A commission for Anikan! Thank you!
A/N: Takes place before season 2, episode 1. I mean literally just minutes before Laura turns on the camera. These are the events that take place right before the video begins. It also mentions events that took place in the canon tweets.
Disclaimer: I do not own Carmilla.
Dark Of Night
Thunder crashed for the umpteenth time that evening, shaking the building to its core, making the walls tremble in a way that felt as though they might crumble any second now.
And then there was the booming sounds produced from the storm outside.
The initial "thunder" had been a certain vampire girlfriend quite literally roaring threats and curses at the current residents of the dorm she and Laura had stumbled into.
Said human girl was presently standing behind her raging girlfriend as Carmilla growled at the squatters again, an assortment of undoubtedly colorful and bone-chilling words. There was definitely a bit of a panther-like element to those growls, and evidently it was enough to make the terrified students turn tail and flee without regard for whatever was fated to happen to their dorm room now.
Laura watched as Carmilla lost the aggressive stance, her slumped shoulders straightening out once more as she rose from her almost feline crouch. Laura found herself staring a bit, and though she had to keep quietly reminding herself that despite the fact that Carmilla was pissed right now... it was still kinda hot.
At least she wasn't pissed at Laura.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
As the original residents were reduced to nothing more than a flurry of frightened footsteps down the halls, Carmilla turned slowly back to the only other occupant of the room.
Most of the lights were still off, save for a lone lamp that the previous owners had left aglow, but the darkness wasn't an issue for Carmilla's superior vision. Her eyes traveled up and down Laura's person, not even trying to hide the hunger in those alluring irises.
Laura shivered, but it wasn't cold in here at all.
She was snapped back into reality at the sound of crashing thunder outside, jumping slightly at the sudden loudness. But then, a much more pleasant and familiar sound graced her ears.
"Well, that wasn't too hard, now was it?"
The smooth triumph that was Carmilla's voice was nothing short of a suggestive drawl, implying that they had the place to themselves now and should take advantage.
While they still could. Before they were interrupted again, because, in Carmilla's experience, she'd never get more than five minutes alone with her girlfriend before some ginger or curly-haired person came barging in.
It was only a matter of time, so she intended to enjoy this now.
"So..." Carmilla went on, dragging the word out into a purr. "Wanna break in the new room? It seems only appropriate."
She stepped forward in the darkness, a hand reaching up to caress the twirl of thick, blonde tresses that fell over Laura's shoulder, her black nails brushing with almost ticklish pressure down over her girlfriend's upper arm.
Laura couldn't help but smile and move in a bit as well.
"That sounds like a totally awesome idea," she agreed. "Maybe after I make one quick little video?"
Carmilla knew she should've been expecting that, but even so, she rolled her eyes.
"Really, Sunshine? After all we've just been through – chased by angry villagers with all the traditional fire and pitchforks, nearly burnt to crisps inside a dusty old barn, trapped inside a mountain and tricked by a desperate garden gnome who wanted to make you his child-bearing mistress..." She spat out the last one like venom, still disgusted. "After all that, don't you think sitting down for a moment to cuddle up would be a nice reward for all our troubles?"
The hands that started creeping their way up either side of Laura's body gave her little power to refuse.
"Well... sure, why not? That stupid video can wait five minutes."
Carmilla chuckled.
"How cute that you think I'll be done with you in just five minutes."
She leaned down for a ravenous kiss, content to discover Laura was just as fervent for the contact. After days of trekking through the freezing wilderness in rain and hail and everything else unpleasant that could possibly fall from the sky, they were rather exhausted and still slightly damp.
The smallest benison in all of this was that their duo of pesky companions were too busy scoping out their new digs and exploring the place to intrude on their alone time – at least for now.
Laura was too distracted by the vampire nipping her bottom lip to focus on where Carmilla was leading her.
The vampire kept her palms braced on Laura's side and the small of her back, guiding her backward step by step toward the single bed in the room.
This was going to be the best part of it all. Why steal a room with two beds when they had no reason to sleep separately anymore?
Laura followed her girlfriend's slight tug, never breaking the kiss as they moved across the floorboards that tapped hollowly underfoot. Had her mind not been solely occupied on making out with those sanguine lips right now, Laura might have considered exploring the secret passageways.
But as things were right now, she found she couldn't afford the luxury.
And she didn't really care.
She followed Carmilla's lead, and it was almost like a dance of sorts, if dancing was typically done with two people connected breathlessly at the mouth as though their lives depended on it, that is.
