Hunters

Somewhere in Siberia

A bottle of  Kvass , Russia's national beverage , was shoved into Stefan's hand .

Hours later he stumbled out of the pub accompanied by Ivan who helped him navigate the slippery sidewalk.

Ivan had followed him throughout Stefan's restless wanderings. 

He was more loyal than any blood relative and willing to lay down his own life for Stefan.

After the death of the Petrov brothers and the horrible thing that happened to their cousin Sasha , Ivan had fled Transylvania , living for a time like a vagabond.

Then one evening the Baron had found him.

"You are forgetting your duty. " Popescu scolded and it was enough.

Two days later the Baron sent Ivan to Moscow and he'd been with Stefan every since.

Stefan had managed to become  drunker than he had ever been since arriving to Kamchatka.

Despite his mutated system being unable to  process alcohol like a completely human male ,

because Stefan's metabolism was extraordinary  , it would take several liters of an alcoholic beverage to achieve maximum intoxication.

And Kvass was milder than any regular light beer , so he'd augmented

it with several , entire bottles of  Vodka until finally succeeding in blunting the obsessive thoughts of Dani .

Had Ivan not been there to hold him up , Stefan would have sprawled in the snow like a bundle of rags.

He abruptly threw back his head and began roaring the words to "Katyusha" in a hoarse off key voice.

Grinning goodnaturedly Ivan sang along with him .

The village street was dark, silent. 

The single  street light shed a pool of golden glow in the center of

the square and from somewhere in a back alley a dog howled.

A man stepped from the shadowy side street , folded his arms and calmly watched them.

Noticing the stranger Stefan's hoarse shout broke off in the middle of the

Russian folk  song and his head jerked
up , bloodshot eyes narrowing.

Ivan stumbled to a halt beside him.

"What is wrong comrade ?" He inquired curiously.

"Go home Ivan." Stefan's voice had sharpened and he didn't sound drunk at all anymore.

"Now."   He added and roughly shoved his friend in the opposite direction.

Instead of leaving Ivan stood his ground.

He'd noticed the stranger too and now said stoically ,"I will not go Stefan."

The man stepped into the pool of light  to reveal himself fully .   He was of medium height and dressed in nondescript clothes.

As he drew nearer Stefan called out , "If you come any closer I will kill you."

The man stopped ten feet away , raising his hands in a gesture of trust.

"My name is David Seymore. "  He said  in flawless Russian but with an American accent.

"Are you Stefan Vasiliev ?"

"I am. What's that to you ? " Stefan challenged.

"I would like your attention and hope that you could help me." David responded.