Chapter 5: Frog Legs
The disfigured frog monster lurched towards Hellboy until its face was up and close to that of the paranormal investigator's. Hellboy could smell its putrid breath before he turned his head away in disgust as the creature's shredded tongue snaked its way to his neck. His reaction seemed to amuse the frog monster as it emanated a sound likened to a chuckle. The shredded tongue slithered around Hellboy's neck, intentionally leaving a gap between the neck and itself. Hellboy could only wince in intense anticipation as the frog monster's tongue began to coil around his neck, slowly reducing the gap it had previously left. Just as the appendage was an inch away from Hellboy's neck, the frog monster suddenly retracted its tongue back into its mouth before stepping away from Hellboy. Hellboy only had brief moment of respite before he felt a sharp sting on his face. The frog monster had used its tongue to whip the paranormal investigator in the face. Hellboy looked at the frog monster in anger as blood streamed from the pockmarks on his right cheek, where the creature's tongue had struck him. The look of anger on Hellboy's face seemed to drive the frog monster into a gleeful frenzy. Hellboy could only wince in pain as the frog monster continued to lash its tongue at his body; leaving pockmarks wherever it struck. A puddle of blood soon formed on the terrace floor as the frog monster continued its sadistic assault.
After what seemed like a few agonising minutes, the frog monster stopped and admired its handiwork. Hellboy's bright red body was significantly paler as blood continued to flow from the pockmarks that now riddled his body. Weak from his extensive blood loss, Hellboy couldn't even bring himself to look at the frog monster who was creeping towards him with malicious intentions. The frog monster lifted up Hellboy's head as its tongue began to coil around the occult detective's neck.
"Oi!" cried a voice, startling the frog monster to retract its tongue.
The frog monster turned to face the voice only to find a dishevelled man in a trench coat standing a few feet away; smoking a cigarette.
"Is this a private party?" Constantine asked sarcastically as he took a puff of his cigarette, "Or can any bloke join in?"
The frog monster stared at Constantine with confusion. Confusion quickly turned to hunger as the creature slowly crept towards the smoking sorcerer; its tattered tongue swinging from side to side.
"Mind you, luv." said Constantine, cigarette in hand, "I enjoy a good whipping or two. But I think you need something a bit more rough."
As he completed his sentence, Constantine flung his burnt cigarette at the frog monster. The cigarette struck the disfigured face of the creature, causing it to growl in anger.
"Shall we skip the foreplay then?" quipped Constantine as the frog monster let out angry screech before charging on all fours towards the Liverpuldian.
Constantine remained where he stood with a smug grin on his face as the creature stormed towards him at full force before jumping into mid-air. Before it could land on the sorcerer, the frog monster's body was suddenly hit by an invisible force; sending it flying away from Constantine before crashing into the terrace floor. Confused and disoriented, the frog monster struggled to stand.
"Rough enough for you, mate?" asked Constantine sardonically before producing a talisman from his trench coat pocket.
The talisman was a pentacle which had eight etched straight lines within it. The lines served to represent the pentacle's radii with each line pointed to a specific Malachim alphabet.
"The 13th seal of King Solomon. Also known as the 6th pentacle of Mars." explained Constantine, "Serves to protect the owner from physical harm. Lovely against violent blighters like you."
Constantine pocketed the amulet as he looked at the staggering frog monster.
"I'd fancy some frog legs right about now." he quipped as his hands erupted into flames, "And I like mine well done."
Constantine threw two fireballs at the frog monster, striking its body. The slime that covered the creature's body proved flammable as the frog monster immediately caught fire. The creature screeched in pain as it frantically tried to put out the flames with its hands; only for them to catch fire as well.
"Still looks a bit raw to me." Constantine said aloud, his hand still engulfed in flames, "Better turn up the heat."
The terrace became brightly lit as Constantine directed a stream of fire from his flaming hands to the frog monster; completely engulfing the creature in magical fire. The frog monster could only screech in agony as its entire body began to blacken from the burning flames. The heat from the fire proved too much for Hellboy's restraints as the resin began to melt away. Their structure now compromised, the resin restraints failed to prevent Hellboy from collapsing into the pool of his own blood. Constantine continued his fiery assault as the frog monster's screeches of pain once again began to die down. Only when the body of the frog monster collapsed to the ground did Constantine stop his fiery attack. Shaking the flames from his hands, he approached the charred remains of the frog monster.
"Bugger." said Constantine in disappointment, "I've gone and overdid it. "
Constantine slowly poked at the blackened frog monster with the tip of his shoe before the creature's remains crumbled into ash.
"Never was good at French cooking." Constantine said to himself as he made his way to Hellboy.
Hellboy floundered in his pool of blood. He had recovered some of his strength but was still too weak to stand. Constantine knelt down beside the blood-soaked investigator.
