Beneath Hoof and Hollow: A Dark Monster Romance Reimagining by Violet Taylor

Author:Violet Taylor [Taylor, Violet & Taylor, Violet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

I’ve hidden the heads before sunrise. It won’t do to have the villagers alerting Itrimort and hunting me down. I’m still not to full strength, though I’ve regained my powers faster than ever before.

In addition to blood and carnage, my magic seems to feed off of Emeline. Her body, moans, the invisible but fully felt marks from her nails down my back. All of it fuels me.

Horace and I are hidden deep in the western woods. Emeline claims no one comes here. She says this part of the forest is haunted. She’s right. There’s a small but deeply haunted acre amongst the trees. A trapped soul turned shrieking ghoul. I can feel the exact spot where its cursed patch of forest ends. That is where we linger.

Horace sleeps, peaceful even in the presence of the ghoul’s tainted energy and sudden screams. He’s unbothered by most things. The skeletal horse doesn’t even seem to notice that his ribcage is filling up with foliage. The trees are doing a mass shedding today. There’s a steady flow of leaves raining down. The gentle pattering of their crisp edges hits the soft earth and fills the silent moments between the ghoul’s cries. Enough leaves accumulate in his pale skeleton that he ends up colored orange and red.

Tonight, I’ll finally be gifted a body. Once I’m visible in flesh and blood I’ll send Itrimort back to his prison below. A familiar wallowing feeling creeps in. What will become of me when I’m done? Will I be banished to the demon realm the moment I’ve completed my task? Will Emeline lock me away as all others have done before her? Will my new body save me from the curse I’ve suffered for so long?

Even amongst haunted places, I’m more relaxed here than in the demon realm. The air is so clear up above. The sun is blinding, shining from its hiding spot behind the soft autumn clouds. I don’t want to go back to darkness and torment. I can’t bear to leave everything behind again.

A scream reaches my ears from somewhere closer to town. This one does not belong to the ghoul. Horace’s head pops up. His ear bones twitch forward. The sound has caught his attention too. I give him a gentle pat.

“I’ll check it out.”

I know the hanging tree even before I see it. Death permeates the air. Its branches have darkened and twisted, changed by the energy from the horrors its had to bear witness to. Maybe I’ll burn the tree down before I leave Sleepy Hollow, release all that darkness trapped within.

Male voices and female cries grow louder as I creep closer.

Three men stand in front of a barrel. The sobbing woman shakes atop it, noose slung around her thin neck. A sweaty, balding man looks side to side. “Reverend Statton isn’t here.”

“He doesn’t have to be. I’m certain she’s a witch.” That confident voice belongs to the tallest of the trio.

“Listen, I’ve been on board with all of the trials so far.

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