Author's Note:

🎄 Merry Christmas! To celebrate the holiday, I bring you a double update of a completely unChristmasy story!

Perhaps, try picturing Serge and Matthias in Santa hats.  They would definitely be glaring at each other. Serge's hazel eyes would be narrowed as he tried to hold on to his temper, and Matthias's teeth would be clenched while he resisted the urge to punch Serge square in the jaw.

So, basically, holiday cheer all around. ;)

Thanks for reading!!!

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I slept fitfully after Matthias left, but in truth it was little different than the rest of the nights since I had been cursed other than I woke several times, fear clutching my heart and my breathing ragged and uneven.

Poor Lizzy had been knocked onto the floor during my night time flailing.

Was the curse increasing its harassment on me because I had declared war on it when I was talking to Matthias, or was it getting harder the longer I was a thrall?

Although it really had not been that long.

Only six days and five nights had passed since Serge had bit me with the magic of the curse.  Could it really have been less than a week?  It felt longer, so much longer, as if a lifetime of fear had been crushed into such a short period of time.

But I was not going to let this crippling fear keep me down.  I was going to fight my own fears and the curse's fears every day.  Like I told Matthias, I was going to keep moving my toe until I could move my whole damn leg.

I shivered.  The curse had other plans.

I forced myself to leave my bed for the anxiety inducing light of the morning streaming in through my window.  Was light not supposed to be comforting?

It felt like the harsh light of exposure to me, as if the sun were glaring in the window and exposing all my trespasses and misdeeds.  I swallowed hard and walked into the adjoining bathroom to get ready to face the day.

When I left my room, I found Serge in the kitchen.  I could smell coffee and I heard the clunk of a mug as I walked towards him with my eyes averted.

"Good morning," he said.  He sounded tired.  I wondered if he had not slept well either, but there was no way I dared to ask.

"Good morning," I echoed.

"Hungry?" he asked.

Not really, but...  "I-is there cereal?"  I did not want him to cook specially for me again.

"Yeah.  Corn flakes or puffed wheat."

Both sounded like cardboard to me.  "Could I have corn flakes?"

"Of course," he said.

I could see him moving around the kitchen from the corner of my eye.  I wanted to protest and do it myself, but my lips would not move.

Good job fighting that curse, Elise, I thought to myself.  The cold flushed through me and I shivered again.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sounding somewhere between concerned and weary.

"Y-yeah," I lied.  The ache of the curse infused my bones.  I sat down on one of the bar stools, as far as I could get from Serge.

Was it getting worse, or did it just seem so now that Matthias was not here to distract me?

I saw the box of cereal come towards me, along with a jug of milk and a bowl and spoon.  I sprinkled a bit of cereal into the bottom of the bowl.  I noted my shaking hands helped dislodge the cereal from the box.

How convenient.

The curse was not amused and I shook harder.

I forced out a bitter smile as I added milk.  Then I picked up the spoon and mechanically went to work on my breakfast.

Serge sat down again by his coffee.  We were quiet for a long moment; the only sound was the clicking of my spoon against the side of the bowl.  It was as loud as cymbals in the quiet of the kitchen.

He broke the long silence.  "Is there anything you need?" he asked me.

"N-nope," I replied.

He did not say anything for another long moment.

Then he spoke again.  "Your family is coming to visit on Tuesday.  I invited them for supper," he commented.

"Oh.  That's n-nice," I responded.

I did want to see my family, but it was so hard to talk to Serge.

I remembered my fight, I had to move my toes.  The curse did not want me to talk to him, so I should talk.  "Th-thank you, S-S-S..."

"You can call me Serge, Elise."  His words were grim.

"S-S-Ser..."

"If you want."

"I'm not sure I c-can," I confessed.  "I'm y-y-your thr-thrall, I don't think i-it will l-let me.  But I'll tr-try."

He did not answer.  I wished I could see his reaction.  I tried to look at him.  I tried to think of the photograph of him and that one time I had actually seen him.  I forced my eyes closer to his face.  I managed to focus on his shoulder for just one second before I had to look away.

