Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis. If I did, he would have pocky sticking out of his nostrils today... since I got some at the market just now.

Well, I'm not all that happy about this chapter... it has a pretty flat ending. Anyways, lets get on with it:

xXTruthXx

The gun was held with a shaking hand, and initially he seemed like he would pose no threat.

"Whatcha doing in my house? You're intruders, aren't you?" He spat on the ground, much to almost everyone's disgust.

In Artemis' mind, several possible theories of escape whirled through his head. What seemed easiest was to bind the spitting human.

For the two girls, the thought of how revolting it was to spit in your own house was the only thing apparent.

The genius finally attempted to reach communication, no matter how feeble it was, he didn't need the accusation of killing off an entire family on his head. "We're here to-"

"-Dad! What the hell are you doing?"

The man turned around quickly, almost in a frightened way. He recognized that voice.

Mulch stood at the foot of the stairs looking recovered enough to be irate. His father was in disbelief, the gun clattered to the ground, missing the puddle of spittle, and receiving a sigh of relief from both Ame and Quembly.

"Matty?" Mulch's father called out.

"What a change of events." Artemis said without much surprise in a flat voice, despite his words, "I request that we find a pleasant place to sit down and discuss."

Awkwardly, they stumbled down the stairs and into the living room that was covered with beer bottles.

After finding at least decent places to sit, the man attempted a conversation, "Are you uh… Matty's friends?"

"Matty? That's your real name? No wonder you wanted to keep it a secret." Ame snorted.

"Nothing adds up though. Why did you have to break into your own house?" Quembly pointed out.

His hands curled into fists, "Because I didn't know where dad or… Opal was for a very long time."

"Wait… that means…" The Japanese girl's expression turned instantly sorrowful. "You're her brother…"

"She died, didn't she? You were talking about it before you went upstairs." He demanded in response.

His father had taken up a cigarette. "Your sister died two days ago. Someone murdered her. The police are still looking into it."

His voice was unnaturally calm.

"What do you mean by 'I didn't know where they were for a long time'?" Artemis inquired, trying to ease the rising tension, while naturally digging up old wounds.

"They left suddenly. My whole family. I had no idea where they went." Mulch couldn't turn to look at his father, "That's why I'm living the way I am. Of course, I might be a bit kleptomaniac, but that's besides the point, what happened to Opal?"

Mr. Koboi waved the smoke out of his face, "I already told you, she was murdered a few nights ago."

"I don't think you want to risk going into the gory details today, Mulch. We don't know your situation, but I'm sure you should spend more time with your Dad, and clear things up." Ame suggested.

The two men seemed shift in protest, but the black haired vampire stopped them. "Yes, this is a very good idea. We will come back tomorrow." He had put on a nice smile, but underneath it was a clear killing intent if they failed to agree with him.

The three ushered themselves out, much to the chagrin of the remaining people in the Koboi family.

While sitting in the car, by prompt, or what Artemis would say was incessant whining, they began to theorize.

"I didn't see a mother in the house," Ame decided to be the first, stating the obvious.

The young man replied. "The old lady I was asking for directions from told me that there was no wife… apparently there are rumors of her death… there might be murder involved."

"You didn't need directions, didn't you? You just needed some dirt before we got there." She realized, her voice accusing.

"You know me all too well." He smirked, "I suppose we can go back to her once again in pretense of a visit, we might be able to find out much more from her."

"This is all too coincidental. Two Koboi women dead from murder? There must be more to that."

He seemed to be amused, "It could also be pure chance. Humans are strange creatures."

After deciding to visit the lady again, they trudged back to crumbling bit of the town. As always, the air was thick with a fishy smell.

The woman had momentarily stopped her work, sitting at one of the three tables in front of her store. She waved pleasantly.

They seated themselves as she greeted them all. "Are you enjoying Venice? It's strange to see visitors right now, considering everything that is going on."

"True, but we're here for a more serious reason." Artemis replied, "Could you tell me anything more bout the Koboi family?"

"…They were a bit of an odd bunch from the start… Only the father and the daughter, as you already know." She looked thoughtful.

No mother as we thought, Ame noted, maybe we can figure out more.

He nodded, "So… what was Opal like as a child?"

"Oh!" She almost seemed weary, "Such a precocious child! But spoiled to the core! Her father would get her whatever she wanted, even two dogs, Mervall and Descant that she trained to bite."

"It would seem easy that someone naturally would hold a grudge again her then, but not to the point of murder. That would be unthinkable." The genius concluded.

The lady laughed, "She was always a bit shrill… possibly it was an unfortunate break-in, and the robber realized she could scream enough to wake up the whole street."

