Notes: Thanks to Brad for the beta and the advice and to Brit for the read and the cheerleading. Not my characters, just borrowing them.
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Laura's dad had always been a worrier. Like over-the-top worrier. To say that he was overprotective was an understatement. Then again, Laura always understood why. He'd gone from happy, excited, expectant father to single father mourning his wife, but madly in love with his new baby girl in an instant. His whole world had turned upside down and inside out.
He'd done his best to protect her from absolutely everything, but she'd always had a headstrong independent streak that had left her dad quite the nail biter.
More than anything, her dad had worried about boys. A little boy she'd been playing with pushed her down on the playground when she was eight. It hadn't been hard or malicious and it had barely fazed her. She'd dusted herself off and chased after him. Her dad, however, had practically come to blows with the little boy's father. He'd enrolled her in krav maga the next day.
From that day forward, her dad insisted that she never let "boys will be boys" be used as an excuse for their bad behavior. She was taught to expect respect and good behavior from boys. She was taught that she had value and deserved to be treated like she did. More than anything, she learned that her dad would be happiest if boys stayed as far away from her as possible.
The funny thing was that he hadn't really needed to worry about boys.
Laura had never really had a "questioning her sexuality" stage. She worked out pretty early on that she was gay. Of course, just because she knew and was fine with it didn't mean she had to tell her dad. He had always been firmly against the idea of her dating, and she doubted that the fact that she wanted to date girls instead of boys would make too much of a difference. Her plan to date under her dad's radar had gone swimmingly until one fateful "sleepover" when he'd opened her bedroom door to ask her and her "friend" if they wanted him to fix them some snacks and gotten more than he'd bargained for.
Laura had been mortified. Once her girlfriend had disentangled her hand from under Laura's bra and all of their articles of clothing had been retrieved from the floor and put on and smoothed down, they had been subjected to a talk that only served to deepen Laura's mortification. Her dad had grilled Sam as if he hadn't met her at least a dozen times prior. Laura had cringed at the words, "And what are your intentions with my daughter?" When he said, "So let's talk about, um…you know…safety…sexwise," Laura had wished that the floor would open and swallow her whole.
To his credit, though, he'd never made a fuss about her sexuality. The next morning, after Sam had left (after spending the night on the couch), he'd merely said, "So, are you…"
"Gay. I'm gay. Lesbian, rather," she'd replied with a nod.
"Okay. No girls in your room when the door's closed."
That had been it.
He'd held her through her first heartbreak and marched proudly beside her at a pride parade the next year, glaring at anyone who tried to flirt with her. Anyone he'd even thought might be a potential candidate for her next girlfriend had gotten the third degree and no one had been up to snuff.
Laura was understandably nervous about bringing Carmilla home, then, even with LaFontaine and Perry in tow. LaFontaine was convinced that supernatural happenings just followed Carmilla around (especially after they almost got eaten at Christmas) and they weren't about to miss the chance to prove more of their theories. As for Perry, she wasn't about to let LaFontaine out of her sight anytime soon. No way in Hell.
Laura could understand that. She was loath to let Carmilla out of her sight, which had led to one rather awkward blood purchase where the nurse supplying the A-neg had glared daggers at her and left Laura rather convinced that either she and Carmilla had had a thing at some point or the nurse definitely wanted them to.
Carmilla had tried to slink off from time to time, but Laura was getting better at catching her and stopping her.
"Sometimes a girl needs a little space to go off and be a creature of the night, cupcake," Carmilla had tried protesting one night, but Laura had kissed her and that had pretty much squashed her objections for the night.
Of course, in the end, it turned out that Laura had other things to be nervous about apart from her dad's reaction to her undead girlfriend; LaFontaine might have been on to something. Supernatural trouble did seem to follow Carmilla everywhere.
Still, the initial introduction was a tense one to say the least. Her dad, after several pokes to the side and a gasp that she was running out of air, had finally released her from his suffocating hug. He didn't let go of her completely, though, putting a firm arm around her shoulder and holding her in close (and she had to admit she'd missed her dad's hugs).
"Dad, these are my friends from school."
"The ones that kept you from being home Christmas day?"
"I told you we ran into some transportation issues. We made it home as quickly as we could!"
"All right, all right. So who do we have here?"
"This is LaFontaine," Laura pointed and LaFontaine saluted her dad. "Perry."
"Very nice to meet you, Mr. Hollis," Perry effused, sticking out her hand, then shrinking back when Laura's dad simply stared at it.
"And this," Laura said, pausing to take a deep breath and wriggle out from under the weight of her dad's arm only to step forward and slip her hand into her girlfriend's, "is Carmilla."
She watched her father's eyes fall to their interconnected hands, then come up to stare Carmilla in the eye.
Laura glanced sideways at her girlfriend and gave her a nudge when she realized Carmilla was staring straight back. Carmilla forced on what Laura was sure she thought would be a friendly smile, but came across rather strained and said, "Hey."
"You wear a lot of leather."
"I like the way it looks," Carmilla replied, "and so does your daughter." The last line was muttered just loud enough for Laura to hear, and she cleared her throat and whispered a warning of, "Be nice! He's my dad!"
"It's very…black," her father said, still sizing Carmilla up.
"I suppose I'm not allowed to say I'm allergic to color?" Carmilla murmured under her breath.
"Definitely not," Laura confirmed quietly, then turning her best smile on her father she said, "Carmilla is my girlfriend."
"Sweetheart, I gathered." Her dad smiled back at her, then turned a stony gaze back on Carmilla.
Laura turned imploringly back to Carmilla, willing her silently to please behave and make an effort.
Carmilla sighed, then smiled a touch more genuinely. "You've raised one heck of a girl, Mr. Hollis. Very big on safety tips. I approve of the collection of bear spray. You never know when it might come in handy."
Laura wasn't positive that Carmilla wasn't mocking him a little, but since the bear spray HAD actually come in handy over the course of the semester, she decided to assume that Carmilla was being genuine.
There was a moment where Laura wasn't sure that her dad was actually going to let Carmilla in the door, but she turned her imploring gaze on him and he relented, offering all the girls a smile. "Yes, well…safety first. Well, it's nice to meet you all. Do come inside and warm up."