My head began to throb with the effort.  I gritted my teeth.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

It was close enough to an order that answering was easy.  "Trying to l-look towards y-y-you made my head hurt," I confessed.

I heard him stand up and walk into the kitchen.  He moved about and turned on the faucet.  A moment later he returned with three pills and a glass of water.

"Acetaminophen and your medication," he explained.

"Thanks," I said, downing the pills and drinking the entire glass.

He did not sit down again.  He picked up his cup and I heard him refill it.  "I'll be in my office if you need me," he offered, then he left the kitchen.

At his departure I got the same feeling of bereft relief that I always seemed to get when he went.  My emotions were a conflicted mess, especially when it came to my new leader.

* *  *   *   *   *   *  * *

I followed my vague routine for the rest of the morning, running in the forest and then completing my taxing tasks like texting my dad and looking at photographs.

I spent a long time studying Matthias's face while I remembered the previous day.  He had managed to help me have a good time in spite of everything.  He was always there when I needed him, when I lost my mom, when I almost lost my dad.

What would I do without him?

A knock on the door startled me and then brought me relief when I heard Karen's voice accompanying it rather than my leader's.

"C-come in," I responded quickly.

The door opened and Karen came inside.  "Hi Elise, how's your weekend so far?"

"G-good," I said. It was relatively at least half true.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Regular stuff.  And um, Matthias came over to visit, but I guess y-you knew that."

"Yeah, I did.  But he said he wanted it be a surprise.  A good one, I hope?"

I nodded.  "A good one."

She looked at the piles of photographs sitting on the desk.  "How's this going?" she asked.

"Good, I think."

"Do you want to know who anyone is?" she asked.

I considered and the honest answer was no.  "Y-yes," I pushed out past the lump in my throat.

She walked over to me.  "Who?" she asked.

I used my shaky fingers to pick out three pictures of women who resembled the reflection I had accidentally glimpsed in the mirror.  "I think one of these people is y-you," I managed to whisper.

"You're right.  Want to know which?" she asked.

"Yes," I lied.

She pointed to a woman who was sitting on the ground holding a wolf pup and smiling at the camera.  I shifted my gaze away, but I already had the picture burned into my mind.  So that was Karen, the picture in my memory combined with the glance from the mirror and the helpful woman who kept taking care of me.

I shivered.

"Anyone else?" she asked.

I thought about the few people I had met in the pack so far.  "Is J-Jodi in here?"

"Afraid not.  Maybe I'll add her when I give you more," she commented.

"More?"

"Only when you're ready," she assured me.

The idea of more made me want to burrow under my covers and never come out again, but I was fighting now.  If the curse said no, I should say yes.  "I-I'm r-r-ready," I stammered.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I n-need to f-f-fight," I explained as the curse tried to savage me.

She paused.  "I'll get you more tomorrow."

"I also think, um maybe I could m-meet some regular p-p-pack humans?"

"That might be a good idea," Karen said musingly.  "I'll try to find someone who's a fit."

* *  *   *   *   *   *  * *

I spent the afternoon idle, trying to read while I ignored the icy stabs that wound through my body.  It really was trying to bring me to heel.

I gritted my teeth and flung the book down on the bed.  I was getting nowhere, reading the same line over and over.

I pushed myself up from the bed and started tidying up my room.  I still had the magic flare up over my skin from time to time, but apparently cleaning a part of Serge's house was a curse sanctioned activity.

Maybe I could find some corner of the already ridiculously clean building to work on later.

I ate supper with Serge and Karen as had become our habit.  Tonight we had barbequed bannock burgers.  The meal had always been one of my favourite foods so I really focused on the taste, trying to appreciate the rich flavour of the meat and the bun.

If I really tried, I could almost enjoy it.

After supper, I went for my evening run and then I got ready and crawled into bed and fell asleep early, hugging my stuffed lizard close to me.

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