Alive Again (A Vampire Eddie Fic)

Chapter 4

 Dustin, Mike, Will and Lucas stood outside Eddie's trailer with Steve and Robin right behind them. Dustin was going to get Eddie back, no matter what it took. Even if it meant retrieving Eddie's corpse, that was the closure he wanted and needed.

"Sorry, what's the plan again?" Steve asked, lost as to what they were actually doing back here. In truth, Dustin hadn't filled them in entirely.

"We're getting Eddie back," Dustin said, turning to face Steve.

"But he's dead," Robin said plainly. All eyes drifted to her and she put her hands up in defence. "What!? That's what you guys said, wasn't it? Why are we going back there for a dead person?"

"He's not dead!" Dustin said, certainty in his tone.

"Dustin," Steve took a step towards him. "It has been nearly a whole month since that all went down. If he was still alive when we left, then he's definitely dead now."

"Well, we won't know that until we check, won't we?" Dustin argued. The group went silent. "Are we all gonna listen to my plan now?" Everyone nodded but Steve was hesitant.

"I don't want to go back but... if the rest of you are set on this, I guess I have to." He said, shrugging his shoulder and burying his hands into his jean pockets. Dustin turned back to the trailer and walked up to the door.

He knocked a couple of times, but there wasn't a single sound of someone inside. He knocked again before feeling a hand on his shoulder. Dustin turned to see Will.

"There's no car," He said, pointing to the empty tire tracks in the grass. "He has a car, right?"

"Yeah," Dustin confirmed. He looked at the door again and opened it. He expected it to be locked, but it opened with ease. I guess you don't really need to lock your house when more than half of it was destroyed in a supernatural earthquake.

Dustin walked in and the rest followed, stopping in the living room which held the caution tape-sealed gate. It was almost exactly the same as how they left it, just bigger.

Lucas took off his backpack and opened it, pulling out a pile of rope not too long after. He handed it to Dustin who threw it into the hole. It stuck in place just as it had before. Steve went through first, then Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Robin. Will was the most hesitant, but he went with them eventually.

Once on the other side, Dustin got his flashlight out and started looking around. There was a certain amount of warmth in the air that was unusual for the Upside Down that suggested life, but Dustin didn't think much of it.

He walked towards the Upside Down trailer door which was wide open. He was just about to go outside when he heard it; eating. The munching and squelching of flesh and bone meeting teeth and tongue sent shivers down Dustin's spine. He looked back into the trailer at Steve who had just entered. No words were exchanged, but Steven knew to grab his nailed bat that was sitting neatly on his back.

With his weapon in a proper grip, Steve walked out the door, peeking around the blind spots of the door. And he saw it. A vaguely human figure hunched over on the ground, consuming what Steve assumed was a weaker beast that resided in the Upside Down. He lifted his bat higher and slowly, quietly, made his way over to the thing.

Dustin watched from the door. As he watched this living thing eat, he noticed that its features were... familiar. The height and build of its body seemed to be an exact match to that of Eddie, not to mention the long curly hair that rested on its back. Dustin went out the door and rushed to Steve, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him. After an exchanged look, Dustin took the lead with his flashlight in hand.

The creature dropped his prey, seemingly done its feast, and Dustin turned on his flashlight. It turned immediately, a small hiss escaping its throat. Realization hit Dustin.

"Eddie...?" The creature lowered his hand that protected his eyes from the beam of light.

"Henderson?"

"Oh my god, Eddie!" Dustin ran over to Eddie and fell to the ground to embrace him. Reunited at last.

There was a long moment of silence as tears were shed and overdue affection was shared. Everyone had exited the trailer and was watching the two boys as they let go and looked at each other.

"Eddie, I missed you so much," Dustin said. "I thought you died!" Eddie let out a small laugh.

"About that..." Eddie started. "I'm pretty sure I did die." Nobody spoke for a split second as they processed what was said.

"What do you mean?" Dustin asked. "How are you here then?"

"I don't know, and I don't think I want to know," Eddie stood up and Dustin followed. "But whatever happened, I don't want it to hurt you." Eddie fell into a whisper. "I don't want to hurt you..." He tried walking back into the trailer, but Steve grabbed his arm.

"Eddie." He said plainly. "You gotta tell us what's happening. I mean, you were dead for a month! We only came here because Dustin got a weird supernatural feeling that you were still alive. You need to tell us what's wrong."

A month? No. No, there was no way Eddie had been gone for a month, that can't be right. It was only a few hours. He was stuck in that void for a couple of minutes, maybe an hour! Not a month. It couldn't have been a month. Eddie looked at the ground and freed his arm from Steve's grasp.

"And one more question if I may step in," Robin spoke up. "What the hell were you eating?" Nobody had thought to ask. Dustin was too excited to see Eddie again that he didn't notice. Eddie sighed.

"I'm not who I used to be," He started. "I've... changed. Sure, I'm alive again, but I'm... different."

"Different how?" Dustin asked. Eddie turned to face him.

"Dustin..." Eddie said, tears building in his eyes. "I think I'm a vampire."