Page 51 of Claim the Dragon
He’d been there several nights, looking for her or the other vamp who’d disappeared with her, but on the last night he’d been distracted the moment Ravyn walked in.“Yeah.And?”
Enes shook her head.She was no more than five feet even, with a small compact build, and according to Ziva, she hadn’t been a vampire for very long.
“That woman you couldn’t keep your eyes off was told where to get the dagger,” she said before crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the wall.“I bet you wanna know why.”
“I wanna know why you’re here right now claiming to have information and acting like you want to share it with us.Were you following us?”Reese asked.He took another step closer to her, but Enes just glanced at him and rolled her eyes.
“That’s a good question,” Magnum said, while Enes returned her gaze to Steele.
“Who told her where to find it and why?”Steele asked.“And don’t even think about striking some type of bargain.You’re outnumbered here and things definitely won’t go well for you if you do.”
She seemed to consider his words for a second, but then shrugged.“I wasn’t following you.I was waiting for you because after I saw this on the news I knew it was your handiwork.She can’t know that I told you.”
“If you’re scared of someone finding out, then why’re you snitching?”Reese pressed her.
“I’m not scared of anybody or anything, just not trying to get in the middle of this war that’s already brewing between you dragonfolk and the Royal Blood,” Enes said.
“It’s a little late for that,” Steele added.
She shook her head.“No.I didn’t know what Warrick was doing.In fact, I tried to keep him away from that woman because I knew she was trouble the minute the blue-eyed dragon walked her into that hall.But he wouldn’t listen and look where that landed him.”
“Yeah, turned to ashes in the Far Realm by the sick spirit that he decided to join forces with,” Magnum replied.
Steele recalled all that had happened four months ago when Shola had been brought to Burgess to marry Warrick, an outcast of the Royal Blood.But they’d already conquered that demon and killed the idiot Warrick who’d brought him to town.What he was more concerned with now, was how any of this involved Ravyn.
“Look, just tell us what you know and we’ll go from there,” Steele said.
She pushed away from the wall and walked toward the steps behind them.Reese followed her, sneering when she turned to give him an impatient look.
“Alright, well, all I know is Vertis was paid to track her down.”
“Paid by who?”Steele asked.
Enes looked up at him.“Temptra, the Dhampir.”
“Dhampir.”Magnum whispered the word while Steele’s fingers clenched into fists.
“Go on,” he told her.
“I’ve never met her, just read about her in the old tombs Warrick kept sealed in a vault.Once he was gone, Hikeen sent a bunch of his knights to clean out Warrick’s townhouse.They didn’t know about the apartment he had in the Luxe building.That’s where the vault was,” she said.
“What does Temptra want?”Steele asked.
“You remember that army of vampires Warrick wanted to use his rule over Mobo to resurrect?Well, Temptra’s on a much bigger scale.There’s more than one vampire army buried in that region and Temptra wants to command them all.To do that she must raise the Royal Guild, and they’re in the Congo territory near something called Lava Lake.”
“The dagger is Egyptian,” Reese said.“She’s lying, man.Let’s just gag her ass and take her to Theo to see what he wants to do with her.”
“You,” Enes said, narrowing her eyes at Reese, “won’t touch me again without bloodshed.”
Reese moved closer, but Steele stepped between them.
“What does the dagger have to do with raising these vampires?”Because he didn’t believe Enes was lying.She’d been flying under the radar for months.Hell, she’d seen him in the club when he hadn’t seen her.So why would she wait for them here if she didn’t have something to say?Then again, why did she have so much to say?He’d wait to hear everything before he tried to figure that part out.
“It raises the dead.That’s what it was made for by that pharaoh.It’s why the tomb was broken into in the first place, so that some idiot could raise his dead mistress, or some such nonsense.Anyway, the curse on the dagger is that only certain people are worthy enough to wield its power.That woman in the club who caught your eye is one of them.”
Steele felt the heat rising from the pit of his stomach to burn the back of his throat.Since walking away from Ravyn last night the beast had lay dormant as if wondering what to do next now that she was out of the picture.But now it was rising, bringing with it all its fiery rage at the implications of Enes’s words.
“Damn, we’re back to raising some dead vamps again,” Reese complained.“Aren’t you guys already dead?”
