Lisa shuddered. “Kurjans. That’s how I pictured vampires. Pale skin, black hair, creepy purple eyes. I mean those dudes were terrifying.”
Hope agreed completely. “A lot of them are, I admit. It used to be that they couldn’t go out in the sun, but they’ve figured out a way to protect themselves, and now they can survive daylight for several hours at a time.”
“How did they find me?” Lisa asked.
It was a fair question. “Enhanced females set off vibrations, and Kurjan technology has advanced to the point that they can detect them. I can’t tell you what they wanted with you because I don’t know. We’re trying to figure that out.” Her people had battled the Kurjans before, and she was trying to avoid another war.
Lisa grasped a hand-whittled guitar ornament. “This is cute. Who did this?”
Fond memories swept through Hope. “My friend Paxton.” Her best friend actually. “He wanted to be a rock star when we were young.”
Lisa peeked under her lashes. “Sounds like he means a lot to you.”
“He does,” Hope said, her chest aching. “I miss him.”
“Is he one of the soldiers out there fighting for kidnapped women?”
“Oh no.” Hope couldn’t imagine Pax with a gun. “Paxton is a scientist. His uncle studies the migration patterns of insects and is very fond of butterflies. He took Pax under his wing when we were teenagers, and now Paxton gets to travel all over the world, which is good for him.”
Lisa nudged her with a shoulder. “But not so good for you?”
Hope looked at the tiny guitar. “I miss him,” she admitted. “My life feels more settled when he’s here, but my team just became mission ready yesterday, so we’re out on our own soon. There are a lot of enhanced females who need to be rescued, and that’s my primary objective.”
She felt his absence daily. It had been nearly a year since they were in the same place at the same time, but they spoke often via teleconferencing or by texting nearly every week. His anecdotes about following his uncle around chasing butterflies were often hilarious. Sometimes Hope wished she could be with him, but she had a job to do, and she was good at it.
Lisa reached for another ornament. This one was a framed picture of Hope, Paxton, and their best friend, Libby, when they’d been in elementary school.
“Is this him?” Lisa tapped on his smiling face.
“Yeah,” Hope said.
Lisa winked. “I bet he turned out cute.”
“He really did.” Heat filtered up from Hope’s neck to her cheeks.
“So he’s the one, huh?” Lisa cocked her head.
The question was like a dash of cold water. “My path lies another way.” She absently rubbed the marking on her neck that declared her one of the three prophets of her people.
Lisa followed her motion. “That’s a heck of a tattoo you’ve got there.”
“Thank you.” The marking wound from her shoulders up both sides of her neck to beneath her ears. The intricate blue design seemed to dance on her skin. She’d worn the brand since before she was born, and she felt the weight of it often.
“Tell me about this Paxton,” Lisa said.
“That’s about all there is,” Hope murmured. “He’s a scientist, he’s a free spirit, and he’s just a great guy. He’s sweet.”
Lisa rehung the ornament. “He sounds wonderful, and if he turned out as cute as he looks here, I’d say you’re missing out if you don’t go for it.”
Time to change the subject. “What about you?”
Lisa rescued a Santa ornament from tipping over. “My boyfriend and I broke up a year ago. I was thinking about maybe trying a dating app, but I don’t know. Now that I know I’m being hunted by super scary, creepy, vampire-esque monsters, I may just lie low for a while.”
Hope smoothed out the tree skirt with one foot. “That’s not a bad idea. We’ll keep you safe, whatever you decide. We can give you a new ID, or you can stay here in Realm territory until we figure things out. I promise we’re not going to abandon you now that we’ve rescued you.”
“I appreciate that,” Lisa said.
An owl hooted loudly from outside the heavy doors leading to the deck and down to the lake, and Hope moved to open the door. “Hey, Wingman,” she called out.
Lisa popped up at her side. “You have an owl for a wingman?”
“It’s his name.” Hope chuckled. “He somehow adopted me a while back. He’s just a friend, or a pet, or maybe neither.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Are you like a witch? You know from those old fairy tales where they have a familiar?”
Hope mulled the question over. “I don’t think so. He just appeared one day and hangs around a lot. He does show up at odd times, though.” While she did have some witch heritage, she wasn’t able to form plasma out of thin air, so her main identity as an immortal probably wasn’t as a witch. Unfortunately, she hadn’t discovered any talents, so she couldn’t figure out what kind of immortal she should identify with. It was quite frustrating.
The bird was beautiful, with thick white feathers and a dark marking around his beak. He was also a good size but flew gracefully when he wanted. “He disappears fairly often,” Hope said. “Because he is a predator.” Like most people in her world, actually. Her phone buzzed, and she looked down and instantly pressed a button, nerves flaring to life in her abdomen. “Paxton, hi.”
His face came into view on screen. Silvery-blue eyes, thick black hair, rugged features with a nice shadow covering his jaw. He looked like a tough-guy wildlife biologist on safari.
Next to her, Lisa sucked in air. “Whoa,” she whispered. “Seriously hot.”
Hope smiled. “I was just talking to Wingman.”
“That bird’s weird,” Paxton said. Behind him was a beautiful sunlit beach with aqua-colored water that looked too inviting to resist.
She wished she could vacation with him and get out of the snow. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Saint Thomas,” he said, leaning back a little bit. “We’re in the Caribbean studying the migration patterns of the Gulf fritillary. We’re trying to figure out how the little beauty initially arrived here.”
Hope assumed he was talking about a butterfly. “Fun.”
“Yeah, they’re part of the ‘brush-footed’ or Nymphalidae butterfly family, referring to the short hairs on the front of its legs.” His eyes shone as he warmed to the subject. “They like passionflowers, so they’re also known as the passion butterfly.”
Hope gave Lisa a look. “That’s fascinating, Pax.” He combined adorable geekiness and rugged sexiness in a way that warmed her heart as well as other parts of her anatomy.
He grinned. “Sorry. I got carried away. But I’m calling you for a reason. Guess what?”
“What?” Hope held her breath.
“We’re coming home for Christmas.”
Elation whipped through her. “Oh, I’m so glad.” She had found him the perfect cutting-edge microscope set and had wanted to give it to him in person. She had also bought brand-new editions of Realm Sudoku, which for some reason he seemed to love, although he never sat still long enough to play. “When will you be home?”