Chapter 3
A few minutes after announcing, that she would go on a shopping trip, Karla found herself standing in the door to Carmilla's room once more. Now instead of a wide shirt and baggy pants, she wore formfitting jeans and a white blouse.
She saw, with a bit of concern, that Carmilla hadn't moved and was still sitting where she had left her. Probably still a bit worried despite their earlier discussion.
"Don't worry your pretty head over it. We are going to figure this stuff out."
"Strangely enough, I'm not even that concerned." Admitted Carmilla, looking up from where she had been studying the carpet on the floor. "It's just a lot to get used to."
"Well, you'll have time to sort it out when I'm gone." Karla said cheerfully. "I closed all the shutters on the windows, so you should be able to walk freely around the flat. I'll probably be gone for an hour or two at most. You can test some stuff on your own, just please don't break anything. We don't have enough cash to pay for repairs."
"I'll try, but I can't promise anything. This whole power thing is a lot less instinctual than I expected." Carmilla hoped that she would get used to it quickly.
"Well, I'm off." Karla said, moving down the hall to the door. "See ya later!"
"Bye!" Was Carmilla's answer, shortly before the door closed behind Karla.
Letting out a sigh, Carmilla threw herself back onto the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. The way Karla had simply accepted her, was a huge relief to her and yet a small bit of doubt stuck around.
Why had Karla been so unconcerned about the whole thing? Sure, they had known each other for more than 3 years now, ever since Carmilla had finished high school and went around looking for a job. It had been Karla, who had pointed her to the bar, where she had found a job at the end. Was it simply the shared friendship or was there something else?
Realizing that she wouldn't find an easy answer just lying around, she pushed herself off the bed and moved to the hallway. Her room was at one end of the flat, with Karla's room and the bathroom between her and the living room with the adjacent kitchen. The flat was fairly big for just two people, and the only reason She and Karla could afford it was the rundown neighbourhood which lowered the overall price.
Moving slowly up the hallway had her going over, what Karla had said before leaving. It wouldn't do, to walk into the sunlight, if she had forgotten one of the windows.
Luckily all the windows were closed, and she made it through the hallway.
She went into the shared bathroom out of habit, before she realized that she didn't feel any of the normal urges. It had been such a normal routine in the morning, that she had worked on autopilot.
Strangely enough, the thought that she might no longer have to deal with any bathroom-related body functions, didn't bother her that much. If her changes had even taken care of her monthly womanly problems, she might even get over the fact that she could go into the sun anymore.
She turned around, and went to leave the bathroom, when she caught a glance of herself in the mirror. And that brought a multitude of new problems with it.
First, she could see herself in the mirror. Normally not that surprising, but being a vampire had her somewhat expecting to have no reflection.
Secondly, which was a much bigger issue at first, she looked very different than just a day ago. She slowly lifted her finger to her face, to confirm that it was actually her in the reflection. Where she previously had a small mole on her left cheek and a faded-out scar from a childhood accident, there was now only unblemished skin. Her skin was also much paler than before and had an unnatural smoothness to it, she noted.
Her gaze moved from the spots, where there should have been imperfections, upwards to where she locked eyes with herself. Her previously dirty green eyes, were now an emerald green, so bright it looked unnatural. Remembering what Karla had said, she tried to will her senses to become sharper. Despite somewhat expecting it, she was shocked when her eyes changed from green to a deep blood-red. It was shocking to see, but deep inside she liked the new look. Together with the last change it truly made her look like a vampire. The last change being probably the most noticeable. Her hair was normally a natural brown like Karla's, but she had coloured it to a brighter blonde brown. Her power had seemingly ignored the colouring and had changed her hair to an almost silver blonde.
She tried to be mad at the unrequested changes, but she looked so good she couldn't really work up any upset over it. It did however pose the question if Karla hadn't noticed the changes or just hadn't bothered to tell her about them.
Observing herself in the mirror a bit longer she made a mental note to ask Karla about it when she came back.
After finally moving back into the hallway she decided to deal with her nutrition problems first. Knowing if she could still eat or if she was stuck with drinking blood was her first priority. She didn't want to get surprised by a sudden thirst and then hurt or even kill Karla or someone innocent.
She went to the fridge and decided to be as thorough as possible. She took out some carrots to test the carnivore theory and some bacon strips to both try fried and raw meat. The carrot was quickly tossed back as the taste was the same as with the chocolate. She got the same result when she tried the fried bacon strip. The raw bacon took some convincing to bite into but when she did, she was once again assaulted with the rancid taste.
