Post by Neal on Jan 29, 2007 1:50:56 GMT
Name: Neal Lewis
Nicknames: None really. He sometimes goes by his last name which can cause those who don’t know him to mistake it for his first.
Race: Werewolf - Pureborn
Occupation: Werewolf fighter – Rayne’s Pack
Gender: Male
Skin Color: Caucasian with a faint tan.
Age: 812
Clothing: Neal has moved on with the times and as such dresses as is normal for a man who looks his age. He has no particular attachment to any type of clothing, preferring to wear just what is comfortable and quick to put on. Neal also has a rather poor sense of dress style, sometimes wearing bright colours that clash and clothing that does not suit him. As a result most of his wardrobe was bought by his mate. He tends to just wear boots when outside for the best protection for his feet, although indoors he will sometimes wear trainers. With coats he tends to stick to jackets that go to about knee length. Neal also has an ‘Indiana Jones’ style hat given to him by Bella which he loves.
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 171lbs
Tattoos: None
Piercings: None
Jewellery: Neal has a pewter necklace with a tag pendant, which he wears under his shirt at all times.
Body Modifications: A scar all the way around the base of his ring finger on his left hand from where a silver ring made prolonged contact with his skin. He also has a number of minor scars over his body from his time as a fighter, and a few larger ones from his time with one Sofia Maya.
Wolf Form [/u]
Build: Very much like an actual wolf, built more for speed and movement on four legs then movement on two although he can manage it for short periods of time. A silky fur coat that thickly covers his whole body and grows relatively evenly although long hair. He has long strong ears that are wolf like and pricked up.
Height: Bipedal-5’9”; Quadruped-4’9”
Weight:206lbs
Hair: brown and white all over his body with occasional patches of a dark blue, almost grey colour.
Eyes: Blue.
Defining Marks: Long tail.
Pack[/u]
Pack: Rayne’s Pack.
Position: Fighter.
Territory: Rayne’s side of LA.
Hair[/u]
Length: Just above his ears.
Style: Rough and ruffled, it looks as if he has just rolled out of bed, although his hair does in fact naturally grow that way despite attempts to tame it.
Color: Black.
Facial Hair[/u]
Length: Sometimes faint stubble.
Style: Just lets it grow naturally when he doesn’t bother to shave.
Eyes[/u]
Color: Brown
Oddities: When angry, scared, playful or if the wolf is trying to break out, they will flash blue.
Personality: Neal is an incredibly passionate and loyal werewolf, dedicated to the well being of his mate and those he cares about, primary the wolves from Argentina, although this caring has spread to all those in Rayne’s pack. He is willing to sacrifice himself without hesitation should it prove a necessity and for the safety of others. This martyr streak has caused a few problems between himself and his mate, as Neal doesn’t see the worth in himself compared to others.
Very knowledgeable about the world considering how long he has lived and the way in which the world works. Curious and inquisitive, he explores new things when faced with them wanting to understand everything he can. Neal can be quite a playful and mischievous wolf when the mood strikes him, behaving sometimes in a way that can make him appear much younger than he actually is. The wolf is always very playful and tender with his mate, no matter what he might be feeling or acting around others in the pack. Generally he is a rather upbeat and funny wolf, making jokes and trying to keep people’s spirits up and moral high.
He has all the qualities that come with being a leader due to his many years as an Alpha, including the ability to perform well under pressure, to make split second choices when lives are on the line and the mentality to live with his choices. As with everyone, Neal has made mistakes in his life but he tries not to think about them too much, although he feels responsible for each and every death and injury that happened under his leadership. He is rather modest about his abilities and his powers, possibly too modest, under estimating what he can do.
The fighter doesn’t like to talk about his past as a whole, preferring to ignore it whenever possible. Neal is rather tight lipped about the origins of his wounds and only Bella knows the full story behind his life. Even those that have been with him for hundreds of years do not know everything although they can guess. Bringing up his past or making some joke about it is a sure fire way to make the normally cheerful wolf moody and distant, drawing into himself and becoming closed off.
Weaknesses: Like all of his species, he has a fatal allergy to silver and can die if stabbed with it or should he suffer contact with it for too long a time. His devotion to his old pack members, along with the current pack mates could be considered a weakness. Mentally though, Neal has two great weakness, one of which is the fear that something will happen to his mate, Isabella. His other weakness is a terror of women like his original mate, Sofia, as well as a horror that perhaps she isn’t dead. He suffers from nightmares due to his past and after such dreams only Bella can calm him. Another weakness is his low self-esteem, although he only lets this surface in private.
