by Jamie Davis
“Let’s just say the jury’s out where he is concerned,” Dean said. “I’m not sure he’s all that much of a good guy. I’m pretty sure he’s feeding on Brynne, and that’s just not right.”
Ashley shook her head. “You should not be so quick to judge James, Dean. What goes on between two consenting adults is their business, right? He has seen many horrible things in his long life. In some cases, I’m sure he’s done things that he’s not proud of, but he’s not an evil creature out of the stories on the bookshelf at the station. He’s a man who is trying to do the best he can in the times in which he lives. He’s adapted quite well to modern times and conventions. Much better than some do.”
“What about you?” Dean asked. “Have you adapted to modern times?”
She laughed again at that question. “I think I adapt very well. But you have to understand, there’s a difference between James and I. He’s a human who was changed into being an Unusual. His cultural background is still human. I am different. I have always been an Unusual. Since Creation, I have been part of a cultural background separate from humans. I don’t have the baggage that people like James have.”
Dean thought about that for a moment and then asked the question he had been holding back. “Can I ask you what it’s like being an Eldara? I’ve tried to look up information about you, but I can’t seem to get a handle on it.”
“Once upon a time, and even now at times, we are the intermediaries between humans and their gods. We represented the supernatural world manifested in the human reality. Some of us, like me, were given a purpose and sent into the world to follow that purpose, wherever it would lead us. In that way, we spread the message and information we were created to deliver. I’m a healer. I always have been. I’ve lived among humans as a midwife, a nurse, a wise woman, a whatever-was-needed to teach the healing arts to someone. I’ve traveled far and wide, settling for a time wherever I felt there was a need for me. That’s what brought me here. I’m needed. I can detect it.”
“Needed for what?” Dean asked.
“I don’t know,” Ashley shrugged. “I’ll know it when I see it, just like I’ll know what to do when the time comes. That’s just the way it works.”
“And in the meantime, you’re a nurse in the ER,” Dean said.
“A darn good one too, if I do say so myself,” Ashley said with a smile.
“So why me?” Dean asked, fearing the answer. “Am I part of your assignment?”
She laughed aloud. “No, Dean. You’re not part of any hidden assignment. At least, I don’t think so. But there’s nothing that says I can’t have a little fun along the way, and you’re the kind of guy I like to hang around.”
The food arrived then, and the conversation paused while they started to eat. The more he learned about her, the more he liked her, but he was bothered by the transient nature of her tasks. Would she get her assigned task here done and just leave? He didn’t want that. He wanted her to stay at least a little while, maybe even longer. He liked Ashley Moore, the ER nurse. He wasn’t sure he wanted her to turn back into Ashley, the Eldara Sister, and suddenly fly away to another assignment.
Their conversation turned to the mundane. Dean learned that Ashley lived in a downtown apartment above a storefront, not far from his ambulance call at Sabatani’s earlier that morning. He told her of his apartment above a garage, the elderly couple who were his landlords, and how he helped with chores around their house. They continued to chat easily about everyday things all the way back to the Station U parking lot where Dean pulled up next to her red sports car. It was an old red MG convertible, but it looked in pristine condition. She said a quick goodbye and leaned over to deliver a brief kiss that left him breathless. She smiled at him and giggled again, before she hopped out of his pickup.
He waited until she had gotten in her car and started it up before he pulled away, heading home to get some sleep. As first dates went, he thought it was about perfect. He was already looking forward to the next time they could meet up. She had given him her cell number and told him to call her when he knew his schedule next week. He continued thinking about her laugh and the way her green eyes sparkled as they looked into his. Even though the night had started out with that horrible burn victim, the day had brought him something to look forward to. Such was the lot of a paramedic, he thought as he drove home.
