A/N: Massive thanks to all dudes and dudettes for staying with this story. I know it's been a little while since I updated but here's the next instalment and there's still plenty more to come...
UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS CHAPTER 9:
If her breathing hadn't been so wild she might have entertained the thought that finally after all these years her muscles had atrophied underneath her.
As Carmilla watched Laura's back turn away and head out through the main entrance the swirling warzone inside her seemed to grow into a maelstrom.
Half of it wanting to run after her; she had the speed to catch up with the tiny blonde within less than a minute after all. And then she could explain. Try and make her roommate understand why she'd done what had to be done. That there weren't any other options open to them, at least none that didn't lead to... something much worse than this.
But the other part; the aging sanguine half of her soul knew the other girl was in no place to listen. That what Laura needed right now was space to be alone with her thoughts; without the pressure of someone else's pressing at their edges.
God, how she hated that smug piece of herself though.
She could almost hear it crowing underneath her skin.
She had to do something though. Inaction is as bad as indifference.
So they said.
Licking her lips, ignoring the hammering inside her own chest Carmilla turned her head to watch the two university employees walking the girl from earlier along the wall of the main foyer below.
Taking her to a safe place...or at least a safer one than here.
A frown bloomed on her face as something hit her as she watched.
They hadn't been surprised at the state that that girl had been in when they'd arrived before. Of course it was possible that that was just professionalism on display. A calm demeanour had to be some kind of prerequisite for working in the pysch department right? The ability to face down any kind of situation without showing signs of alarm, at least on the surface. And yet.
They'd barely slowed their step before they'd taken the girl's arm.
As if...
As if they'd seen this before?
Was that possible?
Carmilla screwed up her nose as she considered that for a moment.
If some of the other students on campus had been confronted with a friend in trouble did that mean they'd done the same thing and that there were more victims holed up in the mental health unit? How many could there be?
And were all of them so far gone? Or could one of them remember something from their assault, something that might be of use in finding these bastards?
Her mind wheeled as the thoughts blew against each other.
So what now you're a superhero? Protecting the innocent from the thing that hides in the dark?
She rolled her eyes at the voice inside her head. Hardly.
But if she could find something, some piece of information then maybe after everything she could at least keep Laura safe. Whether the tiny human she couldn't seem to stay away from chose to forgive her or not.
It was a plan if nothing else.
And that was how she found herself moving; sneaking down the staircase and maintaining a discreet distance following behind the three figures up ahead, two bland polo shirts to guide her way with an arm on each of their captive's. Doing her best not to imagine how Laura's thin forearms might have fit just as neatly in their grasp.
Skirting the edge of the history block and making her way across the south lawn planting her feet silently on the soft grass, Carmilla marvelled as she went that she'd never actually been to the Psychology building before in all her time at Silas.
Of course outside of her mother's tasks, her lectures had primarily been Philosophy based and thus had been housed in the social sciences wing of the humanities building in the other quadrant. But she had been forced to attend one or two on Language and cognition in ETA Hoffman's The Sandman. Truth be told they'd bored her out of her skull and she hadn't paid much attention to the Language Centre's lecture theatre that sat so inconspicuously next to Psychology. One theatre looked much the same as another. Hell, she'd put her headphones in after the first fifteen minutes to listen to a collection of Bach's early cantatas . Baroque melodies always seemed to speak straight to her mind when it was becoming sluggish and she remembered the swoop of the orchestral set much more clearly than the professor's speech that day.
Carmilla smiled at the memory for a moment before she realised with a plummeting stomach that she'd lost sight of her targets causing her to growl inwardly at herself.
Damn it Karnstein get your head in the game.
Not that this was a game.
She knew sport and nothing about this situation was remotely entertaining.
The liquid nothingness in that girl's gaze had been proof of that and Laura... the idea that Laura might not have made it back last night and could have been one of them...
Nope.
Not helping.
She had to make a guess as to which entrance they'd gone in.
Taking in the clump of chattering students hanging around the ground floor doorway with cigarette in hand, she jogged past them and took the steps two at a time up to the first floor entryway. Purposefully ignoring the whoops that followed her activity from the girls below.
