A/N New chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.

Krampus was huge and easily capable of taking on the entirety of the workshop on his own. It didn't help that little, tiny dark creatures flew out of his hands, creatures that had every Guardian (and Pitch and Mother Nature) except for Jack gaping at him.

Jack and Jackie had both run into the fray, but Jackie's attempt was short-lived. She'd barely taken two steps before she was stopped by a block of ice that Jack had encased her foot in. All the other children had been put to sleep or sucked down holes are held back by yetis. Only Will seemed adept at keeping himself from being taken away and that was just barely.

Jack had not given her a moment to argue and just yanked the ice block backwards, forcing Jackie back toward him.

"Stay out of this" Jack told her before he pulled Nightlight's dagger out of his pocket and jumped into the fray leaving her with her mother.

Jackie looked to her mother pleadingly, but she was on her father's side. "He's right," Sophie said holding her tightly, she felt the wind shift slightly behind her and before Sandman could do anything she turned around and shot a streak of ice at the ball of sand at him freezing his sand immediately.

"Nice try," Jackie said venomously.

"We're just trying to keep you safe," Sophie said, while above Sandy's head images and pictures appeared reinforcing what her mother said.

Jackie looked around to see that Sandman had put a lot of kids to sleep and was being carefully taken out of the globe room. She glared at Sandy and her mother. "I'm not sleeping while my friends and family are fighting for their lives. That's happened far too often as it is."

"Jackie."

"No."

Sophie sighed, "It's too dangerous."

"Newsflash mom." Jackie said, "My entire life has been dangerous."

Just as she said that the room shook and toys and debris fell from all corners of the room, not wanting to argue with Jackie, Sandman and Sophie grabbed Jackie by her hands and ducked her behind a wall. "I want you safe," Sophie said. "I need you safe."

"And knocking me out so I can't defend myself is the way to go?" Jackie asked crossing her arms. A small dark creature appeared behind Sophie and before anyone had time to react Jackie shot a blast of ice at it.

Sophie glared at Jackie, "Your father would have my head." Sophie said in a clear last-ditch effort to stop her from doing this.

"No, he won't," Jackie said before she froze her mother's feet to the floor and created an igloo of ice all around her. "You'll be safe here."

"Jackie… JACKIE!" Sophie called out for her, but she couldn't move.

She would have felt bad… if her mother hadn't just conspired with Sandy to knock her out. She turned to see Sandy staring at her a ball of sand in his hand, she created a dagger of ice in her hand and raised it threateningly. "Don't even think about it."

Sandy threw the ball, but it wasn't aimed at her and instead at the creatures. "Oh…"

Sandy rolled his eyes before he conjured a cloud of sand, sand pictures appearing over his head, the meaning clear: "Be careful"

Jackie smiled and started fighting, Jonathan had been one of the children knocked out, but Will had grabbed one of the Yetis tools and was brandishing it like a weapon, knocking the little creatures away.

Jackie froze a creature coming at her and then stabbed another with her ice dagger.

"Jackie… I thought I told you-" Jack said turning his attention away from the fight just as a creature flew toward him.

"Dad, look out!" Jackie screamed throwing her ice dagger, it just passed Jack's head, taking the creature down with it.

Jack turned to see the down creature, before looking back at Jackie who just raised her eyes. "No – no please," Jackie said with a self-satisfied smirk "keep telling me how I don't belong in this

fight."

Jack glared at her before his eyes widened and he shot a streak of ice just passed Jackie's side.

"Fine," Jack said. Stabbing another creature with his moonlight dagger, "But stick close to me, I don't need this monster getting into his head you would be a good replacement."

It was nice fighting beside her dad, they watched each other's backs pretty well, but it didn't change anything, the creatures just kept multiplying. Jackie, freezing every creature that came toward her, Jack was freezing, and when those creatures evaded his ice was then subjected to be stabbed by his dagger.

Jackie saw Nicholas using magic to bring the creatures down, and Nyx was also clawing at the creatures, ripping a good few to shreds.

Jackie could feel herself getting tired, out of the corner of her eye she could see Will fighting back with everything he had, magic shooting out of his fingertips, while he screamed at the yetis and elves in their native language.

Jackie could see a creature trying to sneak up on Sarah's best friend from Santoff Claussen, and she shot ice at it, bringing it down, Will turned and stared at the ice-covered creature before turning Jackie he nodded his head in thanks before jumping back into the fray.

And yet, with every creature they destroyed they were no closer to Krampus who was tossing anyone that got near him away with just a wave of his hand.

And if that wasn't all he could tell we were getting worn out. If his ever-widening grin was anything to go by.

"This can end," Krampus said with a laugh. "At any moment… all you have to do is tell me where Sarah is."

And then a dagger that was black as night shot through the crowd, disintegrating 5 creatures before leaving a cut on Krampus' cheek.

Everyone turned to see a girl becoming visible as though invisibility was a cloak she could fling off whenever she wanted, and it was, Jack could see a lump of cloth that had fallen at the girl's feet moments after she'd become visible. "She's not here Krampus." The woman said.

For a moment, Krampus just stared at them and the creatures and everything stopped fighting before he chuckled, and "I suppose you think one little reaper like yourself is enough to stop me."

Jackie stared at the young woman even more intently, the brown hair, brown eyes, the dark glare, the black tank top and black slacks. She waved her hand, and the dagger flew back into her hand.

She smirked. "Who said I was alone?"

And suddenly all around the room hundreds of beings appeared, removing cloaks of invisibility, showing the room to be far more crowded than it had been before.

"Still feeling lucky?" The young woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

A/N Jackie's grown hasn't she? Different from the girl we met back in Book 1.

Hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free, to leave a review, and/or a favourite.