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

Errands

Jax turned on the ignition and glanced over at Mac. "I was correct on where the train station is. Did you still want to go there now?"

"Yes," he replied. As Jax pulled out of the parking lot, he said, "We have an invitation to the Pinnacle, if you would like to join us." He seemed a little unsure about asking Jax to come along, but the ghoul didn't seem to notice.

"I've heard of it," Jax replied, "but never been there. I'd like to check it out."

Mac nodded. "The person that invited me hinted that dress was a little more… un-Tremere."

Jax rubbed a hand across his mouth to hide a smile, but I had to laugh.

"I'd heard that it was kind of clubby," the ghoul commented.

"There's that word again," I said to myself, still chuckling.

"I take that you're going to need to stop somewhere?" Jax asked.

"Yes," Mac agreed. "For myself, and for Eliza."

"There is a place that is open later, but it's a little out of the way from where we're going," he said. "We can stop there after we're done at the station if you would like."

"Yes," Mac replied as he took his cell phone from his inside jacket pocket. He dialed a few numbers, and I listened as my daughter picked up the phone on the other end. "Corrine?"

"Cormac," she said, sounding pleased to hear from him. "Hi, how are you doing? How's Eliza?"

"We're both good," he assured her.

"Are you guys getting along well?" There was a cautious note to her voice, as if she didn't think we were. Of course, we hadn't been the last time I'd talked to her.

"Yes."

"Really?" Now she sounded pleasantly surprised. "Anything you want to share?"

"Not right now," Mac told her.

"Why?"

"I'll let Eliza tell you." At that he handed the phone back to me and I took it, resigned to hear the inevitable questions.

"Corrine," I said softly in greeting.

"Eliza," she replied, delighted. "How are you? Is everything going well?"

"Yeah."

"You don't sound as enthusiastic as Cormac did," she told me.

"That's because he has big ears and likes to listen to conversations." I smiled and waited for his reaction.

"I am not listening," Mac said. I had to laugh.

"Okay, I'm liking this," Corrine murmured. "Are you guys are having fun? Where are you?"

"Paris."

"The most romantic city in the world," Mac put in at the same time Corrine said something that I missed.

"What was that?" I asked. "I'm sorry, I was listening to Cormac mumble."

"Well, at least he knows to take you nice places," she repeated.

She really had no idea. "We're in Paris, and we're about to go shopping." She said something in French that I of course didn't understand. "I have no idea, shopping so we can go clubbing."

"You're going clubbing?" Why did she make that sound like something she'd never thought would happen? "Just make sure you don't get anything too freaky, cause you know once you get home you won't be able to wear it anywhere."

I felt unfamiliar weight of the rings on my hand and looked sadly at the back of Mac's head. "Yeah," I said ruefully. "You're exactly right. So has anything unusual been going on lately? Anything strange, anything unusual?"

"No," she said. "Why would you ask?"

"I just want to make sure everything is okay with you." Like I could tell her the truth. "Wondering if any strangers have walked up and introduced themselves on the street," I added.

"No," she said slowly, thinking, "unless you want to count the delivery guy around here."

I was immediately alert. "What delivery guy?"

"I guess someone is finally moving into the empty apartment," she told me, "although it's been kind of quiet over there lately. I have been busy though, I've got classes and stuff like that." She chuckled a little and added, "You'll never believe what I did last night."

I closed my eyes, not sure I wanted to know. "What did you do?"

"I went out with a bunch of my friends to this club," she told me. "Not quite like a club like what you're doing, but a club."

Frantically I tried to think of all the clubs in Salem, and which ones were Kindred hangouts. "What club was that?"

"Jesters."

"Oh, Jesters," I said, hiding a sigh of relief. It was Kindred owned, but Micky George, the owner, made sure the vamps stayed out for the most part. "I wasn't aware it was open." The last time I'd been in the place there had been an intense gunfight, along with more than a few fires. The Sabbat isn't exactly known for its respect for the lives of mortals.

"Yeah, it was the first night it was opened back up," she told me. "Why was it closed?"

