#vdbif

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

Original posting date February 18th 2013, DA. Miriam is bad at psychology. First Previous Next

#vampires don't belong in fairytales #vdbif #my ocs #ocs #webcomic #fairyland #will winters

[puddingvalkyrie]

Old Flame

Tyrian slouched on the throne, trying to find a position that would better suit his numbed behind. Consulting hours were almost over. It had been quiet; just a few nobles asking if they could raise taxes a little for this project or that, with a clear timeline for the end of the raise. Aurelia had really put an end to the petty squabbles he was used to hearing; it was hard to complain about ‘all these foreigners’ to a foreign-born queen. Her sharp tongue saw off the rest of the foolish demands. He should have married her years ago. Nevertheless, they took turns, and today it was his. Ten minutes to go.

  The door to the back corridor opened, and out stepped Will.

  “You’re nearly there,” he said, putting his thumbs in his pockets. “Thought I’d come and keep you company anyway. Wanna go to Kiko’s after?”

  “Sure.” Tyrian smiled and leaned his chin on his hand.

  “How was it today?” Will asked. “Sorry I couldn’t be here.”

  “Will, you are officially not my fool anymore,” Tyrian pointed out. “You’ve got other things to do. You don’t need to be sorry. And it went fine. Had a few perfectly reasonable requests. They want to open their own library over in The Green Woods, and Meadow Bright they’re asking for a plot of land to build a greenhouse and a dormitory. The lady at Shimmering Lake wants to build an... What did she call it... An indoor swimming pool? Somewhere people can swim indoors, where it’s safe. Apparently not all the witches who come here can swim, and she’s got a merrow friend who wants to start giving lessons.”

  “Oh. I didn’t think of that.” Will pulled a notebook out of one pocket and a pencil from the other. “Swimming pool... Lessons...” He thought for a moment and added a few other notes, before putting the notebook away again. “Think Letitia would be interested in that?”

  “I can always ask.” Tyrian shifted position again. Five minutes to go. “If she isn’t, I can try Celia.”

  Will considered this. “I think you might need to have someone with legs rather than a fishtail as a teacher,” he pointed out. “Being a mermaid is cheating, I think.”

 “True, but I was thinking she could ask her sisters. Some of them have legs. Besides, maybe we could offer tourists a mermaid potion?” Tyrian suggested. “Even if they know how to swim with legs, doesn’t mean they know how to swim with a tail. People would go for that, right? Being a mermaid for a few days?”

  “I know people who would go nuts for that. Brilliant idea.” Will got out the notepad and scribbled furiously. “Of course, we’ll have to check where it’s safe and okay with the local merfolk to do so, make sure we won’t upset the local wildlife, keep it to very small groups at a time, probably a bunch of other precautions I’m not thinking of...”

 Three minutes to go.

 Busy peering over Will’s shoulder trying to make out what he was writing, Tyrian barely even heard the footsteps as the newcomer approached the dais. It was when they stopped he noticed the change of sound, and looked round.

  “I’ll have to do a massive survey of pretty much the whole Realm, maybe even the whole country, and we should check with the neighbouring mermaid Queendom to-“

  “Lawrence.”  

  Will paused.

 The man stood awkwardly a few feet before the throne seemed little different to what Tyrian remembered. Peach skin, long, light brown hair in a braid. A little stockier now, though still slim, and dressed in a matching set of red trousers and shirt, edged with an elaborate gold pattern; his family crest, repeated over and over. He was clutching the edges of his dark purple cape together, though the emerald and gold pin was surely doing a fine job of that, and he kept his green eyes averted from the king’s face. “...Your Majesty.”

   Will had stopped writing and was obviously trying not to stare.

  “I um, I’ve taken over from my mother...”

  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I know this is unprofessional, but Lawrence as in...?” Will questioned.

  Tyrian gave a small nod.

  “Oh no,” the man said in a small voice, pulling his cloak even tighter.

  “I mean, you can’t really have expected me not to talk about you?” Tyrian directed this at the unfortunate Lawrence.

  “Of course not.” Lawrence replied. “So it... It really is my fault.”

  Tyrian frowned, caught off guard. “What is?” Tyrian did have a mental list of things that were Lawrence’s fault, but nothing he could think Lawrence should be aware of.

  “That everyone got kicked out of the palace,” Lawrence replied.

  “If you want to get extremely psychological about it, I suppose so, but otherwise no,” Tyrian replied. “I needed the nobles out. ‘Everyone’ did not get kicked out, in fact.”

  “Yes, that’s ... That’s true...” Lawrence admitted. He bit his lip, and still refused to meet Tyrian’s gaze. There was a long silence.

  “So? What did you come to me for?” Tyrian prompted.

   “There’s been griffin attacks. Increasing frequency. We don’t want to hurt the griffins, we know they’re endangered... But we have to do something.”

  “Do you know what’s causing it?” Tyrian asked.

  Lawrence shook his head. “No.”

  “It needs investigating then.”

  Lawrence finally looked at him, brow furrowed. “I thought that was the palace’s responsibility? Once we’ve reported it?”

  “No?” Tyrian replied, just as puzzled. “That’s part of your job? Safeguarding the village? That’s why people pay you the taxes??”

  “Oh... Yes... I thought because it was a wildlife issue...” Lawrence looked down again as his cheeks turned crimson.

  “It is good that you reported it before you took any action, of course,” Tyrian clarified, “and I’ll assign someone to you so we can cooperate on the matter.”

  Lawrence gave a single nod. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I... I’ll, um, I’ll start investigating in the meantime. I’ll make sure I’m familiar with the Endangered Species Act before we start the research. I’m quite lost as to how to go about it, so if you have any advice, please do send it along.”

  “I will. Please do also send me any ideas you do come up with.”

    Lawrence loitered for some moments, turned to go, then turned back. “... Is there any possibility you’ll ever let the nobles back in...?”

  “Who asked you to ask?” Tyrian demanded.

  “Um. A few people.”

  “Well, you can tell them no,” Tyrian replied firmly. “It’s now impossible because we need the space for the magic school students, the new museum, some other tourism business, possibly this griffin thing, and not your personal fault in any way whatsoever.”

 “...Thank you. That’s everything. Well... No...” He took a steadying breath. “I... I really am sorry, you know. I know I really hurt you. I shouldn’t have... ... ... I know that doesn’t matter now, but... I couldn’t leave without saying it.”

  “Well, you have said it, therefore, you can leave,” Tyrian responded. Lawrence nodded mutely before turning and heading back towards the main doors. He was almost to the door before Tyrian shouted after him, “And don’t you bloody well dare wait another thirty bloody years to talk to me again! You... Spineless cabbage!”

  The man turned to give him a weak smile before he disappeared. His footsteps faded away. Consulting hours were officially over.

  “You know, cabbages are not known for their spines,” Will pointed out.

  “Couldn’t think of anything suitably insulting.” Tyrian rubbed his temples. “And yet suitably ‘You are actually allowed to come and talk to me without it being a sodding emergency’.” Tyrian pressed his palms into his eyes. “The absolute bastard.”

  “You don’t mean it.” Will reached over and squeezed his hand.

  “I bloody do. I mean, I don’t, but I do.”

  “Weirdly, I know what you mean.”

  “He’s still... Ugh. He only came to me because some of the other nobles wanted him to,” Tyrian complained. “Perhaps they thought an old flame would convince me to change my mind. Ha! They can come in person, next time.”

  “I don’t think that’s it... Not all of it, anyway.”

  “No?”

  “If you were him, what would you have done? If the tables were turned?”

  “I would have just come to Aurelia. I could’ve avoided the whole situation-” Tyrian folded his arms. “Oh. Alright, fine. Maybe he’s not a spineless cabbage.”

  “What would a cabbage even look like with a spine?”

  “I don’t think this is a productive area of discussion.”

  “It most certainly is not and the spined cabbages of my imagination might haunt me forever.” Will wrinkled his nose. “Quick, new topic?”

 “Griffins?” Tyrian suggested. “Ideas on how to investigate them?”

  “Harforth gets attacked by griffins still,” Will mused. “They can’t really do anything much about it. It’s normally in the hard times, like winter, when food is hard to find.”

  “But it’s never winter here,” Tyrian thought aloud. “What could have happened??”

