The Burning Bush (44 page)

Vee’s eyes transformed to ice blue. She raised her hand to call the wind. MeShack ducked back in his dressing room.

“Both of you behave, please.” I scratched my hip and then the itch at the back of my neck.

“So, everything goes on your new account?” the Fire Witch asked. I spun around to see who she was talking to, only to realize she was talking to me. According to everyone in the habitat, Zulu was dead, and I was now a rich Mixbreed.

I nodded to the Witch. “Yes. Put everything on my account.”

“No problem.” The Fire Witch clapped her hands, beaming from ear to ear. The bill we’d run up would probably pay her rent and groceries for the next four months.

“Vee, are you sure you have a way to get rid of any no-magic barriers?” I whispered, rubbing my nose.

“Yeah. I know a few potions that my friends used when they went to the ball last year.” She twisted in the floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of her.

Massaging my swelling throat, I coughed and swallowed. “Good.”

“Are you okay?” Zulu stepped toward me, concern etched on his face.

“Yeah, I don’t know why I’m having an allergic reaction. The seamstress may have frankincense or brimstone in her store since—” I stopped talking and froze in my spot.
Brimstone? Uh-oh.

It had been so long since I’d been around my dad. I’d forgotten about his brimstone scent. Not many Demons possessed the fragrance of their realm, only the powerful ones. Now that I knew it was an allergic reaction from my dad being near, all of my senses flared on edge. I frantically rubbed my eyes and scratched my chin. Small maroon bumps sprouted around the cords on my arms.

Zulu rubbed my wrist, trying to console me. “What can I do?”

“Nothing.” I waved Zulu away and sneezed. “My dad can hide his scent from me whenever he wants to. He knows I’m allergic. Right now, he just feels like having me know he’s near.”

Which means he’s fucking mad.

“MeShack, did you tell Graham to come here?” I asked.

“No. He just said he would find us.” MeShack rushed out of the dressing room, struggling to put on his shirt. “Why, can you feel him?”

I sneezed into my shirt, tears falling from my eyes.

“Shit.” MeShack grabbed Vee’s hand and tried to get Zulu’s. “Let’s go, man. No time to play the hero. Graham won’t hurt La La, but he will hurt you and maybe anybody around her he doesn’t know.”

“No.” Zulu stepped back. “I’m not leaving her. The guy sounds insane.”

“He is. So make it easy on the both of us, and go with MeShack. Please.” I scowled. The lights went out in the store.

“I’ve heard stories about Graham. I’m out of here.” Vee raced away, bumping into the mannequin in the corner. Sapphires clicked and clacked as she ran to the back door.

The clerk entered our area holding a flaming torch in her hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. There must be something wrong with my electricity.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it. Come with me,” MeShack interrupted her and rushed the woman to the back. The dresses shook on the wall, as if an earthquake was occurring. Zulu raised one eyebrow and put me behind him.

My eyes watered some more. “Please go. It’s ridiculous for you to stay.”

“No.” Zulu’s cords brightened to white. He turned his head from side to side and behind him, searching out my dad. Zulu’s Fairy glamour remained on his face, but I knew my dad could see through the magic.

My entire body rose in the air. “Run! Run now! He knows someone is with me.”

And he wants to hurt whoever is with me.
It was the only reason he kept me immobilized on the ceiling. Any time he disciplined MeShack when we were young, and my dad didn’t want me jumping in the middle, I ended up stuck in the air. My body crashed to the ceiling. My entire back stuck to the wood surface as if I’d been glued there. My skin burned. The urge to scratch pushed me over the edge.

“What’s happening?” The tan skin of Zulu’s Fairy glamour slowly shifted to black.

The front door swung open, breaking glass. Leaves and a storm of dust whooshed inside, coating the suits and gowns. My dad stepped through the door, like he was taking a leisurely stroll. He wore his signature black trench coat, which hung in strips. Each strip moved back and forth, as if the wind were blowing against him. But there was no wind, just his magic. Anything he wore flowed around him, riding his power.

