"I'm not a fucking dog."

Blair honestly felt like she'd only had time to blink before the three teenage monster hunters were moving through the foliage once more and following the ominous trail of blood, though this time it was safe to assume they were alot more cautious than they had been previously. But, it seemed that having braincells were such a rare affliction in the group, because when she'd turned around for half a second after noticing how quiet the two were behind her, it was to find that both of them were gone, leaving nothing in their wake as she swore.

Even she'd watched enough horror movies to know that splitting up was never a good idea, especially if one of your group members was quite possibly, the key to defeating the bloodthirsty monster of said horror movie. But hey, who was she to judge? She was the one who accepted going out into the dark woods while knowing it was a strange creatures mystic fun house with dumb and dumber so really, there was no one else to blame but herself for landing herself in her, quite frankly, mess of a situation.

"I hate this, I hate this so fucking much." She complained loudly, electing to ignore the way her voice shook with a certain lick of fear and ramming the heel of her gross, scabby palm into her eyes and rubbing until she could see stars dancing across her vision as she stepped over a particularly large cluster of sticks with a huff of contempt, hissing when she felt the sharp brambles scratching at her pant legs, managing to catch the unsuspecting skin around her ankles and pulling at it until beads of red slicked down into her white socks.

She tried focusing on the sudden annoyance, the rage bubbling in her gut at the frustrating pain that came from her unpreparedness, even mumbling curses under her breath to add onto that anger...if only just to keep her away from the terror of the unknown, but it just meant she was getting closer and closer to the edge of...something, like a bomb going off, detonating and leaving nothing in its wake.

Anger was her God, her saviour and her greatest weakness, and yet it was something that always followed her with no signs of stopping like a rabid dog, some feral monster hunting for salvation, only growing bolder and stronger, twisting inside her veins and making them flush with something even stronger than hate, than spite, than fear but now it was all the more dangerous, because instead of the worst being wounded egos and bruised knuckles, now if she allowed herself to be lost in the storm that was herself, she could really end up doing damage.

All it took was two words leaving her dry and crackled lips to have a tree up in flames and reduced to ash...and who was to say an unfortunate soul who managed to piss her off wouldn't have the same fate.

Blair swallowed tightly as that thought hit her, trembling hands holding the flashlight she'd been given tightly with her frantic eyes constantly moving across the dark woods for any sign of the monster, for any sign of her friends and...Fuck, was Nancy considered a friend? Nah, the day Blair became friends with anyone who willingly associated with Harrington and his group of lackies was the day she was six feet under. Nancy Wheeler was an acquaintance at best and a really fucking annoying nuisance at worst.

But she was also Mike's sister, and the young witch had a soft spot for the boy which meant that she couldn't in all consciences leave her for dead. Well, at least not without going to a valiant effort to try and find her first.

And just as she'd made peace with that fact, as begrudgingly as that may be, she heard something dancing in the whistling wind, her whole body freezing in place as she frowned and turned, looking for any sign of something but coming up empty, and just when she'd finally shrugged and went to continue searching for the other two members of her monster hunting group, she heard it again...clearer this time, louder and more urgent...and it finally clicked into place what the noises were that were haunting her.

Screaming...she could hear Jonathan and Nancy screaming.

Blair didn't even give herself a moment to think things through, quickly running towards where their terror-filled voices were coming from, trembling hand held in front of her face to push the low hanging branches away as they tugged at her hair, catching her thin delicate skin on their ensnared edges as she leapt over a tree stump, turning around a cluster of trees to find Jonathan on his knees, holding Nancy's stuff in his hands and breathing heavily with panic in his eyes, spinning around when he heard her hammering footsteps and gasping in relief when he seen her familar face.

"What the fuck is going- is that an asshole?" Blair stopped in her tracks, blinking down with confused disgust at the puckering and pulsing large...something that was firmly planted within a rather defiled looking tree, her upper lip curling and eyes narrowing as she resisted the urge to step closer and touch the weird anomaly that was happening in front of her...because if she didn't know any better, she would assume that it looked almost, well, alive as it moved and squirmed.

