Extreme Medical Services Box Set Vol 4--6

by Jamie Davis

  Dean finally managed to free himself from beneath the dead weight of the vampire collapsed on top of him. He wasn’t sure if the guy was dead or alive, unsure what exactly had happened when he hit the vampire’s temple with his fist. It didn’t matter in the end. What mattered was they had Jaz. He didn’t wonder who “they” were. Dean had little doubt they’d been sent by Artur. He was sure Jaz had been on the vampire lord’s hit list ever since he failed to kill her along with the rest of her family.

  Pulling out his phone, Dean dialed James first. He could have called the police as well, but he knew they’d be of little help with this particular situation. The line picked up after only a few rings.

  “Dean, what are you doing calling me,” James said. “You’re supposed to be taking a night off. Jaz was very specific with me about that.”

  “They took her. Right off the street. We were supposed to go out, and then they swooped in and took her away from me. I couldn’t do anything.”

  “Wait. Slow down, Dean. Tell me where you are. Rudy’s here, and I’m sending him to you right away.”

  “I’m outside of Jaz’s apartment building,” Dean exclaimed, his voice rising in pitch. He knew he was beginning to panic a little but he couldn’t stop. “They took her right here in front of her building. I got one of them, but the rest took her and got away.”

  “Alright, try and calm down,” James said, his voice even and steady over the phone. “Rudy just left, and he’ll be there soon. You said you got one of them? Are they dead or what?”

  “They were vamps, James. You and I both know who sent them. It has to be Artur. The guy they left is here, but I can’t tell if he’s alive or dead. It’s not like I can check for a pulse or breathing. I hit him pretty hard, though, and then something weird happened. Something flashed bright white, and he collapsed on top of me.”

  “Vampires,” James answered. “He can’t have too many of those he’d trust out from under his direct control. Rudy and a few of his pack mates are on their way there. He’ll be able to help you with the one you have. If he’s not dead, we’ll get him back here and try and get some answers out of him.”

  “What do I do if this one wakes up before Rudy gets here?”

  “I don’t know, Dean. Hit him again until he stays down. He’s our only connection to Jaz right now.”

  Dean disconnected the call and stood looking down at the vampire lying on the ground in front of him. If this was the only way he was going to find and rescue Jaz, it didn’t seem like much. It was all he had, though. He had to hold on to that. With nothing better to do but wait, Dean stood over the body on the sidewalk, waiting for Rudy to arrive.

  Chapter 19

  Dean stopped pacing the white, tiled floor and looked at Brynne. “When are we going to go in there and start questioning this guy?” Dean asked. He was feeling more frantic by the minute because every minute was another chance for something to happen to Jaz. He paced across the room to look out over the night-time cityscape of Elk City below. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he could make out anything meaningful on the streets far below them.

  “Dean,” Brynne soothed. “James and Rudy know what they’re doing here. You need to trust them.”

  “But what’s taking them so long to come back from City Hall?” Dean asked.

  He was alone in the apartment with Brynne and Celeste while they awaited the return of the Elk City vampire lord and his head of security. They had left soon after Dean was picked up with his hostage, saying only that there was an urgent matter to attend to at City Hall. Dean saw two of Rudy’s werewolf pack mates haul off the captured vampire. He was just starting to regain consciousness.

  “There is a great deal of wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes right now, Dean,” Celeste replied. “The mayor has never been comfortable with the Unusual population living in Elk City being so prominent. With the current state of affairs, he wants assurances from James that the human populace is receiving the proper protection from their Unusual neighbors.”

  “But this guy could lead us to Artur,” Dean explained pleading his case. “We could wrap up the whole problem if we can find Artur and deal with him once and for all. I, for one, am interested in that. Why isn’t anyone else?”

  “Dean,” Brynne said trying to reassure him. “James and Rudy know that. They’ve got a lot on their plate right now but believe me when I tell you, Artur is priority one. We’ll get him. We’ll get Jaz back, too.”

  The conversation stopped when they heard the elevator chime from the entry foyer, and Dean heard James and Rudy talking as they came into the penthouse. The two of them were in the midst of an animated discussion as they walked into the room.

  “James, this is serious. The mayor can make things very difficult for you if he stops working with you to keep the peace. You have to be careful how you approach him over this current problem.”

  “I don’t care, Rudy,” James replied. “That man is in office partly because of the support of my community. If he wants to stay in office after the next election, he’d better remember who helped put him there.”

  James noticed Dean and the two women and stopped the conversation. Brynne asked him about the meeting with the mayor.

  “That man said he expects me to pay for the overtime needed to manage the attacks in the city since they were perpetrated by what he called ‘one of my kind,’ as if I had some control over what was happening.”

  Dean had never seen James angry before. He was always the pinnacle of self-control. The mayor of Elk City must have been pretty disrespectful for him to react this way.

  “We need to find Artur, and we need to do it now,” James said.

  “That’s just what I was saying to these two.” Dean pointed to Brynne and Celeste. “Let’s get started questioning the guy we captured, James. He’s got to know something about where they took Jaz.”

