by Sariah Skye
"What?" she asked, in a melodic voice that sounded much younger than she appeared. Her face was lined appropriately, slightly crinkled around the mouth and eyes. I guessed she would be about fifty or so, but I knew these Loremasters lived quite a bit longer so it was anyone’s guess as to how old she was. Her gaze trailed to me, and she gasped. "Son of a bitch," she cursed. She grinned, shamed. "So sorry," she said, covering her mouth with her hand briefly.
"Ceceline, this is Leorah. The pink dragon," Finnian said, motioning to me.
"Dragon?" She appeared more surprised this time. "But—"
"The wings, we know. What we don’t know is why she can’t shift out of them," Kiarra rolled her eyes impatiently.
Ceceline bit her lip. She narrowed her eyes, and I could see her eyes fall on Gabriel momentarily, as they shifted from blue to gray. Gabriel shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. I coughed out loud, pointedly.
"Hello? Dragon with a problem here!" I said, waving my arms wildly.
Ceceline turned away from Gabriel to me, and Finnian repeated to her what we told him about flying, my magic, etcetera. Ceceline just nodded thoughtfully.
"Well…I certainly have never seen another dragon who couldn’t shift out of her wings. Can you move them, dear? Are they functional?"
I hadn’t tried. As habitual as moving an arm, I outstretched one of my wings carefully, fluttering gently. The stretch in the wing felt quite pleasing, actually, so I outstretched the other.
"Clearly, they work," Finnian said unnecessarily.
"Quite," Ceceline responded, shortly. She reached out to touch the serrated edge, and rubbed her palm alongside it. "They are dainty but not fragile. Peculiar…a fairy’s wings would be rather flimsy."
"So, no idea? And how do I get rid of them?" I demanded, feeling under scrutiny as both Loremasters poked and prodded and smoothed hangs along my wings.
"Well, dear, do you really want to? Imagine the possibilities. How handy it would be to fly in human form, wouldn’t it be?" she said, hopefully. I scowled.
"How am I supposed to live with these things? They’re…weird. How am I going to sleep?" I asked, feeling rather exasperated.
"You can’t shift out of them? You’re sure?" she questioned.
I frowned. "Don’t you think I would if I could?"
"Okay, okay. I get it," she replied, with a laugh. "Dumb question, but I needed to know for sure."
Finnian suddenly slid across the desk he was leaning against, sending various items and papers tumbling to the floor as he landed in the chair and began furiously rummaging through drawers, obviously looking for something. Ceceline gave him an odd look but turned away and ignored him.
"Leorah, dear…I can sense magic in a person. Will you allow me—" she hovered her hand near my cheek. I nodded and she pressed her warm palm onto my face and closed her eyes. Almost immediately, she opened them and pulled away quickly.
"What? What did you see?" Gabriel insisted, trying to wrap an arm over my shoulder but finding it cumbersome with my wings. He settled for my waist instead and pulled me a bit closer to him, as close as the wings would allow.
"Magic. Very powerful magic. Neither of you is aware of just how powerful this magic is," she replied, intently.
"The Shadow?" I gulped.
She shook her head. "No. I sense the darkness but, it’s faint. Hardly there. Just an echo, almost. What I sense is your magic. And the magic emanating off of him—" she said, pointing at Gabriel. She let out a nervous laugh. "I understand why they are gunning for you. Power like that on their side…" she trailed off, with a shudder. "I can’t even think of the possibilities."
"Me?" Gabriel was taken aback. We exchanged wide-eyed glances.
She nodded. "Oh yes. You aren’t any regular sorcerer indeed."
"So what do you think it is?" Finnian asked, peeking his head up from the mess of paper and folders he was creating on the desk and floor around him.
"I can’t be sure, I have some theories but I need to be sure," she said. "Would you mind giving a bit of your blood, dear?"
"Huh? Why?" I asked.
"I want to make sure there are no other mythological beings in your bloodline," she explained.
"Is that even possible?"
"Oh yes, it is. As you’ve seen, many of the people here look fairly human. A nymph could have been posing as human and impregnated a human, or whatever the case may be. It could be…generations ago and you got the magic mix of mythological DNA," Ceceline explained.
