Finn Noel: A Bloodwood Academy Novella

by Rae Foxx

  This was real.

  “Why am I wearing his clothes and where the fuck did he go?” I asked anyone who would answer. Tommy was too busy doubled over laughing to answer and Saxon was in shock. His mouth wide open and eyes bulging.

  “Oh good!” That same elf declared, bustling his way into the room, gingerbread cookie in his hand and two spares being tucked in his pocket “He finally made the deal, now let’s get you to work!”

  “Deal? I don’t understand. Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?”

  The smug elf just grinned as two dozen elves barged through the door behind him, shock written all over their cartoonishly blushed faces. They all wore matching outfits and murmured to each other in high-pitched voices. Sounded like a small gang of Smurfs on crack. “Santa?” They all exclaimed before they busted into a round of applause.

  “Fuck!” I shrieked, trying to pull the hat off my head, which appeared to be stuck. “Why are you cheering? Clearly, I am not a fat man, saying Ho, ho, ho.”

  “Well, that needs some work,” Tommy said and I lifted my foot, aiming for a nut shot, but he poofed into smoke before I could make contact.

  “Just because I’m somehow wearing the old man’s clothes doesn’t mean I’m Santa.”

  The elves all laughed but it sounded like a record with the needle on the wrong setting, faster and higher pitched than I thought it should be.

  “Yes, it does!” That same elf with the jumbled name said, all of the others continuing to titter like they were in on the same joke. “You will see. You have consented and now the task is yours.”

  “Start speaking in plain words, elf or that cookie will be your last.”

  With a tiny yelp, he shoved the legs of the cookie he had been about to gulp down into his pocket and nodded. “Claus has been looking for someone to take on this curse for generations—ever since the moment the dog put it on him. He hates delivering gifts to children and even the word Christmas makes him grunt and drink until he’s too drunk to walk. You think you’re the first one to waltz in here, begging for a magical holiday or the perfect tree or Christmas romance?”

  “If I wasn’t the first…” I muttered, slowly putting two and two together, “does that mean you set me up.”

  “Completely,” the elf said, all of them still laughing and smiling. “Now let’s get to work!”

  “Fuck me,” Tommy said, breathing so deep he might be close to hyperventilating from the emotions in this room. “You took on the curse…”

  I blew off the demon with a pfft sound. “I did not. He said I could give Finn Christmas myself. Holy shit…”

  A deep growl came from somewhere in my chest and the head elf jumped, freezing in his celebratory dance-off to stare at me in fear.

  Guess my wolf wasn’t too interested in this whole Santa thing either.

  The elves screamed and hid behind the red chair like it was going to shield him from the animal inside me if she chose to come out. If she did, their ringleader was going to resemble that half-gingerbread man in his pocket—only the legs left.

  “Just so you are aware, I’m not doing this,” I announced, the elves reappearing from behind the chair like horrified daisies. “I’m not fucking Santa Claus…”

  “Well, I would hope you aren’t fucking Santa Claus,” Tommy interrupted, giving me a wink. “That guy was a fucking mess.”

  “I am not becoming Santa Claus,” I rephrased with a poisonous glare at my demon. “Handshake or no handshake. No one wants to see me coming down the chimney carrying gifts” Mostly because I would fall on my ass and probably lose my shirt somehow. I’d done worse.

  My mates looked at each other, they clearly had the same thought but didn’t take it the same way. They were clearly imagining me in some sexy Santa Claus fantasy. No. Just no.

  “Well, actually, you coming down the chimney might be a fun…” Saxon said, tapping one of his fingers against his chin.

  Dream on, bud.

  “Right? Just turn those ugly ass pants into some cutoffs and…”

  “No! This is not what I meant when I shook his hand,” I directed my anger right at the elf who seemed to be quite amused at the turn of events.

  He shrugged one shoulder and checked his little childlike watch as though he had better things to do than to explain things to Ivy/Santa Claus/Idiot Supreme.

