Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
“What in the Seven Hells is the Sugar Plumb Fairy Shop?” Klaus asked.
“I don’t know—let’s go find out. Come on!”
Kelli grabbed his hand and pulled him forward, into the Christmas Village. Her Protector grumbled but allowed himself to be pulled, which was good since he was so big there was no way she could have budged him if he didn’t want to go. She was so excited she would have gone without him, but she was glad she didn’t have to.
The Christmas Village was absolutely magical. From above she’d thought it looked like it belonged in the Midwest somewhere—but now it seemed more like New England. As they walked through the streets, she could hear traditional Christmas songs being played, though she couldn’t see any speakers. The songs were played at a tasteful volume too—not loud enough to make you irritated, which was nice.
The storefronts and shops were all lit up and there were Christmas trees everywhere. The scent of cinnamon and pine trees swirled around them and then, to make things extra perfect, big, fluffy snowflakes began to fall.
Now that she had on a warm fur coat, Kelli didn’t mind the snow at all. She walked through the town, hand-in-hand with Klaus, (since somehow she had never dropped his hand after pulling him into the village) and just admired the magical, Christmasy atmosphere.
The only strange thing about the town was the fact that they were the only ones there. It seemed odd to have a whole town where she and her Protector were the only residents.
Even when they ducked into some of the shops, there was no one behind any of the counters. Kelli wondered who was making all the delicious treats she saw behind the glass counters in the café and bakery. She helped herself to some gingerbread men cookies which were out on display—they were perfectly spiced and still warm from the over. She offered one to Klaus, who took a bite and nodded—which was about as close to he ever got to saying he liked something.
“I guess we’re just supposed to serve ourselves,” she said aloud when she and Klaus entered the Candy Cane Ice Cream Land, which was decorated with red and white striped candy canes as tall as the big Kindred.
“I guess.” He shrugged. “Why—do you want some ice cream?”
“Well, let me see what they have…” Kelli went up to the ice cream counter and saw some seasonal flavors she was definitely interested in. “Ooo—eggnog! And they have gingerbread and peppermint bark too!” she exclaimed. “Here—hold this.” And she shrugged out of her fur coat and went around the counter.
“So you’re just going to start scooping?” Klaus watched her, looking bemused as she rolled up the long green sleeves of her elf costume and grabbed an ice cream scoop.
“Uh-uh—I used to work at Baskin Robins way back in college,” Kelli informed him. “So what kind do you want?”
“Isn’t it too cold for ice cream, though?” he protested. “I mean, it’s fucking snowing outside.”
“Listen,” Kelli said, pointing the scoop at him. “It is never too cold for ice cream. Now what flavor do you want? I’m not eating alone.”
Klaus chose chocolate peppermint patty and Kelli got eggnog for herself. Then she came back around the counter and slipped on her coat so they could keep strolling as they ate their ice cream.
“Mmm—this is good.” Klaus sounded surprised.
“Of course it is—it’s ice cream.” Kelli grinned at him and took another bite of her cone.
“I haven’t had ice cream in a while,” he rumbled, looking down at the cone. “Not since…”
“Since what?” Kelli asked when he trailed off.
“Never mind.” He shook his head but Kelli thought he sounded sad, which wasn’t usual for her grumpy Protector.
“Hey, big guy…” She looked up at him seriously. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” He shook his head. “Just thinking, that’s all. Are you ready to go see the cabin yet?”
“Hardly! We haven’t even visited the Mistletoe Massage yet—I want to see how in the world they do massages if there’s nobody here to do them. Come on!”
6
KLAUS
As it turned out, the massage parlor was filled with machines—robots made to look like humans but they had dozens of arms instead of just two. At the ends of the arms were rollers, both large and small for working on different muscle groups. They also had a few arms tipped with long, many-jointed “fingers” to reach places the rollers couldn’t go.
They did have faces that were meant to look human, but they were mechanical and obviously fake. Their eyes lit up and the corners of their mouths twitched up into pseudo-smiles, which gave Klaus the fucking creeps. Their bottom halves were a single leg mounted on a set of rolling wheels, which allowed them to glide around the floor with silent ease.
“Good evening, fine patron!” one of them, which was meant to look like a human male with brown hair and green eyes, said to Kelli as it rolled closer. “How may I serve you tonight? Would you and your romantic partner enjoy a couples’ massage?”