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natalievoncatte · 3 months

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Content/Trigger Warning: Violence and blood

They must have used chloroform or some other trick to knock her out. Lena almost got away. Flickers of sorcerous power -raw, unrefined, deadly in their chaotic wrath- sparked between her fingers and screamed in her bones. If she’d been more alert, if she hadn’t been be checking her phone because Kara hasn’t answered about seventeen calls and half again many texts, Lena might have blown her attacker through a wall, electrocuted the flesh from their bones, or boiled their brain in its box.

Instead they snapped a black bag over her head and she woke up here. She instantly knew that she was below ground; the magical currents in the earth were frustratingly close but cut off somehow. Reaching for them was like grabbing at a wriggling fish coated in oil.

As awareness flooded back in, she knew why: the heavy iron collar around her neck, a Luthor family relic for which one of her ancestors had paid a deathly price. A witch-collar, inscribed with hellish runes.

The bag came away from her head and she looked around. She was in a chair in a basement room, in a disused part of the family wine cellar. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision.

Everything was red. It took her a moment to realize the room was bathed in red light from banks of lamps all around her, all around them.

Kara lay a few yards away, curled up on the floor, bundled up in a ball. She was in her cheer uniform, her golden hair turned bronze in the strange light and her skin bruised and filthy from the rough stone floor.

That shouldn’t be… how…

Lena jumped when a nearby speaker on a table chirped with Lex’s voice.

“Hello, Lena.”

“Lex?” she snapped. “What is this? What the hell are you doing?”

“Teaching you a hard lesson,” he said. “You’ve been rolling in the dirt long enough. Father won’t have it, and he left it to me to put a stop to it.”

“Put a stop to what?”

“You’ve been rutting… if you can call it that… with that thing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lena lied, her desperation betraying her. “Take this collar off and I’ll heal her and we’ll hope she keeps quiet about…”

“She killed one of the men I sent to take her,” said Lex. “Ripped his throat right out.”

Lena froze. “It’s not… she’s not…”

“Like that?” said Lex. “Like all the other ones? No, she’s not. At first I couldn’t fathom how she walks in daylight… but it was a simple matter to discern what wavelengths she’s sensitive to. Once I did, all I had to do was lock her up with a little of her home ambiance.”

Oh God. The lamps.

Lena rushed to where Kara lay, almost scraping her knees in the process. She rolled the other girl over and found Kara emaciated and corpselike, her skin waxy and sallow and her eyes sunken, her beauty somehow undiminished.

“I hate you,” Lena choked out “I hate you, Lex. You fucking bastard.”

“I know. You’ll get over it. Look there.”

A few feet away, a sharpened wooden stake lay on the stone tiles.

Oh no. Oh God no, not this.

“Kill her. Destroy this creature and affirm your loyalty and the collar comes off. You may think you’re powerful, but you’re not, Lena. Father has the true power here.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m going to turn off the lamps. She’s wounded and blood-starved. It’s kill her or be killed.”

“I’d rather die.”

“So be it.”

The lamps went out with a thump, others coming on in the same instant, in the normal, cold light of the old lamps that glowed down here beneath the mansion.

Kara stirred. She rolled onto her side, then her hands and knees, and rose up to kneel. A long, rasping sound escaped her lips, half sigh and half death rattle. She looked at Lena.

“He’s right. I don’t think I can control it.”

The words came out malformed around the retractable fangs jutting from her gums. The soft red glow of her eyes swallowed the blue of her irises and she seemed lost, staring.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’d never.”

Kara swallowed, rasping against a dry throat.

“Take it.”

“No.”

Kara looked at her plaintively, then darted across the cellar on all fours, grabbing the stake herself.

“Kara, don’t!”

“This is the only way.”

Lena bolted, crashing into Kara, heedless of impaling herself on the jagged wood. Kara forced her back, holding the stake in one hand.

“Not much time left,” Kara rasped. “Mind fading. Hunger always wins. Love you, Lee. Love you always.”

“DON’T,” Lena screamed. Kara pressed a kiss to her lips, soft, cold, her lips as dry as paper and seemingly as brittle.

The stake bit through her chest with a sickening dry crack as she shoved with both hands, groaning. She toppled beside Lena, both of them lying on the floor, and went still.

