~
“Look!” Natalie ground to a sudden halt and Saffy ran straight into her back, taking her down to the snow, and practically burying her friend’s face in a snow drift.
“Ah, what did you do that for?” Saffy grumbled as she dragged her body up onto her knees and took the opportunity to pant in the frosty air. Not moving felt good.
“I guess I wanted some idiot to steamroller me,” Natalie bit out as she pushed up to her knees and pointed ahead of her. “A wall.”
“Well, color me excited — I think I might have just peed my pants a little,” Saffy huffed back, wiping her wet hands down her equally wet jeans in a futile act.
“Beware the yellow snow,” Natalie chuckled back.
“Nice,” Saffy shot her a glare.
“Where there’s a wall…” Natalie shrugged her shoulders.
“You probably ran us in circles – it’s probably a shifter house,” Saffy grumbled.
“Geez, Eeyore. Have a little faith.”
~
~
~
“Yes!” Saffy grinned from ear to ear at the sight of the foreboding mansion.
“Wonderful,” Natalie grumbled.
“Oh, now who sounds like Eeyore?” Saffy chuckled.
“Hey, he’s your friend — go.” Natalie lifted her hands and motioned towards the large double front doors.
“I think I will.”
Saffy took her first step, and the front door was wrenched back on its creaky hinges, and there he stood, looking extremely unimpressed. His eyes narrowed at the witches.
“Oh, don’t tell me that you broke down,” Jake said. His top lip twitched with annoyance.
“In a way,” Saffy offered back. She wasn’t about to tell him the truth, just yet.
“Well, you can’t come in,” Jake said.
He folded his arms across his chest and gave them an expectant look. Of course, he knew there would be whining. Witches were good at that.
“It’s snowing! We don’t have a car — were coming in,” Saffy told him in no uncertain terms.
“I think she means; one way or another,” Natalie tried to look empowered and a force to be reckoned with — but she couldn’t stop her body from shaking and her teeth from chattering. It wasn’t the look that she was going for.
“Oh, for the love of…” Jake finished off on a deep, long, groan of annoyance. “Fine. You can stand in the hallway, and I’m only offering you a phone.” He grumbled.
“Please tell me you have heating,” Saffy muttered out as she started toward him.
“Why would a vampire have heating?” Natalie asked.
“I have no idea.” Saffy shook her head. She didn’t care — anything was better than being out in the snow storm.
Jake closed the door behind the witches and turned to see Natalie heading towards the drawing-room.
“Hey, not in there!” Jake rushed out. “That’s the trouble with everyone not being a vampire — you can’t keep them out of your damn house.”
“I can feel the warmth, and it crackles like an open fire,” Natalie said as she headed for the open doorway. She came to a grinding halt and gasped in surprise. “Oh — my — goddess!”
Jake grimaced and rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. He grumbled a string of curse words inwardly and groaned out loud.
“What is it?” Saffy asked as she rushed toward her friend. She too came to a grinding halt as she looked over Natalie’s shoulder. “What the…? Whoa…ho!”
“Yes — yes, so shoot me,” Jake grumbled as the witches uncovered his rather embarrassing secret.
“It looks like Santa threw up in there,” Natalie chuckled.
“Maybe he had help from the fairies,” Saffy chuckled back.
“Don’t even get me started on the damn fairies,” Jake grumbled. “As you can see, all my drapes are drawn to keep those evil, pesky little do-bad-ers at bay.”
“Wow, look who’s got a dirty little secret,” Saffy chuckled as she tossed a teasing look back over her shoulder and the vampire groaned as he rolled his eyes.
“That secret is never going to come out because I’m going to kill you,” Jake lied.
“Oh, who are we going to tell?” Saffy chuckled.
“Everybody we can,” Natalie spluttered laughter.
“I hate witches.” Jake folded his arms across his chest and grumbled a list of curse words.
“But you love Christmas!” Saffy chuckled.
“Bite me,” Jake grumbled.
“That would be wrong,” Natalie teased.
