Blessed by Night

Leaving the hospital, Malachi felt lighter than air.

He had relieved himself of all of his burdens and inside of Melanie's room, and finally come to accept that he had nothing to feel guilty for.

Somehow, hearing the stern words from Melanie's mother herself had been the last piece of the puzzle that he needed to move on.

As the day slowly turned into night, he began to feel happier and happier.

And there was only one person whom he wanted to share this happiness with.

Pulling out his phone, he immediately dialed the number of his beautiful and mature girlfriend.

Unfortunately, the voice he heard when the call connected was not one that he enjoyed hearing.

Serana : "What's up, step-bastard?"

Immediately, a vein bulged In Malachi's head and his good mood all but disappeared. "What the hell kind of name is that?"

Serana : "A fitting one."

"Why do you have Sei's phone?"

"She's in the shower, and I just wanted to take this time to ask a favor of my good friend!" ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ

'I thought I was a bastard…?'

Malachi finally reached his car in the parking lot but instead of getting in, he sat on the hood of his car while looking up into the night sky.

"Oh yea? And what might that be?"

"Can you pleaseeee introduce me to that guy Ryo Amaki?"

Malachi immediately rolled his eyes and fought the urge to hang up. "I barely know him."

"Can't you get to know him then? And you can casually mention that you have a hot available friend who's a really big- Kyaaa!"

Suddenly, Malachi heard sounds of struggling on the phone, followed by the sound of his beloved girlfriend's voice.

Sei : "What are you doing with my phone?!"

Serana : "Trying to make sure that you can have some grandkids!"

Sei: "What?!"

Malachi listened to this back and forth ordeal for several minutes and laughed himself to the point of physical exhaustion.

Tears were running down his cheeks, his sides were aching, but he had honestly never felt better.

Eventually, Sei recovered her phone and was praying that Mal hadn't heard all of that when she realized he was still on the line.

"Honey… You didn't hear any of that, did you?"

Malachi smiled and contemplated saying no to spare his girlfriend some embarrassment, but ultimately decided that wouldn't be any fun.

"What do you think our grandkids should call us? Grandpa feels pretty boring, but I think if a kid called me pee-paw I'd want to kill myself."

"Honestly... You're not funny!"

Despite her embarrassment, Sei let out a genuine amused giggle that made Malachi's heart speed up.

The two spent several minutes talking and enjoying the sound of eachother's voices.

It wasn't until a few minutes had gone by that Malachi suddenly decided he missed Sei too much to be satisfied with a mere phone call.

"I'm coming over, have you eaten?"

"E-Eh? No I haven't but honey you don't need to-"

"I know I don't need to but I want to." Malachi slipped off the hood of his car and instead opened the door to get inside.

"Alright honey… I'll be waiting."

It wasn't intentional, but Sei's soft and feminine tone nearly drove her boyfriend wild.

"I'll be there in ten minutes!"

"Honey, no speeding!"

Malachi chuckled before nodding in compliance. "Alright, I'll be there in…"

His words gradually trailed off, as he suddenly felt like he was being watched.

"Honey?"

"Ah, I'll be there in twenty minutes, I guarantee it."

Afterwards, Mal hung up the phone and his body was suddenly encased in shadows before he disappeared.

-

On the roof of the hospital, two men in king dark coats could be seen staring down at the parking lot below.

"Damn it, he teleported!"

"Could you have set him off somehow?

"That's not possible."

"Yes it is." Malachi suddenly said.

Both men immediately whirled around to find Malachi leaning against the railing with his arms folded and his eyes unhidden.

Malachi briefly glanced at the two men who'd been watching him from the rooftop.

One was a bit more tall and muscular than the other, with neatly gelled brown hair and a sharp jawline.

His eyes were quite strange, and seemed to be glowing a bright purple.

'He was the one watching me...' Malachi realized.

Standing next to the tall man was a slightly shorter one who appeared to be equally handsome.

He had long dark hair and golden eyes that paired perfectly with his radiant dark skin.

His hair was neatly cut into a fade, and he was consistently wearing a charismatic smile.

Even though Malachi had never seen these two men before, he knew what organization they represented.

'The Dark Angels...'

The dark angels are a secret task force consisting of blessed that only deal in blessed related crimes.

They received their name based on their angelic purpose that sometimes became muddled by their violent confrontations.

If they had come looking for him, he already knew what it was about.

"You could feel me watching you?" The large man said. "That's... rather impressive."

"Is there a reason why you were watching me in the first place?" Malachi asked, feigning ignorance.

Suddenly, the shorter man walked forward and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Saint! My name is Lamont, blessed by Papa Legba."

He then pointed to his partner and introduced him as well. "This is my partner, Seth, he is the one blessed by Heimdall."

Malachi nodded at each of the men before taking Lamont's outstretched hand.

"Nice to meet you... If you don't mind, can we wrap this up quickly?I have to be somewhere in twenty minutes."

"Sure, sure!" Lamont said with a hearty laugh. "We just have two very simple questions."

Suddenly, Seth walked forward as if he was trying to intimidate Malachi. "What did you do to Arthur Roland and Derek O'Brian?"