Lena felt as if it had pierced her own chest, as though her own heart were torn out. The wild magic in her surged and churned, longing to make a connection with the ancient power in the stones beneath her body, but the collar refused her. She wailed, shaking Kara’s limp, emaciated form as if to wake her up.

The next thing she heard was the heels of Lex’s shoes on the stones as he walked into the room.

“How tragic. I suppose she had actual feelings for you, after all.”

Lena threw herself at him, fingers hooked for his eyes, but he shoved her aside and she fell to the ground with a grunt.

“If you’d been more cooperative about all this, I might have let you keep her as a pet. No matter. After you’ve finished your training, love will have about as much meaning to you as it does to me.”

“I’ll never be like you.”

Lex stood over her, grinning. “Oh, you will.”

He reached down and took hold of the collar, and Lena cried out in agony as he pulled, using the cold iron to drag her to her feet. Then she went still.

With an abrupt jerk, Kara sat up, her movements strangely sharp and inhuman. She rose to her feet, the stake still embedded in her chest, impaled through the Midvale High Ranger on the chest of her leotard. She looked at Lex and smiled.

“What the fuck,” he snarled, immediately turning for the door. “Otis! Otis get in here! Kill it!”

Kara dragged him back, throwing him to the floor. She grasped the stake and pulled, dragging it from her chest and casting it to the floor.

“I am Kryptonian,” she hissed. “I am as far beyond your weakling Terran vampires as they are beyond you. Did you really think I could be killed with a stick?”

“Otis!” Lex screamed, “Otis, get in here!”

“Otis won’t be joining us,” Alex said. Kara’s sister strode into the room, Otis’s blood still on her chin and hands. “I’m afraid he had a prior engagement. My family and I had him for dinner.”

“Oh fuck,” Lex muttered.

Feral and lean and predatory, Kara stalked towards him.

“You hurt my Lena,” she said, her voice barely a breathless whisper.

Then she stopped and looked at Lena.

Lena stood there for a broken moment, staring at her brother, expecting to feel pity or confusion or at least some kind of conflict, but she felt as empty as he always said she would.

“Do it,” said Lena. “Then get this fucking thing off me. I’m going to kill his father tonight.”

Fangs bared, Kara lunged. Lena turned away. Alex didn’t.

When it was over, Kara smeared the last dregs of Lex on the back of her arm, and when she tore apart the collar, Lena seized from her a feral kiss, savoring the prick of fangs on her burning lips.

#supercorp #supergirl fanfiction #supergirl #supercorp fanfic #lena luthor #kara danvers #kara x lena #karlena #supergirl fanfic #ficlet #kryptonians are vampires #kryptonians are aliens #lena is a witch #witch lena #magic #Alex Danvers is a werewolf #fantasy au #modern fantasy au #yes they get freaky with blood

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weathermanpolls · 10 days

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#rwby #modern fantasy au #ruby rose

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starker-sorbet · 3 months

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Tony was used to how humans reacted around him when he displayed what he was. Despite the fact supernatural creatures had lived alongside humans for centuries now instinct just couldn't be helped when it came vampires. They were predators after all. The thing is even though he's really young for a vampire (he hasn't even stopped aging yet) Tony had figured out all the reactions he would usually get. Humans were consistent creatures after all. Which is why his new roommate's reactions were so confusing. He never tried to make excuses to not be around Tony when ever he had to fed. Hell he often seemed to deliberately try and stay in their room whenever Tony went to get a blood bag from his fridge. Peter was just a conundrum to Tony. Peter's heart rate went up whenever he showed his vampiric nature, like any humans, but what else goes on with him just doesn't make sense to Tony. Pete seemed to blush at the merest hint of fang and bit his lip whenever Tony needed to use his vampiric strength. If he didn't know better he'd swear that Peter was getting aroused by him. But that wasn't right humans couldn't get over vampire being their predators. Couldn't they?

