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Gritting his teeth, Herbert presented a ticket to the Christmas Elf standing at the library counter.
This would be their first year taking Evelyn to meet ‘Santa Claus’. It was a hideous tradition; bringing children to sit on the lap of a strange man and whisper their requests into his ear. Herbert refused on principle to bring their daughter to visit a mall Santa, but Dan had brought home a leaflet for a Christmas Grotto at Arkham Public Library.
“It’ll be at a library, Herbert. We could check out some books for her whilst we’re there! How bad could it be?”
Bad. Very, very Bad.
Herbert had never seen a library so loud and crowded full of screaming children. They were running amok, pulling books from the shelves and treading biscuits into the carpet as their parents stood aside, making no motions to corral their demon-spawn.
There was some sort of scavenger hunt, and a craft activity too. Glitter and glue and shreds of brightly colored paper could be seen on every flat surface.
The Christmas Elf, a member of library staff whose eyes seemed deader than some of Herbert’s specimens, checked Evelyn’s name off a clipboard and pointed the three of them toward a lengthy queue.
One hand on Evelyn’s shoulder, and the other gripping Herbert’s arm, Dan thanked the member of staff and dragged Herbert to their place in the queue.
The Christmas Grotto was set up in the children’s section of the library; separated from the main library by a new red-and-white striped gate that was guarded by another library elf.
Children and their parents were admitted in groups of thirty-five. The elf waved them through the gate and pointed them toward the blessedly clean carpet where they were to sit during ‘Santa’s Storytime’.
The children’s section had been transformed; white felt and tinsel wrapped around the edges of the bookshelves, snowman and reindeer plush toys on each shelf edge, and an entire display of Christmas picture books set up in the corner.
A large red chair had been dragged into the area, and sat atop the plush velvet was a jolly red-cheeked Santa Claus. The man had no need of a fake beard or padding, and smiled brightly at each child who entered the Christmas Grotto.
Dan pulled them to an empty space near the children’s non-fiction and sat down. Herbert’s knees cracked loudly as he squatted into a cross-legged position next to him, and he pointedly ignored the smirk that Dan sent in his direction.
Evelyn bounced up and down in excitement, her light-up sneakers flashing brightly. She was unwilling to sit down until Herbert grabbed her and pulled her into his lap as she squealed in delight.
“Ha-ba! Daddy! It’s Santa!” Evelyn said, pointing at the costumed man.
“That’s right, darling,” Dan replied, smiling softly at his husband and daughter.
Once all of the children were seated and relatively calm, the Santa Claus picked up a picture book from the Christmas display, and started to read the story aloud.
Evelyn listened with rapt attention, barely fidgeting now that story-time had begun.
Barely half-way into the story, Herbert noticed that the Santa Claus started to breathe heavily, speech slurring slightly as he swayed in place.
Dan clearly noticed too, and shot Herbert a look.
The Santa managed to finish the picture book, and handed each child a wrapped present from a large red sack at his side.
Evelyn unwrapped hers immediately, without asking for Dan or Herbert’s permission. It was a picture book with a large picture of a cat on the front, and Evelyn hugged it to her chest.
As they were herded out of the children’s section, Herbert noticed the Santa speak a few muttered words to one of the other members of library staff, before he staggered away through a door marked STAFF ONLY.
“Dan, why don’t you and Evelyn have a look at the craft activity? I need to renew some books at the desk,” Herbert said, a look of pure innocence on his face.
Dan narrowed his eyes at Herbert, but he relented as Evelyn squealed once more in excitement, dragging Dan toward the back of the library.
The elf at the counter had just answered the library phone when Herbert approached.
“W-what time are we open tomorrow? Ma'am, it’s Christmas tomorrow; we’ll be closed all day,” the elf said, his voice exasperated.
Herbert waited for the conversation to end, tapping the desk impatiently. Evenually the elf set the handset back on the receiver with a loud clunk, and pinched the bridge of his nose before turning to Herbert.
“I’m sorry for the wait, sir. How can I help you?”
“Your Santa Claus seemed unwell, I happen to be a doctor and thought I might be of… assistance,” Herbert said, and flashed his Miskatonic University Hospital ID badge.
“Oh thank God,” the elf said, the tension in their shoulders giving way to relief. “I’ll let you into the staff room.”
Herbert followed the elf through the locked STAFF ONLY door.
"I've got to get back to the desk, but he's just through here," the elf said as he left him in the entranceway to the staff room.
It was a small room with a couch and kitchenette, piles of wrapped presents stacked against the wall.
The Santa laid on the couch, unnaturally still and pale.
It was just as Herbert had predicted, Santa Claus was no more.
Later, Dan would question why Herbert would even bring his reagent and a syringe with him to the Christmas Grotto.
Herbert lifted the Santa’s head to expose his neck, and inserted the needle into his brain stem.
Evelyn was determinedly cutting out a paper snowflake, tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated.
Dan smiled fondly; Herbert did the same thing when he worked on his serum.
He glanced toward the library desk, and frowned when he saw that Herbert wasn’t there. What trouble was his husband getting himself into now?
Somehow audible over the cacophony of excitable children, Dan heard a scream from somewhere within the library.
Herbert appeared next to him, flushed and with a telltale trace of blood at the edge of his sleeve.
“Herbert, what did you do?” Dan hissed.
There were more screams, and people started to rush toward the exit. As the crowd cleared, Dan saw exactly what his wayward husband had gotten up to.
The Santa Claus from earlier staggered through the main library, eyes unfocused and blood bubbling from the corner of his mouth, staining his white beard red. He grabbed a trolley of books and, with the unnatural strength afforded to all of Herbert’s reanimations, sent it hurtling into the reservations shelf.
Dan grabbed a nearby decoration, a large light-up candy cane, and swung it like a baseball bat. It shattered against the side of Santa’s head, and the man stumbled backwards for a moment before launching himself forward with a roar.
Herbert grabbed some of the heavier hardback books and threw them at the Santa, hitting him in the chest, stomach, and square in the forehead. Still, the Santa continued his rampage, lurching toward one of his coworkers.
The elf shrieked, whacking the Santa in the face with a rubber stamp over and over. According to the ink marks over his cheeks and forehead, Santa had been issued like a library book, and was due on the 14th of January.
Another of the elves struck him with a desk chair, and the Santa fell backwards into the library’s Christmas tree.
His flailing limbs became twisted in the lights, and as he struggled to free himself, the Santa tied himself into even more complicated knots. He managed to stagger to his feet and, still wrapped in the string of lights, Santa Claus fled through the open doors and escaped out into Arkham.
The library fell silent, Herbert and Dan and the library elves all staring at each other.
“Daddy, look at my snowflake!” Evelyn piped up from where she was still sat at the craft table, holding up a piece of paper jaggedly cut into a snowflake pattern.