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Laura Eileen Hollis is a freelance journalist and a former student at Silas University. She began investigating the mysterious occurrences at Silas after her first roommate, Betty, vanished at a party.

Information[]

Personality[]

A sociable person who easily befriends others, Laura is an idealistic young woman with a strong sense of justice. She is selfless, willing to assist others simply because they need help and shows care and empathy for those in need. Likely due to her sheltered upbringing, she has some trouble dealing with morally grey areas and complicated aspects of life. She is also prone to being stressed easily, which causes her to act with emotion instead of logic. Her caring and quirky personality at times gives way to fiercer side when her emotions are stirred.

History[]

Early Life[]

Born and raised by her father in a small town, Laura Hollis lived a sheltered life due to her dad's overprotectiveness, displaying some resentment over it. During this time frame, she learned Krav Maga and began carrying around bear spray. Laura applied to Silas University and was eventually accepted into the college. Her tour began at some point after Carmilla Karnstein, her future roommate, dealt with a supernatural threat in a part of the school she eventually came across, where she expressed her excitement for the school.

The Arrival[]

Laura had finished moving into Silas University sometime before starting her video logs, beginning them three weeks into the semester. In addition to explaining her situation, Laura noted that her roommate, Betty, was quite wild and prone to partying whenever possible. Betty, as she noted with some distaste, was content with grades in the sixties and was much more concerned about upcoming social events. Laura attempted to resume her studies, but Betty persuaded her to come out of the room and join the fun with the possibility that Danny Lawrence, a teacher's assistant, would be present. The following day, Laura decides to wake up Betty, who was exhausted from the night beforehand, only to discover that she is missing.

After texting Betty and receiving no response, Laura unsuccessfully attempts to convince the school faculty her roommate is missing, becoming frustrated at the lack of assistance they give. Laura is puzzled and agitated at the school's lack of concern that one of their students is nowhere to be found, but she resolves to solve the case herself. Unable to make much headway because of a lack of support and leads to trace, Laura comes back to her dorm unsuccessful in locating Betty.

While still baffled at the complete absence of her dorm mate, the school sends her another student to room with, in the form of Carmilla Karnstein. Laura and Carmilla are immediately at odds with one another, as Laura is upset the school would simply send her another roommate rather than put effort forth toward finding her previous one. Carmilla doesn't seem to notice her protests and stated that she has The Dean's permission to live in the room. Laura became even angrier with Carmilla's further actions when the latter began rifling through the belongings of the now-missing Betty, seizing anything she wanted for herself, before taking over Betty's half of the room entirely.

As the days go by, Laura gains first hand experience regarding Carmilla's habits, specifically sleeping through much of the day and spending much of the night with a "study buddy", of whom is unknown to Laura. She chalks it up to just Carmilla being weird, which is of little concern as nothing is truly out of the ordinary, until she stumbles upon a milk carton filled with blood.

Cryptic Events[]

Unused to the supernatural, Laura has a complete freak out at the thought of blood being in the milk carton, calling her friends LaFontaine and Perry to investigate the phenomenon. Perry is very quiet on the matter, while LaFontaine treats the matter much more seriously and admits it is quite disconcerting someone would have blood in a milk carton. Perry advises that Laura talk things out with Carmilla while LaFontaine puts forth an offer to take samples in order to ascertain what the substance actually is. Laura decides to go to The Dean about the blood, only to be overruled by the other two, who cite that if Carmilla goes, she could end up with someone much worse. Perry then drops another piece of information for Laura, there are other girls who have gone missing, but they have come back.

Perry brushes off the statement, citing that they may have just been passed out and thus nothing out of the ordinary, but LaFontaine points out that each girl went missing for two days before showing up with no memory of what happened to them. Laura immediately wishes to go see the girls in question, but Perry and LaFontaine caution her against it, as Laura's actions might upset the girls who were missing. Perry agrees to go ask the women for Laura just as Carmilla enters.

Laura and the others watch with some discomfort as Carmilla hijacks Betty's wardrobe and changes clothing, all without acknowledging they are actually there. Perry and LaFontaine leave Laura to deal with her roommate, and Laura opens up their conversation by pointing out her soy milk is no longer present. Carmilla marks it down as a prank and shows no concern, causing Laura to escalate their soon to be argument, stating she was the one who spread rumors about Carmilla earlier. Carmilla is even less impressed by the statement, and any other argument is interrupted when two of the missing girls, SJ and Natalie, show up to talk with Laura. One of them appears to recognize Carmilla, but nothing is said of it and Laura gains very little of interest from them. Carmilla eventually freaks both women out by humming a tune that unsettles them both, leading Laura to become angry at her.

Ominous Words[]

Laura's anger goes unnoticed by Carmilla, who points out that Laura is alone, has little support in her investigation and few leads to go on. She advises Laura to just give up on the hunt for Betty, but Laura refuses to back down. She states that despite her lack of resources and assistance, she will do what the school itself isn't doing and find the missing women. Laura begins to upload a school project online, which instead apparently sets off an alarm, much to Carmilla's delight, causing a meeting to be called.

