CHAPTER 3 — Shadows Know His Name
1265 Words
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The street was quieter than usual the next morning.
People walked fast, heads down, pretending not to notice the tension hanging in the air. Word had already spread—Aiden Kole was looking for someone. And when Aiden wanted blood, the entire neighborhood held its breath.
Aiden moved with purpose, hoodie up, eyes hard. He had barely slept. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Risa lying broken in that hospital bed. Every time he breathed, he smelled her blood on his hands.
He wasn’t stopping until he found the boy with the snake tattoo.
Rina followed him from a distance—not close enough to bother him, but close enough to make sure he didn’t get himself killed. She told herself she wasn’t worried… just curious.
Aiden didn’t look back, but he knew she was there.
He always knew when someone was watching him.
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He stopped first at Big Sam’s Barber Shop, one of the places Black Venom members often used as a hangout spot. Aiden pushed the door open, and the bells jingled sharply.
The shop went silent.
Three boys sat inside—hair half-cut, bibs still around their necks. Big Sam, a muscular man with scars, slowly lowered his clipper.
“Aiden,” he said carefully. “This early morning?”
“Morning,” Aiden said, voice flat.
Sam swallowed. “You dey find trouble?”
“Just answers,” Aiden said. “Someone with a snake tattoo touched my sister.”
The boys exchanged looks.
Sam rubbed his jaw. “Aiden… I no go lie. Dem boys wicked. But this one—if na who I dey think—you need stay far.”
“Who?” Aiden asked.
Sam hesitated. “His name… Blade.”
Aiden’s heartbeat didn’t change, but something colder settled inside him.
“Where can I find him?”
Sam shook his head. “That one no dey move alone. If he see you, blood go flow.”
Aiden’s lips twitched. Not a smile. Something darker.
“That’s the point.”
Sam sighed, defeated. “Check the old warehouse behind Ojo market. Dem dey run package there. But Aiden—”
“Thanks.”
Aiden turned and walked out before Sam could finish.
The moment he left, the shop exhaled like it had been suffocating.
---
Rina hurried after him.
“Aiden, wait!”
He didn’t stop.
She jogged ahead of him, stepping into his path. “You’re going straight to their base? Alone?”
“Yes.”
Rina glared at him. “Are you stupid?”
His eyes sharpened. “Move.”
“No,” she said, standing firm. “There are twenty of them on a slow day. They carry guns. They—”
“I don’t care.”
“Aiden!” she almost shouted. “This isn’t some street fight you can win with your bare hands!”
Aiden’s jaw clenched. “Rina. Move.”
She stepped even closer. “You’re going to die.”
Aiden’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“I died the moment Risa screamed.”
Rina froze.
Something in those words—broken, raw, real—hit her harder than she expected.
“Aiden,” she said softer, “I know what they did hurt you. I know you’d burn the whole street for your sister. But revenge doesn’t bring peace.”
Aiden leaned in slightly. “Who said I want peace?”
Rina swallowed.
Aiden stepped past her, and this time she didn’t try to stop him. She just followed, because leaving him alone felt wrong.
Because she couldn’t shake the fear that if she turned around now…
he wouldn’t return.
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The warehouse behind Ojo market was half-abandoned, half-alive. The walls were cracked, graffiti stained the bricks, and broken crates littered the ground.
Aiden crouched behind an old generator as two boys stood guard by the entrance.
Rina crouched beside him. “Okay… what’s the plan?”
Aiden wiped the sweat off his palms. “Go home.”
“So you can get stabbed? No.”
He glared. She stared back, unblinking.
“Fine,” Aiden muttered. “You stay here. Don’t follow me inside.”
“Not happening.”
“Rina—”
“If you go in there and something happens, who will drag your stubborn body out?”
He paused.
She had a point.
He exhaled. “Stay close then. But if I say run, you run.”
Rina nodded.
Aiden scanned the guards, memorizing their stance, weapons, blind spots. His mind worked like a machine, calculating steps ahead.
“Ready?” he whispered.
“No,” Rina whispered back. “But go on.”
Aiden picked up a small stone and tossed it far to the left. It clattered loudly.
The guards turned instantly.
“What’s that?”
“Go check.”
While they moved toward the sound, Aiden slipped behind them like a shadow. He grabbed the first guard from behind, arm locked around his throat, clamping his mouth shut. The boy kicked wildly, but Aiden held tight until his eyes rolled back.
The second turned too late. Aiden slammed him into the wall, a quick, brutal hit.
Rina flinched but stayed silent.
Aiden’s face didn’t change. No fear. No guilt. Just the quiet, deadly focus of someone who had done this before.
They stepped inside.
The warehouse was dim, lit by hanging bulbs. Crates of drugs lined the floor. Five boys sat around gambling.
Aiden scanned their hands.
Snake tattoos?
None.
He was turning to leave when someone stepped out from the shadows.
Tall. Broad. Confident.
Snake tattoo on his right hand.
Blade.
“Aiden Kole,” Blade said with a slow, mocking smile. “You’ve been looking for me.”
Aiden’s breath stilled. His heart didn’t race.
This was the moment he had built the night around.
“You beat my sister,” Aiden said.
Blade shrugged. “She stole. Or so we thought.”
“You left her for dead.”
“Not my problem.”
Aiden smiled.
A dangerous, quiet smile.
“It is now.”
Blade laughed. “What will you do? You alone?”
Aiden’s fingers wrapped around the knife hidden beneath his hoodie.
Rina’s heart slammed in her chest.
Blade stepped closer. “This is Black Venom territory. You don’t get to walk in and—”
Aiden didn’t let him finish.
He lunged.
Knife first.
Blade barely dodged. The warehouse erupted in shouts. Boys grabbed chairs, sticks, anything they could find.
Rina backed against the wall, eyes wide as Aiden fought like he’d come searching for death and found something better—someone to kill.
Aiden’s movements were fast, brutal, desperate. Blade swung hard, and Aiden’s shoulder slammed into a crate. Pain shot through him, but he pushed back.
Blade laughed. “You fight like someone with nothing to lose.”
Aiden’s eyes burned. “That’s because I don’t.”
He struck again—this time deeper.
Blade staggered.
The other boys closed in.
Rina shouted, “Aiden, behind you!”
He turned just in time, blocking the hit with his arm and slamming his elbow into the attacker’s jaw.
Blade stumbled toward the exit, bleeding.
Aiden chased him instinctively.
But Blade escaped through the back door, sprinting into the night.
Aiden stopped at the doorway, chest rising and falling violently.
Rina rushed to him. “Aiden—Aiden, stop! You’re bleeding!”
Aiden didn’t hear her.
He stared into the darkness where Blade fled.
The fire inside him didn’t go out.
It burned hotter.
This wasn’t over.
Not even close.
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- Writer
