Hello and welcome to Chapter 8! This is a bit of a longer chapter, but I think I did well with timing it then the other chapters haha. A bit of a spoiler and a warning for this chapter as it does contain the death of an animal, but its nothing that hasn't already been In stranger things so with that said, enjoy!

It was early the next morning and Steve was sat at his kitchen table feeling like a complete zombie. Sat beside him, Eddie was beginning to feel exactly the same but for a different reason all together.

"How long until El and the others get here?" He asked Steve trying not to look at him as he clutched at his stomach with his free hand feeling it growl a little.

"I don't know..." Steve groaned as he tried to rub at his temples before accidentally slapping himself in his own face with Eddies hand.

"You know if I wasn't so hungry, I'd find that hilarious right now" Eddie tried to joke.

"And if I wasn't so tired, I'd slap you back" Steve countered.

"Hey, you slapped yourself with my hand" Eddie smirked, "Can't blame me for that"

"Maybe not, but I can blame you for my lack of sleep"

"I didn't do anything!"

"You put thoughts in my head! I thought you were going to try and drink my blood when I fell asleep..."

"Well given that I was joking last night, I'm tempted to drink it now. I'm starving here..." Eddie groaned still refusing to look at Steve in fear that the moment he did, he wouldn't be able to control his urges. His blood was beginning to smell sweeter and sweeter by the minute.

"I don't think El and the others will be much longer. Please try to hold on a little longer. I really don't fancy being someone's dinner today" Steve stood up thinking that maybe if they busied themselves doing something else, it would take Eddies mind off of his current state, the only problem, Steve was hungry to. Feeling bad for asking, he had no choice, "Hey er...do you mind if I make breakfast for myself?"

"Seriously?" Eddie raised an eyebrow finally steering himself to look at Steve.

"What? I'm hungry to...at least I can do something about mine now..."

"Well so could I..." Eddie grinned making sure Steve could see his sharpened teeth.

"Dude, not cool" Steve scolded him as he looked away, "You can always help me, it might take your mind off of it?"

"I doubt that, but since I have no choice but to tag around with you anyways. What the hell! Let's make you some breakfast" Eddie gave in before standing up to.

Steve had decided to make a breakfast that would take awhile to make. The longer he kept Eddies mind off of his own hunger, the better. So right now they were frying Eggs and bacon and sausages whilst toasting some bread. Steve had taken to chopping things up now, which was proving difficult, with having Eddies wrist still stuck to his own. Never the less, they were still making progress and he was just finishing up on slicing some black pudding, when a certain thought struck him.

"Hey Eddie?"

"Yeah?" Eddie looked up from the bacon he was frying, it was the easiest job he could do at the moment considering he only had access to one hand.

"Why don't you try this?" Steve asked as he lifted up a slice of black pudding.

"Huh?"

"Well it's mostly pig blood" Steve explained, "So why not give it a try?"

"It also has oats and onions in" Eddie pointed out, "I can't stomach anything other than blood. Remember?"

"It's worth a try"

"I guess..." Eddie shrugged, still not completely convinced.

He took the slice of pudding from Steve's hand. It definitely smelt like blood, but he could still smell the other ingredients mixed in. He hadn't been a fan of this stuff when he was able to eat what ever he had wanted, so it took him a while now, to gain the courage to put it into his mouth. Finally, he sighed heavily before taking a bite. He chewed for a moment, but he knew instantly that this wasn't going to work out. He was already beginning to feel nauseous so instead of swallowing it, he ran straight to the bin, pulling a surprised Steve behind him, where he spat it out.

"Was it really that bad?" Steve asked surprised as he rubbed at his wrist that had been yanked at.

"What do you think?" Eddie almost snapped as he held back his urge to vomit.

"This doesn't bode well for you trying animal blood..." Steve fretted.

"No...no...it might be ok" Eddie answered as he stood up straight again, "To be fair, that stuff does have other ingredients mixed in. That might be the problem..."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, anything's worth a try at this point..."

What Eddie wasn't admitting to, was the fact that he could taste the pig blood, and to him, it tasted like garbage. And just for trying that little bit of food, his hunger had grown even more. Luckily his mind was quickly taken off of it when the bacon that he was helping Steve fry, began to smoke and spit grease everywhere.

