Chapter 48

Five seconds later… "MOM, I'M HOME!"

They were not going to catch a break here, were they? Mark was tensed and pulsating inside of her, but they could NOT do this with Claira fully awake. Not to mention, her scream echoing throughout the house made Brooklynn cringe. "Let go of me. This isn't the time or place to do this."

Just like she'd said in the kitchen, but Mark had been stubborn and carted her out here anyway. Mark cursed again, releasing her and they both dressed before walking back inside the house, seeing Claira was freaking out over the blood on the carpet. Brooklynn hadn't had time to clean it up…or try to anyway.

"W-What's going on?! What happened to Randy?! Is he going to make it?!" Claira was scared out of her mind, emerald eyes wide.

"I'm fine, stop screaming," Randy ordered from his place on the couch where Glenn had put him. "Accidentally tripped and nailed myself on your Mom's stupid furniture."

"He's been stitched up, Claira." Glenn said gently, guiding her away from Randy and towards the kitchen. Thank god they had cleaned up the backyard… all that blood…

Speaking of blood, Mark slipped past them all and headed to go tidy up the blood-stained bathroom. Magic abuse it was.

"Jesus Claira, you scared the hell out of me…" Brooklynn grumbled, not seeing Seth anywhere and felt her eyes narrow slightly, already knowing why.

That mother fucker had warded his mother, his ADOPTED mother, and nearly killed Randy. There wasn't a doubt in her mind, her heart, her soul, her gut. Trust your instincts…trust yourself…trust your gut…Julia's words rang through her mind again and when she turned to the side, she saw the same ghost that had invaded her dreams with the graveyard.

"Genevieve, right?"

"Mom?"

The ghost nodded.

"M-Mom, who is that woman?" Claira's magic was Bound, but that didn't mean she still couldn't see ghosts.

"Her name is Genevieve. She came to me in my dream the night before last and she's been trying to communicate with me. Randy, I'm sorry, but this is important. I'll be right back in. Genevieve, let's go outside and talk."

"That…is still creepy…as fuck."

"Yeah…it is." But at least the ghost didn't have a dark aura about her. In fact, it reminded Glenn of Julia's aura.

Claira frowned, wanting to follow her mother, but at the same time, she didn't want any part of the ghost business and instead went up to her room.

That was a lot of blood. It reminded him of a movie scene or something. Randy had spewed everywhere, it was disgusting. Even up on the ceiling and Mark did cheat his ass off, using tap water and a dash of magic. He couldn't stop thinking that the coppery, metallic scent of blood still lingered, even after he had Febreze the hell out of the room.

"You're disgusting." He informed Randy when he returned to the living room. "Where'd they go?"

"Claira went upstairs, and Brook is visiting with the dead."

"Never a dull moment…"

The last thing Brooklynn wanted to do was scare this ghost away like she did in the dream. Hopefully, Mark/Taker would stay inside and let her handle this since Genevieve looked ready to communicate somehow. She remembered what Taker advised about asking yes and no questions because the spirit didn't seem able to talk for some reason. Perhaps she was cursed, even in death.

"Genevieve, were you born in Dallas?" Some background information on the spirit was always Brooklynn's first move.

The spirit hesitantly nodded, looking around as if waiting for something or someone to jump out to stop her. Genevieve looked terrified.

"Do you know a woman named Jennifer Rollins?"

Another hesitant nod.

"Please try to stay calm with this next question, okay?" Brooklynn waited for the nod before continuing. "Do you know a boy named Seth Rollins?"

Genevieve didn't move for several long minutes and finally nodded, her mouth opening to speak. "M-My…s-son…" She vanished and then appeared on Brooklynn's other side.

"You're his biological mother." Another nod. "Do you know of a man named Nemesis?"

"No." She began walking, looking more normal by the second, which was a sign a spirit was finding peace and taking care of their unfinished business. "My husband…his name was Eric. One night, he came home. He wasn't himself. Something was…off about him. We'd been fighting, trying to have a baby. It'd been over a year of trying. That night…something was different. We had sex, it wasn't lovemaking. He was rough, callous, like he had a goal in mind or something. Two months later, I found out I was pregnant. Eric had taken off after that night we had sex. He was found…dead…three months into my pregnancy, buried in a ditch on the outskirts of Houston." Now Genevieve was right in Brooklynn's face, tears in her eyes. "My husband was possessed that night. Something evil had a hold of him…something evil impregnated me. I didn't want the baby, so I tried to get an abortion. No matter what I did, what I said, nobody believed me that there was a demon growing inside me. When I gave birth, my heart gave out and I died right after my baby was born."

