Disclaimer: Carmilla the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Hellboy was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

Author's Note: Oof. This is late. Like, really really late. Sorry about that. Needed something of a mental health break, I guess. (Followed by a lingering stomach bug, because of course it had to be...) Anyway, back to it... ^_^

Laura took a moment to process what she'd just been told, then asked, "So... Did they have him locked up in that lab for forty years? Or was that when he was... infected with frog monster DNA, or however they do it?"

"As I understand it, the Oannes Club captured him about a week into the term," Bree told her. "Naturally, Mother was not happy to learn that they knew all along what he was, and that there would be more, and just didn't tell anyone."

"Can't say I'm thrilled with them for that, either," Laura admitted reluctantly, not liking having to side with the Dean about anything. "Though, really, she's hardly one to talk about keeping dangerous secrets."

Bree smiled faintly. "True, though I would hardly recommend saying as much to her. She was also unhappy to learn that the reason they were able to ambush it was that it had been stalking one of the sacrifices. Since it never resumed human form, they obviously couldn't interrogate it to learn why, but based on your own attack, given her condition and lack of any reason to be on her guard, it seems likely Miss Spielsdorf wouldn't have survived her own encounter with it."

Her eyebrows shot up. "It was after B-" She cut herself off, shaking her head. "Wait. She was the only one, at the time, wasn't she? Of course it would have been her." And if it had been reported as a wild animal attack, Laura knew she likely wouldn't have thought it anything out of the ordinary, continuing blindly along until someone took her to be infected with parasites, too. "Well, given what the Dean said about the Oannes Society, I guess I can see them trying to pick off any sacrifices they identified." She paused. "Are the Club members still... breathing?" If they'd ticked off the Dean, after all...

"Yes. For the time being, Mother still finds them useful, particularly in regards to countering the original Society. She's determined that no Club members have been passing any information to them, so they didn't actively betray her. I imagine she will... reassess matters, once the Society has been dealt with."

"Great." Even more people they were going to have to try and find some way to save. "Well, if they're still alive, and didn't lose their research data during the attack, is there anything they can tell us about how to deal with the frog people?"

"While they collected a great deal of scientific data, very little of it would have practical applications in a fight." Bree smiled faintly. "Ironically, you had far greater success in discovering any weaknesses the creatures might have then the Oannes Club did."

That figured. "Well, you know, desperate times..." she said with a shrug.

"Indeed."

"Apparently, they were keeping him sedated in a water-filled glass tube," LaFontaine added. "He wasn't really in any danger of drying out, from what Bree's told me, but I guess that kept them from considering the effects of any sprays, capsaicin or otherwise."

"I guess I can see that." Laura sighed quietly, shaking her head. Okay, think, she told herself. Think, think, think. The Oannes Society, judging by the admittedly small sample size they had to work with, seemed to either recruit or abduct people to be transformed into frog monsters from all over, which meant the disappearances would be spaced out enough that it would be impossible to pick out any others who'd been 'chosen' from among all the other missing people. That would have been the whole idea, she was sure, but that didn't mean she couldn't find it irritating. Perhaps the BPRD might be able to figure out some way of locating others eventually, but she didn't have that kind of time. "So. I have questions."

"You always have questions," Danny noted fondly.

"How else would I learn things?" Laura countered. "Anyway. If Mr. Peterson was changed forty years ago, does that mean he was aging normally, or slower, or just not at all? I mean, Abe was changed in the Eighteen-Sixties, but I think he was in some kind of stasis until the BPRD shocked him out of it, and the frogs are flawed attempts to recreate what happened to him. Also, are they intelligent? Can they still speak, at least in human form? Can they be reasoned with? How much of their human lives do they remember?" Because Abe didn't remember being Langdon Everett Caul in the slightest. (As much as she'd tried to respect their privacy, she hadn't quite been able to tune out the quiet, brief conversation between him and Carmilla. Even having read through the journal, there hadn't been so much as a flicker of vague familiarity.) "From what I understand, they seemed to recognize what guns were, but that could also be from post-transformation encounters before they got to Silas."

