Spinning around to the second guy, who pointed his rifle at Scrooge, I pressed the gun into his temple. “Unless you want to end up in chunks as your friend here, you will lower your weapon now.”
The toy soldier hesitated, his black painted on eyes weirdly moving around his smooth face.
“Now.” I pressed in harder, tilting his head to the side. Slowly he lowered his weapon, Hare taking it from his hands. “Now, you are going to unlock that door like the obedient toy you are.”
“I-I-I can’t. He-he has the keys,” the soldier stuttered, pointing to his comrade in pieces on the floor.
Scrooge crouched down, digging through the sawdust, finding a set of keys under a leg, holding them up to me.
“See.” The toy motioned to them.
“Yeah.” I nodded, my finger pushing down on the trigger. “I see we don’t need you anymore.”
Bang!
Timber sprayed out, soldier number two spreading over the hallway.
“Damn, woman. You are ruthless.” Hare’s mouth parted, and he stared at me. “I seriously think I’m in love with you.”
“More than your stove?”
“Let’s not get carried away.”
Scrooge brushed off the dust covering him, standing up, his body only an inch from mine, his blue eyes burning as they devoured me.
“That turn you on?” I curled an eyebrow.
“Hell, yes,” he rumbled. “You’re a badass, Ms. Liddell… and that fucking turns me on.”
My lungs fluttered, my tongue sliding over my lip.
“You guys might be worse than rabbits.” Hare shook his head, bouncing over the dead soldiers. “Come on, her stocking doesn’t need filling right now.”
“I beg to differ,” Scrooge gravely muttered, his eyes still moving over me, making me inhale sharply.
“Scrooge!” Hare whispered hoarsely, pulling his friend’s attention from me to the door. Scrooge jogged up to the closed door inserting the key. The terror that dozens of soldiers would pour down the hall, hearing the commotion, kept my gun pointed toward the hall entrance, watching their backs.
The lock clicked, the door creaking as it swung open. With a final look for enemies, we all slipped into the room. Light from the window above streaked down the wall to the floor.
“Oh god.” My hand went to my mouth, taking in what my eyes were showing me.
Naked and badly beaten, Santa lay on the floor, his neck, hands, and feet chained to the wall. The stillness tapped an alarm in my stomach.
“Santa?” Scrooge called softy inching closer to the still form. “Nick?”
Neither responded.
“Shit.” Scrooge moved to him, panic making each movement jerky. He scoured Santa’s body for signs of life, his hand going to his neck, then bending over to his chest. “Fuck. No… no-no-no…”
Terror sprouted up my esophagus like weeds; a sob assembled in my soul like a hurricane.
“Is he…?” Hare tapered off.
Scrooge’s head shook, but he wasn’t answering Hare’s question. It was more he was not accepting this outcome. “You are not doing this to us. You can’t.” He growled at the lifeless form, starting to pump down on his chest, breathing into his mouth.
I couldn’t seem to move, the truth ripping away all certainty and hope, and though I stood on solid ground, I was plunging down a dark hole.
Down. Down.
We were too late.
Santa Claus was dead.
Chapter 42
“You do not get to do this.” Scrooge pushed at Santa’s chest, a nerve along his jaw twitching violently. “We didn’t come this far for nothing. Jessica does not get to win. You hear me? There are too many who believe in you. Need you.” He bent over, giving the essence of his life into Santa, reminding me of the time I did that to him… which had saved his life. The greatest gift. The ultimate sacrifice for someone else.
Hope bristled in my throat, my eyes latching onto Santa as Scrooge gave himself over to saving this man.
Santa’s chest expanded with Scrooge’s air, but this time I saw it hitch.
“Cranberry sauce!” I yelped, rushing over to them, dropping to my knees, my fingers going to his pulse on his wrist and neck. It was dull, but I could feel life thrum against his skin.
“He’s alive!” I cried as Santa’s heartbeat grew stronger, with each breath Scrooge gave to him. Slowly, Santa’s lungs started drawing in oxygen on his own. “You did it.”
Scrooge sat back, fear still encrusting him.
