Whether you are a fan or not, twislash is a small but growing corner of the Twilight fanfiction world. There are many dedicated readers out there who would rather read about Edward being with Jasper, than Edward and...what was her name again?
Here at A Slash in the Dark we're looking forward to highlighting some of the best of vampslash - deliciously dark with a difference.
Betrayal by stitchcat
I’m a big fan of short one-shots. Betrayal is not lengthy, compared to most, at under 2000 words, but in those few words we get the story of one of the most fascinating (IMO) minor characters of the saga. When I read Breaking Dawn, Alistair was one of the few characters I really, truly wanted to know more about, and yet he was so private and enigmatic that we learned almost nothing.
Carlisle. A contradiction I still cannot fathom. He was a God, he was a doctor, he was a vampire and he loved humans. How could this be? I felt nothing but contempt for the cattle that surrounded me, even as they amused me, and I could barely stand to be in the same room as a female; yet here was Carlisle, my compassionate, loving, utterly unattainable man.
Le Sigh. Unrequited slashy love. But it gets better...
I began by accosting a whore and simply slitting her throat with a knife, just to see what the response would be. There was nothing to cause me any disquiet so I continued. Things became more complicated as the Police attempted to catch "the fiend of Whitechapel". I had to give up my plans halfway through several more times until I found my perfect specimen. She had her own room and I was able to dissect her as I wished. Eviscerate – what a wonderful word, it rolls off the tongue, it is almost onomatopoeic. I lost myself in gore, in the feel of flesh parting, of intestines running through my fingers, of removing the parts that make children and examining them closely. It still wasn't enough.
Delicious, no? Now this is a great slash-lite fic. There's no slashy action to speak of (though there is sexual reference), but it is definitely a slash fic. But it's canon as well, because this fic changes absolutely nothing in the source material. The beauty of writing these very minor characters is that there are so many missing moments to work with, and so much undefined personal history to explore. Stitchcat has managed to cleverly work Alistair into the central figure of one of the darkest and most sinister mysteries in modern history. Alistair is Jack, it is very believable, very plausible, down to his reasons for doing what Jack did so well.
Betrayal was Stitchcat’s first twific. First fanfic. The research (or prior knowledge) of the Ripper history is admirable, at least by one who has maybe just the teensiest Ripper obsession (that would be me). Now what I can't understand is why this fic has only 6 reviews. Read it and leave Stitchcat some love! She tells me she's planning to extend it. I'm looking forward to more of Alistair's history, and also more slash!
Underneath BY Newssodark
Jacob and Edward. I will be honest and say that is a pairing I avoided for the longest time when I began to venture into reading slash fics.
Newssodark writes Jacob and Edward in such an intriguing and interesting way that despite my initial apprehensions, I found myself captivated from the very first paragraph.
It's the intoxicating scent of blood and wolf that brings Edward out of the book that he's reading, and that pulls his attention away from the thrall of Bella's deep, even breathing where she sleeps in her bed next to him.
Though this is set in an alternative post-New Moon universe, there are times when I find myself forgetting what is canon, swept along on a feeling that this is the real story. Somehow, the idea that Jacob and Edward could be something more than mortal enemies has never felt so right.
It's not an easy journey for either of them. The wolf/vampire relationship, of course, sets the story up for some awfully painful angst, but it is the horrific, terrifying turn of events that forces Jacob and Edward together that gives this story its dark edge.
He knows. He knows. He remembers. He knows.
He screams.
It tears from his throat like a living thing, razorblades tearing at his insides, his voice wrecked and shattered. He screams until it feels like he's bleeding with it, like his chest is broken open, torn into.
He screams, and he screams, and he screams.
People are there now, arriving and circling around him, and so is leech, Edward. He doesn't care. He ignores them, can't think about them, can't think about anything. Even Bella, who smells so good, who walks to him and drops down next to him once his voice has choked off and he has nothing left, nothing left. He's trembling, his grief unbearable, his mind cracking, his heart broken. He threads the fingers of both hands through his hair and tugs hard, rocking back and forth on his knees.
Bella is still there, touching him, her small hands on his arm and his back. "Jacob," she's saying, teary, "Jacob, oh god, Jake, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
"Not real," Jacob mutters to himself, still rocking, "Not real, not real. Please, please, not real, please!"