"They had an accident, I believe," I said with a wry smile. "A fire or something." Machine gun fire too.

"That sucks," she murmured.

"Yeah, it's a real nice place," I agreed, "but some of it's a little cheesy, that whole Jester's thing actually. I heard that a Jester's wannabe owns it." Micky actually had been a member of the Jester's thirty years ago, before he was turned. The club had a 60's music theme to it. If I had time to enjoy going out on a social basis, that would be one place I'd probably like to hang out at.

"Yeah, I kinda recognized the guy from some of the pictures," she said. "It was just a little too eerie for me."

I didn't like that Micky had been there, but maybe he was keeping an eye on 'the item' for Ford. "Was anyone else there that you recognized or knew?"

"Well, you know, there was a girl there that I kinda recognized," she told me, "but I'm not really sure. I almost want to say that she was at Mother Abigail's Friday night."

"Really?" How the hell was she remembering what happened that night? Then I realized that Zora would have had to leave some of the memories in place in order for Corrine to remember Mac.

"Long hair," she added. "Really pretty."

I got a bad feeling. "Was she with a tall dorky looking guy?"

"I didn't see any dorks," Corrine said, "but I saw a really hot guy with her."

"Dark hair, goatee?"

"Yeah, he was there." She paused for a moment, then said with what sounded like a smile, "My friends were determined to fix me up with some guy, but I wasn't into it."

"Who?" I demanded.

"I don't know, some older guy," she told me.

"How much older?" With Jester's not being a Kindred hang out, I wasn't really worried about him being Kindred, but there were other kinds of vampires out there that didn't drink blood.

"Well, I'm thinking he's in his late forties, early fifties," she said. "Beard, mustache, red hair."

"Did you talk to him?" Damn, did I sound like I was grilling her? I was, but I didn't want it to sound like I was.

"Not really. He went to get up from the table and I tripped and he caught me."

Convenient. "You weren't drinking, were you?" When she didn't reply, I said warningly, "You're not twenty-one."

"Would you quit sounding like my mother?" she said sounding annoyed. "Don't you think I'm a little bit more responsible than that?"

I smiled. "Usually."

"I'm responsible."

She'd been drinking. "You didn't drive home, did you?"

"Well, come now. What do you think?"

Normally she was a good kid. "I think you let someone else drive home. But if I find out you drove…." That's it, now I was sounding like her mother. "When is break coming up for class?"

"Class just started," she reminded me. "It's September."

"It is, isn't it," I muttered to myself. I needed a way to get her out of Salem until I got back, but what was a good way without telling her everything? "How is the situation with Jared going?"

"Good," she replied enthusiastically. "I'm learning from him, I mean it's kind of slow and sometimes he, you know, I'm not the fastest at getting these things and I think maybe I exasperate him a little bit, but, I'm making some progress."

"He never had the most patience," I mumbled, remembering what he'd been like in Baltimore.

"Neither did I," Mac said softly.

"Overlistening again," I told him.

"You're sitting directly behind me," he reminded me.

"What was that?" Corrine asked in my ear.

"I'm just mumbling at Cormac again."

"Oh, you're mumbling at each other," she drawled, sounding way too happy about it. "So is there anything you want to tell me?"

"No, not today," I said firmly. Jax didn't need to know everything that was going on, and for that matter, neither did Corrine. If she knew how close Mac and I were getting, she would be that much more disappointed when the relationship couldn't continue in Salem. "Maybe if you had less distractions, it would be better for your studies," I suggested.

"I do have school," she reminded me. "I have to study."

"Yeah, but—"

"There will come a time," she interrupted. "I'm not going to stress about it. It laid dormant that long, it can wait a little longer."

How could I argue with that logic, short of telling her the truth about Kate and the deliveryman? I thought about calling the Wrights, but I didn't know how far I could trust them, Kate had known them first. "Just keep an eye out because things are getting strange in town."

"Yeah, so I'm beginning to realize," she said wryly.

"You don't want to get into any trouble or anything," I told her. "If you have any problems, just, you know, call Mac's number and we'll deal with it."

