Midnight before Christmas

by Renee George

  “This puts a new wrinkle on the problem.”

  “Did you hear from your brothers?”

  “Yes. Getting to the rink without being spotted is going to be difficult. We’ll only be able to fly so close. We can’t fight from the sky, and they have long range weapons to pick us off.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  Tell your girl we’re working on it.

  Max allowed a slight smile to tug at his lips. His girl. “Destan has a plan.”

  Well, I wouldn’t go as far as to say he has a plan. More like a haphazard Hail Mary.

  “Let’s go,” Max told Rachel. She immediately climbed into his arms. He opened his wings.

  “That’s pretty neat, by the way.” She grasped him behind the neck as he cradled her. “Your wings are amazing.”

  “You’re amazing.” He couldn’t believe how readily she accepted his other-world-ness. Up until today, she’d only known a human existence, in a few short hours she’d been completely submerged into a reality that would make most people question their sanity. Instead, Rachel embraced the possibilities. “When this is over, I’ll take you flying for fun.” Another promise he was determined to keep.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes.” He dipped his face to Rachel’s and meant only to give her a kiss of reassurance, something to help ease the stress he could feel growing inside her. It should have been comforting, but she gave the barest flick of her tongue across his lips, and the gesture evoked a hunger in Max. He kissed her hard, and with an appetite unbefitting the moment. She responded eagerly, her hands twining through his hair, her fingernails scraping against his neck. He wanted to roar his fire down her throat and fill her with his heat. To claim. To possess. To have and to hold.

  Get it, bro!

  We really don’t have time for this.

  “Holy hell,” Max cursed as he broke the kiss. It took him a second to get his pulse and breathing under control. He’d forgot he hadn’t broken off his telepathy with his brothers. “Are you ready?”

  “You betcha,” Rachel responded breathily.

  * * * *

  “We’ll come in from the east. Destan says there’s an opening where the spotlights don’t hit.”

  “Put me down about a mile out on the lake. I can skate in from there. They have to think I’m coming in alone.”

  “I don’t like the idea of you being exposed out there.”

  She didn’t like it either, but they had to at least appear to be following Tommy’s instructions. If Max and his brothers were spotted too early, it could mean instant death for her family.

  Rachel couldn’t risk it. “I don’t either, but it’s the only way.”

  She was glad she’d changed into stretch jeans, an athletic top, and a ski jacket. The jacket wasn’t because she was cold. It seemed her status as a frost giant, even a short one, had the added side effect of making her immune to the cold. But the jacket served another purpose. It hid a compact pistol in the pocket and a sheathed knife at her back. She’d grown up ski shooting with her father every year from twelve until seventeen, so she knew how to handle a weapon. Even so, she’d paid close attention to Max when he explained the steps of loading, unloading, using the slide to chamber a round, and pulling the trigger.

  A sharp pang of guilt stabbed at her as she thought of her dad. She’d quit going to the ski range with him because of some stupid teenage drama over a dance she’d wanted to attend. The state finals had been two days after the dance, and her mom had insisted she train instead. Maybe her mom had been right to make her work. After all, she’d taken first place. Why had she let petty anger put a wall between them? Rachel swore if she got them back safe and sound, she’d be a better daughter. One who called and texted. One who came home more than once a year.

  They landed outside the lighted area. Max kissed her forehead and rubbed her arms. “We’ll get them back, sweetheart.”

  She nodded.

  “You know the plan.”

  “Uh huh.” She hiccupped. “Skate in, make a lot of noise, distract them so you all can take out the guys on the roof, and when Tommy’s band of jerks least suspect it, you will swoop in and kill all their asses dead.” She batted her lashes, putting up a brave front. “Or something like that.”

  He tilted his head to one side. “Something like that.”

  He dropped his backpack on the ground and began to take off his clothes. The silvery moonlight bathed his body in its soft glowing light. He looked like an angel. Just watching him move took Rachel’s breath away.

  She knew the plan was for him to go full-on dragon. His brothers too. Silver scales twinkled like diamonds over his skin, and Rachel’s heart fluttered. This man inspired awe. “You are like a beacon reflecting every bit of light the night has to offer.”

