The Divergence

───

Sunlight poured through the stained-glass windows, casting patches of vibrant color across the old wooden floor.

Cordelia sat alone on one of the pews.

One leg rested over the other as she lazily scrolled through her phone, the charging cable trailing to a nearby outlet.

"...Twenty-eight percent."

She sighed dramatically.

"At least churches have plugs."

The battery icon had finally begun climbing again.

Outside...

The sun shone brightly.

Far too brightly.

She wasn't about to test whether every story about vampires combusting in sunlight was exaggerated.

Not when simply waiting a few hours solved the problem.

The church itself was peaceful.

Quiet.

The occasional creak of old wood echoed through the sanctuary.

People entered every so often, some alone, others with family.

Most slowed almost immediately upon seeing her.

Their eyes drifted toward the impossibly beautiful young woman sitting alone beneath colorful stained glass.

Then...

They noticed the crimson eyes.

The pointed ears.

The elegant black dress.

Someone whispered.

Another person looked away.

A little girl stared openly until her mother gently guided her farther down the aisle.

Cordelia smiled brightly.

"Good morning."

She even waved.

The gesture only made several people whisper more urgently before choosing seats considerably farther away.

"...Seriously?"

She lowered her hand.

"They're acting like I bit somebody."

Nobody answered.

Of course nobody answered.

She rolled her eyes dramatically before returning her attention to her phone.

"...Rude."

A few moments later she sighed again.

The church smelled overwhelmingly human.

Soap.

Old books.

Wood.

Perfume.

Fresh coffee.

There wasn't even the faint sweetness she'd begun instinctively searching for.

Nothing.

She had yet to meet another vampire.

Not one.

Several times she'd caught old scents.

Tiny traces lingering on sidewalks or inside buildings.

Hours old.

Sometimes an entire day.

Never fresh enough to follow.

Never close enough to matter.

It almost felt intentional.

As though the world itself enjoyed watching her miss them by only a little.

She rested her chin in one hand.

"...This is getting annoying."

Actually...

Annoying wasn't quite the right word.

Irritating.

Restless.

Something inside her continuously tugged at her.

A strange instinct she'd never experienced as a human.

Every time she thought about finding another vampire...

The sensation became stronger.

She couldn't explain it.

She simply...

Knew.

If she found another vampire...

This constant irritation would disappear.

Not because she'd be less lonely.

Though perhaps that was part of it.

It felt...

Biological.

Like scratching an itch she couldn't reach.

She looked toward the bright doorway.

"...Come on..."

"I've covered so much ground already."

She'd crossed towns.

Walked highways.

Passed through neighborhoods she'd never even known existed.

Vampires moved quickly.

Distances that would've taken humans hours disappeared beneath her feet in minutes.

Now...

She'd finally reached a proper city.

A big one.

Surely...

Surely there had to be other vampires here.

She took one long unnecessary breath before exhaling dramatically.

"I'll definitely find some here."

Several nearby humans looked toward her after hearing her speak aloud.

One elderly man frowned.

"...Vampire..."

A woman beside him lowered her voice.

"I heard they're dangerous."

Another person whispered.

"...Monster."

Someone else muttered.

"...Demon."

Cordelia's ear twitched.

She heard every single word.

"...You know."

She looked over with a perfectly pleasant smile.

"I can hear you."

Three people immediately looked away.

One pretended to suddenly become fascinated by a hymn book.

Cordelia sighed.

"I didn't even want to stay here."

Nobody responded.

"I got caught by the sunrise."

Still silence.

"So unless one of you has a basement with no windows..."

She shrugged.

"...We're roommates until sunset."

The priest walking past blinked.

Then smiled politely.

"We're happy to offer shelter."

Cordelia smiled back.

"Thank you."

That much...

She genuinely appreciated.

Nobody had tried forcing her outside.

Nobody had screamed.

Nobody had called the police.

Mostly...

People simply kept their distance.

She couldn't really blame them.

A week ago vampires hadn't existed.

Now one was charging her phone in their church.

She looked back down at the screen.

Social media remained an absolute disaster.

Arguments.

Conspiracies.

Videos.

Pictures.

Rumors.

Someone claimed vampires could hypnotize people through photographs.

Another insisted they dissolved into mist.

Someone else confidently declared silver bullets had already wiped out dozens of them.

Cordelia snorted.

"...People really will believe anything."

She continued scrolling.

A video appeared showing several vampires leaving a nightclub.

Too blurry.

Too far away.

