Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (29 page)

“She smells like whatever she is or has been around.” The Palero opened both eyes. The silver between its eyelids dotted with white spots near the edges. “She started off human thousands upon thousands of years ago in a village with other women just like her. Most of them died giving birth. The rest made it for a few hundred years to only be devoured by their own children. Mother Earth should have been dead by now, but she is not. The demon infection keeps her alive. It merged with her flesh so long ago, she probably can’t remember how it feels to be human.”

“Wait a minute.” I stiffened. “She was a human infected by a Demon?”

The Palero nodded.

I smiled. “And was she pregnant?”

“You may not be as dumb as I have thought earlier.”

Angel looked to both of us. “Well, I’m completely lost.”

“Mother Earth is one of the actual mothers of Vampires.” I jumped up off the ground. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. Things finally started to make sense. “No wonder she wanted to kill the Vampires and destroy their businesses.”

Angel waved her hands. “Hold on. So what you’re saying is that Mother Earth is just like those ugly sisters that Dante was breastfeeding from?”

“Keo said he didn’t think the sisters were even mothers of Vampires. The whole Japanese set of Vampires don’t even mess with the feedings or those creatures.”

“Who the fuck is Keo?” Angel smirked.

“Long story.” I stared down at a weak Palero. “So, the Sisters are not the mothers of Vampires, right?”

“That is right. Even I do not know what those things are. They may have come from the Demon realm due to their scents or somewhere else. The Fairies always loved to mish mash species. The truly sick ones made the most disgusting things. The Sisters have two large fangs that come out of their mouths so the humans threw them together with the Vampires and the Vampires began to praise them.”

I’ll have to research what the Sisters are in those books dad gave me on Demons.

The ghastly sight of the feeding ran through my head. I almost vomited again as I held my stomach. Dante had been sucking on some monster’s breast and getting his rocks off the whole time, and even better, it wasn’t what he thought it was.

Maybe there really are gods up there, helping me out.

“That is why anyone who drinks from the Sisters becomes fat for a long period of time. It takes weeks for them to digest that milk. They believe it gives them power. I don’t see why not. They could be drinking magic of some sorts, but it will pass their bodies eventually, and they will return to their regular powers.”

“Okay. This is good.” I ran my fingers through my dreadlocks. “So Mother Earth is basically some old human bitch infected by a Demon. Good. I should be able to kill her with no problem.”

“You would just have to find and catch her.” The Palero’s eyes fluttered as if it was trying to stay awake. “Mother Earth, or whatever she calls herself now, did not stay alive all these years by being dumb enough to be caught by just anyone. She always has a group of people around her, even before the habitats. She’s always some type of leader or advisor to someone with an army.”

“Which is why she needed MFE to unite with the Rebels.” I tapped my fingers against my other hand. “No. Not MFE. She needed Guerilla Ink. That’s what she wanted. She spent almost all her time here, right in this warehouse. No Vampire or anyone else could get in here due to the fairy glamour.”

“How can the mother of Vampires not be able to fight them?” Angel asked.

“She is still human. It is just her blood and genes that hold the power. She could reproduce a whole clan of powerful Vampires if she desired with any male species sperm, but as she realized herself time and time again through her years of life, she will never be stronger than them. Her skin is strong. Not much can cut it, but a Vampire’s fangs can. She is not fast and possesses nothing else but the power of birth. Many times her kids have trapped, fed, raped, and bred with her.”

“Eww. This is why I’m not having kids.” Angel scrunched her face in horror.

“Be quiet.” I shushed her.

The Palero went into a coughing fit, or more like loud, rough hacking that lasted a minute and scared the mess out of me. “I must rest.”

“One more question before you rest, please.” I raised one finger. Angel frowned.

“Go ahead, pyromancer.”

“What was Dante doing with all those supernaturals in his compound?”

“Testing them for many things. It is his lab that he used right before taking the test into his blood factory. It is how he designed most of the factory’s products, of course. His main reasoning is to find blood that can combine with a Vampire’s blood and aid them in passing through portals as well as disarming other security.”

“Like being able to touch the wall or bars?”

“Yes.”

“Did he know that Zulu and I could already touch it?”

“I’m only sure he knew about Zulu.”

