An Autumn Dream

by Melissa Giorgio

  I sighed. “Look, Rafe, I appreciate it, but—”

  “WOOHOO, bringing a girl into the boy’s bathroom, you sly, horny bastard!” a new voice yelled from the direction of the window, cutting off what I was about to say.

  We turned in unison, my hand frozen in mid-stroke over Rafe’s chest, to see Evan peering at us from the window.

  He waved cheerfully. “Hey, folks, what’s up? Getting down and dirty in the bathroom?”

  I threw the wadded-up paper towel in his direction. It flew all of one foot before landing pathetically on the bathroom floor with a soft plop. Rafe looked at it and then back at Evan and declared, “Yeah, I’m going to close the window.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Wait, wait,” Evan said, scrambling in before Rafe could get there. He was wearing a silky red and black cap around his neck and it got caught on one of the bushes outside. After a few tugs he got himself free and stood in front of us, posing. “So, where’s the party? You look gorgeous, by the way, Gabi. Why you’re still wearing your clothes is beyond me, though.”

  “Thanks…I think.”

  “Why aren’t you at the hospital?” Rafe demanded. “It’s Friday. Why aren’t you with Alex?”

  Evan made a face. “Mommy and Daddy Chen decided to spend Halloween with their daughter. What the hell! Isn’t that perverse? It’s not like it’s her birthday or Christmas. It’s Halloween!” He threw up his hands in disgust. “Can’t they sit home in their penthouse and pass out candy like normal people?”

  I exchanged a look with Rafe. Did kids even go Trick-or-Treating in penthouses? And what did they get? Expensive watches or jewelry? I smiled dreamily, picturing a Trick-or-Treat bag filled with sparkling goodies.

  “Anyway,” Evan continued, breaking into my fantasy, “I had just gotten there when Susie—you remember Susie, Rafe, the pretty receptionist that always works on Fridays—called up to the room to let me know the Chens were on their way. I barely managed to get out of there before they showed up!” He scowled darkly. “One night of the week, that’s all I’m asking! I even got dressed up in this fancy cape for her!”

  “Why don’t you just go on Thursdays?” I suggested. “Tuesdays? When you know for sure they’re in Manhattan? What’s so special about Fridays?”

  “Because Susie works Fridays,” Rafe said wryly.

  “Yeah, and? What’s wrong with the other people who work there?”

  Evan started ticking things off on his fingers. “Martha works on Mondays and Wednesdays and thinks I’m a pervert.”

  Rafe snorted.

  “Tuesdays and Thursdays is Ted, who had a crush on me—”

  “You think everyone has a crush on you!”

  “Even Rafe,” I added unhelpfully.

  Evan ignored us. “HAD a crush, past tense. When I let him know I wasn’t interested, he told me to get out before he told the Chens I was there to see their daughter.” He shrugged. “And the weekends are out of the question, which leaves us with Friday.” His face became uncharacteristically serious. “And Fridays are special…”

  “Why—” I started to ask, but Rafe grabbed my arm and shook his head slightly. I clamped my mouth shut and studied Evan. Obviously, Fridays meant something to Evan and Alexandra. And even with her in a coma, he was still honoring that. That was…

  Oddly romantic. And sweet. And so not Evan. Would he ever stop surprising me?

  But maybe that was part of his strength. He acted so careless and silly, but actually he was an incredibly strong hunter and magic user. Underestimating him could prove to be your downfall.

  “Anyway,” Rafe said, “you still haven’t told us why you’re here, breaking into the boy’s bathroom.”

  “Just like you haven’t told me what you and Gabi are doing here,” he countered with a leer.

  “Cleaning up a stain.”

  “What kind of stai—ow, Gabi, don’t hit me!”

  I shook my fist at him. “I knew you were going to say something perverted, Evan! Rafe spilled his punch when I crashed into him!”

  “Sounds like an exciting party,” Evan said, rubbing the spot on his arm where I had whacked him. “Have you two even danced yet?”

  “We just got here,” Rafe explained.

  Evan surprised the two of us by seizing my hand and tugging me toward the doorway. “Then come on! Stop standing around in this disgusting bathroom!” He shook his head. “Honestly Rafe, I thought you were a gentlemen, and instead you have her standing in front of urinals!”

