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“Laura, look out!”
Carmilla flung out an arm faster than humanly possible and caught Laura around the waist, stopping her from running headlong into a tree. Laura stumbled against her, desperately out of breath as she clutched frantically at Carmilla’s arms.
“Carm,” she panted. “Carmilla, where…”
She didn’t have the strength to finish her sentence, but Carmilla had heard the unspoken question. Where were they? How long had they been running for? Where were the villagers who had so relentlessly pursued them out of town?
And where, more worryingly, could they possibly find shelter in this godforsaken storm before every human in their party froze to death?
It had been some time now since Carmilla had felt the heavy footsteps of the villagers behind them, had heard their half-crazed shouts and the sounds of their torches and pitchforks swishing through the air. Wordlessly, she shook her head and tightened her arms around Laura, trying to transfer some body heat to her small, shivering companion.
The blizzard had kicked up while they were on the run, and the wind was beyond chilling. Secretly, Carmilla was grateful for it, as miserable as they all were. The heavy snow falling thick and fast around them, combined with the pitch black of an Austrian night, meant they could barely see two feet in front of themselves. It was the best cover Carmilla could have asked for.
Now all that remained was to keep Laura (and the others, she supposed) from freezing to death before they could get to safety. Dimly, she could hear LaFontaine shouting encouragement somewhere back behind Perry, who was gasping and almost sobbing as she ran.
“We’re over here!” Laura shouted. “Can you—”
“AAARGH!”
“LaFontaine!” Perry shrieked. She swiftly turned back with terror-stricken features as she searched frantically for her friend. “What happened? Did they get you? Have you been shot!?”
“I’m fine,” LaFontaine called out into the storm. “Guys, I think I’ve found… I think I’ve found something! I’m pretty sure I just walked into a fence-post and it looks like there’s a path here! It could lead to a barn... or even a cottage!”
Carmilla whipped around towards LaFontaine’s voice, senses on full alert, straining to see through the snow and finding nothing.
“Be careful!” she shouted harshly. “There could be—”
“Just come on!” cried LaF with a surprising edge to their voice. “We need to get out of this storm before Perry freezes! You can eat whoever’s hiding in there to kill us!”
Carmilla clenched her teeth together as she saw LaF emerge from the swirling, blinding snow to grab hold of Perry’s hand. They both disappeared down a small, narrowed path that trailed off into the darkness. She looked down at Laura, who returned her gaze with a mixture of fear and uncertainty. She sighed in frustration and turned to follow them. There’s only so many cannibalistic witches a vampire can eat in one sitting…
It didn’t take long for the group to divine their way towards the rough outline of a small, decrepit cabin. The windows were dark and frosted over, and the snow was piled high along the sides. LaF knocked sharply on the door several times before quickly trying the handle. It would have made more sense for Carmilla to be leading this little expedition, but the irritable vampire was obviously content to hang back and keep Laura out of the immediate line of fire.
Thankfully, with only a little tinkering on LaFontaine’s part, the lock clicked open and the door swung inward with a slow, unsettling creak. LaF pressed a hand to Perry’s shoulder, cautioning her to stay put before stepping guardedly into the blackened interior.
The silence that followed was utterly nerve-wracking. Laura huddled closer to Carmilla. Every so often, the pair would glance behind them to make sure they still weren’t being followed. But the only sounds that carried over the forest were the howling cries of the wind, and if the villagers were still hunting them, any tell-tale footprints had long been buried under the heavy snowfall.
Suddenly, from within the darkness, a soft light slowly sparked to life, providing a warm glow around LaFontaine.
“Come on in, guys!” said LaFontaine cheerfully. “It’s fine, there’s no one in here!” When no one responded, they quickly added, "It’s a whole lot warmer inside!”
Immediately, Laura began to move forward. Carmilla sighed, but followed her. “If anyone tries to set fire to this place, it is definitely not my fault,” she muttered, not at all sure that anyone could hear her.
