by Lyndon, Sue
“There’s no reason to worry. Those are all in a secure room—,” Santa began.
“No, Kris, you don’t understand, it’s Captain Superior, a superhero. He’s not your normal man,” Becky said. “Even a steel door won’t hold him off for long.”
“Does he know where the Krampus room is?” Santa asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Becky said. “He has x-ray vision. He’ll find it. Don’t you read the comics?”
“No,” Santa said. “I’m more interested in the artist.”
Alise saw Becky blush.
“And who else is this with you?” Santa continued.
“This is Sir Richard, a knight of the realm,” Becky said. “And this is...well, you know Alise already.”
Richard wrapped his arm protectively around Alise’s waist.
“Becky,” Santa said. “Please don’t tell me I’ve lost one of my top elves.”
“Never, Santa,” Alise spoke up. “Just... perhaps not around the workshop as much.”
The sound of high-pitched screams rang from farther up the hallway.
“I’ll explain later,” Alise said as she ran after an already moving Richard.
It wasn’t until a few seconds later Alise realized she was running toward danger. She wondered what changed in her. She had been perfectly content with making toys but now she couldn’t see that being the sum of her life. Was it Richard or Becky who set into motion these crazy events that changed her life? Or had she done it to herself by taking the magic-detector in the first place? It really didn’t matter. She had the chance to find out about love from a man who cared for her, a deep friendship from a woman who used to be an enemy, and a newly found confidence. If this meant an end to her old life, it was a fair trade.
A crowd of terrified elves rushed past them to the accompaniment of screeching metal. Alise knew without seeing it was the massive vault door being torn apart. She had no idea of how to stop someone so powerful, and they still had no idea why of even what he wanted the magic-detector for..
Captain Superior stood triumphantly in the steel ruin of the stronghold. He held the black snowflake above his head. “You’re too late, you fools! Victory is mine!” he crowed.
Santa stepped forward. “What is this nonsense about?” he voice boomed out, a voice that commanded attention.
“Immortality, you tired old standard,” the hero returned. “You might be content to fade into obscurity but I’m not. I know what it means when you’re saddled with a fill-in artist like your little whore. It means I’m going to be canceled.”
“You idiot!” Becky yelled. “Don’t you know that even if you get canceled, you’ll just get rebooted in a year or so? Good God, do any of you actually read comics? Nobody fucking dies. Ever.”
“All the same—” Captain Superior crushed the snowflake in his hand. “Why take the chance?” He grinned maliciously. A brilliant nimbus of white light swirled around him as the magic contained in the metal released.
“We’ve got to stop him before he absorbs all the power,” Santa said and Richard leapt forward, his blade swinging in a deadly arc.
The sword was grabbed in Superior’s hand, the crackling energy seemingly giving him protection from the razor-sharp edge. “You cut me before, now, I’m going to crush you,” he snarled and drew back a massive fist.
Richard stood rooted in place, staring uncomprehendingly at the man holding his weapon at bay with his bare hand. Richard paid no attention to his impending doom.
“Richard!” Alise screamed, the terror of losing him gripping her own body like a vice.
“Richard, goodbye!” Becky yelled and Captain Superior’s deadly blow passed through a fading image of the knight.
The superhero sneered. “You saved him but it’s too late.” With a flex of his legs, Captain Superior rocketed up through the roof.
“What now?” Alise asked, sparing a grateful look to Becky for her quick thinking.
“To the sled,” Santa said with determination. “He’s not the only one who can fly.”
Chapter Seven
Alise swiped her fiery hair out of her face once again as the chill night air blew against her. This was her first time on Santa’s sleigh but the joy and honor of such a trip was lost on her. Richard’s life had only been spared by Becky and her life at the workshop had been ruined by a mad comic book character. The jangling of the sleigh bells on the reindeer seemed to mock her. Alise had no idea of what her life would be like after tonight but she would make the best of it. She had no other choice.
Fortunately, Captain Superior lit up the night sky like a Christmas tree. He couldn’t evade them if he wanted to. Santa snapped the reins, coaxing more speed out of his team. They were slowly closing the gap.
“Get me close to him,” Becky said over the roar of the wind. “I’ll dismiss him.”
“Becky—” Santa started.
“Just do it!” Becky yelled. “Dammit! I started this. I’ll finish it.”
Alise wanted to curl up in the bottom of the sleigh and cry. She knew she had started this but Becky was protecting her again. How could she have ever doubted her? The woman was her best friend now. Somehow she would find a way to repay her.
They swept in closer and Captain Superior sneered at them. Alise had no idea how long it would take him to absorb all the power from the crushed magic-detector but it couldn’t be too much longer.
