Page 1 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman
Chapter One
One ghost. Two ghosts. Three ghosts… No, wait, there’s a fourth ghost. Oh, and now she’s removing the guy’s shirt. The guy ghost looked to be from somewhere in the early two-thousands with his emo band T-shirt and tight jeans, his hair shaggy and plastered over one eye, while the woman seemed to have possibly died during the 1800s. Which decade? That was anyone’s guess. Her frilly black dress brushed her ankles, the collar high against her neck with a long strip of buttons.
And there goes her pristine bun. Oh, he’s really going at it.
Stevie laughed under her breath—this was the ultimate opposites attract. She sat outside the seafood restaurant on the second floor at a table for two, waiting on a supplier for the comic book store where she worked as her semi-sometimes job. Not only that though, the guy arriving just so happened to run one of the largest comic conventions in New York City each year. Her brother, Gideon, should’ve been at the restaurant for the meeting since the store was his after taking it over last year, but the torch had been passed to Stevie two months ago when he’d offered to give her two hundred dollars worth of vintage stamps along with regular pay. A deal she couldn’t refuse, and after tonight, she would get those stamps to finish one of her bird collections. Owning antique things was a hobby she’d been clutching onto dearly for years.
She continued to observe the four translucent white ghosts around her. A loud bang struck the window in front of her, and her gaze locked onto the two ghosts who were getting mighty frisky on the opposite side of the glass. The woman’s dress was now off somewhere on the floor, her body pressed to the window while a table of four steadily ate their meal, not noticing the action that was taking place before them. Their moansand groans were loud enough that Stevie was sure even ghosts lingering in the parking lot could hear them.
And there goes her corset. Stevie smirked to herself and flicked her stare away, not wanting to be too much of a peeper. But they were literally right there, her chair facing them!
She glanced at her phone, seeing Reese was already ten minutes late. Little monsters clawed at her stomach in nervousness—she’d made a grave mistake a few weeks ago when she’d snooped on the convention’s website to reveal what he looked like after liking his witty back-and-forth emails. He was pretty much the spitting image of Evan Peters inAmerican Horror Story—theCovenseason. Hard to find a con there. She prayed it was one of those cases where the picture was better than the person so her fingers wouldn’t fidget when he arrived.
Stevie set down her phone on the table and peered at one of the other two ghosts not getting freaky—a woman from possibly the 1950s with a tight polka-dotted bodice and a flowing black skirt, her hair in pinned curls. She weaved around the six outside tables in figure-eight movements, the click of her heels echoing, all while chattering to herself about the items she needed to buy at the grocery store. How humdrum. If the ghosts could see the living world, Stevie would’ve already coaxed the woman into the nearest grocery store and told her to have at it so her unfinished business could be checked off her list.
As she focused on her phone once again, Stevie’s leg bounced up and down.If he stands me up and Gideon doesn’t give me those stamps, I swear I’ll kidnap my brother’s precious pet plant for a day or two. She brought a piece of the complimentary bread to her mouth and chewed slowly while studying the one remaining ghost near the stone balcony. The one missing his head.Poor sap.
But it wasn’t as if this was the first headless ghost she’d ever seen. When night gobbled up the day, a vengeful spirit,the Headless Horseman, rode his mighty steed through Sleepy Hollow and collected ghosts’ heads. How often did he confiscate them? That was a really good question. And what he did with the heads? That was an even better question since every time she’d spotted him on horseback he was still headless. He probably added them to his secret stash or smugly fiddled around with them during the day when he wasn’t out and about. If he ever found his original head, then maybe he would finally pass on and quit pestering the other ghosts. But with centuries having slipped by, his missing prize had to be long gone by now.
“After I finish this bite of bread, I’m leaving,” she muttered, trying to ignore the woman’s moans of ecstasy from inside the restaurant. Stevie had been seeing ghosts for as long as she could remember, most likely ever since she left the womb. No psychic abilities for her though—too bad. However, a seer’s blood held magical properties such as necromancy and healing to name a couple. So at least she had that going for her.
“Stevie Rourke?” a melodious voice asked from behind her. She hurried and chewed the large piece of bread as her eyes locked onto dark brown irises, a pretty smile, and dirty blond curly hair brushing his brow. Reese wore a button-up shirt, the sleeves neatly at his wrists. Her stomach dipped at the sight of him. After the meeting she would throttle her sister-in-law, Lucia, for telling her hesodidn’t look like Evan Peters in person because hesodid.
Stevie choked on her bread, looking like an idiot. She chugged half her glass of milk once she got the food down. “Sorry about that.” She sobered and smiled, getting into non-seer mode by blocking out the surrounding ghosts since it would be an awkward first meeting otherwise. “Reese Braun?”
“That’s me. Sorry I’m late. The traffic leaving the city was terrible.” He raked a hand through his disheveled hair, his chest heaving and his cheeks flushed, while he sat across from her.
“No, it’s fine,” Stevie said just as a tall waitress came out to take their orders.
Lucia had given the green light that the meeting would be as easy as pie since Reese was a breeze for Gideon to deal with. Stevie’s top priority job that she’d had for the past four years was working as a witch’s assistant to Lucia. Running local deliveries for her around town and mailing out packages from the online side of Lucia’s apothecary, other times assisting in mixing brews for her sister-in-law to spell. Pet plants and small skeletal animals for Sleepy Hollow locals were Lucia’s specialty and best sellers, compliments of Stevie’s seer blood added to help bring them to life of course.
When Stevie noticed she was staring at Reese’s face like an owl, she chipped through the expanding iceberg. “So, about the booth and the auction—”
“The entrance booth is yours and you guys will have front row at the auction.” The edges of Reese’s lips curled up as he took a piece of bread and met her gaze.
“Oh.” It was the only word Stevie could get out—she’d expected more of a challenge. But score.
The waitress returned with a green bottle and poured Reese a glass of red wine.
“You sure you don’t want a glass?” he asked after she waved off the waitress from pouring her some.
“I’m a big milk drinker.” Stevie winked, raising her glass like she was giving a toast and cursing herself once again for being an idiot.
“I like milk.” Reese smiled, his teeth brilliantly white and perfectly straight. Her dentist father would be proud. “The meeting wasn’t the only reason I came tonight though.”
Stevie blinked, straightening in her seat. “It isn’t? Then why?”
He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table, appearing as if he were ready to spill a dark secret. “Don’t take me for a stalker, but I looked up your picture on the store website and found you … cute.”
Cute? No one had said anything like that to her since her ex-boyfriend. “I have a confession too. I tried looking up your picture on your website and you have ananimedrawing.”
Reese chuckled. “Kept you guessing, I hope.”
“Terribly so.” She bit her lip. “But then I went to the convention website and found your picture there.”
His smile grew wide. “Should we call this a date then?”
Stevie cocked her head and grinned. “Guess my favorite color and we’ll see if it is.” She hadn’t been on a date for nine months—ever since her one and only boyfriend dumped her just before her twenty-first birthday. Mister Piss-Baby, who shall not be named. They’d been together since high school, and one wouldthinkhe’d have been used to the fact that Stevie could see the dead, but no. Every time he noticed her gaze drift from him to something he couldn’t see, he’d gone pale as a corpse and she’d worried he would faint. Until finally he couldn’t take it anymore. A reason she generally stayed hush-hush about her ability at first, especially if a boy claiming to love her couldn’t handle it. Not that she’d broadcasted it before.
