
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/1082166.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Hunger_Games_Trilogy_-_Suzanne_Collins, Hunger_Games_Series_-_All_Media
      Types
  Relationship:
      Katniss_Everdeen/Peeta_Mellark
  Character:
      Peeta_Mellark, Katniss_Everdeen
  Additional Tags:
      Attempted_Sexual_Assault, dark_peeta_if_you_squint, defamation_of_santa,
      Sexual_Content
  Collections:
      Prompts_in_Panem_Collection_-_Holidays_in_Panem
  Stats:
      Published: 2013-12-14 Words: 9434
****** The Twelve Slays of Christmas ******
by Streetlightlove
Summary
     The Killer Claus is coming to town. An Ode to R.L. Stein's Fear
     Street series.
Notes
     Thanks to Misshoneywell for running a stellar holiday PiP!
See the end of the work for more notes
 
 
Nineteen-year-old Clove Williams was last seen leaving her dorm room at Panem
State at around seven p.m. on December 15th. Her roommate, Glimmer Hillenbrand,
told police that Williams was meeting her boyfriend, 20-year-old Cato
Masterson, for dinner. When questioned by police Masterson explained he arrived
at “The Cornucopia” at 7:15 p.m. At 8:30 p.m, when Miss Williams had yet to
show, he tried calling her cell phone several times before leaving and heading
back to his apartment a few miles from the restaurant. Employees at “The
Cornucopia” confirmed Mr. Masterson’s story to the police.
When questioned as to whether the police thought the disappearance of Clove
Williams five days ago has any connection to the recent grisly murders
throughout the state by the suspected serial killer being referred to as Killer
Claus, Chief Seeder said that it was being looked at as a missing person’s case
only.
If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of Clove Williams, you
are encouraged to call the Panem police’s tip line at…
 
Peeta thrums his fingers nervously against the top of the aging formica table
at Sae’s Place, the greasy spoon that has been a favorite of his and Katniss’s
for years now. His other hand comes up to nervously dunk the bag of green tea
into the chipped white mug’s murky water as he tries to block out the blaring
news report from the mounted television above the counter to his left.
He doesn’t really know Clove that well; she was a year ahead of him in school
until she graduated last year, although he knows her boyfriend Cato is a dick.
But still he hopes she is alive, not because he cares about her well being per
se, but because Clove is a short girl with long dark hair, just like all the
victims of this sick fuck...this “Killer Claus”—all of them petite, dark-haired
females like his girlfriend, Katniss.
He tries to swallow past the lump in his throat and sips at his warm tea to try
and melt the ice in his gut. He can’t be thinking about psychos dressing up
like Santa Claus killing people, not when he has to…
“Hey,” he looks up and finds Katniss’s grey eyes shining down at him, a small
smile on her face, her raven-colored hair twisted into a braid that hangs over
her right shoulder. When she leans down and pushes her lips against his, he
closes his eyes, clinging to their ever present softness. She shrugs off her
coat and removes her gloves before sliding into the tattered, turquoise booth
across from him and immediately takes his hands in hers.
“What’s going on?” she asks, her voice heavy with concern. When Peeta doesn’t
answer her, she squeezes his hands and lets her thumb draw lazy circles on his
palm. “You sounded so upset over the phone, and you look like you’ve seen a
ghost.” She cocks her head and her smile widens slightly, although her eyes are
nervous. “Peeta, tell me please.”
He pulls his hands away from her and looks down at the the speckled white table
and then thrusts his fingers into his curly blond hair.
This is for her own good, he reminds himself. For her and her family. But even
though he knows it’s true, it doesn’t stop the tears from pricking the corners
of his eyes, or his chest from tightening painfully, and an angry sob lodging
itself in his throat.
“My mother, she threatened to fire your father, she said she would make sure he
couldn’t find a job in a 100-mile radius.” Katniss gasps across from him.
James Everdeen, Katniss’s father, has been the head groundskeeper on the
Mellark estate since before Peeta and Katniss were born. His family, who
resides in a small house at the edge of the property, depends on his salary to
support them.
“Why?!” Katniss yells out loud, before looking around nervously and lowering
her voice. “Why would she do that? My father takes care of everything. What
possible problem could she have with my…. oh,” the realization visibly dawns on
her, and tears begin to fill her eyes. Peeta reaches for her hands again, but
she pulls them back off the table, letting them fall onto her lap.
“What did she say?” she asks in a low raspy voice. Peeta bites his lip to keep
it from shaking before taking in a large gulp of air.
“She said if I didn’t break up with you that she would fire your father and
evict your family from the property.”
“Oh,” Katniss responds and then looks down at her lap. “How serious do you
think she is?”
Peeta pushes a breath through his pursed lips. Back before his father passed
away, he knew his mother was not a warm person, but his father’s presence had
always acted as a buffer between Peeta and his mother, but in the past year
since his father’s untimely death, she has not held back any of the resentment
she feels for her own son.
“Very serious,” he admits regretfully, his mouth pulling into a grim line. He
wonders if Katniss’s chest hurts right now as much as his.
“So…you want to break up then.” It’s not a question, and her eyes have yet to
look back up to him.
“No!” he gasps. “No, I don’t ever want to break up with you…”
“But,” she cuts him off, “we have to,” she whispers as she waves off the
waitress who has come to take her order. She slides out of the booth. “I have
to go,” she mumbles as she pulls on her coat and walks away.
It takes Peeta more than a moment to process what is going on, and what has
just happened, and by the time he has snapped himself back into reality,
Katniss has already walked out the door. He scrambles out of the booth and
bolts after her. By the time he gets outside, she is most of a block away from
him.
The sharp December air stabs at his cheeks. He left his coat in the diner and
his long-sleeved blue henley does little to protect him from the cold. He feels
a sharp pain in his chest as he runs toward her, but he isn’t sure if it is due
to the temperature, or his heart breaking.
“Katniss!” he calls to her in a strangled cry. She turns immediately, and when
she catches sight of him, her eyes widen slightly. Puffs of cloudy white breath
pass through her lips.
Now that Peeta is here, however, he isn’t sure what to say; instead he just
stares at her, breathing rapidly, listening to his blood pumping furiously in
his ears. She makes the first move approaching him, wrapping her small hand
around his neck to bring his mouth closer to hers, but he is the one who goes
in for the attack, trapping her bottom lip between his and sucking lightly
before slanting his whole mouth over hers, his tongue rushes in to taste
her—maybe for the last time.
“In three years I’ll be 21, and I’ll get the trust fund my dad left me, and I
will take care of you and your family, and my mom won’t be able to control what
we do anymore,” he says breathlessly when he finally pulls away. Katniss smiles
sympathetically at him, like an adult to a misguided child.
“I love you,” she whispers against his mouth. “But it’s my family.”
And with that, she walks away.
 
