Santa' Wayward Elf (23 page)

Sosie wasn’t sure when the conversation had become about
Mendike, but right now she didn’t have time to listen to his problems. Derek
was going to die if she didn’t get him medical attention. “Mendike, please. I
promise I’ll go back to the North Pole with you willingly if you get him help.”

“I’m not taking you back to the North Pole. As much as I’d
like to drag you back there and put you in the icehouse for a few decades,
killing you after I finish off your lover so you can die here with him is a
much more satisfying revenge.”

Sosie’s blood froze in her veins. She didn’t know why the
other elf hated her so much, but there was no way she was going to let him
shoot Derek again. No matter how badly Derek was wounded, she wasn’t going to
sit there and do nothing when there was still a chance he might live.

Taking a deep breath, she lunged for Derek’s gun.

She’d never seen anyone shoot a weapon until tonight, so she
had no idea if she was doing it right, but she wrapped her small hands around
the huge handle like she’d seen Derek do, then slipped her finger over the
trigger and pulled hard. The gun went off, but she was so intent on trying to
make the thing work she missed Mendike by a dozen feet and the bullet bounced
off the brick wall behind him.

The elf jumped as if startled she’d actually fired at him.
Eyes narrowing, he leveled his own weapon at her.

Sosie squeezed the trigger again, praying fate would guide
the bullet to its target this time. She wasn’t sure who was more amazed when it
did—her or Mendike. The elf spun around from the impact, but didn’t go down,
much to her dismay.

The gun trembled in her hand as she wondered if she should
shoot him again. Before she could decide, Mendike turned to face her, one hand
clenched to his bloody shoulder, the other gripping his pistol.

She squeezed the trigger again, only this time nothing
happened. Confused, she looked down at the gun and saw that the top of the
weapon was locked back in a funny position as if there was something wrong with
it. Or it was empty.

Oh, figgy.

It was over. She knew it and Mendike knew it.

Mendike shook his head. “You stupid girl. I’ve seen this
coming for a long time. I told Santa the day you were born that you were going
to be trouble, but he didn’t listen. In fact, he didn’t seem to care your
mother got knocked up by one of them.” He motioned with his gun at Derek. “But
you know the big guy, heart soft as whipped cream. He loved you even though you
were some BP’s half-breed bastard. If it’d been me, I would have kicked your
mother out of the North Pole on her lying, traitorous, elfin ass, and you along
with her. I’m going to clean up the mess she made now—for good this time.”

Sosie didn’t have to ask what the threat meant. Dropping the
useless gun, she leaned over Derek and put her arms protectively around him,
determined to keep him safe for as long as possible. His face was so cold where
it touched hers that it brought a rush of fresh tears to her eyes. He was
almost gone. She could feel it. Even if she could get help now, it would
probably be too late.

She closed her eyes and waited for Mendike to pull the
trigger. Maybe it was better this way. At least she would be with Derek.

For the second time that night, though she heard a gunshot,
she didn’t feel any of the pain that came with it. The next thing she knew,
hands were on her shoulders, pulling her away from Derek. She held onto him
more tightly, determined not to let Mendike take her away from the man she
loved. When he refused to give up, she turned to shout at him only to find it
was Aaron leaning over her instead of Mendike.

“It’s okay,” the detective said.

She wanted to tell him it wasn’t okay, that Derek was
already dead and nothing would be okay ever again, but when she tried, Aaron
gently pulled her away from his body. Tony immediately took her place, putting
his fingers to Derek’s neck.

“He’s still alive,” Tony said, relief clear in his voice.

Sosie was sure she hadn’t heard right. Derek was alive? But
how could that be possible? There was so much blood on his shirt.

She looked around for Mendike, afraid he might still be a
threat despite Aaron and Tony being there. She found him lying on the ground a
few feet away, a bullet wound in his chest. That must have been the gunshot
she’d heard.

The sound of sirens filled the alley. A moment later people
in white shirts were leaning over Derek and putting him on a narrow bed with
wheels.

She turned to Aaron. “I want to be with him.”

