Look for the Dark

As you reach the tree line you slow to a jog and then a walk. Soft tended lawn makes way to wild grass, mossy roots, and low shrubs. The tender soles of your bare feet are poked and scratched as you enter the forest proper. Taking each step carefully you creep forward. The canopy above sways to the rustling wind and blocks much of the moon’s light sending you into a deep darkness. But this was nothing compared to what you were looking for. Your eyes scan between the trunks looking for a darkness so deep it would make this dim light seem like midday.

“Vespera.” You say in low but firm voice. You did not believe yelling would have helped but it would have let anybody or anything else outside know of your location. “Vespera, it’s Jacob. I’m coming. I’m coming Ves. We’ll be together again soon.”

Careful to keep your protective shawl covering as much of you as it could you make slow but steady progress through the dense forest. You stumble a few times, you get a few bruises and scrapes, but you keep on going. All you could think about is your sister alone in that terrible emptiness.

“Vespera. Vespera. Come to me, please.”

There is a noise nearby though you don’t make it out. Stopping dead you tilt your head to listen more closely, your wide eyes scan left and right looking for a blot of purest black.

“Ves?”

“Jacob.” A thousand individually nearly silent voices made one stronger one says back.

“Ves!” It is her! Your head turns back and forth looking for before, at last, you see the inky blot of dark nothingness that cloaks her descending from the high branches of the trees. Floating in the center you see her pale white face get closer and closer.

Holding your arms out, offering her the embrace that had been interrupted from before, you are surprised as she actually recognizes and accepts your endearing gesture. She slips noiselessly down into your arms, you blush as you grope through the dark and fill your hand with a familiarly shaped soft globe. With a hot blush rushing to your cheeks you quickly move your hand off of the unmistakable contours of a woman’s bare breast and slip your arms around her slender hourglass waist. As gently as before you feel her tentacles engulf you in a hug. Her all encompassing embrace isn’t precisely warm but it does shield you from the cool wind. The smaller tentacles of her hair caress your face with tenderness and affection.

“Together.”

“Yes, together. You don’t have to be alone anymore.” You whisper as you hug her tight. “Hey, uh, sorry I grabbed your boob.” Even now you could feel her exposed breasts pushing into your chest, the flesh a bit firmer than a human’s but feeling generally similar. If it were possible for light to bounce off of her you realize now that you’d be looking at a very naked twin sister. You hold the hug a long time. “God I missed you. Did that spell hurt you?”

“Bright.” Is all she says in return. She didn’t seem any worse for wear, the spell seeming just an inconvenience, though you really couldn’t tell.

“It certainly was.” Around you the sights and sounds of the forest had faded away and you found yourself in that unsettling abyss that surrounded her. “Hey, can I get some light again. Just a little so I can see.”

The light level rises again and the sound of the forest return. You can barely make out the shape of Vespera’s tentacles slowly shifting and moving around her outlined by the pale dappled moonlight that gave the forest a soft glow. Even with the gloom around her reduced her skin simply rejected or absorbed any light hitting it. The visual effect of this very unnatural property being deeply unnerving to look upon but you knew you’d have to get used to it.

You are **** to push some of her tendrils away as they begin probing too deeply into your nostrils and ears, some had begun trying to pull your lips apart and others were snaking into the spaces of your pajamas.

“Gentle.” You remind her. “Be gentle.”

“Gentle.” The tendrils retract.

“You can touch but you just have to be careful. Like this.” You reach up and run your fingertips across her white cheek, that wonderful sensation of softness from the thousands of tiny filaments that made up her face tickling you. Mimicking your movements she does the same back to you. Seeing her eyes up close is yet another disturbing experience. They shone like glass, though not through by any earthy light, yet as you stare into them you see an endless infinity of twinkling and shifting star like points of light. You don’t mean to say it aloud yet in your awe you whisper. “What are you?”

“Vespera.”

You smile. “Yes, of course. And that’s all you need to be.”

You hear voices, echoes from the past. Your father, “Whatever she is, she scares me.” Your mother’s sorrowful reply, “Me too darling.” Grandma, “That thing is not right, we can’t have her here. She could be a threat to everything.” Devany, “I don’t feel safe around her.” Bron’s growl, “She’s a freak. I don’t want her here!” Ciara, “I am scared. What does she want?” And even young Lucian, “Don’t let her hurt me Mom, she frightens me.”

“Alone.”

“I’m so sorry. They don’t…understand you like I do.” You take one of her tentacles and squeeze it tight in your hand and the pair of you share a quiet moment. You can’t be sure of course but you choose to believe that she is comforted by it.

Then, shamefully, comes your own voice from earlier this very night. “She is terrifying! I hate her!”

“Sadness.”

“No! No, Ves.” You grip her shoulders and stare into her middle set of eyes. “I never meant those words! You have to understand Vespera, I was trying…”

Her eyes glimmer and for just an instant her mouth shows the hint of a smirk. Did you see that right?

You look at her suspiciously. “Wait. Are you…teasing me?” A tentacle wraps around your wrist and squeezes way too hard, the bones begin to crunch and pop in her effortless grip. “AHHH! No, gentle!”

She pulls back quickly. “Gentle.”

Stepping back away from her you rub your sore, but thankfully uninjured, wrist then point at her accusingly. “You were teasing me! Ha! That’s not fair.”

Her white mask of a face tilts to the left showing no emotion yet glowing just a touch brighter.

“I’ll remember that.” You warn jokingly. After a moment’s thought you say. “What about Beatrix? I didn’t hear Trixie’s voice there. Was she afraid of you?”

You then hear your little sister’s sing-song voice. “Vespy! Hey, long time no see. How ya doin Sis? I don’t know about you but I’m havin a terrible day. I had to turn down another date at school today. But he was sooooo cute. I nearly melted! Ohh my God. I asked grandma to brew me up a Forget Me potion but she said we really shouldn’t be doing that again. Oh my God, I’m tellin ya though Vessy, he was soooo cute. Okay, first he had his hair all brushed over like this…” Trixie’s voice fades though you knew she’d probably talked like that for twenty minutes straight without a break. You cannot help but grin. That was the most Trixie thing you’d ever heard. Of course, of all of them, she’d be the one not to be frightened. You couldn’t imagine much scaring your vivacious fun loving little sis.

“Well things are going to change. They’re going to learn you are a part of this family whether they like it or not, and me too.” You tell her. “They won’t talk about you like that anymore. Not while I’m around. We’re both oddballs in this weird family, we Devlin twins gotta stick together.”

“Together.”

“Heck yeah.” You then think of your troubling encounter with your father. “But…you have to give me a bit of time. I need to figure some things out first.” Straightening up you say in an upbeat tone. “But tonight is our birthday. This is our night. Let’s have some fun, let’s get to know each other. We have so much catching up to do.” You clap your hands. “So what do you want to do Ves? Name it, anything at all.”

***

Author's Note: Spoiler, it's not gonna be lewd quite yet. Didn't want to get any hopes up for the next chapter.