Free A Vampire's Christmas Carol by Karen McCullough

open and pieces
scattered. Then the adults exchange their gifts, a bit slower,
since we don’t all open them at the same time. We go around the
room, taking turns opening things to make it last longer and so we
can all enjoy each other’s gifts more. Then we’ll have coffee and
Laura’s coffee cake, one thing she does really well in the kitchen,
before we start working on dinner. Oh, and I forgot, on Christmas
Eve--last night, I guess--my dad and Mark, Laura’s husband, were
probably sweating putting together that bike they got Matt. Or
maybe they got it pre-assembled. I don’t know.”
    “You have to put together your bicycles
yourselves?”
    “You haven’t seen that in any movies? I guess
I don’t recall seeing it either, but it’s generally a scene ripe
for comedy. Tab A never fits into slot B the way it’s supposed to
and sometimes they forget to include part number thirty-four. Or
when you fit tab C into slot D, tab A jumps out of slot B. It’s
been known to reduce strong, smart men to blobs of blubbering
borscht.”
    A harsh chuckle interrupted her. “Blubbering
borscht? Dare I ask what that is?”
    “Um, well, really, I don’t know. Borscht is
some kind of Russian soup, I think. But it sounded good, didn’t
it?”
    His breath heaved in and out as though even
the laughter was an exertion that threatened his fragile
self-control. And he enjoyed it anyway. “It did.”
    “I just made it up. Anyway, a couple of aunts
and uncles and cousins will probably come over to join us for
dinner. The guys will find some sports thing to watch until dinner,
or if the weather’s nice, they’ll go out and throw a ball around
themselves. They’ll come in bruised, bleeding and covered in mud
and tell us they had a great game, but cousin Andy cheated and
moved before the snap. Then we’ll all sit down to eat and stuff
ourselves until we’re uncomfortable and go sit around the living
room like lead weights for a bit until someone drags out the games.
We’ll play cards or something until we’re ready to drop.”
    Michael’s fingers dug deep into the leather
and an occasional glow of red flickered in his eyes. He tried to
watch her as she talked, but had to look away periodically. “It
sounds like fun.” He swallowed hard and winced.
    “It is…usually. Unless someone gets into an
argument. It happens fairly often. I guess we’re kind of a
competitive bunch. My brother and a couple of my cousins are
especially prone to it. They don’t like to lose—at anything.”
    Michael nodded. His face tightened, lips
pressing together and lids narrowing. His body was tight with the
effort to hold himself in check.
    Exhaustion started to make her feel heavy and
listless, but she dared not let her alertness fail. She was running
out of conversational ideas, however.
    “Michael? What would it be like to be a
vampire? What would you be doing today if you had…turned
already?”
    “Tonight, you mean? Most likely I’d be out
hunting. A vamp has to feed every few days.”
    “Hunting? Finding someone to feed on? How do
you decide?”
    “Usually you try to find someone who’s out
alone at night. Someone who can’t fight back. Or you try to take
them by surprise and sink your fangs in before they even know
you’re there. It’s generally not hard to find someone out late by
themselves, even on Christmas Eve.”
    He sighed and shook his head. “According to
some of the books I’ve read recently, it’s sort of okay to find
criminals and lowlife types to feed from. I don’t buy it. Who set
us up as judges of who deserves to die? It’s still stealing a life.
And a vampire has to do that every few days. So I’d likely be out
searching for some poor lonely soul, walking somewhere on Christmas
Eve or looking for a handout or plying their trade or maybe just
making last minute deliveries.”
    “Couldn’t you feed on animals, like you’ve
been doing?”
    He shook his head. “Once you’ve drunk human
blood, you crave it and