Hellboy Meets The Bogeyman
Bandero Castle on the outskirts of Barcelona, 1984
"This place looks ancient." Hellboy stared wide-eyed at the massive stone castle in front of him.
"Bandero Castle, constructed in the sixteenth century. Other than that, no one really knows the history. It is believed to have been a military outpost of some kind."
Oh come on, Abe! This is so cliché," the red monster scratched the back of his head. "Castles in Spain? In the rain? Geez, even the moon is full tonight."
"I know, Hellboy, but Director Manning says that he's here. We have to find him and stop him." Abe Sapian clutched a rainsoaked map of the impressive castle that stood before them and studied it intently as the rain trickled down upon him.
"He? You mean the bogeyman?" The demon laughed and rolled his yellow eyes, slapping his blue skinned partner on the shoulder. "Brother Blue, I know that we make our living as paranormal investigators. We fight monsters and demons and witches all day long. But even you have to admit that this is silly. Father used to tell me stories as a kid about the bogeyman. Even then I thought it was silly."
"Silly or not, HB, he's in there." Sapien pointed to a large castle door in front of him. And, according to Manning, he's got hostages."
"Hostages? How many?" Hellboy raised an eyebrow and pulled his oversized pistol, sometimes called the Good Samaritan, from the large holster on his customized leather belt.
"Three children."
"Ah, what else? Time to get out of the rain. My coat's gettin' wet."
Hellboy and Abe moved cautiously toward the heavy, arched, wooden door located at the eastern side of the estate. Hellboy grabbed the heavy iron ring that served as the door's handle and yanked it hard with his large stone hand. The door cracked and splintered as it was ripped from its hinges.
"After you," Hellboy stepped aside as Abe Sapien, the fish-man, lit his flashlight and sauntered forward, the first to enter the dark forboding manor.
"Just a word about this creature. He appears all over the world and exists in the stories of many cultures. In Spain they call him El Coco. He has no set appearance but may be seen with a large sack on his back that he uses to carry away his victims. For this reason he is sometimes known as The Sack-Man. Other Spanish lore portrays him as a closet monster called El Ogro who hides in closets or under beds to scare or even eat children."
"Oh brother. Whatever, Abe! Let's just find this creep and get those kids to safety." Hellboy followed Abe through a dark corridor that was illuminated only by his friend's flashlight.
The two monster-men moved to the end of the corridor and came upon a wide spiral staircase made of stone. As they ascended the staircase they began hearing what sounded like laughter. The laugh was a shrill, gutteral cry and sounded as if it came from some rabid animal rather than any monster. The laughter got louder as Hellboy and Abe climbed the staircase.
"We're gettin' closer, Abe."
"That laugh is hideous, HB."
"It's familiar is what it is. It reminds me of this monster that father and I fought back in the 60's. But that was a leprechaun, not a bogeyman."
"I wish this was a leprechaun. It would make our job a lot easier." Abe Sapien pulled a long speargun from the strap on his back.
"Easier? What do you mean? Abe, don't tell me this thing can't be killed."
"HB, this thing can't be killed. You see, since the bogeyman exists in nearly every culture, he is immortal. And unlike other monsters there's only one bogeyman. The best we can hope to do is inflict some sort of mortal injury. Then he would simply vanish and take on a new form in some other part of the world, or in some other culture, continuing his hunt for young children or even young adults."
"Oh, damn. Liz was right. I should've studied the literature that Kate gave me to read."
"You never listen to Professor Corrigan, Hellboy. You should, but you never do."
"It's more fun to read about The Lobster. Comics are so cool!"
Abe sighed as he and Hellboy finally reached the top of the grand staircase. The mad laughter had now ceased. Abe shined his flashlight through the darkness and realized that they were inside a belltower.
"Over there. In the corner." Abe focused his light to the corner of the large room.
Behind the giant iron bell stood an immense wooden crate, roughly the size of a large sofa. A large brown sack, made of sheep's wool and resembling a body bag with a drawstring at the end, was situated behind the crate. From behind the crate a tall, lanky figure arose. Abe flashed his light on the shadowy form. A slender man, roughly seven feet tall stood before them.
The man wore a tight fitting black tuxedo and miniature tophat. His wooden shoes, sealed in black shoe polish, covered his oversized feet. His elongated arms hung far below his waist and gave way to oversized gray hands with eight inch fingers and swollen thumbs. The man had chipped fingernails as if he had been biting them off. His face bore the same gray skin as his hands and his large ears were scalloped, resembling a bat's wings. Tufts of silver hair peaked out from beneath his tophat. His eyes were as blue as sapphires and his elongated nose sat just above a mouth full of half rotten, fanged teeth.
The monster looked at the men and smiled, his brown fangs snarling as he straightened his black bowtie. "Ah, you've come! It's so nice to finally meet you. I was just about to sit down for dinner. Won't you join me? Tonight on the menu is little Analisa Anscaro. She has a fine vintage of twelve years." The diabolical creature pulled a sedated girl with dark eyes and ebony hair from his enchanted sack. "If you're hungry there is one for each of you too." The fiendish monster began pulling more sleeping children out of the magic bag. "For you, the vermilion demon, I offer Juan Colonos. Now, he's a little ripe at nearly twenty years of age, but I'm sure you can enjoy him. And for my blue friend, well, I'm not exactly sure what you are, but you can have Francis Bardain. At just eight, he'll be so tender and juicy, his meat might just fall right off the bone."
"That's enough, monster!" Hellboy aimed his pistol at the frenzied, ugly monstrosity. "Leave those kids alone."
