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‘Now, I’m not in top form thanks to being away from home, but this should still work.’
‘You hope.’
He flashes her a tight smile. ‘Yeah. Okay, close your eyes and concentrate on something Christmas related.’
‘Like what? The real Santa?’
Nick grins and, even though the entire situation is beyond bizarre, she can’t help but smile back.
‘Funny. No I mean like the tree, or maybe decorations. I don’t know. Something that reminds you of Christmas. Anything at all. Just make it big.’
‘Then when?’
‘Just keep thinking about it. I’ll do the rest.’
She gives him one last look, then closes her eyes. Nick has had a rough time. Might as well humour him, before she has to say goodbye.
Initially Scarlett holds back, trying to think about anything except Christmas, but when she takes a breath, Nick’s scent disrupts that. He smells of everything that reminds her of her childhood. Of Christmas in this very cottage with her grandparents. In that instant, her mind drifts back to everything that Christmas meant to her. Waking up early to open her presents. Helping her granny make Christmas dinner. Eating roasted chestnuts her granddad prepared, over the open fire. Decorating the tree and hanging tinsel along the mantle. Memory after memory come back to her, as she holds Nick’s hand.
She has no idea how long she’s holding his hand, but when he let’s go, it’s like she’s woken from a dream. One she doesn’t want to wake up from. She misses those early Christmas holidays.
‘Okay. You're done. You can open your eyes now.’
Scarlett opens her eyes, fully expecting nothing to have changed. Why would it? It’s not like he’s Santa or anything.
But what she sees is far from nothing.
She rubs her eyes, convinced she’s still lost in the dream he somehow brought to mind. But she’s very much awake. She turns around, her eyes open wide as she takes it all in.
The cottage is exactly as it looked in her memory. It’s like he pulled the images directly from her memories.
She smiles widely as she breathes in the scent from the enormous tree, laughs when she runs her hand along the tinsel resting on the mantle, her mouth watering at the smell of roasted chestnuts.
‘How... what the hell?’ Scarlett spins and looks at Nick, standing at the side of the room. ‘I don’t understand. Where did this come from? How did you... this is... How?’
He shrugs, suddenly appearing less confident. ‘You created all this yourself. I just brought it out. It’s kind of my thing. I make Christmas wishes come true.’
‘But how? I mean how did you do this?’ She looks around the room, the tears coming before she knows what’s happening. ‘This is my childhood, Nick. All of this. I haven’t thought about...’ She wipes her face and turns to face him again. ‘How?’
‘I can’t explain how I do it. I just do it. I know it’s probably impossible to believe, but I’m telling you the truth, Scarlett. I am Santa. As mad as this is going to sound, I have magic to help me do my job. I used it to tap in to what you were imagining and bring it to life. I didn’t want to make you cry though.’
She sniffs and wipes her eyes again. ‘These aren’t sad tears. Really. I love it, Nick. I...’ She frowns and walks over to him, taking a few minutes just to look at him. Try to find some logical reason or explanation for what she’s just witnessed. But there’s nothing. No special effect or trickery. ‘You’re not making this up.’
‘I didn’t pull a full sized decorated tree from my ass, Scarlett. It was magic.’ He holds out his hand. ‘You can leave your eyes open this time. I just wanted to make sure you were concentrating last time.’
She takes his hand and Nick pulls her close. He lifts her other hand and positions it in front of her. ‘Something small this time and look in my eyes.’
As she focuses, Nick’s eyes lighten, white swirling with the light blue. She grins widely as the bright red bauble takes form on her hand.
‘Oh my God! You are freaking Santa!’
Damon storms throughthe workshop, ignoring all the humans, as they busy themselves with last minute preparations. No fucking point, unless they get the main man himself back.
With Nick missing, there’s no Christmas. Big disaster all round.
There’s still no sign of Nick, and that worries him. Everyone is on edge. He can feel it. The Boogeyman in him is enjoying it.
He stops at the meeting room door and listens. Eve and Kane are inside, arguing. He hears Nick's name being mentioned a few times, but can't make out anything else. He melts into the shadows as the door bursts open and Kane steps out. Damon waits until he has disappeared, then grabs Eve as she rounds the corner, covering her mouth with his hand to stifle her shout of surprise.
