BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP
Red awoke to the sound of the alarms in his room going off. They were loud obnoxious and bright as the red flashing lights accompanied the sound.
"Its three a.m." Red grumbled to himself as he hauled himself off the sofa.
Angela was gone and he had fallen asleep on the sofa, clutching a pillow.
As he got up he imagined her sneaking out of his place in the middle of the night trying not to awaken her.
Angela wasn't used to the alarm, and didn't know if anyone had actually told her it was in every room on the floor. With this thought he got ready more quickly thinking she might want some explanation when she was awakened by it.
Hellboy opened the door to his room and heard voices shouting in the hall.
He turned and saw at the end of the hallway three agents pointing rifles at Angela who they had cornered. Angela was in a defensive posture as two other agents were trying to tackle her. One had her around the waist and was trying to pull her to the ground. The other had a needle and was trying to hold her so he could inject it. Angela's feathers were ruffled, her face was full of worry and she spoke frantically in a language both complex and mysterious to everyone.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!" Hellboy ran at them.
One of the agents shot a dart into her leg and she screamed with pain. All the agents clasped their hands over their ears, dropping to their knees as Angela pulled the dart from her bleeding leg and tossed it aside.
She slid down the wall to the floor, stopped screaming and continued frantically speaking in the strange speech just as Hellboy got there. The guards stood up and Hellboy punched the one who had shot the dart in the mouth sending him back down to the floor.
"Hey, hey, kid, its alright, what's wrong?" he said softly as he knelt down and hugged her. She was trembling all over and seemed too frantic to stop, she was practically hyperventilating as she continued her ranting.
Hellboy released her and one of the agents stepped forward.
"We have to give her this, it will calm her down." He said as he stepped forward with the syringe.
Hellboy stood up abruptly and stood inches from the agents face. "Get the hell out of here." said Hellboy with an angry expression.
"But sir..." he insisted,
"I SAID GET OUT!!!!" He yelled, swinging his arm around forcing them to back up.
He turned back to Angela and knelt down again, placing his hands on her cheeks.
"Its alright, what's wrong, what happened." He said in a calming voice.
"She was screaming in her sleep." Said one of the agents. "She would have killed the guard standing at her door with that voice if we hadn't come in, we tried to make her stop but she attacked us and we ended up out here. We had to call in reinforcements." Said an agent.
Hellboy spun his head around and glared at him. "WAS I ASKING YOU......NO, SO SHUT UP!!!" He said. Turning his head to face Angela again.
She stopped talking and looked at him. "Ok, slowly, just tell me what happened?" said Hellboy, as if being awakened in her sleep by unknown people in your bedroom wasn't enough.
"Ileosha,.." she closed her eyes, and breathed in trying to think, "evil, i...its here....its here I know,...i...I felt it." she said.
Hellboy could see the terror in her eyes. He didn't know if it was a nightmare or if what she was feeling was real but no matter which it was, he knew the experience of it had been very intense for her.
"Ok, we will find it, don't worry it will be alright." He helped her to her feet; she was still shaken and trembling.
"I-its alright now. I can't feel it anymore." She said through a wavering voice.
Professor Broom, and Agent Myers came into the hallway.
"Good morning." Said Professor Broom as he surveyed the scene.
"What's so damned good about it?" said Hellboy in a sarcastic tone.
The lights and alarm stopped.
Angela took hold of Hellboy's stone hand with both of her own still unsure about the agents who stood with lowered rifles.
"Was there a perimeter breach?" asked Hellboy without moving.
"No there was not." Said Myers. "The alarm went off because she began screaming." Said Myers.
"That's impossible, I know what I felt." Said Angela insistently as she stepped forward releasing Hellboy's hand. "I know it was real, there was something here. I know your thinking it was a nightmare, but I have had nightmares, this..Wasn't.......one....i........" Angela's voice became weak and her body grew limp, she sunk to her knees and her eyes rolled back.
"Angela, Birdie." Said Hellboy leaning over and holding her up. She was completely unconscious.
He glanced down at the blood from the dart and again his expression turned to anger.
"DAMNIT!! Is it your goal to bring as much misery as you can to her." said Hellboy. He lifted her up into his arms, her wings dangling from her back, dragging on the ground.
