---
It takes an hour.
The wife is in the master bedroom. The three sons are in the east wing. The two daughters are in the library.
We kill them all.
Melinda handles most of it—she's an assassin, after all, and this is her contract. But I assist where needed, using void magic to prevent escapes or silence screams.
By the time we're done, the entire family is dead.
We stand in the main hall, surrounded by bodies, and Melinda turns to me.
"Thank you," she says. "I couldn't have done this as cleanly without you."
"My pleasure." I step closer, and the bond flares again. "Now let me introduce you to my first mate."
Her expression shifts—curiosity mixed with something like nervousness. "Your first mate is here?"
"In the city. Waiting for us." I offer my hand. "Come. You'll like her."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because she's exactly like us." I smile. "Beautiful. Deadly. And completely unrepentant about what she is."
Melinda takes my hand, and the bond settles into place—warm, secure, *right*.
"Then I can't wait to meet her," she says.
///
I'm sitting in the inn's common room when they arrive.
Ghatak enters first, and behind him is the woman from the marketplace.
Up close, she's even more striking. Strawberry blonde hair, violet eyes, a face that's both beautiful and severe. She moves with the kind of grace that comes from decades of combat training.
And she's looking at me with a mixture of respect and wariness.
"Astraea," Ghatak says, "this is Melinda Crookshank. My second mate."
I stand and extend my hand. "Welcome."
Melinda takes it, and I feel the faint echo of the bond that connects her to Ghatak. It's not as strong as what I share with him—I'm his first mate, after all—but it's undeniable.
"Thank you," she says. Her voice is controlled, professional. "I... I wasn't expecting this."
"None of us were." I gesture to the table. "Sit. Tell me about yourself."
We spend the next hour talking.
Melinda is 472 years old—a pure-blood vampire who's spent the last three centuries working as an assassin. She's reserved, stoic, and utterly lethal. She doesn't apologize for what she is or what she does.
*Perfect.*
"I killed the mayor and his family tonight," she says. "With Ghatak's help."
"Good." I lean back in my chair. "They deserved it."
"You're not... bothered? By what I do?"
"Why would I be?" I tilt my head. "I've spent the last week massacring villages and kidnapping their populations. I'm hardly in a position to judge."
Her eyes widen slightly. "You've been... massacring villages?"
"Systematically." I smile. "We're building a civilization on another planet. We need population. So we're taking it."
"By force."
"By any means necessary." I meet her gaze. "Does that bother you?"
She considers this for a long moment. Then she shakes her head. "No. It doesn't."
"Good." I glance at Ghatak. "Then you're welcome to join us. We have nine more villages to harvest before we reach Vesper. Your skills would be useful."
"What's in Vesper?" Melinda asks.
"My sister," I say. "She's been missing for two thousand years. We're tracking her down."
"And the villages along the way?"
"Resources." I shrug. "Opportunities. Entertainment."
Melinda's lips curve into a small smile. "I think I'm going to enjoy this."
We leave Thornhaven the next morning.
The three of us—Ghatak, Melinda, and me—moving west toward the next village.
The dynamic has shifted. We're no longer just a pair. We're a *triad*. Three predators hunting together.
And it feels *right*.
The fourth village appears two days later.
It's larger than the previous ones—maybe eight hundred people. A farming community with fields stretching in every direction.
"How do you want to do this?" Melinda asks.
"Efficiently," I say. "We take the women and children first. Kill anyone who resists. Wipe their memories and transport them to Draconis."
"And the men?"
"Depends." I survey the village. "If they're useful, we take them. If not..."
"We kill them," Ghatak finishes.
Melinda nods. "Understood."
The massacre is beautiful.
Melinda moves through the village like a ghost, her blade finding throats and hearts with surgical precision. She doesn't waste movement. Doesn't hesitate. Just kills with the kind of efficiency that comes from centuries of practice.
Ghatak uses his void magic to erase anyone who tries to flee. Not killing—*unmaking*. Removing them from existence piece by piece.
