I think what happened was the Dark Angel flew up and hit Tasha full speed in the air, then went straight down and slammed her body against the rocky floor below. She lay motionless on the ground, a pool of blood seeping from the back of her head. The Dark Angel wasn’t paying attention to her. He was walking around the body, looking for something on the ground.

I dropped down with my claws extended, and not expecting me, was able to latch onto his shoulders like I had been doing with the other fallen angels. His mass was so great, I couldn’t get any lift, but I managed to drag him a few feet, before he reached up and drove me into the ground with such force I was knocked senseless.

I lay dazed. I may have even have passed out for a second or two. It took me another second or two to get my bearings back. I had no idea how I was going to fight this monster. I grabbed for my axe, but it was gone.

In his arrogance, the Dark Angel no longer deemed me a threat and went back over to Tasha and whatever he was doing when I arrived. He’d stand beside her, look to the sky, and then at a point somewhere on the ground and walk over to it. I figured he was looking for her axe. I used the opportunity to look for my own axe or something else I could use as a weapon. Not far away I saw the glint of the moon shining off something. I snuck over and found myself looking not at my axe, but Tasha’s.

I picked up the axe. I remembered it. The weight and balance were reassuring, empowering. A new energy started to course through my body. I no longer felt the pain from just getting my body driven into the ground. The energy that flowed through my body absorbed my pain easily. I was complete and heightened for the fight.

I leapt over to where the Dark Angel stood, and when he turned to greet me, I struck. He threw up his arm to protect himself, and I cleaved it off right above the elbow.

Enraged, he squealed and jumped back, raising his black wings to their full expanse, and hissing at me in anger. I admit his show of strength backed me off a pace or two. Even missing an arm, he was massive and I could see a strength in him unlike mine. The strength of the great lizard. Brutal strength that can withstand the loss of a limb, and continue to fight. I knew the fight would be far from over once we engaged.

At that moment I caught a glimpse of Tasha laying dead on the ground. Rage filled me, and in my thinking, I became the bird of prey I had become; the hunter, the killer, the Apex Predator. The Dark Angel saw he had misjudged me, flared up his wings even further. The second before the battle between life and death had arrived and I saw the Dark Angel preparing to pounce and engulf me.

I knew he could do it, and there was a lot of fight left in him, but I knew something else too. This is something I brought with me from the New World. Someday you will know this to the extent you can use it too. I knew I was connected to Tasha’s axe, just like it was physically a part of me. I knew this with absolute certainty. It’s been proven. Because of quantum entanglement, even though the axe may be separate from myself, I am still a part of it, and it is a part of me, providing I identify with it.

Yes, we are connected to all things; even each other. I knew the axe was connected to me in this real way. I knew it and could feel it as part of me, no more than an extension of my arm. I could feel the communion between us. I knew if I threw the axe, it would land in the very same place as if I reached out and placed it there with my own hand.

That’s what I did when he was all flared up and exposed. I threw the axe and I placed it deep into his heart. He didn’t even have time to look surprised. He dropped down dead, crumpled in a heap. I walked over and pulled the axe from his body. Then I cut his head off. Fucker.

I could sense Raven was with me. Before I turned around, I could feel he was there. He was bent over Tasha, trying to fight back tears. I walked over and looked down at Tasha myself. A considerable amount of blood had poured out from the back of her head. Her left arm was disjointed and laying askew. It was a brutal death, and brought visions of how hard she hit the rock floor.

Such a loss. I felt my relationship with Tasha was one of brother and sister. Sometimes we argued and quarreled, but we both seemed to enjoy it, and overall, we were comfortable being with each other. Our relationship meant something to both of us too. I’ll admit, I had to fight off my own tears.

Raven though...poor Raven was devastated. I don’t think I ever understood the devotion and love he had for Tasha. He was trying to be tough, but he couldn’t. His entire body was shaking as he tried to hold back the tears, and when I knelt beside him, drew him closer to me and hugged him, he lost all control. He could no longer hold it in, and I just held him closer while he sobbed. I didn’t say a word.

When he was cried out, Raven stood and put on his brave face. He bent over, picked Tasha up, and flew her towards the other side of the mountain and to the First Nations settlement. I, on the other hand, was ready to avenge Tasha. I held her axe firmly in my hand. There would be no more Fallen Angels after this night. Not if I had anything to do with it.

Bubba stood over Tara and the fallen Grendel. Both were dead. The music continued to blare from the tower of speakers, but no-one was dancing. The entire crowd was staring at the Jumbotron, trying to figure out what just happened.

Even the hooligans made up of Nephilim and minions, were quiet for a moment. Then they cheered at the thrill of seeing something getting killed, and those cheers turned into a war cry and attack.

Raven’s friend Danny was standing on the stage talking with some of the aboriginals who along with him were hired for festival security. They were pointing off in the direction they thought the shots had come from.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

‘A few of you get over there and stop any more shooting. Tell everyone I want them armed with rifles,’ he was saying when Bubba approached him. ‘Let’s stop the shooters’.

