Wolf's Cry

The life that was harmed according to the wishes of the so-called vampires now stands over them all. Sequel to the blueprints of 'The Lone Wolf' http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/haeshin/941200/

 

Vampire society has been breaking down ever since the existence of 'true' vampires was revealed, downplaying the so-called 'kings of the night' into humans mutated by a blood disease. The person indirectly responsible is sheltered away in a place where he may safely develop his abilities as a true vampire and figure out what to do with his now potentially eternal life.

 

Shannon Valentine, a young and true vampire, knows what he wants to do with his life. Where is the werewolf and the friend that sacrificed so much to wake him from a coma? Shannon is furious and he wants to be on the hunt, but there are more immediate matters that have to be taken care of first.

Draculas- False vampires who are really humans stricken with a blood disease, making them weak to sunlight and certain foods.

'True' Vampires- Evolved humans with enhanced physical traits along with the ability to manipulate their blood as long as it's connected to their bodies. Their exact numbers are unknown, but it's an agreed assumption that true vampires are extremely rare predators that are at the top of the food chain. Personal behaviors vary, but they are territorial to the point of keeping only one vampire per country. People who know of them are careful to avoid any fluids from the vampire's body, as their own body cells will be invaded, converted to vampire cells, and allow the vampire to control their bodies as puppets.

Unlike draculas they have no known weakness, but their bodies are unable to produce high-enough numbers of blood cells. To compensate they either eat large amounts of food or drink blood.

Domestic Werewolves- Considered to be a sub-species of their kind, these werewolves resemble medium to large-sized dog breeds when in lupine form. Most often they live among humans as pets and lack strength along with battle skills, but they can take human form nevertheless.

Shannon Valentine- 'I can't be anything but me.'

 

The boy who evolved into a true vampire after a werewolf attack where he tried to commit suicide and nearly bled to death. Under the care of the Vanguard private security company, Shannon is ensconced in a small estate in Portland, Oregon. He works to master his new body and predatory instincts because otherwise it won't be safe for him to search for a certain someone. Until then it's best for Shannon to be alone so he doesn't accidentally hurt innocent bystanders.

 

Shannon looks like a young, dark-haired, Caucasian teenager, which he currently is, but he's told that he has the ability to change the age of his appearance at will. Once a quiet and uninterested loner, Shannon brings out a straightforward personality with little patience for people who don't make their meanings plain, thinking themselves to be superior just because they have a bigger vocabulary. His favorite mode of attack is manipulating his blood into floating blades.

 

Dino Durante- 21. 'At some point you can't whine about being a victim anymore.'

 

The easygoing young man who deliberately approaches Shannon in the Portland house and proposes a partnership between them to take over the nation of Italy. At first Shannon bluntly throws Dino out of the house but is annoyed by his constant return. On top of having no interest in taking over anything, Shannon refuses Dino's proposal based on the fact that Dino himself won't reveal his motivation. Dino manages to change Shannon's mind a bit when the latter detects/exposes a dozen spies from the US government. He discovers that their job is to evaluate him as either a great danger or a great ally; in the former case measures must be taken against Shannon if he ever becomes dangerous, or else do whatever it takes to get him on their side. Shannon becomes depressed to be viewed as a potential tool or monster, and agrees to go with Dino to Italy to distract himself.

Immediately Dino makes the preparations to smuggle Shannon, who is legally dead on paper, out of the country. He merely grins when questioned about his underworld connections and the empty villa he states is their new home in Venice. Dino cheerfully teaches Shannon to speak Italian and shows him around Venice, hoping to endear the city to the young vampire so he'll make it his permanent home. Dino's plan to 'conquer Italy' is to simply use Shannon's territorial instincts to drive away anyone with plans to rule Italy from the shadows themselves. He openly states that Shannon is nothing more than a tool for him, but the boy's honest, kind-hearted nature starts to win Dino over. He quickly gets Shannon out of Italy when they find out there's a true vampire already in it.

 

Dino Durante is a pale-skinned, red-headed young man who favors his sunglasses whether they're needed or not. He loves to tease people but is very quick to show his ruthless side, stating that he has no empathy for anyone regardless of their problems. He's a decent hand-to-hand fighter and shows great aptitude with a gun, but he isn't above using underhanded tricks in a fight and often uses his surroundings to destroy his opponent in a trap. Dino claims that using a gun is too troublesome in needing ammo and dealing with legalities to carry it around.

