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

Corrine

The phone was ringing as I opened the door of the room. I dashed inside and picked up the handset. "Hello?"

"Good evening." It was Mac.

"That was quick," I said softly as I motioned for Corrine to close and lock the door. "Change your mind about staying here?"

"No," he said, the tone of his voice worrying me. "It seems it was more than just Simon who was getting out of hand."

"What do you mean?" I put Corrine's bag down on the bed and watched her go into the bathroom.

"Samantha, Rafe's sister," he began slowly, "was from what I can gather abducted by Simon and taken back to wherever he and Kate were staying."

"Really?" That would explain why Brenda was back in Salem.

"Yes, ah, Samantha has subsequently been rescued."

"And what happened to Simon?" I hoped Brenda had taken care of that, but if she hadn't I would. I didn't want the puppy anywhere near Corrine.

"I don't know," he admitted, "but Samantha was returned, so Brenda was involved. I can only imagine."

So could I. "Somebody's dead."

"Kate is on her way to Boston," he added.

"Is she?" Good thing Corrine was in Nashville with me.

"Yes," he replied, "but as I was saying, Samantha regained consciousness enough to hear a rather particular quote I though you might find interesting. 'The item must be dealt with so the mole will fall in line.'"

The strength went out of my legs and I sat down hard on the bed. Kate had never wanted anything to do with Corrine, but I had a hard time processing her wanting to kill my daughter. If Corrine hadn't been with me and safe, I would have gone looking for Kate right then, no matter what. I would never allow Kate to hurt my daughter, ever.

"I can call Brenda and have her kill her," Mac offered.

It took me a moment to answer him, mostly because I had a hard time forcing the words past the lump in my throat. "No," I said, congratulating myself that my voice didn't break, "but you could get me the plane to go back to Boston." The sooner I took care of that problem, the better.

"Tomorrow evening," he told me, "or rather tonight, we will be flying back, probably to Boston."

"And if we wait that long, God only knows where she'll be," I reminded him.

"Well, the sun is up there, or almost."

Like that would matter much to Kate, but, "I don't want to take Corrine back to Boston."

"Then Corrine will go back to Salem," he agreed.

"Which may not be safe either." What the hell would I do with her to keep her safe until Kate was dead? "Okay. No, I don't want Brenda to kill her. That would rob me of the satisfaction."

Corrine walked out of the bathroom in time to overhear me say that, and she looked at me in surprise.

"Your choice," Mac replied, but somehow I didn't think he agreed with me killing Kate. Oh, he seemed eager enough to see her dead, just not at my hands.

"Oh, I've got one this time?" I said dryly.

"Hardy har har," he murmured.

"At least somebody gets one," Corrine threw in as she laid down on one of the beds, telling me she was listening to our conversation.

"I'll have Jax bring you some clothes," Mac told me.

"Oh yeah, that'd be nice," I murmured. I'd forgotten about them again.

"I'll make the finishing arrangements tomorrow, switching vehicles and what not."

"Okay." What I didn't say was that I wasn't sure I could wait until the sun went down tonight to fly to Boston. I'd try, but if I could figure out what to do with Corrine I wasn't making any promises, so I didn't even bring it up. "Well then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night," he said softly.

"Yeah," I said dryly. "With Corrine being argumentative, I think not."

"I wonder what that's like," he said in the same tone before hanging up.

I could have called him back, but I refused to give him the satisfaction.

"Room service?" I asked Corrine. We found a menu and she called down for the food while I took my jacket off and laid it down on the bed.

"When did you get a gun?" Corrine asked when she got off the phone.

I looked down; I'd forgotten about the gun or I would have left my jacket on. "A few days ago," I replied. "Mac thought I could use it."

"What did he think you could use it for?" she demanded. "Isn't it illegal to carry a concealed handgun?"

I laughed wryly and ran a hand through my hair. "Probably, but if I ever get arrested, carrying a concealed weapon will be the least of my problems. The cops don't exactly know or at least admit that there are monsters out there, Corrine."

