Page 52 of Wicked Savior
The crowd roars and starts shouting a million questions at me. I hold up a hand, but it does nothing to quiet them. With a wave of the same hand, I silence the crowd and look at the leaders.
“This is your answer? I’d rather you give us your blood and let us figure out how to stop ourselves from going extinct in a thousand more years,” a rotund man with a large mustache yells at me, his face red with anger.
Surprisingly, Fiona looks like she’s actually thinking about it.
Two of the other leaders are also shaking their heads, adamantly against it.
The young man from earlier stands. “If we procreate with humans, our powers will die out. We’re already seeing generations with fewer and fewer powers, and those children are born from Druid parents. Plus, isn’t the mixed blood the reason the beasts exist?”
“Your powers are dying out because of the inbreeding,” I explain to him. “The mating of individuals or species that are closely related through ancestry causes detrimental effects.” I pause. “The beasts are created because the Druid blood overpowers the human blood when it’s given as a transfusion. When a human and Druid produce a child, it gains equal parts of both their DNAs. It’s balanced.”
Stunned, he sits down.
I look at the crowd. “If you can contain yourselves, I’ll release you.” When they agree, I wave a hand and lift the ban of silence.
My eyes return to the young man. “Even diluted, Viridian blood is dominant. It will carry through to your children quite easily. The proof is in your blood.” I look at Cormal. “When each of the families was created, my mother gave her blood to the male. Who do you think the first Druids procreated with to create two hundred children? Anon-magicalhuman female. It is only later, probably the third or fourth generation, that you had enough Druids to become insular, which was entirely the wrong decision. A couple of generations later, and you were already in a decline. You just didn’t know it.”
The silence is deafening. To realize you had caused the decline of your race is humbling, especially to these proud people.
“So, that’s the answer. You have the power to save yourselves. Your race is dependent on humans. The natural evolution of humans is dependent on you. If you decide not to pursue this path, then based on my calculations, the six will become zero in one more generation,” I reveal.
“Also, I’m working on a plan to take care of the beasts, but my warning is for the leaders. When you accepted my invitation and sat in those chairs, you became bespelled. If any Druid attempts to create a beast, on purpose or by accident, you will lose all your powers.” The leaders blanch. “Go ahead, turn them over.”
They scramble up and turn the chairs over to look at the Viridian I wrote on the bottom. A couple of them show the crowd, who begins to back away from me.
“Thank you for coming,” I call out, waving a hand at the departing group.
Four of the leaders immediately rush to follow the crowd. Fiona and the young man stay behind.
He dips his head. “I’m Haru Minako. If there is anything we can do to assist you in your task to take out the beasts, please don’t hesitate to ask.” With one last glance at Fiona, he heads over to the group waiting for him.
A tall man stands near the entrance of the cave, wearing non-descript dark clothes, with his face hidden in the shadows. If it weren’t for the waves of power rolling off him, I’d think he was another Druid waiting for Fiona or Haru. My heart stops. Could Lucifer have come after all? I raise my hand to tell him to wait, but he turns and stalks out the door. I start to follow, but Fiona pats me on the shoulder.
“Well, you certainly know how to stir things up,” Fiona says with a chuckle. “I suspected that was the answer, but I’m relieved to hear you say it. We’ve been trying to tell them for years that the inbreeding was causing us to lose our powers, but nobody was willing to take a chance with a human. Not even me.”
I turn my attention to her. “It’s the right path.”
She agrees. “Yes, it is. Oh, did the demon come by?”
“Yes, he was here and happy to deliver my messages,” I confirm. “Thank you.”
She raises a snarky eyebrow. “I bet that took some negotiation. He doesn’t do anything for free.”
“Only a little pressure,” I assure her with a silent snicker. “What about the rest of the stuff on my list?”
“We’ll deliver it first thing in the morning. I wanted to be sure you kept your end of our bargain,” she admits with a shrug. “I’ve got to go. With your little announcement, I realize I’m not getting any younger. If this family is going to have a future, I need to get busy. Maybe I’ll swing by the pub and see if Liam has any plans tonight.” Pink splashes across her cheeks and a giggle escapes.
When everyone is gone, I look over at Cormal. “What do you think?”
“Some will embrace the decision; others will die out. Either way, Druids will slowly rebuild their numbers. It’s more hope than they had yesterday,” he admits gruffly. “Did you really bespell the leaders?”
I give him a droll look. “Of course not.”
While he may not be mortal anymore, he’ll always be Druid, and he cares about their survival. With a sigh of relief, he reaches into his coat and grabs the item I requested from him. “What are you going to do with the torque?”
“I’m going to exponentially increase my power and trap it into five bombs,” I tell him, ignoring the sheer look of incredulity on his face. I reach into my pocket and pull out the latex glove I stashed there earlier. “Don’t worry. I’ve already tested one. This is going to work. If Lucifer doesn’t help me, I’ll figure out another way.” I hold out a gloved hand for the powerful object, and he gives it to me.
“Lucifer?” he asks hoarsely. “Does he know about this?”
