The Past Should Stay Dead
Laura took a sip from her tall glass of water that was sitting next to her laptop.
She had spent the last forty-five plus minutes that had passed attempting to decode Elsie’s message.
She tried looking up and contacting any place that sold cigarettes within a hundred mile radius of the club and of Elsie’s home only to come up short (and with an earful from a few businesses who were unhappy that they were being disturbed and accused of possibly harboring someone who goes around kidnapping women).
Fang 911. Fang 911. What could that possibly mean?
“What were you trying to tell me, Elsie?” Laura sighed, putting her head in her hands and shutting her eyes.
Her hangover had far from subsided and she just wanted to lie down and go back to sleep. But she had already wasted so much time…what if Elsie couldn’t afford any more time to pass?
Laura had the most mind-numbing headache. Her stomach had stopped churning thankfully, but now it was growling. She was starving.
Where had that girl gone? Maybe she wasn’t actually getting food. Maybe she was just making an excuse to leave so she wouldn’t have to stick around for that awkward ‘morning after’ talk. Lying about going to go get food was a lot easier—and a lot nicer—than her saying “hey Laura, I know you’re probably wondering who I am and what happened last night, but I kind of don’t want to deal with that so I’m leaving.” Ugh, why didn’t I go grocery shopping?
Almost instantaneous with her thoughts, Laura was startled by the sudden sound of a door swinging open.
Laura shot her head up—which, yet again…bad idea—to that sexy dark haired girl with a small brown baggie in one hand and a pocket tray containing two venti sized cups in the other.
“You gonna gawk at me all day or you gonna give me a hand?” The beautiful girl remarked, her eyebrows rising then falling in annoyance.
“Oh…yeah!” Laura quickly got up and made her way over to the girl, grabbing the tray out of her hand and shutting the door.
“Sorry for the wait cupcake. Guess I don’t know my way around here as well as I thought.”
Laura walked back into the kitchen and the attractive stranger followed her.
“It’s fine. Thank you for this. I’m starved!” Laura smiled as she sat down on the barstool closest to her.
“I’ll bet. You should be lying down, though. Resting your eyes. I see you’ve made it as dark as it possibly could be in here. But that thing,” The girl nodded at the laptop on the counter, “Is counterproductive.”
Laura tried not to enjoy the way the other girl’s arms looked when she folded them across her chest. Or how incredibly sexy her tight black jeans made her legs and ass look…
Laura bit into her sandwich and swore her taste buds had died and gone to deliciousness heaven.
Definitely gotta start eating at Starbucks more often.
“I want to, but something came up that needs my attention.” Laura replied while chewing.
Laura and the insanely gorgeous girl made eye contact as the other girl took a long sip of her coffee. It definitely made Laura feel extremely nervous. And it was, in her opinion, the worst kind of nervousness. It was the kind one gets when they’re about to profess their feelings to their crush.
Yikes Laura, what’s gotten into you? You act like you’ve never seen an attractive girl before.
The more she thought about it, Laura realized that she actually hadn’t met or seen anyone even remotely as attractive as the woman in front of her was.
It’s so weird…her beauty almost—radiates… she glows and emits her perfection like a…like a lava lamp of pure, unearthly magnificence. It’s intimidating.
“Are you invested in said activity right now?” the monochrome clad beauty’s voice interrupted Laura’s thoughts.
It took her a minute to realize what it was they were talking about, but once she remembered she started to speak, “Well, no but—”
“Then you can afford the break. Come.” She cut Laura’s speech short and walked into the other room, her coffee cup in hand.
For reasons unknown to even Laura herself, she got off the barstool and followed the girl into her living room, clutching both her sandwich and coffee tightly.
The girl had laid the thick pillow Laura had tripped on earlier flat on the couch and sat her coffee cup onto the glass table.
Thank God she had enough manners to use a coaster.
“Where do you keep your blankets?” The pale girl asked.
Laura sat down on her leather couch carefully before shrugging, “Upstairs in the closet before my room. But it’s fine I don’t need it.”
Laura heard brief movement from behind her, followed by the opening of her closet.
