Note: Please see Prologue for warning, copyright and disclaimer information.
Mac Brennan
No matter how much I liked Baltimore, I had a hard time keeping a job there. The main reason was because despite Glenn's help, anger management for me still meant beating the shit out of anyone who gave me a hard time. I'd lost my job over yet another one of those incidents, and Glenn was able to get me into the Memphis, a seedy little bar near downtown Baltimore. Our group spent a lot of time there, mostly because vampires didn't frequent the place.
One night a few weeks after I started working there, I was waiting tables and almost the whole group from the brownstone was there, sitting near the pool tables. Jane had told me that Glenn would be in a little while later and I was glad to hear it. Even though we weren't seeing each other anymore, we were still friends.
I had just handed out drinks to a table across the room from them when I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched. I straightened slowly to look around and saw him right away, sitting next to Glenn who had come in while I wasn't looking. I hadn't seen the guy before, but somehow I knew him instantly.
He sat almost completely motionless, staring at me with one hand on a beer glass and the other holding a cigarette halfway to his mouth. He looked like perfection walking to me; there's no other way to explain it. His thick dark hair swept away from his ruggedly handsome face, and his eyes caught mine so that I couldn't look away. From what I could see he was solidly built, very muscular.
The lights in the bar seemed to dim until he was the only thing I could see. In the time between one heartbeat and the next I knew he was strong yet gentle, brave and warm. In that moment I knew I could love this man forever.
For that brief instant it didn't matter to me that I was a freak or that Kate could find me any night. My past didn't matter and my blood didn't matter and the fact that my mother was a vampire mattered even less. I knew with every part of me that I was meant for this man and I was so thrilled that I'd finally found what I hadn't even known I was looking for.
The moment was broken when Glenn jostled the newcomer with his elbow. The stranger turned and said something to my friend, then finally brought the cigarette to his mouth. I turned away and took the empty tray back to the bar.
"Shift's up, Eliza," the bartender said loudly to be heard over the crowd and the music.
A glance at the clock told me it was past eleven. I took off my apron and hung it in the kitchen, then grabbed a mug of coffee before I walked over to join my friends.
A few of them called out to me and I greeted them in return as I made my way through the crowd to the table where Glenn sat. There were no seats free, but the stranger reached behind him to grab a chair from another table and move it beside his. I glanced at Glenn, but he didn't notice my hesitation.
"Eliza," he called warmly, "Sit down, have a drink."
"Got one," I said, lifting my coffee mug a little in his direction and sitting down next to the newcomer. I didn't want to get too close to him, but I couldn't explain my reluctance so I had no other choice.
"Hello," the stranger said softly with a slight accent that I couldn't quite place.
"Hi," I replied softly.
"Hey," Glenn called across to me with a boyish grin. "This is Mac Brennan. He's new in town and I thought we all could show him around."
"And you brought him to this dump?" I asked with an answering grin. "Isn't there a better bar you could have taken him to?"
He tried to look wounded and covered his heart. "Hell, I just thought I try one more time to get you to change your mind and take me back."
I rolled my eyes. Glenn had kept his word about not pushing me, but he'd also kept it about asking me out again. I ignored him like I had every time he'd brought up the subject and the conversation at the table resumed around us. I sipped at my coffee and I noticed that Mac was watching me, but I didn't look at him.
A small figure bumped into my chair from behind and suddenly Mac's arms were full of a young boy. It was a little late for Bobby to be out, but there he was. He liked to spend time with the people from the brownstone; they were his friends as much as they were mine.
"Bobby," I chastised him, "what are you doing here this late?" I glanced around but I wasn't surprised when I didn't see his mother. He'd snuck out, again.
"I just came down to see you, Eliza," he said as Mac helped him get back on his feet. Bobby was twelve and almost as tall as I was, but he didn't seem to mind me mothering him.
"Don't you have school tomorrow?" It was nearly midnight.
"Yeah," he admitted reluctantly, and then grinned. "But I saw this cool flower down on Washington and I knew you'd want to see it."
I couldn't help but smile. Bobby knew I liked plants and it seemed like every week he was trying to show me a house that had different things planted in the yard. "You probably wouldn't go home if I told you to, would you?" I said, reaching up to ruffle his blond hair.
"I'll take you there," he offered anxiously. "You could make sure I went home right after."
"All right," I told him, taking a last drink of my coffee. "I'll make sure you get home."
"After you see the flowers?"
"Yeah," I said, rising to my feet. I was actually glad for an excuse to get away from the stranger who affected me so strongly. "After."
It didn't work because he stood up too. "Do you mind if I walked with you?" he asked, earning a sharp look from the boy.
I agreed for two reasons, only one of which I would admit to. One was that Bobby's crush on me had gotten a little too heavy since I'd broken up with Glenn, and him seeing me with another man might make him back off. The other reason, the one I wouldn't have told anyone if it killed me, was that Mac fascinated me.
The three of us said our goodnights and walked out of the bar into the night. Bobby stayed a little ahead of us, preferring to be on what he called point. That way he said he could watch for bad guys and take care of them before they got to me. Normally I found it adorable, but that night I wished he'd stayed back with Mac and me.
