The Other Side

Homecoming

She found herself running for the door just as Dustin opened it and though Steve tried to stop her it didn't work very well when she was moving that quickly. She did manage not to completely slam into Dustin, though, which was a good thing because he seemed like he might be a bit more fragile than the others. Not that she knew why but it had occurred to her that could potentially be the case.

"Hey! Wait! Woah!" Steve yelled at her, "What are you running from?" He turned to look back out of the door and she assumed he was looking at Jamie. She couldn't see what he was doing from where she was but she also kind of didn't want to know. Maybe he had let go of her but she didn't know if he was still under Vecna's control.

"Lieutenant! You're back! I told you she was real." Dustin said and Steve rolled his eyes in response, "What are you running from? Should we be running?"

"Probably not?" She said, "You can call me Cordelia, by the way, maybe you should just shut the door, Steve."

"If you tell me why you're suddenly running from that guy who was your friend about thirty seconds before now." Steve replied. She grumbled under her breath about how dumb he was and stepped up to the door to pull him inside and shut it for him. Sure, if Vecna still had control over Jamie and wanted to get in, that wasn't going to stop anything but it was worth a shot. "Vecna took control of him."

"Him? Why him?" Steve asked.

"Because he's the actor that plays Vecna on the show." She replied.

"See? Told you about that too." Dustin said sounding just as smug as he looked. Something that may have annoyed her had it been anyone else but seeing as how Steve was getting on her last nerve it was nice to have someone else there who confirmed her story. "Where's Eddie, is he okay?"

"He's fine, back in my universe. A little beaten up but he'll survive. That is if he doesn't piss off my mother but that's not what's important right now." She said.

"Your mother?" Steve asked.

"She's in charge of the project that got us in here in the first place." She said, "Now, it would be a very good idea if you go back with me so we can figure out-"

"You want him to go back? To your world?" Dustin asked, "Why can't I come?"

"I guess no one is saying that you can't but I don't think you should. You're how old? Besides, the police are looking for him." She said.

"What did you do?" Dustin asked him immediately without trying to question her first. She arched an eyebrow, wondering if this guy had a history with either doing very stupid things or the cops. Possibly both.

"I didn't do anything. It's what it looks like that is bad. I guess I know how Eddie feels now." Steve said.

"Did someone else die?" Dustin asked.

"The short version of it is that Vecna threw me around a few times, people saw it, they are going to assume it was Steve even if it wasn't and I'm going to need blood. Soon." She said, because she could feel the hunger gnawing at her. At the moment, she still had the ability to control it but she knew if she took much more damage, or actually died, that would not be the case.

You can feel it, can't you?

"Shut up." She growled.

"Who's she talking to and...did...did she just say she needs blood? Who's blood? How much?" Dustin asked.

"Not sure how much but whoever wants to volunteer, and by that I mean not you. You're a kid. He's legally an adult right?" She motioned to Steve.

"Like hell if I'm giving you blood. Especially not my blood. Because I know what you did to Nancy." He accused, "We're only here right now because of you and Dustin and whatever it was you were saying about...Kas? Was that the name?"