Chapter 72

Mark and Claira did know them, so they stood there a few moments longer, Claira hugging Mrs. Reigns while he murmured words about what a good kid Roman had been, the generic sort of thing. He didn't have words for this. Hopefully, when it came for the blood oath to be fulfilled, it wouldn't be him and Brooklynn standing in their position, accepting condolences from family and friends. No. Not happening. He ushered Claira to join her mother at the casket.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Roman. I promise, your death won't be in vain. We're going to stop Seth and Nemesis, you have my word." Brooklynn whispered, making sure nobody noticed and wiped some tears away before stepping away to allow Claira to say her final farewell.

"Roman, you were one of my good friends and Dean is so lost without you." Claira sniffled, not bothering to wipe her tears away because this hurt a lot more than she thought it would. "I-I'm so sorry you died…because of me." She whispered that last part out, feeling her heart clutch painfully in her chest. "I'll never forget you, big guy."

Even though she was angry with her daughter right now, that didn't stop Brooklynn from comforting her as she pulled Claira into her arms, holding her. "He hears you, sweetheart." She whispered, guiding her away from the casket and went to sit down since the ceremony part of the wake was about to start. Eulogies and whatnot.

There were a lot of kids from school here. Mark was glad it was after graduation… he could only imagine the lockdown, or the week of grieving, they would have had to take. So many teens, Roman had been fairly well-liked. One of the three amigos and it had probably killed Claira to see those pictures of the three boys, all of them smiling. Some pictures had her in them, she had known these kids all her life.

If any of these kids knew or had an inkling of a clue, Claira was responsible for Roman's death, they would have her head on a spike. Thankfully, that wasn't the case and several of the kids from their graduation class came up hugging Claira. They were all crying, there wasn't a dry eye in the entire room. As painful as this was for Claira, it was also gaining her closure, which is why Brooklynn wanted to come in the first place. She often visited the victim's graves or went to their funeral of the spirits she crossed over if they weren't too far away. Brooklynn felt it was the right thing to do, the noble and kind thing. It showed she had respect for human life in general. Mark and Brooklynn took their seats while Claira continued grieving with the kids, Dean included, giving her as much time as she needed to get it out of her system.

Mark was on the fence about this providing closure. He didn't think it would. If Seth was able to be taken care of prior to coming here, different story entirely. As it was, all she was seeing was the friend she had supposedly gotten killed and the killer was still on the loose. He would have felt like shit. His eyes narrowed, watching as a tall, brown-haired young man made his way right up through the aisles and to the casket in a black suit. Eyes flashed acid when the man turned to grin at them. Seth! He nudged Brooklynn, seeing her following his finger and wondered why nobody else was staring.

Because they couldn't see his real form.

Mark quickly explained what was going on in a quiet voice, making Brooklynn's eyes widen slightly. "Son of a bitch," Brooklynn whispered, knowing they couldn't cause a panic, but they weren't staying either. "I will grab Claira and we're leaving." The Ambrose's wouldn't leave, not until after the eulogies and whatnot. Brooklynn stood up, making her way to her daughter while 'Seth' was on the way as well. "Claira, we have to go now. I'll explain in the car." She whispered quickly and quietly, already pulling her daughter with her toward the exit.

"Mom? Mom, what's going on?" Claira was beginning to panic and felt her father behind them, her emerald eyes wide.

"Seth was in there, Claira. He was in a disguise, but he was in there. That sick bastard!" Brooklynn practically shoved Claira in the back seat of the car and hopped in the passenger while Mark slid behind the wheel, getting the hell out of there. They had definitely overstayed their welcome and it was time to get back to the house in the safety wards.

"Dean's back there! We have to go back and get him!"

"NO! Dean will be fine. Seth won't hurt anyone or else the blood oath on his part is broken." Not that it wasn't already since Roman had already crossed over, but Seth didn't know that bit of information and wouldn't, not unless he actually spoke to Brooklynn directly. That wasn't happening either.

"Did you really spill your guts to your parents?" Seth asked from the backseat, alongside Claira. He smirked when she began screaming, sitting perfectly still even as Mark veered almost off-road. "I'm not really here you know, calm down, Claira."

