The Feed of the Fledgling

**CW: Internalized Transphobia**

 

My head was throbbing. What the hell happened last night?

I mentally went over everything. I’d moved into my apartment, went for food and—

Oh. My. Fuck.

I tried to get up only to feel hands and feet force a strong resistance. I groggily looked up at my wrists. They were tied with ropes to a large bed. Startled, I began to take in more of my surroundings.

The bed that enveloped me was at least a king size. The beautifully carved wooden posts held up the silky translucent posters that cast a film on the room. The black out curtains made up most of the window letting no light in. Looking down towards the bed, the covers were divine. A beautiful regal purple and light pink made up the color pattern and the material was the softest thing I had ever felt. It almost seem to cocoon me. It seemed to be strapped down under the bedding so I could barely move.

My head was still pounding. What the hell had those women done to me? Am I gonna get fired already? I hadn’t even stepped foot in the office yet.

Come on Chris. This has gotta be some rich thing. They take middle class people and fuck with them for fun, then let them go traumatized. Just breath. There’s no way they don’t have somebody waiting for you to wake up. Just shout.

Gathering all my courage, I tried to shout.

“Hello! Hey! Somebody! Is anybody there! My name is Chris Higgins, I’m 23 years old, red hair,  5’11’’,  from Winchester, Virginia! Somebody please! Help me!” I strained my voice as loud as I could. If anyone was below me, hopefully they’d call someone. I started struggling with the restraints in the dark. Pushing and pulling as hard as I could. I had no idea how big this bed was but it made me feel relatively small. Yanking as hard as I could, I started to feel a rope burn.

“Ow! Motherfucker!” I winced as it only made me more uncomfortable. “I just want to go home.” I said, defeated. The tears started to well up.

“I’m tired, hungry, and my head fucking hurts!” I began to sob. The tears flowed down my cheeks. I cried for what felt like an hour before the door began to open.

Light flooded into the room and I instinctively closed my eyes.

“Hey there sleepy head!” An excited voice filled the room. I slowly opened my eyes to see the silhouette in the doorway. I stared at them silently trying to gauge more of my surroundings as my eyes adjusted to the barely lit room. I realized it looked like a guest room with the more I saw. No pictures or anything, just a bed, a shelf, and some interior design stuff.

“I brought you something!” The voice sounded familiar and I tried to work out if this was Chelsea or Victoria. Whoever she was, she seemed to hold a bag in her hand and shake it like it was supposed to be enticing.

“What the fuck is going on?” I said it sternly hoping to get some answers. My eyes still hurt from the light so I squinted at her.

“Oh don’t worry sweetie. I’m sure this is weird, waking up in some random room and all.” She entered the room and closed the door. The light disappeared and I felt like I could see her better. “Look, you’re in a weird state right now,” she said as she moved closer to the bed. As she approached, I could tell it was Chelsea now. That beautiful face stared back at me. It shook me to my core a little bit. She reached out a hand to steady herself and sat down on the bed facing me.

“You’re in-between.”

“What do you mean? What did you do to me?”

“Have you seriously not figured it out? I mean think about it. You walked into a restaurant that was only open at night, got bit, and drank my blood. What do you think happened?”

“Okay, my first thought is vampire, but that’s bullshit. Those don’t exist, so you must be some crazy person who wants to infect me with some blood borne illness.” My face twisted into a knot as I came to my conclusion. That was the only realistic answer. Some crazy person. Yeah. Nothing supernatural. That would be even crazier.

Chelsea literally facepalmed. I was kind of taken aback. What had I said that made me look stupid. No. Why do I even care. She kidnapped me and made me drink her blood to infect me with something. Screw this woman.

“Are you an actual idiot or do you just reeeeally not want to believe in the supernatural?”

The question pulled up a deep fear in me. I stared up at her face from my laying position.

“Both?”

She laughed.

“Wow, you’re actually funny,” she said through a grinning mouth.

“Here, this will make you more sure then.”

