My Number One (001/Henry Creel/Vecna x Reader)

Burying Lies

Henry and I returned home after our eventful night.

We lit candles around the beautiful, dark old house, both content with our agreement, our shared, unifying decision to go ahead with the plan once and for all.

We read books under the candlelight, enjoyed fried meat, and Henry even played some classical on the great, dusty grand piano. Drinking wine, which Henry had fermented himself, in an armchair on the hearth before the fireplace, we discussed what steps we would need to take to enact the plan.

"We must be subtle," said Henry. "If any authorities become aware of what we are doing, our plan with be spoiled. Yes, we might be powerful in here, with Demodogs and a Demogorgon at our will, but, regardless, we won't stand a chance with their numbers. If they send in an army, with weapons."

I nodded, and smelled the sweet grape alcohol on his breath as he spoke.

"That is why we will start small, in small towns, like Hawkins. But we need to target people in power, like chiefs of police, mayors, and, soon, governments, in all countries, and presidents, prime ministers. This is so that there will be no high powers to govern and conduct plans against ours."

"That makes sense."

"And I'm working on something else. Another creature to assist us—better, and far, far bigger than a Demogorgon. It'll help when we begin moving onto larger scale things, like taking down the public in masses. You'd think that targeting a politician would be harder, but there are so many members of the public that we'll have to take them down in big groups, or our plan will end up lasting a lifetime. But we also need to keep it discreet so it won't create world havoc, or then, before we'd know it, people would be making underground lairs, like bomb shelters for protection, arming themselves, and crafting a plan together to counteract ours, even without national leaders."

"What about the babies?" I asked. I suppose I had always been a maternal person from the way I'd felt protective over Eleven from the first day I met her. And, the thought of raising children in a healthy, loving environment with Henry, like a proper couple, made me all the more excited.

"We'll save some babies, or young children, when our plan is nearly finished. This is because we won't have much time for them while the plan is still ongoing, and we need to raise them well. Raise them perfectly. We can't mess it up."

And that night, we slept together again. But it wasn't dominating this time—it was passionate.

I wondered if I'd have a baby of my own...and that thought led me to question myself on what it would look like. Would it look like a normal human, or take on some of Henry's monstrous qualities? I guessed it would look normal, but develop the appearance of Upside Down monsters once it had been exposed to the the place long enough, outside of the womb, because those features weren't part of Henry's natural state. They'd developed that way through exposure of the environment. I also wondered what a baby who developed those features would look like. Still cute, I supposed, but a little goblin type of cute. Labyrinth style.

*

When we awoke the following morning, the plan continued. We sent the Demogorgon and numerous Demodogs through portals to take people. Some were eaten by the creatures, some were thrown in our big bonfire, and some were taken to store as meat for ourselves.

In fact, our plan sailed smoothly for a good few days, until one day, when I was out by myself, quite far from mine and Henry's house, herding Demodogs near a portal, and I noticed something which stopped me in my tracks and hide behind a tree.

Nancy, the boy who had came through the tree portal and rescued her after I had sent the Demogorgon away to help a few days ago, Lucas, Dustin and Eleven crept out of the portal one by one. And they were calling Will's name.

I didn't have it in my heart to stop them. The truth was that, logically, I wanted them dead now. I wanted to go ahead with the plan. But my heart was getting in the way. Henry was right: empathy really does hold you back.

I didn't want to stop them, but I didn't want to aid them, so I just observed. They seemed to search throughout the Upside Down until they found a muddy ditch in the ground, and they whispered in delight when they found what they were looking for.

I watched the boy who had rescued Nancy sweep an almost-dead-looking Will up into his arms, and they all hurried back through the portal, almost crying with relief.

The reason I felt indifferent about them escaping was because I knew they were all going to be killed in the near future anyway. I just didn't want to be the one to do it; I'd leave Henry to kill my friends and acquaintances.

But, whether they escaped or not wasn't the thought that was running through my mind at that moment. It was the fact that Will was alive, but Henry had insinuated that Will had been turned into meat. Back when I had asked what happened to Will in the end, and He ray had shook the bag of meat. Why would he lie to me? I felt betrayed. I supposed it was because he didn't know where Will had gone himself, and he didn't want me to go searching myself, in case I found him and helped him.

Henry's lying tactic had worked for a while; only, it had backfired now. Will was saved by his friends, instead of by me.

I debated whether to bring this up to Henry, to show him that lying to me will only lead to consequences, but I decided to keep it to myself instead. He would question why I let them go if I was all for the plan, and, though I wouldn't owe him an answer, especially after he basically lied to me, I just couldn't be bothered with the drama.

As I returned home, the smell of burning bodies was strong. At one time, I would have threw up at the smell of it, but now...and I wasn't sure if it was because the Upside Down was changing me into a monster, or if the smell of burning bodies in the Upside Down was simply different, but now, it smelled quite fragrant.

Henry and I were eating our dinner that night, when the sound of movement, and the shadow of a human being in the hallway outside the kitchen, made us glance up at each other, startled, with our forks frozen in mid air.