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The Akeh	By : Keen Category: G through L > Hellboy Views: 10083 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Hellboy, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
�� Still
lost in the church cellar, Agent Willis fell into yet another room. They were
all starting to look alike, but he marked them, morbid as it was, with his own
blood. The bullet wound in his arm ensured he would not be without access to
the stuff, but he was more worried with the supply. He could feel his heart
slow with every step but he could not afford to stop either. If one of those Egypitans found him again as he was, he would not escape a
second time. Even so, dying by their blades seemed to be a far cry better than
vanishing in the cold underground maze before him.
�� Every
corner opened to another corridor, passageway and atrium that looked like all
the others before it. It wasn't impossible to believe he could find himself as
a mummified corpse, shrouded in cobwebs and dust, body robbed of all fluid and
as delicate as brittle paper.
�� Willis
was starting to truly weigh the options of being killed versus bleeding to
death when he felt something under his boot. The first thing he noticed was the
heat, the wonderful warmth radiating off the body. He stooped closer and shined
the light of his semi-automatic gun at it and then smiled.
�� Liz,�
Willis grabbed her neck and felt for a pulse, his smile widened. �C�mon Agent Sherman. Up and at �em.�
�� He
rolled the woman over and she fell onto her back with a soft noise. Willis
stood with a shot then. A scar, a mark on the centre of her forehead glowed
white hot, as if it threatened to split open her head with fire. He noticed
that ground around his feet and her body was singed black,
the wall she fell against was as well. The sight of it comforted him some.
Hopefully he had gotten to her after she had an episode but just to be safe, he
kept his distance.
�� Liz,�
he hushed. �C�mon Liz. Get up!�
�� She
stirred with another groan, twisting on her back as her face pinched into a
frown, her hand spread weakly in front of her face to blot out the light, �What
the hell happened?�
�� I
don�t know, but it�s not safe to stay here. We have to move.�
�� But
Tamara�.�
�� Willis
looked where the woman stretched, her finger pointing. He expected to see the
Doctor slumped against the wall, possibly in same or worse condition but he
found nothing except a dented wall, blood and flesh in the depression.
�� She�s
not there,� he said, snaking an arm around the woman, �But we�ll come back to
look for her, ok?�
�� Liz
fell against the Agent�s shoulder, the room around her spinning wildly. Willis
started to half-walk, half-drag her out into the hall when three other agents
running through it shouted at them to hide. They were being chased, more of
those men in leather tube tops and skirts, followed behind them and they were
heading Willis and Sherman�s way.
�� Willis
hefted the woman against him and tried to slink back around the corner, but he
was seen. A slender and lithe man with sunken cheeks rounded the corner with
all the smoothness of a shark, his eyes just as black. He stared at he man as
he reached for his side, for his blade.
�� Willis
tossed Liz one way and moved in the other. The gaunt warrior sliced through air
and Willis took a shot knowing it would do less than good even if he landed it.
These things were indestructible, you could slow them down but you could not
kill them. At least not
by conventional means. �
�� Willis
spared a glance over his shoulder, �Liz! I could use your help here,� he
shouted.
�� The
warrior stalked toward him now, now both blades out and at is sides. More came
in, looking at the wall Liz pointed to when he first found her and then at him
as an after thought. There were a total of six of them now, seven�then eight.
They seemed to be drawn to the place but only two of them paid any attention to
the man and woman in the corner.
�� Willis
scrambled to Liz and tapped her cheek lightly, trying to wake her fully. In desperation
and error he struck her harder. He shouted a curse when she sat bolt upright,
eyes glowing. Liz opened her mouth to scream and white hot flame seeped like
deadly saliva from her lips, spreading fire all over her lap. Willis ran to the
corner behind her as she incinerated the next person to near her, the skinny
warrior male.
�� Willis
breathed harder, sweat running down his face, as the entire room filled with an
overwhelming heat that bled into everything, into his nose, under his clothes,
so close to his skin the drops of the sweat dried. Even the gun held became to
hot to hold. He tossed the long thing at Liz�s back, screaming at her to rein
it in but she could not hear him. She could not hear anything as the flames
roared and coursed around her, whipping up into a column that rippled across
the ceiling.
