Raven watched the Grendel run out of the cave and down the mountain. He didn’t try to stop him. He didn’t even try to warn the others.

We had rented two Jumbotron screens for the festival, which turned out to be convenient. Now the Chiefs and I were able to witness the carnage from back at the loading dock. Screaming and shrieking, the Grendel made its way towards the stage, grabbing and crushing bodies as it approached.

At first the audience thought it must be some kind of hologram show we were putting on to kick off the festival. The Sasquatch looked as real as anything they could imagine, and the Crowd roared when it tore the DJ in two. All the while, the music continued to blare through the two walls of speakers on either side of the stage. Overall, the audience deemed the opening of the festival to be imaginative, although rather macabre.

Upon seeing the Grendel, the Chiefs and I took to the sky prepared to put an end to the Grendel once and for all. At the same time, Raven signaled for help. We knew we had to get to him. That’s where the true evil dwelt.

Torn by indecision, we were relieved to see the albino wolf leap onto the stage and lung at the Grendel. Tara was there and we doubted the Grendel would have as much of a chance this time. Every one of us, Tasha, the other warriors, the Chiefs and myself, flew to assist Raven. Hopefully we had cleared out enough Nephilim to even the odds for the festival-goers. They’d have to fend for themselves. We had to head for the cave.

Tara and Bubba happened to be beside the stage when the Grendel burst onto the scene. They had just dropped off a supply of food and water, and were watching the dancing. Bubba, who was smoking reefer like cigarettes, pretty quickly fell in with the pounding of the base, and the rhythmic melody. Soon, he was doing his trance dance, which did not involve a lot of movement. You wouldn’t notice he was dancing unless you knew him.

Tara enjoyed the music, but was more interested in what was going on in the crowd. She delighted in their dance and the different costumes some of them were wearing. The young woman on the unicycle blowing fire from her lips, was not at all out of place. It was a fun time. A celebration of life.

Even through the happiness Tara started to feel danger. At first she didn’t know what or where, she just had a feeling something was about to happen, then the Grendel appeared on the stage. With open mouthed confusion, Bubba watched it all and when he turned to Tara, was surprised to see the albino wolf standing beside him. The raised fur on her back was up to his shoulders. At first he wondered if the wolf had eaten Tara, but then he remembered Ethan telling him how she had transformed into a wolf when she fought the Grendel at the cave. Still, Bubba found it more than a little confusing, and not knowing what to do, reached up to pet Tara on her neck.

Tara leapt onto the stage. She was nearly as big as the Sasquatch standing on her hind feet, her front paws pressing on its chest. She attacked his throat. Like the last time they fought, the Sasquatch easily threw her off, and when she jumped to her feet, they squared off and started circling each other.

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Bubba noticed the music distracted the Sasquatch. It kept swiping at his ears as he and Tara jockeyed for position. Having read Beowulf, as had AI, Bubba jumped onto the stage and cranked the music as high as it would go. The beast squealed in torment, and swiped at the air. Tara used the moment to spring again for his throat. This time she latched on and would not let go, even if it tried to throw her again.

That’s when she felt the bullets. Plugs of lead pierced her flesh, and lodged against her bones. Some passed straight through. She didn’t feel pain, she felt the force of each bullet, but no pain. Each one hit her with a permanent thud. She knew her last act must be to hold onto the Sasquatch. She clamped down her jaws and tore at its throat as both fell to the ground.

The Dark Angel noticed Raven didn’t try to stop the Grendel when it ran down to the festival site. He didn’t even alert his friends.

He walked over to the foul, septic carcass of the mother Sasquatch. ‘You didn’t try to stop him?’ he shouted to Raven, as he kicked the side of the carcass.

Raven didn’t reply.

‘You can have dominion over the Woman and any part of the world you choose. Our master has granted you this. Bring us her axe and the Woman is yours. Otherwise she dies, as do you’.

Raven remained silent.

The Dark Angel turned his attention once more towards the carcass.

‘I think it’s ready,’ he said, reaching under and tearing the body from the earth like a scab from a wound. He threw the Mother Sasquatch to the side, and exposed the fissure that began as the axe wound, but now had expanded to at least six feet long.

The Dark Angel then walked over to the dead Mother and with his clawed hand, bent down and scooped up a handful of the putrid, festering flesh of the carcass. He took it and dropped it into the fissure. Out of that poison, rose a man. He walked up and stood beside the Dark Angel. Together, they looked down at the fissure.

Raven could see everything. Now that the carcass had been moved, the familiar drab red light from the Borderland shone through. Soon after the man emerged, out came the Draco; the winged fallen angels. After hundreds of the Draco flew out, Mark-Steppers started coming out.

‘They’re nothing more than the fetid slime of a carcass,’ Raven thought. All of them. Even the Dark Angel and he expected Raven to hand Tasha over to them! She, who he placed above all else. No. That thought had never entered his mind. He had let the Grendel escape because all his fellow warriors were at the festival and would surely defeat it. Raven wanted to see what else the Dark Angel came up with, and when he saw the fallen angels, he knew it was time to respond.

This was a moment of destiny. It could not be stopped, but the outcome could. He called to his fellow warriors, and then without hesitation, or concern for his safety, Raven single-handedly attacked the Draco. The man and the Dark Angel looked to the sky. It was when Raven attacked the Draco that the man standing beside the Dark Angel slid into the shadows. The others would soon arrive. It was time for him to leave.