Elf and the Incubus: And To All A Good Night

Hypnotic hijinks on Christmas Eve.

Every year on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus delivers gifts to all the good little children world-wide.  The mystery that no one has been able to solve is just how Santa manages to reach all of the children in only a single night, but what no one knows is that Santa does not work alone.  He has a specially trained, elite group of elves that help him deliver the gifts and so he only visits a relative few houses while the elves take care of the rest of the houses.  One of those elves is named Nerual and she played an unfortunate role in the plan of a crafty villain on a Christmas Eve not so long ago in Yoto.

It was late on Christmas Eve and Nerual was half-way through her gift-route.  The night had been going smoothly and a light snow began to fall.  She smiled at the thought of the residents of Yoto enjoying a white Christmas.  The house she had just arrived at was a bit down the street from the Mato household, and she was really looking forward to delivering the gifts for Jake, Mato, and the girls that lived there.  In fact, due to Dawn's unselfish act in rescuing Sarah, even Dawn would be receiving a gift this year instead of the usual stocking full of coal.  Climbing out of her automated sleigh, she activated the hat she wore with the words, "And to all a good night," and with each tinkling of the jingle bell at the tip of the hat, a fine dust gathered in her open palms.  She released the dust down the chimney and gathering up the presents for the house's occupants, jumped down the chimney, softly landing on the ground.  Entering the room, she glanced around to gain her bearings, to learn the locations of certain items such as the tree under which she would deposit the presents, and to see if anyone was around who was not in bed.  She put the sack of gifts by the tree and went upstairs to the bedrooms to make sure all were in bed, asleep.  The children were fast asleep and Nerual gently tucked them in better as she sent visions of sugarplums to dance in their dreams. The parents were getting ready for bed themselves.  Tip-toeing to the bathroom, she hid while her hand began to glow a soft lilac color.  When the adults emerged from the bathroom, Nerual passed her glowing hand in front of their faces, trancing them to completely ignore her presence and to swiftly fall deeply asleep once they climbed into bed.  With that accomplished, Nerual set about her duty of delivering the presents for the family.

Farther down the street, in the Mato household, the living room was a gigantic mess.    Wrapping paper was strewn about the floor and half empty glasses of eggnog were abundant.  Jake, Mato, and the girls were in the midst of a Christmas celebration and each was opening a single gift in turn. 
"Jake, open this one," Yuta exclaimed, holding out a small package.  "It's interesting!"  Jake accepted the small gift and opened the accompanying card. 
"To Jake," he read, "I think you're a really special guy.  Merry Christmas.  Signed, Your Secret Admirer."   Jake looked around at the girls.  "Is this from any of you or do any of you know how it got in here?" he asked, to which they all shook their heads no. 
"Delivery," Mato supplied.  "Came in the mail, oh, three days ago."
"I wonder who this Secret Admirer is," Jake commented.  "Oh well, here goes!"  With that, he tore into the wrapping paper and shouted delightedly.  "Yes! Blood Slasher 3: Slaughter Fest!  I can't wait to play it," he declared.  He moved over to the TV to put it into his game console, but stopped short when Jen cleared her throat.  "Buuuut, it can wait, I guess," he admitted.  "Your turn, Sarah."
Katia handed one of the gifts to Sarah who quickly started to open the strangely shaped package.  "What does the card say?" asked Lucia, halting the emphatic young woman.  Sarah picked up the card and read, "Enjoy, Mato."  Sarah unwrapped the gift a bit more cautiously and revealed a police baton that was a bit heavier than usual.  On the side were directions that instructed one to push in the bottom and point it at a target.  She did as the instructions told and pointed the baton at Dawn.  "Watch out Dawn," she commented.  "I've got a new toy."
"Heh, what are you going to…," Dawn began, but could not finish as the baton shot out a white beam of what appeared to be light and froze the succubus in a stasis field.  Mato chuckled.  "It works!  I'm a genius," he announced.  "Try touching her now."
"Why?" suspiciously asked Sarah.  "What'll it do to me?"
"You'll see," replied the professor with a grin.  Sarah walked over to where Dawn had been standing and attempted to touch her.  But instead of touching skin or Dawn's clothing, Sarah was gently repelled as though a force field held her back.  "I'm a genius," Mato said again.
"Professor, what good will this do if we can't touch Dawn or anyone else that is trapped in the field?" Sarah complained.  "I can't use this at work!"
"Ever consider the possibility of using it on yourself or a colleague in a dangerous situation?" replied Mato.  Sarah looked at him with surprise until realization Dawned on her.
"Thank you, Mato," said Sarah smiling.  "Ok, Yuta, you're next."
Yuta bounced up and down, clapping. "Yay!" she proclaimed, taking the small box that Sarah was handing her.  Pausing for a second to take a deep breath, Yuta read the card. "To Yuta from Katia". Yuta smiled and tore into the packaging.  After a few seconds the wrapping paper looked like it had been through a shredder and Yuta sat with her mouth dropped to the floor, staring at the item in her hand. "Elvish bubble bath… oh Katia, thank you!" said Yuta, staring at the bottle in shock. 
Katia smiled, "It has a special ingredient too, specifically designed to help bio-mechanical skin remain soft and smooth."
Yuta hugged Katia nice and hard.  "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she beamed loudly.
Katia's eyes were bugging out of her head at this point, as she gasped "You're…welcome…, can't … breathe…."
Yuta giggled and let her go, then moved back to where she was sitting. "This next gift is a special one from me to Mato," said Jen standing up and walking a rather large but light box over to Mato. "Merry Christmas professor," said Jen with a warm, yet knowing smile.
Mato was ecstatic as he ripped through the packaging like a child.  Tearing open the cardboard box and looking at its contents, Mato's eyes bulged and his mouth fell open.  "How…?  It's impossible," he muttered, reaching inside the box slowly.
"What is it, Professor?" asked Jake.
"Yeah, come on.  Don't keep us in suspense," teased Jessica.
The box fell off of Mato's lap as he held in his hands a very old, lightly worn teddy bear. Staring at it in disbelief, he asked, "How did you get this…? It was destroyed years ago when the graviton exploded and set the north wing on fire."
Everyone in the room rolled their eyes, happy that they weren't there for that disaster.  Jen smiled warmly and kindly spoke, "I know, Professor.  I used your temporal transporter and a little genie magic to pull it out of your bedroom a split second before the fire would have engulfed it. I saw it in a picture, and did some checking.   I know what it meant to you." 
Everyone in the room was curious about the story behind the bear and were now staring at Mato. "Professor what is it that makes that bear so important?" asked Jake.
"Yeah.   Come on.  Why's it so special?" asked Yuta.
"Temporal transporter?" mused Sarah, terrified at what it could be used to do.
Mato looked up from the bear for the first time since he picked it up and hugged it tightly to his chest with tears glistening in his eyes. "It was my wife's.   I gave it to her on our first date, more then fifty years ago." The tears slid down his face.  No one had ever seen Mato so happy.  "Thank you Jen…. Thank you."
Everyone on in the room had a tear in their eye.  Yuta, Mina, and Diana were bawling, hugging each other.  "That's so sweet," cried Diana in between sobs. 
Jen leaned down and gave Mato a big warm hug. "Merry Christmas, Professor," she said, smiling as a small tear rolled down her cheek.

