Part III - The Trouble with Magic #3
“I’ll just go… get one for you,” the older elf said, walking backwards three steps, turning around with a stumble and pretty much running away from Nick as fast as he could. Nick was too upset to be even a little amused by the pompous elf’s nerves.
“Do you think the old Santa will be able to help?” he asked, turning to Pat.
“I hope so,” Pat said, offering no assurances. Nick crossed his arms and looked away, jaw clenched tight. He appreciated that Pat didn’t lie to him and offer false assurances, even though that’s kind of what he wanted right now.
It was a tense few minutes before the old elf came back, huffing, panting and wheezing as he thrust the small handheld mirror into Nick’s arms.
“Here you go,” he said, jumping back as though Nick was about to lean down and take a bite out of him. Nick resisted the impulse to snarl, just to see what the obnoxious little scaredy-cat would do.
But Nick needed to keep a lid on that particular brand of impulse. As the new Santa he could be intimidating and scary, but he wasn’t allowed to be mean.
It was in the fucking rules, chapter nine: How to be Nice to Your Elves, A Guide.
Nick stepped out of the hall and back into his apartment. Neither Pat nor the older elf followed him, and Nick used his boot to close the door behind him.
Rubbing the mirror with his palm, Nick thought about the old Santa. He had met the old beta as he was leaving the castle and Nick was moving in, but they hadn’t done more than shake hands and wish each other good luck with the future.
Nick rubbed the mirror all the way into the living room where he dropped down on the couch.
At first nothing happened. All Nick accomplished was smudging the mirror’s surface, and he was just wondering if he needed to take off his glove when the glass started to ripple and shimmer. Nick stopped rubbing, and a few seconds later the old Santa’s face was staring back at him.
“Hello?” the old Santa said, sounding perplexed.
Nick cleared his throat, his face red and hot, and swallowed his humiliation. “Hi. This is Nick, the new Santa.”
“Oh, yes! The alpha. What can I do for you?”
Nick bit back a groan. That’s what a Santa should sound like. Jolly, helpful and kind. It made him want to throw up.
“The elves aren’t able to use the castle magic,” Nick said, forcing himself not to sound angry or threatening. He was coming to the old guy for help, and he had no right to treat him poorly.
The old Santa’s brows scrunched up.
“Cut off from the magic, you say? That’s odd. Have you channeled magic into the castle yet?”
Nick said that he had, admitting that he’d overdone it and turned the calibration stone red.”
“That shouldn’t do anything but give the magic an extra kick,” the old guy said. “Is that when it stopped working?”
Nick shook his head. “No, it worked all day yesterday. It’s today that’s the problem.”
“And did you do anything with the magic between the end of yesterday and this morning?”
Nick was about to say no, but then he froze. This couldn’t have happened because he checked the calibration stone, could it?
“I went up to check the calibration stone last night. I hadn’t noticed it before, and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t purple.”
The old Santa frowned. “Tell me exactly what you did.” Nick bristled at being told what to do by a beta, but he forced his indignation down and gave the old man a complete blow by blow of everything that had happened in the channeling room.
“That explains it,” the old Santa said, nodding his head.
“You must never channel tame magic into the castle—the elves can’t work with it.
You have to channel the wild magic flowing over the castle.
The only way to fix this is to drain the castle completely and refill it. Do you know how to do that?”
Nick took a deep breath, calming himself. Why hadn’t someone told him this? It wasn’t even in the book! This was not his fault.
“I know how to drain the castle, yes,” he said. It would take him a few days, but it could be done.
“Good. That should fix it. You might want to give the new Krampus a call, too. He’s an alpha like you. The two of you working together should be able to drain the castle in just a few hours.”
Nick blinked. “There’s a new Krampus?”
He knew that the council was looking to fill the post, but he hadn’t realized that they’d found someone.
“Yes. His name is Damon, if you can believe it. Seems fitting, doesn’t it?” The old Santa laughed.
“Thank you for your help,” Nick said, ignoring the comment. He rubbed the mirror and willed the connection to break. The old Santa’s face disappeared.
Nick knew Damon. The alpha was cocky, hot and mean—and he’d been Nick’s main competition for willing submissives when they were at school together.
Young, cocky and popping a knot at everything that moved, the two of them had been insatiable.
It got to the point where the academy administrator had to step in and order them to stop having sex with other students because it was interrupting their learning.
