A/N: Whelp! Didn't make the deadline, guess it's just not something you can brute force. Anyways, here's another chapter, enjoy!
Once Upon a Time
Once Bitten
Chapter Four: Carmilla
-Storybrooke-
As Emma watched Carmen interact with Sheri she couldn't help but feel just a little amused at the younger girl's reactions to the brunette's gentle teasing and flirtatious actions. The brunette was resting her hip against the counter and speaking to the shy girl in hushed tones, apparently unconcerned with Ruby who had moved away from the pair but still appeared tense, with her arms crossed over her chest and eyes narrowed. The Sheriff would hardly have been surprised if the waitress started growling at the other brunette.
Before she could get Ruby's attention however, her own was drawn to the door of the diner as the bell jingled once again and a pair of men entered. One was tall and broad shouldered, his hair black but obviously beginning to grey as was his well trimmed moustache. The other was a distinguished looking older gentleman with silver hair and dressed smartly in a waistcoat that wouldn't have looked out of place several decades earlier.
They were chatting amiably to one another but the moment the larger of the men turned his eyes to the counter he instantly fell silent, his brow furrowing into a glare that took the Sheriff by surprise. Quickly following his gaze she saw that he was glaring at Carmen who glanced back it him with a look that was equal parts boredom and resignation. As the two men drew nearer Emma noted the silver-haired man was quite obviously taking note of just how close Carmen was standing to Sheri and it appeared to put him immediately on edge while the larger of the two had now come to stop next to the two young women and was practically exuding his contempt for the brunette from every pore to the point that Emma wondered if she would have to step in.
"Well," Carmen sighed as she turned back to Sheri with a wry smile, "looks like I've run out my welcome. See you around, kätzchen" with that the brunette pushed away from the counter, nodding towards Emma and Mary-Margaret as she made her way to the door, all the while with the large man glaring at her.
The door had barely closed behind the girl before the dark haired man spoke towards Sheri, "You should stay away from her kiddo" his words causing the smaller girl to duck her eyes as the other man, whom Emma assumed was her father, put his arm around the girl's shoulders.
Glancing out the window to see that Carmen was now standing next to her pickup truck, probably waiting for Tillman to appear with his tow truck, Emma couldn't help but ask the large man, "why?"
Still glaring at Carmen the man simply stated "she's trouble" before finally turning to the counter. This only made Emma even more confused, although she did wonder just how close-minded a small community like Storybrooke could be as her gaze dropped to Sheri who although her head was bowed was still clearly watching Carmen through the window herself.
OOO
Making his way to the diner to meet Emma, Henry flipped through the pages of the fairytale book in search of some way to help Emma break the curse on the town. Or at least convince her that she needed to. So engrossed in his reading he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking until he collided with someone standing directly in front of him.
Clasping his book to his chest so as not to drop it, he looked up with an apology ready but it died in his throat as he took in the dark haired woman he had just bumped into. He recognised her but he couldn't remember from where. She was looking down at him with a raised eyebrow and a faintly amused look on her face, "cat got your tongue?" she said with her throaty accent.
Shaking off his stunned silence he quickly stepped back from her with an apology. It was then that he noted that she was standing next to a black pickup truck which Mr Tillman was currently attaching his tow trucks towline to. The mechanic nodded at the brunette before moving to get into his truck and she turned back to Henry, grinning broadly as she said "watch where you're going süsser, you never know who you'll bump into" and with that she moved to get into the tow truck as well.
He took a moment to watch the pair drive off before it finally struck him where he had seen the dark haired woman's face before. Opening his book again he began to quickly rifle through the pages, looking for the correct one and only barely noticing when Emma exited the diner and walked up to him.
"Hey kid, you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Not a ghost," Henry said as he finally found the page he was looking for, "something worse" he continued as he turned to his birth mother and revealed the picture on the book. There, clear as day on the page was an inked picture almost exactly like Carmen, only with much longer hair and below the image in intricate calligraphy was the name, "Carmilla".
-Enchanted Forest-
The dark haired young woman, Carmilla she had told them when she awoke, still appeared terribly tired by her ordeal earlier in the day as Laura watched her stare into the flickering flames of the fireplace. She had recovered surprisingly quickly once she had regained consciousness and after the initial confusion on the whereabouts of her mother, news she bore with barely a sigh of resignation, she had turned down Laura's father's suggestion of calling for a physician to check on her.
