Blessed by Night

The nightmare tossed Kendrick over his shoulder like he was a random piece of litter.

It began to walk towards Aubrey while making a threatening sound from it's mouths; indicating it's nefarious intentions.

The four girls noticed it's gaze and demeanor had suddenly changed from how they were a second ago, and they backed away accordingly.

"H-He.. wasn't like this last time!" Bianca yelled.

"Well then why is he behaving like this now??" Anna yelled.

The three girls followed the creature's line of sight towards the gray haired girl standing in between them.

At that moment, they conveniently remembered the fact that she was the only one among them who did not share his essence.

That very small detail meant that she would likely not be seen as a safe extension of him.

"A-Aubrey, you need to get away from here right now!"

"We'll buy you as much time to run as we can! Now go!"

Despite the sincere pleas of the girls, Aubrey not only did not move, but instead she started walking towards the hulking monster without a care.

While the girls tried to stop her from going through with whatever scheme she had concocted, Kendrick crawled miserably on the ground as he tried to get as far away from this conflict as possible.

For some reason, his arm had yet to start healing, and he was still losing a steady supply of blood with every second that ticked by.

With his one arm, he reached inside of his pocket and pulled out a small black communication device.

Pressing on it, he immediately heard the annoying voice of Arias on the other line.

"Where are you? The men are reporting that the battle's gone to shit because you suddenly disappeare-"

"Track... my location now.. Get here immediately and help me get out of here..!"

Arias had never in his life heard Kendrick sound so utterly exhausted and abused before, and his silence on the other line was indicative of his surprise.

"...Give me a few minutes."

Kendrick would never know if Arias was going to make it to him in time, because he fainted shortly after he voiced his SOS.

Meanwhile, Aubrey had to wiggle out of the embrace of the girls in order to have a hope at putting her plan into action.

"S-Sorry about this!"

Aubrey snapped her fingers and a golden light shone within her eyes before thick green vines sprang up from the ground and encircled Bianca, Sei, and Anna.

The three girls were hoisted high into the air, and held in place without having the slightest bit of wiggle room.

Bianca's body became completely engulfed in bright red flames, and she started to burn through her restraints rather quickly.

Recognizing she didn't have much time, Aubrey hurriedly ran up to the nightmare and threw herself directly at it.

In a twist that the creature was not expecting, the young girl threw her forearm directly into his mouth like she was trying to feed it.

It was confused, but who in the world was going to turn down free food?

The creature bit down and the metallic taste of blood filled it's mouth, and he heard a small whimper escape the mouth of it's prey.

However, before it could rip flesh from bone, it was filled with a strange feeling that it did not quite understand.

Though it did not understand why, this blood... it was very familiar to him.

So much so that it froze completely and simply let the taste linger in it's mouth.

Aubrey used her free hand to reach out and pat the creature lovingly on the head.

"I always fantasized about being able to do something for you, even though I never expected it to be something like this.

This might be a pretty stupid plan, but I just felt like this was something that I had to do, you know..?

But judging by the fact that you stopped chewing, I think I may be getting through to you if only a bit."

Small pieces of memories started to play within the creature's mind.

But the memories that it was seeing didn't belong to it though.

…Or did they?

"I know that you've got this new condition and all and you're still figuring it out, but I think you should let me help you too.

I know you think your girls are all you need and I understand that, but I love you too, you know..? I want you to rely on me just like all of those years I spent relying on you.

We'll get through this and help you get control no matter what it takes. No matter how many new brothers and sisters we get, you will always be irreplaceable to me, Malachi."

"A.. Au…"

The nightmare creature tried to speak aloud for the first time since it's creation, and Aubrey felt a smile form on her face despite the pain in her arm.

"See? I knew you would be able to hear me. Are you feeling less cannibalistic now, bro?"

Bit by bit, the nightmare's monstrous visage faded away and it's skin dissolved back into nothingness.

Once again, Aubrey was staring at her enchantingly handsome brother who was giving her a sleepy yet horrified look.

"Aubrey…I-I.."

"You're good. Let's keep this incident from our Mom, okay? I think she'd feel better if she didn't know about it."

Unamused, Malachi looked down at her wound in horror.

"Why… aren't you upset? I bit you! A-And you aren't heal-"

"This is nothing. You've sacrificed your all for me so many times before that this doesn't feel like such a big deal in comparison."

"This is definitely a big deal..! How could you have known that I would be able to stop?!"

Aubrey gave her brother the most tender and heartbreaking smile that he had ever seen before.

"Because you're my brother… and I don't care what you turn into, I know that you would never hurt me. Is that enough of an answer?"

Malachi's drowsiness seemed to have finally gotten the best of him, and his knees gave out as a response.

Aubrey caught him easily with her newfound strength, and she lowered his body to the ground gently.

"You're so slow sometimes…"

"Yea, I guess I am. But this just means that you have to keep watching out for me." Aubrey said with a smile.

She watched her brother close his eyes and fall into a comatose-like state before she rubbed the dirt out of his perfect face.

Thunk, thunk, thunk!

Turning around, Aubrey found that all three of Malachi's girlfriends were free from their restraints and had fallen asleep on top of each other, one right after the next.

"Umm… guys..?"

No matter how much Aubrey called, none of the people on the island with her seemed like they were about to wake up anytime soon.

"Shit… how am I supposed to get back if none of you are up to help me?" She muttered.

"I was wondering that too."

A chill ran down Aubrey's spine as she looked behind her and found a blonde haired man who the world seemed to know very well.

Using one hand he held Kendrick's unconscious body over his shoulder, and with the other he held a small black recording device.

"Now this is something, isn't it? The whole world likens me to a monster for the things that I have done, yet we had an actual horror living within our midst.

I wonder if when they see this they will change their minds about just who it is that they should be hunting with all their hearts, don't you?"