Capt. Engel helped Beth back over to her house with a couple of his men following along while the monsters had to stay behind with the rest of the squad to stay out of sight from other civilians. Engel handed Lt. Hopkins the device that set of the explosives to use in case the monsters tried anything. The entire family at her house were struggling to keep it together while trying to make the most of things being stuck together in the house with no hot water, electricity, no AC and no way of calling for assistance. They lit a couple candles around the house to provide enough light while Max's grandmother, Omi was anxiously adding more logs to the fire in the fireplace, hopefully trying to keep the house warm. Max looked outside the window to see a twisted snowman outside and he jumped a little once he saw it. Then he went to the dining room where his parents, Tom and Sarah, sitting in front of the window, observing the storm with nothing else to do.
"Mom, dad?" He asked, making them turn to him. "It's late. Beth still hasn't come back..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the door busted open and Beth and Engel entered, letting some of the snow in as they entered. Engel immediately shut the door after they got in. Tom and Sarah rushed to their daughter who was shivering from he cold.
"Beth! Oh my god, are you okay?" Sarah asked, hugging her tightly.
"I'm fine, mom." Beth replied.
"We were getting so worried about you. Don't scare us like that." Tom said to her, then turned to Engel. "Daniel?"
"Hey, little brother." greeted Daniel with a sarcastic wave. "How's your Christmas going?"
Omi shot up from her seat in front of the fire and rushed towards her other son, speaking before Tom could make his response.
"Daniel, du bist heir!" She chirped, hugging him.
"Hey, mom! Merry Christmas!" He smiled, hugging her back.
"Es passiert schon wieder." His mother informed him in her native tongue.
Daniel's mouth ran dry and he tried to think of a way to answer back.
"What are you doing here, Danny?" Tom asked, straightforward.
The captain sighed and looked at him, "I'm here doing my job, thank you very much. And I told you not to call me that."
"Who is this?" Linda asked, coming over with her husband, Howard.
"This is my older brother, Daniel. He's been in the military for years now." Tom introduced his brother.
"You never said you had a brother." Howard said.
"Nice to meet y'all." nodded Capt. Engel.
"Hi, I'm Linda." said Linda with her hand out to him, which he shook. "I'm Sarah's sister and this is my husband, Howard."
"Hey!" Howard greeted, shaking Daniel's hand. "So you're in the military, huh?"
"Yeah, that's right. It's not as easy as firing a firearm at close range, but it helps protect and serve."
"I shoot an old rifle myself." said Howard.
"Good for you." Engel nodded.
"Hey, can we talk for moment please?" Tom asked his brother.
"Alright, but let's make it quick." said Engel.
"Why are you here?" asked Tom. "I mean, we haven't seen each other since you got drafted."
"You have to go where the jobs take you, Tom. It's my priority, my responsibility." Engel said.
"Yeah, but why show up now? You never call, you never write, you never text, you never visit when you're off duty, even on Christmas."
"With you guys, no Christmas is ever merry or jolly." replied Engel stonily.
"Look, I know it's been hard for you during the holidays, but family is more important." Tom explained.
"Are you just now telling me that?" asked his disgruntled brother.
Tom sighed, "Come on, just lighten up for once. Okay? For once?"
"What do you want me to say? And besides, I work for the government, not just the army. I can't be around a lot."
"It's the holidays, Daniel. The least you could do is live a little." Tom responded.
Suddenly, his walkie-talkie sparked with static before the Lieutenant's voice came through.
"Captain, we could use you out here."
Engel grabbed the walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "Be there in a sec, Lieutenant."
Meanwhile, the monsters stood where they were just keeping watch the other half of the squad. Lionel set his own hair on fire to provide the group with warmth.
"I'm gonna freeze my ass off out here." griped Luz.
"Make the most things then." Ulrich said.
"How do you make the most of things, Mr. Darkness?" Luz asked sassily.
"Sit tight and wait for my body to lose power before I slip into that silent peace called death."
Luz shook her head. He was always the negative one, no doubt. So she sat down next to him on the ground.
"What about you? How do you handle Christmas nowadays?" asked Luz.
