After a few minutes I opened the folder and looked over the images Lemme gave me. Sure enough they were schematics for a lab, a pretty high tech one by the looks of it. Lemme hadn’t provided a plan of how to get past security though.
Lorcan texted me close to the end of the day. He didn’t say much at first. I told him that it would be easier for him to come and meet with me, and he asked if I could come to the clubhouse. Before I could go to Eric’s office to ask anything about it Ted popped into my doorway.
“How are you feeling?” His smile was warm and inviting.
“I’m ok. It’s sore and aches but I’ll be ok.” I smiled back at him. “How are you?”
“I’m ok. Worried about you guys though.”
“Guys?”
“You and Eric.”
I sighed. I’d forgotten Ted and I hadn’t spoken since he found out about my relationship with Eric. “What are you worried about? We enjoy each other's company. He doesn’t treat me like I’m defective because of all the crap that’s happened recently.”
“I was referring to you guys being injured but thanks, that’s useful info for me to have.” He chuckled. “As much as it pains me to admit it Chris did well picking Eric. He’s a good guy and I like him a lot. I also like Maritza.”
“Oh balls. I forgot about Maritza.”
“Cut that out. She‘s very nice and Cuddy really likes her. I won‘t let you ruin this for him. “He came towards the desk, leaning over and catching sight of the pictures on my laptop. He turned the screen towards him.
“What‘s this from?” He asked.
“The auction we went to with Millie’s son this morning. Why?”
He pointed at the two women Ledo almost drooled over. “I know the blonde.”
“Really? How?”
“She’s a cop. Or she was a cop. Detective. Pretty high ranking too. Her name is Shae Rielle.”
I grabbed a Post It and quickly wrote the name down. “Thanks Ted!”
Surprised by my excitement, he said, “You’re welcome?” then turned and went back to his office.
Pushing Lorcan aside, I dove into research on Shae Rielle.
From what I could find, she still worked as a Detective. She lived in a nice condo, and her name showed up on the deed to a building in a west end neighborhood called Parkdale. About a fifteen minute detour on the way home.
I climbed out from behind my desk and went to Eric's office. It was empty. Rather than disturb the boss men I checked my phone to see if he texted.
Nothing. Not even a courtesy text to say he fucked off to run errands. It hurt my heart a bit, and I tried to talk myself out of feeling bad. Surely it didn’t mean anything.
When I got back behind my desk I texted Eric and asked him where he went. I also texted Lorcan and asked for the address for this clubhouse.
It seemed like hours went by before I got a notification. The address wasn’t far, so I packed up and headed out to the bus. Eric would have to come find me.
Public transit always felt like an adventure. I didn’t have my headset so on occasion I would drift off as the bus bumped along.
About ten minutes into my trip a mother and her daughter got on the bus and sat down in front of me. Normally I wouldn’t have paid attention but the two of them were surrounded by an eerie glow, like I could see their auras, which would be weird considering I didn’t know what an aura was let alone if I ever saw one. The bright shiny purple hue circled them both in a protective bubble. It didn’t scare me but it created loads of questions.
When I got off the mother and I made eye contact, setting off my magical Spidey sense. She looked younger than I thought. And something in her eyes made me think she'd seen some shit.
Without thinking I smiled at her, and she smiled back.
11.
The wolf pack clubhouse happened to be down a dark back alley, closely resembling the entrance to a crappy dive bar. I gather that was by design but it made Burnt Offerings look inviting.
I stood outside the door and scanned the vicinity looking for security cameras. Surely a notification went off when someone approached the door. When I couldn’t spot anything, I pushed the small black button on the intercom just to the right of the door. It let off a standard angry beep, sounding more like someone choked a chicken than a buzzer.
After a few minutes the speaker crackled to life. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here to see Lorcan Fitzpatrick.”
“Who’s this?”
I sighed. “He didn’t tell you I was coming? My name is Camille.”
Another crackle, then a metal click by the door that I assumed meant it unlocked. I grabbed the handle and pulled and sure enough it opened.
I stepped inside the doorway to a flight of stairs going up with Lorcan standing at the top, smiling.
“You found her?” He grinned ear to ear.
“According to her you didn’t try very hard.” I started up the stairs to meet him, holding the handrail for support. “She said she works at Ren regularly and you would have seen her had you bothered to go in.”
He rolled his eyes. “Some of the guys I met her with went and said they never saw her.”
“Either you’re a fool or they lied.” I felt myself blush at my boldness. “Sorry. I’m just being honest.”
“So she’s human, right?”
He escorted me into a large room with a pool table, a bar and some couches by a wall fireplace and a window. Finished with black leather and dark wood, it reminded me of something from a motorcycle club hangout. We sat down in overstuffed leather chairs across from each other.
“Do you want me to be honest?” I asked.
“Absolutely.”
“No. She’s not human at all.” I dug around in my purse until I found him the note Meg gave me, which I reluctantly handed to him. He eyed it curiously for a moment before taking it from me. Part of me kicked myself for not reading it beforehand.