Still...

Her crimson eyes lingered on it.

"...Lucky."

She quietly muttered the word.

Whoever they were...

They'd already found one another.

Meanwhile...

She sat alone in a church waiting for darkness.

She slipped her phone back onto the pew beside her.

Outside, sunlight continued pouring across the city.

Inside, conversations remained hushed.

Every so often someone glanced toward the beautiful vampire sitting quietly beneath stained glass before quickly looking away again.

Cordelia simply leaned back against the pew.

Her irritation still lingered.

That strange yearning hadn't lessened.

But...

The city was enormous.

Night would come.

And when it did...

She smiled to herself.

"...I'll find you."

Whether there were one vampire...

Or ten...

Or a hundred...

She had a feeling she wouldn't be searching alone for much longer.

───

Mayor Amanda Holloway was not having a good morning.

She stared at the television mounted on the wall of her office, one hand pressed against her forehead while the other rested on a stack of reports.

"...How?"

She had one simple request.

One.

Suppress the incident.

Not forever.

Not to rewrite history.

Simply long enough to keep the city from descending into panic while federal agencies figured out how to handle vampires and werewolves.

Integration.

That had been the order from above.

The reasoning wasn't difficult to understand either.

Looking through the reports from the Oakridge Blood Clinic incident, Amanda understood exactly why Grayhaven wanted restraint.

Seven vampires had fought twenty-seven armed attackers.

The security guard had died almost immediately.

The receptionist had survived because vampire blood had healed a gunshot wound that should have killed her.

The attackers...

Most hadn't survived.

It had been horrifying.

But it had also proven something else.

Vampires weren't merely dangerous.

They were unimaginably valuable.

If vampire blood truly healed injuries that severe...

How many lives could it save?

How many soldiers?

Children?

Accident victims?

People waiting for organs?

The possibilities were almost endless.

Which made the headline currently scrolling across the television all the more infuriating.

VAMPIRES KILL OVER TWENTY PEOPLE AT GOVERNMENT BLOOD CLINIC

Amanda closed her eyes.

"...Who approved this?"

Nobody.

Every major story regarding the Divergence required approval from her office before broadcast.

Someone had bypassed that entirely.

She reached for her phone.

One contact.

Daniel Mercer.

Chief of Police.

The phone rang only twice.

"Mayor."

Silence followed.

Amanda spoke first.

"...How."

Daniel didn't pretend to misunderstand.

"An officer."

Amanda slowly leaned back in her chair.

"...Explain."

"He acted on his own."

Daniel sounded exhausted.

"He believed suppressing the incident was betraying humanity."

Amanda closed her eyes.

A deep breath entered her lungs.

Another followed.

When she finally spoke, her voice remained calm.

"Daniel."

"Yes."

"How exactly are you managing your officers?"

Daniel didn't answer immediately.

Amanda continued.

"Do you understand what this means?"

"The moment people believe attacking vampires is justified..."

She gestured helplessly despite knowing he couldn't see it.

"...everything snowballs."

"They arm themselves."

"They attack."

"Vampires defend themselves."

"People die."

"Then more people arm themselves."

Her fingers tightened around the phone.

"This is exactly what we were trying to avoid."

"I know."

Daniel's voice carried genuine frustration.

"I'm trying."

"I contacted the news station."

"They refused to pull the broadcast."

He hesitated.

"...Could you?"

Amanda looked toward the television again.

The story had already spread.

Commentators were discussing it.

Images had already appeared.

"...No."

She shook her head.

"Even if I contacted the governor."

"Even if I contacted Grayhaven."

"It's already out."

"The first hour matters."

"We've lost that."

Daniel sighed quietly.

"What do we do?"

Amanda looked toward the city outside her office window.

Cars moved normally.

People walked sidewalks.

Completely unaware that their city had just become a powder keg.

"If people start buying weapons..."

Daniel finished her sentence.

"...or attacking vampires..."

"...then the blood clinic happens again."

Amanda nodded.

"Exactly."

She straightened in her chair.

"Send officers to the station."

"They probably won't stop."

"But try."

Daniel immediately agreed.

"I will."

Amanda stood.

"I'll be on television in ten minutes."

"If I can't stop the story..."

"...I'll at least try to stop the panic."

The call ended.

Daniel lowered the phone slowly.

For several seconds he simply stared at it.

Then leaned back into his chair.

He closed his eyes.

"...Damn it."

He hadn't liked what happened at the clinic.

Twenty-seven people.

