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neonghostlights · 1 year

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A/N: I wrote this because I wanted to rip my own heart out. Also, I am not saying 30 is old in this. Just showing Reader's insecurities with aging. God, I hope this isn't weird. Kinda got the idea from Twilight when Edward asks Bella if it's not enough to have a long happy life with him. Please read the warnings.

Warnings: Vampirism, death, suicide, angst, fluff, bittersweet, infertility, Smut, Age gap but not really (you'll see), they are so in love, I literally never proofread so I'm sorry. 18+ only Minors DNI.

Wordcount: 4.9k

Vampire!Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

July 1986

Thick black curtains covered the windows of the new government provided trailer. Blocking any sliver of light from penetrating the room. Eddie felt bad for you as you laid on the carpet beside him, a fan pointed directly at your face in an effort to cool off.

You insisted on sitting in the darkness with him, even when the rest of the world was out celebrating the fourth of July with cookouts and fireworks. Eddie had even begged you to go with the rest of your friends to Steves for his pool party, but you refused. Saying it wouldn’t be the same without him there. Wayne was nice enough to buy some hotdogs and sparklers for you to enjoy with him once the sun had set and it was safe for Eddie to venture outside again. Even if Eddie didn’t care for human food anymore, he could at least watch you enjoy yourself.

The only time Eddie could join the land of the living was at night. Due to his new body, sunlight would set him into flames in an instant. He remembers the first time he tried to look out of a window on a cloudy day after he had changed. You, and Steve dragged him away from the window as his skin blistered and burned painfully. It took him days for it to heal.

There was no denying it. Sunlight would kill him. Not even the cover of the clouds or clothing would protect him.

If you would have told him in March that instead of graduating highschool he would first get accused of murder, then thrust into an alternate dimension that kills him, and then somehow wakes back up as a bloodthirsty vampire he would have asked who your dealer was so he could give them a call.

You and Eddie were both 20 years old and madly in love. At least if you asked him that’s how he would describe it. He had never felt anything like the way he felt for you. He was certain after his change to vampirism that you would leave but you never did.

You stayed with him through the heightened senses, emotions, bloodlust, and the learning curve of discovering his newfound strength and speed. Even when he begged you to go and move on to something better than him. You stayed by his side, much to his relief.

Whispered conversations would come up in the middle of the night. Discussions on what the future for both of you would hold. Neither of you could walk away from the relationship you had built for the past two years. Neither of you wanted anyone else.

But with Eddie’s new condition he was technically dead. He would no longer grow or age. So where would that leave you?

Your only answer for that was for him to change you to be like him.

This was the start of many fights for the both of you. Eddie trying to talk to you out of it while you had made your mind up completely.

Plus there was the logistics on how to do it. He had bitten you before and it didn’t affect you. It wasn’t like they could just drop you into the upside down and let the bats change you like they had him, Eleven had destroyed it all. And even if she hadn’t, Eddie would never risk your life like that. Never make you go through that pain and trauma.

Dustin had been doing some research for you and was thinking that blood sharing might work but you hadn’t tried yet.

“Are you excited for sparklers, Eddie?” Your sweet voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

He looked over at you, unable to fight the wide grin that spread across his face. Your tanktop stuck to your skin, the fan in your face doing nothing to fight the heat in the small trailer. Your hair moved with each burst of air. You looked at him, brows furrowed. Eddie thought it was sweet how worried about him you always were. How you always made sure he was having fun too.

“Super excited, sweetheart. Gonna tie a bunch of them together and make a super sparkler,” he said smugly, waiting to see your reaction.

You rolled your eyes at him, biting your lip to hide your smile. “You did that last year and caught Mrs. Dunn’s garden on fire, remember?”

Eddie’s mouth opened as he looked at you in mock offense. A loud snort sounded from Wayne in the kitchen as he tapped his cigarette ashes into the sink. Eddie looked at him from his vantage point on the floor and cut him a hard glare. Both for his audacity to laugh at him, obviously taking your side in the great trailer park fire debate, and also for still smoking when he promised he would try to quit this year after a bad bout of back to back pneumonia this year.

“If you can call a bunch of dead weeds in a trailer park a garden then sure,” Eddie conceded.

You sighed and sat up, wiping sweat and hair out of your face. Glancing over at the clock by the front door a sly smile broke out across your face. “Looks like it’s almost time,” you giggled.

Eddie wanted to ask you what you meant when a loud knock sounded from the trailer door, shaking the walls. Thanks to his hearing, Eddie could pick up the sound of multiple excited heartbeats on the door side of the door.

You jumped up excitedly, carefully stopping to peel back the curtain, shielding it with your body to protect Eddie from any rays of sunlight that may shine through. You hummed approvingly to see the sun was gone for the night.

Eddie got up to stand behind you as you whipped the door open to reveal a grinning Robin, Jonathan, El and Nancy. Behind them, Steve, Mike, and Lucas argued on how to set up a folding table while Dustin and Max attempted to fill a kiddie pool with a water hose.

Joyce and WIll were pulling containers of food out of the back of the car, stopping to wave at Eddie as he stared at them in disbelief. Eddie was so happy he was still technically able to eat, even if they provided him with no nutrients.

“What’s going on?” He asked, voice full of emotion as he even spotted the grumpy Chief Hopper carrying supplies to be set up.

“It’s a pool party!” Robin exclaimed.

“But, I thought you already did that today. In the sunlight.” Eddie clarified.