“She’s not? I'm surprised she could hide that from me.”
“In your defense, she’s very talented at hiding who and what she actually is.”
He eased back in the chair, flipping the small envelope in between his fingers. He said nothing for a few minutes, his handsome face very serious and unmoving. His smoulder only intensified by his obvious anger at the situation.
“You want to know my opinion?” I asked. I checked my phone quickly, still nothing from Eric.
“Is it going to cost me anything?”
“Hey, you already paid me to go to a strip club for you. Now you’re going to bitch?”
He chuckled. “That’s valid. Go ahead.”
“I think you should let this go.”
“Ok...?”
“She‘s not what you think she is, clearly. I’m not sure you want to get involved with, well, someone like her because you‘ll never know if it’s real or she‘s just bamboozling you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Bamboozled?”
Rolling my eyes, I could keep my cool. Clearly, I needed to be blunt. “She‘s a succubus, dude. I wish I was kidding but I‘m not.”
He stared blankly at me for a few more minutes, than tore open the note. His eyes scanned the page, and then he tossed it towards me before standing up and beginning to pace.
I grabbed it from where it landed on the coffee table and debated telling him to stop acting like a spoiled child before I read it. Lorcan Fitzpatrick clearly was not used to things not going his way, and he did not look pleased. For a moment I regretted not waiting for Eric to come with me.
“Look, I told you from the get go that you might not like the response you get. Acting like a pissed off child doesn‘t do you any favours.” I folded the note and put it back in my pocket when he wasn‘t looking.
“I don‘t like being lied to.”
I checked my
phone again. Still no Eric. “Neither do I. No one does. The way I see it you can either play this one of two ways. You already stink of desperation for hiring me to find her. You can either show up at Ren with some grand romantic gesture or you can forget she ever existed. A notch on what I am sure is your overly dented bedpost.”
He laughed. “Is that what you really think of me?”
“You're freakishly good looking and the heir to the wolf pack. I’d be stupid if I didn’t.” I smiled at him. “If I were you, I would be man whoring it up like no other. But that’s beside the point.”
“What if me and the boys went to Ren and trashed the place?”
Now I laughed. “It’s a Kinkaid bar. You feel like starting a war over her?”
“She works for them?”
“Beyond being an employee at Ren, I doubt it.” I stood up and gathered my things. “Either way, my job is done. Unless you need anything else?”
“Sit down Camille.” He directed from between clenched teeth. Part of me wanted to laugh at him outright. Foolish child didn’t know who he was fucking with.
Do you even hear yourself? He could probably kill you three times before you hit the ground. Sit the fuck down dumbass.
Reluctantly I sat back down, but made my irritation clear by my facial expression.
“You got five more minutes, golden boy. And I’m billing you.” I kept my voice level.
“Can you make me a charm or a potion or whatever to get rid of whatever she did to me?” He looked away from me when he spoke, clearly embarrassed. Angry but embarrassed. Not the best combo.
“No. But my people could. You have met Millie and her daughter.”
“That’s not going to happen. Looks like we’re going to have to go talk to Moira.”
“Who’s Moira?”
12.
I followed Lorcan to his little black sports car he'd parked in the lot across the street. He drove way too fast, and I felt unprotected in his tiny two-seater death trap. I would most definitely be taking a different route home. Hopefully Eric reappeared soon.
“Where are we going?” I asked him.
“No one told you about Natural Causes?” He thankfully kept his eyes focused on the road as he spoke. “I keep forgetting this is new to you. I don’t know exactly what Moira is but she does magic. She might be a druid, high priestess or something. I don’t speak that level of magic.”
“And she’s just cool with you walking in there with me?”
He shrugged. “I’ll guess we’ll find out.” Natural Causes turned out to be a health food store in The Annex neighbourhood, about a fifteen-minute ride in the death car from the clubhouse. I slung my laptop bag over my shoulder so I would be hands free, my purse pulled up high on the opposite shoulder. My gloves were on tight and I felt as ready as I ever would be walking into unknown territory with a wolf I didn’t trust.
Lorcan strode in like he owned the place, his general holier than thou attitude starting to piss me off. He went straight to the cashier, a younger girl with a long braid that hung down her back. She took one look at him, glancing briefly at me, and motioned for us to follow her.
Hope he is worth whatever happens next.
I grabbed my phone and began texting Eric my location as we navigated through a dark hallway into a large open back room.
Herbs hung from the ceiling in various bundles, and shelves lined the walls with different magical artifacts. Once I put my phone away I found my eyes drifting around the room as I tried to take everything in.
I gravitated to a Polaroid photo that hung on the wall of three teenagers, two girls and one boy. The boy clutched an athame that sat on the shelf below it.
Is that the Mom from the bus?
“Don’t you think you should introduce yourself blanchmains before you start nosing around?” A female voice with a slight Irish accent made me jump. I turned to see an old woman sitting in a chair close to the center of the room next to a cauldron. Her pale blue eyes watched me with curiosity, one half of her mouth turned up in a smile. She poked her opposite cheek and laughed as nothing moved on the other side of her face.
