Krampus

I gasped as Constance fell forward into my arms and the elves started panicking and fussing over her.

"Enough," I said raising my voice slightly. They all paused in their actions and looked up at me. "Hand her to me, we must get back to the North Pole".

They all nodded and scrambled to put Constance in my arm as others went to ready the sleigh. I looked down at Constance, my poor Constance what have they done to you? I looked back down at the hole that took Constance's father right where he belonged and glared at it as I made my way to the sleigh. That would be the last time that he ever harmed her, that would be a promise that I would make sure to keep.

I laid Constance inside the sleigh and got in after her and wrapped one of my arms around her to keep her from falling over. One of the elves spoke softly to her and gently tapped her cheeks, trying to stir her from her sleep. "She has been under much stress, it will be a moment before she awakens".

He looked over at me and I could see the sadness in his eyes, I know that this was hard for them. We had all watched Constance grow over the following years and besides holding back my own feelings, it had been a constant struggle keeping the elves and other helpers from running out to her and trying to hold her hand or make her smile when she cried. They had missed her, just as I did and this was not what we were all expecting for our reunion. They all growled amongst themselves, occasionally brushing one of her braids out her face and tucking her in more. They looked up to me, hoping from answers from their leader.

"Do not fret, she will being staying us for now on and no one will ever harm her again," I said, slapping the reins and opening the portal to the North Pole. They all smiled and clapped their hands as the yule goats made their way through the portal and we were soon surrounded by the dark and chill of the North Pole. I felt Constance shiver next to me and I brought her closer to me, hoping to keep her warm. I would have to make sure she got a good steaming cup of hot cocoa when we got home. Our arrival was soon noticed as the cherubs fly from the tree's they were sleeping in and flew around our heads.

Perchta, the head cherub came zipping down and screaming with joy as her eyes locked on Constance in my arms. Perchta had made it a habit to perch herself outside of Constance's window for the last eleven years at night, since it was not safe during the day. When Constance was little Perchta would fly above her in circles and brush her wings against Constance's cheeks.

"Perchta, please you must let the house know we are coming! Constance has been injured and she needs warmth, quickly," I said through the snow. Perchta's crazed eyes filled with worry when I mentioned Constance's injury and she let out a sound like a whine. "She is fine Perchta, but you must hurry"!

She looked from Constance to me and nodded her head before she turned and flew to the castle, to warn the others of our arrival. I felt Constance wiggle beside me and held her closer to me and looked down at her to see she was still sleeping. I smiled down at her and looked back up at the castle approaching fast. I would have to say it was about as large as Nicholas's castle or Santa, as you may call him, it sat on a large hill and was dark. It had five large peaks and had a large chimney that was always was smoking, mostly because it was a direct path to the underworld. A subject that I had been almost dreading having with Constance.

I knew she knew what my job was, when she was younger she had asked me many times who I was and what I did. I also saw that even in our time apart her memories of my visits would direct her to books in her public library or even videos on the internet, which made me very happy. But I didn't know if she would accept that part of her new life and it frightened me, what if she didn't want to stay with me? I tried to rid my mind of those thoughts as we pulled into the stables, where Perchta and a group of female elves were waiting for us. I also saw two more faces, Nicolas and Jessica.

The yule goats brought us into the stables and I didn't even wait for them to stop and jumped out of the sled with Constance held bridal style in my arms and started walking inside the castle, with a large group following me.

"Is she alright," Nicholas asked me, making his way through the group of small elves.

"Yes, I got to her in just enough time," I said and looked down at one of my elves who wore a white mask with a smile carved in it. "Gluggagægir, make sure that everything is ready for Constance".

He nodded his head and went down a different hall.

"What about her parents Krampus, you said that there was danger," Jessica said next to Nicholas, trying to peer over at Constance.

"Her father killed her mother," I said with a straight face. I hated to admit it but I never cared for the one named Rashida much. She was better out of the two but she was no real mother.

"And her father," Jessica then asked me. Nicholas and I looked at each other and I let a low growl tumble in my chest as I tighten my grip on Constance.

"He had killed her mother and was seconds away from having Constance join her, I did what had to be done," I explained. Jessica just nodded her head and let her eyes fall to the floor as we walked to where Constance would be sleeping for now. The female elves pushed open the door to a room decorated in black and silver, Constance's sitting room. The time I had been apart from Constance I had made every preparation, so that when she returned with me she would have everything he ever needed and more. I laid her on a long silver lounge seat and brushed away a group of braids and looked back at the group of elves.

