Blessed by Night

Chapter 133  Anna Grey: Seeker of Redemption!

"....Christ." "Yes?" "N-No, I mean god-" The Gods: "Which one?" "No, none of you, I just... Why am I here?!" Anna was more than a little uncomfortable with this turn of events. She woke up thinking that she had to pee and prepared to crawl out of bed, only to realize that she was in some kind of weird colosseum, surrounded by more beings of legend than she could count. But for some reason, no one was looking at her and instead staring at one amongst themselves. "Problem?" Nyx asked annoyedly. "Why don't we just skip the declaration of ambition and just get to the part where you have one of your children bless the mortal."

"It's not like the rest of us have an opportunity anyway..."

"I just want to go back to my realm and lie down."

Anna nearly jumped out of her skin when the woman who was sitting on a throne above her suddenly appeared right beside her. This was only her second time meeting her, but even she was able to recognize Mal's adoptive mother. "Hello Anna~ It's nice to finally get to speak with you properly."

"Y-Yea, umm.. Nice to meet you too?"

"Fufufu~ Don't be nervous."

Nyx gently took Anna by the hands and admired the tattoos on her knuckles and arms. "Such exquisite artwork... They are always so beautiful no matter how many times I see them."

"Thank you for saying so..." Anna said shyly. She wasn't really good with mother figures since she never had one of her own. As a result, it was relatively easy to disarm her usual prickly and unfriendly nature as long as you used an older woman to do it. In that regard, she was quite a bit similar to her boyfriend. "Tell me something, Annalise..."

Nyx ran her cool fingers along Anna's cheeks as she looked at her with gentle black eyes. "What is your ambition, dear? What kind of person do you want to be?" Surprisingly, it wasn't hard for her to think of an answer as she had always known it for as long as she'd been an adult. "...I just.. think that I would like to be someone new." "Oh? And why is that sweetie?" Annalise had never said these words out loud to anyone before, and yet here she was about to spill her deepest insecurities to her boyfriend's mother. Life was funny like that. "Can you... keep a secret?" "Of course dear, my lips are sealed." "I've... done a lot of bad shit. I spent a few years in juvie for.. pretty much everything. Fighting, breaking and entering, possession with intent and..."

She didn't bother to finish, and Nyx didn't press her for more answers. The goddess could tell that what she'd already gotten to hear required a great deal of effort. "I cleaned up a lot sense then, you know? But even when I turned 18, I was still hurting myself by getting into bad relationships with guys and drinking until I blacked out. I put my uncle through hell, but for some reason he never scolded me for anything and just kept picking me up every time that I fell down. I... owe him so much." Anna couldn't tell, but Nyx silently put up a barrier to keep her words from reaching any of the other highers from hearing her very personal confession.

"Dating your son is like... A real breath of fresh air for me. He's so gentle, and he makes me feel like I'm the most special girl in the world even though I'm just some orphan with a record. I'm happier than I've ever been, but I'm also terrified out of my mind that he is going to find out about all the shit I used to pull and look at me differently because of it. So I- Ow! why!?"

Anna was nearly midway through a very moving confessional when Nyx suddenly picked her cheeks and started to pull them like they were made of taffy. "Nope~ Don't do that. If you're going to say that you love Malachi, then you need to be aware of the kind of person he is.

Can you actually imagine him leaving you over something silly like your past?"

Anna wasn't sure what she was more embarrassed by, the fact that another woman brought up something obvious that she should have known about her boyfriend, or that she was having her face played with like she was a child. Realistically, it was probably the former. Nyx suddenly pulled Anna closely until their foreheads were pressed together. "Listen to me now, Anna. If you want to redeem your past mistakes, then you should do that. But don't think for a single second that you have to do it so that it might make you worthy of my son's affection. If he's chosen you, then you are worthy. You don't need to do any more or any less, just love him the same as you have always done. Everything else is insignificant in the grander scheme of things. "

"So, I'll ask you again dear." Nyx said warmly. "What is your ambition, and what kind of person do you want to be?" "...I want to be redeemed."

"Oh? Why?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"So that maybe one day I'll feel like I deserve all of the happiness that's in my life right now..."