Aaron looked as if he was about to protest, but then he led
her over to the transport sled with the pretty flashing red lights and helped
her into the back of it,. He climbed in after her, and they both sat beside
Derek as the people in white tried to save him.

As they rode to the medical facility hospital, Aaron asked
her a lot of questions about what had happened back at the restaurant, but she
didn’t answer any of them. Instead, she sat there with a blanket wrapped around
her that she didn’t need and cried as if her heart had been ripped out of her
chest.

* * * *

Two hours later, Sosie sat in the waiting room of the
medical facility, her eyes dry, all the tears spent. Aaron and Tony sat on
either side of her. They didn’t ply her with questions anymore, but only held
her hand and told her over and over Derek was going to be okay. Although she
appreciated their kindness, she knew they weren’t telling her the truth. She’d
been hanging around BPs long enough to recognize when they were lying to her.
It didn’t help ease her mind any when the somber men and women in green clothes
came out every half hour to pull Aaron or Tony aside. She didn’t know what the
men and women said because neither detective would tell her, and she was afraid
to ask. But from the way Aaron and Tony frowned and threw worried glances in
her direction each time told her everything she needed to know.

While Aaron and Tony didn’t ask her any more questions about
what had happened at the restaurant, two other cops showed up who wanted to
know everything about it. They introduced themselves as Internal Affairs, but
didn’t explain what that meant. She got the impression Aaron and Tony didn’t
like them very much, but she didn’t know why. Aaron and Tony did their best to
keep the other cops from bothering her, but the men were insistent about
talking to her. When she realized they weren’t going to give up, she agreed to
answer their questions so they’d go away.

“I’m going to need your name and address,” the cop with the
notepad said.

He’d introduced himself and his partner when they’d sat
down, but Sosie didn’t remember their names. She was so numb right now, she
could barely remember her own.

“It’s Sosie.”

“Sosie what?”

“Just Sosie.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “You must have a last name.”

Sosie shook her head. Elves didn’t have last names. She
couldn’t tell the cop that, and she was too exhausted to make one up. Fortunately,
Aaron stepped in.

“Drop it, okay? She said she doesn’t have a last name.”

The man’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses. “Then I’m going
to need to see some ID.”

“She doesn’t have any on her,” Aaron said firmly. “The
girl’s been through hell tonight, so forget about what her name is for now and
ask your damn questions about what happened at Saldino’s place, or get the hell
out of here.”

The other cop glowered at Aaron for so long Sosie thought
the two men might get into a fight, but to her surprise, he let it go, asking
her what had happened at the restaurant instead.

Sosie wasn’t sure where to start, so she explained about
going to see Sammy Saldino and her plan to get him to admit he’d set Derek up
at the warehouse. The cop with the notepad raised an eyebrow at that, but wrote
down what she said.

Then she told them about sneaking into the restaurant and
about Saldino shooting the guy on his knees, then about Derek’s captain being
there, and finally about the other “gang” who’d shown up to fight with Saldino’s
men. She didn’t mention Mendike was an elf. They would figure it out soon
enough when they saw his ears.

“And what’s your relationship with Detective Clayton?” the
cop asked when she got to the part about Derek showing up to rescue her.

“I’m…” She swallowed hard. “I’m his girlfriend.”

It was the first time she’d said it out loud. She prayed it
wasn’t the last.

“What happened when Detective Clayton got there?”

“He rescued me from Saldino. We were trying to get away when
his captain shot him.” A tear trickled down her cheek and she reached up to
wipe it away. “I tried to warn Derek, but it was too late. The captain would
have killed me, too, but Derek shot him before he could.” Another tear made its
way down her cheek. This time she let it go. “I-I don’t remember much of what
happened after that.”

It was a lie. She remembered all of it—every hateful word
Mendike had said about Derek. To her relief, the cop with the notepad didn’t
press for more. Instead, he thanked her, offering some words about hoping Derek
recovered, then led Aaron and Tony down to the far end of the hallway to ask
them questions.

Sosie was glad when they left. She wanted to be alone so she
could bury her face in her hands and cry without Aaron or Tony trying to
comfort her. They couldn’t comfort her. No one could.

