Blessed by Night

Malachi whirled around and flung out his leg to kick Belloc directly in the temple.

When the blow connected, the dragon had not moved even a single inch and had nothing to show in terms of wounds or bruises.

Meanwhile, Mal's foot was ringing continuously, and as hot as a whore in church.

"Got that out of your system? Feeling better?" Belloc mocked.

Malachi's teeth sharpened to a dangerously concerning point.

Using his own negativity, he channeled it throughout his body like a battery.

"If only you knew… just how much more I really have to give..!"

Channeling all of his power, he clenched his fist and struck Belloc right on his square jaw and sent him flying like a kite.

The dragon crashed headfirst into a titanium wall and actually dented it with the force of the collision.

Mal's knuckles were actually bleeding from hitting such a hard surface, but he honestly couldn't have cared less at the moment.

He stepped forward to inflict more punishment on the dragon when suddenly he was stopped dead in his tracks.

A near insurmountable pressure was now bearing down on him and making it downright impossible to take even another step forward.

"That attack looked promising so I thought that I would see what it was like… sure enough, it stung just a little bit."

Peeling himself off the wall, Belloc allowed his jaw to crack itself back into place while he stretched.

Dark grey scales began to cover his hands, cheeks, and chest and his eyes somehow became even more black and lifeless.

"I let you get two in for free, so the least that you can do now is pay me that same courtesy, right? Try not to die." He smiled.

Malachi couldn't say with perfect certainty exactly what happened next.

At one moment, Belloc was still over fifty feet away from him.

In the next, the dragon was directly in front of him with his fist outstretched and the wind pressure had left several cuts along his body.

The only reason why the blow hadn't connected, was because an outside force had saved him at the last moment.

And Belloc looked to be just as surprised as he was.

"Boys… didn't I ask you both to get along nicely while you're working together?"

""…Shit…""

-

Currently, Malachi and Belloc were sitting on their knees, lowering their heads apologetically in front of a very annoyed Nyx.

The goddess of night looked as beautiful as ever as she sat with her legs crossed and a goblet of wine in one hand.

"Now… tell me what happened from the beginning."

Belloc: "This urchin got all pissy about his bloodsucking girlfriend and-"

Malachi: "This bitch ass motherfucker threatened Nadine so I had to-"

Nyx finally held up her hand as she nursed a primordial goddess sized headache.

"So in essence… you finally saw Nadine for the first time and it upset you?" She asked Belloc.

"Naturally."

Nyx sighed.

"This… is probably my fault. I should have given one of you a heads up at some point, but I confess that the urgency of the situation slipped my mind."

Dragons' bodies are quite literally a mythological treasure trove.

From their tears, to their hearts, to their blood and especially their scales; almost every part of them can be used in some sort of magical ritual or another.

It's perhaps one of the largest reasons why they are such prideful creatures.

However, with their bodies possessing such a wealth of coveted materials; this causes many individuals with less than pure intentions to seek them out.

Vampires are the most famous for this.

Not only does drinking dragon blood give them the ability to breathe fire and hamper down their weakness to it, but it also gives the very lucky ones the ability to enter a pseudo dragon state.

But this ability isn't really all it's cracked up to be; since vampires weren't really made to have these abilities in the first place, even minute usage can quite literally destroy their bodies.

And as leeches are famously fond of riches, they take great satisfaction in having weapons, armor, and jewelry made from dragon teeth, claws, and scales.

Any dragon with an ounce of self respect or sentience regards individuals who carry these weapons or bear this power as a blight on creation and they react poorly to their presence.

In truth, Belloc and Apophis had done a downright wonderful job of controlling themselves.

Any other dragon would have already reduced the mountain to rubble as they tried to gnaw Nadine's head off.

"Wait… how did you know about her?" Mal asked suspiciously.

She kept the secret of what she did so close to her heart that she didn't even want to tell him at first for fear of how he would look at her; he couldn't imagine her telling his mother.

"Was it not obvious?" Nyx tilted her head. "She's a lot prettier and stronger than a normal nosferatu. Especially to be so young."

Mal just kind of always thought that she was just special if he was being honest…

Leave it to Nyx to spot something like that from a million miles away.

Nyx finally turned to Belloc and gave him a small smile.

"Bell-Bell~"

"Please do not call me that."

"I know that your parents probably filled you with a lot of pride and care for your species from the moment you were born."

"Uh-huh."

"And while I am not saying that is wrong, Nadine shouldn't be the one who you are trying to enact revenge upon. She's a sweet girl with a sad story, so just listen to her before you judge her."

"…Fine."

Nyx shook her head as she clicked her teeth.

"You two should get along better. Not only will you be working together, but you may actually be brothers in the future!"

""The hell we will.""

"Well if his father and I get together then what do you think that will make the two of you?"

""Not a damn thing.""

A vein bulged in Nyx's head as she showed a smile that was not a smile.

"Alright then you little rodents… I know just how to make you see eye to eye."

Getting a bad feeling, Malachi started to tell his mother not to take any action against him, but it was too late.

She snapped her fingers and she started to sink into the ground while waiving them goodbye with a smile.

"Have a good time, boys! I hope the two of you enjoy spending the day together!"

Before Mal could ask what she meant, he heard Belloc's griping voice come from beside him.

"Damn it… I know she didn't just…"

Looking down, Mal followed Belloc's gaze to the floor in between them.

There, their shadows were clearly connected, even though the light source down here was positioned all wrong for something like that to occur.

"No…"

Mal jerked his body left and Belloc involuntarily followed like he had been yanked by his neck.

Malachi absolutely couldn't believe this.

In order to force him to get along with the dragon, his mother had effectively handcuffed the two of them together.

And if her words weren't just teasing, then they would be stuck this way for the entire day.

"…I hate my life." He muttered.

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