The blizzard only grew worse.

The group sometimes met up in the forest to discuss the possibilites of electing a temporary backup leader for until Kasai returned, but they always ended up arguing and fighting over who would be leader, so they eventually stopped discussing leaders and mostly discussed possibilites on where Snow might be.

He wasn't in Snowy Mountains, and if he was in any of the villages or other regions, they or the other Spirits would've found him by now, so those areas were out of the question.

It was almost like he had disappeared into thin air.

Of course, only the group knew what happened to Fuego, because Kasai told Cory, and Cory told them. None of them had bothered to tell their siblings or anyone else, but Orchid often bothered Doug about why she hadn't heard from him recently. He often got too fed up with it and wandered on his own.

He was on one of his lonely walks when he heard a distressed, scared howl in the distance. His attention snapped in that direction.

He'd recognize that little howl anywhere.

"ORCHID!" he barked, running over. "DON'T WORRY, SIS, I'M COMING! I'M COMING!" he shouted as loud as he could, hoping his sister could hear him.  He wasn't sure if she did or not, because the wailing and howling persisted.

He reached the top of a snowy hill to see his sister surrounded by a group of vampires at the bottom. Thankfully, the vampires were currently more distracted with arguing about who would get the kill than on actually killing, but they often glared and hissed at her to keep her from running.

Doug growled and went into his wolf form, leaping at the group. They immediately leaped away from the angry werewolf as he growled and snarled at them, barking as loud as he could to try scaring them away, but it didn't seem to phase them.  They were too focused on killing and pounced.

Orchid yelped as she watched her brother struggle to avoid the deadly bites from the vampires.  He barked at her to run, and she obeyed, hiding nearby and curling up in a tight ball.

The scuffle continued for several minutes.  Orchid flinched at the sounds of the growls, yelps, barks, and hisses as her brother fought with the vampire group.

Doug eventually overpowered them and scared them away, though both he and the group were injured.

He limped over to his sister, who immediately wrapped her arms around his fluffy, bloody neck. He nuzzled her, licking her a little.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, whining. Doug just gave a small bark in response.  Thankfully, since she was a werewolf too, Orchid understood him.

"No, you're not...you're obviously not."

Doug gave a protesting bark.  Orchid just whined more, clearly wanting to go home.  Doug nudged her to signal her to get onto his back, and he carried her back home.

Petra immediately looked over when she heard Doug padding in.  "Oh my moon, Doug, what in Hadari happened to you!?  Orchid, what happened to your brother?"

"There were a bunch of vampires, mommy!" Orchid whined.  "They were gonna kill me, but Doug came and fought them off."

"Vampires?" Paul growled, walking in. "But don't they usually leave us alone?"

"Oh, Paul, you know that food for them is running low because of the blizzard." Petra protested. "Have some sympathy."

"But they were going to kill our daughter!"

"But Doug stopped them."

"THAT CHANGES NOTHING!"

Petra whined and cringed away from her husband.  She loved him, but he did scare her sometimes.

"Doug, go treat your wounds and get some rest." she muttered.

Doug was about to head off, but Paul stopped him.

"But you're gonna tell me about that vampire fight, 'kay son?"

Doug barked proudly and gently let Orchid climb off of him before running off to change back to human form.

Petra glared at Paul.  "Paul, you rogue..."

"What? If my son's gonna win a fight, I'm gonna wanna hear about it."

Petra huffed and rolled her eyes. Orchid skipped over to her to talk.

"Dad." Doug's voice muttered.

Paul looked over to see Doug standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall. "I'm ready to talk if you are."

Paul nodded once and went over, helping Doug to his room, despite protests that he could walk on his own.

Petra took a deep breath.  "Orchid, did you see them fighting?"

Orchid shook her head.  "Only the first part, then I hid.  It sounded bad, though... I'm pretty sure he got bitten...more than once..."

Petra cupped her hands over her mouth. "Oh my..."

"What? He won't die, will he?" Orchid whined, looking up at her mother with puppy eyes.

"No, he shouldn't die, thank the Spirits...."

"Then what's gonna happen? What's wrong?"

"...nothing. He should be fine. He just has to rest. Surely I can count on you to make sure he gets all the rest he needs?"

"Okay mommy."

Petra smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Love you, sweetheart."

Orchid giggled. "Love you too, mommy!" she barked, running off to see Doug...

...who was still on the bed with Paul in the middle of his storytelling.

"...and they all ran away, scared as little baby bats." Doug finished the story proudly, crossing his arms.  "...ow."

Paul laughed.  "Well, that sounds like quite a fight!  I'm proud of ya, son."  He ruffled Doug's hair, making him growl.

"Dad!"

"Aw c'mon, son."

"Dad, no messing with my hair."

Orchid gave a tiny yip, grabbing the attention of the two werewolves.

"Guess it's your sister's turn to talk.  See ya." Paul muttered, getting up to leave.

Orchid watched him go before running over to Doug and leaping onto the bed next to him.

"Hey, sis." Doug said with a smile, hugging his sister close to him.  "You okay?"

Orchid cuddled.  "I'm fine.  Thanks for rescuing me."

"Anytime."

The two siblings cuddled together for a little while.  Doug was beginning to feel lightheaded and weak from losing so much blood, but he ignored it, fighting the urge to sleep.

"...mommy told me to make sure you get plenty of rest." Orchid barked.

Doug sighed.  "Sis, I'm fine."

"No, you're not!  You were fighting VAMPIRES!"

"So?"

"Did you get bitten?"

"No. Okay, yes. A few times. ... a bunch of times."

Orchid whined louder.

"B-but I'm fine!" Doug reassured.

"No, you're not...I know you're not."

Doug looked down before holding his head. Orchid nuzzled him.

"Please rest? For me?" She gave him puppy eyes.

"..fine. For you." Doug muttered.

Orchid smiled brightly and leaped down, letting Doug curl up on his bed.

"Now get better!" she demanded.

Doug managed a weak laugh. "Yes, ma'am." he muttered, closing his eyes and drifting to sleep for a short nap.

Orchid looked at him for a moment, then went over and gave him a final nuzzle before leaving again.