Chapter Ninety-Three

"Okay, he's definitely planning an attack. I refuse to believe differently." Kerr said, growling, his mimic rippling through his face as he glared at Sinclair.

"He's not, he just likes toying with people. Try to remember that Sinclair loves a fight." I said with a sigh as I lay down next to the babies on their blanket. *'She wasn't kidding when she said it would be a power draw. I'm beaten.'*

"Bastet, must you ruin my fun?" Sinclair groaned as he sat down on the other side of me, looking out at the waterfall, his eyes a million miles away as he thought.

"When it comes to my sister, yes. That reminds me, Octavia. I know you want to tear down the elementals, but do you know how you want to do it?" I asked as I sat back up and looked at her and Kerr. *'Amazing. You're tired until the thought of a fight comes to mind, then you have energy?'* I scolded myself, but ignored it, as I was interested in Octavia's plans.

"I suppose that is something we should talk about, now that the babies are older, and Bast seems to have control of her abilities. I think it was her pregnancy hormones that made her lose her control." Damien responded, his blue eyes washing over me as he looked me up and down, then smiled.

"But before you tell us, should this be a strategical meeting?" Sinclair asked.

"Does it matter what kind of a meeting it is?" Kerr asked as he stretched his legs out, leaning back on his arms.

"If it's a strategical meeting, Sam and that recreant would need to be here, as they are the second in commands. What was her name? Hanna, I think?" Octavia asked, cocking her head to the side as she tried to recall Hanna's name. I nodded and took out my phone, and began typing a message to Sam, to tell him to come here.

"Yes, Hanna. Kerr, strategical meetings include the second in charge of the fighting force. Which, as Octavia said, would include Sam, Hanna, and that mimic, Jacob." Sinclair explained as he took my phone out of my hand, and shook his head at me. "I'd rather not have to listen to that fight any longer than I need to. We will wait until Jacob and Hanna have arrived, before beckoning Sam."

"You never did tell me what they were fighting about, and now I'm curious. What did Sam do?" Octavia asked, furrowing her brows in confusion, her aquamarine eyes alive with curiosity.

"How fucked up is it that we all automatically assume Sam did something?" I asked with a laugh, shaking my head.

"You can call it fucked up, but I call it common sense. I don't see Samantha doing anything that could cause a fight like that, but it doesn't seem farfetched for Sam." Octavia said with a shrug.

"It's not technically Sam doing anything, but it's more because he won't do anything to stop it from happening, and Samantha isn't happy about it. Valerie keeps calling and texting Sam, but rather than blocking her, or making her stop, he just ignores her." Sinclair explained.

"And he thinks Samantha shouldn't be upset about that? I don't know a single woman that wouldn't be livid." I said with a shake of my head. *'No woman wants to see her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend constantly calling and texting him. That's just idiocy on Sam's behalf. "Why does Valerie keep calling and texting?"

"You'll be upset if I tell you, Bastet. Which is precisely why I haven't." Sinclair said, but when he saw that I wasn't going to give up until he told me, he sighed and shook his head. "She told him she was going to get rid of the kid and wanted to know if they could be together again."

When he said this, I felt my blood boiling in anger. Just knowing that Valerie could even think of such an atrocious thing, pissed me off. Let alone the knowledge that she was planning on doing it. "That is so fucked up, I can't believe her."

"Do you think she shouldn't have that option?" Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow, her eyes darkening as she watched me.

"No, that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about her trying to get between Sam and Samantha like that. Trying to use her body as a pawn to break them up, is so horrible." I explained, waving my hands in disagreement, as I could tell that had hit a nerve with Octavia. "She knows that they are in a relationship, she has to by now."

"Does Samantha not realize that Valerie doesn't hold a candle to her? You, teenagers, make my head hurt." Kerr said, closing his eyes, shaking his head.

