Chapter 97: Chapter Ninety-Six

[Bastet]

"I get why you would want to keep this place a secret. It's an amazing place to relax and reflect. But if your pack knows about the fight, and they're getting ready for it, why are we meeting down here?" I asked, looking past Damien to Octavia.

"Yes, the pack knows about it, but sometimes the leaders need to talk things out in private, away from the fighters ears." She responded with a soft nod, then watched as Jacob and Jaxson hesitantly approached the table, eyeing the vampires and recreants as they did so. "What took you two so long to get here? Jacob, you only live a few minutes away."

"Yes, alpha, I apologize. I was asleep when Jaxson came to fetch me, and I had to drop my daughter off at the daycare." Jacob responded, looking down at the table just in front of Octavia, rather than looking directly at her.

*'Is that what pack members are expected to do? They aren't allowed to look their alpha in the face? I thought that would be different for her second in command. Well, I guess Kerr is her second, and Jacob would be her third. The hierarchy of a pack is confusing.'* I thought with a shake of my head as I looked from Jacob back to Octavia.

"Alpha, this seating arrangement doesn't make much sense," Jaxson said as he looked over the table again, creasing his brows in confusion.

"How so?" Sinclair asked him, chuckling softly. "The alpha sits at the head, as it is her home and her fight. Lucifer sits to her right, as he is the vampire king. Usually, he would sit at the head of the table, but alas he cannot, for this is neither his home nor his fight. I sit to her left, for I am the leader of the recreants, and control the fighting force of such, just as Lucifer controls the vampires. To my right is my second in command, and to Hanna's right, her second as well. To Lucifer's left sits his mate, and his queen, and to her left, sits Lucifer's second in command." He explained, then held up his hand as Jaxson started to respond, shaking his head before he could. "His queen sits beside him, for she takes precedence over his second."

"Then why is Kerr not to Octavia's direct side, like you and the vampire king?" Jaxson challenged, raising an eyebrow. It was clear he thought he would stump Sinclair with this, but Sinclair snorted and tsked him.

"Kerr sits at the other head, or rather the footer, for this is his queen's fight. Mimic at the head, and mimic at the foot, symbolizes that this is the mimics fight. I heard you used to be an alpha, so how do you not know the proper seating arrangements for something of this magnitude? Jacob will sit to Kerr's right, for he is the Beta, and third in command, while you will sit to his left." Sinclair responded, motioning for them to sit in their rightful places.

Jacob shook his head, but said nothing as he sat down next to Kerr, then glanced at Samantha, watching her as she played with the babies, smiling knowingly. "What names did you pick?" He asked me after a few moments.

"Azeneth and Ciaran, what's your daughter's name?" I asked, glancing at Octavia, who was pissed off that the conversation kept changing, but she didn't seem bothered by the current conversation, or at least she didn't show if she was bothered by it or not.

"Those are beautiful names, and my daughter's name is Talia." He responded with a smile, before turning his attention back to Octavia. "I know this is a meeting to strategize, but when should we be expecting our guests?"

"That's something you should ask Sinclair and Damien, as they are the ones that need to call their fighters and tell them to come here," Octavia responded with a shrug, then glanced from Damien to Sinclair, waiting for their responses.

"Recreants can travel rather quickly if need be, so I'd say two weeks, minimum for everyone to arrive, as some live countries away," Sinclair responded with a sigh, then leaned back in his chair, looking across the table at Damien.

"I'd say the same time frame. Bartholomew, did you do as I requested?"

"Yes, I already sent word out. We should know our numbers by tomorrow, at the latest. So far, many are excited at the chance of a fight with the elementals." Bartholomew responded with a nod, then looked at Sam, nodding to him as well.

"Something we should probably agree on now is the training style. I like Samantha's idea, and it's probably our best bet, yes?" Sam asked, looking around the table as everyone but Jacob and Jaxson nodded their agreement. "Samantha suggested that Bast and Octavia use their abilities to fight us, so we can have real-time experience with fighting an elemental." He explained to them.

"Alpha, do you know the layout of the elementals kingdom? I know not many have seen it, and those who have, don't usually walk back out." Hanna asked.

"I don't, but I know a raven shifter, who agreed to fly ahead with a camera to give us an aerial view. I didn't want to send anyone in, as I knew their chances of coming back out were close to nonexistent. That is the reason I want as many fighters as possible. The bigger our attack, the less chance of defeat." Octavia responded, then looked up at the ball of fire in the sky, and narrowed her eyes at it. She continued to glare at it for a few moments, then sighed happily as the room got warmer.