Chapter 30
The next few days went by quickly with what passed for routine calls in Station U. There were some odd cuts and lacerations, a few chest pain and shortness of breath cases in the elderly residents of the Unusual community, and more of what passed for the usual Unusual ambulance call. Dean was distracted through it all by daily texts he had started getting from the ex-paramedic, Zach, who wanted to meet up with him again. Dean didn’t respond. He wasn’t sure what he could say or do that would get him untangled from being involved with the fanatic. Zach wanted to expose the Unusuals living among the human community and brand them as evil monsters. He knew that Brynne had seen Zach at the scene of the burned Wiccan victim too, and she had reported it to the assistant chief on the scene who oversaw Station U. Would she think less of him if she knew he had been in contact with the guy?
On top of all that distraction, he found himself thinking about Ashley all the time. What would she think of him if she found out he had some ties to this underground human movement against Unusuals? They were a hate group. He didn’t hate anyone, but he might be found guilty by association. He liked the ER nurse. He liked her a lot. The challenge was that he didn’t know who to turn to for advice in this situation. He supposed he could go to Mike Farver, his academy instructor and former Station U paramedic, but would Mike be disappointed in him, too? He could not talk to his critical incident stress counselor Rebecca about this either. She was a Muse, an Unusual herself, and would probably kick him out of her office for not reporting his meeting with Zach immediately.
At the end of the second stint on day shift, he returned home, still not sure what to do. He parked his pickup on the curb in front of the two-story residence with the detached garage. The second-floor apartment over that garage was his home. He walked around to the stairs up to his apartment door and turned the key to let himself in, but the door popped open. He must not have shut it all the way when he left that morning. He tossed his keys on the counter in the kitchenette and was kicking off his shoes when a familiar voice spoke up from across the room.
“Hi, Dean. You’ve been avoiding me,” Zach said from his seat on the couch on the other side of the room.
Dean spun around, startled. He spotted the former paramedic lounging on the sofa as if it were his own apartment. “How did you get in here? I didn’t tell you to meet me here. What if someone saw you?”
“Relax, Dean,” Zach said rising. “No one saw me, and you didn’t tell me much of anything. You haven’t responded to any of my texts. I was going to wait outside, but you must have forgotten to lock your door. Since it was unlocked, I decided that you’d prefer me to wait inside, out of sight, rather than waiting around outside where people could see me.”
“That’s beside the point,” Dean said. “I don’t have anything to say to you. I don’t want anything to do with you, or the people you’re associated with. I have seen what you do.”
“How was I supposed to know that, Dean?” Zach asked. “You haven’t responded to my text messages. I told you the other night that I wanted to talk with you and explain why I was there. I know you saw me in the crowd when that witch was burned. You should at least give me that much respect.”
“That girl was an innocent person who didn’t deserve what happened to her, Zach,” Dean said. “I notice that you don’t deny being associated with those who attacked her. Did you dump the lighter fluid on her yourself? Did you flick the match?” Dean paced the floor in his small kitchenette. “I can’t believe you dragged me into this mess.”
“That witch-girl was no innocent, Dean,” Zach said coldly. “She was using her magic to manipul
ate people for her own gain. She was hurting humans and no one was doing anything.”
“So you admit to attacking her?” Dean stood there aghast. “How could you do that? You're a paramedic, a healer! At least, you used to be.”
“I heal HUMANS, Dean,” Zach said firmly. “I never signed up to take care of monsters living among us. Monsters like that witch who was charming people to drain their bank accounts and set herself up in luxury. I have proof of what she was doing, but no one in authority would have believed a word of it. What was I supposed to say?” Zach assumed a pose, raising his right hand and said, “Your honor, I know she cast a spell on people to get them to empty their bank accounts and give their money to her.”
“You know there are authorities who could deal with things like that, Zach,” Dean retorted. “You must have worked at Station U long enough to learn that much.”
“Sure,” he sneered. “And you should know by now that it’s all about sweeping the problems under the rug to keep people ignorant of the dangers walking the sidewalks downtown beside them.”
