Chosen by The Fates: The prophecy

Chapter VII - Ceremony - part I

The next morning, the pack house was full of staff running around trying to get everything done in time for the ceremony. It was still quarter past seven, plenty of time to get things in order, which gave me the time to check in with my mom and uncle Theo. I took out my phone and called my mom hoping uncle Theo would be around, killing two birds with one stone. The phone rang twice and then she picked up:

"Aaah, the prodigal son's return. Are you coming back Ki?" my mom answered excitedly.

"Hello mother, glad to see you're still using sarcasm in times of need. I am not coming back. That's not the reason I called. You know this." I was getting a bit frustrated at her attempt to get me to come back.

She sighed loudly, then she continued: "Can't blame a mother for trying to get her child back. I know why you called. Theo said they'll be there tonight for the recognition ceremony."

"Ok, that's great. Will you be here?" I was nervous our last interaction might have put some distance between us.

"Do you want me there?" she asked. I could feel her anxiety through the phone.

"Of course I want you here. You are my mother. Sure, you are a bit deranged and slightly psychopathic." I chuckled at my words, "but you are still my mother. And I love you. I would like to have my mother here with me when the pack gets official."

"Then I will be there tonight. I would like nothing more than to see my baby become the King he is." She was beaming with pride and I could tell. "Ki?"

"Yes, mother?"

"I love you. I am sorry for the other day, I…" she started apologising and I had to stop her.

"Mom, it's alright. I know. I love you too. We'll talk more about this tonight at the ceremony. Is everyone coming?"

"Yes, everyone will be there." she said.

"Good. I will get some rooms ready for your arrival then. Do you know what time you'll arrive?" I had to get some of the staff to prepare everything on time.

"Me, Theo, Circe, Ambro and Selene will arrive at about six, the rest will be here by midnight. They have a meeting with the Peacemakers." she said.

"Okay mom, I will get everything ready. I will see you when you get here. Be safe, love you."

"I love you too, Ki."

I was glad everyone was coming tonight. It could only mean that they were on board with the plan, which was exactly what I was hoping for. Having the kingdom officialised by the Impartials would show that we have their full support and no other kingdom would be able to ever challenge the authenticity of my kingdom. Not that it would have happened anyway. While I had the vampires and werewolves on my side due to my lineage, the other Kingdoms would need to carefully assess where they stand. With me or against me. There was no telling what would happen after the ascension when I would step into the full power of my status. The situation could easily escalate into a full blown war or it could be the exact opposite and guarantee unity across all species. Only time will tell. With now less than two weeks until the ascension, after tonight's ceremony I was planning on taking advantage of my family being here to set things in motion. The pack would have to start training harder, the location would have to be secured, strategies and contingency plans would need to be made, not to mention the protection of the pack members that couldn't fight. As we stand now, we aren't in a bad position. However, things would change with the ascension.

I realised I was lost in my own thoughts when Ajax mindlinked me.

Alpha, the unpledged members have been magically secured in the ballroom and the rest of the pack is gathered in the back garden, as requested.

Thank you Ajax, I will be there in a moment. I answered his mindlink.

I made my way outside and when I got there the sight made my heart swell with pride. All of my pack members, some of the most devoted people I ever met, were in front of me waiting for the announcement that we would be official in just a matter of hours. As I stepped closer to the crowd, Kerbe and Larna positioned themselves on both my sides, while Kimmy and Ben stood slightly behind me.

"Thank you all for joining us this morning. I know most of you are wondering why I called a meeting." I could see heads nodding as I continued my speech. "The news that I am about to give you is a reason for joy, but also hard work. Tonight, come midnight, we will no longer be a pack." Gasps and murmurs of shock could be heard from the crowd. "We will be a kingdom." The whole pack was whistling and cheering, their happiness was filling me with confidence.

"We will be blessed by the Impartials tonight, they will also be staying here for a short amount of time. Also, my mother, the Queen of the Vampire Kingdom, will be joining us tonight for the ceremony. I expect everyone to be on their best behaviour unless you want to become her meal. She has a very low tolerance for disrespect. That being said, if there aren't any questions… " I paused for a couple of seconds to allow them to raise any questions or concerns they might have had. When no one spoke, I continued "Let's receive with open arms our new pack members. Ajax, please bring them here so we can begin."

