Were you in love with her?" asked Wolf.

"I don't know." Cole looked down at the ground. "We were very close for a period of time, and I though about giving it all up, and becoming one of the Barringtons. They were a good family, out to help people, and Estelle was willing to love me unquestionably. We spent a lot of time getting close with one another; long days spent on trips all over the state, and to the nearby cities such as Boston and New York.

"I eventually ended up proposing to her. To this day I'm still not sure why, whether it was because I loved her, or because I wanted to get as close as I could to the family. There were times I gave serious thought as to what it would be like to spend the rest of my life with her. In addition, in those days weddings were supposed to be white, and I had spent a significant amount of time thinking about what our honeymoon would be like.

"Unfortunately word got around that I had infiltrated the family. Taking them out meant a lot for what you might say was my career."

"The family threw us an engagement party." Cole said sadly, his voice on the verge of cracking. "I put something in the wine they served, and the entire family ended up dying that night. I held Estelle's hand as she passed on, and promised to find out what was happening. Afterwards I covered it up with the sheriff's department, so no one would suspect anything. I made it look like a simple, unintentional case of food poisoning.

"Raynor, made me his protégé, and was extremely pleased with my work. The Barrington book of shadows became one of their most prized possessions, and I quickly ascended to a very high level within the brotherhood.

"For years I tried to convince myself that I wasn't in love with Estelle, that the feelings I had were nothing. I later thought a part of me had just died the night I slew the Barrington family and that I did not have the capacity to love. Offing them was a means to an end, and got me what I had wanted. But these days, now that I have changed, it is something I still think about. What would have happened had I not poisoned the Barringtons, and simply had chosen to live with the family?"

Wolf glanced at Cole sympathetically and said in a low knowing tone, "Well, you didn't; you made the choice you did, and there is no way you could go back and simply change it." He paused, "What you did was your destiny. You wouldn't be the same, pers… being you are today, had you made a different choice. It seems you learned a painful lesson from this experience, that, years later, permitted you to act very differently, especially after meeting Phoebe."

"True," responded Cole, as he took a swig of water from Wolf's bottle, he noticed that it was getting late. "But it is something that still haunts me, the memories of that and other things I've done. I sometimes feel I just don't deserve what I have. It is one of the things that keep me up during the night. "

"As you found out, last month, I've done things in my past that I certainly regret. There were different reasons for doing so. Sometimes I just was in a state where I had no idea what I was doing. Others were done out of vengeance after things had been done to people with whom I had been very close." Said Wolf, not wanting to reveal the atrocity that had happened to his parents, and the actions he took afterwards.

Wolf continued. "Perhaps I shouldn't have done them, but the world isn't black and white, there is always a shade of gray, and extenuating circumstances. Around here wolves and farmers have a long history of not getting along. Farmers do bad things to wolves, wolves do bad things to farmers in revenge. It is one of those vicious cycles that I never, ever think will be resolved, Wolves are wolves, and farmers are farmers." He said, an angry, all knowing tone in his voice. "I get the feeling that the situation between witches, and whatever you are is probably something similar. Had the Barringtons not taken out whoever was in charge of the Brotherhood, perhaps the Brotherhood would not have been after the Barringtons, and you wouldn't have the skeletons you have in your closet."

"You certainly have a point, but I don't want to go there." said Cole as he got up off the ground where they were sitting, picked up the Barrington book of shadows, and the case of slugs Wolf had bought. He managed to carry both with one hand, and offered the other hand to Wolf. Wolf accepted, and then suddenly found himself being transported, in the same fashion Cole had transported him the last time. This time it wasn't to Cole's apartment; it was to a graveyard in a deeply wooded area. Wolf then looked and noticed that one of the headstones read Estelle Barrington.

Cole put down the book of shadows, and case of slugs. A shovel suddenly appeared in his hand, and a bouquet of baby's breath and wisteria in the other. He placed part of the bouquet in front of Estelle's headstone, and the rest in front of the headstones of other members of the family. "Sometimes the best thing to do is to just burry things. It can help to break any type of vicious cycles which may exist." He said as he began to dig a hole next to Estelle's grave. He then placed the book of shadows in the hole and then carefully covered it up.

Afterwards they turned towards the wooded areas surrounding the graveyard. "Welcome to Massachusetts, the Berkshire Mountains to be exact," Cole told Wolf, as he looked around at the dense forest that surrounded them.

The next thing that appeared in Cole's hand was a thermos. As he opened it Wolf smelled the strong scent of coffee.

"Starbucks Italian Roast?" asked Wolf wondering why Cole was conjuring coffee of all things. Why did humans in this dimension have an obsession with such a disgusting tasting thing?

"If I'm going to be here all night babysitting you, I need something to keep me up," he said as he took a sip. "Tonight is not a night to start any new cycles so if you spot any humans, don't eat them. But, they have been having some deer overpopulation issues lately, so if you see one running, have a snack. If you don't get it, chances are it will be the victim of an SUV. Just remember, I'll be watching even if you don't see me, so behave. " Cole then vanished and Wolf was free to roam the forest for the night.