The Werewolf before Christmas Read online

  Strong arms wrapped around him, and with a groan, Alec’s descent was arrested. He hung in midair, still facing the ground, heart beating out a distress call that apparently had been answered.

  “You really need to work on that,” Ray said. Alec let himself go limp and turned enough to see that Ray had reintegrated with his suit, his body surrounded by the metal and rubbery flesh so that his face was flush with its surface and only his arms dangled free. He looked almost silly, his body dwarfed by the size of the MantaRay suit, except somehow he made it look cool, sophisticated.

  “Yeah, well…” was all Alec could manage to say. Teleporting living beings was always tricky.

  Inside, Ray finally stripped free of his MantaRay suit, revealing the well-muscled body beneath. He carried Alec to the bedroom, neither man saying a thing as clothes were discarded and a single candle was lit. After so much talking earlier, finally their mouths were silent, and from the look of things, Ray had other ideas on how to use his.

  Alec shuddered as Ray kissed a path down his body, starting at his lips and detouring to one nipple before making a direct line to the real goal. Ray’s hands were firm, fingers drawing down Alec’s sides until they found his hips and anchored them to the bed. Alec wanted to squirm, to move away from the liquid heat of Ray’s mouth, but there was no escape. His own hands tangled in Ray’s short hair as the sensation finally found his cock, and Alec gasped as Ray’s mouth enveloped him.

  Nothing lasted long. The intensity of it, the immediacy of it—Alec didn’t try to hold back as Ray stroked and sucked. He came, his body shuddering, his breathing ragged, his voice the barest whisper of encouragement. Afterward, Ray leaned over him and got himself off over Alec’s stomach, their collective mess a warm puddle that Alec felt no rush to clean away. Ray collapsed next to him on the bed, and Alec found himself wrapped by strong arms again and quickly fell into dreaming.

  RAY HAD a full morning the next day, so Alec left early and returned to his own apartment, fed his fish, and checked his feeds. His funding was pretty steady—superheroes weren’t the only ones who benefited from crowdfunding. His popularity had increased ever since he had started going out with Ray. So had Ray’s, really, but Ray didn’t need community support. He was independently wealthy thanks to his innovations in technology.

  Alec wrote up a quick post about some of what had happened the previous night, but kept it vague. Fans wouldn’t really want to know that he and Ray had completely avoided a throw-down with Jaq and Eye Sore, but the mischief with the lights and everything would hopefully keep them entertained until Alec figured out something more organized to do.

  And through it all, his mind kept returning to the bet. To Ray. To what he could do to show how much he cared. Looking back, he knew he shouldn’t have let Gorillord get to him. But a part of himself was scared. Scared that Gorillord was right and that Ray was too good for him. He was sexy, smart, and wealthy, whereas Alec was a bit on the scrawny side, got by on his crowdfunding, and could pull murderous rabbits out of his top hat. Put next to a giant mechanical MantaRay suit, being able to teleport poorly wasn’t exactly the biggest of draws.

  Still, he wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He wanted to be with Ray, and Ray seemed to want to be with him. Even if Ray did have way too strong an attachment to All My Werewolves. He probably wouldn’t even admit it to the other fans at the Sinister Plan, but Alec knew Ray had a fan episode all written out, most of it starring Lucien Ulman, the actor who played Jacob/Jeremy.

  Alec straightened. But that was it, wasn’t it? A way to give Ray something that would demonstrate both Alec’s affection and prove that he could be supportive of his quasi-obsession with the werewolf soap opera? Alec stood. He would just have to kidnap Lucien Ulman and force him to perform Ray’s fan episode. Flawlessly. For love.

  A smile pulled at the corners of Alec’s mouth. His heart was beginning to pound out a new beat, one that sounded an awful lot like success. He wondered if heroes ever got this way, their entire bodies coming alive at the idea of a plan, a mission. For Alec it felt electric every time inspiration hit. He felt touched by some higher power, some driving light. A blueprint for action began to form in his head. Not an easy one. No, the more complex, the more convoluted, the better. It was like creating a work of art, all moving parts and a million ways it could go wrong. Ray might have said that villains were addicted to losing. And that didn’t feel wrong. But Alec knew they were also addicted to the art of villaining, to the way it could come so close to perfection.

