[Location: 99th Floor Of Vampire King's Castle]
She studied my face. "You don't speak of her in the past."
I shook my head. "Because she isn't."
That earned me another pause.
Carmilla didn't speak immediately.
She turned slightly, crimson eyes drifting toward the shattered arches and frozen chandeliers of the 99th Floor, as though listening for something older than memory—something that might contradict me.
It didn't.
The castle remained silent.
Waiting.
"…Then she still walks the worlds," Carmilla said finally. Not a question. A statement, carefully tested against reality.
"Yes," I replied. "Just not loudly."
A faint exhale escaped her lips. Relief? Or something closer to vindication.
"Good," she murmured. "If she were gone, Hell would already be burning itself down in grief."
I huffed. "You give Hell too much credit. It burns itself down for sport."
That earned a small, genuine smile.
"So what happened?"
