She felt warm, clean, relaxed and was with the best company she could ever ask for. If this wasn't heaven, she'd still rather be here.

Laura popped her head out from under the bubbling water of their hotel room's private spa. Droplets trickled down from her hair and back into the water as she wiped her face, the sound of it the only thing to be heard when she wasn't humming from how good she felt.

She opened her eyes to a sight even lovelier than how she felt. On the other side of the circular spa, Carmilla floated with her arms crossed behind her head, as languid floating in a spa as she would be lounging on a comfy couch. Her mouth hadn't moved from a small content smile since they'd gotten in and her eyes, fixed on Laura, held nothing but affection. She hadn't said much for a while, but the odd purr told Laura that she was as happy with their current situation as they were.

"So, finally got your spa," Laura said. "Is it everything you hoped for?"

"Mmm-hmm," Carmilla hummed out before she closed her eyes and took a big satisfied breath. Laura could see her chest swell upwards just below the surface. If only the water level were a tad lower…

As if sensing her thoughts, Carmilla's eyes opened again, and her smile widened, gleaming teeth showing.

"I'm also so very pleased you saw things my way in regards to undergarments."

Laura stifled a giggle and looked over at the two messy piles of discarded clothing near the bathroom's entrance. Bra and underwear included.

"You were right. This is much better. For a variety of reasons," Laura matched Carmilla's smile with one of her own.

Even if they weren't in the best spa Laura had ever had the pleasure of relaxing in, she would have been glad to get out of those clothes. What the weird goop that the banshee had melted into didn't cover was stained by blood. This wasn't the first set of clothes ruined by crazy supernatural adventures. Perhaps she needed to check the tags better when she went clothes shopping. See which ones had instructions for washing out ghost goop and one's own blood.

Of course, that their ruined clothes were the biggest casualties from last night's adventure was probably something to be very grateful for.

She bit her lip and looked down at the water for a moment. "Not the only thing you were right about."

When she looked back up, she saw that'd gotten Carmilla's attention. Her eyes were bright and piercing, but she didn't say anything, so Laura continued.

"I think I owe you an apology. You warned me that we were being reckless and I didn't really listen. And so a little light sneaking turned into almost getting shot by armed guards or decapitated by a ghost," she pointed a thumb at herself. "That was my fault, mea culpa."

Carmilla kept silent for a long moment, before finally speaking.

"We're not invincible, Laura. I know that we've been through a lot and that it might seem that way after Silas and Florence. Especially for someone so young-"

"Hey."

"Which you still are," Carmilla continued firmly. "I can only imagine the effect of defeating a death God has on a twenty-year-olds perception of their own mortality. Hell, for a while back there you had me feeling like we could do anything as well and I've been around for a fair bit longer than that. You have to remember you're still mortal, no matter how many deities you get the better of."

Laura opened her mouth to respond, reacting negatively to her age being brought up on instinct. She bit it back though, taking a second to let Carmilla's words process. They had a point, and she could hardly argue with it considering she'd started this conversation with an apology.

She met Carmilla's gaze. "I'm sorry."

Carmilla shook her head. "You don't have to be sorry. I just want us to be more careful. I get that you want to find those kids as soon as possible. But getting ourselves killed won't help them."

"You're right," Laura nodded. "No more reckless half assed plans. From now on, they'll be nothing but careful planning and smart decisions."

"Yeah, that would be a first for us I think," Carmilla snorted, she looked genuinely amused. "But I'll take that for now. Apology accepted. And anyway, it's not like I can be all that mad when you were literally trying to save children."

They were both floating towards the centre of the spa, bit by bit, as magnetised to each other in the water as they were anywhere else.

"Are you sure, I'm completely forgiven?" Laura asked, closing the gap between them fully with a final push through the water. "That there is nothing could do, to apologise more?"

Carmilla's eyes flashed, and she bit her lip.

"Well, now that you mention it, I suppose after such a horrible night I could use a little more apologising. Do you have something in mind?"

In response, Laura wrapped her legs around Carmilla's waist and pushed most of her body out of the water. She then placed her arms around Carmilla's shoulders and pressed against her tightly. Carmilla for her part hugged her arms around Laura's waist to hold her in place, and when Laura looked down, Carmilla's expression was one of adoration. Eye's roaming up and down, mouth open.

Guess you're not the only one who can leave the other breathless. She couldn't help but enjoy the occasional reversal from their usual dynamic.