Suddenly she walked over to grab my left hand and hold it up. "What's up with this, Eliza?" she demanded, looking at the rings on my finger. "Did you get married and not even tell me?"

Damn, I'd forgotten about them. "No, luv," I said sadly. "Mac found the wedding rings he'd bought for us a long time ago and I'd forgotten I'd even put them on." That was the truth, anyway. As soon as my luggage got here, I'd have to find the chain and get them off.

"So you have something to tell me?" she prompted.

I looked at her warily. "Can we eat first?" I asked her. "Like I said, it's a long story and I don't really want to stop in the middle of it."

"You're not getting out of it," she warned me.

"I'm not trying to," I said honestly. "Let me take a quick shower while we're waiting for the food and as soon as we get done eating I'll tell you everything I can."

"You did promise," she reminded me.

"I did." When she nodded, I went into the bathroom and turned on the water. I didn't worry about her leaving while I was busy, I knew she wanted answers more than she wanted to be away from me.

I stood under the hottest water I could stand and let it wash over me. So many things had happened in the past few days, it was all kind of catching up to me at once. Seeing Glenn and Bobby again, and realizing that Mac's sister had been invading my dreams for years were only the tips of the iceberg.

I'd been with Mac too long, I missed him, missed knowing he was in the next room. Even though I'd known it would happen like this, it was still a little surprising just how quickly I'd grown dependant on being with him again. How was I supposed to survive in Salem being away from him most of the time?

And now I had to tell Corrine everything. Not everything, I'd let Mac explain the Kindred and their clans. I wasn't about to be the one to tell my daughter that her father was a freaking vampire, for God's sake.

When I got out of the shower, I heard a knock at the door to our room. I cracked the bathroom door open and stood peeking out with the gun in my hand while Corrine tipped the waiter and pulled the cart into the room. She didn't see me.

I got dressed and we ate our food with very little conversation. Corrine had lost most of her antagonism toward me, but she had an air of impatience about her I found unsettling. When we were done I opened the door to push the cart into the hall, I found Jax standing there, his arm raised to knock.

A glance behind me showed that Corrine was watching carefully, so I gestured for him to move back and went into the hall with the cart. I pulled the door mostly closed behind me as I noticed that my luggage and what looked like a crossbow case lay at his feet.

"Hi," he said softly. "I've brought your things."

"Thanks, Jax," I told him, smiling. "Is everything alright? I assume Mac got back before dawn."

"Yeah, everything's fine," he replied, picking up and handing me my carry on bag and the weapon case. "I've got the plane ready to go back to Boston tonight as soon as he wakes up."

"Great." This was really uncomfortable. I liked Jax, but I didn't want him around Corrine. "I'd ask you in, but…." Regardless of how I felt, there was still the contract to think about.

"The item." He nodded. "No problem. I'll see you tonight."

I was glad he understood. "Thanks again." I watched him walk a little ways toward the elevator before I pushed the door open and carried my things inside.

"Who was that?" Corrine asked, trying to see into the hall as I kicked the door closed behind me.

"That was Jax," I told her. I set my luggage down on one of the beds and dug around in the carry on bag for a moment to find the necklace. It was past time to take the rings back off, I was close enough to home that I didn't need any questions asked about them.

"And I couldn't meet him?"

There was no way I was explaining the contract to her. "He was in a hurry."

"Why didn't Cormac bring your things?" She looked at my things and frowned. "Do you always travel with a crossbow?"

"When I can," I said, avoiding her question about Mac.

She watched me string the rings on the chain before I moved my luggage the closet. "Are you going to tell me what's going on or am I just going to leave?"

I walked over and sat back down at the table with her, looking down at my hands. "I don't really like to talk about myself or my past, luv," I admitted slowly, "but I'll tell you the whole story if you want it."

"You know I do," she said impatiently.

I took a deep breath and thought for a minute about my life. There was so much I'd never told anyone before, and lots that I'd only told a few people. She was my daughter, I needed to tell her everything to make sure she understood.

