Lady Dhampir
Chapter 280

"b****y Hell..."

Milena exchanged a glance with the Duke De Nova. From his expression, the Duke had just understood too. Arseus had only been sent to threaten her; that coward had no intention to fight. They had released Wendigos on the De Crescent Lands! She couldn't even believe this was happening, that she had been caught like this. She had been so wrapped up in their plan, in protecting her Father and their home, she hadn't realized this would be used as a trap against them! No, she hadn't thought Ellias would even dare to use such a monstrous method. Injuring her father was one thing, but to think he was even releasing Wendigos... He was ready to murder them all! She clenched her fists, furious. She was getting real tired of those bastards playing outside of the rules. So far, she had been mistaken twice, not because of her own doing, but simply because Ellias and his allies didn't care about keeping up appearances anymore. The monarchy was already dead, and by its own King's doing. This was anarchy, utter anarchy. There were no other words. For him to actually allow the Church to attack one of the Duchy Houses with those creatures, and the Grand Princess with it... Milena's purple eyes began glowing with anger. She was really done, this time. She wouldn't let them win this way, Wendigos or not.

"Blanche, go! Find them!" She shouted.

The white wolf didn't hesitate a second. Blanche ran ahead and shape-shifted into an eagle, immediately taking flight to scout above the lands. Meanwhile, Milena turned to the Duke. "They will have closed the portail to the domain," said the Duke.

"Definitely, they want to make this place our graveyard. We won't let them. As soon as we know how many wendigos there are, we organize ourselves to fight. Those bastards ran because they had little to no control over those creatures, they expect us to do the job for them."

"But what can we actually do against the Wendigos? Is it possible to actually hunt them down?" Asked the Duke.

"It is. We shall use fire," hissed Milena. "They are sensitive to fire, and getting shot in the head. We need to set up barricades immediately. There won't be a battle, we need to turn our whole plan into a siege. They might think they trapped us with those beasts, but we only need to hold on for three hours, or get rid of those before."

"I understand," nodded the Duke. "Alexis!"

While she was surprised to hear him call the young woman so casually, Milena didn't have the time to ponder on the matter. Alexis' horse ran to their side, joined by the head of the De Boreal Knights, both visibly already aware of the situation. "How many are there?" Muttered Alexis, nervous. "At least four? Is that it?"

Milena nodded.

"That's what I heard too, but that will be confirmed soon. There might be more, but I doubt it. They probably opened some cages to release those horrors, and as we already know, wendigos can attack one another, they have no consideration for their own kind. Alexis, you've faced some of those things too, do you recommend any strategy?"

"Anything but what we're doing now!" Exclaimed the woman, looking around at the soldiers with panicked eyes. "Having this many people gathered in one open place will be nothing but a feast for them. We have to scatter the men, create hunting units and spread them at the limit of the forest. Trying to fight them behind the line of trees would be madness, those creatures are able to climb up and jump down on their prey at incredible speed. But here, it's different. If we can use the De Crescent lands to our advantage, and replace those things before they get here and out of the tree line, we have a chance."

"We can burn all the trees we want," said Milena. "They can have my forest, but they won't set foot on the De Crescent Lands, I'll have those wretched creatures burned before they do. The main risk is contamination. We've seen how fast someone can turn into a wendigo, we can't have that happening now, most of our troops are vampires. If some are bitten..."

"Yeah, that Bastard De Winter definitely counted on that with that wretched plan of theirs."

Milena knew the Church was actually behind that plan, and she was frustrated at herself for not even thinking they would dare to do such a thing. No, she hadn't expected that Ellias would let them have their way with such a vicious act. It was obvious their mostly vampire army would be easy prey for some Wendigos, but she had never thought the Church would be able to control creatures in such a way, nor that Ellias would authorize such a thing. This was basically admitting they were using Wendigos from the start! "Lady De Carseus, gather the troops and give out the orders," declared Milena. "I need those barricades set as soon as possible, those wendigos won't wait for us to be ready."

"Captain!" Suddenly called the Duke De Nova.

The Captain of the De Crescent Knights appeared by their side.

"You take the Grand Princess inside and guard that Manor with your life," declared the Duke.

"Yes, Sir."

"What? No!" Milena protested. "I need to stay out here, among the fighters!"

"With all due respect, Grand Princess, you need to stay alive first and foremost. This place is about to become a bloodbath and if anything happens to you, this wretched King will have exactly what he wanted; you dead. We cannot have that. The second I decided to leave the fate of the Vampire Kin in your hands, I also decided your survival would become the top priority."

