“So, the great and powerful Amaras are nothing more than a bunch of pawns.”
“It’s all in how you look at it. I look at it like a business relationship, and these people are the main reason why the cops and the feds haven’t been able to take us down.”
We were silent for a moment, as the words Skeeter said sunk in, and I knew he was telling the truth. After all the run-ins I’d had with Wrath, I figured there were other disturbing things going on in the city besides organized crime.
“Are they the ones who want you to kill me?” I asked.
“No,” Skeeter said as he pulled a gun from his jacket. “I’m going to kill you because you killed my friends. I hoped you enjoyed our little conversation, because it is the last one you’re ever going to have!”
Skeeter stood up to shoot me in the head.
“Boss!” Enzo cried out.
Skeeter and I both turned to see Wrath casually step out of the shadows as Enzo pulled his pistol and proceeded to unload the magazine into Wrath’s chest. I knew those bullets weren’t going to do a thing to stop him, as Wrath grabbed Enzo and snapped his neck like a twig. Enzo’s body went limp, and he collapsed on the floor in a pile of himself. Skeeter immediately started firing at Wrath, but the bullets didn’t even faze him as he stood there until Skeeter’s gun was completely devoid of bullets.
“Your friend liked to break people’s necks, so I broke his,” Wrath said as he pointed to Enzo’s lifeless body on the ground.
“Oh my God, you really weren’t lying,” Skeeter said as he glanced over at me.
“Joke’s on you, I was telling the truth too,” I replied.
“No, he wasn’t, and Brandon please, no one likes a know it all. But the fact that Brandon was telling you the truth isn’t going to help you, Skeeter.”
“I’m a very powerful man. I’m telling you right now, you don’t want to do this. It will not work out well for you or your friend here,” Skeeter said as he pulled a knife from his belt and put it to my throat. He pressed it so hard I felt the blade as it bit into my skin.
“You don’t want to do that, Skeeter.” Wrath turned and fully faced us.
“You better believe I do. You killed my family, one of them right in front of me! All for what? This worthless piece of trash? You two cooked this whole scheme up, and you’re going to pay. You killed my guy in front of me and now I kill one of yours in front of you!”
Before Skeeter could drive the blade into my jugular, Wrath was in front of him. He pulled Skeeter’s hand with the knife away from my throat with ease and broke his arm in one fluid motion. Skeeter screamed out in terror and pain as Wrath pushed him back to the wall and drove the blade of the knife into Skeeters chest. Skeeter’s eyes widened as he tried to breathe for a moment, but then he collapsed on the ground while his blood formed a pool around him.
Wrath straightened his jacket as the flattened bullets fell to the ground and bounced around before they stopped. He checked his watch, and then he turned his attention to me.
“Hello, Brandon, it is good to see you again, and I’m sorry but your time has come.” Wrath flattened his hand and appeared to be ready to drive it straight into my chest.
“You’re not going to kill me today, Wrath.”
“And why is that, Mr. Farmer?”
“Because, I found the way to stop you.”
Chapter Twenty
Brandon Farmer
The Black Castle
WRATH LOWERED HIS HAND and stepped back and studied me for a moment before he walked around me and cut the zip ties that had me tethered to the chair. He then walked back around and sat in the open chair across from me. That was the first time I wasn’t scared when I looked at him, even though there were two dead wise guys in the room.
I was comforted by his presence. He intervened just in time and saved me, and even though he was about to kill me, I knew what I needed to do to stop him.
I rubbed my sore wrists as I sat straight in the chair. “Thank you,” I said with a nod.
“You’re welcome, Brandon. Now, please share the secret you learned to stop me from releasing God’s wrath upon you.”
“Well, I did what you told me, and I read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah several times over. I believed the key to my salvation lay in the part about the destruction of the cities.”
“Is that what you believe I was referring to when I told you to study the story?”
“At first, yes, but then I realized that was just it, it was only a part of the story. I needed to widen my gaze to see my answer was in the entire story itself. It didn’t dawn on me until just recently what you’ve been trying to get me to see in it this whole time.”
“Which is?”
“Just like all of the people in those cities, I deserve to die for my sins, for which are many. I don’t deserve salvation or even to be spared God’s wrath because many were hurt over my actions. I remember hearing there is a scripture that says there is no excuse for ignorance, and I am guilty of a willing ignorance. I didn’t want to see what Ron was doing, and using me to do, because I valued myself over others at the time.”
“This is an interesting take because I’ve never had anyone tell me they deserved to be punished for what they had done. They usually beg or try and kill me. You do realize you’re not really making a good case for me to spare your life.”
“I know, but I just needed you to know I understand the reason I was added to your list.”
“I’m glad you see that, but tell, me why I should take you off of it now?” Wrath’s words were forced. He worked to a schedule and timing was everything to that man.
“Then I remembered the part when Abraham asked God if he would spare the city if God could find only ten righteous people in the entire city. Can you believe that? All of those people could have been saved just from the actions of ten people.”
