Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Anna lifts her chin, looking Krampus in the eye despite the way he towers over her. Her spine is ramrod straight, uncowed in the face of a monster who has already left her permanently scarred.
“I will take what I deserve,” she whispers.
Krampus nods the slightest bit. He sniffs again, his fingers running over his birch rod, which must have left those marks on her back last year when she joined the family.
“Your husband’s transgressions…” he says slowly.
Anna tenses. I tense, too, watching them. I don’t plan on interfering again, and… maybe Anna does deserve to be punished, if she was complicit in Adrian’s crimes.
But Krampus lowers the rod to his side. “…are not yours to shoulder,” he says.
I stare at him, and then at her. “You didn’t know, did you?”
She blinks, her gaze sliding to me. “That Adrian was an asshole? It was pretty hard to miss.”
“That he was a rapist.”
Her mouth falls open. “What? I knew— I knew he had affairs, but—” The color is draining from her face. She turns fully to me. “Oh. My God. I thought— Did he hurt you?”
I hug myself. “He didn’t get the chance.”
Krampus lets out a low, frustrated growl, and our attention snaps back to him.
“Your sins are minor,” he says, jerking his chin at Anna. “I have greater prey to hunt tonight. Go.”
Anna blinks at him. Her hands slowly unfurl at her sides. “I…” She sucks in a breath. “Really?”
“Yes.” Krampus snorts, paws at the floor with one hoof, leaving a scrape against the polished hardwood. “Go, now.”
To my shock, Anna smiles—at the same time as her eyes fill with tears. “Thank you,” she whispers, and retreats back down the hallway with small, wavering steps.
My brow furrows as I step to Krampus’s side. I watch her leave with a strange mixture of emotions tugging at my gut. Relief, confusion, and a flare of heat that might be… jealousy?
I didn’t understand how or why she could stand in front of Krampus, willing to take her punishment. But… then I imagine how beautiful, how freeing, it would be to hear that she doesn’t deserve to be punished.
When Krampus turns his red eyes toward me, I know that I won’t be receiving that same mercy tonight. But nor do I deserve it, especially now that there’s blood on my hands.
We can’t all be innocents.
I lead Krampus to the stairwell. For a moment I stay, listening, but there’s no sign of commotion.
Anna must not have told anyone we’re here.
Krampus stays at the foot of the staircase while I ensure nobody is nearby to see us coming, and then follows me upstairs.
He grimaces as his hooves slip on the hardwood.
“So what’s the best way to do this?” I whisper, peering up at him once we’re in the upstairs hallway, tucked around a corner from the lounge.
Krampus keeps looking around, shaking his head as if in agitation, looking some more.
Distracted. I lay my hand on his arm, and he twitches, head jerking toward me. “Is something wrong?”
He pauses, breathes in through gritted teeth. “The smell.” His head rises and his nose flares—then his tongue darts out too, flicking at the air like a snake. His pupils blow wide.
He always talks about smelling sin. I can only imagine how much it must pervade the air in this cabin.
It must taint every surface, seeping into the walls like the pungent odor of cigarette smoke.
Generations of a family who have evaded him, time and time again, within these very walls.
And three of them are here now, down the hallway. Ripe for the picking.
“I know,” I say, trying to soothe him and keep his attention on me.
“We’re so close. But we need a plan. Do you want me to try to separate them?
I could see if I could bring one of them to my room…
” I nibble my lip, trying to think of possibilities.
Louis, at least, will be easily convinced to follow me.
There’s a queasy stirring in my stomach at the thought of leading him to his possible death, but I push it aside.
I’ve already committed to this plan; there’s no point in questioning it.
Just like my cons, the only way through is forward. Backing down isn’t an option.
“They’ll assume Adrian and Anna are together, and I’m in my room, but if anyone else goes missing, they’ll notice it,” I say, thinking aloud. “And they’ll definitely hear someone being punished in the house, but maybe I could tie them up while you go after the others, or…”
“No,” Krampus says, interrupting me.
I blink at him. “No? To which part?”
He jerks his arm away from me. “All of it.”
“What do you mean? Why? I can help—”
“No,” he snaps, again, louder. We both pause, tense as we wait to see if anyone in the cabin heard it, but only the continued sound of Christmas music comes from the lounge ahead. “I do not need your help any further,” he says, more quietly but no less harsh.
I huff out an incredulous laugh. “You don’t need my help? You wouldn’t even be here if not for me.”
“And thus you have played your part.”
I’m surprised at the strength of the anger that rises inside of me. Maybe he thinks I’ll be content to step aside and let him do the dirty work, but that’s the last thing I want. “This is my revenge, too.”
