Star People Legacy by Smith, T.L. (feel good books to read .txt) 📕

“My human Spirit? You said I was Star People, Thunderbirds? Mom…” I hesitated to ask the crazy question that popped into my head, but I could hear Lutz asking. “Are we… human?”

She laughed. “Yes, dear Din’ah, for all intents and purposes, we’re human.”

“Mom, that’s not an answer!”

“Sorry, your dad is here. Got to go.” The light on the phone flickered, the line disconnected.

“What the fuck kind of answer is that?” I screamed at the phone, but of course got no answer.

CHAPTER

15

I almost flew over the maintenance road completely as I hit the embankment of the raised road. I braked and slid to a stop, grabbing my shoulder where the seatbelt locked and bit in enough to knock the wind out of me. “Jesus Christ.”

Breathe. I forced myself to relax enough for the seatbelt to release me. I’d have a mark from that one. My pistols had shifted a bit. I put the Beretta away, but kept my Sig within reach. I looked back the way I’d come.

It was dark, no sign of headlights or search beams. Looking ahead I saw a long straight road, graded nearly as smooth as a highway. I shoved the pedal all the way to the floor.

I knew this road like the back of my hand. At night it was eerie. The bright summer moon created odd shadows in the desert, not helped by my imagination. After my mother’s stories, images were running rampant in my head. All I wanted was to get to the highway and to Yuma. To Casey. Where was he?

Suddenly lights appeared ahead, coming my direction. There was a curve in the road, I remembered that. About halfway to the highway. “Please be Casey, please be Casey…” Please. My eyes shifted to my Sig. It could also be range patrol. They’d know who was supposed to be out here, or not. I could slide, but not Casey. Did they stop him?

The other vehicle’s headlights were up high. There were additional runner lights. Range Cops? I stopped. So did they. Headlights to headlights. I knew the cop rule. Don’t move, don’t get out until told to. The driver and passenger doors opened. Damn. Cops or bad guys? I had one hand on my Sig.

The driver stepped into the lights and my heart stuttered from racing to almost stopping. I threw open the door and raced into Casey’s arms.

He staggered back a step, but caught me. “You’re okay, thank God.”

I held tight, my face buried in his shoulder as I lost control. The tears tore loose. “Lutz is dead and it’s my fault.”

“You can explain it all when we get off the range.”

I recognized the voice, pulling free of Casey. “Daniel?”

A tall thin man stepped into the headlights. The bright lights created shadows on his hard sculpted cheeks. His eagle eyes reflected the lights, cutting as they stared at me. He was a carbon copy of our father and right now, wearing his hair long and braided. “Mother called us, ordered we to come here together. Our brothers wait at the highway.”

Casey nodded. “She was quite explicit that I do nothing without Daniel.”

“Get me out of here.” I wiped tears off my face as fast as they kept coming out.

“You ride with Casey.” Daniel headed for my truck. Casey pulled me back into his arms.

I let him, clinging to his shirt. “I shouldn’t have let him come with me.”

“You shouldn’t have come out here at all.” He chastised, but gently. “Come on.” He guided me towards the truck, Daniel’s truck. Giving me a hand up.

Daniel stepped in, putting my backpack on the floor and handing me the Sig. I slipped it back into my holster.

“You got a gun?”

“Am I breathing?” Daniel walked away.

Casey watched him for a moment, tense, then he looked at me. “We really have to talk.” He turned the truck around and in seconds the desert rushed past us. I closed my eyes.

I was with Casey and Daniel. I was safe. The terror faded away.

I sat on the rocks beside Lutz’ body. I’d straightened his broken limbs and now he faced the sky. I sang the song my mother sang at funerals, brushing his body with branches of sage. Only this wasn’t some vague acquaintance. He was my responsibility. He was my friend. It was hard to get the words out with the tears.

“This is not your fault.” The image of Lutz appeared and sat down on the other side of the body. The coyotes joined him, nuzzling his cheeks as he stroked their backs. “I wouldn’t let you come out here alone to face that monster and his freak-ass offspring.”

“What…” He nodded as I started to ask how he knew about that creature.

“I have been with you since my physical death.” He looked to his body, to the coyotes. “My vessel is protected until you return.”

“I’m going to.”

“Good.” Lutz gave me a grin. “So, how do we kill this evil Maxa’xak and his perverted babies?”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” I fluttered a hand at his apparition.

“Well, I might not have a real body, but I’m sure there’s something I can contribute.” His grin drooped. “I’ll be around until the final thread holding me here is severed. Something you’ll have to do.”

“Because I got you killed?” I couldn’t look at him or his body. “Maybe if I’d known more about what was out here, I wouldn’t have come out here at all. I’d have waited for my brothers, for Casey, for… a few squads of killer Marines.”

“Sure, the Marines are all into hunting a giant snake. The second we reported that, we’d have been arrested for smoking peyote.”

I laughed. “You don’t smoke peyote.”

His Spirit shrugged. “Maybe you should give it a try when you get home so I can live vicariously through you.”

“Not funny.”

He shrugged. “One’s sense of humor changes on this side.” He petted the big coyote, probably the pack leader. “You want revenge. I can feel it simmering in your body. Remember your training, spiritual and