"Shit!" Steve and Eddie chorused together as they rushed over to it. Eddie grabbed the frying pan and rushed it off of the stove only for a load of grease to splash onto his hand burning it. He hissed in pain and still somehow managed to place the pan down gently on the counter, before cradling his injured hand and cursing.

"Are you ok?" Steve fretted as he tried desperately to get Eddie to the sink to run his hand underneath freezing cold water, or to get ice for it. He couldn't however, as Eddie refused to move.

"We need to do something" Steve began to argue as he became frustrated, "It'll help to reduce the damage!"

"No need" Eddie cut him off as he gritted his teeth through the pain, "It'll heal itself soon enough"

"Not that quickly and it'll leave a lot of scarring!"

"No I mean, one of the perks of what I am is...I heal fast" Eddie explained, "See. Its already began to heal"

To Steve's surprise, he noticed that it had in fact began to heal. The redness and blisters that had quickly popped up, were just as quickly going away.

"That's...that's weird..." Steve stuttered as he watched on amazed.

"And so are you" Eddie shot back amused.

"No I mean...never mind..." Steve gave in before stumbling his way over to the chopping board again.

He began to chop tomatoes this time, as Eddie stood beside him finishing off the eggs and sausages. Only, he couldn't keep his eyes from going between his tasks, to Eddies still healing hand. This was a major mistake on his part, as once he looked away for the third time, he accidentally sliced his finger with the knife.

"Fuck!" He cursed as he quickly wrapped his bleeding finger in a nearby napkin. He was about to turn to Eddie to get his attention so that they could go over to where the first aid box was. Only as he did, he saw Eddie was desperately trying to cover his own nose and mouth with his t-shirt whilst his eyes were full of fear and something else that Steve couldn't quite place. He was trying to get as far away from Steve as possible, but was of course, being very unsuccessful.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked seemingly forgetting about Eddies situation.

"Y...you need...to cover that...in fact...we need to get out of these cuffs as soon as possible" Eddie answered between heavy breaths. His throat was beginning to burn as he fought back his instincts, "I need to get away from here and you!"

"Huh?" Steve looked confused before finally, he realised what was happening. That Look in Eddies eyes, it was hunger! How could he have been so stupid to forget about something as important as that?! "Oh Er...shit...what do I do? What do I do?!"

Steve began to panic as he clenched his cut finger tighter with his other hand and napkin, hoping that would somehow help as he looked around the room frantically. Eventually, he settled on the sink. He could wash the blood away for now, but he needed to bandage it as well. He looked straight at Eddie again who was trying his hardest not to look at Steve as he continued to cover his mouth and nose.

"OK, Eddie?" he began.

"What?" Eddie choked out a muffled reply.

"I need you to work with me here. I need you to grab the first aid kit from that cupboard to the left of you. We then need to head to the sink so I can wash the blood off of my hands...ok?"

Eddie nodded in confirmation before going into the cupboard that Steve had indicated. He found the first aid kit easily and quickly handed it to Steve before covering his nose again. Together, they headed for the sink where Steve did as he said he would and washed the blood that had smudged on his hands away. He let the water wash over his cut whilst being very careful to not get any blood, onto Eddies attached hand as he dug in the kit for a bandage. Eventually, his finger was bandaged up and he had no choice but to burn the towel he had used to dry his hands and the cloth he had used to clean up the blood, in the sink after. They stank of blood to Eddie, and they weren't helping his appetite in the slightest. Putting them in the bin or laundry wasn't enough, so they had to be burnt.

