Back in the cage, I went and again the witches were scratching their heads. That's the thing, when you happen to be as unique as I am then all things are done a little differently. Dresden had been talking for a while about getting a magic tattoo that would make me easy to locate, but also easy to know, that is, who the tattoo would be linked to, you'd know immediately if I was hurt, for example, but I didn't see much point in that because my future husband would of course be the target of the link. But as he wasn't always around. Would it help me at all to be linked to someone who couldn't or wouldn't, at that moment, want to help?

Damon was a complicated creature, I'll tell you that. He could be the best seducer in the universe one moment, pretty much my soul mate, and then in another moment attack my eyes and accuse me of infidelity and lying, stomp out like a teenager with a banging door, and walk away. Only to return a day or two later, as if nothing had happened, Adam had mentioned this to me once and said "Mimi, are you absolutely sure you want to marry Damon? You know how possessive he is. He could hurt you, physically, don't hesitate" Adam always worried. I assured Adam that I could hurt Damon physically too, and I'd had him in the gym more than once under me. Although a couple of times did lead to us having to sanctify the gym. But I didn't tell Adam that. He doesn't need to know how easily I can be seduced. I think the whole tattoo idea would have been better with Adam, and of course, Damon had to take it personally and Dresden promised to get back to me when we had sorted things out.

Every couple of hours the witches drank their magic potions to me and nothing had the effect they would have liked. The last couple had a big pile of very nasty herbs in them and I then got my rage out a bit more. It was evening, or dark anyway, there were no windows in the room where the cages were. It was a concrete cube. I concentrated and managed to wrench the lock and also the shackles off my hands. Ben was on the move. He said " Now you've seen what these bastards are doing and you know for yourself that there is no hope for any of us. Please, let us go, kill the witches and burn this house to the ground so my wife doesn't have to see this." Ben lifted his shirt. His skin was greenish, showing black veins and blotches. In the middle of his chest was a crater where Ben's heart had been. He touched me and on some level, I could kind of feel his desperation. Ben continued "I feel nothing, no hunger, no heat, no cold, no touch, no pain. I want this torment to end because I didn't want to hurt any of them. Never, ever. My wolf is dead. I'm dead. But I can't get to where it's better, not unless you help me." I nodded.

My rage was on display, so this wouldn't be so hard. There was a sword on the wall, what the witches had tried to do to me. I grabbed Ben's head and broke his neck. Then I took the sword and with one stroke I cut his head off. His body slumped a little, he looked like he'd been dead for a couple of months. I went to the other victims. I went to the first cage and I broke the lock, there was a woman, a werewolf. Right at the end. Her wolf was already dead and she was breathing shallow, painful breaths. I saw how she was suffering. I stroked her and she opened her eyes and said " Are you an angel, are you here to let me go? I smiled and put my other hand on her neck and soothed her. I took hold of the cervical vertebrae and twisted once and quickly. The woman went limp and her breathing stopped. Now she looked calm. I cut off the head, even though I knew that a normal werewolf usually dies if the neck is broken. I did the same favor for all 24 victims. I tried to calm them down, and then I just snapped. I went upstairs to where the witches were sleeping, in the Mimosa form. Mimosa wanted to show them something. I was in charge myself when we went like ghosts and one hard bite and the witch was gone. The whole circle of 21 witches. I found some gasoline outside and poured some upstairs and basement and lit it on fire. Then I took the witches' car and drove away.

I finally got to the house and went inside, Adam was agitated and talking on the phone the whole time. Then I heard the word, Ben. He had somehow still been in contact with Ben and had known of his death. This was not going to be an easy conversation. I kind of wished I hadn't had to do this. I went over to Adam and took him by the hand and led him to the couch. Then I told him everything in as much detail as I could. I even showed him my wounds. Adam looked at me coldly when I finished and said "Bran was right, you are a murderer. A cold-blooded inexperienced bitch who enjoys killing and still makes excuses for it - well Bran has already trained you for that mercy killing. Who's next? Me? You stupid girl you don't know anything yet and humans and others say and ask in desperation for death of course. You took away Ben's salvation and those other victims. Now how can Bran or I inform the relatives of those victims that their loved one is dead, when you then decided to play pyromaniac and burn the whole horseshit place down. Oh yes, you had to destroy your evidence so that someone could tell you how easy it was to actually save these victims. did you know that Ben still had a bond with me? Do you know how an Alpha feels when one of his pack dies? You don't know, you fucking ignoramus, you don't know anything about anything and yet you choose to take the lives of people and my friend into your own hands like a fucking god. Now fuck off Mimi. I don't want to see you in this house now and I don't know when I'm gonna suffer to see you again. Maybe one day but it might take a while!" Adam shouted his face red and grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out the front door and threw me down and threw the car keys on the ground.

Samuel came to the door and said, " You're on your own now, Ben was a very dear friend to me too. Now I don't care about any of your injuries and I certainly don't recommend that you go to Bran. He will throw you in a cage and forget about you because we all knew Ben and probably Bran felt when you killed every victim. However, he is a Marrok and is in touch with all the wolves. Now get the fuck out of here. Even if some medical facility took you away from there now I wouldn't care" Samuel's voice was dangerous, angry.

I had never seen such anger and disgust in either of their expressions and I was shocked. I was hurting. The herb potions the witches had poured inside me hurt all the time. My muscles ached and I couldn't or wouldn't keep my rage up all the time. I grabbed the keys from the ground and got in the car and started driving. I didn't know where I was going or why. I had just got my driving license when Adam thought it was safer to drive a car than a motorbike. And now I was all alone. I drove all night and finally made it all the way to Florida. I'd never been there for fun before. I had money saved up from killing people and I thought I'd buy a house. I toured the state a little bit at first, thinking maybe Hollywood for fun, but then finally I ended up in Key West.