Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Two Hunters were bored, not used to silence like this
So what else could they do but eat sweets and get pissed?

"Now you two keep the noise down" Daniel's mother said as she was exiting the living room after she had cleaned away the last few empty beer bottles from the house which had been consumed earlier in the night. It was a tradition in the household on Christmas Eve to have a few drinks and a small buffet of party food before opening a couple of boxes of assorted chocolates and watch some Christmas time television. It was now half past ten as she was she headed to lie down in bed and read before she went to sleep. Understandably she didn't want to kept up late by the boys laughing loudly at the latest Christmas specials as they sat in the decorated room with a dimly lit tree in the corner of the room covered in baubles and tinsel and fibre optic star at the top, dancing between the colours of the rainbow.

"Yeah, we will. Good night!" Daniel called up as she went into the hallway and started to ascend the staircase "Okay so… we've got TV, alcohol, chocolate, sugar and other objects that would usually make me very happy and somehow it doesn't feel right"

"What do you mean?" Chris asked as he took a sip from his bottle.

"Well call me crazy but I'm just so well adjusted to killing Demons that staying in at Christmas Eve and relaxing just feeling wrong. I was expecting tonight to be something like meet up with Kassi and go paint the town red with zombie Caroller's blood or murder a bunch of Satanic Reindeer. You know, holiday themed hunting"

"…Yeah, you're crazy"

"Okay, well it seems weird to you but I've actually met quite a Demons on holidays. Last Christmas, me and Kassi met up and took on a couple of murderous Pine trees. The one before that I think we got attacked by a bunch of elves. Bitey little fuckers too"

"Pine trees and elves… you're kidding me right?"

"Not at all. We can't figure it out but around the holidays, Demons seem to be popping up related to that holiday. Around Christmas, we get attacked by those sort of things. Last Valentine's Day, a Succubus tried to murder me. St. Patrick's Day I hear is notorious for leprechaun attacks in Ireland and New York City. Halloween's the worst! You know what I mean. You saw some really messed up Demons then. That day nearly kills me every year. People don't know it but their fears manifest into some exceptionally tough Demons. Last Halloween… I'd rather not talk about it"

"What happened?"

"Let's just say that clowns just got a lot creepier that night and leave it on that"

"By the way, thanks again for letting me stay here for the holidays"

"Yes, well it was the least I could do" Daniel replied, giving Chris a friendly hug "I don't think it's right to spend this time of year alone"

"Well it's a shame Kass isn't here"

"Yeah. I wonder what she's doing"

-----

"Silent Night… I wish" Kassi thought as she fended off a group of ferocious abominable snowmen with icicle-like teeth and gorilla like hands that could crush a skull with no effort "Maybe I should have called them… nah. I can handle it"

As she sent forth a wave of ice spikes towards the group, she reconsidered her stance on her previous thought as they brushed off the sharp missiles like they were spit balls. It was only a second later when a pair of sai flew past her head, stabbing into the head of one of the Demons, that Kassi realised she was not alone in the snowy dark field she had been fighting in. Turning around, she saw the figure of a young man in a winter coat with the hood up walking towards her.

"Well this is a surprise" the young man said, his voice slightly muffled by a scarf that covered his mouth and nose "I didn't think I'd see another Hunter out on Christmas Eve, especially not you"

"What the hell do you want Shaun?" Kassi said, as the sai returned to the man's hands with quick speed as the creature had disintegrated on the floor, now just a pile of dust that was swept away with the wind.

"Nothing, I'm just killing some time. And Demons while I'm at it" he replied with a smirk hidden beneath the scarf "You can go home if you want; I can take it from here. I'm sure your mum is probably wondering why you're out so late"

Putting her knife back into its leather sheath that was clipped around her belt, she heard a loud 'Merry Christmas' being shouted over the sounds of bestial howls echoing through the wind.

"…Whatever" she thought to herself as she trudged her way back to her small two bedroom flat she shared with her mum. Despite not being practical to get a tree in easily, that hadn't dampened their mood, placing a small decorated tree near one the two sofas in the living area. Underneath it was a small collection of gifts sent by various family members, all of which she would be calling in the morning to thank and wish well. In spite of all the bad stuff she saw, Kassi always knew that Christmas was her one day she could feel happiness unconditionally.

-----

The two were now tired; the festivities had taken their toll on them but they weren't ready to turn in just yet. For now, they were discussing Christmases of their pasts. Recounting the gifts and meals, there were was one thing that Chris mentioned that grabbed Daniel's attention.

"A dog tag?" he asked.

"Yeah, simple steel dog tag. It was my grandpa's gift to me three years ago but I lost it when the Demon attacked my house" Chris replied.

"Yeah… sorry about that"

"It's okay… sort of. I mean… you did kind of take a year of my life away but you know…"

"...So I take it you like it a lot then?"

