#cw corpses

[sualne]

repetition

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

Thinking about a walking corpse au for danny phantom like idk he is legitimately just a ghost possessing his own corpse that is rotting very slowly and he just continues to try to hide it lol

[butcher-knives]

The Vampire and The Butcher (Ch.5)

16+, do not read if younger. (Cw for corpses, graphic violence, murder, death, and gore)

Tags (anyone can request to be added): @kitkatlover16 @h3l1as

"How the hell do you plan to get me to The Slaughter?" I ask skeptically, watching her with disbelief. "We don't even have a way out."

Abyss didn't even respond, just grinning as xe pulled out a hair clip. She reached around the bars, picking open the lock and pushing the door open with its free hand.

I stood there slack jawed and speechless for a moment, still frozen as it walked out.

"Wha- you can't just- how did you do that!? You can't just saunter out of here!" I hurried after xer, noticing how casually she walked and put the hair clip back in place, like breaking out of a high security prison made by the most notorious criminal organization in the whole damn city was just another Tuesday. "Why aren't there any guards?" I look around the creepily empty hallway, only seeing rotting skeletons and cobwebs in the cells.

"Nobody stays behind for a Slaughter, not even guards. It's such a revered time for The Butchers it's almost sacred, guess you could say." It explained all too easily and casually. That seemed like such a stupid oversight for people who were supposedly so smart and calculated, but I wasn't complaining.

Xe took a right up concrete stairs, their metal feet clanking with each step. The firm 'thunk' of every step made me realize just how strong a being of pure metal must be. Someone like that could probably kill me without even thinking about it.

You're blushing.

What? No I'm not!

Now that I thought about it, my cheeks were a bit warm.

You always like the ones that could kill you, don't you? You've got a type.

No I don't!

I was definitely blushing now though.

Keep telling yourself that, princess.

Don't call me that!

I was distracted when Abyss and I reached the exit. Apparently we'd been underground, because surfacing revealed the staircase was just a hole in the ground that led up to the forest.

When I saw the trees I froze, my body going rigid and eyes wide. Abyss seemed to notice my unease.

"Don't worry, we're not far from the city. We should be back quickly." She started leading the way, and I kept my head down and eyes on the ground until we made it out of the woods.

Once we got back, I exhaled in relief. I'd never thought I'd be so happy to see these mundane, shitty streets, but I was now.

"How are we even supposed to find The Slaughter anyway? You're making some mighty high claims." I point out, but I doubted my own skepticism after everything I'd seen tonight.

"You'll see!" It responds with the casual cheerfulness that never failed to bewilder me. Somehow xe seemed simultaneously bubbly and ditzy, and badass and effortless, but I knew by now it was anything but stupid.

We tromped down the streets together, not bothering to check our surroundings. Well, I did at first, but xe seemed so confident and unfazed that it rubbed off. Not that she walked sloppily enough to be called 'tromping'.

Maybe ten minutes later or so we were back at the abandoned building where I'd gotten knocked out. I hesitated in the doorway, checking my surroundings in a way that was probably paranoid, but I didn't care. When I hesitated, Abyss looked back and waved me over before descending to the lower floor. My gaze fell on the small black stain of my blood on the floor, before I glanced out the entrance and windows one last time and followed.

"This is underwhelming," I point out bluntly. The Butchers' supposed base just looked like a normal basement, a plain hall of concrete lined with numbered doors. Maybe the numbered doors were weird.

"What'd you expect? An elaborate gothic hideaway?" Abyss jokes lightly, unlocking the door with a mechanism on its wrist too quickly for me to see what it was.

"Kinda..." I mumble, scuffing my shoe against the ground and glaring at the wall like it was its fault I'd been disappointed.

I almost collided into xer when she abruptly stopped in front of me, and I looked up to see we were in some kind of planning room. There was a large wooden table, except there were no chairs around it, and the only other thing in the room were maps and scrawls of a language I didn't know pinned to the walls. It looked more like a teenager's messy collage of geography notes than the top secret plans of an infamous crime group.

Just when I was about to ask if this was really the right place, a quiet masculine voice mumbling interrupted me. I stared in confusion when I realized the voice was coming from Abyss. It didn't sound like her at all. It was like xer voice had suddenly been replaced with someone else's. It wasn't even the same language anymore, she was probably mumbling in the language of the writings she was mulling over on the wall.

