Modern Monsters

Mihalis the Selkie

Female Reader x Male Monster

It's a chilly morning, and the weather reports say there is a high chance for snow later in the day. You've decided to go into work early, afraid that the thermostat isn't turned up enough for your patients. Even though your coworker, Colin, is on duty tonight, he sometimes complains of being too hot. You would call to remind him, but your phone charger is never plugged in overnight. As it charges on the way in, it turns back on, and a ton of unanswered messages pop up. It looks like most of the night and morning Colin has been trying to reach you.

When you pull up to the bird rehab and sanctuary, there's more than just Colin's car pulled out front. From the look of things, he called in the entire team. You race inside to find 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 sighs 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 him into one of the operation rooms and see the other employees of the sanctuary standing at the open window, with looks of concern on their faces. As you approach you see an extremely large bird cowering inside, and blood speckling the walls and floor.

"A hunter dropped him off this morning then immediately left. Probably afraid of 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. At first, you took the bird inside the operating room for a giant owl. But the closer you look the more you see the shape of the harpy crouched down, its 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 in here. We need your magic to help him."

"I've never..." Your voice catches in your throat. "I've never worked with a harpy before."

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

"Okay." You psych yourself up. If you can work on vultures and hawks, creatures 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. He shifts and fluffs his feathers, aware that you're there. You can hear his labored breathing and smell the copper tang 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 sclerae are pitch-black and surrounded by thick, dark lashes.

You take a strip of the fish jerky from your pocket and offer it to 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. Bigger birds are a rare thing here at the sanctuary, and harpies are something you never come across. Although you've seen them, they tend to be wary of humans. They mainly keep near large bodies of water, where they hunt best. This is the first time you've been this close to one.