ALL NOVEL Who lit this gas?
**Content Warnings**:
The door creaked open letting light from the massive windows in the living room shine in. The room was bathed in light now, no more glimmer of hope. I couldn’t be a human or a fledgling anymore. A silhouette stood in the doorway. The curves were gracious and the hair elegant. I was drawn to the image as my eyes adjusted to the new light. It was her, Chelsea.
Her indigo eyes seemed to shine a bit brighter as she smiled mischievously. Her smile was pearlescent. My thoughts seemed to jump from my head as I stared at her beauty. Her mere presence lulled me into calm and serenity.
“Quite the night, hm?”
Even her voice was a graceful tune. I wanted to just exist with her and I was happy to see her.
“Judging by your silly little grin,” she paused to lean on the door frame, “I’d say you’re feeling pretty good right now.” She laughed a little as she spoke.
I nodded my head up and down. I felt like I was in a stupor of euphoria. There was nothing negative about any feelings.
“Alright Belle, get up and come to the living room.”
My legs seemed to move on their own. Once my feet hit the floor, I was moving towards her. With a sappy smile on my face, I walked slowly. It felt like I was floating on air. She turned around to walk. I followed dutifully.
“Wooow, she’s much calmer now,” Tory said sitting cross-legged on the sofa.
“I know right! I love it!” Chelsea turned to me, “and I’m sure you are too sweetie.”
I nodded again.
Tory laughed and Chelsea smiled as she sat down in her chair. I made my way over to the sofa and sat down.
“Ok, I know it’s fun to mess with her right now, but I do actually want the real Belle back. Return mind.”
My thoughts turned to mush for a second then a wave overtook me. Everything came back–every worry and fear. I remembered all of last night and everything up to the door opening.
“What the hell did you do to me?” I yelled.
“Tsk-tsk-tsk,” Chelsea clicked her tongue in disgust. “That is no way to speak to your mother, young lady! From here on out, you will not curse! In mind or in words.”
I felt an invisible force around me. It pulled toward Chelsea and suddenly ruptured. It felt like a clear bubble, but it cracked and faltered. Her words overtook me and were gospel.
“Frogs you!” I gasped as the words left my mouth. “Shark! Broccoli! Cork! Sugar! What the actual foam?”
Tory giggled as I spoke each word. I stared at her with hatred filling my eyes then I turned towards Chelsea.
She looked pleased.
“Ok, you can stop looking at me and, especially, your sister with such venom. All I’ve done so far is make you trust me more when you're around me and not be allowed to curse anymore. Is that really so bad?”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better? You can literally control how I feel and act. I’ve lost all autonomy!”
“She wouldn’t have had to do that if you just trusted her from the get go!” Tory spoke up. “You even have the blood bond. It’s really not that hard, but noooooo. You just had to go and sneak out to meet a random person.”
“She’s right, you know? We wouldn’t have taken such drastic measures if you actually listened and stayed home yesterday. Plus we can’t exactly have you exposing us as vampires to humans. Like I know you’re new but that’s like vampire 101.”
I stared down at the ground. My whole sense of self was being torn apart as I analyzed how much control Chelsea had over me.
“She wasn’t a random person.” It was all I could muster as my thoughts spiralled into an oblivion of fear and uncertainty.
Chelsea raised an eyebrow, then spoke.
“If she wasn’t, then explain and don’t leave out anything.”
I sighed and resigned myself. There was no point in fighting this. She could force me to tell if I didn’t and what good would it do for me to lose control of myself into that weird trance she can put me in.
“Her name is, or was, Hazel Johnson. I’m not exactly sure about the last name anymore, because she’s a vampire.”
The two looked at each other with a worried expression.
“Why did you refuse to tell me that you spoke with a vampire?” Chelsea looked hurt as she spoke.
“Why did you not tell me the specifics of a blood bond?” I spat the words at her.
“Oh please, that was literally to help ease you into being a vampire. How would you have reacted if I outright told you that you were mentally connected to me?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but I had to close it because I didn’t know how to respond. I still angrily pouted because I didn’t think omitting the fact was helpful either.
Chelsea chuckled.
“Got you stumped, don’t I?”
I glared at her.
Fish this.
I mentally groaned at my inability to curse.
Tory started to giggle as she looked at my sour demeanor.
“It really is best if you just hear her out rather than pout, little sis,” she smiled in the worst way–the older sibling smirk. Seeing it just made me pout more regardless of her words.
“Don’t antagonize her.” Chelsea leered at Tory. She continued looking at me, “Look, I know we probably terrified you yesterday, but most things do for fledglings. You’re new and everything’s scary. Plus, Miss heavy hand over here almost tore your clavicle off.” She glared at Tory again.
The younger girl evaded her eyes and sheepishly smiled.
