Honestly, before he had said that, I had every intention of fucking with the two of them and giving him his precious letters back. Not anymore.
“I guess we are about to find out then aren’t we Nick?” I grinned, I could feel the menace slipping out through my smile, and I didn’t care. I was going to deliver these presents even if it meant Hell itself freezing over.
“Luka, he didn’t mean anything by it, he just wants to make sure those people have a good Christmas,” Bernard tried.
I looked at him, “I want nothing more than to give these people what they asked me, Satan, for Christmas. See you boys around.” With a salute I vanished through a portal leaving them speechless as the flames engulfed me. It was time to show them exactly what the devil was capable of.
Chapter Three
Luka
I exited on the top of a vast mountain range. This was one of my favorite places to come when I felt the need to escape and think. The mountains rose up around me, their snow-covered caps standing tall and proud. Far below, the valley stretched, a lake spanning the distance, clear and smooth.
I knew the shores of this particular lake had the perfect rocks for skipping, as I had done exactly that more times than I could count. The surface would ripple my reflection back at me as I counted how many times I could make it sail over the water before it sank beneath the surface and the water settled again.
Most people thought that I enjoyed my job, reigning in those that were out of control or punishing the evil. The truth of the matter was, it was taxing to look at what creatures did to each other on a daily basis and think it was okay. Recently, more often than not I found myself needing to get away to remind myself that I wasn’t as malicious or depraved as them, that I didn’t do it for pleasure, I did it because they needed to be punished for their monstrous acts.
Today I remained high in the mountains, breathing in the cool, crisp air. I glanced down at the letters I still held in my hand. That need to escape and prove something to myself was probably exactly what landed me here in the first place. What was I thinking, saying I could do this?
Nick was right, I had no clue what the spirit of Christmas was all about, let alone how to make sure these people saw that through these letters. I set my shoulders in determination. For fucks sake, I was the Devil. If I could manage the unruly hordes that were thrust upon me, my self assured, hot ass could muster up some fucking festive cheer.
Feeling better about the task at hand, I sat down on a nearby rock and set the stack of letters down next to me. Randomly I chose one from the stack and inspected the outside of it. It didn’t seem like anything special. A letter to Satan from some kid named Jeff. Nothing fancy, nothing to even indicate it was a Christmas wish list. I wondered if Nick could tell if they were naughty or nice just from the letter? Did it tingle or give off some sort of aura or something? I had no fucking clue.
It didn’t matter, if this kid was naughty, today was his lucky day, he was getting a gift either way. There was no time like the present to see what I was up against. I slid my finger under the flap of the envelope and tore it open. The letter fluttered down to my lap and I picked it up and unfolded it.
Dear Satan,
“Ha! Eat your heart out Nick! This letter was supposed to come to me!” I laughed smugly to myself before I continued reading.
This year for Christmas I really want a puppy. My mom said it might be too much to handle but I will make sure I feed it and walk it too. It would be great to have a friend.
Love,
Jeff
P.S. I don’t care if it’s a boy or girl but if I can ask I would like a boy like me. Thank you.
I chuckled to myself, if this boy thought he was ready for a puppy who was I to deny him? I might not know too much about this whole Christmas thing, but I could sure bring this boy what he asked for.
I lifted the envelope and looked at the address again, figured it was somewhere cold. Damn I hated the cold. Let’s spread some Christmas cheer, I snickered before calling up another portal away from the mountains.
As I traveled, I summoned a puppy and tucked him under my arm just as I exited on a sidewalk. I had decided it was a safe bet to make my way to the kids house from down the street rather than just pop in. I wasn’t sure exactly how Nick delivered all of the gifts, but I didn’t think he just portaled in and out of their houses. If he did, then where did the whole sleigh and reindeer myth come from? If I was going to do this, by Hell, I was going to do this right.
The puppy wriggled under my arm making me look down at him with a grin. He stared up at me, his bright eyes glinting back at me under the light from the moon. They were so damn cute at this stage. I knew all too well they became monsters though, ones to be feared for a reason.
I pet his head and reassured him as we started off down the street. Headlights arced through the dark up ahead and I watched curiously as a car swung into a free space and a woman with long black hair got out. She watched the two of us warily as she approached.
It was not often that I came to mingle with the humans, there were too many other creatures that had vile habits I had to monitor. While the humans had some pretty disgusting hobbies, they had nothing on some of the other realms.
I narrowed my eyes at her, it was interesting she could see me, normally I was invisible unless I chose to show myself to the humans. It must have something to do with this puppy, or maybe it was this Christmas mission of mine.
“Hi.” I said as she came up to me, since she could see me I expected her to return the greeting, wish good tidings of joy or something. Everyone gushed at Christmas time and I didn’t imagine this human would be any different. Instead she simply stared, wide eyed at the puppy in my arms.
“You do realize its Christmas, not fucking Halloween, right?” she asked, her honeyed voice washing over my skin, a contradiction to the annoyed daggers her green eyes shot at me.
“Excuse me?” I asked, arching a brow at her in surprise.
“And why would you do that to your poor puppy?” She continued, clearly irritated.
