Chapter 13

Most days were tough and physically exhausting. Blaze would exercise for hours on conditioning and practising her fighting skills by herself as her own coach. Furthermore, she would spend a large amount of her day staring at a computer screen trying to research for any clues possible about the gang who attacked her.

On some evenings, Blaze would even travel back up to the old car park site where they tortured her, hoping to wait and see if anybody showed up. Every time she was there however, her body and head would turn into a state of panic to the point where she would become unable to breathe. Just standing close by to where it all happened triggered painful memories and flashbacks for her.

Blaze was now living off of any savings she had left that she inherited from her late parents. Her sister insisted that she move back to London after losing her career on the police force, but Blaze knew that it was her fate to stay in Wood Oak if she was ever going to find vengeance for what had happened. She figured that a change of career was looming around the corner where Blaze had planned to return to her first love of dancing. As a dance instructor or performer, it may not have paid as well as the old precinct, but it would be enough to keep a roof over her head.

Training in solitude and life in general however, had become very lonely for Blaze. None of the old crew had time for her anymore and the rest of them had other priorities to deal with. Adam constantly juggled between a highly demanding role in the SIF and looking after his daughter for half the week, whilst Max was busy running the bar and expanding his own business ventures. Zan was another story. He eventually became like a hermit, locked away for most days in his lab working on projects and by now, Sammy had finished college and was now studying and staying outside of the city. There was nobody left and Blaze often felt like the person from the group who was still stuck in the past.

The nights were the worst. Usually after a long day of training, she would sit outside for hours and watch the world on the streets of Wood Oak pass. A small part of her hoped that there was a chance that Axel would one night cross her path, whilst the rest of Blaze waited in the shadows for any clue or lead to find a member of the gang who made her suffer.

Often the nights would end with her following the tracks of a street thug or criminal before she attacked them in some dark alley. This was when Blaze really released her inner rage and anger, whether her victim was some low life thieving street thug or someone committing worse. Once she attacked and fought with an individual, she covered her face using a ski mask. Her enemies had no chance in a fight against her and they would often end up beaten down to a pulp, barely remembering what happened to them by the morning. Blaze always managed to justify her actions, convincing herself that she was the only one left protecting the city and its people as their vigilante. The police were simply not doing enough and Wood Oak City still needed its own heros.

Another Friday night and Blaze was alone, sitting down on a bench on the sidewalk. It was a cool Summer night and as the neon lights to shops and bars were flashing behind her, she couldn't help but feet alone with a deep gut-wrenching emptiness deep inside of her. The world was a cruel place and the people in it were heartless. As Blaze stared into the distance thinking about the desolate apartment waiting for her at home, a familiar voice unexpectedly called her name from around the corner of a block.

"Blaze? What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"Tim?... Hey!" She smiled, pleasantly surprised to see him after a long time. The truth was that Blaze had lost track of time and had been sitting on that bench now for a number of hours. By now, the time was almost 11pm.

"What's going on? I tried for months to call, but you changed your number. It's great to see you back to normal again," he smiled back as he sat down on the bench next to her.

"Thanks. So what are you doing here then? Off duty I take it?"

"I'm on the way out," Tim grinned as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his blazer. He offered one to Blaze but she politely waved her hand and turned it down.

"Out?" She raised an eyebrow. "Hope you're off to somewhere more interesting than this dump!" Blaze turned around to gesture at the set of downtown nightclubs and bars lit up behind them.

"You'd be surprised. L-Devo is now providing Diamond cocktails and Original Mai Tais," Tim joked, making Blaze chuckle.

"I'll believe that when I see it! You'd be lucky to find a cigar in that place " She laughed.

"If you must know, I'm actually heading uptown…" Tim proudly smirked.

"Thought you were dressed too smart for this place! Anywhere interesting?" Blaze queried.

"Just to some party, I'll show my face then leave", he shrugged as he straightened the tie over his crisp white shirt.

"Well I better not keep you then, go and enjoy yourself. You work hard and you deserve it," she smiled.

"Hey, why don't you come with me? You got some time to kill don't ya?" Tim's voice suddenly perked up.

"Thanks but I'm not sure if a high class establishment uptown would let little old me inside wearing this…" Blaze grinned, glancing down at her jeans and boots. She was casually dressed wearing a tight navy blue cami top with spaghetti straps underneath a black leather jacket that complemented her light olive complexion.

"Are you kiddin'?" Tim replied. "Just let your hair out and milk that English accent of yours and you'll be straight through that front door in no time! Come on, it will be fun…" he insisted.

"I don't know, these high class places are a little superficial. And I don't even have any makeup on right now" she shook her head.

