Eddie Munson - A Collection of One-Shots!

005. Vanessa.

"Where is she Steve?!" I asked, looking all around us.

"She was behind us! She was here!" Steve cried, as Nancy stared at me, her eyes wide with fear and grief.

"She was behind us..." Steve said, panicking.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, as Nancy looked over my shoulder.

"Eddie...." Nancy said, before I turned around.

Turned around and saw the tornado of bats, circling a small figure at the bottom.

I saw the familiar, long raven hair and my heart caught in my chest.

"No... no, no!" I cried, breaking into a run.
Steve caught me by my elbow and pulled me back to him.

"We can't save her man... there's too many." Steve said, his bottom lip quivering slightly.

"I don't care, I'm going to try!" I cried, wrenching my arm out of his grasp.

The bats swirled up into the air at that moment as if by fate or sheer dumb luck and I saw that the figure in the centre was no longer standing.

The figure was lying on the floor, motionless.

And then I heard a cry, and watched a leg move.

"VANESSA!" I cried when I reached her and fell to my knees before her.

"Eddie...." She whimpered.

There was blood everywhere.

There was blood on her face, her neck, her hands, her stomach and all on the floor around her.

I held her in my arms, as Steve and Nancy knelt down either side of me.

"You're going to be okay..." I said, crying.

I held her to me, as she shook her head.

"I just wanted to save you...." She whispered, blood seeping from her mouth.

I watched as it coated her perfect straight white teeth and a shaky sob fell from my mouth.

"You did... but we're gonna get you up and get you back home." I said, before attempting to move her.

"Eddie..." Steve whispered.

Vanessa cried out in pain, and then her eyes met mine.

"Oh god I'm sorry...we'll just give you a minute and try again." I said, hurriedly.

"Ed......" Steve said again, with more hint of a warning.

"Please..." I begged him.

I knew I couldn't. But I just wanted to hold onto the unlikely possibility for a moment longer.

Anything other than to accept what I knew was going to come.

"I can't go back with you." She said, as a shaky, bloodied hand reached up to cup my face.

I watched her choke slightly and struggle to breathe, her body vibrating with shock.

"You can..." I whispered, in denial.

"Vanessa please...." I begged, crying.

"Promise me you'll win." She said, shivering.

Her eyelids fluttered slightly and I knew she was fighting the inevitable. For me.

"Please promise me..." She begged, tears falling from her eyes.

"I promise..." I said, as Nancy wrapped an arm across my shoulders, looking down at Vanessa's broken frame, lying almost limp in my arms.

The grief consumed me as I sobbed over her, and she caressed my cheek, with a gentle but painfully cold touch.

"I'm cold..." She bleated as I held her closer to me.

"Please don't leave me Ness. Please..." I begged, distraught.

"You can't save me... Eddie, I love you." She whispered, her voice devastatingly hushed and distant.

"I love you..." I replied, sobbing.

Her body fell still in my arms as her hand fell from my face.

I watched it fall limp at her side and I heard her last, laboured breath.

"Eddie...." Nancy whispered as I screwed my eyes tightly closed, tightening my grip on Ness.

"Eddie, she's gone." Nancy whispered.

And as I looked into her vacant eyes beneath me, a heartbroken guttural cry left my throat and I curled over her, bereft.

And all they could do was pull me away from her and force me back through the gate.

"No... No, I can't leave her." I begged.

"We can't stay. I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry." Nancy said, as Steve pushed me forward.

"She sacrificed herself so we could get back. We have to do that, for her." Steve urged.

I didn't want to leave her.

But I did. I did leave her.
Left her behind.

And I was never going to be able to forgive myself for it.

*************************************
Six months later

The funeral had been macabre, more than usual due to the glaringly obvious factor that we had watched an empty coffin be lowered into the ground.

Few of us knew this, her parents included.
But they, unlike us, didn't know the exact reason why.

We had done as she had promised; we'd won the fight.

And now my life just felt all the more empty. Without her and without purpose.

I was just ambling through, barely keeping it together.

I watched our friends pick up the pieces of their broken lives and start to move forward.

I envied them, because without her I had no idea how to move on.

And moving on without her, just wasn't fair.
It didn't seem right; it wasn't right.

"How are you doin' kid?"

A familiar voice in my ear, a familiar rough hand on my shoulder.

"Fine." I lied, as he sighed softly.

"There isn't a time limit on this you know. But you have to let whatever you feel, out." Hopper said.

"How did you do it?" I asked, as I crushed my cigarette out under my foot.

"Well I tried to drink and smoke myself to death, and pushed everyone around me away. Lost my wife. Threw myself into work, but I'll be honest I wasn't really focused as much as I tried. I was angry for a long time, and distant. I knew everyone was walking on eggshells around me, but I didn't care. I've made my peace with it now, a little too late perhaps. But like I said, there's no time limit on grief." Hopper said.

"I can't make my peace with leaving her there." I admitted.

"We had a job to do. More of us would be in the ground, if you hadn't gotten out when you did. She knew that." Hopper said.

"We buried an empty casket. I can't bring her the peace she deserves." I said, my chest aching with pain and grief.

"We did, kid. But that's brought some peace to her parents. I know they don't know the real reason that they couldn't bury her. They know what they needed to. That she was lost in the quake." Hopper said.

"When will I get peace?" I asked, feeling selfish.

"When you make it with yourself." Hopper said.

"Just give yourself time. Keep everyone around you." He advised.

"And try to stop blaming yourself." He added, before walking back to Joyce's house.

The wake had been held there and so I'd often wandered to her house, and sat in the field across the way.

I'd just sit on the grass, stare at the door whilst remembering us all when we'd walked in there, to celebrate her life.

I didn't feel much like celebrating.
To me, there wasn't anything to celebrate. I understood the sentiment, and for anyone else I probably would have taken part. But for Vanessa's, it only reminded me of the selfless sacrifice she'd made running into that bat storm, to save us.

To make sure I made it back.

That's what I couldn't forgive myself for, as the image of her dying in my arms played on a loop in my head.

I made it back and she didn't.

It should have been me back there, she should have been here.

Or, we both made it out and we'd be together now.

And that was all I truly wanted.

***********************************
Hoppers POV

I felt sorry for Eddie; it was like watching myself grieve all over again. He was heading in the same direction I'd gone and once he was there, he was going to struggle to get back.

Through habit, I'd driven out to the woods, to where El and me had lived when she had to lay low. I wasn't sure exactly why, but I wanted to check on the place and just make sure it was still standing.

A part of me was going to suggest it as a safe space for Eddie, for him to work out his feelings privately.

I was still considering it, when I noticed that the door had been forced open and there was a small dim light in the far room.

El's room.

Someone had broken in.

"What the fuck?" I asked myself, frowning.

By instinct, I reached for my gun and pulled it out of the holster around my waist, taking the safety off. I pointed it infront of me and shouldered the door open.

"Hello?" I called.

"You don't need the gun." A voice called back, softly.

"You broke in here, I'm not taking any chances." I shouted.

"It won't kill me anyway, Hopper." The voice called back.

"How do you know my name?" I shouted.

The voice didn't respond.

I moved further into the house and towards Eleven's old room, when the voice called out as a whisper.

"Just put the gun down."

It was a female voice.

"I'll lower it, but I'm not putting it away." I called out.

"Fine. But it won't kill me."

"Who are you?" I asked, nudging Eleven's bedroom door open.

"I just need a place to stay, that's all."

"Not what I asked." I said, frustrated.

I pushed the door wide open, and stepped inside as a face in the corner turned to look at me.

Whoever it was, was pale faced with dark eyes.
Long raven black hair to the small of her back.

"You know who I am." She said.

And when she turned to face me fully, I staggered back into the bedroom door in shock.

"How?!" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I woke up." She said.

"You just woke up?" I asked, surprised.

"I can't explain it. I just woke up." She repeated.

"When?" I asked.

"Three days ago." She said.

"How did you get back here?" I asked.

"Through a tree, in this forest." She said.

"The gates are all closed." I argued.

"Most are closed, there are some that are still open, just not active." She said.

"Active?" I asked.

"Nothing trying to get through, there's nothing out there anymore. Just me." She said.

"It's been six months." I said.

"Six months?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah." I answered.

"Why did you come here?" I asked.

"I knew no one would be here." She answered.

"I check on this place weekly." I said.

"Well I obviously didn't know that." She answered.

"You do now. Does anyone know you're here?" I asked.

"No, and they shouldn't know." She said.

I slid down the door and sat down, leaning against it as I sighed softly.

"So what was your plan?" I asked her.

"I don't honestly know." She said.

"You look.... Different." I noted as she seemed to tense.

"I am. But if I tell you, I think you'll be afraid of me." She said.

"Why won't this gun kill you?" I asked.

"I don't know how, but it's like I know for certain it won't. The same as I know there's only one thing that will." She said.

"Which is?" I asked.

"Sunlight." She said.

"You've got to be shitting me?" I said, as she shook her head.

"I'm not." She said, holding her hand out.

Her skin was blistered and charred, her fingers black.

"What the fuck?" I asked, my eyes wide with shock.

"When I climbed out, it was daytime. I had to stay inside the gate until night." She explained.

"You can't be serious. Vampire, really?" I asked.

"I am. On both counts." She said.

"You're a lot paler than you used to be." I said.

"You're a lot thinner." She noted, with a raised eyebrow.

"And you're tense and your heart rate has increased, which is because you're either scared of me, or nervous. I aren't going to hurt you." She said.

"You can hear my heart rate?" I asked.

"Yes. I can hear it, and I can smell your fear." She said.

"So you're superhuman?" I asked.

"Just a Vampire." She said.

"I nearly shot you." I said, unable to believe it, as she chuckled softly.

"Wouldn't have worked." She said.

"Alright." I said, choosing a truce and accepting her explanation. I rose to my feet with a sigh and she stared at me expectantly.

I remembered that her eyes used to be a piercing blue and now they were more dark brown, verging on black.

"So if you're a vampire, I'm assuming you drink blood, like in the movies?" I asked, with a heavy sigh.

It sounded stupid.

"Yes. But normal food too." She said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Raw meat." She said.

"Think you can manage whilst I run to the store?" I asked.

"I don't think I'll be going anywhere. Where would I go?" She asked.

"I won't be long, kid." I said.

************************************
True to my word, I wasn't long and as she tucked into some fresh sirloin, I drew all the curtains and what windows didn't have any, I covered with rags.

Anything at my disposal, I used.
Anything to keep the light out.

Unable to watch her eat, and still unable to actually believe it, I made up Eleven's room so it was more habitable. I swept the floors, checked the electrics and connected the TV.

I sorted the cushions on the couch and stocked the recently connected fridge with packs of steak, mince and other cuts so she had plenty for the next few days.

She settled on the couch, and I sat next to her.
I wasn't afraid of her, she wasn't giving me any indication that she was a threat.

"How is he?" She asked me.

"He's grieving, as expected. He's in a bad way." I said.

I knew exactly who she was referring to.

"We've all been grieving." I added.

"It was the only way." She said.

"We all went to your funeral." I said, as she stared ahead of her.

"How are my parents?" She asked.

"They buried an empty casket, Vanessa. It's brought them some peace, but it won't ever bring them peace fully. They still feel as though they buried their child." I said.

"Is he not coping?" She asked me.

"No." I answered, truthfully.

"He can't know I'm here." She said.

"He should know when the time's right." I warned.

"He's grieving for me, if he sees me again...." She said, trailing off.

"He'd probably forgive himself." I said.

"He'd want to stay with me, and you know it. In the day, I have to stay inside. I can only leave here at night. That would be no life for him." She said.

"So what? Eventually you're going to leave here?" I asked, as she gave me a pleading look.

"I aren't sure if I can continue to live like this." She said.

"I hope you're not saying what I think you're saying?" I asked, shaking my head.

"It's a possibility, yes." She said.

"That's suicide." I said.

"Effectively, it is yes. I've considered it already." She said, bowing her head slightly.

"You're back. For whatever reason, you are. Maybe don't give up just yet." I urged.

"It was the bats." She said.

"You're sure?" I asked.

"Hopper, they killed me. I'm sure." She said.

"Dustin said that the demo bats in D&D couldn't kill?" I asked.

"This wasn't D&D, Hop." She answered with a raised eyebrow.

"No, you're right." I answered, sadly.

"You don't think this is your second chance do you?" I asked, as she shook her head gravely.

"I was collateral. But collateral that was forgotten about. And when Vecna was destroyed, I was what was left behind." She said.

"I can't believe you're really here." I said.

"Well I am, for now." She replied.

"I won't tell anyone, you can stay here until you make whatever decision you need to make." I said.

"Eddie especially, can't know." She pressed as I reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"I won't tell him. I'll be back in a few days." I said.

***********************************
It was another night before I eventually braved it and ventured out into the still, darkness for a walk.

Luckily, I was apparently now very light on my feet, agile, and stealthy.

Before, I'd been a clumsy mess.
Which Eddie had loved me for.

My mind wandered immediately, as I decided to walk to Hawkins High School.

I wanted to see the spot in the woods, where we had met every day.

The leaves didn't even crunch under my feet, as I walked which I noticed brought a wave of sadness over me.

I wanted to hear the broken twigs snap under my footsteps, but they didn't.

I saw the bench and I slowly approached it, seeing various memories flash before my eyes, seemingly on an instant replay.

Memories of kisses, embraces, laughter, all of which had been with him.

My scarily slow beating heart, lurched once in my chest when my fingers grazed the rough surface of the worn, wooden bench and I stifled a small sob.

All I could see, was Eddie.

I sat down on what used to be my side of the bench, and sighed softly.

What was then, would never be again.
It couldn't.

There was no possible way, as much as I wanted it.

I ran both hands along the surface of the bench again, my raven hair falling around my face as I relived every single memory I had of this place, before my eyes focused on a figure slowly approaching, their heart rate pounding loudly in my ears.

Whoever it was, was both scared and in pain.

They were grieving; it was loud and profound as I sat still and listened for a moment.

I tensed as they grew closer, before rising to my feet, disappearing behind a nearby tree.

It was him.

I stayed behind that tree, as he sat in his usual place at the bench, and I smelled the familiar smell of tobacco and weed.

