Blanket of Fear

“I’m sure you’re just overreacting,” Val said nonchalantly as she looked over at Zacky as he told Matt about how worried he was that Eliza was holding something back from him. “She’s probably just still upset with you about the kid thing.”

Zacky looked over at the blonde woman, not believing the words that had just come out of her mouth. He had always assumed that Val and Eliza got along well. They had been friends when he had first brought her to the group, and for a long time, she had been a very close ally to his girlfriend. Lately though, he had seen a rift forming between the two of them, and he was curious as to what had caused it.

“Val,” Matt said warningly, looking over at her. “He’s not overreacting. El doesn’t get upset over those kinds of things. She’s holding something back. What do you think it is?” Matt asked, turning his attention back to Zacky with the last part of his sentence, directing the question to the green-eyed vampire. Zacky sighed, pushing his hand over his head as he shrugged. He had no answer for his friend .

“I don’t know,” Zacky told Matt, looking down at Val as if she might have a part of the answer he was looking for. Instead, the blonde woman just gave him a fake, half-assed smile before she turned and walked into the kitchen, muttering under her breath about needing to prepare some food for someone or something of that nature.

Now that Matt’s girlfriend was gone, Zacky knew he could talk to his friend without having someone else interrupt. Out of everyone, he knew that Matt would be able to help him. Matt was, for the most part, indifferent to Eliza. He neither extremely disliked her, or extremely liked her. She was just there, a part of the group who had filled a void that none of them had known existed.

“So what’s really going on?” Matt asked in a low voice, moving over to the den’s doors and pulling them shut so no one would interrupt them as they sat down on opposite chairs, both of them looking up to meet one another’s gaze. Zacky sighed, and then propped his chin up on his fist.

“She had a nightmare, but she’s hiding what it was about,” he admitted softly. He definitely didn’t want anyone else to know this small fact. It was a general consensus among the group that nightmares right now were not a good thing. They were already going through a hard time as it was, what with preparations to move everyone to Canada and then start the fight with Sean. Everyone already looked at Leigh as if she was crazy, and that was solely because of her vivid dreams and ‘visions.’ He didn’t want anyone to think that Eliza was crazy, because he knew she wasn’t.

“Maybe it was just some random occurrence?” Matt asked, although it was clear from the tone of his voice that he didn’t quite believe that himself. Zacky frowned and then shook his head before he pushed his hand through his hair again. It really was becoming a sort of nervous habit for him, and one that he didn’t like.

“I don’t think so, Matt,” he answered softly. “Something tells me that whatever she had a dream about was something important. I just have a gut feeling about it.”

Matt sighed, and he leaned back in his chair as he tried to figure out something to say to make his friend feel better about this. He knew that it was in Zacky’s nature to worry, especially about people he held close to his heart. He worried for everyone, and sometimes, Matt worried that it caused too much stress on the man. But nonetheless, he knew that if this was an issue for Zacky, it was an issue for the rest of them as well. The green-eyed man wouldn’t have come to him if it wasn’t something big.

“And you said she’s not talking to you at all?” Matt asked, trying to make sure he had his facts straight. Zacky nodded yet again, and he made a small humming sound as he tried to think of solutions to this issue. He finally came to a conclusion, but he knew that it wasn’t one that Zacky was going to like. Hell, even he didn’t like it. Just because he didn’t know Eliza extremely well didn’t mean that he didn’t like her. She had changed Zacky into someone that had a heart; someone that lived for more than just controlling a country. She was a good asset to their group, and he wanted to make damn sure that she was alright.

“I have an idea,” Matt muttered under his breath as he looked up at Zacky again before pushing himself up so that he was standing. “Just tell her that you know she had a nightmare. Tell her that you need to know about it.”

“She won’t go for that, Matt,” Zacky shook his head. “I tried to get her to talk to me, but she won’t say anything. She thinks it’ll just worry me more. I just want her to be okay, Matt. I don’t know what I can do to help her.”

“Tell her that she needs to prove she trusts you,” Matt frowned over at Zacky. “Tell her that if she can’t trust you enough to tell you about the nightmare and what it was about, that maybe she’s not as—”

“I’m not blackmailing her like that,” Zacky told his friend, his tone a little firmer than it had been before. There was no way in hell he would ever consider blackmailing his girlfriend. He loved Eliza, and you didn’t do that to people you loved. “There’s got to be another way we can get her to talk.”

The two of them sat back down again, and Matt started thinking of other solutions. He knew it was a sensitive issue for Zacky, because of how close he was to Eliza. Not only was she his partner, but he drank blood from her as well. That had them bonding on a completely separate level, and Matt knew how important it was for Zacky to protect her. He never should have thought that Zacky would use such a low-ball tactic as blackmailing her, because if he were in his friend’s position, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that to Val.

“Every other time she’s needed to talk to someone, she’s opened up to Leana. Leana is someone that she trusts; someone she knows won’t hurt her. Get Leana to try and get her to open up. It might work,” Matt suggested, looking up at Zacky with a thin smile on his face. He didn’t know if this idea was going to work, but it was worth a shot. Zacky seemed to consider it for a few moments before a small smile formed on his own face, and he knew that he had Zacky convinced.

“I think that might work,” Zacky agreed softly before he stood up, stretching. The sound of footsteps approaching the den could be heard, and neither one of them wanted to be caught discussing a potential issue with Eliza. Neither of them wanted to put her in jeopardy of being ousted by the group like Leigh had; like Johnny had.

Zacky pushed his hand back through his hair, and then got up before exiting the den. Before he discussed things with Leana, he was going to try one more time to get his girlfriend to open up to him. He knew it was a slim shot; that she would probably just get angry and storm away. He knew that she didn’t like the feeling of being cornered, and that this would be doing exactly that to her. But he also wanted her to let him in. He wanted her to be able to trust him with everything completely.

He wanted her to give him her complete heart, instead of just a large piece of it. He knew Eliza loved him; that she would stay with him forever, if she could do so, but he also saw that she wasn’t giving him absolutely everything. And he was determined to get her to do so. He wanted her to see that she had every piece of him. He hid nothing personal from her. The only things he kept away from her were the facts that could hurt her; that would hurt her. He had let her in, told her about his family. He had told her about Matthew, and he had told her about his friends. And now, he wanted her to be able to trust him enough to do that with him as well.