The Divergence

Lavinia glanced back at the apartment door as they walked away.

The hallway remained quiet.

Behind it, Marcus' heartbeat was still faster than normal.

So were the two belonging to Adelaide's parents.

Lavinia looked forward again.

Adelaide had already started toward the elevator with her shoulders straight and her hands resting loosely behind her back. 

Her pale green hair flowed down her back, catching the overhead lights as she walked.

No one said anything at first.

Not because they hadn't heard what happened after they stepped outside.

A closed door offered almost no obstacle to vampire hearing.

They'd heard Marcus ask to go with her.

They'd heard Adelaide explain why he couldn't.

They'd heard every pause.

Every breath.

Every heartbeat.

No one brought it up.

They all understood.

Rosaline was the first to speak once they reached the elevator.

"Marcus was so cute."

Adelaide's expression softened instantly.

"I know."

The elevator doors opened.

The seven vampires stepped inside, naturally pressing close despite there being enough room for everyone to spread out.

Adelaide leaned against one wall.

Rosaline smiled at her.

"He was very brave too."

"He is."

Adelaide raised her chin proudly.

"The best little brother in the world."

Several vampires snickered.

Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Of course he is."

Adelaide looked at her.

"Are you implying otherwise?"

"Not at all."

Valerie's smile widened.

"I'm sure every older sister in the world would agree that your brother is objectively the best."

"They should."

That earned a few quiet laughs.

The tension around Adelaide loosened slightly.

Lavinia watched her from the corner of one crimson eye.

Adelaide hated leaving Marcus behind.

That much was obvious.

Yet taking him with them wasn't realistic.

Vampires didn't need food.

They didn't need water.

They could eat and drink both, but none of them were building their lives around human necessities anymore.

They slept through much of the day.

They wandered through the night.

None of them were working.

Adelaide was staying in someone else's home, and even that arrangement only functioned because Eleanor had accepted seven vampires with remarkable patience.

Marcus was still a child.

He needed school.

Regular meals.

A predictable schedule.

Someone awake during the day.

As much as Adelaide hated admitting it, leaving him with their parents was safer for him than dragging him into a life built around vampires who were still figuring out how to live.

Adelaide seemed to notice the quiet looks surrounding her.

She snorted.

"Don't start getting sappy."

Gwendolyn blinked innocently.

"We weren't."

"You were thinking it."

"We were respecting your space."

Valerie crossed her arms.

"Very maturely."

Rosaline pointed toward the ceiling.

"I was mostly thinking about being called a thing."

Her playful expression sharpened.

"That was rude."

Valerie nodded.

"We could go back and punch them."

Adelaide laughed.

"No."

"Just once."

"No."

"One each?"

"No."

Rosaline raised her hand.

"I support the proposal."

"Rejected."

Gwendolyn sighed dramatically.

"Adelaide is so responsible."

"Someone has to be."

The elevator continued descending.

Evelyn smiled quietly from beside Celestine.

"I'm still happy we met him."

Adelaide looked toward her.

"Me too."

The last of the strain left her expression.

She raised her head proudly once again.

"Now all of you understand why he's the best."

Lavinia laughed.

"You say that as though there was a competition."

"There is."

"Who is he competing against?"

"Everyone else's siblings."

Valerie shook her head.

"Impossible woman."

The elevator chimed.

Its doors slid open to reveal the apartment lobby.

Adelaide stepped out first.

She looked much more relaxed now.

The others followed, their dresses rustling softly as they crossed the polished floor.

People noticed immediately.

A man checking his mail froze with one envelope halfway out of the box.

A woman near the front desk stared openly.

Someone seated near the lobby window slowly lowered the book in their hands.

Seven vampires in one place were difficult to ignore.

Even online, where photographs and videos from across the world could be gathered together, seeing this many at once remained unusual.

The vampires didn't react.

They were already used to being stared at.

Outside, the cool night air greeted them.

Faint moonlight streamed between the buildings, silvering the edges of parked cars and catching along their hair.

The group drifted back onto the sidewalk.

Adelaide walked near the middle now, talking quietly with Gwendolyn and Evelyn.

Rosaline and Valerie continued debating whether insulting a vampire as a thing justified a punch.

Celestine listened with a small smile.

Lavinia walked a step behind them.

A group of young adults stood farther down the sidewalk.

College students, perhaps.

Then again...

Lavinia frowned thoughtfully.

What did college-aged even mean?

Eighteen?

Twenty-two?

Someone could start college at forty.

Or fifty.

A teenager could be in college.

Someone much older could return later.

The term covered far more than people acted like it did.

"...College age is a terrible description."

Valerie glanced back.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Lavinia shook her head.

One of the young women in the group had begun walking toward them.

Her heartbeat was racing.

Not with pure fear.

There was fear there, certainly.

But excitement and curiosity seemed stronger.

