Wildfire Gospel (Habitat) (21 page)

“Duly noted.”

They rose high into the air, separating with each inch into tinier balls that expanded as well. They glittered with blue sparks.
So beautiful
. They were prettier than my normal fire, and bold, dripping with power and the promise of pain. I laughed. I just let my head fall back and bellowed out a loud cackle.

“You’re scaring the shit out of me.”

“Then go ahead.”

“You’re done. Let’s go. I’m sure these things know what to do without you.”

“I just want to make sure they burn everything, maybe I could even form a big wall of flames at the door’s entrance—”

“And while you’re setting fire and making walls, you’ll be on the ground masturbating, right when the Vamps get through.”

I backed up and started walking toward the way the prisoners ran through. “So I get a bit excited when I make the fire. Do you really have to mention that?”

“How could I not?” He met my pace.

We left the ballroom and entered a long white hall with a path of claw marks on the walls. A door was at the end. None of the prisoners were in sight.

“You get aroused when you fight.” I increased my pace so we could meet up with the prisoners. I didn’t see them ahead. They must’ve sped out of there in those few seconds of Zulu and I talking.

“Who says I get aroused?”

MeShack’s face ran through my head. I shook it away and didn’t even consider wallowing in the ache within my heart.

“Does it matter who said it, if it’s true?” I stuck my tongue out again.

“I only get aroused when it concerns you. Everything else is an adrenaline rush.”

“Maybe for me demon fire is an adrenaline rush.”

“I watched you moan on a ground after blue flames entered your body. I’ve only heard you moan that loud when you’re under me.”

“I don’t moan when I’m under you. I’m a quiet lover.” I pushed the door open at the end of the hallway.

He chuckled to himself. “You’re loud and sexy.”

“Interesting. I’ll have to ask my other lovers if that’s true.” I stepped onto a stairwell with metal steps and walls. Lots of footsteps sounded above me. I looked up to see everyone rushing up the stairs.

“Very funny. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Anyway, we have about four flights before we reach the door to Santeria. I think the portal is at the top of the staircase.”

“Interesting.”

“How was the Endo Family’s portal?” he asked.

“Just a door.”

Snoring sounded from the Mermaid. They were deep, thundering noises. We climbed the stairs. A door slammed above us. I figured they prisoners got through with no problem. “I guess we won’t be getting a big thank you from them.”

“I guess not.” He gently slung the Mermaid over his shoulder. Her gold tail flapped a little before lounging drunkenly in front of his body. The tip hung past his knees. “Back to what we were talking about earlier, I changed my mind, maybe you should give me a list of all these other lovers.”

“And what would you do with that?” Every few steps, I checked below to make sure no one came behind us.

“I would probably kill them one by one.”

I wagged my finger at him. “That’s not very nice.”

“I don’t react in nice ways when it comes to another’s challenge for you.”

“You never had any competition so I’ll never know if that’s true.”

He made a grunting sound behind me, but didn’t elaborate. Plus, I probably wouldn’t have asked anyway because right before me was an open door and on the other side lay the battered building of Caged View Apartments, my old home in the Santeria Habitat.

“Oh my god and goddess!” I lay the little Pixie on my shoulder and stepped out into the moist air and moonlight. I hadn’t noticed before when I was down in Vampireville, but the air pressure was low. Now in Santeria, I breathed in fresh air. Sure, I could smell the rank perfume of strippers dressed in trashy orange lingerie that stood across the street and gaped at me in shock as well as revealed more of their bodies than concealed. Of course those freaking bars that formed into a massive caged ceiling hovered over my head and reminded me, day to day, that I was a trapped animal never to be free. Sure, my brand in this habitat shoved my worth down to the level of a stray Pixie or maybe even lower. And just maybe, I was now considered a fugitive by the Witch Council, according to Dante or an enemy to hunt, according to the Rebels and Mother Earth.

Notwithstanding all of those things, I was home. I was back in my own special little caged city of chaos, and I screamed out with glee.

MeShack

My killer didn’t recognize me at all in this new skin, but he must’ve sensed the rage radiating from my flesh because in the next instance he ceased with polishing his long silver sword, dropped the rag, and stared at me. He looked bored, yet his feet gave his true emotions away. They stood apart as if readying himself to jump up and charge my way.

“How can I help you XO?” My killer kept his gaze on me. “Who are these people?”

XO turned to me. “Is that him?”

“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Then Graham and I must leave the room. We’re interested parties in this situation. I would like Fray alive and Graham would want you safe too.” XO signaled to Graham to go out the door.

Graham scowled at him. “I stay.”

“If you stay, then I do.”

“Fine by me.”

“You step in and I enter the fight too.”

“I won’t.” Graham’s eyes brightened to crimson red. “But I won’t have MeShack killed. He almost died already.”

At the mention of my name, Fray, my killer snapped his attention back to me.

“You recognize my name?” I moved forward.

Fray stood and kicked his chair back. It fell to the ground. “I’ve heard your name before.”

“And who told you it.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because you’re going to die if you don’t.”

“You’ll try to kill me regardless.”

