"You're sure your cold is gone?" Carmilla asks from her bed.
Laura pokes her head out from the bathroom. "If I had a cookie for every time you've asked me that, I would have diabetes," she quips, before ducking back in.
"Oh, you have had a cookie for every time I've asked–– and then some." She hears Laura laugh from inside the bathroom. "Anyway, I just want to make sure we can go out without some huge disaster happening."
Laura walks out and sits on Carmilla's bed. She counts them off on her fingers. "Hmm, it was just vampire bait, you dying, fleeing from campus, the whole Mama Klaus fiasco, fireworks turning into fireballs, a troll army attacking us during a walk, food poisoning while camping..." She wiggles her fingers in the vampire's face. "Did I miss anything?"
Carmilla smirks. "I think Silas University's general apathy to weirdness is starting to rub off on you, cupcake."
"Oh, thanks for reminding me!" Laura darts over to her computer and turns on the camera. Carmilla lets out an exasperated sigh and returns to her book.
"Hey, guys! So, J.P.'s been looking at ways to close the Hellmouth, but so far the ones that have opened up have never closed. With the exception of in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And I have absolutely no intention of letting my vampire lover disappear into a big explosion of light to save everyone. Again." She looks over at Carmilla, who's still hidden behind her book.
"I'd do it again," Carmilla mumbles.
Laura turns back around and bites her lip. "Well, you're not going to." She sighs. "Anyway, he's still keeping tabs on the supernatural activity. There's not much going on, but the energy signal is growing, so just be careful." She gives the camera a thumbs-up and turns off the camera.
Carmilla lowers her book. "So, cutie? Are you up for a walk?"
"Yeah, Carm! Let's get out of here!" Laura springs up from her chair.
Carmilla rolls her eyes but smiles. "Okay, Energizer Bunny."
Laura fake pouts. "That's not an edible nickname."
"You can eat a rabbit," Carmilla remarks, kissing Laura on the cheek before walking out of the room. Laura giggles and follows her.
They walk for a bit into the now troll-less forest, holding hands but not speaking.
"Am I going to have to pry from you what you've been thinking about since we left the room, or are you just going to blow up from keeping it in?"
Laura looks over at her girlfriend and smiles halfheartedly. "It's just... You're not going to do that whole 'martyr-savior' thing, again, right? I mean, I know now how much you care about me, and you don't have to show me anymore or anything––"
Carmilla gives her a look and Laura cuts herself off and takes a deep breath.
"I just can't lose you again, okay, Carm?" Her voice cracks a bit. "I get that it was a thing you felt like you had to do for me, but it almost killed me knowing you did it to save all of us, and I don't think I could survive you doing it again."
The vampire smiles–– not her usual smirk or grin, but a genuine smile. "Laura, I promise, I will never leave you alone again."
Laura visibly relaxes and gives Carmilla a peck on the cheek. She takes a few steps forward before there's a loud crack and she lunges forward. Carmilla reaches out to grab her but gets pulled down with her. They both tumble into a large hole that leads to a pit in the ground several feet down. Carmilla manages to land on her feet, but Laura is less lucky and lands with a grunt.
Carmilla quickly makes her way over to Laura, who tries to stand up but lets out a gasp of pain. "I think I twisted my ankle," she groans.
Carmilla maneuvers so Laura is leaning on her shoulder but bites her lip after a few seconds. "I'm trying to teleport us out but I can't."
Laura's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Why not?"
Carmilla gently removes Laura from her side and leans her against the wall. "I'm not sure, but just stay here."
Carmilla tries and fails to jump more than a foot off the ground out of the pit. "This is weird," she murmurs. She misses her footing in another attempt to leap out of the pit and lands on something that clicks, and an arrow shoots down and into Carmilla's thigh.
Carmilla collapses to the ground with a yelp.
"Carm!" Laura hobbles over and drops to her side.
Carmilla sucks in a breath. "All my vampire abilities are gone," she hisses.
Laura's eyes open wide. "How?"
Carmilla shrugs. "It could be a variety of things."
A rustling is heard above them.
"Well, I was just aiming for one vampire," a tall man dressed in black leather, wielding a crossbow sneers down at them, "but a monster lover is just as guilty."
Laura stands protectively in front of her vampire.
"Leave her alone," Carmilla growls.