And I orchestrate it all with chaos magic, tearing buildings apart, cracking the earth open, creating terror and confusion that makes resistance impossible.
By the time the sun sets, the village is ours.
Six hundred forty-three people gathered in the ruins. Most are women and children. The men who survived are young and strong—useful for labor or breeding.
I move through the crowd, placing my hand on each forehead, wiping memories with void magic.
Blank slates. Empty vessels. Ready to be filled with new identities and purposes.
Melinda watches with fascination. "You're erasing who they are."
"Completely," I confirm. "When they wake up on Draconis, they won't remember their names, their families, their lives. They'll be whatever we tell them to be."
"That's..." She pauses. "That's brilliant."
"It's necessary." I open the portal. "We're not just building a civilization. We're building a *species*. And that requires population. Genetic diversity. Resources."
"And you don't care where those resources come from."
"Not even a little bit."
The portal swallows them all—six hundred forty-three people disappearing into the dimensional gateway.
When it closes, silence falls over the empty village.
"Two villages in three days," Ghatak says. "Over twelve hundred people harvested."
"And nine more villages to go," I add.
Melinda looks between us. "You're really going to do this? Massacre your way across the western territories?"
"Yes," I say simply.
"Why?"
"Because I can." I meet her gaze. "Because I need to. Because building a civilization requires resources, and I'm willing to take them by force."
"And the guilt?" she presses. "The moral conflict?"
"Gone." I smile. "I'm done pretending to be something I'm not. I'm a predator. A conqueror. A goddess of destruction. And I'm going to take what I want without apology."
Melinda studies me for a long moment. Then she nods. "Good. I don't work well with people who hesitate."
We make camp in the ruins of the village.
The three of us sit around a fire, sharing a meal and discussing strategy.
"The next village is four days west," Ghatak says. "Smaller. Maybe four hundred people."
"Easy," Melinda says.
"And after that?"
"Two more villages, then a larger town. Population around two thousand."
I whistle. "That's ambitious."
"But doable," Ghatak says. "Especially with three of us."
Melinda leans back, her violet eyes reflecting the firelight. "I have to admit, this is more interesting than my usual contracts."
"Killing corrupt politicians gets boring?" I ask.
"Eventually." She smiles. "This... this is something different. Something *bigger*."
"We're building an empire," Ghatak says. "One village at a time."
"An empire built on bones and blood," I add.
"The best kind," Melinda says.
Later, when the fire has burned down to embers, the three of us retreat to the tent we've set up.
The intimacy is new. Uncertain. But the fated bonds make it feel natural.
Ghatak is in the center—his first mate on one side, his second on the other.
I can feel Melinda's hesitation. She's not sure where she fits in this dynamic.
"You're his mate," I tell her. "That makes you family. That makes you *ours*."
"I'm not trying to replace you," she says quietly.
"I know." I reach across Ghatak and take her hand. "And I'm not threatened. Dragons have multiple mates. It's normal. Expected. I'll have more than five before I'm done. So will he."
"So this is just... the beginning?"
"The beginning of something bigger," Ghatak confirms. He pulls us both closer. "We're building something together. All of us."
Melinda relaxes slightly. "I've never had a mate before. Never thought I would."
"Neither did I," I admit. "But here we are."
"Here we are," she echoes.
Ghatak kisses her—slow, deep, claiming. Then he turns and kisses me with equal intensity.
"Both of you," he murmurs. "Mine. Always."
"Always," I agree.
"Always," Melinda whispers.
We make love slowly, carefully, learning each other's bodies and boundaries.
It's not the desperate, primal coupling Ghatak and I shared after the first massacres. This is something different—an exploration, a claiming, a binding of three souls into something new.
When we finish, we lie tangled together, breathing hard, the tent filled with the scent of sex and satisfaction.
"Nine more villages," I say.
"Nine more harvests," Ghatak agrees.
"And then Vesper," Melinda adds. "And your sister."
"And my sister," I confirm.
I close my eyes and let the satisfaction wash over me.
We're no longer just two predators hunting together.
We're *three*.
And the world should be terrified.