Chapter 27

As soon as they were out of sight my grief weighed heavily on my soul. I took out my new cell and dialed Lissa's number.

"What did we forget?" She asked without saying 'hello' first.

"Nothing. I just miss you all already. Oh and I wanted to tell you to keep a close eye on Adrian. He, more than any of us, has had a shocking few days."

"No worries Rose. We will take care of each other." With that I heard a chorus of 'you bet', 'damn right', and 'we sure will' from the others in the car.

I already knew they would, but that made me feel a little more at ease.

"Stay safe."

"You too"

"Bye Rose."

"Bye Liss."

Dimitri put his arm around me and we walked together back into the building. Abe was waiting at his door and he motioned for us to join him in what was now his and my mother's room.

Tasha had moved into the room attached to the one where Peter and Arthur were still guarding Daniella. Dimitri and I kept the same room, but now we had it to ourselves.

We walked in and took seats on one of the double beds. Everyone else was already in there, because they hadn't delayed outside like I had. Arthur was taking his shift guarding Daniella and Peter had joined us in the room.

"Okay gang. We are going to lay low here until Adrian and Eddie are able to make some headway. I plan on ordering in our meals, because the last thing we need is to be spotted by someone from the Royal Court and turned in. We all know that at this point it would mean instant death." Abe cautioned.

"Have you gotten anything from the Alchemists about Daniella or any of the others in her 'secret society'?" I asked my father.

"They are working on it. I had asked them to check in on her back in Detroit when you first mentioned her as a player, but now that we have a better understanding of her capabilities they are digging a little deeper." Abe clarified.

Tasha, who had been rather quiet asked, "Anything from the Strigoi network, Dimitri?"

"They aren't really good with backtracking. They are better at spying and tracking any movements that are targets are making presently. I had asked them to keep an eye on some of the more prominent members of the 'secret society', but haven't gotten anything useful as of yet." Dimitri said shaking his head.

"Okay, well for our parts this is really just a waiting game. Go keep yourselves busy. I am going to see if I can get anything useful from Daniella herself. Since she seemed so fond of torture, maybe I'll return the favor." Abe chuckled to himself as he crossed the room and opened the door to signal the end of their meeting.

"Can I join you?" I quickly jumped in with an explanation as I got a weird look from the others. "I mean when you question her, not when you torture her."

Abe seemed to contemplate my request for a minute before he responded. "I can't seem to find any reason against you joining me, so yes."

I turned to Dimitri and kissed him goodbye. "I'll meet you back in the room."

He took my hand and squeezed it. "Be careful. Even though she is tied up and under guard she can be spiteful. Take everything she says with a grain of salt." He cautioned.

"I know. Thanks." I squeezed his hand back and then let go to follow Abe down the hall. I looked back to find Dimitri standing in the middle of the hall watching me walk away. He winked and I smiled at him. God he was so gorgeous. It was still hard to believe he was mine.

I mouthed 'I love you' and he smiled and mouthed 'me too' and then touched his palm to his heart. I nearly bumped into Abe as he stopped to knock on the door. When I turned back Dimitri had gone into our room.

Peter, who had returned to the room a moment before, immediately opened the door as if he had been standing there waiting for us. And maybe he had. I was surprised to see Daniella bound to a desk chair, and gagged. Abe motioned for me to take a seat across the room, out of Daniella's sightline.

He walked up to her and said, "Good morning. I am going to remove your gag and ask you a few questions. I suggest that you cooperate as you are not in any position to do otherwise." With that word of warning he removed her gag.

As soon as the gag was out of her mouth Daniella started ranting at Abe. "How dare you hold me here against my will? This treatment is degrading and I will have your head for it. Return me to the Royal Court at once!"

"I understand your concerns. What I suggest is that you work with us, tell us what we need to know and you will be returned to the Royal Court as soon as is possible." Abe attempted to appease her with his offer.

"I shall not work with you. You are treating me like an animal and you will not get anything from me." Daniella said defiantly.

"I thought you might prove to be difficult." Abe nearly whispered to her as he reached out his hand. Arthur took something out of a bag and placed it on Abe's open palm. It was a pair of pliers.

I was behind Daniella so I could not see her face, but I heard her gasp. I could only assume the surprise in her tone was reflected on her face. "What do you plan on doing with those?"

"I think the real question is do you really want to find out?" Abe warned.

Daniella was quiet and Abe started walking toward her taking the pliers into his grip in preparation for use.

"No. Don't. I'll talk. What do you want to know?" Daniella said resignedly.

