The Divergence

───

The three vampires wandered deeper into the mall.

Valerie glanced back toward the entrance before clicking her tongue.

"...That security guard was way too jumpy."

Gwendolyn laughed softly.

"I think he was just trying to make sure everyone was safe."

Valerie rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Yeeeaah."

"I know."

"I know."

She stretched the words out just enough to earn another giggle from Gwendolyn.

Lavinia quietly looked around instead.

Every so often, her crimson eyes met someone else's.

Without exception...

They looked away first.

Some suddenly became fascinated by shop windows.

Others quickly pretended to browse their phones.

One couple abruptly started talking to each other despite having walked in silence moments before.

Lavinia smiled faintly.

"...I'm really noticeable."

Valerie naturally took the lead as they wandered around the first floor.

Gwendolyn stayed beside her.

Lavinia drifted a few steps behind, content simply listening to the other two talk.

She barely noticed the distance growing.

"...Lavinia."

Gwendolyn's ear twitched.

She immediately turned around.

"There you are."

Without a second thought, she walked back, took Lavinia gently by the wrist, and pulled her forward again.

"No wandering off."

Lavinia laughed.

"I wasn't wandering."

"You were."

"I was walking."

"You were walking somewhere else."

"...Fair."

Gwendolyn smiled proudly.

"There."

"Now we're together again."

Valerie glanced over from her phone.

"You two are hopeless."

Gwendolyn ignored her completely.

Instead, she looked around the brightly lit mall with obvious wonder.

"...I hardly ever came places like this."

Lavinia looked over.

"No?"

Gwendolyn shook her head.

"I worked really long shifts."

"So whenever I got home..."

She shrugged.

"I just wanted to sleep."

Lavinia nodded knowingly.

"...I know the feeling."

There had been plenty of evenings where she'd gotten home from work, eaten something simple, and collapsed into bed without doing anything she'd actually wanted to do.

Valerie suddenly stopped walking.

"...Oh."

She stared down at her phone.

"What?"

Lavinia asked.

"A government announcement."

Valerie held the screen up slightly.

"They're opening blood centers."

Both vampires looked over.

Valerie continued reading.

"They're also officially calling today..."

She smiled.

"...The Divergence."

Gwendolyn clapped her hands together softly.

"...That's fast."

Ignoring the increasingly obvious stares surrounding them, she spotted an empty seating area and immediately guided both of them toward it.

"There."

"Let's sit."

The three vampires settled around one of the small circular tables.

Gwendolyn rested one elbow on the tabletop before propping her cheek against her hand.

She smiled sheepishly.

"...Can I say something?"

"Sure."

Valerie answered first.

Gwendolyn hesitated for only a moment.

"I..."

She laughed quietly.

"I feel really close to you two."

"So..."

She rubbed the back of her neck.

"...Sorry if I come across as a bit much."

Valerie immediately leaned over and poked Gwendolyn's cheek.

"Don't."

"Poke."

Another poke.

"...Yourself."

"Down."

Gwendolyn puffed out her cheeks.

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Valerie replied.

"Don't go feeling like you're a burden."

Beside them, Lavinia smiled before gently patting Gwendolyn on the head.

"We're really okay."

"You've known us for..."

Lavinia pretended to think.

"...Twenty minutes?"

"Something like that."

"And somehow you've already decided we're friends."

Gwendolyn nodded immediately.

"Mhm."

"I have."

"...Works for me."

Lavinia laughed.

Around them, more and more people had begun slowing down.

Some openly watched.

Others discreetly raised phones.

A few people even started walking toward the table before hesitating halfway and quietly turning around again.

Nobody actually approached.

Valerie looked back at her phone.

"...Looks like werewolves are basically sorted."

Lavinia glanced over.

"They just need more food than humans."

She scrolled further.

"So they're eating more often."

"...Meanwhile..."

She looked up.

"We need donated human blood."

Lavinia rested her chin on one hand.

"...How did they figure that out so quickly?"

Valerie shrugged.

"It's the government."

She locked her phone.

"And it's already been..."

She checked the time.

"...About thirteen hours since the Divergence."

"I guess they've been working nonstop."

"...Probably."

Silence settled comfortably over the table for a few moments.

Gwendolyn leaned back in her chair with an absent stretch.

