Hell Hath No Fury

Hell Hath No Fury Chapter Fourteen
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather is a wondermous beta and Queen of Mad Plotbunnies and BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™ and I suspect she’s a wereowl… Okay, about six more chapters to go. Ish. Counting this one. Sort of. ;)


“Your…pardon me?” Kitty stopped in her tracks and stared at Kurt as if he had grown a second head. “No.”
“Ja! It’s wonderful! Come!” He reached for her hand and frowned as she recoiled. “Katzchen?” He opened his palm and frowned even more deeply. “Bitte?”
Kitty tried to think of a good reason to give him, one that did not involve the phrase “Your father is a demon! Are you insane?” but none came to mind. “I…” she paused and chewed her lower lip gently. “I’m not dressed for meeting someone’s father,” she finished lamely. “Sorry…” She tried to smile and felt the expression was akin to that on a sick camel’s face.
Kurt stared at her one long moment, then snorted in laughter. “Don’t be silly! Of course he’s not *really* in here… it’s a picture! Abe found it and gave it to Hellboy to show me. It’s amazing!” He bounced on his toes, his tail lashing in excitement. “Bitte?” he asked again, stretching his hand towards her once more.
Kitty sighed and reluctantly took his hand, surprised by the strength in his grasp as he pulled her into the room. It had recently, she thought, been storage of some sort. Metal shelves line the walls and the very faint scent of pine and plastic tinged the air, not enough to be unpleasant. There was a door leading to an adjoining room, barely visible through the narrow opening, and a long table set near the wall opposite the bed. Kurt’s meager belongings—one backpack of clothes from the Institute and a holowatch he had yet to use—sat in the middle of the neatly made bed, an abstract still life on abandonment. Hellboy was a bright blaze of color at the end of the table, too large for the narrow space, seeming at once comfortable and awkward as he leaned on the furniture, regarding her with curiosity and boredom. “So...” she said softly, looking around. “This is nice.”
Kurt shrugged and made a beeline for the table. “Look,” he said, almost laughing. “I have a father!” He grabbed something up off of the table and held it close to her face, so close she had to take a step or two back to see it clearly.
Yellow eyes stared back at her, flat on paper but somehow alive. She had to stare hard to make out the rest of the face for it blended into the dark background and seemed to disappear. “Who drew it?” she asked finally. “It’s… interesting.”
Hellboy sighed noisily and stretched. Kitty was not sure if that was a sign he was tired or, like Logan, a sign he was uncomfortable with the subject. “That’s not a drawing,” he said patiently. “That’s Azazel.” He took the picture from Kurt and studied it for a moment. “He blends.”
Kitty counted to three and exhaled slowly. “He blends. With…dark?”
Kurt nodded eagerly. “Ja! I can do it too!” He leapt for the light switch and flipped it off, plunging the room into near darkness. His eyes shone in small bit of light showing under the door and, Kitty thought, he seemed happy about this development. “Now I know where I come from!” he chattered, turning the light back on. “I know why I was seeking this place. I was drawn here!”
Hellboy eyed Kitty warily. “I’m gonna go show your friend here where she’ll be sleeping, Kurt. You just sit tight right here and lookit the pictures.”
Kitty murmured that she would see him in a bit and followed Hellboy out into the hall. He led her down a narrow side hall she had not seen on her way in and down a twisting series of garishly silver passages before stopping in the middle of one and turning to face her. “The orbs… I know you saw ‘em. They’re not good.”
Kitty stared up at him and blinked rapidly, her brain scrambling for a response. “Abe said as much,” she finally replied. “What do they mean, though? No one will tell me that much. Is it some sort of sign about demons or something?”
The demon sighed again, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately, and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “It’s…Hell, Abe’s better at this than I am.”
“No!” Kitty grabbed his arm when he tried to move past her to go get the man in question. “Tell me yourself! I hate being jerked around and I refuse to just smile and nod! Tell me what those orb thingies are, tell me why everyone is so twitchy about Azazel!” She was breathing hard, obviously upset, but she did not let herself cry. She stared Hellboy in the eyes and added in a calmer, lower tone, “I care about Kurt. If he’s going through some sort of breakdown, I deserve to know. If something bad is coming, I deserve to know. Tell me.”
Hellboy looked from her slightly red face to where her fingers were digging into his wrist. “Fine,” he said after a moment. “Azazel is also known as the Angel of Death. Angel of War, death, weapons…” Hellboy trailed off and shook his head. “He might have been good at one time, or at least neutral, but something’s happened that’s gotten him angry.”
“The orbs?” Kitty asked faintly, staring up at him.
“No,” Hellboy said softly. “Kurt.”