Hello and welcome to Chapter 10! I would like to start by saying thank you to BoMunson on your recent review because it actually made me laugh. It made me laugh because even though I don't ship Eddie and Steve together, I can see the appeal especially with the way I've wrote a few things in this fic haha. And then just calling Eddie a horny bastard in general. So again thank you I hope you all enjoy this next chapter just as much.

A beam of sunlight hit Nancy in the face as it began to shine through a crack in the curtains, signalling that a new day had begun. Now disturbed from her sleep, she stretched out in the bed as she reluctantly prepared to get up. She unwillingly began to open her eyes, letting them focus for a minute, and found herself staring up at the ceiling as she began to gather her bearings. Her whole body ached and memories of what had happened the previous night, began to quickly flood her mind. Blushing fiercely, she suddenly felt very shy as she hid her face back under the covers and groaned. She didn't know what to do. God knows what Eddie must think of her now! She must have come across as desperate to him! The sudden sting of her lip as the blanket brushed over it reminded her of the moment she had let him taste her blood. God she really had been stupid! That could have gone south very quickly! And Now after this realisation, she really didn't want to face the male beside her. Could she just go back to sleep again? Only, the longer she hid to gain more courage to face the day, the more she came to realise that something wasn't right. It was far to quiet. She had expected teasing or something by now... Eddie didn't really sleep after all, he should know that she had woken up. Slowly, she peered over the blanket, and that's when Nancy's worst fears were confirmed. Eddie wasn't there! Sitting upright quickly in bed, she looked around the room. Not only was Eddie gone, but so were his clothes!

"Shit!" she panicked as she shot out of the bed, "I'm such an idiot!"

She was about to open the door to leave the bedroom when she suddenly realised, she didn't have any clothes on herself!

"Shit!" she began to curse herself again as she found her clothes, surprisingly, neatly folded on top of a set of drawers. Not thinking much of it in her panic, she threw them on. Finally dressed, she quickly left the room and almost jumped down the stairs in her hurry. She probably would have, if she wasn't afraid that she might wake Steve up, if he was even still asleep! She didn't want to risk him finding out that she had set a vampire loose on the world again.

"Eddie?!" she kept whisper shouting as she went, hoping for an answer from anywhere, "Eddie?!"

Seeing the keys to Steve's car sat in a bowl on a stand next to the front door, she quickly grabbed them. Just as she was about to run out of the house in search of Eddie, a familiar voice called her name from somewhere behind her. Turning around, so much relief washed over her.

"Nancy?" Eddie spoke looking slightly amused as he sipped from a bag of blood. He was standing in the kitchen doorway now wearing his old clothes after they had thankfully dried, over night. He looked down at the keys in her hand and then back up at her face, "Where are you going?"

"Your an arse!" Nancy sighed as she fought back the urge to punch him, "I thought you had done a disappearing act on me!"

"So you've already become this clingy from just one night together?" Eddie joked as he laughed slightly.

"Not funny..." Nancy told him angrily.

"Sorry" Eddie smiled amused. Then a little sheepishly added, "I was hungry, and I didn't want to wake you up...I thought the fact that I had folded your clothes, might have give you some idea that I was still around"

"Oh...I err, see" Nancy began to calm down again as she tried her hardest to hold back a smile of her own, but ultimately, she lost. God she must have looked so stupid panicking like that. And why were the car keys the first thing she went for? The chances of him going near any roads if he had ran, were next to none! "You could have let me know you were still here a little sooner. I almost had a heart attack!"

"Sorry" Eddie apologised again before turning around and going back into the Kitchen, "But I heard you getting up so I err...I tried to make coffee on Steve's fancy machine thing..."

"You did what?" Nancy asked as she followed him into the room surprised.

"Well, I've never used one before. In fact, I've never even seen one until I came here" he shrugged shyly, "So I just copied what Steve did with it yesterday and well...you'll just have to try it"

"Thank you" Nancy accepted, touched by his thoughtfulness. She grabbed a cup and poured herself some of the freshly made coffee as Eddie watched on expectantly. She placed the cup to her lips feeling a slight sting, before taking a sip. Her eyes widened before she pulled a weird face as she began to choke, "Wow that's err... strong!"

"That bad?" Eddie laughed, "I couldn't try it myself. Guess you were the guinea pig..."