I shifted my attention to his skin. The texture looked soft, but I wouldn’t know until I slid my fingers across it. There were a good bit of scars on him, but I didn’t care. Next to my regular caramel complexion, his skin was a pale vanilla. The best thing about it was that he was close to my size in body frame and height. Everything else I would have to get used to.

Oh Shango I sound like Graham assessing skin.

“Who told you my name?” I moved closer.

He stayed where he stood. “Will XO or this Demon help you defeat me?”

“I don’t need them.”

“Yes. You do. I’ve already fought you once. It’s clear who would be the victor.”

“The last time we fought something else filled my mind, now you have all of my attention.”

“Something else was in your mind, huh? Was it the Mixbreed with the dreadlocks?”

“Of course.”

He shook his head and snorted. “That one was the death of you in more ways than one.”

“Oh really.” I leaned my head to the side. “Maybe you should explain.”

“And all will be forgiven?” He let his head fall back and chuckled.

I took a few more steps and had no idea what my plan would be. All I knew was that I longed to have my own skin.

He stopped laughing. “Did you enjoy my sword?”

“No. I didn’t like the bite of it.”

“Then you shouldn’t take another step.”

I did anyway. “That makes me sad. I thought we were slowly becoming friends.”

His face transformed into a serious mask—the smile disappeared, a frown materialized, darkness filled his eyes. “What are you? I sliced you into two clean pieces. No one survives that unless they’ve dabbled in some dark magic. Are you a dabbler, MeShack?”

I hated my name on his tongue. “Let’s go back to that moment when you killed me. In fact, let’s go back even farther. When did you first learn of my name?”

He smirked. “When someone put a large amount of bills in my hand to kill you.”

“Who?”

“Someone who wanted you dead.”

“Why?”

“I already told you why.”

“No. You didn’t.”

“I did. You’re just not listening.”

An exasperated breath left my lips. “What’s this person’s name?”

“Why would it matter? What’s anyone’s name?” He shrugged. “Names are frivolous little things that mean nothing.”

“Yet, I’d like to know who hired you to kill me.” Steam drifted from my mouth. My body heated.

“You have teeth like XO.” Fray motioned to the big Umbutu behind me. “You’re like him then? That’s too bad for me, huh?”

“Why do you say that?”

Fray returned his attention to me. “That man is hard to kill. I’ve tried for many years.”

XO cleared his throat. I almost forgot him and Graham stood behind me. I decided to try and question him again. “If you let me know who—”

Fray charged for me and slashed the air. I ducked, but not fast enough. The silver tore through my shirt and sliced my chest. I screamed. It hurt so bad my vision blurred. He stabbed me in my side. I dove to the floor and rolled his way. He jumped over me and flipped back my way, hacking at the space around me with effortless precision. But he didn’t get me. I could only thank Shango and the rest of the gods for that.

I grabbed the upturned chair and slung it at him. He darted away. It crashed to the floor. He leaped for me. I stumbled up and rushed toward him. Bad idea. The tip of his sword greeted my chest. The sword glided in with ease. Pain exploded as silver met my molten insides. I grabbed his neck and choked him. Sputtering and popping noises sounded in my chest, but I had no time to focus on why as he shoved the sword into me deeper. Tears filled my eyes from the murderous sensations snaking through me.

“No, Graham. We agreed. You don’t jump in!” XO hollered.

“It’s my son!”

Something banged and then boomed.

Neither Fray nor I looked their way. I tightened my grip on his neck and continued to choke him. He shook his head, wagged the sword in my chest some more, and strained to get out of my hold. Light blue tinted his pale skin.

“I guess we’ll die together, huh?” I put all my strength into my hands, squeezing so hard my fingers went numb and my arms burned from the effort. Yellow liquid spilled out of his mouth. His eyes widened at the realization that I wouldn’t let go. He pushed his sword in until the handle touched the outer hole of my chest. Crackling ensued within me. Something cold oozed down my chest, yet the wretched throbbing all over my body never stopped. My whole frame shook. My vision went in and out of darkness to clarity. My thoughts fell on La La’s face.
Is this the end?
I looked down to see what the cold liquid was. Silver. Melted silver leaked out of the hole in my chest.

Was this from his sword?

Fray dropped his hands as his body went limp against me. The sword’s handle dropped from his hand and crashed to the floor. The blade didn’t make an appearance anymore.

My body melted the sword?

With no time to further ponder that question, I continued to choke Fray, until his body spasmed from the lack of oxygen. He kicked at me with his legs and punched the temples of my head. With each attack, I ached and considered letting go, but I stayed on the task. He had to die, if only to take his skin and show whoever hired him that I would be coming for them next.

“Die. You stubborn bastard!” I shook his neck while I choked and then head butted him.

His whole face tinted to a bluish purple shade. Clear liquid trickled out of the edges of his eyes. More yellow stuff dripped from his open mouth.
What type of Fairy are you?
He collapsed. I fell forward from his weight dragging me down. We crashed to the floor. He died right in my hands, yet I couldn’t stop squeezing.

