#Ladies: Beware!

[king-galaxius]

Ladies: Beware!

Beware of the guys who want to hook up and marry you because either you cannot have kids, don’t want kids at the moment, or your kids are grown. Those are some of the worst sons of bitches. The guys I’m talking about are usually lazy, smoke dope all the time, lay up under some woman, don’t want any kind of responsibility at all, or whatever. It is well known here in Texas that if you are a…

[thegothicalice]

Beware the autumn people 🍂 Dress Lady Epi, vest by me, boots Demonia, bone & leather earrings by Wolftea.

[lovelizards]

Abigail clasped her hands in front of her. She gave the judge as brave a stare as she could muster, and said, "Yes. I am a witch."

A wave of shocked whispers and gasps fell like a fog over the crowd that had gathered to see justice done.

"Witch!" The man to the judge's left, Hopkins, snarled, like he'd known the whole time and had been proven right.

He was a man whom no woman could excite except for the witches he hunted, probably annoyed with her for denying it this whole time.

Abigail shifted on sore, bare feet. The metal bridle hung heavy on her head and greatly pained her neck where the leather straps chafed. The chains on her wrists clattered, and the men at either side of her shifted nervously a few paces away.

"So, thou wouldst admit now," the judge said darkly, "that you are witch, and have borne false witness besides."

"It - it was fear that bid me speak falsely," Abigail said, doing her very best to make a scene of letting her eyes wander nervously across the hall, to force a tremble in her shoulders, until she came eye-to-eye with...him.

The man who was meant to be her husband. The man who had caused all of this. Rugged and blond, with a sneer on his dry, thin lips.

She lowered her gaze to the floor and clasped her hands together. The judge sighed.

"Aye, a witch hath great reason for dread -"

"'Twas not for that!" Abigail insisted, raising pleading eyes up to the judge and raising her voice to a panicked pitch. "It - it was - "

Abigail hesitated, making a show of shying away from the part of the crowd where that blonde bastard sat.

She continued: "I - I was coerced! I was seized by the hand, compelled by a dark specter bearing the visage of a man, to inscribe mine own name in the Devil's book!"

"Thou wouldst dare bring these falsehoods before the court?!" Hopkins roared, standing in rage.

"It is truth!" Abigail cried, willing tears into her eyes, "Never have these hands encountered such chill touch, nor eyes beheld such a shadow as did emerge from the dark - approaching me, menacing, whilst I lay abed!"

The crowd's whispers had raised in volume, there was a tense feeling in the courtroom. It was easy enough to prey on their fear of folk tales and superstition. After all, that's why she was there in the first place.

"Have care," Hopkins warned with a scowl to the judge, who sat in stony silence, "a witch honeys her words with spells to blind the unprepared."

"I will hear her," the judge said after a brief pause, "Speak, thou witch, if indeed a shadow bade you barter thy soul, tell of it."

Abigail pressed her closed fists to her dirty bodice, as if she were about to pray, and lowered her head demurely.

"I wouldst beg thee not make me speak of that night..." she whispered, then flinched as Hopkins smacked his hand on the surface of his table.

"Damned witch! Speak! Or speak not, and be judged all the same!"

The judge gestured for him to calm himself, and he sat back with crossed arms. Abigail fidgeted her fingers together, her shoulders hunched.

"The terrible deeds that shadow wrought upon my body, no matter how I begged..." she said, so quietly that every man in the room had to lean in to hear her, then she raised her voice to a scream: "'No! Touch me not! Stay back! I beg thee, foul demon! I am only for my husband and not yet wed!'"

The room went cold and silent. The whispers had stopped short. Colour had drained from the judge's face, and even Hopkins had his brows raised.

Abigail raised her hands towards her face, rattling the metal of the cage on her head; "The shame of it!" She sobbed. "When he was done, it was then that he did grasp mine hand and lead me - blinded by anguish - to sign my name! He bid me to sign, else he would pay his visits anew, every night and again, until -!"

"Enough."

The judge's voice boomed in the hall, echoing eerily in the silence. No one in the crowd spoke, nor did they move.

Abigail glanced around the room. She saw the horrified looks of some men, and some women with handkerchiefs raised to their teary eyes.

It was enough to make her laugh, if she wasn't so tense from nerves.

She'd always hated how small she was, and how young and innocent her looks were. They didn't match her at all.

But in this moment, she was glad she seemed like a pitiful young girl, dirty and tired, and a victim. Her hair fell into her face as she looked up at the judge.

"The name," the judge said solemnly, "speak the name whose face thou didst see in this shadow of man."

Finally. Finally, the story came to its end.

Abigail took in a deep, shaking breath, glad that her tears were finally falling freely, and choked out:

"It - it was -"

"Speak, woman!" Hopkins shouted impatiently.

Abigail flinched away from the crowd, and threw out an accusatory finger to point to the rugged blond man whom she hated, maybe more than anyone else in the world.

"It was Lord James Taverly!"

The crowd erupted in cries of outrage, gasps of shock, and one woman even fainted into the arms of her husband. The men sitting near James leapt up and grabbed at him. And he, of course, fought furiously.

She wished she could see his idiot face. He must have been so shocked. His own act of spite in reporting Abigail as a witch had backfired on him.

He'd warned her she would regret rejecting him. But now...

Now, at least, if she still had to die - he would die, too.

The men who had been guarding her went to the crowd and pulled James bodily up into the pit, holding him tightly and turning him - disheveled and red-faced - towards the judge.

"Your Grace!" James cried in outrage, "I have no covenant with the Devil! I am falsely accused!"

"Silence, James Taverly." The judge said, his gavel sounding out loudly above the noise in the hall, until it lowered to a murmur again.

Then the judge turned to Hopkins, and gave him a look - a look that asked his opinions on the matter.

