The Feed of the Fledgling

**TW: Mention of mind control**

 

The descent was quiet.

Chelsea didn’t speak. I leaned into the corner on the rail that made up the back wall. Trying to make everything less awkward, I stared at the floor indicator. The red light blinked downward 96, 95, 94…

We’re on the 96th floor? Holy shit.

I figured it was a penthouse, but at least that confirms it. The elevator doors opened and Chelsea moved fast. I had to hurry to catch up and not be left behind. It was a short walk to the lobby. This place looked rich. This was definitely a step up from what I’d just moved into.

Wait, what about my apartment? Do I just go missing? I doubt anyone would believe I’m me.

I frowned and stared at the ground. The last thought made me really sad. I wasn’t really given an informed choice in everything that had happened so far.

“You ok?”

I looked up just as I was about to walk into the back of Chelsea. She looked so professional. There was an air of confidence around her. I mentally compared myself. Where her hair was done, mine was loosely brushed (only because of Tory). She had makeup on, I didn’t. I felt lesser. I sighed as I went to answer.

“Yeah, I think.” I kept looking down as I spoke.

“Talk to me.”

I looked up to see concern written on her face. The lobby was empty, but she pulled me over to a plush seat.

“I just—” I paused as tears began to well up. She began to stroke my hand. 

I steeled myself and began to cry as I spoke.

 “I just still don’t understand. Why didn’t you talk to me about what you felt? You just took my decision away from me and completely uprooted my life.”

She pursed her lips.

“It’s better this way. Fledglings talk too much and it’s too easy to expose us. If we let you get established in the city, things would have been annoying.”

Anger flashed through me.

It would be annoying? Why do I give a fuck if it would be annoying? Did she think that was enough? And why did she seem annoyed that I still cared?

I wanted to give her a piece of my mind. I wanted to scream and yell. I wanted to hate her for doing this to me. But I couldn’t. Physically and mentally. I went to speak obscenities to her and my voice froze. I tried to think about hating her and I couldn’t. I seemed to instantly calm down.

Why was I trying to think badly of her? She’s given me everything I could’ve ever dreamed of. I should be thankful.

The second I thought of the idea, I couldn’t forget it. My body seemed to be forcing me to utter my next words.

“You’re right Chelsea. I don’t know what I was worried about.” I had stopped crying and wiped my face. She reached up and rubbed under my eyes affectionately.

She was so lovely.

A triumphant grin slowly appeared on her face as we both stood up.

“Ok, now let’s go!” she said while grabbing my hand.

I was tugged onto the street.

***

Very quickly, I realized something was wrong. People were staring at me. Men especially. These weren’t the casual glances I’d get normally. These were lingering stares.

I pulled closer to Chelsea and wrapped my arm around hers.

“Why are people looking at me?” I whispered to her.

“Hm? Oh, it’s cause you’re a girl now. This is normal.”

I blinked. Really? This amount of staring happened to women on a daily basis. We’d barely left the house and every person I’d seen had stared at us. I mentally realized almost all of them were men. Ew. Gross. My face scrunched up.

Chelsea laughed.

“Welcome to womanhood. It’s pretty fucking annoying,” she said and then leaned toward me and whispered so only I could hear, “luckily, I’m able to rip their fucking arms off if they try anything.”

That scared me a little. Her first thought was something that violent? Then I thought about it and realized if she got pushed to that point, the guys probably deserved it.

“Why did you want to walk?” I asked, trying to push my last thought away.

“I wanted you to experience the world a little in your new form. Plus, we need to slowly integrate you into our society so I’m taking you to the register.”

“The what?”

We had walked about 6 blocks. My hand was still interlocked around her arm as we spoke.

“The register. Everyone who is a vampire must be registered. It’s so the ruler and their council can keep track of everyone to make sure they don’t break any rules. Unregistered vampires are sought out and registered. If they refuse, they’re banished from the city. If they make any appearance afterwards, they’re killed.”

I felt a little sick.

“Killed?”

“I mean we give them all the opportunity to follow the rules. We can not have a wild unregistered vampire in the city. It would be chaos.”

I guess that made sense. It was a little spotty, but I still wasn’t sure about the finality of it. I leaned into her as we continued to walk.

The night was so nice. The sky was just black because of all the light pollution, but the twinkles in the tall towers seemed to glitter. I was a little sad that I couldn't see the stars like I used to, but the city had its own charm. The street lights were illuminating the ground for every step we took, while the cars created their own drawing with their lights. I was pulled from my admiration as the lights began to slowly dim and disappear all together.

“We’re almost there,” Chelsea spoke. I was a little startled. I just wasn’t ready for her to speak.

I nodded. The glaring city seemed to disappear and be replaced by a dark alley. She led us to a door at the end of the alley. It looked like a hefty steel door. The original coloring had changed and rusted away. Who knows how old this place was that she was taking me? Her small hand rapped on the door.

I glanced down at my own hand. It still felt weird to look at.

The door flew open. I felt like I almost broke Chelsea with how tightly I gripped her. The sound terrified me. It was like screaming in my ears.