 “I guess we need to find a way of tracking griffins?” Will suggested.

  “I guess we do...”

-----

I don't mean to keep mentioning how the nobles got kicked out of the palace, three pieces in a row, it just keeps coming up. Like I'm not trying to make a big deal about it, it just happened to keep being relevant...

#vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #vampire #fairy #writing #ocs #vampires #vampire oc #fairy oc #tyrian von stollenheim

[roocharfferarts]

i’m just finishing up the third book in Alicia Wright’s Vampires Don’t Belong in Fairytales series (first book here) and I thought I’d send some fanart of Tyrian and Erlina her way. 

#vdbif

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

Panthers are actually a perfectly traditional choice of alternate vampire form (see the book Carmilla, it predates Dracula by some years)

Hettie is not based on Carmilla, but she is a Victorianesque lady vampire and she doesn't like all the vampire stuff much so having a panther form seems like a no brainer. Her branch of the family is very traditional so this is like a 'Ha, you can't say anything!' move.

However. Lots and lots of people have not read Carmilla and are just freaked at a frikkin' panther landing on their balcony.

I was going to post the Stollenheim family tree but it is not updated to show Hettie so I'll try fix that and post it at some point.

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#vampires don't belong in fairytales #vdbif #ocs #vampire #stollenheim #comic #my ocs #Henrietta #Hettie

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

I have now made two of the books in the series FREE - Miss Prince and Fairy Roots can be downloaded on my website here:

No mailing list to join or anything. Just two free books :3

Blurbs:

Miss Prince:

Lucinda would fight dragons to see her friends. Which is just as well, because she's going to have to. She's been hired as a prince. They normally hire real ones but there's a prince shortage and stories are breaking all over the place.

Fairy Roots:

Will has gone to Fairyland to find his roots, which most fairies assume means he's related to a tree. In Fairyland this is entirely possible. His mother told him it's a dangerous place full of monsters waiting to gobble him up. She's not very good at psychology. She was right of course, but he's going to let a little thing like that stop him.

They're both YA comic fantasy and Fairy Roots is an LGBT+ romance.

#free #free books #vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #ocs #someone talk to me about my dorks #vampire #fairy #ya #reading #comic fantasy

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

The short answer, this time, is no. First Previous Next

Comic text: Panels 1 and 2: Hettie and Victor look shocked. Hettie: 'Are... are you okay?? (Do you need a hug?) Panels 3, 4, 5 Lucinda: Oh yeah, I'm fine! She thinks for a moment. You know what, probably not.

#vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #ocs #vampire #vampire oc #vampires #henrietta von stollenheim #victor von stollenheim #lucinda martin

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

The short answer is yes. First Previous Next

The book this stuff happened in is available for free on my website btw (scroll down): alicialwright.co.uk Comic text under the cut:

Panels 1, 2, 3 and 4: Hettie: Lucinda, can I can you a personal question? (Victor leans into view, looking worried) Lucinda: Sure? Hettie: I was told not to ask you for blood... (and I won't) ....did something happen to you? Panels 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 Lucinda: Well... First Alucard threw a tidal wave at me... I thought he only didn't finish me off because Charming was there, but now that I think of it, it was because of ERLINA... Erlina almost turning into a vampire was very scary, and during all that Johann cast a really creepy mind control spell. Alucard also came at me with that 'cloud of bats' thing you guys can do... what else.... Panel 10: (Victor and Hettie looking shocked)

#vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #ocs #vampire #vampire oc #vampires #lucinda martin #henrietta von stollenheim #victor von stollenheim

[puddingvalkyrie]

Repostober Day 13! A doodle I did some years ago. VDBiF fact to go with this: ALL merfolk know at least one sign language. It's how they communicate underwater. This lady will use one designed for one hand.

#repostober #vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #ocs #mermaid #mermaid oc

[puddingvalkyrie]

The Midnight Oil Café

(Working title)

The girl walked in and looked around. It was pretty cosy in here;  bright, patterned curtains, chunky wooden furniture. Every table had a little vase of flowers and a candle. The light would fade soon, and she was surprised the café was open this late.

  “Sorry to come in so close to closing time,” she apologised. “How long do I have? I don’t want to get in your way...”

  “All night,” came the answer. The barista turned around and leaned on the counter. He flicked a strand of his curly, black fringe out of his dark brown eyes. “We’re open ‘til dawn.” He flashed her a smile. “What’ll it be?”

  “How much is your cheapest drink?” the girl asked. She looked around for a menu. There was a blackboard propped up on the counter, but it had no prices.

  “Oh, it doesn’t work like that,” the man gave her another smile, this time showing his teeth. They were pointed. “We give you a drink, you give us a drink.” He leaned on the counter with both elbows, chin in both hands. “How about it?”

  “Uh...”

  “NO. No!” came a loud objection from a room behind the counter. A woman wrapped in colourful shawls with a cloud of chestnut hair tied in a high ponytail emerged with her hands on her hips. “We said we’re not doing that!”

  “But the customers expect it!” the barista complained, standing back up.

  “Don’t be fooled,” the woman addressed the girl. She took the man’s chin in one hand while she pointed at him with the other. “He’s not a suave, sexy vampire, he’s a DISASTER.”

  “I can relate...” the girl said, before she could stop herself. “To the disaster part, at least...”

  “It’s free,” the woman said. “IF you want to become a blood donor, great, we’re looking. If you don’t, you don’t. The two things are unconnected. What’ll it be?”

  “It’s... It’s really free?”

  “100%.”

  “I’ll just take a mudleaf infusion please.”

  “You got any special dietary requirements?” the woman asked. “Allergies?”

  “No. Um, I’ve had mudleaf before... no issues.”

  The girl sat in a corner. The sun was setting. She’d known this place had vampires, but this wasn’t how they usually worked... They were supposed to fly around at night and if you had a thing for vampires or whatever possessed people to become donors, you stood on your balcony in the evening. As far as she was aware, they didn’t bring tea and crumpets to the occasion. Bit hard to carry, when you’re a bat.

  “There you go, honey.” The woman put down a mug brimming with tea and slid over a plate. “Sorry if you don’t like eggs. Or garlic. Or parsley. Or butter.”

  “I didn’t order food,” the girl protested.

  “You look like you need it.” The woman lit the candle, then walked away.

The girl looked at the gently steaming egg, drowning in green-flecked butter. It would go cold pretty quickly. Pessimism fought hunger, and hunger won. The egg was delicious. The place was open all night, huh? This corner had a sofa, and it had plenty blankets draped over it... would they notice if she slept? Wait. Maybe that was the plan. Get customers sleepy and...

  “You can sleep there if you want,” the barista told her, making her jump. “I’ll keep an eye on your stuff.”

  “I don’t, um, I don’t have any ‘stuff’.”  She shifted uncomfortably. “Can I... can I maybe wash dishes or, or something?” Maybe it was better to stay awake. Keep busy.

  “Are you looking for a job?” the man asked.

  “Yes,” the girl replied, an idea occuring. She’d meant to go further, but... they wouldn’t look for her here, surely? The job would be at night, she wouldn’t have to risk being seen. Was she really far enough away, though? She could stay a few days and then leave. “Just for a, a week, maybe?”

The two vampires shared a look. “What’s your name, honey?” asked the woman.

  “Amara,” she replied.

  “This is Taran and I’m Divina,” the woman replied. “If it means anything to you, he’s a Le Fanu and I’m a Stollenheim.”

 “Oh. Um." It rang a distant bell. There were only a few vampire families, and fewer successful ones. Their names came up in the paper occasionally. Not that she paid attention to world news. What did it matter to her? She did wish she’d paid a little more attention. “...Not really, no.”

  “No?” Taran scratched his head. “I suppose no news is good news.”

  “There’s not much to do right now, so if you want, you can sleep for a few hours,” Divina told her. “You need a place to stay?”

  “Yes, but... I’ll figure it out later.”

  “Like I said, you can sleep there,” Taran said. “We’re kind of expecting it. For people to need to sleep.”

  “This is new to us, too,” Divina explained, seeing Amara’s confusion.

  “We only just opened and no-one’s ever done this before. That we know of,” Taran added.

  “Why?” Amara asked. “Why a café?”

  “Balcony trawling’s not my style.” Taran wrinkled his nose.

