shout, the moment I came back into my body with a start. I opened my eyes and found a hand slowly come into focus. It was one held out to me and the moment my vision finally cleared, I clasped it and was swiftly pulled upright by Dom.
“What happened?” he asked, and even I could see that he had clearly been concerned for me. But then no one would have known what possible outcome there would have been for me once the souls had been taken. At the very least I could feel my demon still clawing at me, ready to take control. I released a frustrated growl and told him,
“The war has begun, he has taken the souls and is making his way to the Keystone.”
“Fuck… and Keira, Amelia?” he asked in a desperate tone, one I too felt deep in my core. For it was so strange, this feeling of sudden… emptiness.
I shook my head, telling him I didn’t yet know if they too were under his control… however, I didn’t want to add that the outcome of their souls being any different to the rest, was highly unlikely. So instead, I looked around the open space to see that we were on the edge of Tartarus. Then, with narrowed eyes, I saw all of our people and our armies amassing behind us. There were legions of them and none, not a single one, was loyal to me. I had to admit, it was a bitter pill to swallow for a King.
For I was now a King with no Kingdom.
“Fuck, how long was I out for?” I asked, knowing then it must have been a while for all of this to have happened.
“A few hours at least. Turn around, for we haven't been the only ones busy,” Dom said, and I did as he suggested, now walking closer to the edge so I could see for myself what we were up against.
Fucking thousands!
I sucked in a startled breath when I saw before me an army that was once mine, and the greatest ever combined.
“Fuck me,” I muttered under my breath, a curse Dom heard.
“My sentiments exactly, although I will say our own is shaping up nicely.” I turned then to see our own forces, and it was true, for despite us not having the numbers, what we did have on our side was strength. All those of a demonic nature had been pulled together from both sides. With the exception of a few that Dom explained were the ones left behind to try and prevent any more of the rogues entering Hell at the portal gates. This was because Matthias was calling forth every soul that belonged to him to fight in this war. Sigurd, Ragnar, Vincent, Seth, and Takeshi had all been leading Dom’s Enforcers in creating their own army to prevent the vampires from returning. Theo was naturally in charge of this, using his own council to aid him. For if the vampires from the mortal world also managed to get through, then we would be looking at hundreds of thousands, and a force all of Hell would not survive against.
“And my brother?” I asked, tensing and bracing myself for the outcome.
“Still unconscious, and I hate to say it, but in all likelihood he will remain this way unless the hex is removed or the one who put it there is killed,” Dom told me, fearing what I already knew, because his body and his abilities had been used against his will for the last time. As he had fought so hard against this summoning, his body had tried to reject the hex and as a countermeasure it had tried to consume him. His power and the power of the spell were fighting one another, and Dom was right, soon one of them would have to die.
So, as I looked behind me now, I knew the time had come for the battle to commence, as I could already hear the battle cries from below. Matthias’ forces were growing restless and ready for the fight, great hordes of them, all in their different ranks. Demons, monsters, shapeshifters and everything in between were all down there. The ghostly figures of the Dybbuks and the wild beasts of the Chimera. This along with the pounding hooves that created their own war drums from the herds of Centaurs. And of course, there were the hordes of Gorgon leeches, and all of these creatures came with their own masters that had