A/n: CarmillaIsLifee: Thank you guy's so much for the follows/reviews. We're so excited about this project and we're glad you are too!
Synucian: Thanks for all the follows and favorites. I really hope you are enjoying the story, and I hope I've stuck to the true nature of each character. c:
Her bedroom was dark and had a depressing atmosphere about it. Laura sat by the closed window, staring blankly out at the stormy sky. She was a complete mess. Her light colored hair looked as if she had just rolled out of her bed, and her eyes felt sore and were extremely red and puffy. Rain pitter pattered on the glass, and it was the only sound that was heard in the room. Laura had been like this for days. She'd usually wake up early in the morning, but now, instead of getting up and cheerfully greeting everyone in the castle, she would remain in bed, staring up at her cream bed canopy. A while later, she'd get out of bed, change into one of her dresses, and sit by the window. Her handmaidens would leave plates of food on her bedside table, but Laura refused to touch any of them. Lately, she even stopped caring about changing into a dress and stayed in her long, silky white chemise which was now starting to becoming a dingy color.
She heard the door squeak and muttered, "Perry, I'm fine. Stop coming in-" She looked over her shoulder to see that it wasn't Perry after all but a tall boy with short black hair and in full black armor with a blood red cloak. She tensed up, and her heart started to race. "Who are you?"
"I'm Charles. I'm your new guard, sweetheart." Carmilla said in her fake deep voice. Guard? She didn't ask for a guard. "Guard? What? You must be mistaken." Laura rose from her chair but didn't move towards the stranger. "No, the King requested for me to be your bodyguard." Laura gritted her teeth. Now he wanted to protect her? Carmilla plopped down on her bed and smirked at Laura. "Looks like you're stuck with me." Laura moved over to her bed, glaring at her new bodyguard. "I don't need a bodyguard!" She tried to yell, but her voice was too hoarse. Carmilla rose up off the bed, now standing extremely close to tiny Laura. She felt so short compared to the tall stranger! "King's orders, sweetheart." She sniffed for a moment and crinkled her nose. "You should really take a bath as well, cupcake." Laura was already ready to kill him.
Laura soaked in the warm water, her tense muscles finally relaxing for once. Carmilla stood at the end of the tub with her back facing Laura. "You know you don't have to stand in here, right?" Laura asked, slightly annoyed. "Nope. I'm suppose to keep a close eye on you. Daddy's orders." Laura muttered under her breath. "This is ridiculous."
"What'd you say?" Carmilla began to turn her head to look at Laura, but she yelled out, "Don't look!" Carmilla reverted her eyes back to the wall and rolled them. "Okay, okay, princess. I'm not looking." Laura's cheeks were red with both embarrassment and anger. She tried not to let the guard ruin her relaxing bath though.
Suddenly, she felt a crawling sensation on her arm. What is that? She thought and looked down at her arm. Crawling on it was a big, brown spider. Laura let out a scream and flailed her arm around violently, splashing water all over the floor. "What is it?!" Carmilla whirled around to see what the commotion was about. She leaned forward a bit to see what Laura was trying to fight off. Before she could figure out what it is was, Laura swung her arm towards Carmilla, punching her in the jaw. "I said don't look!"
"Ow! Motherfucker!"
Carmilla sat on the Princess' bed, holding her jaw. "Can't believe you punched me."
"Well, I told you not to look!"
"You were screaming! What was I supposed to do?" Laura pulled a baby blue chemise over her slender figure. Carmilla glanced over quickly and noticed a large, purple blotch on her side. "What is that?" Laura looked back at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
"You have a bruise on your side."
"I told you not to look!" She threw her brush towards the knight, and she dodged it effortlessly. "Sorry, cupcake. Couldn't help myself." She rose up off of the bed. "So where'd the bruise come from?"
"Why do you need to know?" Laura retorted. "Woah, someone's a feisty princess. Why is it such a big deal?"
"I just don't want to talk about it, okay?!" Laura shouted. Carmilla blinked at the sudden outburst. What the hell did she get herself into? "Okay, princess. Whatever you want." She said sarcastically. Laura rolled her eyes and pushed past Carmilla, bumping into her shoulder purposely, before wincing. Carmilla noticed the wince, but didn't mention it having learned that lesson not more than two minutes before.
