The Devil's Mask... A ancient treasure from mythological origin. It was once said to belong to a mighty demon that was worshiped by a cult an unknown civilization. The mask is believed to grant its wearer the immense power of the demon god. Many have searched far and wide for it, but none have found it til now.
The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense has been after the mask for decades to seal away the dangers of its power. The B.P.R.D. has sent Hellboy and his crew to recover the mask from Alfred Wilhelm, a rich art collector who seems to ignorant to the consequences that the mask brings upon the world.
Dante, a demon-hunter with a whole lot of debt and experience in kicking demon ass, has a new case. One to which he can't say no because he needs the money and there ain't no rest for the wicked. His target is Anung un Rama, some powerful demon . Like he hasn't heard that before. But hey, the bigger they are, the harder they fall...
(Warning: This story has slash and femmeslash. It's also has about five main OCs that work with the main cast. So if you don't like either, this probably won't be the story for you. )
Chapter 1: The Haven
-Myers-
"Hey, John." He heard a female voice say, before he felt the tap of another shoulder against his. He turned to look at his side to find a smiling Agent Wolfe. Wolfe was one of the transfers from the other various branches of B.P.R.D.
"Are HB and Firefly arguing again?" She asked as she prompted him to resume their walk out the building.
"No. I thought I'd give them some time to themselves." Wolfe gave him a glance that hinted that she knew that wasn't the entire reason. John felt like he was being observed under a microscope as her green eyes caught his brown. He didn't want to tell her that his real reason was that hanging out with Hellboy and Liz made him realize how lonely he was in the romance department. Wolfe rolled her eyes at him and shrugged her shoulders as a sign that she'd drop the unspoken subject.
"Want to go for coffee?"
Her sudden question had caused him to come to a sudden stop as he stared at her oddly.
"Like a d-date?" He stuttered nervously; a blush began to spread over his face. She laughed out loud and hard before she managed to get herself under control.
"No, I meant as friends. Sorry, John. You're cute but I'm taken. So about the coffee is that yes or a no? My treat, I promise." Wolfe answered, her amusement still leaking through her voice. Her response made his deepened blush spread even higher to his ears. He felt embarrassed and a tad bit disappointed by her reply but going for a coffee break sounded a bit better than returning to hanging with Hellboy and Liz at the moment.
"Nah, it'll be my treat."
"Ever the gentleman, huh? Alright, but I get to choose the place."
"Sure." He replied as they walked over to his moped. He slung his leg over and sat upon the seat before handing her a helmet, which she quickly put on. "Where to?"
"I'll let it be a surprise and just give you the directions on the way." She said as she sat behind him, arms wrapped around his waist when they went on their way.
Following Emma's instructions, he found himself of what appeared to be a bar rather than a place to go for coffee.
"Emma, are sure this the right place?" he queried, looking back at her with skepticism.
She rolled her eyes and pointed at the sign above his head. The Haven: Café and Bar it read. John ducked his head in embarrassment. Emma just grabbed his hand and led him inside the warmth of the building.
-Dante
Dante finished another case yet again. Sure, it hadn't paid much but it was enough to probably last for the week. "Man, I really could go for a drink right now." He muttered out loud in the crisp cold winter air. The closest bar from where he was walking that he could think of was the Haven. The Haven was different from the usual dive bars that he frequented, for example, Bobby's Cellar.
Bobby's Cellar wasn't a place for the faint of heart. Most of its patrons were either mercs with guns or the drunken regular that were either too foolish or stupid enough to brave the strong nearby stench of garbage and the occasional 'accidental' gunshot that was fired inside. It had been a decent enough place to get a cheap beer, but that was before the place collapse from his fight with Gilver. Thoughts of the old place brought up bad memories that he didn't want to think about at the moment.
The Haven was practically the opposite of Bobby's Cellar. Its customers were more of the scholarly type or the usual bar crawlers with rare drunk or two rather than the dangerous sort that had went to Bobby's. It had the appearance of classic bar slash cafe and no need to worry too much about the smell of trash drifting into the place. He still remembered the weird circumstances that led him to the Haven.
