Drama Horror Mystery Psychological Supernatural

Reign of the Blood Witch [Slow Burn Gothic Horror]

Name: Reign of the Blood Witch [Slow Burn Gothic Horror]
Rating: 4.92 (37 reviews)
Author: Zamora de Leon

Zamora de Leon

4.92 37 Ratings

Ongoing Status

29.8k Views

Start Reading

Synopsis

The villagers of Ecsed have long whispered that the eternal youth of Countess Elizabeth Bathory flows from the blood of the many women who have vanished under her patronage.

Yet, the woman now awaiting execution is not the infamous Countess, but Edda—the imposter who, for a decade, has stood in her place.

Ignorant of the dark undercurrents that led to her downfall, when Edda is given the gift—or the punishment—of reawakening ten years in the past, she must prevent history from repeating itself. But doing so will mean not only uncovering the Countess’s secrets and confronting the nightmares that prowl the halls of her castle, but also overcoming the person at the center of it all—herself.

Weekly Friday updates.

What to expect

⸭ Slow-burn gothic horror and mystery: a blend of eerie atmosphere, psychological dread, and supernatural elements with a gradually unfolding mystery

⸭ Psychological and emotional tension: the narrative is centered around the main character’s thoughts; shaped by fear, doubt, and the weight of her past

⸭ Traumatized to traumatizing: a gradual, inevitable, and somewhat disturbing journey out of victimhood into something…unsettling

⸭ Minimal action, maximum atmosphere: no swordfights and battles here; just flickering candles and the feeling of something waiting for you in the dark

⸭ The supernatural creeps in slowly: inspired by Eastern European folklore around witches, vampires, and ghosts

⸭ Dense, descriptive, and dramatic prose: best to sink into on a stormy night, with a cup of tea, and maybe a rosary

Notes:

⸭ If you are reading this anywhere other than Royal Road, it has been stolen. Please support this story by heading over to https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/91799/reign-of-the-blood-witch-slow-burn-gothic-horror and reading there. Thank you!

⸭ cover art and any chapter art generated with Midjourney and edited in Canva or Photoshop

⸭ words are ALL mine (with the rare exception of anything suggested by my human proofreader)

Books similar to Reign of the Blood Witch [Slow Burn Gothic Horror]

The Agartha Loop [Time Looping Magical Girls]

★ 4.58

RavensDagger

A reupload of the Agartha Loop, with significant fixes.

They asked Amber to become a magical girl three times.

She refused.

That only made her more interesting.

The fourth time, she asked them.

What to expect:
-Magical Girl Shenanigans
-Cute stuff
-Lesbians across the spectrum of usefulness
-Existential horror
-Interesting worldbuilding and interlinked magical systems
-Conspiracies and mysteries
-A time-looping main character
-ProgressionFantasy gimmicks

The Wicked House of Caroline

★ 4.68

Aila Aurie

Rebecca of Caroline, known to her family as "Beks", spent two decades preparing to become a tool for the kingdom as the Queen’s foster daughter and as the child “destined to bring the kingdom to prosperity”, but twenty years of meticulous planning begin to falter after the Queen dies and the role she has been prepared for starts to slip away.

However, she made a promise to the dying Queen.

“If my sons are unable, you must ensure the stability of the kingdom. No matter what personal cost, the kingdom must come first. Swear to me.”

The promise becomes difficult to keep when a new oracle appears, foster brothers go missing, and the kingdom she was trained to support since age three uses her and her family as a scapegoat.

If she's going to ensure the stability of the kingdom, she may just have to retake it.

But before she can, she needs to survive.

[Family] [Slow-ish Burn] [Multiple Love Interests] [Some Romance, but it's not the focus] [Magical Pets]
Updates: Tuesdays & Thursdays

REND: Prior Cycle (Old Version)

★ 4.56

Temple

Erind Hartwell, a first-year law student with psychopathic tendencies and an obsessive compulsion to follow an arbitrary set of Rules, tries to live a normal life in a world where superhumans battle eldritch horrors invading minds. Society frowned on different, and she was content with playing along if the world didn't bother her. That was one of the many Rules she followed.

Unfortunately, the world couldn't help but bother Erind's normal life. On the brink of death, an entity offered powers to save her. Left with no other choice, she accepted it, changing into a new form—the first of many that'll allow her to bother the world that bothered her.

Cover is part of a wallpaper art commissioned from CristianAC.
Also published on Scribblehub.

Reaping Autumn

★ 4.82

NickKidd

I am not an omen of death. I hope.

It isn't easy fitting in when your closest friend is a ghost. Autumn just wants to understand her unholy powers before she hurts anyone else. But when a desperate spirit leads her into the forest, she uncovers a string of disappearances and a terror stalking in the shadows. With one foot in the realm of the dead, she must work with an unlikely group to confront Greenfield's secrets before the forest swallows someone else.

- Urban paranormal horror

- Latina protagonist

- Ghosts, grief & girlhood

- Hidden town secrets

- Reluctant hero

- Coming of age meets murder mystery

This book comes with a Spotify playlist to help set the mood: Click here
Get more at ReapingAutumn.com

(BTW, I just had a baby and chapters take me a bit. So if it says I'm on hiatus, I'm not. I'm just slow.)

