#lsdente

[bardicbeetle]

There has been a longing since you were a child to be of and only of the forest. To lose yourself in tangled roots and deep soft moss and upended trees. To wrap yourself in thick red clay and come back something wholly unhuman. To find the words and symbols that would shed for you the soft skin you carry for something furred or feathered or even cut from the bark-like flesh of the wood itself. The things in the woods don't need to carry the same fears you do. Their inevitabilities are not the same as yours. But you have always thought rotting here amongst the thick sweetness of a north woods swamp might feel better than suffering another moment in a body that has to someday do taxes, pay rent, buy gas--is it not enough to let your hair become the leaves?

Were you to erupt someday, the words found, the song sung:

(you know the drill reblob for sample size)

#writeblr #writeblr community #writeblr poll #polls #tumblr polls #this is an experiment #writing #amwriting #the magician cries #lsdente #i am in creative hell. humor me

[bardicbeetle]

WIP INTRO - Safe in the Dark

Oh hi, been a minute, I have finally gotten around to this:

(Image Credit - Ezra Chevalier - carrd - ko-fi)

Summary:

I will try to be concise, which is difficult with a project that has been ongoing for nearly half my life.

Alex Blackwood's first night in the supposedly safe, incredibly small state of Vermont starts with frigid wind and gunshots, and ends–somewhat confusingly–with bad coffee and a warm place to sleep.  Abruptly they find themself slowing down, staying in place when all they've done the last eight years is try to outrun nightmares and parents who aren't even looking for them.  The group that takes them in has its quirks, the nighttime schedule, the lack of any substantial food in the house, answering questions Alex has before words ever come out of their mouth.

When they discover their new housemates are a little closer to dead than alive–and that they're well on their way to becoming the same–their choices narrow to death in every direction.

Between an eternity of murder and a human lifetime of fear–was there really any other option but to stay?

Stats:

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Contemporary Horror (Vampires, it’s always vampires)

POV: 3rd person, Multiple POV character, usually contained to their own chapters with occasional deviation.

Word count/goal: 40k/95k

Draft: hopefully final draft, (Oh, you want a number? Eh, somewhere around 33? I’ve been writing this since 2011. I do not have the energy to count anymore.) It is the first installment of what I am now aware is probably at least a duology if not a trilogy

content warnings: vampire typical violence / mental health issues / mind control / hallucinations / body horror / familial + child abuse / murder / graphic depictions of violence / suicidal ideation / themes of depression, loss, and lack of control.

Character introduction posts to come <3

Feel free to browse the snippets that have already been posted using the Safe in the Dark/sitd tag.

/ Spotify Playlist / Tumblr tag /

With this post also comes the proper launch of my patreon! Which has been up but I did not want to promote it until I actually had an intro posted, and life has been really a lot this year. My patreon is non-hierarchical, meaning all the tiers grant the same rewards. I may eventually start running my fun mail through it again, but that is a project for a later time.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @kaiusvnoir / @vampireposter

#writeblr #wip intro #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #sitdsnips #safe in the dark #sitd #face the finish line (final drafts) #the magician cries

[bardicbeetle]

side wounds - Vee the Vampire

Happy Valentines Day, please enjoy Vee getting one of his ribs prized out of his chest <3 content warnings: vampire typical violence, mild gore

“Hush, cooperate and you might see the sunrise yet.” It’s lying to him again. What a delight. He’d say at least he’s not alone anymore—but it would almost be preferable to this. The words had been prompted by an outcry he couldn’t hold back—and one that is currently being threatened with a follow up of either screaming or cursing or vomiting and—

—fuck fuck fuck its hand twists against the spot it’s pressed into, where Vee knows he has at least one broken rib and the movement lights his whole chest on fire with pain.

Screaming ends up winning out.

At least until the monster’s other hand grabs his face, shoving two fingers into his open mouth far enough to make him gag, biting down in an attempt to make them withdraw or at the very least go still. The grip makes him think of Galen—lower half of his jaw torn off, two thirds of a head to be kicked across the floor. It wouldn’t be hard from here, two fingers in his mouth, thumb pressing under his chin so hard Vee can feel the push of it under his tongue.

“Nasty little things aren’t they, broken bones.” It’s still too dark for Vee to see much, but it sounds like it’s smiling. Voice still melodic and soft. Almost a salve to the pain, discouraging the thoughts that urge him to be afraid. “Bite all you want, angel. My hands are harder than your teeth.”

Vee thought when it came back it was going to kill him.

Hoped it was going to kill him.

Kill him just to get out of this room smelling stronger and stronger of the rot pouring from the cabinet. Just to stop the pain—of which he could take his pick, the dull ache in his chest that sharpened each time he drew breath, the incessant gnawing of hunger and its close friend thirst, which he would gladly succumb to before long if it just meant end, if it meant rest.

