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Beauty and the Beast Within	By : TheShadowCat Category: G through L > Hellboy Views: 15623 -:- 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
- 13
- 14
- 15
Kill him, Anung un Rama hisses in Hellboy’s head. She is yours and that one wishes to take her from you. He needs to die. Painfully. Slowly.

“Give it a rest,” Hellboy growls to himself as he stomps up the mountain side, getting tired of Rama’s rantings.

Ever since the new guy joined the team, the demon in HB’s head has been going almost non-stop. He only seems to quiet down when Liz is around, though he does make little rude comments until HB and Liz start getting…amorous. Of course, ever since that first night, Rama doesn’t get to talk a lot except when they’re on missions.

Abe looks at his old friend for a moment but says nothing before he briefly glances back at Liz, Myers and Evans walking not that far behind them. He watches as Evans says something to cause Liz to scowl at him before turning to glare at John who shrugs before saying something else. A moment later, Liz starts walking faster and leaves the two agents behind.

“Liz is coming,” Abe quietly says just before she arrives.

“Hey, beautiful, what’s up?” Hellboy asks as Liz catches up to him and Abe, draping his left arm over her shoulders. “Why do you look like you’re about to torch something?”

“Not something, someone,” Liz snarls as she storms along beside her lover. “That new guy is so thick he could probably have a boulder drop on his head and the boulder would break.”

“Are you aware that he believes that you are our cook?” Abe inquires, walking along beside the other two.

“I’m what?” she demands loudly.

“Not so loud please,” Abe gently admonishes. “You might set off an avalanche. He doesn’t understand why you’re here. All he knows is that you can start fires so he assumes that you must be the cook.”

“I’ll cook him something all right,” Liz growls as she pulls off one of her gloves and blue flames start to lick at her fingers. “I wonder if he’d like his chestnuts roasted over an open fire.”

By mid afternoon they find a place to make camp and start to set up the tents. While everything is being set up, the camp stove is fired up and snow is melted for the beginnings of soup made by John while Liz makes herself scarce. It’s not until dinner is ready does anyone notice anything wrong.

“What the hell do you mean she’s missing!?” Hellboy demands through gritted teeth, liking to yell at the yahoo in front of him but not daring to for fear of causing an avalanche.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the agent in front of him replies as calmly as he can, though admittedly, he’s fairly sure he’s going to lose bladder control any minute. “The last anyone’s seen of Miss Sherman is when she went off to answer the call of nature and that was about an hour ago.”

“Where’s Abe?” HB snarls, leaning over the agent and getting the satisfaction of hearing the man audibly gulp.

“I’m right here,” Abe calmly states, pulling his friend’s attention away from the human long enough for the agent to make his escape. “I’ll find out which way she went while you organize a few men to help search for her.”

A few minutes later, HB leads four agents including the new guy up to where Abe is standing on the edge of camp with one bare hand waving through the air, fingers hyper extended.

“She went this way,” Abe states as he points up the hill, a pair of small boot prints clearly visible in the snow.

Abe leads the way up the side of the mountain, ignoring the howling wind trying to knock them down. Hellboy glances up at the darkening sky and he can smell the snow that will be coming soon, he hopes they can find Liz before it does. Without a word, the six men climb, all of them hoping that they’re not too late.

“We’re too late,” Abe sadly announces.

Not that he really needed to say anything, the footprints in the snow speak volumes. Liz’s footprints disappear behind a rock big enough for her to hide behind and reemerge just beside the first set. The steps disappear into a large area of trampled down snow. Several pairs of larger footprints come out from behind several different rocks and converge on the trampled area and then they lead up the mountain, tightly clustered together. Liz’s footprints aren’t among them, but Abe quickly clears up that mystery.

“They darted her with a tranquilizing drug,” the merman continues as he walks around the area, his hand slowly waving over the packed down snow. “After she collapsed, the worshipers of Agni came out of hiding and carried her up the mountain. They’re taking her back to their temple.”

“Then let’s go,” Hellboy orders, putting action to words.

“Wait, Hellboy,” Abe says, putting a restraining hand out.

“What do you mean ‘wait’?” Red demands. “If we don’t get a move on now, we’ll lose her.”

“They’ve got nearly an hour’s head start on us, they know these mountains and it’ll be dark soon plus it’s going to start snowing any moment,” Abe replies calmly.

