Betrayed by a lover, Jamie rents an isolated cabin on Lake Huron, wanting only to be left alone. Instead, he is pulled from his solitary existence as an artist and tumbles headlong into the legend of Saint Nicolas.<br><br>As a young man, Nicolas accidentally killed a man intent on murdering three children, only to have the man's malicious spirit rise up against him. Fleeing through the centuries from the Krampus, the evil troll-like creature that dogs his steps, Nico finds refuge with the young artist who takes him into his home and bed. But Jamie has questions. Who is Nicolas, and why does the Krampus want to destroy him?<br><br>When the Krampus begins to torment and torture anyone Nico comes in contact with to punish him, Jamie's life is put in danger. And Jamie isn't sure whether he can help Nico defeat his nemesis or if he's merely a pawn in the Krampus's game.

Nicolas

“No!” Nicolas jumped forward, shoving the butcher hard from behind. Time slowed, every movement clear to his horrified gaze as the man lost his footing and fell, his startled cry drowned in a strangled gurgle as his forehead struck the stonework of the hearth.


Nicolas gasped, kneeling at his side and rolling him to his back. Blood seeped from a horrid wound on his temple. The body under his hands lay still, not breathing. Nicolas shook him, listened for a heartbeat. Nothing.


“Cristo! Mi dispiace…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Nicolas’s words broke off on a sob as the horror of what he’d done struck him. He’d killed him! How would God forgive him? Brokenhearted, he wept on the butcher’s still chest. It was a few moments before the children’s sobbing penetrated his grief. He glanced at them, his heart clenching tighter. They huddled together, weeping in fear and confusion


Chapter 34