She pulled up the bag she showed off earlier. It looked like a blood bag. I was still terrified, but being stuck to a bed in pain and crying really wore me out. At this point, I just wanted to go home so if it meant I had to entertain this crazy woman then I would. At least, until I could escape.

She pulled plastic top off the bag. A smell began to emanate through the room. It smelled so good! It was like roses and steel together. Wait, why was that such a good smell?

She pushed the bag up to my nose. I think I almost passed out from how good it smelled. My mouth began to salivate and my gums hurt. What the hell? Was this still a drug thing? It has to be. Oh but I didn’t care. This smell under my nose was driving me wild. I started to push my head up to get a taste. Suddenly, the bag disappeared as I felt like I was going crazy with hunger.

“Now, what do you think could make you that hungry for blood?”

No. There was no way that was actually blood.

“Are you serious? Vampires? And does that make me one?” The shock on my face was obvious. I still could barely believe it, but if this woman was just severely gaslighting me, then why did that smell so good? I couldn’t think of anything I smelt before yesterday that actually made me feel like I was gonna go insane if I didn’t get a taste.

“Yes, yes, and no, not exactly. You’ve only just started the change. In a matter of a few days though, you will be! Right now, you're just what we call a fledgling. A little baby bird that still needs their mother to get them food. Your fangs haven’t extended yet, and they won’t until you get enough blood in you. Basically, I fed you my blood, then Tory and I drained you dry. The only thing keeping you alive right now is my blood.”

“What? I’m basically dead?!” I stared up at her scared out of my mind. I was dead. What about my family? Yeah, fuck my dad, but my mom? I’ll miss her too much. What about my job? Can I even go out into the daylight? These thoughts rushed through my head at a million miles a minute. I resigned that maybe there was only one person who could answer them and she sat right in front of me.

“Well, kind of. That kind of comes with the territory of vampirism. Did you never read a book or watch a movie? We're kinda famous ‘monsters’.” She said that last word with a certain obvious disdain. Maybe she did this a lot.

“Am I ever gonna be able to see my mom again?” The dry tears on my face started to be replaced with new ones as I began to cry again.

“Oh honey!” She put the top back on the bag and laid it down on the ground. Quickly, she forced me into a hug. It was kind of awkward being tied to a bed and all. She just laid on top of me and I couldn’t hug back. Not even sure why the desire to return the show of affection because it had been her that did this to me.

“Why? Why me?” I said still sobbing.

She pulled away from me with a sad look on her gorgeous face. The dark eyes from yesterday seemed to shine in the darkness. They almost looked a dark indigo with a little sparkle in them. Her perfect eyebrows scrunched up a little.

“Okay, I guess you deserve that. I was originally gonna save that for after you fed, but now it just doesn’t feel right. Regardless, you don’t really have a choice in the matter anymore, but okay. Here it goes.” She looked nervous, which only made me more nervous.

“I never even learned your current name.” She stopped for a second and waved her hands as I opened my mouth to say something.

“No, I don’t want to know. I doubt it’s your true name and no use getting anyone confused. Okay, this is gonna be some introspection for you, but female vampires only turn women.”

My confusion was paramount and apparent on my face. Again, I reflexively went to say something but she put a finger over my mouth.

“This is something I have to explain fully. We have rules for who we turn. There are clans all over the city and they form a conglomerate that answers to the vampire ruler. The ruler is a pure blood. Vampire born. Only pure bloods can be clan, conglomerate, or rulers. It’s not really because of some blood purist beliefs, but more so that pure bloods can walk in the sun. Some turned can too, but it’s usually only the turned of pure bloods. Lucky for you, I’m the ruler of Soho’s clan and I turned you, so you might have that ability. It just makes it overall easier for the heads to be able to appear in the day as to have more respectable positions with humans.”

I realized I was in the presence of some powerful ass vampire, but now I was intrigued. Still I couldn’t get the thought away from me.

“You’re skipping over the, vamp females can only turn women part.” I said with a little venom.