  “We actually met balcony trawling,” Divina continued. “We’d both had a bad night, and after some bickering and venting...”

  “Why does EVERYONE expect a relationship?!” Taran exploded. “I just want to be friends! I need at least three active donors and I am NOT polyamorous! I’m not anything-amorous!”

  “I keep telling you, if you insist on doing the suave vampire act, people will think you’re hitting on them,” Divina told him.

“I’m not hitting on them, I’m just being, you know, cool?” Taran replied. “I’m a cool guy.”

  Divina laughed. “You are. But you have to stop doing that, hun. If you want the romantic advances to stop.”

  “Why didn’t, er, why didn’t you like it?” Amara asked Divina. “The balcony... balcony... patrolling?”

  “Similar reasons,” Divina replied. “Plus I just feel like there’s a better way. I need blood to live, others need food, why not do something about it?”

   “So, uh, the pay...” If she was going to do this, she better do it right.

  “We’ll give you room and board,” Divina replied. “Plus, say, 3 Crowns a day spending money? How’s that?”

 Amara blinked. She couldn’t possibly have heard that right. “For washing dishes a few hours a night?”

 “I’m sure you’ll be doing more than that,” Divina said.

  “Like?” Amara tried not to squeak.

  “Like getting us fresh ingredients, baking, serving customers,” Divina clarified. “I’ll write you up a contract. It’s quiet, so I can do it now.”

  “Nothing blood related, right?” Amara asked.

  “Oh, we can’t afford paid blood donors, honey,” Divina told her. “You gotta be royalty or near as damn it for that.”

  “Okay then,” Amara agreed. “Sorry I just... I already had one bad contract.”

  “Is that what you’re running from?” Taran asked.

  Amara hunched up. “I don’t want to talk about it. I want to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

  “What were we even talking about?” replied Taran obediently. “Divina?”

  “You were going to show Amara the kitchen and where we keep everything and what’s on the menu and everything else our new star employee needs to know,” Divina prompted.

  “I thought I was the star employee.” He pouted at her.

  “The nice thing about stars is, there’s more than one,” Divina pointed out.

   He held up a finger. “Ah, then I shall aim to be the moon, my dear Divina.”

  “This is exactly what I’m talking about.” She smiled and shook her head.

  “Follow me, follow me, follow the kitchen wizard.” Taran beckoned to Amara.

  “He’s never used a stove in his life, don’t listen to him,” Divina remarked.

  “Do you want me to show her the kitchen, or don’t you?” Taran shot back.

  “Yes, yes, go ahead,” Divina replied. “Work should be fun. I, meanwhile, shall be writing the contract.”

  “Sounds super fun. I am so jealous.” Taran replied.

  “The equipment doesn’t look that different than the kitchen at... at my old place,” Amara remarked, ducking under Taran’s arm and eyeing the place critically. It was a lot smaller, barely bigger than a domestic kitchen. “Can you really serve customers with this?”

  “We’re not exactly expecting a lot of customers,” Taran explained. “Not at first, anyway. I guess we’ll just adapt as we go along?”

  “Yeah...”

  “You worked in a kitchen before then?” he asked.

  “Y-yeah.”

  “It doesn’t exist, gotcha.” He drummed his fingers on his cheek. “What’s your favourite kind of cake, Amara?”

  “Um... ginger. The housekeeper used to make us this delicious apple and ginger cake, before, before she...”

  “Sorry, sorry.” Taran scratched his head. “Non-kitchen question. Uh. Favourite... drink? No. Favourite animal?”

  “We weren’t allowed pets,”-Taran winced-“but I loved to go to the woods and listen to the birds sing.”

  “Birds, huh?” His face lit up. “Then check this out!” It was as though she blinked, but Taran was gone and a little nightingale stood in his place. The bird fluttered up to the table and sang. The delightful warbling echoed around the whole kitchen.

  Another blink, and Taran was sat on the edge of the table.

  “We don’t do the bat thing in my family,” Taran explained. “Gran likes birds. I’m really sorry though, I really think that’s all I got before we have to talk about kitchens again.”

  “It’s alright.” Amara steeled herself. “I shouldn’t ask for a job in a kitchen if I don’t want to think about kitchens. So. Where’s the pantry? I saw sponge cake on the menu, but I don’t see any. I’ll make one. That’s, that’s alright isn’t it?”

  “You’re very observant,” Taran complimented her. “Go ahead. I’m sure Divina will be happy. We didn’t want to make much today while we gauge how much business we’re gonna have, so we’re deliberately low on non-drink items.”

 “And DONE,” Divina announced some minutes later, waving a piece of parchment triumphantly at the doorway.

  Taran nodded to Amara. “Go and look. I’ll finish this. It just needs to go in the oven until it’s golden brown, right?”

  It was a fair contract. Good, even? Suspiciously good. Room, board, 3 Crowns a day pocket money, all as Divina had said. She could leave any time without notice, and she would work no more than six hours a day, though she was required to be on call for longer than that; the time the cafe was open and a little before that. Of course the main catch was that the café was open late into the night. It opened at 8pn and closed at 2bn.

  She hesitated as she held the quill above the line. They wouldn’t find her here if she worked at night. Right? Room and board. Spending money. Not that she’d be spending it. She’d be saving it for an emergency. A different emergency, that is. She was already in an emergency. She could leave any time. She could leave ANY TIME. Her hand shook as she signed, giving her a wobbly signature.

  Taran emerged from the kitchen.

  “Divina. Divina, I have a newfound passion for baking.” He gestured to the finished cake on the table. “Why have I never tried baking before? It smells amazing. It looks amazing. I get to decorate it." He bit his lip. “I wanna make more cakes, Divina.”

  “We’ve got enough cake so I’m going to need you to find a newfound passion for soup,” Divina replied.

  “Will do.” Taran gave her a three fingered salute. “Newfound passion for soup in three, two... now!” He turned on his heel and disappeared back into the kitchen.

  “Do you need to sleep?” Divina asked Amara.

  “Should I not stay awake? To adjust my sleeping pattern?” Amara asked back.

  “Hmm. Yes, but... maybe not all at once? Go take a little nap. I’ll wake you in an hour or so.”

Amara stared at the ceiling of her new room. And it was genuinely her room. She’d never slept alone before. She’d always been in bunk beds and hammocks. In servants’ quarters. Or the orphanage. She doubted she’d be able to sleep, but she had walked all day. She wanted to sleep. What was this feeling? It wasn’t safety. She wouldn’t feel safe here. It wasn’t like the woods. They’d never found her in the woods. Not once. If she could’ve lived in the woods, she would have. She didn’t feel safe, but she didn’t feel threatened either. Neutral. She felt... neutral. That would do. But she also felt hungry and tired and she didn’t really know these people. Vampires, huh? They had nothing on the orphanage director. Nor the workhouse foreman, and definitely not Lord Branndil. At least vampires only wanted your blood.

  She tossed and turned, but it was no good. She went downstairs.

  “Can I buy some of the paint I saw in the kitchen?” she asked. “Black, white, brown, green? Perhaps yellow and blue? You can take it out of my wages.”

  “You don’t need to give up your wages,” Divina reassured her. “You paint too, huh? We sure got lucky. What do you want to paint?”

  “My room. It’s just so... beige.”

  Divina nodded approvingly. “It is, that. Paint away. Wait, though.” The vampire narrowed her eyes at the girl. “You eat, first. And you get another drink. If I’m right, that egg you had is all you’ve had all day.”

  “You are right.”

  “Here, sandwich.” Divina plucked a plate from the counter and thrust at Amara. “And cut yourself a slice of that cake you made.”

  Amara blinked. “Isn’t it for the customers?”

  “We have to eat too.” Divina shrugged. “Besides, what the customers don’t eat, we’ll have to eat the leftovers. Keep that in mind and don’t make too much. Speaking of which, can you check on Taran? He’s not left the kitchen since I saw you last and I didn’t want to leave the counter unmanned.”

  Amara found Taran with his nose inches from a book on the counter, with four different pots on the boil, and spices everywhere. He threw a good pinch of one herb in one pot then sprinkled a spice into another. He tasted a little of each. He added even more herbs.

  “Um. Divina said we mustn’t make too much,” Amara cautioned, her voice wobbling.

