When Carmilla, or Mircalla as she had taken to calling herself again, was finally freed from her bloody coffin, she felt a lassitude, and a languor that weighed upon her all the time. She felt herself a changed girl. A strange melancholy was stealing over her, a melancholy that lasted for 70 years more and took away every pleasurable thought she ever had. She did not smile for anything now. Even the darkness and violence of life left her uncomfortable and apathetic. Her time in the coffin had broken something within her, and she was no longer the same girl she used to be. Dim thoughts of death began to open up in her mind, and an idea that she was slowly sinking into it took a gentle yet not unwelcome hold over her.

In all her centuries as a vampire, Mircalla had never once considered death to be an option for her. Now? Though she still could not visualize herself actively doing anything to end her existence, the idea of everything ending was a common one for her and was not entirely unpleasant anymore. She had imagined herself dying in variety of ways, though she never did anything to affect the process. She simply traveled the world alone in a haze, seeing everything and nothing. She saw it all, as divers saw what was going on above them, through a medium that was transparent but also dense and rippling. She observed the world, but did not feel as if she was part of it.

For about a decade after her escape, Mircalla continued to travel the world in this gloomy and lonely haze. It was in the 1950s when Mother found her again, sulking alone in France. Mother wasted no time in recruiting her again, seeming to have forgotten the brutal punishment she had inflicted upon her old protegee and accomplice.

"Oh! Darling, darling! That is all blood under the bridge now!" Mother waved her arm dramatically, as though trying to swat a fly away. "You and I are together again and I have decided to take mercy upon you this time and I will not return you to your coffin. There you go, is that not worth a smile?" Mother seemed so proud of herself, but Mircalla couldn't even look at her anymore. Then Mother's tone became sharp.

"Listen, Mircalla. You weren't supposed to be let out this early! Your punishment was supposed to be at least a century. But seeing as you have escaped and you have had some time to see the light again and to come to terms with your actions and their natural consequences, I will be gentle with you. Come, rejoin me in my service, or return to your coffin..."

Mircalla had not liked either option, finding no joy in seducing idiotic young girls into Mother's hand and certainly fearing the blood-filled coffin, but she knew she had to make a choice, or Mother would make it for her.

"Fine. So be it. Whatever," Mircalla grunted, and their little deal resumed.

The game was the same, even if under a different name. Now, instead of just roaming Styrian grounds for ditzy little idiots, Mircalla hunted a University. Mother had built it around the time she had finished burying Mircalla in that awful little coffin. The university's name was Silas, and it was welcome to people from all over the world, though young women often received priority. And since Mircalla was Mother's main tool of operation, from the 50s and onward, it became a very queer-friendly school. Mother prioritized pretty young girls who liked other pretty young girls just to make things easier upon Mircalla. But Mircalla still took no pleasure in her job and she began to hate that school with a passion, loathing the day when she had to return to it to do Mother's bidding. Her one condition was that Mother's victim could never be one of Susanna's reincarnations. Mother agreed to those terms, just so long as Mircalla kept up her own end of the bargain, like last time.

Mircalla ended up meeting several of Susanna's reincarnations, both in and out of Silas, but she did not feel anything for them anymore. Every time they would find her, Mircalla would make their life Hell. Although she did end up falling in love with each and every version, she tried not to show it. She was trying to defy the cycle again, actively hating her soulmate instead of loving. It was one last act of desperate rebellion. If Mircalla could not change her fate, or undo what Mother did, or beg God for forgiveness from this curse, then the least she could do was take it out on the one thing she could control: Susanna. It was the only part of her curse she had any say in, so she would use it for all it was worth.

