Disclaimer: Carmilla the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Hellboy was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...
Author's Note: Seeing as I've decided that this version of Silas would be located in or near a town, unlike on the show - it may be necessary for dramatic purposes, but I don't think a completely isolated college would be terribly practical, and somebody as overprotective as Papa Hollis would never let his daughter go there, in my opinion - I naturally had to then come up with that town. I actually found a real one that might fit, though, having never been there - and it being small enough to have little available information online - it will likely not be a terribly accurate representation. However, given the blatantly not Austrian cast, I think that was likely understood going in. ;)
By the time she got to the sixth video, Carmilla had to ask, "Okay, are we sure this Hollis girl isn't dead already?"
It was a fair question, she thought. Kate had only sent her the six videos, and Hollis certainly seemed intent on throwing herself into the line of fire. It reached its peak - and finally explained how the BPRD had come across the videos - when Hollis announced her intention to post her Journalism project online so that all the students of Silas - and anyone in town who kept up on such things - could see it.
Bree really didn't seem to like that idea. "That'll be awfully annoying for the university," she warned, looking unhappy. "And, um, the Dean." Hollis wasn't paying her much attention, so she didn't see Bree trying to bury a shudder. Carmilla, on the other hand, was, and that just made it seem all the more likely that she was right about just who the Dean of Students at Silas was.
"Well, then she can come and talk to me about it," Hollis declared.
"She probably will," Bree replied, anxious. "You-you-you don't really want that, do you? I mean, remember the part where she's really scary?"
"Well, too late, now." Hollis hit a final button. "It's up."
For maybe one second, nothing happened.
Then an odd whooping alarm began sounding, and lights were seen flashing in the hallway through the door that the two abduction victims had (rudely) left open when they'd left. "What is that?!" Hollis demanded, understandably confused.
Bree had been startled by the sudden light and noise, too, but clearly knew what it meant. "Well, now you've done it..."
"Is that a fire alarm?"
Bree's look was pitying. "It was really nice knowing you, Laura."
"What?"
LaFontaine and Perry ran by the door. Perry dashed hurriedly into the room, while LaFontaine seemed to be directing traffic behind her - that, or signaling an airplane to land. "It's a town hall meeting!" Perry informed them urgently. "They've called a town hall! Remember your training, we've got five minutes! Run, run!" Idly, Carmilla wondered what happened to those who were late. If Mother really was in charge of that university... Well, suffice to say, it wouldn't be anything good.
Laura got up and hurried behind Perry out the door. Bree, left alone, took one of Laura's cookies and munched on it forlornly. "Shame," she said with a sigh. "I liked this one, too." She headed after the others at a much more sedate pace, and the video stopped.
"Well, somebody posted that last video," Hellboy said with a shrug, answering Carmilla's question. "Roommate number two doesn't seem like she'd want to risk the Dean's wrath by doing it, and no one else seems to really want to be involved at all."
"Yeah..." Still, the odds of Hollis's survival were getting lower and lower with every video she posted. If she died, that would mean one more victory, however small, for her Mother. Besides, girls being killed by ancient vampires were something she was now professionally opposed to.
She spent the rest of the flight reading over what the BPRD had managed to round up about Silas University - which wasn't a lot. It had been established in 1871, which surprised her. Mother had never said a word about building a college... though she must have been doing something while Carmilla had been busy reeling in her targets. Presumably, had she not tried to flee with Elle and been thrown into the coffin, she would have wound up posing as a student there herself, eventually. If that Bree girl was also a vampire, she probably wasn't the only one there. She'd have to be careful about who she let see her until she was ready.
Silas was located in - or at least near - the town of Trofaiach, near the Hochschwab Alps. More specifically, the village of Hafning bei Trofaiach, which was part of that town. Trofaiach was part of the Styrian 'Iron Road'... which had nothing to do with anything, she realized, annoyed with herself as she caught herself letting her interest in her native land distract her, and refocused. Any information they'd dug up about Silas itself was less than helpful, being just basic stuff you could find about any college. A few somewhat less reputable sources claimed they had the most comprehensive occult and supernatural research program in the world, which would make some sense, though, again, Carmilla wanted to know how the BPRD hadn't picked up so much as a blip about this school before now.