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The first few days were tense. Carmilla was banished to the couch and quite grumpy about it, though Laura snuck down once her dad's deep snores permeated the upper floor, and that appeased her somewhat. Her dad watched Carmilla like a hawk, and she could see his lips tighten whenever she and Carmilla had any physical contact. She did her best to talk Carmilla up without actually divulging any of the dangerous details of the semester for fear he wouldn't let her go back to school, but Carmilla was hardly helping herself. She could definitely have been making more of an effort to play nice, Laura felt.
Perry dealt with the tension in the house by cleaning anything and everything in sight. LaFontaine, on the other hand, seemed mildly amused by the show.
Three nights in, Laura woke with a start to find a large black cat perched on the end of her bed. She blinked at it, startled for a moment, before realization dawned. She smiled and shook her head. "Don't get caught."
As Carmilla snuggled in beside her she replied, "Don't worry. I'll return to my banishment long before daddy dearest wakes up. Wouldn't want him to think his daughter's engaging in any wanton behavior now, would we, sweetheart?" with a yawn.
Laura rolled her eyes at Carmilla's dry tone, and then a moment later her breath hitched as she felt a cool hand slide around her waist and soft lips kiss her neck.
As hot as that made her, she also felt a twinge of concern. "You'd better not bite me," Laura murmured.
Carmilla laughed against her neck. "I'd never," she claimed, with a gentle nip that would never break the skin.
"You did."
She felt Carmilla shrug behind her. "Okay, I won't unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I feel like your definition and my definition of 'absolutely necessary' might differ," Laura retorted, fighting simply relaxing into Carmilla's sensual kisses that were now trailing down her shoulder.
Carmilla stilled behind her, and Laura was about to turn to find out why when Carmilla's tense voice replied, "I won't hurt you."
She'd offended her. Well done, Laura. Of course she had. She was being insensitive. She KNEW Carmilla wouldn't hurt her. She'd been teasing. She'd been 90% teasing. 80% at the absolute lowest. She turned to face Carmilla and hugged her tight.
She pulled back enough to look into Carmilla's eyes, but Carmilla wouldn't meet her gaze.
"Hey," Laura coaxed.
Carmilla looked up, expression bored.
"Look at me?" Laura requested.
Carmilla looked at the ceiling and made a show of mulling the proposal over.
"Please?"
Carmilla's eyes met hers. "I'm sorry. I know that."
"I'm not saying I'm a good person."
"You're pretty good for a vampire."
"Being a good vampire is a pain in the ass."
"So you've said. But you are."
"Only because of you," Carmilla replied, and Laura could see the truth in her eyes. "The things I do for you," Carmilla sighed.
Laura grinned. "Because you love me?"
Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Maybe."
"You looooove me."
"Will you shut up if I kiss you?"
"Maybe. Since you love me."
Carmilla kissed her hard, but then the kiss grew tender. A few minutes later, Carmilla pulled back and muttered, "You're a bad influence on me."
Laura laughed. "I think my dad would think the reverse. And Perry. And LaFontaine. And Danny."
Carmilla emitted a small growl at Danny's name.
"She DID save you," Laura reminded her.
"No. Idiot boys doing idiotic things saved me. No, they noticed me. Danny just…fine, whatever. She's not so bad."
"Just what?" Laura prodded, pinching the spot on Carmilla's side she'd been delighted to find was ticklish.
Carmilla stifled a shriek and glared. "I thought you didn't want your dad knowing you let a girl in your room."
"Okay, sorry. Just what, though?"
Carmilla rolled her eyes again. "She just brought me back to you," Carmilla muttered.
Laura felt an overwhelming rush of love for woman before her and after spluttering the starts of words that refused to come, she settled for kissing her deeply.
"I love you," Laura gasped several long minutes later.
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On night four, Carmilla's blood stash was running low, and Laura had to admit that she was right that her dad was hardly going to let her go off on a late night adventure to get more with her. Begrudgingly, she kissed Carmilla goodbye just outside the door before her father appeared behind her looking stern.
"You do know you're an adult. You don't have to follow every one of his rules by the letter. You know that, right, cupcake?" Carmilla murmured.
Laura squirmed uncomfortably.
"As in, feel free to give me another kiss?" Carmilla hinted.
Laura glanced over her shoulder at her father's frown, and turned back to Carmilla apologetically. "Be safe," she said with a small wave.
Carmilla rolled her eyes. "Oh for God's sake!" She pulled Laura in for another kiss, then pulled back and looked right at Laura's dad.
Laura for once wished that she was even smaller than she already was because in the moment she felt like far too big of an obstacle between the two most important people in her life.
"Your daughter makes pretty good decisions on her own, you know," Carmilla said pointedly. "Well, mostly," she amended, clearly reflecting on some of the events of the semester. "Sometimes."
"Gee, thanks," Laura muttered.
"Her heart is always in the right place. You should trust that," Carmilla advised.
"I trust Laura's heart. I just haven't decided if I trust you with it yet," Laura's dad replied.
Carmilla considered this for a second. "Fair enough. Guess you wouldn't really be her dad if you did." She turned her gaze back to Laura. "Catch you later, cutie."
With that, Carmilla was gone. Not just walking away down the street gone, but, poof, vanished in a puff of smoke gone. Luckily, it was dark enough that she would have blended into the night pretty quickly anyway, but Laura still gave her dad a worried glance. If he noticed, he didn't say anything.
Laura felt instantly anxious at Carmilla's absence. She remembered the clawing despair she'd felt when she'd thought she'd lost her forever. It was still far too fresh in her memory, and she didn't like Carmilla out of her sight.
"Dad, do you have to be quite so hard on her?"
Laura's dad's expression changed instantly to the caring man she knew and loved. "Oh, sweetheart. Yes. I do. I have to protect you. It's my job."
"I can protect myself, you know," Laura grumbled, but she accepted the warm hug that her father offered her.
"I'm never going to stop trying to protect you, sweetheart."
"You don't need to protect me from Carmilla, though."
"Are you sure?"