Modern fantasy au with vampire!Tony used to scaring humans meeting human peter who's attracted to him for anon

#starker #modern fantasy au #vampire tony #human peter #college au #also going for a born vampire not turned tony #peter in the background desperately trying to seduce his cute vampire roommate #he's this close to just hiding tony's blood fridge and offering himself up on a platter literally #young tony #same age au #moodboard #my moodboard #request #anon

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mamoonde · 10 months

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mdzs ancient magus bride au where

yiling laozu is the mage risen from the nightmares and resentful energy of the burial mounds, neither human nor fae

and lan zhan is a pre-adolescent, rare and very coveted dragon halfling, one of the last known alive, captured and sold at an underground auction.

the yiling laozu buys lan zhan to rescue him and takes him away to their remote little cottage in yiling. lan zhan is understandably mistrustful at first, but a week of living with this strange, kind, dark being who treats him as a person instead of a slave or rare artifact, well.

lan zhan falls.

and when lan zhan proposes to stay by the yiling laozu's side forever and ever and be his, the yiling laozu laughs it off and brushes it off as the whimsy of a duckling imprinting on the first carer it meets. a fleeting childish phase. perhaps lan zhan has more human in him than dragon, the yiling laozu thinks. they are always so easily swayed by emotion...

but lan zhan is determined.

and so, as lan zhan grows up, he learns more about his dragon-side, his magic, his whole self. and he trains hard to be a suitable for the yiling laozu. he takes note of the yiling laozu's likes and dislikes, carefully tests his boundaries, tries his best to show how much he loves the yiling laozu in every way.

and then when lan zhan comes of age, he gets discovered by his kind - he learns he has a dragon brother and a paternal uncle. he leaves to spend a year with them, with his kind, far and protected in the unreachable mountains of gusu.

when he leaves the yiling laozu's cottage - a place that's felt like home more than any he remembers - he's barely shoulder-height (head-to-head if they count his antlers) of the man who makes it home.

the yiling laozu waves goodbye, feels a bit of pain and heaviness in his chest and thinks, oh, this must be what "missing someone" feels like.

the year trudges on like a slug.

the yiling laozu misses lan zhan more and more, sees his tiny serious face in every little nook in his - their - home. which should be weird, because he has had this house for longer than lan zhan has been here. and yet it feels incomplete to be in it without lan zhan there.

so he spends less and less time in it, spends his days where it's less empty, hoping the loneliness will fade away.

it doesn't.

until one day, as the yiling laozu drags his feet back to his house - dreading another night in a cold, empty space - he finds something is different.

the lights are on and there's a fire going.

and outside, on his doorstep, there's someone there.

the person standing by his door is huge - tall and broad, maybe something familiar in the regal set of the shoulders, the stiff-but-not posture.

it's the golden eyes that freezes the breath in his lungs, that force his feet to move, like a lighthouse guiding him home.

"lan zhan...?"

the yiling laozu feels strange. he feels light and heavy at the same time, hot and prickly even though the air remains the same temperature.

the lan zhan before him is more dragon, more man now than boy. so much of him has changed -- has his gaze always been so intense?

"i have come back," lan zhan's voice has lost its adorable pitchiness; now it is deep and smooth. like rumbling thunder, the call of the heavens. "wei ying."

the yiling laozu freezes. the name - those two syllables that no one has called him by in-- in a long, long time.

it feels like lightning in his bones.

distantly, his own words echo back at him, spoken to a then younger lan zhan.

"if you still feel that way when you come of age, you can call me by my name." "what is your name?" "now that is a secret! only if you are determined to call me can you do so." a small pout. "already am."

"oh, lan zhan..."

"though my mother was human, the dragon blood in me is strong." gently, lan zhan takes his hand in his. "did you know? dragons only love once. for the rest of their lives."

wei ying smiles shakily, " that's a shame then, surely you want a redo?"

lan zhan's hold tightens, another hand cupping his face.

"never." lan zhan presses a gentle kiss on his knuckles, almost an affectionate nuzzle that washes wei ying's hand with a cool breath. "i will only ever want wei ying. i will always want to be by your side."

and isn't that a tantalizing offer.

the yiling laozu has lived long - longer than even he remembers. and the immortality has only ever hammered in the fleetingness of life, the loneliness of time.

and yet here lan zhan is, offering him the promise of something a little more permanent. perhaps it was fate that wei ying had chosen to settle down in a house in yiling, a scant few decades before he met lan zhan.

perhaps it was a sign, that wei ying only ever called it home, when lan zhan was there to call it home, too.

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs au #ancient magus bride wangxian au #wangxian #eldritch horror yllz #dragon lwj #crossposted from twt #modern fantasy au #long post #mamoonde fics

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the-likeable-wizard-mack · 11 months

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Modern Fantasy Monsters: Summer Time!

