Danny had never been with someone as intimately as she was with Laura in that seemingly neverending expanse of time: as they lay loosely snuggled under the somewhat scratchy comforter of her bed, the redhead's mind flashed on things they had just done. Laura's pink tongue sliding into her mouth, her own hands running down the smaller girl's sides and then grabbing her bare ass to squeeze, the chestnut-haired lass nibbling at her collarbone softly. She shivered gently as her mind wandered and her arms tightened around Laura's waist, her head cradled to Danny's neck, partly tucked under her chin. She felt the young woman looking at her before the silence was broken, Laura's hand idly stroking the soft curve of her tummy:
"So, um. Well. That happened, huh? Did you like it...? And, um. Do you have anything to eat? I kind of burned myself out there."
Danny chuckled at that last inclusion, tilted her girl's face back and kissed her warmly, lingeringly.
"Yeah, I loved it, Laura. You sure surprised me, I can tell you that - so, plan successful on your part? And yes, got some chocolate bars stashed, you can help yourself sweetie. I guess, also, well - thank you. For making my day a hell of a lot better. It was pretty weird for a bit there."
At those words, Laura burrowed anew into Danny's arms and wrapped arms around her. She snuggled close and rubbed her friend's shoulders as Danny grabbed a candy bar from a drawer of her bedside table and handed it over to the ravenous lass in her arms.
"Well, my pleasure then. I've been um...wanting you, for a while. You know, to be more intimate with you. So this was great once I got up my courage and just went for it, you know?"
The redhead smiled softly and kissed her then softly laying atop her: the two lay cuddled together for quite a while as they munched together on the candy bar (a Milky Way), until Laura had to disentangle herself and get dressed to head back to her own room (after, of course, giving Danny a lengthy wordless goodbye and saying she'd see her later on). She quietly unlocked the door and stole inside - all the lights were off. Maybe Carmilla was out still, or asleep. Lucky for her, she didn't want to have to answer a bunch of snarky queries as to where she had been directed at her from her weirdo roommate right then.
The young woman gently kicked off her shoes, crawled onto her bed and was preparing to burrow under her covers when the lamp by Carmilla's bed clicked on in a pool of yellow light. The girl was smirking at her, legs tucked under her chin and her dark eyes fixed on Laura.
"Well, we were out late, creampuff. Were you doing research some more, trying to come up with some new idiotic way to catch me? Mount a giant net off in the woods with some bait to snatch me up like in Return of the Jedi? You're about Ewok-sized, so I might not put it past you."
Laura groaned inwardly, rolled her eyes. Exactly what she didn't want to have happen, and here it was.
"Now that's not fair, Carmilla. I don't want to trap you, okay? I just want to get to sleep. I was...um. Out. With the girls. If you really must know. LaFontaine wanted to watch some old movie she dug up on VHS, some artsy thing. I kind of fell asleep so I gave up on it, and here I am."
The pale girl smirked even more and raised one shapely eyebrow, dark pools of her pupils watching Laura close in the dim light.
"Really? Sounds fascinating. Especially since I saw Perry the platypus and LaFontaine at the dining hall just a half hour ago, trying to pick what swill they were serving that looked the least offensively bad. You must have been invisible if you were with them - either that or you're a terrible liar, sweetie. I'll bet you were really just upstairs with your tall friend. She gives you the most moony, infatuated looks you know. Did you finally get up the nerve to approach her? How does she taste, huh...? I bet you didn't get naked all the way yet, no matter how much you've fallen for her. Did you make her howl at the moon, Laura, or did she just moan and whimper?"
Carmilla chuckled, her eyes sparkling, watching her roommate's obvious discomfort and how embarrassed Laura was getting: her cheeks bright red, and she was practically squirming on her bed, fingers clenching and unclenching. She finally managed to stammer a response.
"You...I, um. I was not. Nothing like that! I mean I was with Danny. She just wanted to talk. You know, we talked. About classes. Nothing...naked."
Even as she denied it, Laura looked even more flushed. Her cheeks and forehead burned and she tried hard not to picture the glimpses of Danny's bare skin, or the noises the tall girl had made when she had tentatively licked and bitten at her flesh. Why must she be stuck with this infernal nosy vampiric freak of a roommate?