"Why do you still have your armor on?" Laura asked as she sat on the chair in front of her mirror. Carmilla looked down at her black armor, her black sword sheathed at her side. She hadn't thought this far ahead. She looked up at Laura and smirked, "Why, do you want me out of it, cutie?" Carmilla asked trying to distract her, and sending a wink Laura's way. Laura visibly shrunk at the question, and tears welled up in her eyes. Carmilla saw this and furrowed her brows, "Hey, Princess I'm not that bad in bed." That made Laura break down even more until she was a sobbing mess.
Carmilla stood up and strode over to Laura, reaching out to touch her shoulder. When Laura felt the tips of her fingers just barely touch her skin, she launched herself off the chair she was sitting on and landed on the floor. She backed herself up against the wall and cowered in fear. Carmilla watched her actions with a curious and slightly concerned expression. "Please! Please don't hurt me!" Laura shouted through her hysteric sobs. Carmilla stood shocked for only a moment before she bent down a few feet away from Laura and spoke softly, dropping the deepness of her voice. "Hey… Laura look at me." Laura shook her head at that and somehow found a way to make herself smaller than she already was. "Laura," Carmilla said firmly, giving the girl a second to look at her, before she moved a small bit closer to her. "Talk to me. Did something happen to you?" She asked with a caring tone that she didn't know she possessed. Laura nodded her head after a moment, why she didn't know. She hardly knew this man. Why was she suddenly trusting him? "Tell me." Laura laughed a bitter laugh through her still freely falling tears. "I can't," she croaked.
Carmilla started to assess the things she knew. She was over 300 years old, she'd experienced almost everything. The pain she saw written all over Laura's face was familiar. Something she had seen before on her own face. There was bruises all over Laura, she knew that. The girl's gown had moved up her legs, and on the outside of her lower thigh Carmilla could see a large purple bruise fading away. Laura was flinching away from human contact and crying at the thought of someone bedding her. It wasn't hard for Carmilla to figure out what had happened to the poor girl.
"Oh, Princess." She said, not a hint of sarcasm in her voice. At that Laura began sobbing again, because now someone knew. She couldn't decide if her tears were of relief or fear. Carmilla thought for a second what her next course of action should be. She made up her mind and made a move towards Laura, which made the girl flinch and back herself up further into the wall, if that was even possible. Carmilla spoke softly, "Princess, I don't know you all that well, and you don't know me. I'm sorry that I just barged in earlier. I didn't even give you a proper introduction or a proper greeting. I can see that you've been hurt, more than you are letting on, I'm sure. Let me help you up." Laura sat quietly for a moment, except for the occasional sniffle. She looked up at Carmilla in the eyes, searching for any hidden malic. When she found none she spoke quietly, "You have very pretty eyes." Carmilla looked down for a moment, she didn't want her cover to be blown, then returned her gaze to Laura. She cleared her throat, and resumed her deeper voice, "Come on," she stood up and extended her hand to Laura. Laura hesitated for a moment before she slipped her soft hand into the leather gloved hand of her guard.
A few weeks had passed since Carmilla had become Laura's guard. It had been six weeks since the incident, and Laura was beginning to leave her bedroom more.
Rays of sunlight shined through her window, shining upon Laura's face. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced around her room. Carmilla was peacefully sleeping in her usual spot across her bedroom. Ever since she had become her guard, she'd always sleep in that chair. Laura wondered if it was even comfortable sleeping like that. She sat up in her bed, but suddenly felt very strange. A wave of nausea crashed over her, causing her to dart towards her bathroom. She fell on to her knees in front of her chamber pot and vomited into it. "You alright there, princess?" She heard a voice ask from behind. Laura let out a squeak. "Don't sneak up on me like that, Charles," She whined. Before she could open her mouth to say she was fine, she vomited again. Carmilla rolled her eyes at the girl and pulled her hair back, holding it out of the way of the vomit. "Not how I wanted to start my morning."
"You suck," Laura mumbled. Carmilla pulled a cloth out of her pocket and offered it to Laura. "Here. Wipe off your face." Laura took the cloth and dabbed off her mouth. "Guess I should tell Perry-"
"No!" Laura protested. "She doesn't need to know."
"But you're sick. You need rest-"
"Really, I'll be fine." She rose back up to her feet. Carmilla raised an eyebrow at her peculiar behavior. "You know I wanted to go to the market today. If you tell Perry about this, I'll be forced to be cooped up in the castle all day. Please Charles?" Carmilla sighed. "Fine but you better not throw up on me."