Return of the Snowman
By, Clayton Overstreet
There must have been black magic, in that old silk hat they found…
The children gathered around the snowman. One of them was playing a drum in a steady thump-thump-thump that echoed over the hills of snow. It had started out as a pile of snow, rather than rolling giant balls. Tiny hands shaped the snow with disturbing intensity and amazing skill. Their eyes glowed slightly in the fading afternoon light. In the distance parents called out, telling them to come in for dinner and were ignored.
Finally they had a vaguely man-like shape seated against an old ash tree. With reverence three children stepped forward. One of them held pieces of charcoal, snatched from a BBQ in the child's home. He placed them carefully as jewelers setting diamonds, carefully packing the snow back around the little black squared until it looked like two glaring black holes. Then he stepped back and another came forward to place a broom handle against the hand, pushing down until it looked like the sitting form was holding a staff. The third placed a pink button like a pig's snout in the middle and beneath the two dark eyes followed by a genuine corncob pipe further down and to the side.
Finally they all formed a circle and began chanting darkly as a pretty blond girl came forward, reverently holding a hat. It could be mistaken for a top hat at first, but it had a buckle on it and was more cone-shaped above the wide brim. The kind you would normally see on someone far too interested in the history of thanksgiving. Only if one looked closely at the edge of the brim you could find a single red silk thread like a line of ants marching along the circumference.
She placed it on the snowman's head and stepped back, chanting with the others. Next she took a pin from the lapel of her pink snow jacket and pricked her finger, holding it out over the pipe. It dripped once… twice… three times into the hole, a bit of steam rising up from the end as residual body heat met the cold December evening.
At first nothing appeared to be happening, but then there was a small crackling sound. Fern-like patterns began working their way up the black broomstick. Then ice began to form until the while thing looked like an icicle with a deep dark center. The half formed face tilted up and slowly the snowman rose to his feet, bits of snow falling and cracking until the outer shell iced over too, leaving him gleaming blood red in the sinking sun.
All of a sudden he started to move with lightning speed, bouncing and dancing around. The children laughed and danced with him, still chanting, still playing their drum. It seemed almost choreographed as they bounced around him. Then there came a deep belly laugh, seemingly out of thin air, because the snowman could not possibly talk. It did not even have a mouth. It jumped like a ninja, easily clearing the children's heads as they played tag, trying to touch it. Yet if they got close they instinctively pulled away like they were reaching for a hot stove.
Until finally it dropped to one knee like a knight before the girl, looking at the ground by her feet. The voice on the wind whispered, "What is your desire?"
"You'll do anything I say?" It nodded. Then for a start how about a birthday party? My birthday is so close to Christmas they always made me combine the two. I want a party just for me and all my friends. With toys and candy and cake, just for us and nobody else."
The snowman looked up, his dark lifeless eyes meeting hers. "Happy birthday." Around them the children cheered the idea. The snowman stood up and turned towards town, twirling the broomstick in his hand like a baton. Despite his formlessness there was something male about it. Maybe it was the hat. At the same time it seemed safe. Lacking anything but a full body that might as well have been made of marshmallow. Safe and soft like a big children's toy.
An adult might have noticed the way the head moved. Lifting up as if that button nose was scenting the air like a hungry animal searching for prey.
All the same it began marching forward, the chanting children dancing behind him, the drummer beating his instrument like a heartbeat across the area as they headed into the village of Hooter Ville. It was not exactly a huge city or a small town. Population roughly 200,000 people give or take. Actually it was three towns that merged years before. Bishop and Cross Woods were just too tiny to appear on the map and now they overlapped. The whole place was maybe ten miles around in almost a perfect circle with a good thirty or forty miles of farmland and small woods between them and the next town, depending which direction a person went in. They were near a train track mostly used for cargo trains rather than passenger and far away from any freeways. The park the children had been in was on the very edge.
In the dead of winter with the exception of a few barren trees the town was the only thing that broke the landscape for miles. Looking away from it you could see nothing but plains of white. Even at night when it glowed almost silver.
The snowman had no interest in that beautiful vista. Its face stared into the city, where cars passed by and lights flickered in the twilight. The gaze should have been cold, but it was not. It was hungry. As alive as snow could be. A hand of hardened snow gripped the icy broomstick even as it twirled through the air weighed down yet moving with incredible speed until it was a shiny blur in the air like a spinning buzz saw sending out waves of cold air.
It was only just barely freezing enough to keep the snow from melting. It would get colder soon. Much… much colder. Storm clouds gathered on the horizon as around the bounty weathermen went nuts as their millions of dollars worth of sensing equipment suddenly registered fast moving storms that should not have been them. All of them converging on Hooter Ville. Snow began to fall, just a little at first, but steadily increasing.
There is nothing quite like a snow day to increase the boredom of people who have to work. Hermione Kamaitachi sat in Dr. Goldfarb's offices playing solitaire on her computer. Nearby her dog Max lay in a pet bed next to a small space heater. Goldfarb had insisted he wear a pair of antlers for the holidays if he was going to be allowed int he office, though Max had torn one off and turned it into a chew toy leaving only one on his head. The dentist himself was off at lunch. Hermione kept her food in the break room and was not allowed to eat either until he got back or until one, whichever came first. Not that it mattered. Everyone had cancelled their appointments in the wake of the snowstorm.
She was a pretty young woman of twenty-three. Half Japanese her mother was a French fashion model and her father was a manager for a band. Neither of them was around much and when she was a kid she had been on a train attacked by an ISIS group. So they had moved their official house to America, choosing the most boring place they could find. Unlike some kids Hermione actually appreciated it and had even gone to school to become a dental assistant. She had been just as freaked out by the attack and the biggest excitement she wanted in her life was her self defense training. She preferred her job working at a children's dentist's office keeping frightened kids from freaking out.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and she looked up to see a man with a thick scruffy beard standing outside the door and big windows. She smiled and nodded for him to come in. He did, walking through what was already two feet of snow. Outside the clouds were so thick that the street lights were already on, even though it was still the noon hour.
"Sorry to trouble you Herm, but it's not a fit day out for man or beast." His voice was deep and gravelly with a thick Canadian accent. There were still streaks of black in his beard, but it was mostly gray. Not from age so much as hard living. At most he was about forty-five. Over his shoulder was slung the long shape of his metal detector. He wore a thick blue coat and pants over boots.
"Not a problem Neal. We don't have any patients today and most of the kids would probably think you were Santa." She picked up the earmuffs on the counter next to her which sported a pair of large elf ears. "We'd match."
Cornelius "Neal" Chenoo was basically homeless and used to play minor league professional hockey as an enforcer in Ottawa. Then damage to his knee had kept him from ever being in the majors and he spent about ten years drinking away the money he did make. He cleaned up mostly because he could not afford any more booze. Eventually though he saved up enough money for a U-Con metal detector from a pawn shop, giving him an edge on collecting cans buried under snow in the winter.
He had moved down south to Hooter Ville, hoping for a slightly warmer climate as he got older. Rumor had it he occasionally came into the local cops with a gold ring or something fished out of storm drains and gutters. Mostly though he lived in his old VW van and showered at a local truck stop, earning just enough money from scrounging to keep fed and clothed and have the van gassed up. Hermione mostly saw him when she went to the library. They had talked a few times and she had even asked him why he did not get a real job. He said he liked to keep busy and if he had too much money he would just be getting fat in front of the TV.
He came in knocking his boots clean of snow on the welcome matt. "How's your day going today?"
"Pretty slow. There's hardly any traffic and you're the only one crazy enough to be out on foot today. Are you doing alright?"
"Just fine. My van's buried out by fifth. I left the snow on so it's basically a rather cozy igloo at the moment. I decided to get some work done while the sun was still shining."
"Shining?" She said looking out at the dark shade that constituted the day's "sunshine".
"Well admittedly it's a bit dark for this latitude, but I've seen worse up in Canada. The weathermen are going crazy down here though. They can't figure out where such a large storm came from and now there's a yellow alert. They think we might see a tornado."
"Here?"
"Global warming or El Nino. Take your pick." He walked over to the pet bed and bent down to pet the small brown dog. "How are you doing today Max?"
Max was a sweetie and lifted a head to lick his fingers. He was ten years old and Hermione had gotten him sort of by accident last Christmas. A neighbor of hers named Gregory Lynch had been working as a local Santa Claus collecting for charity. He got drunk and after hearing one too many Christmas carols decided to rob a few of the neighbors. He cleaned out three apartments before he sobered up. He felt so bad about the whole thing he immediately called the cops and turned himself in, swinging by Hermione's place to ask her to take care of Max until he got out. Lynch was a mean one when he got plastered, but she was a soft touch for animals so had agreed. She had found the dog in his kitchen, eating some family's stolen roast beef.