“Then we should hurry,” Hellboy growls, knowing that every second they stand here, the further away they get with the woman he loves.

“No, Red,” Abe states in his cool headed way. “We don’t have adequate lighting with us and hiking during a snow storm without proper provisions is too dangerous. They’re not too far from here and we have a bit of time.”

“What do you mean we have time?” Hellboy snarls. “They’re going to sacrifice her to this god and you’re telling me that we’ve got time?”

“The climax of the ritual won’t happen until noon and that’s only if the sun is out,” Abe responds. “And she’s not being sacrificed, she will be offered as a consort to Agni. This storm will slow them down and it’ll buy us time. We’ll find them, I promise you.”

“How are we going to find them if the snow wipes out the footprints?” Evens asks.

“I’ll know,” Abe assures the agent before heading down the hill.

“I’m going on,” Hellboy states, glaring at the footprints heading up the hill.

“Red, once darkness sets in, what are you going to do?” Abe questions, moving in front of his best friend. “You’re eyesight is no better than any one of these men’s. You don’t have provisions and once the snow starts you’ll be lost within moments.”

“I can’t leave her, Blue,” Hellboy replies in a low voice that’s between a growl and a moan. “I just can’t.”

“Hellboy, they’re not going to hurt her,” Abe states, trying to ease his friend’s worries.

“You want to tell that to all those dead women back in town?” Hellboy snarls.

“It wasn’t the worshipers that burned those women to death, it was Agni,” Abe explains. “The worshipers were careful with the women they got. They went to great lengths to see to their comfort. Look at the footprints they left behind.”

Hellboy glares at the holes in the snow left by the men who took the woman he loves as Anung un Rama rages in his head. This time he’s in complete agreement with the demon about going after these scums and pounding them all into a bunch of bloody piles of pulp.

“They’re carrying her, Red,” Abe points out. “They’re taking great care with her. They think she’s a gift from the gods since they found her up here by herself. They don’t want to anger Agni by hurting the woman they intend to make his consort. She’ll be fine. We’ll find her, I promise. And once we do, you can pound the crap out of them all you want. But until then, you’ll need to be patient.”

“I can’t lose her again, Abe,” Hellboy whispers, dropping his head down so only Abe can hear him.

“You won’t, my friend,” Abe promises as he lays a hand on Hellboy’s shoulder. “We’ll find them and we’ll rescue Liz. But let’s get back to camp before it gets too dark to see.”

“You better be right, Blue,” Hellboy replies, amber eyes boring into blue ones. “Or so help me I’m putting electric eels in your tank.”

“Well, that would certainly be shocking,” Abe chuckles.

Abe steps away from the red demon and signals the others to follow him back to camp. Hellboy stays there, staring at the footprints leading up the side of the mountain, completely motionless.

Hellboy, turning yourself into a giant red popsicle isn’t going to help bring her back, Abe’s voice penetrates into Hellboy’s mind. No matter what, we will find her.

With a defeated sigh and sagging shoulders, Hellboy turns and follows the others down the mountain just as the first fat snowflakes start to fall, his tail dragging along behind him in the snow.

WAKE UP! Abe broadcasts throughout the camp.

Hellboy groans, rolls over and reaches for Liz, intent on getting a few more minutes sleep. She’s not there and it takes his sleep fogged brain only a few moments to remember why. He’s fully awake and out of his sleeping bag in a matter of seconds, slightly damaging the zipper in his haste.

By the time he gets his boots on, The Samaritan strapped around his waist and shrugs his duster onto his shoulders, he can hear the others moving around the camp. There’s a lot of grumbling going on and the occasional muttered swear word uttered. He crawls out of his tent and gets a face full of wind and snow.

It’s still dark out, but he’s not sure it’s because the sun hasn’t come up or because the storm clouds are so heavy that no light can get through. He can barely see the other tents much less the other agents moving around the camp, though, fortunately, the wind is fairly calm for now. By the light of a few lamps, he can see Evens is in charge of making the morning coffee

“Abe?” Hellboy calls out. “ABE!”

“I’m right here, Hellboy,” Abe patiently replies as the merman suddenly appears out of the nowhere.

“What the hell time is it?” Hellboy demands.

“It’s about an hour before dawn,” Abe answers calmly. “We don’t have much time. We need to get the camp torn down and be on our way by the time the sun starts to come up.”