  “My father is the grayman. He can change his skin to manipulate shadow and light.” Max held out his arms. His skin darkened to a matte and disappeared. His face was the only thing Rachel could still see. He winked a mirror-like eye, and then his face became practically invisible as well.

  Rachel nodded vigorously. “Okay. Got it. Grayman. Shadow and light.”

  “I’m going to change completely, and we won’t be able to talk. But I want you to know, I’m watching out for you.”

  His words made her want to be brave. Much braver than she felt. He stepped back and hunched over. Wings slid from his back and his body grew to twice its human size. His legs snicked and cracked as they became hindquarters for his beastly form. His arms, still muscular lengthened, and his hands became bird-like talons. His neck stretched, and his face elongated to accommodate a large snout, a long jaw, and a forward brow. When he’d completed his transformation, he was so much like the creatures of myth and legend that Rachel felt her knees shake at his presence. She trembled when he snorted. A puff of heated air blew across her face.

  “You’re… You’re magnificent,” she said.

  He closed his eyes and bowed his head to her. She stroked his nose. His scales felt soft and velvety like brushed silk. And the heat pouring off him had to be more than a hundred degrees. She fastened the backpack with his clothes and weapons around his neck. He’d need them when he turned back to human. She placed a light kiss on his reptilian cheek.

  “Go,” she told him, not really wanting to be alone. “I’ve got this.”

  He snorted again and nodded his giant head. He turned, his tail missing her by inches as he loped far enough away from Rachel to launch himself into the air.

  The force of the air from his wings blew her back. She scrambled to keep from falling on the ice. Once he became completely invisible against the clear night sky, Rachel sat down on the frozen lake and quickly put on her skates. There were less than forty minutes now to the deadline, and Tommy had sent another text with yet another picture of her parents with the current time. It was smart on his part. If Rachel for one second thought he’d already killed her parents, she would have unleashed the triplets to rain holy hell down on him.

  The strong winds had blown most of the fresh snow from the ice. Making it less difficult for her blades to cut into the rough surfaced ice. It had been years since she’d pond skated, and a few times she tripped over small protrusions. Soon, she had her legs under her, though, and her thigh muscles engaged with physical memory, her arms swinging against the side-to-side rhythm to speed her along. The frigid breeze whipped her hair around her face, but she persevered.

  Within a few minutes, she was bathed in the light from the rink’s parking lot. Three men with rifles she hoped contained darts and not bullets stood about fifteen feet apart from each other and almost thirty feet from the front doors. They all had red glowing eyes. Rachel slowed her approach. When she was a little more than fifty feet away, the guy in the middle raised his rifle and brought the barrel up to aim at her. A slow smile spread across his face exhibiting his pointed teeth.

  Rachel put up her hands. “Wait!” She skated left when he laughed and pulled the trigger. The da
rt stuck into the right sleeve of her jacket but didn’t breach her skin. These guys had no intention of keeping their word.

  “This wasn’t part of the agreement, Tommy!” she shouted as she zig-zagged in an arc to come at the guys from the side. The skates weren’t skis, but she had little difficulty pulling the compact pistol from her pocket and firing in their direction.

  She felt a minor victory when she heard their shouts of surprise. Screams from the sky drew her attention, and she watched as two of Tommy’s men kicked and flailed as they fell out of the darkness and landed bloody and broken on the ice in front of the three who’d greeted Rachel. The three men scattered, leaving a clear path to the front doors. Nearby, blasts from guns cracked and echoed against the silence of the night.

  Rachel couldn’t worry about what was happening with Max and his brothers. Her parents and Callie’s life were at stake and finding them was the most important thing. Especially now that their captors knew Rachel wasn’t alone. She toe-picked her way up the steps. The doors had a chain across the front with a keyed lock. She yanked and pulled, but the chain and the lock remained fixed in place. She could see the rink through the rectangle windows in the doors, but she couldn’t see Tommy or her family. She beat at the window with the butt of her gun, but it was a thick tempered glass, and she couldn’t break it.

