Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (35 page)

“I didn’t know that.”

She nodded. “They did more than grow up together. They … survived and killed together. Maybe it was loyalty, love, or guilt, but instead of making sure Zulu was in the condo she placed Cassie there instead.”

“That way Zulu would still be alive and willing to fight.”

Snorting, Graham hosed down the ground near him, letting all the blood and guts sink into the ground. “You’re just going to sit right there with my daughter and go over theories. She has my blood in her, you know. Don’t think for one second she’s not crazy.”

La La rolled her eyes. “That brings us back to Kegan. Dad says his skin is Demon infected.”

“Doesn’t mean he is the mother of Vampires,” Dad countered.

“It doesn’t mean he isn’t,” she countered.

I love these two fools.

Graham turned off the hose. “What’s your proof, girl?”

“His skin is demon-infected.”

“You’ve already said that,” he argued.

“They both wear robes.” She held out her hands to stop his probably smart reply. “He had no fire at all, but he smelled like a Fire Witch. The Palero said these women carry the scents of those around them. What else could Kegan have been? Did you see any power source in him?”

“No.” Graham spit on the ground. “He could be this Mother whatever, but then you could be wrong.”

They both stayed silent for a few seconds. After a while, La La laughed. “I bet Mother Earth’s real name is Cora Pondo. Why else would a person have a location in every district if they weren’t expecting to have a safe place to slip in and hide wherever they went? We find Cora Pondo and we find the mother of Vampires.”

“I got a better idea. Why don’t you tell me where you really got that demon fire from?” Graham picked up his pot and marched to the house exactly how La La had just done earlier.

“I did tell you, Daddy.”

“Oh yeah.” He glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “Portals and Japanese Vampire compounds with stunted Dragonshifters. Stop smoking weed. It’s bad for you.”

She raised her hands in the air in defeat. “You don’t have to believe me.”

“Good, because I don’t!” He slammed the door behind him as he went inside. Angel stirred on the ground and rolled over.

“Are you going to listen to your father about that demon fire? He made a lot of good points earlier this evening.” I asked as she came to the fence near me.

“He doesn’t want me to use it, until he can research it more, but if I need to I will. Other than that, I’m going to try not to.” She walked up to the front of me. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m keeping you from going inside of your hole.”

“Okay.” I pulled her in for a hug. “Would you stay here for the whole week until I come out? Just stay with Graham.”

“Dad and I would kill each other. We can’t be in the same room for longer than a few hours.”

“He loves you.”

“Whatever. I can’t.” She hugged me back, but it didn’t feel like her usual one. It seemed forced. She was still mad at the world.

I kissed her X brand and ran my fingers through her dreadlocks. “Why can’t you?”

“I finally know what’s going on.”

“And will it end with Nona and Mother Earth?”

“Maybe.”

I placed my finger under her chin and lifted her view to me. “I love you. Please don’t get yourself killed. You know how much that would hurt, to be back and hear that you’re gone?”

“I’ll have Angel.”

It was hard to say it, but I had to. “You also have Zulu?”

“Let’s not bring him up right now.”

“You ever wonder why I didn’t tell you he was the one who paid to have me killed?”

“I figured you wanted to hold it over his head.”

I smirked. “Well that’s just the fun part. No. That’s not why. I knew I would be away from you and needed someone near to protect you and who loved you almost as much as me. Zulu is rotting inside. That shit scares me, but he hasn’t made any move to harm you at all has he?”

“No. He kind of seemed normal.”

“Graham will be around, but if you go up against Nona and Mother Earth you take Zulu.”

“No.”

“He loves you.”

She looked down at the ground. “Maybe he loves me too much.”

“I know how that feels.”

Her eyes watered. “Why would he try to kill you?”

“Because he wasn’t thinking clearly,” I had to admit it, even though I didn’t want to. “Because he knows you’ll always be my mate.”

“You have to stop saying that.” She paused for a few seconds and then stared at me with shimmering eyes. “What should I do about him? Part of me hates him so much, but that’s only part of me. The rest …”

You don’t even have to say it. I know you still love him, even after all of this.

“I’m not the best person to give you advice on him. Anything I would say would be to get you back to me.” I kissed her brand again. The urge to do more rushed through me. I couldn’t even hold her to me like I really wanted in fear that she would feel the stiff erection, yearning to be near her. “Have him around you while I’m in the ground. He’s a lot of things, a mate stealer and a psychotic killer, but he will protect you. He’ll keep you safe.”

“Ha.” She released me. “Very funny.”

“I’m not being funny. Keep Zulu around you. I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”

Our eyes met in the moonlight.

