Chapter Text
“Laura, wake up, we’re here.”
Danny looks over at her adorably unconscious companion and smiles for the first time today. Truth be told, she hasn’t been able to relax since the moment Laf unceremoniously announced Laura’s roommate was a vampire.
She blames herself for not noticing—her instincts should have picked up on it right away. Unfortunately, she had assumed her immediate disliking of Carmilla was for…other reasons. Reasons that are curled up in the passenger seat of her truck, slumbering.
Sighing, Danny reaches over and gently shakes Laura’s shoulder. “Hey, wake up you doofus, I said we’re here.” Laura stirs uneasily and moans, a frown creasing her forehead. Danny’s stomach twists as she realizes what Laura is probably dreaming about, and all the implications that holds.
The overwhelming need to fix it washes over her, and she unbuckles both their seatbelts before jumping out of the car. She lurches unsteadily across the snow until she makes it to Laura’s side. Opening the door, she is greeted by a falling mound of pillows, blankets, and somewhere in there, her girlfriend.
Maybe girlfriend—she doesn’t really know what they are. It doesn’t matter anyway: rushing things will only turn out badly, she reminds herself as she catches the slowly tipping pile of limbs she would do anything for.
The frozen air reaches Laura and penetrates her exhaustion, rousing her from her bad dream. “Wha—hm?” She mumbles against Danny’s chest. “I wasn’t asleep, I swear.” Danny sighs affectionately and awkwardly pulls her the rest of the way out of the car.
“Come on, kiddo, let’s get you inside.” Since Laura is clearly still too sleep-dazed to carry herself anywhere, Danny sweeps her up into her arms and makes her way to the cabin porch, trailing blankets and cookie crumbs the whole way.
Five minutes later, she has managed to bang her way inside and deposit her…friend onto the couch before heading back outside. The carrying in and depositing part had only taken two minutes. The other three had been spent trying to extricate herself from a very clingy, and surprisingly strong for being half-asleep, Laura.
Danny breathes the sharp air heavily as she leans against the wooden railing. She is ready to collapse. Ever since that night she has been nothing but worry. That night. She can still feel the way the panic rose in her throat when she got Laura’s text:
Come quick. Stuck in library. Bring fire extinguisher.
And things had only gone downhill from there.
Carmilla and blood in the milk container. Carmilla and super strength. Carmilla and not aging. Carmilla and girls disappearing. Carmilla and seduction eyes.
Stupid vampire seduction eyes aimed at her roommate, a tiny, trusting, brave journalism major who makes everything in this screwed up world seem worth dealing with. Yeah, there is no way Danny is going to let anything hurt her, especially not some foul, evil, soulless, vampire.
She bares her teeth at the thought of Carmilla alone in a room with a helpless Laura. She is some twisted creature out for blood, and they’re going to put a stop to it. Danny’s phone buzzes suddenly, startling her. She digs inside her coat before managing to pull it loose, almost dropping it in the process. She curses her numb fingers and angrily pokes the screen to life.
Crap. It’s from Perry.
Did you make it to the cabin yet? Because I had Laf do the math and they said you should be at the cabin by now, but you said you would let us know when you got there and you haven’t contacted us. Please respond.
She sighs for about the twentieth time today and types a quick response.
Sorry. We just arrived. I’ll keep you updated.
Normally she doesn’t text in full sentences but she knows Perry gets irritated by bad grammar, even over text, and she is worried enough. Danny can almost hear her anxious tone, and feels bad for forgetting to alert them right away. Although, it hasn’t exactly been long since they got there.
Putting her phone away, the redhead is hit by the fact that they actually made it off the campus. She had felt so sure something was going to go wrong and they wouldn’t be able to get Laura away, even to the last second.
But here they are, in a cabin so remote even Carmilla’s super senses can’t track down. She hopes. That’s the heart of her fear, Danny muses while slowly picking up the blanket debris lying on the icy ground. What would they do if someone finds them?
They can’t. The whole plan relies on no one being able to find Laura and Danny. That’s why she went to all this trouble, refusing to tell even Laf and Perry the exact location of this cabin. It has belonged to her family for generations, and the whole point of the cabin back when it was being built was to avoid people.
So they’ll be fine, she reassures herself. No one will find them. Laura will get better now that she’s away from whatever that awful vampire was doing to her. And, while she’s recovering, Laf and Perry will figure out everything they can about the missing girls.
“We will win, and we will save Laura,” Danny whispers aloud, firmly shutting the passenger door of her truck. She ignores the voice in her head that whispers back “but what if you can’t?”
“We will.”
She heads back inside wearily. One look to confirm that Laura is (now more peacefully) asleep on the couch, and then Danny crashes into her old bedroom and lets sleep taker her. Everything else can wait until the morning.
