Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance (3 page)

“
Ya’at’eeh
,” The male voice greeted her in the Navajo language.

Mya turned abruptly and was somewhat surprised to see a man behind her, and not the monster that she’d imagined would be there. All the fear that she’d felt just seconds before, vanished, but it left behind a residue of uneasiness.

“You must be a new one, but I think you’re way too cute to be a cop,” he said, his striking blue eyes never leaving her face.

Though Mya tried not to let his words shake her up, she could feel the color rushing to her face. Like everyone she met for the first time, she tried to take in every detail. He appeared to be in his mid to late twenties, and he didn’t look anything like a Navajo.

Although he had a bronze complexion and the high cheekbones so common to Native Americans, he had tawny colored hair that fell in waves to his shoulders, and way too many white characteristics to be a full blood.

“Do you usually go around sneaking up on people?” she snapped.

The corners of his lips lifted into a tight smile. “You’re the one trespassing. So who’s sneaking up on who?”

Mya was irritated with him, but she wasn’t sure if it was because of his manner, or because he’d managed to scare her nearly witless. “Are you Trent Metzger?”

He nodded. “That’s me.”

She stepped closer. “Can I ask you a few questions?” Without waiting for a response, Mya pulled a notepad and pen from the back pocket of her jeans.

“It’s impolite not to tell me who you are,” he reminded her.

“My name is Mya Reynolds. I am working with the tribal police this summer.” She held out her hand to him.

“
Ya’at’eeh
Mya Reynolds.” His handshake was firm, but he held her hand in his a little too long.

Pulling away from his grasp, she gave him a terse smile before dropping her eyes to the notebook. “Can you tell me about your brother? Did he have any enemies that you know of … anyone that might have wanted to cause him harm?”

“I think I’ve already answered these questions,” he told her.

“Yes I know, and I’m sorry to bother you at a time like this … but we just thought that maybe there’s something you might have missed.”

Trent shook his head and started walking toward the camp trailer. “I’d like to get a pot of coffee on. Would you care to join me?”

Mya felt her stomach knot up. She wanted to talk with him about his brother, but she didn’t exactly feel comfortable having that chat over a cup of coffee. Besides, it didn’t seem very professional.

“Thanks, but I’m in kind of a hurry. I just need to ask you a couple of questions and won’t hold you up too long.”

Sighing, he turned back around to face her. Though he was smiling, she noticed that his blue eyes were now glazed with ice. “Go for it. Ask me whatever you want,” he said, spreading his arms in defeat.

Mya cleared her throat. “Do you have any names you could give me?” She backed away to put some distance between them. For some reason she felt threatened by his nearness.

It was true that her uncle and the Window Rock police knew where she was, but civilization was miles away. He could always dump the car somewhere and then claim that she’d never shown up.

Mya couldn’t understand where these gruesome thoughts were coming from. It wasn’t as if Trent Metzger was even considered a person of interest in the case.

So why did he make her feel so jumpy?

“Sure I could give you a name … but I’m not going to. I’ll take care of it myself,” he told her.

Mya was startled by his behavior. He was blatantly keeping information from the police - information that could help them catch his brother’s killer.

Her cornflower blue eyes made the switch from inquisitive, to hard and unyielding. “Do you realize that it is a crime to withhold relevant information in a homicide investigation?”

His laughter caught her off guard.

“Don’t kid yourself Mya Reynolds. You can bet your tight little ass the police have a pretty small pool of suspects, but they’ll never admit it.”

Mya swallowed hard. Could it be that Donny was keeping information from her? She had to admit that it was a real possibility. Even to him she was still an outsider.

She didn’t know Donny real well, but she just couldn’t believe that he was a bad cop, or that he had a sinister motive for keeping the information to himself. He didn’t strike her as the type.

Mya smiled, brushing off Trent’s insinuations - at least outwardly. “You should leave this to the police. Not only is it a crime to impede an investigation, but you could get yourself killed.”

Once Mya was back in the car, she eyed the radio. In her excitement, she’d forgotten to radio her location to dispatch. This was an oversight that could easily get you into trouble.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up the mic to radio in. “This is unit 10. I’m leaving the Metzger place. I’ll be 10-76 to base.”

She waited, but there was no response. Trying once more, Mya repeated her location. Still she heard nothing but a burst of static.

Giving up, she replaced the mic. She was probably too far out to get any reception, but at least she wouldn’t have to deal with being reprimanded for not calling in. Now she had a legitimate excuse.

Mya looked back at the trailer. The lights were on, but she couldn’t see Trent Metzger moving around inside. She thought about knocking on the door - just to be sure that he was okay, but decided against it. He might claim police harassment if she bothered him again.

She had every intention of following through with more questions, but next time she’d have Donny with her. Trent Metzger was making no secret of the fact he was going to withhold information. She was confident of her abilities, but wasn’t sure she was quite ready to handle such a defiant witness.

