Prologue

Crows Hollow

"Please. You don't have to do this!"

I put the roll of tools I keep inside my leather knife bag down, unrolling it and letting the dim lights of her living room glint against the metal handles and blades of things I haven't used in a very long time.

You see, I didn't think I could kill again. It was only once, I told myself. Only the one time. And it was for a good reason. God will understand when I get to heaven.

But then, I saw her. I saw how easily she bends to him. How simply she'd killed in that club over a year ago. I had been making my way towards the table, determined to remove my intoxicated friend from their current company. Joe was a fucking menace, after all. He was always sticking his goddamn foot in his mouth. I knew he would cause more problems if left to his own devices.

That's when I watched him hand her a gun. I stalled, unable to move and help Joe to safety. The angle I was watching them from gave me the perfect view as she took the gun, a silencer on its tip, positioned it under his lifted arms, and pulled the trigger.

There was no anger or malice on her face, either.

Only bliss.

I followed them to the alley, where I watched him fuck her dead and then bring her back to life.

The way they looked at one another and lived for one another.

I wanted it.

He doesn't deserve her.

She should be mine.

Never once, in all my time stalking them, have I seen him handle her with care, treat her as she should be, or tell her he loves her.

She's a beautiful fucking mess. And she should be treasured as such, like a rare gem.

She should be treated like the queen of the damned that she is.

And I know I need to be the one to do it.

I've bided my time long enough. I knew they'd come back, lured in with the murders with the Butcher's calling card.

She's the third. I know they'll be here soon.

They'll be mine to play with.

"Please," she says again.

I grab the pliers from inside the leather roll on the table, stepping towards her with clear intent.

"Did your victims beg?" I ask. "I wonder that, you know? Every time I come for one of you pieces of shit, you beg me for your life. Try to save me from what the Devil will delve out by telling me I don't have to do this. But the thing is, you're a monster, too. You're just like me. While I'm ridding the world of the stain of you, you're trying to settle in deeper. Hang on longer."

I lean over her, letting the pliers run down her face.

"So, did they beg?" I ask again.

She sniffles but nods. Snot bubbles out of her nose, and I scoff.

"Open wide," I command.

She doesn't comply. They never do, after all.

Turning on my heels, I grab for an oral speculum. I'd gotten it online for the low price of $19.99.

When I have it in place, her screams are unbidden, and my ears feel the need to bleed.

"Scream all you like. Soon, you won't have the voice to. Well, I guess you can scream your way to hell, right? The Devil will be happy because I've done some of his work for him. And because you won't be able to beg for your life."

I've added to Neo Wade's M.O. a bit. Making the police chase their fluffy little tails and likely driving him insane. Even more so than he already is. See, I'm killing those women who did their time—paid for their crimes against humanity already.

And for that, I know Neo will be blamed. But I don't care. I want to toy with him a little before I take what's mine. Before I steal away my bloody prize like a thief in the night.

I clamp the pliers onto her tongue, letting them dangle over her chin, pulling her tongue from her mouth taut as she screams and her eyes overflow with tears.

I love to collect tongues—the ones they lie on the stand with and use to lure in their victims.

I'll have a shelf full soon if Neo doesn't hurry.

As I grab my knife from the roll, I wonder if maybe that's why he hasn't come. Maybe he wants this to all fall on me. Perhaps he sees me as beneath him.

Anger roils in my stomach, and I lurch forward with my knife, setting to dismember the blonde strapped to the chair before me.

"Don't worry, you'll pass out soon. That's when the fun begins! Just you wait."

Her screams are almost incessant until my knife sinks through her tongue, and then they become panicked. She tries her hardest to jerk in her chair, but she's tied too tightly.

Before long, her eyes roll back, and the blood oozing from her mouth is immense, spraying my face long before I have the tongue free and into my jar on the table.

Once I close the lid, however, I take a moment to stand in the peace and silence before I set to getting rid of the scumbag.

It's a tedious task; killing. Especially if you want to get away with it. I sigh, stepping back onto the plastic mats beneath my limp victim.

Soon, though, it's all going to be worth it. All my hard work is going to pay off.

Soon, my poisonous flower. Soon you'll be mine.