Free Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) by E. William Brown Page B

of her gratitude I suspected it was pretty bad.
    “So what are we going to tackle next?” Cerise asked. “I’m thinking spirit wards, so the Conclave can’t send ghosts to spy on us.”
    “I don’t know, kitten,” Avilla said. “That’s important, but I want to get some blessings and banes up soon. Especially if we’re going to keep bringing in more people. Is that going to be the plan, Daniel?”
    “That’s actually something I’ve been wanting to talk to all of you about,” I told her. “We’ve been running flat out for weeks now, just trying to get into a position where we’re safe enough that we can take time to stop and catch our breath. I think we’ve finally reached that point, though. So now it’s time to take stock, and put some thought into deciding where we want to go from here.”
    “What do you mean?” Tina asked, puzzled.
    “I mean we need to figure out how big we want this place to get, and what we want it to be like. I promised Hecate I’d create a refuge where she could send people who need help, but there are a lot of ways to do that. Do we just want to create an impregnable fortress to live in, or are we building a city? Do we want closer ties with Kozalin, or are we going to work towards being independent? Are we going to go out and actively try to save people, or just hide behind our walls and avoid danger as much as we can? That kind of thing.”
    “You’re asking us?” Elin said, surprised.
    I shrugged. “I know men don’t usually ask women for advice about that kind of thing here, but frankly I think that’s stupid. I’m sure you all have ideas to contribute.”
    “Not me,” Tina disagreed. “I know I don’t have a head for things like that. I just want a safe place to raise our children.”
    “Children, huh? How many were you planning to have?” I asked.
    “Oh, at least two or three litters,” she said lightly.
    “Litters?” I choked.
    The girls all giggled at that.
    “Well, I am half cat now,” Tina pointed out. “Who knows how that will work?”
    Elin looked her over thoughtfully. “Probably not like that. If you were going to have litters of children you’d have… um, other changes. Cats can, ah, nurse more than two kittens at a time.”
    “Oh! You’re so smart, Elin. I never would have thought of that,” Tina replied.
    “Well, do keep in mind that she isn’t the only one,” Avilla added. “I want a big family of my own as soon as it’s safe. I’ve got it all planned out. First a son, so the other children will all have a big brother to look out for them. Then twin girls, and another boy, and-”
    Cerise put a hand over her mouth. “I don’t think Daniel needs to hear the whole plan right now, honeydew. But if we really want to make this place safe we’re going to need a lot more manpower, and I don’t know how we’re going to get it. Like Captain Rain said, we really need another two or three hundred soldiers armed with your new weapons to defend the island properly. I really wish we could get some magical backup too, but I can’t see a good way to do it. We don’t have years to spend training them.”
    “Mother Hestia said we’ll have hearth witches showing up,” Avilla pointed out. “That’s a start.”
    Cerise nodded. “Yes, but you really need two or three different specialties to make decent teams. Murder witches would be great, but apparently I’m the last one.”
    “Unless you’re going to haunt Hel’s battlefields looking for spirits to bind,” Avilla joked.
    Cerise got a thoughtful look. “You know, that might not be a bad idea. Hel has gotten her hands on a lot of us over the years, and she’s probably going to be sending them to fight the Aesir. But I doubt she’s going to spend the power to make fresh bodies for them once they fall in battle, and even dragging them all back to Hades is probably too much work when she’s busy running a war. There could be a lot of ghosts floating around where I can call them