A/N: This Bonus chapter has been brought to you by Daniel Reis' glorious patronage. All hail lord Daniel!
[Blood Diary Entry]
Rebekah continued her lesson, this time speaking of what she called the wolfen lineages.
"Again, I'll start from the oldest to the newest.
The oldest wolf lineage we've known of was located here on the American continent. Believers of a moon goddess that were supposedly cursed by that same goddess, they shift every full moon, but they hold no control over their own powers, which is why we call this specific lineage, Cursed Wolves. While fully shifted, they are faster and stronger than the vampires from my family's lineage. Some say that these werewolves are technically our natural predators, and I would have to agree since their bite contains a venom that will inevitably kill a vampire after excruciating torment."
"Even you Originals?" Mother asked.
"More or less… the venom doesn't kill us, though we do have to endure the 'excruciating torment' part, but that can be lessened to a degree if you have exceptional willpower."
"I see… thank you for answering. I just have one more question, would it be okay to ask?"
"Shoot."
"Is there any cure for werewolf venom?"
Rebekah went silent, pondering over the question and her answer as well. "Yes, there is a cure for werewolf venom."
"Which is?"
Noticing Rebekah's hesitation, I decided to step in. "Mom, stop it."
Mother turned to look at me, her expression a bit puzzled. "Hmm?" But when I nodded my head towards Rebekah and Mother saw her expression, she grew quiet. "Sorry about that, I let my curiosity get the best of me."
"It's fine… It's just that it is not a very easy topic for our family, but if you must know, the cure for werewolf venom is the blood of a hybrid."
Mother nodded her head and quieted down, probably still curious but unwilling to ask anything else, and sour her budding friendship with the blondie.
Rebekah just looked at the rearview mirror and gave me a gentle smile. Her every action stated but one message: 'Thank you'.
"Anyways, where was I?" Rebekah turned the conversation back on track.
"Werewolf venom."
"Ah, yes…
That one bit is why most consider them natural vampire hunters, but there are also glaring weaknesses to them. While in human form, they do boast considerable strength, but their reflexes and speed are severely tuned down from their shapeshifted form. And much like vampires from my bloodline are weak to vervain, these cursed wolves are weak to a specific herb—aconitum, or wolfsbane if you prefer.
Unlike popular myths, this lineage cannot create more wolves using their bite or claws; the only way for one to become this type of werewolf is to be born as a descendant of a werewolf.
Families can carry the werewolf gene for generations and not produce a single wolf. Mainly because the way to trigger the curse is by taking a human life, and in nowadays peaceful times, this is a rare thing to happen."
"Can the curse be triggered if they kill a supernatural being? Or does it only work when they kill a human?" This was a question that I always had and that continuously bugged me.
"It depends, I suppose… I know that killing a vampire won't trigger it, supposedly because we are already dead."
"What about that bloodline that is stranded in Budapest? You said they are biological beings and not magical ones; would they count?"
"I'm not entirely sure, as I said we didn't delve much into their peculiarities… and as far as I am aware, if they kill other shapeshifters like wendigos—which are essentially cannibalistic monstrosities—they don't seem to trigger their curse."
"That kind of makes sense, but sheesh, what a picky curse."
"Haha, yeah, it kinda is."
Seeing that neither I nor my mother had any questions, she continued with her explanation.
"Second comes the werewolf lineage I briefly mentioned before."
"The one with the shared origins with a vampiric bloodline?"
"Yes, that one.
Seemingly, the two come from the same family or strain, something like that.
What I do know is that the pure-blooded werewolves of this lineage are rabid beasts with no exception.
It was only later on, when the vampires managed to cross-breed one of them with a human—don't ask me how they did, it makes me sick to my stomach—that they created beings who could control themselves.
They called these human-werewolf hybrids Lycans. They are immortal like their werewolf ancestors and vampiric counterparts. Lycans can be either born as a lycan, by having one or more lycan parents, or they can be bitten by one, making spreading their species that much easier.
But unlike the vampires from Budapest, they do not fall so much behind the rest of the supernatural world; their only problem is their glaring weakness to silver. It goes to such an extent that it borders on the absurd.
Younger lycans can only shapeshift during full moons, but the older ones learned how to do it at any time, which makes them formidable foes for most."
Rebekah paused, waiting to see if we had any questions regarding these wolves—we did not. Because honestly, I am not all that much interested in them.
"Finally, we have the youngest and most widespread lineage, the one we call hybrid lineage, or Triadic Werewolves, but most just call them Lycanthropes. They are called hybrids because they are technically a blend between a cursed wolf and a lycan, having weaknesses and strengths from both sides, but oddly enough, they are individually weaker than both. Triadic because these werewolves are organized into a pack-type system, consisting of alphas, betas, and omegas.
They have a glaring weakness to aconitum, much like cursed wolves, but they don't seem to be affected by silver.
Werewolves are the more common variant of this lineage, but they take after the remarkable adaptability from their lycan ancestors, and their bite can produce various types of shapeshifters, like werelions, werejackals, werejaguars, and a lot more. Hence, they are simply known as Lycanthropes.
There was also some druidic intervention at some point in their existence; mistletoe and mountain ash were added to their numerous weaknesses. Mistletoe is slightly poisonous to them, and mountain ash being used to create barriers that can keep them away, much like Original bloodline vampires cannot enter houses uninvited, they cannot cross mountain ash lines.
But their most curious trait is found in their pack system, where they actually gain power by banding together. By having numerous members or remarkably strong ones, they grow stronger together, so technically speaking, they hold the potential to be among the strongest supernatural beings. By creating a massive pack, they could theoretically strengthen themselves without limit.
But hunters never let that happen, and the lycanthropes themselves don't seem to be keen on creating massive-sized groups."
Rebekah took a deep breath, seeming a bit dazed from speaking so much.
"And that is it for our first lesson, hope it was helpful." She said in a cheery tone.
"It was, thanks, Rebekah, I really appreciate it."
"Don't mention it, Darian." She just waved me off. "Though… if you feel grateful and you feel like you must pay me back, you can do so by telling me more about yourself." She giggled jovially.
"About myself or about what I am?" I asked jokingly.
"Both!"
I laughed out loud. It was really fun being around this woman.
But just as my laugh began, it died down just as quickly.
Alarm bells started ringing in my head.
The car grew colder. A freezing chill that even seemed to create ice flakes on the windows.
My heart started beating like a drum, and I started to growl subconsciously.