As the black smoke disappeared, I looked at Jenny and said, “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jenny shrugged. We stood there for a moment just playing back what was just said.

We then tried to put it at the back of our minds and we walked back to the fish store. Julie had to walk home since Faluna blew up her care, and Jenny and I slept in the fish room because our room was scorched and destroyed. I couldn’t go to sleep without worrying about that vampire comment. It frightened me to just think about what was going to happen.

After a restless night, I got up bright and early to start repairing the store. Work usually kept things of my mind, and I tried to just focus on repairing the store.

With the help of my water magic, I was able to take all of the broken pieces, and magical attach them back together as though nothing happened.

Jenny woke up and said she would work on our room. As she walked down the hall, I saw Julie getting off a public bus and walking towards the store with her beaded purse and sunglasses in her hands. Her brown hair seemed golden in the rising sunlight, and her blue eyes were filled with joy and happiness. Her dark blue jeans were a bit depressing, but her tie-dye shirt brightened up her smile.

“I see you all repaired the shop.” said Julie, standing in front of the store, looking at where there used to be damages. “You all did a good job, thank you.”

“It was our pleasure, Julie, and by the way, Jordan called in sick, again.”

“Ok thanks.” replied Julie, in a somewhat rushed voice as she was turning on the lights to each tank, putting her apron on, and getting herself ready at the cash register.

“Alright, everything is as good as new back there. Oh hi Julie.” said Jenny, walking back into the main room.

“Hi Jenny.” responded Julie, counting the money from yesterday.


“I’m going to get some breakfast at Moreman Bakery.” I said heading out the door.

Julie shut the cash register and hollered, “Can’t, Claire’s on vacation. Bakery’s closed for the week.”


I walked back into the store and said, “There goes that idea. Then I’ll just go get some doughnuts at the grocery store.”

“Meliezja!” Julie hollered after me, holding my purse in her had for me to grab.

I walked back into the store, grabbed my purse, and then walked for the grocery store.

As I entered the grocery store, I noticed a woman stalking me. I began to get nervous, especially when she followed me we I went out of the grocery store. I began to run faster and faster. The woman began to run after me, and I ran as fast as I could, clutching the doughnuts in my hands.

I was able to out run her and I rushed into the store and slammed the door behind me.

“What’s wrong?” asked Jenny, putting away her broom.

“Some woman was chasing after me!” I cried out in fear. I was hoping to god that it was just a prank or something.

Julie looked out the front window and saw no one near the store. She turned around and was startled. “Meliezja, what’s that on your purse?” She asked.

I frantically threw the doughnuts down, looked at the side of my purse and saw the words, “I’ve found you!” slashed in my purse, as though someone wrote the words with a knife.

I screamed out in terror, as I threw my purse across the room. I began to cry hard and sink down to the floor. Jenny took me to our room, and put my on the bed. She told me to get some rest and to not worry about the purse.

I nodded, but I knew I couldn’t go to sleep. As time past, I heard the noise of customers and the cash register opening and shutting. I heard the bell hanging over the front door being ringed every time someone left or entered.

As the store closed at 5:30p.m., I got up and went back to the main room. Julie and Jenny we cleaning up, and they stopped to look at me.

“You ok, Meliezja?” asked Julie.

“I’m pretty hungry.” I responded, hearing my stomach growl.

“Well, how about we go out to eat tonight?” asked Julie, looking at Jenny and me.

“Sounds fun!” replied Jenny.

I nodded, and grabbed her purse and we walked to Tim’s Lobster Shack. It was conveniently located right above the ocean. As we walked up the steps to get to the front doors, I looked out into the ocean and began to miss my old life, but Jenny grabbed my arm and we walked into the restaurant.

It was decorated with all kinds of sea-related objects. The walls were covered with fishing rods, pictures, paintings, and there was even a real anchor on one wall. The ceiling had fishing hooks dangling down, and the wooden flooring just added to the decorations.

We sat down in a booth, right next to the big anchor, and looked at the menus. As we began to talk, I began to feel a whole lot better. As our waitress came by, We ordered our drinks, and as I looked up at her, my heart skipped several beats. She walked away with our drink orders, and I whispered to Julie and Jenny, “That’s the woman who was stalking me!”

