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A Vampire Christmas
Copyright © 2008 A.J. Llewellyn
ISBN: 978-1-55487-203-9
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Smashwords Edition
A Vampire Christmas
By
A.J. Llewellyn
Dedication
Maxine Hong Kingston, Living Treasure of Hawaii and to my fabulous editors, Jay Austin and Heather Bennett, my personal Living Treasures.
Author’s Note
In January, 2003 construction began on a superblock mall to be built on Keeaumoku Street in the heart of Waikiki, Hawaii. Workers on the already controversial project soon made a startling discovery. Twenty-five sets of skeletal remains were found, buried deep beneath the surface streets.
State archaeologists examining the graves backing onto Malaoa and Sheridan Streets believed these were the unfortunate victims of the catastrophic smallpox outbreak of 1853. They demanded work be stopped until further excavation could determine how many other gravesites were there, and also for the descendants of the victims to be contacted.
As the state of Hawaii’s Historic Preservation Division struggled with court filings from property developers, decisions had to be made on how the remains of the graves would be treated.
Three other bodies located in the same burial site predate the smallpox deaths, according to archaeological reports, because the bodies were buried in the fetal position, which was the custom of ancient Hawaiians.
The discovery of these human remains reopened the issue of so many ancient burial sites being looted in the islands with caskets and treasures put on display in museums and some even sold on the international black market…
A Vampire Christmas is a work of fiction inspired by these events.
Chapter One
Midnight. There was a kind of hush over the island of Oahu as we passed from Christmas Eve into the big day itself. Somewhere, Santa Claus was dropping presents down chimneys as little kids fought sleep, visions of sugar plums, turkey…and all those toys. And boy oh boy, Santa had brought us a humdinger.
A baby in a basket right at our door.
My husband Tem looked at me with those big, dark cocoa eyes of his, the ones that seduced me from being straight to gay, and begged.
“Please, Div. Please let’s adopt this baby. I love him so much!”
“We just found him five minutes ago. How much love can you have for him?”
“I loved you the second I saw you, Div.”
Damn. My man knew how to shut me up. I rocked back on my heels as Tem gazed lovingly down at the hideous little beast in his arms.
“You want to adopt a demon baby.” It was a flat statement, not a question. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
“Yes, yes, darling. I do.”
Outside in the chilly night air, there was no sign of anybody who could have left the baby here. No signs of tire treads, foot prints, no written notes, no baby bottles or extra clothes, just the kid dumped in a basket in our garden.
Tem’s face was serene and I glared at our cat Moontime, who’d dragged the little ankle biter across our threshold in the first place. And I do mean ankle biter. No more than a few hours old at most, this baby had red eyes, pointed ears, a forked tongue, sharp finger nails and, God save us, tiny, pointy, vicious little fangs. Moontime extended a paw like he was Sugar Ray Robinson delivering a nifty right hook and licked his claws clean. He was constantly bringing home stray animals. This was his first stray demon baby. Our home was host to an array of recuperating creatures. Sometimes I felt like Doctor Do-Vampo-little. And Tem knew I was vampire putty in his hands.
I tried again. “Let me get this straight. You want to adopt the incubus.”
“It’s Christmas, darling. Everybody deserves a fresh start, a family for the holidays. Look at him, isn’t he adorable?”
No, he’s not. He’s goddamn ugly. Ten fingers, ten toes, blood-red eyes and teeth that would scare a tiger shark.
“It’s not like you to think such mean thoughts,” my husband sniffed. As usual he could read my mind, one of the less attractive qualities of being a vampire in moments like this. “Are you afraid I won’t want you as much now that we’re parents?”
Parents? Oh geez. It wasn’t like we were talking about a cute kid, or even one of our own, like a baby vamp. I could even imagine living with a werewolf…maybe. But geez, a demon baby?
“It’s going to be hard to find a pediatrician for him.”
Tem beamed at me. “We’ll have the odaisan look at him.”
Geez, he already had an answer for everything. Our family priest and spiritual doctor was getting rich quick dealing with our family’s many problems lately. The demon baby glared at me and I knew I had more than my hands full with this pudgy little monster.