She was even a bit relieved at that. The thought of having to eat raw meat was even worse, than the thought of drinking blood.
Washing up the pan and throwing away the bacon found her standing in the living room, unsure of what to do.
Remembering the feeling of lifting the manhole cover like it was a frisbee had her looking for something heavy in the flat. Deciding that the couch was probably the heaviest she walked to the edge and took a good grip. She giggled, as she barely felt any resistance. Where she had previously been somewhat apprehensive of the testing Karla had proposed for the evening, she was now almost looking forward to it. Something about her newfound strength gave her a much-needed feeling of safety, something she was glad about after yesterday's event.
As she was basking in the newfound confidence, she heard a cracking sound and realized with alarm that her finger had dug into the wooden edge of the couch. She quickly let go of the couch, hoping she hadn't completely broken it. She decided, that it would be smarter to leave any of the testing to when she was somewhere more acceptable to break something.
She went to her room to get her tablet. If she couldn't test anything, then at least she could read up a bit on cape stuff. She wanted to know everything about the nearby capes, seeing that she was no one of them. Gingerly sitting down on the couch, she was relieved, that it didn't break completely. She opened up PHO and was quickly engrossed in the various discussion and information threads.
"Honey, I'm home." Barging in through the door carrying multiple bags, as well as a carton box, was Karla.
"Funny, I didn't know we were married." Carmilla said dryly, looking up from where she was sitting on the couch. Despite expecting it, she still had to focus when the smell hit her once again. But being ready for it made it easy to squash the urge to attack.
"Not my fault you never proposed." Karla said cheerfully. She had noted Carmilla's eyes change colour and knowing what that meant, she couldn't help but feel a slight pang of fear creep up. However, seeing the tight control her friend had, helped alleviate some of that. But to be sure she still asked. "Still in control there, sweety?"
"Yeah, all good." Carmilla said calmly, not wanting to scare her friend even more. "I've got pretty good control over it for now. But I don't know if that will stay like that. I don't want to wake up and realize my body went on autopilot because of your scent."
"Speaking of scent. There was another scent around together with yours." Carmilla added. "It was similar to yours but felt more animalistic if that makes sense?"
"Did it trigger the urge to drink as well?" Karla was curious if her little experiment would work. "I bought something to test out another possible solution to the blood problem."
With those words she placed the carton box on the little table in front of the couch. The box had little holes cut into the top, and when Carmilla reached for it she thought she heard something from it.
Not saying anything, she looked at Karla with an exasperated glance. Pulling the box closer and opening it up, revealed a small black kitten. Upon laying eyes on Carmilla, it immediately shoved itself into the far corner and huddled down.
"A cat. You got us a cat? Why? Also, why is it acting so scared?" She asked confused.
"Maybe it's scared of you?" Karla mused. "It might recognize you as the bigger predator."
That actually made a lot more sense to Carmilla, than she would have thought. Reaching into the box, Carmilla tried to stroke the black kitten to show, that she meant it no harm. However, as soon as her hand came close enough, it swept at her with claws extended.
Carmilla jerked her hand back afraid of getting cut, but a closer examination showed no visible wounds.
"Aww, don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you." Carmilla said with a soothing voice, once more reaching out and not flinching back as the kitten once more swiped at her.
Lightly grabbing it, trying not to crush it, she carefully lifted it out of the box. Moving it closer she placed it on her lap and gently petted it on the back. Hoping it would get used to her presence and relax a bit. Right now, its hackles were raised and it would have most certainly bolted away, were she not holding it in place.
"So…why exactly did you buy a Cat Karla?" With the kitten firmly under control, she looked back over to Karla, who had by now placed the other bags on the table and taken a seat on a recliner facing the couch.
"Well, you know how I said we should test out if you can drink the blood of animals?" Karla said, sounding a bit unsure.
Carmilla realizing what she meant, immediately clutched the kitten despite its loud protest to her chest.
"No!" She said loudly. Trying to calm the agitated kitten back down. "Absolutely not. And what the hell is wrong with you, why would I want to kill such a cute little thing?"
"So, you don't feel any urge to bite it?" Karla said sounding both pleased, as well as annoyed at something.
"Of course not." Carmilla said wondering about her friend's question.
