The Paramedic's Doom Read online

  Barry climbed into the driver’s seat while Dean, finished his call to the powers that be, hopped in the back with Stacey. Officer Shorter got up from where he sat next to the distraught woman. He nodded at Dean and swapped places with him, stepping out to the street behind the ambulance.

  “I’ll follow behind in my police cruiser. Have Barry stop if you need me to help you back here.”

  “Got it. Thanks, Jimmy. I don’t think there’ll be any issues. Stacey is going to be just fine, isn’t that right Stacey?”

  The woman smiled and nodded. “You’ll see. Reggie is at my place. You’ll understand once you meet him.”

  “I can’t wait to meet him,” Dean replied.

  Jimmy rolled his eyes and shut the back doors to the ambulance.

  There was no need to run with the lights and sirens on the way to Stacey’s apartment complex. Without the emergency lights engaged, it took them almost twenty minutes to drive across town. They pulled into the residential neighborhood where their patient lived.

  Dean was playing this by ear at this point. He’d stepped outside any ordinary medical protocol he had, but that was not that strange for the paramedics of his unit. You had to be flexible when dealing supernatural and mythical beings. He had confidence in his decision.

  Their medical director, Doc Spirelli, had always told them to trust their instincts as paramedics in general and he doubled down on that statement when talking to the Station U medics. The doc knew the kinds of things they faced every day.

  “Stacey, we’re here. I’m going to walk up to your apartment with you. Then you can show me where you’re keeping Reggie.”

  “You’re not going to take him away from me, are you? I found him. He’s my angel.”

  “Let me take a look at him first. He might need more medical treatment. You wouldn’t want him to get sicker when I could help him out, would you?”

  “No, I don’t want that.”

  “Alright, then, let’s go check on him.”

  Jimmy’s police cruiser pulled in behind them as Barry slid the ambulance up to the curb and parked. Dean waited until both Jimmy and Barry stood behind the ambulance before he unbuckled Stacey from the cot and helped her get up.

  Barry opened the back doors and helped her down. He looked up at Dean and quirked an eyebrow as if asking, “What now?”

  “I’m playing this by ear, partner,” Dean replied to the unspoken question.

  “I’ll follow your lead then.”

  Dean hopped down and closed the double doors at the rear of the ambulance. He turned to his patient.

  “Stacey, do you want to take us to your apartment? Which one is it?”

  “I’m in twenty-four J, over there on the third floor.”

  Dean followed her pointing finger and spotted building twenty-four in the complex of squat garden apartment style buildings. A central, open stairwell in each building led up to the second and third floors.

  They crossed the courtyard and went up to the third-floor landing in Stacey’s building. Four doors opened onto the third floor. The first started with apartment letter “I” marked on the door to their right. Apartment “J” was right next door. Dean had Stacey’s keys and after getting her enthusiastic nod opened her door.

  “Hello?” Dean called out. “My name is Dean Flynn. I’m a paramedic. I’m here to help you.”

  “Reggie’s back in the bedroom, silly. He needs his rest.”

  “Alright, why don’t you stay here with Barry and officer Shorter while I go back and check on him. I’ll make sure he’s okay and then we’ll head out and get you some help.”

  Barry stepped up to stand on one side of their patient and Dean turned and stepped inside the apartment. The place was a mess. There were dirty dishes piled up and the smell of food rotting in the sink and garbage can wafted out at him from the kitchen.

  An overturned chair, books and knick-knacks knocked to the floor, and a broken lamp was lying on its side next to the end table. It all pointed to a recent struggle in the living room. Dean reached out and tried the light switch to put some light in the hallway. He tried a couple of the switches before he found the right one.

  “Hello, my name is Dean. I'm a paramedic I'm here to help you.”

  He continued down the hallway to the bedroom door. It was closed and he listened pressing his ear to the door’s cool wooden panel. He didn't hear anything in the next room. Reaching down, he turned the knob and pushed the door open, ready to jump back if there was trouble on the other side.

  Dean spotted the ropes tied to the head and footboard. There was no one in the room, but someone had been tied up on that bed. He did a quick search of the closet and a looked under the bed just to be sure. There was a sliding door leading out to a small balcony. The door was open and a slight breeze wafted the curtains into the room.

  Whoever had been in this room, they were gone now. Dean called out to his friends still standing outside the apartment.

  “Jimmy, you need to come see this.”

  The police officer entered the apartment and walked back to the bedroom.

  “Hmmm, it seems like I need to have a talk with Miss Stacey. Unless she has some rather kinky habits in the bedroom, it looks like she may have been holding someone prisoner in here. I'd like to find out if she knows where that person is.”

  “Me, too,” Dean said. “Especially since whoever she held here what's likely some sort of Unusual and I'd like to figure out if they're okay.”

  “Dean, I'm going to stay here and call for a forensic team to come check out the whole apartment. Are you alright taking her in the hospital on your own?”

  “Sure, she seems harmless enough. I'll call ahead and make sure security meets us at the ambulance entrance to the emergency department. Do me a favor. Let me know if you find out anything about who might've been held here.”

  “Will do, Dean.”