But just as Jonathan opened his mouth to answer, or better yet tell her that it wasn't the time to start questioning things from this shithole of a night, Nancy's screams filled the silent night once more causing the two teens to flinch at the abruptness of it...however, there was something strange about her cries, like it was echoing and hollow and somehow wrong and Blair slowly turned her gaze back to the hole in the tree...and felt her eyes go wide with absolute horror as something inside her began to ache like some sort of phantom warning.

"Is...is she in there? Are you kidding me? Why the fuck would she go in there!" She shouted in absolute frustration at the lack of thought processes behind the Wheeler girls mind, finally moving closer to kneel beside Jonathan who'd began yelling back for Nancy, voice breaking with fear as he heard her answering calls getting more and more frantic by the second while Blair looked close to combusting in rage, digging her nails into the scabs that were her palms and hissing under her breath at the sting.

"I- I don't know! What the hell do we do?"

"Write her a nice eulogy?" She scoffed, throwing her hands up in the air before quickly shrugging them back down to swipe the sweat-soaked strands of hair from her damp face, lower lip trembling in something akin to fear as she tried desperately to think of something, of anything that could help them, but the only thing ringing inside her head like a haunting promise was the spell, battering her mind like the drums of war and getting louder and louder by the minute. Maybe...maybe if she said the spell it would all be over, perhaps it would kill the monster that seemed so intent on killing her town.

"Blair! It's getting smaller, shit!"

It was Jonathan's terror that shook her out of her rather disturbing thoughts, quickly shaking her head to make sure she was rid of them completely as she glanced back over to the shrinking hole and cursing under her breath before shrugging herself out of her jacket quickly, refusing to get it dirty from the thick looking slime frothing around the entrance of whatever it was and shouldering Jonathan aside so she could get closer, muttering and mumbling all the while under her breath.

"Move! I'm going in to get your stupid girlfriend!" However, she didn't exactly get far in her guilty heroic endeavours, because just as her fingers had brushed through the opening, a hand shot out from the slime and Blair had no choice but to grab onto it and start yanking with all of her might, legs burning as she placed them on either side of the tree and pulled as Nancy's dirty face came into view as she gasped for breath.

And then Jonathan's arms came winding around hers, helping her with the weight until finally, Nancy was properly pulled out into the comfort of their arms, crying and sobbing while the young witch was quick to shove herself away from the two in absolute disgust, glaring down at the slime covering her body and forcing herself to bite her tongue, lest she say something cruel to the obviously traumatised girl currently shivering in her friends arms, nose buried in his neck as he hushed her softly, eyes watching as the hole got smaller and smaller...before disappearing completely.

"Next time any of us see a weird looking hole...maybe it's best we don't put our head inside it...just a suggestion." She muttered after seeing Jonathan's disbelieving glare as she stood, rolling her shoulders and grunting under her breath. Note to self, she thought to herself with the beginnings of a frown twisting her features, in the future, make better choices and get better friends.
_________________________________________________

Perhaps after that mess of a situation, it would of been best for the three teens to stick together, safety in number and all that jazz, but in truth, Blair felt like if she had to spend another mere second in their presence she was going to start blowing apart at the seams, because even Jonathan's comforting face was looking oh so very punchable, so after making sure they'd gotten to the Wheeler's residence relatively safe and sound, she'd turned around without so much as a backward glance and headed home, hands clenched into tight fists by her side and her eyes stining with unurshed tears of frustration more than anything else.

She was exhausted by the time she'd finally arrived, only casting one suspicious look towards the woods bleeding into her garden before slamming the door shut behind her with a heaving grunt, muscles aching and feeling heavy by her sides as she yawned into her open palm...but she didn't sleep, no, she couldn't stop thinking about the helplessness she'd felt when Nancy had gotten stuck in the tree, thinking about how her only use in that situation had been the fire on the tip of her tongue that could of very well burned her alive.

And so, with that thought at the forefront of her mind, Blair set to grabbing as many grimoire's as she could and began flickering through them mindlessly, tired eyes constantly moving around the pages and absorbing as much information she could about the new and, quite frankly, terrifying world of witches. She wasn't exactly looking for alot, just a few more offensive spells that she could use, perhaps even some defensive ones to protect her too...but the strangest thing seemed to be happening every time she read past the first five pages of any of the grimoires.

