"What is it?" I asked as I looked at the statue Abe was examining. "It's not old but it has suffered what appears to be hundreds of years of erosion." He muttered as if I knew exactly what he was talking about. I nodded as if I did.

I was going to ask something else but a hand grabbed me and forced me back, a red hand. I growled at him and forced my way forward so that he couldn't exclude me.

"Where is this thing?" Hellboy asked, growing impatient. "It isn't here." The Abe replied, still examining the statue.

"Then why are we here?" Hellboy asked this time actually losing patience. I glared at Hellboy and he sighed, feeling a little guilty for yelling at his friend. I rolled my eyes.

"What is it that we're looking for?" I asked politely.

"They were here and are now on their way to the pier. That's as far as we've tracked them." Clay said half paying attention to us as he looked around the museum exhibit.

I also made my way around the room and examined some of the artifacts. I felt strange as I realized some things looked very familiar. One such object was the statue that Abe continued to examine. It was a wolf that had wings folded behind its back. I found it quite strange seeing as there weren't any mythologies about winged wolves.

"Abe what is it?" I asked. He looked over to me. "Gargoyles of some kind." He replied. I stood up and looked back to Hellboy who had been watching us.

"So why aren't we still tracking them down?" I asked. Hellboy stood impatiently at the door wondering the same thing.

Abe stepped back from the statue. "Because I'm not so sure these are normal Gargoyles." He replied. I gave him a quizzical look. "There's a normal Gargoyle?" I asked sarcastically. Hellboy chuckled from my right and I laughed with him.

"Those aren't Gargoyles." A voice announced from the opposites side of the room. Heads turned as Professor Broom and another man entered the room.

The man that had spoken wore a fancy name tag on his nice suit that read "Museum Director".

"What makes you so sure?" Hellboy asked.

"Hellboy, you think by now I would be over it but every time you catch me off guard." The man said as he spotted Hellboy. I took a step behind Hellboy to avoid the man's all too familiar eyes.

"These statues were found by my very good friend. He retrieved them personally from the caves off the coast of the Red Sea. I know for a fact that they have never come to life before." The man explained.

I stared at the statues and realized where I knew them from. "No way…" I whispered. Hellboy turned to find me hiding behind him.

"What? He asked giving me a curious glance.

"So this is something else." Abe agreed, accepting the little evidence the director had to offer. "It appears something animated the stone." The professor stated as he stroked the stone of the last remaining statue.

"Where are the others?" Clay asked. The director rubbed his temples. "They are what's missing." He answered.

"So perhaps they left this one to set us on the trail." Abe thought aloud.

They began to contemplate the different theories behind the statues disappearance. Hellboy ignored them and glanced over his shoulder at me.

"What are you so jumpy about, Sparky?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Just stay quiet HB." I snapped. "What is it?" He asked in a whisper.

"It's nothing HB, just shut up before…"

"Rai, I see you decided to come along." Hellboy and I both jumped. I peeked around Hellboy and spotted the professor watching us over his glasses.

"I presume this was Hellboy's idea." We both winced at his accusation. The director looked over from his conversation with Abe.

"Rai, Rai Marshel?" The director asked as he spotted my face. Hellboy glanced over to me and then back to the director.

I ignored him in hopes that he would disappear. "Well Professor, while you boys work out the details I think HB and I have some work to do so catch you later." I announced. I grabbed Hellboy's arm and started to drag him from the room but the professor's voice stopped us.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"I froze on the spot. I felt like my heart was going to stop.

"What?" I asked and it came out as an embarrassing squeak.

"Abe." The professor replied with a smile. The large breath I had been holding came out, embarrassing me further.

"Right." I breathed before releasing Hellboy's hand and practically running out of the room.

The cold air should have cooled my nerves but I just felt myself fill with never ending energy. The pier was abandoned and I watched agents scramble for some evidence.

"Sparky." I jumped with a yelp only to find Hellboy, leaning against the same wall as me, lighting a cigar.

"Damn, don't scare me like that HB." I sighed heavily and placing my hand over my chest to calm my racing heart after that near heart attack.

