Forever Charmed

Animal House

"...So, that's basically it," Laura says into her laptop camera. "We've moved the Dean and her cage into the attic in the coven house. Kirsch and J.P. brought Carmilla back to the Elders to get her instated as my official whitelighter." Laura giggles. "She was grumbling about how now she has rules to follow. I did promise her I would help her break as many as possible."

Orbs light up the room and Laura spins to find Carmilla, who dramatically flops on the couch in Laura's dad's house.

"That's it for this update. Feel free to chat with me in the comments, Magic School peeps!" Laura says to the camera, stopping the recording and posting it. She gets up and sits next to Carmilla.

"I forgot how long those old windbags can go on for," Carmilla groans. "All these new rules they've changed since 1872..."

Laura giggles. "Am I still gonna be your only charge?"

"Mmhmm," Carmilla nods, turning her head to look at her. "At least until we get this whole sacrifice thing sorted out. They want us to focus on that."

"Ooh, so we have months to ourselves," Laura says with a grin. Carmilla chuckles and Laura bites her lip. "Coz, y'know, I was thinking, if we're gonna be together, we should probably go an actual date––"

Laura's phone rings and she sighs, checking the caller ID. She frowns and answers it.

"Hey! ... Oh, glad you liked the new video... Oh? No, I haven't heard anything about that. Can you send me some links? ... Great! Thanks." Laura hangs up and rushes to her computer.

Carmilla pouts and follows her, sitting beside her. "So, what were you saying about a date?"

Laura doesn't seem to hear her and she opens her email and starts clicking on the attachments. "Huh." She scrolls, her eyebrows progressively furrowing more and more. One picture seems to have captured her interest the most. "Have you heard about this?"

Carmilla narrows her eyes at Laura. "Depends. Did you hear what I said?"

Laura turns away from the screen and focuses on Carmilla. "Yeah, sorry. Date. Uhm, w-we... We can..." Laura's mouth open and closes a few times as she struggles for an idea.

"I appreciate the effort, cutie," Carmilla chuckles. "We can put a pin in it. What were you asking me about?"

Laura points at the computer screen. "There have been reports of humans exhibiting animalistic behavior. People mauling others to death, like they're wolves, or bears. My classmate was wondering if I was interested in investigating."

Carmilla frowns. "What makes you think it's magical?"

"The first victim was a scientist named Shelly, working on rabid animals." Laura zooms in on a picture in the earliest article. "Do you see this?"

There's a piece of paper amidst a trashed laboratory with cages thrown open. It reads,

"Something altered in our midst,

In animal forms these particles dwell,

Make them humans, sayeth the spell."

"Whoa," Carmilla breathes out. "You think the first victim cast a spell on the animals on the lab and it backfired?"

Laura shrugs. "All I know is, if we're gonna turn those people back into animals, we need to do some investigating." She fidgets nervously, averting her eyes. "I know we wanna have a first date, but..."

"Hey." Carmilla chuckles and nudges Laura gently. "When I said I wanted to be in a relationship with you, I meant with all of you. The witch side, too. I have feelings for you because of who you are, not in spite of it."