“I’m Reese.” The guy sitting next to her spoke, pulling her attention from the lineup across the table, over to him.
“Hi, I’m Ravyn,” she said, and accepted the hand he had extended to her.
Reese had a bright smile and if he wasn’t wearing the sunglasses she’d bet it reached his eyes in a laughing way. His hair was a riot of curls that he’d pulled up in some type of way so that it was away from his face.
“You already had the pleasure of meeting Shola,” Reese continued. “Her husband Theo runs the show here at the Legion.”
She hadn’t needed to be told that, because again, the air around Shola and the man at the head of the table reeked of power and leadership. Theo barely nodded in her direction and she returned the favor.
“Across from us are top agents here at the company, Aiken French, Magnum Eze and of course, you know our dear Steele.” Reese’s introductions were done with the same affable tone he’d taken in speaking to her and Ravyn found it relaxing.
After offering a polite smile and wave to Aiken, who treated her to a breathtaking grin in return, she let her gaze settle on Magnum. “You’re Steele’s brother?”
“Older brother,” Magnum replied before tossing a look to Steele.
She settled back in her chair thinking how fortunate for this world that there were two of them. The door opened then and two women walked in. One taller, wearing black leather pants, gray studded bra and a matching black leather vest. Her blonde hair fell in wide waves around the sides with a spiked mohawk down the center.
Ziva. She’d had eerie eyes that night Ravyn had met her too. Now, she wore sunglasses. These people must have invested a ton of money in a sunglasses company.
Behind her, moving at a much slower pace, was the woman Ravyn had seen many times at Twilight. Her gold-blonde hair was styled in short tight curls, her lipstick a frosted hue, her attire denim—skintight pants, red tank top and cropped jacket.
“And this is Ziva. She’s bringing another visitor to our meeting.” Reese had, for some reason, picked up a pen and was now tapping it on the table.
“Hey,” Ziva said by way of greeting. “This is Enes. She has something to tell us.”
Ziva took a seat, but Enes continued to stand right beside the chair where Ziva was sitting.
“Let me just say that this is unprecedented,” Theo began, his voice deep, echoing throughout the space with chilling finality.
Ravyn couldn’t help but look at him in awe. Who was this guy?
“What goes on at the Legion is private company business. We’re bound by our contracts with clients to treat certain information as privileged. And we don’t discuss open cases with anyone other than Legion agents.”
All eyes were on Theo and then the tall slender guy who had come through the wall, it seemed. Upon closer scrutiny she could see that it was a camouflaged door and again wondered what the hell she’d gotten herself into.
“With that said, we have a situation and it seems that each of the...visitors...here tonight is in a unique position to help us handle that situation. But before we hear from them, Bleu has a status.” Theo looked to the guy who’d walked up behind him like he was in stealth mode.
His movements were precise, but he made no sounds and even now after the introduction, only gave the barest of nods before clearing his throat to speak.
“She has not left the realm. I have a location right now, but she is continuously moving so it may change by the time we’re finished preparing.” Bleu had a great British accent to go with that expertly cut chocolate brown suit and shined expensive dress shoes.
“She won’t leave without the dagger or without her,” Enes said and suddenly all eyes were on Ravyn.
“Why does she need her so badly?” Shola asked.
But Ravyn raised a hand before anyone else could speak. “Hi, um, ‘her’ is Ravyn and I’m right here. So, before we get into any more detail about who wants me and for what, can someone just tell me who ‘she’ is?”
The next few seconds were filled with everyone in the room staring at her like she’d just spoken in a foreign language.
“She is Temptra the Dhampir,” Bleu replied and in that second Ravyn realized she’d seen him before that night at the Office.
“And what’s a Dhampir?” This time Ravyn looked at Steele because if he was a dragon, surely he could explain what she was betting was another preternatural creature.
But it was Bleu who continued with the explanation while Steele kept his gaze on her.
“Vampires found in the eastern Cape region of Africa were once known as Impundulu. They were usually men controlled by a witch who made sure they were properly fed to keep them from turning on her.”
“Are you serious?” Ravyn asked, looking from Bleu to Steele and then back to Bleu again. During the exchange she noticed that Theo was looking directly at Steele.
Bleu didn’t answer her questions, he just kept talking.
“Throughout history there were rare stories of Impundulu mating with their witch, creating a mixed breed species called the Dhampir.”
Ravyn was about to ask another question when Enes spoke.
“Temptra can’t use the dagger. Only you can. Ravyn.” Enes said her name so pointedly Ravyn couldn’t help but stare at her.
“How did she know only Ravyn could use it?” Steele finally spoke.
“Because I told her,” Enes said. “I knew because I found her name and picture along with other papers in Warrick’s vault. Her mother was a descendant of some old crazy woman rumored to be a witch in the Congo or some other place over there in
