▪︎ Chapter 103 ▪︎ “That wasn’t convincing.”

Lavinia collapsed onto the chair, narrowly avoiding Gwendolyn's hands as they reached for her ears. 

Unfortunately, retreating had only given Gwendolyn the opportunity to follow, and the white-haired vampire immediately straddled her with a triumphant giggle, reaching forward again.

"You won't escape this time!"

"Why are you obsessed with my ears?!" Lavinia complained, turning her head sharply when Gwendolyn's fingers came within inches of them. "You have your own!"

"They aren't yours."

"That doesn't explain anything!"

Valerie looked up from where she sat on the floor and made a face at the two of them before returning her attention to her phone, a faint smile lingering on her lips. 

Lavinia planted both hands against Gwendolyn's stomach and pushed, using enough strength to prevent her from pressing any closer, but Gwendolyn stubbornly leaned forward against the pressure.

Neither was using anywhere near enough strength to hurt the other, which transformed the entire struggle into an absurd contest of leverage. 

Lavinia could have thrown Gwendolyn across the room if she'd wanted, but Gwendolyn could have done the same, and neither seemed interested in escalating their little battle beyond increasingly ridiculous attempts to gain the advantage.

"Stop!" Lavinia hissed as Gwendolyn stretched her fingers toward her left ear. "I'm warning you."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll bite you."

Gwendolyn's grin widened. "That's not a threat."

Lavinia stared at her speechlessly.

Rosaline appeared behind the chair at precisely the wrong moment and leaned over its back. 

Before Lavinia could react, Rosaline caught one of her arms and began shaking it from side to side, ruining the balance Lavinia had been maintaining.

"Rosaline!"

"Good luck!"

"You traitor!"

Gwendolyn immediately surged forward and gently pinched both of Lavinia's pointed ears between her fingers.

"Victory!"

Lavinia's expression went flat.

Rosaline released her and sauntered away with an exaggerated sway, smiling over her shoulder before giving Lavinia a wink. Her long red hair shifted behind her as she walked, and Lavinia's empty red eyes narrowed.

"You're not wearing tights, so putting on a show is pointless."

Rosaline stopped.

She glanced down at herself, then slowly looked over her shoulder. "Even in my dress?"

"Especially in your dress."

Rosaline flipped her red hair dramatically. "Whether I'm wearing tights or not doesn't mean I don't look good from behind."

A pillow flew across the room.

Rosaline spun neatly and caught it against her chest, her smile becoming unbearably smug as Lavinia clicked her tongue. 

Gwendolyn used Lavinia's distraction to stroke one of her ears from base to tip, causing Lavinia's shoulders to jerk.

"Stop touching them!"

"But they're cute."

"So are yours!"

"I know."

Lavinia narrowed her eyes. "I walked directly into that one."

Around them, the safehouse lounge had settled into the sort of relaxed disorder that had become increasingly normal whenever everyone gathered in one place. 

Celestine had moved from the couch to the floor and now lay comfortably on her stomach, her legs swaying idly behind her as she watched television. 

Every so often she shifted mysteriously closer to the couch, apparently believing nobody noticed.

Evelyn certainly noticed.

The blonde vampire sat with her knees drawn close on the couch, occasionally glancing downward whenever Celestine moved another few inches toward her. 

Earlier, Celestine had practically dragged Evelyn into her lap, and despite Evelyn's embarrassed squirming, she hadn't been allowed to create more than a few inches of distance until she'd finally escaped.

Now Celestine appeared to be slowly reclaiming that distance.

Evelyn glanced down again.

Celestine smiled innocently.

"You moved."

"I did?"

"Yes."

"I don't remember moving."

Evelyn's pale cheeks took on the faintest flush. "You're closer."

Celestine rested her chin against her hands. "Maybe you moved."

"I'm on the couch."

"Then it's a mystery."

Evelyn stared at her for several seconds before turning back toward the television, evidently deciding there was no point arguing.

Across the room, Violetta occupied the armrest of another chair in a posture that could only generously be described as sitting. 

She was half perched and half sprawled across it, one leg extended while the other bent loosely beneath her, long purple hair spilling down her back and over the upholstery.

A quiet smile rested on her face as she watched everyone.

