Not a Creature was stirring…

“Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!”

The blessing rang through the midnight air as the sleigh climbed high into the night sky. Below, lights turned on in the houses. Doors opened to kids running outside to see Santa moving on to his next service of joy. He turned to Marcus, the elf who held up the List as the magic slashed through the words, The Cumberland Orphanage.

                “I always love visiting that place. They must have had a bake-off because there were five different cookies to choose from!” Santa said.

                “Wow, sir! I wish I went down with you.” Marcus replied.

                “No worries I got you two of each!” Santa handed Marcus a Ziplock bag of cookies.

                “Oh thank you, Santa!” Marcus opened the bag and breathed in the plethora of smells. He grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and took a bite.

                Santa chuckled, “No problem Marcus. By the way, where are we stopping next?”

                Marcus wiped his mouth with his sleeve and reached under the seat where he stored the list. He sat up and unrolled the scroll. It read Cumberland Orphanage in gold script with a list of names under it. After a moment the names disappeared, leaving a blank canvas. The next stop appeared at the top, the Village of Eventide. Marcus waited to see the names of boys and girls. No names appeared.

                “Uh, Santa?”

                “Yes Marcus?”

                “The city’s name is there, but no occupants?”

                “What?” He looked over at Marcus, holding the scroll up. Santa slowed the sleigh with a slight pull on the reigns and a Woah! The sleigh stood suspended in the night air. Marcus handed Santa the scroll, and he retrieved his gold-rimmed glasses. The scroll remained only partially marked. Santa sighed in confusion. Then, a list of names appeared, followed by an address.

                “Ah! There they are! Maybe multiple families were out of town.”

                He handed the scroll back to Marcus gave a “Ho!” and then sped off to Eventide.

                The sleigh glided silently over the countryside until it came over a little town. They circled and made their descent. The first house they landed on was a two-story farmhouse. The sleigh and reindeer floated above the peak of the house. Marcus looked at the list. Buddy and Linda glowed brighter than the other names. Underneath their names read a baseball bat and a raggedy Anne doll. Santa reached into his bag and retrieved the two gifts and walked toward the chimney. Marcus looked around at the rooftops of the town. The absence of lights made him feel edgy. He thought it odd even the street lamps were off.

                “Santa..”

                But he had already disappeared down the chimney.

                Santa slid through the chimney down into the opening. He anticipated to find the living room lit up by candles, or lights from the Christmas tree to help him watch where he was walking. But the room was dark. He did see the Christmas tree as he squinted into the darkness. He let his eyes get used to the absence of light before moving, so as not to accidentally step on any children that might be lying next to the tree or fireplace. But no one was there. He looked for cookies and milk and saw none. But that didn’t bother him. The orphanage’s gift was plenty enough for a couple of houses. The house fell silent. Like if no one was home at all, even though the kids' names appeared on the list. Santa laid the two items by the fireplace with two notes; one to Buddy and the other to Linda on white cardstock in golden letters.

                Marcus felt the wind begin to pick up and blow the snow from the roof around him. The howl sounded like voices on the air whispering and laughing. He pulled his coat closer to his neck and looked at the open list. He waited to see the first set of names get crossed through by the magic once the gifts were delivered. Instead, the names faded and then vanished completely. Marcus rubbed his head. This normally happens at the end of the night when everything is completed, or in the worst situation; when someone dies. He looked at the chimney where Santa had disappeared and fear gripped his heart. He didn’t know entirely why, but he felt they were in danger.

                Santa turned from the gifts and gave one more look at the living room. A soft voice drifted toward him. “Santa?” He saw two children, a boy and a girl no older than 8 walking out from the shadows. The girl had blonde hair and the boy had short brown hair.

                “Ho Ho Ho” Santa whispered.

                “Is it really you?” the girl said.

                “Why yes it is me! You must be Linda, and you must be Buddy. How are you? Have you been good this year?”

                “It was great!” Buddy answered, “We just moved into the area a few months ago and started making a lot of friends.”

                “Oh that’s nice, well I ought to be...”

                “Oh man!” Linda turned to Buddy, “We forgot to put out cookies and milk!”

                “I’ll get them!” Buddy said and walked toward the kitchen.

                “Sit right here Santa” Linda ushered the jolly old man to a seat.

                Santa sat down and asked, “So where did you meet your new friends?”

                “Some of them were from school. Some would stop by in the evenings. We all caught some kind of flu together. Even my folks caught it.”

                “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Santa responded.

                “Oh its no problem, once we felt better we could do anything! No more school, we could stay out late. Our parents would take us on field trips to visit new people in the area after sunset.”

