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

Little Sister

We parked the bikes and went inside, sitting down at a table near one of the large windows. The bar wasn't very busy, but it did remind me a little of the Memphis, although this bar was much quieter. Then again, it was only a Tuesday night.

Mac asked what Glenn and Bobby wanted then went up to the bar to get it. I watched him pull out his cell phone while he waited, but I had a hard time hearing what he was saying and he had turned away so I couldn't see his face.

"Worried, Eliza?" Glenn asked softly from where he sat across from me.

"Do you know something I don't?" I asked in a low voice.

He shrugged. "Probably. Did you really think I'd hurt him?"

I gave him a warning look. "If you had, you know what I would have done."

"Tried to do," he corrected me calmly.

I smiled grimly. "I know you can tell what I'm thinking, Glenn," I told him. "Know that I would kill you, no matter how much magic you tried to pull."

He frowned; I knew Dreamspeakers don't like their gifts to be called magic, but that's what it was and all the fancy words in the world wouldn't change that, or stop me from avenging Mac.

"Fair enough, Eliza," he murmured as Mac returned to the table.

We spent the next few hours talking quietly about their lives. I say their lives because I didn't volunteer any information about mine. Mostly I sat back and listened to them get to know each other again.

From what Glenn and Bobby said, they came to Nashville almost a year ago because of the problems between the Gangrel and Brujah clans. Clan wars like that made for good hunting, and they were quick to take advantage of it. Mac hinted that the prince wouldn't be around for much longer, but he wouldn't get specific about it, even when Glenn asked.

They had rented a large house in the city that all three of them lived at, along with a few other people. Remembering the brownstone in Baltimore, I wasn't surprised to hear about their living arrangements. Glenn always had been a sucker for taking in those less fortunate than himself, and he believed quite strongly in mentoring other Dreamspeakers who didn't have the skills that he did.

Mac asked about the wedding and Glenn told us about it. They'd gotten married in Mac's hometown of Galway, Ireland, with the entire family looking on. Bobby was telling me about the village when I noticed Glenn tensing up. Before I could do any more than wonder about it, he shot Mac a hard look. To my surprise, Mac looked sad, and I wondered what they were mindspeaking about.

The topic turned to other things and gradually the tension left Glenn's body. Some time around one o'clock I noticed that his face softened in a way I'd never seen before. When I glanced at Mac to see if he'd noticed, he was staring at the door with his cigarette half way to his mouth, staring.

From the corner of my eye I saw Glenn notice Mac's reaction and smile, but as Mac brought the cigarette the rest of the way to his mouth, Glenn stiffened, and looked hard at his one time friend.

I glanced at Mac. "What's going on?" He was looking toward the door, and I turned to follow his gaze. A dark haired woman about my height stood in the doorway looking at Mac. She was very beautiful, with clear pale skin. "Isn't that…?"

"Yes," Mac replied.

It was Siofra, Mac's sister and Glenn's wife. "Hell of a family reunion," I murmured.

"So it would seem," he said softly.

Siofra didn't seem surprised that her long lost brother was sitting there with her husband. She glanced at Glenn then looked back at Mac. She walked slowly across the room and when she got close to the table, Glenn stood up. He seemed to be watching Mac carefully, almost as if waiting to see what the Kindred was going to do. A glance at Siofra showed that she was doing the same thing.

I didn't like the vibes going around. Shouldn't everyone be happy that Mac was seeing his sister again? "What's going on?" I demanded in a low voice to Mac as he stood up.

He put a hand reassuringly on my shoulder. "Nothing."

Siofra came to stand between Bobby and me, staring at Mac. I couldn't really read her face, but something about the way she moved seemed damned familiar.

"Mac," she said softly, her accent sounding much like Mac had when I'd first met him. "It's been a long time."

"Yes it has, Sprite," he replied with a sad smile. "How are you?"

"Been better." Her voice was sad too, but it seemed like she was trying not to give anything away.

"Haven't we all?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "Yes we have."

"Please, sit," Mac told her.

