A/N: I know, this has been a while coming but I've had mad writer's block so sorry but here's the next instalment. Thanks for all the people staying with the story- you get me up in the mornings. x

CHAPTER 10:

She didn't know what to do.

Things had seemed so simple just a moment ago. Everything had fit neatly into boxes, all edges and elbows the way they should; the way they were supposed to.

The way her mother had always promised that they would.

But now...

Now Carmilla was god knows where and probably never going to speak to her again.

Now the water was seeping through Laura's jeans plastering them onto the frigid flesh of her shins and it was sending the most unpleasant sensation through her. As if a hundred tentacles were suckering their way up her body, one tiny leeching mouth at a time all with the same goal in mind though she couldn't quite work out what that might be.

It made her feel sick to her stomach though.

And the goosebumps standing to attention on her arms and stomach weren't helping either.

"He asked me. Begged me. What was I supposed to do?"

The girl a foot away was staring wildly at her friend still submerged in the slightly stagnating water and Laura followed her gaze immediately sucking in a shivering breath.

He didn't look good.

The pallid puckering skin on his neck proved that he was in a much worse position than either of them, already heading towards hypothermia in all probability. The stream of water that trickled down from his sodden hair into his eyes seemed to be unstoppable though he barely even bothered to blink the drops away. The sight was unnerving enough to make Laura fight against her urge to drag him up and out of the cold lake for a moment. All she could seem to do was stare at him instead.

Because behind that waterlogged curling spine he was actually kind of cute. Not exactly Joseph Gordon Levitt cute and he was a little underweight maybe but behind his thin frame there was a warmth and sturdiness that made her wonder if he had been some kind of athlete. Maybe even come to Silas on a scholarship. Hoping to make a real future for himself like so many of the others here. Danny's circle of friends. The ones she saw hanging around campus that ran track longer than everyone else, that had to replace their sneakers more often because they pushed themselves to the limit for the vain hope that they could hit that PB. Outrun everyone else.

All the expectations the world threw at them including their own.

Laura could definitely relate to that. At least in some way.

His face though.

His face was lax - a polar opposite of the students she'd watched from the bleachers at lunchtime as they sprinted past; all concentration lines and siphoned breathing. In front of her was their exact reverse. The faraway look in the boy's glazed eyes was as unswerving as theirs for sure. But it was also...just...horrible to see. Unattached somehow. Distant.

Bovine and completely uninterested in anything.

Even the strange girl staring right at him, trying to work out what she should do.

"Harry?..."

The other girl's voice broke a little when she spoke next.

So that's his name thought Laura uneasily as she peered at him, trying to work out if there was any small flicker of recognition in those smooth features.

Her chest puttered as he stayed where he was. Motionless with the water lapping at his chest.

"Harry, please? Just say something. Anything."

He didn't though. And Laura's mind couldn't help flashing back to the terrible stageplay her and Laf had gone to see at the arts centre a few weeks ago. Not so much for the cheesy shambling and rotting makeup that had been paraded around on the stage but more for the dead eyed look on the actor's faces- the muscles in them forced to hang loose as if they'd lost even the motor function to hold their jaw shut.

That was what he reminded her most of. Those things from the last production in the theatre departments summer festival.

Not human any more. Though she knew logically that he was of course. But a stripped back version. As if a layer of something he hadn't even known he'd possessed had been stripped away from him. Not just speech and language but something that swum about in the deeper levels of human consciousness- things he'd always taken for granted, not even spared a single thought for; things that kept him safe at night when he collapsed into bed.

That kept them all safe at night.

With the circulation still pumping and the night time horrors banished to the other side of the bedroom door.

Laura struggled to keep her sense of calm as the fight with Carmilla replayed in her brain for a moment; the unveiled hurt in those brown eyes and it was in response to the image that her body apparently made the decision for her.