Mr. Lynch's teeth had been bad for years, eaten away by years of tobacco chewing so that it looked like a termite farm, so he certainly could not eat it. He must have stolen it just to be mean. That or as a gift for the only creature that really cared about him. It was both sweet and nauseating.
It might have been for a few weeks or months at most. Nobody had really pressed charges after he came around and gave back all the presents. Unfortunately he had died in county jail. His sister had come by to collect his things and told Hermione it had something to do with him having an enlarged heart and Hermione did think Mr. Lynch looked a little green when the cops took him away, like a seasick alligator, but she had put it down to an overload of Christmas cheer AKA schnapps.
The old woman had no desire for a dog and Hermione had gotten attached, so she ended up with a pet.
Max went back to his nap and Neal looked outside to where a few cars were backed up. There was also a police cruiser and a cop with flashlights with orange cones over them was controlling traffic. Behind him men in thick coats and a cherry picker were working on the lights. "What's going on out there?"
"Someone hit a patch of snow or maybe black ice earlier and hit the traffic light pole. This is Main Street so they can't just block it off. Thankfully there's hardly any traffic. Nobody is used to this much snow around here. I haven't seen this since the year my mother took us that that Swiss chalet." She looked at him. "Did you hear about the looters last night?"
"No. What happened?"
"The way I heard it on the news somebody broke into Jenkins's Candy Shop, the grocery store, and the Y-mart where they cleaned out the toy aisles and the electronics and a bunch of kids' clothing."
"Sounds like somebody is getting their kids a lot of good stuff this year," Neal said. "Unless somebody turns them in." he nodded out the window. "Maybe those kids know what happened. They look like they've got some new stuff."
Hermione looked and saw what looked like a parade across the street. At the head was a tall figure that was either wearing a lot of white or was covered in snow, save for the black hat on his head. A top hat? No, it looked more like something out of a Thanksgiving celebration. He held some kind of staff or flagpole in his hand that glittered in the dim light like glass. Behind him were a bunch of kids in bright colored clothes. A few were playing handheld video games. Some had on earphones hooked to music players. One at the back was playing a pair of bingos. Many of them also seemed to be eating large candies. Chocolate bars as long as their arms, red boxes full of expensive sweets. Stuff Hermione knew was between five bucks a bar to a dollar per chocolate. All seemed to be dancing along with the lead figure who was half marching half dancing along the sidewalk, plowing through the snow and clearing the way for them like it wasn't even there leaving behind plenty of room in a sort of ditch for the children.
"I know that blond girl at the head of the line. Her name's Eve. She's kind of a brat. Her parents bring her in every six months and she makes a huge fuss just about getting her teeth cleaned and Dr. Goldfarb showed me a scar he had from when he had to give her a filling a few years ago. Her parents had to hold her down."
They walked down the streets of the town until they got to the traffic cop. Then they paused, if only for a moment as the man looked at them and shouted, "Stop!"
A moment later both Hermione and Neal said in unison, "Holy shit!"
The white figure in the hat had lashed out at the policeman with the staff. It was a quick motion that looked like it required very little effort. All the same the staff punched through the man's chest and clothes like it was nothing. Then he yanked out and to their further shock the policeman remained standing.
"Maybe it's a trick…"
"No. The cop. His skin, it is blue like a frozen corpse."
"How do you know?"
Neal looked at her. "If you spend a few winters living on the streets of Montreal you will see a frozen body in the winter."
She was not listening though. Instead Hermione looked past him and covered her mouth. "Oh my god!"
The snowman had not stopped with the cop. Several people in the cars had gotten out to get a look and the snowman jumped on them with surprising speed for it's bulky form. The staff poked out again hitting them. They did not even have time to scream before they too were frozen solid in place. Hermione could see light through a hole in one woman's neck.
Someone tried to pull out of traffic then, only to crash immediately into another car. Others tried it too, but there were enough cars in both directions that they were boxed in and the ones in the back could not see what was going on. The snowman jumped on a car hoot and his stick pierced the windshield. The driver had just begun honking and now it was continuing on in a long almost mournful sound. He leaped back off the hood and landed by a store window where it lashed out again, breaking through the painted display of singing elves on Mr. Larson's Pet Store and hit Cathy the cashier right through her left breast, leaving her standing there like a display mannequin. Then on and on.
Nearly two dozen people in the surrounding buildings and vehicles were dead in a matter of maybe five minutes.
The kids were watching with undisguised glee and cheering it on. Then Eve stepped forward and spoke to it. Hermione's blood seemed to freeze in her veins as the girl's mitten clad hand rose up and to her horror pointed right at the window of the dentist's office. Worse the white thing she was talking to turned and followed her pointed limb and they got a good look at its face. Two black eyes like deep holes. A button where the nose should have been and an almost ludicrous pipe sticking into the side of its head.
Neal grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the window as the thing bounded towards them, running through feet of snow as if it was not there. They barely made it away from the plate glass before it crossed the street and saw it burst through the window in a shower of glass. A large piece fell down and pierced the thing's foot, but it did no damage. It merely took a step, the shard stuck in the floor as it pulled its foot free.
Max stood up and growled. The snowman took a step towards him and then stumbled, bumbling a few steps. Its head turning so its dark eyes focused down at the dog… no, not the dog. The space heater. It took another step towards them and Hermione saw water begin to run down its leg before it stepped back again towards the shattered window.
"Ah-ha!" Neal said. He looked around and then reached over to the thermostat on the wall. He slid the thing up to the end and they both heard the hiss as the vents began pumping out hot air. "Take that, you icy bastard!"
It seemed to work, the snowman jumped back, dripping like it was sweating until it landed in a pile of snow past the sidewalk, glaring through the window. They saw it heft the staff it carried like a spear and begin to take aim, clearly planning to throw it like a spear. Both humans tensed, sure that its aim would be perfect and that at least one of them was going to die.
"Don't get in its way or it'll just get us both," Neal muttered to her. "That thing will punch through both of us as easily as one."
"But…" Before Hermione could argue a snowball flew through the room and hit Max making him squeal. They looked and so did the snowman. A moment later there were more and more. One of them finally hit the space heater and there was a loud crack and zap sound. A second later the lights, the computer, and the heater all went dead. Hermione looked up to where Eve and the children stood, still holding snowballs scooped from the ground. Cold air blew through the shattered window. "You little bitch! What do you think you're doing?"
"Getting rid of the adults. It'll be great. Once you're all out of the way we'll have the whole town to ourselves." She smiled nastily. "No more school. No more bedtime. No more dentist appointments. Then when his friends get here we'll…" The snowman's hand lashed out in front of her, cutting off her words. "Well it's not like you'll be here to see it. As soon as that room cools down a bit…"
Neal grabbed Hermione by the arm and yanked her back towards the hallway to the break room. There was a door on the other side that led out to a little back area and then around the side of the building where the trashcan was. Hermione took out the garbage a couple times a week, so knew instantly what he wanted. Glancing over her back she saw the snowman raise its weapon again, but before he could throw Max jumped forward, snarling.
She heard him yip in pain a moment later and then go silent. "Max!"
"Forget the dog and run!" Neal snapped. They hit the door and he slammed against the bar to open it. The cold air hit them like a physical thing, but they jumped out into the shin-high snow anyway, even though Hermione was not dressed for it, her heavy parka and boots back in the break room. It had gotten a lot colder since the morning even if it was noon. Snow blew in her eyes but the man holding her hand tugged her along anyway and fear kept her moving.
Behind them they heard the door slam open again and turned to see the snowman. They were slowing down anyway and could not help watching as it came out of the same door they had just left. The spear colored this time with a small smear of blood and frozen fur, warmed just enough to keep it from freezing instantly.
"Max," Hermione gasped. She squeezed Neal's hand. "We can't outrun that thing, even if the ground wasn't covered in snow."
"I know," he said. In his other hand he still had his metal detector. He let her hand go and took it in both of his. "Doesn't mean we don't still try to fight back!"
Hermione felt her heart pounding, but she nodded. A quick glance around showed that if there were any weapons around, they were buried. So instead she got into a karate stance, preparing to do her best with her bare hands. Though considering being stabbed through the foot had not made it so much as flinch she just hoped that things' attack froze her painlessly.
The snowman started towards them when movement caught Hermione's eye. A flash of red, barely visible except against the creature's body. It wrapped around the thing's middle and it froze in place, unmoving. "Run you morons!" They looked up and saw a figure standing on the room. It seemed to be wearing a tuxedo, but with a white cape and hood. In its hand was a ball of red yarn and its face was covered in some kind of mask. The voice though was that of a young woman. "I said run! Get to one of the cars! This won't hold him for long." He or she jumped down and landed in the snow, surprisingly only sinking a couple inches into the surface, making this new person seem taller than the snowman. She ran around it putting the string around it in a circle like they were playing Cowboys and Indians.
