The Divergence

By the time everyone had gathered again, the forest looked considerably worse than any of them did.

Broken branches littered the ground, several trees had been snapped or cracked, and leaves had been scattered across areas that had been relatively untouched less than an hour earlier. 

The vampires themselves were covered in dirt, bits of bark, leaves, and the occasional splinter caught in their long hair.

Their dresses had fared better.

Most were already nearly restored, with torn fabric steadily pulling itself together and the worst of the dirt beginning to disappear. 

Looking around, Lavinia reluctantly realized her own dress had suffered more damage than anyone else's.

She glanced down at the partially mended tear running from her waist toward her lower ribs.

Evangeline had been far too enthusiastic.

Cordelia brushed a few strands of blue hair over her shoulder and offered everyone a small smile. "I had fun. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I understand why all of you enjoyed it the first time."

Gwendolyn was still being carried in Evelyn's arms despite having woken several minutes ago.

Her neck had long since healed, and there was absolutely nothing preventing her from standing on her own.

She apparently had no intention of doing so.

Gwendolyn kicked her legs petulantly in Evelyn's arms and pointed at her. "Evelyn broke my neck."

Evelyn's lips twitched. "You told me to go wild."

"I didn't tell you to break my neck!"

"You said to do whatever felt natural."

"I didn't think snapping my neck would feel natural!"

Evelyn laughed softly, while Gwendolyn maintained an exaggeratedly aggrieved expression.

Violetta glanced toward Lavinia and the unconscious Evangeline still resting against her back. "It seems Evangeline suffered the same fate, so perhaps Evelyn wasn't particularly excessive after all."

Lavinia immediately puffed out her chest. "That's because I was invincible."

Valerie snorted.

Lavinia ignored her. "Evangeline is a monster, though. Next time I'll fight anyone except her."

A quiet groan came from Lavinia's back.

Apparently Evangeline wasn't quite unconscious anymore.

Lavinia pretended not to notice.

Nearby, Adelaide sat against the trunk of a tree where Cordelia had left her. 

Her empty red eyes fluttered several times before focusing properly, and she slowly lifted one hand toward her neck.

She rubbed it experimentally.

Then turned toward Cordelia.

The look lingered.

Cordelia gave her an innocent smile.

Adelaide finally pushed herself upright. "Having your neck broken feels so weird. I don't think I can describe it properly."

Gwendolyn immediately nodded from Evelyn's arms. "It is really weird! One second you're completely aware of everything, then there's a crack, and suddenly you're waking up somewhere else."

Adelaide rolled one shoulder as if testing herself. "Exactly. There isn't even much time to process what happened."

"I wasn't really worried when Evelyn did it, though." Gwendolyn glanced up at the vampire currently carrying her before smiling. 

"I knew the only people around were all of us, so when I realized what happened, there wasn't anything to be scared about."

Evelyn looked down at her with a small smile. "Are you planning to stay there?"

Gwendolyn blinked as though she'd only just remembered she was still being carried. "Maybe."

"You've been awake for several minutes."

"I was comfortable."

Evelyn laughed softly, and Gwendolyn finally relented, slipping one arm around Evelyn's shoulder for balance as Evelyn lowered her. 

Gwendolyn's boots touched the forest floor, and she immediately stretched before smoothing down her dress.

Rosaline brushed several leaves from her red hair and laughed. "Which is exactly why I gave up before Celestine could break mine. I had the option of avoiding that experience, and I took it."

Celestine looked toward her with a faint smile. "I wasn't necessarily going to break your neck."

"You said you probably would."

"I said it was a possibility."

"That's close enough."

Rosaline pointed accusingly at her, but Celestine only smiled.

Lavinia felt a familiar weight settle across her shoulders.

Valerie appeared behind her and draped herself over Lavinia's back as much as Evangeline's presence allowed, her orange hair falling across one of Lavinia's shoulders.

"We won." Valerie sounded extremely pleased with herself.

Lavinia nodded proudly. "Of course we did. You were all on my team."

Valerie immediately lifted her head. "Excuse me? We won because of me. My presence inspired everyone to exceed their limits."

Lavinia glanced sideways at the face hovering just above her shoulder. 

Valerie's vibrant orange eyelashes fluttered with such an absurdly serious expression that Lavinia couldn't help smiling.