Abigail's heart sank like a rock.

If it was Hopkins, he would never take her side over that of a man. Especially a man who was a lord! All of her hard work! How could it end like this?!

Hopkins stared deeply into her eyes, so deep that she felt pinned in place. Her desperation must have looked as real as it felt, because he then turned to the judge and said:

"It is not without precedent that a man may partake in the dark arts of witchcraft. All are weak to the ways of the Devil. There is no way to know the truth of it until he is interrogated."

"Lord Hopkins!" James shouted, fury and fear mixing in his stupid face, "I - I am no witch!"

Then, he turned to Abigail, and looked at her with pleading angry eyes, "You must have - have been mistaken! Surely it could not be my own face you saw! I pray you, speak, Abbie!"

She wanted to slap him right there! How dare he use a nickname for her after what he'd done.

Abigail wailed in fright, backing away from him and stumbling over her feet to the ground. She held her hands up to protect herself from him, shaking her head.

"Torment me no longer!" She cried. "Stay back!"

Through her tangled curtain of red hair, Abigail saw his expression shift between anger and horror, until eventually it landed on anger.

"Bitch!" He screamed, "Lying bitch -!"

The judge's lips curled in disgust. He waved a hand, and the bailiffs carried James away shouting profanities. Hopefully, Abigail thought, to be mercilessly tortured and interrogated, and then executed soon after.

"Stand thee, Abigail Cooper."

She did, pulling herself up and reaching awkwardly into her bridle to wipe her eyes on the backs of her hands - probably only smearing more dirt on her cheeks.

"The truth of it will out in the end, I shall bid Master Hopkins undertake the charge. Yet, the truth doth abide that thou didst inscribe thy name in the book. Thou art witch, and must needs be purged of dark magics."

Purged? Abigail's brows furrowed, nervous. She hadn't heard anything about there being a way to fix a witch or 'purge the devil' out of them. Hopkins didn't look too pleased, maybe he hadn't mentioned it on purpose.

Did he hope she would be executed?

How sad for him.

"Y - yes, your Grace -" Abigail agreed, "if thou wouldst but speak the way..."

"I charge you as a witch," the judge said, "and if thy tale be true, then the Witch Breaker shall cast forth the devil from within thee. Take her." This last part was to another group of bailiffs, who tugged on the chain connected to the metal hoop around her hips.

Abigail frowned. The Witch Breaker?

Hopkins sighed loudly, annoyed, and threw his hands up.

Whoever the Witch Breaker was, they were no friend of his. Could that be good news for her?

"I - I thank thee, your Grace!" Abigail called as she was pulled out of the courtroom, but the judge must not have heard her. He was talking with Hopkins, and didn't even look her way.

Well, it wasn't a death sentence.

It was ominous, at best. And fear still danced in her stomach.

But it wasn't death.

She supposed she would have to keep living, if only out of spite.

『 Next 』

[scr4xd]

I FORGOT THE GOD DAMN LITTLE FIN ON HIS HEAD OH MUY GOD I CANT DO THSI ANYMORE helloooo tumblrians im so sorry for being dead :wave:

[thegh0st-of-ingrid]

I finished reading Carmilla. How TF did it get away with being this gay in 1872?

Like, the girl TEXTUALLY declared her love and attraction to Laura and they didn't censure it? Bc if they did, and the published book is the toned down version, then it wasn't very effective

[depressedcoffeeobsess]

(BEWARE THIS GIRL BOOPS)

It's the SEASON!

BOOP SEASON

[puniper]

ESRB having to put a small warning about Flurrie is so funny

[softy-bunny]

[teeth-n-ambitions]

Masterlist: Still Yours

When Lila's engine fails on a long drive home, the vampire Cassara captures her to keep as a pet. Lila would die before she lets that happen.

This is the rewrite of Yours, the lesbian vampire story I wrote in like 2020. I'm making it a more cohesive narrative than last time and also I have two degrees now, so theoretically that means I've improved.

I'm going to actually make it explicit this time too.

General TW: lady whump, vampire whump, pet whump, blood, swearing, nudity (sexual and non), non-con/dub-con elements, violence, dehumanization.

Ask to be on the tag list!

Main Story (chronological):

Intake

A Proper Meeting

So Be It

Bathtime

Second Bite

[irethilla]

𝔽𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥

🇵‌🇦‌🇷‌🇹‌ 1 ✦ 🇵‌🇦‌🇷‌🇹‌ 2 ✦ 🇵‌🇦‌🇷‌🇹‌ 3 ✦ 🇵‌🇦‌🇷‌🇹‌ 4 ✦ 🇵‌🇦‌🇷‌🇹‌ 5 List with my favourite manhwa characters. ·· Names in the description ··

ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇs

ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴsʜɪᴘ / ғʀɪᴇɴᴅsʜɪᴘ

[vestatheartist]

I decided to upload some of my old art so here are two(?) ladies in the dark

[halfassaultedbrain]

this gorgeous lil bitch

[reality-detective]

Ladies be careful when staying at hotels by yourself!

A woman visiting on business was in her hotel room when someone started trying to open her door from the outside using a bizarre device, similar to a wire hanger used to unlock a car door or raise a window! 🤔

[superheroes-or-whatever]

Lady Shiva in Beware the Batman

[morphestic]

Drinking water frequently means going to the bathroom every 5 minutes and going to the bathroom every 5 minutes means your grandma will think you have stomach problems and force you to take medicine you don't need

[rosesnink]

I never once understood why a 'friend' of mine was so keen on me losing my virginity before turning 18, to the point where he had a whole ass meltdown when I, a 14 yo, told him I wanted to wait till my 20s to start having sex.

That is until I noticed all his exes were minors at the time 🫥