Kaustubh is a mongoose bartender in an establishment that has become a favorite of costumed heroes. But on Christmas Eve he receives a visitor: running from the dark and trying to stay in the shadows.

With his last customer still in the bar and a coming appointment later in the night, he and his guests come face-to-face with their life's choices on the longest night of the year.

"α to ζ" ("A to Z") is my name for a story setting that encompasses magic, super-science, and costumed, powered individuals. The world is populated by humanoid animals in addition to humans. And although humans are the most numerous type of people, they comprise only one of roughly sixteen-hundred different, intelligent, mammalian species dating back to at least the last Ice Age.