Training to bring out the old ways
They stayed with Trahan and Talon for sometime. Stefan trained the Luna Azul Pack and Amber wanted to be by his side. Eventually she did have to return to Star Fire territory but she soon began traveling back and forth between the two packs.
In this way the alliance between Star Fire Pack and Luna Azul Pack was solidified.
In a large war room at the heart of the main house of Pack Luna Azul Stefan sat with Tiffany, Jess, Trahan, Talon and many of their advisors and commanders. Stefan had a frown on his face as he listened to the latest intel on the vampires.
Things had become interesting after the shadelings were destroyed, or killed, depending on how you looked at it. Of course the vampires knew instantly and this triggered them to send out scouts and others to infiltrate to understand what had happened.
Luna Azul Pack guards were continually finding and capturing, or running off these vampires.
The ones that were caught were sapped dry of information by Tiffany, causing both Trahan and Talon to look at her with a bit of both respect and fear.
But all of this was preparing Stefan for war. As Marcos he had fought in many skirmishes and he understood how an enemy planned when coming into hostile territory. So he decided to bide his time and wait to see what the vampires' first move would be.
First, along with Tiffany, he helped Trahan and Talon pick out promising pack members to become Luna Azul's intel group. He had Dale train them personally while actually weeding out information for the pack. The four chose so well that Luna Azul's intel agency became quite formidable rather quickly.
Stefan looked at the werewolves before him. He could feel the innate power radiating off them. He walked back and forth looking for the one he wanted to test today. They were all tense, all expectant. Their bodies seemed to hum with expectation, like fine wires tightly wound.
He chose a wiry silver haired werewolf. They entered a combat circle, both transforming at the same time. The barrier rose after a few seconds of the last person entering. Their muscles seemed to roll beneath their skin as they readied themselves for an intense fight.
Stefan had been showing them how to defend themselves against an alpha. By showing them this he had been preparing them for the tougher training that would come. The training on how to fight, and tire out, vampires.
Today was the beginning of three days were these wolves would show him what they had learned, if they learned anything. The hardest part had been helping every wolf here bring out their wolf venom.
Werewolves were capable of releasing venom from their claws. This was innate but not everyone could wake it successfully or build it up to be a potent weapon.
Building the poison up was simple. The werewolf would drink a tea made of wolf's bane, elder berry, and black smear pepper. The brew was hot and toxic. The first dose was relatively weak but it could cause a fever in the werewolf if they were not a good candidate to use their innate poison.
Each dose of tea was stronger and stronger in potency. Until either the herbalist felt a stronger brew would be too toxic for the werewolf or the werewolf decided that his or her poison was strong enough.
Stefan, with his sensitive nose, could spell the strong poison on this werewolf. He smiled and charged in. Just before he reached the werewolf, still frozen to the spot, he leaped. Everything seemed to pause as Stefan's claws extended and his canines gleamed.
The silver werewolf moved just enough to avoid a direct strike from Stefan's claws. But they did rake painfully down the silver werewolf's arm.
Stefan smiled, as he thought. 'This one would not be deterred. He showed no fear of me possibly using poison. Good. Very good.'
And then, without any warning or clue the silver werewolf was moving. He spun through the air like a drill. His body moving much faster than most could see. Stefan smiled wider and positioned himself to take the hit.
The silver werewolf suddenly stopped spinning and flipped. He kicked out and instantly regretted it. He felt like he had just kicked a boulder or even some immovable mountain. He frowned as his body came to a halt, standing upright before Stefan. His foot throbbed but because he had conditioned his body the pain was nothing more than a tingle.
He stood looking at Stefan, incredulously, for a long moment. How were they supposed to fight someone so overpowered? He sighed, resolved himself to his fate, cracked his neck and began to hype himself up by bouncing on the balls of his feet and hitting his chest a few times.
Then he let out his signature roar. It was more a sonic Howl and he could direct it in any direction he wanted. This is another reason why this silver werewolf was chosen. He had several innate abilities that he actually developed.
Like Tiffany, when he discovered an ability within himself he quickly went to work improving and developing it.
The howl moved over and through Stefan at the same time. His skin prickled as if it was protecting against scratches or lacerations, and his organs quivered as if they wanted to dissolve into gelatinous puddles.
He smiled. This attack would kill most werewolves weaker than him.
He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and placed his hand before him palm out and pushed forward. This moved a section of this sound forward. He thrust his hand forward with great force and the section that had moved away from him shot back towards the silver werewolf at a greater speed than it had initially been sent.
But the silver werewolf felt it and he let out another howl. Stefan tilted his head curiously. He could tell that this Howl was different. And he could tell that when the sound waves collided they dispersed as if they neutralized each other.
Stefan raised an eyebrow and nodded. This werewolf would not defeat him but he could hold his own for quite some time.
He ended the match and looked to the silver haired werewolf. "You will be a commander. I will set up a special team and you will command them. We do well against vampires without abilities or magics but I like surprising them as well. They feel that we have forgotten all of our ancient ways. They think we are not their equals because of this.
"Werewolves like you will show them just how wrong they are."
Stefan looked into the group of werewolves before him, not even waiting for a response from the silver werewolf, and he chose his next sparring partner.
He allowed the werewolves to see their strengths and weaknesses. And he paid attention to whether they learned from this or ignored it. And as he trained them he began to understand them and know where he wanted them in this fight.