Interlude III

(Alpha Abraham Jacobs)

Things were subtle for Jackson West Virginia’s pack alpha, Abraham Jacobs. While he couldn’t quite place his finger on why he suddenly felt as he did, he did feel a sudden need to call a giant pack meeting where every pack member would be in attendance.

The thought was always something in his mind, as a strong pack was one that stayed together. Right now, there were pack members scattered throughout Jackson and the neighboring areas. Offices, officers, and power, those were the three main roles that everyone who was brought into the pack had to fit into.

Of course, there was a problem, with Jerome being given the chance to expand the pack to newer members. This was something that was hard to stomach for the old Alpha, but unfortunately it seemed that many of his generation, the last generation of true pack members were now infertile. Abraham himself, and his brother Bruce, the pack’s shaman, were two of the exceptions rather than the rules.

This sudden surge in infertility caused many of the new decrees to be sent out, about looking for people who would be worthy of carrying on the pack’s name.

Still given all of this, he tried to let Jerome have a hand in at least choosing those people around him. In his mind, he still remembered the horror stories of the past, where his family had been hunted down like rabid animals in the forests. He didn’t want that, which was why he had taken measures to ensure such situations didn’t occur this time.

Diary entry 10 June 1423

We were hunted again today. The villagers came at us with silver bullets, an act sanctioned by the church. I didn’t even know silver could hurt so badly.

Some pack members are claiming this to be an act of God. Looking back, I can see their reasoning. First it started with the weaker pack members being unable to bear children. This in turn led to our weaker hold on the seats of power that had protected us for so long. Now we repent and lay low, before we can attempt to regroup back into society.

The passage was short, but it spoke of many things. A major point of the passage was the way it seemed to mirror the current circumstances. Throughout history there have been a few times when for whatever reason the Lykanthropy virus does not spread to children, and instead produces a number of stillborn children.

Over the years it has been determined that those that eventually cannot bear pack children are often considered to be weaker. That is they don’t fully bond with their bestial side, and often retain more of their humanity than one would like in a warrior spouse.

There are of course the few exceptions to the weaker pack members bearing children. First, it seems that the Lykanthropy virus is willing to give a set time for how long it can take hold in a particular family lineage. That is, those that are turned can always bear children with Lykanthropy, without any issues or defects, even if they choose to abandon the life and the faith. Likewise, their children are also given a free pass, with their children being born with the Lykanthropy virus in full effect. It is the grandchildren, or where the grandchildren should be that suffer from this, as the blessing of Lykanthropy will never extend past that point, unless the parent or grandparent fully commit to the lifestyle.

As an Alpha, Abraham was well aware of these facts. Facts that are best kept hidden away from most other members of the pack.

For his part, Abraham was ready to bring everyone into the life. He was even ready to potentially have himself outed as a shifter, if that meant that more of the next generation would be able to be conceived. As the Alpha, the act of inspiring others to commit to the lifestyle, to fully embrace their potential was on him.

This was why he now felt the need to gather everyone into a large meeting place, where he could explain a few things. He needed to nurture the young, to get them to accept their new lives and to fully bond with the wolf, which meant having to hunt down and tame the wolf in each tier of advancement. A seemingly monumental task, if not done correctly.

The only problem was, outside of war, the only real way to fully tame the wolf involved doing actions that society as a whole would likely look down upon. Yet, as a wolf, these were acts that were needed to succeed and thrive.

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Local Hit and Run Traffic Accident Kills 63-Year-Old Grandmother.

Seeing the headline pop up on his tracker, Abraham knew full well what happened, as his son fully spoke about indoctrinating the new kid into the pack fully.

Hearing the youthful excitement about killing a member of the community at first set Abraham’s blood on fire. Yet, after hearing his son’s arguments, weak as they might be, Abraham couldn’t help but understand where the boy was coming from.

In fact, depending on how the new boy’s spiritually awakening process went, Abraham might make this a new standard practice for allowing new members into the pack.

Though first, he felt it only pertinent to allow current members of the pack a chance at redemption. A chance to save not only themselves, but their families, and the pack.

As an Alpha, it was his duty to enlighten people about what being a pack member truly entailed.

There was of course, only one real problem, and that was where could he gather so many members of the community in one place that would not seem suspicious.

Then finally, he saw the another add, that seemed to just catch his attention.

Curious about how your former Classmates are doing?

One click will show you.