“I can’t promise you anything, MeShack.”

Fear engulfed my chest, but I said nothing else. Graham would be monitoring her more. He’d said as much the one time she went inside to go to the bathroom. And Zulu would be there too. Every now and then I could smell his sandalwood scent on the wind as it blew into the yard. He was around, somewhere in the shadows, waiting. For what I didn’t know.

The only good thing about a monster being in love with your mate was that no other men came around. Zulu would be my only competition as long as he lived.

I sighed. “Will you tuck me in?”

She smiled. “Sure. Lay down in the hole with your teddy. I’ll even tell you a good bedtime story.”

“What is it about? Is it about big breasted mermaids falling in love with pirates?”

“No.” Her gaze darkened. “I don’t feel like saying any love stories right now.”

“Maybe one on Captain Habitat?”

“Naw.” Her shoulders slumped forward. “There’s no heroes in this story, just a bunch of people trying to survive.”

“I’m already not digging this story.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers.”

I snatched up my teddy and jumped into the hole. “How about I tell you a love story?”

“I’m shocked you know any. Will it involve lots of naked women, spreading their legs?”

“No. Not this time. You probably never heard this, even though you should have. It’s about a forest Fairy that lured a crazy Demon her way.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Why would a forest Fairy lure a Demon?”

“I think it was something about breeding and love. Stop interrupting me. Anyway, this Demon had great power. He was the son of a king in a realm far away.”

“Why did he leave, if he was a prince?”

“I think he hated his father.”

“Why?”

“You ask too many questions.” I lay down in the soft soil. The dirt formed around me at its own command. “Anyway, this Demon came to our realm and started a skin business. He was really good at what he did.”

Recognition glazed over her eyes. “Tell me more about the Fairy.”

I looked up at my love as the moon bathed her in light. “She was beautiful, probably the most enchanting creature any man had ever seen. She lived deep in a forest surrounded by petals and Pixies.”

“What was her name?”

“Lily.”

Her eyes brightened to a light shade of orange, so light it almost seemed the color of gold. “How did Lily get such a grumpy Demon prince to fall in love with her?”

“That’s where the story begins.”

She sat down with her legs crossed. “Well then, go ahead.”

Lanore

The storm had finally come, scary lightning and ear-splitting thunder, violent winds and the ugliest sky.

Mud formed around my legs and butt as I sat on the ground and leaned my back against the fence bordering my dad and neighbor’s yard. MeShack’s old fraternity cowboy hat sat on my head and shielded my face from the cold rain. Dad had brought it out along with his raincoat since I refused to come inside with Angel. He’d called me several names. Most were synonymous with stupid.

I blocked him and the rain out and just watched drunk clouds travel by. They were a sight to see—rippling shades of thick gray among angry black lines and puffs of faded white. There was power in those clouds so much I could taste it on my tongue and feel it on my skin.

Maybe there are gods up there after all.

I took a swig of the bottle, some sort of mojito mixer—white rum, sugar cane, lime, sparkling water, and mint. It should have yanked me down from the incredible high, five joints back to back could cause, but it hadn’t. I remained numb. Fog filled my skull. The list of all the things transformed into this blurry image of euphoria and laziness. Suddenly, nothing seemed important enough to complete in that moment, not Mother Earth, Nona, Dante who thank the gods had not showed his fat face yet.

Probably still recovering from that disgusting milk.
Ben’s face hit my thoughts.
Vee is right. I am the worst mother in the habitat. I shouldn’t be taking care of him when I can’t even take care of myself.

I drank some more of the bitter liquid. The sweetness of the sugar cane merged enough with the flooding of lime to not make it too hard to swallow. My house’s back door opened. Dad stormed out. “Enough is enough! Get out of this rain!”

I replied with another sip and my middle finger.

He kicked me in my hip.
Motherpounder!
I doubled over holding my side. Pain bit at the area. My hat fell off. Mud smoothed against my face.

“Get your ass up! You’re sitting in my back yard like a goddamn baby crier!”

“Baby crier?” I rolled over onto my back and got up. “I’m not crying. I’m drinking and enjoying the weather.”

He leaned over and picked up the bottle. “Drinking? This is a mixer, dumbass. You need to add the rum. You’re just sitting here drinking sugar water.”

“No wonder. I can’t get drunk.” I stumbled back.

“Which is good because you smoked enough to get a whole coven of Earth Witches high! And they need a lot.”

“Stop yelling at me.” I pointed at myself. “And don’t kick me again.”

