“How is she this powerful?” Victoria asks looking worried that she could be next.
“That would be my doing, but I am sure Hades and Persephone had a hand in it too.” Another man says from the door. I am still highly focused on Lilith and making sure she knows I will not be fucked with.
“Lord Poseidon, what brings you down to the Underworld and the Kingdom of Greed?” Mammon asks watching as I drain the life from Lilith.
“Aretha, please let go of the weak demon and come eat a proper and better tasting meal. Her blood will poison the baby.” Poseidon commands.
“Who said I am going to drink her blood. I would rather just let it spill on the floor.” I say still holding Lilith.
“Aretha, I said come eat now!” Poseidon commands and I drop the Demon Queen.
“Come near any of my children or me and I will rip you apart in front of Hades himself.” I seethe and I see her shaking in fear. I sit back down with Mammon on my right and Matthias on my left then I start to eat. The food is delicious and very filling.
“As I was saying, her power comes from me. Atten was a god, he was one of my children. His mother was Kalypso, one of the last free Titans so to speak. Kalypso had chosen to give up her immortality to have a child, and I gave her one. It was her death that caused the island of Atlantis to sink and with it her powers went to her first female descendant.” Poseidon says and everyone looks to me.
“So your two bloodline hold a great deal of power. The one side was forged into a strong battle warrior, that grew in strength, wisdom and bravery with each life lived. Your other side comes from a powerful general to Prince Mammon’s daughter Victoria. Well damn girl, you are just a whole box of surprises!” Meena says coming to give me a hug. There is a knock on the door and when Poseidon opens it, Irimaya and another lady walk in. There is a pitcher of what looks to be blood and a glass being carried by Irimaya.
“Thank you Irimaya. Aretha drink as your eyes are black, you are well into the stage of blood craze and going rogue wouldn’t be far off.” Mammon says handing me a full glass of blood. I take it and gulp it down, but it’s not helping. I am angry, protective, and damn well scared she will take my family away from me yet again. I lost Thorin and Alexandrea, I will not loose Matthias and this baby.
“I think she is going to need more for Lilith to be safe.” Johnathan says still wary of my current mood.
“Don’t count on it, she looks at me, Matthias or Mammon in a way I don’t like and she’s dead. And I am not talking being brought back here either.” I say still with a burning gaze at Lilith.
“Ok Lilith I think it best you never step foot in the Kingdom of Greed again. I would rather my daughter not in a constant killing state for the health of her and the baby.” One of the other two standing nearby says.
“Francis! You have been standing there the whole time and never said anything?” Hyda says.
“Not Francis, although I am sure he would agree with me on this. I am Prince Atten, I have connections down here and an alliance with Prince Mammon due to our children being soul bound to each other for all eternity. I never got to see Aretha when she was born, and I have hated myself for it, but her mother and her would have died on Atlantis when it sank. So it was better to keep them on the mainland.” Prince Atten says giving me a bow. I smile in response to him, I would hug him, but I am filling my face right now and the food is more important at the moment. It’s keeping Lilith alive and helping me stay in control.
“Her eyes are still black. Should we be worried?” Victoria asks looking from me to Prince Atten.
“Yes you should. Until I go into battle and kill things they will stay black. So tread lightly Lilith, like eggshell lightly.” I say looking at her with a predatory smile.
“Damn that is sexy as fuck!” Matthias says nipping at my neck. I have tilted enough for him to have access but still look deadly to Lilith.
“Ok, Margret I think it’s best to let them get settled. We can discuss the meals tomorrow after breakfast. Give them time to get used to being here. Get a checkup by Medusa which I am sure Persephone will want to be here to help with and for Francis to come meet his daughter that he to lost out on watching grow up. As for you Lilith, I will contact Hades and have him discuss with all of us the terms of your alliance termination with the new rulers of the Kingdom of Greed. As my grandson and granddaughter will be taking over by the end of next week.” Mammon says. I am shocked it will happen so quickly, but he has been waiting over 3000 years to pass on the throne to Matthias.
