Note: Please see Chapter 1 for warning, copyright and disclaimer information.

Compromises

I woke suddenly when I heard the door open and felt the vamp come into the apartment. I peered out from mostly closed eyes and looked toward the kitchen, but the angle was wrong and I couldn't see who had come in. I hoped it was Mac, but just in case it wasn't, I reached for the stake I'd stashed under the cushion my first night in the apartment.

"Luv?" I heard Mac say from the kitchen.

I breathed a sigh of relief that it was him and not someone I'd have to fight. For real now, I would have lost. "I'm in here," I called to him softly as I sat up and reached up to turn on the lamp next to me. A moment later light spilled across the room and I tucked the stake back into the cushions.

"Are we alone?" he asked softly.

"As far as I know," I told him, "unless you brought somebody with you."

I could hear him walking toward the living room, but he stopped for just a moment before coming into the doorway. I sat up a little and tucked the robe around my bare legs. It was cold in the room, but I didn't have the energy to get up and turn the heat on.

"Get into a fight?" he asked as he walked toward the couch.

"What was your first clue?" I moved over so that he could sit down next to me.

"The jeans in the trash," he said dryly.

I knew I should have taken care of those, I could smell the blood on them from here without even trying. "Just a little bit."

He studied my face for a moment. "Why don't you sleep?"

I shook my head. "I've been sleeping all day."

"You still look like you need some more," he told me.

Just what I wanted to hear. "Gee, thanks." When he sighed, I added, "I've been sleeping all day, I don't want to sleep."

"You don't really look dressed for much else," he drawled.

"Why, did you have in mind dinner and dancing?" I didn't have the energy for either, but the mention of food reminded me that my stomach was eating itself.

"We've had worse dates," he murmured. "Wait, it was dinner and dancing."

I chuckled a little. It was good to have him here. "I'm glad you could come by. How long do you have?"

"The night."

I smiled. "What a coincidence, so do I."

He smiled back. "Funny how that worked out."

I rested my head against the back of the loveseat. "So what have you been up to?"

His answer surprised me. "I visited Kate last night."

"Oh?" That was interesting news. "Can we kill her yet?"

"Not yet," he told me.

"Damn." I really wanted to be the one to separate her head from her shoulders.

"She's not cooperating yet," he added.

"Wouldn't that be even more reason to kill her?" One could always hope, anyway.

"We still haven't found her other ghoul."

That had been on my mind a lot over the last week. "Did you figure out if it was Linda?" If it was, I thought I had a few ideas about where they could look for her.

"We haven't been able to positively ascertain whether it is or not," he replied. "From what Micky says, I've made the most progress. I managed to break through her self-control."

My eyebrows shot up. "And how did you manage that?"

"I told her what a good time we've been having," he drawled softly.

I didn't like the sounds of that. "What did you tell her?"

"Everything."

Wonderful. "Like she needs to know," I said resentfully.

"I even embellished a few things," he added.

"Great."

"It worked."

I closed my eyes and took a breath to control my temper. "She doesn't need to know anything about me," I said evenly.

"She already knows more than anybody else, Eliza," he reminded me.

"All the more reason to kill her," I replied with a grim smile.

"We're working on that," he said coolly. "However, at the moment she is under the control of the clan. Until they say so, we can't kill her."

"It would have been nice to have killed her two weeks ago," I muttered under my breath.

He heard me. "Then there would have been hell to pay."

"That's why I didn't kill her." Duh.

"Good choice," he said dryly.

I didn't want to argue about it, I'd turned her over like they'd ordered. "Any idea when we can kill her?"

"No," he answered. "Be patient, she's not going anywhere."

"I don't have much patience," I told him bluntly. "You should have picked up on that by now."

"You?" he said with mock surprise. "Impatient? No."

"Yeah, and I have such an even temper, too," I added sarcastically. I didn't want to argue with him, it was time to change the subject. "So you talked to Corrine?"

"Yes, I had dinner with her on Sunday. We went for a walk."

I nodded. "I talked to her earlier today."

"How is she?"

"She's fine," I said. Of course it bothered me that she might not be fine for long. "She's going this weekend for her first seeking."

