Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (39 page)

“I don’t believe she’s pregnant.” Vee huffed. “What tests did you use?”

“I won’t defend myself to you.”

“I’m going to give her my own pregnancy tests.”

I sat up. My world spun around me so much I had to rub my eyes. “I like Vee’s idea. More tests. Something’s wrong. I do have demon fire in me that could be making the tests wonky.”

“No. Sure you have different types of fire inside of you. It came up in your blood tests, but there’s a little fetus in your womb and the child doesn’t seem bothered by the fire at all. Would you like to hear the heartbeat?”

I glanced at Vee. “Wouldn’t it be too soon to hear anything?”

“Most species fetuses can be heard at six weeks. Others at four.” Vee shrugged. I considered the time frame. Less than three months ago, Zulu had taken me on the habitat wall, since then, he’d been … taking me almost every day we were together.

“I for one have already heard the baby’s heartbeat so I don’t even know why you asked her. I’m placing you at six weeks.” Harmony rose from her chair. “Where are the tea bags located? We have a lot to discuss. You’ll need a new eating plan, more rest than you’ve been getting, absolutely no drugs. You smell like marijuana now. Earth Witches are known to smoke during the entire pregnancy. There have been studies that the THC in it doesn’t pass through the membrane to the child. I think it is crap. I won’t deal with a pregnant patient doing drugs—”

“Of course not. If I am pregnant, I won’t smoke. Did you already tell Zulu this?” I asked.

“No. He thinks you’re vomiting and passing out from this fire you sucked in, but he’ll need to know as soon as he returns from healing.”

I bit my lip. “I can’t have a baby, especially not with Zulu. Now is not the right time. We’re going through things. He’s done some pretty psychotic things in the past days. It all could’ve been due to him needing to heal, but who knows. I need to know though, before I tell him. I won’t let him near the child unless I know for sure. Oh God! Child. I’m not sure if Zulu and I will even be together. This baby is just going to have to wait until I figure it all out.”

Both women studied my face for a few seconds, looked at each other, and laughed.

“No. I’m serious.” I waved my hands from side to side. “I can’t have this baby.”

Frowning, Harmony held my hand in midair as she reached for the mugs. “Are you asking me to abort the child? There are options out there, but … this is something that you have to take your time and—”

“No. Oh God, no. I can’t kill anymore.” I shook my head. “I’m not getting an abortion. I just need a spell to maybe pause the baby. You know something that can like freeze the baby for ten years or so, until I’ve figured it all out.” I searched Vee’s giggling face for help. “This isn’t funny! Is there some sort of magic out there that can do this?”

“Lanore, with all of my kids do you really think I know a spell to pause babies? Girl, you better sit down and suck it up like all the rest of the mothers in the world who have been caught off guard. Welcome to motherhood, Lanore. It’s a thankless job that provides no pay, rest, or sanity, but at times when that little one is asleep in your arms and you’ve somehow found the time to have three hours of rest, it all feels worth it. Of course then the little one’s diarrhea spills out of the diaper and splatters all over your already crapped on jogging pants—”

I held my hand up. “Thanks, Vee. I think I got it.”

Harmony grinned and pulled out pots from a bottom shelf. “Do you like lemon in your tea?”

“I like gin in it.”

She wagged her finger at me. “Let’s add two lemons for Mommy since the baby doesn’t like gin.”

I cringed at the word mommy.

Lanore

I’m pregnant.

I heard his heartbeat. I figured the little one was a boy because his heart beat like a warrior.
Just like his father. Oh God. Father? Zulu? Help me someone!

I was pregnant by Zulu. That fact shoved everything else to the side. I sat there with my cup of chamomile tea and some bitter herb I didn’t recognize and pretended it was a spicy coffee infused with chocolate. The clock read midnight. Harmony had left me with a pile of papers, a long list of books on fairy pregnancies, and gave me an appointment to see her next week.

There is a life inside of me that expects me to take care of it. Can I do that? I take care of Ben … kind of. Well, at times. Oh my goodness! I’m going to ruin this child’s life! Zulu and I should just save for therapy bills instead of college.

I sipped my tea. Someone knocked on the door. I didn’t care.

I’m pregnant. Someone else can get the damn door.

The person continued to knock. I sighed and got up, not needing any of Vee’s kids or Ben to wake up. I checked the peephole. It should have shocked me that a fat Vampire stood on the other side, but then I’d been expecting Dante to show his acne-covered face for days.

“Just a minute.” I pushed out several ice blue fireballs and gasped at the pleasure that ran to the center of my thighs. Licking my lips, I waited for a few seconds, riding the waves of sensual yumminess. If Zulu could see me now, he would roar. I gazed at the balls. There must’ve been five of them. Harmony said my fire lay in pouches in my body away from my child and that as far as she could tell, the demon fire didn’t harm it.

Expand.

