A/N: Might slow down posting a bit. Starting a new job. F in chat.
Disclaimer: I own only Jocelyn Harford, nothing of Stranger Things. All rights go to the Duffer Brothers, and Netflix.
With Or Without You
Chapter 10
Love Will Tear Us Apart
[Jocelyn]
"They're just into some weird shit, Steve, calm down!" Dustin yells. It would be funny if Steve wasn't pointing a gun directly at Eddie's chest.
"Holy, shit, Steve, no!" I leap in front of Eddie.
"Either of you care to tell me what the hell is going on?" Steve asks. "Joce, why do you have bite marks on your neck, and why are both your clothes covered in blood? I get you two are probably into some freaky shit, but what the hell is going on?!"
I look frantically at Eddie, who slowly raises his hands. When he speaks, he sounds calm, but his hands are shaking.
"Oh, come, Steve." Eddie says slowly, eyeing the gun. "Wait, dude. Relax. Just wait. Don't shoot me. I promise… I'm not dangerous." Eddie looks at me, catching my eye, and gives me what I'm assuming he thinks is a reassuring smile. He looks back at Steve. "Can you put down the gun?
Steve's hands are shaking as he continues to point the gun at Eddie. "See, Dustin? I'm not stupid. I knew something was going on." He growls at Dustin.
I stare at Steve, making sure I'm still between the gun and Eddie. "Why didn't you say anything until now?" I ask, my voice trembling.
"I had to be sure. You guys have been acting weird all week. I had a weird hunch but I didn't want to entertain it… that is until I found your clothes and I can clearly see those bite marks, Joce." Steve says. He looks both terrified, and sickened.
"Look… Steve. Look, man, put the gun down." Eddie swallows, his Adam's Apple bobbing in his throat. "Put the gun down. We can talk about this, alright? There's no need for violence." Eddie sounds terrified, and I back up slowly until my back is against his chest, shielding him from the gun.
"He's with Vecna!" Steve yells, brandishing the gun wildly at Eddie.
"Steve, no!" I yell. "He's not. He isn't dangerous! Just listen to me!" Jesus Christ, Harrington. You're fucking crazy.
"Steve, you just have to listen. I'm not with Vecna! I—I'm not a threat to anyone. You have to believe me!" Eddie shouts. He takes a small step around me, moving forward, towards Steve, and subsequently, his gun. He spreads his arms in surrender. "See? Just talk to me, and we can figure it all out. We can just talk." He takes a shaky breath in, "Please?"
"He's right, Steve, Eddie isn't going to hurt us! I have it all under control!" I cry out. Steve glares at me, clearly not believing me.
Eddie takes another step towards Steve, who stiffens. "I won't hurt you, I won't hurt anyone. I swear. Please. Just… just put the gun down, and talk to me."
"No!" Steve yells, and I can see the manic look of fear in his eye. But, he falters slightly, and his finger slips, and the gun fires.
I don't think Steve was really going to hurt Eddie, but I don't care. I leap in front of Eddie, and Steve's bullet grazes my arm. I scream in pain and fall to my knees, clutching my bleeding arm. The bullet whizzes past us, shattering the back window, and disappearing into the woods.
"JOCELYN!" Eddie rushes to my side, looking at Steve in shock and horror. Eddie looks at my arm, as blood starts to soak through my sleeve, dripping down my wrist and onto the floor. Eddie turns his now almost black eyes on Steve, rage practically emanating from him. "What did you do?!" He roars, and Steve shrinks away. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
I try to tell Eddie that I'm okay, that it just scared me more than it hurts, but Eddie suddenly gets a feral look in his eye. For a moment, I'm terrified he's going to leap on me and drink my blood.
But instead, he turns, and lunges at Steve.
Eddie tackles Steve to the ground, knocking the gun from Steve's hand, Eddie's own hands around Steve's throat.
"You shot her! You shot Joce!" Eddie screams, there's a wild fury on his face. "Do you know what you've done?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!" He starts to squeeze his hands tighter around Steve's throat.
