The Siren's Curse

Shit Like This is Why I Want to Leave

You woke up from a dreamless sleep to a nightmare.

You were in a cage. Well, it was more like a brick cell with iron bars on the one side of it but that's beside the point. You were trapped in a cell with only one set of bars at the end of your bed. Moss was growing on the walls close to both sets of bars, lining the walls in a disgusting green with black mold edging the moss. A quick glance at your bed determined that it was more like a slab of rusting steel chained to the wall next to you. The disgusting thing covering you couldn't even be considered a blanket with how many stains and holes there were. The thing also smelled like ass. The pounding headache you had wasn't making your situation any better.

Think, what was the last thing you remember? You racked your brain for anything that could remotely tell you where you were. The last thing you remembered was making your way down the mountain, away from your uncle and Heisenberg. You left them behind because you were tired. Liviu had gone to eat a Lycan or something so there wasn't a Vârcolac nearby. That was a mistake on your part, leaving without a Vârcolac to protect you. You've lived in the village since birth, you should know never to walk alone in the evening. A monster could get you.

A Lycan.

How you were still alive was a question that had yet to be answered. Lycans don't leave survivors, that isn't how they work. Even so, you remember the pain you felt when it bit into your shoulder and clawed at your back. You remembered that familiar feeling of helplessness when you were attacked. To top it all off, the damn thing drove your head into a rock, knocking you unconscious. Pain shot through your skull at the memory and you brought your hands up to your head, groaning in pain.

Wait... Hands? You paused, completely disregarding your pain. Slowly, you removed your hands from your head and looked down at them. You couldn't recognize the limbs in front of you. While your mobility in your non-dominant hand was restored, you could have only imagined how it would look in your nightmares. Your arms were covered in scales, each arm being a different colour. Your non-dominant arm had vividly dark red scales while your dominant one had murky green ones. The red scales formed a familiar pattern on your arm, following where your burn scars were when you had skin.

In a panic, you threw off the blanket and looked down at your body in horror. While you were stripped completely naked, you were more focused on your skin than your dignity. Much like your arms, red scales followed the same pattern that your burn scars created on your skin. The green scales followed where your untouched skin was and both colours of scales glistened in the light from behind you. Your fingers and toes had claws at the ends of them that looked as sharp as a Lycan's.

"Ah, you're awake," the voice of Mother Miranda said behind you. You jumped and spun your head around to look at her. Dizziness hit you like a truck and you grabbed your head, trying to stop the world from spinning. "It looks like the procedure went well."

"Procedure?" you questioned, coughing.

"Yes, Miss Moreau," Mother Miranda said, opening the cell door. The woman wasn't in her traditional garb of black robes and golden circlet. Mother Miranda was dressed in a black dress that went down to her ankles and a white lab coat. Her hair was pulled back out of her face and she wasn't wearing her golden mask. She handed you a cup of water which you drank with the vigour of a man left in the desert. "You were attacked by a Lycan and your injuries were extensive. The only way to save you was to give you the very same gift I gave your uncle."

The fear that ripped through your body was worse than you've ever felt before. Worse than your first Lycan encounter. Not even the fear you had when you saw your mother in Castle Dimitrescu could hold a candle to what you were feeling at that moment. You were subjected to a procedure that both your uncle and your father went through. Neither of them came out for the better. But you couldn't tell Mother Miranda you didn't want it, that would make her angry and you were terrified of the woman. In this situation, there was only one thing you could say. "Thank you, Mother Miranda. I am deeply honoured for receiving your gift."