In the story, Carmilla befriends the lonely, isolated Laura. In true romance fashion, Carmilla recognizes Laura as a friend from a dream they had shared at six years old.
In the older style Harlequin stories, the shy heroine is drawn to a handsome, brooding, moody hero. In this story, Laura is drawn to Carmilla's beauty. Carmilla herself is moody and passionate. There is much foreplay, snuggling, and Laura braiding and playing with Carmilla's hair. Carmilla herself goes from an engaging young woman to a determined lover pressing her suit with kisses on Laura's cheeks and claiming that Laura is *hers*.
"Darling, darling," [Carmilla] murmured. "I live in you and you would die for me. I love you so."
The pursuer overcome with possessiveness and extreme displays of desire is still a common motif in modern romance novels.
In true Victorian fashion, Laura, virginal, pure, and close to her protective father, begins to exhibit unusual behavior, such as exhaustion and restlessness and meloncholy. Common behaviors for someone in the throes of first love.
And, as is usual in literature, the passionate and sexual Carmilla is revealed to be a perversion and executed.
Laura, 'safe' after her exposure to independence, is restored to her virginal state and returns to her remote home under her father's protection. But a hero can never truly return to who she was before her experiences. She still remembers the sound of Carmilla's steps on the drawing room floor.