If someone had shown her former human self a picture of her current posture, Violetta suspected she would have been appalled.

She'd spent too much of her life accustomed to maintaining a certain appearance, especially around other officers. 

Even when she relaxed, there had always been an awareness of how she carried herself.

Here, surrounded by the others, that awareness simply didn't matter.

The comfort came naturally. There wasn't a need to maintain appearances around them, no instinct telling her to straighten her back or rearrange her dress because someone might judge her. 

They were vampires. They were hers in the broadest sense of the word, just as she belonged with them, and that strange certainty made it extraordinarily easy to relax.

Her smile widened when Lavinia finally decided she'd had enough.

Lavinia abruptly shifted her grip from Gwendolyn's stomach to her waist and bucked upward. 

Gwendolyn gave a surprised squeal as she lost her position, and Lavinia twisted with her, reversing them before Gwendolyn could recover.

A moment later, Lavinia sat triumphantly astride her.

"How does it feel?"

Gwendolyn lightly smacked Lavinia's hands several times. "I'm tired."

"You don't get tired."

"I'm spiritually tired."

"From losing?"

"From being bullied by you."

Lavinia snorted.

Gwendolyn slumped dramatically against the chair, her white hair spilling around her as she looked up with a wounded expression. "I only wanted to give you a hug."

"You were trying to molest my ears."

"It was an affectionate hug."

"With your fingers?"

"Yes."

Lavinia pressed one palm against Gwendolyn's chest.

Gwendolyn immediately began another complaint, only for Lavinia to increase the pressure enough to prevent her chest from expanding. 

Her voice faded naturally as the air she'd already drawn was used up, leaving her lips moving uselessly while she stared up at Lavinia with an increasingly offended expression.

Gwendolyn didn't struggle. She simply waited.

The instant Lavinia removed her hand, Gwendolyn inhaled and unleashed everything she'd apparently been saving.

"You're so mean! I can't believe you did that when all I wanted was a little apology! You wouldn't even let me speak! I was trying to explain myself and you silenced me because you're evil, and I think everyone should know by now how cruel Lavinia is when nobody is looking!"

"Everyone is looking."

"Then they all witnessed it!"

Lavinia rolled her eyes before letting herself fall forward, dropping her weight onto Gwendolyn and resting against her. "Fine. I couldn't possibly bear being mean to everyone's favorite."

Gwendolyn's offended expression disappeared instantly.

Her arms encircled Lavinia's waist, and with one quick shift she rolled them partially sideways until Lavinia ended up lying beside her rather than directly on top of her.

"I spent most of the day with Mom," Gwendolyn said, her voice considerably softer now. "It was really nice, but I missed all of you a bunch."

Lavinia reached up and played with a strand of Gwendolyn's long white hair. "That's how it should be. You should spend time with her."

"I know."

"And you saw us before you left."

"I still missed you."

Lavinia smiled faintly. "Clingy."

Gwendolyn tightened her arms.

"Very clingy."

"You're not escaping."

From her spot on the floor, Valerie glanced over her phone and smirked. "I was almost tempted to join you two earlier."

Lavinia immediately looked at her.

"But then I realized scrolling online was more interesting."

"Good."

Valerie's orange eyelashes fluttered. "Excuse me?"

"I said good."

Valerie snorted and turned her head away with exaggerated dignity, lifting her phone slightly as though Lavinia no longer deserved her attention.

Lavinia giggled into Gwendolyn's shoulder.

The smell of warm blood reached them before Adelaide and Rosaline entered the room.

Several heads turned simultaneously.

Adelaide carried a cup in one hand, while Rosaline clutched another protectively against her chest. 

Steam rose faintly from both, carrying the rich metallic sweetness throughout the lounge.

Adelaide glanced around at the sudden attention. "If you'd asked me three weeks ago whether I thought I'd ever be warming blood in a microwave and drinking it from a cup, I'd have thought you were delusional."

She settled onto the couch, taking a small sip. Before she could lower the cup, Celestine pushed herself up from the floor and leaned over, placing her lips against the rim without asking.

Adelaide stared down at her.

Celestine looked back innocently.

With an indulgent sigh, Adelaide tipped the cup slightly and allowed her to drink several gulps before pulling it away. "You could have gotten your own."

