Dorian Gray returns with a unique twist in Purgatory of the Werewolf. In this second book in the series The Wolf of Dorian Gray, Dorian awakens naked and bloody in the forest. He seeks to escape his previous life and start anew by leaving London behind before anyone discovers he is still alive. His old mentor Lady Helena helps him to enlist in the Royal Navy under an assumed name and travel out of the country bound for China to fight in the Second Opium War against the Qing dynasty. She promises to safeguard the changed painting that holds Dorian’s secret but begins to notice the terrible change it undergoes during the full moon. Will Dorian be able to survive the war and the beast that stalks his nightmares? Will the monster hunter Van Helsing be his ally or foe? Will Dorian find love and some measure of peace in a foreign land? Find the answers to these questions and other ancient Romani secrets in this action packed story filled with exciting sea voyages, epic battles, heart-breaking love, and the purgatory of the werewolf.“It’s better to do a thing than live in fear of it.”

Outline – The Wolf of Dorian Gray: Purgatory of the Werewolf

Prologue

Chapter 1 – Dorian seeks to escape his previous life and start anew. He recovers from his horrifying awakening in the forest at the home of his murdered friend Sage and is able to find some peace there in the simple pleasures of manual labor and the quiet of the country. He plans to gather some resources in preparation of leaving London behind but does not wish anyone to discover that he is still alive instead of brutally murdered as everyone believes.

Chapter 2 – Lady Helena has had her body slowed by the ravages of time but her mind is still sharp. She suspects that despite a large amount of blood found in Dorian’s home, he is still alive since no body was ever found. She has taken the mysterious painting and hidden it in her mansion. She is surprised to notice that the painting has changed and Dorian is now strangely alone in the painting with the wolf cub missing from the canvas.

Chapter 3 – Dorian begins to form a plan to leave the city. His goal is to remove a few key possessions and valuables from his home, along with the accursed painting which has brought him so much sorrow. He still fears that his secret will be discovered and he cannot bear to leave the painting behind.

Chapter 4 – Dorian notices that although he now feels whole and more like a living person, he still feels strange and discovers that he has new abilities like increased endurance and strength. He is still ageless and heals quickly. Dorian refuses to accept these changes however, and dismisses them as a trick of the mind. His primary concern is to retrieve the painting and flee before the terrible werewolf that haunts the shadows of his thoughts can find him again.

Chapter 5 – Lady Helena enlists the help of Dorian’s disgraced friend Lord Crawley to begin looking for traces of Dorian’s whereabouts. She offers to back him financially in exchange for his queries through the underbelly of the city, as well as for his discretion.

Chapter 6 – Dorian breaks into his mansion, using his new strength and agility to avoid detection by the constables stationed there during the ongoing investigation. He retrieves his valuables but is distressed to find the painting missing and is desperate to recover it.

Chapter 7 – Lady Helena is admiring the painting late on the night of the first full moon since Dorian’s disappearance. She drops her glass and it shatters on the floor as she sees the painting change with Dorian’s profile transforming into that of a terrible beast in the light of the full moon. She faints and in the morning dismisses it as a dream brought on by too much wine and poor eyesight.

Chapter 8 – Dorian awakes for the second time, naked and bloody in the den of the werewolf deep within the forest. He is dismayed to find the corpse of a female human next to him and again runs for his life to the safety of Sage’s home. He grows desperate to be away from the werewolf’s den and after cleaning himself risks exposing himself by seeking the help of his old friend and mentor Lady Helena.

Chapter 9 – Lady Helena is left with a feeling of dread as she reads the news of several gruesome murders in the city the previous night. She remembers seeing the painting change in the light of the full moon and wonders if it wasn’t her imagination after all. She is shocked and relieved when she finds Dorian in her home seeking her help. Elsewhere a famous monster hunter has heard about the continuous murders in London and is on his way to the city with an arsenal of weapons.

Chapter 10 – Dorian is relieved to find the painting in the care of Lady Helena. He is terrified to hear the news of the murders in the city and is sure the werewolf is stalking him. He begs Lady Helena to smuggle him out of the city. Lady Helena uses her contacts to enlist Dorian in the navy under an assumed name. He is placed on a ship leaving imminently to rendezvous with the French Navy and head into battle in the joint venture between nations in the Second Opium War against the Qing dynasty of China.