  “What? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Try this, will you? I think it needs a little something.” Taran gestured to the first pot. I’ve been experimenting with different things but I just can’t quite get it how I want it.” Amara took a spoonful and blew on it. It tasted okay, but bland. “Try the others for me?” She tried one after the other. They all had slightly different flavour profiles but were still bland.

  “Did you ... add salt?” she asked.

  “The recipe didn’t say so, so no,” Taran admitted.

  “This recipe book is pretty old.” Amara picked it up and flipped it over. “The old ones don’t tell you to add salt, because they assumed everyone knew to do it.”

 “I’m not everyone, recipe book!” Taran stuck out his tongue at it.

  “It’s okay. Just add some now. Um, I’d also recommend adding some more onions and garlic.” Amara gave the pots a stir, bringing up the vegetables to inspect them. “It’ll probably be a mushier soup than you maybe wanted but it’ll be okay.”

  “I was going for max mush, so that’s not a problem.” Taran wiped his brow. “Big relief. I thought I’d wasted a whole day’s ingredients.”

  Amara sat and ate her sandwich. She made herself an infusion from the giant pot of clear water gently bubbling on the other side of the kitchen. She sipped the brew and let her tired eyes wander over the kitchen. Something was off.

  “How are you keeping these fires going?” she asked. “I don’t see any fuel.” There was the one under the hot water and the four little ones under the soup pots.

  “Magic,” Taran replied. “We need to find a better way if we can, though. The more magic I use, the more blood I need. I’ll go balcony trawling if I have to, but the point of this place, besides feeding people, was to NOT have to do that.”

  “How often do you have to?” she asked.

  “Once every two months, if I use barely any magic,” he answered. “More like once a month though.”

  ��Oh. That’s a lot less than I though’,” Amara mused. Did she just slur a word?

  “How much did you think?” Taran asked, tilting his head to one side.

  “Every day? I don’t know. Jus’ a lo’ more.” She blinked her eyes repeatedly. Was the kitchen always blurry?

  “Only true vampires need that much,” Taran explained. “I’m a great grandson so my situation is much improved.”

  “Hmm.” Amara almost face planted into her drink.

  “Woah, maybe go to bed?” Taran suggested, diving forward to move her cup out of the way. “Don’t get a faceful of hot, scalding liquid.”

   “Couldn’ slee’,” Amara mumbled. “Can’ slee’. Maybe in th’ woodsss...” She saw Taran dart forward again before she blacked out.

Amara jerked awake. She was in bed. A strange room. Beige. So very beige. The sun was shining strongly through the open curtains. She sat up so fast her head spun. What happened? She’d run away in the night. Walked all day. All day, barely stopping. Came to a cafe. Cafe. Vampires. She’d asked for a job. Contract. Soup. Vampire making soup. She’d suddenly been incredibly sleepy. Incredibly sleepy. Vampires.

  Her hand shot to her neck. Nothing. She got up and inspected it in the small mirror hanging over the wash basin. Still nothing. She turned for the door and nearly tripped over a stack of tins. Paint. She’d asked for paint. There was a note.

  ‘I had to carry you upstairs, I hope that was okay?

  You’d fallen asleep on the table.

  It turns out SOMEONE can’t tell medicine herbs from cooking herbs and the soup got doused with sleeping nettles.

  Divina’

A second part was in different handwriting:

‘I am so sorry Amara. The offending herbs have been identified and removed from the kitchen. The offending person has been identified (it’s me) and removed from the kitchen (temporarily).

  Taran’

  “That explains that then. Hmm.” Amara stared at the note for a long time. Finally she blinked herself back to reality and turned her attention to the paint. They’d included a set of brushes and a couple of cups of clean water. Amara picked up a brush.

By the time Divina knocked on the door to check on her that evening, the walls were covered in trees.

 

----

First new thing I've written in some years! I need to edit my first draft of Zaran's book but like. I don't wanna.

This is also basically a first draft. I don't normally post things this fresh for other people to read but like... I wish to get something out there.

I know it's lacking in description especially.

#vampires don't belong in fairytales #vdbif #vampire #vampires #vampire oc #original work #writing #writblr #midnight oil cafe #divina von stollenheim #taran le fanu #alicia l wright #puddingvalkyrie

[puddingvalkyrie]

Word find tag

Technically I wasn't tagged but it said 'Anyone who sees this' sooo. Raven

  “It came by raven. The date is today, the time is about . . . an hour and a half from now. Go and see what they want,” Sara instructed.

  “You think it’s safe?” Lucinda asked.

  “Have I ever thought anything was safe? Do whatever you think is necessary.”

(I can't believe in my book with my only raven changeling, the first instance of raven was nothing to do with her)

Wound - no matches! Travel

Hettie frowned at the quiet street. “You’ve got a bartering system here or some such, don’t you? Fairies don’t really have jobs, as I understand it.”

“Sometimes? You’re right, most people don’t,” Lolotte explained. “We usually build our own houses and forage for our own food and water, so we only need ‘jobs’ if we need something other than that or we’d rather work for it than forage ourselves. A bunch of fairies don’t even have a house, they just turn into an owl or something and sleep in a tree. Most of the fairies with jobs just like having something to do. They quit when they get bored. Foreigners are different though,” Lolotte continued. “They seem to need money for some weird reason. They usually work for fairy gold or lodgings and food, or the witches get magical training. Oh, and yokai often travel through as traders.”

“I see.”

Hand

  “Do you have any idea where you are, little girl?” the guard asked.

  “Most certainly. I am in the Dark Palace of the Dark Realm of Fairyland,” Henrietta replied. “My uncle is the king. Henrietta Von Stollenheim, at your service.” She did a curtsey, holding out one side of her frilly, greyish purple dress with one gloved hand. “And I'm nineteen. Hardly little.”

  “Whatever age you are, don’t kick any doors down and don’t come here uninvited,” the guard cautioned her.

  Henrietta stuck her chin out defiantly. “I was invited! That is, I asked permission.”

  “We’ll see about that,” the guard said. He motioned for her to follow him.

---

From my current WIP, working title The Sleeping Princess Whoever wants to, find the words forest, alarm, island and hug in your current WIP (am I doing this right??).

I got the meme from @oh-no-another-idea

#vampires don't belong in fairytales #vdbif #writing meme #meme #ocs #writeblr #creative writing #writers of tumblr

[puddingvalkyrie]

Eavesdropping

  "The boy is weak."  It was wrong to eavesdrop, she knew. But the old king could only mean one person by 'the boy' and that made this her business. Cat-formed, Aurelia crept to the door.   "You expect too much from him," Nareena argued. "He's just a child, yet."   "And if you leave him, he'll remain a child," the old king countered. "He spends too much time with the commoners. I blame your husband."   "You mean the husband you insisted I marry?" Nareena replied. "I have no complaints now, but it was your idea."   "You know that ensuring the line of Night continues is an important duty," the old king told her. "So don't you try to pull that. I don't suppose he's taken a fancy to some commoner that he's started spending so much time below stairs?"   "He seems depressed lately for sure," Nareena said. "Grandmother Connie spoke to him, but she won't tell me what he said. I think perhaps he is lovesick, I can't see any other reason for his melancholy."   "What half-wit spurns the affections of the Dark Prince?" the old king scoffed. "It's a chance to be queen some day, and bear Gaia's heir. And what's his excuse? He's handsome enough and he's no rapscallion. Then again, perhaps that's the problem. Goes back to what I was saying. He needs to grow a bloody backbone."   "I keep telling you, he's not short of admirers just because he's not an inconsiderate boor," Nareena sighed. "He's just shy, I think. He's been sneaking around lately . . . no idea why he thinks he should hide anything from us, but you know what teenagers are like."   "Bah, and there's a fancy new word we didn't need in my day," the old king complained. "You had children and you had adults and no-one thought to mollycoddle the ones who weren't growing up fast enough."   "Yes yes, you've made your opinion quite clear, father," Nareena snapped. "I agree, to a point. Tyrian won't make a good king if he's too soft. But he's only young. And I believe his spending more time with the common folk to be him listening to his father. Connall has always encouraged us to mingle with them."   "I'm glad someone listens to their father," he grumbled. 

