Laura approached the cell and sat her lamp by her feet. "Laura. .?" Carmilla mumbled, her words almost unintelligible. "Are you really here?"

"Yes, it's me Carmilla." Laura spoke. "Why did you come down here . .?"

"Because . . . I-I need to understand what happened. The person that was in that room that day . . that wasn't you."

There was a long pause.

"I-" Carmilla croaked. Her throat was too sore for her to speak. "Wa-wa-" She tried to talk but the words refused to come out. "Oh, right!" Laura ran off for a moment and came back with the cell keys and a jug. She fumbled around with the keys until she found the right one to her cell. She slipped into the cell and crouched down beside the weak vampire. "Here." She lifted up Carmilla's head and pressed the spout of the jug to her lips. Carmilla gulped down the water, chugging down almost half the jug. Laura pulled the jug of water away from her mouth and asked, "Better?" Carmilla only gave a nod.

"Now what happened?" Carmilla looked at her with sad eyes. "I . . .If you haven't figured it out yet I'm . . .not human."

"Well, I figured since you were able to rip hearts out. If you're not human, what are you?"

"I'm . . . a vampire." Laura didn't really seem to buy it. "Vampires aren't real." Carmilla glared. "So you believe I'm not human, but you don't believe in vampires?" Laura rolled her eyes. "Certain creatures exist, but not vampires."

"Well, we do . . . I do. I'm the only one that I know of. I can prove it." She opened her mouth to reveal her fangs. She let them slide out of her gums, leaving them throbbing. Laura seemed to now believe her.

"How does one become a vampire then?"

Another pause.

"My mother," She replied. "She . . . she cursed me. She married this noblemen when I was young. Told me he'd be my father from now on. I didn't mind, I was just happy that my family was whole again." Carmilla paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath. Then she continued, "When I got older and more . . . womanly in appearance, he began to show a lot of interest in me. He'd always tell me how beautiful I was. I didn't think anything of it since my mom used to do the same thing when I was a little girl. One day when my mother was out . . . he came into my quarters. He kept telling me how he was in love with me, and that he wanted me instead of my mother. Then . . . he pinned me to my bed." Laura didn't need to know much more to understand what had happened to Carmilla. Carmilla averted her eyes.

"My mother saw us and thought we were having an affair. Little did she know, I didn't want any of it. She yelled at me, telling me how she was tired of men looking at me instead of her and that's when she cursed me with the parts of a man. She said no man would ever want to bed me after they saw it. They'd think I was some freak, a beast. Then, she put another curse on me, one that was based off the legends of Vampires that I'm sure you're aware of." Laura nodded, "But why would your mother curse you with eternal life? Aren't vampires supposed to be more beautiful than humans as well?" Laura questioned.

Carmilla just chuckled weakly. "I guess that was part of her goal. Make me enticing to men but repulsed by them at the same time. She had no idea that I don't even like men so . . . she actually kind of helped me out." Laura giggled at that and then grew serious. "Sorry, sorry. That's not funny." Carmilla gave her a little smile. "It kind of is. But . . . William was saying things about you that just . . . drove me over the edge. Then he told me how the king ordered for it to happen, and . . . I lost control. I blacked out for a moment and by the time I woke up, I'd already made a huge mess that can't be fixed. I'm just . . . I'm so sorry Laura. I would understand if you left me in this cell. I want. . . I want you to know how terrible I feel." Tears welled up in her eyes. Laura frowned. She'd never seen Carmilla this way. She was always the tough one, the one there to comfort Laura. Laura placed a hand on her messy hair and pet her. "I'm so sorry. ." Carmilla cried out, sobbing. "It's alright," Laura said softly. "We'll get through this."

Laura led Carmilla up the stairs and out of the dungeon. It took them hours to get up the top of them because of Carmilla's condition. She had to lean on Laura for support, or her knees would've buckled beneath her.

Once they emerged from the dark cellar, Carmilla squinted her eyes and covered her face.

"Fuck, it's bright."

"That's because you've been locked away for awhile now."

"Aren't the knights going to wonder why you let me out?" Laura looked back at her. "I already took care of it. I ordered the ones who arrested you not the speak of the events, and everyone else believes you killed William after he murdered the king." Carmilla stopped walking. Laura turned to see what was wrong and saw the shocked look on the knights face. "You protected me . . ? Even though I killed your father?" Tears began to roll down her cheeks again.