Dead.

Critically injured.

It was awful.

But this...

This frightened him more.

Because the attackers had acted alone.

Now...

Entire groups might copy them.

By nine-thirty that morning...

Oakridge buzzed with rumors.

Every social media platform exploded.

Vampires had slaughtered more than twenty people.

A security guard had died.

The government covered it up.

The police hid it.

The mayor approved it.

Very little of it was accurate.

Yes...

People had died.

Yes...

The information had been temporarily restricted.

But the attackers firing first...

The murdered security guard...

The wounded receptionist...

Those details vanished beneath outrage.

Headlines rarely survived first contact with the internet.

By nine-forty...

Mayor Amanda Holloway appeared before cameras.

She stood behind the city seal.

Professional.

Composed.

Calm.

"My fellow residents of Oakridge."

She met the camera directly.

"This morning, misinformation regarding the Oakridge Blood Clinic incident has spread rapidly."

"The situation is currently under investigation."

"I ask every resident to avoid acting upon unverified reports."

She spoke carefully.

"The individuals involved in the incident attacked a government blood clinic."

"They were armed."

"They fired upon both staff and transformed individuals."

She paused.

"A security guard lost his life."

"Our thoughts remain with his family."

She continued.

"Please."

"Do not allow incomplete information to provoke fear or violence."

"Our city remains committed to the peaceful integration of transformed individuals."

"If you encounter a vampire or werewolf..."

"...treat them as you would any other citizen."

The broadcast ended.

Amanda stepped away from the podium.

"...I hope that helped."

One of her aides looked down at a tablet.

"...Mayor."

Amanda immediately recognized the tone.

"What."

The aide slowly turned the screen toward her.

Social media.

Pictures.

Dozens.

Crime scene photographs.

Bodies.

Vehicles.

Police records.

Witness statements.

Even portions of the vampires' interviews.

Amanda felt her stomach sink.

"...No."

More appeared.

Screenshots.

Internal documents.

Officer reports.

Evidence photographs.

Someone wasn't merely leaking information.

They were dumping everything.

Back at police headquarters...

Daniel stared at the same images.

His office door slammed open.

An officer escorted a young patrolman inside.

The young man stood stiffly.

Daniel slowly rose from behind his desk.

"...Was it you?"

The officer didn't look away.

"...Yes."

Silence.

Daniel laughed.

Not happily.

Bitterly.

"You leaked crime scene photographs."

"Interview records."

"Evidence."

The young officer lifted his chin.

"People have a right to know."

Daniel walked around his desk.

"They deserved the truth."

"The vampires' crimes shouldn't be hidden by human police."

"Or human governments."

Daniel stopped only a few feet away.

His jaw tightened.

"...Crimes."

He repeated the word quietly.

"They defended themselves."

"They still killed people."

"They were attacked."

"They still killed people."

Daniel laughed again.

This time it sounded tired.

Almost defeated.

"If today's dead become tomorrow's thousands..."

He looked directly into the young officer's eyes.

"...I hope you can still feel this righteous."

The officer didn't answer.

Daniel walked past him.

He opened the office door.

Without looking back, he spoke one final sentence.

"I'm going to call the mayor."

"I suggest you spend the next few hours thinking about what you've actually started."

The door closed behind him.

Outside the office, phones rang endlessly.

Reports poured in.

People called asking whether the news was true.

Others demanded protection.

Others wanted answers.

Daniel rubbed his forehead while dialing Amanda Holloway once again.

Oakridge had just become far more dangerous.

And he feared this was only the beginning.

───

Morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, leaving the living room pleasantly dim.

Lavinia lay upside down across the couch, one leg hanging over the armrest while the television murmured quietly in the background.

Nobody was really watching it.

Rosaline lay sprawled across the floor once again.

Adelaide sat cross-legged beside the coffee table.

Celestine read something on her phone.

Evelyn quietly scrolled through social media.

Gwendolyn had disappeared into the kitchen with Eleanor a little while ago before returning downstairs.

Valerie was the only one fully focused on her phone.

Then...

"...What?"

Everyone looked over.

Valerie blinked several times at her screen.

"...What?"

Lavinia lifted her head over the edge of the couch.

"What happened?"

Valerie slowly looked up.

"...The blood clinic incident."

Silence settled across the room.

"...It's public."

Every vampire immediately looked toward her.

Then toward one another.

Lavinia pushed herself upright.

"...Public?"

Valerie nodded.

"They're reporting everything."

