Featured Creature: World Without End

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

 

Featured Creature: Whisperers

Excerpted From Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils: 

"Whisperers are dire phantoms that will lead humans psychically and emotionally astray even unto death.  A Whisperer will seek out a victim that is already emotionally agitated or distraught and begin to misdirect their emotions towards the goals of the Whisperer.  It is unknown exactly how the phantoms control their victims, but those who have survived the persuasions of these demonic ghosts claim to have heard whispering voices and to have encountered vaporous apparitions.

The Parade: Part VI, Trixie's Walk

Continued from The Parade: Part V, Mystery on Maryland Avenue

The Parade
Part VI

Trixie's Walk
 

Doris Hutchens opened the refrigerator and looked plaintively at its contents.  She wasn't really hungry but there was still some time until the news and she was bored.  She would go to bed after, but she needed a quick update.  Tomorrow was going to be a day long event and she'd have no time to catch up until Sunday afternoon.  She had multiple clients to see before noon and then parade preparations all afternoon.  There was still a piece of cheesecake left in the fridge from their dinner out in Hamptonville.  She scooped it up and placed it on a saucer.

At least everyone's costumes were finished.  She had finished all the sewing Wednesday.  She and Renee and Margaret, the two other stylists from the Style Shop, were all going to be dressed as 1950's housewives but with a witchy twist.  The float they would be riding had been constructed with three swings created to look like brooms.  When they sat in the swings, it would appear as though they were flying on broomsticks.  The rest of the float was constructed to look like glitter covered clouds.

She sat at the kitchen table and dug her fork into the cheesecake.  She savored the first creamy bites as they dissolved against her tongue.  Trixie, her chihuahua, came into the room and whined at her feet.  Doris dropped a small bite of the cheesecake onto the floor and Trixie quickly devoured it.  Doris leaned down and nuzzled the dogs' ears.

The Parade: Part V, Mystery on Maryland Avenue

Continued from The Parade: Part IV, Under the Mackey Building

The Parade
Part V

Mystery on Maryland Avenue

Maureen pulled her car onto Baker, the street leading to her neighborhood.  A thin fog had settled in amongst the trees and had given everything a faint glowing aura.  She slowed to enjoy the view.  Despite its inherent danger to drivers, Maureen had always enjoyed the magic of fog.  Fog could make any landscape mysterious and otherworldly, even the plain streets of Rivercross.

She reached over into the passenger seat and flipped open the styrofoam take out box from the Star diner.  She extracted a single french fry and shoved it into her mouth.  She hadn't had anything to eat since she'd begun her shift at four.  She ate several more fries before closing the box.  Once she got home, she and her husband Daryl would have a late dinner.  He always waited so that he could eat with her.  Although he usually had four or five beers before she got home.

Daryl had tried cooking dinner once long ago and had nearly burnt the house down.  Maureen had forbidden him in the kitchen since.  Her compromise was to bring dinner back after her part time shift at the Star.  She worked mornings at Norris grocery and a few hours in the evening at the Star.  After two shifts, Maureen just didn't have the energy to cook as well. 

The Parade: Part II, Under the Mason Bridge

Continued from The Parade: Part I, Skipping School

The Parade
Part II

Under the Mason Bridge

Jackie sat on a bench at the edge of the park and watched the cars move through downtown Rivercross.  They zigzagged like confused ants, disappearing behind trees and buildings then reappearing moments later in a new direction.  A breeze knocked bright orange leaves loose from nearby trees.  They danced across her field of vision like bits of flame and floated away down the hillside.

Her tears had finally passed.  She held the brown bag tightly in her grip.  She had shoved the test stick in with the packaging.  She almost threw it all in the trashcan nearby but found that as she approached she couldn't release the bag.  She still had not decided if she was going to tell Sam.  She didn't know what she was going to do at all.  Jackie watched the clouds stretch themselves across the sky like cotton candy.

The Parade: Part I, Skipping School

The Parade 
Part I

October 30th, Skipping School

Jackie pedaled her bike out of the parking lot and away from school.  She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one had seen her leave.  Her last class was a free period and she wouldn't be missed, but she didn't want to take any chances.  Rivercross High disappeared behind a bank of trees as she rounded the curve and sped towards downtown. She turned at the next intersection to avoid Main street.  She didn't want to be seen by anyone who might tell her dad.  Doris over at the Style Shop had ratted her out when she had skipped class before and she just couldn't deal with that extra stress today.

She bought the test from Maureen at Norris grocery on her way to school.  She knew that Maureen would keep her secret.  She sold Jackie cigarettes sometimes.  The test was wrapped in a brown paper bag deep in her backpack.  She would go to the park for some privacy and then she would know.  If she got to the park before three she could get home before four-thirty and her mom and dad wouldn't be suspicious.  She angled her bike onto Myers boulevard and towards the Mason bridge.

Featured Creature: Chornehbanku

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils: 

"Chornehbanku are spirits of emptiness that seek out and attach themselves to judgmental and bitter humans.  They seek a rarest essence: the tears of the judgmental.  While their victims sleep, the Chornehbanku collect these lonely tears in their night jars.  The Chornehbanku will influence the moods of the victim and attempt to isolate them further from the world around them.  These wraiths will feed off a chosen victim until the person eventually dies.