“The sun’s overrated. Nobody wanted to celebrate without you,” you squeaked from beside him. He hadn’t realized how tightly he had his arms wrapped around you until that moment. He loosened his grip with an apologetic smile. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to your temple as a thank you. You were right, the sun was overrated.

May 1996

Eddie pressed his mouth to yours, swallowing your moans as he slowly rocked into you. Your nails dragged down his back making him shiver as he held you. Eddie could feel you fluttering around him as you reached your release, heels digging into his back to bring him as close as possible. Trying your best to meld you both into one person.

Eddie’s hips moved faster as he groaned into your mouth. He buried his face into your neck, your scent grounding him as his orgasm wracked through him. You both laid tangled together in your bed. You were trying to catch your breath while he listened to the rhythmic lullabye of your pulse. One of his favorite sounds in the world along with your voice.

Eddie lifted his head from his hiding spot to look down at your smiling face. With a featherlight touch he traced your features, memorizing them as if he hadn’t been madly in love with you for over the past ten years. Like your face wasn’t burned into his brain and heart.

But you were changing, slowly. You were convinced now that you had aged to 30 years old that you were now a grandma.

Eddie knew you didn’t really think 30 was old. Your insecurities were rooted in the self doubt of Eddie’s own condition. In the past ten years he had never aged, but you had. Eddie thought you were just as beautiful as the day he met you.

Your hopes of changing to become like him were abandoned now. He had bitten you and even given you his own blood, following some old folklore that Dustin had dug up. None of it had worked. You had both exhausted the safer options. Some of the vampire lore said Eddie would have to drain your blood for you to change or you would have to die with his blood in your system. Eddie put his foot down at those. He couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t go on knowing he had hurt you.

You eventually stopped talking about changing. Eddie could see how much your aging was affecting you though. He knew if he was aging too then you wouldn’t care. He couldn’t help but feel so guilty to be the reason you were struggling. He would do anything to go back to being a human for you.

“Why are you looking at me so seriously?” You asked from under him.

He had gotten so lost in thought that he had forgotten the position you were in. Separating from you he laid behind you, his hand reaching out to play with a strand of your hair.

“Is it a crime to stare at my beautiful wife?” he teased, kissing the side of your mouth. A piece of your hair still held lightly between his fingers.

“I guess not. But I am making it a crime for you to touch my hair,” you grumbled, pulling a pillow up to cover your face to muffle your voice.

“And why is that?” Eddie chuckled, prying the pillow away and tossing it to the other side of the room where you wouldn’t be able to grab it again.

You let out a deep sigh before turning to face him, your face morphed to seriousness. “A lady at work pointed out that I have gray hair.”

Rage bubbled in his chest. The feeling to protect you from harm, emotional and physical, overwhelmed him. He took a deep breath, listening to your heartbeat to help calm him down.

When he was able to unclench his jaw, he spoke, “I hope you told her that was rude of her to say.” He shot you a stern look. You had both had the conversation many times on learning how to stand up for yourself. Especially since Eddie was stuck in the apartment you shared during the day, hiding from the sun. He wasn’t able to follow you around everywhere and rip the bullies apart like he wanted to.

The guilty look on your face as you pulled the blankets up to your chin told him everything he needed to know. You were too sweet to argue back, always too afraid to say something wrong and hurt the successful career you had built for yourself. A career you had worked hard for after attending classes at the local community college. Eddie couldn’t have been more proud for you to walk across that stage. You worked hard to become a night shift nurse, permanently shifting your sleep schedule to stay awake all night with him. While Eddie took random night shift jobs when he had the chance. He never stayed at them long, not liking that his schedule sometimes left unprotected at night.

He didn’t even like having to leave you alone to hunt for animals at night to curb his blood thirst. But it was something he had to do.

“Babe, we talked about this. Besides, I do not see any gray hair.” That was a lie, he had noticed a few thanks to his improved eyesight. But they made no difference to him so why would he point them out to you.

“That’s because I went straight to the bathroom at work and plucked it out of my head!” you exclaimed as you sat up to pull on your t-shirt.

Eddie shook his head slowly, letting out a low chuckle at your antics.

“It’s not funny, Eddie. It wasn’t even gray. It was white. That means I’m ancient!”

“That does not mean you’re ancient. I’m pretty sure Wayne told me got his first gray hair at 18. It’s all genetics, baby.”

You smiled at the thought of a young, white haired Wayne. It had taken a while for Eddie to be comfortable talking about his Uncle ever since he died 7 years ago after a battle with lung cancer. He had never actually gotten around to quitting those cigarettes.

“And, if you’re old then I’m old. You know I’m 30 too. Technically, I’m older than you by a whole month. I won’t stand to be made fun of like this,” Eddie mocked, arms crossed across his chest. You let out a laugh that made Eddie’s dead heart soar.

“You’re ridiculous,” you huffed.

“Ridiculously in love with you,” he sang. “Now, how about you get dressed and I take you to the diner for a middle of the night dinner date?”

You grinned up at him and nodded. The way you looked at him made him think you would follow him anywhere.

November 2006

You and Eddie sat snuggled up in the living room of your house. You had both spent the day putting up Christmas decorations. After twenty years together, Eddie will never win the argument that you are supposed to wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate. You knew his complaining wasn’t serious, he would do anything to make you smile. Even if making you smile meant spending an hour untangling old lights just to plug them in just to realize they don’t work anymore.

