A Full and Satisfying Life

Ray Garton

----------------------------------------------------------------------

10:33 p.m. — Rio Vista Christian Boarding Academy

Body parts were strewn up and down the main fourth-floor hallway of the

four-story boys' dormitory. An arm here, a leg there. Part of a head, a

shoe still containing a foot. The smell of blood hung in the air like a

heavy mist — cloying and metallic, slightly sweet. Blood darkened the

brown-and-tan carpet of the hallway and spattered the beige walls in

nightmarish Rorschach sprays.

Forensics investigators were still gathering evidence in the hallway —

two men, two women, all wearing dark vests with C.S.U. printed in bold

white letters on the back.

Hellboy's upper lip curled slightly in response to the smell. He stood

at the top of the open stairwell in the center of the hallway and

looked first to the right, then the left.

The hallway looked like a slaughterhouse.

Dick Snodgrass, the boys' dean, stood on Hellboy's left. He was a

small, skinny, jittery man in his mid-fifties. He wore a rumpled, brown

suit and had not taken his eyes off Hellboy since he'd arrived. They

were suspicious eyes, wary, and just a little fearful, especially when

they lingered on the fat, round stumps of Hellboy's horns on his

forehead, or on his enormous right hand, or on his long tail. Hellboy

got that a lot, especially from religious people. It took them a while

to warm up to him, if they did at all. Even now, with all the carnage

in front of them, Snodgrass watched him carefully. The dean's eyes were

also red, puffy, and moist, and he looked tired, his face drawn. He'd

seen more death and bloodshed that evening than most people see in a

lifetime.

On Hellboy's right stood eighteen-year-old Joey Priven, the youngest

agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He was tall

and slender and wore a long, black wool coat. His dark hair was wet and

mussed by the rain and wind outside, his face bleached white by the

sight of all the body parts, the smell of the blood. He pressed one

hand over his mouth. He was a handsome boy, if a bit gawky and

uncertain.

"Getting anything, Joey?" Hellboy asked.

Joey slowly lowered his hand from his mouth. "Pain," he said, his voice

hoarse. "And fear. A lot of fear. Terror. It ... it happened so fast.

So fast, it was over before some of them knew what was going on. So

fast that some of them didn't even see it. Some died without getting a

look at what was killing them. Just a couple minutes altogether, maybe

less." He closed his eyes. His brow wrinkled, then his eyes clenched.

"Screaming. A lot of screaming ... pleading ... praying."

Frowning, Snodgrass nodded. He took a deep breath and let it out

slowly, tremulously. "I heard the screaming down in my office. At

first, I thought the guys were just fooling around, you know? Sometimes

they let off steam and get rowdy." His voice broke and he scrubbed a

hand up and down his face a couple times. "By the time I got up here,

it was all over. It was gone. But we don't know where it went or how it

got out. It didn't come down the stairs, and it didn't go out any of

the windows."

Hellboy turned to Joey again. "Any idea what did this?"

Joey opened his eyes, slowly shook his head. He squinted a little, as

if staring at something a great distance away. "It moved fast. But it

was big. Powerful. And silent. And it was ... long."

"Long?" Hellboy said.

"Yeah. Long, with ... teeth. A lot of them. A blur of sharp, bloody

teeth."

Hellboy looked down at Snodgrass. "How many on this floor?"

Snodgrass had been staring intensely at Joey, listening, and flinched.

"Huh? I'm sorry, what?"

"How many boys live on this floor?"

"Forty-two. But not all of them were here at the time, of course. Some

were still in the cafeteria having dinner, others were already in the

gymnasium for the evening activity period."

"And how many were killed again?"

"Twenty-three. Twenty-four counting Dean Stevewell, who was up here

when it happened." He nodded at the mess in the hallway, but didn't

look at it. He massaged the back of his neck with his right hand and

took another deep breath. "This is all that was left. They were just

... gone. Some didn't even leave behind this much."

Hellboy's eyes narrowed. Twenty-four lives snuffed out in minutes,

bodies consumed by something fast and powerful.

Snodgrass frowned, fidgeted a little. "Look, you mind if I get a better

look at your I.D.?"

Hellboy removed his wallet, opened it, and showed Snodgrass his

B.P.R.D. badge and I.D. card again.

Snodgrass took a long look, then nodded. "Okay. I don't mean to seem

suspicious, it's just, um ... well, you know."

Hellboy nodded as he flipped his wallet closed and put it back in the

pocket of his trench coat. Once again, he surveyed the damage.

It had happened more than four hours ago. Something had made its way

quickly from one end of the floor to the other, killing and devouring

teenage boys and an assistant dean on its way. It had disappeared as

suddenly as it had come. The B.P.R.D. in Fairfield, Connecticut had

been notified immediately and Hellboy had been given the assignment. He

and Joey had been in Denver, where they'd just wrapped up an

investigation of a destructive ghost in a department store. They'd been

preparing to return to headquarters in Connecticut, but instead a

flight had been arranged to take them to the school in northern

California to investigate.