The conversation turned to what nobles Tyrian might have an interest in, or how they might get him interested if he wasn't, and Aurelia snuck away. Much as it would be amusing to hear them be wrong, she had other things to do.   "Louis." She tugged on the sleeve of the guard as he stood watching the others train. "We're friends, right?"   "Yeah?" He turned his gaze to the stern-eyed teenager. He'd never seen someone wearing so much pink look so serious. The cherry-blossom covered yukata did not suit her expression at all.

  “Do you think I could be a guard?” she asked.

  “Why?” He tilted his head to one side. “Fool’s a cushy job. You don’t have to do very much.”

  “Sounds like being a guard.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “So do you think I can or not?”

  “Even if I said no you’re going to try anyway,” Louis replied with a shrug. “But yeah, why not?”

  “How?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “I guess you need to ask the Captain of the Guard if she’ll train you. You’ll have to ask permission to leave your current post first though. It’d be rude to ask the Captain before you ask Their Majesties.”

  “Yeah . . .” She wasn’t looking forward to that.   “So . . . Not telling me why then?”

  “Not here.” She walked off towards the palace gardens. He watched her leave before finally shaking his head and following.

  “You got some kind of privacy spell or something?” she asked, once she'd found a suitably secluded spot.

  “This isn’t private enough?” Louis clicked his tongue. “Is this some kingdom ruining secret you got or . .?” Aurelia gave him a dark look. “So it IS?” He raised a barrier.

  “I finally found something I agree with King Pickleface on.” She crossed her arms and paced from one side of his barrier to the other. “Tyrian needs help.”

  “He does seem upset lately.”

  “He’s gone to pieces over some stupid boy,” she complained. “And now Pickleface thinks he’s weak. Thing is . . .”

  “You think so too?” Louis guessed.

  “No!” she shouted. “Well, yes. Sort of. It’s . . . It’s not weak to be kind. And it’s not weak to be sad.”

  “King Connall, huh?” The king and his words were popular. “I don’t remember him saying the second one.”

  “Kings don’t have to say things to make them true.”

  “Never said they did.” He waited patiently for her to get to the point.

  “It’s his own stupid fault!” she burst out.

  “Connall’s?”

  “Pickleface’s!” Aurelia wrinkled her nose. “Tyrian wants to be like Master Connall so bad and if he was just left to his own devices, he'd find his own way or whatever, but his grandfather keeps telling him he’s wrong!” She clawed one hand down the bark of a nearby tree. “And then he wonders why he’s no confidence! Idiot!”

  “And what do you expect being a guard is going to do about it?”

  “That’s . . . Complicated. A fool has no social standing." She started pacing again. "I’m going to need some social standing . . .”

  “For what?”

  “Tyrian needs someone to be, I don’t know, mean I guess, whatever the definition of strong is to that moron. So I’ll be mean for him.”

  “I think you’re going to need to aim higher than a guard,” Louis pointed out.

  “I think you’re right.” She bit her lip. “But I have to start somewhere.” She looked up sharply. “Right, you can drop the spell. . . . Oh, and if you ever tell anyone I said Tyrian went to pieces over a boy I’ll scratch your face off.”

  “I thought we were friends?” he said, tilting his head.

  “That’s how I know you won’t tell,” she replied, smiling brightly.

  “A boy, huh . . .”

  His lip was wobbling already and tears were welling up.

  “You’re quitting?! Why? Did I do something wrong?” Tyrian clasped her hands. “Please don’t leave! Please . . . Don’t you leave me too . . .”

  “I’m not going anywhere, you dummy,” she told him. “I just want a different job.”

  “But why?” Tyrian asked again. “Do you not like being my fool? I have done something, haven’t I?”

  “No!” she said quickly. “Look, no-one needs to pay me to be your friend, okay? It’s a waste of the palace's resources, you know?”

  “It’s not because of me?”  

  “I want to be more useful,” Aurelia replied. “I don’t want to sit around being pretty. That’s what nobles are for, right?” She gave him her best smile.

  “Yeah . . .” She got a weak smile in return. “So you’re really not going anywhere?”

  “Nope,” she replied. “Even if my parents find me then hey, the position of fool will be open, right?” Tyrian finally burst into tears. He hugged her tightly;

  “You’ve no idea what that means to me,” he sniffled.

  “Nah, I’m pretty sure I do,” she replied, hugging him back.

She hesitated as she went to knock on the King's door. After a few false starts, she steeled herself and rapped sharply on the wood.

  “Come in?” came the reply. She pushed the door open and peeked around it. Connall looked at her from his desk. “Aurelia, you don’t have to knock. Is something the matter?” She realised she was clutching the door. She let go and shuffled into the room, putting her hands behind her back.

  “No.” She swallowed nervously. “Maybe Tyrian told you, but . . . I decided to quit being a fool. Not that I’m ungrateful!” she added quickly. “I just think I’ll be more useful as something else. And I want to learn new things.”

  “You’re growing up, the pair of you.” He smiled at her.

  “It’s really okay?”

  “Of course,” he replied. “But really, what's the matter? Did something happen? You can’t have fallen out, or I’d have heard about it. Did someone else upset you?”

  “Sort of, but . . .” she trailed off.  “It's a secret.”

  “Oh, I see." He paused just for a moment. "Well, we all have secrets.” He leaned forward and tousled her hair. “You’ll always be part of the family Aurelia. You don’t get to quit that part.”

  “You’re the best, Master Connall.” She beamed at him, close to tearing up herself. She lunged forward and gave him a tight hug around the waist before scampering off down the hall.  

She was going to be a guard and then . . . Well, that was the secret.

But she’d show him.

She’d show him who was weak.

------

Wrote this several years ago, but it was relevant to the new piece I did and I don't think I posted it here.

Originally posted on deviantart, Nov 14th 2017.

#vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #vampire #fairy #ocs #vampires #tyrian von stollenheim #writing #vampires don't belong in fairyland #cat yokai #oc #writeblr #creative writing

[puddingvalkyrie]

It's May Soon

  “I can’t believe it’s May soon.” Will looked up suddenly from his book.

  “Oh. Yes, I suppose it is?” Tyrian looked up from his bedside desk, where he’d been scribbling down some plot ideas, and the odd actual policy that was his actual job. It was Lumtide here. Fairies had been much more aware of what month it was on Earth before the lock out – there were traditions to keep up, after all - but not so much any more. Some still kept up the practice of riding out on Midsummer’s Eve and Samhain, but it was never a yearly thing.

  “Can’t believe it’s been a year.” Will looked up at the ceiling, but he was staring into nothing.

 “I’d say what a year it’s been, but...” If Tyrian weighed it up, more good things than bad had happened - a net gain, you could say - but the bad things had been SO very bad, after all.

  “My contract will be up soon.”

  Tyrian’s quill left a crooked line and an ink blot across the page as the king’s hand tensed, quite ruining a nice little sketch of an emblem he’d been working on for the school. “Oh. Yes. So it will.”

  “I’ll have to think about that...” The jester tapped his fingers on his book as he thought aloud. “It’s probably too late to apply for uni... But I might just about get away with it, and clearing is a thing...”

  So. Will was going to leave, after all. He’d known this day was coming. Will had come to Fairyland for a gap year. A YEAR. And now that year was almost over...

  Tyrian got up, carefully placing his quill on the desk, and turned abruptly towards the door. “I’m going to get a drink.”

  “Are you thirsty...?” Will asked. “I’m good? I’ve been safe for a week.”

  “Not blood, just water.” Tyrian clarified. “Maybe some coffee.”

  “You’re not supposed to have caffeine this late at night, you know,” Will cautioned him. “I guess I have no idea if bumblebean coffee actually has any in, come to think of it. I don’t suppose you know?”

 “I am not entirely sure what caffeine is, Will.” Some sort of magical component that Earth plants still had somehow, from what he could tell. “Do you want anything?”

 “No thanks.” Good. “Are you okay?” Not good.

  “I just have a bit of a headache. Shouldn’t draw with my nose to close to the parchment, probably. I might be dehydrated.”

  “Okay...”

Tyrian went down to the kitchens. No-one would be there at this time of night. Maybe Louis, getting a midnight snack. It wouldn’t be so bad to see Louis right now. He could use someone to talk to... Then again... No. NOT Louis. Louis would take this PERSONALLY.

