Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse-Chapter 451: A Gentleman’s Game

The moment Hattie disappeared, it was like the strings keeping Alicia together snapped. Wind seemed to come out of nowhere, whipping everything in its wake into a frenzy. "Not acceptable," she muttered to herself, her eyes so glazed that it would be impossible to see anything.

"I don’t bow down to anyone. See a god, kill a god. See the Devil..." her voice trailed off as a deranged smile appeared on her face. "Kill the Devil."

The wind continued to blow harder and harder until Sophia was bent over, trying to protect Libby, and Eve was flung off her feet. Landing hard on the arm of the couch, Eve coughed, trying to catch her breath.

"You need to calm down," she advised Alicia. However, her words seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Calm down?" demanded Alicia, her unblinking eyes turning toward the other woman. Her head, titled at an unnatural angle, made everyone around her wonder just how human she was. "Why do I need to calm down? She’s gone; she doesn’t have the guts to kill me. She knows that I am more powerful than her, that I will kill her the next time I see her."

"She didn’t leave because she was scared of you," scoffed Bishop, bringing the woman’s attention to himself. "She left because I made a wish. Do you want to know what it was?"

"Like I care," sneered Alicia, straightening her head and finally blinking. "She is gone. Now, I just have to kill you, find Luca, and deal with the bugs."

"You make it sound so easy," chuckled Pride. "But make no mistake, you will die by the end of the day. Hattie didn’t kill you herself because she has given that dubious honor to Bishop."

Alicia turned slowly to face the ex-angel, her lips twisting into something between a snarl and a smile. "You wouldn’t dare. You’re too busy pretending to be something you’re not. You’re still clinging to the idea that you’re a good man. That you were once an angel."

"I’m not clinging to anything anymore," Bishop replied, his voice so low and steady it cut through the tension like a blade. "You broke the man I was. You buried the angel. All that’s left is ash and demon—and you’re going to choke on both of them."

Bishop stepped forward, slow and deliberate, as Pride and Chang Xuefeng got out of his way. "You tried to command me. You lied to me. You turned me into your weapon, and when I became something you couldn’t control, you threw me away."

"I saved you!" Alicia shrieked. "I gave you a place when you were kicked out of your old one! I gave you a purpose when you had nothing left! I made your life better in every way; it was you who was determined to destroy everything good that you once had."

Everyone in the office looked at Alicia like she was crazy. "You are really good at turning things around to suit yourself, aren’t you?" asked Pride, sounding almost impressed with her version of events. "If I didn’t despise you so much, I would almost say that you would make an impressive demon. Greed or envy would look good on you."

His words belied his tone. Disgust practically poured from every pore in his body as he looked at the woman. "But pride wouldn’t be an option, I’m sorry to say."

"You made me a tool," Bishop corrected, interjecting into the conversation before it could keep going. "But I’m done being used."

He moved too fast for her to react. One hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her off the ground. She gasped, clawing at him, spirit power flaring—but it did nothing. Her powers slipped off his skin like water.

Next, she tried air, a power that she had never so much as used once, but that, too, was useless against the man. Completely helpless, she tried to scream, to call out to her friends to come help her, but it was no use. She couldn’t breathe, let alone scream for help.

Bishop, ignoring her struggles, watched as she continued to flail around. Ever so slowly, like he had all the time in the world, he continued to apply more pressure against her carotid artery. If he found that sweet spot, he could knock her out... but if he continued to cut off the blood to her brain for too long... freewebnøvel.coɱ

Well, there was no coming back from that, at least not in this lifetime.

Dispassionately, Bishop watched as the life drained from Alicia’s eyes. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Dropping her body, he turned around slowly just as Sophia let out a soft whimper.

Finding his next target, he couldn’t help as he watched Libby clinging to her mother out of fear and desperation. He wanted to move toward her. His body twitched with the urge to kneel, to reassure her, to wrap her in his arms, and promise that everything would be okay.

But then he looked at Sophia.

The woman who helped throw him out. The woman who stood by while Alicia twisted his soul into a weapon. The woman who had every chance to stop it.

"If I kill you, Libby will die. She can’t survive on her own," he said, mostly to himself.

"Then don’t," Sophia whispered, holding Libby tighter. "We’ll go. We’ll leave, and you’ll never see us again."

He stared at her. "You think that fixes this?"

"No," she said. "But it’s all I can offer."

"You’re lucky she loves you," he said. "Because if it weren’t for Libby... there’s no way I would let you live."

Maybe Alicia was right. Maybe there was still too much angel in him to destroy the weak and innocent. Or at least, more angel than he gave himself credit for. He had walked into this room determined to kill everyone, but one look at Sophia and Libby, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Disgusted with himself and his weakness, he spun around, stalking out of the door as Pride and Chang Xuefeng watched. Revenge was a gentleman’s game. It didn’t have to happen all at once. When Libby was older, when she could stand on her own two feet and survive, he would hunt down his mother.

After all, he had all of eternity to get his vengeance on the woman who destroyed his soul better than Alicia ever had.