by Jamie Davis
It turned out that two of the call center employees had been bitten before the others were able to close and barricade the door. Dean and Gibbie started the process of treating them for the early stages of the Lycanthropism infection. The injection of an extract of wolfsbane would halt the process temporarily until they could have definitive infusion treatments in the ER at Elk City Medical Center.
Once he had the names of the two injured employees, he called the dispatch center directly and told them to send a station U ambulance to the scene. He would turn the two injured folks, one man and one woman, over to Brook and Tammy when they arrived. Dean told the employees that the animal was likely rabid and those two would need additional shots and treatment at the hospital.
Gibbie started to chat up the woman as he wrapped up her injured hand. She was smiling and flirting back while the vampire first responder bandaged her wound. Dean shook his head as he went back out into the hallway. Gibbie always found a way to get the most out of any situation. He’d likely have the plump woman’s phone number before they left the building.
Dean headed down the hall to see how the other patient was doing. He found no sign of the two girls or the unconscious man when he turned the corner. They must have found an unlocked door and dragged him out of the way. He called for Jo and Marian and was rewarded when Jo popped her head out of a doorway and waved him over.
“Come on in, Dad. He’s starting to wake up,” Jo said as he entered the small conference room they had appropriated for a holding area.
“Is he going to shift back again?” Dean asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jo replied. “I time-shifted his body, well the cells in his body actually, so they think it’s yesterday. It should hold him for twelve hours or so. After that, he’ll definitely shift again with tomorrow’s moon. We’ll need your friend Rudy and Marian’s dad to hold him until he gains more control over the change.”
A groan from the floor of the conference room drew their attention and Dean walked around to the far side of the convention table. The man in the shredded clothing had rolled onto his side and was pushing himself up into a sitting position. He seemed disoriented and looked around the room and at the faces he saw there. Then he looked down at his shredded clothes and at his hands, touching his face, then buried his face in his hands and began sobbing.
Dean crouched down and laid his hand on the man’s shoulder. He waited while the man gathered himself.
“I’m Dean. I’m a paramedic and I’m here to make sure you come out of this situation alright, okay?”
The man looked up at him. “I know what happened. I saw myself change in the bathroom mirror. I hoped it was a bad dream, but look at my clothes. It’s true. It’s all true.” He began crying again.
“Look, you are correct. Something happened to you tonight. But I know a lot of people who are just like you and they live normal lives. You can learn to control it,” Dean said.
Marian came over and knelt down in front of the man. “Mister, I’m just like you. My whole family is, as far back as anyone can remember. I go to school. My mom and dad work normal jobs. There’s no reason you can’t go on with your life.”
The man looked up at Marian then over at Dean, who nodded. “But how did this happen? I wasn’t bitten by anything recently. Isn’t that the normal way a person becomes a-a-a werewolf?” His voice trailed off to the whisper as he said the last words.
“That is something we are investigating,” Dean explained. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Eddie. It’s Eddie. I was having problems all afternoon here at work. I went to the bathroom because I wasn’t feeling well. Then this all happened.”
“Were you feeling all itchy? Kind of like bugs were under your skin?” Marian asked.
“Yes. That is it exactly.” Eddie exclaimed.
“Yep, I felt the same way for a day or so before my first change. I was thirteen. Of course, I knew I was a werewolf and my parents were expecting it.”
“So you don’t just turn into a monster whenever the moon comes up?” Eddie asked.
“Oh, no. Not anymore. After the first few shifts, you learn to override the change. You can also learn how to initiate it if you want to, eventually. That usually takes a couple of years to master, though.”
“Well, I guess that’s a relief.” Eddie seemed to relax a little after Marian’s explanation.
“We can get all of your questions answered shortly.” Dean pointed to his daughter. “Jo here made sure you won’t shift again tonight. You’ll probably change again tomorrow night, but we’ll have others like you to help you through the change. You won’t be alone in this anymore.”
Marian nodded and pointed to a chair nearby, next to the conference table. “Do you want to try to get up and sit in a chair? You might be more comfortable.”
Eddie looked at the chair and smiled. Dean and Jo helped him up and over to the seat. He was still a little unsteady on his feet.
“I would like to ask you a little about the last few days, if you don’t mind,” Dean said. “You said you weren’t bitten by anything recently. Can you account for your last four or five days? We have reason to believe that there might be something going on that affected you in that time frame.”
Eddie looked at each of them. Dean thought he might finally get a clue to go on, giving them all some way to track down the missing summoning idol and the demon creating all the problems in Elk City.
“The last few days have been pretty normal until today. I don’t know. I mean, I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary for a while.” Eddie looked perplexed and he seemed like he wanted to help.
“It wouldn’t have to be anything unusual,” Jo offered. “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way, Dad. Maybe they ran into the demon in the course of a normal activity. We know that things started going strange four days ago, right?” She turned to Eddie and asked him, “Eddie, tell us what you were doing five nights ago at this time?”
