Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (32 page)

“Are you done?”

I paused and did my best to calm beast and me down.

“The claim remains and will until I die. You’re going to need to kill me, if that wasn’t clear the first time I walked into her life, then let me make it evident now.” He moved in closer. Our bodies touched. It didn’t make cheetah and me happy in the least. Power surged from him. Lots of it. More than usual. He’d gotten more somehow. His cords flickered on and off in various colors.

Did his bond with La La give him more power?

Maybe. Our mate is strong.
Cheetah replied.

“She’ll find out.” His words held a murderous edge. “You’re right. You think I’ll let her go?” He leaned his head to the side. “You’re wrong.”

I laughed. “Oh really? You’re just going to stay with La La when she doesn’t want to be with you? I hope you’ve bought a good supply of fire retardant sheets. It looks like the next couple of days will be pretty hot and interesting.”

“You won’t be there to see them.” Zulu slammed his claws into my chest, but it didn’t happen like he’d planned. Those sharp tips didn’t pierce my skin, instead they bounced back. Fire bubbled under me and then simmered. My vanilla skin remained unmarred.

I chuckled. “You think I would come this close to the Heart Ripper without protecting myself. Put your claws away.”

Graham stood next to us. I had no idea when he’d gotten there, but his attention remained on Zulu. Bright red light spread from the back of his shades. “You’re not thinking clearly, little one. What were you going to do once you killed my son? You think I would let you walk out of here?”

“There’s a reason why I’m still alive.” Zulu didn’t even look Graham’s way. “You know you can’t kill me.”

I wagged my finger at him. “I wouldn’t say can’t. I would say chose not to kill you until further research.”

“Can’t,” Zulu snarled. “You take me out. The claim takes Lanore. None of us wants that.”

“So you’ll hide behind the claim to survive?”

“You get a day with Lanore.” He winked. It scared me. “Fuck it. I’ll give you a week. She’s been through enough.”

I forced my facial expression to stay relaxed. “And then what?”

“I’ll kill you, but this time I won’t send another. I’ll do it myself, and I don’t give a fuck who’s around, not your little protector over here or Lanore.” He leaned in further to me, until the tip of his nose touched mine. My body trembled with rage. The whole energy of the moment surged to intense and insane. “Not even her tears will stop me. I’ll fucking gut you right in front of her, if you force my hand. You’ve whispered enough sweet things to her. You’ve touched her enough when I wasn’t around and placed your scent all over her body and hair too many times. I’m tired of you.”

Cheetah snapped and tried to claw his way out of my core. My ribs ached in pain, but I barely felt it. Too much fury swam within me. I was fuming. I’d hated Zulu before, wanted him dead or far away from La La, now I despised him more than death or the bars covering the city.

“You can’t break my skin.” I tried to think through the red haze of fury in front of me. The urge to bite his head off quaked in my bones, so much that my body trembled.

“Anything breaks over time.” Zulu backed up, but not far enough. “Even with your daddy, you’re out matched.”

“How you figure?”

“I don’t back down.”

“Let’s see what you do without your claim.” I made fists with my hands.

“It would be a waste of my energy to take away the claim, kill you, and then place it back on her.”

“She wouldn’t be with you if you killed me.”

He smiled, white fangs against black skin. “You still think I’m playing by normal people’s rules don’t you?”

“Oh no. You’re gone. You’re rotting from the inside. Even the Zulu I knew had limits. Who are you now?”

He frowned as if considering what I said. “I don’t need to heal like other Shifters.”

“Then why are you rotting like a mourning Shifter rots when he hasn’t mentally healed?” I laughed, but it wasn’t one filled with humor. It scared me that Zulu was this far gone and had been around La La by himself. Most Shifters that smelled this bad had already killed their mates by now. La La would’ve had no idea. Only other Shifters could catch this particular fragrance of rot. “You’re not at the edge. You’ve already fallen over to your death.”

“Shut up.”

“You’re not even thinking clearly.”

“Don’t pretend to know me, cat.”

“When did you pay Fray for my death? I bet it was after you came back too soon from being inside of yourself, right before the ball in fact. I could smell the rot on you then.”

“None of that matters.” Zulu avoided answering me, which told me I was probably right. “I would never hurt her.”