  He got himself a cup of water and sprinkled some dried camomile in it, too distracted to find a sieve. He wondered how long he could stay here without arousing suspicion. He waited a minute or two and took a sip. Terrible.

  Ah. Right. The water was supposed to be HOT.

  He’d never tried heating water before, but he knew how to freeze it. Could he just do that in reverse? He put his hand over the top of the cup and tried to imagine channelling fire into it. He left it there for a few seconds. The cup split; the water ran across the table and dripped onto his lap. It was still cold. There was a black ring on the table where the cup had stood. He’d have to apologise to Babs in the morning. He pursed his lips. No, that wouldn’t do. He’d made the mess, he would fix it. And if nothing else, it was a good excuse.

 ‘I broke a cup and had to clean it up, that’s why I took so long,’ he rehearsed in his head. It took him some time to find which cupboard the cloths were in – right before he noticed one on a sink – but he mopped up the water and scrubbed at the black mark on the table. It wouldn’t come off. He was cursing under his breath when he suddenly felt a presence behind him.

  “Will said something’s wrong, but you don’t want to talk to him about it, so I should have a go.” Aurelia looked askance at the cloth, before noticing the burn mark. “What did you do?”

  “Chamomile is supposed to be soothing, so I was trying to make an infusion,” Tyrian explained, pouting. “I was in a hurry so I wouldn’t look suspicious, but... Well.” He rinsed the cloth in the sink and hung it over the side. He filled a small, leather cauldron and set a fire. Aurelia merely sat herself at the long dining table, waiting.

  He sat opposite her with a sigh. “Will’s contract is almost up.”

  Aurelia tilted her head to one side. “And?”

  “And he said something about going to university.”

 “And?”

  “And so he’s leaving soon!” Tyrian leaned on the table, putting his head on his arms. “I don’t want him to leave! But he SHOULD leave! He should be free, like the little bird he is!”

  “I don’t think Will is a bird,” Aurelia mused. “Some kind of ferret, maybe.”

  “Doesn’t really change my point,” Tyrian mumbled into the table. Moving his head so she could hear him properly again, he continued, “I knew this day was coming. But I don’t want him to leave. But he loves travelling. I don’t want to be like Rosa.”

  “Rosa?” Aurelia frowned.

  “Ex-girlfriend of his,” Tyrian explained. “She didn’t want him to go travelling, so they split up.”

 “Sensible.” Aurelia nodded approvingly. “And... You’ve talked to Will about it, have you?”

 “I hadn’t thought about it until he mentioned it, what, thirty minutes ago?” Tyrian waved a hand. “I mean, I had, briefly, but I always pushed it away. I didn’t want to think about that on top of everything else.”

  “Do you not think you’re jumping to conclusions?” Aurelia suggested. “Why are you avoiding asking him about it?”

  “I don’t... I don’t think I can without... without... sounding manipulative, or, or, something.” Tyrian sat up and forced himself to sit straight, clenching his hands on his lap. “He must make his own decision. If I let him know how sad I am about it...”

  “Communication is the cornerstone of a good relationship, is what I’m saying here,” Aurelia pointed out. “I get where you’re coming from. But... and this is my professional opinion as your ex-fool... you’re being dumb.”

  “I’m not being dumb, I’m being... considerate!” Tyrian protested.

  “Tyrian.” Aurelia took him by the shoulders. “You are being dumb. You are practically walking into one of those Earth stories where someone says something vague and there’s a WHOLE THING that could be solved in two minutes if two people would just frikking talk to one another. We are not doing that, do you hear me? And that’s both an earnest request from your wife, and an ‘I will kill you if you make this worse’ from your best friend. Got it?”

  “I’m not ready!” Tyrian blinked back tears. “I’m just not ready to talk about it!”

  The yokai stood up and marched around the table. “Tyrian. C’mere.” She reached out and pulled him into a hug, leaning her head on top of his and running her fingers through his hair. “I really don’t think Will is going anywhere,” she soothed. “If he is, he’ll be back. You know he loves Fairyland. You know he loves us.” She paused. “Okay, maybe not Louis. But he definitely loves you.” Aurelia managed to sit on the bench, and still cradling his head, they stayed there for a while.

  “Aurelia...”

  “Hmm?”

  “...Why did you quit being my fool? It’s... it’s always bothered me.”

  “I overheard your granddad saying you’d suck at being king, and I was hopping mad.” Aurelia shrugged.

  “That... that’s it? That’s the reason?”

  “I mean. I sort of agreed with him,” Aurelia admitted. “In a way. You can be irresponsible. You avoid things and you get like this and you let it affect your work.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Don’t get me wrong. We’d much rather have you than him. Much rather. You just need someone to balance you out. Everyone does.”

  “Is that why you married me?”

  “Yes? I thought you understood that already. I wasn’t going to marry for love, was I? Not the romantic kind, anyway. Really feel like I’ve dodged a bullet there.”

  “Watching my train wreck of a love life is enough to put anyone off, aromantic or not,” Tyrian remarked.

  “If you’re making jokes, you’re probably okay to go back to bed.” Aurelia let him go and stretched. “You should. Will will be worried. And what are we going to do when we get back to the bedroom?”

  “I’ve got a few answers, none of which are the one you’re looking for,” Tyrian replied.

  “Tyrian.” She gave him a Look.

  “I’m just not ready.” He rubbed an arm. “Just... Give me a little more time. To process it.”

  “You don’t know what you’re processing,” the yokai chided. “You’re going to worry over nothing and you’re going to make Will worry over nothing.”

  “I’m not saying the whole month, just a few days... A week, at the most.”

  Aurelia clicked her tongue. “If you insist. But if you don’t have a proper conversation with him by then, I’m dragging you both in a room and making you do it, like I did with Victor and Lucinda.”

  “Alright.” Tyrian blinked. “Wait, you did WHAT?”

The time limit was almost up. Tyrian was in the throne room, anxiously awaiting for the consultation hours to end. It had been quiet today. Aurelia took a lot of these things, and she was so much better at dealing with nonsense than he was. The problematic nobles had realised they weren’t going to get anywhere and had given up, leaving more time for the actual problems to get addressed. Speaking of addressing problems, in came Will.

  ‘This is it,’ Tyrian told himself sternly. ‘You are going to have a sensible, grown up conversation with your grown up boyfriend, and he is going to leave happy with no regrets over his decision, whatever it may be, and you’re not going to cry.’

  “So I think today is the last legal day I can renegotiate my contract,” Will started as he approached the throne. “I know you probably don’t really care, but Fairyland and all, and I should stick to the rules.”

  “Mmhmm.” Tyrian responded.

  “So, I think we should just rip it up, to be honest? Like, not renew it.”

  Tyrian just nodded.

  “I feel like the cat’s out of the bag on our relationship now, and I’m living here for free anyway... I think I’d rather earn stuff outside the palace like everyone else. Bartering, washing dishes, etc.”

  “In...deed??”

  “Like, I guess we should probably find some kind of title for me that’s not fool, but I think I’ll keep wearing the stripes if it’s okay, it’s a great deterrent.”

  “I thought you were going to university?” Tyrian asked.

  “I mean... I still might, but I can’t decide what’s best to do. I thought maybe I should take tourism to help you with the tourism thing here, but Earth tourism is going to be pretty different than Fairyland tourism BUT tourism can actually be really bad for places, so maybe I SHOULD study it to avoid that... but then I’d have a student debt to deal with, and I can’t really be bothered to lie to the government about where I’m living for the rest of my-”

  “Will,” Tyrian cut him off.

  “Yeah, sorry, what?”

  “You’re not leaving, then?”

  “No? Unless you need me to?” Will frowned. “I guess I can keep being a fool if it’s politically more convenient?? I just kind of feel like it’s ridiculous to pay me for doing what I’d happily do for free. And I might kind of need to get a part time job on Earth for a bit. But I was hoping I could live here and just commute. What with Hel’s Map and all.”

  “Commute?”

  “Yeah? Oh. It means travel from here to a job or school somewhere else.”

  “Ah. Yes. So... You were planning to... commute... to university from here?”

  “Yeah. It would save me a lot of money and there’s still a bunch of stuff you need help with here, the magic school and all.” Will rubbed his neck. “I kinda might decide against university for the reasons I mentioned, but, I should at least study online instead or something if I don’t go to uni, but I need Earth money for that, hence the part time job... Is that... okay?”