  “Too bad you don’t have a choice,” He said, hands on his hips like he was trying to be the boss. It wasn’t working. “That’s why it’s a curse and not a blessing. No one really wants to be shackled down with this shit. You think we making toys and other garbage junk for the world’s snotty-nosed brats? We don’t.” He sighed long and hard. “I’ve got to get back to work. Come by the workshop later and let’s go over the itinerary and start with the basics. Christmas must go on. We need to introduce you to the reindeer as well.”

  Wait. Reindeer… and I was dressed like Santa, which inevitably meant that they would follow everything I said.

  That gave me an idea.

  “Like Rudolf?”

  “Rudolf is a fairy tale,” He answered my question with a roll of his eyes. “Anyway, all of our reindeer are females. No way males could carry all that weight without bitching for a month afterward. Lead one’s name is Rudi. Close, but humans always fuck up our truths. And her nose doesn’t glow. She just had a cold one time and that rumor started. There’s a light on the sleigh.”

  With that little sentiment, the elf saluted me and left, cookie back in hand.

  “Okay, Santa baby,” Saxon said after a minute, his voice loud in the empty room. “How do you suggest we get out of this one?”

  “Oh, Saxon, you have clearly underestimated me. I have a plan to not only get out of this mess but to give us all the best Christmas ever.”

  “Does it involve the reindeer?” Tommy asked, smiling as we stared at the door.

  “Oh, you bet it does.”

  Chapter 9

  “This way! No, pull that one more!”

  I did as Saxon said, pulling the reins to the left and sending the reindeer to the right. They heaved, whinnied, and moved like an oiled machine as they twisted the sleigh and shifted through the air, slamming us all into the walls.

  My entire body rammed into Saxon who was clinging to the side for dear life. Tommy laughed from the back of the sleigh where I assumed the presents usually went, sliding around the floor as we soared through the air.

  Soared hundreds or thousands of feet in the air.

  Which was great for a wolf shifter and a vampire. Tommy would be fine, which was probably why he was laughing his ass off in the back.

  If he fell, he’d just black smoke himself somewhere. I would be dead meat. Wolves don’t land on their feet, after all.

  “That way, that way, that way!” Saxon was in hysterics, yelling so loud that his voice cracked, but I could still barely hear him above the wind. Tommy, however, I could hear crystal clear. The guy was cackling.

  I swung the reigns again, and the sleigh turned toward the line of golden lights that were shimmering in between the tall pines. If we had read the map correctly that should be Bloodwood Academy.

  Either that or it was some correctional facility lined with snipers ready to shoot us out of the sky. We may be in Santa’s sleigh, but I wouldn’t put it past them. Humans.

  “Okay, start pulling up!” Saxon roared as the lights grew closer, and Tommy’s laughter diminished.

  “Pull up?” I gasped, shaking the reigns as if I knew what that meant. “I’m wearing the suit. I found the reindeer. That doesn’t mean I know how to drive them!”

  “Drive?” Tommy laughed, hanging over the polished wood of the sleigh and tapping his fingers against the fur upholstery on the seat. “Should I be worried that you don’t know how to land this thing?”

  “Land?” It was a squeak. Saxon was white, and Tommy was back to laughing. “Yeah. Land. Easy. I’m like Santa and shit, I got this.”

  Yeah, I totally got this.

/>   I shook the reigns, doing something that I assumed resembled a ‘pull up’ and tried to lead them toward the stretch of snow where we’d had a snowball fight that morning. The snow was all mottled, but there weren’t any trees and I knew it wasn’t far from the keep. Perfect. Now if I could just land this sucker.

  “Ivy?” Saxon asked, alarm in his voice as I continued to shake the reigns and try to line up the reindeer and the sleigh with the large stretch of white snow.

  “Ivy!” That one came from Tommy, the guy now crawling up to join us on the bench as both Saxon and Tommy reached for the reigns that I was shaking and moving and pulling and wiggling.

  Yeah. I totally knew what I was doing.

  We were lined up, we were slowly descending, and we were going… way too fast.

