Monster Slayers MC Book 7
Chapter 10-Christmas Eve

The next week was fairly quiet, except for the preparations for the holidays. Dixie was like a little drill sergeant as she ordered the men around, getting the final decorations in place and pushing everyone to put effort into their gifts this year. All of the men not only respected Dixie but they feared her wrath if they didn’t at least try to do more than get gift cards or bottles of booze.

Kevin was patched in on his birthday and I swear the kid wanted to cry when I handed him the box containing his cut that Dixie had wrapped in nice birthday wrapping paper.

The only thing that kind of brought down the mood of happiness in the club was when 4 of our oldest members announced that they were going to retire and move out of the club house. Chains, Smokes, Howler and Trainer came to see me the morning after we patched Kevin in and said they were planning on leaving the club after New Years.

“We’re all in our sixties now, Prez. We’ve been lucky to have even lived this long but we’re all getting too old to be riding our bikes anymore. We’ve decided to buy a place down in Florida and spend the rest of our days riding a rocking chair while we watch the babes in bikinis on the beach. Maybe do some deep sea fishing.” Trainer told me and all of them nodded in agreement.

“Well, it’s not going to be the same without you guys. You are almost the last of the men who were here when my dad was running the MC. I think only Pyro and Spades will be left after this.” I told them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to go soon too, especially Pyro. He’s been teaching your new boy, Paul to do the welding at the shop and he’s learning fast but Pyro has still got a few tricks up his sleeve that he wants to teach the kid. And Spades may not have a choice soon. His vision is going but he won’t admit it but if you look at his eyes, you can see the gray beginning to cover his pupils.” Trainer told me.

“Man, I hate to lose you guys but I understand. We’ll have a big send off party for you guys on New Years and I’ll have your payout ready for when you go.” I told them. I stood up and walked around my desk and bro hugged each one of them. These men were more like my uncles than just club brothers. They had been with my father since before I was born.

Jenny, Nancy and their kids were living up at our place now and Nancy’s kids no longer ran when I came up to check on them and Linx had been visiting Jenny. Bucky seemed to like him and little Penny had no fear of either one of us. She always had a big smile for me when I went up and would crawl up on my lap when I was sitting and talking to Jenny.

Dixie had gotten a Christmas tree for them and the kids each had a gift under the tree but they were planning on coming down to the clubhouse for the Christmas celebration.

Claire and Mindy played and sang Christmas songs all day in the kitchen and it really had everyone in the Christmas spirit. Listening to them sing Silent Night was very moving but they really drew a crowd when they sang “Santa Baby” as they danced around the kitchen as they made treats of Christmas cookies, pies and cakes. They even wore “Santa caps”.

The Ninja’s showed up and all of the men were very interested in learning from them. They took it in turns to work out in the gym downstairs. I watched them work out and even got in on a couple of the training sessions but my duties as president didn’t leave me much time. However it did make me realize that we would need more than just a week of training with them. They were very impressive. I talked to Shirken and he and I both agreed that it might be better if I chose small groups of men to go and stay with them for a minimum of two weeks each.

“It’s very hard to teach anyone what it took us all years of training to learn in such a short span of time. Everyone thinks that our fighting techniques are all about punching and kicking when it’s really more like flexibility and being able to focus your energy to get the most out of every blow or to get out of the way of an oncoming blow so that you don’t get hurt and have the injury zap your strength.” Shirken told me. “A couple of your younger men have good potential and I do hope you will send them for extended training.”

“Which ones?” I asked him curiously.

“The ones you call Ghost and Tracker come to mind first. They both have learned the art of stealth and once so far, Ghost has managed to sneak up on a couple of my men. Dash, might be another one. He’s definitely very eager to learn anything we’ve tried to teach him and he tries hard.”

“I appreciate your opinions. We are looking to put together some teams so that us older guys don’t have to be on every run. We have so many other duties in just running this place and we’re stretched pretty thin already. I need men trained so we don’t have to be there to tell them how to do what needs to be done. They need to just go and get the innocents out and get them all back home safely.” I told him.

