Hunters

Intoxicated.

Chapter 10.

Karl never allowed them to drink hard liquor but Dani would occasionally sneak Bourbon into her room, concealed inside her Hydro flask water bottle and sip on it after her family were asleep.

The Romanian wine tasted nothing like Old Crow, it was harsh but she was determined to force it down because her plan was to get so drunk that all her problems would disappear.

She was passed out on the bed when Stefan returned to the bedroom.

The corners of his mouth tightened as he gently removed the plastic jug from her slack fingers and set it on a table.

Stefan had purposefully sent the jug of cheap wine to punish Dani,  because he knew that the only reason why she specifically asked for a glass bottle was so that she would have a weapon to use against him.

As he gazed at her sleeping face, Stefan's mind flashed back to an unpleasant conversation with the Baron.

He had visited him after making sure that Dani was safely tucked away inside this room and
Popescu had been in a bad mood.

"While your lust for the girl is understandable, what you're doing is crazy." The Baron had argued. "Simply use her and then send her back to Canada because
keeping her prisoner is foolish and unnecessary."

"She's not my prisoner." Stefan had denied in a brusque tone although he knew that what the Elder said was truth.

"It's our fault for isolating you from regular women and giving you  the cheap whores to be used and tossed aside." Popescu said. "However, none of this is an excuse for what you're doing now."

"It doesn't matter." He said stubbornly. "I'm keeping her."

"Stefan, please listen to me and try to understand that this woman's disappearance is going to cause trouble. Someone is searching for her right now and if they come here then ..."

"Then they'll have a fight on their hands."  Stefan said grimly and the Baron had thrown up his hands in defeat, saying,

"You bring trouble on yourself. Don't expect me to save you this time."

Now here he was gazing at the object of his obsession.

Stefan's naturally stern expression softened as his gray eyes slowly devoured the shapely form of the young woman on the bed.

Dani's face was heart shaped with sensual, rose petal lips and a straight nose that flared gently at the nostrils.

In sleep the prominent, worry line between the deeply arched black brows was relaxed and the only thing marring her natural beauty was the artificial and too bright color of her hair.

Frowning, Stefan wondered what had possessed Dani to chose such an outrageous hairstyle.

Stefan's mind drifted to a memory from his childhood...

He was a small boy dressed in burgundy colored, velvet pants and a bright tunic and he was  standing inside a room lighted by a raging fire.

Several vampires are seated on black throne like chairs all around the boy while snow gently splats against the stained glass windows only to melt and run down in rivulets.

The Baron swiftly enters carrying a fine golden chain which he attaches to the leather collar that pinches the delicate, pink skin of the boy's elegant throat.

"Dance for us." The Baron commands with a note of sorrow which only the boy hears.

There is a muted rustling sound from the back of the room as the rapsods raise their bows to the strings.