The Burning Bush (15 page)

“That is not a menu command,” the orb replied.

Cassie tapped my hand and then pointed to her chest, silently asking if she could try. I nodded.

“Go to the last entry.” Cassie flashed a grin. I gave her a thumbs up. The orb’s light changed to red.

“He still hasn’t called or written. I hate him.” Onyx’s voice sounded hoarse with an edge of bitterness. I looked to Cassie and motioned for her to say another command.

Appearing unsure, Cassie shrugged. “Play first entry, and then continue until I say stop.”

“Jacobi and I went to the park after class, searching for butterflies, but we didn’t find any.” Onyx trailed off for a few seconds. “He gave me a hug. He didn’t kiss me, but I just know it’s coming . . . He loves me, he’s just scared cause he’s twenty-five, but he told me I’m so mature for my age. Oh yeah, and he gave me you.”

“Onyx.” The voice sounded like Harriet’s. “I’m going with Ely to help with the Brass’s dinner party. I left twenty bucks on the table, so you can grab something to eat.”

“Okay,” Onyx said.

The orb clicked to the next entry.

Excitement surged through me. Harriet had said the Brass dinner party. There were a couple of Supernaturals in the habitat with the last name of Brass, but this was too much of a coincidence—especially since the second victim, Shelly, was engaged to Judge Brass’s son.
What was the fiancé’s name? Let’s hope it was Jacobi.
I wrote down Brass in my notebook and circled it. I also jotted down the guy’s name that Onyx had mentioned, Jacobi.

The orb beeped again.

“Still no kiss, but Jacobi bought me a couple of sketch pads and pencils. I’m going to draw him something that’s really nice. I also thought up a name for our first child—”

“Oh, Yemaya.” Vee shook her head as she listened to the lovesick teen.

“Jaconyx. It could be for a girl or a boy,” Onyx declared.

I could tell she was smiling, as her excitement heightened each word to a shriek. Another beep sounded, and then the orb clicked.

“Well, we know this doesn’t end well.” I put my elbows on the counter and placed my chin in my palms.

“We did it!” Onyx’s voice came out in a delighted scream. “We made love!”

I jerked up from her screams.

“Bastard.” Vee shook her head and blurted out several Spanish curses.

“I thought it would have been better than Xavier, since Jacobi’s older—”

“They never improve with age, just finish quicker.” Vee wiped the counter with her dishcloth.

“Shh,” I said. Vee threw the tiny towel at me. I ducked out of the way.

“—I think it will get better later, but afterward he patted me on the head.” Onyx sighed. “I can’t wait until we kiss.”

“Onyx? What are you doing?” Harriet’s voice sounded distant as though it was coming through a door.

“Nothing,” Onyx answered.

“I have to work Randy’s shift tonight,” Harriet yelled. “While I’m working, did you want to go to the movies or something? I feel bad leaving you alone so much.”

Onyx sighed and said in a low voice, “Sure, Mom.”

The orb clicked.

We continued to listen to the downward spiral of Onyx’s existence. Every now and then, Vee’s toddler banged his spoon against his highchair table, screaming with joy at his accomplishment. I was glad. It kept me in the present instead of swimming through Onyx’s sad past.

The more I heard Onyx’s voice, the stronger my desire to catch the killer became. She just wanted to be loved, maybe get some attention—from anyone. This Jacobi, an adult man, was using the poor girl for her body and buying her presents to keep her quiet. I didn’t know if Jacobi murdered her, but he did slowly kill something inside her.

I could tell with each entry that Onyx had slowly come to the realization that Jacobi only wanted her body. He showered her with gifts but never gave her what she really wanted—a hug, a kiss, or real companionship. Later, she said he’d stopped conversing with her completely. It was just sex and a couple of dollars every now and then on the car ride home.

“He told me today that he didn’t want to do this anymore. That he felt conflicted since I’m so young and immature.”

The entry ended. No one said anything as the next entry began.

“I walked in. . . on . . . him,” Onyx cried, choking in between the words. “He had her in the dressing room! He yelled at me to leave. . . threw a fifty at me. . . told me to get something nice—”

“Onyx dear, I’m taking Martha’s shift tonight,” Harriet called. “Did you want me to grab you a Lucky cheeseburger meal?”

“I don’t care!” Onyx yelled back. The orb clicked and played the last message.

“That sucks,” Angel said, making me jump. She appeared behind me, peeled off the purple jacket, and combed her scattered, blond waves with her fingers. Fox Jr.’s artwork still decorated her face.

I laughed.

Angel raised her eyebrows and tossed me a confused look. “What?”

I struggled to hold in more laughter. “Nothing.”

“So the snoring dead girl can talk? Incredible.” Vee moved the pot over to her stove. “Now then, when will the tutoring start for Patricia?”

“At the end of the week,” I said, unmotivated to do it any sooner. Patricia hated schoolwork. It was a constant battle to get her to focus or stop her from gossiping on her phone.

“So you said this little girl died from a spell on a bush?” Vee asked.

Cassie took out her recorder. I frowned at her, and she put it away.

“I think the spell is some type of elemental magic. It burned me, and most elemental magic has that effect.” I flashed her a pleading look. “Do you think you could go down to the station and check it out?”

“You won’t get me within a block of those habbies.” Vee waved my pleading away. “If you want me to check the spell, then bring it here.”

I held out my hands. “Now how am I supposed to do that? It’s not like one of your floating plants. It’s a huge bush with a dead girl tied to it.”

