The Enemy

They lived in a nice town in North Dakota and she loved it here. She loved her job as a medical examiner. Sometimes she got to help solve a murder and help someone. She loved helping people even when no one knew she was helping.

She wished she could have saved some of them but it's too late by the time they made it to her office. The dead are safer to deal with and if she tells them her secret, they will never tell. She was weird. She did a thorough job and the police and hospitals in Bismarck would send a lot of work her way. They tried to hire her a couple of times but she wasn't moving.

Emma's phone rang. She sighed. Byron was calling and that meant trouble. "Sir!" She answered and knew there was trouble.

"Emma. You okay?" Byron was worried.

"I told you not to worry. I'm fine. Did you see the mess I left? I know you did." Emma sighed.

"Taken care of. Anything new?" He needed an update.

"No. Nothing. It was a terrible sight. Those vampires were drunk, Byron. Drunk on blood that they didn't need!" Emma was mad.

"I know. I'm working just now. I may have something for you later in the week. Stay out of trouble for now." Byron hung up.

"Typical. Don't say goodbye, just hang up!" Emma smiled. She loved that he just hung up. His phone etiquette sucked.

The doorbell rang. Someone was at the front. It was the only way in unless you had a key to the backdoor. They rang the bell when there was a delivery.

A delivery meant it was a case to keep her busy. She started to reminisce and that was bad. She signed for the body and was left alone. She took her time. She read the file and called the doctor in charge, Dr. Hinkle. He was a good doctor at Memorial Hospital in Bismarck. She hadn't met him in real life but they video chatted when there was a tough case.

"Dr. Hinkle. You don't have an ID?" Emma knew he didn't. The corpse was burnt to a crisp.

"Good evening, Dr. Beckett. I don't know anything. It's a strange case. He was still screaming when the police arrived on the scene. That is not normal. We think it was a car accident but the police had no idea how the vehicle caught fire. It's strange. Let me know what you find. Thanks." Dr. Hinkle sighed through the phone.

"Sure. I'll get back to you. Let me know if anything else comes up." Emma smiled at the phone. She liked working with Dr. Emmett Hinkle. He was kind and when he demanded, he said please and thank you. He always had manners. Some of them didn't.

Emma hung up and uncovered the corpse. The smell of burnt flesh was strong. She looked the body over and froze. This was a vampire not a human. Oh, shit! Her night just got complicated.

She got fingerprints or partials anyway, but it might be enough for a hit on someone and started the autopsy before he woke back up. He would begin to heal but she needed some information.

Emma just started to cut into his chest and the doors flew open. She dropped her scalpel in shock. Not a lot shocked her but this did.

Two men were armed to the teeth with knives and swords, aimed at the body. They both looked wild. She didn't have time to freak out as her mind flew into options.

Two hunters just stormed into her office and into her examining room. Both men were armed with swords, "Malcolm, get her back!"

Malcolm nodded and pulled Emma back. "Step back, Ma'am!" One demanded and blocked her from the body. He didn't want her to get bitten.

Emma stared at the one on the far side of the room. He looked familiar. He was in her dream. This was bad. She was trying not to panic but she didn't know what this meant.

The guy closest to her, Malcolm, pushed her back farther and they both waited. She knew they were waiting for the burned corpse to wake up. She was still panicking over hunters being in her office.

"Ma'am. You need to leave. Now." The familiar one, Hottie, demanded. She was calling him Hottie.

Emma glared at him. "This is my office and I am not leaving. You don't belong here!" She had to be normal. What would a normal person say right now? "Why do you have swords and I assure you that this man is very dead!" That sounded good.

"We belong here more than you know, I'm afraid, and if you are going to stay, then stay out of our way. I would hate to kill you on accident." Hottie said and smiled at her.

Emma started to smile. She cleared her throat and backed up farther. The corpse began to heal and move. Emma tried to look shocked and breathed heavily. She was sure this was what someone would do.

She stood by the wall and stared. She watched Hottie cut off the vampires head. She cringed and looked away. That could be her. She slid down the wall and sat on the floor, that part was real. She just saw how they would kill her.

Malcolm helped Emma to her feet and she just stared. Good reaction, she thought. They did just cut the head off a dead man in a morgue. Yes. Staring was appropriate.

Hottie was better looking in real life. He knew how to wear a black t-shirt. Nice and tight. She just stared at him. Not too much muscle but enough to fill out that shirt nicely.

He had a couple of tattoos on his arms and one that went up his neck around to his back. She wondered what it was. Whenever he took a breath, his shirt got a little tighter...that dream really messed her up.

Cash noticed that the hot doctor was looking at him pretty hard. He watched her eyes go over his torso and he liked it. She was gorgeous. She had pretty brown eyes and long dark hair.

She had a lab coat on so he had no idea what her body looked like but he was guessing she was hot. He wanted to find out but they were working right now. No time for the hot doctor.