  “Of course it is.” Tyrian slumped on the throne, very nearly sliding off the thing. “I thought you were going to leave once your contract was up?”

  “Well, that was the plan, originally... but, well, plans change?” Will smiled awkwardly. His smile turned to a frown as he studied Tyrian’s face. “Did you think I was just going to leave? Like, leave leave??”

  “Yes,” Tyrian admitted. “It’s been a... rough year.”

   “Yeah...” Will agreed. “You can say that again. Thing is, when I got here, it was something to tick off my bucket list. I mean, it was THE thing. The main thing. Everything I did for years was to set me up to come here to Fairyland. But I had no idea what I was gonna do afterwards.”

  “And now you do?” Tyrian prompted.

  “I don’t know exactly, but I know I don’t want to leave,” Will reassured him. “The idea that I could stay... it just didn’t occur to me.” He laughed. “I’m still in shock I got through the first day. Imagine, just turning up somewhere thinking you’re funny enough to get a job as a professional funny person, just, like, on the spot. The nerve of me, really. Don’t know how I got away with it.”

  “You were cute and charming  and you stood up for yourself and you spouted some wonderful nonsense and I thought someone was setting me up,” Tyrian replied.

  “You did?”

  “Oh, absolutely. I had to check with Aurelia.”

  “Did you... check with Aurelia that night you suddenly starting acting weird?”

  “She said I was being stupid and I should talk you like a normal person and she was 100% correct.”

  “I seriously thought both of you might eat me, my first day.”

  “You still came back the second day.”

  “I’m not easily deterred.” Will walked up onto the dias to hold Tyrian’s hand. “Try thinking about that, next time you think I’ll leave.”

  “I don’t really want to think about all the bad things that have happened to you this year,” Tyrian protested. “But I know what you mean.” He leaned over to touch his forehead to Will’s.

  “...You gonna stay on there all day?” Will asked. “Consultation hours are over. Let’s get out of here. Drusilla’s tea house?”

  “Drusilla’s tea house.” Tyrian agreed.

They walked out hand in hand.

---

I don't think I have the energy for comics but this is okay, I hope.

I haven't written anything focusing on Tyr and Will in a while and I miss them so here you go.

Originally Will was supposed to leave after his contract was up.

But Will does what Will wants, so yeah, he's not going anywhere, not for long, anyway.

#vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #vampire #fairy #vampires #ocs #writing #tyrian von stollenheim #will winters #oc #original character #original work #fairyland #fairy oc #vampire oc

[puddingvalkyrie]

How long since you...?

  “Aurelia... how long since you...?” Tyrian blurted out the question as they walked back to the royal quarters after consulting hours were over.

  “Hmm?” Aurelia glanced over at him without stopping.

  Tyrian hung back though, fiddling with his sleeve buttons. “Victor’s not here for a little while, right? He went to see his mother.”

  “Yeah, you can bite me,” Aurelia replied, answering the unasked question. “He WILL be inconvenienced when he comes back, the timing isn’t perfect. But that’s probably a good thing.”

  “Oh... no. I’d better not, then.”

  “It won’t do him any harm to find a new donor,” Aurelia said. “It will be good for him to try. Rosie’s medicine has been great, but he can’t go from depending on his mother to depending on me. I mean, technically he can, because I have a much longer lifespan than him. But he probably shouldn’t.”

  “I suppose,” Tyrian admitted. “Still... I’d better not.”

They grabbed some dinner and retired to Tyrian’s bedroom.

  “Will isn’t coming home tonight, right?” Aurelia asked as she practically threw herself on the bed.

  “He’s staying at Marlena’s,” Tyrian confirmed, pulling out a book from under the bedside table. He sunk down into his pillow and opened it at the bookmark.

  “Hmm. Reading. What’s Will been reading...” She grabbed the book under the other table and flicked through the pages. “Huh. Some kinda comedy. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but in my head he just reads Shakespeare and old timey books called things like ‘The Spaynyarde’s Mystrysse.”

  “I don’t think Will would be caught dead reading something called The Spaniard’s Mistress.” Tyrian chuckled.

  “He reads yours,” Aurelia pointed out.

  “Yes, he’s very supportive,” Tyrian remarked, turning a page. “Quite a lot of it is self-indulgent trash. I worry he has a skewed idea about what I want from him.”

  “I’m sure he’s familiar with the concept of a fantasy.” Aurelia closed the book and put it back. “And what are you reading?”

  “The Kelpie’s Bride,” Tyrian answered. He yawned and slid down the pillow a little. “But I’m falling asleep.”

“Mm.” Aurelia scooched herself over and leaned on Tyrian’s shoulder. “...It’s okay to be a little self-indulgent, you know.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you?”

  “There are people who would say I am intimately acquainted with the concept, what with how I’ve been running the place,” Tyrian said. “I have in fact, been accused of it quite often.”

 “And what do they know?” Aurelia scoffed quietly.

  Tyrian read on in silence for a little while.

  “Tyrian,” Aurelia interrupted.

  “Hmm?”

  “You want to bite me.”

  “I mean, I...” He carefully avoided her gaze. “Victor needs you, and-“

  “Tyrian.” She used his name again. Just his name. It was good at getting his attention. “You just blurted it out, and you can barely look at me. It’s okay. I don’t know what’s brought this on but... you’re allowed.”

  Tyrian closed the book with a snap and stared at it, sandwiched between his palms for a long moment. “...Okay.” He pounced; dropping the book, he pinned her against the pillow, lifting an arm to let her free her own. He leaned over and clamped his mouth to her neck, sliding his fangs in. He immediately removed them, and sucked at the wound.

  Aurelia let herself go limp, settling against the pillow. “You know what, you’re right, I would’ve been offended if you were gentle.” He paused, pulling back a little. “I’m fine,” she reassured him. “Not sure if you are... No, don’t stop.” She slipped her arms around his back and he slipped one around her shoulder, keeping himself supported by the other hand. Gradually, he let himself slump, until they were both recumbent on the bed. She played with the ends of his hair, toying with the idea of plaiting it. He was growing it out again, but it wasn’t quite long enough to make a single braid. She could do a few little braids. It would look pleasingly curly in the morning... For a little bit, anyway.

  He let go and buried his face in her shoulder. “Aurelia,” he mumbled into the fabric of her pyjamas, “I love you so much.”

  “Mm, I know,” she responded.

  “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Me either.”

  He shook with a few laughs and loosened his embrace. “I love you very much.”

 “Mm, you said.” She let him lie there for a bit. Eventually, she asked, “So, what was that about?”

  “I really don’t know.” He lifted himself off her and lay facing the ceiling. “I just wanted to bite you.”

  “That’s really it?” Aurelia leaned over him and brushed the hair out of his face.

  “Mm. No particular reason.”

  “No?”

  “No.”

  Aurelia lay flat too. She grinned at the ceiling. “How did I tas-“

  “You’re better than that question, Aurelia.” Tyrian wagged a finger at her, before letting his hand fall back to the sheets.

  “I think I know all the hated vampire questions by now,” Aurelia turned her head to look at him. “I’m this close,”-she made the obligatory gesture with finger and thumb-“to stringing every single one together.”

  “Don’t you dare.” Tyrian smiled as his brought his arms up over his face. “I say, you didn’t ask Victor any, did you?”

  “No, I did not ask the awkward vampire teenager the awkward vampire questions,” Aurelia replied. “I did not grow up with another awkward vampire teenager for nothing, you know.”

  “Was I that awkward?”

  “Victor has a few levels of awkward on you, plus some new levels of awkward previously unknown to fairykind,” Aurelia observed, “But he does remind me of teenage you.”

  “Hmm. You may be right.”

  “I am right.” Aurelia held up a confident finger. “The both of you... You’re weren’t... aren’t... comfortable... needing things from people. You’ve gotten a lot better at it. But still. You think you’re not allowed to want things. Sometimes.”

  “Because I’m not? Sometimes.”

  “True, I suppose. But... I already told you I’d say yes if you want to bite me. Ages ago.”

  “Yes, and then I asked, and then you said no.”

  “For the perfectly valid reason that Victor has dibs. But he’s not here right now.”

