Chapter 1

CHAPTER1

Punishment was his purpose.

No one really knew where Krampus, or any of the other supernatural creatures who roamed the Earth, first came from. Like most, his origin seemed to begin abruptly, when there was a need for his existence.

Humans were simple creatures at first, not much different from other animals, but as they gained a basic level of intelligence they developed social structures and rules. It wasn’t enough for the structure to exist though.

Humans needed a reason to live within it—so they made up their own. They created legends to promise them rewards if they did everything right, and stories of terrible things that would hurt them if they strayed out of line.

Their belief in those creatures was so powerful that they caused them to exist. Or, at least, they caused them to step into the mortal world. If Krampus had been around before mankind had lured him into their lore, then they had rewritten him, and he had no memory of what came before.

He was a simple creature in the beginning. They pictured him animalistic, both in appearance and in manner, and so he was.

One day he was simply there, with a strong sense of purpose and a willingness to complete the tasks for which he was made. There was almost nothing to him, aside from the job. He was little better than an animal himself, feral and wild, as they’d made him.

They couldn’t have imagined anything more complicated. They had no frame of reference and lacked the creativity for that. They still hunted and gathered then, living in caves, huddling around fires at night as they worried about what might be just out of sight.

Predators were their biggest fear, and so he was a predator.

He didn’t have a name in the beginning, but their fear gave him his purpose. It was his job to punish the humans who broke the rules, and he took to it with ferocious enjoyment. Nothing else could sate the hungers that filled him.

Over time humans became more complex. They thought beyond basic survival. They created rudimentary morals and ethics.

Krampus grew with them, and then surpassed them. He developed a sense of self that pushed him to become more than just the personification of punishment. Immortality gave him the benefit of long life and he used it to better himself.

But he never forgot his main purpose and he made sure the humans didn’t forget either. They needed a cruel hand to scare them into good behavior and he was happy to give them that. However, what constituted good behavior changed over time, making things a little more difficult.

Something could be a sin one day, and a desired character trait the next. Since he was created to police the rules they made, he was more or less obligated to follow the shifting morals, but he didn’t always agree with them.

Their rules, their system of values, could be unreasonable. Luckily, he had his choice of those he culled. Mothers might threaten their pretty daughters with Krampus for looking in the mirror too much, but he had no interest in harmless ‘crimes’ like vanity.

He also had no interest in children. He left their discipline to the parents. The stories got so much about him wrong.

He didn’t control the pool he had to draw from, but he took the ones he considered the worst. While they might discriminate by gender or wealth, he was the great equalizer. He saw beyond the surface and looked directly into their souls. At a glance, he knew who deserved his attention.

But Krampus was only one and mankind was prolific. They spread across the globe like an infection, and even with all his powers, there was only so much he could do. They started to forget about him and that forced him to change.

One Krampus became twelve and the Krampus Collective was born. At first, they were identical in thought and appearance, but the longer they existed, the more each developed individual characteristics. Eventually they were more like siblings than extensions of one creature.

A family. Krampus had never had a family, so he created one out of himself.

For decades they worked as a team, reminding the humans that there were scary things in the darkness, and that only by being ‘good’, could they save themselves. Each of them developed preferences for the humans they preferred to punish.

Their powers made it easy to change their appearance as they became truly individual. And while their chosen forms kept up with the mortal world, adapting as times changed, the half-animal shape of their origins was still useful—for work. Krampus was designed to be terrifying, after all.

But all those changes led to something even more unexpected. They’d had decades of kidnapping mortals and terrorizing them into changing their ways, before they realized that it was no longer enough. They wanted… more.

It took time to figure out what was lacking. What it was they needed eventually became clear. They needed mates to share their lives.

It was easy then, to find a mate. The life they could offer a human was one without poverty or need. Consent wasn’t much of a concept in those days. They simply took the one they wanted, and when that mortal realized the life they would have in exchange, they were rarely unhappy about it.

Only after they chose the humans they wanted to spend their lives with, did they realize that the choice would affect them so profoundly. By taking a mate, they were joining the great cycle instead of living aside from it.

The mortals became slightly less mortal, gaining powers through their bond. But Krampus… was less of a mythical creature, and more of a person, because of that same bond. Developing deeper feelings and desires was only part of it, but it changed everything.

Years passed and eventually each of them came to realize they couldn’t continue in their role. They had softened. The brutal punishment their victims deserved grew harder to impart. There was always a temptation to be merciful and that… that just wouldn’t do.

