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

Correspondence

I heard Mac moving around in the main cabin and from the corner of my eye saw him carrying the things we'd left out there back into the bedroom.

For a small kitchen there was a lot of food stashed. I made a ham sandwich and grabbed a few other things as well. A glance at my watch told me it had been almost eight hours since I'd eaten. Between that and the blood donation, I was starved.

I went back into the bedroom with my hands full and sat the food down on the bed before lying down on my stomach to eat it. Mac was sitting in the only chair in the room with a book on his lap.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked as I started to eat. When he didn't reply, I looked at him a little closer. Once again, he was deep in meditation. I shrugged and went back to eating, keeping an eye on him so I knew when he came out.

A few minutes later he blinked and opened the book. He ran his hand down one of the pages then opened the compartment in the back. He pulled out a letter I thought I recognized; it was the one he'd found last night that was folded a little differently than the others.

I swallowed the food in my mouth, but couldn't swallow my curiosity. "Whatcha reading?"

"Dougal's letter to me," he replied, distracted.

"Is that one of the ones you found in the chantry?" I asked him. "Anything interesting?"

He stood up and came over to the bed where he dropped the letter on the blanket in front of me. He bent to kiss my head then went back to his chair. I smiled at the gentle touch, and started to read while I ate. I hadn't read very far when the letter caught my full attention.

Dougal started by asking that Mac not curse his memory after reading the letter. No, I'd have to do that for him. I doubted anything I could say would convince Mac that Dougal was a black hat, or that anything Mac did would convince me that his sire wasn't.

Then the bastard started talking about me, about us.

What was so horrible that you wanted to forget so badly you would give up everything? Eliza Gentry, or rather, her death. I watched your eyes when you learned she was dead, boy, and I saw what it did to you....

Eliza came to Baltimore about a year before you did.... She was all fire and passion, and many Kindred took note of her, wondering who her domitor was.... When you moved here from Ireland in 1979, I think you both fell for each other at first sight.

It was kind of interesting to watch, really, from the distance as it were. We'd hear about your very public arguments, and her talent for throwing stakes.... the tales were enough to make the cold hearts of Baltimore's Kindred beat vicariously.

I sat my sandwich down and picked up the letter to read it better. Had we really been that obvious to everyone in Baltimore? Even the damned vamps?

Then Kate Hepburn came to town. Let me tell you, boy, you will never meet a meaner Tremere, 'cept maybe that Prince in Salem. She had some kind of hold over your girl, but Eliza fought it the whole way. I never did find out what it was she had, but when it wasn't enough to bring the girl around to her way of thinking, Kate talked to the prince.

I could feel my face tighten at reading that and I sat up. Kate hadn't liked not being able to talk me out of hunting, or moving in with Mac. Somehow she'd been convinced that Mac had talked me into joining Glenn, and I hadn't bothered to correct her on it. Maybe I should have. Maybe things would have turned out differently, who could tell.

My stomach clenched painfully as I read his story of what happened the night Mac died.

The way it happened was an accident, boy, I swear it. Valerie drained your girl a little too far.... When you saw she was dead, you begged me to kill you. I couldn't do that, but I could make you forget.... If I'd known the girl was still alive, I never would have done it, boy. I'd have let someone else bring you and her over and you'd have been together all this time.

Ri-ight. I figured Dougal knew exactly how things were going to go down before the bloodsuckers even came to our apartment, he just didn't have the balls to admit it. Damn, I was glad he was dead. He'd probably gotten with Kate to make the plans in the first place.

Looking back on it, you might think I'd planned it all along, but that's not the truth, Cormac. The truth is that Kate planned for you to die that night and for Eliza to disappear, and that's exactly what happened. Everyone thought the girl was dead, boy, even I thought so for years. Then one night in the fall of '90 I saw something that changed my mind.

He went on to say that he'd seen me hunting in Maine and asked questions about me of the local Kindred. It was a good thing I hadn't seen Dougal the night he'd spotted me, I would have killed him on sight, and somehow I doubt Mac would have forgiven me for that one. It didn't surprise me that he was blaming the whole thing on Kate. And what, any Tremere who asked got to see the damned contract?