�� The
fire lifted from the floor and worked through her, leaving at every ending,
from the tips of her pointed feet to the ends of her fingers. It was
disorienting and serenely blissful�until a voice rose over the cacophony of
agonised screams and said her name. Liz opened her eyes and looked at the
destruction all around her, the crumbled walls and smouldering black
corpses.� There was one at her back, not
so dead, reaching out to her from the flame riddled floor with a blackened
hand, calling her name.
�� Willis,�
she breathed. She reached to help him and his screams climbed higher. Her hands
were made of fire. She was made fire. And she was what was killing him. Liz
backed away from the Agent leaving him to slump pathetically on the ground,
pressing herself against the wall, crunching the crisp body parts under foot.
Sliding down the surface, she looked heavenward, screaming the only name she
could think of. The only person she wanted to see and the only one who could
save her.
��
�� Hellboy
stopped punching the man under him and tilted his head, �Liz?� He heard her
scream his name again and he forgot the �pretty-boy-that-would-not-die� under
him and stood. �I�m comin� Liz!�
�� Hellboy
staggered out into the hall and coughed, finding them thick with smoke. Every
once again a body would cut through the choking grey veneer, trailing like
vapour through it, but he did not stop to engage them. His only focus was
getting to Liz. She never screamed for him before and rolling back a fallen
piece of wall, he saw why. The force of the back draft nearly blew him away but
he weathered it, staking one cloven foot in front of the other until he walked
inside. Through the flames he could see her, cowering in the corner, shaking,
aghast with fear, hands covering over her open as she looked at the destruction
around her. He imagined he would see tears if they did not evaporate with a
sizzle as soon as they left her eyelids.
�� Hellboy
reached through the flames and grasped her gently, �Liz, Liz�it�s alright,� he
said against her ear, stroking her face.
�� He
gathered her against his chest and her relief was almost immediately apparent.
The fire in the room began to vanish, seemingly sucked right down into the
nothingness it sprang from.
�� Liz
looked up to the face of the man that held her and blinked, �Red?�
�� It�s
me, babe. I got you,� he said hoisting her up.
�� I
think I might have killed him,� she said, sniffing.
�� I
think you killed all of �em, hun.�
�� No,�
she said pointing to the corner, �Willis. I think I might have killed him.�
�� Hellboy
could see the steaming body from where he stood, it did not look good. �Lets get you out of this hellhole, hmm?�
�� Liz
knew a re-direct of conversation when she heard one. She buried her face in
demon�s chest, trying to hide the fact she was crying, but it was in vain.
Hellboy could feel her tiny body jump with each gasping breath and he felt her
tears rolling down his stomach. Each one pained him to feel as much as it
pained her to shed them, but there was nothing he could do. He was over seven
feet tall and nearly one ton of demonic muscle but he felt weak, powerless to
do anything but let her cry herself to sleep.

�� Hellboy
emerged from the smoking chasm into the heart of the church and lay Liz on a
waiting gurney. A lot of Agents were laid on gurneys that skirted briskly down
the aisles of pews. Even Abe sat with an arm in a sling, cut above his eye and
a clear plastic mask over his generally blue features. The man was caked in
soot from head to toe; only his mouth, pink as a carnation, was clean which
made sense as he drank a bottle of water and talked to the others around him.
He quieted and stood seeing Hellboy and fought with the paramedic staff to
approach, dragging the mask and tank along the floor as he did.
�� Where
is Tam�Dr. Knight?� Abe asked, correcting himself. �The Professor said she went
down after she heard the shots. Did Liz catch up to her?�
�� Lets hope not,� Hellboy sighed. That reminded him, �Hey, can
I get a couple of you paramedics to follow me. I think we might have an agent
still alive down there, badly burned.�
�� Burned?�
Abe frowned. Hellboy looked away and Abe abandoned the mask in his hand and
walked over to Liz. He took off his glove with his teeth as he moved to hold
her hand.
�� Hey
wait, she didn�t give you permission,� Hellboy said.
�� I
will apologise later,� Abe said, taking her fingers in his, �She will
understand the urgency.�
�� Abe
focused his mind, whipping through the images of Liz�s life like a machine does
with microfiche. Each one lashed by quicker than the next until he reached most
recent hours of her tortured life. He let go of her hand with a gasp and took a
gun off a nearby and unconscious fellow Agent.
