“Just thought it would be a good idea to keep your arms pinned to your sides,” explained Sam. “We can’t have you throwing anything else, can we?”
“Harvey,” I called.
He stepped forward. “Yup?”
“Does this mean your gift is back and in full working order?”
His smirk was wide and excited. “Yup.”
“Good. Hold this bastard up for me. I want everyone to watch.” I wanted everyone to see what would happen if they considered betraying us ever again. I needed to make a point to all vampirekind that betrayal wouldn’t be tolerated – that an attempt on my mate’s life wouldn’t be tolerated. I couldn’t risk others coming for Sam. It had to be this way. There had to be a display that the people here would never forget; a story that would spread like wildfire.
Covington’s eyes widened as Harvey elevated him high in the air using his gift. He struggled once more against the grip of Sam’s whip, but still he couldn’t get free. Eyes bulging with both fear and fury, he glowered down at me. “You won’t duel with me because you know you’ll lose!”
“I won’t duel with you because you don’t deserve the honour of one.” I smiled grimly at him. “And this is the part where you’ll pay for what you did – for hurting my mate, for hurting Antonio, and for bringing death and destruction to The Hollow.”
Driven by a combination of fury, grief, and a need for vengeance, I held up my palm and sent a charge of electricity crashing into his brain…but not a charge high enough to kill him. No, that would be for later. What I intended to do was deliver a charge of electricity to every single vulnerable spot of his body, one by one. And I did. He screamed and repeatedly begged for me to stop, but I ignored those pleas. Then, finally, when I knew he was close to death, I delivered one last high voltage bolt to his chest. That was all it took – screaming, he exploded into ashes.
The looks on everybody’s faces told me that the message I’d sent had been received, loud and clear. It was a message that would spread. And only a fucking idiot would ignore it. Sam slipped her hand into mine, and everyone bowed slightly. I had to smile when Sam groaned – she hated bowing. If there hadn’t been so many deaths, the vampires here would have undoubtedly cheered at Covington’s demise, but most of them were still raw with anger and pain at how many lives had been lost.
Antonio came forward, sighing at Sam. “You should not have offered your life for ours,” he admonished.
No she damn well shouldn’t have.
Her voice was low as she asked, “Aren’t you at least a little pissed off that I would have risked so many lives to protect Jared?”
“No. I would not have expected any other response. And neither would the vampires around you have done.” Murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “But I do appreciate the sacrifice that you were willing to make for us all. Still, do not do it again.”
“She won’t.” I flashed her a reprimanding look. She just rolled her eyes. That hot little ass was definitely getting spanked later. Using our bond, I sent her an image of her naked and bent over my knee with my hand raised above her ass. She gasped in outrage, turning to face me fully. “Oh it’s going to happen,” I assured her, my tone dark. And what did she do? She sent an image back to me…an image of Dexter biting my ear while she laughed in delight. Damn crazy bitch.
Chapter Eighteen
(Sam)
It wasn’t often that I had nightmares. Or if I did, I simply didn’t remember them when I woke. But dreaming that your mate was burning alive while you were restrained and forced to watch was enough to make a girl abruptly snap awake and bolt upright in the bed.
Attuned to me, Jared was instantly awake and sitting up beside me, brushing my hair away from my face. “Bad dream?” His voice was croaky with sleep.
Still feeling choked by the agony of watching him die, I couldn’t speak. Making soothing noises, he gently coaxed me to lie beside him and pulled me tight against him. The strange bed wasn’t as comfortable as our bed, but as our apartment building was in a pretty bad state after the battle yesterday evening, we had taken one of the spare rooms in Antonio’s mansion.
In fact, most of the people within The Hollow were sleeping in the mansion as it was the building that had suffered the least amount of damage – Covington had obviously hoped to keep it for himself. The Command Centre, the Guest House, and the Residence Halls were still standing, but other buildings had collapsed. Almost all of them had suffered from fire and smoke damage to some degree. The once beautiful place looked like a warzone.
Worse than the damage to The Hollow itself was the damage to the population within it. Six of the ten squads from the legion had been wiped out, including their commanders. Most of Antonio’s many guards were dead, as were Luther’s and Sebastian’s consorts. Only thirty-eight humans remained, and ten of those were badly injured. There had originally been forty-three surviving humans, but seven of them had been on the verge of death and chosen to be Turned into vampires rather than die.
Thankfully, Reuben, Damien, and Denny were recovering well from their injuries – albeit slowly. Cristiano, Jude, and Sebastian had also been badly hurt, but they had almost fully recovered. The main thing was that they would recover. The same sadly couldn’t be said for many of the other vampires that had been injured. Paige had been too exhausted to help them all – in fact, she’d passed out after a while. Our allies had also lost some of their vampires during the battle. Furthermore, those who were Bound to another vampire effectively caused the death of their mates when they died.
So many deaths. So many pointless deaths.
Unsure if the walls were vampire-soundproof and not wanting to wake anyone, I spoke quietly. “We should hold a remembrance day.”
Jared’s eyelids slowly opened. “A remembrance day?” His voice was also quiet.
“For all those who died last night. They deserve to have their memory and their sacrifice acknowledged and honoured.”
He cupped my face, brushing his thumb over my bottom lip. “That’s a good idea. We’ll do it as soon as we’ve fixed this place up.”
I sighed, knowing my eyes were glistening with tears. “There’s so much damage.”
“Hey, don’t cry,” he said gently, dabbing a kiss on my forehead. He slid his hand around to my nape and began to massage it soothingly. “Wes, Quentin, and all the High Masters have offered to help. Add their vampires to ours, and we’re talking hundreds of people. I think we could have the place looking good again within a couple of weeks. It’ll definitely be done in time for the Coronation.”
“I’m a little surprised that not even one person has objected to us replacing Antonio due to the hybrid thing.”
Releasing my nape, he combed his fingers through my hair. “I’m not. The High Masters witnessed you agree to Covington to give up your own life in exchange for the lives of everyone here.” His eyes darkened with anger as he added, “And we’ll be having a separate conversation about that very soon.”
I was surprised that he hadn’t already lectured me over it, considering that the anger he was feeling had been simmering close to the surface since yesterday evening.
“Plus, they would be idiots to go against someone as powerful as you, particularly considering what I’d do to anyone who even thought about it.”
“No one will forget what you did to Covington.” I wouldn’t either. I had a strong stomach, but even I’d been disturbed by it all. I hadn’t been disturbed by Jared, though. I’d always known that he was merciless, so I wouldn’t have expected anything different. The second Covington had put a knife to Antonio’s throat – the only decent paternal influence Jared had ever had – he’d signed his death warrant. It was really that simple. The fact that Covington had also wanted me dead had only made the entire thing worse.