Morning came.
Diane carefully packed a day-bag for the mission she was about to undertake.
"Oh, Diane." Santa stopped her on the way out.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Good luck, and be very careful." he said.
She smiled wryly. "Don't worry. I'm going to root out any hexes, traps, you name it. She has no idea I'm here, and I have the whole day to get it done.
"Ho, ho, ho. Sounds like fun."
Diane grinned impishly. "I agree."
"Well, I've delayed you long enough. Do your best, or worst, depending on whose perspective it is." Santa said with a grin.
Diane laughed. "Will do, Santa." Then she left.
She headed off, into the glistening snow-covered town, keeping all senses alert for any dangers or signs of hexes and other bad magic.
In one large vacated building, "-quiet! I think I heard someone in there...I thought you said no one came around here."
"I thought no one did! No one should, anyway, after what happened here."
The door was thrown open, and just as quickly slammed shut as Diane entered.
"Hey! Ack!" came startled outcries from the two men she caught inside.
"So you two are in on it." Diane said.
"Hey, wait, let us explain!" One exclaimed. "Just, please! Listen, just for a minute."
Diane scoffed. "Yeah, and why should I listen to you?"
"We deserted!" The other one shouted. "Look, we don't really expect you to trust us- but we couldn't take it any longer. We-we realized what a disgusting brat Miranda is and-"
"Ha!" Diane cut him off. "What, you expect me to believe this?"
"At least she's not going to drain us dry." said one man, looking to his friend.
"And we really do want to be rid of that blood-thirsty dominatrix!" said the other.
Diane's eyebrows raised for a moment, then she said, "You might get your chance to prove it."
"Unless Santa kicks us out on our keasters before we get that chance." said one.
"How do we even know she's with Santa?"
"You don't." Diane answered. "All you two know for sure is that I'm not a vampire. But enough of this jaw, let's get down to business. Intros first.. Could I get your names?"
"I'm Shaw, and that's Keller."
"Good. I'm Diane, also known as the Sugarplum Fairy."
The two men looked surprised, and one had to try hard not to snicker in disbelief.
Surprising who you might run into, isn't it?" Diane said with a bemused grin. "I'm going to try to rid this place of bad magic and the sources of it. If you can help me, - "
"We'll do what we can." Keller volunteered eagerly.
Diane proceeded to examine a shelving unit which yielded a small object hidden behind and just underneath the stack of folders.
It looked like a large marble, but with an evil red hue to it.
"Found something." Diane said shortly, looking at the object with disgust. A moment later, she winced. "Particularly evil, too."
"Don't touch it!" one of the young men cried urgently.
"Okay," Diane said slowly, proceeding to put her gloves back on and removing the stack of paper around the orb, "What do you know about it, guys?"
"If it's a red looking orb thing?" he started.
Diane nodded.
"It's her payload. It's set up so that only she could touch it without blowing up."
Diane's eyes went wide, and she was silent for a moment. Then she gave a surprised whistle.
"It's supposed to cause all sorts of problems, and, it's also her wishing orb." Keller said.
"No, that's the blue sparkly one with the wishbone thing in the centre." Shaw corrected..
"Where, and how, did she get her hands on all these items?" Diane asked.
"From different mages who she either drained, or got as their payment for her turning them into vampires." Shaw answered.
"Where are those vampires now?" Diane questioned,frowning.
"Not here." said Keller.
"She just told us about them." Shaw added.
"Especially the ones she drained, as a threat that she'd do the same to us if we didn't obey her." said Keller.
"And what about this wishing orb? Where's that?" Diane asked.
"She keeps it with her at all times." said Shaw.
"And I'll bet it has the same 'No one but me touch it or else' spell attached to it." said Diane.
"I don't remember her saying anything about that." said Shaw.
"She probably didn't bother, seeing she was keeping it with her." Keller added.
Diane nodded. "Well, this one'll take some probing and nixing. I can do that without actually touching it."
This oughta be a kick in the pants for her, a mage undoing her stuff," one of the men said in what was probably a snicker and expression of relief at the same time.
I'm a fairy, not a mage." Diane replied, "Now will you pipe down a while and let me concentrate?"
There was a pause as Diane began working on the orb. A few moments later, she said in disgust, "Holy crap. This is some kind of messed up."
"Can't you undo it?" one of the men asked, sounding dismayed.
"I can. But that's not the problem." Diane replied. "This thing is a treasure trove of information on Miranda, present, past and future."
