by Viola Grace
Table of Contents
Prologue
Malled by Christmas
Author’s Note
About the Author
Dancer craves social interaction, so when she takes the chance to run, she heads to the mall.
Dancer joined the exodus from the workshop in a chance to experience life and possibly love.
She focuses on life and finds herself working in a mall as a security guard. Watching humans in their preparations for Christmas gives her a feeling of purpose and renews her energy for the holiday.
A new photographer at Santa’s Grotto gains a crowd and Dancer’s admiration. He handles children with skill and coaxes smiles out of the most recalcitrant little ones.
Dancer catches his eye, and she acknowledges the mutual attraction. A bit of light flirting and fending off attackers creates a bond that definitely embodies the spirit of giving.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2015 by Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-987969-04-7
©Cover art by Carmen Waters
All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.
Published by Viola Grace
Look for me online at violagrace.com, amazon, kobo, B&N and other eBook sellers.
Published by Viola Grace
Malled by Christmas
Operation Reindeer Retrieval Book 2
By
Viola Grace
Prologue
Ru handed her the Christmas snowflake with the utmost care. Dancer returned the favour with the sealed letter to Santa.
“So, I just put this on my skin and stick to my alias?”
Ru nodded. “Yup. Just like Dasher. Press it against your skin and think of your alias and what you want to do. It will bind to you and let you remain with the humans as one of them. They won’t think anything of you simply turning up for work.”
“And I have to stick to the alias?”
“You do. Christmas magic needs honesty to power it. Splitting your name to incorporate your actual name is part of that honesty.”
“What happens if the alias slips?”
Ru smiled. “Then, you are going to flare high and wide on Santa’s radar. Your time out from under their gaze will be over.”
Dancer held the snowflake between her finger and her thumb. She eased her tunic away from her shoulder and pressed the snowflake into her skin. “Dana Certic.”
Her collar popped off, and Ru caught it, wrapping it around her wrist. “Two down, six to go. Now focus on what you want.”
Dana Certic closed her eyes and imagined where she wanted to be. She wanted to be around people, wanted to be able to watch to her heart’s content and able to gain access to male companionship when it was available. She wanted a small home and a modest vehicle, just like any other human woman.
The blizzard of magic surrounded her, and when she opened her eyes, she was standing in a hallway where she could see humans walking around inside a huge space and there was a weight around her hips. The magic filled in the blanks. Dana Certic was a mall security guard.
Malled by Christmas
Dana wandered on her rounds, keeping a close eye on the crowds that were milling toward Santa’s Grotto.
She had spent weeks working with the other security officers in finding children and catching petty thieves before they could make it out of the mall.
She had located nineteen lost vehicles and lost track of the number of hands that had patted her backside.
The mall Santa was one of the butt-patting offenders. Children were perfectly safe with him, but any woman with curves had to be on guard. That was one lap she wouldn’t be sitting on again.
A wailing screech came from the grotto, and Dana moved to help with the fuss. She stifled a laugh and moved toward the child who was gnawing at the leg of the photographer.
The mother was trying to negotiate with the toddler, and the photographer was trying to pull the camera off the tripod to bludgeon his attacker.
Dana knelt next to the child. “Hey, sweetie. I think Santa has a candy cane for you if you let go of that man. The flavour has to be nasty.”
She stopped the photographer from hitting the child, and she stroked the chubby cheek, giving the little girl a tiny bit of Christmas magic. The girl released the photographer, and he jerked away, cursing and clutching his leg.
In the lineup, mothers put their hands over their child’s ears. The mother snatched up the child and rushed away.
Rolling her eyes, Dana headed over to the photographer and looked at the bite. “You are going to need stitches. That little girl had more than two teeth.”
“This job isn’t worth it. They won’t smile. They bite and claw. I hate the little bastards.”
Dana smirked. “They can be trying.”
“I fucking quit!”
Dana blinked. “Hang on. I will get Toby to bring a first aid kit.”
“Fuck that. I am getting my stuff and going. They can find another sucker for this freak parade.”
He got up and stalked past her, packing his gear into his bag and walking out.
The hapless Christmas elf came over as Dana got to her feet. “Is he gone?”
“He is. Contact management and tell folks that they can’t get their picture with Santa tonight.” She brushed off her knees and wrote the notes down in her book before she resumed her rounds.
Several parents took their children out of the line when they learned that no photography was available, but there were many others who stayed and waited to see Santa. Dana resumed her rounds with a spring in her step. The Spirit of Christmas was alive and well.
The next day, Dana was getting ready to make her rounds when she ran into Toby.