  Jimmy pulled out his portable radio started talking to police dispatchers to request the crime scene investigators.

  Dean returned to the third floor landing outside the apartment.

  “Did you find him? Did you find Reggie?”

  “There was no one there, Stacey. But, Officer Shorter is going to stay here and see if they can figure out where Reggie went. For now, though, why don't you come with Barry and me so we can get you checked out at the hospital.”

  The woman's shoulders slumped.

  “He was my angel. He was mine. Now he's gone and I'll never see him again.”

  “Never is a long time, Stacey. Come on. Let's go back to the ambulance.”

  On the way back out to the parking lot, Dean kept his eyes open looking for some signs in the apartment complex courtyard of the missing angel, or whatever or whoever it was she'd kept prisoner in her apartment. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, not that he was sure he knew what he was looking for.

  They got Stacey situated and strapped into the ambulance cot, then Barry returned to the driver seat and they started on their way to the hospital. Dean picked up the tablet from its dock in the back of the ambulance and started filling out the patient report. It would electronically sync with the system both at the hospital and back at their station.

  It didn't take them long to to get their patient situated with one of the nurses in the emergency room. Once Stacey was in an exam room and settled in, Dean and Barry put a fresh sheet on the stretcher and headed back out to load up their ambulance for the next call.

  Soon Dean and Barry were on their way back to Station U on the outskirts of Elk City. They never made it all the way back to the station. Another call came over the dispatch and Dean and Barry found themselves tied up with one ambulance call after another. As Unusual ambulance calls went, they were all pretty routine with nothing too serious. Mostly it was people dealing with the flu this time of year. The back-to-back runs did take up a lot of time and it was well after dark when they were finally put off shift and started back to the station.

  When they arrived at the industrial park that housed their ambulance building, Dean spotted a beat-up white van parked next to his pickup truck. Gibbie was here. He wondered what the frumpy, middle-aged vampire wanted with the Station U paramedics to bring him out to their neck of the woods.

  After helping Barry back the ambulance safely into its bay, Dean walk over to the squad room door poked his head inside. Brooke and Tammy where already there having started their shift while Dean and Barry were still out running calls. Gibbie was there, as well.

  Tammy looked up from her work on the station’s computer when he opened the door to look in.

  “It's about time you two got back. I figured we were going to have to take that beat up old backup ambulance out if we got a call. You guys been running all day?”

  “Pretty much,” Dean said. “It's been one run after another. Hey, Gibbie. What are you doing here? Do you need some more supplies for your first aid kit?”

  “Yeah, that and I wanted to come hang out. It's been kind of boring and I was hoping you might be offering some additional training for myself and the other CERT responders soon. We miss meeting up together like we used to. Any chances you have something coming up soon?”

  Dean remembered training Gibbie and several other members of the Unusual community to be CERT responders for community first aid in the case of local emergencies or disasters. For a while, Dean had even gone on runs with them while the fire department suspended him from the job. It had been a scary time for everyone. Despite that, he had fond memories of hanging out with Gibbie and the others while they prowled the streets looking for people in need of help.

  “You know, I think it's about that time,” Dean said. “I should probably talk to Brynne about coming up with some new training scenarios for you guys so you c
an practice your skills. I'll shoot her an email before I leave tonight. I think she's the shift supervisor on duty.”

  “That would be great, Dean. You know we miss you. You should come hang out with us sometime. We hold a regular get-togethers at Sabatani’s. It would be just like old times.”

  “Are you kidding,” Brooke laughed. “He doesn't have any spare time. Jaz has him wrapped around her little finger. Speaking of which, when are you going to put a ring on one of those fingers?”

  “Haha, the joke’s on you, Brooke. I've actually been thinking in that direction and have been saving up to make a purchase.”

  “So, the huntress becomes the hunted,” Tammy said. “Are you sure that's what she wants, too?”

  A knot started forming in the pit of Dean's stomach. He worried about whether Jaz would say no to him if he popped the question. She was the successful CEO of an international security firm as well as the last survivor of a prominent Hunter clan. It wasn't like he had all that much to offer her.

  Tammy must have spotted the look of doubt on his face. She laughed.

  “Dude, relax. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. I've seen the way she looks at you when she's come over to the station to meet you for dinner or breakfast or we’ve seen her out and about. She'll say yes for sure. I was just teasing.”

  “I hope you're right. I feel like the guy never knows for sure.”

  Brooke chuckled.

  “That, my good friend, is all part of the mystery. We ladies like to keep you gentlemen guessing.”

  “Well, it's working, Brooke. I'm guessing alright.” Dean looked around the squad room. “Is Freddy still here? I was hoping to catch a bite to eat before I headed home. I've got nothing in my kitchen.”

  A shuffling of feet from the hallway leading back to the station’s bunk rooms drew Dean's attention. Freddy, their personal zombie chef, entered the squad room.

  “I already cooked dinner, Dean. There are plenty of leftovers, however, so help yourself to one of the containers I put in the refrigerator.”.

  “What did you make?”

  “Pork chops with an apple glaze and green beans almondine.”

  “Wow, what's the special occasion?”