Kate didn't know that, either, and seemed almost as annoyed, though for less personal reasons. She assured Carmilla during one of the several calls back and forth that she'd have the entire team assembled and waiting upon their return to BPRD HQ. Knowing Kate as she did, that also meant that they'd be fully caught up on everything they knew.
Kate was good at that sort of thing.
It wasn't until they were a few minutes away from landing that Kate's voice broke the pensive silence on the plane again (Carmilla had been too distracted and tense for conversation, and Hellboy was stoic at the best of times). "Another video just popped up," she announced over the comm.
Carmilla, who hadn't started packing up her computer, yet, on the off chance just such an event occurred, wasted no time in pulling it up. "Give me the highlights?"
"I haven't watched it, yet, myself," Kate admitted. Carmilla grunted, falling silent, and hit play. Hollis started this one with a flashback to the last video, as if anyone watching would have forgotten how it had ended.
"So, that was harrowing," she said as the flashback window faded and disappeared. Hollis herself seemed a bit disheveled, and not in the fun way. "They really do not like tardiness here. Sorry for getting all cliffhanger-y. Sometimes a girl's gotta manufacture her own excitement, you know?" Bree, sitting on her bed, sighed quietly, shaking her head. Carmilla understood the sentiment.
"So, did Silas' byzantine bureaucracy finally call a town hall to discuss the fact that girls have gone missing? Nope. Apparently, uploading anything 'inflammatory' to the Silas Ethernet - a word they can't even spell properly, by the way - sets off an immediate security response."
"Well, I think I got the worst of it out," someone off-screen announced, and Hollis was immediately on her feet. "Thanks for letting me use your bathroom." Whoever it was came into frame... sort of. The camera had been set up for someone Laura's height, so the new girl - who looked to be about an entire foot taller - was being cut off at the shoulders.
"Oh, yeah, totally." She seemed somewhat nervous and self-conscious, and in an apparent effort to distract attention away from herself, turned to Bree and said, "I still don't understand how you got of all that completely unscathed."
"I stayed back, out of the way." She gave Laura an unreadable look. "When you're the one throwing yourself into the lion's den, you're the one who ends up getting mauled."
"Uh... right."
"Does Austria have a high population of redheads?" Hellboy wondered quietly. The new girl was leaning down as she briskly toweled her hair, giving them a better look at her, and she was the third one they'd seen in Hollis's videos.
"No," Carmilla murmured back. "Not that anyone we've seen has sounded at all Austrian." Maybe she should have paid more attention to the census data on Trofaiach, after all. They seemed to have a surprisingly high immigrant population. She'd think it was just that Silas was an international school, but if that were true, the BPRD would have heard of it before now, since they kept track of that sort of thing.
The new girl finally noticed what Hollis had been doing before she'd walked into the room. "Oh. Hey, are you making another video? Like, eight hot seconds after almost being busted?"
"Uh, yes," Hollis admitted, earning another disapproving headshake from Bree.
"That's pretty ballsy, Hollis."
"Yeah, ballsy! That's me. Besides, LaFontaine thinks she's figured out a way to post them safely, and I have got to report on the crazy at the town hall, right?"
"Maybe also explain why they call a school assembly a 'town hall'?" Carmilla complained. Somehow, she didn't think she was going to be getting an answer to that one anytime soon.
Hollis, meanwhile, had grabbed a stool and brought it over to the desk for the new girl to sit on - then switching seats with her once she saw how that only made their height difference worse, to Carmilla's quiet amusement - and finally introducing her as Danny Lawrence, her "very awesome English Lit TA" and 'VP of outdoor rec for the Summer Society', some kind of outdoor social club for all girls athletics. (Carmilla had no idea what an 'Adonis Festival and Hunt' was, beyond likely foolish and/or dangerous.) "Uh, hi, Laura's audience. It's nice to be here," Lawrence said to the camera, though she kept getting distracted by looking over at Hollis, who herself seemed a bit smitten. Remembering the first video, Carmilla realized that this had to be the 'Danny' that Spielsdorf had mentioned... and remembered how swiftly Hollis had given in and gone to the party upon hearing that she would be there.