 

Cory Madders- 27. The woman who tracks down Shannon to Italy and claims to be a Vanguard doctor whose job is to look after him, pretending to be his legal guardian until he turns eighteen. She's usually smiling and putting on a slightly ditzy act, leading Shannon to distrust her along with Vanguard, and also irritating him Cory's lack of straight answers. In contrast Cory knows a great deal about other people's backgrounds and doesn't hesitate to speak of Dino's out loud, alluding to a neglectful father and a cowardly mother. She only stops when Shannon angrily points out that Cory doesn't reveal a thing about herself, not even her favorite food, so she has no right to reveal personal information about others.

 

Nevertheless, Cory is very serious about her job to look out for Shannon's best interests. Smiling or not, she doesn't stop suspecting Dino for his obvious ulterior motives and unstated, specific reasons for using Shannon. The latter's devotion to no-nonsense answers eventually leads to Cory revealing her background as a girl who was bullied into a mental disorder called 'the Scapegoat's Instinct', the compulsion to take the blame for other people's bad actions. Once confronted with proof that she was innocent, Cory would go berserk and obsessively seek to destroy said proof along with the people presenting it. Ordinary psychiatrists and hospitals weren't able to deal with her abnormal psychotic strength, so Vanguard took Cory in and helped her overcome the Instinct. Like most people stricken with an Instinct, Cory's sense of innocence was too damaged for her to live a purely normal life among normal people. She became a medical doctor for Vanguard and moved away from her parents.

None fails to notice Cory's shapely body topped with a head of flowing yellow hair, but she doesn't act as though she notices the attention her looks receive. As a doctor Cory uses her knowledge of pressure points if she is forced into a fight, but personally prefers to stay out of violence. When it begins Cory ducks out of the way and lets Shannon or Dino do the actual fighting.

Gabriela DeNucci- 28. New leader of the DeNucci mob family, who pays a visit to Shannon out of curiosity. She makes the unfortunate assumption that Shannon is the typical bloodthirsty vampire of stories and legend, and offers a partnership in which he would kill enemies of the DeNucci family however he liked. In that way Shannon discovers the fear that Italians secretly live under because of the mafia, and therefore the source of blood he detects all over the city. For the first time he paralyzes everyone with the sheer force of will, a technique Cory Madders describes as 'a superior existence taking away an inferior one, or the bad side of charisma'.

While throwing out Gabriela and her people, Shannon demands to know exactly how she knew of his presence in Venice. Gabriela unhappily confesses that the mafia and authorities alike are having problems dealing with draculas who are mentally unstable. They seem obsessed with finding a person that they call the Lone Wolf.

 

Monica Asti- A young woman who was sold off as a rich man's mistress after her family was murdered by the local mafia group. She's alerted to Shannon's existence in the city when her captor is involved in the government's plan to enlist Shannon as a military asset. Monica risks her life to escape and find the villa, where she strikes a deal for sanctuary and help in saving women like her. In return she works for Shannon as a maid and sometime spy; Monica honed her eavesdropping skills in an effort to survive her degrading life. If Dino is not there, Monica accompanies Shannon when he goes out.

Once she chops off most of her hair, Monica can resemble a young man depending on her make-up and clothes. She has a serious, almost grim attitude and rarely speaks; when she does open her mouth, Monica shows a lot of tamped down emotion and anger towards the people who took away her original life. She learns knife work from Dino and self-defense moves from Cory in order to fight.

 

Rick Bellini- Dino's older brother, a worker for the DeNucci mob family whose job is to trick traveling young women and kidnap them for the mob's human trafficking business. He meets Shannon when the latter keeps his promise to save people like Monica.

 

Years ago Rick and Dino were treated like soldiers by their strict father, who was a colonel in the Italian army. Rick broke under the pressure and started abusing their mother, Sophia, both emotionally and physically. Though Sophia often mourned that she was a victim, she did nothing to protect herself or even Dino when he was hurt trying to protect her. Dino acquired his present-day apathy towards victims when he accepted the fact that Sophia wasn't going to do anything to save herself or even her own child, nothing at all except wallow in her victimhood.