The way was clear, of course. They would step down, leave their realm, and retire with their mates to live out the rest of their days as something very close to human. Age and eventually death would come for them.

And as each stepped down, another Krampus was created to take that place and maintain the balance of twelve. Once the full Collective had been replaced the wheel would spin again.

It had happened several times now. The new Krampuses had access to all the memories of the ones who had come before. It was no longer a surprise when the cycle brought them to this point.

But things had changed a lot since then, and it wasn’t easy anymore. There were rules that bound Krampus. These days a mate had to agree to the bond, or they couldn’t be kept, and humans were harder to please now. It worried him.

He was conflicted and that was a new experience. He almost enjoyed the novelty of it. Krampus was nothing if not confident normally, but the rapid changes had thrown all of that askew.

Half of their number had now successfully claimed mates. In each one there had been marked changes in temperament and personality. It was to be expected. The memories of their predecessors had been clear that this was normal.

There was no getting around it, bonding with a human for eternity made you a different person. He’d watched and listened to his sibling selves as they discussed all the ways in which their lives had shifted. Some of it was appealing. Some of it… was not.

It didn’t seem to matter if Krampus went eagerly into the arrangement, or held back, aloof and reluctant. Once they chose, everything began to change. He could accept that. He had no choice regardless, but it still left him feeling things he didn’t have the words to explain.

He liked his life. He wasn’t at all sure he was ready for a human to storm in and throw everything into chaos. Even though, oddly, the others enjoyed it. At times they seemed to be bragging about the nonsense their mates put them through, and it left him shaking his head.

But he wasn’t one to go into a situation half-heartedly. If he was going to do it, then he would do it right. He liked to plan things out in advance to avoid surprises, and this would be no different.

He could have waited a few years, given himself more time to acclimatize to the idea, but it was unlikely anything would resolve in his mind. The others assured him that it was something that had to be experienced to be understood.

As the summer in the Northern Hemisphere began to roll into the autumn, and their powers slowly grew, he made his decision. I intend to choose my mate this year.

The mated members of the collective all seemed more distant now. They no longer merged in and out of group thought the way they once had, but a pointed announcement always caught their attention.

Congratulations, brother. You won’t regret it.Of course, Daddy was the first to respond, as he’d been the first to mate.

Maybe going first would have been easier. If you say so. I’m not convinced, he said.

Why? Don’t we all seem happy? I know I am. Tris is the most amazing creature in the universe, and I couldn’t imagine living without her now.That would be Hero, of course. He was still in his first year, a honeymoon phase. The newly mated were always ridiculously sappy.

Of course you seem happy, Hero. You won’t shut up about how happy you are. You even let her change your name from Lord.Sir conveyed the sense that he was rolling his eyes, and yet it was also clear that he was amused.

I didn’t let her. It just changed because she believed Hero suited me more and it stuck, but I’m used to it now.Hero had been teased a lot in the beginning, when his chosen name had been switched, and now he sounded resigned.

Siblings were… a lot, especially when they were in your head. He’d really just wanted to stake his claim so that he could get on with things. You do all seem happy, but mate bonds have failed before. Just because six have succeeded doesn’t mean we all will. Even Hero took two tries.

Doesn’t count, Hero protested, with a mental laugh. It was the same human. She was just too innocent and protected to qualify the first time.

The idea of a human sinning on purpose to attract Krampus had been a new one for them all. They were torn between horror and amusement, but it had shifted hard towards laughter when they found out how bad she’d been at being bad. Her attempts had been comical at best, and she’d just barely darkened her soul enough to qualify—if you squinted and didn’t look too closely.

It didn’t matter. It was enough, and besides, she, of all their mates, could claim she went willingly from the beginning.

Hero had done some time shifting with his own realm to account for the extra year, so that everything was still on track. Time manipulation was just one of their talents, but it was incredibly useful.

But none of that was the point. Either way, there’s no guarantee I’ll find someone I’d be willing to tie myself to, or that she would agree to stay. That’s why I’ve decided to start looking now. I want to give myself plenty of time to consider the possibilities.

He also planned to stack the deck a little to ensure his success. Hero’s experience had reminded him of something valuable. He’d saved his human from a terrible situation, becoming her ‘hero’, and she’d fallen in love with him, almost on the spot. Much like humans of old who were grateful to be stolen away from their mundane, dreary, and often short, lives.

