Hellboy: Unnatural Selection(100)

"Who are you?"

"Leh."

"Leh is dead."

"Really, Hellboy ... you know better than that. Old demons don't die, they just retire disgracefully." The demon in human form smiled, and its teeth glimmered in the vague light. "Oh, and haven't you seen Abby yet? What a girl she's grown into! Although she's a trifle hirsute, I must say. I prefer my females shaved. Saves on the fur balls." He coughed and spat, his saliva sizzling on the deck.

"What are you doing here, Leh?"

"So you admit I'm Leh?"

"I admit nothing." Word games pissed Hellboy off. He clenched his fist, wanting to punch something. The vat. Maybe that would do.

"I'm here because this idiot's charming sons found me," Leh said. "Simple, really. He brought me back, and now I'm ... well, I'm not going to tell you."

"You're going to drop Blake into the vat to open a passage to the Memory," Hellboy said.

The demon shrugged. "Good guess."

"I've had a lot of practice. Is this all your doing?"

The demon shook its head, looked around at the grubby walls and ceiling of the old oil tank. "I suppose you could just call me lucky," it said. "I've no concern at all about what this little man is doing, but he serves a purpose. And now, if you don't mind — "

"You don't want to go back there," Hellboy growled. "I know demons."

"As well you should," Leh said. "No, I'm not going back to the Memory. Awful place, so boring, and no ass to be had for love or money."

"So you're inviting something through."

The demon turned to Blake, pressed its pale visage into the old man's face, and growled. "You left a friend of mine in there, when it could have made you a god."

Hellboy shook his head, stepped forward, and then the room shook as though kicked from all sides by something with size infinity boots.

For a second Leh's eyes opened in wonder, and the demon turned and looked down into the vat. But Hellboy knew that the impact was from a more earthly source, and the second explosion that followed quickly on the first confirmed it. The New Ark was under attack.

Abe must have told them about the ship, Hellboy thought. Hellboy jumped at the vat, clawing his way to the top and reaching for Leh's ankles. The demon sidestepped his grasp with ease and laughed — Hellboy hated demon laughter — before letting Blake go.

A shadow leaped from the other lip of the vat, grasped Blake in its jaws, and tumbled to the deck, rolling into shadow and taking the screaming man with it.

"No!" Leh yelled, and the ship shook again. "Abby!" All the demon received in response was a long, low howl, a haunting noise that filled the room and gave an alternative accompaniment to the sound of continuous explosions.

"Liz!" Hellboy shouted, but he needn't have bothered. Liz was already running after Abby, fire springing alight in her palm to light the way.

"And you," Hellboy said, turning, "can go back — "

Leh was on him, grabbing hold of his right fist and pulling him up onto the lip of the vat. They stood there, demon and man-demon, facing each other as the ship shook and shuddered around them. On Hellboy's left was a drop to the deck. On his right something different. He glanced down, but he could not see the bottom of the vat. It was too dark.

"Like what you've done with your horns," Leh said.

"Thanks."

Leh kept glancing past Hellboy at the doorway Liz had disappeared through. He needs Blake, Hellboy thought.

Needs the old man's magic and science to keep the route open from the Memory, But for what? He glanced down again, and the depth of the darkness made him woozy. Something with tentacles, I'll bet.

"Hows life?" Leh said.

"Just dandy."

"You know I'm going to get him, don't you?"

"I can't let you."

"Think you can stop me?"

Hellboy shrugged. "It's been one of those days. I figure I can give it a shot."

"Oh, by the way," Leh said, then the demon stepped from the lip of the vat.

Hellboy was quick. He grabbed the demon's leg and squeezed, crushing flesh and bone and feeling the warm burst of blood. The demon shouted, but Hellboy was not fooled; this was just a shell. He almost lost balance. Leh suddenly gained weight and tipped them down toward the deck, but then there was a huge explosion from somewhere nearby, the ship tipped, and Hellboy swung his fist behind him, tilting the balance and falling back.