                Santa looked around the room. His eyes caught a glimpse of a mirror above the fireplace that reflected the room. The moon shone through the window, illuminating the furniture where he sat. He started to look around again, but his eyes snapped back to the mirror. He saw himself in the chair, but he didn’t see Linda’s reflection in the mirror. Puzzled, Santa turned toward the little girl and said, “Why do you wait until the sun goes…” But he didn’t finish his sentence.

                Linda’s eyes turned a bright yellow, like two candles glowing back at him. He felt his body relax and he sunk into the chair. His vision was replaced with his favorite time of the year. It was the day after Christmas; he was sitting in his favorite rocking chair across from Mrs. Clause as she knitted and rocked back and forth in their North Pole home. Outside the trance, the two kids flanked Santa on both sides like two feral dogs cornering a rabbit. Linda leaned Santa’s head back exposing his neck under his white beard. They both leaned in close.

                “Santa!”

                Marcus stood outside the fireplace holding a flashlight and shined the beam on the horrific scene in front of him. Santa reclined back in his chair and on his right and left were two monsters that were supposed to be children. They had glowing yellow eyes like a flame, and canine teeth grown to hideous length. They snarled at Marcus as if two wild dogs were now defending their meal from another predator. Buddy dropped to all fours and scurried with disturbing grace and speed like a spider toward Marcus. He screamed and looked around for something to keep the boy away. His eyes locked on the present they brought him, a baseball bat. He snagged it just as the boy was in range. Marcus brought the bat in a wide arc colliding with the boy’s face sending him tumbling into the Christmas tree. He turned to see Santa wrestling with the little girl as she chomped at his neck. Marcus ran up and gave another vicious crack with the bat sending her backward to the ground.

                “Are you ok Santa?” Marcus asked helping Santa to his feet.

                “Yes I’m fine, thank you, Marcus”

                A low raspy voice called out from across the room. “Whose’ down there?” At the top of the stairs stood the parents of the two vampire children. Like two insects, they began to crawl along the walls to the ceiling toward Santa and Marcus. In front of them, they saw Linda sit up straight from the floor and smiled her wild grin at them. Marcus took his stance with the bat in his hand and yelled, “Go Santa!”. Santa tapped his nose and the magic transported him up the chimney. Marcus dropped the bat and began to shimmy up the chimney like a rock climber. He continued to push back and forth against the brick walls as they began to narrow little by little. He could see that he was now only 5 feet from the top where Santa looked down.

                “You can do it Marcus, take my hand!” The large leather mitten reached for his hand. Marcus heard a giggle below him. He looked down to see the blazing eyes and the wild grin leering up at him. Marcus looked up and stretched his arm the furthest he ever stretched it. His fingertips brushed the leather mitten. He heard the giggling again, but this time it was much closer. He looked down to see Linda’s glowing eyes and fangs, now inches from him. He screamed as she dug her fingers into his side and began to drag him down. He looked up at Santa in desperation. Then at once, he fell to the bottom of the fire place.

                Santa turned away from the carnage but still heard Marcus screams. Another pair of screams rang through the winter night, the screams of the reindeer. He whipped around to see two creatures like the children latched onto the Donner and Blitzen. Santa could see puddles of blood under the reindeer. Santa ran to Donner yanked the man off and threw him off the roof. The second man saw and leaped on Santa, knocking him to the ground. Before He could grab the man’s head, he lunged forward and bit down on Santa’s neck. With his remaining strength, Santa shoved the man off of him and he rolled off the roof.

                He pressed his glove to his neck and ran to the sleigh. He grabbed the reigns and yelled “Ho Ho Ho!” He knew even with Donner and Blitzen injured, they could get off the ground. The reindeer didn’t move. He was about to give the command again when he saw it. Amidst the swirling snow, he saw rows of gleaming bright eyes silhouetted by pale faces. He released the glove that held his neck and bellowed.

                “ON COMET! ON CUPID! ON DONNER! ON BLITZEN! ON DASHER! ON ZIXEN! ON PRANCER ON DANCER! ON RUDOLPH!”

                The reindeer huffed, stomped their feet, and flowered their antlers. Santa bellowed, “Up! Up! And away!”

                The sleigh charged forward. They hit the end of the rooftop as the figures were implanted in the antlers. They writhed and screeched as they turned to dust. Santa and his team lifted into the night sky away from the Village of Eventide. They reached the clouds and dropped down to coasting speed. Santa reached up to feel his neck where the wound had been. He felt nothing. No discomfort. But he felt unusually thirsty, but not for a glass of milk.

The End