Malcolm cleared his throat. His brother and the doctor were now just staring at each other. "Sorry for the intrusion, Doctor...?"

Emma's eyes snapped back to the brother. He was hot too. He wore his hair short and spiked and Hottie's hair was long, they had the same sexy smile. The same face.

"Oh, right." She looked at the corpse. It exploded into dust as she watched. She gasped. She never saw one do that and she had killed them for years. Now, she was nervous. More nervous.

"What in the hell? How do I explain that in my report!" She stared at the dust and back to the men and then just Hottie.

Hottie cleared his throat and smiled. Come on! That was a gorgeous smile. Really, both of these men were hot. She could stand in this room with them for a long time and be okay. Just stare at them.

"Sorry, Doc. I'm Cash and that is Malcolm. We are vampire hunters and that was a vampire. Questions?" He put his sword on his back and smiled again.

Emma just stared at them some more.

"Are you okay? Doc?" Malcolm asked. He grabbed her and sat her in a chair. She let him. Maybe she was in shock? "Get some water for her."

Malcolm looked at Cash as he came back with a bottle of water and handed it to Emma. She sipped it. "You okay?" Malcolm asked one more time. He was hoping to get an answer this time.

"Fine." She stood up. She was scared now. These were active vampire hunters. In her city! She stared at the dust. They knew what they were doing and were well trained. Great.

"You are still very pale. You need to sit back down. I would hate for you to pass out." Cash pointed out. He started to grab her arm and she jerked away.

"Sorry. I'm fine. I'm okay." Emma took a breath.

"Vampires are real and dangerous. If we waited much longer, he would have killed you." Malcolm stated.

"We did just save your life." Cash pointed out. "A thanks would be nice."

Emma looked at him. "Oh, thanks." She wanted to roll her eyes. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to figure out how to put this in a report!" She looked at the dust again.

Cash and Malcolm exchanged looks. "You don't seem very shocked about the vampire thing?" Cash pointed out. Malcolm agreed. This woman was odd.

Emma messed up. How did she fix it? She was a medical examiner. "Oh. I came across a vampire a few years ago." Look at that and it isn't a lie. Nice. "I just never saw one turn to dust!" Emma shouldn't have admitted that.

Cash smiled. "Garlic oil. Very handy. They don't see that coming either."

Emma was freaking out on the inside. Garlic oil. These guys were smart. They found a better way to kill vampires. That was just great. "Well. I have more work to do now." Emma walked to the door and opened it for them to leave. They needed to leave.

"Sorry to disturb your night, Dr..?" Cash asked. He had to know her name.

Emma looked at her name tag like an idiot. "Beckett. Dr. Beckett."

"Sorry to disturb your evening, Dr. Beckett." Cash said and Emma got goosebumps.

He winked at her as they left the building. Emma grabbed her phone and rushed to her desk. She sat and took a breath. Calm down first. She would talk to Trevor in the morning. Nothing could be done right now and she would just wake him up for nothing and he would just be worried. Wait until morning.

She turned to her computer and researched reasons a body could disintegrate. It didn't look good. Extremely high heat, like strolling on the sun, kind of temperature. This was not good for her.

She couldn't write in the report that vampire hunters rushed in and killed a vampire and now he was dust. Nope, that wouldn't fly. She would get fired for being on drugs or something. Great.

She could say the body was lost or stolen or the relatives came to claim it. No, that wouldn't work because the name wasn't known yet. She had the prints. She could delay the report until she figured something out. That would work for now. She scanned the fingerprints and waited.

The rest of the night was uneventful. She let Dr. Hinkle know she was running the prints. Waiting. Maybe this would take a long time. Weeks. Her mind wandered. She kept seeing Cash winking at her and she liked it.

She cleaned up the mess that the hunters made before her shift was over. She needed to save the dust until she knew what to do about it. This was keeping her from sleeping, she knew that.

Emma was in the kitchen when Trevor walked in. "How was your night?" She asked. He knew something was up.

"Slept great. How was your night and why do I have a feeling that will be the last goodnight I have for a while?" Trevor sat.

"Uh. It was interesting." She told him the whole story and left out the wink. She didn't want Trevor to know she was crazy. Suicidal maybe. She sank her teeth into her breakfast and Trevor drank his coffee.

"Shit! Do we need to move?" Trevor was ready to move. He didn't want to yet.

"No. I think they were just passing through and no, I don't really know. Maybe do some research on them for me. Let me know what you find and add garlic to your arsenal. It seemed to work." Emma smiled.

"No. Bad idea. What if you get some on you! No way." Trevor stated and it was final. No garlic.

Trevor wasn't thrilled about any of Emma's story but he was happy that the hunters didn't know that Emma was a vampire and they would move on. The vampire corpse probably covered Emma's scent.

How does one woman get into that much trouble at work? In her office. In a morgue!