by Jamie Davis
Brynne looked at Rudy. “Did you find the Lycan responsible for the bite?”
“I did,” The werewolf leader said. “It was Old Ebner Cutress. He’s mostly harmless and keeps to himself. He doesn’t even come to pack meetings anymore. I or one of my other pack-mates check in on him once a week or so to see if he needs help or anything. I honestly didn’t think he could change anymore. It takes a lot of strength and older Lycans can die trying to change once they reach a certain age and frailty.”
Dean was surprised to hear that particular piece of information. He guessed it made sense, given the few painful transformations he had witnessed.
Rudy continued. “I talked with Eb about what happened. He said he’s been out for several nights and witnessed the girl coming home past the boy’s house. The boy usually just talks trash to her about his manhood, but tonight he had some friends with him, and it apparently made him braver. When the boy grabbed the girl, and she screamed, Eb said he just got mad at them. He knows he shouldn’t have shifted like that. And he should not have attacked the kid, but he didn’t do any lasting harm and the boy let go, which is all he wanted him to do.”
“You told him that he can’t ever do that again, right?” James said to his lieutenant.
“I did, but not before he said the same thing to me,” Rudy said.
“Wait a minute,” Dean said. “This guy attacks a boy, nearly bites his arm off, potentially infecting him with Lycanthropism and all that’s going to happen is the werewolf gets a slap on the paw?”
“Dean,” Brynne said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “This is being dealt with through the proper channels.”
“The Pack will pay the boy’s medical expenses, anonymously of course,” Rudy said. “You were able to administer the wolf’s bane extract in time to keep the transformation virus in check, and continued infusions at the hospital will complete the cure. The old man was defending a girl being attacked and maybe eventually raped. He used an appropriate level of force, a single bite, that succeeded in freeing the girl, and then he left. It was he who called 911 and alerted authorities that it was a Station U call.”
“Based on all of that, Dean,” James said. “We, Rudy and I, believe that it was justified to defend the girl.”
Dean just looked at the two Unusuals standing there. He wasn’t sure what he expected to happen, and sure, the boy was a colossal dick, but that didn’t excuse what happened. Or did it? He wasn’t sure. He was again tied up by his intense dislike of James. Rudy, he hardly knew, and he seemed an alright sort of guy, aside from willingly taking orders from James. Was he taking his dislike of James out on this situation?
“Dean,” Brynne said. “What if the old guy had come out and told the boys to let go of the girl and hit Bobby on the arm with a baseball bat, breaking his arm in the process but getting him to let go?”
“I suppose that might be better,” Dean murmured.
Rudy spoke up. “Dean, I’ve known Old Ebner all my life. He’s never bitten any human, ever, to my knowledge. He was extremely upset that he had to do so this evening. He said the boys ridicule him and make fun of him all the time. He knew that if he came out in human form that they wouldn’t listen to him. This was the only way he could think of to protect the girl and get her to safety. I trust him. You and I don’t know each other very well, but I tell you and give you my word, it was a measured, calculated intervention to protect that girl, nothing more.”
“And he’s never bitten anyone before?” Dean asked. Rudy nodded. A thought occurred to him and he blurted it out before he could stop himself. “How do you all reproduce if you don’t keep biting new people every few years?”
Rudy laughed out loud, his baritone voice filling the squad room. “How do you think? We have babies like everyone else.”
“But …” Dean started, shocked by the werewolf’s response.
“The virus inhabits our cells and gives us the ability to change,” Rudy said. “It passes from mother to child but doesn’t manifest until near the end of adolescence. We usually homeschool our teenagers for that reason. If you think average teens are bad, Lycan teens are outright dangerous. Sometimes, a person is infected by a bite from one of us who is unable to control themselves, or has gone rogue for one reason or another. In those instances, if we can’t get to them with Wolfsbane extract in time, we shepherd them through the transformation and bring them into the pack.”
Dean thought for a moment, and another thought came to him. “So it can also be sexually transmitted? Like other blood borne pathogens? How do you protect humans from that?”
“We take giving someone our disease very seriously, Dean,” Rudy said. “We either date amongst our pack or nearby packs, or we take precautions. There are a few Lycan/Human marriages out there. Most are pretty successful, but the human spouse is vaccinated against Lycanthropy just like you and Brynne are.”
“Wow, I guess you do learn something new every day,” Dean said, taking in all he had learned. “Of course, on this job that is an understatement.”
“Dean,” Brynne said. “The bottom line is the boy’s going to be okay. The investigation is proceeding and the girl is going to be alright, too.”
“I talked with the police chief myself,” James interjected. “He agrees with the self-defense argument. He also has sent a police unit to interview the girl and the other boys who were there. I don’t think she or her parents want any trouble in the neighborhood, which is why they will not press charges. But the detective is also going to have a talk with the boy’s parents and impress upon them that his assault on the girl could be sent to the district attorney for review based on the initial statements from Bobby, his friends, and the girl. Hopefully, the harassment ended tonight.”
