An Autumn Dream

by Melissa Giorgio

My laughter died when I realized this was Gabi’s boss, Bernard something-or-other, and we had just landed her in BIG TROUBLE. Smacking Evan on the shoulder, I made him get up. He wiped the tears from his face and pretended to be interested in a display of reduced Halloween candy.

  Red-faced, Gabi finished ringing the woman up, practically slamming each item into a plastic bag. The woman paid and left without another word, the door mooing mournfully behind her. Evan started laughing again, and I elbowed him.

  “Friends of yours?” Bernard said, eyeing us disdainfully. He probably figured we were there to rob the place.

  “Not after tonight,” Gabi muttered as she glared at me.

  I approached the counter slowly, hands raised to show her I meant no harm. “Did you take your break yet? I thought we could go out to eat. My treat, of course.”

  Her eyes lit up at that. Heh, score one for me. If you wanted to make my girl happy, offer her either food, a plant, or new clothes. Although I liked to pretend she was with me because of my witty intellect and good looks.

  Gabi quickly looked to Bernard for permission, but he was deep in conversation with Evan. “Yeah, the Texan theme is awesome,” Evan was saying enthusiastically, “but there’s something missing…” He snapped his fingers. “I know! Ten gallon hats!”

  “That’s a good idea!” Bernard said.

  I could literally hear Gabi’s patience snapping in half. With a growl, she lunged forward, banging half of her body against the counter as she tried to jump Evan. “Whoa, whoa!” I said, grabbing her before she gave herself a concussion.

  “Let me go, Rafe! I need to kill him for suggesting that!”

  “Oh, come on, Gabs,” Evan said. “You’d look super cute in a cowboy hat. Especially with that shirt. Right, Rafe?”

  I was pretty sure this was what walking into a trap felt like. Of course she would look cute in anything, but if I said so then Bernard would actually listen to Evan’s stupid idea. And if I denied she’d look good, Gabi would have my head on a stake faster than I could say, “I’m sorry.”

  I opened my mouth and very wisely said, “Um?”

  Gabi’s nostrils flared—never a good sign—so I quickly added, “Bernard, can Gabi take her break now? She gets what, a half hour, right? I’ll bring her back on time, I promise.” I glared at Evan, letting him know he was not allowed to come with us.

  He gave me a half shrug. “Whatever man, I gotta buy my cigs, anyway.”

  Bernard’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as he shooed Gabi from behind the counter. “How old are you? You can’t be old enough to buy cigarettes.”

  “I’m eighteen!”

  “Do you have ID?”

  “Err.” As Evan started patting down his pockets, Gabi dashed into the backroom, emerging thirty seconds later with her purse and jacket. She zipped up her jacket to her chin and followed me out the store. I only smirked a little when the door mooed, but Gabi saw me anyway.

  “I told you not to come see me when I was working!”

  “It’s not that bad!”

  She glared at me. “Then why were you two idiots laughing your asses off?”

  I had no answer for that. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her close. “So you’re not happy that I’m here right now?” I murmured, brushing my lips lightly against hers.

  She sighed a little. “I just hate the fact that you saw me in that awful shirt.”

  “You look beautiful to me.”

  Gabi rolled her eyes. “You have terrible taste, Rafe, so that means nothing.”

  “Hey!” I pulled back, pretending to be hurt. “Who says I have terrible taste? And isn’t that an insult toward you, since I like you?”

  She tugged me toward my car. “You like me when I’m covered in blood and goo or—” she took a furtive look around, “with white hair, so your opinion is a little…perverse.”

  “You’re the only person who can turn my compliments into insults,” I said with a shake of my head. We got into my car and I turned the engine on, backing out of the spot. “Where to, my dear? What are you in the mood for?”

  “Burgers,” she said, pointing to a fast food joint down the road. I shook my head; we could have just walked there had I known that!

  Thirty seconds later we were walking into the restaurant, Gabi’s cold hand clutching my warm one tightly. We ordered our food and sat down at a table in the back. I was hoping we could have spent the meal with her curled up next to me, but unfortunately all of the booths were taken. I would have to take some hot knee-touching action for now. Good thing Evan wasn’t around to see us; he’d have a good laugh at my expense.