“Or yeah… just go ahead and grab it then.” Laura muttered under her breath, making a face.
The girl came back down with Laura’s blue and white Dr. Who blanket and Laura blushed. She almost forgot how completely geeky her apartment was decorated. Danny didn’t mind all of the decorations—she didn’t necessarily love them but she loved that they made Laura happy so she dealt with it. And it wasn’t like the two had many visitors other than LaF, Perry, JP, and Kirsch.
But she never really realized until now that her decorations were probably a gigantic turn-off.
Laura figured that by now the raven haired girl thought she was this really nerdy, fan-fiction reading, pop-culture reference making, cos-playing freak. Which…well…she was. And she was proud to be so. But Laura was certain this girl and her nonchalant, mysterious, and bad ass physique probably ate girls like her for breakfast.
She’d never like me with my Dr. Who blankets and figurines lying around everywhere. I mean for God’s sake, I have a life-size Dr. Who TARDIS in this very room! Why would she fall her a nerd like me?
…not that I want her to like…fall for me or anything… Like—I don’t even know her.
Which made Laura think.
The girl stretched out the blanket across Laura’s lap before joining her on the couch and kicking her feet up on the coffee table.
Wow. Classy.
“So—uhm…Well…I uhm… I have a question.” Laura stammered before taking another bite out of her sandwich.
The girl looked at Laura and folded her arms behind her head, “Lay it on me, cupcake.”
Laura’s eyes looked everywhere but at the mysterious girl sitting next to her as she asked, “So… uhm… what’s your name?”
A throaty laugh came out of the other girl and she looked up at the chandelier above them.
“You mean to tell me you and I slept together and you can’t even remember my name?” she teased.
Laura’s cheeks turned a bright red at her words but she tried to come up with a witty reply. “You mean to tell me you slept with a girl who was so intoxicated that she can’t even remember your name?”
The dark haired girl paused for a moment, rising a pointed eyebrow at Laura, and then smirking, “Touché belle dame.”
They made eye contact again and Laura bit into her sandwich. She wasn’t really sure what it was that was just said, but the way the raven haired girl said it—like she had ice inside of her mouth—sent a flutter through Laura’s spine.
“Carmilla Karnstein.”
“That’s a…a very beautiful name.” Laura smiled awkwardly before breaking eye contact.
“You said the same thing last night,” Carmilla smirked, “Only… you first gawked and said that I myself was beautiful.”
Laura’s cheeks got hot and she put her head in her free hand.
“Oh my God…I’m so sorry…I get really talkative when I’m drunk and I don’t really have a filter I kind of just say whatever is in my head and I know that’s a problem I need to work on but It’s kind of hard to work on when I’m under the influence but I really do try—”
“So you thinking I’m beautiful…is this a thought you have in your head even now?” Carmilla wondered out loud, her entire body positioned in Laura’s direction.
Laura’s words got caught in her throat and the blood rushed to her face yet again at her words.
“Uhmm… huh?”
Carmilla smiled flirtatiously and crossed her legs.
“I’m only asking because…well you know what they say cutie, drunken minds speak sober hearts.” She bit her lip and smiled.
Carmilla’s smile was alluring and her eyes were teasing the hell out of Laura and she could feel every inch of her body caving into her stare.
Come on Laura, snap out of it! She’s just a girl! A very attractive girl that you just so happened to have slept with…supposedly not sexually.
Ignore the way those shadowy eyes keep trapping you in some sort of captivating trance…Definitely pay no attention to the way her alluringly low voice is suddenly turning you on… Disregard how terribly sexy she is when she bites her lip…And don’t you even think about what it’d be like if she bit your lip…while making out with you…Oh my God…
“You alright there, cupcake?” Carmilla tore into Laura’s inner dialogue once again.
Laura realized that she was literally just imagining a full-on make-out scene between herself and the captivating individual in front of her and blushed intensely. All she could do at this point was nod and finish the last bites of her tasty sandwich.
There was a brief moment of silence between the two. Carmilla’s eyes were charismatically drilling holes into the side of Laura’s head and Laura was trying her best not to look back into those mesmeric eyes.
