Blessed by Night

When Malachi finally awoke, he only had a second to realize that he was lying in bed before his head was filled with those same horrible useless signals from before.

The dull headache he felt was back in full force and it made him want to fall back into his peacefully oblivious coma.

Suddenly, he felt a small weight sit upon his chest and opened one eye to see Anna's beloved cat sitting on top of him.

"Meow." (You made Anna worry about you, bitch boy.)

"Good to see you too, you furry bitch. How long have I been out?"

"Meow." (Two days. The most peaceful ones of my short life.)

"Why the fuck are you acting like I'm such a loud person?"

"Meow, meow meow!" (You defile my sweet Anna like a beast and I have to listen to you guys go at it all night! My ears are sensitive!)

"That's a problem I will never be able to fix."

"Meow!" (Lay back down and die!)

As Malachi and Marcelline continued their useless argument, a storm of footsteps could suddenly be heard from outside of his bedroom.

Recognizing them immediately, Malachi moved the chocolate brown cat aside so that she wouldn't get hurt.

Bang!

The door came flying open out of the blue, and four women came sailing into the bed atop the recently awakened Malachi.

"You're up!"

"We were all really worried!"

"Are you hurting anywhere?"

Malachi smiled underneath the weight of the women he loved and tried to wrap his arms around them as best he could.

"Slight headache is all, but nothing that staying like this for a while won't cure."

One by one, the girls stole his lips and reaffirmed his earlier statement even further.

"Do you feel like making room for any extras on that bed?"

Malachi pulled his lips away from Anna's and glanced at the doorway where he found some unexpected yet familiar faces.

Nadine, Joanne, and even Serana were smiling at him reassuringly.

Serana: "Please don't lump us in with you, Nadine. You're the only one who's even remotely interested in jumping into his bed."

Joanne: "R-Right…"

Nadine: "Oh? More for me then."

Normally Malachi would have been a bit meaner to Nadine when she flirted with him, but after she had helped Luna regain her ability to have a child, he was significantly less inclined to do so.

"It's good to see you, Nadine. I haven't gotten the chance to thank you yet for all of your help… I really appreciate what you've done for Luna."

Perhaps because Malachi had never actually been nice to her before, Nadine had no real idea how to process it.

Her cheeks gradually reddened, and she started fumbling around with her speech as she desperately looked for some words to say.

"I-It wasn't… much to… I-I… I need to go to the bathroom!"

A gust of wind blew Serana and Joanne's hair into their faces as the bewitching blonde vampire disappeared from the room.

"As many perverted things as she says to me I was expecting her to have a bit thicker skin…" Malachi muttered.

"Okay… I'm glad you're awake Malachi, because there is something I need to talk to you about." Joanne suddenly said.

Malachi didn't know why, but for some reason he felt the tension within the room multiply by leaps and bounds.

"Mom. Not now." Anna said sternly.

Joanne opened her mouth to say something before she inevitably decided against it.

She turned her back to leave the room only for Malachi to teleport directly in front of her.

"Something you want to tell me? Go ahead."

"No, Anna's right… you have only just woken up and I think we can wait to discuss all this unpleasant shit a little later."

"Yea, she's right, Mal.." Serana agreed. "You should just sleep in a little bit more since my mom and everyone really seemed to miss you."

"I'm good. So can you girls just tell me what's going on already?"

Joanne bit her lip and reached inside of her pocket before pulling out of her phone.

After selecting a few buttons, she handed the device to Malachi and let him see things for himself.

A video was pulled up that showed a monster with black skin and four tails with snakes at the end.

The creature was biting into a beautiful young woman with deathly grey hair and a diminutive frame.

Gradually, the creature changed and became a handsome young man with long dreadlocks and dark skin.

Plus a very well known face.

"We're trying to take the video down as fast as it can be uploaded but… most of the damage has already been done I'm afraid…"

Malachi typed in his name within the search bar as a means of confirming her words.

As soon as it popped up, he was greeted with headline after headline and they all seemed to be worse than the next.

In some form or fashion, they were all calling him a monster and making pleas for his capture.

And those were just the nice ones.

He saw more than a few that were calling for his immediate execution before he went out of control and started attacking humans indiscriminately.

He couldn't believe it.

Why didn't they know that he was fighting for them?

All of the battles he had been through in the last week to keep the army of Arias' new day at bay, none of it mattered.

He was just another monster now to them.

It was so absurd and heartbreaking that he almost laughed out of an inability to process his emotions.

'Maybe they're right though… I can't even blame them for thinking like that.'

The headache he felt became worse, and he felt like he needed to go and lay down for a few centuries.

"You probably already figured this out, but… I've been asked to assemble a team and bring you in for questioning and observation." Joanne said with great difficulty.

Immediately, she was met with a flurry of objections and rude comments from all of the girls within the room.

They would have continued to tear her a new one, that is if Malachi had not stopped them out of the blue.

"Girls… just calm down for a moment, yea?"

He looked down at a slightly embarrassed and uncomfortable Joanne and he pulled her out into the living room alone.

Once they were free to talk privately, Malachi held out his wrists in a show of submission.

"What are you doing…?" Joanne asked.

"You're somebody who has my total trust and confidence. And I'm just… tired, Jo. So if you think that going with you is really the right thing for me to do, I'll let you take me."

Joanne looked at Malachi's tired eyes and she felt her heart breaking into two.

Even though he was only twenty, he looked as exhausted as a fifty year old man.

Briefly, she thought about just what would likely be in store for Malachi if she took him to see the president.

As optimistic as she wanted to be… she was unenthusiastic about the possibility of them treating Malachi humanely.

Though he wasn't by any means the kind of person who she needed to worry about, she couldn't help but want to do her part to protect him.

Gently, she placed her hand on top of his wrists and lowered them back down to his sides.

Even as exhausted as he was, Malachi couldn't help but smile at her actions.

"Hey… it's nice to know you have something of a sweet side."

"Shut up… You probably knew that I wouldn't risk my life by taking you away from those crazy women in there."

"Nah, I didn't know what you would do. I was leaving the decision totally up to you."

"You really trust me that much…?"

"Is that surprising? I consider you a really close friend, so of course you have my total confidence."

Joanne couldn't say exactly what was wrong with Malachi's last words, but she felt more than a little pissed.

"Your friend, huh…?"

"Ye-"

"Bastard, now I'm regretting not taking you in."

'…Why though..?' Mal wondered.

Joanne walked away irritability and paused just before she hit the elevator. "I don't think I have to tell you this but…stay out of public eye as much as possible and… go see your sister while you're at it."

Once Aubrey's name was mentioned, Malachi felt his already weary heart drop to the bottom of his feet.

-

A short but firm knock on the door prompted Aisha to open her eyes sleepily.

Climbing off the couch, she moved to answer it and was relatively surprised by who she found waiting outside.

Her best friend was standing directly in front of her, with Anna, Sei, Bianca and Luna waiting behind him silently.

When Aisha saw the sad look in her friend's eyes, she couldn't help but embrace him despite their two decades long promise of : 'none of that mushy shit.'

Finally, she led the group into her living quarters and opened the door to the back room.

There, the group found Aubrey sleeping in bed somewhat restlessly.

A thick blanket of sweat encompassed her body, and her formerly cute and unblemished face was now marred with black veins that were visible from beneath her skin.