I glanced down at my wiggling bundle of joy, not sure what she was talking about. “Halloween?” I asked again, dumbfounded. That was a holiday I knew a little bit more about, but I wasn’t sure what about this situation she equated with it.
“Okay, dude, whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “And I thought I went a little heavy on the eggnog tonight,” She mumbled to herself as she passed by me. My gut clenched, the familiar fragrance of vanilla reaching me, but I couldn’t place where I knew it from.
I took a step toward her, but stopped when she rounded on me. “Don’t even try it.” The woman warned forcefully.
I held up my free hand. “I wasn’t trying to attempt anything; I was just wondering what you were talking about is all.”
“Look, if your fishing for a compliment, cool effects okay? I’m tired and I really want to go upstairs and go to bed. It has been a really long, really Christmas-y night. Good night.” She finished and walked away, leaving me speechless for the first time in my existence.
A frown marred my face as I watched her enter her apartment building. This had to be one of the strangest encounters I’d ever had with one of the human race, and I’d had quite a few in my time. They either didn’t see me all together, or those rare few that did, stumbled over themselves in fear or apology, in the hope I would have mercy for whatever wrongdoing they assumed I was visiting them for.
This woman did none of that, rather she seemed disgusted with me for some reason and brushed me aside as if I were just another one of them. Interesting.
I started back down the sidewalk, wondering what the cause of her dismissal could be. Maybe it was the presence of the puppy? He did seem to attract her attention, maybe he had been enough of a distraction from the aura I normally presented?
I didn’t think that was the case. Perhaps it was because it was Christmas Eve, and the woman was tipsy. I had never encountered a human on Christmas Eve before
, they did say there was magic on this night. I wonder if that was the cause.
This would have to wait for another night to figure out though, tonight I had presents to deliver. I shifted the puppy in my arms, the little guy got heavy after a while. Finally, I reached the front of Jeff’s house. A neat little two-story townhouse with black shutters stood in front of me.
I studied it for a moment, how the hell did he get in? Something about down the chimney with care or some bullshit. There was no chimney, only a little pipe. My fucking dick wouldn’t fit in that thing!
There was no way I was going to wrinkle my suit trying to squeeze down that little pipe, just to keep with tradition. A small shudder passed passed through me, I didn’t even want to think about how that would feel. It was a good thing I was the devil and had a few powers of my own.
I took the steps two at a time and with a thought passed through the front door without opening it. Fuck this going on the roof shit. “Bingo!” I whispered seeing a soft glow of light off to the right. That had to be where they set up the Christmas tree.
I entered the small living room, and struggled not to wrinkle my nose. This was Christmas, huh? A Christmas tree was lit in the corner of the room next to a long sofa. Lights hung across a fake mantle, and three stockings cheerfully dangled above the gas fireplace.
Gently I put the puppy on the floor, “Well my little hellhound, this is going to be your new home. Take good care of Jeff.” I patted his head and he trotted off to go inspect his new home.
I meandered over to the fireplace, if I were going to do this, I needed to do it right. Nick filled the stockings with stuff too right? What would a little boy have in his stocking? I thought for a minute before deciding on a final toy and some candy.
With a wave of my hand I filled the stocking with treats and topped it off with little army men. Not too bad for the devil, if I do say so myself. I grinned. Nick, eat your heart out, you may have some competition.
Proudly, I watched as the puppy pounced on his shadow just below the tree. This was going to be a perfect match. He made me chuckle as he growled at something behind me. Damn hellhounds were always seeing shit.
“Hey,” I called out at the sharp pain in my arm. I glanced down and a tiny little tear had appeared in my sleeve. Just as fast as the pain came it passed as I healed. I glanced over, quickly finding the source atop the mantle. The army men had taken formation, hiding behind figurines and picture frames, shooting at me and shouting, “Take down the enemy! Take no prisoners!” And their little bullets came whizzing through the air, pelting me in the arm.
“Little fuckers! I made you!” I whispered loudly, the puppy’s insistent barking continued, and I worried it was going to wake the humans that lived here. If it did that, then my mission would be over before the kid could find his surprises in the morning. “Hey little shit, be quiet, your going to wake up your new kid,” Thankfully he quieted, content to go back to playing near the tree. I walked out of range of the ammo and stuck my tongue out at the little army figures. “Can’t get me.”
I knew it was childish, but no one said the Devil played fair. The puppy ran by the tree coming to a halt as he saw his own reflection in a shiny green ornament making me laugh. Well at least this kid would get some laughs out of his new puppy.
The pups eyes blinked back at his reflection as he tried to figure out what was looking back at him. Suddenly he reared back and shot fire at the orb, instantly igniting the lower branches of the tree on fire.
“Shit!”
Chapter Four
Holly
I had stayed later than I intended to at the party, but it was the least I could do. It meant so much to Dad, and it had been hard for him not having Mom there. On the outside he was having a great time, dressed as Santa, and laughing with the kids. But I saw his eyes fill with sadness as they kept drifting over to the island where my mom had normally hung out for the evening.
