Blessed by Night

Arias happily strode in to the group's penthouse while still wearing his work clothes and smelling of grease and fried food.

Mal was immediately reminded of the days he spent working in the pits of fast food and he all but grimaced.

Some memories should stay buried forever.

"Malachi..?"

Stumbling from behind Arias was a familiar red haired old man with a Scandinavian accent and wearing a dark red suit.

He was much skinnier than Malachi remembered; likely because he had been lying motionless in a medical bed for an extended period of time.

As always, he was accompanied by two women who looked just as surprised to see him here as their husband.

"It's good to see you all are healthy."

Sei came from behind the kitchen counter and smiled at the three newcomers warmly.

"It's been a really long time since we all got to sit down for a dinner together. Our family's a little bigger now though…"

At the sight of a sea of such familiar faces, Morgan and his wives, Emilia and Crystal, everyone seemed to become just a bit too emotional.

Morgan embraced Malachi like he was a long lost friend, and the girls quickly did the same with Sei.

They then swapped partners to hug, and lastly they joined as one big group.

Well, they left one person out.

"D-Does anyone want to hug me..?" Arias asked hopefully.

As one might've expected, reactions to such a question were downright frigid at best.

"I-I'll just be over here then…"

For the next five minutes, Arias squatted in the corner tracing a broken heart on the ground with his finger.

-

"Morgan, these are my fiancés Anna, Nadine, and Joanne." Mal introduced.

"That's…" Unsurprisingly, Morgan's eyes settled on Nadine and seemed to be unable to move from her.

Even when you've just awakened from a medically induced coma, the face of a monster who's mind controlled you is hard to forget.

However, Nadine had already prepared herself for this moment.

She lowered her head in a short bow and spoke in her most sincere voice possible.

"Words cannot express how sorry I am for my actions upon our first meeting.

My desperation to survive caused me to do so deeply regret, but i would ask that even if you can't forgive me, please do not let my actions affect your relationship with the rest of my loved ones.

They hold you in quite the high regard…"

Luna, Bianca, Sei, and Mal all seemed like their hearts were beating out of their chests.

No matter how you slice it, Nadine's actions within the gate were flagrantly awful.

Not to mention that Malachi had even lied about vanquishing her and instead snuck her onto earth.

Anyone would have expected him to be upset by this news.

The fact that Nadine and Luna were vampires was a secret that the family kept close to their chest, so even Arias did not know about it.

He still thought that she was just an unknown blessed who popped up out of nowhere.

Crystal and Emilia also did not know who Nadine was, but made up their minds to ask him about it later.

"…You're not being mind controlled too, are you lad?" He finally asked.

Malachi shook his head solemnly.

"…Alright then. Let's let that be the end of that… I've got no energy left for grudges today. Maybe not ever again."

Everyone let out a tentative sigh of relief.

"I know it may be hard to believe but she really is a sweet girl." Anna offered. "And if anything, Mal's the one who's got her hypnotized by his d-"

"A-Annalise!" Joanne quickly covered her daughter's mouth.

"What?! I'm just trying to act as a character witness!"

"Pick another way to do it please!"

Morgan and his wives looked back and forth between the black haired women who looked oddly similar.

"I'm sorry for asking, but are you perhaps… sisters?" Crystal asked.

"W-Well, actually…"

"She's my mommy." Anna munched on a slice of bread without an ounce of shame.

Morgan's mouth fell open and the soup he was about to swallow fell back into his bowl.

Crystal and Emilia had similar reactions.

'Yea, that was a real kicker for me when I read it in the report too…' Arias thought.

"I-It's a complicated story though!" Joanne was desperately trying save face however she were able.

"""I bet…""" The three of them muttered in unison.

"We're all very happy though, and that's all that matters." Sei smiled beautifully.

Seeing her genuine smile, it was hard to believe that her words were anything less than the complete truth.

"Honestly, I couldn't imagine raising a child with anyone other than them." Luna smiled as she rested her head on Malachi's shoulder. "And obviously the sex is inc-"

Mal covered Luna's mouth with her hands before she could spill any more privileged secrets.

"Dinner's really great!" Arias finally chimed in. "I gotta tell you, after snacking on fast food for a week and a half, it's nice to get some real, soulful cooking like this, you know?"

Everyone stared at him like they were trying to pray him out of existence.

He hadn't felt so alone at a dinner table since he was still a child.

"You all have a child together? Truly??" Crystal asked hopefully.

At the mention of their bundle of joy, the parents seemed light up just a bit.

"We do actually… Her name is Camille and she's a bit of a troublemaker, but she's a very sweet girl."

"How precious! Do you have pictures??"

Now, everyone looked mildly uncomfortable once again.

Only Arias seemed to know why.

"W-We do, but… Cami is a bit different from normal children."

Unsurprisingly, their dinner guests didn't understand Bianca's hesitation.

"What does that mean exactly??"

"W-Well… it's a long story, and one we'd prefer to talk about later if you don't mind."

Mal and Morgan glanced at Arias at the same time.

"Say no more." He understood.

'Seriously, what did I even do?!' Arias cried internally.

"I gotta ask…" Mal finally began uncomfortably. "How did you end up in this mess?"

Morgan knew what he was talking about immediately.

"I was… trying to pull myself out of my hovel and save some human lives when this bastard showed up."

After making an offer to Morgan that was swiftly rejected, Arias engaged him in a heated battle that persisted over the course of three full days.

In the end, Morgan inevitably lost due to the difference in power between a avatar and a normal blessed, but Arias didn't want to simply dispose of him.

Instead, he kept his body in a coma for a while and periodically woke him up to ask if he'd changed his mind about joining him, while simultaneously telling Ryo that Morgan's freedom depended upon his usefulness.

He also kept his wives close by in an apartment like the one that they were currently in just so that he could magnanimously reunite them when he finally changed his tune.

The only reason Morgan hadn't burned this whole city down already was because his body was using all of it's energy to burn off the substance that kept him asleep for all this time.

His powers were so suppressed that he could barely light a candle.

"It never does pay to err on the side of humanity, does it?" Arias smiled mischievously.

The tension in the air seemed to return with a vengeance in the span of a single second.

This was going to be a very long dinner…

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