Brazen Folk Horror

One Should Keep Walking from a Walker

We all know the easy analogies…like a month to a flame…stand too close to the fire, and you’ll get burned…on and on.

But what IS it in our nature that compels us to cling to the relentless magnetic draw of a person we know is despicable but still ever so attractive to us?

We honestly had no idea about the extreme reactions our character Layton Walker would elicit.

Not only is he generally despised, but some have also compared him to the worst possible man they know and hate.

Our charismatic and dirty devil drove a stake into quite a few readers, leaving raw scars and heavy words to us in his wake.

We are amused and are taking notes to heart.

We like to think we nailed our lousy guy.

As a secondary, for now, and a player in Delevan House, Layton is pivotal in driving our ill-fated Jenna McCray towards her date with destiny and tragic results.

Unabashedly criminal, ferocious, and entirely self-absorbed and motivated, our thug in a designer suit cruises the curled-in edges of decent people and lives, taking at will and leaving nothing but heartbreak and the experience of being manipulated by him behind.

Some will claim it’s better to beg forgiveness than forgo the possibility of great pleasure, and who among us doesn’t want the thrill of dark or out-of-reach desire?

It’s the worst ones who make us feel the most alive while in their orbit.

The seductive ones, by design or effect, often kick at the fragile walls of hearts and physical senses. They challenge us with their auras and intentions.

And they are the ones we long for and miss the most when they throw us aside.

They won’t ever change, but we need to believe that for us, they just might.

Layton Walker may not have intended to drive Jenna away to subsequently land on the shore of a tiny fishing village in Scotland. Still, his emotional abuse, sexual lure, and devastating control over the young woman crushed her spirit, so she ran…away from and to something even more devastating.

Our Layton strolls in, taking no prisoners, and makes no apologies for being exactly who and what he is.

A Celtic saying says: “When you dance with the devil, worry when the music will end.”

It might be the best dance of your life, but there’s always a price to pay.