The hunter takes aim at Carmilla. "There's been a huge spike in supernatural activity in this area in the past few months. Tell me everything you know."
"And you'll let us go?" Laura asks hopefully.
He smirks and lowers his weapon. "No, but I'll make your deaths quick...er."
Laura shakes her head. "Listen, I don't know if you think The Matrix style is still in, Neo, but I do know that the supernatural activity is way more complicated than whatever you think it is, and if you want to stop it, you're gonna need help."
Carmilla clenches her jaw and remains silent.
"Just once, I wish you overgrown leeches would tell the truth." He laughs wryly and retrains his crossbow. "Then again, if you did, I'd be out of a job."
Laura's eyes dart around the space around them. "You said a bunch of things could be hindering your vampire abilities," she whispers to Carmilla. "Would a bat wing with a toothpick in it do the job?"
Carmilla raises an eyebrow at Laura. "Yes. Why?"
Laura kneels and picks up a rock.
The hunter lets out a hearty laugh. "Take your best shot at me, foolish girl."
Laura winds up a pitch and lets the rock fly, but it flies way over her adversary's head, hitting a branch behind him.
"You missed me, child," he remarks.
"I wasn't aiming for you, doofus," Laura retorts, kneeling back down next to her girlfriend. He turns around. "Carm, teleport us out of here."
Carmilla looks at her quizzically, but within seconds both disappear in a puff of smoke and reappear right outside of the hole.
Carmilla pulls out the arrow from her thigh with a sharp inhale and drops it to the ground. The wound slowly begins to heal.
"You spotted my batwing ward," the hunter notes, sounding impressed. "And you knocked the toothpick right out of it with the rock. I don't even know where it went."
Laura grins proudly. "I played some softball and baseball in high school."
The hunter nods approvingly. "Too bad that just means I'm going to kill you first." He aims his crossbow, but Carmilla rushes at him with inhuman speed and grabs him by the throat as he drops the weapon to the ground. She picks him off the ground and is ready to do more.
"Carm, wait! Don't kill him!" Laura yells out urgently.
Carmilla gnashes her teeth at him. "Are you serious right now?"
Laura hobbles over and winces from the pressure on her ankle and Carmilla's face softens a bit, but she maintains her grip on the assailant's throat.
"He's not a bad person, he's just... a misinformed idiot."
Carmilla rolls her eyes. "And what do you propose I do with this misinformed idiot?"
"I don't know." Laura bites her lip. "Maybe just take him somewhere far away from here so he won't be a danger to us?"
Carmilla sighs and looks at the hunter. "You're lucky I owe my girlfriend one after she caught my cold," she bites out.
They disappear in a cloud of black smoke and Laura lets out a sigh of relief and sits down on a nearby rock.
Carmilla reappears a few moments later alone and lets out a long exhale as she plops herself down on the ground next to Laura.
"What'd you do with him?"
"I left him in some woods about a week's walk away from the nearest village," Carmilla answers.
Laura nods and looks down at the vampire.
Carmilla has a somewhat incredulous look on her face.
"What is it?"
"You're just trusting what I'm saying?"
"Yes?"
"How do you know I'm not lying and I didn't just drop him into a volcano or something like that?"
Laura laughs. "I mean I wasn't about to comment on that singed smell coming from you," she teases with a wink.
"You dork." Carmilla swats Laura playfully, but it's on the leg with the injured ankle, leading the tiny human to let out a gasp. Carmilla's eyes widen. "Dammit, I forgot, cupcake. I'm sorry," she says quickly.
"Don't worry about it," she says with a grimaced smile. "You did save me from a crazy monster hunter, after all."
Carmilla presses a gentle kiss to Laura's ankle. "Honey, if it wasn't for you, we'd still be in that pit, probably dead by now. Good lookin' out before. And good aim, too." She stands up. "Plus, the only reason he came after us was because of me, the vampire."
Laura shakes her head. "He came here because of the Hellmouth lophiiformes opened. We have to figure this out, or there'll be more like him on the way."
"Agreed. But first, let's take care of your ankle." Carmilla helps Laura up to lean on her shoulder.
Laura gives Carmilla a quick squeeze. "At least there were no trolls on this walk?"
Carmilla lets out a laugh. "Your optimism is unparalleled, buttercup."