Page 38 of Blood and Bells

“We can try. The worst-case scenario is that it explodes and kills us and the entire town.”

Holly pales alarmingly. “Is that an actual possibility?”

“Technically, everything is a possibility. But I don’t know. It’s a magic snow globe we found in a pocket dimension protected by cookie monsters and a gingerbread dragon. For all we know, it’s not even a real snow globe—it could be anything.”

Because she is biting her lip and my speech isn’t helping her distress, I flash her a very good smile. Probably a six. She doesn’t swoon, not even a little bit.

“You’re the most unhelpful vampire I’ve ever met.”

“That can’t be right. You’ve met Ronan.”

“I stand by my assessment.”

“I destroyed a gingerbread dragon.”

She takes a deep breath, presumably to give it to me with both barrels, when I feel a vibration in my chest, starting all the way from my feet. It’s deep and thrumming and wrong, and from the look on her face, Holly feels it too.

“Draven?” she says. “What is that?”

“I don’t know, Frost. An earthquake?”

“Oh god,” she groans. “What now?”

I run to the front door. Other patrons have felt the rumbling as well, and a few of them are also standing. We’re about to have a riot in here if I don’t do something.

“Everyone, be calm.” I raise my voice and add a touch of vampire charm to sweeten my speech. Dozens of eyes turn toward me. “Holly and I are professionals. We’ll take care of whatever’s going on. Trust in us. Good will be our star in these dark times. In the meantime, have a round of eggnog on me. Be reckless and add nutmeg. Huzzah!”

The smitten server swoons, and the assembled patrons provide some scattered applause. I bow a few times, waving in case anyone is filming. My saluts finaux are rudely interrupted by Holly elbowing me in the ribs.

“Draven,” she hisses. “The rumbling?”

“Right. Sorry. Let’s go see what it is.”

We pour out onto the street, hunting for the source of the disturbance. It’s close to empty. Just a few stragglers looking for a last-minute hot chocolate and some patrons from the diner who’ve wandered out despite my magnificent speech. Everyone’s as confused as we are, looking everywhere, trying to work out what’s causing the commotion.

Dropping to my knees, I put my ear to the ground. Gravel jitters and bounces like popcorn in a pan. With my vampire-enhanced sight, I squint down one end of the street. As bad as I’m starting to believe this is, part of me screams I’m being overly pessimistic.

But there’s something there⁠—

I can make out the edges of it. Something large and rolling and coming towards us like a freight train out of control. As the thrumming grows more intense and a low rumble fills the air, the details of the shape heading towards us become clear.

I gasp.

“Everyone inside,” I croak.

No one moves.

I raise my voice to a yell. “Everyone back inside! Now!”

Holly looks at me with terror in her eyes and grabs me by the collar. It’s dramatic and worthy of a romance movie. Maybe even Hallmark.

“What is it, Draven? What did you see?”

Bells. Lots of bells. Wreaths. And…antlers...

My jaw clenches, as is appropriate for this moment.

“Reindeer. Stampede.”