Whatever, she decided. As long as the two could stay on topic, she probably wouldn't start gagging.
"Well, I wouldn't say that I have an audience yet. But it is nice to have you. Here. Have you here."
Probably.
"So, the town hall. We're all packed into the auditorium and the dean stands up, and holy crap, is she six feet of power suited, middle aged glamazon." Carmilla twitched, because that description sounded awfully familiar. Hollis, imitating the Dean, continued, "'It has come to the attention of the university that a certain individual or individuals are circulating rumours about students disappearing. Rest assured, if these disturbances do not cease, the perpetrators will be dealt with'."
Carmilla stabbed at the computer, pausing the video. "Well," she said after a few moments of shaking off her memories and gathering herself as best she could, "that's definitely Mother." She knew that particular intonation and cadence anywhere.
"Oh, good. I was hoping I'd get a chance to punch her in the face."
She laughed, even as she knew it wouldn't be that easy. Still, Hellboy's comment was enough to let her unpause the video and continue watching.
Hollis seemed a little disturbed, herself, which was only natural after any kind of encounter with Mother. "At which point, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get expelled, because nobody is saying anything - probably because they're afraid she's gonna suck their souls out through their eyeballs - but then Danny gets up and just..."
"No, it really wasn't that big of a deal," Lawrence demurred. When Hollis disagreed, she continued, "I simply wanted to point out that you shouldn't be calling a missing persons report rumour when one of our own members went missing at a rush party." Carmilla ignored the awkward flirting that followed, feeling generous for doing so. "You know, not that it meant much after the Zetas started in on that safety patrol crap."
In her best frat boy voice, Hollis quoted, "Uh, the obstreperous brothers of Zeta Omega Mu have decided that is uncool that hotties might feel unsafe going to parties or making their walks of shame at 4 AM, and as so have decided to personally protect any coed 7.5 or higher." And... okay, maybe the faces she kept making while she did so were a little adorable.
"Think the boy even knew what that word meant?" She had no doubt that it was accurate, but it wasn't the good thing whoever had originally said it seemed to think it was. Unless they took pride in being noisy and difficult to control, of course. Sadly, with college boys, one couldn't rule that out.
"No."
"Which is just a faux chivalrous way of oppressing the female student body," Lawrence had been saying. "We should be reinstating our night marches."
"Uh, completely," Hollis agreed with a nervous laugh. "But when Danny and the Summer Society suggested that, the Alchemy Department started freaking out because apparently, that's gonna-" Here she broke into what was presumably an imitation of a member of said department. "-ruin some mycological transitions."
"They are such weird little creepers!"
"Not all of them," Bree objected from the background, politely reminding them that she'd formerly been sharing living space with one such person.
Hollis, clearly, hadn't forgotten about any of that. "She melted all your stuff!"
"...that was an accident." She paused. "Besides, she got all of hers, too, including all her notes, which she was not happy about. So, you know, I can't be too mad."
"I guess." Hollis turned back to the camera. "And then the Zetas piped in with this chant that pretty much sounded like 'pizza or death'."
"Though they refused to specify what kind of pizza," Bree noted.
Lawrence laughed. "And then some idiot started throwing salted herring into the crowd."
Hollis couldn't help but laugh, too, even though she was obviously not happy about what came next. "And then, the dean ended the town hall before anybody could actually talk about anything! Ugh!" She was even less happy that Lawrence spotted a stray herring in her hair, which she promptly removed. "Ugh..." She laughed, mildly embarrassed. "Thanks. I thought I got them all out. The meeting may've sucked, but I'm really glad I ran into you."
"Blah, blah, blah... Flirt on your own time, Hollis," Carmilla grumbled. While it was nice to know their best lead had survived the near brush with the Dean, Hollis and Lawrence making eyes at each other was just wasting her time. She couldn't skip ahead, though, on the off chance she might miss something, especially with Bree still in the room - though the blonde looked like she was contemplating offering to leave so the two could be alone.
