Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (11 page)

Minutes passed. The whole time my hand shook in Zulu’s hold. I couldn’t put my finger on what made me so nervous, but I didn’t like the stench of brimstone on the Sisters or their gigantic size.

No one confirmed the origin of Vamps, but one of the biggest theories was that hundreds of centuries ago a powerful Demon had gone on a rampage in one little town, killing everyone but a few that managed to survive after the Demon was sucked back into his realm. Infection spread in the small group of survivors. Pregnant women were among the ones infected. Some say the number of the pregnant women represented three. Others claimed one. Darker tales declared only the diseased pregnant women lived while the rest died. Regardless, all the theories agreed that the women heavy with children spawned Vampires after delivery, ones that carried infectious saliva to transform others into weaker versions of themselves. As the story goes, with each generation a weaker race of Vampires were created.

If these theories represented the truth, then these sisters reeking of brimstone like Demons could be either the ones that actually birthed the first Vampires or one of the earlier versions.

I glanced at Zulu wishing he could read my mind like Angel. If he could, I would’ve said,
Be good around these Sisters. These chicks may have more power than both of us combined.

The sisters flew off in the distance toward the same direction it seemed everyone else was heading. When their huge images transformed into far away dots with wings, Dante gestured to move forward. “Let’s go.”

Dante’s people continued. He remained in back with Zulu and me as we walked behind the crowd. Several feet lay between his family and us.

“You’re going to feed from those things?” I kept my pace between Zulu and Dante.

“What you choose to call
those things
are the mothers of our race,” Dante said through clenched teeth. It seemed that only Zulu, I, and other Mixbreeds walked barefoot while the Vamps all wore shoes.

Not able to help myself, I turned to him and asked. “So the theories are true? Vampires were birthed by women who were infected by Demons.”

“Yes. You’ll be down here enough. You might as well get an insider’s look into our world.”

“Excuse me.” I almost stopped Dante in the middle of the sidewalk. “We’ll be down here a lot?”

“If Zulu could get through my portal and you both can touch the wall, then it stands to say that both of you may be able to go through other portals and perhaps the digging tunnels.”

“Where do the tunnels go to?”

“Nowhere yet.” He brushed off his collar.

There goes that nervous fondling of his clothes. What is he hiding?

“What do you mean, nowhere yet?”

“Let’s see if you can go through other portals first.” Dante straightened his jacket. “I contacted the head leader of one of the Shinto Habitat’s families. The Endo family. You will meet Sakura at the feeding. I’m hoping Zulu will keep the Sisters busy enough for you to sneak off and test Sakura’s portal.”

“Lanore and I don’t separate while we’re down here,” Zulu interrupted.

“There is no other way to not get noticed for what we’ll be doing.” Dante sighed. “You are safe down here. If I wanted both of you dead, I would have killed you in my bathroom or the sitting area among my many family members. The fact remains that currently the Vampire race needs your capabilities.”

“And what happens if I’m able to go through the portal?” I tilted my head to the side. “I won’t be a slave to you or anyone else down here.”

“I’m aware of that.” Dante led us past the statue and near a path that the rest of the crowd before us had marched down. “However, you two need to get over your fears of me deceiving you for now. Mother Earth and whomever else she works with didn’t like the Bottelli Family and MFE uniting. I’m starting to think that it had something to do with your abilities. While many of the other races in the habitats have accepted their fates and tried to enjoy their lives in caged cities, Vamps and you Mixbreeds continue to search for a way out.”

Zulu paused. We stopped with him.

“What?” I asked.

“That’s what the tunnels are.” Zulu turned to Dante. “You’re having Vamp-owned dig through toxic soil to find an escape route out.”

Dante’s family now walked even more feet ahead, leaving us to ourselves.

“Let’s be clear.” Dante held up one finger. “All of this information is confidential to my race. If it is leaked, then you die.”

