Carmilla: Trinity

Chapter Twelve: Search

I spend all day circling and weaving through the sky, desperately searching for any sign of my friend. Being in my natural form strengthens my senses, causing me to feel a slight nausea, but not as bad as when I tried to connect to the earth. Soon I'm able to shake off the feeling, if only a little. I make sure to stay out of the view of the Alchemy Club during my search. Ending up as one of their experiments is the last thing I want.

I release a sigh of disappointment when the sun falls and return to Laura and Carmilla's dorm room. I touch down on the windowsill and see the Kirsch is in the room. Perry is asleep on Laura's bed and Carmilla is flipping through the tome. Looking around, I glide towards the kitchen area and hide behind a mug.

"No." Kirsch denies.

"Yes." Laura tells him.

"No."

"Yes."

"Dude, no, okay? Will's my bro. He came with me to SJ's memorial. Which was really sad." He takes a sip from the mug in his hand.

"Kirsch, I'm sorry."

The boy shrugs. "Memorial's nice, though. There's, like, a little rock with her name on it. I bring her flowers sometimes. Pink ones. She liked pink stuff."

"That's sweet." Laura nods.

"And look, I get it. You guys are trying to help me because you think I'm dumb."

"No!"

"Alright, you think I'm not good at math or science or English or whatever. But...I know bros. And Zetas? We walk through fire for each other. And even if Will is a vampire, he's a Zeta first." He takes another sip.

Carmilla looks away from the tome. "Doesn't work that way, beefcake."

"Well listen, out of the two of you, my man Will never tried to bite me." He says strongly, in defense of his friend.

"Just do me a favor, okay? Just be careful around him." Laura warns. "I was not kidding when I said he tried to kill me."

"Okay. Yeah. And hey, if you're not too busy fighting evil, maybe you would come to the post-midterm bash on Friday? We're wrapping the goat in bacon this year."

"Yum." Laura says, not quite sure what to do with that information.

Kirsch sets the mug down and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Laura sighs when he's gone.

Carmilla sets the book aside. "You can send a dude to college, but you can't make him think."

Laura chuckles. "Must be nice sometimes, though. To be normal. Or oblivious. Nothing to worry about except the midterm bash and whether the person you like's gonna be there." She shakes her head. "That must sound so stupid to you. You've been to, what? A zillion dances."

Carmilla sits up. "Yeah, but most of the time I was bait in a supernatural con game."

I look between the two and decide to stay in my hiding spot, not wanting to interrupt their private moment. Well, not that private. I'm pretty sure the camera is still on.

"So, you can't remember what kids did for kicks back in 1698?" Laura asks.

"Ah, it wasn't much different. We drank a lot and danced like fools. Waltzing was fun. It had a frisson scandal back then."

"How is waltzing scandalous?"

"Well..." she offers her hand to Laura and they both stand up, pushing the chair close to the desk. "Partners were face to face." She pulls Laura into her arms. "Chest to chest." She leads them through a few small steps and spins Laura. "All of that, um, whirling." She pulls the girl back to her, keeping their fingers intertwined. "In 1698 it may as well have been sex."