“You won’t be around to do it.”

“I’ll never leave her side. She’s mine.”

I didn’t know what got over me. It could’ve been cheetah or Zulu’s words, but I snapped and dove for his chest. My hat fell off my head. He slashed at the air. I blocked him. He stumbled back and crashed to the ground. I dove on top and opened my mouth. Steam rushed out. Zulu stabbed and stabbed at my body, roaring with each strike, but none of his claws cut. My fangs met his shoulder. My mouth salivated.

Who would’ve thought that I’d find him tasty.

My teeth burned through his skin. He rolled me over, punching and kicking. My body rocked with the impact, but my fangs melted him more. His skin liquefied in my mouth. Sugary goodness. Sweet like the honey cakes were supposed to be. He screamed in pain. Things entered my back, sharp, electrocuting things.
Oh god.
My body charged in searing pain.

How did he get through my skin?

I released his shoulder and jumped away, snatched at one. The rest of those things left. A black cord rested in my hand and vibrated to bright white. I’d always wondered what happened to those cords on his arms and figured they went into his body when he shifted. Instead, they transformed to a color that matched his Prime’s skin.

Zulu rose. His wings slapped at the air as he checked his shoulder. A chewed inward curve existed on him where a normal right shoulder should’ve been. A nice tasty chunk of Zulu sat in my stomach.

I signaled with my finger for him to come back down. “Come here. I’ve just gotten a taste for Fairy.”

Black liquid dripped from his shoulder wound to the pavement, yet he still swooped back down.

This sociopath has a lot of heart.

“And I thought I was crazy.” Graham got between us. “This is resolving nothing. MeShack wants the claim gone—”

“So he can kill me without Lanore dying.” Zulu’s eyes flared with rage. “I get that, but whether you have the munchies for me or not, you’ll still lose.”

“Oh really, Motherpounder!” I snapped my fangs at him and let them crackle. “Then let me see your other shoulder.”

Graham put each of his hands on our chest to give us a big distance. “Eating Zulu won’t solve anything, MeShack. And Zulu, as crazy as it may sound to you, my daughter really will not stick with you, if you harm MeShack.”

“You’ve got a week with her.” Zulu didn’t even move out of Graham’s way. “I don’t care what you are. I’ll find a way through your skin. If not through your flesh, my claws will enter you another way. There are many paths to get to a man’s heart. I’ve dug my hand in other holes before.”

I didn’t even want to ponder where he was going with that. I wasn’t even afraid to admit it … I might’ve clenched my own ass and stepped back at his confession.

“You’re outmatched, even with your daddy.” He gestured to Graham. “You think because you became some Fairy eating animal that you’re ready for me. I’m not an animal or a beast. I’m a monster, a nightmare to killers who walk around this city. I was killing supes as a kid, when you were combing your pretty little curls in the mirror and discovering you had a penis.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re not the only one who’s killed.”

“True.” Zulu nodded. “But I’m the only one of us who loves it. Lanore is all I have. I’d murder a whole city to get to her, old, young, sick and weak. I don’t care.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s not that you don’t believe me. You can’t. You’re incapable of what I’m able to do with no problem. You’re mind doesn’t work that way. Mine does.” He tapped his head. “I heard you’ll be fighting for XO now. You want some advice.” He rose in the air. “Never get in the ring with someone that’s crazier than you and has nothing left to lose.”

He zipped away like a motherpounding beam of dark light. At first he was there and then he was gone.

Graham looked to the sky. “Well, that went well.”

“Really?”

“No one’s dead.”

“Good point.”

“He’s a bit insane. Although his logic did make sense at times.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that you would say that.” I patted down my pants, picked up my hat, and placed it back on my head. “You’re a bit off yourself.”

“You’re just mad he knocked your hat off.”

“He didn’t knock my hat off. It fell.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“Your memory sucks.”

“My memory flows like a river.”

We walked out of the park.

“Like a river?” I adjusted my hat so that it slanted to the side. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. I think I got that from a poem.” He glanced at the sky again. “What are you going to do now? That boy won’t take away the claim and he’s losing the little sanity he had.”

“I’ll figure that out later. Right now, I want to focus on La La.”

“Would you like some advice, being that I’m older, stronger, smarter, and much better in bed than you?”