"My real name is Elizabeth Prudence Gentry. I don't know where I was born, but I know it was in 1951." Corrine seemed a little shocked at that, but I knew that if I stopped I'd have a hard time starting again so I just kept going.

"I was told that a woman named Linda Gentry was my mother, but I knew that wasn't true. Linda had a friend named Kate Hepburn that stayed with us a lot, and eventually I realized that she was really my mother." I hated calling her that; she'd never really been my mother in the way it mattered.

"Linda was an addict," I said simply, "and Kate was her supplier. Whenever Kate was gone for a long time, Linda went through withdrawals. She got mean, not that she was ever really nice unless Kate was around." Mean wasn't technically the term, cruel fit a little better.

"I didn't realize what was going on until I was ten and when I did I ran away." I'd walked in on them feeding from each other. I'd freaked out and took off. "Kate brought me back, but I wouldn't talk to her for years." Five years, to be exact. I might never have talked to her again, but I started developing powers I needed help controlling.

"We lived in a lot of places when I was growing up," I told my daughter. "Every time we moved, Kate came too. She changed her name in every city, but Linda always called her Kate when they were alone."

I glanced up, but Corrine gestured for me to go on. I dreaded telling her what I used to be like, but it was necessary for her to understand.

"I was never very good in school," I admitted softly. "I fought a lot, couldn't control my temper. They finally expelled me in 1968 and I ran away. Kate found me once, but I got away. I changed my name and kept moving."

I stood up and walked over to the window to look down on the street. These were memories I didn't like to think about and hated saying out loud. "I learned a lot of things over the next ten years, ran with a lot of different kinds of people." That was putting it mildly.

"I was wild then, wild and angry," I continued. "Eventually I ended up in Baltimore during the summer of 1978. My temper was worse than ever, but by then I knew how to beat up anything that pissed me off. That's where I met Glenn." He'd thought I was a ghoul because of my aura and it had taken some time to convince him that I'd 'escaped' my master.

I glanced back at Corrine. "Glenn is a mage, like you, like Jared, like Mac used to be. He had this brownstone downtown that a lot of people crashed at and Jared was one of them. I lived there for a while and they taught me how to control my temper a little better, helped me get a job." I smiled, remembering how they'd made me feel like I'd belonged. It had been good.

"After a while I moved into my own apartment and met Bobby. He was young then, barely in his teens." He'd had a crush on me too, one he hadn't gotten over until I'd started dating Mac. "Bobby's older brother Paul was born with birth defects, but I loved them both like they were my own children. Their mother wasn't worth anything, drinking and cursing her fate." She was an outcast Garou trying to make it in the city and not handling it well.

"Glenn and his friends had formed a group to fight one of those types of gifted people I told you about," I added.

"What do you mean types?" Corrine asked.

How to explain? "There are lots of different kinds of things out there, Corrine," I told her. "Everything you've heard myths and stories about is real. You're a witch, a mage, and so are Jared and Glenn and some of the people I'm sure you met at his house tonight."

She frowned. "Who is the woman? I don't know if I can pronounce her name, but I think she's married to Glenn."

"Siofra." I did my best to keep the resentment out of my voice, but it was hard. "She is married to him, and she's a mage too." I'd let Mac tell her about his sister.

"What about Bobby?"

I bit my lip for a moment, knowing that this was where the telling got hard to believe. "Bobby is different," I told her. "He's a shapeshifter, a werewolf. They call themselves Garou and they really can and do change into wolves."

She shot me an angry look. "I thought you said you were going to tell me the truth, Eliza," she growled angrily.

I met her look without flinching. "I am."

For a long time she stared at me in silence. She must have seen the honesty on my face because eventually she nodded and looked away. "What other things are real?"

How could I put this delicately? "Most preternatural species call themselves by their own names," I replied finally, "and it would take too long to explain them all. We fought Kindred and their human servants." I looked back down at my hands and waited for her questions. They weren't long in coming.

"They mentioned the Kindred, what are they?" she asked. "Why do they hate them so much?"

