Hello again and welcome to Chapter 11. I haven't got much to say today other than to thank you all for you continued support. So please enjoy!
It took an hour, and a close call with a patrol group, for the others to finally arrive at Dustin and Eddies location. Luckily for Dustin and Eddie, hiding the portal from the patrol group hadn't been hard, as whoever was looking for intruders, was half heartedly flashing the torch around the place quickly as they walked by above near to the edge. They completely skipped over where the portal, Eddie and Dustin were all hiding, much to their relief of course because god knows what they would have done if they had all been spotted. Now, as they all stood and stared at the portal wondering how and why it had opened, all they could do was hope that another patrol wouldn't be by again any time soon.
"So err...explain what happened again?" Steve asked trying to sound calmer than he felt.
"I placed my hand on the wall, the wall began to glow orange and this portal opened..." Eddie explained in short.
"And you really don't know if you opened it or not?" Nancy asked intrigued as she walked slightly closer to it.
"I really don't know. It could just be a coincidence or, the portal was already there and I just disturbed the rocks that were hiding it..." Eddie shrugged.
"I say you opened it" Dustin cut in, "It was far to convenient that it opened when it did"
"It's not a genie Dustin. Just because I wished it, doesn't mean it came true" Eddie scoffed.
"Well it clearly did" Dustin scoffed back, "It's right there!"
"The only way we will know how it opened, is if Eddie tries to open one again" Steve cut in.
"Well there's one right here" Robin pointed out, "We don't want to be opening portal's here and there. God knows what would happen..."
"El?" Nancy turned to the girl.
"Yeah?" El responded.
"Do you think you'll be able to close this one?"
"Whoa, hold your horses" Eddie stopped them, "I wouldn't do that just yet. There's no guarantee that it was me that opened it, and even if I could, I have no idea how I did it.. "
Deep down Eddie had a feeling that it was in fact Vecna that had opened the portal. He believed his fears were confirmed about him being able to hear everything that went on. The portal must be there as a trap.
"Good point..." Nancy agreed thoughtfully.
"So what should we do?" Mike asked, "Are we all going through it?"
"Is that wise?" Will asked sceptically.
"No, some of us should wait here" Nancy answered them, "Just in case something goes wrong"
"I don't think any of us should go through!" Eddie cut in a little panicked, "It could be a trap!"
"Why would it be a trap?" Robin asked.
"Err...because, well..." Eddie sighed. He knew he needed to tell them everything now, if he truly wanted to keep them safe, he had to risk being shunned by them all. It would be worth it in the end, "Look, there's something I need to tell you all"
"What is it?" Steve asked as everyone began to look at Eddie expectantly.
"Shit...ok..." Eddie took a deep breath before beginning, "I have err...I have been wor..."
He stopped midsentence as a strange noise came floating to his ears.
"You've been what?" Nancy asked him after a moment of his pause.
Eddies eyes quickly widened as he realised exactly where the noise was coming from. It took a few seconds after that to know exactly what was making the noise as it grew closer.
"Shit! Everyone move!" He shouted as he grabbed a hold of Steve and Nancy who were the closest to the portal and pulled them out of the way roughly.
"Hey!" Steve was about to complain until he saw what happened next.
Eddie had been just in time getting them out of the way. As exactly where Nancy and Steve had been standing, a Demodog jumped out of the portal and landed exactly there. It screeched at them before diving at Steve who instinctively swung his bat at it. The beast was sent flying onto its side before standing up and shaking itself off quickly.
"Holy shit!" Dustin cursed as he stared at the creature wide eyed.
"Why the hell is this thing here?" Steve panted as his arms hurt from the impact of hitting it.
"There's more on the way!" Eddie warned them as he began to push Dustin back as the Demodog was now paying interest in him, "We need to get out of here!"
"We need to close that portal first, we can't let those things start running loose around town!" Nancy warned them.
"Your call Wheeler" Eddie reasoned as he kicked at the Demodog that had sprang at Dustin sending it flying to the floor, he cursed as the impact jarred his leg, "Just know, that it probably wasn't me that opened this one!"
"I know!" Nancy agreed in turmoil with her thoughts, "But we can't let more of these things get through!"
Just as the Demodog was getting ready to spring at Dustin again, It's head was suddenly ripped off and it fell to the floor dead.
"What the hell?" Eddie questioned surprised. He looked up and saw El wiping at her nose, "Oh, of course...it was you... thanks" He sighed with relief.
"Thanks" Dustin seconded him just as relieved.
"El?!" Steve grabbed her attention now, "Can you close this portal? Please?"
"Yeah" El agreed before heading over.
"It's to late..." Eddie suddenly told them with panic, "They'll get out before you manage. You all need to run back to the rope now!"
"But you made it out like we had more time?" Robin began before she was quite abruptly cut off.