"How about this?" Laura asked.

"Forgiven," Carmilla breathed out as Laura began grinding against her. "Very, very forgiven."

Any further words got smothered out when Laura lifted Carmilla's chin up with a finger and leant down into a kiss.

It may have taken longer to get to this spa than they'd hoped, but some things were worth the wait.

"Laura."

She murmured something unrecognisable even to her at the voice coming from right next to her ear. It repeated a couple of times. When she didn't respond, the voice's owner began to shake her lightly.

She opened her eyes. She was still in the spa being held by Carmilla, their chins resting on each other's shoulders.

"You fell asleep for a while there," Carmilla said. "Which is a great idea, I'm right there with you. But we should probably get you into bed instead of floating in this tub all day. I hear it wrinkles the skin or something. Back when I was a vampire I could float in these things for days."

Laura turned her head and looked past Carmilla into the bedroom through the bathroom entrance. The large bed in the middle of it was a mess. The night before, when Carmilla had driven them from Kellan's to the hotel, they had collapsed into its soft sheets. Both too tired to even take off clothes that by now were exceptionally dirty with sweat, blood and goop. Laura's muscles and bones were certain she'd been involved in some kind of hellish decathlon, while her ears had rung right up until her head hit the pillow.

She was sure Carmilla has been in a similar state and looking back it was likely a miracle she'd been able to drive the motorbike all the way to the hotel. They'd staggered through the front doors, probably looking to the on duty receptionist like a couple of drunken vacationers coming home from one hell of a bender.

Perhaps it would have been smarter to have taken Kellan's offer for them to stay over for the night, but Laura was happy they didn't. After what they had been through at the school, they'd needed a night for themselves. Or more accurately an entire morning and perhaps even some of the afternoon.

She groaned at the sight of the bed. A night of sleeping in it with her dirty clothes on had resulted in some of the goop getting in it. She'd rather stay in the spa.

"We'll clear the gunk out," Carmilla said, reading her thoughts again. "Can't stay in this tub forever."

"We can't stay in bed all day either," she said and groaned again, hating the words coming out of her mouth. "We have to get back to work. What time is it?"

"I'd say about noon and do we really have to get back to work? We almost died last night, does that not entitle us to a day off?"

"Are those kids out there entitled to a day off from being kidnapped?" Laura said as she waded towards the edge of the spa and pulled herself out. "No, last night was a bust. We didn't learn anything from it. We have to get started on another plan.

"Plus," she continued, walking over to some towels on a rack and wrapping herself up in them. "Kellan said she'd be over around now with our luggage. I don't want her to see us lounging around."

Carmilla draped her hands over the side of the spa and leant her chin on its lip. "Well, we wouldn't want that now, would we?"

Laura recognised the tone. "Something on your mind?"

Carmilla shrugged. "It seems we've been doing a lot for Ms Mary Kellan recently. Travelling to another country, doing investigation work for no reward, almost dying in that investigation. But sure, wouldn't want her to think we're slacking."

"You think we're doing too much?"

"I think when you see someone suffering your first reaction is to help, to drop everything that you're doing and throw yourself into action. Just remember, we were the ones who risked our lives last night. If we want to take a break we can."

"I know that," Laura grabbed a few more towels and carried them over to Carmilla. "It's only, I don't want her to think we've given up or anything. Thought it would be nice for her to see us getting right back into things despite what happened last night."

Carmilla took the towels as she rose out of the spa and Laura momentarily forgot how talking worked.

"But, you're right. Again," Laura said once Carmilla had finished wrapping herself up in the towels. "There is no reason why you shouldn't enjoy the rest of the day. You were amazing last night. You deserve the day off. And I don't want you doing anything you don't want to. How about while I start planning our next move, you enjoy that very large and very luxurious King sized bed. You can watch me work from there. We kinda don't have any clothes until Kellan gets here, so I have a feeling you might enjoy that."

Carmilla laughed and brought her into a hug. Her hands cupped around Laura's cheeks.

"Relax, I'm teasing, mostly. Of course, I'll help you plan our next move. Despite that being such an enticing offer. But perhaps instead, before we start you'd want to do some of that yoga you love so much. I can't imagine a better time for me to start learning it through close attention."

Laura stifled a laugh and shook her head.