XXXXX
 
Police have confirmed that the body found this morning in an unrented storage
unit by an employee investigating a ‘bad smell’ is that of nineteen-year-old
Clove Williams, the woman who disappeared seven days ago near her college dorm.
Police would not comment on the state of the body, but the employee who made
the discovery, 25-year-old Johnny Marvel, told our reporters that the body had
been ‘brutally mutilated’ and that the words “Ho Ho Ho” were written in what
could have been dried blood on the wall behind the body.  This has been one of
the calling cards of the alleged Killer Claus, and one of the only real pieces
of evidence in the case, besides a few sightings of a man dressed like Santa in
the vicinity of where the victims were reported missing from.
When the press asked Mr. Marvel if there was anything else left near or around
the body, Mr. Marvel became visibly distressed, telling reporters that the
killer had left a single jingle bell on the body, but he refused to elaborate
from there...
 
 
A shiver runs up Katniss’s spine from where she stands in the doorway of the
den, her eyes glued to the glowing television screen as her father watches the
evening news.
Clove Williams would make the eleventh victim of the Killer Claus since the
first day of November, all within a 50-mile radius of Katniss’s small town, but
Clove’s dorm is only about a mile or two from her home and worked at the
Teavana in the same mall Katniss works at.
After the third victim—a woman a few towns over named Johanna Mason—was killed,
people started telling the petite, raven-haired Katniss to be careful when she
was out and cautioned her not to go out alone at night. Her parents even made
her curfew an hour earlier, unless she happened to be out with Peeta…
But I won’t be out with Peeta anymore, she thinks sadly to herself.
“Dinner,” she hears her mom call, beckoning the family to the kitchen table,
the smell of lamb stew thick in the air. Katniss rubs the fresh tears from her
eyes, the ones that always accumulate there whenever she thinks about Peeta.
It’s only been two days and already the longing is enough to suffocate her. She
is desperate to call him just to hear his soothing voice, but she wouldn’t put
it past his mother to be monitoring all forms of communication, and Katniss has
the welfare of her family to think about.
She sits down at the table, and although her mother’s lamb stew is her
favorite, she doesn’t think she can stomach any food right now, but not wanting
her parents asking questions, she makes a show of ladeling her portion of stew
into her bowl, and then she doesn’t do much more than push it around with her
spoon.
“Where’s Peeta?” her younger sister, Prim, asks. “He’s always here for Sunday
dinner.” Katniss doesn’t even look up at her sister and merely shrugs at the
question.
“Is everything alright, darling?” her mother asks in her honey-sweet voice.
Katniss looks up at her, and when she sees the worry and concern etched on her
mother’s face, Katniss has to bite her lip to prevent from bursting into tears.
She doesn’t say anything, but she catches the knowing look between her parents,
which is enough to excuse herself from the table, drive her to her room and
cause her to sob into her pillow for the rest of the night.
The next day she walks downtown alone, mindlessly window shopping. She wonders
to herself if she should try and return the custom paint and brush set she got
for Peeta’s Christmas present, but then decides she will have her dad give it
to him instead. It was too much money to just throw it away, and she’s sure the
shop she bought it from won’t let her return the engraved brushes.
Katniss looks in a window of a small boutique. A colorful, flowing skirt has
caught her eye, and she knows Prim would love to skip and twirl in it. She has
just made up her mind to purchase it and is about to walk into a the shop, when
her reflection suddenly darkens, as a large figure dressed in red walks behind
her, a floppy red hat with a poof of white at the end on his head.
“Fuck!” she squeaks and feels like she has detached herself from her own body
with how quickly she jumps and spins to confront the figure. Her heart is
beating so quickly it feels like it is vibrating.
The man, who is dressed in full Santa regalia, holds a Salvation Army donation
kettle and stand, and looks apologetic as he witnesses Katniss’s reaction.
“I told them this was a bad idea,” he mutters to himself as he walks away from
her quickly.
It’s Christmas! she scolds herself. There are going to be people dressed like
Santa. She walks into the store, but takes her time perusing the shop, letting
her heart return to a normal rhythm.
A few minutes later, she is thumbing through the multi-colored skirts on the
rack, looking for a size small enough for Prim when she feels the hair on the
back of her neck suddenly stand on end. A shudder runs through her body.
Someone is staring at her.
She tries to crane her head subtly so her eyes can scan the shop, but besides
an older woman trying on hats, and the woman at the counter playing with her
phone, Katniss is the only one there.
“Get it together,” she groans in frustration before bringing the skirt to the
woman at the counter and cashing out.
She leaves the shop, but instead of feeling better, the eerie feeling of being
watched seems to be getting worse, and a ball of anxiety begins to grow in her
gut. Her eyes flit all over the street. It is two days before Christmas, so the
streets are filled with people, but all of them seem preoccupied with their own
last minute shopping and are not paying any attention to her. She takes a deep
shuddering breath before walking again, this time quicker, but the feeling
continues to get worse.
Her instincts finally take over, and she breaks into a run. She is on the track
team at school and can run laps around the other girls on her team, but then
why can’t she seem to be able to outrun this foreboding feeling?
Her lungs seize and struggle for air in the bitter cold, but she is afraid to
stop. The sinking feeling gets so bad that at one point she turns her head,
almost certain that she will find some psycho right on her heels.
Umph! The last bit of oxygen is expelled from her lungs when she runs full tilt
into a solid mass. She feels disoriented, but ready to fight off whatever
monster intends to do her harm.
“Katniss?”
As soon as she hears his smooth, soothing voice, the painful knot in her
stomach begins to unravel. The mass she has run into is Peeta, and before she
can think better of it, she hops into his arms, causing him to drop the
shopping bags in his hands. She clings to him with all she has, and his warm
embrace envelops her.
“Peeta,” she whimpers as she gasps for air and holds him tighter.
“Jesus, Katniss are you ok? You’re shaking. What happened?” He tries to pull
away, probably to get a look at her face, but she won’t let him. She wants to
just stay in his arms forever, where she feels safe and loved. But she isn’t
supposed to want this anymore, and so reluctantly, she begins to detach herself
from him, one limb at a time.
“I’m fine,” she mumbles. “I have to go.”
“Wait a minute,” Peeta reaches for her and gently grasps her wrist. “You aren’t
fine, you look petrified.” She pulls herself away completely from the safety of
Peeta and tries not to look up at him.
“I’m fine now, I promise. I was just being dumb. I’m ok, I swear. Please don’t
worry about me, Peeta,” she wrings her hands together. “I have to go, before
someone sees us together,” And she begins running away again, but this time not
out of fear, but because of her broken heart.
 