I watched her kiss Glenn's cheek trying to figure out where I'd seen her before. Bobby gave her his chair and pulled one from another table before going over to the bar to get her a drink. Glenn was still watching Mac warily as he and his wife sat down. Mac sat down too, and I couldn't help but wonder what they were saying to each other that I couldn't hear.

Siofra glanced at me then looked back at her brother. "I hear you had an eventful night."

"Yes, quite," he replied softly, "but things are taken care of."

She seemed a little relieved about that. "That's good."

"How is everyone?"

"Well," she answered, "except Angus, but you know about that."

"Yes, Stephen told me."

"How is Stephen?" she asked. "I haven't talked to him in a while."

"Busy. Last I spoke with him he had much to do and very little time to do it."

They were acting like polite strangers, not family. Mac had once told me he was very close to his sister, had he remembered something that would change that? Was that why everyone was so tense?

"He always has kept busy," Siofra commented, "what with one thing or another."

"Yes," Mac agreed. "I believe now he's trying to find a proper ceremony for some friends of mine."

"It's not often vampires get married," she drawled. I looked at Mac in surprise, wondering who they were talking about.

"No, especially when they're different clans," he murmured. "But, they say love conquers all."

"That's what they say," she agreed, looking at me.

Finally I got it, how I knew her. This was the woman who always in my dreams of the night Mac died, who had told me more times than I could count that it was my fault Mac was dead. His sister had been invading my dreams since before Corrine had been born.

"Soifra," Mac said softly after noticing her looking at me, "this is Eliza. Eliza, my sister."

"I believe we've met," I told him coolly, fighting my anger, "although I didn't know her name." Would I have had the nightmare all those years if she hadn't insisted on making me relive the night Mac died?

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "Oh?"

"Upon occasion," she added calmly. "It's good to finally meet you, Eliza."

Mac looked at his sister then at Glenn, who shook his head. His expression told me he'd known that his wife had been visiting my dreams, but hadn't approved.

Bobby came back and sat a wineglass down in front of Siofra, who thanked him quietly. He sat down and took a look around the table, noticing everyone's tenseness.

"What'd I miss?" he asked.

"Nothing," Glenn told him.

Siofra was still looking at Mac. "How long do you plan on being in town?"

"No longer than necessary," he replied.

"How long is that?"

"Hard to tell," he said, putting out his cigarette before immediately lighting another. "We have one more person to deal with."

"Here in town?" For some reason that seemed to worry her.

"Yes."

What was he talking about? As far as I knew, the only person we were needed to take care of was Kate. Unless he meant the prince, of course. Meeting his level gaze, I realized that was exactly what he meant.

Siofra took a sip of her drink and looked at her brother. "And you're planning on going back to Salem?"

"Yes for a while." He glanced between Glenn and his wife, then asked, "Exactly how long have you all been following me? Or are you all just reading my mind?"

"Yes," Glenn replied with a smile.

"Yes what?" Mac demanded. "Reading my mind?"

"Well, it is wicked obvious to read," he murmured.

"Hmm. Do me a favor?" Mac asked in a hard voice. "Don't."

Glenn just smiled, but Siofra didn't seem pleased. "What do you mean, following you?" she inquired softly.

"Well, if you're reading my mind," Mac told her, "it's of no concern."

She looked at Glenn, obviously confused, but he just shrugged dismissively and she let it drop.

"What have you been up to that you've been so busy you couldn't call our parents?" she asked him, looking at me like she thought it was all my fault he hadn't called his family. I wanted to remind her that Mac did just what he wanted to, but figured I'd better hold my tongue.

"I just remembered my previous life a week ago," he said softly. "It's been a very eventful week."

She looked at me again as if I had something to do with keeping him busy. "Really."

"Yes, I just received my first vision picturing our parents three or four days ago," he told her. "Besides, given the reaction of other people from my past I don't know how well they would take it." He smiled the smug smile he got when he knew he was right.

He was. After all, I hadn't exactly met him with open arms, and the men at the table had offered to destroy him more than once. Siofra was the only one who hadn't threatened him in any way, but her welcome was still far from friendly.