Staring hollowly at the boy's emotionless face Laura's legs finally moved underneath her , pushing themselves through the ripples of water towards him as the suckling wet patch on her clothes grew higher and higher. Just as it reached her waistband, she stopped in front of his sagging form and bent down a little.

Of course, the warning bells in the back of her mind (the ones that sounded a lot like her roommate when she was building up to a full blown rant) started singing. That unbearably familiar smooth face made her stomach muscles jerk at the sight of it, and the memory of that thing standing over her last night, staring into her eyes with the same ones she was looking at right now was enough to make her want to back the hell away from the student in front of her.

But she was Laura Hollis damnit. And turning a blind eye wasn't an option.

No matter how adept her mother was at that.

Forcing all of her warring instincts out of the equation Laura told herself that he wasn't the perpetrator here though. That Harry was the victim.

Blameless.

And it was time to girl the hell up.

So she did.

Reaching out a watery hand, the first thing she did was run her fingers gently down his cheek. And she could have sworn that he seemed to lean a little into the touch, though his expression didn't change.

Maybe that was just wishful thinking though.

"Hi," she said then, evenly.

"Greeting in common parlance."

"Quite right."

Brushing a pile of lank hair off his forehead he blinked as she stared into those dark unflinching pupils. They bore into her without seeing or so it seemed. But there was nothing inside them that told her anything new. She had no idea what she'd been hoping for. A burst blood vessel. Some dark spot that revealed the poison inside.

Some biological sign of attack for Laf to pinpoint and analyse.

Some goddamn clue to what the heck was going on here.

And there was nothing.

Just the absence of a person. The absence of all the desires and jokes that somehow had made him distinctly Harry.

"What...what should we do?"

Laura turned towards the other girl whose body was beginning to shake and let out a reassuring breath.

"What's your name?"

"Anne."

Laura nodded. "Ok well Anne? Honestly, I don't really know. But keeping this thing secret doesn't seem to be doing Harry any good so I think...I think maybe we need outside help."

"You're outside help."

"This might be a little outside my expertise," she replied miserably.

And as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she realised what they had to do.

What Carmilla had understood from the outset.

And the very reason she'd shot her down without a second thought.

"Do you have your cell with you?"

The other student nodded definitively.

Laura's voice faltered. "Ring switchboard and ask for psych services. They'll need to come and get him. Take him somewhere safe so that he can't hurt himself. Or you."

"Isn't that...I mean I don't want him to think I'm giving up on him?"

Uh huh. The way you did? Her brain supplied.

Laura offered up a half smile ignoring it. "He won't. He'd understand. He'd do the same for you I'm sure."

There was a brief pause as Anne clearly fought through her own tangled sense of right and wrong, wavering between the spider web strands of relief and guilt. Then Laura watched as the other girl burst into motion; grateful probably for something tangible she could do after the last few weeks. Grateful that the decision had been taken out of her hands finally and shouldered by someone else;

someone who knew what to do.

If only she knew...

Laura did her best to tamp down the warm pool of shame slopping around inside her gut as she pictured her roommate's face when she'd turned on her back in the library. That look of helpless shock Carmilla had worn when she'd said all those awful things.

All the childish, mean spirited accusations she'd thrown at her without a second thought.

God I'm an idiot.

She knew one thing though. She had to find her and apologise. Like right now.

It was a forlorn hope but as she rested a soft hand on Harry's shoulder Laura scanned the grounds quickly around them seeing no sign of that familiar dark hair and proud posture.

She wouldn't let her heart sink in response.

It wasn't really likely that her vampire roommate would be found anywhere nearby wallowing in her own misfortunes. It wasn't her style- preferring instead to seek out somewhere away from the bustle of campus life, somewhere older with a real sense of solitude .

Laura did however spot the recognisable turquoise shirts of the psychological team exiting from the double doors of the main hall in the far distance. A man and a woman heading their way with a determined gait.

Huh.

That didn't take long.

She wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. The speed of their arrival suggested an urgency on the university's part that set her on edge even though a large part of her was glad of their presence.