It was like they stopped making sense when they got to a certain mark, the words still shifting around on the yellowed pages as if they were trying to slip into a language she could understand but wouldn't...no, not wouldn't, couldn't. And she didn't know how she knew, but she was pretty sure that it had something with her grams...the old bat did always spout out some nonsense about magic always knowing when you were ready, so maybe this was like some form of game? Like those that could be found at an arcade?

She had to go through levels? Learn the spells the books were able to show her, and then eventually...the others would come to her through experience? Patience?...what kind of bullshit logic was that, she thought to herself in frustration, face transforming into a dark and dangerous scowl as she dragged her hands down her face and groaned loudly in the silence of the living room, leaning her head back to wack it off the couch in her exhausted frustration but unable to find it in herself to care even the slightest amount.

Of course there was rules to this shit, she couldn't just twitch her nose and turn a flower into a horse or fly around on a broomstick, no, when had life ever been that easy on her? She'd have to learn to be something she didn't even want to be, nor knew existed in the first place!

And yet, eventually, after a few long minutes of suffering silence, she started to get back to reading once more, taking in the spells she could learn, already knowing the one to summon fire and to cast protection...but spending a couple of hours learning some new ones, including a spell to induce telekinesis and even a locator spell...a spell which she spent the rest of the night practicing, eyes filled with desperate tears as she held a necklace over a map, a necklace given to her by Will on her birthday and mumbling the incarnation over and over until her throat felt raw.

But the results were always the same, according to the stupid spell...he was in her house alongside her, as if she wouldn't notice that the missing kid who started this all wasn't right fucking beside her. Blair finally pulled back from the map with a frustrated sob hanging heavy in her throat, ramming the heels of her palms against her eyes and rubbing until she could see stars in an attempt to keep the tears at bay, the lack of sleep, the stress, the monster and the whole witch business was starting to catch up to her, and even she knew she couldn't carry on like this forever.

So when she glanced over at the window to see the sun shining through the blinds, she decided that she wasn't just going to sit there and cry...not when she needed some food for the fridge anyway, so she stood up, grabbed one of her jumpers from the chair and threw it on alongside some baggy jeans and made her move, storming out of the house and slamming the door behind her as the bright light of the sky only added on to her brimming headache, but ignoring it the best she could as she headed towards the store.

In truth, the walk had actually been a nice change of pace, especially considering she was walking during the morning or at least the early afternoon, meaning there was plenty of people outside which did wonders on her internal panic that the monster was going to leap out from behind something and snatch her up never to be seen again...because that was quickly becoming a normal concern, honestly, her life was starting to become a really shitty horror movie and she could safely say she wasn't enjoying it one bit.

And eventually, she finally reached town...or what was more accurately close to it with the few shops and stores littered around the streets, her eyes instantly zeroing in on one of the cheapest places to get groceries and beginning her march over towards it, rubbing the heel of her palm against her eyes again as if that would stop the headache that continued to batter her brain from the insides until she felt like she was in some sort of invisible boxing match...one of which she was losing.

But just as Blair was about to take a step into the store, she caught something out of the corner of her eye, something that struck her in the face and demanded her attention, and when she turned around and squinted to see what it was fully, her face dropped into a disgusted grimace at the words spray-painted on top of the cinema's billboard that was just across the street from her, hissing slightly under her breath in sympathy at the sight of it as she quickly hurried across the road towards, blinking stupidly.

'ALL THE RIGHT MOVES...STARRING NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER'

"Oh, that's just fucking rude." Blair grumbled, offended on the girls behalf as she settled her hands upon her hips and clicked her tongue against her teeth, wondering if she should call the Wheeler residence when she got home just to warn Nancy about the disrespectful street art, and also wondering who had done it and why...a question that was quickly answered when she heard familar voices shouting, coming from the alleyway behind the cinema alongside grunts and cries.

