Denial

V

"I'd rather suffer than be with that bloodsucking manipulator!"

"I'd choose this pain over Demitri. Anytime,any day" Aria snapped.

Aria dreamt of a fiery furnace. She tried running from it but a strong force pulled her into the furnace. There was no escape. She was burning alive yet she wasn't dying. She ached all over and her throat was dry from thirst. The heat was unbearable. She screamed and yelled but her voice echoed and no help came to her.

"Shit" Aria cursed when her eyes snapped open. No she wasn't dreaming. She was not fucking dreaming because it was too real. She ripped her silk nightgown apart and was left in her lavender lace underwear. She was drenched in sweat. It was as if she'd showered without drying.

"Fuuuucccccckkkkkkk!". She screamed as she felt a jolt of pain in her abdomen.

She hadn't just been dreaming. She was in heat. She didn't expect her heat to hit her so soon. The dream had not been any dream. In fact she had just been dreaming about what her body was going through while she slept. She writhed in pain on her bed.
She couldn't concentrate on anything. Upon trying to get off the bed and go and dump herself in a cold bath, she fell off the bed unto the floor and couldn't move anymore as her knees weakened.

"Lina!". She shouted with all the might left in her voice which was turning into a whisper by every passing minute.
She mentally thanked goodness for vampire hearing. If not for that she'd probably die of the heat. It didn't help that the crescent moon scar on her back burnt with equal fury.

In less than a minute after she called her sister, Lina was in her room.

"Shit. I can feel the heat radiating off you. What's happening?" Lina mumbled, a look of worry marring her beautiful face.

"Heat" Aria sneered. She already hated the word. One word. Heat. And the pain experienced during heat would only go away after mating. And she'd die before she did that.

"I'm sorry, you know this is out of my hands. I wish I could soothe the pain". Lina told her as she led her to the bathroom. It wasn't without difficulty.
Aria lay in the the cold water sobbing quietly. Lina felt her heart break for her sister. Aria was brave. The bravest woman she knew. Dealing with rumours in Ourà Fengàri wasn't easy no matter who you were. You could be freaking Thea Seléni and the rumours could humble you. They could show hate just as much as they could love. And even then she never broke down. When her parents kept making her feel less of a woman because she didn't have a mate, she never showed any sign of pain. It was like she wasn't even bothered. When she'd been poisoned by a member of the Queendom, she didn't flinch from pain even when the poison kept trying to still her heart. Her heart almost stopped working yet she never showed signs of pain or fear. Even when she lost her ability to practice magic for sometime, she never cowered in fear or hissed from pain.

All what Lina was seeing was new to her. She was writhing in the bath. Her arms tight around her midriff, her eyes shut as tears escaped them.Every now and then, she would hiss or yell or scream or curse.
All due to pain. The water in the bath tub had gotten hot.

Lina drained it and refilled it with cold water. She went out to call her mother. She definitely couldn't handle it on her own.

"Oh, Ismena". Dalcia almost sobbed at the state of her second child.

Aria managed to roll her eyes at her mother. She was going to scold her and she wasn't ready for that.