by Gail Koger
Once the landing ramp was lowered, I followed General Jones out and stared in shock at the unearthly rainbow hovering over the crime scene. Oh, no! I rushed over to officers Nez and Yazzie. One look at the sick horror on their faces and I knew. “Elder Benally?”
Officer Nez nodded. “Yes.”
I took off running. That murdering bastard was deliberately targeting shamans.
Jake scooped me up and teleported. There was a flash of black and we were standing next to the boulder with the heads. “Is Elder Benally still on this plane of existence?”
I opened my psychic eye. “Yes, he waited for a shaman to come. Put me down.”
Jake dropped me on my feet. “Be careful.”
I walked over to where Elder Benally’s ghostly form awaited me. A headband held back his long gray hair. He was wearing a red western shirt and jeans. A turquoise necklace hung from his neck. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“I can but showing is more effective,” Elder Benally answered in a flat, dead voice. He placed his hand on my forehead and wham! I was there as a large man in Coletti battle armor suddenly appeared on the hood of the tour jeep. An ugly scar dissected the man’s face. Before we could react, the murderer swung his sword.
A cry of agony broke from me as the sword bit into our neck. For a brief second, I watched our life blood splatter across the windshield and then everything went black.
Muscular arms cuddled me, and Jake’s worried voice penetrated the blackness. “C’mon buttercup, wake up. You’re mine now. Do you hear me? Mine. My mate for all eternity. How do you feel about that?”
His mate? My eyes snapped open. For all eternity? With a growl, I punched Jake in the mouth.
Jake rubbed his jaw. “There you are.”
“You’re such a jackass.”
“I know, but I’m your jackass.”
Everything came rushing back and I gasped, “I’m not dead.” I felt my neck. “And I still have my head.”
“You do.” Jake helped me up. “You okay?”
A shudder shook me. “Elder Benally shared his death with me, and I never, ever want to do that again. Where’s that dammed sword?”
Jake grimaced. “It’s impaled in the woman’s chest.”
“Did you get a good look at the suspect?” General Jones inquired.
“I did.” I flashed Jake and the General the image of the murderer.
“It’s Cantor,” General Jones snarled.
“Who’s Cantor?”
“A renegade Coletti warrior who escaped from the Vesta penal colony. Jivo had tracked him to Earth,” Jake answered.
His arms folded across his chest the General studied the heads. “Is Elder Benally still here?”
I looked over at the shaman and scowled. “Yes.”
“Good.” The General’s gaze settled on me. “Find out if there’s anything else he can tell us.”
“Yes, sir.” I stomped over to Benally. “What do your shaman senses tell you about the man who killed you?”
“He is coyote. This trickster is filled with deceit and rage. We are a threat to him, and he will keep on killing our people until he is stopped,” Elder Benally replied.
“Was he alone?”
“Yes. Now open a portal,” Benally commanded.
“Yes, Elder.” I connected with the esoteric plane and chanted, “Miraculin sepulcrum ibidem solus novum. Domum rotundam vivtorie construxit!”
A glowing portal appeared over the butte.
“Go in peace to meet the creator,” I said.
The instant Elder Benally’s ghostly form shot through the doorway, it vanished.
Jake glanced around. “The other victims have already passed over?”
“They have.” A cold pit formed in my stomach as I surveyed the crime scene. “Cantor considers shamans a threat and he’s determined to kill us all.”
General Jones frowned. “How many shamans are left?”
“My father and me.”
“You’re not leaving my side,” Jake declared.
“I can take care of myself and I now have this swell body armor.”
“Cantor’s a formidable warrior and crazy to boot.”
I raised an inquiring brow. “You think you can beat him?”
“I know I can beat him,” Jake shot back.
“Fuck!” General Jones spat.
We both turned to look at the General.
“Cantor left the sword behind to implicate Zarek.”
Jake scanned it. “Damn, it’s over six hundred years old and it does have Zarek’s clan markings on it.”