Outside, perched on a tree limb, a shadow moved, just enough to show the features of the incubus as he watched the Christmas party. "Excellent," he thought out loud.  "The succubus seems to be helpless right now.  It's the perfect time to drain her. Then I can get the little magic girl, and finally have some powers of my own.  I can stop attacking people and simply control them, making them do my will, and feasting on their energy as I please!"  His weeks of searching and waiting would finally pay off tonight.
His thoughts clouded over as images of him sitting on a golden throne appeared with several women in bikinis fanning and slowly massaging him as he lounged contentedly. He reached up to a red-head and stroked her cheek. Her eyes started to droop as the fanning slowed down.   The young woman wobbled on her feet, sighed, and gently landed on the ground. "It's good to be the king," said the incubus with a smile. Then a loud crack filled the dream as his throne dropped by at least an inch. "What the heck?" exclaimed the incubus as he looked around his throne, "How could that…." Another loud crack cut him off in mid-thought as his throne fell through the floor, right out of the dream, and collided hard with the ground in the middle of Mato's front yard.  The throne faded away to be the remains of the branch the incubus was sitting on. "Ooooooowwwwwwwww" came the soft reply from the fallen demon.
"Intruder detected…. Homeshield activated, beginning defense phase one," came a mechanized voice from the house.
"Huh?" grunted the incubus as he stood. "Bring it on!  I'm not afraid of you," he proclaimed, throwing his arms out and curving his hands to look like claws.  His eyes glowed bright red and his wings extended to their full length, making him a frightening display.
"Target acquired," replied the house as a panel of the siding slid away and the war head of an intercontinental missile slid out through the hole, followed by a stream of steam as the missile's engine readied to fire.
"Mommy!" squeaked the incubus as he took off straight into the air, followed by the roaring missile. All was quiet for a few moments.  A small rabbit hopped through the freshly fallen snow.  Suddenly, the ground was lit as bright as day as the rabbit looked up at the flash of light in the sky.  As the light faded a small, high-pitched constant scream could be heard.   The tiny creature remained looking up until its eyes bulged to four times their size before it bolted away, leaving a small dust outline of the bunny.  A few seconds later the high pitched scream became a bit easier to understand.  It was the incubus, screaming as he fell to earth. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled, crashing into the yard with a loud thud.  The completely charred incubus landed flat on his face, only to rise, spitting pieces of turf out of his mouth.
Crawling away behind a bush, he brushed the soot off of himself and caught his breath. "Ok, so maybe getting in there isn't going to be as easy as I thought," he conceded.  Huffing hard to try to catch his breath, he suddenly saw what looked like a bright green and red vortex open over the roof of one of the houses down the street. A split second later a sleigh that looked like the old horse drawn sleighs, only with no horses and hovering like a space ship, snapped out of the vortex, gently lowering itself to the top of house across the street.  "Ok… that's new," mused the incubus, his attention completely focusing on the new arrival.

Neural gently lowered the sleigh onto the roof, checked the coordinates with the onboard computer, and grabbed her sack of gifts. Walking with a smile over to the chimney, she gazed down to see a small fire was in the fireplace, smoldering gently. "Awww, what a lovely way to relax on Christmas Eve," she silently commented. Flicking at the bell on her hat to make the bell tinkle, she whispered, "And to all a good night." Catching hold of the bell so that it lay tinkling in her hand, Neural watched with a smile as the bell started to glow.  She repeatedly nodded her head, and with each nod, sprinkles of sparkling dust came dancing out of the bell and into her hand. After about ten head nods, the bell stopped glowing, and the dust ceased forming.  "Time for bed, dear," grinned the elf as she dropped the handful of dust down the chimney.

Inside the living room of the house, Celene sat in an over sized chair, finishing up her heated eggnog.  It had been a rough year, but things were looking better. She didn't know exactly how or why she left her job to work at the night club, 'Spirals,' in town. But, the job was getting better now that Mato Industries had bought the place. Her pay had doubled and the atmosphere just seemed to be more… relaxed somehow than before.  She sighed with a smile, watching the crackling fire. The soft popping sounds were so relaxing.  Just then, the fire died out, as though it had been smothered.  Celene stood up and started to walk towards the fireplace to rekindle the flame when a cloud of sparkling dust gently rolled out of the chimney.  She didn't have time to react before the dust flowed over her body.  Her look of concern faded to peaceful contentment as she stood, a little unfocused and tired, staring at the fireplace.
A few seconds later, two tiny feet appeared at the bottom of the fire place.  The shapely elf bent down and popped through the hole, with her bag on her back. Taking in the scene including the dazed Celene in the middle of the room and setting down her bag, Neural glided to Celene and smiled, "You've been a good girl this year, Celene, but now it's time you went to bed."
Celene looked confused as she tried to clear her head. "How do you know that?" she asked sleepily.
Neural's hand began to glow a soft lilac color. "I just know…. now shhhhh," she said soothingly, as she waved a hand before Celene's face. As the hand passed, Celene's eyes almost seemed to glow lilac for a split second before her face went completely slack. "You don't see me, Celene.  You won't remember seeing me. Go to bed and fall instantly asleep. Tomorrow morning, you will wake up relaxed and completely refreshed."
"Yes… refreshed," replied Celene sleepily as she turned and walked slowly out of the room.
With a cheerful smile, Neural watched Celene leave. "Good night, Sleepy Head," she said happily as she went back to her work, not noticing the incubus watching her through the window.

Back at the Mato house, the girls were busy helping Jake clean up all the wrapping paper. Dawn was still completely frozen in the center of the room.  The only difference now was that she had a blue, hand knitted scarf wrapped around her neck, with a tag that read, "To Dawn, from Lucia".
"Should we try and move her?" asked Mina, slightly concerned.
Jake walked over to Dawn and knocked on her head.  His only reply was a few electrical sparks from the impacts.  "I'm pretty sure she is perfectly fine here." With that, Jake hugged Mina and Diana, and bounded up the stairs to his room, video game in hand.
The rest of the girls just grinned and shook their heads. "Boys" commented Mina with a smile. Mina and Diana hugged the rest of the girls and departed for a nice long winter's nap, deeper then either would have guessed.

