Master of Puppets

Chapter 4

Nancy Wheeler was always calm, collected, and very much prepared. She was the one who took the reins when shit got bad and made sure everyone had a plan. Right now, however, she watched her friend, Eddie, get tied to a chair and locked inside a storage room after seeing him attack and almost kill Steve Harrington. Right now, Steve was being tended to, passed out cold from the blood loss.

Right now, she had no idea what to do.

As she stood in the doorway, watching Joyce Byers bandage Steve's hand, she chewed her nails, chipping off the careful polish she'd applied a day earlier.

"You okay?" Robin asked, walking up to stand beside her. Nancy jumped a little, broken from her daze.

"Hey. Yeah." She lowered her hand, smoothing over the damage she'd done. "Nervous I guess."

"Joyce said he'll be fine. Groggy as hell when he wakes up, but fine. Eddie on the other hand..." Robin bit her lip. "I don't think it would be a stretch to say he is very much not okay."

"Has he gotten worse?"

"No, he actually looks... way better. Steve's blood actually worked." She shook her head and then chuckled humorlessly, a bit bewildered. "The kids keep calling him a vampire. I'm starting to believe them."

"Well, stranger things have happened in Hawkins." Nancy said, sighing. "Why not add vampires to the list?"

From the other side of the cabin, Will called to the girls. "Guys, he's waking up!"

Robin and Nancy exchanged glances and then made their way to the storage closet. The group had Eddie propped up in the chair, tied with a rope, hands bound behind his back. He'd been out for about an hour before he started stirring again. Hopper hadn't held back, apparently.

When the girls approached the doorway, Eddie groaned and slowly lifted his head, wincing at the light. He blinked groggily and cleared his throat. "Am I tied up?" He muttered.

"Yes." Nancy said, folding her arms.

"You kind of almost killed Steve." Robin offered. "It's just a precaution."

He nodded a bit and shifted uncomfortably in the chair, still a bit out of it. Nancy looked at the others and cleared her throat. "How um... How do you feel?"

Eddie thought for a moment. He hadn't realized it right away, but he felt okay. He was no longer starving and his blood had finally stopped feeling like it was boiling, no more shivers, his head was clear - albeit pounding from the welt Hopper left - and when he looked at his arms, the wounds he'd had were completely gone. It was like night and day.

"I feel... better, actually." He said, finally. "A lot better."

Nancy sucked in a breath. That confirmed their suspicions then. Eddie Munson was a vampire. Or something extremely similar to one. Whatever he was, they had to figure out what to do next.