Blanket of Fear

“No. Absolutely not,” Zacky growled at his older brother as he stood in the doorway. Because he was a vampire, he was not allowed to cross the threshold unless he was invited in. As such, Zacky had refused to invite him into the house, and he was left standing outside, a perfect mask devoid of emotions plastered all over his face as he listened to his brother rant and rave at him angrily.

“Think about the possibility, Zachary, before you tell me that you’d sooner see me rot in Hell than accept my alliances. I get that you have Daddy and Mommy issues because of me, and I accept full responsibility for that. We’ll never get along, and that’s a fact of life. But there’s also the fact that without my help and insight, Sean will find you, and he’s going to hit you where it hurts—that girl that you’ve taken from him that he thinks is so important,” he said in an easy tone. He had known that Zacky would be hellbent against this, but they both needed this alliance.

“I don’t trust you,” Zacky spat at Matthew, angrily. “You’ve been fucking working for him for several months now. You thought I didn’t know that? Why in the hell would I allow someone like you to be part of Avenged Sevenfold’s alliances?”

“Because I am no longer working with Sean Castro. I never worked for him,” Matthew told Zacky, his voice becoming just a little edgier. “He’s not going about things the honorable way. I’ll tell you flat out that I will one day challenge you for control of Bat Country. But I’m not going to deal low blows like that pitiful excuse of a vampire. With my help, you can completely eradicate him out of your life.”

“And suppose I do go along with this?” Zacky asked his brother, distrust and anger displayed on his face as he studied his older brother. “Say we do take out Sean, and he’s out of the picture. You’re not just going to go away after that.”

“I already told you,” Matt said with a smile. “I will try to gain control of Bat Country when we do manage to defeat Sean, if you let this alliance happen. I can guarantee that I’ll play clean. My ethics don’t allow me to fight dirty like Sean. I won’t use emotions that you shouldn’t have against you. The girl won’t be hurt.”

Zacky thought about it. He didn’t trust Matthew, not in the least. He was as untrustable as they came. He had murdered his family, and turned his back on Zacky wh he needed him most. And now he had the audacity to come and stand on his front stoop, trying to make an alliance. It would be a cold day in Hell before Zacky did something so stupid.

“Zack, think about it for a minute,” Matt spoke from behind him, causing Zacky to turn around and glare at him. Matt saw the look, and sighed as he held his hands up. “I’m not saying to trust the bastard, alright. But there’s a lot of other worse people that you’re allies with that are a hell of a lot more untrustable than this lowlife,” he said. Matthew scoffed at the namecalling, and looked at him.

“Are such names really necessary? I’m being perfectly civil,” he told Matt, who turned a glare to him.
“You’re as civil as a pig in a dress,” he said coldly. “Just because I might agree that you would be good help in taking out Castro does not mean I’m going to fucking be civil to you.”

“He might have a point,” Johnny said quietly, causing everyone to look at him. He’d been in the doghouse as far as all of them were concerned, and Leigh was still being held as more of a prisoner than a guest in the room, shackled to the wall. They’d let Johnny resume moving around the house, but it didn’t mean that they had forgiven him for attempting to escape with Leigh.

“What point?” Zacky spat at his friend. “He’s trash. He helped Sean get to us when we were at the Complex, I’m sure. The reason we’ve had to bring in Jacoby and the Maddens is because of him.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with the attack that was launched on the Complex,” Matthew spoke in his defense. “I knew where it was far before Sean did, and I never attacked it. I told you, I’m a little more chivalrous than that.”

“Chivalrous isn’t killing your parents in cold blood in the middle of the night. Chivalrous isn’t murdering your sister while she’s begging for her life. And chivalry certainly isn’t turning your brother into a goddamn vampire and just leaving him on his own to fend for his fucking self, Matthew,” Zacky spat angrily, his face turning red from how furious he was.

“You didn’t understand my reasoning then, and you don’t understand my reasoning now. You’re still bitter and cold about it, and while that’s perfectly understandable given your circumstances, you need to grow up a little bit and see the greater good of what an alliance with me could accomplish.”

