Chapter 2

Bastet was Mark's spy and Brooklynn had to accept it, though he had toned down on the 'spying' part after she snapped at him about not having any privacy. The cat had vanished for a couple weeks, hidden, and it'd been during her pregnancy. Hormones were a bitch to deal with and she didn't need Mark spying on her while going through the multiple changes in her body.

After 17 years, Brooklynn was used to it and didn't bat an eyelash.

"H-help me…"

Turning, Brooklynn didn't see anything and set Bastet's feeding bowl and water on the floor, padding out of the kitchen into the living room. It was a spirit and sounded like a little girl, a frown marring her face. The wind outside had picked up drastically, which was a sign of a spirit looming over the house. She walked outside, wrapping her arms around herself since the wind was COLD and that wasn't normal in Dallas, not in March.

The sound of choking echoed back at her as Brooklynn looked around, not seeing anything and turned, heading back into the house to close the front door. She was freezing, heading upstairs to her room to pull on a robe and tied it around her waist, closing the windows all throughout the house. What the hell was this spirit? It was obvious the cold had something to do with their death.

"Hello? I can't help you if you don't show yourself to me." She called out, rubbing her arms and couldn't believe she was actually contemplating turning the heat on.

"Help me, please…. p-please…."

Bastet wasn't amused, her fur was ruffled as she hissed, not enjoying the sudden change in the temperature.

"So…. cold…"

This was not something to tell the Master about. His female tended to fraternize with those vagabond used-to-be things. Unless of course, it got any colder, he might be upset if a pipe or something burst from the temperature change.

"Okay, okay I'm going to help you, but you have to calm down." Spirits that were upset or had died violently tended to change the weather or atmosphere around them. Even going as far as invading dreams, if they were powerful enough. "Please, please don't make it any colder in my house and tell me what's going on."

Was it SNOWING outside? Or was that an illusion? Brooklynn couldn't tell, seeing her breath puff out as the wind picked up outside. Suddenly, she was on a mountain and Brooklynn knew she was in a vision, seeing a young man, no more than 20, dangling from high on a crag. Blood coated the side of his face and his side had an ax burrowed into it.

"Oh god! Oh god, hold on!" With bare feet, she began scaling the mountain and held out her hand, crying out for him to grab onto it.

"H-help me…"

"Take my hand!" It was a blizzard, a massive winter storm and Brooklynn was frozen from head to toe, but she still reached her hand out to try to save him. "Hurry!"

Bastet watched as Brooklynn entered into whatever state of mind occurred when she had her visions. She wasn't entirely sure what the visions consisted of, but it usually happened after the disturbances. Female handled it, most of the time, but she was always pretty… lifeless until she did. Meowing, Bastet parked her butt where she could watch. She really, really hoped Brooklynn fixed this, her nose was icing up.

"Help, help…" His eyes fastened on Brooklynn's, the blood froze on him.

Just before his hand could reach up to grab hers, the other ax that was embedded into the mountain came out and he fell to his death, making her scream out in fright. The vision ended as Brooklynn's eyes snapped open, laying on the carpeted floor of her bedroom and it was no longer cold. The snow outside was gone, the wind was gone and before her stood a man frozen solid with blood on his face, the ax still in his side and his skin was a light blue.

"W-What's your name? Do you remember who you are?"

"K-K-Kenneth."

"Kenneth, alright." Brooklynn didn't take her robe off since she was still chilled to the bone, smiling softly at him, despite his appearance. "What happened to you? Do you remember that?"

"I was betrayed…by my friend, who came with me on the climb. He's dead too. I wasn't going down without a fight."

That was good, in a weird way, because that meant Kenneth probably didn't have any unfinished business to take care of. "Are you ready to crossover? Do you see a light?"

"A light? What are you…" He turned, seeing the light she was talking about and suddenly, the pain was gone, the ax out of his side and his skin was no longer a light blue. "Yeah…yeah I see it…it's so beautiful…"

"Go into it and find peace."

"Thank you. Will you do something for me? Let my fiancée, Ashley Massaro, know I love her and I'll never forget her?"

"Where does she live?"

"Upstate New York."