Oh god, she's been in that cell for too long, Laura thought. "Please don't cry." Laura said and cupped her hands around Carmilla's cheeks. "It'll be alright, don't cry." It was hard to believe Laura was the one comforting her of all people. Carmilla sniffled. "But it's not alright . . . I killed your father! I don't deserve to be treated like this!" She tried to break away from Laura's touch, but Laura kept her in place. "Hey! Stop beating yourself up. We don't have time for pity parties." Carmilla blinked. "But-"

"Shh! Now come on, you need a bath."

Laura filled up the tub with warm water. "Alright. Get in," She ordered. "Shouldn't you leave first?" Carmilla asked. "No, I'm helping you." Carmilla's mouth twitch. "Laura, I don't need you to bathe me-"

"No, I'm doing it, now get in the bath." Carmilla sighed and hesitantly stripped out of her dusty clothes. When she removed her shirt, her chest bandages unraveled easily. She got into the tub and sank into the water. Laura first began to wipe the patches of dirt off her face, revealing the pale skin underneath. Once she was done cleaning her face, she moved onto her hair. "I need to cut my hair . . . it's gotten too long," Carmilla mumbled. "I think you should keep it." Laura suggested. "What?"

"I think you look good with long hair."

"Really . . ?" She subconsciously glanced down at the ends of her now wet hair. "Yeah. I mean . . . if you prefer shorter hair, you could cut it." Carmilla shook her head. "No, I think I'll give it a try."

"Carmilla." Laura spoke. "Hm?" She answered sleepily. "What all can vampires do?" She leaned her head back, resting it on the rim of the tub. "Well . . . we have inhuman strength and hearing." "Do you . . . hear everything?"

"Um . . . no, I have to concentrate on what I want to hear. Why?"

"No reason," Laura said, her mind briefly drifting to that day in the tub so many months ago. "What else can you do?"

"I can turn into a cat." Laura raised an eyebrow. "A cat? I haven't heard of that being in the legends."

"Well, my mother didn't really stick to the script when she created the curse."

"What about food? I'm guessing you can eat human food since I've seen you do it several times." Carmilla nodded. "It does nothing for me though. Only blood satisfies my hunger."

"How often do you have to feed?"

"At least once a week," Carmilla answered. "But you haven't fed for weeks!" Laura exclaimed.

Carmilla gave a small nod. "Yeah that's right."

"Feed from me." Laura said with no trace of fear in her voice. Carmilla's eyes widened.

"N-no, I can't do that." Laura furrowed her brows not understanding why the vampire would turn her down.

"Why not?"

"Because I may hurt you. ." Carmilla said in a weak voice, lowering her head.

Laura put her fingers under Carmilla's chin and lifted, so she could look into her eyes. She blew out a long breath, "Carmilla you can't hurt me anymore than you already have." At her words Carmilla teared up again. She knew that Laura was still upset with her. How could she not be? She knew this and even still she had a small piece of hope in her left, to believe that Laura would forgive her.

Laura lifted her arm and held it up to the vampire's mouth, "After everything we have been through, your goal was always to protect me. I trust that you will not hurt me, now drink." Carmilla's eyes widened, and her eyes dropped to the lightly tanned skin of Laura's arm. Her eyes turned black for a moment before she blinked, and they were back to their normal dark brown.

"Whoa. ." Laura said under her breath. It probably wasn't meant to be audible but Carmilla heard it. She looked up into Laura's eyes. Laura placed her hand on the vampires wet cheek, "What did that dungeon do to you? Where is the tough, take no prisoners, knight that I knew?"

Carmilla leaned her head into the touch of Laura's hand and whispered out, "Lost." Carmilla contemplated her statement. She worked for hundreds of years to maintain her attitude of not caring about anything. Then the tiniest of princesses changed all that? Maybe I changed, Carmilla thought.