Chapter 11 – Dorian is delighted to find Lord Crawley aboard the vessel as an enlisted man as well. He is unaware that Lady Helena has sent him to watch over Dorian and report back anything out of the ordinary. He is to report regularly to Lady Helena who will continue to research rumors of a beast hunting people at night. Can she discover some hints as to the beast’s origin? Her queries uncover the Romani background of the artist of the painting, her late friend Sage Holdsworth. She is convinced the answers lie there.

Chapter 12 – The crew of the English vessel meet with the French navy under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour. British army led by Lord Elgin, French army led by Baron Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros. A spirited voyage ensues with rivalries among the ships and mixed companies of Englishmen and Frenchmen.

The famous monster hunter Van Helsing arrives in London, but his quarry seems to have evaded him. He busies himself setting giant bear traps and spear pits in the woods and discovers the creatures abandoned lair.

Chapter 13 – Dorian displays great agility in the rigging and keen eyesight so he is selected to climb to the top of the crows nest and serve as lookout. In the middle of the night, he spots a mass floating in the ship’s path surrounded by sharks. He cries out the alarm but the crew is slow to believe that he can see something outside of the range of the lanterns in the moonless night. They are even slower to react and the ship is unable to turn fast enough to avoid striking the massive whale carcass. The impact throws several of the crew overboard and many of the lanterns are extinguished. Dorian is the only one who can see the drowning seamen in the darkness and one of the few aboard who can swim. He dives into the water and struggles to reach the drowning men among the circling sharks. With incredible strength he is able to swim and drag man after man to safety until a shark swims directly at him and begins ravaging the arm of the man he is saving. In a rage, Dorian wrenches apart the shark’s jaws, causing massive damage to his hands. He plunges his bloody fingertips into the fish’s eye and rips it out of the socket causing the shark to retreat. Two of the crewmen were lost to the dark water or sharks, but he is able to save three before he loses consciousness from blood loss.

Chapter 14 – Dorian awakens in the captain’s quarters to find he is being hailed as a hero and has been promoted to the rank of midshipman. He is relieved to find his secret has been protected by the general panic, blackness of the water and night, and dismissal of sailor’s claims that he fought off a shark. His wounds have healed without their full extent being known.

Chapter 15 – A healed Dorian is relieved when the ships safely reach China. The British have control of Hong Kong and are using the city as a staging point for their pending invasion of Canton. All men are needed for the invasion against the heavily fortified Chinese city and Dorian is deemed enough recovered for combat. He and Lord Crawley will join the invasion under the command of Lieutenant Tailmage. The British and French troops are incredibly outnumbered with their 10,000 troops against the city population of nearly a million. They will rely on their superior firepower to bombard the city.

Chapter 16 – Dorian’s platoon under the command of Sub-Lieutenant Jellby is to provide protection for several ground mortars which are shelling the eastern gate of the city. That night, the moon is full and visibility is low due to a thick fog. Lord Crawley is assigned to a later watch and is asleep when he is awakened to the screaming of the men on watch as the platoon is attacked. He sounds the alarm and organizes the soldiers around him into a tight defensive unit. They fire as one at the source of the attack and drive the attack back. Lord Crawley hears inhuman noises and growling and is able to make out a large form running away from the gunfire and towards the Chinese city. The English and French artillery respond to the attack and begin shelling the city. The next morning Viceroy Ye Mingchen surrenders the city of Canton. The citizens are fearful of the English and French troops which have suffered minor losses compared to the carnage inside the City walls. The mortars conceal some of the damage but survivors tell of a great beast moving through the Chinese troops like a dragon from hell.

Chapter 17 – The night of the full moon a very sober Lady Helena watches as the painting of Dorian Gray transforms into a hideous werewolf. This time there can be no mistake. The next day she scours the headlines and her worst fears are confirmed by the lack of murders in London during this full moon. Her thoughts turn to Lord Crawley in China and she writes him an urgent message encrypted with a cypher known only to the two.

Chapter 18 – Lord Crawley fears Dorian has been killed when he is not found among the survivors for he was scheduled for the first watch. Meanwhile, Dorian awakes naked and bloody once more, this time among the trees in a large bamboo forest. He is hopelessly lost and wanders until he encounters the remote home of a Chinese rice farmer named Féng Long.