"Well if I wasn't awake, I am now..."

"Practice makes perfect" Eddie laughed again, "I would have made breakfast to, but after yesterday's disaster, I thought it was probably best not to..."

"Yeah, that was definitely for the best..." Nancy laughed as she placed her cup down before sitting on a stool across from Eddie.

"Listen" She began, "I'm sorry for thinking you had run away. Maybe I should place a little more trust in you..."

"Don't worry about it. I probably should have woken you up or something..." Eddie admitted, "After all, it was only obvious how you would have reacted, I should have thought it through better"

"Yeah..." Nancy laughed slightly before the room fell into an awkward silence. Eventually Nancy sighed, grabbing Eddies attention again, "I err... I think we need to talk about last night. You know, before sleeping beauty upstairs decides to crawl out of bed..."

"What about it?" Eddie asked as a slight grin played at the side of his mouth, he tried to hide it by drinking from the bag of blood he still held.

"Erm...I don't know where to begin..." Nancy admitted awkwardly, before sighing again, "I'm sorry if you felt pressured into it..."

"Did I look like I was pressured into it?" Eddie cut her off. He eyed her curiously, now failing to hide his smirk.

"I...I guess not..." Nancy answered suddenly feeling shy again, which amused Eddie even more.

"I was that pressured into it, we did it twice!" He laughed as she began to glow red with further embarrassment, "But you should know, I don't regret either times" he winked at her.

"You don't?" Nancy asked surprised.

Eddie shook his head in response.

"M...me either" Nancy admitted quietly with a sigh, feeling slightly relieved. But also, a little more awkward, "That being said..." She spoke again as she began to collect her thoughts once more, "It can never happen again"

"I agree" Eddie smiled at her without missing a beat, and Nancy's surprise grew.

"Y...you do?" She asked him to clarify.

"Yeah. I mean, as much as we both enjoyed it...what with you screaming out my name and moaning, quite loudly in fact...to be honest, I'm surprised you never woke Steve up..."

"Get to the point" Nancy cut in sharply unamused.

"My point is, contrary to what people believe, I'm not an idiot Wheeler" Eddie explained holding in his laughter, "I know I was just being used to help you relieve some stress. Hell, you helped me relieve some to!" he winked at her again causing her to blush again slightly, "But that's all it was. You don't have feelings for me and I don't have feelings for you. It was just convenient really. If you were hand cuffed to Steve, the exact same thing would have happened. Wouldn't of it?"

"I...I guess it could have..." Nancy admitted not quite so certain.

"And I still stand by what I said. You and Steve should give things a go again. I'm routing for you guys"

"But what about Jon..."

"I'm sure Jonathan is great in his own way" Eddie cut her off, "But I really think Steve would treat you like a literal princess. No sneaking around smoking weed, no other hidden secrets..."

"Other hidden secrets?" Nancy eyed him suspiciously, "Such as?"

"Err...that's for you two to discuss" Eddie told her, quickly realising his mistake. He had over heard Will and Jonathan talking yesterday about the other College that Jonathan had been accepted into. Will had been trying to encourage him to tell Nancy, "What I'm trying to say is" he continued before Nancy could dig any further, "Before you go jumping back into Jonathan's arms, have a serious think about your future and where you would rather be..."

"Wow" Nancy smiled slightly, "Who ever thought that Eddie Munson could ever give out good advice?"

"I'm more than just great sex" He winked at her with a mischievous grin.

"As good as it was..." Nancy admitted burning red at the memory, "Can we both please make a pact to never talk about it again?"

"I don't know Nance..." His grin widened, "The evidence of having your wrists pinned above your head is quite visible. Though, I think having my nail's digging into your wrists a little, excited you more..."

Nancy blushed hard at being called out like this, she answered him defiantly as she sub consciously rubbed at her wrists, "I err...I can put the marks down to the cuffs rubbing on my skin..."

"Both of them?" Eddie smirked, he quickly continued before Nancy could interrupt him as he was greatly enjoying teasing her, "And you can't forget that lip either. I know I wouldn't say no to tasting that blood of yours again... Oh! And how's that hickey on your thigh? I think it's going to be a little reminder for awhile as well..."