“It is?” questioned Jenny, looking at the waitress putting in the orders into the computer.

“Why would a waitress be stalking you?” asked Julie.

“That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t know why. Oh God, I hope it’s not the vampire!”

“Would you stop with the vampire thing!” whispered Jenny.

“Yeah, really Meliezja. Just because some weird smoke talks to you about a vampire, doesn’t mean there really is one.” commented Julie.

I wanted to believe her, but I don’t know what to do.

“You right girls, I’m sorry. I have to go to the bathroom, and I promise I’ll come back with a better attitude.” I said, getting out of the booth and heading for the bathroom.

I rinsed my hands and my face. I looked at myself in the mirror, and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, I heard someone come in. I looked in the mirror to see who it was without having to turn around. It was the waitress who was stalking me, and she walked over to the sink next to me. At that moment, I want to leave, so I pulled myself together and walked for the door without looking at her.

However, right as I got to the door, the lock turned automatically. I tried to turn it back but it was really stuck.

“We have things to discuss Meliezja.” said the waitress, looking down at the sink, and she had no reflection in the mirror.

“What do you mean, and how do you know my name?” I responded, sounding terribly frightened.

“Oh, a little black smoke told me.” she replied. She turned around and looked at me with her mouth open. Her eyes were completely vertical and green. She had two sharp fangs on her top row of teeth, and also one sharp fang in the middle of her bottom row of teeth. Her fangs were growing longer, and her skin was turning a dark brown.

I began pounding on the door for it to open. I looked back at her for only a moment, and saw her brown hair had grown down to her hips, her uniform turned into brown garments, and she grew two enormous brown wings. “Beware of the Three-Fanged Vampire!” She said.

She began to flap her wings and fly towards me. I slapped her across the face and she went colliding into the stone wall. I managed to get the door open, and I ran out. The vampire came flying into the restaurant and everybody began to evacuate. The vampire flew above the crowd, scanning for me.

However, as Jenny, Julie, and I tried to escape, the vampire magically levitated us into the air and tossed us right into a few tables. Everyone else had already fled the restaurant. The vampire snapped her fingers, and all of the windows and doors locked. Julie, Jenny, and I helped each other up and looked at the vampire, who landed a few feet away from us.

“Ok look, we have another Mermaid with us. The more the merrier. And, this human. I have no use for you. Goodbye.” The vampire pointed a finger at Julie and she was blasted, by an invisible force, through a window and out the restaurant. Jenny and I went to look out the window, but the vampire pulled us back.

“Who are you and what do you want from us!” I demanded, hoping Julie was able to get away in one piece.

“Well my name is Irena, and I am an assassin for the Inferno Witches. I heard that you killed the Cretin Family, so Jenta’s black soul hired me.”

“How does a soul hire you?” asked Jenny.

“You still have much to learn about Inferno Witches. Anyway, I’m ignoring your question and moving on. As I was saying, unlike other vampires, I am connected to Witch Magic, allowing me to use great powers to achieve my goal. Just like Withes, I too feed off Mermaid Magic. Now I shall-"

"Is that why you have a third fang?" asked Jenny.

"You know, Jenny, your really getting annoying."

"Well then let me leave!" She hollered out, stomping her foot down.

"Oh I would, but my chains have a crush on you!" She wickedly said, and suddenly steel chains came swarming from behind and wrapping around Jenny. I tried to help but Irenea sent me crashing into another table.

I saw Irena spotted the anchor on the wall and wrapped the ends of each chain around the hole of the anchor and she magically ripped the anchor off the wall and threw it through a window and out into the ocean with Jenny being dragged along with it.

“Jenny!” I cried out after her. Irena spun around and smiled.

“Now Meliezja, time for you!” Irena got closer to me. I turned away but I saw her shadow practically looming over me.

Suddenly, I heard three loud shotgun shots. I quickly spun around and saw Irena crashing through a wall, screaming. I saw Julie standing by the door with a shotgun.