“Enough with threats you may not be able to back up.” Zulu’s claws sprang from his fingers. “Tell us more about the tunnels.”

“Every family is designated to dig in a portion of their compound. Most have the Vamp-owned do the work since the dirt poisons us.”

“So the Vamp-owned dig a few feet, die, and you replace them with new Vamp-owned.” I gritted my teeth. “Has anybody dug these tunnels to anywhere or are Mixbreeds just dying for nothing down here?”

“Each family submits monthly reports of how far the tunnel has gone, in what direction, and anything else,” Dante said. “No one has gained any further clue. Granted all of the tunnels barely lengthen more than a foot a month.”

“The soil is that bad?” I asked.

“We have sections of the line that go into the tunnel. The first section usually dies the first week. So the second section move forward to dig and they die. Are you getting the picture of why you two are important to me?”

“Yes.” Zulu glanced my way. I could see concern and curiosity etched all over his face. His cords lit up into several colors. “Are you comfortable with going off to the Shinto Habitat Family’s portal?”

I pushed out a fireball from my palm. “Of course. I have my ways of protection.”

Dante inched back. “Sakura doesn’t know you can make fire. I made sure she remained in the dark. You should be safe with her, but I never wholly trust any Vampire unless it is a Bottelli. I would rather you keep conversation down to a minimum with her. Although we’re aligned, I’m sure she has spies lingering about in my section.”

“So the leader is a female?” I nodded.

“You’ll find that my entire race is more matriarchal than any other. Ninety percent of all families are run by women. It is quite odd for the Santeria Habitat to have all males running their families.” Dante began walking again. “It’s one of the biggest reasons why the other habitat families are always so suspicious of us.”

So the women ran things down here. I’m loving this race more and more.

We caught up with Dante’s family and the hordes of other elegant Vamps heading toward wherever this feeding would be. Like a regular city, stores and businesses lined the sidewalks. I didn’t see any cars, buses, or trams of course. The main mode of transportation was bikes and carts that a few couples rode that were pulled by bulky Mixbreeds with collars holding different letters. The sweet perfume that lingered through the city thinned out. The scent of blood lingered and with each step the odor thickened until minutes later, the metallic fragrance was all I could smell.

We must be getting close.

Hoards of people spread out and rested on the ground. Flamed torches stuck in the surface near what looked like merchant booths where people stood behind tables covered in scarves. All of the merchants’ faces were half concealed by so many different fabrics that it almost averted my view from their empty eye sockets.

Why don’t they have eyes? I assumed they were Vamps, but maybe they’re not.

“Come with me.” Dante got in front of us. His white robe trailed on the ground behind him. “The Feeding begins in less than ten minutes. You’ll introduce yourselves and answer the Sisters’ questions. Once the feeding begins, everyone will be preoccupied enough for Lanore to slip away. However, if you both are gone then it will seem suspicious, so I would need Zulu to stay since we know he can already go through a portal.”

Zulu retracted his claws, but a frown spread across his face.

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered to him. “When in doubt, you can always find me through our claim. Don’t worry.”

“Here we go.” Dante sped up his pace and grinned. He almost looked like he wanted to start running off like a giddy little child. I looked in front and for the second time that day I gasped.

Bells chimed. Everyone kneeled on the ground. Zulu and I got on our knees too, if only to not be the only crazy ones standing. The stink of brimstone flooded the air. I knew the Sisters were around and had no intention of catching their attention.

The rows of people ahead of us lowered to their knees and revealed what everyone had come to see. My whole body stiffened at the site. Four huge glass chairs stood before us. Their seats extended above my heads. In the chairs sat the Sisters with their gowns open. And for the first time ever, I prayed I could one day forget the vision before me.

“Dear God.” Bile rose in my throat. Zulu snarled at the sight.

MeShack

“Hurry up. I want to know how it feels on your body.” Graham brought in a long mirror into the bathroom and set it against the wall. A cigar dangled at the edge of his lips.