  We ate in silence, and I wondered if I had really pissed her off by coming to see her at the Corral. “Gabi?”

  “Mm?” she asked, chewing on a French fry. And then she gasped, choking on said French fry until she managed to dislodge it by coughing it up on me.

  I suppose I deserved that, I thought as I wiped my cheek with a napkin. I mean, I kept ruining her clothes with demon or human blood—I think she had lost about five or six outfits since meeting me. I pushed her soda toward her. “You okay?”

  She tried to say something, shook her head, took a swallow of soda, and then spit out, “Demon!”

  I turned my head so fast my neck cracked painfully. Scanning the restaurant, I only saw families or couples or loners. No one stood out, but then again, they never did. Not until it was too late.

  Thankfully, I had Gabi.

  “Which one?” I asked softly out of the side of my mouth.

  “The little girl,” she said just as quietly.

  I did a double take. There was a young girl, maybe five or six, skipping up and down the aisle. She was wearing a pink dress with embroidered flowers on the front, matching pink socks and shiny black shoes. Her black hair was up in two pigtails, and her face was cute, innocent. I turned to give Gabi a skeptical look. “Her? With the cute braids?”

  Gabi’s eyes were glued to the girl. “Yeah, except they’re not braids, they’re snakes. And her eyes are red and…hungry.”

  “S-Snakes?” I stammered. A chill ran down my spine as I imagined slithery, slimy snakes. I shuddered. “Are you serious?”

  She lifted her eyebrows. “Okay there, Indiana Jones?”

  I glared at her. “Ha, ha.” Standing, I crumpled up my empty burger wrapper, finished my soda, and took the tray to the garbage. Gabi, meanwhile, had taken a couple of quick bites of the rest of her burger before following me.

  “How are we going to do this?” she asked.

  “Simple,” I said. “We’re going to pretend we’re clueless humans.”

  “Ah.” Understanding dawned in her eyes. “Got it.”

  “And we’re going to stay the hell away from those snakes.”

  “You’re kind of cute when you’re scared,” she said, taking me by the arm.

  “I’m not scared!”

  “Then why are you shaking?”

  I ignored her, walking over to the little demon girl and crouching down so we were eye level. It still looked human to me, which made it easier to look it in the eye. “Little girl, where are your parents?”

  It cocked its head sideways, blinking coyly. Then its lips curled into an innocent smile and pointed to the parking lot.

  “Outside?” Gabi asked. “Can you show us? You shouldn’t be alone, sweetie.”

  The demon nodded and led us out of the restaurant. No one paid us any attention, which is exactly how I wanted it.

  Once we were outside, I pulled Gabi to a stop and took out a small, round cylinder from my jean pocket. Usually Evan would use magic to cast a veil, but without him, I was taking the cheap way out. With Gabi’s break almost over, we were short on time, and I also didn’t feel like wasting valuable energy on casting a veil when I had to concentrate on destroying the snake-demon. Tossing the cylinder to the ground, it let out one single white spark. The air shimmered around us as a dome-shaped veil was set in place. Now we wouldn’t have to worry about normal humans seeing
or stumbling upon us. If they tried to approach this area, they would quickly change directions without knowing why. Just another bit of manipulation magic Silver Moon was so damn good at.

  The demon sensed the magic and whirled around, its lips curled back in a snarl. Long teeth protruded over the lips, piercing the skin and sending tiny rivers of thick green blood down its chin. Its eyes were glowing red orbs and its hair—

  Oh god.

  Gabi was right, the thing’s hair was a pair of snakes. They reared up, hissing at the two of us like the demon was freaking Medusa and about to turn us to stone. My stomach twisted painfully, and I prayed I wasn’t about to lose my meal in front of my girlfriend.

  Before I could summon my sword, the demon charged toward me fast enough that I think it broke the sound barrier. “What the hell?” I managed to yelp before one of the snakes wrapped itself tightly around my arm and opened its mouth.

  And proceeded to blast a wall of flames at me.

  I screamed, dropping to my knees and hoping Gabi had the sense to run far, far away and avoid getting hit altogether. Even from the ground, I could feel the heat from the blast. Sweat ran down my back and I swore I smelled something burning. Please don’t let that be burnt flesh, I thought.

