by Jamie Davis
He could see the beginning of a smile on her face before she remembered she was annoyed with him. “Dad, we prefer ‘Wiccan’ if you please. Witch is so old fashioned. It’s not like I have warts on my nose, like in some Disney movie.”
“Hey, there’s Glinda the Good Witch. What about her?”
“She’s the exception to the Hollywood rule.”
“Fair enough. Okay, ready to go?”
Jo nodded and the two of them left the apartment and went to James’ building downtown. Called the Nightwing building, it was a high-rise office building with apartments and a penthouse on the upper floors. Dean had stayed there briefly for safety’s sake during a recent series of home-grown terrorist attacks on the Unusual community. He was familiar with the layout and felt very comfortable there. Jo was pointing out things that she recognized, too, as they entered the elevators and rode up to the penthouse level.
When they got to the top and exited the elevator car, Celeste came through the penthouse apartment’s double doors to greet them.
“Dean how are you? I heard that you had been through quite a lot since we last saw you.” Celeste’s southern drawl dated back to the American Civil War when James had first met her and turned her into a vampire. She had served as his assistant, and perhaps more, ever since.
“I’m well, Celeste,” he said, returning the brief embrace she pulled him into.
“And who is this young lady accompanying you? You didn’t mention a guest.”
“This is Joanna. She’s my, uh…”
“I’m his daughter, Celeste. I go by Jo and I am back from the future to help him and mom out with some stuff.” Dean winced as the teen just blurted it all out. He was going to use the whole visiting cousin thing they used with the Baxters.
“Well, well, well, Jo. It is certainly a pleasure to meet you, then. Any family of Dean’s is welcome here. I’m Celeste, Mr. Lee’s assistant. If you need anything while you’re here and you can’t get ahold of your dad, you just call me.”
“Oh, I know who you are. We’ve met, or, uh, will meet, in the future.”
“Are we friends?” Celeste said with a laugh.
“Oh, definitely. You used to babysit me.”
“Babysit, really?” She gave Dean a look. “Well then, we must be close.”
Dean shook his head as Celeste led them into the large, open floor plan of the penthouse, shutting the doors behind them. He was trying to envision a time in the future when Jaz would allow a vampire to babysit their child as they walked into the living room area where James and Brynne were seated. It was much like the last time Dean had been here.
Brynne was such a new vampire that she needed to be chaperoned around humans so she wouldn’t lose control and feed on them. It was hard on Dean to see her like this, where she was seated all the way across the room with James there to intervene should she forget her humanity. He was told it would be unnecessary soon, though for some it could take up to a year or so. He was anxious for that time to come. He missed his old partner and friend.
“Forgive me if I don’t rise and shake your hand, Dean,” James said from his seat next to Brynne. He gestured to the large white leather sofa for Dean and Jo to sit opposite them. “Brynne has not fed yet today and it’s important I stay close.”
“James, I can answer for myself,” Brynne said. She was wearing her dark brown hair back in a ponytail and looked pretty good if you avoided the red-rimmed eyes and the very evident canines.
“I’m just a little hungry is all. I will control myself. You said yourself, James that I’m getting better at controlling myself.”
“I did say that, my love,” James replied. “I just know that you would not forgive yourself if you attacked your friends. Let’s just follow protocol, alright?”
Brynne gave a sigh and leaned back in the matching white chair.
James turned back to Dean. “I caught a bit of that conversation on your way in. Is this stunning young lady really your daughter, Dean?”
“She is, James. Believe me, no one is more shocked than her mother and I.”
“Her mother?” Brynne asked.
“My mom’s Jaz Errington. She and Dean are destined for each other, they just don’t know it yet.”
“Oh my, the huntress herself?” Celeste said. “I sense a wonderful story here. I think I’ll get everybody some drinks and we can settle in and hear the whole tale. I can’t wait to hear the background on this one.”
“That would be a grand idea,” James said.
They made small talk while Celeste went to the kitchen. She came back with a beer for Dean, a can of Coke for Joanna, and three white mugs for herself and the other two vampires.
When they were all settled, Dean, with some help from Jo, told the tale of their rescue of Ashley and discovery that they were a family during that quest. The three vampires all loved the story of how Jo blurted out the relationship during an argument between the three of them.
“So,” Dean finished. “She’s here staying with me until the autumnal equinox. Once we get all this other nonsense resolved, we can send her back to her own time.”
“That is quite the story, Dean,” Brynne said. “You’re living a tale worthy of the books in the Station U library.”
“I’d rather not, honestly. I just want to do my job and take care of patients.”
“So, while it was great just catching up, Dean, I sense that there is another reason you are here visiting on short notice,” James asked.
“Yeah, James, I’m hoping you can help me out with something. I ran into a patient today who I’d swear was a vampire, or at least transitioning into one, but there were no bite marks, and he had no idea what was going on. I was thinking that there must be something to this but I only know of one way to make a vampire. Is there another way?” Dean gave the three vampires the details on his encounter with Steve earlier in the day.
