Opposites of a Different Kind

Chapter Nineteen



Hellboy did his best to follow the unholy fast giant through the forest. Weaving in and out of the trees he finally lost site of them, Anessa’s white wings disappearing into the darkness.



“Shit!” he hissed still raging through the forest in vain. Slowly coming to a stop he searched the darkness for any sign of movement. Anything that could continue his pursuit. Nothing moved, that giant monster as big as he was just disappeared into the forest thick with trees. No branches snapping or leaves crunching, just eerie unnerving silence. “Fuck!” his fist connected with a nearby tree, the shear force splintering the trunk into tooth picks. Reaching to his coat he called for Abe. “I lost them.” He growled angrily into the microphone.



“Don’t worry too much Red,” Abe’s soothing voice crackled thought the speaker in his ear. “She should have her tracking device on. We can track her to where he took her and hope he hasn’t done anything.”



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Anessa opened her eyes to a very dark lit room. The temperature was near freezing, the moister from her breath clouded before her with each exhale. Pulling at her arms she found them shackled above her and her legs as well below. Her wings were pinned behind her painfully and she could feel the frigid temp seep into them. Anessa strained to see thought the dark she could see a candle flickering in the distance which didn’t give off too much light. Then something moved out of the corner of her eye, immediately she started to yank on her restraints willing the metal to break. But nothing seemed to be happening the shackles withstood her heightened strength.



“I’m sorry my dear but they will not break.” A soft voice coed from the shadows.



“Who’s there? Show yourself!”



A spark of flame from the darkness illuminated the space before her. The small shaky flame ignited a candle then another and another until an elaborate candelabrum was visible. The growing light soon illuminated the person clutching the candelabrum. A striking young man with short black hair stood in front of her. He couldn’t have been more the 30 years old, but his face was somber and showed many years of wisdom in his dark eyes. He was dressed in all black with a few white undertones running along the coat he wore.



“What do you want with me? And why do your chains resist my strength?”



The young man set the candelabrum on the table next to him and pulled his black jacket off seeming oblivious to the frigid cold. A white button down shirt lay opened halfway down his chest revealing a nicely muscled torso. His eyes rolled over her sending chills down her spin.



“I told Leopold to get me anything that was out of the ordinary and you my dear are absolutely out of the ordinary. Also Leopold informed me of your strength so I used cursed chains to hold your angelic powers.” just then she saw the glistening white fangs that protruded from his mouth. Long thick white fangs he seemed to enjoy exposing.



“You must be the vampire we were sent to dispose of.”



A soft chuckle came from him as his pink tongue ran over one of the protruding white fangs, “We? There are more of you? Why I simply must meet the rest. I’ll have to have Leopold run out and retrieve them for me.” The young vampire strode up to Anessa’s restrained body and ran his cold hand down the side of her cheek. His icy fingers took a hold of her chin and clamped down painfully. His dark eyes met hers and his mouth turned up into a wicked grin. “I can tell your blood will be the sweetest of them all.”



Prying her face from his grasp Anessa spit in his face, “Don’t touch me!”



Stepping back he wiped the saliva from his cheek, his eyes accessed her body once more, “You know I prefer my sweets to be chilled.” Reaching out he grabbed a handful of her jacket and ripped it clean off her body. Next he took her thin tank top and removed it as well.



“What the fuck are you doing? STOP!” she yelled struggling in vain as the palm of his hand ran along her thigh. His nails soon bit into the tough fabric of her jeans and began to tear them down the front. With a quick tug they soon were laying on the cold stone ground in shreds. Just in her underwear and bra she sat exposed to the frigid air of the old building. Her teeth soon began to chatter, almost echoing in the cavernous room.



“P-p-p-please you don’t want to do this.”



“I’ll let you chill here for a minute or two until I decide what I want to do with you.” His cold hands reached behind her and ran down the soft feathers of her wings. “You are special though I’ve never seen a real live angel before. But a vampire has got to eat. And I’m just tired to death of the same ol’ same ol’ villagers”” Turning abruptly the young vampire grabbed his coat and disappeared into the darkness leaving her alone and freezing.



Anessa’s eyes searched the room frantically. There was no doubt this was an old castle she was being held captive in. The large stone walls were a dead give away. She watched the flames eat away at the old wax in the candelabrum. She was so cold her skin was beginning to tingle. Her body was succumbing to the cold, she could tell it was well below freezing and the thick stones of the castle were not helping. The power coursing through her slowly stopped, making her weaker with each passing second. The poorly lit objects in the room began to fade dizziness soon followed. The darkness began to cover the room inching towards her as she hung helpless on the wall. It grabbed her like a terrified child under the bed and took her into oblivion.