"Yes, I will do that for you. I may not be able to visit her in person, but I will send her a letter."

Brooklynn did it often for the spirits she crossed over, anything to help them find peace and to go into the light. She watched as Kenneth went into the light, his spirit disappearing as a breeze blew over her and shivered. Rubbing her arms, Brooklynn decided a hot bath was in order and hoped she could get rid of this chill. Bastet left the female to her business and went to inform her Master what transpired, just in case something happened with the house at a later date, due to those below zero temperatures they experienced with the spirit.

And how did it go? Mark was more than a little amused when Bastet let him know that the temperature was no longer unbearable and his 'female', as she referred to Brooklynn, was now going to get in nearly scalding hot water. How's she looking?

Cold.

Mark knew for a fact that cats were sarcastic little bastards. His was, complete with a snarky tone.

After a steamy hot bath, Brooklynn felt marginally better and made sure to keep Bastet out of the bathroom, not wanting her sending visuals to Mark. She'd done it a time or two and he'd come home a sexually frustrated mess. It was amusing, but she was too chilled to the bone to mess with her boyfriend right now. Boyfriend…that was laughable. They had been together so long, it was pathetic. Truly pathetic to call Mark her boyfriend. Unfortunately, even with how long they'd been together, marriage had never come up, so she just stuck with calling him her man. Brooklynn didn't know why he didn't want to marry her, maybe he wasn't a believer in marriage.

Mickie and John were married. Trish and Steve were married. Beth had gotten married to a wonderful man named Adam. Randy was married to a great woman named Kimberly. Melina and David had gotten married. Even Glenn had gotten married. All their friends were married and happy, some with children and some without.

It wasn't easy whenever she'd have gatherings with the women like Mickie, Trish, Beth and Melina, which didn't happen often enough, and they always asked her when she would be next. When would she and Mark finally tie the knot? They were happy with the way things were. Why fix something that wasn't broken? Marriage is just a piece of paper and a piece of expensive jewelry.

Those were some of the excuses she gave her friends.

The guys at the shop had asked him a time or two about putting a ring on his woman, and she was his woman, in all ways. The way Mark figured it, by Texas' own law, as long as they had been living together, in Texas, they were wed via the common marriage laws. Both names on the birth certificate, both names on the house and they filed taxes together. They were legally married at this point and just had never bothered to do the name change or ceremony. As it was, marriage wasn't something that crossed his mind very often, simply because Mark didn't need to put a ring on it to prove he loved her. Hopefully, Brooklynn already knew this because, if not, he was doing something wrong.

Trish described Mark's mindset as far as marriage went as lazy. In a way, it was. Granted, everything they had and owned in their lives was in both their names. Brooklynn actually snapped at the blonde a time or two about the marriage topic, ordering her not to bring it up again. Trish hadn't after the last time and she hoped it stayed that way. If Mark didn't want a wedding or to buy her a ring, that was fine. Brooklynn would do whatever made him happy, never leaving his side and was still as in love with him as the day they met over almost 30 years ago. After her bath was finished, Brooklynn padded into the bedroom and smirked over at Bastet, winking at the cat while in just a towel.

"Send him that, if you wanna screw with him, girl." She giggled, pulling out fresh clothes to change into.

Mark had no idea what the hell he had just been shown, but it was Brooklynn, with question marks all around her head and anime eyes. Claira had Bastet watching Adult Swim or something again. He closed the connection, shaking his head. Whatever crisis was going on was apparently over and Bastet had been amused by something, he had felt that. Sighing, Mark focused on his work, figuring he'd ask Brooklynn about it when he got home. Providing Claira wasn't on the warpath.

After a day of cleaning and planning dinner, Brooklynn stepped into her Traverse and headed out to grab Claira from school. They really did have to have a talk because one, she had her own bathroom and two, why was she using the bathroom designated for guests? Mark and Brooklynn had their own bathroom, but Mark tended to use the guest one in the morning to do his business. Brooklynn normally took over their bathroom and it just worked out, but there was no reason Claira had to use a bathroom that wasn't hers. Brooklynn had been curious, so she went into Claira's bathroom and saw how truly filthy it was, actually screaming out in frustration. She cleaned it and then planned on punishing Claira by taking her cell phone away for a week. Claira would not like that, but that was tough.