And then there was suddenly another.
Someone else was with him.

"How are you, Eddie?" They asked.

It was a female voice.

"Can we start with a less complicated question?" He asked.

His voice sounded thick; I deduced that he was crying.

And as I braved a quick glance around the tree, I felt my nostrils flare with both rage and jealousy as my eyes fell on a familiar face.

"We can start this however you want." She purred, which just made me tense even more.

I gripped the tree, breathing through my mouth so I couldn't smell her and I could feel the primal urge to silence her rip through me.

He wasn't hers.
He was mine.

"Please don't." I heard him beg.

"What do you mean?" She asked him.

"The other night was a huge mistake." He said.

"Was it?" She asked, as I barred my newly formed teeth and a low growl escaped my lips.

I heard them both shift at the noise and I clamped a cold hand over my mouth.

"Did you hear that?" She asked hurriedly.
I sensed her panic, her fear and for a moment I revelled in it.

"Probably just the wildlife." Eddie said.

He might have sounded calm, but his quickened heartbeat gave him away immediately.

He wasn't so sure of his answer.

"Can we go back to yours?" She asked.

"No." He answered, adamantly.

"Was it a mistake Eddie?" She asked him.

"Yes. I'm sorry but it was. I was drunk, high and I never should have let it happen." He said.

"I'm still not over Vanessa, and I know you know that." He added.

"I can help." She purred again, and I almost gave into the primal urge to attack her.

The jealousy was vibrating through me.

"No. No Chrissy." Eddie said, and I heard a shuffle of feet as I peered around the tree.

He'd pushed her away.

"She's gone, Eddie." Chrissy argued as I slid slowly down the tree.

Yes, to him and everyone else I was gone.
I was jealous, and had no right to be.

But I was.

"You don't think I know that?" He snapped.

"I'm gonna go, you know where I am." She said, sounding offended.

"Bye Chrissy." He said, sounding distraught.

I relaxed as I heard her footsteps get quieter and I listened to him cry as he sat at the bench, on his own.

So heartbreakingly alone.

And I did something I shouldn't have.

I leaned around the tree and slowly, silently moved so I was behind him.

My hand reached out to his hair and I caressed a single lock, as he remained with his head down, facing away from me.

And when I saw the hairs on the back of his neck and his arms stand up, I left him.

I left him alone again.

***********************************
"Okay kid, are we going to talk about the other night?" Hopper asked, as I sat motionless on the sofa.

"What about it?" I asked, pretending to be blissfully unaware.

"What about it? Let me think, Eddie came to me yesterday and said he felt you. He couldn't explain how but he's pretty convinced that you were there, and you touched him." Hopper said.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He thinks your ghost is following him around now. He's both revved up and thinking he's losing his mind." Hopper said.

"Which isn't fair." He added.

"I didn't mean to. I was walking and he was just there. I couldn't help it." I said.

"You said he couldn't find out about you. I kept my end of the deal." Hopper said.

"I know what I said." I said.

"So why did you do that?" Hopper asked.

"Because I miss him. I miss him so much. I literally just touched a strand of his hair." I said.

"I don't know how he would know." I added.

"He said he smelt you." Hopper said.

"I'm not wearing any perfume or anything." I said.

"Everyone has a natural scent. And you two were together for almost three years. He knows you." Hopper argued.

"I won't do it again." I said.

"Good. You've got to stick to your word. He's still traumatised. And you've given him hope now too." Hopper said.

"He still thinks I'm dead right?" I asked.

"Yeah. But he thinks he could find a way to communicate with you. You're sending him on a wild goose chase and that's not right." Hopper said.

"He held you in his arms, and watched you die. He has to try and get over that. You either tell him or you stick to your word. But don't say one thing and do the opposite. You tell him, you've got to commit to that and all that comes with it. And he may not accept it well, so there's that to consider. Are you ready for that?" Hopper asked.

"Not right now." I said.

"Then stay away." Hopper warned.

"And when I'm ready?" I asked.

"This isn't about when you're ready. This is about deciding what you want to truly do and then sticking with it. For his sake. Because the chances are, he isn't going to ever be ready for this. And once you commit to it there's no going back. So you can't make a decision in haste or out of jealousy." Hopper said.

"I know it was out of jealousy, before you say anything." He added.

"I didn't go there intending to see him." I argued.

"Well, word of advice..... he spends most nights there, to feel close to you. He goes alone, because he's trying to deal with his grief. You have to give him that." Hopper said.

"He wasn't alone last night." I mumbled, with a low growl.

"I did say most." Hopper added.

"Did you know he was seeing Chrissy?" I asked.

"I didn't. But, you're technically dead. So he has a right to move on." Hopper reminded me.

"So no more night visits, no more contact with him. Until you've committed to a decision fully. You hear me?" Hopper asked.

"Loud and clear." I answered, with a sigh.

I knew he was right.
But that didn't mean I had to like it.

***********************************
Over the next week, I became more familiar with how my new senses worked. I could hear and smell everything; I even had slight foresight. So when Hopper was due to drop off supplies for me, the air would change and I'd know exactly when to expect him.

He'd visited several hospitals and pulled a few strings, managing to get me fresh blood, which I never ingested around him. He didn't have to say it, I knew it made him uncomfortable.

He could barely see me eat raw meat.
And so, to appear more human, I'd started to drink the blood from a mug.

From a distance, I could have been drinking coffee or tea.

I was still considering ending it, and it was looking to be the most promising outcome for myself.

But I was holding on, and holding on for one thing.

I was holding on for him.

I knew it wasn't fair. I knew that it wasn't best if he saw me, if I was planning to walk out in the day and end it.

He'd see me die a second time.

And if I didn't do what I was planning and I stayed this way, could I let him be with me? Could I let the rest of his days turn to nights?

Could I even make that decision for him?
Was it one for him to make?

I wasn't sure if it would help him, knowing I was here, or if I was just stopping him living a life he could eventually have, once he'd grieved me fully.

Did I even want him to move on?

I was sitting watching Miami Vice when I heard movement outside.

The rope line of tin cans jingled loudly and instinctively, i crouched by the front door.

"Stop it....." I told myself as the primal, instinctive, defences came over me and I started to stalk the figure outside, through a crack in the wooden slats of the door.

"No...." I whispered, battling with myself.

And I couldn't stop it.

The warning growl left my throat and expelled from my mouth and I heard a loud scream.

"HOLY SHIT! What was that?!"

"It came from Hopper's shack."

"Please don't come here...." I begged, as I heard them grow closer.

"What even was it?!"

"I don't know."

"Shall we check it out?"

"You want to go in there?"

"Aren't you curious?"

"Did you not hear the same thing as me?!"

"Yeah, but maybe it's not what we think it is."

"Something screamed really loudly in there."

"I'm gonna check it out."

"Are you crazy?!"

And when I saw a figure reach the door, a loud grumble ripped through my chest and I scurried back.

"Someone's in there."

"No shit."

"Sounded like a wild animal."

"All the more reason not to go in."

And the moment the door handle turned, I launched towards the door, punched the light switch by the window and scurried back behind the sofa.

That's when I heard a familiar voice.

"Hello?"

*********************************
Dustin's POV

"Hello? I called out.

"You need to leave."

"We're not going to hurt you." I said.

"I know."

"I'm not worried about that."

"Okay....." I said, a little unnerved.

"I need you to leave."

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind, Henderson?"

"Come on Eddie.... If she was gonna hurt us, she'd have done that by now." I said.

"Am I right?" I called out.

"I don't want to."

"See?" I asked, as Eddie hovered in the door.

"This is such a bad idea." He said.

"Who are you?" I called.

There was a long pause and I tried another tactic.

"We have food, if you're hungry." I said.

"You don't have what I need."

"How do you know?" Eddie asked.

"You have two bags of chips, soda and fruit twirls."

"What the fuck?" Eddie asked.

"I can smell them."

"They're zipped up in my rucksack." I argued.

"Doesn't mean I can't smell them."

"You need to leave."

"You don't need to be afraid of us." I said.

"I'm not."

"You're a little afraid of me though."

"This is weird. Whoever that is, is weird. Listen man, can we just go?" Eddie asked.

"Why are you here, in Hopper's shack?" I asked.

"I just need somewhere to stay."

"Does he know you're here?" I asked.

"No."

And then I felt Eddie tense beside me.

"I feel like I know that voice." He said.

"You don't."

"Come out from wherever you're hiding." Eddie demanded.

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?" Eddie asked.

"Abit of both."

"If I came over there, would you hurt me?" I asked.

"I would never hurt you, Henderson."

The voice had softened and was less defensive.
And the voice knew my name.

"Wait, how do you know my name?" I asked.

"What the fuck?" Eddie asked, from behind me.

"I don't want to hurt either of you, but you should go."

Eddie stepped around me then, and moved to the sofa before stumbling back, his eyes wide with a newfound fear.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him.

His legs seemed to crumble from underneath him and he stumbled to the floor, pushing himself backwards with his feet until he reached the far wall.

And that's when I saw a pair of dark eyes, staring at us from around the corner of the sofa.

"Shit." I said, immediately scared.

"Please don't be afraid of me. Just leave." The voice said.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Eddie cried, his face pale with fright.

"I can't tell you that." The voice said.

"We should go." I said to Eddie, retreating to the door.

Eddie was paralysed with fear, not moving.

"Eddie, let's go." I urged.

And then a figure rose from behind the sofa, standing upright and I felt the air leave my lungs as I gasped loudly.

But it was nothing compared to Eddie's reaction.

Eddie screamed.

"No.... No it can't be you...." I spluttered as she raised her hands in surrender.

"Please...." She begged.

"No! You stay away. I don't know what you are, but we only came in here to help. You stay, right there. Don't come any closer. I'm gonna grab Eddie and we're gonna go." I said to her.

She didn't move, as instructed and I tried to lift Eddie from the ground; after a few painfully long seconds he let me pull him to his feet, his eyes firmly fixed on the figure in front of us.

And without another word, I practically dragged Eddie out of the shack, refusing to look at her and slammed the door behind us.

********************************
The next day, I was devastated.

I couldn't even bring myself to eat.
The look on his face had been one of sheer terror and grief and it was like he'd seen a ghost.

I felt his heart rate increase to an alarmingly fast rate and I'd smelt his fear. He had been completely terrified.

Dustin had been scared but it had been nothing like the sheer fear Eddie had been feeling and I felt ashamed.

Ashamed that it had been because of me.
Why did they have to come inside?

I lay on my bed, and faced the wall for hours, tired, hungry and sad.

Until I'd heard the door go and the scent wasn't Hopper's.

"It's just me Dustin....I'm alone."

This kid just didn't give up.

"I know I was scared yesterday but I've been thinking." He continued.

"If you were going to hurt us, you would have right?" He called.

"So I figured you weren't going to, based on that you let us go. You didn't hurt us." He said.

I buried my head in the pillow to try and block him out but with heightened hearing it was pointless.

"I've just brought you snacks. I'll leave them here and I'll go." He called.

He was still a little scared, but was trying to help nonetheless.

He seemed to hesitate, before eventually leaving and I was left in my solitude again.

I slept until night fell and Hopper then arrived.

"Who left these here?" He called, as I appeared in the doorway.

"I've got you some more clothes." He said, handing me a small bundle.

"Dustin left them here." I said.

"You went out again?" Hopper asked, grumbling with frustration.

"I never left. I was here, and being the curious kid that he is, didn't heed my warning and came in here." I said.

"What happened?" Hopper asked.

"He was terrified of me, they both were." I said.

"They?" Hopper asked.

"Eddie was with him." I admitted.

"Did he see you?!" Hopper asked.

"He saw a glimpse of me and.... And he was so afraid of me." I said, watching his expression soften.

"Oh kid....." he said.

"I asked them to stay away." I urged.

"Too inquisitive for their own good." Hopper said, shaking his head.

"So he came by with snacks?" He added.

"He was still scared but clearly wanted to help." I said.

"Get changed, I'll try and figure this out." Hopper said.

I emerged from my bedroom a few moments later wearing a a red plaid shirt and leggings tucked into thick black fluffy socks, as Hopper was putting the snacks away in the cupboards.

"I'm sure he meant well, but you won't be able to eat any of these." He said, as I reached the kitchen and froze.

"Why's that then Hop?"

Eddie.

"You. You, turn around right now." He said to me.

"Now just calm down kid, let me explain." Hopper said, talking over my shoulder.

"No, not until she turns around." He demanded.

"Whatever you think you know or saw...." Hopper started to say.

"I know what I saw. Whatever it is, is apparently wearing my dead girlfriend's face and I wanted to see it for myself properly. I need to know if I'm losing my mind." Eddie argued, sounding desperate and wired.

"Eddie, you need to calm down." Hopper said, as I heard him take a step forward.

"Turn around." He ordered, addressing me.

"Eddie...." Hopper warned.

"No. No. TURN AROUND." Eddie boomed and I closed my eyes, realising it was inevitable now.

Slowly, but surely I turned and glanced at him over my shoulder and I watched as his mouth quivered with both grief and shock and his eyes immediately glazed over with tears.

I sensed a mixture of emotions; he couldn't quite figure out what to feel.

"This isn't real." He said, sounding heartbroken.

"Eddie.... Eddie, it's me." I whispered.

"No! No! You're not her!" He cried, in denial.

I turned to face him fully and I heard his next breath catch in his chest and his face creased with pain and fear.

"I am." I said, calmly.

"We don't exactly know how, buddy.... But it's Vanessa." Hopper said.

"Vanessa died in my arms, I saw that. I can't stop seeing it." Eddie shouted, shaking his head feverishly.

"I did." I answered.

"I didn't want you to find out like this." I continued.

"If I believed you, which I don't, I'd say it's a little late for that." He snapped.

"I told you not to come in here." I argued.

"I didn't know I was going to come in here and find what I did, hiding behind the sofa, did I?" He asked.

"Eddie, it's Vanessa." Hopper urged.

"You don't have her eyes." Eddie said to me.

Eddie began to cross the room towards me, and I took a step back.

"It was you, wasn't it, the other night. You touched my hair, in the woods." Eddie continued, suddenly realising.

"Yes." I said, eyeing him carefully.

"Why?" He asked.