Joey was as pale as flour and kept gulping hard. He was a psychic

sensitive. Experts at the Bureau were still honing his abilities. He

was still learning the finer points of controlling his talent, of using

it, but Hellboy was quite impressed with him.

"You gonna be okay?" Hellboy said.

Joey nodded, but did not look confident. "I could use a drink of

water."

"You want to go downstairs and wait in the lobby?"

"I ... I think I better. I don't feel so well, you wanna know the

truth."

"Okay, go ahead. I'll be down in a while, and we'll go talk to the

witnesses."

Joey nodded again. "Thanks." He turned and went down the stairs.

Hellboy turned to Snodgrass again. "Where are the witnesses?"

The little man's shoulders were slumped, as if he carried a great

weight on them. "A few of them have already gone home. Their parents

came and got them. The rest are staying in the homes of staff up on

Faculty Hill until their parents arrive. Some had to be treated for

shock, but they're okay now. As okay as can be expected, anyway."

"We'll need to talk to them," Hellboy said as he started down the hall

to the right. "Get them together. Maybe in the cafeteria. That okay?"

"Sure, whatever you need. I hope you don't mind if I don't join you,

but I'd rather not walk through all that... well, I'll just stay right

here, if that's okay." He took a cell phone from the pocket of his suit

coat and made a call, speaking quietly.

The bloody carpet squished beneath Hellboy's hooves as he went to the

nearest C.S.U. investigator, a tall bald man with a fringe of

salt-and-pepper hair and glasses. He took out his wallet, flashed his

badge. "Hellboy, B.P.R.D."

The man looked him up and down. "Howard Rolley, C.S.U."

"Uncovering anything interesting?"

"I think it's a good thing you're here," Rolley said. "This is

definitely one for the B.P.R.D. I've never seen anything like this

before in my life. This was no ordinary animal."

Hellboy shook his head. "No. It wasn't." He walked toward the north end

of the hall, head turning slowly from side to side. The doors of the

rooms were all open, the rooms unoccupied. He saw unmade beds, books

stacked on desks, messy closets. He came to a half-open door that had a

section missing from the edge just beneath the doorknob and approached

it for a closer look. A jagged semicircle of wood more than two feet

wide had been taken from the edge of the door. Hellboy looked closer at

the serrated edge and quickly came to the conclusion that the chunk of

wood had been bitten out.

"Holy crap," he muttered.

The jaws of the creature that had bitten the door were enormous and

powerful. He remembered what Joey had said about a "blur of sharp,

bloody teeth."

Hellboy walked on until he saw something in the wall and stopped, went

to it. A long, slender quill, like that of a porcupine, only longer,

was stuck in the plaster wall. He closed his thumb and index finger on

it and plucked it out. It was about eleven, maybe twelve inches long

and black, with a coarse surface and tiny barbs around the red,

needle-like tip.

"We found a few of those."

He turned to see a black female C.S.U. investigator standing beside

him. She carried a black case with her and appeared to be on her way

out.

'Any idea what they are?" he said.

"None, unless they came off the world's biggest porcupine. You're

B.P.R.D.?"

He nodded.

"Well, I'm taking some back to the lab, but you might have better luck

with it." She walked away, heading for the staircase.

Hellboy studied the quill a moment, then put it in a leather pouch

attached to his belt. He looked around a moment longer, then turned and

went back to Snodgrass. They went down the stairs together.

"Anyone in particular live up here?" Hellboy said.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Snodgrass said.

"I'm not sure I do, either, to be honest. I'm groping."

"The third floor is occupied exclusively by seniors, if that's what

you're getting at."

Hellboy nodded. "Okay. So, you have forty-two senior boys?"

"We're a small school, Mr. Hellboy."

Joey sat slumped on a couch in the lobby. He still looked queasy He

stood when he saw them and came to Hellboy's side.

Hellboy took the quill from the pouch and held it out to Joey. "Can you

get anything from this?"

Joey reached out and touched the quill with the tips of the first two

fingers of his right hand. He gasped and jerked his hand back.

"What?" Hellboy said.

Cautiously, Joey touched it again and closed his eyes. His mouth pulled

back in a grimace. "Hunger. An awful hunger that's never satisfied. And

..." He smacked his lips a couple times, licked them. " ... The taste

of blood." He cried out suddenly and stumbled backward. "Oh, my God."

His eyes widened as they locked onto Hellboy's. "It was called here.

Called by someone. And it's going to happen again."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Close, I think. Somewhere close by."

"Here in the dorm again?"

"I don't know."

"How much time do we have?"

"It feels like it's going to happen soon, that's all I know." He

stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat. "I don't want to touch

that thing again."

