by Brom
“Okay, so you gotta help me out here,” Jesse said. “Lord, where do I even start? None of this makes a lick of sense. Santa Claus, and giant wolves, and . . . shit, just what the hell is that Krampus guy? How in the heck did you ever end up with that devil?”
“He’s not a devil.”
Jesse halted. “Wait, did I get something wrong here? Aren’t you his slave? Didn’t he do this to you?” He gestured at her face. “Turn you into a monster?”
Isabel’s cheeks burned. She looked away, surprised by how much his words stung. “He saved my life,” she said, zipping up her jacket and pulling the hood over her head, hiding her face within its shadow. She walked on, leaving him standing there.
Jesse caught up.
“Well, that still doesn’t give him the right to make you his slave.”
“It’s not like that. You wouldn’t understand.”
“That’s ’cause it don’t make any sense.”
“And I ain’t no monster. I’m a woman. If you weren’t so thick you’d be able to see that.”
Jesse put up his hands. “Didn’t mean it like that.”
Isabel walked faster, leaving him behind.
“Ah, c’mon, Isabel. Slow down. I’m sorry.”
“I tried to kill myself, okay? Be bones in the ground, too, if weren’t for Krampus.”
“Kill yourself? Well, now why would you want to go and do a thing like that for?”
“That really ain’t none of your business. Is it?”
Jesse frowned, nodded. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It ain’t none of my business.”
She kept walking.
“Didn’t mean to pry,” he said. “Just trying to make sense of this whole thing. I mean it, I’m sorry.”
Isabel slowed, sucked in a deep breath of the cold night air. “I’d got myself into a bad situation. Seemed things just kept getting worse. I guess I tried to take the easy way out, okay?”
“Isabel, you don’t need to be explaining yourself to me.”
They continued on in silence. Isabel wanted to say more, ached to talk to someone other than Vernon and the Shawnee, someone young, someone with clear, sympathetic eyes. But opening up had never come easy for her, and she didn’t know this man. Just because he had a warm laugh and kind eyes didn’t mean he could be trusted. And you didn’t just start telling some stranger about how you got pregnant at sixteen, not unless you were prepared to have them look at you like you’re some kind of hill trash. But it hadn’t been some cheap hookup. Maybe if it had, the whole thing would’ve been easier. Isabel felt tears stinging her eyes and quickly blinked them away. Don’t you start. Just let it lie, girl. It always caught her off guard how bad it still hurt, even after all these years. She tried not to think about her baby growing up without a mother. How maybe if she’d been stronger, she’d be with him right now.
“I was sixteen when I ran away from home, ran away from everything. I wasn’t thinking straight, found myself up here in these hills. It was winter and cold, didn’t know what to do. Couldn’t see no way to fix the things I’d done. Walked out on a ledge and looked down at the rocks below and there was my answer . . . the answer to all the pain and heartache.” Isabel found she was crying. “Wish I’d had better presence of mind. I just felt so bad about everything . . . so bad. Just wanted all that hurting to end.” She wiped at her tears. “Dammit, didn’t mean to start all this blubbering.”
Jesse put an arm around her. Isabel had not had anyone touch her, not like that, not in over forty years. She covered her face and began to sob.
“I looked up into the stars,” she said. “Begged the Good Lord to forgive me, and walked right off that ledge.”
“Jesus, Isabel.”
“Well, I should’ve picked a taller cliff, ’cause that fall . . . it didn’t kill me.” She let out a mean laugh. “Just broke a bunch of bones. I couldn’t move. Just laid there crying and screaming. The pain was something awful.” She moved away from Jesse and wiped her sleeve across her face. “Well, it was them Shawnee that found me. They brought me to Krampus. I’m guessing I broke something in my spine, ’cause I could move but one arm, couldn’t feel a thing below my waist. Things were getting fuzzy. I believe I was dying. And that’s when Krampus bit me.”
“Bit you?”