"I'm not certain," Bree admitted. "You know how reluctant Mother is to share information with people who don't absolutely need to know it. I'm only allowed to tell you what she and her people have learned because she wishes to seem like she's cooperating with the investigation, and it implicates someone else. From what I understand, while the creatures' mutations are flawed, they don't seem to be unstable."

"By all rights, the human DNA should be rejecting the amphibian DNA immediately," LaFontaine added. "Violently, even. Somehow, though, they're actually getting the two genomes to merge. They must have some kind of catalyst, but I've never even heard of anything that could do that. I think you'd need multiple samples - from multiple creatures - over a long period of time to determine whether senescence was taking place or not."

Bree took over speaking again, possibly fearing LaF might veer into increasingly technical jargon and begin losing the rest of them if she didn't. "One thing she did feel that I should know, however, was that the information the Society's most recent defection brought with them said that the creatures' mental condition deteriorated over time."

"Is that why they were able to capture Peterson so easily?" Laura guessed.

"Most likely. As you saw, he was not mindless by any means, but he also didn't recognize your pepper spray as a weapon until it was too late. Presumably, that was why the four that had been sent to retrieve him and destroy the Oannes Club's data were far more recent transformations. That defection I mentioned occurred twenty-three years ago, so one of the things they were trying to learn was whether the Society had corrected for that deterioration or not. I don't know if the Club members reached any conclusions in that regard or not, but if Agent Sapien's memory loss is due to a similar condition, the Society may never manage to do so."

"Given what they're trying to do, they probably consider that more of a feature than a bug," Laura grumbled.

"Quite."

Okay, so things weren't actually all bad. She had a fair bit more to talk about in her next video, now. The fact that it might paint the Dean in a somewhat favorable light - that she was cooperating and voluntarily sharing information with the public - was a little galling, but Laura could live with it. Those in the know weren't going to be fooled, and everyone else could be brought up to speed later. (Though she naturally wouldn't be including anything relating to the Ogdru Jahad in that. Nothing good would come from spreading that kind of information around - even LaFontaine, the "Unofficial Truthspeaker" of Silas, understood that.) She'd acquired a "service animal" that could (probably) sniff out the frog monsters in their human forms if they were anywhere nearby. That Bree was being allowed to pass along information like this suggested that the Dean still trusted her, which meant she'd likely be spared any additional mental intrusions for the time being. She had no idea what was going on with Perry, but they'd passed something along to the BPRD that would hopefully shed some light on things.

As for what to do next... That, she wasn't sure about. Technically speaking, there really wasn't anything for them to be doing, just then. They knew who had taken the missing girls and why, and that they would be safe for at least another eleven days. They didn't know where they were, and had no real way of finding out. (Given the twenty year gap between sacrifices, that was plenty of time to stockpile food and water, so they couldn't even try tracking a supply chain.) They also had no leads on tracking down the more immediate threat, the Oannes Society, and weren't likely to, unless they tried killing her again. Given how close they'd come to succeeding in that before... Well, she wasn't sure she wanted to know that badly. Everything else required waiting, mostly on the BPRD. She really didn't like the idea of just sitting around while someone else did all the work, but was honest enough with herself to admit that, right then, she'd just be in their way. There was only one thing she was sure that she needed to do. "Okay, then. Guess I'd better get to work filming and uploading a new video."

"You can do that from our dorm room," Bree told her. "The maintenance people have managed to repair the door so that it can be closed and locked, to keep out any thieves. The window will take a bit longer, as the creature damaged the wall, as well, so it's still not habitable in terms of sleeping there. They also need to take care of the other, more cosmetic damage it caused. They won't resume their work until tomorrow morning, however, and they didn't change the locks, so as long as you don't mind a somewhat messy backdrop, you can film there." She paused, then added, "Also, since I can't exactly touch it, I need you to bring that box you got from Father Jakob with you. Please look through it to see if there's anything else you might want to make use of. I don't really feel comfortable leaving that unattended for days on end."

