Wildfire Gospel (Habitat)

Cheetah twisted and turned, trying to avoid the blade, but the Vampire was too quick and something else flooded my mind.
La La.
Dante carted her off as she passed out in his arms. I was too slow to stop him.

Motherpounder!

The Vampire’s sword sliced through my flesh and burned everything in its path—fur, veins, guts, and all those things that made me whole. I felt it all. My skin crackled. Bones snapped under pressure. Intestines seared into melted black and putrid flesh. Beast cried in agony, not understanding what was going on, just that he’d never hurt this bad before.

Still in cheetah form, I collapsed to the ground, split into two pieces. The lower half of me lay a foot away, just a lifeless stump of spotted fur over hind legs and a tail soaked in my own blood. My killer raced off in the opposite direction from where Dante had fled with La La.

“Goddess no!” Vee shoved through the crowd and dropped to her knees. “No. Please, not MeShack!”

I tried to speak and failed. Fire spit out my snout and changed to smoke. Blood washed over my tongue. Its scent filled the air. My paws twitched as people around me scattered, screamed, and fled out of the ballroom.

“Why? He was so young.” The sapphires on Vee’s gown clinked together as she rocked back and forth, hugging herself. Tears painted her face. Sirens sounded in the distance far outside of the hall.

Get out of here, Vee. Run.

“Goddess lift him on your wind and carry him home.” Vee’s voice sounded low as a whisper. “Send him to those that love him.”

I lay there, waiting for death. It was odd, but I was content. When I had the balls to think of what my death would be like, I imagined dying while making love to La La. Although it would’ve sucked for her, I couldn’t think of any other way I wanted it.

Tonight I die.

“Please bring him peace.”

I waited for the calm to wash over me or the presence of a god to fill my spirit. None appeared. Death didn’t come, so I remained on the floor, waiting some more.

“Walk with him through his journey in the afterlife.”

People bumped into me. Some shoved others my way. Fighting ensued on my right. It almost distracted me from the red sparks bursting around me like firecrackers near my cut stump.
Are the sparks coming from me?
Boiling heat spread over my flesh.
Help!
Murderous throbs of pain spasmed through me. Cheetah’s fur smoldered and singed. I coughed on the smoke.

Vee froze and opened her mouth in horror.

Pain hit, chewing inside my core and yanking out my inside. Flames snaked out of my cut waist and expanded, stretching in a blaze of fiery oranges and lightning blues. The crowd never noticed as they rushed away.

Only Vee witnessed the impossible with shaking fingers. “MeShack?”

My jaw cracked and reshaped into my human form. I figured I could talk if I tried. Bones broke in my arms, expanded several inches out, and reformed into my regular ones. Human fingers materialized.

“W-what’s happening to me?” I placed my hands on the ground and lifted my legless body up.

Blazing orange lines seeped out of my pores and lapped at my skin. I darkened to black, transforming into a crispy crust that crumbled into ash and revealed a fiery body beneath. Powdered skin dropped to the floor around me. I was a flaming blaze formed into a man. My muscles hardened and glowed bright. Sluggish clear gel burst out of my chest and journeyed up and down, side to side, and all around my entire form, sealing around me like skin.

“You’re … alive and … on fire.” Vee inched back, but still stayed on the ground. Chaos continued. No one noticed my transformation as the area around me emptied out. Vee placed her hand on her chest. “Are you in pain?”

“No.”

“B-but … you’re on fire. Why?”

“I don’t know.” Smoke rose around me. “I’ve always had fire in me.”

I’d stopped being the typical Shifter once La La’s father, Graham, made me fire baptized when I was just a boy. She hated him for doing it. At the time, she’d worried and cried, stressing that I would die. The night before he cut me open, she battled with him in the back yard while I cowered under the porch in cheetah form. For some lunatic reason she figured she could bully him to not change me. Tiny little fireballs left her small hands. She had no control of her power then. It was no match against Graham. Half the time he looked bored. In the end, she set fire to the whole yard and scared the crap out of our neighbor’s garden Pixies.

“He’s not a lab rat!” she cried.

“I’m making him stronger.” Graham took her fire away with a flick of his hand.

“Daddy, please don’t cut and burn him.” She collapsed to her knees and buried her face into her shaking hands.

“It can’t be helped.” Graham gestured for me to go to La La and left the yard without consoling her himself.

The next night Graham sliced my chest open with a silver knife so my skin wouldn’t quickly heal the wound. I remained awake the whole time, screaming and holding La La’s hand. He poured a pitcher of his black blood into me. The murky liquid stung as it saturated my insides, infused into my organs, and filled the air with the odor of sulfur. I passed out and didn’t wake up until a week later. When I did, it was in cheetah form with flames shooting out of my nostrils.

“You’re regenerating with fire, but what are you becoming?” Vee extended her hands my way and tried to touch my chest.

“Don’t.” My voice sounded hoarse and gruff unlike my normal one. I wasn’t sure what I was becoming, but I had a gut feeling that she shouldn’t touch me. “S-stay away.”

