The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) by Matthew Newson (moboreader txt) 📕

no, your time hasn’t come yet, but for now, if you will please stand over by your car and wait for me.”

“Hold on, he has my keys and my gun.” I turned to Frankie to get them from him.

“Not anymore,” Wrath said as he released me and pulled my car keys from his pocket and my gun from behind his back and handed them to me. “Now if you will please stand back, but do not run away. I want to talk to you when I have concluded my business with Frankie. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, I understand. But how did you get me...”

“Good. Now if you will please do what I have asked of you.” Wrath gestured for me to move away. I dashed to my car, and I dreaded what I knew was about to happen. I wanted to run, but I also wanted to talk to Wrath. I had questions only he could answer. As Wrath proceeded back to Frankie, who was slowly returning to his senses, he picked up the gas can.

“Wait, you can’t do that,” I called out to him.

“But I must, I’m compelled to, remember? This is the reason why I am in your fair city,” Wrath called out from over his shoulder.

Wrath unscrewed the gas cap and started pouring the flammable liquid all over Frankie who began to cough violently from the fumes. Even I was bothered by them, but Wrath seemed immune to the vapors.

“Stop it! You don’t know what you’re doing. I’m a made guy! You do this to me, and your life is over, you hear me? My friends will find you and hurt you in ways you never knew were possible, and no one will ever see you again. Do you hear me?”

“Your friends don’t scare me in the slightest. They could do nothing to me anyway, even if they were to find where I reside. Now, Francesco Carbone, or Frankie for short, you truly are a special kind of wicked and evil human being. What kind of person finds enjoyment in killing others by setting them on fire?”

“A person who sends a message to let everyone know they aren’t to be messed with, and it seems you didn’t get it,” Frankie shouted as he stood and pulled at the handcuffs.

“I got it alright, your message was received loud and clear. That is why I am here today for you, Frankie.”

“Who are you? One of the family members of someone I’ve killed looking to get some revenge?”

“Not exactly,” Wrath said.

“Well let me tell you something. You do this, and my friends will find out who you are, and when they do, they’re going to kill everyone in your worthless family. All the men, women, children, and even your worthless cat will all be dead! Is that something you want for all of them?”

“Even in your final moments you are still breathing profane threats.”

“I’ve never begged my whole life, and I’m not about to start now!”

“That’s right, you have lived a life filled with selfish and sinful acts, many of them were just plain evil. But when you torched a house with a family inside, you crossed the line that there was no return from. Now the time has come for you reap God’s wrath upon yourself, Frankie.”

I was horrified at the thought of what I was about to witness. I wanted Frankie to spend the rest of his miserable life locked away in prison, and not executed—especially in front of me. I watched in horror as Wrath held his hand open in front of him. Small bands of fire flowed from Wrath’s fingertips and encircled each other until they formed a ball of fire that hovered slightly above the palm of his hand. Both Frankie and I looked on in disbelief.

“Wrath, please stop, you can’t do this,” I shouted.

He ignored me.

“Wait now, be reasonable,” Frankie pleaded as his voice began to tremble in fear.

“You have killed so many people in this way, and it is in this way that you have been destined to die. Come to think of it, there’s a lot more fire where you’re going.”

“Just wait a minute, okay? Wait!”

I guessed that was the first time in his life Frankie actually begged.

“Do you feel sorry for any of the people you killed, or for the families lives you ruined?” Wrath’s voice and demeanor became increasingly harsh.

“Would you stop this already you red-suited freak! This will only end badly for you and everyone you know and love. If you knew me so well, then you’d know what will happen as soon as you kill me, but maybe we can make a deal. I can make you a very wealthy man if you let me go.”

“Your friend Joey made me the same offer just before I beat him to death. Again, do you feel even the slightest remorse for all the people you’ve hurt and killed?”

Frankie’s eyes widened in shock as he stood straight and looked past Wrath at me. I knew in that moment that Frankie realized that he and the rest of the Amaras had made a mistake in going after me, and that they would surely all suffer the same fate as he was about to.

“Answer me!” Wrath shouted so loud that it seemed like the walls shook, and dust lightly rained down on us from the rusted rafters above.

Frankie tried to wipe the gas off his face as the fear had fully set into the once proud and hardened killer. “What do you want me to say? I was doing my job, okay. I just followed the orders I was given. I had to, and I would have been killed if I didn’t.”

“Well, there you have it, and there’s nothing more for you and me to talk about.”

The fireball flew from his hand toward Frankie, who burst into flames as it ignited the fumes coming off of him. I closed my eyes and turned my head, but Frankie’s screams of terror and pain filled