I have said this once and I will say it again. ORC BBQ BLOCK PARTIES. Imagine all the food. Like seriously ALL of the food you could ever eat plus some really cool war stories from everyone who has them. Orcs trading recipes with other members of the family while they also share different smithing techniques.

Merfolk gathering at night at the beach when humans are our partying disguising themselves to look like humans to take food and drinks back down to their secret cove to have their own party that actually recycles all the excess wrappers that nonmerfolk don’t think about throwing away.

Werecreatures having close to turning bon-fire nights where they all commune with each other in their wildness. All were creatures are invited to be to feel as free as they are while in their shifted form.

Vampires who stay out of the sun already are used as cold-water-bottles since they’re naturally pretty cold due to being a vampire. So this makes them prime content for their non vampy friends hugging them with their warm bodies to try to cool down. Vampire emotion can range from okay to this practice or “I SWEAR IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR SWEATY BODY OFF OF MEEEE!!!”

Demons that sneak into abandoned places to have wicked parties. Imagine a group of rambunctious demon teens sneaking into an amusement park after dark partying it up.

Merfolk using small kiddie pools as tanning beds to get a nice summer tan.

Witches that create mix potions with cool drinks for different effects. Mostly effects to cool the body…hopefully it won’t turn the person drinking the potion into a giant ice cube.

Dryads soaking In pools to keep their bodies from drying out due to the heat. Sometimes they have to stay inside due to hot wealthier advisories.

Dragons who sometimes stay out in the sun and let the sun shine on their scales to sunbath (like the big lizards they are lol) or they sit in a pool of water just to cool down from all the excess heat.

Giants that don’t mind their smaller friends using their arm and hands as a diving board. Though they are still careful that their friends are safe and won’t raise their arm too high for them to jump into the water.

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tenacioussoultree · 6 months

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Thinking of making a modern fantasy story where there's a big hulking orc teen who's obsessed with this early 2000s y2k girl group that's spice girls inspired and has a super major crush on the witch/shadow witch persona member

Later in life he becomes a manager for a celebrities and is now in charge of their comeback era and is having the time of his life while everyone is so confused on why Gu'ruk is so excited that he's going to meet a bunch of middle-aged women who have kids, minor careers, and don't look as young and happy as they used to.

#also I'm totally writing this and drawing a whole bunch of ref stuff for them #orc x witch #spice girls #modern fantasy AU #monster boyfriend #monster fucker #dnd #I just have to get the full draft done for the first introduction

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jackienova · 3 months

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FUNGUARY 2024 — Week 2: Demonic Silver Leaf Fungus with Lilac Bonnet & Bird’s Nest Fungus Spirit of the forest.

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artsbew · 1 year

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HARROW !

#the dragon prince #art #fanart #artsbew #tdp #the dragon prince harrow #king harrow #modern au #modern fantasy au #the dragon prince au #HIM PLEASE HES SO HOT

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renae-nicole-lynn · 5 months

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In an urban fantasy mall, what kind of stores would you want to see?

#urban fantasy #urban fantasy writing #writerblr #writers on tumblr #modern fantasy au #modern fantasy #fantasy mall #urban fantasy mall #original fiction

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cedarw00d-the-fourth · 2 months

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Thinking of so many durgetash aus rn....

i need so stop though because i still need to write ch. 2 and 3 of my longfic.

#au where they become gods #au where lythe redeems gortash and leaved ascended astarion #MODERN FANTASY AU #THE POSSIBILITIES #guys i'm going insane #bg3 #enver gortash #durgetash #baldurs gate 3 #dark urge #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 gortash #cedar rambles

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assassinnumber9 · 7 months

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Eternity is One Hell of A Long Time Chapter 3 Preview

#spy x family #loid forger #spyxfamily #yor forger #twilight #twiyor #loid x yor #loiyor #franky franklin #eternity is one hell of a long time #sxf fanfic #demon au #modern fantasy au

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arkyn-iceborn-vindication · 1 year

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(Closed starter for @the-expatriate)

Arkyn had never been kidnapped, but there was a first time for everything. It wasn’t the blow to the back of the head that knocked him out, though it certainly disoriented him. It was whatever was inside that needle his assailants jabbed him with. Arkyn had done all he could he could to fight back, but the last thing he remembered was shoving the man who jabbed him away before his legs gave out.