Laura's videos have gotten the attention of the school, hence the meeting, although this does not deter Laura from continuing to post videos detailing her life at Silas. During the meeting, the administration stated that the reports of missing women was nothing more than a rumor, which was dispelled when the Summer Society, the resident sorority on campus, stated that one of their number was missing. While the Zeta Omega Mu, the resident fraternity, proposed safety patrols, the Summer Society vowed to protect their own with nightly marches, and soon enough, the town hall fell into chaos that The Dean had to break up.

Laura displays visible disappointment at another visible lack of support from the administration, but admits that she is happy to have met Danny Lawrence, who has been in the room in conversation with her during her recounting of the meeting gone wrong. Danny offers her assistance in locating the missing women, and Laura immediately accepts. While Danny is out gathering the data on the missing Summer Society member, Kirsch and Will, members of the Zeta fraternity arrive.

Both men declare their intention to protect Laura from external and internal threats, but Laura rebuffs them, citing she can defend herself. Kirsch points out that he could instead hang around with Laura, since they're in all the same classes, but Carmilla enters, spots both men and becomes angry, starting an argument on the spot with Laura about their presence. Laura attempts to defend herself, but the argument is brought to an end with Carmilla kicking both Will and Kirsch out personally. Carmilla restarts the argument by chastising Laura for risking everything just for a missing roommate, citing that no one even looks at her videos detailing the ongoing events, only to be proven wrong as Laura receives a message on her video.

Tracing Lines[]

Laura and Danny are, despite Carmilla's sarcastic commentary, able to determine that every girl who went missing did so at a party. Additionally, the ones who did go missing went to parties that had things supplied to them by the Alchemy Club. Carmilla points out that the members of the club in question don't have the manpower nor ability to pull off large scale kidnappings, so Laura and Danny decide to interview the women themselves. Their first interviewee, Natalie, acts out with them, paying no attention to their questions and spending much of her time performing odd actions, which leaves them both disturbed.

Laura records another video where she reveals that the other girls have been acting similarly to Natalie, and while Danny suspects that the Alchemy club is behind it, she has no proof and Laura does not believe it could truly be them. Laura notes that Natalie and SJ, honor students, normally didn't act like party animals and theorizes something is affecting them. Laura performs research on her missing roommate, discovering that Betty is in fact a student who gets very high grades and was valedictorian, something which the Betty she observed never actually did. Laura realizes that there is something bigger in play, but before she can do anything The Dean arrives.

While Carmilla is in the hallway, being chewed out for something unknown to Laura, the latter watches in glee as her roommate takes fire, which she believes is justified given their prior interactions. Though Perry is much less enthusiastic about Carmilla's suffering Laura and LaFontaine are quite enthused about it until she actually comes back into the room. Perry and LaFontaine beat a quick retreat, leaving Laura to deal with her roommate. Laura asks Carmilla if she wants to talk, but Carmilla brushes her off. Laura draws the conclusion that the talk was about The Dean being disappointed in Carmilla, and sympathizes, as she has had similar experiences of not living up to the expectations of others. Their talk is interrupted when Danny shows up with various photos acquired from the parties. Carmilla excuses herself from the room, while both women sort through them.

Danny relays information from the parties, specifically that the Alchemy Club has been utilizing fungus dander in order to set up a communication network as part of an experiment. While sorting through the photos, they come across the evidence they need, a picture of Elsie, partying with Carmilla. Laura realizes that Elsie was one of Carmilla's "study buddies" from earlier that she had previously not paid much attention to, and begins to attempt to find more evidence between Elsie and the missing girls. During her investigation, a battle breaks out between the Zetas and the Summer Society regarding who will be the protectors of the campus, prompting Danny to rush to Laura's room to protect her.

Kirsch, after some begging, gains access to the room, despite Danny's protests, and through a combination of the ongoing brawl outside and the argument over who will defend the campus, he nearly comes to blows with her. Laura defuses the situation by pointing out fighting each other leaves the campus vulnerable, and both leave to try to stop the fighting.

Laura goes to bed soon after, and wakes up later as a result of a bad dream. While trying to calm herself down, she recounts she had a nightmare of a girl crying and a dark figure beneath her bed. She attempted to hide from it, but it consumed her. A moment later, a sudden noise startles Laura, who whirls around in fear.

Connecting Lines[]

Sometime later, during the day, Laura's description of her dream was posted on the internet. Some of her viewers alert her to the news that Natalie, one of the formerly missing girls, had similar dreams. Carmilla arrives, and to Laura's surprise, she displays concern for her in regards to nightmare she had and it's contents. She informs her that she has had dreams of her own that are similar, and soon leaves to get something to help Laura sleep better. Carmilla's sudden change in behavior confuses Laura, although her confusion takes a backseat when LaFontaine and Perry arrive in search of the erstwhile vampire. Laura decides to look through her camera footage, discovering that Carmilla appears to have supernatural fire creation powers in addition to her previously established roommate habits of staying out late and being asleep much of the day.

Carmilla comes back to the room and offers a charm bracelet with a bat wing tied to it as a gift to Laura, citing it will help her sleep better. Laura seizes upon the opportunity to ask Carmilla exactly where she goes each night, but Carmilla comments that telling her would eliminate her aura of mystery and briskly departs.