"Seriously?" Nancy squirmed a little and instinctively tried to pull her jumper down over her thighs, suddenly reminded of what Eddie was doing in that area as he left the hickey, "Please stop...I asked nicely..."

"Fine, fine!" Eddie agreed with another laugh, "Though if you do decide to get with Steve or Jonathan again, and you want to tell them what happened. Make sure I'm no where around. I may look pretty bad arse like this, but I'm really not much of a fighter!"

"Ok, I guess I can agree to that" Nancy laughed before smiling at him gratefully, "Thank you..."

Eddie nodded in response as he began to drink the blood again. Nancy stood up and began to head for the kitchen door.

"I'm going to go and have a shower, and then I'm going to go to the pharmacy..." she announced without thinking.

"Why?" Eddie asked curiously.

"Why do you think?" Nancy rolled her eyes and blushed slightly at the thought of having to explain it, "We didn't use protection...I don't really want to have vampire babies..."

"Oh err...yeah, that's probably for the best.." Eddie agreed awkwardly, then added a little more thoughtfully, "They might be cute..." then added a little more seriously, "Though I wouldn't recommend breast feeding..."

"Really?!" Nancy had to hold back her own amusement as she scolded him, "You always need to turn a serious situation into a joke..."

"I'm serious when I need to be"

"Are you sure?" Nancy shrugged not convinced, "I'd say this moment maybe meets the requirement?"

"Maybe" Eddie smiled.

Nancy smiled back before continuing with, "Can you do me a favour?"

"What is it?"

"Can you attach that handcuff to something in here when you hear Steve coming down please?" She indicated the cuffs where one was still attached to Eddies wrist with the other hanging down freely, "I don't want him to know I'm letting you run loose"

"Sure..." Eddie agreed with a roll of his eyes, "I'll be a good pet vampire..."

"Good boy!" Nancy teased as she left the room leaving an amused Eddie behind.

"Morning!" Steve stretched and yawned loudly as he entered the Kitchen, "Oh, who made coffee?" he asked as he headed towards the machine and poured himself a cup out.

Eddie watched as he sipped on another bag of blood, waiting patiently for Steve's reaction as he took his time to sit down and take a mouthful of the said beverage. Having heard Steve getting up, Eddie had quickly attached himself to a metal pole that belonged to the Kitchens breakfast bar, and this is where he was located when Steve had entered. Steve stretched and yawned once more, before finally putting the cup to his lips and taking a mouthful.

"Oh god that's strong!" He declared as he spat it back into the cup.

"Hey, I worked hard on that!" Eddie pretended to take offence as he held back his laughter.

"You made it?" Steve asked surprised, before looking around, "Where's Nancy?"

"Out running errands" Eddie answered him nonchalantly.

"What errands?" Steve asked confused.

Eddie shrugged in response before answering with, "She said she'd grab you some breakfast"

"Oh" Steve sounded pleasantly surprised, "That's nice of her...I take it she took my car?"

Eddie nodded.

"People need to start paying me for fuel..." Steve sighed heavily.

"Your getting breakfast" Eddie commented unfazed.

"Yeah... And I still think its unfair that she gets to unattach herself from you when ever she wants" Steve sighed, now noticing where Eddie was cuffed, "We should have got that luxury. At least to use the bathroom..."

"It is what it is" Eddie gave him a small smile, "She didn't want me in the bathroom with her, and I definitely wasn't going to follow her in there anyways. And she can't exactly take me into town"

"I guess"

Steve sat in silence for a moment before stretching again.

"I slept like a baby last night!" He declared before finishing with, "Not having a vampire in my ear threatening to kill me in my sleep really helped with that..."

"You know you missed me" Eddie grinned slightly.

"You wish" Steve scoffed, "It must have been awful for Nancy, how did she sleep?"

"Pretty well actually" Eddie against all hope, managed to hold back the grin that was threatening at his lips. Still, he let out one smart remark, "She did toss and turn a few times..."

"Not surprised" Steve commented, missing the hint, "Your not exactly comforting with your jokes"

"Yeah..."