“Shit, Joey. I’m here to register my blood daughter and she’s still a fledgling. Be more careful with the door. That hurt my ears, no telling what it did to her.”

My grip on Chelsea didn’t loosen as I looked towards the man in the door. He was a burly man. The bald head gave way to a kind face and a massive beard. The white collared shirt looked about seven sizes too small given how ripped the guy’s arms were. Was he a bodybuilder or something? He wasn’t very tall if he was. He barely scraped over Chelsea and she was wearing professional heels with her suit that added a little height.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t know.” He said the words with a rumbling deep voice. It was pleasant and clear.

“Just let us through,” Chelsea said, seemingly pissed off.

The man named Joey stared at me. It didn’t feel as lecherous as the ones the men on the streets had been giving me.

“Must be special if you turned ‘er,” he said while turning sideways to create more space in the door.

“Of course.”

I felt pride deep inside me.

We walked inside and I was surprised. It was clean. Compared to the outside I expected this place to be disgusting. The lighting was a soft yellowish glow, but the rest of the building almost felt like a clean DMV. Little chairs were scattered around the room, with what looked like a help desk and several other service kiosks.

How many people are vampires that they can have their own secret government-like buildings? How long is the wait at the Vampire DMV too?

I liked thinking of it as the Vampire DMV. It felt like it. I was annoyed and afraid to be yelled at for doing something stupid. Unfortunately, I was dead this time so I couldn’t actually wish to die if this took forever. Well not exactly or whatever, but the point still stands.

“How can I help you today?” The voice came from behind the desk.

“I’m Chelsea Hudson. Here to register my blood daughter, Isabelle Hudson.”

I let go of her arm as she started to talk to the man. I wanted to appear presentable. The man looked at Chelsea, then to me, and I gave him an awkward smile.

“Ok, Ms. Hudson. It’s been quite some time since you’ve given us a visit. Any caveats we should know about with this registration?”

“Yeah, we’re just trying the name ‘Isabelle’ out right now, but we’ll alert your office if there’s a change.”

“Wonderful. Did you want me to just enter your home information in here for her?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect! We’ll let your assistant know if we have any issues or need any more information.” He had a perfect smile on his face, but his face was pretty forgettable. Cute, but—

Why did I just think a man was cute? I’m gonna throw up.

“And welcome to your new life Isabelle.” I wasn’t prepared for him to talk to me and felt my face flush.

“Thanks.” I muttered the words and looked down. I felt a nudge in my back and looked up to see Chelsea. She mouthed the word ‘respectful’ and looked angry. I vaguely got the message, because it’s something my parents used to do when I was short with a worker.

“Sorry, thank you, sir.”

He laughed.

“No worries.” He shook his head at Chelsea. “Your mother’s a fantastic leader and I have no doubt you’ll do great things.”

“Thank you, Arthur, but we’ll be heading out now.”

“Of course.” He nodded respectfully and stood to bow.

Is this like a common thing? Is this vampire culture?

Chelsea guided me to turn around. We walked toward the door that Joey held open for us.

The gravel dust kicked up in the alley as we walked away from the register place. I was getting a better idea of this vampire world. It felt like I was swapping one bureaucratic and complicit existence for another. Hopefully, there’d be more interesting parts.

We came out of the alley way and I took in more of my surroundings. I had been so engrossed in looking up when we went in, that I wasn’t really sure of what we passed on our way there. On the other side of the street, there was a touristy shop. It had all kinds of New York City memorabilia on display. There was some stuff outside, but it looked like a lot more on the inside.

I tugged at Chelsea’s blazer.

“Can we go in there?” I said while pointing at the store.

Her face twisted a little.

“Why?”

“I just moved to New York and I kinda want to see what they have. Pleeeeeaaaaase?” I begged.

“Oh, fine,” she said while she pulled out a hundred dollar bill and put it in my hand. “Here. You go in there, and do not leave. Buy whatever you want and then wait right outside. I’m going to go find someone to drink, then I’ll come back. I’ve had a hell of a day and the last thing I need right now is to stare at some touristy junk.”

I was a little sad she wasn’t coming with me and had bashed the idea instead. I was happy to buy a little souvenir. Maybe I could get a postcard too and try to keep some form of contact with my birth mom.

I crossed the street while Chelsea just seemed to disappear. I guess speed was a vampire thing.

The front looked quaint and much more what I was used to. The rich feel of Chelsea was kind of suffocating. This felt more me. The door was creaky but opened easily. I stepped inside the small space.

The walls were filled with shirts, hats, and sweaters. There were several little stands set up that had name cards, shot glasses, and little statue of liberty figurines. Two other people were in the store. Definitely an employee and a girl in the back. I didn’t see a uniform so she must’ve been a shopper.

“Need any help, miss?” The employee asked.

“I’m okay. Just looking for now.” I replied flatly but with a smile on my face. I really just wanted to check around and, without Chelsea, I felt out of my element.

He nodded and went back to doing something on his laptop that sat on the display case that doubled as a counter.

I stepped to my right and went from the rough texture of the door mat to the squishy weirdly hard ground. I realized they had put peel stick wood flooring and it was bunching up where I was. It felt weird to stand on so I made my way farther in the store.

