None of this would have been possible without the wondrous mind and brutal honesty of my Beta/Co-Writer, Can-i-keep-you80. There are not enough words I could possibly fathom together to thank them for everything they've done and the new level they've helped bring these chapters too. They continue to encourage and inspire me every day, and I don't have the slightest idea how I'd ever make it up to them. I highly HIGHLY recommend you to check out their story "The Larger Truth: A Carmilla AU" if you're wanting to read something new and unpredictable.
I cannot wait for the future of this particular story to unfold and share it with you guys.
As you can see, this was started back when season one was still running. I kept it going until I hit a wall, and then more and more time passed and I wasn't sure if it were a waste or not to continue posting. However, seeing as we are a little ways into the second season now and things are not going so well, I figured maybe it would be a good idea to post as a distraction for those who are still in denial like myself. Soooo yeah.
Carmilla makes a grab for the chain, but the spell has already been completed. The sterling silver chain sizzled and seared the flesh of the vampires open palm, leaving her gasping without reason.
"Mother…" She calmly voices despite the burning pain now pulsing through her hand.
"Hello my darling, I thought it was about time you and I had a little, talk." Her mother commands Laura's body to face Carmilla.
Though this being standing in front of Carmilla looked like Laura, every tiny detail in their demeanor screamed just how much Laura was no longer in arms didn't swing as they normally did with each turn her body made. She didn't bounce on her feet, as she always did when making a point. Each movement was concise, exact, and mechanical. There was no doubt about it, for the moment, Laura was nowhere to be found.
"You should know by now, I am not pleased when things do not go according to plan. The thing about plans, especially in this case, they are on a very strict time schedule." Her mother runs her hand along the desk, her nails scraping against the smooth wood before glancing at the camera. She always loved an audience and a well worded monologue no one but her cared about, so she continues her one sided conversation with Carmilla.
"I am extremely disappointed in you my dear, I would have thought after the last pet you had, you would have learned to not make the same mistake twice." She adjusts Laura's trailing fingers to find a new path, and travel up Carmilla's arm slowly but delicately. The moment would have been full of ecstasy and gratification if not for the bitter fact it was her mother doing these actions with Laura's body and not Laura herself. The touch was tainted with a lingering darkness, as is every facet of Carmilla's life.
Carmilla's hands ball in to fists behind her back, her jaw tightly wound shut, fighting off every nerve not to lash out.
"Threats to the sacrifice will not be tolerated. Your insubordination cannot, and will not, be excused this time."Her mother's voice passes through Laura with stunning clarity. Laura's mouth is the one spewing the threats, but with the foreboding tone and old world diction, her mother may as well have been standing in the room with the young vampire. Her presence filled the room even in absence of her actual body.
The forthright sound of fractured wood reverberates off the walls. Carmilla's eyes dart back to her mother; who is now holding two broken halves of Laura's favorite broom.
"It is time that I taught you a real lesson, a lesson in what it means when you blatantly disobey your own Mother." Laura's body steps closer; Carmilla instinctually takes one backwards. Never daring to take her eyes off the splintered end of the handle. "I will not have history repeat itself my dear, I simply do not have the patients anymore."
Then Laura rushes her. The two girls collide backwards on to her bed; makeshift stake and isn't the way Carmilla imagined this moment to be. It was primal in all the wrong ways. Carmilla began to struggle with the fight or flight urges, knowing full well it wasn't Laura she was actually fighting.
Luckily, this isn't the first time Carmilla has had to deal with someone trying end her time on this earth. She dodges the first assault, lungingat just the right angle, so the stake takes the deep plunge into her shoulder instead of her heart. Though this is her mother forcing Laura to attack her, it was still Laura's human body that prevented Carmilla from striking back or taking any sort of shot.
