The Vampire and The Paramedic (12 page)

“Instead of that,” Brynne continued with her
train of thought, “They’re drawing her blood back in the kitchen
right now and putting it in a mug just like they did at
Sabatani’s.”

“Yes,” James said, holding her gaze.

“So if I weren’t here you’d be drinking from
her directly like our friend at the next booth over?”

“Yes, and you might have a problem with that
since we’re on a date, so I ordered my drink in a cup, out of
respect to you,” James said.

“Ok,” She said, her eyes darting again to the
next booth. “I’ve got something to process. Good information to
know, I guess.” She gave him half a smile. “I’ll be fine. It’s not
like I didn’t know about this going on. I just hadn’t been faced
with it so personally and up close.”

Joel returned then with their drinks on a
tray. He set the tray down on the table in the center of the booth
and removed a small, single mug electric hot plate from the tray.
He reached down to plug the cord into an outlet in the floor at the
base of the table. He then set the plain white mug on the hot
plate, adjusted the setting knob on the side and then offered her a
tall-stemmed martini glass with her drink.

“Will there be anything else?”

James took the mug and sipped from it. He
nodded at Joel, “That is excellent. My compliments to the donor,
please.” He looked at Brynne. “How is your drink, my dear?”

She took a sip and smiled at Joel. “It is
delicious. Thank you, Joel.”

With another clack of his heels and a bow,
Joel strode back towards the kitchen.

The two of them sat sipping their drinks and
watching the crowd for a while. Brynne broke the awkward silence
first.

“So,” She said. “How’s your blood?”

“It is delicious, actually,” He replied. “She
is obviously a very healthy specimen, and a vegan as well if I
don’t miss my guess.”

“You can tell all that from the taste?”
Brynne asked.

“Yes,” James answered. “I’ve tasted a lot of
horrible blood over the centuries and over time you learn what you
like. Because of the, uh, personal nature of how vampires feed, you
get to know your …”

“Victims?” Brynne offered.

“At one time, yes,” James said. “I won’t lie
to you, Brynne. I’m a product of my times and once upon a time, I
lived in a much more direct and brutal world than I live in now.
But things are better now, for everyone. This young lady,” he
raised his mug, glancing at it. “She’ll make upwards of a thousand
dollars tonight for a few hours work and a pint of blood. Then she
will have to wait until forty-five days have passed to replenish
her red blood cells. If she chooses to offer her services again,
she can make as much again at that time. Probably more, because I
have complimented her vintage publicly. She’ll be in demand
now.”

“And she’s a willing participant, she’s not
being coerced in any way?” Brynne asked.

“Would you like to meet her? I can ask Joel
to bring her out to meet you.”

“No, I don’t need to do that.” Brynne said.
“I can accept you at your word. Like I said, I’m just getting a lot
to process, that’s all.”

“Let’s take your mind off of it for a bit,”
James said with a smile. “Would you like to dance? I’m not very
good at anything modern, but I have a few go-to moves.”

“That sounds nice,” Brynne said rising to
join him on the dance floor.

As they started dancing, James thought that
the evening was going very well indeed. He found that he didn’t
want it to end.

The rest of the evening passed by too quickly
as Brynne and James alternated between dancing and chatting in
James’ private booth. A few acquaintances came by to pay their
respects to both James and his notable paramedic companion. The
Unusual community was still abuzz with the story of Brynne’s
talents, and many wanted to meet her.

As the hour became later, and he noticed his
date was tiring, despite her enjoyment of the evening’s festivities
and attentions, James suggested they leave. “Brynne, I have had a
wonderful time, but it is late, and perhaps you would like to
leave?” She glanced at her phone to check the time, and James saw a
look of surprise at the late hour.

“I’m having such a grand time, James, that I
didn’t even realize it was so late. Is it really four AM?” Brynne
asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“No wonder I am feeling so weary all of a
sudden. I think you are right,” she said. “Maybe we should be
going. I know you would like to be inside before sunrise, and I
need to get some rest. I’m back on shift this evening at six.”