Hellboy nodded and said, "Okay. Let's get moving, then." He put the

quill back in the pouch.

"The witnesses should be gathering in the cafeteria by now," Snodgrass

said. He went into his office and came out with two umbrellas — a small

collapsible one for himself, a larger one he handed to Hellboy to share

with Joey.

Snodgrass led them out of the gloomy basalt-block building and into the

rainy night.

[IMAGE]

On the plane ride from Colorado, Joey had fidgeted restlessly in the

seat beside Hellboy.

"Nervous?" Hellboy had said.

"A little. This is the first assignment I've had where people have ...

well, you know ... been killed."

"I'm glad you're here. You might be able to pick something up, help us

out, like you did in Denver. Great job, by the way."

Joey nodded. A full minute passed before he spoke again. "You've been

doing this a long time, haven't you?"

"I started young. Like you."

"Do you like it?"

Hellboy shrugged. "Haven't known anything else. What about you? You

like it so far?"

Joey thought about it a while before responding. "My dad was a colonel

in the army. We moved around a lot when I was a kid. My parents and

sister were killed in a car accident when I was nine. I had no other

family. I ended up with the B.P.R.D. and started working on my talent.

Before that, it was kind of... out of control. Information was

constantly bombarding me. It made it hard to concentrate in school. It

made everything difficult, really. The hardest part, though, was ... I

saw the car wreck that killed my family. I saw it three years before it

happened. But I didn't understand what it was until afterward. If I'd

known back then what I was seeing, I might've been able to — but I

can't think that way. I'll drive myself crazy."

"That's tough," Hellboy said. "Who've you been training under?"

"Enid Charles."

"She's good."

Joey nodded. "She's been great. I don't know what I would've done

without her. I just don't know if..." He stopped, looked down at his

lap for a while.

"You don't know if what?"

"If... I want to end up like you."

"Like me? What do you mean?"

"You said the B.P.R.D. is all you've ever known. Well, it's not all

I've ever known, but from the age often on ... it's close."

Half of Hellboy's mouth curled up in a smile. "Don't worry, Joey. It's

not that bad. You travel and meet a lot of fascinating people. You see

and do things most people never even dream of. And you can have your

own life, too. I mean, you do things on your own, don't you?"

Joey shrugged. "Not much, not really."

"Well, don't worry, you will. You're still learning, still studying.

What else would you like to do besides your work in the B.P.R.D.?"

"I've always wanted to be a writer. I write a lot in my spare time,

when I have spare time. Short stories."

"Hm. Maybe I'll read one sometime."

Joey smiled. "Would you?"

"Sure. This job'll give you plenty to write about. It's a good gig. A

full and satisfying life, like Professor Bruttenholm used to say."

Joey returned the smile. "Thanks."

That seemed to put the boy at ease, and he'd sat back in his seat then,

and dozed off.

[IMAGE]

Rio Vista Christian Boarding Academy was spread over the top of a hill

overlooking the Russian River outside Santa Rosa. Behind it, along the

ridgeline known as Faculty Hill, stood the homes of the teachers and

staff. It was a cold and rainy Tuesday night in January and a biting

wind made their umbrellas useless as they walked west from the boys'

dormitory, past the administration building to the cafeteria. Hellboy's

hooves clocked solidly on the concrete.

A phalanx of reporters gathered under umbrellas out in the parking lot,

held back by the police. Hellboy had phoned ahead with strict

instructions to keep the press well away from the scene of the

incident.

As they walked, Hellboy spoke to Joey.

"I want you to talk to these boys," he said. "Try to make them feel

comfortable. They're probably not gonna warm up to me right away, and

we don't have time for that, anyway."

"Sure," Joey said. "I'll do my best."

The cafeteria was all glass in front, with an A-frame peak that gave it

a vague ski-lodge appearance. Dim light oozed out through the front

windows and reflected off the slanting rain. They entered through a

door on the eastern side of the building.

Only a few of the lights were on in the cafeteria. Five boys sat at a

long table as two men stood talking nearby. Sounds came from the

kitchen. Snodgrass introduced Hellboy and Joey to the boys — Eddie,

Josh, Brandon, Mark, and Kenan — and the two faculty men, principal Mr.

Collins and RE. teacher Mr. Vanderman.

The boys all had a slightly stunned look to them, with a bit too much

white showing in their eyes.

First, Hellboy took each boy individually to another table and, with

Joey at his side, asked for his version of the incident. As each boy

talked, Hellboy made notes in a small notepad he took from his coat

pocket. The boys were reluctant to discuss it — they were all terribly

shaken and emotional. When Hellboy was done, each boy returned to the

table with the others. After the last one, Hellboy and Joey joined

them.

"Okay, let's go through it again, together this time," Hellboy said.

"Joey and I need you to tell us everything you can about what

happened."

Joey said, "Can you tell us again what did this?"

