Astarion walked down the cobblestone streets as the sun began to set. His dark robes and curly hair swayed in the evening breeze as his thoughts turned to the dinner and comfortable bed that awaited him. Unfortunately, he didn't see the group of Gur warriors surrounding him. In hindsight, he wasn't sure what he could've done to prevent this attack from occurring, but the scene terrified him nonetheless.

"Hey, Magistrate," a woman called to him.

Astarion turned in the direction he heard the voice and saw a well-armed and armored woman, along with six or seven men. Astarion's heart raced in his chest as sweat began coating his brow.

"Yes, how may I help you?" he asked.

The menacing expression on the group's faces and the barely concealed weapons they carried should have tipped off Astarion, but he didn't know then. There were so many things he hadn't known back then.

"You the magistrate who ruled on the case surrounding Magdalena?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Astarion replied.

Little did he know, that yes would cost him everything.

"No," Astarion said, bolting upright in bed as sweat coated his brow, and he took stock of his surroundings: there was a wardrobe on the left side of the room beside a large wooden chest and two curtained windows on the far side of the room.

"Another dream," Talia murmured from beside him in the king-sized bed.

The elven vampire turned to find his lover stirring beside him as she turned to face him. She propped herself up on one elbow as she rubbed her tired eyes and despite this, the concern on her face was evident.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he replied.

His drow lover reached up and gently placed a hand on his cheek. "You never have to apologize for that, love." She brushed her thumb against his cheek before removing her hand and leaning toward him to peck him on the cheek. "Lay down for me."

Astarion slowly lay back down and leaned against the pillow when Talia rested her head on his chest.

"Is this okay?" she asked.

"Yes," he whispered as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Good," she said. "Now close your eyes."

He did as she instructed and soon enough, sleep claimed him again.


After that, Talia slept soundly for the remainder of the evening. She woke up when it was time for her patrol shift and reluctantly slipped out of bed as quickly and quietly as possible.

"You know, you don't have to sneak out like you're an errant adolescent, correct?" Astarion asked as he leaned back against his pillows.

Talia looked up from her bootlaces at her lover. "I know, but I didn't want to wake you."

"Now you're being too damned considerate," he replied, before moving part of the blanket and gesturing at the place she'd vacated. "Come back to bed, at least."

She shook her head as she finished lacing her boot and stood up. "I can't."

"Sure, you can," said Astarion. "Simply tell the others that you're taking a day off and they'll understand."

"Pale is also on patrol, remember?" Talia replied as she grabbed her staff.

Astarion's expression soured. "Fair point." He sighed as he leaned back against her pillow, "I suppose what I meant is, you're not required to work this hard."

"For what?" said the drow as she walked to the door.

"For this colony," he shot back. "Ever since we agreed to come here and help these people, it's been business from day one." When Talia stopped and turned to look at him, he added, "You already saved all of Faerun from the Elder Brain, all I'm asking is that you pace yourself."

Talia nodded, walked toward the bed, and gently kissed his mouth. "I'll try."

Without another word, she was out the door; her footsteps were quick and quiet, so as not to wake the children who were hopefully still sleeping.

Gods knows they've been through enough, she thought as she hurried down the hallway. However, just as she reached the staircase, she heard one of the doors squeak open.

"Miss Talia, are you okay?" Chessa asked, her normally bright-red eyes sad.

Talia gave the young girl a smile she didn't feel and nodded. "I'm okay, I'm just going out on patrol. Go back to sleep, kiddo."

"Okay," the young girl replied and closed her bedroom door.

Talia walked downstairs, taking them two at a time before anyone else stopped her. Her boots hurried across the hard floors, out the door, and through the vampire spawn colony. By the time she finally reached the double gates, Pale, Dalyria, and Aurelia were already waiting for her.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Talia said, before she looked at the guards standing on either side of the ramparts. "Could you unlock the gates for us?"

"About gods damned time you got here," Pale remarked as one of the guards pulled a lever to unlock the gates.

