Defying the Relic Hunter (Coletti Warlord Series Book 11)

by Gail Koger

  “I know you’re there, little rabbit,” the warrior called. “I can smell you.”

  I sniffed my underarms and grimaced. My deodorant had failed but it wasn’t that bad.

  A shadow darted across the canyon. Nerves jangling, I knocked on Ethan’s helmet and whispered, “Up. Get up.”

  Thunk! An arrow bounced off my energy shield.

  I looked up. The murdering bastard stood on a narrow ledge about fifty feet above me. How did he know where we were?

  He notched another arrow in his bow and leveled it at me. “I will gut you and feed your entrails to the buzzards.”

  Drawing on my powers, I had a phantom eagle swoop down with its talons outstretched.

  The warrior took a startled leap backward. A shout broke from him as his moccasins slipped on the loose dirt and he tumbled off the ledge. After hitting several rocks on the way down, the badly bleeding Apache rolled to a stop at my feet.

  Was he dead? He kinda looked dead. His eyes were still open, so maybe he wasn’t. I didn’t feel his spirit, but my brain was kinda fried. I guess I should check to make sure. I reluctantly shut down my shield and poked him with the toe of my left boot. When he didn’t move, I leaned over and pressed two fingers on his carotid artery.

  His hate filled eyes suddenly focused on me and he raise the knife clenched in his fist.

  “You aren’t getting my head!” I instinctively jammed the stun gun against his groin and lit him up.

  The Apache convulsed violently, and the knife fell from his hand.

  “Feed my entrails to the buzzards, will ya?” I let him have it again, watching in satisfaction as he thrashed around and moaned.

  “I think his nuts are fried, Angel.” Ethan kicked the knife away, flipped the still twitching Apache over and clamped a pair of handcuffs on.

  I collapsed in the shade and shook. “Still convinced I’m delusional?”

  “No, but I’m beginning to think you have Kaylee’s chaos gene.” Ethan’s helmet retracted, and he held out his hand. “Give me the stun gun and your laser pistol.”

  Exhausted, sunburned and really pissed off, I shot him a killing glare. “Is the big, bad Coletti afraid of little ole’ me?”

  Ethan regarded me with all the tenderness of a vulture contemplating lunch. “You really think you can take me on and win?”

  “You mean in hand-to-hand combat? No, but I can win using this.” I tapped my forehead.

  The ass threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I can find you any time, any place, Angel, and if I want to tie you up, you won’t be able to stop me. You might even like it.”

  As if. “The only reason you caught up with me today was because of that stupid Apache.”

  Ethan shrugged. “From now on, Angel, we’re joined at the hip and you will behave yourself.”

  “Wait. I thought you wanted to throw me in jail?”

  “That was before I figured out your special talents are guiding you to the treasure.”

  Damn. “If I don’t cooperate?”

  He brushed his mouth over mine and whispered in my ear, “One night in my bed and you’ll do anything I want.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wow! That’s one hell of an ego you’ve got there, Don Juan.” I jerked my thumb at the still bleeding Apache. “You gonna let him bleed to death?”

  Ethan straightened and examined the warrior. “I’m thinking about it. He was trying to kill you.” He picked up my backpack and started pawing through it. He took out the stone map. “Is this why he was chasing you?”

  “Yeah, he got a tad bit cranky when I took his sacred stone.”

  “What makes you think that whack job killed a lot of people?”

  I pointed at the twenty or so angry spirits surrounding the fallen Apache. “Those dead people over there and the shit load of skulls in the cave.”

  One dark brow cocked satirically. “Spirits, huh? How many skulls did you see?”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t take the time to count them, but he’s been a busy boy.”

  He rummaged around some more in my pack. “You didn’t bring enough water, Angel.”

  “I wasn’t planning on being chased by a homicidal Apache, sugar.”

  A shadow moved. Frowning, I glanced around Ethan’s massive frame and gasped, “The Terminator’s making a run for it.”

  Ethan pulled his pistol and fired. A stun beam hit the Apache in the back. Violent muscle spasms contorted the warrior’s body as he fell.

