▪︎ Chapter 28 ▪︎ “The decision already happened.”
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The city had settled into another evening beneath a sky slowly surrendering to darkness.
Lavinia walked alone.
Not because she'd argued with the others... quite the opposite.
They had simply surged ahead together, laughing about something Rosaline had said, while she'd slowed her pace without really thinking about it.
Their scents still lingered ahead of her, sweet enough that she could tell roughly where they were despite several blocks separating them.
She smiled faintly.
"I'll catch up..."
Her boots tapped softly against the pavement.
Unlike humans, every step she took was perfectly measured, her body never truly growing tired.
The rhythm became almost comforting as storefronts drifted past one after another beneath the glow of streetlights.
Tonight she wanted to stop somewhere first.
Her apartment.
Even if she had practically moved into Gwendolyn's home after only a couple of days.
The thought made her chuckle.
"...I wonder if my landlord's going to start knocking about rent."
She rubbed the back of her neck.
"I can't exactly pay..."
She'd worked mornings.
Morning no longer existed for her.
If she stepped outside after sunrise...
Well...
She wasn't particularly interested in finding out exactly how quickly she'd burn.
The government assistance helped, but rent still existed. Bills still existed.
Adult responsibilities stubbornly remained even after becoming a vampire.
"...What a pain."
She continued walking.
People noticed her.
Some instinctively stepped aside.
Others openly stared.
She caught snippets of heartbeats speeding up.
Fear.
Curiosity.
Wonder.
One little girl tugged gently on her father's sleeve before pointing at Lavinia.
The father quickly lowered her hand, though he himself couldn't stop looking.
Lavinia's crimson eyes drifted over them before looking forward once more.
Would they still look at her like that...
...if they knew?
If they knew she'd killed people only the previous night.
If they knew she'd slashed open someone's face.
If they knew she'd crushed bones with her own hands.
Her steps slowed.
She stopped.
The people nearby instinctively froze as those empty crimson eyes swept over them one by one.
No hostility.
Simply...
Observation.
"...I'm still me."
The words escaped quietly.
"...Right?"
Silence answered.
She smiled to herself.
"...No."
Not entirely.
She resumed walking.
She wasn't the young man who'd worked ordinary shifts anymore.
Nor was she someone completely different.
She occupied a place somewhere between.
A human watching what happened at the blood clinic would probably call her merciless.
Cruel.
Heartless.
Yet...
Lavinia couldn't bring herself to agree.
They had driven to a blood clinic.
Armed.
Prepared.
They had murdered the security guard before the vampires even stepped outside.
They had shot the receptionist.
Even after she'd given them the chance to stop...
They'd continued.
She tucked her hands behind her back.
If someone burst into another person's home firing a gun...
Would anyone really be surprised if they died?
The thought felt...
Simple.
Not cold.
Simply obvious.
She hadn't enjoyed killing them.
She hadn't hated them either.
They had simply reached a point where she no longer saw a reason to spare them.
Mercy wasn't mandatory.
It never had been.
If they'd thrown down their weapons...
She truly believed things would've ended differently.
Instead...
They chose to continue.
"...Then that's that."
She murmured it almost absentmindedly.
Her pace remained light as she entered the apartment lobby.
The receptionist behind the desk stiffened upon seeing her.
A few tenants glanced over.
Some smiled awkwardly.
Others looked away immediately.
Compared to two days ago...
There was less outright fear.
More uncertainty.
The lobby still smelled faintly of herself.
Humans probably couldn't notice.
She could.
Her own scent had faded considerably.
Three days.
Only three days.
It already felt strangely distant.
She pushed open the stairwell door.
Rather than using the elevator...
She crouched slightly.
Then pushed.
Her figure blurred.
Four flights vanished beneath her feet in little more than a heartbeat.
She landed almost soundlessly.
"...Still not used to that."
Walking down the hallway, she stopped outside her apartment.
The familiar door.
The familiar key.
The familiar click.
She stepped inside.
Silence greeted her.
Closing the door behind herself, she breathed in.
Her scent lingered.
Faint.
Much weaker than before.
It already smelled...
Unused.
She stood quietly inside the apartment.
Three days.
She'd become a vampire.
Met Gwendolyn.
Met Valerie.
Met Adelaide.
Rosaline.
Evelyn.
Celestine.
Drank blood.
Killed people.
Nearly had her phone shot apart.
"...Busy few days."
She laughed softly.
The apartment hadn't changed.
Everything sat exactly where she'd left it.
She walked into the bathroom.
The mirror reflected someone impossibly beautiful.
Golden hair.
Crimson eyes devoid of visible pupils.
Perfect flawless skin.
She stared back at herself.
"...Humans would probably think we're monsters."
