Chapter three is here! Sorry for the wait, but I had to constantly rewrite this chapter until I was satisfied with it. Now onto the chapter before I start rambling!

Chapter Three: Investigation Start

Shuichi sat on his couch in his living room reading through a folder as he took a sip from the wine glass next to him filled with red liquid while in front of him were three piles of folders. He closed the folder he was reading and placing it in the pile on the left before picking up another folder from the middle pile and started to read what was inside.

"Aren't you going to be late for school Shuichi-sama?" James inquired as he placed the folders he was holding in the middle pile on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"I called in sick today." Shuichi replied not taking his eyes off the folder he was reading before closing it and placing it on the coffee table. "It's not this one, onto the next." He reached for the next folder and opened it to read what was inside.

"Shuichi-sama, there are over a hundred residences in Ikebukuro under the association's protection." James said picking up the folder Shuichi finished reading to look at the name on the folder. "And all their backgrounds check out, what makes you think that the culprit for these murders is one of them?"

"All the victims were completely drained of their blood." Shuichi replied flipping a page from the folder he was reading. "I hacked into the police's database and found that all the victims also had puncture wounds on their necks." He closed the folder and put it down for another. "Nothing can make those kind of puncture wounds except a bite from a vampire, and I should know."

"Then why did you ask for the files of all residences instead of just vampires?" James asked raising an eyebrow.

"It's best to memorize who is currently living here in Ikebukuro." Shuichi replied closing another folder and reaching for another. "That way, it would be easier to track them down if they do something that would end up revealing us to the humans." He opened the folder to read the contents inside. "That, and it makes the culprit think I'm just randomly searching through all the residences backgrounds for a motive." He closed the folder and placed it in the right pile and reached for another folder. "To them, it will seem like I have no idea who the culprit may be when in reality I already know that it's a vampire. Although, I don't know whether their doing it of their own free will or not." He narrowed his eyes after reading the next folder. 'What is he doing here?'

"Is something wrong Shuichi-sama?" James asked seeing the expression on his master's face.

"It's nothing." Shuichi replied closing the file and putting it down. 'As long as I don't see him at school or when I'm taking my nightly strolls, I'll pretend he doesn't exist.' He got to his feet and stretched before picking up the wine glass to take another sip. "James, I want you to take my familiars and investigate the ones in the small pile of folders and try to rule out as many of them as possible. After you do that, we'll question whose leftover."

"Right away Shuichi-sama." James said giving a low bow before taking the folders on the right and leaving to start his task.

"Alright, now that that's done." Shuichi muttered to himself pulling out his phone and flipping it open. "Might as well make a quick call." With practice ease he punched in a memorized number and brought it to his ear as he left the living room and walked down the hall to the kitchen.

"Thank you for calling Enchanted, how may I help you?" Shuichi heard a happy feminine voice ask.

"Hello, can I please speak to the one in charge?" Shuichi requested politely entering the kitchen. "I want to discuss something that requires her expertise."

"Certainly, please wait a moment sir." The happy voice replied before Shuichi started to hear eerie music being played.

"I told her to change the music when putting someone on hold." Shuichi muttered to himself opening the fridge to take out a can and opened it. "It'll most likely scare away any human customers she might get despite how rare it is." He brought the can to his lips and began to gulp down it's contents before sticking out his tongue in disgust glaring at the now empty can. "If I ever decide to go back I'm giving them a piece of my mind."

"Giving who a piece of your mind?" Shuichi jumped at the sudden question from a gruff voice.

"Oh, Madam Wicked." Shuichi said after realizing where the voice came from. "It's nothing, just talking to myself."

"Mhm, so what did you need that you had to call Enchanted?" The now named Madam Wicked asked as Shuichi threw away the empty can. "It's rare for you to call us for a job and even rarer that you ask for me specifically. Keep in mind that we charge depending on the task, so our services won't come cheap if it's big."

"I'm well aware of that." Shuichi replied leaving the kitchen to return to the living room. "Before I go into the details, I would like to know if you will take the job Madam Wicked."

"Shuichi my boy, you know that I like to hear the details before taking a job." Madam Wicked replied before sighing. "But since I was a close friend of your mother's, I'll make an exception and take the job."

"Arigatou Madam Wicked." Shuichi had a sad smile on his face at the mention of his mother as he entered the living room. "I know I said it was A job but it's more like jobs, I would like your most powerful barrier around Ikebukuro that hides mine and James' presence from any tracking spells used to find us, and also..." He gave a side glance to the coffee table staring at a folder on top of the stack of folders on the left. "Can you look into the activities of Bulreguard Von Moonclaw for the past week?"

"The heir to the werewolves royal family?" Madam Wicked asked. "Why do you need to know his activities for the past week?"

