Carmilla

by Kim Turrisi

  I turn to Carm. “You’re going to head out soon to get the sword, yeah?”

  “Soon.”

  I take her hand. “I’ll feel so much better once you’ve got that. It’ll mean we have a real chance against your mother. You know?” I rub my temples.

  “Are you okay?” Carmilla asks tenderly.

  “That necklace did a number on me. My whole head is pulsating.” Carmilla comes over to massage my temples. “That feels a-mazing,” I say. This is the most relaxed I’ve been since … I got here.

  “You need to dial it back a notch, Hollis. I have to keep you and your friends safe. Hang here until I get back. Don’t put yourself out there until we have a surefire plan.”

  “But I do have a plan,” I say. “Remember all the people who watched the videos and wanted to help? We can call on them.”

  “Laura —” Carmilla cautions.

  I interrupt. “No, listen. I bet they don’t want to lose their friends to a vampire cult any more than we do. We could be the Silas Army.”

  “This is not a solid plan,” she argues.

  I’m not backing down. “We could fan out across the campus and search every basement until we find them. You get the sword. I’ll rally the troops. It’s a plan.”

  Carm tries to stop me but I bolt before she can. I know exactly what I’m doing.

  * * *

  •

  I lead the charge with a group of students from my dorm. We descend on the party plaza and I jump on the stage, grabbing the microphone. I scream over the noise of the workers, “Silas students, attention, please! Our dean isn’t who she pretends to be! She’s an imposter! We think she kidnaps students and kills them! She’s going to murder five more if we don’t find her first! I need your help!”

  I never expect that people won’t believe me. But I hear boos from the crowd, then a tomato hits me in the middle of my forehead so hard that it doesn’t even splat. My reinforcements get pelted and soon tomato innards coat the stage and some of the students. I wave to Danny, who’s dancing with her Summer Society squad. She turns her back to me even though I clearly could use a hand. I shield myself with a trash can lid and dodge my way through the hostile crowd.

  “Hey, Hollis!” I hear, turning to see a group of Zetas. I’ve never been happier to see them. They’ll help me.

  But they are despondent. “Dude, Kirsch and Will are gone,” some guy in a baseball cap says. “Like, we can’t find them and it’s taco night. Kirsch never misses tacos. They’re his favorite. Have you seen either of them?”

  I have a bad feeling about this. “No.”

  “We were counting on you. You were our only hope.”

  Dejected, they continue their search. I get hit a few more times before a random paintball fight breaks out. I dodge that and find safety in my room.

  “What the hell happened, Hollis?” Carmilla wipes the cuts on my arm with antiseptic, and it stings like hell. She gives me a bag of frozen peas for my forehead.

  “When I jumped on the stage to tell everyone that the dean was a killer and planned to sacrifice five students, things got dicey. Some kids started launching tomatoes. I got hit in the head with one that wasn’t ripe. I tried to get some help from Danny and her Summer Society sisters but she shunned me.”

  “I’ll kick her ass,” Carmilla says, all defensive.

  “She can really hold a grudge. Anyway, the Zetas showed up. You know they love a good tomato toss, but they didn’t even join in because they were looking for Kirsch. He and Will are missing. So much for my plan. And now the campus is a war zone.”

  Carmilla cups my cheek. “At least you’re in one piece,” she says. “I’ll be back. I’m going to find that sword to put an end to this.”

  “Good luck.”

  I post a quick update when she leaves, then sign off for the day. But I’m so distracted that I accidentally click the last file with webcam footage of the past few days, and suddenly I see myself on screen, spewing words in a different voice that’s familiar.

  I turn up the volume. Carmilla is there.

  The face is mine, the voice is not.

  It’s the dean’s. “If you can keep your little pet here from making more trouble, I’ll let you have her and take someone else instead,” she says.

  Carmilla steps into the frame. “How could I ever trust you?”

  This is officially a freak show.

  “How about a gesture of good faith?” Carmilla nods to me or her mother.

  Oh my God. This crazy bitch took possession of my body and Carmilla didn’t tell me? Why would she keep this from me? I thought she cared about me. How could I have been stupid enough to trust my heart to her?

