Blessed by Night-Chapter 459: You’re Still With Me

-A Few Minutes Prior...

"That’s it, big boy... just like that... oh, that’s perfec-"

"Can you shut the fuck up for five seconds?"

"Oh, my god, I love you~!"

"You’re disgusting."

Malachi was in the middle of one of the most uncomfortable experiences of his life.

Karliah’s huge hand was lying across most of his bare chest.

Her perverted breathing, insinuating words, and less-than-innocent touch were all monumentally infuriating.

The only reason Malachi hadn’t clocked this woman yet was that he realized how powerful she actually was.

She didn’t make Moros disappear earlier. She compressed his entire existence until he existed only as a two-dimensional entity.

Malachi couldn’t see him unless he were at exactly the right angle. He couldn’t interact with him either and vice versa.

He almost couldn’t believe the facts himself, but Keres seemed to be pretty certain.

So for now, at least, he withheld his intense desire to cause her physical harm and focused on the ’help’ she was trying to give him.

’I should have just stuck with that bastard Moros...’

Black spheres bubbled into view around his wings.

They sucked up things like little fragments of dust and bits of sand on the ground if they were close enough.

Overall, they didn’t seem to be quite that dangerous and were even quite pleasant to look at. They were like great big children’s toys of unparalleled destructive power.

His training was actually paying off.

While his eyes were closed, Malachi suddenly felt the heat of Karliah coming closer to his face.

Without thinking about it, something triggered within his brain.

The small black holes floating around him suddenly became glowing white holes.

Not seconds after their conception, they vomited out a continuous stream of burning energy, matter, and light.

Malachi was learning that the white holes didn’t necessarily take any of his energy to keep open, but they did take some effort to close.

And the bigger they were, the more this effort was multiplied.

"You were playing hard to get, but I knew this was what you wanted all along."

Malachi opened his eyes and found an uninjured woman with the smoldering remains of her clothing no longer covering anything meaningful.

"There was no need to be coy. If you wanted to see the present underneath all you had to do was say so." Karliah winked.

"...I’m done here."

Malachi turned his back and began his descent back to the ground.

"Wait, wait, no need to get so damn sensitive about-"

Malachi felt his mind deteriorate even further.

He very briefly lost control of his body and lashed out with his tail.

His thin, spade-tipped appendage ballooned in size until it was thicker than a telephone pole.

Bladed ridges wrested themselves free from the tough, leathery flesh of his tail.

The standard devil-like tip suddenly ballooned and developed a more snout-like shape.

The tail split open, revealing rows of teeth and a long pink tongue.

From there, his tail continued to grow in shape and size while it developed even more features to make it resemble a real, living animal.

When Malachi looked at his tail again, he was staring at a virtual clone of Ajani.

His tail let out an unconscious roar all on it’s own. And with it’s deafening sound, a wave of umbral magenta hellfire roared forth to singe Karliah’s delicate eyebrows.

"...Woof." She murmured. "You didn’t tell me you were Goetia, handsome. That’s quite the.."

Karliah noticed that Malachi no longer seemed to be listening to her. Instead, his eyes were staring at his tail with a fondness that was difficult to explain.

"Uhh... you alright there?"

Malachi blinked until the fog left his eyes.

When he returned to being himself, his vapid dislike of Karliah came back in an instant. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

-

Malachi returned home shortly afterwards despite his mother’s protests.

He may not have been a demon fueled solely by anger, but that didn’t mean his patience wasn’t a lot thinner than it used to be.

Sighing, Malachi took a few steps back into his home when Joanne suddenly appeared before him in a rush of wind.

"You’re back. When you suddenly disappeared we were-"

Malachi instantly took Joanne into his arms and cradled her head against his chest.

She was slightly flustered, but not quite uncomfortable.

"...What’s this for?"

Malachi buried his nose in Joanne’s hair. The rush of endorphins caused his eyes to turn a slightly lighter shade for a moment.

"...Just because you’re someone I always want to be touched by."

Joanne didn’t know when she became such a hopelessly big softy. But she knew she had to give credit to the man holding her now.

"...We need to talk." Joanne pulled away, being careful not to get swept up in the feeling of being newlyweds.

"We can’t put things off anymore. We have to tell the brass about the man we’re keeping in holding."

Malachi nodded. "I know, I know, just give me a minute I need to check on something with Eva and-"

"Eva already shared with Sei the results of her findings. What she found is the reason we have to tell them."

Joanne reached inside of her sports bra and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

She handed it to Malachi with a bitter expression, already knowing just how much the news would bother him.

True to her suspicions, she watched his expression get progressively darker the more he read.

But what she hadn’t expected was to see determination suddenly replace despair.

"Okay... I’m going to turn him over to the custody of his grandmother and make sure she knows the situation. That old woman’s crazy strict, I know she’ll keep him in check and out of sight."

Joanne could almost swear she’d misheard. "What are you talking about?? You can’t let him go when we know what he can do!"

"If I don’t, then he’ll probably end up dead or experimented on."

"That’s not our call to make, we took an oath and we have orders! Besides, even if you let him go, there’s no guarantee that he won’t end up using his powers in the future if he becomes radicalized.

The evolved are enough but at least our numbers are indiscriminate. But a single race of people who are all born with powers sounds like the beginning of a dictator’s wet dream."

"I understand the implications, alright? But the guy isn’t some kind of evil supremacist he’s just... an idiot. But he shouldn’t die for that. And he shouldn’t die for something he could do."

"Malachi, this is how the government does things. We’re supposed to do what we’re told and leave the bigger decisions to those above our heads."

"I know you have more experience than me in this and I want to listen to everything you’re saying, but letting that man die on the whims of some paranoid old fucks is the kind of thing only a monster would do."

Joanne stiffened.

She unconsciously balled up her fists as her voice threatened to crack.

"You think I’m a monster..? You think I do what I do because I like it..? I know it’s fucked up but what fucking choice do I have! I’m a soldier who’s had belief in the system drilled into me! I don’t ask questions, I just do what I’m told and hope that it helps make the world safer!

If I cover this up with you then I am also complicit in the lie! We could both be court-martialled for this and then..!"

Malachi suddenly grabbed his wife firmly by her arms. "Joanne. I promise you, no one is ever going to put you in another cage again. No matter what I do, I would never compromise your safety."

His grip softened when he realized just how much he had surprised her.

He offered her a gentler touch as he pulled her into his arms once again.

"I’m sorry, I should have been more careful with my words. I know there are things you’ve done in your career that you regret. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you and I’ll probably never really get it.

All I’m trying to do is make sure you don’t have something else to carry on top of the mound you’ve already got. It was our idea to come here, to do all of this because we wanted to help people, remember? Not hurt them."

Joanne bit her lip uncomfortably. "Yeah, well... we might not get to do that much longer either."

At that, Mal looked genuinely perplexed.

"What are you talking about?"