A Roaring Good Christmas - Book One: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy, page 1
A Roaring Good Christmas
Book One
By
M L BRIERS
Copyright © 2023, M L Briers
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced whatsoever without written permission of the author, except for brief exerts in reviews. Any unauthorised reproduction or distribution of the material herein is illegal and may result in criminal proceedings. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to the internet or distributed via electronic or print without prior consent.
Note from the Author;
All names, places, and incidents contained herein are purely fictional and have no basis in actual events or linked to actual Humans, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Lycans, Werebears or persons living, dead or undead.
Copyright © 2023, Cover Design; Witchy Covers
Table of Contents
A Roaring Good Christmas
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER ONE
~
Caroline hummed along to the Christmas tune on the radio as she drove the familiar backroad into town. The road had a good grip with just a light dusting of snow, but if old man Tompkins could be believed, the weather was about to take a turn, and the snow fairies would be chucking great big snowflakes down from their snow buckets any day now.
That thought filled her with excitement. She loved this time of year. Sure, it was a financial bummer that the tourists weren’t around, but that freed up some of her days and nights to create the stock she needed for the rest of the year for her little witchy side business.
With a roaring fire, hot chocolate – marshmallows optional, depending on how she felt – and the Christmas lights twinkling in the room, she felt like an elf working in Santa’s workshop. Not that she had a thing for Christmas, she didn’t, but she did like twinkling lights.
Caroline bounced to the music in her seat, and when the song changed, she squealed with joy and reached for the volume button to turn the song up. “I love a good Christmas tune, happy, happy, smilefest,” she said, sitting back against her seat. That was when she saw it: the double crew pickup truck shot out of the sideroad without slowing, as the sign said.
Caroline gripped the steering wheel with both hands and stomped on the brake. “Double poop bucket!” she squealed as the back end of her car started to kick out in an attempt to tell the front wheels what to do. She was losing it, the slip, the slide - until her brain kicked in through the fear, and she remembered to steer into the skid.
“Poop it! – Poop it! Poop it!” she squealed as the car straightened and came to a stop.
The pickup barely slowed, so she slammed on the horn and thrust her middle finger up at the windscreen. “Butthole!” she screamed into the confines of her car, watching the taillights drive off into the distance.
“Un-fricking-believable!”
Christmas tourists, the worst kind.
~
“What the hell?” Kurt growled at the driver. His beast was practically riding in the front seat with them as it pushed forward and tried to escape the man.
Samuel’s eyebrows started up his forehead as he shot his brother a curious look. “What’s got your cuckoo out of the clock?”
“You cut that woman off back there,” Kurt growled. His beast would never intentionally put a human in danger, especially a female, and Samuel had done both – it wasn’t a happy bear.
Samuel shot a look into the rearview mirror. “I see nothing.”
“She flipped you the finger,” Kurt informed him.
Samuel smirked. “Feisty and unhurt – no harm, no foul.”
“That’s not the damn point,” Kurt growled. “Either drive the road or pull over and let me drive.”
“Are you crazy? I want to get to the cabin before nightfall,” Samuel said.
“Dude, it’s mid-morning,” Kurt replied. “And we’re almost there.” He looked down at the GPS on his phone. “Hell, you’re going the wrong way. The cabin is back there.” He hooked his thumb over broad his shoulder.
“We need supplies,” Samuel said. “There’s supposed to be a small town around here somewhere.”
“How small?” Kurt asked. “Small enough for everyone to know that woman you just cut off?”
Samuel turned a mocking grin on his brother. “Quite possibly.”
“Wonderful, get the townsfolk reaching for their pitchforks before we’ve even settled in.” Kurt eyed the side mirror for any sign of the woman’s car. The road behind was empty.
“The hunters become the hunted,” Samuel said. “That’ll make us feel right at home.”
~
Kate had one pair of hands, and they were full of replacement stock for the shelves. It was quite the balancing act, but she didn’t want to go back and forth to the stockroom – the old one-and-done approach would save time and energy, and it was the slow season with only her in the shop today.
In a few days, there would be a Christmas rush running all the way to Christmas Eve; thankfully, the tourists were practically non-existent. She did enjoy a good Christmas holiday; it meant she didn’t need to get out of bed.
For those Christmas crisis shoppers who discovered they had forgotten something important on the morning of the big day, she left a key in a box out back and the honesty box on the counter. Who would live in a big city when they could have small-town trust and community? Not her.
“A few more steps; just don’t topple,” she muttered, heading down the aisle for the counter.
When the old bell above the door rang out, she tried to see around the boxes in her arms, but the slip and slide of the top two boxes had her juggling to get them level again.
“Kate!”