You had both moved away from Hawkins five years ago, kissing your one bedroom apartment goodbye.This home was much more secluded than your last place. Far enough to stay out of nosey neighbors prying eyes at the reclusive and nocturnal Eddie Munson but close enough to still visit your friends and their kids.

Your upper lip had the faintest stain of hot chocolate on it. Eddie didn’t say anything about it, deciding if it was still on your lip after the movie then he would just kiss it off for you.

He opened his mouth to make a smart comment about the house looking like the North Pole in the beginning of November only to see you teary eyed as you stared up at the cheesy Christmas movie that played on the TV.

Eddie looked at the screen, expecting to see some heartbreakingly dramatic scene unfolding. What he saw was worse, the main character laid in the hospital bed with a pink bundle tucked into her arms.

Eddie’s heart cracked in his chest as you turned your head to sneakily wipe a tear away.

In the beginning of your marriage you both soon realized that biological kids weren’t going to be an option for you. Eddie had brought up the idea of adopting or even using a sperm donor, but you quickly shot him down. Saying that it would make it too complicated for the kid to explain why Dad looked so much younger than Mom. You told him not to worry, that you were perfectly content with never having kids.

He always noticed the look of longing you held when one of your friends had a new baby.

You grabbed the remote and clicked the movie off, doing your best to give Eddie a reassuring smile. “Ready for bed, handsome?” you asked.

He followed you to your room where you got ready for bed while Eddie pulled down the covers. Making note that the next time he went out for a hunt he would need to grab you some new flowers. The ones on your nightstand were starting to wilt.

You crawled into bed beside Eddie, wrapping your blankets around you like a cocoon to stay warm. “I’m so tired.” Your voice already sounding groggy.

Eddie smiled at you before leaning down to finally kiss the chocolate away.

“Goodnight, I love you,” he whispered in your ear before he pulled you closer.

“Night. Love you,” you replied with a yawn.

Eddie laid staring at the ceiling as your breathing slowed and you drifted to sleep.

The guilt crept up on him as he thought of the look on your face earlier. You wanted a baby and he couldn’t give that to you. Here you both sat, pretending the life you lived was normal and fulfilling for you but he knew better. You were missing out on so much because of him.

Maybe you would just be better off without him.

You were only 40 years old. If he left now you could still have a chance of a normal and happy life. You still had time to get remarried, have kids, and not live your life in the shadows like him.

Eddie slowly pulled his arms away from you and waited to make sure you wouldn’t wake before he slowly climbed out of the bed and got dressed in silence, throwing some items of clothing into a backpack for the road.

He took one last look at you before he crept through the house and out the front door, pausing to lock the deadbolt on the front door.

Eddie walked through the woods surrounding your home. Knowing that as it got closer to daylight he would need to duck into a neighboring home's shed or garage to wait out the sun. Or maybe he could find a cave, cave’s were a thing around here right?

Eddie walked for an hour before the anxiety set in.

Did he remember to turn off the stove after he made your hot chocolate earlier? What if it's been on this whole time? What if the house caught on fire with you trapped inside?

He knows it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He had walked past the stove multiple times since using it. He would have noticed if it was still on.

He shook his head and continued walking.

The next thought made him stop mid step.

Did he lock the door?

Yes. He did. He stopped on his way out and locked it, like he always did when he went hunting in the middle of the night.

But what if this time he didn’t. What if for some reason his brain was creating some type of false memory. What if someone broke into the house and you woke up too late to protect yourself.

He just needed to go back and make sure really quickly. And then he could leave and find shelter by morning.

Eddie unlocked the front door and peeked into your bedroom to see your still sleeping form. You remained in the same position he had left you in. He smiled at your ability to sleep through anything.

Eddie replaced the flowers on your nightstand with the new flowers he picked up on the way back home before he undressed and crawled into the bed beside you and pulled you close to him.

You scooted closer into him, snuggling your face into his chest.

Eddie looked down at you and decided he could never leave you ever again.

June 2016

Nancy set the perfectly frosted cake in front of you at the kitchen table. Carefully shielding the candles to prevent any of them from blowing out.

You beamed as you stared at the pink frosting. The number candles proudly announcing that today was your 50th birthday.

Eddie thinks you have never been more beautiful as the lights dim and the candles reflect in your eyes.

Eddie was able to get all of the group over to the house, even their kids and the newest grandkids were able to make it to celebrate their favorite aunt. Dustin led everybody in a very interesting rendition of Happy Birthday, causing anyone within a couple feet of him to wince and cover their ears.

Age had not changed Dustin Henderson one bit.

After your wish had been made and slices of cake had been passed around, you bounced the newest Harrington grandchild on your lap skillfully while Dustin’s son told you about his newest invention he was working on. Eddie laughed at the way you nodded your head and hummed like you knew what he was talking about. Eddie couldn’t blame you though, he was no good with this new technology either.

Eddie looked around the room, happy to see all of his friends in the same place. Happy that after everything they were able to come celebrate you.

Later that night after everyone had left, you and Eddie sat on the couch while you flipped through a new book that Robin had gotten for you.

“What was your wish?” Eddie asked suddenly. Hoping that it was something he could buy you himself, even though you were firm about him not getting you gifts.

You looked up at him from behind your book, shooting him a suspicious look. “You know you’re not supposed to tell or it won't come true. I’m not risking this wish.”

“Now I just want to know more,” he said as he scooted closer to you.