He had been on his way back home from a recently finished case before he felt the sharp hum of dark energy break out into the atmosphere. He felt a shadowy inhuman aural presence that brought a cold feeling to the air. From what he could tell, the demon that he sensed was strong and probably big like most of his otherworldly opponents. He followed the energy signature to what appeared to be some kind of bar. He looked above at the hanging wooden sign that read: The Haven: Cafe and Bar. The sign gave him memories of Bobby's Cellar, which he quickly shook off. It seemed that the presence that he felt was coming from a nearby alleyway.
Shortly as soon as he had felt it, it had started to diminish. He rushed into the alley, prepared to give chase after it. He stopped at the sight of the woman that laid face down upon the alley floor. He looked around for the demon, finding it nowhere in sight. He carefully stepped closer to the woman, checking to see if she was still alive. The following groan that he heard answered his question. He helped her to feet only to have her almost fall over before he caught her and helped support her up.
"Ugh... Who the hell are you?" She grumbled as she opened her eyes.
"Such crude words for a lady." He could not help but quip with a smirk.
"Oh, fuck you and answer the question."
"Name's Dante. What's yours?"
"Ugh. Tell you what, how about we go inside the bar before I pass out here, then I thinking about giving you a free drink." She replied, weakly lifting a hand to point at The Haven. Dante wasn't one to say no to free alcohol when he barely had any money.
"Hmm. Okay, Princess. You got yourself a deal." He said a large smirk on his face as he picked her up in a way befitting the nickname that he bestowed upon her. When they got to the front door of the Haven, she told him to put her down so that she could open the door but she was still quite weak to do that so she handed him the keys. He supported her by his side as he opened the door before he picked her back up and entered inside.
The single ring of a bell chimed above as they came through the door. He whistled when he saw how fancy the place looked inside.
"Hmmm... classy place."
"Yea, yea, Prince Charming. Just put me down on that couch over there." The woman waved her hand, lazily in the direction of the couch in the corner. He placed her down on the couch before going behind the bar to receive a glass of water. When he came back toward the couch, 'Princess' had managed to sit herself up. He held out the glass out in front of her. She quickly took it and gulped it down.
"Thanks." She said as she finished off the water and placed the glass upon the floor. "I needed that."
She rested on the couch for a few minutes, letting her body regain its strength. She cautiously rose from where she had been sitting, holding out her hand to Dante.
"Name's Echo."
Dante shook her hand, accepting the gesture of friendship with no problem. Echo slowly made her way behind the counter, planting her elbows upon its surface.
"So Echo, is there a last name with that?" he asked as he sat on the bar stool closest to her.
"It's Mir. It's only fair that you tell me yours."
"Redgrave."
"So, Dante Redgrave, what's your poison?"
"Whiskey."
"So Jack Daniels, it is." She stated before pulling a bottle down from the shelves and two empty shot glasses.
"Isn't your boss going to be mad at you for giving away free alcohol to strangers?' he questioned as Echo poured the whiskey.
"Nah, I don't think so since seeing as I'm the owner of this fine establishment. Well, cheers. Here's to the start of a beautiful friendship." She toasted as she lifted her shot glass in his direction.
"To the start of a beautiful friendship." He responded, brought up his shot glass to clink against hers before drinking it.
And thus started Dante's friendship with the bar owner. When he drew himself out of his memories, he found that he unknowingly made his way to the Haven with no trouble. The bell chimed as he came in.
-Myers-
The interior of the Haven had the homely coziness of a cafe and the laid back feeling of a bar that made one feel welcome be they a bar or cafe patron. Emma led him through the crowd of tables to the bar counter.
"Hey Echo!" she called out to the bartender who was taking an order at the moment. The bartender held up her index finger in the gesture for 'wait a second'. When she finished talking to the customer, she walked over to where he and Emma stood. Echo, he assumed was the bartender's name because of Emma's greeting was an attractive young woman with chocolate brown skin and short black hair with a streak of blue that ran through it. She wore a sleeveless black turtleneck that exposed her midriff and a pair of dark jeans with the design of a dragon in white stitching that ran down her leg.