But no.

The monster had appeared, crouched over him with a candle in one hand that Vee had smacked away in his startled flailing. Plunging only himself into darkness as the thing fell on him, its hands digging into his sides, sharp nails piercing through cloth into skin, sharper teeth in his throat like needles of ice. He thought it was going to kill him.

But it had stopped. Drawn back to its crouch and left him bleeding on the floor again.

And then it is on him. Different, further back. A knee pressed into his chest. Vee doesn’t dare move, hardly breathes. Its fingers searched along his flesh until it found what it seemed to be looking for.

Pushing a flat palm hard into his ribcage—

—and this is where he ended up.

Held still and half-quiet by the jaw while nails—sharp nails, but still only nails—dug through his side as though he were a fish to be gutted and boned. Breathing ragged and uneven as the thing slowly sinking its hand into him whispered false comforts that he nearly believed.

It’s hard to think.

Spit runs down his chin, sweat coats the rest of his face, his side is warm and wet with his own blood. It’s strange. He can feel the ragged edges of the hole torn into him, feel movement as his muscles convulse and riot at the intrusion, hear the awful wet sounds whenever the monster adjusts its hand. But it’s not until he actually feels it take hold of a rib that the pain comes back, like a white hot spearhead of agony that the obstruction of his mouth can’t fully quiet.

“Ah, shhh, quiet angel—” Vee’s near gagged cries cut off into silence, “—it’s almost done. You wouldn’t want this catching on your lungs—” There are a pair of sickening wet snaps that he feels more than hears, and a slow pulling as the hand now clutching his fully broken rib withdraws from the cavity it had dug. The sharp edges of split bone catching on his already ruined flesh, little fireworks along his nerves, almost pleasant in comparison to the rest. “—there you are. Beautiful.”

It's cold.

Air touches parts of him it should never touch.

Though the same could be said for the hand.

All at once it releases him, vanishing back into the shadows. Whatever it had been whispering that dampened the pain went with it, and Vee rolls onto his side, retching and heaving with nothing to spill. There is a clatter, and a brief stirring of air as one of the tall candleabras is lit behind him.

Vee doesn’t look.

He would like to keep his nightmares free from whatever that thing looks like with his blood smeared across its face and hands. So he stays where he is, curled on the cold stone floor, the hole in his side still pouring red heat out below him.

He is alone again, or he is going to pretend that he is for his own goddamn sanity.

In the room now both rotted and bloodied.

He is going to die here.

Another clatter as something hits the ground beside his head. Close enough that he doesn’t need to move from where he is curled in on himself, nor even shift his head to see.

His rib.

Soft white against grey.

Licked clean.

He is going to die here.

@flyingbananasaur / @abalonetea / @meatandboneasmr / @captain-kraken / @albatris / @excessive-vampires / @booptasticbadonkadonk

#writeblr #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writeblr excerpt #wip damask #character ref vf #lsdente #writers on tumblr #vampire writing

[bardicbeetle]

unheard, unsaved - vee the vampire

“Again.”

“Please—I told you the same thing the first half dozen times—I’m telling the truth—fuck!”

Something acidic and cold is forced down his throat by whoever wrenched his head back by the hair. He almost chokes on it, knowing well enough by now not to spit whatever it is out. It settles in his stomach like he’s swallowed a fistful of snow, melting outwards in a way that makes the muscles in his back twitch involuntarily. Frozen from the inside out.

“Your name.”

“I don’t remember.”

“Your goddamn name!”

“I don’t know!” Vee screams back, so loud it shreds the back of his palette raw. “My superior’s name was Galen Aloria. Lys Aloria and Adrienne Kimbal came to rescue me. I think the creature called itself Meara—I—”

“Again, Rin.”

“I’ve told you everything I remember—I—”

Again and again and again, the cold seeps through his veins like he’s been submerged in the bay in midwinter. Every breath is sharp and shaking, his fingers almost feel like they could snap at the slightest movement. No one is listening to him. No matter how many times he repeats himself.

“What happened to Lys Aloria?”

“He was killed by a monster.” Not a lie. Not even on technicality. Lys was killed by a monster.

He’s a fucking monster.

“And his father? And Adrienne? Were they killed by the same monster?” There is a touch of derision to the words. Vee has decided he hates this man. Would hate him even if he were listening.

“Adrienne tried to run, I don’t know what happened to her.” He says, head hanging limp now. Chin to chest. Wanting to slump forward but strapped to the chair too tight to even shift. “Galen had his head ripped off.”

Vee doesn’t recognize the man interrogating him.

He recognizes Rin only by name. He never brought anything back alive, so they never had any reason to interact.

