Count Lupus

Count Lupus is the antagonist in the novel Werewolf by Colin Dunne. He is the titular Werewolf and seeks to revive the ancient Empire of the Werewolves in Britain, a country he has chosen because its inhabitants are too modern to believe in the supernatural, such as werewolves.

Origins
Count Lupus is originally from Eastern Europe, somewhere around Hungary or Translyvania. He is currently the eldest Werewolf in existence, as he is mentioned to be "as old as the hills" which would make him at least thirty thousand years old, as much of Britain was formed in glacial times. According to legend, he cannot be destroyed. The gypsies from his native country fear him so much that they will not even go to authorities to help defeat him.

Immigration
Because of the backlash of World War Two many Werewolves went into hiding and retreated from civilization, turning them into creatures of myth and legend, and technology became the focus of everyday life. But Werewolves have always been there, in the shadows, waiting for their moment. It is unknown how Count Lupus became such a beast, whether he was born that way, or whether he learned to become a Werewolf through the numerous contagions listed in the book (i.e. drinking water from the footprint of a wolf, eating the roasted flesh of a rabid wolf, or looking at the full Moon consistently). Whatever the reason, Count Lupus was unique amongst Werewolves as he really did seem to enjoy the transformational life. He decided to set up the ancient Empire of the Werewolves, as he believed the time had come for power again, and he chose Britain, because Britain was too modern to believe. He immigrated to Britain along with plenty of other gypsies who were seeking a new life after the horrors of the war, and used the focus on the war's horrors as cover for his Werewolf activities.

Rise to power
Count Lupus settled in a little town in Yorkshire and bought the local mansion, rumour had it it was haunted by its bloodstained past, thus the locals were happy to give it to the count. The count lived there with two other men (presumably normal humans, perhaps influenced or threatened by his lycanthropic nature) from his native country, who didn't speak much English, but the count did and he passed himself off as a rich, foreign millionaire who attended social events and was influential amongst the local town. He still resumed his lycanthrophic lifestyle, as occasionally he would venture out at night and steal children to eat, especially from the local gypsy camp. People began thinking the unseen attacker was a wild dog or cat they called "the Beast of Ackerford" which helped the count, because everyone thought it was a normal wild animal killing the children and not a supernatural beast. In his time after arriving at Ackerford town, Count Lupus abducted three children and ate them.

Discovery
When a daschund dog went insane as if infected by rabies, belonging to a local girl named Lydia who had recently immigrated from America thanks to her dad being cheated at work, and destroyed Lydia's kitchen, Lydia had to call the local vet, who unfortunately had to put the dog down, due to its psychotic behaviour. Lydia was given the corpse for burial, and upon burial a sinister black car rolled up. A foreign man leaned out and asked if she had the ill dog, and said he was from a vetinary center at the local hall. Lydia saw Count Lupus in the backseat, but wasn't close enough to see who he really was. She noticed he was staring at her male gypsy friend in her garden, and the gypsy, whose name was Stipo, said that he recognized Count Lupus as the Emperor of the Werewolves. Stipo said to be afraid, very afraid, and although Lydia and her other male friend, Stodge, didn't believe this, they soon became convinced when the corpse of the dog had been dug up and vanished: it had been turned into a werewolf. A howl resonated round the town, and Lydia, Stipo and Stodge decided to trek to the mansion and see what the count was up to. At the mansion, Lydia was attacked and almost killed by the reanimated corpse of her dog, now a werewolf, but Stipo saved her and they ran back to their rented cottage and Stipo explained about werewolves. Stipo, Lydia and Stodge did some lycanthropic research in town, and found that Count Lupus was looking for them. Count Lupus paid a visit to them and transformed into a wolf, but then departed. That night, he attacked them, in wolf form, but Stipo repelled him with some open scissors, one of the repellants against werewolves. The next day, they went to the police, and fortunately, the police chief believed them, having taken folklore seriously all his life, and they all went to the blacksmith's to make silver bullets from some gypsy silver Stipo had. On the way, they were attacked by Lydia's werewolf dog, but it was repelled by the local reverend. The police chief ordered all the local police to surround the local hall, and they arrived there, but were attacked by Lydia's dog again. This time, they were able to finally kill her with silver bullets. Then they entered the hall.

Defeat
Inside the hall, Lydia, Stipo and Stodge entered after the local police chief, and found a surprise welcome as Count Lupus mocked them and scoffed at their efforts to defeat him. Noticing the police chief enter, he said he would eat them all, the teens first, and the police chief last, for dessert. Then Stipo encouraged the chief to shoot at the count but the chief couldn't, as the count was too human for him to kill. Then Count Lupus decided he would turn into werewolf and make it easier. He transformed and mocked them, running around the room, and then he was finally shot in the brain as he was about to eat Lydia. He was shot with a silver bullet, but then he was only half-dead, and bit Stodge, who had shot him, as Stodge went to check if the beast was dead. Then Count Lupus finally died. But Stodge was now infected with lycanthropy, and the team went to the gypsies for advice, who cured Stodge. Stodge said in his illness, he heard Count Lupus telling him to surrender to the lycanthropy, but was relieved it was over.