  The snake, meanwhile, tightened its hold around my wrist, hissing loudly before it started on flame blast number two. “I hate snakes!” I screamed, fumbling to grab my knife with my free hand so I could stab the damn thing to death.

  But Gabi was there first, swinging the knife I had given her the night we went after Davenport and cutting the thing’s head off. It fell to the ground, still wiggling, and Gabi stomped on it with her Converse sneakers, spraying guts and green blood everywhere. I couldn’t help but feel a fierce stab of pride as I watched my girlfriend beat the living snot out of that thing. Accompanied by a deep sense of shame due to the fact that I needed to be rescued. But dammit—snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?

  “All right Indy, on your feet,” Gabi said, hauling me up.

  “I’m okay,” I told her even though I was shaking like a leaf. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice.

  She snorted in response, “Yeah, sure.”

  So much for her not noticing.

  Pushing sweaty strands of hair out of my eyes, I took a step back and invoked my sword before the demon could strike again. It was too busy screeching about the loss of one of its snake-hairs and didn’t even notice the parking lot lights reflecting off the cool silver surface of my sword. And it definitely didn’t notice when I swung my sword in a wide arc and severed its head neatly in one swing.

  “Ha,” I said, panting as I stared down at the head. “Not so scary now, are you?” I went to kick it, and the other snake shot toward me, still alive. I screamed and fell on my ass, backpedaling as fast as I could.

  Behind me I could hear Gabi unsuccessfully trying to smother her laughter. I glared at her over my shoulder. “I’m glad you find this so amusing!”

  “Don’t be mad, Rafe. It’s refreshing to find out my perfect boyfriend is flawed! It makes me feel better about myself.”

  I smiled despite myself. “You think I’m perfect?”

  She winked. “Not anymore! And hey, you better do something before it barbeques you.”

  I turned my attention back to the snake, which was hissing up a storm. I swallowed nervously. “Uh, maybe you could kill it for me?”

  “Oh, my god. You are so adorably pathetic right now, Rafe!”

  “Is that a compliment or an insult?”

  ***

  When we got back to the Corral, we were sweaty, dirty, panting, and about ten minutes late. Bernard took one look at us and turned bright red, accusing us of fornicating in my car and threatening to dock Gabi’s pay.

  “Who the hell uses the word ‘fornicating’?” she mumbled, which didn’t help matters.

  Evan, still in the same spot where we had left him, watched us with a knowing smile and tried to fix things. “Come on Bernard. These two are practically Amish, okay? They weren’t doing the nasty in Rafe’s car, I assure you. For one, he’s a total neat freak and wouldn’t want to get it dirty.”

  “Will you shut up?” I asked through clenched teeth. Ignoring me, Evan continued talking about my virtue and I wondered if I could punch him in the face without Bernard calling the cops on me.

  “Hey, come here a second.” Gabi tugged me down an aisle, ducking behind a cardboard cutout of Santa. Grabbing me by the front of my shirt, she pulled me down toward her and kissed me hard on the lips. I stumbled and knocked Santa over, but at that moment, with her body pressed against mine, I didn’t give a shit. She kissed me hungrily, and I groaned in response, pulling her even closer and drowning in the scent of her fruity shampoo.

  When we pulled away, Gabi gazed at me through half-lidded eyes. “I’m pretty sure the Amish don’t kiss like that,” she purred in a tone of voice that made me want to go back to kissing her right now, work and restraints be damned.

  “Harkins!” Bernard called, sounding super pissed off. I sighed in disappointment.

  “Here,” Gabi said, shoving a bag of chips into my hands. “Buy one of these and he won’t be mad.”

  I looked at the bag. “Smoked steak flavored? That sounds pretty good.”

  “Oh, it’s delicious,” she said, not meeting my eyes. I was instantly suspicious, but shrugged. I was a guy. We would eat anything smoked. How bad could it be?

  We went back to the front counter, and I ignored the smirk Evan was throwing at us. “Can I buy this, uh, sir?” I asked.

  Bernard’s beady eyes lit up. “Yes, yes, you can! And they’re buy one get two free!”