And it also sent another question reverberating around inside her skull...

Was this even bigger than they had thought?

She didn't have time to process the thought however because she felt something clammy grab at her wrist and looked down in panic to find the boy had wrapped his hand around her. Offering him a comforting smile Laura gently tried to extricate her arm but almost lost her feet as he pulled her insistently towards him.

She was actually forced to dig her feet into the pebbles and mud then to keep from toppling over.

"Hey, it's ok. They're going to help you feel better," she said hoping that he didn't hear the catch in her voice.

He looked at her intensely.

"How?" said a voice behind her. "How are they going to do that?"

Laura couldn't bring herself to turn and face the other girl this time because the truth was that she had no answer to the question. She had no idea if her interference so far was saving the student in front of her or damning them.

"The action of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury suffered at their hands."

Laura froze as the boy suddenly spoke for the first time what seemed forever.

She looked down at him.

"What did you say?"

"Punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for a wrong."

Laura's gaze flicked from his impassive face to his friend's.

"What does he mean?"

Anne gave an empty shrug, the phone still clutched in her grip. "I don't know. He says it sometimes along with the other nonsense that comes out." Sniffing slightly, the girl lowered her eyes. "I stopped listening after a while. .. I couldn't take it anymore. I guess a better friend might be able to tell you but..."

A crackle ran through the dark blonde's chest at the self loathing in the girl's face, looking at it from the other side for once and the urge to wrap her arms around her burned fiercely. Looking down at the large hand still clamped around her wrist she didn't move though.

"Hi, did someone ask for a student consult?"

Anne glanced at Laura as a stocky man and sallow woman approached them then nodded slowly. "My friend...Harry...I think he needs help."

The pair turned their gaze to her friend still half sunk in the water and shared an unreadable look that only Laura seemed to pick up on. Remaining silent for the moment she held her breath as they waded into the water towards her.

"You're his friend too?"

The woman took in the hand still wrapped around Laura's wrist and peered at her curiously as she shrugged.

"I was just trying to...you know, help."

"A prevalent force on campus at the moment it seems."

Before Laura could ask what that innocuous comment might mean the woman was bending down next to her knees and she smiled quietly at the unmoving boy. "So Harry? How do you feel about coming with us for a really quick chat? Somewhere warm and dry? You'd like that wouldn't you, to get out of those wet things?"

"Like- having similar qualities or characteristics to another person or thing," he replied benignly.

The bulky man in the polo shirt took a step forward this time. "Very good son. Exactly right." Reaching down the pair of adults placed their hands underneath his armpits and carefully pulled him up onto his feet as he offered little resistance. His hand though remained clamped around Laura's forearm and she found herself dragged with them as they coaxed him forwards up onto the bank.

"Harry, you can let go now. You'll be safe with us," the woman cooed.

He didn't seem to agree however as he remained attached to Laura despite the fingers prying at his grip. She flinched as the two adults spun around and pierced her with their gaze.

"Perhaps you'd consider coming with us Miss, at least to the ward. It seems Harry here would appreciate it. You wouldn't mind, would you since you want to help and all?"

The way the request was put forward seemed a little facetious truth be told but it tore Laura in two nonetheless. Her desperate need to find her roommate was growing by the second, although whether it was the urge to apologise or simply bask in the strange kind of security only Carmilla could offer she couldn't be sure. Both reasons were as selfish as the other when all was said and done. She knew that. Both were also undeniably true .

On the other hand though Anne's beseeching expression cut through her like a knife and the sensation of the cloying grip on her wrist bones was powerful enough to remind her that she wasn't the one with the most pressing need right now. No matter what her roiling stomach told her.

And that was how she found herself agreeing silently. Walking slowly away from the lake with her sneakers squelching uncomfortable and two Silas employees huddled around her and Harry like a shield as they steered them along the paved pathways.

