Vicious and Malicious

The woman leaned down and grasping the knife handle, jerked it out, blood from the blade spattering her fur lined cloak.

“A danger despite your chains,” she spoke, holding the knife lightly in her palm. “You think I have reason to fear you but you don’t understand. You are no threat to me.”

“Pass me that knife, and perhaps we’ll find out different,” Dashenka said defiantly.

- from 'The Fell Hound of Adversity', a sample of the classic femme fatale, the Princess of Darkness. She's got some of the guile of Raymond Chandler's Vivien Sternwood, as well as the sleek villainy of P'Gell and Sand Saref from Will Eisner's 'The Spirit' comics.