I hate Texas Summers

I fucking hate Texas summers.

We get 100+ degrees for a week in a row, and if it isn’t 100 degrees, it’ll be 90’s. And our thunderstorms are crazy. Hail and crazy wind. Today is the hottest day of the year. Stupid August core summer. Its 107 degrees out.

And I’m out here fighting a fire demon.

Its summer vacation, I’m about to start my senior year of college and instead of “Hot Girl Summer” its “Fighting demons left and right summer.” Its not like I have anything better to do. We’re still in a pandemic, and we’re in another big wave of Covid-19. My friends are all scattered around, some of them in places where going outside won’t give half the population a heatstroke. Unfortunately for me, both my hometown and my college town are both in Texas. No escape for me. I know the heat makes people extra angry but holy cow, I feel like I’ll burst into flames myself.

All I wanted to do was enjoy a dark chocolate ice cream with cookie dough from a local ice cream shop.

But no. Somehow, a fire demon popped out of nowhere in the middle of Mayflower Square. A lovely little complex with a couple locally owned businesses as well as a beautifully maintained park next door with great tree coverage and nice benches to rest on.

My colorful ice cream cup is still in my hand, the ice cream now a mere puddle moments after the fire demon threw a fire ball at my ice cream.

“Mommy!” A little kid cries as he clutches his ice cream cone with rainbow sherbet. I quickly toss my sad puddle of ice cream into the trash and scoop the kid before another fireball could hit him.

“Where’s your mom?” I ask, as we duck behind a trashcan. He whimpers and points at a bench, where a woman with brown hair like the kid has passed out on the bench. “What happened?”

“Momma said she was no feeling good. Momma said too hot! Then monster!”

“Lets get you and your momma inside. Is anyone else with you?” He shook his head as tears ran down his cheeks. “Okay, let me get you inside, and then I will help momma okay? First I need you to stay here for just a second.” He nodded and put a hand against the trashcan.

The magic within me beckoned to be used, like electricity flooding my veins. I thrust my hand out and yelled, “Bhuka!” Water sprouted out of my hand and on to the fire demon. It hissed and crackled, and then sank to the floor in a pile of black ashes. This is temporary though, I can tell because a few embers were left behind. “C’mon kid!” I grabbed his hand and ran inside the shop, where a couple other customers and employees were crouched behind turned over tables and chairs. I take the kid toward the register and spotted the manager, crouched behind the register. “Hey, can you watch the kid for a second? His mom is unconscious outside.”

“Yes I can, what is that thing?”

“A fire demon. Its going to come back in a few minutes, so we’re not in the clear yet.”

“Who are you?”

“A demon hunter, that’s not important right now. Can you get a damp cloth and some drinking water ready?”

“Sure.”

I run back outside and toward the mother. I pat her back hard and say, “M’am, are you okay? Are you alright?”

She moans, and mumbles, “One sorbet on a cone and one low fat butterscotch on a cone.” I feel her head, shes burning up. No sweat, but her pulse was very hot. Its the hottest day of year, with a fire demon running amok, its even worse. I grab her and carry her inside, where the manager and a few employees gathered up what I asked for. The little kid walked up to me as I settled the woman on the floor on her side. “Is momma gonna be okay?”

“Yes, she’s gonna be fine.”

“Ryan?” the woman mumbled, her eyes barely open

“What happened? Was she attacked?” The manager asks, setting a damp towel on her head.

“No, she doesn’t have any burns. I think its a heat stroke, we have to cool her body down. She seems to be fading in and out of consciousness. Can someone call 911? I need y’all to try and get her to drink water when she’s conscious again,” I turn to face the rest of the store. “Everyone needs to stay put.”

“That was the plan anyway, its too hot out.” Some teenager mumbled from the corner.

I started to walk out the door, when the manager called out, “Hey, what are you doing?”

I look over my shoulder. “Demon won’t send itself to hell now, right?”

“Young lady, you look a little too young to be hunting demons, can’t you call a professional.”

I roll my eyes. I hear that a lot. “Been doin this for a long time, you worry about yourself now.”

Its true that I’m younger than most demon hunters. In fact, my age is when most demon hunters start their careers. But my calling came during middle school, when our principal started a cult within the school, enlisting teachers and parents.

But that’s a story for another time. As I walk outside, I noticed that the demon has already began to form again. Deep red flames that could melt your skin off if it touches you. Black eyes like black holes that want to take your soul. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t prepared to fight a demon at 2pm in the afternoon, on a hot sunny day. Ironically, I’m wearing a black tank top with the Ghostbuster logo, as well denim shorts, pink Crocs, and a holographic fanny sitting on my left shoulder across my body. Normally, when I’m demon hunting, I have a backpack full of supplies, as well as a trench coat that with special anti-demon charms. At least I’m somewhat prepared to handle the stupid demon. For one, I’m no regular demon hunter, I’m a witch. I can fight the demon with magic, though it does become a bit hard to do without the special protective charms and whatnot. At least I have my emergency salt packets in my fanny pack.

The fire grows to about 7 feet high. The air around me feels so hot, I can practically feel my blood boiling. I should have grabbed more salt, at least I could contain the demon inside a circle. Oh well.

The fire demon spits out a fire ball toward the shop, and I barely summon a water ball in time to stop that one before another one hits the wall. A charred black circle forms on the wall.

“Hey! Stop attacking small businesses man!”

The fire demon hissed at me, angry eyes staring into mine. It has no mouth, but if it did, I bet it would be baring its teeth at me like some angry dog. It shot another fireball at me, which I jumped away from. I wipe the sweat off my face, though its no good. I’m sweating buckets.

I start to mutter a prayer, which pisses off the demon more. It barrels through the benches, setting them on fire. The wooden benches crumble slowly into ash. Thank God most people were inside. Only the woman and kid were outside eating their ice cream on the benches. I jump, run, anything to dodge the fire balls that keep zooming at me. At this point, people from farther away are screaming and running off, a few idiots filming the entire thing. I want to yell at them to find cover inside, but I have to keep saying the prayer in order to weaken the demon. If I had my demon-trapping jars with me, I could have trapped his embers there and not have to fight the stupid thing.

I lead the fire demon toward an open grassy area in the park. If it got too close to the cars parked in the lot, everyone would be in deep shit. The fire demon seems to be weakening, the fireballs becoming slower paced. An idea strikes me. I might not be able to make a salt circle to trap the demon but I can do something else.

I start to run around the demon, this time switching to muttering a water spell. I have a hard time dodging the fireballs, a few leaving angry burns on my arms and legs. I ignore the pain and keep up the spell.

Suddenly, I trip. I fall face first into the scorched, dry grass. “Ugh!” I moan. The fire demon bent over me, ready to burn me away.

But then a fountain of water burst from around us.

The fire demon turns to steam, growling and hissing. It fights against the water, but the water isn’t just regular water.

Its holy water.

The fire demon shrinks and shrinks, until its a pile of black ash on some burnt grass.

Its gone.

I sink to the grass and breathe a sigh of relief. I was soaked from the fountain of water too, but its so damn hot outside that the water was already evaporating.

Texas summers man.