The room clears out of all but Mammon and Hyda. Before Prince Atten left, he managed to give me a hug in between me keeping eyes on Lilith. He of course laughed at me, and Poseidon commanded me to rest for the sake of the baby and my blood pressure. Silly god, not going to happen. Matthias moved me over to the bed, he has me wrapped again and sitting on his lap under the blankets. The tray of blood has been moved over to the night table for me to continue to drink.
“We will have to do something about Lilith, Mammon. You know as well as I do, when Matthias first found Aretha and learned they were soul bound she has been a problem.” Hyda says causing Mammon to sigh.
“I know, but I have an alliance treaty with her, so I can’t touch her, and it was forced by Hades to keep the other princes from attacking her. She knows how to piss people off.” Mammon says, which causes Hyda to scrunch her eyebrows in thought.
“Why though? It makes no sense. She has an heir to take over, so if she dies then that means the others will be happy right?” Hyda asks.
“Her heir is male. The Kingdom of Lust is the only one that is strictly female heirs take over the throne. Speaking of which you two, I was able to get Hades to help change that law for the Kingdom of Greed. It wasn’t something that my grandfather agreed with or my father. Truthfully, you can understand why though after having roughly 60 daughters before getting a male heir to take the throne.” Mammon says laughing when I glare at Matthias’s grinning ass.
“So now even if our first born is female, she can take over the throne if she is deemed worthy?” Matthias asks looking excited.
“That’s right, I think all the others have gone this way too, since a few of them are actually great-great-great grandfathers that are ruling because there isn’t a male heir.” Mammon answers.
“Hades wants Lust to be ruled by a female, because females can create the feeling of lust not only in an emotional state, but mental and physical too. It also affects everyone and anyone when a woman is the ruler. Men, women, children, and the elderly. Lust is one of the most powerful emotions, because it is just the slightest nudge from love. I think it was Lilith at work with Marcus.” I says causing Mammon and Hyda to look at me.
Chapter 17
Both Hyda and Mammon stare at me in silence. I can see the gears working in Hyda’s head, but Mammon is a little harder to read, I am sure with time I will be able to though.
“Who is Marcus and why would you think Lilith was at work with him?” Hyda finally asks.
“Marcus was the vampire Isabella was torturing before we came down to the Seven Kingdoms.” Matthias tells her and she looks at him funny.
“So that was the name he was using up in the mortal realm. Well then this will give Aretha here even more reason to kill Lilith. The person you know as Marcus is Lilith’s only child, Damon.” Hyda says causing Matthias to go all herculean bat and wrap his strong arms around me. I start to struggle right away from shear anger.
“I WILL KILL THOSE FUCKERS!!” I scream. Even in his ruling form, Matthias is having an extremely hard time holding on to me.
“Shit! Get Hades now!” Mammon yells, trying to help Matthias hold me down. A wave of power sends Matthias and Mammon flying in different directions from me and I bolt for the door. I may have never been here before, but I will find them and kill them. Irimaya see me coming and smiles.
“This way my Queen.” She says and starts to run. Usually I wouldn’t follow but she takes me to another door
, where I can hear Hades and Persephone talking to two others. Still smiling Irimaya burst through the closed doors ahead of me and I see Lilith and Marcus standing there in front of Hades.
“Holy fuck! Hades?!?” Persephone asks looking at me shocked.
“This is what the Fates saw Persephone, let it happen.” Hades tells her.
“Well Ianna, you look deadly as a vampire. It’s a beautiful look on you.” Marcus smirks, but before he can move Lilith stops him.
“Don’t, she is more powerful than any of us.” A white Lilith says causing Marcus to look at me in fear. “Hades, I ask that you banish her from the 7 Kingdoms or strip her powers to let her stay.” Lilith demands.
“The only way for you to get either of those is to challenge her, you know that. By the way good luck on living if you do.” Persephone says smiling at her.
“Then I declare you Hades and Persephone as unfit to rule as the King and Queen of the Underworld. I challenge you for the crown and title of Queen of the Underworld … “ She says and I cut her off. I know this game and it’s a dirty tactic. With declaring Persephone unfit she loses any power she had, and it makes her weaker to attacks until a vote can be taken to keep her in power.
