Countess Ardelean's boisterous outburst delivered upon her unexpected intrusion reverberated throughout the massive chamber, startling every dampyr chambermaid present; leaving them discombobulated.
Princess Vodrak, on the other hand, wasn't fazed at all since she was preoccupied with other matters; so, the countess failed to get her attention ... or perhaps she did, and the princess just decided to dismiss the countess's presence for the moment.
Currently, Princess Vodrak is on her knees upon her canopy bed's mattress crouched over a motionless, seemingly corpse-like body which is imminently on the brink of becoming an actual corpse if she doesn't restrain herself and stops.
Her blood-stained lips are tightly pressed against his neck, with her fully protracted fangs deeply embedded into his jugular vein as she voraciously sucks the blood from his body. His complexion is as pale, if not more so, than her own.
A horrified chambermaid panics as she pleadingly calls out, "Please, my lady; you'll surely kill him if you don't stop now."
This intrusive plea, unlike the countess's barging in, seems to have caught the princess's attention. She immediately stops sucking, breaking the nearly airtight seal her lips had formed upon his neck, and pulls her fangs out of his flesh.
Princess Vodrak eerily licks the escaping droplets of blood which ooze out from the punctures in his neck, while at the same time locking her shark-like eyes with the terrified-looking eyes of the now quivering chambermaid; all the time emanating that sinister aura of hers.
Once the oozing ceases, and she finishes licking up every last droplet of blood, the princess speaks in a blase tone...
"I couldn't help myself; his blood just tastes so sweet."
The chambermaid's voice cracks ever so slightly as she meekly replies, "I ... I understand that, my lady; but if he dies you won't be able to feed from him anymore."
There's a brief moment of uneasy silence before the princess speaks again...
"Perhaps you're right, Magdelin. I suppose that's why I chose you to replace that traitorous Irena, who chose to cowardly run away, as my new head chambermaid."
She gestures for Magdelin, along with the two other dampyr chambermaids present to approach her bed...
"Come and take him away for now. Let's give him some time to replenish his blood."
The chambermaids immediately go over and take hold of the seemingly lifeless body to take it away; but before out of her reach, Princess Vodrak tightly grasps hold of Magdelin's wrist and forcibly pulls the chambermaid in towards her. The princess menacingly whispers in Magdelin's ear...
"If you ever try to correct my behavior again in front of anyone..." Princess Vodrak wrenches down even firmer on Magdelin's dainty wrist; causing the chambermaid to cringe as she winces out in pain. "No, if you ever try to correct my behavior at all ... I won't stop feeding on you. Understand?"
With tears now streaming out of the corners of her eyes from the excruciating pain, the trembling chambermaid nervously nods. The princess releases her vise-like grip from Magdelin's wrist, leaving behind the red imprints of her small, child-sized fingers...
"Very well, then; go and take him away now. If I can't drink his delectable blood, he's useless in my bed ... nothing more than big lump of uselessly vile dampyr flesh taking up space."
"Yes, my lady."
Magdelin and the two other dampyr chambermaids shuffle away as quickly as they possibly can; laboriously dragging the limp body, which is all deadweight at this point, away with them. And once they do manage to exit her chamber, Princess Vodrak finally acknowledges Countess Ardelean's presence with a little sinister sneer...
"Now, to answer your question, which by the way, was kind of rudely delivered ... just saying." The princess sarcastically retorts, as that sinister sneer expands across those still blood-stained lips, "I was feeding ... you old bitch. What did it look like I was doing?"
Countess Ardelean lets out a not-so-amused chuckle, "Me an 'old bitch' ... wow; you must have gone senile in your old age. You're way older than I am, sweetie."
"Perhaps that's true, but unlike us immortals, who live for all eternity without aging; you later generation vampires, even with your extended lifespans, do grow older."
Princess Vodrak, follows with an evident condescendingly passive-aggressive quip...
"And some of you, much like yourself, don't age very well. So, pardon my temporary lapse in perception when I called you an 'old bitch'..."
The princess conveys yet another little sinister sneer to the countess...
"...Bitch. There, was that better?"
Princess Vodrak gets up from her bed and walks over to an antique, Victorian-style armoire and performs a cursory inspection of the wardrobe hanging inside it. With her back kept towards the countess, the princess continues to peruse her clothing...
"So, my dear Esme', tell me, why is it you come here and darken my doorstep? To what do I owe this most unpleasant visit today?"
Countess Ardelean lets out a subtle, yet noticeable, exasperated sigh. "I see, so we're going to play this game today; are we? Fine, I'll play along. ... I want you to tell me honestly ... that is if you even can be honest..."
Still keeping her back to the countess, Princess Vodrak brusquely interjects, with an underlying flippant tone...
"Now there you go being rude again. That hurts my feelings, Esme'; it's like you're making me out to be some sort of 'snake in the grass' or something."
Countess Esmeralda quips using a more evident flippant tone...
"Quite frankly, Ana'; I wouldn't be surprised at all if you were the snake in the Garden of Eden who tempted Adam with the forbidden apple." The countess continues in a more serious tone, "Now ... tell me ... were you behind it?"
The princess momentarily turns her attention away from the clothes in her armoire to look back at the countess. She smirks as she brazenly tells the countess in a smug manner...
"I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific than that, dear Esme' ... after all, I'm behind a lot of things. More than that little pea-sized brain of yours could ever imagine."
Now the countess displays a grin upon her lips. "I wouldn't be so sure about that ... dear Ana' ... this 'little pea-sized brain' of mine could imagine quite a bit. Dare I say, maybe even more so than your little pea-sized brain. In fact, I'm willing to wager that you couldn't even begin to fathom just a portion of the things I'd love to do to you right now."
"Really ... is that so?"
"Really ... that's so."
"Hmm. Interesting."
Princess Vodrak turns back around and seems to revert her attention back to the cursory inspection of her wardrobe; but in truth is calculating in her mind the most caustic way possible she could goad Countess Ardelean.