The Burning Bush (34 page)

“Vee hates me,” MeShack argued. “And I don’t know why.”

“Just tell her about the kids.” I started walking back toward the burning store. “And she dislikes you because you slept with all the women in her knitting circle.”

He placed his phone to his ear. “It was only three chicks, and they cornered me when I was drinking.”

Quickening my pace, I raised my hands and approached the store the kids had vandalized, dousing out the flames with mental commands. Something leaked from my nose. A guy jumped in front of me and snapped my picture.

“You’re bleeding.” MeShack sped up to me and covered the phone with his hand. “You’re the leader. Delegate some of the fire extinguishing before you pass out in the street.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

He shrugged and stepped to the side. “Uh, hey there, Vee . . . Yeah . . . I know. I’m a flea-ridden cat whore.”

“Miss Vesta.” An Earth Witch reporter tapped me on the shoulder and shoved a microphone in my face. “We’re getting ready to go. Do you have anything to say to all the rioters and scared people in Santeria?”

Several cameras focused their lights on me. Shielding my eyes, I tried not to think that people all over Santeria, and maybe all over the world, were now watching me on their televisions.

Swallowing, I gazed into one of the cameras. “We have to stop this fighting. MFE and the Rebels do not support this rioting.”

More reporters swarmed my way.

“What happened tonight in Yemaya was tragic and horrific. We’ve all lost tonight, from Mixbreeds to Purebloods. Even the habbies will bury friends.” I held back my tears as Cassie’s face flashed in my mind. “If we don’t work together right now to stop the fires and rioting, we’ll all die in this cage.”

Blood dripped from my nose even more than before. The reporter gasped and jumped back.
Great. My TV debut and I’m bleeding out of my nose.
I left the cameras and reporters, heading off toward more fires further ahead. Slowly, I made a mental to-do list.

Call Ben and make sure he’s not worried about MeShack, Zulu, and me.

Find the Burning Bush Killer.

Free Angel from the habbies.

Get Zulu back.

Kill Dante.

And then drink and smoke until I forgot about how much Cassie’s being gone hurt.

Rioting had finally ended in Shango District. MFE’s hallway reeked of ash and the smoky smell that comes with smothering a lit fireplace. I walked to my bedroom like a drugged-out zombie and had to step over Mixies nursing their wounds with sleep. Some still sat upright, mumbling about their losses. Other Mixies gathered together, telling goodnight stories to kids, soothing the brokenhearted, and joining their supplies into a massive community box right outside my office.

I wish Zulu could see this.

Crowds of homeless Mixies and even a few Purebloods had packed into MFE, receiving shelter, food, and medical care. No one had been turned away. I’d gotten Cinnamon’s Meat Shack to deliver sandwiches and put it on MFE’s credit account. Hopefully, Zulu wouldn’t kill me when he saw the bill.

Vee had shown up with thirty Witches. MeShack had to promise to be her Witch’s Bitch the whole night, which he did by wearing only a pink apron and white bikini bottom. He’d followed Vee around, carrying herbs, pots, and whatever else she needed to heal those she could. Fortunately, the absurdity of a huge Were-cheetah in a pink apron entertained the kids, who really needed to laugh. And frankly, MeShack’s well-muscled behind was a nice distraction from what was going on around us.

“Sorry,” I said after almost stepping on a Mixie’s hand. I scratched at the dirt and soot clinging to my skin. My body drowned in exhaustion. I was in desperate need of food, sleep, and a cleaning.
If only my shower had a bed and fridge, I could take care of all three things at once.

“La La?” MeShack called from the end of the hallway. “It’s six a.m. Stop putting out fires and go to sleep.”

“Have you gone to sleep?” I asked, staring at the ash all over his skin.

“No, I haven’t slept yet.” He took off the dirty apron, unaware of every adult female in the hallway ogling his body. “That has nothing to do with what I’m telling you.”

“Well, I may or may not have time to go to sleep, but thanks for helping Vee.” I stumbled to my bedroom door.

“Wait.” MeShack rushed to me in a blur. “Before you go in your room, I have to tell you that Zulu’s beast made a nest with most of your comic books.”

My hand dropped from the doorknob. “I don’t know if I should be alarmed that the beast made a nest or pissed that the comic books I’ve been collecting since I was a kid were destroyed.”

He kissed my brand. “Be nice.”

“Nice?” I raised my eyebrows. “Why, Mr. Hooshmand, do you actually like the Prime?”

“No. I’m trying to gain points with you, so you’ll let your guard down and sleep with me.” He focused on me for a few seconds and laughed. “I’m just playing.”

Shaking my head, I opened the door. Sure enough, a huge circular nest half the size of my bed was stuck up against the wall. How the Prime got the nest to stick, I’ll never know. The Prime sat in the middle of a nest made of torn comic books, my shoes, pens, highlighters, and some black goo that held it all together. His massive, leather-like wings were tucked behind his back. He wore green jogging pants with two yellow stripes going down each leg’s sides.

With a clawed black finger, the Prime turned the page of a textbook. “Lanore, I disagree with most of your notes on Dr. Xandon. Sure, his methods in achieving transcendence were eccentric, but vaginal meditation has been proven to be successful in obtaining spiritual alignment of the soul and mind.”

I stood there, gaping at him. No response came to my mind. The Prime returned to reading my textbook. A boom sounded from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at MeShack, who was dragging in his duffle bags.

“His beast is smart.” MeShack pitched his bags under the Prime’s nest.

“What are you doing?” I asked MeShack.

