I felt the flickering of my eyes and the aching of my joints increase continuously as I heard the two ladies bickering. Along with it something was flowing through my veins, a fluid, even I can't describe. As it flowed to every part of my body, I felt the flickering of my eyes lasting longer and a new pain reaching out to every part of me as every single muscle seemed to be on fire.
I whimpered a little as I sat at the edge of the bed I had come to own in my three months of living with the witches,
"What are you saying? Aren't you going to tell us why you cast the spell?"
I heard Kira ask Rona, who turned around to reply, but I couldn't hear her. I heard a roaring sound in my ears as blood rushed to my brain. I lifted my hands and closed my ears as they had begun to hurt from the sound. After a while, I felt the pain reduce a bit and looked up just in time to hear,
"I am saying you set an Austan wolf free!"
I looked at Rona with surprise, as did Kira, but she glanced at me and continued, "If she shifts we would both be dead."
She said again and resumed her packing while Kira stared at her in disbelief. I felt the pain start again and I groaned, slipping off the edge of the bed and falling to the floor.
Austan wolf. Austan wolf. I am an austan wolf? My brain seemed to chant amidst all the commotion within my body. It seemed as if it was still trying to process the information.
The bloodsucking wolf? The wolf who fell into bloodlust, the only wolf through which the ancient blood of our ancestors still ran, the strongest of all..... but my parents, they were not.... how...
Another pain raked my body making me double over on the floor as I groaned, the fluid in my veins seemed to come to my eyes because now my eyes flickered red and they, stayed permanently. I felt it reach my mouth, or so I thought, because it tasted bitter. My mouth tasted bitter, it tasted like anger..... No worse, it was rage.
I felt it as the blood in my head seemed to clear. I was angry, the most I have ever been, and with it a strange hunger, one that I had only had a glimpse of when I was with Eric, a desire to destroy everything.
I groaned again as tears fell from my eyes, my brain was trying desperately to interpret all that was going on. I didn't look at the witches. I don't care about them now. I could still hear Rona running around the room, packing God knows what. Kira was standing somewhere by the door, looking around frantically. Her heart was beating really fast and she seemed confused.
But that was not all I heard, I heard her life force, I heard her pulse beat steadily in her neck and all I felt was the desire to rip it out, a desire to rip the life out of her, to rip life out of the ones who had caused me pain.
"Don't fight it, Silveen. If you fight the shift, the pain will only get worse." I finally heard Kira say as she moved forward towards me. I don't know, was a concern I heard in her voice.....
"Or mockery?"
I heard a voice laced with venom say in my head, it was not mine but it sounded oddly familiar. I raised my head to see if I was hallucinating already but saw Rona run in front of me and grab Kira, pulling her back before she could reach me.
"What do you think you are doing?" Rona asked her,
"We can't just leave her, we have to help her." Kira said. This time the concern was obvious, but I didn't care anymore. The desire to end them and the rage I felt was slowly clouding my mind like a mist and I felt my gums begin to hurt.
"Have you not heard anything I have said? She is....."
"An Austan wolf?" I said suddenly amidst my pain. My face felt calm and my vision blood red. They turned to me and I saw the shock in their faces.
But what was surprising was not the look on their faces, it was the strength in my voice. My whole body was experiencing this pain but it wasn't even showing in my voice. It sounded as if nothing had even been happening.
"So that is your excuse for keeping me trapped for so long? The fact that I am an Austan wolf?!" I heard myself growl, the red in my eyes getting deeper. If I was in my right senses, I would have sworn that I would not be able to see clearly, but instead, my vision was clearer than anything I had ever seen.
"You think that pathetic excuse you tell yourself to sleep better at night solves the wrong you have done me!" I heard my mouth say, they were moving on their own. I had not thought about saying this, I wasn't in control of my own mouth anymore.
What was happening?
Rona gasped and turned to her sister, "Do you see that, her wolf is taking control already?" she said to Kira, "We have to leave!"
My wolf? My wolf has taken over? I really have a wolf now? I wanted to jump for joy but the pain started again and I groaned, turning over on the floor, putting my back on the cold plastered floor and breathing out through my mouth.
"No! We have to help her" Kira said.
"Do you think that an Austan wolf who had been locked up for eighteen years would be happy to see you and I? We were the ones who locked her in," Rona accused.
"No. Not we, you!"
"And you think she would know the difference? All she would feel is the bond we share and she would desire to take revenge on me by shedding your blood!" Rona said, her eyes sparkling without any remorse. I growled at her lack of remorse, the desire to make her beg for her life growing in me.
"Let me out."
"What?!"
"Let me out!"
"W..who? Who are you?"
"Rieka. Your wolf"
"My....my wolf?"
"Let me out, Silveen and I shall bring justice to all those who hurt us."
I heard the bitterness in her voice again and my head churned trying to remember where I had heard her voice before. Was it in a dream? Had I dreamt of her? I'm not sure, I thought as my joints began to burn I bit my lips continuously to stiffle my cry of pain, but not before the argument of the sisters broke through my mind again.
"We have to help her, Rona. We have to help her. I don't care, give her something to pacify her wolf." Kira argued.
"Nothing can appease her wolf other than bloodshed. If you hadn't acted so rashly, we would have cast a pacification spell first before breaking the concealing spell. That was the order in which this should have gone!" Rona yelled and I saw Kira's eyes glisten with tears, probably regretting her decision of setting me free.
"Can't we use wolfbane then? Can't we at least suppress her wolf with wolfbane or silver?"
"Ha! Birds of a feather!"
I heard Rieka hiss in my head and I looked up at Kira. I can't believe she would think of using wolfsbane or silver on me when they were the ones who wronged me. They were the enemy.
"Wolfbane has little effect on an Austan wolf, Kira. That was why the paralysis venom was made in the first place. The paralysis venom was made to stop an Austan wolf who had gone into bloodlust." Rona explained.
"But we don't have that." Kira said in a small voice, but I heard and it brought rage to my heart.
She would use the paralysis venom on me again?! I thought she was my friend!
"That's it! I'm taking over!"
I heard Rieka say and before I could make out what she meant or how she hoped to achieve that, I felt something yank me mentally to the back of my head, somewhere dark, but safe, somewhere from which I could be a spectator in my own life.
I was shocked as I felt everything, the way the hatred and anger for these sisters coursed easily through my veins, to when the blinding pain began, leaving me dizzy from where I was hidden.
Maybe if I were the one in charge of my own body, maybe I would have passed out, because even from the back of my head I felt the pain. Rieka kept her angry gaze on the two witches as she decided to endure the pain and let the shift happen fast.
I could feel all her thoughts and plans even without her saying anything. It made me thrilled and also made me feel dread because I knew that the moment I shifted she was going to kill the two witches.
"Use your powers! Do something!" Kira said as she looked at Rieka, who had now assumed a sitting position staring at them like they were her prey, but of course they were and I knew Kira probably noticed it now.
"My magic is powerless against her bloodlust!" Rona declared with defeat and Kira's eyes widened.
"What?!"
"That is why we must leave." Rona said to her shocked sister, whose eyes were now on Rieka.
As Rona turned to pick up her over-filled satchel, the first crack resounded!