"It's not usually the fun time of year for me. You gotta dodge the greedy crowds at the mall, try to find something to get for your relatives and friends and then there's the decorations and the Christmas lights." explained Ulrich. "Sitting with your families and watching Christmas movies like A Christmas Carol or Casper's Haunted Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas-"
"I always loved the Jim Carrey version." Luz interrupted. "A Christmas Carol, I mean."
"Opening presents and pretending to give a fuck." Ulrich continued and sighed heavily.
"I stopped believing in Santa when I was 7. My uncle always said that he was just a cartoon character designed my bureaucrats to trick kids in behaving nicely in order to get toys." Luz chuckled, shaking her head. "And you know? He always forgot to take his meds on time."
"You two!" Lt. Hopkins barked. "Less chitter-chatter."
Luz glared back at him and gave him the finger, to which he chuckled sarcastically and looked away from her. Raeffael was borrowing Ulrich's phone, watching a Ruby Gloom episode on YouTube. Thankfully, Ulrich had it all charged up before they left for the mission and get it in airplane mode to keep the battery from running out quickly. Runyat peered over his shoulder in disbelief that he was watching some kid's show.
"What's your story?" Ulrich asked Azur.
The giant, towering behemoth sat in silence and his voice came out uneasily.
"I...I was born in...a cave. An underwater cave in Denmark. It was a windy and snowy night like this one, only it wasn't this cold. It...was during December, this month, on the 12th."
"So you're birthday was a couple days ago." Runyat responded.
"Yeah." answered Azur. "My birthdays aren't all cake and presents and parties like you humans."
Runyat suddenly snatched Ulrich's iPhone from Raeffael, ending his little marathon rudely, much to the sea creature's dismay.
"Oy!" He exclaimed in a British accent.
"Then did you do then? Give us some details." Luz demanded.
"In my youth, my father would take me out and we would hunt for livestock. Cattle, sheep, even the wolves of the forest."
"You eat live animals on your birthday?" Raeffael asked. "That's fucked up. I'm more a seafood person, me-self."
"Is there anyone here familiar with the epic poem, Beowulf?" asked Azur.
Ulrich, Raeffael, Runyat, Tobias, Mezem, Lionell, Ólafur and a couple other soldiers raised their hands. Luz, however, didn't. Since she had never heard of the story herself.
"Then I assume you all know the monster that Beowulf murdered."
A chorus of nods and exclaims in a agreement came along.
"The monster who had his arm ripped clean out of it's socket and used as a trophy." Azur breathed a fog of steam from the cold. "The monster is my father."
"Wait, hold up." Lionell spoke up first. "You mean to tell me that you're the son of the monster, Grendel?"
"Yeah."
"Come now." Runyat shook his head, not believing his story for a second. "You're probably just some...secret government experiment gone awry. I bet you don't even have parents. Grendel's not real."
"HE IS REAL!" Azur screamed into his face, bringing his face into level with his, making the arrogant devil jumped back with a yelp. The soldiers held their guns at him in an effort to calm him down. Azur did so, exhaling a deep sigh.
"Can I have my phone back now?" Ulrich asked Runyat.
But before he could answer, there came a strange, echoing howl in the distant that almost sounded close. Everyone's heads swiveled around the environment, searching for the source of that unusual noise.
"I'm sure that was a...a wolf or something." Ulrich said softly.
"Alright, everyone, move! Let's go!" came Lt. Hopkins abrupt command.
The squad and the monsters sally forth down the street to search for whatever made that unearthly sound while the soldiers had their guns ready.
"Well, this mission should be over with in a snap. Like a walk in the park. Easy peasy." replied Runyat sarcastically with a joke.
"Don't make me hurt you." Ulrich warned him, annoyed.
Runyat snickered at him. The next thing they heard was a loud thud accompanied by the rattle of chains which turned the groups attentions to the roof of one of the houses and what they witnessed caught them off guard. Perched on the roof was a large, hunched-over figure with large horns and it was just sitting there, looking down at them as if watching their every move. Everyone stayed frozen stiff (not from the cold) for at least a few minutes gazing back of the figure.
"What the hell?" Ulrich breathed with confusion.