When Nancy, Robin, Dustin and El finally arrived, they were met with the stench of burning and smoke. Steve had opened the door earlier when he had first come downstairs that morning as he was expecting them and wanted to save some time. They had let themselves in after no one had answered the door, they had rung the bell and knocked a few times first of course. Growing increasingly concerned, they headed towards the kitchen slowly and silently after staring at each full of concern for a few moments. The smell was strongest coming from that direction so it seemed like a good place to start. Nancy had her gun with her. You know, just in case. It was currently at the ready as she didn't know what they were going to walk in on, so she wanted to be prepared. Given the eerie silence as they continued on, she held the gun in front of her, finger on the trigger. Had Eddie attacked Steve after all? Dustin was looking at her full of worry, but Nancy didn't have the time to be merciful if that is what had happened and if it had, she didn't want to be. She sprang round the corner of the kitchen door ready to witness some kind of bloodbath scene. Instead, she saw a scared looking Eddie and Steve, both with their hands in the air, staring back at her.

"What the hell Nancy?!" Steve sighed heavily as he placed his hands down full of relief, "Are you out to kill someone?"

"I...I thought..." Nancy stammered as relief also washed over her, "I thought that maybe..."

"That I had attacked him?" Eddie finished for her, one hand still in the air, with the other slightly still raised, due to Steve putting his down, "Can...can you point the gun away from me now? Or put it down... that works to"

Nancy looked at him confused before realising that she did in fact still have the gun pointed straight at Eddie.

"Oh...sorry..." She quietly apologised as she lowered it and placed the safety on before placing it into the back of her jeans and hiding it with her jumper.

"I might have heard you all coming, but I wasn't expecting that" Eddie sighed as he lowered his hands.

"What happened here?" Dustin asked as he now appeared with Robin and El.

"Well I thought I'd make us all breakfast" Steve began to explain, "To be honest, I don't even know if any of you have ate breakfast, but I wanted to busy myself. Anyways, I was chopping tomatoes and...I cut my finger with the knife...it was bleeding pretty bad and of course Eddie doesn't do well with blood right now..."

"And he tried to attack you?" Nancy cut him off sharply.

"Geeze Wheeler. You really think so highly of me don't you?" Eddie glared at her as she glared back.

"Actually" Steve interrupted them bringing the attention back to himself, "Eddie did quite well controlling himself. The only other casualties was a few cloths and napkins, which I had to burn in the sink, to help get rid of the smell of blood. And because of all that, the food got burnt to" Steve finished.

"Oh..." Nancy looked sheepish before turning back to Eddie, "Sorry"

"Yeah" Eddie accepted a little gruffly, before admitting to something just as sheepishly, "If I'm being honest, I wasn't far off from attacking him... If he hadn't looked at me, I probably would have...It was like I never recognised him, all I smelt was his blood..."

"That close?!" Steve asked surprised as a shudder went down his spine.

"Yep" Eddie nodded feeling a little ashamed, "I need blood now guys...Because right now...you all smell like really good snacks"

"Erm... Why don't you and El take Eddie to the woods behind your house now" Nancy suggested to Steve, "I'll stay here with Dustin and Robin and prepare some edible breakfast for you and clean up a bit..."

"Yeah" Steve agreed quickly and a little to enthusiastically. Maybe because he hadn't realised how close to being attacked he had come. But something had definitely got him moving.

"Ok" El agreed.

"Wait...why am I being voted for kitchen duty?" Robin argued.

"Well you can go with them and watch some animals being killed" Nancy offered.

"On second thought, kitchen duty doesn't sound to bad" Robin quickly changed her mind.

El, Eddie and Steve had all managed to make it onto the woods without being seen by any of Steve's neighbours. They went in as deep as they could so that they stood less chance of being seen by anyone that may be passing by. Once in a clearing they looked around and decided that this would be the best spot.

"Is now a bad time to mention that I've never killed an animal before?" Eddie asked with an awkward smile.

"Seriously?" Steve groaned, "Doesn't your uncle go hunting?"

"Yeah, but I never went with him..."

"It's easy" El spoke up, "Just think of it as kill or be killed"

Eddie and Steve looked at El a little concerned. She had a strange way of putting things.

"Erm... thanks" Eddie accepted awkwardly, "So I take it you've done this before?"

"Yes, my dad taught me how" El confirmed, "We used to set traps, and I used to catch food for myself when I was alone"

"I see...who was your dad? Rambo?" Eddie joked.

"No. Hopper" El answered, completely missing the joke, "Who is Rambo?"

