#fledgling!reader

"This is... certainly most unusual." the blonde woman commented slowly, her eyes glued to your form as you sat quietly on the giant’s lap.

They had you inside their massive black van now, seated on plush seats in the back while someone named Laswell analyzed you. Despite their attempts to rock you to sleep, anxiety and nerves had left you frozen in König’s arms the entire time as you waited for the car to arrive.

And this woman was freaking scary!

They all were, of course, but you had thought that another girl would make you feel more at ease.

THAT WAS NOT THE CASE.

She wasn’t particularly tall for a vampire, but she was still easily bigger than any human woman you had ever met. Her eyes were red, like any other vampire’s, though hers were much lighter—muted. She was blonde, her hair tied in a low bun adorned with red and black jewels.

And you were pretty sure they were real jewels, considering she was also dressed to the nines. While the other two wore more military/action-heavy clothing—despite their outfits also looking very expensive—this woman was dressed in a snug black suit. No tie, but more importantly, no undershirt. Just a blazer that left a bit of her cleavage exposed.

It made you blush a bit when you realized what you were seeing.

She also just looked imposing, one hand against her mouth as she stared down at you on König's lap with intelligent eyes.

"She refuses to sleep or relax." König muttered in that heavy, low voice of his, making you try to look up at his covered face once again.

He didn’t seem to mind your movement or curiosity—only making sure that you remained seated on his lap and didn’t attempt to run.

“I have never seen a fledgling like this.” Horangi hissed under his breath, his voice taut with unease. He crossed his arms firmly over his chest, standing beside Laswell. “Who would be foolish enough to mistreat a fledgling here? This is our territory. Who would dare?”

“I have never seen such a vicious turning bite…” Laswell murmured slowly, lowering herself slightly to take your face in her grasp. Her long nails tapped lightly against your skin as she tilted your head upward, exposing more of your neck. “This will be taken to tribunal. A crime of this nature is not merely an offense—it is an abomination.”

The way her face scrunched up in genuine disturbance made you realize that this situation might be more serious than you had first anticipated.

König’s hand rose to your neck, his grip gentle yet firm as he held your head in place, keeping your throat exposed. His other hand moved to the buttons of your polo shirt, undoing them one by one to widen the opening, revealing more of the strange, crack-like marks on your skin.

“...It was a method of torture, in old Europe.” König murmured, his voice thick with his accent as he examined the bite himself. Where the teeth had torn through flesh, the marks spread in jagged streaks, making it impossible to tell where the bite had first landed. “Vampires’ venom would be harvested from their enemies and injected into humans—forcing a fledgling transformation within the depths of torture chambers.”

“Right. But that’s what puzzles me—the sire.” Laswell drawled slowly, her eyes narrowing in thought and quiet disdain as her fingers continued to trace your damaged skin with unsettling gentleness. “It is instinctual for a sire to care for their fledgling… yet it is clear this was not done with a mere syringe. These marks—this wound—suggest it was inflicted by the sire themselves.”

"Ah...!" You flinched slightly as her finger brushed over a particularly sore spot, but you couldn’t pull away, not with König still holding your head in place.

The woman immediately withdrew her hand, crossing her arms neatly as she examined you for a few moments longer.

"She's conscious enough to feel this?"

“Surprisingly, yes, she seems to be.” Horangi replied, kneeling to meet your eyes, his right hand coming up to rest lightly on your lap. “I can’t even fathom how, but I’m almost certain she’s somewhat coherent.”

“Coherent." Laswell repeated, her brow raised—not questioning, but emphasizing.

“She is speaking. We asked her about her sire, and she didn’t know how to answer. I’m not sure if it’s the usual confusion from young fledglings who’ve just been turned, or if she truly doesn’t understand what it means, but she was able to comprehend us enough to answer verbally.”

That made Laswell let out a short bark of laughter, utterly flabbergasted. The surprised look on her face only made you feel even more unsettled.

“No, it’s the last option.... I don’t know what a ‘Sire’ is...!” you protested weakly, your small hands coming up to try and pry König’s grip from your neck.