In every reincarnation of Susanna since 1872 Laura, Mircalla had actively worked against her, making her life miserable as a silent statement of rebellion and a way to protect herself from the emotional pain she would be left in when Susanna died again. She picked on every one of Susanna's reincarnations that she did not actively ignore or kill on their first night together, just to get it over with. She did not love Susanna anymore. She hated her. She wanted her dead, blaming her for everything starting from that first vampiric experience down to the blood coffin and Silas University. She wanted Susanna to feel all the pain she had. All of Mircalla's righteous anger and thirst for some kind of justice or vengeance was taken on out these reincarnations because they were all she had, and she did her very best to defy the path laid out for her.

But again, Mircalla could neither run nor hide forever. Try as she may to hate Susanna and defy all of her reincarnations out of a thirst for justice, the curse of love was not so easily removed and fate was determined to create a reincarnation that even Mircalla would be unable to hate. That was part of Mircalla's punishment, after all, to feel the cruel sting of love that was even crueler than hatred.

The new winning reincarnation was a spritely young dimwit named Laura Hollis, who had come to Silas in the fall semester of 2014. She was Mircalla's latest conquest, to love or to hate. Mother kept up her end of their old bargain and intentionally made Laura's original roommate, Betty, one of her chosen targets. Mircalla easily disposed of her and Mother made Mircalla Laura's new roommate thereafter. Both of them had a cruel sense of humor and irony and both of them agreed upon changing Mircalla's name in Silas' master list…

"Carmilla. I'm your new roommate, sweetheart."

From that very first moment, that very first word, that very first name, Carmilla had been just as determined to make this Susanna miserable as she had all of the others. She and Laura became rivals, Carmilla's sloppiness and general apathy for anyone who wasn't herself driving Laura Hollis mad. Carmilla's habit of partying late and sleeping in, mixed with her petty theft and gluttonous eating habits, infuriated Laura, so Carmilla only made sure to amp up the act, intentionally leaving her bed unmade and her clothes, half of which weren't even hers, all over the floor. She would sometimes sprinkle cookie crumbs all over their dorm while blasting the loudest rock music she owned.

The way she saw it, Laura deserved it for all the torment she had put Carmilla through. Laura hadn't been the one turned into a vampire, forced to watch her One True Love die over and over again. Laura hadn't been the one to be buried "alive" in a coffin of blood for 70 years. Laura wasn't the one who was a slave to an insane vampire queen who insisted that she be called "Mother" by her favorite workers. So Laura could deal with a few crumbs and some loud rock music as far as Carmilla was concerned. That stupid little overachiever could get over herself and deal with it! Carmilla had fun tormenting her soulmate's newest reincarnation…

Aaaaaannd, now Carmilla was pretty sure she was starting to fall in love with this lackwit. Try as she may, the cycle could not be ignored, and God had finally come up with another version of Susanna that Carmilla could not resist. Carmilla tried to force herself to hate Laura, but it just didn't work. After watching the girl try to rescue her old roommate, never knowing that Carmilla was responsible for her disappearance in the first place, something stared to change within Carmilla. And it only continued to grow as Laura expanded her search and sought out all of the missing girls of Silas and not just her own roommate. That was a pretty selfless thing to do.

This girl, this stupid little Creampuff, this naive little lackwit, was just so brave and driven! She was actively seeking out all of these missing girls, all of these nobodies, like they actually meant something. She put so much time and effort into saving these girls that it actually made Carmilla feel bad when Laura wound up with nothing. Laura had just invested so much time, energy and passion into finding the missing girls that to see her fail was incredibly disheartening, to be quite honest.

As Carmilla would come to tell Laura one day, it was just so beautiful to watch Laura try, like she actually cared about the rest of the world or that she actually thought that she could make a difference in it. She was so like her original incarnation. She was just as driven, spirited and courageous. It was one of the qualities that had first attracted Carmilla to Laura all the way back in 1696 when they first met. This Laura was so close to the original. If anything, this should've been a big warning sign to Carmilla that this story would end just as badly as before, but it was already too late. Carmilla was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with Laura… again. Laura's hope, strength and determination had started a fire inside of Carmilla that she thought had burnt out long ago. Apparently not…

"But why?" Carmilla had asked Laura once in regard to her fruitless search for the missing girls.