“Goodbye, Captain!” Becky yelled.
Nothing happened.
The crazed hero laughed in derision. “You have no control over me any longer, woman. I have transcended this shell you sought to confine me into. I am no longer a tired old power fantasy, I am power.”
Alise grabbed Becky and kept her from falling out of the sleigh as Santa rapidly jerked it into a sharp dive to avoid the crackling blast of mystical energy that Superior fired at them from his hand. They heard his amplified laughter as Santa struggled to bring the sleigh back around for another pass. The normally stalwart reindeer were, justifiably, spooked.
“I don’t know what to do!” Becky cried out.
Alise watched Santa’s jaw clench and she became afraid.
“I’m going to get close and you take the reins, Alise,” he said, calmly, which terrified her even more.
Becky understood just as well as she did what Santa was intending to do.
“No!” she yelled.
“I have no choice,” he said.
The sleigh swept in and, before Santa could make a move, Alise pushed him back into his seat and jumped.
Her heart leapt into her mouth as the lack of any solid footing under her feet registered with her brain. Her feet paddled impotently against air that could not support her and she could feel the inexorable grip of gravity taking hold. Alise did not look down until her fingers dug into Captain Superior’s gold cape. She heard his grunt as her full weight was applied. To her, however, his discomfort was a minor concern in comparison to maintaining her grip.
“Insignificant flea,” he laughed. “You are merely delaying the inevitable. Stay there and watch your friends die.”
Alise shut her eyes as doubt assailed her. He was right. What could she do? He would kill them all. She could feel the prickle of all the magic swirling around her, her neck hairs stood on end.
She thought of Richard, his lips on hers and his body pressed up against her, his strength giving her comfort. The feeling the two of them belonged together. She thought of Becky, the woman she had distrusted so vehemently only to discover she was the best friend she could ever have, how Becky had shown her a wider, wonderful world than she had ever known existed. And she could never forget Santa. He had raised her and given her a home and, for that, she would be forever grateful.
Alise felt the
power envelope her, felt its buzzing in her ear and she sent out one last fervent wish to spare her friends and to take her life instead.
Chapter Eight
“What’s happening?” Captain Superior shrieked and Alise opened her eyes, hoping against hope for some sort of a miracle.
Her world was blindingly white. She couldn’t see.
Alise might not be able to see but she could feel.
Energy coursed through her. Her fingers dug deeper into Superior’s cape as her body endured the assault of power.
Tingles swept in waves across her skin, down her legs and across her chest. Alise expected searing pain but she received a different kind of fire. It was... arousing. Her nipples grew hard against Richard’s tunic and her stomach quivered in rising desire. It was if an invisible electric lover teased her into sudden sodden readiness. A memory of Richard’s sweat-drenched body above her flashed through her mind and she moaned.
“Get OFF me!” Captain Superior screamed, his voice desperate. Alise felt the cape snatched out of her grasp.
To her surprise, she did not fall. The Krampus energy stoking her body caressed her and held her in it’s comforting embrace, supported her. There would be nothing to fear. Alise felt content and loved. She opened herself to the power and it filled her completely.
More magic caressed her body and she reveled in it. She would take it all. Alise imagined she heard someone screaming but it was a small, easily ignored annoyance in comparison to the bliss that enveloped her.
Soft hands touched her body and the physical contact sent her tentative grasp on what was happening to her into thrashing, crying oblivion.
Chapter Nine
Alise slowly woke and cracked her eyes open. She was in Becky’s bed. A brief memory of her own destroyed bed caused her some pain but this one held some very cherished memories of its own.
“How are you feeling?” Becky asked, drawing her attention to the chair pulled up beside the bed.
“What happened?”
“That’s still up for debate,” Becky answered. “It was pretty obvious that you absorbed the Krampus magic from the destroyed magic-detector and got rid of that asshole, Captain Superior, in the process.”
“So what’s still in question?”
“What it did to you.”
“What do you mean what it did to me?”
Becky smiled at her. “For one thing, you’re still big.”
Alise quickly glanced under the sheets and found herself strangely relieved. She wasn’t sure how Richard would take her normal, diminutive body. She remembered all too well Superior’s flaccid reaction. No, she wouldn’t miss it.
Alise swallowed. “What do you think happened to Superior?”
“That’s where Kris and I differ on opinion,” Becky said. “He thinks you destroyed him for good. I think he just got blasted back to wherever damned shithole he comes from when I call him. Remember, nobody dies in comics. Doesn’t matter, really, I have no intention to ever use that fuckwit again.”