“You gunna answer my question or avoid looking at me for the remainder of the day?” Carmilla exhaled loudly, crossing her arms.
Laura cleared her throat and slowly looked back into the pale goddess’s eyes.
“I…I mean…Surely—you—you must know—that uh…that you’re like—insanely gorgeous…” Laura spluttered, her eyes wandering the room yet again.
Carmilla’s eyebrows raised and her eyes widened slightly at the young girl’s response.
“Mmm… Must I?” Her voice was almost as seductive as the look she was giving Laura.
Laura reached for her coffee to wash down the lump in her throat then mumbled, “I mean…you must get a lot of compliments.”
“Ah, so are you inferring that the amount of compliments one receives verifies their level of desirability?”
Laura definitely was not expecting that to be her response.
Laura gulped down some of her coffee—which was surprisingly perfect despite the fact she never told Carmilla how much sugar and creamer she likes in her coffee…or even the fact that she liked coffee—and then voiced, “No, I’m just saying that…well…because of your level of…attractiveness, you must get a lot of compliments. And…hey I didn’t say anything about desire. I said attractive.”
Laura dared to shoot her eyes back to Carmilla.
She was grinning toothlessly, and she wore this smug expression on her face like she had just won something.
“Actually, you said gorgeous, cupcake…but, what? Are you saying I’m not desirable?” The pale woman wore that smug expression a little too well, Laura thought.
Laura looked at the figurines on the table in front of her and was internally despising the fact that her heart rate had definitely sped up and that her red face was giving away her embarrassment.
Stupid blood vessels. Stupid nervous system opening the blood vessels. I understand it’s kind of its thing, but why does the nervous system have to be so…well…nervous?! And why did Carmilla have to be so…alluring? And…probe-y?
“No…no. I’m…I’m not saying that…” Laura took another sip of her coffee.
Carmilla growled a soft, throaty laugh that was…extremely too sexy for Laura’s liking before she pried, “Then what are you saying?”
Laura bit her lip and quickly stammered, “Nothing, I’m not saying anything. Anyway, if you don’t mind, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you about last night…Not to get all “investigator-y” on you, but apparently a lot happened last night that I have absolutely no memory of and well, since you’re here I figured I could pull a few answers out of you to help put a few pieces together. Like…well first off…not to sound tremendously rude…but, who are you? How did I meet you? Did we meet at the club…did we meet somewhere outside of the club? I can see you obviously took me home, but from where? And…if we didn’t…you know… “Do it”…why…are you still here?”
Carmilla’s eyebrow raised at Laura’s last statement and Laura pressed her lips together in a line and furrowed her brow, “I mean that in the nicest of ways, I promise.”
Carmilla shook her head and irately rolled her eyes.
“Riiight. Well, sorry to disappoint creampuff, but I’m not one of your flings from your wild nightclub adventure. I’m the Uber driver that your buddy Kirsch flagged down to get you home safe. Just for the record, you might want to tell him that if he wants the reassurance of a completely wasted girl as beautiful as yourself getting home safely in the hands of an Uber, he might want to be inthecar with said beautiful, intoxicated girl. Simply telling a driver not to do anything because “that’s totally not cool, man” isn’t really as threatening or as helpful as he probably thinks.” Carmilla uncrossed her legs and spoke fluidly, irritation lingering in her tone.
Laura’s stomach filled with butterflies at Carmilla referring to her as ‘beautiful’ and she attempted to pacify her sudden glee and focus on the other, more important parts of what she had just said.
“…Wait, you’re my Uber driver?!” Laura didn’t know what surprised her more, the fact that she had spent the night cuddled on top of her Uber driver, or the mere fact that Carmilla was one.
“Yep. And trust me, I had nointention of ever leaving my car, let alone sleeping in your bed. But you insisted I come inside for a drink as a payment since you left your wallet with Kirsch. Although I tried to remind you that wasn’t how Uber worked.”
Laura’s face was—unsurprisingly—flushed. She could just imagine how much of a fool she made herself into and it made her cringe just thinking about it.
“And,” Carmilla continued, “You were incredibly drunk. I wanted to make sure you made it into your apartment okay.”
