Page 94 of Axton

“God’s soldier will appear as a man of earth, but he will wear the earthly soldier’s uniform with pride as he fights evil around the world. Once he takes his spiritual bride, he will relieve us of our troubles and defeat the false prophet. He will do as he wishes with The Order Of The Unseen Hand, and it may cease to exist if he chooses. Let it be so, as he will take our burdens and our weary may finally rest and allow them to live in peace. He will do God’s work and carry the burden alone.”

The cult members gasped then whispered among themselves.

I looked at John Henry. “You and the others kept this written copy to yourselves. Your northern communities do not have a copy, do they?”

John Henry didn’t answer.

“You didn’t want Belle to take an honorable husband that would shut down your cult, so you hid the true prophecy. You are obviously not a man of God if you lied to your church. Let me guess, money laundering through your business and the church?”

I nodded at Baros, and he flipped the screen over to the picture they needed to see, and it was my Army photo. “My name is Michael Corey Axton, and I am the husband of Bellemy Ashford Axton. We have been married, and I am God’s soldier.” Ugh, God’s Soldier. I sounded like one of them.

I heard some arguing and ordered them to calm down.

“You can’t marry her without my permission!” John Henry snapped at me.

“I am her legal husband and will claim the inheritance to help free your women and children from the confines Jeremiah has placed them in, as he is the true false prophet, and they are not safe until he is apprehended.” I confirmed.

“A marriage isn’t so if it’s not blessed by our almighty father! A spiritual marriage cannot occur without the permission of either the father, oldest brother, the bishop, or the eldest parishioner.” He argued. “You are not the soldier of God!”

I flipped back to the written copy of the prophecy. “Paragraph two, read along with me here. I believe he’s been caught in another lie. Your prophet was very specific about the mark.”

You will know him by his mark. He will share the same birthmark as his bride, under his left arm will be the giving hand of God.

I rolled my sleeve up and walked around the room to show all of them. “Touch it if you don’t believe it’s authentic.” Fucking gullible pieces of shit. I believed the old man had some sortof insight, although Belle didn’t want to believe it anymore, because she didn’t want me to think she was only attached to me because of her father’s prophecy. I didn’t know what to believe, but wondered if the old man knew about us and maybe contacted Allred himself to setup the perfect escape for Belle and Koty. He knew Jeremiah was evil but also wanted to give his followers peace if it meant I would shut down the cult. I was on the Creed’s Lake website, granted, my birthmark wasn’t featured on it of course, but I did ask Creed to give her a call and ask for the truth. It wouldn’t change how I felt about Belle. I needed her as much as she needed me, and if the brainwashed followers of a cult needed to believe I was to be their next prophet and bishop, then that was what I would allow them to be. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t have done for Belle at that point. She had my heart, mind, and soul in the palm of her delicate and loving hands.

It was getting heated in the room. The followers were pissed off.

“Do you have proof of a spiritual marriage to Bellemy?” One elder asked.

“It’s not necessary, all we need is a legal marriage.” I answered.

“How can we trust your word if you’re not willing to accept God's blessing of the marriage?” Another one asked.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t willing.” I needed their trust if I was going to have any luck with the women and children in their cult. They needed someone to trust to help all of them adjust to life in the outside world.

“As her eldest living brother, I will not permit such a union.” John Henry said.

“Strip John Henry of his eldership, put the faith of our church in Paul’s hands! He is the next eldest brother, and John Henry has betrayed our almighty father!” The followers weren’t calmingdown, and most were turning on John Henry. They all spoke loudly, and it was chaos for a few long moments.

Another senior citizen stood. “I will not endorse this marriage until its spiritual.” I believed him to be Paul.

“You can’t strip me of anything! You don’t have the power!” John Henry growled.

The doors opened and Darren walked in with some FBI agents, and a few state boys. Oh boy, here we go.

“We only wanted our sister returned safely!” Total chaos broke out again as they were all arrested. They’d be out in no time because they only had them on trespassing. None were armed and they didn’t have enough evidence of the child brides quite yet.

“Jeremiah had a bounty placed on Koty’s head. Did he not tell you that much? Why do you think all those evil men out there agreed to help Jeremiah? Why so many different gangs stepped up to find both of them. He placed that bounty not even a day after their crash. He knew Koty had influence with Belle, that she fled and wouldn’t come back if Koty was still alive.”

One of the younger men of the cult went to pounce on John Henry, but Magnus stepped in to stop him. He had to hold him back. “You were going to kill my brother?” He was small like Koty, so I presumed they were full brothers with the same mother.

“We will protest the will if you do not marry her in the eyes of God!” The old man I believed was Paul yelled out as Darren took John Henry away in cuffs.

Jeremiah was too much of a pussy to show his face at Creed’s Lake, so Darren would interrogate the men to find him and thewomen that traveled with him. I told Darren not to take Paul away until I had a moment to speak with him.

Darren stayed back with Paul as Magnus and Baros helped law enforcement with the rest of the men. “Have a seat.” I instructed the gray-haired man. Darren not so gently helped him sit when he refused.

“I presume you’ve left men with your women and children at home?” I asked as I took a seat.

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