Christmas in the City II

by Samantha Chase

  “Someone wants to shoot you?” Dylan asked. “Do you see anyone around?”

  “Not really. I have a bad feeling about this place though,” he murmured, looking back at where the hole was. “Whatever it is, it’s very powerful. I don’t know if I’ll be able to take it down alone.”

  “Is it the demons shooting at us?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is that we need to get out of here. They aren’t hanging around here anymore. They’re trying to attack us from outside,” he said. “I’ll meet you guys upstairs. Hang on.”

  That turned out to be the worst decision he could make because the noises came back. That same cracking sound seemed to be right at his heels as he ran up. It was louder than a bullet and bigger than anything he imagined. He found the others waiting for him, but he was terrified as another hole was made behind them.

  “Fearless Leader, what’s wrong?” Dylan asked. “What were those sounds? What was happening…”

  Trip didn’t have to explain as he pushed them to the ground to protect them. There was another cracking sound from nearby and he didn’t want them to be caught in this. Whatever this was, it wasn’t something they could fight alone. It was too powerful.

  “Look out!” He dove down and hid close to the window to see where it was all coming from. Although it was far away, he could see someone fighting on the roof of the administrative building. He couldn’t make out their faces, but the fight was very intense. It could only mean one thing; demons were fighting. Demons were the only ones who could cause this kind of damage.

  “That was close!” Cole gasped. “How did you know this was going to happen?”

  “I was wrong! Those aren’t gunshots!” Trip whispered. “It just kept getting louder and closer and I knew I had to come protect you. Someone’s fighting on that roof and I have no idea what’s going on. That’s why there’s so much noise.”

  “Is it a demon fight or people fighting?” Alex asked.

  “I can’t tell from here.” Trip squinted and tried to get a better look. “It looks pretty rough though. I have no idea who is fighting, but they’re moving very fast and it’s affecting us here. They’re the ones causing the holes and the sounds. I’m guessing it’s demons because what human would do this?”

  “So you think those holes that were caused in the wall were caused by them?” Cole asked, looking at the hole nearby. “How? The force that caused this hole was a huge one. I’m thinking that if you’re right, it’s a fight between demons.”

  “Should we stop them?” Dylan asked. “I mean, if they can cause this from all the way over there, who knows what else they could do?”

  Trip didn’t take very long to think about this. “Let’s go and find out what is happening up there, guys. We know where the noise is coming from. Let’s put an end to it. Follow me.”

  Together, they headed back down to find out what was causing these holes in the wall. Deep down, they prayed they would not be blasted away in the process.

  IX

  Yuka knew that Penny’s weapon held a lot of destructive power. If it could reach the building next to them, she could easily wipe out a group of people with it. She needed to keep Penny from using it again. The next time could be fatal. The sword’s blows could make holes into the other building. Yuka just had to hope that no one else was in there at the time.

  “Be reasonable, Penny. I don’t want to fight you,” Yuka whispered. “You have to stop this. You can’t give me a present like this because I’m not going to use it. I know the others will feel the same way. I can’t accept this.”

  “You are no different from your master, Yuka. He said the exact same things to me,” Penny fumed. “He told me that we can’t kill them and look what happened to him! Look what happened to this world! He died thinking this way, Yuka! That’s how we will all die!”

  “No, you don’t understand!” Yuka yelled. “You’re going about this all wrong! What you want to do is cause a genocide! You don’t know which humans are demon slayers and which ones aren’t! The only thing is going to do cause more destruction! I’m not going to do that!”

  “You’re the one that doesn’t understand, Mistress Yuka! Have you forgotten about how those monsters slaughtered your master? Have you forgotten your friends that you lost? What do you think your master would say if he saw you now?”

  “He would never allow this to happen, that’s what!”

  “Wrong! Sebastian was never perfect as you thought he was. He wanted you to believe that violence was never the answer. He wanted you to think about your actions before you did anything. That was only because he didn’t want you to make the same mistakes that he did.”

  “What mistakes?” Yuka demanded. “What do you know that I don’t know, Penny? What did my master tell you?”

  “It’s not what he told me. It’s what I was able to figure out. It’s what you should have been able to figure out by now,” Penny whispered. “The only reason you probably haven’t done that is because of those humans of yours. You are falling for one of them, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not!” Yuka yelled back. “I know they’re human, but I can’t fall for one of them!”

  “That doesn’t mean you haven’t. Look at you, Mistress Yuka. Even now, you are thinking about them. You want to do whatever you can to protect them. Unfortunately, you can’t protect them forever. You can’t be there for them!”

  “I can! I want to be there!” Yuka shouted. “I have to be there for them! They need me...” She whispered those last couple of words. “They need me just like I need them. I...I have to have them. We’ve come so far.”

  “They are just humans, Yuka! One day they will betray you! They will be done with you and they will leave you in the dust!”

  “No!” She insisted. “Even if he breaks my heart, I will never do what you want me to do! You want me to end innocent lives. I can’t do that and I know no one else will either!”