"That's amazing, truly." Samantha breathed out, watching as the ball of fire grew in size, her big brown eyes wide with wonder and joy.

"Heres the question we really need to be asking, before we jump headfirst into the fight blindfolded. What is our advance order?" Richard snapped, glaring at Octavia, his golden eyes burning like hellfire.

"That seems like something we can work out together, is it not?" Damien asked, furrowing his brows as he glared at Richard like he was warning him to stay in his place.

*'Great, another fight is going to breakout, and Damien's going to be in it. Why is he fighting so much all of a sudden?'* I thought as I looked up into Damien's blue eyes, trying to find a hint of anything amiss, but I couldn't find anything.

"The front line should be a mixture of the three species, or does anyone disagree with that?" Jacob said, drawing the attention away from the growing tension between Damien and Richard.

"I do not consider that to be the best course of action, Jacob. I believe because we will be taking them by surprise, we should send recreants in first, followed by mimics, and then vampires." Sinclair said, then growled at Jaxson who began to argue, shaking his head. "I am saying mimics second because mimics and elementals are known to fight. Recreants were thought to be extinct for years. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems to be the best course of action, in my opinion."

"I concur," Damien said with a nod, then looked past me to Sam who nodded his agreement as well. "Recreants are known throughout the world, but only those in this town, and the recreants themselves, know the truth. Most others still believe that recreants are incapable of sane thought. To have our first wave of attack be recreants, I believe the elementals will be too shocked trying to fend them off and will be utterly blindsided by the second wave." Damien said, which was followed by protests from the mimics, and the recreants.

*'It feels like Damien's coven meeting all over again. It's a good thing there are no plates here.'* Finally I got tired of listening to it, and slammed my hand down on the table, creating a tremble in the earth beneath me. The shocked looks I got, only fueled my pleasure at using my abilities, as I glanced back at Samantha to make sure she and the babies were alright. Once Samantha gave me the thumbs up, I turned my attention back to the table, where everyone was waiting for what I wanted to say. "I don't think you should break yourselves into three waves, because you'll be giving them time to adjust between the waves. Mimics and vampires should be the second wave together, not separately. And in this scenario, where are Octavia and I going?"

"I assumed Octavia would be going with the mimics automatically, though, can you use your abilities in your mimic?" Sinclair asked.

"Only my earth ability, so I think it would be better if I stayed in human form for the fight, as I'm pretty sure I would need access to all of my abilities for this," Octavia responded, then looked across the table at Kerr with a smile. "I'm going to guess that some of the elementals are going to try to escape, We should leave a group behind to make sure they cannot. But our father is ours to kill. So us staying at the entrance is not an option."

I looked at Damien while she spoke, watching his reaction when she said we wouldn't be standing by the entrance, and when she said this, he looked down at me with a soft and knowing smile, then nodded.

"When can your raven shifter get us the aerials?" Sam asked.

"Tomorrow. I've already texted her, and she's on her way. She'll take some while it's light out, and some while it's dark out, so we can plan what time of day we want to attack."

"We cannot plan further until we know what our battleground looks like, or at least have a single idea," Kerr said, then shrugged. "Should we reconvene tomorrow once we have the photos?"

"Yes, lets. Sinclair, where can we hunt?" Hanna asked as she and Richard stood, followed by Bartholomew who chuckled and held up a finger, nodding his agreement.

"We need to hunt out of town, and preferably multiple towns over," Sinclair said as he stood and led the small group out of the room, who was followed by Sam who stopped and kissed Samantha on the head, on his way out the door.

"Thank you for watching them, Samantha," Damien said as we walked to the riverbank and began packing their things, getting ready to go home. After packing up the babies and carrying them out to the car, Damien turned to me and smiled. "I'm proud of you, kitten. You've done so well and you're absolutely amazing. You are my queen, and I love you."

I couldn't help the blush that spread through my cheeks as he spoke, looking down at my hands in my lap, biting my lip with a giggle. "I love you too, and where did all of that come from?"

"Watching you at the table today. You were able to create an earthquake at will. I'm not sure if you saw Octavia's reaction, but based on that, what you did was incredible to her as well." He said as he switched the hand her was using to steer, to take my hand and kiss the back of it softly.

"Oh, well, thank you babe." I said with a giggle, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Jacob said there is a daycare in town, do you think it would be safe to leave the babies with them during the fight? I know you're worried about their powers manifesting while we're not there, but I don't really know what else we can do, cause they can't come with us."

"You're right, we can go check out the daycare, before heading home, if you're filling up for it?"