  “Enough with the urinals!”

  “You can’t go to the dance!” I protested. “You’re not even supposed to be here!”

  “Come on! I’m in costume!” He flipped his cloak over his shoulder. “Aren’t I the hottest vampire you’ve ever seen?”

  “More like the most obnoxious,” I muttered under my breath. Behind me, Rafe started laughing.

  “That right?” Evan said, a suspicious gleam in his eye. “Just for that, you’re dancing with me first, Gabi. Don’t try to stop us, Rafe.”

  Of course he tried, protesting the entire way back to the cafeteria, but Evan kept walking forward with a bemused smile on his face, his hand clenched tightly around mine. Finally, I just told Rafe to forget it. “We’ll dance the next one, promise,” I said.

  “I’m going to rip his fingers off of your arm if he doesn’t let you go after one dance,” Rafe growled. But his threats were lost in the music as we reentered the cafeteria.

  Crap. A stupid slow song was playing. A slow song I should be dancing to with my boyfriend. I shot Rafe a look of regret over my shoulder as Evan led me toward the dance floor. Rafe leaned against the wall, arms across his chest as he watched us with a glower. Then I saw a flash of blonde hair as Stacey approached him, wearing the sluttiest cheerleading costume I had ever seen in my life. Like, seriously, it was two strips of cloth. How they let her in was beyond me. How she was able to leave her house and make it to the dance without getting arrested or causing a thousand accidents was even more beyond me.

  And now she was talking to my boyfriend. As if I would just stand by and let that happen! I tried to break free, but Evan’s grip was like steel manacles.

  “Down, girl,” he chided, following my gaze. “You have nothing to worry about. As hot as that girl is, she means nothing to Rafe. With him it’s all ‘Gabi, Gabi, Gabi.’ Ugh.” He pretended to gag. “It’s enough to make one sick. No offense.”

  “If she’s so hot, why don’t you go dance with her?” I asked through gritted teeth, wishing he would spin me around so I could see what she was trying to do with my boyfriend.

  “Because I’m too busy dancing with the prettiest girl in the room right now.”

  It took a second for his words to register, and then I blushed. “Shut up.”

  He laughed. “When someone pays you a compliment, it’s not polite to tell them to shut up.”

  “Flattery will get you nowhere, Evan Underwood! I see what you’re doing, and it’s not working!” I shook my fist at him.

  He smiled. “Damn, it usually does.” He pulled me closer as we swayed to the music. “Will you just relax and enjoy yourself, Gabi?”

  I rested my cheek on the silky cape draped across his shoulder despite myself. “I don’t know what that word means.”

  “Which one? Relax, or enjoy?”

  I sighed.

  “Are you really okay?” he asked quietly in my ear. “You looked upset when I first saw you.”

  “Because you were standing outside the boy’s bathroom window—”

  “Gabi.” He gave me a look. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.”

  Nodding, I bit my lip. “Yeah, I do.” I gazed across the dancing bodies, finding Christian dancing with his latest girl. I didn’t recognize her from school and wondered if he had brought her. She wasn’t even wearing a costume! Just some skintight aqua-colored dress that looked like it had been painted on, and heels so high I would kill myself if I tried to walk in them. When they
turned, I saw a skinny pink rat tail hanging from her backside and wondered if she was supposed to be Minnie Mouse.

  “Minnie has a black tail,” I muttered. “Not to mention a red dress.”

  Evan blinked. “Mmm?”

  I pointed in the direction of Christian and his date with my chin. “That girl. She’s got a rat tail, and I’m wondering what the heck kind of costume that’s supposed to be.”

  The couple, swaying slowly, turned to face us and we stiffened in surprise.

  Christian’s date? She, and I used that term very loosely here, had her mouth open to reveal two rows of extra sharp, extra pointy teeth. She was like a shark on steroids. And she, no, Gabi, it, was aiming that mouth toward Christian’s neck.

  “Crap,” I said. Then I paused. “Can’t we just let it eat him?”

  Evan laughed distractively as he scanned the cafeteria, morphing into hunter mode right before my eyes.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked quietly.

  “Get the demon outside and kill it. I can’t fight it in here. Too many bodies getting in the way of my spells.”

