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.
“Don’t move. I’m going to try and get you some help.” It was the voice of a stranger, but his words were warm and comforting.
He leaned in closer and she felt the heat of his hand against her cold cheek. “You’ll be okay,” he told her in a low voice.
Through the haze of her semiconscious state, it began to dawn on her who her rescuer was. It was his eyes.
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.
Chapter Four
Every time she moved, it felt as if someone were sticking an ice pick into her body. Blocking out the pain, she forced herself into a sitting position. The medication took the edge off, but it still hurt like hell to move.
She was in a one of those sterile white rooms; the type of place that you couldn’t mistake for anything but a hospital. It smelled strongly of antiseptic, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. They had an IV stuck in her arm, adding to the aches and pains that had claimed most of her body.
Donny was dozing in a recliner next to her bed, but as soon as he heard her moving around he was wide-awake. “Feeling better?” he asked.
“Sorry about the car.” She tried to give him a contrite smile, but the effort was too much.
He waved away her words. “You’re okay, and that’s what matters. Lucky you were wearing a seatbelt. All you got out of it was a slight concussion and a lot of bruises, but you did lose a lot of blood.”
Mya was shaking her head, still confused about what exactly happened. “I was driving and I saw this deer in the road. That’s all I remember.”
“You rolled the car,” he told her. “You must have tried to avoid the deer and took the wheels too far off the shoulder.”
Mya brought her hands up to rub at her eyes. “It’s all a blur after I saw the deer … except for the guy that helped me,” she said, suddenly remembering the biker.
Donny stared at her in bewilderment. “What guy?”
“That guy we saw when we were crossing the street to go to Gordy’s. He was there after the accident.”
“Dispatch did receive a call from someone reporting the accident, but they didn’t find anyone there when they arrived.”
“I think it was him,” Mya said, though she was no longer convinced that she hadn’t been hallucinating.
Donny smiled. “Well all that matters is that someone called.”
“I need to get out of here and get back to work,” Mya told him. Her face twisted into a painful grimace as she tried to push the blanket from her.
“Whoa … hold on there. You are not leaving the hospital until the doctor releases you,” Donny gently pushed her back down. “You do realize that I’m not completely helpless without you?”
“Yes, but …”
“No … you stay here,” he insisted. “Tomorrow they’ll be releasing you, but even then you’ll need some bed rest at home.”
With a heavy sigh, Mya conceded. “Okay, but I’m not planning to be down longer than a day or two.”
“We’ll see,” he said doubtfully.
Just then a smiling orderly knocked on the open door to her room. The young girl was carrying two vases. One was full of blue and white daisies; the other was a beautiful bouquet of white roses. “Are you Mya Reynolds?”
Mya nodded.
“I have a flower delivery for you. Where would you like me to set them?”
Mya pointed toward the stand next to her bed. “Right here will be fine. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” the girl told her in a sweet voice before leaving the room.
Even before she looked at the card, Mya knew that at least one of them would be from her mom and Steve, but she wasn’t sure about the other.
“Who sent these?” Mya asked, trying to lean over the side of the bed so she could look at the cards.
“I’ll check,” Donny offered, reaching from his chair to the table with the vases.
He looked at the card on the Daisies. “These are from your mom and Steve.” He then searched for a card on the roses, but there was none. “This one doesn’t have a card.”
“They must be from mom and Steve too,” Mya concluded.
Donny stood up from his chair. “I’ll be back tonight. Is there anything you need me to bring back with me?”
“Yeah,” she smiled mischievously. “How about a chocolate shake and a hamburger. This hospital food tastes like cardboard.”
Donny laughed. “Okay, but only if you promise to do what the doctor says.”
“Yes sir,” she nodded.
It wasn’t until after he was gone that she remembered what Trent Metzger had said about his brother’s murderer. She would have to find an opportunity to talk with Donny about it, but figured it would be best to do it when she was home so they wouldn’t be interrupted.