“How did Cantor manage to get ahold of Zarek’s sword?” Okay, I was being nosey, but I really wanted to know. I flinched as tremendous power crashed over me and Zarek suddenly appeared.
“I lost that sword in the Great War,” Zarek replied. “And I will find out how Cantor came into possession of it.” He examined the bodies for a long moment. “Walk with me General.”
I watched them hike up the butte. “Do you think Cantor is working with Giovanni and Earth First?”
“It’s a possibility,” Jake answered. “Let’s process the scene.”
I nodded and locked down my emotions. It was the only way to deal with the carnage. I tapped my scanner and started photographing body parts. “Tell me what you know about Cantor.”
“I’ll start at the beginning. Six hundred years ago, the Coletti race was almost wiped out in what they call the Great War.”
“Yeah, I know. The citizens of the galaxy got tired of the Coletti warriors raiding their planets and declared war,” I said, avoiding a pool of blood.
“Not exactly true. The Great War was started over a single female. There are several versions of her story. One is she committed suicide when she was captured by a horny as hell warlord. The other account says she deliberately disabled her ship and seduced the warlord when he showed up.”
“This Mata Hari got a name?”
“I’m sure she did, but all records of her were destroyed,” Jake replied.
“So, Mata was after Zarek?”
“No, his grandfather. Mata was mated to an Alliance general named Samor Tigres. When he couldn’t provide her with the good life, she set her sights on Zarek’s grandfather who ruled a good portion of the galaxy.
“Ah. Gotcha. Mata wanted to be queen.” I put a victim’s belonging in an evidence bag Officer Nez had brought for us.
Jake ran his scanner over the jeep. “She did. General Tigres didn’t take her betrayal well. He wanted her and her lover dead and decided to eradicate the entire Coletti race at the same time.
“Testosterone and male pride aren’t a good combination,” I said.
“General Tigres was also quite mad. He dropped several dozen Gall bombs on Tanith, the Colettis’ home world. The lethal radiation poisoned the surface and vaporized the seas.”
“Wait a minute. Isn’t the Alliance a Coletti ally?”
“Six centuries ago, they were deadly enemies. Can I continue?”
“Sure.” I waved Jake on. Who knew history could be this entertaining?
“The planet dying and their cities in ruin, Zarek, a young warlord at the time, gathered the survivors and moved them into a system of underground caverns. Almost single-handedly, he rebuilt the Coletti Empire into what it is today,” Jake ended with a flourish.
“And where does Cantor come into this?”
“Cantor was Zarek’s grandfather’s battle commander. He was in lust with a seductress named Tia. She and Mata had a lot in common.”
I snorted. “Let me guess. Tia wanted to be a queen too.”
“She did and she slipped Zarek a drug that induced the mating bond.”
“Yikes! Zarek was stuck with her? Like forever?”
“He was.”
I plucked Elder Benally’s turquoise necklace off a bush and placed it in an evidence bag. “How long did it take Zarek to realize he had been
drugged?”
“Several months. After the original mating, he was out raiding the galaxy for supplies to keep his people alive.”
I snickered. “And poor Tia found herself living in a cold, dark cave with little food or medicine.”
“That’s when fate stepped in. Tia and her family were killed by an Alliance hunter when they tried to flee Tanith. Cantor blamed Zarek for their deaths,” Jake responded.
“Did the moron attack Zarek?”
Jake removed the comm-links from the dead tourists’ severed arms. “No, the moron was captured by an Alliance patrol and spent two hundred years in one of their prisons.”
“That explains the rage. I take it Cantor finally got out.”
“He did and promptly decided to kidnap Detja.”
“And his revenge didn’t go as planned,” I said.
Jake laughed. “Detja kicked his ass.”
“I would have loved to have seen that. I’m surprised Zarek let him live.” Taking a deep, calming breath, I moved over to the heads.
