20. Chosen Kings and Their Plans

"How is this possible?" Dom asked, beating us all to the same question, because I think he was the one that recovered from his shock the quickest. Like most of the known rulers in Hell, we all had at least the most basic common knowledge of our backgrounds. As for Geryon, his heritage stemmed from literal Greek mythological royalty, his father, Chrysaor, was brother to Pegasus, making Geryon his nephew. This along with Medusa and Poseidon being his grandparents, as they had birthed Chrysaor, his father. As for Geryon's mother, Callirrhoe, she was one of the daughters of the Titans, Oceanus and Tethys.

Hence how Geryon had gained such status in Hell quite quickly after turning his back on the Gods that birthed him. Of course, this last week, I had done my research and at the time, there had been a lot discovered that concerned me. Most of which was why the fight between us that day on the battlefield hadn't quite added up.

Geryon was known as a monstrous being in his true form and far from the description of the fucker I fought that day. Of course, now it made sense, as it had been Garmr all along, for he was nothing but a cowardly sheep in wolf's clothing, all the while trying to play the part of King.

But the question now was, how did he do it? And if he had taken possession of Geryon's body, then who the fuck was Clay? A question no doubt everyone at the table but Lucius now had on their mind.

Clay looked to Dom before releasing a sigh, as if some mythological cat was finally out of the bag.

"As I"m sure you can understand, not everybody wants to be king, despite my past decisions when accepting the rule eons ago. I ruled the realm until Fate intervened, then I picked my successor and had him rule in my place as me, while I took possession of this vessel and joined the mortal realm, naturally enjoying the freedom that came with it," Clay said like it was that simple.

"And this was something you could simply choose to do?" Seth asked, while Snake Eye had something different to say.

"Lucky bastard,"Sigurd grumbled, as he hadn't exactly made it a secret his contempt for being made King. However, when Seth raised a brow at him, Sigurd added the bitter sentiment that every king a time or two had felt during their rule,

"Not everybody wants to be king."

But then this wasn't surprising, as he had only recently these past few decades been forced to finally take the throne, one that he had always been destined to take. But not before he had spent years fighting against it and neglecting his duties and loyalty to his realm. At the time, he made it a well-known fact that he never had any inclination of ever doing so. In fact, it was only when he met his own chosen one that fate intervened and forced his hand. He was given a choice, to continue to deny his birthright or lose his chosen one to the brutal world he was expected to rule. The shadowlands. She had become lost in his realm, a King"s domain that needed its rightful ruler to take his place in order to find her.

He may not have relished being part of the supernatural monarchy, but ruling with a queen by his side made the hardship a damn sight easier. So, he considered her his prize for taking back the throne. Although it had to be said, he had certainly continued to neglect parts of it, since he had made it perfectly clear that he was a king that preferred to rule in the mortal realm, than that of his one in Hell…. Much like Lucius.

Hence why he now sat at this table and not at another. But Sigurd was not the only one that could relate, as Lucius had lived many years with having his brother rule the Kingdom of Death in his stead.

As for myself, I couldn"t give a shit why a man"s choices were acted upon, for his reasons were his own. No, all I cared about was the man that was claiming to be Geryon and who was now ruling in his place.

"And you had no knowledge of this? That Garmr had taken possession of the realm?" Dom asked, knowing that this type of shit should have been known, not only by him, but mainly his father, who was the King of Lust.

"It seems to me like he"s still keeping up the pretense, just like my chosen successor was ordered to do… although how he got possession of his body, I don't know. But if he did, then I would say my replacement is likely dead," Clay said as a matter of fact, telling me he wasn't exactly getting choked up about it.

"And what if this was discovered? Would the legions under your command follow you or him if led into battle?" Lucius asked, beating me to it and making Clay smirk back at him,

"Is this you asking me to resume the throne?"

"You have to admit, the war would be over before its first battle has even begun," he replied, mirroring my thoughts exactly.

"That doesn"t sound like much fun," Sigurd commented dryly, making Seth's lip twitch, which for him was considered as a fucking grin, one that came with the comment,

"So thirsty for the fight, Viking?" he asked, making Sigurd, who was still sitting next to him, put a meaty arm around him to then slap him on the shoulder. And from the size difference, Seth would have felt it. But then he was a king for a reason, and being one of the hardest sons of bitches at this table inevitably meant that he didn"t even flinch.

"Like you don"t have a bloodthirsty itch to scratch," Sigurd replied, making a darkness coat Seth's skin, burning the hold Sigurd had on him and making him snatch his arm back before booming with laughter.

"My point exactly!" was Sigurd's response to this, giving Seth cause to give him a wry look in return. But I was not in the mood for these antics, and was quick to remind them all the reasons we were here were far from having a fucking itch to scratch!