I groaned.

“Learn Zulu. Figure him out, his thinking, what he eats, all of his weaknesses. Follow him around when you have time. Then come up with a plan.”

“Stalk him, watch him eat and take a shit, and then figure out something? Should I write him poems about memories and rivers too?”

“If he won’t heal himself, then he can’t be around my daughter.”

“True. How should I make sure of that?”

“I’ll figure out something if she doesn’t.” Graham didn’t reply. Anxiety edged around his eyes. We walked in silence for a while, got in line, and then waited. His jaw twitched a little. He rubbed his hands together as if he was cold and then scratched his head. Whatever he was thinking about didn’t settle right in his mind. I hoped it wasn’t my predicament with Zulu.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Graham looked around and held a weird question in his gaze. “Why are we here?”

“To meet Lanore.”

“You already talked to that Zulu?”

I hit my head, realizing he’d just forgotten everything. “Yes. Everything pretty much happened as you planned.”

“Then you owe me a hundred dollars.” He put his hand in front of me. “I told your young ass the conversation wouldn’t work. I just know killers.”

“Really?” I dug into my pockets, pulled out the bill, and handed it to him. “You’ve forgot the last twenty minutes, but you didn’t forget the details of a bet we made three hours ago.”

“Some things are worth remembering.”

Lanore

Angel and I walked down the copper hallway of Flame nightclub and entered the center level. At first the bouncers wouldn’t let us in, until I told him who I was and that I came to see Kegan, my new leader. Both Fire Witches had shifted uncomfortable after that. It could’ve been that my eyes remained on fire or the ice blue demon fireball I tossed in my hand as I waited for them to open the door and let us in.

Due to their quick compliance, I got rid of the demon ball quick. I’d seen firsthand how demon fire reacted around elemental magic. I didn’t want to make people explode just yet, not until I knew they deserved it.

“Together! Together!”
Electronica boomed from the DJ’s booth as it hovered high above the dance floor.
“We’re flying in the clouds. Together!”

There were no actual lights, just various forms of fire floating throughout the club—orange heart shaped flames, blazing yellow stars that zoomed through the air in a zigzag pattern, burning red globes that dangled from chains near the bar and swung back and forth. Every minute or so, fire exploded in the four corners of the night club, shot out all the way up to the high opened ceilings, and zipped up in curvy patterns throughout the air above. With all the fire, heat, and smoke in the place, there were no traditional walls like I guessed, just bronze and copper beams that stuck in the ground, expanded up to the ceiling, and formed around the club. A foot of empty space ran between each bronze and copper beam, allowing the outside’s cool wind to flow in as well as the smoke to drift away. And the ceiling was another oddity. If anyone could truly call it a ceiling. It consisted of beams and large blocks of open space.

Zulu would have no problem flying in here if we needed him.

Overall I was impressed. I couldn’t see anybody casting the spells or manipulating the fire, but I sensed them all around me. The fragrance of elemental magic lathered the warm air and smelled of burnt cinnamon, sort of sweet, yet bitter to the tongue. In fact, the club stunk of it.

My phone rested in the tiny pocket in my shorts, ready to be used to alert Zulu. Strips of plum leather wrapped around my breasts, not hiding all of my girls, but enough where Zulu didn’t roar, instead he begged me to spend some time with him in the nest before rushing off to meet with Kegan. He’d gone from hot to cold in seconds and acted as if our conversation in my office had no significance at all. I wasn’t having it so I left him there in my room and called over my shoulder that there wouldn’t be any nest time until he explained what was going on.

“See. Aren’t you glad I made you wear the shorts?” Angel leaned my way. With the Palero’s state being weakened, her powers decreased too. She couldn’t talk in my head anymore and was too scared to try and spirit away, deciding to save all of her energy for an emergency. “You were going to wear jeans and a T-shirt.”

“I still wouldn’t have been hot.” The high temperature didn’t even affect me. It could’ve been hotter. “But you are right about one thing. We do fit in.”

She wore a silver plaid skirt so tiny, the mini shorts she wore under it could be seen by anybody behind her. Her top defied gravity. It hung on to her small breasts by two straps that hooked around her arms. Her entire back and stomach was bare as well. Her birthmarks on her back greeted anyone’s eyes who chose to study it, instead of her jiggly behind in those tiny shorts. The marks were two thick and slanted lines on each of her shoulder blades. They appeared more like scars, but she’d said they’d always been with her.

