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Most people don’t believe themselves capable of murder or any form of killing.
Laura included herself under this category, being a self described fan girl and journalism enthusiast. Before, if she had been asked if she would ever be able to kill someone the answer would have been a resounding no (unless she was in the Hunger Games or something, then it’s every woman for herself).
But despite that, here she was waiting for the police to arrive at the Lustig, the coffee shop she worked at, sitting on a bench reading with a dead body spitting distance away.
It had been a fairly average day before this happened: she had woke up, had some hot chocolate, went to class, ate a packet of cookies, went to another class, did homework, went to work. She had been locking the store door when the man walked up behind her pressing the cool barrel of a gun to her back.
“Open up the shop and get the money, or I’ll blow your brains out.” Oddly the only thing she could think about was how fucking cliche it was.
What are the odds of a guy robbing a hole in the wall hipster joint, on a Tuesday, and using a line straight out of a crime thriller?
“Bitch, I swear if you don’t-” she interrupted the man by flipping him like she learned in Krav Maga, his head immediately connecting with the brick work with a sickening (but wonderful) crack.
Well fuck. This was going to ruin the rest of her evening marathoning Harry Potter movies. Laura took the guy’s pulse feeling nothing and pulled out her phone, dialing 911. Grabbing the gun, she slid out the clip and emptied the chamber.
“Hello, I’m fine but a guy threatened to shoot me and I think I killed him. I flipped him and his head hit the bricks. Yes, I judo flipped him and I did check his pulse. He said he was going to kill me and I disarmed him. Can you send the police please? Alright thank you.”
Laura hung up and yawned her adrenaline rush fading quickly. She took a seat on the bench next to the man and pulled out her class assigned book Murder She Wrote. Irony.
A few minutes ago she had been thinking about how nice it would be to go home and binge watch Harry Potter, then she cracked a guy's head open and then she was reading. Did that make her a bad person?
Honestly, she was incredibly surprised that she wasn’t freaking out over what just happened or at least perseverating on the fact that there was a dead man next to her. She should be freaking out. Why wasn’t she freaking out? Was their something wrong with her? Great, now she was freaking out about not freaking out.
It was completely quiet, in fact there was such an absence of sound it filled the air around her, it was creepy. Laura leapt to her feet when a girl walked around the corner holding a scythe casually over her shoulder.
Dark eyes. Raven locks. Porcelain skin. A jawline carved by the gods. Gorgeous by anyone’s standards.
The girl coughed bringing Laura out of her one sided staring contest making Laura blush and look down at the stranger’s scuffed, black, blood spattered, combat boots- leading Laura to see the girl was decked out in leather pants that were practically painted on and a tight black tank top that did nothing to hide her curves.
Another cough.
“Uh-um… who the hell are you?” Laura stuttered out. The girl simply oozed sex and mystery just standing there smirking at her, with her scythe cast lazily over her shoulder
“Well sweetheart, I have many names- the Grim Reaper, Thanatos, the Devil, Azrael, but most commonly Death.” Death responded her voice so low and sultry it could only be described as smoky.
“My name is Laura not sweetheart. And do you seriously expect me to believe that?” Laura responded getting annoyed with the girl’s persisting salacious grin.
The girl simply smiled at her with perfect blindingly white teeth and then swung the scythe at the dead body that Laura had completely forgot about over the course of their very short lived conversation. The scythe sunk into the body, making something that could only be described as a wisp launch out and disappear into the air.
Laura’s mouth dropped open. That couldn’t be possible… she turned back to look at the girl half expecting her to be mysteriously gone, like in all cliches. But she wasn’t, instead she still had that infuriating smirk plastered on her infuriatingly gorgeous face.
She just stood there gaping at the self proclaimed ‘Death’ whose lips (quite sensual lips she might add) split into a crooked grin as her eyes did a quick up down in a way that was not from someone interested in being just friends, before she dissipated in a dark mist.
What the fuck was that? Maybe it was a stress induced hallucination… but part of her was screaming that it really was real and she wasn’t imagining things.
xxXxx
The cops came seconds after the brunette (maybe Death) had disappeared (teleported? Maybe she was like Nightcrawler or something) and had taken away the body while asking numerous questions.
