Caroline's new job

Caroline sat in the police car, aiming her radar-gun at the road. Caroline liked protecting people, so she'd asked her mother, the town sheriff, to get her a job as a police-officer.

So far the job had been less about protecting people and more about doing the most boring parts of police work possible. Even with her mom's influence, Caroline was at the very bottom rung of the police ranking system.

Still, she liked her new cop uniform, and she had all eternity to work herself up in rank.

Caroline smiled. She was close to the mystic grill, close enough to see whether anyone was driving drunk as they left, but still mostly hidden by a tree an some bushes. The Mystic Grill was a great spot to hunt drunk drivers. Everyone seemed to come here to drown their sorrows in alcohol.

I speed on my Ducati down the road towards the grill. I've got to get to Sarah. I can't lose the last family member I have. I have to save her. I curse under my breath as a flashing blue and red light signals me to stop. I pull over by the cop. She's 18, maybe. What the hell? I stop and look at her. Officer, I'm sorry. My sister's in trouble. I have to help her. You're a vampire, come on you have to understand, please. She's Sheriff Forbes' daughter. I know that she's a vampire. I don't really care. I get it

(brb)

"Woot!" exclaimed Caroline with a grin as a motorcycle rocketed past.

She turned on the siren and started singing, "bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you! Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do they come for you!"

The motorcycle pulled over almost immediately. Bummer. Caroline was hoping for a real chase, vrooming down the highway like a movie.

Caroline got out of the car, her speeding-ticket pad in hand, mentally rehearsing her cop speech. Before she could even start her, do-you-know-why-I-pulled-you-over speech, the little guy on the motorcycle blurted out frantically: "Officer, I'm sorry. My sister's in trouble. I have to help her. You're a vampire, come on you have to understand, please"

Caroline's smile vanished, "Woah! Calm down, I'm here to help, explain the emergency."

I shrug my shoulders. Miss, please. I just need to help her. This isn't business that needs or wants to be recorded in a cop log or whatever. I'll pay for the ticket, I don't care just please let me go. I say calmly. I glance at my watch. I need to go now. They'll kill her before I get a chance to so much as hit one over the head.

"My mom will make any problematic logs vanish, that's how this town has worked for centuries. Just tell me what the emergency is. I'm here to help." replied Caroline.

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. Persistent woman. I speak again in my heavy Irish accent. Officer Forbes; my sister's about to be killed. I need to go, now. I say with a bit more conviction in my voice.

"Then tell me where your going and I'll drive you there and use my siren to clear traffic. If you keep going at that speed without a police escort, you're going to get yourself and other people killed. Sisters, brothers, people who want to see their families again just as much as you do. I can get you wherever you're going just as fast as you can alone, and without the risk of killing innocent drivers along the way," replied Caroline.

I sigh. Fine. The caves. I say. Come on woman. I need to go now.

"Kay, get in and I'll drive you there," said Caroline, opening the door for him. Once he got in, she turned on the siren and speed down the road as quickly as people pulling over to the side allowed.

As they were driving she asked, "explain to me what's going on in as much detail as you can."

I shake my head. All I'm getting is a ride. My problems, not yours. Do yourself a favor and drop me off, then turn around and drive away. I don't need any more people to worry about. She may be a vampire, but I do not want her coming with me. I don't know her. I don't trust her.

"If it were just you, I'd let you go your merry way. I've got enough problems without trying to help people who don't want it. But you said your sister was in danger of being killed. I can't just walk away from something like that. I protect the innocent," replied Caroline.

I just shake my head. We pull up to the caves and I get out. I have no interest in waiting. I walk inside cautiously and spot three men sitting around my sister who's tied to a chair. Just as I walk in they shoot her straight in the forehead. I ball up my fists and restrain a yell.

I analyze the three men. All of them aren't armed. Just the one guy with a gun. I whistle and walk up to them. The guy with a gun turns around and I punch him in the nose; he crumples to the ground knocked down. The other guy locks my neck in a choke hold but I elbow him in the gut and he releases me. I knee him in the groin and land an uppercut to his jaw.

As he falls I spin around and catch the last guy's fist before it hits my head. I twist his arm around and push him to the ground. I kick him in his stomach and stand over him. Who the hell are you? I pick up the gun and hold it at my side. I'm not going to do anything rash. I know wherever the officer is, she knows that. The guy just spits on the ground.

I hear the officer walk in from where she was standing. Just get them out of here. Please. I run a hand through my hair and kick the guy in the gut before taking the magazine out of the gun and tossing it far out of the guy's reach. I walk over to my sister and kneel in front of her. I grind my teeth together. I untie her from the chair and pull her onto the ground. I hold her in my arms and grit my teeth.

Caroline grabbed the man who had shot the girl by the throat and lifted him off the ground. For long moments she debated whether to arrest him or just rip his throat out.

What stopped her was the thought of the girl's family. If Caroline killed this man, then she and her mom would have to cover it up, make it look like the man had escaped. The girl's family would go the rest of their lives thinking that the murderer was out there laughing at them.

Caroline couldn't do that, couldn't deny whatever family the girl possessed the knowledge that justice had been done.

With a frustrated growl she put the man down and cuffed him while reading him his rights.

I let out a breath as I tighten my fists and try to control my anger. Every part of me tells me to destroy the men who killed my sister, but I can't. She's the only family I had left. We're all each other had left. This can't happen.

Caroline cuffed the men and dragged them into the back seat of her cop-car. They were cramped and she had to shove the last one in, but she didn't care. She called in the homicide over her radio.

She took a blanket out of her trunk and draped it over the guy's shoulders. She'd been trained that people often went into shock during intense emotional trauma, and a blanket helped prevent them from fainting.

Soon an ambulance and several more cop-cars arrived. The EMTs examined the girl and officially called her death.

I shrug off the blanket and restrain myself as the men pronounce her dead. They go to put her on a stretcher. I shake my head. No, you already know she's dead. Cause of death is obvious. Let me take care of my own sister. I'm her only family. They all look at each other before nodding and walking off. They drive off and I pick my sister up off the ground. I look at the officer. I speak with deadly calm. Don't worry about it. I'll carry her a back route through the woods. No one will see me. I look at her.

"I'm sorry, but we can't allow that," said Caroline as the coroners placed the sister into a body-bag and carried her into the coronoers' van, "there's been a murder here. They will have to perform an autopsy. Please come with us, we need to ask you some questions."

I roll my eyes and get into the cop car, passenger seat wordlessly. I put on the seatbelt and shrug my shoulders. This is bullshit.

Caroline filed her report and went back to work. She passed the interrogation room where the boy was being interviewed about the murder. She wondered what the whole thing was about, but she was much too low on the totem-pole to be informed about such things.

Ah well, back to giving speeding tickets.

I look up as they step out. A few minutes later Caroline walks back in. Oh come on. Looks like you're getting a step up the totem pole. I cross my arms and lean back in the chair.