Given that it had apparently been perfectly safe until she'd removed it from the protection of the church, Laura couldn't help but feel guilty for giving Bree something else to worry about. "Of course."

"I'm surprised you didn't already have that packed up," Danny noted.

"I wouldn't really have felt comfortable just taking something so personal without permission," Laura told her. Of course, as distracted as she'd been while packing - she hadn't quite been able to keep from flashing back to her attack, and some small part of her in the back of her mind had expected it to be repeated at any moment - she also hadn't exactly remembered it, but she wasn't about to tell Danny that. "Of course, I was wearing a cross when the Dean came to talk to me, and she didn't even seem to notice." Not even when touching her. The Dean could have snapped her neck like a twig, if she'd wanted. Clearly, holy items could only do so much, where vampires were concerned. "Not to mention that, well, the vampires are ironically the ones who don't want to hurt me - not yet, at least - so needlessly provoking them doesn't seem like the best idea. But I'll make sure to keep that safe, for you."

"Thank you."

"Meanwhile, I should probably be getting back to trying to figure out a way to detect the frog men for those of us who don't have large feline companions," LaF noted. "If the Oannes Club figured that out, the Dean evidently decided that was one of those things that we didn't really need to know."

"She didn't tell me if they did or not, either," Bree told them. "If that helps."

"Oh!" Laura abruptly remembered that there was one other thing she wanted to ask. "Before you go, there's something I was going to talk to you about the next time I saw you. Do you think I could, like, borrow J.P.'s flash drive? Just for a little while?"

Bree stood up. "While you two sort that out, Danny and I need to talk about the security arrangements for her apartment building."

Danny stood as well, though she looked somewhat confused. "Haven't we already done that?"

"Yes," Bree acknowledged. "However, the situation has changed, since then. Mother's made it clear that if I'm not convinced that Laura will be safe there... I'm to bring her home with me."

Laura started. "Okay, look, I know what I said about the Dean not wanting to hurt me right now and all, but that doesn't mean I want to sleep in her house. Or that, you know, I even could get any sleep there." To say nothing of what her imagination was conjuring up, picturing where someone like the Dean might live.

"She doesn't particularly care how you feel, Laura. Just that you don't complicate matters for her by dying when that isn't in her plans. And because I know you'll ask at some point... No, I don't know who'd potentially be replacing you as a sacrifice. I don't need to know that, after all."

"I didn't expect that you would." She wasn't acting as bait this time, after all - they hadn't discussed the times she had been, the subject obviously a very uncomfortable one for Bree - so she didn't need to know about any of that, save for where it related to Laura, herself. (She still had no idea why Bree had been assigned as her new roommate when Betty vanished, except maybe that the Dean had wanted one of her own people in position just in case - it was entirely possible that the Oannes Society might have tried to get a student loyal to them in there, to either talk her into fleeing or to take her out when her guard was down - and thanks to the incident with her own former roommate, Bree had been available.) Also, the Dean wasn't stupid: whether she thought Bree was fully under her control or not, she knew it was far too likely that her "daughter" would try to figure out some way of tipping Laura off to who her potential replacement might be, if she could. Anyone who'd been watching her videos could guess that. "Is that why you suggested I film my video in our room?" she suddenly asked. "Because you think that if you're not satisfied with what you hear and I have to go home with you, I wouldn't be able to?"

