Blanket of Fear

The next few days went remarkably quickly for Eliza. Instead of spending her days with Leana learning how to shoot and fight with her hands and legs, she had started working with Zack. He had decided that if she was going to learn how to fight, he wanted her to learn with him. He was constantly worried about her life being in danger due to the fact that she was learning, but he also realized that she had a reason for wanting to. He also understood that she was right about the fact that he wouldn't always be there. Eliza needed room to breathe, and he couldn't allow her to do that unless she knew how to keep herself safe. Learning how to fight was only logical, and he understood why she needed to know.

Today, however, he couldn't help but wonder if she had pushed herself a little too far. She had insisted on working out all day with him, making sure that she got in some good practice at the range as well as a full body exercising session to make sure she wasn't completely out of shape when Sean and the rest of his supporters came to them. She had blood on her palms from where her fingernails had broken off; splitting her fingertips and her face was covered in sweat and dirt from having been outside all day.

"Baby, enough," he mumbled out as he walked over to her, putting a small smile on his face before he pressed his lips against her mouth. "I don't want you overdoing it. You won't be able to help us if you're too stiff from working yourself too much."

Eliza looked up at him from where she'd been pushing the punching bag before she pushed her hand back through her hair. "I need to do this, Zack," she whispered. "I want to make sure that I'm completely ready when he gets here. Val's going to help him find us."

He sighed and walked over, wrapping his arms around her neck. "You will be ready, baby," he murmured before he pressed his lips against her forehead, grabbing her hand tightly in his. "And we can come work out again tomorrow. But for now, you need to rest. No arguing," he told her before picking her up. She just rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around his neck to help balance her weight before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Alright," she mumbled, holding on to him. "Take me upstairs, then. I can take a bath and then we can go to bed, yeah?"

"Yeah, we can go to bed," he agreed with her. "And I might join you with that shower," he added with a small smirk. He wasn't going to push her for sex with the shower; that wasn't what he wanted. He knew that he needed to make sure he kept up not only her strength, but his as well. Instead of taking blood from her every few days, he had started two feedings a day. They all had. Matt had found a willing girl in a town nearby, and though she had no idea that he was a vampire, she was more than willing to allow him to bite her neck and kiss her while they were having sex. He still missed Val, but he knew he would never be able to take her back now. She had as good as killed herself and their child by choosing Sean Castro over him and Avenged Sevenfold. He couldn't turn his back on the men who had been brothers to him for as long as he could remember.

Eliza nodded, knowing that he needed his night feeding. He carried her up to the bedroom and then pressed his lips against her mouth as he carried her into the bathroom. She slowly undressed herself, knowing full well that Zacky's eyes were on hers before he stepped inside of the shower with her. Immediately once they'd gotten inside, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her up against his body as the water started cascading down their bodies.

"I love you so much, Eliza," he murmured before he kissed the side of her neck gently. "I never thought I'd be able to fall in love, and then I found you."

She smiled softly as she turned her head to look at him before she grabbed his hand in hers, sliding it lower until it was on her thigh. "I love you too, Zack," she replied, shivering when she felt the way that he was touching her and kissing her right now. She loved the fact that he never pushed the fact that he needed blood. He was always gentle with her, making sure that her needs came first.

He didn't say anything else as he let his hand slip in between her legs, teasing her as his teeth sunk into her neck carefully. She groaned and let her body lean back against his before she tilted her head to the side, giving Zacky more room to move around. His free hand ran tauntingly across her taut stomach, knowing that she was enjoying everything he was doing to her right now.

Finally, he pulled his mouth away, letting his tongue slide against the wound slowly, his saliva slowly healing it so that it wasn't there any longer. He kissed her neck several more times before turning her around so that she was facing him, a small smirk on his face as he looked down at her. "You always taste so sweet," he mumbled against her lips, touching the side of her face carefully. "And yet, you're the furthest thing from innocent when you're with me."

Eliza just chuckled before closing her eyes, allowing him to finish cleaning the two of them up before he turned off the shower, picking her up and carrying her over to the sink, setting her down and wrapping a large towel around her. "I've never been that innocent, Zack," she whispered against his mouth. "Even before we were together."

Zack nodded and then pressed his lips against her mouth, not saying anything else. "Why don't you finish getting ready for bed, and then we can go to sleep," he told her as he pressed his lips against her forehead. She didn't say anything and just nodded before she watched as he left the bedroom, walking into the bedroom itself. He watched as she started to get dressed in her pajamas, chuckling softly when he noticed that she was blushing again.

She had just pulled her shirt over her head when the bedroom door opened, exposing a rattled looking Jimmy and a frightened Leana. Immediately, his blood ran cold and he sighed as he looked up at her. "What's wrong?" He asked his friends, pushing his hand back through his hair.

Jimmy shook his head, tears already starting to fall out of his eyes. "Short Shit is dead," he muttered under his breath. "They...They struck, Zack, and Johnny is dead."

Zack's face fell immediately, and he sat up before looking towards Eliza, who hadn't seemed to hear him. "Let's take this to the hallway. Leana, stay here with Eliza, please," he told the smaller woman, who looked distraught as she nodded, walking into the room before Zack got up and left, making sure that Eliza saw him before he stepped into the hallway.

"How did they get here without someone having some kind of hint as to how close they were?" Zack asked, feeling his heart sink in his chest. He had no idea what was going on, and it terrified him to know that somehow, someway, Val had helped Sean Castro to find where they were at and start the fight quicker than he had been counting on.

"Has everyone already been told that they're here, or are we the first ones to know?" Zack asked quietly. He already knew that Leana had to know since she had been with Jimmy and she'd had that mournful look on her face, so all he could hope for was that everyone else had been alerted to it and that they were preparing for the fight.

"Everyone except for Leigh," Jimmy nodded, mumbling as he looked down at the floor. "I...I don't know how to tell her, man. I know we haven't ever really trusted her, but she loves him. How are we supposed to break it to her that he's dead now?"

Zack groaned and leaned his head against the wall, trying to think of something to do. He had no idea what all of this was going to amount to anymore. All he knew was that he wanted to make sure Eliza stayed as far away from the action as she possibly could.

"Leave her be for now. Take her and put her in one of the basement bedrooms. Sean will try to go for her and Eliza first, and we don't want him getting a hold of either of them," he groaned, pushing his hand back through his hair. Jimmy nodded once again before letting out a short exhale of breath.

"And what about Eliza? Do you want me to take her downstairs too?"

That was the hardest question Jimmy ever could have asked him, Zack thought to himself. He took a deep breath before shaking his head as he looked at his friend. "No," he whispered, his heart breaking at the mere thought that she might not make it through this. "She won't stay there, and she'll be safer if she's with us where we can at least have our eyes on her. Just get her a weapon and tell her to aim to kill anyone who threatens her. I'm going to go and make sure that Matt has his head in the right condition to do this battle. He might have to kill Val..."

Jimmy nodded for a third time before stepping into the bathroom so he could break the news to Eliza. None of this was going to be easy, but he realized that this was it. This was finally the end of everything that had happened in the last year. This was the end of either Avenged Sevenfold or Sean Castro. Jimmy already knew that one of them was going to have to go, and he sure as hell hoped that it would be Castro.