"Yes, well, we may all enjoy a good battle and reminisce the days on the killing fields, but this war is over my chosen one, and it is one that I want to end in a single fight. I want the chance to rip that fucker"s head off!"

"A justifiable impulse, HellBeast, for every man at this table understands that there is no enemy like the one who threatens what you love the most. We have all been there and faced that same threat at one point in our lives, but each of us have also learned through the ages that, sometimes, our greatest weapon is that of knowledge before even stepping foot on the battlefield," Dom said, and I hate it that he was right.

Knowledge had, and always would be, a king's greatest advantage. I lived by this rule, for to know one's enemy is to know oneself and therefore discover his weaknesses.

"Then what do you suggest?" I asked in a frustrated tone, despite being reminded of this rule.

"Let me reach out to Carrick, see if the Death Dealer knows anything other than what was said at the time. Who knows, he may have recognized the soul," Dom said, making me grit my teeth and snap,

"The soul…? It"s fucking Ella, Dom."

"I understand your frustrations, Cerberus, but if she is indeed an old soul, then we have to ask ourselves who was she before she became mortal. Did this Summoner who rightfully lost her head, this Niniane, did she give any indication as to why Ella had the ability to take her summoned souls and that of her power?"

I flinched at this, noticing now how everyone eyed me intently before I was then forced to admit,

"There is one thing."

"And that is?" Lucius asked in an expectant tone.

I released a sigh and told them all what I myself had refused to believe was true. The other cause to the heavy weight on my mind this last week.

"Niniane… she referred to Ella as… the Summoning Queen," I forced myself to say, and their response in return was a collective breath taken by all. A reaction that quickly prompted me to add,

"But she is hardly a reliable source."

"Perhaps not, but I also fail to see what gain she would have had from this, especially after having her powers stripped from her along with her collective souls," Dom offered.

"No doubt as a last ditch attempt at saving her life and making us believe she was somehow more useful to us alive than dead," I pointed out, making Sigurd scoff, likely at the idea that she was foolish enough to believe anything could have saved her from my wrath after what she had done. But then being as he was once a renowned fighter in my club, he knew more than most the destructive nature of some of the summoners and their dishonorable means of acquiring new souls.

"And if not?" Dom asked, as clearly he had his doubts.

"So, what? You think that"s it? That in some past life, Ella was a fabled summoning queen now in hiding from her uncle as a mortal with no memory to speak of?" I asked in return, my tone saying it all.

"It certainly sounds possible," Seth agreed, adding to my frustration.

"And what of Ella? Would she really have no knowledge of this? If she was that old of a soul, a supernatural, she would have simply transferred into another vessel knowing who she was. She would not have been reborn as a mortal baby. That shit doesn"t happen for a reason, Dom," I said, aiming my argument his way as he was the one fueling this speculation.

"Yeah, because it is fucking impossible," Sigurd agreed.

"I have to agree, it is unheard of." Dom rubbed his jawline before holding his chin and looking to Lucius. "And what of you, my old friend, are you also as disbelieving in the possibility?"

All heads turned toward Lucius, awaiting his answer.

"I agree, it is unheard of. But whether or not that means that it is impossible, I do not know. Though, I will tell you this, there are many things in Hell that don"t reach the ears of others for good reasons. Over two thousand years I lived this life, and with it not a single soul until recently had knowledge that I had a brother, not even those closest to me," he said, looking briefly to Dom before he continued his point. "Nor did they know what his abilities were, for they were so rare, it was considered dangerous."

I released a sigh, knowing what he said was true and therefore as much as I hated to admit it, unfortunately it gave food for thought. As he was right, just because something wasn"t well known, didn"t make it impossible for it to ever become known given time.

"Then how would we ever have any hope in discovering this?" Seth asked, voicing the most important question.

"I might know someone that can get on the inside," Clay offered, making all eyes turn to him.

"It might be worth doing so before Clay makes himself known to his kingdom, as the timing on when to strike will be imperative," Lucius agreed, and I had to say, it finally felt good to have a plan of attack being put into place.

"We will all need to move as one, for if we fail in taking back Clay's legions, we will need our own in place ready to fight," Dom said, as clearly despite what Ella was, or more like who she could have been, his mindset still mirrored the rest of us.

"It would be nice to know what his plan is, for even with a single army, we all know that he has no chance in taking over Hell and if he is already ruling one realm, is his ambition really to take over the rest of them?" Sigurd asked, as this was usually the case when those hungry for power had the foolish ambition for gaining more, for clearly ruling one realm was not enough.

"He must be planning something, if his allegiance with the most powerful Summoner…"

"Before the bitch lost her head…" Sigurd interjected, making me grin his way in thanks before Dom carried on with his point.

