“Only the dead live here now.” says the stranger “You should leave this place before you join them.”

“What about you?”

“What about me? You think I’m still of the living?”

“You’re alive!” xe grins “Oh my god- [X] I thought I lost you.”

“You did.” ze says “I-”

Came back.

Came back wrong.

The witch stands impassively in front of the dying human. Xe does not kneel to sympathy, does not bend forward to give the stranger comfort.

Xe stands, and watches. The humans blood is very red.

“Aren’t you going to try and save the human?” asks the vampire, gazing at the human curiously. It’s hard to feel compassion for what smells like food- ze does not offer any comfort either.

“No.” says the witch “Of course not.”

The witch knows what this human has done, after all.

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“I didn’t die just for you to also die, what the heck. The whole point of the sacrifice play was that it was supposed to be just me!”

“Sorry boss.”

“You’re a little dead is what you are,” xe laughed “Congrats, welcome to my realm.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a game. If you win, you go back. If you lose, you go on to Death’s jurisdiction.” the small god- no, this was no holy place- the whatever it was grinned “Are you ready to play?”

“Xe died. Not you. [X] is gone and you’re just, what, following xir-”

“It’s not that simple!”

“Than what it is? Because right now it looks like you’re giving up for no good reason.”

“[X] is gone. I don’t know what to so without xir!”

“You live, dipshit. You live, and you and I, we’ll hunt down who killed xir and rip xir to shreds. That’s what you do. You live.”

“And it comes back to this. To us. Standing here. Blades to each other’s throats.” the villain grins “Are you gonna kill me, love? You’ve never been able to befo-”

The hero’s hand flicks down in an arc of blood. Before, no. Xe couldn’t. But things change.

“I’m going to eat it.” signs the alpha werewolf.

“Uh-” says the vampire “No? [Witch} told me to bury it underneath the roses.”

They’re talking about the latest corpse left on the witch’s door, of course. And because they can’t call the cops, and [Witch] is busy, [Vampire] and [Alpha] have been left to clean it up.

“It’s fine.” signs the alpha “Meat. Food.”

“Flower food! I’ll make you a sandwich or something later, dude.”

“I’m going to eat it.” signs the alpha werewolf.

“Uh-” says the vampire “No? [Witch] told me to bury it underneath the roses.”

They’re talking about the latest corpse left on the witch’s door, of course. And because they can’t call the cops, and [Witch] is busy, [Vampire] and [Alpha] have been left to clean it up.

“It’s fine.” signs the alpha “Meat. Food.”

“Flower food! I’ll make you a sandwich or something later, dude.”

“X, come here. I need to talk to you about your parent.”

“Oh, boy. Was xe having an affair? Did you kick xir out?”

“Xe’s dead.”