Blessed by Night

Malachi listened intently to the sound of soft humming coming from behind his back.

It was a song that he had never heard before, and one that was so beautiful that he was hung up on every soft note and melody.

Looking over his shoulder, he found that he hadn't been the only one to be affected by the harmonious tune.

Their quarters inside the generated environment looked more like a hotel suite now, and all except for him were lying in the bed in some form or manner.

Since Nadine was holding Cami, that made her the center of attention.

She sat comfortably in the middle of everyone else as she hummed silently and played in their daughter's hair.

Everyone else had been lulled to sleep around them, all touching Cami wherever they could.

"Sometimes, it never really hits me that you're from another world until you do stuff like this." Mal finally said.

Nadine stopped her humming and looked up to give him a sheepish smile. "Does that mean that I am indistinguishable from an ordinary earthling now?"

Malachi glanced back at his favorite vampire and analyzed her features.

Looking at Nadine, it was easy to tell that she was a foreigner.

The hallmark of identifiable physical features that can be found on different nationalities of people could be found all over her.

It was like she was every man and woman rolled into one charming body.

Not to mention the fangs, glowing purple eyes, and slightly pointed ears.

"...Of course, darling. I can barely tell the difference." He lied.

"Hehehe!"

Malachi put down the weapons that he'd been polishing to ease his nerves and decided to crawl into bed with everyone else.

Peeling off his shirt, me locked his hands behind his head as he wormed his way in between Sei and Luna to rest his head on Nadine's thigh.

He halfheartedly played with Camille's little foot as he asked her a question that she never expected.

"I gotta ask, babe... Don't you miss home..? You never really talk about it much."

Nadine looked a little caught off guard, and she temporarily stopped playing in Camille's baby hairs.

"Miss home, huh...? Not really. My world is not nearly as... warm, as this place is. And I don't really mean the weather."

Feeling curious, Mal's ears perked up a bit.

"Oh yea? I guess a world full of nothing but vampires wouldn't be all that warm and friendly. Save for you that is."

Nadine raised a brow and it seemed she only heard half of what Malachi had just said.

"Hm? Vampires aren't the only beings in my world."

"Oh?"

"Yea, I thought you would know that since you went there so many times."

Confused, Malachi sat up so that he could look Nadine directly in the eye.

"What are you talking about, love? The first time I went to your world was when I found you and you forced your way into my home and heart."

"Ain't you glad I did that, though?" she asked with a big smile.

"Yes, but that's not the point."

Nadine chuckled before shifting her gaze back towards the baby in her lap.

"I thought Luna told me that you had been on a bunch of gate raids before that though? Was she just trying to make you look good for me?"

Finally, Malachi realized just what his fiancé was getting at, and he felt like his mind was going to implode.

"You're telling me that all of those environments... all of those different monsters... are all living on the same planet..?"

"Yea!"

"Jesus..."

"Well don't you think it was strange how they kept sending you to these 'other worlds' but they were only filled with monsters from mythology instead of actual aliens?"

With every word spoken, Malachi felt like he his mind was going to absolutely implode.

"Wait a minute..." he said exhaustedly as he rubbed his head. "If you all were on another world this whole time, how did you end up in all of our legends and media??"

Nadine scratched her head hard like she was trying hard to jog her own memory.

"Ah... I wasn't really a big studier when I was young and I fell asleep during a lot of my mom's lectures. I think she said we got migrated there or something like 900 years ago, give or take?"

"What? Why?"

"Overeating from what I remember." she shrugged.

Somehow, Malachi's senses were screaming to him that he had just learned something that he shouldn't have.

But he was a curious man by nature, so he couldn't help but want to learn more.

"So the N'Kai..."

"Visited us first, yea." Nadine admitted. "The war like races like ogres, trolls, goblins and the like, were subjugated completely, and now they only live as mindless drones that function like machinery.

Vampires, werewolves, witches, and the rest of us sort of lived quietly, like we were trying to keep our heads down and not be noticed.

And then the few dragons that are around... I guess you could say that your people have something of a non-aggression pact with them?"

At the mention of his favorite mythological monsters, Mal's eyes visibly glimmered and perked up.

"Babe... are you trying to tell me that you know dragons? Real ones??"

Not understanding why this would be such a big deal, Nadine tilted her head to the side absentmindedly.

"I knew of one-"

"What are they like? Leave nothing out, not even a single detail!"

"Umm they're kind of... sorry what's the word... reclusive?"

Malachi's excitement visibly deflated. "...What do you mean?"

"Well, they don't really interact with others outside of their own. They aren't really outwardly hostile, but they kind of treat other creatures like an inconvenience to be around.

They speak very little, don't like to be touched, and don't usually stay in other territories long enough to make any sort of friendships or acquaintances. And conversely, no one has ever been to their mountain either."

Malachi laughed dryly as he felt Sei nestle closer to him out of instinct.

"Damn... so I guess I can kiss my dreams of riding one goodby-"

*Smack!*

"Ow! Why?!"

"Don't let any of them hear you say that. To them, it is a more than justifiable cause for war."

"Eh?"

"They aren't Ubers, darling. They are sentient, powerful creatures with immense pride in what they are, and they don't take well to being teated as anything less."

Malachi almost never saw Nadine be serious about anything, so for her to suddenly lecture him was quite a shock.

It made him wonder why she was so close to this particular subject, and what exactly made her feel so attached to this particular subject.

"The dragon you knew... what were they like?"

For the fist time ever, Malachi saw a look on Nadine's face that he didn't recognize.

It was sweet, sad, and very, very faraway.

Much to his horror, he saw a single line of red tears fall down her porcelain cheek.

"She was a little girl, no larger than Cami... and... She died in my arms."