The Lady of the Waterways

At first it seemed like a normal Saturday night. The night my world fell apart.

I had been out shopping and had arranged to meet Bill in Carmillas, He had some paperwork he wanted to finish so he was in the office and I was having a drink at the bar.

As I sat idly watching the dancers I saw a man come in and look around. By now I knew most of the regular patrons and had enough experience to recognise the look of the fangbangers. I had to admit that it amused me to watch them, both women and men, trying to pick up Bill. Only the other day I had observed him trying, politely, to shake off some Morticia Addams lookalike in heavy goth makeup. However this man was neither, I had never seen him before. He was pleasant looking, average height with sandy hair and blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and a check shirt with a pair of scuffed cowboy boots and he looked, out of place somehow. When I heard him speak I realised why. He was an American. A tourist I supposed. He came up and leaned on the bar next to me and ordered a whisky. I smiled at him taking in the shirt and the boots.

"You're new in town cowboy!" I said with a smile and a distinctly Engish accent.

He laughed cheerfully. "Guess I am!" he said. He held out his hand. "Name's Sam" he said "I'm just over here on a short vacation."

I shook his hand. "I'm Alex" I said. I took a sip of my drink and watched him for a moment. "You'll pardon me for saying so Sam" I said "but you don't seem to me to be the type to patronise a vampire bar?"

He gave me a shy little smile. "Well, I'm not normally, but I'm looking for someone, a vampire. I was told he's in this area."

"A friend of yours?" I asked curiously.

He paused for a moment and then smiled again. "Yes...an old friend. I've got some news for him, something I think he's going to want to hear."

I smiled back at him. "So who is he then, this lucky vampire?" I asked. "I'm in here quite a lot, I might know him."

Sam looked at me with a thoughtful expression. Perhaps I didn't look like the type to patronise vampire bars either. I certainly hoped not anyway! "His name's Compton" he said "Bill Compton...do you know him?"

I'm not sure why, but I found that I didn't want Sam to know about me and Bill, not just yet anyway, so I kept my face carefully neutral and said noncommittally "Yes, I know him, he comes in here sometimes."

"You've talked to him?" asked Sam eagerly. "How is he?"

"Seems fine to me. Why do you ask?"

Sam sighed. "Well, last I saw of him he was in a very bad way. When we discovered he was gone, the general opinion was that he was dead...you know, finally dead? I was surprised to hear from Sookie recently that he was still alive, well...not really alive but...you know what I mean?"

I gave a tiny little smile. "Yes, I know."

He gave me a sidelong look. "He tell you about Sookie?" he asked.

"Yes." I said softly "He told me about Sookie."

"Well, her boyfriend's finally ditched her" he said with a resigned sigh. "Everyone else could see it coming, but it still hit her hard when he married someone else."

"Eric?" I asked, surprised "I understood he was married to her?"

"Yeah, that's what she thought too. But, she being a mere human, it obviously wasn't that binding when a better prospect came along. He's married the Queen of Oklahoma."

I sat quite still, balanced on my bar stool, not quite sure what to think of this news. "And this is the big news you need to give Bill?" I asked. "You think he's going to leave everything he has here and rush back to Bon Temps just because there's a possibility that Sookie might still be interested?"

Sam smiled confidently. "Yep. Sure he will. He adores her, always has, always will. When she left him, started seeing Eric, he was devastated...poor guy, she's the love of his life. Everyone could see it except her." He took a swig of his whisky and looked back at me. "A lot of folks in Bon Temps were quite fond of him you know. They were shocked and upset when he disappeared, but not really surprised. He'd turned into a bit of a recluse, depressed I guess, and then after he was injured everyone figured she'd be able to help him, but it just didn't happen."

"You think Sookie would want him back?" I asked.

He took another swig of the whisky and said thoughtfully "Well, she talks about him, seems to miss him, you know?"

"But what about him?" I asked "He has a life here, a position...a girlfriend. Do you think he'd give all that up?"

"For her? In a heartbeat." he said with a confident little smile "Ain't never seen a man so much in love."

I sat on the stool feeling suddenly very cold. "What about his girlfriend?" I asked quietly.

"Well...if she really loved him, she'd let him go I guess..."

I picked up my wineglass and downed the last of my Pinot Grigio in a daze. "Well, it was nice to meet you Sam" I said, getting down from the bar stool. "I'm sure Bill will be in soon. Good luck!" I managed a smile somehow and headed across the club to the corridor leading to the main doors. I felt as though my brain was full of that down they put in quilts, I just couldn't seem to think at all. Everything sounded muffled too, as though the fluff also filled my ears. There was a corridor leading out to the main entrance to the club with a long mirror down one wall which reflected the bar area. That was how I came to see Bill come out of the office and walk over to the bar.

Ilario helped me with my coat as I watched Bill's face light up with recognition when he saw Sam sitting at the bar. Sam clapped his hand on Bill's shoulder and began talking to him. I stood in the short corridor watching the reflection of Bill's face in the mirror, hoping against hope that he would not react to Sam's news. Hoping that he would laugh, brush it off somehow. Instead I saw clearly and unmistakeably the hope that flared up in his beautiful eyes. I felt my own eyes burning hot with tears as I turned and walked out of the club heading for my car.

After two attempts I managed to get the door open and sat in the car for a moment thinking. "...if she really loved him, she'd let him go..." I thought of the bleak look on Bill's face as he watched Sookie cross the foyer of the Hotel in Amsterdam wearing the lilac dress he had bought her. The one she wore when he proposed to her. I remembered the pain I had seen in his eyes when I came into the room at The Authority's headquarters in London to find her there. I remembered how he had wept, helplessly, in my arms that night until the dawn pulled him down into the darkness. I wiped away the tears with the back of my hand, started the car and drove away into the night.