Inevitably, someone sat down beside her a few moments later.
She kept her face in  her hands. Maybe if she ignored them, they’d go away and
let her be.

It didn’t work. The person beside her cleared his throat.

She lifted her head to tell whomever had sat down beside her
to go away and found herself gazing into the gentle, blue eyes of the big guy
himself—Santa. He was exactly the way the BPs imagined him. Chubby, with
frost-reddened cheeks, a white beard and mustache, and a big belly.

Sosie reached up to wipe the tears out of her eyes so she
could make herself presentable, but ended up throwing herself into his arms
instead. Santa didn’t say anything as she sobbed, but only held her close. His
jacket was cold underneath her cheek, as if he’d come from outside. He’d
probably cancelled his post-Christmas vacation to come deal with this fiasco.
For some reason, that made her feel worse. She was the one who’d decided to run
away not only from life in the North Pole, but her life as an elf. She should
at least act like an adult. Instead, she was dribbling tears and snot all over
Santa’s clothes.

He patted her back, waiting until her sobs had all but
disappeared before setting her away from him to gaze down at her with kind
eyes. “You really love him, don’t you?”

Sosie wiped her nose with a tissue. She didn’t have to ask
how he knew about Derek. He was Santa Claus. He knew everything.

“I thought as much.” Santa smiled. “You’re just like your
mother. She had too much energy to stay cooped up in the workshops, too. Only
she didn’t try to run off to the South Pole. She slipped off a broken-down
transport sled in the middle of the Dakota Black Hills while on a supply run.
She never told a soul what had happened during the two months she was gone, but
when you came along, everyone knew.”

Sosie frowned. Her mother had never told her anything about
being stranded in the land of the big people. “I don’t understand.”

“Sosie, dear, your father wasn’t an elf. He was one of the
big people.”

Her frown deepened. “One of the big people? B-but I
thought…”

“That he was an elf who’d gotten killed in a transport
accident. I know. Your mother thought it would be better that way.”

Sosie swallowed hard. All the elves who’d teased her when
she was a kid had been right. Her mother had slept with one of the big people
and gotten pregnant. “How could lying to me about who my father was be better
for anyone? Unless she was ashamed.”

“Your mother wasn’t ashamed, Sosie. Of you, or your father.
In fact, she loved him very much.”

Sosie tried to wrap her head around that, but couldn’t. “If
my mother loved him that much, why did she go back to the North Pole instead of
staying here with him?”

“Because she wanted you to be around other elves and your
elfin heritage.”

“But I would have been as happy living here among the big
people.” Sosie shook her head. “My mother sacrificed her happiness—her life
with the man she loved—for me.”

“Yes, she did. But she didn’t see it that way. And neither
did your father. He understood why she wanted to come home. Which was why he
waited for her to go back to him.”

“What do you mean?”

The corner of Santa’s mouth curved. “That’s something else
I’m afraid your mother fibbed to you about, Sosie. She didn’t move to the elfin
retirement village when she left. The driver of the transport took a detour to
South Dakota and dropped her off, figuring no one would ever know.”

“But you knew?”

“Of course.” His smile broadened. “No one can keep a secret
from me. I’m Santa.”

Keeping secrets from him was rather difficult, she supposed.
“If you knew, why didn’t you send someone like Mendike after her to bring her
back?”

He frowned at the mention of the security chief. “Back then,
when I was more involved in day-to-day operations, there weren’t any elves like
Mendike. I’m sorry there are now. It’s one of the first things I’m going to
change as soon as I return to the North Pole.”

At least something good would come of what had happened.
“Thanks to Derek’s friends, you won’t have to worry about Mendike anymore.”

“So, I gathered.” Santa’s frown deepened. “Sosie, there’s
something else you should know. Mendike was very much in love with your mother.
He was sweet on her for decades, close to a century in fact, but she didn’t
return his affection. When she chose your father over him, it changed him,
filled him with hatred not only for the man she fell in love with and the rest
of his kind, but for you, too.”