Into the Wild Dark

CHAPTER 32 - SUNNY

Ch. 32: Sunny's Background

September 11 | Dawn

As much as we wanted to march into battle and be done with it, we needed rest. Plus, the vampire returned throughout the night and the next day, reminding us that our moves were dictated by his moves.

My team couldn't do a thing until we were sure the vampire wouldn't walk in on us. That night, Jack and I secretly shared the bed in the guestroom, missing the djinn with her svelte, hot body. She sat outside our bedroom door singing Persian lullabies under the guise of singing to Cherie. Jack and I tried to make love, but I wasn't ready. The trauma of having lost my wings had made sex a taboo experience for me.

"We can wait," Jack had promised.

There was no pleasure to be had while anxiety fluttered my stomach, and brooding shadowed Jack's visage. The second morning, wooden-faced and troubled, Mal followed Darcy from the house, and we wondered if he would stay gone. I dreaded the way that whenever the vampire was around, he drained the spirit from Mal, hated to see her lifeless. Yet, I understood. We each had a role to play.

After Darcy left for what seemed like the final time, I waited for the sound of the heavy oak doors in the foyer to close, signaling brief freedom. Daylight would keep the vampire at bay for a few hours. Ava and Cherie crept from their hiding places, twin candles flickering with worry. We had good news for them, though. Sort of.

"We've found her," Mal announced as she breezed past her sisters into the dreary den.

"Who–Yalina? Where?" Ava fired questions, but the eldest Ravani squeezed her temples and circumnavigated the room. I had never seen Mal so agitated. It unnerved me.

"Darcy has the Luna here," I explained. "Yalina is LouLou. She's been in the house all along, and the vampire is on his way to collect Aurie. He'll have every piece he needs to locate the Map of Destiny. We've gotta move."

"Don't you get it? It's too late, Sunny! Who knows when the Ravani property will be crawling with Fext soldiers. We won't have time to find the map." Mal tore at a fingernail with her teeth.

Cherie welled with tears. "We have to try, though."

"Of course, sweetheart. Of course," Ava soothed her.

"We're not giving up, Mal. There's too much at stake," I rallied our team. Mal visibly recentered. That was what I wanted to see. "Aurie isn't on her own. She has celestial forces helping her." I thought of my mentor and the hand Wallace was probably completely aware he had in this situation. As a higher angel, he couldn't tell me everything he knew.

"Wait, didn't you say the location of the map passes through the masculine line?" asked Jack.

"Right, yes. Since Jack has Ravani DNA, he may have the instincts to find it," Ava guessed.

Beside her, Mal shuffled back and forth, sclera glittering wet. "On the other hand, Ajit told us that Zyr Ravani routinely mentions an obscure 'treasure' hidden on the property but doesn't seem to know what or where it is. Therefore, there's no guarantee Jack will find a damn thing when he gets out there."

I understood the dread prickling the soles of her feet, spurring her to restless movement, but none of us could afford to let Darcy win, uncontested."Quickly, the mirror!" I snapped my fingers and beckoned Jack. I had an idea.

He fumbled in his pocket for Mal's gift to him. "Here. What do you have in mind?"

"We need a facsimile of the key Darcy used to unlock Yalina's collar. Maybe she can help."

"What? Hell, no. Did you see the way she lunged at me?"

I marshalled a jauntiness that I didn't feel. "In Yalina's defense, you were talking about the hit you put out on her brother." At that, LouLou resumed her snarling. Jack pointed at her and shook his head as he held onto the mirror.