Hellboy couldn't speak to them he was so angry. He walked past the guards giving them a look that said; this isn't over.
He took her back into her room; the door had been kicked open and pieced of wood from the molding lay about the entrance. He took her to her bedroom, which had been kicked in also, there were two darts lodged in the mattress where the agents had obviously tried to shoot her in her sleep. The sheets and comforter were strewn about on the floor as well as the pillows. He plucked the darts from the bed and placed her gently down in it. He found two pillows on the floor. One of them had a dart in it. As he put the pillow under her head, and placed the sheets and blanket over her body he couldn't help but admire how much of a fight she had put up. And as angry as he was he whispered softly to himself. "Good girl birdie, give em hell."
He lay on her sofa all the rest of the night. Thinking. The more he thought about it the angrier he became. He could understand the need to stop her screaming. He could even understand that they had to enter her room. But the scene here was more than just rude, they busted through two doors and aimed rifles filled with sedatives at her. They shot at her three times while she was in bed and then even when she had stopped screaming continued the assault.
Hellboy was defiantly going to have some strong words with Manning tomorrow.
The next morning he awoke to the smell of coffee. He felt a blanket covering him and for a time he completely forgot where he was and fell back asleep, snuggling up with the blanket, which smelled so good, and was so warm.
He awoke some time later with the same wonderful smell wafting through the air.
He heard two coffee cups placed on the table and then felt someone sit beside him on the sofa. "Red." Whispered Angela. She was trying to wake him up. But he kept his eyes closed. He felt her shift on the sofa and then heard her voice inches from his face, her breath touching his skin. "Red, wake up." He heard her say.
With her whispering it was as though she was trying to wake him up but at the same time she didn't want to disturb his sleep. It was a contrast to the sounds he normally heard or when he tried to wake someone up; very loud and abrupt.
"Red." He heard again. This time it was right by his ear but still a whisper. She placed a hand on his shoulder, soft and gentle. "Red." He heard again and he opened his eyes.
There she was. So close he could swear he felt her lips brush his skin. When she saw that his eyes were open she smiled and pulled away. Taking a huge coffee cup from the table and handing it to him.
"Good morning." She said.
"Yeah, I bet you slept well." He said
"Like I had been sedated," She said with a laugh as she brought the coffee mug to her lips.
"You take regular, cream and sugar right." She said.
"Yeah. How did you know?" he said.
"Broom told me earlier this morning." She said. "I am having your breakfast delivered here, I would have made it myself, but I think the size of the meal might be a little much for me." She said.
The image of last night wouldn't leave him. He had dreamt about it, thought about it and as hard as he tired he couldn't get the feel that something was wrong out of him. It became clear to him that Angela had not been the only one shaken by the experience.
Perhaps it was the shock of how they had treated her. Hellboy had lived her ever since he could remember and Abe had been her for so long his blue skin didn't rattle anyone at the BPRD any more. None of the Agents would ever dream of treating wither one of them the way they had Angela last night. But Angela was new, her presence still under suspicion not only by the heads of the department but by Hellboy himself who; Even after all this time could not get his head wrapped around the idea that Angels existed and that they had such extraordinary power.
"Kid, you know last night...." His words trailed off. "It was inexcusable." He said.
"Don't worry about it Red," she said. "I will be fine. Really."
Her words were rather unconvincing but there seemed little he could do about it. as she stood up and placed her coffee cup on the table again.
"Well I will just let you finish your coffee and go get changed." She said. Walking back into her room.
"Alright." He said. Glancing around the room and picking up some books that were under the table. 'Lord of the rings' 'pride and prejudice' 'the ultimate guide to swords and knives' 'william james, pragmaticm and other writings' and 'Harry potter and the sorcerers stone.'
Red skimmed through the books, reading the backs of them.
"Red!" Angela called out from her room.
"Yeah!" he answered.
"Did you paint your room or leave it, I can't remember." She said.
"I left it, but the walls were metal so painting could be hard." He called back. As he put down the books, and picked up her coffee cup.
"Do you think I should paint the apartment?" she called to him.
