Disclaimer: Still don't own Carmilla (the series), or any recognizable characters.
Laura had never actually been to - or even near - the Zeta House, before.
That wasn't really surprising, given that it was an all-male fraternity, and one full of dudebros dedicated to 'protecting the hotties on campus 7.5 or higher' at that. (It was kind of flattering, she supposed, that she'd made that list even before her faerie heritage had begun fully manifesting... and she couldn't but idly wonder if that, as well as her relationship with Carmilla, had bumped whatever her score had been up at all.) Well, they'd said protecting the co-eds that were 7.5 or higher, though she suspected they weren't quite as dedicated to safeguarding the boys of Silas as they were the girls. (Though, if they did offer their protection to the boys at all, she had to wonder who was judging their "Hotness Rating", or whatever they called it.)
Much as with the Summers, though, it looked a lot more... normal than she'd been expecting.
Not that she'd expected any supernatural trappings, or anything - if they'd had anything like that, Danny would have mentioned it at some point during her frequent complaints about the Zetas - but she had, she supposed, expected more... debris. They were frat boys, after all. Yet, their House was proving to be very well kept up. It gave her hope that some of the values JP and his contemporaries had espoused had survived all this time, after all, in some fashion. That would help tremendously in getting them on board.
There actually was a defensive ward around the building, to her surprise. Not anywhere near the league of what the Summers had (especially now that she'd fixed them), but it would certainly stop any low-level magic. Likely it was intended to prevent the Summers themselves from pulling any magical pranks. Given its age - she wasn't good enough at that sort of thing to tell specifics, yet, beyond 'old' - Josie might even have cast it herself. That would certainly help explain why she could just walk through it like it wasn't there. Again, she had to tug Carmilla through, though this time she didn't feel the need to make sure Carm knew not to abuse that display of trust.
Besides, with Will in residence, it was hardly like she couldn't have gotten in if she'd really needed to for some time, now, was it?
The Zeta House had a lot more hardwood flooring - polished hardwood flooring, making her suspect that keeping it clean was one of the things pledges were responsible for - than the Summers did, though she and Carmilla had only seen the front foyer and hallway leading to the receiving room they now stood in. (Maybe it was to help keep them from having to try and clean alcohol or vomit stains out of the carpet, she mused with a flicker of disgust. That would at least show evidence of planning ahead, on their part, she supposed.) There weren't a lot of Zetas around at that time of day, but they'd managed to get a hold of someone in their leadership, Theo... something-or-other. She hadn't caught his last name, and didn't want to appear rude by revealing she hadn't bothered learning much of anything about them that Kirsch - or JP - hadn't told her. "I'm sorry, you think Will's a what?" he asked warily, disbelief written heavily across his features as he leaned against one of the leather chairs. (Normal leather, she was relieved to note, her trip to the dean's office still fresh in her mind. Where everyone around there kept getting all their leather furniture and clothing, though, she had no idea.)
"Will's a vampire," she repeated. "He's helping kidnap the girls who're missing, he's the one who wound up getting Sarah Jane killed, and he's the reason Kirsch is missing, too."
"That's quite an accusation to be throwing around, Miss Hollis," he said, eyes narrowed.
"Yes, it is," she acknowledged. "Which is why I wouldn't be doing so if I wasn't certain."
"Like you were certain about your roommate?" he asked, nodding toward Carmilla.
She'd never actually said who she suspected, but anyone watching her videos wouldn't have had any trouble figuring it out. She gave Carm an apologetic look even as she said, "To be fair, I was right that she was a vampire, and she had been involved with past kidnappings." Carmilla, fortunately, wasn't offended at all. They'd long moved past that stage, and even then she would have admitted that Laura had every reason to suspect her. "But that just means I have an inside source to confirm my suspicions in this case. And if you're watching my videos, you saw him try to kill me!" Because, though she hadn't been thinking of it at the time, her camera had still been running that night, so she'd wound up catching Will's murder attempt - and her own vanishing act - on camera. (She'd also gotten Carmilla's encounter with Titania on video. Watching Titania finally get to play 'loving and protective mother' had made her feel good, even while it also made her worry for Carmilla's continued safety. Carmilla's words had also made her feel warm inside. She hadn't liked hearing about Carm's reputation, but understood that a vampire had certain needs.) She'd thought long and hard before posting that video online, given that it actually showed her using some serious-level magic, but since the dean would be finding out anyway, there was no real reason not to, since it was undeniably part of the story. Even if she wasn't sure she liked everyone knowing private details about her like that. (The part with her mother and Carmilla, however, she had edited out. It had been on the flashdrive she'd recently given Professor Cochrane, true, but she was certain the dean wouldn't be finding out that way, now. She still wanted to downplay the whole princess thing as much as she could as far as the student body as a whole was concerned. How much longer she'd be able to do so... That was another matter entirely.)