Laura considered this for maybe a moment too long, and her dad's expression reflected that. "I'm sure, Dad," she said, setting her jaw stubbornly.
Her dad smiled softly. "Well, maybe I'll try to make a little more effort, then."
Before Laura could respond, Perry appeared behind her dad.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I made some more brownies, if anyone is interested," she said in a strained, overly-cheerful voice.
"Sounds delicious. We'll be right there," Laura's dad replied. Turning back to Laura, he added, "Now HER, I like. She can come visit any time. Are you sure you don't want to date her? I've never seen the bathroom so clean in my life."
Laura laughed at the thought. "I'm sure. Besides, I'm pretty sure her interests lie in someone else," Laura said, glancing at a grinning LaFontaine, who was already shoving a brownie in their mouth as Laura and her dad entered the kitchen.
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She should have gone with Carmilla. She knew she should have. She shouldn't have let her out of her sight.
Laura was pacing back and forth across the living room, jumping at any sound that might potentially be Carmilla coming home.
"Relax. She's probably just enjoying a little freedom. She hasn't had much of a chance to go out and be a vampire recently," LaFontaine tried to soothe.
"You mean to go bite people and seduce girls?" Laura asked, aware that her voice was a touch too shrill.
LaFontaine scrunched up their face and tipped their head from side to side. "I'm sure she's not seducing any girls."
Laura glared. "But you think she's biting people?"
"Well there's hardly a large hospital in this town. Maybe she'll find a blood bank. Or a blood donation truck," LaFontaine suggested.
"Can we possibly stop talking about blood drinking like it's normal?" Perry requested, closing her eyes and sitting very primly in a chair.
Laura recognized it as her "I'm willing everything to just be normal" position.
"It's pretty normal for a vampire," LaFontaine pointed out.
"LaFontaine!" Perry's voice grew even shriller.
"Sorry. Just saying."
Laura tuned them out. They were not helping. Carmilla should have been back by now. She promised she wouldn't take too long. Five hours was too long. Five hours was way too long. It was 3:30 in the morning. Why wasn't she back? She should have been back and trying to sneak into Laura's bed. She should have been making some comment about how Laura should get more of a backbone when it came to her dad. She should have been kissing her deeply and getting her all hot and bothered before refusing to sleep with her yet.
"I should've gone with her."
"I'm pretty sure you'd have just gotten in the way. Carmilla is a little more persuading without you in tow. No offense," LaFontaine interjected.
Laura glared.
"I'm sure she's fine. Everything is fine," Perry assured her, exercising the power of positive thinking.
Before Laura could voice more concerns the front door opened and Laura rushed to a rather disheveled looking Carmilla who was leaning heavily against the door as it closed behind her.
"Carm!" she cried, pulling Carmilla to her in a tight embrace.
"Whoa there, cupcake," Carmilla protested, but she made no move to push Laura away.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Laura fretted, taking in the dirt smeared on Carmilla's face and the tear in her shirt.
"I'm fine…I just…I feel a bit woozy. I had to sit down. I took a little nap, is all. And I tripped. That's a little odd, I admit. I'm usually a little more nimble on my feet. So is the nap, actually. I don't normally need a nighttime nap. Of course I've been up more during the day than normal. Something about you wanting me to make an effort with your dad, and not telling him I'm a vampire," Carmilla grumbled, but she sounded vaguely dazed and Laura didn't like it one bit.
"How hungry were you? Did you get some blood?"
Carmilla produced a blood pack. "Already drank one."
"Maybe it was drugged?" LaFontaine suggested. "You're acting a little weird, even for you."
Carmilla frowned. "It's been a while since I've had drugged blood, but I don't remember it feeling like this. It was more fun. I think I've just been undereating and undersleeping."
"Okay, well you are sleeping in tomorrow. If I see you awake before 4 p.m. you're getting yelled at," Laura instructed.
"There's your backbone. I knew you had one, creampuff."
Laura ignored the comment and helped Carmilla properly to her feet.
"So there was really no fight? No trouble or danger?" LaFontaine probed.
"Nope. I just feel a little…off."
"This couldn't have anything to do with your mother, could it? Or residual effects of using the sword?" LaFontaine suggested.
Carmilla frowned. "I doubt it." She yawned widely. "I just need some sleep. I've had a snack, now I need a nap."
"Come on, I'll take you to my room so you won't be disturbed in the morning when my dad gets up," Laura said, putting Carmilla's arm around her and helping her towards the stairs. She felt worry pooling in the pit of her stomach, heavy and uncomfortable. Carmilla might think everything was okay, but Laura couldn't help assuming that something evil was at play. A year ago she would have thought that feeling was insane. Then again, a year ago she wouldn't have thought dating a vampire was possible.
"Aren't you worried about what your dad will say?" Carmilla teased, and maybe if she was able to tease things really were okay, Laura thought.
"I'll handle him. You need sleep," Laura replied.
Carmilla flashed her a smile that almost made Laura wish that she'd stand up to her dad's overprotectiveness more often.
Laura helped Carmilla up the rest of the stairs, helped her out of her ripped shirt and into a clean one, and then tucked her into her bed. She lay beside her holding her a while until Carmilla's breathing evened out and she was sure Carmilla was asleep. She didn't want to leave her side, but she knew that if her dad caught them both in her bed in the morning there was going to be an argument, and she wasn't sure that her energy didn't need to be conserved for other fights right now, so she dragged herself out of bed. She checked that her window was locked, and she glanced in her closet and under her bed for good measure, just to make sure that nothing was lurking there that might be hurting Carmilla, then she crept back downstairs, closing the bedroom door securely behind her when she left.
"Do you HAVE to try to find supernatural conspiracies everywhere?" Perry was asking LaFontaine with a sigh when she rejoined them in the living room.
"I don't HAVE to try to find them, no. They're just there!" LaFontaine replied before seeing Laura. "We don't actually think that nothing evil is going on here, right? I mean, vampires getting woozy and exhausted? She's had a bit of blood every day. Something else is at work here."
Laura looked from Perry, whose face was pleading for a "no" answer, to LaFontaine, who was clearly expecting a "yes". She had to go with her gut.