In the end, that had probably been a good thing. Nick at twenty was not nearly as capable of controlling himself as Nick at thirty-two.
Fuck it. Biting the bullet, acting before his instincts rebelled at the thought of going to another alpha for help, Nick rubbed the mirror and thought of Damon. Within just a few seconds, Damon’s face appeared in the glass. He was smiling, his skin flushed and sweaty, and he was breathing hard.
Nick felt his cock harden. Though Damon was an alpha, he was also one of the prettiest men Nick had ever seen. His face looked like it was cut from marble, and he had the brightest blue eyes Nick had ever seen.
“Nick! Or should I call you Santa, now?” Damon yelled into the mirror, laughing at his own joke as he brushed his hand through his hair and swept it away from his face.
“Why, do you want to sit on my lap?” Nick leered. Damon never won these types of games. The alpha in the mirror blushed, and Nick grinned. He’d forgotten how much he loved flustering his old alpha friend.
“I don’t think I’m on your nice list,” Damon said, winking. Nick shook his head and smiled.
Did he even have a nice list? He’d have to check.
“I’m actually calling because I need your help,” he said, watching as Damon’s eyes widened at the admission. They both knew how much asking for help sucked.”
“Shit, man. Whatever you need. Us Christmas dudes need to stick together.” Damon winked at him, and Nick rolled his eyes. If he never heard the term Christmas-dudes again it would be too soon.
“The magic in the castle is contaminated and I need to drain it. Do you have time to come down and give me a hand? I could do it myself, but you know how long that would take,” Nick said, neglecting to mention why the magic was contaminated.
“No problem! I can be there in a few hours. I bet your elves are freaking out!” Damon smiled like the idea of Santa’s elves in a panic was hilarious. Before he was made Santa, Nick would have agreed with him.
“They’re pretty stressed, yeah. I’ll see you in a few hours. Thanks again.”
“Like I said, it’s no problem.”
Nick broke the connection and breathed a sigh of relief. If he and Damon could drain the castle by dinner, he should be able to have the magic up and running in time for the elves to pull and evening shift.
Feeling like he had the situation under control, Nick went to find Pat and tell him the good news.
“Everyone! Everyone! Listen up!”
Billy and Tulip looked across the room to see Pat standing on one of the worktables with his chest puffed out and an exuberant look on his face.
“Oh thank Santa,” Tulip said, breathing out a sigh of relief. Billy knew exactly how she felt. Pat would only look this happy if the problem with the castle magic was under control. They almost didn’t need to listen to what he said next.
The room broke out into relieved chatter, leaving Pat standing there with an outraged scowl on his face.
“I said listen up!” he bellowed. The room went quiet, and Pat composed himself, adjusting his shirt collar while he smiled. “Now, I have good news. The problem with the castle magic has been identified, and everything should be back to normal by the end of dinner.”
Cheers broke out, and Pat let it go on for all of three seconds before impatiently waving his arms for everyone to be quiet.
“I know, I know. It’s wonderful. Now here’s the plan: Our new Santa has decided that everyone gets before dinner off to relax, and then we’ll all pull an evening after dinner lasting until midnight.
If everyone works hard, we should be back on track by morning. ”
Cheers broke out at the news that Christmas was saved. Pat jumped off the table and made his way over to Grumpus and a gaggle of senior elves, shooting Tulip and Billy a wave on the way.
“A day off? In December?” Tulip said, shaking her head. “That’s certainly different. What do you think the problem is?”
“I don’t know,” Billy said. “And it’s not a day off. We’re just… pushing our shift back a little.”
“I’m not complaining!” Tulip jumped up and sat on Billy’s worktable. “I’m just curious. It has to be something the new Santa did.”
Billy felt a flare of indignation on Nick’s behalf. “We don’t know that,” he said. Tulip shot him a flat look.
“I’m not just saying that because we’re… you know. We have no way of knowing what happened.”
“Fine,” Tulip said, jumping off the table again. “What are you going to do with your time off?”
“I don’t know. You?”
“Stress relief,” Tulip said with grin, scanning the room like an apex predator. “Johnny over there’s been looking a little tense, lately… don’t you think?”
Billy snorted. Johnny was always tense, but letting his eyes flit over to the elf on the far side of the room, he had to admit the man was hot.
“Have fun,” he said, watching as the smile on Tulip’s face grew into something that would look more at home on the Grinch.
“Oh, I will. I’ll see you at dinner.”