34. TWENTY-NINE

TWENTY-NINE

Wren

“I’mnotsurewhy you insisted on having the meeting down here.” Sabine wrinkled her nose as she glanced around the dungeon beneath the library.

Norman rolled his eyes, and Trixie shot him a look before he said something rude, and he sighed. “Everything I have to show you is down here, and Rowan’s office isn’t big enough for everyone.”

Sabine shrugged. “Very well.”

Rebeka shifted on her feet next to Alister as she rubbed her hands together.

Dad stood next to me and Faith while my other mates stood around me.

Blair and Tabitha were also here.

Sabine and Rowan were the only members of the Supernatural Council present since the rest of them were busy with the war. Sabine had a silent moment with my dad when they first saw each other, and I knew they were mourning my mom.

Trixie held a leather bracelet up with a smile as Tabitha and Blair passed them around. “These are bracelets enchanted with wards. They’ll counteract the effects of the human-experimented tourmalyke crystal—which is inside of the specimens.”

Tabitha handed me one, and Rowan grabbed his before turning and fastening mine around my wrist and doing the same for himself.

“So we can fight these new specimens with magic now?” Rebeka arched a pointed brow as she took one from Blair.

“Yes with no problems,” Tabitha answered.

“That’s incredible,” Rebeka murmured, putting it on.

“We will keep making them until we have enough for our entire army, allies as well.” Tabitha stepped back beside Blair as they finished handing them out.

“Dragonsss have destroyed one of the two ssstanding facilitiesss,” Sabine hissed, shifting the topic of war. “There’sss only one more human facility remaining for the humansss, but that facility is the largessst one and now housing the last of the active supportersss of those humansss.”

“My friend, a dragon in Blezen who is spying for us, sought me out yesterday,” Rowan mentioned with a huffed breath, the crystal sphere clutched in his palm swirled with fire. “Roak had thought the relic was in the facility that he destroyed. He’s planning on taking the relic and forcing the hand of the supernaturals. He still thinks injecting dragon DNA will convert a supernatural, even though he only had one semi-success, but it only worked because he was infected with dark magic.”

“Our spies in the human syndicate told us they plan on attacking Blezen next month,” Faith spoke up, and my heart melted as I watched Dad wrap an arm around her.

“The dragons are aware of this, which is why they’re striking first. They’re going to take the battle to them one week from today with the relic as their end goal. Roak, of course, has a few of the dragons willing to give up their magical energy to take the relic back to Blezen so they can use it to their own advantage,” Rowan growled as he explained.

“How did he get them to follow him so blindly?” Rebeka shook her head.

“The other dragons, the majority of them at least, believe that Roak embodies the Dragon God in some way. They will do anything that he says if he says the Dragon God wants it. Even if he says to rip their own heart out. They would do it in an instant.” Rowan blew smoke. “I’ve seen it.”

Chills went down my spine as I shivered, and Dad’s gaze softened as he looked at me.

I shook my head with a reassuring smile, and he sighed before nodding.

It was a blessing to have Dad back.

“Humans are still trying to figure out how to get the relic to take over a certain amount of space. They have been using it on all of the supernaturals that they have captured,” Faith explained, disgust riddling her tone.

“What are they doing with them after? Now that they’re essentially human?” My voice came out shaky.

“They’re killing them,” Rebeka answered for her. “They’re of no use to them, but they are killing them and using their bodies to make more human specimens.”

My stomach churned as bile crept up my throat, and I swallowed it back.

Damien pulled me into his arms and pressed a kiss to my head. “It’s okay, little bird. We’ll make them suffer.”

“The humans still have numbers,” Faith said, a shaky hand running through her hair. “While there are human soldiers camped out, away from the facility in case they get shut down, we have our teams scouring all of the human territory looking for those humans and wiping them out that way those humans at the facility are the bulk of that faction and get wiped out.”