  “We’ve got to have a plan, Dean,” Rudy said. “We can’t just walk in there and start slinging questions at him. He’s got to have a reason to cooperate or fear something we can do to him. If he doesn’t, we won’t get anywhere.”

  The werewolf pack leader and head of security could be imposing. Dean didn’t understand why he couldn’t just go in and get the answers they needed, one way or another.

  “Vampires can be intransigent, Dean,” James added. “There isn’t much we fear, especially when we’re young in our transformation. My guess is that Artur has turned this individual recently. That way he’d still be under control of the master who turned him. That control fades with time and would be of little use after five or ten years have passed.”

  “So what do we do?” Dean asked. He was tired of waiting. “Jaz is in the hands of an insane vampire lord who has no problem inflicting pain and death on anyone who gets in his way. We have to find her, and soon.”

  “No one’s disagreeing with you, Dean,” Brynne said coming over and laying a supportive hand on his shoulder.

  Dean looked at his former partner. He wondered if she understood how he felt. Every time he started to get close to Jaz, something got in the way. He felt a close bond to the hunter now, and he now knew she felt the same way. It wasn’t fair that people like Artur kept getting in between them.

  “Come on, Dean. Let’s you, me, and Rudy head down and take a look at our captive,” James offered. “We’ll see if we can’t find a way to convince him to see things our way.”

  Dean nodded and followed James and Rudy from the penthouse and back to the elevators. Taking the elevator down to the fifth floor, they got off, and Dean realized he’d never been on this level before. The panel on the wall opposite the bank of elevators read “Nightwing Security.” This must be where Rudy ran operations for James’ personal and business security.

  They walked down the hallway, past a guard station with a man in a navy blue sports coat watching a series of monitors. He nodded at them as they passed. Turning a corner, they reached a pair of doors with two men standing outside. They we
re huge, bursting at the seams of their khaki pants and navy blazers. Dean assumed they were pack members, but they could have been bulky vampires, too, he supposed.

  Rudy led them to the left-hand door, and they went inside a darkened room. One wall had a large window set in it, and Dean soon realized this was an observation room for the interrogation room next door. He looked through the window that, he realized, must be a two-way mirror. On the other side was the man he’d captured. He was pacing the room like a caged animal, trying the doorknob from time to time to check if it was locked and looking around for some means of escape.

  A blonde woman in a navy blue pants suit entered the room as Dean scrutinized the captured vampire in the adjacent room. She handed a file folder to Rudy and nodded to James.

  “We don’t know much about our visitor here,” the woman said. “He says his name is Grant. I have no way of verifying that. He had no identification on him when he was picked up. Other than his name and his repeated threats that we’d better let him go or his master will come and kill us all; I don’t have a lot to tell you.”

  James gestured to the woman. “This is Victoria. She works with Rudy and usually handles things when our, uh, guest is a vampire. She’s been with me almost as long as Celeste has.” He pointed to Dean. “Victoria, this is Dean Flynn, Brynne’s former paramedic partner.”

  The woman extended her hand and shook Dean’s hand in a firm handshake. The cool skin confirmed for him that she was a vampire.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dean. I’ve been following your exploits for some time now.”

  “Really? I guess I’m flattered,” Dean said. He felt a little awkward.

  “No big deal, really,” she replied. “We look into the backgrounds of all the Station U paramedics. It helps us identify when one might become a problem down the road like your predecessor Zachary.”

  Dean remembered how the paramedic who’d been Brynne’s partner before him had ultimately turned on his Unusual patients and started carrying out hate crimes against them.

  “I’m glad I passed the test, then.” Dean pointed through the glass. “Is there any way we can get him to tell us where Artur is or where they took Jaz?”

  “We haven’t figured out the trigger to make him talk yet. It’s hard when a vampire is so new. They feel invincible. They know that we only have the option to either kill them or let them live. Anything else we do will regenerate with no lasting effects. It makes interrogation — challenging, shall we say.”

  Dean looked through the glass at the vampire. He felt anger rising inside. Anger at this vampire, anger at Artur, and anger at how helpless he felt.

  “I want to talk to him.”

  “Dean,” Rudy said. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “Come with me if you want,” Dean offered. “You can keep him for hurting me or the other way around.”

  Rudy looked at James. After a moment, the vampire lord nodded.

  “All right, Dean,” Rudy relented. “But follow my lead. Let me start the conversation. This can be delicate, and we have to proceed carefully.”

  “I’ll be careful.” Dean hoped they didn’t notice he didn't agree with Rudy in that statement. He didn’t want to lie to his friends. He had an idea of how to get the vampire to talk, but he wasn’t sure how the others would react.

  James and Victoria settled in front of the two-way mirror to watch as Dean and Rudy left the room to go next door. Dean knew he was going to only get one chance to try his idea out on the prisoner. It was either going to work, or he was going to get hurt, or worse, in the process of trying. It didn’t matter, though. He had to try something. Rudy and Victoria had gotten nowhere so far.