  “And how do we lure it outside? It seems pretty attached to Christian.” We both winced when the demon went for his throat, but it must have just nuzzled him because Christian laughed and pulled it closer. Man, if only he could see those teeth. He would have peed his pants and run screaming in the opposite direction.

  Or maybe it would have turned him on. This was Christian Thompson we were talking about.

  “We need to get him out of here,” Evan said, still looking around. “What would make him leave?” His gaze rested on me.

  “HELL. NO.” I shook my head. “I’m not luring Christian anywhere. I can’t get him to leave me alone as it is!” I regretted that remark the moment it left my lips, watching as Evan’s face broke into a huge smile.

  “Perfect!”

  “Evan, no!” I said, fighting as he pulled us toward Christian and his dance partner from hell. Not listening, he swung me wide and I went careening into Minnie the Sharkrat. The demon hissed, slashing out at me and I only just avoided its claws.

  “Easy, ladies,” Christian smirked. “No need to throw yourselves at me. We can share!” He shot me a look he probably thought was sexy, but all it succeeded in doing was make my stomach turn. “I knew you’d come around, Gabi.”

  I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” I said in monotone. Evan elbowed me in the side. Hard. “Look, can we split, Christian? This dance is so lame and…” Gritting my teeth and knowing I was going to hate myself in the morning, I batted my eyelashes at him. Forget in the morning, I hated myself now! “Let’s go someplace quieter. And alone.”

  Christian looked smug. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.” He went to take my hand, but Sharkrat pushed me roughly aside. Evan caught me before I could topple over onto the floor.

  “NO!” Sharkrat hissed, grabbing Christian by the arm. “Mine!”

  “Sweetheart, I said we can share,” Christian said. He threw me a glance. “If that’s okay with Gabi?”

  I exchanged a look with Evan before nodding. “It’s fine. Come on, let’s go.”

  ***

  Where the hell was Rafe? I wondered as we left the building. Surely he would have seen the commotion and known something was up.

  Unless he was too busy with Stacey—

  I was going to kill that girl tonight. Right after I killed Christian for hanging out with a demon. Oh, and Evan, for forcing me to flirt with the enemy.

  And people wondered why I didn’t go out and do things. Because fighting demons at the Halloween dance was SO MUCH FUN.

  I knew we should have gone Trick-or-Treating. I knew it! We would be home right now, curled up on the couch eating peanut butter cups and watching horror movies while Sharkrat feasted on Christian Thompson.

  That would have been a much better evening, on all accounts.

  Life, why are you so cruel to me?

  Sharkrat seemed to share my sentiments as it hissed impatiently, drool dribbling from its many teeth as its rat tail swished back and forth in irritation. I glanced at Christian, wondering if he finally saw what his date actually was, but he was too busy glaring at Evan to even notice.

  “Why is he here?” he asked me. “Who the hell is he, anyway? I’m not into dudes, you know.”

  Evan let out a short bark of laughter, but didn’t answer. He was too busy discreetly working his magic. He had already thrown up a veil to prevent anyone else from seeing what was going on, and was now doing something that involved a dimly glowing blue orb and a lot of finger movement.

  “Gabi, come on, answer me.”

  I turned around to address the perverted doctor. “Christian, can you please shut up for once in your life?”

  He stared at me, mouth agape. “What the hell? You’re the one who wanted to come out here—”

  “I didn’t come out here for you,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Then who?” Understanding spread across his face. “Her? You’re into girls?”

  I smacked my hand against my forehead, wishing it was Christian I was hitting instead. “Will you look at your date? I mean, really, really look! Notice anything a little off?”

  Sharkrat took this moment to hiss loudly like a snake and massive amounts of spittle went flying everywhere.

  Christian shrugged. “She’s hot. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Ugh, do you ever think with your brain and not with your—”

  “Is that a tail?” Christian interrupted. I felt a flash of triumph. Finally! Sharkrat was dropping its glamour!

  I guessed the demon was tired of standing around and wanted to start munching on Christian. It launched itself into the air, crashing into Christian and knocking him onto the ground. Its tail wrapped tightly around his wrists, and he screamed in pain. “Get it off, get it off, Gabi help meeee!”