“That can take years of training.” Shirken said.

We had been sitting in the bar after dinner having a beer and as soon as I finished mine, I excused myself and went to replace Dixie. She had put Sammy to bed and had just come out of the shower.

“I can’t believe a whole year has gone by. It went so fast. We have gained so many women and children this past year. We now have 14 women and 13 kids.” Dixie said as we got ready for bed the night before Christmas Eve.

“I know. We’ve now got 62 men not counting the prospects. We’ve patched in 14 new men and soon we’ll be adding another 5. Did I tell you that Trainer, Howler, Chains and Smokes are going to be leaving us after New Years?” I told her.

“Well, it was bound to happen. I just wish we could get Nancy’s brother and sister more comfortable around everyone. That little Billy is a cute kid but he and Susie jump every time there’s a loud noise or if someone moves too fast around them. I’d like for Dr. Jill to come talk with them some more. I’ve got a feeling that their father did more than just hit them, especially Susie.” Dixie said.

“Do you think he raped her?” I asked as I felt my stomach begin to knot up.

“No, at least I hope not. But I think he may have been touching her or making her touch him. She’s so young that she may not know how to say what happened but whatever happened has left her traumatized. She’s such a sweet little girl too.” Dixie said as she crawled up on the bed and laid her head on my shoulder. We lay cuddling and talking until we fell asleep.

Dixie’s POV

Christmas Eve morning, I was up early but still did not beat Claire and Mindy into the kitchen. I found them singing more Christmas carols and it was absolutely beautiful.

“Good morning, ladies. I would say you guys should consider getting recorded but I’m not going to take a chance on losing our cooks. What are you making?” I asked as I headed for the coffee pot.

“Good morning!” They answered in unison and then Claire said, “Cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers and we’re going to have a breakfast casserole this morning. I found a really good recipe in my cookbook and thought I’d give it a try. I made one for Circuit yesterday and he loved it. It’s really easy to make, except for peeling the potatoes. But it doesn’t take as many pans to make so cleaning up should be easy. What time are the caterers supposed to be here?”

“Well, unfortunately we didn’t get any snow like we did last year so they should be here around 7 am. Last year we got a foot of snow and they had to cook it at their place and bring it to us which actually worked out great for us. We had our kitchen all morning but it was also stressful because I was so worried that they weren’t going to be able to get here in time.” I told them and saw their wide eyed looks.

“Only a foot of snow? Wow! In Oregon, we usually have at least three or four feet on the ground on Christmas morning and if you live near the coast, the wind coming in off the ocean, it’s freezing so there’s always lots of ice everywhere!” Mindy said.

“Well, I bet it’s really pretty but no thank you! It hasn’t been that cold here yet and I’m fine waiting for it to get cold until after the holidays. Oh before I forget, 4 of our oldest members told Rooster last night that they are going to retire and move to Florida right after the New Year so we are going to have a big send off party for them in addition to our normal New Years celebration. I know it’s probably going to be nearly impossible to replace one but I do hope we can replace a babysitter so that we can all enjoy the celebration.”

“Who are the members who are leaving?” Claire asked.

“Howler, Trainer, Chains and Smokes. They are all over 60 and feeling their age. I’ve often thought that Smokes should have given up years ago. He’s been a heavy smoker since he was a teenager and his breathing is horrible. Chains has arthritis in his back that gives him a lot of trouble sometimes, especially when it’s cold. Howler and Trainer are the oldest of our members and I think they are just tired. They are going to move to Florida and spend their golden years checking out the bikini babes on the beach and going fishing.” I told them. “Now I have to figure out good gifts for them as going away presents. Any ideas?”

“Fishing poles and binoculars!” Mindy said and both Claire and I looked at her in surprise. “What? They said they want to go fishing so they will need poles and if they want to check out the women on the beach from a distance, binoculars would be perfect. They can look without getting slapped.”

“Yeah and we could get them some t-shirts that say “Bikini Patrol”. Claire said and we all burst out laughing.

