Title: Unholy Union (2 of ?)
Chapter: Why Am I Here Again?
Author/Artist: Ariyana
Pairing: Hellboy/Elizabeth Sherman
Fandom: Hellboy
Theme: #10 Ten
Disclaimer: Hellboy is owned by Mike Mignola, Dark Horse comics, Columbia/Sony and Revolution Studios. Constantine is owned by Vertigo/DC comics, Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow. I am not making any money off this story. It is strictly for my entertainment.
Rating: 16+ Mature themes and adult language.
Notes: Since I forgot to mention this last chapter, this story is slightly Alternate Universe in that it takes place three years after Hellboy but only a few months after Constantine. I've blended elements from both movies so that their universes are not that far apart. Basically I've taken some liberty with both canons so please don't hurt me.

It had only been a few hours since she had gotten back from her last mission, only to find that Liz, John and several of the agents were coming back from Los Angeles. She was handed several more files as she walked into her office. She sighed heavily flipping through the latest information on this case. It was all very frustrating to say the least. Before she could sit down, the phone started ringing.

"Torres, speaking,"

"Oh good, you made it back," a relieved voice spoke.

"Are you back yet?" she asked, smiling. It was always good to hear John's voice. Here they were working on the same case but they hardly had time to see one another.

"Yeah, we're bringing John Constantine in. So could you relieve James and Robbins and bring Mr. Constantine to interrogation room two?"

Torres blinked a few times before she fully absorbed his words. "John Constantine, that exorcist guy?"

"Yes, we had to arrest him but technically he is a guest. He just doesn't know it yet. I'll explain everything later. You can find them on the way to holding."

"Okay, John," she replied. He quickly thanked her and hung up. Tossing her files on the desk, she shook her head. This caseload was getting more peculiar by the day. Two years ago she had thought Tom Manning was joking when he asked if she believed in the supernatural and paranormal. If she had known then what she knew now; she was not so sure she would have told him yes.

Quickly she made her way down to holding. Within minutes she spotted Agent James and Agent Robbins guiding who she assumed to be John Constantine toward the holding cells.

"I'll take over from here," she ordered.

All three men turned to face her. "Yes, ma'am," James and Robbins said in unison once they saw her. It didn't escape her notice that Constantine had scanned her over, his eyes momentarily lingering on her bust line. Instantly she scowled, she had a feeling that she wasn't going to like this guy.

"Mr. Constantine, I'm Agent Torres," she introduced herself, walking behind him and unlocking the handcuffs. Myers had said the man was a guest but she would have rather thrown him into holding. "Please follow me."

He rubbed his wrist for a moment, shrugged and followed after her. "Why am I here?" he asked with a frustrated sigh.

"Honestly Mr. Constantine, I have no idea," she replied simply.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe."

She chose to ignore that remark. The quicker they got to the interrogation room the quicker she could get away from him. She really hoped Myers and the others knew what they were doing. She opened the door and guided him in. "Sit and stay," she ordered, closing the door sharply behind her. She could just feel his glare reaching through that door and shot back her own glare in return. Silently she cursed and began walking down the hall.

"Miranda is he waiting?" John asked, walking toward her with Manning on his heel.

Just looking at him made her icy demeanor melt away. His soothing presence made nothing else matter. Sighing she replied, "Yes." His warm and honest nature dispelled all negative emotions within her. Those puppy dog eyes of his were just asking her, 'what's wrong'? But she didn't want to go into that with Manning standing there.

Myers slightly followed her gaze to Manning. "I'll be sure to fill you in later, okay?" he asked, his eyes telling her once he got away from Manning.

"Fine, I'll just be in my office buried under files and mountains of paperwork," she joked.

He laughed lightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She could tell he was definitely missing her as much as she was missing him. She sighed again; such was life when you worked for a secret government agency.

XXX

Constantine found himself sitting in an interrogation room waiting to be questioned. He was rather pissed at himself for getting caught in this position. Why did he have to help that woman? He had fought demons, insane angels and all sorts of impending apocalypses but now he found himself at the mercy of the government.

It really shouldn't have surprised him that the government would have their hands in the Occult. He found himself wondering if there really was an Area 51 too. His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and two men walked in. He immediately recognized both men. One of them he had seen on television several times denying the existence of Hellboy and the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense and the other was the guy he had met in his apartment earlier that day.

