Rise (Camille Bishop Book 3)

by Ravin Tija Maurice

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t think me picking you up some lunch would be such an issue.”

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “It’s not. And I appreciate it. Forget I said anything, ok? Where are we going now?”

  “Do you want to go see if you can find Ledo so you don’t have to repeat the info about the lady in the photo?” He asked.

  We stopped at a stoplight and I nudged him, “Pull over for a sec.”

  Once we crossed the lights he pulled over at the side of the road and put the car in park. I leaned across the center console and grabbed his hands, pulling him towards me and kissing him. He seemed surprised as I cradled the back of his head with my hands, his hairs running through my fingers.

  “I'm sorry, I was just confused. It was weird that you were gone and I didn’t know what happened.” I said.

  He smiled that same warm smile that made my heart melt. It would take time for me to pull back the crazy thoughts, and I couldn’t use my shitty past experiences as an excuse forever.

  “You don’t need to worry about me like that, Cas.” He kissed me softly on the cheek, turned the car back on and kept driving.

  I ate my cold food in the car while Eric dropped off papers and did some other errands related to our job. I texted Ted and told him I wrapped up the Fitzpatrick file and that I would send Ramona the paperwork, also letting him know Eric and I were out and about and would not be back. I took his silence as a good thing.

  The sun started going down as we pulled up at Millie’s. I felt uncomfortable and stiff from sitting in the car for so long.

  “You have any of my pain pills handy?” I asked before we got out of the vehicle.

  He rolled his eyes. “You really need them?”

  “I have been sitting in a vehicle for over an hour. Yeah, I need one. Two would be awesome.”

  “Maybe we should let Millie do another heal.”

  I chuckled. “Because it did so well the last time?”

  He put his hand on the back of my neck and the warmth started to spread, then abruptly stopped.

  “What the hell?” he looked down at his own hand, confused.

  “Maybe we need to worry more about what’s going on with you.” I took his hand and kissed it softly. He leaned closer and kissed me again.

  “We could come back later.” I said quietly. “Go somewhere quiet and make out in your back seat for a while.”

  “If you think your neck hurts now.” He touched my neck affectionately, rubbing his smooth and warm fingers along my skin.

  I groaned. “Let’s get this over with so we can go home.”

  “Yours or mine?”

  “Yours, if that’s cool. We can’t be loud at mine.” Before I got more sucked into kissing him, I turned and got out of the vehicle.

  Millie looked happy to see us again when she answered, only this time she appeared wine free. Ledo and Nya were in the TV room at the back of the house which she guided us to.

  “Anything cool happen with your compact?” I asked Ledo, cringing as I sat in the middle of the couch. Eric sat at my one side; Millie eyed me curiously as she sat at the other.

  “Are you still in pain?” She asked.

  “You bet. Healing potion not working. Met Moira today. Maybe she can help.”

  Millie looked offended. “How the hell did you meet Moira?”

  “Lorcan Fitzpatrick. Long story.” I took out my phone and brought up the photo Ted ID’d and handed it to Ledo. “Does the name Shae Rielle mean anything to you?”

  “No. Why?” He handed me back my phone and I passed it to Eric.

  “The blonde in that photo is Detective Shae Rielle. Her name is on a deed to a shop in Parkdale. Apparently she has worked for the police for a while. My uncle Ted ID'd her immediately.”

  “Really? Do you know what the shop is called?” Ledo asked.

  “Not off the top of my head. Give me a minute and I can look it up.” I turned to pick up my laptop bag off my feet and pain began to throb in my neck and shoulder.

  Eric dug around in his pocket and pulled out the prescription bottle, shaking one loose and handing it to me. I dry swallowed it without a word from anyone.

  I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes for a moment. “Give me a few minutes, will you?”

  Ledo shrugged and got on his phone, I assumed using his own skills to look for anything about Shae Rielle.

  “Are you alright?” Eric asked.

