It’s about truth
Carmilla
It’s already past 7PM, what the hell is taking her so long?
She has been waiting for Laura for some time now but then again, she was the one who said it was okay, that she would wait. But now she was getting impatient.
She looked at her phone for the hundredth time and saw that there was a text.
LaFontaine [7h16PM]: Everything’s fine. She just left.
You [7h20PM]: Roger.
She sighed. This weird feeling of betrayal has been hanging over her head for some days now.
She had a purpose, this was a mission. Laura had information that she needed, so she was going to get it.
Survival right? Know your threats and all that shit.
Except she has spent 2 weeks talking with Laura, getting to know her. The girl is charming. Like, this small ray of sunshine. Incredibly smart and dangerously sassy if you know what triggers her. But she is nice to Carmilla, even when the last is unpleasant. Which she knows she can be.
But oh, is Laura stubborn. It’s infuriating sometimes. Seriously!
She knows she loves what she does. She talks about her dad dearly, they seem to get along but she never mentions her mother. Carmilla never asked. It’s not that she doesn’t want to know but she has learned not to mess with things that are still. Besides, it wasn’t in her plans getting close with Laura. And she isn’t.
She hasn’t heard her talk about anyone besides her dad or her boss (who sounds like a dimwit). Not a soul besides that, a single friend. Why was that? She sure was the type of girl everyone would love to hang around. But then again, it isn’t like Carmilla is going to be best of friends with Laura, she just needs to know what she knows.
She tried bringing up college but Laura just flinched and changed subject. But she would talk for an excruciating amount of time about TV shows and movies, although she enjoyed books as well and, how the hell did this girl had time to watch and read everything with only 24h hours in a day?! Maybe she doesn’t need to sleep. Better, maybe she’s a vampire.
The thought made Carmilla chuckle lightly and shook her head, taking a sip from her coffee.
The girl is kindhearted and just. Honestly, she never met anyone like her. Carmilla doesn’t think she could go against her moral even if she wanted to. And she admires that, because it makes her character solid and strong.
God have mercy Karnstein, this girl is growing on you isn’t she?
***
“You cannot be serious!”
“I’m dead serious cupcake, I have never heard of this “Doctor” you speak of. What’s his name again?”
But Laura was grunting in disapproval and searching in her bag for her phone. She laid it in front of her.
“Write your number down, I’ll send you a link so you can watch it.”
Carmilla raised an eyebrow and smirked.
“If you wanted my number you could’ve simply asked”
Laura blushed and looked back at her fiercely.
“If I really wanted it I wouldn’t even have had to ask you for it”
Carmilla took a second to admire the girl in front of her. How can someone go from ray of sunshine to “get out the way, I’m coming through” in five seconds? She laughed and wrote the phone number down.
Laura picked up the phone and sent her a blank text.
“There. You can tell me what you think of it and besides, you can text me the information you need as you remember them so I can have the time to look it up”
She then dropped the phone back in her backpack.
“Speaking of which. Do you want to go through anything specific today?”
“I was thinking that we could go around this sidekick’s theory of yours.”
Laura rolled her eyes and left out a sigh.
“It’s not a theory Carmilla. It is physically impossible for someone to be able to do all that alone!” Carmilla was frowning but she continued “Look,” Laura pointed at a file “Two years ago, when she started, she would target minor incidents, street crimes, small arrests. That was it, for about a year. Then, about a year ago things started getting more serious. Bank robberies, drug lords…”
Carmilla moved in her chair trying to hide how uncomfortable she was that they were talking about herself. Worst, how uncomfortable she was that Laura knew so much. But for all she knew, Carmilla was just Carmilla and that was it. She
“Maybe she just wanted to prove something”
“Still. By then she started appearing with a new suit, new weapons. And she keeps upgrading them.”
Laura had written a kind of journal where she kept everything about these upgrades
“And the police hasn’t made any comments on this but I am pretty sure she is hacking into their terminal and their radio frequency.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear
“She has someone helping her. I’m telling you. At least two or three people.”