Brandon was a portly blond boy with freckles. He took a breath to

speak, but immediately burst into tears. Mr. Vanderman went to him and

massaged his shoulders from behind.

"That's okay," Mr. Vanderman said. "It's okay to cry."

"It moved so fast," Kenan said, "it was kinda hard to get a good look

at it, y'know?" He was a muscular boy with dark blond hair through

which he kept nervously running his fingers. "It was red."

"Red," Hellboy said. "Like me?"

"No, not exactly," Kenan said with a shake of his head. He frowned as

he searched for the right words.

Mark sat up in his chair, a short, stocky boy with rusty hair and

glasses. "It was more of a ... a purplish-red."

"Purplish-red," Hellboy said.

"That was the color of its skin," Josh said, "but it also had really

black hair around its head." He was a skinny boy with curly black hair

and braces on his teeth. "The kind of black that's so black it looks

blue when the light hits it just right."

"So it had hair around its head?" Joey said.

"Yeah," Josh said, "but none on its body, and its head was bald. The

hair was like a ... a mane, yeah, that's it, a mane."

"What did its body look like?" Hellboy said.

"Like a lion," Kenan said. "A big lion. Bigger than any lion I ever

saw. It was huge."

"So it had a body like a lion," Joey said.

"But its face," Brandon said, sniffling. "Its head was real big, and

its face was like ... it had a face like a man."

A plump woman came out of the kitchen holding a tray with ten steaming

white mugs on it. "Hot chocolate for everyone," she said. She put the

tray on the table and introduced herself as Mrs. Darlene Claret. "I

work in the kitchen," she said, "and Mr. Vanderman called me out

tonight to make some cocoa for the boys."

The three men and the boys helped themselves to the hot drinks. Joey

took one, too.

"A man's face, y'say?" Hellboy said.

"Yeah, yeah," Josh said, "it was kinda like a man's face, but with that

weird red skin, and that mouth that was so — "

Brandon interrupted. "Oh, yeah, that mouth, it was, like, gigantic!'

Their voices trembled with fear, and their eyes became even wider as

they spoke. Hellboy noticed their hands shook as they lifted their mugs

to their lips to sip the hot chocolate.

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore," Mark said, his voice breathy.

He put his mug down, scooted his chair back, and stood. He folded his

arms tightly across his chest and paced as he said, "I wanna go home.

Where are my parents?"

"Your sister is coming from Tucson to get you, Mark," Mr. Collins said.

"I've talked to your parents, and they're going to fly into Tucson from

— "

"I wanna go home now, I don't wanna be here anymore."

Joey put his mug on the table, stepped in front of Mark, and put his

hands on Mark's shoulders. "Dude, you're gonna be okay. The worst is

over. Like he said, your sister'll be here soon, and then you can go.

But we need to learn all we can about this thing so we can do something

about it."

"But Derrin was my best friend," Mark said. Unspilled tears sparkled in

his eyes, and his voice quavered. "And that thing ... it ate him. In

just a few seconds, it gobbled him up like a ... I don't know, like a

candy bar. One minute, Derrin was there, screaming and reaching toward

me for help, and then that thing was chewing up and gulping him down.

And I ran away, into my room, and shut the door. I didn't do anything,

I just ran away."

"There was nothing you could do," Josh said.

"You couldn't help him, Mark," Kenan said.

"I'm really sorry, man," Joey said. "Nothing we can do or say will

bring your friend back. But we've got to do what we can to make sure

this doesn't happen to anyone else."

Mark nodded after several seconds and sat down again, sipped his hot

chocolate.

Joey picked up his drink and returned to Hellboy's side.

Hellboy turned away from them and stroked his chin. "Body of a lion,

face like a man." He turned to the boys again. "What were those teeth

like?"

"Oh, God, its teeth," Eddie said, shaking his head. "There were so many

of 'em. Rows of 'em. It ate those guys. Like they were nothing, like

they were made of... of Jell-O." It was the first time he'd spoken in

the group. He was slender and seemed shy, with a soft, sensitive face,

dark hair, large eyes with long lashes, a quiet voice.

Kenan got a faraway look on his face. "I remember the sound of their

bones breaking, the ... the crunching and snapping ... the popping." He

scooted his chair back and stood suddenly, turned around, and vomited

onto the green carpet.

"Oh, dear." Mrs. Claret went to Kenan and put an arm around his

shoulders as he apologized. "Don't you worry about that, honey, it's

okay." She hurried to the kitchen and came back with a wet washcloth

and dabbed Kenan's face. "You sit down now, honey, and just relax,

okay? I'll clean this up."

Kenan slowly lowered himself back into his chair, and Mrs. Claret went

about cleaning up the mess.

Hellboy said, "What about a tail, did it have a tail?"