  “No,” she said, hitting the door again.

  “Rachel!”

  She turned in time to see one of Max’s brothers—she couldn’t tell them apart—lob a small object her way. It rolled to her feet. She stared down at it uncomprehending for a moment. It was a grenade.

  “Three seconds,” he shouted. “Pull and throw.”

  Oh.

  Shit.

  She picked it up, prayed she wouldn’t blow off her hands, and jammed the explosive device between the chain and the door. She took a deep breath. Nodded to herself. And pulled the pin.

  The handle popped open.

  Fuck.

  Three seconds.

  Before she could move away from the blast, a large pair of claws snatched her off her feet and into the air. The concussive force of the explosion and the blast of heat sent her and her rescuer spinning in the air. Rachel screamed, but the dragon managed to get control. He glided to a sliding halt on the slick gravel of the parking lot.

  The creature set her down as he transformed to a half form, scales covered him but he was more humanoid than beast now. Two more Red Eyes came out of nowhere. Max, well over eight feet tall in this visage, turned his silvery gaze on the men and brought them up short. He opened his mouth, his jaw moving, shifting forward as if coming unhinged.

  Rachel staggered back as a roaring flame poured from inside him, covering the closest man in liquid fire. The bad guy’s screams died as his flesh melted away like wax.

  She should have been horrified, but she wasn’t. Max was protecting her, and she realized, he’d been protecting her since they first met. She knew he’d put himself between her and harm, even if it meant he’d die. Would she do the same for him? She barely knew the man, yet…

  Max batted the next assailant away with a wing. He turned to Rachel, his jaw back in place. “Go.” He pointed to the building. “I’m right behind you.”

  She pivoted on the back of her skate then ran to the hole left by the grenade, using her blades to cut in every step to the rink. The metal doors were off the hinges but haphazardly connected with the chain. Scorch marks ran up the outside wall and into the short hallway. Rachel climbed over the wreckage, an awkward feat considering the ice skates, but she worried she’d need them once she got on the ice rink.

  Destan and Eustan, in human form now, were battling four men, none of them Tommy Ritter. They dragon brothers were more proficient in the art of fighting than Ritter’s goons, and they took them out easily.

  “Where’re my parents?” Rachel asked as she caught up with them.

  One of the brothers shook his head. “The ice rink was empty when we got in here.”

  “It’s nothing but ice, ice baby.”

  “You must be Destan.”

  “You can call me destiny.” His face blanked for a moment. “Max isn’t amused.”

  Eustan put a comforting hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “The last picture looked like it was taken in a closet. Let’s search the place.”

  “Yes,” Rachel agreed. She immediately got on the ice and skated toward the far side. Blood in the center ring had her skidding to a halt. “Max!” she yelled.

  He swooped to her position, wings out, but back in his human form as well.

  She pointed to the bright red smears on the ice. “Oh God.”

  “We’ll find them, Rach.”

  “Rachel Ann Campbell!” Tommy’s voice echoed off the bleachers. She snapped her gaze to him. He stood across the rink with his arm around Callie’s chest and a long sharp nail digging into her throat.

  Her pink top was dark with blood, whether her own or not, Rachel couldn’t tell.

  “Where are my parents?” Rachel asked.

  “You should have come alone, Ray-ray. Your parents are dead now. And it’s all your fault.” Ritter’s nail dug deeper into Callie and she groaned.

  “Stop it,” Rachel screamed. She tried to skate toward them, but Max held her arm. She shook him off. “No. Don’t, Max.” She pushed herself forward. “You want me, Tommy. Not Callie.”

  She could hear Max’s wings flap. Tommy laughed. “Oh, I’ll take you all right. All of you.”

  Suddenly, they were surrounded by more than a dozen creatures, all with red eyes and fanged teeth. How many freaking amphyrs did Silver Lake have?

  “Eustan,” Max said with alarm.

  Rachel turned in time to see Max’s brother, full on dragon now, but too late. He’d been hit a dozen times with tranquilizer darts before he’d been able to shift. The large beast roared, belching fired across the ice, but fell as the drug worked its way through his system.