"Turns out I was wrong...run!" Eddie commanded as five Demodogs suddenly appeared from out of the portal.
Everyone wasted no time in turning around and running as even more Demodogs began to appear. El was doing her best to keep them at bay, but ultimately, she couldn't hold them all. Dustin was struggling to keep up and the monsters were gaining on him fast. Seeing this, both Steve and Eddie turned around and ran back towards him without a second thought. Eddie crouched down in front of him and demanded that he get on his back, whilst Steve batted away any Demodog that dared get to close.
"Get on!" Eddie ordered him again agitated as Dustin hesitated.
"I'll only slow you down!" Dustin fretted.
"Your doing that now by refusing!" Eddie argued.
"We're not asking Henderson!" Steve added as he smacked another Demodog, he really didn't know how much longer they could hold them off, his arms were beginning to hurt! Thankfully, El had stopped to help to and Nancy was providing cover fire.
Reluctantly, Dustin climbed onto Eddies back and before he knew it, they were running again. Granted, slower then before, but still faster then Dustin had been moving on his own. No sooner had they started again, hundreds of Demobats began to fly out of the portal and directly for them. They quickly surrounded the group just as the rope out of there came into view. They began to circle the group, making the circle smaller as they moved causing the group to be back to back.
"Is now a bad time to point out that I'm getting some serious PTSD?" Eddie half joked.
"On a scale of one to ten..." Robin asked in a shaken voice, "How painful was your death? You know? Just so I'm prepared..."
"Let's calm down!" Nancy tried to reassure everyone, "We can fight our way out of here, I'm sure of it... just gather your thoughts and let's go for it..."
"Agreed" Steve added as he readied his bat again, "Eddie?"
"Yeah?"
"You get Dustin out of here at the first opportunity you get, take Mike, Will and El with you!"
"I'm staying to fight!" El argued.
"We need you to stay safe to close that portal when we've managed to distract these things!" Steve told her.
"No!"
"You can help once your out! Look we haven't got time to argue. We cant lose you to something as trivial as this!" Steve reasoned as the Demobats shrunk the circle surrounding them further, "We're going to be following you, but just holding these guys back as we do so..."
Before anyone else could argue, the Demodogs began to breach the wall of bats.
"Shit!" Robin cursed as she readied her weapon, a crossbow that had been bought previously, and prepared to fire it.
"Will you things please just stop attacking?!" Eddie exclaimed at them completely agitated.
"On the count of three, move..." Nancy ordered, "One...two...three!"
They all sprang into action as they began fighting their way through the demodogs. Dustin was swinging the club from on Eddies back as best as he could, managing to keep some of the monsters at bay. Finally they managed to get themselves between the wall of bats with the dogs behind them, Steve, Nancy and Robin tried their hardest to hold them off as El got in front of Eddie, Dustin, Will and Mike and prepared to break a hole through the bats with her powers.
"Once that hole opens, everyone make a run for it!" Steve commanded.
"Right!" Everyone agreed as they prepared themselves.
"Go!"
El broke a gap through the wall of Demobats, sending many smashing into rocks and against the cracks walls. With this assault the bats began to attack them. Flying at everyone, at least now though, they were able to start running again. Steve's nailed bat was swatting the flying creatures out of the sky faster then he thought was possible. He guessed fighting for your life would do that to someone. Robins crossbow and Nancy's gun were shooting them out of the sky easily as well. They were each pleasantly surprised that it was all going so well. Then add in El's powers, they were almost near to unstoppable.
"We're going to make it out of here!" Steve almost began to celebrate, "When we're in more of an open space, taking down the rest of these things should be easy!"
"Guys!" Dustin's tortured shouts came sailing to their ears making them all immediately fill with fear.
Still fighting against the bats, they turned in the direction the shouting had came from. It took a few minutes for them to clear the bats enough to be able to spot Dustin, but once they did, they could see that he was on the floor on his knees desperately swatting away bats with his golf club next to a moving heap. It probably took them longer then they would like to admit, but they realised that it was Eddie laying on the floor next to him. Looking at each other in panic, they quickly began to fight their way back towards them, Steve demanding that El get Mike and Will out of there before she decided to come back. All three left reluctantly, Robin as well as she provided cover fire whilst they each climbed the rope.
"Dustin! Eddie! What's wrong?" Nancy asked as she and Steve finally reached them.
However, now that they had gotten to them, it didn't take a genius to see what was wrong. Eddie was hunched over on the ground, his fingers digging into the dirt seemingly in agony. If he could have mustered up the energy to speak through his pain, he would have told them that he was in fact in intense agony! His body felt like every bone was being snapped and twisted, his head felt like it was going to explode and his chest felt like it was burning. To top it off, his eyesight had gone blurry and his hearing kept coming and going.