  I force myself to return to the footage. Possessed Me yells out to the hallway, “Will, why don’t you bring in your friend?” I watch in horror as Kirsch bounces in, with Will following behind, sullen and surly as ever.

  Kirsch greets Possessed Me. “Hey, Laura, Will said you needed help, and I was like, let’s do this. Superman and the Zetas. Superheroes. We’re all in.”

  I fast-forward and catch Carmilla snarling at Possessed Me, “I thought your hungry Nite-Light only wanted virgins?”

  “I see you’ve been reading Barclay’s transcriptions. That man was obsessed. It’s hardly that romantic. We take girls because the world’s going to grind them up anyway, so we’re actually doing them a favor. Simple.” Seeing my mouth move but hearing the dean’s voice is chilling.

  I have to stop watching. It’s just too painful. I chose Carmilla over Danny. I fell for her bullshit like all the girls before me. And she kept this from me? How could I be so naive? The war outside is raging on. So is the war inside me. My door opens. If it’s Carmilla, I may kill her myself.

  But it’s Perry. She has her arm around LaFontaine, who’s moaning, “I just want to go to the party. It sounds like so much fun.”

  Perry rubs her friend’s back. “Let’s get you some tea or water.”

  “I want the Fuzzy Dagons that are at the party, please,” LaFontaine begs.

  Perry looks to me for help. “Hey, LaFontaine, there’s no party,” I pipe up. “I was just there. It’s like a battle for the Silas courtyard out there. That isn’t the sound of anyone having fun. Trust me, I was caught in the crossfire of the paintball exchange.”

  LaFontaine, in a funk, sits on the bed. Perry mouths, “Thanks,” then tries to help with a drink of water. She’s been hell-bent on flushing all the “bad stuff” out of LaFontaine’s system since her friend came back to us.

  For the next ten minutes, Perry and LaFontaine watch the video. “So how did the dean possess you?” Perry asks.

  “No idea.” It must have happened after I put on that necklace?

  “I knew that vampire was bad news. If she tries anything” — Perry pulls two stakes from her backpack — “I’ll stake her. She isn’t getting near Sus — LaFontaine.”

  LaFontaine leans in to Perry. “Thank you. I’ve noticed. I know this is difficult for you.”

  Perry hugs her friend. “It’s not hard. It’s still you.”

  LaFontaine returns to the screen, staring at it in disbelief. “They’re going to kill Kirsch instead of you? The dean kidnapped me? You were the dean?”

  “It’s okay. Things are a little fuzzy. We’ll take care of everything,” Perry says reassuringly.

  I glance in her direction. “You were on point about this place. Silas is a nightmare. There is no Dr. Seuss happening here. It’s more like American Horror Story than The Grinch. And The Grinch was pretty damn bad.”

  Then Carmilla comes rushing in, out of breath and without a sword. When she sees the video cued up, she knows she’s busted. Perry jumps up off the bed, stake in hand. “Don’t take another step, bloodsucker.”

  Carmilla moves past Perry. “What is this?”

  “Don’t act like y
ou don’t know,” I bark, then hit Play. Suddenly I come to life as the dean. “What’s it going to be? I can take out the king of Fraternity Row or your little girl toy. Your choice.” Kirsch cowers next to Possessed Me.

  Carmilla and her mother, I mean me, are nose to nose.

  “It’s simple, Carmilla. Laura is safe if she stops interfering in my business. But if she gets in the way again, she’s history. I’ll take him and you two can go on your merry way. Do we have a deal?”

  Carmilla watches herself on video. “It’s a deal, Mother.”

  There’s stone-cold silence in the room.

  I can barely look at her. “Were you even going to mention any of this to me? You know, how your mother somehow became me and used me to hurt my friends? Were you even going to get the sword?”

  She reaches for me. “Laura, please give me a chance to —”

  “Oh, hell no. That might work on the laundry list of girls you’ve slept with at Silas but not on me.”

  “She promised to leave us alone,” she starts to explain.