"There have been a series of murders happening in Ikebukuro." Shuichi replied picking up the folder and opening it to see a picture of a teenage boy his age with shaggy brown hair and yellow eyes. "I found out that they were caused by a vampire and asked the association to supply me with copies of files that had on information of all residences here under their protection." He closed the folder furrowing his eyebrows at the name written on the top right corner. "I was reading through them earlier and found his file among them, I want to know why he's here in Ikebukuro."

"I see now." Madam Wicked said in understanding. "You think that he's the cause and is using a vampire to commit the murders while pinning the blame your kind. Not that I blame you for thinking that, werewolves and vampires have been enemies for centuries and your kind has killed or taken prisoner many of their kind and vice versa." She paused for a moment to let out a puff of air indicating she was smoking. "I'll have the barrier ready for you in thirty minutes, as for Moonclaw's activities the past week, I'll see what I can dig up and get back to you on that."

"Thank you for your time Madam Wicked." Shuichi said appreciatively. "Will the usual payment be enough for both jobs?"

"Enough for the barrier yes." Madam Wicked replied. "But I'm risking my neck sticking my nose into the business of a member of one of the three great royal families, it's going to cost you more than the usual for that kind of job."

"I understand." Shuichi nodded. "Thank you and I'm sorry for asking you to do this, but there is no one who can do a better job than you." Shuichi heard a hum from Madam Wicked before she hung up. He flipped his phone shut and pocketed it chuckling as he smirked leaving the living room and walked up the stairs to his room. "Witches, they do a heck of a job but their prices are ridiculous." Shuichi sat down on his bed and reached for a book that was written in Romanian and started reading it when he heard squeaking and lifted his head up to see a bat flying through his open window. He put the book down and held out his hand as the bat flew over to him hanging upside down on his index finger before continuing to squeak.

"Văd." Shuichi said in Romanian. "Mulțumesc, ferește-te cu atenție." The bat let out a squeak and Shuichi watched as it flew out the window again. "So I wasn't seeing things when I first came here." He held his chin between his thumb and index finger deep in thought. "But why would one be here?" He looked out his window to stare at the starry sky and got to his feet. "I should probably look into it." Shuichi took off his jacket and wrapped it around his waist as a pair of bat-like wings sprouted from his back. Shuichi looked behind him to inspect the wings. "Good thing I put slits on all my shirts so they don't rip when I bring my wings out." He jumped out of his window spreading his wings to catch the wind as he glided across the night sky.

Shuichi glided over Ikebukuro enjoying the sight of the people going about their business under the cover of the dark night sky.

"Well look who we have here." Shuichi halted using his wings to hover in place and looked up to see a man in his late thirties wearing a red mask with a long nose and traditional priest garbs with a pair of black feathered wings on his back. "What's vampire like you doing in a place like this?"

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing." Shuichi replied crossing his arms. "What's a tengu like you doing in Ikebukuro when your kind forbids themselves from leaving their mountains?"

"Seems you've done your homework." The tengu said in amusement before moving the mask to the side for Shuichi to see the tengu's serious brown eyes. "I heard word of an unknown tengu being sighted here in this city so my brethren sent me to investigate."

"You must be talking about James." Shuichi said uncrossing his arm. "He's my butler, he tends to scout out the area for threats."

"A tengu as a butler?" The older tengu asked in confusion. "Why would a tengu be in service of a vampire?"

"Beats me." Shuichi shrugged reaching into his pocket to pull out a card and threw it to the tengu who caught it. "If you want to know his reasons it's best to ask him directly, that has his contact information." He looked up to the crescent moon then to the tengu. "I best be off now, we can't afford to let the humans know of our existence."

"Of course." The tengu nodded placing the card in his sleeve. "It would be catastrophic for our kind if they discover us."

"till we next meet." Shuichi said as he flew past the tengu. "I didn't expect to run into a tengu out here, what a small world we live in." He scanned the streets below him as he flew by. "Now where are you, I know you're here somewhere." It was then that he noticed a bat flying towards him and stopped to hover in place as the bat started to squeak. "Ai găsit-o?" The bat let out more squeaks. "Dupa tine." The bat squeaked again and flew away followed by Shuichi.

They flew over the city for what like hours before the bat started to squeak and the stopped to a hover as Shuichi looked down to see a woman wearing a yellow and blue helmet that vaguely resembles the shape of a cat's head, pitch black biker jumpsuit, gloves, and shoes. Next to her was a black motor bike. "There you are." Shuichi looked around to make sure there were no witnesses before slowing the flapping of his wings to allow him to float down. As soon as he touched down the woman formed a black scythe swinging it to stop where the blade touched his throat as he brought his hands up in a surrender pose. "Whoa, whoa, put that away! I just want to talk!"

The woman realized what she was doing and the scythe vanished as she brought out her phone and started to type on it before showing it to Shuichi. "Sorry, you startled me. You said you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah." Shuichi nodded lowering his arms as he folded his wings into the slits of his shirt before untying his jacket around his waist and put it on. "I wanted to ask what's a dullahan like you doing here in japan."

The woman didn't type anything as if contemplating if she should respond to the vampire in front of her before she started typing again. "I'm looking for something important."