"Given the way you jump cut yourself out of there, people are questioning the authenticity of that video," Theo revealed, still unconvinced.
Her jaw tensed, but she silently counted to five. No, it was okay, she told herself. They didn't really know her, after all, so they couldn't know how questioning her word or thinking she might actually fake any footage might offend her. "Well, whether you believe me or not doesn't matter. That won't change the truth. But, as it happens, I've got somebody here you will believe," she said, holding up JP's flashdrive.
He raised an eyebrow, understandably confused. "Are you feeling alright, Miss Hollis?"
She chuckled faintly. "Hard to say. I'm not crazy, though." She walked over to the large screen smart TV hanging on the wall across from their (leather, naturally; did the people of Silas have some kind of vendetta against cows?) couch and turned it on, then plugged in the flashdrive. After giving JP a few seconds to boot up his interface, she turned to Theo and said, "I've been meaning to bring him over for a while, now, but doing that while Will was around would have been too dangerous. Now, though... Well, now, I'd like to introduce you to Mister J.P. Armitage, junior records clerk, class of 1874, and..."
"...and founding member of Zeta Omega Mu," Theo finished in a hushed voice.
'Indeed so. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Straka,' JP typed out on the screen.
So that was his last name. Laura made a mental note to remember that, this time - and realized that she had no idea what Kirsch's first name was. Ah, well. One thing at a time. That Theo knew something of his fraternity's history made her feel a little more hopeful that having JP there, someone who hadn't lost touch with what their values really meant, might be enough to start whipping the present Zetas into shape. "He's been stuck in the Library catalogue since 1874," she told Theo. "We're... still not sure how that happened. But he can tell you all about the dean and her cabal of vampires, and what they're up to - those of you who haven't been watching my videos, anyway," she added pointedly, still a little stung by his earlier, unspoken accusation. She paused, then added, "And maybe while he's here you guys can figure out a better - or at least faster - interface for him." She shook her head. "JP, I'm gonna leave you here for a while, okay? Do what you can to get the Zetas up to speed. I need to set a few other things in motion."
'Certainly, Your Highness. And good luck.'
"To us all." She'd mostly given up trying to get him to stop calling her that, accepting that his old school manners simply wouldn't allow for that level of informality with royalty. In any event, it was time to move on to the next item on her agenda: summoning up some pixies to ask for their help.
Before she could take more than a couple of steps toward the door, Theo called, "Hollis." She paused, looking back at him. He seemed uncomfortable with whatever he was about to say, but pressed on anyway. "I know you're the one behind the truce with the Summers. You haven't been here long enough to really know what things were like before that, the tensions and mistrust that some of us have been living with for years, now. That kind of thing isn't easy to just let go of, especially when you know nothing's actually changed."
That was true, she supposed. For all that she'd pointed out how their bizarre rivalry was detracting from their efforts to keep anyone on campus safe (and was in fact accomplishing the exact opposite), for all the non-violent contests Silas hosted (and she was still torn between being impressed and a bit weirded out by how much Kirsch knew about 19th Century period protection, and saving undies in general), the Summer Society and Zeta Omega Mu hadn't done more than become more inclined to ignore each other, rather than working to actually resolve their differences. That was partly her fault, she supposed. The Summers were so distracted by her presence, and what she'd brought back to them, that they'd kind of forgotten about things like that. "And I'm there so much I might as well be a Summer," she admitted. "So the Zetas wouldn't be inclines to pay as close attention to what I was saying as some."
"Especially with Will around to sabotage their opinion of you," Carmilla added, speaking up for the first time. That wasn't really a surprise. She was a woman of few words, after all, only speaking for any real length of time about the things that she viewed as really mattering, and she clearly viewed the whole 'recruit the Zetas' thing as Laura's show to run.
"Exactly," Theo agreed. "Will's been a loyal Zeta for years, as well. But..." He darted a quick look at the TV, where JP's old and faded photograph was still present. But that didn't compare to the word of a founding Zeta, Laura silently finished. "Some of us have noticed something... a bit off about him, now and then, his reactions not quite right about some things... Nothing too far out of the ordinary, though, especially for Silas." He glanced briefly at Carmilla. "And being a vampire isn't an actual crime."
"Can hardly argue that," she said with a half-shrug.
"Even so..." He shook his head. "If he has done what you've said he has, to the girls and to Kirsch, then he's broken every vow he's ever made as a Zeta.
