-- I'd always believed the whole "Lares" thing was a family story, nothing more. When I was fifteen I'd looked up the term "Lares" and discovered that they were guardian deities in the ancient Roman religion.Heh.A deity.That's hilarious.I can barely manage my own life, let alone help others with theirs.But|how do I explain a sudden, driving urge to open my candle shop in a pretty white church sitting at the main crossroads of a small town named Rome?I'm not a Lares. That's ridiculous.I'm just a forty-five-year-old divorcee who likes to make candles.How was I supposed to know that buying a church meant becoming the caregiver of a whole array of magical creatures?Still|I'm not going to guard them.No Siree!I'm no guardian deity. That's just|strange.