Then she slid inside the glass doors before they closed.
There. The three targets were just stepping into the battered old elevator down a hallway littered with flyers and balled up posters. As soon as the doors shut she sped down there and pressing the call button watched the floor displays light up one by one scanning a health guidelines poster impatiently as she did so.
The symbol for the third floor display hesitated and she caught the red rim of the call button she'd just pressed go dim. It was coming back down.
Floor three then.
Jogging across to the stairway she sprinted up six flights without even feeling it until she was standing on the concrete of the third floor stairwell. Opening the door silently, she snuck her head into the corridor; a whitewashed nondescript version of the one from downstairs albeit without the student paraphernalia.
Something about the antisceptic glazed air circulating around made her nostrils burn but she quelled the unease crawling around inside her gut and moved her whole body inside.
Making her way to the double doors at the end, Carmilla peered inside the latticed circle of glass.
It didn't reveal much except more white walls and a scrubbed tiled floor. White on cream on white.
And without a better plan, buoyed by adrenaline plus a strange pervasive kind of exhilaration she straightened out her spine and walked straight in as confidently as she could.
The quiet atmosphere hit her first. A kind of hushed oppression that rankled at her nose but taking another few steps she stopped when someone cleared their throat to her right. Peering over Carmilla saw a pony-tailed middle aged man sat behind a reception desk glaring at her.
"Can I help you?"
And now all those undercover lessons from Mother start to pay dividends, she thought dryly before her mind flashed back to the poster she'd seen earlier.
Blinking momentarily she offered him an uninviting smile. "Hi. I've been sent by NICE to do an impromptu check on the ward."
"This isn't Walmart, we don't do mystery shoppers darling."
Her smile dropped and the man raised an eyebrow. "Besides aren't you a little young sweetheart?"
Asshat.
Carmilla crossed her arms, "This is a student facility isn't it? We choose our representatives to best appreciate the experience of particular patients receiving treatment. That's why they're letting a student liason officer take a preliminary report before my boss shows up. And I'm older than I look."
The man sat back in his chair but he didn't budge.
"Where's your badge?"
"In the same place as your tie and the ironed version of that uniform?"
That got his attention.
Just before she could say anything else though a young shaky-legged youth suddenly wandered out of a room to their right interrupting their glaring match. He had a small growth of hair bristling on his chin and a deer in the headlights gaze as he took in the sight of the two of them.
And despite her reluctance to use someone who looked so vulnerable Carmilla knew this was just what she needed.
An awful kind of knowledge she wished she didn't have.
Betraying none of her thoughts, she walked softly up to him, ignoring the man who was disentangling himself from his swivel chair and smiled gently at those wide eyes.
"Hey."
"Uh..I..hey."
Putting her hands out in front of her an inch or so from touching the boy making sure not to make unwanted contact, the vampire raised her voice a little.
"I'm a friend ok." Sneaking a glance back at the ward receptionist she thanked God for her photographic memory and flicked her mind back to the guidelines she'd scanned on her way in.
"I just need to ask you some questions ok? No pressure. Nothing difficult. Is that all right?"
The boy blew out a shaky breath. "Um...I guess."
She threw out a real smile this time.
"When you were admitted to the ward were you told the name of the person who would be looking after your care?
"I...No?"
"Ok. Were you detained under the mental health act?"
He nodded, the shame emblazoned on his face. "I...I tried to cut my roommate, I didn't mean to everything got confused and loud and I just..."
She nodded stopping him before the memory had a chance to solidify. As if that made up for what she was doing.
"You shouldn't be embarrassed by that, all right? But did the staff here tell you what was happening and what legal power they were using to keep you here?"
Putting out a hand to steady himself against the wall, the boy pulled at his pyjamas collar. "I don't...don't think so but there was a lot of stuff going on and then they gave me this injection which tasted funny..."
"That's enough young lady. Our patients are not lab rats."
Clearly incensed the receptionist was on them now and went to grab her elbow but she jerked it out of his grip and held the boys wild gaze as she pushed him away.
