Book 9 of the Extreme Medical Services series opens with a call that starts routine and turns delightfully strange. Dean Flynn and his new probationary partner, Leah Casado, are working a cardiac arrest when their patient, mid-resuscitation, sprouts fur and fangs and shifts into a werewolf right there on the living room floor. It’s a sharp, funny reminder of exactly what kind of paramedic work Station U handles, and it doubles as a great way to introduce Leah, a were-jaguar still learning the medical side of treating her own community.

Once the patient is stabilized, the chapter shifts into the series’ beloved found-family register back at the station: Lieutenant Brynne Garvey needling Dean about resuscitation awards Station U never gets credit for, Freddy the zombie chef serving crab cakes with a new spice blend, and tired new parents Brook and Tammy stumbling out of the bunk room between calls. It’s warm, lived-in, and exactly the kind of grounding scene the series does best between bigger mysteries.

Underneath the comfort, though, Dean’s unease is building. He notices the whole department has been slammed with an unexplained spike in calls, and he’s learned not to trust coincidences. The chapter’s real hook comes in its final lines: as Dean drives home worried about his wife Jaz, still away at a security conference, an unnamed woman in a long black duster watches from the shadows outside the station before vanishing — a clear signal that something is quietly closing in on Dean’s world.

Chapter 1 does exactly what a strong series opener should: reestablish the cast, deliver a fun standalone case, and plant a mystery that has nothing to do with the werewolf at all.

📖 Start Dean’s next case — get The Paramedic’s Sorceress on Jamie Davis’s site:

jamiedavisbooks.com/books/the-paramedics-sorceress/

 

The Paramedic’s Sorceress — Chapter 1

Paramedic Dean Flynn finished pushing the syringe and disconnected it from the IV tubing. Beside him, a pair of Elk City firefighters performed CPR on the man lying on the living room floor. Dean looked up and checked the heart monitor, watching the tracing of the line that showed the heart rhythm. Ventricular fibrillation, again.

“Leah?”

His probationary paramedic, Leah Casado knelt beside the heart monitor. She glanced at the screen. “V-Fib, shock him again.” She reached over and laid her finger on the monitor’s shock button, ready to deliver the charge she’d dialed in. Leah glanced around the area around the patient saying, “I’m clear, you’re clear, we are all clear.” She made a last check to make sure no one touched the patient and pressed the button. The man’s body jerked and then went still again.

Leah called out. “Resume CPR.”

The firefighter kneeling next to the patient leaned over, beginning compressions again. Kneeling beside the man’s head, another firefighter continued to operate the bag-valve mask, squeezing the bag and breathing for the patient in between compressions.

Dean watched the monitor and looked over at his probie. “What next?”

“We pump him some more and check for a pulse.”

A ripping snarl interrupted their conversation before Dean could reply. On the floor, the man’s body sprouted fur along his exposed arms, chest, and face. His fingers elongated into talons and the face pressed outward against the oxygen mask, turning into a wolf-like snout, complete with sharp canines. The cardiac arrest patient had not just revived after the shock but also turned into a werewolf.

The two firefighters performing CPR jumped backward from the snarling creature awakening before them.

“Get back in there. We have to hold him down.” Dean followed his shout by diving across the body, pinning the arms of the struggling beast to its side. Clearly, this guy’s pulse had returned. As he returned to life, his shifter instincts triggered his change to wolf form.

Dean struggled, losing the battle to control the creature beneath him. Leah joined him, gripping the struggling wolf’s arms at the wrist, holding the guy down. She lent her own incredible shifter strength to Dean’s paltry human efforts. Together with the two firefighters joining in, they were able to hold the werewolf down.

Behind Dean, a woman’s voice came from the open front door. “Another save? That’s two this month, Dean. You two are going to get the department’s resuscitation award this year if you keep that pace going.”

Dean craned his neck to see his supervisor and former partner, Lieutenant Brynne Garvey, standing there. “They never give it to paramedics from Station U. With shifters and other Unusuals who regenerate, truly fatal cardiac arrests are few and far between. More often than not, they resuscitate themselves, like this one did. We just show up to monitor his progress.”

Brynne shrugged. “I’ll still put in the paperwork. You two shocked him to get him back. They’ve got to recognize the extra difficulties we have in these situations.”

The patient had stopped struggling. The werewolf settled down and shifted back into a man as he regained control of his faculties. “M-m-my chest hurts.” A groan followed his gasping words as the pain of repeated, vigorous chest compressions and cracked ribs settled in.

Dean and Leah relaxed. The two sat up from where they’d been laying across him. The firefighters backed away as well, gathering their gear and cleaning up the area around the guy.

“Sorry about that,” Dean said. “You went into cardiac arrest and we had to perform CPR on you.”

The man’s eyes widened at the words. “I was dead?”

“Near enough,” Leah said. “We pulled you through, though. You still need to go to the hospital, but I think you’ll be alright once the cardiologist gets a look at what’s going on with your heart.”

The man nodded, then called out as he spotted his wife and children standing in the corner. They’d watched everything.

Before he could say a word, the wife said, “No more cheeseburgers for you. We are switching you to fish and salad from now on.”

The man groaned again as Dean and Leah shared a smile. Brynne walked over to the family and took down some additional information while Leah and Dean packaged their patient for transport to Elk City Medical Center. Dean guessed this patient was destined for the hospital’s cardiac catheter lab. They needed to open up the arteries that sent blood to his heart. It was just another day in the life of a Station U paramedic.

A half-hour later, Dean and Leah rolled back into the parking lot at their station. The average passer-by would never know an ambulance station sat in the run-down industrial park at the edge of the city. Despite the sketchy surroundings, though, Dean felt at home in this nondescript location. He and his partners here treated the supernatural creatures of Elk City and its surroundings. Their work was vitally important to all the Unusuals in the area.