My dad rubbed his salt-and-pepper beard with his dark-brown fingers. He snatched off his Santero Saints hat, exposing his bald head. Usually, his eyes were gray, but today they were crimson and focused on Zulu. “You’re an interesting being.”

Dad’s red eyes shifted to a blazing orange. “I smell Fairy on you, boy, but not just any Fey blood, right? No. My little girl went for royalty. One of your parents was a Fairy in the royal court?”

Blinking my allergy-driven tears away, I battled with myself to stay calm. “Graham, put me down!”

“Stop calling me by my name. Give me some respect.” My dad’s hand flung high in the air. Fire filled my mouth, searing my teeth with heat, but not burning me. With any other fire, I felt nothing but warmth, but with dad’s fire, it was a different story. While I still didn’t burn, pain covered me as though I were roasting with flames. In seconds, the fire vanished.

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth, letting steam escape from my hot teeth and tongue. “Please—”

The flames reappeared between my lips and dove inside my mouth.

“Be quiet,” my dad ordered in a rough voice that always sounded like a bark. “What’s your name, little prince?”

“Zulu.” He snarled at my dad with clenched fists. His cords broke through the Fairy glamour and began to unravel from his arms.
This isn’t going to go well.

“Even though my daughter doesn’t visit me”—Dad approached Zulu with a smile—“I still keep an eye on her. And no matter how hard she tries to forget, I can always find Lanore by her scent.”

Graham circled Zulu, whistling and sniffing him. Zulu’s cords rose, drifted toward my dad, and then withered back into Zulu’s skin as if sensing my dad’s power and not wanting to touch it. I tried to direct the fire to leave my mouth, but it didn’t work. My mouth stayed open, full of flames. I screamed, but only a screeching sound escaped my lips.

“Are you going to be quiet?” Graham asked, gazing up at me. I nodded. The flames disappeared.

“With these latest bombings, I’ve tried to find her and make sure she was okay, but I couldn’t.” My dad waved his hands, and without warning Zulu went crashing into the wall across the store. Blood dripped from Zulu’s forehead. White cement dust flew from the cracks that snaked around his body. The entire wall came crumbling down, unable to take the strain of the damage. Zulu collapsed to the floor.

“No! You deranged lunatic!” I struggled to move, but couldn’t budge.

“Don’t worry, little girl. He can take a beating.” Whistling, my dad held a smooth stride as he journeyed toward Zulu. “I’ll hand it to you, Lanore. You never fall in love with weaklings. There’s lots of power in this one.”

Zulu got up, with black filling his eyes. Pieces of cement fell from his shoulders. The remainder of his Fairy glamour vanished, exposing Zulu’s actual face.

“Your claim messes with her scent, and then I can’t find her.” My dad’s hand stabbed the air, preparing to cast another command. Roaring, Zulu dove for my dad’s chest with clawed fingers.

“Don’t, baby,” I pleaded.

Graham vanished and materialized behind Zulu.

“You’re going to want to take my beating willingly, or family get-togethers will be bloody.” My dad’s hand slashed through the air.

Three of Zulu’s cords came out of his right arm. Blood dripped from them and spotted the carpet. White flesh stuck to the ends, yet they continued to glow with color as they flew into my dad’s open hand. Zulu fell to his knees, screaming. His hands hit the plush carpet with a thump. Blood now draped his right arm like a sleeve and leaked down the ends of his fingers.

“Now I’ll know her new scent when I’m searching for her.” My dad stuffed the cords into his trench coat. “Do not mark her again, young prince. She is not yours to claim.”

Tears streaked my face. “Please stop, Dad. He understands.”

“Do you really think so, sweetheart?” My dad leaned his head to the side, pondering my comment. “I’d like to teach him more.”

“He’s learned enough today,” I whispered. My body floated down to the floor. The brimstone scent instantly dissipated.

“Was that such a big deal, little prince?” My dad jumped up on the store’s counter with one swift movement, sat down, and crossed his legs.

“Go home, Dad. I don’t need your help.” I ran to Zulu as soon as my feet hit the ground. “MeShack made a mistake calling you.”

