No Matter How Dark It May Be, There Is Redemption

Taken

Carmilla and Laura made it back to Laura’s house by noon the next day with little excitement.  The Pommel of Azathoth was securely in Carmilla’s bag by the time they entered to find the entire group nervously awaiting their return.

“What took you so long?” Danny demanded, hugging Laura and giving Carmilla a quick nod.  “Why does Laura have this huge bruise on her jaw?  And what’s with these huge bite marks in her neck?!”

“Calm down, Xena,” Carmilla said, rolling her eyes.  “We ran into some problems with a couple of my mother’s henchmen, but Laura here took them on better than I did.  And we found the Pommel of Azathoth.”

Laura sat down, taking off her backpack.  Carmilla did the same, taking the Pommel out.

“Yeah one of them hit me pretty hard and the other bit me and took a decent amount of blood, so me traveling wasn’t the smartest idea,” Laura said.  “We decided to extend the trip so I could rest up first, but our phones died before the sun even set.”

Danny looked as satisfied as she could be with the answer.

“Well, glad you’re all right, Hollis,” Lafontaine said. 

Perry nodded.  “Yes, we’re so relieved.”

“We were so concerned because neither of you were returning our texts or picking up calls,” Danny explained.

“Also, your father called the house when he couldn’t get a hold of you,” Kirsh spoke up.  “He’s on his way back from Silas.  There’s not much he can do from there, since the other Zetas and Summer Society members, and his monster hunting bros are already keeping an eye on the zombie situation and the Dean.”  Laura nodded.

“Where’d you guys put the Blade of Hastur?” Carmilla asked.

Danny got off her seat and went upstairs to Richard’s room to get it.

“Good thing she made sure to tell the Zetas to get it from the pit when she carried you outta there, Carm,” Laura commented.  Danny returned with it.  Carmilla attached the Pommel of Azathoth to the Blade of Hastur with minimal effort.

“Okay so now we––” Laura began, but was cut off immediately.

Carmilla gasped in pain as the grip of the Blade of Hastur burned her hand.  Everyone stared in shock as smoke came from her hand and it turned red.  The redness began to spread up Carmilla’s arm.

Laura was the first to snap out of it.  She slipped the Blade from Carmilla’s hand, removed the Pommel, and threw the offending objects on the floor.  “Are you okay?” she asked, rushing Carmilla to the sink and running the hand under cold water.  Carmilla hissed as the water ran over her hand and arm.  Her eyes met Laura’s and Carmilla nodded.

“I, uh, guess that’s the ‘consuming’ thing The Dean was referring to,” Lafontaine said.

“The burn isn’t healing,” Carmilla noted.  “The skin should’ve gone back to its usual pale color by now.”

“Maybe the weapon doesn’t recognize vampiric healing abilities?” Danny offered.

Laura huffed.  “The first aid kit is upstairs,” she said, gently taking Carmilla by the wrist.

“We’ll start making lunch,” Perry said, trying to find something to do.  Kirsh stood up to help her.

Once Laura found the kit in the bathroom, she joined Carmilla, who was sitting on Laura’s bed frowning down at the burn.  Laura began dressing it.  “Well, obviously,” she said, putting some ointment on it, “we’ll have to find some other weapon to go after the Dean and lophiiformes.”

“What do you mean?” Carmilla asked.

“I mean, you can’t even hold the weapon without it burning you, and this time it might actually consume you, and we can’t have that,” Laura pointed out as if it was obvious.

Carmilla shook her head.  “We don’t have any other choice.”

Laura was wrapping a bandage around Carmilla’s wrist and over her hand.  “You’re just saying that because we haven’t found anything else.”

“I’m saying it because it’s true.”  Laura was done now, her hand resting on Carmilla’s shoulder.

“We can have J.P. keep looking.  Who knows?  He might find something now that he couldn’t find at Silas ––”

“Dammit, Laura!”  Carmilla slapped Laura’s hand away and stood up.  She tried to ignore the hurt in the smaller girl’s eyes.  “Sometimes I wish you weren’t so damn optimistic.”

“And sometimes I wish you weren’t so damn pessimistic!  But I guess you can’t always have what you want,” Laura snapped back.  She took inhaled deeply before speaking again.  “Look, we’re not using the Blade and the Pommel unless it’s our last option.”

Carmilla scoffed.  “And what if it is?  Who are you to decide what is and isn’t our last option?”

“The person who will be left behind, alone, after watching her girlfriend get consumed by a sword, that’s who!” Laura’s eyes began to well up.  “I can’t lose you again, Carm.  I don’t know how I survived that week, but I won’t go through it again.  I can’t go through it again.”

“That’s not fair,” Carmilla pointed out, her voice cracking.  “You are not allowed to use my mortality against me because, guess what, cupcake?”  Angry tears started to flow freely.  “Even if I don’t use the damn Blade and Pommel, one day, you’re going to die, and I will have to spend eternity alone.”

“Carm—”

“You’re so human, Laura.  And that means you get to be looking at things from a tiny, human lifespan.  Meanwhile, I get labeled a pessimist because I’ve seen the terrible things human lives have to offer, and I still want to save you humans, because you make me feel human, too!”

“Carm, I didn’t––”

Carmilla’s pretty sure she’s never yelled like this before.  “But I’m not human.  Even if you all perished in a zombie apocalypse, I’d still be standing there, trying to carry on without you.  I can’t do that.  I can’t spend immortality knowing I didn’t do everything in my power to be the person you deserved.  I need to redeem myself, and you can’t just take that away by invoking my own mortality when it’s in exchange for your stupid, short human life.”

Carmilla stormed out of Laura’s bedroom, ignoring the “Carm” Laura sobbed out.  She just needed to leave, get away from Laura and from all the words that had just come spewing out, words that she had meant to keep inside as long as she could.  Hell, the two hadn’t even formally said “I love you” to each other yet, and here she was, already shouting about how her girlfriend would die on her within decades.

Before she knew it, Carmilla was downstairs, facing a very concerned group of eavesdroppers, which now included Laura’s father.

“Whoa,” Kirsh breathed out.  Carmilla gave him a glare and he visibly shrunk.

Suddenly, there were sounds of various objects clattering from Laura’s room.  Carmilla guessed the girl had gone from crying about what Carmilla had just yelled about, to becoming angry at the whole situation.  That is, until there was screaming and a sudden shriek of, “CARMILLA!” ringing through the house.

Carmilla ran back upstairs, only to find Laura’s bedroom in complete disarray, but otherwise empty.  “Laura?” she asked, even though she knew Laura wasn’t there.

Her body went cold as she slumped down onto the bed in defeat.