Bound to You

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Brian asked Michelle a few days after he’d gotten back from the hospital with her. She had been nodding off on and on for the last few hours, and couldn’t concentrate on anything. Her eyes were dilated and none of the beautiful hazelnut-colored hazel that he’d fallen in love with years before were showing through the blackness of them.

“Blood.” Was all she said, keeping her voice barely a whisper so that the audio on the security camera Zack had set up in the small area. She grabbed at Brian’s arm, squeezing lightly, and he looked down at her, worry in his eyes. However, she saw something else in his eyes.

Suspicion.

Brian was becoming suspicious of her, Michelle realized with one panicking thought. She knew she’d been doing an amazing job at acting—she’d spent enough time with Avenged Sevenfold as a whole and Brian by himself to know how to act. Why was he beginning to doubt her now?

“You know I can’t take you out there for food, ‘Chelle.” He whispered back, leaning down and pressing his lips against her forehead in a soothing manner. He pushed her hair out of her face and kept his gaze on her.

“I’ll die.” She whispered back, forcing the urgency to come through. She knew she wouldn’t really die—she had a stronger body than that. It was true that she was hungry, but it was nothing she couldn’t live with. She’d go as long as she needed without food as long as it would get her into that Complex.

“No, you won’t.” Brian replied. “I won’t let you.”

-x-

“You see that?” Joel asked Zack as they watched the screen. They had been watching Michelle and Brian for the last several hours, either one or both of them at the screen constantly at all times. Zack wanted to know what was going on with Michelle.

“Yeah. I don’t like it.” Zack replied to his friend, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the screen. Michelle had just grabbed Brian’s arm, and was whispering in a voice too quiet for the camera to pick up. None of them were lip readers, unfortunately, and they didn’t know what was being said between Brian and Michelle.

“Something’s off with her, man.” Joel said quietly. “It’s in her eyes, the way she’s moving…It’s not the ‘Chelle I know.”

Just then, Brian looked at the camera, his brown eyes dead serious as he made eye contact with Zack and Joel through the camera. He gave them one short nod through the camera before looking back down at Michelle, adjusting her on his lap. Zack watched as his friend pulled Michelle’s hand up to his mouth to kiss her lightly.

“Holy. Shit.” Joel gasped, freeze-framing the camera for a moment. “Do you see that, V.?”

“Yeah.” Zack said, his voice grim. “He fucking turned her. That’s his way of letting us know what’s off about Michelle.”

“That changes things, man.” Joel said, his voice dark. “I’ll go get the guys.”

“Make sure Val, Nic, and Eliza don’t know what’s going on.” Zack murmured quietly. “And make sure that Val stays with Leigh. I still don’t trust her.”

“Do we bring Jimmy over here, or leave him out of this, too?” Joel replied. Zack sighed, looking at his friend.

“He’s just as much involved in this as we are, now. Brian’s all of our friend, and if it turns out he’s the rat, Jimmy deserves to know.”

Joel gave him one short nod, and a few minutes later all the guys were standing around the computer. Val was busy with Leigh, Eliza was asleep, and Nicole was watching Sparrow and Harlow.

“What’s going on?” Matt asked, looking at the screen. Joel still had the freeze-frame up, though the camera was in its own little box so that they could see what was happening in real time as well.

“Brian turned Michelle.” Zack whispered quietly. “The bite marks are right there. That’s why she’s acting different. She needs blood.”

“Is Brian supplying it to her?” Jimmy asked, though his voice sounded distant. It was painfully obvious to everyone that his thoughts were still on Leana. They had calmed him down enough so that he wasn’t suicidal or wanting to leave the Complex on a revenge hunt, but he was still hurting. Zack made a mental note to let Jimmy know that she was alright as soon as they knew how to get to her. It wasn’t fair to him to lose her if it was at all avoidable.

“Not that we’re aware of. But we haven’t been watching them 24-7, either. We’ve only been watching them constantly for the last six hours.” Joel said. “I don’t think it’s likely, though. There would be bite marks on Brian, and there are none.”

“We can’t just leave them out there now.” Johnny said, his voice serious. “If she hasn’t had blood and she’s just been turned, she’s going to get extremely violent fairly soon. All newly-turned vampires are.”

“And she could turn on Brian.” Jacoby interjected, watching the screen as well. “He’s too valuable of an asset to Avenged Sevenfold and the rest of us to be lost that way.”

“But,” Tobin started slowly. “We have to keep in mind that he could be the rat that started all of this shit. Is there any chance that Brian would have sold Avenged and the rest of us out?”

“No.” Jimmy spoke, standing straight and watching the screen. “I know Brian; we’ve known each other the longest out of anyone in Avenged Sevenfold. And if there’s anything I know about him, it’s that he’s a loyal motherfucker. There’s no way he’d betray us.”

“Then there’s only one other person it could have been.” Benji said, his voice angry and sad at the same time. “That fucking bitch he’s with.”

“He’s right.” Matt said quietly. “Everyone else has been cleared, Zack. And we know what Brian left the Complex to do. The only one who doesn’t have their bases covered is Michelle.”

An intense silence set over all of them as Zack thought about his options. He looked from Johnny to Matt, and finally to Brian before nodding with a sigh. They were right. The traitor was the dark-haired woman in Brian’s arms. A woman they’d known forever; a woman they’d all trusted.

“Let them in.” He said slowly. “Matt, you need to control Val. Don’t let her anywhere near Michelle. She’s going to be devastated. Jimmy, Johnny, I want you to grab Michelle and take her to Solitary. Make sure she’s shackled and unable to lash out at anyone who goes in there. Joel, dig up everything you can on Michelle. If she’s betrayed us, there’s got to be some kind of record that she’s been keeping. You can access our main computer from this one, you know the password. The rest of us need to keep Brian under control. He’s not going to take to this easily; he loves her to the point that he’s going to be blind when it comes to her betrayal.”

Everyone nodded slowly, and prepared to bring Brian and Michelle into the Complex.