Chapter 78 – More Blood

*** Alzi ***

This is the second night in a row that Yuki hasn't come in for her massage. At least yesterday, she stopped by to let me know, but today, I waited for an hour before I gave up. Yuki didn't even stop by for lunch this morning, and she seemed a little sad last night when she stopped in. Is their attack not going as planned?

I waddle up the back stairs, fingers drumming over my ever-expanding womb. The twelve little dots in the tattoo still pulse, and all of the kids now kick their poor mother.

I hope it isn't anything too serious, it may have been the long hours getting to her last night. I'm sure today is just planning for tomorrow. She's likely got a lot to do to help Mai get some revenge. I still wish she would let the Countess Esmeralda help her. She asked Nakuma for help immediately, yet she won't let Mai ask for anything. I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving up some information at least or maybe they have a connection inside that could give them who ordered the attacks.

I guess she still has some pride. Most of mine is gone.

Being told to bend over, to let some random woman impregnate you so she can take the kid away, takes your pride away quickly.

Sure, I have some pride in my sex skills. It's not the greatest thing in the world, but once I'm out of here, Yuki teaches me about mana, and I can get some pride in healing others and providing for a family.

Soon, just around the corner. One more pregnancy. Less than a year. I repeat to myself before I step into my small room.

"YUKI!" I shout, running to my once again blood-soaked bed.

"Alzi, you're here. Don't worry. Just fill the room, and I'll get back together again," she lets out, ending with a bloody cough.

I do as she says, but I can't heal all this. Her body is filled with gashes, from her head to her toes. Her stomach is almost spilling out of all the cuts.

"We need Kelly. I can't put this together. Is Nakuma getting her?" Not knowing what else to do, I put my hands over her worst-looking cuts, hoping to stem the bleeding or maybe my mana will focus there and heal it faster.

"No, just your mana should do."

"You better be right," I whisper.

Over the next hour, Yuki fades in and out of consciousness from blood loss and then my terrible healing, forcing her awake again. The small cuts healed quickly, but the large lash on her stomach was still open, along with a few random scrapes. The damage inside her body I have no idea about. I still have three more hours of this till I run out of mana, but if I don't heal the worst parts soon, I may just be making a pretty body for the casket.

"Why did you let this happen again, Yuki, and where is Nakuma?" I say to nobody.

"That is a great question, Alzi. Let me finish up here. I think the entire red-light district knows you're trying to heal someone," Kelly says, making me jump a little. Somehow, she got inside and behind me without a sound.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to do that," I say.

"Don't worry. It isn't your fault. Let me direct it here, and Yuki will live to tell us what the fuck is going on here. I don't like having to patch her up this often."

"Thanks."

I sit off to the side and watch the last large gashes close up, finally stopping the bleeding. Her breathing returned to a normal pace. This time, I was able to clean the blood out of my mattress and the floor leading to it.

"She'll be fine in the morning. Try to get her to tell you what happened. I worry she is going to get herself killed," Kelly says, standing up.

"I will. Thank you for coming up. I don't think I would have been fast enough by myself."

"You had her pretty close to healed; the gash looked worse than it truly was. It would've taken a bit, but you would've her put back together fine. Before I go, let me check on you and the kids."

"Sure, my womb health has been sitting at eighty percent for a while now, and the twelve dots are still pulsing."

"Good, I'll check on them individually and make sure none have any defects. Though your mana should've fixed them up a while ago."

She lets out a bit of mana to my womb, checking each kid slowly as I sit on my bed beside the sleeping kitsune.

"They're all good. Now, get some sleep. You both need it."

And with that, she left the room, letting me curl up with Yuki.

...

"Alzi, can you let me go? I need to get ready. I do..."

"Explain why you came to me on the verge of death again last night," I demand.

"My attack last night ended with me getting caught in a trap. It was an old one, likely put down by the previous generation. It was behind a random bush, I wasn't ready for it letting the trap do what you saw last night. Now, Alzi, I need to go."

"No, where was Nakuma? She should've been with you, right?"

"She ran off."

"Why?"

"I yelled at her."

"..."

"We got into a fight about sex. Nakumi wasn't happy I had sex with you when I told her she couldn't. I did it because I wanted my first time to be with you, and she wanted or would go farther soon. So, I had sex with you."

"Your first time isn't important. You can't treat her like that, Yuki. Put this whole thing off and find her. You're going to end up dead if you don't have help. I won't be able to heal you that much tonight; I used a lot of mana last night."

"It's important to me, Alzi. I've been dreaming about my first night for decades. Losing it to the father of my children, of getting pregnant the first time. I know they are silly things, but to me, it was important. It's bad enough I didn't get pregnant. I did it so I could have sex with her and not feel bad. There's nothing wrong with that. It was wrong to yell at her, but I did nothing wrong having sex with you. Let me go."