How a thin string could be holding the creature was beyond them, but Hermione and Neal were in no mood to argue. They turned towards the cars where the horn was still blaring. As they approached they could see the bodies. Behind shattered windows, bent over in cars, and standing frozen in place on the street. If there were any other humans alive in the area they had already run for it, probably out their own back doors or were huddled somewhere inside hoping to be missed or otherwise safe. In a big building with a heater it was possible they would be.
"Don't touch them," Hermione said as they approached and Neal started to push one frozen woman out of his way. He stopped and looked at her. "I once hurt myself with liquid nitrogen when I was training. Just a drop but it burned me right through the calf og my jeans. I lost an inch wide chunk of skin. I don't know how this works, but I do know it takes a lot of cold to freeze a human being like this. I know during the ice age it used to happen and they still find frozen mammoths with bits of food still in their mouths, but however cold it is touching them would probably be bad."
"Like liking an ice cube tray at least," he said nodding admission to the point. Instead he went around and kicked the open car door with his foot, letting that touch her.
The woman did not just shatter. She disintegrated as if she were made of snow. As if every cell in her body had been frozen individually. She broke apart even as she tipped over and when she hit the ground all that was left was multicolored snow. Mostly pink and red.
Hermione covered her chapping lips with a hand. "Oh my god, that's awful."
"Yes, but I'd rather not join her. Get in. You're driving." They piled into the car. Hermione took the driver's seat, fitting into it more easily and quicker than the large man would have. She started the engine and carefully pulled out into the street.
The rear door opened and the person from before slipped inside. "Don't hesitate. That thing and those nasty little brats will be after us again in a moment. It's not your car and the cop is dead. This car isn't on your insurance. Floor it."
"Right." Hermione pushed the accelerator down and the car shot forward, pushing aside other cars and zooming past a few that were approaching until they were past the traffic jam. "Where am I going? The police station?"
"Not unless you want to get them killed sooner. Main and Maple. The store called Herbs and Ointment."
"The New Age shop?" Neal asked.
"That's the one."
Without a better plan she did as she was told. As she drove though, glancing around constantly she said, "What did you do to that thing?"
"Old binding magic, though I'm by no means a professional."
"You look like a magician."
"I make a pretty good living as an illusionist," the girlish voice said. "I knew Marie Laveau, but I was in no position to even make a deal with the Loa and learn the ins and outs of hoodoo."
"So what is going on?"
"I'll tell you when we're safe. Right now I need eyes out incase that thing gets free and follows us. I don't think it'll leave the children, but I don't want to take any chances. In this background it'll be hard to spot even in that stupid hat. That's why I disguised myself with this cape."
Nodding the other two looked out the windows, eyes flickering to every patch of snow. Hermione asked, "Should we stop to warn people?"
"That'll just slow us down," Neal said coldly.
"He's right. Do you honestly think it'll help to tell people we're being chased by a walking snowman? Nobody will believe us and there's nothing you can do anyway. We barely escaped from it as is. If it's chasing us hopefully it will ignore everyone else and stay on our tail and we'll have the time to get to safety. If it catches up to us first we're dead. Either way we're not prepared to protect ourselves, let alone anyone else."
Hermione did not like it, but nodded. "Fine. I'm not going to be the chick in a monster movie that dies screaming for help if I can avoid it, but once we're there I want answers."
"Deal. Just keep driving."
They arrived at the shop in ten minutes and the two townspeople noticed that someone had nailed up boards behind the glass of the windows and doors. It was an old building and thankfully there was smoke coming out of a chimney in the roof. Hermione had been inside before and knew there was an old potbellied stove inside. The person in the back seat got out first, looking around warily before motioning for the other two to follow. Their feet crackled over copious blue snow-melt sprinkled across the sidewalk.
There was a large bell attached to the door rather than the usual chimes when they opened it. Loud enough that the ringing hurt their ears and made them flinch as they stepped inside.
"What the hell—?" Neal snarled.
"It drives off demons," a man said, sitting in the corner. They turned and saw a thirty-year-old man in a business suit. Young looking with glasses and sharp features he was sitting at a table behind the displays of crystals and bottles and figurines flipping through a stack of books.
"Mr. Pamola!" Hermione said, recognizing the school's librarian. He had only started her last year in high school and a lot of girls had crushes on him.
"Please, call me Jack," he said. Turning he looked at the masked figure with them. "You brought them here?"
"They were attacked by the monster and its little minions. We need all the help we can get and anyone prepared to believe the town is under attack by a killer snowman is going to be easier to work with that anyone else. Besides they did a pretty good job facing it down. Better than you did. At least they didn't wet themselves."
Blushing the man cleared his throat and said, "Never mind that."
"Mister… Jack. Do you know what's going on?"
"Not in detail. That's what I have been trying to look up. I think our friend here will explain the finer points though while I keep reading. I found snacks in a fridge in the back and I got some logs from the hardware store across the street, so we should be good for now as long as that thing doesn't break in here."
"Where is the owner?" Neal asked.
"I took this place as my base yesterday and so far the owner hasn't come in," the masked person said. "A shame since whatever New Age nut runs this place would probably be a help." The figure took off the cape and hook, tossing them onto the nearby counter. Surprisingly on the head was a tiny black witch's hat which came to a point, complete with buckle. It was attached to the black hood that covered the entire head as the figure adjusted their tux. Then it turned and faced them, bowing. "For a start, take this hat off my head and put it on yours. It'll save time. When you are done hand it off to your friend."
"Uh… okay…" Hermione reached out and picked up the hat. It was held in place with a clip. She undid that. "So I just put it on?" The figure stood perfectly still. "Hello?" She reached out to touch it.
It fell over with a wooden clatter. It had felt light too. She screamed and took a step back. "What—?"
"Just do what she said," Jack said over the book her was reading. The title was Mythology of Tibet.
Nervously she reached up and set the tiny hat, sized more for a baby than a grown woman, on her hair. A moment later her eyes bulged and everything changed.
The story began thousands of years ago somewhere in the Far East. Where exactly would be hard to say. Maps were hard to find and not very accurate and countries as they were known today were nonexistent. The place this happened was a temple built like a fortress on the side of a mountain. The monks in said temple were used to snow and ice but it was a hard cold year and even by their standards becoming more than they could bare. It was clear to their high priest that demons were involved.
The monks prayed for two solid weeks, fasting (as if they had a choice and hoping that their god would help them. One day when they came in they found a stack of spools, each laced with red silk of the finest quality, just sitting on the altar. The priest touched one and instantly had a vision of how their god had gifted them with the silk. Not for use as clothing, but for binding demons. Right down to how to do it.
A group of their finest went up the mountain to a cave said to be the home of such demons. Creatures of ice and snow who had been summoning the storms. With the silk they had sewn binding rings into special cloth circles along with ancient symbols, which when touched with fresh blood and placed upon the demons would bind them until the world itself froze over. Two of the monks came back and the hats were buried in stone chests in a deep ravine, hopefully never to be found again.
Two weeks later spring, long awaited for, arrived. And for a hundred years after that the monks were known as wonderful exorcists, called in whenever evil spirits were suspected.
Then a horde of barbarians ransacked the area killing every man they came across including the monks, raping the women, and stealing the children. Pretty standard stuff. They of course looted the temple. The blessed silk was merely one of the things they stole.
Some of it found its way to Africa and a king named Solomon. The bulk however was merely locked away in storehouses and shipped around. It rarely saw the light of day until Vikings stole a shipment. A good thing too as they had problems with ice giants and one of their priests found a use for some of the silk too. It very well may have helped avert Ragnarok.
Some survived and was traded and a single spool was picked up by a merchant named Dare. Sent to the first English colony in America as a gift for his wife in the town of Roanoke. His daughter remembered that day well.
Young Virginia was watching her mother make a hat for her father. They had soaked willow leaves and prepared all the parts. Virginia had long been learning to dew at her mother's knee. She even had a rag doll made and altered by her since they started. A patchwork of snips that had started out as vaguely human and now looked quite respectable.
A good thing too. Being the first English child born on the continent had garnered her some fame, but also a little envy. Perhaps her own pride in her birth had helped, but certainly the other kids either treated her with deference due to her father's position or with distain as if she were too full of herself. Her doll was often her best companion. At least until her father found her a suitable husband.