"You don't need it, trust me! And if they don't let you in, which I highly doubt because your gorgeous, we can always go some place else!"

Blaze stared back at him for a moment in silence, contemplating whether she should leave with Tim or not. What was there to lose? And maybe he was right, the night could turn out to be fun. It had to be better than returning to a cold empty apartment again. "...alrighttttt….just this once!" Blaze tightly grinned.

"That's the spirit!" Tim smirked as he stood up to halt a cab.

By midnight, the two of them had reached the club which was elegantly named Blue Orchid. After some persuasion at the entrance, Blaze was finally allowed in even though her attire didn't quite match up to the flashy dress code there. She had heard of the club before on several occasions, but never had the opportunity to visit as they had a strict members-only policy there. The decor they passed was vibrant with hanging chandeliers that illuminated a deep shade of azure, whilst the bar areas and tables were lavishly decorated with embedded Swarovski crystals.

"I'm still baffled at how you managed to get us in here Tim!" Blaze shouted through the loud bass as she followed him through the club.

"I'm good friends with the DJ and his team. I've been earning some extra cash providing security for his crew over the past year," Tim winked back at her. "If you think this is neat, wait til you see the VIP room upstairs!"

Blaze raised her eyebrows, pleasantly surprised at how far Tim had gone up in the world. It was clear that he was starting to earn big money and knew some people in high places thanks to this extra work he was doing. As she followed him up a staircase leading to the VIP area of the club that overlooked the main downstairs dance floor, Blaze instantly recognised the guy on the decks. "Is that who I think it is?" Her jaw dropped with surprise.

"Yep! He's the guy I told you about…"

"Wait…? You provide security for DJ K Washi?!" Blaze's eyes widened. "He's like music royalty around here!"

"And? He's just a normal guy! If you want, I can introduce you to him later on once he finishes his set."

"Sure!" She grinned. "You done good Murphy, I'm proud of you", Blaze smiled, giving his arm a light friendly punch.

"Thanks. Here, let me introduce you to the rest of the crew then we can get ourselves a drink…."

As the pair walked forward, they were greeted by a friendly crowd of men and women who were sitting around several booths. "Blaze, this is my friend Wayne who's helping me run the security firm."

"Nice to meet you," the tall muscular man with greying hair in a sharp black suit extended one hand out. Blaze then politely said hi to several women who were sitting on his table. They each took her hand and kissed the air next to both her cheeks. This was something she had expected from the high class crowd, but Blaze could handle it.

"So, you're English then? What a pleasant surprise…" a trendy young woman called Margaret dressed in a satin purple dress with short bobbed, brown hair was taken back by Blaze.

"I told you your accent works a charm," Tim whispered in her ear as he handed Blaze one of the champagne flutes. Shortly afterwards, the crowd of around 80 people saluted their glasses whilst an extravagant display of white cake lit with sparklers was brought forward to commemorate Wayne's birthday. The expensive birthday cake was of course only there for show and was barely eaten during the rest of the night.

The music was good and the night ran smoothly with plenty of drinks flowing. As the time passed, the group had slowly become quieter and more mellow into the early hours of the morning and it was clear that some of them were popping pills on the way to the bathrooms. Having been a cop previously, Blaze knew what they were doing, but she decided to turn a blind eye. She didn't want any trouble, was in no position to arrest them and as long as they weren't selling the stuff, she couldn't have cared less.

At that moment, Wayne called Tim over to the DJ booth in the distance. "Hey, I'll be back in a sec, gotta take care of some business…" Tim said to Blaze.

"Ok," she nodded.

"Hey English chick, wanna sniff some of the white here?" A blond guy called Dylan grinned at her as he rubbed one finger over his teeth.

"No thanks," Blaze answered.

She took the opportunity to glance around the dark closed off area, eventually stepping forward to look down towards the crowded dance floor below that was surrounded by smaller booths. K Washi was still in his element, blasting out a mixture of his own house and dub-step anthems.

As the lights shone back and forth, Blaze suddenly noticed a familiar face in the distance on the opposite side of the upstairs VIP area. She gasped to herself in shock as the two of them locked eyes from across the room. She hadn't seen this man for almost three years now, and it was as if he had been hiding in the shadows. Leon Shiva silently stared back at Blaze with intensity in his dark brown eyes. And at that point, Blaze was ready to fight him. She stood her ground and clenched her fists. This was the man that had frequently caused her and her team chaos, not once but twice. Shiva was a sworn enemy and a highly dangerous individual. Axel had defeated him twice where Leon had sworn to leave the city after becoming a dishonoured fighter amongst his own and the Syndicate. He was once Mr X's right hand man and the muscle that directed their fighters. Now, it was Blaze's turn to defeat him and prove herself as a fighter. She kept her eyes fixated on him with fire burning through her soul.

