by Jamie Davis
Ashley had said the choice was up to him, but what choice was there? He was dumbfounded. Ashley had told him that he would have to make a choice to resolve the situation here in Elk City - a choice that he and James would somehow have to work together to make. He and James. Dean looked at the vampire sitting to his left. He was holding Brynne’s hand and stroking it almost lovingly. No, not almost. James loved her. Dean did not doubt that at all. He wasn’t some sort of monster; he was a man. He had his differences, but at the center was a man who loved a woman - a woman who was dying.
Then it hit him. There was a decision that needed to be made and it had to be made now. Dean looked back up at Ashley, a question on his face. She knew it now too. She smiled at him and nodded. That was the confirmation he needed. Dean looked at James and gripped the vampire’s shoulder. James turned his own red-rimmed eyes towards Dean, questioning the interruption of his grief.
“James, you need to turn her.”
The vampire just looked at the paramedic in front of him and seemed to not understand the words. Dean nodded toward Brynne, dying on the floor next to him. Her breathing was almost gone. There was no more time. “James, listen to me, you have to turn her. There’s no other option. If we want to save Brynne, you have to turn her into a vampire.”
James looked from Dean to Brynne and then back again. “Are you sure?” James asked. “I promised her I would never turn someone against their will. I’ve always held the belief that becoming one of us should be a choice, and not something randomly thrust upon someone like it was with me.”
“I’m sure,” Dean said with finality. “You two love each other. There is no other way to make this all work out. That is my choice, for Brynne, my friend and colleague. You must change her; I know she would want it. James, you have to do it right now, before it’s too late. She’s almost dead, and then it will be too late.”
James looked at Brynne one more time and then nodded. He held his wrist up to his own mouth and bit down hard to open his vein. Once his vampire blood started to flow, he held up Brynne’s head and placed the wounded wrist over her mouth. He leaned down and said, “Drink, my love. Drink so that you may live again.”
Dean looked at Brynne and couldn’t tell if she consumed any of the vampire’s blood or not. There was no change at all. She was already pale from blood loss. James held his wrist in place whispering to her for the last few minutes of her life and beyond. Her breathing had stopped, and Dean slumped back on his heels from where he knelt next to his former partner. James howled in pain, stood, and stumbled away from where Brynne’s body lay on the floor.
Ashley came forward and placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder then crouched down and placed her arms around him. She whispered in his ear. “It was your choice to make for her, and you made it. Do not be sad for Brynne. It would have been what she wanted.”
Dean couldn’t fathom her words. He hugged her close while he looked at the body of his partner, his mentor, and his friend. It was his choice to make, but he must have taken too long. The choice hadn’t become clear until it was too late to save her. She was laying there, no signs of life at all, just a finger twitching here or there. He was overcome with grief.
Wait. Dean broke the hug with Ashley.
He looked intently at his partner’s body. Did he see her fingers twitch or had that been his imagination? He watched her hand again and this time saw a definite movement, of her whole hand this time.
“James,” Dean called. “Get over here. I think it worked.”
The vampire rushed back to Brynne’s side, and there was renewed chatter among the onlookers from the nightclub crowd. James picked up one hand and gripped it. Dean watched in wonder as the grip was returned. Then he saw Brynne’s eyes flutter open. She looked around at everyone watching her and then at James. She sat up and her free hand flew to her chest, probing around before she pulled away the top of her dress to peer down inside. A look of surprise showed on her face, and she looked up at James where their eyes met. James nodded.
“It was Dean’s decision. His choice,” James said. “He made the choice for you. I hope you are not angry.”
Her voice was hoarse as she responded. Dean saw her look over and meet his eyes. “No, I’m not angry.” She hugged James close for a moment and then leaned back, smacking her lips. Dean saw the newly elongated canines in evidence in her mouth. “I am thirsty, though.” She looked at Dean, and he leaned in to give her a hug, too. James’ arm barred his advance.
“She is too new,” James warned. “She would not be able to control herself.” He snapped his fingers. “A cup of O negative, quickly please.”
Dean looked at Brynne and shivered as she gave him a feral grin in return. He shrank back from her hungry gaze. He looked at Ashley, horrified. What had he done to her? Ashley shook her head.
“Do not blame yourself, Dean,” the Eldara said. “She is different, but she is still the Brynne you knew. Give her some time to acclimate to her new condition and you will see that she is the same as she always was.”
James nodded in agreement. “It will take a few weeks to understand what she has become and what she must do to make sure she does not harm others. I will be by her side and make sure the changes are managed, I promise.”
A server appeared at the edge of Dean’s field of vision. She handed James a white mug that he held to Brynne’s lips. She sipped slowly at first, unsure of what she was drinking, then gripped the mug with both hands and drank quickly, tipping the cup upward to drain it to the last drop.
“That was delicious,” she said when she was done, handing the cup back to James. “But it did taste sort of, I don’t know, off somehow?”
“That is because it was not taken directly from the source,” James explained. “It will take some time before you will be able to do that on your own without risking the life of the person who is donating. You will have to trust me until then.
