* * *
“How was the coochie class?” MeShack asked over the phone.
“Vaginal Meditation,” I corrected, leaning against the red wall of the hospital’s phone booth. “I got kicked out.”
He laughed. “What time are you coming home? I wanted to celebrate your last day of Anger Management.”
I could hear dishes clanking together over the phone. “I’m not coming home. Wallace bought tickets for Meridian: The Super Force Unites.”
Dishes crashed into something, and MeShack growled.
I waited for a few seconds, shifting my weight to the other foot while three doctors wearing crimson red jackets and silver scrubs ambled by. “Is everything okay over there?”
MeShack cleared his throat. “What time is the movie over, and will you both be partying hard at the library tonight with your blueberry smoothies?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Wallace has to work the Vamp-shift at Witch Mart. I’ll be home by nine.”
“You know most of the people in the audience will be under twelve years old?”
“And your point? It’s a re-make of Captain Habitat’s best movie.”
Silence hung on the line, and then MeShack said, “I wanted to do something special for you tonight.”
“We’re not together, so that’s not necessary.”
He blew air through the phone. “It doesn’t mean we can’t spend time together. Can you call me when you are on your way?”
“Yes, I will.” I hung up as Dr. Patterson opened the door to her office.
I walked down the hallway to greet her.
“Come on in, Lanore,” she said.
I took my shoes off and stepped onto the coarse twig carpet, knowing I’d get splinters by the time I left. I carefully tiptoed to the tan couch and waved to her assistant Nick as he pulled out his huge wooden drum shaped like an hourglass.
Rose-colored incense was spread all over the room, pushing out a floral fragrance.
Nick put on his mask. It was carved in the image of some Santeria god or goddess. If MeShack was here, he’d know the god and why Nick wore it. Regardless, black paint covered the right side of the mask. The left was red.
Dr. Patterson closed the door behind her and strolled in. Her crushed velvet robe colored in tangerine and ivory twirled around her bare feet.
“Tonight is bittersweet.” She sat down in a chair made of straw, filling the air with a creaking noise.
Every session, I always worried that the chair would break or tear apart under her, but it never happened.
Dr. Patterson grabbed a pair of tangerine-colored eyeglasses and put them on. She yanked out a notebook and said, “I’m happy to announce that you’ll finally be ending your anger management sessions with me. Of course, on the other hand, I truly enjoyed our time together.”
“Thanks.” I closed my eyes as my head sank into the tan pillows.
Nick drummed a slow rhythm that was supposed to be a soothing sound to call the gods of whatever, but I just found that damn thing annoying.
I shifted in my seat, thinking about how good the movie would be.
“So let’s begin,” she said.
I cleared my throat. “I have an anger management problem and an addiction to self-destructive behavior.”
“And when did you realize that?”
Every damn Wednesday night for the past year, I say the same freaking thing and—
“Lanore? When did you realize this?” Dr. Patterson repeated, patiently waiting.
“The night I walked in on my boyfriend.” I cleared my throat. “I mean my ex-boyfriend having sex with two women in a nightclub bathroom.”
Rage rose as the images flashed in my mind; MeShack’s face buried in a blonde’s cleavage, his hands groping the other woman’s behind.
We’d gone to Liquid nightclub together to check out the venue before he performed the next week. He’d excused himself to go to the bathroom. Groupies trailed behind him, all wearing his band’s shirt and screaming his name.
Initially, I thought nothing of it. He’d been in the band since the beginning of college. They had a mild success in Shango District, but the groupies had just begun pouring in that month. I figured he’d sign an autograph, go to the bathroom, and come back to me.
Thirty minutes later, I went looking for him. I recognized his moans before I opened the Pureblood female bathroom.
“Lanore?” Dr. Patterson said, getting my attention. “What did you do that night?”
I gripped the couch cushions. “I set him and the women on fire.”
That night, I’d raised my hands in the air and pushed flames out of my hands, directing them to the walls to form a circle around the gyrating threesome. MeShack hadn’t even realized what was happening until flames licked up his legs.
I’d screamed curse words until I was hoarse as fireballs flung out of my hands, greeting the women’s skin. Their flesh bubbled into black, bulging distortions, and I laughed or maybe cackled. Either way, I scared the shit out of the club manager when he raced into the hallway to discover the source of the smoke and smell of burning hair.
“And do you have any regrets?” Dr. Patterson asked for the three hundredth time.
Those guilt-ridden knots formed in my stomach.
One of the women was a Shifter. It took her and MeShack a month to heal.
The other woman was a Mixbreed. Unfortunately, she had sat in the burn unit for six months, using a machine and several complicated spells to breathe. I’d volunteered at the hospital under another name and read to her every night, but it didn’t make up for the suffering I’d caused her.
When she was released, her parents had wheeled her out. Permanent scars covered the right side of her face. She wasn’t able to walk until a month later.
“Lanore?” Dr. Patterson tapped her pen against her tablet. “Do you regret your actions?”
“Yes. I regret it all. No man is worth causing so much pain to others.”
Nick sped up the drumming.
“Have you burned anyone recently?” the doctor asked.
“No,” I said too quickly.
If you don’t include the Mixbreed in the sewer last week that tried to kill me when I was with Zulu.
“And are you staying away from men that may promote self-destructive behavior?” Dr. Patterson asked.
“Yes.”
If you don’t include a few things.
I’d made out with Zulu on his desk. The next week, I made out with MeShack after he’d seduced me with wine, lobster, and chocolate. With both men, I’d raced away like a hysterical woman and had been avoiding them like the plague.
I groaned.
There’s no hope for me.
Nick beat out a smoother pattern.
“And do you forgive your ex-boyfriend?” Dr. Patterson asked.
Absolutely not.
The temperature rose to sweltering.
The doctor cleared her throat.
Nick stopped drumming.
Damn it.
I couldn’t get my certificate of completion without full rehabilitation.
“Yes. I forgive him,” I muttered.
“Lanore, please look at me,” the doctor commanded.
I opened my eyes and sat up.
“Nick, you’re excused,” she said.
It took him barely five seconds to speed out of there.
“I like you Lanore, but I’m tired of seeing you every Wednesday. You have to forgive him and yourself.” She lit another incense stick on her right. “Release the anger. It’s been a year. He’s a Shifter. It’s time to let go.”
I rolled my eyes.
That’s what everybody says.
A Mixbreed cheats, it’s horrific. A Shifter cheats, oh that’s because they’re in their Season.
Fuck their Season.
The drapes erupted into flames.
Dr. Patterson waved the fire away. The flames disappeared.
“I’ll get you some more curtains,”
I mumbled.
“That is okay.”
Although I tried to keep my power secret, Dr. Patterson knew the first time I walked in her office that I could create fire. She said she’d sensed the heated blood running through my veins. Additionally, I set a lot of stuff in her office on fire during my rants.
“Repeat after me,” she commanded. “I forgive MeShack and I forgive myself.”
“I forgive MeShack and I forgive myself.” I forced myself not to roll my eyes.
“We’re ending early. Go ahead and enjoy your life.” She stood up. “I don’t want to see you back in here or find out from a newspaper article that you set someone on fire. Don’t be impulsive. Think through the situation. Try a peaceful alternative first.”
“Okay.”
“And rule number one. Don’t date any Shifter until he’s matured out of his Season. Monogamy just isn’t going to happen until then.”
I nodded, grabbed my stuff, and said, “Well, I think I have a great plan. I’m attempting to date a different type of guy.”
“Well that’s definitely a start.”
“It’s foolproof.” I flashed a wide smile.