diff --git a/library/_cadbiom/cadbiom.c b/library/_cadbiom/cadbiom.c
index 1a907ca4fc97f337bf5329113c94cb7d142c2310..99ac91543ac3a99345413094ae49274fcf53eac5 100644
--- a/library/_cadbiom/cadbiom.c
+++ b/library/_cadbiom/cadbiom.c
@@ -270,10 +270,8 @@ static int _forward_code(PyObject *self, PyObject *clause, PyObject **numeric_cl
     PyObject *multiply_result;
     #ifdef IS_PY3K
     PyObject *last_char = PyUnicode_FromString("`");
-    PyObject *py_shift_step = PyLong_FromLong(*shift_step);
     #else
     PyObject *last_char = PyString_FromString("`");
-    PyObject *py_shift_step = PyInt_FromLong(*shift_step);
     #endif
     Py_ssize_t i = 0;
     Py_ssize_t name_size = 0;
@@ -300,7 +298,6 @@ static int _forward_code(PyObject *self, PyObject *clause, PyObject **numeric_cl
             Py_DECREF(literals);
             Py_DECREF(literals_iterator);
             Py_DECREF(last_char);
-            Py_DECREF(py_shift_step);
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_KeyError, "lit_name not found in dict");
             return 0;
         }
@@ -361,7 +358,6 @@ static int _forward_code(PyObject *self, PyObject *clause, PyObject **numeric_cl
     Py_DECREF(literals);
     Py_DECREF(literals_iterator);
     Py_DECREF(last_char);
-    Py_DECREF(py_shift_step);
 
     if (PyErr_Occurred()) {
         /* propagate error */