Maria fussed about with the lights hanging from the ceiling.
"Do we really need all of this?" she asked.
"How did are you not used to this?" Monroe asked "Sarah loved this stuff."
"She'd put it all up, dad would take half of it down, she'd put it back up, he'd take half of that down, I got very mixed signals," she said. "Besides, there's a train in the middle of the room, and all of these lights are eventually going to blind me."
"Don't turn on the lights we usually turn on, and you'll be fine," he said with a grin.
Then, they heard the dreaded knock at the door. Monroe scurried to answer it, opening it just a crack
"Nick, hi, is this important? Because I'm right in the middle of-"
"Yes, it is," Nick said, preparing to come into the house.
"No, no, no, no, no! You see, the thing is I'm-"
He was cut off as Nick walked past him anyhow, looking around at the many lights and wreaths about the room saying "Wow, you, really like Christmas!"
"It's a long tradition in our family!" Monroe explained "And, um, while you're here you might as well help. Here hang onto that," he said, handing Nick a toy train caboose "Don't mess with that! That is an antique! 1935, prewar!" before he walked over to the train "Wait'll you see these babies run!"
"Look, I need to show you something," Nick said.
"Yea, yea, yea! Just a sec!" Monroe said, setting a bunch of things down as Maria put another piece of the train onto the track. "Here, hand me the caboose, and step back from the track!"
Nick backed away with his hands up in defeat, watching with an annoyed face as Monroe flipped the switch.
"What do ya think?" Monroe asked once it started up, the mini wheels rolling around the track with whistles and toots of a real train.
"I think you have too much time on your hands Monroe," Nick said with a smirk. "Juliet and I don't even have a light up yet."
"You should see me in my Santa suit!" Monroe said with a grin as he followed the train with a child-like amusement in his eyes.
"Yea, a Blutbad as Santa!"
"Hey, I'm pretty good, but it's true! I'm no Gefrierengeber!" he said, putting his hands up.
Nick then shot both Maria and Monroe a confused look, turning off the train before saying "Wait a minute, you're telling me that Santa Clause is…"
"Well think about it, I mean, who else could live up there!"
"Nice try," Maria said.
"What, Gefrierengeber are real!" Monroe said.
"Of course but Santa Clause isn't!"
"You'll understand when you're older," Monroe said with a laugh before turning to Nick and saying "Hey, you want some eggnog? I make it from scratch!"
"No, no," he said before pulling a picture out of his coat and saying "I want you to tell me, if she could be a Blutbad."
"I can't tell what she is from a photo!" Monroe said, handing the picture back in favor of the caboose of the train, looking it over in his hands as Nick spoke.
"Well if she is something like you, could she survive by herself for nine years?"
"Well, if she isn't, definitely not," Monroe said "Is she lost or something?"
"Well there's a possibility she was abducted nine years ago, at the age of seven," Nick said, gravity in his voice.
"Wow," Maria said "And you think she's been living in the woods and is still alive?"
"We have evidence it was her," Nick said.
"Well if she was only seven," Monroe said, "society hasn't had much influence on her, so she's still a wild child! Her instincts will be working full time, you know, so she may still have a chance! Not sure if you want to run into her now though."
"Alright, and she was adopted at a very young age, and I'm not sure if her adoptive parents were Blutbaden. Could that be a problem?"
"Well yea, she'd have no one who understood what she was going through," Monroe said.
"Did you two know you were Blutbaden when you were born?" Nick asked.
"Let me put it this way, the first time you feel the surge, it's pretty brutal. I bit through my lip, I ripped my pants. It scared the crap out of me!"
"I sort of, almost killed a kid," Maria said, causing Monroe to look over at her. "It was Cousin Greg, so no didn't get that far! But I could have and that's the thing."
"So, are you telling me that there is a possibility that she doesn't know who she is? I mean, if she didn't have parents who understood?"
"Definitely! Yea, I mean, that could be the reason she never came out of the woods!"
Nick paused, seeming to bite his tongue before saying "I'm going back out there, okay, and I want you two to come with me."
"How did I know you were gonna say that?" Monroe whined.
"Monroe, if she is something like you then I cannot risk someone else's life taking them out there!"
"So you're willing to risk ours?" Maria asked.
