Flurries were in the forecast all across the suburbs of Vermont. Brandon Jay Weaver was standing outside in the bitter cold, alone, leaning his back against the brick wall that surrounded the perimeter of Creek Peak High School. He was a tall handsome young man with jet-black hair, crimson eyes, tan skin, wearing mostly black clothing and a dark jacket with a grey fur-rimmed hood but made of thin fabric despite the freezing temperature. He also wore a pair of big red headphones around his shoulders with a red wire connecting down to the red and yellow old-timey cassette music player he kept in his back pocket.
Piles of snow were already piled up all over town from the season's previous blizzards. Blankets of snow and ice on the edges of the sidewalks where the plows had pushed it aside but made them a safety hazard. A path of Brandon's footprints from the way he came were still visible in the twelve inches of snow. They were imprinted deep because his body produced so much heat, head to toe, that the snow melted beneath his sneakers, and he had to pick his knees up while he walked.
A chilly breeze blew passed, sending his hair into his eyes and obscuring his vision. He kept his hands in his pockets, and he was waiting for one particular student, Mallory Dee Kepler, to exit the school to walk her home. His gaze was at his feet as he wondered why he had agreed to walk Mallory home. It occurred to him—more than once, in fact—that she should've never been acquainted with him in the first place.
He was too dangerous to get close to any normal human, and he knew he shouldn't be cozying up to anyone this much. But after meeting her, she was all he could think about. She was in his dreams at night. She invaded his thoughts during the day. Seeing her face was ecstasy to him. It was addictive, and it got to the point where he began seeing her every day. Not by coincidence, but of his own accord.
The final bell had rung hours ago. Most of the students and teachers had vacated the building to return to their humble abodes before the upcoming snowfall. Brandon had watched them leave, and he saw their sin auras were irradiating in dark and grotesque shades of black and red, yellow and green. From pride and greed to sloth, envy, and lust, natural for high school. As much as their sins disgusted him and the fact nobody should've been inside at this time of day, he sucked up the nausea in his stomach and was still waiting for her.
Eventually, as the last bit of sunlight got covered by dark stormy clouds, he heard the doors to the main entrance click open. He turned the corner at the gate, and out she came: a teenage girl with really long straight hair the color of hazelnut coffee and wearing a white peacoat and a pink striped scarf. She was the one person whose sin he didn't know. Brandon waved one hand over his head, signaling to her where he was. He called out to her, "Mallory, over here."
Mallory saw him and immediately ran up to him, grinning ear to ear. Her hair swayed from side to side. She clutched onto the shoulder strap of her schoolbag with her left hand, while her right hand waved a friendly gesture above her head, mimicking Brandon. "Oh hey. Hi, Brandon. You really came back for me," she said.
"I said I would, didn't I?" Brandon asked. He saw that her clear white aura was overflowing, unbeknownst to her, of course.
"Yes, yes, I know." Mallory said as soon as she was standing right in front of him. "Sorry I took so long. The drama club's gotten pretty behind because everyone's freaking out about the student who's playing the leading role has been out sick the past few days. Also, I had to stay behind again to help finish painting some of the background sets and then I reorganized the props room."
Brandon was confused, "But everybody else already left hours ago. You did that all by yourself?"
"I did." she nodded.
"Jesus, what is wrong with those lazy bastards?" he complained, "They're always leaving you with too much stuff for one person to do alone."
"It's fine, it's fine. I don't mind at all," Mallory tried to assure him, "Really, I love doing the work anyways, and I'm just glad I could help. That's just part of being on the stage crew."
Brandon sighed, "Heh. If you say so."
"What's that look for?" she asked.
"Huh?" he raised an eyebrow.
"You're making that really mad face again," she pointed her left index finger at his face, "And you've got those angry wrinkles on your forehead. Are you okay?"
"Hm. I guess I'm just feeling a little annoyed right now," he responded.
She tilted her head, "But why?"
He scowled, "I think you know damn well why."
"What?" she took a step backward, afraid of his tone of voice. She always had a fear of anger and shouting.
"Ugh, never mind," he wanted to drop the topic, "Let's go. I'll walk you home." Brandon took a few steps toward the street but then stopped when he realized she was not at his side. Mallory twiddled her thumbs with her hands close to her chest. That look in her eyes said it all. "Oh, do you not want to go home right now?" he asked. How could he have been so insensitive?
He only heard about how bad Mallory has it at home. Last week, they were swinging on the swing set in the local park playground when he noticed a large purple bruise on her neck. She tried to cover it with her scarf, but it was too late. She told him that her stepmother sometimes hit her. Then the woman went out of her way to try and cover up the bruises with makeup so that her father never caught on. But even then he was too busy with work and out of the house for lengthy periods of time. When she talked about it, her whole body shuddered with terror. It made Brandon wonder just how much wits she had, how much longer she could endure, and how she could possibly have such a pure heart with no intent for retaliation after all she'd been through.