"I can take care of myself," she said resentfully. "I'm a big girl."

"I know you can," I soothed, "but sometimes you need help." Sometimes we all did.

"I have friends," she reminded me.

"We have more," Mac commented from the front seat.

"You guys need time to spend with each other," Corrine added.

"Like we can't—" I stopped, knowing that Mac and I couldn't spend time together in Salem. "Well, if there's a problem, just let us know. Not that we necessarily have to come back, we know people in Salem that can take care of it."

"Okay, okay," she said sarcastically. "Geez."

"You said something about a delivery boy, has he been around lately?" I asked softly. I didn't think he would have been if Simon were still being held at the chantry.

"No, he hasn't been back for a few days," she told me.

"Well, if he comes back, don't let him in," I warned her. It was the most I could do. "You know how delivery people can be sometimes."

"Okay, conspiracy theorist," she said fondly. "I can take care of myself. I can lock the door from across the room now," she added.

"And that's just the beginning," Cormac said softly.

I sighed, knowing that I'd have to stop being so overprotective or I'd drive her away from me. "Take care," I told her, wanting to say so much more.

"All right," she promised. "Tell Mac I said bye, stay out of trouble…"

At that, Mac raised a hand over his shoulder and waved.

"…wear a condom," Corrine continued.

"Mac says bye," I replied, before I really heard what she'd said. "What?" That was something I hadn't thought of. Exactly what generation was Mac, anyway? Did we have to worry about something like that?

"I'll talk to you soon," she said in a rush. "Bye." She hung up before I could say anything about her suggestion.

"So what's new with her?" Mac asked as I handed him back his phone.

I shot him a knowing look. "As if you weren't overlistening."

"Who, me?" he asked innocently.

I wasn't paying attention, I was trying to figure out who the older man with the beard was. "I wonder if that's the guy that rolled into town just before the Sabbat pack," I muttered to myself.

"Devin?" Mac asked.

I looked up in surprise. "I didn't catch a name but he was redhead with a beard."

"The hunter type?"

"I don't think so," I told him, remembering what group I'd heard that he'd hooked up with, "unless you want to call the Arcanum hunter type. Why would you think he's a hunter type?"

"I believe he was in the alternate Salem that I told you of," he said.

"That you mentioned in passing and never got back to," I replied.

"He was part of the alternate you's group."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "My group?"

"Yes."

Wow, I had a group. "You never did fill me in on that," I reminded him.

"What would you like to know?"

"Everything would be good." What would it have been like to have lived the last twenty years married to Mac?

He shrugged. "Where would you like me to start?"

"How in the hell did you get to the alternate universe, anyway?" That would be a good place.

"A rogue Tremere," he said softly. "Akari. He cast a ritual that switched several of us from this reality to the other and them to us, Christina, Brenda, Rafe, myself, Nina, and Lord Blackwell. Later Angel went to bring us back."

I smiled a little. "Ah, the new guy." He'd rolled into town about the same time the Sabbat had. The Society hadn't taken note of him yet, but Kate usually kept me informed of legitimate Kindred in the city. That way I could help take out the ones the prince didn't want there anyway.

"While we were there," Mac told me, "I encountered several of that reality's us."

"This was a body-swapping thing," I said slowly, thinking of the repercussions of something like that, "so you were there, vampire, and he was here—"

"Mage."

"Interesting." What would have happened if I had come across that Mac? Would I have believed he was from an alternative world, or would I have thought he was my Mac come back to me?

"And with all memories of you, from what I understand," he added.

I looked down at the ring on my hand. "You said they were married?"

"Yes," he told me. "As I said, I encountered the alternate you and several of us, including the alternate Elvira, Akari, and this Devin."

"I'm going to take a big guess and say that the other me didn't like you," I said softly.

"No," he replied calmly.

I shook my head. "Maybe I should clarify; she didn't like you being there and her husband not."

"That is more to the point, yes," he agreed. He shot a glance over his shoulder at me. "But I must say, she got over it much more quickly than you have. Of course that may have something to do with the fact that aiding me helped to get her husband back and free of the bond."

