The Burning Bush (22 page)

He grinned at my futile attempt to incinerate him and turned around. I lunged at him, hands outstretched, trying to claw his fucking skin off. I wanted so badly to cause him some sort of bodily harm, to make him feel pain. I didn’t care what the consequences were. Let Rivera take me in. This monster had been near Ben, and for that he would pay.

Dante spun to face me in a blur. Grabbing my hands, he yanked me to him and sunk his fangs deep into my neck. I gasped in shock and agony.

“No!” MeShack yelled.

A crash followed as fighting broke out around us. Everyone was punching and clawing each other out of the way to get to where Dante had me pinned. Zulu roared somewhere in all the commotion. I could barely make out who or where people were within the distorted chaos. Dante’s razor-sharp tips pierced deeper into my flesh. I screamed as the scent of my own blood hit my nostrils.

Dante’s fangs sliced through me, tearing into my neck. My throat burned. My veins throbbed. I cried out. My hands scratched and clawed at his face, but his skin was tough like leather and would not yield under my fingernails.

Dante grunted and dragged his fangs out of me. I could feel the searing pull on my skin as they slid out. He twisted my head and bit me again on the other side of my neck. I was blinded by pain for several seconds, and then there was nothing but a numb feeling as he drank from me. A peaceful sound soothed my ears. Pleasure wrapped around me, but not a lust-driven sensation; it was more like pure joy. Gasping, I closed my eyes, and Dante tightened his grip on my shoulders.

Relax, Lanore
, Dante whispered in my mind. As my body obeyed, I fell with him back onto the watery floor, not caring that cool, black liquid splashed around us, chilling my skin.

“La La!” MeShack yelled, reminding me of what was going on. I shoved heat out of my skin, but only a current of steam swirled around us.

I’m not going to hurt you
, Dante’s voice said inside my mind.

“Let go of her, Bottelli!” Rivera yelled. “All of you, get back! And shift back to Human form, damn it!”

Five clicks sounded as five habbies’ guns dug into Dante’s face.

“Let her go, goddamn it!” Rivera snarled.

Dante continued drinking from me. The area where he sucked burned as pleasure streamed down from the bite. His hands brushed over my breast. He pulled back, staring at me. His green eyes transformed to a bright crimson red.

“Part Demon, huh?” he asked as two of Rivera’s habbies grabbed him by the elbow and violently towed him away. My blood dripped from his fangs onto his shirt.

“You just keep surprising me.” Dante slowly glided his tongue across his bottom lip, licking away a few stray drops. The habbies led him away without handcuffing him. I blinked a few times as the VIP area spun around me. My eyes couldn’t focus on one point. The water floor shook as the Rebels and Vampires continued fighting.

“La La?”

I remained on the ground, shivering and overcome by shock. The bite wounds underneath my chin stung, but the rest of my body was numb. Warm fluid trickled down from my neck and leaked out into a tiny, red line along my corset. That familiar metallic scent floated around me. For several seconds, I just gazed at my own blood streaming down with a slanted smile across my face.

I’m motherpounding high!
Laughter burst from my mouth. I slapped the Jell-O–like floor, riding the waves as the water swayed beneath me.
No wonder most drugs are made from Vamp blood. Their bite gets you high as a kite.

“Are you laughing?” MeShack picked me up, studying my neck. He appeared blurry to me, a huge shadow gripping my frame, but I knew it was him. That smell of freshly cut grass mixed with this new cologne named Spiral was unmistakably MeShack. It had a woody fragrance that blended perfectly with his natural earthy scent. Some girl he’d screwed a while back had bought it for him.

“You don’t even remember her name, do you?” I giggled.

“What?” MeShack asked as he lifted me into his arms and carried me away from the ruckus. “Whose name?”

The noise of Rebels and Vamps fighting became hollow and distant. We were far enough away now that all I could hear was Power Surge playing another song. I shut my eyes and relaxed in MeShack’s massive arms.

“Swiveling heads!”
Easy screamed over a
hard-knocking beat. “It’s not entertainment. It’s diversion! Your brain is so tight like a virgin.”

“Only Shango knows how much I hate this singer,” MeShack said in a low voice.

“Dive into my soul!” the band raged.

“His lyrics kind of remind me of yours,” I teased.

“Sorry. Excuse me. This is an emergency. Get out of my way,” MeShack said, as I bounced around in his arms. “And, La La, I’m going to pretend like you never said my lyrics are like his.”

A cool wind licked at my skin, and I shivered.
Are we outside already? He’s so fast, my cheetah.
I giggled.

“What?” he asked. “What is so funny?”

“The girl who bought you the cologne you’re wearing, what’s her name?” I laid my head on his warm chest, rubbing my cheeks against his satin skin. “You’re my own special cheetah. Big and strong.”

“You’re high, aren’t you?”

“Hmm?” I tilted my head up at him and smiled. “Where’s Zulu?”

“Caught up in the fight. Honestly, I think he gets an erection over this stuff.” MeShack kissed my brand. “You’re falling for a sociopath, La La. Why can’t you date a teacher or a geek while I’m in my Season?”

“You scared them all away, my love.”

“That’s right.” MeShack’s fingertips gently grazed some of the bite marks Dante so graciously left me with.

I shivered and stifled a moan. “Stop, MeShee.”

“Did it feel good when Dante bit you?” he asked, and I opened my eyes to meet his feline gaze. “Tell me the truth.”

“Yes,” I confessed as he opened the side door to Zulu’s van.

“This war with Dante has to end soon.”

“Really? I hadn’t even considered that. Here I am with a chewed neck, wondering what the solution would be, and you’ve figured it all out for us.” I sighed and lazily climbed out of his arms.

