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“You sure you want to do this, frosh?”
It was the fifth time LaF had asked since the two of them had started this endeavor, though this time the joking tone they had managed to keep throughout the last half hour had finally waned. They were finally letting their worry show, even as they poked and prodded at the juncture of Laura’s arm with gloved hands, needle lying on the table beside them.
“It’s a bit late to back out now, isn’t it?” Laura tried to keep her tone light, even as her muscles tensed the longer it took LaFontaine to fine a vein, her arm slowly turning numb from the rubber tie her friend had tied around her bicep. Pumping her fist, she kept her eyes on the ceiling- the wooden grains were more than enough to keep her distracted from the pointy metal object sitting next to her.
Not that she had an issue with needles or other sharp, pointy things, of course. It would have been a more than a little ironic if she had, considering who she was dating. But she’d never been fond of looking at them, no more than she enjoyed watching the blood fill the bag whenever she had donated at high school. Looking at either too long often lead to spells of light headedness as a slight panic took over, and considering LaF probably would never have continued if she passed out?
Much better to just stare at the swirls in the ceiling.
“Not really,” LaFontaine replied with a shrug, the tip of their tongue poking out between their lips as they rolled their finger across one particular spot again and again, flicking it a few times before nodding. “I only just found the vein, and it’s a bit deep. I’ll need to apply some heat to get it to the surface, so if you want, there’s still time. We can go raid Carmilla’s fridge and use one of her blood bags to make them. Or even just add milk, and make her a plate of normal fresh baked cookies with some red icing instead.”
When Laura had first brought the idea of baking ‘special’ cookies for Carmilla to LaFontaine, they had been skeptical it would even work. Neither of them were very good bakers to begin with, and blood and milk were two very different liquids with very different properties. The likelihood of this succeeding in any way, shape, or form was almost none. But LaF had been more than willing to try, if just to see what would happen when you mixed together basic ingredients, human blood, and baked it.
That is, they had been on board, all the way up until Laura had offered her own blood for the recipe. Then, while they had continued to help, they had been trying to turn her away from her plan for something that required less piercing of skin and collecting half a cup of blood in one of Perry’s measuring cups and more cookies that would be edible for all of them.
“LaF…” Laura let her voice trail off- she didn’t need to continue as LaFontaine just sighed and shook their head, checking the tube they had set up so Laura’s blood would drip into the miniature bowl, letting them keep an eye on how much they needed to draw for their experiment. Standing up, they grabbed a towel and held it over the kitchen sink, the faucet set on high so the steam dampened their skin, their hands held out of the way of the almost boiling water that flowed. It only took a few moments for the towel to be soaked, water dripping across the kitchen counter and onto the floor as they brought it over to her.
“Hold this onto your arm,” LaF said, dropping the wet towel into Laura’s hand. “I need to go melt the butter. If we’re going to do this, we need to do it quickly, or your blood won’t be good anymore. If it’s going to be good at all.”
It only took a couple minutes for them to be ready, the melted butter and partly whisked eggs sitting on top of the flour and Laura’s veins practically visible, perfect and ready for the needle LaFontaine had waiting. Setting the temperature on the oven, LaFontaine settled themselves back before Laura and wiped away the remaining dampness, their gloved hand finding the vein in almost an instant. Tearing the packaging on the needle that kept it sterile, LaFontaine asked one last time.
“You sure you want to do this?”
Fixing her gaze on one particular swirl, Laura swallowed hard and nodded, her hand clenching into a fist, nails digging into her palm.
She winced as the metal bit into her skin, a flash of red running through the tubing she could only just see out of the corner of her eye, dripping slowly into the metal measuring cup LaFontaine had set up. Shifting the needle slightly, LaF let out a pleased noise as the speed of the blood picked up, running quicker to pool where they needed it.
“There we go, Laura,” LaFontaine said soothingly, reaching forward to pat her knee. “Just a little bit more, and then we can see if your idea of crazy science is actually going to work. I gotta admit, frosh, if it does? You have the most hardcore way of saying ‘I love you.’”
