"I'll tell you the story of Obsidian...the American Obsidian. I'm sorry Ruby but you're not the original Obsidian, at least not here." Topher gave Ruby an apologetic smile, though the statement set worry in the pit of Ruby's stomach. She had questions already but would need to wait, she would need to see what it was exactly Topher had to say.

'In the year 1600 Marquis Henry Huxton welcomed his first son into Moray march and Moray castle with his wife, the marchioness Elizabeth Huxton, his name was Dudley Charles Henry Huxton. He was to be heir to everything of his fathers but with it being in doubt that he would reach his adult years the Marquis of Moray set about creating another life with his wife, hoping that another child would not carry the same illness as Dudley.

Two years later the marquis and his wife again welcomed a son, this time he was healthy and strong. Heath Henry Huxton was the light that the Marquis of Moray needed and his eldest son was soon left to the care of a wet nurse and physician.

As Dudley aged he was constantly reminded of his failure as an heir to his father, his younger brother often flaunted that fact in front of him whenever he could. And though Dudley's body was weak his mind was not, over the years resentment settled in his heart and multiplied each year he was allowed to live.

Until one day, Dudley overheard his younger siblings talking of a wolf in the woods. It surely had to be a mere rumour as wolves had died out in their area many years ago but when challenged on that fact, Henry Huxton challenged his older brother to go out into the woods and find the wolf. He would prove to his family that he was a man after all and not some sickly boy locked away in the castle.

Knowing that he might not survive an encounter with a wild wolf, Dudley accepted and managed to sneak away from the castle in the early evening. He had with him simple clothing enough to survive a mild spring night, but what no one had expected was the late winter snowfall that swept through that night.

No one knew exactly what had happened to Dudley, but by the time he was found, it looked as if he had been attacked by a wild animal. There were already several reported deaths in the area, no one knew for certain but it had been attributed to wolves but none had been spotted in the area for several years. How Dudley came across one remained a mystery, though everyone expected Dudley to die from not only his injuries but the hypothermia and the following fever.

But, as fate would have it Dudley fought and survived against all odds. But again he was placed in the care of a maid, butler and physician whilst life for his mother, father and siblings continued on as usual. Over the course of several weeks, Dudley knew something was not right with him, he hadn't felt the same physically or mentally since coming into contact with the animal in the woods.

When he began to explore the castle on his own, unaided and with no sign of illness, his father realized that Dudley was finally on the mend and at the age of fifteen was brought back into the family fold much to his younger brothers disbelief and dislike.

Heath Huxton knew that something had happened to his brother, one does not merely begin to ride horses, shoot arrows and live normally after being weak and frail for fifteen years. Heath could feel his future slipping away, he was to be the heir to his father's title and nothing was going to stand in his way, not even his oldest brother who was the rightful heir.

So Heath began to plot ways for being rid of his brother, he loosened the straps on the saddle, poisoned his brother's food and drink...laced his sheets with everything that was meant to kill a human and yet his brother only ever came away with a bruise or an itch.

It wasn't until the killings began again that Heath came up with a plan, unknowingly framing his brother for something he was responsible for.

On the evening of his twentieth birthday, Heath planned a surprise birthday bash for his brother, to show him that there were no hard feelings about the marquis title being passed to Dudley instead of Heath. Dudley didn't think much of it as Heath had grown to be a brother he loved and adored.

So when the champagne began to flow, Dudley thought himself in good company.

But the next morning when he awoke covered in blood next to the body of a young woman Dudley's world fell apart and when he lay eyes on Heath's arrogant smirk he realized what had happened. Dudley had known in the back of his mind that his brother hated him, but he hadn't known just how much hate his brother harboured until that moment.

Knowing that his fate was sealed, Dudley did not argue or plead innocence. He knew what he was, that the beast within him would have killed again come to the full moon. His brother was doing him a favour, there would only be so many years before people grew suspicious especially if he were to be an unwed, recluse of a marquis when his family were very sociable.

Dudley had expected to be hung but as his father was an influential figure it was instead decreed that Dudley is sent to the New World to serve his sentence there. Dudley hated the thought of going to a new country and doing to those people what he had done to those in England...would any end up like him?

On arrival in the America's Dudley was put to work quickly as a labourer, being an upstanding, hardworking citizen his sentence was soon forgotten and he was treated as an equal amongst ordinary men. But once a month he was reminded that he was anything but an ordinary man and went to slaughter what he could find out in the wilds of the America's.

It wasn't long after arriving that Dudley decided to marry and settle with a half-caste woman named Loretta Holbrook. Her mother was a native from elsewhere in America, her father was an opportunistic businessman from Dorsetshire who sought fame and fortune in the new lands.

Loretta found her first pregnancy to be difficult, she was often ill and Dudley often sought help from the local chief and his medicine man.

On the night of her labour, Loretta knew something was wrong and sent Dudley to the local chief to beg his help, the chief was not so forthcoming and demanded payment form Dudley. In his haste, Dudley agreed for the chief to call on him whenever the need arose, to which the chief agreed and sent the medicine man with Dudley to tend his wife.

Several months went by, Loretta and her child survived and both flourished. Life seemed to regain some normalcy for Dudley, that was until the chief arrived unannounced one day.

He demanded payment from Dudley, knowing full well that Dudley had very little of value. Though there was one thing that Dudley possessed which would pay for all help given to him since his arrival and that would guarantee Dudley's safety and the safety of his family now and into the future.

Dudley suspected but didn't ask outright, not until the chief suggested the use of his 'demon-sol.'

It was either accept the chiefs terms of service or have his family slaughtered, he couldn't let the innocent lives of those he loved the most perish because he was afraid of losing himself within the beast. So Dudley agreed and lived in fear most days but kept the secret hidden from his wife.