 

Rick fled the household when their father discovered the abuse and threw out his eldest son. Dino left on his own will before he had to fulfill a mandatory two years in the Italian army and hasn't been heard from since. Rick started experimenting with drugs but stopped when the DeNucci family discovered his talent for charming and manipulating young women, and forced him to go clean so he could be of use to them. Thus Rick began his career of flirting with female tourists to get information on where and with whom they were staying. He'd then alert his men and kidnap the girls from their temporary place of residence.

 

On the surface Rick is a self-effacing, friendly, and reasonably good-looking young man who can speak languages fluently but uses a heavy Italian accent with the tourists. He tries to use his charm to separate Shannon and Dino, saying that the latter isn't to be trusted and stating Dino's criminal history as proof. Underneath Rick is somewhat erratic and paranoid, and quick to break down under pressure; he snaps when Shannon responds by saying he still trusts Dino. Rick is overwhelmed in the fight that follows, and is reduced to a sobbing mess while begging for his mother's forgiveness. When Sophia grants it as she always has, Dino turns away without a word or an expression on his face.

 

With the rest of his compatriots Rick is left to be picked up by the Venetian police, along with recorded proof that Monica took of the illegal dealings to convict them. Once word of this gets out through the media, Rick and Dino's father commits suicide. Dino asks Cory to help fake a murder so his father can be buried on consecrated ground, knowing that the man ultimately loved his sons and was heartbroken by his failure as a father. His younger sister Jone is sent to Japan to live peacefully under Vanguard's protection, safely away from their mother's clear, dangerous favoritism of her eldest son.

The police are left to deal with the DeNuccis, but Shannon tracks down the smell of draculas in Rick's now former 'warehouse'. He finds that they died via exposure to sunlight, reducing their bodies to a pile of ash. Someone killed them then left the corpses there to be rid of the evidence.

 

Adele Doriane- Appears 17. The half-human daughter of the true vampire who resides in France. She's sent by her father Eneas to observe Shannon, the newest and youngest of the true vampire race, but also to get an overseas education at a international school. Despite being a spy for her father, Adele is accepted as a friend and ally, and stays at the villa as a guest. She eventually tells Shannon of her father's suspicions that a certain werewolf passed through the city of Marseilles. There might be another set of 'exposure' plans brewing in that lupine brain. Shannon has no choice but to leave that matter to Eneas and respect the territorial rights of their kind, though it's more because that said werewolf may no longer be in France.

 

A quiet, refined young lady who likes to cook, and keeps her composure at all times. She thoroughly enjoys her time in Italy while pretending to be a normal human. Adele possesses no special abilities but her blood is still invasive, causing an infected person's body to shut down when she's unaware of it, and must be avoided.

 

Marco Sansone- 15. A local Venetian and third son of the minor Sansone family, who have served the bigger Corona family while pretending to be their family pets. He's a domestic werewolf and resembles a longhaired German shepherd in lupine form.

 

A flighty and happy-go-lucky character, Marco isn't so good at handling darker, more serious moments, much to his family's dismay. Out of curiosity he sniffs out Shannon at the villa and excitedly asks for his help in saving a little girl stricken with bone cancer. Evidently she received a bone graft that was illegally obtained by the hospital, and came from an old man who died of the disease. When it's found that Shannon's abilities aren't very developed, Marco energetically acts as a one-man cheering section while Shannon and Cory works on the technique which later saves the girl Lucia.

 

Enzo Sansone- 25. Head of the Sansone family and Matteo's oldest brother. A fiery and violent character who is shocked that Matteo disobeyed orders to stay away from the vampire's villa and the vampire within. He remains wary of Shannon until the latter saves his life from a dracula. After that Enzo is adamant about owing Shannon a favor, but Shannon really could care less.

Elaine Meridas- The female dracula who captures Enzo and other domestic werewolves, hoping to discover the genetic difference between them and 'feral' werewolves who serve dracula masters. The solution will then be applied to draculas and their goals of becoming true vampires. Her original target was Matteo but that changed when he began spending most of his time with Shannon and others in the villa.