James listened intently and Dean caught the exchange of glances between his host and Celeste while he was telling the story of his patient encounter.
“Where is this gentleman now?” James asked.
“He’s in the psych ward at Elk City Medical Center. Is he really turning into a vampire? I thought it wasn’t possible without the bite and the exchange of blood between host and prey.”
“Celeste?” James asked his assistant.
“I’ll call the hospital right away. We might still have time.” She rose and hurried down the hallway to her offices off the main living area.”
“What’s going on James?” Dean asked.
“There is another way to turn a vampire but I haven’t heard of it for a very, very long time. It’s almost considered a myth among most of our kind, but I’ve heard about the process first hand. It was from a very ancient vampire I met in my youth over a thousand years ago.”
“I was afraid of this,” Dean said. “It’s why I came to you first. What can I do? Are we going to have more like him roaming the city?”
“I’m not sure what you can do. This is serious business. To answer your second question, I need to talk to this newly turned vampire myself. Until I can determine how he was turned and who turned him, I can’t tell you how many more you might run into.”
“But how? Why?” Dean asked.
“Once upon a time, Dean, there were no vampires or werewolves or any of a whole host of Unusuals living among humans. There were only humans, the gods above, and the demons below.” James paused and looked at Dean. “Do you know of the concept of free will? Did Ashley ever mention it to you? The idea that both sides, good and evil will keep their direct influence off the world in-between and let the humans decide to act for good or evil in the world.”
Dean nodded and James continued.
“It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when the heavens above and the hells below actively battled to sway humans to worship them. Both sides created hybrid humans, bestowing magical powers and abilities on them in order to help their side win. It almost destroyed th
e earth before its time. That was when the two sides decided to let free will determine humanity’s fate. They didn’t clean up their mess before they left us to fend for ourselves, though. So, after they left us alone, the various Unusuals had to take care of themselves and find a way to live among the humans.”
James sat back in his chair as he continued the story. “Vampires in the beginning were made by the influence of demon magic. We didn’t propagate as we do today, with the exchange of blood. The seed of vampirism would be planted in a human and over the course of two to three days, the transformation would take hold, often in the family home. Eventually, the new vampire would have to feed to complete the transformation and would destroy his own family in the process. It was a win for evil and the demons would rejoice in the slaughter.”
Dean thought for a moment and then looked up in shock. “Oh my God, I just sent a hungry, new vampire to the hospital. He’ll kill dozens if they aren’t warned.” He started to get up.
“Relax, my friend,” James said. “That is what I sent Celeste off to do. She is warning the hospital. Luckily, it is night time so the psych patients are locked down in their rooms, right?”
“I think so,” Dean said.
“Good, so we have time to get a vampire over there to escort the man out and get him somewhere safe where we can control the transformation. We’ll make it look like a standard inter-facility transfer. No one will be the wiser.”
“He knows me, maybe I should go, too,” Dean suggested. “He thinks he’s going insane. Maybe a face he knows will help him understand what is happening. Besides which, I want to try and find out how he was turned. We’ve got to keep this from happening to anyone else.”
“Cool, another adventure,” Jo said.
“You are not going,” Dean said.
“You don’t have a choice, Dad. You don’t have time to take me all the way home,” the teen countered.
Damn, she was right. “Alright. But you do what I say and stay close.”
James looked around at them, “Now if we only had a vampire with nothing to do who’s available on short notice.”
Chapter 9
Dean and Jo waited in the underground garage beneath the Nightwing building with Celeste for their ride to show up. A car horn sounded, echoing off the concrete walls as a white conversion van pulled around the corner and up to where they waited by the elevator entrance. The tinted driver’s window rolled down and a round-faced figure leaned out.
“So, we’re getting the band back together?” Gibbie asked.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Gibbie. It’s probably just a one-time gig,” Dean said.
Gibson “Gibbie” Proctor was a frumpy, middle-aged vampire who Dean and Brynne had trained to be a Community Emergency Response Team or CERT member. Along with a few other members of the Unusual community, Gibbie had learned first aid, disaster response, fire suppression, and search and rescue skills in a twenty-hour program Dean and Brynne taught at Station U over the course of a few weeks. Since then, the Unusual CERT team had come in handy on numerous occasions.
“Aw, darn, I was hoping to get a chance to ride with you again on a regular basis,” the vampire said. “So what are we up to tonight?”
“We have a new vampire about to turn in the hospital psych ward,” Celeste explained. “He needs to be escorted out and brought back here to the Nightwing building before he starts slaughtering staff and patients when his bloodlust hits. You and Dean will go in and pose as hospital transport paramedics to transfer him to a private psychiatric facility.”
Gibbie’s face broke out in a big grin. “Sounds like fun. Who’s the girl?” Gibbie asked.
“That’s my daughter, Jo.” Dean held up a hand to forestall questions. “Don’t ask, I’ll explain it on the way to ECMC.” He walked with Jo around to the passenger side and opened the side panel door for Jo to climb in. There was another occupant sitting in the back seat already. Another teen-aged girl with bright pink hair looked out at them with a big grin on her face.
