Amity Blight sat in her comfortable office chair, one leg crossed over the other as she leaned back, her arms resting on each support. Her black business suit with a pink ribbon pinned to the lapel was pressed and crisp, and her green hair was pulled back out of her face. She was listening intently to her board of directors that were giving reports on the last year's achievements. Success was the summary of each presentation. The abominations that had become mass produced had successfully cleaned up the oceans of the Human Realm, pacified violent trouble spots around the globe, and they had even improved the lives of many humans by importing seemingly miraculous flora from the Boiling Isles that witches and demons had taken for granted for millennia. At a cost, of course.

None of it would have been possible without the laughable loopholes in human laws that had allowed her to create a trillion dollar company that could edge out the numerous corporations that were causing most of the Human Realm's issues in the first place. She often wondered if the business skills she had been taught as a child from her parents would make her a better person, but apparently they had.

"So Ms. Blight, do you have any plans for Christmas?"

The sudden change from strictly business to casual small talk took Amity by surprise. "I don't exactly see any reason to. It's not a Boiling Isles holiday." She said, narrowing her eyes, and the humans gathered around the table shifted awkwardly in their seats. "The abomitons…"

"Actually, ma'am…" interrupted Elliot, one of her most trusted board members, even if he was a bit of a suck up. "The whole… abomination thing… it still tends to offend some members of the populace. We've been workshopping a new brand." He continued, pressing a button on a remote to show an Abomination on a screen. "What do you think of the term 'Acquisitions'?"

"You think that'll improve people's cooperation with us?" Amity asked, to which everyone reluctantly nodded. "Keep workshopping it. I'll see you all tomorrow." She added, picking up her electronic tablet and standing from the table.

The table went silent until Elliot spoke up once more. "It's… it's Christmas Eve, ma'am."

Amity froze, glaring at him from under her brow. "So it is. Fortunately, as a multi dimensional corporation, Blight Industries does not recognize human celebrations. We're all on the verge of saving your world, and you want a day off? You can rest when we're done. Is that all?"

"Yes ma'am." Elliot murmured, and Amity continued walking away from the conference table.

She reached the door when her smart phone rang and she answered it without skipping a step. "Blight." She answered, then sighed. "Alright. Send her up… Yes, it's fine." She continued, hanging up, clenching her fist around her phone. "That's all for today, people." She said to the board of directors still grumbling around the table. "I'll be in my office."

Amity was straightening out the surface of her large office desk, cursing herself for feeling nervous. She wanted to be angry. She should be angry. The idea that she was nervous was ridiculous. Still, she couldn't help it, and she continued to move items around her desk in an effort to focus herself. "Ms. Blight?" She heard, and she looked up to see a human security guard in the black and purple uniform of her company holding the elbow of a thirty year old human female of Dominican ancestry, with shoulder length dark hair, bright brown eyes, and wearing a red beanie with her green winter jacket.

"Thank you, Anthony. I've got this." Amity replied, slowly and purposely placing her hands flat on her desk.

"Yeah, Anthony. She's got this." Luz said, glaring at the security guard. The guard heaved a sigh and turned, walking away and Luz stuck her tongue out at him, making a raspberry sound.

"What did you do, Luz?" Amity asked in a tired tone.

Luz pulled out an identification card, a stapler, and a stuffed doll of a little grey cat-like creature with a horned skull for a face. "I robbed the gift shop down stairs. Also, Anthony needs some more practice fending off pick pockets."

Amity sighed. "Why?"

"Uh, because it's the only way I can see you?"

"We've been separated for ten years, Luz. What reason could you have to see me?"

Luz frowned. "What reason… we were friends, Amity! We were girlfriends, wives! We were family!"

"Luz, I really don't have time or energy for this right now, alright?" Amity said, rubbing her eyes.

"You dyed your hair green again." She said softly, almost disappointed.

"It rated high with the otaku focus groups. Apparently humans aren't big on pointed ears and fangs, but it's fine if a woman looks like an anime character."

"It kinda makes you look like…"

"Was there something other than my fashion choices you wanted to talk about, Luz?" Amity asked.

"Y'know you're still invited for Christmas Dinner, right?"

Amity paused, looking down and straightening a pen on her desk. "How's your mom doing?" She asked after a short time. "She still…"

"Yeah. Still doing chemo, but they say it's in remission."