"I just wanted to touch you again." I said.

"Don't do that. Don't talk like that. Stop pretending you're her." Eddie snapped.

"Kid, she's not pretending. Trust me, it shocked me when I found her here. It's her." Hopper said.

And as if by sheer chance, I found myself compelled to awkwardly play with a strand of my long raven hair and Eddie fell silent, watching me.

It was a particularly human action, a human trait and one he was more than familiar with. Something I used to do.

And as he watched, his curiosity replaced his fear and he looked from Hopper to me, in question.

And his face fell, creased with both relief and pain, as he hesitantly reached out to touch my hair.

One of his fingers curled around a strand and Hopper edged closer, expecting the worst.

I raised my newly healed hand in response, and Hopper came to a standstill.

I let Eddie search my face, touch my hair and his eyes locked with mine.

"Vanessa?" He asked, his bottom lip quivering.

"It's me, Eddie." I said, desperate for him to believe me.

"It's really you?" He asked, still unable to believe it.

"Yes..." I whispered.

His fingers tentatively stroked my hair and his eyes desperately searched my face, seemingly looking for some kind of final confirmation.

"You said you couldn't come back with me..." He said, his eyes glassy.

"I know.... I didn't know I was going to wake up." I said.

"I left you there...." He continued, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Hopper shifted behind me and I sensed his discomfort.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and I mentally cursed him.

Eddie moved my hair and his eyes fell on the scars on my pale skin, and he choked out a sob.

"It is you." He said, crying.

And then he reached for one of my hands, causing me to back away from him hurriedly.

I sensed his feelings of rejection, which stung.

"My hands are cold." I said, quickly.

"I don't care about that." He said.

And then his face grew grave and there was a flash of anger.

"How long have you known?" Eddie asked Hopper.

"For a week or two. She just turned up here." Hopper said.

"I came to you and said I'd somehow sensed she was there that night in the woods and you played it off as though my mind was playing tricks on me." Eddie argued, a furrow in his brow.

"I didn't want him to tell anyone." I reasoned.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Eddie asked, ignoring me.

"Did you not think that if I knew she was here I wouldn't be so much of a mess?" Eddie asked.

Eddie pushed Hopper away by the chest, heatedly and shook his head.

"No. No!" He cried, as Hopper bridged the gap between them again and tried to console him.

"Kid." Hopper said.

"Fuck you Hop! You lied to me!" Eddie shouted, stubbornly.

"Kid.... kid!" Hopper continued, before pulling Eddie in an awkward hug, holding him to his chest.

"Kid.... I'm sorry." Hopper said, as Eddie relaxed and I saw his resolve dissolve as he returned the embrace, crying heavily into Hopper's shoulder.

"You lied to me, man." Eddie whimpered. .

"I know I did. And I'm sorry for that." Hopper said, his face creased with remorse and regret.

"He lied to you, for me." I said.

"You didn't want me to know?" Eddie asked.

"I didn't know what I wanted. I was trying not to be selfish." I said.

When Hopper was sure he'd calmed down, he released Eddie, who roughly wiped his face and turned to face me.

"I'm not the same, Eddie." I continued.

"Why?" He asked.

"This isn't normal, is it? I died and then I woke up again, six months later." I said.

"You're not thinking about that though are you?" I asked him, when he didn't respond.

"No." He answered, truthfully.

"I'm gonna give you guys a minute. I need to pick up some stuff for you. Just don't kill each other whilst I'm gone." Hopper said gruffly, before ambling through the door.

Hopper was sensing that a tense conversation was about to ensue and was making himself scarce. I could hardly blame him.

"Why can't I touch you?" Eddie asked.

"I'm cold to the touch Eddie. Not a winter chill kind of cold, unusually and uncomfortably cold." I said.

"I haven't held your hand in so long." Eddie said.

"Like I said, my hands are different now. I'm different." I urged.

"You're here, that's all that matters to me." He said.

"There's a lot more to it." I argued.

"Please Vanessa.... Can I just have tonight to feel this?" He asked.

"Feel what?" I asked, although I already knew. It was radiating from him in waves.

"The relief of seeing you again. To feel like I'm not going to fall apart or lose my mind. Can I have tonight and then think about the logistics and the weirdness of this tomorrow?" He asked me, almost desperate.

"To just be with you, as you are." He added.

"You were moving on." I said.

"Trying, and failing." He argued.

"You moved on for a night." I said, as he wiped fresh tears from his face.

"You heard that?" He asked.

"I was there." I confirmed.

"It was a mistake." He said, hurriedly.

"You owe me nothing." I said.

"I just missed you. I missed the closeness of you." He explained.

"You don't owe me an explanation." I said.

"I thought you were gone....." He said, his voice hushed.

"That's why you don't owe me anything." I explained.

"Can I stay, tonight?" He asked.

"With me?" I asked.

"No, with Hopper. Of course, with you." He said, with a hint of sarcasm.

"You want to stay here?" I asked.

"I just want to be with you." He said, almost pleading.

This was going to set him back from any progress he'd made on living his life without me, and I realised I no longer had any control over it.

He wasn't going to leave, his mind was already made up.

He was stubborn, I remembered that quite plainly.

I confirmed he could, with a small nod and he watched from a distance as I reluctantly opened the fridge and pulled out a packet of diced, raw beef.

Despite his poker face, I sensed his discomfort as he silently watched me eat.

He didn't ask any questions, and he didn't break the poker straight stare, as he watched me pour some B positive into a mug.

He didn't falter when he watched me warm it in the microwave on the side, nor did he flinch when I drank it straight down, combining it with a dramatic, satisfied sigh when I'd finished.

"Good?" He asked, breaking his silence and I eyed him carefully almost immediately.

"Yes." I answered, attempting to gauge his answer.

"You got all vampiry for a moment there." He said, with a raised eyebrow.

"Which part?" I asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"All of it, but mostly the satisfied sigh." He said, playfully.

There was a hint of a smile, but it was fleeting.
My heart sank a little when it disappeared entirely from his face.

"What would you normally do now?" He asked.

"The night is long, and I don't sleep." I warned him.

"Good thing I'm a night owl too then." He said, with a shrug.

"What would you want to do?" I asked him.

"Honestly? Just lie with you, talk to you, just be with you." He said.

"We can do that." I wagered, after some consideration.

And so, for the night's duration, we lay on my bed facing each other, a little distance between us and we talked, lay together and were together.

And as it reached dawn, Eddie was singing softly to me, stroking my hair.

"When the night, has come, and the land is dark and the moon, is the only, light we see......"

"No I won't, be afraid, no I won't, be afraid.... Just as long, as you stand, stand by me...."

"So darling, darling, stand, by me.... Stand, by me..... Oh stand, stand by me......"

And then he drifted off to sleep.

I watched him sleep until around 7am and as the sun broke into the sky through the morning clouds, sleep took me.

We would be like passing ships in the night.
Could he be okay with that?

***********************************
Eddies POV

"Morning Hop." I said, as I walked into the kitchen around 11am.

"Oh you stayed?" He asked, reading the paper over his eggo's.

"Yeah, we had a lot to talk about. Is it always this dark in here?" I asked, as he stared at me with a raised eyebrow.

"It has to be kid." He said, as though it was obvious.

"Why?" I asked, suddenly feeling panicked.

"Did she eat anything in front of you?" Hopper asked me.

"Yeah...." I said, trailing off.

"So she ate some raw beef and rinsed it down with a mug of B Positive and you're asking me why it's dark in here during the day and I'm reading with a flashlight over my breakfast?" Hopper asked.

"Shit...." I said, my eyes on the bedroom door.

"What did you do?" Hopper asked, scrambling to his feet.

His breakfast plate dramatically hit the floor and smashed into pieces.

"I opened the curtains...." I said, the dread rising in my throat.

"But I swear to you, it was just a force of habit...." I added.

"Oh shit...." Hopper said as we both raced to the bedroom.

Vanessa was no longer on the bed.
She was in the very corner of the room, in the only shadow there was.

The sunlight flooding the room through my own carelessness precariously reached her toes and she had a thick, red line of blisters down the left side of her face.

I ran to the window and pulled the curtains shut and she let out a sigh of relief.

"She can't be exposed to sunlight. You're a clever kid, haven't you worked it out?" Hopper asked me.

"Yeah of course I have! Like I said it's something I just do every day. I didn't think." I said, panicking.

"From here on in, you're gonna have to do a great deal more of it. You know about this now, so there are rules." Hopper said, sternly.

"No sunlight." I said.

"That's rule number one. Number two, you can't tell anyone else, not until she wants to. Three, she has to stay here. If she wants to go for a walk, stay close." Hopper said.

The room smelled like burnt flesh, and I immediately realised the consequence of my mistake.

"You okay kid?" I heard Hopper ask.

"I'm fine." She mumbled, as Hopper helped her to her feet.

"I'm so sorry Ness...." I said, devastated.

"It's okay, Eddie. I just need to sleep." She said.

"I've gotta go to work." Hopper said, regretfully.

"I'll be fine." She said, waving him off.

"I can stay." I offered.

"I'll just be sleeping." She insisted.

"If you stay, no more opening the curtains." Hopper warned gruffly.

"Scouts honour. I swear I won't." I said.

"I'll see you both later." He said, as Ness sat down slowly on her bed.

"I'm so sorry...." I said, overcome with remorse.

"You didn't mean it. It's fine, honestly." She said, before she finally looked at me.

"That'll need bandaging." I said.

"It'll be healed by tonight." She insisted.

"Are you really a vampire?" I asked, forgetting myself.

"I think you know the answer to that question." She said, clenching her jaw.

"I just selfishly wanted to hear you say it. To make it real." I said, as she sighed softly.

"The bats, Eddie." She said.

"The bats did this?" I asked.

"I don't think I stuttered." She said, a little disgruntled.

"I'm sorry, I'm being an idiot." I said hurriedly.

"No, I'm sorry.... I need to sleep." She said.

And without another word, I helped her climb back into her bed and when she'd settled under the covers, I tucked her in.

"You don't have to stay." She whispered, as I knelt down by the side of the bed. Her dark eyes stared into mine and for a moment I was sure they'd seen right to my soul.

I believed I was still in shock, because this had sunk in all too quickly. But she was back and that seemed to overlook everything else.

"I know, but I want to." I said.

"I'll have something ready for you, for when you wake." I added.

"No more than 45 seconds in the microwave. It just has to be warm." She instructed, her eyes getting heavy.

"Got it." I answered, as though it was a normal, simple request.

"Sleep." I said, and within a matter of seconds, she was sleeping soundly.

*************************************
True to his word, a mug of warm B positive was on the table when I woke, and it was accompanied by a plate of diced braising steak.

His meal was opposite mine and there was a stark difference between the two.

He'd made a grilled cheese sandwich and as he settled a glass of fresh orange juice down on the table for himself, I'd sat down, eyeing my plate.

He mirrored me, and sat opposite, clearly trying not to pay too much attention to me as I picked up the fork he'd put by my plate and began to tuck in.

He was trying to make peace with it, and trying to spare my feelings.

"I know you're uncomfortable." I said, without looking at him.

"I am a little. But you need what you need and I know I'd get used to it." He said.

It was almost funny; I was still considering whether I wanted to stick around and be this for however long I had.

The option of ending this all with a pinch of sunlight was still appealing to me.

Only he couldn't know that.

"But I am the resident freak of Hawkins so it won't take me long." He added, lightheartedly.

"You always were so accepting." I mused, as he chuckled softly.

"Someone had to be." He said, as I found myself laughing.

"Whatever format, shape, form you come in, I want that." He added.

"We can't go on random walks during the day, we can't go anywhere. If we did, it'd have to be at night. Are you sure that's what you want?" I asked.

"When you died, a real big piece of me died with you that day. I was sure I'd never get that piece of me back. But you're here and it's almost like it's slowly coming back to me." He said.

"There is no me without you, Ness." He added, which just made this all the more harder for me.

"You'd be able to learn to move forward without me. It would take time, but you'd be able to." I argued.

"It's my decision anyway." He said, airily.

"Ultimately it is." I said, sighing.

"I can get a job, a 9-5 or something and then I'd be home with you at night. You sleep during the day, so you'd be awake when I came back." He said.

As though it really was, as easy as that.

"And then we'd have time together before I went to sleep. I can function with around 5-6 hours sleep, so I'd be able to stay up with you until about 2-3am." He continued.

"Until you burned yourself out." I interjected.

"It could work, Ness." He said, with a firm tone.

"You'd cost me a fortune at the farmers market and I'd have to figure out how Hop gets the blood, but I'd happily do that for you." He continued.

"I have one meal a day." I said, as though it would help.

"You'd cope if we were on a budget then?" He asked, playfully as I couldn't help but smile.

"There's other ways." I said.

"Do I want to know?" He asked, grimacing.

"Probably not. But I'd only do that if necessary. And I wasn't talking about people. Just perhaps the local wildlife." I said.

"You're right, I don't want to know." He said, as I put my fork down.

I reached for the mug in front of me and downed it, before sighing loudly.

And then I frowned.

"Hey... you okay?" He asked me.

"No...." I said, as I felt my stomach whirl.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I think that blood was bad." I said, as I heaved.

I clasped a hand over my mouth, tasting a strong metallic, lead taste and heaved again.

"You need to get to the bathroom." He said, before practically dragging me through the shack to the bathroom.

He just about got me there in time, as I was sick.

He stayed with me though, leaning over me as he held my hair away from my face, rubbing my back softly.

And as I stared down at the vibrant red contents of my stomach sitting in the toilet bowl, I sighed softly.

"Feel better?" He asked.

"Whoever donated that, was not well." I said.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I could taste it. It was bad." I said.

"As in bad blood?" He asked.

"They weren't well." I confirmed, as I rose to my feet.

"Come to think of it, I could smell it too but I'd already drank it." I added.

"You were hungry." Eddie reasoned, sympathetically.

He leaned against the counter as I brushed my teeth and between us it was decided that whoever prepared it for me, if not myself, I needed to smell it first.

"I think that's wise." Eddie said, in agreement.

He leaned up off the counter when I'd finished and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

Something he always used to do.

And as his hand fell down at his side, his fingers curled around mine and I tensed immediately.