James slid out of the booth and offered his
hand to help her out. She slid towards him and pressed up against
him in a hug.

“I had a wonderful time this evening, James,”
She said. “Thank you.”

He slid an arm around her waist as they
walked toward the stairs back down to the lower level. “The
pleasure is mine, Brynne. You are a delightful companion. I have
not enjoyed the company of a woman so much for a very long time,”
James said. “I had almost forgotten what a joy such companionship
can be, so thank you.”

She reached around him with her free arm as
they walked and pulled him closer. James probed her mind and found
a pleased glow of satisfaction, enjoyment, and anticipation. The
two said their farewells to Bianca as they left and then walked
down the quiet, early-morning streets to where James had parked his
silver Lexus. As they approached, James saw the tall, blonde-haired
man he had seen watching them in Sabatani’s leaning up against the
vehicle. The scowl on his face was visible to them both as they
walked up. Brynne’s mood changed from pleased to furious in the
blink of an eye.

“Mike,” Brynne said. “What are you doing
here?”

“You know this man, Brynne?” James asked. “He
was watching us at the restaurant earlier. I saw him, and when he
realized that, he left before I could find out who he was.”

“This is my supervisor, Mike Farver,” Brynne
said. She turned her gaze back to the man. “I’ll ask you again,
Mike. What are you doing here? Are you following me?”

“I had to make sure you were safe, Brynne,”
Mike said. James saw the man’s fists clench and unclench. “It’s not
safe to be alone with this — person.”

“Mike, I know you don’t approve of me seeing
James, but you can’t go following me around like this,” Brynne
said. “It’s creepy.”

“I assure you, Michael, she was never in any
danger this evening,” James said trying to defuse the
situation.

“How can I take your word for it, vampire,”
Mike said, emphasizing the final word and stepping towards James.
“Did you think you could have a date and a midnight snack at the
same time?”

“Mike!” Brynne shouted, stepping between the
two men. “That is enough. James has been nothing but a gentleman
this evening, not that it’s any of your business. I’m not your
girlfriend, your daughter or anyone else you need to protect. Now,
James is going to take me home, and you are going to leave and get
some sleep. We’ll continue this conversation at work when I see you
tonight. Now go!”

“This is not over, vampire,” Mike said
through gritted teeth. He backed away until he was in between the
next row of parked cars and then turned and hurried across the
parking lot to his black Ford SUV. James watched, his nerves still
on edge, as the other paramedic’s vehicle roared to life, and he
gunned the engine, peeling out of the parking lot and down the
street.

Brynne watched him leave, too, and as soon as
the SUV passed out of sight between two buildings, she sighed and
turned back to him, burying her face in his chest.

“I’m so sorry, James,” She said as she hugged
him. “I should have expected something like that. Mike and I had
words about this the last time I was at work. I thought he would
leave it alone after I made my wishes to see you clear. I guess I
was wrong.”

James put his arms around Brynne as they
stood there in the parking lot for a moment of silence in the early
morning quiet. He placed his hands on either side of her head and
lifted it to look up at him.

“You are not responsible for his behavior,
Brynne,” James said. “I do not blame you.”

“He’s a good paramedic, one of the best,”
Brynne said. “I just think he is worried about me.”

“I can tell you he cares very deeply for you.
He has romantic thoughts about you, too. I saw that much in his
mind as we had our confrontation,” James noted. “I am glad he did
not provoke an attack. I would not want to hurt someone who is
close to you.”

“He’s my partner and supervisor at work.
That’s all,” Brynne assured him. Her hand rose to the cross pendant
dangling at her throat. “I didn’t know that he had more feelings
than that, but it makes some more sense now that I think about it.
He gave me this necklace when I first took this job caring for
Unusuals. At the time I thought it was merely a gesture of
common-sense protection. I think that he meant it to be more.” She
reached behind her neck and detached the clasp of the necklace,
removing it and dropping it into her clutch purse.

“Why did you remove it?” James asked. “I do
not care that he gave it to you. It is attractive on you.”

