“I don’t see anyone else.” His beady eyes bored into me as he tugged me closer. “They must not be such great friends to let you walk home by yourself this late at night.”
A grin curled on his lips, one that would’ve sent a shiver of fear down most people’s bones. His intentions were clear in that look alone—he thought he was the predator, and he had just caught his prey for the night.
“I could be your friend, you know?” His voice was smooth as he tried to lure me into his trap. “I’ll walk you home.”
“That’s okay.” I tried weakly to pull my arm from his grip, but his fingers only tightened around my skin.
“I insist.” His eyes devouring me as they slid down my body, he bared his teeth in a feral grin that had me making a mental note to scrub any trace of that look and his touch from my skin. “Besides, you shouldn’t be going anywhere by yourself. With an ass like that, who knows what someone will do with you once they get a hold of you.”
It took every ounce of my willpower to stop myself from rolling my eyes. It had to have been enough time by now, right?
Fuck it.
A feline smile spread across my lips as I dropped the act, my finger slowly gliding up the arm that was holding mine until his grip loosened. Suspicion glinted in his eyes for a moment before excitement took its place.
“You know, I’d usually rip out a man’s tongue for speaking to me like that,” I purred, eyeing his mouth as I traced my thumb over his chin, nearly grazing his bottom lip.
He shuddered in response, leaning into me, his mind only registering the touch and not my words.
“On second thought,” I murmured as his lips parted, his tongue darting out to lick them. I wanted to laugh. Did he seriously think he was getting anywhere near me?
Before he could catch on to my intentions, I grasped the knife at my thigh, and in one fluid motion, I grabbed his tongue in my firm grip. Surprise and intrigue lit in his eyes, but that fascination was quickly replaced with horror as the glint of my blade flashed toward the slimy, vile appendage.
The blade sliced through it with ease, and I quickly dropped the half of his tongue I held as blood sprayed from the severed body part, the hot, sticky, crimson liquid coating the front of my dress as he stood there, frozen. His eyes were wide as he slowly processed what had just happened before the panic set in.
His hand released my arm completely now, and he wildly grasped at his mouth, his brain still trying to catch up with what I’d done. Blood spurted from between his fingers, his muffled screams now becoming garbled and wet from the amount of the vital fluid now flooding his airways.
“What was that?” A man’s voice echoed from down the block, the words barely audible over the predator’s best attempts to scream without his tongue.
“Look what you’ve gone and done.” I sighed as he collapsed to his knees, his hands falling from his face as he barely kept himself from face-planting on the sidewalk. “You just had to go and ruin my fun.”
I glared down at the repulsive man, who surely would have forced himself on another woman if I hadn’t come along tonight. Who probably had countless times while under the protection of the Barones.
I kicked him in the face, grimacing as he cried out again and blood soaked my legs.
He finally lost his balance, the blood pooling around him as he rested his face against the cement. It wouldn’t be long now. There was too much blood spurting from his mouth for him to remain alive much longer, but he deserved every agonizing second until hell reclaimed his tattered shred of a soul.
I quickly cleaned my blade off on his suit jacket and re-sheathed it as footsteps echoed on the pavement. Ducking behind the corner of the next building, I ditched the shoes, not wanting my movements to be heard as his friends rounded the corner.
“What the fuck?” one of them exclaimed, undoubtedly taking stock of the state his friend had been left in.
Pulling the gun from my bag, I pressed my back against the wall.
Hopefully, I hadn’t killed him too quickly—
“He still has a pulse—barely, though,” another from the group said, cursing under his breath. “Call the medic team and get the rest of the teams over here now.”
I grinned, the simple command music to my ears. That was exactly what I wanted. That waste of space was good for something, at least.
“Who the fuck did this to him?”
“It was obviously one of the Demons,” one of the men said. “Fuck, how do we keep him from bleeding any more? I don’t want to stick my hand in his mouth.”
“Maybe some clothes?”
“No, that will suffocate him, you idiot.”
“Figure it out,” someone else barked. “I have a feeling we might at least have a witness hiding around here.”