by Jamie Davis
He had been able to save Brynne’s last two victims, though they’d both need extensive surgery and recovery time from the loss of blood alone if not the traumatic injuries they’d received. Jaz had jumped in to help him as he worked alone to stem the flow of blood from both living victims in the hallway at the same time. Celeste called down to the security guard and had him let the police and paramedics from Station U up. Brook and Tammy showed up and brought the supplies with them he needed to help them dress the wounds and prep the two patients for transport. Tammy called for another transport unit. It would be a regular ambulance team, not a station U team but they’d tell the other crew of paramedics it was an assault victim without the specific details of what they were dealing with. Brook and Dean administered the needed garlic extract to stave off a vampire change just in case one of them died and Brynne had initiated the change. Dean knew James would have to get someone to watch the dead woman he and Jaz had first found by the elevator to make sure she didn’t change as well.
The police had extensive questions for all of them. They were a little skeptical about the whole mind-control thing, but they were from the police version of station U and knew Dean and Celeste well enough. They decided only to take a report on the assault and let the higher-ups in the DA’s office handle the need for any arrest and charges to be filed later. Dean was surprised they did this given the body they must have passed on the floor by the elevator. He was about to say something, but Celeste changed the subject.
When the officers finally finished with their questions, the small group, including Brynne, headed back around the corner to the bank of elevators. Dean saw the large blood stain on the carpet outside the doors to the elevators, but there was no sign of the body. He looked around and then back at Celeste and Jaz, his eyes full of questions. Jaz laid her hand on his arm and gave her head a little shake. Whatever his questions were, this wasn’t the place to answer them.
Now he was seated in the penthouse, still trying to sort it all out.
“So you hid the body by the elevators in the janitor’s closet?” Dean asked Jaz.
“I would have hidden the other victims if I’d had the time,” Jaz replied. “As it was, I barely had the first body stowed away before the first police officer arrived with Brook and Tammy.”
“But, why? Isn’t that tampering with evidence?”
Jaz gave a shrug as if it was no big thing to worry about. Celeste jumped in to forestall his asking further questions of her.
“Jaz did the right thing, Dean. I’m glad she had thought of it before I did. We know it wasn’t Brynne’s fault that the woman died, not any more than she was responsible for the deaths in the alley outside the building. That blame rests squarely on Artur.”
“I know that, but we can’t go around lying to the police…” Dean started.
“Look,” Jaz said. “Do you want Brynne to go through the process of a trial and exposure of who and what she is? She’ll never get anything approaching a fair trial. This is how things are done when something like this happens. It’s collateral damage in the fight we have against the evil that is Artur.”
“But, don’t those people have families and loved ones who deserve to know what happened or at least that they died?” Dean asked. “You can’t just disappear people, you know.” He looked from Jaz to Celeste and back again.
“You’d be surprised,” Jaz said with a snorted laugh.
James came into the room at that moment and must have picked up on the gist of the conversation.
“Dean, I assure you, my employees are adequately compensated for their risks living in this building. I offer them full life insurance packages to help support their families in the event of an untimely death.” James explained. “They understand this when they come to work here.”
“So you just pay them off,” Dean said, his anger and frustration bubbling to the surface as his old antagonism with James came forward. “They’re only a balance sheet item to be written off as an expense of doing business with a vampire lord.”
James stopped where he stood and held Dean’s gaze until he looked away.
“You know me better than that now, Dean. If you think I’m not deeply hurt by the way this attack unfolded, you forgot all we’ve learned about each other over the last year. I’m bothered by this on many levels, I assure you.”
Celeste stepped forward to intervene and change things up.
“The question is more a matter of how Artur is controlling Brynne from afar like that. Dean and Jaz have a theory.”
James looked at him and Jaz. “What is it? If we must combat this, we need to know what it is and how he’s doing it.”
Dean and Jaz gave a brief explanation of what they’d discovered in their research earlier the night before.
“The Finger of Azriel?” James asked. “I’d thought that thing was lost to the ages long, long ago. How can you be sure that’s what he’s using?”
“The way the incidents unfolded match earlier accounts almost word for word,” Jaz explained. “Then there are the attacks on Brynne. They all point to this relic.”
“That is not good, then,” James said. “He could use it to control almost any of us, as long as we’re younger and less powerful than he is. Why attack Brynne and not me?”
No one answered at first, then Jaz spoke up.
“Based on your previous encounters with Artur, he has focused on ruining you and discrediting you, so you lose control of Elk City. He wants to destroy you, James, not control you. He wants you to get distracted and not pay attention to what he’s doing on the side. From his standpoint, that strategy starts with hurting Brynne.”
“She’s right, James,” Celeste agreed. “These attacks on Brynne have distracted us from other things we should have been doing to track him down and assist the local authorities with the zombie outbreaks. We never connected them together or thought that he could be behind it all.”