Nyx smiled warmly and gave the young girl a complementary pat on the head.

"As I thought, I knew just who's blessing would fit you all along."

Nyx finally released Anna and glanced over her shoulder at the greek pantheon. "My darling girl, would you mind coming to say hello?"

A woman stood up from the crowd and flew into the air on inky black wings. Anna was mystified by this woman's bright red dress and long black hair that blew casually in the wind. When she landed, Anna was able to get a more detailed look at her face. She was gorgeous, with a stern gaze and powerful red eyes that seemed to see through all of Anna entirely. Her history, her inner shame, her fear, her regrets, it seemed like they were all laid bare. Mal gave her a similar feeling when the two of them were alone, but what she felt from this goddess was more unpleasant and invasive. "Annalise, this is Malachi's elder sister; Nemesis."

"Hey..."

"Greetings."

Nyx vanished and returned to her seat so that the girls could get acquainted, but Anna would have given anything for her to stick around. She was already awkward when it came to meeting new people, so she didn't have the slightest idea how she was supposed to behave in front of a literal goddess. "Do you know how you may redeem yourself, Annalise?" Nemesis suddenly said. "...Well I tried community service but that just made me feel like a crusty convict so I'm gonna have to say no."

Nemesis didn't really seem to understand or care for Anna's awkward joke, and instead chose to ignore it like it wasn't even mentioned. "You want to absolve yourself of your guilt? Then take my blessing and hunt down those with more wicked hearts than you.

I am the goddess of retribution. Destructive anger and a spirit of vengeance are the gifts I will give. Become my agent, and relinquish your dark past as you cleanse the world of the irredeemables." Anna's eyes went slightly wide as the gravity of what she was being offered sank in. Nemesis was basically asking her to become some kind of supernatural huntress who punished criminals by bringing death. It was a crazy offer and she wasn't even sure that she should take it, but suddenly she remembered the words of her mother-in-law .

Nyx had specifically picked this goddess for her because she believed that her blessing would be best suited for Anna. And when Anna recalled her own words about wanting to be redeemed, it wasn't really hard to see why. So really, why was she still hesitating?

"I accept your blessing then..." Anna wasn't exactly sure if she was supposed to bow in this instance, but she felt like it would be rude if she didn't at least lower her head a bit. She felt a warm sensations spread through every corner of her mind and body. It was invigorating, welcoming, and it felt so right that she couldn't believe that she'd ever been without it. "Thanks for this... it's really amazing." She admitted. Nemesis was always rather stoic and remained stone faced even in front of Anna's sincere gratitude. "You need not thank me, since it was your choice to take it. But know this, blessed daughter, should you prove unworthy, I will reclaim my blessing at the expense of your life if I must."

Anna couldn't focus too much on Nemesis' warning because she was so focused on the way she had referred to her. Blessed daughter. She didn't say it with any sort of warmth or affection, so she couldn't have been proclaiming herself to be her mother. And that left only one possible alternative. "Wait a second... Do you know who my-"

"It seems our time is up."

"W-Wait-"

Before Annalise could get the answer that she wanted her body started to break apart and she vanished from the colosseum. After she left, Nemesis felt a small but sharp poke in her side and found her mother with a cute yet displeased expression. Even before she said anything, Nemesis had already lost her constantly stoic demeanor and was trying to apologize. "I-It was just a slip of the tongue! You know I would never reveal to that girl anything about her parentage or her mother's relationship with my brother."

For some reason, Nyx still seemed to be unsatisfied. "If you know what you've done wrong, then how should you apologize?"

Nemesis' face became as red as her dress as she glanced at the numerous divine beings around them. "Do I... have to do it here?"

"Yes!"

Finally, Nemesis decided to bite the bullet and swallowed her embarrassment and displeasure. She kissed Nyx on the cheek so quickly that you could barely even see it, and said the dreaded words of apology. "I am sorry, mommy..."

"Fufufu~ Good! My sweet girl is forgiven!"

The highers surrounding them were immediately able to come to one undeniable conclusion. This entire family was completely mad.