But tonight there was something different about Shiva. Something had changed in him that Blaze couldn't quite put her finger on. If he wanted to fight her, he would have already tried. Although she was focussed on him with hate, he didn't replicate any of it. Instead, he stared back at Blaze with empathy. Shiva simply lifted his chin in the distance before giving her a civilized nod.

"Everything ok?" Tim's voice immediately startled Blaze into turning around.

"Yeah!" She snappishly answered. By the time Blaze looked back however, Shiva was long gone.

"Wanna get outta this place and go somewhere quieter?" Tim shouted in her ear.

"Sure!" She replied.

"When you said quieter, I didn't think you meant this quiet?" Blaze laughed as she pulled up a stool in the empty bar. It was now 4am and way past closing hours by the time the pair returned to the downtown area of Wood Oak's Central District.

"So, what are you drinking then?" Tim hopped behind the bar. He held up one bottle of tequila and one bottle of brandy in both hands.

"A new house? New car, and now you own this bar too? I should have got into security a long time ago!" Blaze smiled. She walked around the place, admiring the wooden walls and tables with her hands in her pockets. It was a simple bar and served its purpose according to Tim. He had partnered up with someone else to open this place last year as an investment.

"I guess I got lucky. I mean, I don't plan to stay at the precinct forever. Things are changing there constantly," Tim modestly replied as he took out two shot glasses.

"Hey, have you got anything stronger?" Blaze pursed her lips as she attempted to reach up for another bottle on the top shelf.

"You mean this?" Tim smirked. He towered above her then took down the bottle of white rum with ease.

"You read my mind!"

"Now I haven't owned this bar for long, but usually when somebody requests this as a shot, there's something likely bothering them." He pushed the overloaded shot glass towards Blaze's direction. She saluted then instantly knocked the hard spirit back.

"I don't know… I just sometimes wonder…." she contemplated, staring down at the bar.

"Wondered what?" Tim probed as he sat down on the stool beside her.

"If there was more to life than this. Every night I'm out there fighting, it's the only thing that makes me feel alive ever since….you know."

"I get it, and I don't blame you. You're angry at the world and you have every right to be. You went through a lot, I mean I wouldn't have gotten as far as you to recover from all that…"

Blaze fixated her gaze down towards her own shot glass with her palms cusped around it. "I just wish that I could sometimes forget, you know…?" She gulped then turned her gaze up to meet his. "I'd do anything to forget what happened, even for just one day…"

"Well, then we're gonna need something a lot stronger than this rum".

"What did you have in mind?" Blaze smiled and raised one eyebrow.

Tim reached into his back pocket then pulled out a small plastic bag of white pills. He placed it onto the bartop in front of her. "It's up to you, but this works for me." Tim shrugged.

Without hesitation, Blaze snatched the bag before downing one of the pills with her liquor.

All she wanted to do right now was forget about the past. She desired an escape from all the pain and anger that had built up inside of her. Tim was right and within minutes, Blaze's mind and body were in another place. Somewhere happier, uplifting and more euphoric. She no longer felt alone or afraid.

Blaze spent almost an hour carelessly dancing around the bar with Tim, certain that she could see stars on the ceiling. She was high and there was no coming down from where she was.

Tim also chuckled himself, feeling merry after a few more shots. Unlike Blaze, he was used to the drugs and one pill was enough for the time being.

"Hey, there's a room upstairs where you can crash if you feel tired," Tim suggested.

Blaze giggled, stumbling back as she knocked over another bar stool, "but I wanna stay here and party with you for the rest of the night!"

"I think it's time for you to sleep this off now, it's almost 6am…" Tim laughed as he reached for her hand to try to help her up the stairs.

Blaze suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, looking dazed but smiling into his eyes. "Murphy, do you remember that time when you tried to kiss me?"

"Let's not talk about that right now… Blaze, I err…." Tim awkwardly replied.

"What?" She tilted her head to one side, puzzled at the guilty look that dawned on his face.

"You made it clear that night about your feelings for Axel. And I overstepped the mark…"

"So? That was a long time ago. Maybe I made a mistake turning you away…." The words just blurted out of Blaze's mouth as she stared into his eyes. Her face was pale and her own eyes were slightly reddened.

"You're still high…" Tim replied.

"I don't care! It's been almost two years, Tim. Axel made his choice and I think I've waited long enough, don't you?" Blaze suddenly caught him off guard, leaning forward to kiss him.