"Can I ask you what happened back there?" He asked, staring down at me with something resembling concern in his eyes.

I looked back up at him before pushing off the wall and standing to face him. "I don't really know. That guy, he must have been..." I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"Must have been what?" Hellboy asked. I began to ring my fingers and decided now was the best time to stop. "You know what, I'll tell you about it later, ok." I replied with a forced smile and turned to head in Abe's direction.

I made my way towards him and as I took each step I saw a picture in my mind of events that happened all too long ago. Each step sounded too loud at first, and then quieted as I got closer to the group of agents around Abe. Finally the steps were muffled to the point where I couldn't hear them anymore. All the noise around me faded and I felt completely alone.

The faint sound of running footsteps broke the cold silence.

He turned around when he heard her come into the tent. "Dad!" She called impatiently. He gave his fifteen year old daughter a disapproving look and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine, Dr. Marshel. These artifacts we're looking for, there suppose to be in one of those caves, right?" She jumped up and down in anticipation. He nodded and flipped through a few pages in his journal.

"So can I scale up the cliff? You know, do my own investigating." She gave him a pleading smile and he laughed at her and patted her head as if she were five.

"I'm not that much of a push over. You know what happened the last time I let you try your hand at rock climbing?" He laughed again when she hunched her shoulders and looked away.

"So what? The Pope got over it. He's a very forgiving guy." She mumbled sarcastically. He continued to laugh. "You scaled his window sweet heart, that's not easy for his security officers to forgive." She whined at him.

"Come on just let me do a little exploring." She stuck her lip out on a pout.

"And what happened the last time I let you explore and investigate?" He asked raising an eyebrow accusingly. She folded her arms in front of her, defiantly.

"That sitar player had it coming!" She declared. Dr. Marshel laughed again before rubbing his eyes. "What am I going to do with you? You're a trouble maker." He stated, kneeling to her level. "Am not, I'm an adventurer." She replied.

"I'm not so sure those two are different." He said. She laughed and he smiled at her before standing again.

"Alright let's get this artifact and we can be back home in no time." He said. The girl sobered at the mention of home. "That's what you always say." She mumbled too low for him to hear.

She followed him out of the tent, where the soldiers were waiting to escort them. "Coronal, are your men ready?" Dr. Marshel asked. The Coronal nodded and his men saluted.

"Where to sir?" He asked Dr. Marshel. The girl watched her father examine the cliffs above. Suddenly, he looked down to the ridge and began to head in that direction.

"Sir we go up, don't we?" One soldier asked. The doctor shook his head. The girl ran after him and tugged on her father's sleeve. "Why are we going down instead of up the cliff where the lady said they would be?" She asked.

She should have guessed the answer on her own. Her father always followed these gut feelings he got, even when they went against all facts, evidence, and even sanity. Its what got him this close to his dream in the first place. He was so determined and confident. She loved him for that.

The man smiled down at his daughter. "Why not, Rai."

"Rai, Rai… HELLO!" I jumped in surprise when I was suddenly lifted off my feet. "Hellboy? Put me down!" I screamed as I struggled against the hand that was holding me up by my collar. He complied and I put distance between me and him instantly.

"What the hell?" I growled as I glared at Hellboy and he just stared back acting like he was innocent.

"What happened to you? You totally blanked on me." Hellboy replied as he closed the large distance that I had created. "Sorry, I was just…thinking." I finished lamely.

"Yeah well come on Abe needs us." He replied. He held my arm and led me to Abe who had relocated himself to the other side of the pier.

"We have checked out all of the warehouses. We should move on to some of the higher buildings." Abe suggested to Hellboy.

"Right, let's get going boys."Hellboy announced. I reached for Hellboy's arm and stopped him before he could get to far from me. "We should check out the sewers." I stated.

"These things have wings the last place they're going to go is underground." Hellboy explained. I shook my head. "We should check it out." I repeated. "Why?" He asked in an agitated tone.

"Why not, HB?" I smiled at him and turned to walk off, but not before I heard Abe. "They are trying to hide so why not go to the one place we don't think they're going." The Sapien muttered as he pondered the idea. Hellboy grumbled something but I didn't hear it.

