19. Doppelganger

Needless to say, these past five days had been different between Ella and I. This was mostly my fault as I had spent time worrying over our future now that I had made my mind up on what I needed to do next. I had tried to not let it affect my time with her but I could tell that she knew something was wrong. I also felt on edge, as if something was brewing and without knowing what it was, I felt as if I couldn"t fully prepare.

But something else was also on my mind. Something far more profound that had the power to change our future forever. A secret I was keeping from Ella, and one that was becoming more difficult to do by the day. But in the end, I had no choice, not if I wanted it to play out exactly the way I planned for it to. I knew that I had to alleviate any concerns and fears she may have very soon. Tonight in fact, if all went according to plan. But not until I got this meeting out of the way first.

So, by the time we reached the room where all Table of Kings meetings had been held these last thirty years, everyone was already there bar Lucius and I. Sigurd, King of the Ouroboros, was there with his usual hooded attire covering most of his face, while the darkness of Seth, the feared King of Death was sitting next to him.

In fact, the difference in size would have been almost comical, had Seth's abilities not been near beyond that of all others. For what he lacked in raw bulk, having that of a slimmer, stealthier build, he made up for in deadly power. And the arrogant features in his angular bone structure and knowing gaze was warranted by the weight of his supremacy in a fight.

Of course, at the last Table of Kings meeting there had also been Amelia and Keira who had joined us. But I think they understood today"s assignment was being there to keep Ella busy and above all else… to keep hersafe. Just like I had my men protecting her from afar today when she was at her parents' house this afternoon. Of course, I never would have left her unprotected, but I didn"t want the knowledge of doing so to ruin her time reconnecting with her family.

I also had the feeling that what Dom was going to reveal in this meeting was something his wife had no knowledge of. I knew how fiercely protective Keira was of her niece, so I could only imagine what she would have to say if she found out that Dom had kept something important from her. Whatever it was that Dom was about to disclose, I had no clue, other than it was no doubt something that I was about to have a lot to fucking say about as well.

The Table of Kings was complete as soon as we took our seats. As for the room itself, it held nothing but the large table we sat at, one that started off life very differently. Especially considering it served as a reminder to all as to why the Table of Kings was so important. For it had once been the doorway we had all fought to keep closed, and its damage had been preserved by thick, clear resin. The four panels represented each of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, their sole purpose to bring upon the end of days.

A battle, we had thankfully won.

But this thought only made me wonder what was coming next, as we had not spent the last thirty years sat idly, waiting for the next threat. For a King always had to be ready for the enemy, and not all of them met you head-on in battle… just as I was being reminded daily, thanks to that cowardly fuck, Geryon!

"It seems as though it wasn"t long ago before we were all sitting around this table facing a very different threat but that does not make this meeting today any less urgent, so I thank you all for coming," Dom said, starting the meeting in thanks, as he was sitting at the head of the table.

"Jared, I took the liberty in explaining your situation, so as Sigurd and Seth were caught up. As for the rest, well, the meeting is yours," he added, making me give him a nod in thanks before addressing everyone.

"It seems as if this fuck, Garmr, has been after Ella for a long time, and until recently I had no fucking clue why. As Dom probably told you how this all started, fighting with him at the last battle we faced, he saw something in me, a glimpse of Ella, and he recognized her as being the one he has been looking for. Hence how this shitstorm all started," I said, making the others nod and realizing that Dom had, in fact, taken them back to the very beginning.

"And now, what is the situation at Devil's?" Sigurd asked, and seeing as he had been a regular fighter there back in the day, then it wasn't surprising he would ask this first.

"Christmas Day, the club was attacked by a Summoner named Niniane. It turns out she was working for Garmr, and their plan was to get me out of the way so as he was free to get to Ella. Of course it didn"t exactly turn out this way, as after making her way here, she decided to join the time travelling crew," I said bitterly, noticing how Lucius and Dom both clenched their jaws at this.

"Meanwhile, I was stuck in a fucking jail cell being forced to fight in the Summoner's Games. In fact, both my brother, Orthrus and Marcus, had also been captured shortly after getting Ella out of the club safely."

"All three of you were made to fight?" Seth asked in his cool, collected way, and one that always had most fuckers on edge for a reason.

"Four of us, as another prisoner by the name of Asher was also punished and made to fight because of the friendship we developed when imprisoned together," I told them, making Seth point out,

"But you made it out alive, I see." To which Sigurd nudged him and replied in a vivacious way,

"Of course he fucking did, you ever see this fucker fight?" I had to grin at that, nodding my head the once to the fucking big Viking, silently giving him my thanks.

