Race

A/N: New to the fandom. My take on the spectacular "race you."

–

If it was one thing that couldn't escape a vampire's ear, it was a heart beat.

Laura had tore out of the room with a giggle, words bold for the young girl playing back in her stunned head.

Race you.

That, and stripping her jacket after a kiss, had her surprised. Or surprised to be surprised- when you've lived through most of the shit she had, there wasn't a whole lot left the world or hell could toss at you.

She had left her scent behind, a trail colored exclusively through her keen senses.

The lilac shampoo off her honey colored hair. The matching soap off her creamy skin.

The smells underneath- the excited, prickling case of nerves she got any time she recorded things (it almost smelled like cinnamon and pine), the giddy warmth of her naive but exuberant optimism and joy (a sun warmed dress being pulled from the clothesline).

There was another aroma, too. The type she only emanated when she pulled them behind a closed door or drew covers up to their shoulders and snuggled real close (when the blood pumped lower, temperature rising, like dark chocolate and sweet fermented wine).

She could hear that girl's pulse hammering. Her blood racing.

The smell of it lined her teeth with saliva. Any time anyone ran away, the instinct to chase after them flashed through her legs. But when Laura did it...

That part was to be reigned. Well. At least enough.

She had gave the web-cam a look, then tapped its lid down over the keyboard. Viewers needn't see or hear what had already been implied.

With a languid stretch she proceeded, not even attempting to fight the wicked smirk across her lips.

–-

Oh heck. Just heck.

She had felt pretty confident.

Defeating a fish god and killing a demonic dean and proving her father (unbeknownst to him naturally) wrong about her ability to survive college, much less vampires and virginal sacrifices, could do that.

And for the first time in months, she felt safe. In such a large house, with fast friends who had proven more than needed how much blood they'd take for another.

Not to mention a certain beautiful- and protective- creature of the night.

But now, halfway upstairs to the solarium, she felt a bundle of butterflies reek utter havoc on her courage.

Sure, they'd kissed. And gotten deep and heavy into what she knew most agreed was "third base."

However, she'd always managed to break their sessions long enough to find Carm's eyes (dark and just barely open and so very VERY smoldering) and sheepishly ask if they could slow it down.

Which wasn't easy- being firmly pressed between her mattress or a wall or even a floor and that eternally young body left her a lot more than breathless.

Carmilla had been as charming as always.

"...You're killing me, Hollis."

And she'd been excruciatingly patient up until today. Last time Laura had blue-walled her, Carmilla had gotten up and banged a hole into the wall with a single head butt. She claimed it got it off her mind.

They'd covered it with that creepy oil painting of a woman stabbing a scepter through two girls.

It's that dang painting's fault. All creepy and erotic. Why were they all nude, anyway-

It was just...she was a centuries old vampiric seductress who had her fair share of wide eyed maidens and strumpets and dorm dames or whatever else got her kicks off throughout the decades.

And she, well, she was just an overprotected and heavily sheltered wide eyed maiden.

She knew what it was that two women did- her Human Sexuality class was the startling, face burning realization that she was in fact, a homosexual female commonly referred to as lesbian.

But as everything had taught her the passing semester, book smarts didn't necessarily equate to sheet smarts.

And geez this stairway is drafty I shouldn't thrown my coat.

It was all just so... bold. And now she felt...not so bold.

No. She could do this. She wanted to do this. It's not like she had any experience in mystery solving and interrogating and boulder smashing sociopath cult queens. And she'd managed to stumble through the majority of that alive, thank you very much.

Wait.

Wait. What if vampire lesbians did it differently than human lesbians? What if they did it mid air? Upside down?

Inside a coffin filled with dirt from Virgina Woolf's grave-

"Focus Hollis!" she hissed at herself. The door of the solarium was before her.

Maybe this time she'd sprinted fast enough. She'd nearly ate it taking three steps at a time, but if she was lucky, Carm had decided to go down into the cellar first, and she'd have a second to really get into the zone.

The door opened before her hand could touch its knob, and there Carmilla leaned against the door frame. Fine brow cocked, red lips curled up, eyelids lowered like a cat pleased to see a mouse.