Speaking of legs, he could feel some form of binding around them now that he was slowly regaining consciousness. Groggy and in pain, he tried to reach for his pounding head only to find his hands were similarly bound in place. Arkyn could feel his breath reflecting off the burlap sack over his head, blinding him to his surroundings. Why he was kidnapped was anyone's guess. To the best of his knowledge, Arkyn hadn't offended anyone drastically enough to deserve this treatment. Nobody who was still alive at least. And yet here he was.

The man took a moment to feel his extremities before he turned his attention to listening. He focused, trying to sense if he was alone or not, and if not, how many other people there were. It took a few moments, but he eventually detected breathing. By his guess, one other person. And they sounded close. Arkyn opened his mouth to speak, finding it rather parched and dry.

“Hello?” he said, interrupting himself with a small coughing fit. "Who's there?"

#hello hello!#ic #Pari #the-expatriate #Modern Fantasy AU

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akirameta84 · 11 months

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saiki au. its in modern times but fantasy as well. the cast is fantasy creatures and stuff and ive done this in a similar manner a bit ago but ive a betrer idea now

saiki is still a dragon (eastern because noodle) and hiding it, and this time its being theyre nearly extinct and so powerful theyre usually compared to deities and worshipped despite often just wanting to live a normal life just like everyone else

so, aince his humanoid form he can take is kind of an anthropomorphic version of his true form (which isnt all that big, he can function decently well inside of buildings), he pretends to just be a kobold. kobolds here are not known for particularly strong magical prowess and arent all that uncommon.

his scales are white/gray because of his cat form in canon i always tend to do this, and back, head, and tail fur is pink. his kobold form still has fur (but long hair) which makes him a bit of an odd kobold, but its not outrageously suspicious, and can be passed off as odd genetics.

hes smol, only 5 feet or 1.5 meters because hes got quadruped styled legs despite standing on 2 like kobolds do. his true form is a bit taller than nendou in height and is very long.

a strange idea for this au as well is that saikis adopted, his adoptive family (which is his canon family) arent dragons or kobolds. idk what they are but yeah

and heres a quirk of this au that all my aus tend to have before i post them, i just usually cut them out because its getting to the point that its becoming just an original story but these stupidly specific aspects are always in my aus, i just wanted to share ine for once:

while living in the orphanage at a very young age, meaning his magic control was limited (except for his ability to take his kobold form, because hes been practicing that for his whole life because of how his true form is treated), saiki was hit by a car. his healing ability wasnt very refined and his leg was injured pretty gruesomely, and he healed it wrong. it was technically healed even if incorrect and very painful still, though, and he couldn't do anything more to it. its injured permanently, making it hard to walk sometimes if its hurting more than usual, and its generally pretty weak. he uses a cane in private but is sadly a bit too ashamed to bring it in public, despite there being nothing wrong with it

rest of the cast is fitting fantasy creatures that im pretty sure i have identical in my other very similar au

kuboyasu-werewolf

hairo-centaur

nendou-orc

teruhashi-harpy

kaidou-vampire

aiura-siren

toritsuka-pathetic kitsune

akechi-just a human. sorry akechi

this is probably pretty boring but i dont really care. i like it. and its probably more bizarre than most of my aus because i didnt cut the odd details that make it practically no longer an au and more of an original story

if you read this au regardless thank you

#saiki k #saiki kusuo no psi nan #the disastrous life of saiki k.#modern fantasy au

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talking-books-n-spice · 6 months

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Regalia City Series

With it being Spooky Month (very late into Spooky Month ^^") I thought I'd brush some rust off my writing skills and do some short stories featuring a variety of creatures set in a modern fantasy world.

There will be 8 (eight) all together, and all the settings and creatures featured in the stories were chosen via dice rolls.

Most of the stories will be NSFW, with a couple that will be SFW (this was also determined by dice rolls, and my dice were apparently feeling thirsty.)

Each story will have its NSFW/SFW indicated at the top, along with a blurb, and any trigger warnings (which if I miss any, please let me know in comments or DM)

Now let me introduce you to Regalia City ~

Here you can find links to all the stories

Club Honey - First Person Female Reader POV x Fae

Regalia City is the melting pot of humans, Fae, Demons, Monsters, etc.

Some years ago the stars aligned, and some dumbass tourist managed to spill some blood on a random chunk of rock that just happened to be the key to all the Realms.