The sewer entrance of Hellboy's choice wasn't the choice I would have made. "Blehk, it smells like Hellboy's room." I teased. His head appeared from below and he gave me a look. "Oh you're so funny." He retorted before he disappeared back down the hole.

"Get down here Sparky." He growled. I laughed nervously before swinging my legs over the hole and dropping down. Hellboy was there to catch me, although it wasn't necessary.

"Thanks." I mumbled awkwardly as I stumbled away from him. He muttered a "No problem" before flipping on his radio. "Alright, we're in and nothing in sight. Are you sure about this, Blue?" There was static before Abe's voice was heard. "Just check things out down there and the others will check out the buildings up here."

Hellboy grumbled something about the waste of time and I punched him in the shoulder as encouragement. "Let's get going." I cheered. I started to trudge through the muck of sewage only to trip a minute later. Hellboy's hand lifted me out of the water I sputtered and coughed as I tried to wipe myself off.

"Be more careful." He muttered. I nodded and followed after him this time.

I watched my footing to make sure I wouldn't face plant like Rai had. I heard her stumble through the water behind me. She occasionally whined about the smell but other than that we moved in silence.

"This is pointless." I finally declared, coming to a halt. Rai nearly fell again as she tried to avoid running into me. I caught her arm and rolled my eyes at her when she looked up to thank me.

"I'm telling you the possibilities of finding those things down here are higher than up there." She argued. "How are you so sure?" I asked, wondering why she thought the sewers were the best place to find a winged monster.

"Because they were underground the first time." She replied before stepping around me to continue the search.

"What do you mean 'the first time'?" I asked as I caught up to her. She didn't reply.

"Hey Sparky, what do you know that I don't?" I asked trying to get some explanation out of her.

"My….father, he was a historian who was searching for these statues. He was the one that thought to look underground and there they were." Rai said giving as little detail as she could.

"Her father?"

I suddenly realized why she was so uncomfortable earlier.

"I never thought I would have to face that life again." Rai whispered to herself.

She stared straight ahead and therefore wasn't really watching where she was going. She tripped again and fell into the water. I rolled my eyes again and reached down to pull her out but her head suddenly resurfaced. She gasped for air and reached for my outstretched hand but something pulled her back down before she got a hold of it.

"Sparky?" I scrambled to try and find her in the murky sewage water. I spotted her head again as she resurfaced a few feet away, gasping for more air. I reached her this time and she held onto my stone arm as if her life depended on it.

"It's got my leg!" She screamed out in panic. I tried to pull her free but whatever had her wasn't letting up. "It's not stone." She shouted into my ear. "What do you mean it's not stone?" I shouted back in irritation.

"It. Isn't. Stone!" She repeated. I continued to try and keep her above water and spotted something that did in fact look like the muzzle of a real wolf biting down on her leg.

I slammed my left fist down on the things head but the thing didn't release Rai's leg. "Damn." I reached for my gun on my waist but was met with another problem. As I turned back for my Samaritan I spotted two more wolves at the end of the tunnel and they were huge.

The minute I lost focus on Rai she was pulled down again and nearly went under.

"Shit." I turned back to the problem at hand, gun forgotten, and wrapped my left arm around Rai trying to get her free.

"Damn it HB!" Rai screamed as she spotted the two other wolves for herself.

"Well I can't exactly do anything about it!" I shouted back.

"I wish I could just fry these things!" Rai cried as the wolf on her leg bit down harder and pulled her down again. "Well then why don't you!" I asked, remembering that she certainly had the power to do so.

"You're not exactly fire proof!" She stated.

"Yes I am!" 'How had I missed mentioning that?' I thought as I stared down at her.

"Oh." Was the only reply. Rai gripped my arm tighter

"Brace yourself for this." I did as she ordered just as a large wave of electricity shot through my body. The wolves, which had moved closer in the few seconds that we had granted them, howled in pain while the wolf on Rai's leg released her to do the same. The creatures cried out in agony while they burned in the sewage water and I couldn't help but feel a little nauseous as the energy flowed through my body.