"We were just making our last stand after the bitch had decided to punish me by forcing me to watch all her summoned souls attack us as one, with their orders being not to kill me to ensure I was the last man standing."

"Fuck, tell me you took the bitch's head!" Sigurd replied like the bloodthirsty bastard I knew him to be. But then as Ragnar's son, and a powerful beast in his own right, Snake Eye rarely took shit from anyone. Besides, we were fucking kings, meaning we were all big on extracting revenge.

"I did indeed, but only after Ella intervened and saved the fucking day," I replied with an equal amount of pride as well as annoyance.

For us kings, we were big on protecting what was ours and our chosen ones were, of course, at the very top of that list. Which also meant Dom hadn't been the only one surprised at this when hearing it the first time. Shock became a shared expression between the men sitting around the table.

"But your woman, I thought she was mortal?" Seth asked, as if expecting to point out the obvious.

"She was, that was until she became a Summoner."

The other two sat up straighter at this knowledge, and as for Lucius, he simply raised a brow in question, as usual keeping his steely emotions close to his chest.

"And how the fuck did something like that happen?!" Sigurd shouted, having no such restraints.

"It is impossible for a mortal to be chosen in such a way," Seth added, making me grit my teeth. Then I looked to Dom and chose this as my moment.

"Well, I was hoping that her uncle could shed some light on the details."

His hard look said it all, but the sigh that followed said even more.

"Dom?" Lucius said his name in question, at least giving me enough insight to confirm that the vampire didn"t have any idea as to what I was referring to.

"Let it be known that I did not make the decision to keep this from you lightly," Dom said, looking directing at me. Naturally, I scoffed at that and it was yet another bitter sound.

"Take from my words what you will, Cerberus, but your seeker is not the only one bound by the Fates, and sometimes those Fates aren"t the only ones pulling the strings."

"And what the fuck do you mean by that?!" I snapped, unable to keep my composure this time.

"When Ella was born, she wasn"t brought into this world by a doctor."

"I know the story, Dom. Keira was there, she delivered the baby," I stated, but the moment he shook his head, I tensed, now bracing myself for the truth.

"That"s not entirely true."

"What do you mean?" I asked, purposely keeping my tone measured.

"Keira wasn"t alone when her sister started to give birth at the bottom of the staircase."

"Who else was there with her?" Seth asked before I had the chance to.

"Carrick, he helped Keira deliver the baby." I wasn't the only one to react to this.

"What?!"I hissed

"Come again?" Seth asked with calm in place of my anger.

"A fucking Death Dealer helped bring life into the world, are you shitting me right now?" Sigurd said, shaking his head and making his hood slip enough to see that his snake eye was glowing. However, Dom ignored all these responses and continued on.

"Naturally, we thought it prudent to erase the memory of Carrick ever being there for Libby, but that day, he took one look at that soul and he knew."

"He knew what?" I asked in a cautious tone.

"How old and powerful a soul she really was."

I couldn"t help my reaction as I stood, nearly knocking back my chair. Something that would have crashed to the floor had it not been made from a weighty solid wood.

"An old soul? And you never told me?" I accused, making Dom sigh.

"And when exactly was I supposed to tell you, Jared? I"ve been protecting Ella far longer than you have," he said, trying to maintain a calm tone, no doubt so as not to escalate this.

"And how exactly have you been protecting Ella, huh? She had fucking Hell Hounds turn up in the woods she protects and chase her?!"

"Of course, I didn"t know the extent of who or what she was. I didn"t know she was a soul in hiding. I had no fucking clue anyone was looking for her!" he snapped in return, that controlled calm quickly slipping when being forced to admit that he had fucked up her protection. Knowledge I pushed even harder for him to take responsibility for.

"Again, how exactly did you protect her?"

His hard look said it all, as a visible muscle started to twitch in his jawline.

"By the time I found this all out, she was nearly a year old. As I am sure you all fucking remember, but I wasn't exactly around then and for good fucking reason!" he snapped, referring back to what was no doubt a painful time shortly after him and Keira first met. However, it was Lucius who added,

"I beg to differ there, my friend." To which he grinned malevolently when a riled-up Dominic growled.

"Do not fucking go there, Lucius, in fact, every fucker around this table had a hand in what transpired during that time, so unless you want this meeting to end bloody, I suggest we move the fuck on!" Dom threatened, at the same time his eyes glowed with purple fire and his veins lit up in just the same way. To which Lucius merely fought a grin, as if pushing Dom, who was essentially now his father-in-law, was his new favorite past time. Then he gestured with his hand and said,

"But of course, please, continue, our King."

