#vampire nancy

“Nancy?”

The teen froze, utterly still at the sound of her father’s voice. How he had found her, now of all times, like this, she didnt know.

“Dad,” she said, stumbling back. “Dad, please, wait, I can explain!”

The gun still hadn’t moved, but Ted Wheeler’s jaw was hanging from his skull, eyes wider than moons. 

Never in a billion years had he thought he would be staring at his daughter, covered in blood, fanged, and draining a deer carcass.

Nancy kept her hands up, eyes trained on the weapon in his hands. Her heart was hammering, and she kept trying to get far enough away to bolt before he had time to shoot her.

“Nancy, what the hell is this?” He said, gun now wavering in his grip. “A joke? This is not funny, Nancy, you know how dangerous vampires are.”

“Dad, I’m-I’m not, I mean, I am, but-“

There was nothing she could think of to say, four years of hiding, and she had no idea how to try and hide from this. 

A gunshot cracked through the night sky, and Nancy stumbled back, hand going to her stomach, shock clear on her face.

Ted’s gun was aimed at her, the end of the barrel still smoking, his face a stone-still mask. 

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Another gunshot, and her vision went black.

“Still nothing?”

Robin slammed the phone down on the receiver, snarling when she did.

Steve and Jonathan both were on their own home phones, they were talking through the radios, trying to get ahold of Mike and Nancy.

Three days since the full moon, the first one Nancy had missed. With no warning and no apology, nothing at all from her, and Robin was worried.

“Have your kids found anything?” Robin asked. “Gotten ahold of Mike or Karen?”

“Will says Mike was going on a trip with his dad,” Jonathan said. “But he didnt say where.”

“Another hunting trip, then,” Steve said, and Robin shivered. The Wheeler family may seem unassuming at first, but everyone in Hawkins knew them as one of the oldest and most skilled monster hunting families. And with all the strange shit they’ve had to deal with over the years, that might seem like a good thing, until you saw their ragtag group, especially the non-human ones.

Robin was their resident werewolf, bitten during the Vecna situation, changed for the first time four days after the quakes. 

Will and El, both of them because of their experiences in the Upside Down, were telekinetic, Will’s powers more subtle, but still there. Still something other.

Eddie was… something, that was for sure. He didnt know exactly what had caused it, but something had given him enhanced speed, sense of smell, even strength, all with an unfortunate allergy to silver tacked on top.

Nancy was the one in the most danger of all of them, wolves could be hunted down, and those that weren’t rarely lived longer than most humans, and the ones that did that only lived so long because they learned to blend in, until they weren’t threats. Psychics were the same, they weren’t immortal or blessed with longer lives.

But nance? She was a vampire, a fledgling, sure, but still one of the most hated and hunted monsters in the world. And if anyone had found out she was one, and that Mike had been helping her hide what she was, they were both dead. 

Or worse.

“Steve? Jonathan, Robin is that you?” Mike’s voice came from their radios, and she grabbed hers.

“Little Wheeler, where’ve you been?” Steve said. “We’ve been trying to find you for hours.”

“I know, I had to hide my radio and turn it off,” Mike said. “We need to meet somewhere ASAP.”

“Basement?” Jonathan asked. 

“No! Somewhere far away from my house, and we have to go soon!”

They settled on Skull Rock, Robin jumping out of Steve’s car to go run and find the other kid.

Mike was waiting there, pacing back and forth (based on the worn-down grass, he’d been here for a while). When he heard Robin coming, he turned around, and his face lit up.

“Oh Robin, thank god you’re safe,” he said, tackling her in a hug. “I thought they might have gotten you too.”

Steve and Jonathan came running up next, Eddie close behind them.

“What are you talking about, Mike?” Robin asked, holding him by his shoulders. “Where’s Nancy?”

Mike’s eyes welled up, and her heart dropped.

“Dad caught her four days ago, just before the full moon,” he said, pointing to the map. “Right here. Neither of us knew he was going out to hunt or patrol or whatever, but he got her.”

“How do you know? Have you seen her?” 

Mike’s head shook back and forth. “No, I didn’t, and Dad only said something about catching one, but he didn’t say it was Nancy.”

