Bound to You

“Leigh, wake up.” Johnny murmured to Leigh a few hours later, shaking her shoulder lightly. The girl gave no response, her head flopping to the other side of her shoulder as he shook her. Johnny sighed, partly out of irritation and partly because he was worried about her before he looked over at Brian and Jimmy, who had just arrived.

“We gotta go.” Brian said, looking up the stairwell one more time to make sure no one was standing there or sneaking down. He knew it was highly improbable that Sean had sent men after them so soon, but they couldn’t afford to be reckless now. Johnny nodded before standing up, picking Leigh up in his arms bridal style. He knew she’d freak out later when she woke up in a strange place, but he also knew that he couldn’t just leave her here. Eventually Sean would come here looking for them, and if he saw Leigh, he’d kill her. She may not have believed him about being a vampire, but she was a good person and he wasn’t going to let her die because of a feud that had nothing to do with her.

“I know.” He told Brian. “She’s coming with us.”

“Zack’s going to have a conniption fit.” Jimmy told him warningly. Johnny sighed and nodded, knowing that Jimmy was right.

“I know. But even he’ll realize that we couldn’t just leave her here. I told her almost everything, except for the part about Bat Country and why Sean wants us. She knows I’m a vampire, and even if she doesn’t believe me, you know the rules. If a human is told, --“

“They need to either be taken in or killed.” Jimmy finished for him before nodding. “Okay, then let’s get outta here.”

With no more words being spoken between them, Brian headed the way for Jimmy and Johnny to follow, Johnny walking between them because he was carrying Leigh and wouldn’t be able to defend himself were Sean to make a sneak attack on them.

-x-

Several hours later, the black Escalade that Brian and Jimmy had gone to get Johnny in pulled up to the mansion in Bat Country. Leigh was still out cold, though now Johnny was beginning to wonder if it were now merely because she had been exhausted and needed the sleep. He carried her into the house, fully aware of Zack’s eyes watching him as he walked up the flight of mahogany stairs towards an extra bedroom he’d let Leigh use for the time being.

“Who is she, Christ?” Zack’s voice asked him up the stairs, following him. Johnny sighed and turned to look at the black-haired man, stopping on the staircase only for a few minutes before resuming walking towards the bedroom.

“She’s involved now, Vengeance. She knows about vampires now, and if I’d left her behind, Sean would have gotten her and used her for information.”

“What kind of information does she know? How much did you tell her?” Zack asked her, trying to keep his calm. He realized it wouldn’t be fair of him to get angry with Johnny for bringing a strange girl into the house without warning or consent from the others; he’d done the very same thing with Eliza—which had ultimately gotten them all into the mess they were in now.

“She only knows the basics. That I’m a vampire and that someone—Sean—is looking for me. And that’s all she needs to know for her to be killed. I wasn’t going to just leave her behind to face that, especially when she has nothing to do with this.”

Zack didn’t respond vocally but only nodded before he turned around, hearing small footsteps on the wooden floor behind him. A few seconds later, Eliza entered the room, her hair a mess around her face, her eyes relieved when she saw Johnny. He halfway expected her go hug him, but she didn’t. Instead, she only smiled at him.

“I’m glad you’re safe.” She said, her voice full of the same relief that showed in her eyes. “I blamed myself for what could have happened.”

“It wasn’t your fault that Sean got me.” Johnny told her, laying Leigh down on the bed. “Don’t blame yourself, Eliza.”

She smiled and nodded before looking at Zack. “I’m going to bed.”

“Alright.” He told her, nodding as she walked out of the room before he looked over at Johnny, who looked at him confusedly.

“What happened while I was gone? And since when are you back here? I thought you were in Chicago?”

Zack sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “We had to come back here.” He told Johnny. “There were a couple of near break-ins, and I wasn’t sure if Sean wasn’t behind it. It was too risky to stay there.”

Johnny nodded, knowing that there was more behind Zack’s reason for coming back to Bat Country other than a few random break-ins, which were common in the area of Chicago that he’d been staying in. He also knew that Zack wouldn’t tell him his reasons, and knew better than to push the temperamental man.

“Okay, man.” He said before looking over at the bed when he heard Leigh start shifting on the mattress, starting to wake up. Zack looked over as well, and then looked back at Johnny.

“Make sure she’s kept in the dark about as much as possible. You know the procedures from there when it comes to keeping humans here.”

Johnny nodded before Zack walked out of the room.

-x-

After Zack left Johnny’s bedroom, he walked towards his own bedroom, where he knew Eliza would be waiting for him. He knew she’d told him she was going to bed, but he also realized that meant she wouldn’t be sleeping until he came to the room for the night. She may never admit it vocally to him, no matter how much he wanted her to, but she didn’t feel as safe alone as she did with him. He was the first to admit their relationship was fucked up, though he knew that it would be hard to convince Eliza that they had something more than just a messed up casual relationship.

He hadn’t been expecting to develop these kinds of feelings for her, he thought to himself as he walked down the dimly lit hallway towards the bedroom. He’d taken Eliza for a few reasons, none of which he had explained to her. But among those reasons, none of them had been for the purpose to find someone to love. But he’d found it, and as surprised as he was to realize it, he knew there was no denying it. Zack didn’t consider himself to be stupid, and he realized emotions when he felt them, for the most part. And while he’d never loved anyone before, he knew that’s what he felt towards Eliza. She had admitted that she had started to fall in love with him some time ago, when she’d saved him from dying, but she hadn’t said anything along those lines since. He wondered if it had come out without her meaning to tell him, or if she had gotten her emotions confused. Either way, he intended on telling her how he felt tonight, regardless of whether or not she was awake to hear him say it. He knew he couldn’t keep lying to either himself or her, and he needed to let her know as soon as possible.

He reached the bedroom a few minutes later and opened the door, closing it behind him quietly and walking towards the bed, smiling softly to himself when he saw the outline of Eliza’s body underneath the covers of the bed. He stripped until he was wearing only his boxers before he slid under the blankets next to her, pulling her against his chest in the same routine they had been following for several weeks now.

“Goodnight.” She murmured, just as she did every night. As Zack quickly looked into her mind for just a few seconds, he realized that she wasn’t expecting him to say anything else to her tonight, and that she was content with that as long as he was there with her for the night. He smiled when he realized that she really did feel safe with him now, and couldn’t help but remember that when he’d taken her, she had felt like he was the most dangerous person on the planet, that he was going to kill her.

“I love you.” He whispered into her ear, causing her breathing to stop momentarily as she turned around on the bed to face him, her eyes wide with confusion.

“What did you just say?” She whispered breathlessly.

“You heard me.” He chuckled, his eyes meeting hers. “I didn’t stutter, did I?”

Eliza didn’t say anything back to him as she turned away from him again, closing her eyes in an attempt to fall asleep.

Neither of them got any sleep that night; Zacky was too concentrated on her reaction to his words, and Eliza was too confused by his confession of sorts to sleep.