Alternate name for this story is: ohmygoshlexiewhyareyoustartinganotherstoryyouhavetoomanyideasreiginitini'mfuckingseriouswhydoyoudothistoyourself.

But of course, that just doesn't have the same ring to it.

I kid. Sorta.

This is a story I had bouncing around in my mind for about a year and a half, but only started writing about two weeks ago. I just love Supernatural plots. Vampire stuff, tbh, though my tagline should be 'come for the vampires, stay for the werewolves (or witches)' because in most cases I end up liking the other magical beings in a show/tv more than the main vampire characters!

I was wishywashy about if I was going to post if before or after 3x01 aired, but I got a great pre-response to it on Tumblr, and I've actually written about 70 pages, so I'm not in a bad place with this story. But I'm also hardly 3 episodes in so this story is going to be long af.

This is going to be a take on Riverdale if Supernatural/Paranormal elements were added in (Werewolves, Witches, Vampires and etc). I will be literally re-writing the series, but with things changed (as you'll see) which I hope you all enjoy! It's going to be Sweet Pea centric and Betty Cooper centric, as in their POVs will occur the most commonly, and then other people's POVs will pop up when the story demands it. I'm trying to stick to canon in bits as much as I can, so all of the couples that are canon in the show will be canon in some way here, although the 'how' or the 'how long' of it may vary, depending on which directions I choose to take things.

The big inspiration for this story was actually a song they used in the pilot episode for Riverdale 'The Passenger' by Hunter as a Horse. I'd highly suggest looking at the lyrics, as some parts of the upcoming story will follow that ;) It's also where the title of this story comes from!

NOTE: I haven't seen/do not know anything about Sabrina spinoff they're doing. I've in fact very specifically stayed away from looking that world up. I don't know if this is ever going to crossover with it, but the magic rules of things in this universe are not going to be the same, and I'm telling ya'll right off the bat. The mythology is a strange combo of the rules from Twilight (#TeamJacob and I know that ages me immediately, sigh), The Vampire Diaries, Harry Potter, and a smidgen of The Vampire's Apprentice.

I hope you all enjoy!

Sweet Pea killed his first human when he was 9 years old.

And, he knows how that sounds, his 'first' human. Bad.

It's not like he's a serial killer or anything, because, what you have to understand is that killing a human as a human is a very different thing than killing a human as a magical creature. Okay, so it's not great, but Sweet Pea will argue that every kill after that first one is justifiable and he could make you a powerpoint and everything. Well, it's not like he's keeping track of who he killed in a creepy little notebook, but in general, Sweet Pea has a memory for these things. Because, he doesn't like killing humans, but sometimes it's inevitable. There were good reasons for why people after had to die, and if someone is keeping score, maybe those kills should just be wiped from the ledger.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. We're getting a head of everything, frankly.

At the start, Sweet Pea is nine and he wouldn't have even considered this death his fault, but apparently it is.

Sweet Pea is not a budding psychopath. He didn't go and carve out some junkie's guts with his switchblade just to see what he looked like inside. He didn't set a dude on fire because the flames excited him. He didn't get a gun and try it out on some poor inspecting homeless dude. He wasn't doing it out of malice. In fact, Sweet Pea had been accused of being too 'sweet' (thus, a nickname he'd try to gid rid of but could never shake) and most people lamented that sweet kids from the wrong sides of the tracks hardly ever survived. And, even though he'd heard this, Sweet Pea didn't go out to kill someone to prove a point. It had been somewhere between an accident and a neglectful offense, hardly something that most would consider violent at all. In fact, the 'killing' was very minor.

What Sweet Pea had down was give a known junkie some Jingle Jangle, in exchange for some cash. At this point, Sweet Pea was already on his own (dead mother, absentee father) so it seemed like a reasonable exchange. He'd been approached by the Ghoulies earlier this year to smuggle drugs, and Sweet Pea, realizing his options as a nine-year-old to get a paid job were limited, took it despite any better judgement.

Maybe it was that Sweet Pea was around to watch it happen, he wonders as he's older. He doesn't feel bad for the action, the giving of the drugs. He feels bad about what happened after. He knew that this dude would find drugs some other way, so why shouldn't Sweet Pea be the one to profit off of this?

