Blessed by Night-Chapter 471: It’s Time For You to Go

Rani looked up from her seat when she heard the family enter.

The cold look she gave them upon realizing that Nadine had not returned with only Malachi as requested, and instead brought him and most of the other women depicted in the photograph.

She put down the magazine she was flipping through and stared at the lot of them with an almost tangible air of superiority.

’Is this bitch looking down on us from my favorite chair?!’ A vein in Anna’s head nearly burst from the surge of anger.

’Let it go, let it go, we just have to get through this.’ Celeste reflexively grabbed her hand.

Anna thought she was being sweet, but really, Celeste was just trying to prevent her young wife from punching out an ancient vampire.

"I suppose I must apologize for the destruction of your home." Rani spoke in a thick, but refined indian accent. Listening to her speak was almost a cathartic experience.

"I believed that my only living granddaughter had been abducted. I was simply willing to go to great lengths to see her returned."

Ordinarily, one would have expected an apology to be followed up with some form of ’It’s alright’ or ’Don’t worry about it’.

However, none of the Saints were feeling quite so forgiving.

Perhaps things would have been different if the ship had not been so crowded. But the children could have gotten seriously hurt. Sei’s father and brother as well.

Forgiveness was going to be hard to come by for them.

Rani’s eyes settled on Malachi and they sharpened.

"You. Archdemon. How have you crossed the threshold and come to this world?"

Malachi started to speak.

"He has a name, Nani-Ma. You’re being rude..." Nadine murmured.

"Psh, so sensitive..!" Rani smacked her teeth. "He’s older than you I’m sure. I would hope that he doesn’t need you to take up for him."

Nadine rubbed the back of her head as she released a cute, nervous-sounding laugh.

"Malachi...is only twenty-three."

"...Hundred?"

"N-No... just twenty-three." Nadine forced a smile. "He was born here on Earth, and he was human until a couple of years ago... or at least human adjacent." She shrugged.

Rani’s face twitched as she took her time to process what she considered to be extremely stunning information.

After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Rani reached into thin air and pulled out a large burlap sack that filled the room with the sound of clinking metal.

She threw it at Malachi’s feet, and a virtual sea of gold and jewelry came spilling out.

"I will compensate you for the time you spent with my granddaughter, but I will be taking her back with me now. I find this environment... unsuitable for her."

The sack suddenly became alight in somber magenta colored flame, causing shadows to dance wildly along the walls.

"I’m going to say this as politely as possible, since I know you haven’t been around for a while..."

When Rani looked at Malachi’s shadow, she saw the figure of a creature unlike anything she had ever seen before. It chilled her to her very core.

"Nadine is a person. She is our wife and the mother of our children. There is nothing you can offer us that would even make us consider trading her. The fact that you thought you could is really insulting. I really don’t like being insulted in my own house."

Nadine could see that things were bordering on getting out of hand, so she tried to stand between the two before things took a further turn for the worse.

"How dare you speak to me this way! This is a family matter; you should fall to your knees and thank me for bothering to make you an offering! I do not require your permission!"

"Okay, everyone, stop!" Nadine suddenly yelled.

The vibrations of power that left her lips caused the walls and ceiling to vibrate uncontrollably.

Rani momentarily seemed more stunned than angry. In none of her memories was her granddaughter this powerful.

It was true that vampires got stronger with age, but this was far too big a jump.

In that moment, Rani’s desire to get her granddaughter back turned into a darker desperation.

And in the end, she did what Vampires do best. She preyed on the emotions of her sensitive granddaughter.

*In Tamil* "My sweet..." Rani stepped forward and took her granddaughter’s hands. "Are you really going to let our family line vanish like this...?

I am assuming your husband perished before you could have children together, so we two are the only ones of our blood left..!" She said in a desperate, hushed voice.

"With your strength and mine, we can easily rebuild what we lost and take back our land from those vultures in the other clans..! This is our history!"

A glimmer of concern showed up in Nadine’s eyes for a fleeting moment, but it was soon replaced by a serious resolve.

"Grandmother..." Nadine began in Tamil. "I know that the loss of our home fills you with sorrow. But if I am honest... I never felt anything connecting me to our home.

I did not love the man that you and Mother chose for me. I did not feel wanted by the sisters who were given to me. I did not even mourn when I saw everything that I knew get destroyed.

I realize now that I chose to leave because I desperately wanted something new. That ’newness’ just so happened to come to me in the form of my husband. I do not regret my decision. I have three, or rather four children now..." Nadine thought, remembering Janelle.

She glanced at Joanne out of the corner of her eye, and she felt her heart flutter. "And.. it’s soon to be five." She said, turning back to her grandmother. "This may not be the family that you envisioned for me, but it’s the one life has given me, and there’s nothing I would want to change about it.

My place is here.

My family is here.

I want you to be a part of that, truly. But if you can’t accept the people I love because they’re not vampires, or because they don’t look like the kind of people you would have chosen for me... then you’re not welcome in our home and... I want you to leave."