I breathed a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't asked why I hated them so much. "I think I'll let Mac explain that one to you," I murmured. After all, he was the one who thought she should know all this in the first place.

I looked at her, trying to gauge how she was taking all this. "Kate is Kindred," I told her, "and because of how I grew up I hated the Kindred. I hated their servants because that's what Linda was and she was… difficult to live with." I wasn't about to tell Corrine that Linda used to beat me until I couldn't stand.

Walking back to the table I crouched at her side. "You have to listen to me, Corrine," I said earnestly, taking her hands in mine. I had to make sure she didn't hate them because of what had happened to me. "I was wrong to hate all Kindred like that, wrong to hate everything about them. Sometimes it's too easy to hate someone without asking yourself why you hate them so much. I'd never met a good Kindred or servant, you understand? But they are out there, Corrine, I know they are."

"I understand," she whispered, concerned about something she saw in my face.

I smiled and let her go to sit back down across from her. "Anyway, when Glenn asked me to join his group hunting them, I did, mostly because I thought I could teach some of them how to fight so they wouldn't get killed. But I hated them too," I admitted with a sigh.

"Then Mac showed up. He'd just come to America and was visiting the brownstone." I smiled to myself at the memory. I'd told her this part already, but I said it again. "I saw him across the bar I was working at and that was it. It didn't matter that I didn't know who or what he was, I knew that I could love him more than anything else for the rest of my life." Some things never change, do they?

"He got along with everyone at the brownstone and came to see me a lot. He really liked Paul, Bobby's brother, I guess because he reminded Mac of Stephen, the priest you saw at Mother Abigail's." I glanced at her to see if she remembered, and she nodded.

"To make a long story short, Paul was killed one night by a Kindred and Mac joined the hunter group with us," I said sadly, looking down at my hands. "I couldn't talk him out of it. We started dating, and eventually he asked me to marry him. I thought Kate would never find me, I thought we could stay safe and together forever. I was wrong."

I looked at Corrine and couldn't bring myself to regret having loved Mac. If I had stayed away from him, he might have lived, but Corrine would never have existed. Some things you lived with.

"Kate found me," I told her. "She tried to play nicer than she had when she found me before, but I didn't buy it. The Kindred in town were pretty pissed about us killing them," that was an understatement, "and she talked to their leader about getting rid of us. From what I've found out in the last week, she was planning on killing Mac and 'rescuing' me. That's not exactly how it worked out, but I guess in the end she got what she wanted." Mac had been out of her way and I had owed her.

This was the point in my story where I could've made Corrine hate Kindred. I could have told her exactly what had happened that night and the truth about the contract I lived by. I could have twisted her life into a mirror image of mine if I'd wanted to.

If I were a different person, maybe I would have done just that. If I didn't love her so much, maybe I would have tried. God knows Kate would have in my shoes. But I've never wanted Corrine to live the life I'd led, so I glossed over the details of that awful night. Besides, I'd promised Mac not to let her walk down the path we'd chosen so long ago.

Blinking back the tears, I looked away. "I thought Mac died that night, and he thought I was dead too," I whispered, trying to control my voice. "When one of the Kindred offered to make him forget me, he accepted and was changed into one of them. He forgot everything about his life until Stephen found him a couple of weeks ago." Would he ever have remembered if the monk hadn't found him?

"Kate took me to Maine where she had friends." I didn't mention names, but I knew she'd know who I was talking about. "I didn't have any money, couldn't hold a job for longer than a couple of weeks." I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the condemnation I'd always dreaded seeing on her face.

"I've always lived in the darkness, Corrine, and I didn't want—" my voice broke and I had to clear my throat before I could go on. "I didn't want my baby to know any part of that world. I wanted her to grow up in the light, like a normal, healthy kid. It was important to me that she have a chance at a real life." I brushed away the tear that fell down my cheek and gathered myself continue.