They should all be on the same side. They are all bound to the same goal. Or they were. He still is. He swears he still is. Not that anyone who could still walk in daylight would believe him, forced truth or otherwise. But he is going to walk back into that god forsaken mansion someday and he is going to gut the thing inside it.

@flyingbananasaur / @abalonetea / @meatandboneasmr / @captain-kraken / @albatris / @excessive-vampires / @booptasticbadonkadonk / @indecentpause

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #wip damask #character ref vf #fun fact Vee genuinely does not remember his name #and will not actually have one again until Cassidy starts calling him Vee #but alas. i have not decided how to write that distinction #so we continue as this

[bardicbeetle]

It’s much worse being on the bike when he’s properly awake. Properly sober. Properly watching scenery fly by in a terrifying blur while he tries not to think about how nice it is having no choice but to be practically glued against Daniel. Has to be in order to keep them stable on the bike. To move at the same time while going far too goddamn fast.

He wonders if this is just how motorbikes feel or if Daniel is confident enough in his own immortality to be reckless about it. Jesse wouldn’t know. He’s only ever been in this position with someone who can’t die. And who—realistically he thinks—must not care if Jesse dies either.

They get as far as Monterey, Daniel leaves the main roads for dirt until they hit a cliff overlooking the bay. Maybe he is planning to kill Jesse tonight. Throw his lifeless body to the sea when it’s done and then go back to that little apartment and never think about him again.

It wouldn’t be surprising.

“I like the green,” Daniel says as he takes the helmet back from Jesse, who is dragging fingers through the hair he had dyed a handful of days prior. “It suits you better than the black did.”

Jesse curses the way his stomach flips at those words. Wonders how much better Daniel’s eyes are than his, if he can see where warmth is staining his face. “Thanks,” Barely audible, “where the hell did you drag me to?” it elicits a laugh that has him going redder, he can feel it.

Shit, he would give a lot of things to keep making Daniel laugh like that.

“Don’t worry, if I’d planned to kill you I’d have done it back home.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely comforting.”

“Good,” Daniel says, “it shouldn’t be.”

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings s / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur r / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @revenantlore / @vampireposter / @outpost51

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #sitdsnips #safe in the dark #sitd #character ref da #character ref ja

[bardicbeetle]

sitd mini snips - first sleep

“Glad everything has been established,” Daniel says, settling more comfortably. “Can I please go back to sleep now?” When Jesse does not answer, he adds: “D’you want to stay? You can stay so long as you shut up.”

That does absolutely nothing to help Jesse regain the use of speech.

It doesn’t matter though, Daniel’s face breaks into a little half smile and he pulls Jesse the rest of the way down with him. And Jesse lets him. Ends up laid next to him in bed, Daniel feels cool to the touch, a few degrees off from what could be realistically classified as normal. Just cold enough to be noticed.

And he hasn’t got a heartbeat.

Which is less alarming than Jesse thinks it should be.

A lot less.

Still.

He lays there, in the blacked out room, and the man beside him falls back asleep—really fast, all things considered. And surprisingly at ease?

He looks softer in sleep.

Like a weight is lifted.

Somewhere, in staring at him.

Jesse drifts off as well.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @revenantlore / @vampireposter / @outpost51 / @theharpywrites

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #sitdsnips #safe in the dark #sitd #over the wall and into the light

[bardicbeetle]

sitd snips - afternoons

Daniel lets out a long sigh, pushing himself up and running a hand through is hair to keep it back out of his face. He looks far from properly awake, pulling both legs up to sit criss cross and supporting his head with one hand. Jesse can see him swallow a yawn before he actually speaks. “Fine, I am barely coherent— make good use of it.” The words don’t sound as hostile as Jesse thinks they’re meant to be.

“Last night—”

“Yes.”

“All of it?” Jesse asks, getting a little frustrated by being cut off again “You—”

“Killed that guy, yes. Offered to kill you, yes. Carried your unconscious body two miles and then drove you back here, yes.” He pauses, stretching his arms toward the ceiling, back arched like a cat. “Without dropping you on the asphalt I might add—does that cover it? Can I go back to sleep?”

“I think you’re kind of glossing over the whole killed that guy part.” Jesse says, sitting back on his heels. “In like, seconds, with your fucking teeth.”

Daniel nods solemnly, “Mmm, you’re right, I’m forgetting the part where I had to make that look a whole lot less like vampire bullshit, and a whole lot more like a run-of-the-mill stabbing. Throw another twenty minutes in for that.”

“Look, if you’re just gonna screw with me—”

I love early days with these two <3 I love that neither of them has any fucking idea what to do with the other one.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @revenantlore / @vampireposter / @outpost51

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #sitdsnips #safe in the dark #sitd #character ref da #character ref ja #over the wall and into the light

[bardicbeetle]

sitd snips - poor timing

He’s in the process of ruining pancakes. It’s not his fault, it’s very clearly the pan, he’s used to non-stick and this is stainless and who the fuck makes pancakes in stainless steel—it gets too hot too quickly and it won’t cool down and the butter keeps burning and the batter keeps sticking—

—but this is a blissfully normal frustration.