The young witch took a quick second to pray to whatever higher force there was that when she went around the corner she wouldn't be catching two people going to pound town in a sexual manner, something she really didn't think her mental state could handle at the moment, and quickly ran towards where the noises were coming from just in time to see Steve fucking Harrington getting his ass handed to him by Jonathan causing her to snort subconsciously, eyes lighting up in mirth as she watched for a few seconds in absolute glee.

"Blair! Do something!" Nancy's terrified voice suddenly ripped her away out of her proud trance as she shook her head quickly, glancing over at the horrified girl and then back over to the fight at hand to see that Steve was starting to look a little too bloody for her liking...she hated the dude, it was true...but it didn't mean she wanted him to get fucking brain damage as she began to move towards them.

And yet, before she could even get close to the squabbling boys, Tommy seemed to come out of fucking nowhere and viciously shoved her away, causing her to lose her already unsteady footing and land flat on her back, making an involuntary grunt as the air was physically pushed from her lungs and pain wreaked havoc across her body, her face twisting into a pained grimace as she struggled to stand, hearing his taunting jeers ringing inside her ears like she was underwater as she stood up and spat against the floor.

"C'mon Blair Bitch, why don't you show us just how fucking crazy-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off when Blair reared her hand back and slammed it across his face, lips curling into a deadly snarl and eyes alight with raging fire, as the force of it sent him crashing into the wall with a sharp yelp as Carol gasped behind her, but she didn't care, couldn't care, anger around her, inside her, hers and hers and hers, blooming like flowers under her skin and making her nothing short of monstrous as she laughed at the blood dripping from the corner of his lips.

"You want crazy, asshole? I'll show you fucking crazy!" She screamed, before slamming her foot against his face, making him stagger back into the bin and into Carol's awaiting arms as she stared at Blair in horror but she didn't spare them another glance, rushing over to Jonathan and trying desperately to yank him away from the bloodied mess that was becoming Steve with muffled curses slipping through her lips as he squirmed away and laid punch after punch onto his face, battering him into the pavement.

"Jonathan, stop! Stop! You're going to hurt him! Jonathan, stop!" Nancy screamed, hands held over her mouth in horror as she watched them go at it like wid animals...and yet didn't do a single damn thing to help the young witch stop them as she stood there far away from the violence.

"Fuck this." Blair snarled with a grunt, getting pushed away for the third time from a sharp elbow to the face and feeling it bruise under the constant pressure, mind racing a mile per hour as she idly heard the police sirens in the background as a car came into the alleyway, and then she finally lunged forward, hands holding steady against Jonathan's trembling shoulders and sent him a mental apology inside her head, before her eyes clenched shut tightly and she took a slow breath out. "Phasmatos Motus Robix."

He was sent soaring, flying across the pavement and rolling just in front of Nancy's feet as the others hit the ground running at the sign of the cops storming towards them, one of them bending down to grab Jonathan who instantly started struggling, assuming Steve was coming for round two and accidentally ramming the heel of his palm into Callahan's face as he yelled out, instantly grabbing the offended feature with a howl of pain while Powell ran off after the others. "Oh! My nose!"

Blair winced at the sight, debating if it was worth the ear ache she'd get if she ran for it too and left Jonathan and Nancy to fend for themselves, anxiety creeping up inside her like crawling spiders sleuthing across her skin and making it itch, but before she could even take a step, Callahan was grabbing onto Jonathan once more, rougher than he had been and pulling on his arm as he grunted in pain and then slamming him against the car bonnet causing her eyes to go wide as she marched forward. "Hey! What the hell asshole!"

"You! Over against that wall!"

"You're hurting him!" She yelled, face beginning to blossom and turn red as her upper lip curled at the tone he used at her, feeling corned and enraged and wrong, and suddenly it was all too much, the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, the pain in her face that made her jaw ache, the stress mounting up inside her like a bomb about to detonate...and then she heard screaming, and it took her a moment to figure out it was her as the officer was suddenly sent flying off of his feet and into the wall behind him as she gasped, chest burning as she staggered away and gagged, whole body feeling like it had suddenly been set on fire as she shuddered and heaved.

