Chapter Twenty - Three : A Pawn In Their Game

" Name is Lia " Dan said dropping a pile of documents on Asher's desk "She's the daughter of Jenny Houston and Renard Darlington, though her parents union is quite a strange one in the sense that they never got married but got three kids " Dan complained, with brows knitted together in disapproval.

"This is the twenty- first Century, not 2000 a.d , Dan and she is called a baby mama which you would've known if you had associated yourself with many many mundane , routine tasks and lifestyle. " Asher betoned going through the documents.

Eventhough Dan was smart, reasonable , skillful and efficient in carrying out duties but he was simply old-fashioned .He's so much rooted in his old customs that changing his mindset is like mission impossible.

"This are times I miss Gideon " he murmured under his breath but he was sure Dan heard him.

If Dan heard him, then he sure knew how to maintain a poker face cause there was no change in his expression at all.

" Her dad is late and her mother is a nurse back in her old town, everything about the girl looks pretty normal until she arrived in little Town ."

"Obviously " He concorded , glancing through her profile. No matter how much he searched, he couldn't find anything on her that could point out why she's so much wanted by them. Everything looks too good to be true, Did he omit something then?

"How's she by the way? Hope Gideon's suicide plan hasn't backfired " Asher chuckled but when Dan didn't reply, his expression changed and he looked up.

"What happened? " He asked, his eyes dark and face devoid of smiles .

Dan scratched his head awkwardly " Well, She actually died that night "

"Oh " he drawled.

Dan stared at Asher flabbergasted , just oh? The guy was too damn unreadable. Even after being with him for four hundred years now, he still couldn't read his mind.

" Continue " Asher commanded, sinking further into his seat. A lot of things were going through his mind, he needed to connect the dots before he becomes a pawn himself. If there was anything he hated, it was being manipulated and this dark witches were slowly pushing his buttons.

"According to my informat, everything she did in the party was normal and unsuspicious but that was until she disappeared suddenly, no one could find her till the next day" Dan explained and dropped a pile of pictures on his desk. Each of those pictures clearly illustrated her activities that night, whom she was with and what she was doing.

"She's cute " Asher commented throwing Dan off balance . He stared at Asher bewildered, he's talking saving Gideon's butt but here he was complimenting Gideon's victim features.

Asher was staring at a picture of Lia where she had a wide bunny smile on her face, she was obviously smiling to a joke someone was telling her by the time it was captured.

"ummmm" Dan cleared his throat loudly trying to remind the smitten Asher the reason for all this investigation.

"Continue " He gave the go ahead order, the picture still clasped tightly in his hand.

"So I tried to track down her scent on where she went that night but it came up null , I couldn't even trace a whiff of her scent "

Asher snorted in amusement "Of course, they cleared up the crime scene."

"Luckily, I happen to come across an eye witness, claimed he saw her in the wee hours of the morning covered in her own blood- "

"Or maybe you hacked his memories and saw what you just told me " Asher butt in taking Dan by surprise.

"Well, yes " Dan admitted with a straight face " He didn't exactly comply with the investigation , so I had to take it out of him "

Dan was telepathic but that was just one of his double abilities. Each of Asher's henchmen were vampires with double abilities which was why his clan wasn't easily trifled with.Though it wasn't rare finding vampires with double abilities but it was rare thing finding a clan full of it . Unfortunately, everything that has a good side definitely has a bad side.

The Nicoli clan might be one of the strongest in terms of abilities and strength but they definitely lacked miserablely in terms of True mates. If they were a hundred in population, then only twenty of them possess one. There's a legend that their earlier ancestors made a deal with the moon goddess Selene, their mates in exchange for powers.

Though no one could validate the authenticity of the legend not even Asher but it seems a plausible excuse for the gossips . But the true fact about the Nicoli clan is they never stay in a certain place for long ,they're always moving, searching for their mates and won't settle down until they find them.

" If the girl really died and survived till now, then there's a high chance she's in transition" Asher said rubbing his throbbing temple. Things just got messier.

" It seems so especially after I broke into her house last night "

Asher raised a brow at his statement, he leaned towards his desk intrigued " What happened? "

" She sniffed me out after I arrived in her place last night, so I hid in her brother's room but she followed still until I had to leave, else my mission is compromised "

Dan explained expecting a berating reply from Asher since he has failed two simple tasks given to him recently - stopping Gideon from doing anything stupid and investigating the girl's background but when he didn't get a reply, he looked up at Asher and was stunned.

Asher's face was a seesaw of emotions, progressing from comprehension, to amusement , fury , and finally, frustration.

Suddenly, he slow claps " Bravo " he murmured " They won, I lost. It was premeditated from the very beginning. That was what I was missing, the core fact "

Dan stared on confused on the whole happenings. It would've been a lot easier if he could read Asher's mind, but his consciousness was solid steel, impenetrable "OK, I'm lost here " he finally admitted.

"Clearly " Asher scoffed " But our clan won't be only lost but annihilated if you don't get your ass moving to her place before she turns her family into dinner "

Dan's expression lit up, as he got an idea of what was going on . He disappeared at once, leaving Asher to his thoughts.

"Finally, I ended up as a pawn as well "