Murder, Mayhem, Monsters, and Mistletoe
an Anthology by
Rae Ford
Rodney Hall
C.R. Garmen
Michelle Rabe
Lindy Spencer
Jamie Sheffield
Brenda Tetreault
Copyright 2014 by individual authors
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and places are figments of the authors'
imagination; incidents of historical proportion are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold
or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,
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copied, reproduced or redistributed in any form, written or electronic, without specific
consent of the author. Piracy (Arrr, matey) is fun; piracy (stealing) is a crime.
All rights reserved.
Cover work by L. Bachman – https://www.facebook.com/writerbachman
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cold Burn – by Rae Ford
Mr. John – by Rodney Hall
A Perfect Christmas – by C.R. Garmen
Another First for Christmas – by Michelle Rabe
Above the Bridge – by Lindy Spencer
Now is the Winter – by Jamie Sheffield
Merry Christmas, Baby – by Brenda Tetreault
Cold Burn
Rae Ford
(The Luminosi Brotherhood Series #1.5)
Cold burns are the result of a person coming in contact with an object that is extremely cold. The cold must be sufficient enough to cause damage to the individual which may not be reparable. Unless action is taken quickly, the lack of sensation is replaced by strong waves of pain that seem to emanate from the affected area of the body and into other areas. However, if the cold burn is caught in time, it is possible for the individual to experience a complete recovery, though damage to the surrounding area may cause the loss of sensation to be permanent.
Chapter One
Tyson Roberts stood sipping on stale coffee and watching his General's girlfriend/vessel miss a target dummy five feet in front of her for about the one-hundredth time.
"On it!" Danielle Stiles, a rebellious teenage Water Elemental, was tasked with using her powers to make sure that Bree's bad aim didn't burn down the already derelict building, he'd found for them to train in and would lose his job, or at least get in serious shit if anyone found out they were using.
The Chicago detective and Fire Elemental shook his head and laughed, just as he had been for the last twenty minutes. He couldn't help but be amused at her complete lack of skills. He'd seen her create the beautiful balls of fire easily. He'd even seen her get pissed off or otherwise riled up and her entire body glow with the Archangels flames.
"Your woman is never going to get a hang of this, Sir."
"Hey smart ass!" The tiny female, Bree, stalked over to him and attempted to be intimidating by poking her tiny finger into his hard chest. "Don't talk to Rafe about me through me. That's just rude, dude."
Bree was possessed by one of the loves of her life: the Archangel of Fire, Raphael. Tyson was his lieutenant and he was helping her learn to use Rafe's powers while keeping it secret from her other lover, Thelan. She had a bad habit of tilting her head to the left and looking upwards. It was the general signal that she was having an internal conversation with Rafe. Even though most of the Luminosi had gotten used to it, it was actually quite amusing.
"Shut it, both of you! At least I can conjure the fire at will. Isn't that the important part?"
Tyson stared down at her pointedly, "I don't know. Let's throw you in the middle of a pack of werewolves and see if the ability to aim is important or not."
She rolled her eyes, but he could tell that she knew he was right. She'd been practicing for four months and still couldn't hit the target without Rafe's guidance.
Out of the blue, she giggled. "Shhh," then turning her attention to Tyson, "Ugh, I know. Tyson, can you tell me again how this should work?"
Tyson idled over to her with a knowing smile. He wasn't typically patient, but he would continue to be with her. He vowed to Rafe that he and his woman would be included in the fight, no matter what Tyson had to do to make it work. They had less than a week to prove her powers to the Luminosi and to Thelan. Otherwise, all these months of hard work were for nothing.
"I wish I could tell you more, sweetheart. You can manifest the fire just fine. You just must use your instincts and your connection to Rafe to actually make it have an impact…literally. Isn't there someone you'd love to kill?"
"Of course not!" By the way she just screamed at him, he wasn't so sure about that. She could throw a tantrum like nobody's business, and as a cop, he knew that most murders were committed because of an outpouring of emotion.
Tyson chuckled again and kept his thoughts to himself. "I don't mean for real, woman. I mean, has there ever been anyone in your life that pissed you off so bad you thought you could kill them for it? Think about that person when you're aiming. I know this is just practice, but imagining an enemy will help you."
"Well, a few months ago I kinda felt that way about Thelan."
"Ha! That's surely not going to work now. Everyone in the Luminosi compound can tell that the only death that man experiences is how he feels after three hours in the sack with you two horndogs." Thelan, their Luminosi technical expert certainly hadn't been getting much work done lately. Cayden had complained several times that if one more project was late, he'd be making Thelan send the girl back home.
"Rafe says you're in big trouble, Mister."
He figured he'd try to get under her skin a bit to misdirect her mind from the task at hand. "Oh, please say I can join in one of these days. I have been dying to understand exactly how you three work the logistics out. I mean, does Rafe sometimes have you put on a strap-on or anything?"
"Young innocent ears coming through" Danielle said returning from her firefighting duties. "Please. No one wants to hear about 'Firestarter' over here and The Viking in the sack with 'Ghost Boy'. Besides, everyone knows that she just magically grows a dick when the time comes to bang The Viking in the ass."
"Ugh, and no, Danielle! Why don't you go eat a lollipop or something?" Breanne ribbed.
The seventeen year-old stuck her tongue out at Bree. "Only if it's attached to Tyson."
"Alright, that's enough!" Okay, that crossed the line. He'd seen entirely too many pedophiles in his time to consider that a joke. "Let's hurry up and get this done so I can get back to the station."
The two girls shrugged at each other. Bree squared her shoulders and got back to the task at hand. She focused on the dummy in front of her, and she appeared to follow Tyson's directions.
The first attempted was a miss.
Second one, too.
Miss.
Miss.
Miss.
Just as Tyson was about to call it a day, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, conjured a ball of fire in each hand, then let loose. He couldn't believe it. The two fireballs had combined mid-air into one, decimating the dummy upon impact, and there was nothing left of it but ash.
Tyson immediately did a spit take with his coffee. "Well, shit. I didn't see that coming."
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