"Because we deserve better," Laura had replied, almost angrily. "Hell, even you deserve better!" she added. It was supposed to be something of an insult, but it had been the very first time anyone had ever told Carmilla that maybe she deserved a better life than what fate had given her. It had been the first time anyone had ever told Carmilla to fight, instead of run or hide. It had been the first time that anyone had ever inspired hope in her, or made her believe that she deserved it, that she deserved peace, and love, and a happy ending. That might've been the part when Carmilla first started falling in love with Susanna's newest reincarnation.

Of course, the road to their love was marked with all sorts of potholes and bumps, but they did get there eventually and, suddenly, Carmilla had even told Laura about her past life, back in 1872. Of course, it hadn't exactly been a willful choice, Carmilla being bound, gagged and surrounded by wooden stakes and garlic cloves, but it happened anyway. Through "advanced interrogation techniques", Laura and her dimwit squad of gay gingers had weaseled the truth out of Carmilla. It was quite humiliating, but that was Carmilla's whole existence in a nutshell… But the actual confession had been incredibly odd. Carmilla wasn't sure if she found it upsetting, or humorous! Here she was, relating a very painful story from her past, something that was immensely personal and private, and Laura was reenacting it all right in front of her with… sock puppets. Yup. That was the 2014 Laura for you!

But Carmilla couldn't totally blame her. Laura really didn't understand what she was doing. She never did. None of the reincarnations did. That was kind of the point. So behind it all, this Laura was just like all the others… which meant that Carmilla was bound to fall in love with her.

"Waltzing was fun. It had a... frisson scandal back then," Carmilla shrugged, hardly able to believe that she and Laura were carrying on a normal and friendly conversation like two normal and friendly people.

"How is waltzing scandalous?" Laura sounded incredulous. Carmilla almost laughed. This was definitely a modern girl, a 2014 Laura, if she believed that waltzing was so pure and "un-scandalous".

"Well," the vampire replied, standing slowly and offering an arm to the younger girl. The younger girl took the arm as she rose up as well. The two stood in the starting position to begin a waltz.

"Partners were face to face, chest to chest," Carmilla pulled Laura in close. "And all of that whirling? It may as well have been sex," she paused to smirk as she spun Laura around. Laura was smiling by the time their waltz was over. Ahhh, it had been so long since Carmilla had shared a dance with the girl she loved! The times were different, but the sentiment was the same.

"So, you had some fun?" Laura teased as they finished up their little dorm room dance.

"Maybe once or twice..." Carmilla replied with a smile that was both teasing and sad. Her mind, once again, was lost to a world of waltzes and secret kisses and stolen nights. As much as Carmilla might've hated Susanna for all the pain she had caused, seeing Susanna again always negated all of that anger in favor of love. Love might've been cruel and selfish, but it could still be so beautiful and redeeming. And this love only grew stronger every single day. Even though it was tinged with anger, hurt and bitterness, the warmth and fondness were very real.

For example, there were some things that no one in the world could get Carmilla to do, yet all Laura had to do was ask and Carmilla would do it. For her. Of course she would. Who else would these gestures of kindness be for except for her long-lost soulmate who had been with her century after century, even if she never remembered it?

"Of course I'm doing it for you," Carmilla had told Laura, and she meant every word. Laura's genuine surprise had hurt her a little.

But Susanna/Laura was not the only thing that stayed with Carmilla. The darker aspects of her past had an unfortunate way of creeping up on her as well, so was it any wonder why she would willingly sacrifice a few lackwits for Laura? What did Carmilla care about that Lafontaine person, or crazy Perry, or the stupid frat-bro, or that psycho-Summer, Xena? What did Carmilla care for anyone except Laura? Didn't Laura understand that Carmilla loved her and her alone?

