"So what do you think?" Samantha asked when Victoria and Kai left the house with the twins and she used the opportunity to leave her room and go see Ian. "Are you ready to give them a shot? I will if you will."

"No," Ian sighed as he pushed some of his dark hair out of his eyes. "In fact, I don't even know why we came here in the first place."

"It's not that bad," Samantha told him. "It's better than the asylum, anyway."

"Yeah, now it is because they want us to trust them," Ian spat. "But once we do, they're just gonna try and control our lives. Someone should tell Davina that before she gets herself in trouble."

"I don't think we need to worry about Davina," Samantha told him as she put a hand on his arm. "She can take care of herself."

"Yeah," Ian nodded and pushed his hair back. Then he gave Samantha a smile and put his arms around her.

Unlike Davina, who'd grown up an only child in her household, Samantha and Ian were twins. They'd grown up in the same house with the same powers which, although it had been a hardship for their parents, had been a real boon for them, especially when they were told they were going to be sent away. They'd had each other to be with in their cell, doing magic, telling each other stories, and sharing thoughts of what they would do when they got out and hopefully found a family that was better than the one they'd been born to.

"How long should we stay here, do you think?" Samantha asked her brother. "We should probably stay put for a little bit since we just got here, but I see no reason to call this our home forever."

"Yeah," Ian agreed. "These people will want to be our family and have us accept them, but honestly, I don't need other family besides you. The only person I trust is you."

"You know," Samantha smiled and pushed her dark hair out of her eyes. "I feel the same way."

They sat in each other's arms for a moment with Samantha laying her cheek on her brother's shoulder. Then her stomach grumbled and she said, "Since they're gone, you wanna go to the kitchen and raid the fridge? I'm getting a bit antsy about having to be in our rooms all the time."

"Sure," Ian agreed. "But we'll have to make it quick. Who knows how long we have until they come back?"

They left their room and sprinted past Davina's open door, hoping that she wouldn't poke her head out and want to talk to them or ask questions. They grabbed everything they could get their hands on (bread, cookies, lunch meat, and leftover pizza to name a few things) and headed back to Ian's room to eat, taking a deep breath and being grateful that no one had seen them.

"So what are you doing at your house?" Rebecca asked Victoria as she cuddled Molly in her lap. "Did you really take in three kids with unstable magic?"

"Yes, but we've already gotten one liking us," Victoria told her aunt, who was her father's sister. "Now we just need to work on the others."

"And how is it you plan to do that?" Eli asked Kai. "Tempt them into dark and evil ways?"

"No," Kai shook his head. "I've already promised I'd be a good influence and I'm actually gonna try and work on that."

"Well, good," Eli smiled in a forced way. "Great." He left the room and Kai looked at Victoria. "I still don't think he likes me," he told her.

"You did kidnap and torture his son," Victoria reminded him. "You don't just get over that."

Kai looked at Rebecca. "How good did you have to be before he liked you?"

"Don't worry," Rebecca assured him, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. "I'll go talk to him." She handed Molly back to Victoria and went in search of her husband. She found him in their room sitting on their bed and staring at the wall. "What's going on?" She asked. "Why are you being so mean to Kai?"

"Did you forget that he kidnapped our son?" Eli asked. "How can I be nice to him after that?"

"Cause we all make mistakes," Rebecca replied. "We all do bad things. Don't forget that our whole relationship happened while you were still married to Louisa. That's pretty reprehensible stuff."

"But Louisa had Robbie, so it's not like she was left with nothing when I cheated," Eli tried to reason.

"No," Rebecca said firmly. "If you want to hate Kai, hate Kai. There's nothing I can do to change that. But Victoria seems to like him, so can you at least be civil while they're here? We might never see them again if you aren't and I don't like that."

"Oh, all right," Eli sighed. "I suppose I could try for your sake if you really wanted me to."

When they got back to the living room, Eli got a surprise.

"I know I've never said this before, and it's probably why you don't like me, but…I'm sorry I kidnapped your son," Kai told him. "I shouldn't have used him as a pawn in the whole mess with Victoria. It was wrong of me."

"Well, that's very generous of you to say," Eli told him as they shook hands. "Thank you."

"Are we all friends now?" Rebecca asked. "Can the rest of this visit be pleasant?"

"You won't get any more trouble from me," Eli assured her.

"Or me," Kai agreed.

"Good," Rebecca smiled and got one of Molly's toys so she and Victoria could play with her while Eli and Kai continued with their détente as they looked after Finn, who was feeling very sneaky that day and took up his mother's old trick of levitating other people with Eli as his guinea pig.

"Help!" Eli cried as he dangled in the air. "Help me! Help me!"

"Now Finny, we have to be nice to Eli," Kai told him firmly. "Now, I don't know much about baby magic, but if you're doing this to him on purpose, you have to stop and let him down, okay?"