"Bond?"

"He was bonded to Beth," Mac added.

I have to admit it; he'd lost me. "Who's Beth?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Jax wince as Mac answered. "That was the prince of the Salem here before Elvira."

I nodded. "That's right, she's only been in power a couple of years. So he was bonded?"

"Yes."

Finally I got it. "He was a ghoul," I said, my voice hard.

"Ah, if such a thing existed in their world," he told me. "The rules were not the same."

Jax cleared his throat and when he had Mac's attention, he said, "We're almost there."

"You knew Beth, didn't you Jax?" Mac asked.

The ghoul looked very uncomfortable as he changed lanes. "Yes I did." He didn't elaborate.

It was about nine-fifteen when we parked in front of the train station. There were a lot of people around when the got out of the car, and I noticed three of them watching us rather intently. One was an older oriental gentleman but the other male was younger, maybe mid twenties. With them was a blond woman, around twenty-five.

"Keep an eye out," Cormac said in a low voice. "I think we might have a problem." I had to agree with him, it didn't look good.

We walked toward the entrance with the three mortals watching us the whole way. Once inside, we looked around for the lockers, hoping to get out of there as quickly as possible. Jax fell back as Mac and I walked across the large room, and I pointed out the lockers I thought we needed to check for the number on the key.

When we reached locker D67, Mac pulled out the key and put it in the lock. It turned easily and he pulled the locker open. Inside was a large old book, but when Mac reached inside for it, he'd barely touched the book when he jerked back.

I put my hand on his arm, concerned. "What is it?"

"I believe there is a ward on the book," he said, rubbing his fingertips.

"There's a ward on it?" I'd heard of wards before but never come across one. There are Tremere wards against almost everything, and I assumed that only the one against ghouls would affect me with my blood. Given Mac's reaction, I didn't really want to find out.

"Would you mind attempting?" Mac asked softly, gesturing into the locker. "I believe it is a ward against vampires."

"You want me to grab the book?" I repeated, surprised although I don't know why. If he couldn't get it, someone else had to. But what if it were warded against ghouls, too?

"Be careful," he advised.

I reached in and touched the book very lightly, then a little more when I felt nothing. When I was sure the book wouldn't zap me, I picked it up and looked under it, but there was nothing else in the locker.

It occurred to me suddenly that Mac couldn't take the book from me and that this might be the only chance I had to look at his sire's spell book. I opened it gently and flipped through some of the pages, but everything was Greek to me. Or Latin maybe, whatever it was I couldn't read it. There were a few pieces of paper tucked inside, and some pictures, but I didn't have a chance to really look at them before Cormac spoke up.

"Eliza, put the book away," he said warningly. "We have company."

I closed the book and looked around for our friends from outside, but I didn't see them. Mac took off his ever-present backpack and opened it, holding it out toward me. Taking care not to touch his hands, I put the book carefully inside. While he was putting the bag back on, I adjusted my jacket slightly so I could get to my weapons easier, just in case.

"Do you see the trio?" he asked me.

"From outside? Where?"

"By the door," he said, "about six feet from Jax."

I couldn't see the door from where I was standing. "You're in my way," I told him as he unbuttoned his jacket. I rose on tiptoe to see around him and saw them just as they saw me. I wiped at an imaginary piece of lint on Mac's shoulder to cover my movements. "So how are we going to play this, just casually walk out of here?"

"Yes." He seemed to think it would be that easy.

I didn't see how that would work if they wanted trouble, but it was worth a try. "Okay."

Mac pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number quickly. "How long have they been there?" he said with no prelude.

"Oh, pretty much after we came in," I could hear Jax answer. "That's why I held back. Are you guys done?"

"Yes," Mac replied, reaching past me to close the locker door. "Do you see any weapons on them?"

"No," the ghoul said. "They're playing it pretty cool."

"When we get half way across the room, go start the car," Mac told him.

"You don't want me to watch your back?"

"In a place like this I prefer not to get into a fire fight," he warned softly.