Jake’s mouth tightened into a hard line as he scanned the woman’s mangled head. “That bastard still had friends in high places. He was sentenced to three hundred years on Vesta, a penal colony. He had served two hundred years of his sentence when he escaped a year ago.”
“Did he go after Detja again?”
“No. He simply vanished.”
“You think his friends in high places helped him disappear?”
“We do, but there’s no evidence to support our suspicions. Zarek sent Jivo to find him.”
“And here we are.” I carefully examined the area to see if I had missed any evidence. Nope. All body parts had been bagged and tagged. “Did we miss anything?”
“No. Another memory download and we’ll get your investigative skills up to Coletti standards.”
I gave Jake the stink eye. “I’m already a dammed good investigator.”
“For someone working in a Podunk police department,” Jake replied.
“And the jackass is back.”
Jake shrugged. “As my mate, you must have a certain level of expertise.”
“Mate?”
“Yes. Mate. You belong to me, CeeCee, now and forever.”
With a growl of rage, I drew on my shaman powers and whispered, “Sepulcrum ibidem solus novum. Vem Hum. Domum rotundam!”
A small black cloud formed over Jake.
“Don’t even think about,” Jake warned.
“I belong to myself. Not you. Not the Coletti Empire.”
“It’s a done deal. Nothing you say or do can change that fact, buttercup.”
“Wanna bet? Miraculin. Vivtorie construxit!” I smiled as a downpour of rain hit Jake.
Jake teleported around the butte, but the rainstorm kept up with him.
Poof! I suddenly had two hundred and eighty pounds of wet male wrapped around me. “Turn it off.”
The rain pounded us. “No.”
“Enough children,” Zarek barked.
“Oi-oi-oi-oi solus novum!” The cloud vanished.
Jake released me. “You gotta teach me that.”
“Not a chance.” I met Zarek’s censorious stare. “Are you having our medical examiner take the bodies?”
“No, Shrek will do the autopsies. His team is coming to collect the body parts,” Zarek answered.
General Jones comm-link chimed. He tapped it and read the message. “Take your mate back to the ship. Her father has awakened.”
“Yes, sir.” Jake clamped me to his chest and teleported.
Chapter Seven
Thirty seconds later, we appeared in sick bay. “Get your hands off me,” I snapped.
Jake pushed me away. “Yes, ma’am.”
Shrek’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“Where’s my father?”
Shrek handed me a chocolate bar. “Please follow me.”
“There’s not enough chocolate in the galaxy to get me to accept this lying jackass.” I threw the bar at Jake.
Jake grabbed it out of mid-air and tore off the wrapping. “Your loss. This is the good stuff.”
I gave him the one-fingered salute and hurried after Shrek.
“Your father is still very weak. Do not upset him,” Shrek warned.
“You have my word I won’t tell him about the murders or Elder Benally’s death until he’s stronger.”
“Elder Tsosie knows you two are mated. Please act appropriately.”
“What?” I squawked. “Who told him?”
“Zarek.” Shrek walked into a private room.
Jake dropped an arm over my shoulders. “Smile, buttercup.”
I bared my teeth at him.
“CeeCee?” My father’s voice was a harsh whisper.
Shrugging off Jake’s arm, I hurried over to his bed and forced a smile. His face was pale and gaunt. “I thought I had lost you.”
“And I you.”
“Hey, I was wearing my magic vest. Nothing penetrates it.”
Jake gave me a smacking kiss. “My girl’s hard to kill.”
“You have accepted Jake Jones as your mate.” Relief filled my father’s face.
I took a deep breath and lied, “Yeah. He’s one of kind.”
“Good. Good. You need a strong man at your side. Did you kill the Chupacabra?”
Jake beamed proudly. “CeeCee fried his ass.”
“The murders have stopped?” My father had assumed his Council Elder demeanor.
“Ah. Well.”
Shrek jumped in. “Jake and CeeCee can bring you up-to-date after you have rested.” He tapped his bracelet and my father fell asleep. “You can tell him tomorrow.”
