The Burning Bush (51 page)

“Be stunted no more.” She blew orange smoke into my face. I coughed but didn’t wave it away. Vee had warned us earlier that we needed to inhale the smoke from her mouth, or the potion wouldn’t work. An itchy sensation crept down my throat. I rubbed my neck, hoping to relieve myself. Vee stepped over to MeShack and did the same thing.

“We have a whole lot of new information.” I turned to Zulu after Vee finished blowing smoke into his face. “So, is the plan still the same?”
Come on, Zulu. Let’s not jump into another mistake.

Zulu stared at me, his eyes hard. “We kill Dante. Tonight.”

I’m in love with a stubborn psycho.
I cursed under my breath. “None of this new information means anything to you? Seriously? Think, baby!”

I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulders, forcing him to look me in the eye. “This past month we’ve been focused only on Dante. All of MFE’s activities toward Mixbreed rights and Human oppression have been put on the back burner.”

Zulu shrugged me off. MeShack pushed claws out through his fingers as if testing his capability to shift.

“And now we find out that people like Nona and the Rebels, who we thought were our allies, are really our enemies.” My hands began to shake. “Even worse, the Humans outside the gate are monitoring our activities.” My throat tightened. It was uncomfortable to swallow. I rubbed my hands together, trying to warm the chill that had just entered my body.
Why am I so nervous?

“Zulu, the only people who truly benefit from MFE fighting with the Vamps are the Humans,” I blurted out, not really sure if the statement was correct. I just needed to buy some time to think—a few days, maybe even a week. “Even after we kill Dante, we’ll still have to deal with Nona, Mother Earth, and the Rebels.”

“Your point?” Zulu’s black eyes glowed. “If Dante had killed MeShack, would we still be in this bathroom going over conspiracy theories?”

“That’s not fair,” MeShack interrupted. “We all want to avenge Cassie’s death. You’re not thinking about this logically.”

“Then why don’t all of you go back out there and enjoy the ball?” Zulu got up and headed for the door. I clasped his huge arm with my hand, barely stopping him. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t need you involved in this. I want to kill Dante myself anyway.” Zulu snatched his arm away and stormed out of the bathroom.

“He’s losing it, La La,” MeShack said. “He should be in his core and allowing his beast to take over.”

“No shit!”

“We should never have agreed to do this.” MeShack punched the bathroom wall, leaving a huge hole.

“Well, it’s too late to backpedal now.” I faced Vee. “Is there something we can give Zulu to force him back into his core or calm him down?”

“When it comes to magic, there’s always something.” Vee gave me a weak smile. “The question is, do you want to force him to heal, or do you want him to do it on his own? Is it really your right to take away another’s will?”

“Are you a philosopher now?” Grabbing my mask from the sink, I placed it on my face and headed for the door. “Just please make me something. I don’t care what it is. A potion, spell, whatever. Zulu needs to go back into his core tonight. I don’t really care if it’s right or wrong for me to do it.”

Zulu wasn’t in the hallway. Unsure how I could stop him from killing Dante, I raced into the ballroom. Lush carpet transformed to rose petals over soil. Supes surrounded me, chattering away, enjoying the event. The Human–Supe Reenactment had concluded on the frozen lake. The area was cleared and gave way to dancing couples filling the space.

I wish I were them right now, so carefree and relaxed.

Someone seized my wrist. I glanced over my shoulder to see Dante pulling me toward him. “I would love to dance with you.”

“I would rather not right now.” I scanned the area. “We can dance later. In fact, we should really dance later.”

Dante leaned toward my ear. “I think we have a few things to discuss. I want to give you some options before I react to something I’ve just figured out.”

“What are you talking about?”
Now, what’s going on?

“Let’s dance,” he whispered. “Just one song. If not, I’ll just do what I’m planning to do without giving you a chance to convince me otherwise.”

Raising the temperature in my body, I stepped toward Dante. “Only one song.”

“Have I ever told you how I got this scar?” Dante grinned and placed his hands on my waist.

“No, and I don’t really care right now.” I sneaked a few more glances around the area. If Zulu spied me in Dante’s arms, he was going to paint the entire frozen lake in the Vamp’s blood.

Twirling me around, Dante glided me toward the band. “I’ve been in love many times. This hard exterior you and the world see is just the mask I wear for the Bottelli family, to keep us strong and powerful.”

“Hmm . . . so, I suppose deep down inside you’re nothing but a loving, misunderstood murderer?”

He ignored me. “My last great love was a Fairy princess. Beautiful. No . . . captivating. She had copper skin, blond hair, and turquoise eyes that shined when she laughed.”

I let my head fall back in an exaggerated motion of boredom. “Would you just get on with it?”

“My Fairy princess claimed me.” Dante’s grin turned to a wide smile that displayed his fangs. Knots formed in my stomach as he gazed at the cords on my arms.

“So what? She claimed you. Why does that matter to me?”

“My princess had two diamond crosses on her face. They covered her eyes and cheeks.” Dante shrugged. “They were a spell to keep her calm. At times when she was filled with rage, it was hard to control her. Her parents cast the spell in the Fairy realm. You know Fairy magic is based in gems and enchanted cords—”

“Is this something I really need to know or just a lesson about Fairy magic?” I tried to climb out of his arms, but he tightened his grip.