Finn's little lip jutted out, but after Kai sat him straight on his lap, Eli was rocketed downward toward the floor and hit it hard.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked Eli as Eli scrambled to his feet. "How badly are you hurt?"

"I'm a vampire," Eli said and held his head as Rebecca ran over to check on him. "It's nothing that I won't recover from, but thank you for being concerned anyway."

"You're welcome," Kai said as Rebecca led Eli to the kitchen for an ice pack and Molly stared innocently at Victoria, looking very pleased that it was one of those rare occasions where she wasn't the one who did something wrong.

"You have the look of a man who's just spent several hours with relatives," Adrian said as Kai came through his door. "You want a drink?"

"Well, yes, I'd love one," Kai told him. "But it really wasn't that bad. The guy Victoria's aunt married didn't like me at first, but I won him over."

"Good for you!" Adrian complimented. "And just who is that?"

"Eli," Kai said as he took a seat. "Eli, who married Victoria's aunt Rebecca."

Adrian thought a moment, and then sucked in his breath. "That's my uncle Elijah's grandson, you know. You have to tread carefully with him. That's how it is with all of Uncle Elijah's line, by the way." He smiled. "Well, except for Gregory. He and I go out for drinks sometimes. He's cool. I'll have you meet him if you want."

"Okay," Kai huffed at the idea of Adrian having another friend. "I guess I'd like that." He paused. "When are we going? Are we leaving now?"

"Why not?" Adrian asked. "Is that a problem?"

"No," Kai shook his head. "It's not."

So they headed to Katherine and Gregory's and Kai didn't say a word in the car, especially not after Gregory got in and Kai felt he should be in the back seat so Adrian could sit with his cousin.

As Adrian and Gregory both reminisced about family times, Kai sat in silence in the backseat, not being able to say a word. When they reached the bar and got out of the car, Adrian looked at his friend and apologized.

"You were really quiet in the car and I think I know why," he said. "Sorry we didn't include you in the conversation."

"That's okay," Kai told him. "Even if you had, I probably wouldn't have had much to say anyway. You want me to buy the drinks?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Adrian told him. "My sister runs the place. I bet I can get her to give them to us for free!"

"And how often does that work?" Gregory asked as he motioned for the other two to go ahead of him into the bar while he closed the door.

"I try it every time and sometimes it works," Adrian told him. "So we'll just see what the atmosphere is like today."

"Before you ask," Ronan told Adrian as they approached the bar, "Roxie told me to tell you if you showed up that from now on, I'm only supposed to comp your first drinks and then you have to pay for the others."

Adrian groaned. "Oh, come on, Ronan!" He said to his paternal grandfather. "I'm trying to show my friends a good time here, and how am I supposed to do that if I have to pay for every drink?"

"Well, the water is free," Ronan said as Gregory burst into laughter at Adrian's outraged expression. "How about trying the water?"

"Or we could all pay for our own drinks," Gregory said when he could catch his breath. "That seems like the sensible thing to do."

"And you're always the one to do the sensible thing," Ronan smirked. "Doesn't surprise me."

Gregory turned to Adrian. "Is that some sort of slight about my father?"

"Possibly," Adrian nodded. "I mean you didn't get sensibility from Mom. I mean, she has it, but it's not one of the things she likes to be known for."

"That's true," Gregory said. "I love Mother, but sometimes I wonder about her."

"You guys have the same mom?" Kai asked. "I thought you were cousins!"

"We are," Adrian said. "Our dads are brothers and we have the same mom. The lady that ran Sweet Emotions."

"That's a surprise," Kai remarked. "Who'd have thought that a woman who makes cupcakes could lure in two brothers?"

"Three, actually," Adrian corrected. "She was married to our Uncle Alexander right after she became a vampire. It was before she knew everything about our family."

"Well, she really sounds like something else," Kai remarked. "Can I meet her sometime?"

"Sure," Adrian nodded. "We'll take you."

"Unless you think she'll be too scared of me because of my crazy tendencies," Kai backpedaled. "Do you think she will be?"

"No," Gregory shook his head. "But presumably my father already has heard about you, and based on my mother's own dark past which he has put a lot of effort into pulling her out of, he'll probably be nervous about you being around her, so we'll have to bring you on a day he won't be home."

"That shouldn't be hard," Adrian remarked. "You think you can provide a distraction?"

"Sure," Gregory nodded. "I think I can."

They then ordered their round of free drinks, toasted, and made plans for what would happen when Kai met Selina, with Kai wondering all the while just how dark she'd have to be not to be scared of him at all. Victoria and her bunch were one thing, but Kai wondered if anyone could be as dark as them. Especially someone who made cupcakes.