“I have a question we haven’t covered yet.” Dean said. “How is he getting to Brynne?”
James gave Dean a puzzled look. “We’ve covered that. It’s got to be the relic.”
“No, I know it’s the relic that’s given him the ability to control her but how did he get to Brynne here?” Dean asked. “Every other time he’s used it, he’s had to get close. We have the video surveillance footage to prove it. Artur has to be able to see his intended victim to control them. He wasn’t in the building when we got here. We would have seen him.” He gestured to both he and Jaz.
Jaz thought for a moment and snapped her fingers. “You said the magic words, Dean. It’s surveillance cameras. That has to be the way he’s doing it.” The hunter clan leader looked to Celeste and James. “I assume you have surveillance cameras in the building.”
Both James and Celeste nodded.
“Did you have surveillance cameras in the room you were using to test Brynne?”
“Yes, we always video those sessions with new vampires,” Celeste answered. “It helps us figure out if we’re doing anything wrong for each one when reviewed by the person leading the testing. You think Artur hacked our system somehow?”
Jaz shrugged. “It seems like the most logical conclusion to come to. It would explain how he was able to direct her so easily from outside the building. You’re pretty sure he couldn’t get inside, right?”
“Every entrance is watched,” James said. “And we’ve started running facial recognition looking for certain individuals, Artur among them, ever since you showed us how easy it was to implement. We’d know if he’d been in the building, even if we didn’t catch him in the act of entering.”
“That means he was nearby and using some sort of hack to watch our video surveillance systems to control Brynne,” Celeste said. “I’ll have Rudy run a check on neighboring buildings with his team. Dean, you said you could see him in a room of some sort, not a car?”
Dean nodded, not quite comfortable with the direction the conversation was headed.
James w
as the one who asked the question he was dreading. “Dean, what exactly did you do? I’ve never heard of a human doing what you said you did, even one who had powerful magical abilities.”
“I don’t know how I did what I did, James,” Dean said. He looked at Jaz for some support, and she smiled and nodded. “I had to think fast, and the idea sort of popped into my head that if I touched Brynne, I might be able to disrupt the connection. In my previous encounter with Artur, I think I had some sort of protective aura from Ashley.” He shrugged. “Maybe it had a residual effect. All I knew was I had to stop her, so I just did it. The next thing I knew, I was looking back through the link Artur was using on her, staring him in the face. He was in an office or apartment of some sort, and he was afraid of me.”
James nodded. “I can understand the fear part of it. You shouldn’t be able to do what you did, Dean.”
“He’s full of surprises, James,” Jaz said with a snort of laughter. “He has a way of catching you unawares with some new ability of one sort or another.”
She pointed to Dean.
“Someday I’m going to figure out what’s going on with you, Dean Flynn. You have the ability to command demons, you can touch a heavenly blade with your bare hands with no side effects, and now this. If we didn’t know better, I’d think you were an Eldara yourself.”
Dean was uncomfortable with the whole line of questioning. He was a completely normal human as far as he knew. He’d been raised by his mom and dad until his dad left them. He had normal memories of childhood like anyone else. Jaz often found a way to work a question about his past into her conversations with him. He knew she was prying for information, trying to get past his descriptions of a normal childhood to something she thought was hidden underneath, but there was nothing there to find. He was sure of it.
“Leave Dean alone, guys,” Brynne said from the hallway. Dean wasn’t sure how much of the discussion she’d heard since coming out of her room. “He’s been through a lot for all of us at one time or another. If he says he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know.”
Everyone looked up as she entered the room. She’d cleaned up and looked a little better, though her eyes were rimmed with red from crying. Dean wanted to tell her to stop trying to protect him, but he knew she would always see him as her probie medic. That sort of mentoring relationship didn’t fade even with being turned into a vampire, apparently.
“Thanks, Brynne.”
“Thank you, Dean. If it hadn’t been for you, I could have done even more harm.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop it sooner,” Dean said thinking of the woman Brynne had killed. He stopped there, not wanting to bring it up again. Brynne knew what she’d done under Artur’s control.
“The only person at fault here is Artur,” Brynne said, steel determination showing in her tone. “I got set up to think I’d done it. I’ve been blaming myself, and for that, he’s going to pay.”
“Careful setting off on that sort of vendetta, Brynne,” Jaz said. “It can consume you. My whole clan started because of that sort of thing directed at Artur.”
“I’m a patient woman, Jaz. I’ll bide my time. I’ve got centuries to live, right? Might as well have a goal in life. Maybe we can team up and take him down together.”
Dean laughed and when they all looked his way he shrugged. “I was just thinking of Artur being chased by you two and the other woman he’s eternally pissed off.”
“Who’s that?”
“Ashley’s sister, Ingrid,” Dean said. “If he keeps adding female enemies like you all to the list like this, he’s definitely in more trouble than he knows.” While Ashley was an Eldara Sister, a healing angel, her twin sister Ingrid was a different kind of angel altogether. As a battle angel or Valkyrie, she was a formidable foe to have.