Once a Chornehbanku has attached itself to a person and has begun to collect their tears there is only one method to exorcise these vampiric ghosts.  The night jar of the Chornehbanku represents its connection to the physical realm.  If the night jar can be procured and destroyed, the Chornehbanku's hold on the person can be broken and the spirit banished.  Such a task is not to be considered lightly for many have lost their lives in attempts to separate a Chornehbanku from its jar.  These dire phantoms will enact any heresy to protect their jars." 

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Udushae N'yasnu

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils:

"Little is known about the origins of the Udushae N'yasnu.  There is a rumored Gnostic legend that on the seventh day of creation, after God had finished his work, the Udushae were the left over flotsam.  Before God could return the unformed creatures to the void, they skittered into the darkest corners of creation and hid.  Regardless of their origins, a recorded characteristic of the Udushae is their thirst for human bodily fluids.

Over a period of days or weeks, chosen victims of the Udushae are slowly drained of vital fluids during sleep.  Often the symptoms of an Udushae assault are confused with that of a Vampyr attack.  However the Udushae feed exclusively on human fluids whereas a Vampyr will feed on any available source of blood including livestock, family pets, and local wildlife.  Also absent in an Udushae attack are the telltale puncture wounds left by a Vampyr.  It is generally assumed that the Udushae drain fluids from the body of the victim directly through existing orifices.

Featured Creature: The Syl'udet

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils:

"The Syl'udet are a common race of parasitic demons.  Within the confines of Hell they are as prolific as rats in urban sewers.  Most humans will have contact with these dread pests at least once in their lifetimes.

Within the earth plane, the Syl'udet generally cannot be seen by the mundane eye.  They are visible briefly during twilight times and then only by those who are sensitive or psychic.  However, there are many occult devices that do allow a mundane viewer to perceive these creatures.  In two separate recorded incidents, Syl'udet have been perceived using Sheridan's Visor as well as a Veil of the Mudra.

Featured Creature: The Ushtohc

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils:

"The Ushtohc are an invasive other dimensional race.  They insert a portion of their consciousness into innocuous everyday objects and remain hidden while their influence grows.  They slowly infect the immediate reality with their presence until a suitable mobile host presents itself.  Once they have invaded a mobile host, they are nearly impossible to exorcise without great psychic effort.  Luckily, their transmission into the earth realm seems to only coincide with very rare celestial alignments."

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature: Cow Demon Robot

I've been drawing alot of humans in the Featured Creature lately and this week I wanted to get more creature back into the posts.  This image however, turned out more comedic than scary.  I figure though that somebody somewhere must be afraid of cow demon robots even if they're smiling...or maybe because they are smiling. 

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: The Ghost

"The spirit of malevolence that had attached itself to the structure suffused everything with a suffocating aura of hopelessness, suffering, and despair."

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Moonlit Were

I'm going to take a break from the Devil's Square focus for a bit and pursue some straight up creature sketches.  This week we have a more painterly were-creature.  I've been so controlled with my compositions lately, I wanted to try something a little more organic and expressive.  I also haven't been getting nearly enough practice painting in Photoshop, so I've added that to my to do list.  Expect more in this style.
 
This piece also has an element of whimsy in it that surprised me once I'd finished it.  The overwhelming darkness of the world lately has been a bit much for me so I don't mind a bit of whimsy here.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature is Two Years Old!

Today marks the second year of Zombie Bites Featured Creature!  Here's a bit of creepiness to celebrate the day!  I had a bit more planned for celebration, but my recent computer woes threw a gigantic wrench into the works.  We'll see what the rest of the month holds.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop} 

Featured Creature: The Devil's Square, Dr. Liam Hofstadter

Drafted into the service by the the Department of Extranormal Phenomena, Dr. Liam Hofstadter has become the unwilling agent of the secretive agency.  Though primarily a man of research and writing, the longer he stays within the department the more he finds himself drawn into greater and greater physical danger.  His research and his actions within the DEP will inevitably lock him onto a collision course with the Devil's Square.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature: Devil's Square, The Bloody Gem

This mysterious gem possesses a deadly and addictive power.  To the untrained eye the gem looks much like a gaudy piece of costume jewelry.  However, when exposed to blood, the gem glows with a pulsating red light and the terrible power within it is activated.

The history of this gem will be revealed in several upcoming Devil's Square stories.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature: Devil's Square, The Ruddy Skull

A human skull covered in rust, the Ruddy Skull continually sheds flakes but never seems to lose any of its mass.  The metallic ball in the eye socket appears to be silver and is unaffected by the corrosion.  All attempts to remove the silver ball have failed.  Those who have held the skull claim to see visions of the past, of distant locations and people, and sometimes of the future.

The Ruddy Skull has not yet appeared in any Devil's Square fiction to date, but will feature prominently in an upcoming Devil's Square story.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature: Devil's Square, DEP Agent Boehler

Meet Agent Boehler of the Department of Extranormal Phenomena.  He hasn't appeared in any of the Devil's Square fiction I've presented to date, but he will eventually cross paths and possibly swords with the Square.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Devil's Square, The Nameless One

Here we have the Nameless One in it's native dimension.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Devil's Square, Screwworm

Here is Screwworm lurking in a candlelit sanctum.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}