  Shit. I didn’t know what I was doing.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing!” I screeched as I dropped the reigns, the guys began to scream, we all clung to each other for dear life and screamed like the really mature supernaturals that we were. Our screams echoed off the trees, mixing with the sound of bells and hooves, and Tommy’s high-pitched panic-- and the sleigh touched down with a gentle bump before it slowed.

  We were completely fine. The sleigh was completely fine.

  “We’re alive,” I sighed and sagged against the back of the fur-lined seat as we pulled to a stop.

  “Speak for yourself,” Saxon said, nearly vaulting out of the sleigh and collapsing in the snow. Weird popping noises echoed back from where he was.

  Ha! He was totally kissing the snow!

  “Says the vampire who hasn’t been alive for a century of some shit,” Tommy swung himself out of the sleigh like a gymnast, plopping into the snow beside the vampire who jumped up with snow in his eyebrows.

  Yep. He was totally kissing the ground.

  I reached in the back and grabbed the big bag I had taken from the North Pole, swinging it over my shoulder and popping a candy cane in my mouth.

  “Baby, I have never seen Santa look so hot,” Tommy crooned, zapping his way over to me in an instant, his hand already on my hip.

  “Just wait until you see me come down the chimney,” I teased, winking and running the candy cane over my tongue in a way that I knew was more than a little erotic. The way Tommy was looking at me was making me all sorts of hot and bothered and I was considering a romp in the snow with the two of them when Tommy had to go and open his big demon mouth.

  “Then I’ll put something in your chimney,” Tommy continued, and I wasn’t so much as hot anymore, as just bothered.

  “Ew.” I think my top lip was curling. Double ew.

  “Too much?” Tommy asked, his suave dimming.

  “Tommy, I don’t think any girl would be turned on by you offering to put something up their chimney,” Saxon said, as I clenched my legs together. Worst pick up line ever. They would need a jackhammer to pry these thighs apart.

  “Can we please not repeat that?” It was just getting worse. And the imageries… “I mean, is this like a chimney sweep thing-- Don’t answer that!” I near screamed when Tommy opened his mouth to answer. “Nope. Done. Moving on. And so much for dropping down a chimney, I’m gonna bust my way through the door now.”

  I gave them both a look and hitched the bag over my shoulder, trudging through the snow and back to the Keep. If we were lucky, we would get back and deck the place out before Finn and Howl got back from school.

  I was so damn giddy that I was practically skipping through the snow, big ole Santa boots stomping a path as my two mates followed the bouncing white bobble from my Santa hat.

  The icy hallways leading to the Keep were empty, so we clearly had some time. I picked up my pace and kicked my way through the door like a ninja.

  Although, I am sure the heavy boots played a hand in breaking the door down.

  “I think I would have preferred the chimney rather than breaking my door,” Saxon mumbled, inspecting the hinges of the door as he followed me into the thankfully empty keep.

  “Perfect, let’s get to work.” I dropped the bag in front of the sex tree and pulled it open, revealing all of the tinsel and bobbles and decorations that I had always fantasized about having growing up.

  They were so glittery and golden and beautiful. I let my fingers run over them, glitter coating my fingertips as floating into the air.

  “While I do understand the beauty,” Saxon said from over my shoulder. “How is this going to help Finn have a good Christmas?”

  “It’s going to help all of us have a great Christmas.” I shoved a giant ball of multicolored tinsel streamers in his arms and gestured to the velvet couches that were everywhere. “Make it sparkle.”

  “Vampires don’t sparkle,” Saxon growled with a twist in his lip and an obvious protrusion of his fangs. He hated that crap, so I kissed him on the nose and spanked him on his ass as he walked away.

  “They do for Christmas,” I called after him, but he only growled and started throwing tinsel around haphazardly.

  I was going to have to help him clean that up… you know, after I deliver presents to all the kids all over the world.

  Damn. Just thinking about that was making me fidgety, no wonder the old Santa was a lush.

  Okay, don’t think about that.

  More tinsel.

  “What do you want me to do, Santa baby,” Tommy snickered, smacking me on the ass and shooting me up from the bag I had been hunting through.