"What happened?" Steve asked as he swatted away another bat. For the most part, the demodogs didn't seem interested in them anymore, which was strange, but good at the same time.
"I don't know..." Dustin answered clearly distressed, "One minute we were all set to follow you and the moment we broke through the Demobat wall, Eddie collapsed. He's been like this ever since!"
"Shit..." Nancy fretted as the number of attackers began to grow around them again. She kneeled onto the ground next to Eddie, "I know your in intense pain right now!" she spoke as calmly as she could, "But we really need you to get up and start running!"
Eddie only heard parts of what she was saying but he got the gist of it. The only problem being, he hadn't the strength to stand up and the longer this went on, the more he began to crave blood. The more he wanted to really hurt his friends!
"Eddie?" Nancy tried again, placing her hand gently on his back.
"Don't touch me!" He practically screamed at her as he shoved her away, sending her falling backwards onto the floor.
Nancy stared at him bewildered as she sat there for a moment wondering what the hell had just happened. To be honest she was a little winded from falling backwards like that as well. Dustin and Steve also stared at Eddie with shock. However, they didn't have much time to dwell on it as the barrage of bats kept coming.
"Look man, I don't know what your problem is, but you need to grit your teeth, stand up and move!" Steve shouted to him as he swung at one bat only for another to slice his cheek with its tale as it flew past. He shrugged it off as he quickly helped Nancy to her feet.
"Are you enjoying my little game?" Vecnas cruel mocking tone entered Eddies mind suddenly.
"Vecna!" Eddie growled through gritted teeth.
"Wait...what?" Dustin over heard him as he stood close by swinging his club around.
"Quiet Edward. You'll give us away..." Vecna continued sounding amused.
"Fuck you!" Eddie bit back.
"You brought this on yourself. After all, I can't have you opening up gate's where ever you like, can I?"
"What?!" Eddie's eyes widened, so it had been him that had opened it?
"Think of this as a warning not to do that again. The only gates that get opened are from me alone. I do not want you messing up my plans!"
Eddie could have been imagining things, but Vecna actually sounded a little worried now. Was he not supposed to be able to open portals on his own? Did Vecna not know that he could do that either? If not, things had just gotten a little more interesting.
"Scared Vecna?" he goaded him.
"Your the one that should be scared Edward"
"Go fuck yourself!" Eddie grinned through the pain as he slowly began to struggle to his feet. He didn't know how he did it, but somehow he managed to completely shut Vecna out of his mind. It was like something inside of him had taken over now. Grasping at his chest as he finally stood on his two feet, he shouted to the three people next to him, "Stop hitting them!" He gasped out, "It's them...I'm connected...to them!"
"Seriously?!" Steve asked surprised as he hit yet another bat out of the sky. Seeing that that act alone caused Eddie to almost double over again, he abruptly stopped.
Nancy stopped shooting and Dustin let the club fall to the floor. Now having zero defence, they quickly found themselves surrounded and back to back with each other yet again. Eddie was finding it hard to stand, these three may have stopped attacking, but El was still going strong where ever she was.
"What do we do now?" Nancy asked desperately, "Are we just supposed to lay down and die?"
"Give me a minute..." Eddie panted as he tried his hardest to focus. He watched as the Demobats began to circle them again, they had now stopped attacking the group for some reason.
"What's going on?" Steve asked nervously.
"I err.. I think I know..." Eddie answered breathlessly as he began to step forward. It was like some kind of instinct had kicked in. He had a theory and deep down, he knew it would work, "Stay here..."
Seeing that he had moved away from the group, the Demobats began to move to let him through whilst moving closer to the other three. The Demodogs, that up until now had been paying no interest, began to swarm on the side of the group that Eddie wasn't on, moving closer to the group of three the further Eddie got from them.
"W...what are you doing Eddie?" Dustin now asked sounding nervous, he refused to take his eyes off of the advancing enemy.
Eddie smiled weakly to himself before turning around and facing them. Seeing this, the Demobats and dogs, stopped advancing. Close to collapsing again, Eddie mustered as much strength as he had left to stand up straight. In the most commanding tone he could muster and as loud as he could get, shouted out, "Fuck off back to where you all came from!"
It took a moment, and honestly, he thought he had failed. But suddenly, the swarm that was surrounding them, began to disperse and fly away. The Demodogs began to run away as well. All of them heading in the direction of the portal.
"What, the, hell?" Dustin spoke out amazed as he watched them leave. Steve and Nancy mirroring him.
Nancy's radio suddenly buzzed as Mike's worried voice came over it.
"Are you guys ok?"
Gathering her bearings, Nancy quickly fumbled with the radio and spoke into it
"Ye...yeah...Well, mostly" she answered honestly.
