Love Left To Lose

Jump Start My Heart

Laura turns on the camera and winces as she sits back in her chair. The wounds are all dressed, but the cuts remain on her face, still looking very raw. She takes a deep breath. "Hi, viewers," she says, slightly less peppy than usual. "It's been a couple days since my tiny butt got itself shredded by a beast, which J.P. has since figured out was a wendigo. A wendigo basically possesses a person and turns them into this crazed cannibal, and eventually they wind up turning into this inhuman beast that has this insatiable hunger. J.P. spent a day searching and everything he's turned up says there's nothing that can turn them back, so the Summer Society and Zetas are out hunting it down."

She looks around the empty room.

"Carmilla's out with them, too. I think I was starting to get that look like I wanted to join them, so she decided to stop that in its tracks and volunteered to go with them."

There's a puff of black smoke behind her and Carmilla appears in her leather pants and a black tank top. Laura turns around a little too fast, letting out a small pained gasp.

Carmilla rushes over to the chair and puts her hands on her hips. "What are you doing out of bed?" she chides lightly. Laura grins sheepishly and Carmilla rolls her eyes with a smile. "I leave you for a couple hours..."

Laura giggles. "So? How did it go?"

Carmilla sits on Laura's bed. "One dead wendigo to go," she says flippantly. "I caught it and snapped its neck in the forest. Red Gumby and her puppy are dealing with the remains." Carmilla looks down at her hands and frowns. "And now I have wendigo germs all over me. Excuse me while I wash my hands, cutie." The vampire walks around her girlfriend. "How are you feeling?" she asks from the bathroom as she turns the faucet on.

Laura carefully turns back to face the camera again. "Still sore and tired," she answers. "But I'm better now that the thing has been captured."

"Serves you right," Carmilla snaps when the water turns off.

Laura frowns. "I already apologized for just storming off."

Carmilla re-enters the room. "Yes, and that just makes up for all the worry and headache you give me," she sneers.

Laura looks taken aback for a moment. "Carm, I can usually see through your snark and see you're kidding, but right now it doesn't seem like it."

Carmilla narrows her eyes. "Because I'm not, Laura. The way you behave is not okay. The way you think is not okay. You're too naïve and stubborn and reckless."

"Carm, what the hell is wrong with you?" Laura slowly rises from the chair and matches the vampire's glare.

She scoffs. "What's the matter? You search for the truth but can't handle it? Typical."

"You want to talk about not being able to handle the truth? The truth is you said you loved me but want to ignore it. And I told you that I love you and you want to ignore that, too. Why are you so afraid of us saying we love each other?"

Carmilla laughs ruefully. "Maybe because it's not true. Maybe because deep down I still just see you as my next meal. Maybe because your life will be over in the blink of an eye and mine spans centuries and you're as insignificant to me as a dust mite." She steps closer to Laura so that their faces are inches apart. "Does it ever bother you, Laura? To know that when you're gone, I'll be moving on and after a while, all you'll be to me is a crumbling rock in an overgrown field of grass?"

Laura's jaw drops open and tears well up in her eyes. "You don't mean any of this," she says as her voice cracks.

"Oh, don't you wish I would say so?" Carmilla steps away and heads towards the wardrobe.