The Divergence

───

Lavinia quietly sighed.

The amount of people outside had more than doubled since the police first arrived.

Patrol cars still surrounded the blood clinic, though now military vehicles had joined them.

Soldiers stood around the perimeter with rifles slung over their shoulders, mostly helping keep civilians away while investigators documented the scene.

Forensics moved carefully between the shell casings, bloodstains, scattered weapons, and damaged vehicles.

The clinic itself had become a hive of activity.

Photographs.

Measurements.

Evidence markers.

Questions.

Questions.

And even more questions.

Lavinia wasn't particularly bothered.

If anything, tonight had likely taught humanity something important.

Bullets...

Simply weren't especially effective against vampires.

The wounds they'd received had all healed within minutes.

A bullet punched a small hole compared to the amount of tissue their regeneration restored every second, and vampires were quick enough that once someone actually started aiming at them, simply stepping away from the barrel became surprisingly easy.

She imagined larger weapons would be more troublesome.

She hoped nobody became curious enough to test that theory.

"...Miss Lavinia?"

She looked back across the table.

The detective sitting opposite her gave a tired smile.

"We can continue whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready."

He nodded and glanced down at his notebook.

"So..."

"You and six other vampires arrived here to receive blood."

"Yes."

"You were separated into individual rooms."

"Yes."

"The shooting began shortly afterward."

"Yes."

His pen scratched across the page.

"So far..."

He looked up.

"...everything you've told us has matched the physical evidence."

"I'm happy to help."

The detective gave a small nod before turning another page.

"Describe what happened after the shooting started."

Lavinia answered honestly.

The first gunshot.

Glass breaking.

The receptionist collapsing after being shot.

The security guard's heartbeat stopping almost immediately.

Carrying the receptionist into one of the treatment rooms.

Then going outside.

The detective listened without interrupting.

Occasionally he asked for clarification.

Occasionally he made another note.

Eventually...

He reached the difficult part.

"You were involved in physically confronting the attackers."

"I was."

"Several of them died."

"They did."

He folded his hands together.

"Can you explain how?"

Lavinia looked thoughtfully at the photographs he placed on the table.

One showed a man whose neck had clearly broken.

Another had impacted a vehicle hard enough to leave a deep dent.

Another...

The leader.

She looked at them for several quiet seconds.

Then nodded.

"Accidental."

The detective blinked.

"...Accidental?"

"Mhm."

She smiled politely.

"Acc..."

One finger.

"...idd..."

A second finger.

"...ent..."

A third.

"...al."

She folded her hands together.

"Accidental."

Silence filled the room.

The detective looked from the photographs...

To Lavinia...

Then back again.

"...Miss Lavinia."

"Yes?"

"He appears to have suffered catastrophic blunt-force injuries."

"Mhm."

"...Can you elaborate?"

She tilted her head.

"Not particularly."

"...How did those injuries occur?"

Lavinia thought for a moment.

"There were a great many people."

"They were shooting."

"We were moving."

"It happened very quickly."

She gave another pleasant smile.

"It was accidental."

The detective rubbed his forehead.

"...You're aware that isn't especially convincing."

"It is still my explanation."

He couldn't help letting out a quiet breath through his nose.

"I suppose it is."

He wrote exactly that into his notes.

Lavinia watched him quietly.

Truthfully...

She didn't feel particularly guilty.

Could she have spared some of them?

Probably.

The thought had crossed her mind afterward.

During the fight...

Not really.

The security guard had already been murdered.

The receptionist had nearly died.

The attackers had continued firing into a building full of civilians.

They'd brought automatic weapons.

Knives.

Even a Molotov cocktail.

Some part of her had simply concluded they were too dangerous.

She wasn't going to explain any of that.

As far as her official statement was concerned...

Everything had been accidental.

The detective flipped another page.

"Did any member of your group intentionally pursue fleeing suspects?"

"No."

"Did anyone continue attacking after the threat had ended?"

Lavinia blinked.

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"We all stopped once nobody was trying to attack us anymore."

That much was true.

He nodded.

"...Very well."

His eyes settled on another report.

"I'd like to ask about the receptionist."

Lavinia straightened slightly.

"What about her?"

"The officers who spoke with her..."

He frowned.

"...reported that she'd been shot."

"She was."

"But they were unable to locate the injury."

"Mhm."

"...Can you explain that?"

"Evelyn."

"The vampire?"

"Yes."

"What did she do?"

Lavinia answered as simply as possible.

"She bit her own wrist."

"Fed the receptionist some of her blood."

"The wound closed."

The detective stared.

"...Closed."

"Yes."

"...Completely?"

