Quick reminder: This chapter has several new content warnings (see previous chapter's author's note). Those warnings are contained to only this chapter and readers can skip it if they feel like this chapter could be could be triggering to them. Read at your own risk.

DIMITRI

I had been convinced that I would be too old for the New Year's party, sticking out like a sore thumb in more ways than one. My plan had been to grab a drink, find a spot against the wall, and watch over my sister and my girlfriend while they enjoyed their celebration with friends. I'm sure Roza would try to get me to dance with her at some point, but it would take more than a beer or two for that to happen.

However, the moment I stepped over the threshold, I realized I had misjudged things. Significantly. Vika had made it sound like it would be mostly people her own age and maybe a little older—people who were either still in high school or just starting university—but the vast majority were closer to my age. As far as I could see, Vika was one of the youngest here, if not the youngest. As I glanced toward Rose, it was clear she was coming to the same realization.

"Maybe we should—"

"I'm going to go look for Rolan." Vika broke away from us, disappearing into the crowd of people so tightly packed it was a miracle that she was able to find her way through the mass of bodies.

"Who's Rolan," I ask Rose, every instinct telling me that we should leave now.

Rose shrugged, obviously just as confused as I was. "I have no clue. I thought she'd be meeting up with Nikolai or one of her other friends. I don't see any of them here, though."

"Do you know who any of these people are, Roza?"

"I mean…some…vaguely?" Rose glanced around again but shook her head. She gave a slight wave to the Moroi guy who had been with us at the sauna this morning, but that was the extent of their greeting before she turned to me again. "I know a couple, but I don't really hang out with any of them except for Koda. I think I see a few of Sonya's friends, though."

That only gave credence to my thought that we shouldn't be here. That, and the stench of lust mixed with copious amounts of alcohol. This was the epicenter of bad decisions waiting to happen.

I tried to take stock of our surroundings, my eyes passing couples pressed together in nearly indecent-for-public ways both on the dance floor and against the walls. A small stairwell was across the way, and I watched as a guy with dark auburn hair guided a clearly drunk woman up the stairs, both of them laughing as she stumbled and swayed. It didn't take much for me to imagine what was going on up there. A deep-seated itch told me to find my sister and run. I was just about to dive into the fray when she appeared.

"Rolan just texted and—hey!" Vika's carefree grin disappeared as my hand clasped her upper arm, and I started to pull her towards the door.

"We're leaving," I told her, not caring about the hard edge in my voice.

"But I haven't even seen my boyfriend!" Vika pulled out of my grasp and then stepped back as I tried to reach for her again. She turned to Rose, a small plea behind her protest. "That was the whole point of coming here!"

"I thought we were here to have fun with your friends, Vika. Do you actually know anyone here?"

Vika turned a little sheepish under Rose's question. "Well, not really, I guess. Nobody except Rolan."

"And who is Rolan? I've never heard of him before."

"Rolan is my boyfriend, Rose. I told you the other day, remember? He's the one that got me this necklace. See?" She pulled out a thin gold chain with a small heart-shaped pendant. It looked like something you'd get at the clearance section of a department store jewelry counter. It was probably some mass-market trinket, but Vika held it as carefully as a precious family heirloom.

Rose glanced at me in confusion for a second before turning back towards my sister. "When you said you had a 'boyfriend,' I thought you meant Nikolai or some other guy from school."

"How old is he, Vika?" I demanded, drowning out whatever Vika was about to say in favor of something that seemed much more pressing at the moment.

"I don't know?" She shrugged. "Twenty-two? Twenty-three? Why does that matter?"

"Why does it matter?" I repeated in disbelief, not bothering to keep my voice low. With how loudly the music was pumping, I doubt anyone could overhear us anyway. "Because you're seventeen! You're still in high school!"

"You have got to be kidding me," she said, glancing towards Rose before giving me an incredulous look.

Vika was right. I had no room to pass judgment when it came to age differences, but it wasn't about that. Before I could try to justify myself, Rose beat me to it.