“You saved him, Scrooge.”
Scrooge’s shoulders sunk, his head tipping forward, and he rubbed at his face, a long breath exploding from his lungs.
“Fuck. If I knew you wanted to make out with me so bad…” A hoarse voice muttered petulantly, lids fluttering open with a cough. “You could have asked for it for Christmas.”
Scrooge’s head snapped to him, his eyes narrowing. “Nick?”
“Is that a question?” He hacked, sucking in gulps of air, his voice hoarse. “And here I thought I meant something to you.” Nick tried to roll over, the chain yanking him back. His face and body were covered in bruises and cuts, dried blood coating half his face and streaking back into his white hair like red highlights.
Hare snorted. “Of course that asshole is too stubborn to die.”
“Santa’s still alive, right?”
“Yeah, that feckless elf hugger is still here.” Nick twisted to me, winking with his better eye. “But I think you enjoy them a little more virile and rough around the edges, don’t you, sweetheart?”
“Ewww.” Believing Santa was dead, I didn’t contemplate much about him being naked, but now I realized it with disturbing awareness. His beard no longer covered any of his bits. And I thought I needed therapy before…
“Nick,” Scrooge growled. “We don’t have time for this. We need to get you out of here.”
“Great.” Nick held up his wrists, the chains clinking together. “Let’s go.”
“You know, I just realized a scenario we didn’t consider.” Hare tapped at his mouth.
“Fuck.” Scrooge huffed, grabbing for a knife in his harness. He wedged it in where the cuffs linked together, trying to pry them apart, while I tried to do the same on his other arm.
“Yeah, twiddle-shit, that won’t work. You know she has these spelled. A certain key has to open them.” Nick groused, his face flinching as he curled himself forward, sitting up. “Damn, you guys really are stupid.”
“You know, on second thought, I don’t think St. Nick here will be missed all that much.” Hare drummed his stub on the stone. “We’ll actually be doing a service to people.”
“Something I heartily agree with you on.” Her voice snowplowed through my stomach, punching my heart up my throat.
My head jerked up to Jessica’s smirking smile, her small frame dwarfed by the huge wood door, but her ego crammed every inch of space. This woman was a freakin’ ninja. Silent and deadly.
Lurching up, Scrooge twisted around, his physique automatically stepping in front of us.
“Took you guys long enough.” She strolled in, Blitzen and a few soldiers right behind her. Their weapons were already pointed at our heads. “I was starting to get bored.”
Scrooge huffed through his nose.
“Yes, my Knave, I knew you’d come.” Her eyes were locked on him, the rest of us inconsequential “I know your mind and heart, my love. You felt more like a husband to me than that soggy lump of coal ever did. When we connected…”
“Shut up.” Scrooge reached for a weapon on his holster.
“Bad boy.” She waggled her finger at him. “You make another move, and Blitzen puts a hole in your girlfriend’s head much faster than you can draw a weapon on me.” She grinned and walked closer to him, her eyes roaming over him. “I recall brief moments you liked being my husband. Wanted it.”
“Guess women aren’t the only ones who can fake it.”
A grimaced smile convulsed her mout
h. “As horribly bad-tempered as you come across, you still have a hero’s heart. I knew you’d come for Santa.” She motioned to the man on the ground. “Frosty ran to you just as I hoped, the mirror too tempting for you to ignore. Though, I did think I was being a tad bit obvious…” She clicked her tongue. “Instead of the extra work of bringing you all down the mountain, you came to me willingly. Walked right in. Checkmate.”
We weren’t stupid, we all figured this was a trap, but she had set the game up perfectly. We had no choice but to play.
“You got us.” Scrooge held out his arms. “So now what?”
“Someone’s impatient.”
“We have a spa treatment with Gloria.” Hare tapped at his wrist.
The queen stared at him for a moment, perplexed, before going back to Scrooge.
“I’ve been so generous with you.” She patted Scrooge’s chest. “Even gave you a chance to be with your son again… live a full life with him. Watch him grow up this time.” Her eyes flicked to me in a sneer. “But your dick overrode your very own son.”