  She wanted to run at that moment. She wanted to find someone, anyone, to come and help her out. She might have been a Reaper’s Apprentice, but Penny was a bigger demon in general. Fighting her was not an easy feat. She was ducking all over the place and blocking the blows. Somehow, she managed to knock the sword out of Penny’s hand and have it clatter to the ground. Breathing hard, she stood her ground.

  “It’s over,” she whispered. “Please don’t do this anymore. Don’t make me fight you any longer.”

  “You would never have done this in the past,” Penny whispered. “You were much stronger back then. You never backed down from a fight. What has happened to you? Are you so deep in love that you don’t want to do your duties? Are you a coward because of that? Are you willing to die for him? Is that it? Are you willing to die for a human?!”

  “YES!” Yuka grabbed the sword and held it up to protect herself as Penny came charging down. “I’m in love!”

  The sword went straight through Penny’s body and Yuka was shuddering. She had stabbed a demon to protect demon slayers. Even though she had been confident in what she was saying, she was shaken by what she had done. She dropped the sword to the ground and moved away from the body.

  “Penny...” She whispered as Penny curled up into a ball and tried to stop the blood from pouring. Her fingers were coated in that blood, but she was refusing help from Yuka. “Penny, I didn’t mean to...”

  “Yes, you did,” Penny whispered. “You meant to do this because you are deep in love with that human. Love makes demons do foolish things.”

  “I...I guess you were right all along,” Yuka said. “I am in love. I was trying to deny it all this time because I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I know what will happen at the end. I know what to expect.”

  “But you didn’t know everything,” Penny coughed up some blood. “You didn’t know what your master was capable of. You didn’t know what he loved and what he believed in. I thought you would have been different. I thought you wouldn
’t have fallen so easily.”

  “Fallen? What do you mean?”

  Penny closed her eyes. “I guess I underestimated you. Even the strongest demons can be brought down by the love of a human. Just like the Lovers of Vale.”

  “Penny, please tell me...” Yuka insisted. They were running out of time and Penny had already lost plenty of blood. Things were not looking up for her. “This isn’t what I wanted my Christmas to be like! I didn’t want this! I never wanted this!”

  “So this is how it ends, huh?” Penny asked. “Are you going to keep these secrets from those humans that you love?”

  “I...” Yuka was about to say that she didn’t love Trip, but knew it was a lie. Deep down, she could tell that Penny was right. She wanted to be more than friends with him, no matter what happened in the end. “I...I will tell him everything. I’ve told him a lot so far. I will tell him what happened.”

  Penny was surprised by the answer. She chuckled. “Then you are a much stronger demon than your master ever was.”

  “Penny, please!” Yuka pleaded as Penny took one sharp breath. It was the last breath that she was going to take. “Penny, I need to know! How do I fall out of love? How do I stop this?! What happens if...if I have to leave him?” Yuka felt the tears rolling down her face as she went on. “I can’t leave him! I can’t say goodbye! Penny, please, wake up! Come back! I need answers! You have to answer me!”

  It was pointless to shake her because she was gone. She had died leaving Yuka with so many questions and a heart that was about to burst. Up until now, Yuka had been trying to hide the fact that she was also falling in love. She was doing her best to convince the others not to fall for humans. Yet here she was so deep in love, she couldn’t see anything but Trip. She didn’t want to see anything but him.

  I killed a demon to save a demon slayer. She realized. Not only that, I fell for that demon slayer. I fell for him and I let it control me. The funny thing is that I don’t want to fall out of love. I want him to be my one and only.

  She tossed the sword to the side and buried her head into her knees. This was not how she wanted her Christmas holiday to begin.

  This was not the present she wanted.

  X

  Yuka came downstairs after an hour of thinking about what she had done. She wasn’t ready to tell the others about this, but she would have to. They needed to know what Penny had done. She discarded the sword and destroyed it. No one needed this weapon, not even her. Finding a bathroom downstairs, she washed the blood from her hands and then made her way out of the building. No one would know she was there. No camera would be able to catch a demon. Even if it did, she was too upset to care about it.

  She thought about what Penny had said. Love made demons do foolish things. Then she thought about Penny telling her that she was a better demon than her master had been. What had Sebastian done in the past? Had he also fallen in love with a human and lost them? Was his story similar to that of the Lovers of Vale?

  The Lovers of Vale. The more she thought about that story, the more it seemed to parallel her real life. The only thing that she was hoping for was a different ending. She didn’t want Trip or the others to die. She didn’t want to fly into a fit of rage and kill anyone in her path. All she wanted was for both sides to come together.

  Then there was that bit that Penny mentioned regarding her master Sebastian. What had he done that was so horrible in the past? What made her better than him? What secrets did he hide? It felt like this was something she was never going to know.

  I admitted something I never admitted before. She thought as she reached the ground. She was expecting her friends to run over to her, but she saw Trip first instead. He looked like he had a harrowing experience with his friends but he was fine. He was all right and that was all she wanted. The others were with him, but she could only see him. At the moment, he was the only one she wanted to see.

