Chapter 355
(Author’s POV)
*Half an Hour Ago*
“Here~ This is where I last felt Jacob’s scent,” Alaric guided them to the place. The siblings sniffed the surrounding air to track the Vampire King, but there wasn’t any lingering hint of spicy myrrh or wine, Jacob’s Larson’s usual smell. That, for everyone, was concerning, gravely concerning.
“Al, you stay here with them. I will enter the waters and take a look,” Brave murmured. He glanced at Nora, gave her a nod which she reciprocated and dived into the sea.
Nora started on her task, the fine jewelled pendulum illuminating gloriously. With her eyes shut and her hair waving in the air, resembling the flowing water, in that moment, she seemed like the spitting image of the very moon goddess.
Even Fabian couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She looked so divine and pure, with no malice whatsoever. Who could not be mesmerized by such etherealness?
The waves that were crashing onto their boat, stabilized, as they waited for Brave to come out.
As soon as Brave plunged inside, he felt the icy, penetrating cold water on his skin, like an impactful slap on his face, making his usually heated body jolt in shock. The initial sensation made him gasp involuntarily, but his wolf, Raw, quickly took over him, allowing him to breathe easily.
Beneath the surface, it wasn’t just dark but Vantablack. The visibility, due to the gloomy weather conditions and nighttime, had worsened quite a bit, and it was nearly impossible to see anything. But thanks to Nora’s elemental magic and Brave’s wolf senses, he was managing somehow in there.
He glided like a fish to search the area. From a distance, he could see that the seafloor was carpeted with rough, spiky, small and big rocks. The biggest one was comparable to a giant boulder. It was a difficult area to look for Jacob, and because of the limited power usage, it was getting even harder. Nevertheless, he went deep down to look some more.
Kelps, tangled like a spider web, were spread all across the seabed, with numerous green and red algae sitting gracefully between them.
At the boat, the tension was palpable. Alaric and Fabian mirrored the same tight and uneasy expression, their eyes transfixed on the navy surface.
Nora was fully immersed, her lips parting and closing as she chanted repeatedly. Her body had started to feel strained and fatigued, but she held herself together. Aura, her wolf, was doing her part to keep her nerves calm and at ease.
Brave emerged to the surface. Everyone, including Nora, glanced at him with expectant eyes, waiting for his words, but he just shook his head dejectedly and told them, his voice held a tremor, maybe due to the coldness of the water, or was it the disappointment he was feeling for not being able to find Jacob, nobody other than he knew. He said, “I have looked around, but there seemed to be nothing p>
Fabian’s eyes reddened listening to him, “Did you even search properly?” The diminishing chance of saving his grandfather was making his mind spiral. He was on the verge of falling apart.
“I can’t trust you. I will have to look for him myself,” he was ready to jump in, but Alaric held him, his hand gripping his shoulder like an iron clad, “Fabian Stephens, are you so eager to die? Stay right here p>
“Release me, now,” Fabian uttered, his voice grim and menacing.
“No~ You are my responsibility. If you so wish die, do it on the land. Do it when we are not around. Got it,” Alaric roared, his voice matching Fabian’s grimness. He then shifted his attention back to his twin and said, “You come out, I will inspect this time p>
On his words, Brave and Alaric exchanged places as the latter plunged into the freezing water, submerging in it and then completely disappearing. As he had already done this earlier, he seemed more accustomed to the water temperature. He was agile and quick as he swam around.
After inspecting for a while, things seemed to be dreary and hopeless, with no sign of Jacob whatsoever. The time of fate was slipping away, like the sand through an hourglass, and Alaric was about to go back, but all of a sudden, he noticed something shining that felt out of the ordinary to him. It was near the kelp vines. He wasted no time and streamlined towards the place.
And surely enough, it was a bracelet made up of bloodstone. Alaric immediately recalled he had seen one just like that on Jacob’s wrist. A glimmer of hope surged through him as he rattled through the twisted and entwined kelp vines.
Its blade like leaves were cutting through his exposed hands and face, but he didn’t stop and was uprooting them, tearing them out of the way.
Beneath the embroiled vines, he finally saw Jacob. His body seemed like a mix of ivory and a blueish color; his dermis wrinkled. Alaric tried to pull him out of the tangled mess, but he had been in the water for way too long, and the vines were holding onto him tightly.
Alaric rigorously started pulling them apart, and as a result, the lacerations on his skin were now oozing with fresh blood. The sweet fragrance of Alaric’s blood alerted the nearby fish and marine animals as they swam towards him and started biting him.
Sirens started flaring inside Nora and Brave’s heads almost instantly as the odour of sandalwood, Alaric’s signature scent, reached them.
“Something has definitely happened,” Brave muttered and with a splash and a dolphin kick, he dashed inside once again to search for his brother.
As a one with human senses, Fabian didn’t know what he was talking about. He thought Brave was talking about Jacob, and without wasting even a single second, he followed him.
The icy water felt like shards of a million tiny glasses cutting through his fragile skin. He started hyperventilating and gasping heavily for oxygen.
Nora was taken aback by his reckless action as her grip on the locket loosened. As soon as that happened, the calm and steady waves started taking their original boundless form.
But she recovered fast, as Aura took over her and clasped the pendant once again because they both knew that even a moment of hesitation and lapse in concentration would result in total catastrophe.
She was simultaneously helping Fabian with her powers, but the poor guy was still having a hard time. But thanks to her invincible elder brothers, Jacob was soon released, and the three of them made it back to the surface.
After Alaric kept Jacob’s limp body onboard, Brave held the struggling Fabian and brought him back as well. Due to swallowing a lot of seawater, he had passed out, and his face looked colourless too.
Brave provided him with emergency CPR as Alaric swiftly turned the boat around, and they zoomed back to the shore.
______________________
Yelena’s car came to a halt as she dashed out of the vehicle and sprinted towards the sea. But strangely enough, there was no sign of any plane crash. No person was around, not even Fabian.
“Did I come to the wrong place?” she murmured nervously as she tried to recall the location of the crash site. “No~ It was this place. But~ Why~ why is no one here p>
She started looking around, and at some distance she noticed a dark figure seated. She rushed towards the person, with the intention of asking them about the crash, but as she approached, she saw someone lying beside them. And that someone was Fabian Stephens.
Her eyes bulged out as she rushed towards them.
After such a chaotic mess, Brave was trying to catch his breath, but Yelena’s sudden presence caught him completely off guard.
With red rimmed eyes and a choking tone, Yelena called out to Fabian, “Fa~bian~ Fabi~an~ Wake up. Fabian, wake up p>
Snapping out of his stunned state, Brave murmured in a low voice, “Miss, Fabian is fine.” He was just trying to assure her, but Yelena glanced at him, and her face turned cold. She asked, her voice indicating great fury, “What has happened to him? What did you do to him, Alaric Everests p>
“Miss~ I did nothing to him, and I am not, Al~ Brave was in the middle of correcting her, but Yelena cut him off unceremoniously.
“Fucker, answer my question first. What has happened to him? Why is he lying here motionless?” Fresh tears started slipping out of the corner of Yelena’s eyes as she pointed fingers at Brave. She got up and poked a finger at his chest, “What are you trying to do to my friends, huhh, Alaric? First, you created all that drama in the university earlier today, and now you are trying to play with Fabian’s life. What game are you exactly trying to play? Didn’t she make it clear? She doesn’t want to keep any kind of contact with your lot. So, why are you torturing her like this?” Her anger burst open.
To Be Continued……..