Shattered Innocence Ch. 12

Emily is now sitting on a hospital bed with Carmilla in a chair not far from her.

While waiting for the doctor, the young Seraphim is currently messing around with her new phone and the Carmine finds herself smiling every time Emily discovers something new she could do with the device. The woman figures that the girl could use one in case she gets separated from her or Clara and Odette.

"I can play games on here!?" she beams while bringing up a tap and swipe game. "What can't these things do?"

Carmilla chuckles at this reaction.

The door opens and a Sinning Woman with large elephant-like ears walks in. "Hello. I'm Dr. Drums."

"Hi!" the disguised angel puts away the device. "I'm Emily."

"Nice to meet you, Emily," the Doctor opens a folder. "Now according to this, you're a recently arrived Sinner. So, we don't have much on you as far as your health. Is there anything I should know before we start?"

"Um…" Emily glances at Carmilla, wondering how much she should tell the doctor. Receiving a nod, the Seraphim takes a deep breath and turns back to Dr. Drums. "I am a new arrival but I'm not actually a Sinner. Nor am I demon for that matter," she brings out her broken wings. "I'm an angel."

The Doctor stared dumbfounded a couple times before her brows narrowed. "Nope! Nope! Not treating a f(bleep)ing angel! You know how many friends I've lost to your f(bleep)ing kind!"

Emily slumps and her wings droop as the physician continued her abusive language.

Just as Dr. Drums was about to say another insult, she is stopped by a hand placed on her shoulder.

"Emily," Carmilla calls out. "Wait here while I have word with the kind doctor."

The two women then exits the room.

"I'm not treating an angel. No matter how much you pay. I don't even care that your and Over—" a hand is wrapped around the doctor's throat as she is slammed against the door.

"Listen here," the venom in the Overlord's voice seeps out. "Emily has nothing to do with the Extermination. In fact, she's down here because she was against it," her grip tightens around the frightened Sinner. "Now then, I rather not get my hands dirty, but I love that girl. She hasn't been feeling well and I just want to make sure she's okay. So, you're going to go in there, check her out, and then run every test imaginable. And I want you to contact me as soon as the results come in. Am I clear?"

Dr. Drums nods her head.

"Good!"

.oOo.

The door to the penthouse opens and as the Carmine and Angel enters, Carmilla calls out "We're home!"

The Carmine sisters then walk up to them. Odette's usual neutral face being betrayed by the smirk she's failing to hide, and Clara is not bothering to hide her excitement while holding her hands behind her back.

"So…" Clara trails off while leaning towards Emily. "How was the appointment?"

The young Seraphim blinks, wondering what's gotten into them. "It went well," she smiles. "The doctor said that I am perfectly healthy. As I've been insisting. But she still wanted to run some tests. Which I'm sure will come back okay as well."

"That's good," Odette tells them, and the sisters continue smiling.

Carmilla got suspicious of them and questioningly glared. "What are two you up to?"

The puffy-haired Carmine walks up to her mother and pulls out an envelope from behind and presents it to the matriarch. "After we… parked the van I found this on the floor. Figured it was important, so I grabbed it," Clara's smile brightens. "But had no idea it was this."

The Arms Dealer accepted the envelope but already knew what it was. "You looked inside?"

"Yeah!" Clara beams.

Odette simply nods. "Sorry for invading your privacy, Mom. We were curious. And for the record. Clara looked inside. I merely peeked over her shoulder."

Clara puts her hands on her hips. "Way to throw my under the bus!"

The sisters then turned back to Emily, smiling even brighter.

The angel just looks between the three Carmines. "What's going on?"

Carmilla sighs. "Let's sit down. There's something I've been meaning to talk over with you."

The matriarch leads the seraphim into the living room and the sisters followed. Emily sits on the couch with Carmilla taking a seat beside her. Clara and Odette each take a nearby chair.

"Emily," Carmilla starts. "I've been taking care of you for some time now and you are more than a guest to us," she turns to the sisters who nod in agreement, both eager for what's about to come. "The other day, when you told me about your encounter with Velvette, I became afraid that you nearly unknowingly sold your soul. I want to give you an option to prevent that from happening and there's only two ways to do that," she holds up a finger. "One is that you cannot sell your soul if someone else already owns it."