Red examined the outside of the cup. It had cats on it. "I don't know whatever you want to do." He said. Not really sure why she had asked him such a question. He sipped the cup and found it was filled with hot chocolate not coffee.
"Hey, Birdie, do you drink coffee?" he asked.
"No I don't eat toffee." She said.
"Oh, ok so why do you have a coffee maker in your place?" he asked.
"I don't see how that has anything to do with toffee." She yelled to him from her room.
"What? Who said anything about toffee, I said coffee."
"What?!" she yelled.
"Oh, forget it just tell me when your done ok."
"What do you mean fudge is no fun?" she responded, but Red could tell by the tone in her voice that she was just messing with him now. And smiled.
Just then Myers walked in with two trays of food. "Morning Hellboy."
"Morning Myers."
Agent, Myers placed the trays on the coffee table and Hellboy took a strip of beacon from one of them.
"So is she alright?" he asked.
"I don't know. I haven't talked to her about it." Said Hellboy.
"Well the Professor wants us in his office asap." Said Myers. "He thinks there might have been something to Angela's fight last night."
"Yeah, well maybe you should tell that to the boys upstairs." He said.
"I'm sure they will be there." he said. "You can tell them yourself,"
"Hi." Said Angela as she walked into the room wearing a white tank top and jeans.
"Hi, we haven't formally met, my name is Myers, err, agent Myers, but my first name is John, john Myers." He said nervously as he shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Angela, but my friends call me bird" she said.
Hellboy stood up. "Broom wants us in his office." He said.
"Oh alright." Said Angela.
"Hey, John, do you think I should paint the place or leave it white?" asked Angela as she pointed to the walls.
"Myers looked at the room and the ceiling. "I think you should paint it, it would bring out the personality in the room and would add some life to it with color." He said. "And you see how the ceiling is, well you could paint the ceiling also with a foe finish and bring some depth to theroom it would look nice since they are tall already." He said pointing to the ceiling to show her what he meant.
Angela smiled brightly, as he engaged her question. "Well I do love to paint maybe a mural or something."
"Yeah that would be great you could...." Added Myers.
Hellboy groaned with misery. "Ok, as fun as this is I think we should go."
They all walked to Brooms office. Hellboy let Angela get ahead of him and then pulled Myers aside. "What the hell was that?"
"What?" asked Myers.
"That whole. Paint. Wall. Crap you were spewing a minute ago. You were flirting with her weren't you?' he asked suspiciously.
"No, I was just answering her question." He responded.
"Hellboy looked unconvinced.
"What? My uncle was a painter, I like that kind of stuff." He said.
Hellboy stood there, frustrated and unwilling to accept Myers answer. "You know she's married. So...so watch your back." He said as he huffed off. Leaving Myers thoroughly confused.
"Son, Angela. Myers. Welcome." Said Professor Broom as they entered his office.
"Is this about last night?" asked Hellboy as he eyed the agents who stood in the room.
"Yes. We have someone here who you should meet." He said
A man was wheeled into the room he was tied to a chair and was unconscious.
"Who is he?" asked Myers.
"He's the man from Isle of Mull, the island we found Angela at." Said Hellboy.
"I didn't know he was in custody." Said Myers.
"We thought it best to keep him a secret until now." Said Broom.
"Last night he awoke for the first time." Said Broom. "at the same time when Angela screamed."
"He was the source?" said Angela. "of what I felt."
"So we shall see." Said Broom, who took from his pocket a vile of smelling salt and placed it under his nose.
The man began to awaken and look around.
Angela backed up, her eyes fixed on him, her wings fluffed out and raised a little, her breathing quickened and her expression became transfixed on him.
"Y-yes this is him." She said.
He awakened fully and looked around but when he saw Angela, his gaze rested on her.
"nolistsh abrevag, endolish." He said with a low voice.
Angela stepped forward, though still seemingly frightened. "iglasol inodhita." She responded.
"What is he saying?" asked Broom.
"H-he says I am the one he has been looking for. I told him he is mistaken"
"neglvinia ashgard in tomolistal, nedredge...." He continued, this time taking an evil grip as he gazed upon her.
"No he says, I am shedra, the angel of love, who's soul is condemned to hell."
"mostrifa legnadga mosterufdelok Rasputin awena."