"I'm back!" Nancy announced loudly as she walked through the door and placed Steve's keys back into the bowl stopping anymore remarks that might have escaped from Eddies lips. She turned and walked into the kitchen, this is when she saw Steve sitting at the kitchen table. Her eyes quickly went to Eddies wrist. Seeing that he had in fact stuck to his word and attached himself to something, she sighed relieved. Walking further into the Kitchen, she smiled at Steve, "Nice to see you've finally gotten out of bed"

"Your going on like it's late" Steve rolled his eyes.

"It's just gone past eleven" Nancy told him with a look that didn't take him seriously.

"What? Really?" Steve looked surprised as he sat up straight and finally looked at the kitchen clock, "Shit...How did I end up sleeping so long? I must have been exhausted..."

"Luckily for you, our plan takes place later tonight when it gets dark" Nancy told him amused before giving him a brown paper bag that she was carrying, "Here, I got you breakfast"

"Thanks Nancy" Steve accepted gratefully before opening the bag and pulling out an Egg, sausage and bacon bun. He began to eat it hungrily.

As he ate Eddie grabbed Nancy's attention.

"Did you get it?" he mouthed to her silently.

She nodded in confirmation and Eddie let out a small sigh of relief. Turning back to Steve, Nancy spoke again, "How is it?"

"Good" Steve told her with his mouthful as he looked up at her gratefully. His eyes widened slightly, "What happened to your lip? It's cut, and swollen..."

"Oh err... I err, knocked it on your car door when I was getting into it earlier" Nancy lied as she gently covered her lip with her hand out of reflex.

"Really?" Steve looked at her with disbelief.

"Yeah...So does anyone know when we are supposed to expect the others?" She quickly deflected. She threw Eddie a quick warning glare as she saw him fighting back a laugh.

"It was your idea for them all to come when it got dark" Steve told her confused, "So that we could gather some things we may need..."

"Oh yeah, sorry" Nancy agreed, even though she already knew the answer, "Do you think Robin will show up? I mean, after your falling out yesterday that is?"

"I don't know" Steve shrugged suddenly remembering the fallout, "Honestly, I'm not even sure why we're fighting..."

"Because you basically told her that she was stupid for holding a grudge over you for something that you couldn't control. And also that she wasn't good enough for anyone..." Eddie readily explained for him.

"Yes, thank you Eddie..." Steve accepted sarcastically, "It was more of a rhetorical question..."

"Your welcome" Eddie smiled lazily as he rested his head on his hand.

"Maybe you should call her..." Nancy suggested.

"And say what?" Steve asked, "She's as much in the wrong as I am!"

"Its called being the bigger person man..." Eddie rolled his eyes then catching what he had just done, immediately cursed inwardly to himself. He wasn't supposed to be helping them repair the relationship, otherwise there would have been no point in trying to wreck it in the first place. God he was shit at this. Vecna really had picked the wrong person for the job. Though the more he thought about it, the more he had to be honest with himself. He had lost all of his will to even try and sabotage them anymore. It might not have been the first time this had happened, but something was different this time. Like, no matter what Vecna could say to him, he wouldn't change his mind. The past couple of days had near enough proved to him that these people that he had considered friends, were still very much so that. Stealing blood, trying to figure out how to save his life, and generally just being nice to him when he didn't deserve it. Those weren't the actions of enemies or people that hated him. He had slowly, well, slower than he would like to admit, realised that the memories Vecna had shown him, were fake. But then there was Chrissy, he knew deep down that that was a lie to. He didn't know how Vecna had made her seem so real before, it was the one thing still bugging him. So he still held onto hope, he wasn't ready to let go of that just yet. Though maybe there was another way to help her? And to help Max...

"You ok Eddie?" Nancy asked as she waved a hand in front of his face bringing him back to himself. He stared at her for a moment confused as to why she looked so concerned, then he looked to see Steve also looking at him concerned. Realising he had zoned out, he shook his head a little and smiled at them.

"Yeah, I'm fine...I was just lost in thought that's all" Eddie gave them a small smile.

"You sure?" Steve asked with a raised eyebrow, "You mentioned before that Vecna still tries to talk to you. Was he just doing that there? You can tell us..."

"No, no. I really was just lost in thought..." He answered truthfully. Looking at their faces he could tell they didn't truly believe him. Knowing there was nothing he could do about that, he didn't even try to convince them. Instead, he awkwardly asked them something else, "Hey err, do you think we can lose the cuffs completely now?" he lifted up the wrist he had cuffed to the bar as high as he could and pointed at it, "I promise I won't run..."

