Free The Vampire and The Paramedic by Jamie Davis

whispered to herself
behind him. “I’ve never … just incredible.”
    “ It’s a
girl,” Brynne announced as she used a small, clean hand towel to
wipe the baby off and dry her. The paramedic paused a moment as she
got to the back where folded, gossamer-thin wings lay against the
baby’s back. She carefully blotted at the delicate, insect-like
membranes up to where they emerged between the child’s shoulder
blades and then looked up at the new mother. “It’s a beautiful baby
girl!” Brynne repeated.
    Rebekah laughed and hugged Jenny then moved
aside as her mother took her place and hugged her. James saw that
the paramedic had also placed some clamps on the umbilical cord
spaced about four inches apart. She took a pair of stainless steel
bandage scissors and cut the cord between the two clamps, taking a
few tries to get all the way through the thick membranes. Brynne
then carefully wrapped the baby in a clean, dry bath towel.
    “Do you want to hold her?” Brynne asked,
offering the baby to the new mother. Jenny had tears in her eyes as
she took the proffered baby from the paramedic at the foot of the
bed, nestling the newborn into her new mother’s arms. Brynne placed
her hand on the girl’s belly, seeming to feel for something.
“There’s just one more thing to do here, Jenny. You’re going to
feel a few more lighter contractions as I massage your uterus. That
will help you deliver the placenta, the afterbirth. It won’t hurt
as much, I promise.”
    “Ok, Brynne,” the girl said looking up from
where she had been gazing at her baby’s face. “Thank you for
helping me.”
    “I’m glad I was here to do it,” Brynne said,
smiling as she continued to use one hand to massage the girl’s
abdomen. “Do you know what you want to name her?”
    Jenny looked at her mother and then back to
Brynne. “I’ve always liked the name ‘Ellie.’ Aaaand … uh … I
wondered if you’d be okay if I made her middle name ‘Brynne,’ if
that’s alright?”
    Brynne smiled at her. “I’d be honored to know
another Brynne was in the world. Thank you, Jenny.” The paramedic
looked down between her patient’s legs and used both her hands to
do something, which James couldn’t see clearly. She wrapped
something up in a red plastic bag, tying a knot in the top to hold
it closed. She pulled the lower edge of the sheet down to cover
Jenny’s lower half after gathering up all the soiled towels used to
soak up the birth matter. “All done!” she announced taking off her
gloves.
    Brynne stood up, looking at James with a
flushed smile on her face. She turned back to her patient. “Jenny,
I know you and your mother already said no, but I’d like to ask you
again to reconsider and let me take you in to the hospital.”
    Jenny clutched her baby to her tighter. “No,
no hospital,” She said firmly. “I know what happens there. There
are experiments done there on people like us, like little
Ellie.”
    The girl’s mother spoke up, too. She had a
slight accent that sounded vaguely like Russian or some other
Eastern European accent. “The midwife will be back tomorrow. We
called her. She will check in on the baby and my Jenny. She will
take care of us like she always has.”
    James had known the answer even as Brynne
asked it. “I will send a driver to pick her up tonight. I can have
her back here first thing in the morning, Brynne. It’s probably the
best we can do,” he said.
    “Thank you, Lord James,” the mother said,
bowing her head in respect as she said it.
    “Well, there are a few more things I can do
here even though I’m not a maternity nurse,” Brynne said. “The rest
of you clear out of here while I help Jenny and her mother get this
new baby to nurse and get some food in her. I know that much.” She
looked up from her patient and saw everyone still standing in the
doorway. “That means you, too, ‘Lord James.’” James sensed a bit of
sarcasm in her voice as she said it. He also sensed the