“He wasn’t my son.” Fury bristled through him. “He was an empty husk you conjured.”
“He could have been everything you wanted him to be. But you chose her.” Jessica shook her head. “At every turn, you have chosen wrong. Such a disappointment.”
“I’ll learn to live with it.”
“No.” She chuckled. “You won’t.” She moved away from him, Blitzen seemingly took it as a cue, moving to him.
“I’m done with this realm. I don’t need you, Nick, or Ms. Liddell anymore.”
“You mean I won’t get to be your drooling houseplant in the corner of the institution, you know, in case of emergencies.” I clutched my chest mockingly. “I’m so disappointed.”
An eerie smile peeled back her lips, her eyes rolling over me. “Not when I learned there is another I can use. You think you’re the only Liddell who is special?” Her words sucked out the blood in my veins like a vampire, ice creeping into my skin.
“What?”
“Your sister might be closed off to believing right now, but she wasn’t always, you know… and from my spies, your disappearance has affected her greatly. She’s not quite right. You know insanity runs in families.”
“Don’t. You. Dare. Touch. Her.” Fists clenched, I pitched forward.
“Or you’ll what, Alice?” She clasped her hands together, nodding at her guards. “You’ll be dead.”
They moved in a blink, Blitzen eagerly leaping on Scrooge, his hatred for his old partner lighting up his eyes. Two soldiers grabbed me, and two more confiscated Hare, shoving us all to our knees on the ground, stripping us of our harnesses loaded with weapons.
“You know how I love a beheading. Makes such a fun party. But not this time.” Her heels clicked around me. “Nick will once again watch his friends being murdered in front of him. By the end, he will be begging to close the doors for good and let this place die.”
The soldier’s wooden hand pinched painfully into the back of my neck as he shoved me down farther.
“Blitzen, you get to do the honors this time.”
“How did you know what I wanted for Christmas?” he jeered, slamming Scrooge’s forehead into the rough stone floor. “But I’m saving him for last. He’ll first get to watch his lover lose her pretty little head.” He yanked Scrooge back by his hair, growling in his ears. “Be like old times? Watch the blood spray out. Her life leaks out as she stares at you with utter heartbreak and disappointment.”
A feral snarl came from Scrooge, trying to fight back, but more guards moved in, kicking and smashing him with the butts of their rifles.
“Scrooge. Stop!” I cried out, his wild eyes meeting mine. “Please.” I shook my head. That’s not how I wanted this to end. Emotion suffocated my throat as I looked at Hare then back to him.
“I should have made you leave.” His words tore through his teeth. “This was not your world… this should not be your ending.”
“You keep saying that. But it was; it is. I was always supposed to come here.” A tear rolled down my cheek. “And I’m glad I did. Otherwise I would have never met you.”
“You would have been better off.”
“I was lost until I came here. I found friends. Family. Home. In this crazy place, I’ve never felt surer of anything. Of you, of my life with you.” My words were strong, but my body shook. “I love you, Matt Hatter.”
A noise curled out of his throat as Blitzen moved to me, pulling the axe from his back harness, the soldiers shoving me down, the texture of the stone the only thing I could see. This was it. Would it hurt? Would there be blackness and peace? In my mind, I told my family I loved them, wishing I had taken the chance and opened the hat shop instead of listening to everyone else.
“Jessie, please! Don’t do this!” I could hear Santa was back, his voice pleading with her, his chains rattling. Hare cried out for me, but the sounds were muffled compared to Scrooge’s voice. Like a blanket or a stuffed animal you curled up with when you were scared as a child, I wrapped myself up in his rough timbre, closing my eyes.
“No! Alice!” Scrooge’s scream thundered through me as the soldiers tightened their grip, Blitzen’s axe swinging up.
“You have the power, Alice. Don’t forget.” I could hear Rudy’s voice in my head.
Right. I had muchness. Closing my lids, I pleaded for help, Blitzen counting down above me.
“Three.”
A tinkle of glass hit my knee opening my lids. A vial sat in front of me. But it was not a cookie or something to drink.
