The Divergence

Rebecca nodded, although the flush coloring her cheeks hadn't disappeared.

Lavinia watched her for another moment before gently releasing her arm. 

Rebecca swayed slightly but caught herself almost immediately, and when she remained standing without assistance, Lavinia seemed satisfied.

"Good. I'm going to find the others." Lavinia turned her head slightly, listening past the crackling of small fires and the distant voices throughout the damaged building. 

She could hear Gwendolyn moving somewhere farther down the second floor, along with the steady sounds of people emerging from rooms. "Gwendolyn's this way."

Rebecca followed several steps behind before suddenly gasping. "Wait, are the others okay? The other vampires, I mean. None of you were hurt?"

Lavinia stopped and looked over her shoulder, amusement slowly appearing on her face. "Rebecca, you nearly died. Actually, you would've died if we hadn't found you, and the first thing you're asking me is whether we're okay?"

Rebecca rubbed her arms awkwardly. "Well, I'm okay now."

A soft laugh escaped Lavinia. "You certainly are." She resumed walking, stepping easily around a broken section of ceiling. 

"Everyone I've encountered so far is okay. All of the vampires are unharmed too, so you don't need to worry about us."

Rebecca visibly relaxed. "Thank goodness."

"I haven't been downstairs yet, though." Lavinia's smile faded slightly as she glanced toward the stairwell at the end of the corridor. 

"Judging by what happened up here, there's probably a high chance someone died on the first floor."

Rebecca stiffened.

The relief on her face disappeared almost immediately, and she released a slow breath as she looked at the destruction surrounding them. 

The second floor was damaged badly enough. Smoke stained portions of the ceiling, shattered glass covered the floor, and pieces of concrete and plaster had been scattered throughout the hallway.

A scraping sound came from ahead.

Lavinia's ears twitched.

"There she is."

They rounded the corner and found Gwendolyn standing beside a partially collapsed doorway. 

A large concrete ceiling beam had fallen across the entrance, trapping several employees inside the room beyond it.

Gwendolyn had both hands beneath the beam.

"Give me a second." Gwendolyn smiled reassuringly toward the people behind the doorway before straightening.

The concrete shifted upward.

Rebecca stopped walking.

Gwendolyn lifted the beam as casually as someone might move an inconvenient piece of furniture, stepped sideways with it, then carefully lowered it against the opposite wall. The floor groaned beneath the weight when she released it.

"There." Gwendolyn dusted her hands together before stepping away from the doorway. "You can come out now."

The first employee emerged cautiously, staring at the displaced beam before looking at Gwendolyn. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Gwendolyn stepped aside to give the others room.

Several more people filed out, some visibly shaken and others coughing from the smoke.

Whatever their previous feelings about vampires had been, Lavinia couldn't see anything particularly negative on their faces now. Mostly, there was relief and gratitude.

She wasn't surprised.

People could dislike someone for any number of reasons, but being trapped beneath a collapsing building had a way of making those feelings less important when that same someone moved several hundred pounds of concrete out of the way.

Gwendolyn noticed Lavinia and immediately smiled.

Then her empty red eyes landed on Rebecca.

"Oh!" Gwendolyn crossed the distance between them and gently took Rebecca's hand. "You're okay!"

Rebecca startled.

Her fingers twitched reflexively inside Gwendolyn's hand.

The reaction made Gwendolyn blink before understanding appeared on her face. She giggled softly. "Cold?"

Rebecca hesitated before nodding. "A little. I wasn't expecting it."

"Humans always say that." Gwendolyn continued holding her hand anyway, her expression softening. "I'm really glad you're okay. Seeing you lying there earlier really upset me."

Rebecca immediately waved her free hand. "I'm fine now! Really, you don't have to be angry."

"I know." Gwendolyn smiled warmly, then glanced toward Lavinia.

Lavinia immediately narrowed her eyes.

Gwendolyn leaned closer to Rebecca anyway, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "How did Lavi's blood taste?"

Rebecca froze.

Her eyes widened.

Memories returned in hazy fragments. Lavinia holding her. The taste of something impossibly sweet. Warmth spreading through her body. 

Her own desperate swallowing as she sucked blood directly from the golden-haired vampire's wrist.

Rebecca's cheeks turned bright red.

Lavinia sighed and lightly patted Gwendolyn on the head, deliberately ruffling several strands of her long white hair. "Don't embarrass her. She just survived an explosion."

"I was only curious." Gwendolyn tilted her head beneath Lavinia's hand.

"You already know what vampire blood tastes like."

"Yes, but I don't know what yours tastes like to a human."

Rebecca's blush deepened.

Lavinia gave Gwendolyn another look before turning toward Rebecca. "Ignore her. Your reaction is probably normal."

"Probably?" Rebecca repeated uncertainly.

"I don't know." Lavinia shrugged. "I've never been a human drinking vampire blood."

"You were human eleven days ago," Gwendolyn pointed out with a smile.

"I wasn't drinking vampire blood eleven days ago, Gwen."

"That's true."

Lavinia glanced back at Rebecca, whose face remained red. "Either way, you survived an explosion. Dying of embarrassment immediately afterward would be pitiful, so don't think about it too much."

Rebecca covered part of her face with one hand. "That doesn't help."

"It was supposed to."

Gwendolyn laughed softly before releasing Rebecca's hand. "I didn't find anyone badly wounded over here. Mostly people trapped behind things, some cuts, and one person with a broken leg."