The girl was bound to a blood contract to spy for us, and I knew it went against everything that the two of you ever believed in to do it. I knew Kate was mixed up in it somehow, but I never could find out any of the details. From what I understand, Ford Radek in Salem signed the blood contract himself, so there's no way out for her unless he burns the damn thing himself.

Wait a minute, burn the blood contract? He could do that? Would that break the damned thing? Kate had told me… Ah, but Kate had lied about so many other things, why should I be surprised that she'd lied about this one too?

Dougal swore that if Mac had asked about his past after that he would have come clean, but would he really? He said that I was the only key to Mac getting his memory back and I had to admit that being with me seemed to be doing the trick.

Go to Salem and talk to Radek. He's one of the good ones, and he knows you.... He may not let your girl out of her contract, but I know he'll help you find her if you explain what happened.

One last thing, boy. Don't ever trust Kate Hepburn. I know she changes her looks and name every once in a while, and she's got ways of manipulating things so that she comes out smelling like roses in a field of manure. If you'll still take my advice after everything I just told you, boy, kill her. Make sure you get permission from the prince of whatever city she's in, or from old Radek himself. Don't let your revenge on that bitch lead you to final death, boy, I'm sure that wherever I am, I don't miss you that much.

He sure had Kate down, didn't he? She did always come out looking good, no matter what happened. But why did he think Ford would help Mac find me?

I sat looking down at the page for a long time wondering how much I could trust the vamp who had killed my lover. Mac was sure of him, but was that enough for me? Finally I decided that if I could trust Mac to drink from me, I could trust his judgement on his sire too, at least about this. Kill Kate; sounded like old Dougal and I could agree on one thing after all.

I looked up at Mac, my face still feeling frozen. "Why didn't you show me this last night?"

"Why?"

Why not? He wasn't trying to keep it from me, not if he was showing to me tonight. "You don't think I would have wanted to see it?"

"You're seeing it now."

I sat the letter down on the bed with a sigh. "And you asked me if I felt any kind of remorse about wanting to kill her," I said softly. "Why would I?" Did he? Did he like being a vamp so much that he could forgive her for this?

He shrugged. "Just asking."

"This is the kind of information that I wanted Glenn to come up with," I told him.

"We could Xerox him a copy if you'd like," he offered dryly.

I smiled grimly. "I don't think so. Now that we have it in writing from Dougal, I suppose that would be all the proof that your prince needed." I hoped that was the case, anyway.

"Yes."

Good. Now I could kill her and not worry about Corrine. Maybe I could make the Society think it was a kill for them, that would make it that much nicer. "Any other bomb shells in your book?"

He pulled out the remaining letters in the compartment and held them out to me expectantly.

"Are you offering to let me read them?" I asked, surprised.

"I can't say that they'll all be interesting or even understandable to you, but…."

This was the best opportunity I'd probably get to find out what was going on in his life without asking straight out. I got up and gave him back the letter from Dougal, then took the others from him and sat back down to read while I ate.

The majority of the letters were between Dougal and Gomi, one of which Mac had already let me read on the way to Berlin. Only one thing in those letters made me pause; It tears at me to know that I not only ended Cormac's mortal life, but that I completely erased it from his mind. Dougal had written those words to Gomi and I was more than happy to know that the fiend hadn't rested completely easy knowing that he'd killed my lover and stolen our life from us.

One other letter confused me a little, mainly because it was addressed to Cormac, but in his own handwriting. It took me a minute to realize that it was from the Mac of the alternate reality he'd told me about. One paragraph in particular stuck in my mind.

I have to tell you that in my world, Eliza is the most important thing in my life. She keeps me grounded in reality when I would spend too much time studying, or with Beth. Eliza understands and forgives my bond with Beth, much as she has always done when I have been in the wrong. Seek out the Eliza Harrow of your world, Cormac Brennan. I think you will find it well worth your trouble. Perhaps her unique... gifts could help you in your endeavors, whatever they may be.

This other Mac proceeded to say that he hoped to finally have children with his Eliza. I had to blink my tears away at that; Corrine would be the only child Mac and I would ever have.

When I was done reading, I looked up to see Mac watching me. I tried to smile. "Quite interesting collection of letters you got going on," I told him. "How did you get the letter from yourself?"

"I'm still not quite sure how that one came across," he admitted. "That whole alternate Salem I was telling you about."