The incubus was watching Neural closely; then he noticed a cat girl and the magic girl that he felt compelled to drain leaving the Mato house.  "Hmm I wonder where they're going?" he mused, watching closely as the two girls hugged one another good night, then walked to their respective houses… that were right next to the one that Neural and incubus were in and on respectively. "You can't be serious," he muttered in shock. Just then, movement caught his eye and he look over just in time to see Neural step into the fireplace and disappear.  He ran to the back yard to see her pop up and out of the chimney. The incubus hid behind a tree watching as Neural hopped into her sleigh, lifting off of the roof.  After flipping a few switches, some bright electrical flashes flew off of the sleigh creating a green and red vortex.  The whole sleigh seemed to power up then lurched forward into the vortex.  As soon as the sleigh was in the vortex, it vanished. A split second later another appeared over Mina's house, a mere eight feet away, and the same sleigh jumped out of the vortex. The incubus just blinked.
Neural gently lowered her sleigh onto Mina's house.  She hopped out, just as the incubus hit on an easy way to drain Mina's hypnotic powers. Moving cautiously to the side of Mina's house, he watched through the window as Mina entered the living room.  He was watching as she sat on the couch and opened a book, a gift from Jessica, putting her feet on the couch. The incubus noticed the sparkling dust drift down the chimney and smiled.  "It won't be long now, my dear," he chuckled.
Mina was sitting on the couch reading her book in front of the fireplace when the cloud of sparkling dust enveloped her.  She started to feel incredibly complacent and began contemplating going to bed.  She glanced up from her book and her thoughts when she heard a soft thump come from the fireplace and saw a blond, female elf wearing a red velvet top with bell shaped sleeves, edged with black lace, tight black pants, and a Santa hat with a silver bell on the tip emerge from the inside.  Mina was in the midst of getting to her feet when the pretty elf walked over to her and waved her glowing palm in front of Mina's face causing Mina's eyes to glaze.  "You don't really see me, Dear one," Nerual said.  "I'm not here and you're on your way to bed to dream something pleasant.  Completely ignore that I'm here and when you wake up, you will not even remember our meeting."  Mina softly nodded and padded out of the room. 
The incubus watched as the dazed Mina walked into her bedroom.  He slowly pushed up the window and slid into her room. He was able to walk right up to the entranced Mina as she pulled her bedcovers back and gently grabbed the back of her neck, tilting her back against his body. "It is time I took that power of your's," he said as he began to drain her of her energy and magic, but to his surprise, the level of power he received was far less than he had imagined.  Draining Mina till she passed out in his arms, he gently lowered her to her bed and covered her with the blankets. "Now to try my new powers," thought the incubus with an evil smile. Raising his hand in the air, he tried to create a hypnotic vortex like the one Mina had used to entrance the patrons in the 'Spirals' night club. He watched as the vortex formed over his head, smiling with glee from ear to ear, until a bucket's worth of cold water dumped on him from the vortex.  Sopping wet and disappointed at the lack of power that he gained, he turned his focus to the elf that was finishing her job in front of the Christmas tree.
Nerual had just finished setting out the last of the presents under the tree and headed for the chimney when she saw a strange dark figure in the shape of a man rushing towards her.  She quickly activated her bracelet and shot up the chimney, but in her hurry she tripped over the lip of it, dropping her sack and hat.  She glanced back at the chimney as she crawled towards the sleigh, fearfully watching as the figure pulled himself out of the chimney and rose to his full height in front of her.  The way he stared at her unnerved her, but she was determined not to allow this male to get in the way of her work.  When she reached the side of the sleigh, she reached behind her and pressed a button that would alert the rest of the elves back at the North Pole of trouble.  If she did not turn the silent alarm off within a certain amount of time, someone would be sent out to investigate.  Turning back to the man, whom she could now see was rather young and handsome, she managed to ask him, "Who or what are you, and what do you want here?"
"I am called Xander, my dear, and I'm an incubus," he replied, grinning as he could see her fear.  "I want your energy and powers and whatever items you have that will help me in what I want to do."
"I'm sorry you'll have to wait," Nerual retorted.  "I have to get the rest of these gifts to the houses on my list.  Children and families are counting on seeing them tomorrow morning.  If I don't deliver, people will lose faith in Santa and I will not allow that."  The elven maiden began an incantation she and the others in her group had learned for emergency situations, but before she could even get a quarter of the way through the short spell, Xander had seemingly appeared right in front of her and grabbed her around the waist with one hand and stifling her speaking with his other.  Xander arrested her attention and as she gazed up at him in terror, he started to drain her energy.  Xander realized that Nerual knew what he was doing as she began to struggle violently in his grasp, but he continued until her energy had ebbed enough to where she no longer had the strength to struggle.  At that point, Xander replaced the hand at her mouth with his own mouth and wrapped his arms around her, grabbing her buttocks to pull her even closer, crushing her lithe form to his in a definite act of possession.  As a result of the blatantly sexual act, Xander had learned that he could coerce even more energy out of his victims in the form of fear, and Nerual was no exception.  Not only did her energy taste delicious, but he also relished the deeper sense of power he had over his winsome victim.  By this time, Nerual had slumped into unconsciousness and Xander continued to drain her energy and powers until the point where there was just enough energy left in order for her to survive and later regain consciousness.
With Nerual's energy and power coursing through his system, Xander gently laid his comatose elven beauty on the snowy roof.  He removed her bracelet, picked up her hat, and donned the hat himself.  The bracelet turned out to be too small for him to wear so he stuffed it in a pocket.  At that point, he sensed a bit of hypnotic power emanating from the gift bag and began to rifle through it.  He yanked out a sprig of mistletoe and stared at it confusedly.  It was from this that he sensed the radiating hypnotic power and yet it looked so commonly simple. Flipping the mistletoe over, he read the directions. "Place on ceiling or above door. "Flip switch to 'on'.  Bring person you wish to kiss under it. Enjoy".
"Seems simple enough," he thought. Soon the succubus, her powers, and the others in the Mato household would soon be bereft of their energy and his spoils from this attack would only make the execution of his plan that much simpler.  But, he still needed to be able to get through the house's defenses. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Diana letting her dog out before bed, seeing the perfect opportunity to gain access to the house. He gathered up the sleeping elf and his newly acquired items and flew off of the roof, landing flat on his back on the ground next to Diana's house.
As the incubus left the rooftop of Mina's house, the sleigh's silent alarms were being received back up at the North Pole and the continued signals alerted the elves of some dreaded sort of trouble.  One of their top investigators was sent out to remedy the problem.  They only hoped that no harm would come to Nerual and that the investigator would reach the scene before anything could ruin Christmas for the residents of Yoto.
With a quiet groan, Xander gently sat up, his helpless victim unharmed.  He placed the lovely elf behind a bush along the side of the house and slowly began to creep towards Diana who was letting her dog out near the back door.  The small puppy was a gift from Yuta. The small dog rolled around in the snow as Diana called for it, holding the back door open.  The tiny puppy ran as best it can towards the door, hitting the tile floor in Diana's kitchen and sliding face first into the cabinet, then rolling onto its back with its tongue sticking out happily. 
Diana let out a soft, "Awww, that's so cute!" and went to pick up the puppy when she felt someone grab the end of her tail.  Turning around, she saw Xander standing in the bushes with an evil grin on his face and his hand holding onto her tail. "Hey! What do you think your dooooo… ooooohhhh," was all Diana could muster as her energy started to drain over to Xander. He moved from the bushes and slid up behind the cat girl and noticed his hand started to glow. He smiled, then realized it was glowing lilac and groaned.
"Nice manly color.  Geez," he muttered, rolling his eyes as he waved the hand before Diana's eyes, catching the weakened feline off guard. By the time his hand was moved away from her face, her eyes were glazed and her face was slack. Letting go of her tail, the incubus gently waved his glowing hand before the puppy's eyes whose legs slid out from underneath him, leaving him flat on his stomach and peaceful. "Aw, that is cute." said the incubus, showing a softer side.  Then looking around to make sure no one saw what had just occurred, he rose up again and looked at Diana.
"You know the succubus that lives across the street, don't you?" he asked commandingly.
"Yes.  Her name is Dawn," replied Diana sleepily.
"Is she there right now?" asked the incubus with a knowing smile.
"Yes," replied Diana without any change to the tone of her voice from a moment before.
Xander stepped away and pumped his arm into the air in excitement. "Yes!  The defense system on the house, how do you turn it off?" he demanded.
"Password, boobies," Diana revealed with a yawn.
Xander raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Obviously set by one of the guys," he thought. "Thank you, my dear, you have been most helpful."  With that, he gently slid a hand behind her neck and drained the rest of her energy.  Diana's eyes fluttered and rolled back into her head as she slumped forward into Xander's waiting arms. Draining the last of her immediately available energy, he laid her on the floor next to her entranced puppy.
With an evil grin Xander ran out the back door, took off flying over Diana's house, and landed right at Mato's front door, whispering repeatedly, "Boobies, boobies, boobies, boobies". To his shock, surprise and ultimately horror, Homeshield replied.
"System deactivated. System armed. System deactivated. System armed. Intruder detected, initiating level one security."
Before Xander could reply, the welcome mat beneath him electrified, covering him in electricity and making his wings and hair stand straight up.  His tail was erected straight from his back as he shook, standing on the door mat for about a minute before the system stopped the electric current that coursed through his body.
With what energy and strength he had remaining, Xander squeaked out, "Boobies," then fell flat on his back in one large, black dust cloud of ash.
"System Deactivated," replied Homeshield happily.
Xander picked himself up and brushed himself off.  Not wanting to just walk through the front door, he flew to the roof top and moved over to the skylight. Gently opening the skylight, and slipping through, he opened his wings so he could glide safely down to the floor, but half way down, his left wing tip hit the chandelier, causing him to spin out of control and slam into the kitchen table with a loud crash.

