Page 20 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

Amelia stared at him. Bloodsucker? As in… sucking… blood? “I definitely don’t think you suck—”

“Or an idiotic witcher, who you can play dumb with?”

At his words, Amelia pictured an old man with a long, pointy hat. “Not at all!”

Mikhail took a few steps towards her. “You know what separates me from the other species?”

Was she imagining things, or had his eyes changed colour? She could have sworn they were greenish-brown, but sometime in the last moments, they’d turned golden-brown.

“The difference between me and the rest of the species is that when I turn, I have no weakness.”

She raised an eyebrow, finally understanding what was going on. Turning, immortal creatures, bloodsuckers, witchers… This man was hallucinating. And she’d thought herself to be the schizophrenic earlier today! Thank you, Lord! Her prayers had been answered. She knew just how to deal with a situation such as this one. When facing someone who suffered from hallucinations, one had to pretend that one could also hear and see the images they did. So, she was going to play along.

“Impressive.” He gave a questioning look, so she added, “The turning, I mean.”

Mikhail squinted at her. “Have you ever seen a manticore turn?”

A manti-what?!

Never mind. Amelia was determined to play his game – and win. “No, but I would love for you to show me.”

First, she would make him turn, then she’d appear fascinated by his turning, and then she’d convince him to go outside and show everyone this magnificent sight. From her psychiatry rotation, she knew that individuals with psychotic tendencies often craved excessive admiration, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that Mikhail Korovin fit the type.

“Please, I really want to see you turn.” She was speaking as if to a child, waiting for him to jump around in excitement, or whatever it was that someone turning into an imaginary mandragora would do.

He rubbed his chin. “You want to see me… turn?”

Amelia smiled her most encouraging smile. “Of course!”

“Humans usually ask for money, land and jewels when they want to work with us… I don’t think that me turning in front of you is a good idea.”

Well, she needed to provoke him. “Are you afraid that you’ll… embarrass yourself?”

His eyes sparkled like pure gold. “All right, have it your way. If that’s what will make you cooperate.”

A surge of panic crashed over her. Something wasn’t right. She swallowed, unsure if she should follow through on her initial plan.

There was no time to think, because a horrifying, animalistic screech rolled out of the man’s mouth, and forced her to step back. His body arched and the seams of his shirt stretched along his biceps and torso until…

Amelia held in her scream when his clothes ripped into shreds and scattered across the room. His phone and a set of keys soon joined them. Her hands shot up to protect her face from further flying projectiles, but she kept staring at the enlarging figure before her through the gaps between her fingers.

One, two, three, four…

Whatever was happening came to a halt. Amelia slapped a palm over her mouth as she surveyed the thing in front of her. It was around ten feet tall, and it definitely wasn’t human.

Before her stood a monster. Thick, dark-brown fur covered its bulging muscles and formed a mane around its animalistic face. Long black claws emerged from the tips of its hands and feet, and a thick black tail stuck out of the monster’s lower back, ending with a sharp spike. From the middle of the spine, a pair of giant black wings moved in synch with the swing of the tail.

Amelia raised her eyes all the way up to his face. Under the mane, above the muzzle with those teeth, two golden eyes stared back at her.

She opened her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs.

1 Translated from Bulgarian by Besta Dimitrova.

8

Amelia’s screams rattled the Hospital walls, in tune with the roaring thunder outside. Mikhail left her to it.

Still in his manticore body, he trudged down the corridor. If he changed to his human form, he’d be naked. The transformation only affected his natural flesh, but it couldn’t materialise clothing out of nowhere to cover his body after the fact. Normally, he was much better prepared, but in this instance, he hadn’t been.

---