“He doesn’t have to be treated as a guest or anything,” Jimmy spoke. He didn’t like the idea of Zacky’s brother being here any more than the green-eyed man did. But he did believe in the phrase, “keep your friends close, and keep your enemies closer,” and this was definitely one of those situations. The closer Matthew Baker was to them, the better they could watch him to make sure that he wasn’t up to any good, and they would definitely be able to spot out if he was a spy before anything bad could happen. “He can be kept in the monitoring room, with Leigh.”

“So you do have Sean’s experiment,” Matthew mused, thinking to himself before looking at Zacky, an amused smirk on his face. “That rather pissed him off. I thought it was ingenious that you kept her without him being able to get her back. She’s harmless. He just wants her to dispose of her. She was a failed experiment in his opinion.”

Everyone wanted to ask what the experiment was, but no one was willing to ask him in a friendly manner. Instead, Zacky sighed. The others were obviously pressuring him to accept the offer, and if he said no, chances were there would be a lot of fighting, and possibly mutiny. He didn’t want that any more than any of the others did, and so he made his mind up fairly quickly.

“I’ll accept the terms of your alliance on some terms of my own. You do not talk to Eliza. I don’t want you anywhere near her. You’ve fucked my life up enough, and I will not allow you to tamper with her. The second is that you stay in the monitoring room, and that you are constantly watched. I don’t give a shit if you’re comfortable with it or not; I don’t trust you, and if you’re going to stay at this house, you will go along with it. You will tell us everything you know about Castro’s plans, and the second you tell us a lie, we’ll kill you. Are those terms acceptable for you?” He glared at his brother, daring him to say that they weren’t. Instead, Matthew smirked.

“While you’re at it, I’ll add in a few stipulations more. I’ll hand over my weapons, and I’ll allow the blonde girl to put rosehips in the room with me so that I can’t hear your thoughts,” he smirked at Zacky, whose eyes widened at the words.

In human mythology, it was said that garlic weakened the vampire, but it was all just a bunch of lies, just as almost everything about vampires was. They could see their reflections in a mirror, and they could eat food with garlic. A stake could kill them, but not in any magical manner; a stake through a human’s heart could kill them just as easily, too. Rosehips, on the other hand, kept vampires that had thought reading abilities—vampires like Matthew, Zack thought—from being able to hear thoughts outside of the room. It would make him vulnerable, and Zack had to admit that it was a large gesture for his brother to make, no matter how much he didn’t trust him.

“That is acceptable,” he nodded, stepping aside. “Why don’t you come in?” He invited him inside the house through clenched teeth. Matthew smiled at him and nodded, stepping over the threshold before immediately taking the gun out of his hip holster and handing it to Zacky before removing a knife from his boot, a razorblade from the inside of his glove, and another smaller gun from a backpack he carried on his back.

“I would hand over my teeth, but that’s not very possible,” Matthew spoke with humor before looking around the room. “Where is the room that I am to be staying in?”

Zacky didn’t say anything as he led his brother, followed by the others, towards the hallway that would lead him to the monitoring room. Leigh looked up from the wall she was shackled to, and glared angrily at Matthew before she started struggling.

“He was with Sean,” she told Zacky, looking at him. “You can’t let him stay here.”

“We know he was with Sean,” Johnny muttered, looking at her before crossing the floor and standing in front of her, reaching up to touch her face softly. “He’s made an alliance with us, and he will be staying in this room with you during the duration of his stay.”

“I don’t trust him,” Leigh spoke quietly, moving her gaze to Zacky, who looked at her before turning his attention to Matthew.

“You said Leigh is harmless?” He asked his brother, who nodded.

“The only thing he did with her was tamper with her DNA. She’s unable to die, but that’s all. You’re only torturing her by keeping her chained to the wall, if she’s not been eating or drinking.”

“She’s been getting adequate nutrition. What do you think we are, the goddamned middle ages?” Zacky growled at Matthew before looking at Johnny. “You can take her down from the shackles and take her to your room. Leigh, sorry we kept you on the wall, but it had to be done. We don’t know much about Sean’s experiments, and we weren’t sure if you were helping him, even if you weren’t aware of it.”

Nothing was said as Johnny pulled Leigh down from the wall, and Zacky turned to glare once more at Matthew before storming out of the room. He needed to see Eliza, and find out if she thought he’d made the right decision. Because she might not be a vampire, but he sure as hell took her opinions seriously.