  Rudy opened the door and led the way into the room, flanked by the two enormous guards from outside. Dean followed, his hand reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his pocket knife and opened the small blade, making sure no one could see what he was doing, using the burly guards and Rudy to block the view from the mirror in the left wall. Grant backed against the far wall, holding himself in a defensive crouch ready to fight.

  “I won’t tell you anything, but if you want to fight, I’m willing. Maybe I’ll find out what werewolf tastes like before the night is over.” The vampire said.

  “Grant,” Rudy said. “I’m Rudolf Finney. I’m in charge of security here. We have a few questions for you.”

  Grant started to answer but stopped suddenly as he sniffed the air. Dean had slid the blade of the knife through his palm, gritting his teeth at the sudden stinging pain. Just as Dean expected, the new vampire smelled the fresh blood instantly. Grant growled and launched himself across the room, catching Rudy and the two security team members completely off guard.

  Dean held his bloody palm up in front of the charging vampire, luring him in. He knew he had to time this perfectly, or the more powerful Unusual was going to have more than enough time to injure or kill him before Rudy and the others could separate them. Just as the vampire closed on him, Dean brought the flat of his uninjured hand around and struck the side of vampire’s face. There was the familiar flash of light Dean was hoping for, but this time, he tried to hold onto the light. It was something he’d never done before: try to use his hidden powers consciously. He was hoping to use his ability, wherever it came from, to exert some control over the vampire in front of him.

  Grant stopped as if he hit a wall as soon as Dean’s palm impacted his face. Dean brought his other, bloody hand up and grabbed the vampire’s head between both his hands before he fell and broke the connection. He concentrated on holding onto the flash, or whatever it was he was doing. It seemed to be working. The vampire stood still, staring at him wide-eyed, his lips quivering as if he was trying to talk.

  Rudy was advancing on Dean to pull the vampire away but Dean shot him a steely-eyed glance and shook his head. Something in his eyes must have convinced the werewolf because Rudy held up a hand and held his guards back.

  Dean decided to try and command the vampire to say something.

  “Grant, do you know who I am?”

  “Y-y-you’re the paramedic, the one who knocked me out.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Dean said. He was making this up as he went along. He decided to try something else.

  “Did you know I could knock you out like that before you and your friends attacked us on the street?”

  “N-n-no. Master just told us to grab the woman and bring her back to him. If we could grab you, too, we were to do so, but she was the primary target.”

  “And so your friends left you, left you with me after taking my friend. You know that makes me angry, right?”

  Grant nodded his head a little between Dean’s hands gripping the sides of his face.

  “I’ve been told that vampires don’t fear much. You know that you might die but there isn’t much else out there that can truly harm you in the long-term. The problem with that assumption is that it doesn’t take me into account.”

  “W-w-what do you mean?”

  Dean could sense the fear in the vampire. Good. That was exactly what he wanted.

  “I can command you, Grant. I can tell you to do something and you will have to obey as long as you live. No matter how painful it will be, you will follow that command to the last letter.”

  “W-w-what do you want from me?”

  “It’s simple, Grant. I want my friend back. If you help us find her, and she’s alive, I’ll take back my command, and you can go back to normal.”

  “I-I don’t have to tell you anything. Master said the other vampire lord would not kill me.”

  “I’m not going to kill you, Grant. I’m going to do much worse than kill you.” Dean paused. This next part was coming from pure instinct. He didn’t know if it would work or not but this latent power of his was working so far.

  “Are you hungry, Grant? Can you smell my blood?”

  The vampire gave another small nod.

  “Grant, I command you. You are now to feel the depth
s of your greatest hunger at all times, but you are never allowed to drink another drop of blood, not ever.”

  Dean watched the change come over the vampire in his grasp. He could see the horror of what he’d done dawn on the man. He was a vampire, he would never truly die, but he would also never be able to truly live since he’d never be able to feed again. It was cruel. It was a punishment worse than death. Dean didn’t care. He only wanted one thing and this vampire was the one who could help him get it.

  He let go of Grant’s head. There was no danger here anymore, not from this vampire. Grant collapsed into a heap on the floor, sobbing. Dean nudged him with a toe and the whimpering increased.

  “Grant, you don’t have to feel this way forever. Tell us where your master is hiding.”

  “I-I don’t know the address, b-b-but I can take you there.”

  Dean looked up and saw Rudy staring at him, a grim expression on his face. Dean knew he’d crossed a line here. He was a healer and he also knew there were rules to what Rudy would allow to happen to a prisoner in his custody. Dean had violated both his own standards and those of his friend. He didn’t care. He wanted Jaz back safe and sound. Without saying a word, Dean turned around and left the room.

  Chapter 20

  Artur got out of the car and walked to the front door of the abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town. Felicity drove the car around back to hide it from sight behind the home. He’d known it was time to move from the townhouse they’d been using as their base of operations when one of his followers failed to return from their errand to pick up the hunter. Felicity had told him of an old mansion on the outskirts of town a few days before. She thought it would be perfect for them to use once the townhouse became too small to hide their growing numbers.