Blessed by Night-Chapter 463: Impulse Control

Malachi felt awkward with how many times the pair bowed in thanks.

There were several points where he wanted to tell them to stop as he was beginning to get uncomfortable.

He suddenly grabbed Shoto by the shoulder to stop him from bowing for a twelfth time.

"Really, buddy, I appreciate the enthusiasm and stuff, but it ain’t really necessary at the moment. You wanna thank me, I need you to listen to me."

"Yes, of course, whatever you need!"

"It’s not about what I need. It’s about what’s going to keep you safe. No matter what, you can never tell anyone what your powers can really do, or that you’re responsible for what’s happened to Japan.

The U.S isn’t the only foreign power you need to worry about. When intelligence networks are up and running again, if they find out what you can do, your life will no longer be safe. Do you understand that?"

Shoto swallowed and nodded with the first serious look in his eyes that Malachi had ever seen.

"You’re putting a lot at risk to protect my life. I’ll do whatever you tell me, I promise."

In that moment, a glowing light occurred between the two men.

Malachi looked down at his feet.

There, an ethereal red chain appeared between the two men, but disappeared after only a few seconds.

"W-What was that!?"

"Hell if I know!"

"Well, is it gone!? Like, for good?? Because that was really ominous!"

Shoto’s grandmother could only shake her head in disapproval. "My goodness... I know my grandson never paid much attention to my teachings, but you surprise me, young man. You really can’t have been a demon for very long if you don’t know about pacts."

Malachi was suddenly reminded of his last little meeting in hell. And the last time he was graced with the presence of it’s ruler.

The old woman seemed genuinely surprised at his apparent lack of knowledge. She shook her head in exhaustion.

"The word of a demon carries more weight than people might think. Clearly, you still have a lot to learn about yourself."

"...I can’t really argue with that." Malachi sighed.

He fished inside his pocket and pulled out a small burner phone.

"My number’s inside. You need anything, call it, and I’ll get to you. Destroy the SIM card after you use it, and I’ll bring you a new phone when I see you. Got it?"

"S-Sure." Shoto nodded.

Gradually, Malachi began to hover off the ground.

He slowly began drifting backward with a subtle flap of his wings.

"Things might end up getting a little noisy around here for a minute. I’m sorry about that."

The old woman’s face soured as if she’d just heard a bad joke.

"Demons being noisy. What else is new?"

Malachi couldn’t really argue with her on that. If the two of them knew what he was about to do, they would no doubt be horrified.

-

Malachi didn’t feel like waiting for nightfall. Perhaps in some way, he was trying to shield what was about to happen from the eyes of his mother.

This would be his cross to carry. And the less people who perceived it, the better.

Malachi hovered in the air high above the clouds. The air was thin with a bitter chill that wrapped around his wings like a forgotten friend.

For a while, Malachi watched his leather shoes dangle above the world.

He hadn’t felt the passage of time occur around him, but when he refocused, he realized that the sun was closer to setting than it had been when he first came up here.

He was out of time. He had to do it now.

Malachi gently unfurled his palm.

Small, black spots sputtered into existence only to flicker right back out just a few moments later.

"Come on, damn it..."

Malachi had a modest grasp on his new powers and abilities so far. However, there were still some kinks that he needed to iron out.

His powers could have been failing him for any number of reasons. But his inability to figure out why only added to his frustrations.

Frustrations that he nearly forgot about when he felt a suspicious warmth at his back.

"You know, if you’re having that much trouble, then maybe you shouldn’t do whatever it is that you’re thinking about."

Malachi’s hands became clammy.

He curled his hands up into fists and placed them at his side, not bothering to turn around.

"...What are you doing out here?"

Bianca playfully circled him in the air as a woman of living flame. She was as beautiful as the setting sun.

"Well, when you dump a bunch of your textbooks into our brother-in-law’s lap, tell him to start studying and be prepared; that kind of sets off some alarm bells. Also, you should probably remember that he doesn’t really speak fluent English like the rest of us."

Bianca hovered upside down in front of Malachi’s face. He looked away, unable to face her.

"Go home, B."

"Let’s go together. I’m sure the kids will be up from their snooze fest by now and looking for the next thing they can put in their mouths and-"

"Bianca. I can’t go. Not yet."

Bianca slowly righted herself in front of her husband.

Crossing her legs thoughtfully, she rested her elbow on her knee and stared at Malachi while holding her chin. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"...Serana’s okay, you know? She’s at home, at this very moment sitting on our sofa hoping you don’t do something to turn yourself into a terrorist."

Malachi lifted a hand to his chest.

His claws tore past the fabric of his shirt and pierced his chest.

"I don’t know what’s wrong with me... I can’t let it go. All I can think about is what would’ve happened if Serana couldn’t heal. They were going to take my family from me. Rob a mother of her eldest daughter.

Every time I think about her having to share the same air with those pigs I feel so disgusted I want to tear my own stomach out..! I can’t go home and look at her face knowing that the people who tried to kill my friend still get to walk on their own!"

Bianca watched her husband rake his claws across his own chest without the faintest look of discomfort.

While there was agony on his face, it was emotional instead of physical.

"That’s just your new impulses talking. The good thing is, they may be louder now but you can still ignore them."

Malachi didn’t know if that was true. Blood was rushing to his head with a fiery anger.

He didn’t even care about his stolen powers. All he could think about was avenging Serana by any means necessary.

"I know you’re upset, we all are, but... don’t be selfish."

Malachi briefly stopped trying to cut his own heart into ribbons and stared at Bianca incredulously. "How... How could you say that..?"

"Everyone is mad and hurt, babe. But the ones most affected by this have already told you what they want. Think about how bad it’ll make them feel if you kill a whole bunch of people in their name?"

"I-It’s only because I love them..."

"Then tell them that. Don’t do something that directly contrasts with the kind of people they are. The last thing Serana wanted was for what happened to her to make you snap. It’s why she tried to keep things a secret, she knows what you’re going through."

There was so much pressure building up in Malachi’s head that he thought it might explode.

Bianca thought she was getting through to him, and hesitantly reached out to pull his fingers out of his chest.

"Right now, we just need to go home. Someone else will take things from here. Okay?"