Blessed by Night - C.265: Rat

Malachi had surprised everyone in the clearing when the first thing that he did was rush to grab Ryo by the neck and hold him over his head.

Without a single moment of hesitation, he lammed his face into a rugged tree a few feet away from him.

"Malachi!! What are you doing!?"

Serana rushed to defend her boyfriend and tried to pull Malachi away from him.

However, his grip was like iron and he held Ryo firmly by his now bleeding skull.

"I've been feeling funny ever since I heard that fabricated ass story.. by some sort of miracle he just happened to be found by one of the groups out in the wastes? I should have done something sooner."

"You're being crazy! Get off of him, please I'm begging you!!!"

Malachi finally took his gaze off of Ryo's head and stared at Serana with eyes full of anguish and anger.

"Serana, I could hear it! I heard his heart start to speed up when Arias started blabbing about the fucking mole! I can feel the anxiety flowing off of him in waves!"

"M-Maybe he is just like this because you are beating on him! Please, just put him down!!"

Serana trusted Malachi with her life, but even she was having a hard time just accepting his words as immutable fact right now.

And it wasn't necessarily wrong of her, merely a testament of her loyalty to the one who she had given her heart and body to.

But Malachi was trying to shake her out of it, and he wasn't necessarily being gentle with how he dispelled the illusion.

"Serana, you're being blind! He put everyone here and back home in danger, including your baby sister!!"

The mention of Cami's wellbeing shook Serana's heart like a metal cage on a windy day.

Everyone loved Camille, but she and Serana had a special relationship.

As someone who had a tough time fitting in when she was younger, she showered the young girl with no small amount of care and attention.

She never wanted her to feel like an outcast for even a single second since she was growing up among humans.

The notion that someone she brought around had put that innocent child's safety in danger all but destroyed her.

"Please... tell me that it's not true..." she pleaded quietly.

Ryo had a broken nose and a few missing teeth from his mouth, but he was still mildly conscious and capable of answering.

Though the response he gave may not have been the one that she wanted to hear.

"I... had no choice..."

Serana's tears started to fall quietly, and Ryo caught a front row seat to the heartbreaking sight.

"H-He has Guildmaster Morgan. If I didn't do it then he-"

"I don't... want to hear it." Serana said quietly.

"J-Just listen to me, I- Urk!"

"You are really fucking hardheaded. She said she didn't want to hear it..!"

Malachi tightened his grip on Ryo's neck and cut off his words at the source.

Mal was seconds away from pulling his spine from his back when a familiar, pale hand rested on his bicep.

"Honey, I need you to put him down for me, alright..?."

Luna spoke to Malachi as gently as possible to avoid setting him off any further and quietly coax him into putting Ryo down with his head intact.

However, Mal wasn't having it.

"What?? Didn't you hear his confession just now??"

"I heard it, and I'm upset too, but there is a time and a place for things like this, and now is not it."

"The base is compromised! Our daughter's home is compromised! We took this bastard in, broke bread with him, gave him a place to lay his filthy fucking head, and this is how we get paid back?!"

"I'm not saying it wasn't wrong, but I need you to stop and look around for just a second..."

Begrudgingly, Malachi did as Luna asked.

Serana was in the arms of Nadine, being held by her tightly as she sobbed into her shoulder.

The other members of nightfall were standing around staring at the scene in wonder.

There were some angry faces and some betrayed ones too, but ultimately everyone was watching him, waiting to see what he would do.

They all wanted to see how their leader dealt with treachery, and if they should be afraid of him going forward.

Malachi shook his head hard like he was trying to get some unkind voices out of his mind that were still demanding blood.

"Mal..."

Spurring Malachi out of his thoughts was the small, weak voice of Serana.

Her eyes were still ed and puffy, her lip was trembling, and he had never seen her look so vulnerable.

"Please... don't kill him."

Following the plea of the one who was most affected here, Malachi felt like he no longer had the right to act on his darker impulses.

...At least not the worst ones.

He hurled Ryo thirty yards through a tree and sent him spiraling into unconsciousness, but at least he wasn't dead.

"Thank you…"

In that moment, Malachi couldn't respond to Luna.

He just trudged along the path back to the outpost with Sei in his arms and Nadine and Bianca at his side.

-

Back in the bedroom, Anna had succeeded in calming down her frantic mother, and now the pair were waiting in silence for the remaining duration of the battle.

The two of them were holding hands as they sat on the bed, both clearly worried that something awful would happen because they weren't there.

Finally, Joanne had stood up because she could no longer handle sitting on the sidelines.

Unsurprisingly, Anna stood up to join her without saying a word.

The two of them made a beeline for the door at the same moment that Malachi opened it.

They were monumentally surprised to find him holding Sei while she was soaking wet and unconscious.

Before the girls could ask what was wrong, Malachi beat them to it.

He forced a smile onto his face and tried to make it seem like he was completely fine.

"I'm glad to see my girl is feeling better, but I hope you weren't about to rush out there with us." He said to Joanne.

"I… what happened?"

"I-Is Sei okay..?"

Malachi nodded and started heading towards the bath attached to their room. your-NovelFire-story

"She'll be fine, I just have to warm her up and get her into bed. As for everything else… I'm sorry, but do you mind if we talk about that later?"

Whether they wanted to or not, Malachi didn't really leave a whole lot of room for debate as he ducked inside of the bathroom with Sei in his arms.

Once he stepped out of sight, Joanne and Anna immediately turned their gazes towards Luna and the rest of the girls who looked equally exhausted.

""Start talking.""

-

In the bathroom, Malachi had just gotten himself and Sei undressed and lowered themselves into the water.

He placed his fiancé into his lap so that she could sit comfortably while recovering, and he held her closely as if he was afraid she would fly away.

When she was like this, he realized how vulnerable she really was.

Her curvaceous body was pillowy and soft to the touch, and her hands didn't even have calluses on them.

The more he analyzed her, the worse he felt.

He should have done a better job at protecting her.

No, she shouldn't have even been out there in the first place.

He should have dealt with all of them himself.

'To whom much is given, much is required.'

Malachi had been blessed enough to be the most powerful individual in the world.

And because of that, it was his responsibility to shoulder any undue burdens that might befall anyone else around him, so that they could have as easy of a life as possible.

"Don't worry, love.. I get it now. I promise you that nothing like this will ever happen again…"