“Or what, little girl?” He got a foot of width in front of me. “You get in that house or I’m going to give you the whipping of your life.”

“Why are you so adamant about me getting inside?”

“You can catch a cold.”

Really? The man kicks me and then worries about me getting sick.

“I’m not going inside the house, Dad. Colds come from germs not rain. People just get them when it’s raining or a lot of cold weather because they go in their houses and cuddle up to male assholes with germs and don’t have the good sense to wash their hands before putting them in their mouths. Then they sneeze and spread it to more supes, but you can’t get a cold from rain. Leave me alone!”

His expression faltered for a second, but then returned. “I don’t care what you say, get your ass in the house so you don’t catch a cold!”

I sat back down. “Suck my—”

“I’m on the edge, little girl.” He snatched me up by my hair and dragged me to the house. It hurt so badly. I fought his hands. Mud and water splashed everywhere as I kicked my feet. But still he dragged. “Suck what? It better not be what I think it is. Who gave you that dirty mouth? Not me. You must’ve got it from Lily. She sure had a temper on her.”

My scalp stung. I couldn’t get loose. I clawed at his legs, grasped at the grass, but that only left me with clumps of it in my hands. Still my body rubbed against the wet dirt as he pulled me. Dad could have simply lifted me up with a flick of his finger and flew me into the house, but he wanted to make a point, that either way whether with magic or physically I would do what he commanded.

“Let her go!” A roar from behind us rivaled the thunder.

I didn’t need to know who made that roar. It had been a part of my existence lately just as his cords had slowly become a part of my body.

“It’s about time you’ve come to deal with this.” Graham let my dreadlocks go. “Get her out of the rain so she doesn’t catch a cold … and … wash your hands so you don’t give her … germs!”

I got up and wiped the mud off of my jeans. “I don’t need anyone to deal with me.”

Dad ignored me and pointed at Zulu. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you real bad. I’ve heard you’re crazy, but you haven’t seen crazy until I’ve come to your doorstep. Do we understand ourselves or should I make a point by throwing your body across my yard with just a few hand gestures?”

“I won’t hurt her.” His voice came from behind me, but I couldn’t even look his way.

“Whatever sickness you have tearing you apart, keep it away from my little girl.”

“Okay.”

“And wash your hands before touching her!” Dad shut the door.

Zulu appeared before me in Prime form, but it wasn’t the one I was used to seeing. Weird white lines traveled along his black skin. They journeyed over his pecs, continued along his neck, and stopped midway on one side of his face. I raised my hand and touched one of the lines. He flinched, but didn’t back up. Usually the Prime’s flesh served as a hard, leather layer. This white stuff was soft to the touch, too tender to protect anything.

“What is this?” I didn’t look up at him and traced one of the lines with my finger.

“I don’t know.”

“Do they hurt?”

“Yes.”

“How long have they been there?”

“Since we left the Vampire’s compound.”

I’d seen him in Prime form many times. He’d looked the same and must’ve covered himself in fairy glamour. It was a spell that could either hide a person’s identity from others or make them appear as something else. In that moment, rain dripped along Zulu’s naked body. Elements like water canceled out glamour.

“When were you going to tell me this?” I asked.

“Never.”

“Did Harmony even give you anything to help you heal?”

“No.”

“So you’ve been rotting and slowly going insane?” I asked. He didn’t respond. “Is that what our relationship has come to a bunch of lies and deceit?”

“No. I knew what you would say, ‘Zulu you have to go into yourself.’ I wasn’t going to until everything with Mother Earth and Nona was finished, so why make you worry.” He spread his wings out. They rose and expanded high behind him.

I backed up. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“We need to talk.” In a blur, he captured my waist, whipped me into the air, and flew us out of the yard.

I shrieked and held on to his arms, wind and rain slapping into my face. “Put me down!”

“No.”

“You think flying me off somewhere is going to help you with me?”

“No. I don’t really know what would help.” He tightened his hold and pulled me into him so that my body molded into his. “Your jacket is slippery. Don’t let go.”

“Fuck!” I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on for dear life. We rose higher and reached the height of buildings. No one else was dumb enough to fly out there but us, not birds or Pixies. I gulped some courage and looked down. No one walked any of the sidewalks below. No cars drove down the streets. Everyone had prepared for the storm. We flew by most of the districts—brown sidewalks in Babaluaye-aye, flaming orange buildings of Shango, bright purple houses in Oya. He slowed once we got to Yemaya. The witches had really done a lot of work since the condo bombing. The only evidence of the incident was the massive space of bare land on the edge of the district where Zulu’s building and Yemaya shopping square used to be. Building materials lay in organized stacks all over the area. Carp covered other huge piles.