"It was like a scorpion's tail," Josh said. "Y'know, segmented. And at

the end, there was this, this ... I don't know, this — "

"It was a ball of these ... spines," Mark said. "Like some kind of

spiny ... what do you call those things in the ocean? Anemones, like a

spiny sea anemone."

"Spines?" Hellboy removed the spine from the pouch and held it up for

them to see. "Like this?"

They all responded at once in the affirmative.

"It threw 'em!" Eddie said.

"Yeah," Brandon said, "it, like, swung its tail back and forth,

throwin' those things at the guys, and as soon as the spines hit

somebody, they'd, like, drop to the floor. They were out. Then it was

on them. Eating them. Eat ... eating them."

"But the worst part," Eddie said, staring at his hot chocolate, "was

that it didn't make a sound. It didn't roar, it didn't even squeak.

Nothing. It was completely silent. The only sounds it made were

slurping and chewing."

The others nodded and quietly agreed.

Hellboy caught Joey's eye and jerked his head, beckoning the boy to

step aside with him. He lowered his voice nearly to a whisper.

"What they've described is the man-faced Manticore," Hellboy said.

"Manticore?"

"It's a beast of Greek mythology. Red skin, the body of a lion, face of

a man, with an enormous mouth and three rows of fangs on top and

bottom, with a scorpion's tail that flings these things." He held up

the quill. "The quills are venomous — a neurotoxin that paralyzes the

victims. But the victims do not lose consciousness and are fully aware

as the Manticore eats them. Someone has summoned a Manticore to this

campus."

"But why?" Joey said.

"To slaughter a lot of students, for one thing." Hellboy put the quill

back in the pouch as he turned back to the group. "Mr. Collins, I'll

need a list of anyone on your campus of Greek descent."

"I'm Greek," Josh said. "My last name is Demetrious."

Hellboy frowned. "Do you know anything about this you're not telling

us, Josh?"

Josh's eyes widened and mouth opened slowly. "Are ... are you outta

your mind?"

"That's not necessary, Josh," Mr. Vanderman said.

"No, really, the idea that I'm keeping something from you," Josh said,

"that's ... it's crazy."

"He was with me when it happened," Brandon said. "Josh didn't have

anything to do with it."

"I'm not the only Greek on campus," Josh said.

Hellboy turned to Mr. Collins. "Is that true?"

"Yes," Collins said. "There are two other Greek boys here at Rio

Vista."

"Tell me about them," Hellboy said.

"There's Bill Koulouris," Collins said. "He's a freshman from

Wisconsin. And there's Matthew Melonakos, a junior who comes from the

Greek town of Molai."

"Matthew Melonidiot," one of the boys muttered, and they all stifled

laughs.

"Hey, none of that," Snodgrass said. "That's not his name and you know

it." To Hellboy, he said, "Matthew's been here since he was a freshman.

His English is still a bit clumsy. His parents sent him here to get a

good Christian education. But they don't have much money, so he's only

gone home once since he's been here. My wife and I have sort of taken

him under our wing. He works in maintenance to pay his tuition."

"Does he like it here?" Hellboy said.

Collins and Snodgrass exchanged a quick look.

"Matthew is a good boy," Snodgrass said. He tossed a look at the boys

at the table. "I'm afraid some of our students aren't as accepting of

him as they should be." Another glance at the boys, this one stern.

"I've had words with these boys and others about it, plenty of times."

Hellboy said, "Why would someone come all the way from Greece to go to

a school in northern California?"

"We have students here from all over the world," Collins said. "We are

a non-denominational Christian school with an excellent reputation for

providing top-quality education with Christian values for young people

in grades nine through twelve." He sounded like he was giving a speech,

and Hellboy was relieved when he did not go on.

Hellboy turned to Snodgrass. "This Matthew Melonakos — is there a

chance he's behind this?"

"Matt? Oh, no, Matt is a good kid. He spends a lot of time alone in the

boys' dorm chapel, praying. He seems to have taken to our church

doctrine quite well. In fact, when this happened tonight, I know for a

fact that he was in the chapel alone, praying and reading his Bible."

"What about the other one?" Hellboy said.

"Bill Koulouris?" Snodgrass said. He frowned. "He's a different story.

Bill seems to gravitate toward trouble. And if there's no trouble, he

tends to make some. He's just a freshman, though, and I'm hoping we can

turn him around."

"Mr. Snodgrass," Hellboy said, "could you go get both of those boys and

bring them here? I'd like to talk to them."

"Sure, of course." Snodgrass turned and hurried out of the cafeteria

with his umbrella.

Joey went to the table and sat down with the boys, put down his hot

chocolate. "You guys don't get along with Matt, do you?"

Mark said, "We just don't like him, is all."

Brandon said, "He's, like, not very friendly, for one thing."

