Five minutes later, a giant creature burst from Ada’s room. Mortar dust bloomed into a cloud and the heavy wooden door creaked on a single hinge. The creature was a dragon, seven feet tall at the shoulder and over twenty feet long, with batlike wings tucked to their spine and two slender horns curling back from their brow. Their black scales glinted every color in the trembling firelight. 

The dragon half-tumbled down the stairs, wobbling like a newborn fawn until they pooled at the bottom.

The witch stared, wide-eyed and frozen, candle wax and herbs still scattered across the table.

The dragon made a rumbling noise. After a few moments of odd intonation, it finally managed to form human words. 

“You must be very bad at magic,” the dragon said, “because I am beautiful.”

Ada had indeed transformed as she’d climaxed, but there was nothing hideous about her at all. She felt powerful. Strong. She could see more clearly, colors were more brilliant, and good gods she could hear and smell absolutely everything. Even the fluttering sound of the witch’s racing heart.

The witch suddenly darted towards the front door.

A predatory instinct pulled Ada to follow, lunging after her with a her mouthful of fangs.

The witch fell to the ground as Ada’s jaws closed towards her, but Ada got a hold of herself again. She did not actually want to eat the witch.

But even as Ada withdrew, the witch clutched at her chest and gasped.

Had Ada been human, she would have dashed for the smelling salts or attempted chest compressions. But she was not and she could not. 

The witch’s bitter old heart fell silent. 

Ada was finally, totally, alone.

Ada was not quite sure what to do. She considered her situation for a long moment and then made up her mind.

She carefully unbolted the front door, which was fortunately oversized and allowed her to just barely squeeze out. Carefully, she lifted the witch’s body in her claws. It was oddly like handling the dead rabbits, just earlier that day. But Ada knew sure as anything that she was not going to eat the witch, not even as a dragon.

So, she set the witch’s body in the grass and started digging at the base of the tower. It was a task that would have taken hours for Ada and a spade, but with her strong legs and hooked claws she dug a suitable grave in minutes.

Ada laid the witch to rest and filled the grave back in. 

She hesitated for only a moment before all her heart and body pulled her, yearning, towards the sky.

Ada’s instincts knew what to do and as soon as she spread her wings her body carried her through one, two, powerful downbeats and then she was flying.