Carmilla's remarks do not sit well with Laura, who begins theorizing that Carmilla has a crush on her, or that Carmilla is pretending to have a crush on her because she's targeting Laura as her next victim. She disposes of the charm bracelet by way of hiding it under Carmilla's mattress, wanting nothing to do with it. LaFontaine returns, reporting that they were unable to successfully follow Carmilla. Perry staunchly refuses to believe that anything supernatural is happening, and thus refuses to assist Laura in her investigation. LaFontaine advises going behind Perry's back in the search for Betty, and their quest leads them to infiltrate the Faculty Club and expose Carmilla to The Dean.

The plan fails due to LaFontaine blowing their cover, although they manage to grab a photo from it's frame on the way out. While being attended to by Perry and Danny, Laura analyzes it, noting it's from 1954 and that a woman who strongly resembles Carmilla is present in it. Laura decides that the library is their best bet for finding out more answers. The excursion to the library is considerably more successful than the prior one to the Faculty Club, although Laura's antics result in a fire breaking out after being attacked by flying books. The information they gain deeply unsettles Laura, as what they found were pictures taken, and Carmilla has been present in each one of them in some form. Though LaFontaine has long since come to the conclusion, the incident causes Laura to realize that Carmilla is a vampire.

Following Lines[]

Laura falls into complete shock at the revelation of Carmilla being a vampire. Laura begins to theorize that she will be the next victim on Carmilla's list, while her react in their own ways during her musings. Perry is in disbelief, LaFontaine is surprised no one other than them figured out the truth, while Danny immediately begins researching ways to kill Carmilla. Perry puts for the argument that unless they have proof Carmilla is truly a vampire, they can't just murder her without provocation. LaFontaine points out that the blood and missing girls are the proof they need, but Laura agrees with Perry on the matter, and that they need a way to draw Carmilla's vampiric nature out into the open. After some debate, LaFontaine suggests using Laura as bait, since Laura might be her next target, it makes her the best candidate for the job.

As discussions on how to capture Carmilla take place, Laura and LaFontaine begin searching for dorm room items that could double as anti-vampire weaponry, while Perry refuses to believe that Carmilla is a vampire in the first place, and Danny is on the fence regarding a physical confrontation. Kirsch and several students show up, asking if Laura and the others would like to attend a party, to which they agree, with Laura enlisting Kirsch's help in the attempt to capture Carmilla. She convinces Danny that Kirsch's help is a good thing, and prepares for a confrontation with Carmilla by way of studying vampire lore and training in ways to fight one.

Carmilla comes back into the room some point after Laura falls asleep, with the latter awakening to find Carmilla stargazing. Laura baits Carmilla into a trap by inviting her to the Zeta's upcoming party, to which she accepts. Laura bids her goodnight and resumes her sleep.

Laura is later seen preparing for the party by wearing a Victorian-styled outfit as part of her role as "vampire bait", revealing that her plan involves luring Carmilla to a secluded area for Danny and the Zeta's to ambush her at. The plan quickly goes south when Carmilla changes her mind and decides to celebrate privately with Laura instead. During their private celebration, Carmilla takes note that Laura is no longer wearing the charm that she gave her earlier, much to her disappointment. Laura attempts to warn the others of the change to the plan, but Carmilla stops her, saying she doesn't want the others to join them.

To Laura's relief, Danny shows up, having gone looking for Laura after she didn't show at the Party, the Summer in question promptly attacking Carmilla on the spot, temporarily disabling Laura's camera. She manages to get it back online after Carmilla is tied to a chair, revealing that LaFontaine, Danny and Will were injured during the fighting, but with Carmilla captured, the threat is over. Laura expresses hope that the other girls who went missing will soon be found and that Natalie and Sarah Jane will be restored to their prior behavior before their change into party animals, only to be interrupted when Kirsch bursts into the room with horrific news. Natalie went missing at the party and Sarah Jane has been killed.

Enemy Unknown[]

Laura is horrified by Sarah Jane's death, wondering how she could have possibly died after Carmilla being captured. LaFontaine shows up with evidence in regards to the murder, showing that similar items were found at the scene, specifically, the goo that was present at Betty's abduction, along with a card indicating that Sarah Jane was supposed to be abducted, not killed. Kirsch attempts to attack Carmilla in a blind rage over Sarah's death, though Laura stops him before doing so.

The others decide that they need a plan with their new prisoner, with LaFontaine and Danny suggesting transferring her, while Laura points out they need to keep Carmilla where she is in order to interrogate her. Laura starts the interrogation off by asking her about the abductions, but Carmilla protests that she is innocent in that matter. No one believes her, and thus they decide to interrogate her by way of starving her into submission.

Nine days later, Carmilla still hasn't cracked under pressure and it is getting progressively harder to explain the vampire's absence. Laura is explaining her roommate's absence to someone when Carmilla begins to seize from a lack of food, forcing Laura to give her food. Carmilla admits that she was actually flirting with Laura the night she left after being invited to the party, and offers to recount her story to Laura.