"Kate's friends adopted the baby," I told her softly. It was easier to pretend I was talking about someone else, that it wasn't my daughter I was telling the story to. "They let me stay in her life, let me watch over her and help her grow up. They even let me name her after her father."

"Cormac," she murmured. When I glanced up, she was looking at me thoughtfully. "Corrine Mackenzie?" When I smiled sadly and nodded, she reached out and took my hand with a look of understanding on her face.

I looked down at our hands and struggled for the words to finish the story. I didn't want to tell her about the contract, or the fact that she was the reason I'd dealt with the Kindred at all. It would only make her feel guilty and I wasn't going to do that to her, she didn't deserve it.

"Kate tried to be a part of my life," I said softly, "but I wouldn't let her. We came to an agreement almost ten years ago. She never told me what happened to Mac, she let me think he was dead." I sighed, thinking about those lost years.

"When Kate found out I was going with Mac to help him get his memories back, she freaked." Actually, I was starting to think that Kate had lost her mind. "I can see why, she didn't want me to find out that she was the reason Mac was Kindred, she knew I'd be pissed." Who wouldn't be when they found out their mother had killed their lover?

I squeezed her hand and looked at her intently. "Now she thinks that if she can get her hands on you I'll listen to her again," I told her. "I think she believes she can make me stay away from Mac and go back to being the almost-servant she's had for the last ten years. But I won't let her anywhere near you, Corrine." I'd die first, and knowing Kate it might come to that yet.

"I told her that if she had anything to do with Mac's change I would kill her, and I meant it," I said honestly. "She's desperate, and I don't know what she would do if she found you. That's why you have to stay away from Boston, from Salem, even from your parents until I can take care of this." We couldn't trust the Wrights, Kate had known them long before I'd met them.

"But she's your mother," Corrine protested.

"That doesn't matter, Corrine." I shook my head and tried to tell her how I felt. "You are more important to me than anything else in the world. I won't let her hurt you, I don't care who she is."

She frowned. "Who is Brenda? Why did Cormac think that she'd kill Kate for you?" Obviously she'd picked up her father's habit of overlistening

"It's complicated," I murmured. I wasn't sure how to explain the clan system to her. "There are different kinds of Kindred, different clans," I said finally. "Cormac is from the Tremere clan and so is Brenda. Mac would be able to explain it to you a lot better than I could."

"Where is Mac?" she asked softly. "I'd like to hear the rest of this story."

Mac was dead to the world until sundown, but I'd let him tell her about his life. "He'll be back tonight, you can ask him about it then."

She seemed to be taking this well, at least she hadn't freaked out on me yet. "So I can't go back home until you find this woman and kill her."

"That's it." It sounded simple, but I knew it wouldn't be. First I had to find the bitch, which I didn't think would be easy. I rubbed my hand across my eyes trying to figure out the best place to look.

"Fine," Corrine said, sounding a lot less peeved than she had been earlier. "I'm going to go take a shower. You look tired, why don't you lay down and get some rest?"

I looked up, but she just seemed worried about me. "I am a little tired," I admitted. The short nap I'd had earlier felt like it had been days ago. "Promise you'll stay here? That you won't leave the room without me?"

"I promise," she agreed easily enough. Too easy as it turned out.

I fell asleep listening to the sound of the shower running. I didn't dream at all.

Eliza,

I understand that I'm in danger, but you have to know how overwhelmed I'm feeling right now. I have to get away and sort these things out. I'm going with Jared and I'll be careful. Don't worry, I'll get in touch with you and Mac.

Corrine

I sat down hard on the bed, stunned. When had my little girl grown up? I was so used to taking care of her I kept forgetting that she was old enough to take care of herself. Not that this was the best time for her to start doing that, Kate was out there and looking for her. I needed to find out if anyone had seen her, if the clan in Salem had found her.

Reaching for the phone, I called the only daytime contact I had in Salem; Brenda's ghoul.

"Hello?" He sounded tired, but I didn't have time for niceties.

"Rafael, it's Eliza Harrow," I told him.

"Oh," he replied, "what can I do for you?"

