"Lireela?"
Knock. Knock.
"Lireela, are you there? Mr. Filerious?"
Gently pushing on the door, Jericho realized it was open.
"Hello?"
He made his way to Lireela's room and knocked on her door.
"Lireela, wake up -"
He stopped in mid-sentence as he saw Lireela's father standing right beside him, pale as a ghost.
"Mr. Filerious, what happened?" asked Jericho.
Mr. Filerious could not respond for a few moments. Then he put his head in his hand.
"They took her."
"What? Who? Who took her?"
"D-Dracula, and his brides..."
"Dracula?" for a moment Jericho couldn't speak. "Are you sure?"
"Yes... I - I saw them fly away with her, there was nothing I could do - I had heard a noise and assumed Lireela couldn't get to sleep, so I went outside and... and I saw them fly away."
He looked at Jericho.
"You're a good man, Jericho, but you're no match for vampires. Lireela is gone."
He hung his head.
"No," said Jericho. "I won't let them take her. I've got to find her before they eat her!"
"If they were going to eat her I think they'd have done it already," said Mr. Filerious.
"I don't care... maybe they've waited... I can't just let her die! I love her!"
And with that, Jericho ran out of the house.
Mr. Filerious looked up to the ceiling.
"Be with him. Help him to know that he cannot save her."
Mr. Filerious began to weep.
Yes, I know this was a short chapter, but I felt I had to introduce Jericho and Lireela's father early in the story so you know that Jericho and Lireela are in love.