"Mr. Constantine, I'm Tom Manning and you've already met Agent John Myers," Manning introduced blowing a cloud of cigar smoke in the air.

Constantine inhaled deeply, it had been so long since he had a cigarette and his whole body was craving nicotine in the worst way. He hated cigars but that smoke was so tempting. Myers walked up to his side and placed a pack of gum in front of him.

"A man who nearly died of lung cancer shouldn't smoke," Myers said firmly, receiving a glare in return.

His first instinct was to ask how he knew that but this annoyingly angelic guy worked for the government. What didn't those fuckers know?

"Look cut the bullshit and just tell me why you brought me here!" he demanded, pocketing the gum. He had a feeling he was going to need it at the rate they were going.

"Mr. Constantine, the BPRD makes it a habit of knowing about people like you. Do you really think that just because you deal with the spiritual planes that the government is clueless? We know all about you and your friends, Chas Kramer, Father Hennessy, Beeman, Midnite and Detective Angela Dodson. Of course we are also aware that Kramer, Hennessy and Beeman are dead, most likely because of their involvement with you!" Manning said pointedly.

"You fucking asshole!" Constantine growled through gritted teeth. Just who in the hell did this guy think he was, saying some shit like that?

"You know what you're problem is? You're reckless, like someone else I know. You probably rarely think a situation entirely through. You barrel in guns a blazing; kicking ass and taking names later. All this you do in the name of your glory and pride; so you can score brownie points with God. Never mind the lives of the people who put their trust in you. Am I close?" Manning asked, not even bothering to hide his condescending tone.

"You don't know shit about me, old man!" Constantine spat back. That presumptuous old prick! How dare he sit there making judgements about things he knew nothing about! Chas, Beeman and Hennessy's deaths were not something that he took lightly. Those guys were his friends and no matter what anyone said he cared about them.

"What? Did I strike a nerve, Mr. Constantine?" Manning asked, raising an eyebrow and blowing yet another cloud of smoke in Constantine's direction.

Constantine and Manning glared at one another for several minutes a battle of the wills ensuing; finally causing Myers to intervene.

"Mr. Constantine, are you familiar with a man named Rasputin?" Myers asked.

Okay that was certainly an unexpected question. He couldn't keep the puzzled look off his face as he asked, "The man who tricked the Romanovs into thinking he was able to help their son?"

"Yeah, that's him. What if I told you that he made a pack with Satan that allowed him to cross back over to our plane of existence?" Myers asked in a tone that Constantine knew quite well. He had asked similar questions of non-believers many times using that exact tone.

"I would say you must be kidding. Why would Lu bother with some small time con man?" He replied with a question, just knowing that he was in for an unbelievable story. Which in his world meant every word would be true.

"Mr. Constantine," Myers began "John," he amended, "Rasputin's powers are as real as your own. But while you have decided that you would rather use your powers to exorcise demons back to hell and other selfish endeavors," Myers paused, trying to find the right words to describe the other man. "Rasputin has decided that he would rather use his powers in conjunction with the forces of hell," he explained dropping a file down in front of him. "He almost succeeded in unleashing hell on Earth twice."

He glanced at the file but quickly returned his gaze to Myers. It was strange but for some reason the man was almost unreadable. He could sense honesty and warmth but he got nothing else out of him. He looked back at the file unsure if he wanted to know how this Rasputin guy could almost unleash hell on Earth that many times.

"How is that possible? Mammon has only tried to come through once and I stopped him," he finally said, returning his eyes to Myers.

"Yes, we know about your battle with Mammon. To answer your question Rasputin and the Nazis back during World War II used science to create a portal that would open the gates of hell. The portal was destroyed but not before something came through," Myers said dropping a picture with young Hellboy, young Professor Broom and a group of American soldiers on the table.

"Hellboy? So he is real? He doesn't look like the other demons I've seen," Constantine said, picking up the picture. Hellboy looked like the kind of cliche demons you see in cartoons. Not those nasty brainless buggers that he faced off with on more than one occasion. He examined the picture closely noticing the small red demon looked to be playing with something dangling from one of the soldier's rifles…a rosary?

"Hellboy is special. We now know that he was the key to opening the gates of hell. The demons call him the right hand of doom. His true name is Anung un Rama."

