Black Moon Rising

by Ann Simas

  She’d only known Luca for a few weeks, and already she was doing things with him she’d never done with Zach. Was that even right? Should she run off to confession and admit to all the carnal thoughts running rampant through her mind? Should she find the courage to discuss all this with Luca? Should she just keep her mouth shut and see what happened?

  Sunny put her hands to her breasts, remembering how Luca had worshipped them the night before. Her nipples hardened in response, and along with that came that lighting bolt that traveled down to her girl parts, begging her to go find Luca. The sooner, the better.

  Sunny dropped her head into her hands. She’d morphed into a changeling, becoming a woman who couldn’t stop thinking about sex. That just wasn’t going to do! She had kids to take care of, books to write and illustrate. She didn’t have time to moon about sex, sex, sex, and more sex, dammit.

  . . .

  After another day of agonizing over the visions and who would be brazen enough to steal her children right from under her parents’ watchful eyes, Sunny brought out the box that contained Zach’s letters and asked Libby and Angie to meet her in the kitchen. Given Angie’s comments about Italian superstitions and her coinciding beliefs, she hoped Luca’s cousin remained committed after she explained the situation further.

  Angie’s surprised gaze went back and forth between Sunny and Libby. “You both have some kind of ESP thing going on?”

  “I don’t…,” they both said at the same time.

  Libby snapped her mouth shut, but Sunny clarified. “I was just going to say that I have no idea what you would call what we have going on.”

  “Me, either,” Libby concurred.

  Angie shrugged. “Whatever it is, as I told you before, count me in. Are you going to read the letters aloud, Sunny?” She added, “Or are they too private?”

  “They’re not too private, except for the last one, but yes, I’ll read them out loud. I’m tasking you to keep an eagle eye on both of us, Angie, in case….” She trailed off, uncertain how to finish the thought. In case I have another vision? In case Libby says something relevant? In case my sister and I implode with extrasensory ability overload?

  “Talk about keeping it ambiguous,” Libby said, her one dry.

  Sunny shrugged.

  “I don’t remember reading about anything like this in my job description,” Angie murmured, rubbing her hands together.

  “Probably not,” Libby said, with a wry smile.

  “For clarification, Sunny,” Angie said, “you want Libby to listen for the parts of his letters that may relate to his parents’ cult, which may be related somehow to your visions, and I’ll record anything Libby may say that she may not be aware of?”

  Sunny nodded, though if it sounded as crazy to Libby and Angie as it did to her, then maybe she was on the wrong track.

  “Would it be out of line if I asked for a little more information?” Angie asked. “Like why you think there’s a connection?”

  “It’s not out of line, and I don’t blame you for asking, but I’d rather not say yet. I don’t want to influence Libby’s thinking, or yours, either, for that matter.”

  Libby and Angie exchanged confused glances.

  Angie said, “To be honest, I guess I understand what I’m supposed to pay attention to from Libby, but I’m not sure if I’m clear on what I should be listening for from you.”

  Sunny shared Angie’s frustration. “I guess just listen and see if you hear any hidden meanings. Stuff Zach wrote between the lines, so to speak, in case any of his letters got opened up by someone higher up the military food chain that he didn’t want knowing his personal business.”

  “He surely wasn’t giving away military secrets!” Angie said.

  “No, his letters were never about combat or location or maneuvers.”

  Angie looked at Libby.

  Libby held up her hands, palms out. “Don’t ask me. I’m just along for the ride. This is new territory for both of us.”

  Sunny began to rethink her strategy, then decided, after the hours she’d spent agonizing over it, to stick with her plan. “I may be way off base, but I’d like you to have faith that this will work. Ready to get started?”

  Libby and Angie nodded.

  Sunny pulled out the first letter. She’d already gone through yet another read-through and marked certain envelopes with colored Post-It stickers. “Here goes.”