I turned my attention to Damien who'd remained silent, wondering if something was wrong. When he saw me looking at him, he smiled softly but shook his head no. "So, about the meeting?" I asked, looking down at Azeneth and Ciaran who'd fallen asleep, likely due to the peaceful sounds of the forest surround us.

"If we are going to have a full strategic meeting, I'll call Jacob and Jaxson. Sinclair, you should have Hanna and her second come, and Damien, does Sam have a second?" Octavia asked.

"Yes, it's me." Sinclair gloated, his golden eyes bright with self appeasement.

"Wait, a recreant is the third? Wouldn't that make you third in line to the vampire king?" Kerr asked incredulously as he leaned forward, his deep blue eyes spinning in a mixture of emotions and feelings about that.

"Yes, it does. Though, now that you've been appointed leader of the recreants, maybe that decision should be rethought." Damien added, rubbing Ciaran's back, watching the babies with the utmost love in his eyes.

"I suppose you are correct, yes."

"How would that work? A recreant being the vampire king?" Octavia asked, looking back and forth between Damien and Sinclair. "You know, Damien, I forgot that you were the king. The way you act around Bast and the babies makes it hard to believe."

"You'd prefer me to act like the king, rather than a new father, who loves his fiance?" Damien asked, lifting his eyes to meet Octavia's gaze. There wasn't a flicker of laughter or kindness in his eyes as he glared at Octavia, waiting for her response.

"No, of course not. But I heard things about the vampire king while I was growing up, and sometimes it seems impossible that you're the same man who killed hundreds just for looking at him wrong."

"Believe me, Octavia, you do not want that man back. Seeing his tyranny made me regret turning him. I felt like just by turning one man, I doomed vampires as a whole. He is a much better man with Bastet by his side, and nearly all vampires are forever in her debt." Sinclair said, his eyes wide in shock and horror as he shook his head vigorously.

"Wait, you turned Damien? My god, man, how old are you?" Kerr gasped out, looking between Sinclair and Damien, like he still didn't believe it, despite just hearing it.

"I am still younger than the father of these two women, so I suppose not the oldest creature walking this earth,"

"I just have to know, were all of the stories correct about you?" Octavia asked, waving Kerr away like he was an annoying fly, her intense gaze locked onto Damien.

"I suppose that depends on the stories you're referring to, won't it?" Damien asked her, raising an eyebrow as he pulled a bottle out of the baby's bag and began mixing one like he knew the babies were going to be waking up soon.

"The story about you killing a town of vampires because they didn't get your permission to gather in that way?"

"Yes, I did that."

"What about when you found out about an underground vampire bar, something about them using the waitresses, and I forget the rest?"

"Yes, I disposed of everyone in the bar, as well as those who were seen in it."

"Sinclair wasn't kidding when he called you a tyrant. Did you have to kill all of those people?" I gasped as I took the bag, and began to make the second bottle, taking out diapers and wipes.

"Did I have to? Of course not. But I wanted to, so I did." He responded with a shrug. "They shouldn't have gone against me, and they may be alive to this day."

"I guess that explains why vampires aren't running rampant as they used to, or from what I heard from my parents and my grandparents. The tyrannical king who killed without prejudice. That would scare any species into acting right." Kerr added, scoffing as he stood and walked out of the room, closing the door tightly behind him.

"I have a question," I said, looking between Sinclair, Octavia, and Damien.

"Don't you always? What is it?" Sinclair asked me, his golden orbs locking onto me, waiting.

*'Well now I don't want to ask it, asshole.'* I thought as I glared at Sinclair for a few moments. *'Do I ask too many questions? Am I annoying?'*

"Kitten, ask your question. You aren't annoying. If you were, I'd tell you." Damien said as he leaned over and kissed me on the temple, then moved back to the other side of the blanket, setting the things out we needed to feed and change the babies.

"Have mimics and vampires ever dated? Like, has a relationship like that ever existed?" I finally asked, biting my lip as they all widened their eyes in disgust, seemingly stunned to silence.

"Bastet, they are literally dogs." Sinclair finally said, his lip still curled into a snarl, eying Octavia in disgust.

