Blessed by Night

Celeste was in the middle of reading a very riveting chapter of one of her cheesy romance novels.

One of the great things about having a daughter who was on the scouting team was that sometimes she could bring you back old books from before the world fell apart.

Celeste was hoping that the next time her daughter returned she would be bringing her back another volume that she wouldn't sprint through in five hours or less.

In the middle of her fantasizing, the electronic ringing of her front door interrupted her from reaching the erotic couple shower scene.

Disappointed, she carried herself to the front door with a noticeable hint of frustration in her steps.

But when she opened the door, her irritation changed into mild fear, and then slight concern.

Standing outside her door was a tall man with dark black skin and glowing violet eyes.

Resting across his back was her own daughter, Melanie.

She was sleeping rather peacefully, so much so that she had ended up drooling all over his exposed shoulder.

Upon taking a glance at the familiar women standing behind him, Celeste realized that she was not about to be attacked by this charming creature.

"Sorry, Celeste. Were you busy?"

The voice was a lot different from the last time she'd heard it, but that charming southern drawl was unmistakably tied to the identity of one man.

"Ah… Malachi?"

"You recognized me. I'm really touched."

"Well yes, you're still… A-Are those snakes??"

"Yea, they are… Mind if I put Melanie down first..? She needs some real rest and attention."

"Oh, okay.."

Malachi stepped inside of Celeste's own quarters and he left behind Serana and Aisha outside.

They normally would have followed him inside, but they had something else that they wanted to deal with right now.

Instead of simply teleporting from place to place to avoid being seen when he arrived, Malachi had walked through the entire base out in the open.

As a result, a small, stunned crowd had formed behind them as they traveled, full of members who wanted to know just what they were looking at.

Malachi wasn't intending for the girls to explain things on his behalf, but they decided to do it of their own.

Afterall, that was what friends were for.

-

Once Malachi was fully inside of her home, Celeste felt like it was difficult to take her eyes off of him.

For all intents and purposes, he was the strangest thing she had ever seen.

Skin so dark that he blended in perfectly with the night, strange webbed hands and not to mention those weird snakes that seemed to literally be apart of his body.

Not to mention the way that his eyes glowed like miniature lava lamps and lit up the dim room in front of him.

"Uh… where's her bedroom?"

"O-Oh right, sorry."

"No worries… at least you're staring cause you're intrigued and not afraid."

"How do you know I'm not afraid?"

"I would be able to feel it."

Celeste wasn't sure if he was just being dramatic by telling her that or if he was truly capable of peering into her mind somehow, but she elected to move past it for her own sanity.

"So… do you want to tell me what happened to my girl? I thought she was heading west for a few days."

"Yea, well… her group ran into a little accident so they asked me to go and pick them up."

Malachi gingerly laid Melanie onto her bed and made sure that she was comfortable before he tried to flee the apartment.

Of course, Celeste was there to place her hand on his chest to stop him from leaving.

"What kind of accident? Did something bad happen to her?"

"No, no. They just ran into a little hiccup, alright? But she hit her head sort of hard so she's going to need to sleep for a couple of days."

As soon as she heard 'sleep for a couple of days' Celeste's brain immediately reverted back to when both she and her daughter were in comas.

Her heart clenched up tightly within her chest, and it seemed like she was on the verge of falling into a panicked state.

"Not again, I just can't.."

"Celeste, look at her."

At Malachi's direction, the mature beauty let her eyes drift towards the bed where her daughter slumbered and she felt her nerves immediately fading away.

Melanie was a bit feverish and red in the face, but other than that she was sleeping like she normally did.

Drooling, scratching her belly, and muttering incoherent phrases about not wanting to go to school because her teacher was an asshole.

"Do you see? I don't know many coma patients who sleep like that." Mal comforted.

"I-I guess that you are right… thank you, Malachi."

A brief, curt smile was all that he gave her before he once again tried to leave her apartment in a hurry.

"W-Wait! Aren't you going to tell me how you ended up like… this?" Celeste reasoned.

"Oh, right... Come with me."

"Eh?"

Malachi grabbed Celeste by the hand and started leading her back outside into the hallway.

He pulled out a silver communicator device and punched in a few buttons before speaking into it.

"Attention all Nightfall personnel. Please gather in the mess in five for an emergency briefing."

"Emergency? Sounds ominous."

"Well you've seen the way I look now… figured it was fitting."

Just as he stepped outside, he realized that there was something that he needed to grab from home first before his briefing, so he left Celeste on her own with a promise to meet up with her later.

As she watched him walk away, she unconsciously looked at her hand that he had grabbed without much thought and a small red blush formed on her face.

'Honestly… he's so thoughtless for his age.'

-

It was very rare for Malachi to use the pda system in the base- only occurring once before as a joke test.

Therefore, when he seriously called for an emergency meeting a few moments ago it was seen as something dire requiring everyone's full attention.

And once all base members were gathered within the mess hall, the members who had seen Malachi when he first arrived were already informing them about what they thought this meeting was going to be about.

"Snake tails?"

"Yes, and they were alive and everything."

"And he's black now too! Like really black!"

*suspicious glances*

"N-No, I mean like inhuman! Like he's-"

"Stop talking."

"Okay, yea."

At exactly that moment, the last large group came striding into the crowded room and drew everyone's attention.

Unanimously, everyone had no choice but to suck in their own breath.

Standing at the head of a group of women was a man with deep black skin and four tails that were literal living snakes.

Shuffling around in his arms was a small young girl who was nearly his twin in every way.

The same deep black skin, dull grey hair, and glowing purple eyes with black sclera.

"Right… thank you all for coming so quickly."

Not wanting to beat around the bush, Malachi hopped on top of one of the dining room tables so that everyone in attendance could get a good look at him.

"I think I've spoken to all of you atleast once or twice, but for those who I haven't met, my name is Malachi Saint. And… I guess I'm an alien."