Nancy Wheeler was always calm, collected, and very much prepared. She was the one who took the reins when shit got bad and made sure everyone had a plan. Right now, however, she watched her friend, Eddie, get tied to a chair and locked inside a storage room after seeing him attack and almost kill Steve Harrington. Right now, Steve was being tended to, passed out cold from the blood loss.
Right now, she had no idea what to do.
As she stood in the doorway, watching Joyce Byers bandage Steve's hand, she chewed her nails, chipping off the careful polish she'd applied a day earlier.
"You okay?" Robin asked, walking up to stand beside her. Nancy jumped a little, broken from her daze.
"Hey. Yeah." She lowered her hand, smoothing over the damage she'd done. "Nervous I guess."
"Joyce said he'll be fine. Groggy as hell when he wakes up, but fine. Eddie on the other hand..." Robin bit her lip. "I don't think it would be a stretch to say he is very much not okay."
"Has he gotten worse?"
"No, he actually looks... way better. Steve's blood actually worked." She shook her head and then chuckled humorlessly, a bit bewildered. "The kids keep calling him a vampire. I'm starting to believe them."
"Well, stranger things have happened in Hawkins." Nancy said, sighing. "Why not add vampires to the list?"
From the other side of the cabin, Will called to the girls. "Guys, he's waking up!"
Robin and Nancy exchanged glances and then made their way to the storage closet. The group had Eddie propped up in the chair, tied with a rope, hands bound behind his back. He'd been out for about an hour before he started stirring again. Hopper hadn't held back, apparently.
When the girls approached the doorway, Eddie groaned and slowly lifted his head, wincing at the light. He blinked groggily and cleared his throat. "Am I tied up?" He muttered.
"Yes." Nancy said, folding her arms.
"You kind of almost killed Steve." Robin offered. "It's just a precaution."
He nodded a bit and shifted uncomfortably in the chair, still a bit out of it. Nancy looked at the others and cleared her throat. "How um... How do you feel?"
Eddie thought for a moment. He hadn't realized it right away, but he felt okay. He was no longer starving and his blood had finally stopped feeling like it was boiling, no more shivers, his head was clear - albeit pounding from the welt Hopper left - and when he looked at his arms, the wounds he'd had were completely gone. It was like night and day.
"I feel... better, actually." He said, finally. "A lot better."
Nancy sucked in a breath. That confirmed their suspicions then. Eddie Munson was a vampire. Or something extremely similar to one. Whatever he was, they had to figure out what to do next.
"So are you, like, immortal now?" Mike asked.
Eddie shook his head in confusion. "What?"
"Since you're a vampire now." Lucas said. The boys accepted Dustin's theory almost immediately after the incident with Steve. Seeing him go back to normal after drinking from him was the final nail in the coffin. "Do you have like super cool seduction powers or something?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait - a vampire? You've got to be joking. Also, gross."
Dustin sighed. "Eddie, we've all already been through this, try to keep up."
"Are you guys serious?" Eddie stared at them. They all nodded. "Vampires aren't real, and trust me, I wish they were because that would be sick as hell, but they aren't."
"I can prove it to you, but you may not like what you see." Dustin said, very seriously. "Are you sure you're ready?"
Eddie rolled his eyes. "Oh for the love of..."
Dustin sighed, nodded, and walked out of the room. Everyone glanced at each other, not quite sure what he was planning. When he returned, he held up a mirror for Eddie to see. In the reflection, he looked normal, just like himself. His features were the same, though he was still grimy and bloody from the upside down. Eddie was about to make a smartass comment to Dustin, until he noticed his eyes. They were no longer the same brown color as before. Now they were a subtle, dark red and they reacted strangely to the light - shining like a cat at the right angles. He stared at himself in shock and opened his mouth to see his fangs protruding from his gums.
"You've gotta be shitting me..." He muttered, eyes wide. "There's no way. My... My eyes..."
Dustin's brows furrowed, he turned the mirror on himself and then back at Eddie. "Wait, you can see yourself?"
Mike snorted. "Of course he can see himself, idiot, it's a mirror."
"He's a vampire, I thought he wasn't supposed to be able to see his reflection." Dustin said, gawking.
