Chapter 69

"What Mel said," Mark let everyone have their voices back, but he kept his fingernails long, just in case a tongue needed to be ripped out. They had a good Witch, she could repair any damage. "Now… who wants to go to the library?" He probably had a bunch of information on Demons.

"You're actually going to let people in there?"

"I let Claira… speaking of… someone needs to stay here with her." Just so she didn't do anything else stupid.

"I'm not going to that library." Mickie shuddered at the thought of all the dark objects Mark had stashed away, not to mention books. She was perfectly fine being the 'good' Witch and enjoyed her light magic. "I'll keep an eye on Claira and make sure she doesn't leave the house."

Glenn, Randy, Melina, and John were going to the library with Mark while Mickie, Steve, Trish, and Beth stayed behind at the house.

Steve wanted to go, but Trish ordered him to stay with her since he was the only one who was on her side, it seemed. The bald man was also pussy whipped and did whatever Trish demanded, which was sometimes sickening to witness. Brooklynn would stay away from Trish and not speak to her as long as the blonde did the same. She pulled Mark aside, worry in her eyes again and cupped his face in her soft hands to softly kiss him.

"Be careful, I love you." It was the same thing she said before he left to go ward the Ambrose and Reigns' houses.

"At the library? That place is safer than this house, darlin'." He chuckled, nuzzling her nose with his. "I love you too, Lynn. If any of them get out of line, have Claira freeze them for you." It wouldn't last long since she was still new to rationing her energy, but it would be hilarious to watch.

Randy did make a mental note to wear gloves this trip, just because he didn't trust what he might wind up absorbing from Mark's collection. Technically, inanimate objects shouldn't do that, but… no trust.

Brooklynn giggled in spite of what was going on and hugged him around the neck tightly, breathing him in. "My evil man." She murmured in his ear, hearing him chuckle from low in his throat and closed her eyes, reluctantly pulling back a few minutes later. "Everything will be fine. Now go, I hope you find something." A kiss later, Mark was leading the charge out the door with Randy, Melina, John, and Glenn following suit, all piling into their Chevy Silverado before taking off for the library.

Beth found Brooklynn standing by the door and saw the worry on her face, walking up to stand beside her. "They'll be back soon. How are you holding up?"

"Considering one of my friends hates me and I had to cross over one of Claira's friends, not so great," Brooklynn answered honestly, heaving a sigh and felt Beth wrap her arm around her shoulders, leaning their heads together. "What if we can't stop him, Beth?"

"Then we'll all go down in a blaze of glory trying," Mickie answered with a smile, draping her arm around both their necks. "You need a bigger place, Lynn. Maybe like the mansion in Wyoming for when we have to get together like this."

"What? Melina's place isn't big enough?" They all shared a laugh, while Trish and Steve stayed in the kitchen talking amongst themselves.

The way he figured it, maybe once the dust settled, their friends would realize the value of staying out of people's relationships. For years, the circle had badgered him and Brooklynn about being married, not so amusing. Much more amusing now, with Beth spilling secrets and disrupting the literal Golden Couple's happily ever after. That was hilarious. It was about time someone else got a turn.

Once at the library, he surveyed the small group. "All of you, pass over some hair." Mark needed something to alter the wards to allow them to pass without dying.

Glenn winced, plucking some VERY short hairs and let them drop in Mark's hand. "You're lucky I didn't shave it completely bald, man."

"Same here." Randy handed over some hair, along with John, all of them having very short hair besides Melina, who plucked a long strand.

"Okay, we need to find something on Demons. Holy shit, this is a lot of books, Mark." Melina blanched, looking around at the huge library once they were inside, dark eyes wide. "No wonder you keep this separate from the house…"

"Half of this shit wouldn't fit where they live now." So far, the 'experiment' Mark did on him was working because, normally, with all the dark magic and energy surrounding them, his head would be throbbing by now. "Alright, we better get started if we wanna be back before supper."

John had his notepad and pen in hand, ready for his 'writing' to begin.

