Chapter 43

Claira's phone went off and she slipped out of the room to read the text messages, smiling at how sweet Seth was being.

I'm sorry I left. I thought it was for the best after what happened. I didn't mean to cause problems. I miss you already, baby. I love you.

You didn't have to leave, you know. My Mom just had to cool down a little. I understand why you did and I miss and love you too. We're cutting our vacation short and will be leaving tomorrow to come home.

That was interesting. Seth wondered why, raising a brow while rereading the text. I thought your parents were taking you to Tennessee too.

Something came up at Dad's work. Claira hated lying to him, but…something told her to do it and she couldn't explain why. It's okay, I want to come home and spend the rest of Spring Break with you anyway.

Good. Maybe we can get some alone time again without being interrupted by your parents. Seth smirked, stroking his beard thoughtfully and wondered if he could use Claira's anger against her parents to his advantage. Maybe she would have sex with him just to resent them.

Yeah. Maybe. Claira planned on not being alone with him, not until this issue was resolved, whatever it was. Her mother and father still hadn't sat down to tell her what exactly was going on.

David would not be making the trip to D.C. with the others, nor would Adam. Adam would return to his and Beth's home, while he remained here with the extra kids. He had called his mother to come help. John and Mickie's crew would finish their holiday here until John's parents came to pick them up, and… he didn't like it. But that was the downside to being normal, he wasn't to get involved, there was no point. At best he was a distraction, at worst, something to be used against them. He really didn't like the idea of his pregnant wife going either.

"When she decides everyone is coming out, you'll know..." Mark was tired of fielding questions. The circle WAS coming, but nobody knew when; it was just being assumed that now was good.

Beth and Brooklynn walked into the house an hour later, all eyes turning to them. They were all waiting for her leadership and guidance…and Brooklynn honestly hated being the one to call the shots. This was her daughter at stake though, so she understood why they were putting all the decisions on her. "I want to head back to Dallas as soon as possible. We all know what the plan is regarding me and Randy, so the sooner we do this, the sooner we can either eliminate Seth Rollins from the equation or…"

"Destroy him like his old man."

"Exactly." Her eyes moved to Mark, seeing him nod and walked over to him, taking his hand. "Let's go pack up, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can get home."

Brooklynn had brought the leadership thing down on herself during their last encounter with Nemesis. She had been a lot younger and more 'my way or the highway', letting others have their say to a point, but she had definitely had a flair for the dramatics. Her signature move had been walking out of a room without letting anyone have anything after she had said her piece. Naturally, at this stage in everyone's lives, it was just easier to go along with her. Mark already knew if it came down to a decision they didn't like, women would voice it because they had their own kids to worry about. Beth looked to be the only one who wasn't stuck in that boat. Beth also looked… calm. That was fairly reassuring actually, one person who could see things clearly, without the kid thing and parent instincts coming into play.

That part about Brooklynn had definitely changed. She hadn't swept out of a room without hearing everyone's opinion in a long time. Seventeen years of growth did that to a person, not to mention she was a mother now and had to grow up sometime. Claira did that, swept out of a room after saying her piece if she was angry or upset, but that was also wasn't out of character for a teenager.

"Where's Claira?"

"Playing with the kids."

"Good. I think it would be best if we kept her in the dark about what's going on for now. We can use her to reel Seth in if he's the threat Julia warned us about. Are you all okay with that?"

There was a simultaneous chorus of 'yes' throughout the circle, everyone agreeing that was the right course of action.

"Thank you for helping us with this. I know it revolves around my family again, but I love every one of you for dropping your lives to help us. It means a lot."

"Hey, we're family and family helps each other. If it was any of our family, I have no doubt in my mind you'd drop everything to help us too."

"In a heartbeat."

"Yo, you know Mick and I got your back, Brook."

"Cena, you are in your 40's now, when are you going to drop the hoodrat talk?"

John grinned, shaking his head. "Never."

"And, let's face it," Randy shook his head. "The only part that's your family is Claira. The world is kind of at stake… again."

One day, maybe after this, he was going to start researching the Meyers because obviously, there was something up with that bloodline to attract all this attention from some super powered demonic beings. His own bloodline was ending with him. Randy would never risk passing on his curse to someone, providing he could stand the contact long enough to even have sex these days.

"Claira's a dumbass kid if she thinks we're out to hurt her boyfriend-"

"She's going to do what any other girl would: tell him." Mickie finished with a smile. "Young love..."

"Right." Brooklynn looked up at Mark, taking his hand. "We'll talk to Claira and assure her all is well, make her believe it." Mark was good at doing that, easing Claira's mind. "Since this is last minute and short notice, we'll hit the road tomorrow and give all of you a chance to make arrangements. If you can't come, I understand completely. Melina…"

"I'm going and don't even say what I KNOW you're going to say, Brooklynn. I'm going."

Trish and Mickie giggled. "You're not gonna win that one, Brooklynn."

"No shit, look at the fire in those eyes."

"Just…promise me you'll be careful." David turned Melina to face him, stroking her face with the back of his hand. "I don't want anything happening to you or the baby."

"I'll be fine. Mickie put a protection spell on me, so no harm will come to me or the baby." Melina assured him, accepting a soft kiss. "I have to go. I'm part of this, whether I want to be or not." The world was at stake, all 10 members of the circle had to step up and save it.

"We'll protect her, David. I promise."

"She's in good hands, big man."

"Yo, I'll kick my own ass if anything happens to her."

"No, I'll kick ALL your asses if anything happens to her."

"We all have a stake in this."

Glenn had already called his wife to explain what was going on, not keeping anything from her. She told him to be careful and, if he didn't make it home, she was holding Mark Calaway personally responsible. That got a chuckle out of him since he was a tad bigger than Mark.