"What took you so long?" she murmured in her lulling voice. There was a loud POP as she effortlessly flicked her thumb along the cork of a bottle in hand because of course she went to the cellar, picked it out, and got upstairs before I could.

Said cork shot off the slanted ceiling above the stair well and ping-ponged its way down the hall.

"Gee, hope that didn't hit anyone, might be champange-full," Laura blurted nervously.

Carm's eyes rolled in disgust, but she yanked the girl inside with a smile nonetheless, pulling the door shut against her back.

Laura turned and found that the wide lip of Carm's shirt had mischievously slipped just enough to show that thin black bra strap.

She swallowed roughly.

That girl was violently sexy when she was a filthy drunk faced mess lord. When she was actually trying, it was borderline criminal.

"It's '68. Good year," Carmilla purred.

"Like...1868 or 1968-"

"Whatever you want it to be," the vampire half shrugged, her black tresses slipping down as she poured Laura a glass. It was then that the far younger girl actually took in the room around Karnstein (things tended to get hazy around that face).

"Oh," she said, surprised.

Just beyond the door were three small steps leading into a lowered floor lined with plush and vintage furniture, their cushions upheld by solid oak pegs carved into ornate paws. The walls were white but laden with framed illustrations of heavenly bodies and star constellations.

And the ceiling was a dome, the glass held up with thin sills of wood as not to take from the panes. The view was more than gorgeous. It was more than any word her brain could rapidly offer. They were up higher than any street light or distraction, so she could see the night splayed out above in its fullness.

Never ending black, illuminated with thousands of ghost white stars. A bony moon peered down in a crescent, like an eye winking.

"You like it?" Carmilla suddenly asked into her ear, and body heat glowed against her back.

What when did you get back there.

Laura jolted out of her awestruck gaze and into the soft warm hold, the taller girl's arms curling around her waist and chest.

There was a bubbling glass inches from her jaw. Laura took it, concentrating very hard on not dropping or spilling or throwing it down into the floor and screaming touch down.

"I," Laura began, turning her head to meet those ink eyes. A buzzing magnetism emanated from her midnight gaze, and she found herself leaning to find the vampire's mouth instead.

I'm star struck- oh good GOD DON'T SAY THAT-

"I love it," she breathed between them, and now she had to try even harder not to let her grip go limp as they kissed.

It was a single, slow greet of lip, but it still sent a wash of crimson down her front, chills racing after them like a wave's shiver.

"Drink," Carmilla whispered against her mouth. And she slipped back, a lingering finger tracing down Laura's arm. An army of goosebumps trembled up behind it.

Breathe you idiot.

She exhaled air she hadn't realized she had been holding.

She downed her glass. Screw it. Liquid courage it is.

"Where are you going?" Laura asked, making her tone more toying than anything.

The vampire smiled, this time in a show of white teeth. Hollis realized she hadn't seen them clean of red in a while and felt a bittersweet tug in her stomach. Her poor, lovely, blood sucking night demon. Or maybe that was just the champagne hitting oh dang that's strong.

"I may have nipped some blood," Carmilla droned. "I like to...focus on one hunger at a time."

Oh, look. Not only did she have time to grab a bottle but the minute to pilfer her mints.

Oh. The mints. Oh no.

"Wait!" said Laura, her face bending into a wince. "I uh. I may have just put pepper on those. As a joke on LaFontaine. She likes peppermint."

Carmilla's eyes flicked from the carton's contents to Laura's shamefaced grin. She snarled one side of her mouth dully, pushing the tainted mint out with her tongue.

"Pepper mints," she said, her teeth clicking louder than the canister snapping shut.

"Because y'know, puns are real aphrodisiacs," said Laura hurriedly. She put her empty glass down and slipped over to push the canister out of her hand.

"Your breath smells fine. You're..." She let her eyes wander all over the girl before her, her expression almost glazing. "Fine."

"You like the taste of blood? A lot of your decisions are making sense now," snorted the vampire wryly. But if it was one thing Laura had learned, it was that sarcasm was a defense mechanism.

"Our first kiss you had blood on your lips," Laura said. She gently touched the raven haired girl's cheek, and Carmilla's eyes slid close. "I'm pretty aware that you're a vampire. And what that means. And the fact that you took the time to drink it so you wouldn't get hungry during...other things..."

