-1When Hellboy awoke he expected to be in his room, with its multitude of cats and the constantly muttering televisions. Before he even opened his great yellow eyes he knew he was not where he should be. The bed was too firm and too soft to be his. The air smelled of vanilla, cinnamon and incense, which he generally loathed with a passion.
For a few frightful moments, Hellboy honestly couldn't figure out where he was and he wasn't sure if he wanted to open his eyes and find out. A bit ashamed of such cowardice, the demon finally cracked a lid and peered about. He lay in a large futon in the dark, the moon hanging cheerily through the window. After a quick glance he realized where he was and how he had gotten there.
Sitting up stiffly he rubbed his lower back and scanned the empty room for Mary.
"Stupid, hard futon," he grumbled moodily as he swung his legs off the side, groping for his boots. The woman he looked for was gone as was his long duster coat. That made him a bit more grumpy. No one took his coat without permission.
Smirking demonically at the mean little things he was going to do to her when he found her, Hellboy left her room to look for Mary. When he stepped out, closing the door carefully he came face to face with Manning with several agents who had been walking by.
The older man stopped in his tracks,a cigar in the corner of his mouth and match ready to strike, staring at the large demon who just left the newer woman's room with bedraggled hair. A couple of the more daring men and women with him also looked at him with curiosity and scandal in their eyes.
"Um, uh…" Hellboy looked about dramatically, scratching at his filed horns, as if he was a lost tourist. They continued to eye him suspiciously as he peered back into the room then down the corridor.
Hellboy flashed a clumsily surprised and abashed grin before clonking himself on the forehead. "That's not my room! Nope, definitely not mine!" He began walking down the hall away from them. "Musta got lost somehow but its alright now!" He turned a corner, yelling the last bit back. "I know that that room is not mine!"
Manning looked a bit flustered as he turned back to his colleagues, all of them either horrified or terribly amused at the whole charade.
"Must've been lost."
Hellboy groaned as he slowed his walk, hanging his head and rubbing his temples with his forefinger and thumb. Great, now the whole department was going to think he was sleeping with her.
Well, you sort of did.
Shut up; we slept, that's all.
For now.
You know what? Shut the hell up! You are just a snide part of my overactive imagination. You pop up whenever I've been home too long.
I think you're clinically insane.
Hellboy had to resist the urge to bash his head against the nearest display case of shrunken Mayan heads. Maybe he was insane.
That's what I said, wasn't it?
Growling and stomping at the absurd argument he was having in his mind, the large red demon stormed into Father's old office, nearly taking the door with him as he entered. Her smell assaulted him before he saw her, curled up in a chair next to Abe's tank; that sweet smell she tainted all rooms with.
Mary had his large soft leather cloak wrapped about her like an oversized throw blanket, her hair tumbling in loose cascades of brown-red on her shoulders with a big coffee mug in her lap. Her attention was trained on Abe's glass tank where he hung in the water, one hand pressed on the wall, his large eyes narrowed, fixed on her.
For a moment, Hellboy forgot why he was so annoyed and instead began to ponder why on earth the two of them were staring so intently on one another. From this far away he could see her eyes twitch and her hands tightening on her mug and Abe's gills flare irritably and feet kick a bit too roughly to be keeping him upright.
After a few minutes, he got too curious and cleared his throat, sick of being ignored. Abe turned in his tank, blinking a bit too slowly for him, the thin transparent eyelids sliding sideways across his dark eyes. Mary took several deep breaths before looking at the irritable demon who had just remembered why he was annoyed.
"Oh, you're up?"
"Yeah. So what makes you think you can steal my coat, Short-Stuff? Nobody steals my coat," he warned in what he hoped a suitably threatening manner. Mary smiled sweetly at him, much like she had that first day they met.
"I did."
That blew it! Hellboy glowered at her, deciding then and there that he was going to have to give her a few playful bruises while he attained his precious article of clothing. Maybe he'd give her all the gory details of as to where that certain coat had been and what sort of entrail juices it had splattered and soaked into it.
He only made it two steps before his feet stuck to the wood paneling as if he had been formed into them. Glancing down at his treacherous boot-clad feet, Hellboy then raised a brooding eyebrow at the still smiling woman.
"I can rip the boards out."
"Nope."
"Yes."
"Hehe, nope."
"Uh, yes! Yes I can!"
"Go ahead and try."
Just to prove it and to have something further to dangle over her head in a taunt, Hellboy silently struggled against the mental bond she had noosed over his legs, brow furrowed. He could feel Abe watching the fight between him and her, a bit worriedly but more amused than anything. It was harder than he thought. He managed to make his left knee twitch rebelliously but that was about it.
Suddenly, just when he was straining the most, the hold was gone. Stumbling forward, Hellboy flailed his arms to gain balance. One foot came down, the other in the air. And guess what? They froze that way, in that awkward half-run pose. With an ungraceful 'oh crap', he flailed his arms trying to get his balance again but to no avail. Solidly he landed on his rump, jarring several piles of book, his right foot stuck to the floor, bent at the knee so as to not break.
Mary smiled again at his I'm-going-to-kill-you-slowly-with-nails glare. Abe was laughing quietly, little bubbles rising in the water about his mouth, giving him away.
"Oh, you're funny. Really! Just freakin' hilarious!"
"I know."
