He closed his eyes briefly as he glided higher into the sky. His massive wingspan allowed him to pierce through the dense clouds as his elevation increased. Vander blew out a snort, as his dragon was in full-blown battle mode, ready for combat. He loved the exhilarating feeling of gliding through the air, allowing his dragon to be in control. But, tonight would not be a night of pleasurable flight.

He was on the hunt for one black dragon that had attempted to annihilate an entire farming village.

Gamair, the Death Lord, was a dragon who was pure evil, obsessed with death. Vander, The Warrior, was a dragon shifter, and one who would put a stop to the evil monster. He would not allow the Death Lord to wreak havoc on entire communities of innocent people, all because the black dragon had nothing better to do. Vander had fought Gamair for centuries, and knew most of the black dragon’s tricks, but this time, he had gone too far.

Dragons had long been champions of the human race, but rarely revealed themselves to the world. When they did, they used their magic to distort the human mind. To humans, dragons were a myth, a legend.

Tonight’s battle of dragons would be distorted to any human that would happen to look up and see the massive creatures in the clouds.

His dragon sensed two large presences in the sky near him. He glanced around and found Jodos, his best friend since childhood, gliding next to him, while his older brother, Feno, swooped in to his right, flying alongside him. Gamair would not stand a chance on this night.

Vander turned his attention back toward the sky, only to realize he’d lost sight of Gamair. His keen eyes searched the dense clouds, but there was no sign of the black dragon.

“There!” Feno’s voice broke through telepathically. Vander looked in the direction of his brother’s stare, and he could see the tail of the black dragon, but it disappeared again in the midst of the dense clouds.

“I’m going up higher,” Vander informed Jodos and Feno.

He couldn’t afford to let Gamair get away. He pumped his wings, gaining momentum as he went higher into the sky, intent on finding the dragon and taking him out. If they didn’t stop him soon, he would destroy more lives, and Vander would be damned if he would let that happen.

Gamair came into view, and Vander’s dragon didn’t hesitate. He opened his large mouth and breathed fire. Flames danced along Gamair’s scales as he flew closer. The black dragon flipped out of the path of Vander’s flames, and threw a massive white ball of power toward him.

He tried to dodge the attack, but the energy hit Vander square in his dragon’s chest. The energy paralyzed him, leaving his dragon unable to pump his wings. Both man and dragon panicked. The wind blew past his face as his body began to head toward the ground. He felt himself lose control over his dragon.

The sound of his brother’s voice yelling his name filled his head, but he was unable to respond as he fell through the clouds. He knew that he was in trouble when he felt the shift begin.

You have got to be fucking kidding me, he thought as his human arms appeared. His dragon left, and his full human body came forward. He blinked his eyes and let loose a curse at the speed in which he was falling.

“This is going to hurt,” he muttered as the ground rushed up, then everything went black.

* * *

Faye looked at the clock and groaned. She had six more hours until the end of her twelve-hour shift. The life of an emergency room nurse was rewarding, but taxing on her body. Tonight was her fourth night in a row. She had picked up some extra shifts, trying to earn extra money to pay down her student loans.

Six more months of double payments and they would be paid off. Financial freedom was her goal, and she was almost there, so this sacrifice would be well worth it. Just the thought of being free of major debt put a little more pep in her step.

She was transporting a patient who came into the ER with chest pain. His tests came back abnormal, so she had to escort him to the cath lab so that the interventional cardiologist could do an invasive test to check for blockages in the arteries surrounding his heart.

He wouldn’t be coming back to the ER. He’d either go to the cardiac floor to be admitted, or the operating room, if what they found it warranted an emergency surgery.

“Okay, here we go, Mr. Sullivan,” she said as she opened the doors for Mike, the nursing assistant. She quickly followed behind and reached the side of the cart. The sounds of his heartbeat on the machines echoed down the narrow hallway.

“Thank you, Faye,” Mr. Sullivan said, reaching out for her hand. He was an older gentleman in his late sixties, with salt and pepper hair, and a warm smile. The entire night, he hadn’t complained, not once. It was his wife who had insisted he come to the emergency room when he had argued it was only heartburn. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem,” she replied, squeezing his hand. This was why she became a nurse. Sometimes, patients just needed a comforting hand and a smile to help get them through the scary times. “I just want to make sure that you’re good enough to get back to that pretty wife of yours,” she added with a smile.

“I mean it. Don’t you stop smiling,” he said as Mike wheeled him into the lab where the team of nurses and physicians were waiting.

“I won’t. Now, I’m leaving you in good hands.” They quickly grabbed the monitor and exited the room with a wave so that the team could proceed with the procedure.

“What are you doing this weekend?” Mike asked, holding the door open for her.

“After I wake from my work-induced coma, I may go out with my friend, Jenna, this weekend. She’s wanted to go to this bar she heard about. You and Nina have any plans?”

“I have no clue what she’s planning, but me? My focus will be on the playoffs this weekend.” He laughed.

Faye rolled her eyes at her coworker. She knew that Mike’s wife would be dragging him out to wherever she wanted to go this weekend. They made their way back to the emergency department and found everything calm. She enjoyed working with this team. Everyone was professional, and worked together well.

“Hey, Faye!” her charge nurse, Tim, called out from the nurse’s station. “You’re up for the next trauma.”

“Sure thing, Boss.” She walked over to the nurse’s station and leaned against the counter. “Just let all emergency calls know that they can only come after I grab a bite to eat and get my coffee,” she joked. She batted away the balled up paper Tim tossed at her.

“Sure thing. I’ll let all the squads know that Faye needs a diversion until after her break,” Tim said as he stood.

“I knew you were my favorite charge nurse,” she said in a singsong voice. She turned away from the counter and headed toward the break room.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee greeted her as she pushed the door open.

“Somebody loves me,” she exclaimed, making a beeline straight for the coffee pot.

Faye grabbed her cup from the dish rack by the sink and moved the carafe out of the way before sliding her mug beneath the flow of beautiful, black, liquid gold. Coffee was a nurse’s secret weapon to surviving the evening shift. Once her cup was filled, she grabbed her flavored creamer from the fridge and doctored her coffee to perfection. Who needed food when they had this liquid perfection?

Her lunch was forgotten as she grabbed the remote for the TV and sat at the table, putting her feet up. It was Friday night in Blue Creek, and so far, nothing much was going on. Hopefully, she could make it through the rest of her shift without any action.

In a town like Blue Creek, where there was a healthy mixture of the supernatural population, one never knew when things would jump off. But, tonight, she would keep her fingers crossed and pray there was no action.

“Level one trauma!” The operator’s voice came through the overhead speaker. Faye groaned. Quickly taking a healthy sip of her coffee, she paused to listen. “ETA, five minutes.”

“Shit!” she exclaimed, her feet hitting the floor as she jumped up. Hating to waste any coffee, she tried to gulp as much as she could down, but it burned the crap out of her mouth. She tossed the coffee into the sink and placed her mug on the counter.

“All I know is this person better be dying,” she muttered as she rushed out of the break room.