Disclaimer: Hellboy and crew are not mine (DUH) Special thanks go to my beta dog youkai jane. Without her, this story probably would have never gotten published.

Chapter One: Trouble

She felt weak, dizzy from whatever hell she was just put through. Unfamiliar voices traversed what felt like miles to reach her ears. 'What happened? Where?....' She thought as her swirling vision started to clear. She turned her head slowly side to side, trying to escape the invading light. She softly moaned, throwing her arm over her eyes.

"Hey, looks like she's waking up." Said someone. She felt the table she was on shake slightly as something stomped closer to her. She warily moved her arm away, squinting at the giant red being looming over her.

"Hellboy." She whispered in awe.

"That's me." Hellboy said slightly cocky, grinning down at her.

"Hellboy, give her some space. How are you feeling, Miss?" Said a blue fish-like creature.

"This is Abe, by the way." edged in Hellboy before Abe shot him a dirty look for interrupting her.

She groaned slightly as she sat up, pushing the headache forming to the back of her mind. "Like a Mack truck fell on my head. What...Wait, I remember now." 'That guy in a metal mask brought down my wall! Good thing it didn't fall on any of my animals....Oh no!'

"I have to go! My animals are still in my house! I have to-"

"We gathered all that we could find." The one called Abe said. "We rescued three cats, a dog and a very large snake."

The woman sagged in relief. "Oh, thank god. That's all of them."

"We would like to ask you about your abilities." the woman whirled around to find an old man sitting on a fold up chair against the wall. His white hair was slightly chaotic, curling away from his head. He pushed his glasses back up his nose as he closed the book resting in his lap. "Hellboy tells me you shape shifted before the chunk of your living room wall hit you on your head."

"Before we go into anything about me, I would like to know who I am talking to. If you don't mind." the woman slowly scooted off the bed she was resting on, much to Abe's dislike.

"You should be still." He scolded.

"Darlin', I've never been still a day in my life. I'm not about to start today." She turned to Hellboy, keeping the old man and Abe in her sight. "You I know. Hellboy."

"In the red flesh." He said, flashing the woman a smile.

"Oh, goody. A smartass." She turned the Abe. "You're Abe."

"You can call me Blue." Abe replied.

"And you are?" the woman faced the old man.

The old man got up from his chair and limped over to stand next to Hellboy. "I'm Professor Broom, Hellboy's father."

"What are we supposed to call you? Fuzzy?" Hellboy said, poking her arm slightly.

"Ummmm, no." The woman poked him back, smirking slightly. "My name is Vixey, but you can call me anything as long as I know you're talking to me."

"Oh, good. We'll call you Fuzzball."

'Keep that up and I'm not gonna be the only one hurt around here." She said, glaring at Hellboy.

"Ooh, she's got a temper. We'll get along just fine." A muffled ringing the woman identified as her cell phone made her forget her next remark. "Ok, that thing is getting on my nerves." Hellboy said, obviously agitated.

Vixey sighed, "well throw it over here. I'm expecting an important call anyway." Abe handed her the offending thing and watched with interest as she answered the call. "Hello?....Well thank goodness, I had about decided that you fell off the Earth." A few seconds later she groaned and rolled her eyes. "Keep it up kiddo, you're still not too big for me to spank....Yeah, I know. So what's new?....Yeah, right. You scare me every time you pull that one....Yeah ok. I love you too....Bye." She had a slight smile on her face as she turned the phone off and shook her head. "Oh geeze, Kids will drive you crazy."

"You have kids?" asked Abe, a curious expression written clearly on his face.

"Just one. My son Jake. He's 20 and thinks he knows everything."

"Most children do at that age," Professor Broom said, casting a quick glance at Hellboy. "So you're married?"

"Not anymore." Vixey said quietly.

"Did he die?" asked Hellboy empathically.

"Well Red, let's put it this way, not yet. He's gotten lucky so far that I haven't been able to track him down." Vixey said angrily, curling her hands around her phone.

"Sounds like you two don't get along." Abe hesitantly injected.

"He's the reason that I only have Jake and my youngest brother Kyle out of seven siblings left. Paul is lucky I decided to settle down and forget about him. Besides, Jake needs a stable life. Well," she chuckled slightly, "about as stable as it can get with a shape-shifting fox Anthro for a mother."

"I knew you weren't really human! So let's see it, come on. Let's see what you really look like." Hellboy was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"Now son, we must let her rest. She has been through a lot today."

"No, it's ok, I need to change anyway. If I'm in the same form for too long, it makes me itchy." Vixey said reassuringly as her body seemed to shimmer and twist. Finally, they were left with a muscular 5'9 fox anthro with long red hair, green eyes, and a bushy tail.

Abe noticed with amazement as a set of gills similar to his appeared on her neck. They fluttered once and then closed until you almost couldn't see them. "You have gills too, I see."

Vixey smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I can breathe air, but they still need water every day or so. Usually I sleep in the bathtub if I'm alone."

"What are you other abilities," Professor Broom said with curiosity in his eyes.

"Well, other that what you already know, I am telepathic, empathic, very strong, and I can heal myself most of the time, and very rare instances I can heal others. I haven't quite gotten that one down yet, but the rest of my powers I can control. And by the way, where are my animals?"

"Here, I'll take you to them." Offered Abe as he turned and headed towards the only door. Vixey, Hellboy and Professor Broom followed him out of the room and down the hall.