"Good" They could hear the relief if Mike's voice as he spoke again, "We don't know what happened, but all the bats and Demodogs are just...Well, leaving"
"Yeah same...we'll explain when we meet back up" Nancy finished quietly as the last Demobat flew past.
Steve, Dustin and Nancy all turned to face Eddie, who smiled at them sheepishly.
"What the hell dude?" Dustin asked amazed.
"How did you do that?" Steve now asked.
"I...I..." Eddie struggled to speak. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back and he fell heavily to the ground.
"Eddie?!" Dustin screamed as he ran towards his friend, the adrenaline keeping the pain of his ankle away.
Nancy and Steve rushed forward to, each just as concerned as the other.
"Is...is he alive?" Nancy asked Dustin as she and Steve reached him.
"Check for a pulse!" Steve told them quickly, "Wait...does he even have a pulse? I mean, with him being a vampire and all that?"
"Steve this is serious!" Nancy scolded him as she checked Eddies neck for a pulse. Thankfully, there was one. Granted it was a lot faster than a normal humans should be. But then again, Eddie wasn't a normal human anymore. Sighing with relief, she confirmed it to the others.
"Thank god..." Dustin sighed to, he then began to fumble with Eddies back pack as he tried to gain access.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked curiously.
"He's going to need blood, I'll try my best to get it into his mouth now, so that when he wakes up. We stand less chance of him killing us!" Dustin explained as he finally found what he was looking for, "God knows what that trauma did to him. So better safe than sorry..."
"Good thinking" Nancy agreed, as she helped to push the unconscious male onto his back and tilt his head enough to pour the blood into his mouth without him choking. Not that they knew if that was possible or not.
"So err, guys?" Dustin began sheepishly as he began his task, being sure to rub Eddies throat to make the red liquid go down, "I have something to tell you...I kind of over heard something..."
For the first time in a while, Eddie had little to no energy. He had regained consciousness but still had yet, to open his eyes. The weakness he felt prevented him from doing so at the moment, so instead, he lay and tried to gain as much of his bearings as he could, without opening them. He felt that he was laying on something soft, weird, because he was sure he had passed out on the ground. His sense of smell picked up on a few things and he instantly knew where he was. He was back at Steve's house, and the whole group were here, though not in the same room. There was another strange scent as well, but he couldn't quite place it. He was hungry, which was surprising. Because before he had passed out, he knew he was absolutely starving, like he had almost lost all control of himself. Pushing that aside, he was extremely relieved that his hearing seemed to be back to normal, well as normal as it was after he became this thing... So for awhile as he tried to regain strength, he lay and listened to what was going on around him. The voices of the group, he guessed was in the kitchen, came sailing to his ears.
"Should one of us go and check on him again?" Nancy spoke sounding somewhat nervous.
"With that thing in there?" Steve asked sounding a little alarmed, "I'd like to keep the checking to a minimum, I rather value my life..."
"Seconded" Robin agreed, "I still don't know why we haven't killed it..."
"Because it will hurt Eddie!" Dustin told her frustrated.
"If we do it whilst he is unconscious, surely he won't feel a thing?..."Mike now spoke, trying to sound reasonable.
"We can't risk that!" Dustin argued back, "We don't know how it could affect him..."
"What the hell are they talking about?" Eddie thought to himself through the pounding of his head as he continued to listen in.
"I wouldn't mind having it out of the house to be honest..." Steve spoke quietly.
"No!" Dustin shut him down, "Besides, it hasn't attacked us yet... from what we witnessed, Eddie obviously has some kind of control over them..."
"Yeah..." Everyone chorused before it fell silent for a moment.
"Ca...can we even trust Eddie now?" Robin spoke again breaking it.
What the hell? What had happened for them not to trust him again? Feeling that his only option now was to get up and go and argue his case, Eddie reluctantly cracked his eyes open, only for him to instantly regret it as the bright light began to hurt his eyes. On the plus side, at least he could see again, his eyes once adjusted, were no longer blurry. Gathering some more strength, he began to sit up through the pain he was still feeling, at least it wasn't as bad as before, so he guessed it was slowly improving. He went to brush his hair out of his face with his left hand, only for it to be held back by a familiar feeling. He looked at it to see that his wrist had again been cuffed, and he was attached to the couch's arm.
"Why the fuck are we back to this shit again?" he cursed quietly to himself, as he brushed his hair out of the way with his right hand instead.
Taking a deep breath, he looked around himself as he adjusted to being sat up straight. When out of no where, a demodog appeared from somewhere beside him and began to stare at him. Eddie starred back for a moment wondering if this was real or if he was dreaming. His thoughts were answered when the creatures face opened and it made a weird screeching noise in response to him. This alarmed Eddie as he quickly reacted by screaming. The Demodog was startled by this and in return, began to screech at him louder. It wasn't long before everyone that was in Steve's kitchen, ended up in the living room wondering what the hell was going on.
