Chapter 25

There"sno where for him to run.

I chase Shade down the hill, there"s not many trees in the area so even if he wanted to try and hide there"s no place for him to do that.

I don"t have my weapon on me, but at this point I"ll be happy to just take him out with my bare hands. In fact, it"s a dream of mine. To wrap my hands around Shade"s throat the way he used to make me do to Gabrielle and squeeze until the lights in his eyes dim for the final time.

"Bishop, on your left!" I hear Spark shout. He"s running on the outside perimeter, making sure Shade doesn"t turn that way. I hear the sound of footfalls coming from behind me. I check over my shoulder and see Venom"s large frame following close behind me. He"s not a member of BOD just yet, but if he keeps this up I"m sure Wyatt is going to offer him a prospect run.

"Shade!" I yell for my tormentor. I want to face this nightmare head on. One way or another, I want this to be over.

He grunts and tries to pick up speed, but he"s hobbling. Something must be going on with his leg.

Shade jumps over a small ledge and for a second I don"t see him and I"m scared that I"ve lost him again. The fear starts to build inside of me once again. I jump over the ledge after him without looking to see what I was jumping into.

Luckily, It was only a small drop and I could still see Shade running off in the distance. He doesn"t know Maine the way I do. I know this land. Shade is running straight for a ninety degree rock face.

Following Shade, just a little behind in case he figured out that he wouldn"t be able to get out of their and waited for him to come to a dead stop.

Now it"s just Shade and I down in this little dry lake bed, he turns around and gets me in his sights.

"Shade!" I call to him, "Just give up. What"s the point in running."

"Give up? You think you"ve won? I"ve got you exactly where I want you." Shade growls and I watch as his eyes narrow and he takes off straight at me.

He wants to fight me.

One on one?

If I had enough time, I"d have dropped down to my knees and thanked the heavens. I couldn"t have wished for anything better than this. Shifting my body weight lower and waited for Shade to make contact with me. He rams me head first right into my gut. The pain barely registers in my mind. After all I"ve spent months locked in a dungeon with his counterpart who did nothing more than try to break me with pain.

Shade is nothing more than a fly trying to flap his wings against me.

I pull my hands up into a club and bring them down hard right in the center of Shade"s back.

"Ah fuck!" Shade screams and crumbles to the ground. He grabs for my legs but I pull my feet back and swing one straight into Shade"s face. The crunch and the blood that flowed out of his mouth made me smile.

Shade grabs a handful of sand and tosses it up into my eyes. A punk move but smart on his behalf. He manages to get back to his feet and throws a haymaker in my direction. It connects with the side of my face. I feel the contact but just like before the pain doesn"t slow me down. I"m like a fucking machine.

I refocus on him and swing with all I have into his face and body. Only a few punches in and he"s wheezing harder than someone who just finished a marathon. He"s no match for me. Part of me wished that Shade was in better shape. I would"ve loved to go longer with him. After everything that he helped put Gabrielle and I through he deserves to be hurt much worse than this.

Shade falls to his knees and begins crawling away from me, I follow behind him but here rocks falling from above. With a glance, my heart swells when I see the rest of my crew lined up around the top of the ledge and the cliff in front of us. We"re completely surrounded.

There"s no way Shade is going to make it out of here tonight.

"It"s such a shame that we only used you to fuck and be beat. You could have been a great player for us."

I shake my head, "You and your Faceless fucks will never understand that what the Boys of Djinn have isn"t just a bunch of players put together, we"re a family."

"So I"ve heard from the other missing member of your family. Liam really did have some great things to say about you guys." Shade laughs and falls over on his ass, his teeth covered in blood.

Liam. The final piece of the puzzle.

"Where is he? Where"s Liam? Or are you going to protect him to the grave. Honestly, I didn"t think you two were that close."

"Oh no, I don"t give a fuck about him. He"s an annoying, whiny little fuck. Rupert was the one who suggested that we get him out of prison in the first place. I don"t know exactly where he is. He wasn"t Faceless material. We left him on the side of the road. Last I heard, he was home."

I look up at Wyatt and see his face is just as confused as I am. Home. Could Liam possibly be somewhere near the clubhouse, and we don"t know? That"s the only home we"ve known. Would he really try to come out for us to help him after all he"s done for me? Is he there now trying to hurt Gabrielle and April?

The questions fired off in my mind so quick I can"t pay attention to what was happening in front of me. I took my eyes off my mission for just one second, but it was one second too long.

"Bishop!" I hear Cody yell. When I look down, I see Shade pulling a long blade from the side of his boot. He pulls it back ready to throw it in my direction, before the blade made it out of his hand a barrage of bullets coming from all around me slice though Shade until he"s nothing but a sieve laying dead on the ground in front of me.

The air puffs out of my chest as I watch Shade fall to the ground with no life in his body. It was over. Finally. It was over but why do I still feel so unsatisfied.

Shade"s death doesn"t bring the peace that I thought it would, instead it just brings a bigger sense of urgency to find Liam before he comes for us.