Lawrence proposed the two work together - evidently having correctly guessed from her earlier statement that Bree had no interest in helping with that - which Hollis was naturally all for, and left to go get her notes. That she even had notes suggested that Hollis might not have been the only one investigating the missing girls, after all, which was also something they'd have to look into. If Hollis did end up getting herself killed, they might still have additional sources of information on campus.
The dorky little happy dance she did after Danny left was simultaneously adorable and hilarious. Bree seemed to feel the same, judging by the smile she was trying - and failing - to hide. The video ended with a pair of guys that just screamed 'frat boy' to her showing up to be her 'dudescorts'.
Carmilla was about ready to start climbing the walls of the plane by the time they landed, nearly breaking the door in her haste to get it open and sprint for the waiting helicopter. "Have that thing refueled and ready to go by the time we get back!" she yelled to the ground crew as she ran past them - probably needlessly, since they no doubt already had orders to do precisely that - but she didn't care.
After seventy years, they finally had a real, solid lead. Even more, they knew that Mother hadn't collected all five victims, yet. They actually had a chance, this time.
She was not going to let them waste it.
The BPRD's headquarters in Colorado had been an abandoned military research facility that, once upon a time, had housed Nazi scientists who defected to America after World War II. Despite their own... less than pleasant experiences with the Nazis, neither Carmilla nor Hellboy had ever felt any particular antipathy toward them. She had no idea who'd said it first, but a common saying among the Allied forces she'd come into contact was that the first country that the Nazis invaded was their own.
Of course, once the BPRD had moved in, any association the base had once had with German defectors quickly vanished, replaced by the far stranger - and far more interesting - research they engaged in.
Carmilla almost ran Kate over as she exited the helicopter mere seconds after it landed. "Tell me everyone's ready to go," she requested as she walked quickly enough toward the door into the base that Kate had to jog to keep up. "I just need a minute to grab my bag."
"It's going to take longer than that to get the plane ready for an intercontinental flight, and you know it," Kate said, dragging her to a stop. With her strength, she could have just kept going, if she'd felt like it, but Kate had earned the right over the years to do something like that now and then. "Don't rush. Take your time, make sure you've got everything. We've been arranging to rent a house or two in Trofaiach for you all to stay at while-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Rent a- Why would we need to rent anything? We know who's behind it! Let's just go kick in the Dean's door, beat her until she tells us where the girls are, and save them."
"It's not that simple," Kate told her, ignoring the glare she got in return. "We don't know anything about what it is that happens to the girls that leaves them, well, like Miss Spielsdorf. For all we know, simply taking them away from it could kill them. We need to run some tests, figure out exactly what we're dealing with. We also need to know more about what it is they're being sacrificed to, since chances are high that we'll have to deal with that, too. That means research, which means time, which means having somewhere to stay while we work. If the Dean gets wind that we're coming before we can actually get there, God knows what she'll do to the girls - not to mention the rest of the student body - so we've been having to move quietly, not letting the Austrian government know what we're doing. Given that we've never heard of this school before, odds are that the local government is in on things, so don't count on any help there, either."
"Yeah, the reaction Hollis got from the police made that kind of clear," Carmilla admitted.
"Exactly. More than that... Everything you've told us about her over the years says that winning a straight up fight with Lilith wouldn't be quite that easy. On the other hand, I doubt she wants to be seen as being uncooperative. Silas may technically not be within our jurisdiction, but if it becomes clear that she's involved, the Austrian government would almost certainly give us permission to bring our full might to bear, probably offering to back us up, and she wouldn't want that, either. They may be too afraid to do anything about it themselves, but..." She cast a fond look at Hellboy. "Well, you've got a way of inspiring confidence and making things look less hopeless."
"Well, that's a lot of flattery." He sounded unmoved... and vaguely suspicious. "You're making us bring a psychic, aren't you?"
"Having someone who might be able to sense-"
"Come on, Kate, you know I hate psychics..."
"Having someone who might be able to sense the girls, or what they're being sacrificed to, can only help," she said, ignoring his complaint. "Don't worry, I'll be keeping him out of your hair." Her gaze turned to Carmilla. "Or, we will be, rather."