  Making decisions about which letters might be relevant to her visions hadn’t been as difficult as she’d thought, but when she’d reread the letters with a new eye, even vague mentions of the elder Fyfes and their affinity for the Vale Luna had become as glaring as if they’d been written in neon. Or blood.

  Each time Sunny got to the pertinent parts of those letters, Libby went into sort of a daze and chanted something about blue moon and black moon, and lambs and keep the children safe.

  With a tablet in front of her and pen in her hand, Angie made notes like crazy. She’d drawn a line down the center of the page. Most the notations were in the Libby column, but some ended up in the Sunny column, too.

  When they’d finished and tossed around their individual thoughts and ideas, Sunny said, “I’m not trying to be a pain in the ass about this, but I need to do a little more research. Can we talk again tomorrow about where to go from here?”

  “Tomorrow’s my parents’ anniversary party,” Angie reminded her.

  Sunny bit her bottom lip, thinking. “On Sunday, then. We can talk after the kids go to bed.”

  “Works for me,” Angie said.

  Libby nodded, her gaze focused on the letters. When she raised her eyes, Sunny noted they were churning with an emotion that looked a little like pity. “I’m so sorry, Sunny. I never realized.”

  Angie pushed away from the table. “You guys probably want to talk.”

  “Don’t go,” Sunny said, even though she didn’t take her eyes off her sister. “I’m at peace with my relationship with Zach, especially since I’ve come to realize that I was a newlywed wearing rose-colored glasses.” She offered them a self-deprecating smile. “Better late than never to recognize the truth, huh?”

  Angie sighed. “I have a friend who’s a military wife. She said there’s two settings in her marriage. Sucks and hot.”

  “I understand the sucks part of it,” Sunny said, “because I worried constantly about Zach when he was deployed. The hot part, not so much, but I do have two beautiful children, so I can’t really complain, can I?” She heaved a heartfelt sigh. “I’m just sorry Zach will never know his children and they’ll never know their father.”

  Libby and Angie both aimed a look of compassion at her.

  “Don’t go feeling sorry for me. I knew what I was getting into when I married Zach. He was completely honest with me about his family. He wasn’t raised with love and affection like all of us were, so he didn’t really know how to show it. He did, however, make a commitment to me and he honored it. In his own way, he loved me and the kids. If he hadn’t died over there….”

  Sunny fingered Zach’s last letter, which she’d ended up withholding. Now she struggled over whether or not to read it. Given the content and his entreaties to her, she decided to go for it, especially since it would also assuage her sister’s pity. “Zach did learn to express his feelings in the deepest way possible.”

  “Did you love him?” Libby asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I hear a ‘but’ in there.”

  Sunny wasn’t completely comfortable discussing her relationship with her husband with her sister, or anyone else, for that matter. “When I look back on our marriage, I realize it might have been more like friends-with-benefits relationship. Zach was a good man. After his death, I received letters from some of his SEAL-team buddies and their commander.” She bit her lip and admitted. “I called his commander the other day and we talked at length about Zach. Both he and the team members had nothing but good things to say about him. He was there for them, and because of him, some
of those men lived who might have died had he not been there that day.”

  She pulled out Zach’s final letter and began to read.

  By the time she finished, tears trickled down Libby’s cheeks. “I feel like an idiot because I never knew any of this.”

  “I wasn’t unhappy, Lib, so there really wasn’t much to tell.”

  “Still….” She swiped at her face with her fingertips. “You’d think since I’m cursed with knowing things, I’d at least know some important shit like this about my own sister.”

  “Knowing is not all it’s cracked up to be.” Angie shook her head. “Sometimes, you know things you don’t want to know about family.”

  The sisters both turned toward her. “Oh, yeah? Like what?” Sunny asked.

  “Forget I mentioned it.”

  “Not likely!” Libby retorted. “Give.”

  Angie grinned. “We have a cousin who likes to share every single sexual encounter she has, which is TMI for me.” Her grin widened as she looked at Sunny. “See? Nothing that concerns your hunk’a-hunk’a burnin’ love.”