"Do anything you can to keep her comfortable," I said and all the elves nodded and started to surround her, seeing what could be done until she woke up. A throat cleared behind me and I saw Jessica and Nicholas standing hand in hand and ushering me over to them. I looked back at Constance, seeing she was asleep and in the hands of elves I had nothing to worry about but it was still torture to tear myself away from her.

I guided Nicholas and Jessica into the connecting room, which happened to be my office. I looked at Constance's sleeping form one more time before I closed the door and looked down at Nicholas and Jessica, who seemed worried.

"What is it," I asked looked between the two of them. Jessica, a plump woman with grey hair with specks of the red it used to be, average height and a kind face looked up at me and straighten the spectacles that always sat at the end of her nose.

"Please Krampus, could you lose this form before we talk. I don't think I'll ever be used to it".

I rolled my eyes but smiled down at my oldest friends wife and let myself start to shrink down, until I was down to Nicholas's height of six foot six. I snapped my fingers and the large, dirty robe was cleaned spotless and fit perfectly around me. I reached up and took down the old man mask and blinked my goat eyes at the two people in front of me. Jessica smiled at me and I gave her a small one back.

"So what is it," I asked.

"Have you told her yet," Nicholas asked, always straight to the point. I looked down at the mask in my hand, honestly a little too afraid to look at them when I answered.

"No," I answered. Jessica gasped and Nicholas's brow furrowed.

"How could you not tell her," Jessica breathed out.

"It's not like this was how I was expecting her to come here, I was going to slowly reintroduce myself back into her life, let her see me like this. I was going to let her know of my feelings and of our connection to each other and then if everything went well, I was going to ask her to be my bride,". I meant every word, I had hoped that once Christmas day came I could present myself with the gift I had planned on giving her this year.

"So she has no idea that she was coming here to be your bride and that you've been fated to each other since the beginning of time and that by coming here things have started in motion, that can't be stopped," Nicholas asked. I shook my head they both looked at each other.

"This is not good, how will the poor thing react when she wakes up? Her mother is dead, her father…..well it's definitely a tricky situation," Jessica stated as rubbed her chin. I just gave her a smile for being always the one to put things so politely. Nicholas scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Why did you not bring her sooner, if you knew that all these things were happening," Nicholas snapped at me. I snapped up from my chair and narrowed my eyes at him.

"If you don't remember, it was you that said I could no longer spend time with her because you were afraid of my urges," I said cocking my head to the side and scoffing. "It was already risk enough that I left her gifts, slipped myself in her dreams and hand to bring back my helpers numerous times because they would sneak away to her room".

Nicholas took a few steps towards me and pointed his finger at me. Jessica raised her hand and looked at the both of us.

"Boys, calm down," she said.

"You know we made a deal that I would stay out of Constance's monitor, you wanted that Krampus otherwise I would've told you to bring her here because she is being introduced to this in the most horrible way Krampus," Nicholas said. I took a few hasty steps towards him, feeling Jessica rest a hand on my chest to stop me from advancing.

"You think I don't know this, you think I wanted this," I said raising my voice. We were almost chest to chest now, with Jessica's tiny form as our barrier. Couldn't he see how afraid I was, he knew me the best! I was terrified Constance may not want to stay with me after all this.

"Boys please calm down," Jessica said to both of us. Suddenly a scream rung out that made me almost jump out my fur and turn towards the door that held Constance behind it. All of us were looking towards the door now and Jessica let out a sigh.

"I think we may have bigger things to worry about".

Constance

It was so weird, my shoulder didn't hurt anymore and I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that the elves had came to me, they had wrapped me up and kept me warm. I had dreamed that even Krampus was there and he saved me from my dad killing me, it wasn't like my other dreams where I would reach out but could never touch him. He was right there in front of me, I could feel him under my fingers and I could feel the heat from his body. But that couldn't of really happened, I was dead.

My dad must've killed me, I felt so nice and warm so I must be in Heaven. It felt better than the cold, hard ground that I fell on. I turned my head and snuggled into the warmth, rubbing my face in it and moaning as I tried to block out the light that was seeping in my vision. I thought it was weird that I was seeing light, but they always said you saw a bright light or something on the way to Heaven. I also smelled chocolate, hot chocolate…..did they have that in Heaven too?