"Wait...Hopper? As in, Chief Hopper?" Eddie asked surprised, and then laughed, "I've had a few run ins with him in the past..." Then he added a little more seriously, "But I heard his daughter had died...And, didn't you come from a lab?"

"Adopted!" Steve mouthed quickly to him so that El wouldn't notice.

"Oh...oooh! S...sorry" Eddie apologised sheepishly to her, "Sometimes I speak before I think..."

El just nodded and didn't say anything. They stood in silence for awhile until Eddie heard the slight rustling of an animal nearby.

"I hear something" Eddie quickly sat on alert, then he pointed to the left of them, "Over there"

Slowly he began creeping towards the sound. Steve having no choice but to follow and El following anyways. Finally, a rabbit came into view minding it's own business as it went about its day foraging.

"There it is" Eddie spoke quietly.

"Well go and catch it then" Steve spoke from beside him.

"But...I don't know if I can..." Eddie admitted awkwardly.

"What?"

"It might get away" Eddie tried to defend himself, "Especially with you stuck to me"

"Just admit you don't want to hurt it" Steve sighed agitated, "You have strange morals. You will gladly drink from humans, but not from an animal?"

"I didn't kill any of the humans I drank from. Not intentionally anyways... in order to get what I need from animals, I'm going to have to kill way more than just one a day!"

Rolling her eyes at the boys continuous bickering. El pushed past them and before the rabbit even had chance to react, she quickly snapped its neck with her powers killing it instantly. She then picked it up and handed it to Eddie.

"Damn El...Your ruthless" He remarked as he stared down at the animal corpse in his hands.

"Even I wasn't expecting that" Steve added just as shocked.

"Eat" El demanded now as she stared at him.

"Erm...I know this is a stupid time to get self conscious but, can you both look away? I don't really want to do this in front of you" Eddie smiled sheepishly at them.

"Really?" Steve questioned.

Eddie nodded.

"Fine" Steve sighed as he turned around to face the opposite direction, his hand still awkwardly hanging beside the dead rabbit. El did the same as she looked in another direction.

Taking a deep breath, Eddie looked down at the corpse. He didn't want to admit it, but it did not smell appetising to him at all. However, he was willing to try it. It could taste good if he just got past the smell, that, and he didn't want the poor thing to have died for nothing. So, without anymore hesitation, he bit into it hoping that it would taste nothing like the black pudding that he had had that morning. Unfortunately, it did. Not only did it taste absolutely foul, but the fur in his mouth really wasn't helping. He choked down a few mouthfuls of blood trying to power through, but in the end, he had to stop.

"I'm going to throw up!" He announced loudly full of panic as he placed the rabbit down and shot to his feet making an unsuspecting Steve, fall to the ground backwards.

"Dude?! You almost dislocated my arm!" Steve fumed as he tried to stumble to his feet. He was about to berate Eddie more until he turned to face the male who was currently doing what he had announced.

"Gross..." Steve looked away again, "I guess rabbit is off the menu?"

"Sorry..." Eddie apologised through gags, "I tried...It...it tastes horrible!"

"What do we do now?" El asked as she approached them.

"I don't know" Steve shrugged completely at a loss.

"There's only two options" Eddie spoke as he finally regained some composure, "Either let me have human blood...or kill me. Either way, I can't hold out much longer..."

Nancy, Dustin and Robin had finally finished cleaning up the kitchen and were just plating out some breakfast, when the other three returned. El and Steve both wore an expression of defeat, whilst Eddie looked pained.

"How did it go?" Dustin asked expectantly. Though judging by their expressions, the answer was obvious.

"I brought dinner" El announced as she placed the dead rabbit down on the kitchen counter.

"Oh come on...Not there!" Steve dismayed.

"Why have you brought a dead rabbit home?" Robin asked disgusted.

"For dinner, so that it doesn't go to waste" El confirmed again, "Eddie couldn't finish it"

"What do you mean, Eddie couldn't finish it?" Nancy asked now, fully alert.

"She means, I tried, I threw up, animal blood is a no go" Eddie concluded as he sank down to the floor next to where Steve had slumped in a chair.

"Sooo...lets just kill him since he can't have anything else" Nancy smirked as she casually went back to plating up the breakfasts, "It's only humane..."