"So, now you have two options," Her mother says through Laura's shortened breath. "Option A, you are killed by your pathetic play thing," She declares violently yanking the piece of wood out from Carmilla's body. This time when she goes in for the kill, she does it with a crushing determination
But again, Carmilla is just fast enough. Her hands snap out and fasten around Laura's wrist that houses the weapon; which now, is only hovering inches above her heart.
"Or, Option B," Her mother adds the needed pressure, starting to feel Carmilla's restraint falter. "You Kill her, cleanse yourself, and I will absolve you ofthis childish behavior you call love."
Carmilla can feel the jagged tip slowlybeginning to pierce through her skin; she's struggling, but her high level of snark discriminates against no one; and definitely not now.
"How about option C," The vampire mocks, twisting her legs so as to wrap them around Laura's waist. This again of course, would be a thousand times better if this wasn't her mother. Her mother in Laura's body. The body now trying to kill her.
The Dean should know by now not to be surprised by anything Carmilla does, but this time, she underestimated Carmilla's true strength when it came to feeling anything for another being. The look her mother causes Laura to make, is priceless.
Carmilla uses her legs to force Laura to jerk forward, so the two were face to face.
"We get that sword, and kick your old fashioned-virgin sacrificing-ass!" Carmilla spouts off to her mother's face, quickly taking hold of the cursed necklace and letting out a bellowing cry before snapping it clean off. The chain clamors against the floor; Carmilla watches through Laura's eyes as she slowly begins to come back to her normal self.
The room fell silent except for Carmilla's relieved panting.
The only thing Laura can comprehend at the moment, is the proximity that the two were so intimately sharing. Laura's last memory was sitting at her desk, admiring a necklace. Now, she's straddling Carmilla.
How, Laura thought, how did this happen? Because in her head, she was just in one place and now all of the sudden she's somewhere else doing something else in like the half second it takes to blink.
Beset between the other girl's legs, and regarding the fact that her grip is still tightly around the stake, is almost too much to take in at once. Carmilla is still trapped underneath the smaller girl, propping Laura up with her arms in her defense. In such a way, that their shared position prevented the weapon from pushing any further into her body. Only when the girl's eyes go wide and her face floods red, does she also forget how to breathe correctly.
"Laura?" Carmilla hesitantly asks, uncertainty weighing heavily the back of her mind. Her mother was notorious for having not one, but multiple tricks up her sleeve. This didn't appear to be one of her tricks, but very rarely did she find out until after the fact.
She can feel her breath see-sawing through her chest.
"C-Carm?" Laura stutters. The once delicious color now draining rapidly from the girl's face when she finally notices the situation unfolding; how she was the one responsible for the foreign object ever so gradually, piercing it's way though the vampires chest. "Oh my god!" She blurts out instinctually yanking her arms away, evidently leading to her wrenching the stake out of Carmilla in one regrettable motion.
There was no stopping the stream of curses that followed.
"Oh my god!" Laura shouts again throwing the bloodied broom handle across the room and clasping her hands over Carmilla's wound. Applying pressure to the gash made her flinch again, the flush of renewed humiliation spreading up her neck to her cheeks. "What the hell?! I- Did I?" She says as the trepidation overwhelms her features, and her hands quickly become discolored from the vampire's blood.
She cracks a smile at Laura, and on one of her exhales she manages enough of a voice to croak.
"It's just a scratch," Despite her penchant for witty jokes, Laura still manages to see the worry in the vampire's posture. Carmilla was not always easy read, her cleverness and snark covered the minute details of her face, and lord knows her body moved differently than a humans; but the worry she had was evident. Laura sees right through the façade, making her grit her teeth.
"…It wasn't your fault." She reiterates, making sure the other girl understands she had no control of the situation that had just transpired; there was no way in hell Laura could have even tried to fight it, let alone stop it. The last thing Carmilla wants to do is indicate any sign whatsoever that this is worse than it really looks. It would absolutely destroy Laura.
"I don't understand," Laura says just above a whisper; pushing through with each word with a new found determination so that her voice doesn't crack. She glances over her shoulder in search of the cursed necklace, then back to a wounded Carmilla. Laura's not an idiot; she can definitely put two and two together.