“I promise you if this ever gets out…” Jake warned them.
“Our lips are sealed,” Saffy chuckled again.
“Mine aren’t,” Natalie shot the vampire a taunting look.
“Fine. What do you want?” Jake demanded.
“We seem to have a little problem,” Natalie started to explain the situation when the loud hammering of fists on the front door echoed through the large hallway and into their brains.
“Speaking of which,” Saffy grumbled.
Jake eyed the witches. He’d lived next to shifter land long enough to know the sound of that pounding fist.
“You brought the wolves to my door?” Jake’s eyebrows started a journey up toward his hairline.
Both witches looked contrite. Jake groaned at the sound of the non-stop pounding fists. He’d only wanted a quiet Christmas, not Scrooge MacWolf and two damn witches on his doorstep causing mayhem, and there would be mayhem because when witches and wolves crossed paths, there was nothing but mayhem.
“Open the damn door, or we’ll break it down,” the alpha’s deep voice echoed through the hallway.
“By the hair on my chinny-chin-chin, I won’t let you in,” Jake called out.
If he was going to have to put up with the alpha, then he might as well enjoy the damn ride.
“I like his style,” Natalie chuckled.
“You seem to be forgetting that the wolves have found us,” Saffy said as she turned a glare on her friend.
“And we have a Christmas loving — desperate to keep his secret — vampire to protect us,” Natalie said in triumph.
“Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be that bloomin’ easy,” Saffy grumbled back.
“What did you do to the Wolves?” Jake demanded as he turned his steely gaze upon the witches, and suddenly they both looked very guilty – guilty enough for him not to believe a word that came from their lips, and to pity the alpha and his pack.
“Would you believe — nothing? Nothing at all?” Natalie offered back with the kind of fake smile that offended him.
If they were going to lie to his face, then they could at least put some conviction behind it and do a much better job.
“Not in a million damn years, and oh look, you don’t have that long. The wolves are at the door.” He wanted details, and he hoped they were juicy. “Tell me exactly what you did.”
“It wasn’t us!” Saffy said.
“Mistaken identity?” Jake shot back with a whole heap of skepticism and a sneer for good measure.
“If only,” Saffy grumbled and looked so damn guilty that he almost spat out a chuckle.
“Open the damn door, vampire!” Doug roared.
“Ticking clock,” Jake informed of them.
“It was the fairies,” Natalie rushed out.
She had absolutely no problem with lying to a vampire that she didn’t even know. Saffy looked nervous.
“The fairies?” Jake shot her a look of disbelief.
“Not exactly,” Saffy said and got an elbow in the ribs her trouble from her friend.
“But the important thing is that it wasn’t us,” Natalie ground out a warning to Saffy. They needed to keep the vampire on side if they hoped to escape their fate, and fate could play dirty.
“Very important,” Saffy agreed.
“Stop yanking my chain,” Jake grumbled.
“I wouldn’t,” Saffy said.
“She would,” Jake tossed up a hand and pointed at Natalie. His eyes took everything in, including the small grimace that flew across Saffy’s face. Guilty — definitely guilty.
“True,” Natalie said. “But on the other hand…”
“You’ve got to the count of five,” Doug warned.
“Here’s the thing — and it’s a big thing – I like my door. It keeps out the wind, and the rain, and the snow — and I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s snowing, and windy. Ergo, I value my doorway more than I value two stray witches.” Jake informed them.
“Fine,” Saffy grumbled. “We’re mates.”
Without saying a word, the vampire turned on his heels and started toward the front door. Saffy panicked and nudged Natalie into action. The witch groaned.
“What are you doing?” Natalie demanded.
“Turning the strays back over to their owners,” Jake tossed back over his shoulder.
“Damn untrustworthy, devious, cowardly vampires,” Natalie grumbled out.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones — but my door stays on its hinges,” Jake tossed back over his shoulder.
“A wall — she said – we’re saved – she said,” Saffy bit out, and Natalie shot her an apologetic look.