Your first coherent phrase since they took you caused all three of their heads to snap toward you, their eyes drilling into your still annoyed and frightened expression.

“What...?” The blond woman stared at you, her face showing the most surprise it could muster. “She... is she actually sound of mind right now?”

"Yes...? I mean, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be, it’s just—goddammit, let go!" You cut yourself off, whining in frustration up at König as you struggled to make him move his hand from your neck. He hesitated for a moment but eventually relented. "Thank you..."

"She's actually coherent... has it ever happened with a fledgling so young?" Horangi mumbled in silent shock, still kneeling beside you. Even with the partial mask and glasses, you could see the frown on his face.

"It doesn’t matter. We’re taking her to the Coven right now." Laswell shook her head, speaking quickly as she climbed into the front seat of the van, starting the vehicle. "We need to get her to the rehabilitation center as soon as possible. I’m afraid her transformation is going wrong."

"I-I don't think-"

You are interrupted as you let out a loud cry, Horangi's hand pressing just slightly over the markings on your shoulder.

"She's pumped full of venom, this is almost... unnatural...." He hisses slightly, expression furrowing in uneseaness. "She was supposed to be out cold at least for two weeks straight, four at most."

"C-Can you stop touching it...??" You whine a bit in pain, shoving his hand away with your much smaller one. "This hurts..."

He stares back at your face for a bit, still seemingly unsure about your conciousness, but he nods once and sits back on his calves, staring at you with a focus that made you squirm in place.

"Fledgling." The heavy voice above you made you look up at König, frowning a bit. "Here, follow my hand."

You could only frown more as he put his hand in front of you, snapping his fingers to call your attention. You stared at it, unsure, watching it go up and down, side to side, all the while snapping. It made you feel like a dog, but you could actually feel your slow reaction time on this.

"She's very cognitive for a just-turned, but for normal paramitres, she's having a slow reaction time." Horangi commented, still watching you closely as you tried to keep up with König's hand.

"Ask her questions, let's see how coherent she is. Even if I don't like it, there's must be answers we can get from this." Laswell commented from the front of the van, speeding up at bit too much for it to be safe.

Not that any of them seemed to care about road safety right now.

"I-I can understand you all just fine, I'm just a bit tired...." You murmur back, giving up on following König's hand as you started to feel a bit nauseus.

Horangi hummed at your words, quiet and considering, staring at your little form still being held by König.

"When were you transformed?"

"Uhh... like, bitten...? Like, a week ago..."

That gained you a big pause inside the van, the three of them staying in apperantly quiet shock. The van was going even faster now.

"By who?" König almost snarled, his hand tilting your head up to look at him properly. "Stop pulling on my head all the time... this actually hurts..." You mumbled back, trying to pull his heavy hand away from your head and neck area. "And you think I know who did this...? I have no idea...!"

König only let out a low growl, clearly unamused, but it was Horangi who called your attention back to the matter, snapping his fingers to make you look at his face — or rather, his glasses, in this case.

"Can you describe them?"

"No, it was dark and I have no idea what that vampire looked like, h-he was covered from head to toe too...." You frowned, also not very amused by your situation. "I-I... look, I'm really confused, if you could... I mean... where... where are we going...?"

"The Coven." Laswell answered easily, seriously, still speeding up through the streets. You wished you could see outside right now, but here was no windows in the back of the van. "And to the nursery."

"What even is that...?" You whine softly, unsure, leaning slightly forward to try and look at Laswell. "L-Look, I have school, a-and work, could we just... be quick about it?" "Fledgling, you have no idea the gravity of your situation." Horangi commented slowly, shaking his head. "This is your life we're talking about. You might die, if we are not quick enough. And by our laws..."

This was hell.

Actually, you truly believed hell must be kinder than whatever the hell was happening to your body these past few days.

Should you call the support line after all?

And to think it was all your boss’s fault. If that jerk hadn’t made you work overtime and close the stupid convenience store without any warning, maybe you could have found a way to get home safely.