"I know your joking just to get a rise out of me Wheeler, but I already suggested that idea myself" Eddie smirked back as he clenched at his stomach that was beginning to hurt with hunger.

"I'm sure you won't mind if we all eat, right?" Nancy asked sarcastically as she placed a slice of bacon into her mouth just to prove a point.

"Knock yourself out" Eddie looked away, "It'll just fatten you all up for me"

"Your joking right?" Robin laughed nervously, "Right?"

Eddie just winked at her in response.

"Not cool dude" Robin complained.

"He did that to me last night!" Steve told her, "I got no sleep because of it!"

Eddie continued to smirk amused at himself, though it was getting closer to not being a joke.

"In all seriousness" Dustin interrupted them all, "But what the hell are we going to do about Eddie? As he mentioned, we can't exactly let him starve. And killing him is not an option"

"Luckily, I came up with a plan last night" Nancy announced as she handed Steve his plate.

"You did?" Everyone looked at her expectantly.

"And your only just letting is know about this now?" Robin asked.

"Yep, but only because its a last option kind of thing. It's...it's going to be to be really risky and if I could get away with doing it myself, I would. But unfortunately, I'm going to need some help..."

"What is it?" El asked curiously.

So as they ate their breakfast, Nancy explained what she had thought of the night previously.

"So let me get this right..." Steve began, "Your plan is to sneak into a hospital, and take bags of donated blood?"

"Yes" Nancy confirmed without hesitation.

Everyone thought over it solemnly.

"I can't let any of you do that for me" Eddie began to laugh, "I will not be responsible for more people dying because they can't get the blood they need...I've already caused enough drama" Though he was probably going to help cause more deaths on a catastrophic level when he helped Vecna finally complete his plan...but they didn't need to know about that part yet.

"You wouldn't be responsible" Nancy added, "It would be me, and me alone. It was my idea and therefore all blame will fall on me. Besides, I'll only take the most common blood group. It just means that we'll all be donating blood for the rest of our lives"

"But you said it was your plan alone" Steve smiled smugly, "So we shouldn't have to donate blood at all"

"Hope you have a lot of it Wheeler..." Eddie added with his own grin, "Your going to need it"

"Idiots" Nancy scolded them, "Are you all in or not?"

"I don't see another option" Dustin was the first to agree, "I'll gladly donate blood for the rest of my life if it means helping Eddie out now..."

"Thanks man..." Eddie thanked him quietly with a small smile and Dustin's face beamed with happiness that Eddie had finally shown him some kindness. Steve smiled to himself, thankful that Eddie had taken some of what he had said last night to heart.

"I'm in" Steve volunteered next.

"I er...don't really like needles" Robin was hesitant, "Is this just a rhetorical thing? Or do we really have to do it?"

"What do you think?" Steve looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine!" Robin sighed heavily, "I guess I'm in...though I'll probably pass out every time"

"I'm in to" El added from where she sat on a stool.

"Er...I don't know if you should really donate blood...I mean, how does your powers work? Would they transfer to someone else?" Nancy asked curiously.

"I...don't know" El shrugged now just as curious as the others.

"We'll just take your payment as you helping us to get the blood" Nancy confirmed, "It's only fair with how much you've helped us in the past anyways"

"Lucky" Robin sulked, "Why couldn't I have magic powers?"

"So your really all going to do this?" Eddie asked stunned as he stared around at them all.

"Why wouldn't we?" Steve asked, "Your our friend. We'd do it for any of our friends"

"And I'm sure you'd do the same for us" Dustin added in.

"Y...yeah..." Eddie looked down at the floor feeling slightly ashamed of himself. Maybe Vecna had shown him a lie after all. These weren't the actions of people that would rather be rid of him surely?

"Don't let them fool you!" Vecna's angry voice suddenly sounded in Eddies head making his eyes visibly widen as he looked wildly around the room to see if the others could hear him to.

"You ok?" Robin asked him concerned as the others looked on equally concerned.

"Oh...er...yeah" Eddie stuttered, "I er...thought I heard something...it was...it was just a dog somewhere. It's fine..."