It was no surprise that she would use some leftover bits to make a hat just like the one her mother wanted as a surprise for him when he got back from his latest trip. She could not make it exactly like her mother's. She was sure if she tried to make the flat bit on top it would be ruined, so she went with a simple wide brim and a cone tip with a buckle from her old shoe. A soaked willow twig sewn into the brim to give it form. Thank god it was black for she pricked her finger many times and dripped blood all over it. Not a huge problem though, or so she thought, as her mother pricked her fingers many times sewing the real one as well. The bane of the seamstress.
Later when the hat was done Virginia had been playing with it. Nothing serious. It had been left out for the willow brim to harden and the ink to dry. She took it outside and sat with it, dreaming of when her father would be home, leaving her rag doll inside at the table. She took it to a bench outside the house carved from a log and just held it. Imagining the proud look on her father's face when he got home and saw what a lovely gift his wife had made for him.
Then one of the boys had stolen it. She had been inattentive until he was right on top of her. He snatched it away and laughing ran off with it. In her dress and petticoats it was impossible to chase after him and she was a girl after all. So she went and told her mother. She knew who had taken it after all. It was quite a small colony.
"Don't worry Virginia. I will talk to young Jonathan Goodman's father and get it back. If it is damaged I can make a new one. We have plenty of time before your father gets back."
Relieved and slightly anxious to perhaps see the beating the boy would get Virginia had put the matter mostly from her mind. Unaware that once he had the hat young master Goodman had no idea exactly what to do with it. a hat was a fairly valuable object and he was not about to damage or claim it. So what to do? Thus he and his friends had, in those cool months where it had snowed a bit, built a snowman. On top of which they had placed the hat. If they were fortunate they could even claim Virginia was trying to get them into trouble and had been playing with them.
The story ended with death…
Hermione tore the hat off her head to stop the horrible images, not unlike those of the afternoon. She wordlessly passed the hat to Neal. He put it on his head and gasped, eyes focusing on nothing as he too saw the vision. When it was done he took it off and looked around. "What do I do with this thing now?"
Jack said, "Just put it on the mannequin."
He bent down to the fallen form and did so. Under the mask he felt hard wood and lifted it, amazed at how light it was. It really was a mannequin. As soon as the hat was clipped in place though both he and Hermione cried out as it sat and then stood up.
"What the hell are you?"
"Virginia Dare, at your service." It took a bow. "As for what I am, in my time they surely would have called me a witch. Today a ghost perhaps or a bound spirit." Her hand reached up and touched the hat. "As you saw I made this hat from the same blessed silk as the one made for my father, stained with my blood. Not that different from the binding circles sewn by the monks."
"But what happened?"
"That is complicated. Magic is still not understood often by those who use it. Fire has been used by humans for millennia but it's only recently we even began to get an inkling of why things burn or why flint works better than most stones to spark it. Scientists have recently decided that the sun is made of plasma, where as before it was hydrogen. Before that it's been fire, gold, and god's love. The closest most of them will come to admitting to anything resembling magic is the theory of Dark Matter and only then because it obviously affects the stars and throws a kink into many of their other rules and theories."
"Simplify it," Neal said flatly.
"Very well, but this will be the Cliff's Notes. I can't explain why it works any more than we have time for me to explain every part of a television remote control." They nodded. "To start off, giving a child a doll is like giving them an unloaded gun. Spirits can use an empty form, human or animal. There are islands, temples, all sorts of places all over the world where people who think their dolls are cursed or possessed send them to be held or exorcised. The same applies to just about anything shaped like a human or animal. That's why temples put up statues of their gods."
"I've heard of that," Neal said.
"Like in that movie about the Greek Gods when the statue started talking to them."
"Basically. It's complicated and I've been thinking about it for five hundred years. I think maybe the snow crystals made the right symbols and a spirit of ice just happened by when those idiot boys decided to use the hat to build a snowman, trapping the spirit inside just like the monks used to do. Meanwhile when it killed me, my blood bound me to the hat I made the same way." She waved a hand. "So for five hundred years I've been moving from doll to doll, minding my own business. It took me a century to figure out how to move the first time and I've had lots of adventures."
"So this just happens?"
"That's what I'm researching," Jack said. They turned and looked at him. "Such stories aren't just relegated to the past either. A search of the net showed me that there have been attacks of vampires, sorcerers, and demons reported all over the world every year. It usually gets pushed back along with the UFO sightings and Loch Ness Monster, but they do get reported.
"As for ice demons it looks like they're pretty popular too. The Winter Court of Fairies, the Ice Giants of the Norse, Mountain Demons, Wendigo, Snow Gods, Ghosts, Jack Frost, Yuki-onna… I have no idea what this thing is exactly so ice demon seems the best description. All I know is last night our friend Virginia here saved me when I was walking by the Y-Mart and saw those little monsters robbing the place. I tried talking them around before I realized that the cashier and manager were standing there frozen."
"We just saw them kill a dozen or so people," Hermione said. "Before Eve decided to make sure she was not going to make her next appointment by killing us."
Jack nodded. "My research indicates that bound spirits can be controlled by those who rouse them, if a ritual is performed."
"Possession is a bit like pouring a can of soda into a jug of water. At first it overflows and mixes a bit and it takes time and effort for the soda to replace the water. It's easier to possess empty vessels. Knock on wood." She wrapped her knocked on her wooden chest. "I've studied it for a while obviously. My guess is they got their hands on the hat and were not fully possessed but the demon would have told them everything they needed to get it up and running with a ritual."
"What did you see?" Jack asked. "I didn't get much of a look once we were running for our lives. Since then I've been up all night researching."
Hermione and Neal described what they had seen. Facing off with the thing from across the room they had gotten a good look. Jack nodded and said, "I'm a fan of fantasy so I think I understand most of this. Magic, at least the kind most people can do, relies on rituals and symbolism. Scientifically speaking it would rely on quantum physics and a different perception of reality…"
"Forget the geek-speak," Hermione snapped. "We were just attacked by a killer snowman. We believe in magic. Explain."
"Okay, well if there is a demon stuck in the hat… and according to Virginia the hat will be indestructible…"
Virginia flicked her own hat. "Five hundred years and not so much as a stain. I had to glue the clip on. Cursed and spells do not just wear off. They either last forever or they get broken. My research says this one probably won't break until the world is a cold lifeless cinder floating in space."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
She tilted her head and shrugged. "After five centuries I'm used to it."
After the interruption Jack said, "Anyway it's bound to the hat."
"You knew this?" Neal asked.
Virginia said. "I sensed something. I'm no demon, but murdered spirits are often bound to their killers by our grudge. He's been dormant this whole time, but they recently unearthed a collection of colonial artifacts. I looked into it and even put in a bid at auction, but someone outbid me. A little side museum. Then before I could get to it, the hat escaped." Hermione blinked. "Look there was what seemed like a freak accident involving a car crash and a broken window and a really weird wind. By the time I got there the hat was gone and he was filling out insurance forms. It took me a few weeks to track it down by feelings and by then I'm guessing it had gotten the children on its side."
"Like you just did us."
She shrugged. Hermione said, "Okay to sum up. Demon trapped in a hat released by children…"
"My research indicates that charcoal would represent both earth and death and something once burned now cooled. The pipe air. They probably also used blood."
"Makes as much sense as wine and wafers," Neal said.
"Okay, demon hat and resurrection spell by creepy kids. Ghost hat hunting down her murderer. Standard horror movie stuff. I can deal." She took a deep breath. "What can we do about it?"
Virginia motioned to Jack. "That's what he was looking for. I'm a sixteenth century Puritan who died before I was old enough to drive. I know a bit, but I mostly tried to stay away from all that black magic stuff after my soul was eternally bound to a piece of apparel. I mean it's a jaunty hat and all, but…"
"Understandable, I guess." They moved over to the table. "What have you got?"
"Well unless one of you knows its name, we're limited," Jack said. "Like I said there are a lot of ice demons. We could try calling on a fire demon or a god for help, but usually if they have a grudge against another demon they deal with it. Generally speaking anything we tried to contact could either ask for a price of its choosing or they might just attack us. According to this one book the Sahara was a rainforest until people started screwing around with jinn. Some theories say that's why California's had so many wildfires the last few years."
"How did you stop it last time?"
"Spring arrived, I think," Virginia said. "My hat had been traded to a little girl in another colony by then for her own dolls and I wasn't up to moving yet."
Jack nodded. "A lot of demons gain strength by the lives they take or the souls they steal. Often by defiling an area and making it unholy with a lot of murder and sins."
"Check and check," Neal said.
"My guess is a few hundred victims wasn't enough to hold off summer and he melted and the hat ended up lost somewhere and maybe tucked in a chest somewhere or something. Maybe sealed up by some native shaman."
