The Burning Bush (52 page)

“It’s too late for that.” Everything went dark. Supes screamed. Zulu roared several feet behind me. A needle pierced my shoulder. A cold feeling seeped into my veins.

“Sorry, Lanore,” Dante whispered and lifted me up into darkness.

“Stop!” I bounced in his arms. “Zulu is going to kill you! I’m going to kill you!”

Ceiling lights turned on. The enchanted forest disappeared, revealing a regular banquet room with plastic trees and wood pieces coating the floor.

“Everyone calm down!” a man yelled from a bullhorn.

I called fire to my hands, but nothing came. “I’m not your fucking enemy right now.”

“I know,” Dante muttered as he carried me and quickened his pace. My body stiffened. It was hard to move. I slowly peeked over his shoulder.

“No!” MeShack raced toward us.

Two Vamps charged him. Sharp claws burst from MeShack’s fingers. The crowd near him gasped as MeShack struck at the nearest Vamp’s face. Dark liquid spilled from the Vamp’s cheek. He screeched and pushed out his fangs. I struggled in Dante’s arms, but couldn’t move. Three more Vamps surrounded MeShack, two holding long silver swords.

Where did those weapons come from? So much for protection spells.

Cries of terror rose on the dance floor. People scattered. A winged black beast floated above us and headed Dante’s way.
Zulu!

“Y-you . . . have to . . . let me go,” I slurred. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth. I could barely use it.

MeShack’s eyes shifted to feline as he fought the Vamps, slashing and clawing, grunting each time he took a hit and ducking as more vamps lunged his way. Green sparks exploded near some of the Vamps MeShack fought, and I knew it had to be Vee. At least I hoped she was helping. MeShack needed it.

There’s just too many of them.
“Call th-them . . . off,” I managed to say.

Dante pushed us through a crowd, breathing rapidly. Vamps trailed behind us, toting guns. No more music played, just the sound of people running and screaming. Gunshots blasted. Zulu roared, still flying toward us. The trailing Vamps twisted around and shot at him.

“What is that?” Dante muttered under his breath when he turned to see what they were shooting at. He increased his speed. We bumped into people. I couldn’t move my arms or legs as they banged against others. My eyes slowly blinked open and closed.

Zulu dove down, dodging bullets and roaring. My body became heavier with whatever Dante injected into my bloodstream. I struggled to look for MeShack among the chaos. At first I couldn’t see him. Only a large mob of Vamps lingered in the area, battling something. Then I spotted a long tail with tan fur and black spots. Dark blood splattered above the Vamps. Some fled. Others stayed, pulling out knives and guns. Several separated Vamp heads were tossed into the center of the crowd.
Someone please help him.

Then a massive cheetah, ripped with hard muscle and spotted fur leapt out, pushing fire from his nostrils.
Yes.
MeShack’s eyes went to me. He whimpered. His jaws opened wide. He tore off a Vamp head and then surrounded it in flames as he raced my way.

A sword gleamed behind him.
Where did that come from?
A Vamp blurred to MeShack. The sharp blade hit MeShack’s furry back, slicing through the cheetah’s spine. Red blood sprayed out, staining the floor. MeShack collapsed to the ground, yelping in pain so loudly my body rocked with the noise.

“No!” I yelled in my head, unable to open my mouth as the Vamp lifted the sword and sliced through the cheetah’s body again, separating his beast into two halves.

I screamed over and over in my head, my body stiff like a corpse, my lips frozen into place. My eyes watered and blurred my image, but I could still see the blood, MeShack’s blood pooling around his body and his eyes. MeShack stared out from the cheetah’s eyes and centered on me.

A white light exploded around MeShack, blinding me. I closed my eyes. So many people screamed in horror, deafening me. I sunk into Dante’s arms with the little bit of energy I had left, praying he would kill me—just end my life right there, because nothing else really mattered anymore, not the Humans or the bombings, not even the distant roars that traveled through the screams. Everyone could explode into nothingness and it would not change anything because, in the end, MeShack was gone. And with his death, all of me had withered away.