“I can, because I was there, remember?”
“Yes, you were there. But what stuck out to me was how merciful God was in that moment as Abraham asked if all of those people could be saved all from ten righteous people dwelling among them. God seemed willing to spare that place, but he couldn’t find ten righteous people.”
“Are you going to beg me for mercy?” Wrath leaned toward me.
“No. I’m not going to beg you.”
“Then what are you going to do, Brandon?”
“Like I said before, I deserve to die for not wanting to see what Ron was doing, and for not being able to figure out how to stop you from killing him and the others. I am truly sorry for all of my sins, and I hope God can forgive me. All I ask is after you kill me, and I stand before the Lord, that God will show me the same mercy he was willing to show those other wicked people of those two cities.”
Wrath sat back in his chair and stared at me with great seriousness. I couldn’t tell if he waited for me to continue or if he was searching for the best way to kill me.
“Is that how you really feel?” Wrath asked.
“Yes.”
“Well then, I’m sorry, Brandon.” Wrath stood and straightened his jacket.
I sighed deeply because I thought God’s mercy was the key to stopping all the madness. I also remembered reading how Jesus was at the right hand of the Father, interceding for me, and I needed him to intercede on my behalf. However, it looked like I was about to get the chance to ask him in person. Wrath and I looked each other in the eyes, and I could tell he knew I had accepted my fate.
“You’re not going to try and run or fight back?” Wrath asked.
“No, what’s the point? It wouldn’t do any good, but all I ask is for you to make it quick.”
“So, it shall be,” Wrath said as he flattened his hand out, and placed it in front of my chest over my heart that pounded like a drum. I waited for the end to come as I expected a brief moment of pain as he crushed my heart before my life functions ceased.
“Are you ready, Brandon?”
“Yes.” I closed my eyes and prepared to be
raptured into a tunnel of white light, and then I heard one of the most disturbing sounds that I will never be able to forget for as long as I live. I opened my eyes.
Wrath was laughing so hard that tears ran down his face as he sat back down in the chair across from me. I had no idea what was going on, or why he hadn’t killed me. I was as horrified as I was intrigued by the ever-changing circumstances, but I knew I wasn’t dead and that I was still in the basement of the Black Castle.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I’m laughing at you. Man, I got you good there a moment ago. You should have seen your face,” Wrath said in between spurts of laughter.
“Are you still going to kill me?”
“Oh, heavens no.” He wiped a tear from his eye.
“Were you ever going to kill me?” I was more than confused, and a part of me expected for him to jump out of the chair and end my life at any second.
“Oh yes, you were next on my list. In fact, I was about to kill you when you told me you figured out what the answer to saving your life was.”
My fear and apprehension started to leave as I became enraged at the man who had terrorized me for days. “What the heck, Wrath? Stop laughing. This is my life we’re talking about here!”
“You’re right,” Wrath said as he quickly regained his composure. “You’re right, Brandon, and I shouldn’t have messed with you back there, but I couldn’t help myself. I was thrilled that you figured it all out in time so I wouldn’t have to kill you. Surely you can understand that.”
“That’s really messed up.”
“I guess it’s a matter of perspective, but you’re safe now. Take some comfort in the fact you are finally right with God.” Wrath tapped me on my forehead like he did at Ron’s house, and all the pain from the beating I had just received vanished. The cuts on my face closed, and Wrath wiped it clean with a handkerchief he produced from his jacket. “There, good as new.”
“Thank you and that is comforting, but could I have saved the others? Have I failed to save the people like I did when I worked with Ron?”
“No. You couldn’t have saved them. All you could have done was to pray for them to repent, but they were all so far gone that it probably wouldn’t have made a difference. Ron and the others had gone so deep in their own sin for so long that they had completely seared their conscience. They had lost all reservations about hurting and killing others. And what you didn’t know, was after your little fallout with Ron. He continued on in their employ as a hit man for the Amaras while he was in prison, and he kept it up after he got out. That was how Ron was able to afford the nice house, and all the great things in it after he got out of prison. The guy just couldn’t seem to help himself. But I can clearly see why God has chosen you to assist me in saving this city.”
“I don’t understand, what are we going to save the city from?”
“Simple really, let us return to the night we met. I am a Wrath Walker. I am the embodiment of God’s wrath. When one of us shows up in a place, that means God’s wrath has come upon individuals. When there is more than one of us in a place at the same time, it means God’s wrath has come upon that entire area. An example being Sodom and Gomorrah, my brothers and I rained down fire and brimstone upon those cities and all the evil inhabitants until there was nothing left and all the wicked had perished.” Wrath leaned in close to me. “My brothers are coming to Black Castle very soon, Brandon, and we don’t have any time to waste.”
Terror again gripped my heart. “There’s more of you, and they’re coming here?”
“Yes, and soon.” Seriousness overtook him.
