Page 119 of Ravenous

“And that accomplishes what?”

Eyrun said, “You’ll see.”

Ven strode into the bustling market, drew her hood off, and yelled, “You there!” She pointed at the largest demon present, a hulking slab of a male with massive horns, froglike skin, and not a stitch of clothing. His breed—mammothdemon—was too big for clothes. “You looked at me the wrong way. I challenge you to combat.”

“Valkyrie?” he grunted. “Fighting no. Fuckingyes.”

Ven said, “I vow to the Lore that if you can beat me, I’ll fuck you. But if I win, you vow to answer all my questions honestly and completely.”

Eyrun leaned in and murmured to Chiyo, “The big ones always make the vow.”

The mammoth demon thumped his chest. “Sword no. Fight fists.”

“Agreed.”

Eyrun studied Chiyo’s reaction. “You don’t want her sleeping with anyone else, do you?”

Chiyo sniffed. “Or maybe I wince in the face of anatomical impossibilities.” She gestured to the demon, already half hard, his warty penis the size of a tree trunk. “And what about the old saying? Enrage not a demon.”

“Superseded by another: Dick not with Valkyries.”

Eye roll. “Does this ploy actually work for information?”

“Has for centuries.” Or it had—until their last trip to Rhun.

There, Ven had pinned down a huge demon who confessed that none in the land would attack Valkyries because the king forbade it. Ven had sensed more, pressed him—

—and King Pyrrik himself had appeared, incinerating the ground around the two combatants, a warning shot before a kill.

“I forbade aggression against you,” he’d said, eyes like flames. “That doesn’t mean I tolerate the reverse.” With a sneering bow, the infernal high lord had traced away.

But that was then. A new round was about to begin as Ven and the mammoth finished making their vows. She crossed to Eyrun and handed over her sword.

“Look out!” Eyrun barked.

The mammoth traced behind Ven and punched her square in the back of the head. She shot forward like a missile, smashing into a pub wall. A Ven-shaped hole gaped in the rustic brick.

“Fuckity-ugh,” Eyrun murmured. “She’s going to scorch the Skein.”

Moments later, Ven stalked out of the pub, brick dust on her face and murder in her gaze. As lightning struck in a staccato succession, her pupils turned Valkyrie silver.

Demons whistled low. Some of the miniature breeds ducked from the boltsand whimpered.

The mammoth’s erection wilted.

Ven cracked her neck as more lightning strobed in the background. A bolt hit the ground directly behind her, making her hair whip.

More whimpering.

Then she moved.

She blurred forward, reappearing beside the mammoth, his severed balls already in her blood-drenched hand. She flung the weighty sack away without breaking stride.

The demon collapsed with a shriek, stemming blood with his palms. Onlookers groaned and turned their knees in.

Ven vaulted over his chest, sprang over his head, and snapped his horns off mid-flight. She landed lightly and held them up to the crowd. Then she returned to stab his eyes out with them, leaving the horns planted in a gruesome tableau.

“See no!” he wailed. “Balls no!”