"I wish… I wish we could have caught it sooner. If we had, we probably…"

Luz held up a hand, forcing a smile. "I know. I kinda doubt she would have accepted it anyway though. She was okay raising Vee for awhile, but having a wad of abomination goo in her body might have been a bit much."

"And how is Vee? The supplements still holding up?"

"I think so. She doesn't like to talk about anything Boiling Isles related, but we've been switching off looking after mom. The doctors might be starting to think I don't sleep." She chuckled.

"She knows I didn't mean…"

"Yeah. She knows."

Amity paused again for a few moments. "So, if that'll be all?"

"Amity…" Luz said. "Come on. Join us for Christmas tomorrow. Please?"

"I'm busy, Luz. Trying to save your world, like you did mine."

"We saved it, Amity. All of us. It's been fifteen years; it would be nice if we could all be together again. Earth… Humans… We're not as helpless as you think. The Human Realm will get by for a week without you."

"I know you're not helpless, Luz. You proved that over and over. But as you're so fond of saying, sometimes we all need a little help."

"Yeah. Including you." Luz sighed, obviously getting tired of the cyclic argument. "Look, I just… I wanted to see you again. I miss you, we all miss you. So please, come to dinner tomorrow. We'll set a place for you."

"I… understand. You know where the lobby is."

Luz frowned and slowly turned away. "Yeah. Sorry for taking up so much of your time."

It had since gotten late after Amity's talk with Luz and she was staring into the bathroom mirror after a shower. Her auburn roots were beginning to show again while her hair was parted down the middle, but she didn't have the energy to renew the color. She wiped the fog off the mirror, and looked hard at her reflection, catching the shadow of a tall figure in her room behind her. She turned quickly, calling out, "Hello?" But no one answered.

She tightened her bathrobe around her waist and stepped out of the bathroom. Her room was warm compared to what most humans were used to in the city, a hold over from growing up on the Boiling Isles, but snow was falling outside of her window. It was a beautiful sight, looking over the city from the tallest tower without fear of shards of ice making a mess of anyone caught outside. "Abomination, please search the perimeter." She commanded, but nothing moved when it should have. "Abomination? Reveal yourself."

"As powerful as you've become, you never did finish your training." Said a male voice.

Amity spun away from the window, searching the shadows in her room but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "Who's there? I know your voice…" she said, reaching for her smart phone on her bedside table. "I'm calling security…" she announced, but the phone was dead. She set the device back down, still watching for the figure she had seen earlier. "Fine. I hardly need human guards to protect myself, or abominations."

She opened her hands, and bright purple surges of fire erupted from them, lighting up her angular face. Stepping toward her, his hair unkempt and tied back with a pair of goggles, was Alador Blight; her father. Amity narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously as he seemed to fade wherever there was light, then reform in the shadows. "A pleasure to see you again, Amity. You've certainly done well for yourself."

"Dad?" She asked. He looked older than the last time she had seen him. Much older, with greying skin and cracks that emanated a purple light, though he was still wearing his thick purple lab coat covered in abomination stains. "Am I dreaming?"

Alador shrugged. "Maybe. Is this what the Human Realm has done to you? You dream of simply being in your own room. You used to have such an imagination."

"The Human Realm has its charms that home never had." She said, still holding the pair of fire orbs in her hands. "If this isn't a dream, then how and why are you here?"

Alador yawned as though bored, and he shrugged. "Does the how really matter? No. As to the why, I have been… conscripted to issue you a warning, seeing as how you've declared yourself this world's new savior."

"I'm not a savior." She said. "I'm just repaying a debt, like you and mom always taught me to do."

"Interesting." Alador replied. "Well then, you've certainly got your work cut out for you."

"You have no idea."

"Do you remember the childhood tale of Krampus, Amity?" Alador asked.

"Of course. He was a creature that came out during ice season to eat misbehaved witchlings."

"Half correct."

"Look dad, I need to get some sleep. Would you mind haunting me some other time?" Amity asked, dousing the fireballs.

"You always were a stubborn child!" He said, raising an open hand in Amity's direction and commanding a large purple hand to erupt from the floor, grasping her in its fist. "Heed my warning, daughter! You will be given one chance tonight to choose the correct path for your future! Fail, and Krampus will consume everything you have come to love!"

