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Her dad wouldn’t like this. Danny wouldn’t like this. Hell, she didn’t like this. Laura knew it was late and that this probably wasn’t one of her better ideas, but she did it anyway. She looked up at the full moon, the only source of light right now. She felt like a rebel.
Screw them. I can take care of myself.
It was late, but not that late. She’d seen a few people still roaming around campus on her way to the Summer Society house. She had wanted to talk to Danny for some time now and figured delivering a book she once lent from her would be the perfect excuse to come see her.
It was a Sunday night and Laura was done with her video for the day. Not much had happened lately, so she didn’t have much to talk about. She didn’t have plans either. Carmilla had left for the night, doing god knows what. Not that they spent much time together anyway. She pushed away that thought immediately because it made her kind of sad and she didn’t want to explain that notion to herself.
So Laura had made up her mind and headed out to see Danny. She missed her more than she had expected, and the thought of possibly seeing her tonight made her feel like bats had taken residence in her stomach.
But the girl answering the door when she had knocked told her Danny wasn’t in right now. She didn’t know where she was or when she was getting home either. Apparently she was doing that a lot lately. “You don’t have to worry. She always comes home sooner or later. “ Laura worried anyway. She scolded herself for not calling before walking there. She asked the girl to give the book to Danny and headed back. At least she’ll know I was there.
As she found herself at a distance from the Summer Society, the walk back to her dorm seemed longer than usual and the moon did not provide as much light as she would’ve preferred. That rebel feeling was slowly fading and her ears became a lot more sensitive to any sound. She suddenly felt very alone. The wind was swirling leaves everywhere and the people walking around earlier seemed to have left.
Crack
What the hell was that? Laura turned and looked over her shoulder. Nothing. It was probably the wind again or a branch falling. There was a lot of forest around campus and small patches of trees in between buildings. The particular pathway she was on now was close to the woods where the Summer Society usually hunted. It made sense that their house was located near it. Laura found herself wishing more lights were put up around this damn school. People walked here, goddammit!
She turned her head back and kept walking, now a lot faster than she had been when heading the other way.
Something moved in her side vision and she turned in that direction, her heart thumping in her chest. Was that… Smoke? No. It was gone so fast she was sure she imagined it. She kept walking even faster. Her breath was now coming in short gasps. And then she saw it. A silhouette backing into the trees a bit longer up the pathway. She stopped in her tracks.
She knew there was no point in hiding. They had already seen her, probably followed her all the way. Why did she think this was a good idea? She was probably going to die here. Her dad would never know what happened to her. He would blame himself for letting her go to Silas.
The silhouette had disappeared into the trees and she had no idea where they were. She was so scared. She could feel her heart beating, her chest heaving and her palms sweating. No, I’m not going to just stand here. What would LaF do? Show no weakness.
“I know you’re there! I saw you. If you’re going to kill me, you might as well just come out right now! I know Krav Maga!”
“Relax, Cutie. It’s just me,” a low voice said behind her.
Laura gasped and jumped, then turned around, suddenly face to face with non-other than Carmilla.
“Jesus Christ, Carm! You can’t just do something like that! I thought I was going to die.” She pushed her shoulder. Carmilla didn’t budge. It just made Laura stumble back a few steps.
“Why would I kill you? You haven’t done me anything wrong. Except for tying me up that one time, but it’s not like I haven’t tried that before,” Carmilla said and winked. That would’ve made Laura blush if she hadn’t been so riled up.
“No, I just… I didn’t know it was you.”
“Who did you think it was then?” Carmilla said with a slight smirk. Apparently this was amusing to her.
Laura didn’t really have an answer to that. “I don’t know. Just someone. Something. Whatever. It isn’t really nice to sneak up on people like that.”
“I just thought you needed help. That’s all.”
“Help? From what? Wait, were you following me?” That didn’t sit quite well with her.
“No, I just…” Carmilla sighed, her face softening. “I heard your heartbeat. I recognized it. And then I smelled you.”
“You smelled me?” Also, recognized her heartbeat. How did that work?
“Hello? Vampire!” Carmilla pointed at herself. “We kind of do that. It’s not like I was looking for you. I was on my way back to the dorm and then I heard your heartbeat and caught your scent.” She ignored the look Laura gave her. “And I smelled fear. Your heart was pounding and you were scared. So I followed your scent and when I found you walking alone I checked around for threats, but there were none. You were only scared of the dark. But then you saw me because I wasn’t being very careful and I kind of just made it worse. Sorry about that.”
What in the world was happening here? At what point did Carmilla start saying sorry for her actions? And why was she looking out for her? Laura was very confused, but actually grateful. She immediately felt a lot safer with the vampire by her side. Which was probably not a normal or smart thing to feel, but with Carmilla she did.
“I um… Thanks. That was actually pretty nice of you.” Laura gave her a little smile.
“You say that like it’s a surprise. You don’t think I can be nice?” Carmilla’s eyebrow raised and that familiar smirk was back.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I can count on one hand the times you’ve been nice to me.” Laura knew it probably was more than that, but she felt like teasing her. Now that she could relax, it was easier to bring the conversation to a more playful tone. They had been doing that a lot lately. It felt natural.
“Uh huh, I see. Apparently I have to step up my game. You should have seen me back in the day. I was quite the gentlewoman.”
Laura opened her mouth to reply when a loud howl, not too far from them by the sound of it, echoed through the woods. She turned her head towards the sound and forgot what she was going to say. Wolves were not rare around here and she had heard them before, but it still made her shudder.
“She’s early tonight,” Carmilla mumbled and looked towards the sky.
“Huh?” Laura didn’t quite get that.
Carmilla quickly brought her eyes back down and shook her head. “Nothing.”
She lifted up her right hand, which Laura only now noticed held a white plastic bag, and shook it a bit.
“I got cookies and more cocoa.”
“You what?” Laura couldn’t believe her ears.
“I figured since I ate up the last of yours, I should go get more.” Carmilla shrugged.
Laura looked at her in disbelief. Was the vampire being genuinely kind right now? Did she actually spend her night to go out and get cookies and cocoa for her?
She studied the vampire’s eyes, searching for a sign that this was a joke. They were so beautiful. Carmilla was so beautiful. Her long, wavy hair slightly ruffled by the wind and her red lips that were moving. Moving? Why were they moving?
“Laura!” Carmilla waved a hand in front of her. “Are you okay?”
Laura blinked. She said my name. “Uh, I’m sorry. I kinda spaced for a moment there.” She cleared her throat. It felt slightly constricted.
“I think we should get back to our dorm. We both know this school is screwed up and I’d feel a lot better if we were safe in your- Our. Our beds right now. Maybe we could watch one of those movies you love so much, huh Creampuff?” Carmilla leaned in a bit closer. “But not one that’s too sappy. I think you’ll get enough sweets tonight.” Their lips were almost touching. And then Carmilla spun around and started walking towards the dorms.
Laura stood there silent and wondered what the hell just happened. Did she just flirt-
“Hey, Cutie! Are you coming? I can hear your heartbeat speeding up. Are you scared again?”
No. She definitely wasn’t scared.