"And worse than being a dog, they are literally, bloodsuckers. No offense, little sister, but that is the most disturbing and grotesque thing I've ever heard in my entire life. If I didn't love you, I would disown you for having the audacity to say something like that." Octavia said as she shook her head, then shivered, then stood and growled, shaking her head again in disbelief.

"It was just a question, why is it so disgusting that vampires and mimics be together? I know the reason you hate each other, but I'm curious." I said, shrugging my shoulders as Ciaran woke up and started fussing, which caused Azeneth to wake up and cry as well.

"I could not imagine sharing a bed with someone who smells like a pack of wet dogs, and if the smell isn't enough, the fact that they can turn into a dog doesn't help," Damien said with a growl as he changed Ciaran's diaper, then cradled him in his arms, to feed him.

"I couldn't imagine sharing a bed with someone who drinks the blood of innocent humans, to survive." Kerr retorted as he came back into the room, then crossing to where Octavia was sitting. "I called Jacob and Jaxson. Jacob sent Jaxson to get Hanna and her second, because he's met her before, and figured she wouldn't kill him on sight."

"How long ago did he leave?" Sinclair boomed as he stood and crossed to the door, shaking his head. "That was not a good idea. He will be going into a den of dozens of recreants, he will be killed on sight."

"A few minutes," Kerr responded, his eyes widening in shock, "We should have considered that. But with your speed, you should have no problem catching up to him."

"Very well. I'll be back with Hanna and her second in a few hours." Sinclair said as he started to leave, but Damien stopped him.

"Fetch Bartholomew, would you? He is the man Sam wanted to be his second, before you." Damien said without looking up from Ciaran, then waved at Sinclair with his free hand.

Sinclair didn't respond, but left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

"So, we're doing this, huh?" I asked shaking my head as Azeneth finished her bottle, and I put her against my shoulder to burp her.

"Doing what?"

"Killing our father, and destroying everything he's ever worked for?"

"You don't want to be a part of this anymore?" Octavia asked, her eyes flashing with what looked like sadness, thinking I wouldn't be by her side anymore.

"No, I do. But thinking about it, and then actually planning it, I don't know. Just feels like two different things." I responded with a shrug, looking to Damien who gave me a knowing nod.

"It is two different things. It remains hypothetical until you begin to enact it. If you are worried about killing, just remember, you are the vampire queen, my little elemental." He said, his eyes flashing blood-red as he locked his intensive gaze on mine, waiting to see how I would react. "You said you no longer wanted to remain on the sidelines. Being one of the reasons the elementals fell from grace, would forever etch you as the woman you want to be known as."

"I'm only slightly uncomfortable that you're encouraging your teenage fiance to commit mass genocide," Kerr mumbled, narrowing his eyes as he looked between Damien and me, then shook his head. "Though I suppose it's not much different from me encouraging Octavia, as she has every reason to want the elementals dead."

"You're saying Bast has no reason to want them dead?" Damien asked Kerr, turning his red-eyed glare towards him instead.

"Does she? He's her father, but Octavia lost her mother because of him."

"Kerr, stop," Octavia said, shaking her head, putting her hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off and continued to glare at Damien, waiting for his response.

"Bastet has suffered many things because that man impregnated her mother, but failed to be a father, much like he was to Octavia."

"She suffered? Her mother is still alive. And from what I understand of your relationship, you did nothing but take advantage of her suffering. Jesus, the poor girl is probably suffering from Stockholm syndrome, and all of you act like its normal!" He exclaimed, standing up, then motioning to Damien and me with a growl. "She just gave birth to, what very well may be, two of the deadliest creatures known to the unnatural world. And she was forced into a relationship with a two-centuries-old vampire. And not just any vampire, the fucking king. You're right. She suffered, but it seems like all of her sufferings have been as a result of you, not Edward."