Spots dance in front of his eyes, and his body aches so intensely it makes him dizzy. He blinks slowly, over and over again. He looks up, sees Bella's face, her beautiful, teary face. He closes his eyes again and see's his dad, on the floor of their living room, bloody and dead. The pain in his head explodes, and darkness rushes up to meet him.
Inside, he's still screaming.
As you can see, the story is written in third person, present tense. It isn't often you see this style in fanfic, but it's perfect for this story, giving it a dark and moody atmosphere that allows us to see so much more than just what the main protagonists are thinking. While the focus is undoubtedly on Edward and Jacob, the story unfolds slowly with perspectives from the supporting characters; we get the benefit of Alice's gift, we feel what Jasper feels, we empathize with Carlisle and Esme's concern for Jacob's situation. It's the whole story; we see everything:
He looks away, and she watches him carefully, following his gaze to the back corner of the room where Edward is standing set apart from everyone else. Most of the tension leaves Jacob's body suddenly. Rosalie doesn't know if Edward's said something to him through their bond, or if all it takes is a look from his mate to calm Jacob down. He probably doesn't even realize it. It makes Rosalie's heart ache. She doesn't want to lose them. Either of them.
Underneath is angsty and dark, but it's an emotional pull; there are no cliched cruel or sadistic characterizations here. The pain though, is palpable and the haunting undertones linger long after you've finished reading. It is quite simply, some of the most exquisitely heartclenching, gutwrenching writing that I've had the pleasure to read.
This story is not yet complete with thirteen chapters so far. It hasn't updated for a few months but I remain hopeful that we will see more of this enchanting story sometime soon.
Wolfgirl and the Corset BY Darkira
"Yes...I would like to...hurt you..." I purred with equal heat. Suddenly, I realized I really wanted to both hurt her, because she was a wolf, and to please her, because she was a gorgeous girl and I hadn't touched a woman like that in years.
Yep, this is femmeslash. I’ve often said that I don’t ‘do’ femmeslash as a reader (certainly not a writer), but this isn’t strictly true. I don’t seek it out, but on occasion I will read a bit. It has to appeal in a way in which my favourite slash fics appeal, I think. Perhaps because femmeslash, in my limited experience, can tend to be a bit fluffy, and I’m not a huge fan of fluffy, it has to have a wee bit of darkness to pique my curiosity.
I first read Wolfgirl and the Corset when it was entered in the Les Femmes Noires one-shot contest, and it stuck in my mind when so many one-shots are so easily forgotten. Perhaps it’s the vamp/wolf pairing, always popular in my book for the simple fact that it lends itself perfectly to a sense of the forbidden or the distasteful. Because there is nothing better than the sex you shouldn’t be having.
Or perhaps it is the idea of Alice giving Leah a corset piercing.
Swiftly I laced her back, criss-crossing the ribbon from across her back from ring to ring and when I had them all, I tied the silk to a bow, the rest of the silk caressing the skin on her butt when she moved a bit, I exhaled at the sight. Then I tugged at the bow, making her moan while I remembered the other part of this.
Pain... yes, check. Pleasure? She needed more.
We see a side of Alice here that we rarely see, but I certainly won’t say that it’s OOC. It’s feasible that anyone, whether human or vampire or wolf, has something of a darker and more complex side to their character. And Leah shows a vulnerability beneath her hard exterior that is entirely canon.
For an edgy femmeslash fic with a differently dark tone, then don't look any further than Wolfgirl and the Corset.
Write your own dark slash fic!
After many hours spent extensively researching this subject, we've come to one simple conclusion. There simply isn't enough dark slash out there! We want more! Think you are up for the challenge?
Write a dark and vampy o/s for the Slash Backslash V2. contest.
Or the anonymous InTheCloset contest.
Like to push the envelope? The Beyond the Pale contest is the one for you!
If you have any dark/vampy slash recs for us, we'd love to hear them. Email us at deviantsotdark@gmail.com
A Slash in the Dark was brought to you by:
vampireisthenewblack and sweetp-1.
We like to read and write slashy twific. We're two kiwi girls who should know better.
