Crimson Christmas by Rain Oxford Read Free Book Online Page B

of the work.”
    Devon was about to move on when he noticed a smudge
of something on the doll’s arm. Instinctively, he reached for it and pulled the
doll down. A sharp irritation started in his head, an urge so strong he
couldn’t stand it, but he didn’t know what it was for. He pulled the ring out
of the pouch hanging at the nape of his neck and slipped it on. What made him
do it? Instinct.
    And he regretted instantly. An innocent,
blond-haired, brown eyed girl screamed as she woke to find her doll reaching
for her. He saw this vision from the doll’s eyes and felt the creature’s mind.
Well, it wasn’t so much a mind as a purpose. It needed life, and it was going
to take that life from the little girl.
    The doll put one hand on the girl’s mouth and
clinched the other one in her hair. Devon could feel the doll drawing energy
from the girl and within seconds, she passed out. The doll then dragged the
girl off the bed and into the living room.
     
    *          *          *
     
    Dylan and Ron split from Mordon and Hail to cover
more ground. Dylan knocked on the door of the first house they came to and was
surprised when a kid answered. AJ was a fifth-grader Dylan had treated for a
broken arm when the boy insisted on skateboarding in the school parking lot.
Fortunately, he was only lightly hit by a car.
    “Doctor, what are you doing here?” AJ asked.
    Dylan knew most people called him by his title
instead of Yatunus because everyone thought they were mispronouncing it even
when he told them they weren’t. “Is your dad here?”
    AJ nodded and moved out of the way of the door. “Dad!
The doctor is here to see you!”
    A man in his early fifties stepped out of the kitchen
and motioned towards the couch with a spatula. “Come on in! I’ll be right out.”
    Dylan sat on the couch and studied the Christmas tree
with only three presents under it. Ron sat next to him, trying to ignore AJ.
Ron could be very peculiar about other students at school, probably because he
was raised on Shomodii, where he was miles away from the neighbors. Apparently,
AJ was in Ron’s “out” club.
    “What can I do you for?” Lincoln asked as he joined
them in the living room.
    “We’re asking around about some thefts because there
have been reports of gifts going missing. Know anything about it?”
    Lincoln nodded. “Yep. Ours vanished, too.”
    “Not all of them, though?” Ron asked, indicating the
presents.
    “No, all of the presents disappeared. We got more,
but that’s all I could afford after spending almost all our money on the first
ones. I really would like some time in a room alone with the one who’s been
taken all the kids’ presents.”
    Dylan understood. He wasn’t going to pound on
someone, but he wanted the one responsible for kidnapping the kids to suffer.
He wasn’t interested in hitting, because he had so many better ways to torture
the culprit. “At least they’re nice-looking,” he pointed out, not that it
helped.
    “Those are from Sylvester’s Toys, right?” Ron asked
Lincoln.
    “Yeah.”
    “What’s that?” Dylan asked.
    “There’s a new toy store in town,” Ron said. “They
seemed kind of rundown to me, not to mention dusty. The guy didn’t even turn on
the lights until we went in.”
    “I went down to the store to buy some more presents
and they were closed,” Lincoln said. “So, Kyla down the street suggested we go
to Sylvester’s.”
    AJ glanced between Dylan and his father nervously.
“The guy who took all the toys, could he be---”
    “AJ, hush!” Lincoln admonished, cutting his son off.
    “What about him?” Ron asked.
    “It’s nothing,” Lincoln said. “AJ had a nightmare and
thinks he heard something in his closet. That was the night the presents went
missing, so he thinks a monster took them.”
    “Do you mind if I take a look?” Dylan asked,
standing.
    Lincoln frowned. “Do you really think that’s
necessary?”
    “It’ll either prove to your son