For obvious reasons, she left out the appearance of Death not really wanting to spend a night in an insane asylum. Maybe Laura was crazy and the stress of going to Silas University had finally broken her.
Life moved on, after her dad sending her extra bear spray and Perry yelled at her for being in such a bad part of town and that she was going to get killed before the end of the year (not that Laura would have minded, Death was insanely attractive).
In the weeks following Laura found herself perseverating on Death, spending more time in her philosophy class contemplating the existence of Death than the Camus book she was assigned.
“What’s up with you L? You’ve been acting weird since… you know.” Laura bit back a foul remark about the fact that her friend couldn’t even voice out loud that she had killed someone in self defense.
“I’m fine Betty, just a little stressed out.” Betty grinned at this statement her eyes lighting up like the fourth of July.
“We are so going out!” Laura groaned but said nothing, knowing it would be futile to argue with the party animal that was her roommate.
An hour later Betty was dragging her out to the college bar, Laura whining at her about her choice of outfit.
“Betty you could at least wear something a little respectable.” She was dressed in her usually sparkly, skimpy clothes, and heels more expensive than Laura’s entire closet full of clothes.
“Pffft, you know you love it.” Betty responded smiling at her, making Laura roll her eyes.
“I had a crush on you for two seconds! And then I met you.” Betty gave her a false hurt look and shoved her away jokingly.
A couple hours later the two of them stumbled back to their dorm laughing and giggling all the way. Betty fumbled with the keys while Laura leaned against her heavily, laughing about something she honestly couldn’t remember.
“This hangover is going to be killer!” Betty yelled a little loudly right in her ear as they staggered into their dorm.
Laura ignored her and flopped onto her bed with an “Ofph!” making Betty cackle as she changed into her pajamas.
“So what girl made you drink yourself silly?” Betty turned to her asking as she pulled the shirt over her head.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Laura mumbled into her pillow, thinking about how badly she wanted to see the girl again.
Betty shoved her over and laid next to her. “What’s she look like?” Laura grumbled something incoherently and pointed over to her desk which had a rough sketch of Death on top. Amanda picked it up and studied the picture for a moment.
“Who drew it?” Betty asked knowing Laura couldn’t draw much past stick figures.
“Elsie.” She had asked Elsie to draw her under the pretence that she was a fictional character Laura had made up for her creative writing class.
“She’s super duper pretty, what’s her name?” Betty slurred out after putting the picture back and getting in her own bed.
“Don’t know.” Laura lied, not quite drunk enough to spill her story about meeting Death.
xxXxx
Killing was not something Laura thought she would be doing again, but here she was, standing over a dead body, except this man had not attacked her, but instead had been a pedophile named Vordenberg who had gotten a free pass out of jail for being rich.
She had slit his throat, her intimate knowledge of human anatomy from her crazy survivalist dad being useful for once.
She slouched in the man’s recliner patiently waiting for Death to arrive. Minutes later she appeared in front of her.
“You didn’t strike me as a killer, cupcake.”
Laura shrugged nonchalantly “He deserved it.”
Death narrowed her eyes at her “That’s my job.”
Laura smirked “Then I just made it easier.”
Death rolled her eyes and huffed “Whatever.”
“So how come other people don’t know about you?”
“They refuse my existence because they can’t handle it or I fix their memory.”
“Then why did you let me remember?”
Death frowned at her and clenched her jaw. “You ask too many questions.”
With that she stabbed the body and then disappeared into the vortex.
Laura’s life continued like this for a while, hunting down perverts and exchanging words with the enigmatic stranger. Sometime around when Laura’s kill count reached the double digits, Death walked in letting out a frustrated sigh.
“Again creampuff? You know that their souls will pay dearly after they die, you don’t have to be some sort of vigilante. So why are you doing this?”
Laura shrugged “I don’t know, I wanted to see you again.”
Death stopped half-way through swinging her scythe and looked up at Laura with a surprised expression.
“What?”
“I. Wanted. To. See. You.”
“Fuck, you could’ve have just asked sundance.”
“I could’ve?”
“Yeah? We can go get dinner.”
The brunette straightened up and grabbed a pen off the counter, that the man must’ve abandoned before Laura had slashed his throat and grabbed Laura’s arm by the wrist bringing her attention to her chipped black nail polish. She scribbled a couple words, then paused and glanced up at Laura.
