Page 31 of Christmas Eve with Krampus

And that’s exactly what I did.

Was I being stubborn? If I’d stayed with my Krampus, I’m pretty sure his healing kiss would have done it that much easier. But I didn’t want easy. I wanted Josie to do what Josie always does: figure it the fuck out. How could I expect a man I barely knew for three days to be responsible for me forever?

Especially when he didn’t seem to want me to stay?

"Lassen sie sich zeit.”

Take your time…

That’s what I did. I took my time. I recovered and I healed, and I researched everything I could about Krampus as I could. Then I threw all that research out because the man I knew? He’s Ruprecht—and he was meant to be mine.

Just like I’m meant to be his.

“Ich habe mich in dich verliebt.”

I’ve fallen in love with you.

Same, R. Same.

But just because I tossed everything I found out about Krampus, that doesn’t mean I didn’t dig even deeper into the lore of Blackmoor. When I was there, I was told that only four of the last one hundred petitioners left on the third door. I’m number five. But of us five, four of them came back to add rumors to what Blackmoor can accomplish—and all four of them seemed to disappear within a year of their last messages online.

And, look at that. I’m number five for that, too.

They always do. That’s what’s echoing in my ear as I roll my suitcase behind me, knapsack strapped on, sack of oranges slung over one shoulder. Because he’s not wrong, is he?

Fated mates. I know the idea of it sounds nuts, but one of the usernames—Scarlet999—mentioned that she felt some kindred connection to the wolf she met in the woods of Blackmoor. She danced around the topic, but I found a deleted comment that mentioned how he turned into a man when the moon was high, and I remember how I thought there might be werewolves lurking in the shadows.

Maybe so. There were definitely Christmas elves and an old Germanic demon, so why wouldn’t there be werewolves? She called herself his mate, too, and wondered if it would be too late to return to him. Her last message—from eight years ago—was a goodbye, and I like to think that Scarlet999 found her happily ever after.

I sure the hell am planning on it.

I did everything right. Because of my surgery, I never went back to work so I didn’t have to quit another dead-end job. My next-door neighbors were pretty helpful while I recovered, so I threw an early Christmas party for a couple of us that was secretly my send-off.

I spoke to my mom, too, to make sure that she’ll be okay without me. My dad can suck a dick; I couldn’t care less if he wonders what the hell happened to me. But mom… even if we live on opposite sides of the country—or, now, on opposite sides of the world—I wanted her to know that I’m okay, too.

She’s happy now. Last year, she met a nice guy on her cruise, and they’ve been together ever since. Love looks good on her, like it does me, and though I couldn’t tell her that I was going to a mythical pocket that’s way out of her reach to be with the one being meant for me, she was happy to hear that I’ll be happy, too.

And I will be. As soon as I’m back with Ruprecht again.

Is three days enough to know that you want to spend forever with someone? I never would’ve said it was, but that was before I spent a fucking year pining over Krampus. For all of January, I craved peppermint. I dreamed of his claws trailing up my thighs, and his tongue… damn it, did I miss his tongue.

His generous nature, too. The way he protected me without expecting anything in return, then claimed me to save me from Nicklaus doing it first… and all while knowing that we were meant to be.

Even he agrees. Because, when I finally got tired of trying to open the wood box and took a hammer to it, I found out what Ruprecht’s twin gave me last Christmas: an undated one-way ticket back to the airport just outside of Blackmoor.

So, yeah, I get it now. Fated or whatever this is, I don’t care. Ruprecht told me to take my time. That he was in love with me. Well, I’m back. I’m ready. I got my wish—and now it’s time I get my own happy-ever-after.

I had planned to be back earlier. Remembering what he told me before, I expect him to be hibernating after Krampusnacht was over. It’s the one day of the year that Krampus is at his most powerful, and with Nicklaus—being both Saint Nicholas and the bastardization of Santa Claus that Saint Nicholas became—only hitting his peak at Christmas, Ruprecht hibernates through the rest of December.

But when I stayed home on December 5th, hoping I’d see him in my world and super disappointed when I didn’t, I decided my best bet would be to return on the twenty-fourth. Nicklaus would be distracted, at least, and I could wake Ruprecht on my own.

Not saying that I don’t trust Ruprecht’s brother… but, yeah. I don’t. I wanted our reunion to be special, and keeping that cuck out of it seemed like a pretty good idea to me.

But you know what’s even better?

After wheeling my suitcase about a hundred yards past the boundaries of the forest of Blackmoor and seeing a pair of gleaming golden eyes watching me go.

I’d know those eyes anywhere.

---