Blanket of Fear

As Zacky walked into the bedroom later that night, after everyone had gone back to their schedules, Eliza could tell that he was concerned about something. He’d talked to her about his brother earlier on in the day, and she knew that for at least the next few months, Matthew would be staying with them as their ally. He’d told her then that he needed to talk to her about something, but he’d said that it needed to be in private and that it could wait until tonight.

Now, it was one thirty AM, and she’d been waiting for him to come into the bedroom for a few hours. She had fallen asleep for a few hours, but she’d woken up when she’d realized subconsciously that he wasn’t in bed with her yet. It had seemed that over the months that she’d been sleeping in the same bed with him, her body seemed incapable of resting when he wasn’t around. It was infuriating at the same time as it was comforting.

“What’re you still doing awake?” Zacky’s voice murmured to her quietly as he pulled his jeans and t-shirt off, leaving him clad in his boxers. He pushed the blankets back on the bed before he climbed in next to her, pulling the blankets up tight around their bodies before snuggling tightly up to her.

“You weren’t here,” she told him in a soft voice of her own, turning to face him. Her hair was in her face and was caught under his arm, but she said nothing as she looked up at him through the red strands of hair, a small smile on her face as he leaned down and pecked her lips softly.

“I’m here now,” he reassured her. “Let’s get some sleep, alright? It’s been a long day.”

He was still feeling troubled by the decision to let Matthew stay in the house with them, even if he wasn’t showing that worry. He wanted to keep Eliza as close to him as he possibly could so that she wouldn’t get hurt. He loved her, and by God, he wasn’t going to let his brother take her from him the way he’d taken his parents and sister.

“You’re not gonna be able to get any sleep if you keep thinking about it,” she told him softly. It wasn’t meant to upset him, or to throw anything in his face. She was pointing something out to him that he already realized, and it both calmed him and scared him. She knew him well enough already that he could essentially read his thoughts by his facial expressions. It was a scary thought that she could pick up on his emotions like that.

“I don’t know if I made the right decision,” he admitted, opening his eyes and looking at her. “He…Matthew isn’t a good person, man or vampire. He killed what was most precious to me, and then he turned away without even looking back. And then he got involved with Castro. And all of a sudden he’s here, and…I don’t know if I didn’t just sign our death warrants by letting him stay.”

“Blood is thicker than water, Zack,” she said, leaning closer to him and touching her hand to his bare shoulder, rubbing soothing circles into his pale flesh. “He might have made that mistake back then, but I don’t think he would kill his only relative left.”

“It’s not me that I’m worried about,” he muttered, meeting her gaze. “I don’t want him to get to you, or to any of the others. If any of them or you got hurt because of him, I….I don’t know if I could get through it.”

“You could, if it came to that,” she frowned at him, her tone more serious this time. “You survived before I came along, and you survived when you thought that Jimmy was going to die. You’ll be fine if anything happens, and you’ll go on leading Bat Country the way you have been.”

He didn’t want to tell her that he wasn’t sure he’d want to go on surviving if she wasn’t around. A strong vampire would never admit to those kinds of feelings. Hell, a strong vampire wouldn’t allow himself to feel those kinds of things. He knew that Matt and Val were as in love as any two people possibly could, and that Jimmy and Leana were absolutely devoted to one another as well. But Zacky? He’d never seen himself falling in love. Now that he was, he was scared out of his mind of losing Eliza. Even if she didn’t realize it, she had a hold on him in ways he’d never thought that a person could.

“Do you think I did the right thing?” He murmured against her lips, pushing the hair out of her eyes so he could see her expressions clearly. She gave him a small smile as she pulled his hand up to her lips, and pressed her lips softly to the cool skin.

“I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t let him stay,” she told him. “He’s family, no matter what he’s done to you in the past. He loves you, regardless of what you are. He might not show it, and it might be more of a love-hate kind of love, and it might even be a twisted sort of love. But he’s your brother, Zacky. Just because he did what he did—and that doesn’t mean it was right—doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you. A brother doesn’t spend that many years loving his family and stop overnight.”

Zacky just smiled at her, hoping that her words were correct. He didn’t want to admit it, but he hoped that deep down, maybe she was right. He’d thought of his brother often over the years, even if the thoughts hadn’t always been friendly and fond. Mostly, he’d reminisced over the memories they’d shared when he’d been young.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said quietly before kissing her lips one last time before allowing his eyes to close. “Let’s get some sleep now. God knows they’ll wake us up too early.”

Eliza smiled as she nestled into his chest, though her heart was heavy emotion. She hadn’t let Zacky know just how terrified she was of having Matthew in the house with him, and despite the fact that she knew he could pick up on her emotions and thoughts, he hadn’t picked up on it. She was glad for that. She was glad that he’d believed her words, because she wanted at least one of them to think that things with Matthew would turn out alright. She fell asleep, but it wasn’t the kind of restful sleep she’d been hoping for. Instead, she had troubled dreams where nothing was happy.

-x-

When Eliza woke up the next morning, she could feel that Zacky wasn’t in bed with her anymore. His side of the bed was still warm, which meant that he hadn’t been awake for long, and she yawned as she pushed the blankets off of her body. She walked to the closet and pulled out some clothes for the day before walking into the bathroom to take a shower. When she’d finished with that, she walked back into the bedroom.

“Hey,” she said apprehensively to Leigh. She trusted the girl well enough, but that didn’t mean she was comfortable being in a room with her alone like this. It might not have bothered her before, but it did now. She knew that Leigh was harmless, and that she’d been just as much of a victim of Sean Castro as any of them were, but that didn’t mean that she liked her much. She could still treat her civilly, however.

“Sorry I just kind of barged in,” Leigh said with a small frown, still looking at the floor. “I need some clothes, and everyone else is asleep. Zacky said you’d be awake and to come talk to you, so…”

Eliza gave her a small smile and walked over to the closet, pulling out several shirts and some jeans as well before handing them to Leigh. “Talk to Leana about some bras and panties; I’m sure she’d like to go shopping with you for some, since it’s been awhile for her and Val to do that kind of thing.”

“Thank you,” Leigh said, turning to walk out of the room. When she’d reached the door, she turned and gave Eliza a small frown. She had something on her mind, and it was something that she’d been meaning about talking to Eliza about. Eliza picked up on it, and gave her a curious look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you have a few minutes to just…talk? There’s something I want to tell you,” Leigh said quietly. Eliza nodded to her, and then Leigh closed the door before looking at her, a worried frown on her face. “When I was still around Sean, he talked about you. He said he had plans for you down the road,” she said quietly. “I don’t think he’s still thinking about them but…I thought you might want to know about it.”

Eliza frowned as Leigh mentioned Castro, but nodded. Leigh walked out of the bedroom, leaving Eliza alone to her thoughts once again. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t disturbed by what Leigh had just told her. Even though it was probably nothing, and he’d probably meant something along the lines of sex or something like that, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it.