"…gives us any insight to his plans, for he must have needed her for a reason, and I believe it to be more than just her ability to imprison you." I tensed at that, as I had also questioned this.

Niniane might have been a pawn in all this, but I agreed that she was being used for something far more than just a means to get me out of the way. Summoned souls may have been impossible to kill, but their summoner was not and therefore, even if these souls had been expected to fight in a war, one attack aimed at Niniane and they would have been rendered useless. And well, there was plenty of Demonic beings in Hell that had the ability to kill a summoner, without needing to reach the Book of Souls that harnessed their power.

"Perhaps this still has something to do with him building an army," Clay said, making me shake my head, but Dom replied before I had chance to.

"Or perhaps it had something to do with him needing Ella, an old soul we know nothing about, other than the fact that she has been called a Summoning Queen, a title everyone here believed was nothing more than a myth and a Hell"s fable that we know very little about."

"Nothing other than whispers thousands of years old," Seth added with a frown.

"Whispers that Death Dealers may still remember being told. I will see what I can find," Dom said, obviously referring to Carrick.

"Then I suggest finding it quickly, as I don"t know what effect or changes this will have on Ella," I was hastened to add, as she was my main concern in all this.

"Has she shown any ill effects?" Lucius asked.

"Not yet, but that is not what concerns me most," I replied again, feeling my whole body tense before I was ready to reveal my biggest concerns.

"Which is?" Dom was quick to ask.

"Whether or not being a Summoner is going to make her a target for others or make it easier for that fuck to get to her? As he may still be the asshole I want to kill and maim, but I know determination when I see it. He"s been looking for Ella all her life and he won"t stop now that he"s found her… Summoner or not," I warned, trying to control my wrath at the idea, as I felt my eyes glow from having my HellBeast howling at me, desperate for his revenge.

"Then we must protect my niece at all costs," Dom declared, easing the rage building inside me.

"Agreed." Everyone around the table nodded in agreement. For now that each of us had found and claimed our fated, with myself being the last, we all knew of the importance in keeping them safe, doing so as a collective if need be. And I had to admit, it felt good to have strength in numbers.

Dom had been trying to create this Table of Kings for as long as I could remember, but back when I was first approached by him, I had thought it nothing but a strategic move on his part to gain more power. But back then I was even more arrogant than I was now and, therefore, easily missed the bigger picture.

But since Keira had come along and, with it, fulfilling the fated prophecy, it had meant being faced with the closest thing to an end of the world any of us had ever encountered. Meaning that many of us had since then seen the error of our ways and agreed to enter into this eternal agreement. So as to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. The most powerful of our kind, coming together and acknowledging the responsibility we had to the rest of the realms, not just that of the mortal one we lived in.

Because Dom wasn"t gunning for more power, he merely wanted to prevent the next threat before it had chance to rise to an unbeatable level. We might have won that day but that had been the closest we had all come to total annihilation. He wanted to ensure that if there were any threats against mankind"s existence brought about by supernatural means, then that was a threat we faced together. As that had been his plan all along, and I had to respect him for that. I had to respect him for playing the long game. And well, since meeting his chosen one, he therefore understood more than most the importance of protecting all the Kings' fated. Which meant that everyone sitting at this table would die for either one of our fated Queens.

And like I said…

It was certainly good to have strength in numbers.

"Then I suggest we adjourn this meeting until we know more. We all have our spies, so let"s put them to good use, gentlemen," Dom said, and we all gave our collective nods in return, with Sigurd downing his bottle of beer and declaring,

"Thank fuck for that, now I get to go and party with my woman." Then he nudged Seth next to him, and I had to admit, it was a strange friendship the two had. Especially seeing as you couldn"t have found two people any more different. With that being said, we all knew how such a friendship had been formed. And once again, the saying strength in numbers not only meant a lot to me in this moment, but it had also meant a lot to them.

As for now, once everybody had risen from the table, there was one last thing I needed to discuss and this time, it was with Dom alone. He saw this and nodded for Lucius to give us a minute, as it was clear I had something to say. However, as soon as the door closed, he must have believed it to be something else, and he instantly held up his hand and said,

"If it is your intention to cast more blame my way for the things I kept from you, then please spare me. Had I believed the outcome to be any different with such knowledge known, then I would have divulged the information sooner."

"Relax, Dom, I"m not here to rip you a new one."

He scoffed at that.

"Then enlighten me quickly, as I have a queen I am eager to get back to." Yeah, he wasn't the only one, I thought with a smirk. Hence why I told him,

"I have a plan but I need your help."

"And this plan of yours, is it another one that Ella is not to have knowledge of?" I grinned at that, as clearly, he knew me well.

"No, but then if she did, then that would kind of defeat the object here." He narrowed his gaze, questioning what it could be, making me tell him,

"What I need is simple…"

"I need until midnight."