Taking a chance, Laura said, "We're pretty sure we know when and where the sacrifices will be taking place; we're working to get confirmation of that. Once we come up with a plan of attack, can we count on the Zetas to help? It'll mean fighting alongside the Summers, instead of against them, and while I'll do my best, I can't promise there won't be any casualties."
Theo was silent for a long moment. She didn't try to rush him, knowing it was no small thing that she was asking. While the Zetas and Summers had fought near each other against the same third party before during the Mushroom Incident, working together and supporting each other was something else entirely. And she was pretty sure no other fraternity in the world did things like risk death fighting against an ancient evil vampire and her forces. "It'll be a whole new experience," he finally admitted. "But if you're sure...?" At her confirmation, he nodded. "We may have fallen a long way since the 1870s, but we're still Zetas. If this plan of yours will ensure the safety of the student body, we're honorbound to see it through. Not to mention saving Wilson." His expression darkened. "As well as the little matter of explaining to Will just how... disappointed in him we are..."
Kirsch's first name was Wilson? Making a mental note to remember that, even if she never used it, she said, "Speaking of Will... If he comes back at some point, and you're not ready to make any kind of move against him - because let me tell you, even if you manage to ambush him, vampires are every bit as strong and fast as most myths make them out to be - don't say anything about JP. Right now, the dean thinks he's dead, and I'm perfectly happy to let her."
"I'll keep that in mind." The words might have been seen as dismissive, but she got the idea it was more that he was briefly distracted by thinking up possible ambush situations for Will. "It hasn't escaped anyone's notice that the Summers have been a lot less contentious, of late," he suddenly said, seemingly at random. "Between you spending so much time with them without actually joining and JP over there calling you 'Your Highness', I can make a guess as to why that might be."
"I don't think I can exactly claim sole credit," she said with a shrug. She couldn't exactly deny that she'd played any part in it, either, though. "Anyway. When things start moving, they're likely to move fast. I'm not sure how much advance notice I'll be able to give you before we move out," she warned.
"Understood." He clearly had a tactical enough mind to know how some things were beyond your control, no matter how carefully you planned things out. "We'll start getting ready - discreetly - right away." He held out a hand to her. "Good luck... princess."
Being called that was starting to bother her less, she noted as she shook it. That was probably not a good sign. "To us all."
"Explain to me again what we're doing out here?" Carmilla requested as she looked around the forest Laura had lead her out into.
"I need to talk to some of the local pixies," Laura repeated. They weren't exactly in a clearing, but at least the trees were spread out enough for Carmilla to be able to see someone coming. "And I don't want your mom or one of her minions seeing me do it."
"Wouldn't the 'local' ones be actually on campus grounds?"
"From what I've been hearing, they tend to wander back and forth regularly." Mel had actually been the one to first start telling her about them, that day when she'd hurt Danny so badly during her first magic lesson, likely to try and distract her from her dark, miserable thoughts. Whether out of a sense of compassion she didn't let show often, or a more practical desire to keep the completely untrained changeling princess who'd just completely disabled one of their strongest mages completely by accident calm, she had no idea. Maybe it was both. She'd also mentioned one small, seemingly unimportant tidbit of trivia that let Laura believe she could totally pull this off. "They have a pretty good idea who and what I am, by now. I don't have any authority to officially order them around, but I'm strong enough that they know if I wanted to, I could make them do what I said. I haven't, though, and they'll have noticed that, too. Even now, I'm putting out a magical beacon that will attract their attention, but not compel them to do anything." That was something Kheelan had shown her how to do during a break between her actual lessons. It was so intrinsic to the sidhe, especially the royalty, that she'd only needed a brief sense of what it took, in order to be able to judge what kind of energy to put out, and of what volume. Pixies were pretty much at the bottom of the food chain in Faerie. Even an untitled princess could order them around, if she wanted to. Being respected enough to be asked would be something new, and would definitely make them inclined to hear her out.
It didn't take long for the first of them to start drifting down through the trees. They darted about, some just drifting here and there, clearly waiting for something. Laura did the same, watching them with interest. She could see why Danny had been so confused, that first night, by her account of the glowing ball that had lead her through the Summers' House. Many of the pixies did seem to be just glowing balls of light, some leaving glittering trails of pixie dust behind them as they flew. It was a hypnotic show, but, perhaps owing to her heritage, it just wasn't grabbing her. (The little girl that she'd once been, however, was captivated by watching real, actual pixies zipping through the air, but for an entirely different reason.) Carmilla, for her part, was wisely not looking too closely at the faerie lights, knowing better.
