Chapter 361: Dear Sisters, Part
Without skipping a beat, Sammy plopped her suitcase onto my bed, unzipping it, and then unpacking it.
“Nope, all good,” I answered back the voice of worry on the other end of the line, ever so cordial as folded dresses and skirts of every shape and size gradually filled the empty space of my bed. “Just seeing a little insect on my bed, that’s all.”
“An insect?” Ash asked, audibly aghast. “Despite my thorough cleansing only just this morning?”
“Yeah, shocking...” I took a deep breath in. “I’ll call you back. Just gonna squish it real quick. Bye.”
Sammy was halfway done emptying her suitcase by the time Ash bid a bemused farewell back, and when I walked forward, eyeing her all the way, she didn’t even bat an eye at me... instead pausing only once to glance at the little fuzzy black ball by the bedside.
“Aww, you do have a cat, I thought you were just kidding!” She gushed, speaking tenderly as the ball spun its curious eyes towards her. “She’s so cute!”
“He,” I corrected, crossing my arms, not sharing in her newfound delight. “Sammy, what are you doing?”
.....
Sammy wiggled a hearty hello to Mr. Black, before promptly resuming her trespassing of private property.
“Hey,” I found an empty spot by the foot of the bed, and covered any more empty spaces left with my arms before she could fill them. “You got your own bed to do your unpacking.”
At that, she chortled loud and she chortled once, but the look she gave me was not an amused one. “You sure about that?”
“What?” I gaped at her. “You don’t like it? Yeah, I get it isn’t like back at home, but you’re just gonna have to make do with – ”
“It’s a nice room, it’s a nice bed, I really, really love how clean it is, and how soft the sheets are, except there’s just one problem, big bro,” She glanced at me again. “You didn’t tell me it’s already occupied.”
The f...
“Occupied?” I racked my head. Was she joking? Was I losing it? Did I point at Ash’s room by mistake? “What do you mean occupied?”
“No word games, big bro,” She narrowed her lips. “I mean it literally. It’s occupied... and I really, really do not feel like arguing with the occupant currently occupying it.”
I left the foot of the bed, preferring to stand, throwing my gaze as far as I could across the hall towards the guest room. I could curve my spine all I wanted, I wasn’t able to see it from where I was.
“Who’s occupying it?” I asked.
“That’s my line!” She said, plummeting her fists into the now empty depths of the suitcase. “Y’know, you could have at least mentioned you’re housing two vampires instead of one! I nearly had a heart attack!”
Two... vampires...
Oh boy.
Oh no.
Why the hell is she here now?
“Whatever, in any case, I think I like this room better. Feels like I’m back home here more, y’know? Plus there’s the cute meow-meow! Aww ~ !” Scurrying, pattering, Sammy made her way to Mr. Black, stroking and nuzzling it to her heart’s content. “Does he have a name? Hey, does he? You better not have named him something stupid and simple like Black or something.”
“Amelia...” I whispered, my eyes still staring far out the doorway and into the hall.
“Amelia?” She furrowed her brow. “Um, okay, maybe Black is not that bad, I guess.”
I left the bedroom, with Sammy far too busy drowning herself in fur to even notice.
One sister visit in the afternoon isn’t enough, is it? Now I have to go and deal with another.
Tonight, my ass...
What’s with sisters and not arriving at the properly scheduled time? Do we all live in different time zones or something?
On the bright side, I suppose I get to find out what the hell exactly Amelia wants with me sooner than expected... which was nice. But going by prior encounters, I don’t doubt what she has to share with me would be anything in my favor.
But hey, at least it can’t be worse than what my own sister had to share with me, right?
Right?
The door was left hanging ajar, and jumping by the humps and creases formed on the hallway carpet, I’m guessing Sammy must have left in quite a frantic hurry.
What’s with vampires and scaring people, seriously... like even now, despite having seen her more time than I’d care to, just picturing her glower, those harsh black eyes staring back at me beneath the darkness in my eyelids still gives me shivers to this day.
I gently opened the door, it didn’t squeak, nor did anything creak when I precariously stepped deeper in, there was not the slightest sound anywhere adding greatly to the already eerie eeriness permeating the place full.
The blinds were closed, they were thick blinds too, blocking every possible trace of sunlight from bleeding through. My eyes gradually adjusted and from what little I could see, everything looked... normal, pristine, very clean.
When Ash said she was thorough, she really was.
Then, in the darkest, blackest corner lurking deep, that’s where I noticed it – the faintest outline of a slender figure unmoving. I stared at it, and in an even darker shade of black, it stared back at me.
In the silence, icy, sharp, and ever as blood-curdling, it spoke, “So that’s her, is she? The young daughter of the Demon Lord Terestra in the flesh,” a moment after, out from the darkness emerged a fanged-smirk on a pale haunting face. “I must say, she looks more akin to her parentage than you ever will.”
Looking at her, I still can’t at all fathom how that face before me could look so foreboding on one person, and yet also look absolutely adorable on another.
Was it the hair? Her straight jet-black to Adalia’s curly murky grey?
Or the eyes? Stiff here, soft within the other?
Their voices perhaps? Adalia was always a whisper soothing, whereas Amelia while sounding alike, amplified the whisper stern and maybe just a bit too strong for anyone’s liking.
I don’t know. Seriously, these two sisters were two sides of the same coin here.
“You didn’t leave the best of impressions,” I said, closing the door behind me. “Just thought I’d let you know.”
“That isn’t my utmost concern,” She replied, her rigid expression barely changing. “On the contrary, it is you I am unequivocally the most concerned about.”
“Yeah, I kinda figured as much. Though I must say... I was expecting you to show up a bit more later.”
“As did I, to be frank,” Amelia raised one hand before her, staring, I think, admiring the edges of her claws. “Alas, I’ve sensed a strong presence within your household, and presuming it a danger to my sister... I’ve made haste. Imagine my surprise when I overheard this presumed danger utter the words ‘Big bro’ with such fondness. Why in all my years... the daughter and son of Terestra together... I never would have once imagined such a sight before my eyes.”
“Yes, it’s all very heartwarming, isn’t it?” I said, trying not to stare too much at all her sharpened bits. “But let’s not digress... why don’t you tell me already why you’re here?”
“Hmph, I sense impatience.”
“More like annoyance,” I crossed my arms. “I’m squirming for days wondering why the hell you want to see me, so yeah... sympathize here. What do you want?”
“Want...” She slanted her head, smirking again... revealing those fangs that once snarled and yearned to pierce through me. “I don’t want anything from you. I desire nothing from you.”
“Alright, then...?”
“It is my sister. It is she that wants, it is she that desires... and that is what, truly, that I am here for now.”
I felt my breathing immediately stiffen. I had a feeling in the back of my head, a suspicion since way back at the convention. Our talk, our little chatter about love and all this to do with...
What the hell else could Adalia desire?
“I... I see...” I forced out that frozen breath. “Okay... and what is it?”
“I cannot tell you.”
My eyes snapped back right at her. “What?”
“She forbids me to speak of it,” Amelia continued, gracefully taking a seat at the edge of the bed. “In her own words, it is simply embarrassing.”
“So what the – ? What? So what are you even doing here?”
“To see it for myself,” She responded, aloof to my exasperation. “To see if what she truly desires, truly is what she truly desires.”
“I really don’t like your funny words, vampire lady,” I shook my head at her. “I don’t know what any of it means.”
“It means exactly as your sister aforementioned,” She cocked her head, eyeing me in a sadistic, sinister gaze. “For the time being, for as long it takes, this room will be occupied,” then she smiled. “Do you understand my funny words now, magic man?”
Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m