The man thought back and then remembered. “Oh, nothing strange. I was at my friends Sam and Jill’s apartment. We were playing our normal game night of Dungeon Masters. We’ve been playing with that same group every week for over two years.”
Dean thought Jo might be on to something here. “Eddie, tell me the name of your other game night friends.”
“It’s just Sandra and Steve. Why?”
Dean looked at Jo and nodded. This was it, their link between all of the recent, mystery Unusual patients. He was proud of Jo. She had figured it out and come up with the perfect question to get the answer they needed.
Jaz had said that she didn’t believe in coincidences and he had to agree with her in this case. The names matched. The time frame matched. They had found their source. The question for the team now was what to do next?
Dean had to admit that he figured they’d find the demon, fight the demon, and take the idol back. This was different. They had the names of a couple and would get the location of their apartment. The problem was there were too many questions left unanswered. They couldn’t go and kick the door in like a bad police show on TV.
“Eddie, you’ve been really helpful. This could be the information that helps us get to the source that changed you into a werewolf.”
“You mean you could find a way to change me back?”
Dean looked at Jo and Marian and back to their patient. “No, Eddie. There’s no going back. You’ll have to find a way to live with how you are right now.”
“You won’t do it alone, Eddie,” Marian said. “The pack supports their own and I can vouch for you as a new member. We’ll get you through the next few months. Don’t worry.”
Eddie looked overwhelmed, and Dean didn’t want to give him anything else to worry about. He told them he needed to check on Gibbie, without talking about the two co-workers who were bitten. Telling Eddie he’d hurt his work colleagues would only upset him more. Dean left the conference room and pulled the door shut behind him. As he walked to the call ce
nter room at the other end of the hall, the elevator door opened and Brook and Tammy walked out with a stretcher full of EMS gear.
“Hey Dean,” they called out in unison. They laughed and Brook deferred to Tammy.
“We heard from dispatch that you were here ahead of us. Did you find anything useful about our outbreak of Unusual problems?” the older medic asked him.
“I might have a lead or two. We’ve got two Lycan bites down here in the call center. I’ve already administered the first dose of wolfsbane.”
“Hey, thanks,” Brook said. “That makes it all that much easier for us. Two patients, no waiting. Lead the way.”
Dean took them into the call center part of the office and he and Gibbie turned patient care over to the Station U paramedics on duty. While Brook and Tammy checked out the patients for themselves, Dean and Gibbie escorted the rest of the people out to the elevators and got them all started down to the first floor.
The last to leave the floor were the two paramedics with the two bitten patients. Both walked next to their caregivers, careful of their bandaged arms, and loaded onto the elevator down. Dean waited until the door was closed before he and Gibbie went back to the conference room and checked on Eddie and the two teens. He was ready to go too, and stood up when Dean and Gibbie entered the room.
“Okay, Eddie,” Dean said. “We got all your co-workers out of the office safely and you’re the last one. We’ll take you to meet some of your new pack mates tonight and get you settled.”
“I guess so…”
“You’ll do fine. I already texted my dad to expect you. He and Rudy, the pack leader, are going to meet us at my house. Gibbie and Dean will drop us both off there.”
“Don’t sweat it, Eddie,” Gibbie said with a big smile, showing his fangs. “Some of my best friends are werewolves.”
Chapter 18
Dean contacted Jaz that night after he got home. He had the address for the couple mentioned by Eddie. She could run the names through her security databases and do a complete background check on them, which was more than he could. It helped that the Errington clan had a longstanding relationship with the U.S. Marshal’s service dating back to the U.S. Civil War. She’d dig up anything on them that needed investigating, before the three of them paid Sam and Jill a visit.
He chuckled to himself as he drove back to his apartment with Jo. He always considered the three of them as a unit now. It had been that way since they had returned from the rescue mission to free Ashley from the demon kidnappers, though he hadn’t realized it at the time. They might not be the perfect family unit in most people’s eyes, but they were gelling in their own unique way.
Jo was listening to her tunes on her smartphone. He wondered if she was listening to current music or some future techno-pop from her own timeline. The phone looked like anyone else’s nowadays and all she would say about it was that retro was in where she came from. He didn’t know how she had service either. He’d asked and she just smiled and made a comment about parents and new technology. Dean was getting enough of the teen attitude, that was sure.
The residential street was dark and quiet when he pulled up out front and parked. He got out, and he and Jo walked up the exterior stairs to their apartment over the Baxter’s garage. The elderly couple had accepted his explanation of Jo being his cousin and told him they’d look in on her when he was working to make sure she was alright. They were great people to have as landlords. He liked living here. It was just the kind of place that made a nice retreat from the things he saw in his work as a paramedic on the street.
Jo went straight back to her room. She had cast a pretty powerful spell back at the bank building. She didn’t make a big deal out of it, but he knew from his talks with Anya at the local coven, that anything that influenced time required a lot of energy. Jo had to be exhausted from her casting that night. He hoped she slept well.
