“Brandon, are you okay? Are you here because you found out Scott and Elizabeth are getting married here in the church? I know that must be hard, but I hope it doesn’t deter you from coming back to church if that’s what the Lord is leading you to do.”
Although I fully expected their marriage ceremony was inevitable, it was still a one-two punch to the face any time it was brought up. I winced internally at the words. I bit my lower lip and looked at the floor as I thought about my next move. Part of me wanted to walk out of there and drive as fast as I could out of the city and let Scott be destroyed by Wrath and his brothers. But there was no way I could live with myself if I did. I needed to move on with a life that no longer included Lizzie. However, Phillip just unknowingly offered me a valid reason to be there that late in the evening.
“Yeah. That’s why I’m here. I guess you saw right through me.” I displayed all the signs of a wounded man with a completely broken heart.
“I have counseled many people over the years in the church with the same exact issue you’re having now. You’d be surprised how many people fall in love with someone in the church and get broken up with, all to have to watch the person they want to be with move on. It is a very painful and traumatic event that can make one feel like their life is over, but I can most assuredly say that life goes on and can still be a good one.”
“That’s very wise, and that’s exactly why I’m here. Do you have a few minutes for me by any chance?”
“Of course, we can talk. I am, however, kind of pressed for time, so we will have to make it brief. I’m sorry for this, Brandon. I feel a bit of tough love is what you need right now, so please don’t think of me as harsh.”
“Please, say what you need to say.”
“Very well. Look, you knew this day was going to come, and it pains me to say this to you, but you have to move on with your life. You have to accept the fact that Elizabeth doesn’t love you anymore, and no matter what you do, you cannot stop their wedding day from coming. I recommend you take a trip somewhere, so you’re not in the city when they do get married. The fact of the matter is, there are plenty of women out there who are looking for a good man—which you are one—but you need to do some major work on yourself first.”
“Is that so...” His comments only fueled my anger. “What kind of work do you think I need to do in order to be one of these so-called good men you’re talking about?”
“Okay,” Phillip said as he realized that he had come off too aggressively in his speech to me. “I’m not your enemy here, but I’m going to speak honestly to you. Again, you need to accept that it is over between you and Elizabeth, and second you need to also accept that you are no longer a detective. Find another career that is respectable and pays well, so you can better support yourself and a family. Then go and find yourself a good Christian woman who will love and appreciate you and start a new life with that person. Between you and me, there are a lot of great Godly women here that would love to be with a man like you. Now, everything I’ve told you will take some time to do, and you don’t want to rush into anything. I promise you this. There will come a day when you will be saying Elizabeth who? And in that day, you will thank me.”
“You’re right about letting Elizabeth go and moving on with my life. It’s easier said than done, though. I have struggled with that one every day since she ended it.”
“Letting go is hard, but we have all had to do that in our lives at one time or another. Even I have had my heart ripped out, but I also had to let go of things that were no longer there, pick up the pieces, and move on with my life. As painful as it was at the time, I can honestly say I made it through, and I’m still here.” He patted my shoulder with a warm and loving smile.
“You sure are, Phillip, and thank you for honesty and encouragement, but that isn’t the only reason why I’m here tonight.”
Phillip checked his watch. “I can spare a few more minutes. What else is on your mind?”
“Thank you, and I’ll be brief. It turns out I found what I was looking for in city archives.”
I expected him to be taken aback or even look the tiniest bit surprised, but all he did was smile. After living a double life for as long as he had, I expected for him to have the best poker face in the business.
“I had a feeling you would, given your past career as a detective. What did you find?”
“I found stories about the former leaders of the city being corrupt, like you told me, and how one by one they all started dying in various ways.”
“That’s good. After you left that day, I remembered more about my parents talking a lot about the of corruption and their deaths. They all had weird mysterious circumstances surrounding all of the events that ended their lives.”
“Yeah, that’s what I read about, but the most interesting thing I discovered was the front-page picture of the mayor’s funeral. Do you recall when I told you about that guy named Wrath who killed Ron and how he was dressed in a red suit?”
“Who could forget that crazy story? A man claiming to be the embodiment of God’s wrath on the earth... Wild stuff.” Phillip laughed.
“It truly is, and I’m glad you’re laughing, because this next part is a real gas. It turns out he was there the day of the mayor’s funeral.”
Phillip’s laughter slowed. “How do you know that?”
“Because he’s in the picture on the front page of the mayor’s funeral. Standing in the back. I had to do a double take and really look, but sure enough it was him.”
Phillip’s smiled started to shift. He put his hand over his mouth and rubbed his bottom jaw for a moment. “Brandon, do you hear yourself? I have placated you for long enough now, but you are not well, and I believe you’re at the point where you need some professional help. You’re clearly seeing things that are not there, and you need a level of care that I cannot give you. If your story is true, which it is not, that would make this Wrath guy well into his eighties or nineties.”
“I won’t debate you on my need for some kind of professional psychological help, but tonight Wrath killed Enzo and Skeeter Amara right in front of me.”
