NOTE: I wrote this shortly after seeing Hellboy II: The Golden Army, but never got around to continuing it. I recently found it and decided to post it anyway. If anyone is interested in seeing the story continue, let me know!
From Hell With Love
People in this town used to ask me if I was "saved." I used to think no one could save me. More recently, I've seen the same type of people notice the metal cross on my neck and smile. One man, standing on a corner handing out Bibles, even comments on it as he offers me a little orange book. "Lovely necklace, Miss. Does it mean you're saved?" As I walk by with no response, I can't help but reflect on the hopelessness I'd have felt in response to that question just a few years ago. I also can't help but laugh to myself. If only he knew! Not only is my lover a "demon" by all conventional definitions, but I'm carrying his demon babies. The offspring of the Right Hand of Doom. Coming through. No Bible, thanks.
The Bureau's main hallway is lined with boxes when I arrive. Manning's spent a good deal of time and breath trying to convince Red not to leave, which is as ironic as it is tiring. I can hear him yelling as I near Broom's old office, and he storms off just as I enter, nearly colliding and huffing in aggravation as he dodges me. I don't know how much more of him I can take.
"We are leaving tomorrow, right?" I ask when I can see a red tail poking out from behind stacks of boxes.
" Liz!" he says when he turns to see me. "How are you?"
He puts a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm fine…but I'm going to go mental if we have to listen to that," I gesture to the door where Manning left, "much longer."
"Oh, don't pay attention to him," he says, shrugging it off. "Come over here, I've got something to show you."
He leads me to his open laptop surrounded by stacks of miscellaneous papers. As I move around to the screen , I see images of a cottage – well, a mansion – seemingly in the woods.
"Wow, where is that?"
"It's less than an hour outside the city."
As we discuss the layout of the house, I notice that Abe is close by, listening to our conversation. He waits a few minutes and then interrupts Hellboy in mid-sentence, seemingly unable to contain himself.
"You skipped it! Tell her about the…large room."
"I'm getting there!"
"Getting where?" I ask, as I have no idea what Abe is so interested in.
"Well, there's a room – here's a picture – see, it's really big and excluded, and –"
"It used to house a swimming pool," Abe chimes in.
"Right, and so, we had considered that maybe it could be remodeled and…"
Abe nods impatiently.
"We were thinking maybe he could come live with us. If it's okay with you."
"If we converted it into a tank," Abe adds before I can react, "it would be perfect for me. And I'd never be in your way. "
I think for a moment and recall something Abe once told me.
"All us freaks have is each other," I say with a smile and a shrug.
My response makes them happy.
"But are you sure we can afford this place?"
"Yes. I already bought it."
"What!" I scoot away from the desk to look at him. "You bought it? Without telling me? Have you even seen it in person?"
Abe retreats and I notice that the document beneath my hand is smoking.
"We checked it out while you were resting. If you don't like it, I'll cancel. But I didn't want to miss it," Red responds.
He's being nice, but I can't help but be irritated.
"But you didn't have to go without me," I stand and pause. "You could have said something…"
"You were resting. I didn't want you stress you," he studies me for a moment. "You wanna go see it? We can go now. I want to show it to you."
I didn't feel well yesterday, probably on account of the pregnancy.
"Aren't you busy?" I ask, looking around.
"Oh," he glances around at the boxes and stacks, "Nah, I'm done here. I'll leave the rest of Father's books to the Bureau. He'd want them to stay."
The house is even more beautiful in person. Downstairs, there's the living room and kitchen, upstairs there's the bedrooms, and it's all so spacious and beautiful. By the time we reach the backyard, I find it impossible to be upset that we own the place.
"Wow…" the view takes my breath away. It looks as if we own our own section of forest. "This really is perfect."
"So, you like it, then?"
I look up at him.
"Yes… I mean, it's huge, but yes."
He kisses me.
The visit to the house accomplished two things: it made me very excited to move, which makes every second still spent in the Bureau that much more intolerable. Don't get me wrong, I owe a lot to this place and Professor Broom – I can't imagine how different things would be if he were still around – but the attitude of this place and Manning's bullshit and everything that happened make me ready to move on.
Abe agrees to help me seal boxes while Red loads the van.
"So, you think you'll be up for babysitting?"
He looks somewhat surprised at my question.
"While I have no experience in the field, I fully intend to assist you in any way you request in exchange for your generosity."
Red chimes in, walking up behind us: "What were we supposed to do, let you live on the street, moving from one lake to another, startling cattle?"
We laugh. Abe seems to imagine the scenario for a moment.
"Again, I'm most appreciative."
Red takes another stack of boxes.
"Looks like that's the last of them," he says when he returns.
"What about the bed?" I point to it.
"Oh, I figured we'd leave in the morning. It's late. We all need rest."
I know he means that I need rest, be he has a point. It's 1 a.m., and I'm exhausted. I decide to head to bed while he tidies up the library.
I awaken with the feeling that something is missing. I turn over and realize I'm alone in the bed. It's 5 a.m. I get up and call for Red. Silence. I head out into the hall and start toward the library. The Bureau is so quiet at night. But as I near the library – Broom's office – I hear voices. One is unmistakably Hellboy, while I've never heard the other…woman before. I can't tell what he says to her, but he sounds stern…or threatened. I hurry back to our room and search with my eyes for something, anything, most of it packed into the truck, and then I find his belt, cast aside. I grab his handgun and run back to the library, stopping at the door, trying to see what's going on. My heart is pounding. I can't see him – them – from here, so I move forward. I her hear laugh and he yells at her. I take this as sort of a cute and step into sight, weapon poised.
The first things my eyes take in are a bare red ass and curly black horns. She looks like a porn star from a gothic fetish magazine: twig-thin with a D-cup, with skin and long hair that match Red's coloring. She turns to me, looking me over with yellow eyes, and laughs when she notices the gun.
"And who… are you?" she asks, half-interested.
"The mother of his children. And you?"
Her expression changes, her yellow eyes turning into fried eggs. She's furious.
"THAT'S A LIE," she hisses, with a step in my direction.
Red steps forward, too, and she looks back in his direction.
"This…is this true?"
He nods, seemingly happy to have irritated her.
She mumbles to herself, then growls and shouts, "Anung un Rama with a MORTAL!" She pauses, then looks back at me. "I am his BRIDE."
She steps closer to me again and Red pushes her away, then stands beside me.
"And you see how he treats his bride!" she says, regaining her balance. "Where are these children?"
I hesitate for a moment, then answer. "In progress."
My gun is still pointed.
She looks at me, cocks her head and considers my response. Then, she's suddenly amused again.
"I see," she says, then turns to Red, approaching him. My gun follows. "And how did that go for you, dear? She's not quite satisfying enough for you, is she?" she glances over at me. "So delicate…fragile."
"What the FUCK do you want?" I've lost patience.
She looks at me, unthreatened. "Twins?"
I nod. How did she know that.
"So the prophecy goes," she laments, stepping in front of me, her tits nearly touching the gun. "You have something of mine, and one way or another, I will claim it." She's hissing again.
I fire directly into her chest and she falls on her ass. Part of me knows it can't possibly do any harm, but it still feels pretty good.
As she stands, she makes another frustrated growling noise and stomps her foot like a child. The would closes up.
"I had that same problem," says Red with a sigh.
She looks at me like I'm an idiot and then at him.
"That's your gun, isn't it?" she rolls her eyes, then sarcastically adds, "Goodbye, my love."
She snaps her fingers and vanishes. I drop the gun and Red's arms are around me.
"Why can't you do the vanishing thing?" comes Abe's voice from his tank.