Laura was frozen in her staring at the girl making Death her face split into an amused smirk. Then she flicked her eyes up and down Laura’s body once again and licked her lips, in Laura’s opinion, way more suggestively than was necessary.
Laura felt the hot blush on her cheeks causing Death to chuckle lightly before disappearing into black smoke but not before saying “Call me.”
She looked down at what Death had written down on her arm in elegant (almost archaic) handwriting, very much opposite to her all caps scrawl.
Carmilla Karnstein
666-666-6666
It was certainly an amusing phone number that was for sure.
xxXxx
Laura had made the rule long ago that it was customary to wait at least three days to call. She made it a day. She gave up and flicked through her contacts to find the one she made for Carmilla and sent a text.
Laura 10:03pm- hey it’s Laura, how are you?
Carmilla 10:06pm- Hey cutie, took you long enough. I’m good now that I’m talking to you ;)
Laura 10:06pm- do you want to go out for that dinner you talked about?
Carmilla 10:06pm- I think it’s a little too late for dinner sweetheart.
Laura 10:07pm- OMG I totally didn’t even think about the time, I lost track of it doing hw
Carmilla 10:07pm- It’s alright I’ve got a plan. Pick you up in half in hour?
Laura 10:08pm- yeah, awesome- see you then :)
Carmilla 10:08pm- :)
Laura stared at the last text shocked beyond all words, Death texted her a smiley face. A fucking smiley face. She laughed at the strangeness of the situation, she was going on a date with Death who was apparently a hot brunette.
She looked down at what she was wearing and then leapt to the closet to change. Laura didn’t care for fashion but when going on a date, she had to at least try. After going through her clothes five times she finally threw on some clothes: a Doctor Who tank top (she figured she had to test her to see if she was a Whovian as well), black and yellow striped suspenders (Harry Potter test), blue jeans, and purple converses.
Slightly panicky Laura rushed to open the door, to see Carmilla in her usual ensemble of leather and black holding a bouquet of flowers that very much clashed with her smooth, punk, I-don’t-give-a-fuck vibe.
“Here, it’s for you.” Carmilla reached up to rub the back of her neck sheepishly.
“Sorry, they looked like less when I got them. Some florist died so I figured he wouldn’t miss them and I thought of you because you kind of smell like flowers but I didn’t know what you liked. So I just got some of everything.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Laura took the flowers in and set them on the kitchen table before heading out.
“Nice shirt by the way, and I love the suspenders- though I had you pegged as a Slytherin you know because of the whole running around killing people thing.”
Laura blushed slightly before retorting “I told you I would stop! And anyway I’m a huge Hufflepuff, I took the test on Pottermore and everything.”
Death just smiled at her and grabbed her hand, leading her outside to her black motorcycle and handed her a simple black helmet.
“Get on.” Carmilla swung her leg over the vehicle and then held out a hand to help Laura on. Laura looked at the motorcycle timidly, remembering her father’s constant worry for her safety.
“Trust me sweetheart, I’ve driven this thing for a long time.” Carmilla gave her a comforting smile, breaking what little opposition she had towards getting on.
Several minutes later, Laura found herself on the back of Carmilla’s motorcycle, going at a speed that would give her dad a heart attack. Not that Laura really cared, it just gave her an excuse to hug the girl in front of her a little tighter.
After a little while of driving in a neighborhood that was unknown to Laura, Carmilla pulled over in front of a little shop. The sun was already set giving the area a slightly gloomy feeling amplified by the lack of people present.
“Where is everyone?” Death shrugged.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Carmilla grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the door of what she identified as an arcade, specifically a closed arcade.
“Um… this place is closed.” Carmilla turned around with a raised eyebrow.
“You are worried about breaking and entering but not slashing pervert’s throats? I think your logic is slightly skewed.” Laura rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath about how annoying rationality was.
Carmilla pulled a key out of her jacket pocket (although specifying whether it was her pants or jacket pocket was not necessary considering how tight her pants were) and inserted into the door and turned it with a soft click.
“You just happened to have the key to this place?” Carmilla just smiled and pulled open the door.
“As long as we don’t turn on the lights and avoid the games near the front, we’ll be fine.” Carmilla explained while pulling out several rolls of quarters out of her pocket.
