boys?”
“Stacy.”
Stacy was their next door neighbor and had a
nine-year-old son of her own. Stacy’s husband was a doctor at the same hospital
Dylan worked at. I can’t ask her to take Hail when she’s doing us a favor in
watching our kids as well as her own . “I think the Christmas break at
school was a bad idea. They should at least provide babysitting. He’ll take you
when he gets back, honey,” Dylan said to Hail.
“I need clothes now!” he argued. The boy looked like
he was about to cry. To anyone else, it would have seemed almost comedic
because of Hail’s size, but Dylan still saw him as the eighteen-month-old he
saved from an ancient demon.
Dylan pulled his walled out of his back pocket and
tossed it to Hail. “One pair of jeans and that’s it.” Hail nodded, thanked him,
and walked away with the wallet. Dylan finished brushing his teeth, got his
shoes on, grabbed his keys, said goodbye to his family, and was halfway to his
car before he remembered to retrieve his wallet.
Hail had barely taken enough for even the cheapest
pair of jeans. Ron was going to have a fit if his brother bought anything below
his standards. Hail preferred the comfort to style, especially since he would
grow out of it in a month anyway.
Only when Dylan was entering the hospital did he
realize the buttons on his shirt were wrong and he still sported dried
toothpaste stains. Ms. Manning, the head nurse of the E.R. department, smiled
brightly at him. “Enjoying the boys’ Christmas break?”
“Very much. They go back tomorrow, right?”
She laughed. Nurse Manning was a sweet, but strict
woman in her mid-thirties of average height and a slim figure with
shoulder-length white-blond hair and light hazel eyes. Dylan recently learned
that her mother was fae. While she had no powers herself, she was aware of
magic and had an idea of what Dylan did. “What are you doing for Christmas?”
she asked.
“Hopefully I won’t be worrying about being attacked
by demons again.”
“And is your wife going to be around?”
“She’d better be. We’re going to have the whole
family together if it kills every one of them and there’s going to be so much
holiday cheer it’ll be coming out of their ears. If they don’t like it, they
can go spend Christmas with my mother.”
She grimaced as if in pain just from the thought.
“What about you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Same old. I’ll spend it with my
sisters and their happy little families.”
“You should ask Taylor to go with you as your date.”
She scoffed. “The sheriff? Please.”
Dylan knew she was interested, but it wasn’t his place
to try to match them. He changed into his scrubs and got to work. Since
November, the hospital had more cases of electrocutions and broken bones than
it could handle. How many people have to electrocute themselves with
Christmas lights and then fall off their roof because of it before others get
the idea it’s dangerous?
* * *
There are many classic Christmas traditions. For
Devon Sanders, Christmas was a time to spend with loved ones. Even after his
childhood friend, a vampire named Astrid, killed his step-father and nearly
killed his mother when they were kids, he never skipped spending Christmas with
his mother, Maria. This year, however, Astrid was stuck in Dothra, his
mysterious uncle was unreachable, his mother was going to Australia to vacation
with a pack of wolf shifters, and he had to work.
He sat in his living room with Astrid’s book bag,
trying to induce a vision to see her. It was the power that his uncle, Vincent
and he both had, and Vincent taught him how to induce it with a particular
ring. When this power first emerged, he had visions every time he went to sleep.
Learning to use the ring helped, but he still had visions of Astrid. Then
Professor Keigan Langril took her to Dothra. Since then, he had no visions of
her or Langril’s daughter, Heather, and he no
“Stacy.”
Stacy was their next door neighbor and had a
nine-year-old son of her own. Stacy’s husband was a doctor at the same hospital
Dylan worked at. I can’t ask her to take Hail when she’s doing us a favor in
watching our kids as well as her own . “I think the Christmas break at
school was a bad idea. They should at least provide babysitting. He’ll take you
when he gets back, honey,” Dylan said to Hail.
“I need clothes now!” he argued. The boy looked like
he was about to cry. To anyone else, it would have seemed almost comedic
because of Hail’s size, but Dylan still saw him as the eighteen-month-old he
saved from an ancient demon.
Dylan pulled his walled out of his back pocket and
tossed it to Hail. “One pair of jeans and that’s it.” Hail nodded, thanked him,
and walked away with the wallet. Dylan finished brushing his teeth, got his
shoes on, grabbed his keys, said goodbye to his family, and was halfway to his
car before he remembered to retrieve his wallet.
Hail had barely taken enough for even the cheapest
pair of jeans. Ron was going to have a fit if his brother bought anything below
his standards. Hail preferred the comfort to style, especially since he would
grow out of it in a month anyway.
Only when Dylan was entering the hospital did he
realize the buttons on his shirt were wrong and he still sported dried
toothpaste stains. Ms. Manning, the head nurse of the E.R. department, smiled
brightly at him. “Enjoying the boys’ Christmas break?”
“Very much. They go back tomorrow, right?”
She laughed. Nurse Manning was a sweet, but strict
woman in her mid-thirties of average height and a slim figure with
shoulder-length white-blond hair and light hazel eyes. Dylan recently learned
that her mother was fae. While she had no powers herself, she was aware of
magic and had an idea of what Dylan did. “What are you doing for Christmas?”
she asked.
“Hopefully I won’t be worrying about being attacked
by demons again.”
“And is your wife going to be around?”
“She’d better be. We’re going to have the whole
family together if it kills every one of them and there’s going to be so much
holiday cheer it’ll be coming out of their ears. If they don’t like it, they
can go spend Christmas with my mother.”
She grimaced as if in pain just from the thought.
“What about you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Same old. I’ll spend it with my
sisters and their happy little families.”
“You should ask Taylor to go with you as your date.”
She scoffed. “The sheriff? Please.”
Dylan knew she was interested, but it wasn’t his place
to try to match them. He changed into his scrubs and got to work. Since
November, the hospital had more cases of electrocutions and broken bones than
it could handle. How many people have to electrocute themselves with
Christmas lights and then fall off their roof because of it before others get
the idea it’s dangerous?
* * *
There are many classic Christmas traditions. For
Devon Sanders, Christmas was a time to spend with loved ones. Even after his
childhood friend, a vampire named Astrid, killed his step-father and nearly
killed his mother when they were kids, he never skipped spending Christmas with
his mother, Maria. This year, however, Astrid was stuck in Dothra, his
mysterious uncle was unreachable, his mother was going to Australia to vacation
with a pack of wolf shifters, and he had to work.
He sat in his living room with Astrid’s book bag,
trying to induce a vision to see her. It was the power that his uncle, Vincent
and he both had, and Vincent taught him how to induce it with a particular
ring. When this power first emerged, he had visions every time he went to sleep.
Learning to use the ring helped, but he still had visions of Astrid. Then
Professor Keigan Langril took her to Dothra. Since then, he had no visions of
her or Langril’s daughter, Heather, and he no
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