"She'll be fine," he assured me. "I'm assuming the family will be there?"

I hadn't thought about that. "Well, Jared at least."

"That's not quite the family I was referring to," he replied.

"You know, I don't know, I wasn't invited," I said trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. "They didn't actually clear it with me."

"Corrine is a big girl," he reminded me. "She can take care of herself."

"I know that." It was hard not to the way she'd been acting lately. It was hard to accept that my baby had grown up while I was away killing things to keep her safe. A part of me would always think of her as the little ten-year-old girl that I'd left behind when I joined the Society.

"I'm sure Jared explained the dangers of the seeking," he added.

I nodded. "He did, we talked about it."

He just looked at me.

"What?" I demanded crossly. "I didn't say anything, I didn't even try to talk her out of it."

"Do you think it would have done any good?" he asked.

I smiled sadly. "It would not have done any good, that's why I didn't even try." The girl was so much like her father it scared me. "She was supposed to have left this afternoon."

"Going back up to the cabin?"

"I have no idea where they're going," I said, trying to bury my resentment. "I'm not exactly in that club." I never had been even in Baltimore, and because of what I am I never will be.

"Neither am I," he reminded me.

"Not anymore," I murmured under my breath. At least he'd been there once, he had some kind of reference point talk to her about magic. I was out of the loop completely.

"I spoke with Ford last evening," he told me.

I looked at him in surprise. "Did you?"

"Yes."

When he didn't say anything more, I tried to hide my impatience. "And what did Ford have to say?"

"We discussed renegotiating the contract," he admitted.

"And…?" Damn, it was like pulling teeth.

"Well, we both agreed that the money would have to stop and that the stipulation concerning Corrine's well-being would also stay in effect," he told me. "However, even Ford knew that she was head strong and wanted to meet some of the family so that part is pretty well out. You will be pulled from the Society. I don't know if you will just be pulled or if they will stage something for your protection."

I hadn't thought about that. I wondered if I could just walk away from St. Stephen's without a problem. Not many people did, but then again not many people wanted to. Most of them were fanatical about killing monsters.

"You will be included in the clan security, most likely under Micky with myself," he added calmly. "Ford was interested in studying you and your abilities. A Dhampyr is very rare."

Great, I got to go under the microscope. Yippee. It wasn't something I was looking forward to, not at all.

He gave me a long thoughtful look that I didn't understand until he spoke again. "And Ford would like you ghouled to someone to assure that you don't act up and burn him in a limo." He said it quickly and the tone of his voice told me that he knew I'd killed Luther.

"Well I'm not likely to, am I?" I asked coldly. I seriously doubted Ford would give me a reason to do that.

"I don't know," he replied just as coldly. "I didn't know Luther so I can't speak on him."

That made me wonder just how much he knew about the whole incident. I sat up and tossed the robe to the side. "Yeah, well, he deserved it," I said bitterly as I rose to my unsteady feet. Limping, I made my way slowly to the kitchen.

"However, Ford does agree with me that the only one you would agree to be ghouled to would be myself," he added, following right behind me. "The ball is in your court, Eliza."

And here I'd never been one for playing sports. I opened the refrigerator looking for something quick to fill the hole in my stomach while Mac walked past me to put his coat on a chair.

"So it's not like you're asking too much of me, huh?" I murmured as I took out a block of cheese, some fruit and a soda from the refrigerator.

"This is all voluntary," he reminded me irritably. "If you don't want to you don't have to. The current contract can remain even longer."

Sure, I could keep murdering things until Corrine stopped forgiving me, keep getting stabbed, keep lying to everyone I knew. That's what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Not. I turned and walked back toward the living room trying to gather the courage to tell Mac I'd be his puppy.

"What, no coffee?" he asked dryly.

"If you want to make it, I'll drink it," I told him. I was way too damn tired to make it myself, not to mention weak. I felt as if a stiff breeze would blow me over, but somehow I made it across the room to the loveseat.

"No, last time I made it you didn't like it."

"That was the first pot," I reminded him. "The second pot was okay." I sat down with a sigh and leaned back with my eyes closed for a moment to gather myself.

"I do have some more of the medicine if you are needing something," he told me.

I winced. "That was really nasty."