I couldn’t drag her into my demise. Whatever was happening couldn’t be good. Fire soared out of my sliced waist and formed into molten legs, new ones that moved back and forth. And once again clear gel traveled down to seal the fire in.

“MeShack?” Vee studied my transforming body. I was all liquid fire under clear jelly skin. “What’s happening to you?”

“I don’t know.” Too much occurred too fast. At one moment, I lay on the floor dying. In the other instance, I shifted to a form made of fire while the other half of my old cheetah body rested three feet in front of me.

Beast?

I hadn’t felt him move or heard his thoughts since the vamp attacked me.
Are you there, cheetah?
A weird sensation stirred in my chest and mingled with terror. It felt empty and void of life.
Beast?
The cheetah didn’t reply or move within me. Panic slammed into my gut.

“You can’t stay here … not like this.” Vee reached out to grab my hand. “Whatever this is. We have to go.”

“No! Don’t touch me!”

She gripped my fingers. A scream escaped her lips as our hands’ contact seared her skin. She struggled to get out of my hold and I wanted to let go, but something else begged me to touch her more. It felt so good like a rush of weed smoke to the brain. My body surged with life. I yearned to connect with Vee further, climb inside her body, and make it mine.

“Let go, MeShack. You’re hurting me!”

Buzzing flowed in my ear. My view changed to a crimson red tint.
What’s happening to my eyes?
Her skin seemed clearer now. Each pore revealed itself. Any scrape or imperfection rose to the surface to be analyzed. I sniffed. A juniper fragrance rose from her skin.
This one’s body will fit well.
I didn’t know why that thought came to my head as I yanked her to me. A woman’s screams sounded in the distance, somewhere far off in the corners of my mind.

Is that Vee? Why is she crying?

“Don’t fight it.” I wrenched her closer to me.

“Don’t fight what?” Vee beat against my chest. The fire wobbled within my clear shell but never freed. She hit me some more. “Let me go.”

“No.”

“There’s a Demon in here!” a woman shrieked behind me.

Demon?

I scanned the area and realized that she pointed my way. “No. I’m not a—”

“Breeze and follow!” Vee dug her nails into my odd skin. Cold oozed into my hand. Shrieking, I released her. She escaped, sliding back with more speed than I’d thought she had. “Breeze and follow!”

I rose from the ground. Air magic hooked under my shoulders and dragged me up.
What the fuck?
Wind rushed past my skin. Pressure built in my chest as I soared higher and higher. Tingling sensations twisted through my legs. My back smashed into the ceiling. Fire jiggled inside me from the impact. It hurt. Rocks slammed into my chest.
Where are they coming from?
I glanced down with red eyes. Earth Witches slung them at me.

I floated above them, protecting my face with my arms and kicking my legs to gain some movement. “I’m not a Demon! I’m not a Demon.”

My protests didn’t help. Witches of all elements continued their attack. I had no way of fighting back and did my best to guard myself. After several seconds of things crashing, cutting, and pounding into my flesh, I dropped and crashed into the floor. My ears rang from the impact, but I took no time to recover.
I got to get the fuck out of here!
I hurried to get onto my new feet and stumbled forward. There was no need to hang around and argue about what I was especially when I was encased in fire. I raced through the ballroom, knocking people out of the way and dodging rocks, water orbs, and anything else witches fought me with. I shoved, pushed, bumped, and hit my way to the entrance, never stopping or glancing back.

“Get him before he leaves!”

When I spotted the doors, I burst through the entrance. Cool air hit my jelly skin. It itched everywhere the cold touch. Spots popped to the surface of my skin, resembling my cheetah’s fur. I scratched myself like a mad man and continued running. Crowds of women and men draped in ball gowns, suits, and masks spotted me speeding by.

“Demon!”

Still scratching, I ran down the steps, tripping at times. A path appeared as people jumped back in shock.

“It’s out of its skin!”

“Catch him!”

“Kill him!”

Cars screeched and honked. I rounded the corner to the first alley I could find. No one approached the alley’s entrance. For a few seconds, I pressed my back against the brick wall, trying to catch my breath. My chest rose and fell at a quick pace. Bubbly hives expanded over the places I scratched. I decided not to touch my clear skin anymore, at least until I discovered what in Shango’s name it was.

“And how will I find out?” I raised my hands in front of my face. Flaming fingers and palms greeted my eyes.

I’m not a Demon, but I sure look like one.

La La showed me tons of pictures in her father’s book. Illustrations filled the pages, depicting the various levels of a Demon when outside of its particular skin. It was important to Graham that we understood each rank and what power they possessed. Instead of studying the book, we made out in the library. Now I wished I’d taken the time to learn.

Thank Shango. Graham is alive.

I rushed off to Mixbreeds For Equality’s headquarters where Graham babysat Ben as well as Vee’s kids. He had to have an answer. Something that could keep me alive, but get my old body back.
And beast too?
I strained to sense my beast within this new body. I prayed for him to move inside me or deliver a thought to my head.

But nothing came except the sizzle of fire and smoke drifting through clear skin.

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