"Look, I get why you're upset, but I have to side with Dimitri on this. Whatever is going on here is not the same as my relationship with your brother."

"You guys are being such hypocrites right now." Vika's look of betrayal morphed into anger. She clearly expected Rose to side with her and whatever was happening between her and this Rolan guy. "Weren't you just seventeen? And Dimitri's even older than Rolan!"

"Yes, but Dimitri didn't pursue me. We were partners. Friends. That was the base of our relationship, not any sort of romance. That all came later." Rose glanced at me, but I could tell she was struggling to explain things in a way that would make sense to someone other than us. Maybe there wasn't a good way to explain the differences between our unorthodox relationship and whatever she had with her so-called boyfriend. Still, Rose tried her best. "Tell me honestly, Vika. Has Rolan ever been just your friend? Have you ever had a conversation that didn't involve flirting? Do you know his middle name? Does he know how many siblings you have?"

"He knows about my family!" She looked somewhat triumphant in being able to answer. "He just asked about Sonya the other day! And sure, maybe I don't know what his middle name is, but I know he's nice to me. And I know he doesn't treat me like a child like you two are. He says that he likes me, and I…I think I like him too." She looked like she wanted to say something else but decided against it. Instead, she reached for one of Rose's hands and clasped it between hers. "Please, guys. Can't you at least meet him first? He's running a little late but said he'll be here in about an hour."

Rose glanced over her shoulder at me, clearly conflicted. She obviously had the same misgivings that I did, but she seemed to break a little under my sister's pleading. Finally, she relented.

"Okay, fine. We'll stay and meet him." Vika let out a little squeal of victory as Rose laid out the terms. "But that's it. After we meet him, we're leaving, okay? No more arguments."

"But then I won't get to hang out with him," my sister whined, suddenly less enthused.

"Then he should have been here sooner," I interjected with a huff that made her roll her eyes. "Take it or leave it, Viktoria. I'm happy to go home right now."

Rose stepped back beside me, mimicking my posture and throwing her support behind my decision as we both stared Vika down.

Realizing that she had to take what she could get, she groaned dramatically. "Fiiiiine. Until then, let's go have some fun. Come on, Rose. Let's go dance." She shot me a look, one that only siblings could safely get away with, and said, "You can come, too. As long as you take that stick out of your ass first."

She tried to pull Rose towards the gyrating mass of partygoers, but I held her a moment longer. Leaning down so I could speak to Rose somewhat privately, I whispered, "I have a bad feeling about this. Something is not right with whoever this Rolan guy is."

"I know," Rose confided. "I don't like it either. But if we force her out of the door right now, we will only make things worse. She'll probably stay with him just to spite us. At least this way, we'll get to meet the guy and have a face to put with the name if we need to track him down later." She gave me a little playful, somewhat conspiratorial smirk before it melted into something more genuine. "Plus, who knows; maybe he's legit. It's possible, right? I mean…"

I watched as she gestured vaguely between us.

"Maybe," I offered, not believing it for one second. "Either way, keep an eye on her. She's more trouble than you are most days."

"Excuse me," Rose huffed in mock offense. "I am and always will be the biggest nuisance in your life, thank you very much. It's something I take great pride in."

And just like that, I felt some of my worries lift away. I tugged Rose closer, tangling my fingers in her hair as I gave her a kiss that I knew would linger for a while, even after I let her go. She hummed as I pulled away, leaving me even more eager to head home as soon as possible.

"Seriously?! You two are disgusting." Vika looked at us in a scandalized grimace as if there weren't three other obscene couples within ten feet. "Save your makeout sessions for the bedroom. Right now, I want to dance.

"Near-far?" Rose asked, suggesting guarding positions like Vika was a charge rather than just my wayward little sister.

I nodded in agreement. "Check-in in twenty minutes."

"Got it. Love you."

"Love you, too. Now go have some fun."

We kept to our plan of Rose staying close to Vika while I kept my eye on the surrounding area. They mostly stayed within sight, but it was hard to keep a constant visual on them in such a packed place. Still, Rose was good at her check-ins, and things seemed to be going fine. Except, that is, for meeting Rolan.

