’t want to be recognised by anyone from her home town. Mind you, her Margaret disguise should protect her from that. What a weird coincidence though, that someone else who lived an hour away would come all this way for this meeting. She knew for a fact that there had been an identical one much closer to home two nights ago. He’d probably had other plans that night. Good grief woman, who cares?!
A couple of minutes later a woman wearing a royal blue T-shirt with a white Dairy-GB logo on it, walked onto the stage. Velma already knew this woman was Ivy Menkel.
“Thank you for coming, I’m so glad you could make it tonight.” Ivy addressed the seventy eight members of her audience. “I’m going to tell you a little bit about what we do and why we do it, and then I’ll explain the nutritional benefits of milk and other dairy products.” She shuffled her notes and took a mouthful of water. “Can everybody hear me okay? Can you hear me at the back?”
A couple on the back row nodded and waved, and there were a few shouted or mumbled yesses from other attendees.
“Great.” Ivy smiled and switched on her PowerPoint presentation. The first slide, showing on the screen behind her, was an infographic of the organisation. Using a long stick to point to different sections of the graphic, she told the audience “We operate in a number of key areas. First and foremost, we promote the nutrition and health benefits of dairy.” Looking up at her viewers she told them, “dairy foods are part of dietary guidelines worldwide.”
She pointed to another colour block on the graphic to explain that Dairy-GB was committed to sustainability in terms of not just the environment, but also the economy and society as a whole. And then she started talking about how
many jobs the industry created and what kind of jobs they were.
Velma was bored already and she had to be out in time for the last bus in less than an hour. She needed to move things along so she put up her hand.
“I’ll take questions at the end,” Ivy told her.
Ivy then went on to point to their commitment to food safety, explaining that they work with organisations such as the Food Standards Agency and National Milk Laboratories to ensure that the dairy foods produced by their members meet the highest standards.
Velma put up her hand again.
Ivy grinned. “Ooh, you’re a keen one aren’t you?” she joked, “and I promise you I will answer your questions at the end. Just let me finish my presentation first will you?”
Velma stood up. “No, sorry, I can’t stay ’til the end. Got a bus to catch. I’ve just got one quick question.”
Ivy liked things to be done in the proper pre-prepared order but she nodded reluctantly. “Okay.”
“You’re here to tell people it’s not true that dairy causes mucus, and acne, and type 1 diabetes, etc, etc. And to tell them that dairy’s better than vegetables for getting vitamins and minerals.”
Ivy knew what was coming and she was ready for it. She was annoyed that she hadn’t been given the opportunity to raise these points in her own good time, but she was ready to respond. “And you disagree?” she asked. “Because I have a folder full of nutritionist testimony to back me up if you’d like to see it.”
Velma nodded. “I’m sure you have, yes, but let’s face it, these days you can get ‘expert testimony‘ to back up any point of view.”
Ivy rolled her eyes and looked at her watch. “What’s your question?”
Velma stepped up onto the stage. “My question is – why do you kill babies?”
Ivy backed away. “Please get down from the stage.” She signalled her associates at the back of the hall.
Velma was unperturbed. “You’re a baby killer aren’t you Ivy? And I object to that.”
“Get down from the stage! Barry! Carl! Some help here please!”
Barry and Carl attempted to mount the stage but Velma made eye-contact with both of them and they didn’t complete the attempt.
“You kill the calves so that you can sell their mothers’ milk. Ivy – that’s barbaric!”
Velma was between Ivy and the steps so she sat down on the edge of the stage in order to drop from it. Velma grabbed her arm and pulled her back up. “I don’t need expert opinions,” she said, “because I already know right from wrong. I have no doubt that it’s wrong to take babies from their mothers and no ‘expert’ could convince me otherwise.”
“Please,” Ivy tried in vain to pull her arm out of Velma’s grip.
“I bet if they could, those cows would say please. Please don’t take my baby, pleeease.” Velma peered deep into Ivy’s eyes. “And if they were old enough to talk the babies would say please let me stay with my mum. Please don’t kill me.” She showed her fangs and snarled at her prey. “But they’d be wasting their breath wouldn’t they Ivy? Pleading with you on your dairy farm.”
Calls for calm came from the audience. Shouts to let Ivy go. Velma could hear every word, from voices raised or whispered. The man from the bus was speaking frantically into his phone, requesting back up. Velma had a sneaking suspicion her time was running out.
With a stunned audience watching, Velma pulled Ivy’s left wrist towards her mouth.