“Hi, Dean. Gibbie wasn’t sure if you needed anyone else to help out and I was available, so I came along.” The teen, Marian, was a werewolf girl who had also taken the CERT class and had ridden along on some of the emergency calls Dean had shared with the team while he was suspended from the Ambulance a few months before.
“Marian, this is Jo …”
“I heard. She’s really your daughter? That’s awesome. I could use someone my own age along on these little adventures.” Marian slid over on the bench seat and offered it to Joanna. Both Marian and Gibbie were in navy blue cargo EMS pants with plenty of pockets to stow supplies and small bits of EMS equipment. They also had light blue uniform shirts with CERT patches on their left shoulders. They both looked much more official than they had running emergency calls with Dean before. He noticed the change and said so.
“Marian, Kristof and the rest of the CERT team members decided we should have something to wear that identified us as sort of official responders,” Gibbie said. “Marian designed the patches. I like them.” He twisted to show Dean a good look at his.
“That is pretty cool,” Dean said. It would help to play up their transport ambulance cover when they got to the hospital. James assured them that one of the ER docs who supported the Unusual program at the hospital would have transfer orders written up by the time they got there, but it would not hurt to look the part as well.
Dean wished he had time to go home and change as well. But, since he wasn’t on official Fire Department business, that might cause a bit of a problem. Many of the nurses knew him, though, so if he threw a stethoscope around his neck and acted confident, they could probably pull this off without a hitch.
The four of them closed up the beat up white van and pulled away as Celeste turned and headed back upstairs. She would get the accommodations arranged for the new arrival on their return. They were only five minutes from the hospital, so if all went as planned, they would return soon with their patient.
Dean had Gibbie pull the van up next to the ambulance entrance, careful not to block the way since they weren’t a real emergency vehicle. Marian and Jo had hit it off on the short ride over and were chatting away in the back seat by the time they arrived. Dean turned and looked at the team.
“Okay, Gibbie and I are going to head upstairs to the fourth floor and the psych unit. It should not take too long. You two ladies move to the front seats and wait for us.” Dean looked at Marian. She was older than Jo by a year and he thought she had her license. “Marian, if Gibbie doesn’t mind, I’ll have you drive the van on the way back to the Nightwing building. Do you have your license with you?”
“It’s in my backpack, Dean,” she said patting her bag.
“Good, you and Jo keep the van running. I want to move quickly. Every minute counts and we have to get him back to James and Celeste before he turns completely. Gibbie, come on, and keep that vamp strength ready to go in case we need to restrain him.”
Gibbie nodded and together Dean and the vampire climbed out and headed into the hospital. Dean grabbed a spare wheel chair staged at the ambulance entrance to the ER and then went inside to get their paperwork from the doc before heading upstairs.
Everything was ready to go, waiting for them, and they were soon riding up the staff elevator to the fourth floor to collect their patient. Dean hoped they weren’t too late.
* * *
———
* * *
The elevator opened on the fourth floor to silence. Dean and Gibbie rolled the wheelchair out into an open waiting area situated in a hallway that ended in a large door. Dean had never been up here during his time as a paramedic, but he knew from the description the doc gave them downstairs that he had to be buzzed in to the locked psych ward via that door at the far end of the hallway.
As they neared the far end of the hallway and reached the speaker panel on the wall next to the door, he reached up to press the intercom button to reach the night nurse on duty. That
was when Dean noticed the door was not latched closed. He got Gibbie’s attention and pointed to the door. Gibbie’s eyes got wide but neither of them said a word.
Gibbie pointed to himself, indicating to Dean that he’d enter first. Dean was glad he did. If there was a hungry vampire on the other side of the door, he knew he would be no match for it. The paramedic kept the wheelchair between himself and the doorway as his partner pulled open the door and stepped into the ward on the other side.
Dean was not prepared for what he saw. There was a common room with tables and chairs on the far side. The furniture was in disarray and overturned. The overhead lights were darkened and a few of the fixtures were broken. He followed Gibbie through the common room towards the nurses’ station desk situated where the common room opened up, with a hallway lined with doors to both the left and the right.
This was where they encountered the first body. It was obvious that the nurse had died as a result of a vampire attack. The ragged double wound caused by a vampire’s elongated canines was evident on her neck. She had been drained of blood, with a great deal of it pooling on the floor around her crumpled body. Gibbie knelt down and looked her over, when he turned back to look at Dean, the paramedic was shocked to see that Gibbie’s normally pleasant face had hardened and his fangs were clearly evident. He was in full vamp-mode now.
Dean whispered to Gibbie, his voice sounding loud in the silence that enveloped them on the ward.
“I saw some blood around her mouth. Is she going to turn?”
His vampire partner nodded. “It will be a few hours yet, but yes, she will turn eventually, Dean. I smell a lot more blood and death up here. I think she’s not the only new vampire we are going to find. We need help.”
“Let’s check the rest of the floor before we call, maybe we can stop him from turning anyone else.”
“If you say so.” Gibbie didn’t seemed convinced. He stood up and led the way down the right-hand hallway.