"Have you been in Baltimore long?" I asked him to break the silence between us.
"Not really," he replied. "I just got into town a few days ago."
"You're a long way from home," I murmured, finally recognizing the faint Irish brogue in his voice.
He nodded and looked down at me. I looked back, fascinated by his eyes even in the dimness of the streetlights.
"So are you busy tomorrow night?" he asked me.
I wanted to say no so badly that I frowned and looked away. "I think so," I told him firmly.
"You think so? You don't know?"
I shook my head. "Look, Mac," I began, watching Bobby turn the corner up ahead, "you seem like a real nice guy, but I don't want to go out with you." If the vamps decided to retaliate against us for fighting them, anyone close to us would be their first target. Ditto for anyone I cared about if Kate managed to find me again after all this time.
"Why?"
I was saved from answering when I heard a growl from around the corner. "Bobby," I whispered even as I started running. I knew what I'd find before I even reached the corner so I didn't bother to look before turning it. The growl had told me that Bobby had shifted to wolf-man form to fight, and my gut told me it was a vampire. I pulled my knife and prepared to fight.
"Stop!" I yelled loudly.
The tall dark vamp looked up at me over Bobby's shoulder. Bobby took advantage of his distraction and raked the vamp across the chest with his long sharp claws.
The vamp staggered back and lost his grip on the boy, but he recovered quickly. He looked right at me and his eyes widened. He hit Bobby with a well-aimed backhand, and the boy went flying into the street. The vamp growled loudly and I came to a stop, readying myself for the fight of my life. I'd fought vampires before, but not like this. I knew I could probably get away, but that would have left Bobby defenseless and Kindred love shapeshifter blood.
Suddenly the leech froze with a surprised look on his face. Then he fell face down on the ground and I could see a piece of wood sticking out of his back. Where the hell had that come from?
"Good thing someone was tearing down that fence," Mac said from behind me. I spun, having forgotten he was there. He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "I saw it and thought I could give you a hand."
I glanced from the body on the ground to Mac's face and realized the obvious; Mac had levitated the wood and thrust it into the vampire's heart with some type of magic.
"Thanks," I told him with a smile. I sheathed my knife and walked over to where Bobby had fallen. He had returned to human form and was just sitting up, holding his head. He was quite naked, but that hadn't really occurred to him yet.
"Are you all right?" I asked him softly, bending down at his side.
"What happened to the vamp?" he asked.
"Mac got him," I said, gesturing toward the body on the sidewalk.
"Really?" He looked up at Mac with admiration in his eyes.
Mac took off his long leather jacket and offered it to Bobby. "It wasn't much," he said softly. "If he hadn't hit you like that I know you would have taken him."
"I would have too," Bobby cried fiercely. "I would have ripped his heart out and eaten it."
"I don't think it would have tasted very good, Bobby," I cautioned him. I knew he had to learn how to defend himself, but I didn't want to see him get killed thinking he knew more about fighting than he did. Damn, now he'd be begging to join us on the hunt. I didn't want him at risk but there was nothing I could do; Glenn had a policy of never turning away anyone that knew the risks and still wanted to kill vamps.
"Would you like to help me take care of it?" Mac asked him. "After all, it should have been your kill."
I glanced up at Mac as Bobby took the jacket and pulled it on quickly, having suddenly realized that he was naked. I knew Mac must have been around werewolves before to know how to treat the boy without hurting his feelings.
"Sure!" Bobby said enthusiastically. He ran over to the vamp and began poking at the body.
"So when won't you be busy?" Mac asked me.
"Who was he?" I replied, searching his face.
He glanced at Bobby. "My brother."
"But you're not." Last I knew Garou couldn't make things float.
He smiled. "No, I take after my father. How about Saturday?"
I shook my head and laughed. "I like you, Mac," I told him, too much if I was to be honest with myself. "But I won't go out with you. Ever." As I watched him and Bobby decapitate the vampire, I wondered how long I could hold to that promise.
It only took a few days for Mac to become so much a part of my life that it felt like he'd been in it forever. The more I saw of the handsome Irishman, the more I liked him. The more I liked him, the more I told myself that I had to stay as far away from him as possible. Except I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried.
He was always at the brownstone when I was there, and whenever any of the magi came to my apartment he was with them. I don't know if it was chance or if he manipulated it in some way, but every time I turned around he was there.
Bobby was at my place a lot too, and one night when Paul came over, he seemed to connect instantly with Mac in a way that I'd never seen him connect with anyone. That just made me like Mac even more.
By the time two weeks had gone by, I knew I was in love with him. Oh, I tried to deny it, and I sure as hell didn't tell anyone else, but there it was. I did everything I could to avoid him, but it was hard to do unless I wanted to give up my hanging with everyone at the brownstone or leave town.
As easy as it had been for me to leave every other city I'd ever lived in, the thought of leaving Mac and Baltimore made me want to cry. It might have been better for all of us if I'd been able to leave, but for whatever reason I couldn't. Even now, even knowing how it all ended, I find it hard to regret staying. Some things you live with, no matter how much it hurts.