The reason Ritchie said people refur to Michael as the paranoid something is because of his trust issues. In the past he had people who he trusted and thought nothing of it when their behavior changed a little bit. He believe that their behavior was because of the war. The betrayal of his friends killed his family. He became over observant and suspicious of people after that happened.
Michael did his best to get the wizards/witches land. At first the others wanted to give then 1% of the land or exile them. He managed to convince them otherwise.
Austin was extremely angry about the land deal and started a prank type war with the others to show the wizards/witches dissatisfaction. He turned Michael into a direwolf vampire hybrid not just out of curiosity but out of wanting to make him stronger to help him survive and take down the humans better.
Ritchie has depression from living for so long. He watched friends have families and die. There are times when he can't get out of bed and keeps dying until he has the energy to get out. When Franklin came along he stopped Ritchie from not taking care of himself.
When Ritchie became corrupted he was stuck in his mind. There was darkness that surrounded him saying negative things< monster, you could have saved them, heartless, why did you let them suffer, so one>. What lead to the corruption was his mindset and being killed with dark magic that also enhanced the negativity in his mind.
Just like a regular phoenix his tears can heal others and be used to make strong healing potions. His feathers can be used as a way to make fireproof objects, burn away objects, and other things. He can also turn into his bird form to its full size or smaller.
Michael and Ritchie can sometimes get stuck in their animal forms for no longer than a week. Sometimes they have their mind fully, sometimes its mostly animalistic. If they know and trust the person in human form they're safe, if not stay away unless they are with the person Michael and Ritchie trust, they still need to keep their distance.
Austin, Ritchie, and Michael did become close friends and hang out every weekend for a movie night.