“Fine.” You closed the book and set it on the coffee table. “My wish was for Dustin to take singing lessons. Maybe next year we can make it out without any hearing damage.”

Eddie snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re not getting out of this one. What makes this wish so great that you can’t risk it?”

“Because maybe it’s not a wish for me,” you said softly.

Eddie didn’t say anything else when he wrapped his arm around you. He never did find out what your wish was.

August 2026

Eddie found you sitting on the bed in complete darkness. Not a trace of light could be found in the room. He knew something was wrong when he came back from hunting to find the mirror in the bathroom covered with a sheet.

You had been sad lately. More critical of yourself. Trading off between staring into the mirror for long periods of time or completely avoiding it all together.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he entered the room. You flinched and scooted away from the light that poured into the room from the hallway.

“I think you need to go, Eddie,” you croaked. Evidence in your voice that you had been crying.

Eddie didn’t turn the light on as he crossed the room and dropped on his knees in front of you. You turned to face away from him so he couldn’t look at you. He never told you about the night he did almost leave.

“Hey, talk to me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“This is wrong, Eddie. You’re wasting your time with me. I’m 60 years old. I look like a grandmother. I could be a grandmother. And look at you.” You waved your hand at him to prove your point.

“Listen to me very carefully, you seem to be forgetting the fact that I am 60 years old too. Who cares if I don’t look like it? Who cares what the outside world thinks? We know our relationship. I have loved you since I was 18 years old and nothing is going to change that,” he said sternly, hoping to get his point across.

“You’ve been given this gift, Eddie. You could be living it up and exploring the world right now. You’re wasting it,” you sobbed into your hands.

“You’re right,” he said, making your crying stutter as you looked up at him. “I was given a gift. The past forty years with you have been a gift and I’m thankful for them everyday. We knew this would be hard but I’m in it for life. Don’t cry.”

You sobbed even harder at his words. He knew you knew he was right. He knew that this would be hard but he couldn’t imagine not having you. He still loved you so much and thought you were the most gorgeous person in the world. If there were such a thing as soulmates, he was sure you were his.

“Come here,” he whispered as he pulled your hands away from your face so he could wipe your tears. He rocked you back and forth as your crying slowly stopped. He knew that this feeling would pass, that it was just a moment in time.

Eddie would smash every mirror in the world if it would make you feel better.

February 2036

Eddie liked to make Valentine's Day a big deal for you. Some years he would get you reservations at restaurants for after the sun went down. In recent years he would ignore the stares of the other patrons as he held your hand over the table. He didn’t care what they thought. On the outside he was 20 but mentally he was just as much 70 as you.

He could tell it bothered you when you noticed the looks on their faces and you would pull your hand away.

This year you were determined to stay in though. So he cooked you your favorite meal and was able to run to one of those 24 hour markets to grab you a fresh bouquet of roses.

You ate your candlelit dinner together, chatting about the newest thing you saw on TV or any updates in your friends lives.

Eddie was amazed everyday that even after spending fifty years together that you two never ran out of anything to talk about.

He was also in awe of how graceful and beautiful you still were, even at 70 years old.

You came home giggling after your last doctor's appointment when the doctors and nurses couldn’t even believe how old you were, saying that at first glance they thought you were much younger.

Eddie noticed how you were practically walking on clouds for the rest of the day.

You said it came from a long lifetime full of love and happiness. Eddie couldn’t help but agree.

Eddie was ecstatic as you let him hold your hand over the table as you both ate dessert.

You stood at the sink, insisting on washing the dishes while Eddie relaxed.

You could hear the soft melody of a song drifting from the speaker that sat on the kitchen counter.

You smiled at the familiar sound of Saturday Morning by Harry Chapin.

A tap on your shoulder caused you to turn around. Eddie stood behind you with an outstretched hand.

“May I have this dance?”

You smiled as you wiped your hands off on a dishtowel. “I’ve never been much of a dancer, Mr. Munson.”

“Well, Mrs. Munson, I can promise you that you’re a much better dancer than I am.”

You placed both hands on his shoulders as he held your waist, rocking you from side to side.

“Happy Valentine's Day, Eddie.”

“Happy Valentine's Day, my love,” he whispered softly into your ear.

July 2046

Eddie knew it was going to happen today.

You had gone so down hill since you initially gotten sick a little over a year ago. It had gotten to the point where you were barely able to get out of bed anymore.

Your heartbeat was uneven and your breath labored. Your eyes were shut as you slept. He wondered if you were dreaming about him.

He watched from the chair beside your bed as each inhale rattled your chest.

He knew this would have to happen eventually. You have lived 80 beautiful years. 62 of those years with him by your side. He knew you had a happy life.

He didn’t want to live without his wife.

His thumb smoothed over the back of your hand in a circular motions. He hoped that you were able to tell that he was there with you. He hoped you knew he would never leave you. He hoped that somehow his presence brought you peace.

“I love you. Did you know that? If you need to go it’s okay. I’ll be okay,” he said softly, moving to smooth a hand over your hair.

Your pulse slowed down drastically at his words.

He listened as he heard your heart stop and you let out one last breath.

He tucked the blankets around you one last time, ignoring the chasm forming in the center of his chest.

Was it possible for his dead heart to stop beating all over again?

Eddie sat in the silence of your bedroom. The pictures of the two of you over the years still sat in the photo album laid on the nightstand. Fresh flowers from the last time he went out sat in the vase on your side of the bed.