She raised one hand slowly.
The fingers opened.
Closed.
Those same fingers had torn flesh.
Thrown people.
Caught bullets.
Deflected knives.
She lowered her hand.
"...I don't."
The answer came immediately.
She didn't.
Feeling guilty because someone attacked her...
Because someone murdered a security guard.
Because someone shot a receptionist trying to do her job.
Because they attacked a blood clinic simply for existing.
No.
She couldn't.
Empathy wasn't absent.
She'd pitied the security guard.
Even now she could still remember his vacant open eyes.
The receptionist.
She'd carried her to safety without thinking.
Evelyn had healed her.
Those feelings had been genuine.
But the attackers...
No.
She couldn't summon guilt.
She smiled at herself in the mirror.
Not happily.
Not sadly.
Simply...
Knowingly.
"Mercy was optional."
She spoke the words quietly.
"It always has been."
If someone decided not to spare another...
That didn't automatically make them monstrous.
Sometimes...
It simply meant they'd decided enough was enough.
She shook her head, laughing softly.
Her golden hair shifted around her shoulders.
"I really do think differently now."
Yet...
Love remained.
Happiness remained.
Sadness remained.
Anger remained.
She still felt all of them.
The difference wasn't that emotions had disappeared.
They simply no longer clouded her judgment.
She stepped into her bedroom.
The room where she'd spent nearly two years.
Her desk.
Her bed.
Her wardrobe.
Everything looked oddly...
Small.
Like a chapter she'd already finished reading.
She sat before her computer.
The monitor flickered to life.
Typing quietly, she composed a brief email.
Hello,
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I won't be able to continue working.
Thank you for everything over the past two years.
I'm sorry for the sudden notice.
She read it once.
Then clicked send.
"...There."
No elaborate explanation.
None existed that anyone would believe.
Standing once more, she picked up the phone Gwendolyn had lent her.
"...I'll give this back later."
She glanced around the apartment one final time.
The place held memories.
Good ones.
Boring ones.
Ordinary ones.
But they already felt...
Further away.
Sliding quietly into the past with each passing night.
Lavinia switched off the lights.
Opened the apartment door.
Then paused.
Humans weren't her enemies.
Neither were vampires.
Nor were werewolves.
People simply became threats through their actions.
Threats...
Were dealt with.
Sometimes that meant words.
Sometimes it meant restraint.
Sometimes...
It meant killing.
She didn't enjoy it.
Vampires didn't need to kill to feed.
Blood was given willingly now.
Blood clinics existed precisely so nobody had to hunt.
Violence wasn't a craving.
It was a conclusion.
One reached only after every other option had failed.
With that thought, Lavinia stepped back into the hallway, locked her apartment behind her, and disappeared down the stairs in a whisper of wind, following the faint trail of six familiar scents waiting somewhere ahead in the growing night.
Lavinia caught up to the others only a few blocks later.
The six vampires were easy enough to find. Even if she hadn't known where they were going, their scents drifted through the evening air like a trail only another vampire could follow.
"There you are," Gwendolyn said brightly. "We almost thought you got lost."
Lavinia smiled.
"I've lived here longer than all of you."
Rosaline shrugged.
"You were still the last one."
Before Lavinia could retort, Adelaide suddenly clapped her hands together.
"Oh!"
The others looked towards her.
"I was thinking..." Adelaide began, smiling. "Since everyone's together... do you want to stop by my apartment?"
"My brother wanted to meet all of you."
Her green eyes brightened.
"He keeps asking about my vampire friends."
The suggestion was met with immediate agreement.
"I'd like to meet him," Evelyn said softly.
Celestine nodded once.
Rosaline stretched her arms over her head.
"I don't mind."
Gwendolyn grinned.
"If he's your little brother, he has to be adorable."
Adelaide puffed out her chest proudly.
"He is."
Valerie lightly bumped Lavinia's shoulder as they started walking again.
"You okay?"
Lavinia glanced sideways.
"Hm?"
"You disappeared for a little."
Lavinia looked ahead.
"...Yeah."
She smiled faintly.
"I was just thinking."
"There's not exactly a guide to being a vampire."
Valerie hummed thoughtfully.
"No."
"There isn't."
Lavinia folded her hands behind her back.
"How do you feel about... last night?"
Valerie didn't answer immediately.
Her orange hair swayed gently as she walked, her boots clicking softly against the sidewalk.
"Hm..."
She thought for several moments.
Then she shook her head lightly.
"I think trying to figure out why is pointless."
Lavinia blinked.
"The decision already happened."
Valerie shrugged.
"We didn't wake up wanting to kill people."
"It just..."
"Happened."
Her voice wasn't cold.
Nor guilty.
Simply matter-of-fact.