XXXX

After confirming that Clove Williams is officially being considered the
eleventh victim of the Killer Claus by local authorities, Santa agencies, mall
Santas, charity workers and anyone who would be required to wear a Santa
costume during the holiday season are being questioned thoroughly by police.
Chief Seeder encourages anyone with any information to please contact police
immediately or to call 911…
 
 
A knock on his bedroom door drags Peeta’s eyes away from the article on Google
News.
“Come in,” he calls as he closes his laptop. The door creaks open, and in walks
his mother, Almira Mellark, donning a clingy black dress that hugs her a little
too tightly, a black-and-white fur stole draped over her shoulders. The jewels
she wears seem to weigh her down, and her impeccably applied make-up does
nothing for the constant sneer on her face.
“I’m leaving,” she announces while clasping a chunky platinum bracelet around
her wrist. “I expect you to be in bed at an appropriate time. I will know if
you aren’t,” she warns. Peeta just nods wordlessly at her. His mother turns to
leave, but just as quickly spins back to face him.
“Did you take care of that little problem?” her lips curl up in disgust.
“And what problem would that be?”
“Did you end your laughable relationship with that Everdeen trash?” she smirks.
“She’s not trash, don’t you ever talk about her like that!” he hops off his
bed, his fists tightening at his sides, his jaw clenching. His mother rolls her
eyes at the display.
“Peeta, I am merely trying to address certain behaviors that will cause others
to look poorly on this family. I have no intention of letting you become the
fool your father was. Fucking the help will never get you anywhere.” This time,
she turns and leaves for good.
When Peeta’s father was alive, Christmas Eve was a big day in their house, but
now Peeta is just happy to be alone. He tries to watch a movie, but he can’t
seem to focus. Katniss is in his thoughts—she’s always there. He tried texting
and calling her after running into her yesterday with no luck, and he even
snuck up to her house last night in the cover of darkness and didn’t leave
until he saw Katniss’s bedroom light turn on.
As the hours tick by, he becomes more and more restless, and eventually he
can’t bear it anymore. Not only has he become increasingly worried about her,
but he just misses her, damn it, and it’s Christmas Eve, and...
“Fuck it,” he mumbles. He grabs his keys and swipes the box that holds
Katniss’s gift off his bedside table before walking out the door.
XXXX
 
I mean what are the police doing? We have eleven dead women. How have we not
found this sicko yet? Tomorrow’s Christmas… What’s this “Killer Claus” going to
do tomorrow? The police need to get their act together before more girls end up
dead…
 
