Chapter 15: CHRISTMAS 1968
The Warren house blazed with light against the winter darkness.
Christmas decorations covered every surface—tinsel on the banisters, a tree in the corner that scraped the ceiling, stockings hung by a fireplace that actually worked. Through the windows, I could see figures moving inside. Laughter drifted out into the cold.
I stood on the porch, gifts in hand, not quite able to ring the bell.
"You belong here," I told myself. "They invited you. This is real."
But it didn't feel real. Not yet.
The door opened. Lorraine stood there, wearing an apron dusted with flour, a smear of something sweet on her cheek.
"Paul. Why are you standing out here freezing? Get inside."
She pulled me through the doorway before I could protest. The warmth hit me like a wall—not just temperature, but something deeper. The feeling of a home that was actually a home.
"Uncle Paul!"
Judy barreled into my legs, nearly knocking me over. Five years old now, dark hair flying, eyes bright with Christmas excitement.
"Hey, kiddo." I crouched to her level. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas! Did you bring presents? Daddy says we can't open presents until after dinner but that's SO LONG and I've been waiting FOREVER and—"
"Judy." Ed's voice came from the kitchen doorway. "Let the man breathe."
He walked over, shook my hand firmly, took the gifts from my arms.
"Glad you could make it."
"Wouldn't miss it."
Father Mancini arrived twenty minutes later, carrying wine and wearing a smile that made him look ten years younger. Drew Thomas came shortly after, awkward in a borrowed suit, clearly not used to family gatherings that weren't his own.
We sat around a table that barely fit everyone. Turkey, ham, potatoes, green beans, rolls that Lorraine had baked herself. I ate until my stomach hurt, then ate more because it would have been rude not to.
"Paul." Ed raised his glass. "First Christmas with us. Welcome to the family."
The others raised their glasses. Even Judy, who was drinking apple juice from a wine glass because she'd insisted on being included.
I lifted my own glass, words stuck in my throat.
"Thank you," I managed. "For everything."
After dinner, we exchanged gifts.
Ed handed me a small box, wrapped in paper that had obviously been used before.
"This belonged to my father," he said. "Navy man. Carried it through the Pacific. Said it kept him alive when everything else wanted him dead."
Inside was a rosary. Old, worn, the beads polished smooth by decades of use. Heavier than it looked.
"Ed, I can't—"
"You can and you will. He'd want it to go to someone who fights."
The rosary felt warm in my hands. My grandmother's rosary was blessed, but this was something more. Something that had been carried through real war by a real man who believed.
[ITEM ACQUIRED: VETERAN'S ROSARY — BLESSED (COMBAT)]
[FAITH RESONANCE +5 WHEN WORN]
Lorraine gave me a leather-bound journal, blank pages waiting to be filled. Handwritten prayers were tucked into the front cover—protection, cleansing, blessing. Her own collection, copied out by hand.
"For your case notes," she said. "And for when you need reminding of what we fight for."
Drew gave me a joke gift—a flashlight shaped like a crucifix, "for the modern exorcist." Everyone laughed, including me.
And Judy gave me a drawing.
It showed a figure with brown hair, standing tall, wings spreading from his shoulders. He was facing a dark shape with too many teeth, holding something bright in his hands.
"It's you," Judy said solemnly. "Fighting a monster. You have angel wings because you help people."
I looked at the drawing for a long time.
"Thank you, Judy. I'll keep it forever."
Midnight Mass was held at a small church in Monroe, stone walls and wooden pews, candles flickering in the darkness. We sat together—Ed and Lorraine, Judy between them, Drew on the end, Father Mancini in his vestments at the altar, and me.
Part of something.
The hymns washed over me. "O Holy Night." "Silent Night." Songs I'd known in another life, in another world, but heard differently now. The words weren't just lyrics—they were truth. Light shining in darkness. Hope born in impossible circumstances.
I knelt with the others. Prayed with words I'd learned to mean. Felt something shift in my chest—not the system, not power, but something older. Simpler.
Peace.
Lorraine's hand touched my shoulder during the prayer of peace. Brief, warm, motherly.
"Peace be with you," she murmured.
"And with you."
[FAITH RESONANCE +10]
[SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: GENUINE]
The house was quiet at 2 AM.
Everyone had gone to bed, exhausted from food and warmth and celebration. I should have been sleeping too—there was a fold-out couch waiting for me in the den—but I couldn't rest.
I found myself in the kitchen, eating cold apple pie straight from the tin, staring out the window at snow falling silent and thick over Monroe.
One year ago, I'd been someone else. Somewhere else. Living a life that ended in rain-slicked highways and crumpled metal.
Now I was here. Eating pie in a house full of people who cared whether I lived or died. Wearing a dead soldier's rosary. Carrying a little girl's drawing in my pocket.
Something wet on my cheeks. Tears. I wasn't sure why.
Maybe because I was happy. Maybe because I'd forgotten what that felt like.
Maybe because somewhere in the darkness below my feet, in the artifact room I'd visited six months ago, something ancient and malevolent was watching the Christmas lights and waiting.
I didn't feel it that night. Didn't sense the attention fixed on the house, on the family, on me.
Annabelle sat in her case, button eyes staring at nothing.
Button eyes that saw everything.
I returned to my apartment at dawn, carrying leftovers and gifts and something less tangible—the warmth of belonging, stored up against the cold months ahead.
On my bed: a case file.
The system had generated it overnight, pulling data from newspaper reports, police records, supernatural indicators I couldn't consciously track.
[CASE AVAILABLE: C-RANK]
[LOCATION: RHODE ISLAND — FAMILY RESIDENCE]
[ENTITY TYPE: UNKNOWN — INVESTIGATION REQUIRED]
[ACTIVITY ONSET: 3 MONTHS AGO]
A family in Rhode Island. Something happening in their home. The kind of case I'd been training for all year.
I set the file aside.
Tomorrow. I'd deal with it tomorrow.
Tonight, I held onto the peace. The memory of Christmas lights. The weight of gifts that meant something.
1969 was coming. New cases. New challenges. New threats I couldn't yet imagine.
But for one more night, I let myself be happy.
MORE POWER STONES And REVIEWS== MORE CHAPTERS
To supporting Me in Pateron .
with exclusive access to more chapters (based on tiers more chapters for each tiers) on my Patreon, you get more chapters if you ask for more (in few days), plus new fanfic every week! Your support starting at just $6/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes like [ In The Witcher With Avatar Powers,In The Vikings With Deja Vu System,Stranger Things Demogorgon Tamer ...].
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
👉 Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!