Winter's War (Her Guardians series Book 4)(22)

“Right we need a plan, no more waiting around and training,” Wyatt says, and there’s quiet agreements around the room.

“How are we going to win this war?” Jaxson asks no one specifically, but all of us.

“How many of us are there for starters? Let’s talk numbers.” Atti asks as he stands up and goes over to the white board. I watch as he gets a marker off the side and opens it.

“We did a head count, and not including women and children, we have nine thousand and twelve,” the vampire who spoke before says, and I feel a sharp pain at the thought of how many have died to get us here. So, so many are lost.

“We have to take into account that it takes at least two of us to kill one. We can get lucky, but we don’t have the weapons we know the demon king’s army has.”

“What is the weapon count? The pack doesn’t need weapons, remember that,” Jaxson asks, reminding us how the wolves are weapons themselves.

“Neither do witches, not really. Most witches have element powers enough to fight,” Atti says. His point is true.

“Okay . . . we have no idea how big his army is, but I’m guessing he has at least ten thousand, if not more, turned humans from Paris, alone. We know he has two dragons, and they will be able to fly in,” Atti says and writes this on the board.

“Why can they fly in? In the witches’ city, the ward had to be broken to let them in.”

“I figured this out last night,” Atti gives me a worried look, “the wards are always weaker on a solstice. It interferes with them somehow, and I forgot about it. It means the dragons might be able to get through easily.”

“Dragon,” Milo says, flying off from the window and sitting on the table.

“Dragons. There will be two of them. How do we kill them?” Atti asks Milo.

“Yes, dragon Milo,” Jaxson says.

“I will call dragon,” Milo says and flies off towards the door. I shake my head at him, having no idea what he is going on about. We really need to work on making full sentences with him some time.

“We need help, and I doubt the humans will help us with this war, not after Paris,” I finally say into the silent room.

“I know a place with supernatural people who may help us because the demons will be after them, too, but a warning, My Queen,” Lucifer says, “They might just as easily betray us, this is why I never wanted to tell anyone about them.”

“Who?” I ask him.

“My son is half angel, and they came to me once, asking if I wanted to give my son to them to protect. They claimed to have thousands of refugees and half’s that are hidden,” Lucifer says.

“We cannot trust a load of halflings, my Queen and Kings. I’ve heard of these people, and they will betray you all,” Gabriel says.

“Be careful, my son is a half, and I will rip your throat out if you say another word about them,” Wyatt snaps, his sentence followed by the wolves’ light, warning growls. I place a hand on Wyatt’s shoulder.

“We need help, or it doesn’t matter whose blood we have. It doesn’t matter if we are halfs, if we are full bloods, or even human, we will all die the same way. The demon king doesn’t care what blood we have, to him we are all dead already, and this is just a game. I suggest we stop acting like children and win the big game,” I tell the room of supernaturals, who watch me with fear and hope in their eyes.

“Wise words, My Queen, I am sorry for speaking out of turn,” Gabriel says and bows his head.

“Our Queen is right. It doesn’t matter anymore. We all have family and children we want to keep safe and alive, and we need help to do that,” Dabriel says, his sentence hanging around the now silent room.

“Where can we find these people?” Atti asks, leaning over me on the table, his chest brushing against my back. I have to resist the urge to lean back into him with all the eyes of the people in here on us.

“They said you call for them in your mind, they have a witch who listens out for calls about halfs. I can get Josh to call for them, and then I will explain,” Lucifer says.

“That must be one hell of a powerful witch,” Atti comments, and he has a point. I’ve never seen even Atti use that amount of power.

“The man and woman who came to see me, were very powerful. They put a ward around us while we spoke and then just disappeared,” Lucifer says.

“Like how witches move?” I ask.

“No. With witches you can see them, a glimmer or something. Supernaturals can always tell when a witch uses their power. This was different, and the people that I saw, I believed were an angel and a vampire, anyway,” he says. I can’t tell much, but that might be because I never really look.

“Freddy, my nephew, is powerful. Far more than I’ve ever seen any child,” Jaxson says.

“I believe mixing our blood makes us more powerful, stronger,” Dabriel comments, and a few people nod. My eyes meet with Leigha’s across the room, but she only looks at me for a second before looking at Harris. The look says everything, she wants it to be okay for wolves and vampires to mix. She loves him.

“Call for them, tell them the new kings and queen want to make a deal for help. We want to meet,” I tell Lucifer, who nods.

“I can’t call from here, but I can from the local town. I will go there now with Josh.”