She currently sat curled up in one of the large cushioned chairs of the sitting room that Laura and her father often spent their evenings in. Her face, ethereally and ghost like in the shifting shadows of the fire, was set in a tired almost bored expression with partially lidded and shadowed eyes. She brought to Laura's mind a cat lazily lounging, confidant and self-assured of its place in the world and there was something both breathtakingly beautiful and hauntingly sad in her dark gaze which left the younger girl entranced.
"Miss Carmilla," Laura's father spoke up from his own seat on the other side of the fire and to Laura's right, sharing the same couch as his daughter, "where is it that you come from? From what Kingdom does your family hale from?"
Laura quickly brought her eyes back to Carmilla, her gaze wide and curious about this almost otherworldly creature. Carmilla herself lazily turned her own gaze from the fire to the father and daughter pair, regarding them for a moment before smiling wryly and answering in her throaty accent, "I am terribly sorry," she began, her eyes locked with Laura for a brief moment and the other girl's heart jumped a beat and a blush rose to her cheeks, but the moment was over the second that Carmilla raised her gaze to the adult in the room and continued in an apologetic tone "but mama has expressly forbid me from ever talking about my family or our past with anyone."
Laura's father nodded slowly, a slight look of confusion on his face before he said "You needn't tell us anything my dear girl, I wouldn't want you to go against your mother's wishes."
Carmilla smiled gratefully at the older man before glancing to the door of the room, then in one graceful motion she stood from her seat and said "I'm still rather drained from the events of today, Laura" she turned her dark eyes back to the other girl who jumped with a start although Carmilla's gentle almost teasing smile quickly allowed the girl to relax, "would you be so kind as to show me where I shall be sleeping?"
Standing from her seat herself the shorter girl smiled shyly at her dark haired counterpart and replied, "I would love to."
OOO
The walk through the castle's halls towards the guest room that was to be Carmilla's quarters was quiet. While Laura walked with her hands clasped in front of her waist and eyes trained to the floor ahead of her she couldn't help but steal quick glances of the dark girl beside her.
Carmilla walked with an easy grace, hands clasped behind her, she seemed to glide with each step and moved so silently that if the other girl wasn't looking she could almost believe that she was the only one in the hall. Her quick glances towards the older girl were not going unnoticed either and each time Laura's eyes drifted back to her, Carmilla's small smile grew before she finally spoke up, never moving her eyes from the hall in front of her, "what's on your mind süsse?"
The sudden voice in the silence caused Laura to jump slightly in fright, an act which brought a low chuckle to the other girl's lips and a bright flush of embarrassment to Laura's pale neck and cheeks.
"I'm terribly sorry!" she began quickly, "it is just that I so rarely meet anyone my own age here at the caste, especially someone as beautiful as you" she rushed out, and then, realising just what she had said, she blushed brighter still which pulled another low throaty chuckle from the dark haired girl.
"Such a bashful little kätzchen," Carmilla said as the pair stopped outside the heavy wooden door to the guest room. Opening the door, Carmilla turned her dark gaze to Laura and as their eyes met the breath caught in Laura's throat. Slowly, the dark haired girl's lips pulled into a broad grin; it was there that Laura noted, almost distractedly, that at the very edges of Carmilla's smile her upper canines seemed longer and much sharper than her own. She was quickly brought out of her thoughts as the taller girl leaned in close to her, her lips just grazing the flesh of Laura's cheek as she spoke in a throaty whisper which made Laura's heart race, "I'm sure we will become very close. Goodnight, kätzchen"
With that Carmilla entered her room and closed the door softly behind her, leaving Laura staring at the heavy wood flushed and breathing heavily a dreamy look in her eyes and a whispered "goodnight" leaving her lips.
-Storybrooke-
The weather was surprisingly comfortable for being halfway through autumn as Sheri made her way home from her volunteer work at the hospital's blood bank. She smiled softly as she took in the leaves that had already started to fall from the branches of the trees that surrounded the sleepy little town, shades of reds, oranges and yellows fluttering through the air on gentle breezes.
"Hey again, kätzchen."