"Geeze those ears really are sharp. I heard nothing..." Dustin commented as he strained his own ears.

"Yeah" Eddie smiled sheepishly as he sank into himself and pulled his knees to his chest. Vecna hadn't shut up just yet.

"They are only trying to keep you close enough so that they can keep an eye on you without you attacking them" Vecna continued, "They are lying about trying to save you. They are lying about you being their friend. They don't want you to attack innocent people. Why else would they keep you under guard?" As if to prove his point, Vecna made the memories of his friends leaving him to rot in the upside down, flash through Eddies mind again.

"Shit..." Eddie cursed quietly as he clenched his eyes shut and placed his face into his hand as he struggled to fight back the pain it was causing him.

"Are you sure your ok?" Dustin asked now.

Eddie didn't answer as the memories continued. They seemed so real! What was the truth?! He was growing increasingly pissed at the people in the room right now, but at the same time, he wanted to believe what Steve had told him!

"Guys!" Dustin got the attention of the others, "I think we need to go and get that blood now. Eddie is clearly suffering. Look at him!"

"Maybe we should go now" Nancy concluded once seeing Eddies state. She hadn't exactly figured out what their plan of action was to get the blood. But winging it was their only option for now, "Dustin and El, your coming with me. Robin you stay with Steve and Eddie"

"Right!" They all agreed as the three leaving for the hospital got to their feet and headed straight for the door as Nancy grabbed Steve's car keys again.

"Baby sitting again..." Steve sighed before a sudden thought occurred to him, "Wait! Wait Nancy! Can you unlock these hand cuffs!?"

It was to late, Nancy had already left the house and Eddie was refusing to budge so Steve couldn't even go after her.

"Damn!" He whined, "I would really like to use the bathroom with out company for a change..."

"My patience is running thin Edward" Vecna continued inside of Eddies head, "Eleven is in your grasp. Either trick her to come here, or drag her!"

At the hospital Nancy, Dustin and El were all stood outside staring up at the building.

"So how are we doing this?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know..." Nancy answered honestly, "All I do know is that we have to do this without being caught..."

"Well that's a given..." Dustin agreed sarcastically, "So providing this does go well and we do find the blood, how much do we take? How do we get it down here without being seen? And most importantly, what do we do when we inevitably need to come back for more?"

"Let's just concentrate on today's batch" Nancy shrugged feeling slightly less optimistic, "Dustin, you distract the receptionist whilst me and El sneak past"

"Right" Dustin agreed.

"El?"

"Yeah?" El looked at Nancy waiting for her instructions.

"I need you to distort the cameras so that they can't trace this back to us as we go to find the blood, ok?"

"Ok" El agreed readily.

"Once we do find the blood, we're going to need to take a few boxes of what ever there stored in and lower them to the ground from a window that is ideally somewhere that no-one else will be. Hopefully the hospital is still under construction" Nancy took a deep breath, "I can't believe we're doing this...Ok, lets go!"

Inside Dustin limped straight towards the reception desk where the stern looking receptionist was busy on the phone. She looked up at him as he approached and he smiled once there. She finished on her call and finally gave him her attention.

"Can I help?" She asked.

"Uh...yeah" Dustin began as he let his mouth spew out what ever excuse came first, "I have an appointment with a doctor... can't remember his name, to get an x-ray done on my foot"

"What's your name?"

"Dustin Henderson"

She began to type away on her computer. As she did this Nancy and El, who had been waiting by the door, slowly began to sneak in. They tried to stick with a small crowd hoping that it would work. To there surprise, it did. The receptionist didn't see them as she looked for a fake appointment. Once in the clear, Nancy turned and gave Dustin the thumbs up as she and El vanished through some double doors.

"There is no appointment here for a Dustin Henderson " the receptionist looked back up at him clearly frustrated.

"I er...are you sure?"

"Your not on the system"

"Oh...ooohhh, I know what happened. I forgot to call to make the appointment. I'm such an idiot sometimes" Dustin smiled as he started backing away, "I'll go home and make one from there!"

He turned and left the hospital quickly whilst the receptionist shouted after him that he could have just made an appointment there. He sighed once outside hoping that the girls would be successful in their mission.