“Hands in the air!” the man from the bus shouted as he hurried towards the stage, pointing a handgun at Velma.
A woman in uniform entered the hall. “Do it now!” she shouted as she raised her weapon.
Velma was amused. Bullets couldn’t kill her. She let go of Ivy and slowly raised her hands above her head. “Just like old times eh Ivy?” she joked as her prey retreated into the audience.
The man from the bus mounted the stage. “Stay right where you are!” he instructed.
“For the time being,” Velma agreed.
“Shut up!” the female officer ordered.
Velma knew she should have just misted the hell out of there but she was quite enjoying the drama and decided to play along and see where this went.
Bus man’s phone called him Ruddup, and Ruddup called the woman Colt when he told her to cuff Velma. Weird names Velma thought as she allowed Colt to fasten her hands behind her back.
“All wrapped up here,” Colt confidently told her radio. “We are ready for retrieval.”
Velma smiled. This was just like TV.
Four more officers from the Vampire Task Force entered the room, all brandishing similar weapons. Only one of them had the sense to look apprehensive.
They evacuated Ivy and her audience before escorting Velma to the exit. Two officers walked in front of her, Colt and Ruddup gripped her arms and walked either side of her, and two officers followed behind.
They were met outside by a massive armoured vehicle that might look intimidating to anyone who wasn’t a vampire. They walked her towards it.
“Wait, wait!” Velma resisted as Ruddup and Colt tried to pull her forwards.
“Shut up!” Colt told her again.
“No, wait,” Velma started to sound a little desperate but of course she wasn’t worried. She could mist at any moment but she wanted to learn as much as she could about them before she did. She began to wriggle and move her shoulders, making it difficult for them to maintain their grip on her. “Get off me!” But she stopped struggling when two of the other officers stepped forward and pressed their gun muzzles against her head – she didn’t want them to damage her new wig.
Ruddup opened the back door of the armoured vehicle. “Get in!”
Velma looked inside and decided she’d rather not. There were airtight seals around the windows and doors and the two guards already in there wore oxygen masks. She wouldn’t be able to mist her way out of there. This game had gone on long enough.
She decided the time to mist was now but as her body began to dissolve she was hit by what felt like a bolt of lightening. Those guns didn’t shoot bullets. They were high-powered TASERs. She was stunned and disoriented, weakened for a moment and in that moment, Ruddup and Colt pushed her through the vehicle’s open doorway. The guards inside grabbed her shoulders and pulled while those outside grabbed her legs. But their moment was short-lived.
Velma snarled angrily, she snapped the handcuffs with ease and pulled the inside guards over her head, throwing them at the outside guards and knocking them down like skittles. Then she became the wolf and raced down the street, looking for an open public building with steps she could climb. Multi-story car parks were best because they usually had accessible roofs, but she couldn’t find one and the police were in pursuit. Sirens were screaming and every street she turned into seemed to have a police car coming towards her. She wasn’t prepared for how prepared they were. A bullet flew past her shoulder. It wouldn’t have killed her but it would slow her down considerably if she were hit.
With cars closing in from two directions, she ran into a hotel just as a startled man was leaving it. She tore up the stairs, desperate to find an open window, but every floor was filled with rows of closed doors. She scratched on one, like a dog might, but couldn’t wait for a response. The top floor was no different and when she reached it, she heard the lift ping. Her pursuers had caught up and she was trapped. The only remaining effect of the electric shock was her inability to become the mist. As two armed enforcement agents stepped onto the floor, she ran towards the window at the end of the corridor. It was closed but she launched herself at it with such force that she hoped she’d be able to smash the glass.
Unfortunately it was made of that unbreakable safety glass, intended to prevent people from leaping to their deaths, and the wolf couldn’t smash it. She landed on the floor beneath the window as her enemy closed in. There she sat, literally a cornered animal, when she noticed an alcove on her left which hadn’t been visible from the other end of the corridor. It framed a green Emergency Exit door.
The Velma-Wolf leapt at the door, her paws coming down on the push bar and releasing her. She ran to the edge of the roof and sprang off it, becoming the bat as she did. She was free. She was safe. But it didn’t feel funny anymore.
They’d been watching her. They’d been following her. They knew who she was and she couldn’t go home.
****
Click here for chapter 18
Velma the Vegan Vampire belongs to Violet Plum © 2026
Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating fun, funny and exciting vegan fiction since 2012
Leave a Reply