“So how do we know it was her?” Eddie said. The others shot him a look, and he raised his hands. “All I’m saying is we better be sure that it is her before we try and fight your dad.”

“He told mom to get me out of the house, Holly too,” Mike said. “He’s never done that with other kills or captures. It was Nancy.”

“How do we know she’s alive?”

Everyone looked at Will, who looked sick to his stomach, but he held fast. 

“Ted kills every monster he comes across, why would Nancy be different? Because she’s his kid? You know he doesn’t think like that.”

Robin could remember all too well the way Mike had reacted when Nancy had told him she was a vampire, had been for years without him knowing. He’d tried to stake her, spitting out hateful things he’d been taught from birth by Ted, until Robin had knocked him out, then they all knocked some sense into him. 

Funnily enough, it had been Will’s revelation he was technically non-human too now that had made Mike see sense. 

“She’s a fledgling vampire,” he said. “Fledglings have a stronger connection to the ones that turned them than full vamps. If she’s alive, Dad is going to try and use her to find the vamp who turned her. Then he’ll kill them both.”

“But the vamp who turned her is dead,” Steve said, and Jonathan nodded. “We killed him in 1983.”

“Dad doesnt know that, though,” Mike said. “And Nancy’s smart enough to know that. She wouldn’t have told him he’s dead because…”

“Because she knows its the only reason he’s keeping her alive,” Robin finished, horror dawning on her face. “And the best way to lure out a fledgling’s turner….”

Oh god. 

“We need to find her,” Steve said, almost frantic. “We need to find her now.”

All of the typical Wheeler, and even hunter, prisons and hide spots were empty, none of them had even seen Ted for days, since the full moon.

“He probably went on some long-term gig, or’s taking a break,” one of the older hunters said. “Serves ‘im right, he’s been doing tons this past year.”

They were back at Steve’s house, with the same leads they had when they started: none.

“This makes no sense,” Jonathan was saying. “Where could he have a big enough space to hide her? And somewhere no one knows about?”

Robin was glaring at the map, staring hard enough that it looked like she was trying to set it on fire. She’d gone with Mike to find the spot Nancy had been feeding, tracking the blood trails, but it just ended at the Wheeler house. 

El had attempted to find her, going into a trance to try and find any trace, but Mike and Jonathan had pulled her out of it when she started screaming. The poor kid had been too rattled to say anything besides, "bad," before she left to calm down.

The look they had all shared once she was gone had only dulled the mood. Something bad enough to freak El out, especially after everything she'd seen, was worse than bad. It was terrible.

It was dead silent, which was unusual considering everyone was here, including Lucas and Max, all of them staring at the map.

Eddie was still going through old town blueprints to see if there were any hidden rooms or areas they could have put her in, Dustin hovering over his shoulder, but still nothing.

“I got it!” 

Everyone faced the source of the sound, and saw Will holding up a book. 

“Town electrical records,” he said, pointing to a page on the document. “Right here, the Wheelers paid for an electrician to rewire parts of their house, and to set up power in a boiler room that hadn’t been used in years.”

Robin glanced over the page, taking note of the dimensions. Big enough for more than seven people, and totally hidden unless you knew where to look.

“That’s it. That’s where she is.”

Mike and El had gone in together, Mike because he knew his way around the house, El for protection. Robin and Eddie had both been ordered to stay hidden in the woods, in case any of the stuff in the boiler room could alert Ted that they were there.

“They should be back by now,” Steve said, tapping the radio on the car door. “I’m calling them.”

“Don’t.” Eddie took the radio. “They get caught, we’re all fucked. Nancy especially.”

Robin growled, ignoring their stares as she watched the door. Nancy was in there, and based on El’s visions, she was hurting badly. And she was stuck out here, hiding from Ted fucking Wheeler of all people.

“Steve, are you there?” 

The radio crackled to life, and they all crowded it instantly.

“Mike, did you find her?” 

“No, we found the door though,” he said. “But we can’t get past it. Something in the metal is messing with El’s powers.”

“Maybe an electromagnetic field?” Will said. “I always notice mine go wonky when I’m too close to one.”

“Could be, but regardless, we need someone to either pick the lock or break the door down,” he said.

“Fuck with a side of fuck,” Eddie said. “We try that, Ted’s going down guns ablaze.”