“Dana, you will not believe the amazing photographer that management brought in. He is great with kids. The line is circling the grotto. I think half the moms are just wanting to pose in front of him.”
Dana grinned. “This I have got to see.”
She left the security office and made her way through the mall. The crowd around the grotto was tempting for pickpockets and petty thieves. Mothers left bags unattended while wrangling their children, and it was part of Dana’s job to make sure that their bags didn’t go walking.
It was late in the afternoon, and since the kids were out of school, it was just the parents getting off work that flooded the mall when Dana was on her evening shift.
Toby was right. There were a ton of women in unseasonably short skirts with their children in tow. It was nearly laughable, but it provided a gathering that might cause an issue.
Dana walked around the edge of the crowd and kept an eye out for opportunists. The women in elf costumes were moving things along, and Santa was working with grim determination, his Ho-Ho-Ho’s were resounding in the grotto.
The new photographer was getting kids to smile and their mothers to swoon. Dana circled to get a good look at him while still doing her job. When she realised it was impossible, she just went about her rounds.
She located two lost toddlers and called the police on three detained shoplifters before the mall closed. Getting everyone out while remaining polite and cheerful was her speciality.
The elves and Santa groaned and stretched as they were finally free to be themselves again. The photographer was cleaning hi
s lenses, and Dana walked over to introduce herself.
She could see his dark hair as she crossed the glittering grotto. “So, you are the man who rode to the rescue?”
He looked up at her and smiled. His eyes were brilliant emerald, and his hair was midnight silk held back in a neat ponytail. “The timing lined up.”
She took on the persona she was used to by now. She extended her hand. “Hi. I am Dana.”
“Nero.” He inclined his head and shook her hand with a warm, dry grip.
“I will be on duty most evenings while you are here. If your ardent admirers get to be too much, just call.” She released his hand and turned to leave.
“Is that all?”
She glanced over to the elves in bells and pointy shoes. “Ask Tasha and Lena. I introduce myself to everyone who is here after hours. It makes it easier to remember who is who after hours.”
Santa cleared his throat.
“Oh, and Timothy. Sorry, Timothy.”
Nero grinned. “Fair enough. I am pleased to meet you. You have a keen eye.”
She blinked. “How so?”
“You moved between four petty thieves and their targets before they could grab the unattended bags. It was well done.”
She cocked her head. “You saw that?”
“I have a keen eye as well.” He winked.
He was really handsome. Bizarrely handsome. Dana bobbed her head and said, “I am sure I will see you tomorrow.”
His slow smile burned in her mind as she finished her search of the mall and went out to the parking lot to identify all vehicles left in the space overnight. Employees were supposed to park in a specific zone near the rear entryways; any other cars were suitable for towing.
She tried not to tow any vehicles unless they were abandoned for more than twenty-four hours, but there were two candidates out tonight in the same spaces as the night before.
Dana called in the towing company and turned a blind eye to the vehicle with the couple giggling and rocking the springs. If they were still there in an hour, she would tell them to move along, but her human brain knew that privacy was sometimes hard to find.
If the laughter had not been mutual, she would have interrupted. That had only happened once so far, but she was a firm believer in mutual consent.
Dana returned to the inside of the mall, checked in with Jonathon in the security office and checked the grotto for any children sleeping under the tree.
The last two hours flew by, and she changed clothes before leaving the mall. There was an open ice rink on her way home, and she loved to skate when everyone was asleep.
She put on her skates and queued up her music before slipping in her headphones and taking to the ice.
Dancing on the ice was almost as much fun as spinning around her apartment, but here, she could go faster. She spun, twirled and swayed from skate to skate around the rink where only two other people were enjoying the solitude.
She skated until her nose was cold and her hands were pale. It was time to go home. She had her thermos of hot chocolate standing by and a puffy duvet and warm bed at her house. It was time to get going.
Dana made a face as she got behind the wheel. She was beginning to hate time. It ruled the human existence and made every day into a chore instead of a joy.
After the ten-minute drive from the rink to home, she grabbed her favourite fairy tales and headed for bed with another cup of hot cocoa.
Nero’s face was in her mind when she closed her eyes. She looked forward to seeing him the next day.
“Dana, we have a security call in Rikcmon’s Toys. Requesting that you handle it.”
Dana answered her walkie-talkie. “On my way, coward.”
“Damn straight.”
She smiled and headed for the toy store.
The clerk pointed frantically to the back of the store, and when Dana arrived, it was obvious that the woman with the stroller was locating high-dollar-value items and tucking them under the blanket.
Dana melted back behind one of the aisles, and she slipped up and out into the mall, just outside the door. It wasn’t stealing until the woman crossed the threshold of the store, so the moment she did, Dana appeared at her shoulder. “Please, come with me, miss.”
