Hi, all! I'm back at it with my sexy take on the holiday season!
New reader? I promise this tale is absolute mayhem at this point, but there's plenty of monsters, mayhem, and sexy times in the previous chapters.
Returning reader? Welcome back! Sorry about the delays, I've been trying to maintain a two-a-month average, but real life plus some editing stuff has eaten into my free time, and I've had to burn the midnight oil at both ends. I try super hard to keep to that schedule in my bio, so you can always check there if you're wondering when the next post is coming.
(And thanks to the reader who emailed me and was all "Hey, you okay? You haven't updated your bio," cause that reminded me that I hadn't done it yet.)
I just want to thank everyone again for the kind words and emails, they really do make a difference. Your enthusiasm (and plenty of caffeine) keep this writing machine going! That's enough from me, let's get on with the show!
The Cold Shoulder
Yuki stepped into the bitter cold of the Arctic, pausing just long enough to close the window behind her. The sloped roof above was covered in thick powder that had acquired a substantial crust of ice along the top, and her feet broke through the drift beneath her as she walked away from the house.
The Northern Lights were now obscured, casting the Christmas village into darkness. A majority of the light now streamed from the windows of Santa's home, which looked like a cross between an old lodge and a castle. The high, arched peaks of the house were decorated in sparkling lights, and a large wooden shield with a carved SC had been hung on the front of the house.
She was not surprised to see that it was much smaller on the outside. The exterior was only three stories tall with a small chimney up top that released a steady cloud of smoke. If she remembered correctly, the interior was at least five stories high, which made her wonder how the outside kept track of all the windows on the inside.
"Stay focused," she muttered to herself, turning away from the home.
The front walk was already obscured by snow drifts from the storm, but she navigated it without any problem. The snow moved away from her, clearing the path in case she needed to make a hasty retreat or find her way to safety. She could already tell that the storm itself was unnatural, but the sheer amount of power she felt off toward the horizon was slightly alarming.
It had to be Jack. There was no question about it. If she had said something to Mike, he would have demanded to help. It was so far below freezing that it was almost too cold for Yuki. He wouldn't last more than a couple of minutes outside, not unless Mrs. Claus had squirreled away a bunch of enchanted gear for visitors.
The street lamps were lit with magic, and more than a couple flickered, ready to go out. She sent out bursts of fox fire to the ones that were broken, bolstering the enchantment within so that they stayed lit. Whimsical buildings that looked to be made of gingerbread were frosted over, and some of the candy cane fencing had fallen over to shatter on the ground.
She closed her eyes and commanded the hair on her body to elongate, wrapping her in both warmth and safety. To an outsider, it would appear as a thick coat of dark fur, making her stand out on the icy tundra. Yuki didn't bother trying to hide. Jack would likely be able to sense a warm body from a mile away.
It was a long walk to the edge of the village. The silent buildings around her were reminiscent of mausoleums, though she did occasionally notice movement in the darkness. She hoped it was the elves, but wondered what other dangers lurked in the North Pole. One shadow in particular was very large, skulking around behind nearby buildings for a while before disappearing. Were there other forces at work here? Would they go looking for Mike if they knew he was alone?
Mike.
She smiled, rubbing her lower belly. She was still sore from their rough lovemaking, though that wasn't the correct term. It hadn't just been fucking, either, there had been so many emotions involved. Not only had it been fun, but her entire soul had relaxed afterward, as if it had been stretched tight for the last couple of decades.
How could she pay back a man who not only saved her life, but maybe even her soul as well? Even now, she could feel that her magic had changed, like a friend who had gone away for many years, both familiar yet strange. So many aspects of it that had been closed to her now swirled within her, eager to be reacquainted.
When she got to the edge of the village, she took a deep breath in through her nose and smiled. Older magic radiated through her body, filling her with a warmth she hadn't felt in decades. For the first time since Emily, she was...
complete.
After sex with Mike, something had changed inside of her. It was as though someone had picked up all the leftover pieces of who she used to be and put them back where they used to go. The pieces were still loose, and it would take time to glue them all back in place, but at least the whole picture could now be seen. It was why she wondered what he had acquired from her, because what she had received from him was peace.
Beneath her feet, the cold earth slumbered but responded with interest to her touch. On the day she had acquired her second tail, she had chosen the element of earth as her specialty. It had given her quite the array of magic, which she had used to protect herself and others.