  “Really?” I looked at Gabi, wondering if these things were expired and I was going to end up in the bathroom for the next week. She gave me an innocent smile as she slipped off her coat and went behind the register.

  After I bought my stuff and Bernard had slinked away to do who knows what, I asked her, “When are you getting off?”

  She looked at the clock and her expression soured. “Two more hours. Kill me, please.”

  “I’ll wait for you—”

  “Dude, did you forget about me?” Evan asked. “I’m not hanging around in the parking lot with you for the next two hours!” He grabbed one of the bags of chips and opened it, tossing a chip into his mouth. Evan instantly turned the same shade as Gabi’s shirt. “UGH, these are disgusting!”

  I looked at Evan retching and then at the chips. “Um.”

  Gabi smiled serenely. “No refunds, Rafe. And yes, I’d love a ride home. We can continue where we left off in aisle five.”

  My mouth twisted into a lazy smile. “Oh yeah? Then let me go drop Evan and the body off and I’ll be right back—”

  “What body?” Evan demanded, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh god, is that what the two of you were doing? I thought you had finally done what we were discussing earlier—”

  Gabi’s eyes narrowed. “Done what? Rafe, what were you talking about with this idiot?”

  “Nothing,” I said. I held up my hands, afraid she was going to launch herself over the counter and attack me this time. “I swear, Gabi. Evan was doing all the talking, and I was telling him to shut up. You know how he is!”

  She softened slightly. “I do. He’s a pain.”

  “Guys, I’m standing right here.”

  “A giant pain,” I agreed.

  “Can we go?” Evan said loudly. “Before I throw up again? And I still need cigarettes; Bernard wouldn’t sell me any because I left my ID at home.”

  “Good,” Gabi said. “It’s a disgusting habit, anyway.”

  Evan scowled. “Whatever, GABI. Enjoy your ten gallon hat. Bernard ordered them while you were on break.”

  She turned white as milk. “Shut the hell up. You are lying.”

  “Nope.” He turned to me. “Won’t she be so cute as a cowgirl?”

  “She’s cute as anything,” I said automatically.

  Gabi’s face darkened
as she shot her trademarked death glare in my direction. I swore the air buzzed with energy when she did that. One day my head was going to explode, I just knew it. “Evan,” she said, speaking to him but still staring at me. “Did you know Rafe is deathly afraid of snakes?”

  My eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

  “Is he now?” Evan smiled cruelly.

  “Yep. He screams like a girl when he sees one.”

  “I do not!” I said, but they weren’t listening to me.

  Evan stroked his chin. “That is interesting. Very interesting.”

  “I thought so too,” she said with a triumphant look in my direction.

  “Not fair, Gabi,” I complained.

  “I told you not to visit me while I was at work.” She studied her nails. “Now you see what happens when you disobey me.”

  “Dude,” Evan laughed, “you are so whipped.”

  “Hope you enjoy taking the bus home,” I told him, “because I am not driving your ass back to the apartment.”

  “Not fair, Rafe,” he whined, following me as I stalked out of the store. “I need my cigarettes! Come on! You need me!”

  “What the hell would I need you for?”

  “In case there are any snakes lurking in the car!” He was barely able to say that before bursting into laughter. “Who else will save you, Indiana Jones?”

  “I hope a snake eats you,” I muttered. “I’ll just stand to the side and watch. Maybe I’ll take a picture with my phone and make it my new desktop wallpaper.”

  “Dude, that’s cruel.” Evan clutched his chest. “I thought we were friends!” He threw an arm over my shoulder when I didn’t respond. “Thanks to me you got to see your girl and take out a demon. Your night would have sucked without me!”

  “And somehow I think it would have been much less stressful if you weren’t around.”

  “Rafe, you would be so bored if I wasn’t here.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  An Autumn Dream

  I dreamt about Mom again last night.

  That meant today was going to suck. Don’t believe me? Well, first of all, it was gorgeous out, one of those crisp, fall days where the sky is a deep blue filled with fluffy, white clouds that look like giant marshmallows. It was the perfect day to spend outdoors, raking and weeding and simply enjoying the beautiful garden you worked so hard on. Except, you know, you couldn’t because you had to go to school.