It felt like I was in a clothing store shopping for a hot outfit to perform in, versus putting on and taking off different types of skin. The one I’d chosen this time shined with a caramel glow just like my old skin. I slipped my foot into the opening in the back of the suit. That was the only way I could describe it. A big full body suit that anyone could see through to the other side. It resembled latex material or even plastic if it was thinned to a soft texture and dyed. Somehow Graham skinned the being who’d worn it with perfection. I turned it around in my hand and took my time so that my toenails wouldn’t cut or scratch it as I slipped inside. Graham must’ve laid the poor bastard on his stomach, cut a long line from the tip of his head all the way down to the center of his back, and slowly, inch by inch stripped the skin away from muscle, veins, bone, and all the other things the being required to be whole.

It was a clean suit, soft like silk to my fingers and radiating a rose scent.

Once I got both feet in, I wrenched the skin up over my legs like I would pants. My jelly surface sucked in the skin as it stuck to my fiery body. Each time the flesh came within an inch of my jelly flesh, it drew to it with ease. I slipped it all on—chest, fingers, wrist, arms, and although the neck was always the hardest for some reason with each suit, I managed to cover that too.

“Bend your head my way.” Graham covered my face with the suit. I wore a mask of someone else, their face, skin, scent, their birthmarks and hair. It was all theirs. Nothing of me was left when I looked at myself. Sadness hit my chest.

Cheer up. At least I’m fucking alive.

That’s what cheetah would’ve said. He remained positive with simple words and goals. With La La, he’d simply say,
she’s ours
. He never considered all of the subtle nuisances of how to get her back after I messed up or convinced her she should be with us. He just knew, she was ours and that was it. If he could speak, or dear Shango if he was alive, he would say, we live and that would be enough for him.

We live.

“I won’t close the skin up in the back unless you tell me for sure you want it.” Graham puffed from his cigar. The funky smoke filled the bathroom.

“It’s wrinkly in some places.” I held up my arms and wagged them so he could see the few inches of dangling flesh flapping back and forth with my movements. “Can we do something about this? Maybe take it up on the sides. Is that even possible?”

“Yes we can form it to fit you, but no I won’t. This is my skin.” His eyes transformed to red, signaling that the topic of me relishing in the skin too much shoved me onto dangerous ground.

“Fine. It is your skin.”

“And don’t forget that.” Graham took out the cigar and slung it into the opened toilet. “My skin.”

“Your skin. I got it.” I stopped counting how many times he would remind me that all the skins in here were his. All my time knowing Graham, I assumed drugs and La La were the only things he was possessive about. Now I added skin to the list.

Graham threw me a shirt. “And don’t get comfortable in this skin. It goes back in the ground as soon as you get your own. I could get a lot of money on the market for this one. I won’t be altering it for your big body.”

I turned to get a side view of myself in the mirror. Instead of the skin forming to my body like a body suit, it covered me like a baggy shirt.

“What are you doing?” Graham raised one eyebrow.

“I’m seeing how it looks from the side.” I did a pose where my chest was heaved up a little. “Is there a way we could maybe pull it back over my shoulders and around my neck? Something temporary. It looks like I have a double chin.”

“What are you, going to the prom or something? Are you hoping to finally win the Miss Santeria beauty contest this year?”

“No, but it doesn’t mean I have to look bad.”

“Look bad?” he mumbled. “Don’t get too comfortable. This is temporary so that you can get your own.”

“I won’t get comfortable.”

“I’m serious.”

“I get it.”

“This skin is mine.”

“Yes, Graham. It’s yours.” I sighed, put my back to the mirror, and glanced over my shoulder. The skin draped my shoulders and back like a cape, a very beige crinkled cape. I brought my hand to my nose and inhaled.

Graham smacked me. “Stop getting too close to it.”

The side of my face stung. “I’m just smelling it.”

