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"This thing stepped forward, its hoof clopping on the cobble like Leeds shoe heels did moments ago, but Lemuel had not even the reflexes to flinch away. His fear like to the demented will of Medusa had almost literally turned him to stone. The creatures wings reached out twice a grown mans height on either side, veins pumped nether blood through the delicate folds of skin and then back to whatever organ pumped within its bony chest for surely this thing could not possibly boast a heart, man nor beast. And as he stood there, the thing snorted warm breath that billowed in hot crystallized puffs around its head until each one drifted lazily away into the air. But what could be more terrifying then the beast itself with its pruny wings and bony arms outstretched with grappling crooked claws that could tear through not only flesh but perhaps even the strongest iron, were its eyes.

Black as pitch, they shimmered in the twilight with a crimson twinkle. They glowed with a nightmarish haze, piercing through the beasts hot breath as well as through the fog that drifted from the Delaware. The beady orbs pierced through Lemuels soul itself and he could not to save his life remove his body or his own eyes from the beasts sight. All of the prayers his memory could conjure would not be prayers enough to stop what he knew now was inevitable. He had lost, had been arrogant in his abilities to not only find the beast but to destroy it. It had retreated across the river because of the posses that had been organized against it, but Lemuel was just one man, and seeing this beast, he saw how one man could not possibly affront the creature no matter what weapon he had on his body. The elders had been wise in preventing him from a confrontation like this, alone, and now he would pay the price for this conceit. This beast like any demon had powers beyond man, and over man. What could he forsooth do to this creature if he could not even bring himself to move any muscle in his body?

The beast came closer and curled its wings around his body like a curtain of fire, and Lemuel realized that somehow the beasts body was transparent and through this gossamer shroud that was the creatures form, Lemuel saw lying on the ground, in the shadow of a battered fishermans shack, the body of William Leeds as lifeless as a corpse. Yet his chest heaved slightly with shallow breaths..."