Fire Breath
The Rickle Family

After a night before, they had a long debate about how to bring Aiden to the family home Rickle – considering all the vampires could fly while Aiden did not have a broom – finally decided Aiden would ride Nora. At first Nora strongly rejected the proposal, but eventually she wanted to change its form. The black-haired little cat was slowly growing. He turned into a monstrous big lion. But the change is not yet finished. The head of the lion Nora turned into the head of an eagle and a pair of eagle wings grew on its back. Aiden was fascinated by all the changes.

"Griffin?" chirps Aiden amazed.

"Just right! Nora is actually a griffin" Sabina said happily.

"Now, Aiden, can you make us less conspicuous to humans?" ask Irish then. Aiden nodded steadily.

"Fiemile Hiddon!" he cried out to every vampire and to Nora and herself.

The next moment, the vampires had already changed their forms with a pair of black wings on their backs. After Joshua finished counting the cues, all four flew off. The night wind hit Aiden's face riding on Nora the Griffin. It felt very different from when he used a broomstick or when he flew with Sabina. Riding a griffin feels warmer because of its thick fur. Aiden had heard stories about griffins before, but had never actually seen them in person.

After traveling for some time, they finally landed in the middle of the wilderness. The forest is full of old and large oak trees. The trunk diameter of the trees could reach two meters and was over ten meters high. The atmosphere became darker due to the denseness of the trees. Nora has returned to being a small cat and jumped into the arms of Sabina.The three vampires have also returned to human form.

"Why do we have to land here?" asked Sabina later.

"We will meet the dryads who live here" replied Irish calmly.

Dryads are fairies that inhabit plants. Dryad is also called drys which means oak tree. Dryads include the Nymphs who inhabit plants and blend with nature. They are the embodiment of nature spirit – in this case oak tree – and are the personification of that nature. They are very beautiful women with transparent wings on their backs and colorful hair. Their ears are pointed and the color of their eyes matches the color of their hair. Sometimes they carry a long stick whose end is the flower of their self-realization.

After a while of walking, the group found a dim light in the middle of the forest. They also walked towards the light that was getting brighter. It turned out that the light came from the bodies of the dryads who were dancing without music. Various brilliant colors radiated from their bodies. There were about eight dryads there. There are red, yellow, green, purple, blue, pink, brown, and gray hair. They seemed unaware of Sabina's arrival. Until finally one of the purple-haired dryads turned his head and looked at them. She stopped dancing followed by her other friends.

Dryad is very friendly. They never hurt other creatures and love nature very much. But anyone who has ruined nature will be considered an enemy. Especially the werewolves who often hunt them. Although it seems weak, dryads have considerable magic power when they are in the middle of the forest, because their power does come from there. Even the most powerful witches would not win against the dryads if they were in the middle of the jungle, the territory of the dryads.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" ask the purple-haired dryad.

"My name is Irish Rickle, I'm a resident of the house on the east side of this forest," Irish said.

"of course. We often see you going in and out of this forest to hunt animals" replied the purple dryad again.

"Ah, I'm sorry that we bother you so much" Irish said.

"It's okay. Your ancestors have made a pact with us, and agreed to divide the territory. You can hunt in the east and we live in the west" replied the dryad still smiling. "I'm Leuce. Tell me your needs,"

"We were very grateful for your help when the werewolves attacked us. But it seems they will still be making another attack. Therefore we still need the dryads' cooperation to prevent the return of the werewolves" Irish explained.

"We hate werewolves. But we cannot promise to continue protecting this forest given our limited magic abilities. We are strong only when we are in the forest. Therefore we cannot help attack them if they are not in our territory" Leuce explained.

"At any rate, what's in it for us to help the vampires" another green-haired dryad sergeant.

"We promise to destroy the werewolves who hunt you often. Therefore you do not need to worry anymore about being hunted by werewolves. Besides, we also just borrowed your strength to protect this forest. That help is big enough for us." Answer Irish low.

The dryads began to negotiate for a moment. After a while the dryad Leuce turned to face the Irish.

"alright. It is our duty to protect this forest. Therefore, if only to prevent werewolves from approaching your forest and your dwellings, we are willing. Instead, please kill the werewolves who always hunt us down" Leuce said with a friendly smile.

