Bound to You

“So…Let me get this straight.” Leigh said, her eyebrows bunched together in concentration as she ran over what Johnny had just told her in her mind. She had been with him for a little over four hours now, sitting in the basement of her home because he believed whoever had targeted him at the grocery store knew where they were and would make a move if they were in plain sight. “You’re a—“

“Vampire.” Johnny said the word for her, meeting her gaze. When she scowled, he looked back at the ground quickly. “Sorry. Continue.”

“Right. So, you’re a vampire. And another…vampire…is angry with your little clan thing, and so he took you as a hostage. Then he was going to kill you, but you got loose…And you came to the grocery store to call your clan. And then they found you again and now I’m in danger, so I have to go with you?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Johnny nodded his head, checking the cell phone that Leigh had given him for the time. It was just after two in the morning, and obviously far past the girl’s usual bedtime. Dark circles were beginning to form underneath her denim-blue eyes, her hair hanging limply around her face.

In spite of her exhaustion, a smile cracked on her face and a laugh left her lips. “Oh, that’s great. Now, where’s my ex? He has to have set this up as some sort of joke, thinking I’d get scared.”

Johnny blinked twice, wondering if he’d heard her correctly. “What?” He asked her, making sure that she’d said what he’d thought she had.

“This is all just some weird joke.” Leigh told him. “Isn’t it? Gavin must have hired those two guys to come in, and then had you come in to ‘save’ me. Oh, it’s downright hilarious. Now, where is he?”

“Leigh, it’s not a joke.” Johnny told her, his voice deadly serious. “I have no idea who this ‘Gavin’ guy is, but I’m being serious here. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.”

“No, it’s not.” Leigh retorted, her voice becoming firmer. “Vampires are just the subjects of Hollywood movies and cheesy romance novels. They aren’t real, Johnny. If that’s even your name.”

“My name is Johnny.” He told her before looking into her mind again. He needed to prove to her that this was serious business; if she left the basement, they’d both be in danger again. He could tell that she was close to calling the police, and that was the last thing he needed right now. “You’re thinking of Gavin right now. You were with him for a year and a half before he just up and left.”

The color drained from Leigh’s face when he said that, and then darkened significantly as she stood up, looking down at him as he sat on the dusty ground. “Look, it’s two o’clock in the morning. This joke has gone on long enough. I’m tired and I have to go to work in the morning—if I didn’t lose my job because of your stupid prank. I think you should probably go.”

“I’m not leaving, Leigh.” Johnny told her, standing up. “I know you don’t want to believe this, and maybe you never will. But I’m telling the truth.”

“If you’re a vampire, you wouldn’t have a reflection.” She retorted. “Yet when we were coming here, I saw your reflection in the mirror in the front hall. Explain that.”

“A Hollywood vampire is far different from a real one, Leigh.” Johnny sighed. “As cliché as this is going to sound, everything you think you know about vampires is all a big, practical joke. None of it’s true.”

“Then bite me.”

That stopped Johnny in his tracks. For the second time that night, Leigh had left him speechless and dumbfounded. “What?” He asked her, meeting her gaze. She looked up at him, doubt mixed with fear in her eyes as she refused to take her eyes away from his.

“I said, “then bite me.” She told him. “If you’re a vampire, you need blood, right? And if you’re not a vampire, you won’t be able to…To do that. So if you want me to believe you…You have to bite me.”

“I’m not biting you, Leigh.” Johnny said, his voice dark as he backed away from her. He knew he couldn’t risk biting the girl; it had been too long since he’d had any blood, and he knew that things would very likely get out of hand if he gave in and bit. He didn’t want to hurt her, especially since she’d put up with him for this long. He would have to find another way to prove it to her.

“Then I’m not believing you.” She replied, walking towards the stairs. He sighed and moved in front of her, stepping in front of the door that led to the staircase.

“You’re not leaving this basement, Leigh. Not until my ‘clan,’ as you called them, come and get us. It’s not safe.”

“Oh, my God.” Leigh said, her voice quiet as she stepped away from him. “I knew something like this would happen to me someday. Mama always said I was too nice to strangers, and now I’ve gone and done it.”

“What are you talking about?” Johnny asked her, wondering what she was going off about. She looked at him again, this time her blue eyes fearful as she stepped away from him.

“You’re crazy.” She told him. “You’ve got some kind of mental disease, and I was too nice to notice it before. I should have realized it when you started telling me all that stuff about vampires, but I didn’t because I thought…Never mind. Just…Let me go, please. I’ve been nice to you, haven’t I? I haven’t hurt you, so…So you can just let me go nicely. You won’t even get in any trouble because you haven’t hurt me.”

“Leigh, just calm down.” Johnny said when he saw her start shaking. He peeked inside her mind again and saw that she was going into a state of shock; she wasn’t able to process the information correctly, and it was too much for her to bear.

“Calm down? Calm down?!” She asked him, tears now starting to form in the corners of her eyes before she collapsed down onto the ground. “I’ve been kidnapped by a lunatic who’s holding me hostage in my own house and I’m going to die and you tell me to calm down?”

“You’re not going to die.” Johnny told her calmly, holding his hands up in front of her. “You’re not a hostage, either, and I’m not a lunatic. You’re going to be just fine after we get this all sorted out, Leigh. I promise.”

He couldn’t move fast enough as she fainted against the wall, the last words out of her mouth something he couldn’t understand. Johnny sighed as he walked over to her and leaned her up against the wall, covering her with a coat he found in one of the closets as he sat beside her on the ground.

“Just hang in there, Leigh. We’ll be out of here in a few hours.” He murmured as he sat, waiting for Zacky to call him and tell him that Jimmy and Brian were there to get them back to the mansion.