Katniss twists the tuner on the old am/fm radio away from the angry deejay, and
settles on a different station playing “Stubborn Love.” She turns up the volume
and hums along with the Lumineers song to drown out the cheerful overhead
Christmas music as she continues to tidy up the ‘Outdoor Sporting’ department
of the Sports Authority she works at in the Panem Galleria Mall.
The rest of the employees have already taken off for the night, and as usual
her manager, Mr. Abernathy, snuck out to the sports bar on the other side of
the mall leaving Katniss to close on her own. Not that she minds. She is
lacking the Christmas spirit this year and isn’t in any hurry to get home.
She reaches up to take a composition bow that is on display off the wall. She
doesn’t have any arrows to use, but she pretends to take aim at different
targets around the store. A sudden rattling of the metal grate at the front of
the store has Katniss swinging around quickly, bow still in hand ready to shoot
an invisible arrow at the intruder. She catches sight of the red-headed
security guard, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
“Hey Darius,” she calls out as she approaches the gate, and he gives her a
small wave. She unlocks the bottom and lifts the metal grate up high enough for
the young security guard to duck under. He scans the store before turning to
her.
“You all alone?” he asks, a half smile on his face.
Katniss shrugs. “Yeah,” she admits.
“You almost done?” he cocks his head at her.
“Just about.”
“Well,” he scratches the spot at his right temple. “When you’re finished, I’ll
walk you out to your boyfriend’s car.” he smiles a little wider at her.
“Oh,” she looks down. Peeta always used to pick her up when she worked late
nights, but she didn’t ask him to get her tonight; how could she? Anyways, her
parents lent her their second car, but she will admit that she’s happy Darius
is around to walk her out. “Well, I’ve got my own wheels tonight,” she tells
him. “So…”
“Oooo,” he teases. “You’re all grown up,” he winks then clears his throat.
“Well, either way I am walking you out. That boyfriend of yours would kick my
ass if I let Kris Kringle make you into a candy cane or some shit.”
Katniss can’t help but laugh at the guard’s crudeness; she doesn’t correct him
though, but instead responds with a grateful smile.
A little while later, Katniss is doing a final counting of the money in the
cash register before putting it into the safe when she hears a couple of beeps
followed by static come from the unit on Darius’ hip. He turns away from
Katniss and talks into the walkie-talkie.
“Shit,” he sighs frustratedly. “There’s something going on on the other side of
the mall near the Macy’s. i have to go there and check it out.”
Katniss looks up him, an uneasy expression on her face, but he raises his hands
up in front of him.
“Don’t worry,” he smiles. “It’s probably just some kids smoking pot. I’ll just
be a few minutes,” he ducks under the gate, and then pulls it down behind him.
He points a finger through the grates. “You stay here,” he says sternly.
Katniss rolls her eyes but has to nod before he leaves.
Five...ten...fifteen...and then 20 minutes pass  and Darius still hasn’t
returned. Katniss glances out into the empty mall and blows a frustrated puff
of air through her mouth. She gives it another five minutes, and when she still
doesn’t see any signs of the security guard’s return, she turns off the lights
and grabs her coat off a hook in the backroom.
When she puts the coat on, she hears something rattling in her pocket. She
reaches in and retrieves a single silver jingle bell. Her brow knits together
with confusion as she stares at it, wondering how it got into her coat.
Something unsettles her as she looks at the bell, but she can’t put a finger on
why.
Suddenly that same overwhelming feeling of being watched is back, and a painful
shiver runs down her back. For a moment, she thinks about going back in the
store and waiting for Darius. She even thinks about calling Peeta, but all she
wants to do is get out of this overheated mall, and go home to climb into her
bed, and sleep Christmas away.  So she heads out the employee exit in the back
of the store, placing the small bell in her pocket as she does.
When she walks into the night air, the sharp coldness feels good on her flushed
cheeks The parking lot is nearly empty, just a few scattered cars, and hers is
a straight line from where she stands, just about 50 yards away. She scans the
area and starts walking quickly towards her car, but that feeling of being
watched still hasn’t gone away, and when she instinctually turns to look
around, she stops in her tracks
Her heart begins beating erratically in her chest, and she can feel a nervous
sweat begin to form on her forehead. A disheveled-looking man in a rumpled
Santa suit stands just a few feet from her. She recognizes him as the mall’s
Santa...Something Cray, she thinks. An overweight pervert who is known amongst
the mall’s employees for always making salacious comments to groups of teenage
girls who aren’t accompanied by a parent, and the way he is leering at her
makes her wish her dad was with her now. She suddenly remembers the jingle bell
in her pocket. Didn’t they find one of those on Clove’s body?
“Hey there, pretty, want to have a little fun?” he asks, then flashes her a
yellow-toothed grin. She doesn’t answer; instead she spins and starts running
full speed towards her car. She can hear him calling to her from behind and can
hear his footfalls on the paved lot.
When she gets to the car, she is breathless and having a hard time scrambling
for her keys. She has just grasped them in her hand when she is shoved into her
car from behind and a large amount of weight is pressed against her backside.
Cray’s hand comes up to cover her mouth, and she can feel his rapid breathing
against her ear. The sickly stench of his breath mixes with the smell of stale
cigarette smoke, assaulting her nasal cavity.
“What a rude little bitch you are,” he hisses and then thrusts his hips against
her ass. She can feel the bile begin to rise up in her dry throat, and helpless
tears begin to sting her eyes. She tries to scream against his hand, but it
comes out as no more than a pathetic muffled cry.
He’s going to kill me, she thinks to herself Just like the others. I’m number
twelve.
But it's then that she remembers her keys are still in her hands. She maneuvers
her fingers, feeling her way along the metal of her keys until she comes across
the small knock-off Swiss Army Knife that is hooked onto the chain. She manages
to pop the knife open just as she feels Cray’s fingers move under her coat and
grasp on to her thigh.
His fingers squeeze, and she doesn’t hesitate to swiftly drive the small
utility knife into the back of her attacker’s hand.
Cray howls like a wounded animal and immediately pushes away from her, grasping
one hand with the other. Once freed, she spins and kicks the man’s left knee
with all her might. She is sure she feels something break when she does, and he
cries out as he crumples to the ground. Katniss runs as fast as she can back to
the mall, screaming at the top of her lungs, hoping someone will hear her. She
is only a few yards away from the doors when two figures walk out of them.
Darius and Peeta.
When she sees them, a relieved cry escapes from her lips, and she runs right
towards them. She can see both their eyes widen and their jaws drop at the
sight of her. Peeta opens his arms and without hesitation, she runs right into
them.
“Santa…,” she gasps. “Cray...he…” she points in the direction of her car, and
when she turns, she can see Cray is already off the ground, trying to escape,
but the severe limp makes it difficult. Darius seems to understand, as he goes
running after Cray and tackles him to the ground. Peeta pulls out his cell
phone and calls 911.
As Peeta relays what he knows—with a few additions by Katniss—to the
dispatcher, he holds her shaking form tightly, and she clings to him back. When
he isn’t speaking into the phone, he is planting desperate kisses all over her
face and head; his cerulean eyes are wide with panic, and his jaw clenches with
anger each time he looks over at Cray. She is sure if she were not holding him,
he would have already walked over and beaten the man to death.
Darius has called in backup, and now the nearly-crippled Santa is surrounded by
three other security guards. When the police arrive, they first have a short
conversation with Darius before hauling Cray onto his feet, making him hobble
over to the police car with little help by them. The whole time he is screaming
in protest, “That little bitch stabbed me, and I’m the one being arrested!”
 The police ignore his pathetic defense and aggressively throw him in the back
of the cruiser. As soon as the car door shuts, Katniss begins to breath again.
It’s over.
 
