I soon discovered her death wasn't an accident like everyone claimed. It was murder. Mom had gotten too close, and the traitors had silenced her. Those murderous bastards had made one fatal mistake. They thought I wasn't a threat.
"Zoey," the general bellowed again. "Get your ass down to my office."
My father expected instant obedience. After Mom's murder, he used his military might to force me to live with him. Could his sudden concern for my safety have something to do with his Central Command ambitions? Ah, yeah. The fact that I was twenty and an adult didn't matter either. Martial law gave him the right to do pretty much anything he wanted.
The only reason my timid-mouse charade worked as well as it did was Marie. She had been Mom's photographer and best friend. Marie and her son, Alejandro, had traveled the world with us on assignments until he turned ten. That was when her jerk of an ex-husband got custody of him, and I lost my best friend.
Marie managed to get hired as the general's housekeeper to keep an eye on me. She was afraid I'd shoot the ass. It had been close a few times. She also kept me from doing anything too stupid.
I waited to answer my father until I was sure his vein was pulsing nicely. The moron actually thought I wrote bodice-ripping romance novels. I had even decorated my room with erotic book posters and a frilly pink heart bedspread. The joke was on him. I'm an award-winning journalist and even have my own byline with New Times Weekly.
With the information my snitch gave me, I knew one of the traitors was on the general's base, and I wasn't leaving until I found him. My father's demands had worked to my benefit. The only downside was the Coletti Warlords. They were persistent buggers.
"Zoey, answer me, dammit!"
I pushed the intercom button and squeaked timidly, "I'm right in the middle of a scene. Can't it wait, sir?"
"While the rest of the Jones clan protects Earth, you write goddamned porn. You're such a fucking waste."
Oh, I was more than doing my part to protect Earth, including being a Siren-anonymously, of course. I wasn't ending up as a broodmare. With a heartbroken sob, I sniffed. "I'll leave immediately, sir."
"You're not going anywhere. Comb your hair and put some makeup on, for God's sake. You've got five minutes before I send Ted up."
Ted was the general's toady and an all-out bully. "Yes, sir." My dad only got this way when a big-shot Coletti was visiting. Got to make a good impression, you know. The only way for my father to earn another star was to get posted to Central Command.
Dropping my shields, I scanned the area and gasped in horror. Holy shit, this Warlord's psychic powers were off the charts. Why they kept coming to look me over was a mystery. It wasn't like I flaunted my powers. Okay, sometimes I did, but always for a good reason. Maybe I needed to up my gross factor or give them what they were looking for.
A feral smile pulled at my mouth. Why not give them Jasmine, the general's whore? All I had to do was boost what little psychic ability she had, and they'd be all over her. The trick was not getting caught.
I widened my scan. Where was the little slut? Oh my God, she was banging Lieutenant Golf in the men's restroom. Talk about romantic. Wonder if the general knew?
I slid easily into her mind. Yikes, the lieutenant's itty-bitty penis wasn't getting the job done for her. I could hear her saying, "Oh yeah, baby. That's it. Give it to me, big boy."
He was going to give it to her, all right. Jasmine's mercenary thoughts were centered on how much money she could get out of him. She wanted a new party dress.
The nasty bitch was about to get her just dues. With a few adjustments, her power level and brain waves now mimicked mine. God, I loved having psychic abilities. Too bad the fix wouldn't last long, but the resulting fireworks would be fun to watch.
Now came the hard part. I skimmed cautiously around the scarily powerful Warlord's mind, and waited for him to notice me.
An instant later his mind struck and bounced off my shields. "Impressive shields, female," a deep voice announced in my head.
Shit! Shit! Shit! He had been playing possum, and I had walked right into his trap. Now all I had to do was lead him into mine. Giving a little yelp of alarm, I did what he expected any reasonable person to do when confronted with a dangerous predator. I ran.
He followed me easily. "I've been tracking you for some time now."
That explained why the Colettis kept coming back to the base. I had used my powers a little too much lately investigating my mother's murder.
The Warlord commanded, "Tell me your name."
It was a good thing mind control didn't work on me. "Jasmine." I led him right to the horny bitch and snapped my shields down tight.
I caught a fleeting sensation of all that power ensnaring Jasmine's mind. A tremor shook me. If he ever got inside my head, he'd own me mind, body, and soul.
My bedroom door shuddered from a heavy blow. "Zoey, open the door."
Ted was such an ass. Using my best whiny voice I cried, "Go away. I have a migraine."
"You think I give a fuck?"
I flinched as the warlord's furious mind swept the house. I was impressed. It had taken him all of thirty seconds to realize he had been tricked.
"Zoey!" Ted roared.
"I need to comb my hair," I answered in a frightened voice.
"You've got five minutes," he snarled and stomped down the stairs.
If the warlord wasn't here, I'd give Ted a good mental shove down the stairs. I went into the bathroom and pulled out my makeup. Time to ugly myself up.
Five minutes later I limped down the stairs and came to a dead stop. Even with my psychic abilities locked down tightly, I could sense another powerful Coletti warlord inside the general's office. Thank God it wasn't Scary Guy. I had a horrible feeling he would know who I was the minute he saw me.
An evil grin curled my mouth. Just wait until they got a sniff of my eau de dead skunk perfume. I knocked timidly on the door.
"Come in," my father growled.
I opened the door and got my first look at the Coletti. He was a big dude, and, to my surprise, really cute, if you were into the whole merciless-predator thing. His black battle suit displayed an amazing amount of muscles, and he wore large bronze bracelets on each arm. A bronze chain was woven into one of his ebony warrior braids. He was definitely high up on the food chain.
"Jaylan, this is my daughter, Zoey."
The warlord's stunned gaze swept over my greasy black hair that hung in clumps around my pale, zit-covered face, and paused for a minute on the black raccoon-like circles around my eyes. He eyed my Hunchback of Notre Dame outfit in outright horror, and his nose wrinkled in disgust as my scent hit him.
It was all I could do not to giggle. Hideous didn't even begin to describe me. There wasn't a man or warlord alive who would want to touch me.
"It is an honor to finally meet you, Zoey." Baring his awesome fangs in a scarily polite smile, he held out his hand diplomatically.
What a liar. Time to get the fun started. I scuttled round the desk and hid behind the general. "Please, don't let him eat me."
The general gagged. "My God! What is that smell?"
"My new medicine," I squeaked, letting the tears roll. My cheap mascara would soon be running down my face in nice black streaks.
Jaylan took a step back, and his copper-colored skin turned a ghastly green color.
I had to admit the stench was pretty horrific. I might have overdone it just a tad. Thankfully the Vapor Rub up my nose kept me from hurling. I clutched the general's jacket. "Please, sir, don't let him hurt me."
My father jerked away from me and vomited into the wastebasket.
The big warlord grabbed it away from the general and puked violently.
Who knew warlords had such weak stomachs?
A beep sounded in my earpiece. Marie's signal that Ted was coming with a tray of her nice powdered-sugar-covered cakes and coffee. My plan was coming together perfectly.
Right on cue, Ted stepped in the room. I let out a bloodcurdling shriek and ran for the door.
Jaylan instinctively leaped out of my way and crashed into Ted.
He staggered off balance, desperately trying to keep the tray from falling. I stuck out my foot and tripped him.
The tray tipped over, raining cakes and coffee all over Jaylan and my father.
A stunned look on his face, Jaylan stared at the coffee running down his spiffy boots and the pieces of smashed cake decorating his battle suit.