Emerald Hell

'Listen up now, boy, Granny Lewt been around these parts a lot longer than you. I's one of the three sisters of the swamp and I's here to help as much as I can, and help you's what I'm'a gonna do. We bound, we three sisters. We can only do so much. So let me do what I needs to.'

'Look, I appreciate the effort, but I'm going now.'

'You cain't!'

Hellboy turned and went for the door, and of course it was gone.

'Ah nuts to this.' He lifted his fist to pound through the wall and Luther grabbed him by the wrist and held on tightly.

'Hey! I told you not to start any crap with me!'

'Granny say you gotta eat!'

'Backoff, pal!'

But the massive brute wasn't about to listen to reason, and he didn't seem to have the IQ points to figure out not to mess with big red badasses, so Hellboy did his best to shove the lumbering guy away without hurting him.

But Luther had some real strength to him, beyond anything Hellboy was expecting. Soon he realized he couldn't hold back, and they really started to brawl.

'Here,' Granny Lewt said, holding the bowl out to her son. The giant was able to continue fighting even while he reached for the stew, the jug of moonshine still hanging off his pinky. 'He ain't got his mind quite right yet. We got's to help him.'

'Iffun you say so, Mama.'

'He got hisself some misery a'comin' already. Don't hurt him none, Luther.'

'Iffun you say, Mama.'

Like he didn't have enough to put up with already, Hellboy had to listen to them talk about him like he wasn't even in the room.

Luther moved in quickly, low, growling like an animal now.

'Last chance here, pal. I spend all my time smashing down things bigger and uglier than me. I'd say I've got this one in hand. I'm warning you.'

'Mister Satan, jest do what Mama say and I won't have to hit you no more.'

You had to give it to him, this backwoods swamp rat certainly was a single-minded true believer.

Hellboy hauled off and slapped Luther in the head with his stone hand. Luther let out a yelp and almost went down to one knee. Almost. Then he stood to his full height, cocked the jug over his shoulder to his lips, sucked down some moon, wiped his mouth with the same hand, held the bowl out before him, and moved forward again.

You couldn't just lie down and let them walk over you Jamming rabbit bits and eyeballs and pancreases down your maw. Sometimes you had to take a stand against even the people who were trying to help.

Granny continued smoking calmly, watching the fray.

Hellboy hauled off and threw a roundhouse at the giant Luther, who moved into the blow with incredible speed, allowing himself to be struck. The force of impact made the walls creak and murmur, the names rising much higher in the hearth. The old woman's wheelchair rolled across the room backward and almost crashed into the wall. She gripped a wheel and spun in circles, cackling and whooping wildly, enjoying herself.

Shelves rattled savagely, and one jar tipped and rang against another before falling to the floor.

'You done set free my kidney stones!'Luther cried, and hurled himself at Hellboy once again.

This was just unbelievable. Hellboy started to buckle and barely managed to stay on his feet. Granny Lewt blew out a stream of smoke and said, 'Ya cain't win because you ain't fightin' evil this time. In your heart you know we's your friends, and what's got to happen is what's got to be.'

'Son of a-!'

In the midst of his curse, wondering if the old lady was somehow right, Hellboy's eyes grew wide as Luther slung forward the bowl of stew and slopped it into his mouth. Oh Jesus. You could put up with a lot but really, having an old woman's eyes and ears and maybe her Celiac Ganglia with the Sympathetic Plexuses of the Abdominal Viscera washing down your throat, it was just too much. His stomach tumbled and he gritted his teeth, about to launch himself at Luther and finish this fiasco, when the giant moved away and began cleaning up the broken shards of glass, collecting his kidney stones.

'It's done,' Granny Lewt said. 'You got my eyes and ears now. Wonders to behold, swamp songs to hear tell, and a little more protection.'

'Ugh, Jesus Christ!' Hellboy doubled over, spitting and wiping his mouth with the tail of his overcoat. 'You people are goddamn nuts!'

The door was back. Hellboy tore it open and rushed into the swamp outside, the water and muck almost to his knees, and heard Luther say, 'Don't worry none, Mr. Satan, I ain't really mad at ya 'bout my kidney stones. You come on back and we'll share a jug soon.'

As Hellboy watched, the shack began retreating into the darkness, the mud and brambles and slimy water drawing away with it, until nothing but dark brush and the distant marsh prairies surrounded him, and he was back on the dirt road.

Now he had to follow it, see if he could find Sarah and the others out there in the glowing green night.

He started along and heard a car coming. He turned and the world quickly brightened around him until he was blinded. He threw his hand up in front of his face as high-beam headlights burst against him like white molten metal. Doing better than seventy, a Dodge Charger came bearing down on him like the wrath of Hell.

Chapter 5

The Charger roared down on one hell of an ugly sight that had suddenly appeared right there in the middle of the road.

Duffy Ferris rose up in his seat and let out a gruesome giggle. He couldn't help himself, murder was all he knew. He smiled broadly and stomped the pedal, aiming the center of the grille for the big red fella right there in front of him. The distance between them was chewed down to almost nothing, the fella's confused face and really big hand waving into the brights.

Lunging forward from the back seat, Brother Jester gripped the wheel from Duffy's hands and viciously tugged it aside. Deeter said, 'Hey now, wha-?' as the three of them jounced wildly inside the car.

The suspension had been reinforced for hauling boxes of moonshine over mud fiats and down across the bottoms. Welded iron plating protected the undercarriage as the Charger slid across thick brush on the side of the track. The car veered to the farthest edge of the shoulder and nearly over the rim of a ditch, the rear right tire slewing and strewing gravel. They lost a hubcap and it took Duffy another moment to regain control of the car.

'Now what'd you go and do a fool thing like that for, Preacher?' he asked. 'If we'd run him over you coulda at least ate him.' He sought out the reverend in the rearview, but could see nothing but darkness behind him.

Jester's black angels surrounded him, whispering secrets of what had been and what might yet be. They hissed and he hissed, a new element added to his ruined voice. Maybe it was alarm or perhaps even fear. 'Striking him would've only damaged your car, and I need to set out and find my daughter this night. Keep going.'

'I ain't never seen that big ole boy 'round these parts before.'

'Must be one of them swamp folk. He look like he drunk a jug or two of bad moon when he was a young'un.'

Fading into the shadows that were not his own, Jester said,'He is fated to join my enemy and to become my enemy.'

'Then why don't we pull over and take care of him?' Deeter asked.

'It's not the proper time.'

'You gonna let us know when it is said proper time?'