Dimitri Radev was born under a strange star.

These were the words his grandmother used, at least. Others were far less kind in describing the terrible luck that clung to Dimitri since childhood. Where people found misery, Dimitri found fortune – and since one required the other, he did not come out looking too good. His parents were most eager to send him off in service of the Kingdom when the Amith Capil came knocking. Whether they truly feared their son or simply despised the neighbors' gossip was unclear.

A plague swept through the small village scant months after Dimitri's departure. By the time the Amith Capil allowed him leave for a visit, there was no one left to ask.

Dimitri laughed under his breath. His companion turned to him with an ugly glare.

"Is there something you find amusing about our situation?" Sir Valeri Beaufort demanded through gritted teeth.

"I was thinking that we make quite the pair," Dimitri answered, still smiling.

Dimitri's luck was born in misery. Beaufort, on the other hand, had fortune spilling out of him like sand from a broken hourglass.

Valeri Beaufort was a man of means, power, and unfair good looks. His greatest achievement to date was surviving his own foolish choices. Of all the quiet nooks in Samodevia, the man chose to burrow in Elsendorf. He employed a housekeeper trained to kill his kind and almost married a creature set on chewing out his heart.

In retrospect, Natalia Gondin's betrayal was but par of the course.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," Dimitri noted wryly.

Beaufort's lips pressed into a thin line. The man turned his face away in a futile attempt to ignore Dimitri's presence. Dimitri grinned at his back, following the vampire's gaze to their unwilling hostess.

Miss Gondin made for a sorry sight. Tussled like a chicken in torn, bloodied bedsheets, she looked every bit the tortured hostage. The blood was Dimitri's and the woman had no one to blame for her current state but herself. Even so, her pretty face was dark with hate and unspoken grievances.

"It will be in your favor to confess quickly," Beaufort told her.

The woman glared at them both with reddened eyes. Beaufort attempted to coax her a few more times, first with logic, then with threats. Miss Gondin remained stubbornly silent.

"Let her be," Dimitri sighed, thoroughly bored and greatly disappointed with Sir Beaufort's interrogation tactics. No wonder the man got swindled everywhere he went.

Beaufort turned to him with a scowl. "I need to know what she has done, so I can take appropriate measures and protect us both," the man snapped.

"She's dying; what's her incentive to speak? Why would you trust a word out of her mouth?" Dimitri asked.

"What do you suggest, then?" Beaufort demanded.

"Consider what is known," Dimitri said. He counted off on his fingers as he spoke, "The time-frame, her means of action, the interested parties.

Let us begin with the timing. How long since she began to exhibit signs of poisoning?"

Beaufort considered the woman. She was pale and sweating, her eyes bright with fever.

"She was healthy when we arrived, and throughout our stay," he said at last.

"Breaking the oath would result in immediate repercussions, so we know she acted recently. Was there time when she was not under your direct supervision?" Dimitri continued. He was rather enjoying guiding the vampire through the thinking of a soldier, the sense of irony greatly gratifying.

"Briefly, during the surgery," Beaufort admitted. "She could not have left the house. No one could have entered without my knowledge, either," he added.

Dimitri waved the defensive words away. "She had no need to leave. Did anything stand out to you in the interim?"

Beaufort sank in contemplative silence. Dimitri, never the patient type, reclined against the bed as he waited, eyes drifting to the hallway. The shadows that lay over Gondin Manor were thinning with dawn's approach.

Dimitri would need to make a decision, and soon.

"The sage!" Beaufort said, eyes widening in realization. He looked from Dimitri to the shivering Miss Gondin. "But how? The scent could not have carried far."

"But the smoke did," Dimitri told him. "Sage burns white, and the mixture in Miss Gondin's possession is all the more distinct. The Amith Capil prefers it as a method of covert signaling."

Beaufort stilled. When he looked at Dimitri again, his expression was severe, a wild cast to his eyes.

"We must leave immediately," he said and went to gather Dimitri up, by all appearances preparing to swing the soldier over his shoulder like a sack of rice.

Dimitri, who had not expected to be accosted in such a manner and was still a little dazed from his stint of being dead, struggled with some delay. "Wait just a – put me down!" he shouted, slapping at the vampire's hands until the man retreated a safe distance away.

"If you expect to be spared should your old friends break in, I would encourage you to consider the bullet I pulled out of your chest, and its origin," the vampire told him stiffly.

Dimitri kept his eyes on the man, still wary. "Where're you planning on running? Sinith is a large city, but it is also well-guarded. There are more soldiers on the ground here than almost anywhere else. Besides –"

He smiled, eyes curving in dark humor.

"They're already here."

Beaufort's expression was unsightly. Miss Gondin giggled to herself, swaying in place.

Dimitri staggered up. He pulled the woman to her feet and half-dragged, half-pushed her unsteady body out of the room. Beaufort trailed after him with some delay.

"Where are you taking her?" the man asked.

Dimitri arched a brow. Beaufort's first instinct was to ask after the woman, not Dimitri's plans. The soldier recalled the files the Amith Capil had on the man. An analysis of Beaufort's past and pattern of behavior had the army branding the vampire with a weakness to women. It read scandalous enough on paper. Seeing this vulnerability play out in real life, Dimitri felt like lighting a candle for Beaufort's love life. Obviously, the man could not be trusted to consider his own best interest when around the fairer sex.

"They should have the property surrounded by now," Dimitri said, not bothering with Beaufort's inane question. "There's no use running. What's the highest point in the house?"

