Caged View (An Urban Fantasy Collection of Short Stories) (Habitat .5 Series) Read online

Caged View

  Kenya Wright

  CAGED VIEW

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are products of the imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2012 by Kenya Wright

  All rights reserved

  Published by

  Dragonfairy Press, Atlanta

  www.dragonfairypress.com

  Dragonfairy Press and the Dragonfairy Press logo are trademarks of Dragonfairy Press LLC.

  Published in the United States of America

  Table of Contents

  • Introduction

  • Love Lost, Love Found

  • The Heart Ripper’s Song

  • The Vicious Circle

  • Excerpt From Chameleon

  • Fire Baptized: First Three Chapters

  • Chapter 1

  • Chapter 2

  • Chapter 3

  INTRODUCTION

  Since the 1970s, Humans have forced Supernaturals to live in caged cities known as habitats. Supernaturals are tagged at birth with silver brands embedded in their foreheads to identify them by species: a full moon for Vampires, a crescent moon for Shifters, a pair of wings for Fairies, an X for Mixbreeds, and the list goes on. Each supernatural species has been tagged and categorized by Humans.

  Each habitat is themed and organized by a particular religion. This short story collection is set in the Santeria habitat. The first three stories are in the points of view of characters (MeShack, Zulu, and Lanore) from the novel Fire Baptized, and serve as a prequel to that story. The last short story is from the point of view of Cameo, a character who lives in the Santeria habitat and is from the young adult novel Chameleon, scheduled to be released in June of 2012.

  LOVE LOST, LOVE FOUND

  MeShack

  I knew what Felix, that motherfucking Were-rat, was going to do before he did it.

  His freckled hand stretched out a foot from his hip. He glided toward La La as she stuffed a pair of thick books into her orange locker.

  I peeked further around the corner.

  Felix’s gray eyes targeted the plump curve of her behind.

  Kill him, the cheetah inside me ordered, always impatient and ready for a quick fix. The beast slammed his sharp claws against the inside of my ribcage when I didn’t move, stinging the tissue surrounding it.

  Relax, I told him and shifted my eyes so my cheetah could see him better.

  My beast stirred within me, full of excitement.

  Felix whistled through cracked lips as he approached his destination. He checked the hallway around him, probably noting that it was just La La and him.

  I gritted my teeth, dropped my book bag, and leaped toward the Were-rat in a blur of speed that impressed even me.

  Felix shrieked and dove to the side.

  Too slow.

  I seized his pudgy arm and slammed him into the lockers across from La La. A crash bellowed from the now-warped metal.

  Gotcha.

  “What are you doing?” La La’s dreadlocks whipped around as she whirled my way. Alarm spread across her face.

  “Yeah, man,” Felix said. “What are you doing?”

  I smashed his jaw with my fist. Bones crunched under the impact. His white skin swelled and thrust a few inches toward me as the bones re-formed back to new.

  “I saw where your hand was going.” I gripped his shoulders, shoved my claws out of my fingertips, and pierced his skin.

  Felix yelped as the locker’s metal dented under his weight. Breathing in and out at an erratic pace, he wobbled his head from side to side. “MeShack, I wasn’t—”

  “Give me your hand.” I inhaled his fear. It smelled like boiled peaches.

  “Man, I wouldn’t touch her,” Felix mumbled. Beads of sweat formed around the crescent moon brand embedded in his forehead. Red hair stuck to his wet skin.

  “I hate repeating myself,” I said and spotted La La coming up on my right, bringing her lavender fragrance that haunted me even when I was asleep. Her X forehead brand shined in the ceiling’s light.

  “Don’t do it, MeShack.” She moved her dreadlocks away from her face with chocolate fingers and peeped behind her shoulder, searching the hallway for teachers or, even worse, Principal Hendricks. “He didn’t do anything. Let him go.”

  “She’s right, man.” Felix’s heart hammered against his chest. My beast and I were both thrilled at the sound and hoped Felix would free himself. We hadn’t chased anyone in months.

  “I didn’t touch the Mixbreed.” He shivered under my grip.

  “You know her name. Say it.” I dug my claws deeper into his skin.

  “Lanore,” he whimpered and hit the back of his head against the locker.

  Blood shaded Felix’s white cotton shirt to pink.

  “That’s quite enough.” La La’s eyes blazed to a fiery orange.

  The temperature around us increased from warm to sizzling.

  I had no doubt that she was preparing her body for fire.

  She never lets us have fun, my cheetah said.

  “Take your claws out of him,” La La insisted and placed her hand on my arm, sending a scorching heat into my flesh.

  A vicious pain seared all of my senses. My skin bubbled under her fingertips as my ears rang. White light shined over my eyes. Fangs broke free from my aching gums. My lips quivered.

  “Okay. Damn it!” I yelled.

  She removed her burning hand.

  I found the breath that I’d lost; the burns on my arm instantly healed.

  The cheetah retreated within my core, no longer wanting to deal with the situation.

  She always has to use her damn fire to make a point.

  “Was that necessary?” I hissed and clamped down hard on Felix’s shoulders. His bones shattered under my fingers.

  Felix screamed. The noise rose high above us to the school’s ceiling and down the hallway, no doubt hitting all the ears of the Supernaturals hanging out in the commons area. There would be a crowd soon.

  “Damn it!” La La’s hand rose to me.

  I blocked it.

  She tried to burn me again.

  I tapped her hand away.

  “Leave him alone.” She gave up and crossed her arms over her chest. “The point is, he didn’t do whatever you think he was going to. MeShack, you’ve now gone from hero to bully.”

  Very well.