“He did what?” Phillip asked in shock as the faint smile finally faded away from his face. “Brandon, I want you to be honest with me, you’re the one who has been killing these people, aren’t you?”
“No. I’ve never killed anyone. But the great thing is that I finally saw today the thing Wrath has been trying to show me since the moment I met him in Ron’s house. This revelation saved my life by the way, and afterward we got to talking. He had some interesting things to say about you and your friends he killed.”
“Come on now, what are you talking about? The Amaras have never set a foot in this church, and I’m willing to guess they haven’t been in a church for a long time.”
“God, you’re good, you know that? You had me and my dad convinced for years, but not Wrath. He filled me in on all of it. I know you’re the one who has been over the Amaras since they started in this city. Skeeter told me how you helped him run the Riccis out of the city in order for them to take it over, and as long as they did what you said, they stayed in power. They both also said that you’re into some really dark stuff as well, and I’m here to stop all of it tonight.” I pulled the revolver from my waist belt.
The sight of the gun didn’t seem to faze Phillip in the slightest as his eyes glanced at it and then back to me. His gaze narrowed as he cocked his head to the right. A wickedness I’d never seen on him before filled his face.
“I don’t think he told you everything that I am into, or he wouldn’t have sent you in here alone with that pea-shooter.” Phillip walked past me in total disregard of the gun. “Come with me, Brandon, and feel free to keep the gun on me if it makes you feel better. But like I said, you will see soon enough how it won’t help you. Just for the fun of it, I will also keep my hands where you can see them as well, and I guarantee you I won’t make any sudden movements.”
“Because bullets
bounce off of you, right?” I said mockingly. “There’s one person I’ve seen that happen to, and he isn’t even human.
“Something like that, now come on.” Phillip turned his head to me and flashed a smile.
I cautiously followed at what felt like a safe distance behind Phillip and performed a quick scan of every open room we passed to ensure he didn’t have anyone waiting to ambush me as we proceeded down the hall.
Phillip turned around with his hands still in the air. “There’s no one in any of these rooms except for the one I’m taking you to, so please don’t waste any more time with that.”
“Stop. There’s no reason for me to follow you. You’re under arrest, Phillip.”
“Who do you think you’re scaring with that? You can’t arrest me, and on what charges would you arrest me for? You’re not a cop anymore, you don’t have any real power and authority, or have you forgotten?”
“I’m making a citizen’s arrest.”
“Well, if you do that, you will never get the answers you seek, and even if you force me to leave here, you won’t be stopping anything. Besides, your red-suited friend hasn’t told you the whole story, and as you know there are two sides to every story.” Phillip kept walking with his hands up.
We went a few more rooms down the long hallway, until Phillip stopped and pointed at the door to his left. “In this room you will find all the answers you seek, and all you have to do is go inside.”
“Do I have to give you the gun first or something like that?”
“No. If it makes you feel more comfortable then I’d rather you keep it.”
I kept the gun trained directly at the upper left portion his back, so the bullet would tear straight through his heart if he tried anything. Phillip lowered his arm and turned the handle and pushed up the door to one of the church’s main conference rooms. He walked in with his hands up with me close behind him, and a group of men at the table jumped once they saw me enter the room with a gun.
“Now, now everyone please calm down. I assured Brandon that none of us would try and hurt him, and I mean that, so everyone take a seat and relax. Mr. Farmer is here tonight for answers because his red-suited friend has apparently filled him in on all of us, and some of the things we have been up to.”
Phillip took a seat at the head of the table while I kept the gun pointed at everyone as I scanned the ones in the room. There were five men to the right and left of Phillip who all looked to be in their mid-fifties, and their faces appeared to be full of hate as they all glared at me. Their body language showed me they wanted to attack me, but the gun in my hand kept their emotions in check. I didn’t recognize any of the men at the table except for one who was significantly younger than the rest.
Scott Fuller.
Scott Fuller sat there with a smile on his face as he slowly rocked back and forth in his chair.
“Hello Brandon,” Scott said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.
“What are you doing here?”
“I am one of the leaders in my church, and you have interrupted our elders meeting.”
“I should have known you were wrapped up in all of this somehow, and after tonight Lizzie is going to know how awful you really are.”
“I guess when she does, she will go running back into your loving arms and beg for you to take her back. It wouldn’t matter if I turned out to be the worst person in the world, because she’s never getting back with you. She hates herself for being with you almost as much as she hates you personally. The woman can’t wait to get married to me and put you, the most embarrassing mistake of her life, behind her for good.”
I grunted out in rage as I cocked back the hammer and pointed the gun at Scott. I wanted to put a bullet right between his beady little eyes, and it would have been so easy to do. If I did, then I would fail in my mission with Wrath. Those men deserved to be arrested and spend the rest of their lives in jail for all the things they had done.
“Gentlemen, please there is no need for violence right now. Scott, you know it’s not smart to anger a man who has a gun on you. Let’s all take it down a notch,” Phillip said.
