Love me or hate me it's still an obsession

Chapter 33

"Well, isn't this quaint", Olette said as she entered Tasha's house.

Nidaw followed more suspiciously behind her, still feeling furious at losing Effie. They had given up trying to find her in the early hours of that morning and put the three bags of her blood they had managed to collect from her in the freezer, hoping to use them as soon as they got their hands on her once again, needing the necklace to finish what they had started.

Ace grinned, "it is, isn't it."

Olette brushed her fingers over his broad shoulders and smiled, looking around, "who's house did you say this was?"

Ace glanced at her, trying to keep an eye on Nidaw too, "I didn't."

"Mm hmm..." Olette put her finger to her lips as she drew the light in through her fingers, like she was drawing something else in too. The lighting around them became more subtle as she looked around her impressed. "Nidaw, what do you think of it?"

Nidaw looked around, spotting some screwed up bits of paper on the floor near the mirror. He walked over and picked them up, unfolding the picture he had got hold of. "Ah, Miss Effie... and Nyx and... Olette who is this young woman?" he asked, pointing at Tasha in the photo that was only taken the week before.

"Oh. That's her. That's the woman that killed our son!" she seethed. She abruptly looked up at Ace, drawing him closer using her magic, "who's house is this?" she asked more sternly.

Ace pushed her away aggressively, "Tasha's. But you knew that already..."

Olette grinned, "my, my. Someone has been doing their reading. How could you tell?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Ace glanced over at Nidaw who was picking up the other photos from the floor and unfolding them to see who they were of. He looked back sharply at Olette, "the way you scanned the room, drew in the light. It's your way of finding out the memories of the house, isn't it?"

Olette pierced her eyes at him suspiciously as she walked closer to him, "you wouldn't by any chance know where Effie is, would you?"

Ace looked down his nose at her, pressing his lips together. "And why would I know that? You poisoned me, remember?"

Olette scratched her nail gently across his cheek, "hmm... Alistair seems to have taken off too. Maybe he has a bigger part to play in this than I first thought."

Ace watched her walk over to Nidaw as he showed her the pictures he had found on the floor. He glanced through to the dining room and saw Effie pour out the drinks, making sure she had mixed in the potion she had made the evening before. She looked stunning, her body recuperating all the lost blood within a few hours. Her brunette hair bounced down her back in waves, leading to a strappy purple dress that brought out the colour in her eyes and made the necklace around her neck glitter down to her cleavage. She looked up, feeling his gaze on her and nodded that she was ready. He walked over to Olette and Nidaw and snatched the pictures from them. "Dinner is ready if you are hungry?"

Nidaw grinned, "always!"

They walked into the dining room and paused in the doorway as they saw Effie sitting confidently at the head of the table facing the doorway. She looked up at them and raised her glass, smiling, "please, have a seat."

Nidaw looked over at Olette as her face turned from shock to anger to excited. She walked over to the table and sat down next to Effie, not taking her eyes off of her. "You look well Effie..." Olette said as she glanced at Nidaw and Ace as they took their seats opposite her.

Effie grinned as she put her glass down, "thank you Olette. That is very kind of you to say."

Ace looked nervously between them all, the only human sitting at a table with the most dangerous people on the planet. "So, shall I get the first course?" Ace asked Effie.