Free bedeviled & beyond 06.5 - bedeviled & bah humbug by sam cheever Page B

with her future mate. That was the moment I realized my baby girl had grown up...and that she was happy with her mate. Soon she’d be an old married dragon.
    But she’d still giggle when I rubbed her shoulder.
    Welcome to the family, Spence. We’re strange and a little on the cranky side...
    Glynus snorted. Wait until you meet auntie Myra. She told him.
    — but we stick together and take care of each other.
    His grin showed massive teeth so white they made me blink. Thank you, Mother halfling. I am honored to mate with Glynus. She is the most beautiful and brilliant creature I’ve ever met.
    Glynus snorted, but I could feel her pleasure in my mind.
    I’d been watching green army in the distance grow larger as we approached. I hated to ruin the greeting card moment with harsh realities, but it appeared the greens would arrive within the next several moments. And from what I could see there were lots of them.
    I looked at Ralphy. “How many greens did you let escape before Glynus and I showed up last year?”
    He looked sheepish. “Only a few dozen families.”
    I glared at him. “You lied to me! You get a lump of coal this year, elf.”
    A year ago, in Hell, Ralphy had told me that the process was very slow going and he’d only managed to move a few through the hole he’d created into the North Pole.
    He squelched the quick guilt flooding his gaze and glared right back at me. “How was I supposed to know you hadn’t come to stop me? I was trying to save as many as I could. I didn’t want you using your connections to drag them all back.”
    “COAL, Elf!”
    His thin, rodent lip curled and, for a moment he seemed to forget he was riding a dragon. He reached a clenched fist in my direction and I felt power gathering in my hands. One power induced flick...only one...and he’d be sailing out over the winter wasteland below. I’d make sure he landed in a big pile of snow.
    He’d live. But he’d have wet undies and multiple bruises.
    Um...Mother halfling?
    Ralphy and I continued to glare at each other. It would be fun to watch him trek it back across the snow with urine icicles in his panties.
    Dragon fighter?
    I sighed, allowing the pleasant visual to fade. Yes, tadpole?
    It appears the green dragons aren’t all we need to worry about.
    I turned my gaze in the direction she was looking. The Grinch’s mountain cave.
    The Grinch still stood there, his pointed green face folded into a nasty scowl and his ridiculously curled foot bouncing angrily against the snowy outcropping. But he was no longer alone on that ridge. At least a dozen massive, furry, white shapes with claws as long as my fingers stood on either side of him, their beady blue eyes sparking with aggression as they watched us approach. “Abominable snow monsters?” I really hated when my voice did that screechy thing. Unlike Spencer, I didn’t have adolescence to blame for the pitch.
    I guess the Grinch plans to put up a fight. Spencer added helpfully.
    “Are those abominables?” Ralphy screeched.
    “Frunk me to Hades,” I murmured. Abominables were the nastiest creatures at the Pole. In fact, they might be the nastiest creatures anywhere. They were like the cockroach of frigid temps, nearly impossible to kill. One would be a real problem. Dozens of them were a horrifying prospect.
    I sighed, shuffling my mental drawers. Dialle ?
    Yes, my love.
    I think I’m gonna need some help.
    ~SC~
    Ralphy used a strange looking red and green satellite phone to call the workshop for recruits, though the idea of a bunch of elves fighting the abominable snow monsters made me chuckle. I figured they could at least run around and distract the monsters while I blasted them.
    Glynus and Spencer did a flyby of the ridge and I counted the abominables. There were a dozen.
    Frunkin’ ice.
    So exactly how do you kill these guys? I asked Glynus.
    According to Spencer, the elves once told him the abominables are like vampires. If you don’t cut off their heads they