Making the library fit at home wasn't the issue. He could have easily shrunk everything until it was pocket-sized and kept it locked up somewhere. The issue was everything in this library, this space, was dangerous and downright deadly, if not handled properly. Most of THOSE books were still under lock and key, but if these people weren't careful, they'd wind up with issues from messing with the wrong book. Could be fun. Not to mention, he owned this parcel of land, so keeping the books underground… nobody had ever stumbled across it.

"Demonology is this way." He grunted, guiding them back towards the end of his underground library.

"OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT!" Randy had made the mistake of plucking a book out about hurricanes and well…the damn book had come to LIFE, in a way. With Melina and Glenn's help, he managed to shut the book, stopping the 'hurricane' and stood there dripping wet from head to toe. "Mother fucker…"

"ARGH, didn't he TELL you not to touch anything yet?!" Melina growled, shoving Randy none too gently and stalked toward the Demonology area, shaking her head.

Mark had made it clear on the ride over some the books had 'minds of their own', so it would be in their best interest NOT to touch anything he didn't specifically point out. Randy hadn't heeded that warning and now paid for it. Rolling his eyes, Mark directed a jet of hot air at the floor, drying the mess Randy had made though he let the idiot remain soaked and chafing. He had warned them. Apparently, living in solitude all these years had made Randy an imbecile.

"Come on, quit touching my shit." He ordered, leading the way again. The last thing Mark needed was to explain to Brooklynn, and the rest, why people died. "Here." He gestured to the area he had led them to, waving a hand as locks opened. "Just don't… read anything Latin out loud."

"Did you hear that, Orton? No reading aloud, period."

"Man, fuck off." Randy wasn't amused right now, though at least it was still warm in the library since it was Texas.

Melina and John laughed, shaking their heads. "I swear, I thought YOU'D be the one who'd do something that stupid, not Randy."

"Yeah, I know, ri – HEY!"

Melina giggled harder, grabbing one of the safer books and began reading it, raising a brow. "Okay, so Glenn's theory was right as far as the salt and holy water goes…but I don't see anything about actually KILLING a Demon."

"Man, my hand is gonna fall off! Mark, help!"

Glenn blinked, seeing John was getting ready to write off the pages of his notebook and on the walls, the books…which Mark would kill him for. "Get him outside now!"

He was surrounded by idiots! Mark walked over to a table; he had them scattered throughout the library and rifled around for a marker, finally snatching John's pen out of his hand and replaced it with the Sharpie. "Do the floors, boy," He ordered, dropping Cena right onto the wall tile, watching as black began to quickly fill it in. Mark cocked his head to the side, reading the sloppy scrawl.

"Okay, what the hell does that say?" Glenn was clueless, tilting his head and wasn't surprised when Mark informed them all it was Latin. "Great." It was time to break out his trusty laptop and look up what the writing meant, which took only a few minutes. "Okay according to this, it's a message. Blood of who took his life must purge the darkness from this world. What the hell does that mean?"

"There's something else he's writing…it's Latin again."

"Dagger. It means dagger. So whatever this dagger is, we have to dip it in blood and stab him with it?"

"No, it's Brooklynn and Claira. Blood of who took his life…the Meyers is responsible for Nemesis's death, remember?" Brooklynn had told them this story back in Arizona all those years ago. "I'm positive it's her blood, but what kind of dagger do we need?"

That was the million dollar question.

He could remember that, but not the other things… like don't touch a magical, potentially cursed, book. Mark figured it was due to the information being about Brooklynn and Orton's former unrequited love thing. "It tells you." He was procuring his pouch of chew, tucking a nice size piece under his lip and smirked when he got a look from Glenn. "Latin, dipshit, any Warlock or Witch worth his salt can read it. Trying Googling that word." The words were said oh so sweetly as he magically highlighted the text on the floor.

"A bone dagger? What the hell is that?"

This was the part Brooklynn would not like hearing. "We need to fashion a dagger out of a bone. A human bone and it has to be long enough to be able to dip in your blood." Glenn explained, rubbing the back of his neck and had NO idea how they were going to get an actual human bone.

