This is for BETHAN FOREVER, who suggested a Christmas-themed chapter; I figured I'd do it now since I probably won't update till after the holidays.

So, I hope you and ALL my readers enjoy it.

Updated: 12/19/2013

…

~Christmas Eve~

Ethan glanced at his calendar; it was Christmas Eve, and he had a whole smorgasbord of things to do.

He had a party at Sarah's to attend, where he would exchange gifts with her.

He had a dinner at Rory's to go to afterwards, where they would eat and exchange gifts as well.

Then he had to stop by Erica's and give her her gift (he wasn't expecting one from her).

And then, he had to go to his parents' black-tie party, where he would be required to be a good son and chat with guests while wearing a stuffy suit.

But then, finally, at midnight, he would meet up with Benny to exchange gifts with him. He groaned as he fell back on his bed for a moment. He had about an hour before he had to be at Sarah's.

Groaning, he shut down his mind and tried not to think of the long night ahead of him.

…

~With Sarah~

Music pounded in Ethan's ears as he made his way through the crowd of people at Sarah's place to where Sarah was sitting.

"Sarah!"

"Ethan!" she called out, standing up and hugging him before pulling him into a far part of the room, away from most of the crowd.

"I'm surprised you got so many people to come out on Christmas Eve," he told her, making her giggle.

"People in this town love a good party!" she cried, laughing again. He eyed her before he handed her the small gift in his hands. She giggled again and reached over to grab his present. "Here ya go," she said, still giggling. "You better have a merry, merry Christmas Ethan," she said, hiccupping now. He stared at her for a moment before he blanched a bit.

"Sarah… are you drunk?" She shrugged and leaned against the wall.

"Vampires can't get drunk Ethan."

"You're drunk," he said, gripping her arm with his free hand. "You need to lie down."

"Nooooooo," she said, pushing him against the wall. "Look, there's mistletoe," she said, looking up. He looked up too to see the green plant dangling.

"Uh-huh…" he said nervously, meeting Sarah's eyes; her pupils were blown wide as she stared at him. "Sarah, I'm dating Benny."

"So what?" she said, voice slightly slurred now. "You used to love me, worship me. What's that nerd got that I don't? I'm pretty, I'm smart, I've got big boobs… I'm perfect!" She pinned him to the wall with her vampire strength before pressing her lips to his; he struggled for a moment before he just went limp. She pulled away and let go of him; he rubbed his arms, knowing there'd be bruises he'd have to explain later.

"Come on Sarah, you need to lay down." He guided her to her room, where she curled up and closed her eyes.

"You know," she said, voice shaking now, "he's lucky to have such a great guy like you. I was too late in noticing it." He shook his head and patted Sarah's arm.

"Get some rest Sarah. Night."

"Night night."

…

~With Rory~

Ethan found Rory waiting outside for him when he pulled up.

"Dude, thank Superman you're here," he said, gripping his arm hard; Ethan wouldn't be surprised if there were more bruises now. "I need your help."

"What's up?"

"My mom invited her fricking boyfriend and I think he's a vampire hunter."

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up and start over; what?!"

"My mom's been seeing this guy for a couple months apparently, and invited him over for the Christmas Eve dinner, which I have no problem with. But then, as she goes into the kitchen to check on the food, he stares at me and whispers under his breath, 'I know what you are'. I pretended not to hear him but he just kept staring at me. What if he hurts my mom, or tries to kill me? Ethan you gotta help me!"

"How?"

"You're Death dude; go all skeleton and scare his ass out of my house!"

"Rory, let's get through dinner first okay? By the way, here's your gift." Rory grinned and took the wrapped present from Ethan.

"Yours is inside; let's go. Although I'd feel better if we had some protection against him." Ethan rolled his eyes in aggravation.

"Like you said, I'm Death. I got this."

"But what if it's something you can't handle?" Ethan groaned and went back to the car, digging out a water gun. "What's that?"

"Emergency holy water. Never know when it might come in handy." Rory nodded in understanding and led the darker boy into his house. As they went through the short hallway to emerge in the dining area, Ethan saw a squirlish looking man with wide eyes and a balding head sitting at table, drinking water. His eyes, opened wide, looked at him in surprise. Ethan watched him for a moment before Rory's mom walked into the room.

"Ethan!" she cried, hugging him, "How's your family? How's Benny?"

"They're all good," he said, giving her a warm smile, "Rory told me that this is your…friend?"

"Yes," she said, face flushing, "I hope he and Rory get along. They both love animals so much." Ethan raised his eyebrows at that, understanding flooding his thoughts.

"Riiiight," he said as she nodded.

"Let's go eat then." As they sat down for dinner, Ethan watched as the man pushed his food around on his plate, the same way Rory did when he was pretending to eat. The man stopped and looked at him, eyes narrowing; Ethan copied the movement, hand inching towards the water gun in his belt. Soon though, dinner was over and Ms. Keaner was getting up to get dessert.

"Rory, go help your mom get dessert," Ethan said, still in a staring match with the man. Rory nodded and practically scurried from the room.

In an instant, things changed; Ethan was pinned against the wall, the man's hand wrapped tightly around his throat, cutting off his air supply as he snarled in his face, his fangs extended; Ethan had his water gun pressed the guy's chest, finger on the trigger.

"What are you?" The man hissed, making Ethan bark out a laugh.

"What do you want with her?"