  He hit the internet again, this time doing as much cyberstalking on Lucien Ulman as he felt comfortable with. It always surprised him just how much one could find out about people on the internet. It was frightening, really, to know this information was not only out there, but that there were no real legal protections from what Alec was doing. Sure, he was a supervillain, and having to break the law wouldn’t stop him from doing something he really wanted, but it was unsettling that what he was doing, digging into the details of Lucien’s life, wasn’t actually illegal. He shuddered. Sometimes it was much easier to just live in a world of man-eating ventriloquist dummies and exploding white doves.

  Still, he had a mission, and he wasn’t backing down. Given the popularity of All My Werewolves, there were plenty of sites that specialized in just tracking Lucien’s movements. He was a somewhat mysterious figure, shrouded in sex appeal and angst. It seemed like he could never keep a relationship for more than two weeks, though how much of that was just people assuming that he slept around a lot based on him being bi, Alec wasn’t sure. There were certainly fan theories and time lines of his many supposed affairs, but little that seemed legit.

  What did seem a much better lead was a list of Lucien’s many eccentricities. He always wore a gold locket, but no one knew what was inside it. He only ever ate tan M&M’s. He acted all of his kissing scenes, but had a stunt ass for nude shots. There was one day every month or so that he was absent from set.

  Alec paused at that last detail. There were conspiracy theories galore about why Lucien was gone so specifically. Some people thought it was to visit the grave of his One True Love who must have Died Tragically and made him into the Mysterious Bad Boy that he was. Some thought he was battling a strange and deadly disease and had to seek regular treatment. Blood transfusions? Experimental radiation treatment? Some people just thought he couldn’t stand the rest of the cast and so he spent the night partying with friends in different locations around the globe. Alec didn’t care. The one constant in all of the theories was a statement of the facts. Lucien was gone from set, and he gave his security detail the night off.

  No one knew where Lucien went on this night off. It seems he simply disappeared, only to reappear the next day as if nothing had happened. But finding out where he went wouldn’t be a problem for someone who could manipulate the very fabric of reality. Or could, at least, cast a homing spell and maybe teleport without ending up as part of a rock or tree. The beginnings of a plan fell together in Alec’s mind. It would be perfect. Lucien would perform Ray’s screenplay and be returned to the set before anyone noticed. If it all went smoothly, no heroes would even be involved to screw things up.

  Which just left the specifics. The fan sites all had their different theories on why he went missing, but they all agreed on the when: every thirty days. And the next suspected night was in just two days. Alec smiled. He had work to do.

  With a delicious vagueness he posted about an upcoming “big plan” on his social media and then texted Ray that he might be scarce the next few days. He checked the calendar. Christmas was still two weeks away. Plenty of time.

  ALEC HAD never spent much time in Canada, but apparently it was where All My Werewolves was filmed, despite the show taking place in the American Rockies. Which was fine, really. It even made things easier, because Canadian superheroes weren’t quite the same as American ones. Canada had a whole different culture of superpowers, after all, and much fewer villains to keep thi
ngs interesting. Those with powers mostly just blended in with everyone else until a villain showed up to mess with things. And then the villain, expecting just one hero in a costume to show up to battle, found instead a crowd of people all around them who could shut them down right quick. It made preparing for anything very difficult, because one never knew what powers were going to show to the party.

  Alec had no intention of attracting that kind of attention, though. Yes, he was still dressed in his stage outfit—black tuxedo, with white gloves, red bow tie, and sleek top hat—but he kept his domino mask in his pocket. People probably just thought he was an extra or something, because no one seemed to care as he moved around the camp after teleporting in. He wanted to keep a low profile, but given the December cold, he did spare a moment to cast a small heat spell on himself.