After a second, she pulled back unsure of herself. But here in front of her was a great guy and the only person left who gave a damn about her. Tim was confident, easy on the eye, charismatic and fun to be around. He wasn't perfect, but his edgy side was enough to intrigue Blaze.

And there Tim stood, with the perfect woman of his dreams in front of him. Except the situation was far from perfect. Blaze had a lot going on and wasn't in the right frame of mind. He had still felt guilty about what had happened that night to her, knowing that he could have prevented it.

Then Tim suddenly thought, 'to hell with it. The past is the past…"

After a short, heated pause, he pulled her forward then kissed her hard on the lips before carrying Blaze up the stairs.

The next morning, Blaze woke up barely remembering what she said, let alone what had happened when they came back to the bar last night. She opened her sore eyes as the sun shone through the window.

The bedroom was a small boxed room with one wooden wardrobe, broken floor boards and plain white sheets. The smell of old beer hit her nose as she glanced down at empty glass bottles lined up in the corner of the room.

It was cold and Blaze was shivering in her body, even though they were in the middle of summer. The last thing she could recall was taking that pill off of the bar top. Her clothes and underwear were all hung over a broken chair in the corner.

Just as Blaze's eyes began to adjust to her surroundings, she felt a strong muscular arm wrapped around her waist pulling her close.

"It's normal to wake up shivering cold the next day. Was it the first time you took an e?" Tim's voice was calm and collected as he laid down naked in the bed next to her.

"Yeah. I err… remember the first club then the cab ride back here, but …"

"Hey, it's ok" he said, smiling down at her. Tim then tilted her cheek towards him as he leaned forward to kiss her.

"We both had a good time. And I want you to know that I'm serious about us. I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy Blaze," he explained, interlocking his hand through hers.

At this point, Blaze still remained shivering after crashing down from the drug. She suddenly felt uncomfortable about the whole situation, having a blank memory of how she ended up in Tim's bed. And she was in no state to get into a relationship, let alone the one night stand she barely could remember with him. But then Blaze felt bad, almost guilty at the fact that she had rejected Tim the first time. Here he was, ready to commit to her but the last thing Blaze wanted to do was to hurt his feelings again.

"Tim, I'm sorry if I led you on but…"

"I'm gonna help you Blaze! I want to more than anything" he cut her sentence short.

"What do you mean?" She sat up under the covers

"You and me. We're gonna find and take down that gang for what they did to you. I still got connections with the police force. We can find these guys, I know it! Do you trust me?" He asked, gently rubbing his knuckles down Blaze's arm. "I promise I'll do everything in my power to help you. And I won't bail out on you like Axel did, just give me a chance", Tim insisted.

Blaze bit her lip, feeling pressured. Tim did have a point though, his help could be useful and he had always been a nice guy according to her. What was there to lose? Maybe this is what she really needed.

"Ok", Blaze smiled. "But we take things slow…"

"Whatever you say, I'm here for you and I'll fight by your side" he smiled back then kissed her hand.

"Thank you,"

Tim slowly let go of her hand then he reached for the plastic bag of pills on the bedside table. "Just like morning coffee" he winked as he swallowed one.

"Here, I need some coffee too, " Blaze grinned as she held out one of her palms.

The months that followed in their relationship were like one big roller coaster. To say that the couple had their ups and downs was a huge understatement. Tim had kept to his promise though. Every so often, he would use police resources to track down low-level thugs part of that gang, whom he wanted out of the way. The ones that knew his secret and involvement in the gang needed to be dealt with and this was the perfect way.

One night, he attacked a punk called Carlos using a crow bar. After almost knocking him out, Tim dragged his body back to Blaze who was waiting around the corner in a dark alley.

"Is this one of them?" Tim asked her.

Blaze instantly recognised the thick scar and washed-out tattoo of a knife on Carlos' arm. Her mind flashed back once again to that night, where he was one of the thugs holding her up by the arm. Blaze wasted no time in punishing the criminal, kicking and punching the shit out of him for what he did until he was no longer breathing. Tim was able to cover up the evidence and get rid of the body for good. No one in the police force would ever know what really happened and the two of them always covered their tracks.

Their relationship was a power struggle that often lept from intense highs to lows with its foundations rooted in the drugs that they were addicted to. Every aspect of it was intoxicating yet thrilling and exciting. When times were good, the two of them felt as if they could take on the world. But slowly, the good times were becoming less frequent and the arguments and fights were taking over. Addiction was a nasty thing. Blaze kept it all hidden and eventually withdrew herself further from her old friends and crew. Times had changed once again and life was just as dark, but even more volatile than before.