He remembers that he'd been counting his cash and trying to figure out if he could pocket this without one of the Ghoulies finding out when the man he'd just given the drugs to had made a peculiar sound. To this day, Sweet Pea isn't sure what it was. Some nights, he's sure the man was asking for help. Others, he thinks it was a gagging noise. Whichever it was, Sweet Pea turned around just in time to see the light die from his eyes and for his body to fall limp in the alley way.

And yeah, Sweet Pea felt a little guilty. And then a little guilty very quickly turned into a lot guilty.

He'd heard it said that guilt could manifest, right? He wasn't discounting this, didn't think it was all bull. He'd been guilty plenty of times before, like when he stole Toni's iPod Shuffle a couple days ago, but he still hadn't returned it, because he liked music.

But this? He realized that he'd given the drugs that had killed someone, death was staring him in the face, and it was the worst feeling in the entire world. This dude, though it was unlikely he was making any positive impacts on society, was gone. Forever.

He wasn't surprised that his guilt was bad, but what he didn't expect was for it to manifest into a motherfucking wolf. And, not just a metaphor for the hungry, endless guilt that would claw in his stomach, but Sweet Pea means literally a gigantic ass predator.

One second, he was staring at the body, the next there was a flash of white and a pain like every bone in his body was being snapped in half, like there was a mariachi band playing a lively salsa or whatever their genre of music is on his brittle bones, like someone had shoved his whole body in a blender. Then, everything was hot and the next thing he knew there was fur coming from places there shouldn't have been fur and he was on four hind legs.

The specifics of what happened when he was a wolf, after, are a little fuzzy. No pun intended.

What Sweet Pea does recall from his first shift was that his mind was suddenly lit up with other voices, other connections. It as like someone had flipped the switch, illuminating a secret speedway of information. His world was plunged to a whole other level of just special awareness for everything; smells, sights, noises. It's like someone turned up life to a 11 on an AMP, when in reality, life should never go past 10. He might have howled, but being honest, howling was a more or less reasonable next move.

The absolute last thing he thinks he remembers is someone passing a normal alley in the slums of Riverdale and seeing a wolf, which probably has scarred them for the rest of their lives, and then it's just black.

When he gains consciousness again, he's human. He makes damn sure, patting his arms and legs and wondering if it was just a really bad dream. Did he had Jingle Jangle and it was a bad acid rip? No, he never tried to product.

He yelps as someone pulls something from his arm and slaps a bandaid on.

He turns to see one of the Southside doctors pull something from his arm, a little arrow. His mind whirls to Discovery Channel.

"Is that a tranquilizer bullet?" He asks out loud and the whiteness of the doctor's face confirms it.

Okay, so he was just a massive, hairy wolf. Wonderful.

"We couldn't get you to calm down, kid." In the corner is none other than the Serpent King himself, FP Jones.

Although Sweet Pea hasn't an occasion to talk to FP ever, he knows who he is. He knows that he's the head of the local gang and, most importantly, he keeps the Southsiders safe. To have FP in the same room as him, although he realizes he's not sure where he is, is like having Beyoncé walk into your kitchen.

"I'm super confused." It's really all Sweet Pea can manage, "I was a wolf. I swear, it's not drugs, I'm not crazy. I just...poof! And fur, and fangs and-" Once he starts talking, it seems, he can't stop.

"Hey, hey. Calm your blood rate. You're going to 'poof' into a wolf again if you get all emotional." FP instructs, but this does nothing to ease Sweet Pea. In fact, it just makes him more nervous because he does not want to go through that change again. Ever, to be honest.

"It's not as bad the second time," FP can read his face, "It hurts the first time because your whole body is changing. Congrats, you're a werewolf. I would have gotten you a hallmark card, but they seemed to be fresh out of this kind." He jokes, and something about FP joking about something impossible makes Sweet Pea think things might be okay. It takes three deep breaths, but Sweet Pea manages to get his ease himself to a near chill state.

"Kid, I gotta ask. Was your mom ever bit by a wolf?" FP asks.