He checks the time, noting that the sun was up now and the hospice nurse would be stopping by soon to check on you.

Eddie gave you one last look as he leaned down and placed a kiss on your forehead.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said before standing up and walking to the front door.

Slowly opening the door, he stepped into the sunlight.

What would be the point of living forever if it wasn’t with you?

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bettyfrommars · 11 months

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Death Becomes Us

vampire!Eddie Munson x supernatural!Fem Reader

(Slightly) True Blood au

Series Masterlist

🚨: 18+Only, mature themes, blood, enemies to lovers, mention of a rough past, brief homelessness, eventual smut. Reader has visible scars, and an important history to go with them, but the specific skin tone is not mentioned. The Upside Down exists but is also very different from how it was in the show. Bob Newby is alive and well. Reader and Eddie are around 30.

Word count: 4.4k

Playlist: here

A/N: I came up with this during another True Blood re-watch, but as I started writing, it morphed into something else. If you are a fan of the show, part 2 will start to feel more familiar to you. I'm still deeply involved writing a different series atm, but have been dipping into this piece as I sink further into the sea of insanity. I'm not entirely sure how far I will take it🫶 Idk, it's just something fun and random. Hope you enjoy xoxo

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Death Becomes Us - Part 1 - Dead Again

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Daytime in Hawkins was safe; that is when the living walked the streets. You were turned down by several different places while looking for work, including the gas n’ sip, the hardware store, and Family Video. You were just about to head back when you saw the blue neon on the side of the next building, bricks painted black, windows heavily curtained. The sign said “Main Vein” in cursive blue letters and there was a red and white sign hanging underneath that read: HELP WANTED.

Because of the floor to ceiling, black out curtains, you couldn’t get a glimpse inside, and when you tried the door, it was locked. You noticed there was more written in cursive on the Help Wanted sign: Humans Needed for Day Help, and then a phone number.

You bent your knee to make a table for yourself and wrote the number on the back of the application for Family Video in blue ink, along with the name of who to ask for: Bob.

You took one last look at the place before returning to your ride that was parked on the other side of the street. It was the 1976 Cadillac hearse that your father drove for 15 years as a funeral director before he passed on, and then he had one last ride in it.

Your hearse was your house at the moment. You’d made a cozy little bed for yourself on top of a bedroll in the back where 2 decades of corpses had been escorted to their final resting place.

You’d been parking (living) at the Love’s Truck Stop that was just off the freeway about ten miles from Hawkins. They had showers there and you could brush your teeth, and splurge on a muffin and coffee in the morning. You should’ve moved on by now, but for some reason, you couldn’t. Hawkins had a hold on you unlike any town you’d happened upon in the past few months. Maybe it was all the death.

You’d called Bob at Main Vein from one of the payphones inside Love’s earlier and he told you in a chipper voice to come by the next day at a designated time after sunset, and that he was looking forward to meeting you.

Propped up behind the single bench seat in the hearse, you heard the motorcycles before you saw them. The windows around the coffin hold of the hearse were covered to ensure your privacy, but then their headlights lashed through the cracks in the black velvet curtains as they passed, shooting bright shafts of light across your face.

You poked an eye out to see the same vampire boys on motorcycles that you’d witnessed the night before. They always raced down from the hills, headed for the bridge and into town, long hair and black coats flying out behind them, howling and calling out to each other.

You drank the rest of your Yoohoo, hoped it wouldn’t make you have to pee before morning, and tucked yourself way down in the blankets, covering your head.

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Sure, you were one of the living, but the sun had never agreed with you. You shielded your face with your arms, as if it were raining, as you dashed in and out of your hearse to do some errands the next day, including stopping by to check out a trailer for rent in an area that was mostly vampires. The human manager on duty was a woman in a floral muumuu and iridescent pink lipstick; her name was Dolores. She looked you up and down with unapologetic judgment.

“You’re not from around here, I take it.” She put her hands on her slight hips and exposed her pearly dentures to you in a bit of a grimace, squinting at the sun, her short, orange hair in perfect curls from her rollers..

You bit the inside of your cheek and told her you’d only been in town a few days.

She paused to indulge in a painfully drawn-out appraisal of the visible scars on your body. Thick, pronounced, railroad scars around your wrists that you tried to cover up with leather cuffs and bracelets, one that came up from the middle of your chest and peeked out from the collar of your shirt, one that looked like a long lash from the side of your mouth to your ear. Your left eyebrow was also cut in half by a line of scar tissue. There were other scars that you always kept covered up, and would never let anyone see: you were the freak of the human world, and you didn’t have an excuse to hide like the vampires did, but you secretly envied them for it.

“You’re not a damn tourist, are you?” Dolores asked, gesturing to the Polaroid camera you had in your hand.

“This? No,” you assured her. “I don’t really care for vampires.”

This was a relief for Dolores, because ever since families had started flocking to Hawkins to get a glimpse of the bloodsuckers, the whole town had become a nuthouse of folks wanting a tug on Satan’s proverbial ball sack. People wanting to rent the vacant trailer just so they could see the Fangers come out at night and smoke their cigarettes and fornicate with each other?? Didn’t these idiots know that they killed humans for fun? Drank their blood? All of it was an abomination and a sin against god and Dolores was one of the most god-fearing woman in the county.