“Does my father know he was given Zarek’s blood?” I couldn’t keep the hostility out of my voice.
“He does,” Shrek replied.
“Was my father told he’ll become a Coletti hybrid?” I knew I was being a bitch, but my entire life had been turned upside down and soon I would be sporting a nifty pair of fangs too.
Shrek’s calm yellow eyes studied me. “Everything was explained to him.”
“When you’re facing death, it’s an easy decision to make,” Jake interjected.
“My father is very proud of his heritage and he would never give it up.”
“Your dad has lost nothing. He’s still a Navajo shaman but now he’s harder to kill and his lifespan is a lot longer.” The expression on Jake’s face was pure steel. “I thought you’d be happy to have the old guy around longer.”
“I am. A lot has happened in the last twenty-eight hours and I need time to process it all.” My stomach rumbled hungrily.
“Your mate will feel better after she’s eaten and rested,” Shrek said.
Until I figured a way out of this mess, I was stuck with the jackass. “Does that food processor make tamales?”
“It does.” Jake smiled in relief and held out his elbow.
I wrapped my hand around it. “Good, I’m starving.”
Jake escorted me down the hallway. “After we eat, you need to show me some of your shaman tricks.”
“You first need to understand the Navajo people and their connection with the land.”
“I was born and raised in Arizona. My family formed a close relationship with the Apaches when our base was destroyed by the Tai-Kok.” Jake let out a very realistic coyote howl.
I stared at him in amazement. “Is that your Coletti battle cry?”
“No, it’s an Apache war cry. The animal sounds are a way to communicate what actions you want the other warriors to take. Did you know there are no rules for an Apache warrior when it comes to fighting? If you’re his enemy, he will kill you.”
“I did. Who taught you those sounds?”
“Mangas, a Chiricahua Apache. He’s a fierce, scalp-taking master of death.”
“Scalp-taking?”
An evil smile curved Jake’s mouth. “Mangas collected Tai-Ko
k scalps. The monsters feared him.”
“I can see why. Any Tai-Kok stupid enough to come on our land were incinerated or eviscerated.”
Jake led me into the mess hall. “Tamales, rice and beans?”
“Yep.” One look at the food replicator built into the wall and I automatically knew how to use it. “Can I order my own food?”
“Sure, go ahead.” Jake stepped back.
I typed in my request. Some light blinked and presto. My tamales, rice and beans appeared. I picked up the plate. “Wow! It even smells yummy.”
“It’s a hell of a lot better than warrior rations, believe me.” Jake punched his order in and sixty seconds later a hamburger and fries materialized.
I snagged a fry and cautiously tasted it. Hmmm. “Not bad. Does it make ketchup too?”
Jake tapped the keypad and a small bowl of ketchup slid out of the machine. He dipped a fry in it and held it out to me.
I opened my mouth and he popped it in. “Can’t tell the difference.”
“Coletti of all ages like our food. Their favorites are Mexican food and chocolate.”
“Maybe we’re converting them, not the other way around.” I set my plate on a table, grabbed a fork out of a tray and dug in. “This is really good.”
“Zarek makes sure his warriors get the best.”
I was so hungry I practically inhaled my food. I snatched Jake’s last fry.
“How do you feel about German Chocolate cake?”
“Love it.”
“Fuck!” Jake bolted to his feet.
The sensation of danger skittered across my nerves and a thirty seconds later three heavily armed Coletti warriors in battle armor stood in front of our table. Each one was powerfully built and radiated danger.
Jake bared his fangs in snarl. “I thought you said you would never step foot on Earth, Keyan.”
“I have come for the female,” Keyan growled.
Female? I looked around the room. I was the only female here. “Can’t have me.”
Keyan narrowed his eyes. “You have no say in this, female.”
“Actually, I do.” I summoned my lightning and let little red bolts crackle around me. “Go away.”
“You should listen to my mate,” Jake said, every word was filled with menace.