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

Fooled

Without a word, Henry stood up bravely, and took a step towards the door.

But, he didn't have to go far to see what stood behind it, because a woman emerged, coated from head to toe in thick mud, blood, and ash. Her hair was thick with it, so much I couldn't tell what colour it was underneath, her face was wild and terrifying, her body was mangled, and her clothes were ripped and burned.

She clutched the wall as she struggled to take another step. She was so weak that it was too much, and she fell to the floor, now crawling towards us.

"Oh, my god," I whispered, trembling. I had never seen something so mortifying, so sickening, in my entire life. Seeing someone so hurt, so tortured, I felt as if I had never struggled a day in my life compared to her—even back at the lab. She had clearly narrowly escaped death. The Demodogs and Demogorgon must not have been hungry anymore, and, assuming she was dead, thrown her into the bonfire.

But she'd escaped.

I wasn't sure if she saw our house as refuge, and an opportunity for help, or if she was here to take revenge.

It wouldn't make a difference either way, though, because Henry, without an ounce of fear or a second thought, reached to the side of the kitchen counter, picked up his shotgun, aimed, and fired.

As I watched her expression turn from hopeful to petrified, I whispered, "I'm sorry."

Although I felt bad, I knew it was for the best, though. She needed to be put out of her misery. And...the plan needed to go ahead.

"How rude of her to interrupt our meal," said Henry, placing the shotgun back down and returning to the dinner table.

"Poor thing," I said sincerely.

"Poor, poor thing," said Henry sarcastically.

*

After a week, we had cleared many citizens of Hawkins, which meant that we had to relocate.

We couldn't make it too obvious to higher powers that Hawkins citizens were all disappearing, we had to stay subtle enough, so we moved onto another town nearby to continue taking people. Of course, we had to travel to the new town ourselves in the Upside Down.

I did feel quite sorrowful. I'd loved Henry's big old house, and I would miss it. Especially with the memories we'd created in it, including the first time I'd ever seen the Upside Down, that same day I'd seen Henry for the first time after I thought he'd been killed by Eleven.

But we could always go back and visit. And, after we'd take over the world, we could go and live in it in the Rightside Up...but, I didn't suppose we would, considering we'd have full roam of the entire world to live and raise our children in. We'd probably opt for a home im Bali, or the Caribbean, or someplace like those instead.

For now, the house in the Upside down that we had decided on was a fair-sized, quaint, purple-panelled thing on the end corner of a high street. We'd chosen it because, after searching through almost all of the houses which lined the street, we found that this one had a portal inside, like our old house, which was convenient for our plan. But, the main factor was that it was also unoccupied, which meant that we could easily let our Demodogs and Demogorgon travel in and out of the portal with human captives, with less chance of being noticed.

Soon enough, the ball started rolling again, and we were taking out citizens from this new town as well.

But, one day, while I was preparing some meat in the kitchen of our new house as Henry retrieved the bodies outside from the Demodogs and Demogorgon, something took me by surprise. A terrible surprise.

The meat I was preparing flew out of my hands, and before I even had the chance to look around and see what had caused it, a voice from behind me confirmed it.

"I know what you're doing."

It was Eleven's voice, strong and clear. I spun around and she stood a few metres behind me, staring up defiantly through her brows, with her hand outstretched in a claw-like motion.

To be completely honest, I was at a loss for words. I opened my mouth, closed it again, and swallowed.

"And you need to stop," Eleven continued.

No, she needed to stop. She was getting in the way. I didn't want to hurt her, I didn't want to kill her, but I had to stop her...

"Eleven," I whispered, walking slowly towards her. "You need to help me. Henry—Mr Ballard—has been holding me hostage. He's forcing me to help him with this evil plan. He's forcing me to kill people."

Eleven's mouth fell open, and she shakily dropped her clawed hand. "Come with me," she said. "There is a portal in the attic, in the roof of this house. That's how I got here, how I found you. If we leave now, we can escape him."

"There's a closer one," I said, "in the basement, just downstairs. Let's go. Quick."

I grasped Eleven's hand, and for a moment, I felt bad. Nostalgic. It was just like old times, when Eleven and I were as close as sisters. We were the only person each other had. But then I corrected myself—she had caused this. I wasn't the one who had made a sweet, cosy life with Mike and his friends and ditched her first. I chose Henry in the end after I'd realised what a perfect little life she'd set up for herself without me.

I guided her down into the basement, and across the dark, creaky floor, until we reached the far side. "There portal is under that chair," I said. And, as Eleven inspected it, I pushed her down to sit in it and held her there using my telekinesis from one hand, while, with the other, I slipped some dark vines around her wrists, made from an Upside Down plant that Henry had introduced to me a few days prior, in one quick, swift motion before she even had time to react.