Siofra in fact seemed much different from what Mac had described to me in Baltimore, but if the years had changed me, it stood to reason that they would change her. She seemed tough, controlled, almost as if the years hadn't been kind to her and she'd hardened her heart against the world.

"Given that none of us knew that you were… well I guess I can't say alive," she corrected herself, "until a few days ago, you could at least give them a chance to react."

I noticed from the corner of my eye that Glenn moved a little uncomfortably in his seat and I wondered if he really had known about Mac the whole time. He had seemed to know what Mac had been doing over the years, had that been all mindspeak, or was there something more he wasn't telling us?

"And if they react poorly?" Mac asked of Siofra, but his look was to Glenn and I knew he was also wondering just what Glenn had known of his life.

"You made a point of telling Eliza that it was worth the chance," she reminded him, "don't you think it's worth a chance with your family? She's not even family."

After wondering for a brief instant how she'd known what he had said to me, I got pissed off at her 'not even family' remark. If Mac had lived, we would have been married and I would have been part of her family. I didn't understand why she didn't like me but I guess it didn't really matter, the feeling was mutual.

"Perhaps when things settle down at bit," Mac replied cautiously. I didn't really blame him, what if his parents decided to destroy the vamp that had once been their son?

"Well, I certainly am not going to be the one to tell them," she said firmly. I thought I saw a little sadness in her eyes, but I didn't know her well enough to tell for sure.

Mac looked at Glenn for a long moment before turning back to his sister. "So how are Mom and Dad?"

"They've been well," she told him, "although it's been a little hard since Angus died." Now I knew it was sadness I saw in her eyes.

Glenn on the other hand looked pissed and I had to wonder if he was mindspeaking with Mac given the glances they were shooting back and forth. What could they be talking about that would piss the mage off so badly? I thought I knew: Jane.

"Yes, what did happen?" Mac asked. "Stephen was not forthcoming on the details."

She looked away out one of the windows and leaned back in her chair. For the first time I realized how tense she'd been, but now she seemed to be relaxing a little. Had her brother's death hit her that hard? Was that why she hadn't even mentioned hurting Mac?

"There was a pack of Black Spirals that moved into the pack's territory," she explained, her voice rough with pain, "and he was–he was ambushed just outside of town." She looked down for a minute, then up at Mac. "But we avenged him, not that that brings him back."

"Yes," he murmured sadly, "as I said, Stephen did not get into too much detail."

She nodded. "It was quite upsetting for him."

"I can imagine."

Could he? Had he remembered his brother? There was so much I didn't know about the new Mac, so much I was afraid to ask about. I sipped at my coffee and looked down at my cup.

"You said you had one other person to take care of?" Siofra prompted.

"Yes."

When he didn't go into detail, she asked, "Taking care of that tonight?"

"I don't believe so," he murmured as the waitress came over to take our orders for last call.

Bobby and I were the only ones who ordered anything, and as the woman walked away an uncomfortable silence fell over the table. After a moment I realized that Glenn was watching me.

How do you do it, Eliza? I heard in my head.

I met his eyes evenly. Do what?

Stay with him knowing what he is? he replied. How do you accept it?

It wasn't exactly easy, I told him, glancing at Mac. I wanted to destroy him, but…

The lights. Glenn looked down at his drink for a moment, then back at me angrily. Still, that doesn't mean you have to fuck him.

I was the one who had to live with my choices, what right did he have to judge me? Look, Glenn, you don't know me, you don't know anything about me.

Yes I do, he interrupted.

Then you should understand why I'm with him, I told him harshly.

I can't. The voice in my head seemed sad somehow, and confused. He's a vampire, how could you let him bite you? How could you fuck him?

Once again I met his angry gaze with a level look. I love him. Isn't that enough?

No, he told me heatedly. Love doesn't fix everything, Eliza.

I know, I replied sadly. I can't explain, Glenn. I know this can't last, I know that once we go back to Salem I have to let him go, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to be with him now. Nothing would stop me from wanting to be with him.

