"Go ahead, take my mask off!" said Ryan with a smile.

The grey bunny walked right up to him, rose to the tip of her toes, grabbed the mask. She looked right into his eyes, first with a smile but her expression quickly changed to that of complete confusion.

The brown one dropped the bag of candy she was holding and started trembling.

The grey bunny failed to notice this for a few seconds, as she seemed to be still trying to figure out what had just happened. "Sarah, what..." she began to say, but quickly stopped as she saw her terrified friend.

Ryan found that to be the perfect moment for the next step. While she had the back of her head turned towards him, he grabbed her by the ears and yanked them downwards, to expose the bunny's neck. He scratched it slightly with his claws to drive the message home.

"Don't scream, or she dies", he said in a quiet but very threatening tone. "And don't move from that spot either", he added.

Sarah was now trembling like a leaf, her eyes fixated on the scene before her. "What do you want?", she asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Excellent! You're smarter than the average rodent I encounter", said Ryan, feeling very happy with how things were going. "If I wanted to kill you I would already have. But I will kill both of you if you give me trouble. If one of you manages to escape, I'll kill the other one very slowly and painfully, do you understand?"

Both bunnies quietly nodded.

"Great! Good news for both of you: you're invited to my party. I promise it's going to be one full of amazing experiences and excitement and plenty to eat and drink. I'll even bring you there myself."

"Now get into the bag".