"He's shy," Collins said. "He'd be a lot friendlier if you guys would

give him half a chance." He turned to Hellboy. "Bill Koulouris, on the

other hand, has been sent to my office more times than I care to count

since the school year started. I get the impression he's been given no

discipline at home, because he certainly doesn't react to it well

here."

"Look," Joey said to the boys at the table, "I need you guys to be

honest with me, okay?"

They silently looked at him.

" Okay?" Joey said.

They nodded.

"Matt gets picked on a lot, doesn't he?"

They hesitated — there was no response at first.

"You getting something, Joey?" Hellboy said.

Joey nodded. To the boys, he said, "He gets picked on a lot by you guys

and others, doesn't he?"

Slowly, they nodded; first Mark, then Kenan, then the others — except

for Eddie.

"Look," Joey said, "I'm psychic. What I'm picking up right now is that

you guys really can't stand Matt. You pick on him every chance you get,

you make his life miserable. You don't like him because he's different,

right? He doesn't speak English well, he's shy, he doesn't fit in.

Right?"

"I don't like it," Eddie said as he swiped a hand down over his face

wearily. "I guess I should do something about it, speak up when it

happens, but I never do. But I don't like it. I've talked to him a few

times — "

"Talked to who?" Hellboy said.

"Matt Melonakos," Eddie said. "When nobody else was around. It's not

cool to talk to him, y'know? But I've talked to him a few times. He's

not a bad guy, but he doesn't really like it here. He misses home."

"You mean, Greece?" Hellboy said.

"Yeah," Eddie said. "I know what Mr. Snodgrass said about him — that

he's really taken to the faith, and all that. But from the things he's

said to me ... well, he seemed pretty angry. He puts up a good front,

but it's been a big change for him — his parents' conversion from Greek

Orthodox — "

"The Greek Orthodox church is Christian," Hellboy said.

"A different kind of Christianity," Eddie said. "Matt didn't like being

sent here to go to school. He doesn't like any of it. And the way he's

treated by the other students here just makes it worse."

Joey leaned forward and folded his arms on the tabletop. "Who else

picks on Matt? Please, this may be important."

Brandon shrugged and said, "Like, who doesn't?"

"Girls, too?"

Brandon chuckled and said, "The girls are, like, worse than us. He can

never get a date for a banquet."

"Banquet?" Hellboy said.

Collins said, "Some Christian denominations do not approve of dancing,

so instead of dances, we hold banquets for the students."

"Matt can't get a date for these banquets?" Joey said.

Mark said, "Heather Spencer weighs about two hundred pounds and never

gets a date to anything, and even she wouldn't go with him."

Frowning, Josh shook his head and said, "I don't see how he could have

anything to do with that thing we saw in the dorm tonight."

"The Manticore appeared from nowhere and then disappeared because it

was summoned by someone," Hellboy said. "Conjured up. I'm guessing the

reason it appeared for only a very short time is that the person who

summoned it wasn't able to hold it here for long. My guess is that one

or both of those boys, at the very least, know something about it."

"I find that hard to believe," Collins said.

Hellboy turned to him. "Well, somebody called that Manticore here, Mr.

Collins."

Collins said nothing.

"We need to talk to them," Hellboy said. "Whoever did it was able to

hold the Manticore here for only a couple minutes this time. The next

time, he might be able to — "

Joey suddenly clutched his head in both hands and cried out. He stood

so abruptly, he knocked his chair over. He nearly fell as he spun

around to face Hellboy, mouth gaping, eyes bulging. Although he looked

at Hellboy, he seemed to see through him, to look at something else far

beyond him.

"It's happening again!" he shouted. "It's happening again right now!"

Hellboy said, "Where? Where is it happening?"

Joey clearly did not hear him. "It's happening again!" he shouted as he

ran through the cafeteria and went out the door on the western side of

the building, shouting, "No! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"Oh, crap," Hellboy said as he broke into a run after him.

Outside, Joey ran across a patch of grass up ahead to the main

sidewalk. He turned left and went west along the sidewalk, swerving

this way and that as he ran. As he went after Joey, Hellboy knew what

was happening, he'd seen it before with other psychic sensitives — Joey

was having a real-time vision, and because it was close by, he was

drawn to the location of the event he was seeing. He headed for the

other basalt-block building on the campus — what Hellboy assumed was

the girls' dormitory.

"Joey, stop! Wait!"

Joey ran even faster. He turned left and stumbled up the concrete steps

in front of the dormitory, went through the door, and into the lobby.

As he approached the building, Hellboy heard the screams. They were

coming from the fourth floor. He ran up the steps.

He pushed through the glass door to find a heavyset woman in her

forties — the dean, he assumed — flailing her arms and shouting, "Call

the police! Somebody call the police!" When she saw Hellboy rush by,

she let out a startled yelp. He ignored her and went to the stairs. The

building was identical to the boys' dorm, with the open stairwell in

the center.

