Chapter 4 of The Paramedic’s Hunter is a quieter chapter on the surface, but it is doing some of the most important structural work in the whole opening section of the book. Dean spends his days off exhausting himself in research, trying and failing to crack Ingrid’s cryptic quest instructions, before finally collapsing into the kind of sleep that comes only from being pushed past your limits. Readers who love urban fantasy protagonists who are allowed to be tired, frustrated, and genuinely stuck — rather than effortlessly capable — will find this section quietly affecting.

The reveal readers have been waiting three books for: Brynne is a vampire now

This chapter confirms a major series development in passing: Brynne, Dean’s original mentor and partner, survived a fatal gunshot wound by being turned into a vampire, and is now adjusting to her new existence under the care of James Lee and his assistant Celeste. For readers who have followed Brynne since book one, this understated confirmation — delivered through a casual phone call rather than a dramatic scene — is exactly the kind of earned payoff that rewards long-term series readers without requiring a recap.

“Jaswinder Errington” — the name readers will recognize before Dean does

The chapter’s best piece of dramatic irony comes when Dean learns that his mandatory self-defense training, prompted by the recent demon attacks, will be taught by a security firm called Errington Security Outfitters, led by a man named Jaswinder Errington. Readers who picked up on Jaz’s last name and her family’s hunter clan in chapter 2 will immediately make the connection that Dean has not yet made. For readers who love series-spanning puzzle pieces clicking into place slightly ahead of the protagonist, this is exactly the kind of reward that makes re-reading earlier chapters worthwhile.

Watching eyes in the dark

The chapter ends on an unsettling final image: glowing red eyes on Dean’s rooftop, watching him leave for the day, before dissolving into red mist. For readers who love urban fantasy chapters that end with a quiet, dread-inducing sting rather than a loud cliffhanger, this closing beat confirms that the threat from book one’s opening chapter has not gone away — it has only been watching, waiting for its next opportunity.

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CHAPTER TEXT

The Paramedic’s Hunter — Chapter 4

Dean had the next two days off after his string of twelve-hour night shifts. He used that time for some in-depth research into what the instructions Ingrid forwarded to him could mean. He was supposed to assemble a team for a quest to get Ashley back, and that team was supposed to have three specific parts. Despite that information, as well as doing some targeted Google searches and reading, Dean felt no closer to getting Ashley’s rescue underway.

He spent much of the two days in the Elk City Library’s main branch, looking at every mythological and legendary reference on quests and searches for missing characters in the stories. He re-read and skimmed stories like the section from the Lord of the Rings trilogy where Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas hunted for the lost hobbits. Dean spent time searching online resources for tales of classic trios of heroes, all to try to narrow down what type of people he was looking for.

At the end of the two-day intensive search, Dean was only sure of one thing. In most quests, the heroes ended up together almost by chance. They ended up in a location to do one thing and soon found themselves tied together by a common bond that none of them really understood. He supposed it made for a good story, but from the viewpoint of living inside the unfolding tale, it just sucked. It was midnight on the last of his two days off when he finally threw up his hands and gave up. He hated to say it, but he had nothing to go on to lead him to Ashley. He was stumped.

The realization brought him to near tears when it hit him. Part of that was the exhaustion and the lack of sleep that hounded him. The other side of it was his intense connection to Ashley, and from his experiences alongside her during the previous months since he started at Station U. Ashley and Brynne, his former paramedic mentor and partner, had been important parts of his life over those stressful months. Now Brynne was a vampire and could no longer work as a paramedic. Ashley was kidnapped and held for some reason he didn’t understand, and he was left alone to pick up the pieces. It was almost too much for him to bear. In light of that, he decided he might have to give up on all of them because he wasn’t sure he was up to the task laid before him by Ingrid and the divine forces she and Ashley served.

Sleep eventually rescued him from his thoughts. It was the kind of sleep that took you when you had pushed yourself too long and too hard beyond your physical and mental limits. It was the kind of sleep Dean knew he needed and he surrendered to it, not caring about anything else anymore.