"You're like her," Nick said "You could understand-"
"Look, even if she accepts us, we haven't been living in the woods for nine years! I'd be no match for something like that, and neither would Maria!"
Nick then showed them both the picture of seven year old Holly Clark, smiling with a few teeth missing, like all little girls should. "She could be injured!"
"That's even more dangerous," Maria said.
"I'm going back out there," Nick said after a small silence.
"Not at night," Monroe warned.
"Tomorrow morning?" Nick tried again.
Monroe nodded, giving him a look of pity before saying "You better be prepared."
Maria walked through the cool woods on her way home from school. It felt ominous, the quiet swaying of leaves. Every noise made her jump.
Calm down, she thought to herself, no one else is out here. The news said that was way deeper. Besides, if she was out here, I would be able to-
She froze, as she a roar off in the distance, loud and proud. Maria began to look for the source of the noise, sniffing the air as she did. She woged now as she tried to get a better grasp on it. Then, it came, the weight in her side that knocked the air out of her. She attempted to catch her breath, fighting the figure above her. Finally, she was able to throw it off. A girl, with long brown hair in a messy braid, about Maria's age. Her face was that of a full Blutbad, bright red eyes glaring at her. This had to be Holly Clark.
Are you kidding me? Maria thought as she tried to move from the ground, pinned under the glare of the red daggers.
She reverted to her human face, "Holly? It's Holly, right? Holly Clark?" The Blutbad straightened up a bit at that, its angry eyes becoming clearer. "Yea, yea, see! I know who you are and don't want to hurt you!"
The girl then began climbing up a large tree, quickly with a scared look on her face, as if she was running from someone. Not sure whether or not she should, Maria hesitated as she set a foot on the trunk of the tree, placing her hands on two of the steady branches near the base. When she reached the top, she looked inside of a door, which had been left open. Closing it, she turned around to see the girl sitting straight up on the bed, eyes glowing red in alarm.
"It's okay! I'm a friend, see?" Maria said, her eyes going gold.
Holly seemed to back down now, her eyes fading to a dull green as she lay down on the pile of sleeping bags. Maria sat on the floor of the hunting stand in shock.
Are you kidding me? Maria thought, This town has too many coincidences for its own good! I mean seriously, the night before Nick starts asking about her and now- oh my god Nick! The police are probably looking for her. Do I tell someone? Can I even leave right now, or would she make me stay? Why is she okay with me being here anyhow?! This is ridiculous, I'm just going to leave.
As she thought this, however, she heard the door open behind her and she whipped her head around to see Monroe peaking through it.
"Maria?" he whispered to her "What are you doing here?"
"I don't know," was all she had as an excuse. "She crashed into me and- Wait, were you the one I heard roaring in the woods?"
Monroe nodded his head to both sides before saying "Maybe." He looked down now saying "She's here, and guess who else I found!"
"Who?" Nick called up the tree. Maria crawled over, poking her head over the hole and waving tentatively. "Maria?"
"Look, it isn't like I went looking for her! She just kind of, crashed into me and I followed her up here!"
"Well, better the both of you then, wait until I get up there to do anything," Nick said.
Maria backed away, helping Monroe up the hole, Nick soon after. Monroe gave them a signal to be quiet as Nick picked a small pink hair barrette off of a shelf.
"If she goes for my throat, shoot her," Monroe said, causing Maria to roll her eyes as he began lifting the edge of Holly's shirt, exposing some bad bruising around the torn flesh of a bullet wound.
"She's gonna need some first aid," Nick said, picking up his bag and awakening the sleeping Blutbad who began to growl at them both.
Monroe flashed his red eyes at her, slowly calming her back to sleep as he said "It's okay, it's okay, it's gonna be okay," checking her temperature. "She's gotta really high fever."
Nick began dumping some alcohol onto a piece of gauze saying "You definitely took some Buck Shot."
When the gauze touched the wound, Holly's eyes popped open in alarm.
"Don't make any sudden moves," Monroe said.
Nick looked from Monroe to Holly before saying "Holly, Holly Clark."
"We're here to help you," Monroe said. "Do you understand me?"
"I am a police officer," Nick said in a somewhat loud voice.
Holly then began to growl, Nick backing away in fright as Maria said "Well this is just dandy."
"She seems to trust you two," Nick said.
