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…
She wanted to jump to her feet and shove the old man. Call him crazy. Tell him he couldn't be more wrong. More than anything, she wanted to run. Rayanna darted a glance at the door--ten paces or so. Reeve let out a slow, throaty chuckle and turned the tip of…
Greasy strings of flesh clung to the utensil as Rayanna rested it against the edge of the pie tin. She inched the pungent stew across her lap, toward her knees. Raising her chin, she inhaled welcome pine smoke odors. "What's the story about these wolvish creatures?" As she eased her shoulders…
Silence compressed a million racing thoughts into each moment, until the shack's limited air space became too dense to breathe. "So..."Rayanna shifted in her chair. She pointed at a stack of newspapers next to Reeve's feet. "Do you get that delivered from the local press?" "This henhouse liner, here?" He snatched…
Rayanna recoiled from the gnarled stranger in the door way. Her fingers sank into coarse, thick fur as she crawled backward. At the groan of a floorboard, she froze. Narrowing his eyes, he clomped forth and extended the lantern. "You afraid of me?" Lips quivering, she searched the crooked furrows of…
The dank air clamped its chilling grip onto Rayanna's raw arms. She cast furtive glances into the rustling forest. And at him. He maintained a lead of no more than ten feet, every step of his boot hitting the earth with sure footing. Her own soles slid on the undulating, narrow…
Smoke writhed at the edges of the flames on her makeshift torch. Coiling and uncoiling, the wisps spirited their way upward in errant directions. Rayanna blinked away the ghoulish tendrils stinging her eyes. On the half-decayed carpet of oak leaves, her damp boots skidded downhill a few steps . The outer…