"How do we find out where the blood is kept?" El asked Nancy as they walked down the hallways.

"I don't know..." Nancy admitted, "It'll be kept somewhere cold to preserve it. That's all I know... Damn if Eddie was here, he'd be able to smell it out for us..."

They stopped and looked around.

"I wonder if every floor has a storage facility for blood..." Nancy thought our loud. That's when El nudged her. Nancy looked and saw that El was pointing at something. Looking in that direction, she saw what the girl was indicating.

There ahead of them, was a nurse with a trolley. On that trolley was a container with bags of blood in it. Nancy had to thank her lucky stars that they had stumbled upon this.

"Do you think she is taking it to storage?" El asked Nancy quietly as she wiped at the blood on her nose. This camera interference was no easy task. There was a lot of them.

"Here's hoping" Nancy answered as they both started to quietly follow the unsuspecting nurse.

Back at Steve's house, Eddie was sitting quietly now that Vecna had finally left him alone. Steve and Robin were talking about anything that would help to pass the time, as Eddie was still refusing to move around much.

"So, what are we going to do with that dead rabbit?" Robin finally asked as she looked over at it still disgusted.

"El told you, its dinner..." Steve answered, "Though I would rather it wasn't all over the counter top. El could have put it away before she left..."

"Or you could do it?" Robin suggested.

"Well I would...but someone is kind of holding me back" Steve hinted as he raised his arm a little, taking Eddies with it. He guessed he should still be grateful that Eddie hadn't refused to go to the bathroom with him, so at least he hadn't wet himself.

"So what about you Eddie?" Robin spoke to him now to try and get him talking.

"Huh?" Eddie looked up at her confused.

"Why couldn't you drink this poor bunnies blood? Is it really that different from a human's?" She asked curiously.

"Err...you really want to know?" Eddie looked at her questionably.

"If it gets you talking, then yeah. Also...I'm kind of curious...What does blood taste like to you?"

"Really Robin?" Steve asked her surprised.

"What? I can't help being curious..." Robin shrugged before looking at Eddie again, "Because whenever I accidently cut my finger or something, and sometimes it automatically goes to my mouth to stop the bleeding, it tastes kind of metallic. Surely it can't be nice drinking that all of the time?"

"It doesn't taste like that for me" Eddie admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Eddie thought for a moment about what he was going to say, "The Rabbit there, well it tasted like...dirt I guess. The same as anything else I try that's not human blood. Even my favourite foods. Where as if you remember yesterday when I pointed out Jonathan's little habit...I only knew about it because I could smell it in his blood"

"Whoa really?" Robin asked intrigued.

"Yeah. I've found out that if someone is heavily into drugs or alcohol, it masks their natural scent, so I tended to stay away from those types" Eddie explained, "One time I attacked a heavy smoker, his blood tasted horrible. Lucky for him because I let him go..."

"The guy we met in the back of the ambulance!" Robin realised out loud.

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Carry on..."

"Err...anyways like I explained to Steve yesterday. You each have your own scent, I've realised that everyone's blood, tastes exactly like that scent"

"Really? So what is our scents? You know...if you don't mind me asking?"

"You sure you want to know that Robin?" Steve asked sternly, "I know mine and it can make you feel slightly uncomfortable"

"What's yours?" Robin asked.

"Cinnamon" Eddie smirked as he revealed Steve's scent knowing he didn't want that.

"Aww. Cute!" Robin teased in a mocking tone, "Your a little Cinnamon bun. I always knew you were a sweetie"

"You smell like strawberries" Eddie threw in, still smirking.

"Strange...I don't even like strawberries..." Robin was taken aback slightly.

"Aww look, our own little strawberry shortcake doll!" Steve teased her back.

"Screw you" Robin grumbled, then turned to Eddie again, "What about the others?"

"Well weirdly, Dustin smells like Bananas. Mike smelled like treacle. El smells like...eggos?"

Steve and Robin looked at each other amused

"Some can say that's El's drug" Steve laughed and Robin joined him as Eddie continued.