  “Maybe riding in that tiny death trap with Lorcan made it worse.” I confessed. At the time I didn’t feel anything but now I didn’t want to move at all if I could avoid it.

  Suddenly my eyes glazed over, and that weird milkiness and feeling like a rubber band snapping forced me to blink hard a few times, then Lilly Darling stood behind Ledo’s chair.

  “What do you want?” I grumbled at her, closing my eyes again.

  “You summoned me, chica. What’s your problem?”

  “Give me the low down on Moira.”

  She whooped out a laugh. “She did this to you? Than your fucking screwed, white hands.”

  “No. I met her today. This,” I motioned over myself, “is something else.”

  “Moira is old magic. Like ancient. She used to work for one of the demon hunting Orders before they got fucked and were destroyed. Now she’s on her own. Pissing her off is a bad idea. Just ask Millie.” Lilly chuckled to herself. “For real, why did you summon me?”

  “I didn’t. I took a damn Percocet, leaned back and poof!”

  “Who are you talking to?” Eric quietly asked.

  “Lilly Darling.” I whispered loudly.

  “Can we get back on topic please?” Ledo asked. “Shae Rielle.”

  “Right!” I motioned to Eric. “Can you hand me my laptop please?”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Lilly asked. “I know I called you a wet noodle before but this is taking it a bit too far.”

  “While I have you here, what do you know about the mermaid in the tank at Nikki's lab?” I asked Lilly, opening an eye and watching her reaction. I'd brought it up before and she'd been cagey.

  “Lord, are you still talking about that shit? Just let it alone already.” Lilly exclaimed.

  “Unless you have any useful information for me, please go away.” I turned away from her and took my laptop, within a minute she disappeared.

  Bringing up the deed, I passed my laptop to Ledo. The pain in my neck still pulsed; I should have taken two pills.

  “I wonder if she is the mystery woman from my Dad's files.” I mumbled to Eric, he squeezed my hand as my eyelids began to flutter and close.

  “What's she talking about?” Ledo asked.

  “There is a mystery woman buying relics for Kinkaid who may have stolen Excalibur.” I kept my eyes closed as I spoke.

  “Huh. Well, we should go to this place and check it out.” Ledo sounded eager and excited.

  I chuckled. “We? Like the private investigators should? Or are you included?”

  Eric gently pat me on the arm. “We should get you home.”

  “Of course I'm included in the we. You wouldn’t even know about the place if it wasn’t for me.” Ledo's tone felt sharp. Millie attempted to silence him but clearly he didn’t get the hint. “No, Mom. She doesn’t get to act that way just because….”

  My eyes shot open, and my power reached across the room in his direction, snaking itself up his leg and beginning to coil around him.

  “What the fuck?” Ledo asked. “Are you kidding me right now?”

  “Stop it Camille.” Millie said angrily. I let it keep going; far enough that I could see in his eyes that it worried him. I turned my eyes to her and she grabbed my wrist.

  “You don’t get to act that way in my house.” Millie squeezed tightly, the pain diverting my
thoughts away from my anger. “Until you get your shit under control you need to leave.”

  I put my laptop in my bag and stood to leave. When Eric didn’t follow I grabbed my shit and walked out.

  13.

  Storming off down the street in the dark, I got out my phone and tried to find the bus routes home. I figured at some point that Eric would come after me but when I reached the main road and the bus stop appeared he still hadn’t come. So I fished my bus pass out of my purse and stood at the stop and waited.

  Within about ten minutes it came and I was on route home. He didn’t call, none of them did. While I sat I made a plan to check out Thesauri on my own tomorrow, mapping out bus routes and getting as much info about the place as I could. It appeared to be an antique store and curiosity shop.

  I arrived home to a dark empty house. With no one home and no one calling, I decided to go through my father’s files and gather a list of things to look for at Thesauri to try to connect them all.

  The next morning I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, but my neck felt terribly sore. Tempted to text Eric and tell him to leave the painkillers in my office, I put the phone away from me. My focus needed to be on task today.