While the words themselves weren’t anything new, what was new was the way that a kid wearing Jackson High’s uniform in front of the entrance to the football field was clearly visible. Seeing the image, he realized that the stadium would a perfect place for the pack meeting.

“No, not just a pack meeting, but all pack meetings.” Abraham said to himself, as he was still trying to convey what he wanted. Also, the wide-open state of the stadium and the football field would be perfect for the indoctrination processes that would needed to fully awaken the dormant power of the wolf within everyone.

With his mind made up, he mentally went through a checklist of things he needed to do first.

Brrringg.

Then almost as if reading his mind, his brother chose that exact moment to call.

“Hello dear brother, I was just thinking of calling you.” Abraham answered, with a slight smile cresting his face.

“Well, hello to you too. Though I think we should talk,” Bruce began.

Hearing the serious tone to his brother’s words, caused a note of alarm to rise within him, as he knew full well the problems that often arise when something that Bruce put forward as a concern was not taken seriously.

“About?”

“You son, he ruined a second vehicle within a week, and this time it was done by crashing into a police vehicle.” Bruce answered, his voice clearly angry.

Hearing that, Abraham mentally sighed, as he knew that the boy was both impetuous and had even resorted to using his authority as future alpha to take the vehicle from Amoni. While he had been in the process of trying to get his niece another vehicle, now he realized that he had to get not one but two new vehicles.

Sigh.

“Perhaps you should explain this to me in detail,” Abraham began.

“Well it seems that your son and a girl were street racing. The only reason we know this is that the officer, Jinkens, had pulled out and began to initiate a stop, when you son who was losing the race plowed into the merging vehicle.” Bruce stated.

With that a few things hit him, but the one that seemed to be most pertinent was, “my son was losing a race?”

“Apparently by quite the margin.”

Hmm.

Hearing the sound of Abraham clearly thinking about this comment, Bruce continued.

“While Jerome didn’t tell the officer who he was racing, just noting it as being a few girls. He later confided in me that it was the new girl, a member of the basketball team.”

At that, Abraham just sighed.

“All of this for a girl.”

“I don’t want to hear it, coming from you, this is nothing.” Bruce chided.

Chuckle.

“Yeah, well I can see that.” Abraham replied.

“So what do you want me to do with your son and his friends?” Bruce asked.

“Are they out of jail?” Abraham asked.

“Yes.”

“Good then leave them. Part of being an Alpha is learning what to do when you have limited options. He had a vehicle this morning that he could use to get around in, and the fact that he doesn’t is now on him.” Abraham responded.

“Right,” Bruce began and there was a slight pause as it seemed Bruce was contemplating how to say this next part. “About the vehicles, one of those clearly was my daughter’s.”

Sigh.

“Yes, yes, I am aware. Let’s see if we fix the one, and maybe find another that can be fixed into working condition.” Abraham began.

“Okay, got it, any particular place you have in mind for the repairs?” Bruce asked.

“Anywhere that is cheap.” Abraham answered.

“Got it, I’ll take care of this.” Bruce replied.

“I know,” Abraham began, then pausing for a moment he responded, “and thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Click.

Then, like that Abraham was left with a few more details to deal with. Fortunately, he had his brother to take care of the transportation issues, which meant that he would likely need to be in charge of trying to get a place big enough to support all the pack members that fell under his influence.

***

Unbeknownst to both Bruce and Abraham, their search engines, browsers, and queries were all being inundated with tiny pop-up ads. Ads that were never paid for, and theoretically should never exist, but for some inexplicable reason, they always seemed to show certain subtle suggestions that led them to certain conclusions.

This was why it came as little surprise that when Bruce searched for cheap automotive places near me, only one option appeared, featuring images of Phil’s Rustbucket Garage.

Initially, Bruce was against the add and was about to leave. As he moved his thumb to swipe away, he inadvertently hit the showcase option, which showed a variety of vehicles. At first there were old vehicles that were little more than rust and a frame. Then from there, the images showed a time progression on how the vehicles were slowly restored piece by piece, until finally they appeared to be in better condition than ones coming fresh off the lots. After seeing the changes, it was clear that this mechanic knew what he was doing.

Next, all that mattered was the alleged price of such a custom fix.

After that, Bruce looked at the location of the place, seeing that it was actually an old farmhouse that had been turned into a garage. At first, Bruce was about to scroll away, when he realized that given how far away the place was from all society, if they didn’t like the agreed upon price, they could always strong arm the group into a more favorable price, after the work was done of course.

With that, Bruce decided to at least check out the place and see what he could expect.