Blessed by Night

Chapter 280: Shadow & Shadow

After breakfast, Malachi carried Camille to the impromptu daycare center that had been set up in the base.

She was excited because, for the first time ever, the little munchkin wasn't the only baby in the place.

Stepping inside, of a particular room, Malachi was once again greeted by the sight of a space decked out in children's apparel.

Arts and crafts projects on the walls, letters of the alphabet, and even a few childish looking maps and cartoon characters.

In the middle of the floor running around on pallets were a total of seven children.

However, these children were a bit different from normal ones.

They were baby abominations.

Complete with dark tattoos given by Aubrey, these adorable little ones were monstrous beasts no more and instead had become tiny bundles of joy.

Malachi placed Camille on the ground and she excitedly ran up to hug her two friends; a boy and a girl, both of whom had yet to be named.

Though it was unfortunate, the most of the mothers who felt they had a moral obligation to give birth, did not feel an obligation to actually parent these same children.

So none, save for one little boy, actually possessed names or parents.

But they remained carefree irregardless of the holes in their lives.

Camille hugged her girl friend first and then went to hug the other.

However, Mal snatched his daughter back up before she could hug the boy.

"Uwa!?"

"Let's keep it to hand shakes and fist bumps, okay munchkin?"

Malachi felt a hard pinch on his side and a familiar woman suddenly came from behind him to liberate Camille from his arms.

"Stop being such a dad for two seconds... You're going to be the reason she develops an unhealthy relationship with the opposite sex."

Celeste placed Camille back on the ground and the young girl ran to hug her friend; free of parental interruption.

Wearily, Celeste turned around to face Malachi for the first time since their uncomfortable conversation.

"You should understand better than anyone else that she can develop strictly platonic relationships with boys. Your best friends are girls after all."

"Y-Yea, but it's kind of easy to forget that sometimes..." Mal chuckled.

In his defense, Aisha talked about women like an old man who worked a warehouse job, and Serana ate like she was planning to audition for 'My 600 Pound Life' one day.

He would never remember they were girls if they didn't forget to wear bras 90% of the time or talk about their periods.

His friendships aside, Malachi now had a bit of romance on the brain.

Now that he was looking at Celeste, he felt a wave of feelings threatening to jump out of his mouth.

He wanted to ask her how she was doing, pay her a small compliment, or even just strike up a normal conversation.

But her eyes seemed to be pleading for him not make that choice.

And even though he didn't like it, he respected it nonetheless.

"I'll... see you later, Celeste."

"Y-Yea..."

Mal turned away begrudgingly and left the room quickly after giving Camille a kiss goodbye.

Upon stepping into the hallway, he was startled when he found an unnecessarily handsome face leaning against the wall and waiting for him.

"What a painful interaction." Belloc muttered without looking up.

Annoyed, Malachi began walking away without bothering to dignify his comments with a response.

Against his hopes and wishes, Belloc followed him in his tracks.

"Can I help you with something?" Mal groaned.

"We need to talk."

"If I have to talk to one of you, I'd prefer it to be your sister. At least she's sweet and bubbly..." Mal said, already establishing Thea as his favorite.

"A pity. Our old man called her home, and if it's for the reason that I think it is, you're stuck with us for the day." Belloc shrugged.

"I always did have shitty luck... Guess this is why pops told me not to gamble."

As he walked, Malachi sank into the shadows on the floor and attempted to put some distance between himself and the broody dragon.

He reappeared in the lowest section of the base possible.

While it is a place for storage, it now doubles as a prison.

"Cool place."

"!"

Mal nearly jumped out of his skin as he found Belloc standing on the ceiling, with a pool of shadows swaying majestically at his feet.

"Did you just-"

"Steal your power? Absolutely not. I don't know if that kind of assumption should make me laugh or piss me off... I'll make up my mind later."

Mal finally gave up on running away from the dragon and folded his arms across his chest.

"Right... So what do you want to talk about then?"

In the back of his mind, Mal thought this was going to be about Melanie.

Belloc was clearly fond of her and the two seemed to be growing close, so he thought maybe the dragon would have a bone to pick with him as the guy that broke her heart.

And Mal didn't really have the time or patience for something so... high school.

"The blonde vampire that smells like you. Tell me everything you know about her."

Briefly, Mal seemed to fizzle out as he wanted to make sure that he had indeed heard everything right.

Because there was no way he could have, right?

"I'm sorry... What the fuck are you trying to ask me?"

Belloc finally cracked a smile that was small enough to miss if you weren't paying close attention.

Clearly, he seemed to find this all terribly amusing.

"Down, boy. I would hate to see you lose your life over a woman I don't even want."

"Why.. did you ask about her...?" Mal asked dangerously.

"You won't understand even if I wrote it for you in crayon. Suffice it to say that she took something she shouldn't have, and I can't say my brother and I are all that pleased about it."

In that moment, Malachi's anger deflated half-way as he turned his back on Belloc without a second thought.

"So that's what this is about... I forgot all about it."

"So you do know something."

"Sure do."

"Then you admit that she-"

"Nadine didn't drink dragon blood because she was being greedy for power, or because she meant some kind of disrespect. It was an accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"Not my story to tell. If she's inclined, then she can tell you herself. But if she isn't… tough shit."

Malachi started to walk away, but before he could Belloc said something to once again stop Mal dead in his tracks.

"If I sense her to be lying, I am going to kill her."

Malachi's neck cracked as he looked back at a dragon at an odd angle.

The fangs inside of his mouth poked past his lips and his dark claws ripped out of his fingertips.

"Now tell me… how is that going to happen when you are going to see the grave long before she ever does?"