I wasn't usually one to stay quiet, but it felt disrespectful not to, like I was witnessing something personal right now, even if I couldn't understand why. The new voice sounded so low and calm, it was almost soothing.

"They're going to be at Angmar today!" Xe announces suddenly in its normal voice, turning to me with a bright smile. "Let's go!" She says before I can have much time to process what I was just told or what I just witnessed.

Before we even got inside the border, I could smell the stench of death and the sweet aroma of blood. I unconsciously started walking faster, my mouth watering and senses sharpening.

What I saw then was the most glorious, grotesque scene I'd ever laid eyes upon, and I'd seen many morbid things in my time.

It was what the humans called a "suburb", a place of streets lined with their houses, and not a single inch was spared from the massacre. Blood and guts pooled in the streets. Countless bodies mangled beyond recognition were in front of the houses, organs and innards strewn around like confetti at a party, but this was much better than a party. It was a Slaughter, the calculated killing by The Butchers of an entire Sector of the human side of the city to keep them in line, to remind them of their place, that they would always live underneath the Undead, and that there was nothing they could do about it.

Abyss grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me behind the trees around the border, glancing ahead to make sure no one saw us.

"Don't go in through the main road, The Butchers will find and kill you! Stay on the outskirts." She hissed some sense into my ear, which I both hated and was grateful for. My instincts were going wild, every part of me itching to run out into the open with reckless abandon and kill anything in sight, my adrenaline pumping and excitement buzzing through me intensely enough to make me feel ill. It was a struggle to keep a bloodthirsty grin off my face and swallow back the saliva that kept filling my mouth.

I kept my eyes on the gory aftermath as we crept around the edges of the sector, until I heard it. A rustling in the trees. Someone was there, a human.

Abyss turned to me with silent curiosity, as if already knowing what was on my mind. I quickly fumbled through my pockets for anything to use as a weapon. It seemed the only thing that hadn't been confiscated when I was imprisoned was a slow acting lethal poison. I shoved away the thought of how morbid and intentional that had likely been as I pulled a rag from my pocket and dampened it with poison, creeping forward. I whispered to Abyss to stay behind, but xe didn't seem intent to follow me anyway, only watch.

I spotted the human not far away, a young man with a terrified look on his face, breathing heavily and feet squelching with each step on unavoidable blood soaked grass. He was the perfect picture of prey, a look of terror on his face, his only instinct to flee, no matter how stupid and useless the attempt. Slowly, carefully, every move calculated by my instincts and second nature to me, I got closer until I could strike, pouncing on him like a cat catching a mouse. He fell backward with a yelp of alarm, the impact making blood splatter up on my face. I instantly smothered his face with the cloth, and he began to wheeze and choke. I removed the cloth from his face, only now realizing I was smiling in that manic way I used to when I killed.

The poison was fast acting, I could see his face turning an unnatural green as he wheezed for air and coughed up blood. I watched with sadistic glee, pressing my knee into his diaphragm to make him wheeze again. His terrified eyes started to grow more unfocused and glaze over as he choked and gasped in his last few attempts to live before the light left his eyes.

I started to laugh, a loud, deranged sound of glee or joy or excitement, I didn't even know what or why. I just knew I hadn't felt this good in longer than a human's lifespan was even capable of lasting. For a few seconds I just knelt there over the body, laughing in glorious triumph, before finally leaning down and tearing into his neck, biting off a large chunk of skin until blood started gushing from it. I put my mouth up to it and began drinking with obscene licking and slurping sounds. I closed my eyes and savored the fresh metallic taste, warmth and victory flowing through me in equal measure.

I wasn't sure whether it had been mere seconds or whole minutes when I stood up again, a few breathless laughs leaving me as blood dripped down my chin. I wiped the blood on my mouth with the back of my hand, but it hardly did anything and only stained my hand more. When I turned I saw Abyss standing there with a faint smile of approval and maybe even admiration. Was she impressed with me?

"It's good to see you back." Xe said fondly, almost like we were old friends, almost like she knew how long it'd been since I'd done something like that despite only meeting me tonight.