After closing and bolting the door behind them, the four breathed out a collective sigh of relief as they found themselves standing in a small one-room cabin. The howling wind had been muted to an unsettling moan that occasionally rattled the glass on the windows. They were still breathing heavily, grateful to be out of the snow, even if their present circumstances were less than ideal. LaFontaine held up the lamp they had discovered and decided they should all have a look around.
There was a small living area comprised of an old couch and a coffee table covered in books. A few wooden cabinets were lined along the wall beside a small, darkened fireplace. A kitchen stood at one end while the other housed an impossibly tiny enclosed space that Perry quickly confirmed to be “the restroom.” There were no electrical outlets of any kind, which made them prodigiously grateful for the two or three oil lamps placed haphazardly about the room.
LaFontaine headed immediately for the kitchen where an ancient-looking wood-burning stove sat ominously in the corner. The wood-box was empty, save for a few scraps of bark, and there was nothing in the furnace but ash. Oh well… they thought. There’s certainly more than one way to start a fire in this place. They were thrilled, at least, to discover that the water pump seemed to be working well, thanks to whatever system the owners had rigged up to keep the pipes and collection tank insulated under the building. They filled up several glasses of water using a variety of mismatched cups near the basin.
“Where do you think the owners are?” said Laura, glancing nervously around the room. She spotted a small toy truck near her feet and absently picked it up off the ground.
“This might be a summer cottage,” said Carmilla as she glanced idly at the books on the coffee table. “No sane person would come up here in the winter.” She paused. “Then again… this is Styria.”
“Guys, food!” said LaF enthusiastically, pulling bags of crackers and cookies out of a cupboard.
“I don’t know if I can handle any more sugar,” said Perry with just a hint of disgust. “And gracious knows how old those things are.”
Laura looked down at the toy in her hand and chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m not sure how I feel about stealing food from a family,” she said softly while setting the truck down. “I mean… haunted Styrian diners are one thing, but the people who live here are obviously poor.”
“Traveling through the Styrian countryside is a lot like stepping back in time,” LaFontaine said. “I’m a little amazed this place has running water let alone cupboards filled with pre-packaged food items.”
“Could we at least leave some money behind with a note?” Laura continued. “Explaining why we had to take their food since we’re—”
“Money?” Carmilla snorted. “Cupcake, this cabin probably belongs to one of those nice villagers who tried to kill us. Do you really feel like now is the time for your righteous brand of altruism?”
Laura flushed, but her jaw jutted out defiantly. “Being considerate is hardly self-righteous.”
“Laura, these are cookies,” said Carmilla dismissively. “Besides, it’s not as if we have any other options. Or did you guys happen to spot a Burger King back there that I was unaware of?”
In the ensuing silence, Laura shrugged and looked away.
“Fine,” Carmilla said, gathering up the bags. “If you guys don’t want any, it’s more for me.”
“Hey, I don’t have any objections,” said LaFontaine mildly, quickly snatching a bag away from Carmilla. They opened it up and held it out to Perry.
“Oh…” Perry said, and she tentatively reached in to grab a handful of crackers. “I guess they did try to murder us.”
“That’s the spirit,” Carmilla grinned. She offered the bag to Laura. “Come on, sweetheart. I know you’re hungry.”
Laura glared at her in defiance. Carmilla shrugged, then cheekily stuffed a cookie in her mouth. “Your loss.”
Resolutely turning her back on the stolen cookies, Laura sat down on the chair furthest away from the others, her arms crossed in agitation. For a few awkward minutes, no one said anything. At last, Perry, shooting a glance at Carmilla (who was now eating crackers as loudly as she could) said, “Hey, Laura? Why don’t you have a look through the cupboards? See if you can find any information about the people who live here.”
Laura raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
“...And if they aren’t one of the villagers who tried to murder us,” Perry pressed on, “we’ll leave some money behind for the food— won’t we, everyone?” She gave LaFontaine a pointed look.
“Oh… sure,” said LaFontaine lamely.
Laura brightened, and turned towards Carmilla with an expectant look.
“What?” Carmilla asked. “I don’t have a problem eating stolen goods. You didn’t seem to have a problem with it either at the gingerbread house of horrors, sweetheart.”
Laura’s face suddenly turned to stone, and she stood up without a word. She opened the nearest cupboard to search it with angry, venomous purpose.