"Eddie! NO!" I scramble to my feet, and pull Eddie off of Steve. Eddie is growling and trying to get to Steve, and I'm screaming at Steve to run. I'm trying to hold Eddie, when he suddenly collapses. I look around and see Robin has hit Eddie over the head with the butt of her gun. "ROBIN?!" I cry out, falling to my knees beside Eddie to make sure he's okay. But, he's out cold. I pale.
"Oh my god, Eddie!" I turn to Robin. "What the hell?!" She looks at me, shaking. I look at Steve, he looks terrified, but otherwise okay. "Steve, I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" I gasp between shaking sobs. He shakily nods, before coming over to Robin, his gun still pointed at Eddie. I look between them, tears pouring down my face. "Guys.. I can explain."
Hopper and the rest come racing in. "What the fuck is going on?!" Hopper demands. He looks from me to Eddie, and then to Steve and Robin, before rounding on me. "Joce..." Hopper's voice is dangerously quiet. "You better start talking."
I stare around the room, my heart racing. I want to say something. Anything. But, I know I need to tell them the truth.
"Eddie is... Eddie is..." I stammer. Finally, the dam breaks, and it all comes spilling out. "Eddie may or may not be a vampire. And I've been letting him drink my blood so he can get his strength back and recover. But he isn't dangerous!" I yell, when Hopper raises his own gun. Everyone else has faces somewhere between disgusted, and horrified.
Hopper stares at me. "Are you saying... are you saying that those... demobats did this to him?" He looks down at Eddie, and his face is full of disdain.
"Is he... is he like possessed by Vecna?" Dustin whispers.
"No!" I cry. "No, it's not like that, I promise. He's good. He'd never hurt us."
"Well, he obviously hurt you, Joce, LOOK AT YOUR NECK!" Steve yells, gesturing to my neck. Beside him, Robin grimaces.
"Oh, Joce," she whispers, staring at me. "What did you do..."
"Nothing!" I yell again. I get up, still holding my bleeding arm, and shielding Eddie's unconscious body from them. "Guys, I have this under control, please believe me."
"Why should we believe anything you say?!" Hopper demands, and I see him aim the gun at me now. My heart constricts, and I step further in front of Eddie.
"Please," I choke out, "I swear. I'm telling the truth."
"We do not have time for this." Eleven says quietly. She's looking between me and Eddie, an odd expression on her face. "We need to go."
"El's right," says Mike, but he looks horrified. "We... we need to go."
"What about them?" Steve says, looking back at me and Eddie.
Hopper thinks for a second. "Tie Eddie up, put him in Eleven's room. Jonathan, you and Argyle stay here and make sure she doesn't let him out."
"I'll stay too," Dustin offers. Hopper nods. Steve and Hopper move to tie Eddie up, dragging his unconscious body to Eleven's room.
"No!" I try to get to Eddie, but Robin puts a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
"It's for the best," she says quietly.
After a few minutes, Hopper and Steve come out. "Look, Joce, I'm sorry. This is the only way right now." Steve says. "He's too dangerous. You saw how he attacked me."
"Because you SHOT me!" I scream.
"By accident!" Steve yells back. "Jesus, Joce." But he looks guilty.
"We need to go. Hopefully when we kill Vecna, Eddie will return to normal." Hopper glares at me, and I shrink under his gaze. "Let's go." They leave me with Dustin, Jonathan, and Argyle.
As soon as they're gone, and the door slams shut, I race for the door to Eleven's bedroom. Jonathan grabs me around the middle, pulling me back. I scream, I kick, but he doesn't let go. Finally, I concede, and sink to the floor, sobbing. This is exactly what I was afraid of…
Some time goes by, and eventually, Dustin comes to sit beside me on the floor. "You okay?" He asks. My head is against my knees, and I am staring into the darkness of my own body.
