Chapter 55: Meet the little princess!

By the time Jack and Jean returned home, Timmy was already sound asleep between his parents. Bleda was reading a book in the next room, and Andrew was hunched over some papers which looked like every accountant's nightmare.

It was then that the new baby decided to fuss.

The little girl let out a wail.

"No, no! Come now, if you wake up Timmy, we are going to have double trouble!" Jean was pretty sure that the new baby understood him.

Because the little girl narrowed her eyes.

"Would you like a name?" Jack asked, next, who knew what the problem was.

"Yes! How about… Vera?" Jean prompted. It was a good name for a necromancer. If Vera had to lead an undead army one day, at least she would have a fitting name.

Bleda looked up from his book, as he appraised the new baby.

"Coffin birth?" He asked, as he set his book down.

"Yeah. She is ours now," Jack said, as he took the baby back from Jean and sat by Bleda.

"And a necromancer," the Mongol said, so, as if it were no great thing.

"Yes," Jack told him, as he handed him the wrapped up baby.

"I need to wash her," Bleda stood up, as he slowly began to make his way to the baths. "But, you know, this is good. Now the two babies will be able to babble at each other, and I will be able to read in peace."

As soon as Bleda was out of sight, both Jack and Jean collapsed on the couch.

"Did we really become parents?" Jean muttered. "I am twenty. It is too soon!"

"I can take care of the girl if you don't want to," Jack offered. "It will be no bother. She is a ray of sunshine."

Jean bowed his head.

"It's confusing, you know?" He asked, keeping his tone low. "First, there was Timmy. But Timmy is Nikola and Dimitri's baby. You can make him funny faces, but unless asked, you don't have to feed him or dispel his magic."

Jack listened. He knew that he owed the vampire at least that much. After all, the man had cut out the baby from its mother's womb.

Something Jack knew he would not have been able to do.

"And I…"

Jean's next words were drowned out by knocking on the door.

Jack sprung up. They had rented the entire floor of the inn for their little family. He thought it was the innkeeper coming to ask them to pay rent, or something.

Only to see a fellow adventurer from the guild on the other side.

"There have been complications for the Stone Rhinos!" The boy's eyes were wide and feverish. Jack stepped to the side to let him in.

He could see how the boy was already scanning for exits.

"They are all dead! All of them!"

Jack laid a hand over the adventurer's shoulder. Gently giving it a little squeeze.

"Guild Master Arnold is calling you all to the guild hall! He said not to dally!"

Jack nodded once more, as the adventurer rushed out of the door.

"Andrew, do you mind helping Bleda with the children?" Jack asked, as he looked at the siren.

"Sure. I was in the mood to sing anyway," he said with a soft smile.

Jean was already rushing to Nikola and Dimitri's door.

He knocked, heard as Timmy began to fuss, and then Nikola came to the door.

His hair a bird's nest, his green eyes unfocused.

"Yes? Did something happen?" The brunette asked.

"The Stone Rhinos are dead. We are being called to the guild hall."

That woke Nikola right up. Before Jean could even enter the room, Nikola was already by Dimitri's side, gently shaking him awake.

"What? Huh?" Dimitri was blinking. He had not expected to be woken up so soon.

"The Stone Rhinos are dead!" Nikola told him, as he picked up Timmy from the vampire's arms. The baby began to pout.

"What? Don't like it when we wake you?" Nikola teased the baby, who began to glare at him. "You can go right back to sleep. Let me just give you to your uncle Andrew."

That seemed to pacify little Timmy because he didn't burst out crying.

Dimitri began to dress, as Nikola took the baby to the siren.

The man was already on the couch with a storybook in his hand.

"Here you go, thanks Andrew," Nikola handed Timmy to the siren and then rushed back to his room to dress.

Andrew looked at the small baby, who was eyeing the storybook with great distrust.

"Now, I know what you are thinking," Andrew said, as he began to show the baby the pictures. "That it will be like last time. That I will tell you stories, feed you and clean your nappy, just so you can sleep the entire day."

Timmy nodded. It was during times like this that Andrew appreciated that coffin births were actually pretty smart babies.

"But this time, you will have a playmate! A lovely little girl! She is getting washed now, but afterward, she will come to you!"

Timmy blinked. Andrew kissed him on the forehead and began to retell the story in the picture book so, as if it were a song.

The party of four was soon out of the door. Bleda came back with the new baby just a minute after they had left.

"Hey," Bleda said, as he sat down next to Andrew. The babies were soon placed next to each other, and the singing/reading of the storybook continued.

"You know, Andrew, I think I am seeing a pattern here," Bleda said, deep in his thought. "One of us likes someone, they go to a graveyard, find a coffin birth baby, then become a family."

Andrew chuckled nervously.

"So," Bleda continued so, as if it were no big deal. "Do you want to go to the graveyard with me?"

Andrew took in Bleda's predatory smirk, the fact that the man was tall and all muscle and then slatted him on the shoulder.

"Nah, you have to work for that."

Bleda grinned.

His target was in sight.