DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD characters. 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.

Thanks to SummerStars00 for the review: your answers gave me ideas and were included in this chapter.
Thanks again to Hoodoo, my most affectionate reader: you support is very important to me.

No warnings for this chapter, just mild cursing.
Dr. Daisy Marsh (Hoodoo's premium OC) will finally reveal what Ruddy really is, but, as you will see in this and the next chapter, there's much more than this.
So the challenge is still up: who Ruddy really is?

Enjoy!


Daisy and Liz entered the house, where the still-terrified witnesses were much pleased to provide information to capture "the bloody bastard who killed poor ol' Orson and the girls."
Those people were excessively fond of their goats.

They had a good map of the area, one of the kind used for trekking, and agreed that the place Abe had mentioned, the solitary hill with an old tree on top, had to be the Gallows Hill, a scary place where an indian chief was hanged during the Mexican War.
The local population believed that the hill was haunted by the ghost of the indian, who paced restlessly on its top on the full moons.
Daisy and Liz, secretly smiling at the local superstitions, thanked them a lot and asked to borrow the map.
Timothy Hudson gladly granted their request and went so far to offer himself as a guide to the place.
"I'd get you there in no time, miss. - he proposed to Daisy – I know very well the place, when I was young and my father ran the ranch, I used to go there and try to find the indian's treasure."
Daisy raised an eyebrow in a sceptical expression. "What treasure?" she asked.

"They say the indian had received a lot of money from the Mexicans to harass our troops. - Tim Hudson replied in a confidential tone – They paid him in golden coins for his treason and he buried them someplace in the desert, but the army found it out and hanged him on the hill." His eyes glinted with greed during his narrative.
"Many people tried to unearth the treasure but no one succeeded. - he continued – I believe it is on the hill, where his ghost stands guard, but I never managed to find it."
The man looked rather abated. "I know the place well, and I know how to use a gun. Let me help you get the red bastard, miss." He almost pleaded.

Another case of hurt macho pride, Liz thought.
The beast had a knack in humiliating proud cowboys.

The two women had a hard time in trying to make him desist, until his wife, who had remained silent until that moment, called him in a soft voice.
"Do not go Timothy. - she said with a wild look in her glazed sky-blue eyes – He is not a creature of this world. He struck you with light last night. I saw it, before fainting." She looked like an odd prophetess, with her long wild hair and a flowing white dress, trembling like a child.
"Arabella!" her husband scolded, but held her close and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, trying to soothe her.
The woman was in shock, it was easy to understand, given the scene she had witnessed.
"What do you think it is, Mrs. Hudson?" Daisy Marsh inquired, not wanting to miss any relevant information.
"He is the devil! The devil!" the poor woman murmured, crying.

The two women left the house a little unsettled and headed for the truck, where the boys were already having a strategic meeting.
"We got the map." Liz announced, spreading it on a little camping table they had opened for the occasion.
"We are here. - she drew a circle with around the mark representing the Hudson's ranch – The place where the creature is supposedly sleeping is there." She drew another circle around the name Gallows Hill.

Ash whistled. "Nice place to rest - he commented – But at least it is not that far, just ten miles of unpaved road. I'll leave you near the western side of the hill, from there you will go on foot, there is the risk of alarming the creature. We can make it." He smiled, he enjoyed the cross-country driving and the hunt.
Hellboy smiled. "Finally something interesting to do. - he said, flexing his stone hand in anticipation – Let's go catch him, before he wakes up and we get to follow him through more miles of empty desert."
Abe nodded grimly: he was fed up with feeling sick and the constant heat.
"Let's try to capture it alive, though. - he reminded – This time it is not a mangy coyote like the ones they found in San Antonio or Cuero, it is a real one. It would be so much important to study it."

Professor Krauss nodded and mumbled something, slumped on the chair.
"No problem. – said Hellboy – We have plenty of tranquilizer darts for your chupa-thing, Blue, and Scott there has a good aim."
The aforementioned agent grinned.

Dr. Marsh cleared her throat and stood up. "I am sorry to contradict you, Mr. Sapien, but I do not think it is a chupacabras, after all."
Abe stared at her, eyes wide open, mouth agape, unable to speak.
"So, Doc, what the hell do you think it is?" asked Hellboy.
"It could be a Shunka Warakin or a displaced Waheela, but guessing from the unusual shape of ears and tail, I think it is a Salaawa." she replied.
"A what?" he retorted, baffled.
Dr. Marsh sighed. "It would be a quite long explanation. - she anticipated – We'd better get going, I'll tell you on the way."