�� Where
are you going, Gunslinger?� Hellboy said following. �There is bad news in that
pit buddy, we were lucky to get out.�
�� Tamara
is in there and I know exactly where,� Abe replied, unravelling the sling that
held his cut arm. �I could use your help, but I won�t ask you to jeopardise
your life for hers or mine.�
�� Hellboy
pulled his gun from his side and checked the barrel, �I just wanted to make
sure you knew what you were doing, good Buddy� he said following the man down
the steps.
�
�� Abe
moved along the map in Liz�s memory and came to the charred mess where she fell
into an episode. Hellboy pointed out Willis to the paramedics who swiftly went
to work. To everyone�s amazement, he was still breathing, barely, but he was.
They worked quickly on him as Abe felt along the wall Tamara fell against,
looking for the trigger, like so many before him had. Hellboy watched his
friend with a tilted head.
�� What
are you doing?�
�� There
is a latch, a special touch that will open this door. Tamara is behind it.�
�� Hellboy
whistled, �Again you call her by her given name.�
�� And?� Abe blinked, trying to cover his own surprise that he
did and got caught.
�� I�m
just amazed you can,� Hellboy shrugged moving him gently out of the way.
�You�re usually wound so tight you can snap a steel bar in half, y�know what I mean?� he grunted, swinging his right arm
back.
�� His
wrist ground audibly as he rotated it, the unmistakable sound of stone scraping
against stone. Hellboy wound up and then punched through the wall, spraying
bits of grey everywhere. He punched again and more of the wall fell away,
piling at their feet and raining down on the pair in the pit. There was a
sizable hole when he stopped to poke his head through.
�� What
he saw nearly made him fall all the way inside, �What in the hell?�
�� Abe
rushed to peer inside then, to see what made the most hardened paranormal
investigator gasp.
�
�� Nek�kem realised if he didn�t do something, he would be
interred in Tamara�s corpse forever, never able to cry for help again. So he
did something.
�� Djer swung his blade
to strike that final blow and Nek�kem seized the
boy�s hand, crushing his wrist as he commanded Tamara to stand.
�� The
Ba�s dark power began to heal her wounds. Her cuts
closed with wet kissing sounds and her broken bones, ground against one another
as they knit in her skin. With every breath she took she became more whole,
stronger and entwined herself tighter with Nek�kem.
Power and strength surged through her suddenly, thickening the muscles under
her flesh. Her hand crushed down on the boy�s wrist again and she raised him up
by it, lifting him off the floor.
�� It
has you now,� Djer winced.
�� Her
grip tightened in response and the boy howled, her grip, snapped like a vice
round him, crushing his bones and pushing the shattered pieces painfully into
his hand and forearm so that all she held was a tube of tissue and sinew in her
petite fist.
�� Djer looked into the
woman�s eyes and saw them bleed to jet black. She moved with the dark force
now, willingly, angered by what he had done. Driven to by what he had done. He
wanted to tell her he was sorry, but the pain he felt was so great, it robbed
him of his breath. It would be of no use anyway, he doubted his pleas would
stop her now. The creature was in the seat of control and it was the creature
he would fight.
�� Djer swung his other arm back and reached for the second
blade strapped to his thigh. He felt the handle in his palm when the vessel
began to shake him like a rag doll, bursting pain through him. Djer strained to reach the blade still, hoping to at least
free himself, but it would not be. The vessel twisted his arm and then pulled
it right out of the joint, ripping it out like an electrical cord from a
socket.
�� He
fell to the ground and she kicked him in the stomach, sending him sliding
across the dusty stones into a wall where he landed with a crunch. Djer screamed and flopped on his side, struggling to sit
up. He could see her cutting through the darkness, stalking closer until she
was over him. He gulped feel her reach down and cinch him by the meat of his throat.
She made him kneel before her, fisted her hand in his raven hair to stare into
her black eyes.

�� Locked
inside her own mind, Tamara could feel what Nek�kem
was about to do, but she was powerless to stop it. The line that separated her
from the entity had been so badly blurred. Her pain opened the door for to
anger and finally the desire for revenge. Even though her higher conscious
cried for mercy and peace for the boy, the most primitive side of her demanded
his blood and pain for his transgressions and it was this part of her that Nek�kem called home.