"Well I was annoyed that the police wouldn't let me keep anything that wasn't on my body at the time because it might have been evidence. It's probably in an evidence locker now, which is kind of crap because that means I can say goodbye to the last gift my grandpa gave me"

After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, the two said their nightly farewells to each other and headed off to their separate rooms. Upon entering his, Daniel pulled his phone out and started to make a call. After a few seconds of dial tones, a bunch of unnatural growls came down his receiver.

"Hey Danny, kind of busy at the moment!" Shaun said down the phone as slices and howls interrupted him at different intervals, upon which he shouted "Get back here, you son of a bitch!"

"Hey Shaun, what is it this year?" Daniel asked, smiling as he lay on his bed.

"Abominable snowmen"

"Ah. Well whilst you do that, do you know which police station took charge of Chris' family's murder investigation?"

"Of course I do. Why'd you ask?"

"Going Christmas shopping"

"Interesting. Well I need to go now. They're starting flee and I'd rather not let them. Speak to you later"

-----

"You know, Daniel, if people just listened to the internet more... they'd be a lot safer" he thought to himself, crawling along the ventilation shafts of the police station that Shaun informed him of by text whilst he was hunting the Yetis.

"Now... which way to the evidence locker?" he asked himself, checking his phone to see if his GPS was working properly, using a map of the police station he had obtained to navigate through the maze like vents. After looking over more, he headed forward.

"Hmmm... I probably should tell somebody in charge of this place to make the vents smaller. Then again, if I ever have to come in here again, this could be useful. Wait, what am I saying? I'm breaking into an evidence locker to steal a piece of jewellery! When am I ever going to do that again?!... I wonder what else they'll have in there. Could I use any of it? Probably not. It's most likely just clothes... I'm getting enough of them this year anyway. Who buys socks as a gift for someone anyway- oh I'm here"

Reaching the end of the tunnel-like vents, Daniel looked down through the lines of the cover to check the room. Seeing that it was clear, he quietly removed the cover and slid through the open hole into the room, sliding behind one of the caged shelves. Noticing the security camera at the other end of the room, he took out a marker pen from his pocket and started to draw a Seal out on the wall. After the symbols were finished, he placed his hand on it.

"In pectus pectoris nos fides, os exsisto subsisto" he whispered, making the symbol glow as vines made of ink sprouted along the wall to the camera. As soon as it hit, the video paused, giving the Hunter a digital invisibility without having to turn off the camera and alert any officers monitoring the security feed. Removing his hand, the Seal and its branches disappeared; leaving no trace that he had done anything. Looking along the cages, something occurred to Daniel; he didn't know what he was looking for.

"Oh crap, it's all codes! It's just random letters and numbers! Quick! Got to call Shaun, get him to tell me the case number!" he thought, panicking as he scrolled through his contact list. Finding his name, he hit the dial button and waited. And waited. And waited. After what seemed like an eternity, he was put through to the answer phone service "Oh dammit! Now what am I supposed to do?!"

As he almost gave up, Daniel heard an echoing voice.

"Over here" it said, whispery and softly into his ear. He followed the voice as it gave him directions in the form of "hotter" and "colder", presumably to what he was looking for. Reaching one of the cage doors, he could see a bag with the dog tag in it, along with other objects he slightly recognised from Chris' house.

"Bingo" he said quietly as he placed his hand over the lock and concentrated. As he heard the click, he turned the handle and grabbed the bag, placing his hand inside to get the dog tag. Removing the trinket, he zipped the bag back up and put it back in the locker. As he put the tag in his pocket, he turned around to see two ghostly figures standing behind him.

"HOLY SHIT!" he shouted, stumbling over. His eyes were caught as he realised that the ghosts were the spirits of Chris' parents.

"Hello Daniel" his dad said.

"What the hell!? You're dead! Both of you!"

"Yes but our souls linger on in this world with these items"

"Oh… well I hope you pass on soon" he said as he pulled out a ready-made teleportation Seal "But I have to go and wrap this up now. Bye"

As he chanted the Purity Seal's spell, he disappeared in a flash. The ghosts of Chris' parents then thought "What a dick".

-----

It was Christmas morning. In three different places, four Hunters were waking up. In the mansion of Shaun's family, the Hunters were compiling reports of the Christmas Eve Demon attacks. In Kassi's flat, she was sitting with her mother, eating her breakfast and watching television. In Daniel's house, he and Chris were unwrapping gifts. Chris only had a small section made up of a few cards and DVDs whilst Daniel had a large pile.

"You do realise that I can't help the overwhelming disappointment you're probably feeling right now?" Daniel asked.

"And you realise that I spent last year in an asylum. I don't think this measures up to that in terms of disappointing Christmases" Chris replied.

"Oh!" Daniel replied in a whisper as he handed over the dog tag "I got you a little something else last night too"

"Holy crap! How did you get this?!" he asked, shocked at the sight of it.

"I'd rather not implicate you in any crimes I committed last night. Oh and I got you a pot of sword polish too but I didn't think you'd need it right this moment"

"Thank you Daniel. Merry Christmas"

"Happy Hanukkah"

"You're Jewish?"

"HA! No!" he replied laughing, taking a bite of a bacon sandwich.

--- MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE ---