Hope

Chapter 3

Alice's POV

I sat at the round table in our private meeting room with the others bright and early. Shelton pulled up on the screen the ideas some of the human government officials had come up with it. They were good for a laugh, but that was all they were good for. "They can't be serious," Pyrus asked from where he sat a little slouched in his seat. "They are," Shelton said before clicking on the next slide. "This is how they planned on dividing the united states." When the map pulled up, Nathaniel had been taking a drink of his coffee and he started choking on it when he saw it. We were all dumbfounded. "They want to give us the smaller states and divide California," Drake asked, trying to clarify. "Your father laughed when he saw it," Shelton told him. "Of course they didn't appreciate his reaction, but it could have been worse." He had a point, I thought. 

"They also said we could have Alaska, claiming our werewolves would appreciate the frozen land," Shelton told us. I face palmed, "Are they serious? Many of them would freeze their fur off. Wolves are adapted to the area their packs had claimed centuries ago. Putting a wolf from Florida or Goddess forbid Hawaii in Alaska is one of the stupidest thing anyone can do. Plus the packs in Alaska wouldn't appreciate what little hunting grounds they have get taken over." Wolves from Alaska are shifters you really do not want to piss off. 

"My thoughts exactly," Shelton said with a nod. "They kept trying to come up with several different ways, none of which will work." He then clicked on the next slide, "We then showed them the data of humans to supernatural ratio. Many of them paled and seemed outraged, as if it was our fault their species couldn't reproduce fast enough to keep up." There was a ten to one ratio from humans to supernatural. "Is that data counting the hybrids who had come out of hiding recently," I asked him. He nodded, "Yes. The topic of hybrids had come up, and it wasn't a pretty one. Neither was the topic of how we are able to keep control of our people who are all over the world and they couldn't control the humans they had power over in just one country." He looked at Pyrus, "That was a topic your father had brought up, and they tried coming up with every way to tear apart how we run things, but thankfully they couldn't really find our flaws." Drake scoffed, "Flying completely around the world, if I started at breakfast, will only take me till dinner, if I'm lazy about it. It takes humans months." "Plus with magic getting somewhere is instant," Cindy added in. 

"They were just jealous," Shelton said before continuing. For hours we talked about possible solutions. "Is there any way to wipe human minds and make them forget," Cindy whined as she slouched in her chair. "To many for that to be done," Drake told her. "And too much can now be found on social media," Pyrus added in. "Curse you technology," She grumbled. "How about we present how we did things before the humans knew of our existence, after all, if it isn't broke don't fix it," Nathaniel suggested. "They keep looking at the magic and the ten to one ratio. Throw something at them they will pay attention to," I told them. "Money. Our kind has paid taxes to the human government of every country. That ten to one ratio scares them, but throw a dollar sign in there, then boom, they'll be rolling over, doing whatever it takes to keep our people's money flowing into their wallets. Take our people away with their money, those countries will become broke in a heart beat."

They stared at me for a moment. "You, know, she's not wrong," Drake said, looking at Shelton. I looked at Qin, "How possible is it to create land of our own now that we have warlocks back in the picture," I asked him. "Very possible," He told me. Then he seemed to join in on my train of thought, "Threaten them that we will just pick up and start from scratch. Use the money they would be getting from us paying taxes, to start building. We already own several places to get things like oil and such, and really we can power things with magic, and not electricity. It would become a kingdom never before seen." I nodded, "Precisely." 

"Could we do that anyways," Cindy asked curiously. "I think we should allow our people to vote on it," Nathaniel said. "We would be asking our people to up root their lives here, to move. We can keep the plan to use it as a threat, because I do agree, as manipulative as it is, it will get them to really stop and think." "The idea of separating and making our own land sounds like the best move in the long run," Drake said. "However, like Alice pointed out earlier, it may be hard for our people to adapt depending on the kind of climate they're used too." "With Fae magic and warlock magic we can be sure to accommodate for them accordingly," Pyrus told him. 

"Those are all good points," Shelton said finally. "We have everything we need, it would simply be acting that we would need to do. I also think it would be a chance to give us a fresh start for all of us." After we all agreed, we came up with a way to be able to allow our people to vote on whether or not it is something they would want to do. If so, then we will get started on having the land get made while we also present it to the human. If our people decided against it then we will stay and just use it as a threat towards the human officials. 

After that, we then moved on to our next topic, Aniavin. "What did they mean by, rightfully theirs," Cindy asked. "They mean the right to use magic," Shelton explained. "The Blood Stone has the ability to not only enhance one's magic like we already knew, but after looking into the documents we found in the hidden library, it also has the ability to give one the ability to use magic even when there are no Ley Lines. But it's only a one time use, meaning you have to make it count, after that, it strips you and anyone else in your bloodline from ever using magic again." "I think they're well off without magic," Nathaniel grumbled softly. 

We would forever hate them for the beating they gave Shelton and for making Nathaniel half blind. I had offered to make a Demonic Contract to give him his sight back, but he said he has gotten used to not seeing out of his other eye. Whenever he changes his mind, I will make that contract in a heartbeat. 

"We need to find out what kind of spell they plan on using," Drake said. "It's best to handle Aniavin in a covert manner," Qin said. "We can't go to war again. Once we find out the spell they're wanting to use we then figure out the best action." We then began to discuss the kind of team we would be sending to investigate. After that we concluded our meeting to take me out shopping. Since the twins were with my parents we got to enjoy our shopping trip just us. 

By the time we got my new wardrobe I was ready to just fall into a nice coma. After waking up early for our meeting and then going shopping, my energy was depleted so I took a nap, while the others made sure everything for our date tonight would be ready. 

Cindy's POV

I covered Alice with the blanket with a smile before going to start putting her things away. "Do we get any hint," Qin asked me while wrapping his arms around my waist. I giggled, "It's casual attire." "That isn't telling us much," Qin told me. "It tells you enough," I told him. I had planned our date on a whim, but I honestly feel it's needed.  The arboretum and botanical garden nearby was in full bloom and at night it looked so beautiful. They also had a nice restaurant for us to enjoy. When it was time to start getting ready, Qin woke up Alice. I put on a pink and white sundress that had a pink belt around the waist. I paired it with a pair of white wedge sandals. I went into the bathroom and did my make up light before putting my hair in a clip with pieces framing my face. I smiled happily and left the bathroom. Shelton pulled me to him, "You look beautiful." He placed a kiss to my temple as I smiled, "Thank you." They all looked really good. So good I almost wanted to do more private things with them that didn't involve clothes. But we needed this. 

When everyone was ready I teleported us to the arboretum. The smile Alice had was bright. She enjoyed spending time outside in the garden, I had hoped she would enjoy it. "Come on," She said eagerly while taking Drake and Shelton's hands. "You surely did top many of our past dates," Nathaniel whispered to me as he wrapped an arm around my waist as we followed them. "It's such a calming and colorful place, I thought it would be good for Alice. Plus I thought it would be beneficial for all of us." He kissed the top of my head. The entire time we walked about looking at the various plants and flowers we laughed and joked around while also taking pictures, just capturing the moments and enjoying each other's company. 

Alice wrapped an arm around me and kissed my cheek and I smiled. She wore her hair in a ponytail to keep it off of her neck, a black maternity tank top, and a purple knee length skirt with a pair of ballet flats. She was really beautiful. "I love you," She said to me, nuzzling my cheek. "I love you too," I told her. I heard the sound of a camera before looking over at Qin who was holding his phone up. Behind him was Pyrus teasing Nathaniel while Drake and Shelton talked about one of the flowers they were looking at. I would kill to have more moments like this. Fingers crossed, I will never have too.