EPILOGUE

I was naked on the bed, positioned on all fours. Moonlight dimly lit my old bedroom. MeShack’s earthy scent of freshly cut grass lingered around me. Cheering blared from the TV in my dad’s living room as it played the Santeria Santeros football game. We’d checked and made sure that my dad was passed out in his favorite recliner, with a can of beer tilted and barely hanging on in his left hand, and a pipe on top of the remote control in his right.

In my bed, MeShack lay under me, his head between my thighs. His wet tongue lapped at my throbbing bud. A molten hot sensation blasted through me, flowing in my veins at a rapid pace and causing every inch of me to ache with hunger. Even the fan that buzzed from the dresser, blowing a cold breeze, couldn’t cool me down. I gripped the purple bed sheets. “MeShee!”

“Shh, La La. You’re going to wake Graham.” MeShack spread me apart with his large fingers. His thick, long tongue entered me.

“I don’t care.” My legs collapsed as an electric current rose in my core, stirring up my senses into a lusty haze of disarray.
How can I be quiet when he does this to me?
I bit my lip, squirming as his tongue caressed my innermost treasure.

“I don’t care if he hears.” I moaned, grasping for the sheets and snatching them off my old twin mattress.

Purring, he slipped his hands to my hips and lifted me up from his mouth. “Of course you don’t care. Graham will only kill
me
.”

He flipped me over onto my back and moved up my body until he was hovering over me. His hazel eyes shimmered with need as they glowed. His tongue traveled along the bottom of his lip, savoring my taste. “You’re all mine. No one else can have you.”

“Yes. Now please, come inside me.”

“Why should I?” His eyelids lazily drooped. He took the moist, mushroomed head of his length and traced a teasing line along my folds. “You mock his name. Kingdom is upset.”

“I’m going to burn you.”

He grinned, leaned down, and pressed those soft lips on mine. Honey coated his tongue. He pulled back, but not before I could take a tiny nibble of that plump bottom lip.

“Kingdom is a dumb name,” I whispered. The bed squeaked as he positioned himself closer to me. “You should call him Captain.”

Growling, he pierced me with him. I cried into his shoulder, swimming in a lusty wave that spasmed through my body. He paused, not fully inside.

Worry creased the edge of his eyes. “Can I go further? Am I hurting you?”

“Yes.” I shook my head. “I mean no, you’re not hurting me, and yes go further.”

He pushed in more, expanding me until I was packed with him.
God, he’s so big.
And then he didn’t move, taunting me; we remained connected. His eyes focused on mine. We breathed in and out at the same rhythm.

I whimpered, no longer able to take it anymore, and he pulled away. I grasped at his shoulders, but my fingers slipped off his damp skin.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He climbed off me and switched on the only lamp in my room, the one I’d made in my ceramics class that was supposed to look like a bouquet of lilies. Instead, it resembled a bundle of penises.

“You know you’ll be okay without me, right?” he said. The light shined on MeShack. He now wore clothes. A jade-and-bronze tuxedo draped his body.

Emptiness overtook me as if someone had carved out my insides until I was hollow. A ball of sorrow lodged in my throat. Still lying on my bed, I averted my eyes to the ceiling, not able to look at him anymore. Captain Habitat posters decorated the surface. A folded poster came with every new Captain Habitat comic, and I kept all of them. Spray painted in the center of the ceiling was,
L loves M 4-Ever!

The first time my dad saw the message, he’d howled and yelled, “M better stand for math or magazines. If M is for MeShack, I’m skinning him alive!”

Frightened, I’d told him, “M is for Mom.”

Dad had fled the apartment, not wanting to remember my mom or discuss her. He never brought up the message on my ceiling again. I should have felt guilty, but it saved MeShack’s hide so it didn’t matter. My eyes explored the rest of the room. My books cluttered the floor. MeShack’s football equipment and record collection were propped in the far corner.