"Sorry, Perry, but something else is DEFINITELY going on."
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They'd decided that the best place to start was researching the history of the area, but so far it had turned up zilch. They'd all only gotten about four hours sleep, and Laura's dad was glancing worriedly in their direction as they huddled around the computer. He clearly did not understand their newfound interest in local history and Laura knew he did not approve of the dark circles under her eyes. Carmilla was still asleep, which Laura could tell her dad wasn't overly thrilled about either.
"Is she planning on getting up today, honey?" her dad inquired when they took a break from research for a late lunch.
"Yeah, Dad. She's just kind of nocturnal. She had a late night."
"Where did she have a late night, again?"
"She went to an internet café. She has family in Canada and the best time to Skype with them is really early morning here, evening there," Laura reiterated the first lie she'd been able to come up with. "She stayed up to talk to them."
"It seems like she's not the only one," her dad remarked, his eyes taking in LaFontaine and Perry yawning over their grilled cheese sandwiches.
"Can't I stay up and have some girl talk with my friends over break?" Laura demanded, too tired to be made to feel guilty about her decisions today. Besides, she'd been staying up worrying. It wasn't like her dad hadn't done that with her.
Her dad relented. "Yes, of course. I just worry, you know. You're off at school and who knows if you're getting enough sleep or eating well enough or drinking too much or – "
"I haven't wasted away yet, have I?"
Her dad pretended to study her for a moment. "I suppose not."
"Good. Then that's settled."
.
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By 5 p.m. there had been no stirring from Carmilla and they were no closer to finding a supernatural cause for her exhaustion.
"Maybe it's just some vampire thing we don't understand," Laura suggested resignedly.
"I keep telling you both: everything is fine. Everything is completely normal."
LaFontaine and Laura both looked incredulously at Perry, whose expression faltered slightly.
"Well, you know, relatively normal," she amended.
"Let's keep looking. Just a few more books."
They'd made an emergency trip to the town library after lunch and come back with any book that had anything remotely to do with the area. They'd put a good two-thirds of those books in the "really not useful at all" pile already.
LaFontaine pulled an old leather-bound book out of the pile and cracked it open and a musty smell hit Laura's nostrils. She herself reached for a slim volume that promised rare and interesting facts about the area.
Half an hour later Laura was onto yet another book and about ready to give up hope, when LaFontaine cleared their throat.
"I think I might have something!"
"That's good."
Laura, Perry and LaFontaine turned as one too see an incredibly pale Carmilla leaning precariously on the banister from the bottom step.
She seemed small and weak and her voice was frail even as it maintained its dry tone when she added, "Because I think something might be seriously wrong."
Carmilla collapsed in what felt like slow motion to Laura who could only watch helplessly. It took her a second of staring in abject horror at Carmilla's crumpled form before she managed to convince her body parts that they needed to move, and then she rushed to her girlfriend's side.
"Dad!" she called frantically, depending upon the one person who had always been there for her to help her now. "Dad, help! Something's wrong with Carmilla!"
Her dad appeared in the doorway to the kitchen and immediately came to her side as LaFontaine and Perry also rushed forward.
"Carmilla?" Laura asked desperately. "Carmilla, baby, wake up!" This couldn't be happening. Carmilla had to be fine, right? She started to feel for a pulse then realized how incredibly stupid that was to do to a vampire. "Carmilla?" she cradled Carmilla's head in her lap and gently caressed her cheek. It was as cold as ice. "Please, wake up. Please, please, please! This can't happen again. I CANNOT lose you again." She was vaguely aware that she sounded rather hysterical, but she didn't care. All she cared about was Carmilla.
"What do you mean again?" her dad asked.
"Is that really important right now?" Laura heard Perry snap.
"Right, right," Laura's dad said. "Let's get her to the couch." Her dad moved her gently aside and scooped Carmilla up as if she weighed nothing at all, then laid her gingerly on the couch.
"Carmilla?" Laura cried again, anxiously kneeling by Carmilla's head. "Baby, please wake up. Wake up now!" She leaned forward and peppered kisses across Carmilla's cheek and eyelids and down her nose. "Please, baby," she pleaded against Carmilla's lips before kissing them softly.
Her lips were wet and it took her a second to realize that it was because tears were streaming down her face.
"Please don't be dead. I need you."
She kissed Carmilla again. Carmilla's lips moved, and Laura felt like she could breathe again. Carmilla's tongue flicked against her lips and her eyes cracked open before closing again.
"You taste salty, cupcake."
"Oh, thank God!" Laura cried, peppering relieved kisses all over Carmilla's face before remembering that her father was right there.
"Maybe we should take you to the hospital," Laura's dad said.
Carmilla blinked her eyes open and shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine, Mr. Hollis."
"You fainted and you don't look so good."
"You've thought that from the start," Carmilla quipped, but there was no energy behind it.
Laura's dad let out a small chuckle. "I never thought that. I just wasn't sure you looked good for my daughter. Young lady if you are sick, you should go to the doctor."
"I'm not sick…I'm…Somebody's…"
Carmilla trailed off and her eyes drifted shut again.
"It's probably witchcraft," LaFontaine piped up.
"Witches aren't real," Perry replied instantly at the same time as Laura's dad demanded, "What?!" and Laura asked, "Witches?"
"Perry, we've talked about this," LaFontaine replied. "Mr. Hollis, we should probably get you up to speed on a few things. And yes, Laura, witches. As in covens, spells, potions, etc…"
"Here?" Laura asked, unable to believe it.
"Apparently. There's a history of one coven in the area."
"Not good witches?" Laura suggested hopefully.
"Noooot so much," LaFontaine confirmed. "More like the human sacrifice, power hungry type of witches."
"Why is it always human sacrifices?" Laura sighed. "But wait, Carmilla's not human!"
"NOW WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE!" Laura's dad interrupted, and three pairs of eyes turned instantly to him.
Laura had only ever heard her father curse a handful of times, and none of them had been good.
"What exactly is going on here? Answers. Now!"