* * *
For the umpteenth time since noon, Mya crawled out of bed and looked out the little window at Donny�
��s mobile home. It was only about fifty feet from the fifth wheel she was staying in on her step uncle’s property. If he’d been home, she would have been able to see a patrol car parked in front, but there was still only her Nova.
It was getting late and he should be home anytime. Mya had made her mind up to talk to him about what Trent had told her, and also about the guy on the motorcycle. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that it had been him that helped her that night. Though she was convinced it hadn’t been a hallucination, she couldn’t understand why he’d left before the ambulance got there. It was almost as if he didn’t want anyone to know that he’d helped her.
She’d been down in bed since getting out of the hospital the day before and was really starting to feel claustrophobic. The dark paneling that covered the walls of her fifth wheel didn’t help much. She had never much liked paneling. It made a room feel too dark and closed in. It was an old trailer though, and back in the seventies when it was manufactured, paneling had been the big thing.
Too restless to stay in bed any longer, she decided a shower would help her feel better. Besides, maybe Donny would be home by the time she got out. There hadn’t been any time to talk with him the day before. Almost as soon as they’d arrived home from the hospital, he’d received an emergency call and had to leave.
She was determined to talk to him today. After getting out of the shower, Mya felt a hundred times better. With a quick peek out her kitchen window, she saw the patrol car. Mya quickly dressed and walked the short distance to Donny’s place.
Before she had a chance to knock on his door, he opened it. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting,” he scolded.
“I’m feeling okay now.”
“Well come in then.” Donny stepped aside.
As soon as she was through the doorway, he motioned toward the little kitchen table. His table was more of a booth, surrounding a table that had been bolted to the floor. He’d bought it as salvage when a local restaurant went out of business.
“Have a seat,” he told her. “I was just getting ready to have some fry bread and coffee.”
Mya sat down and waited while he warmed fry bread in the microwave and poured them both a cup of coffee.
Once he was seated at the table, she broached the subject of Trent and the investigation. “When I talked to Trent Metzger, he wouldn’t give me any information. He admitted to knowing more than he was telling, but also said the police had the same information.”
Donny didn’t respond. The only indication that he’d even heard her was the deep scowl that crossed his features.
“Metzger said to talk to you … that you already had a good idea who killed his brother,” Mya blurted out before she lost her nerve.
Instead of addressing the accusation, he took a drink of his coffee. Taking a handkerchief from his pocket he wiped beads of perspiration from his forehead. “Sure looking like it’s going to be a hot summer this year.”
“Uncle Donny … what is he talking about?” Mya persisted.
“We’ll talk more when we are done with our meal,” he told her.
Suddenly Mya remembered that he hated to talk about business during a meal. In her rush to find out what Trent had been talking about, she’d completely forgotten. Adapting to a new culture hadn’t been easy, but everyday she was learning more about them. If she could just adapt to their way of life, she knew that it would make her job with the tribal police a whole lot easier.
Finally Donny left the table and started cleaning up. Mya jumped to her feet, intending to help him, but he waved at her to sit down. “I’ve got it. Why don’t you tell me more about your conversation with Trent?”
While Donny was loading the dishwasher and wiping down the counters, Mya told him about her visit with Trent Metzger, though she decided to withhold the fact that she’d gotten completely freaked out on the drive out of Red Canyon.
“Trend said that he planned on handling it himself,” she added.
Mya waited for some kind of explanation, but Donny still said nothing.
“Is he telling the truth? Is there a suspect?” she asked.
“Yes and no,” he confessed.
Mya opened her mouth to ask why she hadn’t been let in on this piece of information, but Donny held up his hand to stop her.
“Like I said … there is no proof. Even if we had any proof, actually prosecuting one of these guys would be nearly impossible, at least in Indian country.”
“What do you mean?”
Mya was confused and it showed on her face. Whenever she thought she had a handle on things, something like this would come up and she’d feel completely lost again.
