Page 83 of Clash of Kingdoms

She stared back but said nothing.

“I’ve never met a human who likes snakes.”

“If all snakes were like Fang, I’m sure all humans would like them,” she said.

Ssshe lovesss me.

My father turned back to the table. “Let’s talk logistics.” He pulled out one of the chairs and took a seat. “My people want to be here as briefly as possible…especially when they are living in tents.” His venomous stare was reserved for me.

We approached the table, and just when I thought Harlow would take the seat beside me, she moved to the other side, taking the seat next to Larisa, where Fang slithered around her chair and then into her lap.

She smiled and started to scratch his head with her long nails, nails that used to scratch my back every night.

Everyone else took a seat, Huntley and Ivory across from my father and me.

My father glanced at me and then Harlow, probably suspecting trouble since she’d chosen a snake over me.

Kingsnake spoke first. “We’ve made fifty explosives to take with us to the crystal in the east. We were unable to find the components to make more, but fifty should be enough, assuming only half of them work.”

“Why would only half of them work?” I asked.

“Because I’m not an expert like Viper is,” Kingsnake snapped. “We take fifty vampires with us, destroy the crystal, and then return. With the destruction of the crystal, there’s a chance that the demons will flee elsewhere in a desperate attempt to find another crystal to fuel their immortality. Because, if they fight us without it, they’re gone for good. Or they’ll realize they’ve decimated the human population to less than fifty percent of what it once was…and take their chances. There could be crystals under this earth, so they come here, conquer us, and then take everything that’s underneath.”

“What are their numbers?” Father asked.

“At least thirty thousand,” Kingsnake answered. “Based on the last battle.”

“And how many men do we have?” Father asked.

“We lost half our army and our civilians in the last battle,” Huntley said. “So we’re down to about forty thousand people. Half of that is military, the other half is civilians, women, and children. We’re outnumbered nearly two-to-one.”

“More like fifteen to one,” Kingsnake said. “Based on strength…”

Huntley stared at him, probably offended, but he didn’t say anything.

“The vampire army evens the score,” Kingsnake said. “Dramatically.”

“If they do come, we’ll win,” I said. “And with that crystal destroyed, we’ll never see them again.”

“What does that mean?” Father turned to me. “See them again?”

“Their powerful crystals bring them back to life,” I said. “Every time they die, they return with new scars. So not only are they immortal…but also invincible.”

My father stared for a long while, trying to absorb that information. “How?”

“I have no idea how it works.” The demons were the only ones who could explain it, but they would never share that information.

“We also have the Exiles of Palladium,” Ian said. “There are about five thousand of them. They’ll fight with us.”

“Five thousand humans?” my father asked. “Won’t make any difference.”

“Don’t count your wins until you’ve won,” I said coldly. “That’s what you taught us.”

My father stared but kept his words to himself.

“I will accompany you to the crystal,” Huntley said. “It seems wrong to have only vampires in this fight. It would be wrong to allow you to risk your lives if I’m not willing to do the same.”

My father turned to regard him, and a long stare ensued.

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