Blessed by Night

When Aisha heard her girlfriend call out for her parents, at first she was confused by the absence of any new inhabitants within the room.

Because no matter how hard she looked, she didn't see anyone that her girlfriend could have possibly been talking to.

"D-Don't call me a blubber baby, why are the two of you so calm about this!?" Aubrey yelled at the wall while waving her fists in the air.

"That's a really big snake..." Thea muttered quietly.

"Eh? What snake?"

"Ah... you don't have the sight, huh sweet cheeks?"

"D-Don't call me sweet cheeks and what sight are you talking about!?"

Briefly, Aisha recalled the occasion where she and her girlfriend traveled to the cemetery to look for her parents.

Back then, she couldn't see anything while Aubrey could see a plethora of dead souls.

"Oh... That sight."

Thea chuckled as she delicately placed her fingers over Aisha's left eye.

Spreading her fingers just a bit and whispering into her ear, Thea was able to give her some much needed clarity on the situation.

Now, Aisha could definitely see the very large ethereal green serpent wrapped around the room.

"S-Snake!"

Normally, Aisha wasn't really afraid of snakes since her best friend had four of them coming out of his back.

However, none of them were large enough to wrap around her entire room or swallow her from head to toe.

The serpent seemed to have finally noticed her with her scream, and it slithered over to her so that it could take her into full view.

"...A-Dog?"

"Uncle Marcus!?"

"How've you been, kiddo? You've gotten so big and pretty! I bet your dad gets worried every time you step out of the house." In a horrifying display, the snake tried it's best to smile.

"Oh? Let me see!"

Suddenly, another ghost floated into view and this one was much friendlier in appearance.

She was a woman in around her mid-forties, with a naturally brilliant youth and vibrance that she insisted came from many years of 'Minding My Own Damn Business.'

Like Aubrey, she had thick and curly hair that stopped at just around shoulder length instead of coming all the way down her back.

Her features were warm and vibrant, her demeanor fun and motherly, and her chest emphasized.

Which conversely, is how Aisha discovered her attraction to women at the ripe old age of 13.

"Aisha sweetie, it's been too long! When did you girls get so big!?"

'I forgot that you were always big...' Aisha let her gaze hit the floor while she was embraced by her Aunt Felicia for the first time in over five years.

Or at least she tried to, but she noticed the blonde-haired vixen that was practically glued to her side. "Oh, hello. What's your name, dearie?"

Even Papa Marcus moved closer to inspect the girl who was beautiful enough to put any model to shame.

"My name is Thea, ma'am. It is a pleasure to meet you." Thea bowed.

Felicia: "So proper..."

Marcus: "So bougie."

Felicia elbowed her husband in the scales. "Shut up, doofus, it might be customary wherever she's from."

"Oh, right, my bad." The snake performed it's own little bow in apology, making Thea laugh.

"What's someone as polite and sophisticated as you doing hanging around our girls, hm? They aren't exactly tea at the palace types from what we remember." Felicia admitted.

Aubrey / Aisha: "HEY!"

"See? What young lady yells like that?"

"Aubrey has Haitian in her blood, but I don't know what A-Dog's excuse is." Marcus muttered. "Probably T's influence."

Aisha could neither confirm nor deny that a prolonged amount of time spent with her father had shaped her current personality.

Thea smiled as she took Aisha under one arm and snatched up Aubrey's hand. "Actually, I am trying to get them to marry me. I've fallen quite hard for them, you see."

""Eh...?""

Nyx had kept Marcus and Felicia up to date on lots of the happenings on earth.

But there were certain things that she had omitted to tell them for a variety of reasons; all of them entirely justifiable.

She hadn't told the two of them about Aubrey's attraction to women because she didn't want to tell them how it happened, and she figured that would have been something that Aubrey wanted to tell them herself one day.

As such, they were learning about this bit of information for the very first time.

Aubrey stammered as she tried to figure out what to say and missed the mark several times. "I-I, y'see, the thing is..."

"Somebody owes me some motherfucking money."

"Eh?"

Aubrey regained focus only to realize that Marcus and Felicia seemed to be having a conversation all on their own.

"Don't think I forgot, big boy. I still want my lil' chunk of change from you and Trevor."

"That was so long ago, you need to learn how to let shit go..."

"The hell I do."

"We don't even need money anymore! The hell are you gonna do with 100 dollars?!"

"Frame it on Big Mama's dresser above our box. Just so that she'll never forget that I'm smarter than you."

"Ooh, you make me sick."

"Take some Nyquil, babyboy, you'll be fine."

Aubrey rubbed her head as she tried to piece together the situation in her mind. "I'm sorry... What is going on here?"

Like magic, the Saint couple finally realized that they had been ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Our bad." Felicia blushed. "We just rehashing an old bet."

"A bet? What bet!?" Aubrey cried.

"Well, when y'all were young, I told your father and your Uncle Trevor that they were going to warp you girls' tastes permanently if they kept being overprotective like they were."