Laura’s eyes were shinning. She really enjoys what she does doesn’t she? She should be a detective or something. Sure beats down the ones who have been tracking her, those lackwits.Still, she knew way more than Carmilla had expected. She had everything in this file, all the times she appeared, every crime she stopped. And she was suspicious that she wasn’t working alone. The question is: why isn’t she publishing all this.
“Jesus Hollis, you know this borders the lines of stalking don’t you?”
She laughed, getting her right knee to her chest and resting her head on top of it.
Laura stopped and stared at the file, closing it. She looked mad. Okay, maybe making fun of her work wasn’t the best idea.
“Hey, hey, I was just kidding, creampuff.” She smiled towards Laura, trying to shake the tension between them. “ So… why haven’t you published all this? That seems like the kind of news everyone would read. “Maniac has other brainless maniacs helping her go around kick some butts”
Laura’s shoulders seemed to relax a bit. Yep, dodged a bullet.
“It’s not about selling. Well, not for me. It’s about truth. And helping people.”
She took a deep breath looking outside. Carmilla was starting to know this look. There was sadness in her eyes, almost a darkness to it. Although she thought that to be impossible, Laura was possibly the nicest human being on earth.
“If I just publish this I won’t be helping her and she helps, every day. I just want to help too. In my own way.”
It had been a week since the bike incident. Two weeks since they first met. And that same day she texted her.
You [10h02PM]: This show is a waste of time.
L. Hollis [10h03PM]: Shut up and watch it Karnstein.
***
She felt her lips forming a smile. Why was it that she would always smile when she was around?
It was nice having someone to talk to, someone to share. It's not like she doesn't have any friends. She has Perry and LaF. And evem JP. And she trusts them with her life. Literally. And they do know about her, about some of her past and about what goes on in her life. Why is it then that she feels at peace being around Laura? It's not like she shared a lot with her. The girl never pressures her for answers, which came as a surprise at first, her being a journalist and all. Maybe that's why she feels like being honest with her.
Except she can never be honest with her. Not entirely at least.
Carmilla placed a hand over her left ribs where the scratch from the bullet was almost healed but she could still feel bruising.
She can never tell her. She can never tell anyone else. And she certainly can’t put anyone else in danger.
Then why is she feeling so guilty?
Every time Laura talks about NightShadow her heart sinks. It’s not right, lying to her. She knows why she feels guilty. She is using Laura. This honest to God girl who just wants to help her, even if she doesn’t know she is doing it and she is just using her to know what to expect.
She does want to help doesn’t she? Maybe she would understand. Maybe.
But then again, she’ll never know.
Laura
She had walked (almost ran) to the coffee shop as fast as she could. It was late, Carmilla would have been waiting for over an hour now.
The sun was going down and everyone was heading home.
She could have gone home too but she still chose to wait for Laura, even if it was probably too late to talk about anything NighShadow related. And yet when Laura arrived Carmilla greeted her with a smile and hot coffee.
She really needed to relax and stop her inner rambling self as she tried to organize her thoughts on what she had just seen in LaFontaine’s police report. But everything was going on too fast inside her head.
Evidence disappeared. Vanished. Into thin air.
Blood analysis inconclusive.
The bullet recovered from the scene disposed of due to a system error.
All of this new information made her restless, but she needed to focus.
You know what this means Hollis, stop telling yourself you don’t.
Could it be? Could she have someone inside the police?
Carmilla was reading right in front of her, apparently realizing there wasn’t going to be much of a conversation for the next minutes. She isn’t going to tell her about what she discovered for now. It’s too soon, she needs to settle down and think this through. Besides, this is way too big and she barely knows her. Though there is something similar to trust starting to emerge from spending some time with Carmilla.
The girl switched page and hummed in an almost inaudible way that made Laura smile. She had her legs crossed and hair caught up in a ponytail and her eyes were drinking from the book like it was water on a desert. Her fingers had smudges of ink on them again.
