I was in a bad spot!

Lightning flashed from the heavens. It highlighted the precariousness of my situation. My arms were pinned at my side by the monster. Its left hand was completely wrapped around my torso. I could move my feet and my head, but nothing else. The rain droplets stung my eyes and made it hard to see through the darkness.

I was terrified!

The monster looked like a giant; it was taller than a telephone pole. It appeared like something from a child’s nightmare. The beast had three yellow eyes that glowed in the darkness. Its mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. There was huge bushy eyebrows and strands of greasy white hair on its head. Its skin was greenish gray in color and filled with warts. The beast had very long arms and its free arm dragged in the mud.

I tried to get an arm loose, but when I did this the beast tightened its grip on me.

I realized that this thing wasn’t there to eat me; I knew that it was sent to retrieve me. Similar to the kerberus that had come for me at the Mega Mart gas station.

Around one of its legs was a glowing anklet of energy. It anchored the beast to the ground. I could tell that the link was made of ethereal energy. The source of power coming from the chain was unmistakable. It was similar to the energy that I had seen inside the ethereal vortex.

If it wasn't for the energy link keeping the monster in place I might have been abducted.

I looked down to the ground and saw a bright light. The source of the light was coming from Azazel. He glowed like a lightbulb, similar to the angel Adathan back at the Mega Mart.

Captain Douglas bit at his heels; he attacked the blue acolyte with canine ferocity.

The Boxcar restaurant was destroyed. The roof had been torn away and the monster stood in the center of all the wreckage. Broken glass and wood lay scattered in all directions. It looked like a tornado had flattened the building.

Azazel fired several arrows at the giant. It tried swatting them away with its free hand but missed.

How did I keep getting into these situations!

I knew that the beast had not been sent by Hycus. There were no drudes helping it. He would most certainly have sent drudes along with the beast to retrieve me.

No, I knew that this must have been the work of someone or something else.

I yelled down at my friends, ”Don’t let this thing take me!”

The monster growled at my comments and pulled me closer. It shook me hard and proceeded to lick me like an ice cream cone. Its huge forked tongue snapped my head backwards and I nearly vomited from fright. It was extremely abrasive and felt like nails raking across my skin. A gash opened up alongside my ear and blood spilt out. It mixed with the rain that poured down the side of my neck.

“Don’t worry Potentate, I will take down this beast!” yelled Azazel.

Captain Douglas barked ferociously at the acolyte. The Alsatian leapt out again and dug its teeth into the angel-demon. I realized that Patrick had been asleep the whole time and wasn’t aware that Azazel was helping us. He must have woken up when the building was torn apart by the giant.

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Azazel fired another arrow at the monster. This one stuck in its chin. A glimmer of energy sprinkled into the air around the contact point. The projectiles used by my acolyte had ethereal energy embedded inside the arrowhead. The energy seemed to weaken the monster upon contact.

“Please, tell this canine to stop biting me!” Azazel said.

Captain Douglas backed away from Azazel with a confused look on his face.

“Is this demon with you Hannah?” shouted the Alsatian over the storm.

“Yes.” I replied.

Again, the monster shook me hard. I was being thrashed around like a child’s plaything. Every time I spoke the monster got aggravated.

“Goodness gracious, my dearest apologies!” said Captain Douglas.

Azazel looked frustrated. I could tell that I had missed a lot of the action while I was unconscious.

“I told you I was her acolyte,” he shouted.

“Well, good lord man, how am I supposed to trust you! You’re a blooming demon after all!” replied Captain Douglas.

“I’m not a demon… for the third time I’m an acolyte for the wisp.”

“I fall asleep for five seconds and suddenly everyones a friend,” said Captain Douglas.

Azazel fired another arrow and hit the monster in the chest. It roared with displeasure and snapped the end of the arrow from its torso.

“I have chained the Falkaru in place, but my power is running low,” said Azazel. “The pull on the chain is enormous. I’m not sure how much longer I can restrain it!”

“What is a Falkaru and what does it want with her?” asked Captain Douglas.

“Typically, they are servants of celestials,” replied Azazel. “Isn’t it obvious what it wants? It’s here to try and abscond with Hannah!”

The beast must have grown tired of being hit by arrows, so it reached down and grabbed a large metal beam. The Falkaru pulled on the beam and parts of the roof came away with the improvised weapon. It swung the beam one-handed directly at Azazel, but the angel-demon ducked out of the way just in the knick of time.

Captain Douglas leapt into the air and landed on the monster’s unchained foot. The Alsatian started biting at the heel of the Falkaru. He managed to tear open a few gashes on the skin and a yellow ooze flowed out of the wounds.

The big monster barely noticed.

The beast reached down and yanked on the ethereal chain. I could feel the strength of this monster as its whole body flexed with each pull.

Azazel held out his hand, seemingly to strengthen the chain holding the bond to the giant. When he did this I felt the power of the ethereal energy flow from the environment around me. I could literally sense the energy coming out of the air and into Azazel’s hand. It felt very familiar to me; like something once known but forgotten.

Unhappy with its confinement, the Falkaru swung the metal beam again. This time it knocked Azazel backwards into the remnants of the restaurant’s kitchen. I was worried that he had been hurt, but saw him rise up out of the debris. The acolyte shot back several arrows in rapid succession and connected with two of them. One arrow lodged into the throat of the Falkaru and another into its leg.

“Hannah, can you use your tome against the monster?” cried Azazel over the storm.

It was only then that I realized that I had the Tome of Uriel with me. I had stuck the book inside my new jacket; somehow it seemed to fit. Unless it was my imagination the book seemed to shrink or grow in size when I needed it to. The tome was pinned along with the rest of me inside the monster’s grip. There was no way I’d be able to use it at that moment.

“My arms are pinned at my side,” I yelled. “And what am I supposed to do with the tome?”

The Falkaru kicked its unchained leg out with great force. This sent Captain Douglas flying into my Plymouth Satellite. The dog fell to the ground in a heap.

“Captain!” I yelled.

The Alsatian rose up from the mud and growled. His teeth were in full view as blood dripped from his mouth and nostrils.

“I’m okay, but now I’m mad!” he said.

“That tome should be full of incantations,” Azazel said. “I’ve seen books like it before.”

He shot another arrow and hit the monster in the shoulder. The beast started to look like a pin cushion.

The Falkaru reached out with its free hand and pounded the ground. Azazel leaped out of the way, but took a glancing blow. He went crashing into the remains of the restaurant's front door.

The monster bellowed and kicked more debris towards the acolyte.

Azazel resurfaced from the garbage with a huge grin on his face.

The monster dropped the metal beam and reached down to pull on the ethereal chain holding it in place.

An idea sprang into my head and I knew what I was going to do.