In Jake's room, the thud was clearly audible.  Jake; however, was so engrossed in his new game that he didn't even flinch. He just kept hitting the buttons on the game controller with a look of extreme determination.

In Mato's room, a small flat-screen monitor rose up out of his clothing dresser showing Xander picking himself up off of the incredibly sturdy table. Beneath him, showing on the screen, read the words, "Intruder detected, hypnotic powers analyzed. Hypnotic abilities: moderate. Surveillance activated."  Mato would have been thrilled about the possibility of a new subject for study, but for the first time in years, he was sound asleep in his bed before midnight, with a huge grin on his face, and his wife's teddy bear tucked under his arm.


Back in the kitchen, Xander had managed to get off of the table without hurting himself. He spied Dawn standing, still frozen, in the living room and was about to move to her when he heard someone coming down the stairs.  Quickly jumping up and sticking to the ceiling, Xander hid himself as Jen bounded down the stairs. Her blonde pony tail bounced around as she looked around the kitchen.  "I swear I heard something break down here," she commented to herself, investigating around the kitchen. "Oh well," she shrugged and walked over to the fridge for some eggnog.
Xander gently let go of the ceiling and floated down behind Jen, in his first graceful move in months.  He landed without a single sound revealing his presence. He reached forward, and in one smooth motion, wrapped his tail around Jen's waist and pulled her to him. Gently placing one hand over her mouth, and another holding her free arm, he whispered to Jen. "Easy little genie, I won't hurt you," he said in a soothing voice as he started to drain her energy.
Jen gasped in shock, but it was muffled by Xander's hand. She tried to struggle but she was feeling so weak, so tired, that any struggling she could attempt was futile.  She slumped back into Xander and her mind fogged over causing her to forget what she was doing, or why she was feebly struggling. She just wanted to relax.  The person behind her was so strong that she could just lean back and relax into him.
Not realizing that all of her thoughts were being whispered into her ear by Xander, Jen leaned back onto his chest, letting him support her weight. The genie's eyes slowly fluttered closed as she went limp in Xander's arms. With a smile, he lifted her into his arms in a cradled position and carried her over to the couch, gently laying her down and moving to his prize, the reason he was here, the beautiful and completely helpless succubus…Dawn.
Walking around her, admiring her body, Xander smiled.  She was quite a lovely prize.  He gently reached a hand out to place on her stomach as he had planned to drain her slowly while she was stuck. But just as he reached her stomach, the stasis field gave him a jolt to his hand. "Owww, what the hell?" he cursed, moving to touch her again and receiving another jolt.  "Oh, give me a break," he growled angrily, then kicked at the frozen Dawn, but slammed his foot into the stasis field.  He reached down and grabbed his foot.  Hopping on the other foot, he bounced around the frozen Dawn.  "Son of a….. ahhh….crap….piece a….. grrrrr.  Ahhhh" he swore as he bounced around until he finally lost his balance and landed face first on the floor. Groaning again, he picked himself up slowly, stretching to put everything back in place. "I need a vacation" he sighed.
Then he started to sense hypnotic energy flowing freely from another part of the house, somewhere on the second floor.  He slowly climbed the stairs, moving as quietly as he could. Passing a door, he thought he heard the sound of a male voice shout, "Take that slime ball!" He slowly continued down the hall until he came to the door from which he could feel the energy coming. He peeked through the key hole and realized he was standing ten feet from the singer, Siren!  She was sitting in front of her mirror, brushing her hair, and singing. He watched her contently.  She was so beautiful, and the sound of her singing, although muffled by the door, was so divine. 
Xander was unaware of how relaxed he was starting to feel as he watched Fawn sing.  He was so lost in the words that he didn't notice the door behind him swing open. He was looking through the keyhole so intently, so focused, that he was starting to sway, when suddenly another head appeared next to his trying to look through the keyhole as well. Xander, startled by the new person, fell over softly and shook off the effects of Fawn's singing, and stared right up at Lucia who was wearing a pair of daisy duke pajama bottoms and a sleeveless pajama top that barely came down to the top of her midsection. "Hi!" beamed Lucia with a smile as she looked through Fawn's key hole. "Whatcha doin?" she asked innocently.
"Ummm, I … ummm… I was listening to the singing.  She has a lovely voice, doesn't she? Just put your ear to the door and you can hear her," Xander said calmly, having figured out what had happened and why Fawn was called 'Siren'.
Lucia was as excited as a kid on a sugar high and pressed her ear to the door.  Xander slowly rose and watched as Lucia's eyes started to glaze over and her hands started to slide down the door. He confidently moved towards her, when suddenly Fawn dropped her brush in the bedroom and made a loud clank as it hit her dresser. The noise was enough to jolt Lucia awake who stood up quickly, and spinning, looked at Xander confused.
Xander, himself, was so startled he tripped over his own tail and fell into Lucia, knocking her to the floor with a soft thud. Xander was able to stop himself from crushing the girl, but landed on his hands and knees, barely an inch above her.  Looking down into her eyes as she looked up at him, Lucia laughed with a nervous grin. "You're friendly, aren't you?" she asked.  Xander realized that he and Lucia were practically so close to one another that they were nearly one body and started to drain her energy through the immense physical contact. Looking back down at her, he couldn't help but ogle at the view he had inadvertently rewarded himself with momentarily, but quickly regained his composure.
"Yes I am.  I like to help people relax and sleep.  Just let yourself feel so sleepy. Don't fight it.  Just let go and sleep," Xander said soothingly, but quietly, not wanting to alert the others of his intrusion.
Lucia's eyes were fluttering as the energy slipped out of her and into Xander. "Mmm, so peaceful.  We play…games….like…this…a…looooottttt," Lucia trailed off as her head slumped to the side, sound asleep. Xander smiled and stepping away from the drained angel, picked her up, carrying her into her room and laying her on her bed.
With a relieved sigh, he sat down on the floor next to the bed.  Having nearly been caught twice had shaken his nerve a bit. But, after a moment of rest he became aware of even more hypnotic energy in use. "How many people in this house are capable of hypnosis?" he thought. Slowly sneaking down the hallway to the door that he could sense the energy coming from, he looked through the keyhole, noticing Jessica on her knees who was staring up at Yuta as the young girl swung a pocket watch back and forth slowly.
"That's it, Jessica. Just relax, let your mind go as you watch the watch go back and forth. It's so easy to relax. Let go and see how it shines in the light. Mentally recording every single word, learn the pattern.  You have been coming to me for weeks, learning how to use the pocket watch to play games. And, tonight you are ready, aren't you Jessica?"
"Yes… Mistress Yuta," was Jessica's monotone reply.
Xander was in shock as he gazed at the scene through the keyhole. "Apparently, everyone can use hypnosis here," he thought.
Yuta smiled. "Great!" she announced, putting the pocket watch in Jessica's hand and stealing a kiss from the tranced soldier. "You know what you're going to do, don't you, Jessica?"
"Yes, Mistress Yuta," replied Jessica again.
"Good.  One, two, three, wide awake," said Yuta with a huge grin.
Jessica blinked and looked at Yuta with a smile. "Thanks Yuta…. This is going to be great," she pronounced, standing up, hugging the robot girl, and heading for the door.
"Crap," thought Xander as he ran halfway down the stairs and watched as Jessica emerged from Yuta's room. She had the pocket watch in hand and walked to a door farther down the hall and knocked gently. A few moments later, Sarah answered the door in her pajamas which, oddly enough, looked just like her police uniform just made of silk
"Hey, Jessica.  What's up?" asked Sarah.
Jessica smiled excitedly. "Care see what I learned?" she beamed.
Sarah looked a bit confused. "Umm, ok?" she replied, unsure as to what exactly Jessica was referring.
Jessica raised her golden pocket watch and began to swing it back and forth before Sarah's eyes "Just relax Sarah, and focus.  Watch how the watch shines in the light. See how the light reflects and bends, producing a number of new colors, blues and greens all backed by gold. You can see them, can't you now, Sarah?" asked Jessica in a soothing yet confident voice.
Sarah's eyes had been fixated on the pocket watch since it started swinging, her face had gone slack and her eyes had a far away look in them. "Yes…Mistress Jessica," was Sarah monotone reply.
Jessica smiled at Yuta who had remained down the hall.  Yuta clapped softly, bouncing up and down with a huge grin.  Jessica winked then looked back at Sarah, instructing her to move into her room, and followed the entranced young woman.  The door closed softly behind them.
Yuta glanced into her room for a second.  Then her face lit up and she walked down the hall into Katia's room, without knocking on the door. Inside, Katia was half dressed and gasping in shock, covered herself with her bed sheet.
"Yuta! Knock next time!" shouted the startled princess.
Yuta giggled.  "Sorry, Katia. I just wanted to know if you wanted to join me in using the bubble bath. I'm sure it would work great in the hot tub," said Yuta with a genuine smile.
Katie smiled and shook her head.  "Thanks Yuta, but I'm really tired."
Before Katia could realize what she had said, Yuta's eyes started to turn into spirals focused directly on Katia's.  "Then you should rest, Princess.  Rest, the hot tub would help you relax wouldn't' it, Katia?"
Katia was taken completely by surprise and her eyes immediately started to reflect the spirals. Her face slackened and her arms slid down showing off Katia's small lace bra that she had been hiding under the sheets. "Yes, Mistress Yuta," she replied helplessly.
Yuta smiled as her eyes returned to normal.  "Meet me in the bathroom with the hot tub.  I'll be right there."

