What!?

34

"Iliana, things were okay at first, with my parents we were still able to act more or less like before. But as you grew up and I had to take over as your guardian it became more difficult."

Blake hurries on, he can tell Iliana has about had it with him. Blowing out his breath. "You were always a beautiful child, but as you grew older you became even more beautiful. It became harder and harder to maintain the distance we needed to keep our control. As a child it wasn't that difficult. As a teen it was much more difficult, especially after the idiot triplets introduced you to skinny dipping."

Iliana sniffs even as she smirks. "I knew you all watched or at least suspected it. I could feel eyes on me. But they stopped coming out with me as well."

"Iliana, we all have our limits and seeing you naked on a daily or almost daily basis was stretching all of ours a great deal."

Again Iliana sniffs, "No one told you to watch. As a matter of fact you all had company with you when I would go out so there was no reason for you to be watching."

It was Blake's turn to sniff, "Our company, as you put it would get an extra go round or two as we would watch you. It was the only way we could release what you made us feel.

"If I, or any of my brothers, had shown any inappropriate behavior towards you, your relatives would have used that to have you taken away. I was willing to move out with you at sixteen because of how close some of them were to losing control and being inappropriate with you.

"It made us all sick at how close you were to leaving us. We didn't want you to leave, but we had to distance ourselves from you. Perhaps if my parents had lived they could have helped us to navigate things better. We made a mess of things, there is no doubt.

"We never meant to hurt you, Iliana, never. I don't think any of us thought about how you might feel as we picked our flavors for the night and I know it never crossed our mind that it might hurt you to help us do so.

"We have only ever thought about how we were feeling. Perhaps if we had thought about how you were feeling it would have helped us deal and made it possible for us to have more self control." Blake shrugs, "Moot point now, the past is done and over with. "

Blake turns from her and she catches from the corner of her eye him wiping at his face.

"Somehow, a group that targets vampires found out that your parents were my parents special ones. That's why they were kidnapped, tortured and then killed. Your parents didn't give them any information about my parents."

"How do you know that?" Iliana demands. They hadn't even known that her parents were kidnapped until after they were killed.

"Because if they had, the information would have been used against us all. Thank goodness they didn't take you as well."

Iliana shakes her head, "Why?"

"Because if they had taken and tortured you in front of your parents it is unlikely that they would have withstood the torture like they did. Your parents would have given them the information and then all three of you would have been killed. Then my family would have been killed.

"It took them five years to get the information they needed and to find a time and place that they could execute that plan to kill my parents. In order for that to happen they had to have had an inside informant to betray my parents to them."

Iliana had been watching closely as Blake gave her this information. Now she knows why he didn't blame her for his parents death, because it was his parents that inadvertently caused her parents death. They were targeted because of his parents. That actually makes far more sense to her and the reason why also makes more sense than anything she could ever come up with.

"I had the guardianship of my five youngest brothers and now my special one. I tried, Iliana, but I failed you and allowed my brothers to fail you.

"I can't blame you for wanting to go. If you allow my brothers and I this one last night, we will help you finish packing and even help you unpack at your new place if you would like. We will stay away from you. I just ask that you give us this one last night. 

"I made dinner reservations for," Blake looks at the time, "we will need to leave here in two hours. If you will accept this last night with us come down in an hour, my brothers and I have gifts for you. At that time I will finish telling you what I cannot tell you now."

Blake pulls out a gift wrapped box. "Happy birthday, Iliana. Make the choice that will make you the happiest." He hands her the box and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"What is this?" Iliana asks as she takes the gift.

"A gift."

"No shit, Sherlock." Iliana replies snarkily but more than a little tired as well.

"Open it please." Iliana opens the box and pulls out a dress, as she holds it up she gasps. It is far more daring than anything Blake has permitted her to wear before.

"You are an adult now, Iliana, you don't have to accept my gift, but I would be honored if you would wear it tonight to dinner. I'll leave you now, if you wish to continue we'll wait for you an hour from now. We'll give you our gifts, the rest of them at least, and finish the information. Then it will be up to you if we continue to the restaurant or end things there."

Blake stands up and he feels all of his thirty years and the weight of the world on his shoulders. "I love you, Iliana, more than you could possibly know. These last six months have been hell on me, just like they have been for you. But my control was slipping and I had to get some distance from you or I would lose control. 

"I couldn't risk that. Perhaps it was the wrong choice," Blake gives her a sad smile and a haunted look, "but it was the one that I made." Blake walks slowly to the door.

"Words are cheap, actions speak loudly. Blake, up until this year, I couldn't have asked for a better guardian. I just want you to know that."

Blake gives her a bitter smile, "But past actions don't have as big an impact as the recent ones. I understand."

Blake makes it to the door before he is turned by Iliana and she kisses him.

It doesn't take Blake long to kiss her back. It doesn't take things long to heat up from there either. "Iliana, we must stop, my control is almost completely gone at this point. If you somehow forgive us, at least enough to give us one last chance, if you wish I will finish this after dinner. But I want you to be sure that this is what you want, because if it is, I won't be letting you go. I'll follow you and beg you no matter where you go." Blake says brushing her hair from her face oh so gently.

"I will give you tonight, after that, it will depend on what happens. If I am ever again treated like I have been for this last year then I will leave and never have anything to do with any of you again. I don't give a shit if you follow me. I've started my martial arts classes again and I am working on new ones. I will hurt you, I will hurt which ever of you bothers me if you mess things up again."

At her words Blake kisses her once more and forces himself to pull away and go out the door. "I'll let the others know."

"I never expected much out of some of them. Casper and Flynn made things very clear to me, but some of them, the way that they treated me hurt. All of you have hurt and betrayed me, some to a greater and some to a lesser extent. Even should I give you all another chance, it doesn't mean that I will be forgiving you. You will have to earn back the trust you lost. 

"You and Isaac will have the most to earn back, because you are the ones that hurt me the most. There will be no other chances if you blow this one. I deserve better and I will get it. Whether it is from you all or whether I leave and start a new life alone. Even being alone for the rest of my life is better than how you've treated me."

Blake hangs his head down in shame. She was right, one hundred percent right. She deserved far better than they had given her. They could be spending the rest of their lives making it up to her and they never could.