But nooooo...

Now thanks to that, you were attacked on your way home after work.

Attacked in the middle of the night, on a week day, too far from any houses for anyone to hear the commotion.

And it had been a vampire.

You didn’t know much about vampires. Their species was way too mysterious and reserved with outsiders. That’s not to say they didn’t interact with humans—because they did, especially with the wealthy—but it was one of those situations where someone like you would never get the chance to speak with one.

They were high society. Big families that controlled entire cities and states. Like the Mafia or some shit, living in the rich part of town that you had never even set foot in before.

Although, you had heard of vampires appearing here and there sometimes, walking around through the city quietly and discreetly when problems needed to be solved.

Problems like feral vampires.

Loners cast aside from their Covens for one reason or another, now crazed and out of control, following their bloodlust blindly. They killed as easily as any vampire did, even if their only focus was to drink their victims' blood.

Dangerous creatures...

They were rare—incredibly so—since it was the responsibility of the high covens to protect the normal folk from ferals. They rarely appeared in other vampires' territory, fearing the powerful presence of their own kind.

But sometimes...

Sometimes, a new one would appear from far away, starved and crazed like most of them were by that point. And usually they managed to kill one victim before the covens hunted them down to kill them for good.

So it was very important to call the right number to report feral vampires in the area.

Should you have done that? Yes, you should have. You really should have. But you were so. freaking. tired.

You were a college student working part-time at a convenience store. After waking up from your near-death experience, you just couldn’t bring yourself to care anymore. In fact, for a good while after waking up, you even thought you had hallucinated everything. You went home like it was just another night, your mind drifting, more absent than present.

The moment your head hit the pillow, you were out.

But, when you looked at yourself in the mirror the next morning...

You were supposed to be dead. Someone would find your body—drained and wounded—and call the feral hotline. Vampires would show up, deal with the feral with minimal effort, and make sure the area was secured again. That’s just how it goes.

EXCEPT!

You are fucking alive!!

You didn’t even know that was possible—a feral giving up on its prey after pinning it down instead of just killing it for the blood.

It was talking, too—mumbling nonsense by your ear, like it was actually trying to communicate with you.

It bit you, injecting its venom.

Your skin was horribly marked now. The wounds that had once been there had all turned into thin layers of scar tissue. Not the usual kind, but one formed by the venom injected into your bloodstream. The red and black layers against your otherwise normal skin tone made it look like the weirdest tattoo you’d ever seen—like you were a broken porcelain doll with satan himself trying to break free from inside out.

It started at your neck, on your left shoulder, blooming into an ugly, messy bite that was definitely the most obvious problem there.

It went down your left arm and chest, streaks that looked like veins, or cracks.

The artwork was completed by ending on the wounds you’d gotten on your lower body while fighting off the vampire on top of you—scrapes around your hips and legs.

At least you actually searched a bit about vampires after that, panicking hard over the weird markings on your skin. The only and most important thing you needed to know was whether ferals could transform humans or not.

Which, unsurprisingly, they could.

At least, in theory.

They still have their venom, but when they go feral, they usually just want to drink blood from their victims blindly, and the venom is mostly forgotten. There was never a case of a feral actually turning someone into a vampire!

Maybe that feral wasn’t as far gone as the others...

But now, this was somehow your problem! You barely knew anything about vampires', or how they worked in the first place!

What do they even do after transforming someone?

Are you really a vampire now??

Why did you have the ugliest markings all over your body after being bitten, when you’d never heard of vampires leaving markings like this???

And why the hell was your boss still making you go to work after you told him you were attacked late at night last week, the asshole?!?!

Maybe you should’ve specified it was a vampire who attacked you, but you were scared to face what had happened. What had been done to you, and what you might now become. Do you need to speak to vampires now? Are you actually one? You don't even have any fangs or anything different besides the markings...

You had so much to do—so many projects left unfinished for school. You never missed class, not even when you were sick. But now that you’ve become a completely different species…

"Dearie, what happened to you??"