“How?”

“An informant told him.”

“Who?”

“This I do not know.” The Palero closed its eyes and snored.

I walked over to wake it up, but Angel, who must’ve figured out my plan, jumped in front of me. “Will you leave it alone? You already know enough.”

“I wouldn’t mind knowing more, like if Dante worked with the Rebels or where Mother Earth could be right now—”

“It doesn’t matter if Dante worked with the Rebels or not. Your boyfriend won’t let either live. Why go crazy over the details?”

“Because the details would justify me killing them all.”

Angel formed her lips into a big smile. “My sweet Lanore. After all this time and all these deaths, you still just can’t kill them?”

I didn’t say anything.

“Good. That’s why I love you so much, big head.”

“Oh be quiet, Angel.”

Lanore

Zulu stared off at the empty space of wall behind me as I caught him up on everything the Palero said. Without his usual grunt, nod, or some bodily movement to tell me he was still alive, I decided to do the only mature thing I could think of.

I slung a tiny ball of demon fire at him. He ducked. “What was that for?”

“You weren’t listening.”

“I was. Mother Earth is one of the women from many years ago who birthed Vampires. She can’t be around them because they’ll do fucked up shit to her or even better just drain her dry since her blood has power. Meanwhile, Dante tested supernaturals to see if they can do things like touch the walls.” Zulu got up from his desk and came to where I was standing on the other side. “And Dante also already knew that I could touch the wall, probably because Nona told a Rebel or worse, Nona told him herself. I did test her on the wall when I realized I could do it. She couldn’t even come several feet to the caged ceiling without breaking out into hives, so it was her or one of her people who ran to Dante.”

“And that’s why he probably invited us to the Blood Harvest Ball long ago.”

He got in front of me, seized my waist, and pulled me to him. “Nothing changes for me. I was going to kill Dante, Mother Earth, Nona, and any Shifter that called themselves a loyal Rebel to my face. You needed to know all of this stuff. Not me.”

“Angel said something like that.”

“You’re a thinker. You like to understand why people do things and see if they’re alternatives to situations. I like to kill. It saves time. I don’t have to think about anything.”

I grinned as he kissed my cheek and then the other. “Does that usually work out for you?”

“Only when they stay dead.”

“And when they don’t die?”

He tensed and left me just like that. A weird tension seemed to bridge between us. “Then I have to think, which is something I’m not that good at doing.”

“Oh stop. You’re smart. You put together MFE. This is a huge organization. No one else cared about Mixbreeds or knew what to do for them, but you gave us all a place to unite and find solutions.”

“Money did that.”

“No—”

Zulu stopped my talking as he put his hand in the air. “Hold on someone is coming.”

“It’s probably Wallace. I asked him to come.”

No one had been walking near our offices or living quarters all day. Zulu made a deal with the owner of Aztec hotel to house any homeless Mixbreeds from the Yemaya bombing. That left MFE pretty empty besides Vee, her kids, Angel, Zulu, the Palero, and me.

Zulu inhaled the air in front of him. “Yeah. You’re right. That’s Wallace. Why did you ask him to come?”

“I needed his research skills.”

“For what?”

“Finding Mother Earth and maybe checking out Kegan Burrows’ headquarters, Flame night club. If Kegan is with Nona, then we can grab her.”

Zulu opened his mouth to say something else, but Wallace stepped into the doorway. Bags lay under the computer nerd’s eyes. His clothes appeared disheveled, the tip of his nose red like he’d been rubbing it over and over. His mop of red dangling curls seemed way more … moppy and less than its organized madness.

“Is everything okay?” I walked over to him.

“Zulu? Oh my gods!” Wallace turned his gaze to Zulu. His mouth dropped open. A shriek escaped his cracked lips. He charged for Zulu, knocking me out of the way and dropping his bag to the floor.
Yikes.
I backed up. In a weird slow motion of seconds, Zulu’s hardened expression shifted to curiosity and then horror as Wallace slammed into him and gave him the biggest and most awkward hug that I’d ever had to witness.

