Forever Charmed

Fear Itself

"You're positive?" the Dean asks, raising an eyebrow. "Laura Hollis has the power of persuasion?"

Carmilla nods. "She's banished demons simply by telling them to leave, Mother. I've confirmed it with some of the Seekers under your thumb."

"This is most... interesting," she comments, her eyes lighting up. "And if she's as good as you say she is, then no wonder why she's the sacrifice."

Carmilla grinds her teeth but remains silent.

Her phone lights up with a call and she glances down at the caller ID – "Cupcake" –– and smirks.

"Gotta go, Mother. Duty calls." Carmilla does a two-fingered salute and orbs out, into Laura's living room.

Laura visibly perks up. "Oh! There you are." She beams at Carmilla. "I was calling out your name for a bit."

"I was in the Underworld, cutie."

Laura frowns and cocks her head to the side. "Then how did you know to come?"

Carmilla holds up her cell phone. "Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me," she says flatly.

"Wait, you can't hear my verbal magical calls as my whitelighter down there, but you can get phone calls?" Laura giggles.

"Great reception down there, actually. I'll FaceTime you some day," Carmilla replies, flopping down on the couch next to Laura.

"Honestly, I thought maybe you had enough of me after yesterday and were gonna screen my calls–– of every kind," Laura admits shyly.

Carmilla turns her head to look at Laura, a lazy smile on her face. "I'd never screen your calls, cupcake."

Laura blushes and turns away, a dorky grin plastered across her face.

Carmilla chuckles. "Anyway, why did you call me? Not that I'm complaining, but I don't see any demons attacking..."

Laura huffs. "Look, I did what you said. I rested. I just... I need help with my powers. Or, at least, making sure I don't use them wrongly."

Carmilla swallows hard and averts her gaze.

"Carmilla, you do know how to train me, right?" Laura asks nervously.

Carmilla sighs and shakes her head. "We can figure it out together?"

"Well, didn't you think to spend last night asking for someone to help me?"

Another head shake. "I was..." Reporting back to Mother. "I was cashing in some favors, but it's gonna take some time."

Laura visibly deflates. "I don't trust myself using these powers if we don't know what we're doing."

"Look, if it was any other power, like telekinesis or molecular deceleration and acceleration, we could totally have a badass montage right now. Yours is rare and it's not exactly in my knowledge bank on how to deal with mind control, but I'm sure we can––"

"No." Laura pouts and looks like she's about to cry. "No using my powers." Carmilla can feel her heart start to break, so she just playfully nudges Laura on the arm.

"Hey. Come on," she says with a smirk. "You've probably had this power for a while and you haven't done anything evil. You're fine."

"I don't know. Not right now." Laura gives a small shrug and sighs.

Carmilla crosses her arms, trying to figure out a way to get through to Laura.

"You're free to go, Carmilla Karnstein." She smiles at Carmilla. Then a twinkle forms in her eye. "Unless you wanna hang for a bit?"