Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 083

What if the Krampus didn't keep his promise? It was hard to know if his word would be any good, especially if they couldn't retrieve Santa's sleigh. It had once been a chariot fit for a god, capable of sailing across the sky. She had no idea how Santa had gotten his mitts on the thing, but there was plenty she didn't know about the big man.

Somewhere, a bell rang. Jack turned her attention toward the far wall where a shadow melted through and fell to the ground. It was the spirit of Christmas Past, its pale features like melted wax.

Jack vaulted the railing and ran to the spirit, then knelt by their side.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

The spirit shook their head, casting dark splotches onto the ground. "I was not made for this," they whispered. "Do not let him remake you in his own image."

"Who? Krampus?"

The spirit sighed, the lights in their eyes flickering out. "Am I the last of my kind?" they asked.

Jack laughed, but there was no humor behind it. "Of course not. Next Christmas, you'll have a brand new sibling."

The spirit shuddered. "I'm not so sure," they whispered.

"He did this to you? That man. Mike."

Christmas Past tried to answer, but couldn't. Their lips moved, but no sound came out. Dark fluid pooled in the corners of their eyes, and then they let out a maniacal laugh. The spirit's body shimmered with twinkling lights as it proceeded to melt into the floorboards.

Jack's hands trembled as she pulled the silver ornament from her pocket and willed it to life. Whirling lights spun around the spirit, pulling it back inside the ornament to wherever it went while it slumbered. The spirit hadn't just been defeated--it had been corrupted. Guilt flooded through her. How was she to know that the spirits could be damaged, let alone altered by their encounters?

Maybe that was the reason Santa used them sparingly. It had been decades since the last time they had been unleashed, and any harm that came to them lay solely at her hands. All she had expected was for the spirits to delay Mike, or scare him off completely. The Krampus had explained that they could be used for such purposes, but now she wasn't sure.

No. The human in the ducts was clearly a tougher foe than expected, that was all. She didn't dare consider the possibility that the Krampus had lied to her, because it was an idea she was unwilling to accept.

Storming back to the cameras, she glared at them intensely. If Mike was going to try and sneak out of the vents, she would see him. There were dozens of monitors, and hundreds of cameras. She cycled through them until she felt like she had identified the best locations to catch anyone sneaking around.

"I'm going to find you," she whispered, thinking of the man from the furnace. When he had spoken to her, she had felt an odd compulsion in the center of her body, a sudden willingness to not only obey, but to please. For a short moment, there had been nothing she wanted more than to do absolutely whatever he asked of her in the hopes of gaining his favor. She wasn't sure what kind of magic he was using, but she wouldn't let it happen again.

Movement on a corner monitor caught her attention, and she spotted three figures standing next to a door. It was a goblin, an elf, and a woman with cat ears. Jack thumbed the walkie-talkie at her hip, ready to call the Krampus, but paused. She thought once more about her interaction with Mike, and how he had deliberately targeted the napkin she had used to track them.

It wasn't the elf, she knew that much. Either the goblin or the cat had some sort of connection to him, one she could exploit. If she told the Krampus, he would rush there and potentially kill them. But if she got there first, maybe she could figure out how to use that link to find Mike.

On the camera, the goblin kicked the door open, and they ran outside.

It was selfish, and a stupid idea, but after watching the Krampus trash several rooms while having a temper tantrum, she felt entitled to it. With a grin, she dashed out of the monitor room, her body hovering inches off the ground as she glided down the hallway and toward an exit of her own. When she shoved open the door, the cold air greeted her with welcoming flurries.

"Let it snow," she commanded, and the northern lights were soon hidden away by whirling snowflakes.

Just as Mike and Yuki were getting close, I just had to toss in a sexy giantess. I'm sure absolutely nothing horny will happen and Mike definitely won't get tossed around by a Christmas spirit who has absorbed some of his magic.

*winkyface.gif*

Make sure to check the schedule to see when the next chapter releases, you can always find that in my bio! I am pretty good about sticking to it.

Here's a fun fact: Christmas Present's dialogue (and design) in this chapter were pulled from the original Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It's worth a read, but there won't be any sex in it (sorry).

That's all from me this time, I will see you next chapter!

~Annabelle Hawthorne