"What the hell have you been doing, Max?" Isabella demanded into her cell phone. She heard a deep chuckle from the other end.

"And why are you talking to me in such a tone, child?" the voice asked.

"I'll talk to you any way I damn well please. Have you been hurting these people?" Isabella demanded.

"That's none of your concern."

"It is my concern!"

"Such a naïve child you are."

"Stop calling me a child!"

"Oh, but you are my dear. Forever a child. Just like me, just like Trey..." He said mockingly.

"You made us that way," she interrupted angrily.

"Correction, you chose to be that way."

"Oh, some choice, do you want to die or do you want eternal life?" Isabella rebutted.

He laughed. "Oh, Isabella, I never bore of our conversations!"

"You're changing the subject," she growled at him.

"Oh, I know," he sighed. "Darling, no one has come to harm that didn't deserve to be."

"You tried to kill babies, Max!" she yelled.

"Who? Oh, the twins?! They're still alive aren't they?"

"No thanks to you!" She was shaking. She couldn't believe that Max had been involved with the deaths of Emily, Jake and Raven's parents. And they could have been killed as well.

"Isabella! I had nothing to do with it!" he said, laughing playfully.

"Then why were you just talking about it like you had everything to do with it?"

"You know how I like to play with your mind. I wouldn't harm a hair on the twins' heads or any other of your magical friends. They are your friends now, aren't they?"

"I don't have any friends," she retorted.

"Good. Now, you just concentrate on your little... shopping list, and then come on home."

"Soon," she said and hung up. She wished she had a different type of phone, one that she could slam loudly in his ear.

Max could be mean but would he really sic a demon on Antonio and his friends? Like Antonio, he'd killed before. That she knew. She'd killed before. It was all part of the transition.

There were months, even years of just a haze when they were not like anything human, just vampires on killing sprees searching for more and more blood.

If she had known that, when decision time was presented to her, she didn't think she would have accepted. Too late now. But she was back to being something like a human and she had human feelings just like she used to.

And yes, Max scared her. He was so overpowering. Even before she knew he was a vampire, he intimidated her. And he plain well terrified her. Well, she was sick of it. She was going to run her own life now, whether or not, Max or Trey or anyone else liked it or not.

And what about Antonio? She wasn't sure about him either. He also intimidated her but on some different level. He was more of a softie than Max or Trey could be. Maybe her shopping list wouldn't be as hard as she thought after all.

Isabella looked up at the sky and admired the stars. She was walking in the back gardens of the property where no one would be able to hear her.

She worried about Emily being able to read minds. She definitely didn't want her reading her mind. But Emily had told her how to block her thoughts if she chose to do so. Emily promised to try to not purposely read her thoughts but she said it often happens by accident.

It worried her quite a bit. If Emily found out the real reason why she was there, or who Isabella really was, it would ruin everything.

"There you are!" George said with a smile, walking towards her.

Isabella clipped the phone to the side of her shorts. "Hello, George," She said smiling at him.

"Dinner's ready. We were looking for you."

"Oh, I'm not hungry, thank you. You all go ahead," she told him, looking down at her shoes.

"Are you alright? You seem upset," George said to her stepping in closer in concern.

"I'm okay. I think hearing stories of Antonio just has me thinking of things," she said, rubbing her arms chilled.

"Come inside, it's getting cold," George said.

He wanted to throw an arm around her and keep her warm, but he was too shy to do that.

She followed him across the grass.

"Are you worried that someone will try to hurt us again?" George asked her after a minute.

"Yes," She said honestly.

"I think we all are. But it seems that's why we have these powers to fight off the bad things in the world. So, I say: bring it on!" George said with a grin.

"You're not afraid?"

"Not with the team I've got."

"You trust your friends?" she asked.

"With my life," he said seriously.

"I don't know if I could do that."

"You don't trust us?" he asked with a frown.

"I don't trust anyone."

"Why not?" he asked, turning to her.

"I've been let down too many times."

"We won't let you down," George said, touching her lightly on her arm.

"I hope not," she said as they reached the patio.

They walked around the pool and went through the back door into the living room. "Found her," George said proudly as they walked in.

"Are you alright?" Tony asked handing her a glass of wine.

She took a sip of it. She felt Italy within her. She smiled and took a larger sip. "I'm fine."

******************************

She managed to force down the dinner that was fed to her. An already dead cow. No blood. She had wished Emily had cooked the steak at least rare or medium-rare, but no she had to cook it well done.

As she forced down the meat, Tony kept her wine glass full and watched her eat amused that she continued her charade. The taste of Italy helped her get the cooked meat down.

"Would you excuse us?" Tony told the group and took Isabella by the arm. He led her downstairs and into the wine cellar. He poured her some blood and she drank it greedily.

"You're a life saver," she said when she was done.

"Help yourself," Tony said, gesturing to the fridge.

"Where do you get it?"

"A few of the local hospitals donate it to me. We have some of our own working on the inside, givers too."

"Please, don't talk about givers," she said. She leaned against the sink and drank down some more of the stored blood.

"You know, if you'd tell the kids, then maybe one of them would give you some. If you need to feed from the source that is." He looked at her critically.

"George and Ray told me that Raven and Emily have let you feed on them."

"From time to time," he said with a shrug. "I try not to feed on my friends, but there have been emergency situations where I didn't have a choice."

"No, I don't want to tell. Not yet," she told him decisively.

"Suit yourself," he said, closing the refrigerator.

"Let me know if you're desperate for a giver though. I'll arrange something for you."

"Alright."

"Isabella. Do not hold back. You know what can happen if the hunger isn't satisfied," he said firmly.

"I know, Antonio."

"I won't allow you to hurt my friends, you have to understand that," he said looking her hard in the eyes so that she'd understand how serious he was.

"I wouldn't hurt them. I like them. All of them," she said looking into his eyes equally as hard.

"Good."