Page 2

What the hell is happening? Is someone trying to get into the house?

Naomi jumped from the bed, quickly putting a coat over her pajamas. Grabbing a hatchet, she looked outside the window.

There was no one at the door. There was no one around at all, not even an animal, yet the rhythmic sound was still present. It took Naomi a couple seconds to shake off the sleepiness and remember what had happened the day before.

The beast!

She rushed to the back of the house, and there it was. The door of the shed trembled with each thud .

If the beast was awake and had enough strength to bump against the door, then she had succeeded in keeping it alive.

However , it was locked inside and clearly didn’t like it, which was not a good sign.

Naomi didn’t even know if it was more than just an animal.

Was it just a beast, or did it have intelligent thoughts?

Could she have an actual conversation with it?

Her throat was fully dry and she couldn’t bring herself to speak, to call the beast and tell it to calm down. Instead , she chose another approach. If she quickly opened the door wide and hid herself behind it, maybe the beast would rush out and run back into the woods without looking back.

She tightened her grip on her hatchet then swung the door open. There was silence for a moment, then the door was ripped away from her and a clawed hand grabbed her by the arm, shoving her to the ground.

The impact wrenched the hatchet out of her grasp, tumbling away in the snow.

She gasped but the scream died in her throat.

The beast crouched over her with its huge body caging her in.

Its hands pinned down her arms and its sharp mouth was just a few inches from her face, snarling down at her.

Naomi was frozen in fear, tears burning behind her eyes.

“ Who . Are . You ,” the beast growled, enunciating every word.

It was more of an order than a question. Naomi fought to find her voice.

“ I - I’m no one. I - I just found y-you in t-the—” she bit her lips in between stutters. “ I’m sorry. I’m s-sorry.”

It sniffed her, its gaze gradually following her arm until it reached the sleeves of her coat. Its blood was still there, dry now—she hadn’t had time to wash it the evening before.

“ What did you do? ”

Again , its question was barely more than a growl.

“ You w-were dying,” she rushed to say. “ I tried to help.”

A tear slid down her cheek, and the beast leaned back just enough to watch its journey down her face, fascinated.

“ Why did you trap me in there?”

“ I didn’t want animals following the blood trail and attacking you when you couldn’t defend yourself.”

That choice had made sense to her the night before, but she understood why it could be hard for the beast to believe her.

It leaned down and sniffed her again, its face and fur brushing against her neck.

Naomi shivered, cold and fear overtaking her as she pressed her eyes shut, praying it wouldn’t rip her throat out.

It must have been content with what it discovered because it loosened its grip on her.

“ I don’t mean any harm,” she whispered, too scared to speak loudly as she opened her eyes slightly. “ I’m sorry.”

It stared at her, and Naomi really looked into its eyes for the first time.

They looked generally normal, like a human’s, but the irises were a deep, dark red, with speckles of golden brown in the light.

Its eyes gradually lost ferocity and eventually, the beast let her go, stepping back.

The creature sat in the snow by her feet, one of its arms going to its bandages.

When her eyes followed its movement, she noticed how bloodied some of them looked.

“ You pulled the stitches,” she exclaimed, worried.

“ I’ll survive,” it grunted.

On instinct, she wanted to reach out, to look under the bandages and fix the problem, but she forced her arms to stay by her side.

“ But you lost so much blood, and you had so many wounds!”

Its eyes narrowed at her, as if trying to understand why she was worried in the first place.

“ I heal faster than humans. The bleeding just needed to be stopped.”

It gave her a stern look, probably be the closest thing to a “thank you” she would ever receive, but it was more than what she thought she’d receive.

Naomi replayed its words in her head, wondering if asking would be a good choice or not. If it hadn’t killed her already, maybe that was a good sign? Maybe it would not be offended.

“ What … what are you?”

It hesitated for a moment, but then seemed to decide it was safe to speak. “ I’m a krampus.”

Naomi’s eyes widened. She had heard of krampuses before; though she didn’t know much about them, she knew that they were demons and that their role was to punish people. How did a krampus even end up here, in the middle of nowhere where there was no one around? It hadn’t come to punish her , right?

She felt confused, and in shock, and still a bit scared—despite not feeling directly threatened anymore.

They looked at each other in an awkward silence, its gaze so intense that she shivered. Naomi’s eyes fell to the bloodied bandages and her heart ached. Its face still looked pained by the injuries, and while it said it would be fine, part of her still worried about the wounds.

“ Do you… do you want to come inside?” she asked, pointing at the chalet with a shaky finger. “ While you fully recover.”

It studied the house, and the silence stretched for so long that Naomi wondered if she should just leave without a response. It was a silly proposal, after all, so maybe it would be better if the beast declined. It was likely very dangerous and foolish, and?—

“ Okay .” The beast agreed.

Attempting to keep her composure, Naomi pressed her lips together, stood up, and brushed the snow off her clothes and bonnet. When she turned around to look at the krampus, it was already standing, and it took her breath away.

Naomi wasn’t short at all, standing at five foot eleven, but the demon truly towered over her. It looked even scarier like this. Comparing it with the size of the shed behind it, she did a quick calculation and guessed it was around seven foot eight, although the horns gave even more height.

She found it hard to swallow but instead of commenting on her frightened look, the krampus gestured for her to start walking. Her legs shook as she guided it inside her house, a voice in her head screaming that it was a terrible idea.

She thought about the krampus as they walked inside, her confused brain forming even more questions. Should she be calling this beast “it”? The krampus clearly showed they were more than just an animal, but she wasn’t sure she could apply human rules to them, either.

Was there etiquette on what to call supernatural beings?

In the warmth of the chalet, Naomi quickly took off her bloodied coat and bonnet. She could really do with a cup of hot tea and a very long nap… the peculiarity of the situation was giving her a headache.

“ There’s a fire if you want to keep warm.” She awkwardly gestured to the fireplace in the living room.

The demon simply nodded and sat in front of it. Naomi looked at them in distress and bit her lip, unsure what to do with herself now.

What have I gotten myself into?