Her hand trailed up to tuck an errant black strand behind Carm's ear, her finger tips tracing down her jaw. Her neck. The front of her throat. Down to its soft hollow and following the hard bridge of her sternum.

"Mm," Carm murmured, the sound humming under her touch.

She felt Carmilla's hands come to rest on her hips, towing them in against hers. Their foreheads met, and Laura placed her hands just under the bridges of Karnstein's collarbones. Being this close was intimate in more ways than one. She felt safe and need to be closer at the same time.

"Then you're not afraid of what may happen if I get too lost in you?"

Laura blinked in surprise. The vulnerability in Carmilla's voice was delicate.

"No! God, no. If you could keep yourself from killing me when I was just annoying fresh meat, I'm confident you could keep yourself from hurting me here," Laura stressed. "I'm only nervous because. I'm. Well. Y'know."

Carm's eyes widened, her mouth hanging open. "You're a virgin? Like, no way."

Laura frowned hard into the vampire's feigned shock. Now she was just being rude.

"Was I your first kiss?" she continued. "Omg, was I your first hug?"

"Okay, no text talk in the bedroom that's poor taste."

"Solarium."

"Shut up and kiss me," Laura said, leaning up to capture that mouth before it could mock her any further.

"There is something to be said about consent," said Carm, tipping her head back just out of Laura's reach. She had that stupid sexy simper on her face again. She knew exactly what she was doing. "I think I ought to earn it."

"Do I have to make a blood oath?"

"No. Not yet, anyway."

"Yeah," Laura laughed, then frowned. "Wait, what-"

"Hold these," Carmilla said, suddenly behind her again. Laura stared down at the bottle and glasses before taking them.

"Hey- will you stop doing that you're going to give me whip lash."

"Just concentrate on staying still. And not dropping those," instructed Karnstein.

The vampire's arms rejoined snug about her waist.

Laura was about to quip when she felt it. A slight lift, as if Carmilla was standing up on her tip toes and simply bringing her up with feet strength alone.

Girl had some mad feet strength.

But then she felt her shoes leave the floor and her gut instantly dropped in a falling sensation.

"Hey!" she squeaked, stiffening. The floor was officially several inches under both their feet.

"It's okay," Carmilla whispered. "I got you."

They rose a little higher, slowly ascending (like floating in a pool), and Laura looked up bewildered, the swirls of stars burning light years away coming closer.

"I- I didn't know you could fly," she breathed wondrously. It was like the gravity had been switched off.

"It's more of a float. I gotta get the whole soaring thing down," replied the vampire. "Practice makes perfect, though."

She leveled out slowly, with the ceiling just a foot overhead, and reclined, Laura sitting on her hips and lap.

"Relax," Carmilla said. Her hands trailed down muscles tense from the fear of falling. "If you even begin to slip, I'll catch you."

She did have the reflexes of a cat. Because she is a cat. Duh.

"See that? Orion," Carmilla said, pointing and breaking her thoughts. Laura forced herself to unhinge. She needed to do that in more ways than one. She poured her a glass, and then herself a very fully glass, and searched for herself.

Looking up at this height was dizzying, but one of Carm's hands had lingered warmly on her side, and a sense of balance came.

"There's Canis Major."

"Canis minor," Hollis pointed, not to be outdone, and the vampire smiled into her glass.

They drifted in slow circles, drinking and gazing and laughing over silly little things. Eventually half the bottle was gone, and Laura flopped down onto Carm, who grunted but with good nature.

"You're swell," Laura beamed.

Carmilla took a long sip from the bottle and dangled it below them with one hand, the other tracing patterns on Hollis's back. "And you're the cat's pajamas."

"And how," Laura giggled. She rested her head on the vampire's chest, playing with the silver necklace she was wearing. "I'm glad I'm here with you..."

"But?"

"But," Laura agreed, rolling the tiny glass pendant between her thumb and forefinger. "If I drink anymore, I think I might fall asleep."

"...You've had two glasses."

"They were big glasses," she replied indignantly.

"Understood," said Carm, and Laura slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming as they hurtled down ten feet to roughly land on a couch. God knows who'd come running in if she shouted "CARMILLA NO."