I’d forgotten how much Wallace idolized Zulu. Even back in the day, when I had been avoiding dating Zulu. I attempted to go out with Wallace. It had been a major fail. Anytime I tried to hug or hold Wallace’s hand he politely jerked away. Whenever we talked in the library or on the phone it was only about comic books, Captain Habitat, or Zulu. Wallace even confessed that he had a huge photo of Zulu on his wall, although he’d never explained how he got it or if my man had clothes on in the picture.

Without hugging him back, Zulu glared at me. I mouthed the words, pat his back, and he did some sort of pathetic tap to Wallace’s shoulder.

“I couldn’t believe it when they announced you died on TV,” Wallace cried. “Oh, gods but you’re here. You’re right here.”

Wallace wept some more.

“There you go, Wallace,” Zulu said through clenched teeth. “I’m alive. It’s all okay.”

I rushed over and decided to interject before Zulu shifted to the Prime and flew out of there. “Come on, Wallace. Give Zulu some space.”

Wallace sniffled and backed up. “I can’t believe the rumors are true. People have been whispering about Zulu being alive all over the habitat. I wouldn’t even have come in when Lanore called, but I had to know for myself.”

“Gee, thanks, Wallace. You wouldn’t have come if I called?” I placed my hands on my hips. “I see where your loyalty lies. That’s messed up.”

“No. It’s not like that.” He wiped at his eyes, walked over to get his discarded satchel, picked it up, headed to the desk, and pulled out a tiny, silver calculator, I guessed, that must’ve been barely the size of his hand. Once he placed it on the desk, he tapped the top. A beep sounded at the sides. The silver brightened and bubbled. My breath caught in my throat.
What is this?
The metal liquefied, rippling out, flowing from its center in all directions until it was half the size of the desk. “My dad just bought me the new Tap. It’s the hot thing in technology. Earth Witches made it of course.”

I leaned in closer. “Of course.”

The puddle of silver flattened and then hardened into a sheet a metal, just as thin as a paper. Wallace sat down in front of it, lovingly glanced at Zulu again, cracked his knuckles, and then stared at me. “What did you need me to check out for you?”

“But it’s just a silver poster looking thing.” I pointed at what he’d called the Tap.

“Oh yeah.” He tapped it again, grabbed his purple glasses from his bag, and placed them on his face. He had the new Captain Habitat edition glasses. I didn’t need to wear them to read or see, but I was still pretty jealous. The Tap’s metal cracked, but I saw nothing that appeared broken. Next, the top of the metal flipped open. I expected to see the desk’s surface right under it, but instead a set of sky blue keys with letters materialized. I walked over to get in front of Wallace. A computer screen greeted my eyes, the flattest, yet most clear screen I’d ever had the opportunity to see.

“It’s pretty much like any computer. Granted it’s faster. I’d say all of the things that the Tap comes with but you’ll just tell me to shut up.” Wallace pressed a button.

The screen read, “Hi Wallace.”

“What do you need, Lanore? I’m back in service with MFE. Today is a good day.” He risked another glance at Zulu. His cheeks reddened. Zulu quirked his eyebrows at me as if asking what that was all about.

I grinned. “I need to find Mother Earth. You remember her right?”

“Of course. African American woman, short, maybe five feet tall, really fat, huge dreadlocks that fell to the floor. You made everyone do an emergency contact list last year. Her info may be on it. I still have all of MFE’s stuff on backup storage.”

“You can check it out, but I doubt it will be that easy. Either way, I need to find out where she lives. Anything you can find would be appreciated. I also need to know as much as you can about Kegan Burrows.”

“The leader of Wildfire Gospel?”

“Yes.”

Wallace stopped typing. “Do you know he’s been on TV saying that MFE has united with them?”

“Yes. Zulu and I are hoping to meet our new boss.”

“So cool.” Wallace returned to typing. “I can do a file on Kegan with no problem. I’d already started looking him up.”

“Really? See. This is why I love you Wallace.”

“I couldn’t find much. I have no idea how to get his real name. It isn’t Kegan Burrows. I’m sure of it because there’s no birth certificate or brand id for him.”

