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

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When we got back to the chantry, we went directly upstairs to our room. Mac immediately stripped off his jacket and his weapons then sat down in a comfortable chair with Dougal's grimoire.

I thought about going down for something to eat, but I didn't think I was up for Jake's company. After a few minutes of searching, I found the television in a cabinet. I laid down on the bed and started flipping through the channels, but I couldn't find a program that would hold my interest for long.

"You don't have to stay up here," Mac told me.

I glanced at him, but he was still looking down at the grimoire. "Well, I'd rather be up here than have a babysitter," I told him, turning back to the television.

"Your choice."

For a long time I laid there changing channels and thinking about Mac, about what his life had been like since his embrace. He'd told me some things about it, but there was so much more I didn't know about, people I didn't know about. Finally I decided to ask; he'd answered pretty much everything I'd asked about so far.

"So, um, this chick that keeps calling you," I began hesitantly. "Christina? Who is she?"

"Dougal's childe," he replied evenly.

"Yeah." He'd told me that before. "That's the only thing she is?"

"She's Antonio's adopted childe."

I glanced at him, irritated. "You told me that before, too."

"A friend of mine," he added.

"Yeah?" I wanted to ask what kind of friend, but decided not to.

"Yeah," he said. "Since she's Antonio's adopted childe, that makes her Brenda's sister."

"Oh, yay," I murmured. "And who's the guys she keeps talking about?"

He chuckled a little. "Jason and O'Connell?"

I didn't get the joke. "Something funny about them?"

"Jason is her fiancé," he told me, "and O'Connell is her ghoul."

"Puppy," I corrected him.

"Ghoul."

"That's what I said." I didn't see the difference; by definition he'd do whatever his mistress wanted and that made him a puppy. "You know her well?"

"I met her the night before I met Stephen."

I glanced at him, but he still hadn't looked up from the book. "You guys seem pretty close for having met a week ago," I said, turning back to the television and flicking aimlessly through the channels.

"Given the two I'd rather be friends with her than her sister," he replied absently.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes, as I said, Brenda doesn't care for me."

I smiled. "You can be a little aggravating at times."

"Considering I never did anything to Brenda," he muttered as he turned a page, "I don't know what her problem is."

"Like I said, she doesn't like me either." Not that I cared. "But this Christina chick is cool?" If Mac liked her, I'd at least give her a chance.

"Yes," he said. "Not quite as trigger-happy."

"So how does Brenda know Jared?" That had been bothering me for a while. Jared used to hunt with us, although he'd never been as dedicated as most of the group had been.

"Brenda is part of a coven in Salem," he explained. "Or rather the coven in Salem believes Brenda to be the Goddess."

"What does that have to do with Jared?"

"Jared is a part of the coven," he added.

That didn't fit what I remembered of Jared. "I can't see him buying that."

"He probably doesn't," Mac told me. "Most of the coven from what I understand is mortal."

"I'm surprised he hasn't staked her," I murmured. "Speaking of staking, what exactly did you do to Earl after you… after I left?" After he'd made me leave.

"Exacted revenge for the death of Dougal."

I glanced at him, but he wasn't looking my way. "I never would have guessed," I said sarcastically. "You want to be a little more vague about it?"

"Certainly," he replied. "I killed him."

"And this was something I couldn't see?" I didn't understand why he'd made me leave.

"Something I didn't want you to see," he corrected.

"Like I've never seen a vampire die before," I reminded him. Hell, I've been doing it professionally for twenty years and counting. What the hell had he done to Earl?

"Something I didn't want you to see," he repeated.

Fine, if he didn't want to talk about it, we'd talk about something else. "Which brings to mind the next topic," I said in a hard voice. "You don't make my decisions for me."

"No, I make mine," he replied coolly. "I decided I didn't want you to see that or to be there."

I looked at him, but he never even glanced up. "So what I wanted didn't matter?"

"At that point, no."

How could he be this way? What kind of relationship could we possibly have if he took away my free will? I knew the answer to that and I didn't like it. I refused to be like Linda, always waiting for Kate's decisions, catering to her every will. That just wasn't me, and Mac would have to face that.

"What I did had a high risk of going wrong," he told me. "If it had gone wrong, it would have been very, very wrong."

"That wasn't something you could explain to me?" I asked sadly. "Give me a chance to decide for myself?" How bad could it have been?

"No."

"I'm not a puppy," I growled. I refused to let him think that he could control me just because I happened to love him.

"As I told Glenn," he said firmly, "accept it, stake me or leave me alone."

Frowning, I glanced over at him. "When did you tell Glenn this?"

"At the bar," he replied. "Mindspeak and all."

I turned back to the television. "Yeah. He got good at that over the years, didn't he?"

"Apparently."

