Beginning

Chapter 19 - Flames

The news came in the next day that Cornelia's body was found hanging from her drawing room. She left two notes, one was written to her family, saying that she is sorry but her brother's death had affected her too much for her to take. The second letter was addressed to Titania, left unopened on her desk for the last few days.

Titania hadn't left her room for a week after Radu's death. She's barely gotten out of bed. A few days ago, when Margareta was allowed to return to serving the princess, she tried to wake her, but Titania refused to wake and snapped, pushing Margareta into a wall. With all of Titania's lamias strength, she was lucky she only bruised her maid and didn't break anything.

Her parents have tried to speak with her the day after she woke up, but she just reminded catatonically still in bed. Her mother visits her every day and tries to talk to her, for at least an hour out of the night, or at least tries to convince her to eat something. Lamia's can only go so long without needing to drink blood. The effects of going without it for such a prolonged amount of time can have catastrophic results. The veins begin to dry, the skin turns translucent, the body itself can't maintain itself until it ultimately dies. Those effects, however, don't take effect until the hunger starts.

The hunger is the complete instinctual take over a lamia's body. They no longer have control as their body's natural responses to stay alive takes over and grabs the first thing they come into contact with. There were a number of stories during the Great Wars, where an enemy group of lamias would starve their soldiers, till they are at the point of the hunger, then they release them into battle. The results were affected, but catastrophic as well since a few members of the same side turned against each other and began to fight amongst themselves. The damage they caused to the other side, however, far excited their own self-inflicted damage.

Titania has gone a week without drinking anything and she knew that was dangerous, but she didn't care. Vincent had convinced Lucian and Stefania that this depression is merely a side effect of the bewitching Radu had placed her under, that when the spell was suddenly broken when he passed, it sent the poor princess into shock, and her body responded by acting like this. He assured them she will become her old self in time.

A few nights later, Titania became restless. She hasn't even gotten out of bed in a few days, and the hunger was finally taking a toll on her body. It was near dawn, and her fangs had poked out, her eyes turned red as her vision started to blur. Her skin felt like it was crawling and she felt her body grow scorching hot and she needed to get out of bed immediately. She felt her body move for her, her legs going over the side of her bed, but she tripped as she tried to walk, not using her legs in while and not having the energy had made her legs grew weak and numb. She dragged herself to the other side of the room, to her vanity. Using the drawers to pull herself up, she placed both hands on the desk and flinched when she saw her image in the mirror.

She looked ragged, her hair was a tangled mess, she had bags under her eyes for the first time in her life, her skin was a sickly yellow, and she saw herself panting as her lungs screamed at her that she wasn't getting enough air. As the air was sucked in and out of her mouth, she noticed how cracked and how dry her lips where. When she tried to lick her lips to give them some moisturizer, she noticed how dry even her tongue was. She needed a drink, she started looking around frantically for a bottle of sange but didn't find one.

She was about to leap for the door when she heard noises come from behind her and she turned around immediately. She saw the silhouette of someone coming into her room, and her eyes widen when she saw the outline of their neck, she felt her head spin as she heard the blood in her veins pick up speed. She didn't care that whoever was breaking into her room, she didn't even care who it was, she ran and jumped on the person, obviously catching them unguarded from how easily she slammed them down to the floor. She straddled the person and started to try to bite at their neck, but they held her back with their hands on her shoulders to keep her at bay.