*Ch 262: Memorial Gallery

Upon entering, the lights automatically turned on. My jaw parted to visit one long and wide massive gallery filled with display cases of these mummified corpses or skeletons, ranging from adults, teenagers, children, infants, and unborn babies.

"Are they all..."

"Yes. Mainly everyone resting here are vampires, their offspring, and their female human mates that never had a chance to transform," Rose told me.

To the left, when you first walk in, were seven glass display coffins that stood upright. Three of the cases each had a skeleton, laying over top of a mummified vampire, resting inside it. The other four were empty.

"Why are those four display cases empty?" I asked, going to them.

"Those seven cases are the special resting place the Headmasters made for the seven foreseen human female prophecies," Rose shared. "As you see, three are dead while their detained mates hold them in their sleep."

"With only three dead, do the rest still have yet to be born?" I asked, peeking her way before looking back at the skeleton remains, being held by their vampire mates.

"Counting you, they've already been born," Rose replies as I heard her heels walking toward me. "Only the lowest-ranked guardians, most minions, and the younger vampires and vampiresses born after both wars believe they were killed. However, the truth is only three were killed. The other three were granted to be vampiresses because the Vampire Covenant deemed they weren't a threat to cause a third worldwide war."

I swallowed to understand as I walked along each display case. "If I am deemed as a threat, to cause a third worldwide war, then this is where my body will be placed," I verified as I reached the seventh empty display case.

Having a frown, Rose motioned her head slightly yes, "Only if you're deemed as a threat. If that happens or if Kai fails to turn you before the Blue Moon, you'll end up here," she told me, being surreal serious.

"And if I get turned without the Vampire Covenant's agreement?" I pried, swallowing this lump in my throat.

"Will go into the third worldwide war with every Coven on earth," Rose replied.

I breathed, asking nervously, "So then, how does the voting work?"

"All it takes for you to stay alive, is you'll need forty percent of the votes to keep you alive," Rose explained. "Then that means you live freely. Afterward, we may or may not go to war with only the Covens that believed differently."

"So getting forty percent of these votes will grant me my life?" I asked again, gathering this unnerving realization that this will eventuate.

"Yes, forty percent, and you're free," Rose reiterated delicately.

I took a respite, and she walked forward to go in. With her, I examined all the well-organized display cases, holding vamp babies and children with their human mothers and vampire dads.

"Is this gallery a memorial to remember the aftermath of these worldwide wars you faced long ago?" I questioned as we walked around quietly.

"Yes. During the war we lost far too many," she answered as I stopped at this one display of a vampire, holding the skeleton of a baby.

"Was his mate still a baby when she died?" I whispered, trying not to cry.

"Yes. Most of these ones along this row, had mates that were still children and babies," Rose confirmed, wiping a tear away while we walked along it.

Soon, my eyes got teary when we saw a vampire holding a teenage girl. Then the next one had a four-year-old girl in his arms.

We worked our way farther back to an additional row as Rose shared, "Now this row reminds us as to why we have rules about humans from ever learning about our existence. All these adults, teens, kids, and babies were killed by their human families because they were granted vampirism immortality. To stop them from transforming, the families slaughtered them.

"I suppose this is why Kai hates humans." I assumed as I looked at the old remains in each case. Some had vampires with them while the boys or men didn't.

"This is why and because humans once tried to detain him when he was only three," Rose divulged.

I was rather shocked to hear that, but I didn't comment. If anything, this new information helped me to better understand Kai's detestation toward humans. Next, we moved along the cases that had vamp babies or children with their parents.

"All these vampires and their offspring can be awakened?" I asked her.

Rose replied, "Only if a relative hasn't been detained, but either way, the Vampire Covenant forbids them to do so because this was their father's choice, which we all must deference."

"Why wouldn't they let their offspring grow up?" I questioned to see a two-year-old vampire toddler with his vamp dad and human mom.

"They made that selfish choice, in my opinion," Rose responded, sharing her genuine feelings. "Personally, they should've raised their offspring before they detained themselves with their offspring."

"Why can't a relative wake up the young ones?" I questioned.

Once again, Rose clarified. "As I stated, we can't. Plus, it's been too long. They'd end up being unhappy because the young vampires may have missed the chance to find their mate if they had one. That's any vampire's downfall."

"Do you think Kai will do this to our triplets if anything happens to me?" I asked, and she glanced at me.

"I don't have an answer to that one," she truthfully replied, and I frowned to know what she implied. I needed to ask Kai this question, not her.

"If it helps, I know all the offspring and their dads are at peace in their detained sleep," she shared with me.

"How so?" I say as we stopped walking to face one another.

"Because they're in a dreamlike state to be with each other," she clarified. "That's why we must be quiet to not disturb them because we can mentally wake them without realizing it. Then that painful loss will come back until they fall asleep again. Which could take another century or longer."

I nodded to understand what she was saying about letting them rest.

"It's why Kai detained himself to dream about me," I stated softly as my memory recalls Kai's message inside that amphora, he wrote to me back in Egypt. And it was explained in that old book I read that Mr. Collin secretly gave me during that excavation. Little did I know it was solely to find Kai. I was the only one that could set him free, over his own family since he hid from them.

Instead of answering me, Rose smiled, "Let's go get lunch."