"That sounds lovely, but I don't think my body would forgive me if I tried yoga right now. Not after going ten rounds with Casper Wilhelma last night," she kissed Carmilla's cheek and walked into the bedroom. "A banshee you said? And it came out of the stone?"

There was a wall sized window next to the bed. She walked up to it and pulled the blinds to take a look. The window looked out over the Savannah River. It was narrow, and across it, Laura could see a small island full of trees and a few large buildings on the other side. After the thoroughly grungy and depressing high school, they'd spent so much of the last day in, it looked beautiful. Though she was sure for Carmilla, it would be nothing special.

Carmilla followed her in and began pulling the dirty sheets off the bed.

"Yeah, that's what it was. Seen a few before, not particularly threatening back when I was a vampire, I think being around Mattie and Mother shouting at each other all the time worked up an immunity for me. Now those were screaming matches," she finished with the last of the sheets and poked her fingers into the mattress, like a cat clawing at a surface to make sure it was comfortable, before lying down on it.

"And yeah, the banshee must have come out of a Convacantes Stone. It's Latin for summoning I think. If you know how to use them properly you can trap things like banshees and other spirits in them and then let them out whenever you choose."

"You mean like a genie?"

"Sure, except you only get one wish and it's 'kill everyone around you.' It was probably being used as a defence mechanism, like the security guards. Was there anything else in the drawer?"

Laura thought back, she hadn't gotten a good look, the stone had caught her interest first, and there had been no time to look further once the banshee was unleashed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure there was, but I saw the stone first. If only I didn't pick it up like an idiot."

"Nah, don't beat yourself up about it. Odds are touching anything in that drawer would have set it off. You said we didn't learn anything last night. I'd say we actually learned a bit. We now know for sure that someone is hiding something and we know that someone knows their shit when it comes to spells and magic. You don't accidentally find a stone with a banshee in it and set it to go off if someone rummages through your desk."

"It has to be Stevenson, it was his desk," Laura said. "Maybe he knew we might try to sneak in at some point."

"Or he always has stuff like that going on, and those budding Nancy Drews stumbled into them."

That thought sent shivers down Laura's spine. The idea that any of the kids had been attacked by something like the banshee was a dark one. The banshee's claws hadn't been for a light, gentle kidnapping that was for sure. Her mind returned to the creature Lexi had described to her mother and the crime scene photos Beattie had given them. What if whatever it was, it was as murderous as the banshee?

Carmilla must have noticed her anxiety as she sat up on the bed and reached a hand out to her. Laura took it instinctively.

"Laura, look. I know how much you want all these kids to be still alive. But you have to be ready," she hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Ready for the possibility that they're not. That won't be your fault, despite how much I know a little voice in your head is going to say so. Sometimes you get dragged into a bad situation, and there isn't anything you can do, no matter how hard you try, or how much you want to."

Laura let her hand go on autopilot with the intertwining as she mulled over Carmilla's words. She knew they were right, but accepting them felt barely a step away from what she'd accused Beattie of back at the Police Station, giving up.

Carmilla wasn't saying that though. Laura could see the good intentions behind the words. She was only looking out for her. Carmilla had been around her long enough to know her tendency to blame herself for everything currently going wrong. This was Carmilla trying to get out ahead of that.

Laura knelt down and met Carmilla's eyes. "Thank you, I see what you're trying to do. I need to assume those kids are still alive for now though. They're out there, and they're alive, and they need our help. If they're not and this is all for nothing… We'll just have to deal with that when we find out."

Carmilla reached out her free hand and ran it through Laura's hair. Her eyes concerned.

"I know we will. I'm just a bit worried. You had another nightmare last night, a bad one and-"

"Did I? I was so exhausted. Everything after we left the school is a blur. We did fight a ghost that killed a bunch of people last night though, so nightmare sounds like a pretty natural response to me," Laura said quickly.

"Except this is two nights in a row and this time you were mumbling. Mostly one word-"

Laura placed her second hand over Carmilla's and her own intertwining ones. "I'm sure whatever it was, it was just a dumb dream. Nothing to worry about, I'm fine."

The room's intercom buzzed loudly.

"That would be Kellan," Laura said, getting up and moving towards the main room. "I'll let her up. Try to act cool, like everything is fine and you have no worries whatsoever… So act like you normally do."

"Sure, we telling her we have a plan for what to try next?"

"Uh, yes? No, maybe. I have about thirty seconds once I buzz her up to figure that out."