The yell from up close and personal on the other side of those boxes made her hit the internal brakes and jump, and then she felt it; the slip and slide turned into an avalanche. “No, no, no!” she squealed, desperately trying to hold on, but to no avail.
Every box slipped and slid until they crashed around her feet to reveal Caroline Lewis, standing there with her hands on her hips, a face like thunder, and a scowl that would scare the bejesus out of Medusa. “Clumsy does it,” she said, self-awareness be damned.
Kate closed her eyes, held on to the last box so she didn’t use the magic at her fingertips to fry her best friend, and groaned. “If a hellhole to Satan didn’t just appear outside the shop door, I am going to kill you.”
Caroline looked unapologetic. “Ask me what just happened.” She bent at the waist and retrieved a box.
Kate sidestepped the mess and headed for the counter. “A hellhole to Satan opened up and…”
“Not even close!” Caroline snapped, cutting her off as she followed her down the aisle and tossed a box of mixed sweets onto the counter on top of the box Kate had placed there.
Kate turned on her heels and headed back up the aisle. “Go on then, what happened?” She squatted down and threw stray cans and boxes of food into the larger box.
Caroline crouched and helped her friend. “Two guys in a pickup cut me off on the backroad into town…”
“Oh, no,” Kate said in a mocking tone. “Maybe they saw your bright and sunny personality and…”
“Right out in front of me at the stop sign!” Caroline said, self-obsessing as she could sometimes do when she was irate.
“And what did you do?” Kate asked, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Caroline could also be a mean witch.
Kate pushed to her feet, and Caroline followed. As soon as Kate filled a box, Caroline took that as a sign she could stop to follow her; luckily, she brought a box of supplies with her.
“I stopped, in time, before I hit them,” Caroline said, screwing up her face. “Der.” She said, hefting the box onto the counter. “But only just, and it was poopy panties time there for a second when the back end tried to kiss the front end.”
“Huh?” Kate pulled back as she tried to decode what her friend was saying.
“My car,” Caroline said, motioning with her hands. “The back end came out, and I almost spun it!”
“But you didn’t?” Kate asked, returning to the last of the mess on the floor.
“Nope, but only because I’m a good driver.”
Kate snorted a chuckle. “Your idea of good driving and mine are two different things.”
“We can’t all be Miss Daisy’s driver, Kate. I can snow drive, thankfully; otherwise, I might still be in a ditch now.”
“You went in the ditch?” Kate turned, concerned.
“Nope, because I can drive,” Caroline said, putting her hands on her hips. “Were you not listening?”
“I wish I wasn’t,” Kate muttered, turning and squatting to grab the last items from the spill.
“Huh?”
“I wish I’d been there,” Kate said, grimacing. “Then I might understand why you are so upset.” She turned, shoved the box into Caroline’s arms and spun her on her heels.
“But, that’s the point. They left me for dead.”
“But you didn’t go in the ditch…”
“But they didn’t know that,” Caroline said, dropping the box on top of the others and turning to her friend.
“So, are you miffed that they cut you off without slowing for the sign or that they left you perfectly fine on the road once you stopped?”
Caroline considered it. “Yes.”
“Which one?” Kate asked, exasperated.
“All of the above,” Caroline said.
Kate rested an elbow on the oddly stacked boxes and took a moment to consider her friend as she chose her words carefully. “Caroline.”
“Yes?”
“I know that sometimes your dogs are barking, but this time, I think they are howling at the moon,” Kate said.
“Thank you for affirming my wonderfulness, but I want my pound of flesh,” Caroline said, inspecting her nails. “And your box caper has chipped my nail varnish, and you own me a…”
“Oh, no, screwball, you can’t con a con artist,” Kate said, turning her friend toward the front door. “Go to work, and no more playing demolition derby on the backroads.”
“It wasn’t me, it was…” She stopped, squinted at the door, and pointed an outstretched finger. “Them!”
CHAPTER TWO
~
Kate craned her neck and looked over Caroline’s shoulder at the two musclebound men in leather jackets and jeans that fit in all the right places who were crossing the street and heading for the store. “Are you sure?”
“Do they look like strangers to you?”
“I think I would have noticed them before.”
“Then it was them, I tell you,” Caroline hissed. “Who else?”
“Maybe it was Santa’s little helpers?” Kate said and snorted with amusement as her friend glared at her.
“You’re not as funny as you think you are,” Caroline said. “And it’s time for some payback.” She turned back to the door, pulled on her magic, and let them have it before Kate could do anything to stop her.
Kate twisted her head to the side as she watched two grown-ass men slipping, sliding and doing things on a make-believe patch of ice that her friend had crafted. “Not very graceful,” she said, shrugging. “I’ll give the one on the right a six and the other one a four.”
“Add a little wind…”
“Whoa!” The roar went up from outside, and they disappeared from view.