  Most of the snow had been cleared away from the trafficked areas of the camp, but it remained all around them, towering up the mountains like a cloak pulled dramatically over a villain’s shoulders. It looked like some sort of Bob Ross painting, with perhaps a happy little supervillain stuck in the foreground, a hint of mischief in a canvas dominated by cold. And, if he was lucky, he’d be done and back home with no one the wiser.

  “Alec-azam, I’m going to need you to come with me.” The voice was like a slash of red through the serene landscape, and Alec froze.

  “Seriously, I don’t care what you’re doing, but at the very least, you’ve entered Canada illegally and need to return to Metro.”

  Alec turned, though by then he recognized the voice, which belonged to the annoyingly meddlesome do-gooder Tech Knight. Dressed in a costume that looked like a suit of armor made from dead computers. Of eir face, only eir eyes were visible under a visor made from CPU fan blades, and they were far from friendly.

  “This is none of your business,” Alec said, adopting a defensive posture and brandishing his wand.

  “Yeah, well, you set off about all of my a-supervillain-is-planning-on-kidnapping-a-celebrity alarms, so it’s a good thing I decided to beat you here and wait for the GPS on your phone to let me know you’d arrived.”

  Alec looked down at his jacket pocket in outrage. Betrayed by his phone! He tried to stay calm. It wasn’t like Tech Knight was the most physically imposing of heroes. Despite the armor, ey was more of a brainy hero, able to communicate with computers and other tech, not punch through walls or burn things with laser vision.

  “And how exactly did I set off these alarms of yours?” Alec asked. If he could keep em distracted, maybe he could find a chance to bolt. All he needed was a moment to hit Lucien with his homing spell. And it wasn’t like the camp was freaking out yet. Perhaps everyone thought that given the nature of the show, they were just part of the ridiculous plots.

  “Let’s just say that I keep a very close eye on what supervillains are searching for on the internet,” Tech Knight said.

  Alec blinked. “Wait, does that mean that you—”

  “Probably best not to go there.”

  “But that’s an invasion of privacy!”

  “You’re a supervillain.”

  “I’ve still got rights!”

  “I’m not having this argument with you. You need to—”

  Alec jumped back, flourishing his wand. “Alec-AZAM!” he shouted. A concentrated beam of glitter and colored scarves shot out and knocked Tech Knight back into a snow pile. Alec ran. He wasn’t entirely sure what Tech Knight was capable of, but he knew his own attack was little more than a distraction, even if he secretly hoped glitter would turn out to be eir greatest weakness.

  Unfortunately the rest of the camp seemed to have figured out that something weird was going on. People looked around in confusion and alarm. Alec ran on, trying to aim himself at the cast trailers, one of the few places he hadn’t checked yet because of the added security around them.

  A noise cut through the growing commotion—a buzzing sound somewhere between an insect and a lawnmower. Alec risked a glance back and saw a trio of drones flying after him, their bodies looking makeshift, as if scavenged from whatever was lying about. Whatever their construction, they seemed to track his movements exactly, weaving around people and tents and equipment in their pursuit.

  Fighting was never something Alec had been good at. Yes, he had magic, but it wasn’t exactly the most offensive of sorts.

  Swearing, Alec spared a moment to aim back at one of them and cast a stream of water, complete with goldfish, striking the drone in the lead. In the winter cold, the water froze almost instantly, and the drone crashed into the snow. Undeterred, though, the other two closed in. One of the drones got a clean shot at him, and Alec dove as it passed over him, sharp propellers glinting in the sun.

  Sprawled in the snow, Alec pointed at a nearby case of equipment and cast. Two could play at this game. Immediately the case sprang open and a flock of cameras emerged, each now sporting bat wings and devilish little smiles. The drones paused, hovering, as the cameras flapped into the crowds of people, fueling the panic. If there was one thing Alec knew, it was that do-gooders always put protecting bystanders ahead of catching villains. Not that the cameras could really cause much harm, but Alec smiled as the drones veered off to deal with the new complication.