“I do what I can,” Laura joked, slowly relaxing her muscles as the initial pain of the penetration began to fade, replaced by the general discomfort that always accompanied the drawing of blood. For a few more moments the two sat in silence, LaFontaine keeping track of the amount of blood and Laura watching the swirls and whorls, before finally LaFontaine reached over and grabbed the cotton ball. Pressing it hard against the wound, LaF pulled the needle from her arm, clipping the needle down and throwing it onto a pile of paper towels to be thrown away later. A band-aid quickly followed, cutting off the flow.
“Well,” LaFontaine said, picking up the measuring cup and holding it over the bowl of other ingredients, “here’s go nothing.”
Both gagged as they poured the liquid into the mixture, a small spatula in hand to scrap the bottom of the cup, getting every single drop into the bowl. A spatula that was then used to mix everything together, turning the mixture an eerie pink. Transferring it all to the pan, the batter running together to make it more of a brownie shape than a batch of cookies, Laura slid the pan into the oven and closed the door, the smell of sugar and copper quickly filling the kitchen.
“I still say this is insane, even for me,” LaFontaine said with a shake of their head as they moved the needle and plastic gloves to a ziplock bag, sealing and rolling it up so they could get rid of it later. “But you’re hardcore, Laura, and we don’t apologize for hardcore. Let me know how they go over with Carmilla, okay?”
“Will do, LaF,” Laura said, waving at her friend as they left, the biohazardous material leaving with them to be disposed of. “And thank you.”
*
It took hours to get the smell out of the kitchen, the coppery, almost meaty scent heavy and refusing to move, despite the dozens of windows she must have opened all throughout the house. It was gone, luckily, by the time Carmilla returned, clothes a mess and hair tangled from the run through the forest on border patrol Danny had badgered her into.
Her obvious exhaustion, however, fled at the sight of Laura’s arm, still bandaged from earlier, and the plate of reddish-brownish squares that Laura was standing next to.
“Wha-“
“Don’t question me,” Laura said quickly, picking up one of the cooled cookie blocks with a napkin and handing it over. “Just eat this and tell me what you think.”
It took a moment for Carmilla to take the cookie, suspicion written on her face and in her movements as her hand slowly, hesitantly, reached forward to grab it. But when Laura did nothing besides intently watch her, she shrugged, took the cookie, and took a bite.
And stood there, frozen, as a hunger Laura had only ever seen when she was downing her morning A negative crossed her face, a low moan escaping as she chewed.
“You?” Carmilla asked as the final crumb disappeared between her lips, her fingers, slightly sticky from licking every last morsel from the napkin and her hand, motioning towards the bandage. When Laura nodded, Carmilla reached out and grabbed another, eating it just as slowly as she had the first, her eyes fluttering shut as she enjoyed the treat. “How the hell did you come up with this idea, cupcake?”
“I just wanted to do something nice,” Laura said with a shrug, walking around the table so they were closer together, Laura watching Carmilla polish off her second cookie in just a few seconds. “Are they okay?”
“They’re good,” Carmilla said around her thumb as she sucked a dot of red off her skin. Taking her hand away from her mouth, Carmilla placed a gentle kiss against Laura’s lips, one hand wrapping around her waist to pull her flushed against her…only to let go as Carmilla grabbed another cookie and took a step back. “Almost good enough to replace the original,” Carmilla teased, leaning in to lightly kiss Laura’s pout, winking as Laura stuck out her tongue in response. “But only almost.”
“If you like the original so much more,” Laura replied, her own cheeky grin tempting Carmilla, “then why don’t you have some more.” Leaning in for another kiss, Laura reached up to wrap her arms around Carmilla, all plans to deepen the kiss into something more running through her head as she did so…
Only to find Carmilla on the other side of the room, the plate of cookies in one hand and a one in the other, her smirk irritatingly large.
“Maybe later, cupcake,” Carmilla teased, walking out the room, leaving her girlfriend standing in the kitchen alone. “I have some cookies that need to be eaten first.”
It only took Laura a moment to follow, eyes narrowed in determination as she prepared herself to steal her girlfriend back. From the cookies she herself had made.
Not the weirdest turn their relationship had taken, but one Laura, when the cookies were vanquished and she was curled back up in the curve of Carmilla’s side, would have to mention to her viewers later.