“I gave my room to Ben, Vee, and her hundred Witchlings.” MeShack pointed over his shoulder to the direction of his room. “They took up Ben’s room too. So you, Batman, and I will all be bunking in here for a while.”

“So it’s a dysfunctional slumber party.” I groaned.

MeShack grabbed his box of marijuana out of one of the duffle bags. “You want to smoke with me?”

“I’m definitely smoking.” I slipped out of my sneakers, flinging them to the side of my bed. “Make a joint with a rejuvenation spell, please.”

“You can’t use rejuvenation spells to substitute for sleep.”

“You shouldn’t do drugs.” I stuck my tongue out and wagged it at him.

“Touché.”

I’d been trying to quit smoking weed since meeting Zulu. He was against drugs and alcohol. I figured it wasn’t a bad rule to follow. The only problem was MeShack consumed marijuana daily like food and grew various strains in his closet. His stuff was the best, which made it pretty difficult to avoid.

“I’ll smoke.” The Prime slung the book he’d been reading into his nest and snatched up one of my trashy romance novels that I kept hidden under my bed. He seemed in good spirits, so I figured I would joke with him to keep his mind away from Zulu and his lost.

“Prime, you will repay me for the damage to my comic books,” I insisted and collapsed onto my bed. Dust rose from my body and landed on my violet sheets.

“And what will you do if I don’t?” The Prime stretched his huge, black wings and drew them back in. “Sure, you have fire power. I hear you threaten everyone all the time, but you would never harm Zulu.”

MeShack chuckled as he took out red, glossy smoking paper, and began to roll a joint.

“I’ll figure out a way to make you uncomfortable. I’m pretty resourceful.” I shut my eyes.

The Prime sucked his fanged teeth. “I doubt someone whose side note on the great Vampire psychologist Freud is, and I quote, ‘Whoa! This guy is a cockburger!’ I doubt you will mentally out maneuver me.”

“Freud
was
a cockburger. His whole idea that women had penis envy is preposterous. If he hadn’t gotten staked years ago, I would burn him alive.” Opening my eyes, I pulled off my socks. “And Prime, I enjoyed you more when you only nodded and talked in one-syllable words.”

MeShack held up the finished joint. “Light this for me, La La.”

I directed fire to the tip. “You rolled that too quick. Did you do the rejuvenation spell? I don’t see a spell kit.”

“Spell kits are the old way. Angel and I did a supply run at Rasta Man store last week. We bought some crazy stuff. I have blue rolling paper for relaxation spells, silver paper to be used as an aphrodisiac, and red is supposed to pack a seriously strong rejuvenation spell.” MeShack displayed the lit, red joint to me, put it to his lips, and inhaled.

Yawning, I found the strength to sit up and glanced back at the Prime. “How’s Zulu doing? Has he said anything to you?”

“No. But we don’t say much to each other anyway.” The Prime jumped out of his nest and seized the joint from MeShack before he could pass it to me. “It’s been ten years since we’ve talked for more than a minute. I just know he is pretty jittery and agitated. He’s constantly moving. Hopefully, the weed will calm him.”

“Why don’t Zulu and you talk much?” MeShack asked.

A thick cloud of pink smoke escaped the Prime’s dark lips. “Zulu blames me for his father having to sacrifice his own life so that Zulu could control his shifting.”

“That must suck, not speaking to each other but living in one body,” MeShack said. “My beast and I talk a lot.”

“Yes, I know.” The Prime handed the joint to me, his black lips lowered into a frown. “I see you and your beast joking with each other all the time.”

“You can see my beast?” MeShack’s voice came out in a murderous hiss. “What the fuck are you?”

“Calm down.” I coughed out smoke. My eyes watered and my throat burned. “Zulu is half Fairy and half Shifter, so his beast form is an animal from the Fairy realm.”

MeShack’s fangs pushed out. “But how can he see my cheetah?”

The Prime shrugged. “I don’t know. Shapeshifters were created by Fairies, so maybe that is why. In the end you are all our little creatures.”

MeShack shot out of his seat. The chair fell over with a boom. Any other time, his movement would have been scary, but since he was wearing nothing but bikini bottoms, the Prime laughed. Giggling, I jumped in the space between them.

“No fighting.” I spread my arms out and balanced the joint between my lips.

“I am no Fairy’s little creature,” MeShack snarled.

There were two schools of thought on the origin of Shifters. Many believed when the Fairies found the Earth realm thousands of years ago, they began experimenting magically on Humans and animals, merging them into one until these beings eventually evolved into Shifters. The second school of thought in the Santeria Habitat was that the goddess Oya created the Shifters.

I twisted around and offered the joint back to MeShack, whispering, “Relax, sexy cat.” I poked his belly button as he took the marijuana and backed up.

“Fairies did not make us,” MeShack’s said angrily one more time.

“You are free to think whatever you want.” The Prime clucked his tongue against his teeth and climbed back into the nest. “Regardless of why or how, Zulu and I can see a Shifter’s beast. Right now your cheetah is licking his tail.”

Grinning, I glanced back at MeShack. “Is that true?”

MeShack nodded slowly.

“Usually your beast just stares at Lanore for long periods of time.” The Prime coughed. “I find it unnerving.”

MeShack sat back down. “She’s our mate. It’s normal.”

“Well then, we shall have to agree to disagree,” the Prime said.

“On what? That she’s my mate or that it’s unnerving?” MeShack asked.

“Both.” The Prime spat black goo into his nest.

“Prime, that’s disgusting! Please don’t do that again,” I said.

A weird gurgling noise expelled from the Prime’s mouth. He spat several more globs of black stuff on his other side and then patted it down onto his nest. “This keeps my fort’s foundation strong.”