“Oh jeez, just relax I was getting to it.” She shook her head and looked annoyed. “Ok, vampirism works as an extension of the pure blood that the gene originates. Turned become the children of the vampire that fed them, the Feeder. By extension, there is a blood line related to the original Pure that created that Feeder. The sex of the Pure decides the sex of their line. Therefore, Pures only turn people that align with their sex and it is impressed on Feeders to do the same to their turned. One special thing though about vampires. Because this is an evolutionary method, we’ve developed the ability to detect people that align with our sexes. Pures are invariably better at it naturally, but with practice anyone can become incredible at it. If any mistake was made, it usually leads to the death of the Feeder and the Turned.”

Digesting everything she just threw at me, I paled as my stomach dropped to what seemed like an infinite pit. I felt sick. 

No. I was normal. Not that there’s anything wrong with people who didn’t like their gender, but that wasn’t me. Dad would murder me, he’d made that clear by what he said about trans people, but that’s not me. No. It couldn’t be. I was definitely a gu—the word seemed to be stuck in my head. It was like I couldn’t say it as a wave of disgust flowed through me. I looked up at her as I continued to process it.

“So you’re saying you could tell that I didn’t align with my sex?”

“Oh yeah! It was practically emanating off of you once you walked into the shop. That aura was so strong, I knew I had to have you. I don’t know why Tory couldn’t tell though. She’s one of my older children so she should’ve seen it.” She seemed to delve into a deep thought. I spoke up to interrupt her silence.

“But, I don’t understand. What does that make me? A freak?”

“No baby,” she moved closer to hold my restricted hand, “you’ve never heard of trans people?”

“I have but that can’t be me. My dad always talked about how gross and disgusting they were. They’re deviants right? That’s what he believed. I’d never met any, but I didn’t think they were terrible.”

“You dunce. That’s because you are one.” She quietly laughed. “This is like the fifth time my line has inherited a trans woman, but you’re the first I’ve ever turned. I know the ropes, but I still have more to explain to you.”

I still could barely think.

Me. Trans? But why? Was this a punishment? Did I really not like being a man?

The question rang through my head as I thought back to how gross it was for me to look into the mirror. Didn’t all guys feel that way though? Sure, I only liked to be around women, but I blame my dad for that. Maybe she was right. I sighed softly. I needed to know more to be sure though.

Almost as if she read my thoughts, Chelsea spoke up.

“Okay, before I tell you more, you need to feed. I can’t have you going more than a day without something to eat.”

She started to scramble off the bed a little bit as she went to grab the blood bag.

“Wait. Why am I still tied up?” I said sadly as I looked at my restraints. “I won’t make a fuss. I swear. If I’m only alive because of you, what’s the point of running away and basically killing myself. Plus, I doubt I’d be able to overpower you, because you’re a Pure or whatever.”

“Oh, that’s for your safety. Some changes have already taken place and I wanted to talk to you before you could really notice. Sure, it’s not exactly nice, but it’s efficient.” She leaned down and picked up the bag as she spoke.

“Also, as much as it was to avoid you hurting yourself, it was also for when you fed. The first feed is kind of violent and from my experience, people can break limbs if they’re not careful. Those don’t take too long to return to normal as a vampire, but it’s pretty annoying in the fledgling stage. Plus, this is my first time with a trans woman so the changes might be more dramatic.”

Her words scared me. Why would the first feed be violent? Those last words were still weird. I don’t exactly like that I was just forced into a box without my consent. I don’t even know if I am trans. How do I know she didn’t just sense the wrong person. My confusion must have encouraged her to explain more.

“The first feed begins to force the Feeder’s blood to take hold of the Turned’s body. The original turn keeps the Turned alive, but the first one really kicks everything off.” She pulled the stopper off the top of the bag as she spoke.

My thoughts flew out the window as the smell took over the room again.

“Any more questions?”

My brain was pulled from its trance after she spoke. I seemed to remember an important thing she said and I really wanted answers.

“Actually, yeah. What did you mean by ‘changes have already happened’ and that ‘the biggest changes happen after the first feed’?”

“Oh yeah! Well two main things have already happened. You are biologically female now and you’re like 5 inches shorter.”

