Alive Again (A Vampire Eddie Fic)

Chapter 1

He couldn't feel his legs or his arms.

His body?

No chance. It was all lost.

Where it was, Eddie didn't care. The pain that pulsed and throbbed throughout his non-existent figure was excruciating. It was all he could focus on or think about.

At least... until the pain subsided enough for him to think back.

"I didn't run away this time, right?"

"I think it's my year, Henderson."

"Promise me..."

The words, he remembered, were said through gasping breaths and spilling blood. He was dying, and Dustin, a child, watched and held him.

It's ok, Eddie wanted to say. I'll be ok. Just stay strong. In all honesty, he wasn't really sure if he was able to say that out loud before he blacked out and entered this void where all he was was a floating mind with no body.

The void...

What was this void? Another part of the Upside Down? Was it hell? Eddie wouldn't be surprised if it were hell. He'd done a lot to deserve it. The drugs, the dealing... Chrissy...

Poor Chrissy... there was nothing Eddie could do to stop it. All he could do was watch it in pure terror. Like Dustin right now. God, he must be horrified, Eddie thought. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...

Feeling. Touch. Ground.

Eddie could suddenly start to feel his arms and legs. His body had returned!

But it was no longer the same. It was no longer... his. He couldn't explain it.

Eddie's eyes snapped open with a deep gasp. One of his hands grabbed his shirt while the other lifted him off the ground into a mid-sitting position. He grimaced in pain as he looked down at his torso.

It was still ripped open in a gruesome and feral fashion. It was oozing dark red clots and liquid and some of it had already dried into flaky bits. Eddie slowly lowered himself back onto the ground and laid on his back, processing it all.

Was he really back? And how? Why? What had happened while he was in that void? Where was everyone? Where-?

He suddenly remembered Dustin. Oh god, Dustin. He must be in shambles right now thinking he died!

Eddie pushed the thought aside for now and painfully got up, cradling the wounds in his arms. He eventually got up on wobbly legs and looked around with slightly blurred vision.

He was still in the Upside Down, that was for certain. The red hue in the sky and the ash in the air made that obvious. But the black tentacles were gone and he was surrounded by seemingly dead demibats. One specifically laid right beside his foot. He kicked it as hard as he could simply because he could. They almost killed him, after all. The corpse limply landed among the rest of the bats and nothing happened. Not that Eddie expected anything to happen, but it was good to check just in case.

He decided to head back to the Upside Down version of his trailer. It was a struggle to walk there without falling due to his right leg being sort of fucked up and the immense pain in his stomach wounds. As he walked, he kept note of his surroundings. It seemed as though all of the demibats had just dropped dead because there wasn't a single one to be seen in the sky, but another "species" could still be lurking around. He figured he still had enough energy left in him to sprint a short distance if he had to.

It never came to that, however. He got to his trailer safely and limped inside, grabbing hold of the kitchen counter to support himself. After a few breaths, he went to the bathroom to find some bandages.

He hoped and prayed to whatever god would listen that there were at least some bandages and rubbing alcohol. He dropped to his knees and opened up the cabinet under the sink. There was rubbing alcohol, but no bandages. That was good enough. At least Eddie could make sure the wounds wouldn't get infected by whatever weird ass germs were in this alternate dimension.

He sat on the ground with his back against the wall as he opened the half-empty bottle.

"Ok," Eddie talked to himself. "This is gonna hurt like a motherfucker, but you gotta do it." He hyped himself up with a few deep breaths and poured some of the contents onto the gashes. He immediately screamed in agony and put the bottle down. His breathing became laboured as he clenched his jaw, trying to suppress the pained noises he was making. He shook his head.

"No. Fuck that," He said. "I don't care if I get a goddamn infection, I'm not doing that again." With that, he took the bottle, put the cap back on, put the bottle back under the sink, and stood up.

Eddie could make do without bandages. He wobbled into his room and went to a clothes drawer to grab an extra shirt and started ripping it into long strips. Thankfully, the strips were long enough to go around his body and cover his torso.

As he carefully took off his jacket and shirt, he swore he heard something outside. He became alert for a moment but dismissed it quickly. Whatever it was, it didn't sound that big and wouldn't be able to get into the trailer. So he continued.

He took the make-shift bandages and tied them around the wounds, making sure it wasn't too tight to make it hurt more but tight enough to suppress the bleeding. It was a hassle, but he got it eventually.

With that out of the way, he went back to the bathroom. He assumed there wasn't running water, but maybe he could take what was left of the rubbing alcohol to clean himself up a bit. The dried blood around his mouth was starting to bother him.

As he went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror, he knew right away that something had changed. Something was wrong.

His eyes were no longer hazel brown, but rather a deep crimson. From the right angle, it even looked like they glowed.

And his canines had become sharper, almost beast-like. They looked ready to tear out the throat of weaker prey. At the thought of that, Eddie's mouth started to salivate. He caught himself though and pushed the thought out of his mind. It was a fucked up thing to think of.

He stepped away from the mirror but never broke eye contact with himself. He was mesmerized, dazed. He couldn't think, and when he did the only thing that came to mind was the hunt and the taste of blood. His back hit the wall and he slid down into a sitting position. He began to cry as he realized what was happening.

He was a monster. A demon.

A vampire.

He wished he'd gone to hell instead.