Hellboy lazed in his leather chair, his yellow eyes glued to the television as he flipped channels. He finished up the Baby Ruth candy bar he'd been eating and tossed the wrapper over his shoulder. When he noticed a picture of himself on the television screen, he paused and leaned forward in his seat. The picture was blurred and Hellboy's profile was barely visible. Hellboy chuckled and watched as the picture disappeared and two men were shown having a conversation on a morning talk-show.

"So, what exactly are you claiming Hellboy does for a living?" asked the talk-show host, looking expectantly at his interviewee.

The man opposite him shifted in his seat.

"I kid you not; he hunts monsters. This thing works for the government as a monster hunter."

A collective gasp of awe came from the studio audience.

The host leaned his chin on his hands. "A monster hunter, huh? Interesting. Well, we have Dr. Tom Manning, Head of Special Operations at the F.B.I., on the phone to discuss this with us. Uh, Dr. Manning? Are you there?"

There was a moment of silence before Manning's voice was heard.

"Yes, Bob. I'm here."

"Dr. Manning, this man claims that our favorite comic book character, Hellboy, is real and works for our own government. What do you have to say to that?"

Hellboy leaned back in his chair and continued to watch intently as Manning's voice came again.

"Bob, this uh…uh, Hellboy, is it? A complete hoax. If this thing existed, let alone worked for our own government, I'm sure we'd know about it. Look, if a big, red creature with horns and a tail was walking around Washington D.C., I think there would be clearer pictures of it."

The audience laughed with relief at Manning's response.

"What about the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense? Isn't this where Hellboy is supposed to be working? Could this really be a secret government organization?" asked the host.

Manning's laughter came in response to his questions.

"I guarantee, there's no such thing."

Hellboy turned off the television and laughed. He grabbed the beer can on the table next to him and drank it all in one gulp, throwing it aside when he was through.

Psh, "too early for a beer", he mused, remembering his conversation with Dr. Hayward earlier.

Damn, she could be irritating.

As much as Hellboy hated to admit it, she was the only one outside of his father who had ever made him reflect on the way he acted.

Hellboy knew that he was constantly stepping all over Clay and Myers, but they always let it go. They were too afraid of him to talk back. Abe was always willing to converse with Hellboy, but half the time Abe was talking Hellboy either wasn't listening or didn't understand what he'd said. Manning loved to talk about Hellboy's flaws, but with him it was simple; just ignore him. Then again, if that didn't work, throwing something big at his head was always just as effective, if not more.

It was different with Dr. Hayward. He couldn't explain how, but things were just...different with her.

But, what the hell was the deal with her and Myers? If he knew Myers, which he did, and if he knew her, which he also did, then he knew she'd step all over him like he did on a daily basis. The last thing Myers needed was someone else berating him constantly. It wasn't like Hellboy liked him that much, but they had been through a lot together and he felt for the guy.

At some point as he thought, the word jealous came to mind. Hellboy scoffed at the idea. Ha, jealous? What a joke. He hardly knew Dr. Hayward and besides, she was a pain in the ass.

He laughed again at the idea and got up to get another beer. It was then Myers came through the door with a cart full of sandwiches.

"Lunch already?" Hellboy asked, taking a beer out of his mini-fridge.

"Yeah, it's twelve-thirty. Just because you've been moping around drinking beer and watching TV all morning doesn't mean the day just comes to a stop for you," Myers said, taking the trays of food off the cart and placing them on the table with care not to spill.

Myers knew him too well, Hellboy realized.

Wait! Was that…nah, no way. Hellboy could have sworn that had been sarcasm, but from Myers? No, it couldn't have been.

He snorted in amusement to himself.

"What's so funny?"

Hellboy glanced at Myers who was eyeing him expectantly.

"Nothing. Hey, I heard you and the good doctor are heading out on a date tonight."

He couldn't resist making Myers uncomfortable. But Myers' reaction was not what Hellboy had expected. Myers smiled lightheartedly at him and proceeded to take a huge bowl of potato chips off the cart.

"Yeah. Kate's really great. You should get to know her better. But really, it's not a date. We're just going out for some coffee, that's all."

Hellboy cocked his head. "Kate?"

As he placed the potato chips on the table, Myers said, "Mm-hmm. You're not still calling her 'Dr. Hayward' are you? Or did she not tell you to call her Kate?"

Hellboy scratched the back of his head while Myers was distracted.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure she did. We uh, actually talked for a while this morning. Seen her around anywhere?"

He had the strangest urge to find her.

"Uh, no. I haven't seen her since last night."

Hellboy perked up. "Last night?"

He decided it was best to play dumb about his discovery of them in the kitchen the night before.

"Yeah, after we left the library we met up in the kitchen. Jesus, we must have talked for a couple hours or something. You need anything else?"

Hellboy snapped out of a daze. "What?"

Myers was already heading for the door.

"Need anything else before I go? Manning called me and some of the other guys in for a conference and I'm already late."

Sitting back down in his chair, Hellboy waved him off.

"Nah, I'm good. See you around."

Myers nodded and left Hellboy to his food.

Shoving a sandwich in his mouth, Hellboy began pondering what Myers had said.

They talked for two whole hours last night? Hellboy could barely hold a five minute conversation with anyone let alone her. And what was with him thinking so highly of her? 'She's great,' he'd said. Hmm. Myers had never said anything like that about anyone else. And he called her Kate. What the hell was with that?