"Monster? You're one to talk, Big Red. I've never seen a demon from Hell quite like you before. And you, Mr. Blue, you look more at home in the sea than anything else. And look, you're even holding a speargun. How cute."
"I've heard enough. Abe, Let's waste this guy."
"Right!" Abe Sapien pulled the trigger.
As the spear from Abe's gun shot through the dark room it was effortlessly caught by the bogeyman. The bogeyman grinned wide, showing his teeth before jumping across the room, bouncing as if he was riding a pogo stick. Suddenly, the crazed man-beast leapt and vaulted through an expansive stone window. Hellboy rushed to the window and saw his target landing on the ground.
"I'm goin' down there. You take care of the kids," Hellboy ordered before disappearing back down the staircase.
Abe Sapien threw down his speargun and pulled a glass vial of milky-white fluid, a potion used for breaking supernatural enchantments, from his belt. He sprinkled white oak shavings and diced pennyroyal mint leaves over the three children.
"Abu-dayna-sum-pit-o-lar. Awake from this accursed sleep. Abu-dayna-sum-pit-o-lar. Break these bounds that dreaming holds over you. Abu-dayna-sum-pit-o-lar." Abe chanted before opening the vial and pouring a small amount of potion into each of the captive's mouths.
The children began to wake up, each rubbing their eyes before being startled by the appearance of the tall, gangly fish-man.
"Don't worry, children. I'm here to help."
"Where are we?" Analisa Anscaro looked around the room before flashing her wide eyes toward Abe.
"Children, well, its like this," Abe wasn't quite sure how to explain the situation. "You all misbehaved in some way. You didn't mind your parents and you were taken by the bogeyman."
"I didn't mean to, Mr. My stupid sister tricked me," Francis Bardain pleaded. "She pretended like she was hurt to get me to go into the forest behind my house. I fell down in a meadow and I don't remember anything else."
"And you, Juan Colonos." Abe scolded the young adult with dark eyes and brown hair. "At twenty years old, you should know better."
"I snuck out to go visit Ana-Maria. It's true, I was told not to but I wanted to see her and—."
"It almost cost you your life. Come on, let's get out of here." Abe grabbed the hands of the younger children and began leading the three hostages down the stairs.
Moments later Hellboy was wrestling with the bogeyman on the other side of the castle. As the two creatures rolled around on a nearby grassy knoll, Hellboy mounted the slender body of the bogeyman and straddled him, plowing his giant stone fist repeatedly into the bogeyman's head. Hellboy gripped the creature's neck and began dragging him from the soft grassy turf to the castle wall, throwing his body up against the hard stone structure.
"You can't win, demon. I never die." The bogeyman seemed jolly, almost enjoying the beating he was taking. "Even if you are victorious this night, I will just be reborn someplace else and I'll have a completely new, completely different appearance."
"So I've heard," Hellboy slammed the head of the bogeyman hard against the castle wall before finally planting his pistol in the monster's mouth, breaking off several teeth.
"Okay, Mr. Bogeyman, time to boogie!" Hellboy pulled the trigger.
The bogeyman's head exploded violently. Dozens of pieces of gray flesh and bits of skull flew everywhere. A thick lather of shimmering metallic blue blood poured from the corpse of the evil thing. Hellboy dropped the body to the ground. He pulled a cigar from the pocket of his overcoat and lit the stogie with a match. He was covered in the thick, blue hematic fluid of his enemy as he studied the corpse.
The ground began to mildly shake and the body of the monster suddenly began to bubble and boil like hot wax before melting into the grass. After a few seconds all was still and quiet. The corpse had vaporized, leaving behind an imprint. Metallic gold dust seemed to paint the grass into the wispy shape of the bogeyman. Hellboy knelt down and fingered the substance, smelling it.
"Demon dust." Hellboy muttered to himself. "Now he's gone to someplace else and some poor kids are gonna get it. Shit!"
The demon puffed his cigar and watched as the sun began to rise over some distant trees. The giant solar orb was repainting the sky from the blackness of night to the golden hue of dawn. A few minutes went by before Abe Sapien appeared at the far edge of the castle.
"Where's the bogeyman?" the fish-man looked tired as he approached his friend.
"I sent him to another life." Hellboy threw his half used cigar to the ground.
"I see. The blue stuff on your horns, face and jacket… His blood?"
"Yup. Abe, where are the kids?"
"I radioed our location to headquarters. A B.P.R.D. chopper just picked them up. There's one on the way for us, too. The children are going back to their homes. But they did promise to obey their parents. Even the older one."
"That's nice. You know, Abe, after I shot him, I started thinkin.'"
"Oh boy," Abe Sapien rolled his eyes.
"No. Hear me out. I started thinkin' why doesn't the Bureau just take the bogeyman captive. Chain him up or keep him in a submersion tube, unconcious. Put him on life support. If we keep him locked away, he can't reappear somewhere else and he can't hurt anyone anymore."
"Hellboy, that's brilliant."
"Of course it is, Abe. I thought of it." Hellboy smiled to his partner.
"I'll run it by Manning at the next meeting."
"You do that and Manning will have us and Liz and a whole team chasin' this monster's ass all over the globe."
"It could be fun."
"Fun? Abe, you don't know how to have fun. Come on, let's go home. I'm in serious need of some pancakes."
A large black helicopter with no identifying markings appeared out of the sky and landed near the weary pair of B.P.R.D. agents. Hellboy and his friend boarded the aircraft before it swiftly took off again. As it rose up into the sky the chopper flew toward the sunrise and out of site.
The End