"Is that why it's getting so bad outside?"
"A town full of a couple hundred thousand people, not to mention presumably anyone who drives through? Probably better at holding back the hot weather than a small English colony. Historically ice demons want a new ice age. Ragnarok. The end of all things. In between they just enjoy killing people and causing massive storms. The longer they stick around… well there may be a reason ice covered the planet for thousands of years and the Aztecs sacrificed people to keep the sun shining."
"Imagine what they could do in New York or Chicago," Virginia said.
"Or if there are more of them," Hermione said.
Jack looked up. "What do you mean?"
"That little brat said something about their snowman having friends."
Neal nodded. "Yes… and he interrupted her like he did not want her to talk about that."
"Interesting. Anything else?"
"Nothing specific," she said. "Except I'd like to know why a big bad demon is letting a bunch of kids boss it around."
"That I can explain," Virginia said. "Spirits don't see the world the same way humans do. It's why gods have people build temples and do rituals. Time and space mean different things to them. Like how humans try to imagine how rattlesnakes see infrared and the best we can do is heat vision cameras. Most of them don't really interact with us any more than we do with deep sea fish. I get that way when nothing is wearing my hat. It's like with the Middle East. You only ever hear about the terrorists, soldiers, and good will people. Not the guy who raises goats and minds his own business.
"In order to interact with this world they have to want to and then find something they can attach to. Followers. A special place. Certain rituals. Specific times when the stars are right. Like holidays."
"Christmas time is full of them. Not only is it when the world is cold but there have always been a lot of people dying this time of year because of cold and starvation. It's the best time to pray for help and try attracting a little attention. Human sacrifices were pretty much the best way to ask God to adjust the thermostat. Then we invented AC." He frowned. "Most immortals don't work well together. Even the Greek gods were constantly squabbling and trying to overthrow each other. There was usually a demon kind of something that could form an army, but they were mostly hordes than rank and file soldiers."
"Which means what?"
"Generally speaking it's not a good thing when multiple demons get together and have a leader. Places all over the world have evil spirits running around. The Black Forest. Japan. Arizona. Usually they work alone. If this guy wants to summon more… it's entirely possible this place could become a wasteland. Kill enough people and we could be looking at the next Ice Age."
"So hunkering down in a nice hotel in Florida isn't really an option?" Neal asked.
"It might be," he admitted. "If you can get out of town in time." They all looked at the boarded up windows. From the light leaking through the cracks the snow had already gone up another foot. "Personally I'm not looking forward to spending my golden years in a moderately warm third world country. Provided planes are flying by the time we can reach an airport."
"I have friends in this town," Hermione said.
"Well I'm not really running from a walking snow cone in a cheap hat," Neal said. "It may be too late to leave anyway so it'll kill us whether we fight or not. I'm in."
Virginia said, "I'm immortal. Even if I did not have a serious hate on for this demon, I'm not looking forward to thousands of years of ice and snow. I don't eat, sleep, or have sex. Do you have any idea how bored I was before movies, video games, and television? No way am I going back to that."
"So what's the plan?"
Jack held up a finger. "Barring someone around here knowing some actual witchcraft, we'll have to go with the obvious. Steal the hat, melt the body. This guy is made of snow and ice, right? You say he started melting when he got close to a space heater? I say fire, maybe some salt and iron bells. All things that affect both demons and snow."
"Bells?"
"Ice is basically crystallized water. If it doesn't shatter him loud enough noises should at least cause it problems. Like a high C or tuning fork. In Asia they use fireworks."
Neal said, "I don't think snatching this thing's hat is going to be easy. It's fast and strong and hard to hurt. Also I don't think touching it is a good idea."
"What did you do to it?" Hermione asked.
"Red string is good for binding demons," Virginia said. "At least for a few minutes. I don't know why. It could be the color or some symbolism. I just know Marie used to use it a lot. It's good for a barrier. Also it doesn't work long. At least normal string." She tilted her hat forward. "I don't have any more of this stuff."
"Even if it was in E-bay it would be hard to get it here anytime soon."
"Okay, assuming the hat thing doesn't play out like we want what else can we do?"
"Kill the kids?" Hermione asked. They all looked at her. "Hey don't look at me like that. We were fine before they sicked snow-boy on us and then took out my space heater and killed my dog. I will gladly kill them and blame the other murders on them when the cops ask questions if it means we save the town and maybe the world. I have been through one terrorist attack before."
"I'm with you," Virginia said. "I have seen this thing wipe out a town before."
"And I've seen plenty of horror movies where they could have stopped it early if they killed the kid with the spirit board, magic lamp, or whatever," Neal said.
"And I've seen plenty where the point is to get a bunch of innocent people to murder children and unlock the gates of hell," Jack pointed out. "Right now our monster is under the command of a little girl. I understand if we have to do it, but I thin murdering the person holding the leash should be Plan D at most."
"So what are plans B and C?"
"Plan A is to load up on weapons you can use on this thing and see if you can watch from a discreet distance and maybe try getting more help. You know if you can convince people of what is happening. If you don't mind swing by the local churches and see if some pastor or priest can just do a quick exorcism.
"Plan B is to call for help. My phone's dead but maybe someone around here has a landline or a radio that will get through this storm. Tell the cops or army some believable story, like there are terrorists running around with liquid nitrogen or something killing people."
"Plan C?"
"Try to set up a trap. Observe and see if you can figure something out. Meanwhile I'll stay here and collect information and try to figure out what their plan is. If we're lucky it's just kids rampaging. If not…"
There was a brief pause as they wondered why he got to stay in the nice warm safe place, but that was obvious. Neal was an ex-sports star and used to surviving in the snow, Hermione was young and at least has some martial arts training, and Virginia was basically immortal. Meanwhile he was a librarian. Jack could do research. The others had the choice between waiting around and hoping things would work out before they froze or starved or the monster found them and actively trying things.
"Where do we get weapons?" Hermione asked.
"I have a nice credit card and five centuries of savings," Virginia said. "If anyone's still at the stores. If not we break in and steal shit. If the cops come we can use them as canon fodder like in any other horror movie."
"Should a puritan be saying 'shit'?"
The doll shrugged. "Look where that got me."
Eve was no genius by any means, but it was becoming obvious that her friends were not well. The snowman had not killed them like he had the adults, but they were changing. Getting less articulate and interested in the toys and candy and no loner complaining about the cold. Their eyes had sort of a milky covering and their skin was distinctly blue. The chanting was no longer interrupted by tiredness or aching jaws. She was pretty sure one of Jeffrey Thomas's teeth had also become a fang and Mary Snider has claws peeking out of the tips of her gloves.
She also felt suspiciously warm in the show, but her skin remained a healthy pink and a quick check in a car mirror showed her eyes unclouded. If anything she thought she was looking healthier and better than before. So far she decided to ride it out and see what happened rather than bring it up with either the snowman or the other kids. They might not take it well.
"There you are Eve. Where have you and your friends been? Just because there is no school today doesn't mean you can just run around town all night! Your mother and I have been worried sick!"
She turned and saw her father's car. It was covered in show and while he was yelling out the window the windshield wipers were doing their best to keep his vision clear. So far it seemed that he had not noticed the snowman. Even meanwhile looked away from her father and up at the cold impassive figure. It was watching her. She could feel it in that expressionless visage. Waiting for her decision.
Eve had seen dozens of people die in the last half hour It was not as horrible as she had thought. There was little blood, since the victims froze instantly. It was like they turned to statues more than died, if you ignored the golf ball–sized holes. Most were caught off guard so that they did not even scream. The looks on their faces were almost comical afterwards.
Could she do that to her own father?
"Young lady, get into this car right now! When we get home—!"
"Get him." It was quiet. Barely a whisper. She felt a twinge of guilt, but there was also a growing cold place deep in her heart. A voice that told her she was in charge. She was a princess. A queen. And nobody was taking that from her.
The snowman seemed to smile as it lumbered forth, an unstoppable golem under its master's control. Only then did Eve's father realize the figure was ambulatory, having thought it was merely another pile of snow shaped into human form by children. Still he was not scared. Not yet. "Who are you? What have you been doing with my daughter?"
A moment later he fell silent under the implacable gaze of both the snowman and his little girl. She did not see exactly what happened, but when the bulk of the snowman's body moved away her father was nothing but a frozen blue statue, with a hole where the back of his mouth used to be allowing light to shine through. The car still running. Without him shouting she could hear the oldies station, turned down, playing on the radio.
Around her the children laughed and it was not quite a human sound any more. More hissing. Some rumbling growls. She looked around and saw a forked blue tongue lick over suddenly sharp teeth. Another kid seemed to have horns sprouting under the hood of his jacket. One touched a window and the fern patterns of frost suddenly covered the glass. That was interesting and potentially useful.