"Oh, very well, as you insist", Carmilla responded in a bored tone. "I'll just ignore those love bites and suck marks on your arms then. You probably detoured through the nonexistent campus swamp and got attacked by leeches. Perfectly reasonable explanation, no funny business or rolling in the hay with young miss Lawrence there."
Laura was aghast, and she could feel her face burning. Emotion swirled inside her: protectiveness towards Danny, the unreality and good feelings of the time they had spent, and newly-found rage rearing its' head at the pale girl sitting opposite her.
"I...how dare you, Carmilla, I was not..she. We were...that's none of your damn business! Don't you have blood to suck or some church tower to haunt or something? Just leave me alone. Why the hell are you always so mean to me?"
The brown-haired girl took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Her heart was pounding fast and she felt about ready to explode. She turned away from the prying eyes of the other woman and hid her face in a pillow, facing the wall. She was not even aware that she was crying in frustration and anger for a few seconds.
Carmilla frowned at the girl's form, noting how her shoulders moved and hearing all too well the muffled sobs. Now you've done it, idiot, she thought harshly to herself. She knew she had a tendency to push people, test them, go straight for the jugular in speaking her mind - usually it benefitted her and helped accomplish her goals. She had misjudged her approach to Laura, clearly. And was she now feeling the smallest bit bad about it, even...?
The girl sniffled and curled up further close to the wall, her yellow pillow gripped in arms. She just felt so drained and angry, and that stupid other girl was watching her right now, of course. As she let out a deep sigh, Laura felt the last thing she expected: the gentle touch of fingers on her back, and a shift of weight on her bed. Carmilla was touching her, sitting with her. The hell...?
"Get off, Carmilla. Just...leave me alone, OK? You've done enough."
Her voice came out weak and tearful, and she cursed herself for being so weak. But the hand didn't leave: what's more, now the pale girl was lightly stroking her neck and upper back in small circles. A pause followed, and she could hear Carmilla clear her throat, obviously trying to find the right words before speaking.
"Listen, Laura. I'm sorry. I guess I'm used to getting my own way, pushing people. My methods - well, I've never been accused of being subtle. I like you. Way I grew up, for years, how I showed interest in girls was basically poking at them, sparring with them. Trying to get control. Always having the upper hand. With you, and Danny - I mean, given the circumstances. I suppose I've just been mean. Pushing at you, always coming back with the smartass comment. You can annoy me, yeah, but you're really beautiful and smart. I haven't met someone quite like you since 1923, if I am going to be totally honest with you. She was amazing, and special - just like you are."
Carmilla froze then: the fuck had she just said? Had she really just blurted out about meeting someone close to a hundred years ago? Worse still, had she told a relative stranger about Elle...? Way to be subtle about being undead, bonehead. She noticed of course that Laura tensed under her hand: clearly she had heard and understood precisely the words which had just escaped her lips. Slowly, the girl with the chestnut hair rolled over and stared up at her. Her eyes were wide and astonished, and quite a bit of fear showed in them: tears had dried up on her cheeks. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a fast-moving truck about to mow her down and fling her battered body into the night.
"So...you. You are a vampire, then. I knew it. I mean I thought you might be, but it's ridiculous. Did you kill Betty?"
Laura's voice was soft, frightened, but partly triumphant. She stared Carmilla full in the eyes and licked her lips. The pale girl shifted awkwardly on her bed: this was not good, and definitely not how she intended Laura find out about her, if she ever did.
"Are you going to kill me now, Carmilla? Break my neck, rip me open and drink my blood? Is that it? Or are you just fucking with my head more? You claim you like me - but you play these games with me? If you're what you say, you must be a monster, and you have to be responsible for girls disappearing here, right?"
The girl's voice was getting louder, gaining strength, and the young-looking vampire flinched back slightly against her will. Laura was pissed off, no matter the circumstances they were in - and she'd be doubly mad likely if her conviction about what Carmilla was turned out to be true, after the weeks of hints and odd behavior coupled with the girl daring to claim she had feelings for her human roommate. The ancient (but visibly unaged) girl knew she must tread very, very carefully now.