Laura brings out sock puppets as Carmilla explains who she truly is, beginning with her tale of being murdered at a ball on her eighteenth birthday up to the point where her task luring girls away for a ritual began. Laura promptly drops the sock puppets as Carmilla's tale becomes darker, listening in stunned silence as Carmilla explains that she attempted to save her former lover, Ell, from being victimized by her mother, but failed and was imprisoned beneath the earth while Ell vanished forever.

Laura continues to listen as Carmilla wraps up her tale, realizing she is much a victim as herself in the matter. Laura wonders if Betty's disappearance was due to Carmilla driving her off, but Carmilla admits she did not intercede to save her. Laura decides to find a way to save the missing women and stop Carmilla's mother, but the latter points out that her mother has already intimidated everyone, Laura included. Laura wonders exactly who it is that has intimidated her, with Carmilla admitting that it is The Dean who is her mother.

Broken Mask[]

Revelation in hand, Laura attempts, to no avail, to get the others to release Carmilla, citing that she has given them crucial information to the puzzle currently facing them, but the others stand firm in their belief, pointing out Carmilla did lead girls to their supposed demise and pulled this off for centuries. Laura states that without the force multiplier that Carmilla provides, they have much less of a chance against The Dean, but Danny and the others refuse to trust the vampire. Regardless of Carmilla's situation, the matter remains that The Dean is still out there and needs to be dealt with. She reluctantly leaves Carmilla tied up and goes to bed.

Unbeknownst to her, Will shows up and sets Carmilla free, although the ruckus causes Laura to wake up. Initially she orders him to flee, but he reveals his vampiric nature and after a brief fight, subdues Laura and prepares to kill her. Carmilla intercedes on her behalf and then bites Laura to chase down Will. Laura is, predictably, horrified at the fact that she has been bitten by a vampire.

After a few moments of panicking, Laura calms herself down and realizes that her father will have a massive freakout upon being told about the events occurring at Silas. Carmilla comes back shortly afterwards to begin preparing her escape, prompting Laura to become angry at her, demanding answers in regards to the bite. The vampire explains that she did it in order to have energy to chase down Will, who she failed to catch, explaining her current course of action.

Laura implores Carmilla to stay at the college, citing they need her assistance to defeat The Dean, and without her, the vampires will likely just abduct Laura. Eventually, she points out that if she flees, The Dean will know that she is guilty of siding with Laura to interdict her plans, and that as long as she remains, The Dean has no definitive proof of her guilt even with Will's testimony. Carmilla reluctantly agrees to stay, if only because she has no other plan of action.

Both women begin arguing shortly afterwards, specifically about Carmilla being held hostage for the past two weeks. Carmilla storms off to deal with her own problems, while Laura bemoans the current situation, which is complicated by the midterm she has to take in a few hours.

Post-Midterm Madness[]

Sometime after the midterm, Laura records a video of herself bemoaning her belief that she failed the assignment in question. Carmilla is unmoved by her emotional display, citing that if she's worried that much about it, she could just ask Danny to change her grade. Laura staunchly refuses to do so, and at Carmilla's bringing up of the subject, she goes hunting for the vampire charm given to her earlier in the semester. While Carmilla is explaining the specifics of the charm to Laura, the latter begins wondering if there has been any activity from The Dean. LaFontaine and Perry arrive soon after and spot Carmilla, unbound and free in the room, and assume she has gotten loose, with Perry going for help while LaFontaine demands answers.

LaFontaine is convinced that Laura is under mind control or similar coercion, explaining Carmilla's freedom, which Laura dispels by way of starting an argument with the vampire. LaFontaine and Laura turn their attention to asking about the specifics behind the vampire abductions, learning about the mentality and blood chemistry changes that occur in it's victims. Laura attempts to rally Carmilla's help in defeating The Dean, to no avail, and any further discussion is cut off when Danny charges in and attacks Carmilla.

Laura's vampiric roommate almost immediately defeats Danny in the ensuing fight and begins choking Danny, to Laura's distress. Carmilla, at Laura's request, reluctantly stands down and allows Danny to live. Laura immediately goes to her aid, asking if Danny is okay and asserting that she has everything under control. Danny responds that she clearly does not have everything under control, stating that Laura has put herself in danger a multitude of times over the course of the semester, as detailed in her vlogs. Laura becomes defensive of her vlogs, with Danny stating that she should at least be informed about their posting, with Laura becoming upset from the demand. Danny exacerbates the situation further by stating that it is her "job" to protect Laura, which results in Laura chastising the Summer about the similarities she is showing with her dad, not wanting Danny to act like him.

Danny shifts the focus of the argument to Carmilla, but Laura intervenes and forces her to back off. Danny leaves the room, but not before warning Carmilla that hurting Laura will cause her to come back. Soon afterwards, Laura and Carmilla hear loud noises outside, with the latter shoving Laura away from the windows and slamming them shut, declaring that large mushrooms have begun to sprout outside.

Supernatural Meltdown[]

Immediately after the mushroom incident, Laura resumes with her video posting, explaining that the mushrooms apparently had the power to zombify victims of the spores they exuded, leading to a massive campus brawl between the infected and the remaining students. During the battle, the Lustig Building was targeted by the zombified-students, who attempted to burn the facility down during the chaos. A combined effort from the remaining students resulted in the defeat of the students and the destruction of the mushrooms, which required a massive amount of fungicide to accomplish. Laura wonders why the zombies targeted the Lustig Building specifically, with Carmilla pointing out that everyone hates the theater students, and that the building has been burned down in the past.