"Erm... a bit of a strange time to ask when you've literally just came out of a trance. How do we know you weren't talking to Vecna?" Steve asked rationally.

Eddie rolled his eyes ignoring him, before looking Nancy dead in the eyes, "Please?" he asked her.

"Err...I err, I think we can trust him..." Nancy gave in under Eddies stare. She knew that if he had wanted to run, he would have done that this morning.

"What? Are you crazy?" Steve asked her surprised, "You make me...I mean us, suffer for two days and then decide you don't need them anymore? I say leave them on, what makes you think we can trust him enough not to run?"

"I just do" Nancy shrugged as she reached into her jeans pocket for the key, "And you can deny it all you want, but you know you do to..."

"I err, I..." Steve sighed and gave up on the argument. Because truth be told, he did trust Eddie not to run as well.

Nancy kept fumbling around in search of the key in her pockets, but then she realised, it wasn't there, "Shit!" she cursed as she remembered she had thrown it onto the floor last night, "I Err, better go and get it. I left it in the room somewhere..."

"Please don't say you lost it?" Eddie groaned, "I don't think Steve will appreciate having to take his breakfast bar apart to get my arm free!"

"That's not happening" Steve protested.

"Well then, I guess your parents can always come home and find me...I wonder what they'll think when they see a wanted killer sat handcuffed in your Kitchen with bags of blood in the refrigerator?" Eddie teased, "They'll either think you've done some justice...or the more likely scenario. That your into some really freaky shit..."

"Nancy please be quick and find that Key" Steve panicked as he faced her desperately after realising that Eddie was right.

"Right" Nancy laughed as she left the room quickly.

"Maybe we can just cut your hand off?" Steve suggested.

"What?" Eddie asked alarmed.

"Well you heal quickly...maybe it'll grow back?" Steve shrugged.

"Fuck no!" Eddie shot his suggestion down quickly, "Let me cut your hand off first!"

"Mine won't grow back!"

"There's no guarantee mine will. Plus, it'll probably hurt like hell!"

"Ok fine..." Steve gave in, "I just thought it was worth a try..."

"Do you have a saw?"

"What? To cut your hand off? Steve asked surprised.

"No you dumb arse! We might need to saw though the chains!"

"Oh..."

"What about bolt cutters? They might work better"

"My dad probably has both out in his shed somewhere..."

"The disaster is averted!" Nancy announced loudly as she rushed back into the room having miraculously found the key rather quickly. The two males sighed with relief and she looked at them taking in the mood, "What did I miss?"

It had grown dark outside and the whole group had gathered together in Steve's house, well, everyone but Jonathan. Steve, Eddie and Nancy had gathered some supplies they thought they may need as they searched for a portal into the upside down. This included rope, torches, weapons, bandages, antiseptic, food and even some blood for Eddie. There were a few more bits and pieces and all of it was split equally between everyone.

"So how many groups, and who are in them groups?" Steve asked as he happily swung his nail covered bat around.

"Careful with that man" Dustin scolded as he watched Steve warily, "If you let go, you could really hurt someone..."

"I'm not going to let it go" Steve scoffed as he swung it again, only for it to slip. He caught it just before it could fly across the room, "Erm...oops..."

"Idiot" Dustin sighed.

"Idiot..." Steve mumbled as he copied what Dustin had said in a mocking tone.

"Ok" Nancy spoke as she began to pick up the things she was taking with her, "So, the cracks through town are being watched with security cameras. Except the guards are more interested in watching the actual television, so we probably won't be seen by them. There is a patrol that checks the edges every couple of hours or so. But if we time it just right, we should just miss them..." She explained. Herself, Robin, El, Mike and Will had all gone and scoped out the areas earlier so that they could come up with a plan of action, "The area least watched, is the Creel house. That's where Eddie and Dustin will start. Eddie stands less chance of being seen that way"

"Got it!" They both accepted quickly. Eddie was just glad that he was finally being allowed some freedom again.

"Me and Robin will search from Eddies old trailer" She continued. Robin and Steve were still refusing to reconcile, so in order to get things done, Nancy had paired herself with Robin, "Steve and Will can search from the lake. And Mike and El can search the last one. We'll stay in touch through the radio's and if any of you find anything, let us all know straight away. Got it?"