Outside the door Xander nearly had a panic attack.  Yuta was running full force towards the door.  Without thinking, he jumped up and stuck to the ceiling as the robot girl flew out of the doorway and raced down the hall to her bedroom, nearly hitting Xander with the door.  Then he looked down and got a great view of Katia's chest as she dazedly walked out, heading for the bathroom. 
Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out the hypnotic mistletoe, thinking, "Eh, how bad could it be?" Crawling along the ceiling to just in front of Yuta's room, he placed the mistletoe on the ceiling, and turning it on, floated to the floor and backed away as it clicked into gear.
As Yuta opened the door and saw Xander in the hall.  She gasped, "Who are you?  What are you?" she asked, noticing the tail.
Bowing, "My name is Xander.  I'm an incubus.  I have a game I would like to show you," he said with a disarming smile.
Yuta's eyes lit up.  "A game?  Really? Show me, show me!" Yuta was on the verge of bouncing, she was so excited.
Xander smiled and pointed to the mistletoe.  "There it is," he spoke warmly.
Yuta looked up.  "That doesn't look like a game to me," she complained, starting to walk closer to it.  She was about to comment on how boring the game was when she finally got into range of the mistletoe and a yellow bolt of lighting flew out of the decoration, striking her in the head.  Her eyes went yellow and she looked at Xander.  Moving to him, she embraced him a deep, passionate kiss. Xander held her close and tight, draining her energy before she could awaken from the effects of the mistletoe.  Yuta kept up the kiss as her arms started to slide down from his waist to her sides.  Her body started to wobble.  Xander wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.  Her lips went slack against his as he watched her eyes sink closed.  The young blonde went totally limp in his arms. Xander smiled, and felt something odd happening.  He could feel that he could use his eyes now… in a way he never could before. 
With a big grin, he lifted Yuta over his shoulder and carried her into the bathroom. There, Katia has stripped down to her bra and panties and was staring straight ahead as Xander laid Yuta down next to the hot tub.
Unfortunately Yuta slid down the side of the hot tub and bumped into Katia's leg. Katia blinked and looked around, free from Yuta's hypnotic control. "Huh? What's going on?" she asked rhetorically. She glanced down at Yuta.  "Yuta, you ok ?"  Checking Yuta to see if she's ok, she then noticed Xander standing next to her. With a gasp she stood up, backing away from the intimidating intruder.
Xander grabbed Katia's shoulders before she could back away too far to where he would not be able to reach her and pulled her close to him.  "Focus on my eyes," he commanded as his eyes turned to spirals, thanks to having absorbed Yuta's powers.  Katia, still half dazed from Yuta putting her under, didn't stand much of a chance. Her face muscles quickly relaxed and her arms hung limp at her sides as she simply relaxed into his grasp . Xander smiled, "Good girl, Princess. Now come with me," he suggested, releasing her, making sure that Katia could stand.  Xander walked her into the hallway and pointed to the mistletoe. "When you wake up, you are going to want to go and get your singing friend, 'Siren,' from down the hall. You will tell her there is something you want to show her and bring her here to stand under the mistletoe.  Understand, Katia?" Xander ordered.
Katia wobbled on her feet then replied, "Yes Master."
With a smile, Xander pushed Katia forward a bit to get her walking.  "One, two, three, wide awake," he whispered, then hid in the bathroom, watching her through the doorway. 
Katia stumbled down the hall, attempting to clear her foggy head.  She looked up and noticed the mistletoe, continuing on her way to Fawn's room and knocking on the door.
The starlet opened the door in a long pair of tight pajama bottoms and a long-sleeved designer, form-fitting top. "Hey Katia, what's up?" she asked.
"Come here.  There's something in the hallway that I don't know what it is. Maybe you can tell me?" Katia asked confused.
Fawn looked up and came out into the hallway a bit confused.  She and Katia moved closer underneath the mistletoe. "I don't remember seeing that there earlier," commented Fawn.  "I wonder if Jake put it uuu…."  The ladies were cut off by the mistletoe zapping both of them in the forehead with the yellow lightning, making both of their eyes start to glow yellow.  The two girls looked at one another, moving closer, and began kissing passionately.  Xander crept out of the bathroom and jumped to the ceiling, crawling along the ceiling to reach the off button on the mistletoe.  He then dropped down next to the princess and the starlet, still deep in each other's passionate kiss.
Standing next to them, he gently reached out and, holding his hand a fraction of an inch from them, started to drain their energy while they kissed. Both girls started to slow down the kissing frenzy, their hands going from a passionate rub to a slow gentle caress,  and then finally just sliding down the other's back.  The kiss was slow, ending within moments. As their faces went slack and both started to fall, Xander was able to catch Fawn who fell towards him, but Katia fell to the hallway floor with a soft thud. Xander slowly lowered Fawn to the floor, and smiled, "Eight down, who knows how many more to go tonight."
Remembering that he seen two people earlier go into a door down the hall, Xander slunk down the hall and peered inside the keyhole of the door the two had earlier entered.

