--- I'll be in Manila this coming Sept 13 to 18. Hope to meet you guys---

Athena's POV

I managed to find the light and switched it on. Light glared instantly in the basement.

I jolted when I was suddenly aware of my surroundings. My heart pounded wildly and sweat started to form on my nape. I was tempted to run and hide, but the question was, where?

The first thing I saw was a creepy gray-ish yellow-ish standing skeleton in front of me. I could not figure out if it was real or not. But I guessed it was real. Beside was a vintage coffin that resembled those in vampire movies. The cover was slightly ajar and from the look of it, there was someone inside! A dead body?

I rubbed my arms to ease the goosebumps on my skin.

At the other side was a life size knight in shining armour statue holding a sword, and beside it was a huge frozen tiger baring its teeth and claws ready to attack someone.

I clasped my mouth to prevent myself from screaming. Everything that I was seeing really terrified me, especially the coffin. I always have fear of coffin. I tapped my chest to help me ease my fright. I had to stay calm, I did not want to die of heart attack.

I noticed the glass cabinets attached to the walls. Inside were sculpted images of saints, mostly of Mother Mary in different form. There was also a collection of porcelain dolls. I did not find them cute at all, they looked like those shown in horror movies, giving me chills.

"Plenty of stuff in here." Carter said as he stood up slowly. There was no fear on his face, like he found nothing peculiar in this spooky basement.

My fear easily subsided from 100 down to 50. I was glad I was not alone in the basement, I would probably die of heart attack.

"Are you okay?"

There was a big mark of dirt at the back of his white shirt, and when I looked down at my dress, it had some too at the hem.

"Yeah... yeah." Carter answered while flexing his arm. He reached for his back and rubbed his spine.

I did not know what came over me, must be because of guilt or something... or maybe just being concern, I reached for his back and tapped it. Like I always did with my younger brother Mars.

"Don't." Carter flinched and avoided my hand.

Instantly, heat creeped on my face at his rejection. I guessed tapping was not a good idea. I said to myself as an excuse to my unwanted action.

"Sorry, I thought..."

"Just. Don't. Touch. Me. You did enough damage already."

That shocked me. Darn it! I forgot that this hateful man in front of me was my mortal enemy. Any show of kindness or concern would never be welcomed to this devil!

My eyes widened staring at him. "That was an accident. I did not mean to fall on that steps and landed on top of you!"

The corner of his lips twisted as he said. "I was not referring to that."

"What do you mean?" I asked but he just rose his eyebrows nastily.

Okay, I got what he meant.

"Excuse me. Touching that... that," I looked down and saw his manhood still engorged against his denim pants, "that thing was the last thing that I would ever do, eww! It's unintentional. Why would I ever, eww! It's your fault, you... you put it in front of me!"

"Eww! Eww!" He mimicked my expression with a sarcastic nasty laugh. "Just admit you enjoyed it."

"Why would I! You're obviously the one enjoying it."

"HA! When you squeezed it really hard like a lemon? No thanks."

I really hate this guy.

Mr. Murphy went down in the basement and joined us. He did not find any difficulty descending the stairs, he memorized the steps already.

"Are you both okay?"

I glanced at Carter who was so engrossed inspecting some items inside a vintage oak display case.

"Yeah. We're fine." I answered and pointed at the skeleton. "Who's that?"

"That's Ebo. Cleopatra's trusted manservant."

"You mean Cleopatra? The Egyptian Queen?"

"Yeah. That's right."

"Oh!" I suddenly had goosebumps. "What about this coffin?"

"It's an 18th century vampire coffin found in Eastern Europe. My great grandfather got this from his friend whose ascendants were vampires."

"Really? I thought there's no such thing as real Vampires."

"Vampires are real, as well as werewolves, witches and fairies. Not the same as we read them in fictional books and watched in epic movies, but they exist."

I got so shocked when the coffin moved. I was positive, someone was inside.

"Did you see that?" I asked Mr. Murphy. "The coffin moved!"

My feet trembled at the thought of seeing a dead body. I swear, I'm not ready into this.

Mr. Murphy shook his head and opened the coffin. Lying there was a sleeping teenage boy wearing an emo outfit -- black and white checkered shirt, ripped black jeans and all star black high top converse shoes.

"Marsha! Get up. You're sleeping here again."

Marsha? That's a girl's name. She obviously heard me and Carter.

Mr. Murphy turned to me, then at Carter who came and stood beside me. "This is my granddaughter, Marsha. My eldest son's daughter. She helps me in running the museum. Marsha, meet Miss Niarchos and Mr. Monteiro. They are the potential buyers of the museum."

Marsha was boyish. But still she looked feminine with her long hair pulled up in a pony tail.

"Hi Marsha. Nice meeting you. You have a nice bed in here." I said.

Marsha stood up and clasped my hand briefly. "Call me Mars." She smiled then shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, you should try it some time, it's actually very comfortable."

No way that I would ever try that, but I said. "I'll remember that. By the way, you have the same name as my brother. His name is Mars too."

"Really? That's cool. Is he as handsome as I am?" She made funny faces, making me laughed at her.

"Hmm... let's see. I think you're more."

"I'm just kidding." Mars said and turned to Carter. "I heard so much about you sir from the neighbourhood. Glad to meet you at last."

"Ah-- don't believe the nasty ones, they're all lies." He suddenly became very charming towards Mars. Hypocrite!

"Actually, they're all good sir. You're so kind giving the fruits of your trees and garden to everyone here. The fruits are really delicious, especially the apples, oranges and peaches. You don't know how much all of us appreciate your kindness." Mars said with pure admiration in her eyes and Carter did not miss that.

"It's the least I can do for having wonderful neighbours." He turned to see my reaction.

Ugh! I rolled my eyes and walked away from him.

I heard him laughed and said. "See? I'm really a nice guy."

Later, Mr. Murphy showed us his collections. He discussed every item in the basement. There were tons of them, from unique collection of coins, jewellery, rare gems, tiaras and crowns, Chinese scrolls, paintings, antique china figurines, furnitures, and many more.

"How much is his offer for all of these?" Carter asked me when Mr. Murphy and Marsha was out of earshot.

"I won't tell you." I answered stubbornly.

"What's the use of keeping it a secret when he'll tell me anyway." He muttered.

He was right. Mr. Murphy would give him the same offer.

"Two billion."

"Two billion dollars for all these garbage? That's insane!" He hissed.

"What did you say?" I was appalled at his brutal remark. Did he just refer to everything here as garbage?

"This piece of land and building is worth around ten million dollars only. These things inside, I doubt if they equalled to the property."

"You're crazy. I had this examined by a professional art appraiser, and according to him, all items here are worth more than two billion dollars."

"Really? Where did you find this professional art appraiser? I'm not an expert on art, but I can tell that most of the things here are crap."

I was tongue-tied. Cold sweat started to form on my nape. Mr. Murphy recommended the appraiser.

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