“Uh-huh. That’s how he does it. Turns people. Something to do with mixing his blood is the way he tells it. Whatever it is he does, it saved my life. Healed me right up. About two days later I was up and walking about. Only that wasn’t all it done.” She held out her hands, looked at the jagged black nails protruding from her scaly fingers. “Didn’t always look like a monster y’know, used to have fair skin and long red hair. Owned a couple of pretty dresses, too.”
They walked on a long time without either of them speaking.
“So that’s why you stay, because he saved you?”
She looked up into the night, let the light snow hit her face. “No,” she said, knowing she’d go looking for her son if she could. She knew her boy would be in his forties by now, wouldn’t know her from Adam, and probably wouldn’t want to, either, not after she’d abandoned him. But she would sure like to see who he turned into. See if he had his father’s eyes. “I’d leave right this minute if I could.”
“Well, what’s stopping you?”
“Krampus forbid us from going into town. From going near folks when we can help it. Doesn’t want anyone seeing us. Or at least he didn’t. Y’know, back when he was all chained up. He’d send one of us into town every now and again to steal a newspaper, raid the library for any books on Santa Claus, or maybe if there was some other odd thing we needed that we couldn’t make for ourselves.”
“And, let me guess, there’s some sort of reason you got to obey him? He’s put a spell on you? Hypnotized you?”
She nodded. “That’s pretty much so. Once we turned, when he gives us a direct command, we’re powerless to do anything else. It’s like becoming a puppet. You no longer think, you just do.”
“And he’s ordered you to stick around, I take it.”
“He made us take this oath. Y’know, not to run off, to protect him, to take care of him, and other stuff like that.”
“Don’t leave much of a life for a young lady.”
“I try not to think on it too much.” She could see the mini-mart sign now, glowing not more than a quarter-mile ahead.
“What is he?” Jesse asked.
“Krampus?”
He laughed. “Who else would I be talking about?”
Isabel managed a smile. “Couldn’t tell you for sure. The Shawnee think he’s a forest god. Shoot, they’re so goddamn infatuated with him there wasn’t even need for him to have changed them. I guess he must’ve done it so they’d not grow old. Makwa told me that his whole tribe used to bring Krampus offerings since way back before the first white settlers even showed up.”
“And Vernon, I’m guessing he didn’t volunteer?”
She laughed. “He was surveying for the coal company sometime back first part of last century. He found Krampus by accident. Krampus, of course, wouldn’t let him go after that. So lucky Vernon’s been stuck with them stubborn Indians for company for going on nearly a century. And if you give him half the chance he’ll be glad to chew on your ear about it, too, let me tell you.”
They approached the store, skirting a mound of dirty snow piled along one end of the parking lot, and stopped in the shadow of a Dumpster. Isabel stared through the large front window at the goods inside the little mart. They sold a small selection of groceries and home basics, as well as local crafts and souvenirs: pecan rolls, jams, jellies, sausage and jerky, quilts, coon caps, key chains, magnets, and Indian jewelry made in China. She’d not been inside a store since before she was pregnant, and found herself mesmerized by the colorful displays and flashy packaging. Wouldn’t mind, she thought, spending a bit of time in there. Wouldn’t mind at all.
Jesse dug a roll of bills from his breast pocket. Flipped through them.
“Shoot, it’s all hundreds.” He snorted. “Never thought there’d be a day when I’d catch myself complaining about having too many hundred-dollar bills. Ah, here we go.” He peeled off a hundred and two twenties, put the rest away, and headed toward the store. Isabel remained in the shadow.
Jesse stopped, looked back. “Oh, yeah . . . guess you gotta stay out here?”
She nodded absently, her eyes fixed on the shelves of cheap trinkets.
He studied her for a moment. “Been awhile since you been inside a store, I bet.”
She nodded again.
“Okay, gotta pay before I pump. It’ll be a sec. Now, don’t you go running off and leaving me.” He winked at her and headed away. “Oh,” he called over his shoulder. “And keep your eye out for snipes. A gal out this way lost a few toes to one just a couple of weeks ago.” Isabel set her hands on her hips and watched him trot off.