  I had the perfect come back for that.

  “Lights,” I announced, shoving another ball in Tommy’s arms, this time of tangled lights. “Have at it, big boy.”

  “You are giving a demon tangled Christmas lights? Do you want this to work, Santa baby?”

  “You’re a big boy, you can do it,” I added another wad of lights to his arms just to drive him crazy. “Demon dick…” yeah, that sucked. Sucked a big ole demon dick.

  But he just laughed and walked away, already swearing and shaking the tangles of lights.

  The boys were busy, and I had saved the part for me that I had been most excited for. The tree.

  Bobbles of every color, ribbons, lights, and the most gorgeous tree topper I had ever seen. A ceramic angel, clad in gauze and lace, holding a shimmering golden star as she sang and twirled and glittered.

  She was soft in my hands as I stared at the tree, with its bent over top and boughs bent over by dozens of sex toys.

  It was still the perfect tree for us, it just needed a few more things. Starting with this angel.

  Tommy was now swearing his way through Christmas carols as he untangled lights, Saxon untangling his tinsel and getting covered in it. He kind of looked like a tinsel monster.

  Okay, I’ll get this angel up, and then I’ll help the boys.

  After dragging a chair over, I balanced on the edge, reaching for the top of the tree with an angel in one hand. My big old’ Santa boots held me down, but the top of that tree was still too far away.

  I shifted my weight, reached forward, one leg out, angel arm forward and I promptly fell into the tree. Which fell over, right into the fire.

  “Shit!” I screeched as the entire thing went into flames, Tommy jumping into action as he smothered the flames with his demon smoke, Saxon rushing over like a silver yeti.

  We stood around the smoking tree, most of it eaten down to black twigs, me in my Santa suit covered in ash, Saxon sparkling in a layer of tinsel, and Tommy with two lit up balls of Christmas lights thrown over his shoulders until they looked like wings.

  It was right at that moment that the door to the Keep was thrown open, and Howl and Finn walked in.

  They froze, the door silently closing behind them as they stared at us and slowly, slowly, began to snicker.

  And then laughed.

  I would be upset, but we all looked ridiculous, we all laughed. Saxon laughed so hard that his tinsel coating shook and sent glimmers of silver over the walls.

  “What are you doing?” Finn asked, he and Howl still
chuckling as they joined us around our now burned tree.

  “Giving you the best Christmas ever,” I said, carefully sitting the angel on top of the charred tree as if I had meant to put her there the entire time. “Obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Howl chuckled, still staring at Saxon, who was now trying to strip the tinsel from his skin and was only now realizing that the stuff stuck like a mother fucker.

  “Merry Christmas!” I announced, wiping the ash off my chest as I puffed myself up. “Santa brought Christmas!”

  Finn tugged me close, his eyes burning a hole through my spine and right down to the flood of need that was wetting my thighs.

  “Thank you for giving me a Christmas,” he whispered in my ear, running his other hand up my thigh and making a shiver splinter my spine. “But you didn’t need to do this. It was already amazing.”

  “I just wanted us all to see how Christmas was supposed to be,” I said, realizing that us meant ‘me’. I mean, it was them too, but I definitely might have gone overboard.

  “I think this is just how it’s supposed to be. You know what would make it better?” He continued, still touching me and making it really hard to think.

  “Yeah?” I closed my eyes and rolled my eyes back, fully aware that my other mates were chuckling.

  “Seeing as we already unwrapped our Christmas present. I would love it if you would unwrap yours.”

  All four of them smiled, wicked desire in their eyes as one after another they grabbed ribbons and handcuffs from the remains of the tree and held them out to me.

  Ready.

  Willing.

  Bulging at the seams.

  Forget the jackhammer, Finn’s cock and a smile were all it took to spread me wide.

  Chapter 10

  They stood in a line like good little tin soldiers, smiling as they waited for instruction. I always loved it when they did this, my wolf was already growling contentedly as my Alpha blood purred and hummed to life.