"Brother," Dalyria replied, glaring at her brother. "Be nice."

Pale scoffed and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Please, we all know that-"

"Enough," Talia said and both siblings fell silent. She looked between all three vampires. "I want everyone to pick one quadrant and spread out."

"What about the mysterious attackers?" Aurelia asked as her tail swished back and forth.

A valid question, thought the drow. Ever since they'd first established the colony, there had been darkly dressed warriors who'd attacked the colony. There were only a few of them at a time and they usually retreated swiftly, but they hadn't learned anything about these assailants.

"If you see something, say something; and don't worry about being loud because if another attack does happen, then we'll want everyone who can fight to join us," Talia answered as her gaze moved between all three vampires. "Does anyone else have any questions?" When no one answered, she nodded. "Good, move out."

She watched as all three split up and the drow walked straight ahead as she scanned the iridescent trees nearby, which provided a bright blue light to the otherwise drab and dim surroundings. A small smile spread across her face as she recalled Astarion's reaction to seeing the trees for the first time.

Gods, that's bright and beautiful.

While Talia had grown accustomed to the Underdark's various shades of gray, seeing how colorful the world could be was inspiring, to say the least.

Just then, the drow heard movement nearby and removed her staff from her back.

"Whoever you are, you're about to get fucked," she shouted.


Astarion waited until after Talia had left before pushing the blankets off of himself and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. With a tired sigh, he ran his hands over his face before standing up and trudging to the door on the other side of the room.

"Gods," he murmured as he opened the door and entered the bathroom. "I wish she would stop worrying so much."

Truly, he cared for Talia and worried about her incessantly; she was the first good thing to happen to him in centuries. Yet it seemed like in the months since they'd defeated the Elder Brain, she'd had the weight of Faerun on her shoulders. While it was understandable given all that she'd been through, it was part of why Astarion had agreed to co-lead the vampire spawn.

Once he reached the sink with its large mirror, he turned the faucet on and splashed some water over his face. Astarion grabbed one of the towels from the nearby rack and dried off his face, before he turned and with cat-like grace, made his way to the wardrobe he shared with Talia.

Shared is a liberal interpretation of that word, Astarion thought. It's more like her armor takes up three-quarters of the space and my clothes are shoved to one side.

Just as he opened the door, he heard a loud scream from a familiar voice nearby.

"Whoever you are, you're about to get fucked!"

"Shit," he swore under his breath, before grabbing the nearest piece of his armor. "I'm coming, darling."


Three darkly-armored warriors and two mages moved to surround Talia, who hoped that the other vampires had heard her cries. When she saw Pale, Dalyria, and Aurelia moving swiftly toward her in her peripheral vision, relief flooded Talia.

"Feel the wrath of a Bhaalspawn, you fucks," the drow shouted as she raised her staff and sent lightning bolts at her five attackers.

Lightning, pure and bright, struck the warriors, who cried out in pain while two blue doors opened behind the mages who stepped through them.

"Shit, where did they go?" Pale asked.

"I don't know, but keep your eyes peeled," Talia answered. "They could be anywhere."

Her heart pounded in her chest like a prisoner trying to break free as she and the others searched their immediate surroundings. The drow felt her grip on her staff loosen and she wiped her hands on her skirt before tightening her hold on her staff.

"There," Dalyria said, pointing at two blue doors that appeared near the colony gates.

Talia and the others whirled toward the doors as the mages reappeared and out of the corner of her eye, the drow spotted a flaming arrow race toward and hit one of the magic users in the chest.

"How about you fuck off and leave us alone?" Astarion said as he joined the fray with a bow in hand.

Talia's heart warmed at the sight as she turned to their attackers with renewed focus. Just as she was about to cast another spell, Astarion set another flaming arrow at the other attacker while Aurelia rushed toward him and knocked him over. At the same time, Pale and Dalyria rushed forward as one towards the second mage, with one punching them in the throat while the other slid one leg beneath the mage's.