Laura attempts to thank Carmilla for saving her from being an initial victim of the spores, with Carmilla pointing out she was just protecting herself. LaFontaine and Perry come into the room, describing their perspectives on the incident, specifically, Perry refuses to believe it ever happened and LaFontaine has been praising Danny's combat abilities while also explaining she has the results in regards to the goo recovered from the rooms of the abducted.

LaFontaine reveals it is cerebral spinal fluid, or, rather, brain fluid, to Laura's great discomfort. LaFontaine points out that they are dealing with a parasitical threat in addition to the vampires, and attempts to get answers from Carmilla, who denies knowing anything in regards to the parasite threat, before leaving the room. Laura explains that Carmilla is grieving over a lost love, but LaFontaine turns the subject around by insinuating that Laura has a crush on the vampire.

Both women wonder about the vampire's plans, trying to discern how kidnapping girls, infecting them with parasites, returning them and kidnapping them again factors into a working plan, but are interrupted when Perry has a meltdown and begins yelling at them. Perry's meltdown leads into an argument with LaFontaine, with Perry detailing her frustration with the lack of normality at the campus and how LaFontaine dislikes being called Susan. Laura watches as the two friends yell at each other, before Perry declares she doesn't know who LaFontaine is anymore before storming out.

Laura attempts, to little avail, to comfort LaFontaine, eventually settling upon quitting their activities to stop The Dean for the night in favor of watching movies. LaFontaine and Laura watch movies all through the night until the latter falls asleep sometime before Carmilla returns to the room. The vampire bears witness to Laura having nightmares, managing to wake her up, with Laura revealing that her nightmares are the same as before, blood filling the dorm room. She does, however, note a difference between the previous nightmares and the one she was recently woken up from, describing the "rotted heart of the world". LaFontaine shows concern for their friend's mental safety, with Carmilla explaining that the charm she gave Laura should have protected her from afflictions caused by the vampires. Laura states that she believes it is someone else causing the dreams, specifically a girl in a nightdress.

Escalation[]

Carmilla exhibits a considerable shift in behavior and asks questions about the girl, with Laura noting that the girl repeatedly said "not go into the light, the light is hungry", before asking Carmilla if the girl in the nightdress is Ell. Carmilla expresses uncertainty at the question, noting that she herself has not had a dream about Ell before, before explaining to Laura that other kidnapped girls have described Ell before. Laura hypothesizes that Carmilla's vampire physiology keeps Ell from appearing in her dreams, while LaFontaine begins to believe that the parasites have a connection to the "light". Laura realizes they need more information, and the only source of knowledge lies in the library. After arming themselves, Laura records a message, apologizing to Perry and Danny for recent events, before LaFontaine cuts her off and declares they have nothing to apologize for and that they have their own issues to resolve, before marching out of the room.

Sometime later, Laura is seen recording another video, noting to her viewers that in addition to surviving the excursion to the library without casualties, they managed to retrieve a Sumerian text, having handed it over to Carmilla for the vampire to read through. In addition to the text, they have also rescued J.P. Armitage, the consciousness of a man who vanished in 1874, having been preserved in digital form through the interim. While J.P. explains his involvement in their last visit to the library, he also begins divulging information related to the current events, noting that during his time, abductions similar to those in the present occurred, and like Laura, he began looking into them.

Laura listens to J.P.'s explanation and Carmilla's own additions to the conversation, the vampire pointing out that the book is focused on describing ways that virgins are devoured by supernatural monsters as opposed to "the hungry light", something that J.P. described. During this time, Perry comes into the room and is relieved to see the continued survival of the group, but LaFontaine's residual anger towards her drives Perry from the room. LaFontaine leaves the room soon afterwards in order to attend class, leaving Carmilla and Laura alone.

The two begin a discussion of their own, with Laura's thanking of Carmilla for her assistance rapidly transitioning into questioning about the vampire's motivations for joining them. Laura hypothesizes that Carmilla came along to find out if there was information related to Ell's fate, and assumes that the vampire is working to find a way to save her. Carmilla rebuffs the notion, stating that Laura shouldn't view her as a hero, with Laura stating that if Carmilla doesn't want her to view the vampire as being a hero, she should stop doing heroic things. Following this, Laura heads to bed sometime afterward.

After waking up, Laura displays a cheerful attitude, noting that she didn't have any nightmares, before also adding that she did have a dream about a black cat-based animal. Laura begins preparing to work on her Literature paper, before being interrupted by Perry, who storms in looking for LaFontaine. After informing her that LaFontaine isn't there, Perry's attitude changes to worry, with her displaying a card to Laura. Laura reads through the card, finding out it is one similar to the ones found after Betty, SJ and Natalie went missing, and that it has a threatening message left on it.