The little group passed many doors and hallways before stopping at a large steel door. Loud scrapping sounds and wines could be heard from the inside.

"Wha' the hell's goin' on in there?" Hellboy half shouted as he grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. A German Shepard mix, three cats, and a nine foot boa constrictor practically flew out of the room and flung themselves at Vixey. Vixey fell onto her knees and hugged each of them one by one, cooing at them.

A man in his early thirties followed the animals out the door, holding four broken leashes. "I'm so sorry," He gasped, "I couldn't hold them anymore." He smiled weakly at everyone before noticing Vixey clutching her beloved pets to herself. "Oh hi, I'm John Myers."

"Vixey." she said, "I see you were taking care of my critters and I thank you."

"No problem, I love animals. How do you feel?"

"Better, now that I know my animals are ok." Vixey finally relinquished her hold on her pets, who them crowed around Vixey surrounded by the small group.

"How about introducing us, that dog looks vicious." Hellboy popped in, eyeing said dog.

"He's only vicious if he feels I'm in danger. This Is Murphy," she said indicating the dog. "He's a German Shepard mix, although I'm not sure with what."

"How about the kitties," Hellboy said, rubbing one under its chin.

"Well, the one you've made friends with is Chaps, named for his back legs." The cat, Chaps, was mostly white but on his hind legs had a black mark that looked like cowboy chaps. "The fat one is Casanova, named so because of his temperament when he was younger and skinnier. Then he got fixed because we lived on a busy highway across from a bunch of female cats. And last but definatly not least is Kamikaze. This is one crazy kitty. But you can call her Kami for short." Vixey stroked Kamikaze softly as she tried to polish Vixey's side.

"And the snake?" Asked Abe. While she had been introducing the other animals, Abe had found himself in a binding situation. The snake had crawled up his leg and was now wrapped around his torso loosely.

"That is Creeper, or Creeps for short." Vixey chuckled as she got up from her knees and helped Abe get Creeper off of him. "That's his way of making friends and usually, it freaks people out."

"It didn't bother me." Abe said softly, smiling slightly as he watched Vixey hold Creeper to herself closely, pecking him on the nose.

"What does a snake this size eat?" Professor Broom asked, smiling as Casanova started rubbing up against his ankles.

"He gets a whole chicken every month." Vixey let Creeper coil around her shoulders loosely, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Has he ever bitten anybody?" Hellboy asked as he warily stroked Creeps' back.

"Not unless they did something to deserve it."

"How's he with the cats?"

"He gets along pretty well with them."

"What if they try to hurt him?" Asked Professor Broom, now with Casanova resting contently in his arms.

"He moves away, and if they still persist he strikes at them. But he purposely misses."

"I hope so. All of my cats are curious." The small group was silent for a few moments, happily content with entertaining the animals.

"Oh, I just remembered." Pipped up Abe, "We can go in the morning and salvage what's left of your stuff."

"Hopefully my neighbor will collect some of the important stuff. She's usually good about that. She gets my mail and feeds my animals for me when I'm gone on trips." Vixey stroked Creepers softy as she said this.

"You trust her?"

"Yeah." She noticed Abe had been watching her the whole time with interest, and it was more than doctor-patient interest. Before she could go further with that thought, her cell phone trilled happily. "Hello?....Hey Ray, kinda late isn't it?....Are you sure?....Shit, okay I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell them to wait until I get there or there will be hell to pay....Yeah, If Jason starts something, remind him that I kicked his ass last month with a sprained ankle." The others watched her as she smiled and nodded. "Yeah....ok, bye."

Abe looked at her with concern. "You are in no shape to go anywhere."

"That may be, but I have something to take care of and I need a ride back to town." Vixey started moving towards where she hoped was the front door.

"You gonna tell us what's going on?" Hellboy and the others had to jog slightly to keep up with her brisk pace, Professor Broom having the most trouble.

Vixey turned to glare at Hellboy. "Fine," she sighed. "I volunteer at an animal shelter in my spare time. One of the dogs, Diablo, has been placed and returned six times in the last month." When she noticed Professor Broom's difficulty with her pace, she stopped, letting her cats and dog also catch up with her. "My supervisor had to take time off for some surgery so he left me and another worker, Jason, in charge. The board told us that if Diablo was returned again, he would be put to sleep unless something else can be worked out. The last family looked promising, but apparently I was wrong." Vixey sighed, feeling helpless, "I cant let them kill him. He's not vicious, at least not around me. But he is a Bull mastiff and they get very big. I'm the only one who can handle him. I don't know where I'll put him, but I have to do something."

"You may keep him here unless he causes problems," Professor Broom said, finally catching his breath.

"Thank you," Vixey said, visibly relieved. "You have no idea how relieved I am." She turned to Hellboy, a grin slowly spreading on both their faces. "So, am I walking or what?"

"Nah, let's go," Hellboy said as he threw an arm around her shoulders. Vixey grinned up at him, than glanced over at Abe quickly. She couldn't help but notice the look of slight jealousy on his normally calm face.

Before she could think about how she felt about that, Hellboy steered her around to face the opposite way she was headed.

"If you really want to get there anytime soon, we should go this way. Unless, of course, you know of another way." Vixey's hand connected with the back of his head, leaving Abe and Professor Broom laughing, Hellboy stunned, and Vixey and her pets headed in the direction Hellboy pointed her in.

There! Chapter 1 is finished! Tell me what you think.