Amity shouted out in anger, her eyes turning black with yellow pupils and with a thought, the giant hand that was holding her exploded like a firecracker in an over ripe fruit and she fell to the hard floor. Her hands erupted in purple fire again and she sent an orb where Alador had been standing a moment before. "Get out of my life!" She shouted, breathing heavily and searching the room. A chair was smoldering now, and scorch marks were strewn about, but there was no sign of Alador. "Abomination, put that fire out." She ordered, and a panel of the wall began to become misshapen and form into a humanoid shape, moving as a mass to cover the chair and stop it from smoking.

Her eyes returned to normal, the oily blackness pulling away from her normally gold irises, and she staggered. She reached out to try putting a hand on her bed to steady herself, but her vision began to blur. She had exhausted her bile sack, and it did not regenerate on Earth like it did on the Boiling Isles. "Abomi…." She slurred, and she caught sight of the abomination covering the chair rush to cushion her fall.

Amity stirred, her eyes fluttering open as her consciousness returned. She tried to move, but her head felt like it was about to split open like one of the worst hangovers she had ever experienced. She was dehydrated, and exhausted, and she felt around for her surroundings. Either it really had been a dream, or the abomination must have placed her on the bed and returned to its home on the wall, and she swung her legs off the edge of the bed and sat up. Either way, she needed some water, and she shuffled her way to the bathroom sink again. She ran the tap for awhile, splashing her face before cupping some of the water to her mouth for a drink.

She dried her face with a towel and peered into the mirror again. Shadows had started appearing under her eyes over the last year that she had hid with an illusion, but the hard work and stress had begun to get to her. When she had first started talking with Luz about the Human Realm, she had made it all sound so peaceful compared to the Boiling Isles where at any time you could become something else's food or servant and no one would bat an eye, but at least there was that expectation. As cutthroat as the culture could be in the Demon Realm though, people were at least free to look out for each other. Here, there was no room for heroes. Amity returned to her bed and laid down, trying to slow her pulse and relax.

"Nice place, Amity. Even more posh than the old Manor."

Amity's eyes snapped open and she looked to what should have been the empty space beside her. "Boscha?!"

"Hey, girlfriend!"

Unlike Alador, who had appeared decayed and old, Boscha looked exactly how Amity remembered her, complete with her Potion Track Hexside School uniform with yellow sleeves and leggings beneath her black shirt and cowl. Amity rolled away and fell off of the bed with a grunt. "Who? Wha? How?"

"Well that just leaves why and where, but really none of those are important…." She said, then stopped herself, and starting counting on her fingers. "Well… I guess the why is important. After all, you've got a choice to make, don't you?"

"Wait… that was real?" Amity asked, pulling her hands to her chest and biting her bottom lip. "Does that mean my dad…"

Boscha shrugged. "Dunno. I'm just here to help you in your decision making, as usual."

"You? You never helped me with anything. You were a horrible person from the moment we met at my eighth birthday party."

"Wow. Harsh." Boscha replied, her lower eyes widening in surprise while her third eye in her forehead narrowed angrily. "That attitude is going to make for a long and awkward trip." She said, snapping her fingers with a smile. In the center of the room, a point of light appeared and expanded a short distance to either side before flashing. An ornate door appeared to unfold from the line of light, adorned with gold and a large central yellow eye with a slit pupil and a center doorknob just below it. "You know what this is?" Amity shook her head, though it certainly looked familiar. It was beautiful, and magical, and she stared at it longingly for several moments until Boscha got impatient. "Ugh, you were never this slow before. It's…"

"It's the portal that brought Luz to the Boiling Isles. The one from Philip Wittebane's journal." Amity said, reaching out to touch it. The large eye shifted to look where she had touched and she retreated her hand out of reflex. She laughed nervously, then reached out again to feel the decorative trim.

"You need some alone time?" Boscha asked, crossing her arms.

She had never seen the portal door in its pristine condition personally; and had only seen the images projected from the echo mouse so many years ago. But its symbolism, it's meaning to her was immense, as it had brought her Luz Noceda, and set her on a path that was otherwise impossible. She pulled her hand back again and stared at the door with a wetness in her eyes, choking out her words. "Why are you showing this to me? Trying to remind me of what I gave up following Luz here?"

Boscha laughed. "Pfft! No! I'm taking you home." She replied, snapping her fingers again. Before Amity could react, the door swung open and slid from its place to pull her into its gleaming doorway.