I squeezed my eyes shut. "Ugggh…just what I need. To be even more of a freak."
Ceceline smiled warmly. She turned to Kiarra. "Dear, would you mind getting a syringe and wipe from the infirmary?" Kiarra nodded, and set off on her mission.
"Another explanation could be just a magical, evolutionary one. To be able to use one’s dragon wings as a human gives you…many advantages," she said.
My cheeks flushed sheepishly. "Well…maybe not. I can barely fly."
She was taken aback. "Oh? That is…that is something indeed." She crossed her arms over her chest and drummed her fingers on a forearm, thoughtfully.
Kiarra arrived moments later, with a tall, lanky woman who was carrying a tray of first-aid items.
"She refused to let anyone else draw blood," Kiarra said, with a chuckle.
The tall woman chuckled. "Hell no. That’s what I’m here for. You’d probably give her Ebola or taint the results." She turned and looked at me, and I was surprised by her pale eyes, against her snow-white skin under a shock of jet black hair in a pixie crop. She grinned at me, revealing two sharp, pointy canine teeth. "You must be the dragon in question," she said, setting down her tray on Finnian’s unkempt desk. She groaned in annoyance. "Really, Finn? What the hell is this?"
Ceceline waved her off. "Oh, you know him…just having a moment," she responded scornfully.
"Shut up!" Finnian retorted, his head buried in a filing cabinet. Even in my uncomfortable situation I couldn't help but chuckle at him.
She turned back to me, with a square packet that she ripped open and stepped towards me. Wide-eyed and hesitant, I involuntarily stepped back. "You’re…"
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, let’s get this over with. Yes, I’m a vampire. No, I do not attack people or steal their blood. It’s a viral mutation that attacks people with certain genes, and here I am."
I forced a smile. "I’m sorry, it’s just—"
"I know, I know," she said, dismissing my apology, as if she was used to hearing all this before. "I am Evie, by the way."
"Leorah." I responded. I gingerly held out my arm. "So, you really don’t drink blood?"
"Well, I do but I do not forcefully take it from anyone," she replied, ripping open the back and pulling out an alcohol wipe. The smell burned my nostrils and I wrinkled my nose. "I know, it’s strong. Sorry. I know how sensitive dragons are to smell."
I nodded.
"So, you are a vampire who drinks blood and here you are, taking blood from her?" Gabriel finally piped up, looking just as shocked as I felt.
She snorted, wiping off a spot on my upper forearm and tapping the area with a finger, apparently looking for a vein. "It’s not what you think. Before I contracted the virus, I was a nurse. I live here now because, yes, the bloodlust around humans is hard to deal with. I have never attacked anyone, and I never will. We just don’t do that. But here, I don’t have to deal with any of it, I have no taste for magic blood. Like yours," she said, nodding at me. "Or yours, sorcerer." She raised a brow at him, and he smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry…you have to admit though, it’s a little weird," he replied, with a nervous giggle.
"No more than throwing fireballs from your hand," she said, with a wink towards him. She reached for a rubber tourniquet on her tray and tied it around the lower part of my bicep, tapping the area underneath again. "Perfect." She reached for a syringe and needle. "This will just be a slight pinch." Deftly, she maneuvered the needle into my skin. I didn’t even wince at
the mosquito-bite feel. She pulled the plunger out and extracted blood from my arm. It was only a few moments before it filled up, and she pulled the needle out carefully, replacing it with a gauze pad with a sticky back. "Easy peasy."
"Thanks?" I said, rubbing the area with my hand.
She snickered. "Sure. I will go take a look at this and see if I find any magical markers," she said. She paused. "No, I won’t drink the rest when I’m finished."
I laughed. "So, how do you get blood?"
"Blood banks and such. I have some inside friends in the business who legally obtain it for me. If they can’t for whatever reason, I find someone who can compel and obtain it that way. But never from the person; always a willing donor into a bag or vial," she explained. "I hate to do it, but I have no other choice. The virus makes it so that our bodies just don’t replace blood very fast, so it’s like a transfusion, sort of. I still eat regular food too. I just run the infirmary here to give back to the place that gives me refuge and so my six years of nursing school don’t go to total waste," she said. Evie nodded at Gabriel and Ceceline. "I’ll get back to you guys." She put some sort of cap on the syringe, placed it on her tray and carried the tray out the door, pushing the door open with her backside.
