Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 54 - Consequences

Unable to bear the suspense, Akira rolled into the frothing sea, and the waves bashed her mercilessly against the rocks, bloodying the water. She counted on her father to keep the others from following her into the water.

Something floated near her in the water, and, recognizing a human shape, she latched onto it despite her physical weakness, dragging the woman with her, despite knowing it was neither Adrain nor Kay.

She swam toward the rocks when she surfaced, but Thane jumped in and took the person from her. She did not wait to see who it was a

"I cannot let you go again," her father shouted over the crashing surf, but he no longer had any power over her; she was the queen of the dark fae, whatever that meant.

"They are right down there, Father," she said, preparing to dive again, despite her teeth chattering and the way she freely bled. Darius reached them, and Thane released his burden to the werewolf.

***

"What I meant to say is, it is time I acted like a father," Thane countered, and she glanced at him.

"You can't; without you, there is no Light," she reminded.

"There is," he said, letting his gaze drift to the rocks as he took pride in his daughters who survived so much, and for the first time, he allowed himself to miss his sons, but he fought the tide of emotion and guilt that would prevent him from doing what he had to do.

"Are you forgetting that I am the dark?" Akira reminded with a laconic smirk, and a smile pulled at his lips; pride filling his chest.

***

Arms locked around her, and she was too weak to fight Darius as the powerful vampire swam away with her as Thane dove from her sight.

"Father!" she called, but already the waves had swallowed him as if he had never existed.

Darius shielded her from the jagged rocks with his own body as Cat and Claudia pulled them from the water and almost fell in themselves, but they had unexpected help.

Turning toward the stormy sea, rain pelted her face, and the wind whipped her cold form. She stared at the restless water, and time seemed to stand still, but something appeared near her, and another head popped up as Thane swam toward them with Marcus's pale and motionless form.

Blood tainted the water around them, and Darius dove in again, escaping the current and taking his son-in-law to allow Thane to return.

***

"Let me go?" Darius requested, but Thane shook his head with that stubborn look, and it was easy to see where Akira got it from.

"I will save my daughter or die trying," he said, again braving the murky darkness.

It was futile. No immortal could survive that long under the water while being bashed against rocks and pulled by the undertow, but he did not have the heart to stop him.

Could Thane actually die?

The women again helped them out of the water, and Marcella took over Marcus' care as Darius stood beside Akira, waiting with her, despite being almost as battered as she was.

***

"Kay would have enjoyed hearing that," Cat said to no one in particular.

"Daughter or him saying he would die for her?" Akira asked perceptively, laying down on her side, fighting the darkness threatening to take her.

She had not recovered enough for this. Who was she kidding? Even if she were hale, she'd barely have any strength left.

"She would not have wanted him to go down there and risk his life, but that is not what I meant—she would have liked that he finally called her daughter," Cat said as Clio finally spit up water and gasped for air on the other side of them.

"I noticed the way she subtly flinches every time he says it to Akira," Marcella said as Cat blew air into Marcus's mouth.

If he didn't wake soon, he would not. Silver, water, and fire had the potential to kill immortals.

"It is our way..." Akira said, and Cat scoffed slightly as she started CPR again.

"When you raised your own seedlings, it was okay. They did not know any better, but they're being raised by humans, and you people possess the sensitivity of a meat cleaver," Cat spit, finally allowing her thoughts to surface.

"In other words, if you were Kay, you would hate us until hell froze over?" Akira asked, and Cat stilled.

"Hell, yeah. Think about it. If you were Kay, blood would have flowed," the vampire said as Marcus sputtered and coughed up blood and water.

"Can't a man even die in peace?" he gritted out between great sobbing breaths as he struggled to expel the water from his lungs.

Claudia's eyes flickered briefly open before closing again.

No one laughed at Marcus's joke, and his eyes searched around him briefly before going to the water as he shifted upright, but he could do no more.

Akira crawled to the edge again and stared down, aware of Darius edging closer to her, ready to physically stop her, but it would serve no purpose—she had grown too weak.

***

If they didn't surface soon, consequences be damned, he was going down there. Then he froze. Why the hell was he up here? Thane had no grip on him now.

He jumped and barely broke the surface when he saw something move. For a second, he thought it was a shark, but then he realized it was a man battling against the current with two women held against his body.

Diving, he pulled Adrian from Thane's arms, and they swam up together, but he got there first. He was almost back to shore and starting to worry that the fae king might have faltered, when the sea spat them up, and relief filled him.

Despite himself, he handed over Adrain to the women and almost got dragged under, but fighting it and himself, he returned to the tumultuous waters to tow Thane and Kay the last few meters. Even in the short amount of time, the pull of the current was so strong that it took all of their energy to get to the rock, and when they did, a wave came up and swept them over the edge, almost pulling the rest of the group in with them.

They had a limited amount of time to move everyone to a safer place.

***

"Where's Thane?" Akira asked, and Darius braved the storm again.

Kay did not respond, but Marcus was gradually recovering yet not able to assist. Just as her spirit sagged, Darius showed up with Thane.

Getting the body out of the water took more than one attempt. Darius crawled as far as he could and collapsed almost beside her.

His wounds were not healing, but his attention was on his wife. He reached out, barely able to touch her fingers, and just lay like that.

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