"Eddie..." I whispered as he bridged the gap in between us.

With a steely resolve though, he didn't let go of my hand.

In fact he clasped it tighter, through sheer defiance.

"It still feels like your hand." He said, reassuringly.

"Does it?" I asked, not convinced.

"Yes it does." He said, with a small smile.

"We were together for three years, Ness. I know what you feel like." He added.

"I'm colder." I argued.

"That's true, you are. But it still feels like it did, to hold your hand. I didn't think I ever would again." He said.

His free hand took mine, and he held them both, looking into my eyes.

"You were right, your face has healed." He said, his voice low.

"I told you." I said, with a casual shrug.

"You're still just as beautiful." He said.

If I was able to blush, I would have done.
But my blood didn't quite pump around my body the same anymore, so I remained pale and stony faced.

"You can't blush can you?" He asked me.

"No, I can't." I said, and to show him why, I took one of his hands and pressed it flat against my chest.

"I don't feel anything." He said, after a few seconds.

"Just wait." I insisted.

And then I saw his eyes widened when he felt it.

"It still beats?" He asked.

"Yes. Just very slowly." I answered.

"How many times?" He asked.

"Approximately it beats once every four minutes." I said.

"I was in luck then." He said.

"That time around, yeah." I answered.

He kept his hand there, his other hand running slowly up my arm, until his fingers brushed my neck and weaved into my hair. His fingers curled around to grip the back of my neck softly, and I relished the feeling that stirred inside of me.

I let him, mainly because I too had missed his touch.

There was no point further denying that to myself, no matter how I felt about my newfound condition.

And as he pulled me to him, my chest pressed against his and I could feel his warm heart beating.

"I know it beats slower these days, but is it still mine?" He asked me.

"You know it's yours." I said, as he smiled broadly.

"Mine has been a little broken lately, but it's still yours." He whispered.

"It still beats the same." I answered.

"It never stopped being yours." He continued.

"I know. I'd take it even when it's broken." I answered.

And that statement alone, was apparently all he needed.

His lips brushed against mine, as he tested the waters, and my reaction.

And when I didn't refuse him or push him away, the hand on my heart snaked to my shoulder and he held me in place.

His face lowered further onto mine and he tilted his head slightly, plucking my lips into the softest, gentlest, tentative kiss I'd ever experienced.

Until he found his confidence, whereby he then kissed me with everything he had.

His grief, his yearning, his longing, his love.

He kissed me like he'd missed me and I kissed him back much the same.

My arms instinctively wrapped around his waist and I pulled him closer. As close as I could get him to me.

The kisses became more passionate after a while, and soon we were blindly walking to my bedroom, lips still locked together in a series of deep kisses.

Once we were inside, I heard him kick the door shut and because of my heightened senses, I guided him towards my bed and we landed on it exactly in the middle, in a heap of feverish limbs.

And then his hands grazed the hem of my oversized black T-shirt as he lay on top of me and I swiftly broke the kiss, grabbing his hands, a warning growl escaping my lips.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, hurriedly, sitting up slightly.

"I remember, Ness. I'm sorry." He added.

I didn't want him to see.
I didn't want him to see the scars.

The demobats hadn't just attacked my neck, they'd also attacked my stomach and my skin was littered with hundreds of bite marks which I was both conscious and ashamed of.

He'd seen the wounds, he'd seen all the blood.

After all, I'd died in his arms.
His was the last face I'd seen.

I wasn't ready for him to see.

"Are you ashamed of them?" He asked.

He could be very observant when he wanted to be, and he had always been hypersensitive to my feelings.

So quite admirably, like always, he'd understood almost instantly.

"Yes." I answered.

His heart was pounding and I could hear his blood rushing around his body, as he tried to calm himself down.

I'd surprised him.

"You don't need to be. Not with me." He answered, his voice gentle.

"But I understand." He added, sympathetically.

"I didn't mean to growl, I'm sorry." I said, bowing my head slightly.

"Hey, you were warning me off and I totally get it." He said, waving me off dismissively.

"I ruined the moment." I said, regretfully.

"Listen to me, there'll be others. Not all moments are perfect, not all moments are meant to be. You didn't ruin it, I promise. I'm practically on cloud nine; I haven't kissed you or held your hand in so long and I never thought I would again. Just being here with you is enough. If we don't kiss or hold hands until another day, I don't mind. I have your company and that's enough for me. It's a chance I didn't think I'd ever get again." He said, reassuringly.

I shuffled across the bed to him and he welcomed me into his arms. I settled in his warm embrace and he rocked me gently, kissing my head.

"Would you like to go for a walk? Hop said it was allowed so long as we stayed close?" He asked me, as I realised how appealing that sounded to me.

"I'd love to." I said.

*************************************
Hop had spoken to his contact at the blood bank, and was reassured that the bad blood had been a one off, someone who'd  effectively lied on their application form before they'd donated.

He didn't ask questions, and Hopper offered no explanation as to why further vetting was required, but Hop was assured that extra measures were now in place.

Eddie had been staying over, but this had raised questions from our friends. And so, to avoid detection, Eddie had been keeping up appearances two days a week and for the remaining five he was with me.

That was to reduce further though in the day, as he'd found a job, working with his uncle's friend. A mechanics job and Eddie sure liked his cars.

It was a 9-5 job, which he was relieved about and had been working there for several weeks, picking up a weekly wage.

It had given him purpose, which had been lovely to see.

He was happier, and I had been feeling that I didn't want him to get to a point where he was spreading himself too thin.

But also, I was still considering ending it all, out of the guilt that nipped at my ankles on a daily basis.

It was a never ending fight with myself. Did I do it, or did I try and find some semblance of a normal life with a guy who loved me and wanted to try? With a guy who was doing all he could to try?

I was toying with the idea of telling him he could tell everyone about me, but then there was the potential of there being more collateral if I ever chose to go, for good.

"That's a deep thought, want to tell me what's going on kid?" Hopper asked, snapping me from my busy mind.

"I know he's tired. He's staying up most nights until 3am at least so that he can spend time with me. He's trying to play it down but I can smell on him that he's not eating enough, he's tired and he needs to rest." I said.

"You can't make all of his decisions for him." Hopper said.

"I know that, but he needs more than two days to rest." I argued.

"You two are awfully close lately considering you weren't sticking around." Hopper noted, with a raised eyebrow.

"It's still not entirely off the table." I admitted.

"Why?" Hopper asked, his face creased with sadness.

"Don't you want to get back to your life Hop?" I asked.

"What life? Eddie and me, are very much the same. Purpose is what drives us and when we don't have that, we just stumble through life with no real direction. He needs purpose and so do I. Although I was thinking that we could move back to my actual place." He said.

"There's clearly a condition though." I remarked.

"There is. You don't walk out into the sun, you stick around and you tell all of your other friends who also deeply miss you by the way, and you try and make a life for yourself. You don't send this second chance up in smoke." He said.

"Is this a second chance?" I asked, unsure.

"It is, if you believe it. If you choose for it to be." Hopper said.

"What would you do?" I asked.

"I think if I had someone who loved me as much as that boy loves you and accepts every single part of this, I'd be wanting to stay." He said.

"The living forever part having nothing to do with it?" I asked, suspiciously.

"Please.... I'm gonna outlive you all." Hopper said, jokingly.

"Not with your diet you're not. Have you seen a doctor lately? That cholesterol is a little high." I said, teasingly,

"Shut up. Are you honestly still thinking that walking outside into the sun, is the only choice you have?" He asked.

"It's not the only choice I have, it's the one you know I've considered since you found me here." I corrected.

"This might not be ideal, and you have the diet of a mountain lion these days but you have someone who wants you, even when you're all vampiry and shit. He still wants to love you, provide for you and be with you. Surely that's the very reason not to die by direct sunlight?" Hopper asked.

"Is it fair on him though?" I asked.

"That's not your choice. Why not at least try? If it doesn't work, you try something else. It's about compromise; something I was never very good at. Lost my wife because I didn't try and I didn't compromise. Ruined my marriage. I had no control over my daughter passing away, but I have some control over you committing the ultimate sin. And I am urging you, to give this second life a go. You have a chance to be happy with the only boy you've ever loved, and he wants to be happy with you too. Sure, you can't go on afternoon picnics or morning runs together, but he's as much of a night owl as you now are. You can go to a drive in, watch a late night movie, go to a 24 hour diner and have supper, sit under the stars on a clear night. There's not just romance in the sun. There's romance in the dark too. You're just too blinkered to see it." Hopper said.

"Reconsider, Ness. Don't end it." He added.

And he left me with that thought, pulling on his coat and his boots and he waved as he disappeared through the door to go to work.

Figuring I'd stayed up long enough, I crawled into my dark abyss of a bedroom and fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

*******************************
"Ness.... You up?"

I turned over in bed, letting out a satisfied but sleepy groan.

I glanced at the clock and it was 18:15pm.

"Yeah." I called back, sitting up.

I climbed deftly out of bed, and quickly changed into an oversized grey tshirt and leggings before emerging from my room.

To find two faces staring back at me.
I'd heard another heartbeat, but hadn't really focused on the alien scent enough to realise who it was.

"Please don't be mad. I cannot tell you just how much he has nagged at me to come here." Eddie explained, as the now familiar face grinned broadly at me.

"I promise I'm not scared. Not anymore." Dustin explained, hurriedly.

"That and I told you everything on the way here." Eddie said, rolling his eyes.

Great.

"Which I wholeheartedly apologise for, because it wasn't my place to say anything but he just wouldn't drop it." Eddie added.

"I just want to help." Dustin said, with a newly sheepish smile.

"You need sleep. You're tired." I said to Eddie.

"I'm fine, sweetheart." Eddie replied, as I rolled my eyes.

"I can smell you, you do realise that?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest, frowning.

"Okay, I'm tired." Eddie said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Your heart rate is low, you're lethargic, you're pale and you're not eating nearly enough." I said.

"Sit down." I demanded, pointing to the table.

"I'm good." Eddie argued.

"SIT." I hissed, barring my teeth.

Within a millisecond, both boys were seated and staring at me wide eyed.

"Not you. You're helping me cook something so he actually eats." I said to Dustin.

"Yes ma'am." Dustin said, gulping slightly.

And when we were out of Eddie's line of sight I pulled Dustin into a tight hug.

"God I've missed you, Henderson." I whispered in his ear.
I heard him chuckle and he hugged me back tightly.

"Missed you too. I'm glad you're back." Dustin replied.

***********************************

"What are we making for you?" He asked me, a while later as I set two plates down in front of them on the table, where they sat across from each other.

Eddie tensed beside me, and looked at me sheepishly.

"I may have skirted over your precise daily dietary requirements." He said, as I sighed softly.

"I'll eat in the kitchen." I grumbled.

"You don't have to do that, Ness." Dustin implored.

"Henderson, Munson is still getting used to it." I argued.

"I've had breakfast and dinner with you every day for weeks, I haven't barfed or made any kind of murmur. Give me some credit princess." Eddie said, rubbing his face.

Relenting, I wrapped my arms around his neck and he jumped a little, clearly startled.

I kissed his cheek and chuckled in his ear, but his hand reached up to grip my wrist and he leaned into my embrace nonetheless.

"That I am still getting used to. You literally make no sound when you walk anywhere." He said to me, as Dustin grinned.

"No sound at all?" He questioned.

"None." I confirmed.

"So cool!" He commented, with a broad grin as he tucked into his dinner.

Was it cool though?

"Ness?" Dustin asked, as I started to walk back into the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I inquired, turning around.

"You might not think so, but you have beautiful eyes." Dustin said.

"Kid is even stealing my lines now, god dammit." Eddie said, as I found myself smiling broadly.

"Good thing I can't blush." I said.

"I love you." I mouthed to him suddenly and I watched his eyes widen slightly.

He leaned up off the table, seemingly replaying it in his head and his face immediately softened.

His eyes turned semi glassy as his beautifully pink lips parted slightly.

"I love you." He mouthed back to me, finally.

And that's when I felt I'd made my decision.

Watching the exchange between them both, watching the special friendship they had, and realising how much I'd missed it.

Watching him tell me he loved me in return.

Realising and understanding how much I'd missed everyone.

There would be no walking into the sunlight, not right now at least.

For now, I was staying.
And I was staying with Eddie.

***********************************

Hopper had been elated when I'd told him my decision.

And as that was the only condition he had, we were in the process of moving into his proper home, and I was preparing to settle into this new life slowly.

Upon my insistence, Eddie was taking an extra day to rest after he'd been to work, and he now stayed with us for 4 days.

He'd had his grumbles about it, which I'd ignored.

"You know, I've been saving most of my paychecks and I almost have enough for a deposit and first month's rent." He said, with a smile.

"I've been making sure to help Wayne too. And there's some aside for the next trip to the farmers market." He added.

"You should spend your money on you and Wayne. Not me." I said.

"How will you eat?" He asked.

It was a valid point; I couldn't exactly get a job.

"You can let me look after you, Ness." Eddie said.

"Why do I feel so guilty about it?" I asked, rubbing my face in frustration.

"Because you've always taken care of yourself. But you can't do that on your own anymore. And that's okay." He said.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this, after highschool. It was supposed to be so different." I said.

"In what way?" He asked, curiously.

"College, a job." I said, as he sighed softly.

"I want to work to provide for you. I'm okay with it, so you might as well be, too." He stated.

"Second life or not, you're still just as stubborn." He added, with a smile.

"You knew that about me before all of this." I counter argued as he grinned.

"I did and I'll take it." He replied.

"I need a purpose Eddie." I said, sadly.

"We need to get you out more." He said, with a raised eyebrow.

"So I was thinking that we could go to the drive-in later, watch a movie together. Go on a real date." He said.

"What if someone sees me?" I asked.

"We can solve that quite easily." He said.

"How?" I asked.

"I could reverse the van in and we could sit in the back, rather than in the front seats. It would be dark and no one would really see either of us. I'd make it comfortable for us both, I promise." He said.

"Just please trust me. It'll be good." He said.

"Okay." I said, as he pulled me into a tight embrace.

"You'll always be my girl, sweetheart." He said, in my ear.

So why did that suddenly feel like famous last words?

********************************

True to his word, that night we were sitting in the back of his newly modified van, watching Friday 13th at the drive in.