"She's blissfully stupid. Perfect victim; I didn't count on her son being like me though." Ethan pressed the nozzle harder into the man's chest, making him laugh. "Like I'm scared of water."

"It's not just any water," Ethan said, shooting the water into his chest. Ethan watched as the understanding register on his face before he hissed, disappearing into ash on the floor. Ethan hastily pushed the pile under the rub as he rubbed his throat, moving back to his seat, just in time as Rory and his mom came back in.

"What happened to Walter?" she asked, looking around, her smile falling a bit.

"He said he had an animal emergency he had to take care of and that he'd call you when he got the chance, but he didn't know when that'd be."

"Oh, okay," she said, her smile returning as they sat down. "Let's have dessert then." Rory shot Ethan a thankful glance as they began to eat.

…

~With Erica~

Ethan yawned as he pulled up outside Erica's house. He knew this would be quick, and then he could go home, change into his fancy suit and tie, and hob-nob with the adults for a bit before he could finally be with Benny. Yawning again, he slouched his way up the sidewalk to knock on the door.

"Hey there Nerd Reaper. You look like shit," Erica said as she opened the door to let him in. He yawned and sat down on her couch, handing her her gift. She smiled at him and handed him one back, laughing at the obvious surprise on his face.

"Uh, thanks…"

"What, thought I was so heartless that I wouldn't get you something?" she said, to which he just nodded. "Eh, it's the holidays," she said, shrugging, reclining against the wall. He leaned against the couch some, eyes drooping a bit.

"Well thanks," he said, yawning loudly. "I should get going."

"Whoa there little nerdling. You're dead on your feet. You should rest a bit before you go home."

"Why are you being so nice?" She sighed and sat him down on the couch, plopping gracefully next to him.

"Like I said, it's the holidays… I tend to forget about being a hot bitch to a hot… nice girl. It only happens around this time though, so don't get used to it. I'm actually on my way to Sarah's soon. You can stay and rest if you'd like."

"No, I'm okay," he said, getting up and rolling his shoulders.

"Well have a fun rest of the holiday."

"You too," he said, moving away. "Thanks for the gift."

"Don't get used to it, after Christmas I'm going back to being a bitch," she said, giving him a cheeky grin. He rolled his eyes and got in his car, heading home.

He had a party to get to.

…

~Home~

His fingers fumbled as he tied his tie before tucking it safely in his sweater-vest. He looked at the small pile of presents on his bed that he had received from his friends. He then looked at the decoratively wrapped box on his dresser; in a couple of hours, he would be giving it to Benny.

He hoped he liked it.

But, before he could think about that, he had to first attend his parents' party.

This was going to be exhausting.

Heading down the stairs, he watched as his parents immediately drew him into the crowd, showing him and his sister off to all their friends; the siblings put on forced smiles as they were shown off like prized cattle.

Ethan took a risky glance at his watch and saw it was nearing midnight. Dashing through all the adults asking him about his life, he found his dad.

"Dad," he whispered, tugging on the older man's arm. "I've got to go meet Benny." His dad, eyes slightly dazed from one too many glasses of champagne, nodded.

"I'll distract your mom; go fast." Ethan, worn out and exhausted, gave his dad a grateful smile before he made a mad dash for the stairs. Not even having time to change out of his fancy clothes, he grabbed Benny's gift and hurried back down the stairs and to the kitchen.

He caught the fleeting agitated glare from his mom as he disappeared out the backdoor and into the backyard, where his boyfriend was already waiting.

…

~With Benny~

Benny grinned as he saw Ethan practically sprint towards him.

"You will not believe the night I've had," Ethan said, falling into his arms.

"What happened?"

"A smashed Sarah tried to kiss me, Rory's mom was dating a vampire who I had to vanquish, and Erica was nice to me. Then my parents paraded me around like I was the perfect son. I'm so exhausted." Benny chuckled at his boyfriend's dramatics.

"Well, we'll exchange gifts and then I'll get you up to bed. Sound good?"

"You wanna join?" Ethan asked, yawning halfway through.

"And take advantage of you while you're dead on your feet? Now where's the fun in that?" Ethan chuckled and stood up finally, handing Benny his gift.

"Merry Christmas." Benny grinned and handed Ethan his as well.

"Merry Christmas. You can open it tomorrow. We need to get you to bed." Ethan was nodding, having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"Sounds like a plan." Benny smiled and wrapped an arm around Ethan's waist, helping him towards his house; the two stopped when they heard a snarling come from behind them. Benny groaned and let go of Ethan, turning around.

"No, not today; IT'S FUCKING CHRISTMAS!" he cried out at the monster; it looked like a demon, with green ooze rolling off its body. Benny gritted his teeth and shot it with lightning, watching as green ooze splattered the trees behind it. Seeming to deflate, he turned back to Ethan, who was chuckling. "What?"

"That was hilarious."

"Whatever. Let's go to bed sleepyhead." Ethan nodded and let Benny lead him away, neither caring about the ooze that was slipping off the trees.

They'd worry about it tomorrow.

…

~Christmas Morning~

Ethan was snuggled against Benny, the two of them sleeping peacefully as they dreamed about only God knows what. Ethan's eyes snapped open as he heard his dad let out an angry yell.

"ETHAN, BENNY, WHAT THE HELL IS ON THE TREES IN THE BACKYARD?!"

…

Haha, that's always fun.

Have a fun and safe holidays everybody!

-JustMe133