We were lucky enough that their leaders wanted peace (so long as we gave them some territory.)

So the Gods (there are so many of them now) set off a volcano under the ocean, and had a new landmass form overnight.

It’s roughly half the size of Canada, but hosts a single major city, with numerous small villages spread over the rest.

What isn’t populated is covered in dense forests, allowing those that wanted to run free and unbothered by the tourists to live as they wished (they just had to abide by the “don’t eat humans” rule.)

It took a decade, and a lot of cross-species seminars and workshops, but Regalia City became just another metropolis on Earth.

You can find fast food chains: the McDonald’s on East Street is run by Goblins who will occasionally give you five Big Macs for your dollar store watch.

There’s a college/university: Regalia Tech only accepts applicants that meet certain educational standards, and you have to pass the Truth Serum Exam (there have been a lot of attempted lawsuits from rich kids being denied after failing the T.S.E)

So long as you don’t mind sharing an apartment building with a vampire who does his cardio workout at 3am, a werewolf that incorporates howling into their country songs, and a dragon that keeps managing to steal everyone’s laundry machine tokens for her hoard, you’ll do just fine in Regalia City.

#Regalia City #writing #Monster Lover stories #Spooky Month #Modern Fantasy AU

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dominimoonbeam · 11 months

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Bite to Bruise - 9

This work is mine and I do not give consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted without my permission. I am sharing chapters as I work on this story but it is copyrighted material that I plan to rework and publish when completed.

story tags: modern-fantasy mashup, werewolves, witches, monsters, romance, learning to trust, hurt/comfort, blood, violence, explicit sex, explicit language

The earlier parts can be found under the tag or over on patreon. <3

BITE TO BRUISE - CHAPTER 9.

Wren woke in the house of an enemy.

Or…maybe that wasn’t right.

She woke in the house of wolves. She didn’t belong there. She shouldn’t have let him convince her otherwise. And why had she? Wren had never let anyone convince her of anything before—had never been an easy mark or easily seduced.

It felt like all her resolve, all her hard-learned lessons, fell by the wayside with Ever.

She got up, wincing at the pain that rippled through her arm and up her shoulder, her whole body aching in sympathy with that bandaged arm. Her vision swam and for a second she thought she might have to sit back down. At least the wolf wasn’t there to see it.

The witch got her bearings and took a few steps toward the center of the room—the center of the house. It took her longer than it should have to extend her senses and find the rooms empty. It took her even longer to locate Ever outside, with two other fenrir.

She could leave out the back, but he would hear her go. He wasn’t injured, like her. He’d follow and she’d have to explain. She’d rather do that directly and then walk out. It would feel less like running away.

Wren turned to look down the long hallway. It was something right out of her memory from the last and only other time she had been in that house. She moved quietly down it, her boots impossibly loud on the hardwood against the echo whisper of her bare feet when she had been little. Ever had shifted right there in the living room and snarled at her.

He had the prettiest teeth she’d ever seen.

She’d known he wouldn’t bite her though, not then. He’d been young and unsure, his spirit soft and new to resolve and sacrifice. Not that she had understood any of that then. She had only known she didn’t believe he would bite her. His father had been different. Arlo Hayes had done her no wrong, but even as a child, she had known he would bite her if he thought he had to—and if he bit her, he wouldn’t be taking one finger at a time.

But the smallest boy had been sick. Really sick. She could smell it and feel it like something oily in the air all around them. And when she stepped into the room, she had seen the death crow on his bedframe, waiting with sharp beak to take that life. No one else saw it, but that didn’t make it any less real.

She still wasn’t sure how she did what she did that night, other than that he had needed it and she had decided to give it to him. The death crow had watched. She’d expected it to squawk or attack her for her crime, but it simply flew away. There were always other souls to collect, she supposed.

“Wren?”

She turned away from the open doorway at the end of the hall and looked back at Ever, not the boy who had been frightened of her anymore, but the alpha of his pack. He stood there in the hallway with her, almost in arm’s reach, with a crease of concern on the ridge of his nose.

She didn’t understand that crease. She didn’t understand him.

His gaze slipped past her to the open doorway of the room. His room now, but somehow, she knew he was seeing the past just like she had.

