Holiday Microfiction: “Christmas Pudding” by L. A. Young

Happy December everyone! It’s been a long year, but we finally made it to the end of 2020!

To celebrate the holiday season the staff at Fantasy-Faction have prepared a little treat! Every Monday and Friday for the rest of the month, we will feature a piece of microfiction from one of our contributors.

Today, we have L. A. Young and “Christmas Pudding”.

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“Christmas Pudding”

by L. A. Young

The scents of sugar, cloves, and ginger permeated the house. The cake, brown and stiff, was removed from the oven and placed on the counter to cool. The young man took off his oven mitts and admired the confection. Within a short time, he’d managed to alter his great-aunt’s pudding recipe so no one could tell the difference. Yes, his family made Christmas pudding to gift to family and friends, but this cake was special.

The ginger and the cloves disguised the opium, and it was difficult to tell the difference between the maraschino cherries and the poisonous holly berries. He’d kept the raisins and the rum from the original recipe, so the pudding looked like the other cakes. Yet, he knew the difference, and so did his family, luckily.

“Is it done?” someone asked. The young man turned and nodded.

“Yes, Auntie. It just has to cool down.”

“I don’t know if I should be impressed or terrified,” the woman said to her younger nephew. “We could have saved so many lives without all of the bloodshed.”

“I doubt it,” he said, turning back to admire his cake. “They fight us, so we fight back. We have to continue our training regardless of our new, discreet methods.”

“So, you’re still going to train? With your success rate?”

“I refuse to become lazy!” he said facing her again. “Besides, I have to teach this recipe to the next generation of hunters.”

His aunt nodded. “You really are devoted to our family’s cause.”

“One year, I’ll get Krampus! But I wouldn’t mind if Frau Perchta ate this cake.”

“High aspirations indeed!” his aunt said. “You can head out now, I’ll pack up the cake once it’s cooled down completely.”

“Remember Auntie, use—”

“—the golden box,” she finished. “I know. I don’t want to poison our relatives and friends.”

“Happy Christmas, Auntie. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Enjoy your training session,” she said as he left the kitchen.

It was because of his efforts the family could relax for the holidays. For so many generations, Christmas was one of the most vicious times for demon hunters. Even the “friendly” creatures went into hiding as the demons wreaked chaos, blood, and death wherever they went. But who knew they had a sweet tooth? And, that something as simple as a Christmas pudding could kill as easily as a blade.

“And they say cooking and poison are for females,” the aunt said to herself with a dark smile.

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Thanks to Lois for sharing this story with us! And thanks to you, reader, for reading it! 🙂

Stay tuned for more microfiction and some other fun surprises later in the month!

Fantasy-Faction is 10! To celebrate we are running a charity drive to help more people discover the joys of reading. If you are interested in helping out, please check out the full article here!

Title image by mr.shabazz.

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