Chapter 19 – The Chinese rice farmer is kind to Dorian and teaches him a little of his language. Dorian helps the farmer and his family to work the land and again is able to find some measure of peace. He begins to fall in love with the farmer’s beautiful daughter Shěn, who is kind and gentle.

Chapter 20 – Dorian is out walking in the forest at night with Shěn when the full moon rises. Terrible pain rips through his body as his hands elongate and grow long claws. Shěn tries to help at first, screaming. As the transformation continues and Dorian’s body grows in size and grows gray fur, she is dumbstruck with fear. Dorian’s jaw breaks and elongates and his teeth grow into long fangs. His eyes glow with an inhuman rage and a terrible howl erupts from the creature. Shěn flees for her life as Dorian stalks her through the forest. She just barely makes it back to the farm, exhausted and injured. Féng brings her inside and bars the door, but the werewolf crashes in through the roof. He kills Féng and his wife. Shěn pleads for her life calling the werewolf Dorian. The beast pauses for a moment as if confused, but the blood is already on his snout and in his throat and the creature kills her in the throws of his blood lust.

Chapter 21 – Dorian dreams that he is walking in the forest with Shěn. She is terrified of him and he doesn’t understand why. He tells her he loves her but she only screams in terror. He reaches out to take her in his arms, but his hands are slick with blood. Dorian awakes from the nightmare and for the first time remembers his transformation. In horror he recalls what he has done to his beautiful Shěn and her kindly family. He rises and is confronted by the bloody scene inside the Long home. Finally realizing that he and the werewolf are one, Dorian takes some of the farmers clothing and his horse and burns the home to the ground,

Chapter 22 – Dorian returns to the army as they preparing to attack the capital of Beijing and the Summer Palace. Lord Crawley has been promoted to Sub-Lieutenant and is amazed at his return but is now suspicious given that he has since received the coded letter from Lady Helena. Dorian rejoins his platoon for a battle in Tongzhou in the outskirts of Beijing. There they bombard repeated frontal charges from the 10,000 strong elite Mongol cavalry led by Sengge Rinchen. The English and French firepower is too much however and they are annihilated.

Chapter 23 – Over the coming weeks there is hot fighting as the troops make their way into Beijing. Dorian distinguishes himself as an excellent marksman and sniper and is promoted to Ensign. He is able to target the leaders of the enemy troops with his superior vision and aim. Though Dorian has only taken non-lethal shots to incapacitate but not kill, unknown to his friend and Sub-Lieutenant Lord Crawley.

Chapter 24 – The capital of Beijing has fallen. As the full moon approaches, Dorian asks Lord Crawley to chain him up alone in the dungeons and bar the cell door. Lord Crawley agrees, but refuses Dorian’s pleas that he leave the room entirely. Lord Crawley witnesses the transformation and is first fascinated, then fearful as the werewolf breaks the manacles and chains free from the walls and is only just contained by the thick iron bars. As daylight arrives, Lord Crawley witnesses the transformation back and quickly pens an encoded letter to Lady Helena back in London.

Chapter 25 – Lady Helena journeys to Wales to seek the counsel of a Welsh Romani matriarch of a tribe known as the Kalá. She seeks Shuvani Ingraham, known for her skills in healing and communicating with the spirit world.

Chapter 26 – Lord Crawley and Dorian voyage back home to London. Lady Helena has also returned with Shuvani Ingraham in tow. With the full moon again approaching Shuvani Ingraham attempts a ritual to once more separate Dorian from the werewolf inside him. The ritual causes Dorian to transform before the moon is full, but the restraints put in place to hold him are insufficient and he breaks free, killing Lord Crawley in the process. He grabs Lady Helena with his jaws and holds her by the neck. But the werewolf recognizes her scent as his former mate and does not kill her. Shuvani Ingraham is forced to continue the spell in that state. Dorian transforms back to his human form but the werewolf rips out of the painting, now in a separate body. The werewolf rushes Shuvani Ingraham and kills her. Dorian still possesses his unnatural strength and throws himself at the werewolf with all his might. An epic battle ensues and both are badly wounded. The werewolf leaps out the balcony and escapes.

Epilogue – Dorian’s bite marks and scratches quickly heal. Lady Helena awakens young and beautiful again, and the bite marks from the werewolf are completely healed. Meanwhile the monster hunter Van Helsing closes in.