“Don’t.” He slung a shirt and pair of jeans at me. “You have no idea how much I love you. No one has ever worn my skin without giving me a huge amount of money. A Demon and his skin is a sacred thing. It’s stronger than religion, love, life, everything. Every day I tend to them. I wake up before the sun rises, take them out, clean and oil them, caress and talk to them about the things to come in my day. I sing healing songs—”

“Caress?” I stepped into the jeans he’d given me.

Graham averted his eyes. “Not caress. Massage. You have to massage the skin daily so it doesn’t get stiff.”

“But you said caress.”

“I didn’t.”

“No. Seriously.”

“Just put the damn skin on!” He stormed out. “Ben!? Where are you?”

“I’m still in the bedroom, grandpa?” Ben’s voice squeaked out to the hallway.

“Why are you there?”

“Because you and MeShack told me to.”

“Good boy. You’re a good boy. Do you want something to eat?” Graham’s footsteps sounded down the hallway. “I could order you a pizza and put on one of Lanore’s old Captain Habitat DVDs.”

“I’m eating pizza now, grandpa and watching one of them.”

“Oh yeah. That’s right.” Graham returned to the bathroom and looked at me as if seeing me with the skin for the first time. “We need to hurry up. Once you take the enchantment you have an hour to find this guy.”

Graham’s locator spell was simmering in a pot just waiting to be drunk and used. I gave up on trying to get him to fix the skin. In the end, he spoke the truth. Looking good right now didn’t matter. The mission was getting my killer’s skin and then figuring out how to be, whatever I’d become. And I had to do it as soon as possible because somewhere around this city, a sadistic Vampire had my La La.

“The skin is fine.” I pulled on the huge Santeria Santeros football shirt.

“Good. It’s one of my best. My biggest kill.”

“Why did you kill the guy?”

“For his skin of course. Look at that complexion. It’s rich like honey.” He touched my arm and rubbed the softness of it before catching himself and cursing under his breath. “Outside of the habitat, years before the supernaturals were caged in the 70s, this color would have done me no good. Too dark. I used to hunt humans for skin every day. I would’ve never picked one this tinted. In those days, the best flesh was the palest one. I learned that long ago, the darker the skin, the more the authorities bothered you. The Earth Realm’s market called for light skin and I delivered.”

“That’s what you did back in the day?”

“It’s all a smart Demon does when he enters a realm. You figure out where all the other Demon kin are and then you learn the rules of the society when it comes to flesh. Every realm thrives on sex and companionship. Never forget that. The skin one lives in determines how happy the beings’ life will be. Every realm is different. Some love color, purple even. Others like this realm hate color. The oddest ones prefer blotches, boils, and scars. This skin would be worth nothing in that realm.” Graham circled me, probably making sure everything fit me right. “Once you know the rules of society, then you kill in accordance to those laws. You skin the flesh that is prized and avoid the ones that aren’t. You sell to your kin so they can not only get the sex and companionship that they desire, but so they can spread the word about your services. I was the best, probably would’ve managed to never get caught. But then Lily happened, and things never remained the same.”

I left the topic of his ex-wife alone. If I asked questions about La La’s mother he would only go into a weird mood and rush off to get high.

Graham squinted his eyes a few times and then rushed to the doorway. “Ben! Where are you?”

“He’s in La La’s room, eating pizza and watching cartoons.”

Graham nodded. “That’s a good boy. I can’t lose him. That damn girl would be mad.”

“Oh yes. La La being mad about you losing Ben is an understatement.” I was glad the shirt had a hood. I lifted it up to hide the flapping skin around my neck and the top of my bald head. “Wait a minute. How did you and Ben avoid the Rebels around MFE?”

“What Rebels?”

“When I went there this morning, there were at least a hundred of them outside of the building.”

“There weren’t any Rebels when I left with Ben. But if there are, then we need to go there after we get your killer’s skin. That Witch’s kids are still in there. Vee was her name. I think. She might’ve come by. That seems correct. The teenage girl said she could handle the kids herself while I took Ben with me for a few minutes.”