I let out a watery chuckle. "No, Dustin, I am not okay." I look up at him, my eyes red from crying. Dustin slowly reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder. I don't stop him. The human contact is nice, especially considering.
"I'm sorry, Joce. I really am." He whispers.
I take a deep breath. "Dustin... Eddie isn't evil. He's sick. He needs help. And we need to be there to help destroy Vecna." My gaze turns pleading, and my dark eyes fill with fresh tears. "Maybe… maybe we can figure out how to help him, if we can just get back into the Upside Down..." I swallow, painfully. "Dustin, Eddie adores you. He thinks of you as a little brother. You know him. You know he wouldn't hurt any of us. He's just as scared as we are." I sniffle, burying my face against my knees again.
Dustin looks at me for a second, before looking at Argyle and Jonathan. "Where's your weed?" He asks suddenly. I look up at him, blinking.
"Huh?"
"Your weed." Dustin repeats. He's eyeing Jonathan and Argyle. "Those two are already blitzed out of their minds. "I can distract them with more weed. You get Eddie and make a break for it, okay?"
I could kiss him, if it wouldn't be super weird. I nod shakily. "Okay." I grab my bag of weed, and hand it to Dustin. "Thank you, Dustin. Really."
Dustin nods, and I can see he's on the verge of tears himself. "Go save, Eddie." He whispers, and my heart swells. I give him a quick, one armed hug, before Dustin saunters over to Jonathan and Argyle. They have their backs' to me, and Dustin makes sure he's standing in a way where it stays like that.
I sneak over to the bedroom door, opening it softly. I hurry over to Eddie, untying his wrists. "Eddie?" I whisper, gently shaking him. "Eddie, wake up. Please." I tap his face.
His eyes flutter open, and he groans in pain. He looks around the dark room slowly. He looks at his arms, and notices that the ropes are gone. He slowly rubs his wrists, and he sits up.
"Joce…? I… I fell asleep..?" He looks dazed. "Where's everybody else?"
"No, Robin beat you over the head with her gun because you tried to attack Steve. They've all left. They've left to go fight Vecna. Eddie, we need to go, we need to help them. We don't have a lot of time, come on." The words come spilling out of me like water from a fire hydrant, and I pull him to his feet.
We sneak from the room, Jonathan and Argyle still have their backs to us. Dustin can see us tiptoeing out of the bedroom. He gives us a thumbs up. I know Dustin can't come because his leg is still busted from before. Besides, he'll be safer here. I know Eddie would want that. I grab Eddie's hand, and we sprint out of the house, the door banging shut behind us.
"Now what?" Eddie pants as we race out of the house and down the path into the woods.
I stop to think for a minute, mulling it over. "If we catch up to them, they'll just shoot you.. probably. We need to find another gate. Do you think the one in your trailer is still open?" I ask.
He nods. "I think so. We never closed it."
"Good." I say, "We'll need to hotwire a car. It'll take too long to get there on foot." We hurry down the path, thankfully finding the cars the others came in. "Can you hotwire?" I ask Eddie.
He grins, the expression completely changing his demeanor. "Can I hotwire?" he echoes, before pushing passed me. "You're damn right I can." He kneels down beside one of the cars. "Keep an eye out for me, okay?"
"Okay." My speech is short and I am shaking uncontrollably. As Eddie gets to work starting the car, I can hear the voices of Jonathan and Argyle yelling from the house. I panic, whirling to Eddie. "Shit, Eddie, hurry!"
Almost immediately, the car roars to life. Eddie leaps into the driver's side through the window, and I do the same on the passenger's side. I look in the back of the car, and thankfully, see some crappy weaponry there. There's a makeshift spear, as well as a baseball bat. It isn't much, but it's good enough. Divine Intervention. Fucking lucky. I muse, smiling.
Without so much as a backwards glance, Eddie floors it, and we peel out, the car speeding off down the mountainside, heading towards God only knew what.
A/N: Yes, I used Jonathan and Argyle and stupid comic relief. No, I am not sorry. I needed to becaus T.