 

For all her scientific brilliance, Elaine is a sadist with no ethical or moral restrictions, and her child-like behavior is her greatest weakness. She throws a temper tantrum when Shannon and Matteo breaks into Elaine's laboratory, and sends her genetic monsters after them. The domestic werewolves are freed and Elaine barely manages to escape in the explosive chaos that results. Somewhere in Venice, she is met by a unknown figure and asked if she ever wondered what real werewolves are like. Since then Elaine has never been seen by Shannon and company, but her corpse is recovered by the old Impaler organization that once fought to keep the truth of the draculas a secret.

Don Sansone- The second Sansone brother. A far more refined, quiet figure than either of his siblings, he poses as the pet of the Corona head, Renato Melchiorre, as needed. Otherwise Don occupies himself with acting as Renato's spy and bodyguard.

 

Iori Miyamoto- 'Only memory can make you immortal.'

 

The true vampire that resides in Japan, which is his territory. A fun-loving figure who is a few centuries old and has been Vanguard's primary guardian for just as long. He risks a territorial dispute out of curiosity, wanting to see what Shannon is like and happy to see a new addition to their very small numbers. He tests Shannon's strength and the clash threatens to take out Venice with the shockwaves alone, but the two are just barely able to rein themselves in when Renato Melchiorre intervenes.

 

Renato Melchiorre- Head of the most powerful mafia family in Italy, he enforces the more ancient, chivalrous version of the mob and protects the people with less than legal means. He is a cheery, playful man who is actually very shrewd, doting without restraint on his newborn nephew.

 

Eneas Doriane- The true vampire that resides in France, which is his territory. Like Iori he also risks a territorial conflict by visiting Shannon in person, and informs him of the break down of dracula society. It has been escalating to troublesome levels ever since their true existence as blood-infected humans was revealed to them. Eneas suggests that they, the true vampires, enforce peace on the chaotic society. The draculas and their werewolf vassals are trying to rapidly spread their influence throughout the human world, and their bold tactics are unsettling. They're striking out almost randomly. If not for the draculas then for the sake of the humans, the true vampires must act.

 

Shannon refuses to form a world-wide coalition, and it would be better if each vampire simply enforced peace and order within their respective territories, no further, to restrain themselves. Vanguard will look out for the humans. Eneas is shocked and asks Shannon if he's so content to allow the pitiful draculas into self-destruction. To that Shannon merely replies that the draculas have a queen and princess to prevent that, that he already tried to help the draculas once, and anyway the true vampires are not gods or guardians by nature. They can only act selfishly like everyone else, and Shannon prefers to protect the people around him.

 

Eneas finally accepts his choice and reasoning, but he asks Shannon to deal with a matter only he can resolve, the matter of the infamous 'Lone Wolf' who singlehandedly destroyed dracula society with the truth of their existence. There are signs that he has been circling various areas and taking out the leaders of the dracula community along with the werewolves that stand in his way. Out of terror and rage, the draculas kill their own werewolves when struck with fits of paranoia, lacking their true target in the Lone Wolf. Only Shannon can draw him out and stop the killings, but to that Eneas receives a simple shake of the head. Shannon states that the Lone Wolf must have his revenge.

 

 

Quietly Eneas nods and apologizes for an insulting request. He leaves with the warning that the draculas know about Shannon and his relation to the Lone Wolf; if they cannot kill the renegade werewolf than they will settle for Shannon instead.

 

Justine Vladimir V- Princess of the draculas and werewolves. She confronts Shannon in Italy and begs for his help in restoring balance in the world, though Justine is unable to deny that she came in hopes of seeing the Lone Wolf and repairing their relationship. Justine is shocked to discover that prior to the event that turned Shannon into a vampire, he had only known Kia Lore for five days.

 

Omero Garrone- Leader of a Catholic lay order called Verità Domini. He uses his charisma and charity works to brainwash criminals who seek religion and a new life free of sin, transforming them into religious zealots. Omero focuses on Shannon as the Anti-Christ and devises several attempts to capture and/or kill him, and most of his plans include exposure of Shannon's vampire body to the world. For now only his worshippers are witness to Shannon's abilities and become true believers as a result.