“Man, this DJ is hot. I wish we were actually partying.” Angel clapped her hands and rocked to the beat.

I smiled. “Well, we can dance and have fun for a while, but Kegan should be getting the message that we’re in here pretty soon.”

“Will we go up there without MeShack and your dad?”

“No. I won’t go until we meet up with them on the dance floor.”

The DJ booth sat in a huge metal box, at least five feet wide and ten feet long. Lots of chains held the booth up and connected it to the ceiling. Only the shirtless DJ stood in it, dancing to his hard-hitting song and pressing buttons every few seconds. Besides, the speakers rattling in the metal cases near his head, he seemed pretty safe in there as he spun around in a circle. Gold sparks burst from his equipment. The crowd roared.

“We’re on fire, and getting higher! If we’re all in this life together!”

On the circular dance floor, bodies gyrated back and forth at fast paces so quick that they blurred together in grinding images of browns and hues of white. I could barely make out their forehead brands. The few ones I caught were upright silver triangles that signaled they were Fire Witches. Everyone was half naked, adorned in straps of clothing that only hid their private body parts and left the rest to air out. The few people sitting at the bars that didn’t wear Fire Witch brands gleamed with sweat and held large cups of water.

This was the most Fire Witches I’d ever been around. I avoided them most of the time. They were the most peculiar of all the elementals. They could take away my fire, but they couldn’t produce any of their own. It was weird being that fire did flow in their veins, not a lot, but enough for me to sense them in the area and go the other way. They couldn’t or simply no longer knew how to make it, but if fire burned in their space they possessed the ability to grab a hold and command it anyway they desired.

I fought a Fire Witch in middle school once. Every ball I slung her way she caught and used to burn my clothes. By the end of the fight, she’d slapped me several times and left me on the playground naked and crying. I stayed away from them then.
But things are different now.
I didn’t represent that same snot nosed kid from long ago, and the fire that burned inside me tonight came from a powerful demon. No Witch could seize it or they would burn.

“Together! Let’s get high and hit the club together!”
The rhythm increased. The crowd jumped in a scattered unison to the news beat.
“Forever! Forever! We’re flying. We’ll be high forever!”

Angel grabbed my hand. “Let’s have fun while we can.”

We hit the dance floor. She pulled me toward the center through grinding and sweaty dancers. This close under the DJ the bass drummed in my chest. The music filled my ears.

A deep voice sounded in the middle of the song.
“Stop! It’s time to speed it up. It’s time to pick it up! Pick. It. Up!”

The rhythm raced at an insane tempo. The crowd began jumping again and pumping their closed fists. Angel turned around. Excitement glittered all over her face. She moved her mouth, but with all the noise surrounding me I had no idea what she was trying to say. She joined everyone else, hopping like a wild woman.
Fuck it.
I followed suit. Granted, my dancing tended to raise severe criticism by onlookers most of the time, which is why I didn’t do it much in front of people.

Jumping and pumping your fists won’t be that difficult, right?

I did my best, but stepped on some toes. Most of the time they were Angel’s toes. She frowned. I tried a new method and leaped her way. She screamed and backed up, waving her hands as if to tell me to stop. But how could I stop? The music took me. I couldn’t really find the rhythm so I did what I usually did and made my own. Swinging my hips and leaping some more, I punched the girl next to me in the face, by accident of course, but she seemed to take it personally. I doubt she heard my apology as her and the girl she danced with rushed off in another direction like a monster was chasing them.
Really? A bit dramatic are we?
People near me ceased with jumping. They were watching me now, which told me I was getting it right.

Why else would they stop to watch me dancing?

“Oh yeah, baby!” I yelled and added some extra moves to my steps—a few crotch thrusts, kicking my feet out in midair, some spins, some double pumping with each hand. I think the double punching was what made the crowd go crazy as they cheered me on and laughed.

That’s right. Let them get hypnotized. Which hand will punch the air? I don’t know? Punch. Punch. Crotch thrust. Punch. Kick. Double thrust. Punch.

