Crimson Christmas by Rain Oxford

able to heal the immediate damage, but…”
    “You couldn’t break the underlying curse. Figures.”
He would just have to settle for having solved another case with no casualties.
At least, he hoped there hadn’t been a death.
    “It’s not that. I could break the curse in a second,
but I won’t. A person died in order to curse you; only another death can end
it.”
    “Great.”
    “I saw her,” Hail said. Devon turned to see the boy
standing in the kitchen doorway.
    “You saw Astrid?”
    Hail nodded. “She’s okay for now.”
    “But?”
    “But I saw that you’re going to have to make a
decision. It’s between her or someone else, and I don’t know who the other
person is. I know you choose to leave her there, though. You can’t leave her.
She’s going to lie to you and tell you she can do it on her own, but don’t
believe her. And there was a man who’s going to lie to you, too.”
    “What man?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t see him, but you know him. At
least you think you do. He had a red ball.”

Epilogue
    Leon neatly folded his last
shirt and laid it carefully in his suitcase. He was in no hurry; the dragon
already cleared him from any involvement in the crime.
    “What crime?” Sylvester asked in a sinister, hissing
voice.
    Leon smirked. Sylvester was right; there had been no
crime. Had there been a crime, someone would have stopped him. No one ever did.
Everyone knew without a doubt that Leon was innocent because he was.
    “On to the next town,” Sylvester pestered.
    “You lost the salominius.”
    “We’ll just have to return to the reaper and get
another one.”
    It was always Sylvester who took the children and
performed the rituals, and he was never found. After all, who could find a
person that only existed in someone’s mind?

About the Author
    Rain Oxford is a teacher who has been writing for more than half of her
life. She does most of her writing in a secluded cabin in the woods with a
four-pound Maltese as a companion. When she’s not teaching or creating worlds,
she usually enjoys cooking, playing the piano, or photographing exotic wildlife.
     
     
    Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/rainoxfordauthor
    Website: rainoxford.wordpress.com
    Amazon Page: http://amzn.to/1FNgsX0
     
     
    This book was made with 100% recycled electrons. If you enjoyed this
book, please leave a review. Thanks for reading!

Sneak Peek at Insidious Winds (Elemental Book 4)
    Cindy stepped out onto her porch as I paid the taxi
driver and grabbed my bag.
    “So this is what you do?” Henry asked, eying the
house dubiously.
    “No, actually. I’ve always stayed away from paranormal
cases.”
    “Maybe you should have this time as well.”
    “It won’t be that bad.” I studied the house.
    “Glad you could make it,” Cindy said. The woman was
about five-three, petite, with dyed-lavender hair. “Who’s your friend?”
    “This is Henry. He’s working with me now.” Henry and
her shook hands, but I noticed him inhale deeply as his way of sniffing her
discreetly. I also noticed the envelope she held in her left hand. “How have
you been?”
    “Up until a month ago, I was doing well. That’s when
weird stuff started happening.”
    “Weird as in what?”
    “Well, not anything too serious. Freak snow storms
overnight, things floating up into the air, every car on the street won’t
start, you’d set something down on a flat surface and it would slide just out
of reach… and the chairs stacked themselves on the dining room table a few
times.”
    “Like poltergeists?”
    “Yeah. And there’s something wrong with the
electricity. Then, a week ago, it started getting a lot more serious. Light
bulbs would explode, things would just catch on fire, and the stray cat
population completely disappeared.”
    Henry and I glanced at each other and then at the
house. “Was your sister’s husband the only one attacked?”
    “Yes.”
    “Anyone have any reason to attack him?”
    “No. Luther has never done