“Liz should be waking up anytime now, don’t you think?” Hellboy states suddenly. “Those sorry cusses won’t be a problem for much longer.”

“In an effort to keep the women calm, they cast a spell on them putting them in a state of suspended animation,” Abe tells him. “Liz won’t wake up until the ceremony.”

“Damn,” Hellboy swears.

“It’s just as well,” Abe states and receives a scowl from his friend. “I’d hate to see what Liz’s fire would do with all this snow. She’d probably cause an avalanche that would set records.”

“How are we going to keep track of each other in all this snow and wind?” Hellboy asks.

“We’ll use a rope to tie each other together,” Abe replies. “We’re in a fairly sheltered area right now, but once we leave it, the wind is going to be picking up.”

“Swell,” Hellboy grumbles.

“I’ll take point,” Abe continues. “I’d like you to cover the rear.”

“Why am I at the back of the line?” Hellboy grumbles.

“I need someone to act as an anchor,” Abe responds. “The way is going to be treacherous and slow going. We’re in their territory now and they know where to hide. I’m going to have a hard enough time keeping us on the trail; I won’t be able to spare any concentration on keeping an eye out for ambushes. You and the men will have to do that.”

“In this snow?” HB demands. “I can’t see ten feet, how the hell am I going to see an ambush?”

“If we can’t see them, chances are they’re going to have a hard time seeing us,” Abe states. “Just do the best you can, Red. I trust you to watch my back.”

“Liz trusted me to take care of her and look where that got her,” Hellboy mutters.

“Liz is a grown woman and I doubt she would have appreciated the company on her way to relieve herself,” Abe points out. “Let’s help pack up the gear. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can find Liz.”

“Yeah, ok,” Hellboy grudgingly agrees. “I hope you’re right about this, Blue.”

“So do I, my friend,” Abe replies before going off to help an agent collapse one of the tents.

What seems like a short eternity later to Hellboy, the tents and gear are packed and everyone is shouldering a backpack with the exception of Hellboy who’s carrying his own and Liz’s. Several ropes are used to tie the men between Hellboy and Abe and after making sure all of the knots are secure; Abe leads them out of the sheltered area.

Once they step out of the sheltered area, the wind hits them like a freight train as it goes screaming over the mountains. Snow is blowing everywhere making visibility virtually impossible and Hellboy can barely make out John’s back who’s only a few feet in front of him. The going is slow and exhausting and it doesn’t help knowing that there will probably be a fight when they finally do find Liz.

They march methodically up the side of the mountain as the wind seems to come at them from every direction, blowing snow into their parkas and down their boots, finding every little gap in the men’s clothing. Within minutes, everyone is freezing, but they continue on, not daring to stop for fear that they’ll be too late.

They’re almost completely blind and if they weren’t tied to Abe and Hellboy, the agents are pretty sure they’d be dead within minutes of leaving the camp. As it is, they can barely see with all the snow and it doesn’t help that the wind seems to be coming from every direction all at once. Every step is a study in pain as after what seems to be an eternity, they’re all exhausted, but they still keep going.

Every once and a while, Abe calls a halt and they take a short break eating and drinking as best they can despite their teeth chattering. They stand in a line, passing the coffee thermos back and forth and munching on energy bars. After too short a time, Abe starts moving again and the others have no choice but to follow, for not to do so is certain death.

It’s impossible to know how long they’ve been going. To look at a watch would mean baring skin to see it and once the sun came up, the snow just became brighter and there are no shadows to see. Abe assures them that they are making progress, but since they can’t judge how far they’ve gone, they have only his word to go on. All they know is that they’ve been constantly going up hill in a white haze and that there is no end in sight.

After countless hours of hiking, the men simply keep moving by sheer force of will. Their legs scream in protest as they drag them through the snow, any path made by the man before him is immediately obliterated by the howling wind. The use of the poles helps keep them upright, but their arms feel like lead as they continue to force them to move. Talking is hopeless in this wind and the only communication is Abe telling them when to stop and go. They keep moving, eyes closed and heads down, depending on the rope tied around their middles to tell them where to go. They keep moving, cold and miserable and worried and it’s not until Abe orders them to stop that they notice the change.

“What the hell…,” Hellboy mutters.
- 13
- 14
- 15
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Beauty and the Beast Within