Adam went to school with Toby. They’ve known each other since 5th grade. According to Adam, Toby was in love with him and spent their High School years “checking out [his] package.” It seems that Adam is jealous of Toby’s affection for Kevin. Adam self-identifies as straight, but he’s determined to keep Toby’s attention on him. He can’t bear to be left out when Toby’s part of a couple. Adam’s interfering has harmed Toby’s relationships in the past.

After Grace caught Ambrosius having sex with Raymond, she locked him away in the basement of the Hotel Dante and placed him under a curse that he would look old and ugly through all eternity until “the kiss of a young man” would set him free. Ambrosious was released from the curse by kissing Kevin 165 years later.

After Kevin freed Ambrosius, Ambrosius became obsessed with Kevin, luring him to the lighthouse for sex and even trying to kill Toby in order to get access to Kevin. With a stockpile of gold retrieved from his own grave, Ambrosius is rich, powerful, and darkly mysterious. He’s not an easy man to resist.

Ambrosius is the lone wolf who’s been burned too many times by humanity. A narcissist, he overestimates his own power and has an inexhaustible need for admiration. His interest in others lies primarily in how they can service his needs: the infinite craving for freedom, power and uncontrolled sex.

These needs were not born in him; they were created. Deep inside of him beats the heart of someone who once had hopes and dreams and desired love. But between constant concealment of his sexuality in nineteenth century society and being trapped in a dungeon for over 150 years, a passionate soul became the wild, wary animal that entwines sex, love and death as he roams the streets of Dante’s Cove.

At his core, Ambrosius is not fully evil. He doesn’t kill for enjoyment -- he doesn’t see himself as a villain, he sees himself as a person who deserves the happiness he’s been denied for so long. He couldn’t kill Toby when he had every reason to, and even the death of the two children weighs on him in his most private moments. He hasn’t lost complete respect for human life; his killing comes from necessity, to gain whatever he feels he deserves, not from pleasure. In another time and place he could have been a gentle, civilized man.

Ambrosius protects himself from self-hatred by cherishing a self-image as a man with no remorse, no true feelings. But in fact he does care deeply about Kevin. Drawn to Kevin’s innocence and loyalty, Ambrosius is torn between the need to possess him, and the overwhelming desire to protect him.

When Kevin was 12, his mother discovered Kevin’s father having sex with another man. It’s not that different from what happened to Grace -- except no one got killed or locked in a basement for eternity. Within a few weeks, Kevin’s dad had moved away and was never seen again. Occasionally, Kevin’s mom would rail against “that faggot who ruined my life” but, pretty much, his father was never discussed again. When Kevin’s mom remarried, she told her new husband, Jack, what had happened and created a monster who immediately sensed that Kevin was also gay. From that moment, Kevin’s mom never had to say a word because her new husband took over.

Kevin kept his sexuality a secret throughout high school and was quite a jock. He worked out pretty much every day of the week -- to stay out of the house and away from his mother and stepfather. At one time he dreamed of being a professional athlete, and he is an excellent swimmer. He loves to swim in the ocean and is drawn to the water. However, Kevin is reckless. He swims too far away from shore, alone.

While Kevin may have been closeted in high school, he was no virgin. The taunting he received from his stepfather only fueled Kevin’s need for love. Kevin mistakenly believed that he could find that love through sex and maintained both boyfriends and girlfriends, all of whom were jettisoned when things got too serious. He led his parents to believe he had a steady girlfriend -- not that they really believed it.

Toby was certainly attracted to Kevin physically but he also wanted Kevin as a person. From the beginning, that made Kevin deeply uncomfortable. The very thing that he most wants -- love and acceptance -- feels unbearable now that he has it. Kevin constantly fights with himself about whether he wants to be with Toby or play the field.

Grace has the ability to kill with a glare. After discovering Ambrosius in flagrante with his servant Raymond, Grace killed Raymond and locked Ambrosius in the sub-basement of her home (later the Hotel Dante). In the present day, Grace still harbors an insatiable grudge against the man who destroyed her dreams of love. She will do anything in her power to keep Ambrosius from happiness.

Grace is a well that can’t be filled. A broken woman who, even if glued back together, will never be whole again. She is prone to sudden tantrums, fits of jealousy and rage, and lacks the ability to problem solve beyond servicing her momentary desires. She is a master schemer and kills on a whim. Right is what she makes and takes, and never ever cross her if you want to live. She is a woman-child, a virgin who has never experienced adult love and never grown beyond puberty in her emotional maturity.

The day she caught Ambrosius with another man was the day Grace snapped and became the monster that she is. Her hopes and dreams for love and happiness and her ability to ever trust another human being went up in smoke. And her destiny -- to bear the next Avatar of the Moon -- was thwarted.

Though Grace’s emotional emptiness is frightening, her lust for absolute power is overwhelmingly a turn on. As if power were sex, Grace wears it like a second skin, always hunting, attempting to tantalize, control, then engorge herself in supremacy and dominance. She is in one word: mesmerizing.

Grace is a woman who yearns to trust. She desperately cries out to be loved, accepted, protected and made safe, though she is oblivious to all of this, having buried these needs deep beneath her promise to make Ambrosius suffer. But still, these small cracks in the china are like an Achilles Heel in Grace’s subconscious.

After initial reluctance to believe in the magic around Dante’s Cove, Toby is now fully aware of the forces at work around him. He doesn’t like it but he’s forced to admit that Van was right -- they have to fight fire with fire. If you’re going to be attacked by witches and warlocks, you’d better have some magical weapons in your own arsenal.

Toby wants to own a restaurant as his parents did. He loves taking care of people and is a pretty good cook, too. Toby’s had a few high-stress restaurant jobs before coming to Dante’s Cove but has always had trouble balancing work and relationships.

Toby has a history of being attracted to masculine, troubled boys uncomfortable with their sexuality -- from his high school buddy Adam to Kevin. In fact, that’s what brought him to Dante’s Cove. He fell for a young, troubled guy he worked with -- who was straight. Toby poured his energy and devotion into the impossible relationship. When it finally ended he quit his job and felt like he needed to get away completely, so he took the money he’d saved and headed for Dante’s Cove, where his old friend Vanessa was already living. He took a bartender’s job at a beach bar and tried to tell himself he was finding himself, rather than running from himself.

Sometimes Toby gets himself into such messes with men that he thinks he should give up on the gay world. In fact, Toby and Van made a pact that if they hadn’t both found same-sex mates by the time they turned 30, they would just get married to each other and have kids. (Toby comes from a big family and desperately wants kids.) Toby is starting to feel that maybe he’ll just give up on men if he can’t make it work this time with Kevin.

Toby and Kevin met on the beach in Laguna Beach. They’ve been together only a couple of months but Toby takes the relationship very seriously and all his friends know that he thinks Kevin is “the one.” Their relationship is plagued by constant ups and down -- Kevin’s fear of commitment and inexperience in long-term relationships has caused some of their arguments; others have been the result of magical interference.

Toby’s other primary relationship is with Adam, his best friend since High School. For years, Adam was in denial about his love for Toby, and treated Toby badly as a result. But Toby values Adam like family, and didn’t give up on him.