“I thought you were my fault,” he cut the growing silence with an old truth, something buried in his heart and coming up bloody on his tongue. “When we were kids, they told us you were dangerous, that you could curse the whole valley if things played out wrong. We were told to stay clear of you.”

She knew that. They still told their children a version of that story, to steer clear and never tell anyone about her, but it was edged with some strange gratitude now. The kids played games at the edge of her meadow sometimes, daring each other to get closer—to get close enough to sneak a peek at her cottage. They left gifts too, trinkets and toys mostly. She returned them to the edge of the valley where the kids played most and sometimes heard their gasps and screams of delight. She was their ghost when they wanted a thrill.

Ever dragged a breath and forced out his words like a confession. “I brought you that hoodie and I left food out for you… Everyone thought it was Sunny. Even Sunny thinks it was him.” He laughed once, hard, like the humor was cruel. “When the blood fever spread… I thought it was because I had broken the rules. I had caused you to stay and you had cursed us. Not just us, but everyone.”

Wren didn’t nod, wouldn’t risk suggesting she had done that crime, but she understood. “You were a kid,” she said again. “I didn’t curse anyone and if I did, it wouldn’t have been your fault.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face, like she didn’t understand at all. “Why did you save Sunny back then?”

“I didn’t.”

Ever frowned.

“I didn’t save him,” she explained again. She tried to look away, but the hall had family photos, pack photos, some of them sepia from ages ago. Wren clicked her teeth and forced herself to look up at him, straight into those yellow eyes. She feared many things, but she did not fear the truth. “I saved you.”

He stared at her like he might actually take a step back.

“You were kind to me and your brother was dying… I did it for you. And I didn’t know I could save others. I was just trying to save you from that pain.”

Ever did take a step back, sagging into the wall, but he didn’t take his eyes off of her. “All I did was give you some beat-up clothes and scraps of food…”

“It wasn’t so much what you gave me, Ever. It was that you didn’t take anything in exchange. You said yourself, you were worried I was something bad, but you still helped me.”

He sighed. “We shouldn’t have left you outside like that…”

Wren smiled a little. “You built me a house,” she reminded.

He snorted. “We made you a hermit. You were all alone.”

“I wanted to be alone.”

“You were a child.”

Wren shrugged. “So were you.”

The quiet stretched while they both considered each other, in the past and in the present. It was a strangely comfortable silence. She took a step closer and he reached out automatically, his big hand resting on her side, like they’d been there a hundred times before. Like they knew each other.

They didn’t.

“I’ll make up the guest room,” he said, something coy in his voice like he thought she might suggest they share his bed instead. She didn’t hate that idea, but she wasn’t thinking about sleep.

“I’m not staying,” she reminded, her hand touching his chest, close to the center. He took up the whole hallway just standing in it. If she were anyone else, she might feel trapped. …If he was anyone else, she might have had to force her way out to prove to herself she wasn’t.

Ever smiled down at her. “Okay. Stay for dinner?”

“We had dinner,” she reminded, leaning closer, until his thigh bumped hers.

His hand flexed on her side, squeezing gently. “That was lunch.”

Wren bit the inside of her lip to keep from smiling. “Are you trying to seduce me, wolf?” She lifted her bandaged arm a little. “Does gauze excite you?”

His smile bloomed into a full grin.

His teeth were still the prettiest she had ever seen. Canines just a little too long, a little too wolf to ever be anything else. Maybe it wasn’t the teeth at all…maybe it was that smile. “It’s not the gauze that’s exciting me…”

Her hand trailed down his chest, until she was slowly curling her fingers into the elastic band of his sweats. “Yeah? What is it then?” she asked, turning her hips just enough to press against him and feel his excitement pressing back.

His expression gave nothing away, his chin down to have his face close to hers. There was something luminous in the yellow of his eyes, as though they would shine even in the dark. “It’s the way you’re looking at me,” he said, voice deep and low, like it would be caught and vibrating between their two bodies.

She smiled a little at that, her mouth brushing his. “How am I looking at you, wolf?”

He grinned. “Like I’m prey and you’re the one with the teeth.”

She shivered, almost mad at him for saying just the right thing. How did he do that? How could he see through her so easily? She leaned up and pressed her mouth to hiss, kissing him deeply and groaning when he slid his tongue into her mouth, thrusting in slow imitation of something else.

