A/N Hi :) Long time reader, first time writer. This has been kicking around in my head for a while so enjoy!

Notes: I swear. A lot. If you don't like swearing I apologize and if a lot of you write that you'd rather not see it I'll think about cleaning up the language. This is a slow burn Hellboy/OC and I promise there are lemons to come. Please read and review the good the bad and the ugly :)

It was a dark and stormy night in Paris. The kind of night where stray cats hid in windowsills and people huddled up with mulled wine inside cafés and bistros. For a city that was usually a tightly packed hive of energy, Emma Jones only passed by the odd lost and wet tourist on her way to the Louvre. As she reached the Seine and crossed over, she tucked her chin even further into her dark red wool scarf, wondering if it was possible for her to become anymore damp and chilled than she already was. A distant crack of lightning and the soft boom of thunder distracted her for a moment before she began to worry her lip once again.

The Louvre was foreboding at this time of night. Deserted and dark the looming palace seemed impregnable. It had not always felt like this for her, but unfortunately the palace would always be a place of bittersweet memories. Passing by the glass atrocity that welcomed visitors in the day she continued crossing the courtyard until she reached the other side. For discretion she had been instructed to enter on the north side. The usual one-way escalator was providing the staircase into the bowels of the beast. A lone agent was standing guard, dressed in a crisp black suit and sporting an equally crisp jawline and nose. Emma had to smile to herself; they certainly did not break the mold with this one. Nodding in greeting, she presented her credentials that she had been fiddling with in her pocket before descending the staircase. The agent had barely looked at her ID before moving aside. It was either the world's worst agent or she was more recognizable than she thought. She hoped it was the former.

As she walked through the corridors, she headed towards the center of the underground pavilion. Once again, there was a lone agent in the center of the room.

"Don't you guys usually work in pairs?" she asked.

The agent did not twitch a muscle. "Ms. Jones," He stated. "Follow me please."

Sighing Emma shifted the bag more securely on her shoulder before following the man swiftly and silently. She knew where he was taking her, the Egyptian wing of the Louvre was her favourite and she had the steps memorized. Knowing that she wouldn't have much luck at small talk, she let her mind wander.

The first time she had been to the Louvre was when she was a little girl, six or seven maybe. Her father, a broad-shouldered, good-natured man, had taken her to Paris for the weekend while her mother had delivered a guest lecture at Cambridge. They had spent the day in the Jardin du Luxembourg, she had played with a small sailboat in the fountain while her father snacked on treats from Pierre Hermes, and laughed as she once again capsized the tiny vessel. They had finished a quiet dinner at a small bistro before her father had announced that he had a surprise. Giddy with excitement she had followed him through the winding streets till they reached the palace. It was not as foreboding then. To her it was a fairy tale, Cinderella's castle and Belle's library all rolled into one. As the curator and her father chatted and reminisced about their time as college students, Emma drifted into a different world, one of knights and princesses, stories of adventure and heartbreak and mysterious women with small smiles. The Egyptian wing really caught her interest though. She did not understand any of it. The tall statues with animal faces and the bodies of men, the broken talismans and ancient stones with an unrecognizable pictures engraved into them. But she loved it, a love she did not understand but trusted absolutely. Her father had talked to her about the gods and goddesses, the Pharaohs and Queens, as she had wondered at it all. She was so engrossed in the tiny blue figurines meant to accompany a pharaoh into the afterlife that she barely noticed the book, spread page by page on the wall behind her. Her father though was fascinated by it. He and the curator talked long enough about the Book of the Dead for Emma to become so sleepy she ended up in her father's arms.

It was that room, so many years later where she found her fathers body. Bile rose in Emma's throat as the memory assaulted her. The clear, white marble stained with blood, a broken case and a lost manuscript. She pushed the memory down, filling it away in a box, she was becoming very good at it.

The agent pulled Emma out of her reminiscence with a light cough. They were well into the Egyptian section, in the room containing all of the beautiful sarcophagi. Professor Brume, a slight man with a warm smile and even warmer eyes, opened his arms at her entrance.

"Emma," he grinned, holding her in a warm hug for a few moments. "It has been far too long my dear."

Matching his grin, Emma laughed a little. "It hasn't been that long," she remarked. "I've missed you too." Shaking herself she pushed the lingering sadness of her fathers passing to the side. She had to focus, she hadn't even noticed the professor until he was standing right in front of her.

The Professor nodded, "I have missed your smile, child. Once this unpleasantness is over I believe you owe me a tea and stories of your travels." Emma nodded but uneasiness crept into her, this was unpleasant in deed.

Keeping a hand lightly on her back Proffessor Brume guided Emma to the back of the exhibition. Agents in matching crisp suits were buzzing around the room; a full forensic investigation was well under way. Emma instantly knew what was wrong. The mummy, which dominated the room, was gone.

"He didn't get up and start walking did he?" Emma asked.

"The guard reported him missing last night, the museum has been closed ever since. We are the first to examine the scene." The Professor explained in his usual measured tone.

"Why didn't they just call the cops?" She asked, crouching down to inspect the case. Usually they had to fight the mundanes for jurisdiction.

"No alarms were set off."

Emma let out a huff as her eyes went wide. The Louvre kept its most valuable assets well guarded with alarms, pressure and heat sensors and strong cases. Having something stolen without so much as a peep meant trouble.

"Any chance it's not supernatural?"

The professor merely shook his head. "Scans are indicating traces of human, dead and ancient."

Emma shook her head in dismay. Abraham Sapiene, a unique blue merman like creature worked as an agent for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, of which the professor headed. Abe had developed a scanner that could detect the type of creature or magic which had been preformed in a given space. As he had put it, "a black light scanner for the paranormal." It was genius and dead useful in knowing what they were dealing with. Unfortunately, for Emma, human, dead and ancient were not things she wanted to hear.

"Any idea how many were dealing with?" She asked.

"No but we've got a team searching the place." Said a deep voice. Turning with a smile Emma greeted the man. "Clay!"

Giving him a warm hug, she stepped back to look at him. "My, my don't you look handsome," she teased.

"Hey what can I say, gotta keep looking good to attract you ladies." He gave her a wink and a smile before taking stock of her. "You look amazing, Emma."

Bushing, Emma tried to push her mound of red curls back from her face. "I look like a wet rat," she laughed rolling her eyes.

Turing back to the case she lightly rubbed her finger on the broken glass. "It was functional when it left."

"How do you know?" Clay asked.

"I can feel it." She said simply. Walking over to the nearest wall, she touched it lightly with her hand closing her eyes. "It's here somewhere. I can feel its movement disturbing the air." Opening her eyes, she looked at Clay. "If you don't mind, can I have the room? It will be easier for me to get a read when I can concentrate harder." Clay nodded and began to usher the agents out.

"Where do you think it is?" Prof. Brume asked.

"If I had to take an educated guess... I think it's downstairs, Greek wing." she said moving further into the room trying to get a read on the mummy. It had been awakened. Dead and human usually meant necromancer but the magic was weak. Necromancy took a lot of juice.

Suddenly a huge presence came into her minds eye. Whipping around Emma focused on a looming presence at the very back of the long room. Even with the nearly 200-yard distance between them, Emma saw that the hulking figure was massive. The thing nightmares are scared of, she thought.

"Well," the bulking creature drawled in a deep, rolling baritone, "I better go say 'Hi.'"