"Yea well, let's try a more direct approach here. Maria, get over here," he said, when it looked like she was about to protest, he continued "She already ran from me so it might work better with you. Now, please." She scooted over, sitting next to the bed as she waited for instruction. Monroe took her shoulder with his hand saying, "Now I want you, to woge. Not quickly, not with any real emotion. Try to tell her we're trying to help."
"Okay then," she said, little optimism in her voice, before she woged. Holly did the same, her face a bit more threatening before Maria went back to her normal face saying "Look, we're here to help. He's just trying to make it feel better okay? I know you're scared, but you have to let him help."
Holly reverted, still looking unsure of the three people before her.
Nick then leaned over with the flower barrette saying "Holly. Clark," in a stern voice.
Holly gave the barrette a sad look before choking out the words "Holly." She lay down then, going back to sleep.
Monroe let out a chuckle, squeezing Maria's shoulder in congratulations as Nick continued working on the wound. He was pulling out fragment after fragment until he finally just pulled out a piece of gauze and placed it over the wound.
"Look, I don't know how much buck shot she has in her," he said as he began taping the gauze on "But I can't get it all out. All I can do is patch it up for now."
"Her fever is worse," Monroe said.
"Give her some Ibuprofen," Nick offered, pulling out his phone.
"It's better than nothing I guess," Monroe said. "Burdock root would be better."
"You know you aren't going to get a signal out here," Maria told him. "I was lost and tried on my first week here."
"Yea, I know, thought I'd try," Nick said. "But we need some help up here." He then stared long and hard at a metallic case that said 'Addison' in sharpie before saying "One of us needs to go get help. You stay here."
"Now wait, wait, wait! I don't think it's that good of an idea to take this girl back into civilization right now! We've gotta consider the ramifications," Monroe said.
"WE can't leave her in the woods!" Nick said "And what are you gonna do? Live up here until she's ready to come home?"
"I don't think she even knows what she is right now. She could hurt somebody!"
"She could hurt somebody up here too. Monroe, she already has!"
"But he was trying to hurt her," Maria defended.
"She is hurt, and I cannot leave her up here!" Nick said. "I'll be back in a bit," he finished, leaving the hunting stand.
"So what do we do now?" Maria asked.
"Well, we can try to bring down her fever. Hand me some water and a piece of cloth," Monroe said.
Maria looked around before finding a bandana and a bottle of water before handing them to her uncle. He dampened the bandana before placing it on Holly's forehead, the girl groaning in pain and discomfort as he did so.
"She looks really hot," Maria said.
"Yea it's getting worse. Hey, why don't you go get her some Burdock root?" he asked Maria.
"That's out here?" she asked.
"Yea, I saw some of it on the trail, pretty easy to find. I'm gonna need a few roots though."
"Okay, be back in a bit," Maria said, more to Holly than her uncle, as she disappeared down the door.
Damn it, she thought to herself as she hacked into the roots, the least you could have done was tell me where it is. Didn't find it until a few minutes ago, and now it's dark and she might be dying and oh God, I have to hurry. I hope three roots are enough for him. Finishing the last root, she stood up and walked back to the hunting stand. Climbing was a bit difficult as she slipped on one of the moss covered branches, but she made it up with the roots intact.
"There you are," Monroe said as he helped her up "Have any trouble finding it?"
"Tons, but that's not the point. Don't we have to grind it or something?" she asked.
"No," Monroe said, getting out a knife as he began to whittle the root. Turning to Holly, he explained "This is Burdock root. You chew on it, like this." He bit into a part of the root that hadn't been whittled down, making a face of displeasure at the bitter taste before moving a piece to Holly's mouth. She didn't seem to find pleasure in the root's flavor either as Monroe continued "I know, I know it tastes like an old tennis shoe, even though I haven't eaten that many of them, but it's good for you. Just nibble on it."
"Hey! Come out of there!" a voice yelled up.
Monroe tried getting the two of them to remain quiet before another voice yelled "Hey! Maybe you didn't hear us!" and a shot was fired.
Monroe went to say something before Maria shot out a hand to cover his mouth "Hey! Okay, coming down! Just don't shoot!"
"What are you doing?" Monroe whispered, grabbing her arm to stop her as she moved for the door.
"They must have followed me here and, no offense but, you don't look like a teenage girl!" Maria whispered in an angry tone, getting out of his grip and opening the door to climb down.
