The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom: How I Met the Headless Horseman By Jocelynn Drake

To celebrate the release of the Final Asylum Tales book, I wrote a short story about the time Gage met the Headless Horseman on Halloween. Strange things tend to happen when you wander through Low Town …

I generally think the world is a scary enough without needing to embellish stories, particularly those aimed to scare. Isn’t it enough that we’ve got vampires, shapeshifters, and trolls — all of whom can shred a human in the blink of an eye? Do we really need to invent more horrors? Of course, when it comes to Halloween, I guess anything goes.

It was All Hallow’s Eve a few years back and I was sitting in the Cock’s Crow, watching a rugby match on the television while nursing a beer. The bar was quiet. I was near closing and most people had already left for another bar or a costume party. I had no plans and was enjoying the quiet after the chaos earlier in the evening.

Dolan stood behind the bar, chatting with some regular while drying some glasses. The minotaur looked relieved that the night was nearly over and the bar was still in one piece. Catching his eye, I held up my empty beer bottle and gave it a little shake. He nodded and dropped the towel he’d been holding before reaching into the cooler to get me a fresh beer. I slid to my feet and crossed the short distance to the bar where I set down my empty bottle and picked up the fresh.

“Last call,” he said as he tossed out the empty.

“Sounds good,” I replied. Reaching into my back pocket, I handed Dolan my debit card. “Close out my tab. It’s time to head home.”

Dolan snorted, turning to ring up my three beers. “Yeah. Be careful. All the lunatics are out.”

My laughter was trapped in my throat as the front door was thrown open and a large headless man walked in dressed in black with a head tucked under his right arm.

“Hey Lester,” Dolan called as he turned back to hand me my card and receipt. “It’s last call.”

The head sighed and his shoulders slumped as he walked over to the bar. “That’s fine. I just need a quick one before heading home. Give me a single-barrel on the rocks.”

The headless body approached an empty stool a couple down from me at the bar and set the head down on the shining surface before dropping heavily on the stool.

“Damn it, Lester! Head off the bar! I just wiped everything down,” Dolan growled as he turned around with the drink. He slammed it down and picked up his cleaning rag.

The body grabbed the head and placed it on the neck with a practiced ease. The accompanying sucking noise was something I could have done without hearing, but then I had seen and heard worse.

Lester picked up his drink and downed half of it while I focused my attention on my new beer. He sighed again with relief and reached into his pocket, pulling out a ten dollar bill to throw on the bar for Dolan.

The minotaur snatched up it and went back to wiping down the counter. “You know, you should talk to Gage,” Dolan drawled, jerking one large horn in my direction as he spoke to the former headless man. “He’s pretty good with tattoos and potions. I bet he could get your head to stay on.”

The stranger slowly turned his glass with his blunted fingertips and he looked at me. His eyes were brown and surrounded by a web of lines and wrinkles that were accompanied by threads of gray through his brown hair.

“Human?” I asked.

He snorted, straightening on his stool. “Of course! You think I’m some pixie?”

“You’re the first human I’ve ever seen who could remove his head.”

“Yeah,” he grumbled, deflating before my eyes. “Doubt there is too many like me around.”

“Curse?”

Lester grabbed his drink and downed the last of it with a small wince. “Yeah, not that I did anything to deserve it. My great-great-grandfather – or something like that – pissed off a witch. Probably killed her cat. Anyway, she cursed him so that his head would fall off every Halloween. Of course, the curse is hereditary – follows down the line to every first-born son. The curse will leave me and pass on to my son in ten years when he reaches eighteen.”

I nodded, shoving my debit card and receipt in my wallet, while pulling out a business card. My first thought was that he should be grateful the witch didn’t make something else fall off every Halloween.

“I can’t get rid of the curse, but I think I’ve got a potion and tattoo that could lock your head to your neck,” I said, sliding the Asylum business card across the bar to Lester.

He picked it up and frowned. “Well, I don’t know about getting a tattoo. That’s kind of dangerous, right?”

“No more than you losing your head,” I said as I stood.

“I’ll think about it,” he said and I knew his answer was already “no.”

I shook my head as I pushed away from the bar. With a wave to Dolan, I walked for the door. “At least be sure to tell your son he’s got that option when the time comes.” I called before walking out of the bar.

Lester wasn’t going to come see me because he had found a way to make the curse work for him. Judging by the black attire, he was probably renting himself out for Halloween parties and fake haunted houses. As long as the curse was helping pad his wallet, he didn’t feel the need to have his head permanently affixed to his body.

I just hoped he didn’t lose his head as he made his money.

Demon's Fury

The Asylum Tales

Book 3.1

Jocelynn Drake

Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse

Release Date: October 14, 2014

ASIN: B00HYMDS8S

Book Description:

Jocelynn Drake continues her successful urban fantasy series, Asylum Tales, with Demon’s Fury, set in a world where elves, faeries, trolls, werewolves, and vampires walk free among humanity.

Powerful warlock and tattoo artist Gage has managed to escape the magical Ivory Towers who terrorize the rest of humans and monsters – but at a price.

Now he must join forces with his nemesis Gideon to stop an unknown entity who is using old magic to commit gruesome murders. And if that’s not keeping him busy enough, an investigator recruits Gage to help her track a killer … who might be targeting tattoo artists.

Available at Amazon

Demon's Vow

The Asylum Tales

Book 3.2

Jocelynn Drake

Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse

Release Date: October 21, 2014

ISBN 006235941X

ISBN13: 9780062359414

Bestselling author Jocelynn Drake continues her urban fantasy series with the second installment of the Final Asylum Tales, Demon’s Vow.

Book Description:

Tattoo artist and warlock Gage is having a rough week. He’s trying to track down a mysterious murderer in Low Town while also chasing a powerful entity using forbidden Death Magic across the nation.

When Gage discovers the two forces may be trying to unite, the stakes get even higher. With Gideon’s help, Gage is determined to stop the murderers before anyone else gets hurt – including his girlfriend, Trixie.

Available at Amazon

Inner Demon

The Asylum Tales

3.3

Jocelynn Drake

Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse

Release Date: October 28, 2014

ISBN 0062359428

ISBN13: 9780062359421

Gage is a powerful warlock in Low Town, where elves, faeries, trolls, goblins, and vampires walk free among humanity. But there are two dangerous entities murdering families and children, and Gage needs to stop them before anybody else gets hurt.

When Gage discovers a demon locked away it offers him access to dark magic in exchange for its freedom – a dangerous opportunity, but one that could save his loved ones. Gage must choose between what is right and what is easy … except he’s running out of time.

Available at Amazon

About the Author:

By day, Jocelynn Drake is a clean-cut financial editor, picking apart stories about Wall Street and the global markets. But in her free time, she writes about a dark underworld where vampires and warlocks rule.

The author of Dark Days and Asylum Tales series, she lives in Florida with her husband, dog, and cat. When she's not working on her next book, she's usually hiding from the sun by playing video games.

http://www.jocelynndrake.com/

http://jocelynndrake.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jocelynn.drake

https://twitter.com/JocelynnDrake

October 13 Guest blog

Fang-tastic Books

www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com

October 13 review

trips down imagination road

http://a-reader-lives-a-thousand-lives.blogspot.co.uk

October 14 Guest blog

Jill Archer