Suddenly out of no where Carmilla's eyes were black again and her fangs were not only out but in Laura's arm. Laura stifled a scream at the feeling of two sharp fangs piercing her arm, and the feeling of blood leaking from the punctured skin. Carmilla anchored herself to Laura's arm and made sure she kept conscious and did not let the bloodlust take over her better judgement. The princess brought her hand up and began to pet Carmilla's slightly damp hair while she drank. "I will help you find yourself again Carmilla." She said lowly, "But I need you to do something for me."

At this point Carmilla had enough blood, so she fought her inner demon and pulled away. She took a second to calm herself down, her eyes returned to their natural shade. She looked up into Laura's eyes, "I will do anything you ask of me." She said with a certain finality that sent a shiver down Laura's spine. "I need you to protect me with your life. I'm going to be Queen soon, and there's already been so many death threats. I need to be careful, you can understand that can't you?" Carmilla nodded, "Of course, I pledge my loyalty and sword to you m'lady." At that Laura chuckled a bit. "You don't have to be so formal." Carmilla looked down out of embarrassment, but saw that Laura's arm was still bleeding a bit, and that she was subtly trying to dip it into the water. Carmilla cupped her hands into the water and brought some up to pour over the girls arm. When all the blood was washed away Carmilla bit down on the tip of her finger, making it bleed. She held it up to Laura's mouth, "Drink this. It will heal your wound." Laura raised a brow, but sucked on Carmilla's finger nonetheless.

Carmilla found it within herself to ignore how utterly enticing that was. When Laura pulled away her eyes were wide and she looked down at her arm, watching the puncture holes close themselves up quickly. "That's amazing," she said with child-like wonder in her eyes. Thats one of the things that drew Carmilla to Laura, he amazement at simple things. She acknowledges that it must not be a simple thing to Laura, but to her it was.

Laura pulled her hand from Carmilla's head and grabbed the washcloth she was using before and gestured to Carmilla to turn around. The knight seemed a bit uneasy about it, but turned around anyways. The sight that greeted Laura was scars, hundreds of scars. Some were very deep and long. Others were smaller in size and not quite as deep. There was one that looked relatively new, not more than a few weeks Laura assumed.

The knight was fully aware of the reason Laura had not started to scrub her back yet. She was hideous, she knew that. She hadn't seen many of her scars, but she knew they existed. She felt Laura's fingers on her back as they began to trace the lines. "How?" She asked in a shaky voice. Carmilla cleared her throat, she felt like a lump had formed there. "Years of combat will do that to a person." Laura ran her fingers over the freshest one, the red line still felt soft under her fingers. Soft is not a word Laura imagined herself using relative to Carmilla but it seemed to fit. Laura realized something and furrowed her brows, "Where did you get this one?"

Carmilla let out the smallest of sighs. Should she lie? No, I need Laura's trust. "The guard. He took a sword, put it over a fire for several minutes, then came behind me and drove it into my back. He said a backstabber should feel what's it's like to get stabbed in the back." Laura cringed and set her jaw so hard she thought her teeth might chip. "Little did he know, I've been stabbed in the back enough to last me several lifetimes." Laura began to softly scrub at Carmilla's back, staying silent the entire time. "Can't believe he'd do that to you . ."

"Well, I did kill the king," Carmilla mumbled. "Still, the dungeon isn't suppose to be used for torture."

"Could've fooled me." Laura was taken aback by her words. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was chained up and starved. Seems like torture to me." Laura frowned a little. "Well . . . if you have been sent to the gallows, everyone would've found out that you weren't human. It would've ended up being worse for you," She explained. "Yeah . . . you have a point."

"There, I'm done." Laura put down the cloth and let Carmilla get out of the tub.

"Thanks, Laura . . for everything."

Laura walked over to her knight, raised up onto her tiptoes, and pressed her lips onto Carmilla's. She brought her own body closer to Carmilla's wet body. The kiss threw Carmilla off, but she hungrily kissed her back. She wrapped her arms around her, pulling her even closer. Something dawned on Carmilla though, and she pulled away from Laura. She had this overwhelming feeling that something was missing, though she couldn't quite place it. She held Laura back by her shoulders and gave her a once over.

It hit her like a ton of bricks.

She focused her hearing on Laura's stomach and was horrified at what she heard.

Nothing.

A/n

Synucian: Myfingerswannacry.

CarmillaIsLifee: ^ Wonder why your fingers hurt so bad ;D

tortaplz: RIP Syn's fingers