�� It
was there�in birth place of every knee jerk reaction, murderous thought and
lustful inclination�that he set down his black roots and grew into the creature
that stood over the shivering youth. If the idea was there, he could will her
body to make it happen and the idea to kill the boy was there. Definitely.
�� Tamara�s
arm went back and then shot forward like a javelin, tunnelling straight through
the boy�s chest, pushing aside muscle and sinew, breaking his ribs to grasp his
beating heart with her fist and drive it out the other side. The live
sustaining vessels and arteries tore away from the organ as it was force back
and Djer fell forward, eyes like that of a doll,
unblinking and staring off into space. His body let go of her arm with a wet
sucking sound and then bent backward, the head of him touching the floor as it
fell to rest.

�� Nek�kem, so entranced by his prize, was deaf to the
movement behind him. He had not even noticed the warriors enter while he
struggled with the boy. Nor did he see or hear them now as they struggled to
hold Sefu down and keep him silent. They all rode him
with their bodies, hands clasped over his mouth, as the youngest of them fell
to his knees, dead. The first victim of the kemmeska and Ma�at willing, hopefully the last.
�� Let
me go,� Sefu twisted. �I will have revenge!�
�� In time, SefuOnure.� Niuserre hushed quietly. His eyes narrowed with hatred on
the pacing vessel.
�� Niuserre felt like Sefu did but
he also knew they could not hope defeat the creature as they now were. They had
lost many in the fire, only a handful of them remained and that was not even
the worst of it. �The creature will taste its first kill now and it will get
stronger, SefuOnure. The opportunity to strike is
gone but the Gods will grant us another.�
�� Sefu strained to lift his head. He looked at the creature
and then to his Djer still emptying his blood onto
the floor. Niuserre snapped his fingers at the other
brother to ease off Sefu when he suddenly fell limp
against the floor, his eyes closing. The image of his son burnt in his mind.
�The Gods have forsaken us,� Sefu whimpered.
�� Ra�neb gripped his master by the shoulder, �That is not
true. Both Niuserre and I all died today and came
back. Ma�at�s grace is still with us.�
�� Then
the Gods have forsaken me,� Sefu said, standing. �I
am still dead.�

�� Tamara
fell to her knees and looked at the heart in her hand, the bruised and
unsightly lump of flesh.
�� Eat��
�� It
glistened like a fine ceramic bowl, newly emerged from the kiln, painted in
bright red. It gleamed, the colours so pure, it was as if it were fashioned by
an artists hand and made of blown glass. It almost looked like candy it was so
shiny.
�� Eat��
�� She
held the muscle in both hands now. Her thumbs brushed away the blobs of tissue
and clots of blood, revealing the meat underneath that looked like raw steak.
She wondered if cooked, would it taste the same.
�� Eat it raw,�� Nek�ekm hissed. �Eat it and know my true power. Welcome me and all my gifts. See in the
dark, hear a flutter of a fly�s wings, taste every element in a single spoonful
of food� You can feel this good forever.�
�� But
I don�t feel good,� she said looking at the boy, bent pathetically on his back,
haunches straining. Looking at his soft features, she could not shake the
feeling he was genuinely going to help her. That was until he saw the thing,
the evil, inside her.
�� EAT!� Nek�kem
snarled. �Eat now and become unstoppable!�
�� No�no, no, no, NO!�
�� Tamara sunk her fingers into the heart and
pulled, tearing it in half, flinging the pieces across the room. She could feel
Nek�kem growl his discontent as he retreated back
into her mind. His rumbling rolled her insides, knotting hotly them with fear.
She knew as he did, it didn�t matter if she submitted to this act or not. He
had already forced her to give up another piece of herself and he would collect
soon.
�� And I will collect�� his voice echoed.
�� Tamara
lurched forward and fell to the floor writhing in pain. She became keenly aware
of the arms that circled her and lifted her from the floor. She screamed and
thrashed, raging at them to loose her but they held tight, pressing her head
against its chest to still her.
�� Tamara,
it�s me, it�s Abe,� he said whispering against her neck. She lay motionless
only a second and then thrashed harder.
�� Get
away from me!� she shouted, �Please!