Abilities: Neal has all the heightened abilities that comes with being a werewolf such as speed, agility, stamina, strength. All of his senses are off the chart, as is the increased tolerance to pain and rapid healing. A skilled fighter, in guns, blades and hand to hand combat, Neal is very good at what he does, a very accomplished fighter. He has a particular flair with using a whip, something Bella teases him about now and than, and is able to use it for much more than just fighting. Due to his travels he can speak Gaelic, English, French, Spanish and little bits of other European languages. He can also speak Latin and a few other extinct languages, including one called Guenoa. The fighter has a keen interest in photography and is quite skilled at it, owning several different cameras and lenses from old fashioned film ones to more modern digital.
Weapons: Neal carries a Scottish Claymore with him at all times, a gift from his parents and the only thing he has of his past life. He also carries two hunting knives, two glocks and also a bull whip which he carries whenever possible.
Prized Possessions: His Claymore and his Indiana Jones hat. In a way however his most prized possession is his mate, Isabella Valdez, although he would never dream of calling her a ‘possession’.
Home(s): At the Four Seasons with the rest of Rayne’s pack.
History: Neal Lewis was born to the Beta couple of a reasonably large and solid pack located in the Scottish highlands. His parents were proud of their Scottish ancestry, proud of their position in the pack and proud of their son. Neal flourished in the pack, training in fighting as soon as he was able and running with the other youths. From a very young age it was clear that the werewolf had leadership qualities, becoming the ‘alpha’ of a small group of friends within the pack. It was this friendship that would ultimately lead to tragedy, Neal’s overwhelming desire to protect those he cared about. When he was around seventy years of age, he and his group of friends ran across a rogue werewolf pack that was looking for a territory of their own – and they had decided on the area currently owned by Neal’s pack. Realising that the pack was too large for his mini team to take on, Neal sent them back to warn everyone, putting himself in harms way and trying to delay the approach as long as possible.
He challenged the Alpha of the pack to a fight, the only thing he could think of that would distract them long enough for help to arrive. It was not a fair fight, the Alpha male having over three hundred years of experience over him, as well as fighting dirty. All too soon Neal had been defeated, brutally beaten and there it might have ended for him, the Alpha lifting his weapon for the kill strike when the Alpha female of the pack stepped in; Sofia Maya.
She had watched from the sidelines as the two had fought, impressed by Neal’s bravery even in such terrible odds, by the way he had unflinchingly sacrificed himself for the good of his pack. She convinced her mate – Joe – not to kill Neal, Sofia the real power out of the two Alphas’. The last thing Neal saw before finally loosing his hold on awareness was Sofia staring down at him, a cold smirk on her lips.
Neal woke up a week later to find himself in France, along with the rogue pack. He never fully learnt what had happened during that week, different wolves telling different stories, some saying they attacked his family, some saying they just fled and took Neal with them. The things they did all agree on however was that it was Sofia’s interest in him that had saved him, that by loosing to the Alpha he had no choice but to remain in the pack and that Sofia had insisted he be drugged during the move to remove any temptation he might have to return to his old pack.
Unable to leave and Sofia watching his every move, Neal had no choice but to remain with the new pack, becoming a fighter for them. He fought hard during every battle, growing close to one or two pack members who were in a similar situation to him. All the while however he was aware of the Alpha’s keen interest in him, the female all but stalking the fighter. She grew more and more obsessed about him as the years went on, despite the large age difference between them – like her mate, she was nearly 300 years older than him.
The pack roamed throughout Europe, looking for somewhere to settle down but never seeming to find a spot the pleased both Alphas’. Tension between the two were running high, Joe seeing the interest Sofia had in the young fighter and recognising it for the danger it was. It wasn’t until Neal had been in the pack for roughly fifty years however before Sofia finally made her move, always having been a patient creature.
She decided that he was old enough now and had spent enough time away from his old pack. Bored with Joe and completely obsessed with Neal – she had never been able to forget the loyalty he had shown to his old pack and wanted that loyalty for herself – Sofia set up a trap for the pack, sending some of the fighters into a fight they could not win, including those close to Neal, all the while setting it up to make it appear Joe had been the brains behind that choice.
When news of the fighters defeat reached the pack – out of the seven sent, seven were killed – Sofia turned on her mate, savagely killing him in the name of those fighters. The rest of the pack stood and watched, believing that Joe was responsible and feeling little pity for his end. With Joe dead, Sofia was the undisputed Alpha of the pack and she wasted little time in taking Neal as her new Alpha male, claiming that he was the strongest fighter left and they needed strength at the top.
At only 120 years of age, Neal didn’t know how to get out of his new Alpha position, turning it down blindly without even thinking. Sofia was not impressed by his refusal and vowed to change his mind, no matter what. Again, the rest of the pack stood by and let this happen, either too scared or too beaten down by their ruthless alpha to stand up or question her choice.
