Silver Skin

44

As days past
~
Accalia
~

It was an eternity.

At least that was what it signified for Accalia. Endless, to no-end hours stretching into days, blurring together into a stream of never-ending mornings and nights.

Accalia was sure it was only a few days, but as she became more entrenched in this hellhole
she couldn't gather how much time had passed.

Accalia hadn't gotten used to the smell, her putrid odour that eroded into sullied blood and sweat. Nor the murky waters, drenched fur of rats and pestering smells of the people she bunked with.

Swiping her tongue across her lips, she felt the cracks and dryness chalking along and it only reminded her how in need she was for water. Just a drop of it. A piece of stale bread could sate her empty stomach that wanted to eat itself, eat at its deprived, famished hunger.

Staring blankly up at that window that sat high and barred, a glimmer of sunlight blazed upon her.

Her inner nostrils began to burn in discomfort and she dragged her hand down her face, finding comfort with her head between her knees.

Nothing was certain. Not even the immortal existence of a vampire.

But being stuck down here never felt more absolute.

"Day one-hundred and twenty-seven of you not having a single clue of how to do it!" Tala shouted from across the dungeon.

"It hasn't been that long, I'm sure." Alexene's voice droned out.

Accalia's head perked up and she narrowed her eyes at Tala and Erisa.

"I'm doing that!" Erisa hollered and waved her hands around ridiculously, moving them in every direction.

Tala groaned loudly and clapped Erisa's wrist, putting her to a stop. "You're going to do some serious damage. There are three things to always remember when being a werewolf: the moon is the curse, and it will always be the trigger to the transformation. You have other triggers as well that don't involve the moonlight — they are battles you will face every day, but you can learn to control them. That takes me to my third point: by breaking yourself — not others doing it, you doing it by your own will, you can evolve and turn the curse into your strength."

Erisa stopped and listened, her straggly hair curtaining her stricken face.

She didn't remember much from when she first turned. When being a werewolf, you tended to wake up to the disasters you caused without much memory. Guilt would begin to settle in after that. Erisa remembered bits and pieces, but the girls filled in the blanks of what she couldn't recollect. Such as Cole's arrival.

That nearly triggered Erisa to shift again in broad daylight.

"Get your claws out again and put your focus into the action, not anything before or after," Tala ordered and released her wrist.

Erisa squeezed her eyes closed and jerked her hand, putting all her intention into action.

Nothing came to be and she glowered at Tala in annoyance.

Tala's lip quirked up, but her face immediately went serious. "You're not a lycan, Erisa. They're cursed to be a beast without humanity. The moon is our curse. I've been a werewolf for nearly thirty years and I still face the repercussions of being bitten — you can't expect control to come to you within days."

Erisa's brushed her fringe out of her face as her features sharpened. There was a change within a fraction of a second; her eyes glowed the iciness away into burnt gold.