Go! Get away!�
�� Abe
ignored her and hoisted her from the floor then continued up to the exit
Hellboy made. He hung like the big red ape he was, tail wrapped around a
column, with arms swinging, ready to take the woman. Abe handed her off and
Hellboy went up, setting her down inside the burnt out room and then reached
for his blue friend next.
�� What�s
wrong with her?� Hellboy asked, watching the woman bounce and twitch. �I would
say it looks like fever but I know better.�
�� I
don�t know. Lets just get her out of here and into the
lab where we can help her.�
�� Hellboy,
used to carrying people when they could not help themselves, started to gather
the woman into his arms. He paused, noticing the way Abe stared at him, almost
as if he was doing his job. �What?�
�� Abe
opened his mouth with a breath but decided to keep silent. He shook his head
and waved Hellboy through, �Just hurry,�
�� I�m
vapour, good Buddy.�
�� On
the ground level of the church, there was a gurney waiting for the woman. The
Professor, seeing them coming out of the narrow staircase, sent the paramedics
to wheel it closer. Hellboy lifted the woman to stretch her onto the thing when
suddenly she pushed away, landing on her feet.Nek�kem
chose now to collect what was his and with good reason, looking around the
collection of faces, he could see the audience was choice.
�� Face him��
�� Tamara
vibrated with the Ba�s throaty rumble, her body
seized rigid where she stood, facing the Professor. She couldn�t breathe.
Shallow pants hurried air into her lungs but there was no relief. It felt like
her body was twisting, churning, fighting with itself for air, then just as
suddenly as it began it ended. The tension slid from her body like ice on a
heated pan and she fell to her knees.
�� Abe
took a step forward and then another. It looked as if the episode was over but
then Tamara let out a piercing scream. She pulled at her jacket, ripping and
tearing without care. Looking at her, he would have thought she was on fire,
but there were no flames to be had. Even when she was done undressing, only
clad in a black bra, she clawed at the skin of her arm. His mouth fell open to
realise The Mark was eating her skin here and now, in plain view of everyone.
�� The
thin and pointed ends sprang off her skin like a lock when it pops open. Long,
slender and hungry black lines extended like fingers and grasped for the higher
places of her shoulder, dragging the inky shade further up her arm. Tamara
screamed and fell to her knees, her hand clamping on her bicep. She could feel
it as it moved inch by painstaking inch. It felt like it was pulling her skin
itself, painfully grinding layer against layer.
�� Clay
and few others held the Professor back a safe distance, but he looked over
their broad shoulders to catch a glimpse. The Mark seemed to grow from her
elbow and bleeding from the joint to engulf her entire right limb, from the
tips of her fingers to the curve of her shoulder. The spindly ends licked at
the swells of her right breast and climbed the slender column of her neck.
�� The
last time he saw it, the old man remembered, it was an embarrassing spot on the
back of her hand, one concealed with makeup and then gloves. How had it come to
this so soon and without Abe telling him? And her scream�the sound of it was so
familiar. The Professor closed his eyes and listened intently, letting the
shrill cry echo in his mind as he memorised its pitch and timber, drinking in
the awful noise until it faded.

�� Like
a string that held her up was cut, Tamara fell. She crumpled to the floor with
a heavy thump, her face down and hands outstretched. Abe rushed forward and
gathered her into his arms, feeling for a pulse. She was alive but unconscious.
Knocked out by the blinding pain and exhausted by the sheer effort she put
forth to weather it. Nek�kem was done with the woman
and left her to rest and recover himself from his growth spurt. Abe could feel
the creature retreat to wherever it is it goes, slinking from just under her
skin into the depths of her mind where he could no longer reach him.
�� A
hand touched his shoulder and Abe jumped, clutching the woman closer. Hellboy
held out his hand in a friendly gesture, �I�ll help you lift her into the ambulance?�
�� Abe
slowly nodded and turned the woman so Hellboy could take her legs. They brought
her to the truck and Abe slipped inside with her. Riding in silence with the
paramedics as they rushed to push an IV into her arm and attach their machines.
