Chapter Text
Betty placed her badge down on Laura’s desk. Laura knew that she was leaving today, but that didn’t make her ready for it.
‘Are you sure about this Spielsdorf?’ Laura asked. ‘This new case could be big. Are you really going to let me have all the glory?’
‘You only get the glory when you crack the case, and I don’t like your chances without me.’ They both laughed. Laura pushed her chair back and stood up. Betty pulled her in to a hug. ‘I’m gonna miss you Hollis.’
Laura blinked back tears. ‘I’m gonna miss you, too.’ She pulled back and gave Betty a playful shove. ‘Now get your butt out of here. You’re depressing the office.’
Betty smiled, cleared out the last of her belongings, and left. Laura stared at her empty desk. Four years wiped away in the space of two minutes. Betty was her first and only partner. Together, they were the youngest agents on the force, and held the highest incarceration record in the precinct. They’d spent almost every day together since they became partners. Betty had caught a cab to her apartment at two in the morning after Laura broke up with her ex-girlfriend. Laura held Betty’s hand at her father’s funeral. They were the only agents to ever take down a vampire without any back up. They’d done everything together, and now she was gone.
The chief stepped in from the hallway, ‘Hollis? My office, I’ve got news.’ Laura wiped her nose on her sleeve, not wanting to look like she’d been crying, and followed behind her. ‘Shut the door.’
Laura pulled the door shut. ‘What’s this about? Has another girl gone missing?’
‘No, there’s no reason to get excited. In fact, I don’t think you’re going to be happy about this.’ The chief gestured for Laura to take a seat, and she obeyed. ‘Betty’s gone. We’re all going to miss her. I know you achieved a lot of things together, but there’s no time for you to be running solo with this new case developing.’
‘Danny, don’t tell me-‘
‘It’s Chief Lawrence, now.’ Laura sucked her bottom lip in to her mouth and looked away. Danny continued, ‘Like I said, this isn’t the time to be taking any risks. The precinct up north is sending someone down for you. You’ll have your new partner tomorrow morning.’
‘You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’re kidding.’
Danny didn’t blink.
‘It hasn’t even been a day and you’re telling me I have a new partner?’ Laura stood up suddenly. ‘Who is this person? What do we know about them? Did you even check through their file, or did you just salute the folks up north and let them throw their garbage agents our way?’
Danny stood up and slammed her hands down on her desk. ‘Listen Hollis,’ she said, leaning over, ‘you need to check your attitude at the door. Of course I went through their file. You really think I’d dump you with some rookie? After everything…’ she trailed off. ‘Look. Just be here tomorrow morning at eight to meet your new partner. Now get out of my office.’
Laura turned her back on her. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Chief Lawrence.’
The first thing she wanted to do was call Betty, but she couldn’t. The last case they’d run together had been a mess. Someone had been illegally tapping in to dark magic to summon poltergeists. She and Betty had been doing a routine interview with some punk kid when he pulled out a bottle of violet sand and threw it on Betty. The poltergeists had swooped on her in seconds, and if Laura hadn’t had a vial of blessed salt in her bag, Betty would be dead. That’s when Betty decided she’d had enough. She had a one year-old daughter at home she had to think about. So she gave them her six months notice, and Laura promised to never drag her back in to police business once her time was up. ‘Call me any time – as long as it’s not about work’ she’d joked.
Laura ran a hand through her hair and had another sip of wine. All of the lights in her apartment were off and she was sitting by the window. The stars were out tonight. She had a great view from her balcony, but she couldn’t enjoy it right now. She was too bitter over Betty leaving. And she felt guilty for being bitter. Whatever. She finished her glass, grabbed her yellow pillow off the sofa, and went to bed.
The light streaming through the window hit Laura’s face. She groaned, rolling over to the side of her bed still cast in shadow. She opened one eye to look at the clock: 6:03am. In two hours she’d be meeting her new partner. She felt sick. Wait, she actually felt sick. Laura rolled out of her bed and ran in to the bathroom. She threw up in her toilet for fifteen minutes before dragging herself out to her lounge room. An empty bottle of wine was lying on its side on the table. She picked it up, put it in the bin, and walked over to the kitchen sink. The sun was halfway up in the sky. She cupped her hands under the tap and splashed her face with water. She felt like shit, and she knew she looked it. But she wouldn’t give Danny - or this new partner - the satisfaction of seeing her like this.