She climbed down, aware of the guns fixed on her back as she pulled away from the tree with her hands up in surrender.
"Aren't you a little young to be out here on your own?" one of the men before her asked.
"I'll have you know I am way older than I look."
"You're a bad liar kid," the other of the men said. "We saw you digging in the woods, right around where our brother was killed. Now why would anyone go and do something like that?" as Maria went to say something he said "Ah, ah, ah! Think real careful now, like I said kid, you're a bad liar."
Thinking of something quick, she came up with the truth "Okay, um, you see I was digging for this thing called Burdock root, it helps with fevers. Like a ginger or something. And I found this place and decided to-"
"Don't lie to us kid! I know you had something to do with killing our brother!"
"Whoa! Hey, I'm just a kid! I can't kill anyone!" now that was a lie.
And they seemed to catch it as the taller one said "I could kill you right now, and it might sting, but I don't think I'd lose any sleep over it!"
There was a rustle above and Maria gulped as the shorter one pointed his gun up. These men were obviously under the influence of something and not thinking straight.
"Who's up there?" he asked.
"Nobody! Look, my dad really expects me to be home soon with that burdock root I have up there," she said, for some reason, she thought that would get her out of it.
And then, the shorter one said something that made her blood run cold "I'm gonna go up there. And, when I find somebody, I'm gonna blow his head off."
Monroe heard what the man had said, and looked around panicking. Then Holly shot up out of the bed and, grabbing onto the trunk that was in the middle of the stand, she climbed up a bit before opening a hatch. She climbed in a way that he knew she wouldn't be seen, but he needed another plan. He wasn't as agile as he used to be, so he settled for climbing under a sleeping bag behind the hatch in the floor.
The man that came up left his back turned to Monroe as he shined his flashlight around. "There's no one up here. Wait! There's one more sleeping bag! And it's colder up here!" the man called down before climbing down."
"It isn't even my place!" she argued "I just thought it looked cool and decided to check it out! You know how we kids are, sticking our noses in places we don't belong, getting into trouble!"
When the shorter one finally dropped to the ground, he ran over to Maria with a knife saying "I'm gonna cut your throat!"
"Hey!" Nick's voice rang through the clearing, causing the taller one to look back at him, his gun still trained on Maria. "Nobody move!"
"This is the girl who killed our brother!" the shorter one said, pulling out a gun.
"She's just a young girl, she had nothing to do with it," Nick said. "She came here with me! Now put your weapons, on the ground, now!"
"You shoot me, he shoots her!" the shorter one said, grabbing Maria by the sleeve and pulling her over to him as he walked farther away.
"Stay where you are!" Nick yelled.
There were a few noises in the forest then, the man holding her looking around in a panicked manner.
"What's that?" the other man asked.
"I don't know, where?" the man holding her added.
Suddenly, a long rope of hair caught the taller man around the neck and pulled him backwards as he choked, effectively snapping his neck as Nick shot the smaller man holding her. Maria ran over to where she saw the hair stem from, finding Holly laying on the ground next to the body of the second man she'd killed. As Maria crouched down next to her, about to call for Monroe or Nick's help, Holly reached up and clung to her smaller form in a hug. She was crying softly as Monroe came down the trunk, Nick standing as he made sure that they were both alright.
Nick drove them both home then as a sign of thanks, as well as a gesture he hoped would make Holly feel like not ripping his head off as they drove. Maria sat in the back with Holly, Monroe and Nick in the front. When they pulled up to the house, Maria and Monroe both made moves to get out of the car, both stopped by a sad whimper from Holly.
Monroe was the one to turn around, as Maria held her hand, saying "It's gonna be okay Holly. It's all going to be okay."
Holly let go then, allowing Monroe and Maria to step out of the car and onto the sidewalk. As Nick waved good bye, so did they, Holly looking out the window as she turned to give them one last look as they disappeared around the corner. Monroe reached down, putting an arm around his niece as he pulled her close to his side.
"Come on, let's go inside and have some of that eggnog," Monroe said, effectively lightening the mood as he led her inside the house, still full of Christmas and warmth in every way possible. But there was something else adding to the warmth than the jolly spirit around her, there was also a layer of protection she now felt there, a layer of family and bond.