Chapter 10

Chapter ten

Zachary flipped on all the switches that sat in the brick wall to the right of the door he came through. His red stern filled eyes glowed with a bright red. He stepped into the concrete room filled with tables. Each table held the pots of exotic plant life.

Martha stood behind him with a worry in her blue eyes. "Zachary ... What is it?"

Zachary glanced over his shoulder to the young woman. "I suspect some foul play on your friend’s part." He turned his head back to glare the red eyes into the room. He started to walk quickly through the room with angry steps.

Martha quickly walked behind him while glancing at the plants with confusion. "There is something I needed to tell you about Richard ..."

"Forgive me, Martha, but now is not such a good time." He said in a cold voice as he pulled out a set of keys from his front jean pocket. With the keys in hand, Zachary stopped in front of the double glass doors and unlocked one side.

Martha slowly stopped behind him. "What's wrong?"

Zachary quickly opened the door and stepped into the cold. Steam fell out of his mouth as he walked onto the cobble stoned patio. "You should go back inside."

Martha shook her head and followed Zachary. "I'm coming with you."

"I would advise you do not."

Martha kept her stride with Zachary as they passed through the hallway of strange cut bushes. Her eyes glanced up and down the area as she walked with a sort of grace.

Zachary and Martha made way to the Iron Gate facing the hallway of cable fence that led to the opening out into the woods. Zachary stopped and studied the fence. Martha slowly walked up beside him. Her eyes stared into the dark woods.

Zachary sighed and quickly grabbed the iron bars of the gate with one hand. His face went from stern to worry. "Damn."

Martha stared at Zachary and shrugged. "What?"

"This is usually electrocuted. It is lined throughout the rest of the fence, which means this portion of the fence is cold." He ran his fingers through his blond spiked hair.

Martha looked at the gate and then out into the woods. A loud howl sounded throughout the cold night air. "Zachary ... What is out there?"

Zachary grabbed Martha's arm and turned her and himself around to march back up the cobble stoned walkway. "Something dangerous, now if you do not mind, I need to get you to safety."

Martha gave a slight tug to his grasp. "Stop...Stop!"

Zachary released his grip and looked at Martha with worried glowing red eyes.

Martha stared at Zachary and pointed to the woods behind her. "What are you? Why can't bullets harm you? What was that howling in the woods?"

Zachary stepped closer to the manic woman and gently grabbed her shoulders. "You have to understand, like your cousin, there are many things that are not what they seem." He paused and let out a steam filled breath. "And most of those things live here. You have to trust me when I say, it is not safe out here."

Martha stared in Zachary's eyes for a long moment; her breath let out strong clouds of mist before her eyebrows lowered and a frown spread across the corners of her mouth. "This has gone on long enough. You refuse to tell me what is going on and still expect me to trust you? Your meddling in our affairs has cost us time and now Richard is no longer here with me." Her voice was strong and filled with anger. "I have not seen one ounce of evidence that you have mine or Richard's intentions in mind." Martha then took her left slender hand and quickly slapped it across Zachary's face. "Don't ever talk to me like I am a fool!"

Zachary's cold pale face did not sway from the slap. His eyes closed for a moment and his lips tightened together with a slight snarl. "I wish this could have gone better." He then opened his eyes. The once human looking eyes were gone; the red iris and black pupils had disappeared into a solid red. Zachary's eyes became glass like with a strong heavy red tint. Behind these red tinted glass eyes came a bright red light that glowed with almost unearthly tint. "You will do as I say without question." He demanded in a cold stern voice.

Martha's fearful eyes soon faded into a daze glare as she continued to stare into the bright red orbs in Zachary's skull.

"You will not fear for Richard or Bugsy at the moment and you will allow me to do as I wish with this current situation." He paused for a moment. A tiny drop of blood ran down his left nostril and landed on his upper lip. "Nod if you understand."

The dazed head of Martha slowly nodded.

"When the dawn rises, you shall be allowed your free will." He closed his eyes only once and after he opened the white lids of his eyes, Zachary's eyes returned quickly. The red iris had returned in both of his eyes along with the black pupils that expand and then shrunk.

Martha fluttered her eyes and placed a palm to her forehead. "Why do I feel dizzy?"

Zachary smiled. "You haven't eaten yet and with all this excitement ... Well, it is amazing you have not fallen ill."

Her blue eyes narrowed on Zachary's bleeding nose. A look of care crossed her face as she gave a frown. "Did I do that? I didn't mean to slap you that hard."

Zachary smirked and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to guide her back to through the garden. "It is nothing. You had a right to do so."

"No I didn't. All you are trying to do is help us and ... I guess I am just a little sleepy. I trust you Zachary with this. Just please ... Get me inside." Martha said with a shrug to her shoulders.

"Now now, everything is going to be alright ... You'll see." He rubbed her shoulders and smiled. "You are shivering, my dear. Let's get you warm and get some slices of pizza in your stomach."

Zachary guided the cold Martha through the green house with a worried look on his face. The two walked throughout the lower portion of the house without saying a word. Martha leaned in closer to Zachary and Zachary kept his comforting arms around her. The sounds of Zachary's boots tapped on the floor along with the muffled sound of Martha's borrowed sneakers touching the floors gently echoed around them. From the far off distance, behind the many layers of walls, was the sound of the mysterious club music.

