A/N: Thanks to LostinLove97, sabrina bayonet and Jaxton for their reviews on Chapter Nine.
Also, for those of you who have been asking- this is an all human AU. No vampires or werewolves here folks.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter!
In no way is Carmilla Karnstein perfect.
But when she calls you after your last lecture to 'come and meet her in the quadrangle lawn' and you find her on a picnic rug, with an assortment of delicious sugary food, you find it hard to remember that she's not entirely perfect.
Looking up from a copy of Catch 22, she smiles at you as you draw nearer.
You realise that perhaps what you felt for her before was only puppy love, a limited love based on an idealised Carmilla that did not exist.
But you see her now. You understand her and you think she understands you.
This is particularly clear when she offers you a packet of cookies without a word upon seeing your face.
She knows just what to do to make me feel better…
You'd had a particularly bad lecture, in which your jerkface Professor had decided to "volunteer" you to answer a question you did not know the answer to. You didn't understand why people who were supposed to love sharing knowledge, insisted on doing that.
And you hated not knowing things, it made you feel like you were a failure, that you were letting your Dad down.
And so, you gratefully take a cookie from Carmilla and place your head on her lap, loving the feeling of her all over you, using her presence to wash away your bad day.
Her fingers begin to comb through your hair gently and the two of you pause in silence to soak in the beauty of the warm summer's day.
"I know how stressed you get about everything because of your Dad…" Carmilla eventually murmurs, her hands still tangled in your hair.
You remain silent, still chewing your cookie in contentment.
Eventually you sigh.
"It's just a lot of pressure sometimes being an only chil-" You break off abruptly, cursing your insensitivity. Carmilla had lost her brother and you were whining about being alone?
You look down at the cookie in your hand, completely ashamed of yourself.
If cookies could talk, this one would be disgusted with me.
But Carmilla leans down and gently kisses you on the mouth (she tastes like cookies and chocolate) and she murmurs into your lips:
"It's ok cupcake. You can tell me anything."
And it's another one of those perfect moments that you have been having so many of with her.
(You don't know that they cannot last forever, this being your first time in love. But you will enjoy day after perfect day whilst it lasts, naïve girl that you sometimes are. Until, of course, a storm disrupts it all.)
"Carmilla? Is that you?" A soft, female voice draws you out of a daydream involving Carmilla and a large quantity of chocolate.
"Elle?" Carmilla goes rigid, something closing off inside her as she leans away from you slightly. Her fingers, still intertwined with yours, tighten with painful intensity.
You're not surprised that someone has recognised Carmilla, she is working on her doctorate in a nearby university after all.
What is surprising, however, is the look of mutual disgust on both women's faces.
"Are you completely serious Elle? Are you an utter lackwit? You have the audacity, the nerve, to come up to me while I'm with my girlfriend on a fucking date, after you dumped me when my mother and brother died. What the fuck is wrong with you?"
You appraise Elle again, your face mirroring the disgust on Carmilla's face.
How could anyone abandon her, when she needed them so desperately?
Carmilla's apparent ex-girlfriend responds with equal vigour, tossing her curly blonde hair over her shoulder dramatically.
"Yeah, I don't know Carmilla. Maybe it was because of all those girls you were screwing on the side while you were 'grieving." Her voice is really starting to grate on you, and you feel your hands clenching into fists. You knew Carmilla would never do something like that, would never cheat. Ever.
"I'm sorry Elle, but those 'girls' were just fictitious creations of your paranoid, asshole mind."
"Oh- I'm the asshole you freaking MONSTER-"
At Elle's words, Carmilla makes a tiny, hurt sound in the back of her throat that you never, ever want to hear again. And at that, you can be silent no longer. You'd been shocked by the sudden appearance of Elle, caught in a stupor, and so had been uncharacteristically silent. You were all for letting Carmilla fight her own battles, but this had gone too far.
And so you stand up, squaring your shoulders and placing your tiny body between Carmilla and Elle.
Carmilla remains on the picnic rug, glaring at a red thread and picking at it with a dark expression.
You enunciate very clearly to Elle, desperately resisting the urge to punch her right in the mole on her cheek.