“So breaking and entering is fine but playing for free isn’t?” Laura asked as she handed her a roll.
“I have lots of money, and God knows I need to spend some of it.” Laura walked over to one of her favorite games as a kid, Death following closely behind.
Laura glanced back at Carmilla and ran her tongue over her lips to wet them, trying disguise a crush was damn near impossible and Carmilla was so ridiculously hot that it was hard to tear her eyes away. Carmilla leaned in behind Laura and she swore she could feel every curve of the other girl’s body through her t-shirt.
“Doyouknowhowtoplaythisone?” Laura practically rambled out, Carmilla’s breath was so warm against the shell of her ear that Laura had to shut down several thoughts before they went too far.
“Yeah, I jam on the buttons until I kick your ass.” Carmilla responded grinning and taking the spot beside her.
Laura cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders “Bring it on.”
The game turned out to be Street Fighter Alpha, the battle waging in a huge high-def screen in front of them. Both were the more agile type girls but Laura kept on deflecting all of Death’s attacks making the brunette punch the side of cabinet in frustration.
Laura laughed at how worked up Carmilla was getting she had started screaming at the screen making Laura almost feel guilty for kicking her character out of the arena.
“I hate you.” Carmilla glared at Laura who was attempting to keep a serious face and failing. “Let’s try something that involves teamwork or this date is not going to last long.”
“What happened to kicking my ass?” Laura asked tauntingly grinning at Carmilla.
Carmilla swung her leg inversely hitting Laura in the butt making her squeal in surprise. Laughing, Death moved on to a hunting game and picked up a gun.
Laura bit her lip and then followed suit picking up the other gun. “A little right next time.”
To her satisfaction Carmilla choked started coughing and gave her look of complete and utter shock. “Christ cupcake, I pegged you as the shy girl who sat under a tree reading Harry Potter.”
The coin clunked into the machine starting the intro. “That’s me- reading The Prisoner of Azkaban in the corner of a room.”
Carmilla wrinkled her nose and lifted the gun up to her shoulder “The Order of the Phoenix is the best of the books.”
Laura went slack jawed “Na-uh, that one’s too sad! The third is so much better, it has Remus and Sirius!”
They went from game to game talking about trivial things such as Harry Potter but they also debated philosophy as well as discussed with the most serious of tones Doctor Who.
“Rose Tyler was his true love!” Carmilla shouted as they walked back out to her bike.
“No way River Song was his freaking wife!” Laura retaliated waving her arms around to better convey the point.
“River Song kind of forced him to marry her and besides he loved Rose before her.”
Laura rolled her eyes “You know what? I’m not even going to try and argue my point, you are obviously a dumb ass.”
Carmilla grinned at her and got on the bike revving it slightly. “You shouldn’t talk that way to your ride home.”
“Please, you like me too much to just leave me here.”
“Oh yeah?” Death gave her a wicked smile and drove the bike up the street a few feet making Laura chase after her. Every time Laura got too close to the bike Carmilla edged forward a little smiling back at her teasingly.
“Stop it!” Laura tried to order but it came out as more of a whine.
“Nope, not until you say sorry.”
Laura narrowed her eyes and huffed “Fine, I’m sorry that you’re a dumb ass.”
Death looked back a perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. “Not helping your case.”
Rolling her eyes Laura muttered out a half hearted apology that satisfied Carmilla who finally stopped for her. She swung her leg over the machine while putting on the helmet that Carmilla had offered.
“You’re still a dumb ass.”
xxXxx
Laura always hated the end of dates, not because the cliche wanting it to last forever but because it was always awkward especially on the first date- neither party knowing what form of parting was acceptable.
“This is your stop.” Carmilla stated parking her bike and helping Laura off of the motorcycle.
Once they got to her door Laura awkwardly scratched at her neck, and then impulsively got on her tiptoes and kissed Death on the cheek. When she backed up Carmilla wore a face of internal debate. This only lasted a moment before she surged forward and captured Laura’s lips with her own, surprising soft and gentle before pulling away almost immediately.
Laura didn’t even hesitate before grabbing Carmilla’s face and kissed her again harder. A minute later she pulled back and said “Night, Carm.” Before going into her apartment leaving Carmilla dumbfounded.