Page 1 of Wrath
Prologue
In the darknessof a thirteenth floor in Cardinal City, Julius Allcott stared out over the destitute south-side, contemplating, calculating. Despite being the one who started the Syndicate, he was no closer to being able to replicate the original experiment that created the warriors of sin. This lack of progress was beginning to grate. He barely heard the steps of his most trusted darling as she approached him from behind.
“We have news,” she said in a dull voice. Her favored bird mask covered her eyes and nose. Off-white leather hugged her body. A fine mist of red on her collar echoed the same on her fist. She’d come straight from work, then.
“Go on,” he prompted, and locked eyes with the city once more.
“One of them has separated from the flock.”
He arched an eyebrow, curious. “Which?”
“The one affianced to the Faithful named Sara,” she elaborated.
Sara. Julius tapped his chin, trying to remember.A member of the Syndicate’s Faithful… named Sara. Of course. The one they’d coerced into working undercover for them. She’d gathered important biological samples. “I remember her,” he said. “You eliminated her.”
“Yes.”
“Remind me why.”
“She was becoming a liability.”
“There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Recently we learned she failed to disclose the importance of the life-mate to each of the Deadly Seven.”
A memory sparked. A conversation he’d had only a week prior. “The surveillance notes we found recently. She’d surmised a woman triggered Envy’s full potential.”
“Yes. During her time with the warriors, she’d heard rumors that a person embodying the exact opposite of their sin would cancel out the effects of the sin itself, thus helping each warrior resist the dark murderous pull.”
Julius turned back to the view of the decrepit streets. But that dark murderous pull was what they needed to destroy all the sinners in the world, leaving it cleansed and free for innocents. Innocents like his wife and daughter.
“First Envy’s powers manifesting after meeting someone, then Greed’s. Two could be a coincidence.”
“But three could be a pattern.”
“This warrior who separated from the family. It was Wrath, was it not?
“Correct.”
Wrath. Interesting.
“And where is he now?”
“There have been reports of a dark rider haunting the streets at night. He’s left a trail of bodies around the country, but has been spotted close to Cardinal City in a small town called Weston Park.”
A trail of bodies—the man was slipping then, and sin was taking hold.
Initially, the Deadly Seven were born in a lab—the Syndicate’s creations.Hiscreations. He tore his gaze from the sinful city and went to his lone desk at the center of the room. Nothing adorned the surface except a family photograph taken almost forty years earlier. His wife and daughter. Both dead from corporate negligence—Sloth. It was for them he fought this battle. For them, he had joined forces with military cells around the world to create the Syndicate, and for them, he financed the lab that created the warriors of sin.
“Weston Park,” Julius mused. “So close to Cardinal City. Perhaps the prodigal son is flirting with returning to the fold.”
“I have ties with a man in Weston Park.”
“Of course you do. Tug on the string. Pull tighter and see what information we can squeeze free.”
“And if it is the outlier, Wrath?”
“Then he is alone, desperate and falling under the influence of his sin. Opportunity has never been so ripe for us.” He turned to his darling. “Give your man support to stoke the fire. I want this city in flames before the month is out.”