"I'm gonna get you when you ain't paying attention."
"Thanks for the warning. I'll keep it in mind."
Hellboy gave up for the moment, crossing his arms across his huge chest, a scowling glare fixated on the young woman who was now picking at her pink painted nails. When she finally looked up at him again he dropped the glower and grinned innocently, visibly startling her and Abe.
"So…what were you two doing?" he asked in a light, casual manner as if his hoof wasn't glued to the unyielding floor. Mary blinked several times but her mental hold on his legs didn't relent.
"We were psychically grappling."
"What?"
"We were fighting each other with our brains forces instead of physically. He almost beat me before you came and interrupted," she snipped back at him, her voice taking on a haughty tone that would have put Manning to shame.
"Yes, but I have had decades of more experience whereas you are only…" Abe interjected in a complimentary voice, pausing to put his sensitive, fingerprint-less hand on the glass and focusing. "…only twenty-five and three-eighths, born August 31, 1981, Citrus Heights, California."
Mary smiled at him softly before nodding.
"Still, I could be better."
"You will be, in time," Abe amended for her, a smile on his pale green lips.
"Can I have my legs back?" Hellboy suddenly interrupted, surprised by his sharp voice. In irked him somewhat that they could be connected in such a way that he couldn't. And in that thought, he paused and considered quickly as to why it bothered him.
"Depends. Can I hold on to your coat for a little while longer?" she inquired, sugary sweet. Hellboy pondered for a moment, his golden eyes scanning her grinning face.
"Sure."
The tight, but not painful, pressure disappeared as quickly as it appeared and he was free. Getting up on his feet, Hellboy flexed both legs, making sure he had total control before grinning and marching over to the still seated woman. Abe flinched towards her but she made no move.
"Did you lie to me?"
"Yep. Now give it back."
He hadn't admitted to it until he was within grabbing range, reaching for the coat which was only an inch away. But again, her mental capabilities went beyond his expectation. His right arm suddenly tugged back, up in the air and away from her. Hanging in the air, the ground a foot below his boots, he shrugged at her, appearing unimpressed.
"That all ya got?" he asked with a challenging little smirk. As soon as the words left his lips, the energy forced him further back and up in the air about twenty feet up past the rising stairwell. The hold let go for a second, propelling him up before grabbing hold of his left ankle and jerking it. A surprised 'shit!' escaped him before he did a back flip in the air, tumbling head over foot towards the ground.
He was going to hit that ground hard. Like, shatter the damn floor and the surrounding area. It was Father's library and if it got damaged…
Luckily (for both of them) he stopped, face down, his nose and the tips of his boots touching the innocent wooden paneling. Then, he landed, right on his nose and with no damage to the upholstery.
"Ow. You're gonna pay for that one, Shorty," Hellboy grumbled angrily as he sat up, rubbing his sore face. Mary grinned, entirely enjoying herself too much. Getting up, she pranced over, her bare feet padding on the ground, his coat wrapped about her shoulders. He went to grab at her but his arms froze on the spot. At this point he could only roll his eyes.
Leaning down, Mary smiled at him in a pleasant way, her hazel eyes bright with triumph. Hellboy was in the middle of contemplating the idea of biting off her nose when he caught her scent and stopped. Her face was only a few inches away from his, her warm breath blowing on his face. For a good few seconds he found himself distracted by the cascades of rich brown red hair.
Mary blinked uncertainly, her grin fading at his dazed and somewhat dark look. But the smile was in place before she let it overcome her. Determinedly, she leaned forward again and firmly planted a small kiss between his filed horns, her lips hot against the skin.
"I know I will," she said, standing up somewhat stiffly and walking out of view, coat and all. He was going to shoot something clever at her, but his tongue felt thick and dead in his mouth, not allowing him the ability to speak.
She kissed him. Not on the lips but a kiss none-of-the-less. Liz had never semi-casually kissed him, even after the occurrence in Russia. It stunned him surely but what happened next snapped him out of it.
Quick, sharp pain lanced up his nose as if someone had tweaked it harshly. He went to grab at it but found himself still frozen.
"Hey!" he roared in a complaint, almost drowning out her laughter from the other side of the room. He heard the large doors close and felt the pressure fade. Jumping to his feet, he swung about to charge for the door, determined to make her suffer somehow.
But, as fate would have it, the door opened first and Manning walked in with a truly disgruntled look on his face. He looked as if he had just swallowed rotted milk. The very expression made Hellboy stop and wait to see what he said. Mary wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Bad news, boys," Manning started, furrowing his hands in his expensive jacket pockets.
"Is there any other kind?" Hellboy interrupted sarcastically. Manning rolled his eyes and ran a hand over his bald head, the skin shining slightly in the light.
"Funny. We've got a problem."
"Sounds great. Where?"
"You're going out to Sweden. Seems there have been some disturbances in the northern areas, missing people, others found with missing bits or organs."
"Sounds great," Hellboy repeated dryly. "Any idea of what it might be?"
"Nope. That's your job."
"Figures. Well, I'll go try and write something that resembles a will on a scrap of something."
"Agent McArthur is coming with you," Manning added absently as Hellboy started past him. He pointed a warning finger at him, a somewhat serious look on his tired face. "You watch her. She hasn't been on the job yet."
"I know. I know," he mumbled harshly as he left, his tail swishing irritably behind him.