As she stared at the orb, it revealed various images and words, all of them lurid and evil. A date Miranda planned a night attack against Santa. In fact, it was to happen as soon as darkness fell on this very day.
"Miranda's planning to mount an attack tonight." Diane announced. "Once it gets dark. At least, that's some of what I'm getting from this thing."
Other images and sayings from Miranda appeared. The sleigh breaking up on Christmas Eve should Santa survive the attack planned tonight. Miranda touching many people with the orb Diane was now looking at, with the result of those people either dropping dead or else becoming bonded to Miranda in total submission. The village ablaze. A woman drowning. Another set on fire. A group of men grovelling at Miranda's feet. A dead Danae Monroe stuffed down the chimney back at her own home. Cosima Brett being keel-hauled.
Disgusted, Diane flinched violently. "This is one sick - "
Then, she stared at the orb for a long moment. The images vanished, and so did the evil red glow. It turned clear as glass.
Diane picked it up, still with her gloves on for added protection, and pocketed the orb. "It'll be a pleasure smashing this right in her face." she spat coldly.
Further examination of that room revealed no more problems, so they moved to the warehouse.
There, Diane's eyes went wide when she saw some of the scattered and broken toys. "So that's where they've got to."
Puzzled looks from the others prompted her to explain. "I recognize these 6 over here," she moved to a small pile where two toy soldiers, a doll, a teddybear, and two toy robots were lying. "These were some of the platoon Nutcracker sent before he finally got some sense and agreed to me coming here."
Other toys were mangled or distorted beyond recognition.
"I would hardly be surprised to find the vamp herself, buried among all this junk." Diane said.
"Hey, who are you calling junk?" said a voice directly behind her.
She turned back to see one of the six toys she had touched, those that came from Nutcracker's kingdom. It had been the doll who spoke.
"Not you. Go back where you came from while you can."
"What happened?" asked the teddybear.
"Miranda happened. Now get out, mates, while the getting's good!"
The toys scrambled for the door and were on their way.
The Sugar Plum Fairy shuddered when she lifted the head of what should have been an exceptionally large doll.
It had a wound in its throat, and what looked like a bit of dried blood around it. The hair was much too fine for a doll's, the skull was heavy and what was not covered in hair was horribly cold and felt distinctly like something that couldn't be manufactured.
"This is no toy," she said gravely, "we have one of her victims over here."
"It's Samuelson." said one of the men with a shudder. "He ran out on her last night."
She did this." Diane hissed.
"What sort of monster would feed on two elves, a woman, and then a man all in one night? Even for a vampire that's a lot, isn't it?" said one of the men.
"I dunno about that." said Diane. "As far as I'm concerned, there could never be enough, especially for this vamp."
They all got Samuelson out from the wreckage and put him outside, planning to take him to the morgue. No one knew if Samuelson had hidden himself under those toys and Miranda just drained him there without bothering to clear the toys away, or if she herself had covered him up, trying to hide the evidence of her having been there.
But it was clear a lot of horrible things had taken place in this warehouse.
Diane shook her head. "I don't like this. I don't like this one bit." All right, Misters Keller and Shaw, there's some serious business going down tonight, and if Miranda has more of those orbs set to do all sorts of horrid things...well, we're going to need all the help we can get." She narrowed her eyes at the pair. "So we're going to need proof that you two are serious."
"We don't have time for this!" Keller snapped.
A slightly surprised and sharp glance from Diane caused him to shift uncomfortably.
"Well, what I mean is...well, you said she's planning an attack tonight, and she's getting more and more violent as her minions desert her, and with so many deaths on your side-" he winced involuntarily before continuing. "It's just...we can help, and you need our help."
Diane regarded him thoughtfully for a few moments. "All right, so far, you've only told us about two orbs. We know Miranda had at least three."
Keller frowned. "Well, it's possible she has more, lots more. I think I saw her with a creepy green one, and several black ones."
"What about that nasty yellow-ish one?" Shaw asked. "Didn't she use that to make people feel horribly sick?"
Keller nodded. "Yeah, that one too."
Diane winced. "The green one's already been destroyed." She said. "It was the one used to create the mess in the warehouse."
"You mean, the mess with all those messed up toys?" Keller asked.
Diane nodded. "But these other ones...she still has a hold of them. And she's probably going to use them tonight..." Diane frowned thoughtfully. "All right, we'll give you two a try."
Keller and Shaw's faces lit up.
"You won't regret it." Shaw said.
"I'll hold you to it." said Diane.
--