Dean went to his room and set out his uniform for the next shift, then went about his nighttime routine. Five in the morning came all too early and he was in bed and asleep within a few minutes of arriving home.
Neither Dean nor Jo noticed the man step out of the shadows next to the garage when they went upstairs to the apartment. They didn’t see him levitate to peer in at them as they readied for bed, before his form folded in on itself and blinked out of sight without a sound. Graadu had found them.
* * *
———
* * *
Dean’s day went by fast with a series of routine calls for sick Unusuals. They had the same issues with heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses as normal humans did. Throughout the day, Dean and Barry did what they could to help their patients manage their disease and return to health.
Jaz called in around lunchtime and said that nothing had come back on the background check.
“They’re clean as far as I can tell, Dean,” the huntress said. “Either they’ve got some sort of solid background cover I can’t penetrate, which is not likely unless they work for some foreign government or something, or they are just normal mundane people without so much as a speeding ticket against them.”
“Well, you’re the one who said there are no coincidences, so they’ve got to have something to do with this.”
“I agree, it only means that they aren’t on anyone’s radar, which is probably why they got away with snatching the idols in the first place. Sam works for the construction company that is demolishing the Errington building,” Jazz paused as if she was checking her notes. “He also hasn’t been to work for a few days and the foreman was very cagey when I asked him about the guy. This has to be the connection to the summoning idols.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Dean asked.
“I think we head over and introduce ourselves this evening after you get off work.”
“And by ‘we’ you mean …?”
“You, me, and Joanna,” Jaz said, her matter of fact tone making it seem like she, too, considered them a unit and maybe even part of the family.
“Okay, I’ll pick her up and meet you at your place. We can drive over to Sam and Jill’s apartment building in your SUV. It’s a lot more roomy and impressive than my beat up pickup truck,” Dean suggested.
The radio tones alerted overhead and Dean took the phone away from his ear for a moment listening to the dispatcher.
“Medical Box 811, Ambulance U-191, respond for an injured subject, in the area of 8834 Red Pump Road.”
“Hey, Jaz, we’ve got a call. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later, around seven, at your place.”
“Sounds good. Stay safe, Dean,” Jaz said and then disconnected the call.
Barry called from across the squad room. “Coming, Boss?”
“Yep, I’m on my way.”
* * *
———
* * *
It was late in the afternoon as the ambulance turned down the back country road on the outskirts of Elk City. Dean looked at the battered mailboxes scattered along the winding, wooded road until he found the one they were looking for.
“Eighty-eight thirty-four,” Dean said, “That’s the one. The dispatcher said in the vicinity of this location. Put us on location, Barry.”
Dean slid the gear shift lever into park while his partner contacted the dispatch center to let them know they had arrived on scene. He looked around. The sun was low in the sky and the surrounding trees deepened the shadows further as he scanned the area for their patient. He was about to ask Barry to have dispatch contact the caller again when he saw movement in the woods nearby. He had to stare into the shadows for a moment before he saw the tall figure standing there.
“I think that’s our patient over there,” Dean said.
“Where?” Barry asked looking in the direction Dean indicated. “I don’t see anything.”
“Right between the two tall trees, next to the road on the left.”
“Oh, there he is. The guy sort of blends in to the surroundings doesn’t he?”
“Keep your wits about you. There are some strange sorts of folks who live out here on the edges of the city,” Dean cautioned.
The two paramedics exited their ambulance and gathered their gear and walked through the woods at the road’s edge for about fifty feet until they had arrived at the side of their patient.
“Hi, I’m Dean, this is my partner Barry. What seems to be the problem?”
The bearded man was wearing bib overalls, over a plaid shirt, and, when Dean looked down, no shoes at all. Not that shoes would have been an option. The man had the largest feet he had ever seen. They were weathered, dark and dirty and the toes stretched out as far as his fingers did.
“I’m Jim,” the man said in a deep bass voice. “I stepped on something back a ways and I can’t go any further until I get it looked at.” His words were slow and measured, almost as if he didn’t use them very often.
“Okay, Jim,” Barry said. “Why don’t you have a seat on this log over here and we’ll take a look at your foot. Which one is it?”
Jim pointed to his right foot as he settled his large form on the log. He lifted his foot up and rested it on his left knee to show the two paramedics a large gash on the bottom of his foot. Dean noticed that the foot’s callouses were thick and leathery, like one would expect of someone who went barefoot everywhere.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Barry asked.
“I rushed crossing the road. I know I should be more careful, but there was a car coming and I didn’t want to be seen. I don’t like to be seen. People make fun of me. I think I stepped on a broken bottle or something on the road’s edge. It hurt a lot, but I couldn’t stop to check because of the car.”
Dean nodded and looked around. “Do you live around here? That cut is pretty bad and you’re going to need help getting back home. I assume you don’t want to go to the hospital.”
“No, no hospital. A dryad told me I could call you. She let me use her phone.” The bass rumble of Jim’s voice reminded Dean of distant thunder on a summer evening.