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Laura wakes to a loud thump. Her eyes creep open and she blinks in the darkness. The clock on the table reads 3 am, definitely not morning. With a groan she curls farther into her blankets. Strange noises in the middle of night can take care of themselves.
The door creaks open and soft, uneven footsteps echo through the small room. Carmilla? Laura opens her eyes again. Carmilla never comes back this early on nights she's out. The footsteps stop by the wardrobe and Laura sits up. In the darkness she can see Carmilla's shadow leaning against the wardrobe, head pressed to the wood and one arm wrapped around her stomach. Laura sits up and clicks on her lamp.
"Carm?" Carmilla flinches and sucks in a pained breath.
"Go back to sleep sweetheart," she mutters. She turns slowly and Laura gasps at the dried blood coating one half of her girlfriend's face. In an instant she's on her feet.
"Carmilla what happened?" Carmilla feebly swats Laura's hands away.
"I'm fine. Just got hit by some idiot semi on the freeway." She stumbles past Laura and collapses onto her bed with a groan.
"Oh my god, okay, just tell me where it hurts," Laura blurts out. She dives under her bed and digs around for the first aid kit she kept stocked at all times. Carmilla rolls onto her back with a few creative expletives and eyes Laura.
"Really, sweetheart, I'm fine. I'll be healed by morning." At least she thinks she will be. It's a little up in the air, if she's honest. They're out of blood and Carmilla wasn't eating much to begin with. Still, if it will help soothe Laura...
"You can't even sit up," Laura retorts as she kneels by the bed with first aid supplies in her arms. Carmilla shrugs and closes her eyes.
"I've had worse," she reminds Laura.
"I'm sure you have but I'm not just going to watch you lay here in pain when I can help, vampire constitution or not!" Laura insists. Carmilla sighs and cringes at the pain that shoots through her ribs.
"All right. If you must." Laura rolls her eyes and leans up to unbutton Carmilla's shirt. It comes away in chunks of blood and gravel. Whatever cuts the blood inevitably poured out of have healed already, but the odd and uneven landscape of Carmilla's ribs and the mottled bruising across her torso are worrying enough. Half healed burns cover her stomach and peek out from her pants. It was a miracle she'd made it back to the dorm room at all.
Laura cringes violently but manages to strip the shirt the rest of the way off and begins to help Carmilla out of her pants. Carmilla winces as she lifts her hips and thanks the gods she hadn't been wearing her leather ones. Those were one of a kind.
She watches Laura's face scrunch in concentration as the tiny human smears healing ointment over the burns and covers them with bandages. Several ice packs are retrieved for her ribs and the blood is gently wiped from her limbs. Carmilla closese her eyes when Laura reaches her face and lets the warm washcloth soothe her into some strange place close to sleep.
"You certainly are one of a kind," she mutters when Laura runs warm fingers through her hair and strokes her cheek. Laura smiles and throws the bloody rag in the direction of the laundry basket.
"I kinda figured you were asleep."
"And miss you fussing over me like the cutest nurse I've ever seen? Not in a million years," Carmilla sighs. Laura leans forward and presses a soft kiss to Carmilla's lips. Carmilla kisses her back firmly, fingers holding Laura's chin in place. It's hard to kiss when you can't really move. When they part Carmilla smiles gratefully.
"Better already." Laura blushes and threads her fingers through Carmilla's
"Are you sure you're okay? I can go get Perry. She could drive us to the hospital or something." Carmilla shook her head.
"I'll heal. Now if I remember correctly someone has a class at eight in the morning that they need to sleep for." Laura begrudgingly moves back to her own bed. She lays down and stares at Carmilla from across the room.
"You promise you'll tell me if you need anything?"
"Sleep, dearest, I've got plenty of revenge to plot to keep me busy."
"Gentle reminder we don't murder truck drivers?"
"I swear if you don't close your eyes...."
When Laura wakes up the next morning Carmilla is out cold. She checks the bruises on Carmilla's chest as gently as she can and is relieved to see they look much better. The bones seem to be settling too, as gross as that thought is. Laura goes to class with her peace of mind firmly in place.
It's not until she comes back in the afternoon that she starts to worry. Carmilla is still curled up in bed and Laura isn't back for five seconds before she starts hacking and coughing violently.
So violently that she coughs up blood.
Carmilla is still staring at the red on her hand when Laura rushes back with a towel and presses it into her palm.
"Carm? Come on talk to me please," Laura pleads with her, hands cupping Carmilla's cheeks. Carmilla looks like she's going to be sick.
"I lost too much blood," she croaks weakly, "My body has decided this is the opportune moment to stop healing." Laura sighs in relief.
"Okay so we'll just get you more blood. I'm sure LaF can-" Carmilla coughs again, her whole body shuddering as crimson covers the cloth in her hand. There's a crunching sound and Carmilla growls deep in her throat.
"Was that...? Laura asks quietly.
"A rib? It certainly was," Carmilla replies, her face tight with pain. Laura glances at the door and back at Carmilla. LaFontaine could definitely get the blood, but the campus hospital only opens at night, which is still four hours away. She can't just let Carmilla suffer for four hours when there is something she can do about it.
"Just... just drink from me for now. I'll get LaF when you're not hemorrhaging every ten seconds." Carmilla looks at Laura in surprise.
"You're giving me permission?" Laura nods and carefully sits on the bed. She figures its easier for her to hover over Carmilla considering Carmilla can hardly sit up without injuring herself further.
"You need it a lot more than I do," Laura says as she leans over her, one arm on either side of Carmilla's shoulders, and tosses the hair off her neck. Carmilla smiles weakly and drags Laura down for a kiss. When they pull apart she tugs Laura up so her shoulder is level with Carmilla's mouth. Laura presses soft kisses to the side of Carmilla's head and waits patiently.
There's a sharp pain and then her pulse skyrockets to keep up with the blood rushing through her veins at the command of Carmilla's mouth. Laura gasps against Carmilla's skin. The pain quickly ebbs off to a slight ache that Laura can hardly feel on top of the adrenaline and Carmilla's hand fisting into her shirt. If they weren't in the middle of a very serious situation she could totally begin to understand why people think feeding is so hot.
Carmilla kisses her throat when she's done and licks the bite clean before pulling Laura down next to her and cuddling into her chest with her usual nonchalance. She's asleep within moments, her expression painless and smooth as her body repairs itself. Laura strokes her hair and fights to keep her own eyes open. Eventually she extricates herself from Carmilla's arms and gets to work on her assignments.
Carmilla still isn't awake when Laura goes to bed. The bruises and the burns are only memories, the bones clearly mended from the haphazard way Carmilla is curled up. Laura kisses her forehead softly and pulls the covers up around her chin. The bite on her neck is still raw and red, but she figures it will heal eventually.
When Laura wakes up Carmilla is pressed against her back with one arm slung over Laura's ribs in order to hold up the philosophy text she's reading. Something soft and wet is passing over the bite on Laura's neck in a slow steady rhythm. Laura scrunches her face up in confusion.
"Carmilla?"
"Hm?"
"Are you licking me?"
"Mhhmmm"
"Just a casual little snack oooor?" Carmilla laughs and kisses Laura's cheek just in front of her ear.
"Vampire saliva, sweetheart. It'll help your bite heal."
"Oh."