Her back arched naturally as she stretched her arms overhead before relaxing again.

Several nearby shoppers immediately looked over.

Gwendolyn either didn't notice...

Or didn't care.

Instead, she smiled at the other two.

"...I like your eyes."

Lavinia blinked.

Valerie blinked.

Then, almost perfectly together...

"...Our eyes all look the same."

Gwendolyn looked genuinely surprised.

"They do?"

Valerie stared at her.

"...Yes."

Lavinia nodded.

"Same color."

"Same shape."

"No pupils."

Gwendolyn brought a finger thoughtfully to her chin.

"...Huh."

"I thought yours looked prettier."

Valerie covered her face with one hand.

"Lavinia..."

"...She's impossible."

Lavinia smiled.

"...A little."

Gwendolyn simply laughed, apparently completely unbothered by the fact that neither of them agreed with her assessment.

The three vampires remained seated around the small table.

People continued passing by, some pretending not to look while others openly stared.

A few whispered.

Several lifted their phones.

By now...

The trio hardly noticed anymore.

Gwendolyn had somehow started telling an animated story involving her mother trying to hand her garlic bread earlier that afternoon.

"...She actually asked if it would hurt me."

Valerie snorted.

"What did you say?"

"I ate it."

Gwendolyn smiled proudly.

"To prove a point."

Lavinia laughed.

"...Did it work?"

"No."

Gwendolyn sighed dramatically.

"She asked if I was just pretending."

The three shared another laugh.

Then...

All three noses wrinkled simultaneously.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Without exchanging a word...

They stood.

Each turned toward exactly the same direction.

The scent reached them again.

Wild.

Earthy.

Warm.

It reminded Lavinia of dense forests after rainfall.

Of thick fur.

Of something powerful.

She couldn't explain why.

She only knew...

Wolf.

A woman walked toward them.

She possessed a toned physique, athletic without appearing bulky, every movement carrying an easy confidence.

Large wolf ears rested atop rich brown hair, while a full tail swayed lazily behind her.

Green-gold eyes settled upon the three vampires.

They slowly traveled across each of them.

Lavinia felt herself tense.

Barely.

Only slightly.

Yet...

The feeling stood out immediately.

Since becoming a vampire...

Nothing had made her feel remotely threatened.

Until now.

The werewolf stopped several feet away.

Her nose wrinkled.

"...Wow."

She laughed softly.

"You three smell..."

She searched for the word.

"...Almost sickeningly sweet."

Valerie stepped forward a single pace.

She smiled brightly.

"I'm terribly sorry to be causing you distress."

She took an exaggerated breath.

"...Though..."

"I can almost taste dog."

The werewolf barked out a laugh.

Her tail continued swaying behind her.

"...You're funny."

Her gaze moved across all three vampires again.

"You're the first vampires I've met."

She smiled.

"And honestly..."

"You don't disappoint."

Her ears flicked once.

"I can already tell."

"You're dangerous."

Lavinia smiled quietly.

Her eyes narrowed almost into crescents.

Absentmindedly...

Her tongue brushed lightly across one fang.

The scent was bothering her.

Vampires smelled pleasant.

Humans smelled...

Complicated.

Blood.

Skin.

Perfume.

Soap.

Food.

Everything mixed together.

Wolves...

Smelled like fur.

And danger.

She couldn't explain it.

The scent itself wasn't dangerous.

Yet somewhere inside...

Her mind insisted the two belonged together.

Wolf.

Danger.

The concepts simply refused to separate.

Lavinia stepped forward until she stood beside Valerie.

Her smile remained perfectly cordial.

"...Good evening."

The werewolf nodded politely.

Valerie openly looked the woman up and down.

The werewolf raised an eyebrow.

"...See something you like?"

Valerie smiled.

"I'm deciding."

Nearby...

The shoppers had almost entirely stopped walking.

Some watched from behind storefronts.

Others quietly retreated farther down the mall.

The werewolf smiled again.

Lavinia found herself speaking before really thinking.

"...You're beautiful."

The werewolf blinked.

"...Except..."

Lavinia tilted her head slightly.

"...You're a wolf."

Silence.

The werewolf's expression became amused.

"...That's almost a compliment."