Laura sat down with a sigh, leaning against where Carmilla was once again unconscious on the couch. LaFontaine sat back in their seat and picked up the book they'd found the information in. Perry stood stiffly straight, fidgeting awkwardly as if unsure of what exactly she should be doing.
"So about my semester at school…"
.
.
The information hadn't gone over well. Not that she'd expected it to. Her dad, after bringing out an emergency stock of bear spray and insisting that Laura, LaFontaine and Perry all shove garlic in their pockets, decided that he definitely needed a little lie down.
"That went over better than I expected," LaFontaine remarked as they settled back down around the still unconscious Carmilla (and if she didn't move from time to time, Laura would be freaking out way more than she already was).
"Really? I think I'll be lucky if he ever lets me out of the house again," Laura replied.
"Oh, I mean you're so not coming back to school with us, but, you know, he isn't institutionalizing any of us, so that's something," LaFontaine explained.
"I think that's only because Perry backed us up and he likes her. He thinks she's pretty sane."
"He thought I was sane. I used to think I was sane, too," Perry grumbled.
LaFontaine patted her leg sympathetically.
"So, back to the witches: what do they want from Carmilla? How are they affecting her? How did they even know she was here?"
LaFontaine shrugged. "They're witches? Maybe they can sense supernatural beings somehow?"
"That only really answers one of my questions," Laura pointed out.
"No," came a faint murmur from Carmilla, and Laura was instantly on her knees beside her.
Laura reached out to stroke her cheek, but snapped her hand back. Carmilla's cheek felt like it was on fire. "Can vampires run fevers?" she wondered aloud.
"Beats me," LaFontaine replied.
"Carmilla? Carmilla, baby, are you awake?" Laura asked, reaching out to touch Carmilla's cheek again. "God, she's burning up."
LaFontaine came over and felt Carmilla's forehead and pulled away. "Yikes! Maybe it's a magical fever?"
"Carmilla?" Laura prompted again as Carmilla twitched though her eyes remained firmly shut.
"NO!" Carmilla cried out, and her voice sounded pained. "Stop!"
"Stop what, baby? I'm not doing anything," Laura asked, but Carmilla only writhed in response.
"Should we give her some blood?" Perry suggested, then looked immediately as if she couldn't believe that she'd actually uttered those words.
"It might help give her a strength boost," LaFontaine replied. "Good idea, Perry." LaFontaine retrieved the blood that Carmilla had brought home from where they'd hidden it at the very back of the bottom shelf of the fridge and put some into a mug.
Laura poured a little of it into Carmilla's mouth when her body had stilled.
Carmilla swallowed, but otherwise there was no change.
Laura gave her a little more blood, and this time Carmilla's head came up and her lips greedily met the lip of the cup and she began to gulp the blood down.
In a few minutes, Carmilla's skin was no longer hot to the touch. A few minutes after that, her eyes opened.
"Well, that helped a bit. Thanks, cutie," Carmilla croaked.
"You were really hot," Laura informed her.
"Thanks. I like to think I'm always really hot," Carmilla retorted, but it was half-hearted and Laura knew it.
"Were you running a fever?"
"No. Vampires aren't big on fevers. There were people around me."
"Yeah. We were here. We told my dad, by the way."
"Is that why you smell like garlic?"
"Sorry," Laura apologized.
"It's okay. Anyway, I didn't mean you. Other people were around me. Wearing suitably creepy hooded robes."
"Carm, we never let you out of our sight. Nobody in a hooded robe, creepy or otherwise, was ever around you."
"Not that you could see. Not physically here. But they were around me, and they were chanting."
"What were they chanting?" LaFontaine inquired.
Carmilla frowned. "I don't know. I couldn't make it out. Whatever it was made my body feel hot, and it was like all of my energy, all the energy I'd ever had, was burning up my body. The blood you fed me gave me enough energy to…well, it felt like I pushed them away."
LaFontaine picked up the book they'd been researching in and flipped through it. "In the bit about human sacrifices they mention something about needing the life energy…Here it is! 'Energy begets power and no energy is as great as that which gives life.'"
"Well, that's jolly," Laura muttered.
"That's all well and good, but I'm not exactly human and I'm hardly alive," Carmilla commented. "What do they want with me?"
LaFontaine read a little further then shrugged. "Beats me. It doesn't say anything about vampire sacrifices."
"Helpful," Carmilla quipped.
"How did they sacrifice people?" Perry asked.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Chanting, cutting major arteries, bleeding out," LaFontaine replied.
"So maybe it's about blood," Perry suggested.
"Huh?" Laura and LaFontaine asked in unison.
Perry squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, you and I have the blood of one person, so we're one person's worth of energy. Carmilla has been ingesting the blood of other people for hundreds of years. What if she's got hundreds or thousands of people's worth of energy?"
Carmilla scoffed, but Laura nodded. "That makes sense! Draining Carmilla would give them tons of power all at once. Way more efficient than killing one person at a time."
"So they want to kill me?"
"Well, at least that's hardly a new experience for you," LaFontaine attempted a joke, but it earned them glares from both Laura and Carmilla. "You said they were around you, but clearly they weren't physically. Presumably they can't actually complete whatever ritual they need to do to get the power without physically draining you of blood?"
"Well, that's a relief," Carmilla muttered. "They're settling for making me writhe in pain and sucking some other form of energy out of me."
"You said they were around you…what, like some form of astral projection?"
"Etheric projection, actually," LaFontaine corrected. "Probably, that is. More 'on this plane', less 'out there somewhere'. More interactive."
"Thanks. The correct terminology makes a dramatic difference in my imminent demise," Carmilla commented dryly.
"Look, you're not going to die. I won't let you. They'd have to physically take you and I'm not letting you out of my sight," Laura informed her.
"Which is fine until they decide to make you and your friends and your dad into sacrifices too because, hey, who couldn't use a little extra power," Carmilla pointed out. "Probably best if I go meet them and try to eat them. And, hey, if I fail, it's been nice knowing you, sweetheart."
Laura felt her blood run cold at the mere suggestion. She glared hard at Carmilla. "Don't even joke about that."
"Who's joking?"
