Beneath an October Moon

The days were getting shorter, the shadows longer...it was that time of year again, when things somehow started to look a little more mysterious, more otherworldly..I walked through half-dreamed streets, and felt that special something in the cool night air...temperatures were coming down, sweaters were starting to appear in stores...

The moon beckoned, as I looked up toward its inscrutable, ageless face.  Then I saw them -- two strange, dark silhouettes against that bright, white orb...flapping, leathery wings, supernatural whispers stirring in the breeze...

He was standing beneath a street lamp as I walked down the deserted, wind-swept sidewalk.  I saw the billowing cape, felt his electrifying presence.  Slowing my pace a bit, I sighed, wondering if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.  He was leaning casually against the lamp's metal pole, but its meager glow did not reveal his features.  Paradoxically, I was not afraid, although a strange languor suddenly began stealing through my limbs... Inexplicably, I also wanted  to get closer to him...

Something brushed against my legs, and I looked down.  I was not surprised to see a wolf, his golden, intelligent eyes staring right into mine.  I reached down, as if by habit, stroking his soft, reddish-gold fur.  A low growl emerged from his throat.  It seemed to be some sort of warning, I thought vaguely.

Pushing away any thoughts of danger, I continued to walk toward that street lamp, stretching myself out deliciously.  The man suddenly straightened, and I caught the sharp glint of his eyes, before his face was once more hidden by the impenetrable shadows around him.  The night breeze carried his soft, yearning whisper to me. "Maxine..."

And I remembered...I remembered dancing with him at Versailles, swimming with him in Jamaican waters, climbing Everest with him in the middle of a blizzard.

I had thought him lost forever.  Gerald.  My man.  My muse.  The other half of my soul...

Sighing softly, regretfully, I slowly close my paranormal romance novel, and steal a look out the window.  It's already midnight-dark outside, and it's only 6:30 PM.  I slowly get up from my comfortable armchair, and decide to stretch.  I'll have to be going out there, into that inky blackness, but I'm fine with that.  I feel no fear, no apprehension.  I simply have to run a little errand, right across the street.  Just have to go do my hair, at my friend's house.  She's a great hair stylist, and doesn't charge me much.

I gather my purse, the hair color lotion, and make sure I have some money in my wallet.  Then I briefly gaze at myself in the bathroom mirror, just before I walk over to the front door.

I smile as I look into the mirror, barely noticing the small puncture wounds.  He's such a smooth operator, my beloved.  No one would notice, unless they looked very, very closely.

As I head toward the door, I glance into the bedroom.  There he is, still asleep.  As I gaze lovingly at him, I see him stir slightly, and blow him a kiss.  Then I walk firmly toward the front door, checking inside the hallway closet on my way.  Yes, his cape is in there, where he always hangs it just before he climbs into our bed, as the sun begins to rise in the morning.

Smiling, I step outside, and close the door.  As I do so, a stray neighborhood cat freezes on the front sidewalk, staring at me in terror.  I purr reassuringly at her.  She arches her back, hissing, but, as I continue to purr, she calms down, and hurries off into the night.

Just before crossing the street, I check my watch.  I'm not due for another feeding yet.  Satisfied, I cross the street, toward my human hairdresser's own front door, my paranormal romance firmly tucked into my black backpack, just in case she has other clients tonight as well.  In that case, I will have to wait. 

I can't stand waiting with nothing to read. 

Just before I cross the street, I catch a glint of bright orange in my peripheral vision.  Turning my head slightly to the right, I see the eerie, winking grin of a jack o'lantern, poised upon a neighboring lawn.

I look up at the huge, full moon right above me.  Against its bright white orb, two mysterious-looking silhouettes wheel and glide, wheel and glide...

Yes, it's that time of year again...