I couldn’t release his neck from my grip yet. Him and whoever else had taken a lot from me, more than I could ever bare to think of. Cheetah didn’t move in my body or speak in my head. He could be dead within me. Although my core moved and swirled with fire, my beast’s lack of movement made me feel hollow and empty. My life would never be the same. I had no idea how it could. Before the Masquerade Ball, I walked in there as a lead singer for Mahogany Groove, frat brother, and pre-med college student. Now I stood with my fingers wrapped around a stranger’s neck. I was an odd creature with the urge to feast on Fairies as well as a future underground fighter for XO, a man that was now my kin through fired blood.

“He’s gone, boy.” Graham tapped my back. “Let him go. You don’t want to ruin the skin.”

“Skin. Skin. Skin.” I shook the dead body in my hands. “Will it always be about the skin?”

“He’s lost it.” XO showed up on my other side and scratched his oversized belly.

“It’s just his first breakdown for tonight. That’s pretty good for what he’s been through.” Graham attempted to pry my fingers away from the Fairies now purple neck. “MeShack didn’t really have time to swallow down everything that’s happening to him.”

“Who hired you?” I barked out the words at the corpse. “You son of a mixed bitch! I melted your sword! Now what will you fight with?”

XO helped Graham pull away my hands. “I think I had three mental breakdowns when I turned Umbutu. Tandy kicked me out of the house and made me sleep in the pit near your father’s castle for a whole week.”

I let go. The corpse crashed to the floor.

Graham got on his knees and massaged the skin on my dead killer’s face. “Just a week?”

“Well a week in our realm’s time,” XO said. “What’s that thirty days?”

“A little over thirty.” Graham flipped Fray’s body over. “He has good skin. It holds lots of magic. What was he?”

“I don’t think he knew himself. He was a dumpster baby. I found him in one near my building about sixteen years ago.”

I stumbled back with shivering fingers. “He was only sixteen?”

“Yeah or almost seventeen. I had no idea when his birthday came. When I found him, I was going to take him to the orphanage. Tandy made me keep him until he could walk, but she never took to him. He was an evil bastard, bit us when he grew teeth, tried to kill us in the middle of the night once. He was only five. I woke up at three in the morning to the little bastard stabbing me in my chest with a knife. My core melted it of course. Once he turned six, I moved him to the warehouse and had him doing small tasks. He liked it here and preferred to sleep around the fighters versus going home. It hurt Tandy.”

“He’s been living here since six?” I thought of all the champion photos in the hallway, especially Nona’s picture. “So he knew the fighters well.”

“He adored them. Every one of them. The more they killed the more he idolized them.”

Nona’s face flashed in my head. “Did he hang with the Rebels?”

“I don’t know about the boy’s personal life, but I did see him around a few of them every now and then. Rebels fought for me all the time. It used to be a bunch of them. They dominated the cage and made it almost impossible to defeat any of them. That all changed when this fighter named Ziggy showed up. The Rebels divided. Fray decided he would fight that year. It was about five years ago. I let him.”

“But he was only eleven.”

“Did I not mention that the little evil bastard had been trying to kill me all his life?”

Graham continued to knead his fingers into Fray’s face. The purple color in his flesh faded. “I need some shears and a good knife.”

“You going to filet him right here?” XO asked.

“You know the rules. The bond between skin and Umbutu is the most secure right after the murderer is destroyed.”

“And do you want him to eat him here? There will be blood everywhere,” XO said. “I want the blood and everything cleaned up.”

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows. “I’m not eating him.”

“You’ll have to consume him.” Graham ran his fingers through Fray’s black hair, pulled it away, and revealed the scalp. “You’re not like a Demon that can go in and out of skin like a regular supe goes in and out of clothes. Umbutus need to devour the beings in order to control the person’s skin. That’s just the way of our magic. That’s why the skin I loaned you looks pathetic.” Graham glanced at the hole in my chest. “By the way, you owe me some more skin. That one is destroyed now. I told you to be careful and you get stabbed in your chest.”

“And that’s my fault how? We’re in battle. I can’t worry about skin.”

“You’ll have to now, boy. Skin is the most important thing in your life from now on.”

“If he eats Fray in this room, I want the area clean when he’s done and this raises the debt.” XO headed to the door. “There will be a price for the tools and bloodying them up. I want—”

“Let me guess,” I said through clenched teeth. “You want some more skin.”

“Now you’re getting the hang of our life.” XO smirked at my left.

I looked down at Graham. “Now what do I do? Should I start chomping away now?”

“Don’t get smart with me. I didn’t kill you.”

“But you made me this.” I pointed to the hole in my chest and peeled the ripped and ruined flaps of skin away to further analyze. “This gel stuff is resealing the fire.”

“That gel stuff is your actual skin. In our realm you wouldn’t even need flesh to put over it. You would simply walk out like that. The atmosphere is perfect for that layer and the ladies would love the way you sparkle. In this realm, your Umbutu skin gets an allergic reaction to oxygen and the chemicals only found on this planet. Not to mention, most supes wouldn’t like to see you walking toward them.”

“They thought I was a Demon.”

“Not many have seen a Demon outside of their skin.”

“What does one look like?”

“I gave you books on this stuff right after I did the spell on you and filled you with fire. Did you not read any of it?”