"Did they give you any idea of how long they planned to detain you? What about your right to appeal the decision; was there any mention of that or your rights to complain about the care you're receiving?"
The student nodded emphatically and though she knew her cover was finally paying off Carmilla's heart sank at the way he was looking at her; his large brown pupils practically begging for her help. Because he thought she was who she said she was.
Not just a liar using him for her own ends.
She hated herself in that second and it was that overwhelming sense of loathing that gave the receptionist the opportunity to finally drag her a few feet backwards.
"Look you little busybody. We're all up to code here. Our patients feel safe. They're given privacy and space with separate toilets, washing facilities and sleeping accommodation. Right, son?"
The boy nodded at the man this time almost as vigorously as he had at Carmilla.
"You see? There's no mixed sex wards. Patients have plenty of chances to exercise and take part in group activities and therapies if they want. And the food here's been rated five stars in terms of health and variety."
Planting her hand on the edge of a trolley resting next to her the brunette turned to face him.
And threw the dice.
"And your occupancy rate?" she said, as she scrabbled to try and recall the bullet points she'd glanced at earlier.
That blue collar grin fell away, those grey eyes taking on an angry sheen. "No real world unit runs at eight five per cent or less. You know that."
Eighty five, that was it!
Damn, she was losing her touch.
Pulling herself up to her full height, bolstering herself with the knowledge that this idiot really believed she was affiliated with NICE at this point, Carmilla patted her hair down.
"We've had reports that your occupancy has spiked recently though, is that true?"
Staring at him she caught the twitch of the muscle in his right cheek.
"Turnover fluctuates; it's a natural phenomenon."
"But it's gone up recently?"
He shrugged defensively. " Maybe a little."
The vampire cocked her head. "Then I need to see your latest guests to make sure everything has been dealt with...sufficiently."
"Out of the question."
She sneered. "We'll decide what the question is, sir. You know the sanctions we can put into place if we're not satisfied in cases like this."
"I'm getting my Manager, this is completely outrageous."
Carmilla motioned with her hand airily. "Go on then. I've spent more than enough time with the worker ants as it is."
His entire face flushed red at that leaving a crimson line underneath his right ear and she wondered for a moment if she had overplayed her hand. But a brief image of Laura's bruised face from last night blew into her vision and she used it to stand her ground, watching carefully as he sped off down the corridor and turned into a doorway at the far end.
She was in the clear. At least for a small amount of time.
Beaming at the boy in his striped pyjamas she knelt down in front of him quickly.
"So you seem like a pretty smart guy." She said softly. "You know where the new recruits would be housed?"
A little taken aback probably by the compliment more than anything else, the boy nervously grinned back and pointed a thumb to the right. "They'd go to Lyssa wing after processing. Kinda busy down there so everyone's saying."
She nodded gratefully.
"Thank you...uh..."
"Ryan."
Carmilla stood up and rested a hand on his forearm next to his wrist band.
"Thank you Ryan. You've been a big help."
Turning away, she tried not to flinch as she heard a quiet murmur from behind her.
"Thanks for checking up on me."
Then she was walking, trying to remind herself that she wasn't here to save everyone. Trying to get the taste of all the lies she'd told in the last few minutes out of her mouth. As if they were collecting behind her teeth.
Quickening her pace, as if such a simple act might allow her to outrun the indignity coating her skin Carmilla attempted to distract herself peering into a few rooms as she went but they seemed to be nothing more than equipment storage rooms filled haphazardly with plastic cups, trolleys and linen in large sloppily tied bags.
Coming to the edge of the corridor another set of imposing double doors rose up in front of her, these ones conspicuous for the lack of glass in their heavy wooden frame.
A strange musky smell seemed to be slipping through the hinges sending goosebumps across her skin and she found herself hesitating before she reached out to push against the left one.
It was heavy but the door pushed inward an inch.
So she pushed her weight against it and slid inside before coming to a complete stop.
Unable to process the horror of what she saw when she was finally inside the so called Lyssa Ward.