"And that I can not escape his master, Rasputin,."
"castolipe consantivil lastrstes. Hastole hin scedfu fjowu" He said.
At his words Angela was at first very frightened and seemed hesitant to translate them, but then she approached him with confidence and as though she were spitting the words out spoke to him.
"nadactero insel tdaya tadyashes inooctuper stelodt."
"What did you say to him?" asked Hellboy.
"He said when Rasputin finds me it will be the end of life, and that I shall never again....i suppose it translates to..... walk without him. But that's not what it means." She paused. "I told him his master would feel the steel of my sword across his neck before allow that to happen." She said.
"I don't think he is human." she said. "I think he is a demon."
"Why do you think that?" said Broom.
"I don't know, experience I guess." She said.
"Ask him when his master will be doing this? Where?" said Hellboy.
"atulo decadh. Shjeopdfj." She said.
"eklldr djeiskap fjooldscm fjoeajwo Anung un rama."
"He says Anung un Rama, Hellboy shall know the end when he dies trying to kill Shedra, the angel doomed to hell."
"Well that's not going to happen, I say we just kill him." Said Hellboy. "he isn't really giving very useful info."
"Birdie."
She was still fixed upon the man.
"Birdie." Said Hellboy again. "Hey kid, snap out of it." he said walking over and taking hold of her shoulders.
"Uh, yeah, yes what is it,"
"What does 'never walk without Rasputin.' Mean? You said that was the translation but what does it mean?"
"it is a process of consuming someone's soul, it envelopes a couple of different things, one of them is um.....usually..."
"Well spit it out." Said Hellboy
"Sex, one step is sex, during a ritual. Another is blood letting. Usually draining the entire body of as much blood as possible....there are other things, um...it has to be done in a cursed place where the dead rest without peace. Um...the ritual can take up to four days to complete and must be done on certain nights but I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of when It has to be done." She paused, visibly shaken from even trying to say what this was. "This ritual has never been successfully performed in recorded history. Its results are so terrible that to mention the ritual name is forbidden."
"What will happen if it is completed?" asked Broom.
"No magical creatures of good will have power any more. Every angel will be slautered until the demon flood gates can be opened." She took a step back. "You see most of the hell dimensions as you call them are guarded by angels, the demons inside have never escaped, but when there is nothing to hold them back, they will come into earth. There will be nothing left until hell and earth are indistinguishable from one another."
"I don't understand how taking over your soul will cause all of this?" said Broom.
"Raspitin, the demon called the mad monk, will have the soul of an angel, he will gain uninhibited access to all the history and knowledge every angel possesses, and will have the happiness and love and joy of the angels under his control. Angels will looses their power of influence over life. But Rasputin will gain it, and will be far more powerful than what any angel can do. he will use this power to crush the hope of men and free the demons."
"nastelof ictediosa Shedra." Said the man.
"actelio dietgo joe e dii wleop."
"What did he say?"
"He said my life belongs to him. I told him that I would be dead before he claimed it." she said,
Hellboy had heard enough. He just couldn't stand here and listen to this another moment.
Without a word he walked up and punched the guy In the head, nocking him out.
"What, I think he was done anyways." said Hellboy.
"This is very interesting." I will have to research anything I can find out about this ritual, but in the mean time I think we have found out that your screams were legitimized last night." Said professor Broom.
"The staff will work on sound proofing your quarters. In the meantime I suggest you get some rest, your testing will begin tomorrow as planned." He said.
"wait a minute, he wants to steel her soul and take over the earth and we are gonna sit on out asses watchin her do tests?" said Hellboy sarcastically.
"I promise son, that we will find out as much as we can and do everything in our power to protect you Angela from allowing that to happen." Said Broom.
"Its not just my life at stake, the whole world is in danger, the best thing is to kill me." She said.
OK THIS CHAPTER IS DONE GONNA GO WORK ON THE NEXT, OH AND HELLBOY DID ASK HER WHY SHE WAS IN HELL WHEN SHE WAS IN THE CELL, BUT HE COULDSEE SHE WASNT READY TO TALK ABOUT IT. BUT DONT WORRY IT WILL ALL BE REVEALED.
AIKOALIMA.