"Yep" Everyone agreed.

"Ok, well I'll give Mike and El a ride to their position" Nancy continued, she had collected her own car earlier, "Before me and Robin go to our own. Steve you'll be driving to your spot right?"

"Yeah, though we won't be able to park directly there" he agreed.

"Eddie, Dustin...you two are going to have to walk through the woods" Nancy continued.

"I knew that would be the case" Eddie sighed.

"Sorry. But with random car searches and street patrols, we can't risk it"

"Yeah yeah, I get it" Eddie accepted, "But what about Dustin's ankle?"

"My ankles fine" Dustin reassured him, "I Err, might not be able to run though if needed..."

"Brilliant..." Eddie rolled his eyes.

"It'll be fine" Dustin spoke cheerfully, "Just think. In the long run we may actually kill Vecna, destroy the upside down, and return Hawkins back to normal!"

"Always the optimistic" Eddie chuckled. He hoped that was true. For everyone here if not himself at least. He just hoped Vecna couldn't hear everything that was being said. He hoped he couldn't hear what was really going through Eddies mind now either.

"Well" Nancy spoke again as she glanced at the clock, "If we all leave now, we should reach our destinations just after the patrols. Remember, everyone radio in once you have reached it. Ok?"

"How are you holding up Dustin?" Eddie asked as he slowed down his walk yet again in order to let the boy catch up.

"I'm good" Dustin panted as he hobbled along, his foot paining him slightly. He had refused to use his crutches. It may not have been ethical, but this way was much faster. Besides, his ankle strap helped to keep his foot in place so it didn't get many unnecessary movements, "Sorry if I'm slowing you down..."

"Don't worry about it" Eddie brushed off his apology, "It will be awhile before the others reach there destination anyways. I just hope that all of this walking won't damage your foot more..."

"It should be fine" Dustin commented as he put on a brave face. Suddenly, he tripped over a trailing tree root. But before he hit the ground, Eddie caught him by his arm, "Th...thanks" Dustin gasped from the sudden shock.

"You need to watch where your going" Eddie smirked as he began to walk again after propping Dustin back up.

"How are you even able to see?! It's pitch black in here and your walking like it's a casual stroll through a meadow!" Dustin complained as he began to struggle along again.

"I just have really good eyesight" Eddie shrugged, "It's another one of my perks"

"But aren't bats like, blind?" Dustin asked curiously, "And with you having that demobat in you, shouldn't you technically be blind?"

"You'd think so..." Eddie laughed, "But apparently not. Seems I've gained a few things normal bats don't have. I mean, when have you ever seen a bat heal as fast as I do?"

"Good point" Dustin also laughed, then quite seriously asked, "So can you fly?"

"Yes" Eddie answered quickly without missing a beat, "I just decided to walk all this way because its a nice night..."

"A simple no would have done..." Dustin sulked as he hadn't missed the sarcasm.

"Sorry man" Eddie laughed again.

A sudden silence fell and all that could be heard, was the crunching of leaves underneath their feet. After a few minutes of this, Eddie spoke again, his tone more serious.

"Erm...I need to apologise to you" He began as he slowed down to Dustin's pace again.

"What for?" Dustin asked confused.

"For being a complete and utter jerk to you since I got back here"

"Oh... yeah...don't worry about it. You probably had your reasons"

"My reasons were shit" Eddie scoffed before adding quietly, "I've come to realise that now..."

"What do you mean?" Dustin asked curiously.

"It's along story..."

"Well we have a while until we get to the Creel house"

"I guess"

"I'm all ears" Dustin smiled.

Eddie smiled to himself. How could he have ever doubted Dustin of all people? The kid didn't have a single traitorous bone in his body. So as they continued to walk, Eddie told Dustin exactly what he had told Steve. Again he left out the whole working for Vecna thing and what not, but only because now, he was afraid of losing them all over again. He didn't know how they would feel if they knew he was willingly going to betray them. Even if he hadn't technically done what that monster had wanted him to, he had still tried. Dustin as promised, listened intently and waited for Eddie to finish before speaking.

"Wow, it's no wonder you came back all messed up..." Dustin whistled with surprise.

"Thanks man..."