"Naturally." Lavinia nodded solemnly. "Without you, I'm sure we would've been completely helpless."

"Exactly."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I've chosen not to recognize it."

Lavinia laughed and shook her head before looking around at the others. 

Her smile gradually softened as she realized the tension that had followed them from the television station was almost completely gone.

"I'm actually a lot more relaxed now." Lavinia flexed one hand before letting it fall back to her side. "I didn't realize how irritated I still was until we started."

Gwendolyn laughed and nodded. "Me too. Even getting my neck broken was kind of fun."

"You complained about it for the last five minutes," Evelyn pointed out softly.

Gwendolyn turned toward her.

Then marched over.

Evelyn watched her approach with growing amusement until Gwendolyn stopped directly in front of her and took Evelyn's cheeks between both hands.

"I'm still angry with you." Gwendolyn gently squeezed Evelyn's face. "You broke my neck without even warning me."

Evelyn's cheeks were pushed inward beneath Gwendolyn's hands, but she still managed a quiet laugh. "Would warning you before trying to break your neck have helped?"

"Yes."

"You would've stopped me."

"Exactly!"

"Then it wouldn't have helped me."

Gwendolyn stared at her before squeezing her cheeks again. "You're much more troublesome than you look."

Evelyn only laughed.

Cordelia watched the exchange before glancing down at her own hands. "It was very different from anything I've experienced with humans. I was constantly aware before that even a careless strike from me could severely injure someone."

She slowly curled her fingers.

"Against another vampire, though, I didn't have to think about it nearly as much. Adelaide could hit me as hard as she wanted, and I could do the same to her."

Adelaide gave Cordelia another lingering look. "You broke my neck."

Cordelia smiled pleasantly. "I did."

"You sound very happy about it."

"I won."

Adelaide stared at her for another moment before laughing and shaking her head.

Something shifted against Lavinia's back.

Evangeline's arms tightened slightly around her shoulders.

"I wouldn't lose next time." Evangeline's voice was somewhat groggy as she lifted her head from beside Lavinia's.

Lavinia turned slightly. "You're awake?"

"I've been awake."

"Since when?"

"Long enough to hear you call me a monster."

Lavinia smiled without remorse. "You are."

Evangeline huffed.

Lavinia adjusted her grip beneath Evangeline's legs before asking, "Can you stand yet? Your neck should be fine."

Evangeline considered the question.

Then her legs suddenly wrapped more securely around Lavinia's waist, while both arms tightened around her neck.

"No." Evangeline rested her chin against Lavinia's shoulder. "You broke my neck, so the least you can do is support me in my time of weakness."

Lavinia stared ahead.

"You are completely fine."

"I'm injured."

"Your neck healed."

"I'm injured!"

"Get off."

"No."

Lavinia rolled her eyes but didn't actually try to remove her.

From the position Evangeline had taken, forcing her off would be surprisingly difficult anyway. 

Evangeline's arms were already around her neck and her legs were locked around her waist; if this were still part of their fight, Lavinia had allowed herself into an absolutely terrible position.

Evangeline could immobilize her or wrench her neck before Lavinia could do much about it.

The fight was over, though.

Lavinia wasn't remotely worried.

She adjusted Evangeline slightly higher on her back instead. "You're lucky I like you."

"I know."

"That wasn't permission to become more comfortable!"

Evangeline settled more heavily against her.

Lavinia sighed.

Violetta watched them with amusement before brushing dirt from one sleeve. "I enjoyed myself as well. That was my first real fight against another vampire, and it was considerably more interesting than I expected."

Evangeline perked up against Lavinia's back. "Did you win?"

Violetta's expression turned mildly apologetic.

She shook her head.

"No. Valerie won despite my best efforts."

Valerie immediately stepped away from Lavinia and turned toward Violetta. "You don't have to say it like that. If you'd actually fought seriously, I wouldn't have had any chance whatsoever."

Violetta laughed. "That's not actually true."

Valerie blinked. "It isn't?"

"I held back a little, but not by much." Violetta flexed one hand thoughtfully. "The larger problem was that much of my technique and fighting style simply wasn't designed for someone like you."

Valerie tilted her head.

Violetta continued after a moment. "It's human technique. It's meant to exploit human limitations, human pain responses, human joints, and injuries that would actually stop a human from continuing."

She touched the side of her neck where Valerie's nails had pierced her earlier.

