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Eve takes her seat next to Nick’s chair and looks around the table, smiling at each of the occupants in turn. Or does, until she gets to him. Then the smile falters slightly. Whatever. After centuries of being avoided, he’s well used to it.
Eve tolerates him...most of the time, but only because of Nick. And Damon tolerates her more than he does most people. The woman is slightly less irritating than the rest of the humans he’s encountered. Slightly.
Her head is screwed on and, as heads go, hers isn’t too bad. Her short blonde spiked hair is tipped with pink, both ears are pierced numerous times, and her figure hugging jeans hint at an impressive body underneath. Not that’s he’s thought about her like that.
But, as much as he tries to deny it, the woman has a personality, and an attitude, and he appreciates that.
‘Thank you all for coming at such short notice,’ she says, getting the meeting off to a start.
‘Where’s Nick?’ Damon asks, cutting through the boring pleasantries. Eve doesn’t take meetings without Nick. That’s sending off alarm bells.
‘Nick is missing,’ Eve says quickly, glancing around the table to see everyone’s reaction.
‘How exactly do you lose Santa this close to Christmas?’ Jokul asks as he traces his fingers over the desk, drawing an icicle on the wooden surface.
‘We didn’t lose him.’
‘Where is he then?’
She visibly bristles at Damon’s question. ‘Okay, so maybe we’ve misplaced him... temporarily.’
‘You lost Santa,’ he repeats, getting a slight kick from the look on her face.
‘Okay. Fine! Yes. We’ve lost Santa. He’s gone. No sign of him whatsoever. There. Are you happy now?’
‘Ecstatic,’ he replies sarcastically. ‘Of course I’m not fucking happy! Did he leave of his own accord or did he simply vanish?’
‘He was doing his test run, as he always does before the big day. He doesn't like leaving anything to chance. But he didn’t come back. Most of the reindeer did, but it’s not like we can ask them what happened. One of them had blood on its back. Nick’s blood. There was also no sleigh with them.’
The collective curse works through the room.
Flint sits up in his seat, his red eyes burning. Damon hopes he can keep his anger under control. Last time he was pissed off, he incinerated the table. ‘Excuse me? No sleigh? Did it fall off or something?’
‘The sleigh didn’t fall off, as such. Some of it was still attached. It appears there was an explosion towards the front of the sleigh.’
‘Where Nick sits.’ Damon finishes her thought. ‘Is there something on the sleigh that could explode?’
She shakes her head, visibly insulted by the question. ‘Of course not. Why would we send him out with explosives?’
‘I was just asking.’ He turns to Kane. ‘You’re his bodyguard. Why weren’t you with him.’
Kane slowly turns his head to look over at Damon. ‘He does the run alone.’
‘What use are you then?’
Eve holds up her hand, putting the brakes on Kane who takes a step towards Damon. ‘No one but Nick can survive in the sleigh at the speeds it needs to reach, in order to complete the Christmas run. His magic protects him. Kane would have been torn to pieces within the first few seconds.’
‘Not seeing the problem with that,’ Damon responds, winking at Kane who chooses to ignore him. ‘What did you mean most of the reindeer came back?’
‘One is missing.’
‘Presumably dead. She would have come back otherwise, right?’
Eve shrugs. ‘I know as much as you do.’
‘Someone must have seen him,’ Cobh says quietly. ‘You can’t miss a giant of a man with Christmas tattoos. He kind of stands out.’
Eve shakes her head. ‘I wish. We’ve had no reports from any of our contacts. He’s vanished. And that’s why I called you all in. Now, I know you all have your own roles to perform.’ She throws a quick glance at Damon, before she continues. ‘I’m asking for your help though. If he isn’t here to do his run, that’s the end of Christmas. It’ll have a knock on effect on everything else. You all know that.’