  I put my finger in her face. “Sure, if you let her kill my friends.”

  “She swore she’d back off and that you’d always be safe. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Please,” she begs, her voice cracking.

  “And you so had a choice.”

  Choking back tears, she tries to get close. “My choice was you. I chose you.”

  I throw my hands up in front of her. I can’t do this. “Just leave. You broke my feelings. We’re done here.”

  I watch her slink away, praying I don’t burst into tears. This vampire not only took my blood, she stole my heart.

  • EIGHTEEN •

  The two sides of my brain have been fighting each other since Carmilla left. One side feels battered and defeated, like it will never fall for someone again. The other side is pumping its fist in the air and celebrating that I dodged a bullet. Confession: my stomach is with the first half of my brain.

  It doesn’t help that LaFontaine has spent the better part of the day twirling in circles, playing air guitar and singing “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” at top volume. Perry and I eye-speak, then tackle and restrain her friend once more. The parasites have really kicked it up a notch. “We have to get to the party, we just have to,” LaFontaine whimpers, squirming like a snake.

  “There is no party, LaFontaine. I wish there was, I would take you,” Perry says.

  I let the two of them hash it out while I get back to my vlog. I look directly into the camera and begin a new post. “So. College isn’t turning out like I thought it would. If you’ve been following, you know that a few weeks ago the dean — who is beyond unscrupulous — kidnapped my roommate Betty to feed some brain-devouring hungry light under the earth as part of her intricate plan to sacrifice five students. I know, it’s a lot to absorb.”

  LaFontaine’s screams take over. “I promise there’s a party! I need to go! Perry, if you care about me … the party!”

  I power on. “Sorry about the outburst. Back to the dean. I thought I could rescue Betty, but instead all I’ve managed to do is get my friends brain-sucked and my heart broken. Side note, I’m pretty sure I’ve flunked out of freshman year. I’m at a crossroads. If I do nothing, I can just go home but then I’d have to accept that I can’t make a difference. That my actions won’t save the world.” I pause. “I can’t do that.”

  LaFontaine bursts out again. “The party! I have to go! We’re missing it! It’s starting without us!”

  Perry wraps her friend in a hug. “Calm down. There. Is. No. Party.”

  LaFontaine is insistent. “There is and it’s now! The light is over the party! Follow it and you’ll see all the people.”

  Perry rubs LaFontaine’s back, trying to help.

  Holy shit, I get it! The light is the hungry light. The celebration before the sacrifice that was in the Sumerian book. “That’s the party.”

  “Not helping, Hollis,” Perry says, trying to shut me down.

  “No, no. I know what LaFontaine is talking about. When Carmilla read the translation from the big book, it said their world ‘narrows to celebration.’ What if it was supposed to be ‘narrows to the celebration’? LaFontaine, is there a bright light at the party?”

  “Yes. A glittering, bright party light.”

  I kneel in front of LaFontaine. “Do you know how to get to the party?”

  Perry is spitting nails, which I get. She loves her friend and doesn’t want to put anyone in harm’s way, but I’ve come this far. I can’t just back down. I try to soften my approach. Not be so obvious.

  “Yes! Untie me before we miss it.”

  Perry jumps up. “Stop this right now. No one is going anywhere. It’s too dangerous. We’ll all get killed.”

  LaFontaine hesitates.

  “LaFontaine, if you don’t want to,” I say, “I won’t make you. I don’t even think we have a real shot against the dean and her followers, the Vamp Army. But you never know …” I’m not even trying to be convincing. I have to get to that party. I have to try to save everyone.

  Perry is not on board. “I have a post-finals brunch to plan and I don’t like you hassling my friend into doing this. There are things more important than winning.”

  I bite back. “True, but sometimes you have to fight anyway.”

  She digests that, nods and we untie LaFontaine, who, once freed, drifts to the door. Before I follow, I turn back to the camera.

  “Carmilla … oh, never mind, you know.”

  Perry and I follow LaFontaine with blind faith toward the Lustig Theater Building. “Yes, the theater. This is where they brought me. I remember all the trees and the name on the building.”