James snorted a laugh. “Careful how you say her name, Dean. She’s attuned to you just like her sister was. The last thing we need here right now is the chaos of a Valkyrie in town.”
Chapter 14
It had been a week since the incident with Brynne at the Nightwing building. That week had turned into another week of constant ambulance calls at Station U followed by research with Jaz in the off hours. Artur had stepped up his attacks, with new incidents happening every night. The Elk City officials who dealt with the Unusual citizens had tried to distract the human population with stories of gang activity and college pranks gone wrong. Those efforts were starting to unravel as people started asking questions that weren’t so easily answered.
This prompted the formation of a new quick response team operating within the police version of Station U. They were staged around the city with Errington hunter teams Jaz had assembled, to respond and take a more aggressive stance against the undead incursions. When Jaz had told Dean of the new strategy, he became livid. They couldn’t just kill these people. They were sick, under another’s control, and not responsible for their actions. She tried to get him to see it her way more than once, citing the need to be proactive to ensure public safety.
He didn’t see her point at all. It seemed to be reactive and not proactive to shoot first and ask questions later. The police should be focusing on tracking Artur down. He was the true enemy. Jaz understood his frustration but for the time being she had advised the city to take this course of action and James was going along with it. Dean thought it was wrong and decided to take action on his end with the other Station U paramedics to try and stop the violence before it started by getting to the scenes ahead of the QRT squads.
It had meant that Dean was taking as much overtime as he could, working nearly every night shift because, if he could get there first, he could sever the connection between Artur and his victims. Dean didn’t know where he came by this new power or even how it worked, but he was determined to use it to save as many lives as possible.
The current call had come in reporting a behavioral emergency with the agitated individual attacking bystanders at a convenience store. He was riding with Bill tonight since Lynn had the night off. They were racing to the scene, hoping it was not another attack but worried that it was. The QRT had been dispatched, too, so they had little time to spare. Guns and a police sniper bullet to the head were not the solution to a person with mental illness or suffering from mind control.
The ambulance arrived on the scene, pulling into the parking lot of the Quik-Mart. Dean was pleased to see no other flashing lights evident on the scene, which meant they were the first ones there. He could see people running out of the front doors of the convenience store and knew the problem was still located inside and contained for the time being. The police and the QRT hunter squad couldn’t be too far away, so he and Bill needed to act fast. Bill was driving, and Dean jumped out of the ambulance before it had even come to a complete stop. A definite no-no, but he didn’t care. A life was at risk here.
Grabbing his trauma and med bags from their compartments on his side of the ambulance, Dean jogged to the front doors of the store and looked through the glass. He was not prepared for what he saw.
Inside the store was a partially decayed human form, wearing a black overcoat and shuffling back and forth in front of the counter. The creature couldn’t move very far because of the cloth wrappings that had unraveled and tangled around its feet and legs. Dean didn’t know what to make of it at first.
Bill came jogging over with the cot and the rest of the gear. He stopped next to Dean, looking inside.
“Bill, you’ve been doing this longer than I have,” Dean said. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“This is a new one to me.” The older paramedic looked around and then pointed across the street. “But if it walks like a mummy and looks like a mummy, maybe it’s a — well…”
Dean followed his partner’s gaze and pointing finger to see the Elk City Municipal Museum. There was a banner hanging over the front entrance, lit by the building’s floodlights. It read “Wonders of Egypt” across the vinyl sign. Dean turned and looked back at the creature
in the convenience store. It had fallen over and was struggling to rise to its feet amidst the tangling strips of cloth.
“Come on,” Dean said. “The QRT will be here any minute. We need to get our mummy into the back of the ambulance before they arrive and start shooting up the place.”
Entering the convenience store, Dean approached the struggling mummy and talked to it in a soothing voice.
“I’m Dean Flynn. I’m a paramedic from the local station. I’m here to help you.”
The mummy stopped struggling and stared up at him with open black eye sockets. Dean cleared his throat and tried something else.
“Uh, I don’t know if you understand me or speak English.”
“Of course I speak English. What else would I speak?” The rasping voice asked. There was a slight British accent and a hint of something else there, but the English was excellent otherwise.
“Oh, good. Well, how about we help you get yourself wrapped up again?” Dean and Bill came forward and lifted the mummy to his feet. Bill rolled the cot over, and they helped the ancient corpse sit on the edge and then lay back in a semi-seated position. Dean scooped the loose wrappings off the floor and laid them on the mummy’s lap.
“Is there a reason you can’t re-wrap me here. I really need to get back to the exhibit before the guard notices I’m missing.”
Dean started pulling the stretcher outside and to the ambulance while he answered. “There’ve been some issues lately with undead Unusuals attacking humans. We thought that was what you were before we got here.”