He'd made a flask for me, packed some meat into a freezer bag, and he'd made himself some packet popcorn with a bottle of Gatorade.

This was his new normal, and he was handling it really well.

I couldn't deny it.

We were sitting on a newly laid down, plush carpet with a foam underline, and he'd draped two sleeping bags across us, to keep us warm.

I was wearing one of his black hoodies with a black cap, and the only light was a battery operated lantern on his side, so as not to illuminate my face. I could see clearly in the dark, whereas he couldn't.

I nestled into him a short while later and he curled an arm around me, resting his head on mine.

"We used to do this every week, didn't we, at mine?" He asked.

"We did. My favourite night of the week." I confirmed.

"We can do this whenever you wanted." He said.

"I just worry about you." I said.

"Well that's easily fixed, don't." He replied.

"It's not." I retorted.

"I want this." He insisted.

"I've never disputed that and I'm not going to." I argued.

"Hey Eddie! Nice to see you man!"

We looked at the maroon mustang parked across from us to see Steve Harrington waving at us and then in a flash his eyes widened, before narrowing as if to try and focus on my face.

"Oh shit...." Eddie whispered.

I could feel the defensive hiss rise in my throat as Steve clambered out of the car and started to approach the van.

"Stay there man." Eddie warned.

"Why?" Steve asked, suspicious.

"Just stay there." Eddie called.

"Everything okay? I just wanted to tell you that you have a light out. I saw it on the way in, 'cause you're parked the wrong way." Steve said.

I sighed with relief then and I felt Eddie relax.

"Yeah thanks man, got it." Eddie called.

"You're alright?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, all good." Eddie said.

"Have a good night man." He said before climbing back into his car.

"There's only one way we handle this." I resolved, breathing heavily.

"What?" Eddie asked, just as breathless with relief.

"We're gonna have to tell them." I said.

"You're ready for that?" He asked me.

"I don't think I get to be ready. I think that this won't be the first situation we find ourselves in. I don't want to have to look over my shoulder every time we go out. Dustin hasn't told anyone so I think if he can keep the secret, the rest can." I said.

"They can handle it." Eddie said.

"I hope you're right." I replied, sighing.

**********************************
Eddies POV

"I need to tell you all something." I said, as several pairs of eyes stared back at me.

"Okay....?" Nancy said, on edge.

"Steve, I acted weird the other night and I know it didn't go unnoticed. I know I'm weird, but I'm not that weird." I said.

"Yeah it was abit extreme." Steve said frowning.

"I'm sorry. But it was because of who I was with." I said.

"I didn't really see." Steve explained.

"We thought you did. We panicked." I said.

"Who's we?" Jonathan asked.

"This is gonna sound crazy but it's real, and I don't want you to freak out." I said.

"Okay?" Robin said.

"I was with..... I was with Vanessa." I said, before bracing myself for a number of freak outs.

"You're kidding me right?" Mike asked.

"I'm really not." I said, in all seriousness.

"He's not." Dustin chimed in.

"Wait, you know already?" Steve asked.

"Accidentally, but yes. We found her at Hoppers shack. At first we were terrified, and couldn't believe what we were seeing. But Eddie came back and he's accepted it. I've accepted it." Dustin explained.

"So, I'm asking that you believe me and you accept her. It hasn't been easy." I said.

"She died...." Robin said.

"She did, but she came back." I said.

"How?" Steve asked.

"We're not sure. But there were changes." I said.

"You're gonna tell me the bats bit her and she's a vampire or something." Steve scoffed as I stared at him pointedly.

"That's exactly what we're gonna tell you." Dustin said.

"Because it's true." I continued.

"You're serious aren't you?" Nancy asked.

"Absolutely." I confirmed.

And to my utmost surprise, it was like they all suddenly accepted it.

No freak outs, no further arguments.

Just a question, asked in unanimous unison.

"When can we see her?"

That was all they asked, after that.

I could see their excitement, see their anticipation but I felt that they still needed that one final warning.

"Guys, she wants to see you all too. She wants to try to live a normal life. She knows that's not entirely possible and she's trying to deal with that as best as she can. But she doesn't exactly look the same." I warned.

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.

"Her eyes, they're darker. Not the colour they used to be. She's paler, her hair is a lot longer and it's darker." I said as Mike smiled slightly.

"But still as beautiful, right?" He asked as Eleven eyed him carefully.

"I meant to him." Mike explained hurriedly.

"She's still just as beautiful." I confirmed with a broad smile.

"You're glad she's back?" Jonathan asked.

"I am. I feel like I'm not drowning anymore." I said.

"Where is she now?" Lucas asked.

"She's at Hoppers; she's waiting for us." I said.

"Now?" Will asked, with excited wide eyes.

"Yes." I said.

"Why are we all still here then? Let's go!" Steve announced.

"You're serious?" I asked.

"Listen man, the upside down stuff was crazy. This is crazy! But it's a crazy we'll always accept because apparently, anything is possible. We've learned that, right?" Steve asked.

"I always hoped that wouldn't be her ending. And it's like something or someone somewhere thought that too. She's been given a second chance at this, and we want to be there for her too." Nancy said.

"It wasn't over for her, we just didn't realise." Robin said.

"We can't go now though." Dustin announced.

"When the sun goes down." I confirmed.

"At night." I continued.

"Oh." Robin said.

"She can't be exposed to sunlight." I said.

"Okay, so we can go tonight?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, tonight would be good. Just let me prepare her though, please?" I asked.

"I promise we'll all be calm." Nancy insisted.

God I hoped they would be.

**************************************
I was pacing by the time nightfall came and Eddie had noticed.

That and the fact that I kept growling; the suspense was killing me.

"It's going to be okay." He said.

"What if they don't like me?" I asked.

"They can't wait to come here." Eddie argued, giving me a fatherly look.

"Have you eaten?" He asked me.

"No." I said, as he gently held me by my shoulders.

"They've been really accepting. They just want to see you, again. They loved you before this, they'll love you the same from tonight." He said, resting his forehead on mine.

I closed my eyes as he rubbed my arms softly, and I lifted my head upwards, kissing his mouth.

"You're my girl. You always have been. If they don't accept you, that's on them. But that won't happen." He said.

"They're here." I said.

"How do you know?" He asked, as I raised an eyebrow.

"Bats hearing and a dogs nose." I said, scoffing.

"I'd have put it a little better than that, but I hear you." He said, with a beautiful grin.

"You ready?" He asked as he approached the door.

"As I'll ever be." I said, taking a shaky, deep breath.

I looked down at the long sleeved back midi dress that Eddie had bought for me, that came to my shins, and when I met his eyes again, he was smiling.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." He said.

*************************************

When I was finally ready, Eddie slowly turned the handle and opened the door, and I saw several faces with expressions of anticipation, heard racing heartbeats and heavy breathing.

Good, they were as nervous as me then.

"Oh my god...." Nancy said, as I felt a shiver of panic run up my spine.

"No, no.... Sorry..." Nancy said, taking a step forward, waving her hands in surrender.

"Oh my god in a good way." She explained, before her face broke into a smile.

She was the first to embrace me tightly and I sighed with relief as I slowly wrapped my arms around her in response.

Next was Dustin, who swiftly elbowed Steve out of the way.

"Hey Henderson." I said, as he held me tight.

"Harrington." I announced and a coy smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Ness... Hey." He said, hugging me.

One by one, Lucas, Mike, Eleven, Will, Jonathan, Joyce and Robin all hugged me, and Eddie stood by, watching from a distance with a proud smile.

"This is totally surreal, I never thought that we'd be doing this now." Robin said, as Hopper appeared through the front door.

"Jesus, how many of you are in here?" He asked.

He was smiling though.

"Ed, can you and Dustin light the bbq outside, and get the chairs from the outhouse?" Hopper asked.

"Sure!" Dustin cried, before beaming at me.

"An occasion like this, calls for one hell of an evening cookout." Hopper said, turning to me.

"What dya say kid?" He asked me.

Nancy was by my side, looking at me expectantly.

"Please say yes." She said, reaching for my hand.

I let her take it, and she didn't flinch at the coldness and my slow beating heart thumped once in my chest.

"I'd love to." I said, as she squealed with excitement.

And as she ran outside, Hopper turned to me with a plate of steak and pulled a mug out of the microwave as it beeped to signify it was ready and handed both to me.

"Not ready for them to see that yet, right?" He asked, sensing I was anxious.

"Another day maybe?" I asked as he nodded.

"In your own time." He answered.

"I'll be out in a minute." I said with a small nod.

Eddie was patiently observing me, standing by the door.

"Hey.... You okay?" He asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah, not ready for them to see this part of it yet." I explained as he snaked an arm across my shoulders.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore with me. I don't see it like that, I see it as you're just eating normally like everyone else." He said.

"I know. I don't deserve you." I said, as he frowned.

"Above everyone else, you do deserve me. The same as I deserve you." He said.

And on that statement, he waited patiently until I was finished and we walked outside together, united.

*****************************************
By the end of the cook out there were tears, but out of relief, from everyone around me.

It was almost as if the shock and excitement had worn off and they were finally understanding and remembering that at one time, they'd all been grieving my death. It was confusing, and I understood that.

I wasn't sure of my purpose, not at all. I still hadn't got an answer as to why I'd woken up or what exactly I was doing here. I was just trying to find a normal that worked for me.

"I still can't believe it." Joyce said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong, I am so glad." She added, hurriedly as I nodded.

"No, I understand that." I said, with a small smile.

"It can't have been easy for you." She said.

"I didn't think I'd be sitting here now, with all of you." I said, as Hopper eyed me carefully.

"You don't have to say anything more, kid. It's okay." He said.

"No, I should be honest about this." I said, deciding it was finally time.

I knew Eddie would likely be hurt, or upset but I wanted to be fully transparent on how I'd come to this point.

I wanted to be clear on what I'd processed to still be sitting here, enjoying their company.

"When I realised what I was, and what that was going to look and be like for me..... how it would be for all of you, if you ever found out, I wasn't sure that I could honestly do it." I said.

"And when Hopper found me after three days, I was firmly set on one option and one option alone." I continued.

I saw Eddie shift uncomfortably in his chair, his eyes focused on me, and me only.

I took a shaky deep breath and closed my eyes, mentally preparing myself.

I opened them again and I felt myself tense.

"I was going to walk out into the sun." I said.

"But that would have killed you?" Steve said.

"And that would have been precisely the point." I said.

"I knew if any of you found out, and I hadn't made my mind up about what I wanted to do or what option I'd chosen, that choice would be far more difficult and you'd have been saying goodbye to me for a second time. So I stayed away, I stayed secret until I'd made that decision. And if I was going to end it, it would have been okay because none of you would never have known I'd come back." I continued.

"You were going to kill yourself." Eddie said, through a clenched jaw.

"None of you would have to go through that a second time. Most of all, you." I said, to Eddie.

I saw him rub his face, the horror and the frustration evident in his expression.

"So tell me something..." he said, rather abruptly I noticed.

"When we accidentally found you here, had you decided by then?" He asked.

"No." I answered truthfully.

"You stood out from behind the sofa and we both saw you. And you hadn't decided if you were sticking around?" He asked, apparently wanting to be crystal clear.

"You were scared, you were both terrified. I just thought if you both saw that it was me, and that I wasn't going to hurt you, you'd be okay. Maybe you'd think you'd seen wrong. But I hadn't decided at that point." I admitted.

"So at that point you were still considering suicide?" He asked.

"Strongly, yes." I admitted.

"You didn't anticipate that after I'd seen you, I wouldn't be curious and want to come back here to check or be sure?" He asked.

"A part of me did." I answered.

"So I would have felt that all over again." He said.

"I didn't plan on you seeing me do it." I retorted.

"I still saw you. That would have been painful enough." Eddie remarked, sharply.

The remainder of the group were fighting with themselves and I could see it.

"You really wanted to end it?" Robin asked.

"For a while I did." I answered.

"How do you feel now?" Joyce asked.

"I feel like I want to stay." I said.

"Oh well it's a good job then." Eddie said, sarcastically.

"I didn't know how any of you would take this. Definitely not you. I wasn't sure if I'd traumatise you further or if you'd accept it. How was I to know you'd be so accommodating and accepting and still want to be with me? I was dead." I said.

"Because you know me." He said, with great emphasis.

"I felt I'd be asking too much. I'd be asking you to be with me, and then the days of your life would suddenly become nights. You'd be with me, but it would always have to be in the dark. I felt that way, until Hopper told me that there isn't just romance in the sun, there's romance in the darkness too. I needed someone to show me that there was a way, a way I couldn't see myself." I said.

"I needed to realise that there is still so much I could do... we could do." I added.

I saw Eddie's face fall, and his body relaxed.
I could see the remorse.

"We understand." Nancy said.

"Yeah, I think we take it for granted. It's only when we can't do something anymore that we realise how much we miss it." Robin added.

"I wasn't expecting you all to be so understanding." I said.

"We've seen a lot of impossible things. This is just another one of those things, and it's okay. In whatever shape or form, and for whatever reason, you're back here with us." Joyce said, smiling fondly at me.

Eddie I noticed though, hadn't said much since.

"You're different, I'm different. I wouldn't have judged." Eleven said.

"It's okay kid, we're here." Hopper added.

I choked out a small sob, and to my surprise it wasn't Eddie who comforted me.

It was Will.

"I'm different too. I know that, and it's okay. Vecna chose me because I was like him and I'm learning to live with that. You can learn to live with this too." He said, embracing me tightly.

Will released me and Eddie rose to his feet.

Saying nothing, he crossed the grass in four long strides before he reached and he immediately took my face in his beautifully, calloused hands.

"I don't care if my days become nights, I prefer the night time anyway. It's quiet, it's peaceful and the world stops if you listen every once in a while. There is beauty in the darkness. Because you're in it. Don't you dare go walking out into the day, stay with me." Eddie said, staring deep into my eyes.

I knew he meant every syllable.

"Stay with me." He pleaded.

"I love you. You're the one for me sweetheart." He added.

I heard a series of sighs of approval, and one particular statement from Steve.

"If you don't kiss him, I will." He declared.

