Curse of Christmas: A Collection of Paranormal Holiday Stories

by Thea Atkinson

  Finally locating the bags, he started to rummage through them for the blue and yellow lights Cat had chosen for their tree. Dem figured he would start with the blue and then move on to the yellow, alternating between the two colors as he dressed the tree in lights. Unraveling a string of blue, he looked at the tree once more, choosing to start stringing from the bottom. The gingerbread smell that was wafting through the house had his stomach growling, which was making it difficult for him to concentrate on the job at hand. He was a perfectionist at heart so when it came to decorating he would accept nothing less than perfection. Oh, he could use his Genie Magic and achieve the results he wanted, but he was trying to do things the old-fashioned human way.

  Dem decided that since Cat was trying to celebrate the holiday, a holiday that she hadn’t celebrated since she was turned so many years ago, for him the least he could do was make sure things were as humanly perfect as possible.

  “Hey, babe? I decided to try my hand at a gingerbread man recipe that looked familiar before working on the sugar cookies. You know, just kind of ease my way in? Want to take a break from setting up the tree and have a taste?” Cat asked as she walked into the den carrying a tray of cookies.

  The Genie stopped stringing the yellow lights in the middle of the tree long enough to look over at his mate and smile, “Sure, darling. I’ll try one of your gingerbread men. Did you follow the directions, or did you put your own spin on these?”

  Cat smiled as she offered her companion the tray, “I followed the directions as they were written. I figured I’d start out slow and see where it takes me since I haven’t baked in a long time. If celebrating holidays becomes a regular thing, then I might try to put my own spin on some of these recipes.”

  The hybrid held one of the gingerbread men out to Dom, “Come on. Tell me how they turned out.”

  Dem stood and made his way over to the hybrid, plucking a cookie off the tray when he came to a stop and taking a bite, “Mm mm. These are very tasty, darling. You added just the right amount of molasses to the mix. They’re not as overpowering as most gingerbread cookies can be.”

  She set the tray on the end table next to the doorway and threw her arms around her mate excitedly, “I’m so glad to hear you say that they turned okay. I was pretty worried that I would end up giving our guests food poisoning. Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve done any type of cooking? A century at least.”

  He pulled her body closer to his, “Then I have to say that you haven’t lost your touch. Listen, these lights are going to take a little time to put on the tree the way I’m envisioning them so, what do you say while I’m taking this little break we head upstairs and celebrate your gingerbread turning out tasty and I give you that punishment you deserve?”

  Cat giggled and moved away from him, “I say I’ll meet you there. Try not to take too long though, tiger.”

  She gave him a wink, turned on her heel and, still giggling, headed up the stairs to their bedroom.

  The next morning found Cat back in the kitchen working on some peppermint mocha cupcakes. She was feeling stronger in her ability to bake and she wanted to add a few more goodies to the gift baskets they were making for their neighbors and friends. She’d found a cinnamon frosting recipe she was itching to try, and the only thing festive enough for the season that would complement the flavor was either peppermint mocha or vanilla peppermint cupcakes. She was really excited to put them together. She still had about a week before their scheduled party to perfect all of the recipes she wanted to add to those baskets.

  Dem came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her body as close as he could to his and placing a kiss on the top of her head, “Morning, beautiful.”

  Cat leaned back into him, relaxing as she did, “Morning, handsome. What time did you come back to bed last night?”

  He reached over her, sticking his finger in the batter she’d just made, “Yum! Hmm I think it was about twelve-thirty, give or take. Have you been in the den yet?”

  She swatted his hand away from the batter as he tried to dip his finger in the bowl again, “Not yet. I woke up with this need to bake some cupcakes. I decided that the only way I was going to get any better at baking was to practice. So here I am.”

  Dem let her go, moving to stand beside her, “Well, hurry up with that batter, get those cupcakes in the oven and meet me in the there. I have a surprise for you.”

