Blessed by Night

Mal couldn't understand the feeling of danger that he felt, but he knew he had to act on it.

With a shove, he sent the centipede he was holding onto flying through the air like a kite, and he immediately rushed to grab Joanne and put some space between them and the creature in the form of a child.

He very nearly gave her whiplash with how fast he moved, but there was absolutely no way in hell that he was going to let Joanne get so much as a scratch ever again.

A pool of shadows opened up beneath the two of them and he immediately dropped her into it- sending her safety onto the couch in his living room.

He threw out his hand to get everyone else to safety too, but in that instant the child appeared right in front of him and grabbed his wrist to stop him.

It's unnerving red eyes bore into Malachi relentlessly, almost as if it were looking for some kind of explanation on his face.

When it found none, it's frown only deepened.

It spoke in a language that Mal had never heard, but easily understood.

"Who... or what... are you? I do not recognize your bloodline."

By now, Mal was certain that the creature in front of him was an intelligent nightmare, just like him.

But also, much more powerful than he was.

To such a degree that he hardly even considered fighting and instead was only focused on getting his people out of here.

"Malachi!"

"What's going on?!"

"Why is that kid so fast?!"

The rest of Mal's group was already running to approach him, and he started to panic a bit internally.

"Go home!"

At Mal's behest, the shadows rose up from the ground and swallowed all five of them in an instant- sending them right back to the base.

"You use this world's power..? How are you even capable of such a thing?" The child asked in a robotic yet clearly stunned tone.

Once Mal put a safe enough distance between himself and the strange child, he warily tried to begin some kind of conversation with it.

"Don't know if you can understand me or not... but I'm a different kind of cocktail than whatever you are."

Like Malachi, at first the child did not seem to understand the language his words were in, but the intent was conveyed all the same.

"Not like me... but like me..? Elaborate."

Mal transformed into a seven foot tall nightmare with four snake-like tails and a face containing only a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Possibly out of respect, the child changed too.

But Mal really...really wished that he wouldn't have.

Standing above him now was a creature so large that it was taller than most buildings he had ever seen, and it had a body that spanned over several miles in size.

It was a crab-like creature, with six legs covered in hard black armor that looked to be nigh impenetrable.

It's upper body was somewhat humanoid, with a spidery torso and enormous claws that seemed like they could have cut a city in half in one fell swoop.

While it did not possess very much muscular definition, it hardly seemed to need it.

It's large and powerful jaws seemed like they were more than capable of crunching up anything in their reach.

Burning red eyes stared down at Malachi with a weight that felt like it could crush his soul- further cementing this fear that he felt within him.

He was glad that his digestive system was basically just for decoration at this point, because he surely would have shit himself if it hadn't been.

"...Small. Were it not for your intelligence I would not think you a high breed."

'Yea, thanks for rubbing it in, big guy...'

Mal wanted to back away, but his legs would no longer move.

This was a phantasmal nightmare, and a real one unlike him.

Mal only briefly revisited the thought of fighting against the creature before immediately dismissing the idea.

That would be so monumentally fantastically stupid of him that he didn't even harbor the notion for more than half a second.

He knew that the girls would never forgive him if he died so stupidly.

'My girls..'

The memory of the women he loved more than anything else in his life made him snap back to reality, albeit only briefly.

Now that his mind was a bit more clear, he did the only thing that he could have in this situation.

He ran.

Since his body was currently engulfed in the shadows produced when the spider nightmare showed up, all he had to do was let his body fall back and carry himself home.

The last thing he saw before the portal closed was the very confused and somewhat exhausted looking face of the nightmare he was so desperately escaping from.

Once he was gone, the creature shrank back to normal size almost instantaneously and kept looking at the spot where Malachi disappeared.

"Not a talkative one, are you? A pity I still require answers."

-

Mal's back hit the cold floor of his quarters and he immediately changed back to normal upon realizing he was safe.

Well... moderately safe.

...From the nightmare at least.

"YOU BASTARD!"

"ACK!"

Out of nowhere, Joanne leapt on top of Malachi and her hands found her way around his throat.

Like a scene from a famous cartoon, she began to strangle him with all of her frustrations channeled into the act.

"How could you just toss me aside like that?! I'm not incompetent you know? You could have let me help you!"

Gradually, Mal overpowered Joanne and removed her hands from around his neck so that he could actually speak.

"If you're expecting an apology from me.. you won't get one. Not about this."

"What does that mean!?"

"It means that I care about you! And even if I can not guarantee my own life I will always make sure you have yours! Nothing else matters to me, Joanne!"

Joanne ground her teeth together until it seemed like she was going to turn them into powder.

A wave of emotions washed over her chest; all of which she felt unable to contain.

She grabbed Malachi roughly by his shirt collar before she kissed him forcefully and with unhidden desperation.

And though he was surprised, Mal did not pull away from her.

Hell, right now he felt like he really needed this.

But when their bodies were pressed so close together like this, it was hard for Joanne not to notice the state his body was in.

"Hey... why is your heart beating so fast?" she asked exhaustedly.

"Tell you later.."

Mal quickly pulled Joanne's lips back to his and their kiss resumed, quickly picking up intensity and fervor.

*Clatter*

The two lovebirds froze dead in their tracks as they heard the sound of something being dropped.

Looking up, they found Camille and Nadine with their heads peaking out of a doorway.

Cami seemed to have accidentally dropped her bottle of milk, and in doing so alerted Mal and Joanne to the fact that they were being spied on.

"Uh-oh..."

Nadine grimaced slightly as she picked up her daughter's bottle.

"...Cami honey, remind mommy to teach you about stealth as soon as you can go to the bathroom on your own."