You were startled by the worried voice of an old lady close to you, making you look up from the chip bags you had been staring at for a solid five minutes in the middle of the aisle.

You glanced back at her for a few seconds before turning your gaze to your own body, looking down at your neck and collarbone where the giant marking started, barely hidden by the collar of your work shirt.

"Oh, it's... dunno, a birthmark." You mumble, tired, not really caring much for a better excuse.

You were so tired lately... what the hell even happened? You always had that healthy college student tiredness from working and studying, but it never made your body feel this heavy.

If you were any more weak-minded, you might have just stayed in bed forever.

But then again, college student.

"It doesn't look like one…." The woman squinted, analyzing your neck like it was her fucking business.

Okay, maybe you were also a bit more irritaded than normal.

"Ma'am, it's nothing. Can I help you with something?" You force a smile, though it’s more cynical than polite, as you weren’t really in the mood to be that polite to people who couldn’t mind their own business.

She stared at you for a few more long seconds in complete silence, her eyes squinting as she made that slow, long hum that old people make when they're being casually judgmental.

"That's a vampire thing, isn't it?" A middle-aged man appeared around the corner, his eyes also drifting to your neck as he tilted his head to the side. "It looks like a vampire bite on your neck..."

This guy you actually know—Thomas, from the real estate office nearby—who always comes to buy a snack around this time of day.

"How did you even get to that conclusion...?" You mumble, frowning slightly in annoyance.

"For one, I can see two teeth marks on your neck, clearly. Second, have you not seen the news? There's a feral mosquito zooming around our area. He was spotted last week and still hasn't been caught."

The old lady gasped in shock, eyes wide as she turned back to you.

"Have you been attacked, dear?!"

Well, fuck. So much for ignoring the problem until it couldn’t be ignored anymore.

"I guess..." You shrug, wincing slightly at the pain that shot up your left shoulder from the action.

"You guess?? You should’ve called the hotline if you were attacked!" Thomas frowned, just as confused as he was indignant.

"You don’t get it, I have so much going on right now..." You groan tiredly, already slipping into a depressive mood as you remember all the work you still had to do for your classes.

"What does that even have to do wit—?!"

"Hey, what's with the commotion?!"

You sighed heavily at your boss’s loud voice booming through the store, the balding man approaching with a huffy expression, slightly controlled thanks to the two clients standing with you in the aisle.

"Didn't know you were at the store today, mr. Miller...." You mumble softly, trying to dodge the last subject.

"I wasn’t supposed to be! But we all received a notification—there’s a Coven coming here to deal with the fucking feral!" He grunts, clearly annoyed. "I came to close the store; apparently, those snobby suckers want all businesses closed to make their work easier."

"Oh no, don’t tell me that…" Thomas sighs, suffering, pulling his phone from his pocket immediately to start a call with what you can only assume is his manager, turning away from the group.

"Does that mean I can go?" You ask, raising an eyebrow as you point hesitantly at the glass door.

"Oh, you have to let her go, she needs to go to the hospital...!" The old lady quickly agrees, nodding with the most pitiful look on her face.

"Hey, hey, wait a sec, who said anything about a hospital—?"

"You still haven’t checked the fucking mark consuming your neck? Are you trying to kill yourself, girly??" Mr. Miller interrupts, glaring at you like this situation isn’t part of his fault.

"What the hell? You didn’t give me any days off??" You sputter, indignant.

"I have only you and that stoned kid right now, I can't afford to give any days off! You should go when you have time, like everyone else who works!"

You’re ready to probably yell back at his face when Thomas quickly runs back to the group, a bit desperate as he fumbles with his bags and cellphone.

"They're already here...! I have to go back too!"

"Yeah, I should be going too! Hit me up when you're uptaded, Mr. Miller! Thanks so much, bye-bye!" You say quickly, running out the door after Thomas, your backpack already over your shoulder.