"Carmilla no!" she gasped softly instead, swatting at the laughing girl.

"Sorry- descending is hard too-" Carmilla had begun to say in anything but an apologetic tone. A pair of lips had landed on hers, the kiss full of thrill and want.

Laura was beginning to suspect that was how she got so many girls hooked, though analyzing the predatory nature of her girlfriend's sexual history really wasn't appropriate at the moment.

Danger and beauty. Those fine, queen-like features hiding wickedly sharp fangs. The ability to frighten someone but soothe them back with a mysterious smile. The...kissing...her mouth tastes like dreams oh my God I'm starting to sound like Perry-

"Laura," Carmilla said, breaking their kiss. Which wasn't easy, because her tongue had just been inside her mouth.

"Wha," Laura blinked. Trying to concentrate on anything now was like trying to wake up out of a heavy day dream.

The vampire's brows were knitted, drawing a hard line between them. But her hair was coiled and curled down her face, ruffled from Laura's fingers. And her lips were parted, her chest moving to steady her hurried breath, her eyes half lidded but glowing somehow in their darkness.

The magnetism was back with full strength, and she was sure Carmilla was about to shatter it with some sort of noble wish to respect her figurative self adhered chastity belt.

"Carm," said Laura, her eyes closing in mild frustration and embarrassment. "You know how you learn better when someone just throws you into a pool and tells you to swim?"

"I thought you said your Dad was over protective," the vampire replied. Her hands were lightly tracing Laura's hip bones through her dress, and the younger girl's brow relaxed at the pleasantry of it.

"He was. I learned how to swim in arm waders, a life jacket, and a pool noodle before I actually convinced him I could do a doggy paddle a lot better without all that-"

The grip on her hips tightened. Carmilla closed the distance between them, kissing her full. She inhaled sharply through her nose, her chest exploding with fireworks.

And then the vampire was pressing her backwards, their lips moving heatedly.

Her back found cushions, her entire body pinned.

"So I didn't need to run all the way down to the cellar and all the way up to this solarium," Karnstein somehow muttered between hot, open mouthed kisses to Laura's sensitive neck.

"Honestly?" Laura said, her voice breathy. A small sound escaped her as the older girl found a particularly erogenous spot, sharp teeth skimming the skin there. "You could've tossed me into a dumpster."

The last word ended with a harsh shiver, Carmilla's tongue tracing the inner shell of her ear.

"Not going to lie. I got pretty damn close to it," the vampire growled, her voice husky. Her thigh slipped between the brunette's, and this time she gasped.

It occurred to her that it was probably best to respond with something a tad more physical.

She unlatched her fingers from the vampire's shirt, tentatively sliding her hands lower down Karnstein's lean back and sides, splaying over her tight stomach.

They slid up beneath the fabric, feeling velvet skin and the taunt muscles tensing under it. Entranced, she moved them higher, and before she could hesitate, she cupped the her through her bra.

A groan slipped from Carmilla's throat, the sound rolling over her as she kneaded.

It wasn't anything they hadn't done, and Laura wanted more.

Maybe it was the champagne or the stars (and definitely the sounds this girl was making) but she needed more.

Her hands came back down, finding the shirt's hem. She pulled it up, and Carmilla smiled into their kiss with a triumphant chuckle, her arms shifting so she could yank the dang thing up and off-

"Laura?" a voice exclaimed, the door swinging open.

Hollis froze, her eyes wide. She had only gotten Carm's shirt up to her elbows, and the vampire's arms were stuck up in the air, her head engulfed.

Danny stood in the door, her eyes darting all over the mess. Her lips bunched tightly together, her eyes so annoyed and possibly heart broken all over again that they held a sort of blankness.

"Never mind."

The door shut and Laura yanked the vampire's shirt back down, her eyes wide.

"Room with a lock."

"What happened to "toss me in a dumpster?" Carmilla groaned in exasperation. There was murder in her eyes at being interrupted. And not the good sort.

"Roomwithalock."

"What is with you and chanting things when you get all flustered-"

"Roomwithalock!"

"We'll have to run down past Amazon Queen."

"...Then we wait for two minutes."