The balls grew bigger, from the size of golf balls to melons. The outer edges crackled with white. They bounced up and down as if anticipating the taste of Vampire flesh.

Okay. One thing at a time. Talk to Dante in a really smart and confident way. Get him out of the apartment or kill him, one or the other. Then return to brooding about being pregnant.

Short lists. I needed small ones in this current situation, just until I could wrap my head around the whole baby situation.

I opened the door. “Oh joy, Dante! I had no idea my invitation to come to my new condo got to you so quickly. I hadn’t even put a stamp on it yet.”

He stepped inside. The three men behind him tried to walk in. I placed my hands in front of me. “No. Only him.”

Three balls rushed in front me to prove my point.

“Stay outside. It doesn’t matter. I won’t be long and she won’t hurt me.” Dante held a box, wobbled into the living room, and crashed onto my couch. He wore crimson red leather jacket and an all-black shirt and pants underneath. He’d clearly bought new clothes for his new gut. It protruded over his belt like a beer belly and jiggled a little as he adjusted himself on the couch and set the box down on the table. “Do you know why I’m here?”

“To give me my house warming present?” I remained standing.

“As a matter of fact, I did come to give you your present.”

I picked up the box. My fireballs leaned down with me and hovered over his head.

“I love the new color of your fire,” Dante said. “It’s interesting.”

I ignored him and opened the package. Four cut off hands lay inside, each represented a different complexion which told me that there were probably four dead people somewhere in the habitat. I didn’t need to ask why he’d felt the need to show me the hands, due to the collars still being stuck to their wrist. A cherry blossom decorated each one.

“Do you happen to know why Sakura’s spies have been trying to get in touch with you?” He leaned back and rubbed his stomach.

I pretended to be confused. “Sakura?”

He frowned. “I’m not really in a good mood. I’m sorry. You’ll have to excuse my lack of patience this evening. You see, someone destroyed all of my lab experiments, freed the supes I was studying, melted my men into puddles of murky ash, destroyed my dining hall, and apparently united with an enemy Vampire family from a whole other foreign habitat. And I thought this person was my friend.”

“Bastard.”

“That’s what I said.” He nodded. “I was pretty upset too.”

“Of course you were. You had every right to be upset.” I sat down on the other couch, but told my fireballs to remain right in front of Dante so he could continue to see them.

“I waited. I took my time and watched this friend. I needed to find a way to get to them.” He knitted his fingers together and placed them on his lap. “MFE has some serious fairy glamour. I gave up on that idea. Then her father’s house was also a no-go. That Demon is prepared for a full human army.”

Dad had
actually
prepared for a full human army to take him, but I didn’t need to interrupt Dante’s tirade with my comments.

“Luckily, her boyfriend is a moron.” He gazed at me. “No offense of course.”

“None taken. I’ll just tell Zulu and let him decide how he’ll take it.”

He smiled. “This condo has no glamour at all. No protection. I mean, if I just wanted to go Boom!”

I jumped. He laughed. “You see. No one’s making sure that you’re safe. That really upsets me. It was why I came. I mean even the moving guys who helped your kind Witch, they were able to put several listening devices in your place. I felt bad about that.”

“Of course you did.” I batted my eyes. “You’re a kind Vampire. I force you into these situations.”

“I say that to myself in the mirror every day. Well I continued to wait, heard lots of things. Poor Zulu. Lots of trouble in his relationship. I would take you off his hands, but then you’re already used and knocked up.”

My demon fire inched closer to him.

“Then I thought to myself. Dante”—he looked at me—“I like to address myself when I have grand thoughts.”

I pretended to take notes with my imaginary pen and paper. “Oh good. Tell me more.”

“Dante, I said. Surely this must be a trap. Surely, they can’t be off their guard this much. Even now, you’ve just let me walk right into your condo. That’s not typical Lanore. I mean where is the fun in that? And you do make my life fun.”

“I’ve been trying.” I smirked. “Okay. And this isn’t that big of a deal or anything, but let’s pretend that you were going to somehow find the energy inside of your fat ass to come for me.”

His jaw twitched.

“I’m sorry. I’ll call you chubby, not fat.”

“The milk is simply digesting.”

“Oh yes. The Sister’s milk.” I giggled. “We’ll get on that later. First let me give you an example of what would happen.”

I screamed.

Prime dropped from the ceiling and placed Dante in a headlock. Plants rose from the ground and dove toward the chubby Vampire not sensing his blood as a familiar component in Vee’s spell. She’d spent hours taking all of our blood and placing them in protective charms all over the house.
Didn’t hear that part did you?
Her freaking plants, which seemed to be some of the most dangerous objects in the house, currently held Dante’s feet by his ankles while another held a sharp stick between his legs.

“What is the stick for?” Dante hissed.

“I’m not sure. You’re listening devices didn’t pick up on it, huh? Should we just test it out?”