The two walked into the familiar hallway that held the door to the guest room where Martha was once held captive. Gabriel rested his back against the locked door with his arms folded across his broad chest. His black pony tail rested on his large shoulder as he lowered his head to stare at the floor. As Zachary and Martha approached, he turned his attention to the two with confusion in his diamond like eyes. "Is everything alright?"

Zachary nodded. "Yes, how is our guest?"

Gabriel stepped away from the door and shrugged. "I haven't heard a peep out of him other than the loud music television he is watching."

Zachary stopped and pulled himself away from Martha. "Stay here for a moment, I am going to have a word with Bugsy."

Martha held onto his right arm for a moment. Her eyes stared at his face for a long moment and then nodded. "Okay." She said in a whisper. The frightened woman let go of Zachary's arm and began to bite down on her left thumb nail.

Zachary walked over to Gabriel, close enough for him to whisper. "If you would, hand me the key."

Gabriel glanced at Zachary's nose and then over Zachary's shoulder to Martha, he nodded his chin to her direction before whispering to Zachary. "Did you ...?"

Zachary nodded. "I had to, she was becoming rather unruling. The door please."

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked as he turned his attention down to Zachary.

Zachary looked up at Gabriel with a stern set of eyebrows. "There have been some interesting developments after our departure earlier. It seems that there have been some failure in our electric fence system, due to some gun fire."

Gabriel’s blue eyes widened and his lips tightened together. "The fence?"

"It is down." Zachary said with a sigh. "At least half of it anyway. I suspect foul play on the other guests’ part."

"The ones in the van?"

Zachary nodded. "I am going to assume that they managed to escape, but I have no evidence of this."

Gabriel kept his gaze on Zachary, but his eyes shown a moment of daze. "Ezra." He whispered the name in despair.

Zachary nodded. "Yes." He smiled and placed a hand on Gabriel's tall shoulder. "Nothing we cannot handle, right my friend?"

Gabriel nodded and pulled out the set of keys from his slack pocket. He sighed and pulled himself away from Zachary to unlock the door.

As Gabriel unlocked the guest room door, Zachary turned to smile at Martha who was busy biting off pieces of her thumb nail with worried teeth.

The tall giant opened the door and stopped at the entrance with a frozen frame. "Oh no." He said with dazed eyes. He stepped slowly into the room.

Zachary followed and followed Gabriel's gaze to the hole burned into the window and the broken bars. The loud music coming from the television roared with heavy metal music as Zachary walked passed Gabriel. He walked over to the television a pressed down on the power button on the panel of the television. Silence fell over the room as Zachary stared at the hole. "Smart one, isn't he?"

Gabriel shook his head and licked his scared lips. "How can this night get any worse?"

"Oh my God." Martha exclaimed as she stood by the door frame. Her thumb slowly fell from her mouth as her wide eyes stared at the hole in the window.

Zachary quickly turned around and walked over to Martha with outstretched arms. "It is alright, we will find him."

Martha shook her head, her eyes stared at the hole in terror. "He has never been free before and ... And he will find me ... Others ... It is only a matter of time before he kills again!"

Zachary placed his hands on Martha's shoulders and tried to maneuver his eyes to look into her's. "Hey ... Hey, listen to me."

Martha glanced at Zachary and stared into his eyes. She watched as the human red eyes started to change into a transparent set of orbs with a red light beaming through them into her own.

"You are going to lay down and sleep. Dream of wonderful things outside of here. You will not give Bugsy another thought. Your free will and memories will be restored as dawn rises." Zachary said in a monotone voice.

Martha blinked once. Zachary blinked his eyes and once again, his eyes were normal. Small drops of blood ran down both of his nostrils. He placed a hand on his forehead and stumbled backwards. "Go now." He said.

The dazed Martha slowly walked over to the side of the bed. Slowly, she laid her tired body onto the bed with her face staring up at the ceiling. Then, without notice, the woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Zachary stumbled around for a moment. Gabriel reached out and grabbed Zachary's left arm with his large hand. The mighty giant held Zachary straight. "You need to be careful, Zach, that takes too much out of you."

Zachary nodded as he patted Gabriel's hand. "Thank you my friend."

Gabriel stared at Zachary with worried diamond eyes. "What now?"

Zachary stared at Martha laying on the bed like a mythical princess. Blood ran down his nose as his eyes glowed strong with red light. "I promised the both of them that I will care for them and I will do so."

"What of Ezra and the strangers? Should we call off the club tonight?" Gabriel asked as he removed his hand from the now stable Zachary.

Zachary shook his head and glanced to Gabriel for a moment before returning his eyes to Martha. "No ... No we shouldn't. A scare like that would cause quite a stir outside and Ezra is bound to attack anyone frightened. No, the safest place for our customers is in the club itself." He cleared his throat. "The first phase of collecting this ordeal is to obtain the fence. We need to get power restored. Second, we must find these strangers and call in Sherriff Reynolds for a solution. Third and finally, we must secure this Bugsy and make sure he does not harm himself, or others." He ran his fingers through his spiked messy blond hair and took in a deep breath. "After I clean myself, I will take care of this ordeal. I brought this on our home and I will take care of it."

Gabriel gave a scoff. "Now you know I will help you."

Zachary gave a crooked smile. "I do not deserve friends like you and the others." His red irises lost their glow as Zachary nodded with a stern look on his pale face. "We must restore order in the House of Red."