Accept it, stake him, or leave him alone. Well, I'd already proven that I couldn't stake him, and I sure as hell wasn't prepared to leave him alone, at least not until we got back to Salem. As I flipped angrily through the channels on the remote control, I knew that I'd have to accept Mac for who he was. Eventually he'd have to see that I wasn't his puppy.

"Any other questions, luv?" he asked me.

"I'm sure I'll think of a few," I told him.

"I'm sure you will," he agreed.

"Of course you may not decide to answer them," I couldn't stop myself from saying.

"I've answered every question except that one," he reminded me, turning another page of the grimoire.

I didn't say anything more, not sure I could trust my temper. I kept changing channels until I found an old movie I'd seen a long time ago. I rested my cheek on my hands and it didn't take me very long to fall into a dreamless sleep.

The sound of Mac's phone ringing woke me up a little after four. I looked over in time to see him answer it, still reading his book. "Hello? Ah, good evening, Jared," he drawled.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned, listening by force of habit.

"Evening," Jared replied, his voice a little tense. "I thought I should call and let you know that we've left Boston."

"Oh?"

"Yes," he said, pausing. "Brenda called me and due to a certain person coming up missing around sundown this evening she felt it was best that we not remain in Boston. Considering that certain person was seen headed to Boston," he added.

I sat up and didn't try to hide the fact I was listening. Jared had Mac's attention too; he closed the book and sat it on the table beside him.

"So we're not in Boston anymore," Jared told Mac.

"Where are you going?"

"Where have we gone," he corrected. "I said we're not in Boston anymore."

"Where have you gone?" Mac growled impatiently.

"Someplace safe."

"And I suppose Corrine is still extremely pissed off?"

"Well, considering I wouldn't explain to her who Kate was, yeah," he admitted. "Did you want to talk to her?"

"Sure."

"Hold on a minute."

While Jared went to get Corrine, Mac looked over at me. I met his gaze patiently, waiting to find out where my daughter was.

"Cormac?" Corrine said as she took the phone.

"Good evening, Corrine," Mac said pleasantly.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Her voice wasn't quite as pleasant.

"No," he replied firmly.

"Then get me back to Salem," she said coldly.

"As soon as it is safe, dear," he said soothingly, "I promise."

"Define safe."

"When this problem is taken care of."

"Shouldn't I know about it?"

"You are being kept safe from it," he told her softly.

"Knowledge is power," she stated bluntly. "Isn't that the best way for me to be safe? To know what I'm up against?"

I thought for sure that would make him tell her what was going on, but he didn't. "We're not even sure what you're up against, or what the problem is."

"So why can't I go back to Salem?" she demanded sullenly. "I agreed to Boston not this… wherever the hell it is we are."

"Where are you?" he asked her.

"You tell me, we'll both know. It's a big city somewhere."

"And how did you get there?"

"That's an interesting question," she murmured. "Some kind of… spooky-boo."

Mac said that last word at the same time she did, then added smiling, "Yes, love the gateways."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I just gotta learn them, they're really interesting. Then I could get home."

He laughed dryly. "That would not be good."

"This is not good," she objected. "I want to know what's going on. Where's Eliza, let me talk to her."

Without a word I went over and took the phone he held out to me. "Corrine, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said slowly.

I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, there's no bodily damage," she muttered, "no free will. You know, that's all par for the course."

"Yeah, I know that feeling," I murmured, shaking my head. "But you know this really is for your own good." I winced, not liking the fact that I was echoing Mac's words from earlier.

"Yeah, and I'm so glad that everyone can make my decisions for me," she said angrily.

I rubbed a hand across my eyes, for the first time doubting my decision to keep the entire truth from my daughter. She obviously resented it, and the last thing I wanted to do was to drive her away from me. "When this all settles down, we'll tell you all about it," I promised her.

"Oh, yay," she scoffed. "Ad for now I'm just supposed to sit back and roll with the flow. That's cool."

I could almost feel her sarcasm. "Where are you?"

"That seems to be the $25,000 question."

This was getting me nowhere. "Let me talk to Jared," I said impatiently.

She sighed loudly into the phone before handing it over.

"Hello?" Jared said.

"Where are you," I demanded.

"That would be telling," he replied coolly.

"Cut the bullshit," I told him. "Tell me where you are now."

While he repeated that he wouldn't tell me, I heard Corrine say something in the background. A woman replied, but I couldn't tell who she was.

"Siofra," Mac breathed next to me.

I looked up at him with narrowed eyes. Would Jared have taken Corrine to Glenn? Of course he would. "You're in Nashville, aren't you?" I demanded.

"How the hell did you know that?" he asked softly.

Shit. "Let me talk to Glenn."

"Hold on a minute."

I heard him call for someone as I watched Mac put his weapons back on. He didn't bother to change his pants, just strapped on his guns and pulled his jacket on over them.

"Eliza, it's so good to hear from you," Glenn said in an overly friendly voice.