Rai held onto my arm with her eyes shut and I watched her hair spike up with the electricity. The energy became overwhelming and I shut my eyes as well to keep myself from throwing up.

"HB, are you ok?" Rai asked with a voice full of concern. I opened my eyes slowly and glanced down at her. She still had her arms wrapped around my right arm and she stared up at me with poison green eyes that seemed to be worried. "That wasn't so bad." I replied confidently, but my voice gave me away.

"Maybe that was too much." Rai said as she slowly released my arm. She supported me and I was thankful because I'm not so sure I could have stood on my own at the moment.

"Abe, hey Abe come in." Rai spoke into her radio as I glanced around the tunnel. The three wolves were dead and the water around them was still steaming.

"Rai, what is it?" Abe asked.

"We found the wolves. Unfortunately, they're dead." Rai explained. "What happened?" Abe asked. "Well, they attacked us and we had to kill them. You guys should get down here. There are three dead wolves and I think you should take a look at Hellboy." Rai said as she peeked over at me.

"I'm fine Sparky." I glared down at her. "Shut up." She mouthed and I could see she was honestly concerned. With a roll of my eyes I let Rai lead me to the entrance that we had used to get into the tunnels.

The team took care of the mess in the tunnels while Rai helped me back to the truck. "I didn't mean to make you sick." Rai said once I had sat down in the truck. "I'm not sick, ok. I was just not expecting…that." I replied. She apologized again and then sat next to me.

"So is it later yet?" I asked after we had sat in silence for about five minutes. Rai looked up at me and sighed. "I guess so." She replied and looked away.

"What happened?" I asked. There was a long stretch of silence and I wondered if she would back out from her promise to tell me. Maybe I shouldn't have asked...

"My father was a historian who traveled the world looking for some of the rarest artifacts known to man. He was like a real Indiana Jones. I traveled with him because my mom was no longer around. The last 'adventure' we ever went on was to find those wolves. We were traveling with a group of soldiers that had volunteered to lead the expedition. When we found the statues we shipped them back here to the museum." She explained and I noticed that her eyes seem to darken after that last sentence. I wasn't quite sure what emotion I was seeing. She paused, hoping that I would settle for that explanation alone.

"So what happened to your old man? You said that was your 'last' expedition." I knew I was prying but I was curious and there were still some things that she hadn't explained.

"Well…when the expedition team headed back with the statues my dad and I went with the soldiers hoping we could stop in Israel to see the sights. The only problem was that there were a lot of really dangerous people looking for those wolves. To be found with the statues was dangerous but to be found without them was fatal."

She took a deep breath and I could see that she was struggling to continue. I knew how this was going to end but before I could tell her that she could stop she continued her story.

"We were ambushed. Long story short, there were casualties. Only a few soldiers and I made it out only to walk right into another mess. We had no rescue for a long time and that's kind of where my career in the military began. I was alone and those soldiers were the only family I had left." She sighed with relief and smiled at me to test her own ability to stay in control of her emotions.

"And the director? Who was he?" Her smile disappeared to be replaced with a grimace.

"He was supposed to be a friend of my fathers. When we shipped off the wolves he collected them without my father's permission. After my father…. You know …. I didn't see the man for about four years. And when I did finally see him, it turned out that he suspected me of murdering his 'dearest friend Dr. Marshel'." She snapped the last bit sarcastically and I could tell she was upset. She shook her head and used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe a stray tear from her eye.

"Ok no more of this." She declared before I could say anything. She jumped up and out of the truck only to stumble and fall back against it.

"Hey Sparky, watch it." I growled before I spotted her leg. "Damn that thing got you good." I reached down to check her knee. Her pants were torn and there were serious bite marks above her knee.

"Looks like another trip to the infirmary." I said. She whined in annoyance.

"Please Hellboy, don't tell Abe." She pleaded.

"No way Sparky he needs to take a look at that." She pouted but I ignored it. Instead I focused my attention on Abe who was heading our way.

La di da di da. Ok we got to so into a little of Rai's history! This story is about her afterall. I'm loving the reviews please keep them coming. =)