"I need to know the latest about Prudence if you know it," I said urgently.

"What's the rush?"

"In case you didn't know, she's after someone and I have to find her before she finds who she's looking for." Did that make sense?

"The item?" he asked. "I thought she was out of the way."

"Yeah, well, she took a walk on me this morning," I told him. I wasn't really surprised he knew about Corrine, it just made it easier for me to get what I needed.

"Hold on a minute," he said. I heard him put the phone down and a minute later I heard him talking. It sounded like he'd used another phone to call the chantry, and I waited impatiently for him to come back to me.

Finally he picked the phone back up. "She was seen in Boston early this morning near Cambridge," he said. "The clan in Boston thinks she's still in town."

"Great," I replied firmly. "That'll make it easy for me to find and kill her."

"You're planning on killing her?" Somehow his voice seemed sad.

"The minute I see her," I assured him coldly.

"Is it always that easy for you?" He asked. It was odd that he was talking to me like this; I wondered what had happened last night when they'd rescued his sister.

Killing had gotten a little too easy for me over the years. "In this case I have a choice of killing her or watching her kill someone I love very much," I told him. "Which would you choose?"

He hesitated for a long moment. "You know, a month ago I would have told you that murder is never justified," he admitted softly. "Now I have to agree with you. Good luck." With that he hung up.

Still shaking my head at his uncharacteristic behavior, I went downstairs. The girl at the front desk told me that Corrine had left the hotel around nine o'clock, almost an hour after I'd fallen asleep. I didn't understand why I hadn't heard her, but at that point it didn't matter.

I spent a long time looking for Glenn before I remembered something that should have occurred to me last night. I went back to the hotel for my things and caught a cab to where I'd last seen him.

Glenn and the others hadn't taken a car to the bar the night before when they'd dropped Corrine off. When Siofra had joined us, I didn't think she'd brought a car either. That meant that either they'd used magic both times to get them there, which seemed unlikely given the chance they'd be overseen, or that they lived within walking distance. I was betting on the latter.

It only took a few minutes for the cab to find the house. It was hard to miss, it really did have a large 'No Vampires Allowed' sign above the door. Of course the words were in Latin, but vampire is a word that tends to be the same in a lot of languages.

I sat my things down on the step and reached for the doorbell, thinking I'd at least give him a chance to cooperate. As soon as my finger touched the button, I pulled back in shock, my finger burning with pain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Eliza," I heard Glenn say.

I looked up to see him watching me through the screen door. "Don't like company?" I asked roughly.

"Not your kind of company," He told me. "The house is warded against Kindred and ghouls."

"I'm not a fucking ghoul," I growled.

He shrugged. "The house thinks you are."

"Strangely enough, I don't give a damn what you or the house thinks," I bit out. I was more concerned about my daughter. "Where is she?"

"You know I can't tell you that," he said softly.

"I'm not playing games here, Glenn," I warned him. "Tell me where she is or I will hurt you."

He glanced at the doorway of the house. "If you can get to me," he murmured.

I wanted to shove my fist through the door and grab him, but touching the doorbell had seriously hurt. My finger was still burning, and a glance at it showed that it was burned. "Damn it Glenn!" I growled in frustration.

"She's safe, Eliza," he said soothingly. "She didn't go back to Salem, she's with Jared and Siofra."

Like that made me feel better. "Oh, wonderful." What if they convinced her that she should hunt with them?

"Do you have something against my wife?" he asked in a low voice.

I met his eye evenly. "Other than the fact she's been invading my dreams for twenty years?"

He looked away. "I tried to get her to stop," he said apologetically, "but she has a mind of her own."

"Well what if that mind tells her to hurt Corrine?" I demanded.

"She won't, Eliza," he replied firmly. "She'll take care of the girl, I swear it. I wouldn't let her go with them until she promised me she would."

As if I could trust his word. "Well forgive me if I have my doubts," I bit out. "Tell me where she is, Glenn."

"I can't," he told me. "Look, why don't you go around to the back of the house where we won't draw quite so much attention?"

