Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (9 page)

I turned to Graham and scratched the jelly skin behind my ear. “How can you move the dirt?”

“I’ve spent years filling this yard with my blood, letting it sink in and merge with the earth until its one living being. It’s funny how people see animals and point to them as living creatures, but the most powerful beings on Earth—like plants and soil—they forget, when these are smarter than us at times. When humans can’t see a brain, they lower its worth. I say that’s when you should have the most respect.” He flicked his hand. A force pulled my own fingers away from my neck. “Stop scratching. You’ll damage your Demon skin.”

“It itches.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll give you some temporary skin for now. After I smoke, we’ll have to find the person who killed you.”

“Why?”

He spit on the ground. “Your memory is worse than mine. I just said, ‘Rule number one: The one who sparks the spell is a vessel for the one who the spell impacts.’ Do you remember who killed you?”

“Some vamp with a blade. He belonged to the Bottelli family.”

“He killed you with the blade?”

A huge grave revealed itself to us. It was at least five feet wide and seven feet long. Bags of fire lay inside. That was the only way I could explain it. Fire bags lay in the grave the size of trash bags. Graham whistled a tune as he headed over to the grave and jumped inside.

“Yeah. The Vamp sliced me in half with the blade.”

“Good. Your blood hit the sword, which means the spell marked it too. I can whip up a locator enchantment in no time. It’ll give us sort of an invisible rope from your body to the sword. If the Vampire is serious about his weapon, then he’ll have it with him. We’ll take his skin and get you squared away with everything else.”

“Everything else?”

“You’ll be hungry soon. You’ll need to feed. Then there is the matter of my daughter. I feel her emotions moving through me. There’s been no distress as of yet, but I like to know where she is, at all times, just in case.”

I jumped in the grave with Graham. The stench of death seared my nostrils and caused my jelly skin to quiver. “What’s in the bags?”

“Skin of course.” Graham formed his lips into a big smile that showed off his pearly white teeth. “Like I said, I’ve been collecting skin over the years now. Some of my greatest work is down here.”

The fire bags disappeared. The skin rose, appearing more like folded transparent fabric instead of actual flesh. They expanded and dangled on black sticks folded into hangers. I thought I would’ve been disgusted or turned away. Instead, I found myself taking a closer look, coming inches next to some of them, and sniffing the folded piles.

“Pick a color, MeShack.”

Lanore

“This is his bathroom?” Zulu led me inside. “It looks like a cave.”

“Maybe it
is
a cave. We are underground after all.”

Dim light blanketed the space. Candles covered most of the rocky surface from the floor to the carved out black stone shelves around a massive pool of water in the center of the ground. The candles had lit up as soon as we walked in. Lotus flowers floated among the bubbles. A sweet perfume drifted in the air, reminding me of strawberries and honey. Shiny bronze stones served as the floor and smoothed against my bare feet. Thick white robes hung on a small carved out bench next to the water.

Dante must’ve had a body sensing enchantment in there, even the water had begun pouring when we entered. A small waterfall barely five feet high stood off in the far corner and served as the source of the pink bubbly water that waved through the area.

“I expected him to have something more manly.”

“He’s not a man. He’s a Vampire.” I wrenched off my jeans. “Plus, none of your bathrooms are all that manly.”

Visions of that enchanting one he’d commissioned for me with the lovely mosaic pattern done in ivory and lavender filled my head.

“That was all for you.” He unbuckled his pants and let the tattered fabric fall to his feet. “I don’t need anything that pretty in order to clean up.”

“Hmmm.” I’d barely heard what he said as I drank in his image. Candlelight flickered off of the rows of muscle wound all over his body. When he went into himself days ago, he’d worked out the whole time in his core. I didn’t even know it was possible, but somehow his body had transformed to an even bulkier form in days. His thighs bulged out over his knees and under his hips. A cut of muscle grooved around his waist. His whole upper body formed a huge V, that would have made most women wet just from the sight. Surely, I was moist in the one place that counted. Yet, although my body heated to the mouth-watering sight, my mind flew off in the distance to all the stresses that plagued my spirit. Within all the action that Zulu and Dante had caused, I didn’t get time to really think about the new depressing developments in my life, MeShack’s death being at the top of my list. An ache for something that couldn’t be quenched ate at my heart.