  “Trip.” His name fell out of her lips as she made her way to him. He was a little surprised to see her but smiled when she appeared. ”I...I had no idea you would be here.”

  “Hey, there,” Trip greeted her. “I’ve had quite a night. It didn’t go as expected but we’re all doing fine. No demons around to hunt unfortunately.”

  “That’s great.” Yuka murmured.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I...I need to talk to you. I need to talk to all of you. There are some things that I think you need to know.” She squeezed his shoulder. She had protected him. “I need you to know something and it’s something I’ve been keeping inside me for a long time. I tried to deny it and I tried to push it away. In the end, I just had to accept it.”

  “What is it?”

  “I...”

  She couldn’t say the words. Instead, she just pulled him into an embrace and held him for as long as possible. She would have to explain this a little later.

  For now, all she wanted to do was stay in his arms and let the world fade out around them.

  ~~~ THE END~~~

  ABOUT CS PATRA

  CS Patra is the author of several book series. They include but are not limited to The Reaper's Apprentices, Operation: Genome, Cirque Macabre, Portman's Creamery mysteries, The Patterns & Parallels Saga, Ghosts of Burning Inn, and Flavors of Love. She loves to dabble in different genres and loves to cross over. Her personal favorite thing is to write about female characters in different situations.

  Although she does work during the day, most of her nights are taking up by writing. Currently, she lives in North Carolina with her family. She loves ladybugs, yellow roses, movies, book signings, mysteries, watching old Youtube videos, ghost stories, gossip, music, people making her fanart, museums, ice cream, and being a wisecrack though not all in that order. Writing and peacocks hit the top of her list though.

  Social Media:

  Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CS-Patra-Author-297508030352688/

  Twitter @ CyberPeacock.

  instagram: https://www.instagram.com/citharapatra/

  Blog: cspatrawork.blogspot.com

  Other books by CS Patra:

  The Reaper’s Apprentices series

  #1 Awakened #2 The Contracts

  #3 In the Blood

  The Patterns & Parallels Saga

  #1 Hearts Under Ice

  # 2 Paper Hearts

  #3 Heart of Metalia

  The Portman Creamery Series

  Wrapped in Death and Chocolate

  Four of the Usual Suspects

  The Dangers of Art

  The Sugar Mountain Murders

  The Roses Were Red

  The Roses Were White

  The Winter Key

  The Summer Key (coming in late 2016)

  Christmas Interference

  A Boulder Blizzard Novelette

  JENNIFER L. ALLEN

  1

  “I need to come up with a Christmas project for my class,” I tell my brother, Dean, once we’re seated in a booth at our favorite diner. We meet every Saturday morning for breakfast when he’s in town.

  “What kind of project?” he asks, pushing the menus to the end of the table. We never need to look at them; we always get the same thing. This is a somewhat weekly tradition for us, after all.

  “Something they can do for Christmas. A craft project or something like that.” I teach first grade in our small town. How I got lucky enough to land a job at the small school in my hometown, I’ll never know.

  When I say our town is small, I’m not kidding. There’s one stoplight in the center of town—on Main Street right near the fire and sheriff’s station. The school, where I work, has two classes per grade. I suppose we’re lucky we even have a school. Students in neighboring small towns have to commute to a regional school. So, yeah. I got very, very lucky landing this gig.

  “Is that even politically correct?” Dean asks me.

  “Is what politically correct?”

  “Doing a Chri
stmas project.”

  I give him a flat look. “We live in Holly Falls, Dean. Population 1,000. All the residents attend the same Christian church on Sundays. I don’t think we need to worry about being politically correct. But I will take it under advisement.”

  “That’s all I ask,” he says, raising his hands in mock surrender.

  I love my brother; I really do. Growing up in this one-horse town can be lonely for a kid, but I got to grow up with my best friend. Our closeness in age—we’re two years apart—kept us close, in spite of our different genders. He’s been my champion for as long as I can remember. I just wish I got to see him more often.

  “I have a fantastic idea,” Dean says, his eyes brightening. This could be bad. The last time Dean had a “fantastic” idea, he got “MOM” tattooed inside a red heart on his bicep. Granted, he was also drunk at the time…but still. There’s valid reason to question his judgment.

  “Oh, yeah? And what’s your idea?” I ask cautiously.

  At that moment, our waitress, Sally, approaches the table and delivers a carafe of coffee and a dish of creamers. She graduated with Dean, so we make small talk before placing our usual orders, then I look across the table at Dean expectantly.

  “Your kids should adopt the team,” he says with that brilliant smile of his. I can tell he’s proud of himself by the sparkle in his chocolate colored eyes, eyes that match my own perfectly. People who aren’t from Holly Falls often guess that we’re twins since we look and act so much alike. Our eyes are identical in color and shape, and our hair is the same shade of light brown, only mine falls halfway down my back in waves while his just touches the tips of his ears and barely brushes his collar.

  “Adopt the team?” I’m not understanding why this idea is “fantastic,” even by Dean’s standards. Dean plays minor league hockey, so I’m not sure how pairing a bunch of first graders up with a bunch of rowdy hockey players would work, let alone make sense.