  Ted stood at the stove making breakfast when I came down, Cuddy laughed at something on his phone. The scene warmed my heart, it felt like eons since our lives were normal like this.

  Ted passed me a plate of eggs and bacon. “Morning sunshine. No lover boy today?”

  “No. And shhh about him.” I waved him off and sat down. “No Maritza today?”

  Cuddy smiled to himself. “She’s great. We're great. Life's great.”

  I laughed, his dopey lop sided grin reminding me of when we were kids.

  “How you feeling?” Ted asked. He sat down beside me, his cologne fresh and lemony. His warmth seemed to spread through the room and I really felt at home.

  “Sore but I'll live. Got a full day planned. Once I'm done work I have a lead on something I found in my Dad's files.” I took a bite of bacon as Ted fully stopped.

  “What sort of lead?” Ted’s tone remained level.

  “Oh! No, nothing with the Kinkaid stuff. I don’t know if you remember them at all but there was information about some relics. I pieced some things together and I am going to an antique shop to ask some questions.”

  “Is Eric going too?”

  “What? You don’t think I can do it myself?”

  “What’s going on with you?” Both men turned and stared me down.

  “I don’t know. Since the accident I have been off. I'm sorry.” I looked back down at my food, their gaze too much for me to bear.

  Ted reached over and put his hand on top of mine. “Just be careful, ok?”

  “Of course.” I kissed him on the cheek then went back to eating my food.

  We chatted more about normal things going on in the world as we took Cuddy to school and drove to work. It felt great to be back to the way things were before everything changed, even if it turned out only to be brief.

  When we got to the office Ramona grinned widely at me, enough that I paused at her desk.

  “Good morning…?” I smiled back at her. “What did I do?”

  “Nothing, sweetheart. But your boyfriend is in your office.” I paused when she said the ‘b’ word, turning quickly to Ted who took off down the hallway.

  “Thanks Ramona!” I tried to fake excitement, hopefully she didn’t see through it.

  I stopped just outside my door and listened. No noise, I couldn’t even hear him breathing. Part of me wanted to rush in and apologise, the other wanted to walk by and go sit in his office and wait and see how long it took him to clue in. After thinking for a bit, I took a deep breath and stepped inside my office.

  Hanging up my stuff and closing the door behind me, I said nothing as I walked towards my desk. Sitting down so I could slide across, Eric put his hand on my knee.

  “What happened yesterday?” his voice was low, non confrontational.

  “I don’t like his attitude. I don’t like any of their attitudes, actually.” I stayed where I was, watching his hand and wishing it would move higher.

  “You know Millie is really hurt.”

  I chuckled. “So? I didn’t hurt him. He was being a dick.”

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me down so I straddled his lap. “You should have texted me.”

  I winced as I sat, my hand immediately going to my neck. “You could have texted me too you know.”

  “Are you ok?” he asked as he nuzzled my neck. I leaned in to him, closing my eyes for a moment.

  “Five by five. And you?”

  He chuckled. “I missed you last night.”

  “Did they bitch about me after I left?”

  “Ledo started to. But I left before he could say anything that would piss me off.” He kissed the soft skin just below my ear. “Millie is just worried.”

  “That's kind of what Millie does.”

  “She has a point. That demon just disappeared without issue? That doesn’t make sense from our experiences. I get why she would be suspicious.”

  The demon is gone because I gave it a body. But you don’t need to know that.

  “Why is it so hard to believe that I told it to fuck off and it listened? As you all have stated repeatedly you have never dealt with shit like mine before. Maybe you all should accept you don’t know what you’re talking about.” I leaned down, kissing the side of his neck while moving my hands between his legs.

  He laughed, a deep belly sound that made his body shake, and pulled my hands back. “Later, love.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because we’re at work.”

  “What about the car?”