She walked across the spacious main room full of expensive, luxurious furniture and a television large enough to be a miniature cinema. The room was lit up by the sun shining through a glass sliding door that led to a balcony. The soft carpet felt heavenly under her feet as she strode past it all to find the buzzing intercom.

She found it next to the front door passed a sparkling white kitchen so clean messing it up by actually cooking in it would be a crime. As nice as their cottage had become, this suite was a step above. The cleanliness meant that the thick bundle of bloody bandages on the kitchen table stood out in a rather macabre way. Laura tapped her nose gingerly. It hadn't bled for a while, but it still felt sore.

After buzzing her up with the intercom and opening the door for her, Kellan bumbled into the room with two large suitcases. She still wore the same baggy clothes from last night, and her short hair was a mess. She did smile as she greeted Laura, but like the bags under her eyes, it looked tired. As well as the two suitcases, Kellan had a black handbag around her shoulder. How she managed to wrangle it all up to the elevator, Laura wasn't sure.

"Wow, look at this place," she said, looking around at the suite. "Should have brought Lexi here for our vacations, forget Disney World."

Carmilla appeared out of nowhere, grabbing her suitcase from Kellan and darting off to the bedroom.

"I'll take that," she said, and once she reached the bedroom, she shut the door behind her.

That left Laura alone with Kellan. There was an awkward pause as Laura tried to think of what to say.

"How are you feeling?" Kellan eventually said. It might have been to break the silence, but the question sounded genuine. "How's the nose?"

"Fine, it was barely a thing after you patched it up last night. I appreciate that and everything else you did last night."

Shortly after defeating the banshee in the main hall, they'd had no choice but to head back outside and into what could well have been a hail of gunfire. But to their surprise, other than the bodies of the banshee's victims there were no security guards to be found. Now Laura wondered where exactly they had gone, but at the time neither particularly wanted to question their good luck.

With no guards in sight, there seemed little point in going all the way back through the school and across the oval, so Laura had called a thoroughly alarmed Kellan to pick them up from the main car park.

"It was very brave of you to stay despite hearing all that gunfire and shouting, thank you," Laura said. She meant it. Without her, they'd have needed to walk all the way back to Kellan's home or their hotel suite.

"What else was I going to do? I couldn't just leave you two there," her eyes found the bloody bandages on the table, and she shook her head. "I forgot how bad it was before I got to it. Those bandages look like they belong to someone who got stabbed or something."

"That makes it look worse than it was. It's fine."

"No," Kellan said firmly "No it's not. I have such gratitude for what you both have tried to do, but I can't let this continue. People were shooting last night. It sounded like a war zone from where I was. Never mind that you were saying something about a ghost decapitating people?"

Laura really wished she hadn't blurted that out on the drive back to Kellan's.

"And where was I during all of this? In my car, letting other people do all the work, be in all the danger to try and save my daughter," her eyes were fixed on the bandages. "I wanted to save my daughter so much that I went into another parent's house and put their child in danger. That's not right, what kind of a mother does that? Thank you again for your efforts but from now on any risks should be taken by me. I came here to say goodbye."

She'd struggled to get that last sentence out, and Laura could understand how hard it must have been. Kellan was smart enough to know that her chances of finding her daughter decreased dramatically without their help.

"It's funny," Laura said with a slight smile. "From what we've learned so far it's looking more and more like your daughter was both very noble and very brave, trying to fight some scary stuff to save her friends. I think it's pretty obvious where she gets it from.

"But here's the thing Ms Kellan. Carm and I both wanted to come here. We came not because you forced us, not because you paid us, but because we wanted to. Even if you told me to leave now, I wouldn't. I'm staying here, and I'm going to do everything I can to find those kids regardless of it's with your help or your blessing. I'm invested in this and while she does a good job of hiding it, so is Carm. We are finding your daughter, and that's the end of it."

The hug Kellan gave her was as tight as it was sudden. She felt a trickle of warm water go down her cheek where Kellan's eye brushed it, and the embrace drove the air out of her lungs.

"Thank you, thank you so much."

As tight and powerful as it was, the hug didn't last long. Kellan quickly stepped back, looking slightly abashed at her spontaneous action. Not wanting to let the moment get awkward, Laura spoke.

"Like I said before, save all the thanks for when we actually do something. I'm sorry that we got your hopes up last night. Things didn't exactly go as planned."

