When The Day Met The Night

The guys behind me made the first move. They both grabbed one of my arms and pulled me back, causing me to stumble and fall into them.

“Stop!” I cried out. “Help me!” The people on the sidewalk just put their heads down and shuffled past the alleyway as fast as they could. Meanwhile, the guy that had called me Sweet Cheeks was advancing toward me, a knife in his hands.

“No one’s gonna help ya, Sweetie,” he said maliciously, putting the knife to my throat.

I just spat at him. “What do you want with me, Rat?” I asked.

The guy narrowed his eyes. “We’re going to sell you at the Troll Market,” he snapped. “And judging from your name calling, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

My eyes widened and I was about to protest when someone else entered the alleyway. I couldn’t tell what the person looked like, but he was definitely male by the outline of his broad shoulders.

“Let her go,” the stranger said, his tone threatening.

The rat with the knife turned around. “What if we don’t want to?” he asked.

The man shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll have to kill you.” It was quick. To my human eyes, it had appeared that he had only shifted slightly to the left, but the rat fell to the ground in a puddle of his own blood. “Who’s next?” the man asked and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

The other three rats that had been holding me back took off running, not even bothering to pick up their fallen comrade.

I dusted myself off and looked up at my savior. He had moved further into the alleyway, so I could see him better, and I nearly fainted at the sight of him. It was Prince Nuada from yesterday.

“You!” I cried out, pointing a finger at him. “What are you doing here!?”

“Now, is that any way to treat the man who just saved your life?” he asked raising one of his eyebrows, which, for whatever reason made me extremely jealous (I can’t do that).

“It is if the man in question also tried to kill me yesterday!” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance. “What are you doing here anyway? Why did you save me?”

“As to your first question,” Nuada said, “that is none of your business. And for your second question, I do not know why I saved you, seeing as you have been nothing but a thorn in my side since I met you.”

“Fair enough,” I shrugged.

Nuada sighed, turning around and walking back out onto the streets.

“Hey!” I called after him, “wait up!”

“Why are you following me?” he asked when I reached him.

I shrugged again. “I don’t have anything else to do. Plus,” I said, looping my arm through his, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer or some such nonsense.”

Nuada sighed, but didn’t remove his arm from mine. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have saved you,” he muttered miserably.

“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “That was bad on your part. I mean, who saves their arch nemesis from certain death? You’re like the worst villain in the history of villains!”

“Who says I’m the villain?” Nuada asked looking down at me. He was about 6’3” and, compared with my 5’ frame, he was a giant.

I thought about it. “I guess there really is no such thing as a villain,” I said. “Because we both think that what we’re doing is right.” I looked at him. “What are you doing, anyway? I mean, you must have a reason for taking that crown piece.”

Nuada looked like he was struggling with himself on whether or not to answer me, but apparently he came to a conclusion, because he asked, “What do you know about the Golden Army?”

My eyebrows rose. “You mean the Golden Army? The one that King Balor had commissioned to fight the humans?”

Nuada nodded. “Yes.”

Understanding was dawning on me, but before I could say anything, a small two-headed creature interrupted us. Nuada said something in a weird language and the creature answered back. I don’t know exactly what was said, but Nuada did not look happy about it.

I waited until the creature left before I began questioning Nuada. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“A friend of mine was just murdered by a red man,” Nuada said, sounding angry.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know who the red man was. “Oh, God,” I said. “Red.”

Nuada looked at me. “You know who did this?” he demanded.

I nodded. “Yes,” I said, “my brother, Hellboy.”

Nuada’s eyes hardened. “Come with me.” Nuada unlinked our arms and, instead, grabbed my upper arm in a vise-like grip.

“Ow!” I yelped as he pulled me along beside him. “You’re hurting me!”

Nuada ignored me and continued on. About five minutes later, we were standing in what looked like a meat packing factory.

“What are we…,” I trailed off as I noticed my brother, Abe, a guy in what looked like a scuba suit, and a blonde woman in a blue dress. “Red!” I whispered.

“You!” Nuada called out, causing Hellboy and the others to turn our way. “You will pay for what happened to my friend down there,” he said angrily. He still had a hold on my arm.

“Do you take checks?” Hellboy asked, cocky as ever, holding up his gun.

Nuada chuckled and dragged me forward. “Not so fast, Demon,” he said. “I have something that belongs to you.”