The Hellfire Club, Part 2

3rd Person's POV

It was the night of the championship game.

Valerie sat next to Steve, thirdwheeling to him and whatever blonde girl he decided to bring. Must be the infamous Heidi.

"Everyone now please rise for our national anthem. Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!"

The crowd starts cheering as muppet girl herself walks in, Valerie and Steve stared at eachother with their mouths agape.

"O say can you see-"

The microphone makes a horrible screeching sound, which makes an irritated Valerie put a hand up to her ear.

"By the dawn's early light-"

Both of them look to Robin and mouth 'muppet' at the same time. She doesn't seem to disagree.

"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air-"

"Wow. She sounds amazing, doesn't she?"

Steve stared at Heidi and then at Valerie. He didn't have to say anything, his face said it all. He was mortified and he knew he fucked up.

"You know what? I'd rather be at a children's Satanic cult than here. Good luck on your date, Harrington." Valerie passed him a sickly sweet smile as she got up.

Steve grabbed her hand as a silent act of begging her not to leave him alone. Not with Heidi.

"For the record, you and Robin both have terrible taste in women." She whispered before she up and left.

She climbed down the seats and made a exit through one of the gates.

The quiet, dimly lit hallways of Hawkins high were a contrast to the deafening room she just got out of.

It was then that she realized she had no idea where to go, she didn't even know where they were playing. But luck was on her side tonight, since she heard a couple of footsteps coming from another hallway. She decided to go after it, as one does.

Upon turning the corner she saw the backs of Dustin, Mike and Erica with an American flag draped around her body?

"Hey guys, wait for me!" She jogs up to them.

They stop and turn at the sound of her voice.

"Val?"

"Hey, Mike." Valerie ruffles his hair, just like she used to do when he was seven.

"I'm not a child anymore, Val." Mike swats her hand away, although his cheeks were tinted pink.

Valerie grins, "You kids can grow up all you want, you'll always be dumb children to me."

"What do you want, Val? We're kind of running late." Dustin says in a rushed tone.

"I've changed my mind. I wanna play. Also, why are you wearing a flag Erica?"

"Because there's no America without Erica?" She looked at Valerie as if she was some peasant.

Valerie didn't know what that had to do with anything.

"Right, I know better than to question you."

It seemed that Erica was content with her reply, since she turned around and began walking again. The other three followed.

"Listen Erica's already filled in for you, we don't really need any more players, besides- you don't even know how to play D&D, I just don't think Eddie's gonna want you there." Dustin tried to reason with her.

"Eddie Munson? I could care less what he wants-"

"Absolutely not."

The voice makes Valerie stop in her tracks.

It was Eddie Munson, and he was referring to Erica.

"You asked for a sub. We delivered." Dustin says.

"This is Hellfire Club, not Babysitting Club." Eddie spat out.

"I'm eleven you long-haired freak." Erica shot back, actually managing to make Valerie let out a snort.

It catches Eddie's attention, because the next moment his eyes were on her. He definitely wasn't pissed, instead borderline amused.

He turned back to Erica again, "My, my, the child speaks." He got up from his chair and walked up to her, "So what's your name child?"

"Erica Sinclair."

He lets out a chuckle, "So this is Sinclair's infamous sister."

Erica sighs and shares a look with Valerie, "He's sharp."

The two sidechicks standing by Eddie's side earlier start to laugh, though one glare from Eddie shuts them up.

"What's your class and level? Level one dwarf?"

The grown boys start giggling again, at an eleven year old.

"My name is Lady Applejack and I'm a chaotic good half-elf rogue, level 14. I will sneak behind any monster you throw my way and stab them in the back with my poison-soaked kukri and I'll smile as I watch them die a slow, agonizing death. So, we gonna do this, or we gonna keep chitchatting like this is your mommy's book club?"

Eddie slowly backs away from her, the look on his face was priceless.

Dustin and Mike on the other hand looked terrified.

As for Valerie, although she didn't know what any of that meant she was glad she decided to ditch basketball for this.

After staring at Erica for what felt like an eternity, Eddie broke into a smile, "Welcome to Hellfire."

They both shook hands and Eddie told his boys to set everything up. Now that he had dealt with Erica he could finally, fully shift his focus to Valerie.

"Now don't tell me we have another Henderson in the house tonight." Eddie walked until he was directly face to face with her, tilting his head down due to his taller frame.

"I told her not to come, I said you wouldn't want her here-"

"Dustybun." Valerie channelled her inner Steve and tried to sound as motherly as possible, crossing her arms over her chest.

Eddie gasps comically loud, both of his hands flew to cover his mouth as he stumbled back, "D-Dustybun?"

Dustin flushed pink, refusing to look Eddie in the eyes.

"Why, Henderson you never told me you-"

"Bye." Dustin practically ran towards the others before Eddie could even finish his sentence.

Eddie let out a laugh and turned back to find Valerie smirking.

"I'm-"

"Valerie. I know." Eddie raked his fingers through his hair, "and you can watch us, no problem.

"I wasn't asking for permission Munson."

The corners of his lips curled up, as a silence settled between them.

"What are you staring at me for, you creep." Valerie grew flustered after a while.

His gave her a small smile and shook his head, walking away.

"Dustin has such weird friends." Valerie muttered under her breath as she followed him and leaned against a wall.

Everyone assembled around the table and Eddie started narrating from some book, "The hooded cultists chant, Hail Lord Vecna. Hail Lord Vecna." His head makes a sharp turn.

"They turn to you, remove their hoods. You recognize most of them from Makbar. But there is one you do not recognize. His skin shrivelled, desiccated and something else- he is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye!"

Eddie acted it out as he went, his voice remaining ominous throughout. Valerie would be lying if she said she wasn't getting invested into the story. Too invested to notice the glances Eddie would sneak at her.

There was just something about the way he seemed to be bringing the words to life.

So as the game almost came to an end, with Erica rolling the last dice even Valerie held her breath in anticipation.

She won. Valerie never doubted she would.

A cheer erupted from her throat without her even realizing it, she was too busy running over to Erica.

Eddie had a bright smile on his face looking over everyone in the room celebrating. Especially his Hendersons, "That's why we play."

[A/N- :O ]