"Two?"

"Have you seen the stride on that girl, it would just take two and you've waited long enough you can wait two more minutes."

One minute and 58 seconds later and they crashed through the door of a bedroom they had been sharing. The vampire kicked it shut, reaching back to lock it and gripping the back of Laura's head so their kiss remained sealed.

"We're gonna christen this whole room," Laura panted bravely. "We're going to consummate this relationship."

She yanked the shirt off and tossed it somewhere. Her hands glided and gripped over the pale, smooth skin, mouth latching where ever it could, and Carmilla grabbed the back of her knees, giving them a single tug.

A high sort of laugh escaped her as she tumbled backwards onto the bed.

She looked down and nearly knocked herself out over the sight of the half naked girl standing between her legs, her bra's strap hanging dangerously low on her arm.

"I love it when you talk dirty," exhaled the vampire. She undid Laura's shoes and somehow kicked her own off at the same time, and she felt her heart melt.

Aw she never takes off her shoes before bed.

Bed.

We're going to bed and we aren't sleeping.

Her toes curled anxiously in their stockings, her heart beginning to pound as Carmilla reached up under her dress to find where the undergarment began at her waist. She tugged it down and not to be left behind, Laura's hands roamed up her ribs, her fingers finding bra hooks.

She unclasped them on the first try and before she could inwardly congratulate herself for not snapping it across Carmilla's spine, she felt the vampire pull her up, sitting back so she was straddling Carm's lap.

"Wow," Laura breathed, marveling at the agile strength. That girl could put her in any position she liked, and there was something thrilling about being captured by someone that powerful. But gentle enough to slowly unzip her dress all the way down, hands brushing the sleeves down her arms, lips tracing the skin of her chest as more and more of it grew exposed.

"Wow," the older girl agreed, nuzzling a breast through her bra, and Laura closed her eyes, fingers treading through soft black hair.

It was as close as they had gotten to seeing each other naked. She felt her heart skip as her own bra slipped away from her chest.

She fought the urge to cover herself with her arms, burying her nose instead into the crown of Carm's head. She smelled like rain in the forest and smoky winter nights-

"Hey."

She licked her lips, forcing herself to open her eyes.

Carmilla gazed at her, her hands coming to cup both sides of her face, nails softly curving behind her ears.

"You're so beautiful," she whispered up. Their noses touched, and an infectious grin broke out across Laura's lips.

Carm. Her Carm.

And she was hers. Where the possessiveness bothered in the harmless company of friends, here it felt like a warm blanket or tightly drawn curtains. A shelter.

Where she could shed her clothes and any other inhibition that was tangled between them, the walls she had painstakingly built as allies became enemies crumbling away.

Just like that, it clicked.

That's what it was all about. It wasn't just about the pleasure or knowing where to touch or when to move or what to moan.

It was about that feeling. And making Carmilla feel it too.

She pushed her lips down against the vampire's- her vampire's- slow and steady. Her hands gripped the hair beneath, bringing pressure, and she moved her mouth against Karnstein's until they fell into a heated rhythm.

The girl beneath her moaned into the kiss, sinking back against the bed to let her top. Laura parted only to find the skin of her neck, working her teeth and tongue and lips as Carmilla had.

A blissful volley of sounds reached her ears, and then Laura felt hands cup her breasts, thumbs coming to graze their perking peaks.

She exhaled sharply against the vamp's skin, feeling heat flare between her inner thighs. She dully recalled how only moments ago, Carmilla's leg had slipped between hers, and she brought her thigh up against where she felt it was wanted.

"Laura," she murmured, and her hips moved against her leg in a slow grind. "Get me out of these pants."

The breathlessness of the order- and that she was making her breathlessly order- was hypnotizing. She immediately sat up, unzipping the vampire's jeans and yanking them down off her legs-

"Oh," she blurted.

Of course. Why would Carmilla Karnstein be wearing underwear?

She stared down at the naked girl beneath her, from her perfect breasts to the subtle curve of her ribs.

The twin ridges of her hips to the coiled abs rising and falling with steady breath, the mound of skin between her legs bare save for a tiny strip of hair running down its top.

"You have a landing strip," Laura giggled.

