Page 55 of Nosfer-Meet You

“Sorry, Jules,” I say, smiling sadly. “But I can’t do that.”

The harpies finally realize I’m there and start to attack me, too. I shield my face with my arms, and I’m thankful for my leather jacket. Dante dissipates, along with Juliette, in a thick cloud of mist. No. No, no, no. If they disappear … I won’t be able to find them. I can’t track them down. There’s no way.

The harpies screech in confusion and continue grabbing at my hair and clothes.

“Stop!” I cry. “Gods, please!”

The harpies knock into me, sending me into the mud on my ass.

“Intruder!” one of the harpies shrieks.

“Murderer!” another one cries.

Wait, they can talk? I didn’t know they were capable of speech. I kind of figured they were like regular birds, but with human faces. I uncover my face for half a second and wince.

“Wait!” I yelp. “H-Hey! Come on! I didn’t know you were sentient!”

One of the harpies bites at my hand. “Murderer!”

I pull my hand back before it can be turned into a bloody stump. “Stop it! Maybe we can work out a deal?”

The harpy who bit my hand stares at me with her angelic lady face. Gods, this is too weird. Up close, they really do look human … save for the claws and feathers, of course. She continues to scowl at me while a few more harpies land beside her.

“A deal?” she says, and I nod.

“Yeah. A deal. You help me, I help you. That sorta thing,” I say, already regretting my choice of words. The werebears are not going to be happy if they find out I struck a deal with their enemy. But right now, I don’t exactly have a ton of options, do I?

“Listening,” the harpy says.

“Listening, listening,” the others repeat in unison.

“Help me get my girlfriend back from that old vampire, and we’ll help you out with the shifters,” I say.

The harpies go silent for a few moments and stare at one another. Occasionally, they blink. Then the one who bit me says, “Yes. Deal. You make the shifters stop hunting us. We help.”

That’s about as good as I’m going to get, I think. I hold my hand out for them to shake, then roll my eyes at myself. They don’t have hands. Or our cultural norms. Dammit, Scotty. Your mom was right. You’re stupid.

“Uh, deal. Do you know where they went?” I ask.

“We will take to the skies and hunt them to the ends of the earth, vampire,” the harpy says.

She jumps into the air and grabs on to my shoulders with her talons. We fly above the trees and cliffs and even the clouds until the storm is below us. And in the distance, I can make out the dark form of something flying toward the crescent moon.

“There!” I yell, pointing. “It’s them!”

The harpies swarm together as one ferocious flock. It’s almost as though they all share the same brain cell, because they’re completely in sync with one another as they rush forward. Dante is fast as a bat, but the harpies are faster.

“We are the queens of the skies,” the harpy says as she carries me swiftly to our target. “He will not escape us. And then we will feast on his rotted flesh!”

I cringe. “Gross, but fair. Do whatever you want to him, but don’t touch the woman.”

“Do you hear that, sisters? Kill the ancient one, leave the female!”

The harpy screams, and her flock races forward until they’re practically on top of Dante and Juliette. Dante tries to dissolve into mist again, but one of the harpies knocks into his side, tossing him like a ragdoll in the air.

When he loses his grip on Juliette, I scream.

“Jules! No!”