The first mage grunted as the air whooshed from his lungs and he and his staff landed on the ground. Pale and Dalyria followed up by kicking him in the face and groin, respectively, but the mage was smart enough to roll over and grab his staff. Talia took this opportunity to send another lightning bolt at him and watched as the man screamed in pain, dropped his staff once more, and fell to the ground.

Talia huffed, straightened her posture, and turned to where Astarion and Aurelia fought the other mage; she discovered the other magic user's body in flaming pieces on the ground.

"Nice work, everyone," she said.

"Yes, but that doesn't answer the question of who these people were and why they keep attacking us," Astarion replied.

"Then we search their bodies for clues," said Talia.


While Dalyria, Pale, and Aurelia set about searching the other bodies, Astarion helped Talia examine one of the mages. As they bent over the darkly dressed man's body, Talia spoke to him in a hushed whisper.

"What are you doing here, I thought you were resting?"

Astarion slipped one hand into the inner pockets of the mage's robe while Talia opened the pouches on the man's belt.

"You know they can hear you," he answered.

Talia sighed and shook her head. "No, I had no clue."

"It's true, we can," Pale replied.

I wish he would fuck off, Astarion thought as his brows knitted together and an annoyed frown formed on his face.

He didn't find anything in the robe pockets so he moved to the mage's shirt pockets. Honestly, how many pockets could one mage have?

"And you haven't answered my question," the drow persisted, wearing an expression that matched his.

"I heard you call out," said Astarion in a huff. "I haven't found anything so far."

He watched as Talia grabbed a folded piece of paper from a pouch inside the man's belt. She removed it and slowly stood up.

"I did," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Astarion's siblings. "Guys, I've found something."

Pale, Dalyria, and Aurelia stopped looking, turned to Talia, and approached her. Talia unfolded the paper and her eyes quickly scanned the words on the page while Astarion noticed Pale's satisfied smirk. The white-haired vampire flashed his middle finger at his brother, who proceeded to lunge for him.

"Please don't," Dalyria said, moving in between Astarion and Pale before either could become violent.

"Boys, enough," Talia commanded and both men stood upright as the drow refolded the letter.

"What does it say?" Astarion asked.

"It's a letter from someone named Cami Nita," Talia answered. "They're a member of a Gur tribe and the reason they keep sending attacks here is because they're trying to wipe us out."

"Shit," Astarion swore at the same time as his other siblings.

"I agree," said Talia. "We need to return to the colony, now."

Astarion glanced over at his elven sister, "Dalyria, once we arrive, can you gather the other adult vampires?"

Despite my objections, it's a good thing we've been teaching the other adult vampire spawn how to fight, he thought as the group began walking back toward the gates.

"All of the vampires," Talia corrected him as she looked at him. "The children deserve to know."

"And scare them even more than they already are?" Astarion asked as he stopped walking.

Pale, Dalyria, and Aurelia also paused as Talia faced Astarion. "They're going to find out one way or another, Astarion."

He sighed as he closed his eyes and pinched his nose between his fingers. She was right, as always. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Fine," he answered with a terse sigh as he opened his eyes again. "But if any of them start crying, you get to deal with them."

"Fair enough," said Talia as she resumed walking. End of discussion.

Gods, this is going to be a giant pain in the arse, thought Astarion as he recommenced following the others back to the front gates.


Talia could feel the heavy weight of Astarion's silence the entire way back to the colony and while she understood why he was upset; she didn't want to address it right now.

The colony has to come first, she thought once they reached the front gates and watched as Aurelia opened them while Pale and Dalyria stood guard. After the meeting is over, then we can talk.

The drow glanced at her lover, who looked at anywhere but her. She tried focusing on his face, but he kept looking away and as the gate opened, Talia stopped trying. She turned to look away from the colony as Aurelia snuck through, followed close behind by Pale and Dalyria. When it was only her and Astarion left outside the gates, she leaned closer to him and lowered her voice.

"Can I talk to you later?" she asked.

She knew the others could hear her, but she didn't care; regardless of how they moved forward with this threat from the Gur, they needed to have this conversation.