"Pretty much."

Silence.

The detective looked down at his notebook.

Then back at Lavinia.

"...You're certain?"

"I watched it happen."

His heartbeat abruptly sped up.

Lavinia's ears twitched.

The detective stood so quickly his chair slid backward.

"...Excuse me."

She blinked.

"I need to confirm something immediately."

Without waiting for another response, he hurried from the room.

Lavinia watched the door close behind him.

"...Alright."

She waited.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Nobody returned.

She shrugged.

Apparently the interview was over.

Standing, she stepped into the hallway.

The clinic still smelled faintly of blood despite the cleaning already underway.

Broken plaster remained scattered across the floor.

Several shattered windows had been temporarily covered.

Officers walked between rooms carrying evidence bags while nurses quietly comforted one another.

The receptionist now sat wrapped in a blanket.

Physically...

She looked perfectly healthy.

Mentally...

Less so.

She absentmindedly touched the place where she'd been shot every few moments, her expression distant.

Lavinia couldn't blame her.

Remembering yourself dying...

Only to discover the wound gone moments later...

That would probably unsettle anyone.

She quietly continued down the hallway.

Near one of the walls...

Celestine stood waiting.

Hands folded neatly before herself.

Watching the activity with her usual calm expression.

Lavinia smiled.

She walked toward her.

Well...

As quietly as someone could manage while navigating broken plaster and scattered glass.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Celestine looked over.

"Oh."

A faint smile appeared.

"...Hello."

Lavinia leaned against the wall beside her, gently bumping her shoulder.

"Hello."

For a few moments they simply watched officers moving through the clinic.

Eventually Lavinia spoke.

"So..."

"How'd your interview go?"

Celestine looked down briefly.

"...I think..."

She smiled sheepishly.

"...I apologized too much."

Lavinia laughed.

"How many times?"

"I stopped counting."

"I think..."

Celestine looked thoughtfully toward the ceiling.

"...Six?"

"Maybe seven."

Lavinia chuckled.

"That sounds about right."

Celestine looked back toward the investigators.

"They kept saying I didn't need to apologize."

"They're probably right."

"...Probably."

A comfortable silence settled between them.

After everything that had happened...

Simply standing there quietly beside another vampire...

Felt strangely peaceful.

The door to another interview room opened.

Valerie stepped into the hallway first, looking almost entirely unbothered by whatever questions she'd been asked.

Her orange hair spilled over one shoulder as she adjusted it with one hand, a small smile resting naturally across her face.

Lavinia looked over from where she stood beside Celestine.

"How was it?"

Valerie shrugged.

"Long."

"Did they ask difficult questions?"

"They asked the same question in six different ways."

Lavinia smiled knowingly.

"Accidental?"

Valerie's smile widened.

"Very accidental."

Celestine looked between them.

"...You both said that?"

"Of course," Valerie replied.

Another door opened farther down the hallway.

Gwendolyn emerged with Evelyn beside her.

She had barely taken two steps before turning and wrapping both arms around the blonde vampire.

Evelyn made a tiny surprised sound.

Gwendolyn squeezed her tightly.

"You're so cute!"

Evelyn blinked.

"...Why?"

"You healed the receptionist."

Gwendolyn rested her cheek against Evelyn's hair.

"And then you were all quiet about it."

Her smile became even brighter.

"That makes you even cuter."

Evelyn's expression softened.

"I just thought it might work."

"It did."

Gwendolyn tightened her embrace.

"And now she's alive."

Evelyn quietly nodded.

She didn't try to pull away.

If anything, after a few seconds, she relaxed against Gwendolyn and allowed herself to be held.

Lavinia smiled faintly at the sight.

Celestine did as well.

The receptionist was alive.

That alone seemed worth holding onto.

Rosaline exited her interview room next, followed a short while later by Adelaide.

Rosaline looked faintly amused, as though she'd spent most of her interview entertaining herself.

Adelaide appeared as composed as ever, though the subtle set of her shoulders suggested she'd found the experience tedious.

Rosaline looked around the hallway.

"Are we finally done?"

"I think so," Valerie said.

"Wonderful."

Rosaline stretched both arms above her head.

"I've decided police interviews are boring."

Adelaide hummed.

"I'd describe them as repetitive."

"Same thing."

"It isn't."

"It feels the same."

The seven vampires gathered together without anyone consciously arranging it.

One moment they'd been scattered throughout the hallway.

The next they stood shoulder to shoulder, close enough that their hair and dresses occasionally brushed together.

Nobody commented on it.

Conversation drifted toward trivial things almost immediately.

Rosaline complained that she hadn't finished her blood before the shooting started.