Wren had to let go of his pants to reach up and curl her gloved fingers in the back of his hair. Her other hand twitched, she wanted to touch him with that one too but knew better than to try.

She broke the kiss to catch her breath, mind reeling and wondering if she was really going to do this. A one-night stand was one thing but what were they if they kept sleeping together? And why would he want to now that he knew who she was? Maybe it was the glamour… It was a damn good glamour.

“Since you’re not staying…” he said breathily, his hands still on her. “You should probably take advantage of the amenities.”

Wren laughed, not yet pulling away from him. “Are we talking about your mouth or your dick?”

He groaned, hips rocking against her. “Both. Neither. I meant…” He smiled when he recovered his train of thought, eyes shining at her. “Can I interest you in trying out my bathtub?”

She reveled in how his hands moved up and down her sides, down to her thighs and then back up, pausing every so often to squeeze, like making sure she was real. “Is this a ploy to get me naked, or are you trying to say I stink?”

“You smell like blood, sweat, and magic. I’m not complaining.”

She bit back a moan. “So, trying to get me naked?”

“Yes. Naked and in my lap. If you want to know my full plan, between a nice soak in the tub and a few orgasms, I’m hoping to get you to pass out and stay here tonight.”

She shivered at the idea and the easy confidence in his voice. It was impossible not to think about the other night when she’d taken him home. “I’m not staying,” she said again.

Ever hummed, like he wasn’t going to agree but he wasn’t going to argue. “Fine, but if we’re going back to your shack, that’s even more reason to get a bath in now.”

We. Like he would go if she went.

He pivoted them, their hips touching, his legs moving her legs until he was walking her back through a doorway. He flicked on the light without letting her go, the bathroom had slate-gray tiles on the floor and hallway up the walls, a corner shower next to a large white tub built into a white tile platform against frosted windows. It was a big bathroom, built for big wolves.

Ever’s fingers touched her cheek, curling some of that blond hair behind one ear. He looked at her like he was trying to see things inside her head. “Would you like to take advantage of any of my amenities before you go home, little witch?” he asked, smiling around each whispered word.

Wren bit her lip.

Damn it.

“Take your clothes off.”

Ever grinned like he’d won something. He had. He pulled his shirt off and dropped it before closing the bathroom door and going to the tub. He turned it on, testing the temperature against his hand before stopping it up and letting the water slowly fill.

She stepped out of her boots, watching him all the while. There was something about how he moved that she thought she’d never get over—never be able to stop staring at. It wasn’t just the grace and ease of a fenrir, large and still moving like something weightless. It was…Ever. He caught her staring and pressed his triumphant smile into the corner of his mouth.

Steam curled into the air, slowly fogging the edges of the big mirror over the sink.

Rather than struggle out of her sweater with her wrapped arm, she held both up and waited. It sent a thrill through her to wait for him to help her. It was different than telling him to take her clothes off of her when she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. It was exposing in a way she wasn’t used to.

Ever’s eyes darkened, sweeping over her before stepping up to her again. He gently took the hem of her sweater in his hands and rolled it up her body, removing it with minimal contact to her injured arm. She wasn’t wearing a bra and he looked down at her bare chest like it was the first time he’d seen her. It made her skin tight. Not only had he seen her plenty the other night, but he’d stripped her down and cleaned her after saving her life.

She held out her good hand, the one still gloved.

He took her fingers in his, thumbing the edge of leather against her knuckles. “Yeah?”

She tried to bite back her smile. “You can take it off. I won’t get glimpses of your past or future unless I try, and even then…It’s not really my skill.”

He caught on, his thumb sliding over the edge to stroke the skin across the back of her hand. “So, you lied?” He delicately removed the glove, exposing those magic-charred fingers and black nails. No glamour could hide them.

“Oh, wolf, I lie all the time. This isn’t even my face, remember?”

His smile faltered.

She shouldn’t have said that… Maybe reminding him ruined it?

His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking under her bottom lip. “You can drop the glamour, Wren. You know that, right?”

Her heart jerked in her chest. It hurt. She laughed through it and swatted his hand away, pressing in to kiss him instead. He couldn’t say dumb shit if his mouth was busy. He kissed her back until they were both moaning and clutching at each other.

#Bite to Bruise #werewolf romance #werewolf x witch #male werewolf #modern fantasy au #own world #own story #own work #monster romance #<3 #clover down #dominimoonbeam

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