  He knew that his hybrid didn’t really do surprises, but he was willing to keep trying until she at least accepted them as a part of life. Cat never told him why she didn’t like surprises, only that nothing good ever came of them. The Genie was more than determined to prove to her that not all surprises were bad. He had decided to go slow, with little surprises, but with Christmas fast approaching he knew the gift he’d chosen was perfect. Dem gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as he passed her to go to the room in question.

  She watched as he made his way out the door, thinking how cute her Genie was when he was trying to mysterious. And she had to admit, if only to herself, that she was beginning to get into the Christmassy spirit. Cat placed the electric mixer back into the bowl to make sure that the batter hadn’t gotten lumpy with her taking a break to talk with Dem.

  He still had a lot of decorating to do, but at least he had finished the tree and the room it was in. Dem was extremely happy with the way the pine looked with the alternating blues and yellows. He couldn’t wait to see Cat’s face when she saw that room. After she had fallen asleep the night before, Dem had snuck back downstairs to finish up the tree. After he’d finished that, he discovered that he wasn’t really tired, and that he might be a bit obsessive/compulsive when it came to unfinished projects, so he decided to finish decorating the whole room.

  “All right, babe, cupcakes are in the oven. Keep your fingers crossed that they turn out as well as the gingerbread men did. Now what was it…” Cat trailed off as she stepped into the den and saw all of the decorations and lights.

  The room looked amazing in all the blues and yellows she had picked out the day before, but what drew her eye was the tree. It showed that Dem had worked very hard on making the tree look spectacular. He certainly had taken no chances in making sure that the pine was the main attraction in the decorated room.

  She turned around slowly, taking everything in, “This is amazing, Dem. Did you do all of this last night?”

  Dem nodded, moving to place his arms around her waist while he stood behind her, “That I did. Originally, I had come down just to finish getting the lights on the tree, but discovered that there was no way I was going to able to get to sleep if I didn’t finish the decorating of the whole room. So that’s what I did.”

  Cat laughed, “OCD much? Whatever the reason, I’m glad you did it. This room and that tree are truly beautiful. How long did it take you? Or did you get some supernatural help?”

  His tone of voice when he answered let her know that what she had suggested offended him, “I’ll have you know, darling, that all of this was done the good old-fashioned human way. Not one speck of Genie Magic was used for any of this decorating.”

  She turned in his arms and gave him a deep kiss, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or suggest otherwise. I was just curious because you know you could have had the whole house decorated by now. Inside and out.”

  Dem pulled her in for another kiss, “I’ll forgive you this time. And I know I could, but I wanted to do this the human way. If we’re going to live like the humans we might as well work the way they do. Do you use your supernatural abilities to capture your criminals?”

  Cat shook her head, “Not unless I absolutely have to. You have to remember that most of the criminals I chase are much larger than me so there have been times I have actually used my abilities, but I try really hard not to resort to that. Now, let me help soothe your feelings. Come back into the kitchen. It’s my turn to surprise you.”

  He raised an eyebrow as she pulled out of his arms, “You have a
surprise for me? In the kitchen, you say? This I gotta see.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him before she disappeared around the corner, presumably on her way to the kitchen.

  Cat was setting plates on the kitchen table when Dem entered, “Took you long enough. What are you afraid of?”

  Dem looked at the plates on the table and had a seat, noting there were scrambled eggs and toast, and what looked like bacon, “You, actually. You don’t do surprises, remember? Is that bacon?”

  She smiled and had a seat on his lap, “Well maybe you’ve brought out the best in me the last year we’ve been together. I’ve begun to do things I’d lost the desire to even try before since I’ve been with you. I’m beginning to think that Prudence had more than one reason for giving me your tiara.”

  Chapter 5

  Cat spread the cinnamon frosting on the peppermint mocha cupcake, happy that another one of her creations turned out so well. She’d had a hard time getting the cupcake pan away from Dem when he’d tasted the one treat she’d put in front of him.

  “These can’t be used for the gift baskets or even the guests. They’re mine. All mine and no one else can have them,” he had shouted as she chased him through the house. She’d had to promise to make him his own dozen cupcakes and some more gingerbread cookies before he handed her the pan. Frosting the last cupcake, Cat smiled at the recent memory of her Genie running through the house cradling the pan in his arms and laughing like a madman. It was one of the many reasons the two of them fit so well together.

