Free Hunted Holiday: A Vampire Romance by Mandy M. Roth

Chapter One
    Zucchinis, the other word for “it”

    “Come on, Dani.”
    Dani Malloye eyed her friend Mimi cautiously, positive the girl had finally lost it and the mental break had come in the form of excess holiday cheer. Apparently, when Dani had, in casual conversation, mentioned she hadn’t celebrated the holidays in years, Mimi had seen that as a challenge and accepted it.
    Tenfold.
    Mimi had already spent the greater part of the snowy Chicago day unloading box after box of Christmas decorations onto Dani’s snow-covered front yard in an attempt to “get Dani in the mood” for the season. No amount of setting the scene would ever get Dani on board with the holidays.
    She flinched, wanting to keep from slipping into remembered pain. She wasn’t thirteen anymore. She wasn’t helpless. Ten years had passed and she had embraced her destiny. She was no longer weak or terrified. Even with the sense of empowerment, Dani couldn’t make her way back to finding happiness at this time of year. But there was no sense in ruining Mimi’s love of it all.
    With a slow, measured breath, Dani pushed a smile to her face, wanting to look happy for the sake of her friend. Currently, Dani had concerns about her yard being a fire hazard once the decorations were actually plugged in. So far, the only thing dancing through her head was images of her electric meter spinning. That was a bill she had no interest in seeing.  
    She made good money as a slayer, or the new politically correct term—Preternatural Enforcer—but she didn’t flaunt money or spend unwisely. There had been a time when she’d lived on the streets, unsure where her next meal would come from or even if it would come. While that had changed, she wasn’t one to spend needlessly.
    Mimi, having grown up in the lap of luxury, didn’t really have any true concept of money. The girl still lived in her family’s huge mansion on the other side of the city, and more often than not, Mimi had her own personal driver to cart her around. She didn’t have to work, but she did anyway. She was one of the Preternatural Magiks with Chicago’s Bureau of Paranormal Investigation (CBPI). The people in charge liked to ration them out to the teams of enforcers, just in case a magik was needed. Mimi was on the same team as Dani. They’d met during training and had clicked right away. Dani and Mimi had grown up with very different backgrounds, but that hadn’t stopped them from becoming the best of friends.
    The minute Dani spotted a giant light-up Santa, still in the box, standing almost as tall as her, she shook her head, needing to stop the insanity before it became an even bigger eyesore. “No way. I’m vetoing that one.”
    “Come on, Dani,” Mimi pleaded, her light blue eyes wide and her bottom lip jutted forward, pouting, as her red hair poked out from under her knitted cap. The girl had a way of getting Dani to agree to just about anything. It was the power of the best friend code of ethics. That, or big sad eyes. Dani wasn’t sure.  
    “The Santa was too cute for me to resist,” added Mimi.
    Dani paused, considering letting Mimi have her way. “No.”
    “Dani, you have to admit he’s adorable.” Mimi tugged on the end of the box, doing her best to get Super Santa free from his packaging. From the looks of it, Super Santa weighed a ton.
    Stretching her arms above her head in an attempt to ease her stiffness, Dani kept making a noise that indicated no way . That noise was quickly replaced by a grunt when she overstretched her tired and sore muscles.  
    Mimi eyed her. “Did you get checked in the infirmary after last night’s scuffle?”
    “Scuffle” was a mild word for it. Millennium Park had been the scene of one hell of a battle between those who tried to police the supernaturals, and a select group of supernaturals, who had decided they wanted to do as they pleased—and doing as they pleased meant attacking humans.
    That was a no-go.
    Dani, a skilled