For a few minutes, the only sounds in the cabin were Laura slamming doors open and closed while Carmilla crunched obnoxiously on the crackers. LaF began looking for some kindling to get a fire going since everyone, save Carmilla, was still freezing. A small pile of wood was nestled beside the fireplace, much to everyone’s relief. The only blankets they had discovered were stuffed in a trunk covered in spider nests, and if the webs weren’t a deterrent, then the smell certainly was.
“Just burn the books on the table,” said Carmilla between a mouthful of crackers.
“Oh, so you want to burn their stuff now?” said Laura incredulously. “Is callous thievery just not doing it for you anymore?”
Carmilla smiled. “Anyone who reads Barbara Cartland is just asking for someone to set fire to their book collection. Moreover, this pretty much guarantees that they’re murderers: it’s Barbara Cartland, cupcake.”
LaFontaine gave a muffled snort as they grabbed several books off the coffee table. Laura was fuming, but pointedly resumed her search before she set fire to the entire place herself. Carmilla watched her with amusement and fondness while Perry picked nervously at the fabric on the couch.
With the kind of dexterity borne only through years of practice, LaFontaine quickly had a fire going in the fireplace that quickly enveloped the room with light.
“There isn’t much wood here,” said LaF with a sigh, feeling the weak amount of heat the fire was generating. “We’ll have to be frugal with the wood if we want to avoid breaking up any furniture to use for the fire.”
Laura looked horrified at the suggestion.
“Meh… We’ll start with the books and a few small knick-knacks before we resort to burning furniture,” Carmilla replied. She picked up the small wooden truck that Laura had been holding, and Laura snatched it back in an instant.
“I can spend one night freezing in a cabin in the woods without resorting to property damage,” said Laura fiercely.
“Should we even be lighting a fire when a mob is chasing us and is probably searching this side of the mountain as we speak?” said Perry anxiously.
“If they can spot our smokestack out in this blizzard, Perr, then I think they deserve to kill us,” LaF replied.
That hardly seemed to calm Perry down, but the fire did add some much needed warmth and comfort to their current surroundings. In truth, they were all pretty much on edge, which was more than a little justified, all things considered. The last several days had been stressful for everyone to say nothing of the chaos they’d left behind at Silas. Crazed Austrian witches and waist-deep snow-drifts tended to frost even the cheeriest of dispositions.
Suddenly, upon opening another cupboard, Laura gasped and whirled around to face the others. Her eyes were shining and her cheeks were suddenly flushed. “Look!” she said excitedly, clearly forgetting all her anger. “Look what I just found!”
LaFontaine frowned. “It’s… a cupboard full of board games?”
“And look!” Laura picked up the box on top of the pile and held it up with a flourish. “Scrabble!” she beamed. “Let’s play!”
A dead silence greeted her words.
“Come on,” Laura pleaded. “I always played Scrabble with my dad at Christmas time. It’ll be like being back home!” She moved over to the coffee table and set the game down. “Besides, what else are we going to do? We ARE staying the night here, aren’t we?”
She, Perry and LaFontaine all looked at Carmilla expectantly. Carmilla munched on another cookie and gestured towards the window. “The blizzard is your only other alternative.”
“Great!” Laura grinned. “Who’s going to play?”
Perry sighed deeply, wringing her hands together. “Laura, while I generally appreciate your enthusiasm, we’re still being hunted by Styrian farmers. Maybe we should try boarding up the windows and the door with whatever furniture we can move before we decide to play board games, okay?”
“Oh come on, Perry!” said Laura petulantly. “LaF is right— no one could possibly find us in this weather. We barely found the cabin ourselves!”
“I’m not really fond of board games,” said LaFontaine, “unless they involve substances with a high viscosity or the possibility of electrocution.”
Laura deflated.
“I’ll play,” said Carmilla, tossing the empty cookie bag into the fire.
Laura perked up immediately, and LaF just smiled. “You’re so whipped,” they said to Carmilla.
“…On one condition,” Carmilla continued, not even bothering to glance in LaF’s direction. “We have to play my version of the game.”
