Blanket of Fear

It was eleven o’clock already, and Eliza was beginning to think that Zack had been lying to her. He hadn’t made any effort to come to the bedroom, and she didn’t think anyone else had talked to him since she’d seen him in the library earlier. Despite how annoyed she was that he wasn’t here yet, a larger part of her was worried about him. It’d been days since he’d had blood, and he had to be feeling a little weak from that. He’d been pale when she’d seen him earlier. She hated seeing him like that; looking anything less than the strong vampire of a man she loved.

Loved. She thought it was ironic that she could now say she loved him, especially since their relationship had started out as nothing more than him kidnapping her away from her life. And she found that she wouldn’t change anything. Since he’d arrived in her life, things seemed to be going fairly well. Sure, there were the problems with Sean. But with Zacky, she felt safe. She felt loved.

And she knew that he wouldn’t hurt her. There was no doubt in her mind as that thought formed in her mind. So why had she thought it earlier? Was it simply because he’d been angry? Could she have subconsciously connected him with Sean, thought that maybe he was going to hurt her like Sean would be sure to? That theory made sense to Eliza. They were both vampires, and she had loved both of them. The only difference was that she had stopped loving Sean the day he’d left, after hitting her. She still loved Zack.

Just as she was beginning to get off of the bed to make her way to the attic and see why he hadn’t come to the bedroom like he’d said he would, she heard three sharp raps on the door and rolled her eyes as she crossed the room and opened the door to expose an awkward-looking Zack.

“I didn’t think you were going to come.” She whispered, stepping aside and letting him into the bedroom before she closed and locked the door, turning around to look at him. “Why weren’t you here earlier?”

“You were still figuring out what you meant.” Was his only response. Eliza rolled her eyes before she gave him a disproving frown, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked up and down his body. Even since this afternoon, he was paler.

“You need blood.” She told him, not making it a question. Zack took a short breath before he nodded, pushing his hand back through his hair, his green eyes not once wavering from hers as he stood there.

“Don’t feel obliged, Eliza.” He told her, finally moving closer to her and letting his fingers delicately touch her cheek. “You don’t need to give me blood out of pity.”

“That’s something you’re wrong about, Zack.” She whispered to him, closing her eyes as his cool skin touched hers. She subconsciously leaned in to his touch, and she nearly gasped when he pulled her against his chest in an intimate hug, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her flush against his body.

“And what’s that?” He murmured into her ear, inhaling the scent of her hair, a strawberry and kiwi scent wafting through his nostrils as he did so. She leaned her head against his chest, enjoying this contact with him after how much tension had been going on between him for the last few days.

“I don’t want to give it to you out of pity.” She whispered to him, looking up at his eyes before she grabbed his fingers with hers and laced them together at their sides. “I want to do it because I care about you; because I love you.”

Zacky nodded, believing her words as he picked her up bridal style, carrying her over to the mattress before he laid her down gently, smiling down at her as he unbuttoned his shirt, letting it fall off of his frame and land on the floor before his fingers next moved to the snap of his jeans, unclasping it from the rough fabric before dropping them to the floor as well, stepping out of them as he moved on the bed over Eliza, clad in only his boxers.

“Now that’s a sight I never get tired of seeing.” She grinned up at him, letting her fingers graze his hips, moving them deftly up his sides before she rested them on his shoulders, pulling him closer to her and kissing his lips fervently, nipping his bottom lip greedily with her teeth, causing a smirk to form on his face as he opened his mouth to hers, letting her tongue flit between his teeth and explore eagerly, taking in the taste of Jack Daniels mixed with Marlboro smoke.

He pulled away a few moments later, both of them breathing in ragged breaths as they tried to return their heart rates to normal as he moved his lips to the corner of her mouth, kissing softly as he moved down her jawbone to her neck, kissing her neck so softly it was almost as if his kisses were nonexistent, keeping his teeth away from her skin as he trailed his hands up and down her sides.

“Zacky, just do it already.” She gasped, arching her back up against his body when his hands slid just underneath her shirt, teasing her as he moved his lips to the other side of her throat. He smirked at her eagerness, and then pulled her up so that she was in a half-seated position as he pushed his fangs into her neck. It wasn’t like in the movies, where it was fast and painless. It hurt; it hurt a lot. She was used to this by now, though, and she found that she actually got a rush when he bit through her skin, the little holes on the bottom of the sharp teeth siphoning the blood he needed to live without getting much excess on the side of his mouth.

He only drank from her for a few minutes before he extracted his mouth away from her neck, laying her sweaty body back down against the pillows, her body exhausted from having just been drank from. He laid down next to her on the mattress, pulling her up against his chest and pressing a kiss to her shoulder as he held her.

“I’m sorry I pissed you off, Zacky.” She whispered, opening her eyes and turning to look at him. “I’m sorry I don’t understand why you do some of the things you do. I could try to be more understanding.”

“It’s okay.” He shushed her, closing his own eyes. “Let’s just get some sleep, okay? We can talk about it later.”

Eliza knew that was his way of telling her that they wouldn’t talk about it again, and instead of starting another argument, she only nodded as she closed her eyes, falling asleep beside Zacky.

-x-

“Are you sure there’s no way for you to get into his head to find out where they’ve hidden?” Sean asked angrily as he paced back and forth in his office before he stopped, turning to look at the man in front of him. He very closely resembled his brother, with black hair and green eyes that were less vibrant in color. They shared the same skin color, though that was where the similarities ended. Matthew was shorter, and with a leaner build than his brother, and his mind was more suited to Sean’s purposes.

“He’s put up a barrier of some sorts. He’s refusing to think about it. He knows that we’re bonded, and he’s not giving any hints. He’s played this game before, Sean. It’s going to take a lot longer than just a few days to figure this out.”

“Worm your way in, or you’ll no longer be of use to me.” Sean threatened him in a low voice. “You’re a valuable asset to me for now, Matthew, but if we can’t use your bond with Zack to figure out where they’re hiding out, you’re wasting precious commodities here.”

Precious commodities meaning blood, Matthew thought with a smirk. He used Sean for his ‘blood bank.’ He kept many girls locked in the house, all of them disposable and all of them so addicted to the bite that they willingly gave, even if it meant they died at the end of it.

“I’ll get it sorted out, Sean.” He told the man, a confident smirk on his face. “He’s never been able to keep me out of his thoughts for long. If his feelings for this girl are as strong as you suspect they are, I’m sure I can use it against him.”

With that, Matthew walked out of the room, heading up the staircase towards the room where a girl was waiting for him, naked and willing to be sexually devoured and drained of blood, even if she didn’t know the latter of the two just yet.