"I’ll be damned…." I said. Gabriel and I laughed.
"That was unexpected," he said.
Ceceline was bored with our tittering. "I suspect she won’t find anything, but just in case. In the meantime, I suppose you really want them gone, yes?"
I nodded. "Any ideas?"
"No…but perhaps with some rest, rejuvenate your magic you’ll be able to fully shift back into your fully human form," she said. "Finnian and I will continue to search for something in our files, but I believe this is unprecedented."
I sighed, feeling defeated. "So I just have to deal, for now?"
Ceceline nodded. "I’m afraid so."
I groaned.
"Stop by and see Esmè, again. She might have some advice. Or, perhaps one of the fey can help advise you by how they get their wings to retract. Once you get them back in, it may just be a fluke," Finnian said, poking up his head from behind the desk again. "A-ha!" He yanked something out of whatever he was looking in—it appeared to be a large, brown folder with a string around it—and set it on his desk. "Pardon me, I have some reading to do. I will get back to you if I find anything."
"As will I," Ceceline said. She patted the side of my arm, stoic, but in an attempt to be reassuring before disappearing out the same door she had come in.
I swiveled around and faced Gabriel, looking defeated. "Now what?"
"I can take you to one of the fey," Kiarra said, giving me a sympathetic glance. I just shrugged at the idea.
"Really, I don’t know why it’s so bothersome," Finnian offered, plopping himself down on his desk and crossing his long legs under him. "I mean, they’re gorgeous wings. I’ve seen websites where people pay hundreds of dollars to buy fake wings that aren’t even half that stunning," he said.
I frowned. "They can take them off, though, right?"
"Yes…okay, I’m not good at offering comfort. Your friends are better for that." Finnian flashed us a wide smile before burying his head in the documents he pulled out of the folder.
Gabriel pulled my arm. "Let’s go, Leo."
"I’ll meet you at your rooms," Kiarra said. She pointed at Finnian who was clearly oblivious to our presence and I nodded.
"’Kay," I replied, pouting and allowed Gabriel to lead me out of the office.
We weren’t in our room more than five minutes, when the door burst open and Daniel popped in. "I knew it!" he said, followed by Maxxus ducking in a moment later.
Maxxus stared in disbelief at me, but said nothing. He didn’t need to; Daniel spoke for him.
"What the fuck?" Daniel was awed.
I groaned, as I attempted to toss myself onto the sofa. I let out a yelp, my wings pinching under my weight I jumped right back up. "Wonderful. Now I can’t even sit!"
"What happened?" Maxxus questioned with concern. "Does…does it hurt?"
I shook my head. "No, just uncomfortable." I stood in the center of the room, looking for a place to sit. Gabriel noticed, and produced a barstool from the kitchen area and brought it into the living room for me. I sat on it, rigidly, having to maneuver carefully so as to not sit on the wings.
"You said ‘I knew it’, when you came in," Gabriel prompted his brother. "What did you mean?"
Daniel shrugged. "Maxxus and I were eating at that tavern—to die for, by the way—the ribs smelled divine and although—"
"Daniel. Focus here. What did you mean?" Gabriel demanded, grasping his brother on the forearms, shaking him slightly.
Daniel narrowed his eyes down at his brother. "Chill, bro," he said, gently pushing him back. "I mean, that I had a brief vision. Not much, but there was a sense of confusion, and elation…and then frustration, and all I saw was her face."
Maxxus raised his eyebrow. "It was…weird. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he got catatonic. Very odd indeed," he said, with a slight shudder, as if recalling something he didn’t want to.
"Oh you get used to it," Daniel said, with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"So, you are like, clued into her, somehow?" Gabriel questioned. "That seems like an awfully vague vision for you to have."
Daniel shrugged. He brushed off a piece of lint from his blue muscle tee and ruffled his spikey hair. "I guess it’s because of your connection to her, and my connection to you. We’re linked psychically, maybe. But I knew we should probably find out what was wrong anyways. I see that I was right." He was eyeing the wings very curiously, I could almost see him fighting the urge to reach out and touch them.