I nodded and looked down at the familiar handwriting on the note. "It's nice to know that somewhere we were together for the last twenty years."

"Well, they weren't quite happy," he told me.

"With Beth in the picture," I agreed. "I can't imagine she would be happy with another woman between them." I know I wouldn't be.

"As I in the letter stated, Beth is no longer in the picture, thanks to me."

I smiled. "I was just going to ask if you had something to do with that." I should have known.

"Of course," he said just as his cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered it. "Hello?"

You know I listened.

"Cormac."

"Yes," He replied coolly. "Good evening Brenda."

"How are you?" Her voice was cool too. No love lost there.

"Good."

"I was just returning your call to see how things are going."

"Good," he said. "We are somewhere in the air."

"I am assuming you are on your way to Nashville then," she replied. "Do you know when you will land?"

"Well, let me go ask Jax," he told her as he rose to his feet.

As he left the room, I gathered the remains of my meal and took it into the kitchen. I had rinsed the dishes and made some instant coffee when I heard Mac close the door to the cockpit.

"Oh?" I heard him say coldly.

I peaked around the corner to see him in full Cormac mode.

"I'll tell you when you arrive," I heard Brenda tell him.

"Tell me now, Brenda." He seemed to be running out of patience as he stood in the center of the cabin.

I went back to making the coffee, but continued to listen to his conversation.

"Well, as I told you earlier, there have been some bad policies going on within the city."

"Are we going to have to replace the powers that be?"

Were they talking about the Tremere clan in Nashville, or the city itself? Either way, how could he discuss replacing the bigwigs so calmly?

"I think that sounds like a good idea, yeah." She made it sound like it was entirely Mac's idea, but somehow I got the feeling it wasn't.

"Time for some Tremere control?" he suggested.

"I'm thinking so," she agreed.

"How's Antonio?"

"In Vegas by now," she told him. "He dropped me off on his way through."

"He wouldn't be interested?"

Interested in what?

"Oh, he tends to keep things a little low key. I'm sure we can handle it."

"I'm sure we can," he told her as he walked back into the bedroom and I followed close behind. "I will see you when we land." He hung up the phone then turned to look at me. "No, nobody says goodbye," he told me.

I hid a smile behind my cup. "Didn't I hear Christina say goodbye?"

He shot me a knowing look. "I don't know, did she?"

"Maybe she would have if you would have given her a chance without hanging up on her," I told him, sitting down near the head of the bed and leaning back on the headboard.

"Brenda and I are only slightly more civil toward each other than you two are," he said as he sat back down in the chair.

"And why doesn't Brenda like you?" I thought I knew, but I had to ask.

"Because I'm 'violent'," he said, complete with air quotes.

I laughed. "That would be the same reason that she doesn't like me."

"Yes," he murmured. "Have you heard the stories of her as well?"

"I've actually seen her in action once or twice," I reminded him.

"So have I," he said. "Unimpressed."

"You know, I was though," I admitted. "When we were at the Jesters and that whole shit went down, she held her own. Of course she didn't shoot anyone close to her."

"Ah, that would be her downfall," he drawled.

I sipped my coffee and let the subject of Brenda drop. We'd see her soon enough, there was no use talking about her now. "So did you find out what time we're going to land in Nashville?" I asked him.

"Two o'clock their time."

"What time is their time?" My watch was still on Paris time, I wasn't quite used to this globe hopping lifestyle.

"I haven't the slightest idea."

I watched Mac put his letters away and prepare his weapons. "So we're going into this full battle mode?"

"We may need to replace some people," he told me. "Or just one person."

"And what person would that be?"

"The prince."

I blinked in surprise. I'd expected him to say the Tremere Primogen, but the prince? "Okay, not shooting our sights high, are we?" I asked softly. "Do this often?"

"Yes, Brenda does," he replied.

He continued to put his things away, then glanced at his watch. "We have time," he murmured. He pulled out small book from one of his bags and turned to me. "Care to learn German?"

"You expect me to learn German before we land?" I'd never tried to learn another language, let alone do it in a few hours.

"Just the basics."

I shrugged. "If you want to do that." I could think of other things I'd rather be doing alone with him in a bedroom.

"Well, I'm already prepared."

I sat my coffee cup down on the bedside table. "How does one go about learning a language?"