She’d taken a long shower and put enough makeup on to cover the bags under her eyes. Now she was standing in front of her closet. She slid on a pair of black high waisted pants and a black button-up. She clipped her identification number to her collar and strapped her gun to her waist, making sure that it was clearly visible beneath the bottom of her blouse. She wasn’t in the mood to fuck around today.
The commute to work took longer than expected. It was four minutes past eight by the time she walked in to the office. Danny wasn’t going to be happy. As soon as she walked in to the room everybody turned to face her.
‘What?’ She asked.
Natalie, one of the girls from the Mystical Artifacts department, walked over to her, ‘Uh, Laura, she’s here.’
Laura glanced down at her hands, which were absent-mindedly twirling a pen. She looked nervous. ‘Who’s here?’
‘The new partner.’
Laura’s face hardened. Natalie patted her on the shoulder before walking away. Great. Now she had to be late for Danny as well as the new agent. She steeled herself before opening the door to Danny’s office.
‘Chief Lawrence,’ she said.
‘You’re late,’ Danny replied without turning around.
‘Had a late night.’
Danny turned to look at her. Her eyes travelled over Laura’s face. ‘I see,’ she said. ‘Well, Hollis, this is Carmilla Karnstein, your new partner.’
Laura followed Danny’s eye line to the back corner of the room. Carmilla was leaning against the wall, arms folded. Laura looked her up and down. She was dressed head to toe in black, from her jacket, to her tight leather pants, and right down to her worn boots. ‘I don’t think those pants are protocol.’
Carmilla smirked. ‘I can move in them just fine.’ She leant forward and extended a hand, but Laura didn’t take it. ‘Right,’ Carmilla said, ‘still bitter over Betty I take it? Tough luck, cupcake, some agents just can’t handle the field. Everybody’s gotta retire some day.’
Laura’s hand slid to her gun. Carmilla’s eyes followed the movement. Evidently, it didn’t go unnoticed by Danny.
‘Stand down, Hollis.’ Danny said. Laura bit down on the inside of her cheek, and her hand came back to rest by her side. ‘You’ll play nice, or you won’t play at all. Don’t make me bench you.’
Carmilla looked amused, and it made Laura furious, but she wouldn’t take the bait. ‘Welcome to Silas 307,’ she mumbled, extending her hand to Carmilla. She shook it. Laura withdrew her hand immediately. Carmilla was ice-cold.
‘There’s been a development.’ Danny’s words snapped her back to attention.
‘Another vic?’ Laura asked.
‘I’m afraid so. Be in the conference room in fifteen minutes, I’m running the debrief. I want both of you by my side. Dismissed.’
Carmilla slid away from the wall and walked past Laura. ‘Nice to meet you, cutie.’ Laura hated her already.
It turned out that someone called in to report that his daughter had been missing for twelve hours this morning. There were a lot of missing persons calls, especially in this town, but there was one detail that linked this particular call back to Laura’s case: the slime. At the scene of the last three abductions, fluorescent yellow slime was found. They almost missed it when they swept the first crime scene because it was somewhat translucent. The bio technicians hadn’t been able to determine what it was, but Laura knew it was magical. Someone was messing around with dangerous powers, and she wanted to know who and why.
Carmilla had been silent for the entire debrief until she piped up right at the end. ‘So this slime,’ she asked, ‘it has magical properties?’
‘That’s uncertain at this point in time, but Laura is confident that it does,’ Danny said.
Carmilla’s eyes swept over Laura before she replied. ‘Well I guess that’s good enough. Have you considered that these girls are being targeted because they’ve been practicing magic themselves? The perp didn’t necessarily leave behind the slime. It could have been a Tapparich demon that was attracted to the spiritual energy.’
‘Tapparich demons aren’t native to this part of the state.’ Laura said.
Carmilla narrowed her eyes. ‘Regardless, it’s a new angle to come at this case from. Could blow open some doors.’
Danny slapped her on the back. ‘Excellent. You’re the pair of fresh eyes this case needed.’ Laura rolled her eyes. ‘Hollis, I want you and Karnstein to hit downtown. See if you can rat out anybody selling magic to young girls. There’s no way these kids possessed any kind of natural power.’
‘Can you be sure of that?’ Carmilla asked.
‘We’ve got a registry.’ Laura said. ‘All supernatural beings are on file in our system. None of the vics matched.’