Before Carmilla can chase away any negative thoughts Laura might be tearing herself down with, a thunderous sound explodes from the other side of the door. Within the half second that passes, a second blow is delivered, and this time, it sends fissures rippling throughout the door.
"Still alive in there mutt?" A man blusters from the hallway.
Laura doesn't recall getting off of the bed, let alone standing behind Carmilla who's now acting as a human shield.
The frame gives way, and the door snaps right off of the hinges; Laura's chest sinks.
That is not a man standing in the doorway… that is a beast.
"I told her to let me take care of this, she easily could have saved so much of that precious time she desperately craves." The brute steps through the threshold, Carmilla's stance doesn't waver for a second. "She did say if I had to get involved, I could make whatever choice I deemed fit. Kill you, her, or the both of ya'." He quips before snapping off a part of the already demolished door. "And I am feeling mighty generous today if I don't say so myself."
"Back the hell up Cage, so help me." Carmilla threatens through pursed lips.
"Oh miss, I'm not scared of you and your empty threats." Cage snorts, tossing the broken timber around in his hands like it's a baseball. "Not since our time in Madrid." Without another second's hesitation he snaps the shard in their direction
But what this mindless fiend seems to forget is that Carmilla is older, and much faster than he is; so in turn, she easily strikes it down. The cocky grin she boasts serves only to fuel his rage.
Then supernatural tank charges full throttle.
Before Laura can even think about flinching, she's violently thrown backwards. The world darkens for a split second, and her whole body flinches, clenching in on itself like it would somehow release the blinding pain in her shoulder. Her breath is immediately stolen from her the second she crashes into her computer desk. A whimper escapes her but she manages to bite back the sob that would have followed. Though Carmilla tossed her with little to no effort across the room like a damn rag doll, it sure beats the hell out of being trampled by that barbarian of sheer force.
When the two vampires collide, Laura could have sworn lightning struck dead center of their room. Carmilla's bedframe, once an innocent bystander, has now been turned to rubble. Laura could have sworn a high-speed car crash just occurred dead center of their room. It was like metal clashing with metal; it was one incredible mass colliding with another; neither bending nor breaking.
Yes Laura may have had the wind knocked out of her, but adrenaline rapidly stomps down the physical pain, and launches her thought process into overdrive. She tries to breathe through the shock and terror, but she readily sees herself losing that battle. For a brief second, a chill runs down her spine and then tips of her fingers brieflygo numb; a clear sign of worse things to come. There is a line of warmth trickling down her back, but the worry over Carmilla is most prominent.
Carmilla, who's wrestling a maniac for her life only a few feet away from her, outsets to ebb around that fear.
She has to force herself to blink more than a few times to figure out the images that are manifesting. Carmilla struggles to scream out to Laura, struggling to tell her to run. Cage's monstrous hand keeps clasping over her mouth, all while the other deliberately crushes down on her windpipe. This monster revels in the power, like this is some form of revenge that he has long awaited.
If Carmilla gives him any satisfaction of adding even a single ounce of more pressure, he will undoubtedly decimate her throat. No doubt that he will probably relish the sound, and use it in the future to lull himself to sleep.
In the midst of hearing Carmilla struggle and the sadistic man basically laughing at it, Laura finds all the motivation a girl needs to scramble across the floor and snatch up the broken handle of lands a colossal blow against the side of Carmilla's face, then another, and another to immerse the vampire into being completely disoriented. The second he feels the sense of victory over the fight, he jumps off of her and lunges at Laura.
It all happens inconceivably fast.
Cage is practically laying on top of Laura, the man's expression is nothing short of disconcert; the same befuddled reaction being mirrored by Laura. The both of them stare wildly at her hands. The weapon once intended to end Carmilla's life, has now found a permanent residency in the man's chest. Laura's breathing hitched and staggered, bemused by her own actions. She has no idea how this works, if it would work, or how she managed to pull it off in the first place.
