Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus Read Online Free

few of them seem to glow with a wicked red aura. They are mine. I know it. They know it.
    The parents are into it. They’re cheering and clapping. I see a couple of them push their kids back into my path, as if they want me to catch them. It’s glorious.
    One by one, kids fall panting into fake snow banks or into their parents’ arms, shrieking with laughter. On my final round through the parking lot I see Lennox handing out candy canes and small toys. I wonder if that isn’t Payne’s job, but I catch a glimpse of him on his throne. He’s watching me. I can’t read the look on his face. It doesn’t matter. All I care about is the dance of terror I’m performing with the few remaining kids.
    The bad seeds, the ones with the red glow, sweep as a small flock out past the margins of the parking lot into a wooded area I’ve never noticed before. It’s a forest of pine trees. Somehow, they’re decorated with tinsel and colored lights that multiply our shadows and throw them in all directions. One of the children, a boy, turns and looks at me as he runs, a grimace of pure malice on his face. He trips and falls.
    I don’t slow down as I scoop him up and toss him into the basket on my back. I feel his weight back there but I don’t mind. I know, somehow, that all the kids will fit if they have to.
    When we arrive at the hellhole, the rest of the kids are hiding in nearby trees. I can feel their anticipation. They want to know what I’m going to do with their fallen comrade. I admit I’m curious too.
    The hole is ringed with rocks. Heat blasts out of it along with a red light that glows dark and dull, seeming to absorb the light from the trees rather than add to it. I peer down into it. The fire is full of writhing masses: body parts, tentacles, chthonic mysteries I wish I’d never laid eyes on.
    I want to take the little monster on my back and dump him in. I pluck him from the basket and hold him in my claws. I stick my tongue out and he’s silent, solemn, as stunned and docile as any mouse on the verge of death by cat.
    I want to throw him in. Something makes me stop. That something is me. I’m remembering stuff, specifically, all the crappy things I did as a kid. Even though I’m not good all the time now, I try. I grew up. I got better.
    I’m not done yet. I get lots of chances. Maybe this kid deserves that too. Hell, maybe what’s happening right now will help him change.
    I put him down. He scrambles over to where the other kids are hiding and scoots into the underbrush. Their eyes peer out at me.
    The horns slip off my head. I just barely catch them before they fall into the hole. I step back from it. I’m suddenly conscious of my tee shirt and jeans under the heavy Krampus costume. I look at my hands. They’re just my hands in brown gloves: no claws.
    “It’s okay kids,” I say to the children in hiding. “Come out. Let’s go get some candy.”
    “You can’t fool them. It’s not okay and it’s not over.”
    Payne stands behind me, still in his Santa regalia. His hands rest on his hips and he seems to fill the corridor between the trees, my only exit. There’s no getting past him. I realize I’m genuinely scared of the flaming hellhole behind me.
    “What are you doing?” I ask. I already know the answer but I hope I’m wrong.
    He takes a step closer. He casts a quick glance toward the tree under which the kids hide. “I thought for a minute there you were really going to do it.”
    “I wouldn’t,” I stammer.
    “I know,” he says. “Pity. Gwennie had such faith in you.”
    The air goes out of the world as I begin to realize Payne really was too good to be true. He’s not a standard regulation bad boss: he’s simply evil. If I step back from him, I’ll be too close to the hole for safety. I start talking. It’s one way to stall while I figure out how to get away.
    “So,” I manage. “Ritual sacrifice.”
    Payne nods. “You think this business runs itself? In this economy? No, to