What the hell was that about?
_________________________________________________

Blair kept a glare on her face all the way to the police station, a dangerous glint in her dark eyes as she sat there in the far back corner, slumped in the seat with one leg crossed over the other by the ankle in false nonchalance, jaw clenched so tightly that she was afraid a muscle in her mouth was going to snap if she applied even the slightest amount of pressure on it, but still, she didn't relent. Her whole body filled with some anxious energy that swarmed around her like buzzing bees, warning everyone away from her as she snarled at anything that walked past her.

Her hands were stinging something awful, the dried scabs re-opened and leaking across her palms until she could feel it soaking into her jacket where she's tucked them safely to make sure they were hidden from view, her eyes constantly moving around the station as if expecting someone to notice her suspicious behaviour but they didn't, of course they didn't...because no one wanted to deal with the new resident loony like her grandmother had been before her, and once more, she had to swallow the frustrated scream that wanted to leave her dry lips.

But before Blair could do something stupid, like swallowing her pride and asking for some ice or throwing another punch or two because it looked like she was going in the slammer anyway, the door to the station suddenly burst open and a familar tall figure stormed inside with a face like thunder with Joyce Byers hovering behind him just as frantic causing her to sigh and slumping further into her seat in an effort not to be seen, a frown forming heavy on her brow and a painful twist in her gut as she watched Joyce instantly come to Jonathan's defence without even knowing the reason.

It must be nice, she thought to herself mournfully, to have a mother that would face the devil themself if it meant that you were safe. However, it seemed that her attempt at being hidden was all for naught as Hopper looked over his police officers head to find Blair tucked up tight in the corner, trying to shelter herself in the shadows and sighed loudly, looking as frustrated as she felt about this whole mess of a situation as he gestured towards her angrily. "What the hell is she doing all the way over there?"

"Well, she pushed me into a wall when we tried to grab Jonathan here, she almost broke my back." Callahan told him quickly, a slight grimace set upon his face at the pain still ramming him sideways, casting a quick look over to the girl in question who met his gaze evenly with a dark scowl and looking ready to lunge at the poor man, throwing her arms up in the air with a disbelieving laugh being spat out through trembling lips.

"I didn't even fucking touch him."

Hopper raised a thick bushy brow as he stared her down, glancing at Joyce who was too busy glaring at Callahan to even notice, and then looking back over to Blair who was now stubbornly looking away from them all with her arms crossed defensively over her chest and foot tapping against the floor in her brimming anxiety. He sighed loudly, before turning his eyes to Powell in the hope that someone would start making sense of what happened, but the man only shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "I didn't see shit if I'm being honest, Chief. All I seen was Callahan go flying but when I turned around she was at the other end of the street, no where close to him."

"Mhm." Hopper nodded but he didn't look like he agreed with any of it in the slightest, digging his tongue into the side of his cheek and pursing his lips in frustration, hands on his hips as he stood there for a few, tense moments of deliberation before he grunted softly, pointing over at Blair who narrowed her eyes at him and crooking his finger towards himself with a scowl, hat hanging low on his forehead to add to the overall brooding statue of the large man who looked every bit as sick of this situation as she did. "You...come here."

"I'm not a fucking dog." Blair snapped at him through clenched teeth, resisting the urge to storm over just to simply bite his stupid finger off, but after allowing herself a quick moment to breathe and gather what was left of her sanity, she finally stood on shaking legs and walked closer to the cluster of adults and teens, her hands clenched tightly by her side to hide the bloodied mess that was her palms from prying eyes, because even she knew that it didn't exactly look good for her case...if she was getting a case that was, was she even properly under arrest?

"No, you're right. Dogs are better well behaved, what the hell are you playing at?" The chief chuckled humoursly, rubbing his thick fingers across his forehead as if that would ease the sudden tension he found there, beyond stressed at the girl in front of him who seemed to attract trouble like rotting food attracted flies and mold, unaware of his officers trying to grab his attention from behind him, seemingly far too busy having a stare down with the girl who was practically designed to stress him out.

"Fuck you."