Hellboy forced himself to put the thought aside and stuffed a handful of potato chips in his mouth. Oh, well. He'd worry about it later. When there was food in front of him it was impossible to think straight.

---

Kate knew there was no way Manning was going to agree to let her leave B.P.R.D. headquarters. Somehow she managed to remember Hellboy's secret way out of the building and soon found herself standing in front of a tall stone house wedged between two other homes.

She looked down at the address on the paper in her hands and compared it again with the numbers on the door. Shoving the paper back into her bag, Kate walked up the front steps and knocked gingerly on the door.

She was worried.

The poor woman had just lost her husband the day before and here Kate was going to ask her to recount the entire ordeal and explain what she knew about the killer.

God, she wished she wasn't so worried.

She heard a noise behind the door. Kate knocked again and this time the door opened, but only a fraction of an inch.

"What do you want?" asked a tired voice from the other side of the door.

Kate cleared her throat. "Mrs. Hardy? I'm Katherine Hayward. I work with the agents that visited your home last night. May I speak with you?"

She purposefully left the 'Dr.' off of her name. The last thing a woman who had just lost her husband would want is a doctor coming to her home to talk with her, whether she knew Kate was not a doctor of psychology or not.

The door opened a little more and she saw the frame of a tiny woman who hardly looked sixty staring back at her. Mrs. Hardy was wearing a powder pink housecoat. She wore no makeup to cover up the dark circles under her eyes and her eyes themselves were extremely bloodshot. Her hand was busy twirling her dull, blonde hair around her index finger. The other hand that was resting on the door was shaking and still adorned what looked like her wedding ring.

Kate spoke gently. "I know this is such a hard time for you, but I wanted to speak with you about…the creature you saw fleeing the scene when you arrived home last night."

Mrs. Hardy's eyes widened and she made an attempt to shut the door but Kate blocked it with her foot.

"Please, Mrs. Hardy. Any information you might be able to give me would be invaluable to the future capture of this murderer."

Something she said must have struck the woman behind the door for the door began to creak open until Kate had enough room to make it inside the house. Mrs. Hardy silently motioned to a sitting room not far from the front door and Kate took a seat and dug out her pencil and paper from her bag. Mrs. Hardy sat across from her looking uncomfortable and tired. Kate felt horrible for having to ask the questions that she was going to, but she knew she did not want anyone else coming to harm by this creature's hand.

But, before she could say anything, Mrs. Hardy spoke first.

"Does this have anything to do with my husband's work at the Bureau?" she asked quietly, her voice quivering as she spoke.

Kate watched her, astonished. "You knew about that?"

The woman across from her nodded sadly. "I knew his involvement there would come back to haunt him someday. I just knew it. With all these monsters and ghosts out there, I knew something like this would happen to him, but I didn't think it would be after he'd retired," she went on.

"How long was your husband working at the Bureau?" Kate asked, pencil in hand.

"Oh, about twenty years. I married him before he was working there and he told me when he was transferred. I wasn't supposed to know, but he told me anyway. We never kept anything from each other."

Kate hadn't expected her to be so compliant and was having trouble writing as fast as she was talking.

"If you never kept anything from each other, did he ever mention that he was in danger in any way? Did he ever mention that this creature might be after him?"

Mrs. Hardy shook her head sadly. "No, never. I'm sure he didn't see this coming."

Crossing her legs, Kate put the pencil up to her chin and tapped.

She pushed her glasses up on her nose a bit with her pencil as she asked, "Did your husband act strangely yesterday before you came home?"

Again, Mrs. Hardy shook her head.

"It was a perfectly normal day. I told him I was going to the bank and asked him if he wanted to come. He told me he was tired and wanted to take a nap and that he would stay home. God, if he'd have come with me he wouldn't have…"

She trailed off and her eyes glazed over.

Although she felt horrible about what she needed to ask next, Kate proceeded.

"Do…do you remember anything about the creature you saw?"

Mrs. Hardy was instantly pulled out of her daze and she glanced wide-eyed at Kate.

"I…hardly saw it, just briefly before it ran away. I followed it and saw that it must have come through the back door. We never lock the back door, and-"

"Back door? It came through the back door?" Kate interrupted.

Mrs. Hardy looked confused. "Yes. Though, it was like it was a shadow…really dark and almost transparent. I remember…its eyes. God, those eyes…I don't think I'll ever forget them. They were gold."

Kate could tell Mrs. Hardy was getting more and more uncomfortable and she held her hand up.

"Thank you Mrs. Hardy. That's all I need."

She picked up her bag and headed for the door, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

When she reached the door, she heard Mrs. Hardy softly say, "Miss Hayward."

Kate paused and waited for her to continue.

"Please…please find it. I don't want anyone else to come to any harm because of it."

Kate smiled sadly. "We'll do the best we can," she promised.

Slowly, she pulled the door shut behind her and stood facing the street. She sighed and began heading back to the B.P.R.D. before she could be missed.

As she walked, she reflected on her interview. 'It must have come through the back door…' she'd said. But, Ystehogol was non-corporeal, wasn't he? Couldn't he have come straight through the wall?

Well, even if she hadn't learned much about Ystehogol's motive for killing Agent Hardy, at least she knew one thing. Ystehogol may not be completely as the book described him.

A/N:So, I hope you enjoyed the little bit in Hellboy's POV. Thank you, reviewers! I appreciated all of the feedback. Please, if you have not left a review yet, take the time to say something, anything. You have no idea how much it just makes my day. I try to reply to everyone who reviews. Even a short review would do. Well, you get the point. Review.