"Easy there, mate." said Constantine as he placed Hellboy's stone right arm around his shoulder, "I've got you."
With Constantine's help, Hellboy staggered to his feet.
"Now, aren't you glad I didn't bugger off?" teased Constantine.
Hellboy could only give a weak smile as he and Constantine stumbled towards the exit. Meanwhile, Agent Clay and Agent Myers had just arrived at the entrance of the Terrace Catacombs. Both agents were surprised when they saw a severely wounded Hellboy being carried from the terrace by an unknown man.
"Evening, lads." greeted Constantine, "Mind giving us a hand?"
Agent Clay immediately took Constantine's place whilst Agent Myers slid Hellboy's left arm around his shoulders.
"It's okay, big guy." Agent Myers said with assurance, "You're in safe hands now."
Hellboy could only give a weak nod before he went unconscious. Agent Clay looked to Constantine who was rotating his shoulder.
"We'll take it from here." said Agent Clay before switching to a questioning tone, "What happened in there?"
"Aw, nothing much." replied Constantine, lighting a cigarette, "We were just preparing some frog legs."
Agent Clay looked at Constantine in confusion.
"Just pulling your leg, mate." Constantine assured, "The slimy sod's dead. He won't be terrorising this graveyard again."
Agent Clay took a moment before he finally understood Constantine's words.
"Well, thank you for rescuing him anyway." Agent Clay said with gratitude, "And you are?"
"Constantine." said the Liverpuldian occult detective as he took a puff of his cigarette, "It's part of me job, mate. Rescuing people from the supernatural."
Agent Clay only gave a small smile before motioning to Agent Myers. Constantine watched as the two B.P.R.D. agents carried Hellboy back to their van at the west entrance of the cemetery. Taking a last puff of his cigarette before tossing it to the ground, Constantine grabbed his bag and headed in the opposite direction.
"Best get a move on." Constantine thought to himself as he walked towards the east entrance, "Before Chas sticks me with an expensive cab fare."
"God, I could use a cup of tea right about now."
It had been two years since Geoff Bridges worked as a night shift security guard for the Natural History Museum of London. There weren't a lot of jobs available for the man approaching his 60s and Geoff had no intention of retiring. Tales of excessive boredom that plagued his fellow retirees made sure of that. When he had applied for security guard job, he initially thought it would not only give him an outlet to stave his boredom (with the bonus of getting paid) but it also would allow him to see the new exhibits that the museum had to offer. Halfway through his first year on the job, however, it became clear that he had gotten quite bored of inspecting the museum's exhibits every night. The museum would have some new exhibits once in a while but usually Geoff would get bored of those after a few nights. Geoff gave a tired sigh as he walked pass the fossilised skeleton of the Diplodocos affectionately called Dippy.
"Why do I still bother doing this?" he thought to himself, as he walked through the Green Zone; briefly inspecting the 'Birds' display with his flashlight.
Geoff continued to question himself as he entered the Red Zone, the zone dedicated to exhibits pertaining to Earth's history.
"It certainly wasn't because of the money." he thought as he inspected the bakery, "I've had jobs that paid more than what they're giving me now."
As he flashed his torch around the kitchen, Geoff's mind went back to when he first told his grandchildren about working at the museum at night. Their faces were filled with excitement and curiosity when he told them how different the exhibits looked when seen in the dark. Later, they bombarded him with questions like: "Were you frightened?" or "Did the exhibits come to life?" and other strange questions. Geoff felt proud answering their questions. In his grandchildren's eyes, he had the coolest job in the world.
"Yeah." he thought to himself as he stood in the Earth Hall with a smile, "That's why."
His attention was then diverted to the Human Evolution hall. The banner that hung above the entrance read:
Egyptian Symbols and Artefacts: Treasures of the Ancient Civilisation
This was the latest exhibition by the Natural History Museum. Dedicated to displaying Ancient Egyptian artefacts, it proved to be very popular with museum visitors. All this seemed to stem from their strange fixation on one particular artefact…
Geoff scratched his head as he struggled to remember that particular exhibit. The exhibition had only been there for a few days and Geoff prided himself for his good memory. So why was he having difficulty remembering what this Egyptian artefact was?
"Oh well." he said to himself, shrugging his shoulders, "Guess I'll just give myself a reminder."
Geoff entered the Human Evolution hall. The Egyptian exhibition was designed like a gallery, with the exhibits lined along a diverging path from the hall entrance. Geoff recalled the exhibit in question being located at the far right of the hall; just after the bust of Tutankhamun. Geoff headed to the right side of the hall; passing by a statue of the Egyptian cat god Bastet and several canopic jars. As he neared the bust of Tutankhamun, he expected to find the mysterious artefact on the pedestal next to the bust. Geoff could only stare in shock and disbelief when he found said pedestal devoid of the artefact in question.
"Oh dear." he uttered as he pulled out his phone and dialed for the police.