"You know what that is?" Carm cocked a brow and Laura's smile dropped.

"Anyway," she muttered, eagerly bowing back over that beautiful body.

Her leg slipped back into place and with a start, she felt a wetness there, foreign yet familiar. And before she could claim another silent victory, she felt the older girl return the gesture.

And now, with fingers playing with her nipples; the leg sliding up against her panties and making her aware of just how wet she had become herself; the heated flare growing and growing like a flame up into her stomach; Laura felt an ecstatic need.

A hunger so great she couldn't think of why she had been so shy in the first place.

Her mouth dipped away from Karnstein's, suckling down on the vampire's skin, and nails raked down her back, eliciting a pained but pleasured hiss.

They hooked into her underwear, yanking them down, and then she felt herself rolled over, Carmilla once again pressing her to blankets.

The domination of it alone chased a sound from her. A hand cruised down her body, and then there were fingers rubbing her inner thigh, just beneath where she realized she needed them the most.

"Wait," she breathed. The vampire froze, black eyes greeting hers. Carmilla's pupils were huge, and as she panted Laura caught the tiny tips of fangs peering out between those kissed red lips.

"Not going to lie. It'd be very hard to stop now," she replied stiffly.

She would, though. She might throw herself through a window and maul the first person she saw to death but she wouldn't touch another hair on Laura's body.

"We're not," Laura rushed before the aforementioned could happen. "I just want...under the covers..."

The last bit was muttered under the feeling that it was an incredibly childish request. Might as well ask her to tuck you in and read you Dr. Seuss-

To her surprise, the vampire giggled, shaking her head, the predator beneath visibly calming.

"You know, you're very cute."

The sincerity of it was new, a kind sweetness in place of the usual crooked mocking.

Suddenly, she wasn't just sharing a bed with a hundred year old vampire, but a girl about her age, the girl that Carmilla really was beneath the dark brooding exterior.

And the blood sucking night demon.

And the sixty pound melanistic jaguar.

No, she was all those things, actually. But Laura felt like there were times she longed to be the girl the most.

The happiness glowing on her only proved it.

Carmilla moved, sliding down under the blankets of the soft queen sized bed. Everything about the room was luxurious in its true age.

The shelves of dusted artifacts and old leather spine books, the chandelier hanging off the center of the ceiling shimmering in a dim glow. Just enough to throw shadows and highlights across them, the vampire gazing at her demurely from where she lay.

And while Laura wasn't the type who'd judge someone for the place and person they did it first with, hot damn was this the place and person she had dreamed it would be with.

"Come here," Carmilla whispered, drawing the blankets back in invitation.

Laura crawled into place, and she drew the covers over her, their limbs finding each other. Every brush of skin on hers felt warm and electric, and then Carmilla was flush against her, her mouth coming down to claim Laura's again.

The fingers were stroking her thigh again.

She was being so gentle. And sweet. And slow. So. Slow.

Her legs spread a little more on their own accord, her hands finding the packs of muscle in the small of the vampire's back.

She rubbed her cheek against Carm's, her nose burying up into her soft hair until it found an ear. She brought her lips against it.

"Just...just say it," murmured Karnstein. She sounded just as wanting, a restraint so tight it was palpable.

She swallowed roughly. Say it. Spit it out. Say exactly what you want.

"Take me," Laura ordered quietly, and her eyes squeezed shut at the sharp inhale against her neck. At the following moan that reverberated from deep in the vampire's chest. At the finger tips tracing up sensitive skin that no one had ever touched but herself.

They slid down, a single digit slipping between wet folds easily, and Laura gasped into her ear at the greeting of a finger pad and that hardened little outer spot.

"You're so wet for me," Carmilla groaned so low it was almost a growl.

"Ah," Laura trembled, roughly swallowing at the sound, a spark of engulfing heat racing up her spine from the mere motion.

The older girl traced a circle, slow and light at first, but steadily faster, and the pleasure of it was so much greater than it had ever been just by herself.

Soft sounds escaped her, her body beginning to move beneath Carmilla's as the vampire kissed and nipped at her neck, her ear, her shoulder, every bit of skin she could find.

To hell with being quiet. The sensations building up inside of her burned her thoughts and worries down into none.