About a minute after Jesse entered the store, a car came up the highway and pulled into the lot. Isabel withdrew into the shadows. Two teenage girls and an older boy climbed out, laughing over some shared joke. One of the girls jumped onto the boy’s back and rode him piggyback into the store, all three hooting and carrying on as though life was one big carnival ride. So carefree, Isabel thought and tried to ignore the jealousy biting at her. “Life don’t always go the way folks want,” she muttered under her breath. “That’s all.”
Isabel watched them romp about in the store. Both girls had long, wavy hair. It bounced and shined, silky in the glow of the beer signs. Something a man would want to run his fingers through, Isabel thought, and touched her own cropped hair; it felt waxy, crusty. She hadn’t had a chance to wash since fall; the creeks were too cold this time of year. The girls had on makeup, lipstick, and eyeliner, earrings. All the things girls wore to pretty themselves up. She wondered if there might be some makeup to cover up the blotchiness on her face. Maybe a little lipstick? Might look a little bit more like a young woman than some cave monster.
Jesse walked out; the gas can in one hand, a sack of groceries in the other. He nodded her way, headed to the pump, and began filling the canister with gas. The kids left the store a moment later. The boy shook his can of soda, popped it open, and sprayed it at the girls. Both of them let out wild screams, scooped up handfuls of snow, and threw it at him. He ducked, slipped on the ice, fell, dropping his soda. All three of them laughed so hard Isabel thought they would need medical aid. And all at once Isabel wanted them to stop. She didn’t want to hear them, or see them. She clenched her hands into fists. Found she wanted to shut them up, wanted to tear their beautiful hair out of their heads, scratch their pretty faces, make them know what it is like to lose everything.
One of the girls tugged the boy to his feet. He slipped his hands around her waist, pulled her to him, and they embraced, kissed—a long kiss that only new love can share. Isabel put her fingers to her own lips, stared, hardly breathing. They piled back into the car and Isabel no longer wished them ill, no, only wished to join them, to climb into their car and go wherever it was that young boys and girls go these days to have fun. She tried to imagine what that would be like, to just have fun. She watched their taillights until they disappeared up the dark highway.
Jesse walked up to her. “Here. Can you take this?” He handed her a grocery sack and set the gas can down at her feet.
“I’ll be right back. Need to make a quick call.”
“Call? Wait. I don’t know if you should.”
“Isabel, I have to know if my little girl is okay. Just gonna call her grandmother. There’s no way one phone call is going to endanger Krampus. So you’re off the hook.”
She bit her lip. If something wasn’t obviously endangering Krampus or directly breaking one of his tenets, then her actions were her own.
“Isabel, I’m not asking. I’m going to make a phone call. I’ll be right back.”
“Yeah . . . okay.”
He started toward the phone, then turned. “Oh, here. I bought you a little something.” He pulled a plastic sack out of the grocery bag and handed it to her.
“What is it?”
“Why don’t you take a look and find out?”
She watched him go to the phone booth, then peered into the sack, found a pack of watermelon bubble gum, a giant chocolate almond bar, and something fuzzy. She tugged it out. It was a toboggan cap, black and white and so frizzy. She held it up and realized it was shaped like a panda bear’s head, complete with nose, ears, and big, droopy eyes. Two large fuzzy earflaps hung from each side. It was utterly ridiculous, but no one would ever, ever mistake it for a boy’s cap. There was something else in the sack. She pulled out a box, popped it open, inside she found a charm bracelet with an attached oversize pink, heart-shaped locket. She let out a small cry, covered her mouth. Apparently, Jesse had as bad a taste in jewelry as he did in women’s hats, but she couldn’t stop smiling. She tore it out of the box and slipped it on her wrist. Just some ticky-tacky, she knew that, but it was still glittery and oh-so-girly. Not the sort of thing a guy would buy a monster, and for that second she felt like a girl again. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling. A tear ran down her cheek, then another. She tried to remember the last time anyone had given her a gift. It had been her Daniel, it had been the ring, some forty years ago. She wiped at her eyes. “Stop that,” she whispered. “Now’s not the time to go all weepy-eyed.”