  “But he will be.”

  “And I told you that’s not an issue. And you still thought you weren’t allowed.”

  “But...”

  “You know, I was amazed? When you kicked all the nobles out of the palace,” Aurelia admitted. “Impressed, too.”

  “I think it was a coping mechanism,” Tyrian theorised. “I just needed them gone. I don’t know that it was me growing a backbone.”

  “That’s what I mean,” Aurelia pointed out. “You weren’t allowed to need that, and you went and did it anyway. And you refused to let them back in. Give yourself some credit.”

  “I was rather pleased about that,” Tyrian admitted. “I expected a bigger pushback than we got.”

  “There you go.” She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Just think. The baby will be the first in centuries to grow up without nobles in the place.”

  She felt him tense. “Aurelia, it’s physically impossible that you’re pregnant,” he remarked.

  “I’m just saying, you know, eventually,” she clarified. “When we get around to it.”

  He relaxed again. “I’m leaving that up to you.”

  “You do also have to be involved, you know,” she nudged him playfully. “I know you know how this works. I’m not a lizard. I can’t do patheogenesis or whatever it’s called.”

  “Parthenogenesis, yes,” Tyrian corrected. He sighed. “It’s really too bad.”

 “Oof. Ow. OUCH, Tyrian,” Aurelia complained.

  “You know that’s not... That’s not what I mean.” Tyrian shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve just never thought of you like that. And I can’t just... flip a switch.”

  She rubbed his hand with her thumb. “There’s no rush.”

  He squeezed her hand back. “Did I mention how much I love you?”

  “Might’ve.” She rolled over and grabbed his face, kissing him on the cheek. “Love you too.” She sat up and stretched. “I am not at all sleepy. I think I’m going to go annoy Louis.”

  “Remember not to do anything too strenuous,” Tyrian warned.

  “I’m not going to drink or anything,” Aurelia reassured him. “I’ll be back later. You going to sleep?”

  “Going to read a bit more,” Tyrian answered. “I’ve woken up a bit.”

  “Do tell me if the kelpie ends up with a bride,” Aurelia joked. “Okay. I’ll be back when I’m back, I guess.” She gave him a smile as he snuggled back into the blankets with the book, then she closed the door.

  ----

Added a

#vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #vampire #fairy #writing #ocs #vampires #tyrian von stollenheim #vampice oc #another one i wrote a while ago and didn't post because I was stressing about What People Will Think #which I do waaaay too much #An actual vampire thing happening in my series with vampires in the title? It's less likely than you'd think

[puddingvalkyrie]

Hello there! My name is Alicia, and I'm a comic fantasy author! I love fairy tales and folklore, history, cooking, especially baking, and being silly. Still an anime fan but a bit out of the loop these days... I have a webcomic called Vampires Don't Belong in Fairytales which you can find on my side blog @vampiresdontbelonginfairytales You can currently find two of my Vampires Don't Belong in Fairy Tales BOOKS for FREE on my website below!

You don't need to have read the books to read the comic and vice versa.

No mailing list to join or anything.

Blurbs:

Miss Prince

Lucinda would fight dragons to see her friends, which is just as well because she might have to. She's been hired by the not-a-guild Rent-A-Legend as a prince to help 'fix' broken stories. The other ones kept running away with the first princess they rescue and becoming kings and kings don't rescue people.

Fairy Roots:

Will has gone to Fairyland to find his roots, which most fairies assume means he's related to a tree. In Fairyland, this is entirely possible. His mother would kill him if she knew where he was, but the residents of Fairyland might well beat her to it. He lands a job as court jester for fairy king Tyrian, but suddenly his jokes don't seem funny and what was he thinking?! He really did his research (this time) but no battle plan survives contact with the enemy even if you really like the enemy and don't want to have to run screaming from them.

(LGBTQ+ romance)

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Conditions: DO NOT feed my work into any kind of A.I.

Don't post, redistribute or upload my work anywhere else without my written permission.

#free books #free books y'all #vdbif #vampires don't belong in fairytales #vampire #miss prince #fairy roots #vampires #fairy #fairies #fairyland #romance #queer romance #someone talk to me about my dorks #comic fantasy #ya #writblr

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

Vampires

Given that 'vampires' is in the title of the webcomic, that I have thus far forgotten to explain how my vampires work here is uh. Anyway.

There are three kinds of vampire in the Otherworlds.

First I need to quickly explain magic. Magic in the Otherworlds exists everywhere in the environment, and living things have magic in them too. Different species need different levels of magic to survive. Unicorns and fairies are at the top of the scale, elves and humans near the bottom. Think of it like heat. Some animals have evolved to live near volcanic vents, others in the snow. Unicorns are the ‘volcanic vent’ end of the scale. There are magical vents all over the planet.

‘True’ vampires.

These vampires are made not born. When magic is incorrectly used it damages the caster. If a spell needs more magic than is available in the surrounding environment, it pulls on the magic in the caster. If it uses it all, the caster is killed, but there is small window where they are transformed into a vampire. If they can drink enough blood before that last bit of their magic drains away, they won’t die. This also happens when a magical creature is deprived of magic.   

  Magical damage is most obviously evident as a loss of colour in the hair and eyes. True vampires have white hair and red eyes. The true vampire’s body stops aging. As long as they get enough blood, they continue to live like a regular person, just y'know, with immortality.

  True vampires are exceptionally rare. There are only 4 or 5 in the whole of the Otherworlds.

  You have to be a skilled magical practitioner to even use the amount of magic that would damage you, so true vampires are usually highly skilled magical practitioners and know a wide range of spells.

Vampires

The children of a vampire will always be vampires. But the severity of the condition weakens each generation. This varies a lot, but as a rough guide, say the original vampire needs blood every day, their children will need blood every other day. Their grandchildren will need blood every 3-4 days.  

  Although, this only really applies when they are an adult. Vampire children grow up biting their non-vampire parent and don’t need a lot of blood, but the amount they need grows as they do. What if they have two vampire parents, I hear you ask? Vampires are usually related to all the other vampires they know, so vampire couples are incredibly rare. The Stollenheims are unusually numerous, with the Le Fanu family after that. The other vampire families are much smaller.

  Vampire children learn spells from their vampire parent when they are little, usually designed to help them escape or hide from aggressors… or help them sneak into bedrooms, depending on the morality of said parent. The most commonly known spells are self-transformation and float.

  Examples:    Hettie can turn into a panther and can float.

                         Victor can turn into a bat or mist.

                        Johann can turn into a bat, wolf, a cloud of bats* and use hypnotism**

*it’s more like a cloud of bat shaped energy rather than several individual bats

**only works on people who are half asleep or otherwise somehow out of it.

If vampires need blood, they get tired and cranky, sometimes mildly confused. The longer this goes on, the more tired they get, and they’ll eventually collapse and pass out. They will wake up again, but they will be incredibly lethargic, and at this point they pretty much need someone to shove a vein at them.    

They age normally and will live as long as their species normally does. Humans are not the only kind of vampire, this can happen to any caster species - humans, elves, dwarves, fairies, etc. Vampire animals are rare, as animals don't absorb/use magic in the same way. Vampires need caster blood, animal blood is no good to them. Magical animal blood could technically work, but dragon blood is highly corrosive and a unicorn will kill you first.

Revenants

This is the most basic vampire you find in folklore. A corpse that has been reanimated by a necromancer. A spell is pinned to the body that is activated by a drop in sunlight (or whatever the necromancer sets it to do, but this is the usual). The spell needs blood to keep working, so if the revenant doesn’t bite anyone it will just fizzle out after a night or two. Can also be stopped by the usual – head chopping, burning, stake. Note that the stake is to pin the revenant to the ground. It won’t work if you just jam it through their heart. They’ll just lurch around with a stake through them.

#vampires don't belong in fairytales #vdbif #vampire #vampire oc #worldbuilding #fantasy worldbuilding #vampires #vampire worldbuilding

[vampiresdontbelonginfairytales]

In the Otherworlds, vampires use the word thirsty to mean they need blood. Yeah. Exactly. Part 1 of 2.

Oh and the comment is just on a pic of a character and not directed at Lucinda.

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#vampires don't belong in fairytales #vdbif #ocs #vampire #stollenheim #my ocs #webcomic #comic