Abe barely spared them a glance as he took her hand, lacing his fingers with
hers not so much out of affection but desperation. He tried his hardest to read
her thoughts, trying frequency after frequency, straining so hard until his
head split with pain. He wanted to know what happened, what the future would
hold for her and thusly himself, perhaps to even speak to the creature itself
again, but there was nothing. A wall. A black, tall and encompassing thing that protected her thoughts
from him.
�� So,
just as anxious as the rest, Abe stood with the other Agents in the room just
outside the medical levels, massaging his aching head as he waited to hear news
from the doctors. Hellboy was with him, waiting for learn of Liz�s condition
when the door opened. They both stood immediately, hopeful and then gravely
serious as the Professor strode inside with a scowl.
�� Any word, Father? How�s Liz? Tamara? And
Willis? Is he going to live?� Hellboy asked, as soon as they came to
him.
�� Liz
is stable for now,� he said sternly, garnering a relieved gasp from everyone.
�Willis�.despite all initial predictions will live another night.�
�� And Ta�Dr. Knight?� Abe said, correcting himself again.
�What about her?�
�� What
about her,� The Professor repeated gravely, his snowy eyebrow raised
questioningly. He lifted his head and the light made shadows in his wrinkled
face, making it seem more menacing. �You seem to know more than I, or anyone
else, about her, Abraham.�
�� Abe
took a sharp breath as the old man stepped toward him, clacking his cane
against the hard polished floor with force. He could only lower his head,
already knowing the question the stately elder would ask him and how
disappointed he would be with its answer.
�� Tell
me Abraham, when did the marks begin to spread?� The Professor pressed.
�� Since
the beginning of the year,� he answered quietly.
�� The
Professor ground his teeth, the muscles of his jaw working.� He could have struck Abe he was so furious,
but he calmed himself, telling him that his most trusted Agent had a good
reason for his silence. This was Abraham after all. �And what happened at the
year�s start? What preceded this? �
�� She
and I...we�,�
�� Abe�s
voice trailed and the Professor closed his eyes slowly, his brow creasing in
pain. �Please, Abraham, tell me you did not give into her advances.�
�� The
merman clasped his hands behind his back and nodded, shamefacedly.
�� Shocked
silence hung in the air as the reality dawned on the aged man. It felt like the
entire world had suddenly been submerged in quiet and then Hellboy�s
gruff laughter echoed in the small space.
�� Atta boy Abe!� he cheered. �I was beginning to worry about
you, Buddy! I know the ol� bat can swing I just
wasn�t sure which way if you get my drift,� he winked.
�� The
other Agents laughed with him, murmuring amusedly amongst themselves
until the Professor stabbed at the ground with his cane, tapping loudly like a
judge with a gavel, to silence them, �Now is not the time for jokes, Hellboy,� he hissed. �This creature gets
its power from sex...from blood... from murder. It is how it grows. Into what? We do not know! But it is a step closer now
because of Abraham�s lapse in judgement, so this should be far from amusing.�
�� I
agree,� Manning said coming inside. He had been listening in and could no longer
be a passive witness to this. The Director was slightly shorter than Abe but he
manoeuvred his head under Abe�s forcing him to meet his pitiless black eyes,
�Because you could not keep it in your pants, you not only put her life in
jeopardy but every life in and around this building.�
�� Hey,
it takes two to tango,� Hellboy said folding his arms.
�� Manning
turned his head, �And usually I would agree with you, but we all know this is
different,� he replied, looking back at Abe with loathing. �Who knows what this
thing has done to her now. Who knows what the consequences will be for the B.P.R.D.,
which houses her, and the world, where we cannot rightly release her back into.
Especially now...� he man said, shaking his head.
�� I
blame myself, Director,� Professor Broom said quietly. �I knew the Doctor had
eyes for Abraham and I did not take any preventive measures. She was not in her
right mind to sit on her impulses and in error I believed Abraham could have
been,�
�� Manning
continued to scowl at Abe a moment and then stepped away, �Fine.� He grit, �I
will expect a report on my desk as soon as possible and you�� he paused,
wagging his finger at the old man, ��you
will be written up for this one, Broom. I�ll leave you tell them the rest.�
�� Manning
left and slammed the door behind him. Abe stepped forward,
his head still lowered, �Professor, I am sorr��
�� Do
not think to apologise,� Broom sneered at the male. �I am so disgusted with you
right now.�
�� Hey,
Pop� Hellboy objected, �Take it easy. I�ve done far, far worse things. Abe he just, he��
�� should have know better,� The old man
finished with a bitter snap.