Inside Jessica was lying topless and face down on Sarah's bed, arms folded with a big grin on her face. Sarah was tranced, sitting on Jessica's butt and rubbing oil into her back. Behind them the door slowly opened quietly and unnoticed as Xander snuck into the room. Quietly climbing the wall and walking along the ceiling, stopping right above the two ladies,  Xander got an idea and concentrated.  He notices that his tail started to glow lilac in color and he lowered it down gently, letting it hang before Jessica's eyes, swinging it back and forth slowly. Jessica noticed a change in the light through her closed eyelids and opened her eyes just in time to see the glowing tail slide past. She had barely enough to gasp before the elven magic made her calm and passive. 
Xander smiled then forgot he was on the ceiling and fell flat on his back on the floor with an audible thud. Sarah shook her head and looked around.  "What the, Jessica what's going on?" she asked, shaking the entranced Jessica beneath her.
Xander sat up with a groan and seeing each other, both he and Sarah screamed. 
"Who the heck are you?" demanded Sarah.
Xander swung his tail around before Sarah's eyes.  "Someone you won't remember.  Now focus and sleep, my dear."
Sarah saw the tail move a few times back and forth before her eyes before she shook her head and slapped the tail away. "You're under arrest for breaking and entering," barked Sarah, standing up and moving to arrest Xander.
Xander backed up, putting his hands out trying to create a hypnotic orb, but all that he could muster was an orb that flickered a few times then faded. Xander was so nervous and was staring at his hands that he missed Sarah grab his arm and spin him around, slamming him face first into the outside wall.  She put both of his hands behind his back and handcuffed them, holding him against the wall. "What do you have to say for yourself?" demanded Sarah.
Xander, thinking quickly, realized that he had absorbed 'Siren's' powers, and started to sing.  "I'm sorry, Officer.  I know I did wrong.  If you will just listen for a moment, it won't be long.  You're safe in your room.   Your friend is here. So tired and sleepy now, there's no need to fear. So heavy and tired, so hard to focus, no real need to worry about this incubus and his hocus pocus."
Despite the words that Xander was rambling off almost randomly, the hypnotic voice from Fawn was taking its toll. Sarah's hands loosened their grip and slid to her sides.  Her face was going slack as Xander glanced over his shoulder.
"So easy to just undo the hand cuffs. No need for them now and no need to get rough." Xander smiled as Sarah undid the hand cuffs then turned around. Taking Sarah's face in his hands, he drained her energy through his hands. "You're pretty for a cop," he smiled then kissed her, increasing the drain of the energy. Sarah's eyes opened just slightly wider at the kiss then sank all the way closed. Her arms fell to her sides, and her head rocked back breaking the kiss.  Xander lowered her gently to the floor then stroked her cheek. "We'll meet again.  I'm sure of it," he smiled.
Standing up and walking over to Jessica, he began massaging her back, rubbing the massage oil into her skin, and sucking her energy out.  Jessica was already so relaxed that all she did was close her eyes and let her head fall to one side when she was deeply and completely drained.

In the living room, Dawn stood still encased in the in the stasis field. The baton that had placed her in that state started to beep softly from the couch, and the field disappeared. Dawn picked up her sentence right where she left off, completely unaware of anything having happened.  "Do with that thing freeze…me?" she finished, looking around seeing that the only person in the room was Jen who was sound asleep on the couch.
Dawn growled, "I'm going to completely screw that girl up in the head." Then Dawn looked down a bit and noticed the hand knitted scarf around her neck. "What is this?" she asked, removing it slowly. Then she noticed the tag reading, 'To Dawn, from Lucia.'  Dawn quickly looked around the room making sure no one else was there and smiled "Awww, that's sweet.  I'll have to give Lucia something extra special," she said with a oddly happy, yet wicked grin. Then smiled at Jen, "But first, a little snack won't hurt."  Dawn smiled and placed her hand on Jens cheek but realized something was wrong.  Jen had almost no energy to drain.  She had been drained already.
"What the heck?" Dawn thought.  Walking over to the control panel on the wall, Dawn asked casually, "Computer, status of Homeshield?"
The computer replied, "Homeshield deactivated."
Dawn looked around concerned, "Display last person to deactivate Homeshield." On the computer screen before Dawn, a picture of Xander appeared, charred from being electrocuted, but still easily distinguishable as an incubus. "Wonderful, competition," she thought.

Moving up the stairs, Dawn found Fawn and Katia, lying on the floor, both drained. Dawn reached down and rubbed a hand over both girls, looking for any energy left when Xander stepped out of Sarah's bedroom. Dawn looked up and leapt right at Xander.
Xander barely had time to realize what was coming his way before Dawn slammed him against Mato's door.

Inside Mato's room the surveillance equipment was keeping close tabs on Xander's movements while Mato was sound asleep still holding the teddy bear.

"Who are you?" Dawn demanded, grabbing Xander by the collar.
Xander, shocked by Dawn's ferocity, took a moment to figure out what was happening and blurted out, "Xander, I'm Xander.  Don't hurt me please!"
Dawn lifted Xander off the ground and held him against Mato's door. "How many of the girls here did you drain?" Dawn demanded.
Xander thought for a second, doing the math in his head "Ummm, seven here, and three across the street. I think, umm yeah… wait a second," he replied.  Xander looked down at Dawn realizing just how strong he really was right now.
Dawn also realized how strong Xander was and quickly reacted by throwing him down the hall and sending him crashing down the stairs.  Xander slowly picked himself up, shaking his head when Dawn slammed both of her feet into his back, sending him flying and crashing into the front door. "Ughh!  Come on, it's not like you haven't drained them before," he said picking himself up again.
"That's different," barked Dawn, moving to deck Xander.
Xander ducked and pushed Dawn half way into the kitchen, the succubus' wings catching her in mid air and letting her glide to the ground.

In Jake's room, he was busy playing the last level of his video game as the house shook from the two demons fighting in the living room. All Jake could think was, "Wow, the force feedback on this game is great!"  Convinced that all of the rumbling and shaking going on was due to the game, Jake continued to play his game, even more determined to complete it.

Dawn landed on the kitchen table, and threw her wings out to full length making her look even more threatening. She braced as Xander ran full force towards the table about to jump up onto it to join her, but just before he could jump, he tripped and slammed into the top of the table face first. Dawn just stared down at him and snorted "Idiot." Then she leaned down and created an orb in her hand.
Xander realized what she was about to try and grabbed her wrist, trying to create his own orb in his other hand.  Dawn smirked and grab his wrist. "Pitiful," she sneered with disgust.  Xander smiled deviously and started to drain Dawn's energy through the wrist he had grasped. Dawn gasped then regained her composure.  "Two can play at that game," she said with definite disdain as she began to drain from Xander.
Xander's face displayed the nervousness and the strain as Dawn began to drain his energy.  He was powerful, but she was more experienced and was draining him at twice the speed that he was draining her. Dawn looked down with a confident grin.  "This should teach you to try and mess with my territory… amateur," Dawn said with complete contempt.
Xander was starting to get worried when the orb in his left hand stopped flickering and solidified just like Dawn's.  He smiled then winced as Dawn twisted his wrist away from her so she wouldn't have to look at it. "Well, well, well, it seems like the amateur has absorbed some of my powers.  Looks like I'll just have to take them baaaaa…." Dawn was cut off when seemingly out of no where she lost her balance and fell off the table, losing her grip on Xander and ripping her wrist out of his grasp. She landed with a loud bang between the table and the counter.
Xander took a second to catch his breath then realized what had happened.  While he had absorbed Dawn's power to make orbs, she had accidentally absorbed some of his clumsiness. "How fitting," he thought. Then it dawned on him. "Wait a second; I can make orbs now!" A small light bulb flashed over his head as the realization hit him.
Dawn sat up, shaking her head, confused as to what had just happened.  Her vision cleared just in time so see Xander's hand move in front of her face and a neon orb appear in his hand, cycling through the color spectrum from purple to red and back. Dawn gasped as her eyes instantly began to reflect the colors of the orb. "No, I won't let … you… drop…." Dawn's voice trailed off as her face went slack, her eyes closed part ways, and her body relaxed.
Xander was about to let out a shout of joy when he realized there may still be some more people awake in the house.  Xander took a deep breath and then looked at the tranced Dawn. "Do you have a room here, succubus?" he asked in a soft but commanding tone.
Dawn replied softly, a bit more energetically than monotone, "Yes."
Xander smiled, "Take me there." He quietly followed Dawn as she stood up, and blankly walked up the stairs, cautiously stepping over Katia and Fawn and continuing to Dawn's room.
Dawn opened the door and stepped in as Xander followed, making the orb disappear.  Dawn wasn't watching it anymore anyways. He moved to her and gently stroked her cheek.  "I have a very special way in mind to drain you, my dear," he said with a smile then tenderly kissed her cheek. "Respond accordingly."
Dawn smiled, her eyes still glazed, as she leaned in and kissed Xander. Xander grinned; his eyes opened widely; and he pumped both arms into the air in victory. Then he wrapped his arms around Dawn and dipped the entranced succubus over his knee.  Lightly sliding his tail to the door knob, he slowly and quietly closed the door.