*   *   *

He was awakened by the usual alarm for day shift on his smart phone. It was four-thirty in the morning. Time to get up, get some breakfast and get ready for his first day shift back in the rotation. He swiped to open his phone and saw that he had an urgent text message from work. Checking the message, and then looking at his emails for more detail, he saw that fire headquarters was pulling in all the paramedics by shift to undergo some sort of self-defense training.

An additional text message from Chief Ari, the fire department’s deputy chief for emergency medical services, gave more detail on why the sudden need for this training. It was more informative than the department-wide email. Ari informed him that it was a response to the recent demon attack that he and Barry had responded to. There had been similar, but unconfirmed, demon attacks around the city. It was thought that a special set of scene awareness and defense trainings might help the EMS and Fire crews avoid dangerous situations until the culprit or culprits were found and stopped. The Station U crews would benefit from it especially.

He and Barry were to meet with all the city’s C-shift paramedic crews for training at the academy that morning from eight-thirty until twelve noon. Then they would all head to work at their stations.

Dean looked at the email again and found some information on the outside contracting organization involved with the training. They were a security firm Dean had heard of, but only barely. Errington Security Outfitters were supposedly a high-end security and bodyguard service used by visiting celebrities and other important visitors to the region. They had offices in all the major cities up and down the east coast, but were based here in Elk City, according to their write up in the email. The training for the paramedics would be led by some guy called Jaswinder Errington. He possessed several black belts as well as certifications in martial arts and self-defense techniques.

Dean tried to approach all of their ongoing education classes with an open mind. He had to get over forty-eight hours of training every two years to maintain his Maryland paramedic license. Dean always looked forward to those unusual or different classes over the typical medical ones for which they all had to take refreshers. This self-defense and scene safety class might be one that would come in handy in his specific paramedic practice with the Unusual community. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

He jumped in the shower and planned the rest of his morning. Since he didn’t have to be at the station at six as usual and the class did not start until eight-thirty, Dean figured he had time to stop in and visit someone he had not had a lot of time to hang with in the last month or so. Plus this friend might have some ideas about where to find his quest partners. After he dried off and changed into his uniform, Dean pulled out his phone and dialed a number, waiting while it rang through to the other side.

“Well, hello Dean,” the smooth southern drawl on the other end of the line said. “Long time, no talk. What can I do for you?”

“Hi, Celeste,” Dean answered. “I wondered how Brynne was doing and if she was up to having visitors this morning?” Celeste was a vampire, and personal assistant to James Lee, the vampire lord of Elk City. James was the boyfriend of his ex-partner Brynne Garvey, the ex-partner he had decided would live on as a vampire after a fatal gunshot wound. She was still acclimating to the turning and was not always up to meeting with humans in the flesh. Their human heartbeats and freshly pulsing blood could be distracting to her, and that could be problematic for the object of her distraction.

“She has been doing much better, and I think with James and I present to watch over her, she would love to see you,” Celeste replied. “When were you thinking of dropping by?”

“I have a training class downtown this morning at eight-thirty, and I thought I might come by there around seven to visit before class.”

“That will be perfect,” Celeste said. “I’ll tell Brynne and James you are stopping by. They will be so excited you are coming over. See you later.”

For a while, Dean and Ashley had lived in James’ building downtown in an effort to protect him from attacks from The Cause. It had been fun living there like a stay at a posh hotel, but there was no place like home. Dean had moved back to his apartment in the suburbs, where he lived above a detached garage owned by a nice elderly couple. His landlords, Mr. And Mrs. Baxter, were very nice and he caught a break on his rent by doing odd chores around the house and yard for them. It was a good arrangement and he was glad to be back home.

Dean left his place, made sure he locked up, and headed down the exterior stairs to the driveway and the residential street where he had parked his white Ford pickup truck. It was still dark out, although the light of the coming dawn was starting to brighten the eastern sky. Dean unlocked the door and climbed in, starting the truck and heading towards the expressway that would take him downtown. He didn’t see the red glowing eyes perched above the roof of his apartment, watching him leave. The eyes blinked twice, then the creature that owned them folded in on itself and disappeared in a red mist.

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