Blessed by Night-Chapter 455: A Hell of A Morning

"The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!"

"Ow, ow, fuck! Opal!"

Opal stopped splashing Malachi with her grandmother’s holy oil when she saw his skin begin to smoke.

She leaned in closely and stared at the burns, awestruck.

"Wow... a real demon in the flesh..."

Opal shifted her gaze from Malachi’s burns to his actual face.

She stared at him for a long time with her thoughts written clearly across her face.

"I’m not gonna eat you." Malachi folded his arms.

"I’m going to put this oil on my face just in case." Opal began lathering herself up as a defense.

With the way Malachi looked, she honestly wasn’t sure she’d be able to tell him no if he asked to take a bite out of her.

"So, how dangerous is this new little development of yours?" She asked as she rubbed her face.

Malachi scratched his cheek. "I made a black hole yesterday. And a white hole."

Opal’s eyes almost rocketed out of her skull. "Holy fuck..."

"My family is planning on helping me get everything under control... they seem real gung ho about it, if I’m honest." Malachi sighed as he leaned back into his chair. "I don’t have a whole lot of control at the moment. Even the fact that I was able to get here surprised me."

Opal backed away from Malachi until she was pressed against the wall.

"Well, don’t sneeze and blow me up or something... I just got my nails done, and I really don’t want to die with a fresh set. Feels like a waste of money."

Malachi smiled at Opal in a soft manner.

"No matter what, I could never hurt you. You’re my friend."

"..." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Opal looked over Malachi and stared at Joanne. "Jo, baby, get your man, he’s trying to fuck me."

"That is literally not what he just said."

"Then why’d he say it all sexual like that?"

"I dunno, I think it’s just his voice now? I’m glad it works on you too, though, since I was sure I was just losing my mind from ovulating."

There were almost no words to describe just how Malachi felt in that moment. The closest he could get to it was embarrassment.

"And on that note..."

Joanne suddenly stood up and pulled her husband to his feet along with her.

"I’m afraid we’ve got to head home and deal with that very particular itch. Please let us know if we can help you find that Kincaid guy or any of his associates."

"Oh, oh, oh, wait a second!"

Opal suddenly rushed over to one of her filing cabinets and pulled out a sizeable manila folder.

"Here. These are some documents Anna requested."

Malachi’s eyes immediately lit up. "Oh really? Nice."

He started to take the documents away from Opal, but she held onto them firmly.

"And... about that bit of information you have me sitting on...?"

Malachi’s face immediately tightened. "Just give me a bit more time. I have Eva running a test right now to confirm a suspicion I had."

Opal looked a bit uncomfortable with his answer. "Mal... If the government finds out we’ve been sitting on information about a foreign evolved who can mass produce other evolved, then-"

"I know, believe me. But I’m also thinking about what will happen once they actually learn about him. The guy doesn’t deserve to die, he’s just..." Malachi started to say an idiot, but he thought that might’ve been too mean.

"He had good intentions. Please, just give me another few hours, and I promise you, we’ll give a report that’ll give them plenty to freak out about."

"That’s not exactly something I look forward to..."

"Fair enough."

Opal finally let the documents go and allowed Malachi to take them.

"Just tell me one thing. This extra knowledge you’re holding on to... exactly how bad is it?"

Malachi thought of several ways he could answer Opal’s question without filling her with anxiety.

In hindsight, the answer he settled on may not have been the best way for him to go about it.

"Let’s just say... the United States is going to need to start investing in more durable forms of infrastructure very soon."

-

When Malachi and Joanne returned home, they were still one of the only ones awake.

Malachi placed the folder on the counter to give to Anna as soon as she woke up.

While his original plan was to get started on making breakfast afterward, he was now more interested in heading to the medical bay and checking on Eva’s progress.

In the meantime, Joanne hung around in the kitchen while she waited for him to return.

As she sat on the counter, her eyes continually darted towards the fridge.

’I could... probably get things started while he’s gone, right? I’ve seen him do it a bunch of times...’

Joanne started to stand up.

"Good morning, mother-in-law."

"Shit!"

Joanne nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a soft voice come from behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, she found a cute, red-haired young woman standing on the other side of the kitchen island.

She hadn’t even felt her wake up, much less sneak up on her.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you." Claire bowed.

"No, no, you’re fine.. I guess I’m still not awake all the way yet."

Claire began looking around the sofa. "Speaking of, do you know where my Serana is? She’s usually the very last one to wake up, so seeing her gone already is a bit out of character."

For the first time that morning, Joanne realized she was also missing some precious loved ones.

"Actually, I’m wondering about that myself.."

She started to reach out to Luna and Celeste telepathically to see where they were, but as soon as she had the thought, both women suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.

They turned their heads to the side and saw a fleet of familiar faces walk in.

The ones that stuck out the most were the floating man with the badly burned body, the man walking with a black plastic bag over his head, and the young woman with black hair who seemed impossibly familiar.

"Serana...?" Joanne realized. "What happened to all of you, and where have you been-"

"Before I answer that.." Serana held up her hand. "We’ve got liquor in the cabinet, right..? This is gonna be a real mimosa kind of morning..."