  “Cat! What are you doing?” Dem’s voice brought her back to the task at hand and she saw that she had over-frosted the poor cupcake in her hand.

  Scrapping off the excess frosting Cat called back as she smoothed out the top of the spongy treat, “Just finishing up with the cupcakes. I already started the sugar cookies. I hope all of our guests like eggnog because that’s what the cookies have in them.”

  He came into the room with a smile, “I thought I smelled eggnog. Was wondering if you had decided to make your own instead of going to the store to buy some, but I can see that you snuck some in the cart last week without my noticing. Huh, I wonder how you were able to get away with that since I’m usually more aware of my surroundings. Oh! You’ve added frosting to the yumminess of the cupcakes. And speaking of these cupcakes, our guests are gonna love them, darling. I can guarantee you that.”

  She smacked his hand as he reached for a frosted sponge treat, “These are for the guests, Dem. What time does the party start again?”

  Dem moved to the stove and pulled open the oven door, inhaling deeply as he answered, “Six o’clock. But people probably won’t start showing until around six-fifteen or so. You know how humans like to be fashionably late. Got time to come outside and see what I’ve done with the yard?”

  Cat stood from the table and followed her mate onto the front porch. What she saw made her pause. The Genie had been busy out in the yard while she had been working in the kitchen. He had decorated the three larger trees in the yard with the ornaments they had bought the week before. He’d hung the multi-colored lights on the eaves of the house as well as around those large trees giving the feel of a winter wonderland in front of their house.

  The snow that was falling added to the feel of Christmas, and Cat couldn’t stop herself from stepping off the front porch to walk in the glistening white, loving the fact that she was leaving footprints from the porch to the largest tree in the middle of the yard, “This is gorgeous, babe. You sure are handy to have around the house.”

  He had followed her into the yard, watching her dance among the snowflakes with a smile on his face, “I’m glad you like it, darling. After I saw your reaction to the way I decorated the den last week, I decided that I just wanted to make you happy this season. If we win the contest, then that’ll just be icing.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him in for a kiss, “I’d say you hit the mark on making me happy, in all things this year. What do you say we go inside and take a look at those antique decorations while we wait for the cookies to finish? That way we can add some decorations to the tree to go alongside those beautiful lights and the decorated den.”

  The Genie’s response was cut off by the sound of a car door closing. The two looked at the drive and watched shadowy figure approach them.

  “Greetings and salutations, Catriogwyn,” said a deep, gravelly voice as the figure slowly approached the light of the yard.

  Cat gasped when Lukas Spilka, her maker, stepped out of the shadows, “What are you doing here?”

  He chuckled, the sound taking her mind back to the night he had made her a Vampire. The night she had found out that she was half Succubus because her father, Miroslav, had been an Incubus demon who had chosen to live his life among humans until he had gotten caught by the Hell Guardians.

  He turned his gaze from Cat to Dem standing behind her, a smile fixed on his face and hand held out, “And who is this young man? Hi, I’m Lukas Spilka. I’m like a father of sorts to Catriogwyn.”

  Dem stepped forward, coming between the hybrid and their visitor, “Demetrio Pirozzi, Cat’s better half. How can we help you this fine evening, sir?”

  Lukas let out a loud laugh, showing his fangs, “So protective. Oh, and he has manners too, calling me sir. You couldn’t have done better for yourself, my dear.”

  Cat moved to stand beside her mate, “Yes, I like to think that I have. Now how about you tell us exactly what you’re doing here?”

  The Vampire let his outstretched hand fall and stepped a little closer to the pair, “Did you think I would let you celebrate the season without me, little one? Christmas is all about family, after all, and I’m closest thing you have left. I’ve been searching for you for a very long time, Catriogwyn.”