"We protect each other, and we're gonna bring this mother fucker down for good this time."

"We need to figure out how to kill Nemesis, not just send him into another dimension because god knows how many women he impregnated being a demon." Randy knew he made a good point and, as long as Nemesis drew breath of any kind, he would always be a threat.

"Shut the hell up, Randy!" Trish shrieked, brown eyes wide as she stared at him.

She hadn't even considered the possibility that there might be more demon spawns out there and she didn't WANT to. That meant Claira would never be safe, they would be looking over shoulders for the rest of their lives, hunting them all down. She would've co-cocked him, but then she would've shown off her own stuff, touching Randy was a no-go if one liked secrets and sex life sacred.

"You fricking Debbie Downer."

"I'm just being realistic."

"If there was another threat out there, Julia would've told us. She has far more reach than we do. Next time I talk to her, I'll ask her about that though." Brooklynn wanted to ease Trish's mind, but Randy had brought up a very good point. What if there were other offspring out there Nemesis had? "We're gonna go talk to Claira and then maybe we can figure out something for lunch."

"No worries, I have sandwiches, chips and a veggie tray waiting for us to devour."

"Thanks, Mel, what'd we do without you?"

She winked and suddenly BOLTED to the bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach from breakfast. Not even Mickie's magical remedy for morning sickness stopped it completely. It did help though because Melina had been throwing up at least once an hour before Mickie cast the spell on her. Now it was just once or twice a day.

"I know she's your sister, but don't put too much… hope, on her abilities. She's crossed over and heaven has to play by rules, darlin'. She may not be able to tell you anything outside of a current situation." Mark pointed out thoughtfully.

There were rules to everything. Hell, even Nemesis had to find a mortal woman and don a human body to create his spawn. He couldn't just make one; that talent seemed reserved for the Big Man upstairs directly.

Instead of arguing, she just nodded with a smile, already knowing they wouldn't exactly see eye to eye when it came to Julia. What Mark failed to realize was Julia wasn't the only one looking out for them. There were other spirits, including the one who had visited her dreams with the graveyard, trying to help in their own way as well. They found Claira with the boys watching Scooby Doo and Mark pulled her away from the cartoons to talk to her. Brooklynn remained silent, knowing Claira was still angry with her for the slap and, honestly, she was sickened with herself for doing it as well.

"Sooo, everything is okay and I can still be with Seth?"

"Yes."

"And we're leaving tomorrow to go home? Why are we cutting the vacation short? And Mom said I was responsible for all of this…" Claira hadn't forgotten those poisonous words, frowning at her parents.

"I misspoke, Claira. I was angry and didn't mean anything I said. And I'm sorry for slapping you. I didn't mean to do that either. I promise not to let my temper get the best of me again." Brooklynn reached over, taking her daughter's hand and squeezed it. "You have to understand Daddy and I will do EVERYTHING in our power to protect you. And sometimes, you won't like things we do, but it's for your own good. But we were wrong about Seth. I'm sorry he ran away from us and I hope we can make it right."

"Yeah, maybe." Claira was doubtful, not bothering to share that she had gotten texts from her boyfriend, jutting her chin out. "I don't know what you think you can do… his Mom is pretty upset." He had been taken across the country by people who had promised to take care of him and then wound up finding his own way BACK across the country because weirdos couldn't stop themselves from being weird. "Or he'll think I'm a big freak..." Which he didn't, she couldn't say the same for her parents, however.

"Don't worry about Jennifer, we'll talk to her and make things right." It wasn't their fault Seth had left because he felt uncomfortable, which made that feeling in her gut twist violently.

"I don't think Jennifer will wanna talk to you, Mom…neither of you."

If Jennifer didn't want to do things the easy way, they'd be done the hard way. "I'm sure she just needs time to cool off and, once we're back, cooler heads will prevail."

"If you say so…" Claira looked at her father, who had his poker face on while staring at her, which made her nervous. "So we're leaving tomorrow morning?"

Mark was with Claira on this one, but that was also going on the assumption that Seth was normal. A normal, average, horny teenager. If he was, there were no cooler heads. Brooklynn would have, and him too, KILLED if that happened with their daughter. He actually was hoping Seth was the bad guy, just to avoid that hot mess.

"Yeah, lil darlin', so make sure you're packed up."

"Considering I never really unpacked, not a problem."

Claira went back to watching Scooby Doo with the boys while Brooklynn and Mark went up to their room to start packing. "That went as well as to be expected, I guess." She murmured softly, watching Mark nod and could feel the tension between them.

What had she done wrong now? Brooklynn had been very agreeable and calm, all things considered. Granted, slapping Claira hadn't been the best way to handle things, but Brooklynn wasn't perfect. She apologized for doing it and Claira accepted it, so what was Mark's issue? Maybe he was bothered by the fact Randy would be pretending to be him when they went to Jennifer and Seth's to talk to her.

Brooklynn was hiding something. She had tells and he had always been able to tell when she was lying to him. She hadn't been lying, but she was hiding something and he knew it. Mark wished she'd just spill whatever was on her mind, in her heart, but this was definitely not the time or the place for it. Add the additional stress of everything else going on around them… they already needed another vacation. Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her thick hair and inhaled deeply.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Brooklynn snuggled against him, feeling his hands stroking her back and closed her eyes, feeling her stomach twisting for a different reason. Why was she so afraid to tell him about Taker being back? Would he even believe her? Pulling back enough to look up in his eyes, Brooklynn suddenly brought his mouth down on hers, passionately kissing him. Before things got any worse, she had to tell him the truth. Mark had a right to know since it was his body and…maybe she could convince him to keep Taker around. That was highly doubtful, but Brooklynn had to try.

"Mark, there's something I have to…" The words died on her lips when the emerald, she gazed into, turned to acid.