"You know what I mean! After what you just told me, I can't really blame you for the way you've been treating people. To be shunned by an entire town, to then think all of your friends had turned their backs on you after you sacrificed your life to save them. That's rough..."

"Yeah well, it's still not really an excuse..."

"It's a good enough one to me! I'm actually surprised you didn't start working for Vecna there and then!"

"Yeah..." Eddie laughed nervously.

"So I'll tell you what actually happened after. Maybe then, you can start trusting us a bit more yourself..."

Of course Eddie had already heard the story from Steve's point of view, but he was willing to let Dustin tell it as well. This way, he would be able to see if both stories matched up. He had a feeling they would, but he wanted to be sure all the same. And so Dustin did tell his side of the story to Eddie And of course, everything that Steve had already told him, was also in Dustin's version. This made the last piece of doubt that remained, leave Eddie for good, and the relief was immense as he smiled to himself. How the Hell could he have been so idiotic to have ever trusted Vecna?

Once Dustin had finished telling his side of the story, he turned to Eddie sadly, "Please don't ever leave me behind like that again...I could have helped you..."

Eddie looked at him with shock. He didn't expect Dustin to become so sentimental all of a sudden.

"If you had stayed, you would have died as well" Eddie pointed out after a moment.

"I'd rather have risked that, then letting a friend die alone..."

"But I didn't die alone" Eddie smiled before turning away and beginning to walk again, "You broke your damn ankle to get there, before I did... And for that...I'm grateful" he cleared his throat before speaking in a more mocking tone now, "Now lets get to the Creel house before you start blubbering all over me Henderson. I don't do snot and tears..."

Dustin beamed with happiness. He was glad he had finally gotten through to Eddie enough to be able to talk to him again like they had used to. He had missed their friendship so much a d it felt so good to have it back.

"Hey!" Dustin exclaimed loudly as he limped at bit faster to catch up to Eddie again.

"What?" Eddie asked, wondering what had gotten him all worked up all of a sudden.

"So me, Mike and Will were all talking last night over our radios. And we all came to the conclusion that you, are basically Kas..." Dustin told him confidently.

"What?" Eddie scoffed amused, "What gave you guys that idea?"

"Think about it!" Dustin began to explain, "You died by being savaged by Demobats, right?"

"Ah memories..." Eddie raised his eyebrow as he mocked Dustin, "Some that I'd much rather forget..."

"Sorry" Dustin really didn't sound sorry, and then continued, "Well, how did Kas die?"

"Ok, yeah, but it was Vecna that brought me back by putting that damned demobat in me. And think about it, there are a lot more plot holes to your theory..." Eddie decided to humour him.

"So you may not be working for Vecna so therefore can't betray him..." Dustin began completely oblivious to what Eddies true intentions were until fairly recently, "And you may not have been imprisoned for centuries or have a cool sword or and armour, or even an army. To pick a few differences"

"Pretty big differences" Eddie laughed.

"But..." Dustin carried on, "You are a vampire and technically, this isn't DnD"

"I suppose..." Eddie agreed with a shrug.

"Geeze, imagine how powerful you would be if you did actually become Vecnas right hand man?" Dustin declared excitedly.

"Not happening..." Eddie answered him, for once telling the truth on this situation.

"Then imagine the battle as you eventually turned on him!"

"Are you actually listening to anything I'm saying?" Eddie asked amused.

"You did use a shield with spikes...Kas has a shield with spikes" Dustin continued to ramble.

"I take that as a no..."

"You'd have your own realms to rule over. It would be awesome!"

They continued to walk for awhile, Eddie having to listen to Dustin's theory the whole way, cringing at some of the parts that actually matched up. By some miracle, a saviour in the form of Robin's voice came over the radio, completely interrupting Dustin as she announced something.

"Mike and El are in position" She spoke, "Me and Nancy are almost at ours. What is everyone else's locations right now?"

After a slight pause, Steve's voice came over the radio.

"Yep, me and Will have just arrived at our destination"

"Copy" Robin confirmed, "Dustin, Eddie, are you guys at the Creel house yet?"

Dustin grabbed the radio and spoke.

"Err, no, not yet..."

"Seriously? How far do you guys have to go?" Robin asked.