"You'd better be! And it's not funny. You're not going out there. You're not going to find them. You're going to stay safe right here. Right here where I can see you and touch you and know that you're okay." Laura was aware that she was rambling and that tears had begun to spill from her eyes, but she didn't care. How could Carmilla say something like that? Didn't she know what losing her would do to her? What it had done to her before? "I can't lose you again," she sobbed, voice cracking.
Carmilla sat up in a flash and wrapped Laura in a tight hug. "Okay. Okay. We'll find another way."
"I'm sure it will be easy to destroy a coven of witches that likes to sacrifice people to gain power," LaFontaine joined in.
Laura glared through her tears.
.
.
"So…We still have no solid ideas?" LaFontaine summed up just after lunch the next day.
"Pretty much," Carmilla confirmed.
"I still say we just leave. If we leave town, we'll be fine," Perry said.
"Unless they decide to come after Laura's dad once we leave to try to track us down because they don't want to pass up the opportunity to gain the power they'd get from a vampire sacrifice," LaFontaine replied.
They all frowned, feeling defeated except for Carmilla who was barely conscious on the couch again. Laura felt her face from time to time to make sure she wasn't burning up again, as it was the only sign she knew the look for that the witches were attacking.
Laura's dad had tried to be helpful, but after about an hour had decided that he needed another lie down himself.
"You're sure the book doesn't mention anything about where the witches' rituals took place or where the coven met? I mean does it give any hints on how to find them? It's hardly like I can go ringing doorbells saying, 'Hi, you don't happen to be members of a human sacrificing, power-hungry coven, do you?'" Laura asked.
"I'm sure," LaFontaine replied.
"They like woods," Carmilla murmured, voice barely above a whisper.
"What?"
"Witches. I don't know what it is, but they like little circular clearings in the woods. Even better if there's some sort of rock formation in it. Stones and trees…I don't get it, personally, but they love them."
Laura stared at Carmilla in disbelief.
Carmilla opened her eyes when the silence dragged on a little too long and saw the incredulous gazes turned on her. She shrugged. "I've met some witches in my time."
"Of course, you have," LaFontaine replied. "I told you supernatural trouble follows her."
"Not all of them are trouble. Some were pretty nice. Some were kind of tasty."
"You've eaten witches?" Laura demanded aghast.
"I've nibbled. It's different," Carmilla replied, but her voice was growing fainter again.
"She's lucid for less and less time," Perry pointed out.
Laura had noticed, and it had NOT made her happy. She was starting to feel like her dad must have felt her whole life, worrying nonstop. She needed to keep herself busy, to feel productive, to feel like she was doing something to make sure that all of them, especially Carmilla, would make it out of this situation alive. "Okay, so clearings in the woods. Can we pull up a map of the area on Google Earth?"
.
.
They'd found two circular clearings, but only one of them had looked like it might have some sort of natural rock formations in it. Then there was also the pentagram that was dug into the earth if you zoomed in. That was a pretty good giveaway. So now they knew where the witches were, or, at least, where they met, but they still had no plan to stop them from killing Carmilla and stealing her energy and becoming what might very well be all-powerful witches.
Carmilla, at least, had stopped suggesting that she go barging over there by herself and try to eat the whole coven before they could capture and kill her, but that was mainly because she'd stopped being conscious a good hour prior, and now her skin was burning again.
"Are you sure we shouldn't take her to the doctor?" Laura's dad asked for what felt like the tenth time in as many minutes.
"Dad, I told you, she's not sick. She's being attacked by the etheric projections of a coven of witches."
"Right," her dad nodded. "And that's bad."
"Yes! She's my girlfriend!"
"Right…but she IS a vampire."
"DAD!"
"Sorry, sorry. It's just…a little hard to wrap my head around still. I had no problem accepting that you'd someday end up with a girl, but a vampire?"
"She's a good vampire," Laura sulked, slipping her hand into Carmilla's and giving it a tight squeeze. "You ARE a good vampire, and I'm going to save you," Laura murmured.
"Okay, well, then, what can I do to help?"
"Unless you happen to know some awesome magic spells to fend off the coven…Stay away from the witches and keep yourself safe?" Laura suggested.
"I believe that that's my line," her dad replied.
"I'm not completely defenseless. I have the world's best supply of bear spray AND I'm awesome at krav maga thanks to one overprotective father."
"How do those work against magic?"
Her dad sounded almost hopeful, so it broke her heart a little to reply, "Probably not very well, unfortunately."
He nodded somberly. "Right, well, I'll just sit here and keep an eye on you girls and make sure you all stay out of trouble, then."
Laura considered pointing out the fruitlessness of this endeavor, but she saw the resolute set to his jaw, and, well, she had gotten her stubbornness from somewhere.
"No! Stop!" Carmilla cried out, but her voice sounded far away. Her body twitched, and when Laura laid her hands on her cheeks, she had to pull them back for fear of getting burnt herself.
Nobody should feel that hot, vampire or not. She felt the knot that had been developing in the pit of her stomach tighten and the invisible weight that had been pressing down on her shoulders was making it difficult to breathe. "Fight them, Carm," she pleaded. "Just fight them until we figure out how to save you."
As if actively trying to do the opposite of what Laura asked, Carmilla's body began to convulse.
"Carmilla!" Laura yelped in alarm. "Quick, someone get me blood! She needs blood!"
LaFontaine was at her side in an instant, handing her the remaining supply of blood in a mug.
Laura started to try to feed it to Carmilla, but the futility of such an attempt while Carmilla was convulsing so violently immediately became apparent. Laura was vaguely aware that she was starting to hyperventilate as her mind raced for solutions.
"Perry, help me hold her down!" LaFontaine snapped, putting practically their whole body weight behind leaning on one of Carmilla's shoulders.
Laura's dad jumped up too, securing Carmilla's other shoulder while Perry leaned firmly on Carmilla's waist.
Laura tried to calm herself. She wouldn't be any help to anyone if she passed out. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It sort of worked. Carmilla's body was still twitching, but with her restrained, Laura, her hand quite shaky, was able to get close enough to spill some of the blood into her mouth.