Lucas snatched the mirror, rolling his eyes. "You're so stupid sometimes."
Eddie suddenly looked up, eyes wide and worried. "Steve. Oh shit. Is he okay?"
"He's asleep right now." Robin said, quickly. "He lost a lot of blood, but he'll be okay. He just needs some rest."
It had been a close call. He couldn't believe he almost actually killed someone. Almost killed a friend at that. He'd never experienced hunger like that before. It was so ravenous that he wasn't even able to control himself when he got a few drops. Just the taste of it was all it took for him to be sent into a frenzy. Eddie closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he could feel his heart pounding just a bit too fast. His anxiety was beginning to get the better of him. "I need... I need some water or something." He rasped. "Oh god..."
Robin nodded quickly. "I got it." She rushed to the kitchen and started looking through the cabinets for cups. Eleven sat at the counter, pushing around a soggy, now cold waffle with her fork.
"How is he?" She asked quietly. Robin looked at her and tried to give her a reassuring smile.
"He's okay. Feeling a lot better now."
Eleven scooted her plate away from herself, looking towards the storage room door. She couldn't shake that feeling she'd gotten back in the car. "I felt something bad in him."
Robin paused. "What do you mean 'something bad?'"
"He felt like..." Eleven swallowed and looked away. "Like Billy."
Robin's brows furrowed. She closed the cabinet and walked over to her, lowering her voice. "Are you sure?"
Eleven nodded, eyes a little dewy. "But... different. Billy wasn't himself any more. His mind was dark and violent and... bad. I haven't seen Eddie's mind... but he's not the same anymore."
Eleven's lip quivered. She'd liked Eddie. She enjoyed listening to his music and thought he was funny, eccentric even. She hadn't known him very long but it made her deeply sad to know he hadn't made it out. And then for him to reappear out of nowhere, changed forever by the upside down, it terrified her.
"Hey," Robin said, taking her hands, "it's gonna be okay. We'll figure this out." Eleven nodded quickly, wiping her tears with her sleeve. "What do you say you and I get ready for bed? It's way passed my bedtime and I think everyone is exhausted. We're not much use if we can't keep our eyes open, are we?"
Eleven shook her head with a sniffle.
When Robin looked up, she saw Nancy watching with a small smile. Robin smiled back.
In the morning, Nancy was up before anyone else, as usual. Argyle had crashed in his van, along with Jonathan, while several of the kids crowded the guest rooms. Robin slept on the couch, with Eleven curled up beside her. She hadn't been able to sleep alone and was grateful for the support, even if Robin tended to snore.
The group had barely gotten a combined 7 hours since they all settled in and the sun was already starting to beam through the windows. Walking into the kitchen, Nancy yawned and started a pot of coffee. She was exhausted, and hadn't gotten nearly enough rest, but there's no way she could shut her mind off. It was a miracle she was able to nod off at all. As she poured herself a cup, she looked up to find Steve awake and slowly trying to sit up off of the couch.
"Steve!" She gasped, nearly spilling the coffee. She put down the pot and ran over, laying him back down. "You've got to rest. You were really out of it."
He grunted in protest and cracked an eye open. "Is everyone okay?..."
"Yes," She sighed, "everyone is fine, no one else got hurt. What were you thinking, Steve?"
"I don't know." He admitted, then chuckled. "I guess I wasn't. I just thought that if that's what he needed to get better... I don't know. Besides, if it wasn't me, Dustin would have been here instead. I barely convinced him to let me do it."
Nancy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't doubt that for a second. How are you feeling?"
"Still pretty much like jello, but I'm alive." He flashed her a weak grin. "Can I get up now?"
She sighed but moved to let him sit up and went back to the kitchen. Steve stretched his muscles, letting out a loud groan. "God, I feel like I got hit by a bus."
"Well, you did get hit by an Eddie, which I'd argue is worse." Nancy smirked. "I'm glad you're okay."
Steve smiled at her. "Thanks." He stretched his arms a bit and then looked back up at Nancy. "Where is he, anyway?"
"He's in the storage room right now. We've got him restrained, so hopefully there will be no more surprises."
Steve nodded a bit and looked towards the locked door. "Hopefully."