"Working with a broken ankle here guys...and having to walk through fallen branches and roots in a wooded area isn't helping!" Dustin shot back.

Eddie took the radio off of him holding back a laugh before speaking.

"We're there, it's just through these trees" he confirmed.

"What?" Dustin asked confused, "No it isn't..." We'd be able to see the house and damage by now..."

"Yes we are" Eddie let himself laugh now, "I have better eyesight remember? I can literally see the damaged house from here. We'll be there in about five minutes if we keep pace. Just be careful not to fall into the hole..."

"So are you there or not?" Robin asked once more, obviously not able to hear this part of the conversation.

Suddenly the ground began to appear different and the trees began to space out more and more. Eddie grabbed Dustin's arm just in time to stop him sliding into the beginning of the massive crack that had split the Creel house in half and then travelled right to the middle of town.

"Shit!" Dustin huffed as he realised how close he had come to getting seriously hurt again. He stared at the opening in disbelief. Why wasn't it guarded better to prevent this exact thing from happening?

"We're here" Eddie spoke into the radio again, "The patrol has just been by, so we're good to go"

"Copy" Robin confirmed, "Everyone can start looking now. Me and Nancy aren't far behind"

Eddie handed the radio back to Dustin with a smirk.

"I told you to watch out for the hole"

"I didn't know it was that close!" Dustin huffed.

It was slow progress checking for any small portals that might have appeared. They had all been out for what seemed like hours and they knew it wouldn't be long until the patrol came around again. If anyone had been looking at the security cameras, they would have most likely been found by now. So it was confirmed that Nancy was telling the truth about the guards being more interested in the television then their jobs. Each group had used a rope to climb down inside of the cracks and now, they were slowly searching them for any signs if an open portal or any evidence of a recent one being there.

"Do you see anything?" Dustin asked Eddie a little bored as he shone his torch around.

"You've asked me that a million times now" Eddie bit, "If I see anything I will tell you..."

They had each decided to search a side each, to make progress a little faster. Of course, thanks to Eddies eyesight, he didn't need a torch, so it was a good thing that their team had only needed one, as that was all that was left. Dustin yawned as he limped along, he had expected at least a little excitement. He even had his weapon of choice, a golf club that had belonged to Steve's dad, on hand ready to strike anything down.

"We should have known that finding a portal wouldn't be so simple" Dustin sighed as the pain in his ankle finally got a bit much for him, "Do you mind if we take a rest for a minute?"

"Sure" Eddie agreed just as bored. He may not have got tired like everyone else but a break would hopefully help with some of the boredom.

"It doesn't seem like any of the others have had any luck either, we would have heard something by now" Dustin commented warily as he sank to the ground for a rest. He then asked, "Do you think we'll find anything?"

"I don't know man...it doesn't seem likely" Eddie admitted as he began to slowly walk with his hand trailing along the crevices wall, looking it up and down as he went, "It sure would make life easier if a portal would magically appear for us..."

And just like Eddie had said, just like magic, underneath his hand began to glow orange. He stared at it in shock for a moment, before abruptly removing his hand and moving back by quite a few feet, his eyes were fixated on the glowing spot of orange left on the wall he had just been touching.

"What's wrong?" Dustin asked confused, seeing his friends strange reaction. Noticing that Eddie was staring at something, he struggled to his feet and approached him. Seeing that Eddie didn't look at him for even a second as he approached, he decided to look at what ever Eddie was looking at, and he to, saw the orange glowing patch on the wall.

"What the frick?..." Dustin trailed as he to, stared, "Did...did you do that?"

"I...I don't know..." Eddie admitted truthfully. It was in the same place he had been touching, and it was the same size if his hand, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Suddenly, the orange glow, began to break apart. It began to grow in size and the wall began to crumble away as it slowly began to reveal a portal. The same type of portal that would take someone to the upside down.

"Holy shit..." Dustin gasped amazed. Coming back to some of his senses, he quickly fumbled with his radio, "Guys!" he almost shouted into it, "You all need to get your arses here quick!"

Well, looks like they've all made friends again, bar Jonathan and Nancy and Robin and Steve. But things are probably going to go down hill for them now. I think this fic has about 3 to 4 chapters left before its finished so, I hope you will stick with me until the end. As always please feel free to message me or leave a review, and I'll see you all next time!