�� Broom
depended on him to have known better.
The old man knew his life would not be forever on this planet and he wanted to
leave it knowing there was a calm, level headed, pure of heart soul that would
act as Hellboy�s voice of reason when he was gone.
His son made many strides during his time on earth but Broom worried that
Hellboy could fall away from the right and just path without someone there to
guide him. It both saddened and angered the old man to realise Abe would not be
this person and that he would have to find another.*
�� You
have really disappointed me, Abraham.
More than you will ever understand.� Abe�s shoulders slumped as the Professor
ambled past him. He climbed the few steps that lead to the door�s landing and
turned back, looking down on him with sadness. �Since you cannot seem to
control yourself, I am forced to. Abraham, you are grounded.�
�� Abe�s
head snapped up and he took a step closer, utterly shocked. He was at the very
least two centuries old and he was grounded? �For how long?� he demanded.
�� Indefinitely,�
The Professor answered. �You will not leave the Level 51 Library and Office
even under duress.�
�� The
old man opened the door and just outside Manning stood with arms folded. He
gave the order and the guards at his back tromped inside.
�� Think
again,� Hellboy warned, stepping in front of Abe like a big red wall. Seeing
him take a stand, the other agents left their seats and crowded round. The
smaller contingent�s leader stepped forward and Hellboy did the same. His arms
swung freely at his side, shoulders rolling as he readied for a fight. He would
have slung his arm out, catching the man right in the jaw if a light touch at
his back hadn�t moved him aside.
�� It�s
alright, Red,� Abe said, slinking from behind his friends and would be
protectors. He weaved his body through the group of men to stand in the centre.
�There is no sense in us both getting grounded. I will need someone to look
after Tamara, yes?�
�� Hellboy
wanted to argue with him but Abe strode into the thick of the guards, following
them wordlessly as they guided him up the steps, out the door and to the left. Like he didn�t know the way, Hellboy
thought sullenly. The double doors sailed slowly to close and through the
narrowing opening Hellboy saw the Professor, watching on, his brows furrowed.
He would have said his Father looked as sad as he felt about Abe�s sentence if
he wasn�t the one who did the sentencing.
�
�� Much
later, the Doctors came to tell Hellboy where they moved Liz. The Critical Ward
was one place he rarely visited. That fact was one of the very few things that
made him thankful to call this body his own. He could take a hit like a pro,
his immune system was so formidable he could swim through a sewer�which he did
more often than he liked�and not even have so much as the sniffles afterward.
He couldn�t even count how many times he sat so calmly on the edge of death and
casually strode back to the other side. So this level of the BPRD complex
wasn�t familiar but at the same time it wasn�t completely foreign.
�� He
had a few friends come up here, most that did not leave, but he decided not to
think about that as he strode down the hall to her room. He called it �her�
room because that�s where they always put Liz. The last room
at the very end of the hall. That�s where they put the most unstable of
patients, a section easily sealed off and self contained from the rest.
�� Usually
Liz would look pretty lonely, the only living person besides himself who would
dare venture this far, but now she had a friend. Tamara was on the room to
Liz�s left, bound like a prisoner to the bed she lay on, shackled with metal
and leather. They replaced her tattered clothes with a paper gown and booties,
but he could still spy that wicked black mark on her neck. It looked fitting,
something a prisoner would have, which, again, was what she looked like with
the bit in her mouth and spread out on the table like that. She looked like a
prisoner bound for execution.
�� Complete with armed guards, he grimaced,
looking at the opposite end of the hall.
�� Hellboy
sighed and turned his face back toward the glass. Hard as it was, he had to
stare at the woman a moment longer, force his eyes to look on her like this. He
had to absorb everything, right down to the smallest details all so that when
he visited Abe, it would be just like he was standing there.� Hellboy imagined it would bring the man some
measure of comfort to see the woman still breathing despite her surroundings. Just like it gave him comfort to look on Liz.