XXX
 
"Miss Everdeen!" the reporter gasps as she frantically rushes towards Katniss.
Peeta takes a defensive step in front of her before the overzealous reporter
can attack her with her microphone. He glances back at Katniss’s face. She
looks so tired and worn down. She has just finished talking to the police for
close to an hour, while Peeta spoke on the phone with her distraught father.
"I think she's talked enough tonight," Peeta glares at the reporter, but
Katniss's hand on his arm stops him from saying anything else.
"Its ok," she insists, and Peeta steps out of her way. The reporter smiles
triumphantly and closes the distance between her and Katniss.
"Do you think the man that attacked you is in fact the "Killer Claus"?
"Of course it was!" Peeta snaps from outside the shot. "Who the fuck else would
it have been?" Peeta’s head feels like it is about to burst with tension. He
knows this reporter is just doing her job, but he almost lost Katniss tonight,
and he can't help the rage that is coursing through his veins because of it.
Katniss's pointed look causes him to take a deep breath, and he decides to walk
over to Darius and a cop who earlier introduced himself as Officer Hawthorne.
When Darius sees him approach, he waves him towards them.
"Hey Peeta," he greets. "This is my buddy, Gale," he gestures towards the cop,
who nods to Peeta in return. "He says they found bells like the one Katniss had
in her jacket on all the "Killer Claus" victims." Peeta’s stomach sinks at this
information. If anything had gone just a little different, Katniss would have
been... He gulps past the ball in his throat.  
"Jesus Christ, asshole, you're going to get me into trouble!" the officer
hisses. Darius rolls his eyes.
"Well at least you have him now," Peeta adds. The cop turns to him, studying
his face for a long moment before scratching his chin in contemplation.
"I don't know," Gale shakes his head. "It just seems a little too sloppy to
me... the attack. He's never been this blatant before. Most of the other
victims...well... you didn't even know they had gone missing until they were
already dead. There are security cameras in this lot, for fuck’s sake," he
gestures up above them with two fingers.
Peeta tries to push down the bubbling fear that the officer’s words elicit in
him. After all they have a man, dressed like Santa, who attacked a woman that
fit the description of all the Killer Claus's victims in the back of their
police car.
He glances over at Katniss and watches her shake the reporter's hand briskly
before the news crew walks back to their van. Peeta mutters a quick goodbye to
the two men before moving over towards Katniss. When he gets close enough, he
opens his arms and as before, she walks into them without hesitation, and he
pulls her tightly against him.
"Are you ok?" he whispers into her dark hair.
"I am now," she answers back and then snuggles closer into him
“Katniss!” They hear a cry out from off to the side. When they pull away, they
see her father come jogging up to them.
“Hi, Dad,” Katniss manages to get out before bursting into tears. Her father
strides over to his daughter and takes her into his arms, holding her tight and
pressing a kiss to her head. He looks up, his silver eyes—just like his
daughter’s—meeting Peeta’s. He reaches out and squeezes Peeta’s shoulder, and
they share a nod. They both know what they almost lost tonight.
James Everdeen speaks to the police officers while Peeta and Katniss, hands
entwined, look on. Eventually, he walks back over to them.
“Let’s head home, your mom is probably climbing up the walls right now,” her
father gestures towards his car, but Peeta can feel Katniss squeeze his hand
tighter.
“Dad… I was hoping I could...um… stay with Peeta a little longer?”
“I don’t think so, Kat. I think its best for you to come home now,” he says.
“Dad, please,” she approaches him then. “Please,” she says a little more
firmly. Father and daughter share a long look, until finally James Everdeen
sighs deeply.
“You better be home and in bed before Prim wakes everyone up to open presents,”
he gives her a pointed look. Katniss releases a long breath and nods to him.
The man looks to Peeta next.
“Keep her safe.”
“Always,” Peeta replies immediately. Mr. Everdeen kisses his daughter one more
time, and then heads back to his car.  
 