She fumbled with her keys as the two of you came up onto the porch of the rental. The exterior was yellow, which was probably your least favorite color, and the porch was wobbly, bare wood, and the first step was cracked like someone had stomped on it a little too hard. There was a small, round metal table with two metal camp chairs with a used ashtray sitting in the middle.

“The ad mentioned that the rental is furnished?” You wanted to confirm because you had no furniture of your own and that particular detail was a huge selling point. Otherwise, you were doing just fine in the hearse, even if the coffin rollers stuck in your back at night.

Dolores nodded as she turned the knob and pushed the door open. “Previous resident couldn’t take it all with him when he moved up to Heaven to be with Jesus, so you’ve got a sofa, kitchen table set, TV, microwave,” she went over to stand by the pea green, formica island that jutted out as a divider between the living room and kitchen, opening her palms to the sky. “Gas stove, baseboard heat. Standing shower only, no bathtub.” There was a large velvet painting of geese in flight over a pond above the wagon wheel design, orange and brown couch.

You followed her hand gesture down the narrow hallway. “Plenty of storage space. Brand new toilet, just had it installed. First months rent plus $100 deposit, $25 deposit for each pet. Garbage and cable included. Rent is due on the 5th of every month, no exceptions.” She came in close to say the next part, whispering it, covering her mouth. “Might want to turn the mattress over before you sleep it, though. Poor thing passed away in there and it was a week before anyone realized.”

The unpleasant odor hiding under a mask of Glade room freshener you’d been trying to identify was suddenly explained. You could also hear flies buzzing down the hall.

Dolores stepped up to pull back one of the brown curtains of the front window, exposing the glorious expanse of the sparse, dead grass that separated you from your neighbors. “It’s quiet during the day, you won’t hear a peep, but I advise you to lock your doors at night and don’t go out unless it’s absolutely necessary,” she turned to make serious eye contact with you. “Or unless you’ve got some kind of death wish.”

You came over to look out of the window as well, taking note of a garden gnome statue flipping the middle finger on the weathered porch steps across from yours. “I thought vampires and humans were successfully co-existing for the most part since we offered them asylum from the Upside Down? It made worldwide news. With the invention of synthetic blood substitutes, I heard it’s been going fairly well, considering.” You could feel Dolores frowning at you, upset that you didn’t want to engage in her rhetoric. You cleared your throat. “Like I said, I don’t care for them myself. I'm sure there are a few bad apples who ruin it for everyone."

Dolores wiped her face of any emotion. “Those bad apples you speak of? Well, you’re in luck, hunny, because they’re all right here in this trailer park.”

You lifted the Polaroid camera to your eye from where it hung around your neck, and snapped a photo of the vulgar gnome on your neighbors porch before you followed Dolores to the office to sign paper work.

----------

You got out of of your hearse in front of Main Vein just as the sun set, tall trees tucked cozily in the hazy purple sky, and there was an immediate shuffling of feet, opening of windows, and mumbling of voices all around the town as humans locked their doors and the dead were rising.

You were about to touch the metal handle on the curtained, glass door to Main Vein, when someone pushed it open from the inside, startling you.

A stout, cute man appeared with sparkling, eager eyes, and rosy apple cheeks. His skin flushed with the vibrant color of someone who was alive, just as he flashed a mouth of vampire teeth.

“Don’t vorry,” he said in an attempt at a Hungarian accent. “I von’t suck your blahhhd,” and then the plastic white teeth in his mouth slipped and he caught them in his hand, sucking back a line of saliva, smiling at you, chuckling at his own joke, skin crinkling around his eyes.

You were too confused to speak, your mouth moving like a fish out of water, hand paused in the air.

“I’m just kidding, it’s a joke,” he said, holding up the teeth in his hand to assure you they weren’t real as he held the door open. He had on a plaid sweater vest over a white shirt and trousers. “I’m not a vampire. But a lot of my friends are. Come, come, let’s get you some tea or something. Do you like sweet tea? I just made some. Is that your car out there? That’s amazing!”

You didn’t get a chance to introduce yourself as you shuffled in, smiling and nodding.

The inside of Main Vein looked like a hip dive right out of a movie: exposed brick on one wall, dotted in artwork, a long bar on the opposite side that appeared to serve beer, wine, and cocktails, classic, original wood floor, and a small area toward the back where some microphones and instruments were set up. The blue neon repeating the name Main Vein above an open space behind the bar where the kitchen was.

“Are you musical?” The man you assumed was Bob asked over his shoulder as he gestured for you to take a seat at a table where it looked like he’d been jotting things down in a spiral notebook.

“I sing sometimes,” you cleared your throat. “In the shower, mostly.”

Bob Newby laughed so hard he threw his head back. “Oh, you’ve got a sense of humor, I like it. We need more of that around here. Don’t we, Argyle?”

You hadn’t noticed him at first, but on a stool behind the bar, a tall guy with long, straight black hair sat a bit hunched over, engrossed in a celebrity magazine.

“Totally, man,” Argyle agreed, but then he looked up. “Wait, what was the question?”

“That’s Argyle, he really is a vampire. He lives upstairs. He’s also the best bartender in town,” Bob moved his hand between the two of you. “Argyle, this is---”

You told them your name.

“Rad,” Argyle said, hoping from the stool, flapping his magazine down on the counter, squinting across the bar to see you better in the dim, blue light. “It will be nice for Bob-a-roonie to have another human around. I like your scars, they’re sick.”

You hadn’t even been interviewed yet, let alone officially hired, so you weren’t quite sure how to respond, but you nodded at what was intended as a compliment.