Happy tears fell from my eyes and I laughed my way through them, watching Eddie's face break into a smile.

"What will it be, Ness?" Eddie asked.

I answered with a kiss.

It was a yes.

Unequivocally yes.

*************************************
Later on that night, Hopper stayed at his house and left us both at the shack, to spend some time together.

And as I sat down on my bed, Eddie knelt down at my bare feet, and his hands ran from my toes up to the hem of my dress, before his eyes met mine for my consent.

I parted my legs slightly and he leaned up off his knees, his hands sliding under the hem of my dress, his hands stroking my thighs.

He pressed himself in between my legs and his face came level with mine as his lips covered mine.

Hungrily, I grabbed two eager fistfuls of his T-shirt and held him to me, his hands weaving into my hair, as he kissed me deeply.

"What is this that I'm feeling?" I whispered hurriedly against his parted lips.

"Describe it to me." He whispered back, his eyes closed like mine.

"A rush. It's like.... It's like my blood is alive, and vibrating. And there's this heat.... It's rising from my toes and swirling around my stomach..... I feel like I just want you to devour me whole.... I can barely breathe or think or... or speak...." I whispered as he chuckled against my lips.

"It's arousal baby girl..... did you forget what it feels like?" He asked, his hands tracing the hem of my underwear.

"No, I don't think I forgot.... I just haven't felt it for so long." I said, a soft moan escaping my lips as his hands slid down to grip my buttocks.

"And because I'm more vampiry, maybe..." I said, smiling against his lips.

He kissed me and I was sure I melted.

I was feeling this deeper than I think I ever had, and it was taking everything in me not to rip him apart out of pure need for him and desire.

"Definitely vampiry...." He whispered, with a chuckle when my nails dug  into his shoulders.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered hurriedly.

"Don't be." He said, kissing me.

"I like it...." He added, his eyes now open, staring into mine.

His hands stopped at my hips and he searched my face with his eyes.

"I understand if you don't want me to see. But you're beautiful to me, you always will be. Scars or not." He whispered as I slowly raised my arms, either side of my head.

He bunched my dress up in his hands and pulled it over my head, as my hands reached for his T-shirt.

I pulled it over his head, and my hands eagerly explored his bare chest, as he watched my entire body vibrate with anticipation.

"You are beautiful, baby...." He whispered, as we both climbed onto the bed.

I lay underneath him, my long hair fanned out against the sheets like a raven halo, my hands running up his arms slowly.

He leaned down, kissing in between my breasts and his lips on my skin sent fire coursing through me.

"It feels different because everything is heightened for you." He whispered, looking up at me.

"You're feeling it in its purest form." He whispered.

"Don't make me wait any longer." I whispered hurriedly as he gently slid my underwear down my legs.

I leaned up to let him reach around and I clip my bra which he peeled effortlessly off me.

He lowered his lips to my navel, finally seeing my scars and he kissed my stomach tenderly.

He kissed every single scar.

He kissed the inside of my thighs, before I felt his breath in between my legs and his tongue gently pressed against my centre.

And from then I was overcome with sheer, sexual bliss.

And all I could hear was my deep, heavy breaths in between desperate moans.

His hands gripped my hips, holding me in place under his mouth and when I lifted my head to look at him, his eyes were already staring back at me.

It was hot.
It was driving me wild.

And he was relishing watching me writhe underneath him.

I felt a surge of pleasure wash over me like a warm tide on a summers day and he encouraged my climax.

"Give it to me baby girl..." he whispered and suddenly I was lost.

I was lost. And I was undone.

Completely undone.

He slid along my body, and he effortlessly glided inside me and for a moment he just paused to stare down at me.

"I've missed you so much, baby." He whispered.

I cradled his head in my hands and nuzzled my nose against his.

"I've missed you too." I whispered back.

"Make love to me...." I continued, as he ground his hips against mine gently.

My head tilted back as he watched me react to his touch, to the grinding of his hips and he started to thrust slowly in and out of me.

This felt as new to me as it felt familiar.
Everything seemed like it was in HD.

I could hear my own heart, as it beat slowly and I could hear his heart racing, his arousal growing.

Every time he touched me, was electric.
His hand gently gripped my throat and I felt the instinctive, primal urge take over me.

I leaned up and swiftly rolled him under me, straddling him.

"This is new." He said, surprised and breathless.

"Vampire thing." I said, as his hands reached for my hips, gripping them and I placed my palms on his chest.

"I like it." He said, with a broad grin.

That grin became an O shape as I ground my hips and he immediately moaned.

"Oh god....." he whispered.

And as I started to ride him, I watched him lose himself in the pleasure, that was all from my own doing.

I could hear him reaching his peak, feeling my second intensify and there was a series of loud cries from the both of us as we climaxed together in a deliciously loud fashion.

We lay together in a momentary silence, and I watched him toy with my hand, feeling calm for the first time in a long time.

"How did it feel?" He asked me, his eyes on our hands as they toyed together.

"Familiar but new at the same time." I said.

"It felt like it always did, but I could feel so much more." I added.

"Your heart beat twice in four minutes." He said, with a smile.

"I felt it." He added.

"Did I feel different?" I asked.

"No. You felt like you always have done. But when you flipped me over like that, it felt amazing. Watching you be all primal and dominating..... you can do that again." He said, as we both chuckled softly.

"Vampire thing or not, don't stop." He continued.

"It was wonderful." I said, dreamily.

"You're tired." He noted, as I realised my eyes were heavy and I was yawning.

"This is usually the part where I stay awake." I said, with a frown.

"Don't fight it baby girl. Let's fall asleep and hold each other until the morning." He said, as we nestled under the covers and his arms enveloped me. He curled up around me, and I tucked myself in, my back against his chest.

"Goodnight...." I mumbled as sleep washed over me.

"Goodnight sweetheart..." I heard him whisper, sounding equally as sleepy.

And we slept the whole night through.

************************************
"Since when are you up during the day?" Hopper asked when he called in the next day.

"For some reason I was tired last night and I slept." I said, with a shrug.

"You ready to pack?" He asked, as I hesitated.

"I was wondering if I could stay here?" I asked.

"Okay?" Hopper asked, as Eddie emerged from the bedroom.

"You've done more than enough for me, and I think I'd be okay here." I said.

"It'll need some serious renovating." He said.

"We can all pitch in with that." Eddie suggested.

"You going to be okay here alone?" He asked.

"She won't be alone, I'm gonna stay here too. If that's okay?" Eddie asked as I turned to him in surprise.

"We can use the money I've saved to do up the place." He said, as Hopper grinned.

"You're sure about this?" He asked us both.

"Yeah, I think it's best if I stay here." I said.

"With Eddie." I added.

"I'm gonna miss you kid, I've liked having you around." Hopper said, sighing.

"You've got your own life." I said.

"Can I still visit?" Hopper asked.

"I'd be pissed if you didn't." I said, as he laughed.

"Okay, okay. Me and Eddie will go to the hardware store this afternoon." Hopper said.

"I have a morning shift at the garage, but I finish at 3." Eddie said.

"Sounds good to me." Hopper said.

When they'd left, I swept the floors and tidied the kitchen, before feeling at a sudden loss of what to do with the time I currently had.

I'd usually be sleeping and it was alarming how I'd suddenly gotten so used to that. Before this, I'd have had plenty of ways to occupy myself, but now I didn't.

I settled on the sofa to watch some TV, as I heard some unknown activity outside and an alien scent filled my nose.

"Vanessa? Vanessa, are you in there?"

"Vanessa, it's Dr Sam Owens."

"I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to talk."

"Can I come inside?"

I rose to my feet and approached the door, straining my ears to listen.

"You're not alone." I said.

"No, I'm with another doctor. We just want to talk." He said.

"I can't open the door." I warned.

"What if we opened the door?" He asked.

"What do you want?" I asked, hesitant.

"We know you came through a gate. Sensors picked up the breach and well, we know there's nothing else out there now. Except for you, apparently. Listen, can I open the door and come inside?" He asked.

"Just you." I announced.

I'd met Dr Owens before.

"Okay kid, just me. I'm going to step inside now, alright?" He asked.

I stepped backwards until I was in the corner of the room, furthest away from the door as it opened, and Dr Owen's kind face appeared around it.

"Hey kid...." He said.

I didn't answer him, nor did I move.

He took a seat on the sofa, as I remained in the corner, gauging both his next move and his intentions.

"I just wanted to find out how you came back. Based on the information I was given, all evidence collected, you were pronounced dead." He said.

"So when that sensor detected a breach and I saw your unusually cold heat signature on the screen..... well, as a doctor that's fairly interesting." He continued.

"I was dead." I said.

"And you came back?" He asked.

"I'm here aren't I?" I asked.

"Has there been any changes?" He asked.

"Look around you Sam. There's not an ounce of light in this room, you can barely see me. I can't open the door because of the light. Of course there's been changes." I said, annoyed.

"Photosensitivity, got it. Anything else?" He asked.

"Just that every day I eat raw meat and drink a pint of B positive." I added, with sarcasm.

"Dietary changes, noted. Anything else?" He asked, calmly.

"Heightened senses. Smell, taste, emotion, touch, sight." I reeled off.

"This has all happened since the bat bites?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"I'd like to run some tests." He announced.

"Why?" I asked, immediately defensive.

"If there was a cure, would you be interested?" He asked.

"I can't afford for you to get my hopes up like that." I said, shaking my head.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." He reasoned.

"I don't trust any of you." I announced.

"Oh that is very clear, trust me. I know you don't. But I'm here as the first try." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm what stands between you coming in voluntarily for testing, and another doctor coming here and taking you by force." Dr Owens said.

"So is this blackmail or a genuine offer?" I asked.

"A genuine offer of doing this as humanely as possible. My hands are tied, kid. They're still operating and they're still in charge." He said.

"If you come with me, the chances are there won't be force. If you cooperate, this way is the easiest." He said.

"And you'll let me go after?" I asked.

"That could be arranged." He said.

"Could or will be?" I asked.

"Could." He answered, truthfully.

"There's a chance that if I go, I won't ever come back here." I mused, as he sighed.

"Listen, come with me and let them do their tests. I'll see if I can synthesise some kind of cure. If it's possible that I can do that, they would have no reason to make you stay." He said.

"And if there isn't a cure?" I asked.

"Then I'll try my best to get you out of there." He said.

"I'm not coming with you." I decided.

"I mean it when I say there will be force." He said.

"Oh I believe you." I answered.

"I don't want to do this kid." Sam said.

"But you are, and that's the part that isn't sitting right with me. You can't confidently say that there is a cure. And there isn't necessarily a chance that you could get me out or that I'd ever leave there afterwards. So I'm not going anywhere with you." I said.

"Vanessa...." He said, as my eyes darted to the door.

"There's more than one doctor waiting outside, isn't there?" I asked.

"Yes." He said, sadly.

"You weren't here to be the first try. You're a distraction aren't you?" I asked.

"You were just here to get inside. So you could let them in." I said, my eyes widening.

"I'm sorry kid....." He said, bowing his head.

And that's when the door suddenly burst open and several doctors rushed in, in hazmat suits.

The sunlight poured into the room and I pressed further against the wall to avoid it.

They barrelled towards me and I felt the rage consume me.

I felt my teeth bare and I prepared to defend myself.

Poke a bear when it's cornered and it's guaranteed to fight back.

And that's exactly what happened.

The first one to reach me, I adequately and swiftly snapped his neck.

The second to reach me, I drove my fist hard through his chest. Blood splashed up my face and I felt drops hit my tongue and the back of my throat.

Instinctively I swallowed and it was like all sound was swallowed up into a vacuum.

The third to reach me was a little more reluctant, but I was enraged nonetheless. And now a little wired on fresh, human blood.

I launched myself at him, wrapping my legs around his waist as I gripped the back of his mask.

I sank my teeth into his neck through his suit and he crumpled to the floor in a heap. To prove my point, the one I had to make, I stamped down hard on his neck.

He didn't get up after that.

Then came the last, armed with a cattle prod, and he jabbed me hard in the chest, sending me hurtling back.

Incensed, I opened my mouth and screamed.

Screamed so loud, his head burst open, off his shoulders.

Blood splattered across the walls, over me and all over the floor.

Dr Owens, was still sitting calmly on the sofa.

I stared at his blood drenched frame, and his head slowly turned towards me until his eyes locked with mine.

"Why are you still here?" I asked, standing before him, head to toe in blood.

"I told you, I didn't want to have to do it this way." He said.

"I'm still not coming with you." I argued.

"Oh you've made that abundantly clear, kiddo." He replied, motioning to the bodies on the floor.

"Just not to me."

A tall man, with grey hair, wearing a sharp suit was standing by the door, his hands in his pockets.

"No..." I said, unable to believe it.

"You were shot, you died..." I continued.

"I almost died. But here I am. This is extraordinary." He said, admiring the scene in front of him.

"This didn't need to happen." I corrected.

"But it did. And it's remarkable." He said.

"Dr Owens if you will." He said.

"I don't know about this Brenner. If she doesn't want to go, she shouldn't have to." Sam said.

"If you will." Brenner repeated.

Noticeably reluctant, Sam withdrew a canister from his pocket and I gasped loudly.

"No please don't...." I begged.

"I'm sorry kid." Dr Owens said, before pulling the pin.

The flash went off, and artificial sunlight flooded the room.

I heard my skin sizzle as I was roughly grabbed by more hazmat suits and dragged towards the door.

"No! No! I can't go out there!" I cried, crying out in pain.

"She can't go out in sunlight." Sam shouted.

"Tom, bring the van closer." Brenner ordered as I felt my legs give out from underneath me.

I heard the crash as the van drove through the shack, the house bursting open and I was thrown carelessly into the back of it.

"Is this really necessary?" Dr Owens asked, crouched over me.

"We tried your way." Brenner said.

"I told you, this was to be her choice." Dr Owens snapped.

"Take her to the facility." Brenner ordered.

"Don't let him do this." I begged.

"She needs medical attention." Dr Owens said.

"And she'll get it." Brenner said, before closing the van doors.

Engulfing me and Dr Owens in complete darkness.

**********************************
"Listen kid, I want to try and synthesise some kind of cure for you. Brenner told me that's what he wanted. I'm not so sure that's the case anymore." Dr Owens whispered as I whimpered in pain.