Pulling around back, he drove up in front of the ambulance bay doors, waiting for them to rise so Leah could get out and help him back in. She hopped out and walked around back.

Once parked, Dean shut off the engine. He plugged in the land line power cord and then headed back to help Leah restock their supplies from their last call. It was almost the end of the shift and there were a lot of things to get done if they were going to leave on time.

“That was weird how he came back suddenly like that. Does it happen like that all the time?” Leah asked.

Dean shrugged. “With shifters, it does. We usually see them come back that way before we ever get to check for a pulse. It’s the best sign we have of a spontaneous return of circulation.”

Leah shook her head, lost in thought as she considered what her partner said. Being a were-jaguar, she knew much about the Unusual community, but she still had a lot to learn about the medical care they needed. Dean hoped she wasn’t the last Unusual to join the team. It was good to have someone from the community they served working alongside the human paramedics that staffed these special ambulances.

Dean nodded towards the rear doors of their unit. “I can finish up here. Why don’t you go in and get started on your report? It’s almost the end of the shift and it would be nice to get out of here on time for a change.”

Leah nodded. “It has been a little busy lately, hasn’t it? When will it settle down again?”

Dean smiled. “Your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes things get busier than usual for no reason. Brynne will let us know if anything special is going on.”

Leah left to get her patient reports in order. Both of them were more than a little overworked right now. In fact, all the paramedics in the city were feeling the strain with an increase in minor accidents and medical calls causing all sorts of trauma and injury. It could be just a random spike in ambulance calls, but Dean worried it was something else. He’d learned to distrust coincidences.

By the time Dean finished restocking the meds and supplies, Leah had added the finishing touches to her report at the computer workstation inside the squad room. She looked over as Dean entered and said, “Do you want to come over here and check on what I’m doing? I think I’ve got everything filled out correctly. It’s only the second time I’ve filled out the special form for a cardiac arrest.”

“Just drop it into the system. It’ll show up in my queue for me to sign off on it. That way it’ll send the report to the hospital for their records, too. They’ll need it to add to the guy’s medical reports while he’s there.” Dean scanned the break room. “Hey, where’s our relief? They’re usually here by now.”

“Not sure. The place was empty when I came in from the ambulance bay.”

Dean scanned the room and called out. “Freddy, are you here?”

“In the kitchen, Dean,” a gravelly voice called from the far side of the room. “I’m just finishing up dinner. It’ll be ready in a few minutes if you have the time to stick around and eat.”

“Where is the next shift? Brook and Tammy should be here by now.”

Freddy poked his head out from the small kitchen that served the station. The zombie’s gray skin stretched thin over his bones. “They came in early and racked out in the bunk rooms. They both looked beat.”

Dean smiled. Both of them were parents and sometimes came into the station early to catch a nap before work since they couldn’t often get a lot of sleep at home. He guessed having children around tended to make too much noise. He decided to let them wake up on their own while he finished up the last chores of the shift.

It took Dean and Leah twenty minutes to finish up and sit down to eat dinner. Brook was the first to stumble out of the women’s bunk room. She gave a wave and headed into the bathroom to freshen up.

Tammy emerged next and headed straight for the station’s coffee maker to pour herself a fresh mug of Freddy’s excellent coffee. “How was your day?”

Dean finished the food in his mouth before answering. “Crazy. We haven’t been back to the station until now. I hope your evening goes better.”

“Me, too. Brook and I have been running non-stop on our last few shifts, too.”

“Come. Sit and eat something. The ambulance is ready to go for you so you don’t need to do the checks right away. This crab cake sandwich is amazing.”

Freddy beamed from where he stood nearby, his thin lips separating in a smile, revealing his gap-toothed grin. “I’m glad you liked it, Dean. I’m using a new spice blend besides the traditional Old Bay seasoning.”

Tammy took a bite of hers and sighed. “Freddy, you’re a genius. How do you keep getting better at this all the time?”

The zombie chef shrugged. “It’s just nice to be appreciated.” He headed back into his kitchen, leaving the paramedics to enjoy the food.

Dean had finished his plate and stood to take his dishes to the sink. He picked up Leah’s empty plate on his way by. She nodded thanks without looking up from her phone.

Leaving the dishes in the sink for Freddy to take care of, Dean waved at his colleagues. “I’m getting out of here. Don’t stay here too long, Leah. We’ve got an early start tomorrow.”

She waved to indicate she’d heard him while continuing reading what was on her phone. Dean smiled and left her to her texts, chats, or whatever occupied her time after work. She’d earned a break.

Outside, Dean pulled his coat close around him to ward off the late-December chill. He’d be glad when it wasn’t dark at both ends of his shift anymore. A person needed a little sunlight once in a while. He checked his phone, hoping to get a message from his wife. She’d been down in Baltimore at a security conference all day, and he wanted to hear she was on her way home.

The screen showed no new notifications. Still no word.

Disappointed, Dean climbed into his pickup truck and started on his way home to wait for his wife to return. He would be glad when her schedule settled down as well. They needed to reconnect and start sharing regular meals again. He almost wished something would come up that required their joint attention, even though that type of thing meant a crisis of some sort going on.

Dean shook his head, banishing the thought. It was foolish to wish for something like that.

As he drove from the parking lot, he never noticed the woman in a long, black duster step away from the shadows beside the station. She watched him drive off, then snapped her fingers and disappeared.

 

📖 Loved Chapter 1? Keep going — get The Paramedic’s Sorceress on Jamie Davis’s site:

jamiedavisbooks.com/books/the-paramedics-sorceress/