“Well, you weren’t as sneaky as you thought you were, Zach,” Dean said. “Brynne saw you there and reported it to Chief Ari.” He held up his hands in a pose of innocence. “I didn’t tell her, Zach, but you’d better be on your guard because they have to be looking for you in association with this case. I should turn you in myself. I don’t know why I don’t call the police right now?”
“You won’t call on me, Dean,” Zach said coldly. “I documented our little meeting in my journal. I am writing all about this crusade we are on. I wrote about how you were interested in helping me, helping The Cause. They’ll find it if I get arrested. At the very least, it will implicate you as an associate of mine. You’ll be lucky if you only lose your job and your paramedic license.” He pointed a finger at Dean as he continued. “You’ll keep my secret, just like you’ll keep this conversation to yourself, because deep down you know I’m right. We can’t keep living in secret alongside the monsters of our nightmares. People need to know, or better yet, we need to get the monsters to leave and go somewhere else.”
Zach picked up his jacket from the couch and put it on. He crossed the small living room to the kitchen where Dean stood rooted to the floor. Dean could smell his foul breath, he was so close. “You’ll stay quiet, and you’ll answer me the next time I text, or I’ll leak your involvement in the attack on the witch. You’ve chosen your side in this battle, Dean. I’m not letting you back out now.”
Dean stood still, staring straight ahead as the other man left the apartment. He heard the door shut behind him and the footsteps heading down the stairs. He stood alone in his apartment for a long time in the gathering darkness as night fell. He didn’t know how he was going to unravel himself from this. He didn’t know who to turn to or where to seek help. Dean was lost in these thoughts when his phone buzzed on the counter next to the keys. He saw Ashley’s contact info pop up on the screen. He stood there watching the phone buzz until it went to voicemail, as tears welled up in his eyes. He was going to lose everything.
———
It was hours later, as Dean sat on the sofa staring into the darkness of his unlit apartment, that he was startled by a light tap on his door. He looked over at the door but didn’t rise to answer it. The tapping came again, followed by a voice.
“Dean, I know you’re in there,” Ashley said. “I can sense you inside.”
Dean had let several calls from her go to voicemail over the last few hours. He guessed she had decided to come find him. Did Brynne give her his address? Hell, he didn’t care.
The doorknob turned, and Dean realized he hadn’t locked the door after Zach left. It pushed inward, and a figure entered the darkened room, silhouetted against the doorway by the moonlight. Did he see the shadowy outline of wings around her? She shut the door behind her as she stepped into the apartment.
“There you are,” she said, crossing to where he sat, sitting next to him and resting a warm hand on his knee.
Dean looked away, not wanting her to see he had been crying. Her Unusual eyesight in the darkness was likely as good as his in broad daylight. What was she doing here, anyway?
“I could tell you were in some kind of trouble. I sensed something was wrong. When you didn’t answer my calls, I decided to come find you,” Ashley said, as if in reply to his unasked question. “By the way, if you’re trying to hide, you’re doing a bad job of it. Your apartment was the first place I checked.”
“Ashley,” Dean said, “I don’t know if it’s a good idea that you’re here. I’m not necessarily the right guy for you, at least not right now.”
“I’m a big girl, Dean,” she replied. “I don’t enter relationships lightly, and I don’t pick the wrong people. What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure I can tell you,” Dean said. He turned to look at her sitting next to him. He could see the look of concern on her face. “I’m not sure you’ll want to be around me if I tell you.”
“Dean,” Ashley said, cupping his cheek with one hand, using her thumb to brush away a tear as she did. “You have to tell me what is bothering you. I know now why I came to Elk City, why I was sent here. It’s you. You’re central to what I’m to do here, and I have to make sure that you get the chance to do what it is that you’re supposed to do.”
She reached an arm around him and pulled him closer until he was resting his head on her shoulder. She held him there, speaking quietly. “Tell me what is going on, Dean. Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out. I won’t leave you, no matter what you tell me. I’m here for you. I know that now.”
