8. Edward

I had never heard of ghouls attacking living beings, but these ghouls hadn’t had any bodies to consume in centuries. They took me by surprise when they attacked her, but thankfully I wasn’t too far away. Seeing her being attacked though, made me see red. A visceral hate for the ghouls exploded inside me, so strong and hard the likes of which I had never experienced before.

It took all my willpower to focus on one ghoul at a time and not to spray my fire indiscriminately, which would have incinerated some of the swans as well. For some reason I didn’t understand, they were attached to the girl and she to them. I didn’t care what the reason was, they mattered to her and that was good enough for me.

Still, I was too late to prevent one of the swans from being seriously hurt. My heart bled when the girl held the swan’s body out to me, begging me to help him. What could I do in my dragon form though?

Vet, he needs a vet, my mind screamed, and thankfully I knew just where to find one. Michael Pinkerton had only recently moved here. Urged by my father with the offer of a substantial bonus plus a house and a practice to relocate here. Vets were important he told me. People moving here needed to take care of their pets. And now I saw how true his words were.

I didn’t think that this was what he had in mind when he brought Pinkerton here, but if anybody could help the woman’s swan, it was him.

I gestured for her to get on my back, all the while pondering how to make her understand, when to my surprise, she did just that. Her trust in me startled me. I would not have climbed on my back if the roles were reversed. No way in hell would I have trusted a dragon even if he had saved my life.

But she did and it made things a lot easier.

I took her to the vet’s office, where I regretfully left her and her swans. I would have loved to stay and support her in any way I could, but Pinkerton would not have taken lightly to seeing a dragon at his front stoop. I figured he might accept a swan. A dragon most likely not so much.

So I took off, flew to the trees where I always left my car, and circled it for long hours. Too restless to stop and meditate. Just like my body circled the trees, so was my mind circling around the girl.

The sun couldn’t rise soon enough for me and I roared my frustration over it more than once, frightening birds from their roosts and startling other forest creatures, even a bear who took off running.

Finally, finally the first light appeared in the sky and I landed next to my truck. Walking agitatedly around it, waiting for the first rays to hit me and turn me back into my human form.

After what seemed like an eternity, when I was me again, I got dressed and pushed the truck to its limits to race down the dirt road until I hit the freeway that brought me to the exit for our development, which still needed a name.

Like a man possessed—which I felt like I was—I drove down the streets to the vet’s office. I was in such a haste, that I barely remembered to turn off the engine, but left the door wide open when I reached it.

I banged my fist against the vet’s door, not stopping, until a rumpled-looking woman opened. Daisy. I met her when she and her husband moved in.

“What in god’s name is going on?” she asked, the curlers on her hair shaking as if supporting her disapproval.

“Where is she? Is she okay?” I rambled, pushing past the vet’s wife to where the treatment rooms were.

“She’s fine. She was, understandably, a bit shocked, but she’s sleeping now, in here.” She pulled me back by my lapel in the opposite direction of the examination rooms. Right into a cozy living room, where ten swans lay curled on and around a couch on which the object of my worries lay, hugging the eleventh swan to her chest.

I stopped and breathed in at the sight of her. For the first time since the ghouls attacked a few hours ago, my heartbeat returned to a normal pace and my breathing evened.

“She fell asleep as soon as Mike was done with the swan,” Daisy filled me in. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted before I had a chance to think better of it.

“Did you bring her here? Why didn’t you stay?” Daisy’s eyes narrowed at me accusingly.

“I…” My mind searched frantically for a plausible explanation. “I found her in the middle of the road,” I lied. “When I saw the injured swan, I brought her here and the others followed. I didn’t stay because I drove back to see if there were more.”

“Hmm,” she harrumphed, hazel eyes probing me. She didn’t believe me, but she was willing to let it go. For now.

“Did you see what happened to the swan?” she followed up.

“No, like I said, I found her in the middle of the road. She didn’t speak, but the bird was in a bad way… Will he be okay?” I added belatedly.

“He’s gonna be fine. He has a nasty gash, but Mike sewed him up. He needs rest and medication.” Daisy’s expression gentled when she took in the girl and the swans. “She’s so… ethereal.”

I fully agreed with her on that. “Yes.”

“She doesn’t look like she’s from this world,” Daisy continued her musings. “I wonder if she came from Fable Forest.”

That thought had occurred to me.

“Like a fairy princess or something,” Daisy kept going, watching me carefully for any signs of giving up more of the story she didn’t believe.

“She does,” I said simply, still drinking in her form on the couch and thinking how perfect the name suited her. Princess.

“Her hair is very unusual.”

That, too, I fully agreed with. I couldn’t figure out if it was silver with black strands or black with silver. Either way, it was magnificent and unusual, just like her.

“Let me pay for her expenses, how much—”

Daisy waved her hand in the air. “The girl already took care of it.”

She had?

Funny how I had never given her funds any consideration. I had just figured she didn’t have any because she and her swans were living in the old church. But she must have paid for her things at the market somehow.

One of the swans stirred. His long neck stretched and stretched as he looked around through very sleepy and very human eyes. His gaze landed on me. Slowly he got up and waddled over to me, snaking his long neck against my leg he squawked as if in greeting. It would seem impossible that he recognized me and yet… he seemed to know.

“I’ve never seen swans this domesticated,” Mike said from behind me, entering the room. He was dressed and wiping his glasses.

“Good morning,” I said, remembering my manners.

“Would either of you like some coffee?” Daisy offered, remembering hers as well.

I threw a look at the sleeping beauty on the couch. As much as I wanted to take her home, she needed her rest and she didn’t look as if she was about to wake any time soon.

“I would love some,” I told Daisy, extricating myself from the swan and petting it on the head, then followed Mike and her into the kitchen.

They had decorated since I met them here while moving in. The white cabinets had sunflower-shaped knobs on them. Curtains of blue, white, and yellow framed the large window with a small sitting area.

“It looks cozy in here,” I complimented her.

“I wish the counters were light blue, but yes, thank you. We like it here,” Daisy answered.

Mike and I sat down while Daisy brewed coffee in an old-fashioned drip system, and the aroma of it began filling the air.

The swan who had hugged me had followed. His wings flapped and he landed on my lap, nudging me with his beak, I relented and put my arm around him. He snuggled right in, curling his neck around his body and closing his eyes. I felt a sigh go through him.

“I’ll be damned,” Mike stared at the swan in my lap.

“Yeah,” I agreed puzzled, petting the soft feathers.