“Mike, get out of there for now,” Steve said. “Hurry back.”

He slid the antenna down, tossing the radio in the back of the car.

“Fuck,” he said. Robin agreed with the sentiment.

Metal hinges creaked somewhere in the distance, but still close enough for her ears to catch.

She heard footsteps, coming closer and closer, then stopping outside the door.

The metal screeched as it opened, and Nancy flinched back from the noise, a pained hiss coming from her throat when the shackles dug into her bloody wrists.

“Ready to tell me what turned you?”

Ted had a revolver filled with blessed bullets, little silver things that were carved with symbols that could knock most non-humans out. In his other hand was a bottle and rag, the smell coming from it making her stomach twist.

She glared up at him, eyes squinted from the light, and Ted sighed.

“I don’t see why you don’t just make this easier on yourself,” he said. “All this?” He pointed around the room, at the silver shackles and UV bulbs that were so powerful they burned her skin. “Stops with one simple answer.”

“Fuck you,” Nancy spat, fangs shooting out as she snarled at her father.

Ted shook his head, then shut the door behind him. The lock clicked into place, and he put on sunglasses before flicking one of the light switches.

Another UV lamp turned on, this one aimed right at her face. 

Most sunlight couldn’t hurt vampires, or at least fledglings, without long exposure times. They burned easier than most humans, which is where part of the rumor came from.

But the common reason most people thought vampires were nightwalkers? The torture methods modern hunters had used on them.

Namely, powerful, drawn-out exposure, either through magnifying glasses to concentrate the sun’s rays, or the modern equivalent: UV lamps with enough wattage to power a small solar panel.

She flinched back, hissing in pain as the light washed over her already burned skin. The other lamps had been on 24/7, not turned off for even a moment of the day or night to keep her weak enough that she couldn’t hope to escape, had burned almost every inch of skin that wasn’t covered by her ratty shirt or pants. 

She could smell it the instant he uncorked the bottle, the fumes acrid enough to burn her nose as she breathed them in, and she twisted in the chains, trying to get as far from him as she could.

The bottle was filled with concentrated blackthorn berry oil, something she had learned very early on was the easiest method to deter non-humans. The oil’s properties weren’t sought after because they killed, no, these were never used by hunters who just staked the vamps they hunted.

Ted poured a small amount into a bucket, then filled it with water, dipping several cloths into it, and one small bottle.

He took one of the dripping towels and stood up, getting closer to Nancy as he did.

Blackthorn oil was used solely by hunters who wanted to torture information out of their captives. Hunters who knew how to do it well.

And Nancy knew her dad was one of those hunters, he’d taught them since they were kids how to make non-humans answer their questions.

The soaked rag was wrapped around her arm, and she bit her tongue to keep herself silent.

Her silence only lasted until the third rag.

When he draped that one across her shoulders, she twisted in the chains, and screamed.

“So here’s the plan.”

Weapons and fake teeth and mini fireworks were dropped onto the hood of Steve’s car, the product of an entire day spent gathering supplies.

“Mini Wheeler runs home, tells Ted he thinks he saw a vamp, gets him out of the house,” he said, and Mike nodded. “Then when Ted is gone, Robin and I sneak into the house, she breaks down that door, and gets Nancy out.”

“Meantime, me and the rats will lure Ted to Skull Rock,” Eddie said. “Where El and Will are going to trap him, and wipe his memory of this entire week. Make him forget Nancy’s a vampire and everything else he might’ve learned.”

“Then while that’s happening, Jonathan and Max find his study, get rid of any notes or reports he made about Nancy being a vampire,” Steve said. “And I make sure Karen and Holly don’t know anything about this, and if they do, they won’t tell Ted.”

The plan had been cobbled together in a few hours, most of the planning done through the radios while everyone ran around trying to find supplies and get into their spots. But it was solid, considering how little prep time they’d had.

“Mike, give Eddie and the others ten minutes to get ready,” Steve said, and the forest crew waved as they headed into the woods. Mike tossed his radio to Robin, who hooked it to her belt, before he went to his house. Once he was in, Jonathan, Max, Steve and Robin all snuck around to the back wall of the house, opposite to the back door Ted and Mike would run out of, but still close enough to see when they left.