XXXX  
 
Katniss and Peeta take separate cars back to her house to drop off her parents’
car. As soon as Katniss slides into Peeta’s blue Land Rover, he immediately
cups her cheeks and hurriedly presses his lips against hers. Her hands come up
to thrust into his wheat-colored curls, and soon their tongues are thrashing
against each other’s, their bodies thrumming at the other’s proximity.  
Peeta is the first to break away, pushing himself far back into his seat,
leaving Katniss flushed and breathless and aching for more.
“I’m sorry,” he utters quietly. “I shouldn’t be doing that.” He closes his eyes
and scrubs his face furiously with his hands, then lets his head fall forward
against the steering wheel with a light thud.
Of course he should be kissing her, and much much more, because after tonight
she is certain it is only his mouth that will make her feel better. She is
about to tell him as much, when his clearing throat turns her attention back to
him.
“I know it’s only been a few days, but not being able to...to be there with
you, it has been excruciating, and tonight when I think of how I could have
lost you….just like that,” he turns to her and laces his fingers with hers.
“That nearly killed me...it would have killed me if I lost you.” He stares into
her eyes with a look so intense it makes her squirm slightly in her seat.
“I can’t stay away from you, I just can’t. I’m not going to let my mother
dictate my life to me. I’m going to be eighteen in just a couple of months and
when I am, I’m going to move out. I have money saved, I’ll get a job, I’ll get
my own place, and then she won’t have any idea if I am with you or not. And
then when I get my trust fund in a few years I am going to marry you and spend
the rest of my life making sure you are happy and safe… I promise.”  
“Ok,” she says, her smile lighting up the car.
They drive around for a bit, but find themselves parked back in front of her
house about an hour later. Katniss picks at her fingernails, not wanting to
leave the comfort of Peeta’s car, or his side for that matter.
“I got your gift,” he breaks the silence. “I could tell your dad wanted to ask
why he was giving it to me,” he sighs. “I loved it. The brushes are beautiful.
I don’t think anyone knows me as well as you do,” he gives her a lopsided grin,
and Katniss feels a warmth envelop her chest. Peeta drops her hand briefly and
reaches into his coat pocket, retrieving a long, slender, velvet jewelry box
with a small green bow adhered to it. “For you, Merry Christmas” he practically
whispers, and gestures the gift towards her.
Katniss takes the box in her hand, letting the tips of her fingers brush
against the soft material before flipping the box open. What she sees inside
makes her gasp: a single, large, perfectly round, shiny pearl rests on the
inside cushion, attached to a thin, white-gold chain.
“Peeta,” she breathes, her eyes wide. “I love it!” She takes the necklace out
and rolls the cool-to-the-touch pearl between her fingers. “Help me put it on?”
she asks, handing the chain to him. He takes it from her, and she swivels in
her seat. Peeta gently drapes the necklace around her neck and clasps it in the
back; his fingers brush against her skin and she shivers, aching for him to
continue touching her. A moment later she can feel him press his lips against
the place where his fingers just were.
“I don’t want you to go inside,” Peeta says softly against her skin.
“Me neither,” she sighs, her fingers coming up to touch the pearl gently
“Come with me to my house?” he pleads, Katniss turns and raises an incredulous
eyebrow at him, and he chuckles, “No, just hear me out, my mom is at some
party, and she is going to stumble in completely shit-faced right before dawn,
and she’ll go straight to bed. I promise she won’t know you’re there.” Katniss
chews on her bottom lip in contemplation for a moment, but then gives him an
affirmative nod.
Peeta parks his SUV in the garage on the side of the ostentatious brick house.
After shutting off the car, he hops out, jogs over to the passenger side door,
opening it before Katniss has a chance. He takes her hand and leads her into
the quiet house.
They stop in the kitchen, where Peeta grabs them each a bottle of water. He
takes her hand in his again then brings her through the house towards the main
staircase. On the way Katniss’s foot catches something, kicking it across the
polished wood floors, leaving an eerie ringing sound in its wake. When she
finally focuses on what the object is, a terrified screech tears from her
throat, a single jingle bell is on the floor staring back at her.
“Woah, woah, Katniss. It’s ok, it’s ok,” Peeta steps in front of her, blocking
her view. “It probably just fell off the railing,” he gestures to the dark wood
staircase next to them, and to Katniss’s relief, she sees it is decorated with
ribbons, and bows, and lights and...jingle bells. She exhales a long shaky
breath
“Hey,” his silky voice instantly relaxes her. He puts a finger under her chin
and tips it up so she locks eyes with his. “I’m here now. I won’t let anything
happen to you, ok?”
“Ok,” she takes another deep breath, and follows Peeta up the stairs.
When they get to his room, all her earlier dread has completely dissipated, and
now all she can feel is Peeta’s presence. In the lifetime they have known each
other, she
has only been in his bedroom a handful of times, mostly when his mother was
away, but she doesn’t give her surroundings a second look, because all she can
see is him.  
They close the distance between them, their lips meeting in the middle, then
their tongues and their hands, as they reach for the other. Peeta undoes
Katniss’s coat, helping her take it off and tossing it on his computer chair,
shrugging off his navy-colored pea coat in the process.
His fingers curl under her red Sports Authority polo, lifting it slowly,
peeling it off her body. He begins to work on the button of her jeans, but she
smacks his hand away, not letting him proceed until she has pulled his cream-
colored cable sweater and white undershirt off his body as well.
Katniss’s hands move to splay across Peeta’s broad chest, and his hands move to
finally pop the button of her pants, which he helps her shimmy out of, leaving
her in a black bra and matching cotton boy shorts. Peeta licks his lips at the
sight of her nearly naked form, and lifts his hands to cup her right breast,
squeezing it gently, before leaning down to capture her mouth with his again.
The minute their lips touch, a last urgent spark bursts between them, and they
are suddenly a flurry of hands and mouths as they frantically strip each other
bare. When they are both finally completely naked, they stare with lustfully
hungry gazes at each other, taking the other in as if for the first time.  
The first time Peeta and Katniss met they were just a few months old. The first
time they kissed they were eight, the first time they said “I love you” was at
fifteen. And the first time they had sex was six months ago. They have lost
themselves in each other quite a few times since then, but all of those were
just a primal need to satisfy some sort of hormonal-driven lust. Now as Peeta
lays her naked form onto his bed, trailing kisses down the middle of her
breasts, then taking her left nipple into his mouth, and biting lightly, she
feels like this time is very different, that with everything that has happened
to them tonight, and in these past days, hell in their entire lives, has forced
them to finally take each other—and this relationship—more seriously.
Peeta leans forward to kiss her lips one more time before rolling on a condom,
then guides his hardened cock inside of her, sheathing himself completely
before pulling almost all the way out of her and thrusting back inside of her
again at a methodically slow pace. Katniss wants to beg him to pound into her,
hard, but the feel of him in her and on top of her, his bare flesh against
hers, and the strained almost painful look in his eyes as he fucks her, makes
her want this to last forever.
“You feel so good,” his voice strains as he begins to lose control, his thrusts
becoming faster and harder with each pass.
A familiar heat begins to build up inside of her, her face begins to flush, her
heart rate increases, her breathing shortens, but she doesn’t quite make it
before Peeta gasps above her, and pulsating, he spills himself into the condom
with a grunt.
Katniss can’t help but sigh—she wants this release so bad, but before she can
voice her needs, Peeta has attached his mouth to her center, and he begins
sucking greedily on her throbbing clit. Soon she is screaming his name and
grinding against his face, and shattering into a trillion pieces around him.  
He moves up to kiss her gently, lingering slightly on her bottom lip before
pulling himself off of her to clean up, leaving her lying sprawled on the bed.
Her eyelids are suddenly heavy and shutting on their own, and she thinks Peeta
has shut off the light. A moment later she can feel the bed dip as he lies next
to her, snaking his arm around her waist, and pulling her closer to him.
“I love you,” he whispers into her ear, and before she can answer, she falls
asleep.
 
