I'm really sorry... I don't have time to write and format a Christmas memory for this morning's post. I'll slip one in when I get back if there's enough call for it ;) But here's the next instalment of Santa's Little Helper.

Santa’s Little Helper

A Dusty the Demon Hunter Story

By

D Michelle Gent

---

“Why are you here, sweetness?”

He asked the very question that she’d had in her head.

Dusty was dumbfounded, she couldn’t answer, so she nodded instead.

“Ahh, you’re here because you deliver some of the same gifts that I do. Your friend Ange, for example. This year alone, you have saved her from a fate that your own mother endured. You also helped her cousin and you have given passion to another half demon like yourself. You have even helped out a father and son that were estranged and likely to remain so. You performed all of those tasks with no thought for yourself, for gain or thanks, and you have come of age. You have used the gifts that I bestowed upon you last year to their greatest use and I am so proud of you.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

Dusty had to sit and think for a moment about what Santa had told her.

She looked at him as he concentrated on his driving.

She looked over the side and saw that they were passing over towns and cities but not stopping to land. She put aside her thoughts about last year’s gift and asked another question instead.

“Why aren’t you landing? I can see houses below.”

“Lean farther over the side and look back.” Santa told her.

She did as he said and she could see the same sparkles and sparks flying off the runners of the sleigh that had come from the gnarled staff he had used.

“I don’t have to land to deliver my gifts. I only do it for show if I have a guest. I don’t like to land because there are too many evils in the world. You saw what happened when I came to visit you. The goblins aren’t the worst of them either. They want to steal my gifts but they don’t seem to realise that they cannot be used in any other realm but this one, the one where humans live. Hopes and dreams are a human thing. No other realm uses them so my gifts are worthless. The goblins are greedy and malicious creatures and maybe they do know that they cannot be used elsewhere but, like spoiled and vindictive children, if they can’t have them, then they will break them so that none shall benefit.”

Santa sighed and seemed maudlin for a moment and the sleigh began to grow sluggish.

Dusty felt the reindeer struggle to maintain height and speed and she understood why Santa laughed so much – he had to, he fuelled the sleigh.

Pictures from Google Free to use Images