"Cut the crap," I growled. "Where are you?"

"Can't do that," he drawled.

He couldn't? No, he wouldn't. "Tell me now," I demanded, my voice low and hard. I was pissed, and I could see that Mac felt the same way I did.

"Well, you know we have this really big sign above the door that says 'No Vampires Allowed'," he told me, "and I just can't tell you where we are."

I closed my eyes. What could I say to make him tell me? He held all the cards. "Glenn, tell me where you are," I said, trying to keep my voice calm and rational. "This is important and if you don't, this could get ugly."

"Can't tell you where we are," he repeated.

"Then meet me somewhere." I didn't like the pleading I heard in my voice, but there it was.

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Where did you have in mind?"

"It's your city," I reminded him, trying to hide my desperation behind impatience. "I have no idea. Somewhere, anywhere. The bar we were at."

"Fine," he agreed. "When?"

What did he think, next week? "Now."

"Okay, see you there."

I hung up the phone and looked at Mac. "Can we get a car?"

"You do realize I'm going with you," he warned me.

"Did you realize I used the word we?" I reminded him. "Can we get a car rather than the bike to go get Corrine? And we need someplace else to stay." Even if it didn't violate the contract, I was not bringing my daughter to a vamp-infested house.

"Certainly," he said, moving toward the door. I followed him out and as we started down the stairs, he pulled out his cell phone and called Brenda. There seemed to be a very bad storm on her end, and when he found out she was back in Salem, he hung up rather quickly.

John Robert was passing through the hall, and Mac called him over.

"We need a car," Mac told him brusquely.

He glanced at his watch; it was almost four-thirty. "You realize that it is getting rather late."

"Yes."

"Okay, will the Porsche be fine or would you prefer the Cadillac?"

Mac looked at me. "Is the Porsche fine?"

Did I care what we took? "As long as it gets us there."

"It will be fine," he told John Robert.

"Would you like me to bring it around?" the ghoul asked as he handed Mac the key.

"Ah, we'll go get it." He took the key from John Robert and led me outside to the garage where the car and his bike were parked. "Do you know where we're going?"

"The bar we were at earlier," I reminded him. When he handed me the keys, I looked at him in surprise. Wasn't he going with? "You're going to let me drive the Porsche?"

"Would you rather drive the bike?" he asked.

Okay, so he was going, just not in the same car. I got into the Porsche and led the way into town. I drove fast, but not too fast, I didn't want to get delayed by the cops for speeding.

When I pulled into the parking lot of the bar about fifteen minutes later, there were no other cars parked there. Just as I started to panic, I noticed several people standing along the side of the building. I was out of the car before Mac even had the motorcycle turned off, and I knew he was following me as I walked quickly across the lot.

When I got closer I could see that Glenn and Jared were on either side of Corrine, while Bobby stood on the other side of Jared. Corrine's overnight bag was at her feet, and she looked really confused.

"Eliza?" she said before she looked past me at Mac. "Cormac, are you okay? What happened?"

I couldn't answer her, I was too close to either crying or beating the crap out of someone. I settled for hugging her tightly for a long moment. I hadn't realized how worried I'd been about her until I'd seen her standing there.

After a moment I pulled away and held her by the shoulders, looking at her to make sure she was fine. I grabbed her overnight bag and her hand and pulled her away from the people who had once been my friends. I caught a glimpse of Glenn's face, and he didn't look pleased that I hadn't trusted him with Corrine.

Mac moved forward close to Jared as soon as we moved out of his way. "Did you forget what I told you?" he asked in a low dangerous voice.

"I didn't involve her with anything," Jared replied calmly. "I just took her someplace safe."

Mac pointed at Glenn and didn't say a word.

Jared didn't falter. "Would you rather we stayed in Boston?"

With a sigh, Mac turned around and headed for the car. I followed, tugging on Corrine to make her come with me.

"I can't think of anyplace safer from… that type of person than with these people," Jared called after us.

"You're welcome," Glenn added.

"What is going on here?" Corrine demanded quietly.

"I'll explain later," I told her as we reached the passenger's side of the Porsche. "Get in the car." I opened the door and tossed her bag into the back seat.

Mac took out his phone and dialed a number. "Faith," he said in greeting.

"Who's Faith?" Corrine asked.

"Ah, not well," Mac murmured.

I didn't have time to explain. "Get in the car," I repeated.

Mac looked at us over the roof of the car. "Um, I don't know how to ask for this," he began.

"No way," I said firmly. We were not taking Corrine to the chantry. "No way. There is no way we are taking her there. Find something else," I told him.

He looked away. "I was wondering if you could tell me of a nice hotel," he said to Faith. "My traveling companion will not be staying with us this evening."

Corrine and I both heard her reply. "Okay, is there a reason why she's not? Has something happened? You argue? Did she stake you?"

"No," he told her.