  The entry is dark and spooky, and that’s before we’re led down a spiral staircase covered in a curtain of cobwebs. There’s a maze of caves down here, dark and dank. “This is creep on crack,” I quip.

  Finally, I hear some muffled sounds. Perry and I duck behind LaFontaine when we hear shrill voices, and soon we land at the lip of an enormous cavern. “Holy hell, they’re all here. They’re really here,” LaFontaine whispers back to us. “I did good.”

  I peek over LaFontaine’s shoulder and see the dean, her vampire army, Kirsch and the girls with their backs to us. Even Betty is here, glued to Natalie.

  “Yeah, you did. Now we need a plan,” I suggest.

  Will is stalking around the group like a tarantula. Prepping for the sacrifice, no doubt.

  “I told you there was a party.” LaFontaine is hell-bent on jamming this down Perry’s throat.

  “Okay, okay,” Perry replies, “you were right. But it’s not quite the party you’re expecting. Instead of dancing there will be killing.”

  “Killing?” LaFontaine gasps.

  “They’re going to sacrifice our friends. Unless we can stop them,” I say.

  “How are we going to do that?” LaFontaine asks.

  “I’m thinking,” I respond.

  “Let’s rush them,” Perry proposes. “Take them off guard. Take out Will and the dean first. On my go. Go!”

  Holy shit, it’s on.

  As soon as she hears us, the dean draws a knife from her boot and charges our friends, holding them at bay. Really wish I could summon up Harry and his Expelliarmus spell. Her minions scatter, trying to surround us.

  Will swirls and meets the tip of Perry’s stake, which she drives into his heart. Blood splatters everywhere.

  Kirsch gasps. “Sorry, sweetie,” Perry apologizes mid-fray.

  He shrugs. “It’s cool. Bro dude had it coming.”

  I snag a gargoyle and clock one of the vamps. We have to rid ourselves of them to get away with our friends. I keep swinging until a lasso lands around my waist. I can’t keep my feet on the ground as I’m being dragged down a path. Perry jumps out in front of me. “I�
��ll save you!” I hear Perry yell, right before another vampire puts her in a headlock.

  Our plan is falling apart.

  “Nooooooo.” That’s LaFontaine’s unmistakable voice. A group of rogue vampires from Team Dean pin down Kirsch and subdue the others. They must have been hiding in one of the side caverns.

  That’s the last thing I see before Perry and I get tossed into a dark broom closet with a steel door. Where is a sonic screwdriver when you need one?

  “Shit, we’re going to be dinner.”

  Perry gulps. “Crap. We were so close.”

  I reach in my back pocket. “They forgot to take my phone, yes. Vampires aren’t the sharpest.”

  “Text Danny — she’ll know what to do,” Perry suggests.

  Oh God, Danny. “Not sure she would even reply to me, let alone help me at this point.”

  “She will. It’s who she is.”

  That stings.

  “Do you even get a signal down here?” Perry asks.

  The phone has no bars. “Not in this spot.”

  I test every corner of the closet, holding the phone as high and low as possible in search of a signal. Huzzah! One lone, gorgeous, glowing bar that can save our lives.

  Trapped in basement of Dudley chapel under Lustig Theater Building. Dean has us. Come quick. Bring weapons.

  I check it over and over, shaking the phone like that will help. It takes forever but the text goes through.

  “Yes! Now, we wait.”

  “We’re going to be okay, aren’t we, Laura?”

  Now is not the time to bring up my doubts. Fear is creeping in — I can see it on Perry’s face. “Yeah, we’re going to be fine. Once we’re back at the dorm, we’ll laugh about all of this.”

  No, we won’t.

  “I’ll bake brownies.”

  Okay, then.

  Still and quiet turn into thunderous noise. A battering ram bashes down the door. Danny and a cavalry of Summer Society sisters and Zetas greet us, armed with tridents and the traditional salted herring.

  We join them and charge the vampire lines. Perhaps not the smartest but we have numbers and energy. Lots of adrenaline is flowing.