"Eddie, your awake!" Dustin interrupted him happily.
"Calm down man!" Steve told him as he rolled his eyes, "As far as we can all tell, its not going to hurt you.. or us..."
Eddie ripped his eyes away from the Demodog and looked at them all still slightly alarmed. Surprisingly, he even saw that Jonathan was there. Ignoring that for now, Eddie spoke.
"What the fuck is going on? And why is this thing here?!" he asked them all slightly breathless.
"You mean you don't remember?" Robin asked curiously.
Eddie shook his head confused, "Remember what?"
"What was the last thing that you do remember?" Robin now asked with a raised eyebrow.
Eddie thought for a moment before answering.
"Pain...a lot of pain. I had Dustin on my back...we fell over and then I heard..." Eddie stopped and looked at them sheepishly.
"You heard Vecna..." Dustin told him, sounding a little nervous, "I over heard you talking to him..."
"Erm...yeah..." Eddie confirmed as he refused to look them in the eye now.
"What did he say?" El asked sharply.
"Err..." Eddie thought about how he would answer before thankfully, Robin cut in.
"Look they'll be time for that. But right now, I want to know how you feel?" she asked him sternly, clearly concerned about something, "You were in a lot of pain and you must be starving. I mean...you..."
"You nearly ripped my throat out..." Steve took up her slack as she trailed off. It definitely gave good reason for Robins concern. She obviously didn't want that happening again!
"I did what?" Eddie asked surprised..."I...I don't remember..."
"Yeah. After you had passed out, Dustin gave you all the blood that we had packed for you..." Steve began to explain.
"Which was a task and a half, but I managed it" Dustin cut in proudly.
"Whilst he was doing that, El closed the portal to stop anymore of those things" Steve pointed at the Demodog that was standing close by as Eddie eyed it suspiciously, "And the demobats from getting through. And just as she finished, you woke up..."
"I did?" Eddie asked feeling completely lost as he struggled to remember.
"Yeah. I made the stupid mistake of putting your arm around my neck to help you walk as you couldn't even stand straight on your own. That's when you grabbed my neck and tried to bite me... Luckily, El stopped you just in time. Though you did leave three deep claw marks behind" Steve finished as he showed Eddie his bandaged up neck.
"Shit...I'm...I'm sorry man..." Eddie apologised sincerely. How could he not remember any of this?
"It's fine" Steve sighed, apparently accepting the apology, "I know you probably weren't in your right mind... Anyways, once we managed to get you back here, Dustin continued to give you blood. We're almost out of it, you drank that much"
"I thought about what you told us before" Dustin took over explaining, "That if you didn't get enough blood, you would lose your mind... I figured that that is what had probably happened to you. You may not have starved yourself, but with the amount of pain you seemed to be in and the fact you passed out. I thought I'd give it a try..."
Well that did explain why Eddie didn't feel as hungry as he knew he had been. And maybe slightly losing his mind, was the reason he couldn't remember anything?
"Thanks..." Eddie smiled at him weakly.
"And err...this thing followed us home..." Robin indicated the Demodog again.
"Why?" Eddie asked confused as he gave it a strange look.
"We were hoping you would be able to tell us..." Will spoke now.
"No idea" Eddie told them as he cupped his head with his hand as his headache became a bit much again. Trying desperately to remember stuff wasn't helping. Upon seeing his friends discomfort, Dustin quickly left the room, "So is the whole neck thing the reason for this?" Eddie continued as he lifted his once again cuffed wrist.
"Sort of...yeah..." Steve answered him awkwardly, "We didn't know how you would react once you woke up again. Plus the other reason is because well, you..."
"Spoke with Vecna?" Eddie finished for him knowingly.
"Yeah..."
"I guess I should tell you what was said then, shouldn't I?" Eddie smiled to himself in defeat. He had been found out. But maybe it was still salvageable? After all, the conversation wasn't very incriminating.
Just then, Dustin arrived back with a couple bags of blood from Steve's refrigerator. He handed them over to Eddie who accepted them full of surprise as he wasn't expecting this, but still grateful all the same. Ripping into one, he began to drink hungrily.
"Sorry, but I really needed that" he smiled at the others amused as they waited patiently for him to finish, "I err...guess I'll tell you what was said then, though it wasn't really anything special..."
Everyone looked at each other expectantly as they waited in silence for him to continue. Eddie wasn't sure how much he was ready to reveal to them right now, his previous bravery to tell them everything earlier had vanished. And he definitely wasn't going to tell them that he was the one that had opened up the portal. If he did, they would all want to go through one right away to get to Vecna, and that would probably end badly for them even with El. He wasn't going to be the reason they were put in danger, not now that he had forgiven them. Speaking again, he chose his words carefully.