“Your sarcasm is back. You must be coming down from your high,” he growled.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just don’t know what else to do.”

“Try to give him his money or repair the factory.”

“That won’t solve it.” I shook my head as some of the numbness and euphoria left me. “You don’t know Dante like I do. He’ll still mess with us.”

We said nothing for a while. A drunken couple stumbled out of the club, kissing every few steps and whispering quiet words to each other. Closing my eyes, I laid my head down on the van’s shaggy carpeted floor. MeShack climbed inside, slammed the door shut, and positioned himself next to me.

“Charlene. That was her name,” I whispered.

“Who is Charlene?” he asked, examining my injuries in the darkness. Were-cheetahs could see better in the dark than in the light. His fingers pressed an inch from one bite, making me curl my toes.

“That kind of feels good.” I licked my lips and moaned a little.

“Of all the times, you choose when your neck is ripped open to moan around me,” MeShack said. “Bad timing. Now, who’s Charlene?”

“Charlene bought you the cologne you’re wearing,” I explained.

“Why do you insist on always remembering the names of the girls I sleep with?”

“I don’t know why.” I yawned as I drifted off into darkness with MeShack’s hands lovingly stroking my skin. “And I definitely don’t know how I’m going to fix this with Dante.”

“And that’s when MeShack said I should never ever hit a girl.” Ben sat cross-legged in the grass facing his mother’s grave. His small fingers traced the engravings on the tombstone. “But he said it was okay to hit a girl if she shifted into animal form and tried to bite me.”

With a grim look, Cassie sat on the cemetery bench next to me and snapped a picture of Ben as he updated his mother on his week. The bombing was only two days ago, but so much had happened. I’d been mourning my dead Pixies since Dante had sent that horrific bouquet last night. The only good thing was that the effects of the Vamp bite had worn off by this morning.

“Remember that Were-wolf I told you about who bullied me two weeks ago?” Ben’s fingers twisted the blades of grass back and forth. “Lanore got him put in a whole new class so he doesn’t pick on me when I try to read.”

I directed my attention back to the file on my lap. Wallace had done a huge amount of work. He provided me with every detail about Jacobi he could find. The file included all Jacobi’s academic records from preschool to grad school, résumés, newspaper clippings, and even an online application Jacobi had filled out for a Supe dating site.

“How did Ben’s mother die?” Cassie took another picture as Ben taped his latest drawing to his mother’s tombstone. Eight drawings covered her grave so far. Zulu paid an Earth Witch to preserve the papers so that every time Ben returned to talk to his mom, the drawings would still look brand new.

“She died violently. She was the first victim of the Ritual Killer,” I said. “I witnessed her death. Later, I went by her place to notify her family of the murder, and Ben was sitting in the apartment by himself. MeShack decided we should take him with us.”

“MeShack is pretty cool.” Cassie nodded.

Yes, he is.

I browsed a few newspaper clippings about my new suspect, Professor Jacobi Brass. His father was Judge Elijah Brass, one of the top judges on the Habitat Tribunal Court and the most adamant supporter of the Vampire Age Restriction, which was a law being reviewed in the Supreme Court. If the law passed, Vamps’ ages would be limited to a hundred years old. All Vampires over that age would be executed.

I’d read Judge Brass’s law journal articles while we were planning the blood factory bombing. Judge Brass had raised several points as to why he supported the Restriction. Most of his arguments dealt with the possibility of Vamps overcrowding Santeria and the consequences of an overpopulated city—disease, food shortages, and an increase in violence.

Cassie glanced at the Judge’s picture. “An Earth Witch? That’s interesting. Is that Jacobi Brass’s dad? Isn’t Jacobi a Fire Witch?”

“Yep.” I flipped past the clipping to another article. “His mother must be the Fire Witch, or maybe they adopted him. Witches breed throughout their own species with no problems. If two Witches from two different elemental power genes have a child, the most dominant gene determines the offspring’s magic.”

“Hmm,” Cassie mused. “So, for example, an Earth Witch and a Fire Witch would only have Fire Witch children if the Fire Witch held the dominant gene?”

“Exactly.” I bobbed my head in agreement. “However, traditional Witch families prefer their kids to marry within the same elements to strengthen the bloodline.”

“How do you know this stuff?” Cassie asked.

“I’m a genius.” I read the next clipping.

“That’s why I’m so hyped about college. I’ll be on my own, and I’ll get to hang out with other species and learn about them,” Cassie said. “Mom only lets me hang around Pureblood Shifters, not including Were-rats of course.”

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes.
I hope I never meet your mom.
I scanned a funeral announcement. Jacobi’s mother had died in a tragic accident at home, but the details weren’t provided. The clipping read,
“Fiona Bass leaves behind her husband of ten years, the honorable Judge Bass, and her ten-year-old son Jacobi.”

“Is that Professor Brass’s mom?” Cassie asked.

“Yep.”

“Wow! I didn’t know his mom passed away. That’s probably why Judge Brass signed the marriage setup agreement for Shelly and his son. Most mothers get involved, and Shelly’s mother is insane, so it was just the dads setting the marriage up.”

I snapped my face in her direction. “Wait a minute. Shelly was engaged to Jacobi?”

Cassie tossed me a weird glance, consisting of furrowed brows and eye-rolling. “It’s all in Shelly’s file from the habbies.”

I almost slapped myself.
Of course, it’s in the file.
I knew Shelly was engaged to a Brass, but so much had happened from seeing her on the bush to now, I’d forgotten. So Justice Winters, Shelly’s grandfather, had simply coordinated a marriage setup with a Tribunal Judge’s son. It wasn’t that bad of a marital deal considering how wealthy and prestigious both families were.