“If you say so,” Brynne said. “It did make me feel better and I’m not so hungry.” She held a hand out to Dean, and he looked to James for advice.
“She has fed, so it is safe,” the elder vampire said. “Just maintain some distance for her comfort.”
Dean reached out and took the offered hand. Brynne gripped it, and he winced at the force of her squeeze. She let up when she realized what she was doing.
“Sorry, I guess I don’t know my own strength,” she said. “Thank you, Dean, for making the choice for me. It was the right thing to do. I mean, I feel awesome. I can hear, no, I can feel every heartbeat in this room, imagine the paramedic I’ll be.”
James sighed, and Dean and Brynne both looked at him. “Brynne, you cannot go back to that life. At least, not for quite a while. Being a newly turned vampire will make it so that you cannot be around sick, injured or helpless humans or others. With the blood and their helplessness, you would find it difficult to resist feeding upon them. I’m sorry. It will be a few years before I would trust you to go back to that work.”
Dean looked back and forth between James and Brynne, realizing what the older vampire was saying. Brynne could no longer be his partner at Station U. Her transformation would prevent it for a long time, perhaps forever.
“It’s okay, Brynne,” Dean said. “I’ll still come up and visit from time to time. I promise.” He knew that it was a small consolation. Brynne loved being a paramedic. He had not thought about that when he had made the decision to change her. Of course, the alternative was death. Ashley had once said that everything magical in life came with a price. This was part of the price that must be paid for saving Brynne. He would lose her as his partner, and she would cease to be a paramedic.
Voices at the doorway interrupted them as the Station U paramedics and police arrived at the club. There would be a lot of explanations and statements to be made. Dean hoped that when all of that was done, they would finally be able to lay this whole episode to rest. The trauma of the evening washed over him, and he started shaking as the adrenaline drained f
rom his system. He wanted to go back to making normal life-and-death choices, the kind a paramedic made every day. It certainly didn’t involve watching friends die then turn into vampires. Paramedicine was what he had trained for, and that was what he longed to be again. He stood up to tell Bill and Lynne what was happening as they rushed across the floor to where Mike lay. There was a lot he needed to tell them about the new normal, because this was as normal as it was going to be ever again.
Chapter 79
‘Normal’ is a lie. It is a word that Dean decided was used way too much. He had been hoping for the past weeks and months for everything to get back to normal, even a new normal. He thought that if he solved the problems facing him and his patients in the Unusual community, everything would go back to being the way they were. Nothing, however, was the same. Nor would it ever be. He pondered this as he drove to work through Elk City in the early morning hours of what should have been a ‘normal’ Monday.
It had been four weeks since the incident with Mike in the nightclub. That night would be forever burned into his memory. Dean knew he would always wonder if there was something he could have done differently to save Brynne. He had visited her several times, always chaperoned by James or Celeste for his own safety. Brynne said she was doing well, acclimating to her new reality. She told Dean that she was glad he had made the choice on her behalf, the choice that she be transformed into a member of the undead. He knew her too well though, and saw that the change brought with it regrets and things she missed as a human. James told him that it was a common reaction to the change in lifestyle required for new vampires. She was just adjusting to her new normal.
Dean snorted under his breath as he drove. There was that word ‘normal’ again. He thought about it more as he pulled into the parking lot at Station U. There was no normal. It was fiction devised by people living in the past and not looking towards the future. Dean had learned the hard way that change was constant, and that you could accept the changes thrust upon you, or work to enact changes of your own that were more agreeable. He had been a literal agent of change and was determined to be more proactive in shaping the changes around him in the future.
The past few weeks had brought more change for him than he could ever have expected. Chief Ari had praised him for his perseverance to serve his patients and recommended him to take the two-week paramedic preceptor course. It was unusual for someone as new as he to take that class, but the Chief had said it was well-deserved. Then, while he was out of town attending the preceptor course, he had received a cryptic text message from Ashley. She said she had something urgent to attend to, and had to leave town. He had not even had a chance to say goodbye or learn when she would return. Her phone was turned off and untraceable. Now he was driving to the station to start his first shift as a preceptor, and was getting a probie of his own to break in. Another new guy to show the ropes in the world of the Unusual community and extreme medical services. It was not a return to normal at all.
Dean strode into the station break room to a flurry of greetings from paramedics staffing the previous shift, Brook and Tammy. The two women were packing up their things after their twelve-hour shift and he knew they looked forward to getting home. Tammy had her kids and husband to see off to school and work respectively, and Brook probably looked forward to having the bed to herself after her husband left for work. There was something to be said for the value of a good day’s sleep after working all night. He returned their greetings and thought of his own empty bed. He missed Ashley and wondered when she would return.
“Hey, Dean, you ready for the new probie inbound this morning?” Brook asked. “At least you’ll be able to sympathize with them since you can easily remember what it was like to be one yourself.”
“Yeah, Brook,” Dean replied with a chuckle. “I have that going for me. I think my best bet is to work under the mantra ‘what would Brynne do?’”
