Free The Last Noel by Heather Graham

a vengeful fire goddess with the red of her hair blazing against the white parka she’d found in her parents’ closet.
    Craig felt an instant rush of panic and looked toward the kitchen. There was no sign of anyone returning to the living room, but Quintin and Scooter knew nothing about Kat, and he was desperate for it to stay that way.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing?” he mouthed as she walked toward him.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing?” she mouthed in return.
    â€œListen—” he whispered when she was close enough to hear him.
    â€œNo, you listen. If you let them harm a single hair on the head of any one of my family, you are a dead man, do you understand?”
    â€œI told you to get the hell out of here,” he said.
    He tried to sit up, but though the room swam, he resisted the temptation to go under again. She touched his face, and her fingers were soft and cool.
    â€œYou’re burning up,” she said, stepping back.
    â€œGet out of here,” he told her.
    â€œI need to know—from your lips—that you’re with them.”
    â€œYou don’t understand.” He broke off when he heard a chair scrape against the kitchen floor. They could be heading back. “Get out of here, Kat, now.”
    She had heard it, too, but she paused, staring at him in a way that made his insides curl. “Do you have a gun, too? Are you going to shoot someone?”
    â€œI had a gun…. Quintin took the bullets.”
    â€œSo you are with them,” she said in disgust.
    â€œNo.”
    Another chair scraped back.
    â€œGet out of here,” he told her again.
    That time she listened and silently disappeared back up the stairs just as Quintin came into the room.
    â€œYou’re sitting up. Feeling better?” Quintin asked.
    â€œYeah. No thanks to you, you asshole.”
    â€œCareful. You’re the asshole, and I can make you a dead asshole real easy. In fact, I should shoot you. That would guarantee good behavior out of this family.”
    â€œGreat. Why?” Craig demanded, making sure to keep his eyes on Quintin. Not to let them wander. Kat was on the landing, he was certain. Listening. Watching, perhaps.
    â€œWhy?” Quintin demanded, as if surprised.
    â€œYeah. Why bother with them?” Craig asked.
    â€œI like the food. The comfort. The warmth of the house. Hell, I even like the feeling of having a family for Christmas.”
    â€œGlad to hear it.”
    â€œWhat else is there to do? There’s no way to go anywhere in this storm, so tonight, we’re all just one big happy family,” Quintin said.
    â€œThe storm will stop eventually. What then?”
    â€œAnd then we leave. I may let you live then, and I may not,” Quintin said.
    â€œWhat about them?” Craig demanded, lowering his voice.
    Quintin smiled. “What about them?”
    â€œWhat happens to them?”
    Quintin shrugged. “Well, tomorrow is Christmas. Not a good day for anyone to die.”
    â€œAnd then?” Craig persisted.
    â€œThen,” Quintin said very softly, “it won’t be Christmas anymore.”

FOUR
    â€œI said, no more,” Scooter muttered irritably.
    â€œWhat?” Paddy demanded, waving the whiskey bottle in the air. “No more? This is the best, I tell ye, my good man.”
    â€œI said enough,” Scooter said.
    David was afraid that the man was really losing his temper. Although Scooter liked to talk big, Quintin was definitely the boss of the two. But Quintin was in control of himself, while Scooter was like a loose cannon.
    â€œScooter,” he said.
    The man looked at him in surprise, perhaps because David had spoken to him by name. “What?”
    â€œHe…uh…it’s Alzheimer’s.”
    Scooter frowned; then his eyes widened. “You mean the old fart’s going senile.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWhat?” Paddy demanded indignantly. But it had been