A brand id was given to every supernatural at birth. Like a forehead brand, it followed the supe throughout his or her life. If the supe wanted to buy a car or house, they provided a brand ID or let the person scan their brand. Financial records were ingrained in the supe’s brand records, which could be pulled by the brand ID or the brand simply being scanned. I needed the ID to enroll in college, get MeShack and my apartment, apply for a credit card that I didn’t get, as well as other things. If Kegan Burrows didn’t have a brand id on file, then he wasn’t really Kegan, he was someone else.

“Who owns Flame night club?” I asked.

“We think alike.” Wallace grinned. “I checked that. The club is owned by a Cora Pondo.”

“I’ve never heard of her.”

“Me either, but she owns a few properties around the habitat, nothing too big. An apartment in Oya District, clothing store in Yemaya District, magic shop in Eleggua, an abandoned building in Babaluaye, and Flame night club in Shango.”

The habitat was divided into five districts. Each named and themed after a popular Santeria god. It seemed that Cora made sure to have somewhere to go in every space of the caged city, which was odd. Most species stayed true to one specific district. Lots of Witches lived in Yemaya. It was flooded with them. Not to mention the fact that Yemaya was the most expensive area in the habitat and witches created and patented so many technological spells that they usually represented the upper middle to upper class. Shapeshifters prayed to the goddess Oya who shifted into a water buffalo. It was only obvious that they would live in a district named after her. Most discarded supes, like Demons, lived in Babaluaye District along with the Mixbreeds and barely ventured to other district for anything besides food or a hard to find item for a spell.

Yet, Cora Pondo had her hands in everything.

“Could you make a file on this Cora Pondo?”

“Sure.” Wallace sank into his serious mode. “Mother Earth’s info isn’t in the backup system. I have no address for her, besides this location. There’s nothing much on the supenet about her either, just things that deal with MFE. Stuff we already know.”

“There’s no brand ID under that name, right?”

“Nope.”

“Okay.” It seemed Kegan and Mother Earth, both lived under pseudonyms. That wasn’t really a big deal. I’d bet anything that there was no brand ID linked to Zulu or Nona’s names, either. Supes that dealt in illegal activities like organizing people against the government wouldn’t be smart if they made it simple for any supe to find them. Yet, impatience strummed through my veins. I’d been in Inked Guerilla all day, waiting for Harmony to wake up and take care of the Palero as well as give me whatever stupid test results Zulu believed I needed to check out. The fairy had been up all last night nursing homeless Mixbreeds before they were bussed to Aztec hotel.

Well, I’ll wait a few more hours, but I’m leaving tonight. Zulu will just have to be pissed.

“There’s a hurricane watch in effect. If it gets to be too much can I stay here?” Wallace asked.

“Of course,” Zulu mumbled.

I checked my watch. It read three in the afternoon. I turned to Wallace. “Do you think you could get me a map of Flame night club? I’m talking something that shows the interior foundation.”

“Of course. I could pull one up right now in seconds. See.”

Zulu and I tilted his way to get a good look. The background was black. The lines formed into the club’s foundation were bright orange. The whole building was shaped into a sort of massive globe with five different levels. People entered at the center of the club, after climbing several flights of stairs outside. In the center was a dance floor, bar, and restrooms. The map didn’t say anything more about the two levels below or above. However it seemed that the top two levels were hollowed in the core so that people on the mid-level could look up and see the sky.

“What’s going on with the top of the building?” Zulu pointed.

Wallace touched the screen and moved the image with his fingers so that the top appeared before us. “It looks like there isn’t a roof, just a few beams to form at the top.”

I squinted and read some of the notes on the map’s side. There was a whole lot of discussion on ventilation systems. “There are probably not much of any walls either. If the club is called Flame and presented by Fire Witches, then there should be fire. They’ll need tons of oxygen to keep their fires going and also a way to let the smoke drift out and not suffocate their guests. If I was doing it, there wouldn’t be any walls, or at least not traditional ones. Maybe screens.”

Zulu directed his attention to me. “You think we should go there?”

“Correction. I think I should go there.”

A dark growl erupted from his chest. “Wallace, can you give Lanore and I a few seconds of privacy?”

“Sure.” Wallace needed no more motivation to rush out of there.

“Are you forgetting I can control and suck in fire?” I rolled my eyes. “If anybody is safe in a club full of fire, it is me. Whereas you’ll get burned.”

“I’m not afraid of getting burned.”