The Naughty List by Debra Dunbar

Author:Debra Dunbar [Dunbar, Debra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Debra Dunbar
Published: 2016-12-04T23:00:00+00:00

We strolled through the hotel lobby with an entranced human dressed as Krampus — one that looked like half his face had melted off. Gregory never seems to think about these things. Six billion years as the big cheese in Aaru had made him rather blind to other’s opinions and reactions – especially human reactions. Our companion had garnered no more than curious stares from the people on the streets. The hotel employees reacted differently.

“Why is that human hiding behind the desk?” Gregory asked. “I’ll admit you smell particularly foul after your heroin experience, but not enough to warrant running away or screaming.”

I left Gregory with our pseudo-Krampus and vaulted the desk. The woman was trying to wedge herself under a shelf and smacked her head on it as I landed in a crouch before her.

“Hide,” she hissed.

“Why?” I hissed back.

“Krampus. If you value your life, be quiet and stay down.”

I peeked over the top of the counter. Gregory was tapping his foot impatiently while Aaron Blau stared slack-jawed at the floor. A line of drool extended a few inches from his mouth. Whatever Gregory was doing to the guy, it was total overkill.

“It’s a human in a costume,” I whispered, kneeling back down. “We found him in the slums. I think he’s really drunk, or he’s had a blow to the head.”

Or an angel reduced him to a drooling imbecile. Hopefully his brain function could be restored later, or this interrogation would be very short.

The woman lifted a skeptical eyebrow and scooted out from under the shelf. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. My boyfriend and I walked across town with him. Why are you all so afraid of Krampus? Isn’t that just a myth to scare children into behaving?”

She shot me a wary glance. “It’s not a myth, and it scares more than children into behaving. That’s why we don’t book visitors during this week. The hotel would have been empty if that travel service hadn’t screwed up.” The woman stood, brushing her skirt down and smoothing her hair. “Can you imagine how our reputation would suffer if Krampus took one of our guests? I just need you both to be good for one week, then you’ll be safe.”

Aaron hardly seemed threatening. Actually, he looked like he was about to lose control of his bowels. Gregory had propped him in a corner and was helping himself to a cup of the hotel coffee.

“That guy doesn’t look capable of taking an aspirin, let alone dragging an adult off to devour. He’s just a human, and there’s no Krampus.”

The desk clerk huffed and began to straighten her pens. “Every year since before I was born, this has been happening — one sinner per night for seven nights sometime between winter solstice and New Year’s Day. Just make sure it’s not you, okay?”

“Sure.” I motioned to Gregory, and we headed up to our room, followed by a staggering, costumed human. Once inside, Gregory tossed his lobby coffee into the sink with a sound of disgust and fired up the cappuccino machine.

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