I rubbed my hands across the "warmth" I was feeling and came to realize that they felt like sheets and blankets. I started thinking to myself that maybe this would be a good time to open my eyes and see what this "Heaven" really looked like. I slowly opened my eyes, blinking as a bright light blinded me for a moment, before I could finally see that I wasn't in Heaven but in a room. A room large and beautiful room, decorated in the colors silver and black. I slowly raised my head and let the blankets fall off my head, realizing I wasn't alone.

I was in a room filled with small women dressed in black velvet dress robes and white mask that looked like a woman's face, they were elves. I could see their pointed ears pop up from their hoods as they all stopped what the were doing and turned to me. I jumped when they all bowed at the same time and then started running at me! I didn't know what was going on and let out a scream when they reached the couch I was laying on, I didn't realize there were so many of them! A hand raised up, making them stop and separate so they could get through. I raised the blankets higher up my chin and wondered what was coming next and realized that I was going to be meeting it soon since it wasn't that far a walk.

I gasped out as I came face to face with my childhood friends, all jumping on the couch and on me, I could remember all of them now. Finding out where I was didn't seem so important anymore as I felt tears roll down my cheek as I hugged all my friends to me.

"Snappy, Stekkjarstaur, Gluggagaegir, Ketkrokur, Perchta what are you doing here, where are we," I asked, looking at all their faces.

"Home," Perchta said in a high and whiny voice. My eyes got pig and I looked around the room.

"Home? As in your home," I asked. They all nodded. That meant that….."Krampus is here"?

They all laughed and nodded their heads. I felt my heart jump and

"Well where is he, how did I get here-"

"Constance," a man's voice said. We all turned to it and suddenly everyone was bowing to a very handsome man with large goat horns coming out of his forehead. He had dark brown hair and a matching goatee and was looking right at me. How did he know my name? I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him as he took a few steps towards me, before going in a full stride. I noticed as he walked that he had the legs of a goat, this guy wasn't human! I let go of my friends and backed away on the couch as the made reached out to me and touched my blanket covered calf.

"Who are you, what do you want with me," I said getting panicked. I wasn't used to hot mythical creature guys just throwing themselves at me and the way my heart was pounding, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Then, I saw his eyes they were orange with square pupils. As he looked over at me with all the sadness in them, I felt like I had looked into those eyes before and felt myself being drawn into them. I could see now the he had a very human face but had the small goat like details.

He gave me a small frown and then reached into the sleeve of his robe and took out something of his robe. I gasped as he brought up the mask that I had only seen in my dreams for so long, he brought it up close to his face and blinked at me from behind it. He reached out to me and flicked the bell that I hadn't taken off for the past eleven years.

"Are you saying you've forgotten me Constance," he ask lowly. A small sob ripped through my throat and I let go of the blanket in my hand and threw my arms around his neck. I buried my face into his furry neck and felt toned arms wrap around me and pull me into a strong chest. I heard someone clear their throat and peaked through one of my eyes, seeing and large man and a woman quietly ushering the elves and other helpers out the room. I saw the woman give us a small smile, before closing the door and leaving us alone.

As the door closed Krampus pulled back a little from our embrace and brought a clawed hand to the my cheek and caressed it. I looked up at him and as he smiled at me I remembered something, I brought my hand back and slammed it against his face. He let out a gasp as his face whipped to the side, before looking back down at me in shock.

"That was for leaving me with those crazy people, my dad tried to kill me! And when did you start looking like this and where have you been, why have you been gone so long, why didn't you come back for me," these questions had been running through my head for years and I felt like if I didn't ask them now, I would never get a chance to. He stopped me by bringing a clawed finger to my lips, stopping me from asking anything else and placed the same finger under my chin to bring my face to look up at him.

"Please slow down Constance," he said softly, his voice didn't sound hollow anymore. It sounded deep and manly. "I'm so sorry my dear, this is not how I imagined seeing you again. I have dreamed of nothing else since but of the day you would come back to our home".

"Our home," I asked in a whisper. He smiled and nodded.

"Yes, this is your home as much as it is mine and I want you to stay here with me for the rest of time," he said as he closed his eyes and rested the empty part of his forehead against mine. I felt my breathe shudder as I felt my face start to heat up.