"We want to be honest with you." Artemis told her, the Japanese girl rolling her eyes in the background, "We're investigating this crime as a murder… and none of their belongings seem to have been stolen. Wouldn't knocking her out suffice?"

"That is true…" she agreed.

"Is there anything else you could tell us?" Quembly asked.

She looked indecisive, "Well… it's such a silly rumor, but… you are investigating, it would be best to tell everything just in case, no? This is how it goes… the Koboi woman, Opal and her late mother, are rumored to be witches."

"Witches?" Ame replied skeptically, and instantly wanted to take it back. With the things going on the past week, she couldn't be surprised about this sort of thing anymore.

"What do you mean by that?" He pressed on.

She seemed to be a bit embarrassed to be spouting what seemed like nonsense, "Apparently they knew how to kill vampires, which is sort of ironic with what's going on right now in the world, isn't it?"

"Hey, you ass…" The girl's face was pale, "What's the meaning of this? You didn't know this, did you?"

"Of course not. But this would explain the fear Vampires have in this city. Ms, could you explain clearly?" Artemis brushed it off instantly.

The lady had put her broom against the wall, now fully intent on talking to the three, "No one knows exactly what that exactly means. But it originates from the rumors of Mrs. Koboi's death."

Quembly seemed to recall something, her eyes flashed. "Someone supposedly broke into their previous home and found books about Vampire Hunting, wasn't it?"

"Oh, now, how did you know this and not tell us?" Ame's voice was on the verge of angry.

"I didn't think it would be relevant to this case. Because a mother is suspicious and dead, doesn't mean that her daughter is." She snapped back instantly.

Artemis seemed to pay no attention to the whole scene, obviously uninterested. "You mentioned much earlier that Reina Koboi's death was said to be a murder."

"They moved instantly after her death. A few months before though, they had run into debt, and Mr. Adam Koboi had taken to drinking. People have said that the move was suspicious, especially because Mr. Koboi was violent when intoxicated." She looked almost guilty, talking about gossip that wasn't completely solidified.

"Moving away has nothing to do with anything," The Asian girl suddenly spoke up, "When my mother died, we moved away as well, though, this whole drinking business is really fishy."

Only Quembly seemed slightly surprised at hearing that her mother had died. Possibly the genius knew all along, from pretending to be childhood friends with her. Ame herself didn't seem to be fazed by announcing the death.

After a few minutes of awkward condolences from the old woman, and some hasty "it's alright," "I'm fine with it," "She died when I was young," the lady picked up her broom again. "I don't have anything else I know of, I hope you'll be able to get to the bottom of this crime though."

They said their thanks and goodbyes then, opting to once again to go back to the car.

Ame ripped open a bag of skittles, picking out the grape ones first. "Well, this really sucks. If Opal and her mom were seriously witches or something like that, more power to the prime minister."

Something Artemis' pocket beeped twice. He pulled out the cellphone.

"You actually carry your cellphone around?" The blonde asked, "The last time I tried to call you, you said that you rarely use it, and most of the time it's off."

"Ahh yes… that was a lie. Your calls were demanding and irritating," He told her without much of a blink.

Her face turned indignant. "So, er…" the other girl spoke with a mouthful of orange now, "Who's texting you?"

He frowned, "Myles. Some controversial facts have come up."

"What is it?" She snatched the phone from his hands, pressing a few buttons accidentally that brought up an "Achievements" file.

She scrolled a bit before he quickly took it back from her. "Professor Primate?" The girl smiled, "What the heck is that?"

"It was made for Myles quite a few years back. It was a stuffed monkey I modified it to say twenty some phrases." He answered nonchalantly, "This is besides the point. Supposedly the prime minister has found some incriminating evidence against me."

She couldn't contain her laughter, red skittles spilling out of her hands. She finally stopped after he gave her a pointed look. "Okay… what are we gonna do now?"

Artemis smirked, "Simple, we will just have to go back to the Koboi house and find evidence to counter attack it."

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Sorta flat huh? Well, anyways, I'll have a better one up next week... and then it'll be Artemis' birthday, so I'll post a special then too. (Look forward to it, epopel that pay attention to this will have a REALLY good hint about what happens in the end of this part of BC and the last part of BC too.)

My poll is still up! With one new choice, so you can check out the summaries again. Also, Second Legend, Panic...? Panic-!, and Sudden Death Mode all have excerpts now. Read them to choose wisely. The poll essentially is pick TWO, TWO I SAY, choices of stories you want me to work on after BC. Happy voting!

Review review review! Review is my writing food! (besides pocky.) Until next time, push the purple/blue button and drop in a thought!