"Good, so we can probably rule out animal blood as a substitute." Karla said, before starting to go through the bags on the table.
"And why is that?" Carmilla asked confused.
"Well, you've been clutching that kitten to your chest for more than a few minutes now." Karla started to explain. "I would imagine if I were to hug you for the same period of time you would have definitely felt the urge at least once. The fact that you can feel its warm body and take in its scent, without any problems, makes it pretty obvious that animals don't register as prey."
"But "and with that, she pulled out a tub of something. "to make totally sure, I also bought a litre of pigs blood."
"Wow." Carmilla was actually a little speechless. "You bought a cute little kitten just to test my reaction to it? What if it worked and I killed it?"
"Then you would have killed it and we would have known." Said Karla with a shrug. "Also, I didn't buy it. I went to the local shelter and asked if they had any small critters to take. I wasn't planning on taking a cute kitten, I was thinking more of pet rats or hamsters."
"Sometimes you really are a cold bitch aren't you." Carmilla said matter of factly. Softly scratching behind the ears of the kitten, when it finally started to succumb to the constant petting. Its hair settled down and she could feel the muscles relax.
"Damn right." Karla didn't sound one bit hurt by the comment.
"Did you get at least some food or treats for her?" Carmilla said after checking its gender, before trying to come up with a good name.
"So, it's a her, hm?" Karla said while starting to take stuff out of the bags and place it on the table. "And no, I didn't. I honestly didn't think we would keep it, even if you didn't kill it. I see now that I have awoken the crazy cat lady in you. Also, we don't really have the money for any stuff like that."
"Poor little Sabrina. Getting abducted by the brutal lady." Carmilla cooed at the cat which didn't seem to be able to decide if she enjoyed or dreaded Carmilla's attention. Carmilla then turned back to Karla. "We can take some of the cash I took from the goons yesterday. I think it was like 200 or so all told. That should be enough for a while, right?"
"I'm not so sure." Karla said slowly, by now she had put all the items from the bags on the table except one. "Because I also got you this, and if my hope proves correct then we will need a lot more cash soon."
And with that, she pulled out a blood bag that you normally saw on tv with rescue services or in hospitals.
"Is that human blood?" Carmilla's eyes were fixed on it as soon as it had gotten into view. "Where the hell did you get that from?"
"Yeah." Karla answered eyes fixed on Carmilla. Looking for signs that signaled Carmilla losing control. "I know a guy that works at a nearby clinic. He got me one of them, but it cost me a hundred bucks. Apparently, he took a pretty big risk stealing that as they are registered and one of them missing could lead to a shitstorm. We might be able to get more from there or other clinics, but it will be expensive."
"So, you got just one bag for now to test it out?" Carmilla was still focused on the blood that Karla had placed on the table in front of her.
"Exactly. Better to find out before wasting good money we don't have" Was Karla's answer. "Also, I can see that you're somewhat distracted by it, so I propose you try it out now before we discuss anything further."
"Good idea yeah. Although It is very faint, I can still note the smell coming from it." Carmilla tried to reach out to the bag but noticed that she still had Sabrina seated on her lap. "Can you take Sabrina and maybe go outside the flat for a bit? I'm not sure how I'm going to react and don't want to attack you if I fall into a rush."
"Good idea." Karla said, while taking the kitten from Carmilla. "Also, try some of the pigs blood first. And when you get to the blood bag, try to see if you can stop drinking halfway. If you can, then maybe you can also interrupt drinking from a live human. That means you could drink without killing anyone."
"Mhmmm." Carmilla said absentmindedly, only vaguely hearing the ideas. She wanted to reach for the blood bag but forced herself to try the pig blood first.
"Alright I'm out. Call me when you're finished." And with that Karla closed the door to the flat.
Now alone Carmilla opened the tub with pig blood and took a sniff. She noted a similar scent like with the kitten. However, she didn't feel any desire to drink it.
Forcing herself to take a sip anyway she wasn't really surprised about the rancid taste, even if it was a bit less pronounced. Having tested all the previous foods a few hours before had already taken her hopes for an easy solution to her blood problem away.
Carefully taking the blood bag in her hands she nevertheless hoped, that at least this would work. Unsure on how to go about this, and not having a cup close by to put it in she decided to follow with what felt natural and bite into it.