Jesse hung up the phone and headed her way at a fast clip.
Isabel shoved her hood back and tugged on the toboggan, quickly tied the fuzzy earflaps beneath her chin. She hoped she looked as silly as she felt, couldn’t wait to see his face.
Jesse snatched up the gas can. “We gotta get back.” He headed up the gravel road without even looking her way, his face set and grim.
Isabel hesitated, confused, felt a sting of hurt. What just happened? She grabbed the groceries and sprinted to catch up with him.
“They’re after Abigail,” he said, his voice hard and tense.
Isabel didn’t know what to say.
“Linda’s mother asked me why Ash Boggs showed up at her place looking for Abi. That’s all the old witch would say, wouldn’t tell me a goddamn thing else. Just kept asking me what I’d done. You know what that means?”
Isabel shook her head.
“Means the General intends to make good on his threat, that’s what that means. Fuck,” his voice turned raw, cutting. “Fuck!”
Jesse’s long legs ate up the road and Isabel had to jog to keep up.
“There’s just no telling what the General might do,” Jesse said, but it was more like he was talking to himself. “I gotta do something before it’s too damn late.”
ISABEL WATCHED JESSE empty the gas into his truck, then screw the cap back on and toss the canister into the camper. They found Vernon on the steps. He glanced at Isabel, his eyes going right to her cap. He let out a chuckle. “Why that is just adorable. I do hope you brought Makwa one.” Jesse started past. Vernon put out his arm. “Hold up. I wouldn’t go in there just now if I were you.”
“Why?” Isabel asked. “What happened?”
“Nothing. Old Tall and Ugly is just in one of his moods. That’s all.”
Jesse pushed Vernon’s arm aside and headed in. Isabel followed and they found Krampus sitting cross-legged in front of the stove, his eyes closed, his face deep in concentration, the sack before him, an assortment of arrows, gold, and bronze, all looking ancient, strewn about his feet. The Shawnee sat away from him, watching him, looking nervous. Wipi glanced over at them and gave a warning shake of the head.
“Now’s not a good time,” Isabel whispered.
Jesse ignored her, started forward.
Isabel grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
Jesse shrugged her off, kept walking. “Krampus.”
Krampus’s brow tightened, but he didn’t look up.
Jesse walked right up to the Yule Lord. “Krampus. We need to talk.”
Krampus still didn’t open his eyes, but r
aised a hand, shook it urgently. Isabel could see the rising frustration on the Yule Lord’s face, knew what that could mean. She rushed to Jesse, put a restraining hand on his chest. “Jesse,” she said in a low, harsh tone. “You gotta wait.”
Krampus inserted his arm deep into the sack, appeared to be searching. This went on for several minutes. Isabel could feel the tension rising in Jesse with each passing second.
“Krampus,” Jesse said, raising his voice. “It’s urgent.”
Krampus jerked his arm out, opened his eyes, stared at his empty hand, then let out a howl. “Damn Odin,” he hissed. “Damn the Valkyries. Where did they hide it?” He locked eyes on Jesse and growled. “You dare interrupt me?”
Jesse didn’t back down a step. “We need to go now. Get my daughter before it’s too—”
“It will wait,” Krampus said and waved him off. Isabel found herself surprised by his restraint, then saw his exhaustion.
“No,” Jesse pressed. “You don’t understand, the General will—”
“You are the one who does not understand. I must find Loki’s arrow. Without it there is no way to stop him. Baldr will kill us all.”
“Krampus, you have to—”
“No,” Krampus cried, climbing to his feet, his tail snapping back and forth. “It is not your place to tell me what I must do!”
Isabel pulled Jesse back. “Stop it, Jesse.”
Jesse jabbed a finger at Krampus. “My little girl’s in trouble and I aim to do something about it. Tell you what, you just sit here, then. Me, I’m gonna go take care of this mess.” He yanked his arm free from Isabel and marched over to a cardboard box where the cash and guns sat.
