The snow was coming down hard in the little suburb just out side of New York City that Travis and Katie lived it. It was their year to host Christmas, and so far, both Stoll families and the Rodriguez's had been enjoying themselves.
Chris was in the kitchen grabbing a few beers for him and Connor when Clarisse marched in, holding their six-month old son, Hunter. She looked angrier than normal.
"Who let your bothers reproduce?" She demanded.
Chris shrugged, "I don't know, but I have a vendetta against them." he joked. He liked Travis and Connor's kids, they were two funny little boys that were really good at getting into trouble. They were too much like their fathers if you asked Clarisse.
Clarisse's expression just darkened. "Do you know what happens when a daughter of Hecate has a kid with a son of Hermes? You get a mischievous, magical, two year old."
"What did Johnny do to bother you?" Chris asked, not concerned at all. It was nearly nine and they had been at Travis's house all day. It would have surprised him if she wasn't like this at this point.
He wasn't, however, expecting her to rip the hat Hunter was wearing to revile a plume of hot pink hair.
Chris took a deep breath and said, "I'm sure Lou will be able to fix it."
"Chris, you brother's demon baby just bewitched your sons head."
"So? Johnny's a little kid, the spell can't be harmful. Just calm down." He put a hand on her shoulder, and he felt her relax a little. She put the hat back on Hunter's head.
"Where's Katherine?" She asked, glancing around looking for their five year old daughter.
"I thought she was with you."
"She said she was going with you." Katherine, to the annoyance of her parents, was good at running away.
"Die alien scum!" A nurf bullet wizzed past their head and stuck onto the fridge. And other one followed before they heard the sound of small feet running away.
"Found her." Chris smiled. He grabbed three beers and the two of them walked back into the living room.
They sat down on the couch next to Katie watching a Christmas Story.
"Where is Lou?" Clarisse asked Katie.
"I don't know, but her and Travis have been gone too long for comfort." She shrugged.
"Where is Connor?" Chris asked holding up the beer.
"He got dragged into the zombie-alien-vampire apocalypse." Katie said without taking her eyes off the TV. Christ nodded.
"I see, it's a noble cause I guess."
Suddenly Lou flopped down on the couch, looking exhausted. "Given up on the zombie alien vampires?" Clarisse asked.
"No I was abducted and turned, so they had to kill me." She said gravely.
"Okay, so since that's over can you change Hunter's hair back." Clarisse said taking the hat off.
Lou struggled to suppress a laugh. "Did Johnny do that?" Clarisse nodded, obviously annoyed. Lou nearly beamed with pride for her son. "Don't worry, it's a simple spell. There probably won't be any side effects except possible permanent brain damage."
"What?!"
"I'm kidding, the worst that could happen is some thinning hair, but it'll grow back." She waved her hand over the baby's head and the pink was turned back to its original dark brown. "There you go." Lou smiled.
For the first time in hours, Clarisse looked content. She leaned back and cradled Hunter, trying to coax him to sleep.
Hunter was almost asleep when Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-dumb came bursting in shooting Nurf guns at each other. Hunter's cries went unnoticed by the two brothers as they stumbled out the front door, yelling things at each other.
"You've changed man! I have to do it!" Connor yelled through the snow, which was coming down hard and fast. He wasn't wearing more than some dumb Christmas sweater, jeans, and socks. Travis was the same, but neither seemed to care. The two brothers just kept shooting bullets at each other until Travis ran out.
Defeated, he fell to his knees. Connor walked over to him and, through the snow, aimed his gun at Travis's head and took the shot. Travis's body slumped to the ground.
He got up seconds later, realizing for the first time that he was freezing cold.
It was a race back inside.
The two brothers spent the night sitting wrapped in blankets in front of the fire trying to get warm. They spent the next week in the hospital with pneumonia. They still thought it was worth it. It was probably the best Nerf battle they ever had.