A master of seduction and manipulation, Sofia was able to convince Neal to at least remain Alpha until the pack had stabilised themselves after the recent losses. There, she felt convinced she would be able to maintain her power over him and keep him as her mate, something she had wanted ever since she had seen him all those years ago. Instantly she launched a campaign of mental and physical abuse onto Neal, wearing down at his defences and trying to get him to submit to her.
One of her first acts once it became clear to Neal that he was expected to be Alpha in everything, even her mate despite her earlier promises was to ‘marry’ them both. Sofia forced a silver wedding ring onto Neal’s finger, ignoring his screams of pain and kept it there as it burnt though flesh, permanently scarring. It was only when she was convinced that the mark would never fade, she removed the ring, saying that he was forever bound to her now. Neal belonged to her and after a while, he began to believe it was true. Sofia all but hypnotised him into believing this was all his life deserved to be, a figure head Alpha, her mate, obeying her every whim. She didn’t even allow him to fight anymore, not wanting to risk damaging her most prized possession. Six years passed in this way, Neal loosing a little of himself each day.
Neal withdrew into himself, letting Sofia do what she liked while he just tried to get though each day, living as though in a dream world. Sofia was of Viking origin, her father one of those who had originally discovered America, meaning she was one of the few at that time who knew the continent even existed. She decided that a whole new life would be best for them, completely cutting off the past and Europe. Neal didn’t argue when she announced that the pack would move to this strange new world, even though it took him even further from his original home, too wrapped up in his current situation to care about his future or past one way or the other. The pack risked a dangerous sea voyage and ended up in what would later become known as Nova Scotia. They slowly moved south through the lands, eventually arriving in Argentina.
There they ran across the remains of what had once been a large pack but now numbered only twelve. Sofia saw the venerable wolves as valuable additions to her pack and with her manipulative ways was quickly able to convince the leader of the group, a fighter by the name of Isabella Valdez that it was best they join forces. As soon as they were part of the pack she began to work on them, degrading them and abusing them as she did to all her pack mates. Through it all, Neal stood by and let it happen, too afraid to rebel, for Sofia had never stopped in her treatment of him.
The main fighter of the new additions caught his attention despite himself, the sprit and wish to protect reminding him of his past, all the way back in Scotland. He was careful however not to let any hint of this interest appear, knowing that Sofia was insanely jealous and that any sign would spell Isabella’s death. Her refusal to bow down to the insane Alpha and desire to protect forced Neal out of his protective shell and he came to realise that although he blamed those in the pack for Sofia’s treatment of him, for not helping when she had burnt him or beaten him, he was doing the same thing to the newest members and that thought made him ashamed.
Neal became determined to get Isabella and her wolves out of the pack before Sofia could break them as she did to everyone including himself. Events however took an unexpected turn when the fighter all but challenged the Alpha in a bid to defend her ‘family’. The scene that followed was painfully familiar to the male wolf, remembering only too clearly his own actions at a similar situation. And like Sofia then, he stepped in at the last minute, convincing his mate not to kill Isabella. By this time he had learnt how to slightly manipulate her himself, playing to her ego, her desire and effectively distracting her from her rampage. Even so, he knew his actions that day had only granted the fighter a reprise – once Sofia realised he had ‘defied’ her by stepping into pack affairs, she would take it out on Isabella.
Consciously aware of time running out, Neal began searching for some way to create a distraction large enough for Isabella and her group to escape. Sofia however, realised she had been tricked by her mate and furious at the thought that perhaps he was not as broken as she had believed increased her abuse of him, keeping it all a secret unlike her earlier treatment of him. She didn’t want the rest of the pack to realise he was still fighting her. The only saving grace of this was he felt sure Sofia would be too busy with him to focus on the healing fighter.
Escape from this life seemed impossible, when roughly a week or so after the fight, the pack was attacked. One of the remaining packs from the area had gotten wind of their location and considering the wolves a threat launched an attack on them. Sofia sent out her fighters to defend and fight back, while telling Neal to stay with her out of harms way. Neal however felt the burden of being Alpha like never before and could not just stand tamely by while his wolves and his pack was being attacked. Ignoring her enraged yells he jumped into the battle, defending those unable to defend themselves and giving aid to fighters who needed it. The wolf fought like one possessed, feeling his fighter training returning the longer he fought.
In the midst of the fight he came across Isabella, helping her fight off one of the enemy wolves. It was the first time he had seen her close by and fully conscious, Sofia preferring that a distance be maintained with her mate, not wanting anyone to look too closely.
He begged her to take what remained of her pack and run while everything was all confusion and panic. The Alpha was confused when Isabella didn’t at first and instead insisted that he run with them, despite the obvious danger it presented – Neal knew that Sofia would never let him go, not after waiting 50 years to get complete control over him in the first place. The temptation to be finally free of her was too much however and despite his uncertainty and fear she would catch him, he fled with Isabella and the fighters, heading back to America and using what knowledge he had of passing through the area the first time to help them.
