Grendel White

Major Story Arcs

Four Devils, One Hell

Alfred Bixby starts off as a meek Book-Devil, or Grendel accountant. He falls in love with a wonderful woman, Simone, and they marry. Unfortunately, Alfred falls prey to a gambling addiction, and in desperation, bets Simone as a prize. He loses her to a rogue Grendel named Calhoun, who falls in love with her himself.

Alfred falls into a spiral of despair. He gets himself pregnant, using the advanced technology of the time, and goes off to the Amazon. The baby dies, and Alfred loses his mind. He lives for years in the jungle, believing himself to be a knight of Charlemagne, the ancient French king. While he has gone insane, he becomes an adept vampire-killer, hunting them down in the jungle.

During one drug-fueled binge, he has a vision in which Charlemagne (which actually seems to be either the spirit of Hunter Rose, or the spirit of Grendel itself) tells him he must go on a holy quest to find "the relic"--the skull of Hunter Rose. It also tells him to beware the Black Knight--a black Grendel that has been haunting his hallucinations.

Bixby immediately sets off and soon finds himself in New Orleans. He is still hallucinating, and thinks almost everyone he meets is a troll, so he starts killing people indiscriminately across the town. He comes across the Mardi Gras parade, where it is even easier to believe people are demons, and slaughters everyone he can. Dulac, the cruel head warrior for the local Grendel krewe, hears about him and sets off to confront him. Dulac wears an all-black uniform, so Bixby recognizes him as the Black Knight of his dreams. Dulac manages to get the crowd on his side, captures Alfred, and brings him to his boss, Renute.

During this time, Calhoun, the man who won Simone from Alfred, and a private detective named Josef Mantovani, track down Simone in a swamp. She has been turned into a vampire, but has a human boy. There is a prophecy that whoever is the heir of Charlemagne on the 800th anniversary of Hunter Rose's death will become the reincarnation of Rose (the original Grendel). Simone and her son were the closest descendants to Charlemagne, but Renute is also related, so if he kills off the Batiques, then Renute will become Rose himself. Renute sends some men to kill Simone and the boy, but Calhoun, Mantovani, Simone, and the boy kill Renute's men. Simone is killed in the battle, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, Renute, who is secretly a vampire, attacks all his own men and turns them all into vampires as well. Then he brings Bixby, Calhoun, Mantovani, and Simone's boy together in his headquarters, where Renute has amassed an enormous amount of Grendel-related treasure, including the skull of the original Grendel, Hunter Rose--the "Relic" Alfred has been seeking. Renute actually hates everything about Grendel, and has an atom bomb that he plans to use to destroy the relics and the heir to Hunter Rose. Alfred attacks Calhoun out of anger about Simone, but they eventually realize that Renute is the true enemy. They all attack Renute and his men. In the battle, Alfred finally grabs hold of Rose's skull and is filled with joy. A vampire grabs his legs and pulls him to the ground, but Alfred sees that one of the other heroes is in danger from Dulac. Alfred throws the skull at Dulac's head, killing him and breaking the skull into fragments. Eventually Renute and his men are defeated.

Bixby is still insane, but somewhat better than before. He adopts Simone's boy and takes him back to the Amazon, where he teaches him to hunt vampires. It is unknown whether the boy becomes the reincarnation of Hunter Rose.