  I gave him two thumbs up. “Nice shot. Bozo says he works for the Thunder God, but I think he’s inhaled too much of that wacky gas.”

  Watching me closely, Ethan asked, “Did you know your cousin was hired to steal the amulet?”

  “No, but I’m not surprised. He always was a low-life skunk.”

  “Your cousin said you’re after the gold too.”

  “Me? Seriously? I haven’t talked to that jerk since I was kicked out of the clan.”

  Ethan released an exasperated sigh. “If you’re not searching for the gold, what are you doing out here Angel?”

  “Hiking. Communing with nature.”

  “When it’s 110 degrees in the shade?”

  I smiled innocently. “I like a challenge.”

  You’re a bad liar. You’re after the treasure.”

  “Prove it.”

  “My sensors show you’re wearing the amulet. Give it to me or I will take it from you,” Ethan growled.

  I turned my energy field back on. “Touch me and you’ll be taking another dirt nap.”

  A Coletti warrior in full battle armor suddenly teleported in. His power was off the charts.

  Holy shit! I stood up slowly. “You called your boss?”

  “I did. The Overlord’s anxious to meet you.”

  Crappity, crappity, crap. I was so screwed.

  Zarek’s helmet slid back. His predatory gaze roamed over me and he smiled. “You are a clever and inventive thief, Kizzy. I found Montezuma’s dance routine amusing.”

  “Before you kill me or lock me up, I need to cross over a bunch of trapped souls.”

  “I am not going to kill you or lock you up,” Zarek said.

  “You’re not?” Color me surprised.

  Zarek gave me a wolfish grin. “No. Your psychic gifts are quite unique.”

  “Actually, they’re not.”

  “Shall we find out?”

  The note of amusement in the Overlord’s voice gave me the willies. “Nope. Not necessary. I can see and talk to dead people, that’s it.”

  The Apache warrior crawled away.

  I got in front of him. “Dude you’re like that bunny. You just keep going and going.”

  Zarek scanned the Apache. “He’s been enhanced.”

  The sociopathic killer screamed like a wounded banshee when he hit my energy field and went flying. Right into Ethan.

  “Ooops. Sorry.”

  “No, you’re not,” Ethan groused.

  I smiled sweetly. “You’re right. I’m not.”

  Voss, the Battle Commander, appeared beside Zarek. Yikes! He was a big dude. The burn scar on the right side of his hard face twisted his mouth into a permanent sneer. “This is the female who’s causing so much trouble?”

  Me? Trouble? Nah. A wave of dizziness hit me. Whoa! I needed to sit down. I shook my head to clear it. Where was my backpack?

  “Lower your energy field,” Zarek commanded.

  “Not to be disrespectful or anything, but I can’t do that. There’s more bad guys here and I’ll be a sitting duck.”

  An immense pressure wrapped around my head. I smothered a shriek.

  Something terrifying flickered in Zarek’s eyes. “Obey my order or I will force your compliance.”

  The sensation that my head was going to explode into tiny little pieces had me shutting down the energy field. “If I get killed by those Tomb Raiders, I’m coming back and haunting you.” My legs gave out and I hit the dirt. Crap. I had heat exhaustion again. I crawled toward my backpack.r />
  “For God’s sake, let me help you.” Ethan scooped me up.

  I struggled to get free. “I can take care of myself.”

  “No, you can’t. You need a keeper.”

  “She is dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke,” Voss said.

  “Just. Need. Water.”

  Zarek pressed a pressure injector against my neck and triggered it. “She’ll need some of your blood too.”

  “What? Nuh-uh. Let go of me.” I fought wildly. A terrifying power was suddenly in my head.

  “Stop!” Zarek commanded.

  I literally couldn’t move. “Please. Just take me to the hospital.”

  “Your clan abandoned you. We will not. You will never be alone again.”

  A part of me liked the idea a lot, while the sensible part was screaming run! A tremor shook me as I felt Zarek mucking about in my head, learning all my secrets. Long buried memories abruptly flashed across my mind. Hundreds of butchered bodies covering the ground. The tortured cries of the dying. The hiss of laser fire mingled with the endless volley of bullets. My mother and our clan fighting desperately to hold back the Tai-Kok horde.