“I accept that challenge.” I say moving in on both Marcus and Lilith. As Matthias, Hyda, Poseidon and Mammon run through the doors, I wrap my hand around Lilith’s neck and punch the other through her chest. When I pull back, I rip both her heart and throat out. I spin out of Marcus’s grasp as he lunges for me, when I do I wrap both hands around Lilith’s head and rip it from her body.
“Mom.” Marcus says looking at the head I hold. With a dagger like fingernail, I etch a symbol I have never seen before, but it comes so naturally to me. When finished the head burst into blue flames so I throw it to the body, and both burn.
“Your turn.” I say stepping towards Marcus, only for Hades to stop me.
“Oh no my sweet girl, you are done punishing those who challenged the crown. Thank you for bringing the others with you too, I needed to speak to all of you.” Hades says, and Persephone gets up from her throne to come greet me.
“That was a very impressive display of battle skills. I loved watching you fight during the wars you were a part of. It was so beautiful and graceful.” Persephone says cupping my cheeks.
“Sorry for the mess.” I says causing her to laugh to the point she is crying.
“Oh no need child, this is Mammon’s castle, and we will have it cleaned up for him. When we visit one of the 7 Kingdoms, we take over the throne room until we leave and then it goes back to the Prince or Princess of the Kingdom.” Persephone says.
“Thank you Hades for creating the Hell fire, it will actually burn to the point there is nothing left, not even ash.” Mammon comes up beside all of us.
“Oh that wasn’t me and that was not Hell fire. That was your next Queen…” Hades says looking at me.
“Wait, what? What about Matthias and I becoming Prince and Princess of the Kingdom of Greed?” I ask confused all to hell. Literally.
“Child, you are to take our place as ruler. Hades and I would like to spend time with our family, our children have grown and started their own. I have a new granddaughter that was born 3 days ago, and I would love to visit my mother. We don’t get to spend time together like we use to, and I miss her.” Persephone says giving me a side hug.
“What about Matthias? Does he stay in his kingdom then until our child is old enough to rule?” I ask looking at Mammon and Matthias.
“No child, that is the reason for Matthias’s larger bat like form. He has taken on the abilities of the Ruler of the Underworld. Hades goes like that in war also, it is quite impressive when he does, he’s a lot larger than Matthias’s though.” Mammon says smiling at my confused state.
“Marcus, for your acts of treason, you are to be stripped of your title. It will be Ianna’s choosing what will happen to you from this moment on.” Hades says looking from me to Marcus.
“Ferry Man.” I say not even having to think about it. Charon has been taking souls across for as long as I can think of. If Hades needs to retire, so does Charon.
“Why that Ianna?” Matthias asks keeping his eyes trained on Marcus.
“He caused so much death, and it was because his mother wanted you. She had to of known what you were fated for. After all she only wanted me banished, or stripped of my power, making me an easy target to kill and take the throne from me.” I answer him. Matthias hisses at Marcus when he smirks.
“Of course she wanted Matthias. He was to become Prince of Greed and to take Hades’ throne once he was mated. He was never here though; he was constantly chasing you in the mortal realm. It wasn’t hard to get Hera to send Thorin your way. If you were bound to someone else then mother could take the title without a fight. You were nothing more than an easy fuck, and I knew how to play you like the weak woman you are.” Marcus says sneering. His pride in his achievement doesn’t last long, as he starts screaming, dropping down and rolls on the floor. A sudden blue flame dances across his skin, now I am the one smirking.
“You know Marcus, if I were such a weak woman, I would have a lot of problems casting you into the Kalypsean flame. A very beautifully rare gift from Hades for the children of Atlantis. No one since Kalypso has been able to summon or control it, well that is until now. A beautifully deadly gift from my grandmother, and I truly love deadly gifts.” I say kneeling beside him as he burns. The flame dies and I stomp my boot heel on his skull watching it turns to dust. A group of small goblin like creatures comes running past me with a broom and dustpan.