Salem, his voice drawled in my head, where you spy for vampires. What would happen if the Society found out what you did?

I didn't like the threat I heard in his words. The only way I could think to counter it was the truth. Corrine would die.

I closed my eyes and thought of my daughter, of her sweet smile and laughter, of the things she did that reminded me of Mac, and the things that reminded me of me. I showed him what she'd told me about the dreams she'd had, and the book I'd given her that had once been Mac's.

She is what I protect most of all, I told him. Anything and everything I've done since Mac died has been to keep her safe. Everything except this trip with him, I corrected myself. I think I'm allowed one selfish moment in nineteen years, don't you?

Siofra interrupted our silent conversation "So who's the girl?" she asked Mac.

He acted like he didn't know what she was talking about. "Which girl?"

"The one in Salem." She meant Corrine; had Siofra somehow been listening in on my conversation with Glenn?

"Hmm, and how do you know about her?" Mac asked slowly, his voice dangerously soft.

"The whole mind thing," she said with a small smile.

"What I said to him applies to you," he told her, his voice hard.

"I didn't say I was doing it," she said simply, glancing at her husband.

To my surprise, Mac's hands moved closer to his guns. Would he kill his sister to protect a daughter he hadn't even told her about? Slowly I moved my hands so that I could pull my weapons quickly in case he decided to do just that.

Siofra noticed his movements and frowned. "Is it a touchy subject?"

"It is taken care of," he said harshly.

"That doesn't say who she is." Although her voice seemed calm, Siofra had tensed up again.

"What do you want to know, Sprite?" Mac asked, searching her face.

"Who she is," she repeated. "I think I asked that already."

He looked at me as if he expected something from me, but I didn't understand what. I just returned his look and waited to see if he would acknowledge his daughter. He hadn't really done that yet, except to me. Now I had to wonder if he'd done that just to placate me, if he was reluctant to admit that we'd had a child together. In Baltimore he'd told me my half-breed blood didn't matter, but things were different now. Was Cormac ashamed of Corrine?

He looked back at his sister. "Someone we are protecting," he said vaguely.

"I see," she murmured, trying to read his face.

I wanted to scream in frustration, or cry in disappointment. Mac didn't seem to want to admit what Corrine was to him, and I didn't feel like sitting here while they danced around the subject all night. I faked a yawn and looked coolly at Mac. "It's getting late, don't we have an elsewhere to be?"

"Yes," he murmured, "we do, I have some work to do."

"That's a shame," Siofra murmured. "I just got here." Somehow I got the feeling she was relieved we were going.

"I will be in town for a day or two," he told her. "Glenn has my number, I have his. We'll be in touch."

"Yes. If you have some free time, perhaps we could get together and have dinner," she offered. Then she smiled wryly. "Well, some of us can have dinner."

Mac smiled. "I still enjoy dinner once in a while."

"I'm sure you do," she replied, glancing at me.

"Steak," Mac added.

I ran a hand over my mouth to cover my smile at the pun. "Are you ready to go?" I asked him.

"Yes." He took one last drink from his glass and looked around the table. "Good evening all."

"Good evening," Siofra said, watching us stand up.

"Perhaps we will see you later," Glenn murmured.

"Good night," Bobby added.

Mac and I walked out of the bar and I felt their eyes on us the entire way. As we approached the motorcycles, I noticed that there were no cars parked near it and wondered exactly how Siofra had gotten to the bar. Not that she would have had to park next to them, I guess, but doesn't it seem likely that she would?

"Is there anywhere in particular you had in mind?" Mac asked me, handing me the helmet.

"Elsewhere just kind of covers it," I told him.

"I'd like to return to the chantry," he said softly. "I've got a little healing to do."

"How's the leg?" I asked him, looking down at the burnt hole in his pants. The skin underneath the fabric looked blackened and raw.

"Sore," he admitted as he got on the bike and looked back at the bar.

When he saw that the others were watching us, he brought two fingers to his lips and I knew that he was looking at his sister when she turned away and leaned against her husband. Glenn put his arm around her and bent to whisper in her ear.