Well for one thing … trying to arrest them and bring them in would be like chasing phantoms,” he tried to explain. “And like I said … you wouldn’t get a jury to convict them anyway.”
“Does this have anything to do with organized crime?” It was the only thing that fit, but he was already shaking his head.
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
Mya glared at him through narrowed eyes. “If you are not upfront with me, how can I do my job or be any use to you?”
He shrugged. “I told my brother that an internship here probably wouldn’t be much use to you. What you learn here will be little help to you out there … beyond the boundaries of the reservation.”
“I know how to do my job,” Mya rolled her eyes, deeply annoyed with his attitude.
Donny’s brows came together in an angry scowl. “Girl … you need to listen up and quit being such a numskull before you get yourself killed. Detroit may have more murders and there might be a lot more drugs in the streets of L.A, but here we have things that are a lot worse. We have the devil’s highway … dark magic and skinwalkers.”
“You can’t seriously believe that!” Mya shook her head in disbelief.
A cryptic smile crossed Donny’s face. “Well if you are around here long enough … I’m sure you’ll find out for yourself.”
Realizing that he was avoiding an answer, Mya decided on another approach and changed the subject, at least temporarily. “I’m curious about the guys we saw that day … the guys on the motorcycles. Who are they?”
Instantly his features became unreadable. “I’d just as soon not talk about them,” he told her.
Frustrated, Mya jumped to her feet. “If you are going to keep secrets, it doesn’t make any sense for me to even be here. I won’t learn anything.”
Mya would never have believed Donny could be a dirty cop, but she was no longer so sure. There were too many things he didn’t want to talk about?
Donny sighed loudly. “Sit down.”
Mya hesitated, but finally sat back at the table.
“Are you sure that you are ready to here all of this?” he asked, his mouth drawn down in a deep frown.
Mya nodded. “I’m here to do a job and that would be a hell of a lot easier if I had some idea of what I was dealing with.”
“The guys you saw on the bikes … they are the phantoms.”
At first she was too stunned to say anything. All she could do was sit there and gape at him. For some reason she didn’t want to believe what he was telling her. She didn’t want to believe that the guy that had saved her life could be responsible for killing anyone.
“Who are they,” she asked again, forcing the words passed the lump that had formed in her throat.
“Who they are is not as important as what they are. You’ll just have to take my word for it when I say that they could be behind the deaths of those men.”
Mya shook her head in confusion. “Is that what they call their gang … phantoms? I’m just not getting this. Was there trouble between Ben Metzger and this gang? I mean what makes them suspects?”
“It all has to do with skinwalkers?”
Mya braced herself for another round of nonsense. She still couldn’t believe that she was hearing it from a senior officer - a detective.
“Well it is rumored t
hat the Metzgers are skinwalkers. That would be the motive for these guys to kill Ben,” Donny informed her.
“So you are saying that he was killed over some weird belief that he was a witch?” Mya was more than just a little shocked. She couldn’t believe that these days, people would still commit murder over these types of bizarre beliefs.
Donny smiled. He appeared amused by her lack of understanding. “Skinwalkers are witches, but they are more than that. They are dark spirits that inhabit human bodies, but they could just as well be shadows, coyotes, whatever they want. They kill people and cause sickness. If a skinwalker comes after you, it means big trouble,” he explained.
“I don’t believe in witches,” she admitted. “But if the people around here believed that the Metzgers were skinwalkers, I guess it makes sense that someone might want to kill them.”
“Oh the skinwalkers are real enough,” he assured her.
Though Mya still didn’t believe it, she didn’t want to get into a debate with Donny about it. He was a traditional and had probably believed in such things his entire life; her opinion wouldn’t sway his beliefs.
“There was a family that lived out near Red Canyon,” Donny said, but then paused to pour himself another cup of coffee before continuing. “A couple of months ago they were found dead … two adults and three small children. The coroner couldn’t find a cause of death, but the official explanation was that they died of some kind of toxin.”
Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance Page 3