He pointed to Skeeter on the ground. “I watched as they brought you to this place to ensure they didn’t kill you before your time, and I stood hidden in the spirit during the interrogation. Surely you remember when Mr. Amara said his so-called family doesn’t run the city, but a group of people who have a power that even terrified him and convinced him there was a devil.”
“Yes, I remember. What was he talking about?”
“Those people are Satanists who have infiltrated just about every area of this town, and they have been doing some very wicked things for a long time and they have not gone unnoticed. The time is rapidly approaching for the city to be dealt with in a Biblical fashion.”
“I don’t get it, if God was going to destroy the city, why send you beforehand to kill the Amaras and give me a chance at redemption? Why didn’t he let all of us die in the destruction?”
“Because he’s merciful and he wants this city to be saved, and you’re the one that’s going to help me do it.”
“Come on, Wrath, I was barely able to figure it all out in time to save myself.”
“Make no mistake. Either way, the wickedness of this place ends soon. You’ve lived your whole life in this city, but you have never understood the spiritual significance of this place. This city was founded on and stood for the Lord’s justice, and the ones who founded the city made a covenant with God that it would always stand for his justice.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”.
“God heard them from Heaven and honored their request that day. The city flourished and was a beacon of light for all those who had been victimized and oppressed by others. Anyone who dared to commit a crime, their sentences and punishments always fit the crime, and for a while people lived peacefully here and felt safe. But slowly and surely wolves in sheep’s clothing entered into the fold and began to pervert the justice system God had set in place here. Over many long years, the city morphed into the robber’s den that it is today. God never broke the covenant he made at the founding of the city with the people and the land the city sits upon, but the people have violated it more times than any person can count. The land itself cries out for justice, and that is what is coming. Many people will die if we can’t stop the root of the evil in this city.”
I stood and paced due to all the nervous energy and adrenaline that filled me. “How do we do that? I mean, I have no idea who these people are, let alone the slightest idea of how to stop them. You killed Skeeter before he told me who these people are.”
“You are the one to help me because you are a man of justice. You could have killed those guys at any time over these past few years for what they did to you, but you wanted them to go to jail for their crimes. God watched as you struggled but stayed true to your convictions as you suffered setbacks and tremendous loss in your life. Even when I had to release their just rewards upon them which ended their lives, you did everything you could to try and save them. They were your enemies, and you were still good to them, and that is why you’re the one to help me with my mission. You are truly a good man, who is just to all, even the ones who are unjust to you. Stopping them is simple. We have to cut off the head and the body will die, meaning the sheep will scatter and give up their evil ways once all the leadership is taken out.”
“What does that mean?”
“The night I killed Frankie, a Luciferian high priest and his warlocks, which are really Satanists, watched from an adjacent roof. When I confronted them, they demanded I leave the city. They tried to pray a spell over me, but I resisted and threatened to kill them if they tried something like that again. Many people have lost their lives throughout time because they were unknowingly fighting against God, and let me tell you, God always wins.”
“Why didn’t you just end them right then and there?” I shouted. “This whole thing could have been over by now, and I could go back to a normal life!”
“Because they weren’t really there on that rooftop, they used a thing called spirit phantoms to project an image of themselves to keep them from danger. I could have cut them down, but it wouldn’t have stopped them, only ended their little holograms. But if we can find and take out the high priest before my brothers get here, many will stop their evil ways and return to God. This high priest has deceived many into following him, all believing they are doing what God wants them to do. Well, that is, except fo
r the Satanic high priest and his warlocks. We will probably have to kill his warlocks too if they won’t relent. Don’t deceive yourself, Brandon. Your life is never going to be the same after this. The sooner you accept that the better off you will be.”
“I don’t even know where to begin with that, but I can’t just go around killing people, Wrath. I’m not like you in that regard.”
“You may have to, but God sent me here to do a job, and I won’t stop until it’s done. You remember the scripture that says God’s word never returns until it has accomplished what it was sent out to do? God spoke the words that sent me here, and he also said you are the one that will aid me on this mission.”
“Why would he want me to help you when I clearly can’t do the things you can?” My terror morphed into panic.
“Because God likes to use his sons and daughters, and if I had to guess, you’re already close to the person who is this Luciferian high priest.”
“I don’t know any Luciferians, Satanists, or whatever you’re calling them.”.
“Oh, but you do, Brandon. Did you really think all of this, and everything else you have been through lately was all so God could punish a few wicked people and call it a day?”
“To be honest, I don’t know God as well as I thought I did, so you’re going to have to fill me in on it.”
“You don’t understand the ways of God because you have only been taught that God is love and mercy, but if you would have bothered to read the Bible, then you would know he’s more than those two aspects. God is love, but he doesn’t let the wicked go unpunished forever. God does nothing on a whim or on compulsion. He thinks not only on the small but the large scale, and how events on one affect the other, and there is something much larger going on here.”
The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) Page 19