Sweet Pea pulls a face, "Well, how the hell should I know?" He asks, scoffing. His mother had been dead for two years, but even if she was alive, she wasn't the sort of 'share your past' mother. She wasn't a sort of 'mother' at all, other than giving birth to him, but that's just water under the bridge.

"It's not in any records," The doctor chirps in, "But I've been calling her former friends. So, far, it's nada."

"I thought so. I thought maybe he knew." FP sighs, a long sigh, "Okay, second question. Who's your father."

"I thought you would all know," Sweet Pea admits.

"Did your mother ever talk about him? It's very important, Sweet Pea." FP says and Sweet Pea does not want to disappoint him. On one hand, it's just because FP is a kind man who has helped him in the past, indirectly, so he has no reason to get him mad. On a deeper level, there's a tug somewhere in his gut, an instinct telling Sweet Pea to do what FP wants of him.

So, he thinks really hard.

"No, not much. Nothing useful, I guess." He says, and tells FP what he knows of his father (he was a lad that all the ladies had wanted, he never planned on being a father to Sweet Pea, he liked whisky), but from FP's face, it's just as useless as he thought.

He wonders what it's about, but the next thing that Sweet Pea knows, the doctor and FP are pouring over old patient records, pulling out any males that were bitten by a 'wolf' or other suspicious animal before Sweet Pea was born, but could have been around to sire him.

"I wasn't bit, I don't think," Sweet Pea sits up and his world spins. He's on a couch. He might be in FP's trailer. He wants to help, whatever this is.

"Sit back down," FP barks and Sweet Pea does it, "Look, you're gunna be sick for a while. Have some chips."

Sweet Pea doesn't need to be told twice, "Would I remember if I was bit? Maybe I was a kid, like a baby." Sweet Pea continues.

"It doesn't work like that," FP throws an apologetic smile, but says nothing more.

"What doesn't work like that?" Sweet Pea is far too curious for his own good, he's also been told. He thinks that at this time, curiosity is acceptable on many levels.

They have maybe eight names spread out, most of sleazy men that Sweet Pea has never even heard of. He can hear them debating if they would have ever crossed paths with his mom, and going as far as to guess when Sweet Pea was conceived to further narrow it. It's a conversation that Sweet Pea most certainly does not want to be a part of, and since he's feeling a little lightheaded, he thinks it might be a good time for another nap. He's just really freaking exhausted.

When he wakes up again, it seems that they have gotten no further with narrowing it down. They're discussing that maybe Sweet Peas mom or dad just never told anyone, if they were bit. They talked about maybe it was their parents and the curse was never triggered, for a moment, but were back to the idea that one of Sweet Pea's parents was directly in paths with a werewolf, something Sweet Pea didn't think was true.

"I don't think so," Sweet Pea says, nothing someone placed a glass of water next to him, "Wouldn't I remember seeing them turn into a wolf?"

"Dr. Eddyson, why don't you go. I think I need to talk with Sweet Pea about his...inheritance." FP says, dismissing the doctor.

Sweet Pea sits up, ready to hear what was going on, since it seemed like now they were going to tell him.

"No, you wouldn't have," FP begins, "If they were bitten, first generation. So, here's how it is kid, you're now magical. As in, magic runs through our blood. But magic is passed down and first generation carries, like your parents, don't show signs. Some magic kinds are dominant, some are recessive genes. Werewolf is dominant. You just need one parent to have the genes to pass it on, like after someone is bitten and infected. That's why we're trying to figure out which of your parents were bit."

"Does it matter now, if it happened like more than ten years ago?" Sweet Pea frowned, feeling uneasy with this knowledge.

"Yeah, it does. Bloodlines are everything, kid. They mean a lot in our world."

"Our…" Sweet Pea echoed, he noticed it was the second time FP used it,"You're a wolf too? Are there others?" He asked, intimidated but also excited to learn that there could be others like him out there. Maybe now he'd belong somewhere.

FP flashed a grin that could only be described as wolfy, "It would have been a little on the nose to call us the 'Southside Werewolves'," He said, turning to show the embroidery of his leather jacket.

"All of the Serpents are werewolves?" Sweet Pea gaped, "Wicked."

"And now you're one too." FP said, "But Sweet Pea...this isn't all good. It's going to hurt, sometimes. You're going to have an adjustment period. You'll be bound by other rules now. You'll never be the same again."

