Chapter Text
Freedom hadn't necessarily been on her list of mundane activities. Hell, she'd never thought she'd achieve it let alone find the time to be bored with it. She'd finally been freed by her mother in her never ending quest for domination (or something...she didn't tell Carmilla her plans) due to Gods stepping in to retain whatever this was. Equilibrium had been the jist of it.
And now mother was below along with her pit, locked away so effortlessly and she had simply been let go.
She had plenty of money that she'd been sitting on over the centuries. That along with anything her mother hadn't been using that didn't get split with her sister Mattie. Whom of which had decided to stay in Europe.
Carmilla had too many memories in that continent. She of course kept in contact, but she'd been living over in the West, an ocean away and ever lackluster. She'd procured a job. Not like she really needed it.
It paid decently and went along with the quaint one bedroom apartment she'd purchased in an attempt to further ground herself. She'd even decided to stay in a city to lose herself. No possible way to stick out or find herself in any trouble.
So why did she feel so...unsatisfied?
She'd been alive so long she supposes it could be lack of things to do, but the world was ever expanding. She was still trying to figure out the 'Cloud' her phone kept going on about, for gods sake. Don't even get her started on that 'Snapchat' business Mattie and a few late night conquests had turned her onto to.
Point is, the modern world should be no less boring than doing mother's bidding for decades.
But she couldn't help the feeling in her chest. She knows her heart stopped beating forever ago, but it felt like something was missing. Maybe in another few weeks she'd feel better. Her month long freedom felt like years.
Her walks to work were starting to drag on. Perhaps she'd take a different route; she stuck her hands in her leather jacket pockets and trudged past busy streets. She was often bumped into and looked past.
It was a far cry from the Carmilla Karnstein that had stepped into cities bigger than this, Maman behind her and Mattie at her side. No one dared touch her--lest they become food sooner than later. humans had feared her.
Now they ignored her as she blended in. She was practically one of them.
And that was enough for her.
/
"I'm going on break Karnstein, keep an eye on the register." Her 'boss' Betty yelled to her as she left the shop. She wasn't much older than her (not many were, technically) and she had a passion for old things. She ran the pawn shop in place of her father, from the spiel she'd given Carmilla her first week there.
Her job was to not break anything and help gauge prices, considering her years of knowledge and her being older than a majority of the first edition books on the shelves.
Not that anyone knew that.
She sighed to herself, resigning to a half hour of people watching. From her seat at the counter, she could watch people cross the street over towards the shop and she could hear pretty well passed any nonsensical chattering and cars zooming pass. She especially appreciated the scent of the pizza that filtered through from a few buildings east oh her.
It had almost lulled her to sleep.
Almost.
"What the frilly hell?" Carmilla muttered as the screaming started. Very loud, very urgent sounding screaming. It wouldn't take a village to put together that something was very wrong.
However, it certainly would take one to solve it...
Carmilla, against her better judgement, decided to leave her perch. She was a vampire with superhuman speed. So, its not like Betty would notice her being nosy for just a moment.
So, she stood up, stretching her limbs, before exiting the shop. Her ears picked up sound coming from the west. Going as fast as her legs allowed, she was led to an unsettling scene. A gun pointed at a woman, who stood in front of her child. And another woman tossed to the side.
"P-Please don't do this..." She stood protectively in front of a little boy, who gripped the back of her jacket. The man was towering over them both, and the woman on the ground only coughed. She'd put up a good fight.
"It ain't natural what you two dykes is doing," He sneered at them and Carmilla felt her blood boil. He reminded her of Maman right before she killed...
"He's just a child. Are you really gonna take his parents away from him?" She wasn't going to let that happen. This was too familiar; the heart pounding in fear, the defenseless woman laying there, knocked out and unaware that her world would soon be shifted.
Not again.
The man only shrugged. "The kid will be better off too. Anything is better than being raised by filth." He cocked his weapon and aimed. The woman prepared for the worse and the child screamed for his mother.
But a shot never came.
In fact, the woman opened her eyes to find the man on the ground, writhing and his gun at her feet. All she could do was tremble as her child ran to his collapsed mother and she worked out just what she was going to tell the police...
/
It was a one time thing. It had to be a one time good deed. She couldn't pull something like that again; yes she was fast, but it was dangerous. Not for her, because a gunshot wouldn't do much to really kill her, but her cover and life--her freedom.
And yet saving that family gave Carmilla the most thrilling sensation she'd felt since she'd moved here.
She'd teleported back to the pawn shop, panting and smiling. Her knuckles weren't sore but her hands were tingling from exertion. She'd actually done something. Upon return from her break, Betty had raised a brow at her, joking about how 'I thought I was the only one who got excited over antiques.' But this was something on an entirely different level as opposed to a collecting hobby.
She saved someone. Saved people.
She'd done the opposite of what her mother had forced her to do for years. And it felt so much more liberating than signing a lease on an apartment or even having her own job.
So, maybe she'd done it again. But only in small doses: a petty thief, a rapist or two, purse snatcher and even an attempted abduction. It felt good to simply do good. But she still hadn't compromised her cover amongst the humans. She'd limited herself to crimes of the night time variety. She'd don a hood and moved fast enough as to not even allow the victims to say thank you, let alone catch a glimpse of her face.
Being able to transform into a full grown panther helped with concealing her identity more often than not. And it made for the amusing chase after a particular purse snatcher had bolted and ran.
Perhaps being a local do good-er (she refused to outright call herself a hero) was enough for her. It kept her busy outside of work and the thundering silence of her apartment. At least it should have been enough, but of course she just couldn't help herself.