The now familiar accented voice sounded just to her side and caused her to jump and squeak in surprise as she spun to take in the tall dark form of Carmen Rouxstein. An amused smirk graced the taller girl's lips and Sheri could see amusement dancing in her dark eyes as they regarded her intently. Flushing embarrassedly she turned her gaze away from Carmen, one hand rising to toy with the hair brushed over her left ear.
"H-hi Carmen," she stuttered out, the two now walking side by side.
"Jumpy little thing, aren't you." Carmen teased with a low chuckle, although the easy almost lazy smile she flashed Sheri did ease some of the tension in her shoulders bringing a smile to her own lips.
"So I was wondering," Carmen began in a mock serious tone, her eyes forward and hands stuffed into the pockets of her leather jacket, "would you like to go to the Cat's Cradle sometime?"
Sheri's heart jumped a little in her chest while her shoulders hunched up shyly and a small smile spread to her lips almost unbidden at the request, although as soon as it came it was replaced with a frown as she remembered Michael's words from earlier. Glancing up at the taller girl she saw her watching her with expectant dark eyes, one raven black eyebrow arched upwards.
Lowering her eyes to the ground ahead of her she replied with a quiet "Sorry, but I..." before trailing off, her arms hugged around her own middle and shoulders once again hunched up. At the ensuing silence she glanced back to Carmilla who had also turned her eyes to the path ahead of them, a sad smile quirking the sides of her mouth and a strange melancholy in her eyes. Something in the dark girl's countenance pulled at Sheri's heart and she instinctively reached a hand out towards her to offer comfort although she quickly pulled it back to her chest before she made contact.
Noting Sheri's movement the taller girl turned to her, then with a tilt her head and a chuckle she smiled at her and said "Don't worry süsse, I don't bite."
Despite the joking almost teasing tone, Sheri couldn't help but note the sadness in her impossibly dark eyes and the tightness it created in her own chest.
OOO
In a town as quiet as Storybrooke there wasn't much for law enforcement to really do, this left Emma bored on most days as she sat at her desk, reclining back on her chair and staring at the slow moving hands of the clock on the wall. It was long moments like these that almost made her look forward to her altercations with the Mayor.
"Emma!" the sudden shout of her name along with the slamming open of the main door of the building pulled her from her thoughts and she dropped her eyes to the entrance of her office just as Henry came barrelling in, already struggling with his schoolbag in an effort to get something out of it.
"Shouldn't you be at school kid?" she said as she let her chair drop back to all four legs with a wooden thunk, one blond eyebrow raised as she regarded her son.
"No time for that!" he gasped out, finally pulling the book from his bag and slamming it on the desk in front of him. He quickly began to rifle through the pages as he continued on with "Sheri is in danger!", finding the page he was looking for he spun the book around to show Emma what was emblazoned on the page.
Leaning over her desk the Sheriff took in the picture on the page with furrowed brows, it looked remarkably like, "Carmen?", the picture depicted a dark haired woman crouched over a sleeping blond in a bed, the blond sharing many similarities to Sheri.
"Carmilla!" Henry corrected her, pointing to the name below the picture, "Countess Carmilla!" he continued with heavy emphasis on the word Countess.
Emma looked up from the book to Henry and asked, her tone confused, "how exactly does this mean Sheri is in trouble?"
"Because Carmilla is dangerous!"
This caused Emma's brow to furrow even further, two people in one day had said something similar about the dark girl, even friendly Ruby had seemed put off by her. Thinking back to her meeting with the younger woman that morning she couldn't pinpoint anything particularly off about her, she was a little flirty and clearly had an interest in Sheri, but they were both 18 so wasn't exactly scandalous.
It was then that it struck Emma, Storybrooke was a small town and it definitely had a rather old-fashioned feel to it. She knew from experience how deeply certain old prejudices could be ingrained into people and how they could affect those around them, particularly the younger generations.
"Because she's gay!?" she exclaimed suddenly, causing Henry to jerk back in surprise and look at her with confusion. It was then that Emma realised, that despite how mature the kid seemed, he had no idea just what she was talking about and that perhaps it wasn't why Henry thought Carmen was dangerous. He did think his own mother was the Evil Queen after all.
Dropping her face into her right hand with a sigh, elbow propped on her desk, she couldn't help but wish that Regina Mills could be the one to explain this to her son as it was not something she was looking forward to, or particularly knew how to explain to an eleven year old.