Constantine looked up at Myers startled. "Anung un Rama? Are you insane? He is known as a harbinger of Satan, one of the highest levels of demon just under Mammon!" he exclaimed. That certainly answered the question of why he looked so different from the other demons. "Don't tell me you guys have been keeping him as some sort of pet?"

He noticed Myers' face hardened at hearing the term 'pet'. He also felt himself inwardly cringe at Myers' expression but showed no signs outwardly of remorse for what he had said. Though something was telling him that Myers wasn't the kind of guy he wanted as an enemy.

"Hellboy isn't a pet," Myers said sharply. "And he doesn't follow Satan or Mammon or any other force from hell. He has lived among us for over sixty years now. He chose to help us rather than open the gates of hell. I know...I was there," he emphasized. "He saved us even knowing that he could lose the one thing he cherished most..." Myers trailed off, a faraway look in his eyes.

Judging from Myers' reaction, he had to be very close to Hellboy. Possibly even a best friend or brother in arms. Constantine was left pondering for a moment what Myers had meant about 'one thing he cherished most.' He didn't have to ponder long as the memory of the woman who started this chain reaction came to his mind.

"That woman...Liz, she's his wife isn't she?" Constantine asked, thinking back to the platinum wedding band and her subsequent death glare when he had first mentioned Hellboy. A bitter taste began forming in the back of his mouth. He really didn't want to know that a demon was closer to a normal life than he would ever be. If Myers told him that the happy couple had popped out two point three children too he swore he would get up and leave. Fuck the government!

"Very astute observation, Mr. Constantine," Manning said, blowing more cigar smoke in his direction. "You'll find that Agent Sherman is not your average person in the least."

He gave Manning a look of pure loathing. He had forgotten that pathetic piece of shit was still in the room. From where he sat there were no redeeming qualities about the old guy. The man sat there in all his pompous glory like he had seen it all. What could he possibly know about the forces of good and evil? At least something about Myers felt genuine and that was far more than Manning could say.

"I gathered as much. She leveled a city block and came out completely unscathed. How is that possible?" Constantine asked Myers, wanting to get back to ignoring Manning all together.

"Liz is what we call pyrokinetic, although don't say that in her presence," Myers quipped.

"Oh I see a fire starter. No wonder she took out her surroundings without hurting herself," he said, feeling things start to click. Well that mystery was solved. He was actually surprised that it hadn't occurred to him sooner, but then again he didn't have much contact with the psychics that could control or create the elements. "I suppose having a relationship with a demon would be safer for her. No chance of burning him to a cinder?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"No, Hellboy is fire proof unlike some of the demons we have had to fight," Myers confirmed.

"A high level demon like Anung un Rama was born of fire. The ones born of fire tend to be the strongest and the toughest to defeat," he replied, thinking more about that asshole Balthazar than Hellboy.

"Lucky for us we don't have to worry about defeating Hellboy. He was born a demon but he chose to live as a man. John, don't judge him before you actually meet him. HB is one tough customer and well he kind of already doesn't like you..."

"I hope you didn't do anything to Liz while she was under your care," Manning interrupted, his tone very suggestive.

The old guy was really asking for it. "Look I don't go around assaulting unconscious women. I get enough action that I don't need to force myself on any woman!" he retorted. Yeah he was a bastard but no one was going to call him a rapist or sexual deviant!

Without warning Liz walked into the room, all three men turned to look at her. She gave Manning a reprimanding glare that caused Constantine to smile inwardly. He even noticed Myers crack a smile.

"I really hope you're going to get to the point because I really don't need the insinuations that Mr. Constantine acted inappropriate with me," Liz said tossing another file down in front of Constantine.

He scanned over the contents of the file, a map with several dots and surveillance photos of a tall stocky man with a bald head and thick black beard and mustache dressed all in black and wearing sunglasses. He returned his gaze to Liz waiting for some sort of explanation, noting she looked paler than the last time he saw her.

"That is Grigori Efimovich Rasputin; officially he has died at least three times, once in 1916 again during World War II in 1944 and then almost three years ago. These pictures were taken ten days ago after an attack on a group of agents in Mexico. They had been investigating a series of demon possessions in a small village just outside of Mexico City. We heard rumors that a holy relic may have been in the area," Liz explained, pinching the bridge of her nose.

