He knows when you’ve been bad or Good.. A Max Abaddon short.

“Can I help you?” The young lady behind the perfume counter asked as Petro buzzed
out from my trench coat.

The immediate look of shock overtook the young lady’s face, as she realized what she was looking at.

“Sure thing, and hello...,” Petro said, smoothing out his majestic mustache. 

Since the Balance some two years ago, while people were aware of the magical community, it still wasn’t as common as, say, seeing a plane in the sky. The community, while slowly growing, was still, for the most part, unseen.

“You’re, you are a fairy!” stammered the young woman who’s tag simply read Julia.

I chuckled, seeing Petro dusting lightly. “He’s a Pixie, and a stubborn one at that.”

Seeing my mood, Julia smiled, letting it reach her eyes. “I’ve never met a Pixie or… Hey, aren’t you that guy I keep seeing on the TV that always sets stuff on fire?”

I frowned. “Yeah, I wish it was for something else, but probably.”

“OMG, my friends are never going to believe this. Can I get a selfie?” Julia said, being genuine.

“Tell you what. You help me find something for my old lady, and it’s a deal. You know some of that good smelling love potion,” Petro said as I flicked him before he could make his hip gyration motion.

“Deal, but we don’t sell potions. I do have a rather nice Chanel,” Julia said, pulling out a small strip of scented paper.

Petro breathed it in, letting out a sigh. “Man, she’ll love that stuff.”

“Look at you, the true romantic. I wish my boyfriend cared if I would like the perfume he gets me versus what he likes,” Julia said, the dedicated salesperson coming out.

“This will do,” Petro said as Julia placed a bottle the size of his body in front of him. “Boss, you think this is a little much?”

Seeing the predicament, Julia reached down, pulling out two tester tubes still as large as Petro’s forearm. “Tell you what, you can have these. For your size, they should last for a long time. Plus, I’ll give you one just for you,” Julia said, grinning.

Truth be told, the regular world hadn’t taken into consideration Pixie size portions of items. Or Ogre size, for that matter.

Twenty selfies and a solid goodbye to Julia later, I stood there looking over the rest of the department store.

“Hey man, you think I should get Kim something?” I asked Petro as he poured cologne all over his wings. He took flight as the musky smell shot directly up my nose.

“You better boss. I know you just started dating, but you need to. You know what they say about single ladies on Christmas...,” Petro said, grinning. We were starting to draw a crowd as he was floating in front of me in the store talking.

"What do they say about single ladies on Christmas?” I asked, never hearing this one.

“They’re single,” Petro said, using his ever-present wisdom.

Shaking my head, I walked over to the watch section. “ I have an idea. I’m going to get her a new watch and promise we will get some time together.”

“Smooth operator,” Petro sang as I finished my purchase.

The funny thing about Christmas is that things can, at times, not line up. I looked down at my watch, realizing I was supposed to meet Kim in four hours for drinks and dinner at the Fallen Angel.

As if ordained by the Gods, the sound of an old horn beeped as we walked out. There sat the 1970 Cadilac Deville we had left in the Everwhere. We had landed on calling her Caddy.

“This can't be good boss,” Petro said as I let out a deep breath nodding my head. Walking over to the car, a group of people stared as I started talking to the running car sitting there empty.

“This better be good Caddy. What’s up, and how the hell did you get here?” I asked as Petro zipped over, landing on the hood.

The engine revved as the stereo came to life, the windows rolling down. “He’s making a list, He’s checking it twice, He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town.”

“That sounds a lot more ominous when you put it that way, Caddy. Petro?” I said, the song swimming in my head being darker than I remembered. The horn honked again as the door swung open.

The crowd by now was taking pictures and videos. Flashes were going off as the sun had just gone down.

“If I miss another night at home, Casey is going to kill me!” Petro exclaimed as he also reminded me of my set dinner time with Kim.

I looked at Caddy. “Alright, you have our attention. If you promise, we can pick up the girls we’re in.”

‘Let’s Go’ by The Cars blared as Petro took a deep breath zipping into the car. I reached down, pulling out my phone while Petro did punching in Kim's number.

“Max, hey, I was just getting ready,” Kim’s excited voice came over the phone.

“Slight change of plans. Grab your service pistol and throw on some jeans,” I said, trying to put some mystery in my voice.

Kim was silent at the other end of the phone. “This better be good.”

“Well, Caddy showed up and started blaring something about Santa Clause is coming to town, and it seems rather ominous,” I said as Kim took a deep breath.

“Again? Hell, maybe this time we might stop the asshole,” Kim said, actual excitement coming through in her voice. “I’ll be ready in twenty minutes. I need to change.”

The phone hung up as Petro zipped over, nodding. “Looks like a double date tonight,” I said as I jumped in the front seat. Caddy immediately taking off at unofficial speeds.
     
To be Continued.....................