Passionately slow, our lips separated, and I felt wooed by him. "There now, that's better. Let's take a nap." Kai teased because he noticed my eyes turned into puddles while the smell of his cologne stirred my senses.
"First, before you make me rest, I need to ask you something, which is a little off-topic," I said, walking into my closet to search for the perfume Crystal bought me.
"I'll take anything that veers you away from asking me a thousand questions," Kai teased just as I came out to notice him smirking.
"Haha, very funny!" I rolled my eyes, giving him the bottle.
"What's this?" he asked, popping the lid off before he sniffed the sprayer.
"It's a perfume Crystal gave me when I worked at your father's office. Before I knew you were a vampire, she told me to spray it on my body before I would leave the coffee shop. Now, I know strong perfumes will cover anyone's scent from a vampire, so I was wondering why Crystal's perfume worked over the perfume I used that day I talked to Orlando on campus before Tyler grabbed me to get your attention."
After hearing me out, Kai gave a narrow glance at the bottle before he replied. "It's because the one Crystal gave you has an extract mixed into it."
"Say what?"
"It's different types of plants that grow in other worlds." He educated me.
"Still, it's almost the same scent as the one I used that day," I mentioned. "But it didn't work because you still smelled Orlando on me."
Kai sighed, going into the bathroom. "Because you've been misinformed about strong perfumes covering anyone's scent from a vampire. Only extract plants, like this one, will do that, but it's illegal for vampires to use them on each other. If the Vampire Covenant found out I had this in my possession, I would face dire consequences," he shared as he poured it out into the sink.
"Good thing I gave it to you," I frowned. "Couldn't you just tell the Vampire Coven that the Mill Coven did it?"
After he threw the glass bottle in the trash, he replied with a chuckle. "I'm glad you did. Most of the Council would love to detain me. Anyhow, let's lay down and rest."
He says that just as I heard the birds chirping outside, plus I noticed he was quick to end this conversation. Regardless of it being six o'clock in the morning, I cuddled with him in bed and took a short four-hour nap before I got ready to go on our journey. After Kai hunted, and I ate lunch, which was my breakfast. He took me to his parent's room, and he knocked on the door.
His father opened the door, and this was presumably the first time I had seen him with his hair tousled like he had a rough night. Plus, he was shirtless, and he only wore a pair of gray sweatpants. From the first day I met him, he's always fully dressed in his daily business suit, and his hair is never messy. While I was shocked to see him look this miserable, Kai looked past it.
"I need the items," Kai informed him. "It's time I tell her."
Mr. Collin didn't say a word as he let us in. Mrs. Collin smiled softly at us from the sofa as she stirred her blood tea. You can tell, she did whatever she could to hide that heartache in her eyes. Behind a decent-sized picture frame of him and his wife on the wall, he opened it like a door, and then he unlocked the hidden safe before he pulled out this tin box. Without saying a word, he gave the box to Kai.
"We'll be back later," Kai told his parents.
"Be careful going back there. It might be dangerous," Mrs. Collin gently advised.
"We'll be back home safely, Mother," Kai reassured her before we left.
Rome, Jack, his son Ian, and a ton of guardians waited for our arrival in the woods. Ivan hadn't left Mia, so he wasn't coming. Glenn hardly ever leaves Alice's side unless he has to, and Ace won't leave Rose and their newborn to join us.
Once Kai opened the portal, everyone entered inside. Fog blinds my sight, so I barely see three inches in front of my view, which makes me squeeze Kai's hand tighter. Rocks and sand crumbled under my shoes, which tripped me. Nothing made it any better when I heard strange clicking and chirping sounds that came in every direction, including above my head.
"Don't worry, it will clear soon," Kai softly spoke as he guided me through this strange world they were born in.
"What are those weird sounds?" I nearly quiver at the thought of what they could be.
"Giant insects that are getting ready to eat us at any second!" Rome hollered from behind me. My legs rushed forward, and I slammed my baby belly into Kai's toned backbone.
"Rome!" Almost everyone but Ian scolded him, including the guardians.
Of course, Rome cracked up. "Ok, they are only cute fuzzy wuzzy bunnies."
"I swear, Rome! I'm going to slap you once this fog clears!" I piped, and I could tell everyone, minus Rome, tried not to laugh.
Kai gently squeezed my hand as he uttered reassuringly near my ear. "Relax, I'd never let anything happen to you or our unborn babies. Rome is only teasing. Their only harmless otherworldly animals, that's all."
After he whispered those gentle words into my ear, the fog began to lift, and I found myself gazing at the ruins of the very Palace I'd seen before. My time-gap had already brought me here from when we attended that masked ball at the Imperial Palace. Which was triggered while I was looking at the painted artwork that illustrated the battles they had endured.
Parts of the palace still stood while most of it crumbled into piles of scattered debris, but the astonishing palace wasn't the only thing that caught my eye. As we walked through, I was relatively stunned to see vampires standing frozen into hardened stone throughout the sandy hard ground.
"I didn't expect to see vampires," I uttered.
"These vampires are permanently detained into stone because no one that is blood-related to them is awake either," Kai shared.
"Or they may not have a family member nor a mate to wake them," Jack added toward my left with nine guardians walking around him. Ian and I shared the same mind-blown expression to see this up close.
"Let's make camp at the center of the palace," Kai instructed as we hiked up the chipped and cracked palace stairs. Whether Kai knew it or not, we passed the area right where his mother got detained, and he cried at the first step before that vampire was turned to stone. Though, I also noticed the vampire's stone body was no longer there. I guess he had awoken.