"Excuse me? I am not going to sit this one out!"
"Neither am I," Kate replied smoothly. "I'm going with you. But since you don't want to let Lilith know you're around until you're ready, you're going to have to stay under the radar for a while."
"...This is because I threw the new guy into a wall, isn't it?"
"Oh, that reminds me, Agent Leach was just cleared by the doctors, and was happy to hear that he'd be able to accompany us."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're kind of evil, Kate?"
She simply smiled and walked inside without comment.
"Well, sounds like you're in for a fun trip," Hellboy deadpanned as he walked past Carmilla.
"Just for that, I'm telling the psychic you insisted he come along so he could assist you personally," she retorted.
Hellboy was no longer amused.
As it turned out, everyone was packed and ready to move out once they got the go ahead, which was good. Still, once she was sure she had everything she was going to need and headed to the conference room to meet up with the others, Carmilla was pretty sure she spotted a problem where she absolutely couldn't have one being. As such, she promptly headed over to the couch where Liz was sitting and dropped down next to her. "Hey, Firecracker. Ready for this?"
Liz hesitated, which was never a good sign. "I... don't know," she admitted. "Are you?"
"Ready? Kid, I've been waiting for this ever since I got thrown in that coffin in 1872." She leaned closer and dropped her voice as she continued, "What do you think? I'm terrified."
Liz chuckled once. "I know the feeling."
"I've also never been more ready to head out on a mission. Just sitting around, you start thinking of all the ways it could go wrong." Exactly what Liz had been doing, she could tell. "Once you're there, though, doing the job... Things are different."
"Yeah... I'm just... I'm not sure that..."
"Liz." As always, Carmilla using Liz's actual name - she had a habit of calling people by whatever nickname she'd assigned them in her head most of the time - caught her attention. "Look. I know you're still spooked from the thing with the bat, but I need you on this. You're one of the few people I know that can not only handle any of Mother's minions, but stands a real chance of being able to take her out, too. I'll be there with you, if you need any help with your control, but you know that'll be easier if you're not already doubting yourself. You can do this. You've done it before, lots of times."
Carmilla wasn't like Mother. She couldn't just reach into someone's head and rearrange things to suit her whims. (And the BPRD's research division had confirmed that such a thing was possible, suspecting it had been her feelings for Elle that had first begun breaking through it.) Leaving post-hypnotic suggestions or erasing someone's memory were also in the realm of fantasy - which was unfortunate, as it would have made it much easier for her to go on missions without worrying that someone would say something that eventually made its way back to Mother - but she could mesmerize someone. In the old days, it had made it much easier to feed from her victims. In the here and now...
As she'd noted, she did have some minor pyrokinetic ability herself. Nothing like what Liz could do, but it more or less functioned the same, in terms of triggering and directing it. As such, she could basically imprint her own control onto Liz's mind. It never lasted long, but was usually enough to make it through the mission. Granted, none of those had been long-term assignments...
The BPRD higher ups worried, sometimes, that her essentially serving as a crutch might be stunting Liz's ability to gain real control on her own. She wasn't entirely sure they were wrong, which was why she'd been trying to let Liz stand on her own, most of the time, unless it was critical she gain control immediately. Just this once, though, she didn't care what they thought. Liz Sherman was vital to the success of this operation, as far as she was concerned, so her participation was non-negotiable.
"Right." Liz didn't sound overly convinced - though she rarely did - but she wasn't arguing. "Don't worry, I'll do my part." She paused. "When was the last time you were in Styria, anyway?"
Carmilla thought about that. "Early 1945, I think. We pushed up into Upper Austria, then into Germany, not long after the Army found me. Never had occasion to go back before now." She paused, then added, "Never really wanted to. Spent over seventy-two years in the ground, there. Was kind of sick of the place, after that." It had also been the last place she'd seen Elle.
Liz winced. "Yeah, I can get that."
Carmilla shook her head. "This'll be one hell of a homecoming, that's for sure."
It would also be one very, very overdue.