“But you stayed.” Laura had wanted it to come out as a question but it sounded more like a statement.
Carmilla nodded, her gaze resting on the cup in Laura’s hand. “Yeah, I did. I decided I’d walk you into your room, make sure you didn’t almost bust open your nose again in the process, and get you something to drink before heading back to my own apartment.”
Laura was naturally a very clumsy person, but add alcohol to the mix and…well, she was a little surprised she hadn’t actually busted her nose open sometime last night.
“I’d done all of the above and was ready to be on my way out, but you went into the restroom to change and asked me to wait. So I did. And when you came out, you were in your pajamas stumbling over your own two feet in my direction. That’s when you ended up tripping over one of the heels that you took off prior. You fell on top of me, we bonked heads, and you passed out on top of me.”
Tripped over my heels… of course. That’s where my clumsiness came back into play. Wow that’s so incredibly embarrassing… but at least I got my answer to my question earlier: she didn’t undress me. Thank God.
The light haired girl put her face into her hand and shook her head. She was absolutely embarrassed at herself and her apparent actions.
This poor girl didn’t even want to stay here, I practically trapped her under me and forced her to stay.
“I am sososo sorry! I knew I shouldn’t have drank that much…I’m extremely sorry for all of that oh my God. And I’m sorry for literally trapping you here I know you probably have things you need to do and I totally did not mean to fall on you—I shouldn’t have even asked you to wait, why would I do something like that? Kirsch and everyone else is on their way here right now, he’ll bring my wallet through and I’ll pay you for your troubles—you shouldn’t have had to go through all of that, especially when all you needed to do was drop me off oh my God I’m—”
“Whoa, whoa slow down, creampuff. Look its fine. You most definitely aren’t the first one and you, unfortunately, will not be the last… It happens.”
She didn’t know why…because there was absolutely no reason at all she should have felt this way, but Carmilla’s words had sent a wave of pain through Laura’s chest.
“You—you’ve taken other drunk girls into their homes before? And—and stayed over…to help them?” Laura chose her words carefully, trying not to show her dismay.
She failed.
Carmilla smirked, taking note of her sudden tone change, and replied, “I meant you aren’t the first entirely too intoxicated girl I’ve had the pleasure of driving,” Carmilla drawled out the word ‘pleasure’, “Just most of them have had other people there to help them back to their homes and whatnot. As far as spending the night at a client’s home due to said client passing out on top of me in their bedroom, have to admit you’re the first.”
Laura smiled without actually realizing she had.
“Okay but…I’m still confused. So then—why—why are you…doing this? Buying me breakfast and coffee and taking care of me…I mean I guess what I’m trying to say is… the hospitality…and the kindness…although I do appreciate them…they just seem like things people would only do if… if they had slept with the other person. Especially with how…brief we’ve known each other. Although I totally believe you that we didn’t…that we didn’t sleep with each other…I just…I don’t know. This whole situation is just too difficult to wrap my brain around.” Laura shook her head softly.
Carmilla frowned.
“Chivalry really is dead in this age, isn’t it?”
Before Laura could respond, Carmilla continued, “Magnanimity could strike you all in the fucking face and this callow, typhlotic generation would mistake it for manslaughter...I figured you’d be entirely too hungover the next morning to even want to function as a person. And since leaving wasn’t really an immediate option last night, I figured I’d nurse you through your hangover instead of simply returning home the next morning…Which was a mistake, I see that now.”
Carmilla grabbed her coffee off of the coaster and quickly rose up off of the couch, her body language screaming ‘pissed off’.
“Sex isn’t some sort of prerequisite for benevolence, Laura. But hey you know what, maybe my way of thinking is just that medieval. Maybe it is and I just haven’t caught up with the times yet.” Carmilla began to make her way towards the door and Laura shot up to follow her.
Wow, that took a very unexpected turn. I guess I should watch how I word things…
I didn’t mean to offend her…and I…don’t want her to go…Say something, dammit! Don’t just let her leave!
