Blessed by Night

Ordinarily, most parents would not even consider taking their children into a sewer.

However, Malachi wasn't like most parents. And Cami definitely wasn't most children.

Camille liked things that other girls her age didn't care for. She liked bugs, crawly things, toads, and other animals that a normal person might not want to come within 100 feet of.

She was a lot like Anna in that regard.

Since Malachi had started studying zoology in school, Camille had been glued to him more than normal.

Sometimes, he would go into his office and find her on the floor reading one of his textbooks.

He thought it was cute. But his wives put a stop to it and got her some more child-appropriate material when she accidentally stumbled upon a section on the breeding habits of reptiles.

But still, she remained quite an inquisitive child.

Bianca's favorite comic book villain was DC's 'Killer Croc'. She jokingly explained to Camile one night that the human crocodile hybrid lived in a sewer where he ate people.

Bianca intended for her story to be a bit of a scary story. Something to make her want to turn off the movie they were watching and run to bed.

However, her attempt had the opposite effect.

Camille was entranced. She started saying how she wanted to go visit a sewer so that she could make friends with giant talking crocodile men.

Bianca dismissed it as her being cute, because it was.

But the next morning, Nadine came into the bedroom carrying their daughter who had tried to flush herself down the toilet.

So now, whenever the family is walking on the street near a manhole cover, everyone makes sure to keep an extra eye out for the oldest daughter.

Malachi knew that if no one was willing to step into a sewer with him, then his daughter certainly would.

He descended through the hole in the ceiling without the use of a ladder.

To make sure he wouldn't carry any germs, Malachi prepared to explore the sewer in his astral body.

The twinkling stars swirling throughout his being were bright enough to illuminate even this dark passageway.

"Don't know if you're going to need that flashlight when you come down here, Munchie!" He called.

There was a whooshing sound, and Cami's axolotl came down first. It enlarged itself to the point where it was easily big enough to wrap around Malachi.

Camille jumped down the hatch and took her position right on top of the creature's back. She ignored her father's estimations as she shone her flashlight all over the cave.

"Cwocodiles?" She called.

Malachi's voice could be heard from his faceless form. "Don't get your hopes up too far, munchkin. Crocodiles aren't native to Japan."

"What if some broke out of the zoo, or somebody flushed a baby egg?"

Malachi didn't really have it in him to fully stomp out his daughter's hopes.

"…You know what, Munchie, you're right. Anything is possible."

Camille let out a happy squeal that was unfairly precious.

After taking some pictures of her for memory's sake, they officially started their adventure floating through the sewers of Japan.

"Alright, Cami, remember to stay behind me and be sure to let me know if you see anything, okay?"

"Gots it." Camille nodded firmly.

'So precious…'

Camille was the perfect traveling companion for this journey. She wasn't scared of the dark, grossed out by their surroundings, and she didn't talk very loudly either.

She mostly spent their time shining her flashlight in the water; uncaring of what waste might bubble to the surface.

As they searched, Malachi was becoming increasingly aware of the fact that he didn't know exactly what he was looking for.

He took samples of the sewer water and swabbed down a couple of stones like Evaline had told him to, but he couldn't help but think there was something greater down here.

"Okay... I guess we'll cheat a bit."

Malachi connected his mind to the darkness in the sewer. Little by little, he stretched his sight over miles of the sewer system all at once.

Since they had stopped, Camille must have gotten bored.

She switched off her flashlight and sat back on her pet with a flat look.

"...Daddy?"

"Hm?"

Camille ran her thumbs over the switch on her nightlight without turning it on. "Did you have lots of friends in school..?"

Malachi snorted without realizing it. "Is that supposed to be a real question?"

"Yes." Camille didn't understand.

Malachi scratched his head while continuing his search for anything out of the ordinary.

"Your aunt Aisha was my only friend until we were in high school. Then I met your older sister, and she became my second. People didn't really start talking to me until-"

"Until you got powers?"

"W-Well, yeah, but also no... It was when everyone figured out I was Aubrey's brother."

He could still remember it. Day in and day out popular guys who ordinarily would have bullied him all came up to him just to ask about what his sister liked.

And then when Aubrey stopped coming to school, their interest in him ultimately faded too.

"Daddy?"

"Ah, sorry, Cami, just remembered something unpleasant... but why're you asking about something like that? Were you shy today?"

Camille tucked her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around herself.

It was only after forty-five seconds of silence that Malachi forgot about what he was doing and went to his daughter's side.

Even without facial features, all it took was one look at his expression to know he was immensely worried.

"Camille..?"

When Camille looked up at her father, her eyes were deeply contemplative.

She stared into his faceless void with an expression of mild envy.

"Do you think one day I'll be able to change the way I look like you can..?"

Malachi was floored. "I... uhm... w-why would you ask me that?"

Camille shrugged and refused to answer further. Malachi was a hair bit too stubborn to just let that be the end of it.

"Cami, you can talk to me. I promise you I'm.."

Malachi's words slowly trailed off as his senses finally showed him something out of the ordinary.

He double and triple-checked with his enhanced vision to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating.

"Cami... we'll finish this later, but for now you need to tell Mr. Whiskers to take defensive measures."

Camille nodded and reigned in her own dismay rather quickly.

She gave her axolotl a pat on the head twice in a row, and the creature responded in kind.

It's wings grew twice as large, and bladed appendages formed along it's tail and forearms.

"Let me see."

The axolotl opened it's mouth to reveal two rows of dangerously sharp teeth.

"Good boy." Malachi petted him.

Suddenly, Camille started noticing vibration in the walls around her. At the same time, she could hear a distant splashing reminiscent of a stampede.

"Cami… You're not afraid of rats, right, sweetheart?"

"No?"

"Just checking."