"There aren't any filters on Aethernet access there that I'm aware of, though I've never tried uploading any videos, so I can't state that with absolute surety," Bree replied. "Mother does give us our privacy, though the soundproofing in the mansion isn't quite good enough to completely compensate for vampiric hearing. She's not always there, obviously, so you could probably film and upload your videos, though if she didn't like what she saw in them, she would be able to express that to you and have no one be the wiser." Laura couldn't stop a shudder at the thought of being in such a helpless position. "In terms of hardware, I'd imagine you'd want to use Will's computer setup," Bree continued, and an undefinable something in her tone made Laura pay close attention to what she was saying. "He always had to have the best of whatever technology he had - newest, most expensive, that sort of thing. Mother typically indulges us with things like that, if only to prevent our dissatisfaction with being unable to leave this town from causing her problems. Naturally, she made sure to collect everything she'd bought him from his room in the Zeta House - I'd already given her his phone when I reported back after killing him - though everything else he'd had there was left untouched. I suppose the Zetas will do something with it eventually."

"Well, that's good to know. Um, I guess." Laura would still rather not have to experience that for herself, and they all knew it. Bree and Danny stepped out of the room, already discussing security arrangements before the door had even closed. Carmilla's brief, disgruntled expression made it clear that the room's soundproofing was sufficient to keep even vampiric hearing from picking up on a conversation even at more-or-less normal volume, which was good to know. Laura made a conscious decision not to listen to anything they were saying up until that point, not wanting to get upset. That Bree was being forced to make sure the apartment building's security was up to snuff was hardly Danny's fault. Nevertheless, Laura was aware that her temper was becoming increasingly short where Danny was concerned - where a lot of things were concerned, truthfully, but Danny's overprotective streak could set her off faster than anything else, and the worse the situation got, the more protective Danny became.

(She was honest enough with herself to admit that some of her attitude was her own fault. She was technically cheating on her girlfriend, however much she might like to dress it up as "exploring her options", or just try and ignore that particular aspect of the situation completely. She didn't exactly feel good about betraying Danny's trust like that - and couldn't quite explain how she could feel such intense emotions for Danny, yet be drawn so sharply to Carmilla - and that was making her a bit snappish where Danny was concerned. Danny didn't deserve that.)

Shoving all that out of her mind as best as she could for the moment, Laura turned back to LaFontaine. "So...?"

"Oh, yeah, no problem." LaF pulled a flash drive out of their pocket. Unlike the one they'd been using, however, this one was pink instead of black, and had a ring at the bottom that you turned to extend the USB connector rather than a slide on the top. "You have good timing, actually; the Computer Club just finished this. It occurred to me yesterday that with me in the lab and you out investigating, you might need to talk to J.P. when I wasn't around, so I asked them to make another one for you. From what they said, we can even use both at the same time, and J.P. assures me that he's a champion multitasker." They handed over the drive.

"Cool," Laura said, dropping it in her coat pocket. "Thank them for me the next time you see them, will you?" She wasn't quite sure where the Silas Computer Club met, aside from most likely somewhere in the Advanced Science and Tech Center (referred to by some as 'Corvae Hall', though she had no idea why), and while she could probably look that up easily enough, she had more important things to worry about.

"Way ahead of you, frosh; I already did."

"Okay." She really, really wanted to ask them some questions about Perry, but she knew she needed to be careful. She trusted LaF (admittedly, she hadn't known them for very long, but those who had seemed to agree with her about that), but it was becoming increasingly obvious that Perry was involved in something shady, and she couldn't risk them giving something away the next time they saw her. "You know, we always talk about me," she said abruptly. "How are you doing with all this? You're the one who keeps getting the job of figuring out all the science-related aspects of all this dumped on you, after all."

"Well, me and the BPRD," they corrected. "Even the Dean couldn't say anything bad about the rest of the organization when she was trying to discourage you from trusting Hellboy and his team. Not saying there isn't any pressure, but pushing the boundaries of the known and the possible like this is kind of why I'm majoring in biology like this in the first place. I mean, the chance to analyze cross-species DNA fusion? Dissecting mind-altering parasites and trying to figure out a way to safely neutralize them? Using science to try and discover how and why supernatural creatures like vampires work? How could I resist?"

"Heh. Yeah, I guess I get that. God knows I'd probably be investigating this story whether I was personally involved with it or not." Though she would have preferred 'not', honestly. If only to make sure she actually lived long enough to turn her report in. "Just be careful not to get so caught up in what you're doing that you lose track of what's going on around you."