She stayed quiet, eyes cast upwards toward the darkening sky, but after a while, she looked back at him and said, "Well, actually, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take you someplace."
"Seriously?"
"I mean, it may take a while to get there," she started, "And I don't want it to make you think I'm weird, but I just wanted to—"
He interrupted, "Of course I think you're weird."
That remark made her feel embarrassed. "Oh. Um, then, are you not up to it? Should we not go?" she inquired.
Brandon noticed the disappointment in her voice as well as the frown on her face, and then he groaned, "Ugh. I never said that I wouldn't go. So, where is it? How do we get there?"
Mallory pressed one finger to her lips, which curved into a smile, "Shhhhhhhh! This is going to be a surprise. Just follow me, okay?"
Brandon was skeptical but gave in, "Okay."
He let her lead the way as they walked side by side. In the town center, there were very few other pedestrians on the sidewalks. The sky was getting dark with overcast, and it was already starting to snow again. Mallory lifted one of her gloved hands up, palm facing the sky, and caught a falling snowflake. It landed on her fingers and melted right away. She let out a sigh, noticing that her breath was like a thick cloud of smoke puffing into the air in front of her face.
Then she looked back up at Brandon who met her gaze as well, "You sure you're not underdressed?" she asked, breaking the silence between them, "It sure is cold today, and you must be frigid wearing just that thin jacket."
"Eh. I'm fine." Brandon said.
Mallory was flabbergasted, "Are you kidding me? I'm bundled up with every piece of warm clothing I could find this morning and I'm still freezing. How can you say you're not cold?"
Brandon shrugged, "I guess I'm hot-blooded."
"All people are hot-blooded," she shot back.
"I mean I'm just more hot-blooded than the average person."
Mallory glared intently as if to justify her suspicion, "Hmmmmmm…"
Brandon felt uncomfortable as she leaned closer into his personal space, "Uh, what are you doing? Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm just noticing how red your eyes are," Mallory states, "I guess they kind of stood out more when you just said you're hot-blooded. They're also all shiny like rubies right now. I think they're very pretty."
Brandon tried to hide the blush in his cheeks by turning his head to the other side, "Weirdo."
About half an hour later, they were still walking. They reached the northeastern suburban outskirts of the city, with Victorian style houses lining the neighborhoods. There were blankets of snow on every lawn, and the sidewalks were poorly shoveled compared to the plowed roads.
Mallory slipped on a patch of black ice along the sidewalk, "Whoa!" she yelled.
But Brandon caught her arm before she could land flat on her butt. Their eyes met again, and it was as if all of time slowed down just for them. He helped her over the ice patch and back onto her feet.
"Thanks," she said.
"How much farther is this place, anyways?" Brandon asked.
"Don't worry. We're getting closer." Mallory assured.
"I just didn't think we'd go this far out. And it's starting to get dark, too." Brandon looked up at the sky, still covered by blackened clouds.
"Yeah, it is. Just a little bit longer, okay? I promise, this is going to be special."
"How so?"
Mallory said, "Well, the fact is I've only ever seen you when you're angry or bored. That's why I want to see what a different emotion looks like on you."
Brandon asked, "What do you mean 'a different emotion'?"
"You'll see." she chimed.
He groaned, "Jesus Christ, do you have to talk in riddles?"
Mallory lowered her head, "Sorry."
Brandon sighed, "Whatever. Let's just hurry up and get there already. It's really late."
They entered a woodsy area behind a group of houses. Their feet crunched in a whole foot of snow on the ground, and they had to lift their knees higher to keep moving forward. They took each other by the hand to ensure they wouldn't get separated. He held her right hand and she held his left hand. For a moment, Mallory could've sworn she felt a fiery warmth surging between their palms and coming from the pulse in Brandon's hand, even while she was wearing thick brown gloves.
"Where are we now? Isn't this just the woods?" Brandon asked.
"Don't worry. We're almost there."
"You said that like fifteen minutes ago. Don't you think—"
Mallory interrupted, "Okay, we're here."
They arrived on top of a hill in a small clearing in the woods. The sky was pitch-black, and the snow was up to their shins.
"What is this? I can barely see a thing." Brandon said.
"Just wait, it should be happening any time now." Mallory assured.
"What's going to happen?" Brandon asked, "This place is really hard to move through, too."
But before he could finish his sentence, the clouds separated for the white moonlight to hit the icicles on a tall and bare old oak tree at the center of the clearing. The radiance danced off of the icy and frozen tree parts. It looked like glittering tinsel and shiny ornaments were hanging from the branches, and the many tiny twinkling lights were illuminating the dark woods.
Brandon's jaw dropped, "Whoa."
Mallory chuckled, "Hahaha. That's what I said the first time, too."
"What do mean 'the first time'? How did you even know about this?" Brandon asked.