Vika promised that he would be there within the hour. When he still hadn't shown up forty-five minutes in, I warned Vika that we wouldn't be staying any longer and she should text him and let him know that she was leaving soon and should hurry. Vika wasn't happy, but when I told her that the alternative was leaving right then and there, she just grumbled and raised a fist to me with her thumb stuck between the first two fingers in a vaguely obscene gesture that was the Russian equivalent of giving me the middle finger. Then she pulled out her phone and started texting furiously.

A few minutes later, I saw Rose wave at me to catch my attention.

"Bathroom," she mouthed, waiting a moment to make sure I understood. I nodded quickly, pointing to the non-existent watch on my wrist to remind her to keep her eye on the time.

I waited patiently, and then not so patiently as the minutes passed without any sign of Rose or Vika. I was just about to go looking for them when I spotted Rose heading my way. Alone.

"Where's Vika?" I asked, trying to keep the desperation from my voice. I looked over the crowd, trying to spot her among the dozens of gyrating bodies. It was hard to tell one person from another, and spotting my sister was nearly impossible. That didn't mean I wasn't going to try.

Rose glanced around me, looking confused before some of the same worries I was feeling seeped into her expression. "I thought she was with you."

"Why would she be with me?"

"Because I…" Rose groaned, throwing her head back in frustration for a moment. "Some tipsy girl had tripped in the hall and knocked her head. I stayed to help for a moment but told Vika to go find you and wait for me."

"So you just let her walk away?"

She glared at my tone and what it suggested. "She's not some Royal Moroi charge, Dimitri. Your sister is a nearly graduated novice who should have been more than capable of walking the thirty feet between the bathroom and her brother."

"Well, apparently not because I haven't seen her in nearly a half-hour." We needed to find her, and quickly. "When did you last see her?"

"I don't know. Ten minutes ago?"

I cursed under my breath, already having my suspicions about who I would find her with. "Come on."

I grabbed Rose's hand and tried to keep her close as I maneuvered through the crowd. I didn't want to lose her too.

"Vika!" I called out, trying to shout above the music, already knowing I wouldn't get a reply. A guy next to me gave me a dirty look before forgetting me in favor of the blonde wrapped up in his arms.

I quickly worked my way towards the kitchen, bypassing the hall to the bathroom since Rose had just been there. The place smelled like an old keg with how many half-filled open cups were just lying around. While there were a few people scattered about, none of them was the girl I was looking for, so I moved on without a word.

There was a dining area in the next room and a sliding glass door into the garden just beyond it. It was still the middle of the night out, but someone had lit a small bonfire in a homemade stone ring, offering a little light and warmth to the outdoor area.

"There!" Rose said, squeezing my hand and pointing to a small alcove partially obscured by the light. Had I not been looking, I probably wouldn't have noticed them. Now that I knew where to look, however, I was noticing way too many things at once. Not the least of which was the guy's hand up my sister's shirt and the way he was kissing her neck. At least, he better pray that was all he was doing because…

"Dimitri? Dimitri, wait!" Rose had fallen behind me as I strode towards the pair. I heard her race to keep pace, but I had no intention of stopping until this guy got the message that my sister was off limits if he valued his life.

When I was about ten feet away, I called out. "Hey, Asshole! Get away from my sister."

The guy glanced up but made no effort to stop whatever he was doing. It wasn't until Vika recognized my voice that the two broke apart.

"Dimitri?" Vika looked at me with wide, fearful eyes. I could also tell that she was a bit dazed and didn't have to guess to see why. My barely contained rage flared as I noticed a smear of blood on Viktoria's neck. I narrowed my eyes at the guy, but he didn't flinch. He just brushed at the corner of his mouth with the cocky assurance of someone who had never had his nose broken.

"Rose, take Vika and get her out of here."

"Cool it, Comrade." Rose's hand grasped mine for a moment as she worked her fingers through my tightly gripped fist. "Don't do anything rash. Let's just get Vika and go."