He sat on the edge of the bed and patted the blanket beside him. I scooted over to him and he handed me the book.

I flipped through it a little. "Looks Greek to me," I murmured.

"Actually, that's German," he told me before reaching over and opening the book to the first page.

It was fun, actually, not at all like I expected it to be. He patiently taught me quite a few of the basics of German; please and thank-you, how to ask where the restrooms were, how to ask for help if I needed it.

I didn't ask him why he was teaching me German. Did he expect me to be going back there any time soon? I don't think he understood the hold his clan had over me, or how rare it was for me to have even a day away from my obligations. It would have been cruel for me to spoil his good mood by reminding him that our time together couldn't last, so I kept quiet and learned what I could.

Some time later, we closed the book and smiled at each other.

"So," he murmured, "how's the wrist?"

"It's fine," I said, trying to keep my voice light. The reminder of his feeding made me want… something, I don't know what. "Not a problem."

"Did I give you what you wanted?" he asked in a low voice that sent tingles up my spine.

"When you bit me, or earlier?" I couldn't help but grin.

"Peace."

I blushed, but didn't look away from his eyes. "Yeah," I whispered. "Yeah, you did."

He stood, saying as he walked away, "Any time you want more…."

Yeah, I knew what vamp to ask. As if I'd ever ask another. I shook my head and opened my suitcase. We had just enough time for me to shower and change before we landed, maybe it would help me stay awake the rest of the night. I'd been up for almost eighteen hours with only an hour or so of sleep while Mac had held me in his arms.

I'd barely undressed and gotten the water turned on in the small bathroom when there was a nock on the door. "What?" I called softly

"Want company?" Mac asked from the other side of the door.

I smiled. "Are you going to wash my back?"

"All those hard to reach places," he told me.

Grinning, I opened the door. "There's not a whole lot of room in here," I warned him.

He glanced at the shower stall. "It will be tight," he agreed as he started to disarm himself, placing his weapons on the floor near the sink. I slipped into the shower to give him room to move and he soon joined me.

I'm sure we would have found other things to do in there than shower, but the water heater on the plane was a small one. Mac wouldn't have minded the cold, but he knew I would, so we agreed to postpone the fun stuff.

When we were done showering and had gone back into the bedroom to dress, I looked down into my open suitcase. "Do I have to limit accessories and where are we staying?" I asked him.

"No, and I don't know," he replied as he bent to pick up my crossbow. He aimed it a few times and seemed to get the feel of it pretty easily.

I grinned and armed myself to the teeth. It felt like the first time that I'd been fully dressed since the plane had landed in Berlin.

Before the plane set down, Mac took the time to call Christina. I sat pretending to read a magazine and listened only because I wanted to know more about the vamp. I just didn't want to ask and be all obvious about it.

"Hello, Christina," he said almost affectionately when she answered the phone.

"Cormac," she replied, her voice warm. "How are things going? Last time I talked to you, you had to go because of a possible problem. How did everything turn out with that? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, nothing terrible came of that situation," he told her.

"Good," she said firmly. "I didn't know if I should be worried. How is everything else going?"

"Good," he assured her. "We're on our way to meet Brenda, as I'm sure you well know."

"Who is in Nashville," she added.

"Yes, we are almost there. I'm rather surprised you weren't accompanying her."

"Well my brother is supposed to be in town tomorrow," she said softly. "He'll be coming to the house at sundown."

"Ah, I quite understand then. How's the rest of the family?"

"Antonio left with Brenda," she told him. "I was kinda sorry to see him go but he has his obligations. Jason and O'Connell are competing." She sounded as if that were a normal thing.

"For…?" he asked with a smile.

"Think about it," she said, her voice even.

"Hmm," he murmured. I got the feeling he knew exactly what they were competing for. "Who's winning?"

"I am." She sounded quite pleased and I wondered exactly who Jason and O'Connell were.

He laughed, actually laughed, and then he put his hand over the mouthpiece. "What was that you said about friends through blood?" he asked me, then added, "Never mind."

I just stared at him, not sure what to make of his humor.

"I figure they'll come out of it in a few weeks, hopefully," she told him. "At least by the time we fly back to Austria."

"Doubtful," he murmured. "Yes, how are the wedding plans going?"

