Emily turned back to her books. She fell heavily into the mystical world her head filling with spells that once were and were yet to be. She soaked them as a sponge soaked up water. It replenished her as water replenished life.

"It pleases you?" a voice asked.

Emily's back straightened at the voice."Your demise?" she asked to the room.

He chuckled and appeared out of the walls as casually as if he had stepped through a doorway. "Normalcy."

"Nothing about my life is normal, you know that, Massi or should I call you Max?"

He shrugged. "Whatever pleases you, my love."

"Please do not call me that," she said with a shiver.

"What once was..." He trailed off his finger skimming one of the thick books.

"It never was."

"Should we go there?" He asked turning angrily.

She shrugged. "You brought it up."

He sat down casually in an arm chair. "Ah, it's so nice inside," he said looking around the room.

"Hmm, wonder why you never were invited in ..." she said skimming through a book.

He chuckled again. "How easily you take to your new gifts."

She shrugged again. "It comes with age," she said brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"You seem distracted. Maybe I should go pay the other ghost see-er a visit," he said moving to get up.

"Leave her alone!" Emily said blocking his path. He raised an eyebrow but sat back down. "What do you want?" she demanded. It was his turn to shrug. "Been around us so long you don't know what else to do?" she asked with a sarcastic smile.

"Ah, but you all are so entertaining."

"Why not catch the light? Go rest. You've had a long life."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Are you afraid of the afterlife, Massi?"

He laughed. "I rule the afterlife."

"Oh, is that why you got a stake through the heart? And why didn't you see that one coming, mighty sorcerer?"

He smirked. "You think that I didn't?"

"Then why? Why walk into it?"

"I didn't see any other option."

"There's always another option."

"I would think by now you wouldn't be so naïve."

"It's not naivety."

"What is it then?"

"Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel," Emily shrugged.

"Which is?"

"The end to all of this."

"Life? I can easily take care of that for you, my love," he said raising an eyebrow.

"You know what I meant."

"Of course, you're only getting started in this life," he said getting up and picked up a book turning it over to examine it. "You need time to play."

"I'm not playing."

"So it seems..." He said thumbing through the pages.

"You took easily to your new...entity."

"Entity," he repeated and then smiled. "I like that."

"Are you at peace now, Massimiliano?" she asked quietly.

"There is no peace for me," he said setting the book on the coffee table. He then faded away.

"Give peace a chance," Emily muttered and she heard him chuckle.

"Can I talk to you?"

Emily looked up from her books for another time that evening. "Sure, sweetie, what is it?" she asked her eyes hazed.

"Are you feeling ok?" Trey asked slipping into the chair Massi had earlier vacated.

"To tell the truth I've been feeling a little out of it lately."

"That's the whole point isn't it?"

"Where's Tony?"

"Out," Trey said setting his feet up on the table.

"So spill."

He smiled arrogantly. "You first."

"I don't think you're ready to hear what I have to say," Emily said simply

"You'd be surprised."

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

He nodded.

"Why do you believe?" she asked.

"Because I've lived long enough to see it happen. I've seen you a few times. The body's always different but you can't forget eyes like those. And the color doesn't matter. They pierce through a guy's soul like you know everything in the whole goddamn world and he doesn't," he said grimly. She nodded."Why'd you never approach me?" he asked quietly. Sadly.

"It didn't seem ...right...somehow."

"Right? Right?! Don't you dare talk to me about right!" He said angrily reeling from his seat.

"Sit down, Demetrio!"

"Yes...mother," he said and flopped back into his chair.

"Not a word," she said pointing to him.

"Who would I tell? Antonio? You think he already doesn't suspect?"

"I suppose he suspects but I don't think it's necessary that we confirm it."

"Is it confirmed?" he asked leaning in close studying her sea green eyes.

"What do you think?"

He shrugged. "I'll go with whatever theory you want."

"Why?"

"Why? Why? Why? Why the hell not? What else have I got?"

"You've got Tony. Isabella."

"And all I bring to them is pain. You want some of that? Or do you forget what happened to your parents?"

"That wasn't your fault. Or Tony's."

"Of course it is. Tony's some. Mine some. Yours some. His especially. Massi's..."

"Massi's dead."

"Massi will find a way back. He likes it here too much to let death stop him. He'll be reincarnated before we know it."

"He paid me a visit."