Stunned, I immediately glanced down. I stared for a second then looked around at the bed. Was this why the bed felt so big. Oh my god, how did I not even notice my sex change? I really thought about it for a second.

Was she right? Did I really not align with what I had? I didn’t even notice anything was wrong other than where I was when I woke up. Oh my god, am I trans?!

The thoughts ran through my head. I stared at her with an open mouth.

“Wh-W-What about the  other changes? What do they do?” I stuttered, a little scared to utter the words because of the possible reply.

“Simple. They intend to make you more similar to your Feeder. Like I said it depends on the Pure and the Feeder usually. The changes that occur focus on the Pure’s blood and the mix of the Feeder’s usually. Because I’m a pure, you’re gonna look a lot more like me. Unfortunately, you might lose that gorgeous red hair of yours.” She pulled a little on the strands of my hair as she said that last bit.

A strange mix of emotions was flowing through me. I was terrified at what was to come, but I felt—kind of…excited. Why would I feel excited? Here I was. Strapped to a bed, about to be fed blood, told I just changed sexes and I’m excited. Am I fucking crazy? I mentally slapped myself as I tried to focus on why I was excited. Was it because I was turning into a girl or because I was going to look more like Chelsea? She was gorgeous so maybe, in some fucked up way, I was excited to be pretty. Was that weird? A desire to be pretty? Again, I smacked myself in my head.

Maybe I am trans.

The thought bounce around and took a foothold in the forefront of my mind. Chelsea spoke up.

“No more questions right?”

I shook my head.

“Great! Time to eat then!”

She pushed the bag towards my face and the smell took over my senses. All I wanted to do was drain this bag entirely. It felt weird but I really didn’t care at this moment. There was only one thought—hunger.

I closed my salivating mouth around the open top of the bag and began to suck out as much as I could. Chelsea turned the bag upward a bit to allow more of the liquid to flow towards me.

The first drop hit my tongue and I felt like I was going to explode. My head shut down as I drank. My headache that had been assaulting me since I’d been up, started to recede. The blood tasted sweet and lovely, like the physical embodiment of kindness. I started to feel a high. My shoulders felt light and airy, kind of like when I used to get an operation at the dentist office and they’d give you laughing gas. I still felt in control though.

Quicker than I thought, I began to suck at empty air and the bag compressed.

“What? That felt too quiiiiiiick.” I whined. It felt a little weird. It sounded like I was a little kid by the way I said that.

Chelsea laughed at me slightly.

“That was like one second max. You must’ve been starving girl!”

I barely registered what she called me as I spoke again.

“One second?! That felt at least like twenty, but still to short!”

“It’s pure bliss isn’t it? Just wait ‘til you get it fresh. We start you on bags though, because you’d drain someone dry if we just gave you a human. Time moves a little slower when you drink. I think it’s because of some relaxation method we developed to encourage us to feed more.”

That made sense I guess, but suddenly I felt a heat in my chest and throat.

“Why do I feel hot?” I blurted out the question.

“That’ll be the changes coming. Don’t worry, I’m gonna stay right here the whole time and once their done we’ll get you into your proper room and get you some clothes.

Was I naked right now? Am I really just oblivious or did I not notice because of the bedding tucking me in?

The latent thoughts seemed to disappear as a pain ripped through me. I screamed. The scream seemed to rise in pitch and resonance as the room around me slowly disappeared. Pain struck through my skull.

“Help me. Please.” My head flopped over still writhing in pain, I eeked out the words to Chelsea.

“Shhhhh. I know what’ll make the pain go away. But you’re not gonna remember much for a while. Are you ok with that?”

“Ahhhhhhh, help! Please! Any—” She cut me off by shoving her wrist in my face. The sweet sent of blood took over. The pain was at the back of my mind as I drank. Relaxing a little, it felt like the strongest pain killer I’d ever taken.

My eyes were vaguely open, but I was so tired. I could barely hear Chelsea’s voice as I drifted off.

“Go to sleep honey. I’ll be here for you when you wake up.” She stroked my head in a motherly fashion as I fell asleep.