“You guys better get to talking, because I called Lizzie and she is on her way up here now to take all of you guys down.”
“Yes, we know, so let me get to the reason why you’re here tonight,” Phillip said as he sat straight in his chair. “Your friend told you about us, and indeed I am in fact a Luciferian high priest, and these men sitting to my right and my left are my warlocks. We have indeed used the Amaras to further our agenda for this city as a way to keep the spotlight off of us as we grew in power and authority in the spiritual realm until we no longer needed them. Let me tell you, the Amaras did a fantastic job at helping us achieve our goals, and the time had come to cut them lose, so I thank you and your friend for doing that for us.”
“Just tell me what you are all planning?”
“Well, it started with the Amaras passing out all sorts of sinful temptations to the people, as well as corrupting every level of the local government and justice system in the city. It is amazing how fast people are willing to compromise for money, power, fame, or simply to save their own skin.”
“Phillip, you have to stop this. My red-suited friend is really the embodiment of God’s wrath, and he and his brothers are coming to destroy the city because of what you have done. Everyone in this city is going to die tonight, you all have to stop this madness!”
Phillip rolled his eyes and shrugged off my warning. “Oh, please Brandon, how stupid do you think we are? Let me tell you that we are all aware of your friend, and none of us are worried about him in the slightest. We have the power to stop him, just like Lucifer has been stopping God’s plans for the earth and the human race since the times in the garden.”
The seriousness on Phillip’s face told me he wasn’t lying about not believing in God.
“But you’re a pastor,” I said in disbelief. “You’re not supposed to be like this.”
“What’s your point?”
“Look, you clearly have all sorts of issues that we don’t have time to deal with, but you have to stop whatever you’re planning now.”
“But that’s the best part of all of this. Don’t you want to hear about it?”
I stood there in silence with the gun trained on Phillip as I continually scanned the room to make sure none of his men tried anything.
“Your silence speaks volumes by the way, and tonight we are going to sacrifice a person who stands for pure justice. When we do, this city will be plunged into an eternal spiritual darkness that will eventually spread throughout the entire Earth and bring about the end of days. Once tonight’s ritual is complete, we will all be handsomely rewarded by our master. Except you, I’m pretty sure you will be dead.”
They all began to chuckle and looked to Phillip in total admiration, and a wave of nausea hit me. I felt sick to my stomach. I thought the Amaras were evil, but they were nothing compared to those men who were supposed to be representatives for God on the earth. Phillip was clearly the leader of that sick and twisted group, and Wrath said if we cut off the head the body will die. At that moment, I knew I had to kill Phillip in order to stop their plan and his men. I had never killed anyone before, but I guessed, that was all about to change.
“I won’t let you kill anyone tonight or ever again, Phillip,” I said as I raised the gun and pointed it at his sick and twisted face that still had a smile on it. As I went to pull the trigger, I felt the cold steel of the barrel of a gun pressed hard against the back of my head, and the unmistakable sound of the hammer being pulled back.
“Drop the gun, or I will end you where you stand.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Brandon Farmer
The Holy Anointed Church
“I MEAN IT BRANDON, drop the gun and put your hands in the air. If you pull that trigger, I will pull mine, do you understand me?”
Lizzie.
My heart still did that flutter when I
heard her speak, even though she had a gun on me, and sounded like she fully intended to use it. I guess in all the excitement I didn’t hear her when she entered the room with me pointing a gun at her pastor, fiancé, and his friends.
“Thank God you’re here, babe. He just came in here with a gun and started going on about some crazy weird conspiracy theory about all of us being evil and wanting to destroy the entire city. The man has clearly lost his mind.”
Of course, Scott would lie and make the situation worse, but I needed to stay calm and explain to Elizabeth what was really going on. I hoped to God she’d believe me and not kill me.
“Elizabeth please, you have to listen to me. I know what this must look like to you but trust me in this.”
“Put down the gun, Brandon,” Elizabeth said softly.
“You don’t understand. These men are not who they seem to be. They are Satanists, and what they are planning to do tonight is going to cause this entire city to be destroyed by the wrath of God.”
“This is the last time I’m going to tell you, or I will shoot you, Brandon. Now put the gun down,” she said more forceful than before. “You have already killed at least two men that I know of, and I can’t say that I blame you. Those were evil men who did nothing but hurt others. These men here are good and decent, and the only thing they’re guilty of is acts of selflessness and works of charity for others. Don’t make this worse for yourself.”
“I didn’t kill those men, I already told you that. Wrath did, and he and his brothers are going to destroy the entire city unless we stop these men right now.”
She pressed the barrel of the gun so hard against the back of my head, she pushed me forward.
“I swear if you say another word about your imaginary friend, and you don’t drop the gun, I’m going to kill you right here and now. You have until the count of three, and then I will shoot.”
She couldn’t be serious. It was me... We had a serious history together.
The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) Page 21