“Miss me Meliezja?” she asked smiling. I was incredibly relieved, but I quickly ran out the door that Julie blew open, and went down to the beach, but as I did, Jenny walked out of the water.

“Jenny! How did you free yourself?” I asked, hugging her with all my might.

“I don’t know, right before I lost all my breath, the chains released me and I floated back up to the surface.”

“Yeah, when I was blasted out the window, right before I hit the ground, I magically stopped above the ground and then fell down with no injury. I then ran to my car, grabbed my shotgun, and rushed in to help Meliezja.” commented Julie.

“Why do you have a shotgun in your car?” I asked releasing Jenny from my tight hug.

“When I’m with you two, I have to be prepared for everything. Now let’s get out of here. Meliezja call up your sister to help us out.” We ran all the way back to the fish store, and was greeted by Myopa, who was waiting inside the store.

"Meliezja! I got your S.O.S., what's wrong?" Myopa asked frantically.

"We're being attacked by a Three-Fanged Vampire named Irenea!" responded Jenny, waving her hands in the air for some reason. Myopa started laughing suddenly. The three of us looked at each other confused of why Myopa was laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Ok wait. Did she bite you?" asked Myopa, who ceased laughing at the moment.

"No."

"Ok then I can start laughing again!" replied Myopa, and she did begin laughing again.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked, really wanting an answer.

"Girls, a Three-Fanged Vampire can't kill you unless they bite you."

"Well, that makes sense why I suddenly stopped in mid-air when I was about to hit the ground and die. And also explains why the chains let go of Jenny before she suffocated." announced Julie, putting things together.

"But why?" I asked.

"Ok, look, Irenea, like all Three-Fanged Vampires, are created by rituals from all three different magical species: Fairies, Witches, and Mermaids. However, even though these vampires receive supernatural abilities to manipulate matter and in some cases telepathy, the catch is that it works against them.

If they try to kill you, without biting you, then their supernatural abilities with save the victim from death. However, if you have been bitten, all of your energy and magic will be sucked out through her third fang and allowing her to get stronger. If she gets stronger, she can begin to manipulate enough matter for duplication. Also, once your bitten, you will die slowly and painfully over ten minutes."

There was a long pause until Julie said, "What?"

"Ug, never mind. I'll deal with her." assured Myopa.

"How?" I asked, curious on how to kill a vampire.

"By banishing her with magic, duh!"

"With what magic?" asked Jenny.

"Witches may be able to create exotic creatures, Fairies may be able to destroy them, but Mermaids are able to banish them to a certain area and the banished victim can't leave until they're killed."

"I'm coming to watch this!" I said, excited to see my sister fight Irenea.

"Me too!" said Jenny, following me out the door.

"Oh why not." I heard Julie say to herself and she followed us.

We walked back to the restaurant and showed Myopa where Julie shot Irenea and made her crash into a wall. Myopa looked down into the water below. Myopa then looked up. She walked back to us, standing at the door, and said, "She's looking for us, and she's near."

We followed Myopa outside the restaurant and onto the streets. Police were finally arriving to inspect the scene.

However, a police car to our left exploded and went flying into the air. The loud sound and force impact knocked us all to the ground. As we got up, we heard Irena's laugh. More police cars were exploding. We spotted her on top of a building across the street from the restaurant. Police fired bullets at her, but she enjoyed the pain and then jumped down to the ground. The police were surprised that she easily landed from a forty foot fall.

Her brown wings were flared up in the air as she tossed police officers aside and smashed cars left and right. Myopa retreated us to a nearby alley. Then she manipulated ocean water and began to attack Irena. After a few water whips and ice shards, Myopa got Irena frozen long enough for her to cast a mermaid banishment.

Myopa's fingernails turned bright blue and glittering blue sparkles flickered between her fingers as she whipped her hands around as though she were swatting a fly away.

Then the folded her hands in front of her and I could tell she was about to finish the banishment. However, I noticed Irena had broken free and was charging towards Myopa. I ran to save her, Julie and Jenny ran after me, but right as we reached Myopa, she finished the banishment. A bright blue glow flowed from her hands and covered Irena, but Irena used her wings as a mirror and bounced off some of the spell at us.

