*Ch 263: Challenged Athena

Rose walked away, so I followed her. As we were going to depart, other vamp families came in to pay their resting relatives or friends a respectful visit. Once we left the gallery, we walked the eerie corridor only to run into trouble up ahead.

"Well, isn't it fancy seeing you both here?" that rude vampiress named Athena and her five friends cut us off in the large hall. "I do hope you showed your queen why it's best for her to die."

"That's enough of your ignorance!" Rose gnashed, holding her head high to face a Royal vampiress.

Athena grinned before she started heckling. "Tell me, Rose, are you still bearing that resentment toward your queen? After all, Victoria did take away your chance from taking your bloodline into the Royal bloodline."

"I am far from over it." Rose rolled her eyes before replying.

"I see that." Athena mocked, disdainfully eyeing her pregnant belly. "Your huge baby belly says it all."

Suddenly, Rose snarled and flew up to her face hissing. "You keep my offspring out of this!"

Athena only grinned as the hostility escalated within their silence. Before any of them could rant again. A large group of minacious-looking vampires came in. Rose backed off. Fright formed on everyone's faces. I could tell by the vampiresses' reactions that these vampires weren't from any of our Covens, and they certainly weren't anyone's friends. After they glared fiendishly at us, one of the vampires opened another secret room behind this body size painting of a vampire. Once they all go in, the painting shuts. Perhaps these mounted portraits do have moving eyeballs for spying.

Taking me out of my pondering, Rose urged before we walked past Athena. "Let's go, Victoria."

"Indeed, I'd say it's time for you both to run along," Athena mocked us. Her resounding voice grated me in the wrong way. Either that or it was my pregnancy hormones.

Nevermind the incentive, this time I swung back and voiced nastily. "You know you're nothing but a spoiled bratty vampiress. You want me dead so badly, why don't you do it yourself!"

"Victoria!" Rose piped louder as Athena's beauty chipped into that ugly gray. In a swoosh, she came to my nose.

"Just wait until after the vote! I'll gladly eat your beating heart in my palm!" she hissed those nightmarish fangs in my face until Rose pulled me away.

"Back off!" Rose spat, protecting me behind her.

"Just you wait, Victoria!" Athena growled with such aggressiveness.

"What are you waiting for?" I challenged, but Athena went speechless, so I added as Rose was dragging me away. "Right, I forgot it's because you can't! But once you can, you'll have to face Kai."

Athena gritted ghastly before she snorted. Then she showed me her back, walking away. Rose kept pulling my arm until we left the hidden chamber through the spinning door.

"I must say, that was one of the stupidest things you could do as a human girl," she lectured me in the corridor.

"As a human," I repeated as if those three words only reached my brain.

Rose crossed her eyes at me as we kept our pace. "Yes, as a human, but as a vampiress, you'll kick her butt." A small grin curved my lips. "Don't tell Kai what you said," she warned, and we burst into giggles at the thought of Mr. Grumpy.

Afterward, we meet up with Kai, his allies, and his friends at this lovely french restaurant for lunch. At the long table, Elizabeth allowed me to hold her newborn vamp baby.

"I can feel his tiny wing stubs," I say, smiling at the cooing wing vampire baby in my arms.

"He still has yet to learn how to use them," Elizabeth whispered, beaming at her son.

I smiled and peeked across the table to see Kai and Mitchell smiling at me, holding the newborn vampire. Then my smile faded once my eyes met Jack sitting on Kai's right. Since we arrived, he's been eyeing this young woman having lunch with her friends. My heart twisted to recognize that thirst in him. Jack had to have her, and that result will end her life. Once she finished saying her goodbyes to her friends, she left. Then it was like Jack counted in his head before he stood up.

He kissed Sharlene's head, "I'll be back soon," he told her.

Sharlene faintly smiled before he left the seat empty between her and Kai. Kai sorta stared at me when he took a sip of the glass of blood. He knew I was upset because Jack was stalking his prey, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. I had no choice but to wrench a blind eye.

After lunch, altogether we visited countless tourist attractions like the leaning tower, Pompeii in Italy, the Eiffel Tower, and far more. The advantage of having a vampire husband is we can spare a lot of time with his fast velocity. To my disadvantage, it caused me to have motion sickness, on top of being pregnant. Nevertheless, even Alice puked a few times as well.

"Are you alright?" Levi's wife Clarice asked me outside the stall from overhearing me heave.

After I puked, I flushed the toilet. "I'm better now," I confirmed after unlocking the stall to come out.

"Take your time, we aren't in any rush," Sharlene told me before she left the restroom while I was washing my hands.

Once done, I came out with Elizabeth and Clarice to locate our group that was here, waiting for us.

"Are you good?" Kai asked, coming my way.

"Yup, I got it all out, so I'm ready to go," I confirmed as he smiled and kissed my forehead. Then we roamed off to explore the Colosseum.

Once it got late, we returned to the Imperial Palace. After Kai and I got ready for bedtime, we snuggle in bed.

"Tomorrow, I have a private meeting to attend. Then I won't be flying home with you, so you'll ride on my parent's plane." Kai informed me as he coiled my hair strand around his fingers.

"Why can't you fly home with me?" I asked as he randomly rolled over on top of me between my legs.

"I have to get Jack's son," Kai clarified. "He's at Mitchell's mansion with Blake's offspring. We need to reach them before they leave."

"I understand," I confirmed before I kissed him.

"It's tonight, and I do remember you said you're all mine," Kai whispered as his lips started to flirt their way to my throat while his hands stroked my thighs from underneath my nightie.

"Did I?" I teasingly giggled, and he grinned seductively. I can tell, pleasing him is going to be another long exhausting night.