Saving Santa (MxM)

32 Get the Globe

"Killer cards?" I ask but I already know the answer.

"Yup," Cal confirms. "Queen of hearts."

Just when I thought the cards were the worst thing to worry about, Krampus shouts at us.

"You fools! Thought that damn watch would save you again. But now you're out of luck and out of time. Let's make this a real party!"

With this Krampus throws what looks to be two snow globes onto the ground. Upon shattering, creatures emerge from each. The first, a spider the size of a small dog. The second, a small dog the size of a spider. With fear filling my insides, it doesn't take long before both creatures grow in size. The spider's growth slows when it becomes the size of a minivan. The dog, however, takes on a different shape when he becomes the height of a full grown man.

"It's a werewolf," I say out loud.

"Actually, that's the Big Bad Wolf. And the other is the Itsy-Bitsy Spider," Louie explains.

My English degree didn't get me ready for these nightmare versions of beloved fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

Elron and Cal take fighting stances ready to take on the arachnid and wolf man. While watching this unfold, I don't notice Krampus pull a long golden trident from thin air.

With a rush of cold air, what seems to be a wall of ice blasts past me. I turn in time to see a second wave of ice explode from the tips of Kampus's staff. Cal scoops me up and spins me from the attack before the frozen stream hits me.

He grumbles, "Stupid Poseidon spear." Then as a third blast its the ground in front of us, Cal screams, "Scatter!"

My lover snatches Louie up in his other arm and we divert toward the right side of the street. I see the other guys flock toward the left curb. As if ice flying at Elron and Travis wasn't anxiety inducing enough, the furry canine creature sprinting toward them drilled a hole in my stomach.

Like someone hits the brakes, the three of us come to a jolting stop.

"Shit," Cal grunts as I find his left foot cemented to the street in a cast of ice. The three of us look back at once to find the hell spider only yards from us.

"The furry dumbass has given me an idea,"Cal says. "You two need to go, though. Go to the basement and see if there are any snow globes left."

"Cal, how are you going to handle the spider with your leg–"

I don't even finish the question before he shatters the frozen boot with one swift pound of his massive fist.

"Go! Get me a globe," he barks at Louie and me. "Now!"

He stands, preparing to take on the not-so-itsy-or-bitsy spider as Louis grabs my wrist and pulls me from the scene.

In the rush, I didn't get a second to remind Cal that I love him. Looking back over my shoulder, I let Louie pull me along.

"He knows," Louie tells me as we trudge toward Cal's cabin.

Wild he can tell what I am thinking. Guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point.

***

It only takes a few minutes to arrive at the cabin. But we encounter a major problem, the magic artifacts room is trashed. The rows of specimen lined tables are flipped and torn to pieces. The remains of treasure and ornaments are strewn about. Even the jail at the back of the long room is destroyed. The bars have been melted and the scorch marks covering the walls show that Krampus delighted in demolishing his old prison.

"Wow, I love what he's done with the place." My snark is the only thing I have left to keep myself going.

"Ryan, we must find a snow globe. It's our only hope," Louie says as he drops to all fours to search through rubble of Krampus's destruction.

I turn my attention toward the other side of the room and start perusing through a pile of debris. Though we are in a hurry, my search momentum is slowed when I come across an old picture the size of a postcard. The paper is yellow and torn, but the two figures sketched on it are unmistakable. A teenaged Cal with his arm around a young Krampus. Both smiling for the artist. A small gift lodged under Cal's arm and a long scroll clutched in Krampus's hand.

"Found it!" Louie shouts, holding up his prize.

He hands it to me to examine. I peer into the glass to see what is in the snow globe, but it is empty. Just water and white flakes swirling around.

"Louie, there is nothing in there," I tell him, thinking that the snowglobe we were looking for would have some secret weapon or creature to unleash on Krampus.

"Yet. It has nothing in it yet, Ryan," Louie tells me, and I get it. We are going to put Krampus in it.

"We gotta get this back to Cal," Louie says rushing toward the stairs.

As we sprint through the cabin, I can't help but think that we may actually have a shot at putting Krampus away. 

Short lived.

Louie yanks at the front door, but before he can cross the threshold, something terrifying happened. Three razor-sharp, golden prongs slide out his back. My elf friend's skin is instantly covered in a quarter inch of ice and his encapsulated body thuds to the ground in front of me and standing in front of me on the porch is a trident wielding Krampus. He just turned my friend into an ice cube kebab.

"Honey, I'm home," the monster says as horror overtakes me.

With his free hand, Krampus grabs me by the shoulder. A searing pain courses through me as his clawed thumb digs into the meat below my collarbone. He pulls me outside onto the cabin's big porch.

"I get it, though," he tells me. "There is something very special about you, human. Calvin is already a very powerful being. There is something about you that magnifies that power. That's why I must destroy you."

"Krampus," I manage. "You are better than this."

A scary grin crosses his face.

"You are just Calvin's little toy, you know nothing."

"You shared Louie's mind. You haunted me. You saw desire and happiness. And love."

Krampus pauses. The glow of red in his eyes fade and two rich brown irises look back at me. Somewhere behind him, I see a colorful glow in the distance.

As if he is halting a conversation in his mind, he shakes his head. The glow is back in his eyes as he roars, "Shut up!"

He presses the ends of his trident to my chest.

"Sorry, little one, your time is up. I must get back to destroying Christmas and you are slowing me down."

"Krampus, listen to me," I plead.

He doesn't. I feel the ice cold burn of his spears against my flesh. But in a flash of white, something like a rope wraps around the shaft of Krumpus's weapon. Then, in a yank, the trident is pulled from the man-beast's hands.

Krampus and I both turn our heads to find the source of the counter attack.

I can't help but chuckle. There is Cal, atop the massive spider. Riding him like a cowboy. The arachnid lets out a sloppy burp as it gobbles up the last bit of the trident and slurps down what seems to be the spaghetti-style spiderwebbing used to lasso Krampus's staff.

Beside Cal, Elron and Travis stand shoulder to shoulder. Elron holds a leash of prickly holly garland leading to the muzzle and neck of their werewolf friend. The creature is dutifully crawling on his haunches as if my friends gave him the best dog training ever.

While my captor is sidetracked by the scene that has materialized before us, I chuck the empty snow globe to Cal. He catches it and holds it up for all to say.

"I'd listen to him, Krampus," Cal commands. "That 'little human' is your only chance because I have no mercy left to show