Bound to You

For the next several days, Eliza saw very little of Zack. He kept primarily to himself, only coming to the bedroom late at night and already gone when she woke up in the morning. At first, she had been hesitant to leave the house with Luka, assuming that Zack had only been testing her and would hurt her if she stepped outside. Curiosity got the best of her, though, and she eventually began going outside, traveling further away from the house each day until she was comfortable being away. Luka kept to her side, never leaving her alone, and despite how unsure Eliza had been of the dog previously, she was beginning to trust and even like the animal.

Today, she was sitting in the living room, watching the mountain trees sway in an unseasonably cold breeze. Of course, Eliza had no idea whether or not it actually was unseasonable; she didn’t know where they were at, or what time of year it was. She knew she’d been kidnapped in the late fall, and didn’t think much time had passed since then. Boredly, she turned on the TV to a local news station, determined to find out what day it was.

“December 15th, if you must know.” Zack’s voice said from directly behind her. Eliza gasped in shock at Zack’s voice; she hadn’t even heard him enter the room. She turned to face him, and saw him standing there, dressed down in a Jack Daniels shirt, a navy blue bandana tied around his neck, and a pair of jeans slung low on his hips. “You’ve been with me for a little over a month and a half.”

“But we’ve…Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” She groaned, turning to face the TV. Zack walked around the couch and sat next to her on the couch.

“What were you going to ask me? It doesn’t matter if it’s ‘not important.’ I want to know.” He said, his voice genuine. She met his gaze, and kept her own eyes icy.

“I was going to say that it only feels as though it’s been a few days since you took me, but apparently I’m wrong. You must be putting something in my food or drink or something like that. Sensory deprivation, right?”

Zack smirked at her. “You’re smarter than you let on, Eliza.”

“I want you to stop whatever you’re doing to me, asshole.” She glared at him. “I get it. I’m not getting out of here alive. Whatever. I just don’t want to feel like I’m going insane, okay? So at least give me that courtesy.”

“Oh, you’re not going insane.” He murmured to her. “I’m just exposing you to a different reality, is all. Soon you’ll be aware of things you never even thought about before; things you only dreamed of or saw in movies and read in books, Eliza.”

Eliza turned her face away from his, and fixed it instead on the TV again. They were interviewing the chief of police in Santa Barbara about a recent string of robberies. It almost seemed ironic to her that she’d gone missing and no one even knew. She had no doubts that Zack had been telling the truth about her charred body; that Sean had identified her. They’d probably already had a funeral for her somewhere, in a desolate cemetery where she’d soon be forgotten by the entire world.

“You’re wrong.” Zack said quietly. “You haven’t been forgotten by quite everyone.”

“Everyone that I cared about has forgotten me or betrayed me, Zack.” She replied sarcastically. “If that’s not being forgotten, I don’t know what is.”

He smiled sadly at her before standing up again, looking down at her. “Go get dressed. Something for swimming.” He told her before walking away, presumably to go get changed himself. Eliza knew the routine by this point in her captivity, and knew that she had no choice but to go along with whatever Zack wanted her to do. She got up and walked up to the bedroom, grateful that Zack had at least decided not to go upstairs and change in the small bedroom as well. She walked into the closet and found a skimpy black bikini set; a set that Eliza knew was at least one size too small for her. She inwardly scowled as she stripped off her clothes and pulled on the bikini before pulling a pair of shorts over her legs and a baggy t-shirt over her head, covering her body. Just because he’d insisted she wear a bikini like that didn’t mean she couldn’t improvise with it, she thought to herself as she walked out of the bedroom and back downstairs, where Zack was standing in the living room in a pair of board shorts. He smiled mischievously at her and shook his head, looking at the shorts and t-shirt.

“I didn’t say that you could cover it up.” He chastised her. “Take them off.”

“No.” She replied. “I’m not some slut you can play dress up with, Zack. You may be my captor, and you may be something I’m not even aware of. But I’m not going to whore myself out to you just because you want me to.”

“You know,” Zack said idly, pulling a pocketknife nonchalantly out of his pocket as he crossed the floor over to her. “I could just do this.”

Eliza watched as he dragged the knife up the t-shirt, shredding it in half and watched as it fell onto the floor. He then used his own fingers to unsnap the shorts and roughly pushed them down her leg, shoving aside her hands easily. He then held the point of the knife dangerously close to the string keeping the two cups of the top together.

“Don’t you dare,” She told him, pulling her arms up to cross them over her chest, blocking his view. In the process, she accidentally dragged her arm across the knife’s tip, drawing a small incision upon her pale skin out of which a small trickle of red blood began to flow. She heard a guttural noise escape Zack’s throat, and stepped back, watching him. His green eyes darkened by at least two shades, and became much more intense.

“That was a mistake on your part, Eliza.” Zack told her, his voice quiet. “Are you prepared to pay the consequences?”

“I…What are you talking about?” She asked him angrily. “What are you talking about, cones—“

Zack cut her off by stepping closer to her again, grabbing her bleeding arm and touching his tongue gently to the blood, letting it stain his lips a slight crimson color. She tried to pull her arm away from him, but couldn’t manage to.

“What are you doing?” She yelled, struggling against his hold. She finally kicked him between the legs, causing him to groan in pain and release her arm. He glared at her, and had her pinned against the crème colored wall within an instant.

“It’s my nature,” He told her. “And unless you want it to be worse next time, I don’t recommend that you bleed in front of me again.”

With that, Zack grabbed her arm and dragged her after him, walking out of the house and down the stairs. He led her down a path that she hadn’t yet explored, and only stopped when they’d reached a pond in a clearing about a mile away from the house. He turned to look at her, his eyes back to his normal shade of green.

“You first.” He told her, stepping aside so that she could walk up the dock. She glowered at him before doing just as he’d suggested, not hesitating in the slightest as she jumped into the water’s surface. She found that the water was warm, and wondered if perhaps it was just a heated outdoor pool disguised as a natural pond. She swam out a little further away from the dock, not wanting to be anywhere near Zack after what he’d just done to her. Suddenly, something tangled on her foot and she felt herself going under, unable to stop herself. In all her anger towards Zack, she’d forgotten that she was horrible at keeping herself above water for extended periods of time, and fought uselessly against whatever was pulling her under the water’s surface.

This is it, she thought to herself hopelessly as she closed her eyes for what she assumed was going to be the last time. I’m going to drown out here.

Suddenly, she felt something strong pulling her back up to the surface of the water, and opened her eyes just in time to see Zack’s strong arms. He pulled her to the surface, and she gasped for air, letting Zack pull her against his chest as he treaded water.

“You’re safe now.” He calmed her. “You’re not going to drown, so just relax. Why did you swim out this far if you can’t swim well?”

“To get away from you.” She hissed angrily, struggling against his chest. He rolled his eyes, but refused to let her go.

“I told you to be careful out here on the estate.” He replied. “I told you that there are beings that are dangerous here, Eliza.”

“Just what in the hell are you?” She spat, turning to look at him. “You keep telling me that I have to be careful; that it’s dangerous here. Then you go and start licking my cut. What the fuck is going on, Zack?”

Zack sighed, and then met her gaze, his eyes more serious than she’d seen them ever before. “I’m a vampire, Eliza. And you’re living in a supernatural world now.”