Blessed by Night

- Three Days Later: Washington D.C.

"Mr. President?"

A weary looking older man looked up from his desk at a man in standard American Military garb.

The president looked exhausted before the man even said anything.

"Don't tell me… We lost another one?"

The soldier nodded grimly. "I'm afraid that this is not all, Mr. President."

The president picked up a mug sitting nearby on his desk and held it out like he needed a refill.

"If you're going to ruin my afternoon, then you better give me something that will make it easier to swallow first."

"The First Lady says you aren't supposed to be-"

"Finish that sentence and we'll be scraping you up off the sidewalk come dinner time."

The soldier chuckled dryly and held up his hands in surrender.

He removed a metal flask from his jacket pocket and unscrewed the cap before pouring a bit of brown liquor into the president's mug.

After he had the minimum amount of alcohol in his system, he gestured for the soldier to begin talking.

"They've left a base in tact this time. They've already made contact."
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"Stars and stripes…" The president let out a deeply held sigh.

After a moment of internal deliberation, he stood up from his desk and held out his hand.

"Please, lead the way."

-

The president was led underground to a deep sub level of the White House.

There, a series of men in military garbs were already waiting for him. They stood in front of a large monitor where two individuals were already pulled up on screen.

Well, three if you were counting the large beast that they currently sat atop of.

He nearly shuddered at the sight of them.

Reports had come across his desk several times about the blessed being… 'different' ever since they all came down with that nasty virus some time ago.

Some developed third eyes, different colored skin, animal features, you name it.

But aside from the tiger markings on his face and neck, Malachi was wholly unique.

He actually did seem like an animal god come down to earth.

And animal gods are, more often than not, notorious for bringing out all manner of calamitous bloodshed.

Despite his internal wariness, the president still put on an undeniably charismatic smile. "Mr. Saint. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

He turned towards Anna too. "And I don't believe I've met this one personally, you must be…?"

"In a bit of a hurry." Anna said coldly. "So you'll have to forgive me if I want to skip the pleasantries and talk about what matters."

Anna was… an acquired taste to outsiders.

It was no surprise that this room full of powerful men did not find her palatable.

"How dare you!" A man slammed his fist on the table. "Those powers don't give you the kind of experience needed to dictate-"

"Eat a dick, neck beard."

"What!?"

Malachi was beginning to realize that Anna may not have been the best of his fiances to bring along for negotiations.

She was, again, an acquired taste.

"No need for all that now." Malachi urged her gently. "We're trying to make niceties here and all that, yea?"

Anna scoffed. "I don't know why we're trying to make arrangements with these bastards when they condoned the torture of hundreds of our people."

"And how many of our men have you and your husband butchered, you pierced little princess?" Another man pointed.

"Not enough, fat boy."

Malachi just resorted to covering Anna's mouth with his hand at this point. It seemed the only way to get things done.

Anna usually would have fought hard at being muzzled like this, but perhaps even she recognized that her mouth was impeding the process more than helping it. Even if she was unable to help herself.

"The only men you've truly lost are those who refused to surrender." Malachi began. "The rest are in holding, somewhere nice and safe. You don't need to worry about them coming back in need of any rehabilitation either. That's a courtesy you didn't see fit to offer us."

"Perhaps we would have if we were partaking in a more.. formal exchange." A man interjected.

Malachi raised a brow dangerously. "You mean if we did not have to go and get them ourselves?"

The president's award winning smile threatened to crack.

"Mistakes seem to have been made all around. But since you're opening negotiations, it means that we're on the road to a brighter path forward." he said sincerely.

"That's true." Malachi nodded. "But not with you at the helm."

This time, the president's smile did break. "What...?"

Malachi looked past him as if he weren't even a factor. Instead, he turned his gaze towards the rest of the room.

There were twelve other men and women assembled here. Malachi knew very few of them by name.

"One of you had to have put up a fight to this. Even if the others didn't understand, one of you must have insisted that the road you were going down was one you didn't have to take. That person is the one I want to talk to. It's who our organization wants to work with."

A chill swept throughout the room. Malachi could see he had ruffled quite a few feathers, but he cared very little.

Malachi and Anna saw a woman in the back of the room raise her hand.

She was a smart, business-looking woman not much different from Joanne. She wore her auburn hair in a neat bun above her head and a pair of silver glasses on her face.

Her bright green eyes showed a hint of timidity that said she was very familiar with Malachi. Or at least, familiar with what he could do with his claws.

"What's your name?" Malachi asked, intrigued.

"...Awena Branham." She said with a surprising British accent.

Malachi and Anna looked at each other and nodded.

"We'll be in D.C. come nightfall. We're hoping to have a chat with you, and only you, Ms. Awena."

"You'll forgive me if I want at least some sort of protections."

Malachi seemed amused. "Don't trust us?"

"No." She said plainly.

Malachi couldn't really blame her for that, he was kind of like a terrorist in the eyes of half the country.

"Fine, you can bring as many men as you want. But none from this room, yea? They ain't really my cup of tea."

The president stood up again. "Now wait just a minute there, b-"

"See you tonight then, Awena." Malachi waived.

Anna held up two fingers. "Peace, dickbags."

The monitor turned black, and everyone in the hall exploded with outrage.