Custom: Beldam (Cryptids 12)

## Physical Appearance

The upper half of Deli's body is still her original body's skeleton, skinny from all the work she did in life. She sewed on buttons for eyes and has a long neck and arms for unknown reasons. Her lower body is an arachnoid abdomen usually covered by a flowing dress with four spidery legs. She ate her hands off and replaced them with sewing needles.

## Personality

Deli was originally a kind girl who obeyed the rules, but when entering captivity for 2 years she grew desperate to escape. When she was sent to the shops, she found out how to talk to the devils, becoming powerful and immortal; but she had to consume people's souls to do this.

She became obsessed with killing people to be immortal, but later found out it would be easier to take a child's soul. This is when she started sewing buttons in their eyes and trapping them in a supernatural mirror in a parallel universe she created. It seems likely she enjoys the killing of children even though she does not have a choice if she wants to be immortal. However, she genuinely loved her first victim but insanity took over as she longed to be immortal.

## Skills and abilities

* **Immortality**: If Deli eats the souls of childrens, she can be immortal. Despite this, she still ages.
* **Shapeshifting**: Deli can transform into whatever she pleases, but only for a limited time because despite her power of immortality she still ages and decays out of what she shapeshifts into, usually children's mothers.
* **Sorcery**: Deli technically became a witch when turning to the devils for help. It is lucky she had the power to actually communicate with them.

## Relationships

### **Mother**

For 13 years it is presumed Deli and her mother had a positive relationship. By her 14th birthday, she went into slavery, by her mother, and locked in a tiny dark room sewing dolls. She developed a hatred of her mother, and when she was let out she immediately went to the devils. Eventually, Deli sewed buttons onto her mother's eyes and buried her alive. Her mother seemed to show remorse when being buried, although it may of been an act to avoid being buried.

### **Devils**

Although the devils helped her, they could not resist giving Deli jobs to be immortal; eating peoples' souls. They also made her keep aging through immortality. Centuries later, there are subtle hints Deli looks up to Satan.

### **The Cat**

A few years before Coraline met Deli, a feral, scrawny, smart black cat lived in the area, and found the Other World. He enjoyed killing the rats there to ruin the Beldam's immortality plans, and she disliked him for it. For the next few years she failed to catch him, and he continued raiding her world. She later concluded he was no threat and just a weak little cat that couldn't get in her way. However, he played a big role in helping Coraline find the ghost eyes, leading to the Beldam's demise. He joined Coraline when she confirmed Deli, who called him vermin but otherwise ignored him. Coraline soon threw the cat at her face, and he blinded her and fled the world.

### **Coraline Jones**

Deli's fourth victim was to be Coraline Jones in early 2002. As with the previous victim, she did not care about the children whatsoever anymore and was in it for immortality, not love. However, she made the mistake of trapping Coraline in the supernatural mirror for punishment, and the ghosts of her other victims told Coraline of the Beldam's true nature. Nonetheless, Coraline escaped into the real world, but had to go back to the Other World when Deli took her real parents. She and Coraline made a deal that if Coraline found the ghost children's eyes, she and everyone could go but if she failed she would let Deli sew buttons over her eyes. Coraline and the Cat found the eyes, but the Beldam cheated and refused to let Coraline go, but using the cat, Coraline blinded Deli and severed her hand, locking the door of the Other World forever.

In a last attempt to get Coraline, Deli's severed hand chased Coraline into the woods, where she planned to throw the key down an old well. In the end, the Beldam's broken hand was wrapped up and accompanied the key down the well.

## Trivia

* In this version of *Coraline*, the Beldam did pass the little doll to Wybie through the well from the Other World, meaning yes, she can get the key and escape into the Real World. Seeing as the events were in 2002, she (being blind) obviously didn't find the key and did not survive.