The first night he is summoned Dudley can feel the creature in his clawing at the surface, he panics as he assumed it would be during a full moon that the demon would be summoned. He organizes a quick hunting trip, makes his preparations and hastily leaves his wife and children in the care of his wife's brother.

When Dudley wakes a few days later he knows that something bad has happened, he can not only feel it in his bones but also in the air.

It's thick, dark and all-consuming.

His injuries are much worse than anticipated but the chief is pleased with his performance and promises that Dudley's debts have been repaid ten-fold.

When Dudley returned home it was to the realization that it was his own village and home that had been attacked, his wife and children were still alive but Loretta's brother was mortally wounded and their home razed to the ground.

Listening to his wife recount what had happened, Dudley realized with horror that it was he that had attacked them. Not the chiefs or his warriors, they had come through after him. Dudley knew that the chief had purposefully been vague through his pact...his family was unharmed but with the onset of winter, the family of five had nowhere warm to sleep and no food to eat.

Angry Dudley returns to the village to argue with the chief only for his beast to be summoned again, Dudley can feel him being pulled forth and tries to fight but cannot.

When he comes too again he knows he has done something terrible, his wife and children lay injured or dying around him.

Their bodies scattered across the charred remains of their home.

Dudley takes his surviving daughter to her grandparents and begs them to care for her as he cannot, he returns to his home to bury his wife and children before going to the nearby cliffs. It is the only thing Dudley can think to end the misery of what he had done, so Dudley threw himself over the cliffs in an attempt to end his life.

When he opened his eyes expecting to see hell, Dudley instead was looking up at the cliffs that he had jumped from. He didn't know how or why he had been made immortal but attempted to take his life several more times before the reality of his life begun to sink in.

Going back to the chief to demand answers, Dudley instead found the chief and his medicine man dead. Along with half the village, the other half having been taken captive by soldiers and returned to the village for trial.

When Dudley arrived back at the settler's village he saw the chief's daughter being mistreated and though her father had made his life hell, Dudley demanded payment for his ruined crops and lands through the chief's daughter. She would bare him strong sons and her father's debt repaid, no one argued with him. Dudley took the young woman with him, away from the village where he set her free.

Nothing much is known beyond that day, Dudley disappeared and his daughter was raised by Loretta's parents. She went on to bare many children for her husband, but she never saw her father again.'

Topher didn't need to finish the story, he didn't even need to fill in the gaps, Ruby knew now who they were speaking of. Though she had been surprised to hear the Holbrook name, she was unaware that one of the descendants from her family had made their way to the America's so soon after it's settlement.

"So..what? Are we dealing with Dudley? His beast or some warped spirit of the chief and medicine-man? Don't look like I'm asking weird questions if you knew how f*cked up things could be in Mirithia you'd know these were all normal questions to ask." Ruby nodded, nothing was out of bounds or in the realm of weird when it came to the magic folk of Mirithia and the 'other' world.

"Most likely with the beast but with something close to a conscious? I don't know, my memory of him is fuzzy." Ruby felt her eyebrows rise to her hairline at that admission, it had been such an off-handed comment by Topher that most others in the room had missed it. But both Ruby and Mali leaned towards Topher with serious looks on their faces.

"You mean to tell us that you've seen him? Come on then, out with it." Ruby demanded before Mali could say anything if his expression could be described then murderous came to mind.

Topher seemed to sense that emotion too and swallowed nervously, Ruby pushed Mali away slightly.

"I was a child, my grandfather summoned him to end the last war between the five packs. The thing I didn't tell you was that Dudley's surviving daughter is the original founder of all packs in this area, she survived her father's attack and it did something to her. She didn't come out a wolf-like him, her DNA managed to merge with the werewolf DNA more and produced the first shifter in this area...there were other areas where shifters evolved but Liana Huxton was the first shifter wolf of her kind in Virginia. We think it was because of the spells placed on Dudley, it did something. But she figured out a way to put her father into eternal slumber, the problem was that someone else figured that the same spell and ceremony could be used to wake him from slumber." Ruby groaned, once Dudley had been put to sleep she hadn't really paid much attention to this part of the world, mostly because it hadn't been needed but now she wished she had.

"I know that Dudley ended up fathering several children to the chief's daughter, after Dudley released her she followed him regardless. Her people were dead and she had nothing, she knew the deception of her father and promised Dudley to serve him in whatever way he saw fit until debts had been paid. But as luck would have it, they fell in love and the rest is history...until Liana found him and put him in the swamp grave at least." Hearing that bit of news Ruby was happy, Dudley at least knew true happiness in his life and it hadn't all been full of lies and *ssholes.

"Okay, so now we know what we're dealing with or at least I know what we're dealing with but we need to find out who is trying to summon him and what Jude's role was in that process. Care to shed any light on that?" Ruby had met Dudley twice whilst he was still in England, she had met him before he'd been bitten and soon after being bitten.

"You were right about the woman, she was an experiment. Jude is the real first sacrifice, the first ingredient. The heart of a lover." Ruby groaned, of course. Leave it to a scorned female to use literal body parts to put a beast to sleep, she didn't really want to know what other body parts were to be used but had to know so that she could keep her eyes peeled for those types of people.

"The ceremony requires a lovers heart, a warriors mind, a mothers womb and milk, a seers eyes and the blood of an innocent. It has to be in that order and it needs to be accompanied by a chant that only the alphas in the area know, you can't skip or skint on any of it otherwise the ceremony is null and void and you have to start again." It all sounded so morbid yet specific. There were no seer's in the town, well none that made themselves apparent and the others could be monitored fairly easily if everyone remained alert and aware.