Twenty minutes later the door reopened and Xander walked out, standing straight and tall, with a huge successful grin on his face.  Behind him Dawn was visible in her bed, with a worn out sleepy look on her face. Her body sprawled under the covers. Xander straightened his own clothing and walked downstairs stepping over Katia and Fawn and walking into to the kitchen. "I think I'll have a little snack before I continue," he thought confidently.
A few seconds after Xander had cleared the stairs and entered the kitchen, Jake's door flew open, and Jake came out dancing happily. "Yeah baby, yeah, who's the man? Who's the…?  Why are Katia and Fawn asleep in the hallway?" he questioned, coming to an abrupt stop in his dance. He moved over to Katia and Fawn and tried to wake them. "Come on you two, what's gotten into…?  Dawn!" Jake said standing up and marching to Dawn's room.
Jake entered in an angry rush. "Dawn, it's Christmas Eve.  Couldn't you…?  Huh?" he exclaimed, noticing that Dawn was also sound asleep.  After trying to rouse her a few times he realized she was completely unconscious. "Something's not right here," he thought.
Jake spent the next few minutes exploring the bedrooms, finding Jessica and Sarah passed out in Sarah's room, Yuta passed out next to the hot tub in the bathroom, and Lucia sound asleep in her bed. The only person he couldn't find was Jen.  He started to walk down the stairs when he heard a noise in the kitchen. Sliding down the railing, he peeked into the living room, discovered Jen asleep on the couch, and noticed through the reflection in the TV that someone was in the kitchen, someone with wings, and a tail, using his special honey mustard to make a sandwich!
"Oh that's it!" Jake thought, flipping on his special Captain Anime wrist watch and activating the special pink suit. "Time to do some damage," he said, boldly stepping around the corner, putting his hands on his hips, and staring at the back of the incubus's head.
"You're in big trouble, Mister," declared Captain Anime defiantly.
Xander spun around, sending his sandwich flying across the room causing pieces of the 6 inch tall monstrous sandwich to go everywhere. "Captain Anime! How did you?  Where did you?  Why did you?" Xander blurted out in shock.
Captain Anime just stood like stone with his helmet down. "Any other rhetorical questions?" he asked calmly.
Xander tilted his head to the side confused. "Yeah, why pink?"
"The suit came in this color. I didn't choose it!" shouted Captain Anime frustrated.
Xander nodded. "Ah I know the feeling," he responded, raising his hand glowing lilac in color "I didn't get to pick this color either. I would have preferred a blue color, or a red personally."
Captain Anime shifted to a more relaxed pose, gesturing to Xander even more frustrated.  "I know.  It's like, what would have been so hard in using a gender neutral color… but noooo, we have to go with pink."
"No kidding, at least you can change the color though," Xander said, looking at his hand in disgust that it was glowing such a strange, girly color.
Captain Anime looked over his suit. "Yeah but I think that might damage it.  Anyways, back to business," he said, straightening up.
"Oh! Yeah, right" said Xander, crouching into a bit more of a sinister and threatening pose. "What are you doing here?"
In a heroic pose, Captain Anime, a.k.a Jake, pointed at Xander, "I'm here to stop you from doing… whatever it is you are doing!"
Xander tilted his head and looked confused again. "Making a sandwich?" he asked.
Captain Anime folded his arms in frustration, "No, idiot.  You drained the occupants of this house of their energy.  That's against the law!  But, we can add that to the list as you're also trespassing, not to mention breaking and entering."
A look of realization crossed Xander's face. "Oh yeah, right, that!"
"Do you surrender or do we have to do this the hard way?" asked Captain Anime genuinely curious.
"Hmmm," Xander thought out loud. "Umm, I think I'll go with the hard way," Xander said with a smile before jumping into the air, tucking and rolling in mid air throwing both feet out, aimed at Captain Anime's chest… then slamming back first into the floor having missed Captain Anime by more then 3 feet.
Captain Anime looked down at Xander and replied sarcastically, "Depth perception is off.  You may want to get that checked."  Then he leaned down and picked up Xander with one hand, holding him in the air. "Do you surrender now?" he asked.
"Never!" barked Xander, kicking Captain Anime in the center of his chest armor,  immediately followed by Xander's face sinking in the realization that he just kicked metal. "Owwwie!"
Captain Anime shook his head and hurled Xander towards the wall.  Xander was able to spread his wings in mid air and recovered, gliding around the room laughing maniacally.  "Hahahah, you can't stop me!" he prematurely declared, followed immediately by a crash as Xander flew directly into the wall, smashing his face and slowly sliding down to the floor. Captain Anime sighed and started to walk towards Xander. Xander, seeing him coming, got to his feet and attempted to kick Captain Anime, but before he got the chance, Captain Anime rushed forward and shoved him clean out of the living room's picture window. 
Xander landed hard against the tree in the front yard.  Tiny blue birds circled his head, singing. Shaking his head and batting away the birds, Xander stood up shaking then noticed three red and green vortices appear above the Mato house. "Oh crap, she called for reinforcements," he cried.  Without giving Captain Anime a second look, Xander turned and took to the air, flying over towards Diana's house.

Back in the house, Jake watched the incubus leave and sighed, deactivating his Captain Anime suit. "Hopefully we won't be seeing him again any time soon," Jake said proudly as he walked over to see to Jen, still passed out on the couch.  Gently stroking her cheek to see if he could get a response out of the comatose genie, Jake didn't notice a cloud of sparkling dust come down the chimney and start to fill the room.  He did notice that he was feeling very tired, assuming it was from the battle with the incubus.  Then he heard a light thump and turned around to see an elf, dressed in a red and green camouflaged jump suit emerge from the fire place,  her short black hair covered by her Santa hat.
The elf smiled at Jake as her hand started to glow a rosy color. "You don't see me, Jake Mato.  I'm not even here," she said waving her hand in front of Jake's face.  Jake was about to say something when a warm, sleepily content feeling came over him, and he just nodded.  Jake was too tired to notice three more female elves drop down the chimney, a blonde, a red head, and a brunette.  One of the three was carrying a replacement window.  The red head took Jake's hand and helped him to bed, while the blonde and the dark-haired elf both helped to carry Jen to bed after the blonde cautiously set the replacement window glass  down on the floor.