Turning from the car she looked up at the snowman. "We need more kids. You can't kill everyone yourself. Can we use your hat?" He nodded. "Is that going to happen to me?"
"You are special," the voice said. "I will give you the world. A world of ice and snow. Where children play in a winter wonderland. I will make you empress of all the Earth. Wish it and it will be yours."
"A kingdom of isolation?" She asked. He shrugged. She looked at the kids again. Behind the film over their eyes which was forming snowflake patterns now, blue lights glowed. They were not human any more. She could tell. The thing was, she realized she did not care. So long as they did what she wanted. "Looks like I'm the queen… Works for me." She looked up at him. "What should I call you anyway?"
"Names have power."
"Don't be such a miser! I need to call you something. Mr. Popsicle? Mr. Thirty… Forty… Fifty Below? Or are you really female and I should call you Miss White Christmas? No, that's… too much."
"Too much!" the other kids echoed.
After a pause to consider it he said, "Snow. Just… Snow. No mister."
"Fine. But as a magnanimous queen, I was wondering Snow, if there's anything you want to do. You've been very kind and I'm also well aware that I'd turn to ice in your touch." She saw him hesitate. "Just say and I'll make is so. Don't conceal what you feel. Just let me know. Let it show."
"I want my palace back…"
"A castle? Well okay, how do we do that?"
"I'd need… snow and ice. More than I can make right now. I'd have to gather it in one place and pile it high. I'm bound to this form and too weak…"
Eve thought about it. A giant ice castle? Yes sir. But how to build one? A slow grin spread across her face. "I think I might be able to help you out with that." She turned to the kids. "Okay boys and girls, this is what I need you to do…"
An hour later every snow plow in the city was hard at work and beside Eve Snow watched his new castle grow. It took a wile and he used his powers to shape it as it did but soon there were towers and a moat of sorts dug around it. The front looked like a jagged skull with sharp teeth made out of crystalline ice that pulsed deep inside with a blue unearthly light.
Snow extended an icy claw and Eve took it gingerly as they walked forward like true royalty into the frozen jaws. The snow continued to fall and the streets were refilling quickly behind them.
As their feet echoed in the castle Eve said, "You know, this place is a little empty. I think we need more followers. I mean what's the point of having such a nice castle if there's nobody around to boss around?" She gestured at the horde of possessed children following them. She was pretty sure they were dead. At least their bodies were not looking particularly healthy by human standards. Still as long as they stayed cool they would probably not rot like zombies. "I mean the frozen corpses around town are artistic, but they can't do anything for us. And there are still thousands of people trapped here huddling inside trying to keep warm."
"Useless bags of meat," Snow rumbled.
"At the moment," she said. "But can't we get some more like them? I hate to be a party pooper, but eventually people are going to notice that this town has been isolated and they're going to come looking. You are cool and all, but I'm pretty sure one national guard contingent and we'll be in trouble. Especially when all the hostages are dead. I've seen a lot of monster movies and in quite a few they blow up a town when they think they can contain the monsters. How do those powers of yours stand up to missiles and napalm?" She saw a blank look on his admittedly blank face. "We need an army of our own before they figure out what is really happening." Horror movies usually gave you until dawn before they sent in the tanks. "We'll probably have a few local highway patrol cars and a plow trying to get here… with this weather I'd say they can't fly in here and it'll take a while for them to get some heavy artillery down here even if they realize they police are not coming back."
The snowman probably wanted to argue that no human could stand against him. However three hundred years sealed in an old pilgrim hat had taught him that even mortals could get lucky. "I know of some demons we could summon, but I would need to get them here. My powers do not extend to the ends of the Earth." Eve resisted the urge to say "duh". "They are trapped in human artifacts. My awareness when I was trapped was limited, but we were kept close together for a time while we waited for our vessels to be sold." He paused. "I have no idea how we would get them here though."
Eve smiled. "Actually I have an idea. But we will need something first."
The hardware store was closed, but the front was made of glass, so they just broke in and came out with weapons. In this case a lot of acetylene torches, leaf blowers, and snow melt-salt (works on snow and demons!). The idea being that they could throw the salt in front of the leaf blower and make it a long range weapon. Not great, but better than a gun.
"Aren't you going to carry anything?" Cornelius asked as Virginia's mannequin came out behind them. he was the one hefting the leaf blower.
"My arms are hollow plastic. I can't carry that much. A full torch would probably snap my arm off. If you know of a marble statue around here I can possess…"
"There aren't a lot of museums around here. They don't even have the town founder in the park… I think there's a plaque," Hermione said. "I mean I'd build you something out of ice and snow, but…"
"I'll manage."
They might have talked more when a white form dropped down in front of them and snarled. They all screamed, but as the snowman raised his staff Cornelius raised a torch and brought the blue flame to life with a flick of his tongue. The snowman snarled and turned to run. Scooping up handfuls of salt while Hermione lit her own torches (one in each hand) they immediately scampered after the beast, chasing him down the streets of town.
The snowman leapt around like a gazelle, jumping on cat tops with a heartbeat-like consistency. Thumpety-thump-thump… thumpety-thump-thump… over the hills of snow. The way he looked back at them though it was clear that even as they chased him he was not really running away, just biding his time.
"Look at that bastard go…" Neal muttered.
Virginia was doing better. She was walking her light body across the snow with the agility of someone not relying on merely mortal muscle. She almost caught up to him and threw a handful of salt on his arm. It sank through his arm leaving holes stained blue. The demon snarled and raised his staff but she took up a pitching stance with the other hand, still full of blue crystals and as the arm dropped off he elected to jump back instead. Leaning down he dipped the stump into the snow and came back up with a fully reformed arm.
They were back in town square soon and the snowman was bouncing here and there. It actually shouted, "Catch me if you can!" This was followed by an eerie chilling laughter that echoed off the buildings.
"We're never going to keep up with him," Hermione mumbled.
Looking around Neal said, "Then we should bring him to us! I have an idea." Raising his voice he shouted, "Oh no! I dropped the salt and my torch is running low!"
"Mine too!" Hermione said, even though they had barely used a quarter of any of their torches' fuel. Both the doll witch and the snowman turned to look at them.
"Quick, duck in here before he comes back and kills us!" Neal was willing to bust down the store door they were in front of but thankfully it was unlocked and the lights were still on. The door opened easily with an electronic jingle. He smiled because as expected the heat was still on in this building too.
Hermione recognized it and smiled too. "Good call."
They were barely inside before they heard the jingle behind them. They turned to look and sadly it was not Virginia catching up with them. The snowman snarled and they took off running heading for the back of the store. There was another glass door, one that slid open. They ducked inside with the sound of the snowman's feet, like a man walking through snow, only reversed, right behind them.
Neal and Hermione turned, lighting up their torches again and said at the same time, "Sucker!"
By this time Virginia had caught up to, coming up behind the snowman, so she was just in time to see the looks on her friends' faces. Huge grins as the snowman looked side to side and realized where he was. Joe's Flower Shop. More accurately the greenhouse out the back door where, in winter, the flowers were kept potted and growing in about eighty degrees. Already he was sweating, if that's what you wanted to call it. His broomstick fell out of his rapidly melting fingers. Meanwhile the two humans approached; torches in hand.
Virginia slammed the sliding door shut as the beast turned and flicked the lock. He knocked her aside, but even if he had functioning fingers it was anyone's guess if he could have worked the lock. A moment later the torches were at his back and with a pained howl he was cut in half and then helped into a puddle. It took only a few seconds.
Neal then put the torch to the hat lying in the water, but while it steamed it did not catch fire.
"Told you," Virginia said. "Quick let's grab it and—!" Suddenly the lights went out. "Oh what fresh hell is this?" There was the sound of glass breaking and they turned to where the door had been. Around them they heard the pitter patter of little feet.
"That's it," Hermione said. The only light was coming from their torches and it was not much, but they could see several small shadows moving around them. "I am never having children…" There was an electric buzz and a brief flash in the dark before she cried out and the other two heard a thump, the torches falling from her hands. Neal cursed and then there was another zap and he too hit the floor.
Virginia grabbed some salt and sprinkled it around. She could see just fine, but there were a lot of them and they had tasers. One came up, dodging the salt, and zapped her too, but she ignored it and threw salt in the kid's twisted features. It sizzles on his skin and he screamed like she had hit him with acid. They others backed up and she spread more around to protect herself and Neal. She was about to throw some on Hermione only to realize she was gone. Looking up she saw three of the little monsters carrying her away. She moved forward to stop it, but more blocked her path.