You couldn't even focus on your boss' loud ass voice as you hurried down the street, your head pounding relentlessly. Ever since you got bitten, this had been your reality—splitting headaches, aching muscles, no appetite, itchy gums, and, above all, a bone-deep exhaustion.

To be fair, some of the symptoms were still pretty mild. But deep down, a gnawing fear told you something was off. You could barely wrap your head around the fact that you were actually turning (had already turned?) into a vampire. But feeling like absolute crap made you wonder… what if something was going wrong?

You should call the hotline. You should go to the hospital. Just get it over with—at least get some help. But wouldn’t that change everything? Wouldn’t it make things even more complicated? And what would the all-powerful vampires do with you then?

God, you can’t graduate if you miss too many assignments in a row!

Don’t you have that group project due in two weeks—the one no one in your group has even said a peep about?

A small noise from the other side of the otherwise silent street caught your attention, your head snapping up in alert. The street was empty—of both cars and people, as usual—except for the two men standing by the closed pet store.

And goddamn, these were NOT normal men.

They were dressed strangely, a mix of military style and high-end fashion. Clearly rich. Heavy black clothes with small pops of color, loaded with pockets and belts. Their boots—thick, heavy, the kind that could break your bones with a single kick.

But that wasn’t the weird part...

No, the weird part was how much of their faces they were covering. One of the men wore a heavy jacket, with a hood and beanie pulled up to hide his jet-black hair. A black surgical mask—like the kind you'd see in a hospital—covered his face, and dark sunglasses hid his eyes.

The other… good lord, he had to be around three meters tall. Sure, vampires were naturally bigger than humans, but still… what the hell? This guy was wearing a full veil over his head, black, with suspicious red streaks running down it, and his heavy clothes hid the rest of his body just as much.

They... they had to be vampires, right...?

You flinched when the man wearing sunglasses suddenly snapped his head in your direction. His face was completely hidden, but you could feel the intensity of his gaze. The other man too turned in your direction slowly, now both of them facing you, completely still.

It truly seemed as if time had stopped for a few moments. No one moved or made a sound. You weren’t sure what to do. The ugly markings on your skin—too high on your neck to be hidden by your snug polo work shirt—seemed to burn under their stares.

You can't take this anymore.

Without thinking, you immediately turned around and tried to make your way back to the convenience store, your heart hammering against your ribcage.

But you didn’t even manage to take a single step forward.

"What is this?" the man wearing sunglasses asked, his voice rough and quiet.

You jumped in place, a small hiccup escaping your lips in surprise as you felt heavy hands settle on your shoulders, keeping you still.

How did they get to you so fast?? You were on the other side of the street!

"Fledgling." The other man spoke even more gruffly, tilting his head down to see you properly. His veil was falling forward just enough for you to almost see his face beneath it.

You could distinctly see a red glow beneath it.

"W-Wha—"

Your stuttered words were interrupted by the veiled man's big, heavy hand tilting your head up gently, while his partner unbuttoned your polo shirt, pulling the cloth aside to reveal more of the damaged area.

"Abused by their Sire." The veiled man growled lowly in anger, his voice still mostly quiet as he analyzed the markings. You could clearly hear a distinctive German accent in his words. "Who? It's just our Coven here."

"There were visiting Covens not that long ago." The other one also spoke with an accent—something Asian, it seemed—but you couldn't quite place it.

"Too fresh. This is a just-turned."

"E-Excuse me—"

"This is a grievous sin against nature itself." The Asian man growled, making every hair on your body stand on end. The sound of his growl sent a shiver through you, paralyzing you slightly. "She didn't even complete the transformation."

"Fledgling, who is your Sire?" the German muttered slowly, forcing your head slightly higher so you had to look up at him.

Now they quieted down, letting you speak. Though you didn't really want to right now—not when you didn't understand what the hell they were saying.

"M-My... my what...?" You mumble anxiously, looking up in between both of their covered faces.

...

"Scheißdreck!" The veiled man cursed gruffly, his hands immediately going under your armpits to lift you up as if you weighed nothing, making you yelp in surprise.