  “You’re in enough pain. I promise when our day is done we'll go to my place and turn our phones off.” He smelt my hair, and then used both hands to gently move me away.

  I sighed loudly, sticking out my bottom lip in mock pout. “OK. Are you down to go to this shop with me and get a read on Shae Rielle? Maybe she knows where Excalibur is.”

  “Are we bringing Ledo?”

  “Fuck no.” He went to say something but before he could I kissed him. It didn’t feel like an epic kiss, but it carried significance. Whatever happened last night could count as our first real fight.

  “Hi.” I smiled down at him, rubbing the pad of my thumb along his jaw.

  He smiled back up at me. “Hi. I'm going to go make us some coffee. Then you can fill me in and we can head out. What do we tell Ted?”

  “I told him this morning. I’d planned the route if you and I didn’t make up.”

  He laughed. “We can properly make up later.” This time he kissed me hard, the movement and his hand behind my head sent shivers down my spine.

  Before it turned into something we separated, he went to make us coffee and I started on my official report on the Fitzpatrick file. Because Lorcan went to the trouble of making it official I needed to follow protocol and file a report.

  Trying to find something to say that didn’t make Lorcan come across as a total loser wasn’t easy. He wouldn’t get a copy of my official report unless he asked for it, and I couldn’t imagine I would be hearing from him again in that capacity. So I tried to be as honest as possible.

  For normal eyes the situation looked like a black and white case of unrequited love. Cut and dry. Normally we wouldn’t take those cases, too many dangerous variables. But I expressed quite clearly that the ‘young Mr. Fitzpatrick’ would not be an issue. And he wouldn't be.

  While printing the report I also printed out my maps and a list for our little excursion today. I anticipated magic being involved, as it seemed to be in everything these days.

  Are you a #Believer?

  Two coffee’s in and I felt ready to go. While Eric went back to his office to gather h
is things I went to the reception area.

  Ramona smiled as I came over. “Hello dear.”

  “Hey, do Eric and I have any appointments for the rest of the day?” I stood beside her desk and leaned down so I could see the calendar on her desktop.

  “Client wise, no. You both have paperwork that needs to be filled out but you don’t have to be in the office to do that.” Ramona shrugged, her curls bouncing. “Ted assumed you’d be on light duties for a while, and to be honest it’s not like we have a lineup out the door.”

  “I wish they had bounty hunters in Canada.”

  “I know you do honey. You should really start going to the gym or something, take out that aggression on something more positive.”

  Eric appeared, travel mugs in hand. “You packed up?”

  I smiled and nodded, waving by to Ramona as we returned to my office. Within minutes we were out the door, both laptops and my printed out plans included. Feeling pretty confident, I laid out my ideas to Eric as we drove.

  Turning my body towards him, I watched his every movement. Everything about me wanted to touch him; my magic, myself, my very being wanted to feel every part of him.

  “You know they're probably not human right?” Eric said.

  I smiled, watching his lips move. “Huh?”

  “Shae Rielle and this other woman, they’re probably not human.”

  “So?”

  “What if they are not too keen on the Merlin and blanchmains coming into their shop?”

  “Then they shouldn’t have opened a shop. This city is not that big and we could always walk in randomly.”

  He chuckled. “Do you really believe that? You don’t get how any of this works, do you?

  “Nope. And I will use that to my advantage if need be.”

  “Playing dumb won’t last forever.” He began parallel parking the car, the shop not in clear view.

  “Are we here?” I asked.

  “I'm not going to park out front, silly. This isn’t the best neighborhood so it’s also about finding a safe place to park.”

  “I thought this was an up and coming area?”

  “Up and coming doesn’t necessarily take away the bad parts. As you'll see when we get out of the car. Make sure your door is locked and we'll lock the laptops in the trunk.” He turned off the car, grabbed both our computer bags and went and locked them in the trunk. Turning to open the door, stiffness and soreness made it difficult to move. Taking a big breath in and out I pushed passed the pain and got out of the vehicle.