“Paralyzed. Doesn’t work at all. Eye still does but that’s it.” She laughed. “I’m Moira.”
“Camille Bishop.” I stuck out my hand to shake hers, she cackled when she saw my gloves.
“You Marie Le Fay’s girl by any chance?” she asked.
“You knew my mother?”
“I did. But that’s not why you’re here.” She looked up at Lorcan, swatting at him. “Got another one with pup, have you?”
I laughed loudly. “Oh fuck no! Absolutely not! He’s been bamboozled by a succubus.”
“Have you now? It’s a good thing you’re pretty, boy.” She leaned over and whispered to me. “He’s very nice but a little light between the ears.”
My eyes filled with tears as I began laughing probably a little too hard, Lorcan raised his hand and said, “Is there something you can do about it? Something you can give me?”
“Cosima!” Moria called out to the younger girl. “Get the boy a talisman. And bring me a restoration vial.”
Moira turned back to me. “That family of yours started teaching you anything?”
“A little. My mother bound my powers as a child so I didn’t find out until her immediate family killed my former boyfriend to unleash them.” They all turned to me wide eyed when I finished. “In my defense, she told me her siblings and parents weren’t around.”
Moira sighed. “I told her it was a bad idea. We could have guided you, eased you into it. It’s a shame she died how she did. I’m sorry for that. I hope you know she was a good woman, just wanted to protect you.”
I smiled, sadness pooling in the pit of my stomach. “I know. Thank you for saying that.”
Cosima reappeared, and she helped Moira up so she could stand by the cauldron.
Their process of gathering ingredients and mixing in the cauldron looked different than Millie and Nya. Cosima chanted in a low voice through the entire process, and Moira spoke occasionally but I couldn’t hear anything she said. Within about ten minutes a green glowing liquid filled the cauldron, steam rising up and into the room. It smelt of cedar and sweet grass.
Moira filled the vial and handed it to him, then dipped the talisman in the liquid and passed it to him as well. Lorcan put the leather cord around his neck and tucked it under his shirt so it touched his skin.
“Take two drops of that until the bottle is empty.” Moira gestured at him. “And stay the fuck away from it. You hear me? Leave this thing be!”
It took me a moment to clue in that when she said it she meant Meg. From the look on his face I felt pretty confident that he would listen.
He handed her some folded up money, I couldn't tell exactly how much. He said thank you and smiled at the two women.
“It was nice to meet you, Camille. Please come back again.” Moira said, and I echoed the sentiment as I followed Lorcan back out.
Once we got outside, I checked my phone. Eric finally reappeared and would collect me from here.
I tried to hide my disgruntled expression as Lorcan asked. “Can I drop you somewhere?”
“No, my ride will be here soon. And I wouldn’t get back in that rolling death trap with you anyhow. Who taught you how to drive?” He tried to smile as I spoke, clearly thinking I was kidding. “I’m dead serious dude. That was scary.”
He shrugged me off. “If I didn’t say this earlier, thank you. I appreciate you doing this.”
“I did the job you paid me for. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out how you wanted it to.”
“Nothing ever does.” He turned away, got in his car and drove off without looking back.
Luckily within about ten minutes Eric pulled up. His car smelt quite fragrantly like bacon.
“You know the rental comp
any might get mad that their car reeks like bacon, right?” I said once I got in and we started moving.
He shrugged. “Better than new car smell.”
His jovial expression and casual tone made me think he didn’t even realize that leaving the office and disappearing like that might make me feel bad. I debated internally whether it was worth the fight and ruining this new stage we got to in our relationship.
“So why did Lorcan bring you here?” Eric finally asked.
“He read Meg’s note, got super pissy, and I told him what she is. He said something about taking his boys and trashing Ren, which I told him was fucking stupid as hell, then we came here. Moira gave him a talisman and a vial of restoration with some glowing green shit in it.” I explained. “She’s cool. I’d like to go back and talk to her one day.”
“You told her who you are?”
“She knew when we walked in.”
“Did Lorcan tell her?”
“No. I think she’s just that powerful. Lorcan acted like a spoiled little baby. He needs a swift kick in the ass.”
Eric shrugged. “He’s essentially a prince. He was born into his position, unlike Liam who fought for it. That does things to your personality.”
“I wonder what I would have been like if my Mom hadn’t bound my powers.”
He turned to me as we stopped at a red light, and I saw something flash behind his eyes. A dark pulse, like a beacon shining out from his black pupils, that crawled behind there waiting.
“Where did you go earlier?” I finally asked.
“When?"
“I went looking for you after another encounter with Lemme. Ted knew one of the women from the auction this morning, said she’s a police detective.”
“I was hungry, and I went out to get us some food. Yours is in a bag in the back.”
“Oh. How come you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought I would be back before you noticed I was gone.”
“Where did you go?”
“I went back to the Burger King we stopped at by Ren. “That’s almost on the other side of town. Why would you go all the way over there? I’m sure there are closer ones if you Google it.”
Rise (Camille Bishop Book 3) Page 6