God's Lonely Man

Are You Gonna Stay The Night

Carmilla cradles Laura's head and checks her breathing and then, because she's fucking panicking, checks her pulse again.

"Okay. Okay. You're alive," Carmilla whispers. She carefully picks Laura up and carries her in, walking into the bedroom and placing Laura there. Carmilla looks down at her again.

Her entire face seems to be either bruised or bleeding. There are scrapes and gashes along her arms and legs, as well as across her torso–– all shallow, as if done to inflict pain and not cause too much blood loss.

Carmilla lets out a shaky breath and heads back to her living room to close the front door. She goes to wet a washcloth, when there's another knock at her door.

What the frilly hell?

She peers through the peephole and frowns as she opens the door.

"Mattie?"

Mattie places a hand on her hip and saunters right in. "Have any visitors other than me?" she asks, clearly knowing the answer.

Carmilla's mouth drops open. "Mattie, what did you do?"

Mattie smirks and cocks her head to the side. She looks so proud of herself that Carmilla snaps. She grabs Mattie by the arm and practically drags her into the bedroom, gesturing at the bloodied and unconscious Laura on her bed.

"Tsk. She's dirtying up your sheets," Mattie comments, shaking her head.

Carmilla's eyes widen in horror. "Mattie, what the fuck?" She steps closer to her. "What did you do?"

"I saw you two, outside of that ice cream parlor," Mattie replies bluntly. "Your mother sent me to keep an eye on you, to make sure you were, in fact, staying away from the chief deputy's daughter."

Carmilla swallows hard. "So asking me to dinner tonight..."

"Your mother just wanted me to spend time with you and find out through conversation. It just so happens that we coincidentally saw her. Honest."

Carmilla cuts her eyes at her. "And then?"

"And then, I called your mother to report back and after you left her to wander home alone, some of Will and Sam's buddies snatched her right off the sidewalk," Mattie replies smugly. "Clearly, they had a lot to say–– as did your mother."

Carmilla grabs Mattie's collar and growls in her face.

"Be careful, darling," Mattie warns, worry completely absent from her tone. "You'll damage the fabric."

Mattie's total apathy, while a beaten-up Laura lies on her bed, is enough to send Carmilla over the edge. "I will kill––"

"Carm?" a weak voice comes from beside them.

Carmilla immediately lets a smirking Mattie go and sits down beside Laura.

"Oh, thank God you're awake," Carmilla breathes out. "You scared the shit outta me, cupcake."

Laura squints groggily at Carmilla before her eyes wander to Mattie. "Uhm, sorry." Her eyes continue moving as she glances around the room. "Where am I?"

"My bedroom, cutie." She tucks a strand of hair behind Laura's ear. "What do you remember?"

Laura starts to talk but her voice cracks and a sob escapes. She shakes her head. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Okay, okay," Carmilla says soothingly. "You don't have to."

Mattie scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Oh, God," she sighs exasperatedly. "Look, I just came to make sure we didn't have another dead body on our hands. We all know how carried away your mother can get."