"Captain?" Lt. Hopkins said into his walkie-talkie. "Captain, if you can hear me, you need to get out here right now. It's here, looking at us."
But then all of the sudden, the figure leapt straight into the air and everyone watched as it landed on the roof of the house on the other side of the street. The soldiers aimed their guns at it, waiting for it to make the first move. But instead, he took off, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with the soldiers and the monsters chasing after it. Whatever this thing was, it sure was fast and it busted through chimneys in it's wake and landing with a quaking thud on each roof.
"What the fuck is that?" Luz shouted as they all ran.
"That's our target!" Lt. Hopkins shouted back. "Fire at will!"
At the sound of the order, the soldiers open fired at the mysterious creature as best they could. But, the figure jumped high in the air, avoiding the bullets as it attempted to shake it's pursuers. They continued chasing after the thing until it disappeared and they stopped dead in their tracks, still keeping their guard up and their guns pointed in all directions. The howl, presumably made by the unknown creature, was heard again, fading off. Believing that they lost it, they all lowered their guns and panted from running so hard. But then, out of nowhere when they least expected it, the thing landed right on the roof of a car right before them and the squad immediately held their weapons at it. The figure dropped down from the car, right in front of Luz.
"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" shouted the Lieutenant.
Everyone got a close look at the target, mostly it's horns for they were long and curled back in circular shape and it stood tall about 11 feet and it wore a red, ragged cloak of some kind with white-fur trim with the horns sticking out the top. And of course, the chains. It was tied in chains that carried some baubles. It's hands were clammy with long, claw-like fingers with some gold rings and it's feet looked like that of a goat. By looking at it's face (at least they thought it was it's face), it wore some kind of mask made from the face of an old man with the eyes cut open, the mouth hanging out wide and a long white beard. And to top it all off, the figure appeared as a demonic Santa Claus, if you will. The creature stared directly at Luz while she faced it eye-to-eye, shaking frightfully and whimpering. Then the figure held a glass globe in front of her, gingerly grasping it with it's delicate fingers. The snow inside of it danced around until Luz began to have a vision and inside of this vision, she saw herself as a 6-year old girl opening present with her parents and her older brothers. When she was given another present that was from one of her brothers, she opened it up. Only it wasn't any kind of toy she was expecting. Instead, she got a face full of blue ink while her brothers laughed like maniacs at her. Then she threw the empty box down and ran away upstairs, sobbing with anger and humiliation. Her vision skipped a year after that on another Christmas when she was fast asleep in her bed when she awoke with a jolt once their came a loud thud that shook the house. She hid under the covers while she heard screams from the other bedrooms and when she peeked, she saw only the shadow of the creature itself, before it dropped a bauble in front of her and left the house. Young Luz grabbed the thing and saw that it read "Grüss vom Krampus". Although confusion, she hid under her covers until sunrise and the following morning, her parents and brothers were nowhere to be seen again. The saddened girl was met up with her uncle who embraced her and took her with him to his trailer in the trailer park when the vision finally ended, leaving Luz in a shocked daze. But then Ulrich jumped onto the creature's back, grabbing it's horns while the creature shook, trying to knock him off of him. It finally tossed him onto the hood of the car while the soldiers fired at him again and the figure let into the air again, disappearing.
"Luz!" Ulrich rushed to her and kneeled down next to her. "What's the matter?"
She panted, hyperventilating before calming down to answer. "I did have other family members. Parents, older brothers. But they were taken from me."
"Hey! Alpha team, on me! What's going on?! What happened here?!" They heard Capt. Engel rushing over to them with his other men after they heard of the commotion.
"We almost had that thing! It nearly attacked us!" Lt. Hopkins reported.
"Where the hell is it?!"
"It's gone!" said Lt. Hopkins.
Engel rubbed the bridge of his nose, groaning in aggravation. Then he noticed the shaken Luz.
"What happened to her?" asked Engel.
"She's made eye contact with the evil Santa-looking thing before it took off. Really spooked the shit out of her, tell you that much." Runyat informed the captain.
Engel sighed.
"Alright, let's get her over to Beth's house. The rest of you come along. Looks like we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do."