Bob adjusted himself in the seat across from you, and you asked if he preferred to be called Bob or Bob-a-roonie, to which he responded: “You can call me anything you want, just as long as it’s not late for dinner.”

When Argyle brought over two glasses of sweet tea, his sharp fangs shot out when he winked at you, and you weren’t sure if it was a threat or something flirtatious. One thing unnerving about vampires was how the irises of their eyes went completely black when their fangs came out; that was something that would take you a while to get used to. You’d heard about the phenomenon, but in person it was particularly jarring.

Bob asked you a few standards, polite questions, but then the curiosity was killing you, and you had to ask: “What type of food do you serve? I thought vampires only subsided on blood?”

Bob smiled and wagged his finger at you. “I knew you were a smart one. You ask good questions!”

He came forward in his seat, excited. “This place,” he gestured around the building. “Is about to be one of the first crossover Human/Vampire establishments in the area. I asked myself one night, I said Bob, what is missing in Hawkins? And then I went to make plans with my girlfriend, who just happens to be a vampire, and there was nowhere we could go out on a date together where the menu accommodated both of us.”

Okay, you could see where this was going.

“So, here we have it,” He sat back, giving himself a bit of double chin as he smiled. “Our menu offers a selection of blood substitutes like Fang Tang and LifeForce, as well as some ethically sourced blood from local donors, and then we have a full bar and an appetizer menu. We’ll have an open mic night, maybe a bingo night. Vampires and humans having a laugh together. It’s perfect, right?”

Your eyes didn’t know where to settle as you took in the information, imagining vampires on dates with humans, and human/vampire hybrid families all clinking silverware and slurping their meals like it was the most natural thing in the world. It was a scenario you’d never imagined or heard of before, but hey, if Bob was excited about it, well, then, you were excited about it too.

“It’s great,” you cleared your throat, taking a sip of tea. “When do you plan to open?”

Argyle heard your question from behind the bar and he snorted a laugh, flipping the page on his magazine.

“Well, we are open, technically. We’ve been open for a week,” he stuttered but then gave an approving sniff. “but new concepts like this take time to catch on.”

“Plus,” Bob continued, eyebrow raised. “That’s where you come in. I want to start opening earlier on the weekends, see if we can get a bit more human traffic in to try out our happy hour menu that Argyle worked so hard on. What does your availability look like?”

“Oh, I’d be happy to work whenever you need me,” you assured him. “I don’t have any restrictions.”

“What about kids? No family?” He asked it innocently enough, but still it put a lump in your throat for some reason. You were almost 30, and you weren’t falling in line with the standard human breeding ritual, so it made people curious.

You lowered your eyes as your index finger started to work at a piece of skin on your thumb. “Nope, just me.”

“I’m sorry,” Bob’s brow creased. “I didn’t mean for it to sound…I just wanted to know if you could work weekends, that’s all.” He exhaled a breath, slapped his hand to his thigh, and then asked you when you could start.

You were on the verge of telling him you could start immediately when the door to the outside opened, and out of the corner of your eye, you saw Argyle’s face light up at the sight of whoever it was.

“Yo, Eddie, man, what’s going on, my dude?”

“Not much,” a deep voice muttered as you peeked over your shoulder to see who it was, trying not to twist around fast and make it obvious.

But it was still obvious, and his eyes snapped to yours as he stood in the doorway, hesitating with his toes at the threshold, holding the door open with his body.

The guy called Eddie was at least 6’3” with a strong, but thin build, long wavy dark hair passed his shoulders and across his forehead. There was a tattoo along the side of his neck, and on the backs of his hands, while the rest of him was in all black: boots, jeans, leather motorcycled jacket, and a tattered Type O Negative shirt underneath with ragged edges around the neckline where the collar had been ripped out. His skin was not chalk white, more like vanilla ice cream, and his plump lips were somehow pink.

Eddie was a vampire.

“Come on in, Eddie,” Bob swung his hand over his head, gesturing for him to enter. “Fang Tang cocktails are half off until midnight.”

At Bob’s formal invitation, Eddie stepped into the space, and made his way over to the bar to straddle a stool and talk with Argyle.

“What do you think?” Bob’s voice brought you back to reality.

“Sorry?” You swallowed awkwardly as you turned back to him.

“Tomorrow? Can you start tomorrow?”

------------

As you parked your hearse at an angle next to the trailer, you took notice of how changed the scene was from earlier that day. Every single curtain in the 10 or 12 trailers were open, exposing vampire lives being lived, television being watched, couples kissing, and there was a bonfire in the middle of the courtyard. A few heads atop dark shadow figures turned at the beam of your headlights before you flicked them off.

You were safe in your rental from vampires, you knew this, and it had been confirmed by Eddie pausing at the door of Main Vein earlier.

They had to be invited in.

But, you were fair game out in the open, so lingering there after you slammed the hearse door was possibly, as Dolores suggested, a death wish.

Maybe that was the point. Maybe you didn’t care anymore.

You were cautious not to land your foot on the broken stair as you made it up to the porch and put your new key in the lock. All around you floated the soft existence of a summer evening: crickets and frogs sounding their alarms while the incense of charcoal briquettes filled the air and the occasional tipsy laugh cackled in the distance. Bottle rockets zoomed off at a shrill speed and then exploded into tiny gold bursts in the sky.