“I hope I didn’t kill him,” Alise said in a small voice. She understood Becky’s anger at the betrayal, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to fuel any rage towards the man. She felt...sorry for him. He only wanted to continue to live. If he hadn’t acted so rashly, she felt sure that they could have figured out something to save him. Perhaps these feelings too were a part of her new self. Time would tell.
“I don’t think any of us can, sweetie,” Becky said, her voice grew soft. “As long as Superior Comics is published or there are fanboys around to remember him, he isn’t dead, but he’s more than welcome to stay out of this world.”
“What else happened to me? Other than my body?”
“Again, we’re not sure. Elves are Christmas magic. You sucked up a lot of this Krampus magic which, as Kris said, you’re not even sure what it is. He has no idea what the combination of the two will do.”
Alise pulled the sheets up around her chin.
“Hey, now,” Becky said soothingly. “You’re fine. Don’t freak out on me.”
“What’s going to happen to me?” Alise said quietly.
“Well, both Kris and I agreed you going back to the workshop would be a bad idea until you can get a handle on the new you, whatever that may be—”
“But where am I to go?”
“What the hell do you mean where do you go?” Becky looked at her with mock severity. “You’re going to stay right here with me. I hope you weren’t thinking that I’d kick my best, okay, only, friend to the curb?”
Tears sprang to Alise’s eyes. “We’re friends? Best friends?”
“I don’t just let anyone fuck my first boyfriend in my bed,” Becky said with a laugh. “What do you think I am? Some cheap slut? Don’t answer that.”
“What about Richard?” Alise said.
“I sent him back before Superior could hurt him.”
“No. I mean what will he think about me now?”
Becky smiled at her and took her hand. “Sweetie, Richard cares about who you are, not what you are. That’s why I loved him. He never judged me for being a insecure, scared teenager all those years ago, he saw how lonely I was and comforted me... in his own special way.”
Alise giggled at their own shared joke. “But what I am I going to do now? I’ve only ever made toys. What good is that going to do?”
Becky waved away her concerns. “We don’t know what you can do now so don’t write yourself off like that. If nothing else, I can always use a model. I have plenty of books and videos you can watch and we can always go on a field trip to see Richard in his world if you’re especially good.”
Alise smiled.
Becky continued. “Think of it as a well-deserved vacation from the workshop. Think of all the adventures we can have.”
Alise grinned. “I like how you think.”
About the Author Sue Lyndon
Sue Lyndon is a multi-published author of erotic BDSM romance and spanking romances. She enjoys a good book in any genre, loves Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, and runs on coffee and chocolate.
About the Author Jennifer Conner
Jennifer Conner is a best-selling Northwest author who has forty short stories,books, and audiobooks.She writes in Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance, and Erotica.
She has hit Amazon’s top fifty authors ranking and her books have been #1 in sales.
Her novel Shot in the Dark was a finalist in the Emerald City Opener, Cleveland, and Toronto RWA contests.
Jennifer is an Associate Publisher for the indie e-book publisher, Books to Go Now who resides in the Seattle area. They pride themselves in helping new authors get their foot in the door with well-edited manuscripts, professional covers, and platforms uploads.
She live in a hundred year old house that she grew up in. Her semi-small town holds an interesting mix of resident hillbillies, yuppies and Navy Seals. And of course Seattle, only a few miles away, is the birthplace of Starbucks so coffee is always on the check list. She blows glass beads with a blow torch, (which relieves a lot of stress and people don’t bother you) and is a huge fan of musicals.
About the Author Julie Kavanagh
Julie Kavanagh lives in London with her husband, her grown up daughters and six rescue cats.
She works in an Inner city school and has been writing for as long as she can remember and, despite modest success, a few years ago she gave it all up to concentrate on her family but now she’s back with a vengeance and lots of wonderful tales to share.
About the Author JW Stacks
J.W. Stacks is a librarian by day and an airship captain by night. She’s has been writing for over ten years but has just recently decided to try hia hand a
t fiction. Please make sure your goggles are fastened securely and that you keep your hands, bonnets and handkerchiefs inside the vehicle at all times - this will be a turbulent ride.
After reading this story please leave a review. The authors really appreciate your input. Thanks!
Books to Go Now at www.bookstogonow.com prides ourselves with representing great stories at low prices.
We want to take you into the digital age offering a market that will allow you to grow along with us in our journey through the new frontier of digital publishing.
Some of our favorite award-winning authors have now joined us. We welcome readers and writers into our community.
We want to make sure that as a reader you are supplied with never-ending great stories. As a company, Books to Go Now, wants its readers and writers supplied with positive experience and encouragement so they will return again and again.
We want to hear from you. Our readers and writers are the cornerstone of our company. If there is something you would like to say or a genre that you would like to see, please email us at www.bookstogonow.com