  I dragged my claws out of his skin, taking tattered flesh with me. “Say sorry.”

  “S-sorry.” Felix gently rubbed his right shoulder with his hand.

  “Not me, you furry sewer bastard.” I edged closer to him until my nose was an inch from his. “Say sorry to La La.”

  Felix faced her. His body shook. Blood dripped from his wounds down to the apricot linoleum-tiled floor. He placed his hand on the dented locker to maintain his balance. “I’m sorry, La La.”

  “Only I call her that,” I said in a low voice as I wiped my slimy fingers on his shirt.

  “I’m sorry, Lanore.”

  She glanced uneasily at the Were-rat and sighed. “Thank you, Felix.”

  He checked for my reaction.

  I nodded.

  He raced away, leaving his books on the floor.

  “Come on, before Hendricks suspends you again for fighting.” Lanore’s small hands grabbed my arm to guide me toward the front entrance. “You’re freaking ridiculous.”

  “I’m not afraid of him either.” I flexed my bicep, making the muscle expand against her palm.

&nbsp
; Within seconds, we approached our high school’s double doors.

  “Stop bullying guys over me.” She released her grip from my arm and strolled through the exit.

  “Would you rather he grab at you like a piece of meat?” I asked as the school’s doors slammed behind us. “He’s always cornering girls by themselves and groping them.”

  Sunlight’s rays leaked through the city’s barred ceiling and washed over me, giving my caramel skin a much-needed tan. The longer I stayed in the sun, the more my flesh shined like gold.

  “Thank Shango. The rain has finally stopped,” I mumbled.

  This was a great day to jog around Santeria, the caged supernatural city located a few miles outside of Miami.

  The air possessed that luscious aroma of spring: freshly cut grass, newly blooming flowers, and the baby oil that the cheerleading squad smeared on their slender legs as they practiced in the school’s front lawn.

  I pulled my long curls out of my hair tie. The kinky curls fell over my huge shoulders. I hated having it out. It always got in the way, but the ladies loved it.

  “Hey, MeShack.” The captain of the cheerleading squad waved at me.

  Her lemon-yellow shirt stretched over her breasts. Shango High’s mascot was the Fighting Ram. Its face covered the front of her top and its eyes lay between those two huge peaks.

  I wished to be the Fighting Ram right now and bury my head between her cleavage.

  “Hey, yourself.” I beamed at her and then leaned down to whisper to La La. “What’s her name again?”

  “Jackie.” La La slung her jean satchel on her right shoulder and exhaled noisily. “I can’t wait until you get out of your Shapeshifter horny phase.”

  “The proper name is Season.” I drank in Jackie’s image as she jumped around, doing a cheer. Those round melons bounced with each movement. “And it usually takes Shifters seven to ten years to mature out of it, so buckle up and enjoy the ride.”

  La La snorted.

  I winked at Jackie.

  “So, have you seen Fiona lately?” La La asked.

  The day turned dark at the mention of that name.

  My nerves flared on edge. Something plunged down to the pit of my stomach, filling my core with a murky liquid that threatened to drown me. Gone were Jackie’s perky breasts.

  My mom’s face flashed in my mind.

  “I told you not to mention that woman’s name anymore.” I stared ahead, quickening my pace.

  “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  “She’s not your mom,” I said. “It’s why you can stomach her better than me.”

  “Hey, she’s kind of my pseudo mom.” La La hit my back with her little fist. “I’d trade you my dad for her.”

  I waved her comment away with my hand. “I’ll take Graham over my mom any day.”

  “She hasn’t come home in weeks.” La La tucked a couple dreadlocks behind her ear.

  A group of Were-wolves packed a car that drove by, blasting a rock song. I waved at them since most of them were Shango High’s defensive line. They howled at me in unison.

  “The brothel on Rooster Way is her home now. She won’t come back to stay with us unless she gets kicked out.” I turned the corner, bumping into an Air Witch.

  “My bad, MeShack.” He tapped my shoulder. “Good game, though. None of the Yemaya Sharks could catch you.”

  “Thanks.” I forced a smile as I headed in the opposite direction.

  La La stepped out of the Air Witch’s way, staring at the ground. She liked to be invisible around Purebloods, hide in the shadows. She said it helped decrease the chances of them terrorizing her. Little did she know all the Pureblood males knew she existed no matter where she looked or how hard she tried to hide.

  Once we passed the Air Witch, she sped up to my side. “You didn’t answer me. Have you seen her?”

  “No.”

  “Are you worried?” La La asked.

  “Fuck her,” I muttered.

  The damn woman’s been missing my whole childhood. What’s another day to a lifetime?

  “Fiona hasn’t picked up any of her disability checks,” La La said.

  I halted in the middle of the sidewalk. Supernaturals strolled by. Some congratulated me for last Friday’s football scrimmage. Others just got out of my way.

  I turned to La La. “How many checks has she missed?”

  “Two,” she muttered. “And you know she never forgets payday.”

  I rubbed the temples of my forehead. Stress pulsed through them. That shaky anxiety that always filled me when my mom went missing rushed back.

  I thought this crap would be over if I stopped talking to her and got on with my life. Instead, here I was again, a little kid hiding in his closet in the middle of the night under a bunch of blankets, waiting for his mommy to come home.

  “Take my books to the house. I’m going to search for her.” I tried to hand my notebooks to La La.

  “What am I, your servant?” She stepped back and didn’t take them. “You’re crazy if you think I’m not going with you.”

  A grumble ripped from my throat.

  “Am I supposed to be scared?” She twisted around and headed toward the southern edge of Shango District.

  Damn it all!