“You need help with that shirt?” Zulu’s voice stirred me away from depression, and I was grateful for it.

“No.” I pulled it off myself. “I have a feeling your help will involve more than taking off my shirt.”

“You’re naked. More is coming regardless.”

My nipples hardened at the yearning in his voice. I stepped out of his reach before he could seize my waist. “I’m not too happy about messing around in Dante’s bathroom and too much is going on. We should put our minds together and discuss it.”

“I would rather put other things together.”

I went to the center of the tub and lowered feet first into the water. Flowers glided away. Warm liquid enveloped me. I loved it hotter, but Zulu couldn’t deal with it at a boiling temperature so I made do with the warmth. The strawberry fragrance soothed my nose. Zulu got in after and tugged me his way.

Wet muscle enclosed my body. “What’s on your mind?”

“Do you think all of the Vamp-owned are really gone?” I asked.

“Probably. I doubt they’ll be free forever.”

“Angel and I were thinking the same thing.”

“When did you two talk?”

“She can speak in my mind and read my thoughts.”

He leaned back. His fangs appeared. “I don’t like that.”

“Because?”

“I just don’t like anyone else in your head.”

“She’s sort of my advisor like the Palero is for Dante.”

His face turned to a stoned expression, one where rage usually roared in after. “I don’t like it.”

“You’ll have to deal with it, Zulu. That’s just how it is for now. I’m not sure we can fix it.” I touched the sharp tip of his fangs. “Put these away.”

He snapped them back in his jaw. “There’s always a way to get someone out of your head. All magic has a solution.”

“We’ll find it, until then relax.”

He stiffened. “What else is on your mind?”

“I’m worried this ceremony might be a trap or even being down here is a trap. Why did you tell him we could touch the walls?”

“Why not? He can’t harm us. He’s bound to the paths like we are.”

My man is a lug head.

“He can easily harm us.” I kissed his chest as he lowered us some more into the tub.

Water rose around our shoulders. Bubbles and petals tickled my chin. The end of my dreadlocks sank deep into the water. I eased out of his arms and submerged myself into bubbly liquid. Water swarmed over my head, filled my ears, and tingled into my nostrils. I barely ever put my whole body into water at once and almost never took a bath, just a shower. Being wet made me too weak and unable to make fire for a long time. But I never had to worry about things like that when Zulu stood in front of me. My safety was guaranteed. He’d be there for me to my last breath. I rose. Scented water and bubbles streamed down my face. My locks stuck to my skin. I had to wipe them away. The whole time Zulu gazed at me with glowing blue eyes that lit up the space around him.

Quiet settled on us.

“What else is on your mind?”

I mopped the water out of my eyes. “Isn’t all I said enough?”

“No. Not when there’s something else flooding your head.”

“What are you talking about?”

“How do you feel about MeShack’s death?”

“I’m fine.” I fell back into the water and let it guide me away from Zulu.

He soared to me and captured my waist. “How could you be? He was everything to you.”

I closed my eyes. “Not everything. I’m just glad you’re not gone too.”

He ran his fingers through my hair. “I’m here for you. Do you understand? I know how this feels. It’s still hard for me to deal with Cassie being gone.”

“While we’re on your loss, when are you going back into yourself—”

“Don’t.”

“I can’t let you lose your mind. I need you Zulu, now more than ever, and excuse me, but I love you so much. You can’t just stay out of yourself because of me. You’ll go mad. Even in the dining area, you went further than you would’ve ever gone before. Why did you do that to the bodies? That’s not like you at all.”

His answer was kisses to my neck and chest. Sparks of pleasure emerged wherever those soft lips touched.

“Zulu, I’m not done talking about this,” I whispered.

“One thing I know for sure is that the best way to deal with sorrow is to be inside of you, not within myself.”

A weak giggle fled my lips. “That easy, huh?”

“Just don’t think about the state of my mind or MeShack or anything else right now. Let me love you.”

He nibbled the curve of my neck. I gasped and wrapped my arms around him, trying my best to forget it all. It was difficult. With my eyes shut, MeShack swirled within them. “It’s hard, Zulu.”

“Open your eyes, baby. Look at me.” He lifted me up and guided my legs around his waist. “Do you see me?”

“Yes.”