Emily's hand flies up to her chest. "You want me to sell you my soul?" her hand then clenches. "If you think it's for the best then I'm okay with it."

"No! That's not what I want," the woman tells her. "There is another way. We Overlords had form various pacts over time. All to prevent us from lashing out at one another. Rules such as that we cannot do our business in another's territory and nor can we obtain souls from an Overlord's family."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Emily," Carmilla hands her the envelope. "This is an adoption form."

"Adoption?" Emily opens it and reads over the paper. "You want to adopt me?" and looks at the woman in disbelief.

The Overlord nods. "I do."

"But wouldn't I be old to be adopted?"

Odette speaks up. "It may be unusual, but an adult adoption is not unheard of. It is quite common among those without a family to grow close to one and they wish to join their family. Without marrying into them anyway."

"I don't want to push you into this," Carmilla places a hand on the angel's shoulder. "I just want you to know that the option is here."

Emily glances at the woman before looking down at the form. "I, I need some time to think about it."

Carmilla closes her eyes while nodding. "I understand."

.oOo.

Emily is now sitting at the desk in Clara's room looking over the adoption form. Thinking really hard about what she wants. This, a family, is something she thought she lost after Falling and would never have again.

The Seraphim then grabs a pen and paper and paper and starts jotting something down.

.oOo.

Carmilla is disturbed from her slumber as her phone goes off. With a growl, the woman answers the device. "What is it!? This better be good?..." she then calms down. "Ugh! Dr. Drums? When I told you to contact me as soon as the results came in I didn't mean for you to call me in the middle of the night…" the woman sits up and runs a hand over her face. "No. You might as well give it to me…" the sleep disappears from her at the news she receives. "What!? Are you absolutely certain?... I should have noticed…" she covers her face. "Yes! Go ahead and send them to me. Thank you, Dr. Drums," the Overlord hangs up.

The Carmine sits there for a while, debating whether or not to tell Emily now, or wait until the morning. But this news stirs turmoil within the woman and knows that the longer she waits, the more hesitant she becomes to tell the angel and jumps out of bed.

The woman opens the door, and as soon as she steps out she notices a crinkling noise. Looking down, Carmilla finds an envelope under her foot. She picks it, opens it, and sees that it's the adoption form, signed.

This causes the Overlord to smile at the sight of Emily's signature. Then, she notices the presence of a second page and finds a letter.

Carmill. Or Mom?

I'm actually not sure what to call you.

But I love the idea of being family with you and Odette and Clara.

But as family I feel the need to do whatever it takes to save you.

I'll be gone for a few days, but I swear I'll be back as soon as I can.

Hopefully your eternal damnation will come to an end.

Love, your daughter, Emily.

"Emily!" Carmilla shouted as she ran down the hall and towards Clara's room. "Emily!" as soon as the door flew open, the woman finds it empty.

"Mom?" Clara calls out as she and Odette walks into her room. "What's going on?"

The spectacled Carmine looks around the room. "And where's Emily?"

"Gone!"

"Gone?" both sisters questioned.

"Yes! Gone!" the Matriarch shows them the letter. "Something about saving us and ending our damnation! What would have given her that idea!?"

The sisters' eyes widened, glanced at one another, and Clara reveals, "Sir Pentious' delivery was at the Habin Hotel."

"What!?"

Odette nods. "She appeared to have hit it off well with the princess and seemed to like the idea of redemption."

The woman walks past the sisters. "We have to get her!"

"We can't," Clara tells her. "That's currently Alastor's territory."

"To Hell with that Radio Bastard!" Carmilla snaps while not bothering doing anything other than putting a coat over her nightgown. "She signed the papers. She's my daughter! Your sister! And the pact clearly states that he can't interfere with family!" she opens the door.

"Unless she went willingly," the spectacled sister speaks up causing her mother to freeze while holding the door open. "If that happens and he accepts her as his guest then there's nothing we can do except wait until she gets back. Otherwise, just barging in there would be the equivalent of declaring war against him and the others would be divided. I'm sorry, Mom."

Carmilla shuts the door before turning to her daughters and even though she's always had two daughters, the fact that there's only two now unnerved her. The woman then hugs them and for the first time in a very, very long time, she finds herself praying. Praying that everything will turn out for the best.