  Standing, Alec checked to make sure the sky was clear and then brushed the snow from his coat. The chase had brought him close to the cast trailers, and from the look of things, security was stretched thin, trying to cover everyone. Alec walked as calmly as possible toward the biggest of the trailers, which had to be Lucien’s. Two security guards stood outside the door, arms crossed over their chests in an attempt at calm arrogance, but Alec could see the way their eyes darted wide as they watched the cameras and drones fight it out among the crowd.

  “No one’s allowed back here,” one said when they noticed Alec’s approach.

  Pulling out his domino mask, Alec pulled it on dramatically and took a deep breath. It was like stepping into a warm bath after a long, hard day. It was like that first sip of coffee in the morning. It was like coming home. He laughed, and laughed harder when he saw the fear and doubt shining from the guards’ eyes.

  “Alec-AZAM!” he shouted, and the guards’ clothes transformed into dozens of tiny rabbits that promptly bounded away into the snow. The guards themselves followed a moment later, no doubt certain they did not get paid enough to stick around in the face of a supervillain attack.

  Alec reached for the door into the trailer.

  “Stop right there!”

  Alec paused, arm outstretched, and looked behind him. He swallowed.

  Tech Knight stood at the head of a makeshift army of scrap. The air buzzed with a dozen drones and the ground looked like the lineup for a robot gladiator show. Saws spun and spring-loaded hammers waited for deployment. Everything seemed balanced on a razor’s edge, all waiting for what Alec would do next, for how he would handle Tech Knight’s demand.

  Before he could do anything, though, the door in front of him opened, and there stood Lucien Ulman, looking grandly peeved.

  “Can’t you all fucking keep it down?” he demanded. “Some of us are trying to get some beauty sleep.”

  For a moment no one said anything. Alec blinked. Tech Knight leaned back slightly, as if trying to figure out how exactly to respond. The robot army waited for instructions. For his part, Lucien didn’t act like anything about the scene was odd, just that it was annoying that his rest had been interrupted. Alec wondered idly if this sort of thing happened often. Then, before anything else could happen, he acted.

  “Alec-azam,” he said as softly as he could, and with a small poof of color, the homing spell locked on to Lucien’s chest.

  “Attack!” Tech Knight shouted, and Alec turned to face the oncoming horde of machinery, only to smile.

  “Later, hero,” he said, then teleported away.

  “WHAT ARE you up to?” Ray asked as Alec moved around the apartment, his wand momentarily transformed into a feather duster. “You do know I have ro
bots for that?”

  Alec rolled his eyes. “Well, they do a terrible job of it,” he said. He knew what he needed to do. Ray kept his fan script in a special binder in his desk, but it would be too suspicious if Alec was caught just snooping around for it.

  “You have seen your apartment?” Ray asked, and Alec scowled. It wasn’t like his place was that messy. “Though, I like the feather duster. You’d look even better in a French maid outfit. Any chance—”

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Alec certainly wasn’t going to get anywhere if Ray was watching him the entire time, and if the internet was to be believed, Lucien was going missing that night. He needed to get the script and make sure he was ready to grab Lucien for the performance a lifetime.

  “Not really,” Ray said. “What with Christmas so near, I’ve called a truce with all my regulars. The whole destroy Christmas thing is so last year. Plus, it gives me a chance to plan my gift to you.”

  Alec paused midstep. Biting his lip, he turned slowly to Ray, who was still sprawled in bed, light brown skin naked to the air. The MantaRay suit sat where he had dropped it before their fun in bed, and Alec tried looking at it instead of Ray’s body—he didn’t want the distraction just then.

  “I thought I was the one planning something for you?”

  Ray shrugged. “Well, just because you made that bet doesn’t mean I’m not going to plan anything. This isn’t a competition, right? So it should just be about doing something nice for each other. You know, the spirit of giving and all that?”