“Life is hard for us all.” Vee turned on the stove. A fire lit under the pot. The pot’s concoction had darkened to black. It rose up to the rim, as if it was going to spill over. A melting rubber odor floated from that direction.

“What’s that?” Cassie rose to the tips of her toes to get a better look.

“Stick crock.” Vee propped her spell book back on the shelf. “I’m going to smear it on the floors in the living room, the spot in front of the door, and on all the windowsills.”

Vee bent down and kissed her toddler son’s tiny cheek. He shrieked with delight.

“I’ve had several burglaries happen when the kids and I go to the Bembe Hall for sacrifices to the gods.” Vee tapped the scorching pot with her finger, but didn’t jerk back in pain. “The stick crock will blend in with the floor. It has all of our blood. Anyone wishing me harm who isn’t my blood will stick to it.”

“Just their shoes?” Angel leaned on the counter next to me. The sickly, blue tint had finally left her lips. The part of her skin that wasn’t covered in purple marker was still gray but a little bit healthier looking, if that was even possible.

“The burglar’s whole body will remain exactly where it is,” Vee said.

“And then what will you do? Curse them? Turn them into toads? Maybe make them houseplants to threaten your kids with?” I shook my head.

“Maybe,” Vee snapped, but seemed unsure. It was just her and the kids. I’d never seen any of the kids’ fathers around.

Any other Pureblood Witch could just call the Witch Council to deal with a trespasser, but Vee couldn’t. She’d bred outside her species one too many times and received several fines from the Council. Word around Shango District was that she’d told the Council to kiss her behind when they asked her to pay up. The Council now shunned her.

Granted, she had the power to curse a trespasser, but she just didn’t have the stomach to injure the person. I knew her well enough to guess that she would just threaten the burglar and let the person go. The problem being, that person would just come right back to her apartment again and maybe harm her or the kids. Something like that had happened a few months back. Luckily, I’d happened to be around to set the bully on fire.

“Tell you what, you go down to the habbie station to check out the spell, and I’ll make sure some of Zulu’s Rebels take care of your thief once he’s stuck to the floor,” I suggested.

“I don’t trust Rebels, and they annoy me every time they speak,” Vee said. “Could you get Zulu to come by? Once someone sees him come inside my apartment, word will spread.”

Vee’s eyes lit up with excitement. “He would need to not wear a shirt.”

“For professional reasons, of course?” I sarcastically asked and chuckled.

“Of course.” Vee fanned herself.

“I can have Zulu come down here, but it will be difficult,” I lied, knowing Zulu would be hyped to beat the crap out of a guy that was messing with a single mother and her offspring. “You’ll have to promise me to go down to the habbie station a few more times if I need you to.”

Vee stared at me, probably thinking my offer over and gave a defeated sigh. “Okay, but give Patricia a math session today.”

“Fuck,” I mumbled.

“The baby.” Vee covered the toddler’s ears with her hands.

“Fine. But you go investigate the bush’s spell.” I held up my hand as she started to speak. “I’ll tell Detective Rivera you’re on your way.”

“Oh! And I’ll provide child care for the kiddies while you’re gone.” Cassie flashed a wide smile.

“And I’ll raid your fridge.” Angel strolled into the kitchen. “I smell bacon.”

“How long are you going to tutor her?” Vee asked.

“I can’t do it for more than an hour or two.” I quickly glanced at my watch. “I have to go to MeShack’s fraternity house and check something out.”

Vee spat on the floor at the mention of MeShack. “Were-whore.”

“I wish you would forgive him.” I leaned my head to the side. “You know he considers you a second mother.”

“Well then, he shouldn’t have done what he did,” Vee replied.

“What did he do?” Angel asked, beaming with curiosity.

“Nothing,” Vee and I both said.

“You’re going to MeShack’s frat house? Can I go?” Cassie’s eyes widened.

“Absolutely not,” I answered.

“Well.” Cassie stared at the floor. “Then I hope those naked pictures of you in the shower don’t get out. Would be a pity, huh?”

I groaned, knowing I’d have to set her camera on fire eventually.

Kappa Sigma Que was the only all Shapeshifter fraternity in the habitat. Every year, college-aged Shifters tried to get in. The admission process was so competitive that the fraternity charged a one-thousand-dollar application fee so they wouldn’t get overloaded. It was their way of controlling the number of applicants, but hundreds still applied. People who were invited to participate in the fraternity’s initiation then had to pay an extra two thousand dollars for initiation month. What sucked was that after the initiation month, only twenty percent of the pledges were actually admitted into the fraternity.

Due to those outlandish fees, MeShack hadn’t even applied his sophomore year. Senior Kappa brothers had come to our apartment, invited MeShack to the fraternity, and secretly waived his fees. We never knew why they wanted him so badly. It could’ve been the fact that he was the lead singer of Mahogany Groove or a pretty good football player. Regardless, MeShack and I had been shocked, but extremely grateful.

MeShack’s participation in the fraternity ended up being an excellent opportunity. Any Shifter-related problem I had, MeShack would use his fraternity connections to help me out of it. Once, I’d been arrested for setting MeShack and the two women he cheated on me with on fire. Even though I had scorched him, MeShack still used his fraternity connections to get me out of jail. The judge was also Kappa Sigma Que. Instead of receiving an assault charge, I’d only had to complete a year of anger management counseling.

“Sweet! I don’t know why we are going to MeShack’s fraternity house, but I’m enjoying myself already,” Angel said as we headed toward the jade-and-coffee-brown frat house. It sat on a hill two blocks from campus. A foggy cloud of marijuana smoke encircled the place. Although the sun was just setting, several Shifters already lay passed out in the front yard.