"Jonathan again, smells like weed"

"I wonder when he picked up that habit?" Steve asked curiously.

"Must have been after he moved away surely?" Robin reasoned just as curious. She turned back to Eddie, "Continue..."

"Ok, well Will smelled like plain old vanilla. And Nancy...Nancy smells like cotton candy" Eddie finished lingering on Nancy's name a little longer than necessary. This didn't go unnoticed.

"Fixating a bit on Nancy there aren't you?" Steve asked him suspiciously.

"Sorry...I'm...I'm just starving...and her blood, is the most intriguing to me" Eddie explained awkwardly, his mouth almost watering. He caught himself and apologised again, "Change the subject please. This conversation is not helping my appetite"

"Oh...er...sorry" Robin apologised sheepishly, "Erm...did... did it hurt when you died?"

"Robin!?" Steve rolled his eyes as he sharply interrupted her, "Do you actually know how to have a normal conversation?"

"Sorry..." Robin apologised again. She definitely didn't use her brain before asking that, but she was far to much of a curious person.

Eddie laughed catching both Robin and Steve by surprise, before answering her.

"Yes, it hurt like hell. Steve can probably vouch for that. He was attacked by the flying bastards as well"

"Yeah..." Steve clenched his hand to his own stomach where they had gotten him when he was attacked. Remembering all to well, the pain, "Geeze man, you must have been in agony..."

"At first yeah, but in the end I just went numb" Eddie explained with a shrug, "I knew I was fucked from there"

Everyone fell into an awkward silence. Robin completely regretting what she had asked. She cursed herself for bringing down the mood.

"So if you guys hadn't have gone through all of this stuff together, do you think you would be friends?" Eddie asked them casually from out of the blue. He had seen an opportunity to get under their skin with out being suspicious, so he took it. He didn't want to stir the pot, but his recent visit from Vecna had shaken him a little. He needed to get his plan into full gear, "Because from what I've over heard and from what Dustin's told me. You Steve, didn't know that Robin existed, and she basically hated your guts..."

"Please, I knew she existed" Steve defended himself.

"And I didn't hate him..." Robin added, then after a slight pause continued with, "Though to be fair, you never really acknowledged me..."

"And you basically told me that you hated me because of a girl paying me more attention than you..." Steve shrugged, "Like I could have helped that. It's not like I knew..."

"And that's what pissed me off"

"Well I still don't know why you would have been pissed at me for something I didn't even know was happening?"

"I told you"

"I know, but I still don't know how it was my fault that some girl would rather pay attention to me and not you..." Steve bit his tongue the moment the words came out of his mouth. Eddie knew his job was done. Now he sat by quietly feeling terrible as the rest unfolded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Robin asked him visibly deflating.

"Nothing..." Steve hesitated, "Just that, well, it's not my fault that you can't tell someone how you feel..."

"You know why I can't!" Robin bit back.

"I know...but...maybe if you told Vickie how you feel. It would change things for you. I mean, what's the worst she could say? No?"

"Why would she say no? Am I not good enough?" Robin asked angrily as tears sprang to her eyes.

"I never said that!" Steve argued back.

"No I get it...you think I'm not good enough...don't you?"

"I never said that either!"

"But your not denying it!"

"W...Well I...I shouldn't have to!" Steve sounded confused.

"It's fine, I get it..." Robin announced before turning to Eddie, "The answer to your question Eddie is no, we probably wouldn't be friends if all of this hadn't of happened! Now I'm...I'm going to the bathroom!" She finished before storming out of the room.

Steve watched her go helplessly. He turned to Eddie who was still sat quietly beside him pretending he wasn't paying attention.

"How did that even escalate?" Steve asked him confused.

"I don't know man" Eddie shrugged playing dumb, "I regret asking the question now" This part was true, but again, it had to be done.

"I'm such an idiot...I should have just laughed it off. We have already been through it all..." Steve sighed as he slumped down on the chair again.

"Yeah..." Eddie agreed quietly.

I hope you enjoyed this one. As I said it was a bit longer than the others but it is all relevant. It will continue on to the next chapter. As always please feel free to write a review and i hope to see you in the next chapter. So until next time, bye!