Trey looked surprised. "So soon?"

"He had nothing better to do, I guess."

"What'd he want?" Trey asked concerned and reached for her hand.

"He didn't hurt me."

"He wouldn't. Not you," he said with a shake of the head. "Not intentionally at least."

"If I asked you something would you be honest with me?" she asked.

"It depends on the question."

"If I left here. If I left all of you. Would it solve anything?"

"Absolutely not!" he said sharply.

"This is all my fault," she said with tears streaming down her face. "I don't remember yet it's my fault."

"It is not!" He said moving to the couch next to her. She put her hands to her face. "Don't blame yourself," he said putting an arm around her.

She put her head into his shoulder. "I cannot blame anyone but myself."

"It was so long ago. So many lives ago. Somewhere, way deep, down in there, you have the essence of my mother. But you are not her. She is at rest. And no matter what was said or not said, promised or not promised, there is no right for what is happening here to you or your friends today," he said and kissed her cheek lightly.

"How about..."

"We will end this. So the next life for you is not so unpleasant."

"Do I make it seem so?"

"You handle it well," he said brushing her hair away from her face gently.

"Am I interrupting?" Jake interrupted his face stone cold.

Emily lifted her head. "Of course not," she said with a forced smile.

"I could come back..." he said looking from one to the other.

Trey laughed. "That's too damn funny. Excuse me," he said laughing his way down the stairs.

"What was that all about?"

"He thinks you think there's something going on between me and him."

"And there isn't?" He asked hopefully.

She kissed him lightly on the lips. "You doubt?"

"Good looking guy, good looking girl, dimly lit attic bedroom..." he said looking around and picked up one of the large spell books. "What were you two doing?"

"Bonding."

"Bonding," he repeated setting the book down. He sighed shaking his head, "I trust you."

"Thank you," she said kissing him again.

"That doesn't mean I trust him."

"You need to learn to."

"Like I need to with Tony?"

"Yes."

"Tony would love to have you again."

"He would not."

"He would. He's still in love with you, you know."

"He's not in love with me. He loves me. I love him. But it's not what we have."

"What do we have, Em?"

"You have to question?"

"I have a lot of questions lately."

"We all do."

He sighed. "What are you holding back from me? From the rest of us? I know there's more than what you're saying."

"What do you want me to say, Jake?"

"The truth. I need to know the truth. So, do the others. I'm asking you. As our Guardian, I need you to tell us the truth."

"That's not fair."

"Life's not fair. And we've played your game long enough, Em. I know you think you're doing us some kind of favor by protecting us. But secrets between the group? Can any good come out of that? I don't think so. You expect us to trust one another? How can there be trust among secrets? So, I'm asking you as our Guardian, my Guardian, and more importantly, my girlfriend, to tell me the truth, what do you know?"

"I'm Eliana," she said quietly.

"What?!" He asked his eyes growing wide.

"Partly anyway. It's hard to explain."

"Well, you better try."

"I'm Eliana. Reincarnated. At least... partly. I'm not explaining it right. When someone is dies, their spirit does go to rest, if it can rest, and other parts, essences get put into other people. That's reincarnation. I have some of Eliana's essence."

"Well...shit," he said staring at her. "You're sure?" asked hoping it wasn't true. She nodded. He ran a hand through his hair. "Does Tony know?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Trey knows," he said looking towards the stairs where he disappeared.

"Yes. I don't know how but he figured it out."

"But how do you know you're Eliana? Or part Eliana, rather?"

"I just know."

"Do you...God, I need to sit down," he said sitting down on the couch. "Do you still love Tony? I mean, the way Eliana loved him? I mean, married like?"

"No. Not like that. I'm a totally different person. It's just Eliana's....spirit is with me...yet, it's not. It's hard to explain."

"So, the four of you. Tony, Isabella, Trey, you. You're all connected. You're all family," he said. She shrugged but then nodded. "So, what's happening here... Massi? Did he know about you?"

"Not when he was a vampire no. But he knows now."

"Now?"

"Oh, yes, he paid me a visit."

"What?! When? What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. He just wanted to annoy me now that he knows. It gave him some sort of sick pleasure."

"My head is trying to grasp... I'm thinking this must go back. Go back to when you were with Tony. I mean, Massi was in love with Eliana. Eliana, you, were married to Tony, had Trey, who had Isabella. Massi hated Tony for marrying you. Can you think of who else back then was mad at Tony? Your family?"

