The Incubus
Chapter 2: She’s Just a Girl
I didn’t sleep well. My dreams are never of the pleasant, Angelina Jolie in a bikini variety. I dream about home. I dream of where I came from before I was from here. Fire and smoke and voices deep with gravel and reverberation. I know who hurt the girl, and I know where he lives, what he looks like. But he’s a demon after all, you can’t just mail him an arrest warrant. Somehow we’d have to have him show up.
I dreamed of the girl being tortured, but at some point it wasn’t the girl, it was Liz, and at another point, it wasn’t the incubus attacking her. That’s when I woke up.”Morning HB, your girl’s awake,” Liz said, pouring me black coffee. No one was making breakfast. No one ever makes me breakfast anymore. I pouted a little bit but no one noticed.
Your girl
”Get anything from her? A name? Story?” I asked, sipping the giant mug of bitter liquid. Liz always knew how to make an awesome cup of joe, and she knew the mug I liked it in, a great oversized one with the Tazmanian Devil on it. What a card that guy is. Liz snorted at my question and lit her ubiquitous cigarette.
”I can’t believe you ever had a girlfriend,” she said. She means it as a joke but it’s like a fucking punch in the gut. “She just woke up and you want me to ask her about how the devil raped her? I mean come on. I’m just telling you to go introduce yourself. She wants to know how she got here. Abe’s with her for now, but he's exhausted.”
”Lazy bastard,” I muttered, draining the mug and looking for more.
”Hellboy,” Liz said, putting her hand on my forearm. The bristly hairs rose at her touch. “This is just another part of the job. She’s just a girl, not a monster. I know you’re uncomfortable, but think how she must feel.”
I looked at Liz, her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, some of the strands falling down to frame her face.
Just a girl. Yeah. Girls are so harmless.
Short story short, Liz was lying. The girl was sound asleep when I walked in. Abe had changed her into a sort of hospital gown thing, and she was covered in a nice, thick blanket, not those scratchy, shitty wool blankets you get at hospitals. One of her feet was sticking out. The big toe was twitching.
”She’s doing fine. Dehydrated a bit,” Abe said, appearing behind me like a ghost. “I also gave her a few painkillers, a sleeping agent…”
I waved him off. “I want to talk to her. When will she wake up?”
”Don’t know, friend. You can sit and wait. I need to go get some rest.”
He padded out of the room and I sat next to her bed. Nearly half an hour went by before she started stirring. She pulled her foot under the blanket and rolled over on her side to face me. Her eyes fluttered and then opened. Then widened. I watched as her lungs filled, readying herself to scream.
Before she could I said, "You're safe now. We rescued you. My buddy and me. We're taking care of you."
"Rescued. Where am I?" she asked. Her voice was shaking and small. Higher than Liz's, weaker.
I sipped at my coffee. "Let's call it a hospital. Name's Hellboy. One of the good guys.
She stared at me for a long time. Her eyes were a dark blue, deep, frightened. She examined my sawed of horns, my leathery red skin, my right hand.
"I was sure he'd killed me," she said finally, touching a hand to her chest. I felt like I was on fire."
I nodded. She thought for another moment and then looked at me. "Are you one of the X-Men?"I drained my coffee. "Get some more sleep. I'll be back later."
Fuckin' comic books.