‹ Prequel: Bound to You

Blanket of Fear

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Eliza sighed softly as she walked from the kitchen into the small bedroom that Zacky had told her they would have to themselves for the duration of their stay in Canada. It was a lot smaller than other bedrooms that they’d shared with each other, but it was perfectly comfortable and she was never going to complain about being able to have a private place where she and Zack could be alone at night.

She took advantage of her time alone right now to lie down on the mattress and think about everything that had been happening. She had almost gone to Germany and left Zack here alone. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if that had happened, and he had gotten hurt. She didn’t know if she could live without him anymore, even though he had come into her life in such an unconventional way. She knew it was strange, but she had fallen in love with him.

she heard the bedroom door open and looked up to see Zacky standing there, although he had a small smile on his face, letting her know that at least one good thing had happened today. She watched as he stripped off his shirt, momentarily stopping his movements so he could pull his jeans off as well before he crawled into bed with her, puling her up against his chest almost immediately, letting her know that that was where she belonged.

“What’s got you smiling, babe?” She asked him as she tilted her head up so that she could look up at him, putting a small smile on her face before she kissed his shoulder softly. He just continued smiling before he pressed his lips against hers.

“Val’s in police custody in New York. She was going to try getting into the country from over there I guess, but they apprehended her before it could happen.”

Eliza didn’t know why it was such a good thing that she was apprehended, since she knew there was a possibility that the blonde could tell the police what had been going on with Michelle and the vampires and everything. As though he was reading her mind, Zack just chuckled and shook his head as he shifted their bodies so that they were able to look at one another easier.

“Baby, would you believe it if a woman told you that there was a vampire war raging in which your sister was murdered, a girl couldn’t die, and your baby’s father had left?” He asked, knowing that the police wouldn’t believe anything that Val said. “We’re actually hoping that she does say something to the police about us. They’ll put her in a padded cell and throw away the key. It’s the safest thing for her right now.”

“Safe?” she arched her eyebrow, wondering why he was thinking of her safety. Eliza didn’t like to think of her getting hurt, but then again at the same time, Val had actively tried to kill her. She knew that if she hadn’t gotten away from the blonde, she would have murdered her and had no guilt on her conscience. A woman with that look in her eyes was never going to return to being the same person she had been to her. From now on, Val was always going to be the coldhearted bitch that had tried to kill Eliza for revenge on her sister.

“Then, I hope she does too,” she murmured against his jaw bone, though she was wishing for a hell of a lot more than that. Eliza knew it was cold, but she wanted Val to suffer the same way that she and Zack had. I knew that losing her sister and Matt was hard, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as knowing that you were the solitary reason that a vampire war had broken out; that you were the reason everything was changing. Eliza wanted her to see where she was coming from for once. She wanted Val to feel her pain, and it was never going to happen.

“Baby, just forget about her,” Zack whispered in Eliza’s ear before he kissed her neck carefully, putting a small smile on the redhead’s face as he ran his hand down her side. She didn’t know if he was trying to use sex to distract her, but it wasn’t going to work. She was too worried about the things that were happening right now.

“I can’t, Zack,” she muttered as she looked at him. “I can’t forget about everything that she’s done. How could she be such a good friend to me and then turn her back on me like this?”

He wiped away a few of the small tears that had started forming in Eliza’s eyes before he touched the side of her face carefully, letting her know that he was here for her no matter how hard it was for he girl to deal with everything that was going on.

She leaned in to his embrace, wanting nothing more than to feel him holding her before she pressed her lips firmly against his. “Baby, it’s okay,” he said, kissing the side of her neck after a few minutes. “He’s not going to hurt you, and neither is Val. You’re safe here with me and the others. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

Eliza knew that he was telling the truth, but it didn’t stop her from feeling like things weren’t going to work out at the end of all of this. Things had been going on for far too long, and she knew that at a certain point, everything was going to fall apart. And that moment was what she was afraid of. Eliza was scared that when the time came, none of them were going to be prepared for what happened.

He didn’t say anything else as he held her, and neither did Eliza. All they needed right now in this moment was each other. He pressed his lips against her mouth and then hugged her tightly before he sat up, pulling her with him.

“Eliza, listen to me,” he said, looking directly into her eyes. He clearly wasn’t giving her another option but to listen to him, and it felt amazing to her. “I love you, okay? I know it’s hard for you to handle everything right now; it’s a lot. I know that you’re feeling like this is never going to end, but it will. And we’re going to be fine. Everyone is going to be fine. Alright?”

She could only nod her head as she leaned back in, holding him in a tight hug. She was still scared that he was wrong, that he didn’t know that everything was going to go to hell. But Eliza also knew that Zack wasn’t a liar. She knew that if he honestly believed that everything was going to be fine, he was going to try and convince her that it would be.

“Get some sleep now, babe,” he whispered as he pressed his lips against hers. He knew she hadn’t gotten much sleep over the last several nights, and he didn’t want her to be any more exhausted than she already was. The war was about to hit a pivotal moment, and both of them knew it. It was only a matter of time before they were found, because the blonde woman definitely knew that they were somewhere in Canada.

Everyone had to be on high alert to make sure that they were safe, and no mistakes could be made. They had to make sure they were suspicious of anything that wasn’t normal, no matter how paranoid it might come across. Everyone had the same goal here: to make sure that they walked away from this alive and well.

Eliza nodded and softly started to close her eyes, resting her head on Zacky’s chest before she started to give in to the exhaustion that had overtaken her life. She wanted to make sure she got as much sleep as possible, because she wasn’t planning on just sitting by and watching things happen. This fight was about her, and no matter what Zacky had to say about it, she was going to do something to help fight it. Even if it made him mad, she didn’t care. She needed to learn how to protect herself too. It was time for her to stand up for herself. If she couldn’t protect herself, she had no business being here, and she knew it. Even if Zack would never say anything to her, she knew that he wouldn’t want to have to protect her forever. She needed to learn how to do that for herself as well. But before that could happen, she needed to get some sleep.
♠ ♠ ♠
I have a new Johnny Knoxville one-shot up. It's called New Experiences, if anyone is interested. ^_^