Beginning

Chapter 5 - The Rat

Titania did not get along with her cousin. Nor did he with her. To Titania, Vincent Romenheart nothing more than an opportunity seeking rat. Once when they were children, when they often played with each other for the sole fact that there weren't other children to play with, Titania and Vincent were playing by the river. There were guards around to watch them of course. Romenheart children were never meant to be left alone with the pending danger of kidnapping from some of the lower families always as an issue.

However, that particular day, a stray wolf had gotten into the garden. An aristocratic woman, who was taking a walk in the garden, had been so frightened by the wolf that she screamed, which catch the attention of the guards. They ran to go see what was wrong, leaving the children alone.

Lamia's aging is different than human aging. To lamias, humans have extremely short lives, living less than one tenth of a typical lamia's life span. The reason for this is due to the aging process which is much more rapid for humans than it is for lamias. The development a lamia child goes through in ten years is equal to the development a human child goes through in one year.

Titania, who has just turned 50, hadn't paid much attention to the disappearance of the guards, and continued to play near the river, appearing to try to reach for the fish that swam just out of her reach. Vincent, who was a few years old at 83, took notice right away of their rare situation.

Vincent came behind his little cousin, and Titania, just noticing him, turned back to him to tell him about the fishes she saw, right as he pushed her into the water. Titania, thinking it he was just trying to anger her, tried to get out of the water to yell at her cousin for getting her all wet, but then she felt his hands push her back under and hold her there. Titania only had the body of a five-year-old, and couldn't fight back as her lungs filled with water. She did, however, manage to break to the surface once and caught the look at Vincent's cold eyes and blank face as he shoved her back under without hesitation.

He would've killed her. Had the guards been gone a minute more and Titania had no doubt her body would be found floating down the river. Instead, she woke up in her bedroom, having had passed out in the river. A handmaid was attending to her and notified her parents as soon as she woke. Stefania was hysterical, and even Lucain was visibly shaken by this. Titania was still trying to recall what had happened to her when her parent's sent in Vincent, who the guards had said had saved her.

When Vincent came into the room, Titania remembered it all and screamed at him, at everyone that it was his fault, she threw tantrum and everyone was forced out of her room. Vincent came up with the explanation that since his face was the last one she saw before she fainted, her fears were blamed on him, while the maids were trying to calm her down. Everyone believed him, and Titania wouldn't speak to anyone for the rest of the day.

Titania wasn't sure why she was thinking of such memories now of all times. Lady Anna had decided, without warning her of course, that there would be an exhibition of skills, between all her students, in the form of a sparring match.

Lady Anna is the sorcery teacher for not only Titania but of all children born into the royal families. There is a total of fourteen royal families, however, conception between lamias is rather a difficult thing to achieve, that is why most lamia couples remain childless, and why most lamia children remain only children.

So with Titania and Vincent being two students in the same village, the choice of who they would be sparing against was a simple one to make.

This was not Titania's night. She was out of breath, taking shelter behind a large boulder, while her damned cousin was out for her head. She may be a Romenheart, one of the strongest families, but so was Vincent. However, she was a princess, in the top branch of the family. She refused to lose to him.

"Lady Anna just had to have a spar tonight," was all Titania could think of as she tensed up, hearing Vincent stop firing randomly at anything the wind moved and listened for her. She muttered something under her breath, getting her strategy ready to put in motion. Vincent may be a conniving rat, and physically stronger than her, but she could still outwit him.

Vincent walked around, making his steps as softly as he could. He felt the young princess was nearby. Her presents being given away by the magic residue left behind when she'd cast an incantation.

Lady Anna brought them into the middle of the surrounding forest, near the southern mountain base. Trees were everywhere, so were boulders and rivers. There was, however, a new clearing in the middle of the woods, thanks to Vincent's little "fire show" earlier.

Vincent walked away from the clearing and into more woods where Titania waited for him. As she concentrated on a few incantations. Vincent was none the wiser when he walked straight into her trap. On her signal, a small spark of flame she controlled in the shadows grew into a melon sized sphere of flames. Within a fifteen feet radius of Vincent, seven other sparks also grew.

Vincent freezes, taking in the situation. Titania smirks and sends the spheres after him. Manipulation of all things, including people, was one of her specialties. Vincent, busy moving out of the way of the spheres, didn't notice Titania above him in the trees, stalking.

She stepped off her branch and descended t upon him while he was distracted by the spheres. No shadow or sound gave her away, but his red eyes flash as he turns around. She freezes, something she has been trained and drilled not to do, but it's too late and he grabs her throat roughly and pulled her to the ground.

Pinned underneath Vincent, she glared up at him, eyes fully red. "Fuck you," she groans as her head was pounding from where it hit the ground.

He smirks and leans down to her ear, "Be careful what you wish for, Titania."

Titania spat at his face. "Don't you dare address me like that, " Vincent growled and tightened his grip around her neck, his eyes now fully shining red as well.

Slow clapping sounded above them and they looked up, in time to see Lady Anna descend from where she was watching them.

"Very nice Vincent. You're not much for strategy, like our dear Princess here, but you're hearing is spectacular. The only thing that saved you those last seconds of the fight. The match goes to you." Lady Anna praised at Vincent.

Vincent smirked again at the Princess beneath him.

Titania scowled and rolled her eyes. "Get. Off. Me," she said, each word laced with venom. She stood when he rolled off of her, the scowl never leaving her face. She hated her cousin more than any other Romenheart. To her, no other was viler than Vincent.

Lady Anna smiled at her students. "Now then, let's have another match before we head inside. Titania, Vincent, take your stances."

"Oh no, not again," Titania thought before taking up her stance against her cousin. Again.