Cazador had caught up with them, but Nyx would not let his lackeys drag Astarion away. She primed her magic, ready at a moment's notice, and watched the interaction carefully.

Astarion's jaw worked as the other human spawn implored, "The master needs all seven of us for the ceremony. Come with us and be reborn. We'll live again."

Tav gasped and sidled next to Astarion. "You don't know about the ritual?"

The tiefling straightened and said softly, "The Rite? We do and the master needs him. He must attend."

Astarion's lip curled and he sneered, "Oh, I'm well aware of what the master needs. But don't we deserve better?" He spat out their names, addressing each in turn. "My dear brother and sister; Leon, Aurelia?"

Leon was taken aback and shared a confused glance with Aurelia. "Better? What do you mean, 'better'?"

"After these centuries of torment, I know what you want." Nyx did not like Astarion's tone, and he continued, "More than power. More than to walk in the sun. You want to see him dead." He pointed at them and then to himself. "The Rite of Profane Ascension will be mine, and he won't see a scrap of its glory. I am going to complete the ritual as the Ascendant, and then I am going to kill him."

Nyx and Tav shared a concerned glance while Astarion implored in return. "This is your chance. Stand with me. Name me your new master. We will get our revenge, and you will all live again."

Nyx glared at Astarion, and a grimace briefly pulled at his lips.

Taking a step forward, Tav stood between the two groups, disappointment lining her brow. "Have you no heart, Astarion? You're asking them to die for you in this ritual."

He snapped, "And why doesn't it surprise me that yours would bleed for them."

A cold chill ran down Nyx's spine, and he didn't meet her gaze.

Aurelia's forehead furrowed. "'Die' in the ritual? Whatsoever are you speaking of? We are going to cheat undeath."

Tav gave her a sympathetic smile and said, "It is a sacrifice, your souls are going to fuel it."

The tiefling spawn shook her head vigorously. "The master doesn't need to lie to us. He controls us, fully. Why go through the trouble of giving us hope..."

Nyx felt a sense of pity for them. After all these centuries, are they still so naïve?

Clarity dawned on Leon. "Because it's more cruel... shit." There was a change in his demeanour, and he looked between Tav and Astarion. "We're doomed. All right - what do you need from us? We'll help you..."

Both Aurelia and Lean cried out, writhing in pain. Their eyes flared a brighter red.

By the Abyss!

Aurelia struggled for breath, clutching her throat. "The bond. We have no choice. Get out of here, Astarion, before... before..."

Several other silhouettes appeared, and seven sets of red eyes had Tav's group surrounded.

---

None of it felt right. The spawn were not only outnumbered, but they weren't even armed; claws and teeth aside. Neither did they have a full set of armour between them. Nyx and her companions could just as well be fighting civilians. The spawn's strength and speed were not to be underestimated, but it wasn't a match for the fighting experience and superior gear of their opponents.

Light and fire spells blinded the spawn, making them stumble and falter, crying out in pain, fear, and confusion. Nyx deliberately shifted between the battling parties, her knives laced with holy water cutting each spawn in turn. This, combined with the presence of Lathander's mace in Shadowheart's grip, voided their innate ability to regenerate.

One of the spawn hissed then charged at Nyx, claws flashing. She sidestepped, crouching low to kick his feet from underneath him, and drove her knives into his neck. Plumes of smoke rose from his throat, and blood gushed to the ground. He crawled at speed on all fours, teeth gnashing. Nyx backed away and cut another set of lacerations into his chest. Still, he flung himself at her, eyes glowing with uncontrolled rage and hunger. Another ray of light illuminated the area and made him howl in agony, covering his eyes and sealing his fate. Before his body could turn to dust, the red glow from his eyes engulfed his body. He morphed into a crimson glowing mist that shot upwards and streaked an arc through the night sky.

He's gone?

A second streak flared into the air, and Lae'zel roared, "Cowards! Face us and die with honour!"

Wyll lunged with his rapier, sending one more to join the crimson mist. "Cazador is recalling them before they die."

Graces, he has that type of power?

One-by-one the remaining spawn followed their comrades in quick succession until each had returned to Cazador and the night returned to black.

--- --- ---

Smears of his siblings' ashes and blood dotted the ground, and Astarion breathed out a sigh of relief. "What a mess." Turning to the others, he grinned. "Well, at least you've met my family now."

Tav was clenching her fists, and she pointed an accusing finger at him, barely restraining her fury. "I can't believe how you lied to them! You know they'll have to die for the Rite to happen."

He straightened and spat, "What does it matter? There's only six of them. And they are vampire spawn."

Nyx stepped closer and asked in a voice edged with ice. "And so? Yours would be equally forfeit were the roles reversed."

He snapped his gaze to hers. "We aren't like them. We are better."