"Duke De Nova, you cannot do this," hissed Milena. "We have gathered three hundred men of our allies here! This is my domain, I will lead our people against the Wendigos and against anyone who dares to threaten my Lands!"

"They all came to protect you, stubborn girl!" Shouted the adult vampire. "This became their responsibility the minute you decided to fight for them! Every single one of those soldiers trusts you with their future, so when are you going to learn to trust them with yours!"

That sentence hit Milena violently. After a second or two of shock, she turned around, looking at those soldiers. Everyone, including the Captain of the De Crescent Knights, was staring at her. Not looking scared, or baffled, or as if they expected anything. Instead, they looked nothing but determined. Milena took a deep breath. She had to stop this. She had to stop trying to save everyone and putting herself last, all the time. These men had gathered here not because they thought they would survive for sure, but because they were ready to fight, no matter the consequences. The presence of four or more Wendigos hardly changed anything. She took a deep breath, and slowly nodded.

"...I understand," she muttered. "Duke De Nova, are you... alright with defending the territory?"

"I owe this much to Anton," groaned the old Vampire. "If there's only one thing we can see eye to eye on, it's that our daughters come first. I'll protect your lands, Grand Princess. But when my daughter comes back, and takes back the title of Duchess De Nova, you'd better make her a close ally of yours."

Milena nodded, her throat a bit tight, choked up by anger, grief and respect. She could have said many things about the Old Duke, but at the very least, he was a righteous man. Right now, he was about to defend their land for Milena and Rachael's futures to be safe... It was probably a huge sacrifice he was already resigned to.

"... We have to set up several barricades between the forest and this place, and barricade the ground floor and the first floor of the House De Crescent," Milena declared, loud enough for all to hear. "If, like Lady Alexis said, our troops are too numerous to fight the Wendigos efficiently, we need to split up, and keep some men ready for a second round." "Do we have enough space to protect them all?" Asked Alexis.

"I can have two-thirds of them into the Manor and servants' house," nodded Milena. "The Stables would be too hard to guard, but we can use it as a defense point."

"I want to lead the scouting units," declared the Marquess. "This isn't my first fight against Wendigos, and I have a personal vendetta against those wretched creatures. If you let me, I'll make sure to get rid of at least one of them, and minimize the losses too." "Then let's do it like this. Your men will be at the front and headhunting each Wendigo that steps out of the forest. The Duke De Nova will establish the second line of defense around the Manor."

"The Knights of House De Boreal will defend the Manor as well," announced their Captain.

"...Are you sure?" Muttered Milena. "The Duke..."

"His Highness said to do everything possible to protect the Grand Princess' life, and I will do exactly as my Master ordered."

She could read the fierce resolve in the Captain's eyes. Milena was still shocked at how many people were ready to risk their lives that day...

"What about the plan to capture His Majesty, then?" Asked Alexis. "Is there really no chance?"

"Oh no, this is still on," declared Milena. "This is only delaying us by a bit, but I swear, Ellias isn't keeping that crown for long, not if he's agreed to play dirty like this....I will end this. But first, I need us to survive for three hours. I don't know how they plan to stop the Wendigos after three hours, but that means we need to hold on until then, and we will most likely be safe. I will get to the first floor of the Manor, with all our best sharpshooters."

Suddenly, Blanche re-appeared above them, with a long screech as an eagle, and Milena raised her gloved hand to get her. Her silver-white bird landed on her wrist, her golden eyes glowing. "Four?" She asked.

Blanche answered with one sharp sound, and Milena nodded. Then, she turned around, and left the bird to get onto Black Bella's saddle while she grabbed something to write on. Quickly, Milena wrote a note, and tied it around the bird's leg.

"Go to the House De Boreal and give this to Henry," she said. "Make sure he gets it. Whatever reason he has for not coming, we will need his help. Go!"

Blanche took off, quickly flying away from the domain. Mielna watched her friend fly away before she turned around to face the Duke and Alexis again.

"Four Wendigos," she said. "If we manage to take them down, it will be our turn to strike. I need us to do our best to preserve our men for three hours, and avoid any transformations....We need to be ready. We might need to kill our own people to avoid more monsters to face."

Both Alexis and the Duke nodded with solemn expressions. Of course, they were both well aware of the risks. They had both faced wendigos before, they knew that, despite Milena's words, it wouldn't be easy. After a second of silence, Alexis turned around to face her men.

"You heard the Grand Princess! Everyone get moving!"

