Pestale thought about the Queen. Had she actually believed he would strike up some kind of arrangement with her? No, of course she did not. She was there for one reason only, to get a reading of him, his brother, his grounds.
He shook his head as he paced. He didn’t have the time or the inclination to play with the Queen and her royals, even though he enjoyed the notion that she might, be open to negotiations perhaps not now, but at some future hour.
He was consumed by one thought, the total subjugation of the human race, and then the Seelie Fae.
First he needed the monoliths. He needed these portals in order to deliver his lower castes into Dublin and other cities. First it would be Dublin. He wanted to swarm Trinity and destroy it with all of its ancient manuscripts and young fresh humans.
He thought about his two remaining brothers and a frown descended over his features. He paced for a moment--both brothers worried him, and for very different reasons.
Hordly was a savage. His desire for blood could be lethal to his ultimate goals. He needed to kill and maim and while he could use that now, he would have to curtail that need for the future.
Pestale knew that to win this war against the Seelie Fae, he needed cunning, not barbaric blood letting. Oh, bloodletting was certainly part of the plan, but only at first just to get everyone’s attention.
He knew the human military had been sent in to investigate the slaughter of the little village in the valley.
He knew the human scientists would work with the bones and find that they had been picked clean, but they would not understand, they would be shocked at the DNA they would find for it would make no sense to them.
He was going to have to make a stand and show them what he could do. They would try and spray him with bullets, but their efforts would bounce off the shields. He wouldn’t lose time healing from the temporary wounds from the bullets.
The humans posed no threat, but the Seelie Fae were altogether different. No Unseelie, or Dark Magic shields would work against Seelie magic.
His advantage with the Seelie was his army. He had the numbers and he didn’t care how many Dark monsters were slaughtered.
It wasn’t unexpected that he and his brothers had natures so different from one another. Hordly was all about fulfilling his needs without thought to consequences.
And then, there was his brother Graely. Graely was a puzzle he had not yet figured out. He wasn’t sure what he would do with Graely for he had an absurd affection for him. If he had to, he could allow him to be destroyed…if he had to.
The Seelie Fae did not understand them, which was another advantage he had. The Seelie Fae underestimated them. The Seelie Fae thought them nothing more than cold blooded monsters without loyalties. To some extent this was true, but he did have a need for his brothers. Eternity is a long time without kin.
When the Dark King had created them, he had done so using a different formula each time. Hence, he and his brothers, though only a few months apart, were so very different from one another in both looks and nature.
Hordly had been given the blood of a vampire, perhaps because of the Dark King’s whim to see what would result. Pestale had always suspected that Graely had been given a great deal more Seelie DNA, by the Dark King, evidenced in his father’s preference for Graely.
The fourth, and youngest brother, killed by Lana the Milesian, he was sure, had also been given even more of the Dark King’s Seelie blood. Pestale had always attributed his youngest brother’s sense of humor and his smile to that fact.
The Seelie Fae were unaware of these facts.
Pestale grinned at the thought. The Seelie knew nothing about their origins, and that was a great advantage.
Morrigu had found a strapping young human male who she had taken to her quarters. He had seen the two together, and it was very odd, she seemed quieter, content, as did the human.
He thought of Princess Royce. His earlier encounter with Trevor had brought her image to his mind; an image of red hair floating around her beautiful face. He had thought he loved her on sight. She had made him think he was capable of love.
He could hear her laughter, see her smile, and imagine her body naked beneath his. Why had Princess Royce chosen the Milesian over him? Why?
No matter. He would conquer all, and then he would make her his slave for a time and then perhaps after he was tired of her...
He looked across at Graely who had come into his chamber and apparently moved off to stare out the window at the lovely valley of the Grampian Mountains. Graely was a problem.
Pestale had noticed how withdrawn he had become.
He knew Graely had never enjoyed the killing. He always did what he was told to do because he was loyal to him alone, not to Hordly, but to him. It was beginning to take its toll on his sensitive brother. It was why he did not give him missions that required him to devastate the humans. There was no need. Graely could be used for other matters.
Soon, Pestale thought with determination, he would rule over all.
They would descend much like the black plague, first into Dublin, and then quickly into London, Rome, and New York. The entire world would bow to him when he was done.
When the human numbers were reduced and they had been beaten and ravaged; he would offer them salvation if only if they submitted to his will.