“Just look at who’s in front of you and breathe.” He rubbed his erection between my thighs. My center swelled under his attention. My heart sped up. I inhaled Zulu’s sandalwood scent as it surrounded my whole existence and pressed against my shivering flesh. With the tip of his hardness, he drew circles all over my throbbing bud. “What’s on your mind?”

“You?”

“No one else?”

I let my head fall back in a cry of pleasure. “Just you.”

“No. Look at me. You don’t get to look away anymore.”

I returned to his view. He seized my lips with his and drank me all in, his tongue claiming mine. He pressed my body into him, until every groove of muscle and bone connected with my skin. All I could focus on was my man. I couldn’t have forgotten him if I tried. My body quivered in need.

He leaned away. Determination creased his face. “Anytime you feel sad or hurt or think you’re going to cry or just feel like you’re going to break down, come to me.”

“That easy?” Each word was a breathless pant.

“That easy.” He entered me, inch by delicious inch, expanding me around his thickness. “This is how you’ll heal.”

“Zulu.” The word came out as a gasp.

He drove into me, increasing his strokes and thrusting hard. Water waved back and forth, spilling out of the tub onto the rock. “I don’t need to go into myself when you’re right here.”

The cords separated from his arms and ascended on me. They entered my arms and slipped under my skin with ease. My whole body lit up with color. Blue and violet rays flew out of my pores. I opened my mouth. Yellow light escaped my lips and gleamed over Zulu’s chiseled face. Pink glimmered from the palms of my hands.

“What’s this?” I wiggled my fingers. The pink glow shifted to green and then orange.

“That’s our love. This is what we’re capable of.” Magic charged though us. As he moved in and out, so did our power. It rocked with our rhythm and steadied the tempo. My own cords unthreaded from my own flesh and sank into his arms. He groaned in pleasure. I didn’t even know I could do it. The urge for my cords to pierce him, just surged within me.

I’ve never felt like this before.

Our cords brightened. Waves of more color swayed back and forth and reflected off of the watery surface. He slowed down his thrusts to achingly sluggish caresses that massaged and trapped me into him. His emotions flowed through—pain and love, devotion and grief, and deep within all of that, guilt needled through. I almost stopped and asked why he felt guilty, but a sweltering bliss blossomed in my core and rose through my veins, cells, and skin. It saturated my senses. It tingled at the tip of my toes and lapped at the point of my nipples.

“Oh baby!” I screamed.

Grunting, he shifted those slow strokes to pounding and spread my thighs out wider. He slammed into my center. The muscles bulged in his arms. Water splattered all around us, putting out some of the candles. I exploded into an orgasm, one so hard, it ripped me apart and had me spasming in his hold.

“Damn.” He did his best to hold me still. “Oh god, baby.”

All restraint left him. He sped up at a thunderous pace. My legs wagged around with no control, somehow he found a way to never let me go. Whimpering, he slammed into me hard. I shrieked. He cried out and slumped against me for a few seconds. My back pressed into the wall as his heavy weight pushed against me. His chest rose and fell at an erratic pace. After another minute, he lifted off of me, gently embraced me and slowly pulled out.

“How could I leave you?” He adorned me with sweet kisses. “If we’re going to get over all of this, it will be together, not apart.”

“But you’re a Shifter.”

“No. I’m a Fairy that shifts into a Prime.”

I sighed. “I feel your emotions. They’re inside of me now. You’re still dealing with pain.”

In that instance, his emotions left me, all of them. In one second, I was full of them. In the next, they disappeared. His cords slipped out of my skin as well as my own cords.

“How did you do that?”

He set me down. “Do what?”

“Don’t try to play me. You shut off your emotions from me.”

He rinsed his face. “I’d rather keep my feelings to myself.”

“What happened to, ‘we should share this together’?”

“Not my pain.”

I considered everything I felt from him when we made love. “Not your guilt either?”

He froze for a minute and didn’t look me in the eyes. “I’m fine.”

“What do you feel guilty about?”

“I don’t.”

“You shouldn’t. You haven’t done anything wrong.” I hurried to him and held him.

He didn’t return my hold. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Don’t say that.”

He sighed. “Let’s get ready.”

What?

He stepped away from me and climbed out of the pool. “I love you, Lanore.”

Then why are you running off like you’re scared?