Page 29

It was a week before Christmas when Clementine showed up again.

“I found something useful,” she announced, visibly excited. “It is frowned upon and the records of it show that higher ups did their best to hinder the process, but there is records of lower demons climbing the ranks. So it’s possible.”

He released a deep sigh, and despite the nervousness, found himself smiling.

“You’ll have to go through a whole trial while also still doing your job, so you’ll be super busy, but there is a way to ask for more. However, it doesn’t look like a quick process.”

Clementine explained the technical parts to him, relaying everything she learned, and informed him of all the ways that demons who tried had been sabotaged.

It wasn’t at all what the gray demon had found. This method seemed more official and less violent. However, it might be much more difficult. But if Naomi wanted him to, he would do it.

As if the universe were on his side, some krampuses were released into the human world for a last-minute mission, just a few days before Christmas. This time, they sent him.

He wasn’t expecting to see Naomi, knowing that the period she usually spent at the chalet was already over, but if he could find some time to go by the house, he could leave her a note explaining the situation.

He completed his tasks as quickly as possible, then snuck to the valley. From far away, he saw the smoke coming out of the chimney, and he immediately frowned. His confusion only grew when he came closer and saw that the lights were on, too.

Knowing that Naomi was here, he let himself in to surprise her. However, it wasn’t Naomi that he found.

At the kitchen counter, with a direct view to the front door, stood another Black woman. She was dark-skinned, thin, and shorter than Naomi. Her hair was in thin braids, but without the curls at the end that Naomi had in hers the previous time. Nothing in her features told him she was family, but she did look familiar.

As soon as the woman saw him, she screamed.

“What? What’s going on?” Naomi yelled, running down the stairs.

Naomi locked eyes with him first, her mouth dropping open, then immediately looked back at the other woman. Kilean followed her gaze to find the woman holding a big kitchen knife.

“Naomi, move away from it!” she shouted.

“Oh, no, no, no!” Naomi rushed forward, passing by him and stopping at the kitchen door. “He’s harmless!”

The other woman looked at Naomi like she wasn’t making any sense. “What the hell are you on about?”

“Hayley, do you trust me?”

The stranger shook her head. “A minute ago I would have said yes, but I’m starting to question it now.”

“Put the knife down and I’ll explain everything,” Naomi said. “Please.”

Hayley narrowed her eyes at Kilean, then glared at Naomi. The two women stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, but whatever she saw in Naomi’s eyes must have been enough. Hayley sighed and slowly put the knife down on the counter.

“Okay, well… I never thought I’d find myself in this situation so I don’t have a speech ready.” Naomi smiled awkwardly, then gestured for him to get closer. “Hayley, this is Kilean. He’s a krampus.”

“He’s Krampus?”

“A krampus,” he corrected, quietly, stopping next to Naomi.

Finally, he looked at her properly. It’d been a year since he saw her, but he still noticed the subtle ways Naomi had changed—in her features and the way she carried herself. Her expression seemed more mature, and she carried herself with more confidence. She seemed to have changed her hair again, too. While the braids seemed to be the same type as before, the shade was lighter, closer to her natural color. It was so interesting to see her slowly change every time they met.

“… we’re friends now, and he visits me from time to time.”

He shook himself from his thoughts, focusing back on the conversation.

“Kilean,” Naomi called to him. “This is my friend Hayley. I’ve mentioned her once but I’m not sure if you remember.”

A friend. Now he realized why she looked familiar. She was in the photos that Naomi had shown him.

“I’m sorry for the scare,” he said, hoping it would help her relax.