All I Want for Christmas is a Dragon: A Story in the World of Sam Quinn

By Seana Kelly

Welcome back to The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore & Bar. You’re probably looking for Sam, werewolf, book nerd, and seer of ghosts. She’s great but off with her new husband in England, hunting down that nutter who’s been stalking Clive since the Middle Ages. With Sam away, it’s my time to shine. Somebody hand me a mic and hit me with a blue spot. Kidding. We’ve met before but let me formally introduce myself. I’m Owen Wong, Sam’s right-hand man and head wicche in charge. George, my gorgeous dragon-shifter boyfriend, and I are planning a nice, calm, battle-free Christmas. Granted, George’s family doesn’t seem too excited about our relationship, but I doubt they’d actually attack me. All bets are off, though, on his grandmother, the matriarch of the dragon clan. I’m pretty sure the only thing she wants for Christmas is me gone.

I have to admit, I’m a little worried. George has been distant lately and he says we need to talk. I know what ‘need to talk’ means and I’m not having it. He says he needs to explain something about his childhood, about his family. He looks so damn sad, he’s breaking my heart. No matter what it is, though, we’re not walking away. Whatever the burden, I’ll help him carry it. We deserve that calm, peaceful holiday and I’m going to fight like hell to see we get it.

***This short story was initially shared in Seana’s newsletter “TALES FROM THE BOOK NERD” for FREE as a holiday treat for subscribers and also later included as a bonus story in the original release of THE HOB AND HOUND PUB, Sam Quinn Book Four.***

• Language: English
• Publisher: NYLA
• Release date: Nov 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781641972475

Seana Kelly

Seana Kelly lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two daughters, two dogs and one fish. When Seana isn’t dodging her family, hiding in the garage and trying to write, she’s working as a high school teacher-librarian. Seana is an avid (who are we kidding? obsessive) reader who is still mourning the loss of Fred Weasley. What the heck, J.K.? If you had to kill off a Weasley, why couldn’t it have been Percy?

Book preview

All I Want for Christmas is a Dragon

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A DRAGON

A Story in the World of Sam Quinn

SEANA KELLY

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All I Want for Christmas is a Dragon

Copyright © 2021 by Seana Kelly

Ebook ISBN: 9781641972475

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

NYLA Publishing

121 W. 27th St., Suite 1201, NY 10001, New York.

http://www.nyliterary.com

Contents

Titles by Seana Kelly

Prologue

1. Pizzlies, You Say?

2. Never Come Between a Dragon and his Treasure

3. Two Villains in League

4. Encounters with Dragons

5. You Had One Job!

6. All I Want for Christmas Is You

Preview of BEWICCHED: The Sea Wicche Chronicles

Want more books from Seana?

About the Author

Titles by Seana Kelly

The Sam Quinn Series

The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore & Bar

The Dead Don’t Drink at Lafitte’s

The Wicche Glass Tavern

All I Want for Christmas is a Dragon (short story)

The Hob & Hound Pub

Biergarten of the Damned

The Banshee & the Blade (short story)

The Viper’s Nest Roadhouse & Café

The Nocturne’s Gatekeeper (short story)

The Bloody Ruin Asylum & Taproom

The Sea Wicche Series

Bewicched: The Sea Wicche Chronicles

Wicche Hunt: The Sea Wicche Chronicles

Wicching Hour: The Sea Wicche Chronicles

Prologue

…BUT FIRST A WORD FROM STHENO

So, what do you need to know before you read Owen and George’s story? Hmm, that’s a puzzler. A lot of shit has gone down, only some of which I was here for. I guess I’ll start with the basics. I’m Stheno, one of three gorgon sisters and friend to anyone willing to pour me a drink.

Pull up a barstool and slide me that bowl of nuts, would you? If you’re new around here, stick with me for a few minutes and I’ll fill you in on what you need to know. If not, proceed at your own risk, for here there be dragons.

Sam Quinn is the werewolf book nerd who owns The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore & Bar. She’s away, though, so I’ve put on a greeter’s vest. I don’t work here. I just like to hang out, watch the ocean crash against the window wall in the bar, and drink. It’s a good life.

Clive, her new husband, is the vampire Master of the City. He’s an ancient bastard, who I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw, but Sam loves him. I tried to talk her out of it, but what are you going to do? To his credit, there doesn’t seem to be anything he wouldn’t do for her. He even hired a gorgon—me—to guard her when they went to New Orleans to brawl with bloodsuckers. I liked the kid—in spite of getting blinded on that gig—so I visit.

Owen Wong, the guy who’s going to be telling this story, is a wicche, AKA a magical person. He comes from a long line of wicches and is Sam’s best friend. George Drake, his boyfriend, is a dragon shifter and a large exotics veterinarian at the San Francisco Zoo.

What else, what else? Dave, a half-demon cook, works at The Slaughtered Lamb. He’s a grumpy bastard and sexy as hell. All fiery temper, hard stares, and bulging muscles. *fans self* Unfortunately, he’s also taken. Too bad. I wouldn’t mind...

Anyway, the newest employee is Audrey. She’s one of Clive’s vampires and was a lady’s maid in life. Her employer was a batshit crazy bloodsucker who didn’t want to lose good help and so turned Audrey into a bloodsucker too. Batshit is now dust, so Audrey is trying to live her best undeath.

Anything else? I don’t know. I’m already bored with this conversation. Just read the story. Owen will fill you in. Wait. Can you top off my drink first? Oh, and merry, happy, feliz, whatever the fuck. This time of year, I celebrate Dionysis. With wine. Lots and lots of wine. Now, scram.

ONE

Pizzlies, You Say?

Life rarely follows the path we imagine. All those seemingly inconsequential decisions we make every day nudge the trajectory of our lives this way and that. Every time we say yes to one possibility, we say no, or not right now, to countless others. Really, it’s all about choices. Like, do I ask my boyfriend to move in with me?

Everyone thought I’d follow my family’s path, that I’d be a healer. My sisters did. They were all about following in footsteps, about checking that list twice. Me, I was more interested in a life that wasn’t so planned out and rigid. I loved connecting with people, learning about their lives, listening to their stories. With George, though, I felt like some latent, familial push for a set future was emerging. I’d been budget planning, researching apartments centrally located to both our jobs, even thinking about how our furniture might blend. It was kind of wigging me out, actually. I didn’t even know if George was on the same page as me. What if this was all in my head and he was just having fun dating a wicche?

As an example, I’ll tell you a story about the type of seat-of-my-pants decision-making I normally did. When I was twenty, I headed downtown to a little independent bookshop I liked. I was already on my way when I remembered my mom saying a werewolf had opened a bookstore and bar