Abe breathed out in what I can only assume was relief that he didn't actually have to torture her. He slid the pliers into his back pocket and put his hands on his hips. While he was thinking of his first question, I reached over to a table and grabbed a pad of paper and pen. I figured the least I could do was take notes.

"Why don't we start with the accident that killed the Dragomirs."

"That wasn't a question."

Abe instinctively raised a hand as if to slap her across the face and then stopped himself. "Could tell me how you orchestrated the Dragomir car accident?"

"That was easy. Eric had been at the Royal Court doing some business and we happened to be eating at the same restaurant. I overheard that he was going back to Montana early the next day, picking up the kids from the Academy and having a special night with his entire family." She took a breath before she continued. "It was perfect. I flew out there right after lunch, got directions to the Academy and scoped out the road between town and the school. I found a stretch of the road that was deserted and heavily wooded. Later as Eric traveled the road with his family I swerved my car toward his. I basically drove him off the road. Then I left them there to die." She sounded so detached and cold. She honestly had no compassion whatsoever.

Abe just stared at her. He was dumbfounded. "My daughter was in that car."

"She was just collateral damage. I wasn't trying to hurt her, but if she had stayed dead my son would probably be a lot happier today. So it is too bad that Princess Dragomir lived and saved her."

Abe didn't hold back this time. He slapped her so hard her head snapped to the side.

"That wasn't very nice. For that I am not telling you anymore."

Abe looked at Peter. "Gag her and don't feed her any lunch. Maybe she'll get hungry enough to share later this afternoon." Then he looked right at Daniella. "You're going to be needing blood soon. Too bad you're not getting it without doing a little sharing first."

Abe motioned for me to follow him out of the room. I looked down at the empty paper on my lap. I had been too shocked at Daniella's cold indifference to her violent act to write anything. I put it down on the table and I jumped up and followed my father out. Once in the hall I looked to him for guidance as to what happened next.

"We need more than that, but for now I want you to give Adrian a call and instruct him to search for financial records linking Daniella to Montana on the days surrounding the accident." He gave my shoulder a squeeze. "Are you okay? You look rather pale."

"Um, yeah. I guess I am just shocked at how cold and calculating she is. She talked about the accident like she would talk about squishing an ant at a picnic." I looked up at his face which was filled with concern.

"I shouldn't have let you come in to the room. I'm sorry."

"No. I'll be fine really. I think I am going to go talk with Dimitri for a little while and maybe take a nap before lunch."

The door to our right opened and Dimitri was silhouetted in the door frame. "Did I hear you say my name?"

I laughed. "Yes I did. What are you doing in my mom's room?"

My mom appeared behind Dimitri. She was sweaty and dressed in exercise pants and t-shirt. I looked back to Dimitri and realized he looked similar.

"What are you two doing?" I asked puzzled.

"It's been awhile since I did any exercise, sparring or real fighting. I needed the workout. So while you guys were busy I asked Dimitri to come over and work with me." My mom explained. "We're done now. So I'll let you have him back. Thanks Dimitri."

"Anytime Janine." Dimitri stepped into the hall and put his arm through mine. "Come on Rose. I think you need some practice too." He laughed as he almost dragged me down the hall to our room.

His enthusiasm was infectious and it helped get my mind off the experience I just had with Daniella. "I am glad you are in such a good mood." I laughed.

After we were in our room with the door shut I turned and gave Dimitri an evil grin. "What kind of workout did you have in mind Comrade?"

"I like the way your mind works, but I really do think you need to practice. So change into some workout clothes, please."

I groaned, but really I enjoyed working out with Dimitri and today of all days it would do me some good. I made my way to my suitcase and started digging out my sweats. As I stripped off my pants my cell dropped onto the floor. It was then I remembered I needed to call Adrian.

"I have to call Adrian and give him some info to research. Something his mother admitted to Abe about running Eric Dragomir off the road killing everyone in the car except Lissa. Hopefully he can find some financial records to prove she was there."

Dimitri looked shocked and somehow at the same time not shocked. "I knew she was capable of great acts of evil, but it still surprises me. She reminds me of a Strigoi"

I dialed Adrian and waited until he picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Adrian, did you guys get in to the Royal Court without a problem?"

"Sure did. Mikhail didn't even get in trouble for taking the car for two days. What's up that has you calling me so soon?" His voice was warm, but I could still hear a hint of concern in it.

"You caught me. I wanted you to look in your mom's records and see if you can place her in Montana around the time of the Dragomir accident. Look for plane tickets, hotel stays, a rental car and maybe even restaurant receipts." I said it all matter of fact, like I was talking about someone else other than his own mother.

