Re-Runners Third Life Part 1: Re-Runners, #3

By Elli Buchanan

Stefano returns to the fifth Re-Run of his life. His last memory was his death, as le Segador's blade sliced his throat. 

In this new Re-Run Stefano is a younger man and the killer le Segador is still a small child named Christian. 

Can Stefano cure the boy of his deadly tendencies or must he too become a killer to save the future from the horror of le Segador? 

It will be years before Kate and Dylan begin their next Re-Run. 
Can Stefano offer them a world free from the fear of being hunted by Christian or must they once again join together to stop him. 

Interview with the Author 

Q - So, what makes the Re-Runners Series special? 
A - They say that in the world of stories, there are no NEW ideas and maybe that's true. But I don't think there's been a series of books on this subject, done quite like this before. 
I'm sure plenty of people have thought - 'If I knew what I know now and could go back and do it all over again - Wow, the things I could achieve. Righting wrongs, avoiding the mistakes of your 'first life'... So many possibilities.' 

Q - It's an interesting concept, but what genre does the Re-Runner series come under? 
A - That's a difficult one. It's a mix of the kind of books I like to read, and I like to read everything. First up it's a paranormal time travel book, in the sense that initially the story chronicles the lives of three people, their death and their rebirth. There's also the element of thriller horror with the grisly murders committed by the serial killer, suspense when the FBI and LA detectives are tracking the infamous murderer and of course the mystery of how and why this re-living of lives has happened to them. 

These three people from different countries (Australia and the US... and later Italy) are thrown into repeating their lives, but retaining all of the knowledge of their previous existences; maybe for all eternity. Who knows? 

What would you do if it happened to you? Would you change? Create a new life or keep the old one? Make different choices or stay the same? Leave a legacy for the human race? It poses some interesting questions. 

Q - You've got every other genre in there, but you've forgotten the Romance junkies. What? No love story? 
A - Hey, of course there's a love story. It builds slowly and comes in Book 2 – Re-Runners Second Life. What's a novel (or series of novellas) without a love story? Life is all about love/hate, life/death, mistakes made/lessons learned. We're human, so of course there's a love story. Need you ask? 

Q - So, why should readers give these books a try? 
A - Because Re-Runners is a little dark and a little science fiction but it also takes you on a ride of possibilities. You'll find yourself imagining re-living your life. Maybe you wouldn't be tracking down serial killers, but it certainly makes you think. 
Ultimately, readers who enjoy a plot that twists and turns all the way to the end will get a kick out of this series. Thanks for reading! 

Re-Runners Paranormal Time Travel Series eBook Categories: 
*Time Travel Suspense Series 
*Metaphysical & Visionary Science Fiction Genre 
*Science Fiction Time Travel Series 
*Paranormal Adventure and Suspense Book 
*Science Fiction & Fantasy Alternate History 
*Mystery Thriller Serial Killer Crime Books 
*International Urban Crime Novel 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elli Buchanan
• Release date: Dec 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519971555

Elli Buchanan

The ideas for several stories came about when my man and I were 'floating around on a boat' in the Mediterranean for 16 months. Plenty of time for the creative juices to flow and undoubtedly the experience of a lifetime, but before any of these ideas became fully fledged books; we returned to Australia and the 'real world' of jobs and in my case, opening a small business. Nearly 5 years later, the business sold (loved, but its time had passed) and now time to write again. 

Book preview

By

Elli Buchanan

Re-Runners – Third Life

Part 1

Elli Buchanan

PUBLISHED BY:

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Copyright © 2015

www.booksbyellibuchanan.com

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All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.