“I’m confused,” I spoke up, breaking Chelsea’s stare, “why do I have a freaky mind control link to you and why do you sound annoyed at her? You practically encouraged her to!”
Chelsea looked shocked.
“I did not! You need to understand something. I found out that after I left, this little idiot,” she said gesturing to Tory, “gave you what she thought was a sleep aid, but what was really a psychedelic.”
“I apologized!” Tory whined.
“To me! Not to her though!” Chelsea rebutted.
Tory huffed and turned away.
What the heck are they talking about? Was I really on drugs the whole time I saw Hazel? There’s no way.
Chelsea must’ve recognized my confusion and spoke up.
“Ok, explanation time. Do not interrupt me. Either of you,” she glared at Tory.
“That’s why I was at the diner. Tory decided that she knew better than me and fed you pretty much right after I left. Considering how quick it was after your last meal, it worsened the change. It brought about fatigue, muscle changes, bone changes, and, most importantly, high receptiveness.”
“One thing I didn’t tell you is that during the fledgling period, vampires are at their weakest points. Your body is changing and is essentially made of glass, compared to the rest of your life. Any substance, blood, or in this case, drugs,” she glanced angrily at Tory again, “has an extreme effect on you. She decided to help you through the pain of the changes by making you inhale Coals, a drug that normally helps Pure’s sleep. Because you’re not a Pure and were extremely susceptible, it knocked you out while having a late psychedelic effect. That’s probably why yo–”
“Just stop lying,” I interrupted her.
She looked annoyed.
“I’m not lying. Coals shouldn’t effect Turned, but you weren’t done with your change yet so–”
“I’m not sure why, but I can tell you’re lying.”
She smiled.
“Well, it looks like the jig is up Tory,” she laughed.
“Dang it! I thought that would’ve worked!” Tory sounded like a kid who wasn’t getting what they wanted.
I was only more confused.
“Can you please explain to me what the horse is going on?”
Chelsea shifted a little in her chair. She crossed her legs and her whole demeanor changed.
“Well I had to test everything to make sure the bond was sound now didn’t I?”
“What?” I asked.
She turned to Tory.
“You can go dear. I have quite a lot to talk to Isabelle about.”
“Ok, Chels! See ya!” she started towards the door, then turned around, “Have fun Isabelle! Text me when you're done. I want to go shopping!” She hurried towards the elevator and was gone.
“I’m so confused.” I put my head in my hands as my head started to hurt. Chelsea started to speak with a renewed vigor. It was less calm and kind, more abrupt.
“Ok, no bullshit anymore. You can’t lie to me. It results in things like last night. That was essentially a gift that you don’t even really understand yet. We completed your transition into a vampire last night. We basically gave you a reward for your misdeeds. That won’t happen again. It only happened this time because it overall helped all of us.
“First off, Tory did push it a little too far with the pain. I kind of forgot that you feel pain the way you do. I’ve never felt it like humans do. Secondly, all that weird cooky shit I can do with my eyes, hair, and voice is something only Pures can do, not the result of the actual sleep aid Tory gave you. I’m not even sure why, but I know it can be scary as hell. I’m only telling you this so you don’t get afraid if another Pure tries the same bullshit. It’s basically a party trick. Finally, the only reason I was so pissed last night is because I could smell the James’ clan radiating off of you. Why did you meet another vampire, especially one from the James’ clan? No lies or I’m making you forget for a while.”
I slowly nodded as I tried to grapple with everything she just said.
“It was an old friend from Virginia and she wasn’t a vampire when I last knew her. I only asked her to meet because I haven’t seen her since I was 16. Plus, it was really a stupid on the whim decision. I didn’t exactly plan it extensively. I met her in that store where I got the name tag and just asked her to meet.”
“Ok, good. No lies,” she seemed to instantly relax. Her voice was less obtrusive and back to its calm tone. She continued, “yes, it was stupid. I don’t intend to use the mind link by the way. As long as you truly tell me no lies, you’ll always have autonomy. Blood bonds can’t be broken so it's up to the Pure to stay true to their word. The only reason I went so far yesterday is because there’s been an extensive situation. Someone is destroying my council members along with feeding heavily in my territory. Naturally, when you thought of my name, I scried on you expecting to see you at home.”
“Wait. You can see where I am when you scry?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll explain more of the details in a second. Let me finish this first.”
“After scrying and seeing you in your old apartment, I got worried you were taken. Then it seemed like you were enjoying yourself, so I scratched off that possibility. I started to get worried you were a potential spy. The person stayed out of your view constantly, or you could have purposely avoided looking at them. That seemed like too big of a coincidence, so I was more suspicious. You left and then avoided us at the diner and I could smell James’ filth on you. Fully turning you, was the only way to truly use the blood bond to find the truth. I had to make sure you weren’t some James’ thrall who was sent to infiltrate us. I didn’t think so, but fear is an effective interrogation tool.”