So he doesn’t mind.

“Raes, you’re a human disaster.” Carrie chuckles beside him, nudging him gently out of the way with an elbow so she can get at the tray of bacon in the oven.

Isaac smiles back, leaning into the counter to give her space “Well aware of that, thanks. At least I’m still human—for now.”

It’s a joke.

He means it as a joke.

Probably.

Almost definitely.

He’s not thinking at the moment. He’s making terrible pancakes and not thinking about the gaping hole in Alex’s chest upstairs.

And how that is entirely his fault.

It doesn’t matter.

It was a joke.

Carrie still draws her arm back and punches him square in the hip while she’s bent down. She doesn’t even look over from where she’s flipping bacon with a fork. More focused on not getting spattered with hot grease. Aiming only out of the corner of her eye. It lands despite this, and it fucking hurts.

“Christ, Verona—I was kidding—” Isaac’s leg almost wants to buckle from where she hit it, and he makes a mental note not to antagonize his friends now that he’s given them combat lessons. It’s not worth the bruises.

“Not funny, jackass.”

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblobb / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @revenantlore / @vampireposter / @outpost51

#writeblr #character ref ir #character ref cv #sitd #lsdente #sitd snips #safe in the dark

[bardicbeetle]

down, up - vee the vampire

“No hospital.” Cassidy growls the word, cradling her lacerated hand away from him as though that will somehow help her statement. Maybe it will. She hopes it will. She is not going back there. “Swear it or I’m not coming any closer.”

Angelface pinches the bridge of his nose like this whole situation is an annoyance at best.

“Cassidy, surely it would be easier to—”

“—I’m. Not. Going.”

A moments silence.

Just the drip of her own blood as it falls from her palm to the floor.

Finally, a sigh.

“Alright—alright, god above. No hospital, please just—just sit down, I’ve got some things—”

“—Swear.” She says again, not moving.

Angelface fixes her with the look again, the god damnit Cassidy would it actually kill you to listen to me? one. Which she’s becoming what is probably concerningly familiar with. “I swear, you won’t even leave this room.”

Cassidy smiles, wide enough that her vision goes a little hazy—

—ah.

That isn’t the smile doing that.

The room spins, and goes dark.

~*~

“Fuck…” her head is throbbing when she comes back to herself. Her hand is…not. Somehow. It feels almost numb instead. Pain dull and distant. There is a pulling that goes along with it, the tugging of skin and—shit is he actually stitching her up?

“I hate you.” Angelface says from where he’s kneeling next to her on the floor. “You know that? I told you to sit down.”

Cassidy tries to lift her head and knocks it immediately back into the floor, a throbbing at the base of her skull sending the ceiling above swimming in circles again. She looks over with just her eyes, seeing her hand resting on a plate and a pile of washcloths, the top few of which had begun staining pink and red. She looks back up to Angelface, who—almost comically—is lined up with one of the ceiling lights behind his head, shining in her hazy vision like a malformed halo.

“I’m fine.” She mumbles before closing her eyes again, “S’all good.”

“Completely fine, barring the hand.” Angelface replies, “Along with your ongoing and very apparent lack of survival instinct.”

“It’s a fucking cut.” she draws out the last word like a whine.

“You passed out, Cassidy.” Oh he does not sound happy with her.

She wants to laugh, but she’s worried the shaking might interfere with whatever it is he’s doing to her hand. She knows he’s sewing it shut, back together, whatever. Doesn’t know where he learned how to do stitches, probably won’t get an answer if she asks. “What’s your name?” she asks instead, because she knows she won’t get an answer for that either.

“Angelface.” She can picture the look on his face. The half-irate resignation to her questions.

“No it isn’t.”

“No, it isn’t.”

Cassidy smiles to herself. “Can I give you one?”

“Excuse me?” The rythmic pulling and piercing against her palm stops. She opens her eyes again, and catches a glimpse of an expression she doesn’t think he meant her to. His eyes flicker, flat black in a way she rarely sees, then back to warm brown. He looks so lost. It’s gone the second he catches her staring.

“You gave me Cassidy,” she tells him, “I’ll give you something.”

His gaze drops back to her hand, the feeling returns.

“No.”

“I’m not calling you Angelface—I refuse, and I’m sick of thinking it.”

“Cassidy.”

She is trying to keep the smile at a normal level. She is trying very hard. It’s not working. The grin hurts, makes the throbbing at the back of her head even worse. It’s worth it. “You’re gonna hate it,” she tells him, she knows it, but it doesn’t matter. He hasn’t got a say. It’ll grow on him. Even if it’s just for her. “I’m gonna call you Vee.”

