I squeezed my way through the crowds to where she was dancing with David and tapped him on the shoulder. I didn’t have to say a word; he instantly handed her over to me, congratulating us once more.

Pulling her close, I kissed her softly. “Ready to leave yet?”

Smiling, she arched a brow. “Anxious to get me out of this dress?”

“Actually, I’m totally fine with you leaving it on while I bury myself inside you.” I’d been imagining doing that all night long. “Come on, let’s go. I want you all to myself.”

“But we’ll miss all the fireworks.”

“I’ll make you come so hard you’ll see plenty of fireworks.”

“Cocky bastard. Okay, let me just tell—”

“No, trust me, you don’t want to tell anyone.” I began leading her to one of the darkened corners.

“Why?”

“Because it’s tradition for the guests to then line up for the newly Bound couple to shake their hand.”

“That’s a bad thing?”

“Yes, because all the guys will kiss you, and all the women will kiss me; it’s an age-old thing that, dumb as it is, people still do − it’s supposed to get the blood running.” The only thing it would do was piss me off and make me contemplate who to kill first.

Her smile fell. “You’re right, then; I don’t want to tell anyone. Let’s just sneak away. But first…there’s a little someone I’d like to see.”

I didn’t need to ask who she was talking about. “We can do that tomorrow.”

“You want her gone, don’t you? If we do this now, you won’t have to spend one more second worrying about her. We can start our life as a Bonded couple without there being any loose ends that need tying up. She’ll be gone from our lives for good. Then we can concentrate on enjoying this night.”

Well, when she put it like that...“Okay, let’s go.”

“Wait, where’s Evan?”

I frowned. “Evan?”

“He’s still linked to her, remember. We need Chico to use his darts to put him unconscious for a while. That should help him skip the pain.”

Nodding, I led her to where Evan stood, laughing with a dark-haired Keja female – and being scowled at by Alora for it, who was sat with Bran not far away. “Magda,” was all I needed to say for him to understand.

“Sorry to ask you to leave the party early,” said Sam, “but we’d like to get this part over with.”

Evan held up his hand, smiling. “Hey, it’s okay. I want her dead as much as you both do. I want my link to her gone for good. That’s better than any party could be.”

“One of Chico’s darts will put you unconscious until it’s over.”

Evan kissed Sam on the cheek, still smiling. “Make it painful.” He then patted me on the back and headed for Chico.

Taking Sam’s hands, I teleported us to the main door of the containment cells beneath the large mansion. One of the guards slid open the door’s small window, saw it was us, and opened the door wide. Having exchanged nods with him, Sam and I followed Magda’s scent as we walked down the row of cells – all of which were constructed of unbreakable glass thanks to one of the vampires within the legion who had an affinity to glass and could shape and manipulate it.

Some of the cells were empty, and some contained weary looking vampires who clearly knew this was the end for them. Eventually we reached Magda’s cell. She was curled up on the floor, shaking, panting, sweating, and moaning. Brook was in the neighbouring cell, also huddled on the ground as Magda’s pain tormented him through their link.

Obviously having sensed us, she opened her eyes.

Sam smiled pleasantly. “Hurts like f**k, doesn’t it?”

“Fuck you, bitch,” hissed Magda, glaring at Sam with utter hatred in her bloodshot eyes.

“I’d like to call you the same thing, but you don’t have warmth and character.”

Magda’s eyes shot to me and there was a plea for mercy in them. Was she for real? When I snorted, she slid her gaze back to Sam, curling her upper lip. “He still cares for me.”

Sam cocked her head. “Not getting tired of this?”

“He’ll always care for me. He still feels linked to me.”

“No he doesn’t, silly.” The mock pity on Sam’s face almost made me laugh. She held up her hand, admiring the knot on her finger. Magda’s eyes honed in on it, and her face quickly twisted into a hideous scowl. “I did warn you that you’d lose the long-term fight, Magda. All you had to do was let it go. That would have been the fair thing to do for Jared, considering you owe him big time. And you would have escaped this agony that you’re in now. Such a silly girl.”

Magda growled. “Just you remember he was mine first. He loved me first. I’m the one who made him.”

“Yes, you did make him. And as much as I’m grateful to have him, it seems that I actually have enough goodness in me to wish that you hadn’t taken his human life from him. Jared and Evan – they both deserved to live long happy, human lives. And Magda, you deserve to die. That’s right, I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you, and no one will f**king care. But on a lighter note, you won’t have to endure that pain much longer. You should thank me for putting you out of your misery. Ordinarily I wouldn’t put a dog down.”

“Jared,” she moaned. “How can you let her do this to me!”

“Very easily, actually. As if it’s not enough that you Turned my brother against his will, you toyed with me and betrayed me and manipulated me into letting you Turn me. Worse than all of that, not only did you put the woman I love through a serious amount of pain, you later kidnapped her and handed her over to those f**kers. Why you’re expecting any mercy is beyond me.”

Magda’s expression quickly turned cold. “Then I hope you both rot in hell.”

“But that would mean meeting you again. I’d rather not.”

Sam stepped forward at the same time as she conjured a large energy beam and began twirling it around like it was a baton. “A small part of me is going to miss you. You know how dear you are to me.” She held it up, ready to aim. “Prepare to become a believer.” And then she threw the beam, which buried itself into Magda’s stomach. She screamed and shook and writhed before eventually bursting into ashes.