  “Hunk’a-hunk’a!” Sunny managed, her cheeks burning with recollections of her brief encounters with Luca.

  “Don’t deny it,” Libby said. “As the first-born child of then-hippies Bebe and Harry Keene, I recognize the symptoms of love when I see them.”

  “As if!” Sunny said with a laugh.

  “Your folks were hippies?” Angie asked. “Wow, I never would have guessed.”

  Silently, Sunny blessed her sister for diverting the conversation, but she did wonder which cousin Angie had been referring to and if she’d meet her at the anniversary party. She pointed to Libby. “Liberty Belle.” Then to herself. “Sunshine Columbine.”

  “OMG!” Angie said, giggling, “and I thought it was crazy that everyone in the Amorosi family carries on with Italian names.”

  “We should have been so lucky,” Libby said, her tone grave, though her eyes were twinkling.

  “When Mom finally outgrew the hippie phase, she offered to change our names legally, but as long as we never had to admit to our middle names, we decided we could live with Libby and Sunny.”

  “I love your mom,” Angie said, giggling. “I had no idea she was a pot-smokin’ flower child when she was younger.”

  Sunny and Libby burst into laughter.

  “Don’t tell me,” Angie said. “She still is.”

  In unison, Sunny and Libby zipped their lips.

  Angie shook her head in disbelief. “She’s such a stunning woman, I never would have taken her for someone who likes her weed.” She studied the pad in front of her and looked at Libby, then Sunny, then back to Libby. “Do you want to know what came out of your mouth when Sunny read Zach’s last letter?”

  “I don’t know, do I?”

  “For better or worse, you do. Here goes. You said guns, sacrificial lambs, Cain and Abel, blood is not thicker than water, and the black moon rises. Sacrificial lambs was uttered three times.”

  Sunny and Libby exchanged startled gazes. A moment later, those gazes shot to the doorway, as if they could see through walls to where the kids slept soundly in their beds.

  Sunny had no doubt what Libby was thinking, but she was pretty sure Angie hadn’t made the same connection. At least not yet.

  Once Sunny dug deeper into her research on the Vale Luna cult, she was certain she’d confirm what she already suspected.

  At that time, it would be time to bring in some other players because it was for damned sure that Sunny, Libby, and Angie couldn’t brainstorm this alone.

  . . .

  The Amorosi home was overflowing with people. Sunny had already met Luca’s parents, his siblings, and all his cousins, which was fortunate. After the introduction to his aunt and uncle, dozens more followed. Family friends, more relatives, work associates. Sunny tried to remember all the names, but the task was impossible.

  “How are you feeling?” Luca asked once he spirited her away from the meet-and-greet inside to the festivities outside.

  “Like I could climb a big ole maple tree,” she replied in a teasing tone.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said, half-growling.

  Sunny grinned. “I’m fine.” She put her hand on his chest. “Way better than fine.”

  His hot Italian eyes blazed a silent agreement. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, then whispered in her ear, “Me, too. In fact, I’m ready for a repeat.”

  Sunny smirked. “Not likely today.”

  “No, but I have high hopes that we can reschedule our dinner date, soon.”

  “I think I’m free on Tuesday night.”

  “Whadda’ya know. I happen to be free Tuesday night, too. I can pick you up at six.”

  Sunny tilted her head at him. “I think I’d better drive myself over to your place. Otherwise, I might be tempted to spend the night.”

  He caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Would that be such a bad thing?”

  “Right now, it would be.”

  His expression altered almost imperceptibly. “Why is that?”

  Sunny looked away, wishing she could have avoided this discussion, at least for the moment.

  Luca captured her face between his hands and forced her to look up at him. “What’s going on, Sunshine?”

  She debated how best to broach the discussion she wanted to have with him and Libby. And Trey and Angie and Darren. “Are you also free Monday night, around seven-thirty?”