"You got it. I have been looking through more recent stuff since I got back. I found some things I think we can use to prove the kidnapping from Louisiana to Texas. Did you want me to drop this and go back a few years to the time of the accident?"

"No Adrian. Just get to it sometime soon. If you do find anything can you text me, or better yet fax it over. This hotel has to have a fax. I'll get you the number later. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." I could hear him sighing.

"You okay?" I was concerned that this was weighing heavily on him. Searching through his mother's things looking for damning evidence had to be hard.

"It's just a little weird. It's the middle of the night here and I am wide awake. Even the servants are asleep here so it is a little creepy" He sounded like a little kid afraid of the dark, even though it was broad daylight outside.

"I know what you mean. Call me anytime you feel lonely. I mean that too. I'm not just saying it to say it."

"Will do. Take care." He said reassuringly.

"You too." Before I could say anything else he was gone.

I put my phone down and finished changing into my sweats. Dimitri had moved some of the furniture out of the way to give us room to exercise. This hotel was too old and small to have a workout room, and even if it did Abe wanted us to stay in our rooms.

We fell into our old routines fairly quickly. Dimitri had a slight advantage in the beginning after his warm up with my mother, but soon he lost the edge as I warmed up and he got a little tired. We got in quite a few good hits and kicks on one another and we had parried back and forth for about an hour, when there was a knock on the door.

Dimitri went to answer it while I grabbed a towel from the bathroom. It was time to quit anyway, before we were so tired that we got really hurt. The man at the door explained he was a desk clerk and he had received a fax for me.

Dimitri was just closing the door when I bounded out of the bathroom and grabbed the paper right out of his hands. I ran across the room with my treasure and I read it over quickly and then unable to believe my eyes I read it over again.

"Oh my God! Dimitri, he did it! Adrian found a car rental receipt putting Daniella in Montana at the time of the accident that killed me and Lissa's entire family." I smiled triumphantly. We need to tell Abe."

As I started toward the door Dimitri caught me about the waist. He put his face right next to mine and said, "I think what you need first is a shower."

"You do? What about you stinky? Don't you need a shower too?" I teased.

"I thought I could join you. After all you do have such a difficult time washing all of your hard to reach places and that happens to be one of my specialties."

"An offer that I cannot refuse…lead the way."

We took our time in the shower. The water felt great. The company was even better. This time we weren't quiet, we didn't need to be. It was just the two of us enjoying and exploring each other.

When we finally were clean again our fingers and toes were pruned and we were very happy. We got dressed and figured it was probably time for lunch.

"I am starving. I wonder if Abe stopped over with menus." I said as I pulled on my shirt.

"Hopefully Abe just ordered for us, because we obviously didn't answer the door."

"I'm all ready. I just need to run a brush through my hair. Then I will go check if we have any lunch and deliver this fax." I spoke louder as I entered the bathroom continuing our conversation.

"No need to yell." Dimitri said from right beside me making me jump out of my skin. I turned and swatted his arm.

"Don't do that!" I chastised him. I quickly brushed through my hair and then handed him the brush so he could do his own.

We walked out into the hall and knocked on Abe's door. When he answered I could smell the pizza that he had ordered for lunch. "I hope some of that is for us. We're starving."

He stepped aside and welcomed us in. "Of course. I tried to stop by and ask for your preferences, but I heard that you were busy." I could feel my face warming into a bright crimson at his words. "I mean I guess you were sleeping and didn't hear me." He chuckled and took a seat next to my mother.

Tasha and Arthur were sitting together finishing their lunch. They tried to pretend they didn't hear Abe's taunt, but it was obvious by how hard they were trying to act nonchalant that they had heard every word.

I tried to ignore my father's attempts to rile me up and I brought the paper to him. "Adrian faxed this over. It establishes that Daniella was in Montana and rented a car in the town that is closest to St. Vladimir's and close to where the accident claimed the lives of Lissa's family."

Abe grabbed the paper and headed out of the room. "Wait here. I'll be right back. The door had barely closed when Abe was back. He looked upset as he yelled, "Daniella's escaped. Peter is knocked out, but he's alive. Tasha and Janine please go care for Peter. Rose call everyone at the Royal Court and warn them. Arthur and Dimitri come with me.

Everyone left the room with their assignments. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and texted everyone at the royal court. 'DANIELLA'S ESCAPED. DEETS UNCLEAR. WATCH UR BACKS.'