Her hands roamed all through Carmilla's dark hair, mapping patterns over her back and shoulders, committing her flawless form to memory.
Carmilla turned them around a bit, until she was pushing rather than pulling. Laura felt the soft bump at the back of her knees as her legs hit the edge of the bed.
With a gently push, Carmilla had the girl falling lightly onto her back, bouncing on the mattress a few times. Carmilla eased herself down on top, bracing her forearms on either side of Laura's head as her knees straddled the girl's hips.
With a sigh, the exhausted vampire, dipped her head into the crook of Laura's neck and inhaled the intoxicating scent of her blood.
"Isn't this nice?" she sighed, her breath fanning out over Laura's collar. "Much more enjoyable than making some video, right?"
Laura moved her hands to rub them up and down her girlfriend's back.
"I'll openly admit that yes, yes it is." She cradled Carmilla's head against her chest, staring up at the dark ceiling that was only illuminated by the single lamp and the occasional flash of lightning.
Carmilla slowly pressed her weight against her, hands straying up her sides and then down to her hips again. Laura could feel the fangs grazing her neck, not piercing, but just barely protruding. She shifted a bit, her knee bumping into that of her vampire girlfriend's as Laura let out a small voice.
"You know... I trust you, Carm."
The vampire froze instantly, pulling away to gaze down at her. While tainting the girl hadn't been at the forefront of her mind right now, it had certainly been there somewhere.
But Laura's words had her realizing that what she was doing right now seemed a bit more intimate than Carmilla had initially planned.
With a smile rather than a smirk, Carmilla leaned down to hold a chaste kiss to her lips.
"Sorry," she murmured. "That's not what I was after." She nuzzled Laura's nose affectionately. "But thanks, Laura. For trusting me. I'm just not sure I trust myself yet, that's all."
With that small, insecure confession, Carmilla slid off of her, instead lying beside her girlfriend and pulling Laura in to her with a sigh. Again, she buried her face into Laura's hair.
"I guess I'm still just a bit pissed about that damn garden gnome..."
Laura perked up at the mention of Leif, and her hands squeezed Carmilla a bit tighter.
"Sooo~ you were jealous, huh?"
She both felt and heard her girlfriend huff, clearly miffed.
"Well, of course I'm intent to fight for you until my dying breath," she said. "But if you really would rather have stayed stuck inside the mountainside and lived with that creepy little hobgoblin, I would've let you."
"Hm..." Laura pondered playfully for a moment. "While it's nice to know you'd let me go if I ever wanted it, that's not gonna happen. So I hope you've got a good grip."
She could feel the smirk against her neck at that, and as if to prove her point, Carmilla hugged her tighter.
"I'd like to see someone try to tear us apart. I'll tear them to shreds."
Laura giggled softly, flattered by her girlfriend's passion to keep her at all costs.
"I'll whack 'em around a few times, myself," she declared. "Give 'em the only one-two!"
"Right," Carmilla mused. "If there's anything left of them by the time I'm finished, they're all yours for the punching."
With another sigh, she returned to her previous task of trailing lazy kisses up the side of Laura's neck and all the way to her cheek.
The rain continued to hiss, battering the glass of the windows and streaming down. When the lightning flashed again, Laura could see the water glinting in the temporary white light - eerie, and yet not as unsettling as it should have been.
There was a certain level of security to having a black panther shape-shifting vampire girlfriend who could battle angry gods single-handedly clinging to her side.
But there was just something about the thunder – there always had been, ever since she was a kid. It just startled her a bit, made her jump and gasp a thin breath of air.
It hadn't gone unnoticed by Carmilla, but only now when they were alone in the dark of night did she feel the need to address it.
With a bit of regret, she pulled away from Laura's warmth to seek the gleam of her eyes in the shadows.
"Hey..." she murmured. "You alright?"
Laura cleared her throat a bit, thankful for the shadows to hide her blush, though she was certain Carmilla could feel the heat radiating off of her face.
"Yeah. Fine," she said. "Just tired after all that, I guess."
Carmilla grunted in agreement.
But the next blast of thunder and consequential jolt on Laura's part left nothing to the imagination whatsoever. Again, the vampire dipped her head, brushing her cheek against Laura's in the most subtly-possessive way possible.
"Don't like the thunder, huh?" It wasn't a jeer or an effort to tease her. It was merely an understanding observation.
Laura nodded.
"Yeah. It was never really my thing... But I can deal."