Her elongated canines didn't seem to encounter any resistance despite the thick plastic. Piercing through she felt the blood flow through the holes into her mouth. And while it did not stack up to the blood of the goons it was still absolutely heavenly. Squeezing the bag to practically inhale the sweet nectar she nearly forgot the words her friend had said before. Every part of her protested as she tried to stop drinking, and only with an enormous effort of will did she manage to pull away from the bag. And only just in time, as there was barely any of the blood left in the bag. She really wanted to be able to drink from people without killing them, so she forced herself to place the bag on the table and walk a few steps away.
Willing her senses to return to human levels she stood there not daring to look at the blood. Slowly she felt the urge to drink fade, as she tried to convince herself that there was no blood around.
Staying like that for at least a minute, she was relieved to note that the urge had all but disappeared. While not trusting herself enough yet, to want to try it out with someone she cared about, she was still confident, that with a bit of effort she could stop drinking before she drained the person.
Before calling Karla back in, she grabbed the nearly empty bag and drank the rest of it, not wanting it to spoil. Throwing the empty bag into the trash she checked herself over making sure she didn't spill any blood on her.
She then walked to the door and opened it to call Karla back in. Taking Sabrina back into her arms she walked back to the couch with Karla following behind after closing the door.
"I'm guessing, judging by your pleased expression as well as the missing bag, that it worked?" Was the first thing Karla said after sitting back down.
"Yup it did." Carmilla said proudly. "I even managed to stop in between. Although I'm not completely sure about trying it on a person yet. The taste of the blood in the bag wasn't as good as it was coming from the goons. Maybe something about having been taken a while ago. It had also been processed a bit. It took all my willpower to stop with the bag, so I expect it to be even harder to stop, if coming from a live person."
"It's still a good thing to know." Karla said. "Maybe it will also get easier with time? Just as with the other powers you're still getting used to. With a bit of time, I'm sure you get better control over it."
"I hope so." Carmilla said thoughtfully. "Now there's just the question of how much I need to drink a day. Like you said, it would be getting expensive fast, even if I only need one bag per day."
"I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there." Karla said, sounding not that worried. "We will see after today's testing, but you are a cape now. Even if you only have superstrength and super senses, that would still make you more than capable enough to earn some money. Busting up some drug labs would get us enough cash to last a few months. Worst case you could go to the gangs and have them take care of you, or even the PRT if nothing else worked."
"So, you would go to the Nazis first, before the PRT?" Carmilla said amused, knowing her friend's opinion of the government well enough.
"At least they don't pretend to be anything else but a gang." Karla said dismissively. "But I hope it won't come to that. Hell, you might be even strong enough to start your own gang."
"Is that why you're helping me so much?" Carmilla said both curious and a little suspicious, she had thought a lot about why Karla was helping so much. And the answer suddenly clicked in her head. "Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful for it, but you have done much more than I would expect, even from a best friend. I can't help, but think you are getting something out of it."
"Sure, I wont lie and say the thought never entered my mind." Was Karla's easy answer to that. "Working in the streets isn't exactly safe for people in my profession, and it only gets worse with every year that goes by. The gangs constantly hound us for protection money or drive us away from the best spots. So yeah, helping a friend and maybe get the protection of a cape out of it, only makes sense."
"That actually makes it better." Carmilla said, glad to finally know why Karla was so helpful. "At least now I know you don't plan to sell me out to the gangs or the PRT."
"Pha, I would never do that to my favourite roommate." Karla said grinning at her.
"I'm your only roommate." Carmilla said flatly.
"That doesn't make my previous remark untrue." Karla laughed, before standing up. "Well, glad we had that talk, but I'm hungry. So, I'm going to make me some dinner. Unless I'm mistaken you tried the normal food already?"
"Yeah, sadly no more burgers or other stuff for me." Carmilla said dejected.
"Well, from your descriptions and the sounds I was hearing through the door, I would hazard a guess that the blood bad tasted just as good as any burger."
"Well true." Carmilla said, before blushing. "And I did not make any sounds while drinking."
"Sure, you did. Sounded like you were having an orgasm. Made even me blush a little at the sounds you were making." Karla laughed at the face her friend made. It looked like her friend couldn't blush anymore, because her face would be scarlet otherwise.
"Well, I'll get some food ready for me and then we can talk about the testing we planned for tonight. Good thing you don't have to work at the bar tonight." And with that she left Carmilla on the couch t to stew a little, but more in embarrassment, while she went and got her dinner ready.