I blinked.
An antique key slid around the inside of the container.
What the hell, Christmas fairies? How was a key supposed to help me from getting my head chopped off? Had they finally gone mad?
Terror sank in my gut so deep, bile burned my stomach, knowing this time there was no way out.
“Two,” Blitzen called as I heard Scrooge roar with fury and agony.
“One—”
BOOM!
A blast tore through the castle with a jarring rattle, knocking everyone to the ground with a shriek. Covering my head, dust and chunks of stone crumbled from the building on us, falling like rain.
“Alice!” Scrooge scrambled over to me through the haze of debris. Anguish and relief covered his features as his hands gripped my face, pulling me into his body. His arms came around me. The rush of his warmth and the fact I got to feel him again shuddered my chest.
Once again, I slipped from death’s fingers. Even if it was for a moment.
“What was that?” Jessica screamed as she rose back on her feet, brushing herself off, fury igniting her eyes like Christmas lights. The stiff soldiers struggled to get up, appearing like upside-down turtles.
“I don’t know, Majesty.” One soldier who had been holding Hare finally rose to his feet. Free, Hare darted to us, and Scrooge pulled him into our huddle, his physique ready to defend and protect.
“Then. Go. Find. Out!” she shrieked. “Your wooden brains are showing they’re only good for a fire.”
The guards squeaked, all rushing for the door at once, getting stuck as each tried to get out the exit, no one getting anywhere.
Boom!
Another blast went off, this one farther away, but it still shook the fortress with a hearty groan.
“Get out of my way,” she yelled at the guards, rushing for the door. “And bring them. If it’s that rebel alliance… they will watch their commanders die in front of them.”
Jessica rushed out the door. The guards seized our limbs, forcing us to our feet.
“Move it!” Blitzen ordered, pulling Scrooge away from me, shoving him forward so hard Scrooge stumbled, ramming his head into the wall. Blitzen thrust him out of the room, sadistically enjoying Scrooge’s face smashed into the hard stone, watching blood gush from his nemesis’s nose. Scrooge straightened up and smiled at Blitzen with a taunting smirk.
“Let me go, you dickless dolls
! That’s why you’re so bitter, huh? Don’t even have a whittled pencil for a dick.” Hare kicked and wiggled as two guards lugged him out.
The guards holding me, propelled me forward, my boots hitting an object, pitching it forward toward Santa. With a clink of glass, the metal rolled around inside, which no one seemed to notice but me.
The key.
“Let them go. Take me instead!” Santa cried after us. The guards ignored his pleas, dragging me out. “Plea—!” His words were cut off as the door slammed behind me.
They marched us up and out the doors, where most of Jessica’s servants already hovered. Many I recognized from the facility. Pepper Mint and Everly Green—their snarls lifting when they spotted me.
The guards stopped us on the steps overlooking the back garden. The memory of the first time here didn’t feel much different from my present circumstance, except this time the forest beyond buzzed with commotion and noise.
My gaze landed on the first wave of shapes coming from the forest. People, reindeer, and elves lined up, armed and ready for battle. Torches glowed in the dark, flicking shadows across their faces, making them look spooky.
The rebel alliance had arrived.
Chapter 43
“That’s it?” Jessica howled with laughter, the deep cackle skating shivers down my spine, her gaze shooting to me. “That’s your army?”
“Don’t ever doubt those who have something to fight for.” I sneered.
“Aww. What a sweet notion.” She placed her hand on her heart. “But when has fluffy hope ever actually won? I have thousands of men against your handful. We’ll see how long your idealism lasts.”
I wanted to refute her, but truthfully, she was right. The good guys barely ever won in real life.
“General?” She called over her shoulder to her head guard.
“Yes, Majesty.” He stepped forward.
“Send out all your troops. Don’t leave one alive.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He bowed, instantly turning to his troops, ordering them to attack. My optimism shriveled up, my heartache thumping against my ribs. We had weapons, but she had the numbers. Mindless toys that wouldn’t stop until my friends were dead.
Ascending From Madness Page 33