Briefly, Aisha and Aubrey thought back to their childhoods.

From the moment that they were cognizant, their fathers drilled the same lessons into their heads.

'Men are trash.'

'If he's blinking, he's lying.'

'Boys only want to give you cooties so stay away.'

'They ain't shit, they ain't never gonna be shit, you're better off without them.'

'Your daddy, your uncle, and Malachi are all you got in this life.'

'You better not even be alone in the same room with a man until you're 62.'

Things like that were said frequently.

""Oh...."" The girls muttered in unison.

"S-So you're not mad at her or… me?" Aisha whispered.

Her mind flashed back to the dungeon over a year ago where she encountered the mimic of her auntie and suffered a crushing defeat.

"Why would we be mad? Y'all are already grown and out the house, so you can do what you wanna do at this point. So if you guys wanna marry this little princess from wherever then-"

""W-We're not marrying Thea!""

The princess in question deflated and even poked out her lips in a pout.

Aubrey and Aisha ignored her to hug each other and pressed their faces together.

"WE are the ones who are dating, not us and Thea!" Aubrey corrected.

""Ohh…"" the pair nodded in understanding.

"Just you two, right?" Marcus clarified.

"Yes, dad."

"That's good. I'm glad you two didn't fall into all of that glitz and glamor of dual partnership stuff." Felicia rolled her eyes.

""Uhh.....""

"I'm a little disappointed that we won't be getting grand children anytime soon, but I suppose I can just rely on your brother for that... Unless you got something else you wanna tell me?" Felicia asked suspiciously.

"Ah... I-I do, but it's not what you're thinking..." Aubrey muttered.

"Well, what is it then? Go on girlie, spit it out."

- 2 Minutes Later...

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Aubrey, Thea, and Aisha waited patiently as they allowed the ghosts of the Saint couple to fully come to terms with the bombshells that were dropped on top of them, one right after the other.

In hindsight Aubrey felt like she should have done a better job at controlling her facial expressions and keeping the secrets, but it was difficult at the time.

Felicia: "...We're going to find that boy."

Marcus: "Take us to him please, Aubrey."

"W-Wait!" Aubrey held up her hands in surrender. "C-Can't that wait!? I have so many questions! Why is dad a snake!? Why do you guys seem so cavalier about reuniting after all this time!? Why is dad a snake!?

And who is Big Mama!?"

""Nyx."" the two answered in unison like it was obvious.

"That is the least important question here, so why is that the one you answered first!?"

"See what I mean about the yelling?" Felicia whispered discreetly to Thea.

"Ma!"

Suddenly, Marcus' body shrank and he began to resemble the appearance he had when he was alive.

He had dreadlocks like Malachi, but his were much shorter and only touched around his neck area.

He was a skinny man, but lean and with some underlying muscle to his physique.

A dark goatee encircled his lips that seemed to always be turned up in at least a half smile, and like Malachi he had some enlarged fangs within his mouth.

The only thing missing were the glasses he usually wore that, strangely enough he no longer seemed to need.

Likely because those new reptilian eyes of his didn't have many performance issues.

"Your Big Mama said something about monster heritage being resilient, so she's been keeping it under wraps every generation but death is... I have to be honest, I wasn't listening that hard." he shrugged.

Aisha grimaced. "Unc... An all powerful primordial deity was explaining to you the history behind your entire family lineage, and you weren't listening...?"

"She was naked the first time she greeted us."

"Nevermind, I totally get it."

"You feel me?"

Aisha and her Uncle exchanged a discreet fist bump that earned them glares from both their women.

And Thea.

"ANYWAY!" Felicia dismissed angrily. "We're sorry if we're not excitable enough for you, baby girl, but being dead has a weird way of messing with your sense of time...At most, I feel like it's only been a couple of days since I last saw you."

"Well it hasn't..." Aubrey muttered.

Finally, Felicia and Marcus seemed to recognize just how hard of a time Aubrey must've had in their absence, and they smiled at her apologetically.

Together, the two of them embraced her in a hug that was incomparably warm despite their lack of body heat.

"We're sorry, sweetie. We know we should have asked Big Mama to help us get in touch with you sooner, but... With life being so chaotic, it was nice to just... rest for once, you know?"

Aubrey wanted to say no, but she knew exactly what her mother was talking about.

Almost every time that she saw the dead on earth, they were in utter agony.

Ghosts don't just long for a peaceful rest, they physically crave it.

And when they are denied it, they become violent, depressed, or just downright unpleasant.

"We're sorry for how it seemed, but we really did miss you, kiddo. Can you forgive us?" Marcus smiled.

Aubrey wasn't made of stone, and even if she was, she didn't have the energy to be mad at three parents tonight.

"Yea... I get it." she finally agreed.

Her mother kissed her on the cheek before showing her a smile that she vividly remembered from her childhood.

Because it was usually followed by the words, 'Go Get My Belt'.

"Now, where exactly is that man-whorish big brother of yours?"