Her friends followed several steps behind.

One of them held a phone upright.

Recording.

Or streaming.

The woman stopped a few feet from the vampires.

Her mouth opened.

"...H-hi."

The squeak in her voice made several vampires laugh softly.

Not mockingly.

The nervousness was simply obvious.

"Hello," Gwendolyn answered brightly.

Valerie gave a small wave.

Rosaline smiled.

The woman took a deep breath.

Then another.

"Sorry."

She rubbed her palms together.

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

Her eyes moved quickly across the seven.

"I've seen posts about a group of vampires walking around Oakridge."

She pointed vaguely behind herself.

"So I dragged my friends out."

One of her friends waved awkwardly.

Another appeared to regret coming.

The person with the phone continued recording.

Lavinia stepped slightly closer.

She leaned forward and tilted her head, golden hair sliding over one shoulder.

"Was there a particular reason you wanted to meet us?"

The woman's face flushed.

Her heartbeat accelerated even more.

"I'm Kayla."

Lavinia blinked.

"Hello, Kayla."

Kayla swallowed.

"I..."

Her eyes briefly dropped to Lavinia's mouth.

Then returned to her crimson eyes.

"I heard vampire bites feel really good."

Silence.

Seven vampires stared at her.

Even Lavinia needed a moment to process the statement.

Behind Kayla, one of her friends covered their face.

Another whispered something that sounded suspiciously like, "I told you not to say it like that."

Kayla pressed on anyway.

"I wanted to know what it felt like."

The silence lasted another second.

Then Lavinia laughed softly.

"You came out here hoping a vampire would bite you?"

Kayla nodded.

"Yes."

Lavinia straightened.

"Do you not think we're dangerous?"

Her smile remained pleasant.

"What would you do if one of us didn't stop drinking?"

The color drained slightly from Kayla's face.

Her friends shifted nervously behind her.

Still, she didn't leave.

"I looked online."

She spoke more carefully now.

"For hours."

"I couldn't find any confirmed reports of someone dying because a vampire fed on them."

"There were attacks and fights, but not..."

She hesitated.

"Not feeding deaths."

Lavinia studied her.

Kayla continued.

"I brought my friends in case something went wrong."

Lavinia's gaze briefly moved toward the group behind her.

The person holding the phone gave a tiny, nervous wave.

More humans wouldn't stop a vampire that decided not to release someone.

Lavinia chose not to say that.

She looked back at the other vampires.

Six pairs of crimson eyes looked at her.

Then, almost together, they shrugged.

Lavinia stared.

"...Why is this my decision?"

Valerie smiled.

"She asked you."

"She asked all of us."

"You're standing closest."

"That isn't a reason."

Rosaline crossed her arms and smirked.

"It feels like one."

Lavinia looked at Gwendolyn.

Gwendolyn had actually bitten someone before.

Unfortunately, that someone had been Lavinia.

Not a human.

Not for feeding.

Gwendolyn smiled innocently and offered no help.

Lavinia returned her attention to Kayla.

The woman looked hopeful enough that it was almost bewildering.

Valerie leaned closer.

"Do it."

Lavinia shot her a look.

"You have to tell us what a human tastes like."

Rosaline nodded eagerly.

"Exactly."

"You're both terrible."

"We're curious."

Lavinia sighed.

She looked at Kayla again.

"Where did you plan to be bitten?"

Kayla froze.

She clearly hadn't expected the conversation to reach that point so quickly.

Her hand rose uncertainly.

After a moment, she gestured toward the side of her neck.

Lavinia stared at the spot.

The heartbeat beneath the skin became impossible to ignore.

Warm blood pulsed through a vessel only millimeters below the surface.

She had known it was there before.

Of course she had.

Yet now that she was considering actually biting...

The saliva in her mouth became more abundant.

Her fangs seemed suddenly more noticeable against her lower lip.

Lavinia scratched one cheek.

"...You are remarkably determined."

Kayla laughed nervously.

"I came this far."

"That doesn't always mean you should continue."

"I know."

She still didn't move away.

Lavinia exhaled.

"Alright."

Kayla's eyes widened.

Lavinia stepped forward.

"Excuse me."

She moved close enough that their bodies nearly touched.

One arm slid gently around Kayla's back.

The other hand rose to the side of her face.

Lavinia's fingers were cool against warm skin.

She tilted Kayla's head slightly, exposing the line of her throat.

Kayla's breathing changed.

Shorter.

Quicker.

Her pulse hammered beneath the skin.

The surrounding humans had gone silent.

More people on the sidewalk began slowing as they realized what was happening.

Phones appeared.

Even passing cars eased down.

Lavinia leaned in.

Her lips brushed Kayla's neck.

The difference in temperature made the woman shudder.

Lavinia inhaled softly.

Human warmth.

Skin.

Perfume.

Blood.

