Blurb:
When Krampus' gingerbread men bring him a man caught in one of his nets, all thoughts of eating him fly from his mind. Krampus learns his guest is Cupid, the Incarnation of Love.
With Cupid missing from the real world all love is at stake of evaporating. But Krampus intends to claim Cupid for his own -- even if it kills him.
Excerpt:
"Master."
Krampus looked down at the one who had disturbed him. A two-foot-tall, battle hardened gingerbread general with a missing gumdrop button and a bite taken out of his head. A frosted eye patch had been filled in where his raisin left eye had once been. His edges had started to crumble the way cookies did. They could fix that by charring the cookie edge, but Krampus wasn't sure how long this cookie had left to serve him.
"What do you want? Has some of the livestock escaped again? Did you catch one of your men snacking on my humans again? I've given them enough warnings not to be lenient. I do get a hankering for gingerbread once in a while."
"No, Master. Nothing like that. We found something in the nets. It didn't look like a sugar plum fairy, so I wanted to bring it to you."
"Let me see it." Krampus was intrigued. His gingerbread hardly ever brought him something interesting. Sugarplum fairies were a delicacy and went well with human meat pie, but they were difficult to snare even with the finely woven nets he had cast in the garden. At the thought of their sticky sweetness, Krampus' mouth watered.
His gingerbread men, along with a couple of toy tin soldiers, dragged in something caught in a golden net. The creature was unlike anything he had ever seen. It looked human. Was the same size as one of them, but it had large white fluffy wings. One of the tin soldiers took something slung over his shoulder and presented it to Krampus. "We found these on him."
Krampus bent down and took a golden quiver of arrows with feathered hearts on the end and a large bow from the soldier. It was tiny in his large fingers. This being was not from his world. If he was then they would have been the same height, but Krampus could fix that.
"Release him and leave us."
The tin soldiers left the room, but the general remained.
"Uh, Master?"
"What is it?"
"When you're done with him, me and the boys were hoping we could have the leftovers. He looks tasty." The gingerbread general licked his lips, revealing needle teeth.
"If there is anything left, then yes. If I keep him, you're welcome to three of the human stock. But wait for my orders on that."
The corner of his mouth twitched trying to hide his excitement. "Yes, Master. Thank you." The general left the room and closed the door.
Krampus slowly unwound the fine golden net from the strange creature. He took care when removing the weave from the large fluffy wings. When he untwined the strange being, he turned him over to find the most perfect specimen of humankind he had ever seen. Shiny bronze skin with light blond hair that curled around a heart-shaped face. Perfectly pouty lips were relaxed in unconsciousness.
A nasty gash across his forehead marred the beauty of this captured angel. Dread rolled through Krampus as the recognition set in. If this being is a real angel, I'm in for some shitty luck. He had to make sure this creature recovered. First thing to do was to make him the same size as Krampus.
The realm he lived in made him a giant. When he interacted in the human world, he was a looming figure of seven feet. To mortals he brought here, Krampus towered twenty feet tall. This creature was no ordinary human. He lifted him in both hands and laid him on the sofa. The angel appeared to be a small child as he lay on the couch. Krampus waved his hand over the being.
The cold grip of the spell sapped his energy. His powers had waned because Christmas had passed and spring would soon be upon him. They would return in full force as the summer turned to fall. The room frosted over in a white film to include the angel. Once the film cleared, the angel had grown to match Krampus. He found a rag, got a bowl of water, and pressed it to the cut. The blood came away easily.
Once he was done, Krampus took in the rest of the angel's physique. His abs were toned and expertly cut. Gold shorts clung to his hips and left nothing to the imagination. His desire stirred as he studied the bulge hidden by the golden cloth. He tore his gaze from it and admired the shapely thighs and calves. Brown leather sandals encased his feet and twined around over his ankles and were tied with a neat heart-shaped bow.
Nothing else about him seemed to be hurt. Krampus hoped his wings were intact. The golden net was meant to snare the sugar plum fairies and break their wings.
"What are you and why did you wander into my realm? Unless you wanted to become a real live tree topper for me next year."
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