He rolled his eyes. “Stop with the talking and start with the showing,” he replied, throwing my earlier statement back at me.

“Clever,” I muttered, lifting my skirt to retrieve the knife against my thigh.

“Give me your panties,” he demanded.

“I’ll need to be able to bend,” I pointed out. “Which means you need to remove the knife from my throat.”

He grunted and moved his blade down to my hips, his intent to slice through my underwear clear.

Only, I wasn’t wearing any.

Something that distracted him long enough for me to angle my weapon into his groin and slice right through his manhood.

Shock colored his features, followed by a howl of pain as his knees buckled. “Fuck!”

“Yeah, you won’t be doing that again,” I replied flatly. “You’re welcome.”

“You fucking bitch!”

“Oh, is this the name-calling phase of our relationship?” I asked. “In that case, fuck you, you fucking rapist.”

He tried to lunge at me, his form atrocious. Probably because of the pain. Or maybe he just didn’t know how to handle a female fighting back. When he tried to hit me again, I blocked him, then kicked upward. My heel grazed his cheek, the steel tip sharpened for exactly this purpose, leaving a gash across his face. “You’re going to need stitches for that.”

Except, what was I saying?

He wouldn’t be alive long enough to get stitches.

I didn’t want this scum to walk the earth and find more women to torment and rape.

I couldn’t read his mind, but I could see his black aura.

I also knew he worked for Braun—the real reason I was here. I wanted the demon’s location. And I hoped this scumbag had one for me.

“Where can I find Braun?” I asked Paul now.

Braun was the demon I really wanted to kill—the dick who had punched me out of pure enjoyment before shoving his dick inside me and—

No.

I would not give the memory more power.

I twirled my knife instead, arching a brow at the pathetic excuse for a male on the ground. He was torn between cradling his destroyed junk and his disfigured cheek.

“Are you listening to me, Paul? I need to know where Braun is.”

“Fuck you, cunt.” He curled into a ball, causing me to heave a long-suffering sigh.

This was pointless. I’d already stayed too long in this realm. Time to finish this. I’d find Braun another way.

“At least you’ll never be able to hurt another woman again. Vile, disgusting thing.” I knelt and sliced my blade across his throat with a flourish, showing him how it was truly done. “You don’t just press the knife into the jugular. You slice it, moron. But I guess that lesson is lost on you now, isn’t it?”

I watched serenely as he gagged and choked out his last breaths. I expected some sort of cloud to be lifted, a hint of regaining a piece of myself that I lost, yet all I felt inside was hollow.

Maybe I’d feel better as I crossed off the real names on my list. However, there were only three. All the others had died beneath a wave of Valora’s crushing power last year when she took Nova Kingdom for herself.

The monster released a final choke, the last of his foul life leaving him a few moments later. I could leave him here.

Or I could ensure his forever torment in hell.