Claira could only sit there, staring at Glenn like he'd grown three heads with wide emerald eyes. "A HUMAN bone? Is he for real?"

"Y-Yeah…" Brooklynn didn't know where to begin to look for one of those, rubbing the back of her neck.

"We're thinking it can't just be any human bone, Brooklynn. We think it has to be one from Nemesis or one of his family members."

"Seth…" How the hell were they supposed to accomplish that with Seth still ALIVE?

They couldn't kill him… could they? Wouldn't that be easier than letting Nemesis come out? Claira had promised to help open the portal. Her parents hadn't said dick about murdering the little bastard and he was half mortal, so Seth would be a lot easier than trying to fight off Daddy. Also, a lot easier than trying to get a bone from him, because it would probably have to be the thigh bone.

"Fuck all."

"Seth is going to die anyway," Claira spoke up, clasping her hands in her lap tightly and knew her father was angry with her, which is why he had been giving her the silent treatment. She understood why, but Claira would still speak her mind about this situation she had gotten them into. "Because Roman crossed over, he won't be able to fulfill the blood oath we made. There's nothing he can do either, what's done is done. So, when he dies because of the blood oath unfulfilled, you can get the bone then from him."

Everyone just looked at her, nodding because it was a solid enough plan. "The only problem is we'll have to keep Nemesis distracted long enough to get that damn bone out and dipped in Brooklynn's blood."

"Who is gonna do the carving?"

"God, there's no need to do that when magic is involved. We can use magic to get the bone out of him."

"Mark, what do you think?" Brooklynn had always looked to him for guidance and, honestly, he was the true leader of the circle. "Do you think this could be pulled off?"

"Sure. Sounds easy enough." It always sounded easy enough. "Mickie can pull it out and I'll get it ready to go." Mark shrugged his shoulders, wondering how the dying thing would play out. "We should probably find out if Seth is going to die… he's half and half, it may only be his mortal side that kicks it."

"That… is a really good point. We all know evil doesn't play by the rules." Mickie chewed her thumb thoughtfully, looking at Claira.

"Then we stab them both."

Mickie slowly nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, it'll probably take some time for the Demon side of Seth to come out anyway. We take care of Nemesis and then Seth. We can stop him with the salt and holy water, keeping him weak long enough to vanquish them both." They had to be precise with timing or everything would fall apart.

"It could work." Steve spoke up, having kept quiet, after having it out with his wife while Mark and the others had been gone or somewhere else in the house.

"Does Seth know Roman's been crossed over?"

"No."

"Good, let's keep it that way. We have a plan, let's execute it, destroy them both and finally go home."

"I'm sorry…I'm really sorry for putting you all through this and making this dumb choice," Claira spoke quietly, looking from one person to the next. "He said he would go after Dean next, and I panicked. I had to protect him…and when he told me he could bring Roman back to life, I…didn't realize what he meant until afterward. I hope one day you all can forgive me. I did this to save my boyfriend and tried to right a wrong to one of our friends and I shouldn't have."

Mark had long reached the conclusion, two of them actually. One, like mother like daughter and two, women were fool-hearted creatures that needed less emotion, more logic, in their decision-making capabilities. "Something to remember," Himself included because he had been the one to start this mess with Taker cutting that deal. "A good deed isn't a good deed when you have to deal with evil." His eyes moved onto Claira, really hoping she had learned her lesson here.

"I understand, Dad."

Like father, like daughter, Brooklynn thought, not realizing Mark was thinking the exact same thing, with the exception of using mother instead of the father.

Steve snorted, shaking his head because he could read Brooklynn and Mark's minds at the moment. Mark hadn't put the barrier up in his mind, so he was taking advantage. "You both have issues when it comes to making deals and doin' stupid bullshit. So the sayin' should go like father, mother, and daughter."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

They had both shouted it at the same time, looked at each other and everyone started laughing, the tension was broken for the time being.

Even Claira was laughing, which felt great because so much had happened in a very short span of time. They just had to keep Seth from discovering Roman had crossed over or their plan was sunk.