#hellwater queens

HELLWATER QUEENS ch. 6 — First Light, First Water

The new calves are finding the water. Carmilla is three months along and hasn't told the pod yet. And then someone challenges her at the turning of the tide with her spikes already out.

She wins. two cracked ribs, a bite to the shoulder, and she wins.

She turns around and finds her daughters at the arch. They saw most of it.

Rosie shows up the next morning because Buck mentioned it, and Rosie does not wait to be invited.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/84928106/chapters/230069181

4TH DAUGHTER ch. 100 — Starting Over

The cast is off. The cone is gone. Abby ran the full length of the back garden this morning and laughed so hard she had to brace herself against the hedge.

Carmilla watched from the terrace, and something that had been wound tight for eight weeks finally eased.

But the real conversation happens after dinner, when Carmilla asks Vaggie and Charlie: Are you prepared for Tala's first molt? the one no one has ever managed for her. the one she's always gone through alone.

"Abby makes noise," Vaggie says. "Tala goes still."

https://archiveofourown.org/works/69691891/chapters/230069986

4TH DAUGHTER ONE-SHOTS — #7: The Itch

The Silverwood Academy lice notice arrived on a Tuesday. Carmilla read it twice, set it on the counter very carefully, and looked at Abby.

The next forty-five minutes were educational for the entire household.

Including, ultimately, Carmilla herself. because she always scoops Abby off the bus the way she always does, and the math becomes very obvious, and Zestial is already pulling out the comb.

"Not a word of this." / "Of course not."

https://archiveofourown.org/works/77092741/chapters/230069671

UNDER A VEILED MOON ch. 6

Abel is running the morning briefings. He's getting one out of four patrol wolves to actually listen. Sera put him here for a reason, and Emily, on the empty training flat in the cold, finally says it out loud.

Meanwhile, Lute is carrying bedding with perfect posture and absolutely no visible bending. She takes one detour past the windbreak. Adam is there like he was never demoted at all, two wolves sparring with their teeth out, everyone oriented toward him like nothing happened.

That night on the upper terrace, he tells her about the eastern movement. And Lute goes to her alcove and stares at the ceiling and tries to decide what she actually believes.

I know I am updated a bit slower than normal for me. Picked up yet another job (up to 4 now), so I can survive and feed my animals 😅

Also, I am debating about starting commissions for my work. Not for money, but a possible trade. I write you a fic (one shot for now) and you, in return, you give me a piece of either artwork, maybe a song, etc.... There are so many bots and scammers today going around asking for money to make you a comic strip or some type of service, which may or may not be AI.

There are some very talented people out there, don't get me wrong. But it is so hard to tell these days, and I, for one, am not comfortable with giving a stranger money online without knowing if it's a scam or not.

Okay, so I wrote a Hazbin Hotel merfolk AU for Mer-May, and I need you to understand what you're getting into 🌊

📌 it's called Hellwater Queens and it lives on ao3

the premise: everyone is a merperson. females run the pods. males are consorts at best. Lucifer is king over all of Hell Sea but make no mistake — the queens do whatever they want.

there is a full ecology. hunting seasons. breeding seasons. rites of passage. baby calves. territory disputes that end in bloodbaths. the smell of blood in the water attracting sharks during birthing season. this is not a cozy little mermaid AU. this is teeth.

🐚 the Carmine pod: matriarch energy, razor sharp, fiercely protective of their calves 🔱 the Hazbin pod: small, chaotic, somehow surviving on vibes and found family ⚡ the Vee pod: controlling deep water currents nobody else dares touch ✨ the Heaven Sea: Sera's watching the depths and she does not like what she sees

if you like: worldbuilding-heavy fics, matriarchal societies, ensemble casts, creature biology, found family dressed up in scales, and queens who mean business —

New chapters are up, and here is your damage report:

HELLWATER QUEENS ch. 5 — The Ember, Not the Flame

The hunt is done. The girls have their first kills. after is now.

Carmilla finds a quiet alcove and bites zestial four times with the deliberate, taxonomic precision of someone who has decided this is exactly what she's doing and has opinions about placement. "mine, mine, mine — rendered not in words but in the language her body had always known better than her mouth did."

Softer than peak season. an ember rather than a flame. And she prefers it. She prefers the ember. I'm going to be so normal about this (I'm not).

Then Rosie arrives like the reef simply decided to produce her, gets immediately flattened by Clara, and spends approximately forty seconds clocking the bite marks on Zestial's neck before bringing it up in the warmest, most devastating possible way.

"Your pod loses members because they eat each other." / "I'm only saying."

https://archiveofourown.org/works/84928106/chapters/227080471

4TH DAUGHTER ch. 99 — Something Waking Up

Abby still has the cast. still has the cone (the doorframe failed, the blanket failed, Zestial's desk chair failed. Carmilla had it measured). The peach fuzz is coming in patchy and soft, and she has feelings about it.

"I want to run. I haven't run in weeks. I just want to run."

It's not a breakdown. it's just the most honest version of missing something ordinary, and odette sits with it and doesn't try to fix it, and that's the whole thing.

And then Carmilla finds the ticklish spot, and abby dissolves on the floor and threatens to bite her, and Carmilla does it AGAIN, and we all remember how to breathe.

Carmilla ends up lying on the floor with carpet fuzz on her clothes, telling stories about the time baby abby investigated Zestial's nose like a scientific instrument, and the dream about the bird with very rude wings, and abby falls asleep mid-conversation, the way she used to fall asleep mid-sentence as a puppy. Four weeks. maybe less. "Okay," abby says. and means it, this time, all the way down.

PAWS AND DISORDER ch. 8

Status update on hell's ruling class:

Vox has written Ethan's name somewhere permanent inside himself and is staring at the wall of a cat crate about it. Valentino has discovered angel dust has had three days completely free and is responding to this information at full volume. Velvette has returned to the mouse game and does not care about any of this. A Alastoris delighted. Carmilla gives what is essentially a military briefing before trusting Vaggie with Rosie, Zeezii, Prick, andHatchett for the day. Lucifer descends the hotel staircase in a silk robe and duck slippers with three curlers still in his hair, and angel dust witnesses it with the reverence it deserves.

Vaggie stops at PetScorn on the way. Rosie rides in the shopping cart. Vaggie buys the ribbon wand "for the boys, to keep them occupied." Rosie accepts this explanation with great composure. mew.

Clara's dinner ends with Julian texting that zestial is very dignified. He called him a spider. Zestial will never know. Odette does not look at her sister with any particular expression. Clara puts the phone face-up on the table. one thing at a time.