Laura looked apprehensive. “What’s that?” she asked.
Carmilla grinned. “Strip Scrabble, of course.”
Perry nearly choked on the glass of water LaF had poured for her.
“Strip Scrabble?” Laura repeated. “How on earth do you even play that?”
“Easy,” said Carmilla. “Whoever scores the highest points in every round picks someone to take an item of clothing off. Last person with the most clothing on wins the game.”
No one spoke for a few moments.
“You’re not seriously suggesting we play a game that involves clothing removal in sub-freezing temperatures,” said LaFontaine. “I mean, I admire your unconventional approach to a game of monotonous wordplay, but given our present circumstances, it does seem a little reckless.”
Carmilla’s eyes flitted briefly over to LaF, though it was evident that Laura was commanding all of her attention. “I thought you thrived on reckless behavior irrespective of setting or circumstance.”
LaFontaine stared thoughtfully at the wall. “Point taken.”
“Now wait just a minute,” said Perry hotly. “I am not getting naked in front of all you…” she flapped her arms at everyone, “you perverts.”
Carmilla glared. “Calm down, Betty Crocker. Like any of us wants to see that.” Perry glared back at her, mildly insulted. “Fine,” Carmilla said. “You can leave your underwear on. The last person with anything on other than their underwear wins the game.”
“What does the winner get?” asked Laura eagerly. She was clearly getting on board with this idea.
“You mean apart from an eyeful of yours truly?” Carmilla grinned. “I dunno, cutie... what did you have in mind?”
Laura carefully considered her options. LaFontaine threw a few more books into the fireplace and slowly began to stoke the meagre flames. “There’s an unopened bag of cookies still in the kitchen,” LaF added lamely, “though I don’t think that’s much incentive for Perry to play.”
“What about the couch?” said Laura after a minute. Everyone turned to look at her with a questioning stare. “Well, we’re all going to have to sleep somewhere tonight, and one fold-out bed won’t comfortably fit four people. Winner takes all and the losers get the floor. How’s that sound, Ms. Scrabble Pornographer?”
Carmilla shrugged with a gentle smirk. “I think I can live with that.”
Perry remained hesitant. “I still don’t think—”
“Oh would you just get over yourself?” said Carmilla impatiently. “Do you want the couch tonight or do you want to sleep on the floor next to the rotting spider box?”
Perry held her tongue, giving Carmilla her dirtiest glare before she sank to the floor next to the coffee table.
“Yay!” Laura beamed as she folded the board out and quickly began turning the tiles over. “I’m going to destroy all of you,” she proclaimed.
“Are you indeed?” Carmilla replied, moving over to sit beside her. “We’ll see about that, Miss Hollis.”
“I never lose,” said Laura smugly. “You’ll have to try hard to even compete with me.”
Carmilla planted her hands on the floor behind her and leaned in close to Laura. “Only one of us is coming out on top, creampuff.”
They held each other’s gaze steadily until LaFontaine cleared their throat. “So uh… who gets to go first?”
Laura kept grinning as she passed out the tile holders for everyone to take. “You can go first, LaF, since you found us the cabin. Carm can go last since she’s a vampire.”
“What the hell?” said Carmilla as she grabbed all of her letters. “You’re a straight-up speciesist, cupcake.”
Laura stuck her tongue out at her, and Carmilla briefly considered biting it.
Once everyone was settled with all of their tiles drawn, LaFontaine began the game by scoring sixteen points for the word table— making good use of the double letter and double word spaces set in the middle of the board. Perry immediately put down pearly, scoring thirteen for herself. Laura frowned at her tiles for a while, finally putting down excite and earning thirty-two points for her efforts. She grinned smugly at Carmilla. “Beat that,” she said.
Carmilla raised an eyebrow and casually put down the word perfects, reveling in the irony of the play as well as the look on Laura’s face. “Now let’s see,” she said. “That’s fourteen for the word, an extra three since that c was on a double letter here, thirty-four with the double word tile, plus an extra fifty for using all seven letters… All up I think that’s eighty-four points.” She smiled. “Take something off, Hollis.”