"We defended ourselves."
"They kept fighting."
"So..."
She spread her hands.
"It ended."
Lavinia stared at her for a second before laughing.
"That is such a Valerie thing to say."
Valerie tilted her head innocently.
"What?"
Around them, the other vampires giggled.
Rosaline laughed outright.
"I kind of get what she means."
Celestine smiled quietly.
Even Adelaide nodded.
None of them seemed especially interested in revisiting what had happened.
Not because they didn't remember it.
Because dwelling on it wouldn't change anything.
The seven continued through the evening streets together.
People naturally noticed them.
Seven impossibly beautiful women walking together was already eye-catching.
Seven vampires...
That was enough to make conversations stop.
Phones quietly appeared.
Some people waved.
Others hurried to the opposite side of the street.
Most simply watched.
A familiar scent drifted across the breeze.
"Wolf," Valerie muttered.
Lavinia smelled them a moment later.
The scent grew stronger.
Two figures rounded a nearby corner.
A man and a woman.
Both werewolves.
Their golden-green eyes met the vampires'.
For a brief moment...
Nobody moved.
The wolves slowed.
The vampires continued walking.
The male wolf's ears twitched.
The female folded her arms.
Then both groups simply passed one another.
No words.
Only watchful glances.
Once they were several steps apart, Valerie sighed dramatically.
"We should've gone over and taught them a lesson."
Lavinia looked at her.
"...Why?"
"They're wolves."
Rosaline nodded enthusiastically.
"Exactly."
"The dogs need training."
Lavinia covered her face.
"Oh, for..."
She sighed loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"You two are impossible."
"We literally walked past each other peacefully."
Valerie shrugged.
"They looked at us."
"We looked at them."
Rosaline grinned.
"They started it."
"They looked first."
"They did not."
"They definitely did."
Gwendolyn laughed so hard she briefly leaned against Celestine.
Adelaide shook her head with an amused smile.
"I think you two just like causing trouble."
Valerie looked genuinely surprised.
"I've never caused trouble."
Six pairs of crimson eyes settled on her.
She blinked.
"...What?"
The resulting laughter echoed down the sidewalk.
Eventually, Adelaide slowed.
"We're here."
Lavinia looked upwards.
A tall apartment building stood before them.
It wasn't luxurious.
But it was well maintained.
"Oh..."
Adelaide smiled.
"We'll just take the stairs."
Lavinia immediately groaned.
"I already climbed four flights today."
Adelaide laughed.
"You don't get tired."
"I know."
"That doesn't mean I have to enjoy climbing them."
The vampires entered the lobby.
Several residents looked over.
One elderly couple stared openly.
A younger woman quietly stepped aside while smiling nervously.
The security camera followed them as they crossed towards the stairwell.
Adelaide pushed open the heavy door.
Without another word...
Seven figures blurred.
Soft gusts of wind swept through the stairwell.
Moments later...
They emerged seven floors higher.
Lavinia looked back down the staircase.
"...Okay."
"That was easier."
Rosaline smiled.
"You complained anyway."
"I did."
They walked down the hallway together.
Adelaide's smile gradually softened.
"My brother's still pretty young."
Her expression brightened even further.
"But..."
"He's so cute."
Six simultaneous reactions answered her.
Eye rolls.
Groans.
Suppressing laughter.
Gwendolyn dramatically placed a hand over her forehead.
"It spread."
Lavinia nodded solemnly.
"The disease."
Valerie sighed.
"She's infected."
Rosaline shook her head.
"Terminal."
Adelaide pouted.
"You're all terrible."
"No."
Lavinia smiled warmly.
"We've just spent enough time around Gwendolyn."
Gwendolyn gasped dramatically.
"I'll have you know my appreciation of cute things is perfectly healthy."
"It is not," six voices replied almost together.
The hallway filled with laughter once again.
Watching Adelaide...
Lavinia found herself smiling.
Some people lived primarily for themselves.
Others...
For someone else.
No matter how much Adelaide had changed.
No matter how different becoming a vampire had made her...
One thing hadn't changed at all.
She loved her younger brother.
Perhaps even more fiercely now.
Adelaide stopped before an apartment door.
She straightened her dress almost unconsciously before raising her hand.
Then...
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Quiet footsteps approached from inside.
A heartbeat.
Small.
Young.
The door opened.
A short-haired dark-skinned boy looked up.
His face immediately lit up.
"Addie!"
He nearly crashed into Adelaide as he threw himself forward.
She laughed brightly, catching him effortlessly in her arms before hugging him tightly.
"There you are."
"I missed you too."
The boy buried his face against her shoulder with a grin so wide it almost matched her own, while six vampires stood nearby, smiling quietly as they watched the reunion.