standing in the ashes

of who I used to be

And I'm faded away
you know, I used to be on fire

The lack of magic was horrible. If there was one thing that she missed, it was being able to retaliate. He could just come in here and do that and then disappear. Just apparate away, and leave her all frustrated, and unable to do anything about it at all. He was the worst. Axton Dumbledore might have actually been the worst person in the world. But Saffron couldn’t do anything about it. And she couldn’t follow. She couldn’t cast back. She couldn’t do anything. And it was horrible. He was horrible. This was why they could never stay together for very long. Because they tortured one another. And right now, he very clearly had the upper hand.

There was no doubt about that. He was the one that had every advantage right now. And the curse that he had put on her before he had disappeared was one that she hated. Because he had excellent timing with it. He had always had excellent timing with it. If she could have just bested him. If she would have had magic, she could have made him equally as frustrated. She knew curses too. They had been very good at trading them back and forth since they had been at the Scholomance.

Classes weren’t the only ways that they had entertained themselves after all. But she knew that it wasn’t that easy. Not anymore. Not after what had happened. And Avalon had been immune. One person, in the entire family, and she had been the one that had gotten to keep her magic. Of course, she was. That had to be some sort of blessing from the Dark Lord. But that didn’t change the fact that Saffron would have paid whatever his price was to have kept hers as well. She wanted it for a number of reasons, but so that Axton Dumbledore didn’t always have the bloody advantage was one of them.

She hated him. She had told him so. She absolutely hated him. But she didn’t. And they both knew that she didn’t. She didn’t hate him at all, and yet she wanted to kill him. Right now, she wished that it was him that she had charmed into coming home with her. She wished that it was him and not this random muggleborn that she had charmed into coming back to the Estate. That she had charmed into her bedroom, and then proceeded to knock out, and drag down the stairs. Everything had been so much easier before…

Magic had meant that she didn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting herself. And she knew the rules. If she was going to bleed someone, she was supposed to do it downstairs. They couldn’t have her ruining the carpet. Binding him and hoisting him to hang from his ankles was harder than she had thought that it was going to be. He was heavier than he had looked. But she couldn’t do anything about that now. He was already here, he was the one that had to die, because she was frustrated. Because she needed his blood.

If Axton hadn’t been so bloody annoying. If he wouldn’t have cast this fucking curse, then she thought that she would have just followed him back to Hogsmeade and taken care of her frustration. But that wasn’t an option when he had bloody cursed her. He was so cocky. He was so full of himself, and he knew just what he had done. He knew exactly what it was that he had done. And she hated him. Satan, did she hate him.

Her knife was quick against the man’s throat, and the low, guttural noise as the life began to drain out of him nad into her collecting bowl under him was perfect. She would let him drip for a while. The bowl was plenty big enough. It would hold the whole 5.5 liters or so. Surprisingly there was less blood in a human than one would have thought. 5.5 liters would be a lot, but he had been heavy. Wiping her bloody hands on a towel she headed up the stairs, letting him drip…

She was headed out of the basement when she saw the Flooplace light up in the parlor and she headed that way. It was early enough in the evening she didn’t expect that either of her sisters would be back yet. Though her sisters would have been less of a surprise than just who it was stepping through the flames. “Mother!” Saffron dropped the bloody towel to her side as she smiled at her mum, “Welcome home, did we know you were coming?”

Amaryllis Avery Blackwood • 775 • saffron's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

every rose

Has its thorn

JUST LIKE EVERY NIGHT HAS ITS DAWN

There was fulfillment in her vocation. Or so she told herself on days like these when she was particularly inclined towards mass pedicide. Or at least a nice round of torture. There had been so much more corporal punishment under the former Headmaster. Not that Amaryllis missed Flint. She did not. She liked that he and Graves had left the castle. She liked being the Deputy Headmistress, even if she did tend to favor a stricter hand with dealing with the punishment of students. Well, she could go home-- maybe get in some devotions to the Dark Lord, or a nice sacrifice.

Sacrifices really were so uplifting to the spirit. That was exactly what she needed. A nice offering up to the Lord of Night would surely soothe her frustrations with this world. 

She hoped her wife would be available for the evening, as well. They both were residing at the castle during the term, and when Amaryllis had gone by Avalon's office, the door had been closed indicating a conference was taking place with a student. The pathetic tears of the insolent child would surely put the love of her life in the mood for a bloody evening. A note had been left for the priestess of  their coven vaguely eluding to Amaryllis' plans for the night-- and with that left behind, the witch had popped through the floo into the massive estate that they called home. 

Amaryllis gave a flourish of her skirt to remove all traces of floo powder from her person. A smoothing of her hair confirmed every detail of her appearance was perfect once more. And the witch began forward. She was delighted to find her favorite child walking towards the parlor.  "Saffron, darling!" She greeted warmly, her heart immediately filling with joy at the sight of the beauty. Amaryllis could barely believe the other two of her children were born of her loins, particularly Sorrel... But Saffron was everything that Amaryllis could have ever wanted a child to be. 

She shook her head in response to the other witch's question. "No, it was unplanned. I required an evening away from the castle." The words were heavy with meaning. Her annoyance and frustration with the small humans and their hormonal stupidity was evident without her giving voice to those specific grievances. "I felt compelled to make a display of devotion our Lord." That statement, too, carried more meaning that the simple words offered. She had just announced there would be a grand sacrifice that night.

Amaryllis arched up her brow at the bloody towel her daughter grasped. Perhaps Saffron was having no better a day than she. Who had riled up her daughter? She wondered. She was pleased, though, to see that based on the direction Saffron had been coming from---that even in her absence, Saffron was minding the rules on blood within the house.  

@ daughter • 480  • amaryllis's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0