Across the street, Xander managed to only take out three bushes as he crashed into Diana's backyard.  He had noticed several more elf sleighs appear out of nowhere in the neighborhood and was being extra cautious as he snuck behind the bushes to retrieve Neural. He happened to catch some movement in Diana's house and noticed an elf in red and green camouflage waving a glowing hand before Diana's mother Kitty.  He waited until she was out of sight to cradle Neural in his arms and take off, dropping Nerual's bracelet in the process, hastily heading towards the other side of the city.

Several hours later, at the North Pole, the six elf sleigh task force returned.  Santa was sitting at his desk, a look of definite worry on his face as the dark haired elf entered his office. Santa looked up from his desk and asked hopefully, "Did you find anything Susan?"
Elf Special Forces commander, Susan I. Vanova, stood at ease before her employer's desk. "Sir," she began "we found evidence that Neural encountered an incubus.  Judging from where we found her sleigh, he must have ambushed her, and drained her hypnotic powers. He then spent several hours draining other victims: a young woman next door as well as her puppy and several women across the street at the Mato house.  From the looks of things, he also managed to steal Jake Mato's mistletoe gift."
Santa put his face in his hands and sighed, "Were you able to contain the situation?" he asked concerned.
"Yes sir, all damage was repaired, memories erased, and all stolen gifts were replaced with identical substitutes. They will all awaken tomorrow morning believing they went to bed on their own and had a good night's sleep," replied the elf commander.
Santa gave a quick grin and a nod.  "Thank you Commander.  Now let's bring Neural home!"
The elf commander nodded and saluted.  "Yes Sir!"

The sun was slowly rising over the Mato house. All was quiet, until the sound of Yuta shrieking filled the whole house, "IIIIIIITTTTTTTTT'SSSSSSSS CCCCCHHHHRRRRIIIIISSSSSSTTTTTTTMMMMMAAAASSSSSSSS!!!!"  Half the residents awoke with a start and started to slowly file out of their rooms, groggy but happy. 
In Dawn's room, the succubus stretched widely, and smiled, "Oh wow, I must have been really drained.  I haven't slept that well in a long time." Not catching the irony of her statement, she moved to get out of bed then quickly raised her covers and stared underneath them for a second. Then slowly lowered them with a surprised expression on her face and asked out loud. "Why did I go to bed naked last night? Hmm oh well," she shrugged, ignoring the evidence and got up to get dressed.

By the time Dawn made it downstairs, the living room was covered in wrapping paper as everyone was tearing into their gifts. They were so engrossed in what they were doing that no one noticed Dawn until she grabbed Lucia from behind and hugged her, causing Lucia to squeak.   "Hey, angel," she said with a devious grin then smiled warmly. "Thank you for the scarf. It's beautiful."
Lucia beamed happily, "You're welcome," she replied and hugged Dawn as best she could considering Dawn was behind her.
Behind them, Jake was attaching his gift, mistletoe, specially picked out for him by Santa Clause, to a ceiling beam.
Dawn moved over to Sarah with a slightly less cheerful look on her face. "I do however owe you for freezing me last night," she scolded harshly.
"Hey, I didn't know what it would do.  You can't blame me," said Sarah standing up defensively.
"Oh yes you did and yes I can.  It was one of Mato's inventions.  How did you know it wouldn't kill me?  Did you think of that?" demanded Dawn.
Mato was too busy playing with a new gyroscopic scooter from Jessica to notice the insult.
"Mato's nuts, But he hasn't killed anything or anyone yet, and it kept you out of trouble, didn't it?" said Sarah with an air of superiority. "Anyone else want some eggnog?" she asked, walking past Dawn.
"Hey, you can't blow me off that easily!" countered Dawn following her.
Just as they were passing Jake, he flipped the switch on his mistletoe, and stepped back, not sure as to what it would do. To his and everyone's surprise, the mistletoe hummed and two solid gold lighting bolts flew out, striking Dawn and Sarah in the head. Both girls gasped then turned towards one another.  They embraced, smiling, and began kissing, deeply massaging each other during the kiss.
Jake stood with his mouth wide open as everyone else waited for him to make a reply.  His ultimate response was not what they had expected. "Oh, sweet!" he said with a grin.
"Beloved!" reprimanded Katia.
"Oh great," complained Jen putting her face in her hands
"Oooo a new game," clapped Yuta, her excitement level not having dropped at all since she woke up.
Jessica just shook her head, in disbelief.  Mato was busy spinning in circles on his new scooter to notice while Fawn was looking back and forth between Sarah and Dawn kissing and Mato spinning, trying to figure out which would cause the bigger disaster first.
Jake just looked at the girls. "What? I didn't do it," he commented, shrugging innocently.
Katia hit on a great idea and walked up to Jake wrapping her arm around his. "Beloved, why don't we go into the kitchen?" she suggested, trying to drag Jake closer to the mistletoe.
Yuta, as well as the rest of the girls, figured out exactly what was going on. Whereas the rest rolled their eyes, Yuta ran up and grabbed Jake's other arm. "No, Jake, come with me.  I have something I want to show you."
Katia let go of Jake's arm and stood staring right at Yuta. "No, he is coming with me!" she challenged.
Yuta also let go of Jake and stood facing Katia shouting, "No, he is coming with me!"
The two continued their argument while Jake started to back up as slowly as he could. Behind him, Mato turned on his scooter too sharply and took out the Christmas tree, falling off his scooter shouting, "Ahh! Genius down, genius down!" Jessica and Jen moved to help him up while Fawn moved towards Jake shaking her head.
"Should have put money on that one," she smiled as she moved to Jake.  "Jake I have a special Christmas present for you," she said warmly.
Jake looked like a dear caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. "And… that … would be?" he said cautiously.
Fawn smiled, turned around, walked up to the still bickering Yuta and Katia, and gave them both a gentle push. Both girls went to yell "Hey!" at Fawn, but before they could argue any further the mistletoe on the ceiling shot out two new lighting bolts, striking both Yuta and Katia in the head.  They smiled at each other dazedly and wrapped their arms around each other, kissing just as deeply as Sarah and Dawn.
Fawn turned towards Jake and grinned sarcastically. "Merry Christmas, I give you the gift… of peace," she said.
Jake smiled and hugged Fawn, whispering into her ear, "It's the best gift you could EVER give me." Jen and Jessica were laughing while Mato ran to start making recordings in the lab.

Not too far from all the celebrations, a male elf stooped in the bushes behind Diana's house and picked up a foreign object for that setting.  "Sir?  This is Rith, reporting in," the elf said, corresponding with the investigative headquarters back at the North Pole.  "You're not going to like this.  I've found Nerual's bracelet at a home close to the scene of her attack and disappearance.  Without it, finding her will be nigh impossible.  Yes, Sir, I understand. Returning to base."  With the end of the transmission, the elf activated a gadget that he had pulled out of his pocket, creating a silvery vortex, and stepping through without anyone in the neighborhood ever aware of his brief visit.

All across Yoto, townspeople were celebrating. Diana's family as well as Mina's family joined Mato, Jake and girls for a large Christmas dinner. Everyone enjoyed themselves as the spirit of giving filled the hearts of everyone in Yoto. Some showed their caring with gifts; some with a kind word, but all showed it by being together for the holiday. For the true magic in the holidays is not found in the decorations or the gifts, but in the people we choose to call family, whether they are a part of our immediate family or not.  And, beneath all of the cheer, in Mato's bedroom, lay a computer screen blinking. "One new security video waiting."

Fin of Part 2