Books by Elli Buchanan

Romance Novella

Love me, Love My Sister

Re-Runners Series

Re-Runners – First Life

Re-Runners – Second Life

Re-Runners – Third Life

Part 1

Re-Runners – Third Life

Part 2

Click here to view Re-Runners VIDEO BOOK TRAILER

Or www.booksbyellibuchanan.com/rerunners-video.html

The Sky Kingdom Short Story Series

(Co-authored with Sierra Mullins)

Paranormal Shifter Romance

Forbidden Mortal

Story 1

Hawk’s Desire

Story 2

Where Loyalty Lies

Story 3

Final Flight

Story 4

The Sky Kingdom Box Set

Short Story

Paranormal Romance

The Cursed Arrow

CONTENTS

Part 1

Prologue

Stefano Returns

Pre Re-Running

Christian

Watching Christian

Stefano

The Turner Family

Battista

Christian – Age 10

Stefano Finds a Mystic

Re-Runner Thomas Whittaker

Christian

Six weeks later

Dr Phranch’s Machine

Tina’s Sweet Sixteen Party

Tina’s Party

Dr Phranch’s Mind Machine

Angel

The News

Los Angeles

Recovery

Confusion

LAPD

Christian

Preparing for the Re-Run

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Prologue

Stefano Puglisi was born in 1921 into the wealthy Italian Establishment. His father Antonio was a foreboding figure who was often absent, with his business taking the majority of his time and his sexual liaisons taking the rest. He had little interest in his children or his wife. Stefano, the oldest surviving son (his older brother’s death at age six had broken his father’s heart) could never fill his brother’s shoes. Antonio Puglisi’s children – one son and four daughters were cared for materialistically, but with little affection. Their mother retreated into her own world following the birth of her children and left their upbringing to nannies.

As Stefano grew into adulthood, he modeled himself on his father and followed the traditions of their family. A wealthy playboy who had his choice of women, he married the bride chosen for him by his parents, Consuela Candela. It was a profitable merger on both sides. Antonio Puglisi’s several quarries and mining interests joining forces with the transportation company and nationwide factories of Francesco Candela.  Consuela too, followed the pattern of many wealthy matrons of the day, her own mother and mother–in-law included and after two daughters and several miscarriages, retired from the messy obligations of the marriage bed and created her own world of privilege and selfish living.

Stefano like most men, wanted a boy to carry on the family name, but following what he saw as Consuela’s many attempts and failures, he finally accepted he would not be blessed with a son. So their lives continued on in the custom of their families - separate, yet joined forever in the eyes of the church. Stefano showed some mild interest in his daughters as they grew older, especially his first born Angelica whom everyone called Angel. She was fair haired and sweet of nature, so like his beloved grandmother from the far north of Italy.

Stefano’s nonna had been the exception to the rule in this long line of wealthy landowners. A girl of limited means from a working class background, but nonetheless Stefano’s grandfather Stefano Snr, adored her at first sight. It was a love match ended too soon; both grandparents dying within days of each other and only two months following the passing of their oldest grandson, Stefano’s brother Tony.

Was the grief of losing his beloved son and parents in such a short space of time the reason for Antonio’s coldness? Stefano often wondered if all had lived, would his father have been a different person? Would he still have been the harsh man Stefano remembered? Would his mother have been more nurturing if she had been shown some kindness? And could she have been to his daughters, the type of grandmother he had been blessed with?

Thinking this way was of no help and it did not excuse Stefano for the man he had become. He knew the sadness of neglect, yet he now neglected his own children. What was his excuse? That his parents had ignored him? No, as an intelligent man Stefano knew the folly of laying blame. He was his own man and he had chosen his own path. He could see that his girls constantly sought his love and approval, yet he paid them little attention. His life was full and busy without them and he was selfish. He accepted his shortcomings, yet it didn’t change his behavior. The meager offerings of time he gave his daughters, only served to make them work harder for his praise. Stefano knew he wasn’t a good father. Perhaps if Consuela had given him a boy, things would have been different, but perhaps not. Stefano was arrogant, a hard employer and a clever and calculating businessman. He had no time for anyone except himself and only one other; his childhood friend Battista.

They were not of the same social standing, but from the age of six they had connected. The years of sadness following Tony’s death had turned Stefano into a withdrawn child, until the day his father invited the manager of one of their mines to visit the house. In itself, this was a monumental step outside normal behavior, but years later Stefano realized his father was not as oblivious to his son as he’d believed. The mine manager was a widower with his own boy Battista, who was a little older than Stefano. From the first day they became friends and Antonio Puglisi encouraged the relationship. Battista's influence on Stefano was immediate and positive and so began the friendship which was to span many lifetimes.

