Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 8 - Advice

"Our aim with your batch of seedlings wasn't to create pure breeds when making lesser halfbreeds solves our problems. Keeping our progeny half human allows us to insert them into the households of pure breeds in any capacity needed. Servants, sex toys, and mistresses, but with the bonus that they emit enough energy to keep their owner fed and out of harm's way."

So, she was just what? Food to play with? How was this not just a nightmare she would wake from? Maybe she got drugged at the club, and this was all just some elaborate, very detailed hallucination. She had trouble keeping track of the rest of Akira's words as she resisted what she had already learned.

"It prevents accidents since humans are fragile and easily broken. Seedlings are made of sterner stuff, almost equal to us but inferior, giving us absolute control. Either you do what we want, or we kill your family before your eyes and then lock you up for a long time before we kill you."

That got her attention focused on the woman before her, and as their eyes met and battled, there was no denying that the woman was serious. She'd do what she'd said. The possibility of them harming her family angered her, and her hands tightened around the arms of her chair.

"We are the originals, and you're only supposed to be copies, not nearly powerful enough to be dangerous to us, but you, Daniella, are a threat."

What did that mean? How was it true, and why didn't that change their plans for her?

"Strange as it may seem, Father won't kill you because you are nearly pure. Unfortunately, the sample from which you were derived belongs to him. So you see, he won't be trusting you anytime soon."

The sample belonged to him? Did that make him her father in some strange way? This had to be a dream, but it wasn't.

"He may even have kept you, but the last time he fought with his wife about some of her actions, he promised her a gift. Regrettably, she decided to collect. Unless he wants to start another war, as in world war, he has to give you to her."

Something about the way Akira said that caused the trepidation in her midsection to turn to churning worry.

"Most of us are, if not exactly good, not evil either, but Azera is pure malevolence, and unlike Father and me, she can't get what she needs unless someone suffers."

And that someone would be her? Was that what this was all about? Her suffering would feed this woman, and she'd be a helpless victim to those whims if she wanted her family to live? How was that fair? And what about this woman made it impossible for her to protest or voice the opinions in her head? What about Akira cowed her?

"Father left her long ago, and although she is his fifth wife, she is luckily not my mother. Her sons were the ones that revolted against him. She's powerful and has many followers. For the most part, she keeps them in line, but her palace is a place no sane person would go."

Yet she would be sent there to be used and abused? The wood creaked beneath her hands, something Akira did not miss, but she continued her monologue without interruption.

"Azera's very good at hiding her nature if she does not want someone to see her for what she is. You will not live long in the bowels of her home among her chosen few, and I suggest you anger her quickly. Let her kill you, or you will spend the rest of your life praying for death."

Just like that, she'd been sentenced to death, and even as her throat worked, she could not speak. Why could she not protest or attack, or do something?

"It would be bad enough, but you are Father's daughter, not just a random seedling, and you've gotten a raw deal that I do not envy you."

So, she was his daughter, and still, he would send her to her death? Despite the warped genetics of this experiment, he was no father if he could allow his daughter to endure such a fate.