Weariness sank deep into Rayanna's flesh, dragging her to slump lower on the driver's seat. She blinked and glanced back at the argument on the roadside. Though she strained to make out the voices, her cheek sagged against the headrest. The hum of the idling engine washed over them and swept her…
Weariness sank deep into Rayanna's flesh, dragging her to slump lower on the driver's seat. She blinked and glanced back at the argument on the roadside. Though she strained to make out the voices, her cheek sagged against the headrest. The hum of the idling engine washed over them and swept her…
The thinning fog drifted from the asphalt and puddled in the ditches on either side of the road. Ruddy paint scabbed a fading sign just ahead: Welcome to Beuteburg. "Beuteburg? Sounds like someone thought your town was beautiful." Rayanna eased her foot off the gas and glanced back at the slouched…
Rayanna crushed the gas pedal. The thuds of huge paws struck the trunk and their claws screamed against the cruiser's paint. After a quarter mile, the snarls and roaring barks faded into the distance behind them. Drifts of fog swept past the windows like phantoms as the squad car barreled through…
Rayanna jammed the key into the squad car's ignition. Grantham dove into the seat behind her as voracious snarls neared his doorway and overtook the waking engine's whine. She twisted to glance back. The officer croaked, "Go." Arms smeared in muck and blood, he slammed his door with a crunch and…
Pine switches stung Rayanna's face as hurtled through the steep, brush-strangled path. As if a mountainside gullet choked her downhill. Stifled grunts followed her, in step with the thumps of Grantham's uneven gait. But the sinister tirade pursuing them in the darkness kept her from asking about him. Growls. Clawed earth.…
A current of rasped breath wove through the inky brush hemming the path. The hoarse panting rose to an eddy of low growls. Rayanna's throat squeezed her voice to a rodent-like whisper. "I hear it." A twig snapped within a few feet of the narrow trail. "What do we do?" The…
The earthy scent of oaken decay clung in the damp night air. Hints of a disturbing odor wafted through the brush. Dank, feral. Rayanna ducked under a low branch and shuffled downhill, skidding a bit on the moss and leaves underfoot. She nearly collided into the officer as he slowed his…
Misty tendrils snaked between Rayanna and the officer as they crept down the mountain's inky, tangled face. Clouds mauled the full moon to further darken their forest swamped trail. They crept after the officer's bobbing flashlight ray, though low, murky fog swallowed its edges. Despite a void of words, the forbidden…
Rayanna folded her shoulders inward, but the bitter night wind thrashed against her bare skin. The chill intensified the quiver in her voice as the knife-wielder inched over the threshold toward her, right hand behind his back. She stammered, "I--it was a camping accident. At least, I think so." "What do…