Mya turned the key in the ignition, and was actually relieved when the car started. If it had been her old Nova, there would have been some doubt. She slowly backed away from the trailer and turned the car around.

The sun had already gone down, leaving the desert with just a hint of cool air. Peering out into the darkness, Mya was gripped with the urge to get back to the main highway as quickly as she could, but she had no choice but to drive slowly. If she took the road too fast, it might damage the car and then Donny would kill her.

She’d just switched on the headlights when she saw it. The dark shadow dashed across the road in front of her. Fortunately, she was driving slow enough that when she hit the brakes, the car stopped easily.

Her eyes scanned the desert landscape, hoping to catch sight of whatever it was that she’d nearly hit. At first she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There were several shadows moving around in the brush.

The old man’s words came back to her and Mya’s heart began to pound painfully against her ribcage.

Bad place … bad spirits.

Dismissing the thought, she pressed on the gas petal and started moving forward again.

The shadows were merely jackrabbits.

There had to be tons of jackrabbits out here, along with a number of other critters. The hazy light of dusk just made them appear to be shadows.

* * *

From his vantage point he’d watched her - watched the creamy skin on her forehead wrinkle in confusion when she saw the Metzger land. He’d watched her delicate features twist in fear when the
yee naaldlooshii
came up behind her. Now he watched her leave.

Would they let her leave?

Moving from his hiding spot among the craggy rocks of the cliff, he sprinted forward. He had to follow her and make sure they didn’t stop her.

It made no sense for her to be here. It was too dangerous.

The wolf picked up the scent of her tangy perfume, but he didn’t need to track her that way. He could still see the car, and he could see them.

They sensed his approach and scattered in all directions. It didn’t matter - right now he wasn’t after them. His only concern was that the girl made it out of Red Canyon alive.

Inside his head he could hear Old Man whispering to him - mocking his weakness.

She is the bait! You’ve always known this. Don’t take the bait!

* * *

As soon as Mya pulled onto the highway she felt her tension dissipate. Being in Red Canyon had made her more nervous than what she cared to admit. She felt almost giddy with relief, and now wished that she’d taken her own car. At the very least she could turn on some tunes. It was a long drive back to town.

The headlights cut through the thick darkness, but only managed to illuminate the area right in front of the car. There wasn’t another car for miles so she switched to bright.

A moment later she saw something in the road. It happened so fast, but to Mya every second passed in slow motion. The deer stood in the middle of the road - staring at her. It was as if it were waiting for some predestined fate. She was going 60 miles an hour when she hit the brakes. The back of the car skid toward the shoulder of the road, and then everything began to spin out of control. She could hear glass shattering and the crunching of metal, but she could no longer see anything.

Mya had no idea how long she was out, but when she finally opened her eyes she was in complete darkness. Her head felt like a melon that had just been split down the middle; warm blood was gushing from a wound on her arm.

Gritting her teeth against the immense pain of movement, she reached out to try and open the car door. It wouldn’t budge.

Her next thought was the radio, but there was no power to it.

Although she realized that she was in the middle of nowhere, and trapped inside the mangled remains of the car, she was surprisingly calm. If it was her time to go, then so be it.

True, there were many things that she’d wanted to do before she died. She wished that just once she’d been able to muster the nerve to ride that triple loop roller coaster at Lakeside. The summer she’d turned sixteen, she and her best friend Jen had spent nearly every Saturday at Lakeside, but she’d never gotten brave enough to get on that roller coaster.

One day she wanted to backpack across Europe, but it didn’t look like that would ever happen. With each minute that went by, she could feel her eyelids getting heavier. She would probably bleed to death before anyone found her. The full realization that she was knocking on death’s door set off an alarm in the back of her mind, but she was just so tired.

She would just rest for a minute. A little rest wouldn’t make much difference. After that she’d try and fight the drowsiness - the darkness that threatened to claim her forever.

The loud thud vibrated through her skull, forcing Mya to open her eyes. Bracing herself to withstand the pain of movement, she managed to turn her head to the side. Someone had pried the car door open and was now leaning over her.

Far off in the distance she could hear sirens. It was the last thing she remembered before succumbing to that state of being that is somewhere between consciousness and death.

* * *

His remorse ate away at him as he watched them load Mya into the ambulance. He was responsible - they’d tried to kill her because of him.

“You did this!” It was Old Man’s voice again.

“If they hadn’t have seen you following her … they wouldn’t have caused the accident.”

He knew that Old Man spoke the truth. They had known that he’d go to her and they would be one step closer to bringing them together. This was all part of their game plan. There it was again, that surge of rage that he felt whenever he thought about the evil ones. Just like the others before him, the
yee naaldlooshii
would do whatever they could to bind him to darkness.