Hunters

Almost

Chapter 9.

Stefan owned an apartment in the Cosmopolitan Residence, which was a building that looked very similar to a pile of blueish- gray, glass cubes stacked atop one another.

Once ensconced inside of his luxurious apartment, Dani's blind fold was removed and she was locked inside the bedroom.

Her first action was to draw aside the burgundy, pinch pleated drapes at the window to
gauge the distance from the bedroom to the street.

They were extremely high up and there were no other means of escape.

Alas...

Trapped again.

Dejectedly throwing herself onto the platform bed Dani struggled to marshal her panicked thoughts.

In any hopeless situation, Karl had always taught them to
find the simplest tool that could help with escaping or defending themselves.

So a minute later Dani was back in action, frantically searching through the black, Alf Italia Teodora dresser and matching chest of drawers which were empty.

The utensils on the mini bar were plastic and there was no way that she could defend herself against Stefan Vasiliev with such flimsy items.

Dani felt like screaming from frustration.

Where were her siblings?

Had Jonas really been operated on at the Baron's lodge?

These questions made her anxiety level rise so she began to pace the room like a caged Tigress only pausing at the scrape of a key turning in the lock.

Dani froze as Stefan sauntered into the bedroom like an ill omen.

"You're agitated." He murmured after scrutinizing her flushed cheeks and too bright eyes.

"That's because you've trapped me inside your lair." Dani said."Where are my brother and sister?"

"They are here...somewhere." Stefan said. "You must not worry so much Kishkas Koshka. It will
make you old before your time and ruin your beauty."

He removed another cigar and leisurely fired it up.

"Bringing you into Sibiu alive has created a problem." He said. "Now I am forced to petition the Council and I've never had to beg them for anything."

"If you detest them so much then why continue to allow them to control you?" Dani asked.

"No one controls me." Stefan said.
"It's important that you remember that."

"Well it certainly appears that way to me." Dani said and Stefan's expression hardened.

"You are full of opinions. Too bad they are wrong." He said.

Shrugging, Dani crossed the room to sit on the bed.

"Why did they send you to look for us?" She asked.

"I've already explained this once.
The Council wanted a peace treaty and obviously your father did not."

He poured himself a cup of  grapefruit juice from the mini bar and added a splash of Stolichnaya vodka from his hip flask and sipped it.

"All of this could have been avoided if Karl Andersen had gone along with what the Council wanted."

"Papa never believed that peace could exist between humans and leeches while they murdered and fed on us." Dani said with a flair of anger.

"Feeding on you is how the leeches survive and that situation will never change. The peace treaty wasn't offered for that purpose."

"You never said why they wanted peace." Dani said.