So why was Laura so mad when Carmilla had sacrificed someone else in her place? Carmilla had done this to protect Laura, to give them more time together before they would be torn apart again. Why was Laura so mad at Carmilla for buying them extra time? What was one stupid little life if an epic romance was what that life was buying? This was supposed to be a gesture of love, so why did Laura interpret it as hatred?

Carmilla just didn't get it, far too used to a world of selfishness and cruelty to see why Laura was so mad. But what she did get was that Laura was angry, and now she was leading the charge right to Mother's front door in order to save not just her replacement, but every other target whose life was on the line, including Lafontaine and the frat bro.

The thought of Laura risking her life like that scared Carmilla like nothing else ever could but, at the same time, the vampire had never felt more pumped in her life. Something about the thought of someone finally leading a charge against Mother brought back Carmilla's desire to fight. She had never felt more ready to challenge Mother than at that moment. She even dared to join forces with the psycho Summer and, together, the two of them descended down to the lower bowels of Silas in order to join Laura in her rescue mission of Mother's ceremonial targets. Maybe, just maybe, things would go better this time, and Carmilla would be able to save her soulmate for a little while longer…

But of all the things that Carmilla had mentally prepared for while engaging in this final battle, seeing the Laura from 1872 had not been something she had expected to experience.

"Elle?" she asked, using the little pet nickname she'd given the girl over the course of their time together.

"Carmilla!" Elle's voice was soundless, but Carmilla could read her lips clearly. Suddenly, the vampire's vision was blurred with tears. How could it be that Susanna's soul had split into two? Why was some of it in Laura while the rest was trapped in Elle? Carmilla didn't know. Nor did she care. All she could think about, in that moment, was the portrait and the river, the schloss and Laura's old father. She could see late mornings and even later nights. She could see moonlit gardens and chatty governesses. She could see kisses and promises. She could see a life she almost had, yet was forced to lose anyway. She could see it all, everything that could've and should've been, but ever was and never would be again.

When Carmilla looked upon Elle again after 142 years exactly, she saw so much, and she hated Mother even more now than ever before for putting both of them through this. She had no regrets as she lunged towards the source of all of their present problems, the Demon of the Light. She could see Elle in front of her and she could hear Laura behind her. She would end this nightmare once and for all. She would reunite these two pieces of Susanna's soul into one body. If she died, maybe their curse would end, and Susanna would finally get her happy ending, no matter if it was Elle or Laura who got to experience it, and no matter if Carmilla was part of that happy ending or not. Carmilla didn't care. She just didn't care about that, or herself. All that mattered now was saving Susanna in the same way Susanna had saved her, through the voice of Laura. Carmilla was going to repay her beloved one and give her back her life, even if it killed Carmilla in the process…

Well. Good news. Carmilla was not killed, though she had been incapacitated for over a week after her little stunt. But even better news, she and Laura finally got to share their first kiss! But bad news. Defeating the Demon of the Light had been a very big mistake. Now all of Silas was on lockdown. It was time to get the heck out of dodge. The fun just never ended for the vampire of Karnstein, did it? She could only hope that Laura would survive this and that their time together would not close too soon. Not after their first kiss! What a mood killer!

But first things first, they had to get the heck out of Silas, and fast! And, oh, great! The Floor Dons (two of the three queer gingers) were coming along for the ride. And where were they all headed? To the Styrian freaking mountains. With winter break just on the horizon. Yay. Road trip time. But there was one thing that managed to pull a smile from the irritated vampire, and that was her human soulmate who was at her side as a lover once again at long, long last. (Now, she could only hope that it wouldn't end too soon…)

AN: So here we go, the third and final chapter that wraps it all up. After escaping the coffin, Mother and Carmilla's deal resumes and Carmilla is given special permission to deal with Susanna's reincarnations as she wishes, so long as she does Mother's other dirty work as well. But then of course, our 2014 Laura steps onto the scene and shakes up Carmilla's whole world, one last time.

(Strike that "final" part. I'm writing an epilogue because I have to).