Amidst Perry's meltdown, Carmilla determines that the vampires needed a replacement sacrifice, due to SJ having been killed and Laura being protected from the vampires by the charm and herself, prompting Perry to begin blaming Laura for the entire incident. Laura listens to Perry rant about how her actions were responsible in bringing The Dean down upon the group, believing that if she hadn't interfered with her plans, LaFontaine would be safe from the vampires. While Perry cries herself to sleep, Laura begins to lament over how LaFontaine's abduction is her fault, deciding to warn everyone on campus about the ongoing threat via her videos.

Laura summons Kirsch to her room to inform him about the fact that Will is a vampire, but he refuses to believe her explanation, citing that as a Zeta, Will is trustworthy, prompting Laura to warn him to be careful. Following his departure, Laura begins wondering about what life would be like without the supernatural events going on, eventually asking Carmilla what life was like in her time. Carmilla recounts how waltzing was considered scandalous in her time, taking Laura's hand and explaining how the dance conflicted with the social values of the era.

Laura decides to go to sleep following the brief conversation, noting that with Perry in her bed, she has nowhere to rest, leading to Carmilla offering her bed to Laura in turn. Carmilla departs the room, prompting Laura to face plant into her bed and remark on her feelings for the vampire.

Coping Mechanisms[]

Laura wakes up at six in the morning the following day, being greeted by Perry, who has baked brownies and cleaned in their absence as a way of coping with LaFontaine's abduction. While Laura's attention is focused on her, Perry suggests putting her vlogs on a delayed timer, in addition to finding outside assistance to help with the vampire threat. Perry's suggestions run the gamut from mercenaries to the police to private investigators, with Laura shooting down all her suggestions, noting that mercenaries require money they don't have, the police need to be summoned by the campus staff and private investigators refuse to go anywhere near the school.

Effectively on their own, Laura and Carmilla resume searching through the Sumerian text for anything that might aid them, while Perry continues to clean. Mid-research session, Perry knocks a glass of blood that Carmilla was drinking onto the book, only to reveal new information due to the book reacting with the blood. The bloodstained book unveils information regarding a being known as Lophiiformes, otherwise known as 'the light that devours'. The entry regarding Lophiiformes describes a phenomenon, therein which an ancient evil consumes five virgins every twenty years, matching descriptions given by Carmilla's own stories and the plans of The Dean.

Additional reading into Lophiiformes further solidifies the proof that Lophiiformes is the true threat to the campus, noting that victims become entranced and focused on 'celebration', which Laura believes to be connected to the recently abducted girls focus on partying. After learning that the monster absorbs the minds of the girls, using their energy to lure in more victims, both Carmilla and Laura hypothesize that Ell is communicating with them through dreams.

Laura muses that the text just keeps getting more disturbing as they read, being interrupted by LaFontaine, who has recently arrived, albeit with no memory of their kidnapping. While Perry is overjoyed to have her friend back, the fact that LaFontaine has no memory of the events prior to and during the time they were missing disturbs the others. Fully aware that the parasites have infected LaFontaine, the group begins to search for a way to eliminate them, but to their dismay, the book provides no answers on dealing with the parasites. Perry suggests that LaFontaine take aspirin to relieve the symptoms of the infection, before the sound of LaFontaine's phone gets their attention.

To the group's surprise, it turns out that LaFontaine recorded their kidnapping and the events that followed afterward, with the recording indicating that the missing girls are being held in an underground area, with Will being heard discussing an event to take place around the new moon. A quick examination of the calendar reveals the date to be on Friday, to Laura's dismay since that is when her paper is due. She quickly surmises that the ritual cannot go ahead without five girls, and theorizes that stopping two other girls from being abducted will foil The Dean's plans. Unfortunately, LaFontaine begins displaying more visible symptoms, specifically a laid-back attitude towards the world, the same attitude that Sarah Jane and Natalie exhibited. Perry immediately takes LaFontaine out of the room to keep them safe from The Dean and her followers.

Growing Tensions[]

Sometime afterward and with the help of J.P., Carmilla begins looking into mystical weapons to use against the vampires, while Laura cleans up the room a bit and dons a necklace she found. At the same time, she also explains to her webcam that she will be starting work on her school assignments, before she is interrupted by Danny walking in. Danny explains that Perry had informed her that Laura wished to talk to her, before noticing that Laura is still filming videos on her camera. Danny admits she hasn't been watching the videos after the incident in the library, and questions Laura on why she called her to the dorm room, noting that she hasn't seen her in class recently. Laura admits that due to her ongoing fight with the vampires, she will be needing an extension on her Literature paper.

Danny gets upset, asking Laura if she really brought her over for the sole purpose of asking for extra time on her homework, leading to an argument between the two of them. Danny's jealousy over Laura not returning her feelings comes out in full force and leads to her insulting Carmilla, before declaring that she won't be giving Laura an extension, citing that if Laura cannot balance both her fight with The Dean and her homework, it is her problem to deal with. After Danny storms out, Laura laments that Danny hates her and she's going to fail her Literature course, before asking Carmilla if she's having more success with her research.

The vampire replies by noting that the majority of the weapons available to them are unusable due to certain parameters or being so hazardous that using them is impossible. They eventually settle upon the Blade of Hastur, before learning that said weapon is located in a cavern a thousand feet below sea level, making it inaccessible to Laura. Carmilla declares that she will get it, citing that the depth and biological issues brought on by being that far down are not issues for her, due to her nature as a vampire. Laura expresses concern about Carmilla's wellbeing and the fact that she is going against The Dean, before she is cut off when Carmilla notices the necklace she's wearing and questions about it.