"But yours was already here."

"That doesn't make it yours."

"It made it convenient."

Rosaline immediately tightened both hands around her own cup. "Absolutely not."

Nobody had asked her anything.

"This is mine," Rosaline continued, her voice taking on the tragic severity of someone recounting an unspeakable betrayal. "I warmed it. I carried it here. I have suffered for it, and if any of you want blood, you can get your own."

Most of the empty red eyes in the room swept toward her.

Then toward the cup.

Rosaline's expression slowly changed.

Lavinia smiled brightly. "Can I have a little?"

"No."

Gwendolyn lifted her head. "Just one sip?"

"No."

Valerie lowered her phone. "I barely want any."

"No!"

Cordelia leaned around the side of the couch, her long blue hair shifting over one shoulder. "Could I taste it?"

Rosaline bared her fangs at them.

The gesture lasted barely a second before she retracted them and clutched the cup closer. "I will protect my drink to the end."

Lavinia burst into giggles, and Gwendolyn joined her. Even Evelyn covered her mouth, shoulders shaking softly, while Rosaline glared around the room as though everyone had committed some profound offense against her.

"You're all parasites."

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "We're vampires."

"That wasn't what I meant!"

"It still works."

Before Rosaline could continue arguing, the lights flickered.

Every vampire in the room noticed immediately.

The illumination vanished entirely.

For nearly two seconds, the lounge went dark to human eyes, though the change barely affected any of them beyond the sudden disappearance of the lights themselves. 

The television died with it, its sound cutting off abruptly, and the faint electrical hum throughout the room disappeared.

Then everything returned.

The overhead lights flashed back on, the television rebooted, and the background hum of the safehouse's electronics resumed as though nothing had happened.

Lavinia raised her head from Gwendolyn and stared upward.

"Does that happen while we were asleep?"

Violetta tapped her cheek lightly with one index finger. "I'm not sure."

"You're awake most of the day."

"Most."

Lavinia waited.

Violetta smiled. "Vampires may not become physically exhausted, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy sleeping. There were periods when I sleep too."

"So it could've happened."

"Certainly."

Cordelia glanced toward the lights before smiling faintly. "It should be fine. Before the Second Divergence, when I was traveling here, some places had electrical problems from everything happening after the First. Minor outages, flickering, things like that."

"Oakridge hasn't had many," Adelaide said.

"Maybe we're finally getting our turn," Valerie replied.

Lavinia stared at the ceiling for another moment before shrugging. "As long as it doesn't kill the internet."

Violetta laughed. "Of course that's your concern."

"What's yours?"

"National stability."

"See? We both have important priorities."

Violetta gave her a look.

Gwendolyn suddenly pinched Lavinia's ear again.

Lavinia jolted. "You—!"

Gwendolyn burst into laughter and rolled away before Lavinia could retaliate, nearly falling from the chair in her haste. 

Lavinia lunged after her, but Gwendolyn disappeared in a blur and reappeared beside Rosaline.

Rosaline immediately lifted her cup away. "Don't involve my blood in this."

"Protect me!"

"No."

"Lavinia's going to attack me!"

"You deserve it."

Gwendolyn gasped.

Lavinia slowed to a walk and approached them with a predatory smile, flexing her pearl-colored nails as Gwendolyn retreated around Rosaline.

"You thought you could run?"

"Yes."

"You can't."

"I can try."

"Rosaline, move."

Rosaline took a sip of blood. "I refuse to become involved in domestic disputes."

"Domestic—"

The lights flickered again.

This time they didn't go out completely. They dimmed sharply, brightened, dimmed once more and stabilized. 

The television image distorted for half a second before returning to normal.

The room quieted.

Lavinia looked upward again. "Okay. That's twice."

Valerie finally lowered her phone properly. "That one was weird."

Adelaide glanced toward Violetta. "Could it be something with the safehouse?"

"Possibly."

Violetta's relaxed posture changed only slightly, but she was paying more attention now. 

Her ears angled toward the walls as though listening for something beyond the ordinary electrical hum.

A few seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

Violetta eventually settled again. "I'll have someone check it."

Gwendolyn peeked around Rosaline. "Does that mean Lavinia can't attack me?"

"No," Violetta said.