Lavinia's crimson eyes slowly traveled over the werewolf once more.

The wolf noticed.

Her ears rotated backward.

Her tail stopped moving.

She stepped forward.

Only slightly.

A low growl rumbled deep within her chest.

Her ears flattened.

Her tail puffed outward.

The sound barely lasted a second.

Yet...

It hit the three vampires instantly.

Lavinia stepped back.

Valerie stepped back.

Gwendolyn stepped back.

Almost perfectly together.

Their eyes narrowed.

Three sharp, high-pitched snarls escaped almost involuntarily from their throats.

Not loud.

Not threatening.

Instinctive.

Like a cat suddenly confronted by another predator.

Around them...

Panic erupted.

Several people hurried away.

Others nearly ran.

Phones lifted even higher.

The empty space surrounding the four women doubled in only moments.

Then...

Everything stopped.

The growling ended.

The snarling ended.

All four women stared at one another.

"..."

The werewolf blinked first.

Then laughed.

She relaxed immediately, her ears rising again.

"...That happened to me too."

She rubbed the back of her neck.

"I met another wolf earlier."

"We both did almost the exact same thing."

She chuckled.

"Looks like vampires don't really like wolves."

Lavinia let out an embarrassed laugh.

"...I don't think it's dislike."

She shook her head.

"It's..."

She searched for the right word.

"...Awareness."

"I couldn't imagine reacting like that to a human."

She looked directly at the werewolf.

"But..."

"You."

She smiled apologetically.

"...You make me feel like you could actually hurt me."

She looked toward Valerie and Gwendolyn.

"...Judging by them..."

"I'm not the only one."

Both vampires nodded immediately.

"...Definitely not."

Valerie muttered.

The werewolf smiled.

"...Makes sense."

She extended one hand.

"I'm Mia."

The name sounded remarkably ordinary beside Lavinia, Valerie and Gwendolyn.

Lavinia shook it.

"I'm Lavinia."

"Valerie."

"Gwendolyn."

"...Nice meeting you."

Mia smiled warmly.

"It was honestly nice finally meeting some vampires."

Her tail resumed its relaxed side-to-side sway.

"I'm sure we'll run into each other again."

With that...

She turned and walked away.

The three vampires watched until she disappeared into the evening crowd.

Only then did they return to their table.

Gwendolyn immediately rested both elbows on it.

"...She was so hot."

Valerie looked over.

"...She was."

Gwendolyn sighed dramatically.

"...It's such a shame."

"...She's a werewolf."

Lavinia laughed.

"You say that like it cancels out everything else."

"It kind of does."

Gwendolyn replied matter-of-factly.

Valerie suddenly crossed her arms.

"...We should go after her."

Lavinia blinked.

"...Why?"

"And beat her up."

Lavinia stared.

"...Do we have a reason?"

Valerie nodded once.

"...Her face."

Silence.

Lavinia burst into laughter.

"...That's not a reason."

"It is."

Valerie insisted.

Lavinia continued laughing...

Then gradually stopped.

"..."

Something stirred inside her.

A strange impulse.

Brief.

Sharp.

Not murderous.

Not hateful.

Simply...

A desire to prove herself.

To establish...

Something.

Dominance.

She slowly touched one finger to her lower lip.

Her eyes drifted toward Valerie.

Then Gwendolyn.

Both vampires still looked faintly dissatisfied, almost sulking after the encounter.

"..."

"...That's weird."

The thought barely finished forming.

Then the feeling disappeared.

As suddenly as it had arrived.

Gwendolyn suddenly straightened in her chair.

She dramatically raised one hand toward the ceiling.

"I hereby declare..."

She announced grandly.

"...The next wolf is not unsettling me like that."

She clenched her raised hand into a fist.

"I'll beat them up."

Valerie immediately crossed her arms.

"...Agreed."

Lavinia couldn't help laughing again.

"...I agree too."

She rested her chin on one hand.

The feeling she'd experienced earlier had already vanished.

She didn't hate Mia.

She hadn't even disliked her.

If anything...

She'd thought Mia was polite.

Beautiful.

Confident.

The instinctive hostility hadn't been personal.

It had simply been awareness.

The same quiet certainty she'd felt upon smelling the wolf for the first time.

A wolf...

Could endanger a vampire.