I knew that most of my body was burned, and burned badly.

I also knew I'd heal, but that was looking likely to take hours.

The pain was excruciating.

"What does he want?" I asked.

"I don't know. You have to trust me, I'll find a way out of this." Dr Owens said.

"I just want to be with Eddie." I said, crying.

"I know kid, I know." Dr Owens said.

The van pulled to a screeching halt, and the doors opened on us shortly after.

Fortunately, Dr Owens had covered me with a blanket during the journey. But I could still feel the heat of the early evening sun through the fabric.

"How many god damn times! She can't be exposed to sunlight. Photosensitivity! Get with the fucking program and do it fast." Dr Owens shouted, angrily.

"How do we get her inside Sir?"

"Get medical out here. She needs tending to. By then the sun should have gone down and she can get inside." Dr Owens ordered.

***************************************
Eddies POV.

I clocked off at 3 and met Hopper at the hardware store.

We gathered what we needed and there was light conversation on the truck ride over to the shack.

Light conversation that ground to an immediate halt, along with the truck when we both saw the shack.

The shack with a giant hole blown through it.

"Jesus Christ!" Hopper cried as we both clambered out.

"Oh god! Ness! Ness!" I shouted, climbing over pieces of splintered wood to get inside.

"There's blood everywhere." I said, Hopper behind me.

"Ness?" Hopper called.

"She's not in here." I said, panicking.

"But... there's four bodies...." I continued, horrified.

"Wearing hazmat suits." Hopper said, breathing heavily.

"Call the others." Hopper demanded, running out to his car.

"728652 this is Hopper. We have a suspected kidnapping...."

And then he trailed off.

"I can't report it." He said, realising.

"Receiving you Hop, suspected kidnapping in what area?" The voice on the radio replied.

"Sorry, I got it wrong. No worries Jerry." He said, before throwing the receiver back into his car, angrily.

"FUCK!!!" He cried out in frustration.

"Hop, what do we do?!" I asked, panicking.

"We need El. Come on! Let's go." Hopper said, climbing into his truck.

Of course.
Eleven could search for her.

I could feel myself going out of my mind, as I climbed into the truck. I was lost in my own thoughts as Hopper roughly pulled out of the driveway, and veered out into the road.

Where was she?!

***********************************
I woke up a while later, and I'd been dressed in a hospital gown, and I was clean. My hands were bandaged and I could feel gauze on my face and neck.

Burn gauzes.

"Ah you're awake."

Dr Brenner.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

"I want you to tell me exactly what happened." He said.

"What exactly?" I asked.

"What happened, your death, how you came back." He said.

"Why should I tell you anything?" I asked.

"It wasn't my plan to take you by force. I wanted you to come peacefully and willingly." He said.

"I didn't want to come here. I said that enough times." I argued.

"Because it's in your best interests." He said.

"None of this is in my best interests." I said.

"I want to help you, Vanessa." Brenner said, sighing.

"Like you helped Henry? Like you helped Eleven?" I asked.

"You used Eleven to seek out the gates. The gates to the upside down. You used her to find Henry. You couldn't control either of them." I said.

"Don't you want to know if there's a cure?" He asked me, tilting his head in question.

"What I want is to go home." I said, through gritted teeth.

"That's not possible right now." He said.

"You don't want to cure me." I said.

"Dr Owens does. I want to help you." Brenner said.

"Help me with what?" I asked.

"You've shown that you have strength, you have power. Power that I can teach you to control." Brenner said.

"I don't need to control it. I can control it. I haven't fed off a living thing since I turned. I don't have urges, I don't want to hurt or kill anyone or anything. I'm not a danger." I argued.

"You killed four of my men." Brenner argued.

"Self defence." I retorted.

"It was an example of loss of control." Brenner corrected.

"That's not how it was. Let me go." I demanded.

"You're not ready." He said, rising to his feet.

I went to stand up, to find that I was chained to the bed by my ankle.

"You can't keep me here." I said, immediately panicked.

"Dr Owens thinks he's going to run his tests. But instead, we're going to have daily lessons where we learn to wield your powers and control them." He instructed as I shook my head.

"You can't do this." I said.

"You came through an inactive gate, from another world. You were killed there by the monsters and you came back. You can't be exposed to sunlight, your diet consists of blood and raw meat, and you're a newly born predator. For that very reason, I can do this." He said, as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

***************************************
"She was taken." I said, pacing Joyce's living room.

I was sure I was going to burn a hole in the carpet, I was pacing so much but I was beside myself.

"Someone or something blew the shack apart, there was blood everywhere and no sign of her." I continued.

"Her blood?" Joyce asked, horrified.

"There were.... There were bodies." I said, trembling.

"They were wearing hazmat suits." Hopper noted.

"Scientists." Joyce said.

"Possibly." Hopper said.

"So it's possible that they tried to take her and she defended herself." Mike suggested.

"One was bit." I said.

"There was a flash canister on the floor, they stunned her." Hopper said.

"I saw the label. It was artificial sunlight." I said, as it all seemed to piece together.

"They broke in, tried to take her, she defended herself and to stop her, they let the canister off, which would have stunned her and then whoever it was took her." Nancy deduced.

"It would have injured her too." Mike said.

"Where would they take her?" Steve asked.

"Who would take her?" Dustin asked.

"Dr Owens. He was there. I saw it." Eleven said, removing the bandana from around her eyes.

"Dr Owens?" Joyce asked, surprised.

"She let him in. She trusted him, she didn't trust the others waiting outside. He told her he wanted to try and find a cure for her.... But that she had to leave." Eleven said.

"Then what happened?" I asked, biting my nails feverishly.

I was nervous and terrified.

"He couldn't guarantee that she'd be free to go after, so she refused. That's when the suits came in. She fought them off." Eleven said.

"And then Papa was there." Eleven added.

"How? He was shot? He's dead?" Steve asked, as Eleven shook her head gravely.

"He's alive. He ordered Owens to set the canister. It hurt her..... a van drove into the shack and she was taken." Eleven said.

"She's injured?" I asked, beside myself.

"Burned." Eleven confirmed.

"Where have they taken her?" Hopper asked.

"To a facility. Around 40 miles from here. Owens was telling the truth, he does want to find a cure for her. Brenner tricked him. He said he wanted to find a cure too. But he was lying. And Papa doesn't always tell the truth." Eleven said.

"We have to go there." I said, as though it was our only obvious move.

"We will kid, but we've got to be smart about this." Hopper said, squeezing my shoulder.

"He wants to use her." Eleven said.

There was clearly more to this.

"Use her for what?" I asked.

"I don't know. That's all I saw. But she was scared, she's chained to a bed and she can't get out." Eleven said.

"We need a plan." I demanded, as Joyce eyed me carefully.

"And we'll make one. We go there and we get her out." Joyce said, determined.

"We need to think about this." Hopper said.

"What is there to think about?" Joyce asked, exasperated.

"I don't know, getting in and out alive, maybe?" Hopper asked angrily.

"She's alone there. She needs us." Dustin said.

"I can't lose her again, Hop." I whispered, as I held myself.

I felt Henderson hug me from behind and squeeze me tight.

"She's strong, and she's brave. She'll fight." He said, as Steve gave me a nod of respect.

"We're getting her back. Tonight." He said.

***************************************
It had been hours.

Hours and nobody had come around since Brenner had locked me in this room.

I was sitting in the middle of the bed, holding my knees to my chest, my head buried as I tried to rationalise what was happening around me.

They had to have been watching me, watching us.
To find out who'd come through the gate.

And when they'd seen all they needed to, seen that I walked at night and slept during the day, they'd hitched a plan to take me.

I heard the door click open and the scent of Dr Owens filled my nose, but I didn't look up.

"For the record, had I caught a whisper that he wasn't reading from the same hymn sheet as me, I wouldn't have come to find you. We'd observed your activity.... I had observed you, and I wanted to help you. Help you achieve the normal life you obviously want. I really believed you deserved that. I still do. Brenner trumps me in a lot of ways though and like I said, my hands are tied." He said, with a heavy sigh.

"You know right from wrong Dr Owens." I noted.

"That I do kid, that I do. I know this is wrong. But I still want to help. I just need one blood sample and I can try to find a cure for this. If it works, you could have the normal life you want." Owens said.

"Brenner isn't going to let you do that." I said, lifting my head slightly.

"I have a syringe in my pocket and a test tube. I only ask for one sample." Owens said.

"And if I give that to you?" I asked, not looking at him.

"I'll do the tests I need to. If I remember your friends as well as I think I do, they'll already be on their way here. Jane will have been able to see what happened and find where you are. After all that was always her intended purpose. To find things." Owens said.

"Gates." I answered.

"And people." Owens added.

"She'll be able to find you." He continued.

"And what then?" I asked.

"You fight. You get out of here." He said.

"And you?" I asked.

"I'll find you." He said, as I outstretched my arm in response.

"Take it." I said.

"For what it's worth.... I'm sorry." He said, as I winced.

I watched the needle pierce my vein and the tube started to fill with blood.

When the tube was full, he removed the needle and placed a cotton ball over the puncture site and held it there for a few moments.

I felt the dull ache in my arm, as he sighed.

"All in the name of science though right?" I asked.

"I never signed up for science that's executed this way. With brute force and no room for choice. I came to you, for my reasons. Reasons I thought he shared with me. Sure it would be a breakthrough for us, in the name of science like you put it, to cure you of this. But even someone as scientifically driven as me, can forget what a person like Brenner is like. He's convincing, he's clever and he's cunning. But like the rest of us, he has his flaws. He doesn't like failure. Jane was his biggest failure, Henry too. My guess is that he thinks Henry is still out there and you'd be able to find him." Owens said.

"He's gone." I said.

"We know that. But that's one of his flaws too. The inability to accept what's staring him in the face." Owens said, tucking my blood sample safely in his pocket.

"He's due to come here, so I should go." He added.

"Do you think my friends are coming for me?" I asked him as he came to a stop in the open doorway.

He tossed something to me, and I caught it with cat-like reflexes which seemed to both alarm and impress him at the same time.

It was the key to the ankle chain.

"Kid, I'm counting on it." He said, with certainty.

****************************************
Lesson one with Brenner, consisted of persistent goading, making me angry and the punishment for retaliating was a painful shock from the shock collar he'd forcefully clamped around my neck.

I knew what he wanted to see, even if it was disguised as trying to get me to remain calm. He wanted to see the vampire in its full form. He didn't want to see glimmers, he wanted to see it all.

My only weakness was Eddie.
Something he'd already anticipated.

And so after several hours of talking about Eddie, the life I wanted but wouldn't have, that I had another purpose, I was better off here, and a series of sharp, painful shocks from the collar, I finally snapped.

This was what I never wanted Eddie to see.
I'd been pushing this down for so long.

My skin turned to black, fingernails turned to talons.
My teeth were elongated and sharp.

Words turned to loud, guttural snarls.
Defined muscles replaced the feminine curves of my body.

My eyes, usually dark, now ice blue.

No longer Vanessa, now a creature.

A killer.

I couldn't hear my own thoughts or sense the person I was.

She was pushed right down, clawing to get out.

And when she seemed to reach up, another shock from the collar sent her sinking back down.

She was lost.

I don't remember much after that.

****************************************
When we reached the facility, the emergency sirens were already sounding, and there were screams in the night air.

Human screams.
And something else's screams.

"Eleven, can you see anything?" I asked, as we stood outside, armed and ready.

"She's angry. And she's in pain." Eleven said, her eyes closed.

"We need to get in there." I said, as Hopper nodded gravely.

And as we reached the doors, a familiar face was already opening them for us.

"WHERE is she?" I demanded, forcing him up against the open doors the collar of his shirt.

"She's inside. But she's turned." Dr Owens said.

"You never should have brought her here." I snarled.

"I wanted to try and find a cure for her. I can still try." He choked out.

"Eddie, let him go." Eleven said, her hand on my arm.

"He's telling the truth." She added.

"He's not important right now, Eddie. Finding Vanessa, is." Steve said.

"Let him go, Ed." Dustin said, softly.

Reluctantly, I released him and he clutched his neck, wincing.

"That's a strong hold you've got there, kid." He said, his voice strained.

Without answering him, I barged past him inside the facility and we raced down hallways and corridors, following the carnage and the animal sounding screams.

Eleven stopped outside a pair of doors, and she tensed.

"She's in there, with Papa." Eleven said.

The shrieks of rage we'd heard on the way inside, now sounded like whimpers, similar to an injured animal and I was crushing to hear.

And then a human voice.

"Please.... Please stop."

It was her.

************************************
There were bodies all around me.
There was blood, so much blood.

Brenner had me cornered, the control device to the collar in his hand, as he turned the dial all the way to the highest notch and held the button as a prolonged and sustained shock was sent through my entire body.

The pain was excruciating and it made the monster in me all the more angry.

"Henry isn't out there..." I choked out.

"You came back. Maybe he did too." Brenner said.

"He can't come back." I said, as he pressed the button again.

I writhed on the floor, laced in sweat as my jaw clenched painfully from the shock.

"PAPA."

I knew that voice.

"All that was left of Henry was his hand and his left eye. He's gone."

I knew that voice, too.

The shocks stopped and I heard the collar click open.

It fell from around my neck, onto the floor beside me.

I turned my head to see Eleven holding Brenner, her other hand removing the collar from me.

I saw my friends all in the doorway, and Eddie suddenly crouched beside me.

"Baby girl, I'm here......" he whispered, as I started to cry from the sound of his voice.

"I'm a monster..." I said, through loud, heavy sobs and he enveloped me in his arms, pulling my body into his.

"You're my girl.... You'll always be my girl...." Eddie said, rocking me back and forth to console me.

"I did this...." I cried, his words failed to reach me.

"Hey.... Hey...." He soothed, as I shook my head.

"I shouldn't be here..... I shouldn't have come back....." I said, not listening.

And then suddenly he shook me by my shoulders, a little roughly.

"Hey... HEY!" He said, as my eyes locked with his, in surprise.