On the day she had grown her third tail, her broken soul had latched on to the element of ice. It was cold and unforgiving, much as she had been. Recently, she had worried that her command over ice magic was slipping, but she knew better now. It wasn't that she had become weaker, but that her heart was now stronger. She had relied so much on that sense of abandonment, on the anguish that had come with being broken to develop her bond with the ice.
The cold that had once comforted her now felt like a stranger. She no longer sought its embrace, nor found comfort in the way it numbed her. Where she had once craved it, the desire was gone, and the ice knew.
However, as the ice withdrew, the earth remained. She could no longer rely on one aspect of her magic alone, because the grief powering it had largely diminished. The ice was only one aspect of her magic, and without most of her deck of cards, it was time to rely on an old friend.
The horizon was obscured by what looked like a massive fog bank, but Yuki knew better. It was a swirling mass of snow and ice, barreling toward the Christmas village with the ferocity of a hurricane.
"What are you up to, Jack?" She pondered the length of the storm, realizing that the power she saw didn't agree with what she knew of Jack's abilities. A massive storm was doable, given enough time. It was the moving shapes within that had her concerned. Controlling a storm on top of elementals?
Had she underestimated Jack's skills? There had only been the one encounter, and Jack Frost had easily overpowered any control Yuki had over elemental ice, a feat which would probably be even easier now. But if Jack had always been this powerful, she should have easily defeated Mike and Yuki when they first met.
Yuki crouched, pushing her hand through the icy crust of the top layer of snow until her fingers touched the frozen soil beneath. Closing her eyes, she let the magic flow through her, spreading out across the landscape. She could feel the steady pounding of feet, the heavy vibrations traveling out from the coming stampede.
Jack hadn't just raised a storm. She was bringing an army.
Frowning, Yuki reached into her sleeves and pulled out her tarot cards. Nothing in the minor arcana would help her, and she had very little in the major arcana. She had burned through most of them on her return to Earth, and they took a long time to recreate.
The Moon, Temperance, and Wheel of Fortune were the only ones she had. Scowling, she looked up at the approaching army. The Sun card would have been great, but she had used that to build a dimensional pressure cooker to blow up a demon's pocket universe. The Lovers card could benefit her, but she had accidentally used that on Cerberus. Smirking, she thought of Mike, and all the crazy adventures he had already taken her on.
"Crazy human." She tucked the major arcana back into their secret sleeve and pulled out what was left of the minor arcana. Only a few cards had survived her trip into the furnace, and these wouldn't be much help.
It was time to get creative. Closing her eyes, she communed with the earth, curious what she could even accomplish here. Summoning pillars of ice was easy, because ice was fairly light and craved being sculpted, transformed into various shapes.
The earth was different. It was stubborn and heavy, and she felt it groan beneath her as it pushed its way up through the snow, forming a thick stalagmite.
"Oh, come on." She sent another tendril of magic down, feeling everything out. The ground beneath the Christmas village was solid bedrock, and would be hard to manipulate. She wasn't going to be able to do a whole lot with it on a large scale.
Still, there were plenty of tricks up her sleeve. She sank her mind into the earth and drifted through the frozen stone, examining its capabilities. Though the earth was loath to obey her commands, it was happy to give her its strength.
When she opened her eyes, the surface of her fur had taken on a crystalline sheen. It was a defensive spell, one she hadn't used in years. All around her, hundreds of small rock obelisks had formed. It was hardly the defensive wall that she had tried to summon, but it would do.
Hopping up onto the nearest obelisk, she created a tube out of ice. Crystals became lenses, and she used the makeshift telescope to get a better idea of what was going on.
"Holy mother of--" It was an army made of ice. Scanning the horizon, she found all manner of beasts charging toward her. Up in the sky, creatures zoomed about, carried aloft by giant wings. They were griffins with icy beaks and snowflake wings. Toward the back of the surge, giant abominations made of snow and ice lumbered along behind their brethren.
At the head of the pack was Jack Frost. Her blue features were determined, but were now lined with golden cracks that shed an immense amount of light. Cold, calculating eyes darted about with the gaze of a predator, and her icy hair hung like a blanket of fog behind her. The bland outfit she had worn before was gone, replaced by a fancy gown decorated with lace and snowflakes.
"And they called me the white witch," Yuki muttered, lowering the scope. What would Mike do in this situation? Yuki was all by herself, and didn't have the first idea what she hoped to accomplish on her own.
"Damn, damn, damn," she muttered, her magic shifting drastically inside of her. Maybe this wasn't a battle she could win, but then what? Go back and warn the others? They could flee to safety, but it would mean abandoning the North Pole. Mike wouldn't do that, not while he knew others needed his help.