Everyone knew what kids could do to a mannequin. She was no more equipped to fight them than haul around the leaf blower. Wait… she bent down and flicked it on, grabbing the nozzle and some more salt from the bags they had dropped on the floor. It wouldn't do much for the plants either, but she turned the blower towards the possessed kids and his them with a spray of salt. Hissing and clawing at their dead flesh the monsters turned and ran, following their friends out a side door. She would have chased after, but Neal was still down and she could not even lift the leaf blower, let alone his body.
A quick worried glance down confirmed something else. The melted snowman remained. His hat was gone. "Damn it."
About ten minutes later there was no sign that the kids were coming back, but the homeless man began to moan and sit up. "Been a while since I got myself hit with a stun gun. I think I either wet myself or I was lying in the melted snowman."
"For dignity's sake we'll go with option B."
"Where's Hermione?"
"They took her."
He looked up in shock. "Why?"
Virginia shook her head. "I have no idea."
Hermione was surprised at just waking up. Weirder she woke up in her own house. She sat up a d looked around. Nope, not a dream. There was Eve and her band of pale faced demon spawn. Standing outside by the window looking in at her was what was presumably the snowman, only he had changed.
Now he was not the creation of a bunch of kids doing their best to make a human shape. He had reformed out of cold blue ice, glowing lightly in the shadowy sun in the form of a horned reptilian skeleton. His head was an inhuman bulgy shape with wide eye sockets, a mouth that looked at home on a carnivorous dinosaur, and a crown of horns sprouting around the edges. The ribs looked like icicles and the bony claws gripping its broomstick were razor sharp is boney. A tail whipped behind it and now it stood stooped over, its fifteen foot tall body too tall to see inside otherwise. She only knew it was him because she could see the hat perched jauntily on one of the horns.
Eve snapped her fingers for attention. "Hey, down here."
"What do you want?" Hermione said, nervously looking away from the horror peering in through her window. "Why am I still alive?"
"I thought of a use for you. You're rich, right?"
"No."
Eve rolled her eyes. "I mean your parents are rich. My dad's always talking about how you could be too, but want to make it on your own." Hermione did not say anything. "You can get at mommy and daddy's money, right?" Another long silence. "At least you'd better hope so. See, he's going to clear up the sky for a little bit and you're going to use your credit card to order a delivery."
"Why would I do that?"
Eve smirked. "Because if you do, you'll get to live to see the end of the world. If you don't…" She jerked a thumb at the window. "Then he's going to convince you. You only really need one finger to type. How many body parts do you think he can freeze and snap off you until you do what we want? Assuming you can."
Hermione would have liked to be defiant, but she was not some green beret with training in anti-torture techniques. She was a nurse and she had no doubt that the monsters could and would hurt her. The girl was clear. Either she would be useful or she would die right away. Her best hope was to buy time until the others could find her and save her or she got the chance to escape.
"What do you want?" She repeated again. In her head she pictures strapping the girl down in the dentist chair and knocking her teeth out with a monkey wrench.
Jack was at a loss. He looked outside and said, "At least the snow has stopped. Maybe your attack weakened him."
"I hope so,' Virginia said, not believing it for a moment.
"What did they want with Hermione? I realize now it was clearly a trap. Only they didn't bring weapons. Like they wanted us alive."
"Human sacrifice?" Jack suggested.
"The damn thing killed half the town. It didn't seem organized enough before to be dragging anyone off alive."
"Then I have no idea. Maybe we should see if we can get out of here."
"Good luck. The clouds may have thinned but the snow is still five feet high in the city and it's still very cold out there. All the town's snow plows are parked by the demon's ice castle thing and I'm not sure there's any way out of town, even if the snow doesn't start again in a minute."
Jack sighed and slumped in defeat. "Well the internet is back up, so I guess I can do some more thorough research, Get in touch with some colleges and see if they have any experts on demonology or something."
"Download whatever you come across before reading it and focus on the calls," Virginia said. "Whether the break in the storm is intentional or a lull in the demon's powers, I'm sure it won't last long. You two do as much research as you can."
"What will you be doing?"
"I'll go out and see if I can find Hermione while the snow is not falling. See if I can find tracks."
Neal stood up. "I'll go with you."
"No, you stay here, stay warm, and do research. I can't freeze and you can't walk on top of the snow. You'll just slow me down. Besides, maybe they wanted you too and just couldn't get you through the salt. I'd rather not take the chance until I figure out what they wanted Hermione for. If they did need you both then no letting them get you is out best bet at keeping her alive."
Neal did not like it, but he had been using his metal detector enough to know how fruitless a random search in the snow would be. The town was not huge but it was big enough. Besides if they were in the demon's ice castle, there was little enough hey could do about it. "Fine, but I am not going to just sit around reading.
"Then get some weapons," Jack said. "I don't think we can use magic, so fire's our best bet. More torches. Or… hey I know. When I was a kid there was a list of ways to kill Barney the dinosaur. It included a way of making cheap napalm. Not military grade, but all you really need is soap flakes and gasoline. Oh, and I can look up the recipe for thermite if you give me a minute…"
"Fine, but hurry it up. The demon could recover at any minute."
"Or maybe the snow stopped because Hermione broke free and defeated the demon," jack said. The others looked at him. "Right, just incase let's get to work."
They split up to do their things. In their heads a clock was ticking.
Barry Monroe was an online auctioneer. He ran a site where people sold things and normally he mostly just shipped packages and checks. Still when someone asks you to hand deliver something and offers an additional fifty thousand, who says no to that? The plan ride had been a couple hours and though there had apparently been some freak snowstorm, the client had agreed to pay off the snowmobile rental fee. If he got there by sundown.
The purchase had been for two million dollars and he was getting a sizable commission. The agreed upon price was almost twice as much as the little antiques were worth. Admittedly they were old and valuable, but not that much. Whoever the buyer was clearly wanted them. Throw in the fifty K and he would have walked through the snow to make the delivery.
As the buzzing of the engine echoed over the otherwise empty landscape he noticed a few odd things as he sped into town. The top of a police car sticking through the snow, lights still flashing. It was behind a snowplow, likewise buried. No sign of the cop.
Also the sky was a little weird. It was like the clouds were swirling just at the edge of town. He had never seen anything like it. Still it was weird, but not that entrancing. He checked his phone and the GPS gave him directions on where to go. He swung left and down a side street. If he had been looking up he might have noticed a couple of frozen horrified faces sticking up out of the snow. But he did not and the dead he passed were motionless or buried in snow, so nothing drew his attention to the vaguely human-shaped blobs of white that almost blended seamlessly into the background.
He did as he pulled up to Hermione's house notice the large skeletal monstrosity next to the house, apparently carved out of ice. As he slowed his ride he stopped and stared, impressed at what he assumed was an ice carving. He had seen it one on TV before. People who could carve trees out of a block of ice in thirty seconds or who could shape elaborate sculptures from snow. Even entire ice hotels.
Still, plenty of time to gawk once his delivery was made and his money in the account. He was just getting off and checking on the crate behind him when the door opened. A cute little blond came out and said, "Is that the order?"
"You got it. Delivered in five hours flat! With five minutes to spare. Is your mommy or daddy home to sign for it?"
"No, but my husband will handle it."
He blinked at the young girl, shocked. But before he could ask what was going on the "ice sculpture" turned and looked at him. Barry was just about to scrap when the thing's tail lashed out like a scorpion and pierced his chest. His body froze in an instant, the shocked look still on his face.
Walking over to the crate the girl and monster checked on it. Snow reached out and broke the lock with the flick of a claw. Eve lifted the lid and they were bathed in a golden glow. Both of them smiled and it was harder to say which was creepier.
Duct taped in place Hermione sat on a pew at the local church. Minister Brown had been found by the kids, waiting in the back for the authorities to arrive. He was unsure what was going on at first, but Hermione had explained it while the kids had been setting up. First by breaking into otherwise empty homes and stealing Christmas trees.
"What are they doing?"
"I have no idea," she said. The things she had been forced to order had been listed as "antique ornaments." She watched as the possessed kids opened the crate and began taking out gold and silver lumps barely shaped like anything and wrapped with red string. Suspiciously in good shape. They then carried them over to the trees and hung them like ornaments in a pattern. Silver and gold. Silver and gold. Silver and gold decorations, on every Christmas tree. "Though I can guess. And it's not good."
Eve and her demon were standing under Jesus' image. The two hostages were wrapped in blankets because the church doors were wide open, cooling the room. The girl turned and smiled at them. "Actually it's quite good. Well, for us." She walked over to the crate and lifted up one of the little ornaments. "These mean so much more than they seem. You see the fool selling them thought they were just old time decorations. In truth they were icons used by a famous exorcist in the middle ages to seal demons. Similar to how Snow here was sealed in his hat."