She scoffed, and the coldness of her stare increased tenfold. "I'm sure I could walk up to the nearest temple; tell them about my nature, and they'll be ready to smite me on the spot - seeing how much better they are too."

"Exactly my point! Everything has changed, what matters now is that I can stand up to Cazador."

Nyx's face remained neutral, but the treacherous frozen lake glistened beneath the surface of her gaze. Tav was looking at him as though he had killed Scratch.

I can't believe this is happening!

He scoffed and said to them, "Ugh, don't look at me like that. With the sweet little 'disappointed I'm not getting cuddly Astarion pout'. I can't take it. I can't be what you see in me."

Tav pinched the bridge of her nose and mumbled to herself. However, Nyx's gaze sharpened into something lethal, cutting through his façade.

Shit.

Nyx looked away for a moment. The slightest quiver in her voice betrayed her dark calm, and she said, "You're welcome to lie to yourself, Astarion. But don't patronise me. You can pretend all you like that you feel nothing for people who you have know for a century or more - but you'll not convince me that your shared torment means nothing and makes you willing to dispose of them so easily."

Why must her convictions always interfere?

Astarion snarled, closed the distance and pulled Nyx aside so the others won't hear. Gesturing to himself in exasperation. "No one ever looked out for me. No one ever said a kind thing to me." When that didn't thaw her icy expression, he changed tactics. "You're the only one. Other people don't have a heart like you. You're you. No one is like that."

Nyx held his glower firmly. "That's not what we discussed a few nights ago. Or am I really still that naïve too?"

Astarion's self righteousness faltered. He frantically grasped for a way to salvage the situation. "I, uh, don't have the best track record with other people's trust, it's true. But don't sell yourself so sort." Drawing himself up, he lulled at her, emphasising the words carefully. "I'm doing this for you, too, you know. To make sure we're both safe. Forever. For good."

She remained unmoved. Inclining her head, she said politely, "I am glad to have been here, to stop them. Truly. However, I'd like to take some time to think. I may be a while. Excuse me."

Astarion watched her go, even though everything in him screamed to chase after her. He remained rooted in place. Anger rose in him then.

Gods, she is spoiling it.

He glared daggers into her back.

I thought she understood. We're supposed to be celebrating! This is a victory.

Nyx disappeared from view, rounding a corner at the end of the road. He sighed dramatically and preened his tunic.

She'll see reason well enough. He doubted that thought as soon as it crossed his mind. Instead, the midnight toll rang in the back of his mind, and it filled him with dread. A terrible dread. He didn't know what else to do. He tried to brush it off, swivelled on his heel, and faced the others.

Old habits came flooding to him upon seeing their disappointed and expectant looks. He smiled, like he always had, and lilted to Tav, "Cazador will be furious." He laughed for good measure. "And he'll be even more furious when I reach his lair and stop him." Her lack of response got the better of him, and he added quickly, "For what it's worth, thank you. No matter what happens when we face them; you helped me stand up against him."

Tav analysed him for a scrutinising moment, glanced toward the point of Nyx's disappearance, and nodded once.

Karlach's rage flared, making them startle, and she growled, "If I see anyone of them again, they're taking a quick trip to the hells. No one fucks with Mama K's soldiers."

There were rumblings of agreement. Karlach's outburst had stirred them into doing something other than staring at Astarion, encouraging their group onward to the Broken Pike Rest.

---

He waited. When he got back to their room, and she wasn't there. The dread pooled in his stomach.

He waited. When he saw that the dresser's door was slightly ajar, nothing was stowed inside. The dread clawed at his throat.

He waited. When there was still no sign of her after he'd hunted, returned and tranced. The dread seized his chest. Several awful scenarios flooded his thoughts as he stood restlessly at the table in the corner.

What if I'd pushed my luck too far?

What if she'd decided to leave for good?

What if something else happened to her after I'd driven her away? Again...

He shoved the chair hard into the table; it bounded back with a wobbling clatter.

"Gods!"

I shouldn't even care. Slumping into the chair, his head in his hands.

His lips drew into a snarl, and he admitted to himself reluctantly, But I do. Care. I don't want to lose her. Try as he may, he couldn't pick up her scent in the bustle of Stonyeyes after his hunt. Too many people, animals, and workshop smells overlaid on top of one another. All he could do was wait. It gnawed at him worse than his hunger ever had.

---

Astarion was at risk of being overwhelmed by a cacophony of emotions, and he had no idea what to do with them. He tried to cling to anger. But anger didn't last long in the face of worry. Distractions were failing miserably, too. Grabbing whatever was at hand, he left the room in a huff and headed for the communal kitchen. Wrestling with his thoughts as he walked down the stairs.

I don't want to be forced to choose. I shouldn't have to. Cazador doesn't have to. I shouldn't either. Not after the shit I had to put up with. I want both. No, I deserve it all. And here she comes along to waylay my plans. Again! She ought to just go along with it. I'm doing it for us.