“Well I know absolutely nothing about deep sea fishing so I’ll have to talk to Rooster. Hopefully we can get them ordered online and have them rush delivered. We’ve only got a week to get them here.” I said. Just then I heard Sammy waking up over the baby monitor so I left the kitchen and headed back to our room.

Rooster was sitting on the side of the bed, playing with our son. Sammy was having a ball as Rooster made funny faces at him and talked to him as he changed his diaper and put on a clean onesie. I love walking in on moments like these.

I walked over and put my hands on Rooster’s shoulders and bent down to kiss his cheek, then looked down at my son who smiled and then raised his arms for me to pick him up but Rooster wasn’t finished with his diaper yet. Suddenly Sammy began to pee again and hit Rooster right in the face!

“AAARRGGG! You little monster! You got daddy right in the face!” Rooster yelled as he quickly put his hand over Sammy’s private. Sammy found this very funny and gave his father that darling baby giggle that immediately calmed Rooster down. “Now you and I are all covered in pee! Thanks little man!”

I couldn’t help it and began to laugh like crazy. Sammy had done this to me a couple of times and I had quickly learned to always be quick with getting a new diaper in place. I had also learned to change him on the changing table where I had a waterproof pad laid down but Rooster had been sitting on our bed and while the mattress pad was waterproof, it and the sheets were now soaking wet and would have to be changed.

“Go take your son and get in the tub and I’ll strip and remake the bed. Yell when he’s clean and I’ll come get him so you can wash your hair.” I told Rooster.

“Come on little man. Let’s go get a bath.” Rooster said as he picked up Sammy, holding the now soiled diaper in place and walked into the bathroom. Rooster always sleeps naked and had not bothered to get dressed yet and I watched him walk away, enjoying the sight of his tight firm butt and back.

“Hmmm. Nice view!” I called after him and he came back with “You could always come and join us but we can’t have our normal fun in the tub.”

“Hmmmm. Sounds like fun but that won’t get the bed changed and Claire and Mindy have come up with a new breakfast dish and the caterers are going to be here soon.” I said with a smile.

As soon as the bed was changed, Rooster called for me to come get Sammy and I took him to go put on a fresh diaper and to put a clean onesie with a Christmas theme on the front that said “Santa’s #1 elf”. It came with a little cap but Sammy didn’t like anything on his head and kept pulling it off. I put him back in his crib so that I could get dressed in something more than the sweats and oversized t-shirt I had gone downstairs in earlier.

I didn’t even hear Rooster coming as I bent to pick up the cap that Sammy had just thrown on the floor when Rooster came up behind me. He was still naked except for the towel around his hips but he was poking out of the split in the towel and he grabbed my hips and pushed himself between my legs, rubbing himself against me.

“OH, I wish I would have brought a bottle for Sammy upstairs now.” I said as I turned in Rooster’s arms. We were kissing and getting rather worked up when Sammy reminded us that he was awake and hungry.

“Mum, mum, mum.” Sammy started to chant and I was shocked but we were even more shocked when Rooster went to pick him up when he said “Da da”.

“Wow! His first words! What a wonderful Christmas present, son!” Rooster said, cuddling him close. “You may have gotten first billing but at least I wasn’t forgotten!” Rooster said as I wrapped my arms around the two most important people in my life and Rooster slipped his arm around me. We just stood holding each other for a few minutes until I felt Rooster getting hard again.

“Come on, let’s get dressed and go eat breakfast. I can’t wait to tell the girls that he said his first words and they weren’t swear words.” I laughed at the look of disappointment on Rooster’s face. “Come on. You know that once everyone eats, they’ll all be lazy and want to nap so we’ll have time to sneak away later when Sammy goes down for his nap.” I tempted him.

“I’m going to have blue balls by then.” Rooster muttered as he went in search of clothes to wear.

We got dressed and went downstairs to breakfast, which turned out to be excellent. Everyone praised Claire and Mindy for not only their excellent pastries but for the new breakfast casserole. It was a nice change of pace from the normal fare of bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs and either pancakes, toast or french toast every morning.