  I remembered my howl of fury when I saw her fall. I instinctively drew on my budding powers and summoned the spirits of the slaughtered fighters. The glowing, ghostly forms gathered around me and we swarmed across the battlefield. Any Tai-Kok the spirits touched, died instantly.

  Every nerve in my body twanged with shock and denial when I reached my mother. She had a big hole in her chest. No, no, no. She couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t. I shook her. “Wake up. Wake up.” There was a tugging sensation in my head and the memories faded away.

  “Shhh. Shhh. You’re safe. You’re safe,” Ethan murmured, wiping away my tears.

  I opened my eyes and stared into his concerned gaze. “Am I?”

  “Your history is as unique as your talents,” Zarek commented.

  “Unique?” I rubbed my aching head and tried to get my churning emotions under control. “I’m a freak who can talk to the dead. My clan had little use for me.”

  “You’re part of the Coletti family now. We take care of our own,” Ethan assured me.

  I frowned. “So, you’re like adopting me?”

  “We are,” Zarek said.

  “Do I get a say in this?”

  “No,” Ethan said firmly.

  I felt Zarek touch my mind again and my headache vanished.

  “You were too young to draw that much power and the overload damaged your synapses.”

  “The monsters were killing my mother. I wasn’t going to stand by and let that happen. If I lost my powers, so be it,” I retorted.

  “Not lost but diminished. I was able to heal some of the damage,” Zarek replied.

  I frowned. I didn’t feel any different. “Ah, thanks. What’s it gonna cost me?”

  “You and Ethan will find Montezuma’s treasure.”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  Zarek’s smile was the scariest thing I had ever seen. “No.”

  That’s when I realized not only was the Apache gone, but so was the amulet, my bracelet and weapons. I also had a funny metallic taste in my mouth like I had been sucking down blood. My eyes bugged. What the hell was I doing on Ethan’s lap? “You bastard!” I scrambled to my feet. “Mind control is cheating and where’s my bracelet?”

  “Voss took it back to the ship to examine it. Your uncle is quite the inventor,” Zarek responded.

  “Whoop-de-fucking-do!” I spun around and started walking back to the cave. Once they took apart my bracelet, the clan would be sitting ducks.

  Ethan grumbled, “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  “To cross over the dead folk.”

  “All by yourself?” He fell in step with me.

  “I’m hoping Granny Annabel will pop in to help.”

  “And if she doesn’t?”

  “I might get dead.”

  Ethan grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “No, I won’t allow it.”

  “Since I have no way to protect myself, I’m gonna get dead sooner or later.”

  “I won’t let anything happen to you,” Ethan snapped.

  “Really? You can’t be with me twenty-four seven and some of Giuseppe’s people will blame me and my uncle for his capture. That particular branch of the Dragos clan are big into blood vendettas.” I tried to break free of Ethan’s grip.

  The jerk held me effortlessly. “They would kill you for something Giuseppe did?”

  “Oh, yeah and they would consider my uncle a traitor.”

  “Voss is sending his hunters to find your uncle,” Zarek announced.

  I laughed. “You won’t find my uncle, unless he wants you to.”

  Zarek simply smiled. “I am very interested in seeing how you cross over the lost souls.”

  “It’ll make you believe in heaven and hell.”

  “Picture where you want to go in your mind and I’ll teleport us there,” Ethan instructed, pulling me closer.

  “Did you forget about the hallucinogenic gas?”

  Zarek glanced at his scanner. “It has been rendered inert.”

  “Good. It makes you see stuff right out of a horror movie.” I frowned. I had never teleported before. What would happen if Ethan messed up and we ended up in a wall?

  “We’re not ending up in a wall Angel.”

  I scowled at him. “Get out of my head.”

  “No. You’re mine now.”

  “Excuse me? Yours?”

  Ethan grinned. “Zarek gave you to me.”

  “Gave?” I squawked. “I’m not a puppy. I’m a person. You can’t give me away.”