What kind of magic did this Demon spawn have? Mark's eyes narrowed, knowing if he wasn't really here, then he was projecting himself. "He can't hurt you, Claira."

"As if I'd want too."

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS VEHICLE RIGHT NOW, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Brooklynn was NOT keeping her cool, looking over at Mark, who was chanting in Latin under his breath.

No, she didn't, but Claira wasn't about to tell him that and scooted as far away from the projection as she possibly could. "Get away from me, Seth. I have 5 days left before I have to help you. I don't want to see you until then."

Brooklynn was shaking like a leaf, not wanting to be in the same car as this monster and took several deep breaths.

"Just remember, baby, if you break the blood oath in ANY way, and don't help me open that dimension, you die."

"I'm aware and so are they. I'll help you, don't worry about it. The same goes for you. You don't harm anyone or anything and you help bring Roman back to life, or YOU die." Claira was surprisingly calm and collected, while her mother looked ready to have a stroke.

"Oh I remember, baby. Don't you worry, I'll bring him back with my father's help and I won't harm anyone or anything until that night." Blood oaths were a bitch and it was the only thing stopping him from killing Dean Ambrose right now.

"Good, we're on the same page. Now get the fuck out of here and leave me alone until my 5 days are up."

"That wasn't in the agreement," Seth made a big show of yawning and folded his hands behind his head, leaning back against the seat he wasn't really sitting on. "Your Mom is going to have a heart attack because she's incapable of controlling her responses. Maybe we should reopen negotiations… you might want me to bring HER back when she strokes out."

Focusing on driving and expelling that asshat wasn't helpful to either driving or Latin chanting, and Brooklynn WAS pretty red.

Claira leaned forward and placed her hands on her mother's shoulders, chanting under her breath a spell to help calm her mother down. Well, it knocked her out actually, but at least she wasn't stroke out or have a heart attack. Brooklynn slumped in her seat, breathing evenly with her head resting against the window. A few minutes later, Seth was expelled and sent to wherever, thanks to her father's potent magic. When they arrived at the house, Claira lead the way into the house with Dad carrying Mom.

"Don't freak out. We had an unwanted visitor on the ride home and…I had to knock Mom out with a sleeping spell or else she would've had a heart attack or stroke."

"Jesus, Mark lay her down and I'll look her over to make sure she'll be all right," Mickie ordered, frowning when he merely carried Brooklynn upstairs to their room and shut everyone out. "Rude!"

Mickie seemed to forget that he was fairly neutral on the magic thing these days and he didn't need her to do what he could. One day, really soon, he was going to have to discuss with Claira a few things. First and foremost, don't cast magic when panicked. What should have calmed Brooklynn down had done a bit more than that. She had put way too much power into it. Secondly, not revealing information wasn't pertinent or was likely to cause a stir, such as the unwanted visitor in their vehicle. It would have been easier to say Brooklynn had fainted. God knew it was hot enough. Carefully, he lay Brooklynn down on the bed, perching on the edge alongside her and checked her pulse. She was sound asleep.

12 hours later or so, Brooklynn finally woke up as her eyes slowly fluttered open, looking around the room. Her and Mark's bedroom, she was home and she closed her eyes, letting out a huge breath of relief. She looked down, seeing she was still in the black dress she wore at Roman's funeral, but her heels were off. What the hell happened? Seth. Seth had been in the car with them as a projection! She remembered Mark doing that in her apartment when he allowed Taker to have control of his body. Frowning, she slowly sat up in bed and slid out of it, needing to make sure Claira was safe. What if she passed out and something happened to her daughter?

"Stop panicking." Even in the dark, his venomous green eyes could see her plain as day. Brooklynn looked ready to go on a hunt, for Claira no doubt. "Everyone is asleep, Lynn."

He was sitting in the rocker in the corner of the room, wearing nothing except dress slacks and his hair undone. He had been sipping some Tennessee moonshine Glenn had brought along for a rough night. After he had gotten done tearing Claira a new asshole, once determining Brooklynn wouldn't be waking up for a while, he had felt like it was a rough night.

"Claira's fine, darlin'."