Ash turned on the engine and pulled away at low speed.
Daisy resumed her explanation.
"Salaawa are another species of cryptids from Europe, whose description match with the data we have collected so far. They were sighted in Russia, Armenia and Pakistan as far as the nineteenth century, but they are originally from Egypt, where they are believed to inhabit the ancient tombs in the desert."
"They do travel a lot, the bastards. - Hellboy commented, chewing on an unlit cigar – How did one of them get here, in the middle of nowhere in Texas?"
"I have no idea. Maybe there is some sort of wildlife traffic going on but that's not the point. - she continued – The reports say that they form packs with members of their species and other canids and raid the countryside, slaughtering cattle and then disappearing."
"That's our red-furred boy!" Scott laughed.
"Let me finish, please! - she complained, voice unsteady because of the bumping of the truck – Chupacabras are shy creatures and they run away from humans when confronted. Salaawa instead are aggressive, they attack humans and sometimes kill them. So please, get it alive if you can, otherwise we can study the corpse as well."
"Worry not, Doc – laughed Hellboy, checking his revolver – It is just a weird dog, anyway."

****************

They are here!

Ruddy woke up with a start, ears twitching and eyes wide open. The last remnants of a dream clinging to his mind were washed away by a massive adrenaline rush.
He let out a long string of curses, concerning his hunters, their family and friends and generally all the people inhabiting this awful land he was trapped into.
Getting to his feet, he crawled out of the cavern, staying low not to make an easy target of himself.
How did they find him so soon?
He had very carefully erased his tracks with an uprooted bush after his hunt in the farm with the Ionic columns.

The sun was setting, low on the horizon, its light still bright enough to make him squint as he turned westward to scan the area.

There they were, clever enough to use the light to their advantage.
They were no amateurs.
His eyes adjusted to the light and he had a better look on them: the first in line was a big red demon with a stone hand, his horns sawed to almost nothing.
Behind him came a blue-skinned male Triton wearing what looked like a skintight leather armour.
Ruddy closed his eyes and opened them again, in disbelief.
The triton was still there.
Since he had not tasted alcohol in the last six months, it must be true, however impossible.
A damned triton in the middle of the damned desert.

Ruddy shook his head.
Maybe he was no triton at all, since he was accompanied by a demon and what looked like the leathery skin of some creature with a vase on top, moving about without anything inside.
He cursed again.
They could be the servants of some Great Demon, coming after him at their master's orders.
Ruddy had done it already several times but he strongly hoped he could defeat them even trapped in this form.

A noise made his ears prick up: he heard a woman's voice.
Hidden behind bushes there were other people: two human women in mannish clothes and some strangely dressed men wielding "thunder staffs".
In this place people had a real fixation for breeches: everybody wore them, men and women, even if the climate didn't call for it.

He shook his head and dismissed the useless though funny thought, focusing on the enemy.
Now he didn't think they were followers of some Great Bastard, they didn't look like madmen and didn't bears his insignia, his signs.
The cultists were too showy not to advertise their allegiances somehow.
They might be a simple, however annoying party of hunters.
It was a strange land indeed, where demons allied with men.

The demon was already climbing the hill and the armed humans were creeping behind him, staying low and behind the bushes, but effectively circling his position.
He needed to break the circle and run away as fast as possible.
Since the humans were accompanied by a trio of weird creatures, he guessed that the rule of secrecy did not apply in this case.
The humans already knew about the hidden world.

He sniggered, his mood considerably brightened by the perspective of a good fight.
Hunting was fun, no doubt, but fighting against intelligent foes was what really made his day.
He stepped out from the bushes, revealing himself fully and baring his fangs in a growl, hair on his back raised in a ridge.
He had to exert a tight control to prevent his tail from wagging in delight.
It would surely spoil the effect.

His hunters were in for a good ass-kicking.


A.N about strange beasts mentioned in this chapter:
Shunka Waranin is a cryptid from Montana. It looks like a big wolf, has a reddish fur and is known to slaughter sheeps on a regular basis.
Waheela is another wolf-like cryptid from Canada which has been described as having red-yellow fur.

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Please review and tell me why or make your guess on the second challenge.