"The third-floor attic," Beaufort answered after a moment of bewilderment. His steps grew more cautious the further up they went. "We have no weapons. Even with the higher ground, it is unlikely that we can keep a siege at bay," he reminded.

Dimitri grinned. His shadow swayed at his feet, growing more distinct as the air lightened. His mind was still drifting in and out of reality. For a moment, he'd seen flames flickering at the edges of his vision. Strangely, he found the sight comforting.

"They're waiting for dawn to attack. Let's give them a nudge," Dimitri said.

He kicked the door to the attic open. Miss Gondin sagged against him, no longer fighting to escape. Beaufort moved to support her. He checked her eyes and pulse while Dimitri took a turn around the rooms. His frown was pronounced when Dimitri returned.

"You must lift the oath. She cannot wait much longer," he said.

Dimitri hauled Miss Gondin away. He ignored the man's attempt to recapture his attention in favor of dragging the ailed woman to a large window. The gardens below were quiet and dark, but Dimitri knew the grounds were far from empty.

"Break the glass for me," he instructed.

"Why?" Beaufort asked.

"The Amith Capil tries to keep this sort of business quiet. The more attention we can draw from curious civilians, the less room they've got to work," he said. "Make it loud, yeah?"

Beaufort's eyes moved between the window and Dimitri. He had likely spotted their guests, well-hidden as the soldiers were within the shadows that wreathed the garden. When he made to move, Dimitri stepped in his way.

"Stay behind me," he said.

Beaufort watched him silently. He nodded, allowing Dimitri to guide him in position. Dimitri had Miss Gondin by the waist, her body covering them both. There was no need to ask what it was the soldier was doing.

The window broke with a sound like a struck bell. Glass rained in the gardens, the entire pane toppling forward and out of sight.

Beaufort took a step back. Dimitri gave the man a quick once-over, noting the healing cuts over his knuckles. His hands were still red with Dimitri's blood, the soldier realized.

"It's growing light outside," Dimitri said. "Go, before your pretty face melts off."

"What do you mean to do?" Beaufort asked.

"What I must," Dimitri told him.

Beaufort was visibly unhappy with his answer. Still, the man went; Dimitri watched until he disappeared into the darkness of the house, marveling at his obedience. Beaufort's mellow nature worked well enough for Dimitri at present. Still, the soldier could not help but wonder whether the Captain had not left her pet vampire to him to look after, rather than the other way around.

In the garden below, a tree swayed against the wind. Dimitri pushed the insensate Miss Gondin closer to the broken glass, a jagged smile on his lips.

"Showtime," he said softly.

Miss Gondin took a step up on the ledge. Dimitri stood behind her, holding her up with an arm around her waist. The woman turned her head this way and that, senselessly seeking something in the dark.

"Got your present, Sahil," Dimitri called out.

There was no answer long enough for cold sweat to gather down Dimitri's back. He was prepared to pull back when a tall man emerged from seemingly thin air. His dark eyes laughed up at Dimitri from a familiar face.

"Good to see you, Lightning," the soldier named Sahil called back. "Sorry I didn't make it to your funeral. Promise I'll be there for the next one."

More men appeared. There were Zero among their ranks, Dimitri noted, and most of the rest were known to him only in passing. Dimitri's smile stretched, hiding his thoughts as well as any mask.

"Working with Zero, now?" he asked.

"Better than covering for a vampire," Sahil answered calmly.

Sahil Arya was part of the old guard. Dimitri was acquainted with the man through Shadow, and knew Sahil to be a trustworthy, capable leader. The man was also as sly as a fox and likely to have several plans to fall back on at any given time. Shaking the soldier off their trail would not be easy.

Fortunately, Dimitri had no such plans.

"Let us speak plainly, shall we?" Dimitri grinned over Miss Gondin's shoulder. The woman's shaking was growing worse; it was difficult to hold her in place. "I've got a hostage –"

Several things happened at once. A low whirr on the air, the scrape of claws, a hot burst of red in the dark –

Dimitri blinked. The large hawk that had landed on the roof of the Gondin household cocked its head, the soldier's bloodied face reflected in its glaring eyes.

Miss Gondin's corpse cooled between them. The arrow that had gone through her left eye nearly gouged Dimitri's skin, having pierced cleanly through her skull. She had died instantaneously – a mercy, given her condition.

The hawk departed, its powerful wings carrying it far away in the manner of seconds. Dimitri took a shivering inhale. He sought the man who had released the arrow, and was not surprised to find the only crossbow in sight in the hands of a Zero soldier.

"Good company you keep," he commented flatly.

Sahil's peaceful expression had hardened. "The blame lies in your companion," he began.

"You know how blood oaths work, Sahil," Dimitri interrupted. "And I bet you know the story behind Miss Gondin's deal with Beaufort, too. The choice was hers. But that's not what they told you to write in your report, is it?"

Sahil was silent. The Amith Capil soldiers around him were equally quiet, their faces devoid of all expression.

"Did you kill those people in Elsendorf, Dimitri?" Sahil asked.

"No," Dimitri answered.

"Captain Arya," a Zero soldier called, his voice eerily flat. "The sun is rising. It is time."

"Did you let Shadow die?" Sahil pressed.

Dimitri's smile disappeared.

"I fought at his side until the last," he said.

Sahil watched him. Then he nodded once, and said, "Go inside."

Dimitri let go of Miss Gondin's body. Her corpse toppled into the garden, her pale gown flaring around her like the petals of a falling bloom.

Dimitri took a step back on shaking legs, then another.

Below, the clang of swords and cries of battle rose with the sun.