"I did think the tribunal was too quiet recently," the Asian guy grunted, his arms crossed firmly as he watched you squirm slightly in panic in the bigger man's arms. "They're gonna love to hear about this."

"And the feral?" the German asked quietly, gently immobilizing you against him, tapping your back in small motions to calm you down.

"The others are here. No matter how smart a feral, they are easy targets. We have more important matters to attend to now. Isn't that right, Fledgling?"

You whimpered slightly in fear and confusion, your head pressed against the taller vampire's shoulder.

"How are we going to deal with this...?" The German sounded slightly calmer now, less aggressive with you in his arms. "This is serious, Horangi, a crime of this caliber..."

"I know, König. The tribunal will deal with that. For now, we keep her close. How about her teeth?"

You felt your body being slightly adjusted to lay more against the big guy's body, his giant hand coming up to your mouth to push his fingers inside it.

"No way!" you hissed defensively, trying to turn your head from side to side to avoid him.

"Shh, Fledgling. You're okay, stay calm. Open up." You let out a grunt in surprise and indignation as Horangi stepped forward, forcing his fingers into your mouth while König held your head in place. "Ha, it's what we thought. A fresh fledgling. Her teeth haven't even fallen out yet." He laughed without humor, shaking his head slightly as he let go.

"F-Fall out?? W-Wait, t-this is...! O-Oh, God..."

You whimpered, getting overwhelmed. This was precisely why you didn’t want to deal with the attack and transformation matter. And a tribunal?? You were so busy, living alone, and you couldn’t miss work—much less miss your classes.

"You are tired, Liebchen. Your body is taking a toll after the bad transformation. Settle, we'll take care of things." He patted your back gently a few times.

"She has a ton of venom in her bloodstream, and she's still awake. Rock her a bit, and she should fall back asleep quickly. I'm calling Laswell."

Quick question: the fledgling seems kind of hyper-independent and very much in denial/shock about what happened to them. Is that gonna change quickly or is there quite a bit of problems in the future?

And can I just say, I really appreciate how quickly you alway update your masterlist! It's super helpful and makes it so easy to read all your fics in one go.

Wish you lots of inspiration!

First of all, thank you for enjoying my stories!! And yeah, when I'm writing, I keep the Masterlist open on the side, so I just update it when I'm finished kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

Now, about the fledgling reader—yeah, she's in shock. She's overwhelmed by all her responsibilities and has no support system in her life. Being attacked to death and then coming back as an entirely different species isn’t something she can properly process right now; she’s simply trying to autopilot through everything.

What Horangi said earlier was true—she has a lot of venom in her system, and she wasn’t even supposed to be awake yet. The most basic part of her transformation isn’t even complete, and her body still has a looooong way to go before finishing the rest of the changes.

1. The way König and Horangi treat fledgling with the venom, does that mean vampire venom is supposed to act as a sedative? Could it theoretically be used in micro doses to act as an anesthetic/anesthesia for humans?

2. Will we get to see more vampire politics in play? I love universes that have a unique twist to them like this one.

Yeah, the venom works as an anesthetic too—that’s how they can drink blood directly from someone without causing pain, like a leech. But that only happens in small doses.

To transform someone, they essentially kill the body and then bring it back with their venom. They inject gallons of it into the bloodstream after drinking from their victim, and in large doses, the venom triggers the transformation.

The problem is, if the body rejects the transformation or the venom is administered incorrectly, the person just dies. The fact that Reader was awake and walking around made it clear to the vampires that the venom hadn’t been left to do its job properly—meaning the reader would end up dying. Their body was "rejecting" the venom forcefully.

And yeah, I definitely want to explore the politics of this world more…

Sincerely Eld~ 🦋

The feeding process works similarly to that. Fledglings rely on their Sire’s blood to survive—think of it like breast milk for newborns, who can only consume that in their first months. Likewise, fledglings can only digest their Sire’s blood for a significant period and won’t be able to process anything else. Even if they try to drink human or animal blood, it will likely make them vomit it out.