On his way up, he heard Joey's footsteps ahead of him, heard him

shouting, "No! No! No!" Hellboy passed the second floor, with Joey

approaching the third. He knew Joey was not entirely aware of what he

was doing. He did not realize he was walking into a dangerous

situation.

On his way up, Hellboy passed screaming girls running down the stairs

in nightgowns and underwear.

Hellboy shouted, "Joey! Joey, stop! Wait!"

Time slowed down to a crawl when he reached the fourth floor.

The creature apparently had started at the far eastern end of the

hallway and was making its way toward Hellboy. In its trail were strewn

body parts — arms and legs and heads — and a few girls were leaning out

of their dorm rooms, screaming at the creature that had just passed

them, while a clot of girls ran straight toward Hellboy, away from the

Manticore.

The boys were right — it was huge, monstrous. Well over ten feet long,

its hairless, purplish-red body rippled with muscles as it moved down

the hallway. Its large eyes were the eyes of a man, large, piercing

blue, its nose flat with large nostrils. Its mouth was the stuff of

nightmares, a giant Cheshire cat's grin of fangs, three rows on top,

three on the bottom, red with blood. Chunks of flesh were lodged

between the fangs as it tossed its head back and forth and gulped down

a masticated arm. Its ears were human ears, and its mouth stretched

from one to the other. Its tail swept back and forth, shooting quills

forward through the air. The small missiles found their targets and

fleeing girls dropped to the floor, paralyzed, only to be eaten up by

the beast. Others tripped over the fallen girls — and over Joey, who

had gone down on the floor. The creature's mane of thick, shiny, black

hair was rapidly becoming matted with blood and gore as it ate its way

through the terrified girls. It was so big, it swallowed up the hallway

as it moved rapidly forward and ate voraciously. Blood sprayed through

the air as bones cracked. One girl after another went down. It took

great bites out of their bodies, swallowed legs, heads, arms, torsos,

whole bodies.

It came down on Joey fast.

One second after reaching the fourth floor, Hellboy moved forward

against the tide of fleeing girls. He felt as if he were moving through

quicksand as he headed for Joey, who got knocked back down every time

he tried to get up.

The Manticore headed straight for Joey, and it moved fast.

Too fast.

Joey's scream rose with all the others, shrill and filled with terror,

as the creature closed its enormous jaws on Joey's head and shoulders,

lifted his body up off the floor, and began to chew.

"No!" Hellboy shouted as he shoved girls out of the way and moved

forward.

As the beast chewed its way to Joey's waist, tossed its head back, and

gobbled up his legs, Hellboy bounded forward through the air toward the

Manticore. Joey's left shoe fell off as his feet disappeared into the

Manticore's mouth. Hellboy landed on the creature's back and raised his

enormous right fist. But when he brought his fist down, it hit the

floor on which he was kneeling.

The Manticore was gone.

[IMAGE]

The cold rain stung Hellboy's face as he walked fast from the girls'

dormitory. His rage numbed him to it. The scene he had left on the

dormitory's fourth floor was identical to the one in the boys'

dormitory — blood everywhere, limbs scattered here and there.

The surviving girls screamed and cried hysterically. Hellboy's trench

coat had been sprayed and splattered with blood, but he had not

noticed.

He went into the cafeteria through the western entrance. Snodgrass

stood by the table with another boy — tall, with short black hair,

sleepy eyes.

"Who's this?" Hellboy asked Snodgrass.

"This is Bill Koulouris," Snodgrass said. "He was asleep in his room. I

woke him to bring him here."

"Where's the other one?"

"He wasn't in his room. I was going to go back for him while you talked

to Bill."

"Where is he?" Hellboy said through clenched teeth.

"I don't know," Snodgrass said, "but I suspect he's in the chapel. Like

I said, he spends a lot of time there by himself."

Hellboy took Snodgrass's elbow and led him out the eastern door into

the rain. "Take me to him. Now."

Halfway to the boys' dorm, Snodgrass said, "Could you please let go of

me? You're hurting me."

"Sorry." Hellboy let go of his arm.

Snodgrass broke into a jog to keep up with him.

They went up the steps in front of the dormitory, through the door, and

into the lobby.

"Where's the chapel?" Hellboy said.

"Second floor."

They hurried up the stairs to the second floor.

The chapel took up the entire northern side of the western wing of the

second floor. Snodgrass pushed through one of the double doors, and

Hellboy hurried past him.

"Wait outside," Hellboy said.

Snodgrass said, "But I want to — "

Hellboy turned to him, gave him a no-nonsense look. "Wait outside.

Don't come in here until I come out and say it's okay."

Hesitantly, Snodgrass backed out of the chapel and let the door swing

closed.

The chapel was small, but with a high vaulted ceiling that rose up into

the dormitory's third floor level. Only the lights over the stage were

on. A lone figure sat in front of the western column of pews to

Hellboy's right. The figure stood and turned around.