Finally, one of them, slightly larger than the others at about six inches tall, dropped down to hover about a foot away. "You're their leader, I presume?" The pixie nodded. She had dark brown hair that stopped just above her shoulders, matching eyes, and was dressed in white dress that looked like it had once been part of someone's handkerchief. Laura could only guess some kind of pixie magic was keeping it free of dirt and grime. "What should I call you?" She knew better than to ask for names. She wanted them to listen, not decide she was trying to trap them and flee.
"Nyx am I called, by some," the pixie replied, voice high pitched and reedy.
Carmilla came close to doing a double take, then sighed and shook her head. "Of course it has to talk, too. I mean, why wouldn't it?"
Laura pressed on before any of the pixies could take offense, reflecting that maybe she should have left Carm back at the dorms, for this. "Nyx, I have a favor to ask of you and yours."
"What could the daughter of the Warm Queen need of us?" Nyx queried
"A fair question," she allowed. Warm Queen? That was a new one. "You know of the sacrifices that happen every twenty years here, are you not?" She was trying to keep her language as formal as she could, given the circumstances. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. At Nyx's nod, she continued, "I am seeking to put an end to that cycle of death. I believe I know where they will take place, and where the sacrifices are being kept, despite Lilith's best efforts to hide them from me. I must be sure, however. As such, I would like you to investigate the caverns underneath what's known as the Lustig Building. Given the plethora of pixies to be found in and around Silas University, if you're careful, your presence will go unremarked."
Nyx frowned, and there was a rising buzz from the swarm. Actually, what was the proper collective noun for pixies? Flock? Troop? Pod?Flight? Cloud? Oh, whatever... She'd stick with swarm until somebody who knew more said otherwise. "Such an action would invite grave danger," she observed, her shrill voice ruining the gravitas she was likely trying to achieve. "What would you offer in payment?"
"I understand that bread and milk are the traditional payment for such services," she began, because that was what Mel had told her. Nyx didn't seem displeased by the possibility, which agreed with that. But Mel had also casually mentioned one other unimportant fact. Or she didn't consider it important, anyway. Laura, however, took a different view. "But I've also heard that some of your kin in America have developed something of a taste for pizza," she added nonchalantly.
Every single pixie in the swarm simultaneously froze in place, staring at her.
Nyx's expression had turned astonished. "You know of pizza?" Her voice had gotten even higher. If that continued, it might well end up in the hypersonic range.
"I do," she intoned seriously, working hard to keep the smile that wanted to creep onto her face at bay. "If you do this, and discover who and what I'm looking for, one pizza will be provided for every ten volunteers." The resultant high pitched cheer and excited burst of chatter felt like a needle poking into her brain, and she caught Carmilla gritting her teeth. With her hearing, that must have been even worse. "Do we have a deal?" she asked Nyx, if only to forestall that noise.
"We do!" Nyx agreed gleefully, zipping in excited circles a few times before settling back into place.
"Good." She raised her voice. "Kheelan!" As ever, it didn't take long for him to appear at her call. (That was something she was also getting used to, which she didn't know how to feel about.) Quickly, but being careful not to miss anything, she outlined the terms of her bargain with the pixies. "I want you to remain near the Lustig, out of sight. When they've returned with the information, have their payment waiting for them." He'd also be better able to count them than she would, so he'd know how many pizzas to get.
"As you wish, Your Highness." She'd made sure to make it an order, rather than a request, to make sure he couldn't protest that he was to remain near her. She'd gotten into the habit of having an energy drink after lessons, especially the more energy intensive ones, so she knew he would be able to procure actual, human-made food. (She didn't bother offering to pay him back, anymore. He'd made it clear the money was coming from some bank account or other that Titania had set up a long time ago for just such a purpose - Laura had been worried that he might have resorted to the old faerie tradition of substituting random pieces of greenery for human money, which she was not okay with - so she didn't need to worry about it.)
Once they'd departed she sighed, shook herself, then turned to Carmilla. "Okay, then," she said, dropping back into her usual pattern of speech. "Let's head back. I still have some research to do."
"Works for me," Carmilla said, stretching. "I could use a nap."
"A catnap, you mean?"
"Cute."
Carmilla had no idea what time it was when she woke up again, beyond 'late'. It was still before midnight, at least. Once she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she noticed that while Laura had turned the lights down low, out of consideration for her, she was still sitting at the computer, staring intently at the screen, just as she had been when Carmilla went to sleep. "Burning the midnight oil, Cupcake?" she asked, stretching again.