"All right."

Mac hung the phone up and put it back inside of his jacket before looking pointedly at me. "Fight them if we have to, but only if we have to," he said firmly.

"Too many innocent people," I murmured, looking around.

"My point exactly," he agreed. As he put his arm around me, he took one of the stakes from the small of my back and passed it up to me under my jacket. I put my right hand on my hip and took it from him, then left my hand there as if I was resting it on his.

The woman and the older man were sitting on a bench with the younger man sitting on the back of the bench between them. The men were looking in our general direction checking us out, but the girl was staring at Mac with an intrigued look on her face that I didn't like.

"Maybe next time you'll let me accessorize a little more," I told Mac as I looked for the girl's aura. She was suspicious of Mac, but she also wanted him in the worst way. "Can we stake her on general principle alone?"

He pulled me closer and bent down to whisper against my hair. "Jax is starting the car, if anything happens, run."

When we were halfway across the room, Jax turned and walked toward the door. The trio noticed him leaving, but didn't spare him more than a brief glance as he left the building. A few minutes later Mac and I were in the doorway and I turned to look up at Mac as if to say something to him. I looked back at them from the corner of my eye and saw them get up to follow us.

Jax had the car in front of the doors and Mac led me around it to the passenger's side where he opened the door for me to get in. After he closed the door, he stood there for a moment, looking over the car to where the three strangers were standing near the door staring at us. After a long moment he got in the car and Jax pulled out into traffic.

"It appears I have a friend," Mac murmured softly as Jax pulled away.

"It appears that she would like to be your friend," I agreed hotly. I felt the slow burn of anger in my chest.

"Yes, I got that," he replied.

"Your good friend." I didn't like to admit even to myself that seeing the woman look at Mac that way made me jealous.

He nodded. "I got that as well."

"Your bestest friend," I added bitterly.

Mac turned and looked behind us to see if they were following us, but they weren't. "Not jealous, are we Eliza?"

Jax chuckled a little and I shot him a hard glance before looking at Mac. "Why?" I asked. "Would I have a reason to be?" I almost wished the three had followed us; I could have used a good fight just then to cool my temper.

"Not at all," he replied.

I looked away. "Then I guess I'm not." I'd forgotten just how jealous I could be; I didn't like anyone looking at Mac but me.

He studied my face for a moment, then turned back to face the front of the car. "You're a bad liar, Eliza," he said sternly.

Damned Auspex. Well, two could play that game, I thought as I looked for his aura. It was light, which was to be expected since he was a vamp. And he was calm, too calm for my tastes. And you know, it was good to see that I amused him with my little show of jealousy. Just fucking ducky. I turned to stare broodingly out the window.

"So where are we off to now?" Jax asked into the silence. "Exciting destinations, far off places?"

"Clothes," Mac reminded him.

It took us nearly an hour at the shop Jax found to find clothing that we could live with and still fit into the crowd at the club. I guess I should say that Jax wasn't the problem, he found clothes pretty quickly, but Mac and I had a hard time finding something we would actually wear.

"We'll take these with us and change later," Mac said as we were looking for shoes to replace the ones I'd lost in Berlin. "I don't really want to investigate it wearing…." He held up the clothes and I smiled.

"Although it is kinda break and enterish," I told him.

"No it's not," he said with a frown.

"Well, yours isn't," I agreed. "But if it weren't for the spikes on the boots, mine would be."

We carried the clothing out in garment bags and Jax drove quickly to the warehouse we'd gone past the night before. We parked just down the street and spent a few minutes watching the empty building and the line at the Pinnacle, which was not too far away from Bruckman's.

"Did anyone think to bring a flashlight?" Mac asked softly.

"Why yes, I happen to have one," Jax said, reaching between his seat and the door. He pulled out a very large flashlight and handed it to Mac.

We got out and walked down the alley that ran behind the abandoned building. Its windows were boarded over and it looked like no one had been inside in years. We found a back entrance and Mac turned on the flashlight to study it. With his right hand he loosened one of his guns for a quicker draw, but I bypassed such niceties by pulling my knife. In the darkness I could hear the traffic on the main road, and small animals scurrying around in the trash lining the alley.