She felt Carm's breathing speed up with her own, and the aching need intensified, expanding past how amazingly good she already felt.

She felt her hips jerk upwards, her grip tightening on Karnstein's back, her nails beginning to find purchase in the hot skin there.

"Carmilla," her voice a high plead. "I-I need-"

The finger slid down without warning, its tip rubbing against her entrance. She was ready. God, she was ready. She had never felt a more primal and simple need.

Every nerve and brain cell only had one objective and she might have cried it into Carmilla's ear.

But the older girl kissed her sudden and deep, and she entered her in a single slick push.

She swallowed Laura's whimpering moan, her finger curling down on a spot inside that bloomed with delicious heat.

A new sort of high was buzzing through her veins, the blood in her head humming.

The hair all around her, the burning skin pressed against her and inside her, their sweat and scents and air mixing. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed except for them. Except for this.

"Carm," she cried. The name tumbled off her lips, again and again.

Her hips eagerly met Carmilla's touch, and then it was moving faster, thrusting in and out of her, hitting that bundle of nerves with every quickened stroke.

Laura felt her head loll back, sinking into the pillows beneath it. Her body writhed under the vampire's, her nails definitely leaving marks.

She might've apologized later if Carm hadn't moaned "Yes."

The building tension was hitting something impossibly tighter, higher.

A mouth closed down over her nipple, sharp teeth grazing the skin around it. A hand balled into her hair. A thumb swept at that throbbing outer mark in the same rhythm as the motion of the thrusting inside and she felt herself hurtle up to an edge she hadn't known was there.

"Laura," Carmilla called her name, as if she were the one at the complete mercy of this act.

It tipped her over.

She soared for a second that stretched onward, the heated bliss meeting every end of every little nerve.

She came back in choked cries, biting down into Carmilla's shoulder in some futile attempt to be quiet. Her toes curled, her hips shook, her legs sliding up and down the vampire's.

And then she lay light headed, staring up at the ceiling and the little shadows creeping there.

Heaving for air as Carmilla panted in her ear. Her heart was pounding so hard she felt like the entire house was shaking.

She wasn't a virgin anymore.

It was a stupid, archaic, and nearly sexist thing that had no physical or biological right. It was never meant to be some coming of age passage for her to obsess over.

And now she definitely couldn't be sacrificed or salivated over by demonic witchery or whatever other hellish ritual that hungered for untouched maidens and goats alike.

So why the hell did she feel like she could cry right now?

She buried her face into Carmilla's neck and shoulder, curling up as best she could beneath her. As if she could crawl up into that nook and hide.

Carmilla's arms wrapped tighter around her, and she moved them onto their sides, stroking Laura's hair and back.

"I've got you," the vampire murmured earnestly, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. Her pulse was still fluttering there.

"I don't know why I'm feeling so...like this," she said, struggling to steady her voice. The last thing she wanted Karnstein to think was that she had hurt her, or done something wrong.

"It's okay," Carmilla assured. She gently pulled her back, dark eyes sweeping over her expression. "Your virginity might only be some asinine archaic and nearly sexist thing that has no physical or biological right."

"...Yeah," said Laura uneasily. Can she read my mind or not.

"But sex is still different," continued Carmilla, her voice soothing. "It changes things. It's not something everyone takes lightly. Especially if there's..."

She paused, her brow dipping. "Emotions in play."

Laura's stomach twisted over her words, a giddy and oddly sad rush of butterflies. "Yeah. There's a lot of those in play."

Carm buried half her face into the pillow and grinned almost shyly. It was a beautiful and rare sort of smile, last seen when Laura had failed to find words and exclaimed that she was "a giant black cat."

"Same," she whispered back.

Said emotions in play dove into a dangerous dance, and her heart raced so loud again she was sure someone was going to scream about earthquakes.

Before they could, she leaned in and kissed her, her hands sliding down Carmilla's sides and pushing on her hips. The vampire caved easily and rolled back with her touch.

And it was Laura's turn to gaze down at her, her honey blonde hair slipping down into the black tresses fanning the pillows under Carmilla's head.

"Oh yeah, Hollis?" she teased.

"My turn," Laura smiled.