  The Genie met Lukas before the Vampire could reach his mate, “I think it’s time for you to leave, Lukas. We are expecting some friends to help us celebrate this joyous season and neither of us wants any trouble. And from what I have sensed of you, that might be just what you’re looking for. Neither Cat nor I are going to allow you to harm any of the humans in this town.”

  Cat gripped Dem’s arm, trying to keep him from doing anything stupid, “Dem is right, Lukas. You need to leave. As for your family quip, I have family here and you’re not it. I have my mate and the people in this town treat me like one of their own. I don’t need you ruining that. There is a reason I left your side a hundred years ago. You just couldn’t seem to help yourself from killing too much and too often. How many times did you come close to getting found out?”

  The Vampire stepped back, looking like the hybrid had punched him in the gut, “But I’m your family, Catriogwyn. I made you two hundred fourteen years ago. I’ve always been there for you. Where is your father, little one? Has he even looked you up since he left Hell again and found out that I turned you into the hybrid you are now?”

  He laughed when he saw the hurt look on her face when his words sunk in, “That’s right, precious. Your father has been roaming topside, free of the Guardians, for the last fifty years, give or take a year. I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and say that either he hasn’t found you, which I find rather hard to believe since you’ve been in Chicago for ten years and now here in Wilshire for the last year, or he just hasn’t bothered to try. If you want my guess, I’d say it’s the latter. Poor, poor, orphan Catriogwyn. No human family left alive and the one supernatural being doesn’t even care enough to look for his only living daughter. Though that might have a little something to do with the fact that I turned you into one of my kind two centuries ago.”

  The smoke alarm screaming from the kitchen reached their ears and Cat gasped once again, “My cookies! Oh no! No, no, no, no. They’re going to be ruined.”

  She rushed across the yard and hurried into the house, no longer caring if Lukas continued to try and weasel his way into her home or not. She needed to throw out the burnt cookies and start a new batch quickly. Th
eir time was running out before their guests started showing for her first ever hosted Christmas party.

  “Oh, the house looks lovely, Demetrio was it?” Lukas said as he entered the foyer.

  “Who invited you in?” Dem growled as he spun around.

  The Genie wasn’t impressed with their visitor much, and he could tell that his better half wanted nothing to do with the Vampire, so he was trying to make him leave before the townspeople started showing up to party.

  Lukas leaned in close to Dem, “I don’t need an invitation to enter a home that houses dead people. Yes, I know that neither of you are living but what I don’t know is what exactly you are. So, tell me, Demetrio, what type of supernatural are you?”

  Dem cleared his throat and listened to Cat muttering in the kitchen about her burnt cookies before answering, “You can’t tell what I am, Lukas? I honestly thought you were better at guessing games than this. But I’ll ease your suffering and tell you; I’m a magical type of supernatural, made up mostly of energy. A Genie.”

  The Vampire stepped back in surprise, “A Genie?! How is that possible? All of the Genies were snuffed out eons ago. How are you standing here before me?”

  The Genie gave Lukas a smug smile, “My mother was smart and hid me in something other than a lamp. I lived there until about fifty years ago when Prudence Stacey bought my home at a garage sale by chance. From there she held on to me, and my Genie home, until a time she saw as fit to pass me on to Cat. And that time was last year when she died.”

  Lukas sniffed the air in front of Dem, “Yes, yes. I can smell the energy now. How did I miss it before? Oh, Catriogwyn? Are you sure you don’t want me to stay and celebrate a holiday meant for family? I promise to be on my best behavior.”

  Cat stepped out of the kitchen, holding a crossbow with a stake sitting in the slot, “I’m positive that you’re not welcome here, Lukas. Leave now and I’ll spare your life. And just so you know, this little baby is never very far from me so don’t even think about coming back. Ever. You’re not my family and you never will be. As for the little story you told me of my father, I’ve known for the last forty-nine years that he’s been topside. I’ve been keeping tabs on him ever since, so if I ever wanted to see him, I could make the effort. I don’t need my father, Lukas, any more than I need you. Haven’t for over a century. Prudence knew that I needed and made sure that I received it when she died.”