Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (28 page)

I chuckled and stepped into the locker, kicking several of the shoes near me to the side. “I feel like you’re insulting my manhood, Graham.”

“You’re not a man anymore, MeShack. You’re an Umbutu. Tell him to kiss your fiery ass.” XO laughed.

Graham groaned. “You smell anything, boy?”

“No. Nothing that jumps out.”

“Close your eyes. You’re still using your eyes right now. I’m getting all types of scents and I’m a few feet away.”

“Of course you’re getting scents. There are tons of shoes in here.”

“No. The shoes are new. Smell the fresh leather. There’s no sweat or mold, dirt or growing fungus like you could sense form regularly worn shoes. Close your eyes.”

“Fine.” I sighed and closed them.

A scent hit me. Cheetah perked up.

“You smell it?” Graham asked.

“Yes.” I raised my head and took more steps forward not even worried that I might trip or fall. When I finally opened my eyes, new images materialized right before my eyes, just like they would in cheetah form. Little smell prints. “I got a hint of something familiar.

“It’s the scent of money. I’ll know it anywhere,” Graham said. “I spend my day on the grind searching it out and hoping to get a nice whiff of some discarded cash blown by the wind into bushes or between dumpsters.”

I shook his comments away. “No. That’s not what I’m getting. It’s not the money, but I do smell it. This is a different fragrance.”

We know this one.
Cheetah got into a charging stance as if he was outside of our body and the enemy stood right before us.
We know this one.

Yes. I think we do. I just need to get closer.

It smelled so familiar, but for some reason my mind couldn’t pull out a name. Each time, I inhaled my brain shut down as if unable to handle the answer to the question I needed like a command on a computer with software corruption. It kept displaying that same message on the screen, “Can’t comprehend. Can’t comprehend. Error. Error.”

I lifted my hands and rubbed my fingertips along the ceiling. There were panels above my head. I pushed them up with ease. Money rained down. Large stacks of mint green money with dead human presidents decorating the fronts of the bills.

“Don’t spend that all in one place.” XO grinned. “And just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you don’t need to fulfill that contract. I won’t be taking money. I need you to fight.”

Stacks of money continued to fall. Whatever Fray had been paid to kill me was a good bit. The only thing that made sense was each stack was in dollar bills so it was a massive amount of money, but still a good sum.

Graham’s hungry gaze touched every fallen bill. He rubbed his hands together. A wild look hit his eyes. “We’ll need to take a slight detour before seeing my daughter. Of course. We’ll make sure she’s okay and everything, but there are some places we’ll need to go.”

XO’s laugh filled the whole locker room. “I bet you do want to take some detours, Graham.”

Kill him.
Cheetah paced back and forth inside of me.

I leaned down and picked up a stack of bills.
I told you this before. We can’t kill La La’s father.

Years ago, when I was a teenager and Graham had forbid my and La La’s relationship, cheetah’s answer was always, “kill him.” I’d had to tell him time and time again that the ladies always hated when their lover murdered their fathers. It just wasn’t the right thing to do.

No. Not our mate’s kin.
Cheetah stretched, rose, extended his claws, and swiped at the fire inside of us.
Kill mate’s lover.
I pressed the bills against my nose and inhaled the scent just to make a hundred percent sure I was right.

“You recognize the smell?” Graham asked although his gaze remained on the bills splayed out on the floor.

“Yeah.”

“Who is it?”

“Zulu.”

Cheetah purred.
Kill him.

Lanore

“The sky is so beautiful at sunset.” The Palero’s voice merged in and out of feminine and masculine tone. Its eyes remained close. Its wrinkled chest rose and fell at a steady rhythm. Every time we placed a blanket or sheet on the brown, naked body. The cloth would smoke and burn right before us. We were forced to just leave
it
on the cement floor in my office in fear the Palero’s body temperature would burn more.

Groaning in pain, the Palero rolled over to its other side. “When we flew, you told me you loved me, but it was all a lie wasn’t it?”

I looked at Angel as we both sat across from the Palero, flipping through all the districts’ newspapers and trying to catch up on the time we’d missed in being underground with the Vampires.

“Don’t look at me. I don’t know what it’s talking about.” Angel tucked blond strands behind her ear. She had them in a pattern of waves that began at her roots and journeyed down to barely hit her shoulder. I didn’t know when, but she’d found the time to search through my closet for yet another favorite Captain Habitat shirt of mine. Being that I felt a bit guilty for leaving the Bottelli compound without her, I didn’t say anything.

She’d been telling me all about her escape and why she was even down there to begin with. Dante kept the Palero in an extra room next to his bedroom. Apparently, Dante and his advisor weren’t doing so well. The Palero had freed Angel from the habitat police jail without letting him know. Plus, the Palero refused to explain the importance of Angel to him, when it brought Angel into the Bottelli compound. Dante did what any sick-in-the-head Vampire would do, he ordered a whole swarm of his lackeys to grab his advisor who was already weak from saving Angel. The fanged creatures battled the strange being and got several bites in too. According to Angel, the Palero could handle five or six Vampires by itself but once the number reached ten and more, there was no match. While the Palero battled, Dante captured a frail Angel and commanded his men and women to stop fighting. The Palero saw that Angel was with Dante and realized its best interests were to follow what he said.