LaF momentarily looked somewhat sheepish. "Yeah, I've done that before," they admitted. "As evidenced by my needing to borrow Lola's phone yesterday after I let the battery die in mine. I picked up one of the portable power banks they sell downstairs after that."

Lola, hmm? Hopefully, that they subconsciously defaulted to Perry's first name when talking about her was a sign of progress on that front, because she wasn't sure she could ask about that, either, without potentially screwing things up.

Fortunately, LaF decided it for her. Her face must have given something away while she was thinking, because they nodded slowly and remarked, "Yeah, she said that you knew."

"She did? Because I kind of got the impression she didn't want anyone to know." What had changed between then and-? Wait a minute. Something occurred to her. "The night we got the Codex, you were acting kind of weird..."

"Yeah, that's... We've talked about it since then. Obviously. I'm still... analyzing the data, let's say. I mean, we've been best friends since we were five. Switching from thinking of her as practically a sister to a potential love interest isn't exactly an overnight process." It was pretty clear they didn't really want to talk about it; likely, they'd only said as much as they had because Laura not only already knew how Perry felt, but had done her best to comfort and support her that one time.

That was fine, and Laura did actually know when not to push about some things. "Fair enough. I know not everyone jumps into relationships at warp speed, like I do."

LaF took the offered subject change gratefully. "Speaking of, are you and Danny doing okay? I know we've joked about her protectiveness, but with everything that's going on..."

"We would be doing better if my life wasn't constantly in danger, yes," Laura admitted. "I know she's trying to rein it in, but based on last night - and this morning - if I caught her buying bulk shipments of bubble wrap, I would not be at all surprised." Which had been made all the worse by the way Danny just wouldn't listen to her... Carmilla leaned against her leg, reminding Laura of her presence, and she absently reached down to stroke her silky fur. The whole 'emotional support animal' thing might have been a disguise, but Laura did feel a bit calmer.

LaF apparently took that as their cue, sliding off the table and back onto their feet. "Hang in there, Laura. We'll figure this out."

Laura stood as well, before someone (coughDannycough) could suggest she just lock herself in the room until it was time for her next class. "Right. And believe me, I do appreciate all your hard work. I'm sure Betty and the others will, too." Should they live so long. Laura wasn't actually supposed to know about the Halloween deadline, so she could hardly say anything about it to LaFontaine. Knowing how little time they and the BPRD had to pull off the miracle of killing the monster, saving the girls, and finding a way to get them back to normal didn't leave her feeling overly enthusiastic about their chances, but she kept that to herself. No point in discouraging them and lowering the odds even further. "Just be sure you're carrying some pepper spray, just in case the frogs figure out what you're trying to do."

"Oh, I am. And you can thank me after I actually figure out something helpful," they replied, crossing to the door and opening it.

"-think she won't notice?" Bree was saying, sounding anything but happy.

"As long as-" Noticing the open door, Danny cut herself off.

And just like that, Laura wasn't having it. "What? What do you not want me to notice?" Because of course they'd been talking about her. Who else could it have been, the Dean? No. She knew.

"It's nothing," Danny dismissed. "Just... Bree and I are going to have to head back to my place, and I may or may not have to make a couple changes - I won't know for sure until she's had a look around. As long as she likes what she sees, I won't need to make any intrusive changes... and really, short of finding somewhere with armed guards and surveillance cameras, you'll be as safe there as you will anywhere."

Laura wasn't entirely sure she bought that - if only because Bree's expression was more annoyed than anything else - it wasn't like anything Danny had said was wrong, so she didn't say anything. Bree might just have been annoyed by the situation itself (Laura didn't exactly enjoy the Dean making everything more complicated, herself), and given that she'd just been thinking about how much she didn't enjoy overprotective smothering, Danny trying to keep her from noticing she was engaging in more of the same was entirely in character. What was that old saying? 'A good compromise leaves everyone unhappy'? Something like that, anyway. "If the Dean is really so worried about my safety, she should tell the BPRD or whoever where to find the Oannes Society, so they can be taken care of," she said, keeping her temper in check with some effort. "I'm sure she knows." She likely wouldn't, though, so she could continue giving the public a bad guy to focus on that wasn't her. That she kept letting innocent lives be placed at risk just for her own sake...