“How is Brynne anyway?” Tammy asked. “We were going to call and schedule a time to stop downtown and visit her since she’s can’t go out in public yet.”
“She’s well. I saw her yesterday,” Dean replied. “I think she would like seeing you guys. She misses her old friends and colleagues. It has been a difficult transition for her, though James said that it is all going the way it is supposed to go.”
“Well, he’s the expert,” Brook said. “We’ve got to follow his lead, Dean. I’ll call on my way home and set it up for us to drop by this afternoon before we come back to work. Does that work for you, Tammy?”
Tammy nodded and picked up her purse. “We’ll cheer her up. I want to hear what the sex is like now that she and James don’t have to hold back with each other.”
Dean and Brook both laughed. Tammy always fantasized about what it would be like to date an Unusual, even though she and her perfectly human husband were infatuated with each other. She loved to hear tales of her colleagues’ escapades.
A tap at the parking lot door interrupted them, and Brook opened the door and then stood back to let the new arrival in. It was Dean’s new probationary paramedic, Barry. He had a few years’ experience under his belt in a nearby system as a regular paramedic for humans. He had applied to Elk City’s community paramedic program and had impressed the leadership with his drive and ingenuity. That was what they had told Dean when they described him. He was about the same age as Dean, stood about five foot, ten inches tall and had blonde hair. He smiled as he entered and walked over to Dean extending his hand.
“Hi, you must be Dean,” the new guy said. “I’m Barry, and I’m excited to be invited to join you guys in this community paramedicine program. I didn’t know there was another program aside from the standard community program. No one seemed to have heard of Station U, no matter who I asked.”
Dean saw Brook and Tammy share a look, and then they both burst out laughing, waving their goodbyes and leaving him alone with the new guy. Barry watched them leave and turned back to Dean.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“They’re women, so who knows,” Dean said. He knew the new guy would figure it out soon enough. Best to get him acclimated to the station and go over the ambulance in case they got a call. There would be one on the radio system sooner or later, so it was best to be prepared. Since the roundup and arrest of all of the members of The Cause, Station U’s ambulance calls had returned to normal.
“So, Barry, what’s your favorite fantasy novel?” Dean began as he led the new guy out to the ambulance bay to get oriented on the ambulance. Barry had so much to learn.
———
Dean sat in the office workstation getting some much-needed paperwork done and reviewing email updates from headquarters. Barry was out washing the ambulance, a daily chore that was especially needed in these spring months, as every bug in the world came out from its winter hiding place to splatter on their windshield. The new guy’s first day was a slow one, and there had been no calls on which to get him squared away with the type of patients they served. Dean was pondering a way to break the ice with him about their patient population’s unique natures if they didn’t get a call soon.
Barry came into the squad room and looked at Dean. “Hey, you should come check this out. A totally hot brunette in a vintage red sports car just pulled into the parking lot. I don’t know why she is way back here in the industrial park. She must be lost and looking for directions or something.
Dean jumped up and ran to the parking lot window. His heart leaped in his chest as he saw Ashley’s MG convertible parked outside next to his white Ford pickup truck. She was getting out of the car. He raced out the door and ran up to her, spinning her around and planting a kiss on her. He felt her pause for a moment then pull him closer, her mouth opening and the kiss deepening. This was hot, though Ashley wasn’t usually this into public displays of affection. And when did she get that tongue-stud? He thought they were hot and all, but it was not something that he expected Ashley to do.
Dean’s eyes sprang
open in surprise when he felt her hands groping for his belt. What the …? He forced himself to push back from the kiss and stare at his girlfriend in consternation. He got a further surprise as he took in her new look. Ashley was clad from head to toe in black leather, from the high-heeled boots to the tight-fitting jacket zipped up just far enough to expose her ample cleavage. She had new silver earrings piercing her left ear all the way from the lower lobe to the top of the cartilage. There was a nose piercing, too, with a small ruby stud showing on the right side. She was wearing a lot more makeup than she usually did, too. Then it hit him.
This wasn’t Ashley. Ha!
“Hello, lover,” said the voice with a definite British accent. “You have to be Dean. My sister has always preferred a certain type when it comes to men.”
“Ingrid?” Dean asked, using Ashley’s twin sister’s name for the first time. “What are you doing driving Ashley’s car.
“Surprised?” she said with a laugh. “Not as surprised as I was. I was in the middle of something important, but family is family. Am I right?”
Dean just stood there and looked at her. What was she doing here? Where was Ashley?
“Look, Dean, much as I would love to take you inside and finish what we started out here in the parking lot, we’ve got a lot of talking to do. Ashley’s in trouble, and it’s going to take both of us to get her out of it.” She hooked a finger for him to follow her as she strutted past him, across the parking lot, and right by the dumbfounded Barry holding the door open for her as she entered the station.
Dean stood there, watching her go inside, wondering again what happened to his normal life.
Want to know what happens next?
Book 4 - The Paramedic’s Hunter
Book 5 - The Paramedic’s Witch