Carm knew that Laura was exhausted. The second she watched her girls head hit the pillow Laura did her usual think of wrapping herself around Carm and burying herself. Carm as usual, put her arm around Laura and held her close while she slept.

The middle of the night told a completely different story. Carmilla could tell when Lara had recovered as the two of them made up for a lot of lost time. She woke with a groan, a mess of black hair and covered in nearly healed bite marks which caused her to smile at memory of earlier that night. “Laura…” She could feel her girlfriends arm across her back and their feet in the usual tangled together position.

When Laura didn’t reply she twisted in her arms and placed a kiss to her cheek while her hand brushed back Laura’s hair from her face. Even after all these years together Carm couldn’t understand how this one person changed everything. “Laura, time to wake up.”

Carm found the remote for the TV buried between their pillows and clicked it on. The volume was low but every channel was covered with breaking news. Laura’s article had hit the news with such impact, exactly as Kara had predicted.

After Lara had left the apartment Ella spent the next few hours trying to process everything that had happened in the previous twenty-four. She contemplated the rescue and how she couldn’t leave Lara to the hands of those mind wiping idiots that operated against her rules. Then how Lara couldn’t follow simple instructions and always tested her patience with added frustration. It would have been much easier to wipe out the club and the students effected, blame it on animal attacks or hide the bodies. The security team and clean-up crew were always at the ready to covertly handle the problems she might have but when Ella ordered the students to be saved the silence from her staff was almost deafening.

The vampire Dean known to be uncaring was suddenly sparing lives. The news of this whispered amongst her staff and found its back to the board quicker than intended. Within a couple of days even Mattie had called, wondering if Ella was starting to go soft. Still Ella didn’t back down, she kept her promise to Lara and all lives were saved. Students blissfully unaware of just how much danger lurked around them on the campus.

Within a week Ella made sure that Lara’s friend was safely returned to their dorm. Her vampire subjects posing as students delivered LaF directly to Lara’s room. Meanwhile Ella kept her distance and spent the remainder of her time being extra cold and ruthless to students to compensate for people thinking she had a heart. On one of her particularly bad days she was conversing with a science teacher outside of the department and out the corner of her eye she watched Lara walked across the grass with her friends. In that moment the person talking to her had no idea clue their words were going in and straight out the other side.

She would have contacted Lara sooner but the girl had seen and experienced a lot. Ella thought it was best to give her some space at least to adjust to finding out the supernatural was real and more around her than most people know.

Thankfully towards the end of what felt like the longest of weeks, it was time for their date. Ella had the location and time and no idea what to expect. Instead of her usual smart and expensive looking attire she dressed down to her favourite black leather jacket, grey tight jeans with high rise boots where the heels complimented every step of her walk in the best of ways.

She drove to the location, far away from anyone recognising who she was and after navigating a few streets there was couple of bouncers outside a black matted door between a bar some sort of closed building. It was the only logical place it would be and a simple flirt with the guards got her in without any fee to pay. Inside the metal steps echoed the further down she went, eventually leading to a well lit room where a large overweight man sat picking food out of his teeth.

“Been here before?” He grumbled, barely looking over his computer monitor. Ella was about to answer when he cut her off. “You place a bet, you lose, your problem. You start a fight and its game over. Only fights happen in the ring, outside of that you’re banned sweetcheeks.” There must have been a button the other side of his desk as the metal door to the side opened and noise erupted from the inside. It was as if he opened the door to a metal concert. The music boomed, people were cheering and Ella couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She wouldn’t have expected that under the streets a venue like this could exist but there had to be at least hundreds of people from ground level all up on different tears and platforms huddled together around this one circular caged ring in the centre. The instant smell of blood filled the air, causing her to look directly into where two women were fighting inside the cage. Both covered in blood and bruises.

In order to curb the cravings and distract herself, Ella did the smart thing and headed for the bar. In between ordering a drink she text Lara. ‘Come find me at the bar? X”

There were many things Carmilla wanted to ask mother about but knew better than to probe. She wasn’t the only vampire who had a curiosity around things her mother had or had done. Mattie was the closest to push all those buttons and as a result was often punished for even thinking of asking. Even the board would occasionally spy just to gain that one step ahead. Every time landing in a failed attempt. Mother was many things but private was something she excelled at.

Even in an alternative universe the curiosity surrounding the vault was still something Carmilla always wanted to know. Of course she had heard rumours and vampires had claimed to have seen things. Others used to say that whoever mother took in would never come out. Over the years as whispers would carry, the stories spiralled into webs of mystery and fed that curiosity even more.

So why not take the opportunity to see it here? How different could it be?