"I'll pass that along," Bree told her, sounding no happier about the whole thing than Laura did herself. "But don't hold your breath waiting for her to follow your suggestion."

"Wasn't gonna."

"Meanwhile, you gonna be okay here by yourself while I'm gone?" Danny asked. "I'm not sure how long this'll take."

"Not exactly by myself," Laura replied, indicating Carmilla's panther form with a gesture.

"Yeah..." Danny said slowly, looking at the giant cat. Carmilla stared back evenly. "Even if I was sure pets were allowed in my apartment, I'm not sure that would extend to panthers. Really, taking that anywhere off campus grounds seems like something that wouldn't go over well."

"That did occur to me," Laura said, though her tone was one of agreement rather than rebuke. It was a fair point, after all. "When I mentioned that at the Student Healthcare Center, I was just told 'don't worry about it'." Which was true, as that was exactly what Carmilla had told her. "I mean, knowing this school, she could just poof in or out whenever she feels like it." She paused. "Which could also apply to cats in general, now that I think about it. Anyway, I've only been attacked on campus so far, so that's my main concern. I'll be back in my dorm room by... what, Wednesday?" she asked Bree.

"Most likely," she confirmed. "Thursday at the latest."

"So I'll only have to worry about potentially being giant black cat-less for two or three nights," Laura continued.

"Okay." Danny still didn't look terribly happy. "You sure you're gonna be okay here while I'm gone? I'll try not to take too long, but..."

"Oh, don't do this again," Laura warned quietly.

"I can put the word out to the other Summers to keep an eye out for you, and watch out for any trouble."

Again. Again, she wasn't listening. "I'll be fine, Danny," she snapped, the frustration in her voice giving way to genuine anger.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind-"

Raw, seething anger surged up from nowhere to club her upside the head, utterly blindsiding her. "I can take care of myself! Who the HELL do you think you are-?!"

"Laura! Laura!" Someone was suddenly right there in front of her - no, not someone, Bree. Bree was suddenly just there, gripping her shoulders, though whether to restrain her or try shaking some sense back into her, Laura didn't know. It could even have been both. That she'd been so angry that she'd momentarily forgotten who Bree was... That scared her. "Hey, look at me, okay? Just focus on me, right now. Slow, deep breaths... That's right... Good, just like that."

"What the heck was that?" LaFontaine, who'd never quite made it out the door, was standing right up against the wall, watching her with wide eyes.

"I... I don't know..." Laura said, feeling bereft. Also shaky, as she had a body full of adrenaline that had no outlet. She had to lean against the table to keep her balance. "I'm sorry, Danny," she told her now openly concerned girlfriend. "I don't have the slightest idea where that came from." She'd been getting angry, yes, but not that angry.

"Given all the emotional strain you're under, it was really only a matter of time before you exploded at something." Danny shook her head. "I'm just glad it was me, and not, like, the Dean, or something."

Laura was pretty sure they all had to bury a shudder at that possibility.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Danny continued, slowly moving closer until she got within a meter or so. That seemed to be as close as Bree wanted any of them to Laura just then, even Carmilla. "I don't want to make you mad - well, again - but they do offer yoga classes over at the Rec Center. It's not really my thing, but it might just do you some good."

"I'll think about that," Laura promised. She would, too. She wasn't convinced she'd survive long enough to make it to her first lesson, but who knew? She'd never practiced yoga before, but she did know at least a little about it, and it might actually help calm and center her. It certainly couldn't hurt. And if it kept her from blowing up at people who really didn't deserve it again?

It would absolutely be worth it.