Skully hadn’t considered that part before, but he knew Artemis was right— vampires usually die when the head is cut off. Anything would die from that, right? How come he was not dust? 

“Fudge. I’m not even sure about anything here. But you seem to know a lot, you’re a vampire, aren’t you? I can feel it,” Skully muttered.

“Yes, I am. Don’t tell anyone, alright? It’s better if it stays between us. By the way, do you have a name? Or should I call you skull?” Artemis glanced at the skull. 

“Ellie calls me Skully, it’s the most annoying name. But I don’t remember my own name, so I don’t really have much choice here,” Skully grunted and felt annoyed about being called Skully all over again.

“That’s adorable, I bet you would look cute in hats. I’m gonna buy you a hat,” Artemis remarked and placed Skully on the small glass coffee table in front of the couch.

“Adorable? I- um… that’s… I guess you can buy me a hat,” Skully mumbled, unsure how to respond. 

“I wish I could help you though. I’m not very knowledgeable. Reading takes too long and I wanna get into the action, if you know what I mean? Oh, yeah, I work as a vampire hunter. Which I guess is a bit strange since I’m a vampire, but my mother was a vampire hunter, Luke is human like her, and I’m a vampire like our father. We are like perfect halves, at least that’s what our mother used to call us,” Artemis told Skully, her face turned somber for a brief moment before she picked herself up. 

“This is too much for me… Your annoying dead-looking brother is a hunter and a human?” Skully exclaimed. 

“I know, right? He’s not very good at taking care of himself, he’s kind of obsessed with killing vampires. You see, he used to live with our uncle when he was a child, and a vampire killed the whole family, leaving my brother alive. After that he’s been obsessed with killing vampires. Except me of course,” Artemis half-smiled, almost as if she brushed off the seriousness of it all. 

“That- that sounds bad. Fudge. I get it. I would want vengeance too,” Skully admitted, darkness was not a stranger to him. 

He knew that feeling, the feeling of wanting to destroy. Yet he couldn’t explain how or what. For a moment they both sat in silence and discomfort, Artemis tried to avoid these topics. Death was not something she felt comfortable talking about. She had barely known her uncle and his family, and the vampire in her didn’t even care that they had died. She wanted to care, simply because Luke cared, and she cared about Luke. 

“It’s nice to be able to talk to someone else,” Skully suddenly muttered. 

“We can talk anytime. Though for now, I think Luke shouldn’t find out. He might try to destroy you or something, I don’t really know. Like I said, you must be incredibly powerful to survive getting your head cut off,” Artemis remarked as she got off the couch and started picking up her shopping bags. 

“As if I’m gonna tell him,” Skully chuckled. 

Artemis laughed, “I’m excellent at keeping secrets, so I think we’re good. Unless Ellie tells him.” 

“Fudge. You know, there’s a high chance of that happening. She talks too much sometimes,” Skully grumbled, and he heard the hum of the darkness again. It called him, it tugged at him. The depths of the Sea of Darkness always waited for him to fall in. 

“You ok there?” Artemis tapped the skull with her finger.

“What? Yes, of course,” Skully grunted in annoyance. 

“You were quiet for a while there, I tried talking to you but you didn’t reply,” Artemis said with a slightly worried tone. 

“It- Ugh… I feel it sometimes. A darkness calling me away, it wants me to leave the skull,” Skully admitted. 

Artemis furrowed her eyebrows, “Don’t listen to it, alright? At least not yet.”

“There are some things I don't tell Ellie. She’s a sunny girl, I don’t want to bring her down with my darkness. Fudge. It feels kind of nice talking about it,” Skully told Artemis before he continued, “I spend a lot of time in the dark. There is nothing, pure darkness, like a void. I can’t shake it, I am an island in the darkness. Yet I return, I return to Ellie. She keeps me rooted, and gives me hope that maybe… Just maybe… I can get my memories back, and perhaps even a body too.” Skully spoke softly, Artemis could feel the sincerity behind his words. 

“I will look into some things too. No guarantees. I want to find out who you were, it’s a nice little mystery,” Artemis smiled and gently patted Skully on the head. 

Skully felt a certain ease around Artemis, like he could tell her whatever was on his mind. She felt bright like Ellie. No. A different kind of bright, like a lantern in the ever lasting darkness.