Her unconvinced expression filled his mind's eye. Neither was he convinced of that last thought either. He stomped into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards.

Nyx and her stubbornness! It would be easy and simple. Everything would be as it should.

He had taken to making tea from the canister Nyx had purchased from Whitkeep's market. She had been drinking it regularly since.

On his return to their room, muted night-time sounds greeted him; from the crickets outside to the muffled creaking noises of the inn's woodwork.

I don't even like tea. And yet here he sat at the table, staring into its gold-coloured water as the steam whirred on its surface.

A vampire making tea!? I've gone mad. I must be, or I'm stricken with an affliction. Brain rot?

The scented steam teased Astarion's nose. Lighter green notes of sweet herbs gave way to deeper browns of aromatic spices.

Perhaps wallowing in wine...

On the verge of pouring himself a bath of wine out of utter frustration, he lurched to his feet when he heard familiar footsteps outside the door. Yet a new set of emotions seized him as Nyx stepped into the room.

Pausing at the door, her puzzled gaze drifted from his eyes to the teacup. "Are you alright?"

An exasperated, "No!", came immediately. Followed by a recovering, "Uh, yes.", then a frowning admission of, "Dammit, I don't know.", and a wave of his hands.

"I thought you'd be out hunting."

"That's it? After running off like that?"

Nyx was awash in her usual calm demeanour. "I said I needed time to think."

Astarion wanted to kick the chair, but instead he gripped the back of it, trying to make sense of his own nonsensical reactions. "I. Ugh, could you at least do it closer next time?"

She blinked at him.

He informed her in a small voice, sticking his nose in the air, "I worried terribly."

And it's your fault! At least he managed to be prim.

A warm smile replied when he looked back at her, now standing on the opposite side of the chair. He sighed in final defeat and chewed, "Could we, talk it through at least?" The wistful softness in her expression was enough to make him flee and weep.

She's going to be the death of my old, dead heart - all over again.

Nyx took one of his hands in hers, and he braced himself for the worst. Thankfully, the evenness of her tone released the chokehold of emotions around his throat. Why is this so hard?

She met his eyes and said, "As I worry for you and this ritual."

His pitched laugh escaped him. "I'm rather concerned for me too. But right now, I find myself more so for you."

She beckoned for him to sit, and he handed the warm teacup over to her. It was her turn to stare into its depths. She mused, becoming comfortingly contemplative, "I keep being reminded of what Joslin said about magic like this." Taking measured sips along with her measured words. "While she was held captive by Clan Flameshade; they had her working on all kinds of forbidden magic. Including soul sacrifices, spirit interference and blood rites."

He didn't like where Nyx was going with this. It tasted of her usual overabundance of caution and rationality.

"'A magic debt'. She had told me: 'Insidious, cleverly deceptive and alluringly designed. Meant to pull you right in.'" Nyx clasped the teacup as though her hands were cold.

He wanted to place his hands over hers, but they had rooted to the table. A statement left his lips instead, "Interesting way to put it."

She nodded solemnly while she reminisced, "Designed to make you think that the 'magic debt' of these types of spells would be offset onto someone else entirely. What more could anyone want? It is the 'sweetest' of deals. But it never wholly is. She came to personally understand on more than one occasion that each magic debt has to be paid by all parties: instantly or gradually; knowingly or unwillingly. There is no escaping it." Nyx took a deep breath and met his gaze. "'Wendy' is her sister."

Shocked, he gaped at her. He wanted to argue against it, but no sensible counterpoints came to him. None that would hold up being turned into a Wendigo! He swallowed. "And you think this is one of those cases?"

She gave him a raised eyebrow. "One so diabolical in nature? I don't see it being anything else other than forbidden."

"Forbidden? You say it like it's a bad thing."

She gave him a long look, sipping her tea.

Then again, it could very well be - couldn't it? Cazador was attempting something no one had seen before, done before. And Cazador would revel. No, no. He'll do more. Much more. He won't allow an inch of power to slip away. Wring the font's neck until the blood runs dry. Strangle out every last drop. Go so far as to ensure that the magic debt affects everyone else but him.

...A contract...

"Shit."

This was supposed to be easy.

--- --- ---

Nyx sat in silence, watching him work it out for himself. She set the teacup back down and said more forcefully, "My clear objections with sacrificing your family aside. I truly fear that this Ritual will have a magic debt beyond our understanding, and I don't want you to be caught in it. I don't think 'worry' even covers it... What would a fiendish ritual like the Rite of Profane Ascension, which gives a devil of Raphael's calibre pause; demand to balance out the scales? From you? From others?"

He tutted and glowered at the room. The graceless truth does not scare away so easily. Nyx would keep pointing it out to him, especially if it could prevent him from doing the unthinkable.

