Blessed by Night

115 A Small Push

"Hey." Malachi said casually. Joanne looked him up and down without saying a word before breezing past him to head towards the door. Much to her dismay, he followed closely behind her without showing any intention to state his reason for being there. "Why the hell are you following me, kid?" "Wanna talk." "Send a text." "You think I have your number?" "If you don't then it probably means we have nothing to talk about." Before Malachi could respond, Joanne sprouted wings from her back and shot into the sky at a speed he couldn't hope to follow. Instead of chasing her, Malachi decided to give her a few minutes and found a nearby bench to sit on. "I should really get more games on my phone..." Ding Dong!

Joanne looked up from the book she was reading on her couch and stared hard at the front door. She didn't even need to open it to know who was outside, and she growled in annoyance as made up her mind to ignore it. "I was glad to see you were getting help." Looking up, she found Malachi standing a few feet away from her, leaning against the wall while staring back at her calmly. "Why the hell are you stalking me? I don't believe we have anything to talk about." "Why did you abandon Anna?" Suddenly, Joanne froze like a deer in headlights. When it came to the topic of her estranged daughter, she seemed to be incapable of maintaining her stoic and unapproachable demeanor. "You were asleep back then... I'm sure of it."

"Mhm." Malachi didn't deny.

He hadn't heard Joanne's confession at all, but Shear had. She sees everything that goes on around Malachi 24/7. The only reason he knew was because he'd linked their minds together yesterday. "Then how do you... no, it doesn't matter." Joanne suddenly closed her book and stood up from the couch menacingly. "I want you out! I don't have to talk about this with you or anyone else for that matter! So you can take your whole concerned boyfriend act and shove-" "I'm not asking to be judgmental. I'm asking because I really don't understand." He left his place against the wall and started approaching Joanne in a non threatening manner. Because of everything that she had been through, he did not use his power to make her tell the truth and instead asked her normally. "For you to know about my relationship with her means you've been keeping close tabs on her. So you must care about her, right?"

Joanne clenched her fists like she was trying her damndest not to slug Malachi in the jaw. And against all of his expectations, she didn't. "Of course I care about her...she's my daughter!"

"Then why-"

"Because she's better off with my brother than me!" Like earlier in therapy, once Joanne started talking she just couldn't stop. She told Malachi the story of how she was a bit of a wilder girl in her youth who was the total opposite of who she was now. She didn't believe she had any of the qualities necessary to be a functional adult, so she left her daughter with her more level headed younger brother. Afterwards, she joined the army in an attempt to discipline herself.

All of the intense physical exercises she put herself through would act as her method of atonement for leaving her child behind. Once she completed basic, she intended to retrieve her daughter but... nagging voices in her mind told her that she would be better off without her. What did she know about being a mother?

She was a mess ever since she was born, and surely she would infect Annalise with her disfunction if she were to be around her, right? Her heart broken and her mind made up, she created a bank account in which she funneled in money every month and entrusted her brother with joint ownership. Afterwards, she never saw her brother or her child again except through a window or by stalking them on social media. She could see that PG had yet to touch the money she'd given her, no matter how much it piled up but she still kept putting more and more in every month. Joanne wasn't really sure why she did it. Malachi listened to everything Joanne said without uttering a single word, and when her story was over, he pulled out an envelope from gods know where. "Here." "...What is this?" "Just open it." Joanne didn't particularly like the way he ordered her around, but she took the envelope nonetheless. Inside was a ticket of some kind for some sort of event. "I'm sure you know Immortal Moon is hosting some gala on Saturday. This is your ticket to get in." The director looked like she was confused about why Mal would give her such a thing, and she attempted to give it back. "Why would you give me something like this?" "Anna is coming as one of my dates. You should be in a room with her, and not just stare at her from across the street like a stalker."

"Who the hell are you to call me a stalker?? You broke into my house!"

"I invited myself in, don't change the subject."

Joanne rolled her eyes and pressed the envelope against Mal's chest. "I've already told you that I can't... take this and leave." Unfortunately for her, Malachi had no intention of taking the tickets back. "You told me a lot of things, and I listened to all of them. But the main thing I heard is that you're scared and need a little push."

He would never tell Joanne this, but Anna had always been broken up over the fact that she didn't have a mother. PG also refused to talk about her, so she never knew if she was alive or dead or even who her father was. It had left a considerably large hole in her life. "I won't out you, I won't draw attention to you, I won't even glance at you. All I'm doing is giving you a chance to observe your daughter more closely." Malachi left the tickets on a nearby coffee table and started walking towards the front door without another word. "What's your angle? What do you think will come out of all this??" Malachi shrugged and continued walking.

"I'm pretty sure once you get in a room with Anna you won't be able to resist drawing closer to her. She's a special kind of person you can't fully appreciate from a distance." He left Joanne's apartment without elaborating any further, leaving her standing around in a state of deep contemplation. She stared at the tickets like they were a ghost from her past, before ultimately going upstairs to sleep her life away. -

"That's what it seems like but he's not even dressed properly." "Is he... texting?"

Currently, Malachi was being watched by a small security detail while he stood in front of a large gate located in an abandoned amusement park. His mind was noticeably more distant than usual, as his earlier run in with Anna's mother had made him miss her a great deal. He would have gone to see her already, but business had to come first this time around. ...But he was still texting her and finalizing plans for her to be at his apartment when he was done. Finally, he stuffed his phone into his pocket and let the shadows drape across his body, changing into his armor without even breaking his stride. Once he passed through the portal, he arrived in a jungle type terrain that made him thankful that Bianca had designed this suit with no sleeves. The heat and humidity was practically unbearable, and he couldn't imagine coming in here with a flak jacket like Aisha wore. "Alright, girl. Let's go grocery shopping." Shear shot out of Malachi's body with an unforeseen level of excitement, and she made several happy clicking noises in the air as if she were delighted by the smell of living prey. Suddenly, she paused to inspect Malachi carefully, clearly intrigued by the strange apparatus on his face. "You like it? It's cold, huh?" He said proudly. "...." "...Shear, I don't think I like you anymore." Closing his eyes, he focused on his blessing from Raijin and visualized the outcome he wished to create. 15:58

The nightmare did not believe his words for even a second and she turned around like she was tired of the needless conversation. Malachi rolled his eyes and looked up at the sun that was blazing over him. While Shear didn't seem to care, he was a different story. 'Let's cover that up.' Instinctively, Mal started to use his blessing from Nyx to blot out the sun, but he stopped himself at the last second. Recently, he had been using his powers a lot and neglecting all of his others. He didn't want to become rusty or fall too far behind, so for today he decided that he would limit himself to using only his other three blessings. 'Let's see if this works...' Closing his eyes, he focused on his blessing from Raijin and visualized the outcome he wished to create. Since he had progressed leaps and bounds with his powers recently, it was relatively easy. Rumble!

The formerly cloudless blue sky was chased away by dark dreary thunderclouds that crackled with electricity. Mal waited for a couple more moments and a heavy rainfall began to descend on the entire jungle. Satisfied, Malachi patted Shear a couple of times on her back, signaling their start. "Alright girl, let's go hunting."

I got some great and fun ideas for the next few chapters and I really hope you guys like it! I’m honestly really excited AnathaShesha

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