A few minutes later, you stood staring at the dark red and yellow stain on the mattress in the wood-paneled bedroom of your trailer while you ate a few salted peanuts from a jar, deciding in that moment you’d rather sleep on the sofa for a night than do the work of scrubbing it, turning it over, and dressing it with new linens. You were too exhausted for that shit.

You washed your face and unpacked a few things, but that was the extent of your energy. You decided it was time for a beer on the porch before bed, and that is what you went out to do.

To your delight, there was a black and white cat walking the plank of your porch railing. Not much older than a teenager, with handsome yellow eyes. You held your beer in one hand while you stroked her from head to toe with the other, grinning and cooing as she bucked against your touch and purred. Your porch light was broken, but the glow from inside your trailer lit the expanse of her long whiskers.

“Dio,” a deep voice said from somewhere in the darkness, startling you.

You stepped back, closer to the door of your trailer, eyes adjusting to the outline of a silhouette at the bottom of your stairs.

Vampire Eddie flicked his lighter, and you caught his face in the flame, just long enough for him to ignite the end of his cigarette before it was dark again. His eyes lifted to meet yours at the last second before he fell into shadows again.

“Her name is Dio,” he repeated, introducing his cat. “She doesn’t like anyone but me.”

As he said it, the Dio in question sprang down from the beam to circle your legs, purring, rubbing her face on you. “Well, I don’t know about that,” you started. “She looks like she---”

“What are you doing here?” Eddie’s voice interrupted.

You glanced around, wondering if someone else had walked up.

“You don’t belong here,” he continued talking to you, specifically. You watched the cherry of his smoke light up as he inhaled, and then a plume of white smoke on the exhale, like you were having a conversation with The Invisible Man.

You leaned your shoulder against the railing and laced your fingers around your beer. “Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t belong here,” you countered, meeting his eyes as best you could in the darkness, tension sparking like electricity in the space between. “This is my porch.”

Eddie scoffed, flicking ash to the ground. “You have no idea what you’ve stumbled onto here, Princess.”

You wandered over to close the distance between the two of you, down the three rickety stairs to the dead grass, as another bottle rocket fizzed like pop rocks overhead.

Eddie stood his ground, even though it was insane Human behavior to be so casual with a vampire like that. Did you have a wooden stake you were going to try and drive through his heart? That was one of the only myths that held true for slaying his kind: wood and silver and sunlight; the trinity of vanquishing. Holy water was a joke, he could drink that all day long, and crosses were everywhere in his home décor.

There you stood, within arms reach of a supernatural killer. He could rip your throat out in the time it took for you to steal your next breath, but instead, he shifted his mouth to exhale his smoke to the side so it wouldn’t go in your face.

His eyes never left yours.

Chocolate brown peepers, rimmed in long, dark lashes; you could see the fine details of his face now that you were closer. You waited for his irises to go full black as Argyle’s had done when his fangs came out, but Eddie only parted his lips as the muscles of his throat jerked in a reflexive swallow as you matched the intensity of his eye contact. You intrigued him in a way that no one had in a very long time.

“So, what do you want?” You asked, point blank.

He used the hand holding his cigarette to jerk his thumb over his shoulder. “Dio and I live here,” he said, referring to the trailer with the vulgar gnome on the steps. “I’m just having a smoke before I go inside. If that’s alright with you?”

“Oh,” you felt a bit foolish, but how were you supposed to know? Earlier, you’d noticed an old van parked in his spot next to the trailer, but now there was a black BMW there, and you weren’t a car expert, but it appeared to be one of the newer models.

“Whose car is that?” You asked with a jerk of your chin. There was a better way you could’ve asked it, but that is just what slipped out of your mouth in the moment.

Eddie turned his head to stare at the BMW for a blink, cigarette secured between his lips. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” he told you with a squint.

You regretted ever trying to make conversation. “Great, well, enjoy your evening. Or the start to your day. Whatever the hell it is,” and then you stuffed one hand in your pocket and spun on your heel.

His heightened reflexes had a hold of your arm in a flash to catch you and stop you. His touch was icy on the crook of your elbow, and when you spun around, you regarded him with eyeballs that were milk white, void of iris or pupil. “What the hell…” he hissed under his breath, fascinated. But then you blinked, and your eyes were back to their natural state, and it made him question what he’d just seen.

He noticed your scent was different too, come to think of it. You smelled human, but there was also something else mixed in with your tissues, swimming in your bloodstream. It hinted to rain and static and firework sparks.

“What are you?” He called from the bottom of the steps as you booked it up the stairs and across the porch.

With your hand on the doorknob to your trailer, you responded, “don’t worry about it,” calmly, without looking back, and then you fumbled the door shut behind you and locked it, frantically, as if you were being chased.

“What are you?” His question repeated in your head, as you worked fast to make sure all of the curtains were closed. You didn’t want anyone to see you. You stopped in the hallway and put your face in your hands, trying to catch your breath, trying to figure out why that question had bothered you so much; it’s not as if you’d hadn’t been asked it a millions times before. Why did he bother you so much? He was just an ordinary vampire for fucks sake, you demanded that you get a hold of yourself.

Absently, your fingertips traced the ridge of the long scar across your cheek, and you prayed to whichever deity was listening that any interaction with your neighbor Vampire Eddie from there on out would be minimal.

--------

Part 2: When Doves Cry

#eddiemunsonseries #eddiemunson #eddie munson fic #vampire eddie au #vampire eddie x reader #fem reader #true blood au #90s au

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