Love Left To Lose

Use Me, Abuse Me

"Lophiiformes," Danny realizes.

Laura's body shakes with laughter. "Yes."

"Get out of Laura's body," Carmilla growls.

"And why would I do that, when you were considerate enough to remove the protection charm from her, allowing me to jump right in, just as I planned?" Laura-Lophiiformes sneers.

She walks across the room and sits on Carmilla's bed. The others regard her cautiously.

"Now, last time I made you a proposal, you rejected me. And you've been rejecting me ever since."

"I'd do it again," Carmilla snaps.

"Yes, yes, quite right. Which is why I'm glad I have others here who might be slightly less inclined to blindly follow Laura's wishes in favor of her well-being."

She quickly rummages through Carmilla's headboard. She pulls out a knife and holds it to her wrist. Everyone starts to move to stop her but she shoots all of them a warning look.

"I will slit Laura's wrist if any of you move a muscle," she warns. The group nods their understanding in unison. She continues to hold the knife in place. "You are all to allow me to proceed as I wish in Laura's body. I will obtain a nice collection of sacrifices to feed on in the Lustig without any hindrance from you. Once I have done so, you can have Laura back and by then I will be strong enough to possess someone else to do my bidding."

"No," Carmilla says firmly.

Laura-Lophiiformes throws her head back and cackles. "The alternative is I slit Laura's wrist and possess some other fool on campus."

Carmilla raises any eyebrow. "Then why haven't you? It's because you've spent this whole time weakening Laura, isn't it? All of these recent, grand-scale supernatural occurrences were meant to distract Laura so that when you finally got the charm off, she would be less likely to resist your weakening state than someone who's been none the wiser." She scoffs. "She would never want me to let you do this. I'm gonna have to call your bluff, you overgrown light bulb."

Laura-Lophiiformes shrugs and starts dragging the knife across her wrist. It's not deep enough to do serious damage, but blood begins flowing from the cut.

"Stop!" Danny yells. Laura-Lophiiformes obliges and grins. Danny takes a deep breath. "Just, stop for a second."

Perry shakes her head. "This is madness! You can't expect us to choose between our friend and countless lives."

"Oh, but I do," Laura-Lophiiformes says with a smirk. "Tick-tock. My wrist is starting to feel itchy again."

"You can slit Laura's wrist, but then what? You're too weak to possess anyone else," Carmilla points out.

"Maybe," Laura-Lophiiformes replies. "But are you willing to take that chance?"

Her eyes flash for a couple seconds, and Laura's voice returns.

"Carm, my wrist hurts," Laura whimpers. "Make it stop."

Danny, LaF, and Perry look uneasy.

Carmilla snarls. "That's not Laura," she hisses. "She wouldn't use her one chance at getting a message through to me just to tell me she's in pain."

Laura-Lophiiformes gives an unsettling smile. "You caught me."

She makes another cut with the knife, this time slightly deeper. The smell of blood fills the room as it begins pouring out more quickly. "I'm not terribly familiar with human mortality, but is light-headedness bad?"

Suddenly, the knife drops from her hand and her eyes flash for a couple seconds, before Laura's usual color returns to them.

"Carm," she rushes out while kicking the knife away from her. "Whatever you do, don't let it use me––"

Her eyes flash back to the previous glow and the voice echoes with lophiiformes's anger.

"Wow. A tough one, she is." She looks down at her hand and realizes the knife is no longer there. "Ah, no matter." Laura-Lophiiformes rises from the bed and walks to the window.

"Everyone stay away from her. The last thing we need is for her to rip off someone else's charm so lophiiformes can hop into their body," Carmilla orders.

Before anyone can stop her, Laura smashes the window with her elbow and picks up a shard of glass. "Now, where were we?"

Carmilla clenches her jaw. "You were gonna get your glowing ass out of my girlfriend's body."

Laura's body throws the glass shard out the window and she clutches her head. Her eyes flicker between glowing and its regular color. "Carm," Laura says feebly. "I can't keep holding it off."

The vampire rushes to her tiny human and holds her shoulders. "Cupcake, you can. You're strong enough, and it's weak, and you can do this." She looks around the room and the others give shouts of encouragement.

"Maybe I'd be stronger if you hadn't fed from me," Laura's voice growls, taking Carmilla aback, while Laura's eyes light up once more. It quickly fades. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," she whispers.

"Shh," Carmilla soothes. "Just focus on my voice and forget about the rest."

"Laur, right before we got here, J.P.'s readings showed that it would basically be rendered nonexistent after today. This is its last shot, its Hail Mary."

Perry nods. "Yeah, sweetie. You're stronger than it. We all know you can do it."

"Kick its ass, Hollis," Danny adds.

"Foolish children!" Laura-Lophiiformes booms. "I may be weak, but she is even weaker. Even if she did manage to beat me, it would be a quite the hefty cost. What kind of terrible friends and lover want her to sacrifice her life?" She shoots Carmilla a scornful glare. "Especially a lover who's so damaged she can't even say she loves her?"

She picks up another shard of glass. "You told her that she's an insignificant mortal. Time to prove that."

Carmilla snatches the glass shard from Laura's hand. "Laura, if you can hear me, I never meant that. Don't listen to lophiiformes. Don't let it take control of you."

She shoves the vampire away. "Tell us something, because she would never ask you, but I'm curious, too." Her eyes flare brighter with a malicious glee. "Why haven't you said you love her, yet? Are you really so damaged that those three words can't be uttered by you? Are you incapable of feeling love? Or is it possible that you really don't love her?"

Laura's eyes dim back to their regular hue and Laura's voice comes out, stronger than it's been. "Holy cookies, shut up already."

A giant blast of light explodes in the room, the intensity so blinding that everyone shields their eyes. The room is filled with it and Laura's pained screams for several seconds.

There's a sudden silence and everyone stares at Laura, who promptly collapses.

"Laura!" Carmilla calls out, catching her before she hits the floor. Her voice cracks. "Laura, please wake up..."