I could feel Vladimir give up when he turned around. He knows arguing with me is useless. I’m better than him with words and I don’t give up easily. So the best option for him is to give in.
I smiled and pecked his lips quickly. He gave me a light, exasperated smile. The one that said ‘what am I going to do with you?’ and ‘what I am going to do without you?’ too.
I raised my brows, motioning him to tell me his plan.
“I’m going to create a maze around northern borders of Mozog. It will make them go in circles they won’t be able to enter.” Vladimir had the power to make people imagine stuff.
“Few of our men will be hidden in the woods and kill anyone they come across.” Marc said. “They will know the map of the maze so they can enter and exit easily.”
“I’ll be there in south. I’ll manipulate their desire-the desire to attack us.” Rhazien said. He had the ability to manipulate desires of people. “And our men present there will kill those people.”
“Can’t you just send them back where they came from? Make them desire to go back home.” I suggested. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared if we were killing the people who wanted to kill us first. But Avalyn had rubbed off on me. On all of us. And now I saw loss of any life as a loss of my people. And these were just people who had been ordered to attack us, it wasn’t personal.
“If I have to influence the minds of so many people, my powers work will only until they are within my range.” Rhazien replied. “Even if I send them back, they will return after a while to do as they were ordered.”
I nodded. Then making them not want to fight before killing them is the only way.
“I’ll be the bait in the west.” Ezra sighed. Her power was attraction. “I freaking hate my powers. Can’t do anything useful.”
“This will be helpful, Ezra.” Vlad said kindly. “To draw out our enemies out in the open.” We will be able to kill the, quickly like this.
“What is your superpower?” I asked Jessica. She was Rhazien’s mate and had been turned into a vampire months ago. I know she had a power but apparently it was embarrassing so she refused to tell it to people.
“Do I have to?” She scowled, her face turning red.
“I think you should be forthcoming,” Rhazien looked amused.
“I hate you,” she hissed.
“I’m so glad you can’t use your powers on those with a higher blood than you. Or else I would’ve gone crazy every time we have a disagreement.” He grinned.
She shut her eyes in exasperation. “I can make people orgasm.”
Everyone burst out laughing at that.
“I swear this is payback for what I did to that asshole Kaleb Karwells.” She muttered under her breath. I grinned, knowing exactly what she had done. She had been in my good books ever since I came to know what she had done.
“Very well then,” Jester said, barely keeping his laughter in. “You’ll be in the east. You can make the people coming in our Kingdom cum.”
“Ha. Ha,” she said drily, rolling her eyes.
“General Eun-ho will be with Jessica for her protection.” She was a new vampire and was still not used to our ways and war. “Now that everything is decided, it is best if we talk to the people.” Vladimir said. “Ezra, call for a meeting in the training grounds in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, Prince Vladimir.” She bowed her head.
“Marc, call those who cannot fight into the palace and assign appropriate number of warriors for the protection of the palace. Divide the rest into four equal parts, one for each direction. Each of you will be leading a group of warriors, make sure each of them knows the plan in detail. I want everything to be done in the next hour and a half. The ETA of the intruders a little over two hours.” Vladimir said.
“Yes, Prince Vladimir,” all of them bowed their heads before rushing out to do their jobs.
Vladimir turned to look at me, a slight hint of worry in his eyes. I didn’t have any powers. And I couldn’t fight. But I wanted to help. “I’ll make sure to keep the people safe in the palace.”
He lowered his head to kiss me softly, deeply. “Just keep yourself and Valeralyn safe. And that will be enough. Others will do the rest.”
“Of course,” I nodded. “Do we have an estimate of how many people are arriving?”
“We can’t say for sure. But we’ve caught movements of around six hundred boats.” He said truthfully. Oh damn. This isn’t good. The population of Mozog was three thousand. If one boat had even five people in it, it will add up to three thousand people.
I closed my eyes and prayed to Moon Goddess. Please protect Avalyn. Help Nikolai find her. Please keep my family and people safe.
“I need to take care of a few things. I’ll come to our bedroom for the ritual after I’m done.” He tucked a lock behind my ear with a soft smile and I nodded.
“Be safe, Vladimir.” I said and Valeralyn kicked in agreement. I smiled lightly and caressed my bump. “She needs her daddy.”