“This was all before the wars and the habitats—over half a century ago. We were making love one night when she claimed me.” He looked into my eyes. “You know Fairies can be very possessive creatures. She gave me no warning or chance to decide. It was by force. And as you know, Vampires hate to be forced to do anything.”

Clearing my throat, I said, “So why should this concern me?”

“After she claimed me, a huge diamond cross covered one side of my face, and it glowed red when I was angry.” Dante removed one of his hands from my waist and traced the cross scar with his fingers. A new song came on—something fast and upbeat.

“Do you want to end this dance?”

“No,” I muttered. I needed to know where this was going.

“She died by the hands of many Humans . . .” Dante averted his eyes for a few seconds. His body stiffened before he directed his attention back to me. “When she died, her claim burned away. The diamonds caught fire and branded my skin. It never healed. That’s what happens to a claim when the Fairy dies.”

“Interesting story.” I gulped down a bit of fear. Zulu’s sky-blue costume appeared several feet behind Dante. His black eyes shone behind his mask, glinting with rage and fury. Even worse, several Vamps stood behind Zulu, scrutinizing him.

“When I first met you at the Blood Harvest Festival, you had nothing on your arms,” Dante declared. His hand rose above us. He snapped his fingers. Ten more Vamps got behind Zulu.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Then I spotted MeShack’s feline eyes near one of the Vamps. MeShack looked at me and put one finger over his lips.

“Don’t worry,” Dante said. “I have mental communication with all the Vampires in my family. No one has to get hurt unless you and your group force the issue. Shall I finish with my observations?”

“Go on.” My skin heated to a smoldering temperature. “So, at your festival I didn’t have any arm cords. So what?”

“At my factory the night you bombed it you had some cords in one arm. They glowed as you fought my soldier.” Dante stepped back a little, but maintained his grip on my waist. “I knew Zulu claimed you. Personally, I was surprised he hadn’t done it before the Blood Harvest Festival. Clearly, he was taken with you.”

I shook my head. “Zulu didn’t claim me.”

“Save your lies. We have a long journey together. You will need your energy.”

“I don’t understand. Long journey?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “There is no claim.”

“Your cords match Zulu’s. Besides, I’ve been in Santeria for a long time. I knew his father. He was a very powerful Fairy.” Dante’s lips lowered into a frown. “Zulu’s claim is still on your arm, and he added more cords to the other. He’s still alive, isn’t he?”

Defeated, I tried to stall. “I have access to the money Zulu intended to use to rebuild your factory. That’s all you want, right? Does it really matter if Zulu is alive or not?”

“I don’t know yet.” Dante’s frown shifted to a more neutral expression. “Zulu’s sister is dead. The stakes have changed. I doubt he will work with me now.”

“Then what are you planning?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “Do you believe Zulu wanted to compromise with me? I could feel the honesty in your voice, but —”

I cut him off. “He did. The Rebels changed the message and took the money Zulu had asked Nona to take to you.”

“And Zulu’s sister, the one that was announced dead with him. Is she really alive as well?” he asked with pleading eyes.

“No. She’s dead.”

His hands trembled against my waist.
Dante’s scared?

“So, you accompanied Zulu here to kill me . . . if not now, eventually.” Dante tightened his grip around my waist. More Vamps filled the floor, not noticing what was happening around them. Zulu didn’t move at all. Maybe I could fix all this or at least give us all some time to think.

“I just discovered something else.” I bit my lip then pushed myself to say it. “The habbies knew that you were going to bomb Zulu’s condo, and they didn’t do anything to stop you.”

Dante remained quiet for a few seconds. “Interesting. No one knew about the bomb except a few people in my family. And even I didn’t know the location of the bomb until five hours before it happened. Finding Zulu’s condo was difficult.”

“So, the Human government is probably monitoring you, or maybe your people are working with them.”

He nodded slowly.

“Then someone could also be spying on MFE.”

“I doubt it.” Dante shook his head. “Zulu has some serious glamour flowing through there. I still don’t know where it’s actually located. And I’ve tried to get a spy into MFE. It’s been impossible. None of your members will let a Vampire approach them.”

“So you had a spy with the Rebels?”

“I never worked with the Rebels.”

“Then how did you kill my Pixies?” I asked.

Dante’s eyebrows rose in confusion. “I don’t know anything about killing Pixies.”

“You sent a bouquet of dead Pixies to my office. It had a message that said, ‘Meet me in the VIP lounge at Liquid.’”

“I never sent you a message,” Dante hissed as shock hit me. “I got a message from you saying you wanted to meet me at Liquid. It was a card with your lavender scent on it and a picture of you with the outfit you wore to Liquid.”

I stopped dancing. “I never sent that.”

“Then it seems we have a similar adversary who wants us to kill each other.”

“But who?”
Mother Earth comes to mind.

“It doesn’t matter right now. We will just have to put our heads together.” Dante gestured behind him with his hand. “However, right now we have a situation. My people seem to believe there is a threatening man behind me. I assume this man in the blue mask glaring at me is Zulu?”

“Call your people off,” I ordered.

“Zulu wants me dead. They stay where they are.” Dante rubbed his chin with one hand. “I have no intentions of acting against Zulu or you. Our enemy wants that, and I am nobody’s pawn.”

Dante gazed down at me. “But I require insurance that MFE will not act until I’ve figured out what’s going on.”

“Meaning?”

“You’re coming with me.”

“Really?” I gave a nervous laugh. “Shall I grab my coat, sir?”