The caterer’s showed up just as the prospects finished cleaning the kitchen and they helped carry in the supplies that the caterers brought to prepare our meal, half of which had already been cooked and just needed to be heated up later.

Two hours later, the house was full of the wonderful smells of our holiday meal cooking and as usual there was an extra heavy line of men hanging around the kitchen, flirting with the girls working in the kitchen.

Kevin surprised us all by showing up for the noon meal with a girl in tow. He introduced us to a girl he had been seeing from town for over 6 months now as his lady.

“Prez. Dixie. This is my lady, Kylie. Babe, this is Rooster, our club president and his wife, Dixie.” Kevin said, holding her hand and a look of pride on his face. Kylie was a little bit taller than me with soft brown hair, warm brown eyes and a sweet smile and a nice physique. She had chosen to wear skinny jeans, a nice blouse and boots with a 3” heel, which is probably why she’s slightly taller than me but it was the promise ring on her left hand that caught my eye. I didn’t want to embarrass Kevin by asking in front of her so I just raised my eyebrows at him and he nodded. I could tell that he was totally enamored with her as he looked at her with eyes filled with love.

“It’s very nice to meet you Kylie. Merry Christmas and welcome to the MSMC. You two go ahead and replace a place to sit. As soon as we say grace, you can make your plates.” I told them.

“Thank you for letting me come. It’s very nice to finally meet the people that Kevin, oops, sorry, Dash, has been describing to me for so long.” Kylie said in the sweetest voice.

Manuel, Dana, Greggory, Helena, Cookie and Kevin showed up and then we all gathered around the dining room. Rooster said grace and everyone either got in line for food or drinks. We had two stations set up with juice, tea, coffee on one table and barrels of beer and a table with red and white wine that would be served in red solo cups as we didn’t have enough wine glasses for everyone.

Rooster and I both kept a close eye on Kevin and his girlfriend and he stuck close to her. I think she was slightly intimidated by the sheer size of some of the men and she stayed close to Kevin as well. Kevin was very attentive to her and it was cute to watch them together.

Amber and Dawn also joined us and I think Dawn was a little disappointed that Kevin already has a girlfriend but both her and Amber had enough attention from the other men that she definitely wasn’t lacking in attention. Amber was still in the wheelchair with both wrists wrapped in ace bandages but all of the men were more than willing to carry her up and down the stairs, just wanting the chance to hold her in their arms.

She seemed particularly attracted to Ace, who had been with us for a while. Ace had patched in about 4 or 5 years after Rooster. He had an old lady at one point but she had passed away from stomach cancer a couple of years later and Ace had kind of withdrawn and stuck to himself a lot after that. He worked at the construction sites as a finisher.

Rooster often said that he had never met anyone who knew as much as Ace about fine finishes when it came to doing things like crown moldings, baseboards and other trim work in the higher end homes they either did remodeling in or when they were building new properties and the owners wanted more than just the standard builders finishes. He had custom made all of the furniture in his room too and it was very nice.

Ace had actually come over and talked with Amber for a little while and the look on her face when he had shown her attention had been priceless. She obviously found him attractive and after a while, allowed him to push her wheelchair over to one of the quieter areas to talk.

Cowboy was very attentive to Dawn, which kind of surprised us but it was cute to watch them.

But what really surprised us was when Gunner came in holding hands with Nancy’s brother and sister and Nancy had a huge smile on her face. Apparently Gunner had earned the children’s trust and as soon as he sat down on the sofa to watch TV with the kids, little Susie crawled up on his lap and leaned her head back on his chest. Billy sat between Gunner and Nancy and they made an adorable little family.

Gunner was almost as tall as Boomer and had been in the club for 3 or 4 years. He was another of our heavyweight fighters and worked on the construction crew as a framer. He was also an excellent sharp shooter.

Jenny came in with Linx carrying Penny and holding Bucky’s hand but Bucky broke away when he spotted Simon. The two little boys were becoming good friends and played together very well. They joined Gunner and Nancy and the kids on the sofa to watch TV in the main living room.

