“You have it.”
One look at his aura and I knew he was telling the truth. Lowering my mouth to his arm, I sucked and sucked and sucked. Warmth seeped into my stomach and began to spread throughout my body, healing my injuries and easing my pounding headache. The rumors were true. Their blood did have healing qualities.
“Feeling better?” Jake released me.
I backed away from him and wiped the blood off my mouth. “Yes.”
Jake licked his wound and the bleeding stopped. “What’s up with the ash?”
“It protects us from the dead.”
“You actually believe that shit?”
“You’re such a jackass.” I marched toward the outcrop of rock where the sniper had taken his shots.
“Where are you going?” There was an irritated note in Jake’s voice.
“To that rock over there. I’m hoping the sniper left some evidence behind.”
“Why didn’t you say so.” Jake clamped a hand on my shoulder and poof! We appeared at the outcrop.
Six Remington .308 shell casings littered the ground. I smiled grimly. The killer hadn’t cleaned up his brass. Which meant he wasn’t military trained. With any luck, he would think we were both dead. Until his partner didn’t show up.
Jake scanned the area with his warrior’s bracelet. “He’s long gone.”
“He can’t have gotten far. He’s on horseback.”
“Did your shaman magic tell you that?”
I rolled my eyes and pointed to a pile of steaming manure. “No. That did.”
“What a load of shit,” Jake quipped.
I had the flies buzz him.
Jake narrowed his eyes. “Knock it off, buttercup.”
With a grimace, I obeyed.
He gestured at some footprints. “The suspect is about my size.”
“His essence is full of hate and rage,” I said.
“How do you know that?”
I held up a shell casing. “He left some of himself behind.”
“Can you track him with that?”
“Maybe.” I focused on it. A flurry of images flashed across my mind. A hogan built of stone. A woman’s terrified screams as the Chupacabra attacked her. A Coletti warrior in full battle armor running toward the hogan. Zap! A sizzling red energy beam struck him, hurling him into the side of an old rusted-out truck. Maniacal laughter echoed off the canyon walls. “And it begins.” The visions vanished. “Whoa!”
Jake demanded. “Do you know where that hogan is located?”
“It belongs to Aiyana Chee. Her family has a peach orchard in Chaol canyon. There’s a ridge above the hogan that’ll give us a good view of the area.”
“Show me.”
I focused on a wind scoured ledge with two large, precariously balanced rocks.
“Got it.” Jake clamped me to his chest. Presto! We were standing beside the rocks.
The hogan was surrounded by sagebrush tufted sand, and a shitload of old, wrecked cars.
I staggered back as the cries of the dead hit me. “That bastard slaughtered the entire family.” Tears ran down my cheeks. “The baby was only two years old.”
“Do you need to cross them over?” Jake stroked my back.
I stared up at him in surprise. “How long have you known I can talk to the dead?”
“I had a hunch when you said Jivo’s soul had passed. Once you crossed over the female murder victim, I knew you were a ghost whisperer. You’re sure the Chee family is stuck on this plane of existence?”
“I am.”
Jake scanned the area with his warrior’s bracelet. “Do your thing, I’m not picking up any enemy life signs.”
Sucking in a calming breath, I connected with the esoteric plane and chanted, “Miraculin sepulcrum ibidem solus novum. Domum rotundam vivtorie construxit!”
A glowing portal appeared over the canyon.
“Sun my ass,” Jake groused.
The doorway’s iridescent glow drew the Chee family like a magnet. Once the five souls had passed through the portal, I closed it. “We need to process the scene.”
Jake nodded grimly and teleported us down to the hogan.
A cry broke from me when I spotted a stuffed blue elephant lying in a pool of blood. “That bastard’s going to pay for this.”
“Yes, he is.” Jake raised his bracelet and started documenting the scene.
The crawlies hit me. “Do you sense that?”
Jake pulled his laser pistol. “I do.”
“It feels like the Chupacabra, but that’s impossible.”
A coyote trotted out of the hogan. Its muzzle was blood-soaked.
“Coyote.” Jake lowered his pistol.
My senses went on red alert. “No. It’s not.”
The coyote suddenly warped into a monstrous, gray bipedal creature with large yellow eyes and spikes running down its spine. Grisly hair sprouted from its misshapen skull. It bared a mouthful of serrated teeth and with a ferocious roar, it sprang at us.
Jake fired repeatedly but its thick gray skin seemed to absorb the laser bolts.
I hurled several lightning bolts at the creature, but they didn’t even slow it down.
At the last moment, Jake teleported us behind a wrecked truck.
The Chupacabra uttered a furious growl and moving with incredible speed, it came at us again.
“There’s two ways to stop it,” I said.
“I’m listening.”
“I need time to summon a storm or I can try to morph into a Skinwalker.”
“Skinwalker?” Jake’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead.
“Full-blooded Navajo shamans can shapeshift, but since I’m not actually Navajo, I’ve only been able to hold the form for about sixty seconds.”
“How about I call in a tactical laser strike on the Chupacabra.”
“That’ll work,” I agreed.
The Chupacabra jumped over the truck and its huge paw swatted Jake, knocking him into the side of the hogan. He slid to the ground and didn’t move.
Rolling under the truck, I dodged the creature’s deadly claws, and fired my laser pistol at its right eye.
The monster let out a high-pitched bellowing scream and backed away.
“Jake! Are you hurt? Jake! Dammit answer me. I thought you were a big, tough warlord.” Crap. I scooted behind the remains of a Rambler. “C’mon, big guy, get up and fight.”
Jake groaned and struggled to rise.
The creature padded over to Jake and sparks flew as the creature raked its claws down his armor.
Fuck! If this didn’t work, we were so screwed. I gathered every ounce of power I had and chanted the spell Father had taught me. “Tibi se cor visus dixit Deitas.” A cry of agony