He didn’t expect any disagreement from the others and he wouldn’t have listened if there was. They were, each of them, autonomous. They ruled their realms with complete authority, within the bounds of a few rules that had to be followed.

Go and have fun. As long as you don’t take them before Krampusnacht, it doesn’t matter when you choose them. That was Nick. I had my eye on Lydia long before I took her.

We took her.Of course Kristopher had to join in. They shared everything, even a mate. I’d been watching her for a long while as well, don’t forget.

They began to squabble, in an almost human way. He wasn’t sure how they managed to share one mate, but he didn’t think he’d enjoy that kind of dynamic. Kristopher and Nick had always been the closest of them though, and they seemed to manage happily.

He tuned them out and went back to his plans. It was easier to think without their ‘help’ and the first thing he needed to decide was what kind of naughty little sinner he was looking for. There were so many options, and while he had a specialty when it came to those he liked to torture, those kinds of sins were not something he wanted in a mate.

A human in trouble shouldn’t be hard to find, not even when he narrowed the search to a bad girl who was redeemable, but what kind of naughty behavior seemed most interesting to him? His powers would allow him to home in on people who were guilty of a particular sin… if he could make a decision.

It was a difficult choice, and, in the end, he decided to leave it up to fate. It wasn’t until he landed randomly in the mortal world, that he realized he’d chosen Samhain for his visit. That was a happy surprise. It wasn’t his holiday, but it was almost adjacent and certain aspects appealed to his nature.

He liked it, and the way the humans celebrated with their masks and their scares. They played at being frightening, when they had no clue about real fear. Krampus felt at home during Samhain, or Halloween, as they called it now.

He was quite used to his human-seeming appearance. Like the others, he’d carefully cultivated his outward form, making his shape over into something that would fit in without notice, but also suited his personal style.

It could change at will. He could wear any shape he liked, but most of them did prefer to have one set aspect that they felt comfortable with. His modern shape felt like him. It was comfortable and he wore it naturally, without effort.

But underneath his Krampus form was always there, even if he didn’t use it much, except while working. It was almost like a uniform he put on when he reported for duty. It was rare though, that he could go to the mortal realm in that shape.

Halloween was one of the few days where he could drop the human façade and stroll among them without causing panic. Since the timing was right, he took advantage of the chance. It had to have been decades since he’d last strolled the streets with hooves and a tail.

The responses were always amusing, and this time was no different.

“Oh, freaking wow! Your costume is amazing!” a teenage girl blurted as she set eyes on him.

It was amazing, of course. His original form was glorious. It was a pity he didn’t get to wear it more. “Thank you. I made it myself.”

“How do you get your feet to look like hooves? Hey, that’s dope, your tail is actually moving!” She strolled around him, fascinated and paying a little too much attention.

He made it twitch and laughed. “Trade secret. It’s part of my job.”

She just shook her head, awed. “I want to work in movie special effects one day, so I study this stuff a lot. You’re definitely a pro.”

“I am. And you—” He paused and tilted his head as he examined her.

She was a good girl. Hardly any sins on her soul at all. Instead she was filled with determination to find her dreams. He approved. “—you are going to do amazing things in Hollywood, I’m sure,” he said, giving a nod to her own costume, which was fairly well done, especially the makeup.

She beamed at him, practically radiating joy as she scampered off with her friends. They didn’t have trick or treat bags, and they were a bit old for that anyway, but they were all wearing costumes, so he assumed they had a party to go to.

It probably hadn’t been approved by their parents, judging by the skimpier outfits. Maybe there would be alcohol and they’d end up adding a little black to their souls, but that was acceptable. It was a normal part of growing up, and most likely none of them would ever run into Krampus in an official capacity.

They would probably never know how lucky they had been to see him with no risk. He smirked and turned to look around. It was early, barely sundown. The children were just starting to emerge with empty bags and excited chattering.

He enjoyed their reactions. Some scurried forward to touch his fur. Others hid behind their parents, cowering. Their fear was a nice snack, boosting his energy for the evening.

After a while he turned his attention to the search. For that he would be traveling around the world, letting his Krampus instincts call him to potential mates. He changed back to his human-seeming form for that since Halloween wasn’t celebrated worldwide.

Besides, he didn’t want to scare the one he chose. She wouldn’t see him like this until he’d claimed her on Krampusnacht.