"Sure," he grunted.

It was about as much of an answer as she was going to get at the moment. Talia's heart raced in her chest and she pushed her anxiety aside as both stepped through the gates.

"Go ahead and prepare for the meeting," Astarion said. "I can handle the gates."

"Are you sure?" she asked and the white-haired vampire nodded. "All right, then."

All four hurried inside while Astarion secured the gates. Talia had considered telling the others to go ahead and have her conversation with Astarion in the yard, however, she reminded herself that the meeting with the colony had to come first.

As Astarion's other siblings gathered the other vampires, Talia weaved through the old ruins and into the circular area in the center of the colony. She crossed her arms and paced back and forth as the events of the past few hours raced through her mind like a deer trying to outrun a bear. Slowly, vampire spawn trickled into the area and she felt their eyes on her.

"Everyone's ready for you, darling," Astarion murmured beside her.

Talia stopped pacing, looked up at him, and then turned her gaze to the others; everyone stared expectantly at her, and her heart threatened to burst from her chest.


Astarion finished closing the gates and strolled through the colony until he reached the circular area where Talia and the rest of the vampire spawn waited. As usual, Talia paced back and forth anxiously as she waited for all of the vampire spawn to arrive.

It seems my siblings are great at following orders from Talia but not me, he thought as he joined her side.

"Everyone's ready for you, darling," he muttered.

That got Talia's attention and she immediately stopped, turning her focus to the colony as her expression became one of stone. Astarion looked at the others before moving his eyes past them and to the ruins beyond.

"All right, everyone, thank you for being here. I'm sorry if you were sleeping or otherwise occupied, but this is important," Talia began. "Recently, there was another attack and we discovered a letter from one of the assailants." Astarion considered stepping in, but didn't as he felt Talia was better at giving these little speeches than him. "I'm not going to lie, these people are from a Gur tribe-"

That set off a wave of concerned murmurs that only rose in volume; when Talia opened her mouth to bring them back to attention, Astarion shook his head.

"Allow me, darling," he said, before turning his attention to the other vampire spawn. "All of you, enough!" Everyone abruptly stopped talking and turned to face the pair while Astarion looked back at Talia. "Go ahead, darling."

"Thank you," she said, clearing her throat as she resumed speaking. "I know this makes everyone very anxious-"

"The Gur are monster hunters," Sebastian said, his voice quavering.

"Yes, we understand," Talia replied, keeping her tone calm yet authoritative. "However, we have every intention of investigating the source of these attacks. Astarion and I will head to the surface, while Aurelia, Dalyria, Pale, Violet, and Yousen will be in charge while we're gone."

"How come Astarion is allowed to go to the surface?" Pale asked.

Astarion's jaw twitched and his hands balled into fists, ready to shove them into Pale until his brother stopped moving. Talia placed a hand in front of Astarion, and he lowered his fists to his sides.

"Because Astarion and I are more experienced fighters than everyone else here, and five experienced spawns to look after 7000 is better than having no experienced spawn," the drow answered in a measured tone. "Does anyone know how much reserve blood we have at the moment?"

Aurelia, Dalyria, Pale, Violet, and Yousen all looked at one another and Astarion resisted the urge to snort in derision.

"I can check our reserves once we're done here," he said. "And if we're low, I don't mind going hunting."

"I can go too," Sebastian volunteered.

Astarion was taken aback by the outspokenness as Sebastian hadn't said much since he'd joined the colony.

"We'll consider that once we've assessed the situation," Talia replied with a nod as her gaze moved across the colony. "Does anyone have any questions?" She waited for a few minutes and when no one responded, nodded. "Good, in that case, everyone except for Aurelia, Dalyria, Pale, Violet, and Yousen are dismissed."


Hello again, loyal readers! I know it's been awhile but I've been busy working on a variety of different projects, this one among them. I would like to thank a very good friend of mine for agreeing to beta-read this!

If you enjoyed this chapter, please feel free to leave a comment or like as they're the best paycheck I have!