Attending the Yaqui tribe's Easter Ceremonies in Tucson should be a dream come true for a Cheyenne wannabe shaman like Mad Dog. But, immediately after his midnight arrival, he is accused of being a witch and blamed for a police officer's murder. Mad Dog's niece, Heather English, a part-time deputy for her father in Kansas, combs Tucson to clear her uncle. Meanwhile, someone has blown up Mad Dog's Kansas house. Sheriff English investigates, acting as a long-distance go-between for Arizona law enforcement and his daughter and brother. Mad Dog has been playing a massive online computer game, War of Worldcraft. There, a vampire wizard has made a habit of tormenting him. He recognized the monster as the cop killer at the Yaqui ceremonies. Somehow, he says, the creature has reached out of the game to come after him in the real world. The ghost in the machine promises death for Mad Dog and explicit and horrible tortures for Heather, half a country away. And all before dawn.