Four months later Bones was soaking in his bathtub when someone pounded on his door.
Silently he flew up out of the water and out to his door, stopping only to grab a knife. He looked cautiously through the peephole he had made, then dropped the weapon and dragged the door open.
Ancille stood on the other side, holding up another young woman who was both bruised and dangerously pale.
"Bones, you healed me that night. Please, heal her."
"What happened?" He demanded briskly, taking the woman's other arm and helping Ancille support her as he led them inside. His mind raced through the options, glanced again at how white she was and noticed how faint her pulse was, and steered her to the bedroom.
"She's pregnant. She didn't want him to know, he'd make her get rid of it. He found out and he beat her in hopes of causing her to miscarry."
Fucking know who I'm having for dinner tonight, Bones thought, but kept it off his face. More pressing matters were at hand.
He snatched up his dressing gown and shrugged into it before he sat on the edge of the bed by Ancille's friend. "She's been bleeding?"
Ancille nodded. "She said the baby was still moving though."
"What's your name?" He asked the young woman.
"Élisabeth." Her voice was faint, tinged with pain and fear, and Bones suddenly realized that if she was more than sixteen, he was a bloody monk.
"How far into your pregnancy are you?"
"Four months. I feel the baby, and today, a client felt it kick…"
And complained, Bones thought with irritation. "Do you still feel the baby?"
"Yes. I… I'm still bleeding though." She looked away.
"Right. Well, I hate to say this, but I don't know if I'll be able to help."
"What?" Ancille burst out, at the same time as Élisabeth couldn't hold back a sob.
"I'll try, and I know it will heal you. But I don't know if it'll keep the baby inside you. I've never done that before," he finished in a gentler tone.
Élisabeth nodded, then looked up. "If you try, and it doesn't work, then I know I'll have done all I can."
Bones nodded. "Now then, did Ancille tell you how I heal?"
"Blood."
"Too right. Here." And he slashed his wrist on a fang and held it over for her to drink from. When it healed he did it again, twice more, until the color began to return to her cheeks.
"It doesn't hurt as badly," she said after a few minutes.
"Has the bleeding stopped?"
She managed a slight blush. "I'm not sure."
Bones turned and looked at Ancille. "Take her to the loo."
Ten minutes later, Élisabeth was tucked back into Bones' bed, a clean rag between her legs just in case, but looking much better.
Bones sat on the edge and gestured to her abdomen. "May I?"
She nodded and allowed him to hike her blouse and lay his hands on her slightly rounded belly. He pressed gently, head cocked. "I hear the babe," he said finally. "Can hear the heartbeat. Yours is louder, but it's there too."
Élisabeth smiled at him in a watery way, hands on her belly.
"Thank you," Ancille whispered.
A few hours later, with Élisabeth napping in his bed, Bones sat in a leather chair in his living room. Ancille occupied the other chair.
"Thank you again, Bones. I know this was very unexpected. I doubt that you meant me to show up like this when you gave me your address."
He made a Well, you have a point sort of gesture but said nothing for a few minutes. Then he seemed to choose his words carefully. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"
"Yes and no." She answered in a direct manner. "I worry about Élisabeth. She could die if she goes back to work. Her baby will die."
Bones shrugged. "Consider my offer open to her and the other girls, then, if they're willing. Can't drink from Élisabeth til she delivers though and blimey, don't know what I'd do with a baby…" He trailed off thoughtfully. "But bit of poetic justice in that, I suppose."
Ancille cocked her head questioningly and he gave a tiny smile. "My mum was a whore, too."
Something he couldn't name came into her eyes and she nodded.
"Will you be all right here for now?" Bones asked next.
Ancille looked confused. "Yes, but where are you going?"
"I've no humans in residence at the moment and I need to get some supplies for you if you're going to be here. And I need to pay a visit to your uncle."
Bones' eyes took on a greenish tinge and Ancille shivered. "Are you going to kill him?"
Bones shrugged. "Deserves it, but I won't if you don't want me to."
Ancille was quiet for so long, Bones honestly thought she would say yes. But then she shook her head. "No. I look forward to the day he rots in hell but I'll not send him myself. I'm sure he has enough enemies that would be happy to do it, not to mention the current regime. Danger all around."
"Understood. Now, after I have a word with your uncle, you can talk to the other girls. They all know about vampires?"
"More or less. There are a few that come, that I've seen. As I said, I've never been given to one, at least that I know of. Élisabeth was, once, but he green-eyed her after, she doesn't remember. Ésmee is the usual candidate. I'm not sure why."
"Do you think they'll take me up on my offer?"
Ancille shrugged. "They'd be better off."
Bones was surprised at the flat assuredness in her tone. "They would? Why are you so sure?"
She looked at him in a hard way. "In the hours I've spent with you, especially today, I've sensed less evil than I have in the presence of most every man I've ever been close to. You're frightening, but you don't feel dangerous." She bowed her head. "Am I correct in assuming you kill people?"
Bones inclined his head once in a curt nod.
"Am I also correct in assuming those people needed to be killed?"
The side of Bones' mouth went up. "For the most part. Everyone makes mistakes but I do my best not to."
"Then they are safer with you, vampire, and I will bring them with me."