This was becoming all too confusing for Constantine and he was increasingly growing annoyed. "What does this have to do with me?" he asked flatly.

"If Rasputin is back then he has not given up on trying to unleash hell on Earth. We got lucky with those photos but he has been very hard for us to track. Even with our technology and Abe's psychic abilities he has managed to stay ten steps ahead of us. Frankly we need a new perspective; someone with a fresh point of view but has experience with this sort of thing and that someone is you. We can't risk Hellboy trying to tap into his own power without great risk to his humanity. We almost lost him once. We dare not risk losing him again. There is far too much at stake," Myers finished.

Finally a point, so that Rasputin guy was probably after Hellboy again, but surely he couldn't try to use him the same way twice. There had to be a catch...there was always a catch in his world. He sat quietly appraising all three agents. When he looked toward Manning; the man was scowling about something. He wasn't sure if the old man just didn't like the idea of sharing this information or if there were something he was hiding.

"What about you Manning? Even with a demon under your care, you don't strike me as a believer. What do you think about this?" Constantine asked, hoping to get something truthful out of the spiteful old man.

"I've seen enough to know that what your type fights is real and I've had the misfortune of being on the front line during a pending apocalypse. This Rasputin character is persistent; he just keeps coming back. If he weren't so slippery I wouldn't want you any where near Hellboy. Frankly I don't trust what you two might do working together but he's stopped an apocalypse, you've stopped an apocalypse...that makes you two ideal for the job," Manning conceded.

So the old guy had seen enough of the horrors to warrant keeping Hellboy around but not enough to really know the truth of what they were facing. Manning really didn't seem to want him to meet with Hellboy. This instantly piqued his curiosity. Even though he had his reservations about getting involved with this fight, he felt he had to meet with Hellboy just to spite the old guy.

XXX

"He doesn't think too highly of Manning," Abe said amused.

"That makes two of us. So you're certain he doesn't have any designs on Liz?" HB asked, continuing to watch the conversation in the other room through the two way mirror.

"Oh there is a slight attraction to her but nothing that he is willing to act on. It seems he is semi involved with someone else. My guess is that Detective Dodson left an impression on him."

"Hmm, I read her file," HB said. He couldn't say why but she had piqued his interest. Maybe he had a thing for strong women with fire power.

"You and Mr. Constantine have a lot in common. The fierce loyalty, the protective yet abrasive nature, he just hasn't learned to let anyone fully in. He doesn't allow himself to feel very often. When Manning brought up his dead friends, he felt a wave of remorse and regret over their deaths. I get the impression he doesn't like feeling vulnerable."

Hellboy said nothing as he reflected on Abe's words. Who liked feeling vulnerable? He certainly didn't. Neither did Liz but they have each other. 'That Constantine guy must be really broken inside if he walked away from a possible chance at love and happiness,' HB thought, a feeling of empathy forming deep within him.

"Deep down the guy is a loner. He doesn't know how to be any other way," Abe said aloud.

Hellboy only nodded his agreement. "No one can hurt you if you're alone. More importantly there is no risk of anyone getting hurt because of you, if you push him or her away first. Being branded a freak or special is basically the kiss of death," HB said speaking from experience.

"Like I said before, all we freaks really have is each other; if we don't accept our kind who will?" Abe asked rhetorically.

"Well there is always the circus. They'll take anybody." HB replied sarcastically.

Hellboy looked down at the files lying on the table and opened Detective Dodson's file. He looked over at Abe a mischievous grin playing on his face. Did John Constantine really need to be alone when such a beautiful woman could be in his life?

"Red, I really don't think playing matchmaker is a good idea at the moment. We are facing some steep odds right now. We should be focusing on finding out what Rasputin is up too. Besides looking at Liz it is only a matter of time before Manning and the others figure out why she has been so sick lately," Abe said worriedly, looking through the two way mirror at Liz.

Hellboy sighed, he knew what Abe was saying was true. "Abe, I always worry about Liz even before her delicate condition I worried about her, but Liz understands the need for companionship. I don't think she will object to this particular idea. Besides sometimes we all need a little push in the right direction. Suppressing all those feelings will lead to ulcers. And aren't you the one who said all we freaks have is each other?"

"Well this is certainly going to be interesting," Abe sighed defeated.

TBC