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There is a voice, calling Laura. She smiles. It’s so beautiful. It sounds upset though…why is it upset? It tells her it’s because she’s not there. She’s gone away. Vaguely, Laura knows this. She tries to explain to the voice why she left, but she can’t quite remember. The voice calls harder. She needs to come back. She can feel the urgency, and her heart breaks at the thought of disappointing whoever has such a lovely voice. She tries to walk toward the voice, but she can’t feel her legs. The voice is getting more distant. She can’t give up.
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Danny isn’t sure what woke her up, but she instantly knows something is wrong. It’s cold and too quiet. She bolts into the hallway and sees that the front door is hanging wide open, letting in small flakes of snow. Peeking around the corner, she sees that Laura’s not on the couch anymore.
“Laura? Are you getting stuff from the car?” She asks while stepping forward. There’s no response. Adrenaline starting to rise, Danny leaps to the porch and looks out, desperately hoping to see Laura unpacking her duffel bag of clothes. No sign of her.
By this point Danny is well on her way to panic, but she forces herself to take in the situation calmly. There’s no sign of struggle. Even all the blankets are still on the couch, albeit very messily. Like someone got up without bothering to untangle herself first, not like someone was forcibly dragged away.
Her brain racing, Danny thinks of everything she knows about vampires from books and the internet while getting dressed. The dreams, the tiredness, the party attitude… sleepwalking? Is that a symptom of a nightly visitor? She thinks so, but she she isn’t sure enough to be confident. It’s better than nothing, but she curses her hazy memory.
After stomping outside, she scans the landscape for signs of where Laura might have gone. Time is of the essence. Based on the light dusting let in by the open door, it hasn’t been more than a few minutes, but it’s well below freezing outside, and Laura’s shoes are still inside. Danny wants to scream at herself for taking them off when she brought Laura inside.
“I should have remembered the sleepwalking was bound to happen when we took her away. I should have locked the door. I’m an idiot, I forgot to even lock the freaking door, I knew something would go wrong—” she cuts herself off.
As much as she wants to berate herself for failing so miserably, now is not the time. She needs to focus on getting Laura back. She takes a deep breath. Focus. You can do this. First: which direction did she go in?
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Objectively, Danny finds her remarkably quickly, but to her, every second is an eternity too long. She actually shouts with relief when she sees Laura propped up against a tree, weakly trying to push herself forward. She approaches her with caution, however.
Laura’s eyes are closed, so she must still be asleep. She’s dressed in her tank top and sweatpants from the day before, which is fine in a heated car, but awful for a pre-dawn hike in snowy woods. Her socks are soaked, in fact, everything is soaked. She looks like she’s fallen down several times, but kept going.
“Laura, honey, please wake up,” Danny says with quiet desperation, hesitantly touching her shoulder. It’s cold as ice. Tears well up in her eyes, but she forces them back. Not now. “Laura,” she calls, louder this time but just as softly, “You’re dreaming, wake up.” Laura mutters something and her eyes flutter. Danny shakes her shoulder lightly.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she cries suddenly, opening her eyes. They slowly focus on her friend. “Danny? Where, where are we? I’m so c-c-cold,” she chatters out. Danny sighs a quick breath of relief, but she knows they aren’t safe yet. She needs to get Laura back to the warm cabin immediately and assess the damage. Hypothermia is very real, and she’ll be damned if she got Laura away from a vampire just to lose her to something like this.
She bends down and hugs Laura around her torso. “Put your arms around my neck and wrap your legs about me.” Laura has slipped back into the fog of whatever supernatural sleep is haunting her, so she complies clumsily and without urgency. At least, Danny hopes it’s the dream symptoms and not the cold.
With Laura attached to her front like a toddler, she makes her way back to the cabin carefully but as fast as she can. She holds Laura so tightly she can feel her heartbeat. It feels small. Laura feels small.
Normally she gives off the impression of being taller than she is, but when Danny is carrying her like this, she realizes just how tiny and fragile she is. Her pace increases.
Soon, the cabin is in sight, and from there she is all but running. She forces her way through the door without dropping her package, and carries Laura to the bedroom. She tears off her boots while Laura stands there, shivering lightly. She needs to warm Laura up.
Danny snaps into automatic mode. Laura’s wet clothes are a big no. She starts with her socks, then hesitates. Laura is zoning out, muttering to herself about a pretty voice, or something like that. Her voice isn’t slurred, so it looks like her daze is because of vampire dreamland, not hypothermia.
Danny carefully reaches for the bottom of her tank top and peels it upward, guiding her arms up and pulling it all the way off. Thankfully, Laura is wearing a bra, but Danny can’t help but notice the high amount of exposed skin. She avoids looking up and instead focuses on the sweatpants.
Oh God. Danny feels herself getting red. This is a medical emergency. Control your damn hormones and take off her pants before she freezes, Lawrence! She closes her eyes and steels herself. “I’m sorry.”
Danny wants to throw up at how wrong it feels. Laura is giggling lightly while swaying a bit unsteadily. It’s like she’s taking advantage of a drunk girl. Her stomach roils horribly at the thought, and she quickly wraps a light blanket around the unconcerned girl, kicking her clothes into a pile
“Alright, I think you’re going to be okay. Into bed, come on, let’s go.” Danny strips off her own outermost layers and climbs under the covers with Laura, who appears to be waking up and realizing how cold she is. She snuggles up to Danny from within her little blanket burrito, and Danny puts her arms around her.