After several minutes of silent flying in Yemaya, I asked, “Where are we going?”

“To your new place.”

“I don’t have one and if you think money is going to make me forget that you tried to have MeShack killed then you’re wrong.”

A grumble boomed from his chest. “The place is not about MeShack. It’s about having a safe home for my lady to live.”

“I’m not your lady.”

“Be careful with what you say to me.”

“Why? You’ll kill me too?”

“Never.” His fangs left his lips. We landed on a massive balcony with no wall in the front, but on the sides. It seemed to be more like a launching pad, painted turquoise blue with plants in the corners and double glass doors behind me. I couldn’t see through the doors due to two thick lavender curtains. I still had my legs wrapped around his waist, when I tried to pull them away he kept them there with both of his hands. “You can be mad. You can hate me. You don’t even have to talk to me anymore. But there is one thing that will always remain, my claim on you. Be very careful with what you say to me.”

“You be careful.” I shoved at his chest, but he wouldn’t back up or let me down. “Your claim ends when you die. Don’t push me.”

“Do you want to kill me?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do.” He pressed my back against the wall, smoothed the side of his face against mine, and inhaled me. “If you want to kill me, I’m right here. Go ahead.”

He let me down and shifted into his regular form. His dark skin lightened back to that pale, creamy skin. Except where the white marked lines had spread all over him, they now turned solid black. They marred his chest, neck, and the same side of his face. His blond strands grew out of his scalp. His height lowered, muscles sank into themselves an inch or two. He held his hands out to the sides and closed his eyes. “Push me off.”

“What?”

“If you want the claim gone, then push me off. I can’t fly now and we’re on the twelfth floor. End it right here.”

The storm picked up and with it my heartbeat increased. His short hair blew from side to side with the wind. Raindrops glittered his skin. His eyes stayed close. He let his head fall back. “I won’t stop you, but this is the only way, because I’m telling you right now, I’ll never let you go. I won’t take away the claim and even if I did. I would kill anyone that came near you, and you know me by now, you know what I’ll do. If I say I’ll kill them, I will. You want this done, then do it yourself.”

My hands shook. “You know I can’t kill you, so just shut up.”

He returned his face to me and opened his eyes. His fangs were the only thing that remained of his beast. “Why can’t you kill me?”

“You know why.”

“No. I don’t.” He set his arms down and headed over to me. “My head doesn’t click like yours. It doesn’t neatly have boxes for good and bad, right and wrong. I’m not sure if you realized this yet, but I’m not the normal type of guy that you’re used to.”

“With my dad, I don’t think I could recognize normal if it was right in front of me.”

“Well, thank the gods for your dad. He’s probably the only reason why I’ve had you this long.” Zulu was too close to me now. His scent enfolded me. His steady breathing blocked out the thunder and battering of rain.

“You’re not my father. He doesn’t see life. He sees skin that he can sell and organs to trade with others. He only thinks about himself.”

“And you. He thinks about you.”

“Never.”

“He does.”

“I don’t see it.”

“I do.” His gaze traveled all over my skin. “Why didn’t you push me over? You could’ve killed me and ended it all.”

My chest burned with sorrow. “Is that what you wanted?”

“No. I just want you.”

“You can’t have me anymore.”

He placed his hands on the wall behind me and leaned in further until I was trapped with him. Nothing else existed, but his scent and that huge body. “I’ve already got you. I had you before you even realized it. The first time I smelled you, I knew you were mine. I saw that mark on your neck and couldn’t care less about a Shifter’s mate claim. Another night, I spotted MeShack in your apartment.”

Shocked, I opened my mouth. “How?”

“I watched you while standing on the fire escape outside of your window. I could see his growing beast and the way he looked at you. I admit it, MeShack claimed you long ago. It was official and real, but I didn’t care, and I still don’t.”

I shook my head. “None of this stuff matters to me. In the end, it’s not who marks me up that has me. It’s whom I choose to be with. I chose you and
you
turned around, violated my trust, and broke my heart into pieces. I’m not pushing you off of a damn balcony. Why? Because I still love you, but I won’t be bullied into being with you anymore. We’re done.”

He stared into my eyes. “I love you too.”

I sighed. “Is that the only thing you heard?”

“I’m sorry I broke you heart. How can I fix it?”

“Are you sorry that you tried to kill MeShack?”

His dark blue and gold eyes gleamed. “No. I won’t lie to you. My only regret is that he’s alive.”

Anger surged in my veins. “Get away from me.”