Imprinted Hearts

Chapter 17: Data Collectors

Ethan laid out on Hope's mattress as the van bobbed and zoomed along through traffic. He listened to Lucien explain what he knew of Louie's curse. That if he touched another human, he would turn into a flash of light and disappear. That he always wore gloves, long sleeves, and pants all year round. Even for a vampire that got uncomfortable at times. They still had senses, after all.

Most of it went over Ethan's head as he reeled over everything Hope had said when they were back in the park. She'd known the whole time and had kept them at arm's length because it was a curse on herself. Were they even soulmates or was it just someone interfering with their lives? What was a soulmate? Just some kind of curse put on you to make you waste your life pining over someone that didn't love you back?

What was even his life in the past few months?

"Should I try to call Alexis and let her know we think Louie may still be alive?" Lucien asked.

"No," Hope said, shaking her head. "Not yet. Not until we have a definite lead that says there's a good chance he is. Don't want to get her hopes up."

"Who were you going to contact? You said you had a contact in the Coalition?" Lucien asked.

Ethan rolled over and smelled Hope's pillow, trying to distract himself from the technical talk, but it kept leaking through.

"Yeah, her name is Chel. She's an information hub for people like us in the field. Her job is to store information related to cases in our individual files, as well as look up information we need that we don't have access to easily without an ancient library. She's currently in the process of transcribing all the old books of magic and lore into the computer system so we can have easy access to it without having to have a hard copy. She's going to single-handedly make everyone's jobs easier and harder at the same time with that," Hope said.

"How is that going to make it harder?" Lucien asked.

"People who are stuck in their old ways are going to have to convert to new technology and learn how to access the information themselves, as lore keepers are going to become a rare thing in the Coalition. There won't be a need for them any more if everyone can have the information at their fingertips," Hope replied.

"Oh," Lucien said, nodding. "Like getting Leo to download a software update when they come out. He's angry because he just gets used to the old one when they come out with a new one and change things up."

"Basically yeah," Hope nodded.

Ethan focused on the unfamiliar scent on her pillow that she'd changed from peppermint to something else. He looked on her shelf where her box of self care products were and noted she was wearing Honeysuckle scented things. It was a pleasant scent. He missed the peppermint though. He also hated himself for missing it. Why should she get any of his affection just because of a curse? He was feeling rather selfish with his affection right then, even though Hope had been nothing but kind to him, not taking advantage of his link to her in any way that he could think of or recall. It was still a sore spot for him, though, growing more and more raw with each passing moment. How was Lucien okay with this and he wasn't? Was Lucien okay with it? he wondered.

"Should we call Chel now? Or should we wait till we get back to Brookville?" Lucien asked.

"I've already texted her before we started out. She's researching it now and will call us when she's got an answer. It's better than calling her out of the blue. She has a lot on her plate and this is the quickest way to get in touch with her when it's not a life or death emergency."

"This isn't life or death?" Lucien asked, shocked.

"Not immediately. Louie may still be alive, and if Alexis is any kind of witch, she's giving Sera a run for her money and preventing her from using Louie's soul as a spell ingredient." Hope replied.