Ajax came back with about twenty-five people; men, women and children of various ages. While he went to bring them here, we set up a table with an enchanted bowl, a silver knife and an ivory chalice. The pledging ceremony wasn't complicated and didn't last long. Each of the members vowed to fight for the pack and to always protect its members, to never betray their Alpha and to never act to the detriment of the pack. They then cut their palms open and poured some blood into the chalice. It was then my turn to take the vow:

"I, Alpha Killin Demetry Lycaon-Romanov, solemnly swear to protect and respect the members present here today. I swear to always put the pack’s interests first and to never treat them unjustly. I vow that they will always have equality and protection within the pack and no harm shall find them as long as I am alive.” I then drank some of the blood in the chalice, ensuring my connection to the new members, as well as theirs with the pack. I then cut the palm of my hand and poured a couple of drops of blood into the same chalice. The chalice was then tipped into the enchanted bowl. This ensured the connection between me and the new members had been forged. The blood was then spilled onto the ground to forge the connection between us and the land of the pack. This specific process was called binding or grounding, a powerful ancient binding spell between the pack and the land, giving the pack members a connection to the pack land, allowing them to use their surroundings to aid their defence.

The link was established as soon as the blood hit the ground. A sense of comfort was shared across the whole pack and I couldn’t help the smile that set on my face:

“Welcome home, please make yourselves comfortable. We have breakfast and lunch served in the dining room and there is plenty for everyone. Please enjoy yourselves, but not too much. Tonight, at midnight, we will officially become a House. Tomorrow everybody will have the day off. I will need to discuss the new schedules and roles alongside my council as well as the Impartials. The next day we will personally deliver the news of our new little kingdom to the rest of the Houses. I expect resistance, therefore I will let you know now, no one leaves the territory, no one comes into the territory without me or the team knowing. Rules will be enforced the moment I step foot off the territory.” The whole pack nodded and then I continued. “Now, let’s enjoy the feast!”

Everybody made their way into the dining room and as soon as I got there my heart swelled with pride for my people, my pack, my kingdom. No one has ever put together so many different beasts without a fight breaking out, or worse, a war. Natural, if you think about it, we are beasts, blood–thirsty, violent beasts. We are dominant and possessive and we want to be the strongest ones in the room. Survival of the fittest, a sense of preservation, call it what you may.

Over the years, our pack has grown exponentially. We started out as being the four of us, me and the triplets, and slowly people came to seek shelter. We weren’t there most of the time, so we agreed to let them stay as long as they took care of the land and the home. We’ve had our bad eggs here and there, we sorted them out, made sure they would never bother us again… one way or another. We hadn’t been strangers to murdering tresspassers or anyone that threatened the well-being of our pack.

This was ours, built from scratch, researched to the ends of our wit, nurtured with sweat, blood and tears and these people have all pledged their loyalty to me, to protect them and to lead them. We aren’t even on the food chain yet, but they believe in our little Kingdom. Most of them don’t even know who I am yet, they will all find out tonight and we will see if their attitudes change. If anything does change, they are free to leave. Life in this pack is about to take a drastic turn and I’m not about to jeopardise the lives of any of my warriors for people that do not want to be part of this.

I was leaning against the door with a drink in my hand when Kerbe came and patted my shoulder:

“We have a nice little House here, Alpha. Don’t you think so?” He looked at me and smirked, trying to get a reaction out of me. So I decided to play his game the way I know how to:

“We don’t have a House, Beta, I have a House. You, are my subject.” I smiled widely when I saw his smirk disappearing. “Cat got your tongue, Beta?” This time, it was my turn to smirk.

“You are no fun, Killian. Why’d you have to do me like that, man?” He furrowed his brows trying to fake being angry.

“Hey, you started it, you have no right to get in a mood now. We have s**t to do anyway.” I looked at the clock and saw it just hitting 12 o’clock. “Grab your sisters and meet me in my office in fifteen minutes.

“Fine, Killjoy.” he said sarcastically.

“I’ll kill you if you keep pissing me off, now go. See you in a bit.” I left him there and proceeded to my office. Shortly after, the triplets came in, followed by Ben and Mary.

“Kerbe, when I said grab your sisters and meet me in my office did I by any chance say grab Ben and Mary on the way too?” I asked him, rubbing my face with my hands. When will he be able to follow simple orders?

“No, they wanted to come and I assumed it wasn’t a secret so I let them come.” He shrugged and sat down in one of the chairs facing mine.