 

Omero perceives anyone who helps or regularly spends time with Shannon as corrupt souls that must be cleansed through death. Such souls can also be used, and he tricks dracula-type vampires into doing most of the dirty work, dangling before them the hope of using Shannon to become true vampires themselves. It's only a matter of time until Omero uses innocent hostages to provoke Shannon into rage or to force the boy into taking his own life. At the Bridge of Sighs Dino and Matteo risks their lives in goading Omero and reveals the man's beast-like hate and nature, recording it and uploading the scene to the Internet by way of a cell phone.

 

Dino suffers a great deal of injury and remains surrounded by Omero's draculas. Marco is out-classed by the stronger draculas and is unable to reach him in time. Out of curiosity and arrogance Omero wants to know what the 'Anti-Christ' offered Dino for his loyalty, to which Dino replies that the priest wouldn't understand. Dino will do anything to keep the family that he, Shannon, Monica and others have made here in Venice and will settle in back Portland. They've all suffered too much to go on suffering, and need the ongoing miracle of having found people to live with in peace.

Enzo and Adele arrives to save the day, using Adele's vampire blood to even the odds. The battle is won and Dino asks if Matteo somehow gave the plan away. In confusion Enzo replies that Dino sent a SOS message asking for help...didn't he?

 

Gregory Hamilton- 'What's the point in living if you're just going to be stepped on!'

 

The dracula who was a member of the Impalers. He's one of the chief figures in the attack against Venice and Shannon Valentine, hoisting onto him all of the draculas' hate, their rage, their despair and confusion, their loss of pride and purpose in knowing they were lower than the humans they saw as fodder. Dino and Enzo both agree that the draculas wouldn't be if they'd just stop whining and see that their species are capable of so many things besides death and destruction. All they have to do is stop moaning over the negative points in their life and see the positive.

 

Gregory first attempted covert tactics, but was countered with the help of the Corona family. In frustration Gregory has no choice but to retreat and regroup.

 

Anke- 'Maybe I like this world after all.'

 

The mother of all draculas, as far as their own history can tell. Anke was originally a young girl who became a dracula from a blood infection, and power-hungry humans sought to gain the same strength they perceived in her. She had no choice but to comply for many years while her captors pretended to hold hostages if Anke didn't allow them to do as they wished. Then Anke discovered that the hostages used against her were accomplices playing a part, and she spread the virus while lashing out at any human who crossed her path. She also wandered the earth and became responsible for mass human disappearances, such as the Roanoke colony in the United States. Anke only thought of hurting others to be rid of her own anger and pain.

 

Then time went on, and Anke became tired of her bloody existence. Stricken with depression and guilt, she tiredly agreed to help the draculas get their revenge against Shannon Valentine. Anke guides her descendants with strategies born from her long experience, but as they eventually fail, she confronts Shannon alone. Her superior experience puts her on par with Shannon despite his abilities, at least until he reveals his long-term drip of blood into the canals, plants, and earth of Venice, spreading himself throughout the city and making the entire location an extension of his body. Shannon manipulates the entire waters of Venice to dominate Anke, but she's ultimately defeated by the distant intervention of Italy's true vampire.

 

Along with guilt and sadness, Anke suffered from the knowledge that she could only blame herself for being alone. Before the female dracula turns to ash from morning sunlight, Shannon gives her some peace by saying it's 'all right'.

 

Kia Lore- 'I want, I yearn, I dream forever.'

 

The werewolf who rebelled against his society for the sake of his independence, and shattered the draculas' belief of themselves for revenge and to save his only friend. Following the boy's revival as a true vampire, Kia disappeared.

 

From the edge of a rooftop, Shannon watches the crowds below celebrate the Carnival of Venice. Kia comes up beside him and congratulates Shannon being able to stand on his own feet instead of spiraling down like the draculas. Kia confirms that he didn't actually let out the secret about draculas being 'fake' vampires, but didn't stop them from exposing themselves with fear, hubris, and paranoia. He feels no shame or guilt about it.

 

But Kia was not without some compassion. He left the aftermath of his actions to Shannon, knowing that the draculas would be better off in the vampire's soft-hearted hands rather than Kia's own vengeful claws. The draculas would have fared much worse if their outright enemy was Kia Lore. He would not have been kind or merciful.

 

So...what next?

Author's Note

Sequel to 'The Lone Wolf': http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/haeshin/941200/