Harpy Boyfriend: Mihalis (special preview)

It’s a rather chilly morning, and the weather reports say there is a high chance for snow later on in the day. You’ve decided to go into work early, afraid that the thermostat isn’t turned up enough for your patients, and even though your coworker, Colin, was on duty that night, he sometimes complains of being too hot.

You would call to remind him, but your phone charger was never plugged in overnight. As it charges on the way in, it turns back on and all at once a ton of unanswered messages pop up. It looks like most of the night and morning Colin has been trying to reach you.

Eventually when you pull up to the bird rehab and sanctuary there are more than just Colin’s car pulled out front. From the looks of things, he called in the entire team. You race inside where Colin is standing at the front desk. His hands are shaking and there is blood all over his white lab coat.

“Where have you been?” He instantly snaps at you.

Freezing up you shake your head. “I’m sorry. My phone died. I didn’t know.”

Colin huffs and his shoulders sag. “It’s been a night and morning already. I don’t mean to yell but I really could have used you.” He waves a shaky hand for you to follow. “You’re the only one who seems to have any luck calming the birds down. Don’t know if you’ll be able to calm this one.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” You follow after him, going to one of the operation rooms. You see the other members of the sanctuary standing at the open window, looks of concern upon their faces. As you approach you see an extremely large bird cowering inside. There is blood splattered on the walls and floor.

“I hunter dropped him off this morning then immediately left. Probably afraid getting in real trouble given the circumstances.” Colin grumbles under his breath. “The poor guy was scared out of his mind.”

“The hunter?” You ask.

Colin shakes his head. “No, the harpy.”

Your eyes widen and look back in. At first, you had considered the bird inside the operating room was some giant owl. But the closer you look the more you see the harpy is crouched down. It’s large wings wrapped around itself protectively.

“The poor guy is freaking out. He’s hurt really badly but he won’t let any of us near him. He keeps fighting and clawing, and he’s way stronger than us. We managed to give him some food and get him here. We need your magic to help him.”

“I’ve never-” Your voice catches in your throat as nerves become high. “I’ve never worked with a harpy before.”

“You can calm anything down,” Colin assures you. “I’ll go in with you.” He then hands you a fistful of fish jerky. “We’ve been giving him this. Use it if you need to.”

“Okay.” You psych yourself up, telling yourself if you can work on vultures and hawks, things that would eat your eyeballs like candy, you could work on a harpy. You follow Colin slowly into the room. He stands beside you, close enough to get you out of the way if need be. 

You crouch down so you’re on the harpy’s level. His feathers shift and shiver, aware that you’re there. You can hear his labored breathing and smell the copper twinge of blood in the air.

“It’s going to be okay,” you say gently. “We’re here to help you, that’s all we want. It looks like you’re hurt pretty badly.”

The harpy turns and you can see his sharp, golden eyes. The whites are pitch black and they are surrounded by thick, black lashes.

You take a strip of the fish jerky from your pocket and offer it towards him. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but I want to help you.”

You’re used to dealing with abandoned parrots, parakeets, injured mourning doves, small things like that. Bigger birds are a rare thing here at the sanctuary, and harpies are never something you come across. Although you’ve seen them, they tend to be distant from humans. You’ve seen them mainly near large bodies of water where they hunt best. This is the first time you’ve been this close to one.

The harpy stretches out it’s long neck, brown and black feathers fluff up as he tries to make himself look more intimidating. You shakily hold out the fish jerky towards him. 

“I’m know you’re hurt and it’s scary,” you voice trembles. “But I promise, I will take care of you. I’m not scary, am I?”

He sniffs the hair, his flat nostrils flaring. He then glances back into your eyes and a gurgling rasp comes from his throat. “I know you…” His eyes suddenly close and he falls over onto the ground.

“Colin!” You jump up instantly to tend to the harpy. He’s fallen unconscious, probably due to blood loss. Right away, you and Colin get to work on the wound. 

The arrow has pierced through him, narrowly avoiding his heart, but going straight through his shoulder. You mend him up, removing the arrow and patching up the hole. You call up a harpy specialist who tells you how to further treat your new patient.

You place him into one of the recovery rooms, which luckily was empty. You built him a nest of towels and blankets from around the sanctuary so he can feel comfortable. You watch him for when he regains consciousness.