And somewhere deep inside...

Her instincts had decided that was something worth remembering.

───

Mia left the table behind, weaving naturally through the thinning evening crowd.

She quietly exhaled through her nose.

"...Wow."

The sweetness still lingered.

Berries.

Pine.

Citrus.

Caramel.

Roses.

The individual scents had blended together into something so overwhelmingly sweet that she almost wanted to drink an entire bottle of water just to wash the taste out of her mouth.

She stuck her tongue out briefly.

"...Way too sweet."

The thought made her chuckle.

As she continued walking, her mind drifted back to what had just happened.

Her single step forward...

Had been deliberate.

Not aggressive.

Just...

A test.

Earlier that evening she'd crossed paths with another werewolf.

A man.

When he'd unknowingly wandered a little too close...

She'd instinctively bared her teeth.

Not because she'd wanted to attack him.

Because she'd wanted him to understand.

Close enough.

Any closer...

And something might happen.

He'd understood immediately.

They'd both relaxed.

The encounter with the vampires had felt...

Different.

Mia frowned thoughtfully.

The three vampires were tiny.

Short.

Slender.

Elegant.

Objectively...

They weren't physically imposing.

Even an ordinary human man looked stronger than they did.

Long delicate fingers.

Thin wrists.

Graceful movements.

Nothing about their appearance suggested overwhelming physical force.

Yet...

When she'd taken that single step...

Her body had tensed immediately.

Every instinct she'd possessed had quietly whispered the same thing.

Careful.

She laughed softly to herself.

"...That's new."

Then she remembered something else.

The way they'd looked at her.

The male werewolf she'd met earlier had sized her up too.

But subtly.

Almost politely.

The vampires...

Hadn't bothered pretending.

They'd openly looked her up and down.

Studied her.

Measured her.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Without embarrassment.

Without asking permission.

There'd been something...

Confident about it.

Almost arrogant.

Mia smiled despite herself.

"...Cocky little vampires."

Then she remembered what happened next.

The growl.

Their snarls.

All four of them instinctively stepping backward.

She burst into laughter.

"...Okay."

"That was kind of funny."

They'd reacted exactly like she had.

The moment she'd stepped forward...

Something inside all of them had immediately recognized the other as dangerous.

Not hateful.

Not murderous.

Dangerous.

Enough to trigger instincts none of them had even known they possessed.

"...Guess we're even."

She continued toward the mall exit.

People instinctively moved aside as she approached.

Some recognized the ears.

Others noticed the tail.

Several stared openly.

Mia ignored them.

The automatic doors slid open.

Cool night air greeted her.

She stepped outside and looked upward.

The stars had begun appearing one by one above Oakridge.

Her tail swayed lazily behind her.

"...Pretty."

She stood there quietly for a few moments.

Then another thought surfaced.

Could she kill a vampire?

She blinked.

"..."

Why...

Had she thought that?

The question felt strangely natural at first.

Then immediately strange.

She pictured Lavinia.

Valerie.

Gwendolyn.

None of them looked especially threatening.

None of them appeared built for fighting.

Their delicate frames almost seemed fragile compared to hers.

Yet...

That conclusion refused to settle inside her mind.

Her instincts stubbornly argued back.

Dangerous.

The word returned again.

Firmly.

Almost insistently.

She frowned.

"...I don't think it'd be easy."

Not at all.

Her body simply refused to believe appearances.

Those three vampires...

Were dangerous.

She had no evidence.

No proof.

Only instinct.

"..."

Mia rubbed lightly at the back of her neck.

"...Why am I even thinking about killing them?"

The thought sounded ridiculous once she said it aloud.

"They didn't do anything."

She sighed.

"They were actually pretty nice."

Lavinia had complimented her.

Even if she'd immediately followed it with...

"...Except you're a wolf."

Mia couldn't help smiling.

"...Weird girl."

She looked back toward the mall entrance one last time.

Whatever strange instinct had flared between wolves and vampires...

It wasn't hatred.

At least...

She didn't think it was.

It felt more like two predators recognizing another predator.

A quiet awareness.

One that neither side had chosen.

Her tail gave another slow wag as she turned toward the sidewalk.

"...Hopefully next time..."

She smiled to herself.

"...None of us try growling first."

Mia,