She shook her head. "I've been trying to think. I've been trying to remember her memories but it's hard going back that far. I've been trying to find a spell to help me search through all my past lives to the one to try remember any detail that can help."

"All your past lives?"

"You think I only had two lives?"

"Any other husbands or boyfriends you got out there I should be aware of?"

"None that you need to worry about."

"Oh, geez," he said putting his hands in his face.

"You're the one I've been waiting for," she said pulling his hands away and kissed him lightly.

"I bet you tell that to all the guys."

"Stop."

"Sorry. It's just...I need a minute," he said getting up and wondered over to the window. He looked out and was quiet looking out over the pool and the moonlight backyard.

"Jake?"

"Huh?" He asked turning.

"Are we okay?"

He crossed the room and took her in her arms. "I love you. No matter who you were in the past that doesn't change what we have in the present."

"Hey, um, dad?" Trey asked walking into Tony's room hesitantly.

"Ut oh, sounds serious," Tony said looking up from his book. "You never call me dad."

"I just wanted to say...I'm sorry."

"For what?" Tony asked putting down the book.

"Everything."

"Meaning?"

"What me and Isabella did. What we were planning to do. For not stopping Massi..."

Tony held up his hand. "It's not your fault. Massi was controlling..."

"It doesn't excuse me. I have my own mind. My own free will."

"Not under Massi's spell..."

Trey looked away.

"He was powerful, Trey. I don't blame you for hating me all those years. Even now."

"I don't hate you now," Trey said wiping at his eye.

"You hate what I am as much as you hate what you are. There's nothing I wouldn't give to turn back the clock to that night..."

"That's not your fault..."

"Maybe if I had told him no, we would have had a normal life together."

"Or we would be dead," Trey said helpfully.

"We are dead."

"We're unliving; there's a difference," Trey insisted.

"I'm glad you understand that."

"Can I ask you something?" Trey asked hesitantly.

Tony nodded.

"About mom..."

Tony looked away.

"I know it still hurts you to talk about her," Trey said sitting in the chair across from him.

"I suppose as much as it hurts you to talk about your wife."

Trey swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yeah. She...uh... anyway, we must go on. There is no sense in living in the past."

"But we are. Aren't we?"

"More than you know," Trey said quietly.

"Tell me what I should know, Demetrio," Tony sat up straight.

"Nothing..."

"Remember how Emily was saying we need to trust each other..."

"I do trust you."

"Then why won't you tell me what's going on in that mind of yours?"

"I'm thinking that maybe it's everyone's best interest if I go," Trey said quietly.

"What?"

"Don't try to stop me."

"Like hell I won't," Tony said standing up outraged.

"If I go back..."

"If you go back; what? What, Trey? You want him to kill you?"

"I can get on his good side."

"It's too late! You've joined sides with me. He knows that."

"You're not going to ask me if I know who it is?"

"You'll tell me. When you're ready."

Trey shook his head.

"Fine. Don't tell me. But don't be going and getting Emily all involved."

"I didn't involve her. No one can involve Emily. She's as hard headed as you. She involves herself."

"Take her out of the equation," Tony said firmly.

"I can't."

"What does he want from me, Trey?"

Trey sighed. "I really don't know."

"Well, I'm going to find out."

"Don't! Let it go."

"Let it go?! After all he's done? What he's going to do? You think he's going to leave them alone?"

"That's why I need to go. I can distract..."

"NO!" Tony shouted.

"Then what?! What do you propose we do?"

"Kill him."

Trey laughed.

"You think it's funny?!"

"No. I think it's impossible," Trey told him.

"Nothing's impossible."

"Look at what he did to Massi. Do you think he won't do the same to us? To your friends up there?" Trey said gesturing upstairs.

"They're your friends too, you know."

"No... they're not."

"Trey..."

"They're not, okay? I don't care. They don't trust me. I don't blame them."

"You haven't exactly made yourself....likable."

"I try," Trey said getting up. "I didn't have with Max and...I didn't have...what you have with them. They're your friends. They'd do anything to protect you. That means something," he paused and said quietly. "You're a good guy, dad."

"Trey."

"What?"

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing to worry about, pops," Trey said slapping Tony on the knee and walked out.

"Something tells me otherwise," Tony said to the door.