"I know you didn't just do it for me,"

Those words haunted her.

"The story isn't just, you fall in love with a monster,"

Haunted her like water in her lungs, drowning her slowly, and killing her with the very thing that she used to need to survive. Even though enough time had passed since those words were spoken, they follow her. A shadow of the things she did and didn't do. The echo of the things Laura said, did. Her actions playing softly behind her eyelids. Of course, Carmilla had forgiven her. For everything. Including the death of her sister. Laura had made the ultimate sacrifice for her life. Laura threw her morals under the blade and protected Carmilla. Laura broke herself so that she could live. Laura fought so hard.

"And the moment came I killed him. I burned that poor man to the ground and I didn't care, "

Carmilla sat quietly in the library, surrounded by the soft glow of lanterns. Even though she liked being alone, she could never truly be alone. Her memories were her shadows, and these days it's all she thought about. Especially when she sees Laura. The small number of times she saw her a day. Carmilla sighed, running her hand down her face. Laura has been especially distant. Every time Carmilla saw her, she looked. Numb. Void. Empty. It was in her eyes. Instilling itself in the corners of her mind and becoming complacent. It broke her heart to see Laura like that.

The longer she sat in silence the louder the words got.

"Monster,"

"I did this to her," Carmilla thought, wanting desperately to run away from this train of thought. Carmilla stood and started to pace. "I can't allow myself to think like this. I can't blame myself for her actions," she said aloud to attempt to get out of her head. A constant fight, never-ending thoughts. Jumping from how scared she was for Laura and how angry she was with herself for being apart of what broke her.

A scream broke her out of her train of thought. Carmilla knew exactly who it was. Laura always had nightmares during the night. And Carmilla always went to comfort her, and Laura would never remember the next day.

Carmilla made her way through the hallway to the door room, where they had found some seemingly comfortable furniture. Laura was there, awake sitting in the chair, shaking and mumbling. Carmilla approached the distraught girl and leaned in front of her, taking her hands.

"Laura? Hey, Laura. " Carmilla said in a low hum, so she didn't freak her out. Laura shifted her gaze to meet the vampire. Carmilla's expression softened because that was the fastest she'd ever responded. Laura had started to try and say something, but Carmilla already knew what was going to come out. She just nodded her head yes, and prepared herself for what came next.

" I - I can't believe I did that." her voice shook, "Without a second thought I stole someone's life," She broke down in Camilla's arms. Carmilla shifted her back into the chair and slipped behind her. Laura sobbed, she sobbed until she had nothing left. Carmilla just held her, because there was nothing she could say to make her feel better. As she shook and sobbed Carmilla rubbed circles on her back to try and calm her down, but she knew it wouldn't work. Eventually, Laura fell back asleep and Carmilla slipped back out and wandered back to her spot to be alone.

"Just another night," Carmilla mumbled to herself as she sat back in the same chair to be swallowed by her memories.

Hey Guys! Thank you SO much for reading! I will be updating this story with a new chapter soon! This is an updated version so today is the 24th of July in 2018, so expect a new chapter in the next couple weeks!