She would make cookies with everyone, baking and laughing, not a care in the world. Guests would flock to her, for her stories and to help her bake so they could take some goodies of their own home. Flour and sprinkles would get everywhere but she didn’t mind, she just assured them we would clean it up later.
We would too, after the last guest left for the evening, we would attempt to clean up the mess, laughing and splashing each other with even more flour before giving up. Just before bed we would put out our cookies for Santa and treats for the reindeer before the two of them tucked me into bed for the night. They had made Christmas magical for me.
I sighed; Christmas had died with my mom. That year instead of spending Christmas in the kitchen with my mom, I spent it in the hospital with her as I watched her fade away to nothing. My Dad continued on in her memory, she wouldn’t want us to be sad, he said. I just couldn’t find the joy that used to be there without her.
Honestly, I probably would have stayed later at the party if it hadn’t been for the overly handsy asshole making passes at me all night. At one point he caught me under the mistletoe and not wanting to cause issues I accepted a peck on the cheek. He only took that as an invitation and cornered me on the patio to cop a feel.
Not this girl, jerkass. I made sure he knew exactly how uninterested I was with a swift knee to his manhood and I left him there, hunched over and gasping for breath. Fucking idiots that couldn’t handle their booze.
After that I just couldn’t stomach anymore holiday cheer so I said my goodbyes and promised my Dad I would be back tomorrow.
I was exhausted and ready for bed. Socializing was so fucking overrated.
I groaned as I pulled into my assigned parking spot, there was some weird ass guy standing on the sidewalk staring at me. Was this night never going to end?
As I exited my car, I slipped my keys between my fingers, for some reason he put me on edge and I was not going to be caught off guard. The closer I got to him though, I realized the reason I was on edge was no longer from fear, but more from insta-lust. This guy was drop dead gorgeous. Damned eggnog must have been stronger than I thought it was.
He confidently studied me as I approached him, his dark hair swept back over his head, not long enough to be pulled up, but just long enough to give him that rakish, bad boy look. Piercing blue eyes watched me intently, almost arrogantly. The hint of stubble covering his face made him look more dangerous than rugged. I wondered briefly which of the two he really was?
He held a little puppy and the black and brown fluffball wiggled excitedly trying to escape his arms. I grinned to myself, if he had a puppy, he was more than likely the rugged sort. I relaxed a little bit, he couldn’t be that bad of a guy, after all he was being really patient with the puppy.
I started to pass him and stopped short, the guy quickly regained his crazy status from my first impression. The puppy had turned to look at me and instead of two eyes, six red eyes blinked back at me. To top it off two small horns curled back over the little things head.
I gave serious props to the guy, it was some cool animatronics, but on Christmas, really? Either he was really cruel, attaching that shit to a real dog, or really good at making fake creatures. As I didn’t believe any dog would tolerate the first, I was going with the second.
The most irritating thing about my whole encounter with him was that he pretended he had no clue what I was talking about. For real dude, fish for a compliment from someone else. Then he seemed stunned that I dismissed him. Well pretty boy you can get over it. I was going to bed, and no that wasn’t an invitation.
I locked my apartment door behind me and flicked on the lights, Rufus squeaking his excitement to see me. I scooped him up from his cage as I passed it on my way to my room and set him down on my bed so I could change.
“Rufus, the food was so not worth it,” I muttered, slipping my legs into a pair of pajama bottoms. I kneeled next to the bed and picked up his ball, rolling it across the bed for him. He chased it down and returned it to me eagerly and I exchanged it for a treat. This was a new
thing we had worked on and he loved it.
After repeating it a few times, I felt my eyes growing heavy and yawned. “Well Mister. I need to get some sleep, let’s get you back to bed.” I lifted him from my blanket and snuggled him while I carried him back to his cage. “See you in the morning, stud.”
I turned off the lights and made my way back to my bed. Quickly I started to drift off to sleep, the sounds of sirens in the distance barely registering as I fell the rest of the way asleep.
Chapter Five
Luka
“You’re not supposed to set the tree on fire you little shit,” I scolded the puppy in a hushed tone. I waved my hand and extinguished the flames, smoke billowing toward the ceiling. The pup playfully pounced after it, snapping his jaws in the air as he tried to catch the dark cloud of smoke as it swirled upward.
I stared at the tree, how the fuck was I supposed to fix a partially burnt tree? The pup pranced back over and distracted me again. This time he tripped on the edge of the hearth and went rolling across the floor and tumbled end over end into the base of the tree. Leave it to me to pick the clumsiest damn pup.
He turned himself over, barking at the tree as if it had wronged him somehow. “Hey now, that tree did nothing to you,” I started to move forward to scoop him up. The pup felt differently though as he bumped into a low hanging ornament and set the tree rattling. With a quick burst of flame, he lit the tree ablaze again, the now dried out lower branches easily catching on fire.
It quickly spread up the trunk this time, the flames already licking at the ceiling. It looked like the pup had put a little extra oomph behind this one. “This is not what I meant when I said take care of the kid.” I muttered and with a wave of my hand doused the flames again.
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