**Warning SPOILERS below**
(Psst. I warned you!)
Dandy Darkly
Broken hearted? Maybe.
Bitchy? Oh yes. More than ever.
Bitter? Surprisingly, not as much as you'd expect.
The punching bag warlock has been through some rough times as of late. Coerced into marrying the King of Halloween. Driven briefly insane by his magical wedding ring. Mystically stripped of his love by a pair of witches in a devilish divorce and labeled a social pariah by all of America for the murder of his good friend, Casey Rose.
He's allowed a little self-pitying.
Dandy was in a major funk. But he has taken steps to move from that place of despair. He's getting back out there, ridding his Greenwitch Village neighborhood of ghosts, making connections among local witches and cheerfully adopting the villainous persona that omniscient Media selected for him: the dark clown.
White makeup, a curled mustache, a tuxedo coat and vest, flared knee length pants and ripped stockings, oh and a tiny bowler hat. He now revels in the role an angry America expects of the exorcist and sorcerer.
And Dandy Darkly has never felt more powerful.
There is the lingering issue of Dandy Darkly's purpose in this nightmare version of Manhattan -- a New York run by a ghost mayor -- a New York with goblin toll bridges -- a New York with dangerous mutants walled away in a biohazard zone -- a New York with much, much more. For as much as he pretends to be a part of the nightmare Manhattan, he is an outsider, a journeyman from a more ordinary world, a New York much like your own.
It is an issue the warlock happily walled away himself for several years and as the exorcist gets more and more comfy in his mysterious townhouse at 13 Gay Street, he might just conveniently forget he ever existed anywhere else.
Thankfully, a reconnection with an old friend has rekindled memories of the New York he used to know...
The only person Dandy Darkly has met in both versions of Manhattan, she existed in the other New York as Dandy's psychic fag-hag, his best friend and confidant. Here she enjoys the esteemed role as an elder Sister-Witch of New York's powerful Green Witch Coven.
Her role in Dandy Darkly's quest for answers remains unseen. It may be the Green Witch Coven who are seeking answers from the dandy...
***
Sam Hain was brought to life by Man's need to protect the Fall bounty against the wicked creatures that lived in the fields and woods of the early world. As the Harvest ritual became more elaborate, Sam Hain's grew bored with the tricks and treats offered in his name. He sought a bride to accompany him back to his All-Hallowed world every Samhain Eve.
Across the globe there exists a Sam Hain wherever Halloween is celebrated. Offerings are given at his annual wedding in exchange for a favor carried out by His Exalted's faithful attaché. The greatest such offering is a bride for the King of Halloween. Last year's wedding didn't go as smoothly as anticipated.
Following the unexpected death of Casey Rose, Dandy Darkly was coerced into marrying Sam Hain. The groom immediately fled back to his All Hallowed Home, the dimension of Halloween, leaving Dandy Darkly behind. Sam hasn't been seen since.
He left Dandy here, where the disregarded bride was driven temporarily mad by his cursed wedding ring. His annual return later this year is certain to be drama...
***
Poor Casey. A true triple threat. Deceased star of television's Ghost Rose, where he soothed the restless spirits of dead girls, tween-pop superstar with a string of number one singles, such as Werekitten (Where U been?) and the prior (official) Halloween Bride to Sam Hain.
In his life, he wore decidedly fashion-forward costumes and was met by an ocean of screaming, twelve year-old girls wherever he went. It was easy to assume the 18 year old wunderkind had everything a young man could want.
Until you got to know him, as Dandy Darkly had the pleasure of doing. All Casey Rose really wanted was freedom.
On his wedding night, October 30th 2010, Casey earned his freedom when he was tossed from a tower to his death. But even then his soul wasn't truly free.
His fans made sure of that...
***
There are fans and then there are fanatics. The three greatest followers of the cult of Casey Rose were invited to attend his wedding.
Gia Prince$$ Giordano, the eleven year old heiress of the Giordano crime syndicate. Martin Waldrep, the owner of GhostProse, the Internet's source for all Casey Rose gossip, media and merchandising and Mikasuki Mahou, a Japanese mountain witch with cosmic ties to you young performer were the three fans invited to see their beloved tie the knot.
Instead they witnessed his death. Immediately following the tragedy, they set into motion a plan to mummify their boy-king so he may someday return. Following Egyptian custom, they successfully (and secretly) walled their loved one away in a hidden tomb inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptology wing along with a dozen little girls, among them a ten year old Casey Rose fan named Emily Foster.
The whereabouts of the scheming superfans are unknown, but rest assured their far reaching plans are not finished...
***
Hagnatha the Crone of the Inwood Forest
An ancient crone who lives in a cave hidden among the Harlem River Salt Marshes, She's one of the oldest crones in North America. Hagnatha officiates the Halloween Wedding for the east coast. She also eats children ... delicious, buttery children.
She assisted Mother Snowdeth in the complicated ritual to remove the Halloween wedding ring from Dandy Darkly. She has since returned to her cave to work wicked charms beneath the new moon.
***
Snowdeth is the recently chosen mother of the Green Witch Coven of Manhattan. Following the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 when their prior Mother perished sealing the dimensional rift that opened beneath the World Trade Center, Snowdeth has taken a more contemporary role as Matron of the coven, putting the witches in the public spotlight and encouraging her sisters and daughters to work with their neighbors of the Greenwitch Village.
Though some of the elder witch-sisters have complained, Snowdeth's initiatives have proved beneficial to the coven.
Snowdeth assisted the crone Hagnatha, typically shunned by the Green Witches, with the removal of Dandy Darkly Halloween wedding ring. She has continued to assist Dandy with his madness following the removal.
She and the Green Witch Coven are gathering some information of their own about the whimsical warlock.
***
Manhattan
From the haunted mansions of the Upper East Side to the quarantined ghetto of the Chelsea Biohazard Zone to the peddlers hawking exotic wares in the winding back alleys of Little Beijing Market, the city that never sleeps is as much a character as any of the persons presented above.
Even Dandy Darkly's home at 13 Gay Street is an entity unto itself...
***
And many, many more. Refer to the category cloud in the left hand column for more characters, topics and stories.