“You’re so warm and cuddly,” Laura mutters appreciatively, and Danny goes red again. “You’re like a big giant puppy, you know that?”
“Go home, Hollis. You’re drunk.”
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It’s late morning when Danny wakes up. Her arm is around something soft and warm—LAura. Danny jerks out of the bed like it’s on fire. She takes a deep breath. Then another one. She’s fine. She looks up, and sees Laura, still asleep in her bed. Danny’s bed. Laura Hollis. She’s not fine.
“Contain your gay for one second,” she whispers angrily, brushing hair out of her face while trying to get her heartbeat back to normal. “We shared body heat because she was dangerously cold. She was also under the vampiric influence. Your thoughts are not cool.” She feels herself starting to cool down. Just breathe.
Danny goes to make breakfast. Pancakes and coffee, that’s what they need. They made it to the cabin, and now they can just focus on getting Laura better. She's calm again. A little later, she hears movement in the other room as Laura wakes up.
“Danny?”
“I’m in the kitchen.”
“Why am I half-naked in your bed?”
Danny almost spills pancake batter on herself. “You went sleepwalking last night and your clothes were soaked. Sorry,” she calls out. There’s some thumping from the other room.
“Oh.” More thumping, then quiet footsteps in the hall. “Danny?” Laura says softly, now at the entryway to the kitchen. Danny turns around while sipping her coffee, then promptly chokes on it.
Laura is wearing one of Danny’s sweaters, and that appears to be the only thing she is wearing. Due to the size difference, it covers her like a short, baggy dress, but still, the redhead is completely unprepared for this turn of events. She sputters and coughs viciously, trying unsuccessfully to breathe.
“Don’t laugh! My clothes from yesterday are still soaked, and I was going to ask you to get the rest from the car outside,” she pouts. Yeah, Danny thinks, I wasn’t laughing. She keeps that little nugget to herself, however, and offers a weak apology between gasps.
“I’m sorry, you just look like a toddler in that.” Not true at all. “But yeah, I’ll go get your clothes, that’s my fault.” She brushes past her quickly so she can’t see her expression. The cold air helps as she tries to think of anything but Laura’s thighs peeking from under her shirt.
After changing into real clothes, Laura pops back into the room. “So, what’s this I hear about me sleepwalking?” She’s trying to keep her tone casual, but Danny can hear the deep fear hidden behind it. She can’t even imagine what it must feel like to have your mind being taken over against your will.
Laura has been suffering from the onslaught of a vampire for a while now. She must feel awful, and Danny is hit by the memory of everything that’s her fault. They’ve been here for less than twelve hours and she’s already screwed up so much.
“Yeah, sleepwalking. Just another effect of the unearthly, like the nightmares.” She rubs her forehead fiercely.
“God, I should have known this was going to happen. Logically, the only reason it wasn’t happening before is because there was no need for you to go anywhere since you were already bunking with FangFace. So obviously, when she found out you were gone she wanted to make you come to her and I should have known—” her voice has been rising in hysteria and now it breaks.
“I should have—”
“Hey,” Laura soothes, moving closer and hugging her with one arm, “it’s okay. No one could have seen this coming. You’re doing the best you can. I know that.” Her voice is so soft, Danny wants to sink into it and let herself be reassured. But she shouldn’t be the one being reassured, she needs to be there for Laura, not the other way around.
“It’s not okay. I’m supposed to protect you, that’s my job. There’s no one else here to protect you, Laf and Perry are still at campus because they need to figure out where the missing girls went and I can’t even lock the door to the damn cabin!”
Frustrated tears start to fall down her face, and before she can rub them into oblivion Laura’s other hand is at her face. She carefully wipes them away, and Danny can’t help but to lean into her touch.
“Look at me, Danny.” She obliges, and finds herself captivated by Laura’s sure expression. “Of course something was going to go wrong. We aren’t exactly experts in the paranormal, no matter how much Laf believes in the illuminati.” Danny snorts despite herself.
“Think of it this way: we got our big mistake out of the way. I kept feeling so nervous, like I knew something was going to go wrong. Well, we weren’t counting for sleepwalking. It went all wrong. But, you got me back. We’ll be ready for it next time. We’ll be ready for whatever gets thrown at us. And we’ll get through it, I promise.”
Danny is crying harder at this point, but Laura’s small hand hasn’t stopped its wonderful work. She brushes away all her tears and hugs her to her shoulder, humming softly until she calms down.
This is part of why Danny loves her so much. She can’t explain it, but something about Laura just forces people to believe in her. Danny can’t think of another person she’s felt herself so drawn to. She grins against her tiny, fierce shoulder before straightening out.
“You know, you’re right, Hollis. This is only the beginning.”