Carmilla raised an incredulous eyebrow. ‘A registry? Seriously? Isn’t that a violation of privacy?’
‘The only people unwilling to go on record are the ones who have something to hide.’
Carmilla bit her lip and looked down at the ground. Danny turned to address them, ‘I want you out in the field today, guys. There’s a pattern developing. We’ve got seventy-two hours before the perp strikes again. Get out there and get me some results.’
Laura pulled her keys from her pocket and headed for the door.
‘Hold up, Lauronica Mars.’ Carmilla said. ‘You can’t leave without your partner.’
Laura’s hand tightened around the keys. ‘Just don’t get in my way.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’
They’d been searching across town for three hours and still had nothing. Laura even had to subdue an overly violent gentleman that tried to stun her when she approached him. A quick jab to the throat brought him down to his knees, much to Carmilla’s amusement. ‘For such a pint-sized girl, you can really pack a punch,’ she’d said. Laura had cracked her knuckles, ‘Don’t forget it.’
Now Laura was standing by a stall waiting for her coffee. Carmilla was studying some graffiti on the abandoned building across the road. Laura poured one packet of sugar in to her paper cup, took a deep breath, and walked over to her new partner. ‘This is a dead end.’
Carmilla turned to face her. She looked at the coffee in her hand. ‘Where’s mine, partner?’
‘Don’t know how you like it.’
Carmilla raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m sure you’d like to find out.’ She breezed past Laura to get her own drink from the stall.
Was she flirting with her? That’s just what she needed. A moody new partner that was going to sarcastically hit on her all the time. She took a big swig of her coffee. It was a little more bitter than she liked it, but she finished the cup. Carmilla was sipping on her own lidded beverage.
‘Let me guess,’ Laura said, eyeing her, ‘black coffee? No sugar?’
Carmilla smirked. ‘I don’t drink coffee.’
Another reason to dislike her. Laura looked at her watch. ‘Danny wants some results from us before five, we’ve got to get moving.’
‘Danny?’ Carmilla cocked her eyebrow. ‘That’s a little familiar, isn’t it?’
Laura ignored her. That wasn’t a conversation she felt like having with her new and irritating partner. ‘I don’t think these girls were getting the magic on the sly.’
‘What makes you so sure?’
‘Did you read their files?’
Carmilla’s jaw twitched. ‘Of course I read their files. I’m on the case, aren’t I?’
‘Yeah. Anyway, all of these girls come from nice families. Nice homes. Nice schools. They’re all brilliant students.’
‘What’s your point?’
‘My point,’ Laura said, annunciating a little harder than usual, ‘is that these aren’t the kind of girls who take a stroll through midtown Silas looking to cut a deal. They’re good girls. If they’re dabbling in magic, they’re going to take the safest route.’ Carmilla stared at her, mouth closed. ‘They needed ingredients to cast spells or whatever, right? They probably just went to a magic shop.’
‘How many magic shops are there around here? That could take a whole day to interview all of them.’
‘There’s only one within the city limits.’
Carmilla choked on her drink. ’One magic shop? Are you kidding me? Where does the supernatural populace get all their junk from?’
‘This is a small town, Karnstein. We don’t need a string of magical stores. Anyway, I know where the joint is. I’ve been there once or twice.’
Carmilla tossed her paper cup in to the trash. ‘Let’s roll out.’
The one lingering customer inside of the store cleared out as soon as Laura entered it. He tucked his hat down over his eyes and slid behind them and out of the door.
‘Not too friendly around here, huh?’ Carmilla said, turning to watch him leave.
‘I’ve got a reputation.’
‘I’m sure.’ Carmilla grinned. She approached the empty desk and rung the bell. A shock of bright orange hair popped out from a door at the back of the room.
‘Just a minute!’ The voice was about three octaves higher than Laura was accustomed to. She shared a raised eyebrow with Carmilla. ‘LaFontaine, could you serve, please? I’m in the middle of taking stock back here.’
Another redhead emerged from behind a shelf covered in weird jars. Laura didn’t want to know about whatever was in them.
‘Hi!’ They said, rubbing their hands on their jeans. ‘Welcome to The Magick Shoppe, I’ll be your server today, my name is-‘
‘Yeah,’ Carmilla said, cutting them off, ‘don’t worry about doing the bit. My name is Officer Karnstein and this is my associate, Officer Hollis.’ Laura narrowed her eyes. ‘We’re from the 307 precinct, and we’d like to ask you a few questions.’