The same walk she'd taken a hundred times before. Never like this though.

The Psych building took an age to veer up before them. Its faded facade was impressively haphazard but she couldn't deny that the sight of it flooded her system with a liquid kind of relief as they made their way through the glass doors. Harry wasn't the only one looking forward to some respite. Some warm barely-circulated air and the chance to go back to the dorm for a shower and some clean clothes sounded like heaven right now.

As they made their way up in the elevator, crushed as she was against Anne in the tiny space Laura brushed the knuckles of her free hand against the other girl's and smiled as reassuringly as she could. Both of them sharing a muted sense of elation as they made their way out on the third floor and through a set of double doors that banged together behind them.

A pony tailed man came out from behind a counter.

"Another...guest?"

The two staff members nodded quickly at him and Laura had the distinct impression that he was about to say something else but censored himself when he saw her and Anne standing there.

He didn't comment on the wet trousers they all wore however but hooked a thumb behind him instead.

"Cubicle eight has just become vacant. It's all set up."

"Right you are Harry, not far to go now and we'll get you something to change into and a coffee or something. How does that sound?"

As the greying woman wrapped an arm around his back the hand that had been clutching onto her for so long suddenly fell from her wrist and Laura tried to contain the mixture of gratitude and sadness left in its wake as she massaged the skin a little.

Inclining her head at Harry's fleeting glance as he was guided down the corridor to her right, she breathed out through her nose before turning to Anne who was hovering nearby her left foot tapping against the lino.

"Can I go with him?"

"I'm afraid not," said the overweight staff member in the polo shirt. "He needs a solitary assessment before we do anything. Without outside influence. But you can wait here in the reception area if you'd like so we can talk to you afterwards and explain what the plan is?"

Anne ran a hand through her messy hair mumbling a disappointed ok and Laura couldn't help herself. Pulling the other student into a warm, soggy hug she buried her face into her shoulder before pulling back.

"I think things will be better now."

Patting down a stray hair in front of her, her eyes crinkled. "I should probably get going but I'm in room 306 in Otranto Hall. If you wanna let me know what happens. All right?"

Anne swallowed hard and attempted a smile. "Thank you. For everything. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't...I mean...just, thank you."

Laura's cheeks flushed a little.

Not least because she knew very well that she hadn't done much of anything. But the girl's gratitude warmed her cold skin a touch and she took it anyway somehow feeling that arguing about it would probably make things worse at this point.

Holding up a hand to wave good bye with one last look at the student as she made her way down towards the seating area her chest expanded as she realised she was finally free to go find Carmilla. A hundred tumbling apologies and thorny explanations clogging up her mind as she started walking towards the doors.

In fact she was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't notice the hand that landed on her shoulder until it pressed down, stopping her motion.

"I'm afraid we can't let you leave right now Miss. We think its best you stay for an assessment as well."

Laura swung around bringing her face to face with the thickset psych employee.

Her face contorted in confusion, "What are you talking about? I was just bringing Harry here like you asked!"

His flabby expression went cold then and he grabbed her chin between his fingers dragging her face painfully upwards as he studied it. "They got to you too though didn't they? It's not as advanced as the others of course but it's there nonetheless. We've seen enough cases to recognise the symptoms."

Struggling to rip her jaw out of his grip, sick to death of feeling other people's skin pressed against hers Laura quickly began thrashing about, throwing her body this way and that. The man for his part was impressively strong. For a brief moment she found herself free of his hold and took full advantage of that particular piece of luck but just as she pushed off the wall towards the doors a cold piercing sensation bit into her just below the left ear.

Then everything started to get all wavy.

The elongated shadow of a pony tailed man in white grinned at her as Laura slumped heavily against the wall, her pulse throbbing against the inside skin of her neck and the lights flattening out into beautiful haloes of illumination.

Something was wrong. Laura knew it even before the floor came swooping up to meet her but the thing was, she couldn't seem to do anything about it.

TBC...