Matthew Melonakos was of medium height and wore a white T-shirt, blue

sweatpants, and slippers. He held an open Bible in his left hand.

Around his neck, on a leather thong, he wore an amulet of some kind.

Hellboy hurried down the center aisle between the two columns of pews,

jaw set.

"Matthew Melonakos?" Hellboy said. "We need to talk. Now."

Matt reached up and clutched the amulet in his right hand, looked down

at the open book, and began to read something from it in his native

language. He read quickly, in a sing-song cadence.

The air between Hellboy and Matt shimmered and blurred, as if heat

vapors were rising from the floor. A great, hulking shape materialized.

Without making a sound, the Manticore lunged for Hellboy. He swung his

club-like right fist and hammered the creature in the face. Several of

its fangs scattered from its mouth and it made an "Oof!" sound as it

fell back. Without hesitating, he hit it again, backhanded this time.

The Manticore fell into the western column of pews, knocking them askew

with a loud clatter.

Matt continued to chant, still clutching the amulet in his right hand.

Hellboy thought of Joey, heard his final screams. Before the creature

could get back on its feet, Hellboy jumped on its back and took from

his belt a knife with a long eight-inch curved blade. Riding its back

as if it were a horse, he swung his left arm down hard and buried the

knife to the hilt in its neck.

The Manticore released a growl so deep, Hellboy felt it rumble in his

chest. It bucked and turned in a circle, trying to knock him off. It

only knocked over pews. Hellboy felt the sting of several quills as

they pierced his trench coat and entered his back. Pain like fire

spread over his back and his vision blurred. The quills' venom

instantly paralyzed the creature's human prey — but Hellboy was not

human. He swayed dizzily from side to side on the Manticore's back as

the poison quickly coursed through his system, but he did not fall off.

Hot tears stung his blurry eyes as he drove the knife into its neck

again, the sound of Joey's scream still ringing in his ears.

The creature fell over on its left side and Hellboy fell off. He

struggled to his feet, stumbled and fell, but got up again.

The Manticore got to its feet again, too, but now it faced Matt, who

still chanted as he clutched the amulet in his right hand. Hellboy

stood behind the creature and to its left.

Knowing only hunger, the Manticore bounded forward, tilted its head to

the right, and closed its jaws on both of Matt's legs.

Matt's ululating scream filled the small chapel as he fell to the

floor. He stopped chanting and the Bible flew through the air away from

him.

The Manticore disappeared immediately, taking Matt's legs with it.

The boy convulsed on the floor as blood cascaded from what remained of

his body. His scream did not last long. Neither did he.

The chapel door burst open and Snodgrass hurried in. "Oh, my God!" he

cried as he ran to Matt's side. "Oh, dear Jesus!"

Hellboy slowly staggered to the boy who lay legless on the chapel

floor, a pool of blood growing below his torn waist. The Bible had

landed a few feet away from him. Another book had landed a few inches

from it, a book that had been open inside the Bible. It was smaller,

little more than a booklet. Hellboy fell, slowly struggled to his hands

and knees. He picked up the smaller book.

It was old and the cover appeared to be made of leather, the pages of

something similar to parchment. Hellboy could not read the language,

but he knew it had been from this book, not the Bible, that Matt had

been reading.

The chapel spun dizzily as Hellboy crawled to Matt's side. The boy was

already dead. Hellboy dropped the book and clumsily removed the amulet

from around Matt's neck. It was made of tarnished silver and was a

likeness of the Manticore. The creature's body curved in a circle and

its head met its tail, mouth open.

Hellboy's fingers became useless and he dropped the amulet just before

he fell flat on the floor, numb.

[IMAGE]

On the plane back to Connecticut the following day, Hellboy sat alone.

He had not felt so alone in a long time. He felt heavy with the

responsibility of Joey's death. If only he'd stopped him before he'd

gotten to the dormitory. If only he'd reached him in time.

Plenty of if-onlys to go around, he thought. If only Matthew

Melonakos's parents had not sent him to this country, if only he had

not gone to that school, which he hated so much. If only ...

An ambulance had taken Hellboy to the hospital the night before, where

doctors were not quite sure what to do with him. It turned out little

was required once the quills had been removed from his back. The poison

had worked its way out of his system rather quickly. He'd spent the

night and the following morning there, and had boarded a plane that

afternoon.

Matt's small book and amulet were packed away with Hellboy's things and

were going back to B.P.R.D. headquarters with him.

When he got back, he would be given another assignment, and he would go

about his work as usual. But although he had not known Joey Priven

well, he felt a great loss. The B.P.R.D. had lost a good agent. The

world may have lost a good writer, perhaps even a great one. Hellboy

had lost someone who might have been a friend.

It was a full life, as he had told Joey. But had been wrong about one

thing — it was not always satisfying.