But I mean… she is upset. Like, raging. & she keeps saying things like “your kind” and “this generation”. Like…She looks like she’s…what…2, 3 years older than me? Why is she speaking like she’s an 800 year old woman of another species?
Maybe it’s best I let her go…but what if I never see her again?
Laura was torn—she didn’t know what to say or what to do other than stare after the beautiful, very angry creature that was slipping from her grasp.
“It’s been fun, cupcake. But I think I’ve outstayed my welcome long enough. Hope you find your friend.” Carmilla spat as she opened the door to leave.
“Wait! My—my friend…you—you know she’s missing?” Laura stretched an arm to hold the door open.
Carmilla stood in the doorway, arms crossed, utter impatience glued to her expression,
“You mentioned it last night.”
Laura started biting her lip and gave Carmilla the most innocent look. She realized Carmilla was upset with her…but she also did need any sort of information on Elsie and her whereabouts.
“So—uhm…say…did any of those other drunk girls that you drove happen to be blonde…eh, about yeigh high, wearing a forest green crop top…”
Carmilla scoffed and shook her head slowly.
“Unbelievable. As if nothing I just said even registered in that callous—” Carmilla silenced herself—even doing the ‘shut it down’ hand gesture to silence and calm herself—and simply turned around and walked out of the door.
Laura started to chase after her but stopped in the hallway when she saw her crowd of friends making their way to her…and a fuming Carmilla stomping away.
“Uber hottie!? What are you—”
“Out of the way, meat locker.” Carmilla growled as she literally shoved Kirsch out of her way with one arm.
Kirsch fell to the floor and everyone fell into shock. Kirsch was a pretty strong guy and normally it would have taken a lot more to knock him down.
“What the hell!” Danny yelled after Carmilla while her and JP helped Kirsch up off the floor.
Carmilla said nothing, she didn’t even turn to face anyone. She just continued walking down the hall until she turned the corner and disappeared. Forever.
This sudden, overwhelming gust of emptiness crashed over Laura and she wasn’t sure why.
“Who the hell was that?” Danny boasted once they all approached the small girl.
LaFontaine was looking at Laura funny and Perry was examining Kirsch, possibly searching for scrapes or dust bunnies to clean off of him.
“Whoa…Uber hottie was pretty strong. She used one hand and was able to…thump me down. The bros will never let me live that down if they find out that happened.” Kirsch brushed himself off, his eyes widening at the thought of his “bros” finding out he had just been pushed to the floor by a girl using only one of her hands.
Danny looked at Kirsch sharply. “Wait, wait, wait… did you just say Uber hottie?!”
Everyone, who had their attention directed at Kirsch, diverted their eyes to Laura and she sighed.
“It’s a long story that I’d rather not talk about in the hallway.”
The group piled into Laura and Danny’s apartment, not even closing the door before they resumed their original position, glaring at Laura impatiently and waiting for answers.
“So…that was Carmilla. Our friendly—neighbourhood Uber driver.” Laura grimaced a smile.
“Yeah yeah yeah, we got the Uber driver part. Explain it.” LaFontaine pressed, crossing their arms across their chest.
Kirsch raised his hand suddenly, “Ooo, ooo, ooo! I got this one. So, after Perry had pointed out that Els was missing and D-Bear said we needed to search for her, I found Laura dancing on a table with some blonde chick and asked her if she had seen Els. And Laura was all, “What do you mean? This is Elsie!” And then she turned around and realized it totally wasn’t Elsie and freaked,” Kirsch laughed, “She practically fell off the table.”
“Yes ha-ha funny.” Laura growled.
“Anyway, I realized Laura was a little too wasted and probably wouldn’t be the best person to have around for a search party so I called her an Uber to take her home.” Kirsch finished with a smile.
Danny angrily scowled at him.
“Wait, so you mean to tell me you let Laura go into a car with a stranger… while wasted out of her mind?!” Danny barked.
Kirsch recoiled into himself and softly responded, “I…I know I was skeptical at first…but I told the Uber hottie that it would be totally like—unbro like if she like, did anything to Laura.”
