Blessed by Night

The limousine finally rolled to a stop in front of a towering residential building that ended somewhere above the clouds.

Malachi recognized it as a former hotel that seemed to have been renovated to suit new purposes.

Carly led the group inside of the building where they proceeded to all get bunched up on an elevator.

Their first stop was on the ninety-ninth floor, where Carly stepped off to show Serana, and the other two girls, Sierra and Casey, their living accommodations.

Just a single floor above them was where Mal and the girls were supposedly staying.

A luxury penthouse apartment was laid out before them, complete with stunning white furniture and a huge window that allowed the entire Saint family to see the world above the clouds.

"Who is this supposed to be..?" Nadine immediately noted the unknown hefty man in a chef's coat standing by the open kitchen.

"This is Fernando. He'll be responsible for preparing all of your meals for the duration of your stay. Including tonight's dinner with Mr. Arias at 9:30." Carly answered.

Bianca, Luna, Anna, Joanne, and Nadine, all turned to look at Malachi and Sei.

Unsurprisingly, the pair were glaring at the chef like he'd just committed a serious war crime.

They say that cooking is an expression of love, and that idea is represented no better than between Malachi and Sei.

The entire time they had been together, they alternated between cooking duties for their entire family.

When they were cooking, they never allowed others in the kitchen with them - even for long periods of time.

None of the others had so much as salted water with the two of them around.

And now, the idea of someone else hovering around to cook for their loved ones was an insult to their pride.

""Get out.""

"I-I'm sorry..?"

'They won't ask again...' Bianca sat down on the couch with a small smile and prepared to watch the show.

"What seems to be the problem-" Carly began.

Within a split second, Fernando was hit with a devastating wave of narcolepsy that knocked him out faster than any punch could have.

Before he could hit the ground, a hand made of shadow caught him by the hem of his jacket.

The construct proceeded to drag him along the floor before tossing him into the elevator like dirty laundry.

After pressing the button for the first floor, it performed a 'thumbs up' for Malachi and disappeared.

Carly was completely taken aback.

"…Was that necessar-"

""Yes.""

Carly noted Malachi and Sei's close-knittedness and the beginnings of a smile formed on her lips.

"Cute. Very cute."

The mood immediately turned sour in the room.

"I'm sorry, I hope you aren't flirting with my fiancés while I'm sitting right in front of you..."

Ever the dangerous one, Nadine appeared in front of Carly faster than her eyes could follow.

A faint blue glow shone within the vampire's purple irises and her tone became horrifically cold.

Nadine didn't really drink the blood of anyone outside the family, but that certainly didn't mean she was above doing it to make a point.

"P-Please, quell your anger… I was only making a comment on their behavioral compatibility and no other metrics." Carly said truthfully.

Nadine was wholly unnerving by nature.

Even though Carly hadn't done anything wrong, just one glimpse into those eyes had terrified her so badly that she would have confessed to just about anything.

"I-I've taken the liberty of compiling this for you…" Carly suddenly pulled a tablet out of her bag and handed it over to Nadine.

"…What is this?"

"A list of places we believed you might like to visit during your stay. These places were formulated based upon your individual interests and hobbies… using data we compiled from Agent 0."

Carly muttered the last part, because she was afraid to spark the ire of the buxom vampire in front of her.

Ignoring her prey, Nadine snatched away the tablet and read off just a few of its contents.

"Red Thread Tattoo and Body Piercing..?"

Anna and Joanne's ears perked up like little Dalmatians.

"Blue Horizon : Gaming and Comic Emporium..?"

Bianca visibly vibrated and her glasses began to fog up.

There were a few more places listed that should have stoked each member of the group's interest, but Malachi remained focused on a single mission.

"Where is Morgan?"

"O-Oh, right… if I could..?" Carly hesitantly reached for her tablet back and Nadine allowed her to take it without claiming her arm.

She proceeded to pull up security camera footage of a man in a hospital bed being taken off some kind of assisted support.

He was wheeled into a room that resembled living quarters, where two women awaited him.

They immediately fell into tears upon seeing him and threw their selves across his bed.

"Mr. Morgan will need approximately twelve hours for his body to burn off the sedation… I can still take you to go and see him if you like, but you won't be able to communicate with him I'm afraid…"

Malachi fell silent as he contemplated his next course of action.

Carly seemed to see that he needed a bit of time, so she respectfully bowed before stepping back into the elevator.

"I will give you all some time to decide what you'd like to do. I'll be downstairs in the car whilst you make up your minds."

Malachi barely even spared her another glance, instead he sat down on one of the sofas while draping his arm around Bianca.

"...Sweep the room."

Zazu shot out of his body like a rocket and flew around the apartment at breakneck speed.

Half a minute later, he brought back two little devices and dropped them onto the table in front of Malachi; already crushed and non-operational.

"This is all that there was, boss."

Malachi picked up the pieces and gave them a once over after pulling off his sunglasses.

"Not really surprised... Where were they?"

"The living room and the balcony. I didn't find anything in the bedroom or the bath."

If you were to ask Malachi if he were angry about finding bugs in his supposed 'living quarters' he would've said no.

Actually, it was the first Arias-like thing his nephew had done since he'd gotten here.

It was nice to know that at least he wasn't going completely insane.

"Do me a favor and sweep the girls' room too, yea?" He asked.

"Would a 'please' kill ya?"

Mal pulled Sei's curvaceous body into his lap. "How does baked chicken sound for dinner tonight, love?"

"Alright, aright, I'm going! Shit!"