Yet, neither Dante nor Angel could comprehend why the Palero’s health slowly deteriorated as he kept them both locked in a room. Angel didn’t know when she would be free. It wasn’t until days later when a frantic Dante dressed in a flashy tuxedo snatched her away and begged Angel to talk to me once I woke up.

“The whole time there were these screams and banging. Once the roaring started, I knew it was Zulu making people scream.” Angel flipped her newspaper over. “I put two and two together the whole time Dante dragged me down the tunnel to your room. Dante knew you and I were friends and that if I was the first thing you saw when you woke up, you might help him with calming Zulu down.”

“Do you think he would have even taken you out of that room to talk to me if it wasn’t for Zulu?” I asked.

“No way. That’s why the Palero spent every minute teaching me things while we were locked in that room.
It
didn’t think we would ever get out of the compound and even when I walked into your room, there’d been a Vampire there in a big white lab coat pushing out this huge tray of knives, tubes, and needles. I think they were going to take samples from you or something.”

“And cut my face up on the side like the others. I bet he was taking skin grafts.”

“He said that all I had to do was make sure you went to calm Zulu down and then convince you both to not kill him.” She shifted her gaze to the ground as if she hadn’t said that Were-bullcrap.

“Excuse me?” My body’s temperature increased to boiling. “That crap about the path being short and blah blah we can’t kill Dante because of the stupid path was all Were-bullcrap?”

“Yep.” She continued to fake read the page.

“Angel, are you telling me we had a chance to kill him and you fucking took it away from us?”

“Well, yes and no. Who knows if you could kill him? There was also the fact five men watched the Palero and would kill
it
if Dante didn’t return with me. Add the fact we didn’t know how to get out of there.”

“Zulu knew.”

“Well I didn’t know that, and I wasn’t just going to leave the Palero after it saved me.”

“I could have thought of something. You were freaking speaking in my head.” I raised my hands in defeat. “Why not just tell me everything in my head?”

“Because you’re impulsive—”

“Oh, look at who’s using big words.” I rolled my eyes. “Traitor.”

“I’m not a traitor.” She pointed to her chest. “If I told you everything you would’ve killed him and tried to wing everything else, right before the Feeding. A feeding, let me remind you, that every Vampire down there knew Dante was supposed to be at. So if he didn’t show up, they would have come looking for him, and guess who they would have found searching for a way out of the tunnels? Big-headed Lanore and her crew of misguided minions.”

She had a small point.

I still showed her my middle finger. “My head isn’t big, Angel. It’s the thickness of the dreadlocks.”

“Your head is huge and too big for your body.”

I touched the sides of my face. “What? No it isn’t. And you’re jumping off of the point.”

“So where was I, okay? Blah blah. Lied to you and Zulu. Blah blah. Oh, so I raced back to the Palero and let it know everything I saw. Dante had ordered me to return in three hours to help escort you both back to your living quarters, but he hadn’t told me where they would be.”

“Living quarters?” I shook my head. “He had no plans of Zulu and I leaving his compound. I guessed right.”

“Yep. His room and where he had the Palero and I trapped were located near his office, which was close to you and that huge living space. I heard the fight between Zulu, you, and the few unlucky Vampires in there. I knew it was the best time to escape. I picked up the Palero, which was pretty much as difficult as can be, and rushed off to the living space, but of course you both weren’t there, just a bunch of piles of ash. That’s when the door opened. Those fat Vampire women from earlier entered.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah. Oh shit. Do you have any idea why they are fat? Those heifers fed from the Sisters. They chased me all over the compound. At first I ran a little with the Palero slung over my chest. The Palero had been in and out of conscious, but anytime it came back to reality, it wasted no time and shot these crazy balls of light at them.”

“Balls of light?”

“Yep. They were the size of golf balls. It took two of them down. The other two were close to grabbing me. That’s when I spirited. All I could think of was getting out of there. Getting us to a place that would be safe, so I just said in my head. Take us home.”

“That’s how you landed in my room?”

“Well …” she twisted her lips to the side for a second and then unwound them. “I actually landed in Club X, which must mean that I see that place as sort of my metaphorical home. Anyway, the whole place was closed, of course, so I thought about you, instead of a place.”

“And that’s how you got to my room?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t sure if I would head back to the Vampires so that’s why I spirited into your room screaming at Vamps and interrupting your freaky nest sex.”

“So then are you even my advisor?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I figured maybe I could be, right?”

A screech escaped the Palero’s lips. “I’ll never trust another man again. I’ll never love again.”

I snapped my fingers. “The Palero is a woman.”

“Or a man that loves men.”