Her lips closed around the chosen spot.

Her teeth pressed in first.

Then her fangs punctured skin.

Kayla gasped.

Lavinia did too.

Warm blood flowed into her mouth.

Fresh.

Sweeter than the stored blood from the clinic.

Richer.

Alive in a way the blood bag hadn't been.

A coppery tang sharpened the flavor, but it was mostly hidden beneath that deep sweetness and the natural scent of the person she held.

Lavinia's tongue moved instinctively.

She gathered the blood before swallowing.

Kayla's knees weakened.

The first pain was sharp.

Brief.

Then it changed.

The area around the bite began aching pleasantly, the sensation spreading outward in warm tingles.

Up the side of her neck.

Across her shoulder.

Down toward her chest.

The pain blurred into numbness.

The numbness became something softer.

Her breath caught.

Her body sagged.

Lavinia's arm tightened around her waist before she could fall.

A chorus of reactions came from the watching crowd.

Gasps.

Whispers.

A startled laugh from one of Kayla's friends.

Valerie made a teasing sound from somewhere behind Lavinia.

Lavinia ignored all of them.

She took another swallow.

Then one more.

The taste was almost dangerously pleasant.

Not because she felt she would lose control.

She didn't.

Stopping remained entirely her choice.

She simply understood why vampires preferred drinking from humans directly.

The warmth.

The heartbeat beneath her lips.

The living scent surrounding the blood.

It was different.

After several seconds, Lavinia eased her fangs free.

Blood welled from the punctures.

She released the bite and instinctively licked across the wound.

Kayla shuddered again.

The cool sweep of Lavinia's tongue made the aching pleasure flare more sharply.

Her fingers had clenched in the fabric of Lavinia's dress without her realizing it.

Lavinia pulled back slightly.

Kayla's eyes were half closed.

Her face flushed.

Her breathing unsteady.

"...You alright?"

Kayla nodded weakly.

"Yeah."

She sounded far from certain.

Lavinia smiled.

Then raised her own wrist.

Her fangs sank into the flawless skin.

Dark vampire blood welled immediately.

Before Kayla could react, Lavinia gently pressed her wrist to the woman's lips.

"Swallow."

Kayla obeyed almost automatically.

One mouthful.

The flavor was intensely sweet.

Thick.

Cloying in a way that made her eyes widen.

Lavinia removed her wrist before she could take another.

The bite on Lavinia's skin already began sealing.

"Thank you."

She licked the traces of blood from her own lips.

Kayla stared at her.

"For what?"

"For volunteering."

Lavinia gestured toward Kayla's neck.

"My blood will heal the bite."

"It should prevent scarring."

"And help replace what you lost."

She tilted her head.

"You'll probably feel very good for a while too."

That was putting it mildly.

Kayla already looked dazed.

The holes in her neck narrowed rapidly, leaving only faint pink marks before those too began fading.

She touched the place carefully.

Her friends rushed closer.

"How was it?"

"Are you okay?"

"What does it feel like?"

Kayla took several unsteady steps back toward them.

Her face remained bright red.

"It..."

She looked at Lavinia.

Then away.

"It felt really good."

The group erupted into overlapping reactions.

The phone camera swung wildly as the person streaming tried to capture everyone at once.

The vampires began closing in around Lavinia.

Valerie reached her first.

"So?"

Lavinia sighed.

"You're all vultures."

"What did she taste like?"

Rosaline leaned in from the other side.

"Was it better than the blood bag?"

Gwendolyn pouted.

"I should've taken a bite too."

Lavinia looked at her.

"She volunteered for one vampire."

"She might've agreed to two."

"You do not know that."

Gwendolyn looked toward Kayla hopefully.

Kayla's friends immediately moved around her.

Lavinia laughed.

"No."

"Leave her alone."

Celestine smiled quietly.

Evelyn looked curious but too shy to ask.

Adelaide watched Lavinia with open amusement.

The small crowd continued growing.

Lavinia glanced around.

"We should probably go."

Valerie looped one arm through hers.

"Not until you answer."

"It was good."

"How good?"

"Very."

Rosaline appeared on Lavinia's other side.

"Details."

Lavinia groaned.

"You all decided this was my problem."

"We trusted you."

"You abandoned me."

"Same thing."

The seven vampires began walking again, leaving Kayla and her friends surrounded by excited onlookers.

Questions followed them for half a block.

So did laughter.

Gwendolyn continued complaining that she had missed her chance.

Valerie repeatedly asked about the taste.

Rosaline kept trying to compare human blood to the clinic supply.

Lavinia answered when she could.

When she couldn't, she groaned and reminded them all that they'd been the ones to shove the decision onto her.

Their laughter drifted through the night as they disappeared farther down the street, leaving behind one very flushed human, a rapidly spreading livestream, and a city that would have another vampire story to argue about before morning.

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