Danny ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Kirsch honey, that doesn’t mean anything in the real world! For all we know, she could have just been sitting in some…serial killer's car! On top of the fact that she was drunk! I mean we don’t know, the Uber driver could have seen that she was drunk and that she wasn’t even the one that had called the Uber and decided to have some of her own fun with her…Kirsch that was so—" Danny was doing Kirsch in and Kirsch was standing there just taking it.
“Danny, stop! I’m fine, I’m still alive. Do you even hear yourself right now? A murderer? I’m sure Uber can’t even hire serial killers or rapists. Carmilla wasn’t a murderer…I don’t think…and we have a lot more important things to worry about other than this.” Laura yelled, hoping to take the heat off of Kirsch.
“I know, I know it’s just…Laura something could have happened to you…”
“But it didn’t. I’m not a child Danny, I can take care of myself!” Laura retorted.
The two girls glared at each other in silence for a bit before LaF came to a realization, “So that’s why you asked if we let you go home with someone last night.”
“Not to interrupt your little quarrel ladies, but you still haven’t gotten to the minor detail that includes the reason your Uber from last night was here in this complex at,” Perry checked her wristwatch, “a little before 3:16 the next day.”
Laura gave Danny the side eyes and adjusted her shirt on herself, “Right…Well…According to Carmilla, I forgot that payment for the ride is automatically taken from the card and insisted that I’d call Kirsch to bring my wallet to pay her…but in the meantime she should come in for a few drinks.”
“As if you needed anymore.” Danny scolded.
Laura shot Danny another crippling glance as Kirsch began to speak. “Oh yeah! I have that…somewhere…” he began to feel on himself to look for it, "You know what, I think I may have left it in the ca-"
“I would like to hear the end of this story, if you all don’t mind.” JP silently interrupted Kirsch, raising a hand and then dropping it once everyone looked over at him.
“Alright so…she said she tried to tell me payment was automatic, I didn’t listen yada yada…so she decided to help me into the complex to make sure I made it back okay. She helped me into my room, got me something to drink and before she could leave…I apparently had asked her to stay. Why? I don’t know but I did…Long story short, I tripped over a heel on my way out of the bathroom, landed on top of her and on top of my bed, we knocked heads and I passed out.” Laura’s cheeks were red as she explained the entire embarrassing ordeal.
“Wait so all of this is based on what this Carmilla told you? You—you don’t remember any of this?” Perry questioned with a very concerned look on her face.
Laura shook her head, “I don’t remember a thing past JP and LaF doing the jig to that new Taylor Swift song. I woke up with a splitting headache, clean pajamas on, and a girl under me…fully clothed just in case any of you were wondering. The reason she was still here was because she wanted to take care of me—I mean my hangover.”
The group was silent, registering the information they were just given.
“I guess our performance really was unforgettable, ey JP?.” LaF…laughed, nudging JP who also began to snicker.
“Susa—LaFontaine, this is serious!” Perry softly hit them on the arm.
“You had pajamas on?? Did she undress you?” Danny barked, gripping Laura by her shoulders.
Laura tried to break out of her grip but Danny was just too strong. “No!...I mean I don’t think so. She said I went into the bathroom to change.”
“Good.” Perry exhaled, relaxing a bit.
“Yeah, Uber hottie—”
“Her name is Carmilla!” Laura barked, interrupting Kirsch.
She wasn’t really sure why she had even bothered to reemphasize her name. It’s not like Carmilla even referred to Laura by her own name…
Except for in her goodbye. Laura’s heart felt like it sank into her stomach.
She had been so engulfed in the thought of Carmilla never coming back into her life again that she didn’t even realize that everyone had stopped to look at her.
“O…..kay….Carmilla was just being a bro and taking care of our drunk little nerd hottie. No biggie.” Kirsch finished, shrugging.
Danny looked at everyone as if they had all lost their minds.
“So we’re not even going to question how utterly fake all of that sounds? We’re just going to believe her? …what if she’s lying?? What if she’s the one that undressed you? And you two were on your bed! How believable does that story even sound to you guys? Laura—drunk out of her mind—undressed and dressed herself and then tripped over a shoe and somehow ended up in the arms of a stranger…ON HER BED??”