Laura’s eyes were wide, her mouth briefly opening and shutting before she begrudgingly removed a shoe.
The next round had LaFontaine spelling the word wage, which Perry followed pathetically by playing fee. “I have too many vowels!” she whined in frustration. “This is why I hate this game!”
But Laura was on a mission to steal this round from everyone and decided it was time to get serious with Carmilla and her stupid eighty-four points. She spelled the word darks against some previously played tiles, using the extra letters to concurrently spell id and er for more points. “What’s this?” she said in mock exclamation. “And on a double word score as well! Looks like I’m sitting on twenty-five points here. Your move, Karnstein!”
Carmilla placed a finger to the front of her lips in silent contemplation. Two seconds later, she laid down the word grape , simultaneously spelling the word ex by employing the tiles on excite to give her the extra point leverage.
“Me oh my,” said Carmilla lightly. “I found a double word score myself. Oh, and this small double letter space here. That’s twenty-six points, cupcake... And you were so close.”
Laura kicked off her other shoe with the kind of vitriol one would find in an angry horse.
Carmilla, it transpired, was an expert at Scrabble. Round after round she pulled off a series of impressive victories, even with naught but a few well-placed tiles in the most random locations. None of the others could beat her plays, and every time, it was Laura who had to get undressed.
“This isn’t fair,” Laura protested after having removed her shoes, socks, coat, and Christmas sweater. “You can’t just pick on me all of the time!”
“Sure I can, cutie,” Carmilla said irreverently, “because I am winning. Every. Time.”
But Carmilla’s arrogance was effectively silenced when Laura finally managed to win the next round. She played the word quiz and earned a hefty chunk of points with the dreaded q on top of a triple letter score. “Take it off, vampire!” she shouted gleefully while pointing at Carmilla.
Carmilla casually shrugged off her jacket, dumping it in a pile on the floor. LaFontaine eyed it with keen and subtle interest while placing another log on the fire.
Through some bizarre twist of fate, Perry won the next round by (amusingly) playing the word genitals. Everyone gave her a look of disgust, which immediately put Perry on the defensive. “What? ” she snapped. “I was able to use all of my tiles! You guys are so childish, it’s ridiculous.” When neither Laura nor Carmilla could play a better hand, Perry shared a look with LaFontaine, then shrugged. “Carmilla,” she said.
Laura was euphoric.
“Alright,” said Carmilla without any protest. She shamelessly stripped off her red Christmas sweater, leaving her in nothing more than a black bra. The group immediately averted their gazes, and a furious blush spread over Laura’s face.
“Freaking heck, Carmilla!” she said in a startled voice. “Why didn’t you just take off a shoe instead?”
“Why should I?” Carmilla challenged.
“Because— well— you’ll be cold!” she squeaked.
Carmilla smiled suggestively. “I’m a vampire, sweetheart. I don’t feel the cold the same way you humans do.” Teasingly, she added, “I’m wearing your bra, you know.”
Tricked into looking, Laura’s gaze lingered on Carmilla’s chest. “No, you’re not,” she said vaguely without managing to tear her eyes away. “That definitely isn’t mine.”
“Oh.” Carmilla looked down at herself innocently and dropped her voice an octave. “Would you like it to be?”
LaFontaine cleared their throat very loudly. “Guys? The game? May we continue?” They rolled their eyes at Perry, who was looking absolutely anywhere other than Carmilla.
Laura stared at her letters with fixed determination. Beside her, Carmilla let out an exaggerated yawn, stretching her body like a cat languidly basking in the sunshine. Laura’s fingers tightened around her tiles. It was the single most frustrating game of Scrabble she had ever played.
It didn’t help that another round later, Laura was forced to choose between removing her pants or taking her top off. Gritting her teeth, she decided to remove her shirt, crossing her arms in front of her body to hide herself as much as possible. Carmilla looked her over appreciatively.
“One more round and you’ll be mine,” Carmilla purred as she gathered a few more tiles from the box.
“Don’t you mean she’ll be out of the game?” Perry drawled with a hint of irritation.
