"We should go hunting!"

Those were the words that had led them here. To this place. To Danny covered in mud and leaves, Carmilla looking pristine as always standing next to her in that completely impractical corset. (Yeah, she appreciated it, but still. They were hunting. You don't hunt in a corset. It's just not done.)

Danny had had the brilliant idea of bonding with Carmilla. They were both dating Laura – the journalist had been completely unable to choose between them, and had in fact scolded them for asking her to – and Danny felt that she didn't know her girlfriend's other girlfriend as well as she should. That led to the genius revelation that, wait, Carmilla was a vampire, she literally hunted things to live! Danny, as a member of the Summer Society, saw a glorious opportunity.

She could invite Carmilla to go hunting with her, bond with her, and demonstrate her superior hunting prowess! It was completely win-win in her mind. It would impress Laura, show Carmilla that she wasn't completely useless, and just maybe she could get a bit closer to the vampire.

In all honesty, Danny had caught herself thinking about Carmilla at random times lately. Yeah, she was utterly in love with Laura, but Carmilla had this pull to her, a magnetic charisma that radiated from her even when she was at her most antisocial. It was fascinating. The little she had gotten to know about the vampire had only peaked her interest.

Carmilla had been oddly amenable to the idea of going hunting. Danny had chalked it up to her simply enjoying the idea of shooting living things with pointy sticks. Of course, then she found out that Carmilla had absolutely no intention of using a bow, and simply chased the animals down on foot and murdered them with her bare hands. That had been slightly off-putting, but Danny had soldiered through it.

Then there had been a buck, and it was the last weekend they were in season so Danny had maybe gotten a little enthusiastic as she went to set up her shot. There had been mud, and slippage, and before she knew it she was facing the sky from the middle of a massive pile of mud and leaves.

And Carmilla had gotten the buck.

Danny groaned, using both hands to cover her eyes. This was not behavior befitting a Huntress. She felt more than heard Carmilla huff a laugh, and she really didn't need to look to see the smirk on the other girl's face. It was, perhaps, slightly possible that her plan was a teeny bit flawed. She might have forgotten to take 'super-strong ultra-fast wicked-sensey vampire' into account when formulating it, but all was not lost. There was one avenue still left to her. She was a Huntress of the Summer Society. She would die before conceding defeat.

She threw a handful of mud at Carmilla.

The vampire must have been taken completely off-guard, because though Danny knew she could have easily avoided the missile, she heard the wet splat it made when it connected with her – Danny uncovered her eyes to look – yep, that was the corset.

Carmilla looked down at herself incredulously, then back to Danny. The redhead offered an innocent smile to the vampire, who rolled her eyes and glared. Danny stuck her hand up, silently asking for assistance in regaining her footing. Carmilla didn't move for several seconds before she relented and grasped Danny's wrist. Of course, Danny didn't actually need help getting up. Carmilla was more gullible than she had thought if she so easily fell for her clever trick. Danny yanked hard on the vampire's hand, simultaneously sweeping a leg around to take out the vampire's legs and send her crashing to the ground.

Carmilla hopped over the leg sweep easily and bodily yanked Danny onto her feet. "You are exasperating, you must realize that."

Danny didn't respond. Carmilla had pulled her extremely close, and all the redhead could focus on was how much she wanted to find out what flavor of lip gloss the brunette was wearing. With a mental shrug, she raised her hands to cup Carmilla's face and crashed their lips together.

It was messy and awkward and a little bit violent at first, but after a moment where Danny could feel the vampire stiffening in shock, she relaxed, tilted her head to the side, and returned the kiss in kind. Carmilla kissed like she lived, dark and intense. Danny licked at her top lip, silently asking Carmilla to let her in, and the vampire granted her access which Danny eagerly took advantage of. The kiss turned utterly filthy.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Danny pulled back. She looked around for her bow, but her eye was caught by the sight of Carmilla. Hair tousled, lips bruised, cheeks flushed, she looked like she had stepped straight from a porn shoot. Normally Danny would have been on her knees begging for the chance to kiss her one last time. This time, however, she was too busy bursting out laughing.

Carmilla looked annoyed, but Danny couldn't stop. The vampire's once-pristine clothing was absolutely covered in streaks of mud, trailing from her waist to her ass to her throat, and she looked utterly ridiculous. Carmilla glanced down at herself once more, growled, and tackled Danny back into the mud.

Quite a few more minutes of wrestling, bickering, and kissing later, Danny stretched out along the forest floor and pulled Carmilla on top of her. "I'm glad we came out here today." She kissed the vampire's forehead and smiled down at her. "I think Laura will be glad we can actually get along."

Carmilla nodded. "Yeah, I told her this would be a good idea. She was so happy to have come up with the idea, she's been wanting us to get together for weeks."

Danny pulled back sharply. "Wait, what?"

Carmilla smirked. "Just accept it, cupcake. Laura rules both our lives. Everything gets so much simpler once you realize that."