They waited, utterly silent, for Mike to lure Ted out. Robin could feel her heart hammering in her chest, the adrenaline building the longer they were standing there.

“Robin, it’s going to be ok,” Steve said, hand going to her shoulder. She snarled at him, and he jerked back.

Her eyes flashed gold, incisors growing as she glared at him.

“Don’t do that, Steve,” she said, staring at the wall. “You know what Ted’s like, she’s told us what he’s done.”

“She’s still his kid,” he said. “Other monsters, sure, but Nancy? I don’t think he can just ignore all of his memories of her because of some fangs.”

Her eyes narrowed in on the Reagan sign, proudly displayed in the front yard, and she huffed.

“Don’t be so sure,” she said, and before Steve could respond, the door swung open, Ted and Mike running into the woods with guns and harpoons jury-rigged to shoot wooden spears.

The radio crackled, and Steve said, “Eddie, you’ve got Wheeler one and two incoming.”

“Copy that, pretty boy,” Eddie said. “Go get our girl.”

Robin was already moving, at the door before it could slam shut, ushering the other three in before locking it behind them.

Jonathan and Max headed right for Ted’s office, and Steve took Robin’s wrist before she could leave.

“Be careful,” he said, staring right at her. “You have to be ready for anything.”

Robin nodded, and he left to go find Mrs. Wheeler and Holly.

She could smell the silver and trace amounts of wolfsbane and tree sap, following it to the door under the stairs. 

It had a lock on it, but El had broken the mechanism yesterday to make this easier. She pushed the door open, closing it behind her as she headed down into the stairwell.

The lights were off, but she didn’t need them to see the stairs in front of her, or the doorway at the bottom.

Along the wall, there were guns and blowdart tubes, each one carved with blessed symbols, no doubt the bullets were the same. Designed and built to kill or capture non-humans.

The door ahead must have been the one El was talking about, it looked like a completely ordinary metal door with no window, but the hair on her arms prickled when she got closer, and she could hear the faint thrumming of electricity coming from it.

So the door was electrified, that was great. 

Her radio crackled, and she picked it up, hearing Dustin shouting something.

“Almost at Skull Rock! How’s things for you guys?”

“There’s nothing about Nancy in his office,” Max said. “Only a few notes about blackthorn oil and an order for white oak planks.”

“Karen thinks Nancy went on a camping trip with some friends,” Steve said. “Ted hasn’t told her anything.”

“I’m at the door,” Robin said, then slammed a shoulder against the solid metal.

The metal crumpled under her blow, the wires connected to it sparking as they were ripped away. The door was partially open, Robin could see a room and three other doors inside, as well as cabinets and boxes that smelled vile.

She wrenched the door open all the way, storming into the room, looking around to find Nancy.

One of the doors, the one at the end, had a thin strip of light peeking through the bottom.

She smelled something burning, and blackthorn berries, inside.

This door was solid steel, covered with a layer of silver, she figured out when a single touch burned her hand. But it wasn’t unbreakable, and the handle was a cheap wooden knob. 

She crushed the handle, knocking the door back with a foot, and had to cover her eyes because of how bright it was.

Why the hell is it so….

The answer to her question came when her eyes adjusted well enough to see what every light was aimed at. Her heart dropped to the floor.

Nancy was chained to the walls, manacles digging into her wrists, throat, and ankles, blood streaking the metal. Her skin was blistered and burning from the lamps (solar lamps, Robin realized with horror) and the skin not burning was covered with rags soaked in blackthorn oil.

She wasn’t moving. It didn’t even look like she was breathing.

“Oh my god,” she said, and saw the light switches on the wall, turning the lamps off as fast as she could. The rags went next, Robin tearing a piece of her shirt off to pull them off Nancy’s skin.

Underneath where the rags were, her skin was black and rotting, her veins dark from where the poison had spread through her system. 

The chains were solid silver, anchored deep enough in the walls that she couldn’t pull them out before they started burning through her skin, and the manacles were held shut by screws and bolts, no lock she could pick.

“Guys, Ted is at Skull Rock,” Eddie said. “Mike just knocked him out, Will and El are doing their thing.”

