*Ch 284: Venoms

"It didn't look like this earlier," I mentioned with a painful hiss whenever I touched it.

Kai frowned. "I must've used one of my venom glands without realizing it."

"You have venom?" I repeated because I haven't yet learned about this knowledge.

Kai briefly explained. "We have four, to be precise. Two are used to inflict pain or numb our prey during feedings. Another one we use to induce arousal in our mates. Then the most lethal one brings agony to another vampire."

"And mixing Kai's venom with the serpent's venom is giving you a bad reaction." Zoey reprimanded him, sounding more concerned. "You should've told someone you bit her, depending on which venom you used, it can be fatal to a human, especially if it's mixed with other toxins."

"I know, but I didn't expect a venomous serpent would attack my wife." Kai lowered his head, sighing in guilt.

"It wasn't his fault completely," I defended. "I egged it on because I didn't want him to leave whenever I knew he needed to feed." I think Kai and everyone else were quite stunned to hear me defend him.

"Regardless, we should've been told for safety reasons." Zoey still chastised him for his reckless decision. Then her hands glowed green. She touched my stomach, and my body was illuminated with her greenish light. All the wounds healed on my legs and stomach, including Kai's bite on my neck.

Once Zoey was done healing me, she advised, "You're toxin free. I'd only recommend that you see Dr. Riley and double-check the babies."

"Thank you." I nodded to her wise advice before she smiled. Afterward, she took her leave from the pool as the large group of vampires stepped aside for her to pass through them.

Kai kissed my head before he stood firm on his feet. "I need all my slither minions!" he broadly cast out his voice with this strong reverberated soundwave.

Shortly to come lining up were his Slither minions, including Darlene. I noted she was the only vampiress he had enslaved to him that was a Slither. It wasn't until now that I found out Darlene is a Slither vampiress species.

"Darlene, you're dismissed. I won't be needing you," Kai notified.

She slightly bowed in respect before exiting. Once she was gone, Kai gave a startling undertoned snarl at the group of male minions lined up before us.

"I want all of you to locate the Slither Coven that summoned that serpent to kill my mate!" Kai demanded as he pointed at the dead serpent, floating in the pool, that now looked like a bloody massacre. Mr. Collin is going to have a lot of questions once he gets home from work, that's for sure. One thing he admired was his indoor and outdoor pools.

"Yes, master!" They all chant together.

"Be warned, if I find out that any of you are behind this attack on my mate, your punishment will be dire!" Kai blistered his perilous warning. I could tell by his dreadful gaze that he was blaming them for this encounter.

"Kai, I don't feel it was them." I stood up, defending them, and everyone, including the minions, seemed rather shocked at my straightforwardness. Since the day I've been here, and known them before learning they were enslaved vampires, they've always been gentle and kind to me. There was no reason to think they'd try to kill me by summoning a serpent. However, my husband felt differently.

"Beware of them, my love. It wouldn't be the first time that one of them had tried to deceive me," Kai proclaimed, being more gentle with me as I took his hand.

"You mean Darlene's brother," I stated aloud, yet he said nothing in response.

"You're all dismissed, bring me anything you find," he told his minions.

The minions bowed and disappeared on the spot. There was a silence as everyone stared at the dead serpent for over a minute, it seemed.

"Your dad is going to have a fit about this once he gets home." Jack chuckled at the edge of the pool when he peeked over at Kai, me, and Chester, standing diagonal from his position.

"Good luck, little brother. Dad's all yours," Chester chuckled, patting Kai's back. Then he and his friends vacate, leaving this mess for Kai and his friends to clean up the pool.

"Don't you just love older brothers?" Glenn randomly joked next to Jack, and of course, we laughed.

"Indeed, they are pains." Kai couldn't oppose while he shook his head laughing.

"You should go see Dr. Riley while we start cleaning this mess," Ace advised from behind us.

Kai only gave a nod, then I grabbed my stuff from the pool, and we left to do that after I was dressed.

~~~

About an hour later, we returned home. The babies were overall fine. I only needed to drink Kai's blood because one of them was almost detained by the serpent's venom. So Rome made me another milkshake with Kai's blood mixed into it like the last time I drank it. Once I finished drinking it, we went to the pool and made sure it was cleaned up. The pool was drained empty, and the dead body of the serpent was gone. Afterward, we entered our bedroom.

"I have something for you," Kai claimed, veering off into his closet while I sat on the center of the bed. He came out with two boxes in his hands.

"I meant to give you this before I left, but I didn't get a chance to because you were sleeping," he explained, getting on the bed with me.

"Awe, Kai!" I gleed, taking the boxes. One was a gift set for the babies. There was a blue dog, a yellow duck, and a green bunny animal rattle and matching colored pacifiers clipped to them. The second box was a glass music box. It came with a magnetic crystal rose that danced to the melody.

Kai gleamed. "Do you like them?"

"I love it!" I raved. "Nobody's given me a music box before."

"That was the idea." Kai seemed to grin very pridefully. "Did I do good then?"

I wrapped my arms around his neck, "You nailed it, and you even thought about the babies," I praised, hugging him lovingly around his nape.

"Of course, I love all four of you." Kai kissed my lips sole heartedly before his hand started to stroke underneath my black top.

"I think I'm too tired to make love," I whispered on his lips.

He ceased his seduction and gave me a genuine smile. "That's fine. We can cuddle instead."

I smiled brighter because he wasn't discouraged by my rejection. Instead, we lay down, snuggling together after getting ready for bed.