Crystal and Carmella were sitting in front of their mothers playing with dolls. It was so cute when Carmella went over to Susie and offered her one of her dolls to play with. Slowly, Susie crawled off of Gunner’s lap and went to join the girls to play with dolls. I was glad that I had bought her a doll for Christmas so that soon she would have her own doll to play with.

Seeing that Susie had joined the girls, little Billy got down and kept looking at Simon and Bucky and they motioned for him to come and join them. Billy looked at Nancy and she told him “Go ahead. Go play and have fun. I’ll be right here.” Billy slowly walked over to the boys and the three of them played together very well.

Most of the single men headed for the bar to watch a game on the big screen TV in there and of course to start drinking. Around 3 pm, Rooster’s phone rang and within a minute after he answered, I could tell it was not good news coming in when Rooster sat forward in his chair. When he hung up, he yelled “Church” and suddenly all of the men were gone from the room within a minute.

Nancy, Jenny, Amber, Dawn and Kylie all looked at us with question looks on their faces. All of the old ladies picked up their babies that couldn’t walk and called the ones that could to them. Billy and Susie ran to Nancy and Bucky ran to Jenny.

“What’s going on?” Amber asked.

“Come on, we are going to go to the family living room.” I told them. Thankfully we hadn’t put out most of the presents we had bought for the children but they were all interested in the tree and the presents beneath it. “That’s for tomorrow morning kids. Come on and watch cartoons.” I told all of the children.

We all settled the babies in the playpens, which we had invested in one that could hold several kids. It was like a heavy duty plastic corral fencing that we had set up on an old comforter. Bottles were given to the little ones so that they would hopefully fall asleep soon. We gave coloring books and crayons to the older ones and we pushed the coffee table off to the side so that they could gather around the coffee table and color.

“So what’s happening?” Nancy asked.

“I think they got a call for a rescue. Holiday’s are not always pleasant times for some people. Finances are tight for a lot of people and there’s usually always lots of alcohol involved and then things get out of control. We can only pray that there are no little children involved this time.” I told them.

We all sat and quietly talked and about 10 minutes later, the men came back out. We heard their heavy boots and Rooster came in to let us know that they were headed to Bolton. “We’ll be back as soon as possible.” He said and gave me and Sammy a kiss before he hurried out of the room. A few minutes later, we heard the roar of several bikes start up.

“Are they all going?” Amber asked.

“Oh no. If they were all going, you’d feel it through the floor. That’s only about half a dozen bikes, if that.” I told them.

A minute later, Doc stepped into the room and called for Millie. “I need you to come with me.” He said.

Manuel asked “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“No but thanks for the offer. Hopefully we won’t be gone long.”

Millie stood up and followed her husband outside. As soon as she was gone, Nancy said “Wow. Do they just go and not tell you anything about what’s going on?”

“When they are running to rescue someone, they don’t really have time to stop and explain things to us. We just have to hope they get there in time to save the person or people and that none of them get hurt in the process.”

A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door and then Dash stuck his head inside and waved to Kylie. “Come on. I’m going to take you home just in case I have to leave.” Dash said and I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

“I don’t mind waiting with the other ladies. Do you think you would be gone all night?” Kylie asked.

“We don’t have to stay in here if you ladies want to go back to the other room, if you want. There’s no danger to us. Rooster would have let me know if there was. Dash, who went with Rooster?” I asked him.

“Rooster, Hulk, Boxer, Thumper, Knuckles, Ghost and Gunner. And Doc and Millie are in the medivan.” Dash said.

I knew without Rooster telling me that this was not good. He had taken some heavy hitters with him. I was kind of surprised that he hadn’t taken Boomer with him too but had mentioned the other night that he was going to start calling on some of the men that didn’t go with him all the time. What kind of made me worried was that he had taken not one but two men who specialized in guns.

Besides Eagle, Gunner and Ghost were two of our very best shots. Normally if it was a rescue involving a child, he would not have taken gun handlers.