Rangifer Volans — Tim Pratt

Rangifer Volans is a tale of Christmas... and cryptids. A young cryptozoologist, not content with proving the existence of Bigfoot, the Mongolian Death Worm, and the Loch Ness Monster, sets his sights on a cryptid so unlikely that not even his colleagues believe it's real: rangifer volans, the elusive flying reindeer. On Christmas Eve, he sets his trap... but if flying reindeer are real, who's in that sleigh they're pulling? A strange (and, admittedly, a little dark) short story about the power of belief, Christmas spirit, and tranquilizer guns, by Hugo Award winner Tim Pratt.