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My sun sets to rise again.

― Robert Browning

Chapter 1

Stefano Returns

Florence

1962

Stefano returned, as he had four times before, to his life as a forty-one-year-old. Instinctively his hand went to his throat; his last memory was the coldness of le Segador’s blade as it cut him from ear to ear. He slowly inspected the room then laid his head back against the plush leather chair. Once again he had been returned to his home office in the Puglisi family mansion overlooking the Arno River in Florence. He’d always loved this room and it had been many years since he’d lived in the mansion, so it was with great pleasure that he cast his gaze around the remembered space.

The deep mahogany of the paneled walls was welcoming and familiar. They were interspersed on one side by tall windows offering a view of Florence, now twinkling with night lights. On another wall was a floor to ceiling library displaying hundreds of books; many first editions and pieces he had purchased, not for their cultural value but for his ego. He always paid the highest price, which solidified his reputation as a man of good taste and excessive wealth.

He leaned forward and ran his now youthful hands over the wide desk of leather and wood. No longer were his the deeply veined and aged hands of an old man. Despite his desire to end these repeated re-runs, this was one benefit of starting over. He smiled. The return to youth and vitality was a heady aphrodisiac.

Taking a moment to relish his re-entry into this new life, Stefano’s mind then turned to things that needed doing, but first he spared a thought for the two young Australians, Kate and Dylan. He hoped they would succeed in their mission to bring about the end of the murderer le Segador and could enjoy a happy future together in some parallel existence. He smiled to himself. If two people were meant to be together, it was those two.

But it would be many years before he would see them again in this world and he had plans to set in motion before that time arrived. As in each of his previous re-runs, the first person he must speak to was Battista. Reaching for the phone, he thought again how tired he was of starting over. Please let this be the last time, he silently begged to an invisible host.

ooooo

The next morning the two friends met at their favorite trattoria and over a cigarette and espresso, Stefano retold again the incredible story of multiple existences and lives re-run. Battista sat and listened, thought for a minute or two, then nodded and accepted it as truth.

Stefano clasped his old friend’s hand and smiled at his acquiescence. ‘You astound me every time Battista. That you should believe such a story when no-one else would. I know this.’

Battista shrugged. ‘I ‘ave known you my whole life Stefano. You are pig-‘eaded and you ‘ave the ego as large as the Mediterranean, but you are no liar and you are no maniaco, a crazy person. You tell me it is so and I believe you.’

Stefano stubbed out his cigarette and threw the remains of the packet on the table. ‘That is the last. You will see many changes in me Battista and the first is this.’ He pointed to the tobacco. ‘I have seen the damage this has brought me and I will have no more of it. In my last life I wanted death to claim me and so I mistreated my body. All it gave me was pain and turned me into an old man before my time. If this miracle of re-living lives has taught me one thing, it is that we know nothing of the universe and we understand ourselves even less. But there is a feeling ... a knowing has grown within me Battista. There are many worlds in which we reside, all living side by side in an unending universe.’

Battista slowly shook his head. ‘I do not understand.’

‘Neither do I,’ Stefano laughed, ‘but I know it to be so. You and I are living our lives in these parallel worlds, each making different decisions that alter the story for us in that place. Why I have been given the gift of seeing and living these many realities I do not know.’

‘What good is it to know this?’ asked Battista with a puzzled frown.

‘You will see I am a much changed man. My dear Consuela, Ah ... what she has had to endure.’ Stefano shook his head sadly. ‘My first task is to set her free from my indifference and oppression. We will remain husband and wife as is her wish, but I will speak to her and tell her to go to her young man with my blessing.’

Battista’s eyes opened wide. ‘She ‘as a lover?’

‘Of course,’ Stefano said. ‘She has been far more discreet than me. I have known of him