Blessed by Night

Upon seeing Arias, Aubrey was given immediate flashbacks to the night of Immortal Moon's Gala where he had indiscriminately started attacking humans out of the blue, including her.

She had almost died then.

And her brother's mentor had suffered a very serious wound to the chest that resulted in him still being in the hospital even now.

Had her girlfriend not saved her, Aubrey could have been in the same situation, or even worse.

It was a very scary thing to think about.

Back then, she didn't have any powers or any way that she could have possibly defended herself.

But now… things were different.

She had powers of her own, and though she still had a lot to learn about herself and her abilities, she believed that she was more than capable of protecting herself.

And maybe even getting a little revenge along the way.

She wouldn't ever let a man make her afraid ever again.. just as she would never let the world see her as a helpless little lamb who needed the protection of her brother or girlfriend.

"Give me that camera, you bastard…!"

Arias made a slightly stunned and confused expression.

"Hm? Why would I do something like that? The people deserve to see the truth."

"I said give it to me!!"

Aubrey slammed her hand on the ground and a wellspring of magic power flew out.

Arias watched as a giant golden hand reached out to grab him.

His eyes glowed white in color for a brief moment and he materialized a blade of light that cut through Aubrey's construct like it was made of butter.

'I... don't recall any reports of her having powers.... I guess those aren't hair dye and contacts. Which higher could have blessed her to give her an ability like that..?'

The fist construct that Arias had split apart suddenly transformed int two golden bears the size of a pickup truck.

Arias only narrowly managed to avoid the mauling by flying up into the air at the last moment.

With everything he saw Aubrey do, his curiosity was only rising higher and higher.

'Let's see just how much you can show me, Sister Saint.'

"Give me that damn camera!!!"

A fierce wind was whipped up around the young girl and a literal tornado formed in the air.

'She has multiple blessings?! How grand!'

Arias remained motionless as if he were about to take Aubrey's attack head on.

He wanted to know just how much power Aubrey held within, and he could only do that if he saw more and more of the abilities she had hidden inside.

"Ugh..." Kendrick groaned from within his sleep and began tossing and turning on his savior's shoulder.

"Oh shit, I forgot about you."

Arias once again had no choice but to avoid the incoming tornado when he remembered the very heavily injured passenger he was carrying on his shoulder.

Teleporting from one area to another, he reappeared directly beside Aubrey and her slumbering family.

Aubrey only had a moment to be stunned before she lunged at Arias with nothing but an open palm.

Very briefly, a dangerous feeling seeped all the way into Arias' nonexistent bones.

Whatever this new power was...it was a bit too dangerous to study up close.

Arias avoided it by a hair before taking a massive leap back and landing on top of a nearby tree.

"Get back here!"

A thick and fluffy white cloud appeared underneath Aubrey's feet and carried her toward Arias at an alarming speed.

"Sorry, Sister Saint. I'd like to keep playing with you a bit more, but with present company here I don't really know if that would be in my best interest."

"Stop talking and give me that camera, you bastard!"

"I'll come find you soon so that we can do this again. Toodles."

"Son of a bitch!!!'

BOOOOMMM!!!

A strong gust of wind completely ripped the tree that Arias was standing on out of the ground and sent it flying.

Aubrey scoured the area for any sign of her adversary, only to find him nowhere in sight.

'Damn it..!'

Cursing herself internally, she headed back towards the group and loomed over her brother apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Mal... I wasn't able to get that stupid camera back... I.. don't know what he'll do with it."

Though her brother was not awake to say anything, she still felt like she could hear his voice in her head trying to console her.

She smiled wryly as she wiped away her tears, and stared to pull Malachi, Bianca, Sei, and Anna onto her floating cloud.

She didn't know exactly where she was, but... she had to get them all home somehow.

"Should I just pick a direction and fly...?" She wondered.

-

An unknown amount of time later, Malachi finally opened his eyes and realized he was not in bed.

He was somewhere very familiar, in a world full of boundless night and beautiful stars that he would have liked to stay in forever.

"It took you a while to wake up this time. Even in here."

Malachi sat up and found his mother floating upside down a short distance away.

Judging by her soft tone of voice and the look in her inhuman eyes, she had been unbelievably worried about his well being.

She slowly floated towards him and placed her hand on his cheek.

"Even if you don't say anything, I already know how you are feeling. Your sister is fine, my son."

"I bit her..."

"Because she let you."

"I could have done worse."

"But you didn't."

Nyx sat directly in front of Malachi and cupped his face in her hands.

"Even in that state, you still knew that your sister was someone who you didn't want to harm. Can you not be satisfied with that?"

Malachi bit his lip uncomfortably.

He knew he should be glad that nothing worse had happened today, but he couldn't help but feel like some kind of unnatural monster.

As soon as he looked at Kendrick, he just felt so hungry that he could barely even see straight, and his only thoughts were on filling his stomach.

"That guy... what did I do to him?" Malachi asked hoarsely.

Nyx looked like she was unsure of exactly what to say in that moment.

Just as she was about to put together a string of words to make Malachi feel better, she suddenly paused and started to look around.

Malachi raised a brow in confusion as an angelic masculine voice that he didn't recognize started to echo around him.

"My, my! You've been keeping quite the secret from all of us, haven't you, Nyx? How naughty."

Soon, a figure started to materialize in the air beside them, although his visage was rather blurry as if he were a static image.

Malachi didn't recognize the blonde haired man in a black suit, but Nyx knew him painfully well.

"Lucifer..!"

The devil showed a smile worthy of his namesake, as he sat crosslegged on the ground beside them like a long lost best friend.

"I guess I'm in on the secret too now, huh? This'll be so fun for all of us!"