Bound to You

“They’re beginning to get suspicious, Sean. They’re looking at everyone as a suspect. It won’t be long before they question me, too.”

Sean looked at the woman standing in front of him, tapping his fingers contemplatively on the desk before spinning it around to look at the wall covered with articles, photographs, and other memorabilia of his work. He sighed, thinking over the woman’s words before he turned to look at her again.

“Let them ask.” He told her. “You’re an excellent liar, and an even better actress. I’m sure they’ll believe you if you want them to. You shouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“You’re not hearing me, Sean. No one is cleared! Hell, Zack is looking at fucking Leigh! She’s their number one suspect right now, and it won’t be long before she spills anything she knows about you or Jared.”

At the mention of his son’s name, Sean’s eyes flashed angrily. The boy was twelve now; not old enough to be brought into any of this. “Then kill Leigh. Make it look like a suicide. Perhaps that way they will be tricked into thinking she was the rat all along, and will stop questioning everyone within their camp.”

“Zack’s not stupid, and neither are any of the others.” The woman said, her voice low. “They won’t buy into that; it will only make them more suspicious, if anything.”

“Then you’ll have to think of something else.” Sean told her, standing up and looking down at her. “You know exactly what I’m capable of, and what lengths I’m willing to go to in order to keep Jared out of this. Make sure they don’t learn his name.”

The woman sighed. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do anymore. How had she ever allowed herself to get into this situation in the first place? She was supposed to be loyal to her boyfriend, one of the five leaders of Bat Country. She’d sworn her allegiance to all five of them, and she’d sworn her love to the fourth oldest of them. When had things gotten so convoluted? When had she let someone like Sean Castro dissuade her from all of that? Why had she betrayed them all?

She didn’t say anything else to Sean as she walked out of the room, pulling her sunglasses over her eyes and pulling her hair out of its ponytail before she walked out of his hideout to the street, intent on ending what she’d started. She may have betrayed them, but she could still fix things.

-x-
At The Complex
-x-

“Jacoby’s within thirty minutes, and Joel should be here even sooner.” Matt said to Zack the day after Jimmy’s blowup. “Both of them are bringing their security system stuff; we’ll run Leigh’s picture through their database and see if she pops up.”

Zack nodded, his thoughts travelling to Leigh. Something was off about her. Eliza had brought it to his attention the day before that she was hiding something, and now Zack was beginning to wonder if his girlfriend was right about that. After Brian had managed to talk Jimmy down from suicide, he and Eliza had gone to make sure Leigh hadn’t moved from the cot, and she hadn’t. She had been unconscious, however, and when Val had checked her, she had told Zack that there were bruise marks all over her neck in the shape of two hands, and on the back of her head was a bump that seemed to have come from hitting her head against something rather painfully. Val had told them that the only way that could have happened was if someone had grabbed her and choked her. She still hadn’t woken up, though Val had assured them that she would be fine with some more rest.

Then there was the simple fact that she shouldn’t even be alive right now. Zack had been a vampire for long enough to realize that humans could only withstand injuries to a certain extent before their time expired, and Leigh’s were double that of what Zack would have expected a human to survive. Not only was at least one of her lungs collapsed, but she also had several deep gashes that had bled far too much for a human to survive. Her broken ribs wouldn’t have been fatal, but they sure as hell wouldn’t allow her to sit up and talk normally without gasping for breath, either. Yes, something was definitely off about Leigh, and he wanted to know exactly what it was before he cleared her to be turned. Matt had already told Zack he didn’t think she should be, and Zack agreed. After all, if Leigh wasn’t human, there was no telling what she’d become if she was turned into a vampire.

“Joel and the guys are here.” Brian said, looking up from the screen. Zack dragged himself out of his thoughts and looked over at Brian, nodding to let them in. Brian punched a key on the computer and the reinforced concrete door opened. Eliza walked up behind him, touching his shoulder lightly with her hand as their new guests walked in. Zack grabbed her hand with his and led her over to Joel, grinning at him and then releasing Eliza’s hand for a moment to do a man-hug with the tattooed man before turning to Eliza.

“El, this is Joel Madden, one of our closest and oldest friends. Alongside him is Nicole, his girlfriend, and the two kids are Harlow and Sparrow. The others are Benji, his brother, Billy, and Dean.” Zack introduced them. She smiled at them all warmly, knowing that if Zack trusted them and was allowing them into their safe haven that they were alright.

“It’s nice to meet you.” She said to them.

“Would you go with Nicole and the kids and see if Val can set up an area for them?” Zack asked her quietly, touching the small of her back. She realized that Zack wanted to discuss something in private with the guys and nodded without arguing, walking with the blonde woman and the two kids over to Val.

“Nicole! It’s been so long.” Val smiled warmly at her, hugging the woman in a friendly manner. It was obvious that the two of them had known one another previously, and Eliza wondered if perhaps she and Nicole could become friends as well.

“Too long.” Nicole agreed before looking at Eliza. “It’s nice to finally see Zack with someone that’s not a traitorous bitch. Welcome to the family.”

Eliza smiled at her and nodded before looking at the two kids; one boy and one girl. “They’re adorable.” She told Nicole, who beamed with a grin.

“They are, aren’t they? They’re extremely well-behaved as well, though Sparrow likes to cry a lot at night. I hope that won’t be a problem?”

“Not at all.” Eliza shook her head. “These days, no one gets much sleep anyway.”

Nicole nodded with a slight frown, knowing only too well what Eliza meant. Joel and the others in her own group had been targeted as well; only a few days ago one of their members, Paul, had been found murdered on the front lawn of their estate. Attached to his coat had been a note addressed at the guys from Avenged, and Nicole assumed that was what Zack was discussing with them now.

“Things will get better. We’ve gone through similar things to this in the past.” Val said, breaking the tension that had settled between the three women. “We’ve got far more powerful allies than Sean does, and we’ve got much more brainpower, as well.”

Just then there was a loud ruckus coming from the area of the door, and Eliza looked over to see the familiar faces of Jacoby and Tobin walking into the room. A smile broke out on her face as she waved at them. Though they were meeting again under unfortunate circumstances, she would never be able to thank Tobin enough for what he’d done to help her save Zack’s life when they’d been staying with the guys from Papa Roach. She had enjoyed Jacoby’s company as well, when she’d been around him, and it was nice to see him.

“Hey, Val?” Brian’s voice asked worriedly as he walked over to them. Val looked at him and smiled at the dark-haired man.

“What’s up, Bri?” She asked him.

“Have you seen ‘Chelle?”