@flyingbananasaur / @abalonetea / @meatandboneasmr / @captain-kraken / @revenantlore / @albatris / @excessive-vampires / @booptasticbadonkadonk / @indecentpause / @afoolandathief

#noting for anyone that anything containing cassidy happens present day/2005 and forward #writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #wip damask #wip vtv #character ref vf #character ref cf

[bardicbeetle]

Vee the Vampire - things that should be let lie

“Oh christ—Adrienne I found him—shit…”

The candlelight spilling in from the open doorway is more than Vee needs to see anymore. Standing in it now are a pair of his comrades, Lys and Adrienne. Lys is staring at him in what he can only describe as horror. Which is upsetting for a multitude of reasons, not least of which being he’s barely even capable of moving right now. Maybe it’s horror for him, not at him.

Right.

Hilarious, that.

He can hear every little breath they each take. Every beat of quickening hearts in the vacant space where his own should sound. Adrienne says something—it sounds like a name—it’s probably a name—it doesn’t really reach his ears. There’s too much in them already.

“I’ll make it quick,” he does hear Lys say that.

Vee snarls, lips pulling back over sharp teeth as Lys comes closer. He’s still chained to the floor, arms behind his back—it hadn’t felt dangerous alone, but it does now, exposed and easy and—

—he’s struggling to reign that fear in. Struggling to think through what is barely more than survival instinct. Lys kneels in front of him, and while the horror isn’t gone there is something pained about the look on his face. Something that’s almost guilt.

“Careful, Lys—God look at him—” Disgust, that’s what he’s hearing from Adrienne. That makes sense. He can’t blame her. “—we shouldn’t have let him come alone.”

Let him.

As though he hadn’t run off in the middle of the night like an idiot.

As though either of them could have stopped him, or changed the outcome.

Maybe all three of them would be dead in that case…

That might honestly have been a blessing.

“I promise I’ll be fast,” Lys is talking to him, not Adrienne, Vee wishes he wasn’t. Wishes he wouldn’t. “it’ll be over in a moment—”

It certainly will.

@flyingbananasaur / @abalonetea / @meatandboneasmr / @captain-kraken / @albatris / @excessive-vampires / @booptasticbadonkadonk

#writeblr #wip vtv #lsdente #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #writeblr community #writeblr excerpt #wip damask #character ref vf

[bardicbeetle]

new chains - vee the vampire

There is one benefit, Vee thinks, to being locked in a cell made of stone.

And that is the suppression of sound.

He can’t hear the blood surrounding him until it is within reach. As a result he doesn’t spend every waking hour trying to direct his thoughts away from the ache of hunger or the way his teeth sharpen and smooth over with every passing set of footsteps.

He wonders vaguely how long it will take him to starve now. Rin probably knows. They have probably studied things like that. They probably know more than half the hunters who go out do. Different skills. Knowledge is power, all of that garbage. He cannot ask them, they are not here, he is alone, so much time now is alone. He has been alone more often than not since the moment he left Lys and Adrienne.

Don’t.

Alone here is barely different from any of the other solitude he has experienced lately. Only in that he knows where he is, deep in the bowels of the church, where cells become tombs for things like him.

He hears the heartbeat on the other side of the door before it opens.

The rush of fresher air comes with the iron tang of blood.

And there is a moment where he’s gone.

Where he is nothing but limbs straining against metal and feet scraping uselessly against stone.

Where he no longer exists.

The only thing left in his place is need.

Is hunger.

Is red.

“Control yourself or it stays here with me.” Rin’s voice is cold and sharp, not dissimilar to the liquid they’d forced on him—a week ago? more?

Time is hard to gauge when all he does is sit in the dark and wait.

Still.

He bites his own tongue.

Blood pooling slow and too thick in his mouth.

It’s the only thing stopping him from begging.

His thoughts clear, barely, a hairs breadth from madness.

But it seems to be enough for Rin to approach him fully, to tip the goblet in their hand against his lips. The red within mingles with Vee’s own already on his tongue. It’s warm, something beyond the metal and salt that reminds him of a garden, of sun-warmed tomatos and the snap of fresh pepper. It’s divine. It is life made liquid, it lets his heartbeat echo in his own ears for the first time since—

—don’t think about Lys.

Don’t don’t don’t.

The cup runs empty.

He is not sated by any means.

But he is not starving.

“Thank you,” thick with the blood still in his mouth, on his tongue, coating his throat “thank you.” it is more desperate than he wants to sound. He cannot help it.

“Don’t. It’s safer for me when you’re not starving. That is all.”