The small group was ruthlessly pursued by Sofia, the insane female enraged that Neal had finally dared to leave her after all this time. They hopped from one small village to small village, always trying to stay a step ahead of the other pack. Neal found himself growing more and more attached to the new family he found with the Argentinean wolves, especially the leader of the group – Isabella. It didn’t take him long to realise he loved her but that understanding only prompted further panic and fear in him, worried that Sofia might hurt her and not able to handle the thought that he would be the cause of her pain.
Neal and the group were ambushed by Sofia’s pack one night, the larger group finally catching up with them. During the intense fight that followed they were again able to escape – Isabella and Neal always saw to it that everyone remained in peak condition unlike those in Sofia’s pack – although one of the male fighters was gravely wounded.
Blaming himself and knowing that Sofia would indeed never stop hunting him, Neal decided that there was only one way to protect his family and more importantly protect Bella, the group slower now they had an injured pack member to carry with them. That night he simply slipped away and returned to Sofia, hoping this submission would give the rest time to fully escape.
Upon returning to Sofia, the Alpha female wasted no time in reclaiming him as her mate although she made it clear that she had been much too lenient on him the first time round, something she would not repeat this time before heavily drugging him in order to keep him compliant. For the first few days at least, she didn’t want him being conscious enough to even consider regretting his choice. During that first night Sofia left him alone in order to plan the continued hunt of Isabella and the other escapees – she wanted to make an example out of them.
The first moment Neal was aware he wasn’t alone in the room was when his head was suddenly submerged in cold water. It was enough to wake up Neal enough to become aware of what was going on and found Bella had come after him, unwilling to let him sacrifice himself to Sofia. He was in no state to fight her or even argue and just went with her, the two sneaking out as best they could, Neal stumbling and weaving though the escape and even having to be carried at some point. Sofia’s greatest weakness however had always been her arrogance and over confidence. It never occurred to the leader that someone could get to her mate – it never occurred to her that someone could get him out either and so the two met little resistance.
A little way outside Sofia’s holding they found the rest of their pack, having ignored Isabella’s orders to just run. They weren’t going to leave either of their leaders behind, Neal somehow having risen up that high in their respect. With two incapacitated pack members, they couldn’t get very far but tried their best as the drugs slowly wore off in Neal’s body. He woke to find himself in a run down farmhouse, Bella watching over him. Although at first he wished to return to Sofia, fearing that this action would simply bring down greater pain on Bella and the other wolves, the two talked and admitted many truths to each other, including that if they were ever to be happy then they had to be rid of the threat of Sofia once and for all.
It was Neal who suggested rigging an area with gunpowder in order to completely destroy the other pack, knowing that too many of the broken wolves death would be a blessing. He had learnt of the Chinese magic powder from a wolf in the pack that had been killed years earlier at Sofia’s hands, another event he could not forgive the insane Alpha for and by using himself as bait, was able to pull off the trap perfectly. Well, most likely perfectly, the other pack destroyed and Sofia believed dead although they never found her body despite Neal searching for it, needing to see her dead to finally think himself free.
With Sofia and the pack gone however, the escapees were finally free to live in peace, settling down on a small patch of land of trying to recover from all the wounds the past had inflicted on them, both mental and physical. It was here that Neal and Bella finally became mates, Neal working hard to overcome the fear and pain his former mate had forced on him and to understand that not all mates are bad, and Bella finally having help in leading her people.
They were a very small pack, with only one or two new rogues joining during the centuries that followed. Neal and Bella had little wish to run a large pack or land, but simply to keep what was basically there small group of rogue wolves safe. Cities began to be built up around them as more and more humans flocked to what became America and the safety of their pack began to worry the Alpha’s. They had little experience when it came to humans, keeping themselves to themselves and avoiding contact as much as possible. Neal knew that should they be attacked by a human mob, vampires or even a rival wolf pack they would have little chance of defending themselves and so after much talking with Bella it was agreed that for the time being at least it might be best if they aligned themselves with a larger pack.
The two scouted out packs carefully, not wanting to repeat the mistake of joining the first they came across. In LA, the largest town near to them, they came across the pack of Rayne, the alpha having taken the title from the pervious one mere years before. Although Neal was wary of joining a pack that had such a leader – and more so at learning that the previous one was a lone female who still remained in the pack – it was decided that for the sake of their pack they should.
Neal and Bella have remained in Rayne’s pack until this day, loyal fighters although sometimes Neal misses being a leader and knowing that everyone is safe to his satisfaction – he has never been able to become fully comfortable with his new Alpha’s and the pervious one still gives him shivers.