Caramel (wlw)

epilogue

Traumatic is an understatement to describe the events of that night. He died, Laura was fine, legally speaking. I was fine, too; but I had to decide what happened next.

...

"Val?"

Laura's voice was groggy, which means that she just woke up, or I just did. She was clutching my hand, which was a distraction from how uncomfortable the bed was.

"Laura? Where are we?"

"The hospital. How do you feel?"

"As good as an ex-hostage can be, I guess."

She sighed and pressed her lips to my forehead; I could feel it through the gauze. Up close, she looked like she needed to be in a hospital bed too.

"Hey, when was the last time you drank-?" Laura shook her head.

"You had your eye taken out, don't worry about me."

"Twenty-twenty vision is overrated." She ran her hand through my hair.

"You beautiful idiot."

...

Laura came home with me after the hospital said I could go. Still, nights were hard, and on the second day back I was up at all hours, haunting my own apartment.

She wasn't doing any better; she only looked worse.

...

"Laura?"

Her shoulders stopped shaking when I pushed open her door and she didn't turn around when I wrapped my arms around her. She was cold.

"What's wrong?"

"It's stupid, you really don't need to-"

A sob cut off her words. She felt so fragile in my hold. Pressing my cheek to hers, I had said:

"You need to drink."

"I know." I cupped her face.

"You have me."

"I know."

I pulled away to move in front of her.

"No, you have me."

Her face crumpled and she leaned forward to crush our lips together. She drank that night-of blood and honey, salted with our mingled tears.

In the morning, I woke up alone.

...

And I've woken up alone ever since.

I couldn't reach her anywhere. I tried, I really did, but she disappeared.

Adjusting took a while-even after three years, when the phantom aches throb behind my eye and weigh heavy in my chest, it's difficult to believe that I'll heal from wounds I'll never see.

But not impossible, and I had to decide what happened next.

...

"You cannot be fucking serious."

"I am."

"No," Jonatan slapped the counter. "When you told me you were moving and leaving me in charge, I thought it was another of your really funny jokes, obviously."

"It's either that or it closes down."

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"What about school? I have a degree to finish, Val!"

"Sell everything."

"No!" He raked his hand through his hair and huffed out an exhale.

"It's not that big of a change, and you get to be management now."

I swore up and down that he was holding back tears when he said, "You're really going, huh."

"Yeah. Kind of selfish, but I have to."

"No, I get it. And thanks." He pulled me into the world's most awkward-but no less heartwarming-hug.

...

So, here I am, seven cities over and looking for a new start. Even bleached my hair.

On my way to my new apartment, I spotted a little coffee shop. I told myself, what the hell, and walked in. Coffee never changes.

I didn't either, I suppose. Time slowed, and my blood was warm.

I've never seen Laura as tired as she was behind that counter. Her hair was greying, like it was the first time we met. After a few minutes in the queue, it's finally my turn.

"Good morning, what can I get you?"

Her voice has never been so lifeless, and her eyes have never been so dead. She looked at me and saw nothing.

"Hi, I'll get a caramel latte, thanks."

"Can I get a name?"

"Sure. It's your Laura."

Her gaze came into sharp focus when she snapped her head up to look at me. I held her stare.

"Val?"

"Hi, Laura."

END

Thanks for reading!

Open ending, so it's completely up to you if they both believe in second chances or they both move to different cities again. Personal headcanon (for my own work!) is that they stay in touch, reconnect, fall in love all over again, get married, and stay together until they die ;)))

I am not sorry that I ended this one with a Carmilla reference because Sheridan Le Fanu is why I wrote this in the first place. Like I read Carmilla and thought "what if their personalities switched" and they didn't, in this story, but it was the birth of the idea. That's why I called my vampire Laura and not Carmilla, anyway.

Take Valentin calling herself "your Laura" as a direct and proportional reference to what happened to the original Laura from Sheridan's work because that is my intention because it's the most tragically romantic thing I can conceive. (Or not, because I'm arguably not a romantic person.)

This revival is dedicated to Far, who really wanted me to finish Forgotten but I wasn't done with that one, so... :D