Rin is small. Rin sees less light than most here. Rin has been here since Vee was a child. Always in the depths of stone and iron, always surrounded by monsters in varying states of alive or otherwise. They do not cut an imposing figure. They are not intimidating. They look to anyone as non-threatening as someone could conceivably be.

Vee knows better.

He has heard the screaming.

There are reasons he never brought anything back alive.

He would not wish the cost of their knowledge on anyone.

Monster or otherwise.

“Callisto.” Rin says quietly, hesitating in the doorway, goblet held slack and downturned. It’s dripping remnants to the floor that will leave him dizzy with the scent later. The vision of it now still threatens to send him spinning.

“What?”

“Your name. It was Callisto.”

And stone scrapes stone.

Leaving him alone in the dark once more.

@flyingbananasaur / @abalonetea / @meatandboneasmr / @captain-kraken / @revenantlore / @albatris / @excessive-vampires / @booptasticbadonkadonk / @indecentpause

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #wip damask #character ref vf #wip vtv #horror writeblr

[bardicbeetle]

going absolutely batshit over my own lines like:

“Biting doesn’t do anything without intention and reciprocity, darling.”

hello? sir why do you talk like this.

#the magician cries #lsdente #local idiot has been playing too much bg3 and accidentally absorbed astarion a little bit

[bardicbeetle]

Damask, 2005 - vee the vampire

Angelface had walked away to the back room for something—she’s been assuming it’s a storage room of some kind, hasn’t been back there yet as so far she hasn’t needed anything. And thus far being left alone at a well stocked bar before there are even any patrons has been plenty entertaining. Mainly because she doesn’t get to touch anything otherwise, mostly she washes dishes in the bar sink and listens to Angelface chat up patrons all night. It’s not glamorous, but it’s also not being cold on the fucking street.

Notes from this latest foray into digging through the back bottles: Whatever that green label one is tastes fucking awful, like melted licorice. Disgusting. Conversely, there is something down there that reminds her of toasted marshmallows and that’s making up for the awful one.

The next thing she picks up is in such a dark bottle she can’t even see what’s in it. Which isn’t fully abnormal, some of the bottles are frosted or opaque. Rather than dirtying cups she’s taken to putting the little shot spouts on and then giving them a quick rinse afterwards. It’s saved both time and suspicious dishes.

This time is no different, after double checking that she is still—in fact—alone, she tips the bottle up holding the spout a few inches from her open mouth—she had missed the first couple times but the spout is surprisingly consistent no matter what’s in the bottles, and she learned fast—and gags.

It’s thick like some of the creme bases are but—fuck—it’s salty and metallic and the bottle slips out of her hands with the shock of it and shatters on the tile behind the bar.

Sending bright red spraying across the floor and the bottom shelf glasses.

She doesn’t really process it, busy heaving over the sink.

It’s not until she hears the door open and shut at the far end of the room that she looks back at the floor in panic.

So whatever it was sucked, but it was probably expensive and—

—no.

No that was blood.

Something about seeing the way it’s spreading on the floor. The color it turns as it soaks the bottom of her jeans. The taste. When she wipes a hand across her mouth it paints her skin the same way a nosebleed would, and she’s stuck staring at it, feeling very suddenly like she is going to be properly actually sick—what the fuck.

“Cassidy?”

Her gaze snaps back up to Angelface, who has made it all the way to the little half-door blocking the back of the bar before she even noticed he was there. “I—I didn’t—”

“—are you hurt?”

Relief.

He looks more—amused? Than anything else. But there is genuine concern in his tone. She thinks.

“Was that—that was blood—what the fuck is that doing under—”

“—Cassidy.” That word is sharper. She’s still getting used to connecting it to herself. “Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Good. Hop up on the bar, I’ll take care of the glass.”

“Answer my question first.”

“Blood is a medical hazard, Cassidy. Get on the bar.”

She plants her feet, the tile slick under her boots, arms crossed. “No. Answer my fucking question.”

Angelface sighs, stepping carefully around shards of glass until he’s close enough to—is she really that small or is he stronger than he looks?—pick her up and set her none too gently onto the bartop. It happens so quickly that she doesn’t really have time to react until it’s already done. “Ridiculous. It’s like you don’t have a goddamn survival instinct at all.”

The reaction he’s having feels so out of place that she’s struggling to find any sort of response. She just watches him start picking up the larger chunks of glass from the floor, listens to the little plopping sounds as blood continues to drip from the bottom shelf.

In the end it takes until he’s fully cleaned the floor and filled the sink with blood spattered glassware for her to speak again.

“Am I fired?”

He gives her a look. It’s the face he makes every time she asks a stupid question.

She’s pretty sure that isn’t a stupid question though, so she repeats herself.

“Am I?”

“No,” He tells her, “you will not be left alone back here again though.”

It startles a laugh out of her.