But what Cage does next, makes Laura's stomach grudgingly twist into knots.
He grins like the devil himself.
"Close, but not clo-"
His sneer is abruptly cut off by what essentially sounds like a war cry, and a bedpost skewers through his back and clean out of his chest; blood splatters across Laura and the space around them.
Unbelievably, Cage still has the strength to get to his feet, swinging his fists at the other vampire like a flailing toddler. Trapped in a state of disbelief, Cage grips the protruding piece of frame that is haphazardly jutting out from his body; his skin discoloring outward from the wound, turning an array of grays and blacks.
"Cheap shot," His voice hoarse and cracking. His legs finally give, and his knees meet the floor. "You're done for girly," An angry stare greets Carmilla. "Mother said, if we don't kill you…" Cage trails off as his malicious reign finally comes to an end. His hand snaps out to get a fist full of Carmilla's pants, but the grip weakens as quickly as the seconds pass.
"…your friendswill." The philistine vampire chokes out his final threat before collapsing. There isn't a single sign of color left on his body; it has all been completely replaced by shades of dark wash.
Before Carmilla can say a word, a whole other scent floods her lungs and smashes into her like a cement wreaking ball.
Blood.
Laura's blood.
Enough of the scent to make the room spin for Carmilla. She can't take her eyes off of Laura, who by the way, still hasn't looked away from the desiccated body lying in the middle of the room.
Carmilla eyes scour over every inch of the girl until she finally sees it.
"Laura…"
The smaller girl diverts her attention back to Carmilla; her face stippled with Cage's blood. Laura's mind and body are in too much shock to notice, but there is a decently sized gash along her collar bone. More than likely caused by the end of the post when Cage started flailing about. Well, that, and the couple of accompanying cuts and scratches Carmilla can only blame herself for.
"He… Is he?" Laura asks, her voice nothing short of shaken. Carmilla leans down, resting her hands on Laura's shoulders trying her best to pull her out of the shock and into a coherent state.
"Hey, Laura, Laura listen to me," Carmilla takes Laura's face into her hands; desperately trying not to notice the flush that comes flooding back to her cheeks whether the girl is aware of it or not. Then again, going off of the way Laura is about to start hyperventilating, the vampire easily pushes the thought in to the back of her mind.
Laura's mind lets loose, and there isn't anything she isn't rambling about in a panicked frenzy.
"Y-You killed him" "oh my god" "he's really dead isn't he?" "I almost" "but you had too"
All things alike spilled from the girl's lips, making it impossible for Carmilla to get a word through.
That's when a small prick ends up triggering bursts of pain that radiates down her arm. The same chill from before makes a reappearance, but for some reason this time it is different… and a little off putting.
"Laura, are you still with me?"
Each word begins to fade further and further away, the light headedness becomes more outstanding; she's over a hundred percent sure she just tried to lift her leg, but there was no indication of movement coming from either of her legs any time soon.
Dammit
Laura had spent the past few days convincing herself that she was stronger, more useful then that fateful night in the library… and somehow this little adventure was leaking the confidence out of her quicker than children left with a basket of freshly baked cookies.
The vampire mutters out a slew of curses and quite possibly a 'don't make me do this' to a conscious fading Laura. She felt herself be lifted but she couldn't break her mind from the images her fears were beginning to fling at her.
The surprising warmth of Carmilla's body clinging to hers brought some semblance of normalcy back to her brain, and she managed to marvel at the strength hidden in her. Carmilla's arms around her had more than just butterflies in her stomach, being this close she could see the tiny changes in the vampire's face; a shy smile tugged at her lips, and a tiny bit of color returned to her face despite everything else.
Carmilla had said something again, and distantly, she heard her own reply:
"Don't leave me…"
Then Laura relinquishes her flimsy hold on the light, surrendering to the darkness before Carmilla give any response.