“Yeah and apparently mind control too.” I mumbled under my breath.
Chelsea laughed loudly.
“That’s funny!”
Ah spark! I forgot about her dumb hyper hearing. Wait, do I have that now?
“So, I’m a full vampire now, we’re hyper blood bonded or whatever, and I can’t lie or curse anymore? Am I missing anything?”
“Not really. The cursing thing is funny so I’m leaving that on for now,” she smiled, “and the lying thing is only to me or Tory. We’ll be able to kind of tell. It’s like a gut feeling. You felt it earlier.”
“Ok, fair. But can you explain the scrying thing now?”
“Yeah, it’s only with a blood bond to a Pure, but we can view what you see when you think of or say our names. Don’t look so shocked though. There’s a way to block that one. You should feel a slight pressure behind your eyes when it happens and all you have to do is shut your eyes. After a second or so, the pressure should stop because there needs to be constant image feedback to stay connected. It’s hard to scry again after failing. It usually takes 10 minutes to recuperate if the scry fails.”
Ok well that sounds a little better. Not as much lack of frosting independence as I thought.
“You’ll have to practice to make sure you can feel it though.”
“That’s understandable because I didn’t even know you were doing it.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty slight.”
The whole mood had shifted now. It wasn’t as scary as it was when I woke up. I didn’t think Chelsea was a devil anymore. That’s good at least. We were casually talking at this point.
Chelsea’s face turned stern again.
“You need to understand though. You won’t be seeing the Hazel girl any time soon. I don’t particularly like the James’ and, as of right now, she’s a suspect in the murder of three of my councilmen. They were good people. And there is to be no cross territorial feeding, with these murders, it’s likely a James’ feeding here too.” Her face twisted in anger. “You’re also not allowed to leave this house until you’re trained. Tory’s offer to shop is entirely virtual. You are too dangerous to be manipulated by anyone because you have a direct link to me. That could spell death for too many people if there was a territory war resulting from your capture.”
I soaked up everything she said. I was a little worried. She said she wasn’t going to abuse the mind link, but this felt pretty abusive to my independence. I had to resign my thoughts because she held all the power in this domain. It’s not like I could really fight back.
“Fine.” I grunted, “mom.”
She chuckled slightly.
“I’m going out to get your dinner. Once I get back, we’re starting your training. Go relax in your room. Read a book or watch a show. Take this free time for what it’s worth.”
I nodded slightly. I didn’t want to have to listen to her but this whole talk could’ve gone a lot worse. She could’ve actually been a demon or something.
“Alright, stay safe. And remember, I will know if you leave. It’s less to do with scrying this time and more to do with the monitors I installed on the elevator. You now need a code to leave. Right now, you don’t have one. Sorry.” She looked genuinely sad.
“Whatever, I get it.” I pouted as she got up and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“It’ll be okay sweetheart,” she pulled me tighter, “I’ll be back soon and we can talk some more without all the bullshit and I should have more time.”
I nodded as I held on to her.
She kissed my forehead and then let go to walk to the elevator.
“I’ll be back soon. I swear. Don’t forget to text Tory, there’s a phone for you on the counter. Or do, it’s up to you.” she waved and left down the elevator.
I just stared at the wall for a bit as I thought about everything.
Could I really trust Chels and Tory? It kind of makes sense, but I think I need to talk to Hazel again. Who knows when that’ll be though.
I pulled myself off of the couch and went to check out the phone on the counter. There was a brand new iPhone in its sleek box. I was a little excited because I loved getting new things, especially expensive new things. As I went to open the box, I had an amazing thought.
Wait! What about the phone Hazel gave me??
I stopped caring about the new phone and ran to my room. I searched frantically for the leggings I was wearing yesterday. I quickly came to the clothes hamper and thanked Chelsea's need to be organized.
On the very top of the clothes, was the bloody shirt and leggings I wore yesterday. I pulled the pants out and rifled through them.
How the hockey is the burner phone supposed to be here when these don’t even have pockets? Think woman, think! I said to myself as I shuffled the pants around.
Where did I put the thing in the first place? Retrace your steps. I got the phone and had a mental issue because of the lack of pockets, so I pushed it into the elastic of the leggings. If it’s not in this room, then Chels probably has it.
I put the leggings back in the hamper and, with little faith, began to look around my room. I spent a good few minutes checking various locations with little success. I crouched to look under my bed when I saw it. Right in the corner between the bed stand and my night stand, the phone was sitting there.
It must’ve fallen out when we got back and Chels or Tory didn’t notice! Yes!!!! I can actually get some info from Hazel!
I picked it up and held my only lifeline in my hand as I breathed a sigh of relief.