“So…” She’s still sitting on the bar, the blood on her jeans has dried dark and stiff. “I’m still waiting on an explanation.”

“You’ll be waiting forever, Cassidy.”

“Is it like—sketchy?” She asks, “Like—is there some sort of black market thing going on—are there organs down there too? Is that what you keep in the back room?”

“It is not like—sketchy,” Angelface repeats, faintly mocking and ignoring the latter half of her question. “and it isn’t your concern.”

“I drank blood,” She insists, “that’s concerning.”

“You didn’t drink blood—you spit it in the sink.”

“I swallowed some of it.”

“And?”

“Didn’t you say it was a medical hazard?”

“Would you like me to take you to the hospital?”

She glares at him, and for a moment both are silent. She’s putting it together though. Between his reactions and the rest. Or maybe she’s crazy. That’s also possible.

“We’re only here after dark.” She says finally.

“It’s a night club, Cassidy. We’re only open at night.”

“There’s blood under the bar.”

“There is. You spilt it.”

“It was there before I did that.”

“Is this little train of thought supposed to be impressive?”

“I don’t think you should be able to pick me up that easily.”

He does look mildly offended by that one. “Excuse me?”

“I’ve read books.” She’s treading dangerous waters now. She knows it.

“I should hope so.” He replies, and maybe she’s imagining the slight quirk to his expression, the sour little smile. “Are you going to start making sense any time in the next few sentences?”

“Promise you’ll answer one question?” She asks, voice suddenly very quiet. “Honestly.”

Angelface gives her an appraising sort of look, like he’s weighing a risk. “One question, Cassidy.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

He smiles.

It’s sharper than it should be.

It’s almost like he’s suddenly got too many teeth.

“I certainly hope not.”

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #vampire writing #i may or may not have gotten too attached to a handful of NPCs i made #so here have this

[bardicbeetle]

sitd snips - in what is not believing

cw for mild emeto

“Later. I promise. Are you okay?”

All they can do is shake their head, “I—I didn’t—” Why won’t their stupid tongue cooperate. They feel like they’re going to be sick.

“C’mon, lets get you inside—a shower might do you some good.”

Hot water.

Hot water and steam would be good.

Though the idea is an unpleasant reminder that there is blood dried to their face, to their hands where they had tried to wipe it away, staining the front of their jacket—

“Alex.”

They nod, following Daniel inside and upstairs.

“Don’t leave.”

“I’ll be right here.”

And that’s how they stay for a while. Alex scrubs their skin raw, watches the runoff going down the drain fade from pink to clear. Then sits on the floor of the tub, water at their back, and heaves. Nothing comes up. They swear they can hear liquid sloshing around in their stomach but it stays firmly and stubbornly in place. Maybe that’s better. Maybe seeing more evidence would be worse.

They settle back against the spray.

“I might have killed him.” it’s quiet and broken

“You didn’t,” Daniel’s voice comes from the other side of the curtain. They can vaguely see his outline where he’s sitting on the bathroom floor, back to the wall. “you’d know.”

“That’s the last part, isn’t it.” It’s not a question, they aren’t even sure why they’re saying it, he’s right, they know. They don’t really know how they know. But the understanding is there.

“That’s the last part.” Daniel is quiet for a moment, “Why didn’t you wait for one of us?”

What?

“I—your friend didn’t explain?”

“Friend?” That word is sharper than Alex expected it to be.

“Eric. He was here when I woke up—he—he said there was really no point in thinking it over—” they pause, tip their head back into the water a moment. “—I guess I believed him.”

Except it hadn’t really felt like believing. Something about the moment feels off.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @kaiusvnoir / @vampireposter

#writeblr #sitd #character ref da #character ref ab #my writing #amwriting #vampire writeblr #safe in the dark #lsdente #sitdsnips

[bardicbeetle]

You do not want to die. You haven't wanted to die since six months after you ran. Thirty-five years ago. Since a woman stronger and braver and angrier than you will ever be carved open her own skin just to keep you alive. The same woman who tonight sent up a mistake and a mess you could have avoided in flames.

Neither of the people who love you believe you when you say that you are not trying to die. They have, admittedly, good reasons not to believe you. But neither of them understand. Both of them are too settled in their own decisions. Both of them came to this willingly in one way or another.

You are not doing this for yourself. You are not doing this to be a coward or a martyr or anything other than whatever is left in you of the shadow called good. You are doing this because nobody should have to see a fraction of what you've seen, and now someone has, now they have and it is--inescapably, unarguably, entirely--your fault.

So you are doing the only thing you know how to do.

You are giving the only choices you have access to.

And you do not know if you are hoping for one or the other.