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The trucks roared down the gravel road sending the small rocks rocketing into the nearby brush. Hellboy and Abe sat in the front of the lead truck the Samaritan tapping nervously on the demon’s right leg. Abe sat beside him Anessa’s massive sword on his lap his gloved hand running rhythmically over the side of the blade. Soon a castle came into view on the horizon. Abe took out the agent locater device and turned it on once again. It began to beep feverously and more so the closer they came to the ancient building.



“She has got to be in there. The signal is coming from that castle.” Abe’s gloved finger pointed towards the stone building coming closer. As they pulled up to the massive stone structure they noticed the cliffs edge just past the back yard gardens. The moons silver light drenched the green grass in an eerie glow.



All of the windows of the castle lay dark showing no sign of inhabitance, and the over sized walls leered over the agents as they exited their vehicles. Getting out of the truck Hellboy now noticed the drastic drop in temperature. When they had left the FBI building it was a cool but brisk temp. Now further out into the country and the time much later, he could feel it was quite below freezing now. Luckily for him he was heated by the eternal hell fire but as for his friends he could tell they were feeling the nip of the night under their jackets.



Hellboy took the sword from Abe’s hand as he exited the truck. Surprisingly it wasn’t nearly as heavy as he thought it would be. Running the sharp blade across his stone hand to see the durability he quickly pulled back in pain. Looking down were the sword had touched him he saw a deep abrasion on his stone hand. Nothing his whole entire life had ever been sharp enough to cut his red stone fist. It was indestructible, unbreakable but with one swipe of the angel’s sword it split like butter.



Abe began to walk towards the castle but noticed Hellboy staring at his stone fist. Returning to his side he noticed the deep gash now adorning his indestructible hand.



“My god Red what did that?”



Hellboy didn’t say anything or look up he just lifted the sword in response.



“That? Anessa’s sword did that? How in heavens sake can that be?” Soon Abe noticed the structure of the blade changing. It was becoming see through, soon there was nothing left. “Hellboy! Her sword!?”



Hellboy’s hand closed to a fist and his head shot up, it was gone. Something was wrong, either she lost her wings or she was dead. Hellboy could feel hells blood boiling in his veins. His cut stone hand forgotten he headed towards the castle with the agents and Abe in tow.



Reaching the large heavy wooden door Hellboy’s hand found the aged handle and pulled. With a loud creek the heavy door protested to the movement but eventually gave in to the red demon’s strength. Inside the room lay dark and quiet, cobwebs hung lazily from the ceilings supports. It was like a bad 40’s vampire movie, the scattered furniture was covered by dingy white sheets. The fireplace lay forgotten on the far side of the room. It was obviously it hadn’t been used in several years. The old crystal chandelier lay shattered on the stone floor, pieces of its once beauty covered in dust and dirt. Tattered wall tapestries looked burnt and ripped from a previous fire in the great hall. Slowly they entered listening for any sound that they could hear. The cold wind howled through the empty corridors moaning their warnings of evil.



Soon the quite halls were crawling with the bureau agents. Hellboy and Abe stuck together as they made their way down a vacant hallway. Their weapons out and locators on they searched each room carefully. After two hours they still hadn’t found any sign of her, the vampire or the giant. Abe had begun running his open palms over the walls hoping to get a vision of Anessa and were she might be being held. Their search brought them to the very far wing of the castle. Turning a corner they both noticed several candles lit hanging from the walls.



“Jackpot.” Hellboy muttered getting the Samaritan ready once again.



The dirty floors looked disturbed by footprints and they lead further down the corridor. They came to a door just before the corridor ended. Reaching for the knob Hellboy looked at the fish man who quickly nodded in ready. Both guns out poised and ready Hellboy turned the knob and pushed the door open. It was almost pitch dark inside Abe took out his flashlight and began searching the room, Hellboy followed suit, both their lights ran across the stones and stopped when they found something on the far wall. They began to walk towards it, they soon realized it was a body hanging from the wall, they increased their speed. It was a woman with her hair hanging over her face and she was only in her underwear and bra. Her arms were shackled above her and her skin was a pale white. Hellboy soon growled deep in his throat he knew that hair and those legs.



“It’s Anessa.”



Finally getting to her side Hellboy gently lifted her head. Her skin was cold to the touch but he could feel a faint heart beat beneath her skin. Her wings had disappeared, she must have been so weak her body couldn’t handle her them anymore.



“Red we need to get her warmed up or else she won’t make it. She’s hypothermic, get her off that wall.”



Hellboy reached for the chains above her and yanked but nothing happened. Again he pulled at the metal but they did not bend. “What the crap?”

“You will not break her bonds demon; I have made sure of it.” A voice came behind them too close for comfort.



Both of them turned around to face their foe weapons ready but found nothing but darkness.