She has been writing. I wonder if she would let me read it.
She had caught Carmilla reading sometimes before. She finds it is when she seems most peaceful. Like whatever it is that keeps her running disappears. And this girl runs. She can see her running even if she wants to look all disaffected.
We all have fears and we all run from them as fast as we can. Until we have to face them.
Sometimes she catches the dark haired girl mouthing the words, just like she was reading them out loud. She doesn’t like to stare for too long though. She’s afraid to break whatever spell the other girl’s under and she can see how much she needs to get away from whatever bothers her.
So she turns to look on the opposite direction of the window. The coffee shop is almost empty at this hour, just a couple of students here and there, working through their papers. There’s a table near the corner and two young girls are in a deep argument about something. One of them points at the book. The other one, who seems older, points at it harder and speaks briefly. Then the other girl seems to get really fired up about something. She starts talking and gesturing and goes on and on about something and by the end the other girl is staring at her smiling.
“You can’t really expect me to agree with you when you don’t give any valid points to-“
Danny had agreed to help her with her English assignment but it was proving very frustrating.
“I have given you as many valid reasons as there is Danny. It is about the questions that arise from loving someone without the same perspective on love as you. Flaws are flaws, and people still fall in love. You cannot argue with that.”
It was nice to be best friends with your English Lit TA but sometimes…
“I can argue that people have been studying this for years and they disagree with you.”
“Well maybe they were wrong.”
Danny grabbed a handful of her own hair throwing it to the other side of her head. Laura was getting on her nerves and she knew it but she wasn’t going to back of.
“Well maybe you are wrong. Just because you want to read it in a romantic perspective it doesn’t mean the author wrote it to be romantic.”
Laura hissed at this and sat back on her chair, grabbing a mug of hot cocoa and sipping from it.
“And just because you don’t want to view it that way it doesn’t mean it wasn’t!”
And then Danny was looking at her with a devious grin and suddenly she poked her mug making Laura spill hot cocoa, down her chin and all over the table in front of them.
“Danny!!”
But Danny was already laughing, her head covered by her long, red hair, just dropped on the table in front of them.
Laura tried to remain furious as she cleaned herself but it proved worthless. She started laughing as she nudged the side of Danny’s ribs and she flinched and laughed even more.
And then they were engaging in a tickle war.
Which Danny lost.
Badly.
When Laura finally stopped tickling her and she regained her breath, she looked at Laura smiling.
“You know, I really like having you as a friend Hollis.”
“You’re not so bad yourself giant.” Laura smiled looking back at her.
“Shorty”
Danny shoved her side and Laura threatened her with more tickling but instead hugged her.
It was nice having someone you can trust.
It was nice having a friend.
“Cupcake?” She heard a voice calling. “Are you okay?”
She turned to face Carmilla who had a worried look on her face. She had untied her hair, now laying on her shoulders.
How long was I out?
Laura cleared the knot that had formed on her throat, while she tried to dissipate the memory that had just slipped into her mind.
“Yeah, I’m fine”
She looked at the table where the two girls had been only to find it empty, only the cups and plates they had been drinking and eating from on it.
“Should we go now?”
***
They had left the coffee shop and Carmilla had driven her home, silently. Laura was realizing that they hadn’t exchanged that many words today.
As always, Laura got out from the bike, but today she gave a little flick on Carmilla’s helmet and she took it off her head, her black hair messy and wild.
“What was that for?”
She took Carmilla’s helmet from her hands.
“I would like you to come in and have dinner with me” The other girl showed no reaction whatsoever besides widening her eyes “I mean, you’ve been really nice all these days and since this is the last day you’ll be giving me a ride-“
“Why?” Carmilla interrupted her. “Have you found a better looking riding partner?”
She made a dramatic expression and Laura laughed nudging her softly with the helmets.
“They brought my bike back today” She pointed at the bike by the door “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you but I wanted to thank you some way and I thought dinner would be nice?”