I pulled away from her and nodded towards Vika again. "Get her cleaned up and take her home. Rolan and I are going to have a little chat."

"Dimi–"

"Rose." I cut her off and gave her a look that left no more room for argument. This was happening, and it would be better if my sister didn't witness it. "Go."

After another beat, Rose groaned in annoyance and rushed ahead of me to pull my sister away and hopefully back into the house. Or better yet, away from this hellhole entirely. Vika attempted to fight Rose, mumbling protests as she tried to assure me that things weren't what they looked like or that he cared about her, but Rolan's eyes didn't match Vika's promises. To him, this was all just a game. My sister was passing entertainment to him. Nothing more.

As soon as Rose and Vika were gone, I stepped forward, closing the distance between us with three strides. I earned a brief look of worry as Rolan realized just how outmatched he really was, but when he took a step back and hit the wall behind him, he masked himself with arrogance again.

"I'm guessing you're the brother, then?" His voice was mostly even, but there was still a small tremble at the end. "The one visiting from Court?"

"You guess right," It was taking everything in my power to keep my hands at my sides. "And you're going to stay away from my little sister if you know what's good for you. She's seventeen, and even if she wasn't, she still too good for a low-life asshole like you."

"Asshole? Sure, but I'm no low-life. My father owns half of the Dominion banks on this side of the Ob. Sweet little Viktoria in there is lucky that a guy like me is even giving her the time of day." His thin, slimy grin grew with his false sense of security behind his daddy's name. "Plus, seventeen is still old enough to spread her legs."

One moment, I was standing in front of the man who dared to insult my sister. The next, I had him pinned to the wall with my hand around his neck. All I had to do was squeeze.

"Try it, Guardian, and I'll have you demarked so quickly you won't know what hit you." When his threat didn't loosen my grip, he upped his warning. "Or maybe you'd like a cell in Tarasov. The warden there owes my father a few favors."

With a growl, I let him go, making him stumble a little as I shoved him away from me. He laughed at his meager victory.

"That's what I thought. Not so big and bad now, are you?"

His voice mocked me as I tried to turn away. It wasn't worth it. Sure, leaving him on a heap in the grass would have felt good now, but the fallout would do nothing but bring me and my family problems for who knows how long. I didn't know if the prick or his father had the power to get me arrested, but I didn't want to find out.

"Don't worry, I would have taken care of Viktoria. Maybe your girlfriend, too. Rose, right? She's a pretty little thing. I bet she'd probably be even prettier with a cock in her mouth." My hand twitched, eager for the man's blood. I knew he was just goading me, trying to get a rise out of me until I did something he could use as an excuse to run and tell his daddy about. Unfortunately, it was working.

I tried to count my breathing, noticing that we had gathered quite a few witnesses to a potential murder if he kept talking.

"Dimitri!" I turned towards the sound of my name. Rose stood just outside the open sliding glass door with Vika tucked behind her. It looked like Rose had bandaged up my sister but wasn't leaving without me. She looked around, offering a silent reminder of the growing crowd that we had drawn. "Forget him. Let's just go."

"Yeah…go, Dimitri." Roland's voice was softer now, meant just between us rather than pandering to our audience. "Run off with your girlfriend, but know that I'll still be here once you leave. I'm sure it won't take too much to sweep her off her feet and into my bed. And as soon as I'm finished with her, I'll finish what I started with Viktoria. Just like I did with Sonya."

I stopped mid-stride, looking at him over my shoulder. "Sonya?"

"She didn't tell you?" Roland smirked, reveling in how I was playing right into his hands.

I turned back towards him, ignoring Rose's pleas. "You're the father?"

"I prefer the term' sperm-donor.' Just doing my part to ensure the dhampir race, you know?" He shrugged, a smug grin on his face. "I'll admit, she wasn't nearly as eager as Vika, but a few drinks and a little something extra slipped in the glass, and she became much more willing."

Red. That's all I saw. Red and someone who deserved a fate worse than death.

