Vampire Emeritus (Part #3) ✔

Chapter 40: Pyrrhic Victory

Hey there, thank you for reading Chloe's adventures! Only one chapter after this one and the trilogy is over. I would have never finished if it hadn't been for all the love you've shown Chloe and her story, so thank you and I hope you've enjoyed reading <3  

Three hundred soldiers fought by our side. Only forty survived. Ten vamplings fought by our side. Only Pamela lived, but mostly because she escaped right when the battle started.

Of two hundred cultists, approximately fifty survived, according to William. Once they found out Vilmus was dead, they ran through the northern exit for the tunnels. Everyone was too exhausted to catch them.

Ari was still alive, or at least Thomas saw him alive right before the battle ended.

William lost an arm, but apparently he could attach it back to his body. Thomas almost died three times. Ian was still in a salvia-divinorum-induced coma. Tina and Sheila were alright. They spent the entire fight guarding the main entrance and taking cultists out one by one.

For the past fifteen hours, I haven't left my room.

An ugly, gnawing feeling crept through my veins.

Yes, we won. No, I did not regret killing Vilmus for one single moment. But something about the victory didn't feel right.

The vampires we hunted down were misguided and blinded to who Vilmus truly was. They thought he was a peacemaker, a saviour of our kind, a god-like figure who could do no wrong.

The human part of me understood that we did the right thing by ridding the world of his existence. He was an egocentric, power-hungry tyrant. In the long run, he'd do more damage than good.

The vampire part of me, however, couldn't stop thinking about what he had said.

We gave the military the knowledge that could lead to our destruction willingly.

We were so focused on killing Vilmus and the cultists that we didn't even think what we were doing might have been a bad move.

Yesterday, we've killed one hundred and fifty members of our kind. And our numbers were already declining. Humans managed to kill one hundred and fifty members of our kind and we gave them the weapons to do it.

I turned in my sheets and stared at the alarm clock on my nightstand. 8PM. Next to the alarm clock, an unopened envelope rested. I didn't open it. I didn't dare.

Darkness devoured my room, the twilight outside couldn't penetrate the blinds pulled over my windows.

Someone knocked on my door.

"Chloe?" Sheila's voice reached me. "Are you okay in there?"

"Yes." I murmured.

"Do you think it's time to come out?" She asked. "Come on, we're celebrating."

"I'll be there." I scrambled out of my sheets and put on jeans and my black hoodie.

Sounds of laughter and music reached from downstairs. Perhaps they mourned yesterday, I wasn't there to see it. I opened the door, revealing concerned Sheila on the other end. Her curly hair was in a bun on the top of her head and she had a white bodysuit on, which made her look like an absolute goddess.

She frowned, "You're not looking very festive."

"Not feeling very festive." I shrugged and closed the door behind me.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "We won!"

"Nothing." My smile felt fake and tight. "I'm just sad it had to come to this."