"As I said, most homegrown medicinals are," he said sounding amused.

"I'll be all right in a couple of days." I sat up a little and started eating the cheese. It tasted good, and the protein would go along way to help me regain the blood that I'd used and lost.

"When do you have to return to the Society?" he asked, still standing.

"Mass on Sunday. Charity thought I needed a break after this morning," I told him cynically.

"What did happen this morning?"

"Poor planning." I took a long drink of the soda before continuing. "A group of mage wannabe's that they think killed Gerome. We attacked and there were a few more of them than we thought."

"And one of them got you."

I looked down at the angry red scar on my thigh, thinking it should be about obvious. "Yeah."

"But you healed it, I see," he murmured.

"As much as I could," I told him with a sigh. It had been a close thing, too close. I finished off the cheese and started in on the apple. "So when would this change in contract take place?"

"I did not ask, actually," he admitted. "I'm assuming it would be as soon as possible. Lord Radek can draw up the papers, if it isn't already done."

This whole thing seemed a little bit too easy to me. "So what's in it for him?" I wanted to say that vamps didn't do anything unless there was something in it for them, but I figured he'd take it the wrong way, considering he was a vamp.

"Well, they have another mole in the society," he began.

"Bronwyn." I'd been a little surprised to see her at St. Stephen's considering I'd intercepted her a month ago and made sure the clan got to her.

"Yes, higher ranking and ah…"

"Better with computers," I put in.

"Yes."

Better with computers, but she sucked in a fight. "She's a wimp."

"Well, the meek shall inherit the earth," he drawled.

"Yeah, ri-ight." I shook my head, not believing it for a second. "The world belongs to the strong. If you can take it, you can have it."

"Are we going to sit here and quote philosophy all night Elizabeth?" he asked impatiently.

"Not exactly a normal subject for me," I said, reminded of the dream I'd had in Paris. But he was right, now wasn't the time to go all philosophical. "So what is in it for him? I don't get it."

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "perhaps Ford has taken a liking to you, and possibly to me. And on a more pragmatic level, there are very few people in that chantry who could stand up to you in a fistfight. Or a stake throwing match, or a knife-throwing match. Knowing as much as you do about us, we can't just turn you loose."

"No, it wouldn't do for me to have a normal life, would it?" For real now, I couldn't stop the bitterness that I felt about that. I took a deep breath before speaking again. "So the money stops, Corrine is protected, I play bodyguard, and guinea pig—"

"And get to live the rest of your life with me," he said softly.

That wasn't what I was going to say, but he probably wouldn't have like it much anyway. "Well, that would certainly be a plus," I murmured.

"Thank you," he said disdainfully. "It's good to know you care."

I'd hurt his feelings. "I didn't mean it that way," I told him apologetically.

"You could have fooled me."

If he thought I'd be overjoyed to lose my free will, he had another thing coming. "So we get to spend the rest of our lives together, but I get to be the puppy." How would he feel if it were the other way around?

He shot me an angry look. "Do you honestly think that I would treat you as a… puppy?" He said the word as if it were a dirty thing. To me, it was.

"I have a hard time believing that I could act like one," I admitted.

"Then it's a moot point," he said irritably.

"But I've seen it happen," I told him bluntly. His attitude was beginning to irritate me. "And no I don't think that you'd treat me like one. Not tell me everything, yeah, I could see that happen."

"When you're completely honest with me," he began, but I cut him off.

"I've never lied to you," I cried, resenting that he could even think that I had. I've lied to a whole lot of people in my life, even my own daughter, but I've never lied to Mac, ever.

"You've never told me the whole truth either," he reminded me heatedly.

"About what?" I demanded.

"Pick a year."

I started to argue, but I knew he was right. I let go of my anger and irritation and got ready to spill my guts. "Pick one," I told him simply. "What do you want to know?"

"We don't have time for this, Eliza," he warned me, his voice cold and hard.

"What is it we have time for?" I asked him.

"Would you be willing to be ghouled to me in order to renegotiate the contract?" he demanded harshly, suppressed anger in every line of his body. "To be free of the bounds of St. Stephen's, to be with me, to allow Corrine to lead a life more fitting to her own choosing?"