After a moment of studying the door, Mac reached out and twisted the knob hard, forcing it open. He shined the flashlight around inside, showing the inside of a large warehouse like room. It was filthy with dirt, rat droppings and cobwebs, but one section of the floor showed recent movement. A desk area lined the wall across from us.

We spent half an hour checking out the building, but Mac was the only one who found anything. He'd been looking through the papers on the desk when he held up what looked like an invoice and murmured something to himself.

I'd been looking through an empty filing cabinet when I heard him and looked over. "What did you find?" I asked as I came to peak over his shoulder. "Does this mean something to you?"

"Earl Hardy was the Kindred that Dougal was hunting," he told me softly. Earl's signature was at the bottom of the invoice.

"Do you think that maybe Earl killed Dougal?" I tried to read his face, but there was very little light.

"Pretty sure of it."

Well, at least now I knew who to thank for doing what I should have done a long damn time ago. "So, Nashville?" I asked aloud.

"It appears that way." He folded the note and put it in his pocket.

"Know anybody in Nashville?" I'd never been there myself.

"No," Mac replied. "But I know some people that have been there."

We found nothing else of interest in our search, so we left the way we came. As we got close to the car I noticed a coffeehouse down the block. When I mentioned it, Mac looked at me funny. Did he think I lived for coffee?

"Why don't we change in there?" I suggested. "There are probably bathrooms."

"Goody," he murmured dryly.

I shook my head as I reached into the car for my garment bag. "You used to like coffee," I told him. When he didn't look convinced, I added, "Really."

We went into the coffeehouse and I went into the women's bathroom to change. As I pulled the outfit out of the bag, I tried to remember why I had agreed to wear it. The black skirt was so short that it came with sewn in undies like a cheerleader's outfit. The tube top was neon orange and it matched the thigh-high stockings that didn't quite reach the bottom of the skirt. I pulled on the knee high black boots and zipped them up, carefully balancing on the four-inch heels.

I put one stake under the waistband at the small of my back, and another in the left boot. Pushing the knife sheath down inside the right boot, I found it was only a little uncomfortable, but still gave me good access to the weapon. My leather jacket went on over everything and made me feel much better, less naked. I pulled my hair up into a fluffy rubber band that matched the tube top.

When I walked out of the bathroom, the men were waiting for me by the door. Mac took one look at me and smirked. I ignored him and asked Jax to get me a cup of coffee.

"Nice boots," Mac said after a few moments.

I glanced at his outfit; gold lame vest over a black turtleneck with gold patchwork pants. He was wearing his usual boots and the leather jacket he'd been wearing all night. "Nice pants," I replied.

"You like those?"

"They're a little louder than my shirt," I told him as Jax rejoined us. I glanced at the ghoul and we added simultaneously, "Not by much."

"There's more to them," Mac pointed out.

"Yeah, but I have the stockings to match," I said with a smile.

"How do you know I don't?" he asked seriously.

We left the coffeehouse and walked down the block to the Pinnacle. The line was very long; apparently this was a hot Paris nightspot.

"Stay here for a second," Jax said softly. "I'll see if we can get inside."

While we stood side by side waiting for him, I kept an eye out for any kind of trouble. I didn't want to be caught unprepared if another hunter like the one in Berlin showed up. After a few minutes I noticed that Mac kept glancing down at my outfit

"What?" I asked, pulling up at the tube top self-consciously. He just looked down at me and smirked until I pulled my jacket closed. "What?"

He leaned back a little to peer at the back of me, and I pulled down at the edges of the skirt, as if that would help. "What," I demanded, "you don't like my outfit?"

"I never said that," he drawled.

Now that I was feeling wicked stupid in the outfit, Jax came back for us. I grabbed the bottom of the jacket with every intention of zipping it closed, but Mac took my hand to lead me after the ghoul. I held the jacket closed with my other hand and reluctantly followed them into the club.