“No. You’ve proved your point.”

I winked at Prime. He rose back to the ceiling in a blur of black movement and attached himself to the surface. Once Harmony had left, he’d refused to remain in his nest and had been following me around the house all evening. Thankfully, he hadn’t heard what Harmony told me, but he may have understood what Dante said just now about me being knocked up.

I’ll have to deal with that later.

I crossed my legs. “This is all assuming that those cute little fireballs over there wouldn’t have got to you first, and they would’ve, because they want to gnaw at your flesh and feast. Do you think I would let them?”

“Yes.” He rubbed his neck.

“So, I think it’s time for you to be quiet and my turn to talk.” I tapped my foot. “You rolled in here by yourself which means you have way more power than you did before. You were confident you could take me and whoever else was in here out by yourself, especially with Zulu being gone which I’m sure you heard.”

“I probably still could take you.”

“We’ll see next time. For now, we’re too important to each other.”

“That depends.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Did you pass through the portal?”

“What would you do if I could?”

“I would take you back to my compound, chain you to my lab, take all of your blood, and begin to see if I can make injections for my people.”

“So then it would be smart to answer no.”

“It really doesn’t matter. Either way you’ll be in my lab. And it’s because I know that if Sakura sent four spies, many in my family to send messages to MFE, then it means you can help her. You wouldn’t be able to help her unless you could at least enter her compound. That very fact is enough for me to manufacture your blood and test it.”

“That’s not really a good idea. There’s the fact that I just won’t let you take me.”

“This is true.”

“Additionally, I’m certain I have the ability to get you some potent blood, so powerful you would do anything for me to get it.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“That thing that you drunk from is not the creator of your race.” I reached for the book I’d found in my box of things Zulu had had the moving company bring over. “When I was a kid, my dad would make me memorize the information in this book, and if I didn’t he would whip me.” I displayed how thick it was too him. “There’s five hundred pages on various species in the Demon realm. I’m talking stuff about every level of Demon as well as all of their cattle and pets.” I flipped to page three hundred and fifty-six, which had a piece of paper sticking out of it. “I’ve heard some crazy news tonight so to get my mind off of it, I decided to do some research. What does that creature look like to you?”

A black and white drawing illustrated a woman with long hair and wings, lying on the ground. Tiny faces covered her skin. He didn’t seem amused anymore.

“This section discusses the winged bat heathen. In the Demon Realm, she would be considered an animal, something Demons would catch, roast, and feast on.” I pointed to the little faces on the skin. “These things are bugs, actually sort of like parasites that basically land on her, dig into her skin, and make their home. So the good news, at least for me, is that those aren’t a bunch of souls or something. I mean that really freaked me out the most. They’re just kind of like bugs with icky little faces that like to lick the winged bats residue on her skin.”

Dante slammed the book close and stood. “This is sacrilegious.”

“No. That feeding ceremony is sacrilegious and straight up disgusting. You basically milked an ugly cow with your mouth and let it jack you off.” I bared my palms. “Which is fine if that’s your thing, but it doesn’t give you any special power once the milk finally digests.”

Claws pierced his fingertips. He looked at the fireballs and then me as if checking the distance and wondering if he could tear my throat out before they got him.

“I wouldn’t try it. You saw what you came back to after the feeding. Is that really how you want to end your life, in my house, fat, bumps all over your face, and in an ugly jacket?”

“This jacket costs more than this condo.”

“Then it’s expensive and ugly. Sit down.”

He continued to stand.

“Fine. The mothers of Vampires were women infected by a Demon, but they didn’t turn into ugly hags with faces all over their body and nasty gray milk dripping out of their nipples which is pretty much making me want to vomit right now.” I thought about when I’d thrown up at the feeding and realized that I should’ve known right then that I was pregnant. “The mothers were still human, in fact, just with skin that allowed them to do all sorts of nifty little things, like darken or lighten, puff out to be fat or slim in to be skinny.”

“How do you know this?”

“My father’s a Demon and we happened to be around one of these mothers recently.”

“Who?”

“Mother Earth.”

He rubbed the temples on his forehead and sat down. “Keep talking.”

“Keep talking?”

“Excuse me.” He twirled his hand in the air. “Tell me more about Mother Earth.”

“That’s just one of her faces.” I decided to keep the fact Kegan Burrows was another one of her identities to myself as I explained how I got to this understanding.

After I finished, he leaned all the way back on the couch. “I believe you.”

“Really?” That caught me off guard.

“There’s two things I want, power and freedom. The Palero would never tell me what Mother Earth was. You figured she was human. I doubted it. If she’d just been a human, then the Palero would have had no reason to hold that from me. But this information makes more sense and what you said about Mother Earth’s quests against Vampires is very smart. I never knew why the Rebels decided to make us their enemies when before they did odd jobs for me.”

“Like testing out the portals.”

“Exactly.”