Danny’s fellow guardsmen leaped off the stage to carry out his orders. They would surely get the job done. These were the best possible security you could have. These young aboriginals came from a special time and place. Danny and his fellow guardsmen had been born during a time of renaissance for his people. They had just gone through generations of genocide and prohibition, and now his culture was in the process of reaffirming itself.

These young men and women were brought up with the old traditions. From birth they had been a living, breathing part of the land. They ran through the forests and were hunting as soon as they were big enough to hold a gun. They grew up embracing the daily struggle of life between man and nature, and they knew how to conquer it and honor it too. There was no more efficient killer in the forest. Pretty good people to have around if a war broke out.

The problem was, there were no more than twenty of them to police the entire festival. When they planned the security, they felt the young people from the local communities would be enough. That amounted to twenty individuals. Plenty for a nice, peaceful festival.

‘What are you planning?’ Bubba asked Danny, after a stray bullet zinged past them and they jumped off the stage.

‘Man, I don’t know. There’s no cops around. They respect and stay away from native land. I called them, but it’s going to be at least an hour before they get here with any show of force. I’m just going to take out as many shooters as I can until they get here. We don’t have enough people to stop the fighting’.

‘Wait a minute,’ Bubba says. ‘How’d you call the cops from here’?

‘We have satellite service for the festival. We’re live streaming the whole thing’.

Bubba thought about that for a minute. ‘How does that work?’ he asked.

‘We have people walking around with cell phones recording what’s going on in different places and if they record something interesting they post it to the feed. Viewers can watch the main feed or if they like one particular feed they can follow it.

‘How many cameras do you have on the ground?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not in charge of that, but I think there’s quite a few. Sounds like someone gave away the password. Now every First Nation kid is out there recording’.

‘How come it’s not on the Jumbotron? Bubba asked.

Danny looked up. All that was showing was a shot of the empty stage.

‘The stage was going to be featured. There’s a fixed camera for this feed,’ Danny replied. ‘We had it on for the start of the festival. I guess no one switched to the main feed after the shooting started’.

‘Well, let’s see if we can get the main feed up on the Jumbotron,’ Bubba said. ‘And get the word out to keep the cameras on the aggressors. Show the world what they’re doing. Also, get the password out to as many of the festival goers as you can and get them to stream to all their friends and contacts.

‘What do you have planned,’ Danny asked.

‘I plan to stop this fight,’ Bubba said. ‘Let me know when you think it’s safe enough for me to get back on the stage.

Danny ran off, and within 30 minutes the main feed appeared on the Jumbotron. After another 20 minutes or so, Danny returned.

‘We’ve disarmed the obvious shooters. There’s still some carrying sidearms, but they seem to be for show. They’re not using them.

‘That’s good enough for me,’ Bubba replied, and jumped onto the stage. Danny followed and scanned the crowd for any weapons or potential attacks.

‘People,’ Bubba said into the microphone. ‘Just have a look at what’s happening here’.

No one stopped to look. No one even stopped fighting.

‘People,’ Bubba said again louder.

‘Fools!’ he shouted. ‘Look around you. You shit disturbers are already busted’.

The crowd was quieting down. The scenes on the Jumbotron and Bubba’s voice started penetrating through the violence.

‘The world is watching you. See that?’ he said pointing to the Jumbotron. ‘That’s what the world is seeing. They’re looking you in the face right now and remembering who you are. You, your face, your actions. They’re recording everything you’re doing, and no matter what, someday soon, they’ll come and get you. Remember that before you throw your next punch’.

Just then the feed on the Jumbotron changed to four hooligans ganging up on a single guy and kicking the crap out of him.

‘We see you,’ Bubba says. ‘You won’t get away with that. You’ve been identified and now live your actions live on the internet forever. You will be judged, by the courts and by your neighbors.

Another feed jumps up. More fighting. Obvious instigators, obvious defenders. Some were fighting fairly, some weren’t.

‘We see you,’ Bubba said again.

Almost everyone was watching the Jumbotron now. Both sides.

‘Remember when they stormed the Capital?’ Bubba asked.

‘They recorded them, and they got them all. Is that what you want to happen to you?

‘The Crowd was in a moment of indecision. Yelling turned to murmurs, and then without any cue, the two sides split like the Red Sea. They both backed off and there was a clear divide between them. The hooligans turned and headed for the dock. Regardless of their Nephilim bloodlines, they had lives back on the mainland, and none of them wanted to spend time in jail. Cameras these days were too damning. They’d have to wait to fight another day. It was time to get out. What started as backing off with bravado, quickly turned into a rush to the dock. People were pushing and jockeying to be the first to get on a boat and leave.

The man watched the pushing and shoving of the crowd.

‘This is what I have to work with,’ he thought.

He entered the melee, pushed and shoved some himself, and soon was lost in the crowd.

Around the same time, the guardians who went to disarm the shooters had come to the docks. They had captured and zip tied a few of the less dangerous offenders and were going to send them home. One of the guardsmen could have sworn he saw Chief Bill in the crowd. It was just a glimpse, and he paid it no mind. If Chief Bill was there, he wouldn’t be heading for the mainland.