Hermione shuddered. "I thought as much. I suppose you intend to release them?"
"And more, if we find them. So many empty frozen bodies for them to inhabit. Then we'll summon more. He'll be their king and I'll be their queen."
"He'll kill you the second you aren't useful."
"Not an option," Eve said. "I'm the key. See my boy here wants to be free. Truly free. And there's one surefire way to do it. A ritual perfected by fairies. You see, as soon as we're all set up, we're getting married."
"Oh dear." Hermione turned and looked at the priest. "Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard a legend from back in the day. As a minister it always stuck with me. If a fairy fell in love with a human being… sometimes it's an elf, a troll, or some such… and they get married in a Christian church… then they would become human."
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Eve said. "But yes, you are about right. The point being that the spell binding him and his real powers is meant to bind a demon, not a man. Meanwhile I'll transform into a demon in his place."
"I will retain my knowledge," the demon hissed like a cold breeze between is jagged teeth. "I will be free and will then use spells to free my brethren. They will change me back to my true form and we will march across this world like the glaciers of old."
"And we'll freeze the world until all the people are dead. Once the mortal animals are gone the gods won't care about this world any more and we'll free the other demons. Then we'll do it again on other worlds," Eve said. "And I'll be queen of the universe forever and ever."
Hermione looked up at the towering ice monster and doubted whether it would last, but since the main theme of the plan seemed to involve killing all of humanity, herself included, she hardly saw how it made a difference. "So what do you need me for? You made me blow a lot of money on your stupid demon army."
"Wedding ceremonies require a witness," Eve said. "Since we've killed most of the people in town and we already have you, it seems easy enough."
"I won't do it," Minister Brown said.
"Yes," the demon hissed. "You will."
Hermione didn't doubt it. Even if Brown did hold out or get them to kill him, the next town was not that far away and she knew for a fact they had at least once snowmobile. Here and now or the next night or the next, the demon had a plan and would be free. She looked back at the door. The snow was falling again. Soon the whole world would look like that.
Then a bearded for appeared in the doorway. At first she thought it was Santa, but that was because his beard was encrusted with snow and he was wearing a snazzy red coat probably liberated from a store. A quick shake of his head and the face of Cornelius appeared from behind the white and two other figures stepped into the door beside him. All three flicked torches to life as they stepped inside.
"Somebody has been very naughty."
Eve hissed. "Stop them!"
Abandoning the trees, where the ornaments had all been hung, the demon children ran forward. They barely looked human any more and ran like apes, long arms ending in claws working like their legs.
Snow meanwhile grabbed Brown and yanked him to his feet, severing the bindings with a flick of a claw. It roared in his face in a blast of cold air that left frost on his face. "Marry us, now!"
He tried to argue but the demon's claws pierced his clothes and he screamed in paint as his skin suffered instant frostbite. He screamed and screamed and then whimpered. "Okay… okay, I'll do it. Are either of you already married?"
The demon shook its head. "No, but you can do the job… while you're still around."
Hermione did not blame the man. She had seen what the demon's touch could do. Leaving him alive instead of freezing him probably wasn't a mercy. Who wouldn't capitulate? It let him go and he stumbled back. Hermione saw that the arm it had grabbed hung limply and the hand looked blue. They gave him a moment and then Eve, who kept glancing behind Hermione, kicked him in the shin.
"Ah!"
"Hurry it up padre!" She snapped.
"D-dearly beloved…"
Hermione looked up at Jesus and inside thought, Look I know I don't really believe in you per se, but if you or any god can help out here, please do so!
She looked over her shoulder. Neal was surrounded by a ring of demons. They were held back by a ring off ire. It smelled like burning gas. He, Jack, and Virginia were brandishing squirt guns now and at least three of the demons were lit on fire. Apparently nobody was holding back for the sake of the children any more.
"…to wed this demon and this girl in… h-holy…"
"Screw it," Hermione snarled and jumped forward. Still bound she tackled not the demon or the girl, but she hit Brown from behind, knocking him to the ground where he went limp and silent. She thought she heard something crack inside the old man. She felt bad about that, but if she killed him, then all the better. Anything she could do to delay doomsday even for a few minutes was good, right? Then again maybe killing a priest in a church wasn't such a good move while actually asking Jesus for help.
"No!" Eve and her demon both snapped. They started for Hermione, evil intent clear, when suddenly through the air a glass bottle flew. A rag had been stuffed in the neck and lit on fire, so when it hit the demon's skull it shattered, covering the thing in flaming liquid. Hermione and Eve both jumped away, barely voicing being splashed as Snow started thrashing and melting once again. Some landed on Brown, but he did not so much as twitch.
Hermione tried inching away, but Eve, seeing her plans going up in smoke, rushed over and began kicking her. Not hard enough to break bones, being a kid with no fighting experience, but it knocked the wind out of her. "You're ruining everything!"
Hermione curled up, catching the girl's foot with her arms and breasts. Eve stumbled and Hermione managed to push her away. She might have bounced back, but she stopped right in the path of the demon's foot and was kicked through the air and into a wall even as the limb broke off and the demon fell into one of the gold laden trees.
Suddenly Virginia was standing over Hermione. She bent down and began ripping off the tape. "You have to get out of here."
"I'd love to," Hermione wheezed. Once her hands were free she bent down and began undoing the tape on her feet. She broke a nail but managed to tear it off. Standing up she looked back to where Neal was braining the last standing demon kid with another bottle. This one wasn't actually on fire, but it was apparently good enough to crack a skull. Jack was down, being torn in half by two of the children. God she hoped he was already dead. "Let's go."
"I'm staying to finish this," Virginia said. She pulled up her top and showed that her chest had been hollowed out Inside was a silver thermos with wires coming out of the top. A red button taped to her chest. "Jack made a special Christmas present for out frost friend. Five pounds of home made thermite. That should heat things up." Hermione stared. "Run!"
She didn't need to be told twice. Turning away she sprinted towards Neal and the two of them headed for the door. Meanwhile Virginia turned and sneered at the fallen half melted demon. "You killed my people once. Only fair I do the same for you." She said a quick prayer she remembered from her childhood and then slammed her hand on the button.
Outside Hermione made the mistake of looking back in time to see the explosion. Not all of it, because she had to look away almost instantly as the thermite flashed like a miniature sun. So she missed the secondary charge that blew the whole building up and threw both of the survivors into the ground and nearly deafened them.
(Twelve hours later)
Virginia woke up in her small doll body not surprising since her mannequin had likely been spread over a large area at roughly the speed of sound. What had not melted in the three thousand degree explosion. Neal and Hermione, looking better than she expected, stood over her. "What happened?"
"You came. You saw. You got blowed up," Hermione said.
"The demon?"
"Well once the fire died down we went back to what was left of the church and sifted through the wreckage. We found the kids' bodies… well what was left."
"I used my metal detector and found most of those gold and silver ornaments," Neal said. "Maybe all of them. We haven't done a full count yet. The snow stopped and the National Guard showed up. We're trying to avoid them until they talk to other people and go through the town's surveillance cameras. That way we don't look like nuts when we try and tell them what happened. We presumed you'd want us to leave you out of it."
He was trying to be cheerful and failing. Virginia could tell. "What's the bad news?"
"You mean besides me having to explain a non-refundable two million dollar purchase to my parents?" Hermione asked.
The doll waved a hand. "I'll cover it."
Neal said nervously, "Uh, we found the hat, but before we could grab it a weird wind came out of nowhere and just carried it up into the sky."
Virginia nodded, not terribly surprised. Hermione said, "I'm pretty sure my boss is dead along with most of his customers. I could use a new job if you need help hunting him down again."
Neal nodded. "Personally I'm like to do it as soon as possible. While that icy SOB still has to bumble around in the modern world." Hopefully it would take him a little while to find another group to build him a body. Without any more followers he would be trapped in the hat, at least for a while. She hoped.
Virginia nodded and looked outside as a tank passed by. She had been around a long time and knew how this would end. Whatever they knew the official story would be that it was a terrorist or something. The security footage likely wouldn't make the news. Anything about a walking killing snowman who came to life one day would be a fairy tale they'd say. But she and her friends knew that it was true and he'd be back again one day…
To be continued?
Author's Note
There are plenty of stories about evil Santa and killer snowmen, but some people still holds the contract on a certain living snowman and it hasn't gotten old enough to be public domain yet. So so far no horror movies starring everyone's favorite ball of snow. I considered writing this as a book, but decided to just make it fan fiction. Hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you think of this and my other fan fics and check out my books on Amazon under Clayton Overstreet or C.D. Overstreet.
