DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.
I do not own any HP Lovecraft characters or places, either. I just borrow them.

Another BPRD-centric chapter with no particular warnings, just a little irony. It focuses on investigation and team relationships.
The parts in Italics are memories or visions.

Challenge's still up: who Ruddy really is?
Please review and make your guess.

Enjoy!


Jeremy willingly led the agents to the place of the sighting to corroborate his story.
He rode a white horse, considerably less good than the steed he had been tending to.
"Pasha is still shocked by the creature and fit for nothing. - the lad explained, strapping the saddle on his mount – The finest horse in the ranch, he was. Another good reason to shoot dead the bastard."
He rode in front and they followed him slowly with the truck.
Jeremy offered to lend them some horses but they refused, explaining that their equipment was in the rear compartment.
The boys would have never forgiven the two if they had left them to rot in the truck and gone on their own.
The cowboy just shrugged and watched with amusement poor Ash fighting with the steering wheel to trespass mounds and ditches.

"Red, I'm starting to feel nauseous." Abe complained after some moments.
The truck rolled and pitched like a ship in a gale, no, worse, because there will be water everywhere then, and he loved water.
"Breathe deep, Abe." professor Krauss suggested, quite alarmed.
The fishman obeyed, closing his eyes and trying to relax, but this only worsened his predicament.
"Oh, crap! Abe, you are turning gray!" Hellboy exclaimed.
Abe's stomach churned unpleasantly, his motion sickness worsened by being confined in a small, closed space.
Think about water, water is good, he thought desperately.

Finally the truck stopped, much for the relief of everyone.
Abe was in worst conditions but, apart from Ash who had been too concentrated on driving and professor Krauss who had no stomach, all of them were feeling a little unsettled.

The agents descended from the truck on wobbly legs, much to Jeremy's amusement.
"I had told you that it would have been easier ahorse, hadn't I?" he commented, smiling, from the back of his mount.
Liz glared at him and tried to steady herself.
"Is this the place?" she asked, curtly.
"Yeah, it is. There are the remains of poor Betsy – he pointed, with a meditative expression – and there is where I shot him."
The agents glanced in that direction and saw the skeleton of a cow, almost completely devoid of flesh, and an inconspicuous reddish stain on the ground.

"I see. – concluded Daisy Marsh – Well, Mr. Sherman, thank you very much for your help. We'll let you know if we find anything."
"You are dismissing me!" he protested, offended.
"We must have no interferences on our work, Mr. Sherman, I hope you understand." added Liz, trying for sympathetical and apologizing, but still groggy from the ride.

Jeremy stiffened and bristled, insisting that since it was his father's land he had the right to assist the agents in the search.
He could have talked to the ground, for all the effect it had.
The agents just looked at him with empty eyes. They were ignoring him.
The cowboy cursed and made his mount turn, galloping right back to the ranch whitout even saying farewell.
"Such an educated lad..." Ash commented, laughing.

"Come out, Abe, there is no one in sight now!" Liz encouraged her still nauseous friend, opening the rear compartment of the truck.
Abe got out slowly, legs shaking and as soon as as he touched solid ground he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
"You are not so grey now. Are you feeling better?" Hellboy asked, crouching beside him.
The fishman managed a tremulous smile. "The world's still spinning but much less than before. I'll be fine in some minutes, I think."
Hellboy got to his feet and brushed the dirt from his clothes. "OK, Abe, just stay there until you are fully recovered. We'll start the search, if you do not mind."
"Go ahead, my friends. It may take a while. - Abe replied softly – Just make sure you do not touch anything."
"I promise." Hellboy said, smiling, and strolled towards the women and Krauss, who were already working.
Ash remained next to the truck, leaning on it. "Want a cracker? It helps no end a troubled stomach." he offered, good-naturedly.