Did he really think I cared about making a scene? "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

He smiled sadly. "I'm not stupid, Eliza. The last time you got pissed at me you almost killed me."

"Yeah," I replied, "and I learned a few things about pain in the last few years Glenn. I'll be more than happy to share if you'd just let me in."

He shook his head. "Go around to the back yard," he said as he closed the inner door.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered. What choice did I have? I picked up my things and went around to the back of the house only to hesitate at the gate. I didn't know if it would be warded, and I sure as hell didn't want to feel that fire again.

"It won't hurt you," Glenn called out. "Come in."

I pushed the gate open slowly with the suitcase and stepped into a well manicured yard. There were flowers everywhere, and a small fountain bubbled against one of the walls. Glenn and Bobby were on the back porch of the house, watching me.

"Take a seat," Bobby suggested. "Chill out."

"I'll chill when you tell me where Corrine is," I told them fiercely, putting my things down and walking closer to the house.

"Why didn't you tell me about her, Eliza?" Glenn asked, his voice sad. "I would have helped you out."

"I didn't need any help," I replied simply. "The only thing I need from you is where she is."

He looked at Bobby. "Persistent, isn't she?"

The Garou smiled. "A lot worse than she used to be."

I'd had enough. If I couldn't get to them, maybe something else could. I picked up one of the wooden chairs that sat near the porch and threw it at them. It bounced off some type of barrier and fell to the ground, breaking on impact.

"Temper, temper, dear," Glenn drawled.

I picked up another chair and threw it too, but it did the exact same thing the first one had. "Where is she!?" I demanded.

Glen sighed loudly. "Calm down, Eliza," he told me softly.

Calm washed over me in waves and even though it pissed me off, I still felt myself calm down. He was better at it then he used to be. "Don't pull that magic shit on me," I growled through gritted teeth. "I want to know where she is."

"I can show you if you'll calm down," he told me, "but I won't send you there."

"Why not?"

"I promised Siofra," he said. "She doesn't really like you."

"The feeling's mutual, believe me," I hissed.

"Shall I show you?"

I took a deep breath and stared at him. Either I played nice and at least got to see that she was safe, or I was out of luck. "Please," I said finally.

He smiled and whispered a few words in a language I didn't understand. When he waved his hand to his left, a window of sorts opened showing the inside of a house.

Corrine was sitting in an armchair talking to an older man who looked vaguely familiar to me. An older woman was sitting next to the man on a couch pouring tea. I felt like I should know who they were, but I didn't.

"Where is this?" I demanded. "Is this real?"

"It's real," he replied, "but I won't tell you where."

"I thought she was with Jared and Siofra?" I asked, confused. "Who are these people?"

"They are there," he said. "As to who these people are, lets just say they will look after Corrine as if she were family."

As we watched, Siofra came in and sat down in a chair near Corrine. The older woman smiled at her, and they said something we couldn't hear.

"She likes the girl," Glenn told me. "She'll take care of her."

I wanted to believe that so badly. "If she doesn't, Glenn," I said in warning, "no ward in existence will stop me from killing you."

"I understand." He glanced at Bobby, then back at me. "I can send Bobby there, see if I can get Siofra to change her mind. Then maybe I could get you there later this evening."

I nodded. That would give me time to find Kate and take care of that business if I could. "Could you get me to Boston in the mean time?" I asked him.

"I can," he agreed.

"What about Mac when he wakes up?" I knew he'd be mad that I went ahead without him, but if Glenn could get him there soon after sundown maybe he wouldn't be too mad.

Glenn shrugged. "If that's what he wants." He waived his arm again and the scene changed to an outside view of a farmhouse. The window changed too, getting bigger and clearer than it had been.

Bobby smiled at me. "I'll do my best," he promised. He walked through the gateway and Glenn let it dissipate.

"Can I use your phone before you open the gate?" I asked him. "I need to let Mac know what's going on."

"Not a problem," he replied. "I have a cordless." He got up and went into the house, coming out a moment later with a handset that he tossed to me.