"Against another vampire, many of those assumptions become considerably less useful. Something that should end a fight might only inconvenience you for a few seconds."

Valerie smiled proudly. "So I defeated military training itself."

Violetta gave her a patient look. "That's not what I said."

"It's what I heard."

Rosaline laughed. "I heard it too."

"Of course you did."

Gwendolyn had finally released Evelyn's cheeks and was working leaves from her own white hair. "I'm spending the day with Mom, so I'll get ready to leave once we get back."

Lavinia looked toward her and smiled. "I hope you have fun. You haven't gotten to spend much time with her lately."

"I will." Gwendolyn's smile softened. "She was a little startled by the explosion last night. I think seeing the station get attacked while knowing we were inside scared her more than she wanted to admit."

Lavinia's expression softened as well. "I can imagine."

"But she relaxed once I told her everyone was okay." Gwendolyn carefully untangled a small twig from her hair. "I'm probably going to spend most of the day answering questions anyway."

"Try not to tell her Evelyn broke your neck."

Gwendolyn paused.

Evelyn looked toward her.

"I wasn't planning to," Gwendolyn said.

"Good," Evelyn murmured. "I don't want your mother to hate me."

Gwendolyn immediately smiled. "She wouldn't hate you."

Celestine glanced upward through the sparse canopy before speaking. "It's only about three hours until sunrise. We should probably start preparing to leave instead of standing here until someone realizes how much of the forest we damaged."

Several heads turned.

Broken branches and scarred trees surrounded them.

Valerie slowly looked away.

Violetta laughed quietly and began brushing dirt, leaves, and several small splinters from her purple hair. "Celestine has a point. We should head back."

She removed another piece of bark before looking around at everyone.

"Most of my irritation over the bombing has faded too. Thank you all for indulging me tonight. I know this was technically my idea."

Valerie waved the concern away. "Don't say it like you dragged us out here against our will. We all needed this."

Violetta smiled.

Valerie pulled another leaf from her orange hair and flicked it away. "We were all riled up after the attack. Sitting around thinking about it would've been worse."

Adelaide nodded in agreement as the group began walking back toward the vehicles. "It was better than spending the rest of the night angry."

Evangeline finally climbed off Lavinia's back after several minutes, despite insisting that she remained terribly weakened. 

She trailed behind Lavinia instead, picking bits of dirt, leaves, and debris from Lavinia's golden hair as they walked.

Valerie glanced toward Violetta. "Do you think the police caught whoever did it yet?"

Adelaide huffed quietly. "Regardless of whether they have, it isn't our place to do anything. We decided to let the police handle the case, so there's no point spending the rest of the night thinking about it."

Valerie looked over. "I'm allowed to wonder."

"You can wonder. Just don't start suggesting we hunt anyone."

"I wasn't going to!"

Adelaide gave her a look.

Valerie crossed her arms. "Probably."

Cordelia walked beside them with her usual elegant posture, which would have looked considerably more dignified without the splinters and leaves tangled throughout her long blue hair.  "Adelaide has a point. We've already decided what we're doing about the attack, so all we need to do now is enjoy ourselves."

Adelaide smiled slightly. "Exactly."

By the time they reached the waiting vehicles, everyone had managed to remove at least the larger pieces of forest from their hair.

Gwendolyn opened one of the doors before turning around with an excited smile. "We should do this again."

Rosaline immediately shook her head. "No. My goal is to continue being the only person here sensible enough not to get her neck broken."

Celestine stepped closer. "You enjoyed yourself."

"That's irrelevant."

Valerie joined in while climbing into the vehicle. "You already demanded a rematch."

"I was emotional."

"You specifically asked Celestine for another fight."

"I wasn't thinking clearly."

Cordelia smiled as she entered behind Valerie. "I would like to do it again."

"So would I," Evelyn added softly.

Rosaline looked toward Violetta for support.

Violetta smiled. "I'd certainly be interested."

Rosaline turned toward Adelaide.

Adelaide shrugged. "I want a rematch with Cordelia."

Rosaline's expression fell as Evangeline leaned through the vehicle door and grinned at her.

"You're outnumbered."

Rosaline stared at everyone for several seconds before groaning and climbing inside. "Fine. But next time I'm winning."

Celestine settled into the seat beside her. "We'll see."

Rosaline narrowed her eyes at her. "Now I definitely have to win."

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