"Well, it happened like ten years ago. I once got lost in these same woods when I was six years old," Mallory started, "It was nighttime and during winter, just like it is now, but the only difference is it was in late December.
"Anyway, after wandering around for a while and I was getting to the brink of freaking out, the moonlight shone through and cast upon this very tree, and it hit all the icicles and brightened up the entire woods at once. At least, it seemed like it since I was so young at the time. To me, it looked like a huge, beautiful Christmas tree.
"So I stayed sitting beneath it, looking up at the lights, and it gave me some comfort until I was eventually found."
"That's, uh…a pretty nice memory. I guess." Brandon said.
Mallory's face beamed with a smile. "I like to think of this Christmas tree whenever I'm feeling lonely or scared, and sometimes I sneak out at night to come visit it."
"Isn't it a little late for Christmas stuff now? It's the middle of February." Brandon said.
"It doesn't really matter as long as it's winter and snowy." Mallory remarked.
"Uh-huh," Brandon was unconvinced.
Mallory's smile got bigger as she said, "Aha! See? I knew this would make you happy."
Brandon didn't know what she was talking about, "What?"
"I told you. I wanted to see a new different emotion on your face," said Mallory, "That emotion's happiness, and it looks like I've succeeded."
Embarrassed that she was correct but not wanting to admit it out loud, Brandon said, "I, uh, I wouldn't say I'm happy. I'm more like…impressed."
"Well, I still got to see a genuine smile on your face. I love it." Mallory said.
Brandon's toothy grin, which revealed his sharp fangs, was something he'd always been self-conscious of, but he didn't realize he'd relaxed enough to let one crack through. He forcedly lowered the corners of his mouth back into a frown. "Wait, what smile? What are you talking about?" he asked, trying to seem clueless.
Mallory giggled, "Tee hee. Aww, come one. Your smile is really nice. There's no need to be shy about it."
He groaned.
Several minutes of silence passed as they continued to stare up at the old oak tree's enchantment.
"Hey, Brandon," Mallory soon said, "Next time, I mean like, when it really gets to be Christmas time, let's come back here together. To our very own Christmas tree."
"Sure." Brandon was quick to respond, which he found surprising. He was always content with just being near her. It made even the chilliest of days that winter had in store every year seem a little warmer.
A sudden jolting pulse in his chest as his fingertips began to heat up came as a shock to Brandon. He knew it meant only one thing.
Looking all around the area, a pit landed in his stomach when he spotted a tiny impish demon staring down at them. It was crouching on a high branch atop their Christmas tree, holding onto the highest branch with one of its clawed hands to keep itself from falling.
It had skin as black as ink splotches and a pair of curled dark horns on top of its head. Its eyes were just bright red empty circles, and its smiling mouth revealed several white pointed teeth. It was laughing at them, its shoulders bobbing up and down as it cackled.
Mallory noticed the terrifyingly serious expression on Brandon's face, and as she bent forward a little, she asked him out of concern, "Brandon, is something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, um, no. Everything's fine." Brandon lied while gripping Mallory's hand tighter in his.
He kept smiling, a fake one, as he was looking into her dark gray eyes, but as soon as she looked back at the tree, he turned his gaze back towards the little imp demon. It blinked twice while waving its free hand at them and still laughing at them.
Clearly let my guard down for too long, he thought to himself.
They weren't alone out here. The Devil was still watching them. This realization made a chill run up his spine—not for the first time in the past few days, and certainly not the first time since he initially met Mallory a couple of weeks ago.
If she were to know the truth about him, things wouldn't be this peaceful. He had to make sure she never found out.
The little imp demon pointed a claw at Mallory and then use the same claw to make a slicing gesture across its throat, all while laughing. Brandon's pretending-everything-is-okay smile turned into a frown, and his eyes lit up, tinted an unnatural bright crimson, like there was fire burning inside his eyes.
His rage was swelling from deep within his gut. Although he was standing as still as a statue, he was having an internal battle with himself to keep his fury contained because he couldn't risk acting on impulse in front of her.
For better or worse, Mallory didn't notice any of this as she continued staring in awe at their Christmas tree. She couldn't even sense the demon imp's presence because she didn't possess the ability to.
Meanwhile, Brandon could read the message from the imp like an open book. The Devil was unhappy with him for not keeping up his end of their bargain and was blaming Mallory. But if that biblical bastard was planning on hurting Mallory, he was going to be in for a real nasty fight.
"Ah…Achoo!" Mallory sneezed, breaking the tense silence. Her nose and cheeks were turning bright red when she looked back up at Brandon. "Sorry. It's getting a lot colder. I guess we should head back now."
"Oh, okay," he stammered, "Yeah, let's."
They quickly made their way out of these woods and back onto the streets all the way back to Mallory's apartment home. After saying goodnight and promising to see her the next day, Brandon turned around as soon as she closed the door and left. With a malicious expression on his face, he knew what he had to do next was going to be a pain.