Corrine turned to me, a frown on her face. "Why would you stake him? I don't get it."

"I wouldn't," I told her.

"Could you give me directions to that?" Mac asked Faith.

When he told her where we were, she fell silent for a moment. "Why are you there?"

"Old friends," he replied.

"I'm surprised you're not staked," she commented.

"What the hell is it with stakes?" Corrine demanded.

I sighed. "Get in the car, luv."

She looked at me for a long minute, then nodded and got inside. I closed the door and walked around the car in time to hear Mac tell Faith that he would be returning to the Chantry without me. I didn't like it, but now wasn't the time to talk about it.

"Follow me," Mac said as he got on the bike.

I turned to look at the men standing against the wall of the bar and saw Glenn watching me.

If she had been hurt by this, I would have killed you, I thought in his direction.

Either he wasn't listening or he didn't bother to answer. The motorcycle roared to life and I got into the car and started it up.

"How did you get this Porsche?" Corrine demanded as I put the car into gear and followed Mac. "I thought you didn't have any money?"

"It belongs to a friend of Mac's," I told her, watching my rear view mirror to make sure we weren't being followed.

"Like the friends you wouldn't leave me with?" she asked.

"No, not like those," I said, turning to look at her.

"Is it me you don't trust or them?" She looked hurt, but I didn't know how to explain.

"I don't trust very many people, luv," I told her looking back at the road. "I trust you."

"You know, I don't know who the bad guys are here," she said softly. "If I knew, don't you think I'd be better prepared to avoid them?"

She had a point, if I'd been honest with her from the beginning, she probably would have been more willing to listen to me when I told her she was in trouble. "You're right," I whispered.

Corrine opened her mouth to argue before she realized what I'd said. "Are you serious?"

I looked at her. "It's not that I didn't trust you with the truth, Corrine," I explained. "I just always thought that what you didn't know couldn't hurt you. I was wrong and I'm sorry."

"Wow." She looked at me for a long moment as if she couldn't believe I was serious. "So what's going on?"

"Let's get into the hotel," I told her with a sigh. "It's a long story and I don't want to stop halfway through."

"You'll tell me everything?" she asked suspiciously.

I glanced at her again. "Part of the story isn't mine to tell," I warned her. "You'll have to talk Mac into giving you those details." That was if Mac would to admit to being her father. I wondered again if he were ashamed that we'd had Corrine together.

"Promise?"

"Promise." What else could I do? Maybe Mac was right after all about knowledge being power. It certainly couldn't hurt for Corrine to know exactly who the black hats were. "Let's get checked in and something to eat and I'll tell you what I can."

"Okay." She sighed and sat back in her seat. We rode the rest of the way to the hotel in silence.

Mac turned into a parking lot and I followed him, pulling into the empty space beside his bike. I grabbed Corrine's bag and got out, handing him the keys to the Porsche. When he gave me those for the motorcycle I smiled wryly.

"You know, I never learned how to drive one of these," I told him.

"You'll learn," he said confidently. He glanced at the hotel, then looked down at me. "I have to get the Porsche back to Faith."

I wanted to protest, to beg him to stay with us, but I knew it wasn't a good idea. As much as I planned on telling Corrine most of the truth this morning, I didn't think she'd be up to watching him sleep through the day. "We'll be fine here," I told him.

"You have my number," he said softly. "I'll have one of the… boys bring your things."

I hadn't even thought about that, all I had with me were the clothes on my back and my weapons. "Could you make it Jax? I'm at least used to him."

Mac blinked. "I haven't seen Jax since we got off the plane," he murmured.

I hadn't either. "That's true, is he…?"

"I'll find out."

"Who the hell is Jax?" Corrine demanded, reminding us of the reason we were here.

Mac turned and gave her a hug, which, as she was still pissed, she was a little reluctant accepting. When he put his arms around me I had to stop myself from clutching at him. I knew I had to get used to being without him, no matter how much I hated it. I wasn't stupid enough to think we could have the picket fence after all, but still his leaving hurt me.

He kissed me tenderly, and when he pulled away I reached up and cupped the side of his face. There was so much I wanted to say but this wasn't the time. I had to make sure Corrine was safe and he had to go back to the Chantry. Without a word he turned and got into the Porsche. I stood watching until long after the car was out of sight.

Corrine touched my arm. "Eliza?" she said softly.

I looked at her and tried to smile. "I'm sorry," I told her, picking up her bag. "Let's go inside."

"Are you alright?" she asked. "What's up with you and Cormac? What happened while you were gone? Besides the sex stuff."

She said it so matter-of-factly that I had to laugh. "Let's go inside," I repeated. "Are you hungry? Maybe we could do room service."

We went inside and walked over to the desk. They seemed to be expecting us, and had a room reserved in my name that had already been paid for. It made me wonder exactly how much Faith knew about me.