Carmilla frowned. She didn't like that Laura felt this storm was just something she had to suffer through. She felt she could help her girlfriend enjoy it instead.
"It is rather loud and obnoxious, isn't it?" she muttered. "Kind of unnecessary. Always has been. That much hasn't changed in over a hundred years, believe me." She rolled over a bit until she rested on her back, slipping her arm around Laura's back and pulling her near. "Come to think of it, I didn't like it either at first. Even though it's just air and pressure colliding in all the wrong ways, it always felt kind of omnipotent. Pretty intimidating, I guess."
"Yeah..." Laura sighed. "My dad always told me it was just the angels bowling."
"A nice euphemism," Carmilla mused. "But the reality's somewhat more complicated and a bit less pleasant."
As if on cue, another blast sounded, and Laura couldn't help but sigh, a withering, almost trembling breath, clearly uneasy.
They'd been through quite enough over the past few days, and Carmilla didn't like that even after finding sufficient shelter after it all, her girlfriend was still uneasy. She wasn't about to allow it.
"Come here," she murmured, tapping her own chest. "Don't worry about the storm, hun. It'll pass." She pulled Laura closer, letting the girl rest her head on her collar.
And Laura didn't refuse.
Carmilla's natural scent enticed her in the most calming of ways, an inviting aroma rather than one meant to snare her. She went willingly and with her wholehearted trust put into her girlfriend.
Closing her eyes, she turned her head to one side, her ear pressing lightly to Carmilla's ancient pulse.
But despite the fact that her girlfriend's heart had been beating nonstop for over a century now, it still sounded just the same as ever. Even when the thunder blasted, and even after it faded, Carmilla's heartbeat remained, slow, persistent, and steady.
It was grounding and reassuring to say the very least.
Laura allowed herself to doze for a while, succumbing to Carmilla's soothing hands traveling through her hair and all over her back, scratching lightly. She slipped her own arm around Carmilla's stomach, rubbing her side gently.
Within seconds, the thunder suddenly wasn't so anxiety-inducing anymore.
Laura focused on the rhythm beneath her ear, a familiar sound she now had no qualms about listening to every night as she fell asleep.
But as she listened a little harder, there was... something else.
It was a small vibration, a rumbling of sorts, and Laura was about to be concerned for a moment, ready to ask Carmilla if she was alright.
But the sound didn't dwindle with the storm, nor did Carmilla seem to be in any discomfort at all.
Laura was silent for a few more minutes, until she could discern what the mystery sound was.
She couldn't help but mumble to herself:
"No way..."
Carmilla heard her and huffed slightly.
"What? Aren't there studies, or something? That it helps with depression and anxiety?"
"Oh..."
Laura fell into silence once more when she realized what Carmilla was doing – and that she was doing it for Laura's sake.
So she didn't press the matter further, for fear of flustering her girlfriend. She just enjoyed it.
She'd seen Carmilla in her cat form before, but never had Carmilla stayed that way long enough to find herself in a relaxing situation. She only ever transformed so she could shred annoying demons.
But this was the first indication that her feline habits could carry over to her human form.
It was a gravelly purr, fairly deep and slow in accordance to Carmilla's breathing. Where the hiss of the rain pelted the glass, a soft purr filled Laura's ears, an equally-consistent sound that worked in time with her heartbeat.
She finally relaxed, and Carmilla knew she'd successfully done her job.
She allowed herself to close her eyes as well, more than content to let sleep take the both of them just as they were.
But she should've known better.
After a few more minutes – not nearly as many minutes as Carmilla would have liked – Laura pulled away. The purr stopped immediately afterward, having no reason to remain.
"Thanks, Carm."
It was Laura's turn to brush their noses together, then move down to kiss her lips. She lingered for a few seconds longer than necessary, feeling the breath Carmilla inhaled into her mouth.
Laura pet idly through her hair before pushing herself up. The vampire heaved a sigh and sat herself up as well.
"Gonna go record that video?"
Laura looked back at her sheepishly.
"Sorry. I'll only be a few minutes!"
Carmilla shrugged.
"Go ahead and do your thing," she said. "I'll still be here when you're done."
Together, they stood and scurried about the room to start turning on the lights.
Carmilla was just glad she'd gotten more than one minute alone with her girlfriend without being interrupted.
Though, she honestly wasn't sure when the next time she'd have that would arise.
A/N: The premiere of season 2 killed me in the best way. I must enjoy it while it lasts before sadness inevitably comes...
Please review!