Angel stopped dancing and now had her face buried in her hands. When she looked up, I mouthed the word,
what?
She moved her lips, but I never understood what she was saying, although I was certain some of the words were
please
,
stop
, and
dancing
.

Really? I thought I was doing pretty good this time.

A huge arm hooked around my waist, lifted my body up, and took me off the dance floor. Instead of Angel rushing over, she opened her mouth in shock. I turned to see who had me. The lightest MeShack I’d ever seen greeted my gaze. It had to be him. Although he carried me away and past the bar, those hazel eyes glittered at me. He wore a hat slanted and to the side with no shirt, but matching jeans. That was such a MeShack thing to do. We didn’t say anything, not that we would hear much with all the music, yet I drank him in. His body was still his—rippled layers of muscle wrapped around his waist, big pecs, bulging arms, though never as big as Zulu’s.

The area darkened. The music faded. I looked around. He’d taken us to an empty hallway enclosed in bronze a good twenty feet down the path stood two doors for the bathrooms.

“Let me down,” I said.

He did, pressed me against the wall, and got directly in front of me. “Let me down? That’s the first words that come out of your mouth when you see me?”

I parted my lips. He dove in for a kiss.
Shit.
I ducked. It was so close. He leaned back, but instead of a frown, he tossed me a big smile. “No kiss?”

“I can give you a huge hug.”

“I want more.”

“Don’t we all?” I stood back up. “I’m with Zulu. I can’t do that, but I’m so happy you’re okay. I can’t believe you’re alive. Do you have any idea … I almost gave up. Right in that moment when I saw your body split in two. I just fucking didn’t care anymore about anyone or anything, but then I passed out and had this weird dream where you and I were in my old bedroom.”

“Your old bedroom? There could only be one thing we were doing if you woke up in there.” His eyes gleamed from under his hat, illuminating the space with a pretty glow.

“We weren’t doing anything.” Even though I was surrounded by flames in the club, that moment my body heated for the first time that evening. “We just talked in the dream.”

“You’re eyes are on fire. Your pulse has picked up and your nipples are hard. You’re lying.”

“It doesn’t matter what we were doing. My point is—”

“What were we doing?”

“We don’t have time for this.”

“Then hurry.” He leaned my way until his chest pushed against my very hard nipples. “Just whisper it in my ear. What were we doing?”

I closed my eyes. My breathing picked up. “I was sitting on your face while Dad was passed out in a chair during the Santeria Santeros championship.”

“Damn.” He rubbed his soft lips against my cheek. “I remember that night. You tasted so good and you wouldn’t be quiet. You were so loud. I thought Graham was going to wake up and kill me, but the more I licked your wet clit, the more I didn’t give a fuck if he ripped my spine out of my back. It’s not fair that you tasted so good.”

I swallowed. “You’re missing the point.”

“Maybe you are.” He kissed my neck.

Opening my eyes, I pushed him away. As usual, he was too much when he was near me, too much to deal with, too much to avoid, too damn much to not get aroused over. I stepped away and made sure two feet remained between us. “What I’m trying to say is that in the dream you told me that everything was going to be okay and Ben needed a good parent, not what we had. It made me want to do as you said and keep on moving forward once I woke up.”

“Good advice. That sounds like me. I’m pretty much a genius.”

I giggled. “MeShack is definitely back.”

“Yes he is, and Kingdom survived too. Things should be more interesting in your life from now on.”

“No thanks.” I waved my hands. “I have quite enough excitement in my life. In fact, we need to get back out there. I need you to basically watch my back, you and Dad. He is here right?”

“Yeah.” His gaze traveled over my body and made me stir.

“We should go then.” I headed out of the hallway and caught him up with as much as I could, not allowing him to hold my hand or place his own exploring fingers at the center of my back. Boundaries. I needed to make clear boundaries with him or it would be chaos once Zulu came around and smelled MeShack on me.

“So the Rebels work with Wildfire Gospel now?” he asked.

“That’s what we’re guessing, being that Nona was at the press release with him. If Nona is with him, then the Rebels are with him.”

“Yeah. They don’t move without her.”

“You think he’s just going to come to you?”

“Either that or I’ll just start blowing shit up.”

“So well-thought-out plans as usual?”

“Always.” I winked. “Do you see Angel? She’s not on the dance floor anymore.”