“Kerbe, please tell me, what use have I got for you if you can’t follow the simplest orders? Larna is ready to be my Beta, Kimmy can take her spot as the Gamma, and you will be the Tracker. I think everyone will be happy about that?” I smiled when I heard the girls chuckle and then looked at Kerbe, who was actually upset this time.

“You wouldn’t do that.” he said, crossing his hands over his chest like a five-year-old child would.

“Keep going and we shall find out.” I said, smiling. He continued to huff and puff about how I was not worthy of his friendship, but we all knew it was all in good fun.

“Right, since you are all here. Let’s start. I am going to start with the ascension. I think we’ve got less than a week now. End of next week, tops. I am getting thirsty and it’s only been a week since I last fed. I should have been able to last more than that, which means, the ascension is going to happen sooner than expected. Are the basement levels done? Everything ready?”

“Yes, I checked them with Ben this morning. The only thing we need is the mountain ash to put at the borders, although he suggested that lighting the mountain ash on fire would attract a lot of attention.” she said and looked up at him smiling.

“Are we scared of getting unwanted attention? If my calculations are correct, Tuesday night or Wednesday morning we will be attacked. One of the Houses is going to throw a fit in an attempt to finish us before we even start. If everything goes according to plan, any future attempts to overthrow us will be shadowed by the fear of losing their kingdoms. My money is on uncle Cromus. Wanna take your pick?” I let a smug look dance on my face.

“No way Cromus is going to attack first, he doesn’t have the army to do so. He was attacked by the witches not long ago.” Kerbe disagreed. “I think his dad might throw a fit when he finds out his son is mated to Kimmy.” He chuckled, pointing at Ben.

“I don’t think my dad wants to annoy Des. Even if he overthrows Killian, Hades is going to go after him for disrespecting his daughter and I will personally join him.” A wicked grin appeared on his face and Kimmy’s face showed how proud she is of her mate being protective over her.

“True, I honestly think it will be the witches. They either wanna kill anyone more powerful than them or f**k them. I don’t think they will attack the way you think either, Ki. I think they will send a beautiful young damsel in distress to fall into your powerful embrace.” Larna said dramatically as she stepped closer to me and fell into my arms while holding her arm over her forehead. I looked down at her and laughed whole-heartedly. The whole room shook with laughter from Larna’s performance.

“You are a dickhead.” I shook my head as I pushed her off me. “Would it be that bad if I took a witch for a Queen? We could potentially have one more House to submit.” I said to them, considering that the idea wasn’t the worst.

“If you take a Queen to rule over all of the House with, I would expect you to choose a powerful bride. Not a meek female, but a strong and powerful one. Whoever she may be. And love her, Ki, an alliance is not worth it if you will be spending the rest of your days next to someone that doesn’t treasure our King at least as much as we do. You owe it to us.” Larna turned serious all of a sudden and it freaked me out for a minute. This girl used to be my wingman. She never ever had a serious relationship with anyone and slept around as much as I did, with both men and women. For her to speak of love was unusual.

“Larna, are you feeling okay? Since when do you give two shits about love? If I didn’t know better I’d say you met your mate.” I saw her eyes widening at my words and in the next moment she bolted for the door. Before she could touch the handle, Kim caught her arm and Kerbe held her shoulders. I jumped over the desk and placed my hand on the door, forcing it to stay shut. I looked at Ben in the right corner of the room, next to Kim, who was still holding her hand. Mary couldn’t understand her reaction at all and was looking at her confused.

“Larna, take a seat and explain yourself.” Kerbe growled at her. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, hoping I would give her a way out of this. The look in her eyes broke my heart, but I couldn’t step on her brother’s authority. If he was doing this, it was for the better. I shook my head at her and put my forehead on hers.

“It would be fine, I promise you. Just tell us what happened.” She looked into my eyes and nodded. Kim released her hand and she went to sit down on the chair that Kerbe was sitting on.

Kim went to the other chair next to her, for comfort, and Ben was standing behind Kim’s chair. I then went to my desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey from my bottom drawer. I only had four glasses, so I asked Mary to bring more. As Mary got out of the room, I sat down on my chair, with Kerbe on my right. No one said a thing before Mary came back with the glasses. She put the glasses down and poured alcohol into all of them.

“Now, tell us what happened, Larna.” Kerbe growled impatiently.