In either case, you are hoping the affected party forgives you.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @kaiusvnoir /

#character ref da #vampire writeblr #writeblr #lsdente #amwriting #what is this? fuck if I know #daniel vent hours please enjoy #sitdsnips #sitd #safe in the dark

[bardicbeetle]

sitd bsi (or maybe a proper snip I am still deciding) - take what you need

Hi, completely unedited and also suggestive content under-cut. Do I need to put it under cut, probably not it's very tame, am I mostly asexual and feel a tiny bit weird about tagging folks in something that even hints at sex? Yes. Will I get over it because I want to share it since early days Jesse and Daniel wreck me as a person and i'm a goddamn adult? Yeah.

So here have some consensual blood drinking that is totally definitely not immediately post anything else happening (lie), anyways this piece brought to you by Teeth from Aviators.

There is a singular line break indicating a POV change.

Enjoy <3

“You’re cold again,” Jesse is talking around things and he knows it, he cannot bring himself to fucking care right now. “you—”

“I’m fine. Just tired.” Jesse just shakes his head, pulls Daniel towards him and finds no resistance in the motion. Daniel follows, lets himself be tugged back into Jesse’s lap, forehead resting on his shoulder. “You’re insufferable.” There’s no bite to the words, no malice, Jesse can still see the ghost of a laugh in his expression when he looks down.

Daniel will push him back into the bed and they will fall asleep like this. He knows that.

Fuck it.

“You promised not to do this to yourself again,” Jesse says softly, fingers tracing lightly up Daniel’s back, scar to scar to scar. “I told you—I don’t mind—”

“Jesse,” It’s mumbled against his skin, “sleep.”

“Take it,” Jesse growls, fingers threading through Daniel’s hair and pulling him back enough to look in the eye. “I know you need it, drink.” It’s low and sharp, and his fingers dig into Daniel’s side as he speaks.

He is rewarded with the slow slipping shut of Daniel’s eyes, the barely audible fuck that comes before he lets Jesse guide him back. Lips to throat. Teeth to pulse.

He is also not awake enough to lie to himself and say that Daniel’s teeth in his neck isn’t doing things to him this time. He could lie last time—he almost died—this is different. He can feel every time Daniel pulls away, the sharp sting of air on an open wound—the heat of his breath and drag of his tongue just before teeth follow into another bite. Daniel is exhausted and starved, but not to the same point he was on the beach, this is controlled, this is—

—fuck.

The next time Daniel pulls back, Jesse feels blood starting to run down between them, warm and then cooling in the air against his skin. None of the bites ever bleed long. Someday he’ll bother asking why. Not right now. He drags Daniel up, back to his lips—the taste of his own blood should probably be a lot more unsettling and yet. He thinks maybe it’s offset by the sight. Eyes blue and then red and then back. Like Daniel is trying to keep something in. Keep a handle on it.

There is a small part of Jesse that wishes he wouldn’t.

Daniel laughs into the kiss, small and breathless and Jesse has the distinct feeling he has thought something too loudly again.

~*~

At some point or another, Daniel is going to regret this.

Not right now, mind.

Not while he’s got blood in his mouth and Jesse’s hands in his hair.

So Daniel gives in to it. Drowns himself a little in the endorphin rush that comes with Jesse’s blood right now. Drags teeth from his throat down his chest just for the shiver it elicits and the way Jesse drops his head back and moans.

This is unfair to one of them.

Maybe both of them.

It’s going to make tomorrow night a lot harder.

But for now he’s going to pretend that doesn’t matter. Take a goddamn break from thinking about how much of a mess this has all become and lose himself in the fact that Jesse touches him like he’s precious. There are nails digging into the flesh of his back and a hand wrapped up in his hair but both are controlled like Jesse is afraid of hurting him. Jesse pulls and guides him along and demands that Daniel take what he needs but it is all within an undercurrent that he won’t push too far.

It’s not that night on the beach again.

The promise goes both ways.

Daniel broke his half.

Jesse is holding his.

@cjjameswriting / @falling-rivers / @maabonwrites / @blve0 / @inexorableblob / @blueberrypoptart / @betwixtofficial / @drowsy-quill / @ezwriting / @ofinscriptions / @vaguelyhumanekid / @meatandboneasmr / @h-faith-marr-writeblr / @necros-writings / @poetinprose / @flyingbananasaur / @oldestenemy / @multi-lefaiye / @dotr-rose-love / @abalonetea / @albatris / @incandescent-creativity / @kaiusvnoir / @vampireposter

#writeblr #writeblr community #vampire writeblr #amwriting #writers on tumblr #lsdente #sitdsnips #safe in the dark #sitd #face the finish line (final drafts) #character ref da #character ref ja #over the wall and into the light #welcome to: daniel is not going to kill jesse while at jesse's childhood home #but he WILL get fucked and then drink his blood #that is acceptable #he will also be antagonizing jesse's father in the morning #these are all things