“Whatever,” the vampire responded. Her gaze continued to devour every inch of Laura’s beautifully exposed skin. Laura flushed and curled a little tighter into herself, though it didn’t have anything to do with the cold.
With Carmilla and Laura so obviously distracted by each other, LaFontaine finally managed to win the next round on a simple four-tile play. LaF frowned at the others, glanced shyly over at Perry, then took off one of their own shoes.
“You pick yourself?” asked Laura incredulously.
“Well, who else would I pick? Perry’s practically an ice cube already and I’m not going to help you two undress each other anymore.”
“Pity,” Carmilla smirked while Laura stared determinedly at the ground, ashamed to lock eyes with anyone else. “I, for one, am quite looking forward to Laura taking off the rest of her clothes.”
“This game isn’t over,” said Laura heatedly, rounding on Carmilla with a violent glare. But her anger was only fueling Carmilla’s arousal as evidenced by the slight appearance of fangs. LaFontaine decided to take advantage of their mutual distraction by gathering up the discarded clothes littering the ground. She tucked the two jackets around Perry’s shoulders and wrapped the sweaters around both of their necks.
Things came to a more heated confrontation upon the next round of play. Laura was confident she had successfully won the round when Carmilla laid syzygy on the board.
Laura let out a mocking laugh. “What in the heck are you trying to spell?”
“Syzygy; that blank tile is a y,” Carmilla replied.
“Syzygy? That isn’t even a word!”
“Of course it is. It’s an alignment of three celestial bodies. I’m on a double word score and a triple letter here, so I get—”
“Oh screw you, Sparkles in Sunlight! That is not a real word and you’re not playing it!”
Carmilla raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “Are you seriously going to challenge me on this, cupcake? An immortal who’s had over three hundred years to acquire an extensive vocabulary in seven different languages?”
“You bet your leather-clad trash I do.” Laura turned to LaF and Perry. “Back me up here, guys.”
Perry pressed her hands together thoughtfully. “Why don’t we just consult a dictionary? It’s standard protocol when there’s a word-challenge during gameplay.”
“Consult a dictionary…” said Carmilla dryly. “Because there’s bound to be one lying around this place with all of the insipid romance novels and spider nests.”
“I meant on your phone,” said Perry tersely. “I doubt anyone even uses an actual dictionary anymore.”
“I think I saw one at the campus library once,” said LaFontaine, chin resting thoughtfully in their hand. “It was in the occult section next to all of those screaming card catalogues. I’m also pretty sure it was made out of skin.”
“We haven’t had satellite reception since we crossed the forest gate,” said Carmilla, growing more and more impatient. “Did you assume this cabin came equipped with wifi or did you want to head back towards the diner for better reception?”
“Majority rules, then!” said Laura, gesturing to the group. “We’ll take a vote to see if anyone agrees with you.”
“I am not about to lose fifty-two points just because you lackwits have never taken an astronomy course before,” Carmilla angrily replied.
“Calm the farm, people,” said LaFontaine cooly as they started digging into their backpack. “We don’t need reception; I’ve got this covered.” They pulled out their laptop and hooked a small flash drive into the USB port. A circular loading image appeared before a tiny icon popped onto the screen with a small caption reading Hello there!
“JP! Hey!” said LaFontaine cheerfully. “We’re playing a game of scrabble and we need a definition.”
The group looked on a little incredulously as LaFontaine typed out syzygy into the dialogue box. An ellipses appeared for several seconds before JP promptly responded:
Syzygy: noun, plural syzygies.
- Astronomy. an alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and either the moon or a planet: “Syzygy in the sun-earth-moon system occurs at the time of full moon and new moon.”
-
Classical Prosody. a group or combination of two feet, sometimes restricted to a
combination of two feet of different kinds.
- Any two related things, either alike or opposite.
“That’s my man!” said LaFontaine proudly while Perry looked slightly irritated.
Laura was flabbergasted. Carmilla gave her a wicked grin that was nothing short of predatory. “Thank you, Casper. Fifty-two points. Now if you wouldn’t mind, cupcake, it’s time to take off your pants.”
