Jinki was stunned as he was led to a secluded portion of the forest. Never in his wildest dreams had he even imagined that the fire fairy would help him. After all, they were natural enemies that hated each other.

"Wait here, demon. I'll move a little further away and then turn up the heat. See if you're able to absorb it"

Why was he helping him? Whatever the reason was, Jinki was just thankful that he wouldn't be leaving Jonghyun alone.

Minho grunted as he tried to increase his flames more and more in order to reach the same level of heat as the sun. Try as he might, he was unable to remove the thoughts of the water sprite from the back of his mind. He could smell the singed leaves of all the trees that surrounded him but knew this wasn't the highest he could go. This wasn't even close enough. Struggling, he put every last bit of energy he had and increased his flames tenfold and scorched the entire area.

Jinki watched the fire fairy try his hardest to reach his highest potential, and was shocked as he saw his hair turn into flames. With the way he was going, it was just a matter of minutes before the fairy would ignite the entire forest. The ground the fairy stood on was covered in hellish flames, and Jinki stepped closer so that he could absorb the energy. Bracing himself, he shouted to Minho to fire a beam at him.

What was wrong with the demon? Minho shuddered to think of what would happen if the heat of the beam he sent was too low. If it was high enough, then the demon would easily be able to absorb it, but he would be attacked if it wasn't great enough.

"Demon, wait. I don't think this is hot enough. You could get hurt"

"I trust you. Do it. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get back to the others"

Minho took a deep breath before creating a beam with all the power and energy he could muster. Watching it hurtle towards the demon, he felt a small tremor of fear touch his heart. He heard the sound of a small explosion, and fell to his knees, just hoping that he had missed.

*********************************************************************

Meanwhile, Kibum had started to absorb all of the smoke that was created by Minho's heat into his aura. After a while, it started getting too hot even for him to handle. Hoping this heat had been enough for the demon, he stretched his aura even further, to protect Taemin and the vampire.

Taemin, on the other hand, had crept to the darkest corner so as to not be affected by the heat. He could feel himself getting more and more heated by the minute. This was indeed what he had been afraid of. It was just a matter of time before he evaporated.

Jonghyun watched the little sprite cower in a corner, and felt genuinely worried. Rushing to his side, he took his hand to find that it was warm. The normally sapphire blue eyes had turned into sky blue and he watched Taemin struggling to breathe. The sprite needed to be taken to the stream, and fast, if he was to be saved. 

Kibum saw a flash of light and knew there would be a heatwave that would hit them shortly.

"Brace yourselves. I don't know if I would be able to stop this one"

Closing his eyes, he struggled to keep the protection in place with every last ounce of his strength. Feeling a huge wave of heat hitting his aura, he finally withdrew it all and turned around to see that the vampire had protected Taemin with his own body.

"Jonghyun, you...you protected me. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Taemin. Let's get you to the stream. You need water"

*******************************************************

Once the smoke had cleared, Minho went closer to see the damage that he'd caused when his vision was marred by a dazzling flash of light. With his heart in his throat, he walked towards the light to find the demon, restored to his full health and glory.

"Thank you, Minho"

"You're welcome, demon"

"You can call me Jinki"

"Let's go back to my lair, Jinki. The attack may start anytime"

**********************************************************

Fully hydrated, Taemin and the others were back at the lair when they saw Minho and Jinki return, arm in arm. With uncharacteristic emotion in his eyes, Minho swung an elated Taemin around while Jonghyun and Jinki embraced each other.

"It's almost time. We need to prepare ourselves to fight for our lives. These werewolves are dangerous"

"All of their senses have heightened since the last time this happened, and we are just five against twenty or thirty of them"

"If we bring them near the stream, I'd be able to use that water as well"

"That's a good idea, Taemin. We've all got our strengths, and we'll be able to take them on and defeat them for sure"