Dean thought about what James had said. Did he have to be so reasonable? Dean wanted to think of him as a monster and not some benevolent leader who took good care of his community.
“What about the next time?” Dean asked.
“What next time?” Brynne countered.
“I heard you when I came in,” Dean said. “You were talking about this as a response to the Cause. So what will happen the next time someone steps out of line with an Unusual? That’s what you all are worried about, right?”
“It is,” James said. “There are some in our community who think we should be more actively defending ourselves against attacks from the Cause. The attempted execution of Freddy was what woke many of the community up. He is well-liked in the Barrens. There’s a fear that we will be exposed and openly hunted as we were during the middle-ages before we went completely underground and lived in hiding for the last several centuries.”
“That won’t happen,” Dean said. “This is America. You can’t just hunt people because they’re different.”
“Can’t you?” Rudy said, leveling his gaze at the paramedic. “It wasn’t all that long ago that, in parts of this country, the death of a person of a certain color was looked upon as no different than killing an animal. What will those same closed-minded humans do when they see there are monsters and nightmare creatures living among them now?”
Dean was uncomfortable because he knew they were right. Even now, more than fifty years after the civil-rights movement of the nineteen-sixties, there were strong racial tensions in the United States. That tension boiled just under the surface in some places and boiled over when racially charged situations occurred. What would happen when a whole new minority group was exposed living among them? He just shook his head.
“This program is proof that those racial and prejudicial undertones are changing,” Dean said. “We are giving Unusuals medical care right alongside humans. It’s working.”
“But we’re not doing it openly, Dean,” Brynne said. “It’s all hidden from their view because of what they might say or do if they knew the truth.”
“You know if can’t stay hidden forever,” Dean said.
James nodded. “There have been times when the secret has been exposed in his
tory. Some places and times were more enlightened than others in their response. Our fear is that in the current American xenophobic outlook towards foreigners, there will be a political backlash. Right now, only the President, House and Senate leaders, and national security and military leadership know about us. It is a closely guarded secret. I presume that the same or similar is true in other modern countries. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”
“We can’t risk having something blow up here in Elk City exactly because of the successes of the Station U paramedic programs,” James continued looking from Dean to Brynne to Rudy. “Do you understand, Rudy?”
“I understand and I’ll do my best to control the pack,” The werewolf said. “You should know there are those who want us to patrol and search for Zach and all his accomplices.”
“I would like nothing more than to do that myself,” James said. “I’m afraid that we can’t afford the public outcry, and the back-channel outcry that would happen if we did that. I’ve assured the police chief, and the mayor, that we will abide by all laws and rely on their investigation to progress to a successful conclusion.”
“I certainly hope they do so soon,” Rudy said. “Eventually, the Cause is going to attack somebody who can defend themselves. And if they do defend themselves, it will likely be in a spectacular fashion. When that happens, all hell is going to break loose. Speaking of which, I need to check in on a few of my more hot-headed pack mates to make sure they know I’m watching them. Shall we go, Boss?”
James nodded in agreement. He leaned over and kissed Brynne goodbye, nodded to Dean and followed Rudy out the door to the parking lot.
Dean waited for the door to close and said, “I still don’t know what you see in that guy.”
“He grows on you,” Brynne said. “I didn’t think much of him at first either, but I’ve seen him working with his people and he cares deeply for them. It was that interaction that showed me what he was like under all the brooding vampire exterior.”
“If you say so,” Dean said. He felt like he needed to change inside. He wanted to be more like the kind of guy that Ashley thought he could be. She thought it was important that he and James come to some understanding. Maybe tonight was a beginning of that. He was included in the plans and the back-channel discussions for a change. They had listened to him, and been patient with him when he didn’t understand something.
He still didn’t like James much, but he was starting to feel something else. It took him a while before he recognized it as a sort of respect growing in him for the vampire’s leadership and restraint. It couldn’t be easy to stand by and let the humans take over the investigation and protection of his community. He and his other leaders were certainly powerful enough to deal with a problem like the Cause on their own. Of course, it would be a bloodbath, which would be a win for the Cause and a lose for the Unusuals. James understood that and was working hard to keep a reign on his followers, and let the regular human channels of justice work through the problem.
Dean’s thoughts shifted back to Ashley, as they so often did since they’d started seeing each other. There was still the feeling she had expressed that he was somehow supposed to be the linchpin of this situation’s resolution, and that James would also be involved. It was annoying she wasn’t able to tell him more. But she didn’t communicate directly with her higher powers. At least not like Dean and Brynne did over the radio to dispatchers. All she could tell him was that he and James needed to get along, and that he would need her support through all that was coming. It was the fact that he hadn’t reached the conclusion of this quest yet that made him most nervous. He was starting to think that something awful had to happen first. Something even more awful than what had happened to Freddy or the restaurant. Something that was going to happen soon.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The next several nights had a few chest pain calls, a couple of respiratory distress calls, and a mummy who needed rewrapping with fresh bandages. Dean chuckled to himself as he thought back about that last one. He had certainly come a long way to think that fixing the bandages on an ancient Egyptian mummy was a normal EMS call.