  Zarek cocked a dark brow. “I am the Overlord I can do anything I wish.”

  He had me there.

  Ethan tilted my chin up. “Do you want to free those souls or not?”

  “I do.” I focused on the area in front of the crumbling adobe walls. There was a fleeting flash of black and we were there. “I call this the Canyon of the Damned.”

  “Aptly named,” Zarek commented.

  Ethan walked inside the ruins and examined the backpacks. “There’s twenty-two.”

  “Where are the skulls?” Zarek eyes were like bits of stone.

  I pointed to the cave. “In there but be careful, they’ve rigged some kind of dampening field.”

  “Not anymore.” Zarek tapped away on his bracelet as he and Ethan disappeared inside.

  I reached out mentally. “Granny Annabel, I need you.”

  The air shimmered and she appeared dressed like an Egyptian priestess complete with a black, plaited wig.

  “What’s with the getup?”

  “It is the proper attire when dealing with the dead.”

  “It’s, ah, very realistic.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Do you think Giuseppe’s dad will call for a blood feud against Uncle Aldo?”

  Granny gave me a ghostly hug. “It is good your man has claimed you. Luigi has his men searching for you and Aldo.”

  “But I’ve been exiled.”

  “You also sent the video of Giuseppe’s failure for all the clan to see.”

  “The Elders needed to be warned,” I said.

  “I agree. Your actions were honorable, and your theft cleverly planned. Giuseppe came across as a fool.”

  Four Coletti warriors in battle armor teleported in, gathered up the backpacks and vanished.

  I looked around. No one was watching me. Maybe I could make it back to the truck and get a message to Uncle Aldo.

  Ethan irritated voice sounded in my head. “You have no energy shield, no weapons and no water. How far do you think you’ll get?”

  “Not far.”

  “Exactly. If you make me chase you down again, I’m putting you over my knee.”

  “I’m not six,” I retorted.

  “Then stop acting like it. We can protect your uncle.”

  “My uncle is a proud man. I doubt he will accept help from the Coletti,” I replied
.

  “The Overlord can be very persuasive.”

  “Of that, I have no doubt.” There was no way I would subject my uncle to mind control.

  “I have no desire to control Aldo’s mind. I need his talents to help my people,” Zarek decreed.

  Granny announced, “The spirits have gathered.”

  “Ok, let’s get this done.” Taking a determined breath, I pulled out the silver cross I always wore. It had been blessed by the Pope himself. My uncle thought it was superstitious nonsense, but it helped ward off things that went bump in the night. I held it tightly and chanted, “Miraculin sepulcrum ibidem solus novum. Domum rotundam vivtorie construxit!”

  Granny Annabel added her strength to mine and a glowing portal appeared over the canyon.

  The doorway’s iridescent glow drew the lost souls like a magnet.

  “Go! Now!” I cried.

  The spirits obediently ran into the light.

  “You should go with them, Granny Annabel.”

  “I will not leave you until I know you are safe.”

  “That may never happen.”

  The portal vanished.

  If I didn’t find the treasure, maybe I could get a job as a medium. It was the one thing I was good at.

  I glanced over at Ethan and Zarek. The stunned expressions on their faces was priceless. They were used to science and technology. Getting a glimpse of the supernatural had to be a bit of a shock. “It might be easier if you think of the esoteric plane as an alternative universe.”

  Chapter Nine

  My entire body hurt, and I was in serious need of a nap. Opening a portal always drained me. I plopped down on a broken section of the adobe wall and sighed when my grandmother sent a cold breeze my way. “Thanks, Granny.”

  Ethan sat beside me and brushed the sweaty hair off my face. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  “The portal’s pretty awe-inspiring but connecting with the esoteric plane can be dangerous if you’re not prepared.” I felt a tickling sensation in my head. “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “You’re exhausted.” Ethan pulled a boot knife, sliced his hand and held it up to my mouth. “Drink.”

  I looked at the bleeding wound in horror. “Are you nuts? I’m not a vampire. Some water and chocolate will fix me right up.”