Carmilla seemed to consider it for a while, looking between her and the door.
“Okay. But I’m warning you, I eat a lot.” She smiled “And I mean, a lot.”
Laura laughed.
“Not a problem, I’m sure it will be enough”
She started walking towards the door turning midways to look at Carmilla but still walking backwards.
“Besides, you’re paying for it. You’re bringing the bike up.”
She smiled as she opened the door and she heard Carmilla trying to protest.
Carmilla
Carmilla huffed as she settled Laura’s bike besides her door and closed it.
She could have warned me there would be stairs, Jesus Christ, those were four sets of stairs from hell.
She ran a hair through her hair and looked around. It was a small apartment. There was a couch and a small TV and sound system to the right, with a small table between them, and the kitchen was right to the left, with a table at the center. She could see three doors, so she figured it would be Laura’s bedroom, a bathroom and a closet or something. On the other side of the room there was a window with a seat and a bookshelf on its right. It was filled with books and some movies. Most of which where organized but some were out of place.
This is probably where Laura spends her time reading.
“So, this is home cupcake?”
Carmilla said looking around before looking at Laura. She was tying up her hair in a bun.
“Yeah, this is it. Tiny reporter, tiny home, I guess.”
She laughed at her own joke and put the sleeves of her shirt up.
She is such a dork.
“So, is there anything you don’t eat?”
Carmilla let herself fall on the couch which, kudos to the cupcake, was really comfortable, and she shook her head.
“Wait, should I be worried about food poisoning?”
“Why, you hurt me Karnstein. I’ll let you know I’m a good cook!”
Laura shoved her shoulder and hurried to the kitchen.
Carmilla just tried to relax on the couch. She still needed to get home and go on patrol. It’s the first day she is going back since the shooting some days ago, and she is starting to get restless.
It was nice not to worry about dinner though. And it was nice of Laura to invite her to her home.
I guess friends visit each other at home right?
Her heart felt heavy for a moment. There’s that guilt again. She sighed. Would it be so bad to be friends?
She looked around again trying to distract herself, settling her eyes on the bookshelf. She had a lot of different genres going on, classics but modern literature too and…wait, those books seem oddly familiar. Carmilla’s eyes widened and she got up, walking to the bookshelf. She took a quick look towards the kitchen where Laura was distracted preparing theeir meal.
Carmilla grabbed one of the books and scanned it. It wasn’t new. In fact, each one of them was a first edition and they had been read through. Some parts were even highlighted.
Wow, this is unexpected.
She closed the most recent one smiling as she caressed her own name on the cover. She had read her books. But then it really hit her.
Oh boy. She read the books.
“You know, the first time I read one of your books I thought to myself ‘Now there’s someone blessed with a powerful gift’”
Carmilla turned to see Laura right behind her, cleaning her hands to a kitchen cloth.
“Why didn’t you tell me, when we first met?”
Carmilla was stunned.
I guess we all keep our secrets.
“I figured if you wanted me to know you would tell me.” Laura threw the cloth on her shoulder, smiling. “But I have to say it has been hard, not telling you how much I admire your writing.”
Carmilla felt an unfamiliar heat on her cheeks as she set the book on its place. She didn’t really like talking about her writing with anyone. In fact, she never really met anyone who read them before. That’s because she didn’t want anyone idolizing her or treating her like she was something out of this world. Besides, her feelings were all over those pages. The only one who read them was Perry and it was only because everything had to go through her. She had even forbidden LaFontaine and JP from reading them, because she didn’t want them to ask questions about it. Although she was almost sure they did even if they never mentioned it, which she was greatful for.
So she breath in heavily, closing her eyes, bracing herself, waiting for Laura to start rambling about it, just like she has seen her do with her shows and other books.
But she only heard steps towards the kitchen and when she opened her eyes Laura was setting the table and serving dinner, smiling silently.
She couldn’t help to smile as she sat down and the girl started ranting about the latest episode of Doctor Who.
What other surprises do you have waiting for me Laura Hollis?