The woman from the back room came speeding out, narrowly avoiding knocking over a bottle of – newt eyes, maybe? Laura didn’t know that much about the occult.
‘My name is Lola Perry, this is my business and life partner, LaFontaine.’ She shook Laura and Carmilla’s hands with a little too much fervor. ‘What can we help you with today?’
Laura started talking before Carmilla could open her mouth. ‘We have some photographs we’d like you to look at.’ She fumbled around inside of her bag, withdrawing four pictures. She laid them out across the desk. ‘Do you recognise any of these women?’
They both examined the photographs. LaFontaine spoke first. ‘This one,’ they said, holding up the photograph of the latest vic, ‘she was in here yesterday.’
‘Do you remember what she bought?’ Carmilla asked.
Lola began typing on the computer sitting on the desk. ‘Yes, I’ve got her order here; canary feathers, essence of rosethorn, skink root-‘
‘I don’t speak magic.’ Laura interjected. ‘What does it mean?’
‘It means she was casting a love spell.’ Carmilla said. Laura turned to face her, confused. ‘Believe it or not, there are some fields I know more about than you. Magic is one of them.’
Laura swallowed the words she wanted to say and turned back to the shopkeepers. ‘Would you be able to provide us with a record of all of your customers from the last two weeks?’
They shared a look. After a short pause, Lola spoke. ‘I don’t think that would be a problem at all.’
Carmilla was flipping through the paperwork the shopkeepers provided on the walk back to the car. ‘I don’t like this,’ she said.
‘You don’t like something? I’m shocked.’
‘Something was off in there. There was a vibe.’
Laura snorted. ‘A vibe is not a reasonable enough excuse to be casting suspicions. Were we looking at the same people? They were like a little old married couple.’
‘Yeah. Couples commit crimes together all the time.’
Laura snatched the paperwork out of her hand. ‘You’re not in the big city anymore, Karnstein. Silas is a good town. Good people live here.’
‘Yeah, the kind of good people that abduct girls right out of their bedrooms.’ She snatched the papers back.
‘Not my point.’ She took a breath. ‘All I’m saying is, you can’t go around accusing anybody that gives you a “bad vibe”. There aren’t a bunch of bad guys lying around in plain sight here. You need to get out of that headspace.’
‘I don’t need to do anything.’ Carmilla shot back. ‘I was sent here because you need me on this case. You and your little scaredy-cat partner couldn’t crack it, so they had to send in the big guns. Here I am, so how about you shut up and listen to me?’
Laura was moving before she even knew what she was doing. Her fist collided with Carmilla’s cheek, sending her reeling. When she turned back to face Laura, her fangs were out. Her fangs. Laura couldn’t believe her eyes.
‘You’re a vampire? They sent me a vampire? Are they out of their fucking minds?’
Carmilla retracted her fangs. ‘What? That’s a problem for you?’
‘Yeah, that’s a problem for me! I can’t rely on a vampire to watch my back. I can’t trust you. I can’t believe this.’
‘You can’t trust me? You don’t know a god damn thing about me!’
‘You’re right! I don’t! For all I know, you’re behind these disappearances!’
This time Carmilla was the one swinging. She caught Laura on the mouth, and it hurt. She threw the papers at Laura. ‘Solve this shit yourself.’ She disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
‘It’s illegal to teleport without permission from the chief!’ Laura yelled. Nobody was there to hear her. She raised a tentative hand to her mouth. That was gonna leave a mark. She picked up the papers from the ground and made her way to the car. Someone had to bring something back to Danny, and she wanted to talk to her about Carmilla.
‘A vampire?’
Danny looked up from her desk. ‘Excuse me?’
‘You assigned me a vampire as my new partner?’
‘Hollis, look-‘
‘I can’t believe you! You know how I feel about vampires. A vampire almost killed me last year!’
‘And you took him down! You and Betty! You handled it.’
‘So I’m supposed to just “handle” this one too? Vampires are evil.’
‘You know it’s not black and white like that.’ Danny stepped out from behind her desk. ‘Carmilla is a good person. And she’s a good agent.’
‘Except she’s not a person. She doesn’t have the emotional capacity of a person. How am I supposed to trust her to watch my back on the job? Are you trying to get me killed?’
‘Laura that’s enough.’
‘It’s Hollis now, remember?’