"Nemesis is a demon, Genevieve. He more than likely possessed your husband, took over his vessel in order to impregnate you." Brooklynn felt sick to her stomach because all the pieces were falling into place. "Do you know if Seth Rollins and Nemesis are connected?"

"They are, yes. Seth is his offspring. That is why I'm reaching out to you. You have to stop him. You have to stop him from unleashing that evil into the world again."

"Is that why you haven't found peace?"

"Yes." Genevieve looked completely normal now, smiling sadly at Brooklynn. "And now that my message is passed along, I can finally go. I can go into the light."

"Thank you, Genevieve. I promise we will stop Seth from releasing Nemesis. You have my word. You can crossover now." Brooklynn sighed as Genevieve cupped her face in her ghostly hand.

"No, thank you, Brooklynn…thank you for doing what you do for the lost spirits of this world. Without you, we would all be lost." Turning, Genevieve smiled genuinely at the light engulfing her and sucked in a sharp breath. "It's so beautiful…and warm…" She walked toward it and her spirit vanished, a light breeze washing over Brooklynn.

That was why Brooklynn did this and considered her power a gift because spirits like Genevieve were just lost and needed to be guided into the light.

"If only they were all as helpful." Mark shook his head, having watched quietly. When Brooklynn turned, he smiled at her. "Darlin', I think… once this is all over, we're going to have to have a chat about what you've been keeping from me." Not right now, but… she needed to know that he was quite aware of everything that shouldn't have been kept secret from him. "He's gone, for the moment. I think the merging took something out of him." And since HE was the dominant personality, and 'Taker wasn't… Mark imagined he'd have a day or so without him popping up.

Brooklynn frowned, lowering her eyes to the grass. "It started out in my dreams. I told you about the two nightmares I had about Taker and they really did scare me. But then a third dream happened…and it changed everything. It opened my eyes to the truth and truth is…" She looked up at her husband, turmoil boiling in her amber eyes. "I fell in love with Taker first. I met him first. I was scared to love him because of what happened the last time I asked you to bring him back. It wasn't out of love, it wasn't because I WANTED him back, it was to USE him and he was…resentful. He was hurt over it. And he probably still doesn't think I don't love him, but he couldn't be more wrong. I love you BOTH. And I'm telling you the same thing I told him, Mark. I'm NOT, I REFUSE, to choose between you two. You're gonna have to figure out how to make this work amongst yourselves. I'm not losing either of you, not again. When you merged, that was…that was perfect. It was the best of both worlds and I got a tiny glimpse of it, a taste, of perfection when it comes to my husband…" She looked down at the ring on her left hand, smiling sadly. "He's the one who wanted to make things official between us, the marriage bit in Mexico. He put the idea into your head because you were content to be 'married' by the state of Texas by law. He didn't think it was good enough…and it wasn't. I've wanted to be your wife, to take your last name, to be rid of the Meyers name, for the past 17 years and it took HIM planting the idea into your head for it to happen. You both have amazing qualities. You're loving, compassionate and gentle while he's hard, passionate, cold at times and intense. You both bring something to the table the other doesn't. And I lied to you because I promised him I wouldn't tell you he was back. He was afraid you would try to get rid of him again and I didn't want that because I WANTED him back. Not just for his power or his ability to help us, but because I LOVE him the same way I love you. For once, I chose him and did what he wanted, I protected him the only way I could and I'm not sorry for it."

Bet that hurt, didn't it?

Shut the fuck up.

Try getting rid of me now.

I will if you don't shut up.

She loves ME. She lied to you for ME. And she's standing there telling you you're pretty worthless without ME.

Oh, Mark hated that. Aren't you supposed to be asleep or something? You can't even talk without sounding weak. How's that working out for you?

He remained silent, mostly because Mark was right.

"We'll discuss it after this shit with Nemesis." Mark said finally, out loud, eyes narrowed on Brooklynn's face. He wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment, the residual smugness wasn't his. It was Taker.

"There's nothing more to discuss. You two need to figure out a way to live with each other because, if I lose one of you, it will break me. Figure. It. Out."