"If this is my home then why did you leave me, why didn't you keep your promise," I asked, feeling my throat strain with emotion. Krampus leaned back again and his face suddenly became more serious and his hands fell over mine and held them there.

"Constance...there is something that I must talk to you about before we go any further in this," he said. He looked over at my right arm and lifted up my sleeve, showing the hoof print birthmark. "Do you remember when you always used to say that this mark looked one of my hoofs, well in a manner of speaking it is".

I blinked and gave a little snort.

"So you stepped on me as a baby," I joked. I loved how it didn't feel any different from the day we parted ways, I could even hold a better conversation! He chuckled and caressed the mark with his thumb.

"No...you may have noticed my friends leaving, they are Saint Nicholas and his wife Jessica," he said. I brought my free hand up to my mouth and looked towards the door that they have left out of. That was Santa and !? "Because Nicholas and I are immortal a higher power, if that's what you'd like to call it picks our life partners".

"It finds the traits that will be most needed as partner to us, even down to that person's appearance," he said brushing one of my braids out my face. I gently brushed his hand away and gave him a stern look.

"What does that have to do with the mark," I asked. He set his mouth into a straight line and sighed again.

"What I'm trying to say is that it was no coincidence that our paths crossed Constance. Since the day of my birth events have gone into place to ensure your bloodline and finally your birth, so we could meet, court and finally…..marry".

I felt my breath catch in my throat as my eyes got even wider the more he spoke. Marriage, we're supposed to get married? I didn't even realize that I was speaking out loud because Krampus was already answering my question.

"Yes, by the eve of your eighteenth birthday".

"Or what," I asked. These fairytales always had a catch, always. Krampus shrugged his shoulders and looked off in thought.

"Something about the underworld possibly swallowing the Earth and Heaven's," he said plainly. I let my jaw drop in shock and I felt the world start to move. I felt myself start to fall but felt strong hands wrap around my forearms keeping me up. "Constance, are you alright"?

I slapped his hands away and scurried off the couch, trying to not let my knees buckle under me and held my hands out to steady myself. I took a few deep breaths and looked at the ground.

"No, I'm not ok," I said. I took a few more deep breaths and when I finally felt strady, looked over at him. "I don't see you for eleven years and one of the first things you tell me is that we're supposed to get married or the world- the Heavens are going to be swallowed by the Underworld, as in Hell"?

Krampus got up from the couch and tried to reach out for me, but I pushed his hands away. The rejection that filled his eyes killed me, but I had to have answers before my head popped off!

"How could you not tell me this sooner, I turn eighteen in the summer, a few months"! Krampus fell to his knees in front of me and placed his hands on my hips, keeping a tight grip as I tried to make a struggle. How could he just drop the biggest ball on me like this, what were we going to do? Well I knew what we had to do but id that what I really want, what he wants?

"Constance, please forgive me," he begged. "Give me time to explain myself".

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, attempting to turn away from him but couldn't turn in his arms. I settled with crossing my arms over my chest and looking away from him.

"Like you gave me time to make a decision that will alter the course of my life," I asked sarcastically. Krampus opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly the loud, whining and gurgling sound came from me, that silenced us both. My stomach, waving a white flag. I tried to hide my embarrassment as Krampus smiled at me and got up from his knees, towering over me again.

"Please Constance, you are tired and famished. Let me have the elves give you a bath and food and we can discuss this more later. I promise," he said, leaning down, so he could get a better look into my eyes. I bit the side of my cheek and sucked my tongue as I tried not to get taken in by his orange eyes, they really were beautiful. I was really hungry and a nice hot bath did sound nice.

I sighed as I gave in and finally nodded. He let go of my hips and clapped his hand, making four female elves appear and bow.

"Please take her ladyship for a bath and make sure she is comfortable. She will join me for a late dinner afterwards," he said, looking at each of them. They happily nodded their heads and glide over to me and two grab onto each of my hands and start tugging me in some direction. I was a little nervous at first, but it went away as I heard them all give a little giggle and smile at me behind their mask. I looked back at Krampus, he just smiled as he watched me walked bent over, with two elves pulling me while the other two were opening the doors for us. He gave me a little wave and I was able to free one of my hands long enough to wave back at him, before I was out the door.