I was on too much of a high to think into it, just smiling. But it was the first smile I could remember giving to someone other than Isabella that actually felt both genuine and sane.

Without a second thought, I kept going out in the open, searching for my next prey, hunting around the outskirts of the sector. After a few minutes, the sound of footsteps caught my attention, and I made my way closer.

A human kid emerged from inbetween two houses, stopping between the back of the house and tree border and locking eyes with me. They looked terrified, but it wasn't the same as before.

I couldn't kill a child.

[miscellaneous-people-of-tes]

Among the sturdy branches of the old Graht-Oak, four adolescents sprawled and huddled, moonbathing while the gentle, less humid than usual breeze betrayed the secrets of night birds. Vendyne with her wild hair and serious expression, only slightly softened by sleep. Minan with his sunburnt cheeks and rowdy laughter, breathing steadily on her lap. Lurendil with his new antlers and restless hands, holding his and watching the stars. And Dailinir with her green eyes and quick fingers, observing him with a palm on his shoulder.

They were all the same age, they grew up together, and shared mischievous and carefree memories meant for no one else; surely, that night would be added to the count: when keeper Elsonia had dismissed her end of a rite of theft, they responded by consuming her stock of jagga. While the retreat on the bark had been planned all day, the thrill added by the alcohol and the urgency incited by the old woman’s yelling had left them a chuckling, scurrying mass, barely hanging to the branch and finding all excuses to cling to each other.

They had lost track of who had been with whom at which point, but because they were all beautiful and handsome, they had no trouble sharing their love equally. Or at least, that was how Lurendil lived things: each friend and partner meant so much to him, it hurt to think they might have to separate or choose one over the others someday. But that was a future problem: right then and there, drunken cuddles were all he could think about.

Well… that, and the following week.

He had just spotted the outline of the Serpent, unstars slithering to the zenith of the sky the same way they had done on the day of his birth, when gentle pads ran across his antlers. His warm eyes lowered to meet Dailinir’s with a smile, but her mouth was flat.

“Dai, is something wrong?”

Her pupils lowered with a sigh. A whisper of doubt left her lips after gods knew how long.

“I’m just thinking about next week…”

He let go of the other young man’s hand, to weave both around her waist.

“What about it? I’m a little nervous, but I’ve already got my antlers…”, his teeth peeked through a reassuring smile, “Can’t be too different”.

Dailinir leaned into his touch, but her gaze was distant and somewhat shameful. Her words barely stood above the smell of fresh leaves.

"Lure... I don't know if I'll... still love you the way I do now..."

The young man's guts froze with a cramp. One of his cold hands reached for her cheek, turning her head to his, forcing their eyes to meet... through a wet fog.

"Why would that be, Dai?"

She gulped. She knew he would never harm her, but the uncertainty in her voice made it clear she was holding back.

"You know I don't... get close to Minan the same way you and Vendy do... and if... if you're going to be like him, I don't know... if I can still..."

The chill in his veins heated up as he let go of her, and a growl straight from his stomach overtook the reverence for his... partner?

"Is that all I am to you? Not Minan?!"

"Of course not!" she stuttered, giving a brief, shaky glance at the other sleeping Bosmer, "I just... it's just... bodies... that..."

The low snarl turned into a barely less inconsiderate hiss. "You know I hate being like this, why wouldn't you just be happy for me?!"

"I am, but I... I know what I like, and it's... it's not what you're going to be..."

Dailinir's green eyes were full of dew. Lurendil's burned as he retreated from her, stood from the branch and leaped to another.

"Thought what we had run deeper than body parts, but I guess it fucking doesn't".

"Lure, that's not what I mean!" she tried to reach for him, but he swatted her hand away with a last, piercing glare of barely pent-up anguish.

"Leave me alone".

His jaws tightened painfully as he climbed down the tree, while his eyes fogged up in betrayal just as much as hers did.

They were young. He was in pain. She was trying to figure herself out. In retrospect, it wasn't that big of a deal...

But her eyes would forever be foggy. "Next week" never came. Next morning didn't come.

They all burned.

Vendyne's hair was nowhere to be found on her emotionless skull. Minan's song was lost to the ashes. Dailinir's motionless orbits no longer had eyes.