“So you probably left the warehouse before the Rebels came?”

“I guess. I have no idea how long we’ve been away. In fact, until you mentioned the place I hadn’t planned on going back.”

Not good at all. We had to speed this up and get Vee’s kids out of there, if they hadn’t already been taken by the Rebels. Most likely those crazy Shifters would just let them go or hand them back to Vee with no problem. No intelligent person ever fucked with a Witch and her witchlings. It was basically asking for a year’s worth of harmful spells everywhere the person looked. Even more, I cared about all of those little ones, even though I’d stopped trying to remember all of their names.

“Yeah. We have to go to MFE after I get my skin.” I left the bathroom and ducked my head into my old room, the one I shared with La La long ago when things were so simple. “How are you doing, man?”

“You kind of look like yourself again.” Ben wiped sauce off of his check with his already dirty sleeve. “Are we going home now?”

I had no idea what or where home was anymore. “Not yet, buddy. I’m still not a hundred percent better. Graham is going to help me take care of it.”

“What happened to you?” Ben squeezed his hands together.

“I got in a huge accident. It involved lots of crazy magic. Remember that time on Alter Pets when Connie visited the Enchantment’s Plant on her field trip and tripped into that big pot of sparkly stuff?”

His face brightened. “Oh yeah. She kept shifting into an elephant and then a spoon. Boobie used her to eat ice cream and didn’t even know it was her.” He giggled.

At the time, I’d argued with La La that the spoon and ice cream scene was erotic. She’d disagreed of course, countering that it was a freaking kid’s show. Either way it was no need to bring that up with Ben. He’d gotten the point I was trying to make.

“So you did like Connie and fell into a wacky potion.”

“Exactly, buddy! But unlike Connie it won’t be a simple fix that ends in thirty minutes. This will take time to heal from.”

“And grandpa knows where the medicine is?”

“Yes.”

“Good boy. You’ve got Lanore’s brains.” Graham appeared at my side. “Don’t leave this house while we’re gone. I’ve got all types of spells all over it. No one can get in here. As long as you stay inside then everything will be okay. Got it?”

Ben directed his gaze to me. I nodded. Ben turned to Graham. “Okay, grandpa.”

Graham held out his finger. “If you aren’t in here, then you go back in the cage.”

Ben’s eyes widened. I rubbed my eyes. “No one is going into a cage. I’ll take care of Ben, Graham.”

We walked away from the bedroom and headed to the kitchen.

“Cages are effective with kids. I put that boy into it once and never had to repeat myself anymore.” Graham grabbed a laden, scooped up an orange bubbling liquid, and poured the muck into a big Santeria Santeros cup. “If I would’ve used a cage on La La she might have been less of a trouble maker. I spoiled her because she looked like her mother. Drink this.”

“This smells like trash.”

“It’s a spell. Should it taste like lemonade? Drink it and stop complaining.”

I couldn’t help but scrunch my face up in disgust. Nevertheless, I picked it up. The burgundy cup warmed against my skin. Graham and La La loved their liquids hot and spicy. I had no doubt that the stuff would burn my tongue and esophagus. I was right. The first sip stung. The second big swallow singed molten hot. I blew out air, hoping to cool off while Graham laughed.

“You might as well chug it fast, boy.” He clapped. “Come on. I saw you wrestle three big Were-lions while you were sick with the flu. You can drink a simple cup of hot stuff.”

“Good point.” I did huge gulps. The whole time I screamed inside my head. When the liquid disappeared down my throat, I threw the cup in the sink, ducked my head down, turned on the water, and gulped as much water as I could.

“Water just spreads the heat around.”

Graham was right, as usual. Instead of cooling my mouth, I’d added wood to the flames. He handed me a cup of white fluid that I figured was milk. “Drink this.”