Danny’s eyes dropped. She gave a deep sigh, and took a step closer to Laura. ‘If this is too hard for you, working for me, tell me now. I can organise for you to be transferred-‘
‘Too hard for me?’ Laura was waving her hands in the air. ‘More like too hard for you! Did you do this on purpose? To punish me?’
‘You’re being ridiculous.’
‘I’m not the one that ended a three-year relationship just to get ahead.’
Neither of them said anything. The tension between them had been building to this moment for a long time.
‘Laura, we can’t talk about this here. We can’t talk about this at all. I’m… I’m sorry.’ She reached for Laura’s hand, but Laura batted her away.
‘Don’t touch me. You don’t have that privilege anymore. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Chief.’ Laura threw the paperwork down on to her desk and turned on her heel.
Carmilla was waiting outside of the door. ‘Trouble in paradise? Gosh, Hollis, I thought you were so by the books. Wouldn’t have picked you as the kind of girl that screws her boss.’
‘Fuck off, Karnstein.’
Laura stormed out of the office before Carmilla could respond. She walked home in the rain.
She wished she hadn’t finished off that bottle of wine last night. These last few days had been hell, and she didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. Laura wiped a tear away before it had the chance to fall. She wouldn’t let herself cry over this. On the other side of the room, her laptop lit up. She checked her watch. It was midnight. Who was messaging her this late? She crossed the room and clicked in to the conversation. Her eyes widened. It was from an anonymous source. 320 Brunswick Street. 1am. Come alone. I know where Sarah Jane is. Laura stared at the screen. Sarah Jane - the fourth and most recent victim. She grabbed her phone, and she paused. Calling Betty was like a reflex. She considered calling Carmilla for a moment. No. It would be safer to go alone. Laura pulled a coat on and headed out of the door.
Laura climbed out of her car with her hand on her gun. The street was abandoned. Light rain was falling. She closed the door and locked the car.
She called out. ‘Hello?’ No response. She unholstered her gun. Something was gleaming up ahead. She narrowed her eyes. The light from the lamppost was reflecting off of something. She took a few steps toward it. The clicking of her shoes echoed against the asphalt. Her breath was steaming in front of her. It started moving. Laura aimed her gun. ‘Come out!’ She called. It was moving toward her. Fast. ‘Back up!’ Laura yelled. It kept coming. ‘Back up or I’ll shoot!’
A Gavrok demon emerged from the darkness. Its horns were stained with blood. Laura fired two shots but it kept coming. She emptied the barrel in to its chest but it barely slowed down. She started running. Gavroks are twice the size of a full-grown gorilla and three times as mean. If it caught up to her, it would kill her. It chased her down the length of the street. Her feet were pounding against the ground, pushing her forward as fast as she could go. It was getting closer. She darted in to an alleyway. It was a dead end. She couldn’t scale the wall. There wasn’t any time. The Gavrok started closing in on her. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the attack. A swirl of black smoke appeared in front of her. The demon shrieked and collapsed. Laura fell back, chest heaving and heart racing. ‘Karnstein?’
Carmilla was standing in front of her with a bloodied sword in her hand. She wiped it across her leg and sheathed it behind her back. ‘Hey, cutie.’ She offered Laura her hand and she took it.
Laura stared at her. ‘How did you know I was here?’
Carmilla knelt down to inspect the demon’s body. ‘I could smell your fear.’ She looked up to meet Laura’s perturbed gaze. ‘Relax. I’m staying nearby. It wasn’t hard to pick up the scent. I was out walking.’
‘Yeah I guess this is like breakfast time for you.’
‘Well it was almost dinner time for this guy before I swooped in and saved your ungrateful ass.’
Laura smiled. ‘Thank you, Carmilla.’
She smiled too. ‘You’re welcome, Laura.’ She prodded the body. ‘Look at this.’
Laura knelt down beside her. The demon had a white scar on its chest in the shape of a triangle. ‘What does that mean?’ Laura asked.
‘It means he was summoned. Someone was controlling this guy.’
Laura hung her head. ‘I walked right in to a trap. I wasn’t even thinking. I could have killed us both.’
Carmilla placed her hand on Laura’s shoulder. ‘Sometimes great agents don’t think; they act. And you’re never in danger so long as I’m around. So just call me next time, okay?’
She looked in to Carmilla’s eyes. ‘I will. I promise.’
The next morning when Carmilla walked in to the office, Laura was waiting with a cup of coffee... and a cup of blood.