“Our cheetah never makes mistakes unless he listens to you.” My dad glanced at the purple gown that still hung in the center of the room. “You’re going to the Masquerade Ball?”

Ignoring him, I kneeled down in front of Zulu, catching the metallic scent of blood immediately. “How are you?”

“I’m okay.” Zulu held his injured arm. His eyes remained out of my view. “Don’t worry about me.”

Pissed off that my man was hurt, I increased the heat in the room, ready to assault my dad with as much fire as I could muster.

“Don’t even think about calling your fire, little girl,” my dad barked. “I let you leave my house.”

“I ran away.”

“I let you stay away and only gave you two simple rules to follow.” My dad displayed two fingers. “Stay out of the public eye and stay away from Vampires and Fairies. Last night, you’re on TV, and MeShack informs me that you’re in love with a Fairy and battling a Vampire.”

“Go fuck yourself!” I tried to help Zulu up.

“I’ve got this.” Zulu gently moved my hands away and stood up on his own. His body trembled.

“You didn’t have to hurt him!” I shouted.

“He’s fine. Every now and then, a man needs to realize how much he really loves his woman. It builds character.” Graham picked up a yellow pen from the counter and twirled it in his hand. “MeShack said a Vampire tried to kill you.”

“Go home.” I wiped the sweat away from my forehead with shaking fingers.

My dad wagged his finger at me. “Do we really want to piss me off? I was just having some fun a moment ago. Let’s not have me lose my temper.”

My dad appeared in front of us within a second. Fire surrounded my hands.

“What are you going to do with that?” Dad laughed, holding his stomach and shaking his head. “Am I supposed to flee?”

I extinguished the flames. “Please leave.”

“You’re going to kill this Vampire at the ball?” he asked. I glared at him and frowned.

“That’s the plan.” Zulu tore off his shirt and wrapped it around his injured arm. “The Vamp bombed my condo and killed my sister.”

“The Yemaya bomb?” My dad asked.

“This is none of your business.” I pointed at my dad. “Just go smoke your drugs or inject them or whatever it is you do to get high these days, and leave us alone.”

My dad snapped his fingers, and my body rose two feet in the air. “What did I tell you about disrespecting me?”

“Okay, Dad.” I held my hands up in surrender. “Just stop.”

“You say anything I don’t like, and it’s back to the ceiling for you,” Graham threatened and then returned his attention to Zulu. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that my daughter has quite a mouth on her. She doesn’t know when to be quiet. I always thought she would scare the boys away and I wouldn’t have to worry about any horny bastards sniffing around my house.”

My dad’s lips lowered into a frown. “But then she ended up looking and smelling like her mother, Lily.”

My mouth dropped open. I averted my eyes, not sure what to stare at.
I look like my mom?
We never had pictures of her. She’d committed suicide when I was a little girl, too young to remember her. Being a Fairy, my mom believed that when Fairies died on Earth, they returned back to the Fairy realm. Suffice it to say, she didn’t enjoy this caged city or raising me in it. So one day, she carried me into the bathroom with a knife, ready to take both of our lives. My dad ended up stopping her right before she stabbed me, but he couldn’t stop her from turning the knife on herself.

My dad’s already shaky mind couldn’t survive the whole situation. He barely ever spoke about her, and if he did, he would leave the house afterward to get high. Everything she owned, he’d destroyed. I knew nothing about her, just that her name was Lily. So I clung to that, making lilies my favorite flower and hoping somehow they would connect me to her.

“Anyway…” My dad rubbed his head, pulled out the Santero hat he’d tucked in his back pocket, and put it on. “Enough about that.”

As if sensing my unease and confusion, Zulu slipped his hands around my waist and tenderly pulled me toward him. MeShack dashed into the shop, spotted Zulu’s bloody arm, and grimaced. “Everything okay?”

“Of course, son.” Dad went over to MeShack and greeted him with a heavy handshake.

I showed MeShack my middle finger. “I’m not talking to you.”