The woman jerked and tried to run, but Dana reached out and pulled her to a quick halt with one hand on the back of her coat.
With her strength and height, she walked the crying woman to the security office with ease.
She called the police, made the report and itemized the stolen items. The woman sobbed, but Dana didn’t hear it. If the items hadn’t all been of high price, she might have believed that the woman just wanted the child to have a toy to open at Christmas. The adult warnings on the video games were also a giveaway to the true motivation.
“If you could also remove the vest you have on under your coat? You have at least seven pounds of goods there, based on your posture.”
The woman scowled. “How do you know that?”
Dana shook her head. “Based on your neck and wrists, you are not that heavy.”
The woman started crying again, and it was just in time for the police to arrive. The hostility that turned on was amazing, but Dana simply ignored it, handed over the report and mentioned that the woman had additional items on her. The police patted the woman down and had her open her outer layer. The vest within was indeed loaded with expensive items.
Dana wrote them all down so that the toy store would know what was stolen, the police signed her report and the shoplifter was escorted out to the police car. Dana finished the last of the details, filed the incident report and got back into the mall.
She picked up her walkie and muttered, “Thanks for that.”
“No problem. Take a swing by the grotto. Things are clogging up again.”
“Slave driver.”
She put the communicator back on her belt and headed for the grotto.
The women were all making eyes at Nero, and it made for a lot of loose and missing children. Dana gathered them up and returned them to their inattentive parents.
It was a challenging duty, but she managed to stop all the tears and get the children matched with their moms.
The rest of the night went by in a blur, and by the time they had ushered out the last shopper, she was more than ready for a break.
Nero was packing up his cameras, and he smiled at her. “Hello, Dana. How are you this evening?”
She grinned. “Exhausted.”
“Aw, too bad. I would love to give you a foot rub, but I get the feeling you are still on duty.”
“I am, but that does sound nice.” She looked at him as he zipped up his leather jacket. “Do you need an escort out?”
He shook his head. “I shouldn’t think so.”
“We got a warning about mall lots being hit after hours. They seem to be preying on mall staff. I think I will have to insist.”
Nero gave her a considering look. “Fine, but you have to wear a coat.”
She shrugged. “I don’t need one. Cold isn’t a problem for me.”
He chuckled. “Right. Of course. Well, I am ready. Protect me.”
She rolled her eyes and walked to the doors, locking the inner door behind her after he had passed. He led the way to his vehicle, and the low red car was definitely flashy enough for some attention.
When he was inside his car, he looked at her. “Thank you for the escort.”
“You are welcome. You have quite the way with the ladies, so I thought it would be wiser to make sure none of your fans stalk you.”
He grinned. “It is my burden. Good night, Dana.”
“Good night, Nero.”
He waited until she was back in the mall before he drove off, and Dana went on to the glamourous job of making sure that all the bathrooms had been emptied of occupants.
She was counting the hours until she could skate. Suddenly, she had a ton of energy and really wanted to spend some of it before she tried to sleep.
He scowled. “Yes. I have a favour to ask of you.”
“Shoot.”
“I have already checked with management, but I have a friend who wishes to use the grotto for a fashion shoot. Would you mind keeping the lights on for a few hours?”
“Management said yes?”
“They did.” Nero waited patiently.
Dana looked around at the huge lineup. “Okay, sure.”
He beamed, and her heart thudded in her chest. “Thank you.”
She nodded and returned to her rounds.
When everyone was out at the end of the night, she tried not to look shocked when she saw a familiar face outside the door. Dasher was looking at her with what she was sure was the same surprise on her own face.
She brought Dasher and her male companion inside and directed them to the grotto.
It seemed that Dasher, or Dani as she preferred to be called, was going to change and pose in a variety of lingerie.
Dana supposed that everyone had their own thing, but she knew that Dani was going to have a problem when it came to makeup.
Dana went to her locker to grab her makeup kit and then headed out on her rounds. When she came back to the rear of the improvised changing area that had been assembled, she scratched at the wall.
Dani pried the wall open and smiled brightly. Dana opened her makeup kit and went to work to paint her workmate with the natural-but-sexy look.
When she was finished bringing out all of Dani’s striking features, she slid the kit under the tree and returned to her work, making the rounds over and over, noting the parked cars in the lot that were not supposed to be there.
She returned to the mall and watched the last of the photo shoot from a discrete distance. It was obvious to her that Dani was interested in the man whose lap she was in. Dana smiled. Dani had wanted sex over everything. Based on the look in her friend’s eyes, she was going to get it.