Quickly, everything went into action. They had no idea how long they really had to prepare, and a wendigo could literally appear at any second, but Milena was shocked how quickly the men immediately followed their instructions. Some ran into the Manor, not to hide but to start setting up the barricades. Some were tearing apart two of the greenhouses to get materials to create a barricade in the middle of the domain, at a reasonable distance from the line of trees. The Duke De Nova shouted his orders, and as soon as the first line of barricades was mostly ready, the Knights De Nova moved to set their own, several yards behind, around the manor's terrace. Milena took a deep breath, and one last look at the domain. This was going to turn into a very different battlefield from the one she had imagined...

A second later, resigned, she turned around and, with the Head of the De Boreal Knights, she ran back inside the Manor, Raphael following closely behind her.

"Lock all the doors," she declared loudly as soon as she set foot inside. "Barricade all the doors and windows on the ground floor, and set up posts at each window of the second floor for the sharpshooters to get in position! I need them all to get an eye on the forest in all four directions!"

Another wendigo screeched punctuated her sentence. Like many around her, Milena froze, a cold chill running down her spine. This one felt way too close already!

"Olivia, get me my best long-range g*n ready, and I want the prime spot to shoot down that vermin."

"Yes, my Lady."

While her maid walked away, Milena kept overseeing the preparations in the manor, keeping an eye on everything. Digory was also shouting above the ruckus that had taken over the manor, gradually transforming into a fortress. It wasn't as if their home wasn't ready for a siege either; after all, the House De Crescent wasn't born yesterday. They had plenty of weapons, and many secret devices were ready to be put in place to protect the household. Milena wasn't too worried about the Wendigos getting inside the Manor; she was much more worried about the rampage they wouldn't miss to go on outside; This could rapidly turn into a m******e as soon as one of those creatures breached the lines of defense...

While she was staring from behind one of the windows, she realized she wasn't alone; a step behind her, still following her like a silent shadow, Raphael was there, his eyes on the forest too.

"Are you alright?" She asked him.

He nodded slowly.

"I think... I hear them," he muttered.

"You can hear those creatures?"

"I think so, but it's not... pleasant. It's like... somebody is screaming. All the time. It's just horrible, like people dying of thirst, of hunger... They want blood; They are searching for fresh blood to drink, they need it."

Milena turned around, replaceing Digory a few steps away from them.

"Tell them to prepare blood! We can bait those creatures with fresh blood, that's what they will hunt first!"

"Will human blood work, my Lady?"

Milena nodded. She had to believe so. It's not like they were keeping any vampire blood ready in the household, anyway... Thinking about vampire blood, her thoughts went to her Father. No one had mentioned him, so she could only hope he was alright, or surviving between the doctor's hands... She would ask Olivia when her maid came back. For now, Milena turned around and got closer to the window, overseeing the situation. The worst part was that they had very little time until the Wendigos found their way out of the forest. If those creatures were desperate for blood, no doubt they'd try to attack the fighters outside. Milena glanced over the lines already in position; Alexis' men were already ready to fire behind their barricades, watching their surroundings with impressive calm. She could only hope they'd manage to take down those things before they broke through the barricades. It wasn't as if they had enough time or material to really block the way either. There was only a gathering of random materials that amounted into a long pile in front of the line of soldiers, and behind them, Alexis, standing straight with her feet planted on the ground, her red eyes scrutinizing the smallest movement from the trees, her g*n ready.

Milena climbed the last stairs to the second floor to get ready too. As planned, Olivia had given her the best window, and two servants had just brought her weapon, before they ran back downstairs to help block more windows. Milena couldn't help but be nervous; if the Wendigos got to the lines of people outside, they would have nowhere to flee. They had to hope that they would manage to get rid of the four beasts before things escalated to a darker turn. While her purple eyes scrutinized the area, she tried to calm herself. This was only the beginning of the battle. If they managed to last those three hours or, better, get rid of all four Wendigos before that, it would be their turn to strike.

The wait gave Milena plenty of time to prepare her next plan. In fact, there was also a part of her silently hoping that those were the same wendigos that had guarded the Emerald Forest for so long... If that was the case, and Rayan was trying to burn his way back, bit by bit, didn't that mean his return was closer than ever? She couldn't help but hope...

"Incoming!"

A horrible, high-pitched screech followed Alexis' shout. The first wendigo jumped out of the line of trees, too fast. With the snowfall, it's dark silhouette was easy to replace, but it didn't make it easier to aim. That thing was too fast! Milena realized that upon trying to take the shot herself. She heard the wave of gunfire coming from all sides and aiming at that thing, but, if they hit it, they didn't manage to stop it. The gunshots were answered with an echo of horrible screeches, as if they had been waiting for this, and two of the other wendigos jumped out of the forest.

Milena took a deep breath, and focused on one only, preparing to take the shot. She would not let those things win, not today.