I rolled my eyes. "Go ahead. You know you want to."
Daniel let out a chirp of glee, and ran his hands all over my left wing. "Marvelous…"
Maxxus stood back hesitantly, giving him a strange look. He appeared uncomfortable, out of place as he tried to find a place to stand, finally relenting to lean against the wall across the room, crossing one foot over another. He rubbed at his rust-colored goatee thoughtfully, as if pondering something.
"Everything okay?" I questioned him, acknowledging his pensive mood.
Maxxus shook himself out of a thought, and forced a smile. "Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. I should be asking you that question!"
I scoffed. "I’m wonderful, no worries. I’m just a dragon in human form that now apparently has wings. No big deal."
He smiled warmly. "How did it happen? They just…shoot out randomly or were you shifted or what?"
"She was flying," Gabriel responded proudly. "I helped, but only a little."
I chortled. "It was a lot more than a little, but yeah."
Maxxus’ mouth opened in an O of joyful surprise. "You flew? Really?" One of the common conversations I had with him while waiting for my brother to fly in and rescue me from my shame was how frustrating it was not being able to fly like a normal dragon. He grinned. "Leorah! That’s amazing!"
Even I couldn’t help but smile. "Yeah…it kind of was."
"Then she shifted back afterward and the wings wouldn’t go away," Gabriel offered, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. He tossed himself on the sofa with a sigh, and his brother followed suit.
Maxxus raised a brow. "Wow. That is…that is odd."
"No shit, Sherlock," I retorted dryly. I glanced up at him, who looked a little wounded at my sarcasm. "I’m sorry, I’m just…a little edgy."
His face softened. "No, it’s okay. I just…I don’t know what to say. Sorry?" he offered.
"It’s fine," I answered with a laugh. "It’s fucked up, that’s all I can say."
"Well, if you can fly in your dragon form—is it possible to fly in human form? Wouldn’t that be a kick?" Daniel asked.
I shrugged. "Maybe. And none of the Loremasters have any idea why or how it happened, but they’re ‘looking into it’," I said dryly, making quotation mark
s in the air with my fingers.
"What good are they, then?" Maxxus scoffed, with a laugh.
"I don’t know, actually." I heaved a heavy sigh, resting my elbows in my lap and resting my head in my palms. I whined out loud. "This is uncomfortable!"
"Give it some time, maybe you’ll be able to shift out of it," Maxxus offered.
"But, wouldn’t it be awesome if they worked?" Daniel said, looking mischievous. He jumped up from his spot on the sofa, grabbed my arms, pulling me reluctantly off the stool and out the door to the field just outside the guest rooms
"What are you doing?" I grumbled unhappily.
"Well…you were flying before. Can you fly now? Logic stands to reason…" Daniel said. Gabriel and Maxxus both emerged from the doorway.
I just stood there, outside, feeling rather exposed. There was no one around but a couple of kids in the distance but I just felt…strange. Odd.
"Well?" he prompted.
I shrugged. I outstretched the wings, and my arms along with them and closed my eyes, my face pointed up at the sky. I took a deep breath, and exhaled. Without even having to think about it, my wings started beating, like they were their own separate entity and I was suddenly feeling weightless.
"Shit." That was all I heard before I opened my eyes, looking down at the top of Maxxus’ head, from about seven feet off the ground (his human form was well over six feet, for sure). He covered his mouth with his hand, eyes agape with emotion.
Gabriel grinned as well. "That is just flippin’ awesome."
I looked down at the ground, and back at the wings which were steadily beating. In my human form it actually felt a bit more effortless, flying did, my feet dangling in the air. I grinned despite myself.
I scanned out the area around me, a couple of kids—I would guess young sorcerers or witches—were nearby in the woods, messing around with elements. One boy would pull up a tuft of dirt and earth with his hands and "throw" it at the other one, the other would respond by tossing a puddle of water, summoned by his hands. They were giggling gleefully at each other, their clothes and hair muddy and mussed but they didn’t have a care in the world. I felt wistful, watching the two boys play, and just be themselves. I didn’t know what they were—human, fairy, but it didn’t matter. Not here.