�� Hellboy
pressed his head against the glass, watching her as she slept on her side, hair
spread out on the pillows like an ebony fan. Liz regularly looked frail. Her skin milky pale, body overly slender, eyes dark as coal even
when they were shut but she looked worse now. So much so, he could not
stay on the right side of the glass. Hellboy turned the heavy latches and metal
handles until the door opened with a metallic groan. Closing the thing tightly
behind him he neared her bed and despite his hulking size, was amazingly gentle
with her. He fluffed her pillows with care, like she was made of ash and the
slightest movement would make her delicate form cave in and dust the sheets
with little black bits. Hellboy drew the covers over her slender shoulders to
keep her warm and brushed the hair from her face.
�� Easing
into a nearby chair he gave in to the temptation to hold her hand, something he
often did when he saw her like this. He told himself it was for her sake, that
it soothed her in her unconscious, because it definitely could not be for his
own. He�d hold her hand with his normal one so he could feel her skin under
his, spread out her fingers against his and wonder what life would be like if
his skin matched hers. Where would they be now if he looked normal.
If his hand still bigger than hers, just not so frighteningly
so, and if it was not red and scarred. And if the other was flesh, he thought looking at the stone block
near her head, wound in a tendril.
�� I�m sure this is the kinda
talk that got Abe in trouble, he chuckled to himself. He looked at her face
again and his smile fell. It may have brought his blue friend all manner of
trouble but Hellboy could definitely understand why.
�� Definitely�
�� The
demon stood with a sigh, ready to tuck her hand under the cover when it grabbed
onto his, tightly. �What happened?� Liz asked, her eyes slowly opening.
�� Hellboy
swallowed dryly and then told her how he found her and Willis. His heart fell
seeing her tears. Liz remembered Willis and the charred mess she reduced him
to. Hellboy watched as she pushed her face into her pillow, smothering a scream
as her whole body wept for the man.
�� Liz,
Liz, calm down,� he soothed, rubbing her back. �Abe says Willis hit you. Not
saying he deserved it, but he knew there was a chance that could happen.�
�� It shouldn�t happen. Ever,� she sobbed. �I
should be in control. Why can�t I be in control?� Hellboy shrugged his
shoulders lamely and Liz cried harder. He tried to stop her from beating at the
pillow and then she started push at him, �No! Leave me alone! I�m just a big
freak and I�ll wind up hurting you too!�
�� You�re
not a freak!� he hissed, shaking her by the shoulders.
�� Said
the big red demon,� she snapped.
�� Hellboy
shook her again, �You. Are. Not. A
Freak.�
�� Liz�s
shoulders fell and she started to cry again, quieter this time. She wanted to
believe him, but she knew the truth as well as he did. They were freaks. That�s
why they were here, some hundreds of metres blow the surface, behind triple
thick glass and fireproof walls. What they did, who they were, buried under
official papers, hidden in legal jargon. Their sacrifices, their sweat and
tears, destined to be not as much as an afterthought in anyone�s mind once they
died.
�� Hellboy
hefted her into his lap and folded his heavy arms around her, �Well, at least
you�re not a freak to me,� he sighed. �And I�m definitely not leaving you
alone. Ever.�
�� Liz
held him tighter and chuckled into his chest, �All things considered, I don�t
know if that�s a good thing for you.�
�� You
will always be a good for me,� he said, smoothing her hair, his tail curling
around her slender waist. �Always.�

��
* My way of sorta'
hinting at Meyer's selection/arrival. Watching the first movie, I always
wondered why Abe wasn't good enough to be that 'pure of heart' soul that would
guide Hellboy after the Professor's demise. I guess even in the movie version,
Abe messed up something awful that made the old man lose his trust in him?

A/N:
Well, new year, new
problems but what can you do, eh? Thursday next week I shall post another and
thanks for reading and reviewing! kayla: I�m glad you�re liking the plot, tried to weave something in
there in-between the *ahm* comfort *ahm* sessions. Pickle_Snatcher: My fellow addict! If you know of some other
stories elsewhere, let me know, eh? Aleta Rois: I�m glad you feel that way about reading it since
I feel the exact same way about writing it. When I have a crap day, I just sit
at the keys and let my mind wander to a place where I actually have some
measure of control, lol. While the majority of the
chapters are the same with some little spelling and grammar tweaking, �the first couple chapters are brand spanking
new as will the be the last few. When I get to them, lol.
- 10
- 11
- 12
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