"Ransom."
"Figures," she muttered. The other hunter had the strangest hobby, considering his fascination with guns and weaponry. The fact that they lived in a major metropolitan city full of light pollution didn't seem to faze him. "He was stargazing, wasn't he?"
Sara blew out a breath. "With his super-duper high-powered gee-whiz telescope. And he told me you were, um, flying?" The last word was an incredulous question.
"I'll have to thank Ransom for calling me a star."
"I don't believe this," Sara whispered. "Oh, my-You were up there? Flying?"
"Yep."
"With an angel?"
"Archangel."
Pure silence for several long seconds. Then, "Holy shit."
"Uh-huh." She started unscrewing the lid again.
"What are you doing? I can hear you breathing."
Elena grinned. "You're such a nosy friend."
"It's in the best-friend rule book. Spill while I try to get over my shock."
"I had a delivery by angel a few minutes ago."
"What is it?"
"I'm just trying to . . ." Her voice trailed off as she succeeded in removing the lid. Fingers trembling, she stared at the contents of the tube, a tube that was lined several times over with cushioning material. She had a feeling baby-angel had been meant to make his drop with far more care. "Oh."
"Ellie? You're killing me."
Heart in her throat, she extracted the exquisitely crafted sculpture with careful fingers. "He sent me a rose."
A disappointed snort came through the telephone line. "I know you don't date much, sweet pea, but you can get those for five bucks at the corner store."
"It's made of crystal." Even as she spoke, light reflected off the rose in a distinctive fashion and her mouth fell open. "No way."
"No way, what?"
Disbelieving, she opened a nearby drawer, found a high-tensile cut-through-anything blade she didn't use much because the weighting was slightly off, and tried to gently scratch a tiny part of the stalk. The knife made no impact. But when she tried it in reverse, the rose scratched the blade's "scratch-proof" surface. "Oh, shit."
"Ellie, I swear I'm going to beat you to a pulp if you don't tell me what's going on. What is it? A mutant blood-sucking rose?"
Biting back a laugh, she stared at the indescribably lovely thing in her hand. "It's not crystal."
"Cubic zirconia?" Sara asked dryly. "Oh, wait, plastic."
"Diamond."
Absolute silence.
A cough.
"Could you please repeat that word?"
Elena held up the rose to catch the light. "Diamond. Flawless, one piece."