Laura states that she found the necklace in question on her desk and thought that Carmilla left it for her, sending the latter into a panic. Carmilla attempts to get it off herself, only to be burned by touching the necklace, which then knocks Laura unconscious. A few moments later, Laura stands up and turns to the stunned vampire, revealing that The Dean is using Laura as an avatar to communicate with Carmilla, declaring that they need to talk.

Possessed[]

Through Laura's body, The Dean chastises Carmilla for her failure to return to her side, noting that her usage of Laura's body in lieu of showing up in person is because she didn't want anyone else listening in on their conversation. The Dean subsequently destroys J.P.'s USB, noting his status as an annoyance and taking joy in having eliminated hi. Following this, she explains to Carmilla that the younger vampire will eventually understand the need for the sacrifices. Carmilla responds by stating that she doesn't want to know The Dean's reasoning behind killing Ell and is in turn, rebuked by her mother, who notes that the differences between Carmilla and her previous and present loves makes her a fool.

The Dean then notes a flaw in the plans of Laura and the others, specifically the fact that the Blade of Hastur, the weapon the group plans on using against the vampires, will consume it's wielder. After Carmilla questions her reasons for telling her this, The Dean explains that she doesn't want to kill her. Following this the Dean offers a deal to Carmilla, if she keeps Laura out of the way of her plans, she will spare her. When Carmilla expresses skepticism over her claims, the Dean brings Will in, the latter of whom is accompanied by Kirsch. From there, the Dean explains that it is tradition that girls be used in the sacrifice, but as the ritual specifically calls for virgins, the usage of Kirsch in Laura's place is a viable alternative should Carmilla accept her offer.

Following a few moments of deliberation, Carmilla accepts her mother's deal, watching as Will subdues Kirsch and drags him from the room. Immediately afterwards, the Dean removes the necklace and departs Laura's body, causing the woman to collapse on the bed. After Laura recovers and questions what happened in her absence, Carmilla decides to lie about the circumstances behind her being unconscious and instead states that the necklace was poisoned.

Relationships[]

Carmilla Karnstein - Carmilla is Laura's love interest and on again, off again girlfriend. Laura first regarded her as a messy, food-stealing, weird-milk-drinking roommate, but even these obstacles are overcome by the budding love between the two. Laura is greatly upset by Carmilla's apparent death at the end of the first season. When Carmilla is revived, they share their first kiss, marking the official start of their romantic relationship.

In the second season, despite romantic interludes and signs of affection, Laura's attitude begins to grate on Carmilla, ultimately resulting in both girls breaking up when Laura does not respond to Carmilla's declaration of love the way Carmilla wanted. They revert to being roommates, and the subsequent tension that the ex-lovers have causes various discords between the two of them, ranging from dividing up the room to insults being hurled at one another. Despite this, Carmilla still protects Laura when her life is threatened by Mattie, to the latter's surprise.

When Laura enacts her plan to oust Mattie as chairman of the Silas Board, Carmilla warns Laura not to make Baron Vordenberg the new Silas Board Chair, but her warnings go unheeded and Laura pushes forward with her plan and succeeds. Vordenberg immediately orders the detainment of all vampires, including Carmilla and Mattie, forcing both of them to flee. After escaping an ambush, Mattie returns with a wounded Carmilla and despite their lack of friendship, Laura agrees to help her out of respect for Carmilla, allowing the duo to take refuge in her room.

In light of these actions, the relationship between Carmilla and Laura begins to slowly mend, although they do not attempt to restart their relationship, partially because they feel it isn't a good idea and because of the ongoing events. After Mattie physically harms Laura, Carmilla decides to tell Laura the secret to killing Mattie, with the caveat that Laura cannot tell anyone else. Laura ultimately betrays the secret to Danny, who uses it to kill Mattie towards the end of Vordenberg's reign. Carmilla is extremely upset by Laura's betrayal of her trust, and chokes Laura, before letting her go and threatening to kill anyone who goes near her, embarking on various rampages around the school and cutting contact with Laura. She eventually calms down enough to accept a video call from Laura, but greets her coldly while doing so.

Carmilla turns down Laura's initial pleas for help against Vordenberg, calling the latter out on her behavior and attitude, before cutting the feed, forcing Laura to face down her demons on her own. Carmilla eventually relents and initiates another call, admitting she will help, but is prevented from reaching Laura by Perry, who acts strangely and cuts the video call off. Carmilla is eventually captured by Vordenberg and is sentenced to death, dragged out into Laura's room for the latter to witness her execution. When presented with the choice of saving Carmilla or betraying her morals, Laura ultimately decides to kill Vordenberg by destroying the Silas Charter, and in turn, Carmilla saves Laura from the ensuing attack by the Corvae corporation, before fleeing the school with LaFontaine in tow.