They didn't deserve to die. Their families didn't deserve to die. Their community didn't deserve to die. Their village didn't deserve to die. The Green didn't deserve to be mauled. Lurendil didn't deserve to survive.

AND YET THEY DIED AND HE DID NOT.

...

How do you avenge everything you were? Everything that could have been? Everything that no longer mattered to anyone but one Mer?

The apprentices who lost control of the fire hadn't been enough. Their superiors hadn't been enough. The local Thalmor officers hadn't been enough. All of those he had killed during his flight hadn't been enough. All those he slaughtered in Skyrim hadn't been enough. Would destroying the Dominion itself be enough?

He didn't know. Or better... he knew it wouldn't, yet he pretended not to. Nothing would be enough.

Grief can't be killed. It keeps coming back.

But in a sick twist of fate, and against his own pain and discomfort... he had held on to the same parts his last argument with Dailinir had been about. One day, he would be a widow; and when that terrible day would come, he would try to have children of his own.

It was stupid. It was unfair to the children he already had, and would lose to time too. It was unfair to himself. It was unfair to the descendants he would gain. It meant nothing overall, because blood didn't mean belonging, and didn't mean reviving a lost community.

But maybe it would make him feel less alone... less like a broken, vengeful spirit, lashing out in sorrow for what he was powerless to change.

[hydrus101]

Malevolent in and of itself has never really “scared” me in the same way that a lot of other horror media does

With one horrific exception. Part 43.

The idea that, should Arthur die—permanently and for good—John will still be in control of his hand and his eyes, is horrifying. Think about it. John will feel every minute of Arthur’s decay. He will feel his muscles get sluggish and go unresponsive as his blood flow coagulates and bloats. He will feel the skin start to slough off and liquify, provided his nerves are intact enough at that stage to register it. In the few mere hours after his death, his eyes will dry up and cloud before eventually collapsing all together, taking away his sight, the one part of Arthur he has kept safe from the very beginning, leaving him alone in the dark for god knows how long. Will it end when his eyes liquify or will he remain in that empty void forever? Aware but cut off entirely?

I can imagine nothing more horrifying than being trapped in a corpse.

[in-a-mello-mood]

The Vampire and The Butcher (Ch. 2)

15+, do not read if younger (cw corpses, intrusive thoughts)

Tags (anyone can request to be added): @kitkatlover015 @colddragonvoid

After getting all the blood I could from the body, I put it in a bag and got ready to go to The Butcher's like I did so often. I put on a mask, a new pair of gloves, and a black hoodie so I'd be as anonymous and unassuming as possible.

By now it was midnight, so I had plenty of time until sunrise to deliver the body. I trudged through the streets, a wagon with the body in tow. Even if the body was heavy, it wasn't terribly hard to transport after my strength had been replenished, and the help of a wagon.

The streets were dark and empty, only a few dim and widely spaced street lamps to illuminate the cracked and worn pavement. Even though I could barely feel it, I knew it was cold from the way my breath looked like faint puffs of smoke, the way I felt a shift in the air when I left the house.

Other than an occasional person scuffling in a dark corner like an alley cat, there was no one around. I felt eyes on me, my gaze falling on a pair of wide, curious, yet fearful eyes. Some kid who saw me transporting a body, but didn't know what I really was, no doubt. They should learn not to stick their nose where it didn't belong.

You should get out of here unless you want to be next.

I flashed them a toothy grin that didn't reach my eyes, making sure my blood stained fangs were visible. As expected, they gasped softly before retreating back down the alley to wherever they came from.

As I focused back on the road in from of me, a question nagged me: why did I think that? I wouldn't kill a kid, would I? They hadn't seemed more than ten from how small they were, and yet I'd thought about killing them.

Maybe I shouldn't worry about it. It was probably just an impulse thought, maybe my brain was still hardwired to see everything as food because I just had my meal. Yeah, that was it, nothing to worry about...

At last I made it to a familiar abandoned building, my footfalls echoing off the bare walls. I put the wagon just inside the door by the wall so it couldn't be seen from the street, picking up the body with a grunt of effort. I couldn't very well use the wagon down the stairs.