The work was followed by a few days off that coincided with a break for Ashley, so the two of them took advantage of the break to leave town for a few days. Ashley wanted to go off to a mountain lake a few hours away to the west. She had a nurse friend who had a cabin there that they could use for a few days. Dean was looking forward to a break from the tension in Elk City. Everyone, including all the paramedics waited for the next attack by the Cause. Local police were trying to track Zach and the other arsonist down, but they had no luck so far. It would be good to get away from Unusuals and work for a change.
On his first morning off Dean looked around his apartment and double checked his duffel bag. He had his razor and other essentials, a couple of changes of clothes and a pair of swim trunks. Ashley was picking him up in her MG as she insisted his pickup truck was not appropriate for a vacation road trip. His phone pinged, and he glanced at it. Ashley was downstairs in the driveway. He grabbed his wallet, duffle, and phone. He locked the apartment door behind him and headed out to meet his girlfriend for a much-needed trip away.
———
He had to admit that traveling in the small vintage sports car was a joy. The top was down and the sunny day made it perfect travel weather. He looked over at Ashley. She insisted on driving, saying that no one but her had driven the car since she bought it new over forty years before. It reminded him that she was older than she looked. The funny thing was that she didn’t act that way. She had a joy for life and a vivaciousness that matched her apparent mid-twenties age, rather than her near immortal age. He supposed that her joyful response to everyday living was part of what drew him to her. She was the most down-to-earth person he had ever met, which was strange given her true nature was anything but down-to-earth.
He watched her as she headed west on I-70. Her ponytail was pulled up through the back of the baseball cap she had put on. It served to keep her hair from blowing in the breeze as she drove. The nursing lamp logo on the front of the cap fit her as well as any sports team’s logo would. Her sunglasses covered her green eyes, but he could imagine them twinkling with delight at being out on the open road. It was difficult to talk with the top down, but he didn’t mind. It was nice just to enjoy the view as they drove, listening to Ashley’s choice of what she called “Classic Road Tunes” on her phone plugged into the modern car stereo system she had installed in the dash.
He had to admit the songs were awesome for their road trip. The current tune was Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway.” That seemed particularly appropriate. He was on a highway in his life right now, and he was driving it, though sometimes it seemed to be driving him. He thought of what life had driven his way recently in the way of Ashley, Brynne, his new career, and the unique patients he had the privilege to care for. It wasn’t what he had expected, but it was certainly something he was glad to have in his life now.
Ashley flipped up the turn signal, and Dean looked over as they exited the highway. They were at the exit for the lake and should be at the lakeside cabin soon. He didn’t know what to expect, but Ashley had said they’d have all the comforts of home. It was rustic in its setting only. That was fine by him. He had never understood why people camped when there were perfectly good hotels nearby. He enjoyed the outdoors but didn’t look forward to sleeping there, at least not when there was a place with a solid roof and walls nearby. He watched as they drove down into a mountain valley, and he could see the lake, reflecting the sunlight in the distance. Their cabin was on the lake itself, and was supposed to have a boathouse with a couple of canoes and a small fishing boat with an outboard motor. They were going to have a great time here.
After about ten minutes, she turned the car down a tree-lined road that turned into a gravel lane at the end. A moment later they were pulling up to a quaint cabin set among the tall pines that bordered the lake. Dean looked around a
s he got out of the sports car. It was cooler in the shade of the tall trees. It was quiet, too. The soft pine needles that blanketed the ground meant their footsteps made virtually no sound as they walked from the car with their bags to the front porch of the cabin. There were a few wooden chairs on the porch facing the lake, and he saw that they were positioned to watch the sun setting over the lake in the evenings.
Ashley put the key in the lock and opened the cabin’s front door. She giggled a little with delight as she walked inside and spun around, her hair flying out behind her as she turned. “This is perfect,” She announced. “I so needed to get away for a few days.” She reached over and pulled Dean to her embrace. Dean dropped the bags he was carrying and wrapped his arms around her.
“We needed to get away,” Dean agreed, planting a kiss on her lips.
“Yes,” She agreed, “We did.” She broke the embrace and pulled him towards the stairs. “Let’s check out the upstairs. There’s supposed to be a skylight in the bedroom.”
Dean was barely able to reach behind him and push the door closed as she tugged his arm to follow her up to the bedroom. “Shouldn’t we grab the bags and bring them with us?” He asked as he followed her.
“You can come down and get the bags later,” She laughed. “I have plans for you first.”
Dean shrugged and left the luggage behind. He wasn’t about to argue with her. He liked it when she had plans for him.
———
It was getting dark when Dean returned downstairs to get their bags. He padded across the darkened room grabbing their two bags, his gym duffel bag, and her small wheeled carry-on suitcase. He snagged her purse and his cell phone from the counter, too. He paused to lock the door and look outside. He stopped when he saw gathering of forms in the shadows of the trees. They looked human, but all were facing the house as if waiting for something.