As I watch the cleaning crew come in to sweep away the ashes, I notice the throne room is where the Prince shows his bling and the reason for the title of Prince of Greed. There are paintings lining the walls, many of which I know are missing pieces of art from the mortal realm and they are worth millions. The furniture is made of precious metals and stone. The solid jade stone table must weigh a ton and it too must come with a million dollar price tag. The fabrics are no different. The curtains are made of the finest silk, with gold embroidery, that must have taken forever! The thrones themselves are made of an ancient Oak wood, that I know died out just after the fall of Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, making them the most expensive thing in here. I have to wonder, if this is the throne room of Greed, what does the throne room of Hades look like.
“Well it appears in your turning, a lot of other gifts to your bloodline have been awoken. That is great news, as now you will have to rule over the Kingdom of Greed, Lust, and all of the Underworld until each position is filled. Well until Greed and Lust have a new ruler anyways.” Hades says bringing me back from my gawking at Mammon’s throne room.
“My Lord, when would you like the coronation and transfer of titles to occur? We will need to do it for both Lust and Greed as well.” Mammon asks.
“Grandfather, why not make Irimaya, Princess of Greed? She is after all Aunt Aria’s daughter. She was always your favorite sister, and truthfully what Lilith did to her was wrong. I also know for a fact that Irimaya has proven worthy many times to rule over the kingdom.” Matthias says, and I catch Irimaya with a broad smile that is growing by the second. The surprise that Matthias would give her this gift has caught her off guard.
“I don’t see why not; she is amazingly resourceful and has quite the eye for finding the most exquisite pieces of art. Also she is a very shrewd businesswoman. The companies in the mortal realm could bank trillions with her running them. It would be a sound and strategic move.” Persephone says winking at Irimaya. Matthias agrees, I can understand his suggestion, he knows her best and if he thinks it’s a good idea, then it is. As long as I have known Matthias, he has yet to be wrong, just don’t tell him I said that.
“Mammon, what do you say about this? She was to become the Royal Advisor to Ianna.” Hades says looking at Mammon.
“Truly it is Irimaya’s choice, but no matter what I am proud of whatever she chooses.” Mammon says, pulling Iri
maya in for a hug.
“I would like to rule our Kingdom Grandfather, please?” She says looking up at him with a smile.
“Very well, let it be so! Irimaya is to become the new Princess of Greed. Matthias and Ianna are to become King and Queen of the Underworld!” Hades declares and the sounds of cheering can be heard from outside of the castle. “Now to find Lust a new ruler, oh that is going to be a headache.” Hades finishes wiping his hands down his face. Persephone laughs as Hades, starts babbling to himself. Rhyming off names and then cursing when he realized they wouldn’t work as a ruler.
“How about this Hades, we take over Lust until we find a new Prince or Princess, while you and Persephone enjoy retirement.” I tell him to get him to stop pacing and muttering like a crazy person.
“I think I may know a few good men to help find the next Princess of Lust. I will send them on this little adventure, until they come back though, we have two coronations to organize. We also have to get you trained in the ways of the Royal court here in the Underworld.” Hades says, causing me to groan.
“Which is the long way of saying, No more killing people.” Matthias whispers in my ear, causing me to pout and everyone else to burst out laughing at me.
“Fiiinnneee!” I say. Irimaya comes over and gives me a hug, before whispering…
“Don’t worry Wrath would love for you to visit to get a good sparring or hunt going. He has been raving about you becoming the new Princess of Greed. He’ll be even happier now that you’re the new Queen.” She smiles. I raise an eyebrow at her and smile myself, just because I am Queen doesn’t means I should let go of my Battle Warrior ways. Right?
Crimson Star Coven …
“Will Ianna and Matthias be back? I miss them.” Isabella asks a room full of people.
“No she won’t be. Matthias and Ianna were destined to become the new rulers of the Underworld. I imagine Helix and Ika will be going down also. We do need to figure out who is next in line for Coven Leader though. That is if the person I have in mind says no.” Vlad says smiling.
The Call of War: The Watchers Chronicles: Book One Page 20