Carmilla's body stilled and Laura fed her some more blood, waiting for her to regain consciousness like she'd done the previous time, but it was not forthcoming. There was no conscious licking of the lips to get some of the blood that had spilled. There was no fluttering open of those beautiful dark brown eyes. There were no quips and no pet names. Carmilla was getting worse. The witches were winning.
Laura was running out of time.
.
.
It turned out that they needn't have bothered spending the time trying to locate the witches. It turned out, as a matter of fact, that the witches were not only of the "human sacrifices are cool" variety, but also of the "people abducting is totally okay" variety.
Laura supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised. Then again, who wouldn't be a little surprised to awaken in the middle of the night to find hooded, robed figures standing over you, about to bind your hands and feet with rope?
Laura had barely started to scream before Carmilla, hands already bound, body slammed one of the witches standing over Laura with a snarl. It was stupid, Laura knew, but she found herself a little relieved purely because at least Carmilla was conscious again.
"Run!" Carmilla barked, but Laura couldn't leave her to fight alone, especially not when she looked so weak. Instead, she leapt to her feet and struck out at where she hoped the remaining robed figure's solar plexus was.
The witch doubled over, but there were two more to take her place. Laura lashed out again, but yet another witch grabbed her arm, and, before she could connect with another strike, she was being lifted off her feet and her hands were being bound behind her back.
"Carmilla!" Laura cried out, but when she caught sight of her, she was barely conscious, being hauled out of the room feet first. "Carmilla!" she yelled again, and then a gag was placed in her mouth and some fabric was placed over her head, and she could do no more.
.
.
Things were not looking good. Actually, that was a bit of an understatement. Apparently the witches had thought all along that they may as well take all of them because why not have that extra bit of power. The five of them were tied down, their bindings staked into the ground around the clearing, with Carmilla tied down in the center. The coven members, and god there were a lot of them, like "how had Laura not known that they existed in her town" numbers, were all hooded and robed and chanting in a circle around them.
Laura felt her body growing hot, which was weird since she was outside in her pajamas, barefoot in the middle of winter. When she turned her head she could just make out the others starting to writhe. She strained against her bonds, and mercifully felt one of them slip. Apparently one of the coven members hadn't studied up on knot tying, but Laura wasn't about to complain. She wriggled her wrist again, and, no, she definitely hadn't imagined it. It was tight, but she might just be able to slip her hand out.
"Please," she muttered a little prayer to whoever happened to be listening as she twisted her wrist again, pulling as hard as she could. There was definitely a little progress, but it was painful. The rope was digging in and the more she turned it the more it burned. She was losing energy, too, like it was just being drained right out of her. Then again, it probably was, she realized. She needed to work faster. She strained and twisted and tugged and little by little she felt the rope sliding further up her hand, and then her hand was free. As subtly as she could, she slid her hand across her body to where her other wrist was bound and started working on that knot. She was able to lift her head a little higher now, too, and she took a moment to look around her. LaFontaine was towards her feet and Perry was across the circle from her, on the other side of Carmilla. Laura's dad was behind her. Carmilla, in the middle, looked possessed, her back arching clear off the ground, head back. Her eyes flew open, but instead of her eyes, Laura just saw light. In fact, there was an aura of yellow light all around Carmilla, billowing up almost smokelike into the air above her, and it was growing brighter.
Trading in speed for subtlety and hoping against hope that all of the witches were far too busy with their chanting to actually be looking at little old her, Laura began working a little more frantically at the knot around her left wrist. It was tight, but not too tight, and after a minute or two of struggling, which felt like they lasted a lifetime, both her hands were free. She sat up, not caring who noticed now. She felt weaker by the second and knew they were all running out of time. The light around Carmilla was bordering on blinding, and she realized as she set to work on the knots binding her ankles, it was flowing up into the air, then out and into the different coven members. There was a faint glow around the others now, too. Laura held out her hand and studied it for a second, and realized there was a glow around her too.
She was aware of a bit of a disturbance among some of the coven members closest to her, and she knew that she'd been spotted, but she didn't care. She tugged hard at the knots, but whoever had bound these ones had known what they were doing. She flailed around for something to help her free herself and her hand settled on a jagged stone. She picked it up and began cutting through the rope. There was a little movement to her right and she thought the witches were going to come get her, but then silence fell. A deafening silence. No voices, no crickets, not even a crackle from the flames on the outskirts of the circle that, prior to glowing people and crazy auras of light, had provided the only light.
Laura froze and looked around to see one witch stepping forward. Her robe was more ornate than the others, and it didn't take much imagination to guess that she was the witch in charge.
"Sisters, it is time!" came a crisp voice that cut through the night like a knife.
From the folds of her robe she produced a large silver dagger with intricately carved symbols lining the hilt. She stepped slowly, purposefully towards Carmilla, whose body had slumped back down to the ground the moment that the chanting had stopped. The light still hung around her, but her eyes had cleared back to their original state. Laura realized what was about to happen and redoubled her efforts to cut through the rope.
"No!" she shouted as bile rose to the back of her throat. She couldn't lose Carmilla. She couldn't lose any of them. The rope was fraying, but not fast enough because the witch was standing over Carmilla down.
The witch knelt slowly, then lifted the dagger, and Laura watched horrified, in slow motion, as the blade was brought down skillfully against the pale flesh of Carmilla's wrist.
Blood ran out heavy and dark, and the witch moved to slice open Carmilla's other wrist, ignoring Laura's further pleas to stop.
Laura stabbed at the frayed rope at her ankles as she blinked back tears, and finally she was free. She raced forward, fueled by a surge of adrenaline, and ran full force into the witch holding the dagger, but not before Carmilla's other wrist had been cut.
Laura tackled the head witch, whose head hit a rock with a sickening thwack. She didn't move again. There was a moment of stunned silence, and it felt like the entire circle was holding its breath unsure of its next move. Laura didn't care. She knew what her next move was.
"Carmilla!" she cried as she knelt by her side.
Carmilla's eyes fluttered open to look at her. "Hey, there, cupcake," she croaked, her voice lifeless. "Care to untie me?"
"Are you okay?"
"Probably not, but that's never stopped me before."
Carmilla's eyes closed as if against her will. Her blood was still spilling into the earth. How much blood could she lose? Could a vampire bleed out? Laura didn't know.