“I never realized how small this room was.” I tried to light the violet candles near my end table. No flames appeared. Fire never showed up in my dreams. “How did we manage to live in this room together for ten years?”

“You’ll be okay, La La.”

“Just be quiet. I don’t want to talk about it.” Tears welled in my eyes. I turned to him right as they spilled out and streamed down my face. He embraced me, his grip tightening. Hard muscle surrounded me. His hand went to the back of my neck where he’d laid his claim years ago. His fingertips slid over the mark’s tiny hump. It would be gone when I woke up. I’d read that a Shifter’s claim only left when the beast took the claim back or when the Shifter died.

MeShack released me. “Ben already lost one mother. He can’t lose two. Don’t be like our parents. My mom never got over my dad. She rotted away with drugs and liquor. Graham still mourns your mom. Be better than that.”

I nodded and focused on him, drinking in every detail of his face. A drop of blood landed on his crescent moon brand. I touched it and smeared some of the blood between my fingers.
Where did this come from?

“I love you,” he said.

Cold blood drops hit my hand, and then more stormed down until I couldn’t see MeShack or anything else in front of me.

Water sprayed down on me as I awoke on a moist plastic bed, spread-eagle. An icy mist coated my skin. A wet sheet lay glued to my naked body. The whole area was foggy. Cold metal chains clasped my ankles and wrists. They clinked when I moved my hands. My head throbbed. My arms ached. I could barely move my neck.

“Dante!” I screamed, blinking drops away from my eyes. “You better hide!”

Feeling groggy, I gazed at my cords. They glowed as crimson as boiling blood, so much rage swam through them. Zulu’s rage and sorrow mixed with mine.

“Dante! Show your face, you blood-drinking bitch of a man!” I wiggled my toes. Blood rushed through my body. “Now is your time to kill me, while I’m wet and weak!”

I don’t care if I die anymore.
MeShack’s words flashed in my mind along with Ben’s face.
Damn you, MeShee.

“Okay. Hello! Let’s talk or something! Get me out of here!”

The water shut off. A red door opened that I hadn’t realized was there. Angel stepped in, or at least I assumed it was Angel. She had a completely bald head and wore only a simple black robe.

“Pyromancer!” She raced toward me. The robe bobbed around her ankles, showing me that she was barefoot. She snapped her fingers. The chains around my wrists and ankles unlocked. I flexed my feet and twisted my hands back and forth. Angel giggled and grabbed me, tightening her grip. “There is so much I have to tell you.”

I didn’t hug her back. Maybe it was because she referred to me as pyromancer, just like the Palero. Or maybe it was because her X brand was now missing from her forehead. Frankincense drifted from her skin, causing me to sneeze. Several different colors swirled inside her pupils as though they didn’t want to choose one hue. I gawked at her, frozen stiff like a statue.

“I know. I kind of look different, but you’ll get used to it.”

“Are you working with Dante?” I swallowed.

“Never.”

“Why are you here then?” I rubbed my wrist. “Not that I’m mad you freed me. I’m just confused.”

“If it wasn’t for you, I would be dead.” Angel helped me sit up. “Either killed by the habitat police or dead from all the magic I kept sucking in.”

I opened my mouth, but words failed to come out.

“We have a whole lot to do, pyromancer.” She smiled, exposing only gums, no teeth.

I inched back a little. “So . . . anything you would like to tell me? Are you trying a new look? Are teeth and hair out this season?”

A cackle escaped her lips. Four Vamps entered the room. Dante stood in the hallway. Angel stopped laughing and disappeared. A gust of white light exploded around the room, blinding me, and then she materialized on my other side. “How cool is that? I can disappear and reappear whenever and wherever I want.”

My nerves flared. “It’s a bit disturbing.”

“Come.” Her eyes gleamed from blue to orange, then flickered to a copper color. She hooked her arm around mine. “We have many things to do. I chose you as the one I want to advise.”

“Like the Palero advises Dante?” I kept the wet sheet to cover my body, wrapping it around me.