Having spent time with Laura and Mircalla, Carm couldn’t sleep. She had left the two of them to explore the house and this led to discovering Ell in her study. It was still strange to see her, the complete mirror of her Laura but not quite the same. Although unaged she was older, as was Mircalla, and their experiences and world was shaped under completely different circumstances. But no matter what universe they found themselves in it was clear that fate always brought them together. There was something about that idea that would normally scare Carmilla but when it came to Laura there was nothing she was more sure about it.

After getting changed into her usual black leather pants and whatever dark coloured tank top she could find. Carm grabbed her jacket and looked over at Laura and Mircalla who were sleeping soundly. Both didn’t look like they were going to wake any time soon and she would be surprised if Laura wasn’t exhausted from earlier and needed some rest. This would at least give Carm the chance to see more of Ell behind her walls of being the dean.

She tied her jet black hair back into a high ponytail and headed for the living room where Ell said to meet once she had finished with some paperwork. From what Carmilla had worked out so far in the day of her and Laura arriving is that Ell seemed to be swamped in paperwork. She might have that wrong but so far Laura’s double always seemed busy and Carm was determined to at least get to know the side of Ell wasn’t behind a desk. She was also curious on her relationship with Mircalla but didn’t yet know how to approach that subject if even to bring it up at all?

“Ell?” Carm said quietly as came down the stairs. On instinct she tried to catch a heartbeat like she would normally do with Laura but had to remind herself that Ell was full vampire and much harder to detect.

With everything that had happened that evening; the discovery of Laura’s small heart now appearing to grow in size, her super ability to heal, Carmilla’s strength becoming so out of control she not only broke a door frame and kitchen counter but her loves wrist, LaF having an eye regrow on its socket which happened to activate the cybernetic implant they were working on...

It was a lot to take in and Perry concluded they were no further into discovering what was going on than when they first started. A bit of a mood killer but it didn’t stop the gang from hauling up downstairs and taking it in turns to research any book they could find which might help understand Laura’s condition. They would work all through the night if need be. LaF was that determined. It also meant someone to be on watch in case anything else happened to Laura.

Carmilla on the other hand, was determined to distract Laura and herself from thinking about what was going on and possibly blank out the memory of her friends seeing her naked. Of course the distraction came easy while Laura was wearing her clothes. With all that leather Carm could barely keep her hands of her.

The following morning all books were off the bed. Clothes were tossed either side and black thread was hanging from the headboard. Carmilla was curled up behind Laura, her arm across her stomach and head resting softly next to hers. Laura had one hand on top of Carms and the other on the pillow, sheets ruffled and pulled up around them.

It would have been perfect had it not been for the tranquiliser dart sticking out of Carm’s arm, a heart rate monitor on the end of Laura’s finger and several pads stuck to her face and chest. LaF had hooked the readings up to the laptop and was trying to monitor Laura’s heart and symptoms. The best way to do this is when Laura was asleep so they could get accurate readings but that meant sneaking and making sure Carmilla didn’t wake up. Best way to do that? Tranquiliser darts. For some reason Callis had a handy supply. No one seemed to question where she got them.

With Laura left monitoring overnight eventually the gang downstairs had all passed out. Perry asleep on LaF who had a laptop stuck wide open on the monitor screen, head hanging down. Callis by herself on the couch, book resting on her chest. And finally Kirch who was surrounded by empty packets of food and the odd thin book.

Carmilla groaned and lifted her hand up to nurse her head. She felt like she had been hit by a train or on the worst hangover of her life. She hadn’t felt it this much since the break-up with Laura where Mattie took her out for the night. She rolled back, away from Laura and collapsed onto the pillow. Curled black hair falling around her face. “What the…” Carm mumbled, eyes becoming wide as she noticed the dark in her arm.

“Laura…”, She shook her back, trying to wake her. “Laura, wake up.”

Centuries of being a vampire on top years of the years trapped in a coffin and left with nothing but her own thoughts, had hardened Camilla. She had perfected the ability to hide her emotions. Well, all but anger when she was pushed to past her quick wit and sarcasm. Yet, none of this had prepared her for the emotional rollercoaster she had been on since meeting Laura. Everything had changed. It wasn’t easy but the more walls she placed up the more Laura found a way to knock them down. It was becoming a habit.

The both of them had been through so much together.

After Laura had been brought back to life, Carmilla suggested heading back to her mother’s old place and resting until they figured out what their next move would be. La Fontaine had also asked for them to at least stay there at least a few days so they could keep a close eye on Laura and check she was okay and hopefully not possessed by an evil spirit or harboring any psycho tendencies.

While Laura slept on the couch in the front room, Carmilla opened the fridge door hoping her blood stash would still be there. She flicked the lights on low and as she poured herself a drink, noticing it was nearly 3am in the morning. No wonder she was wide awake.

“Great.” She muttered to herself and headed back to the front room where she started looking through all the books left behind by her mother. Clearly they were all hers now right? So why not go through them? Sticking the TV on would just wake Laura up anyway.