Dom looked like he was close to spitting fire and would have, no doubt, had I not pointed out in growing annoyance,

"I don't give a shit about the past unless it can be connected to Ella's future. That's when I need to know about it, so if there is more to tell, then can we please move the fuck on?!"

At this Dom forcibly took a deep breath and calmed his rage.

"After I spoke to Carrick and discovered what he sensed, I decided to have a protection spell cast, one she took with her in the form of a snow globe. Ironically, she had a thing for wolves…"

"And clearly she still has a thing for beasts," I growled at that, making Sigurd smirk at the comment he made. However, Dom ignored the sarcastic jab and continued on,

"I had it cast in case there was anyone looking for her soul, she suffered with nightmares, and I told her that it would help keep her safe from them, that the wolf would protect her." I thought about this, remembering seeing it there by her bed for myself but never getting so far as to ever ask her about it.

"That"s why the Hell Hounds never got near her trailer but instead tried to lure her out," I concluded, making Dom point out,

"In the end, it didn"t really matter, as eventually she had you to protect her."

"You should have told me,"I stated firmly, unable to unclench my fists.

"I fail to see that with the information I have given you today how it would have made any difference."

I could now add the clenching of my jaw to match my fist when he said this.

"Any difference?" I uttered in disbelief, making him sigh again.

"It would not have changed who she was, and if her fate is entwined with becoming a Summoner, then that too is coming to fruition." I was unable to help the next growl of words, as I snarled,

"Easy for you to say, she"s not your fucking chosen one!"

He hardened his features and replied,

"No, but she is my niece and she is fucking family, so watch your tongue, HellBeast!"

"Fuck that! At this table, we are equals here and you know it! Ella means fucking everything to me and if in another life she was being hunted, and was now hiding after first being reborn as a mortal, do you not think that this is shit that I need to know in order to protect her?!" I all but bellowed at him.

"Well now you know," was his firm statement, and I swear but I was close to erupting out of my fucking skin!

"Yeah, now I fucking know, right along with the fact that it seems you"re not the only supernatural uncle she fucking has!" I threw back at him, knowing that this knowledge was going to fucking sting, but I wanted to make my point. Because if he had looked into this more, like he fucking should have, then we might not have been faced with this problem now and could have eliminated the threat while we had the upper hand.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" he snapped, gritting his teeth.

"That old soul you failed to mention or look into, well, she is Geryon's niece!"

"What?!"Dom hissed in disbelief.

"What the fuck does the King of Fraud have to do with any of this?" Sigurd asked, knowing of the eighth level of Hell and its ruler.

"Garmr is Geryon, they are one and the same. I saw it for my own eyes when he appeared at the arena. He was the king I was hoping to forge an allegiance with, believing Garmr was hiding in his realm without his knowledge. Knowledge I was going to use in hopes of gaining use of his armies," I told them all, now my standoff with Dom had taken a step back… for now.

"What makes you think this?" The question came from Lucius, someone who had heard all this and looked quietly deep in thought throughout this part of the conversation.

"Both he and Niniane confirmed as much," I told him, which caused him to frown.

"They are wrong,"Lucius stated firmly, and before I could argue further, he retrieved his phone from the inside of his suit pocket. Then without informing anyone of who he was calling, he simply made the request,

"The Table of Kings meeting, be here now."

"You seem very sure of this fact, Lucius?" Dom asked.

"And I have good reason to be," he affirmed, making us all frown in question.

"So, you"re saying that they were lying, that Garmr is not Geryon?" I asked, trying to get my head around why he would be so sure.

"I know he isn't," he stated again, and with the type of resolve that was getting harder to argue against.

"And you can prove this?" Dom confirmed.

"I can and shortly will, as soon as my head of security gets here."

"And how is he to prove it?" I asked just as the door opened, and in walked a big muscular black guy, one I had seen a few times at my club when accompanying Lucius. But this was when the meeting took a surprising turn, and Lucius decided to introduce him as someone far more than just someone on his council.

"For those of you that don"t know, this is Clay, head of my security, however, he also goes by another name…" I looked to Dom in this moment, and clearly, even he didn't know the true nature of this man, as he ended up looking just as shocked as the rest of us did when his true nature was introduced.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet the real Geryon, the true and rightful heir to the…"

"Throne of Fraud."