The purebloods-

OK- I know I said I would explain this, but my head has just been a little muddled of late.

So while I'm trying to sort that out, I guess I'll let you know what the deal is on the community and the purebloods.

From what I've learned so far, there are several packs of werewolves throughout the globe, and very few rogues.

I'm a rogue, or I guess, I was until I started working with Bruce. Whatever. Now I guess I'm the rogue champion.

Anyway, the way it works is the community of werewolves that were born werewolves, that is to say, with two werewolf parents, stay normal kids until puberty, at which time they are trained to get through their first transformations by their mothers and the pack. Seeing as they started at such a young age, many purebloods are able to go farther with their transformations than others, which explains why the females that were courting me were able to transform into whatever fantasy I desired.

Which by the way, is still awesome.

Seriously.

Can I stress that any more?

Sorry about that.

The downside is, for all the power that purebloods possess in mental control and transformative ability, they cannot maintain it beyond one generation. Many werewolves have tried to create mutigenerational families, but the relative smallness of the available gene pool inevitably leads to offspring who begin the transformation process too young, before the onset of puberty. This can permanantly warp and damage their bone and nerve structures, causing them to become horribly deformed, lumpy and twisted, often with irregular hair growth all over their bodies. I've seen some pictures, and it's not pretty. They live in agony, not knowing what is happening to them, until one transformation inevitably wounds them mortally, with perhaps one side of their ribcage growing too fast and piercing their heart or lungs. Sometimes, their skulls and brains will transform at unequal rates, which can causing irrevocable brain damage. Most often, though, their young spinal cords simply can't handle the strain of monthly expansion and reduction and just snap, leaving them totally paralyzed.

It's pretty awful, and leads to a pretty shitty young life for pureblood male werewolves, who are monitored quite closely from a young age. The particulary aggressive ones are neutered right off the bat, and the others get vasectomies fairly quickly after thier first transformation. I've felt the hatred and jealousy from several young male purebloods, who resent the kingly treatment accorded the rogue champion.

But they do OK. They compensate for their impotence by using their superior powers of shapeshifting to accrue vast amounts of wealth in the business world. You'd be amazed how easy it is to get a promotion when you can get a rival fired by assuming his form and hitting on the boss's wife at the holiday party. And it's not like they never have sex. Everyone knows that purebloods love human prostitutes, yet it's just never openly discussed, kind of like the porn industry in America. The community doesn't even really care if the purebloods kill the prostitutes.
The only unforgiveable sin is to create a new rogue, without the OK of the Alpha Male.

When you have a rogue running around, bad shit happens, the rogue flips out, and often kills people. Needless to say, the one thing werewolves do not need is bad press, or really, any press at all. At this stage, Bruce has pureblood males at key positions within all the local police departments and crime syndicates, and the attitude is pretty much live and let live, but still. Werewolves are fucking scary, and I don't give a crap if this is 2005, if the villagers get spooked, they'll still be coming with pitchforks and torches, and these days, those pitchforks are just as likely to be automatic weapons and grenade launchers. And yes, a werewolf can survive getting shot a few times, but conventional wisdom says don't push it.

I got shot in the head once and it fucking hurt like a motherfucker.

At any rate, when their are enough female purebloods of breeding age (15-21) the Alpha, who sired them, goes out to seek a rogue challenger. This means that he will bite two or more human males, and closely monitor them, until they have changed at least three times. He waits for three transformations because the new rogues often cannot handle their newfound gift, and either kill themselves ( I tried a couple times) or are killed by humans (one tried- it didn't work out so well for him).

The rogue challenger is picked on a select criteria- Age, Sexual Potency, Life Experience, and Outsider Status.

Seeing as they are bringing in an outsider who would potentially lead them, they want someone as old as possible, with enough accrued wisdom to help them deal with the human world, and not completely lose touch. Sure, an 18 year old can fuck like a beast, but you give a kid that much power that early, and 9 times out of 10 you get a psycho on your hands who lets his id run wild. Bruce was chosen young, but his Alpha was so impressed with his intelligence and fighting ability, that he took a chance. This worries me a little, but I'm no slouch. Plus, he has helped me, is interested in training me, and I do feel stronger. So- well- yeah.

Hmm.

Back to the story.

Anyway, they need an Outsider, becuase in order to take on this responsiblity, one must be willing to drop out of human society completely, and entanglements like a wife or children make that difficult.

Either way, as a 31 year old video store clerk in Williamsburg who graduated from a good university with a degree in English Literature, I was kind of a sitting duck. I was older, had life experience, was sexually active, knew a thing or two about the world, had no idea what my future would hold and a job that wouldn't miss me. Add to that the fact that I thought it would be a good idea to walk across the Williamsburg bridge in the middle of the night of a full moon, while drunk and high, and you pretty much have some choice-ass werewolf bait there.

So there you have it.

The Alpha runs the pack, services the female purebloods and when the time is right, selects and faces a challenger from the pool of rogues he creates. The entire community is funded by the economic efforts of the male purebloods, who rise though Corporate America, and make the whole thing possible. So yeah, if you ever mouth off about corporations being evil, you don't know the half of it. Some of those guys are fucking MONSTERS.

Necessary monsters, but still- yeesh- it gives me the willies to think about it.

Also, I haven't seen Mickey in days. It's got me a little worried.

Fuck it, I'm taking a swim.