Darayah wakes with a start. She moans a sorrowful "no" in response to a fleeting nightmare in the spaces of her mind, thinking it is true - thinking that they discover her and capture her. She opens her eyes wide and takes a moment to look around and assess her situation. She remembers the awakening, the running, the falling, the searching, the hiding and now. Was she safe?
She notices the streams of light sliding in between the overlapping edges of the leaves that cover her hiding spot, bathing her in its warm glow. It was night then and now it is day. She must have successfully eluded those people - him. She was safe! Was she safe, she asks herself yet again? They could still be searching for her.
She cautiously makes her way out of her hiding spot, first making sure no one was around. The wood in the morning is cool and misty. The sun, which is half hidden by clouds, every now and then pours its nurturing light down into the wood. Darayah sighs. The ache in her knee feels much less painful and her sense of danger mutes its self. She wants to smile, for the wood is beautiful and eerie at the same time. She feels like some kind of princess lost in an enchanted forest, looking for escape back to her kingdom. She imagines that a unicorn has laid a magic trail for her to follow, all she must do is trust her heart and her purity to find the trail and keep on it. With this soothing thought in her head, which calms her shot nerves, she wanders the wood.
The mists seem to gather around her like ethereal clothing. She welcomes its camouflaging attention. She figures that she can sacrifice visibility for protection against the attention of any of those who pursued her last night. She did not expect the soft dirt under her feet to change into hard, cold stone - to stumble out of the enchanted wood back into reality represented by that of a lonely concrete road.
It was a not so lonely concrete road, she soon realizes. Headlights suddenly loom out of the fog. She was in its path, and with her injured knee and shot nerves, she could do nothing more then wait for the vehicle to hit her. Before this could happen, the vehicle screeches to a stop. She lets out her breath, not realizing that she was holding it, and then collapses onto the ground in surprise at how much she is exhausted and tired. Before she could hit the ground, she feels strong hands catch her and carry her weak body to the vehicle. In her ear she hears a comforting voice telling her that it was okay, she was safe - they had found her.
***
"Blue? Didja hear that? Wesley nearly knocked her down! We found her! The woman was wandering aimlessly across the road, dressed in tatters. We're back heading to headquarters righ-taway." Hellboy quietly rejoices to Abe. He grabs his Babe Ruth bars off the floor and scarf them all down with a big gulp of beer.
"Yes. We shall send patrols to the area to see if from whomever she escaped is still in the area."
"Yea yea …" Hellboy mocks and takes another gulp of beer and finishes the can. He crushes the it on his forehead and tosses it aside, reminding himself to put it in a recycling bin when he gets back to HQ.
After this short celebration of laziness and not having to do any real work, and also burning inside (if that were truly possible) with curiosity, Hellboy opens a slot in the front of his hiding cage and looks in on Meyers and the girl.
*
"Who are you?" She asks in a tired voice.
"Myers, you may call me Myers. I work for the FBI. We have been looking for you for a long time Ms. Tomoa."
"Wha … what do you mean a long time? It's too early to be searching for me … especially the FBI … I only passed out for a couple of hours, didn't I? Yesterday, he … Yesterday I passed out and awoke on an alter that night … um, yesterday night … and now today, that is the day after I passed out …"
Darayah stops and looks at her arms. They are thin. Her bones poke out of her ashy colored skin. Small scars dot her skin. She gasps and looks into the rear-view mirror at her face. Although the ritual makeup the cult put on her face hides most of it, she notices how her drawn and hollow her cheeks are. She looks underfed and drained. Her eyes are puffy and red and there are small scars on her neck like the ones on her arm - circular bite marks. She thinks of "him" and his glistening fangs and she shudders.
"Shhh … it is okay … Like I told you before, you're safe."
Myers reaches a hand and rubs on her shoulders and down her back. He places a wool blanket snugly around her body.
"How long …?" She looks into his eyes, searching for an answer in their gleam.
"Now, this information might be hard to swallow …"
"I see the signs when looking at my body. How long!?!" She glares at Myers now, slightly shaking, but with determination in her eyes.
"9 months …"
Darayah closes her eyes and slides back into her seat, trying to understand the reality of her situation. It was worse then what she could have ever imagined. 9 months missing … 9months passing as though she were taking a quick nap. She could pass out right now and awaken a year, ten, twenty years down the road, like Rip van Winkle. It was frightening.
She forces open her eyes and something in the rear-view mirror catches her gaze. She looks into it. A slot on the huge box-like structure in the back on the car was open a crack. It was open enough for her to catch a glimpse of leathery red skin, a filed off red horn and glowing yellow eyes. She locks eyes with it and then the slot closes as the person behind it realizes that they have been seen.
Darayah blinks, and her eyelids feel heavy. She closes them for just a little while but passes out into sleep - a sleep were she dreams about being back in the woods, only wandering in a different direction away from the road and the harsh truth. She dreams of finding the unicorn, only it is red instead of white, and has enchanting glowing yellow eyes and a filed off red horn,. She dreams of finding it and climbing on its back and galloping away into the mists.
*
Hellboy knew she had seen him - that look in her eyes told him all. Whether she believes what she saw is another issue. She will have to believe soon enough, and a voice in the back of his mind hopes she will be comfortable with his existence. Something about her was appealing to him, like how his cats were appealing to him. He feels like he has to protect her at all costs - as though she is like a defenseless new born kitten.
Hellboy scratches his head in bewilderment and tilts his chair back against the back wall of the cage. He grumbles something under his breath about really needing a cigar, and mutters a swear at whoever took his cigars out of his jacket. He then rests his feet on the table in front of him and crosses his legs. Getting comfy, he tilts his head down to his chest and closes his eyes, falling into a fitful dream-filled sleep, his demonic tail swishing back and forth.
***