Kate sidestepped her friend and ran to the window. On their backsides on the street were two confused, miffed-off big guys, scratching their heads and nursing their pride as they looked about them. “Touchdown,” she said, ducking out of sight as one of them looked in her direction. “Happy now – revenge had?”
“I’ll consider it,” Caroline said, shrugging as she raised her hand and inspected her nails. “I still have chipped nail varnish and the strange need for a bacon roll.” She frowned.
“Revenge is hungry work,” Kate said. “Get me one while you’re there.”
“Heads up, jerk one and jerk two are headed this way,” Caroline whispered, motioning for Kate to do something interesting at the counter.
Kate manually opened the cash register and took out a note. She handed it over to Caroline for the bacon roll just as the door opened and the bell sounded. When one of the men quickly ducked, surprised by the sound, she almost spat out a chuckle but slapped her hand over her mouth to silence it.
“Jumpy,” Caroline mouthed, grinning.
“Morning!” Samuel said, offering the women at the counter a drop-dead sexy smile that usually worked well on females.
Kate nodded; Caroline raised her chin before she sidled up to the counter. “Did I just hear your panties drop?” Kate slapped her just as Samuel shot her a glance, and she snapped to attention.
“Bacon roll,” she hissed. “Fetch.”
“Not on your nelly,” Caroline said, grinning like a crazy person and biting the tip of her tongue between her teeth.
“Oh, no,” Kate grumbled, slapping her hand against her forehead.
“Oh, yes,” Caroline whispered. “Revenge is sweet.”
“Didn’t you just do that?” Kate hissed back in a low whisper.
Caroline’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “You have much to learn.”
“Fine,” Kate said, snatching the note out of Caroline’s hand and sidestepping the counter and her friend. “I’ll get the bacon rolls, and you had better not mess up my store.”
“Can’t make promises I might not be able to keep,” Kate said in a sing-song tone.
Kate pursed her lips. “I draw the line at blood.”
“First blood or the end result?”
“I hate you,” Kate said, reaching over the counter for her jacket and whipping it by Caroline’s head.
“Love is so close to hate; I think you’re getting confused,” Kate said, shooing her toward the door. “Bacon, carnivore, now time, go.”
“I’m going,” Kate said, knowing she didn’t want to be around for what might come next. She had to wonder if she was being disloyal, but Caroline could take care of herself, even if they were big guys.
“Go!” Caroline said, noticing how Kate hesitated at the open door.
“Going!” Kate said, wide-eyed and flummoxed. “Don’t kill anyone.”
“As if I would,” Caroline said, but that evil twinkle in her eyes said differently.
“Ugh!” Kate groaned as she headed out into the cold, ensuring she sidestepped the magical ice-skating rink Caroline had summoned.
~
Kate strolled into the bakery and eyed the rows of pastries, reminding herself that she was being good today or as good as someone who had already devoured two chocolate bars could be under the circumstances. She chose to turn her nose up at them and ignored that they were calling to her.
“Hey!” The friendly shout came from the back of the shop. “Hands off those cakes, Missy. You said you wanted to fit into your slim-leg jeans by Friday.”
Kate sheepishly grimaced. “I’m going to call that a big fat fail,” she admitted, annoyed with herself.
“Chocolate?” Laney asked, commiserating with a wince.
“No thanks, I’ve just had two bars,” Kate joked. “But two of your large bacon rolls wouldn’t go amiss.”
“Two?” Laney asked.
Kate walked the counter, eyeing the cheesecake and vanilla cream sponge as if they were puppies. “I left Caroline in the store torturing tourists,” she said, somewhat absently.
“Was their only crime daring to come to town?” Laney asked, walking into the back and starting up the cooker.
“Unfortunately, no. Caroline claims they tried to kill her on the back road – something about not stopping at the sign.”
“The usual Caroline antics, then?” Laney said, knowing how bored her friend got at this time of year, and torturing the odd tourist had become something of a pastime for her.
“With added relish for almost dying, in Caroline speak, or hitting the brakes in ours,” Kate said, tossing a look over her shoulder at the sound of a meaty engine travelling up the road. “Oh no!” Kate exclaimed.
Laney poked her head out. “If you tell me a chocolate éclair spoke to you again, I’m calling the doctor to look at your noggin.”
“It’s a pickup!” Kate said as if her friend should know what that meant.
“Bad for the environment?” Laney asked, looking lost.
“Sod the environment; Caroline might be torturing the wrong guys!” Kate said, heading for the door and yanking it open.
“What about your rolls?” Laney called after her.
“Takeaway service available!” Kate called back as the door closed behind her.
“We don’t have a takeaway service,” Laney said before she caught on and rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Oh.”
~