"No fuck you, okay? I promised your grams I'll keep an eye on you and look at you- what the hell happened to your hands?" Hopper finally caught sight of the mess, reaching down to wrap his own hand around her wrist and yank it closer to his face for inspection, eyes turning even harder as he frowned, looking her dead in the face and shaking the aching limb in frustration, idly hearing Joyce gasp behind him as she caught sight of it from over his shoulder. "You been picking fights with a fucking raccoon? This looks disgusting."

Blair scoffed loudly under her breath before yanking her arm away and tucking it back under her armpits once again, the two squabbling stubborn-headed people forgetting they had an audience as everyone watching shifted uncomfortably at the feral look in the chief and the girls dark eyes as they squared up against each other, stuck in their own little bubble of resentment. "Fucking hell, I'm sorry dad. Why don't you get off my back? Don't you have something better to do with your time-"

"Oh, you'll know when I'm on your back, you little-"

"Uh, chief?"

"What?" He finally yelled, turning to look at Powell with his head snapping towards him and features absolutely enraged to the point the officer held his hands up in defence and took a step back, looking between the strange duo with wide eyes, obviously feeling slightly out of his depth when the teen joined him in his glare, staring him down darkly and the poor officer didn't know where to look as he awkwardly cleaned his throat and gestured behind him desperately.

"There's uh, something else you need to see."

Hopper sighed, jaw tensing as he took a deep breath before he sent a warning look down at Blair, and there was something in that look that told her the conversation was far from over as she crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly and looked away with a pout, ignoring his shoulder brushing past her as he stormed away, back out of the police station just behind Powell who didn't exactly look ecstatic to be alone with the Chief who looked five seconds away from tearing someone's head off...but they were quickly pushed into the back of Blair'd mind when Joyce suddenly came up to her with a worried frown on her brow.

"Are you okay, sweetie? Oh, your face, what happened?" Her fingers, trembling but sturdy brushed over the scratches against her face and then the butterfly stitches upon her forehead as if seeing them for the first time, which, in Joyce's defence this was probably the first time she'd had time to notice them considering at the funeral she'd been too busy grieving what was left of her sanity. But the gentle touches had Blair unconsciously leaning into the warm palm, eyes half lidded and a whine hidden in her throat as she resisted the urge to nuzzle into her hand.

However, just as she opened her mouth to reply she was interrupted by a loud noise as Hopper came back and slammed a box filled with...something on the desk in front of the two teens currently sitting on the chairs looking very nervous indeed, causing Joyce to remove her hand and the young witch to scowl once more, moving away from them all as if that would incriminate her less as she desperately tried to peak over the Chief's large shoulder to see what was in the box as Joyce frowned. "What is this?"

"Why don't you ask your son? We found it in his car."

Blair finally managed to squirm out from under Hopper's arm, grumbling under her breath at the effort she had to go through as she physically shouldered him out of the way to see what the great fuss was about, only to freeze, face dropping into a deadpan expression as she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Oh yeah, they were definitely going to jail, and she could only hope she had a cell far away from theirs unless she wanted to loose what was left of her mind. "Oh, this looks like some really kinky shit, is this why you two didn't invite me to the sleepover?"

"Blair, shut up. And why are you going through my car!"

"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Hopper snapped, leaning forwards against the desk with his arms bracing on either side of him, eyes dark and dangerous as Joyce continued to rummage through the box, making disbelieving noises everytime she found something else equally as horrifying as the next while Blair wondered if she could risk running out of the nearest door as moving states. But, that opportunity was quickly swiped away from her as the Chief straightened up and turned his eyes to her with a glare. "I wanna see you both in my office."

"You won't believe us."

"Why don't you give me a try."

Blair grimaced as soon as those words left his mouth, not even knowing how to begin to describe the shit show that had been the last couple of days, rubbing her palm against her face and unknowingly leaving a streak of blood against her cheek as she exchanged exhausted looks with Nancy, before her eyes happened upon the box once more and her expression changed into one of horrified disgust as she leaned in closer with a gasp of wide-eyed wonder and intrigue. "Is that a fucking ball gag?"