"That's good." Lavinia looked down the damaged corridor. "Valerie?"

"She went the other direction." Gwendolyn stroked one wrist thoughtfully before looking at Lavinia. "Also, why is it never my turn?"

Lavinia raised an eyebrow. "Your turn for what?"

"Giving someone blood." Gwendolyn held up her wrist. "You've gotten to do it twice."

Lavinia stared at her.

Gwendolyn stared back.

"You sound jealous."

"I'm not jealous." Gwendolyn smiled innocently. "I'm just pointing out that you keep getting all the humans."

"That sentence sounded terrible."

"I didn't mean it terribly."

Lavinia exhaled, placed both hands against Gwendolyn's back, and began pushing her toward the stairwell. "We're going downstairs."

Gwendolyn allowed herself to be pushed without resistance. "You could've just asked."

"I did."

"You pushed me."

"I asked physically."

Rebecca blinked at them before following.

As they reached the stairwell, Lavinia raised her voice to an ordinary conversational volume. "Valerie, we're going downstairs!"

Rebecca stopped.

She looked down the corridor.

No Valerie.

Then she looked at Lavinia.

Lavinia noticed her confusion and smiled. "That wasn't for you. Valerie can hear me."

"From wherever she is?"

"Probably." Lavinia opened the stairwell door. "Our hearing is very good. You can come downstairs with us if you want, but stay in the stairwell until we know it's safe."

Rebecca nodded. "Okay."

The three descended.

The smell worsened with every step.

Smoke, ash, burned plastic, blood, and humans.

Lots of humans.

Lavinia's expression tightened as they reached the first floor. She opened the stairwell door and immediately stepped through with Gwendolyn beside her, while Rebecca remained close to the doorway.

The lobby was devastated.

Black scorch marks stretched across the walls. Several windows had been blown outward, leaving jagged fragments of glass around their frames. 

What remained of the reception desk had been scattered across the floor, and pieces of furniture lay overturned among chunks of plaster and debris.

Some people were moving.

Others weren't.

Lavinia's empty red eyes lingered briefly on several motionless figures.

Footsteps approached through the rubble.

Glass cracked beneath a boot.

Violetta appeared first, her purple hair shifting gently around her shoulders as she stepped over a shattered section of the reception desk. 

Adelaide followed nearby, her expression noticeably more subdued than usual.

Adelaide looked back toward the bodies scattered throughout the lobby. "We tried to save everyone we could. There were more injured than dead, thankfully, but some of them were already gone when we reached them."

Violetta nodded, her gaze briefly settling on one of the motionless bodies. "Vampire blood can't do anything if someone is killed instantly. If they're still alive, even barely, we have a chance. Once they're dead, that's it."

Her attention shifted toward the stairwell.

Violetta's expression softened when she saw Rebecca. "You're all right?"

"Yes." Rebecca nodded quickly.

Gwendolyn smiled and gestured toward Lavinia. "Lavi healed her. Valerie and I split up afterward and helped everyone we could find on the second floor."

"You did well." Violetta gave Gwendolyn a small smile before looking toward Lavinia.

Lavinia had already turned toward the destroyed windows.

Outside, people had begun gathering at a distance. Emergency lights flashed farther down the road, their reflections moving across nearby buildings.

"Did you find anything?" Lavinia asked, carefully stepping around a piece of broken glass.

"Nothing useful yet." Violetta looked toward the ruined entrance. "This part of the city is well maintained. There are traffic cameras, private security cameras, and cameras belonging to nearby businesses. Whoever did this had to approach somehow."

"So someone probably saw them," Lavinia said.

"Or recorded them." Violetta slowly flexed one hand.

Her fingers curled into her palm.

Then opened.

Violetta watched them for a moment before quietly continuing. "Although if we find whoever did this, I can't promise I'll be particularly interested in allowing them to stand trial in my current state."

Silence followed for a moment.

Lavinia looked at her.

There wasn't any anger visible on Violetta's face. If anything, her expression was remarkably calm.

That somehow made the statement more concerning.

Adelaide crossed her arms. "I told Marcus to watch the interview."

Lavinia turned toward her.

Adelaide's gaze remained fixed on the damaged lobby. "I told him exactly when we'd be on television. If the explosion went out live, he's probably worried sick right now."

"You couldn't have known someone was going to blow up part of the building." Lavinia stepped closer to her. "None of us knew."

"I know." Adelaide sighed. "That doesn't mean he's going to worry any less."

Gwendolyn moved beside Adelaide and slipped one arm around her waist. With her other hand, she gently gathered a long lock of Adelaide's green hair and smoothed it between her fingers.

"You can call him," Gwendolyn said softly. "The moment everything settles down, call him and tell him you're okay."

Adelaide looked at her before giving a small nod. "I will."

Gwendolyn continued lightly caressing the green strands anyway.

Violetta looked around the lobby once more and sighed. "It could have been considerably worse, but that hardly feels worth noting when people died anyway."

"No." Lavinia's gaze moved toward the motionless bodies again. "It doesn't."

"The police are on their way," Violetta added.

Lavinia's head snapped toward her.

A look of immediate suffering appeared on her face.

"Oh, come on." Lavinia groaned and let her head fall backward. "Not again."

Gwendolyn giggled, still holding Adelaide around the waist. "Time for another nice long stay at the police station."

Lavinia's groan grew considerably louder.

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