  “Yeah, unless I get called out on a case.” He gave her a cocky grin. “You trying to tell me you can’t wait for Tuesday?”

  When she didn’t so much as chuckle, his amusement faded.

  “You’re starting to scare me, Sunny. What’s up?”

  “I don’t really want to discuss it right now, okay? Suffice it to say, I’ve discovered some…information that may relate to my visions. I’d like to discuss it with you and a couple of other people, to get some additional perspectives.”

  He frowned. “Others? Like who?”

  “Libby, Angie, Darren, and Trey.” She knew right away he wasn’t happy.

  “So, I’m the last to know about this shindig?”

  “No, you’re the first. If you can’t be there, I’ll wait until you’re available.”

  “And you don’t want to talk about it right now?”

  “No. This is a party. I’d like to enjoy myself and I still have some research to do before I can finalize my thoughts.”

  “You must have something already, or you wouldn’t be calling a meeting to discuss it.”

  “Honestly, I’m not really certain I do have anything. At this moment, it’s all supposition, based on a memory I have of something I read. It will take time to confirm it, and then, as I said, I have to think things through. If it doesn’t all coalesce, I’ll cancel the meeting by Monday morning.”

  “I could still come over.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “For dessert.”

  “I’ll give you dessert,” she promised, her tone low and seductive. “On Tuesday.”

  He clasped his hand to his chest. “Be still my heart.”

  Though he said it playfully, Sunny sensed he meant it. She wondered if he understood that she felt exactly the same way.

  Even if she couldn’t spend the night at Luca’s on Tuesday, she planned to have her way with him long before the clock struck midnight.

  Chapter 25

  . . .

  On Sunday, Sunny set up a bigger wading pool in the back yard. Her parents had purchased it for the kids to use at their house, but given the current circumstances, decided they might as well have it at their own house.

  While Carson and Maisie cavorted in the pool and ran through the bobble-head shark shooting a random spray of water at the other end of the yard, Sunny and Libby decided to have a frank discussion with their parents.

  Bebe and Harry listened in silence as they learned about the visions. By the time Sunny related reading Zach’s letters, and Li
bby’s responses when they were subsequently read aloud, tears streamed down their mother’s cheeks.

  Sunny and Libby shared a look that was both concerned and regretful. Sunny said, “Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to distress you!”

  “It’s not that,” Bebe said, digging into her purse, probably looking for a tissue.

  Libby reached for a napkin off the table and handed it to her.

  “I should have told you both long ago,” she said, her expression stricken. She turned beseeching eyes on Harry. “I don’t know if I can now. Harry…?”

  Her husband reached for her hand, clasping it firmly, and turned his eyes on his daughters. “We never knew you had abilities. We’d hoped…that is, we prayed….”

  “For heaven’s sake, Dad,” Libby said, “just tell us!”

  “Your mother, and her mother, and her grandmother….” He trailed off, unable to continue.

  Sunny and Libby shared another look and the pieces fell into place.

  Stunned, Sunny asked, “Mom has some preternatural ability?”

  “And it runs in the family?” Libby demanded, equally shocked.

  “We should have told you, but neither of you ever mentioned that you could…see things.”

  Sunny would have responded, but she didn’t know what to say.

  Libby apparently had the same reaction.

  Harry went on, “Your mom knew things that were going to happen before they happened. She hated having that ability, especially when it meant something bad was going to happen to someone. She worked really hard to block the advance knowledge when it came to her and one day, the images just stopped coming.”

  Libby’s mouth dropped open. “Are you saying Mom had the power to turn off her ability, just like that?” She snapped her fingers for emphasis.

  Harry shrugged, looking once more at his wife. “I guess so. She hasn’t experienced anything for what, honey, about ten years?”

  “Ten years,” Libby said, her tone dull. “That’s when I first started to hear things.”

  “Oh, dear!” Bebe cried. “What about you Sunny? When did your visions start?”

  Sunny shook her head, bewildered by the implications. “When I went to New York, but…”