The command forces my arms apart, letting her free.

"Be safe, Yuki. I can't lose you. Revenge doesn't matter that much. Come back in one piece, please."

"I will, Alzi," she says, sneaking out my door.

She got me up early. I doubt anyone else is up besides a few of the orphans. I can try my luck in the bath. Worst case, I can relax in it for a while till someone comes by to help me out. Or just use magic and come back up if I tire of waiting.

I start my long waddle naked down the back stairs.

When I reached the second floor, an orphan stopped me and asked, "Miss, are you going to need help with your back?"

"I think so. I don't think anyone else will be down there yet."

"No, you're the first. I'll help you," she finishes with a bow.

"Thank you."

We head down to the bath. I waste no time heading in, letting the orphan get the soap instead of me for once.

She returns with two sets, letting me get my front while she works on my wings and back. I finish up before she does, as my wings take up a lot of her time.

"You don't need to be so careful with my wings. They can take some scrubbing, and they don't get that dirty."

"Sorry, miss, I was mostly admiring them."

"Don't worry. I just don't want to keep you from your other duties for too long. I know you all have a lot to do."

"This is no problem. I wasn't doing much. I just couldn't sleep."

"I know the feeling well. If I didn't have a way to put myself to sleep I would be working on just a few hours a week with how active these kids are now."

The orphan pauses at the mention of my pregnancy, a question burning inside her. "Is it painful?" she dares to ask.

"Not really, I have a lot of life mana, classes, and this weird tattoo helping me. The kicks are distracting, and they hit some sensitive spots sometimes. I wouldn't recommend getting this many if you have the choice."

"I see. Thank you for answering. I'm all done back here."

"No problem. Thank you for all the help. It feels great having someone clean my wings with such care."

"Of course, miss. I should do my rounds now." I'm sure she gives a little bow before going to do her chores, leaving me alone in the bath. The waterfall in the middle offers a pleasant background noise as I relax.

I wait probably ten minutes for the first pair of girls to come in. The group chatted about the woman they had last night. The group apparently had some very lazy nobles. While they found them boring, I wish I had more of them in the past. Even now, they are kind of fun; you move them into position, then just fuck them. Nice simple night. Of course, if you get a few of them in a row, it'll be boring. But boring can be nice once in a while.

Upon their arrival, I decided to get dressed. Using a bit of magic to dry myself off, I headed to my room to get a robe.

Back downstairs, this time clothed, I peek into the bath to see if Mai is there yet. Not seeing her, I wait outside for her. There is no need to make her worry about me not getting up today. My odd morning wakeups have caught her off guard a bit, and with all the times we've gotten hurt, it's best not to keep anyone waiting.

I daydream a bit while waiting. I dream about the days I can just sit outside, maybe even with a pregnant belly, waiting for someone to need healing. I invite them in and waddle after them. I ask them what's wrong, then don't care about the answer as I use an actual healing spell to fix them.

Instead, I'm just watching as my coworkers funnel in for their daily bath and meal. They're all pretty and treat me well, so there's nothing to really complain about. It just isn't what I dream of, what I hope to get.

Oh! There's Mai.

"MAI!" I scream, waving my hand. I would jump up as well, but I'm a little too pregnant to do that.

"Alzi, don't scream," she scolds, "I can see your light from the second floor. I'm guessing you already bathed."

"Yes. Yuki woke me up early today. I was the first one in even. I'm going to start eating now, I'll talk about Yuki then."

"I can just join you, Alzi. I don't enjoy the bath as much as you do."

"Ok, can you give me a hand? I forgot these chairs lean back like this. Kind of hard to get out of."

"Yes, you silly dragon."

With her help, we walk into the kitchen, get our meal, and sit down.

"So why did Yuki wake you up?"

"She came in hurt last night. Badly, on the verge of death kind of thing. Kelly helped me heal her. Then I went to sleep cuddling with her. When she woke up, she woke me up."

"And why was she hurt?"

"Nakuma got mad at her and left so Yuki is doing the attack solo. I asked her to stop, but she just ordered me to let go and then left. Saying some trap got her. I'm worried about her now. She doesn't like to ask for help when she should. I'm sure Countess Esmeralda or the Duchess would be willing to help if we just asked."

"Esmeralda won't help. The assassins made me a vampire and got her a deal to have kids. She doesn't care too much about them attacking a brothel girl. The Duchess would help or do something. But, you would likely be sent to her house for protection."

"Better that than losing Yuki. But I can't leave."

"Duchess won't care what I say, and I don't think the Silvana family will pass on the message. I would try, but we need Yuki willing to work with her. Doesn't sound like she's willing to do that. We just need to trust her to not get herself killed. She's tough. Give her a bit of trust. Don't use mana just in case."

"Ok. I'm not happy about this," I say, picking at my food.

"Neither am I. But I'm too weak to help her."