Chapter 2 of The Paramedic’s Nemesis is one of the most distinctive structural choices Jamie Davis makes across the series: an entire chapter given over entirely to the villain’s perspective. Artur, the ancient vampire who has been engineering chaos in Elk City across multiple books, does not appear here as a caricature of evil. He appears as a strategist — frustrated, adapting, and genuinely dangerous in the way that only a being who has spent centuries thinking in terms of decades can be.

Why readers love a well-written villain POV chapter

Urban fantasy readers who specifically seek out series with compelling antagonists — rather than just compelling heroes — will find Artur one of the most interesting characters in the series. Chapter 2 gives us his internal assessment of the funeral home failure: what went wrong, why the Station U paramedics continue to frustrate his plans, and what he intends to do differently. His analysis is cold, precise, and occasionally funny in the way that genuine arrogance tends to be. He notes that he had “a front-row seat” to the zombie attack he engineered, which he considers one of his better schemes until, once again, the ambulance showed up.

The “Dean is protected and Artur knows it” dynamic

One of the chapter’s most significant revelations is that Artur has a specific reason for not simply attacking Dean directly: the last time he touched Dean, something protective in the contact nearly undid him. He does not fully understand the source of this protection — he suspects it is residual from Ashley’s Eldara presence — but he respects it enough to plan around it. For readers who enjoy villain narratives where the antagonist is genuinely wary of the protagonist rather than simply underestimating them, this detail is a significant and satisfying piece of series lore.

Felicity Richards and the cost of being incidental

The chapter ends with Artur charming a health department worker named Felicity Richards and taking her home. It is a chilling ending precisely because of how efficiently it is handled — she is not a plot-significant character at this stage, she is simply convenient, and Artur’s casual willingness to use her as transportation and a meal flags more clearly than any speech could just how different his moral universe is from Dean’s. For readers who love antagonists whose evil is shown through behavior rather than stated through monologue, this closing beat is exactly the right note.

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CHAPTER TEXT

The Paramedic’s Nemesis — Chapter 2

Artur watched Dean Flynn climb into the ambulance from his vantage point across the parking lot. The vampire lord had been able to conceal himself amidst the initial rush of people out the doors of the funeral home once the ambulance arrived. He had not counted on such a rapid response to the attacks. It had been his plan that the woman would attack all the people and they would disperse so that the local authorities would be unable to locate all of them. That would give them all time to start the turning of a larger zombie horde in the city and surroundings, creating a final confrontation between the humans and Unusuals here in Elk City. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen tonight.

He reached into his overcoat’s pocket and felt the withered finger he held there. The artifact had been hard to locate and even more difficult to obtain once he’d discovered its location. The relic was the detached finger of the great Occulus, the Eldara warrior from the earliest days of the conflict between good and evil on earth. He had lost his right hand during a battle with the demon lord Asmodeus somewhere on the Assyrian Plains around four hundred B.C. The people of the time had divided the appendage up into individual relics that were used to do everything from heal mortal wounds and fatal diseases, to endow warriors with nearly endless endurance. This particular appendage, the ring finger, imparted on the user the ability to control the dead, either turning away and controlling Unusuals of undead types or creating new ones from the freshly dead.

Artur had used a substantial amount of the power stored in the relic that day to animate Gladys tonight. It had nearly worked out. Now he had to let the finger recharge for a day before he could use it again. He’d have to plan more carefully in the future if his plans were to work. There was also the challenge of avoiding the young human paramedic who seemed always to be there to counter him at the worst possible time. Mr. Flynn needed to be dealt with at some point, too.

The plan had been simple. Artur had shown up at the viewing and funeral with the intention of setting the woman loose on the visitors. He pretended to be a family member and mingled with the crowd. He blended in, playing the part as a distant cousin of Gladys McKellin. Even the closest family had not seen through his ploy, so there was not even need to use his vampire powers to charm anyone. They had invited him to visit the deceased in the casket, and he had accepted, waiting until he was alone to pull out the relic and touch the fingertip to the woman’s forehead and heart three times as the ritual demanded.

Then it was merely a game of waiting for the ceremony to begin. He was offered a seat in the front row with the surviving family members. He graciously accepted. It would be enjoyable to have a front-row seat for the coming festivities. He was not disappointed. He muttered one word under his breath while gripping the relic in his pocket.

“Rise.”

The gasps of alarm from those seated around him when she suddenly sat upright in the casket had been delightful to him. When she vaulted from the raised platform to attack the minister, who was delivering a tiresome sermon on living a virtuous life, the alarmed gasps turned to shrieks and screams of fear. He particularly enjoyed the memory of one little girl who sat crying through the whole attack, asking the same thing over and over again.

“Grandma, why?”

He had to admit it started out as one of the better schemes he had ever implemented in his long un-life, but that all changed when he ran outside with the others in the crowd to find the ambulance pulling into the parking lot. Once again, the cursed Station U paramedics showed up, plied their trade, and saved his victims from their fate. Artur contemplated more than once racing over to snap the necks of the paramedics, ridding the world of at least two of them once and for all. He thought better of it, though. He remembered the shocking touch he’d received before when contacting the Flynn boy.

The last time he’d tried to lay hands on that one, the contact had nearly undone him, though he covered it well. He wasn’t sure if Dean was under that protection anymore. He had managed to dispose of the Eldara bitch, even if only temporarily. There was no telling, though, if she had bestowed some lasting benefit from her presence on him. Over the past few centuries, she and her infernal Valkyrie sister, Ingrid, had done many things that had surprised him and foiled his plans. Artur would be more careful and bide his time on this go around. He had plans for paramedic Dean Flynn.

He was distracted a moment later from his contemplation of what he would do to Dean Flynn some day. An attractive brunette woman in a reflective orange and yellow vest that read “Health Department” walked up to him in the parking lot. He had been careless standing in the shadows so close by. She had noticed him standing on his own and came over to ask him to join the others.

“Sir, excuse me, but have you been inoculated against the infection from the outbreak?”

She laid a hand on his arm, and he spun on her in anger, gazing into her eyes. He was frustrated by his failed plan this evening. Perhaps this young cutie would offer him some entertainment for the night, as well as a meal later on. He bared his fangs at her in a broad grin as he poured the power of his charm ability over her like a deluge of water. She had a moment’s fear in her eyes, and then her face went blank.

“What is your name?” The ancient vampire asked.

“Felicity. Felicity Richards.”

“Well, Felicity, do you live alone?”

“I do, sire.”

“Did you drive here on your own or did you ride with a group?”

“I came in my car, sire,” she answered in a monotone.

“Excellent. I would like to leave here now without anyone noticing. Bring your vehicle over here so I may enter from the shadows. Then you may drive me to your abode.”

“Yes, sire. It will be my pleasure.” She turned and walked away to fetch her car without any further hesitation. Artur smiled. The evening had not been a total loss after all.

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