I walked a few feet away from the house and quickly dialed Mac's number. I got his voice mail, as I had expected. "Corrine is gone," I told him. "Glenn won't tell me where and I can't get to him to make him tell me, there's a fucking ward on the house." I knew my frustration was coming through in my voice, but I couldn't help that.

"I can't wait for you, Mac," I continued. "I'm sorry, but I have to get to Kate before she finds Corrine. Glenn says he'll get you to Boston if you want him to the same way he's getting me there." I left him the address, then added, "If I get a chance, I'll call you after sundown."

I hung up the phone and walked back to the porch where Glenn was watching me.

"What," he said wryly, "no words of love?"

"Would it make you happy if there were?" I asked impatiently. "Look, just do your magic and get me to Boston."

"Are you in a hurry?" He walked over to the steps and sat down on the top of them.

I looked at him warily. "If I don't find Kate, she might find Corrine," I reminded him.

"I don't think that's likely," he replied.

"Oh, and you've never been wrong before, is that it?" If he just moved a little closer I could grab him and beat some sense into him.

He smiled as if he read my mind. "You used to be a lot nicer," he murmured.

"I used to be a lot of things, Glenn," I told him. "Now I just do what I have to do."

"What you think you have to," he corrected me. "Things could have been a lot different if you'd have let me come and get you after the raids."

"What is it you think would have happened, Glen?" I demanded. "Do you think I would have fallen for you and we would have lived happily ever after? Only Corrine has ever meant more to me than Mac did. You're living in a fantasy if you think you would have changed that."

I turned away for a moment, trying to control my temper before I looked back at him. "Hell, you're married anyway, remember Siofra? What does she think of your obsession?"

That comment seemed to hit home and he smiled. "You never did pull any punches," he said sadly. "I love my wife and I sure as hell don't want to lose her."

"Then stop giving me the third degree about something that never would have happened," I told him angrily. "Mac is the only man in the world as far as I'm concerned."

He studied my face for a long moment before nodding. "Where do you want to go?"

"Cambridge."

Without a word he stood and began chanting. A few minutes later a gateway opened on the lawn that led into what looked like the basement of an old building.

He turned back to me. "If you want, I can take care of your luggage for you until this mess is cleared up."

I nodded and went back to where I'd left my things for the crossbow case. When I walked back he'd come off the porch.

"I'm sorry, Eliza," he told me. "You're right. If there had been a chance for us, it would have been in Baltimore before Mac came."

"It wasn't meant to be, Glenn," I replied. "There has never been anyone else for me."

"Friends?" he asked with a sad smile.

"Friends," I agreed.

When he opened his arms, I stepped into them for a brief hug. After a moment I turned and walked through the gateway without a backward glance. I found myself in the basement of the library at Cambridge, and it took me a few minutes to find my way out. I had about two hours before sundown so there wasn't a whole lot of time for me to find her.

I had a few contacts in Boston, but it took me a little while to find them. By the time I figured out where Kate was, I was grateful for the money Mac had given me when we'd first started out on this trip.

When the sun went down I was getting out of a cab near the harbor. I found the nearest payphone and dialed Mac's number. It didn't occur to me that the sun would still be up in Nashville until I got his voice mail.

"Damn," I muttered to myself when the tone sounded, "sundown here, time change. Anyway, I think I found Kate. My sources tell me she's in an apartment near the harbor. I'll try to wait for you, but if it looks like she's going to leave, I won't."

I looked down the street and wondered how much of a fight Kate would put up. "I love you, Mac," I told him softly, knowing that those could be the last words I spoke to him. "I never stopped loving you, ever. If something happens and I don't make it, remember your promise about Corrine. Keep her safe, she's more important than anything else."

There was so much I wanted to say, so much more I wanted to tell him, but they weren't things you could just leave on voice mail. Finally I hung up the phone and stood with my hand on the receiver for a long moment wondering if I'd ever see him again or if killing Kate really would be the last thing I did.