She'd been walking home from work when she smelt it. The scent of blood rushing quicker than normal in the store across the street. She knew the owner of the James' Jewelers to be an elderly man. Definitely not two masked figures lurking about.
Carmilla rolled her eyes at herself and pulled her hood up. The police would be none the wiser until the old man opened up the next morning and noticed all his inventory was missing. So it only made sense to extend her good will. Though she'd never done something this big before.
This was..promising.
She'd made sure that she'd by passed any camera's as she appeared behind one girl dressed in black. She could smell the sweat and hear her heart pounding; she must be new. "Hurry up, do you think we have all night to get this done?" The irritation in her voice was palpable.
Her companion scoffed at her, continuing to fill his backpack with loot. "Relax, rookie, patience is what has gotten me through every heist before now and it'll get met through this one." He was practised no doubt, but he hadn't noticed Carmilla clicking the panic button beneath the register. The police would be here soon enough.
Carmilla wasn't going to wait around for that, though. She lifted the man up by the back of his shirt, "Sure about that, rookie?" the man jumped out of his skin much to the vampires amusement.
"How the hell did--" Carmilla had him on his back and dead to the world within seconds. Mindful of any cameras of course. She heard a gulp behind her and smirked.
"Listen lady, I promise I'll--" Meet the same fate as his friend? Carmilla could manage that.
Carmilla had them knocked out and the jewels put back in their rightful place just as the police lights came into range. In the blink of an eye she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
/
Walking into work the next morning, Carmilla and was met with a dead eyed Betty handling a customer.
"So you saw absolutely nothing suspicious last night?" Or perhaps she wasn't a customer. The girl was shorter than her, which was saying something. She had on a tan pea coat and honey blonde hair that went down her back. She had a notepad in her hand, writing away despite the boredom on her boss' face and the silence that followed before Betty rolled her eyes.
"I already told you, I had to go home early yesterday. I let my employee close the shop last night." Betty gestured to her, making the tiny girl face her. Her boss gave her an encouraging thumbs up, before retreating to the back room. So much for boosting company morale
Before she could even think about bailing Carmilla was soon face to face with fiery brown eyes and a very determined--
"Laura Hollis, reporter for the Daily Silas paper." The small girl, Laura, stuck out her hand. Carmilla took in the girls white button up, blazer, dress pants and loafers ensemble that lay beneath the coat. Her stance exuded not confidence necessarily, but something that told her this girl would be more trouble than anything.
"Carmilla, and never heard of it, Cupcake." She had of course, anyone who lived here had probably seen or even skimmed a copy. Not to mention the huge building that was plopped in the heart of the city. It was fun to watch Laura get riled up.
Laura huffed, "First of all, The Daily Silas paper is one of the number one news sources available." She defended, "And secondly, my name is Laura."
"I was just teasing you," Carmilla smirked at her, leaning against the counter. "I know all about your little newspaper. Plus that bunched up face you make when your mad is hilarious buttercup."
She watched Laura gape at her for a moment, before clearing her throat and gathering her barrings. Interesting. "As a professional, I am going to ignore how infuriatingly rude you are, and get to the questioning."
Carmilla yawned, "Ask away Sweetheart, I'm an open book." Laura glared her and was her eyebrow twitching?
She exhaled, "Yes, well there was an attempted heist right across the street last night and I'm trying to find eyewitnesses. And I have on account that you closed up here around the time of the incident?" Suddenly she was all business and Carmilla sensed experience, despite the girl not looking a day over 18.
"I might have," Carmilla shrugged. "I was long gone before any...heisting." She had long ago learned how to deflect the attention away from her acts. Though it was for a completely different reason now.
Laura remained stoic and concentrated as she scribbled on her notepad. It was almost endearing--adorable even. Had it not been for how disheartening it was to have everything she said written down.
"Of course another dead end..." Laura sighed, flipping her note pad closed and rubbing her temples.
"What exactly happened last night?" Carmilla inquired and the reporter looked suspicious at her sudden interest. "I'm only asking considering it was so close. I'm very...irresistible I've been told."
Laura scoffed at her, " These criminals were after jewels obviously, not--" She paused and her cheeks flushed, "Whatever you're implying."
"Were they not caught?" Coyly Carmilla asked, watching the reporter's demeanor shift to become more tense.
"They were...but that's the problem," She'd let that last part slip, her eyes going wide. "Not that I'm at liberty to say too much. I don't like to give out information to the public unless I have hardcore facts."
She seemed passionate enough about what she did. Carmilla envied her somewhat. "How...noble of you." The reporter looked up at her comment, holding her gaze for a long time.
Laura broke it at the sound of the back room door opening and Betty entering. Way to ruin the moment (or whatever that was) "You know I could charge you for loitering, Hollis." Betty quipped.
Laura coughed, cheeks reddening and funnily enough Carmilla was sure hers would be too had she been human. Definitely more trouble than she'd anticipated.
"Apologies Betty, I'll be out of your way. I'm gonna go search the crime scene again." She gestured towards the door. She gave Carmilla one last glance, before nodding, "Thank you for your cooperation, Carmilla."
And just like that Laura Hollis was gone with nothing but the ring of the door opening and the laughable ignorance of her front page story being right in front of her. Perhaps even too close her.
"Just cause she talked your ear off doesn't mean you get your shift off you know." Of course. She had an actual job to get back to.
The saving people thing would have to wait...at least until her shift was over tonight.