4.15 Blake and a stranger

William watched in the doorway as Heather and Art played together. He had fond memories of the times his Dad would play games with him and Blake. 

He had been so caught up in business that he took for granted that his own son needed him too. 

"What are you playing?" Heather didn't look up but said, "I'm teaching Art new words. I thought you were working?"

"My boss yelled at me and told me to take the week off. I think my new step-mum to be is a good influence on him."

Heather smiled at Will and asked, "Does this mean no calls, meetings etc?"

"Everything will have to wait. My family comes first." He picked up Art and added, "We have a birthday party to plan for you."

"Will, please let's keep it small." He smiled at Heather and replied, "Heath it will be, I promise." Will read Art a story and once he was asleep they left the room.

Will pulled Heather close and said, "I'm sorry for not being there for both of you. I do love you both, I hope you know that."

"I know you do, Will, with your grandmother turning up and knowing that Blair is your uncle..."

"Yeah that is weird. I'm worried about Dad though. I feel his pain because Blair refuses to acknowledge Dad or any of us as family."

"Is there anything you can do to help?" Will had a sad look on his face and replied, "I wish I could help but I really think it's for them to sort out."

"Before Art birthday can we go away for a few days, just the two of us? Dawn said that she would look after Art."William looked at Heather and just smiled in agreement.

Blake missed his research and often went to the garage to do experiments hoping that it would fill the void in his life but it never did. He kept replaying the night he and Sam argued over her affair and how he asked her to leave. Why didn't he just let her leave? His Dad would say the past should stay in the past. He knew he could create a potion to bring her back alive but the question on his lips would Sam still love him? He had let his emotions cloud his need to feed and by letting that happen Sam became the victim.

Blake's guilt was getting to him and he was starting to crumble. Blake would often lay flowers at her grave and would mourn her passing but after seeing her he pleaded at her grave for forgiveness but she had never shown herself to him since and could never get the closure he needed to move on.

In the early hours Blake noticed how quiet the market was compared to the day time rush. He sat at the fountain listening to the water falling behind him and wondered how things could have gone so wrong for him.

"A penny for them." He heard a voice say. Blake looked up to see a young vampire in front of him. Blake smiled but even though she was pretty he couldn't allow himself to go down this road not now not ever. He walked off without saying a word but this young vampire was relentless. She ran in front of Blake and said, "You look as if you need to have some fun." Blake tried to step away but she grabbed his hand and pulled on his arm while she ran down the street.

"Listen, whoever you are. I can't just take off." She ignored him until she came to her favourite place. She leaned into the railings and asked, "Don't you love the silence in the air?"

"Yeah I see. You are strange and I'm leaving." 

As she turned to face Blake her reply shocked him, "You miss her don't you?" Blake looked at her for a moment and asked, "How did you know?

"You are going to have to tell someone. It may help you." He wasn't sure if he could trust this woman but maybe she was right. 

Blake sat down and looked up at the sky and started to talk. "I started to date this girl and fell for her quickly. She was even my first. We started seeing more of each other and then we decided to live together."

"Let me guess you took her for granted, right?" Then she continued to listen to Blake pour his heart out. 

"Yes I admit it, I took her for granted and before I knew it we were spending less time together then I found out she was having an affair." Blake was almost at breaking point as he curled up while this stranger listened to his story. "I demanded she leave and never return but she begged for another chance but I wouldn't listen. She kept pleading with me but the more she pleaded the angrier I became. The thought of a man touching my girl, jealousy was starting to take over me. Then I needed to feed and the rage became worse and suddenly she became my target. The next thing I remember, she was lying on the floor next to our bed covered in blood because I'd drained the rest. See I killed her."

"You must feel guilt about it because you visited her grave." Moving closer to Blake. "I miss her every day."

"Question is did you really love her? I mean do you feel guilty for killing her or not loving her enough to let her go?" Blake looked at her in the eyes and in a soft tone replied, "I feel guilty for both. I guess your right if I'd loved her enough then I should have let her go."

 "Were you trained to hunt properly?"

"My Dad tried but I ignored all his advice. I wanted to make a go of my own life but I guess Dad was right. I can't block my mind either."

"You really should learn to block your mind after all any stranger could get all your secrets, just like I did." She got up and wiped the grass stains from her clothes and said, "This has been fun Blake but it's almost daylight and I need my sleep and so do you." Then she started to walk away and Blake tried to run after her but she was a fast runner so he shouted, "What's your name?"

She stood there smiling at him and shouted back, "We'll meet again so when we do I'll tell you my name then." Blake stood there in shock and for a moment thought is this another dream?

He walked home puzzled by the evening's events and wondered why this stranger took the time to want to know about his guilt. There were too many questions rather than answers but confessing to someone outside the family did help. One question that this strange woman answered for him was he should learn to control his mind. Blake realised he couldn't undo the past but he could learn from it. He had loved Samantha very much but her affair had hurt him deeply and it was something he could never forgive.

He would have to allow time to heal his heart and grieve for his lost love and he knew after seeing his Dad grieve for his mum that this could be a long process.