Blessed by Night

Chapter 255: What Has Been Lost

That night, Nadine told Malachi a very old and very sad story.

One that she asked him never to repeat to anyone, not even the girls, as it was her greatest shame and regret.

There were multiple points in the story where she had to pause because she started crying.

And when it was done, she looked at Malachi with eyes full of fear.

She worried that he would find her to be an unfit woman for him, and an unreliable mother to their child.

However, Mal knew that neither of those were true and reassured her of his faith in her.

That night, as she cried silently amidst the bodies of her family, she was held by the man she loved more than anything, and he showered her with soft words of understanding and care.

They fell asleep kissing with their faces mere inches away from each other, and what remained of dried tears that covered Nadine's face.

It was still night out when the peaceful sleep of the Saint family was interrupted by an alarm.

Not one that said that they were being attacked.

But the ringing of a communications device.

Malachi groggily held out his hand and a small, white device with a black screen came flying into his hand from across the room.

He barely even looked at the caller before answering and bringing the device up to his ear.

"Hello…?"

"Malachi? Sorry to wake you, kiddo, but do you have a moment…?" Celeste asked from the other line.

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Once Malachi heard his ex girlfriend's mother on the other line, he woke up a bit and sat up on the bed.

Much to the displeasure of Sei, who tried to pull him back down in her sleep.

"I, uh… what's going on?"

"You don't need to sound so awkward about hearing from me… I know things between you and Melanie didn't end… the best. But you and I have established a friendship, haven't we..? I would like it if that didn't have to change."

Mal smiled in the darkness as he ran his hands through his steel grey locks.

"Alright then… just promise me that you won't ask any details about what happened between me and your daughter." He asked.

"…"

"..?"

"… I promise that I will not ask for the rest of the week."

"…It's Friday."

"I know what day it is."

Snickering discreetly, Malachi finally shook his head in defeat.

"Alright then… since it's not next week yet, I gotta assume you called me for something else. What's going on?"

"Yea, about that… we're having a sort of… problem with the refugees you brought… could you grab your sister and meet us in the medical wing?"

Malachi immediately grimaced.

When it came to the nighttime, he did just fine but his baby sister was a bit…

-

"Sleepy…"

"Yea, yea… You're getting heavy, kid."

"You've got super strength, use it bitch.."

"Keres is so much nicer than you…"

Walking through the white coriddor of the nightfall base were a bickering pair of strange siblings.

One was a normal, albeit dangerously charming young woman with long grey hair and a curvaceous body hidden underneath dark blue sweats and a wife beater.

She was riding on the back of her brother like a koala, her eyes only half open and her head resting on his shoulder.

Malachi carried her diligently and with only mild annoyance, his biggest concern being making sure that she didn't drool over his favorite black hoodie.

He was surprised that she had even agreed to come with him in the first place.

The only time he had ever been able to coax her out of bed was when they were kids, and he did it by telling her that he would eat all of her pop tarts.

This time, he had to tell her that she would never be allowed to babysit Cami again, and she got up right away.

Malachi carried his sister all the way to a set of metallic double doors and waited for them to slide open.

As soon as the medical wing was in full view, he heard the familiar sound of screaming.

"Kyaa!! T-The monsters are back!"

"I-I knew they would come for us! We're not safe here!"

"It's the guy who saved us! Hey Mr. Malachi!"

Mal waved his hand at the few refugees who remembered him in a friendly gesture.

Once a few of the others saw him behaving normally and not like some warmongering rapist monster, they started to calm down.

Celeste and a few other young women working in the medical wing came running up to Mal to exchange their greetings.

"Hey guys. Glad you could make it."

"I'm so tired…" Aubrey reminded.

Celeste smiled pitifully. "Sorry about that, little boss, but this couldn't wait. We need you to tell us how you want us to move forward."

The team led Malachi and Aubrey to a special room in the back that had only been used once in all of its founding.

A NICU chamber.

Sitting side by side in an incubation pod were two children.

But they weren't human.

They were abominations.

One had blue skin and white hair and closely resembled a frost ogre.

The other was smaller with green skin and seemed to more closely resemble a goblin.

"This…"Malachi began.

"These two are just the first… A few more of the mothers are due within a couple of days… they are demanding that they be terminated."

"T-That's not exactly… ethical.." Aubrey muttered.

"Neither is what happened to them."

Malachi felt a massive headache forming in his mind.

In fact it was so egregious that he had to put his sister down for fear that he might fall over with them both in tow.

Things like this always gave him a headache.

Old world implications aside, abominations are almost genetically predisposed to possess dangerous amounts of aggression and decreased sense of intelligence and morality.

They also become full grown within a week's time, turning a small problem into a really big one rather quickly.

"Damn…give me a minute, girls."

Reaching in his pocket, Malachi pulled out his favorite earbuds and plugged them into his ears.

He found a nice little corner in the room and sat in it with his back against the wall.

Once the music started to play, he closed his eyes and he started to think.

Three minutes into his first song, he reopened his eyes and pulled his sister aside to discuss a plan he felt would keep everybody happy.