XXXXXXX
 
A bloodcurdling scream echoes through the house. Katniss shoots up in bed and
not even a second later, Peeta is up on her left, staring at her with the same
look of terror she must be giving him.
“Wha… what was that?” the tremors in her voice matching the ones in her hands.
“I don’t know,” Peeta says as he scrambles off the bed.
“Where are you going?” she hisses after him.
“I’m going to go check it out,” he says without even looking at her. “You stay
here.”
“Uh uh, no fucking way,” she gasps as she hops out of bed and puts her clothes
on as he dresses in his. He doesn’t even try to stop her; he knows better.
Peeta opens the door and peeks down the hallway.
“Do you see anything?” Katniss whispers.
“Shh,” he hushes her as he sticks his head out the door, straining to hear
anything. Then he slowly slinks out, with Katniss following right behind him.
They walk cautiously down the dark hallway towards the staircase, and when they
get close enough, both of them see something on the floor.
“What is that?” Katniss mutters out loud, Peeta shakes his head at first but as
he gets closer he gasps.
“Oh shit,” he yells as he runs towards the motionless mound. “Mom!” he yells as
he slides on his knees next to the figure. He panics as he checks the lifeless
body of his mother, frantically searching for a pulse that isn’t there, while
calling to her over and over again. All Katniss can see is the blood that is
spilling from Mrs. Mellark’s throat, and how the dark liquid has pooled under
her body.  
Katniss looks around the area, trying to find a clue as to why this has
happened. When she glances down the stairs, her heart stops; the moonlight
pours in through the large window above the main entrance, which silhouettes
the figure standing on the bottom step, but even though the intruder is
shrouded in darkness, Katniss can easily make out the outline of the knife in
their hand, and on its head, a distinctly floppy Santa hat.   
She screams for Peeta just as the knife-wielding Santa begins running up the
stairs. Peeta glances up to see the form rushing toward them, and he springs to
his feet, spinning away from the stairs.
“Katniss! Run!” he yells. She sprints back down the hallway, and Peeta follows
closely behind her. At the end of the hall, he stops.
“Go in there,” he commands, pointing to a door to their right. She obeys, and
when he sees her bolt through the door, he turns around to face the figure
charging at him, hoping to give Katniss enough time to escape.
When the Santa gets close enough, Peeta winds up and throws a punch as hard as
he can, cracking the man in the jaw. The Santa stumbles back for just a second,
quickly regaining his balance, and when Peeta throws a second punch, the Santa
blocks it. He grabs Peeta by the shirt, and shoves him violently against the
wall behind him, knocking the wind out of his lungs, and leaving him
disorientated, opening him up to the knife that the Santa shoves into his right
side.
“No!” Katniss cries from the doorway. Peeta turns towards her, angry that she’s
come back for him. He can see the fear on her face, the tears in her eyes. He
can barely breathe, but as tears start to streak down his own cheeks, he
manages to mouth the word, ‘run!’ When he looks back, the Santa is smiling at
him, not in a joyful, ‘Twas the night before Christmas’-type way, but in a
sadistic ‘I can’t wait to see your girlfriend’s insides’-type way.
Abruptly the Santa pulls the knife out of Peeta and grabs hold of his shirt
with both hands. Peeta tries to pull away, squirm out of his grasp, but the man
is too strong. Then as if Peeta didn’t weigh anything at all, the Santa spins
and smashes Peeta’s body through the window nearby, smashing the glass and
sending Peeta plummeting to the ground below.
“No, Peeta, no!” Katniss wails. She thinks about running to dive out the same
window, to join the boy she loves who is most likely lying dead on the ground
three stories down, but when she catches sight of the Santa with his white
pearly grin, his stark white hair and beard and his serpent-like eyes, she can
only hear one thing…Peeta’s voice telling her to run.
She spins on her heels and runs through the door again. She knows there is a
staircase somewhere over here, but she can’t think straight.
Peeta’s dead. Peeta’s dead. Oh God, Peeta’s dead. She reaches up to touch the
pearl around her neck, still cool against her skin.
She busts through a door, hurriedly shutting it behind her. When she scans the
room, however, she knows she went the wrong way. She is standing in Mr.
Mellark’s old study. She and Peeta used to play with their toys on the floor in
front of the large mahogany desk. She knows there is only one way in and one
way out of here, but it’s too late to change her mind. She can hear him coming,
so she dives into the tiny closet across the room and tries to make herself as
small as possible.
She bites back a sob, as she hears a melody waft towards her in a snake-like
hiss.
“You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town!”
The door is flung open, and Katniss knows she’s done for.
“There you are!” he exclaims with delight; he then wraps her long hair around
his hand and yanks her so hard out of the closet door that her scalp burns,
causing her to scream.
He whips her to the ground, and when she cries out in pain, he pouts at her.
“Don’t like that song, Miss Everdeen? Well, how about this one?… On the twelfth
day of Christmas my true love gave to me...Katniss Everdeen!” He punctuates her
last name with a swift kick to her ribs, which leaves her gasping for air.
The Santa crouches down and grasps her face with his meaty, black-gloved hand,
holding her still, forcing her to look at his beady eyes and his puffy lips,
and to smell the stench of his blood-tinged breath. Her tears burn trails down
her face.
“I bet you thought you were home free, Miss Everdeen. You thought it was all
over after that pervert tried to cop a feel. You thought you were safe. That
fool completely screwed my original plans, but that’s okay, he gave you a small
reprieve and nothing more, because luckily for me, you are embarrassingly
predictable, and I knew exactly where to find you. I so wanted you to be my
Christmas present” he smirks at her, dragging the back of the hand holding the
knife against her cheek. He then lets go of her face, and instead sticks his
elbow right into the front of her neck, and no matter how hard she claws at his
arms he stays put, slowly applying pressure.
The Santa is glaring at her now, the contempt for her apparent on his face, and
she can’t figure out why this man she doesn’t know could hate her so much.
Black spots begin to invade her vision as the Santa’s elbow cuts off her air,
and slowly she begins to give in.
At least I’ll see Peeta soon, she thinks to herself, or at least she hopes
that’s how it works. The man studies her for another moment, and a small smile
pulls on his mouth, but Katniss can barely see straight anymore.
“You look a lot like her, you know…,” a sneer on his face. “Let’s see if we can
fix that frown.” She thinks she can see the blade of the knife approaching her
face.
But the tip never gets to her skin, and instead the sickening sound of clanging
metal fills the room. The pressure eases up off her neck, as the Santa slumps
down, with a good push she rolls him off of her. She looks up then and sees
him...Peeta. He’s holding one of her father’s gardening shovels. He is bloody,
dirty, and cut up pretty bad, but he’s alive… he’s alive and seething, and the
next thing Katniss knows Peeta hits the Santa’s lifeless form with the shovel
again and again and again. She scrambles away and watches this rage inside
Peeta completely take over.
“You motherfucking piece of shit! How fucking dare you!” he growls, as he
continues to crush the Santa’s skull, reducing it to a bloody pulp. Eventually
Katniss gets her breath back, then her voice.
“Peeta,” she squeaks in a hoarse voice, but he doesn’t seem to hear her, and he
swings the shovel again. “Peeta!” she yells as loud as she can manage, as her
hands come up to massage her tender neck.
He seems to hear her this time, and when he turns and his rage-clouded blue
eyes meet hers, she sees them fill with tears, and the shovel slips from his
hand and clangs to the ground loudly, causing her to wince. He stumbles towards
her, and drops to his knees in front of her, and even though she can tell it
hurts him to do it, he pulls her to him, and she hugs him just as tightly back.
And they don’t let go…
XXXX
 
