Gossip Column (Carmilla Fanfic)

Chapter 5

When Laura got out of the cab she'd taken to the concert venue the first thing she felt was dismay. She had hoped she would be able to pass off as just one more fan in the crowd, but she realized her mistake now. This was a punk concert full of teenagers wearing black, her light blue jeans and yellow button up made her look like a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean during a storm. That feeling, however, was quickly replaced by a mixture of anger and fear. A paparazzo had recognized her and was now snapping pictures while telling her to smile to the camera. This called people's attention to her and she suddenly found herself surrounded by Carmilla's fans wanting to talk to her, or perchance, possibly murder her. For a moment she thought that maybe Danny had been right and she shouldn't have come alone. But then the crowd started parting and she saw two enormous men coming in her direction.One of them grabbed her arm, with a surprisingly gentle grip, while the other stood behind her glaring at people.

"Come with us, please, Miss Hollis", said the one who was holding her arm as he started to guide her safely away from the mob.

They guided her to a side door and she entered the venue with the security guard that had a grip on her arm while the other stayed behind to guard the entrance. He let go of her once they were inside and started to direct her through a corridor.

"Miss Karnstein told us to watch out for your arrival and make sure you were safely escorted inside. You'll be in the front, along with the security guards, and some staff from production. I'll escort you backstage once the concert is over. My name is Oliver." He told her.

"Nice to meet you Oliver, thank you so much for your help out there." Laura told him sincerely, she liked this guy.

"No problem, Miss Hollis. I was just doing my job."

They went through a side door that led directly to a reserved area in front of the right side of the stage. Two men and a woman were there, wearing VIP passes just like Laura's around their necks. Oliver took his place beside the door and Laura stood awkwardly observing the others. One of the men had a camera on his hands and was taking test shots of the stage. The woman was sitting on a chair with a notepad on her lap; she was clearly a journalist who would probably be writing a review of the concert. Even though Laura was a journalist herself, she couldn't help but feel a small dislike for the woman, Sarah Jane had sure made her afraid of running into more "journalists" like her. The other man was talking on his phone, until he turned and saw Laura standing there, his smile was predatory and he quickly hang up the call in order to talk to Laura.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the one and only Laura Hollis herself." He extended his hand to her, "I'm Will Luce, Carmilla's brother."

"Nice to meet you, Will", Laura said, shaking his hand.

"I've heard you've been to my bar this week. You should have let me know, I'd have gotten you and your friends a round of drinks on the house in the name of your, uhu, relationship with my sister." He said smirking at her.

Laura glared at him but was stopped from answering by the woman who turned around and said loudly:

"Oh my God, you're Karnstein's girlfriend. It's such a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hollis." She stood up and offered Laura her hand.

Laura's hands balled into fists and she stared angrily at the woman.

"Once and for all, I am NOT" she was cut off by Will's hand on her mouth. What is it with these siblings and shutting me up with their own hands? Laura thought crossly.

Will glared at the woman and told her in a firm voice:

"No comments about my sister's personal life. You'd do well to remember you're here to write a review of the concert, nothing else. You better not write a word about Laura."

The woman gulped and quickly sat back down, busying herself with her phone.Will let go of Laura and told her in a low voice.

"Don't say a word about anything to the press. My sister will not like that at all."

"I don't care what your sister likes or doesn't like. I want my life back and the only way to get that is by telling the truth." Laura hissed.

"Trust me, talking about my sister's personal life to the press will make your life such a hell, you'd be missing the little trouble you're having right now. Wait until you talk to Carmilla about all of this. She knows you're already here, I was with her on the phone when you arrived. She'll talk to you after the concert. But until then, keep your words to yourself." Will wasn't rude, but his tone was firm and Laura knew at once that she should not mess with him.

She sat down at a chair grumply and crossed her arms over her chest, like a small child who was denied sweets before dinner. She wished she had never realized she had forgotten her jacket at the restaurant. Hell, at this point, she was wishing she had not been able to get the job at the newspaper so she would never even have been at that restaurant to begin with. Laura sat there, her face scrunched up until it was time for the concert to start.

When Carmilla finally got on stage the crowd went crazy, they jumped and shouted and sang along. Laura observed this in amazement, she couldn't deny that Carmilla had a great stage presence, it was impossible to take your eyes off her. When the first song ended, the punk star greeted her fans and Laura found herself even more enthralled.

"Hello everyone, how are you doing tonight?" She shouted into the microphone. The crowd answered with excited shouts.

"I hope you're all ready for an amazing night. You're getting to see me, after all." She smirked, all self-confidence and smugness. She knew the effect she had on everyone, standing there on leather pants, see-through black top, black hair flowing around her in gentle curls, playing the guitar and singing with that impossibly sexy voice. Laura thought she was too full of herself, but couldn't deny that she had good reason to be.

Laura was surprised to discover that she was actually enjoying the concert. She never liked punk rock much, she was more a Top 40 hits kind of girl. However, Carmilla was very talented both as a singer and as a guitar player, she had command over the audience and her voice could make anyone enjoy whatever she was singing.

As Carmilla sang song after song, Laura found her anger at the girl diminishing. It wasn't her fault after all that they had ended up in this ludicrous situation. They would talk, and Laura would be nice to her and everything would be over soon. Not long after coming to this conclusion, Laura's feelings went in the completely opposite direction again. That's because Carmilla had a little surprise for her right before she played the last song of the day.

"This is the last song for tonight guys. Thank you for coming out to see me, or you can thank me for letting you see me" she smirked "I'd like to do something today I've never done before though, I want to dedicate this last song to the Cupcake." Carmilla finished and winked at Laura, the fans that were close by the reserved area soon had their phones out, filming Carmilla playing the song right in front of Laura with her eyes locked on her and her trademark smirk playing on her lips.

Laura stood petrified, she could only hear the noise of the crowd and Carmilla's guitar, but then the words of the song started making their way into her brain.

"I want a kiss wet and real - strong love

I wanna tell you how I feel - right now

All night long it rained and rained - my love

Make me scream hey what's your name?

We lovers never say goodbye

We lovers never die

We stop and go so quietly

Cold lovers fade away"

That was it. Laura Hollis would once again be in the newspapers the following day, but this time it wouldn't be in the gossip section, it would be in the crime's section because she was going to murder Carmilla Karnstein with her own bare hands.

Song mentioned in this chapter: Lovers - The Runaways