Astarion crossed his arms. Miffed, he accused weakly, "Why'd you have to take the fun out of it? No, don't answer that."

She suppressed a smile. "All I ask is that we consider other avenues."

"What if this is my only chance? All I get. It's not like I'm drowning in opportunities, my sweet."

Nyx puffed out her cheeks, relieved that the conversation wasn't divulging into an argument. She frowned into the teacup, disappointed at its emptiness. "If only one solution to a problem ever existed: I'd taken up Raphael's deal from the start regarding my powers and likely doomed civilisations as a result."

His eyes widened for a moment. Tilting his head, he stated, "A tad dramatic, don't you think?"

I'll ignore that, coming from you.

She shrugged and retorted, "What's the most diabolical thing you can come up with that Raphael would do with access to a portal from Lolth's domain?"

"Countless of souls.", he conceded, sneering.

"Hm, not to mention my own."

The chair protested loudly as Astarion leaned backward, searching the ceiling for answers. "What do you propose?"

Good. That's good. I've come prepared.

"We learn as much as we possibly can about that creepy book of yours."

A quizzical crease lined his brow. "Would that not fall under your 'spiritual interference' cautionary tale?"

Nyx grimaced. "I'm not thrilled at the idea of its obvious spirit involvement, but if they are willing participants then hopefully the risk involved would be far less."

"Pfft, you hope? Or you know?"

"I can only hope, yes. Maybe we can learn more at Sorceress Sundries or the Harbour Light Archives?"

"Not that I've seen in all my centuries."

"What of the restricted sections of their collections?"

"Ha! How would we get access - wait. Unless..." A sly smile crept onto his features.

Nyx held up her hand. "Before we resort to 'repossession'. Let's see if we can't gain entry through official means first."

"The Lady of Dull has bestowed her gifts aplenty tonight."

Nyx snorted. "We'll rope in Tav first; perhaps she has a contact or something to wangle our way in. I can ask Clive too, if you want."

His grin widened. "Resourceful as always, my love."

Her eyes narrowed with amused suspicion. "Are you taking me up on my offer?" The scheming reflected in his rubies was disconcerting, but he agreed. In a way.

"We'll turn it inside out." His grin dropped, and he gave her a sheepish look, but he didn't speak his mind.

Nyx turned over her hand and extended an invitation. He grasped her hand firmly, and Nyx gave his a good squeeze. "We're all working through things. I'm happy to help. Besides, it'll take a lot more than a few marauding vampire spawn to make me run for the hill screaming. Erenerhym, my heart."

He returned the squeeze, looking even more bashful. "I had hoped it wouldn't, R'hunni'vah."

---

There was a newfound eagerness in everyone's step that morning, sans a few sidelong looks directed at Astarion. Nyx intercepted Tav on her way to give Astarion 'a stern talking to'. Relieved and determined, Tav offered her assistance with their plans before anyone made 'rash decisions'. With most of their companions' concerns and doubts put at ease; all their collective focus turned to Basilisk gate.

It was the first of the towering stone gates, flanked by even thicker stone walls on either side that wrapped around the Lower City, protecting the core of Baldur's Gate. Fists marched atop its walls, and circular bastions stood at the ready on each corner. After the usual routine of their passes and goods being inspected, the Fists waved them through with a, "Don't hold up the line."

The sprawling streets and stacked buildings of the city proper spread before them. Eastway was at a higher elevation than the surrounding neighbourhoods, and from their vantage point, they could see most of the city, including Grey Harbour dotted with ship masts, the hazy outline of Seatower in the distance, and the sparkling Chionthar River framed in the background.

Tav whirred around, a huge grin on her face. She threw her hands in the air and declared, "Welcome to Baldur's Gate! We are home."

Cheers rose from their throats; the celebration included a few embraces and shoulder pats. Nyx spared a glance at Basilisk Gate over her shoulder. The gauntlet of the Outer City was behind them and, for Nyx, the Lower City represented a myriad of new opportunities and resources to tap into; against the Chosen, against Cazador, and whatever other challenges lay ahead.

In an exaggerated display of playing host; Tav and Wyll insisted on showing off the city to those not from Baldur's Gate, as well as partaking in a second homecoming for the returning Baldurians. While their group strutted down the street, grinning and pointing at landmarks new and familiar, Nyx stole a glance at Astarion. He had gone quiet, a soft smile playing on his lips as he listened to Tav and Wyll's guided tour.

She said, "You look to be enjoying yourself."

He gave her a lopsided grin and gestured to the scene. "The streets in the sunlight. One can forget how much colour there is in the world."

She smiled and hooked her arm in his. Casting her gaze ahead, resolve settled in her heart.

We'll find our way. I know we will.

The interlude to follow tomorrow!

Aerial shot of Baldur's Gate, Forgotten Realms Wiki