After a full day of reading, Carmilla is still going strong, stretched across her bed poring through books and papers. If we can figure out where the girls are, we have a shot.
J. P.’s search window is open and running. Carm has befriended LaFontaine’s buddy from the library and they’re studying mystical weapons on campus. J. P. is loaded with good information.
Me, I’m tidying up the mess Carm has made. Not that this mess will matter if we’re all dead. Her blood-encrusted glass makes me gag, I have to admit. She’s been going through pints of that every few hours. Blood for her, coffee for me.
I’m really starting to miss having Perry and her mop around.
“Hey, bloodsucker,” I joke, “help me out?” I need someone to get the bracelet back on my wrist. I’m pretty much wearing it all the time now.
“Funny.” She fastens the bracelet, then slightly cocks her head and grins. “Gotta keep you safe.”
Danny peeks in. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. She holds her gaze on Carmilla and says, “Perry said you wanted to talk to me?”
There’s a lot of awkward hanging in the room.
“You look good,” I blurt out.
Danny points at the webcam. “I can’t believe you’re still filming after what happened to LaFontaine.” She’s still blaming me and my posts for everything. I am not the enemy.
“Are you still watching?” I ask.
“I stopped after the library incident. It’s too hard for me.”
“How did you know about LaFontaine if you didn’t tune in to the vlog?”
She moves from foot to foot, all edgy. “Perry filled me in on the details. Sounds like it’s been all-consuming.”
Now I’m the one who’s anxious. “Yeah, I’ve been super stressed.”
“I haven’t seen you in class — you’ve missed a lot,” she says.
“I’ve got a lot of other stuff going on.” To say the least.
“You are here for school,” she jokes, but that jab hits to close to home. What is she, my dad? If it wasn’t already over between us, it would be now.
I fake a laugh, uncomfortable as hell. A glance from Carmilla encourages me. She knows what I need here. “About that school thing. I’ve been preoccupied, as you know.”
She nods. “Okay.” She’s not going to make this easy for me.
“Can I get an extension on my paper? Just a week or so. Until after the soul-sucking ritual thing is over?” I ask.
Silence.
I lower my demands. “Three days?”
Danny’s voice rises an octave. “Oh my God. I thought … How dumb am I? You wanted me to come over here because you can’t stay on top of your homework?”
Carmilla is still watching.
I forge ahead. “Seriously? Trying to save four people isn’t worth a few extra days to get my paper done? What did you think?”
“Nothing.”
Oh crap. “Did you think I wanted to get back together?”
Carmilla perks up.
“Not anymore. I can’t believe your nerve.”
“My nerve? I can’t believe you’re being so vindictive and petty.”
Danny gets right up in my face. “Easy for you to say. You didn’t get dumped for a bloodsucking vampire.”
“So hostile,” Carmilla comments.
“This conversation is officially over,” Danny says sharply. “If you’re too busy with her to get your assignments done, that’s your problem, not mine.”
She turns toward the door. Carmilla can’t resist sending her off with, “Come back never.”
Danny looks back at me and snaps, “Delete my contact info from your phone.”
“I guess that was a no,” I say after the door slams. “She hates me. I don’t blame her.”
“Sore loser,” Carmilla says.
“I hope you’re having better luck finding us a secret weapon than I did scoring a decent grade.”
Carmilla flips the pages. “Not so much. According to the great book, we’ve got Ascalon, an enchanted spear that kills dragons but only if you’re a Christian saint. So that’s out. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, perfect for an influx of monstrous rabbits. For us, all zeroes.”
She heaves the book against the wall. J. P.’s search engine keeps running on the computer until a query string for Blade of Hastur pops up. That gets my attention. “What about this one? The Blade of Hastur forged from Euuch, the burnt bones of star spawn, and meant to shatter all that opposes it? Sounds promising.” I keep reading. “Crap. It won’t work for us.”
“Why not?”
I read ahead. “It’s sealed in the face of a cliff in a cavern a thousand feet below sea level on the outskirts of town. Nobody could survive that, which is probably why it’s there. Too dangerous to try to retrieve. How about a big bad bazooka? Obvious choice, but can it stop your mother?”
Carm perks up. “I could get it. It’s not far from here.”
“What? The bazooka?”
“The sword. Pressure at that depth isn’t really an issue for us vampires. Vampire bonus points.”
I try not to get too excited about this revelation. “But you’d be risking your life if your mother found out —”
She stops me. “My mother robbed me of the only person I ever cared about. Maybe I don’t feel like letting her do that to me again.” The sound of her voice as she admits that makes my heart skip a beat.
“I know you’re not doing this just because of me?” I’m fishing.
“Please. Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I am.” She leans in to kiss me until she sees my new necklace. “Where did that thing come from?” she asks.
“It was on my dresser. I thought it was another present …”
“Take it off!” she shouts. She reaches for the necklace, but when it touches her skin, she yelps like she’s been scorched or stung. I try to rip it from my neck but it starts to choke me. I panic when I can’t breathe. Everything goes black. I hear Carmilla whisper, “Mother?” right before I lose consciousness.
My head is muddled when I wake up. “Carmilla? What happened?”
“It’s okay. The necklace was poisoned. A trap from my mother.”
Whoa. “She fights dirty. Won’t she be surprised when you show up all badass with the one thing that will end her domination of Silas University. She’s going down.”
Carm turns slightly away from me. “Yeah. Not so sure she’ll be expecting that.”
Something in her demeanor isn’t right. Maybe it’s just the poison clouding my brain. Still, Carmilla is acting strange.