  “A few of the families of fairies living out in the Barrens just butchered a hog. They dropped some of the meat off here as a thank you for all the times you guys have responded out there. There's plenty more in the freezer including freshly smoked bacon and a few roasts.”

  “Yum,” Dean said, rubbing his belly. That sounds delicious and it will cut down on what we have to spend to stock the kitchen for you.”

  “Every little bit helps,” Tammy said. “It's not like we’re making bundles of cash working as paramedics for the city.”

  “Amen to that, sister,” Dean said. “Alright, let me help Barry finish restocking the ambulance for you guys and then I'll come in and grab some of those leftovers you've made for us, Freddy.”

  Dean ducked back into the ambulance bay. Barry was already in the back of the ambulance with the gear bags open, replacing the supplies they’d used on their various calls that afternoon and evening.

  “Hand me the medication bag,” Dean said. “I’ll go draw the meds we need from the dispenser.”

  Barry handed Dean the blue med bag.

  “What did Gibbie want? That was his van out there, right?”

  “Yeah, I think he just wanted to hang out. He must be between girlfriends right now.”

  “Ah, the life of the five-hundred-year-old vampire. It must be tough.”

  Dean laughed. “Especially when you have his luck with women.”

  Barry laughed along with him. They'd both seen plenty of situations where Gibbie had gotten mixed up with the wrong woman.

  Dean set to work refilling the medication bag, checking off the inventory list as he went. He returned the bag to its cabinet in the back of the ambulance. By the time Dean was done, Barry had finished restocking the other supplies as well. Their shift was finally over since Dean had finished up his reports while they were at the hospital following their last call. It was going to feel good to get home.

  When Dean returned to the squad room, Freddy had already packed up two meals of leftovers in plastic containers for he and Barry to take with them when they left.

  Dean grabbed his containers and headed for the door. Before he went outside, he remembered the earlier call with Stacey and turned back to Tammy and Brooke.

  “Keep your eyes open tonight. There might be some sort of angel or another type of unusual I've never heard of out there running around.” Dean recounted the earlier ambulance call with Stacey. “I’m not sure if this Reggie was even a real person or just a figment of her imagination. Whatever he was, if he's real, he's got some strange powers that affect people's sense of guilt and regret strong enough to make a person want to kill themselves.”

  “Sounds like a sin eater,” Gibbie said from where he sat on the couch flipping through a book on demonology from the Station U reference library.

  “A what?”

  “A sin eater. They are pretty rare. Honestly, I haven't heard of one around these parts before, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one here. The way you describe the effect on that woman makes it sound a lot like what I've seen before from one of them.”

  “What are they?” Brooke asked. “Are they some sort of angel or Eldara?”

  “They are a lesser form of angel from what little I know about them. They’re sort of a junior member of the Eldara clans. Usually, they only pop-up when big trouble is coming on the horizon. They seem to have a sense of dark times approaching. It’s those times when people want to repent their sins. The sin eaters feed on the guilt that people feel for their past transgressions and draw off that energy leaving the individual feeling as if they’d been forgiven. If your woman was holding one prisoner, I suppose they could reverse that effect and intensify feelings of guilt to the point that someone might want to hurt themselves.”

  Tammy pursed her lips and whistled.

  “Sounds like we all have some homework to do. I guess we should be looking up information on sin eaters tonight.”

  “You two can do that,” Dean said. “I need to call Jaz. I told her I'd drop her a line when I was finished my shift tonight.”

  “Ooh, sounds like a booty call,” Brooke said.

  Everyone laughed, including Dean. You had to be able to take some teasing in this community. EMS crews grew very close to each other and there were few secrets between the close-knit ambulance teams in the city.

  “You all are just jealous. I'll tell her you said hi, though. See you in a few days. I'm back on night shift this coming Wednesday.”

  Dean headed out to his pickup truck and pulled out his phone, tapping Jaz’s name at the top of his contact favorite’s list. He hadn’t caught up with her for a few days and it would be good to see her again. He hoped she wasn’t out on a stakeout or something for her security work.

  “Hi, Dean,” Jaz’s voice answered on the first ring. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me. Long day?”

  “Yeah, I’m beat, but I wanted to come by and see you. I have some food. It looks like Freddy packed enough for both of us.”

  “Sounds good. What did he make tonight?”

  “Pork chops, apple glaze, and green beans almandine.”

  “Sounds great. I’ve been bogged down with work stuff and haven’t had time to get dinner. That will be perfect. Come on over. I’ll buzz you up when you get here.”

  Dean smiled and headed out of the parking lot. He needed a quiet night at home relaxing with his girlfriend. The last week of straight shifts had been brutal. He was ready for a break.

  Chapter 3

  Dean pulled up to the gate outside of the Errington Security building. He punched in a code on the keypad and waited as the gate rolled back allowing him entry into the parking lot.

  The Errington Security building was brand-new, built on the lot where the former building stood before an explosion destroyed it along with Jaz's entire family. Not only did it hold Jaz's offices for herself and her security teams, it also had a full set of apartments including one large apartment on the upper floor reserved for her. Dean parked his pickup truck next to a line of black SUVs and got out, walking over to the double entrance doors on the side of the building.