I suddenly felt as though all my organs twisted in all different ways. tried to cry out but I had no breath. Then I smashed down into ice cold snow. I took a moment to just lie there and let myself heal. I then craned my neck up and saw Myopa, Jenny, and Julie were laying nearby. However, there was no sign of Irena.

I slowly picked myself up and helped the others up. We were on a cliff edge covered in deep snow. It was snowing rather violently as well. I turned around to see a huge spiral tower. It was taller than I could see and it was in the center of the land. Everywhere else was a snow covered cliff edge.

“We are we?” I asked, directing my question towards Myopa.

“the Icy Hell, were creatures are banished too.” Myopa responded, covering her eyes from the violent snow. We walked towards the spiral tower and stepped inside.

"Oh wait! Myopa what about the two hour rule for being out of Atlantis!" I remembered. I saw Myopa's face turn into shock as well.

"Oh my God, your right! Ok, well There's water surrounding this place, it's hidden under the fog. I go back in Atlantis and come back as soon as possible. When I get back, we'll be able to get out of here." Myopa ran out the door and jumped over the Cliffside.

"Ok, well, I guess we will have to stay here until she gets back." Julie said, craning her neck to look all around the room.

It was a massive circular room. It was filled with broken items of all sorts. There was a spiral staircase right in the middle of the room leading up.

As we began to sit down, we heard Irena's laugh echo throughout the room. The three of us jolted ourselves back up and frantically looked around the room, trying to find Irena. We began to walk towards the door, still looking for Irena. I grabbed the cold round doorknob, twisted it, and swiftly pulled it back.

However, to our dismay, Irena was standing right at the doorway. The three of us screamed and slammed the door. We backed up, keeping our eyes on the door, and turned around, only to see Irena standing right there. We screamed again and she backed us up to the wall.

"So Irena, did we do anything to upset you?" I asked, trying to distract her with conversation.

"Don't play coy with me, Mermaid!" She responded in a hollow voice. Her fingernails grew into sharp curved claws. She then swiped them at us, but we ran to the side. We went separate ways around the room. I attempted to climb the staircase, but Irena turned the stairs into a slide. I slide back down and ran in a different direction.

Irena began to fly around the room, watching over us as though she were a vulture. I tried to signal to Jenny and Julie to make a run for the door. I was the first to sprint for the door, but Irena grabbed me with her talons and lifted me up into the air.

I screamed out for help. I saw Julie grabbed a few knifes on the floor and started professionally throwing them at Irena. All five knives were a direct hit on her, but she was forced to drop me. I was falling a long way down, but Jenny used her quick thinking, and pulled out a banister on the wall. It turned my fall into a slide. However, I wasn't able to direct where I was going and collided with Jenny at the end.

Julie came over to help us up, but Irena rejuvenated herself from the knives and swooped down to get us. Jenny and I dodged, but Julie wasn't so fortunate. Unlike me, Irena sank her talons deep into Julie's shoulders. Julie was crying out pain, and I couldn't think of a way to save her. However, Jenny picked up a very sharp boomerang and swung it at Irena, but it missed.

"Oh no! it missed Irena!" I cried out.

"I wasn't aiming for Irena." Jenny responded.

She was right, the boomerang swung around and cut the line to a hanging chandler. The chandler dropped right on Irena and her and Julie plummeted to the floor.

I grabbed a rope nearby and tried to lasso it around Julie. I was able to lasso her leg, and I pulled as hard as I could. Jenny got Julie, and laid her on the ground. Irena didn't seem to move under the chandler. Julie was unconscious, so Jenny carried her while we escaped the tower. As we ran out the tower, we noticed the blizzard had stopped.

We ran to the cliff edge from where we first were when we arrived. I looked down to see a fog covering anything below it. I shuffled around in my pockets and noticed I had a few gold coins left. I left my pouch of gold coins at the store, along with Jenny. I only had six, so I tossed one coin in. My ring lit up with its bright blue color and I used some water to heal Julie's shoulders. I also melted the snow around us so that Julie could rest on dry land.

