Chapter 5
NEO
The shop suddenly smells of frost and pine; the air glitters faintly with drifting flecks of snow that somehow don’t melt indoors. We make eye contact. He is standing near the peppermint display, as if he’d stepped straight out of a winter story.
He’s tall for an elf and has a lean, graceful build.
He wears a deep green coat that’s trimmed with white fur on the edges and gold embroidery that catches the light like tiny stars.
His hair has the color of freshly fallen snow, which frames his face that’s both sharp and kind.
He has high cheekbones, a firm jaw and green eyes the color of holly leaves after it has been freezing.
He smiles, and it feels like the room has warmed a few degrees.
There’s a playful glimmer in his eyes, as if he knows my secrets…
or perhaps a secret about Christmas itself?
The faint jingle of the silver bells that hang from his belt seems to echo in my chest.
"I did not." I walk past Nox and switch the door sign to ‘Closed’.
"You had time while riding him, Snowflake."
It happens so fast, I almost don’t believe it is real. One moment Nox is just standing there—fucking handsome and bored. Then, without warning, his posture shifts and his shoulders tighten, his eyes narrowing like a storm rolling in.
In a blur, he closes the distance between him and the elf. The sound of the impact echoes through the air, sharp and sudden. Knocking over a candy box in his movement, the elf staggers back. The sound of it falling on the wooden floor is loud in the stunned silence that has followed.
My pulse hammers in my ears. The elf’s chest rises and drops, and he clenches his jaw.
Nox’s handsome face is now shadowed by something dangerous.
His hands are on the elf’s chest. For a heartbeat, he turns to me, and in that moment I know he is going to kill the elf.
I slide my fingers from his arm to his shoulder and neck, capturing his chin to kiss his cheek.
Nox releases his angry grip on the elf and puts his arm around my shoulders.
"Tell me what, nightshade?" He pulls out a cigarette and places it between his lips.
"Santa is dead." The elf tries to stand up, but Nox hits him in the chest again.
"Do people call you Nightshade?" Nox asks the elf while applying pressure on his chest, and I can see the poor creature struggling to breathe, but he still smiles. Asshole. Maybe Nox should kill him.
"Yeah…" I gaze over to the Krampus; he looks unimpressed while eating a candy cane. "They are searching for someone in every town to replace him this year."
"Rudolf here should do it. And… who put you in charge of everything?" Nox’s words make me release a laugh.
"The North-Pole Frost Council. I am an elf, they told me I can’t be Santa, unfortunately, so they are looking for someone new..." he coughs, "but you’d do amazing because I’ll guide you every step of the way and I’ll make sure she stays warm and cozy."
After that, Nox goes full firecracker on the elf. My bat boy gives him a nose-punch so hard, the elf probably lost three of his eight lives.