When The Day Met The Night

“Jesse! Jesse!” a voice was calling out to me.

I groaned and turned over, wincing in the sharp light coming off of the flashlight that Red was holding. “Red,” I said, my voice sounding hoarse, “what happened?” It was still raining outside and I could already tell that I was going to have a cold.

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Hellboy said. “When we got here, the place was full of Tooth Fairies. We thought we had lost you. No one could get ahold of you on your cell and… well, it’s not pretty in there. Looks like you were the only survivor.”

“I can’t believe…” I started. “How could I let this happen?”

“What happened, Jesse?” Red asked as Abe and Liz joined us.

“I let Princey Pants get the better of me,” I said, hugging my knees to my chest. Red was giving me a ‘what-the-fuck’ look.

“Prince Nuada,” I explained. “He came here tonight for the crown piece of Bethmoora; he was the one who released the Tooth Fairies… and I let him get away with it.”

“As long as you’re okay,” Abe said, lending me his hand so I could get up, “we wouldn’t care if the world was ending.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling weakly. I still couldn’t get over that fact that all those people were dead because I couldn’t stop Prince Nuada.

The hour after that was a blur. I was taken to an FBI doctor and released after a clean bill of health. Apparently there was going to be a new addition to our team. His name was Johan Krauss.

I decided that meeting him wasn’t too incredibly important, so I took some cold medicine and went to bed. It was about four in the morning when I woke up, which means that I only slept for roughly four hours.

I got up and stretched, noticing a small note on my bedside table. I picked it up and read it. ‘Dear Jesse,’ it read, ‘Red, Liz, Manning, Johan, and I are heading to the Troll Market. Sleep tight! Love, Blue.’

Walking over to my closet, I pulled out my white Hello Kitty ‘nerd’ shirt, faded ripped skinny jeans, and my gray hoodie. I quickly threw them on then shoved on my black Superman convers shoes. If Hellboy wasn’t going to be home for a while, then I wasn’t going to just sit around and do nothing.

I left the BPRD compound and took the subway to Brooklyn and from there began wandering aimlessly around town. It was still dark out, so I didn’t realize at first that I was being followed. I continued walking down the sidewalk trying not to let my stalkers know that I knew they were there.

At the next corner, I took a sharp left and broke into a dead run. I took another left at the next alleyway and hid behind a dumpster. My stalkers, instead of walking past the alleyway, entered like they knew I was there.

“I can smell her,” said a tall, lanky guy in a red jacket and baggy jeans that were ripped at the knees. He put his nose up to the air and started sniffing. “She’s definitely here.”

“Good,” replied a short guy with a gray t-shirt and baggy jeans like his friend. “We could make hundreds off of her.”

I stiffened. What were they talking about? They could make hundreds off of me?

The two stalkers moved further into the alleyway and I pressed myself as close as I could into the corner between the wall and dumpster. The two passed me and I had to stop myself from letting out a sigh of relief, which wasn’t nearly as hard as stopping myself from gasping in surprise. I studied the tall, lanky one, hoping that my eyes were playing a trick on me. They weren’t.

There, sticking out from beneath his red jacket was a long rat’s tail. Rat guy kept sniffing, then cocked his head to the side. He started chuckling. “Found you,” he sang.

I jumped up from my hiding spot and started running toward the street. I was almost there when two more guys stepped out, blocking my exit.

“Were do you think you’re going, Sweet Cheeks?” the guy on my right sneered.

I cursed and tried to assess the situation. Two guys behind me, two in front, and I had a feeling that they weren’t human. If only I had brought my gun.