Interrogation

"Did you come to finish the job, bloodsucker?" Ethan snarled at Maria with pure hate in his eyes. Although he seemed pretty harmless with his hands and legs cuffed, Maria was still cautious and checked the cell and his restraints as she entered. Nothing seemed out of place so she relaxed and crouched next to Ethan, observing him with a smug smile on her face.

"So this is the elite vampire hunter Ethan," she began mockingly, but continued with a more neutral tone. "Apparently most vampires fear you, even my maker suggested I should run away. But looking at you now you don't look threatening at all. Anyhow, I didn't come to gloat. I need you to tell me something - you wanted to interrogate me about Nikolai. Why?"

Ethan snorted at her question and responded without hesitation, "I'm not telling you anything, you dumb bitch. Just be done with it."

Maria sighed and stood up. She knew she wasn't going to get any answers from him, at least not so easily. She tried again, this time more firmly, "look, we both know you're not leaving this place alive. But the manner of your...departure is still open to negotiation. If you haven't noticed, I'm not just some Nikolai's random pawn to be used. I want to know what he's up to. And maybe it's in your interest as well to give me some info on him. Otherwise, I might call him and he'll be here in no time. I doubt his interrogation approach would be much gentler than mine."

For a moment the hunter just stared back at her defiantly. His frown never left his face but his silence spoke much more - he was considering the proposal.

Seeing her chance, Maria kneeled back to him, facing him directly. She extended her fangs and spoke with determination. "Don't you get it? He'll torture you until you spit out all the details about your stupid organization. You wouldn't want that, would you? But I, on the other hand, don't give a rat's ass about your damn fight with the Order, I just want to be left alone by both sides. My offer is following: he doesn't have to know I have you here, so in turn you'll help me out and I'll see that you go out in the best possible way. Who knows, maybe we'll get along well and you might even survive all this." Maria accompanied her last words with a wink and a low, seductive voice.

For a split second, Maria managed to break Ethan's vengeful visage. He averted his gaze in shame as his cheeks blushed. He quickly responded in order to hide his momentary lapse, "I see... well, if you just provide me with the info of his location a lot could be cleared up."

"All I know is that he's in Italy somewhere."

Ethan raised his eyebrows and nodded, "ah, as we feared..."

Maria couldn't hide her curiosity and probed further. "Feared what? What is he doing there?"

Ethan smiled at her mockingly as he gained an upper hand in their interrogation. "He really didn't share much with you, did he? Huh, so much about not being a random pawn..."

"I'm calling our deal off unless you tell..."

"Relax, I'll tell you everything I know," Ethan cut her off with a jaded sigh. "You're just a small fish in this game after all. So, we've been expecting a move against us from your bloody Order for some time now. We didn't know where and when but now with Nikolai Konovalov in Italy and you as his newest pupil... let's just say I've got a pretty clear picture of his endgame."

Maria's mind raced as she tried to comprehend what he has been saying so far but she failed to see any meaning in all this.

Her dumbfounded look was apparently obvious even to Ethan as he laughed at her. "You don't get it, do you? Ok, let's do this step by step so that even you might understand this. You're Italian, right? Your maker is in Italy and has a plan for you there. You know what else is in Italy? Our headquarters. You see where we're heading with this? He plans to use you somehow, maybe to infiltrate our organisation or to sacrifice you to draw us out, I don't know exactly, but you being an Italian confirms my suspicions. We are aware of his methods and they sometimes include his own progenies. He succeeded a few times with these operations against our regional centers but he obviously intends to big this time. That's all I have, happy now?"

Maria looked at him intently, trying to find any clues of deception on him but found nothing. He appeared to be speaking the truth, more or less.

She collected herself, stood up and declared, "you kept your part of the deal, Ethan. Thank you, I guess. I promise I'll stick to mine, but not tonight. Good night."

"Hey, you don't have to keep me tied up like this..." Ethan yelled after her but she closed and locked the doors behind her without hesitation.

He's a manipulating son of a bitch... but that goes for Nikolai as well. I can't trust neither so I'll have to be careful. We'll see how Nikolai responds tomorrow...