She jabbed her finger against his chest with those last three words and pulled her 'move', walking back into the house. Mark made it clear he didn't want to talk about this until after Nemesis was taken care of. What he failed to realize was they had to deal with SETH and keep SETH away from their daughter or else they would have a Nemesis problem. She walked into the living room to check on Randy and plopped down on the part of the couch he wasn't occupying, staring up at the ceiling. At least the truth was out now, and the ball was in Mark/Taker's court.

He snorted, hearing laughter in his own head and that was just creepy. Of course, it wouldn't matter how HE felt, as long as she was taken care. Never mind his own feelings on the matter. Just. Figure. It. Out. As if they didn't have enough on their plate at the moment. About the only thing, he and Taker ever did agree on, was her and, half the time, he questioned both their sanity on that front. Well no, not really, just when they had issues like Seth, Nemesis, their daughter, and world ending situations.

"Brilliant."

The hex worked beautifully. His secret was out now, but for some reason, Brooklynn was keeping the truth from Claira. Why was that? Seth narrowed his eyes, stroking his beard thoughtfully and watched his 'mother' walk into the room with a plate of food for him. Jennifer was not his mother, not really. She was actually his Familiar in human form – her true form was too horrific to ever show.

"Well done today, Jenny." He murmured, sliding his hand up her arm to grip her shoulder with a smile.

"Anything for my Master," Jennifer replied, her eyes glowing red before returning to normal. "I made your favorite."

"I noticed, but now we must be vigilant and go to phase 2 of the plan. Brooklynn Meyers is about to lose everything she holds dear, especially when she finds out who my accomplice is."

Jennifer giggled wickedly, nodding with eagerness. "Yes, yesssssss…"

Now that he was aware Taker was awake and lurking, and quite capable of taking over when he wanted too when he wasn't drained, Mark was a bit preoccupied. He was trying to guard his mind, focus on the situation with Claira and the potential end of the world via Seth, as well as deal with the issues his wife had tossed his way. "You'll have a nice scar…" He was eyeing Randy, not laying hands on him, not bare ones anyway. He was wearing gloves, examining the area he had slashed open.

"Nothing some ink can't cover up."

"Hello, hello, hello we're here! Finally!" Trish crowed, walking into the Calaway household and instantly stopped at the sight of Randy on the couch. "Oh god, what happened?!"

"Long story." Glenn did not want to relive it either, not with all the blood they had to deal with.

"Brooklynn? You look…exhausted." Was that the right word to use?

"It's been a very long day." Brooklynn tried to stifle a yawn and couldn't, glancing at the clock. 9 PM. "I ordered pizza and it should be here any minute. You guys have great timing."

"Yeah well, I drove as fast as I fuckin' could, but traffic was a bitch cause of construction going on."

That was Seth's doing. He didn't want the entire circle here in Dallas, but that plan had failed.

"Tell me about it." Melina grumbled, walking into the house next with Mickie and John.

"Wait, what the hell happened in here? Why is there blood on the carpet and…Randy, I sense something…"

"He was hexed…or cursed…"

"Cursed, he was cursed." Mark yawned, coming down the stairs in a pair of baggy shorts and a tank top, his hair pulled back into a loose tail at the nape of his neck. Claira was in her room, on her cell, probably texting Seth… that made his teeth gnash. "He touched someone who was warded." And still hadn't said what he had seen. Of course, Mark wasn't overly expecting him to want to rehash that straight away. Maybe after some food. "He's fine now, all fixed."

"I NEVER want you to 'fix' me again, that was…" Painful.

Mickie mumbled something incoherent under her breath and walked over to examine Randy, smelling the bay leaves. "Good work, Mark. You may be getting the hang of your powers yet." She smirked at his scowl and slid her hand down Randy's arm, knowing he was still in pain from the bay leaves. She was just soothing it with her 'light' or 'good' magic.

"Randy doesn't need to tell us what he saw because I found out the truth." Everyone turned to face Brooklynn and she explained her meeting with Genevieve, Seth's biological mother. "Seth is the one we're after and who we have to stop."

"Christ…" Melina's eyes were wide along with Mickie, Beth, and Trish, the men all shaking their heads in disbelief. "How long has Claira been with him?"

"And do you know, without a shadow of a doubt, she hasn't had sex with him?"

"There's a way to test that."

"She told me she hasn't and…remember what Julia said, he needs her virgin blood in order to open the portal."

"This is fuckin'…"

"Sick – it's sick, man."