Gwendolyn's face fell.

Lavinia smiled.

"Traitor."

"I wasn't on your side."

Lavinia rounded Rosaline, and Gwendolyn fled again, their movement stirring everyone's hair and sending the scents of roses and caramel and berries and pine briefly swirling together through the room.

Rosaline calmly took another sip.

"I live with children."

"You're one of us," Adelaide reminded her.

"I am sophisticated."

"You just made Lavinia lose earlier."

"She deserved it."

The room settled again over the following several minutes.

Gwendolyn eventually allowed herself to be caught, mostly because she'd become distracted by something Evelyn said, and Lavinia dragged her back toward the chair by the waist while Gwendolyn laughed the entire way.

Violetta remained where she was, but every so often her eyes moved toward the ceiling.

The television continued playing.

Valerie continued scrolling.

Celestine eventually succeeded in getting Evelyn close enough that she could rest her head against the blonde vampire's thigh, while Evelyn absently played with a few strands of Celestine's teal hair. 

Adelaide had surrendered enough of her blood that Celestine stopped trying to steal more, and Rosaline had somehow finished hers without allowing anyone a single sip.

For a while, nothing unusual happened.

Then the television went black.

The lights remained on.

Lavinia looked toward it.

A second later, the image returned.

"What was that?"

Valerie glanced at her phone. "Mine disconnected."

"From what?"

"The internet."

Lavinia immediately reached for her own phone.

"No, wait. It's back."

Lavinia stopped.

Valerie refreshed whatever page she'd been looking at and nodded. "Yeah. Fine now."

Violetta slowly straightened.

Cordelia noticed. "You look worried."

"I'm thinking."

"That's usually dangerous," Lavinia said.

Violetta smiled faintly. "The Second Divergence placed enormous distances between infrastructure that was previously connected. Electricity still functioning normally afterward has been difficult to explain from the beginning."

Lavinia's smile faded slightly. "You think this is related?"

"I didn't say that."

"You implied it."

"I said I was thinking."

Gwendolyn leaned against Lavinia. "Maybe it's just the power."

"That's what I'm hoping."

Another few minutes passed without interruption, and gradually the atmosphere returned to normal. 

Lavinia even stopped paying attention to the lights, instead arguing with Valerie about something she'd found online while Gwendolyn attempted to read over both their shoulders.

Then, without warning, the safehouse went silent.

Lights vanished.

The television died.

The air-conditioning stopped.

Every electronic hum disappeared at once.

Lavinia's ears lifted.

One second.

Two. Three. Four. Five.

"That's longer," Evelyn whispered.

Six.

Seven.

Then everything came roaring back.

The lights flashed on, the air-conditioning shuddered into operation, and several electronics beeped as they restarted. 

The television took longer, its screen remaining black before eventually displaying its startup logo.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Lavinia looked toward Violetta.

Violetta was no longer lounging.

She sat upright on the armrest, both feet touching the floor, her empty red eyes fixed on nothing in particular as she listened.

"Still think it's minor?" Lavinia asked.

Violetta remained silent for another moment before her expression softened into a smile.

"Hopefully."

"That wasn't convincing."

"It wasn't intended to be."

Valerie looked at her phone and groaned. "Internet's back again."

"See?" Gwendolyn said brightly. "Everything's fine."

Lavinia glanced at the lights.

They were steady.

The air conditioner continued humming, and the television had resumed playing. 

Every familiar artificial sound had returned to the safehouse as though the interruption had never happened.

Maybe Cordelia was right. The world had been through two impossible events in less than two weeks. 

A few electrical problems were hardly remarkable compared with vampires, werewolves and a planet that had doubled in size.

Lavinia relaxed against Gwendolyn again.

"Fine. If it goes out permanently, I'll panic tomorrow."

Valerie snorted. "Over civilization?"

"The internet."

Violetta sighed.

The others laughed, and gradually the strange interruptions were buried beneath conversation again. 

The television continued playing, phones remained connected, warm blood was consumed, and Gwendolyn resumed attempting to touch Lavinia's ears whenever she thought Lavinia wasn't paying attention.

Yet every time the lights dimmed faintly afterward, even for less than a second, Violetta's red eyes lifted toward them.

And as the night continued, they flickered more than once.