The Burning Bush (3 page)

“Perhaps a kiss to the fair maiden’s cheek will motivate them,” Clay offered.

We propelled into the night air. A warm wind rushed through my dreadlocks and dried my sweaty skin, making a whipping sound in my ears. I gritted my teeth.

“Almost there,” Zulu said.

My heart rate calmed to a less erratic pace.

“Dante’s limo is already here,” he added.

I tensed and peeked over Zulu’s huge shoulders. We landed on the limo’s blood-red roof with a thump that sounded through the parking lot. The vehicle’s doors burst open. Two Vampires, a man and a woman in expensive black suits, exited, spotted us, and hissed. Claws extended from their fingers. They launched themselves at us with bared fangs and rose high into the air. Their suit jackets ripped from the sudden movement. I jumped off Zulu’s back before they landed a few feet in front of us.

“You get him. I’ll get the Mixie bitch,” the female Vamp said.

I locked eyes with her and stood my ground. “Come and get me then.”

Flames exploded from my closed fists. Her eyes widened in surprise as they targeted my blaze. She changed her direction almost instantaneously, flipping backward and away from me.

Too late, sweetheart.
I flung a fireball at her. It soared through the air in a flaming arch and snatched at her skin, setting it alight. Her whole body became enflamed. She dropped to the pavement screaming in agony, transforming into burning fabric and melting skin.

“My turn,” Zulu roared and dove toward the male Vamp. Zulu’s biceps flexed as he extended his arms. The Vamp and Zulu met in the air, battling so quickly their images were nothing but distorted shapes and colors, circling around and around between Zulu’s grunts and the Vamp’s cries of pain. A rumble sounded in front of me. My eyes returned to the Vamp woman. Somehow she’d smothered the flames on her arms and was now putting out the fire on her legs. Smoke rose around her. The stench of burnt hair floated in the humid night air.

“Are you okay?” I winked at her.

“This is quite an entrance.” Dante stepped out of his limo and motioned for the woman to get behind him. “And here I thought that, when you invited me to my own factory, it would be uneventful.”

Dante wore burgundy sweat pants with frayed ends and a Santeria Santeros football jersey. His chestnut-brown curls were smoothed back. His pale-green eyes sparkled in the moonlight. He would have been just an ordinary sexy Vamp if not for the large, black scar in the shape of a cross that covered his left eye. It began at his forehead and ended at his cheek. No one knew the origin of the scar, but stories about it had spread all over the habitat.

“Let me help you down.” Dante offered his hand to me.

“No, thank you.” I climbed down from the car roof myself.

Dante gazed at my arms. “I love those cords on your arm. Is it a couple’s matching pair?”

“None of your business.” I sneaked a glance at Zulu to see how his fight was progressing. In a blur, Zulu’s claws sliced through the Vamp’s neck. Black liquid spilled from the creature’s new wound as the head split from its body. The Vamp’s decapitated head flew by Dante, spraying his jersey with drops of dark liquid.

“This is a vintage Santero team jersey, only one of five in the habitat.” Dante snapped his head down to examine the stain. “It cost thousands of dollars.”

“Give me the location of where you sleep during the day, and I’ll send the money there.” Zulu jumped down and landed on my right. Claw and bite marks punctured his chest. The urge to run to him and soothe each wound coursed through me, but I forced myself to remain where I was. We could not show any weakness.

Dante directed his eyes to Zulu. “Did you enjoy my last present?”

“The dead Mixbreeds in the wooden box? You really shouldn’t have.” Zulu’s raw fury pulsed through our bond.

“I’m assuming you have something to do with why my factory employees are fleeing away from their work and gathering in the front.” Dante leaned his head to the side. The moonlight gleamed on his scarred face. I nodded.

“Is this your big retaliation? Stop my factory’s production for the night?” Dante laughed, holding his chest with his right hand. Each finger held a ring. Some were diamond. Others were ruby.

Zulu and I remained silent. I gazed behind Dante at the factory, noticing that the maintenance room light blinked on and off twice, and then finally stayed off. It was Clay and Tyson’s signal. I didn’t know how they would escape, but they said once the signal came, there was no stopping the bomb from going off. I gulped down some air, preparing myself for the blast. Nona materialized out of the night’s shadows and stood to my left.

Good. She’s okay.

“Lanore, I was told that you’re at the top your class at the university,” Dante said with an air of confidence. “Do you play chess?”

“Occasionally.” I peeked back at the factory.

“Good, then you’ll understand this metaphor,” Dante said.

At least ten Vamps rushed out of the shadows of parked cars and crowded behind Dante. The female Vamp I’d burned earlier moved around Dante and stopped a foot in front of me. Pure unadulterated hatred creased her face. I flashed her a wide smile.
Come and get me.
Twenty Rebels stomped around the Vamps and got behind us. Growls and barks erupted from their fur-covered jaws. Nona raised her hand. The noise stopped.

“Go ahead with your metaphor.” I placed my hands on my hips and gathered heat within my core.

“You see my people behind me?” Dante gestured over his shoulder. “They’re loyal and powerful, but in the end, they’re just pawns in my chess game.”

“You’re a great leader,” Zulu muttered.

“Nevertheless, I see you have your furry little soldiers. They’re your pawns.” Dante pointed to a few of them. He turned his gaze on me. “You’re the queen, of course.”

“I’m honored you would say that,” I said with a mocking grin.

“The problem is that there is nothing else on your side. You’re a queen surrounded by pawns. Sure, a few pawns are stronger than others.” Dante pointed at Zulu and then Nona. “But you have no king. So you’ve already lost the game.”