"I am not going to kill you, Laura. Or harm you at all. I admit that at times, I've wanted your blood. But I did not kill or steal your precious missing Betty, and I am not going to kill or harm you, or even Danny. I do like you...and I do want you. But yes, I am a vampire. I died in 1786, if you really have to know. I feed on girls. I can turn into mist or a bat. But you've seen me: I trip over my own feet going down stairs, I still own a Walkman and The Cure tapes and I eat cereal straight out of the box sometimes. I know I've really pissed you off, and scared you maybe - but I have to be honest with you here. If I don't, you can harm me, you know. Expose me, kill me. I could try and bewitch you, enslave you, hypnotize you and force you to drink from me but I am not going to do that. I am - was - human, like you. And I know things about what is going on here, about Danny even - you can trust her, don't worry - that you don't. I can protect you, and her. Please let me. You will learn more with time, I swear it."
With that, Carmilla fell silent, still lightly touching and stroking Laura's back and sides. The younger girl stared at her, astonished at that speech. Did she dare believe it? Or was this girl completely fucking insane? What should she do next, and what on earth did she mean about Danny having secrets she didn't know about, was she just trying to woo Laura for herself in some insane way...?
"You say you'll protect me, her, with some ancient vampire magic - that you are a vampire. You have been messing with me this whole time, making fun of me, yet you claim to like me now. Prove it then, Carmilla. Show me."
Laura's voice quivered slightly at that, staring into the girl's dark eyes. She was mere feet away now. Carmilla sighed deeply, but nodded and said not a word. She gently leaned in and cupped the smaller girl's cheek, face close, breathing in the scent of the human girl: lemon and dust and vanilla, blood pulsing in her veins and the scent of old books she had read, fruit from shampoo she used and the faintest hints of chocolate. Then she kissed Laura, slowly, tentatively: tasted her lips and slowly sucked them, giving in to her desire just a little. She cradled the girl's head and smiled when the lass moaned in response, licking at her lips with her cold, stubby tongue. At last the broke the kiss and one pale, elegant hand stroked Laura's chest. Fingers petted between her breasts softly and felt for her beating heart, warm and alive and forcing blood through her tender fragile body. She could damage the girl, she knew, if not careful. Break her bones, drink her life and savor her essence. It would all be too easy.
"I...you. Well okay then. That was something, I'll say. A year or so with no contact and now, bam, one day I've got two girls I never kissed before making out with me. Oh, and one says she is a vampire...which, nice as it was, kissing does not prove..."
There was a subtle challenge in her voice, and Laura looked nervous. Her own tongue stole out and wetted her soft lips, eyes locked on Carmilla.
"Very well, then, little Laura. Proof is needed for you - you'll get it. I must ask you not to scream, though."
At those final words, Carmilla's husky voice showed a faint tinge of amusement mixed in with seriousness, and sides of her mouth quirked briefly. She shut her dark eyes and concentrated, well aware of the scrutiny and reverent silence the smaller girl was gazing at her with. And then, without warning, she began to change before Laura's eyes. The younger girl shuddered and bit down hard on her lip, remembering the vampire's admonition. She dared not disobey her in case the creature before her recalled such and sought to punish her. As she watched, she knew she'd been wrong to doubt and so blatantly and flippantly follow Carmilla, question her, mock her behind her back.
The seemingly-normal woman's face shrunk and distorted, her black hair lengthening. Her lips shriveled and vanished, showing hard white teeth that lengthened into cruel hooked fangs. Her clothes ripped away as dark hair sprouted over her body. Limbs twisted and cracked as if the joints and bones inside were breaking. Claws grew from her fingertips. Gone was anything that looked remotely human: glittering small eyes glared at Laura from a pinched and nasty batlike face covered in dark fur and outstretched leathery wings curled about the hairy form. She even noted that whatever this thing was Carmilla turned into, it was naked: heavy breasts hung down and the bared belly was slightly swollen. The creature made small chittering noises and studied her with seeming intelligence. Laura shuddered in fear: this was real, it was really happening. Her roommate - the girl who had just kissed her - was a monster.
All the determination and calmness leaked out of her and she did precisely what Carmilla had warned her against: she shrieked in terror and pushed away, panicking, hands outstretched to ward off the hideous female bat-creature looming over her. She knew she was losing control and she had better stop. All control was lost, however, and she screamed again and felt the hot talons of fear digging into her brain. All her muscles ached and her eyes felt ready to burst from her skull. The next thing she knew, she was sliding down into blackness and the last impression she had was the monster shifting again, becoming pale, and moving towards her. A voice echoed as if from far away, like she was underwater and someone distant was calling her:
"Laura? Laura? Oh shit."