"He told me that it was our fault that we were attacked by all of them Demobats and Demodogs. It was because we went near that portal. He said we were 'interfering' with his plans" Eddie half lied, half told the truth, "He warned us not to do it again, sounded a little scared to me. He basically just wanted to mock us, and that was about it... The guy has issues"
"That's a little underwhelming" Steve commented.
"Are you sure that was it?" Dustin asked, "You seemed pretty upset..."
"Well I guess being tortured as some arsehole preaches in your head, would do that to you" Eddie smirked.
"Point..."Dustin accepted sheepishly.
"And he said nothing else?" El asked now.
Eddie shook his head.
"Nothing about why the gate opened?"
Eddie shook his head again.
"How did you know that it was us hurting the creatures, that was hurting you?" Nancy now asked him weirdly subdued, she continued with, "And how did you know you could control them like that?"
"I don't know..." Eddie answered her taking note of her uncomfortableness, "It was like an instinct kicked in. My body was just telling me to stop you all... When it comes to the Demodogs" He continued as he looked at the one in the room and it looked back, "I don't have that connection, which explains why I didn't get the pain when we were attacking them. But at the same time, I feel a kind of hold over them. The same kind of hold I feel over the bats, if that explains things?"
"Not really" Dustin laughed slightly.
"Well that's as much as I can give you" Eddie smiled back at him, "I don't know how, and I don't know why..."
"Your evolving!" Will spoke up now taking them all by surprise, "It looks like the longer that Demobat is in you, the more abilities your gaining!"
"Like Kas!" Mike added almost a little to excitedly.
"No, no" Eddie cut them off abruptly, "Dustin already told me about your little theory. There's holes all over it. Besides, I might have always been able to it...I just never tried, or had the chance to"
"Kas theory?" Robin questioned them.
"Yeah, so listen to this..."Mike, Dustin and Will began to explain all about it. Nancy and Steve were also listening, even though to them, it seemed as far fetched as Eddie had said. This made it easy for him to get there attention.
"Hey err, Nancy? Steve?" He began quietly. They turned and looked at him curiously, "Can you let me go again? Please?" He lifted his wrist with a small smile.
"I don't know..." Steve began, "What if you fly off the handle again?"
"I'm fine now..." Eddie sighed, "Well, improving slowly..."
"What do you think?" Steve turned to Nancy questionably "I think he has his own mind back enough now..."
"I'll go and get the key..." Nancy offered as she got up, refusing to make eye contact with Eddie who watched her leave curiously. Had he done something to upset her? He thought it over before it came to him surprisingly quickly. However, he didn't get much time to dwell on it as Jonathan came into view again.
"I think you should leave him locked to something" Jonathan spoke now. He sounded calm, yet Eddie could tell there was some malice there, "After all, you don't know how much longer that blood is going to last, and if that runs out, well you know first hand" He told Steve.
"So, Jonathan was it?" Eddie spoke to him now trying to hold back his own agitation.
"You know that's my name, yes" Jonathan answered as he crossed his arms and glared at Eddie.
"Why are you here?"
"He's the only reason that we never got caught or seen by any guards or patrols when we were being attacked" Steve answered for Jonathan, "He cut the wires to any security cameras on the opposite side of the crack to where we were. And whilst the patrol tried to fix them, he distracted the security guard watching the cameras, by throwing stones at the hut he was in and making noises so that he would leave his post to investigate"
"Why would you do that?" Eddie asked curiously, "I thought you said you wouldn't help us?"
"Because my little brother happened to be there and I didn't want him getting into trouble, also I care about my friends..." Jonathan answered surely, "Also, I was on my way to let you all know that there is an ongoing investigation at the Hospital to locate some missing blood and to not attempt it again. At least, not for a while..."
"Oh.." Eddie sighed and after a moment, he looked back at Jonathan, "I think we got off on the wrong the foot..."
"Huh?" Jonathan looked at him confused.
"I mean, I was a complete and utter dick to you for no reason" Eddie shrugged, "I could blame it on the fact that I didn't trust any of you, or the fact that I kind of hated you all. I could blame it on just hating people in general for the way they blamed everything on me... but in all honestly. I was just pissed at the wrong people and took it out on the wrong people. I'm sorry for being an arsehole to you"
"R...really?" Jonathan stuttered surprised as this came out of nowhere.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. And if you accept it or not, that's your choice. But maybe you would like to start over?"
"Err..."
"So hi, I'm Edward Munson. But everyone calls me Eddie!" He held his hand out to Jonathan with a smile.
Jonathan looked at Steve who seemed just as surprised as he did, then back to Eddie. Slowly he extended his own hand until he shook Eddies, taken aback by how cold his skin was.
"Hey...I'm Jonathan..."
Eddie laughed as they let go. And Jonathan found himself smiling before he quickly tried to wipe it off of his face.
