The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

5

Everything was dark. It had a dark aura and deep foggy mist to it, like what outside would look like at midnight out in the country. There was nothing in sight except the dark silhouettes of dead trees and the eerie noises coming from every direction. I look up to see nothing but darkness, not even the red lightning I noticed every time we came down here.

"Wow.. this place somehow became even more shit than before." I say as I lean down and grab my weapon.

"You got that right.." Robin murmurs.

"I'm ready to uh, you know.. leave?" Eddie says slowly.

"No, we have to look around. Not for long, but enough so we know what we're dealing with." Nancy says.

"Don't we know by now?!" Eddie exclaims slamming his weapon into the ground. "We have these huge evil ass spiders that want us dead just as much as Vecna does!"

"Eddie we need to do this." Dustin goes besides him and lays a hand on his shoulder. If anyone could put down Eddie's temper, it would be Dustin if I couldn't. I give Dustin a thank you nod, seeing Eddie calm down a little bit- and probably cursing us all out in his head. I hear Eddie slightly curse under his breath, the usual.

"Ok. Diner. Right here." Steve goes down the alley from the way we came. The town we just saw living and thriving was now consumed by darkness and evil. Vines covered each and every building, almost swallowing them whole.

"Okay.. the books. Did they mention anything about what draws these things to specific places?" I ask Dustin.

He puts a hand on his curly hair and starts to scratch. "Hmm.. it did mention something about trees. Which I thought was irrelevant but now that I think about it, this area is filled with them."

"Oak!" Robin exclaims. She looks to Dustin. "You said The Damned can be protected with oak! Pure oak from an oak tree. It has to be some sort of power source- if it can repel Vecna, it can charge him in this reality with it being opposite."

It all clicked and made complete sense. Vecna, or Henry- whatever was attacking areas with pure oak trees.

"You're right on the money, Robin." Steve says.

"Well where's the nearest oak tree?" Eddie looks around.

"We can always try a nearby park." Nancy offers pointing up the road. "This was a heavily populated area in the town- so we can check in this general area first."

"Right, okay." I say. We all start down the sidewalk, avoiding the vines making their way around sewers and curling themselves around poles and power lines.

Eddie takes place beside me, looking diligently. "So.. you think after this we can go back?" He asks hopefully.

"Yes, as long as we don't run into trouble." I tease a little bit but keep a serious tone in my voice.

His head snaps to me, almost immediately. "What now? I do not want to be stuck down here again. I know that I've said it a lot, but you know what happened last time." He sighs as he looks down, slapping his weapon against the ground like a bored kid would do.

"This time is different, Eddie. We have information, we are prepared, we know what we are up against- besides, those spiders aren't hard to kill. Robin and I took it on ourselves. Just a stab to the eye or head region."

"Yeah. Whatever you say.. I just don't think it's smart to be doing this." He looks to me with pleading eyes.

I grab his hand and bring it up to my cheek. "And it's not smart to let innocent people who have no clue what's going on to die either."

"Yeah.. I guess you're right. I just can't get rid of you.. dying out of my head. The cries and screams. The way everything felt. My chest, my heart- it just broke, Clary. It broke. And I never knew it was possible for a heart to literally break until you bled out in my arms. I didn't know it was possible to be so weak in the knees from crying." I stop and we were far behind. My heart sinks at his words and his tone of voice. It really broke him. It would break anyone.

Robin looks back at me and I wave them on, telling them to go. I return my attention back to Eddie and grab his face with my hands. "Eddie Munson, your heart wasn't the only heart that broke that day either. I took my life in exchange for yours not even knowing if you were still alive. I watched you suffer too. But view it as this— without that day, we wouldn't be right here and right now with one another." I give him a soft smile.

He grabs my hands and closes his eyes. A soft wind blows and I lean my head into his firm chest. I feel him pause his breathing, straining. "I don't want to lose you. Ever." He says firm. "And I'll go down swinging if that is how it has to be."

"Well let's see who beats who to it, because I won't go down without swinging either." I laugh and he laughs with me. I feel his hand push my hair back behind my shoulders.

I look up at him. He had a specific twinkle in his big, brown eyes. His mouth was slightly open and his hair was flying all over the place as usual. His chiseled nose and small lips fitted into a small smile. The boy that seemed like the bad ass rocker was the most softest and sweetest person on earth.

"What? Got something on my face?" I start to wipe with the end of my shirt and he shakes his head.

"No, no."

"Then what?"

He grabs my hips and pulls me in swiftly but rough. I feel his hip bones align with my sides and his finger tips on my lower back. I swallow.

"I want to leave out of this shit hole, and I.." he breathes and looks up at the dark sky. "I'm so scared because I know I want to spend a.. for- a long time with you. You, and only you, Clary Gregerson."