Musings

Other Girl

"Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood."

That is what I told them. How bitterly true those words turned out to be. For centuries, I had roamed this accursed world, looking for power, fortune, notoriety, pleasure, revenge... blood. But never love. At least not until I met her.

Oh, I had seduced countless girls in my day and I had intended to do the same with her, but something was different about her. There was something new and unique about her. Yet she also reminded me so much of all my other victims. Perhaps it was this delicate balance of familiarity and newness that drew me to her so much.

How it went was simple. I tricked her into falling in love with me and I used her for a time. Next, I was supposed to dispose of her when I grew tired of her, but that was when I changed. I had never imagined growing genuinely interested and invested in her, but that is exactly what happened. I fell more in love with her every single day. Now, I know that happy endings don't really exist, but I must say that this girl had marked me in a way nothing else ever had. Not even the Other Girl...

The Other Girl was a girl from centuries past. She had been beautiful, shy, sweet and kind. Her specialness stemmed not from any of these qualities, however. Instead, it stemmed from her response to me. As with all my other victims, I seduced her and she did react with the initial fear and disgust I had come to expect and even enjoy, but then, as time went on, I sensed a change in her and she began not only to enjoy my advances, but she began to return them. She was the first to ever do so and I had never been more in love than in that moment. I even planned on joining us together in eternity, that was how strong my love for her was! But then it all fell apart.

She discovered my true nature too soon and the rest of her family did likewise. When her family learned the truth, they came to destroy me. For a time, they had succeeded, but I managed to come back. Alas, I was still too late. The door to eternity with her had been shut from me forever. She would hate me now and although I would've rather have her come to death hating me than not coming at all, I was unable to complete my work. It was like something inside me knew that even if it was possible for me to achieve my goal, it would no longer make me happy the way it once did. So instead of harming her further, I decided only to keep silent vigil over her until she passed, which I knew would be soon.

It was during this waiting period that I discovered how deep her specialness really ran. She already had two counts now, being the first girl to ever return my affections and being the first person to ever survive my wrath and defeat me so soundly. I learned of a third count over the few years I watched over her before she died. It went like this: although I visited her every day (I was the light footstep at the drawing room door), I could not afford to stay with her for all that long. Because of that, I had not realized that she had written a story about me until after she had published it. It came as a great surprise to me to find out that my dear heart had written about me and I made great haste to find a copy of the manuscript for myself. I had never read anything so intently except for Monsieur Buffon's big book.

I found the writing to be touching, if confused. It seemed that, even now, after all I did to her, she still love me because her story spoke fondly of me and it had the grace to keep some of the secrets that we shared. The girl in question passed not long after publishing this story, having withered away pining for me. That was the third special thing about her. She loved me even unto death as I hoped, going as far as writing a book to explain this. Alas, I was still too late to truly unite with her as I had wanted.

So, for about a century more, I roamed the world and seduced several new victims, but not a single one was quite like her. In fact, her original manuscript became my most treasured possession. At least until now. The girl whose story I relate to you now is the one consider far greater than even my Other Girl. But sadly, she suffered a similar fate. I tell her tale only because she passed before she could pen hers. In addition, I see it as an opportunity to tell my own story beside hers and shed some light on who I am. Beware, however, that the name I use in this story is not the same the old girl used. As cruel fate would have it, however, her name remained the same. The girl of this story shares the name of the girl before: Laura. As for my name? Callmira.

AN: My teacher wanted us to write an into to a story so this is just basically a Carmilla sequel set in modern day and narrated by Carmilla (who survives Vordenberg's attack). In it, we learn that while she did love Laura, the girl whose story she is about to tell was her true Great Love because, in all honesty, we never do find out if Carmilla actually loves Laura or not because the story is told by Laura and she doesn't know either. This intro is to a story that would've flipped the whole "Laura is Carmilla's true love" thing on its head and said "No. She was one of Carmilla's more beloved victims but she was far from the best!" Instead, it would've been this girl who, spoiler alert, dies as well, hence why Carmilla is narrating.