The girl had to learn some responsibility, even if it killed her.

Claira was one of the last students to leave. Since she couldn't ride home with Seth, she dawdled. Chances were if her Mom was picking her up, and she was in some sort of trouble, for whatever reason. Or worse, her Mom wanted to have a 'chat' and those tended to be humiliating. Sighing, Claira finally wandered out the front doors, not surprised at all to see the Traverse parked along the curb and groaned, shouldering her bag.

The fact her daughter purposely took her sweet time getting to the car did NOT sit well with Brooklynn at all. "Give me your cell phone." She ordered as soon as the girl was in the passenger seat and buckled in, her hand extending. When Claira hesitated, Brooklynn narrowed her eyes and snatched it out of her hand, dropping it in her purse before zipping it up and tossed her purse in the backseat. "You like being a smartass, don't you, girl? That's fine. I know what to do with a smartass. You're not getting your phone back for a week. And you won't be seeing Seth for a week either. I don't know what's gotten into you lately, Claira, but I don't like it and your father is at the end of his rope. He threatened to send Bastet after you today because he stepped in one of your damn pantyliners you left on the bathroom floor AGAIN. I saw the destruction of your bathroom too and I cleaned it and if you don't keep it clean, you will not get your phone back, PERIOD. Do I make myself clear?"

So her mom had cleaned her bathroom for her… cool. She wasn't overly pleased with the loss of her cell, or the idea that her mom somehow thought she wasn't going to see Seth for an entire week. Rolling her eyes, Claira folded her arms over her chest and stared out the window.

"Whatever you say, Mom." Her Dad setting Bastet after her, that was just super low. "Why would he send that old ball of fake cat? She'd have a heart attack if she took more than 20 consecutive steps these days with all the treats you give her."

"Claira…" Maybe she should've allowed Mark to handle this situation, after all. Brooklynn begged Mark to let her talk some sense into their daughter and it seemed as though it would fall on deaf ears. "You will start using your own bathroom." Her voice had grown deceptively calm, cool and steely. "You WILL start respecting your mother and father." Her hands squeezed the steering wheel as she drove home, taking a deep silent breath. "Or you won't be seeing your cell phone or Seth for a long time because, as of today, you are grounded. It's time for an attitude change, Claira. And if you don't want to change it the easy way, I'll let Daddy teach it to you the HARD way."

"I don't think Daddy would've cleaned my bathroom for me." Claira found that oddly amusing. She had thought, given what she was apparently being punished for, she would have been made to do that. "You need a day job, Mom." Obviously, she was bored. "Besides playing ghost chaser." Hadn't her Mom wrote novels back in the day? Yes, she had. Claira had seen a few of those in the local library. "You should take up writing again."

What happened to her sweet baby girl? What happened to the respectful young lady they had been raising? It was like when she turned 16, the horns came out and she was…evil. In a way, Claira reminded her so much of Undertaker and that frightened Brooklynn. She did not want a child acting like that lunatic or that darkness in their family at all. Granted, she knew Mark's magic was dark, no matter what, but he learned how to control it with the help of Bastet.

"How about you focus on yourself and don't worry about what I do, young lady? And as far as being a 'ghost chaser', I don't chase any ghosts. They are called SPIRITS and they come to me to help them crossover. Completely different. You are my daughter and my full focus is going to be on you for a while until you straighten your act up and stop being the snot-nosed punk kid you currently are now."

Claira remained quiet the rest of the way home, still staring out the window. Once they were in the drive, she didn't bother waiting for her mother, just got out of the Traverse and headed for the door, pulling her lanyard out of her bag to unlock it. She went straight to her bedroom, dumping her bookbag out on the bed, eyeballing the homework waiting for her. She got good grades in school, had never been in trouble, and apparently her Mom was having a bad day because she was blowing up over something stupid.

"Aww, look, it's the FAT, SNEAKY CAT." Her eyes narrowed in on Bastet who was now in her open doorway.

Flipping the Familiar off, Claira closed the door, forcing Bastet to move out into the hall.