Unfortunately, I only got one punch in, but one punch was all it took to have the sorry excuse of a man laid out on the ground in an unmoving pile of trash. Before I could finish the job, I felt someone grabbing my arm and pulling me away. I began to fight the person off before I recognized Rose's begging.

"We gotta go, Dimitri. Now." She tugged harder as the sound of others began to ring in my ear. Some were laughing, drunkenly amused with the unexpected entertainment. Some were screaming, rightfully afraid of the attempted homicide they'd just witnessed. Maybe I did kill the bastard. He wasn't moving. Truthfully, I didn't really care as long as his last moments were painful.

A part of me wanted to stay and make sure Rolan never hurt another person ever again. If Rose knew what he had done, she'd understand. Hell, she'd probably help me. Unfortunately, I doubt the authorities would be so accommodating.

I allowed Rose to finally pull me away and let her lead us as I tried to gather my wits again. Vika screamed, spewing vitriol at me when I grabbed her by the arm and all but dragged her from the house. I was nearly ready to toss her over my shoulder and into the car.

I knew we should have left. We never should have come in the first place, but we definitely should have left when I realized this wasn't the party I had expected.

We were about halfway back home when Rose finally turned on me. "What the hell was that!"

"Not now, Rose." I was still too keyed up to think properly. Both of us ignored Vika's cries from the backseat. Now that we were in close quarters, the acrid scent of alcohol filled the car. I knew I hadn't had anything to drink, and Rose hadn't smelled like alcohol earlier, so I could only imagine it was my sister. Glancing back at her, I could see her sway each time the car hit a bump in the road. She still had a somewhat dazed expression that concerned me much more now than it had earlier. "Did Vika tell you how much he drank from her?"

She checked the rearview mirror. "No. I asked, but she was vague. From the bitemark, I want to say that it wasn't long, but the endorphins must have hit her pretty hard. Maybe the alcohol is making it worse?"

"Or the drugs," I muttered.

Rose's eyes went wide as she swerved. The car jerked as she righted herself again. "The what?!"

"I'm pretty sure that bastard slipped her something."

Vika was too caught up in her sobbing to hear us, which was probably for the best right now. A few minutes later, I heard muffled choking from the back. Rose barely managed to pull the car to the side of the road before Vika spilled out of the back door, vomiting on the ground in violent heaves.

"We need to get her to your mother." There was an emergency medical center in Baia, but it was for the town's human population. My mother was typically the one who patched up local Moroi and dhampir as needed. Rarely, she would send them up to the next town over and the Moroi medical center there if something was too much for her to handle, but hopefully, that wouldn't be the case this time.

I nodded, holding Vika's hair back as her sudden sickness finally started to quiet a little. If she had been drugged, I knew that whatever he had given Vika was most likely fully in her bloodstream. Still, there was a part of me that hoped she managed to throw some of it up. Eventually, she slumped forward a little and I caught her in my arms, lifting her and carefully placing her back into the back seat. I sat next to her this time, holding her steady despite her continued hatred.

Rose and I didn't say anything else as we finished the drive. She opened the car door, then the front door, as I carried my sister to her room. Rose went to wake my mother, and a few minutes later, they joined me and my sister.

My mother spoke in hushed whispers, peeling off the small bandage Rose had used to cover Vika's bitemark so she could examine it closer. "Rose said you think she was drugged?"

"The bastard didn't admit it, but based on some other shit he said, I wouldn't be surprised."

My mother gave me a cutting glare. "Language, Dimitri."

"Sorry, Mama." I wanted to object and question how she could be upset over a few crude words when her youngest daughter was dazed and nearly unconscious, but I knew this was just her way of keeping calm and in control. Plus, she raised me better than that.

"Do you need me to stitch anything up?" She asked, gesturing to my hand.

I glanced down, noticing for the first time that my knuckles were scraped up and bleeding. There was very little swelling, and none of the cuts were deep, so I shook away my mother's concern. "I'm fine. Rose can bandage me up in a bit. Is Vika going to be okay?"

My mother fussed over her a little more until Rose brought a first aid kit and two clean white cloths. One looked damp, and she used it to dab at Vika's flushed skin.