“Yeah, Karen is looking for the source of the crash, Robin, was that you?”

Robin ignored their voices while she went looking for something to use to get Nancy down, finding a small screwdriver and pliers.

She got Nancy’s ankles free first, then her neck, barely able to hold back a snarl when she saw how torn and bloody the skin underneath it was. When she freed Nancy’s wrists, she had to drop her tools in time to be able to catch the vampire. 

Robin was gentle as she lowered Nancy to the ground, settling the shorter girl’s head on her lap. 

“Nance, hey,” she said, tapping her cheek. “Nancy, wake up.”

Nothing.

“Robin, we need to know your progress!” Steve said. “Did you find Nancy? Jon and Max are out by the car with me, we need to go.”

“I found her,” she said, her voice cracking towards the end. “I found her, Steve, she’s in bad shape, I don’t know if she’s alive.”

Muffled curses came from the other side of the radio, and she shook Nancy again, a little rougher this time.

“Nance, come on, wake up,” she said, brushing a few strands of knotted hair off her face. “C’mon, you have to let me know you’re ok, please.”

There.

It was barely noticeable, wouldn’t have been to a normal human, but she saw Nancy’s lips move.

“Oh thank god,” Robin practically sobbed, holding the other girl close to her chest, feeling the moment she started to wake up. “Nancy, thank god, oh my god.”

“Robin?” Her voice was utterly mangled, and it was more of a gurgle than actual words, but she heard it.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Robin said, relaxing her grip enough to smile down at the vampire. “Hey, you’re safe now, I’ve got you, I’m getting you out of here.”

Nancy’s eyes cracked open, finding Robin’s as they did, and the faintest smile formed on her lips.

“Knew you would,” she whispered.

“Robin, we have to go!”

Oh shit, Steve.

“Hold on, Nance, this is going to hurt a bit,” Robin said, and lifted Nancy bridal style, ignoring the way her gasp of pain made her heart ache, and shut the door to the cell, making her way up the stairs to the main house.

She got to the entryway of the house when she heard footsteps. And then a gun being racked.

“Turn around slowly,” Karen’s voice said, and Robin froze. “Or I will blow your head off.”

Robin clenched her jaw, forcing her eyes back to normal, and she turned, seeing Karen staring at them, shotgun pointed right at her head.

Karen’s face dropped when she saw Robin, and then looked horrified when she saw who was in the girl’s arms.

“Oh my god, Nancy, what did you do to her?” She demanded, moving closer to Robin and keeping the gun up.

“Ask your worthless excuse of a husband,” Robin snarled. She really shouldn’t have been acting like this, not with a severly injured Nancy in her arms, not when she knew that shotgun had silver mixed into it, but fuck, Nancy’s own goddamned family had done this to her, and Robin was done.

Karen faltered at that, and Robin saw when she took a closer look at her daughter. Those injuries only came from one place, and only happened to one kind of creature.

“She’s a vampire?” Karen whispered, staring at the both of them. The gun was still aimed at her, but it was wavering in the air. “Te-Ted did this?”

Robin just glared, keeping her arms wrapped protectively around Nancy, until the gun dropped. She blinked, shocked, and Karen waved.

“Get her out of here,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “Do whatever you have to do, just please, keep her safe.”

Robin’s glare softened, and she nodded once before she was out the door, running to Steve’s car.

“Robin, what- Oh my fucking god!”

Steve’s question was cut short by himself when he saw Nancy. The doors were already opened, and Robin got in the back, Nancy’s now unconscious body leaning against her.

Max and Jonathan were already gone, headed to Skull Rock to help with Ted, and Robin shut the door.

“Go, Steve,” she said, cradling Nancy’s head in her lap. “Now!”

They were at the Byers’ house, Joyce had been filled in by Will on their situation, and Nancy was asleep in the guest room, being looked after by Lucas and Max.

Steve was cleaning out the bucket they had used to wet the rags they had to use to get any remaining blackthorn oil off of Nancy’s skin. Jonathan was talking with his mom on the front porch, Will and El still hovering over Ted’s unconscious body to wipe his memories.

Robin was pacing around outside, Eddie watching her with sad eyes.