Deep breaths Laura- in and out, in and out…
"Elle, I appreciate that you have some unresolved 'issues' with my girlfriend, and that must be really hard for you. But you are not. Thinking. Rationally. And you need to leave."
You're proud of how calmly you managed to say it, even though your entire body is trembling with suppressed rage.
Elle folds her arms and glares at you.
She steps uncomfortably close and whispers right into your face, spraying you with garlic smelling spittle.
"I'm doing you a favour, Carmilla's ex-toy to Carmilla's current toy." Her voice is high-pitched and girlish, much like Umbridge's from Harry Potter and you experience a deep wave of utter and complete hatred for the girl in front of you.
Carmilla gets up then as you glare back at Elle, moving to stand beside you. She drapes her arm around you, pulling you closer to her and smirking, her trademark sardonic smirk.
"And yet, Elle dearest," she drawls out in a low rasp, "You still miss our little…fling…"At this, Carmilla kisses your neck gently.
(Of course you melt into her- but not for long. You have a girlfriend to defend, and you must maintain Constant Vigilance.)
Elle seems to swell like a toad at Carmilla's words (the resemblance to Umbridge is uncanny) and she tosses her hair once more.
She directs her words to you, ignoring the overly affectionate Carmilla entangled in you.
"Look. I know you think that you're special- but Carmilla Karnstein is fucked up. You should stay the hell away from her, because she is just a screwed up, inhuman, MONS-"
She'd been tossing her hair throughout her rant and it was that that pushed you over the edge.
You lunge forward, out of Carmilla's embrace and you punch Elle. In the face. Hard.
You've been taking Krav Maga your whole life and your technique is pretty much perfect. Elle is going to be getting one hell of a bruise around that stupid mole of hers.
You allow yourself to feel smug for a fraction of a second before time unfreezes and you realise with dawning horror what you have just done.
You've PUNCHED someone.
Oh no oh no oh no oh no…
Everything comes rushing back in vivid technicolour as you watch Elle slowly fall down to the ground, clutching her cheek in utter shock and looking up at you with tears in her eyes.
Beside you, Carmilla is doubled over in mirthless laughter. Normally you love to hear her laugh, but now is not the time.
"Oh God. I punched someone. I'm a criminal now. I'm a felon- what is WRONG with me? Oh God Carm, I'm going to go to prison and get a prison wife-" You're on the verge of hysterics and Carmilla manages to calm down enough to pat you comfortingly on the shoulder.
You begin to look around the quad, to see who might have seen you commit the heinous crime. But shockingly, no one is even looking your way. They've all somehow missed the argument, absorbed in studying for final exams.
Maybe, just maybe you won't go to prison and become Piper Chapman from Orange is the New Black.
Carmilla's hand on your shoulder anchors you as Elle begins to splutter:
"Lawsuit…I'll sue…you can't…"
In a sudden motion, Carmilla kneels beside Elle. She whispers something in the blonde's ear, causing the girl to pale considerably, before straightening and walking briskly towards you.
"C'mon Laura. Let's go. Quick."
She grasps your elbow firmly and the two of you power walk out of the quadrangle, leaving a crying Elle and a picnic in your wake.
And then the two of you are running, hand in hand, and laughing and laughing- because life is so odd, so strange, so wonderful and you love it so much, love her so much; you could run with her forever and a day and never get bored.
You eventually reach your apartment, both of you panting and laughing as you collapse through the door and onto your couch.
"Cupcake. I cannot believe you punched someone for me. You are so much more badass then I thought."
"Hey. I can be badass when I want to be." You raise an eyebrow and mock glare at her.
Carmilla laughs and then reaches forward to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.
"O-Okay, to show your undying gratitude for my defence of you, you have to watch Doctor Who with me." You splutter out.
Carmilla rolls her eyes, but then looks down at her hands, fidgeting slightly.
"Creampuff. Thank you. And I hope you didn't believe any of those things she said."
Now it's your turn to roll your eyes as you grab her hand and intertwine your fingers.
"Let's just watch Doctor Who already, you useless lesbian."