The group was silent for a minute.
“She has a point Laura….” LaFontaine was the first one to speak.
Laura started to interject but was interrupted by Danny, “For all we know she could have…she could have raped you!”
Kirsch gasped and looked at Laura apologetically. His whole body reacted to Danny's words and he had caved into himself. He resembled a gigantic, sad puppy.
“Seriously? You’re back to accusing her of rape?” Laura let out a frustrated sigh.
“You have to admit the strong possibility that her story is a lie…” Perry cut in.
“She doesn’t seem to be the type…” JP added his own two-cents until the entire group was yammering over one another.
Laura was visibly getting angry.
She believed Carmilla. She didn’t think she was some unregistered rapist or murderer. Plus, she had been so nice and…gentle with her the entire time…like she actually cared about her.
And Laura had driven her away.
Her sadness towards Carmilla’s departure coupled with the groups’ accusations drove Laura over the edge.
“OKAY EVERYONE, SHUT UP!” Laura screamed at the top of her lungs.
The group jumped, each and every one of them completely shocked by little Laura’s demanding tone.
“Carmilla did not rape me! She didn’t even so much as touch me. This conversation is OVER. Now if you guys don’t mind, I’d like to focus on the actual reason we're all here: our friend is MISSING! And I’d like to not waste any more of our time... or Els's time in trying to find her!”
Everyone had frozen in their tracks. They were all still taken aback at the fact that Laura even had such a booming voice when she was upset.
Laura took a long, deep breath and shut her eyes in an attempt to calm herself down. After yelling like that, her headache had resurfaced and she needed a minute to recover.
Suddenly a low, raspy voice interrupted Laura’s brief period of meditation, “Oh, don’t stop on my behalf. I quite enjoy being villainized.”
Heads whipped towards the voice and everyone caught sight of the beautiful, pale goddess that was leaning against the door.
“So I’m a rapist now am I? Huh, that’s funny,” Carmilla pushed off of the door and began to make her way slowly towards Laura.
Laura tried—she really did try—to ignore the graceful swaying of her hips as she approached her. They were moving slowly…very agile… like she was a cat stalking her prey.
“…and here I was, thinking I had just been a little too hard on you. Thinking maybe I just misread the entire situation and was over exaggerating.” Carmilla stopped in front of Laura, inches away from her face. Laura caught the other girl’s natural scent…like a mixture of lavender and what Laura figured night time smelled like. It was driving her wild.
“But like I said, magnanimity for manslaughter.” She laughed humorlessly, holding Laura down with her piercing stare, “Or in this case… for molestation.”
Laura felt as if she was back in a trance. Her stomach had regenerated the butterflies from earlier once she saw her again, but her guilt for what her friends had been accusing Carmilla of doing was destroying those butterflies one by one. It was making a burning knot in her stomach.
Carmilla laughed a throaty laugh then turned to face the group, “What kind of girl do you people take me for? Do you all have no shame?”
She faced Laura again, scanning every inch of her before glaring back into the smaller girl's eyes, “Why do I even bother…?”
Laura swallowed.
She wanted to explain everything. Explain that her friends were just overprotective asshats sometimes and that she was trying to tell them the story of everything that had happened yesterday. She wanted to say literally anything that would make Carmilla stay. That would keep her here...even if just for a few more minutes. She wanted that oddly comforting, overwhelming cold wave of bliss she felt when she woke up to her to resurface.
“I forgot to return your phone. Here.” Carmilla handed the white iPhone to Laura and she took it, her hands shaking.
“Carm—” Laura started to say, her voice faltering.
“Y-y—you…I—I know you…I-I couldn't recall w-who you were earlier...b-b-but now I remember—you’re…you’re a v-v-v…” Perry stammered as she pointed a violently shaking finger at Carmilla.
Carmilla smiled, her white teeth glimmering…and two, razor sharp fangs making themselves noticeable.
“Vampire…” LaFontaine finished her sentence, their eyes widening in surprise.
“Well hello there, gingersnap,” Carmilla cracked her neck and the rest of the gang watched the vampire in utter shock.
“Long time no see.”