"Thank god…"

A quick glance at the clock told her what time it was and Brooklynn frowned, wondering how the hell she managed to sleep from 3 PM to 3 AM. Was she really that exhausted? No, Claira had done something to her during the car ride from hell with Rollins. Brooklynn slowly made her way over to him, knowing where the rocking chair was and touched his arm, her own eyes adjusting to the darkness.

"Okay good, you're not an illusion and this isn't a dream." She had pinched herself just to be on the safe side and reached up to pull the band out of her hair, letting it tumble down her back in silver waves. Surprisingly, she wasn't hungry, just relieved her daughter was safe and sleeping in her bedroom.

"You were sleeping so deeply, darlin', I wouldn't have been able to get in. You were too far gone for dreams."

Claira had been given homework. She had just graduated high school and now it was back to magic school apparently. He and Mickie would be working on honing her abilities. How much energy, the dangers of panicking… he felt a headache coming on. Sighing, Mark reached out to guide her down onto his lap, tucking her head under his chin.

"You all right, Lynn?"

"No, no I'm not okay, not at all. That son of a bitch was in the car with us, at Roman's funeral and he's the one who killed him." Brooklynn spoke quietly, snuggling against him and soaked his warmth up, his love, feeling his fingers glide through her hair. "Claira cast a spell on me, didn't she?" Mark nodded and she sighed heavily, knowing her daughter was trying to help, but instead she had gone a little overboard with the spell. "I didn't lose any limbs and my brain still functions, so it couldn't be that bad."

He chuckled, though there was no mirth in it. "If she had pushed too much harder, you may not have ever woken up, Brooklynn." He said quietly. "That is something Mickie and I both have tried to teach her. Everything has limits… and when we're casting on other people, loved ones especially, we have to know where we stop… you can't do that when you're panicking, or out of fear, or anger…" Which was why he tended to lean opposite of Brooklynn in regards to his thinking and the emotional aspect. Maybe that was also why they were so good together, even when they weren't.

"In other words, she could've killed me. Great." That was not a comforting feeling and Brooklynn shuddered, unable to hold it back. Her own daughter could've taken her out and sent her into the light early. It made her stomach twist violently at the thought, the possibility. "Her magic is dangerous, Mark. It's so dangerous, more than yours, especially if she can open that dimension with Seth. I-I don't know if her being a Witch is a good thing anymore."

The girl had done nothing except make mistakes. Although one couldn't learn without making them, they were HUGE life-changing and threatening blunders. It hadn't even been a month since she and Mark reconciled, and she could've lost him already, because of their daughter's uncontrollable magic.

"Stop it, Lynn. Her magic isn't any more dangerous than mine; it's her inexperience that's the problem." Mark argued firmly, placing a finger over her mouth. "And unfortunately, she's been getting hands-on learning experience at very inconvenient times." Every Witch and Warlock went through this, though… not all of them tended to be in stressful, crazy situations. "She's like you, she reacts too easily." Like Brooklynn had in the truck, panicking herself silly. "She has to learn to temper that."

She pushed his finger away from her mouth, scowling. "I'm only human, Mark. I can't just turn my emotions on and off like a light switch and you know that better than anyone. You're right, she's like me and she reacts too easily. I just wonder what the breaking point will be for her. Maybe she will kill me." Brooklynn figured there were worse ways to go and knew everyone had to die at some point. Her daughter had nearly killed her by setting their kitchen on fire and now cast a sleeping spell on her that could've been fatal. "She's a woman too and her hormones are raging fiercely because of her age, so that's also against her."

"That's a cheap cop-out. Males go through the same thing with the added bonus of unwanted erections and voices cracking." He snorted, though he was amused and it showed in his tone of voice. "I love you, Lynn, you and your overemotional ways. Claira will learn, in time, but until then… I think I may try capping her magic. Leave her with it, but also try to inhibit how much energy she can expend, that'll lessen the force of some of her spells."

"Shut up, I'm not overemotional!" Brooklynn grumbled, nudging him and cracked a smile, snuggling against him further. "I love you and your overbearing, sometimes emotionless, ways." She heard him chuckle deeper and yawned, not realizing she was still feeling the effects of the spell. "Why are you in this rocker anyway? It's 3 AM, you should be in bed sleeping with me. Or were you waiting to see if I did wake up?" Now she looked up at him, seeing a hint of concern flash through his eyes. "You were worried about me…"