Don't Forget To Remember Me

Buckle Up, Creampuff

Laura and Carmilla headed back to the apartment when the sun began to rise.  Carmilla went back to bed and Laura curled up on the couch, sleeping for a few hours until she had class.

At 3pm, Carmilla woke up to hear multiple voices in the living room, and a new cup of blood on her nightstand.

She trudged out to find that the group that had piled into the living room, complete with books and devices scattered around the room.  The group greeted her warily, as if she might freak out and abandon her cup for tastier pastures.  She gave a half-hearted wave and finished off the blood in her glass.  Carmilla found herself slightly disappointed that Laura was nowhere to be found.

“Laura’s still in class,” Danny offered.  “She’ll be back soon.”

Carmilla chose to not react to the strangely tall girl.  Instead, she snapped, “What the frilly hell are you guys doing here?”

“Research,” LaFontaine answered, “to find out what happened to you.”

Perry rose from her spot on the couch and strode over to Carmilla, who just glared at her.

“It occurs to me none of us introduced ourselves,” she declared.  “I’m Lola Perry.  That’s LaFontaine.  That’s Danny, and that’s Kirsch!”

Carmilla walked away and placed the empty cup on the kitchen counter.

Perry visibly deflated.  “Why, I forgot how fun Carmilla was when we first met her,” she retorted before returning to the couch.

Laura walked into the apartment carrying two boxes of pizza and placed them on the table in the kitchen.  Perhaps picking up on the awkward silence she’d found herself in, she looked across the living room at Carmilla.  “Are you being rude, again?” she teased

Carmilla held her heart, her mouth dropped open, offended.  “Me?  Rude?”

Laura dropped her bag off by the door and walked over to the sink.  “Rude, messy, whatever,” she snapped.  “It wasn’t enough that I had to wash out that thermos from last night?  I have to come home and wash out your damn empty cups, too?”

Carmilla felt a smile creeping onto her face.  I’m pretty sure no one has ever spoken to me this way, she mused.

“Did you guys find anything?” Laura called over her shoulder, leaving the cup to drain.

“Sorry,” LaFontaine responded.  “I mean, all we have to work off is that Carmilla went after the witch, then poofed back into your apartment, and then passed out and woke up with a missing chunk of memory.”

The group all looked at Carmilla.

“What?”

No one answered.

“What?”

“It’s just, we wish you had left some kind of indication of where you went before you lost your memory,” Danny replied.

“Well sorry for causing the inconvenience,” Carmilla said dryly.  She blew her bangs out of her eyes.  “So is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”

There seemed to be some kind of silent agreement that Laura would do the honors.  She took a deep breath before beginning.

“Buckle up, creampuff,” she started, grinning at the vampire.

Carmilla rolled her eyes.

“A few weeks ago, we came back from a party to find a vampire in the apartment.  His name was Jeremy.  You met him back in the early 1950’s, right?”

Carmilla nodded.

“Well, he showed up and he was so yucky and bloody and gross and he said that some witch just tried to sacrifice him.  He said she mentioned something about immortality, but he gave us the address of the place he escaped from.”

“Super helpful,” Carmilla retorted.

“Yeah, yeah, you said the same thing to him then, too.  So on Thursday, we went to the address, but she was long gone.  We asked around and found out her name.  I had a big exam on Friday, and you said you were going to ask around, so I didn’t see you most of Friday and Saturday.  Early yesterday afternoon, you teleported back into the apartment, and passed out.  And then… well, you remember waking up.”

Carmilla sighed.

The group slowly returned to whatever menial tasks they had been doing.  Laura handed out slices of pizza as small talk ensued.  Carmilla returned to the bedroom.  A few hours had passed before Laura knocked on the doorframe.

“We’re going out for a walk to take a break.  Wanna join?”

Carmilla shook her head.

“Okay.  We’ll be back soon.”  Laura turned to leave.

“Wait,” Carmilla said.  Laura pivoted to face the vampire.  “What happened to Jeremy?”

Laura looked pensive for a moment, sticking her tongue out.  Carmilla tried not to think about how cute she looked.  “Oh!” Jesus Christ, you can actually see a light bulb clicking on in her head.  “He said something along the lines of, ‘Just wanted to let you know, doll.  I’m getting’ the hell outta dodge while I still can, and you should, too.  You and your tiny dame.’”

Carmilla smirked at the girl’s impeccable imitation.  “Why didn’t we get the hell outta dodge?”

Laura shrugged.  “I told you to leave campus and wait until I found out if the witch was harmless, or got bored and left, but your stupid vampire butt decided to stay.  And then your stupid vampire butt decided to go hunt down the witch on your own without backup.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, Carm,” Laura shrugged.  “But you did, and I promise we’ll figure out what happened, okay?”

Carmilla offered what she hoped was a small smile, but it came off more as a grimace.

“Was that supposed to be a smile?”  Carmilla didn’t bother answering.  Laura giggled.  “Okay, Grumpy Puss.  See you later.”

Carmilla frowned when the apartment was empty.  She had been used to being a loner for centuries, but the sudden lack of din was unsettling.  Or, rather, the lack of Laura’s voice.

Whatever.  She went back to reading her book.

The next few days went by the same way.  Laura continued sleeping on the couch at night and would wake up and go to class in the morning.  Carmilla would wake up in the afternoon to a glass of blood on the nightstand, and to a bunch of chattering in the living room.

Laura did take the time out to explain to Carmilla how to use her iPhone, and how to use a laptop with the updated Internet.  Carmilla got the hang of it almost immediately.  Still, there was a bit of a learning curve, and Laura was more than patient, addressing all of Carmilla’s questions without making her feel dumb for asking them.

There hadn’t been any more nightmares, and Carmilla kept conversation to a minimum.