"I've found the key" Nancy announced as she quickly came back into the room, "Sorry it took awhile, I couldn't remember where I'd put it..."
"You really need to attach that thing to a chain or something..." Eddie commented.
"Yeah..." Nancy agreed quietly as she undid the cuffs.
"So what's the plan going forward?" Jonathan asked them.
"Erm...we haven't really gotten that far" Steve smiled at him nervously, "We were just going to wing it..."
"Really?"
"Well it was luck finding that portal, but now we've lost any chance if going through that one and killing Vecna" Steve answered honestly, "But now we know that Eddie can control those things that come out if it. We will definitely be ready for the next one we find"
"Are you sure it's going to be that simple?"
Eddie stopped listening as they trued to come up with a plan. He became lost in his own thoughts as he began to come up with one of his own. Knowing that he could now open portals to the upside down, and control the democreatures, was going to be very useful for him. After a few minutes, Steve's voice brought him back to himself.
"Do you think you'll be able to stop the creatures again?" he asked.
"I don't know Steve" Eddie answered sarcastically as he looked at the Demodog beside him "What do you think?"
"Funny..." Steve rolled his eyes as he went back to talking about a plan.
Eddie looked at Nancy who was looking at the floor seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Her expression was full of sadness. Knowing he couldn't leave her like this, he grabbed her attention.
"Hey err...can we talk in private?" he asked her with a sigh.
Nancy looked at him slightly alarmed. She glimpsed as Steve and Jonathan's suspicious faces before turning to look at Eddie again questionably. Why would he ask something like that in front of them? Was she reading to much into it? Was he trying to raise suspicion on purpose?
"Sure..." she agreed almost to eagerly as she tried to hide her nervousness.
She stood up and so did Eddie, only for him to quickly sit back down again as his head began to spin and his whole body ache.
"Are you alright?" Dustin asked, taking notice now that they had finished explaining things to Robin.
"Yeah...Just, stood up to quickly I think..." Eddie answered as he tried to focus his eyes again.
"How about you two stay in here, and we'll go into the kitchen?" Steve offered as he got up, "I mean, it's only my house..."
"That works..." Eddie accepted as the room continued to spin completely ignoring Steve's other smart remark and sarcasm.
Once the others had left the room. Eddie and Nancy once again found them selves alone. Well, besides the Demodog being there as well that is. Nancy sat awkwardly as she refused to look at Eddie, a slight blush on her face.
"So, are you going to tell me why your acting weird around me? Or do you want me to guess?" Eddie asked her after a moment. She remained silent, not knowing what to say, "Ok..." Eddie continued, "It's because I shoved you away earlier when you were checking on me, isn't it?"
"When you say it out loud, it sounds like I'm just being pathetic" Nancy gave him a small smile.
'Well, yeah" Eddie agreed.
"Hey!"
"I'm just kidding!" Eddie laughed, "But there must be more to it then that?"
"Honestly?" Nancy asked him quizzically.
Eddie nodded as he waited for her explanation.
"Every guy I come into contact with, well...it never seems to end well for me... I mean don't get me wrong, I know I haven't exactly been the perfect girlfriend. I wasn't able to tell Steve that I love him back" Eddie smiled to himself when she said this part, "And I could have tried harder to stay in touch with Jonathan, but ultimately we have drifted apart" Nancy sighed, "And I don't even know what I've done wrong to you!"
"Nothing" Eddie smirked at her catching her off guard.
"Then why did you..."
"I'm sorry I shoved you away like I did, but I'm not lying when I say I was seconds away from latching onto your throat...I mean, you saw what I did to Steve. El wasn't there to protect you, I very much doubt Steve, Robin and Dustin would have gotten me off of you with the way I was feeling, at least...not in time..."
"Is that seriously the reason?" Nancy asked feeling completely stupid now for not even considering this.
"Yep" Eddie smiled at her again, "The fact that the smell of your blood was amplified, didn't help either. Having tasted it before, I really wanted to taste more...ssshhit..." Eddie trailed off as his eyes left Nancy and stared directly behind her.
"What?" Nancy asked him curiously as she glanced behind herself as well. Her eyes instantly. widened, "How much of that did you hear?" she asked quietly.
"Enough..." Steve answered completely shocked. He had entered the room a few seconds before Eddie had noticed him.
"Wow my hearing is still off after all..." Eddie complained as he smacked at his ears as if that would clear things up. He should really of heard him coming.
"What the hell are you two talking about?" Steve asked.
"You know, it's called a private conversation for a reason" Eddie answered him sarcastically.
"This is my house, I needed to grab my keys!" Steve bit a little loudly and Eddie grinned back.
"Shh!" Nancy hushed Steve afraid that the others would over hear.
"When the hell did you let him taste your blood? And how?" Steve asked now in a more hushed tone.