“Damn.” I sighed. “True. That could be it. I’ll still bet money that the Palero used to be a woman.”

“Maybe it was never a male or female.”

“Then how would
it
and your species reproduce? I mean. I am assuming that you and it belong to the same species, but I don’t know.”

“I’ve never met my parents. Maybe I came from an egg that fell out of the sky. I used to dream about that when I was kid, that this god high up above made me, put me in an egg, and knew the dumpster’s trash would make my landing safe so I wouldn’t crack.”

“O-kay.”

“Where is Dante, pyromancer?” The Palero’s voice captured both of our attention. We dropped our newspapers and rushed over to its side. “Where am I?”

“You’re above ground and in MFE. Well, Inked Guerilla.” I got on
its
right, Angel sat on the left and held its hand. “You’re safe. He can’t get in here. It’s covered in fairy glamour and the practitioner who did the spells is safely in here too.”

“And the vessel?” The Palero’s silver eyes gleamed.

“I’m right here.”

“Good. I can’t see anymore, but I can smell you and wasn’t sure.” She put her free hand to me. “Pyromancer?”

“Yes.” I grabbed it.

“Could you go through the other Vampire families’ portals? The vessel said you would try.”

“I could.”

“You’ll need to take the vessel through one soon. There’s no way I’ll make it any more than a week. Until I die, I’ll transfer all I have to her and show her how to hold it all, but that won’t be enough.” The Palero sniffed. “You have enough power to keep the vessel safe and keep her mind on the path. With the new power she’ll stray, but don’t let her.

New power?

I scrunched my face up in confusion. “Umm … okay. What portal am I supposed to be taking her through?”

“Christian Habitat. There will be someone like me to teach her. You should have no problem finding him. I’m sure he’ll sense you both. The Christian Vampires will not require anything from you if you wear a wooden cross around your neck. They’ll know you’re friends of mine. I’ve traveled through their portal before. I’m the reason why Dante began his theories of others being able to go through.”

“You told him?”

“No. A friend of his must have witnessed it or maybe he has someone in the Solomon family. It does not matter. He demanded I tell him how and why I went through. I only told him how and left the why to myself.” It tightened its grip on my hand. “When you deal with Dante you must walk a very tight line between death and survival or you will fall and no one will be able to save you because they’ll be dead too.”

“I don’t plan on dealing with him much longer.”

“That’s not what the path says.” It coughed and silver liquid dripped out the edges of its mouth. Angel released its hand and got a cloth to wipe away the stuff. “Will you take the Vessel to the Christian Habitat?”

“Yes.”

“What?” Angel squeaked. “No one asked me.”

“I don’t think you have a choice.” I gestured to the Palero. “Clearly, your teacher or … whatever is … not feeling well. We’ll have to get you to someone who can show you whatever you are supposed to know.”

“Exactly.” The Palero coughed again.

“What about all of the crap you’re involved with?” Angel raised her eyebrows at me.

“You both have time to finish this business with Mother Earth, but not too much time. The vessel will need to be in the Christian Habitat by the end of the month.”

“Or what?” Angel asked.

“Or the power I transfer inside of your body will explode and take everyone within a fifty mile radius with you.”

Yikes.

“So … okay.” Angel hugged herself. “I now approve Lanore taking me.”

I flashed her a thumbs up. She showed me the middle finger.

“Pyromancer, do you require anything from me in order to take the vessel?”

Angel shook her head. “Of course she wouldn’t need anything.”

“Fuck that. I definitely need many things.” I waved Angel’s earlier comment away. “I need answers. Lots and lots of answers. Let’s start with what is Mother Earth, continue with why Dante had all of those supernaturals below ground with cuts on their faces, and end with what does he have planned for me.”

“I’m dying. And you ask me things that will take a lifetime to answer?” The Palero shut its eyes.

“You’ll answer me as much as you can or …”

“What?” It coughed. More silver liquid leaked.

Angel dabbed at the edges. “Maybe you can start with what Mother Earth is, and if we have time you can tell us anything else.”

“The faster we know what is going on, the faster I’ll have Angel in the Christian Habitat.” Even though I had no idea how I would do that. Keo or Sakura hadn’t contacted me yet, although I was sure the Endo family would. To them, my possible ability to travel through portals as well as deal with their demon fire beasts made me valuable. I would just have to negotiate them helping me get in touch with one of the Christian Habitat Vampire families.

“Is Mother Earth a human?” I asked.

The Palero peeked through one eye. “Now I am worried for the vessel.”

“What does that mean?”

“You may not be mentally able to take her the whole journey. Only a fool would think Mother Earth was a human.”

I let go of her hand. “Hey, it’s not like you gave me a lot of clues to work with. You said that if she wouldn’t want to ever be caught in a room full of Vampires. What else could she be, but human? And, it wasn’t all my idea. MeShack and Vee came up with the theory. They said Mother Earth smelled like cooking oil, which is pretty much what the habitat police smell like to me.”