“I know that I don’t need it,” She said. “At
least not with you.” Brynne leaned into him again, her head tilted,
looking up into his eyes.

James cupped her face gently in his hands and
kissed her, savoring the feeling of her lips on his. The scent of
her perfume, the adrenaline rush of the confrontation with Mike,
and his desire for her all mixed to make the kiss electric to
him.

As the kiss ended Brynne whispered, “Well,
that was nice.” She laughed as she looked up at him again. “And
see, I’m still alive. You didn’t attack me.”

“It’s not because I didn’t want to, Brynne,”
James said smiling. “Attack you in one way, at least. You are hard
to resist.”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait until the
next time,” Brynne said, winking at him. “Who knows, maybe I’ll be
the one doing the attacking.” She walked over to the car, and he
opened the passenger door for her as she climbed in. He noticed a
flush of color that extended from her face down to where her
cleavage appeared from the top of her dress. The heat of her
increased blood flow was evident to his vampire senses.

He walked to his side and joined her in the
car, starting it up and driving out of the city, back to her
apartment building in the suburbs. They were quiet in the car, but
she placed her hand on his thigh as he drove, and he took one hand
from the wheel to hold her hand. It felt good, right, to drive with
her next to him as they headed into the early morning darkness.

———

James spent the next few days both thinking
about the next time he could see Brynne and pondering an
appropriate response to the confrontation with Mike Farver,
Brynne’s paramedic partner. If he had been a vampire or other
aggressive Unusual, the response would have been immediate and
final. That was their way. With humans, however, that could lead to
problems with the authorities at a time when things were better
between the parallel communities than they had ever been. He talked
with Celeste, and her opinion was to wait and see if Mike showed up
again for a future confrontation.

The problem, it turned out, resolved itself.
To be honest, Brynne addressed it herself, in her typical head-on
fashion. She approached her superiors, asking for a review of
Mike’s behavior due to harassing comments and the situation in the
parking lot. Mike was reprimanded and moved to the academy to teach
students there, so he was off the streets for the time being. She
had handled it herself without making him a part of it at all.

James reminded himself that Brynne was a very
capable woman. That was something that drew him to her, which was
strange considering his age and how old-fashioned he was in other
ways. There was just something about her that had him thinking
about her off and on all day, every day, wondering when they could
see each other again. He knew she was on night shift for the time
being and she wouldn’t appreciate him just showing up on an
ambulance call or at Station U while she was working. Also, seeing
her in the daylight hours was problematic. He could drive by in his
car - the windows were specially tinted to block the harmful
spectrum of sunlight - but they couldn’t go out anywhere that
didn’t have an underground garage.

No, he had to wait until she was off at night
again, or, even better, when she had several days off. He decided
he would call her at the end of her next shift and see when she
would like them to see each other again. She had told him that she
would be in touch as soon as she could break away, but when he
hadn’t heard from her in the intervening days, he thought he should
call her. He looked at his watch and looked out through the tinted
windows of his penthouse apartment at the rising sun. He keyed the
remote that lowered the blackout shutters. He would let her get
home from work and then call her. He picked up the remote and put
on CNN to watch the national and international news while he
waited. He was still watching the news when Celeste entered.

“I’m leaving for the day. I’ve got everything
finished, and besides, you have a guest on the way up,” She
said.

“A guest?” James asked.

“You’ll see,” She said, with a mischievous
grin as she turned toward the elevator. “Have a good day, I’ll see
you tonight.” James watched her go down the hallway to the
penthouse entrance and the elevators. A few seconds later he heard
the elevator bell ring and then, “Hello, Brynne. Don’t keep him up
all day.”

James turned and watched Brynne enter from
the hallway. She was wearing tight-fitting blue jeans, a fitted
white T-shirt, and a leather jacket. She took off the jacket and
draped it over a chair as she approached. He sensed desire and
something else, maybe curiosity at the edges of her mind. Brynne
leaned over the back of the couch where he was sitting and pressed
her soft lips against his.