Only humans had been allowed in to help Nancy, the oil and whatever else Ted had used on her so potent it was physically painful for Robin and the other non-humans to be in there. 

“You know, pacing a hole into the ground won’t help anyone,” Eddie said, and she snarled at him, full on snarled, shocking even herself. 

Eddie didn’t look too phased, he just got to his feet and dragged Robin to the porch, sitting her down on one of the steps.

“I’m worried about her too, Robin,” he said. “But you’re working yourself into a frenzy, and no one’s going to be helped by that. Especially not you.”

He was right, as loath as she was to admit it. She could feel the moon now, even during day, even when it was barely half-full, hyperaware because of how worried she’d been. And her teeth were sharper than normal, ears a bit more pointed. She’d noticed when she went into the bathroom earlier, her wolfish features coming out with her stress.

“You didn’t see what he was doing to her,” Robin said, voice almost hollow. “I don’t know how anyone can be so cruel, and to his own daughter, I just….”

She had no idea where she was going with that thought, Robin had seen firsthand how badly humans treated those they saw as other. It was bad enough when you were just queer, or a woman, or not normal, and that was just regular human varieties. Non-humans, no matter how harmless, were always treated like monsters, like predators.

Robin had seen how the world treated queer people, the bullying she suffered even before anyone knew she was gay had been awful. She also knew non-humans had it worse, had a couple of years of experience to back that up.

“You never thought anyone could do something like that to Nance,” Eddie said. “Me either, especially someone who knows her. Not one person could look at her and think she’s evil.”

“Ted did,” she said, voice bitter. “Her own goddamned father had her chained to the walls like she was some animal.”

Eddie put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. Neither of them said anything, just staring off at the trees.

Their little moment of peace was interrupted by Lucas running out, almost tripping over the doorstop, and saying, “She’s awake.”

Robin was up in seconds, following the teen towards the backroom Nancy was in. She could still smell trace amounts of blackthorn oil, but nowhere near enough to bother her.

The door was cracked open, and she saw Max sitting next to the bed, holding out a small cup of water.

“Take it easy,” the redhead was saying, and then Robin opened the door fully.

Nancy looked like shit, to put it nicely. Her arms were covered in bandages, ones soaked with aloe gel to help soothe the burns, and her face was bruised and gaunt, blisters all over the skin. Her neck only had a small bandage over the worst of the burns, but the rest of her skin was uncovered, blisters and ripped skin wherever the collar had been.

Robin stared at her for a few seconds, just so fucking relieved that she was awake, she was going to be ok.

When Nancy was done sipping the water, she saw Robin. Her face lit up, and she waved for Robin to come closer.

Robin’s body moved on its own, and she knelt next to her, taking the offered hand. Both of her wrists were padded with thick bandages, and Robin brushed her thumb over the back of her hand.

“Hey, Nance,” she said, smiling up at the other girl. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

“Me too,” she said, and Robin winced at her voice. It was better than it had been a few hours ago, but still hoarse and quiet. “Thank you for saving me.”

Robin noticed Max leaving, silently thanking the younger girl. 

“Of course,” Robin said, moving to sit next to Nancy on the bed. “I would never leave you somewhere like that, not ever.”

Nancy’s smile faded, shoulders bowing inward. Robin mentally cursed, she hadn’t meant to make her upset.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok, Nance,” she said, placing a hand on Nancy’s thigh. “You’re safe now, I’m here, you’re safe.”

Tears started falling down her cheeks, and Robin pulled her into a hug. Nancy melted into her embrace, hands digging into her shirt, burying her face in Robin’s shoulder. Her body shook violently as she cried, and Robin held on tight, whispering sweet nothings into her ears, brushing through her hair with her fingers.

The sound of a closing door made her look up, and she saw the bedroom door had been closed, probably by Max or Lucas.

Nancy stayed hidden in her shirt for nearly ten minutes, shoulders still shaking from her sobs, but she pulled back enough to stare at Robin. She leaned in to press a kiss to Robin’s lips, so gently it made her heart flutter. Robin kissed back, cupping her face with her hands as she did. 

When they broke apart, Nancy rested her forehead on Robin’s, fingers playing with the hem of her shirt.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for coming for me, Robin.”

Robin smiled, thumb brushing over her cheekbone.