  Destan had managed to shift without getting hit. He chomped the nearest to him amphyr between his jaws and shook him until the guy stopped screaming. He tossed the corpse at another attacker who’d started to advance on him. Max was attacked from behind. He’d shifted completely again into a silvery-gray dragon and swatted his foes with a quick flick of his tail, then finished them off with a spray of fire.

  Tommy Ritter’s smug smile turned into a grimace. He watched, googly-eyed, as his men were taken out with extreme prejudice. Rachel pulled the knife from the sheath under her ski jacket and skated at Tommy with all her skill and might. Callie shook her head. The left side of her face was swollen and purpled with fresh bruising.

  Rachel could feel Max at her back. Eustan was still down, but Destan flew over the top of Tommy, and he stumbled back, easing his hold on Callie.

  “Max,” Rachel shouted. “Throw me!”

  He was at her shoulder now and in half form. “What?”

  “Throw me!”

  He grabbed her by the waist and tossed her through the air at Ritter. Rachel pulled in her arms, crossing her ankles counting the impossible five rotations she made in the air before coming out of the spin, landing on the inside edge of her right skate. Callie jerked out of Tommy’s grasp as Rachel slid into him with a backward arabesque. Her blade nailed him in the stomach and he doubled over. She fell on top of him and was tangled in his legs. The knife flew from her hand, sliding out of her reach.

  Searing pain burned up her calf. Tommy had sunk his fangs into her leg. He ripped at her like a dog with a bone, savagely tearing at the muscle. Max punched him in the head, but Tommy didn’t let go. Rachel screamed, the sound ricocheting around the rink. Everyone, including the dragons, all fell to the ground. Tommy’s teeth were no longer razor sharp, and his eyes were once again green. Rachel, without thinking, used her free leg to kick him in the head. Again and again. Only when he’d let her go, his body still, and his face an unrecognizable bloody mess, did she finally stop.

  “Are you okay?” Max said.

&n
bsp; “Oh God.” Rachel covered her mouth. “My parents. He said they were dead!”

  Callie crawled to Rachel. She put her hands on Rachel’s wounded leg, her lips moving as her hands glowed softly. Rachel could feel the wound knitting and mending.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m healing you, Ray-ray.” Tears streaked her swollen face. “I’m supposed to protect you, but I failed.”

  Destan stood by Max. “Your friend is a light elf.”

  “I’m also the one who called the shadow warriors about the Children of Caledon. I’d overheard Tommy at the bar, bragging, of course, about two weeks ago. I feel like this is all my fault.”

  “Stop it,” Rachel said. “That jackass was going to hurt someone. You saved me by calling them. You gave me Max.”

  Rachel wrapped Callie in her arms. They clung together for a moment as her best friend, and apparently an elf, wept.

  “My parents, Callie. Are they—”

  “I don’t know. I overheard Tommy say he put them in a fishing shack out on the lake.”

  The auger, the bench, it made sense now. It hadn’t been a closet in the pictures. It had been an ice house. “The lake is so big. How are we supposed to find them?”

  “Destan, stay with Eustan and Callie. I’m taking Rachel to the lake so we can search for her mom and dad.”

  “You shouldn’t go alone.”

  Max looked around at the battle carnage. “I don’t think there are any bad guys left.”

  Destan raised his brow. “There are always bad guys left. It’s their M.O.”

  “I’m not asking your permission.”

  “Fine.” Destan flipped his hand up then pointed to his head. “Keep this open, though, bro. Or I’m going to kick your ass.”

  Max shrugged. “You’ll have to get in line.”

  Rachel took off toward the front doors. She was tired of the debate. Her parents didn’t have the time for them to waste. Max ran ahead of her, transforming into a magnificent dragon as he charged outside. He stopped at the bottom stair and lowered his back leg. Rachel stepped up, his hard scales withstanding the edge of her blade, and sidled herself on his back behind his wings. She grabbed onto the area where the wings connected and held on for dear life as he leaped into soaring flight.