"Hey, Emi. Who's this?" She asked, tilting her head in in direction of John.
"Oh, this is John. He's a friend from work. He seemed like he was feeling a little blue, so I decided to invite him here for some coffee."
"Hey! I was not feeling blue..." John said in reaction to Emma's words.
"That's alright. Name's Echo Mir. Bartender, barista, and owner of The Haven." Echo introduced herself, sticking out a hand to him. When he shook her hand and looked into her reddish-brown eyes, he got the weird feeling that he associated with Abe and his empathic powers. "Nothing's wrong with feeling a little lonely, Mister..."
"Myers. John Myers. And as I said earlier, I'm not lonely."
"Okay, okay, whatever you say. Let me guess. You're not the type to drink alcohol often, so you must be in the mood for coffee. So what'll you guys have?" At Echo's question, he felt the feeling return again, causing a weird shiver down his spine. Before joining the B.P.R.D., he might have brushed it off as her being able to read people from probably working in her profession for a while but that didn't seem like the right explanation of why she seemed to know of his preference of coffee over alcohol on the first guess. He would just have to watch Miss Mir more carefully. For now, he would let the matter rest for now. Being the gentleman he was, John decided to let Emma order first.
"Hmm... I think I'll have..." Emma drawled before she grabbed the collar of Echo's sweater dragging her down for a passionate kiss, which Echo eventually took control of. John's eyes widen in surprise as he stared slack jawed at the two women before him.
The bell chime of the door rang out shortly after, signaling the entrance of a tall blond man dressed in a red jacket and tight black pants.
"Oh, quite a show, ladies!" The blond shouted across the room followed by a wolf whistle, startling a few patrons. Without breaking from the kiss, Echo flicked a bottle cap in the direction of the blond's forehead. The man managed to catch it before it made contact with his head. "Ya missed me, Echo!"
Echo pulled away from the kiss to stick up middle finger in rude gesture in return.
"Hey, Dante! Why don't you go fuck off?" She quipped back, a friendly smirk upon her face as she gestured him to take a seat. She placed a bottle of Jack Daniels and a single shot glass in front of the seat next to John's right. She turned around, beginning to work at her barista station. When she was done, she placed a caramel latte macchiato before Emma and a vanilla cappuccino sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon for him. The blond named Dante took the seat of which the alcohol was placed, pouring the whiskey into the shot glass as he sat down. Dante leaned forward onto his elbows, giving the bartender/barista a large cocky grin.
"So, Echo is this your secret lesbian lover?" He asked, emphasizing on the word 'lover', lifting a thumb, pass John's face, in Emma's direction. Echo flipped him the bird yet again.
"Why do want to know? You're jealous, aren't ya?" she asked, a matching smirk across her face while she placed a hand over Emma's.
Just then, it clicked in John's mind what Emma meant by she was taken and seeing someone. Echo must be Emma's girlfriend. He didn't know that she was into women but then again he didn't know that much about her intimate life in the first place.
"Nah. Just wanted to know what time's the next show."
Seeing that they were distracted, he turned to his fellow agent.
"So... that's your..."
"My girlfriend, yes." she answered, taking a small sip of her macchiato.
"Hey, kid. You should probably drink that before it gets cold." drawled Dante, a smirk on his lips and an elbow nudged into John's side.
"Huh?"
"Your coffee. You should drink it before it gets cold or you might make Princess sad."
"And ya wouldn't want to make me sad would ya?" questioned Echo with a tap of her finger upon his nose.
A young feminine voice shouted Dante's name. John would guess that the owner of the voice was the petite redhead who looked none too pleased as she stomped over in their direction. When John turned back to the counter, Echo seemed to have disappeared into thin air probably to escape the wrath of the fiery red-haired teen. If John's cough happened sounded like a laugh, he wasn't going to admit to it.