"Thank you very much" replied Irish.

They then continued their journey by running. Aiden back riding Nora which is now turned into half griffin – just take the form of a lion alone – and continue to run through the lush trees. Vampires can run very fast and Nora is able to keep up with them. It only took a few minutes to reach an enormous stone castle. And even though the castle has stood for hundreds of years, there is absolutely no mystical impression. It turns out that Aiden's shadow isn't entirely true.

There were no torches or traps in the castle as Aiden had imagined. Instead, the floor was already covered in pure white ceramics and luxurious crystal lights hung along the hallway. After passing through the long lorang, they finally faced a wooden door that was approximately two meters high. The handle was made of gold that sparkled beautifully overwritten by the light of the crystal lamp. Irish grabbed the handle of the door and opened it easily (when for Aiden the door seemed very heavy).

Behind the door lay a large hall with a red carpet covering the entire floor (vampires seem to love the carpet, Aiden thought later). The room was empty without any furniture. Only a few bookcases lined up in several sections on the wall. The ceiling was so high it looked dark. Several smaller wooden doors also appeared along the walls and into other hallways connected to different rooms.

"Finally we got home again" said Nora, who had become a cat. "I want to go around Sabina first" continued Nora.

They all walked to the middle of the room. Suddenly from above the dark ceiling a male vampire shot down before them. The vampire looked just as young as Sabina, Joshua and Irish. He then looked at Sabina with an unpredictable look.

"You want to go home too, Sabina?" the vampire said later.

Sabina looked back at the man fixedly. His gaze seemed to store the pain to make his eyes somewhat glazed. As much as Sabina's energy held back her unwelcome feelings.

"Dad, I.." said Sabina interrupted. The vampire, who turned out to be Sabina's father, continued Sabina's sentence, without caring for Sabina's pleading gaze to make her voice.

"I made a mistake in getting out of this house. I became a vampire who hunts humans.I am no different from a vile werewolf," Sabina continued downcast. His father was still silent as if he was still waiting for Sabina to speak more. Sabina looked up at her father with an increasingly clear gaze.

"I'm sorry.." sighed Sabina later.

Finally Sabina's father let out a sigh of relief, as if unencumbered anymore.

"Well, a young vampire like you would be tempted to prey on humans, but as I always say, I'm strongly opposed to human hunting. You know that yourself. We live longer than humans does not mean we can hunt them. Know that, Sabina. When you've regretted enough, don't do it again, or I'll really punish you" Sabina's father said in one breath. Sabina just fell down. Then Sabina's father turned his eyes to Aiden. A knotty smile spread on his lips. With a warm look he walked over to Aiden.

"My name is Hazel Rickle. I'm the head of Rickle's family and Sabina's father" he said later, smiling at Aiden.

"Aiden Catbones," replied Aiden half-bent his body.

"Why do you want to go with Sabina, considering she's a vampire?" ask Hazel Aiden.

"We have the same problem as werewolves. I think I can help a little bit" Aiden replied later.

"You're a witch?" ask Hazel again.

"Right, I'm a witch" Aiden replied with a nod.

Hazel let out a short sigh and turned to look back at Aiden.

"Lucky Sabina took you. We need the power of witches. Those werewolves used magic stones that made their strength multiply. I need you, Aiden, to defeat the witch who possesses the magic stone and control the wolves." Hazel is at length.

Aiden's eyes widened to hear Hazel's explanation.

"Sin Scove? The ephestus magic stone?" ask Aiden later.

All eyes were on Aiden. He slightly shuddered as he found himself being stared at by four pairs of silvery-glittering eyes.

"You know him?" ask Hazel.

"I'm the grandson of Nigel Catbones, the owner of the Ephestus stone stolen by Sin Scove,"

Hazel glares at keget. His gaze grew sharper through Aiden's face as if he could read the young man's mind.

"You... Catbones?" ask Hazel slowly.

"Why father?" sahut Sabina who was worried to hear Hazel's tone.

"We better talk in a more comfortable place" said Hazel, who then turned her back to the curious faces behind her.

***