"Err...it was an accident..." Eddie answered truthfully, but vaguely.
"Explain..."
"Well...I...it was...I got nothing" Eddie smiled nervously as he glanced at Nancy.
Steve looked at her and folded his arms as he waited. Rolling her eyes and sighing, Nancy decided it was probably best to tell him part of the truth.
"Look" She began, "I'd like to start by saying that it meant nothing"
"What meant nothing?" Steve asked suddenly knowing where this was going.
"Well last night" Nancy continued sounding nervous now as she fiddled with her fingernails, refusing to look Steve in the eye, "Me and Eddie erm, kissed..."
"You kissed?!" Steve exclaimed loudly again which was instantly met with both Nancy and Eddie hushing him. He repeated himself a lot quieter, "You kissed? Him? Really?"
"Hey..." Eddie pretended to be offended before ultimately agreeing with him, "Ner honestly, I was surprised to..."
"Why and how?" Steve asked again still not believing it, "What about Jonathan?"
"Me and Jonathan broke up..." Nancy finally admitted to him.
"What?!"
"I was feeling down and just needed to feel something" Nancy continued.
"So you took advantage of her?!" Steve fumed as he turned to Eddie.
"Whoa slow down Harrington! I did no such thing..." Eddie held his hands up in surrender.
"Well you must have..." Steve cut him off only for Nancy to cut him off.
"I kissed him!" she told him sternly, then continued rather quickly with nerves, "He pulled away at first. But ultimately, we kissed again, he nipped my lip with his teeth, it started bleeding...As stupid as I was, I let him taste my blood as we kissed again" She finished there feeling completely embarrassed now.
"Oh err..." Steve didn't know what to say to that, he was lost for words. Suddenly his eyes widened as some kind of realisation set in, "Noooooo!"
"What?!" The other two in the room asked surprised.
"Please tell me you didn't..."
"Didn't what?" Nancy asked as her heart sank.
"You washed the sheets earlier..."
"I was being nice..."
"I thought I was dreaming last night!" Steve began to pace the room with his hands behind his head, "In a way I'm glad it wasn't a dream, because what the fuck?! But still, what the fuck?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play stupid" Steve turned to her, "You and him...you...you slept together"
"Well yeah, we slept in the same room" Eddie smirked at him.
"You know what I meant!" He looked a little haunted now, "I heard things..."
"Oh god!" Nancy blushed as she buried her face into her hands.
"Did it sound like that?" Eddie asked Steve still sniggering.
"Eddie!" Nancy almost died.
"Your an arse" Steve glared at him.
"Ok, I admit that maybe we shouldn't have done it in your house, twice..." Eddie pretended to cough as he pronounced the last word causing Nancy to bury her face further, and Steve to glare at him harder, "So sorry for that. In fact, we probably shouldn't have done it at all. But, we are both single and you don't have a say it what we do"
Steve and Nancy both stared at him. Again, completely lost for words.
"Him? Really?" Steve turned to Nancy still disbelieving it.
"Well..." Nancy began before getting cut off again.
"Eddie Munson, of all people?"
"Sat right here..." Eddie added in quietly trying not to take offence.
"I err, think I need some air..." Steve concluded as he turned and walked out of the room quickly.
"Steve?" Nancy called to him a little alarmed. She didn't get an answer as he left. She turned to Eddie, "I need to go and talk to him...what if he tells Jonathan?"
"He's not going to tell Jonathan" Eddie gave her a small smile.
"How can you be so sure?" Nancy rolled her eyes as she stood up.
"Because, you should have seen how his eyes lit up when he found out you and Jonathan had broken up. He was like a kid in a candy shop..." He watched for her reaction closely with a smile.
"Your imagining things" Nancy sighed, but Eddie didn't miss the little sparkle in her eyes.
"You better go and talk to him then" Eddie hurried her along, "The others are getting a bit restless..."
"Ok" Nancy agreed as she to got up and left. She really didn't take that much convincing.
Now left to his own thoughts, Eddie stared at the Demodog that had been patiently laid on the floor beside him this entire time. A few thoughts were going through his head at the moment. One was what the hell he was supposed to do with this thing? And another more important one was, what he was going to do about the whole Vecna situation? An idea had been thinking ooverwas beginning to take shape in his head. He was going to go into the upside, alone, at the first opportunity he got. He wasn't going to tell the others, he wanted them to stay safe. And he was going to save Max. Once that had been done, he was going to stay in the upside down to try and prevent Vecna from opening any more portals, and keep El out. First though, he had a little damage control to do here. Though hopefully, that would be an easy enough task..
"Well" he spoke to the Demodog now with a sigh, "Looks like I better enjoy what time I have left here..."
Thank you for reading and as always feel free to review and message. I look forward to seeing you all in the next couple of chapters where I'm going to bring it all together. So until the next chapter, bye!