He shakes his head. “I am already not sure if you will survive your punishment,” he says, flat and unemotional. “You cannot risk doing more.”
I stare down at my boots. One of them is stained with blood, I notice with a sort of detached horror. I think that might be a bit of brain, too. I’ll probably have to throw it out.
“Do you understand?” Krampus asks. “You must stay out of it. Leave the rest to me.”
My fists clench. I slowly lift my eyes to meet his steely gaze again, take a breath, and—
“Diana? Is that you?”
Krampus’s head whips toward the sound of Louis’s voice down the hallway. His grip on his birch rod tightens with an audible creak of wood.
A shiver goes down my spine. After what I just witnessed outside—blood on the snow, Adrian’s head landing at my feet—there is no question what lengths Krampus will go to with his punishments.
I may be about to witness the slaughter of the Kohler family.
A slaughter that wouldn’t be possible without my cooperation.
Yet Krampus will only kill them if that’s what their sins merit.
My pulse pounds, but it’s not trepidation making my hands tremble. It’s anticipation.
“Let’s give them what they deserve,” I whisper. I shrug off my bloodstained coat, revealing the still-pristine dress beneath. Can’t have my appearance ruining the element of surprise.
Krampus glances at me. He shakes his head, jaw clenched, in warning.
“Diana?” Louis calls again, closer than before.
“Yes, darling, I’m coming,” I answer, and walk down the hallway toward him.
Krampus reaches out as if to stop me—but his hand drops, and I walk by.
I wait until Louis’s head disappears into the lounge again, and gesture for him to follow.
With every step, I know I am only getting myself in deeper, but I don’t see any other option at this point.
I’ve started this and I’ll see it through to the end, no matter the consequences.
And so, I lead Krampus straight to my fiancé and his family. They’re still in the sitting room, with their whiskey and their smiles, thinking they’re safe. Cheerful Christmas music drowns out the heavy clop of Krampus’s hooves approaching.
I stop just outside of the doorway, plaster on my sweetest smile, and walk into the room. Calmly, slowly, head up. Far more confident than I was the first time I walked into this room earlier tonight.
There’s no sign of Anna, and it’s clear she didn’t warn the rest of them about what’s coming.
Louis’s expression brightens as he looks at me, but my eyes slide past him to my would-be future in-laws.
Louis’s mother barely spares me a glance as she sips her wine, her lipstick leaving smears of red along the rim of the glass.
His father, though, gives me a curious, almost assessing once-over.
As if he sees my newfound confidence and is wondering what has changed.
He looks past me to the door—and I brace, wondering when Krampus will enter, but after a moment Karl looks back at me.
“I don’t suppose you’ve seen my other son around?” he asks.
Is he suspicious of me already? Could he be so smart? I wet my lips as I slide onto the couch beside Louis, resisting the urge to watch the doorway.
“We didn’t cross paths,” I say. “Why?”
“He said he was going to look for you.”
He exchanges a glance with his wife, who presses her lips into a thin line before taking another large sip of her wine.
I almost laugh as I realize what they’re thinking. Louis’s father doesn’t suspect that I’ve teamed up with their enemy. He suspects that I cheated on my fiancé with his other son. Once again, they are underestimating me. I can’t wait to make them regret it.
“How strange,” I murmur, brushing my hair over my shoulder as I lift it in an affected shrug. “You’d think we would’ve crossed paths.”
I’m eager to play into the idea, for some amusement if nothing else. I’m not sure what Krampus is waiting for, but maybe he wants me to separate them. Maybe I can get one of them to go look for Adrian and Anna…
But as Karl looks back at me, his eyes narrow. “Is your hair wet?”
Shit, did I miss a bit of blood? I glance down, holding up a strand for inspection, but it’s just melting snow.
“Did you go outside?” he demands before I have a chance to answer.
I cross one leg over the other. “I needed a smoke,” I say, since I don’t care what these people think of me anymore. “Should I have done it inside?”
Karl stands up, his face creasing with anger. “Louis,” he barks, “into the panic room with your mother and your fiancée.”
Theodora rises immediately, clutching her wine glass.
Louis stands up as well, but his face is marked with confusion rather than concern. “I’m sure that’s not necessary, Dad…”
“I locked the door behind me,” I say, staying in my seat.
“Forgive me if I decide to verify that myself.” Karl heads for the door, glancing back at us. “Panic room, and stay there until I get back. Now.”
As he heads toward the hallway, a number of things happen at once.
Louis reaches for my hand, even as he voices an apology.
His mother heads toward the desk, presumably to open the panic room.
And Louis’s father steps into the doorway—and directly into the broad, bare chest that has stepped forward to fill the space.
He stumbles back and looks up into the stony face of Krampus staring down at him.
Then the screaming starts.