As if a spell was suddenly broken, chaos erupted around them and the coven members sprang to life, surging towards her.
Laura couldn't fight them off alone. She needed Carmilla and Carmilla was losing blood. Vampires needed blood. Laura saw only one solution.
"Bite me," she instructed Carmilla, leaning over her and holding back her hair to present her neck. "Quick."
"I thought you said not to," Carmilla murmured, voice barely audible.
"I think we can qualify this as absolutely necessary," Laura replied.
There was a sharp sting as Carmilla's fangs dug into her neck, and then there was simply warmth as Carmilla drank.
She felt herself starting to become woozy when Carmilla stopped. Laura looked up to find Carmilla's eyes sharp and in focus. Carmilla pulled her wrists and ankles free from her rope bonds as if they were made of string, and flew to her feet. The first witches were almost upon them, but Carmilla moved in a blur, biting one as she kicked at another.
"I'll take that power back now, thank you very much," Carmilla muttered as she pushed the one she'd been biting aside and moved on to the next.
Laura tried to get to her feet, but she didn't have enough energy left. Instead, she crawled over to LaFontaine and began to work on the knots holding them down.
"Nice to see you. Crisis averted?" LaFontaine asked.
Laura glanced around at the chaos and saw two coven members advancing on them, while a few more were headed to her dad and Perry, and a whole group was clustering around Carmilla, who was giving them a whole lot of trouble. "Not exactly," she replied.
Once LaFontaine's hands were free, she crawled towards Perry, leaving LaFontaine to free their ankles. She struck a sharp blow just under the kneecap of a witch that tried to make a grab for her, and tripped up another headed towards Perry.
She had freed one of Perry's hands when LaFontaine joined her.
"I've got her. Go take care of your dad," LaFontaine instructed.
Laura nodded gratefully and headed towards her dad, still feeling far too woozy and wishing that she could just find the energy to get to her feet. She was almost to him, when a voice called out, "Everybody freeze!"
There was a moment or two more of a scuffle, but then movement stopped. Laura looked up to see one of the witches, hood off and face remarkably familiar, holding the dagger to her dad's throat.
"How about you all sit down and behave like proper sacrifices," the woman suggested. "And maybe, just maybe, I'll let this one go."
"Don't worry about me, Laura," her dad said. "You get away. Get safe."
Laura felt tears well up in her eyes and she shook her head. Recognition dawned as the woman holding the dagger to her dad's throat grinned maliciously.
"Don't you work at the local school?" she asked, aware that it was a completely irrelevant and totally unhelpful thing to say, but unsure of what else to do.
"What?" the woman balked, looking startled and maybe a little sheepish.
"Yeah. You work in the office, don't you? One of the secretaries?"
The woman shook her head. "No. That's not me."
"Yes it is. You handed out late slips in the morning," Laura insisted both because she knew she was right and also because she had become vaguely aware that the knife was moving a little further away from her father's throat as she continued to distract the witch.
"Nope."
"Yes. What's your name again? Ms...Mmmm…Mmmmooo…Mu...Mul-something?"
The woman sighed and put her hand on her hip…the one holding the dagger. "Really? It's Müller! Ms. Müller! It's not even a hard name! Why do you students never remember the secretaries? Do you have any idea how much we do at that school? I mean, we –"
Her rant was cut off by a loud snarl as a large black cat leapt at her throat. A moment later, Carmilla, back in human form, stood licking her lips beside the woman's torn body. "Anyone else?" she challenged.
The remaining coven members backed away, then turned. Those that were able fled while the rest hobbled off.
Laura gave Carmilla, who was busy untying her dad, a loving look, and then, her energy finally running out, she fainted.
.
.
Laura opened her eyes to find herself at home, on the couch, covered in blankets. Her dad's worried face was the first thing that came into view.
"Carmilla?" she asked, trying to recall what had happened. There had been light and fighting, she remembered. And blood. The image of Carmilla bleeding out flashed to her brain.
"I'm right here, cream puff."
Laura felt someone squeeze her hand and she smiled, relaxing a little. "Did we win?"
"All thanks to you," her dad replied proudly.
Carmilla cleared her throat.
"And Carmilla," he added, "who saved my life. Very much appreciated."
"All in a day's work. Have to keep Laura's family safe, after all."
Laura wasn't positive that she was fully awake yet, but she was pretty sure that her heart just melted. She grinned happily up at her two favorite people. Then a horrible thought struck her. "LaFontaine? Perry?"
"Present," Perry replied.
"And accounted for," LaFontaine added.
Laura relaxed into her almost giddily happy smile again. They'd won, everyone was alive…well, all the good guys, at least, and Carmilla and her dad seemed to have reached a bit of a truce. She sat up, letting Carmilla's hand in hers help her up a bit.
"So, are your family holidays always this eventful, cupcake?" Carmilla asked, her thumb drawing slow circles on the back of Laura's hand.
"Only since I met you," Laura replied, and Carmilla flashed her a genuine smile that awoke butterflies inside her.
"I don't suppose you'd consider not going back to school and potentially never leaving the house again?" her dad asked.
"Definitely not," Laura assured him. The thought of not going back to school with Carmilla…of not being with her…it was simply unbearable. "Besides, I'm far from helpless."
"So it seems," her father replied. "And, it seems like you have a pretty good protector, and some pretty good friends."
"Aww, thanks, Mr. H," LaFontaine piped up.
"So it's not the end of the world if I date a vampire?" Laura prodded.
"I suppose it's not the end of the world if you date THIS vampire," he consented. "But please don't go socializing with others," he pleaded.
"I'll do my best," Laura promised.
"I'm still going to worry," he informed her.
Laura let go of Carmilla long enough to wrap her dad in a tight hug. "I expect nothing less."
She let go of her dad and settled back next to Carmilla, snuggling her head in against Carmilla's chest as Carmilla wrapped an arm around her. So maybe this hadn't been the perfect holiday, and, okay, they still had that whole horrible demon made super powerful by evil old vampire thing to deal with when they got back to Silas, but right now, she couldn't be happier.