"So, that's all anyone needs to do is be a werewolf?" Sweet Pea asked, "And my magic just...matured? I mean, I swear I've never turned before...have I?"

"No, no. Most wolves in this place don't turn 'till they're teens. You're a little early." However, from FP's long face, it seemed like this wasn't a good thing, "The man you were with in the alley. The dead one. Tell me about it." FP didn't seem mad, he just seemed concerned.

Sweet Pea fumbled through his story, feeling worse and worse about it as he re-told it, though for the life of him didn't know why. He means, yes, he was dead and Sweet Pea played a role. However, it wasn't like Sweet Pea was the one to plunge the Jingle Jangle into his arm.

"Yes, that would be why you turned. A werewolf genetic isn't activated until you've killed someone." FP explained. A chill ran down Sweet Pea's spine as he realized that meant every single member of the Serpents had someone else's blood on their hands.

"But, I didn't even touch him!" Sweet Pea argued.

FP held up his hands, "Apparently, according to magic, you were instrumental enough for it to count."

"Well, magic can go suck a dick," Sweet Pea said before he remembered who he was talking too. However, FP just gave a genuine, hearty laugh.

"Yeah, sometimes magic can go suck one. I agree. Maybe not as eloquent as you just stated it, but magic is harsh sometimes. It's impartial, it's unbiased, it's fair to everyone which means a lot of the time it's unfair to everyone."

There was a long pause.

"What now?" Sweet Pea asked, looking at his palms as though he expected claws to sprout from his fingertips at any second.

"First, you work on keeping your temper down, any emotion, base." FP made a flat-line motion with his arm, "They get too high, and as you said it, ball of fur. One day, you'll be able to control the changing, but right now you're young. Second, you learn what it means to be part of the Serpent Pack. We haven't had someone as young as you in years, but there's some elders still kicking that will know what to do. You listen, you learn. You respect me, your alpha."

Something about saying it out loud had Sweet Pea lowering his head in submission to a truth he knew to be universal. It was a pull of magic, telling him this, making sense of the strings that now tied Sweet Pea to FP Jones.

"Yes, sir." Sweet Pea murmured in a low, soft voice.

"None of that, kid, you give me respect and you can just call me 'FP'." FP sighed, looking a bit uneasy. Maybe he was used to rough and tough older, smart-aleck new wolves. Not the young faced Sweet Pea who hadn't even gone through puberty yet, "Look, you'll be taken care of now. The Pack takes care of it's own, okay?" He said, "Where are you staying, right now?"

"I still have my mom's trailer. I don't have water, or electricity right now, but I've been running drugs to pay for other stuff."

"Also, that stops now. Don't get into it with the Ghoulies. They're bad news." FP added.

"Wolves too?"

"Worse, wights. Not even decent wights too, but probably working for those bloodsuckers, the Lodges- and note, I mean that literally," FP shuddered. At Sweet Pea's blank face, he gave something almost like a grin, "Oh, little wolf, your world is about to get a whole lot bigger.

Since this is a prologue, it's shorter than normal. It's just a starter to explain some backstory to Sweet Pea which will be important for not just himself, but in relation to other characters, later and to introduce everyone to the basics of this world. Most chapters will be around 10 pages. I hope to update weekly, but the exact date may chance as I settle into what school day (or weekend) is easiest for me to do, so just be on the lookout for a next week update, while things fall into place.

Obvs tho, there's quite a bit of world building, so if you have questions about how the magic works, feel free to ask in a review! I'll either tell you, let you know if it's coming up in a chapter, of if it's too much of a spoiler ;)

I made moodboards/aesthetics for all of the main young characters and their species. If you wanna see it, head over to my art tumblr, Youngbloodlex22, where i'll continue to post art related to this story. I also have the cover on there, though I might do another cover. Not totally loving this one. On that note, if anyone is cover-making gifted and wants to take a crack at it, that would be sweet :)

I also want to throw out there a thing I do. If you review ten times (like, on 10 diff chapters) I'll write you a short piece (usually around 1,000 words) of any couple of your choice as a thank you! So, incentive to review ;)