Linderman’s Blood Factory exploded behind Dante. A raging fire rose and flared into a mountainous inferno. Vamps dove to the ground. The Rebels, Zulu, and I stayed where we were, watching a stunned Dante, who had not turned around. He just stood there with his mouth parted and fangs sticking out like a victim in shock.

Torn wood and metal burst into the sky. Bangs and cracks boomed. A smoky odor filled the air. Scorching drops of blood rained down on all of us, blurring my vision. I wiped my face. The red liquid scalded my skin and burned holes through my shirt. It coated the inside of my nostrils, drowning me in a metallic scent.

Shrieks echoed from Dante’s Vamps as they squirmed on the bloody pavement, licking the wet surface, and sucking up as much fluid as they could. The factory created products out of all Supe blood. Poor Dante’s pawns had seized the opportunity to feast
.
I flinched at the horrific sight, but Zulu remained stiff and unyielding. Dante still faced us. He hadn’t moved an inch since the explosion. I’d been prepared for him to attack, not stand there shell-shocked.

“Well, I’m just a pawn and all, but I think that’s a checkmate,” Zulu said.

The muscles in Dante’s jaw twitched.

“This past month, we helped fifty Mixbreed families bury their dead.” Zulu crossed his arms around his chest. “And when those mourning relatives asked me why you killed them, I couldn’t give them a justifiable answer.”

“This destruction to my factory is a bad play. We have common enemies,” Dante said. “We should be aligning together instead of at war.”

“The day you and I align together,” Zulu replied, “will be the day my claws rip into your chest.”

A fire truck’s siren blared miles away. The blood storm continued to rain down on us. I tried to keep my mouth tightly shut, but still some fluid leaked in and coated my tongue. I forced myself not to gag. Dante’s Vamps remained feasting on the ground. They swam in the stuff.

“Lanore,” Zulu whispered. “Don’t forget the plan.”

I blew out a long breath, knowing it was my cue to leave. We’d argued about this for hours, had angry sex, and then argued again. In the end, we’d come to a compromise. Instead of remaining here with him and Nona to possibly battle against Dante, I would go to the front of the factory and make sure all the employees were safe.

“Be careful.” I dragged myself away, glancing over my shoulder a few times. Dante backed away as a scarlet, smoky fog clouded the area in a blurry haze.

I couldn’t get what Dante had said out of my mind as I raced to the front of the factory.
We have a common enemy?
He couldn’t have been talking about Purebloods, since he was one. So he must have been thinking of Humans as our shared enemy.
Did we mess up by bombing his factory?
Maybe not—Zulu also had a point. Dante had killed Mixies, people Zulu and I were trying to protect. There was no way Mixbreeds for Equality and the Bottelli family could form an alliance.

Splashing through blood puddles, I waved smoke and red drops away. The fire truck’s alarm rang closer. Blue lights flashed as I arrived at the front, almost slipping on a stream of enchanted liquid that gushed from a plastic pipe sticking out of the ground. I spat out a little blood that seeped into my mouth and coughed.
Eww. Other people’s blood. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.
I clamped my mouth shut tighter.

We had definitely underestimated the bomb’s effect on the factory. I figured the blood would just leak or melt away, but a freaking blood storm? I smeared away more of the fluid from my face.
Pretend it’s just water.
I scrunched my mouth up and trudged through crimson-red puddles. Near the front, hundreds of factory employees stood in clean uniforms. It didn’t seem like anyone had gotten hurt.
Good. They stayed out of the bomb’s range.

Habitat police cars crowded the flooded streets. News vans took up any space the habitat police hadn’t filled. Three booms echoed behind me. More wood and blood exploded into the sky. A huge metal wall flipped high up into the air and then crashed down into the street. People screamed and backed away.

“Everyone has to leave!” a habbie yelled into a bullhorn as he stood on top of his car. “Get out of here!”

I hurried across the street, passing a camera crew filming the destruction. A bunch of Water Witches in plastic suits jumped out of a scarlet van. They were Santeria’s Emergency Fluids Squad. They would solve the blood rainstorm in no time. Water Witches could control blood, since Supe blood was 83% water.

“Miss Vesta!” someone yelled in front of me.

I moved my head in the voice’s direction. Detective Rivera approached me, wearing his khaki trench coat, spotted in blood. The Human had tan, leathery skin, as if he spent too much time in the sun. Black-inked tattoos covered his bald head and the exposed areas on his neck. Jagged scars decorated both of Rivera’s cheeks.

“You haven’t returned any of my calls.” Rivera shook the ends of his trench coat. Blood sprinkled down onto the damp ground.

It’s too freaking hot for a coat.
Zulu and I made a bet on why Rivera wore the trench coat. I figured he was playing dress-up to look like one of the many Human detectives I had seen on old television shows. Zulu thought Rivera carried a large stash of weapons under it.

“We need to talk now, Miss Vesta.”

“It’s Lanore, and I’ve been busy.” I walked toward the meeting point. “I’m still busy.”

“Stop right now!” Rivera trailed behind me. “I didn’t dismiss you.”

“Nope, but you’ve clearly lost your mind.” I sped up my pace. “I’m not one of your officers. You have no authority over me.”

“The law says otherwise.” Rivera clamped his calloused hand on my wrist. I halted and checked around me. Lots of Supes and habbies surrounded us. It would be too risky to burn Rivera.
Too many witnesses.
Besides, I could be executed for harming a federal official. Although the habbies were only Human ex-convicts serving their probationary years as police officers in Supernatural caged cities, killing one of them guaranteed the electric chair.