While trapped in the school library, Carmilla and Laura begin to patch up their relationship, partially through watching videos of events that had transpired before Laura's arrival at campus. When they discover that the Dean has returned from the dead, they try to get back to the campus, but the Library prevents this by keeping them trapped inside. During their ordeal, both girls display romantic feelings for one another, but do not attempt full reconciliation for a long time. After Laura's father shows up to aid them in the fight against the vampires and bonds with Carmilla, Laura approaches the idea of restarting her relationship with Carmilla and the two reconcile.

After Laura is torn into another universe where she died during the events of the first fight with The Dean, Carmilla gets extremely upset and demands for the library to return her, being overjoyed when she returns. Both of them lead Kirsch and Mel into the final fight against The Dean, where Laura is killed after the elder vampire tears her heart out. Laura dies speaking to Carmilla about their would-be-life, prompting the latter to cry over her death. After defeating The Dean, Carmilla is restored to life by the goddess of death, who resurrects Laura in turn after she correctly answers a riddle, citing that 'even death can be merciful from time to time'. After being returned to life, the two lovers kiss, before promptly fleeing the Pit.

Five years later, Laura and Carmilla are seen on a beach, still very much in love with one another.

Danny Lawrence - Danny is Laura's best friend, TA and former love interest. When the series started, Laura had a crush on Danny and the two flirted with each other. They begin to drift apart when Carmilla actively demonstrates romantic intentions towards Laura, and Laura ends all hints of romance between them when she discovers that Danny considers looking after Laura to be her 'job', something which offended Laura, due to it reminding her of her father's actions.

Following the battle with the vampires in the first season, they reconcile and develop a more platonic relationship, working together when Laura returns to Silas. Laura trusts Danny implicitly enough to tell her the true weakness of Mattie. Danny defends Laura during the rebellion against Vordenberg, where she is stabbed by Theo and subsequently dies.

LaFontaine - Laura and LaFontaine are very close friends. LaFontaine gave her the pronoun talk first. LaFontaine constantly aids Laura throughout the series and is among the first to help her when the dark events at Silas begin. They are among the four who join Laura in escaping Silas following the rise of the Anglerfish and remains by her side throughout the conflict with Vordenberg. When Laura tells LaFontaine of Danny's death, they hug Laura before being interrupted by Vordenberg's announcement.

Lola Perry - Perry and Laura bond after LaFontaine goes missing. They later become friends as well. Both of them share a reasonable working relationship with the other and call upon each other for aid many times, showing a level of trust between them.

Kirsch - Laura appears to like Kirsch, even though his macho act creeped her out at the beginning of season one. He appears to objectify her as "a little nerd hottie" before beginning to treat her with respect, and he eventually becomes her friend.

Betty Spielsdorf - Laura and Betty were roommates and good friends before Betty's disappearance. It is later discovered that Betty's friendly behavior was due to brain parasites and that she originally did not intend to go to Silas University. After being rescued, she displays much more reserved and indifferent behavior towards Laura before departing the school altogether.

Matska Belmonde - Mattie displayed very little respect toward Laura, something which was not affected by her status as Carmilla's girlfriend. Over the course of events Mattie makes disparaging comments on her sister's choice of girlfriend and Laura's lack of experience with the world, and in turn, Laura has a low opinion of Mattie and actively works against her. Their relationship is stable enough to where Laura is willing to help Mattie save an injured Carmilla, demonstrating that by way the other vampire, they at the very least will work together for Carmilla's sake.

Quotes[]

"Okay, so if that really was flirting, then we have two options here. One, my immoral, jerk-face, possible kidnapper roommate has a crush on me and is giving me presents. Or two, my immoral, jerk-face, possible kidnapper roommate is pretending to have a crush on me and is giving me gifts because I'm next."

"What would Mina Harker do? Get bitten. Mina Harker would totally try and act all alluring to the bloodsucking fiend and totally get bitten. Let's not do that."

"How do we feel about bear spray?"

"We need to girl the hell up."

"Murder her for Christmas! Murder her for Christmas!"

Social Media[]

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Trivia[]

  • Until Season Zero's third episode, Elise Bauman, Laura's actor, appeared in every episode of Carmilla. Following this, she would be absent from a majority of Season Zero's episodes, due to her character not canonically being present for the events depicted within, save for the framing device of the VHS tapes.
  • Laura has the most appearances of any character.
  • Her twitter handle is @Laura2theletter

Original Novella[]

Her character is based on Laura in J. Sheridan LeFanu's original novella.

Laura is, at the time of the story, 19 years old and living with her father in a remote schloss in Austria. Her life is lonely, so she welcomes the chance to spend time with Carmilla when the young lady is forced under Laura's father's care by her mysterious mother after being knocked unconscious when her carriage fell.

She is a very unreliable narrator, generally naive and clueless as to what is going on around her. She is not able to put two and two together when a friend of Laura and her father recounts the story of how his adopted daughter fell ill and died after experiencing similar symptoms to that of Laura's while "Millarca" was in his care. It's not until Carmilla is defeated and everything has been explained in great detail by other characters that she fully understands what has been happening. She writes the story years later, commenting that she is often awakened from daydreams, thinking that she's heard "the light step of Carmilla at the drawing room door." It is mentioned in the Prologue that she died shortly after finishing her story.

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