Kellan sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I thought after what you said happened last night you both would be buying the next plane ticket back to Canada. You're a brave girl, has anyone told you that?"

"Not a lot, no. Mostly people call me crazy or annoying, self-righteous, tightly wound…" a loud thud came from the bedroom. "But some people are much nicer and say lovely things to me all the time, and those people are really, really great."

Kellan gave a start and reached for her handbag.

"I almost forgot. I needed to give this back to you," Kellan brought her mother's plaid shirt, neatly folded, out of the bag. Kellan presented it to Laura carefully. "I hand washed it last night after you two left, a bit old for a machine. I'm guessing your father isn't very good with such things, so I thought I'd…" she trailed off.

"Thank you," Laura took it. Despite how soft the fabric was, it felt almost electric to touch. She told herself it was just her mind playing tricks. "I appreciate that and no, dad was never good at washing. The number of times I had to go to school with shrunken clothing."

They both chuckled.

The bedroom door opened and Carmilla, back in her usual black leather, returned to the room. She brushed ever so lightly against Laura's arm and then found a wall to lean back against.

"Well," Kellan said. "If you two are committed to staying and helping, perhaps you wouldn't mind coming over a bit later today? I uh, may have set something up last night after I decided that I'd come here to end things. But now that you're both staying, I'd love for you two to be a part of it."

"Set up what?" Carmilla asked.

"Maybe it would be better if you came to see for yourselves."

Carmilla's eyes narrowed.

"Of course, we'll come," Laura said. "We'll head off as soon as we're ready."

Kellan's smile was much brighter than the one she put on when she came in. She thanked them for what must have been the hundredth time, said her goodbyes and left.

Laura placed the shirt on the kitchen table and turned to Carmilla.

"Well, that went well."

Carmilla snorted. "If by well, you mean it looks like we just got roped into some new scheme she wouldn't even tell us about, then yes, it went great."

"C'mon, you have to admit her last one worked out. The fake I.D's have worked perfectly."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you two have become best friends suddenly," Carmilla walked over to the kitchen table, her eyes on the shirt. She stared at it for a long moment. "Plaid shirt, I guess you both had the same taste in clothing," she paused and poked a finger at the fabric. "Laura-"

"So we should probably get going. See what Kellan's come up with, it's not like we have a plan right now."

Carmilla's eyes flicked downwards for a moment before she nodded. "Sure. But you say we don't have a plan, how about this one. Instead of heading off to Kellan's house, we find out where this Stevenson lives and take this whole thing up with him. I rather dislike it when people try to murder me with screaming ghosts, so I'm pretty good with the prospect of beating him until he tells us where the kids are."

"As much as I would love to see Principal douche-face get punched in his douche face repeatedly, weren't you the one saying we should be more careful? If his desk was booby trapped with a murderous ghost and his school is full of armed gunmen, imagine what his house would be like? I think we need to think things through this time."

Carmilla smiled. "Look at that, smart decisions and careful planning already. Okay fine, let's see what fresh disaster Soccer Mum has for us today."

It took them a little while to arrive at Kellan's home. Having to first to unpack their luggage and find something to eat at the hotel's restaurant. The drive there was pleasant, Laura finding that snuggling up to Carmilla on the back of the bike felt almost like taking a much-needed nap.

Three cars were outside the house that hadn't there when they'd last left. All family sized sedans, one in the driveway behind Kellan's and two more on the side of the road. Carmilla parked the bike behind them.

"Who the hell do these belong to?" Carmilla asked as she took off her helmet.

The nearest car had a poster in the back window. Identical to the ones Kellan had put up around the school. When Laura saw it, the answer to Carmilla's question clicked in her head immediately.

"Oh no, I think I might have an idea. Really hoping I'm wrong though."

Two people came out of the front door, a man and a woman. Both black and middle aged. The woman looked to be in a great deal of distress, tears streaming down the small, soft features of her face. The man put a broad arm around her as he whispered what Laura presumed were consoling words in her ear.

They both noticed them at the same time. The woman brought out a handkerchief to wipe her face while the man reached out a hand and spoke before anyone else could.

"You're the two investigators, right? Hollis and Karnstein? I'm Martin Bishop, and this is my wife, Gianna. We were so happy when Mary told us you were both coming, the rest of us are inside."

Laura took his hand and forced herself to smile.

"Fantastic, that's just fantastic."