Chapter Text
Carmilla had determined that the best bet for her safety from Maman was to get into the Mafia. She had found some Mafia competitors and took the men out barehanded, leaving their guns piled up, giving the cops an anonymous tip from a payphone. It made the front page on all the newspapers. A week later she did it again, keeping her ear to the ground at the bars. When folks started talking about finding the “strongman devil” that had killed so many gangsters with just his hands, she mentioned that she may know a guy. A few days later, she had a meeting.
She arrived at the specified bar a little early, alone save the bartender. She was in a black waistcoat to show off her arms, a black trilby still on indoors to hide her eyes. She checked that she was in the right bar, the bartender told her ‘they’ll be here’ and went back to wiping things down with a grimy rag. After a few minutes of waiting she began to play billiards alone, bored and anxious, needing to do something. Eventually 3 middle-aged men in nice suits entered and nodded to the bartender.
“You were told to bring your friend who killed those men.” The one in the middle stated. She glanced up at him, sank the orange solid ball in the side pocket, and straightened.
“I did. You’re looking at her.” She held the pool cue across her shoulders nonchalantly. The men chuckled.
“You’re expecting us to believe you did that?”
“Yeah, I’d have to be stupid to say I did something like that without being able to back it up.” She shrugged. The men looked at each other.
“Alright, bring in Big Toby.” The man in the man in the middle said. The one to his left went to the door and poked his head out. A few seconds later he returned with a much larger man behind him. Big Toby didn’t have a trim waist like fake carnival strongmen, but rather he was built like a wooden barrel and was shedding his suit jacket as he approached.
“What’s your name?” The other subordinate asked.
“Carmilla Karnstein.”
“Fresh off the boat?”
“Second generation, that matter?” In actuality she had only been in The United States about a year, but her English was good, her Austrian accent slight enough that she could get away with claiming to be born here.
“Not at all, as long as you can get the job done.”
“Big Toby, Miss Karnstein here claims to be the one to do what we read about in the papers. Try not to kill her.” The man in charge said as he and his companions got out of the way of the fight. Big Toby had draped his jacket, waistcoat, tie, and button-up on the bar, facing her in slacks and an undershirt, his suspenders pulled back up.
“I’m assuming that suggestion goes for me, as well.” Carmilla rolled her neck, moving the pool cue to her side.
“You’re the one who killed all those guys?” Big Toby asked.
“Yup.” She deadpanned. Big Toby shrugged before lunging at her.
She dropped, rolling beneath the pool table, keeping hold of the cue. When she stood, Big Toby shoved the table at her. She jumped to land on the green felt but it fell as it slid, instead of just sliding along the floor like she expected, sending balls bouncing and rolling around the floor and changing the profile. The side caught her foot and sent her to the floor head-first, the pool cue clattering off somewhere. Big Toby tried to pin her down with a barstool, but she grabbed the footstand and kicked the seat hard, sending him over her head. His back hit the edge of the pool table that had caught her foot and he groaned. Carmilla backed up warily, waiting to see if he would get up. He slumped to the floor then held his back as he stood. He stumbled toward her and grabbed her around the middle as he fell forward, bashing the back of her head to the floor. Her ears rang and vision blurred as she attempted to fight him off, but vampire or not, it slowed her reaction time. Big Toby grabbed her around the throat with both hands, lifting her up off the floor, off her feet. She cursed her small frame and praised the fact that she didn’t actually need oxygen, grabbing his fingers and prying them backwards towards his wrists until he dropped her. She landed in a crouch and used a tiny bit of superspeed and enough super strength to bowl him over as he clutched his hands together. She found the pool cue on the floor and placed the tip on his throat, standing on his wrists. His heart was beating hard.
Any sane person would surrender, but Big Toby twisted his torso, throwing her off balance. He caught an ankle and pulled, sending her to the floor where he rolled on top of her, on top of pool balls. Big Toby was heavy, but hell, they wanted Carmilla to prove herself. And the pool balls pressing into her hurt. She did a single push-up, jolting the large man off her back, then stood and watched him. They were both breathing hard as they stared at each other. She leapt forward, aiming a punch at his midsection, but since she was only allowing herself to use superspeed very sparingly, he caught her and twisted her arms behind her back. She stomped on his foot, but he merely grunted in pain and pulled her wrists closer to her shoulderblades. She tried again and he shouted at the pain, but didn't release her. Just as the mobsters took a step forward to end the fight, she donkey-kicked one of Big Toby’s knees. He howled and released her to clutch at his knee, she quickly got behind him and put him in a headlock, not about to release him until either he stopped fighting her or she was told to let him go. He passed out first.
“I don’t think I broke anything major but you should get him to a doctor.” Carmilla said as she swiftly lowered Big Toby to the floor. She grabbed her trilby from the floor and put it back on, she hadn’t noticed when she lost it.
“He’s still alive.” The man in charge noted. She took it as a question.
“It’s not good business practice to blatantly murder an employee of the person you’re hoping to be employed by.”
“Miss Karnstein, I do believe we can find some work for you.”
The mobsters appreciated having some unexpected muscle, someone who could calm the cops as easily as knock them out. She was glad the Mafia operated mainly at night, she hated daywalking. Over the next couple of years she worked smuggling gigs, then moved up to protection details, her reputation getting better. She even got to be acquainted with Big Toby over the course of a few jobs once his sprained knee and broken foot healed up. She was never offered a chance to move up, though, even though she was regarded as loyal and useful; she assumed it was sexism and maybe some xenophobia. She was basically an unmade soldati, which she supposed made picking up and leaving easier when the time came. Sometimes she had to pretend to go on dates with the gangsters’ stupid weak sons for their protection, but they were intimidated by her, for which she was glad. She was an okay actress, but having one of them actually fall for her was out of the question, and she told them so.