However, we began to hear rumbling from within the tower. The entrance door blasted open and Irena emerged! She flew towards us, but I began to use the snow to our advantage. I flung snow all around at her, but she just kept on flying towards us. Worse yet, my ring went out meaning I had no more power. I was about to throw another coin, but Irena slashed my arm as she quickly swooped by. I dropped all five coins and held onto my arm as it bled terribly.

Irena landed right on the tip of the cliff. She used her magic to pin Jenny to the ground, and forced me to stand up. She grabbed my shirt and lifted me off the ground. She expanded her mouth to an abnormal length and all three of her fangs grew much longer. She moved me closer to her teeth but right as she was about to bite me neck, she dropped me and cried out in pain.

I saw that Julie had sliced a deep cut into Irena's ankle. Irena rejuvenated and kicked Julie right in the face. Julie laid motionless, but Jenny was released grabbed Julie's knife and brutally cut off one of Irena's wings! Irena responded with her claws and Jenny's face was scratched all over. I followed her footsteps and cut off Irena's other wing!

Colored smoke rose out from the disembodied wings, and Irena began to freak out. She looked like she was having a seizure.

I picked dropped, the knife, kicked all five coins into the water, and said, "You want Mermaid magic? Then take it RAW!" My eyes glowed entirely blue, and blue light was practically shining off from me I lifted both my arms up into the air, and huge water waves rose all around us. I then pointed both of my hands towards Irena and the waves collided into her and dragged her down into the ocean.

I used the rest of my power to heal Jenny's and Julie's injuries. I helped both of them to their feet and we gave each other a big group hug.

Myopa didn't show up until about an hour later. The whole time we were waiting, we just talked.

Myopa took us back to our store and stayed with us to explain a few things.

"Is she gone for good now?" I asked Myopa, after explaining how we battled Irena.

"Well, if she's still alive, she doesn't have the power to rejuvenate anymore. By the way, I spoke to dad about this and from now on, all Inferno Witch rituals have to be agreed by all three races. However, I can't say anything about the creatures that have already been created by their rituals." Myopa looked out the window and stared into the ocean.

"Are we going to be safe now?" Julie asked, mostly concerned about Jenny and me.

"You're never safe, but for right now, you have no enemies. My advice is for you all to go on vacation. Somewhere that no one will notice you." Myopa then left the store and went back into the ocean.

The next day, Julie woke us up and told us she got us a vacation at a hotel in the middle of a forest! We packed our things and went to the airport. Jenny and I were amazed to see a place where you travel by air.

We enjoyed the whole ride in the air plane! It as about a three hour trip, but we enjoyed every minute by just talking, gossiping and looking out at the clouds.

Julie said that we were going to "Lost Maples" in Texas. As we touched down, our ears were really popping!

We rented a car and drove about an hour to Lost Maples. Our hotel was called Falling Leaves and after we checked in, we went up to the room. The view was incredible! I just couldn't wait to tell Myopa about this!

So I filled the bathroom sink up with water, closed the drain, and dropped a gold coin. As it dissolved I used the water to contact Myopa in Atlantis. Her face appeared in the sink. Her blonde hair and brown eyes were very different from her look above water, black hair and blue eyes.


"Myopa, we found this hotel in the middle of a forest and it is just beautiful!" I said in great excitement!

"Oh, that's cool! So what state are you in?" She asked, I could see her eyes were focused on something other than conversation.

"Julie says it's called Texas." I said, trying to remember if that was right. However, when I said that, Myopa stopped what she was doing, and looked straight at me. Her face looked horrified. "Is everything alright, Myopa?" I asked questioning the look on her face.

"What forest are you in?" Myopa replied, saying each word very carefully.

"Um, Julie says its called Lost Maples." I responded, having a questioned look on my face. Myopa's eyes widened and she practically screamed her response.

"Meliezja, you need to get out of there know!"

"What? Why?" I asked, getting uncomfortable.

"Meliezja, Lost Maples Forest is home of the Deadly Pedal Sirens!"

The End