That set her off for a while. I tried not to smile as I listened to him make encouraging noises in the all the right places.

Eventually she realized what she was doing. "I'm sorry, I know you're busy," she said softly. "Everything should be well in place. We're looking at invitations hoping we can get them out soon, not that we're having a lot of people. You were coming, weren't you?"

"I'm planning on it if the prince will let me out," he told her.

"Which prince?" she asked warily.

"Elvira."

"So you're staying in Salem?" She seemed surprised, but then, so was I.

"I'm planning on staying in Salem for a bit," he told her.

Exactly how long was a bit?

"Are you planning on doing something that will make her not want to let you out?" she asked playfully.

"No, but there is going to be a significantly reduced population," he reminded her.

"Me, Jason, Brenda, Frasier," she began.

"Rafe, myself," he finished.

"That still leaves thirteen other Tremere," she told him, "and the ghouls. It shouldn't be a problem."

"It will depend on the prince's mood at that moment," he replied softly. Princes could be a bit temperamental.

"She seems pretty reasonable for the most part," Christina said, adding in a low voice, "except when she burned my cell phone."

"When she what?"

"She burned my cell phone," she repeated.

He smiled. "Are you calling those 900 numbers again, Christina?" It was the first time I'd heard him tease another Kindred.

She laughed. "No, I think it was more to make sure I didn't call Las Vegas," she told him, sobering suddenly. "Or get a call from Las Vegas."

He must have sensed her change of mood and let the subject drop. "So, what do you get for the two undead who have anything?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It's not like we need a toaster."

"Flame thrower," he suggested.

"That's an idea." She actually sounded interested in that; my kind of girl. If she wasn't a blood sucking fiend, she would have been, anyway.

"Jason would never let you use it," he told her. "He'd be too busy playing with it."

She laughed again. "Good point," she conceded. "Matching guns? I don't know, it's not like you register for weapons somewhere. Or do you? It's not like you register for them at Hudson's or something."

"I don't know," Mac admitted with a smile

"Although I don't know what we'd ask for if we were human," she told him. "Not that I remember all that stuff. Speaking of that, how is your… I know that part of the reason you went off was to spend time with the girl to get your memory back. How's that going?"

"Very well," he replied. "If my experience is any basis, you should be remembering things within the first night."

"Really?"

"Yes they will come, or at least they come to me, as dreams when I sleep, although I have received a few flashes," he said as he shot a glance my way.

I grinned, dropped the magazine, and held open my jacket.

"Put those away," he whispered with a smile.

"So these dreams that are coming back," Christina continued, "are they all about her, or just different stuff? I don't mean to pry, I just want to know what to expect."

"At the moment they are about her," he replied. "Most of them are rather intense memories. And you may not always remember them as memories. It is very hard to explain, but you will remember them as a dream you had rather than an ingrained memory. The spirits touches are helping as well."

"Yes," she said, obviously pleased, "I've finally figured out how to do that."

He grinned. "Cool, ain't it?"

I blinked, very surprised to hear him talk like that. Who was this girl who could make my Mac act this way? Whoever she was, I hated her.

"Yeah, actually it is," she agreed, "so that might help. Like I said, Robert's supposed to be here in the evening, so we'll see how that goes. He's bringing his girlfriend and son, but not necessarily here. I guess they're going to stay in Boston."

"Mmm, I have people there."

"You do?"

"Yes."

When he didn't volunteer anything more, she said, "Well, if you get into trouble in Nashville, and I told Brenda this too, just call us because you know three extra pairs of hands might help."

"I will do that," he replied. "It depends on what exactly your sister is planning on doing."

Gee, he almost sounded like he didn't trust Brenda.

"Knowing Brenda it's hard telling," Christina told him, her voice affectionate. "She tends to always be there with the changing of the guard. I don't know what it is, if it's luck or fate or something."

"I'll try and remember to stand behind her," Mac murmured.

"That's hardly fair," she scolded him. "She didn't mean to shoot me."

"And Lee Harvey Oswald was aiming at Jacky O."

Not that theory again.

"Yeah, whatever. Look just give me a call if you need me."

"I will," he told her. "Enjoy."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"At least you said goodbye this time," I murmured, not looking up from the magazine.

He shrugged. "Family and all."