"What are you looking for?" Shuichi asked as the woman started to type again. 'Somethings not right here.' He carefully stared at the woman from top to bottom when he realized it. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but where's your head?"

The woman stopped typing to look at Shuichi before erasing what she was typing and wrote a new response. "I don't know, that's what I'm trying to find."

'A dullahan losing her head?' Shuichi frowned at that. 'That's impossible, a dullahan and their head are always together.' He held his chin between his thumb and index finger in thought before looking to the woman. "Have you tried asking the association to help you look for it?"

She just tilted her helmet to the side in what appears to be confusion as she typed on her phone. "What association?"

Shuichi looked to the dullahan in front of him like she just grew two heads. "Your kidding right? You don't know what the association is? You know, the Association of Supernatural Protection, or A.S.P. for short?" The woman just continued to stand there in confusion.

"Sounds like you two are having quite the interesting conversation." Shuichi and the woman turned to the source of the sudden voice to see a man with brown hair and eyes wearing a lab coat and glasses walking towards them. "Is this a friend of yours Celty?"

"We just met." Shuichi replied for the dullahan. "I wanted to ask her a few questions."

"I see." The man said looking Shuichi from top to bottom. "You're not human, are you?"

"What gave it away?" Shuichi asked sarcastically before looking to Celty. "Normally, I would scold someone like you for letting a human know what you are. But since you are obviously not under the association's protection, I'll let it slide this one time since no one other than this man seems to know what you are."

"Speaking of which." The man spoke up getting Shuichi's attention. "What's this association you keep talking about?"

"I'm under no obligation to tell you anything human." Shuichi replied turning so his back was facing the two. "I better leave now, I'll save my questions for the next time we meet." He took off his jacket and wrapped it around his waist as his wings came out of the slits of his shirt before looking back to to Celty. "Tepes Shuichi, that's my name in case we ever meet again." With a flap of his wings he took to the sky in the direction of his house.

The next day, Shuichi walked up the path leading to Raira Academy letting out a big yawn. "I shouldn't have stayed up all night." He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before pulling out his phone and flipped it open. "That's the last time I look over files on a school night."

"Files on what?" Shuichi felt an arm rest on his shoulders and looked to the side to see Masaomi grinning at him. "Hey there."

"Masaomi!" Shuichi looked behind him to see a boy with black hair and eyes running towards them.

"Hey Mikado!" Masaomi greeted removing his arm from Shuichi's shoulders. "This is the guy I was telling you about." He turned to Shuichi gesturing to the other teen when he reached them. "This is my friend from elementary school, Mikado."

"I'm sorry if Masaomi is bothering you." Mikado apologized bowing before reaching out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Ryuugamine Mikado."

Shuichi looked from Mikado to the hand then back before taking the hand and shook it. "Tepes Shuichi."

"Ne, Shuichi." Shuichi turned to Masaomi who was grinning. "Is it true that you were from Romania before coming here?"

"That's right." Shuichi nodded giving the teen a confused look. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing." Masaomi shrugged placing his hands behind his head as the trio continued to walk to school. "I heard rumors that there was a vampire running around here in Ikebukuro recently." Shuichi gave the dyed haired boy a side glance which went unnoticed as the teen continued. "Since you're from the land of vampires, I thought maybe you can spot one."

"Masaomi." Mikado said nervously. "Everyone knows that vampires don't exist."

'Little do you know a vampire's walking to school with you right now.' Shuichi thought as they entered the school and reach their shoe lockers. "Sorry, even though I'm from Romania doesn't mean I can just accuse every person I run into of being a vampire." He took off his shoes before pulling out his indoor shoes and slipping them on. "Besides, like Ryuugamine-san said there's no such thing as vampires."

"Suit yourself." Masaomi shrugged closing his shoe locker after putting his outdoor shoes in it before walking off to class giving a backhanded wave. "Don't come crying to me when you get bitten."

"He's an interesting guy." Shuichi commented putting his shoes in the shoe locker and closing it.

"Yeah." Mikado nodded in agreement. "He's a nice guy when you get to know him, though his jokes suck."

Shuichi chuckled at that before adjusting his backpack. "We better be off to class too." He then started walking down the hall before turning back to Mikado. "I almost forgot, call me Shuichi, I'm still not use to the whole 'calling people by their surname' thing."

"Okay, then call me Mikado." Mikado replied smiling. "See you later Shuichi-san."

Shuichi gave a small wave before continuing on to where his class is. 'Mikado and Masaomi huh? they're interesting humans, I can tell just by looking at them that their personalities are opposite from each other.' A grin formed on his lips as he opened the door to his classroom and walked in. 'Perhaps being here won't be as boring as I first thought.'

kai-baekyun98: Happy to hear you found it interesting. I hope the wait was worth it and if it isn't, then that just means I need to work twice, no, thrice as hard on the next chapter!

That's all for now, I hope to see you all again soon.