Page 95 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

I stepped closer. I was almost within arm’s reach.

Kylie’s frenzied laugh stopped as she straightened and looked at me, blood running down both sides of her face, gathering and dripping from the tip of her chin.

“I underestimated you,” she said with another manic laugh. “That won’t happen again.”

She reached behind her under her jacket and pulled a gun from her waistband. She cocked the gun and straightened her arm, aiming the barrel right at my face.

26

Always Read The Fine Print before Joining a Cult or a Rebellion

Istared down the barrel of that gun, not knowing what to do. Any second, Kylie could pull the trigger, and it would all be over.

I didn’t know what to do. My left arm hung limp and heavy at my side. It was getting harder to move my fingers. An icy numbness replaced the searing heat that had coursed through my body from that wound.

Kylie looked at me again, seeming to take stock of me, then clicked her tongue. “It really is such a waste,” she said. “You have so much natural skill, and I admire your fight. I was planning on killing you quickly, but then you had to fight back. You just had to push, and you had the fucking nerve to scar my face. How the fuck am I supposed to explain this?”

I smirked. “Don’t you know? Scars are sexy. They are nature’s tattoos.” I echoed the words she’d said to me a few days ago, trying hard not to let my voice quiver and show how scared I really was. “Just think, now you won’t have to contour.”

Kylie snarled before lowering the gun just a little and to the right. Now it was pointed not at my face but at my body.

“I am definitely going to kill you, but as my mother always said, waste not, want not. Killing you outright would be such a waste when there are so many other things I could do to you first.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to act bored as I tightened my core, hoping it would stop my knees from trembling.

“I’m thinking first I’m going to shoot both of your feet so you can’t run away.” She spoke slowly in a soft but condescending tone, like she was talking to a child. “Then I’m going to put a bullet or two in each of your hands so you won’t be able to fight back. Do you know what I’m going to do next?”

“You are going to bore me to death?” I asked with a straight face. I didn’t want to let her see how much pain I was in, how much my shoulder throbbed or how much her words affected me.

“No, silly girl, I am going to give you over to my men. After your encounters, I know they would love to get their hands on you. They are aching for some payback for the beating Rune gave them and the trouble you caused. There was also some discussion about succubus that I’m sure you could provide some insight on. They are eager to find out if fucking a sex demon is as satisfying as any other demon. Does being a succubus make your cunt tighter to bring the men more pleasure, or looser to accommodate your no doubt many lovers?

“I’m afraid these questions have been dominating my men’s minds for a while, so I’ll let them play with you until you break. And you will break. They’ll use your body over and over until your mind fractures.

“Only then will I drop your body at the feet of Rune with a note saying your sister would be returned in the same condition soon. That will surely torment Rune. His rage will force him out of his father’s protection, where I can easily dispatch him as well.” Her crazed smile told me she meant every word.

“I doubt that is what your mother had in mind when she told you not to be wasteful. What would she think of her daughter letting a girl be ganged raped? Is feminism not a thing in Hell yet?”

“My mother wouldn’t say a damn thing. She was killed years ago for trying to help people. She was slaughtered for trying to balance the scales between the rich and the poor. Do you know what justice she got?”

I stayed silent.

“None. Her community didn’t help her. They let her die in the street, then they sold me to the highest bidder. Every single one of them will pay for the years of abuse I went through and for my mother’s blood. I’ll pull every single noble down one by one and let them be torn apart by the people they let starve. I’ll take my rightful place as ruler of Hell, and anyone who doesn’t fall in line will meet the same fate you’re about to!”

By the end of Kylie’s rant, she was panting, the gun shaking in her hand. She was so consumed with the idea of her revenge, she didn’t notice the figure standing behind her. She didn’t feel the arm come around her, not until it tightened over her throat, yanking her back.

Sif had her mother in a choke hold. Kylie struggled, but Sif held firm. Kylie’s eyes slid closed, then her fingers relaxed, dropping the gun seconds before her body went limp.

I dove for the gun before Sif let go of her unconscious mother.

When I stood back up, clenching the gun in my right hand, my left shoulder throbbed harder. The fingers in that hand felt like pins and needles were pricking at me.

My head swam as I stood up. I thought I might’ve lost too much blood. I didn’t have long to get Vivi and get out.

“Why?” I pointed the gun at Sif.

“Because I didn’t sign up to replace one tyrant with another.” She looked me straight in the eye as she held her arms in surrender before adding, “I may want to kill you, but rape is something else altogether.”

I didn’t trust her, but there wasn’t time to press. The edges of my vision were getting blurry. I wouldn’t be able to stay on my feet much longer.