Daisy Marsh was instructing Liz on how to take accurate photos of the scene.
"You have to take preliminary sketches and a general overview photo of the area before starting with the details." she was instructing.
Liz was impressed by her competence and professionality. She listened to the academic with interest, her explanation highly reminiscent of what she had heard at a criminology conference.
"Have you ever taken a Forensic Sciences course, Daisy?" she abruptly asked, interrupting her colleague.
Daisy looked startled for a moment and then laughed, putting a stray lock of hair back in place. "No, never, but at University, during my post-graduation and PhD, I had many courses about field research. It is not so different from Forensics."
She looked at Liz with a new interest. "Did you attend Forensics?" she asked, curious.
Liz blushed. "Just a few conferences, some time ago. - she had barely managed to finish high school, going in and out from clinics – I never had time and now it is only worse, with two kids to care after."
"Oh yes, I know. That's why I am still postponing the search for a companion." Daisy concluded sympathetically, with an emphasive gesture.
Liz smiled, she was beginning to enjoy having another woman in the squad, someone to share her thoughts with.

Daisy looked into the distance and sighed.
She clapped her hands and retrieved her camera.
"Enough girl talk! Let's get to work!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.
Examining the area she took some notes about the position of traces and remains, then she set to the task of taking the photos.
Carrion birds had been on the scene and dragged some scraps of the dead cow here and there, but the scene was otherwise intact.
Carefully avoiding destroying any evidence, she focused on the prints.
There had been no strong wind or rain in the past two days so they would be almost as they had been that night.
She counted many series of prints, mostly of coyotes, but also some of a larger canid.
A first series ended abruptly at the red stain on the ground and another started from there: judging from the prints the creature had his hind right leg wounded.
She searched the ground nearby and found a bloodstained rifle bullet.
Daisy took a photo, then put scales next to it and took another photo.
The sun glinted on something metallic not far away.
Another bullet.
She let a low cry of satisfaction.

"Found anything interesting, Doc?" asked Hellboy, letting out a cloud of cigar smoke and squatting to have a better view.
"The evidence match the witness' narrative, so far." the woman said, grinning.
"I hope you have not touched anything." he added, thoughtfully.
Daisy scowled and was going to give him an outraged reply, but the ectoplasmic professor Krauss prevented her.
"Please, Red, do not be so rude. - he scolded with his cultivated European voice – She is a trained professional."
She nodded a "thank you" and he dismissed it with an elegant gesture of his hand.

The sound of uneven footsteps announced Abe's arrival.
He still looked pretty bad, but at least he was on his feet again.
"Are you OK, Mr. Sapien?" Daisy asked.
She was the only one to call him like that, and she did it not to show distance but respect, for a fellow scholar.
"Oh, quite. But I fear I am not made for this place. - he replied calmly – I'd better put myself to work so we can leave this wretched place."
Though he was wearing a complete isolating suit, he felt like dehydrating:
Everyone moved, leaving space for him to inspect the scene on his own.
He performed a quick recognition of the area, then knelt next to the blood stain.
"It is the creature's, isn't it?" he asked.
"Think so." answered Red chewing at the butt of his cigar.
Abe nodded and pulled off his gloves.
His hands hovered over the stain, hesitatingly.
"I do not know if i can do this with an animal. - he admonished – I'll try."
"We'll see if monsieur Descartes was right." Krauss added.
Hellboy looked a question to him.
"A French philosopher of XVIII century, who theorized that animals had no soul." the German professor explained.
As he had no face it was hard to tell, but it felt like he was a little disappointed by the cultural level of some of his colleagues.

Abe smiled at his friends' antics and resumed his work.
He carefully lowered his hand on the stain, opening up to catch whatever memory he could.

Running through the plain, excitation.
Taste of blood in his mouth, the prey's blood like red exstasy.
The pack's voices united in one, the most beautiful music to his ears.
He was king again, and his heart sang with joy.

Pain shooting through his veins, like he had not felt in centuries, almost unreal.
Rage, blinding, consuming.
The human fell to the floor at his will, struck by his power.

Memories of other men fallen at his feet, submitting to his might.

Blood.

He was bleeding too, now.
The human had to pay, had to be humiliated.
Pissing on his hat was a poor substitute for what he whished he could do.

Abe gasped and pulled away from the images.
"Is it alright, Blue?" Liz asked, worried.
Abe shook his head. The visions were almost like those he had from humans or fey, but stronger, feral.
He didn't see the creature's memories, he felt them, like he had slipped in the other's skin.
"The possibilities are two, – he said, breathing heavily to regain control - Descartes was wrong or what we are chasing is not exactly an animal."


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