I really didn’t know what drew me to this store in the first place. It was just touristy junk and it felt useless. I turned away from the tacky shirts and saw something I knew I had to have. There was a little refrigerator name tag that had the New York license plate. I walked over and began to spin the carousel looking for Isabelle.

“Hey! I was looking at that.” The voice sounded flustered but pretty. For the second time, I flushed red with embarrassment. I looked up to see the owner was the woman I’d seen originally.

She was way taller than me. At least like four or five inches. She had light brown hair cut into a shag with cute bangs and circle glasses. The eyes and mouth looked familiar. She was really pretty. Honestly, she rivaled Chelsea. Chelsea was the beauty of night and this woman was the beauty of light. Contrasting but similar.

“I’m sorry!” I blurted out the words so fast and spun the thing back to her.

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and went back to looking.

My heart was beating out of my chest and I wanted to stare at this woman. Those eyes were so familiar too. Why couldn’t I stop thinking about them?

I searched the side I could see and didn’t find my name. They were out of a lot on the license plate version, so I walked around to the next side. Out again. I avoided the last one with the girl. Really? Zero for Three? Is it even worth it to bother this wonderful girl again?

You know what. Fuck it. I just found out I’m trans and I’m gonna find a name tag with my name on it, even if I annoy this girl. Who cares?

I stayed away from her a little, but kept looking for my name. There it was. Finally. I reached out to grab it. As I did, the girl seemed to make the same motion but for the one above it. I saw her wrist and almost screamed. She had a grey-ish rope bracelet on that had three charms. The sun, a rainbow, and the letter ‘H.’

“Hazel?”

“What?” she looked at me confused.

Hazel and I made each other friendship bracelets at 13. She had just come out as a lesbian to me and we were about to finish middle school. We made those as a promise to never forget each other no matter what. She loved the sun so I added it as part of the hand made bracelet. The one she gave me was orange with three similar charms: a moon, a leaf, and a butterfly. I usually never take it off, but I didn’t want to lose it so I put it in my room bag when I moved. I probably would’ve put it on in the morning if I’d woken up there.

I stared at her bracelet. She pulled away a little.

“Why are you being so creepy?” She backed away from me with the name tag in her hand. “First, you’re an ass and now you just say my name after seeing me pick out a cheesy name tag. What’s wrong with you?”

I realized how weird I probably looked to her. I didn’t resemble what she remembers at all. I felt a deep sadness course through me. I gripped onto the name tag I was buying. I have to get her to trust me and tell her who I am.

I took a deep breath.

“Hazel Johnson, Winchester, Virginia. Moved away from me at 16 and never said a word to me ever since.” I angrily spat the last words. She left me and I was still hurt that she never tried to keep in touch.

“What?” She looked terrified. “Who are you? And how do you know so much about me?”

“I was your best friend. Look, there’s a lot I need to explain, but I can’t do it here. It’s not safe enough.” I leaned in and whispered, “do you remember Chris Higgins? That’s me, if you want more information we need to meet. Are you ok with that?”

She seemed to freeze in a shocked look at the mention of my old name. Slowly she nodded.

“Okay. I’ll write down an address for you to meet me at tomorrow, this time ok?”

She stared at my face deep in thought. It felt like she was picking apart every detail in me. She nodded again. I quickly walked up to the cashier and pulled out the hundred. He looked annoyed.

“I can’t accept that.”

“What?”

“It’s too big of a bill.”

I sighed, feeling extremely defeated. Hazel’s hand put two tens down past me and paid for both of ours.

“I got it.” She smiled at the cashier and then I felt her voice in my ear, “if this is some kind of sick joke, I will literally kill you. Don’t fuck with me.”

Since when was Hazel like this? I was freaked out. I felt like the roles had just flipped and did the same sheepish nod she was just doing.

The guy handed her her change.

“Receipt?”

“Yes!” I perked up. I remembered I needed it. He handed it to me and I grabbed a pen. I scribbled the address I had been moving into yesterday and handed it to Hazel.

She looked me in the eyes and said, “Remember what I said.” She turned around and left the store.

I felt drained. Since when was Hazel in New York? Of all places, here. What are the odds of that?

I felt like I was pulling myself out of the store. I made it outside and waited for Chelsea. It didn’t take too long and she was back. She looked a bit happier and we made our way back to the penthouse.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Hazel and how I was gonna get out to see her tomorrow.

“Hey, what time is it Chels?”

She glanced at her phone.

“10:20. Why?”

“Just wondering.” I wasn’t exactly sure what time I’d be meeting Hazel and I wanted a refresher. 

“Are my days gonna be flipped around now?”

“I doubt it. All my blood children can walk in daylight. You just have to finish turning. It’d be too bright for you right now.”

I nodded. I took her arm again and felt a little bit giddy about seeing Hazel for the first time in forever.

“What’d you get in there?”

“Oh yeah!” I pulled out the name tag. “It’s a name tag magnet that says Isabelle!”

“Aw, that’s adorable! I’ll stick this right on the refrigerator!”

I grinned. The rest of the trip back was happy silence.

Chelsea scanned her card at the elevator and we went up to the house.