"You should have come back. Because I can't live without you. I was trying to but there was nothing that could help me. Nothing stopped the pain, nothing solved the anguish or grief. It was slowly killing me. You came back and you took all of that away. I told you, if my days are to be nights from now on, I don't care. I don't care because I'd be sharing those nights with you. You did do all of this, but because of him. He wanted to see how far the monster would go. But we've all seen it, we've all seen how much control you have. And you can have that control again. We know you didn't want this. Vanessa, he tortured you. No one blames you." Eddie said.

And so I didn't have to see any more death, or truly know what happened next, he scooped me up in his arms like a man carries his wife over the threshold, and he walked me out of the room, the halls, the facility itself and gently placed me in the back of Steve's car.

"We have to get you back soon, it'll be dawn soon." He said.

"I have nowhere to go." I whimpered.

"You do, you're coming home with me, kid."

Hopper.

He was leaning against the open car door, peering inside at me.

"Until you and Eddie have enough saved for a place of your own." He added, sincerely.

"Why?" I asked, as he chuckled softly, which surprised me.

"I told you Ness, I've liked having you around." Hopper said, as Eddie smiled down at me.

"You're not mad at me or afraid of me?" I asked.

"I'm proud of you." Hopper corrected.

"We all are." Joyce said, as one by one, they appeared at the car, smiling at me.

"Papa won't hurt you again." Eleven said.

That was all I needed to hear.

"Can we go home?" I asked, as Eddie held me close.

"Of course, I'll take you." Steve said, from the driver's seat.

He smiled, and started the engine.

"Let's all go home." Eddie said, kissing my head.

*****************************************
Two months later.

I'd settled back into the life I'd started to make with Eddie, and he was busy working at the garage, saving every penny he earned.

He was saving for a deposit, helping Wayne, and true to his word, he visited the farmers market once every two weeks, and came home armed with various cuts of meat for me.

I was still at Hoppers and he was still very much the protective father figure, just fussing over me a little more lately.

Eddie explained to me that he was doing that because he'd been scared of losing me.

"You're like a daughter to him." He'd said.

Hopper had been like a dad to me, he'd taken me in, helped me and let me stay. He'd put a roof over my head, and was continuing to do that.

We'd been on long walks at night, just me and Eddie together, and I was comfortable with finally talking about the future.

I'd finally accepted the concept of staying.
Staying with him.

Eddie had accepted me and everything I was, and wanted to share his life with me. He wanted forever and I did too.

I was conscious I'd potentially outlive him, but a little like being scared of your own mortality, I would think about it and soon forget about it.

We'd been to several late night movies, even had supper at the local diner and I'd even been to the mall when they'd introduced late night shopping.

I'd finally been around people, and had experienced the old normal I'd previously been used to.

The trips to the mall had proven useful, I was no longer wearing Hoppers old shirts. I had my own clothes now, enough to fill a wardrobe of my own.

Actual girls clothes.

T-shirts, pretty dresses, jeans, blouses and so on.

I'd proven to be a fairly decent hunter, and when the wildlife season was at its peak, I was supplying the town with deer and rabbit. I killed them conventionally of course, but the initial tracking of them was down to my vampiry senses, as Eddie referred to them now.

I'd been handsomely paid for my trophies, thanks to Hopper and his general word of mouth. I'd been able to put my own earnings towards the savings for a place of our own and I didn't feel as useless these days.

Some even said they'd offer a return custom every year, if it was something I would do each season.

"What's on the agenda today then, kids?" Hopper asked, as he sat at the table, eating his breakfast.

"I'm off today, managed to swing it with the old gaffer." Eddie said.

"I wish I had a day off." Hopper said, sighing.

"I always have a day off." I said, as we all chuckled softly.

"How come you're up anyways?" Hopper asked.

"I'm about to go to bed." I said, smiling weakly.

And I rose from the sofa, there was a knock on the door.

Eddie and Hopper were surprised when I didn't immediately tense. But I knew who it was.

"It's Dr Owens." I said, when they stared at me expectantly.

"I can tell him to go." Hopper suggested, immediately on the defence.

"He has something with him." I said.

"And he's alone." I added.

"Do you want to see him?" Eddie asked me.

"He's not here to hurt me." I said.

And with a final nod, Eddie crossed the room to the door and slowly opened it.

"Can I come in?" I heard Dr Owens ask.

Eddie wordlessly stepped aside, granting him the invitation and Dr Owens slipped past him, and his eyes immediately looked towards me.

"Hey kid." He said. There was a hint of remorse still in his voice, I noticed.

"What do you want?" Hopper asked, gruffly.
His hand was hovering over the gun in his holster.

"That wont be necessary." Dr Owens said, waving him off.

"I'm here, because I wanted to give you this." He said, producing a single syringe from his pocket.

"What is that?" Eddie asked.

"I did what I said I'd do. It took me a little while longer than I thought. But I've done it." He said.

"How?" I asked.

"I isolated the mutated genes in your blood, and synthesised a reversal cure." He said.

"Is it tested?" Eddie asked.

"It's been tested, yes. On tissue you left behind." He said to me.

"Tissue?" I asked.

"I found a sample of your tissue - skin if you will. From a burn injury you sustained to your arm. I tested the cure on it and subjected it to variations of UV light after 24 hours and it didn't react. It didn't burn." Dr Owens said.

"I've observed the sample over the last month and there has been no change. One dose. Just one dose that has been tested on your DNA and it's eradicated the mutation." Dr Owens said.

"Does she have to take it now or can she think about it?" Hopper asked.

"I'm only here to deliver it. The rest is your decision." He said to me.

"And if I wanted to?" I asked.

"Upper arm. Just so long as it's directly into tissue." He answered, understanding.

He smiled weakly and walked to the door.

"Don't say it, I know." I said, when he parted his lips to speak.

"You deserve to be able to walk in the sun like everybody else. Darkness can be beautiful, but we all need a little light in our lives. With that, you can get whatever light you used to have, back. You could get a job, go to college, see the world." Dr Owens said.

"See you around kid." He said, with a small smile.
He opened the door and I watched him walk through it and out to a government looking car.

It drove away from the house and for a moment the three of us just stared at each other.

"Dya think he was genuine?" Eddie asked me.

"Do you think that really is a cure?" Hopper asked.

"You both want me to take it don't you?" I asked, suspicious.

"I am happy to live whichever life you choose. Whether that's in the light or in the dark." Eddie said.

"If he's right though, you could have a normal life like the rest of us." Hopper said.

"The question is, do you want to take it?" Eddie asked.

"I think I need to sleep on it." I said, undecided.

If the cure for this had been given to me months ago, I'd have taken it without hesitation. I'd have jumped at the chance to turn back to how I was. But having grown accustomed to the hand that had been dealt to me, and watching everyone accept me for what I had become, that was making this a little hard to decide.

I think I'd made my peace with it, without realising I had.

I'd had Eddie all this time too, for better and for worse and that had made this second life worth living.

And so I slept that afternoon, and after a while, Eddie curled up next to me.

He read, he listened to music, he enveloped me in his arms, slept for a while himself and woke up with me as the sun was going down.

"Can we take a walk?" I asked, as I climbed out of bed.

Eddie was a little groggy and needed more time to wake up.

"Yeah, I just need a minute." He said, stretching.

"Human thing, Yano." He added, with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, and went downstairs to the living room, where there was a note folded neatly next to the syringe that Dr Owens had left.

I sat down on the sofa, I unfolded the note and recognised the handwriting immediately.

'Vanessa,

I know that you've probably made your peace with what you are, and if you want to continue living through the nights rather than the days, then I'll give up the days I have, for all the nights I can have with you.

But the syringe on the coffee table is a chance for you to get your old life back, and we were happy then weren't we? We were wondering what we were going to be doing after graduation, and then wondering what life would look like after Vecna, but what mattered was we were wondering all of those things together.

Whether it be by daylight or starlight, we're together.
We will always be together.

So here is my proposal.
Take the cure, and spend both your days AND nights with me.
We live our lives, have a couple of kids, grow old and die together.

Or, don't take it.
We'll live together under a blanket of stars and I will love you until I'm old and grey and you're still as youthful as ever.

I'll love you, whatever you decide.
You came back to me and that is all I ever wanted.

We've gotten to this point, and we've managed perfectly.
We've managed it together. I'll love you as both a human or vampire.

Yours eternally,
Eddie.'

"You ready for that walk?" He said, at the bottom of the stairs.

"I am." I said, placing the letter down on the coffee table.

I walked over to him, and wrapped my arms around him, burying my face into his chest.

"I am so in love with you." I said, my voice muffled against his T-shirt.

"You read my letter." He said, sounding amused.

"I did." I said, as I released him.

"I love you." He whispered, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Let's go." He said, smiling.

***********************************
A short while later, we were sitting together on the bench, in our old spot, at school.

This time was different; I wasn't hiding behind a tree having murderous thoughts about Chrissy Cunningham and Eddie wasn't distraught and grieving me.

We were sitting together, laughing and joking about anything and nothing.

Until I shrugged out of my jacket and placed the syringe on the bench in front of us.

"You're sure?" Eddie said, with wide eyes.

"I choose option one." I confirmed.

Before he could answer, I flicked the cap off the top of the needle and sunk it into my arm.

And then we waited.

Nothing happened for a good while, until my skin started to suddenly feel warm.

I outstretched my hands and arms, watching the pale, almost grey skin start to turn flesh pink.

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, and my breath caught in my chest as my heart started to beat more frequently.

"Oh my god...." Eddie said, his mouth open with shock.

"What?" I asked.

"You're flushed in the face.....it's working." He said, in awe.

"My heart...... it's beating properly again." I said, as Eddie clambered around to my side of the bench, taking my hands in his.

My warm hands.

"Baby girl.... You're coming back to me." He whispered.

He stared into my eyes and I watched his own glaze over with tears.

"Your eyes...." He said, his voice hushed.

I felt the heat flood around my body as his hands tentatively reached for me, stroking my hair, my hands, my face.

Like he was seeing me for the first time, all over again.

"Sweetheart.... Your eyes are blue...." He whispered.

"I feel warm. Feel my heart." I said, placing one of his hands on my chest, and he smiled broadly as he heard it racing.

"Oh Vanessa...." He said, sighing.

"I don't know what I did in a former life to deserve this second chance with you." He continued, practically gushing.

"It's what you did in this life." I said.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Everything you've done for me, with me, accepted me. Helped me. Prepared to give so much up for me. You deserve this for what you did in this lifetime." I said.

"You deserve this too." He answered.

And as the change fully took effect, there were only two things in the end that remained.

My hair, and my scars.

My hair was still as long, and just as raven black.
My scars too were still there.

"You're beautiful, Ness." Eddie whispered, taking my newly blushing face in his hands.

"I love you." I said, as his lips covered mine.

He kissed me softly at first, but they soon became urgent and deeper as he pulled me onto his lap.

His hands ran up and down my back, and his touch was as urgent as his lips.

"Eddie.... Eddie, we can't." I whispered.

"We can..." he whispered back.

"What if someone sees?" I asked, giggling as his lips kissed my neck.

"No one comes here since the day you snuck up on me and Chrissy. They think some kind of wild animal is hanging around here." He said, chuckling softly.

I blushed again and he found this very amusing.

"I just need you, I can't help it." He said.

I leaned up from his lap and his hands ran under my dress, sliding my underwear down my legs.

His hands fumbled with his jeans, and I waited patiently before lowering myself onto him and we gasped in unison.

A soft moan escaped my lips and my head tilted back, the pleasure already washing over me.

"There's a chance you know...." I whispered as he laughed against my neck.

"There is. But princess, you did choose option one." He whispered back, knowing exactly what I meant.

****************************************
11 months later.

I walked out into the field, across from our house to look for my two favourite boys. The sun was shining and it was warm on my face as I sighed softly.

I had been right, there had been a chance.
There was a chance.

Around a month after that night, I'd stood over a blue and white stick that eventually blinked one word in block capitals.

'PREGNANT.'

And he had been right, I had chosen option one.

And all that had come with it.

So, we'd both worked hard in our jobs, accompanied with hunting season, another feature that hadn't quite left me and my deer and rabbit saw us through enough, to get us a lovely house, near the Wheelers.

During my pregnancy, Eddie had been perfect all the way through, from the first trimester through to delivery.

And when his son had been born, he'd burst into the waiting room, filled with our friends who were anxiously waiting and had happily declared

"GUYS! HES HERE! BABY MUNSON IS HERE! I'M A DADDY!"

It hadn't been hard to hear him, really.
He'd been loud enough to tell the whole world.

I absolutely had zero regrets.
And he'd been so excited to be a father.

He was still excited and he was the perfect partner and daddy. It had been the greatest honour to watch him look so forward to fatherhood.

And to watch him blossom every day as one.

Most days in the lead up to the arrival of Theodore (Teddy) Samuel Munson, he'd practically been bursting at the seams.

My eyes fell on my guy, lying casually in the field, propped up on an elbow as our son lay on a blanket beside him.

And when I reached the both, my smile was wide; so wide, it practically pained my cheeks.

"Close your eyes.... Have no fear.... The monsters gone, he's on the run and your daddy's here..." I heard Eddie sing.

And when I reached them both, sitting beside Eddie, I sang the next line.

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.... Beautiful boy..."

"Hey baby boy...." I whispered, as Eddie wrapped an arm around me.

"He was a little fussy earlier, so I brought him here for some fresh air. But I think he just missed and wanted his mommy." Eddie said, with a smile.

"He was just fine with his daddy from what I saw..." I said, smiling down at the cherubic face with my blue eyes and Eddie's curls.

"You're good aren't you, little Teddy Munson?" Eddie cooed, taking his tiny fingers in his.

"He is." I answered, as I settled against Eddie's chest, sighing softly.

"Before you go to sleep.... Say a little prayer.....every day, in every way it's getting better and better...." I sang down to Teddy, as Eddie planted a soft kiss on my arm.

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy....." Eddie sang, his breath on my skin.

"Option one was the only option." I said, feeling him smile against my skin.

"And it just keeps getting better, baby girl." Eddie replied.

He kissed my temple softly and I sighed, completely content and happy.

"When are we having another one then?" He asked, as I chuckled softly.

"Ed, we do have our whole lives ahead of us..." I said, with a smile.

"Absolutely we do, sweetheart." He replied, with a satisfied sigh.

THE END.