The Killer Claus, who has been identified as 55-year-old Coriolanus Snow of
Snow Malls INC, had apparently been stalking seventeen-year-old Katniss
Everdeen for a week before attacking her at her boyfriend’s home early
Christmas morning, according to evidence collected at Snow’s home.
Everdeen’s boyfriend, 17-year old-Peeta Mellark, sole heir to the ‘Mellark
Cakes’ fortune, was seriously injured in the attack, and was brought to a local
hospital where he was considered stable. However his mother, 45-year-old Almira
Mellark, was stabbed to death during the home invasion. Police do not believe
Almira Mellark was a target of Snow, but had surprised him when she came home
from a Christmas Eve party.
Miss Everdeen was also injured during the attack, and brought to the hospital,
but her injuries were considered non-life threatening, and she was released the
following morning. Peeta Mellark remains in the hospital, but according to
friends of the family, he is doing great and is expected to make a full
recovery.
While investigating the home of Coriolanus Snow, police also recovered several
boxes of handwritten journals believed to be that of Snow’s. The journals seem
to record names, ages and addresses of women who fall under the description of
his victims: petite with dark hair. Most of the women recorded live within a
ten-mile radius of one of his 50 mall locations throughout the state.
Police say the journals also made mention of his ex-wife Alma Coin. Snow and
Coin were divorced in December of 1995. Court papers cite irreconcilable
differences as a cause for the failed marriage. Alma Coin and her partner,
Lydia Paylor, both had restraining orders taken out against Snow soon after the
divorce. Both women were reported missing while vacationing in Hawaii back in
1998, and neither woman was ever found. Snow was brought in for questioning at
the time, but police declared he was not a suspect. The case is still
considered to be open.
According to police, the journals also make mention of the similarities in
looks between the females recorded in the journals and that of his ex-wife’s
lover...  
Snow was pronounced dead on scene. The coroner reports that Snow was killed due
to blunt force trauma to the head, as a result of being hit in the head with a
shovel several times by Mr. Mellark while he was attempting to rescue Miss
Everdeen. Police did question Mellark about the incident, but have announced
that they will not be pursuing the matter any further, and the case is now
considered closed….And now let’s turn to Finnick Odair for the weather.
Hi everyone, Finnick Odair here. For those going out for New Years Eve tomorrow
night, make sure to leave your coats at home. A warm front is moving towards us
from the southwest, and is expected to bring temperatures in the low 50’s. This
unseasonable warm spell should last into the new year and on through the
weekend, putting an end to the bitter cold temperatures we have been suffering
through since before Christmas... If the weather is any indication, 2014 is
going to be a great year...



End Notes
     Thanks to Court81981 for holding my hand and fixing my mistakes, to
     Fuckingplebe/Atetheredmind for helping spark this idea and to
     Ro_Nordmann for the kick-ass banner.
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!
