Recipe for a Werewolf
One of the many things I ask myself
before beginning each book is, “what will make this character
great? When I began writing my series Dark Warriors, one of the
things I needed to look at was the character of Trevor Gies. Trevor
is an Alpha werewolf and runs the pack in Boston, MA where
they have been living as humans for decades. Trevor is the sexual
rival of Damon Blake, vampire and hero of the series. When looking at
integrating the traits I liked from werewolf lore into Trevor, I also
needed to look at the flaws - because no one likes a perfect
character.
Researching werewolves led into a much
deeper study than I originally thought. Sure, they have most of the
traits of wolves, living in a pack situation, extreme loyalty, animal
magnetism, but what else? Well, much like vampire tales throughout
history have changed so has werewolf lore.
Looking at the original tales of the
shape-shifter, werewolf or the loup guru; it seems humans began
telling stories about them as far back as ancient Greece. At
that time, it was mainly men dressing in animal skins that gave them
the ability to change. Then if they took off their skin, and someone
stole it, the werewolf would not be able to change again and would
have to live as a human. Other tales such as Ovid’s stories tell of
man drinking from the mouth of the beast to become one. It wasn’t
until much later that the tale of changing into a werewolf from their
bite came into being.
Personally, I prefer the modern version
of the werewolf. I tried to keep the Pack as close to modern legend
as possible. They can shift into large wolves, can change others into
a Were with their bite, they have an increased sense of smell (in
fact all their senses are increased), they have an increased
strength, and can run much faster than a human, and (of course), they
cannot get sick and they heal rapidly. Their downfalls or
vulnerability are caused by Wolfs bane, they can be killed with
silver, or beheaded.
The culture of the werewolf pack in
Dark Warriors is similar to many; they live within a hierarchy, and
are ruled by the Alpha wolf.
However, in Dark Warriors, there are
two added elements. One, which I won’t go into too deeply or I will
spoil the book, is the war between vampires and werewolves. The cause
of the war is because vampires had made blood slaves out of the
wolves. They didn’t like this too much, as I’m sure you can
imagine, and a rebellion erupted. Secondly, there is a prejudice in
the pack that will become more and more apparent throughout the
series. The purebred or “natural born” wolf does not feel that
those that are bitten or half-blood should be allowed to live with
the pack because they are not of the Original wolf.
To take us back to Trevor, as Alpha
wolf he works hard to deal with all of the above. He is strong,
devastatingly handsome, and powerful. But he has an arrogance about
him that sometimes gets on your nerves. Check him out in my newest
release Bane, third book in the Dark Warrior series.