Valerie said she'd managed to finish hers and therefore considered herself the obvious winner.

Gwendolyn objected, declaring that blood wasn't a race.

Lavinia reminded her that she'd been halfway through when everything began.

Gwendolyn defended herself by saying she had been savoring it properly.

Celestine quietly agreed that it tasted better when consumed slowly.

Valerie accused both of them of wasting time.

Evelyn stood between Gwendolyn and Celestine with a small smile, listening more than speaking.

None of them discussed the attack.

Nor the bodies outside.

Nor what they'd said during their interviews.

The event was over.

The attackers were gone.

The security guard was dead.

The receptionist had survived.

There was nothing more to say about it among themselves.

They all remembered exactly what had happened.

Repeating it wouldn't change anything.

Adelaide suddenly stopped.

"...Oh."

Everyone looked toward her.

She pulled out her phone.

"I forgot to call my brother."

Lavinia tilted her head.

"You told him you would?"

"I did."

Adelaide looked faintly annoyed with herself.

"I became distracted."

Rosaline gestured around the damaged hallway.

"Understandably."

Adelaide glanced at the time.

"I'll call him now."

She stepped toward the entrance, then paused.

"I'll be outside."

Gwendolyn waved.

"We'll find you."

Adelaide nodded and continued on.

Nobody stopped her.

No officer told her to remain inside.

The police had never formally confined any of them.

Perhaps they understood how pointless that would be.

A vampire who wanted to leave...

Would leave.

Doors.

People.

Weapons.

None of those things presented much of an obstacle.

The most effective restraint seemed to be asking politely.

So far, that had worked.

The rest of the group gradually followed Adelaide toward the lobby.

Gwendolyn still clung to one of Evelyn's arms.

"I'm really happy she survived."

Her voice had softened.

Evelyn looked toward the room where the receptionist remained seated beneath a blanket.

"...Me too."

That was all she said.

It was enough.

At the shattered entrance, Rosaline suddenly pumped both fists.

"I'm staying over tonight."

Valerie looked over.

"I thought you still had things to collect."

"I do."

Rosaline pointed toward the city beyond the clinic.

"I'm going to grab everything."

"Then I'll bring it over."

Gwendolyn brightened instantly.

"Yes!"

Rosaline laughed.

"I knew you'd approve."

Adelaide stood a short distance outside with her phone pressed to one ear.

From the way her expression softened, Lavinia guessed her brother had answered.

After a moment, Adelaide glanced toward them and smiled.

When the call ended, she returned to the group.

"There."

"Everything's fine."

She slipped her phone away.

"And now..."

She looked toward Gwendolyn.

"I can finally stay over without worrying quite as much."

Gwendolyn immediately took one of Adelaide's hands.

"You're staying tonight?"

"Mhm."

"No family issues?"

"Nothing urgent."

Adelaide smiled confidently.

"They understand my position now."

Lavinia didn't ask what that meant.

Judging from Adelaide's tone, the matter had been settled.

Rosaline raised one hand.

"I'll be there too."

Gwendolyn looked delighted enough to start another round of hugs.

Before she could, Valerie caught her gently by the shoulders.

"Later."

"We're still at the crime scene."

Gwendolyn looked around.

"...Right."

Outside, police officers watched them emerge.

Their expressions varied.

Fear.

Shock.

Wariness.

Concern.

A few stared with what looked almost like fascination.

None approached too closely.

Forensic personnel reacted differently.

Several paused when the vampires stepped through the ruined entrance.

Horror sat more plainly across their faces.

They had seen the injuries up close.

They had photographed every body.

Measured every impact.

Examined the deep dents in vehicle panels and cracks in the pavement.

They understood what it meant when a person had been thrown hard enough to distort metal.

They knew how much force it took to collapse a chest, shatter a neck, or rupture organs beneath unbroken skin.

By the final count, more than twenty people had died.

Those who survived had been rushed to the hospital with broken bones, severe internal injuries, burns, and concussions.

Some might never fully recover.

The vampires, meanwhile, stepped around the remaining evidence markers without a limp between them.

Their skin was flawless.

Their dresses whole.

Their expressions relaxed.

One held another's hand.

Two quietly argued over whether drinking blood quickly or slowly was better.

Another discussed staying the night at a friend's home.

The contrast was difficult to process.

Lavinia noticed the stares.

She didn't comment.

Instead, she moved closer to the others as they gathered near the edge of the parking lot.

Behind them, investigators continued cataloguing the aftermath.

Ahead of them, Oakridge stretched into the night.

And within moments, the seven vampires were already discussing whose belongings they should collect first.