Laura’s chest was heaving furiously as she was at last forced to remove her pants. She sat uncomfortably in her light blue underwear, curled up to hide herself as much as possible, shivering slightly.
“Well, that’s it,” LaFontaine announced. “Looks like we’re all done here.”
“What?” Laura said. “But it’s just me that’s out! There’s no winner yet!”
“Oh, I think there is,” Carmilla said seductively. She was blatantly ogling Laura now, looking seventeen different kinds of hungry and/or lustful.
“Laura, this was just an excuse for Carmilla to get you naked,” LaFontaine said bluntly. “Now that she’s achieved her goal, I don’t think anyone else wants to play anymore.”
“Yes,” said Perry. “Game over. I win.” She stood up with a smug grin and began scooting the couch back to make room for the fold-out bed. “LaFontaine? You can sleep here with me. There’s plenty of room for us both.”
LaFontaine smiled and texted JP a quick Good night! before powering down their laptop.
“Hey wait a minute,” said Laura suddenly as she noticed they were still wearing her clothes. “I want my coat and sweater back!”
“Winner takes all, Hollis,” said LaFontaine matter-of-factly while helping Perry remove the couch cushions. “Those were your exact words when we started this game.” They looked down at Laura’s half-naked form as well as Carmilla salivating nearby. “Uh… you can keep your pants, I guess.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Carmilla softly growled as she wrapped her arms around Laura, pulling her closer. “I’ll be keeping her warm tonight.”
LaFontaine turned to Perry. “Let’s turn the couch around.”
Perry nodded wordlessly.
Laura was still sulking as she was pulled against Carmilla, who was, indeed, very warm. She turned to her with the intent of snapping a retort, then stopped short as she saw the look on Carmilla’s face.
She swallowed suddenly.
“If you change your mind about the foul-smelling spider blankets, there’s a can of Raid in the cupboard under the sink,” said Perry brightly.
Laura sat tensely while LaFontaine and Perry continued to make their bed for the night. She had never been this… close with Carmilla before. Particularly without any of her clothes on.
“Were you really just trying to get me naked?” she asked Carmilla softly. “Because I thought that maybe you played because you could see that I really wanted to.”
Carmilla’s face changed. The hungry look disappeared, replaced by one Laura couldn’t quite read.
“No,” she answered just as softly.
“No?” Laura asked. “‘No’ you weren’t trying to get me naked, or ‘no’, you didn’t play just for me?”
Carmilla sighed, brushing her fingers through Laura’s hair. “Of course I played it for you.”
“Oh,” said Laura. She leaned back against Carmilla, resting her head on Carmilla’s shoulder. After a minute she quietly said, “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, cutie.”
Carmilla looked down at Laura, quietly studying her. “Are you alright?”
“I just…” Laura shrugged. “Aren’t you scared, Carm? We’re lost in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm, being chased by villagers who want to kill us. What’s going to happen to us all in the morning? Do you think we’ll ever even get home?”
Carmilla tensed and drew her closer. “I’m going to get you home, Laura,” she said firmly, holding Laura tightly against her. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Of course I do. But you’re only one vampire and there’s a LOT of people who want us dead.” She glanced over at the back of the couch where Perry and LaFontaine were already snuggled up together, then turned to face Carmilla fully. “We’ve been through so much already, and I don’t even know if we’re going to survive before the morning.” She paused for a moment. “Also? LaF and Perry have our coats and I’m seriously going to freeze to death tonight.”
Carmilla laughed and slid her hand behind Laura’s neck. “Come on, cupcake. Maybe one vampire is all you need.” She smiled warmly at Laura, and was pleased when Laura finally smiled back at her. "We’ll get out of this alive. I promise.”
Laura took hold of Carmilla’s arms. “I guess we’ve made it this far,” she conceded.
“If we could survive my mother, we can survive anything.” Carmilla leaned in closer. “Now… how do you feel about cuddling up with a very large and very warm black panther tonight?”
Laura’s smile grew even wider. “I think I could manage that.”
She reached up and wrapped her arms around Carmilla, pulling her in for a soft kiss. “But,” she said, a breath away from Carmilla’s lips, “I’m still putting my pants back on.”