Happily Ever Christmas

~Twenty-Nine~

At first all I was aware of was the cold; the howling wind, the icy snow hitting my face, and the cold dark all around.

I had landed in a deep snowbank and my first thought inevitably was, what the hell had I been thinking, anyway? Chasing after some magical, powerful being gifted with superpowers I couldn't even begin to understand.

Candace had been right.

Steve Coleman was way out of my league.

"Steve?" I called out. If I hadn't been so drunk right then, I might have felt the cold more bitterly, but as it was, after the initial shock wore off and the wind died down, I wasn't suffering from it as badly.

"Emberly? What the hell are you doing here?" Steve came walking towards me up the snowy hillside, coming from the shelter of the evergreen forest.

"You're not supposed to be here!" He shouted at me and I gasped, for his eyes were glowing an inhuman electric blue.

For the first time since meeting him, I saw his angry side.

"You need to go back, Emberly, it's not safe here!"

I had come too far to back down now. "Not until you tell me what you're doing out here!" I insisted stubbornly.

Just then, however, as if to answer my question, there was an unnerving howl in the distance.

It was unlike anything I had ever heard before and I had been to a wolf sanctuary once; I knew what timber wolves sounded like when they sang, and this was something else entirely.

This sound wasn't of my world, I couldn't help thinking.

It came again; louder, sharper, closer. Twice as terrifying.

The wind picked up behind me and then Mazie suddenly appeared at my side to grip my elbow tightly.

"You need to come with me." She said in as serious a voice as one can when they sound like a kazoo.

I was frozen to the spot, however.

A towering dark monster covered in fur had just stepped out from the tree line at the base of the hill.

*~*~*~*

It walked upright upon two legs, but it had giant claws for hands and was hunched over as it moved in a way that was inherently unsettling.

It had a muzzle; a long, mean-looking snout of sorts, protruding with fangs. Its eyes were small and yellow.

Just the sight of the unnatural creature made my skin crawl.

"Get her out of here!" Steve shouted at Mazie before he turned his broad back on us, clutching his battle ax at the ready as he faced the beast.

I numbly felt Mazie pilling at me, tugging me away from the horrific scene of the beast gnashing its fangs and slobbery as it steadily approached Steve, who was too brave for his own good.

Then the howling wind was enveloping me and I was being sucked back through the portal.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*