“Criminal speeding, fleeing a law enforcement officer, no valid driver’s license or current vehicle registration, assaulting a police officer, and possessing prohibited weapons. Last but not least, making terrorist threats,” I added for good measure.
The General cocked a dark brow. “Are those charges true, Jake?”
“Mostly.” Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “But does it look like I assaulted her?”
“You tried,” I inserted.
My father slid into my mind. “Enough CeeCee. Provoking the warlord will not help the situation.”
“What situation?”
“A Coletti warrior was supposedly murdered on our lands.”
“Damn.”
I heard the General ask, “Why did you take the Mustang instead of a Hummer?”
“I wanted to test out the new engine,” Jake responded.
I sniped, “At a hundred and twenty miles an hour?”
Father shot me the evil eye. “I’ve had the evidence we’ve gathered put in the conference room.” He gestured to the back door. “Please follow me.”
Chapter Two
Our small conference room held one table, six chairs and a communications screen. Two evidence bags lay on the table. One held a knife, the other a badly damaged warrior’s bracelet.
General Jones picked up the bag with the bracelet and scanned it. “The data has been corrupted. Is this all you’ve collected?”
“Canyon de Chelly monument covers eighty-three thousand acres and I was waiting for my best tracker to return to continue our search,” Father replied.
“Who’s your best tracker?” General Jones wanted to know.
“My daughter.”
Jake sighed. “You’re his daughter, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
The General gave me his full attention. “Can you find Jivo?”
“I’m not making any promises, but I’ll go out to the site and see what signs I can pick up,” I said. Once the Coletti Overlord discovered that I also had psychometry abilities, being a shaman might not keep me safe from becoming a brood mare.
His face set in grim, angry lines, Jake interjected, “You’re being evasive. Are you hiding something? Did one of your people kill Jivo?”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” I snapped.
Father inserted calmly, “My daughter’s a shaman who has the ability to read objects. You will treat her with respect.”
Without hesitation, General Jones handed me the evidence bag with the bracelet. “Find him.”
I could see where the Jackass got his arrogance from. I took the bag and focused on it. A jumble of images rolled across my mind. An eight-hundred-foot sandstone spire, the charred remains of a jeep, a bloody corpse, and… The breath left my lungs in an involuntary gasp of shock. A monstrous, gray bipedal creature with large yellow eyes and spikes running down its spine. A Chupacabra? Holy hell, that wasn’t possible. Was it?
“What did you see?” Jake barked.
I took a deep breath. “There’s a body. I’m not sure if it’s Jivo’s.”
“Where?” The General demanded.
“Spider Rock.”
My father flinched.
“Take us there.” The expression on the General’s face reminded me of the scary ass sociopath I had arrested last week.
“I’ll go get the jeep,” I said and started for the door.
Jake grabbed my arm. “Picture where you want to go in your mind, and I’ll teleport us there.”
“You can teleport. I’m driving.” I tried to break free of his grip.
The jerk held me effortlessly. “Teleporting’s faster.”
“His soul has passed. There’s nothing you can do to help him.”
“How do you know his soul has passed? Can you talk to the dead?”
I pulled my pistol and stuck it in Jake’s stomach. “Let go of me. Now.”
“We need to collect what evidence is left before it’s destroyed.” Jake snapped, not a bit intimidated by my gun.
“Put the gun away, CeeCee. He has a point. Do as he asks,” Father ordered.
With a growl, I holstered my weapon. “Fine.” I focused on the bank of a creek that flowed by Spider Rock.
The Jackass wrapped a muscular arm around me. There was a fleeting flash of black and presto. We were standing next to two towering red sandstone spires.
The General and my father appeared next to us.
The burnt-out remains of a jeep protruded from the slow-moving creek.
Thankfully, the water had kept the flames from spreading to the cottonwood trees and bushes.
A horde of flies swarmed over a large pool of blood. The General scanned it with his warrior’s bracelet. “It’s Jivo’s blood.”
The Jackass tightened his grip on me. “Where is the body?”
“Spider Rock is a sacred place.”
“And,” Jake drawled.
“It needs to be cleansed of the evil that was done here.”
“Your father can deal with that. Where’s the fucking body,” Menace radiated from Jake.
“Show him,” Father said.
I pointed at Spider Rock. “Up there.”
Poof. We were standing on top of the left spire. A darkness like nothing I had ever felt before hung over the area. My gaze fell on the mangled body sprawled across the crown of the right spire and my stomach knotted in horror. Our holy place had been desecrated. Dried blood stained the white rocks and bones from previous kills were scattered around the corpse.
“Fuck. Something ate his face off.” Releasing me, Jake teleported over to the spire and examined the body.
I linked with Father and flashed him the image of the deceased and the creature I had seen in my vision. “Chupacabra or alien shapeshifter?”
“Difficult to know. Use your gifts to discover the truth. If General Jones summons the Overlord, we are doomed.”
“Yes, Father.” Assuming a lotus position on the rocks, I chanted, “Creator, source of all knowing, cleanse this space of all negativity. Banish all energies that would mean us harm. Let love and light fill each of us and our sacred space.” Once I felt the negative spirits disappear, I focused on who or what had violated our holy place. I caught fleeting glimpses of an injured Jivo fighting off the Chupacabra with a knife. For some reason he seemed unable to teleport and where the hell was his body armor?
I concentrated on the creature. Grisly hair sprouted from its misshapen skull. It had pointy ears, a mouthful of serrated teeth and lethal claws. I knew without a doubt, it was not of this Earth. I shuddered. The creature was driven by a hunger that