Almost before Dean knew it, he was talking in a stream of words that wouldn’t stop. He talked about how he had wanted to be a paramedic, about his dreams of being the best, about his disappointment with the assignment to Station U, and then his realization that he liked it there and had become attached to his patients. Then he opened up about his meeting with Zach after he voiced his concerns over Brynne’s relationship with James. He told her that he felt tied to the ex-paramedic in some way, and perhaps his lack of reporting that tie was responsible for the horrible attack on the Wiccan woman a few nights before. He told Ashley that he was afraid for her. If she got too close to him, would she become a target of Zach and his ilk?
All in all, he talked for over an hour about his fears and concerns. Ashley just listened, occasionally stroking his hair or squeezing his hand where she held it in her own. As he finished telling her everything, the two of them sat in the silent darkness of his apartment for a time. He looked up at her and searched her face for a hint of how she was feeling. She smiled and leaned forward, planting a gentle kiss on his lips.
“See, Dean,” she said. “I’m still here. You didn’t scare me away. You have done nothing wrong. Having a meeting with Zach or being cornered in your apartment by him threatening you, does not make you guilty of anything. It does tell us that he is scared of what you’ll do next, and he’s trying to influence that decision. What we have to do now is to figure out what Zach and the others with whom he is associated in this ‘Cause’ are up to. Then we can try to keep them from doing anything else to harm humans or Unusuals.”
“Shouldn’t we report this to someone?” he asked. “I’m not able to do anything to stop this on my own.”
“Of course you should report it,” Ashley said. “But you also need to keep doing what you’re doing, to go out and treat your patients. I think that is what Zach is afraid of. You are tied to this somehow. I know that now, and what you do day to day, in your job as a paramedic, taking care of all of us, is going to figure into how this all works out. I don’t know how or why, but you have a part to play.”
“So, what - I go back to work, and at some mysterious point in the future, I’ll know just what to do to fix all of this? That sounds ridiculous.”
Ashley laughed out loud. Her merriment filled the air. “Oh, Dean, have you learned nothing in your reading of the tales of our kind?
Most of those stories have humans in them who do just that. It’s why we’re tied together, to live alongside each other, human and Unusual. Our lives are inexplicably intertwined, and each of our existences relies on the actions of the other. Something bigger than you and Zach is at work here. I don’t know what it is, but this is why I came here. It is why I was drawn to you. Together we’ll find the source of the problem, and together we’ll find the solution.”
Dean was glad she was confident. He wasn’t so sure. It all seemed too much for him to deal with as a new probationary paramedic. He didn’t have her unwavering belief in destiny and divine missions. Still, he did have her, and that was strangely comforting even as he had his doubts. He knew he could keep doing his job. He could continue to take care of his patients. If that was all he had to do, he could keep doing it. He soon fell asleep on the couch, next to Ashley, comforted by her presence and thinking about what that mysterious task could possibly be.
Chapter 31
The next morning when Dean woke up, Ashley was gone. For a short time, he wondered if it had all been a dream, but a handwritten post-it note stuck to the middle of the kitchen counter announced that she had an early shift at the ER. She said she’d call him later. He smiled to himself as he read the note. The sunlight coming in the apartment through the windows seemed brighter somehow, and that seemed to lighten his spirits. He got some breakfast and went about his daily routine, including mowing the grass for his landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter. They were a nice elderly couple who liked having a young man renting from them and helping out around the house in exchange for a break on the rent.
He spent the next few days doing some chores, as well as helping Mr. Baxter clean out the garage downstairs, before he returned to work on night shift. Ashley’s schedule was busy, and they talked and texted often, but were unable to see each other again as soon as he would have liked. He hoped he got the chance to see her on a trip to the ER since she was working nights this week. She had promised to come by the next morning, and they could make breakfast together at his apartment after work. He was looking forward to seeing her.