  What a baby. I looked at Evan, who was crouching on the ground, eyes closed as he concentrated on a spell. “Crap,” I muttered. “Why do I have to save this moron?” I glanced up at the sky, expecting an answer, but of course nothing came to me.

  Luckily for Christian, I made a habit of carrying Rafe’s knife around with me. Sure, if they had checked my bag, I would have been arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, but it was a risk I was willing to take considering my luck with demons popping up to ruin my dates with Rafe.

  Speaking of Rafe, where was he? Did I really have to stab this demon and ruin my awesome flapper dress? I heaved a sigh.

  He so owed me about forty pounds of peanut butter cups.

  “Gabiiiiiiiiii,” Christian pleaded, jerking his head from side to side as Sharkrat tried to take a nice big bite out of his exposed neck.

  “All right, all right, shut up, you idiot!” I said, lunging forward with the knife and cutting Sharkrat’s tail clean off. The demon howled with pain before backhanding me across the face. I went flying, landing in an undignified heap on the ground with my dress riding up a lot higher than I was comfortable with. I really hoped Christian wasn’t watching.

  “Gabi!” Evan cried, snapping out of his trance and throwing a freaking blue flaming fireball at Sharkrat. It screamed and rolled off Christian, frantically patting down its blazing bits. Evan helped me up. “Are you okay?”

  My face was throbbing with every beat of my heart, and I wondered how I would be able to explain the bruise to everyone, especially Dad. He’d probably assume Rafe beat me and go after him with his kitchen knives. “No, Evan, I am not okay. Can you please kill this thing so I can go find Rafe and have him drive me home?” I sniffled loudly. “This sucks.”

  Evan’s face softened. “Hey, babe, I’m sorry.” He extended a hand toward me, but I slapped him away.

  “Just kill the demon, Evan.”

  “All right.” His face grim, he pulled out a knife identical to the one I still clutched and charged toward the demon, which was currently doing the stop, drop and roll on the ground. Even f
rom where I stood, I could smell nasty burnt demon flesh. Stomach rolling, I stood on shaky feet to watch the rest of the fight.

  Groaning, Christian sat up and rubbed his head. “Gabi?” he asked when he saw me. “What the hell is going on?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t talk to me, Christian.”

  “You owe me an explanation—”

  My temper finally snapped. “I don’t owe you anything,” I screamed, my voice echoing across the deserted courtyard. “Not after what you did to Chloe!”

  Confused, he looked at me. “What I did…?”

  “Yes, you asshole.” I took a menacing step toward him and he flinched, not unlike Rafe earlier. Gee, what did that say about me? Was I really that scary? “Have you forgotten already?” I shook my head, feeling disgusted. “It must be so nice to be the sort of guy that goes around screwing with girls’ hearts like it’s nothing. How do you fall asleep at night, Christian?”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  I wanted to hurl my knife at him. I even took another step forward, arm raised when I realized that going to jail for murdering Christian Thompson really interfered with everything I had planned for my life. “Dammit,” I sighed, lowering my arm. I eyed my heels, wondering if I could kick him a few times without getting in trouble.

  Christian stood, brushing the dirt from his costume. I was happy to see the demon’s tail had left thick red welts around his wrists. I may not have been the one to hurt him, but at least he was hurting. He ran a hand through his hair in a way that he probably thought was sexy (but I just found creepy) and said, “Look, Gabi, your sister was fun and all, but that’s all it was. I’m not ready to settle down, you know?” He spread his hands wide. “We’re sixteen years old, for god’s sake!”

  “And she’s fifteen,” I shot back hotly. “She’s just a kid.”

  “Actually,” he said with a smug look, “she’s definitely not.”

  I slapped him across the face with the hand that wasn’t still gripping the knife. He stared at me in shock before cradling his cheek with his hand. Squeezing my now-throbbing hand into a fist, I hissed, “You had no right sleeping with her. You had no right taking her heart and stomping on it until it broke into a million pieces, leaving me with the struggle of mending it back together.” My eyes were burning with unshed tears, but I refused to cry in front of this jerk. “Maybe it’s all fun and games to you, sleeping around with everyone you want, but how about you think about someone besides yourself for once in your life? How about you think about the poor girls that you lead on and then drop like yesterday’s trash?”