But… they wereheadless.That couldn’t be a joke. She literally saw trees through where their heads should be. Stars. Moon-lined clouds hurrying across the dark sky.
Oh, and flaming jack o’lanterns held casually under their arms like forgotten baggage. Flaming jack o’lanterns that used to sit where their heads should be. That weren’t catching their capes on fire.
Horses. Jack o’lanterns. Headless riders.
Headless horsemen.
Her mouth said it before her brain could stop her.
“Headless horsemen.”
“Exactly!” The one to the right bowed, sweeping his free hand graciously. “But also ASP men. Pleased to meet you. I’m Jerome.”
The one to the left waved awkwardly again. “Aaron. Nice to meet you. Sorry we… you know. Our bad.”
She blinked. Her mouth no longer functioned.
The middle one’s shoulders rose and fell, a low, hollow sound that could only be a sigh echoing in the night. “I suppose it’s only polite. Chad. And yes, we are sorry. We never should have chased you.”
“And you are?” the left one asked.
She couldn’t even begin to answer. She couldn’t think of her own name. She had no more words. She was stuck at “headless horsemen.”
The left one jerked as if startled. “Guys, I think she’s scared. Maybe if we put our heads back on? Chad, you have mine.”
While she watched, mute and lost, they traded pumpkins around until they were satisfied, then placed their chosen gourd upon their shoulders. Having a flaming jack o’lantern to look at where a head should be did absolutely nothing for her peace of mind.
“I don’t think it helped,” the left one said. “Miss? Are you going to be alright?”
One of the horses snorted. Otherwise, the night was quiet. She certainly had nothing to say.
The middle one shoved them apart and strode forward. Though she started to backpedal again, he didn’t slow down until he stood directly in front of her. There, he knelt, one forearm propped on one knee, flaming eyes boring into hers.
“We know we’ve caused you one hell of a scare.” The flames in his triangle eyes were hypnotic. “We’re sorry about that. Thereisa slight problem, though. We said we only hunt men. That’s true.”
The slightest thread of something that might be the beginning of hope blossomed in her chest as his meaning finally got through to her. Only men. They didn’t want her. They’d even helped her up. They were ASP guys, and the ASP guys were trusted to drive drunk girls home safe after parties. They were the good guys.
Wait. Problem. What?
“Unfortunately, what we do with men is run them down, behead them, and drag them off to the Between, where we hurl them into the Beyond for whatever lurks there to torment.”
Aaaaannnnd she was struck speechless again, her feet scrambling below her. This time, she managed to squirt a little to the left, where she edged around the tombstone, scuttled a little, then made it to her feet and ran.
“Wait, come back!” one of them called, voice echoing hollowly throughout the cemetery.
“Men, mount up.”
She didn’t look back this time. She ran for dear life, hurdling tombstones, reasoning that if she ran in a straight line, she’d reach a wall sooner. Hopefully, one she could reasonably climb over before the horses ran her down.
But the horses were already on the fly. Their hooves were quieter on the grass of the graveyard than on the gravel paths, but she still heard the thudding of their hoofbeats, pounding like her heart in her throat. She heard the Horsemen’s capes snapping and flapping. She heard her doom approaching.
No laughter this time. This time, they were deadly serious.
There was no real chance for her. She couldn’t outrun horses.
They surrounded her, and she finally stopped, gasping and panting, one hand to the hot stitch in her side. She looked from one to the next to the next, unable to read anything but malice in their flaming eyes, their jeering mouths. The horses snorted and pranced, but the riders only stared down at her, hands steady on the reins.
“You didn’t let me finish,” the middle one finally said, low and cold and empty.
