Author note: Just some background on the town. Hellboy will be back in the next chapter. I don't own anything seen in the BPRD comics. Only the setting and evil guys are mine. Thanks for the reviews!

Owsgmina 1189

"Are you sure you are able to take her?"

The girl was young and dressed in torn burlap. Her eyes were bright blue; painful and mournful eyes. Her skin was pale and blistered, having never seen the light of day. She could not talk, but rather she screamed and moaned. Her weak limbs flailed in the air, her crudely shorn head lolling side to side.

"We tried everything. Beatings, locking her in a shed, fasting and fire. It is the devils' child, I tell you. God had forsaken us, wrongly cursed us with this witch."

"There is room for all of Gods' children within our walls. God turns none away, and nor shall we." Spoke the nun in a kindly, roughened voice. A twisted, three-fingered hand touched the childs' face. The parents did not notice, nor did they care.

The parents walked away, leaving their five-year-old daughter in the hands of the hooded nun. She lifted the child into her arms and carried her into the safety of the convents' walls. They, like so many others, had traveled many moons through the wilderness to reach this hidden town.

Once inside,Mother Ethera lowered her hood to reveal a face scarred, damaged and burned. Her lower lip was missing, presumably cut off. She set the girl into a bed of straw and offered her bread. The girl made several attempts to reach for the food, each ending in her fingers failing to wrap themselves around it. The nun fed her.

"No merchants will sell their wares here. Word has spread that we give sanctuary to witches and sorcerers that eat children and curse livestock. If we are to survive, we must cease all relationship with the convent." A prominent townsperson shouted from atop a wagon of straw. "The king will not help us, thus we must take matters into our own hands."

The people shouted out in agreement. No farmer, merchant or storeowner was to sell, give or provide any goods to the Sisters. The nuns begged for food, for warmth. None came; no charity reached the Sisters of Perpetual Life for weeks. Shortly after, an iron bar was fastened across the entrance to the convent with welds, locks and chains. All within were now barred from leaving the sanctuary.

The townspeople were greatly pleased, since once again their larders were full and merchants brought fine food, wine and wares to the market. If anyone was seen climbing the wall, they were shot, drawn and quartered in the public square.

Mother Ethera buried her deformed face into her withered palms.

"Please, God. We need help if we are to do your bidding. The children depend on us for food and care that they are unable to secure themselves. Please, I'm begging to you, God. Save us."

The next day a cloaked figure appeared at the gates of Owsgmina, demanding admittance to the convent. The townspeople refused him entrance, stating that the convent was no more, and to seek religious teachings elsewhere. The cloaked man continued to ask to see the Sisters. The sheriff jeered at him and put him in chains. He was tied to the rack and dissected alive infront of the villagers. Mother Ethera watched on from the roof of the chapel, her eyes weeping bitter tears.

The villagers soon pilfered the travelers' clothes. Within it lay a glass orb. The elders of the town knew not what it was nor its origins, but that it was powerful. Soon, they awakened the angel within the orb and pleased with it to help rid them of their burden forever.

The angel, dressed in gold and red velvet, bargained with the townspeople. The people begged of the angel to rid them of the cursed convent and it's associations such that the town may be free. That night, the locks to the convent were broken and the angry residents stormed the building. Those still alive were dismembered and thrown into the crypts below. Their screams echoed through the night, as many were left to bleed to death through stumps of severed limbs.

The convent was vacant, yet this act came at a price. In return for the favour, the angel took the souls of all villagers involved as his personal servants until his own return in the flesh.

Once the sisters were gone, the servants of the "angel" soon enslaved the surviving townsfolk to do their bidding. Those who did not comply, or who were no longer of use, were eaten alive. Ironworkers were forced to raise the convent into a massive tower, the foundation expanded to hold the thousands of bodies. The builders soon contributed their own bones to the structure.

God no longer gazed upon the town of Owsgmina since the "Eye of Lin" served as a direct link to Hell. God had been cast out of the town. Only the nuns slept in peace.

Years passed and the residents continued to prowl the stone streets. They craved only fresh blood and human flesh. Travelers passing near the forsaken town disappeared, their bones joining those of ages past. Soon, there was no one to feast on. Left with no food and no blood, the walking dead became hungry, and restless. They could not die, they could not leave. They simply waited in the shadows for their next meal to walk through the gates.

...to be continued