It seemed to take a few seconds for the question to sink in. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I guess so. Kheelan was here earlier. We were right about the Lustig. Kirsch is with the girls, too. Guess he's going to be the fifth sacrifice." Laura paused. "Sounds kind of like a mystery novel or something, doesn't it? The Fifth Sacrifice." Her voice took on a gravelly tone. "You're the Fifth Sacrifice, Zap Rowsdower!"
"Yeeeaaaaah... When you start babbling nonsense like that, it's definitely time for bed," Carmilla decided, sliding out from under the covers and padding silently across the room.
"In a bit. Oh! That reminds me." She changed tabs on her internet browser. "Remember that lesson on striking multiple targets I had a while back that I told you about?" The lesson in question had required her to pull down lightning from an already existing storm, to better keep anyone not in the know from realizing it was anything but a natural event. (It had also made her feel a bit secret agent-ish, which was kind of fun.) "Turns out that someone got a picture of that... and someone else captioned it."
Carmilla looked at the screen, then snorted in amusement. The picture was of multiple lightning bolts striking the ocean near a city she didn't immediately recognize, upon which someone had added the words 'FUCK THESE 6 FISH IN PARTICULAR'. "Cute."
"I thought so." She went back to what she'd been looking at before.
Carmilla turned to head toward the refrigerator to get some blood... then nearly gave herself whiplash in the course of her abrupt double-take, because she couldn't have seen that right. "Is that...?" Laura made to close the tab, but Carmilla pulled her chair away from the desk. A closer look at the screen failed to show that she'd been imagining things before. "Are you looking at a bondage site?"
"Um... maybe?"
"You. The one to whom the words 'naïve, provincial, and tightly-wound' have been previously applied."
"Well, learning about my mother's side of the family has been taking care of those, to say nothing of dating you."
"Granted," Carmilla allowed. "But... Why?!" She waved vaguely at the computer.
"I told you. Research." Her face was slowly turning red.
Carmilla peered at the screen, baffled. "I don't exactly go in for that sort of thing, Laura," she said slowly.
"Oh, I know. It isn't for you."
Well, that just raised a whole host of new questions. "Excuse me?"
"What? I don't complain about you going out and biting people," Laura said defensively.
"Well, it's not like I can bite you, is it? A vampire has needs, you know." Whether either of them liked it or not.
"Maybe a faerie princess does, too," she challenged.
"You've never..."
"Of course not. If I had, I wouldn't need to be doing so much research, would I?" Laura asked that like it was a perfectly logical question, and not something that was just confusing her girlfriend all the more.
Carmilla looked back at the screen. 'Submissive Etiquette in Formal Training'. "You don't seem terribly submissive, to me."
"I'm not."
"Where did this even come from?" she asked, genuinely perplexed. How had she never caught any hint of this kind of interest brewing in her tiny girlfriend?
"I have been learning a lot about myself ever since I arrived at Silas," Laura said, which was probably the truest thing she'd ever said. "Part of the reason for the research is figuring out exactly how I do feel about the idea. Because if I end up not liking it too much, there wouldn't really be any point in going any farther, would there?"
That was true, but from the look on her face before she realized Carmilla could see exactly what she was looking up, she liked the idea just fine. "Is this about you liking having your orders obeyed and such?" Because Laura had confided her worries to Carmilla before she'd gone to the Summer Society for answers, and that would at least make some kind of sense. And given whom she'd been wanting to talk to about it... "Is it Gail? I can see her going in for this."
"No. And no teasing her, if you guess."
"When would I even...?" Something clicked. "Wait, are you... Xena?" Her eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. "I would not have guessed that."
"Carm." At Laura's sudden, completely serious tone, Carmilla looked down at her. "I mean it," she said flatly. "I know you two like picking at each other, but not about this. I only know because I could read her mind, and this is too personal, too private, for that sort of bickering. Promise me."
"I don't-"
"Promise me."
Carmilla blinked. This, she could tell, was something Laura considered non-negotiable. "Okay, I promise. But just because I may bite other girls-"
"After getting them excited first, to stimulate blood flow?" Laura interrupted. "Look, I'm just doing research right now, okay? I'm not sure I even can do this. But if I ever did, it wouldn't be about sex. It would be about me taking care of her, as I understand it. Which is kind of what a Princess does. Or should do, anyway." The capitalization on the word princess had been fairly well audible, indicating Laura didn't think much of her Unseelie cousin's job performance.
Carmilla sighed, shaking her head. "...you are just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"Well, that'll help keep things from getting boring, won't it?" Laura countered, finally moving her chair back to the desk and shutting down her computer. Evidently she was done with research for the night. "Besides, don't lie. You totally like the image of me in leather with some girl kneeling at my feet." She smirked. "You may even like it more than I do."
Carmilla smirked right back at her. "No comment."