The sensation seemed to rouse my sister a little. She stopped moaning for a minute and opened her eyes to look at me with pure contempt.

"I hate you," she said, spitting the words like they were a curse. "I'll never forgive you for this. I swear, I won't ever speak to you again after what you did to Rolan."

"Vika!" Mama chided, shocked at my sister's words. A second later, it was like a lightbulb went off as she looked at me and silently mouthed the name of my sister's—sisters'—abuser. She recognized the name, and as much as it pained me, I nodded in confirmation.

"It's okay, Mama." It wasn't, but I'd take Vika's hatred over what could have happened if I hadn't stepped in tonight. Leaning down, I kissed my sister's forehead and wiped one of the angry tears from her eyes. "Hate me if you want, but I won't apologize. I will never regret protecting my family, no matter the cost. If that means you never say another word to me and hate me for the rest of your life, then fine. I'll accept that as long as I know you are safe."

Vika held true to her promise, not saying a word as the silence stretched between us. Finally, she closed her eyes, turned away from me, and curled into herself. Her body shook with quiet sobs. I wanted to reach out to her to try and soothe her, but I knew it wouldn't be welcomed right now.

After a moment more, I stood, excusing myself and letting my mother finish taking care of her. Rose waited for me on the other side of the door.

"Is she okay?" Rose asked, sincere concern lacing her question.

"She will be," I replied, primarily for my own peace of mind. "My guess is that she'll wake up with a headache and may or may not remember what happened tonight. Either way, I don't think she'll be very happy with me."

Rose had led me towards our room, where she already had some bandages and a clean rag waiting. Without prompting, she took my damaged hand and began to wash away the dried blood. "To be fair, I'm kinda upset with you, too. Do you want to end up like me? Because kicking the ass of some pompous Moroi in public is how that happens."

"What was I supposed to do, Roza? You didn't hear what he said." I really didn't want to repeat all the vile stuff that Rolan had said about both her and my sisters. Just remembering his words enraged me.

"You're right. I didn't. At least not all of it. And I'm sure if I did, I probably would have wanted to knock him into next week myself." She wiped at one particularly nasty spot, and I winced as the torn skin pulled a little. With a quick apology, she sighed. "I know you're the noble white knight ready to save the day and all that, but let's let cold-blooded revenge be my deal, okay? I'm already a lost cause, and at least that way, you can have some plausible deniability if he ends up dead in a river somewhere."

"I don't think I killed him. And if I did, I don't care. The bastard deserved it." I handed her the bandage roll as she tossed the soiled rag toward the laundry hamper near the closet. As she began to wrap my knuckles in a well-practiced way that came from years of doing it herself, I debated on how much more I should share with Rose. Sonya had been careful to not divulge who Katya's father was. While I knew it wasn't my secret to tell, I needed someone else to help me bear the weight of what I had learned tonight. "He was going to hurt Vika, just like he hurt Sonya."

"Sonya?" Rose's hand stilled. A second later, understanding dawned. "Rolan…"

I nodded, answering her unfinished question.

"And he was going to…to Vika…"

My silence was answer enough.

"Maybe I should have let you kill him," Rose muttered, finishing her bandaging much more forcefully than before. "Whatever. You kicked his ass, but now we have a new problem. The slimy piece of shit is going to go crying to someone about his well-justified beating. Sooner or later, someone will come looking for you, and we need to fix things before…well before things get worse."

She was right. It was only a matter of time before someone showed up. If I was lucky, it would just be the local police. However, something told me that a spoiled prick like Rolan wouldn't settle for a slap on the wrist. I'd bet that I'd have the guardian council breathing down my neck before sunset tomorrow. He was coming for my promise mark, if not more.

I glanced up at Rose with a lifted brow. "Oh? Any suggestions?"

"Yeah, but you aren't going to like it." She hesitated a moment, and dread settled low in my stomach. "I called my father."

She was right. I didn't like it. Because what Rose said was that she called her father, but what Rose meant was that she called Zmey.