Please enjoy! Review and comment if you like it!

Shout code here!

Dragon Spar: The Game Maker LitRPG Series [Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG – Book 1 Complete, Book 2 Updating]

★ 4.75

keeganashleylive

What happened when my Dad was plucked from this universe and kidnapped into a post-apocalyptic, gritty fantasy, video-game-like world? I went after him, of course.

Things turned dark. Lies swarmed thicker than the zombies and dragons. ...And the truth? ...Did I really want to know it? The Gamers set my father's execution date—their hatred of him made me wonder what he could have done. When I found out, I, also, found I was irrevocably tied to The Game, and there wasn't any going back now. There wasn't anymore hiding under the covers. Because I either stood up and fought for what I believed in, or The Game world that held the keys to a past I couldn't remember died forever.

I was the last Game Maker. It was time I made my Game.

...No pressure...

Fight the dragon

or fight yourself.

Fight for what you stand for

or what you won't.

Choose your path, Game Maker;

make your game.

Sometimes, the hardest choice

is which hill you'd be

willing to die on.

- The Grand Dragon

A Cursed Cleaning [STUBBED!]

★ 4.81

Ellen Taylor

***THIS ENTIRE BOOK WILL BE STUBBING ON AUGUST 15th, 2025***

“In seven days, they will come. In seven days, they will destroy. If you want to survive, you must get your house in order. Follow your to-do list, and you will be protected.”

She woke up in a house she doesn’t remember nestled in an isolated forest. She doesn’t remember her name, has no recollection of who she is, and a disembodied voice warns her to follow the rules, or face the consequences.

Despite the fear, worry, and amnesia, she follows the list to clean the house and start a farm. Perhaps there are clues in this house to help her remember who she was, and why she’s here. Despite the isolation, maybe she can make things work.

She soon discovers she’s not as isolated as she thought….

What to expect:

Cozy farming and house décor, except its horror. So… uncozy?

Kind female main character who gets scared easily

Slow-burn in both horror and character development

Isolation, meaning no romance or harem

Notes on the tags:

This is not a gory horror story, though there are occasional scenes of violence, so the tag is there for those few scenes

Sensitivity tags are there, but this story will not go as dark as my other story, The Warrior (IYKYK)

[Winner of the November 2024 writathon]

This story is COMPLETE!

These games inspired this novel:

We Harvest Shadows

Pumpkin Panic

Kingdom Two Crowns

Cover by JV arts

Epilogue

★ 4.63

Etzoli

Revised version now available! Amazon paperback, ebook, audiobook, Kobo, B&N, Google

In the war-torn land of Cyraveil, four heroes strove to overthrow an empire. By cold steel and elemental sorcery, they brought peace to a warring land on the brink of destruction. As the flames died, the realm needed strong leadership, and who better than the champions who had saved the kingdom? But when the people sought out their saviors... they vanished.

Matt, Blake, Jen, and Carl: the four mysterious companions, who together had deposed an insane ruler and saved countless lives, were gone—spirited back in a whirlwind of magic to a sleepy suburb in Mellbridge, Oregon, never to return. The friends found themselves home in the real world, exactly as they'd been the night they were taken, as if no time had passed... except only three came back.

Hi there! This was my entry for National Novel Writing Month, because why only write one series at a time? The more the merrier! (meanwhile, my keyboard bursts into flames...)

I'm also the writer of The Last Science, an ongoing low-fantasy/speculative sci-fi series. If you're familiar with that, you know what to expect here: lots of character-focused drama and dialogue, not a whole lot of traditional action. However, I'm writing a bit differently than usual here, and in a very different structure, so there should be some surprises for returning readers. I hope you enjoy it!

[Discord] — for those of you who want to hang out and chat.

Cover art (fullsize): Path of Revelation, by taenaron (Tobias Roetsch), modified by Etzoli. Normally I like to do my own cover art from scratch, but I was in a rush for the contest. Might be replaced down the line if I get time.

[winner of the NaNoWriMo Royal Road 2018 challenge—Most Favorites]

Touch

★ 4.65

Rhythminthemind

Touch is a story about a boy named James, and his friends: a group of young, superpowered people brought together by trauma; all trying, in their own ways, to come to terms with what that trauma means to them and who they want to be in response to it. This is a learning process, and mistakes are made, but they grow, learn, and adapt to these difficulties in ways that some might say only young people can.

While it may look it at first, this is not intended as a sad story, merely an honest one. I wanted to make the characters human, and unfortunately, that means that difficulties hit them in very real ways through the story, but then again, they have some equally human moments of warmth between one another as they grow.

Triggers: Explores the aftereffects and recovery process of sexual abuse, and some other forms of physical abuse. I like to think I avoided making it edgy, but you deserve to be informed. Some readers have told me that it can feel a bit too real at times. A bit too honest.

If you like what you read, feel free to comment or review. I like the feedback. Or you can vote for Touch on TopWebFiction.

Touch also now has both a Discord and a Patreon!

Updates weekly.