As my face turned red and my heart rate sped up, I told myself it was from the strain of carrying the body, but that was a weak lie. For some reason, every visit with Isabella made me uneasy, made me want to be perfect and on my best behavior. I told myself I got anxious because she was one of the few people who could rival my power, and left it at that.

While making my way to the basement, I could see that the fluorescent lights were on, and hear the sound of the lights buzzing, as well as the sound of a knife cutting through meat.

She was here.

Once I was within view, her perfect blue eyes met mine, a smile on her face. I found myself smiling back, and this time it reached my eyes.

As soon as our eyes met I looked away, instead focusing on the bagged body as I sat it down on the counter with a very loud thud.

"New delivery, right on schedule." I announce proudly with a grin, leaning against the counter and letting out a puff of air. I was winded after carrying it, but tried not to let it show.

"Did you have any trouble with him?" Isabella asks, looking me over briefly before getting back to cutting up the meat she'd been preparing.

"Nothing but the usual, just another average low life. His blood was so full of alcohol I thought I'd get drunk." I let out a huff of amusement, straightening up and backing away to lean against a wall instead. I crossed my arms, propping one foot up on the concrete wall as I watched her work with interest.

"What about you? Anything interesting happening I should know about? " I ask with a raised eyebrow, knowing The Butchers were always up to something.

"The next Slaughter is happening in two days. We're running out of meat faster than usual." She easily talked and worked at the same time as she'd done many times before. It was probably habit for her, and she seemed effortless. If only I could be like that...

I noticed her make an odd pause though. Something wasn't right, I was sure of it.

"...anything else?" I question carefully after a second, tilting my head to get a clearer view of her face.

"...I'm getting worried. There's rumors that the humans are trying to fight back. We may not be safe." She seemed unusually serious, with good reason.

"What the hell? Why now? Why would they...after all this time...?" I started asking her, but trailed off as I thought more to myself.

"They won't do anything. They can't." I assert firmly. "They're too weak to fight back even if they wanted to."

She still looked worried, uncharacteristically so. To the untrained eye, she would have seemed completely composed, but not me. I knew her well enough to see subtle signs of distress.

"I'll come with you."

Isabella looked over at me like I was crazy. Because I was.

"The other Butchers won't let you. You know how strict they are about who joins the Slaughters." She reminds me, seeming worried for me instead of herself now. Not exactly what I'd been hoping for.

"Aw come on, how bad could it be? I'll be able to join no sweat." I wave a hand in nonchalant dismissal, despite how I felt like I'd be sick. The Butchers were not to be messed with, and often killed people who insulted them. An outsider trying to join something as exclusive and glorified as a Slaughter would definitely be an insult.

If it would make her feel better to have me there it was worth it. Besides, I had some things to discuss with this collective anyway...

"Geo, I appreciate the thought, but that's suicide. Slaughters are a sacred event for us, and they wouldn't like someone just inviting themselves to join." By now she'd entirely stopped what she was doing, watching me with levels of concern even others could have probably detected now.

I sighed, deciding to at least be honest. "Alright fine, that's not the only reason. I want to join a Slaughter, and have for a while. It sounds exciting, and my life has been so...dull recently." I explain, speaking earnestly and starting to struggle to find the right words. I looked away, not sure how to explain myself.

"Killing is too easy, just a routine. I used to get joy from it, toying with humans, seeing their fear as they realized what I was, all of it. Every part of the process used to be so exhilarating, and it hasn't been in so long. I just want that feeling again, for more than a few fleeting seconds."

There was a stillness between us, solemn and quiet. Why'd I been so vulnerable just now? I didn't usually tell anyone things like that, but Isabella was different somehow. I trusted her.

"I can't say I approve, but if you really want this, I won't stop you."

"I really don't think you should." She insists again, her tone and expression still anxious.

"It'll be fine! I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You're an idiot." She says flatly, giving me a dry look.

I only grinned eagerly in response. "I know."

[a-m-pyra]

New God

We need a new god

A great entertainer

We need an angel

Or something that looks like it

—♫♫♫—

Before and after:

[pyrrhuria]

in honor of new toh content! i should probably post this one !!!! drew this back when hollow mind first aired and i couldn’t get the connection i’d drawn between hunter/the golden guards and the vessels from hollow knight out of my head