“The dragons have the same idea.” Rowan nodded. “So the humans at the facility are the humans we need to focus on for this battle. If we defeat the humans, they are out of the war, but we need to beat the dragons as well. We all need to be prepared for it.” Rowan moved his stern gaze to look at everybody. “This is going to be a battle for the relic, and quite possibly the last battle in this war. Our goal is to destroy the relic, wipe out the humans, and either wipe out the dragons in Blezen or force them to surrender—but they won’t surrender as long as Roak is alive.”

I trembled, and Damien moved his shadow tendrils up the back of my shirt, sliding up and down. The coolness of them calmed my magical energy so I didn’t erupt my tail or ears. I leaned up and kissed Damien’s neck as a thank you.

“We need to plan ssstrategically,” Sabine stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Our plan is to let the dragons get there first to take out the first wave of humans,” Rowan said, running a hand through his hair. “We will split up our supernatural teams to fight who they will be better against, varying with individual supernatural strengths. We will destroy everyone who isn’t on our side until that relic is destroyed.”

Sabine gave a stiff nod. “We have the werewolvesss, the witchesss and warlocksss, the vampiresss, the basilisksss, the demonsss, shiftersss, and the fae who have decided to fight on our side.”

“The dragons in Blezen have the majority of the dragons and drakes, the necromancers, the sirens, and what’s left of the arctic wolves on their side,” Rowan finished. “Drecken, Ted, and Avianna are focusing on our agents and working to merge them with our allies to create a large army with a purpose. The guard around the academy will be fewer as they go toward the facility, but I will explain the academy’s role in a moment.” Rowan nodded to Thorn.

Thorn cleared his throat, stepping forward with the black crystal in his palm.

Norman’s eyes widened, and an excited smile spread across his lips. He reached up in hopes of grabbing it, but Trixie smacked his hand. “Wait for him to give it to you.”

Trixie was trying to teach Norman more manners, which I found ironic since Trixie herself didn’t have a lot of manners to start with, but I also thought it was really cute.

They had finally come full circle, and Norman had told her he loved her.

She cornered me as soon as we got back from the fae realm to get the crystal and told me about it. The look of bliss on her face and the glowing in her eyes was everything I ever hoped for and more for her.

Thorn held up the black crystal in his palm. “This is hailtz. It sucks both magical and life energy until the target is drained of both. It’s the only crystal that stands a chance against the relic.” He turned to look at Norman. “Norman has figured out a way to pinpoint the energy at full power.”

“Faith gave me the contraption as a gesture of good faith.” Norman picked up the metal gun and held it up. “I have looked into it and tinkered a bit. With Alister’s help, he assured me that it would project the effects of a crystal when pointed out like a gun.”

The contraption was metal, shaped like a gun with an opening at the top for the crystal. It had prongs that bent to hold the crystal in place around it.

Norman held his other hand out to Thorn. “May I?”

Thorn nodded, passing the crystal to Norman who quite possibly squealed as he plugged it into the top and forced the prongs around it so it was steady.

“Now,” Norman told Trixie, who waved her hand twice over the glass container with the human specimen. Once to dispel the wards and twice to open it.

The specimen charged forward with strong and steady strokes of his feet, and Norman lifted his arm, pulling the trigger. The entire contraption glowed black with the crystal’s energy, and a stream of black hit the specimen.

It dropped to the ground at Norman’s feet, devoid of any magic or life.

“It takes everything and sucks it into nothing,” Norman blabbered excitedly. “So this is our best bet at destroying that relic. It should take everything that the relic has taken and destroy it.” He handed it to Rowan, who grabbed it with his free hand.

Rebeka looked at the contraption with wide eyes before a slow smile spread over her lips. “That’s exactly what we need to destroy the relic. My great great grandfather said so, but he didn’t know that a crystal of that magnitude existed.”

Sabine and Rowan shared a quick look before nodding at each other.

“I will hold onto this until the time is right.” Rowan cleared his throat. “I will be canceling all classes for the week. I want all students training because they will fight in the war. All staff members need to be in their offices or classrooms. The students will come to you with any of the questions they have. Tabitha, send an email when you get back to your office.”

My heartbeat echoed loud in my skull. We had the means to win the war, and we had to win it. There was no other acceptable choice.