"Kerr!" Octavia gasped as she stood, and shoved him back as far away from Damien as she could get him, but to no avail, as before I could blink, Damien had Kerr by the throat and slammed him to the ground.

"Say it, mimic," Damien growled, inches from Kerr's throat, tightening his grasp until Kerr was fighting as hard as he could to get free, but couldn't.

"It's okay baby girl, it's okay," I said to Ciaran as he began crying. Damien had set him down on the blanket before he attacked Kerr, but he didn't seem all too happy that his father's attention had been taken from him. Octavia came over to help me with the babies as Azeneth began crying too, trying to calm her down, while keeping a close eye on the two men.

*'Kerr seemed so evenly matched with Sinclair. How is he struggling against Damien?'* I thought as I watched him continue to fight to try to breathe, but he was losing the fight, as Damien didn't seem bothered by his struggles in the slightest.

"How is Damien that much stronger than Kerr?" Octavia breathed, watching in horrified awe, the same way I was. "Damien, you better not kill him!"

"That is entirely up to your mate, alpha, as he refuses to oblige, despite it is the one thing he needs to do, for me to give him his breath back," Damien responded, without looking up from Kerr, who still hadn't given up the fight. He growled and flung him backward into the concrete wall, throwing him so hard that the impact hurt my ears.

"Why didn't you help him?" I asked, looking to Octavia as she watched the scene unfolding before us.

"They are both old fashioned men, and this is the way they settle differences. I will never understand why they must fight it out, but I cannot change it."

"What if he dies?"

"He won't. Damien won't kill him, but he is going to beat him to get the point across."

"So you automatically think Kerr won't win? Jeez, so much for rooting for your lune, huh?" I asked with a laugh as I watched Kerr jump down off the wall where the shape of his body was permanently imprinted in the cement. *'How did that impact not kill him?'*

"Does it look like Kerr is going to win? I don't know how Damien is stronger than Sinclair, but he clearly is. I'm not one to rely on false hope, Bast. He doesn't have a chance. Though, if he knew how strong Damien was, I'm sure he wouldn't have picked a fight with him."

"I'm not going to give in, vampire king. You know what I said was true!" Kerr yelled as he wiped the blood off of his forehead, and jumped forward into his wolf form. I'd forgotten how beautiful Kerr's form was until I saw it again. The pitch-black fur, the deep blue eyes, and the sheer size of his form was at least double that of a regular wolf.

"Why is Kerr's form so big? He looks more like a bear than a wolf." I asked Octavia as we watched the fight continue.

"I don't know. He's only a half mimic, but he has by far the biggest form I've ever seen." She responded with a shrug.

"Well, what's this? Damien's in another fight?" Sam's voice suddenly cut in, but the disturbance didn't seem to deter Damien or Kerr as they continued their useless fight.

"They've gotten so big in only a couple of days!" Samantha cried out as she came to sit by Octavia and me, ignoring the fight going on behind her.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, searching her big brown eyes for any glimmer of anything that I needed to hurt Sam for.

"I'm okay, Bast. Thanks. Hi Octavia, why are they fighting?" She asked, pointing to Kerr and Damien.

"Hello, Samantha, and Kerr said something that Damien didn't like," Octavia responded, letting her hold Ciaran.

"That's an understatement. The last time Damien went full out while fighting, it was with Sinclair. And they were both drunk. From that man-shaped dent in the concrete, I'd imagine he's not even holding himself back, so Kerr must have really pissed him off." Sam said as he joined us by the riverbank, watching the fight with the utmost curiosity and enjoyment.

"Speaking of which, how is Damien so strong?" I asked, turning my attention to Sam, who didn't look upset at all, so I guessed they'd made up.

"Well, multiple reasons. He's been nearly recreant for a while, he's gone half recreant, and he's just a naturally strong vampire. Even before going nearly recreant, he was stronger than the average vampire." Sam explained.

"But now that he has babies, he's not nearly recreant anymore, right?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat quickening. *'It would make no sense that he's still nearly recreant, after having two kids.'