Tags:
Fiction,
General,
Suspense,
Science-Fiction,
Fantasy fiction,
Fantasy,
Media Tie-In - General,
Media Tie-In,
Mystery,
Science Fiction - General,
Fiction - Science Fiction,
American Science Fiction And Fantasy,
Horror Tales,
Horror Fiction,
Hellboy (Fictitious character),
Hellboy (Fictitious character: Mignola)
in new, healthy trappings of flesh, blood, muscle and bone."
"You're crazy!" Franklin rasped, shaking his cane to keep Spearz away. "Get out, get out of here right now!"
Spearz stepped back, allowing Franklin to struggle to his knees.
"Look at you, you're dying by inches," he said quietly. "I can help, you know. I can free you from the rheumatism-wracked carcass you are burdened with."
Franklin forced himself to his feet, the bones in his hips grinding painfully. The man approached, but he held his ground.
"You are an old man in body, but your spirit is young, Franklin Massie," Spearz continued. "I can imagine how that feels, to be the prisoner of your infirmity."
And suddenly Franklin could not help but agree. How he resented his body, with all its aches and pains. "My...my spirit is young," he murmured.
Spearz nodded. "Of course it is, and that spirit deserves so much more than to pass from life when that withered husk you're wearing finally breaks down."
The man's words were mesmerizing, seductive, and so powerful in their truth. Who is he, really? The mortician's mind raced with an insane notion. Can he actually be who he claims to be?
"I...I want you to leave," he said halfheartedly.
Spearz nodded, heading for the door. Gripping the crystal knob, he turned. "Does your spirit not deserve more, Franklin?" he asked. "If you truly believe it doesn't, I will leave at once, and you'll never hear of me again."
Franklin wanted to send the madman away, but a tiny, pathetic voice at the back of his mind whispered, I don't want to die. "It does," he said, feeling his eyes well with tears. "It does, it does...but there's nothing..."
"Oh but there is, Franklin," Spearz said, moving back to his side. "As I have done for myself, and those who listen to my good words--I can do for you."
Spearz threw his arm around Franklin's shoulders, and the mortician's body pulsed with a strength he hadn't felt in years. And then he realized that his pain was gone. The man's touch had taken away his suffering.
"Think of it, a vitality you have not felt since adolescence," Spearz whispered in his ear. "Do you remember those days, Franklin?"
He nodded fiercely. "I...I used to run," he said, squeezing his eyes closed, remembering how good the wind felt upon his face as he sprinted home from school.
"And you will run again," Spearz said reassuringly, squeezing him closer. "Give me what I ask, and it will be as if time has been reversed, the hands of the clock forced to give back what they have taken away."
Tears streamed down Franklin Massie's face. He wanted to believe. He wanted to feel alive again, and he knew he was willing to pay the price. "What do you want? What could I possibly have that you..."
Still gripping his shoulders, Spearz slowly turned him, pointing him toward the doorway that led downstairs.
"I ask of you what I asked of your father," Spearz said, as they shuffled toward the stairway. "I must have certain raw materials in order to create the tools by which I may best serve my God."
"Raw materials?" Franklin asked, allowing himself to be guided down the steps to the embalming room below.
"The dead, Franklin. I have need of the dead."
Chapter 3
"L ook at this friggin' mess," Hellboy grumbled as he stood amid the rubble that was his videotape collection. Two shelves on the plastic unit that held the multiple tapes had collapsed, spilling the contents all over the floor. "Must be a million tapes here," he said, shaking his head with exasperation.
"At least," Abe replied, keeping his distance. "Want some help?"
Hellboy dropped to his knees. "Naw, that's all right. I had them in a specific order. Maybe if I'm lucky, they won't be too messed up." He reached for a tape, picked it up, frowned and tossed it back where he'd found it. "But then again."
Abe sat on the overstuffed sofa. "I'm surprised how many tapes you have." He plucked a magazine from the end table and started to flip through it. "Have you heard about this