She tapped her phone.

"They're livestreaming discussions."

She turned the volume up.

A news anchor's voice filled the living room.

"...The Oakridge Blood Clinic incident has continued drawing nationwide attention after leaked documents alleged twenty-seven armed civilians were killed or critically injured by seven vampires..."

Lavinia frowned.

The report continued.

"...Authorities have been accused of attempting to suppress details surrounding the violent confrontation..."

"...Crime scene photographs obtained this morning depict extensive damage..."

"...The brutality of the scene..."

Gwendolyn interrupted before the reporter could continue.

"...We didn't kill the security guard."

Everyone looked toward her.

"And we didn't shoot the receptionist."

Her voice wasn't angry.

Simply...

Firm.

Rosaline nodded.

"Some people are making it sound like we walked in and attacked everyone."

"We didn't."

Adelaide's fingers tapped quietly against the edge of the coffee table.

Rhythmically.

Thoughtfully.

"...I hope..."

She looked down.

"...Mom and Dad don't do something stupid."

Nobody answered immediately.

The room felt strangely quiet.

Lavinia slowly turned toward Gwendolyn.

"...Hey."

Gwendolyn looked back.

"...Will you be okay?"

She blinked.

"Eleanor might see the news."

For the first time since Lavinia had met her...

Gwendolyn's smile disappeared completely.

Not dramatically.

It simply...

Wasn't there anymore.

Celestine looked toward the staircase.

"They know what happened."

She spoke calmly.

"We defended ourselves."

"I don't see why Eleanor would suddenly become afraid."

Evelyn looked down at the phone still playing the report.

"...Because..."

She hesitated.

"...This makes it sound horrible."

She glanced toward Gwendolyn.

"...You should probably explain."

"...Before she starts imagining things."

Gwendolyn stood quietly.

She brushed invisible dust from the front of her dress.

Then smiled.

"...I'll go talk to Mom."

The smile had returned.

But everyone noticed it immediately.

It wasn't quite right.

Too careful.

Too practiced.

It lacked the effortless brightness she always carried.

Without another word, she walked toward the staircase.

Soft footsteps climbed upward.

The remaining vampires watched until she disappeared.

Valerie lowered the volume.

"...Online's a disaster."

She scrolled through endless comments.

"Some people believe the mayor."

"Some don't."

"The leak's spreading faster than anyone can remove it."

Rosaline sighed.

"...People really like making things worse."

"The mayor did speak," Valerie said.

"But..."

She shrugged.

"...It's still messy."

Adelaide rested both elbows on the coffee table.

"...I'm visiting Marcus tonight."

Everyone looked toward her.

"I wasn't planning to go again this soon..."

She smiled faintly.

"...But I think I should."

Lavinia nodded slowly.

"...Probably."

She leaned back against the couch cushions.

"I just hope Gwendolyn's okay."

No one disagreed.

Upstairs...

Three soft knocks echoed through the house.

Every vampire heard them clearly.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

A few seconds passed.

Then...

The quiet sound of a door opening.

None of the vampires moved.

None of them intentionally listened.

They simply...

Couldn't help hearing.

Lavinia felt something unfamiliar settle quietly in her chest.

It wasn't fear.

She'd stood in front of rifles.

She'd fought armed people.

She'd killed.

None of those moments had made her feel this way.

Rosaline slowly sat upright.

"...Why am I nervous?"

No one answered.

Because they all were.

Even Celestine's composed expression had tightened ever so slightly.

Evelyn's fingers had stopped moving across her phone.

Valerie quietly locked her screen.

Adelaide stared toward the ceiling.

The silence upstairs stretched on.

Longer.

Longer still.

Every heartbeat below remained perfectly steady.

Every heartbeat above...

Could also be heard.

Eleanor's.

Gwendolyn's.

Neither sounded frightened.

Neither sounded angry.

Yet...

The uncertainty weighed far heavier than any physical danger ever had.

Lavinia slowly folded her hands together.

"...This..."

She smiled weakly.

"...Feels worse than being shot at."

Rosaline nodded immediately.

"I was thinking the same thing."

Valerie let out a quiet breath.

"...I'd rather fight another twenty-seven people."

Evelyn looked toward the stairs.

"...Me too."

The room fell silent once more.

For creatures that could leap from rooftops without hesitation...

Trade blows powerful enough to break bones...

Stand before gunfire without flinching...

Waiting to hear how one human mother reacted to the truth somehow felt infinitely more terrifying.