Chapter 75

"Make the call. Tell Seth we want to make a deal with him. Your magic safely transferred to him in exchange for Milayna. And tell him we won't put up a fight while he opens the dimension." It still had to open or else they ran the risk of Claira dying because of the blood oath.

Nodding, Claira took her cell phone her mother handed her, which had been reprimanded as punishment for letting her magic get out of control again, and dialed Seth's number. She knew it by heart. With bated breath, she waited for him to answer and shut her eyes when he did, his nasally voice filling her ear.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, baby?"

Claira decided that honesty was the best policy. Well, as much honesty as she could afford. "I don't want to die, Seth."

"That seems to be a common thing amongst you mortals, baby."

"I… I want to make another deal."

Well now he was curious. "Oh, and what kind of deal do you want to make?"

Claira hesitated. "I want to give you my magic. I don't want to die from breaking the oath, but I don't want to die because… because you take everything from me either."

"Ah. And let me guess – you want Milayna in exchange for your power." Seth summarized, not having a doubt in his mind that's what Claira, and the circle, would ask for.

He glanced over at Milayna tied to the bed, currently knocked out with duct tape over her mouth. No harm had come to her, not physically, just as he promised in the blood oath. As much as he wanted to tear her limb from limb and send body parts back to her parents, Seth's hands were tied.

"So, you'll just HAND your magic over and let me open the dimension in exchange for Milayna's freedom, huh? Why do I feel like this is a trap, baby?"

"Because you want it to be?" Claira snorted irreverently. "Seth, we both know I'm going to die either way. I told you, I don't want to die, and I don't want my family and friends dying…" Not like Roman had. "I want you to give her back to us, unharmed, and I'll give you my magic."

"And if I say no?"

"I won't help you. If I have to die… it'll be on my terms." And she meant that. If she was going to die, if he wouldn't deal with her, then she'd refuse to do the blood oath and die knowing she DIDN'T allow evil loose.

Silence reigned between them on the phone. "And what about Roman? You do realize I won't bring him back to life with my father's help, if you don't do this, right?"

"Yes, and I still won't help you if you don't do this for me."

Gritting his teeth, Seth had to wonder what kind of game she was playing with him and glanced over at Milayna again, his leverage, knowing he couldn't open the dimension without Claira's help. He had tried with other witch's and, apparently, Claira's powers were the only one strong enough because she was a Meyers. The dimension had to be opened by the one who sent Nemesis into it in the first place, which had been Brooklynn, with Mark and Mickie's help. Still, it had been because of Brooklynn it happened.

"When do you wanna meet and do this? Just remember, any tricks and I will kill her and die, knowing I took one of your precious friends away from you, baby."

"Tonight, I'll text you in a bit with the time and place."

"Just you Claira. Nobody else. Not your bloodhound father, or your cunt mother, understand?" It wasn't like he could harm Claira, not without dying himself because of the blood oath.

"No, that's not going to work. I need either my Dad or Mickie to do the transfer spell. I don't trust you any more than you trust me."

Seth knew Mickie was no longer in town, due to rushing home to find her daughter gone and in his hands. "…Fine. Your bloodhound father and NO ONE ELSE or the deal is OFF."

Claira grit her teeth. "Deal." Then she hung up and quickly relayed what he had said to her parents.

"Just me, nobody else." Mark debated on how to go about doing this.

"What about that blinking thing Mickie did? You can do it, can't you?"

He could… he bet Mickie was feeling it though right now. "…yes…" He would feel it twice as much because he'd have himself, Claira and Milayna to transport out of there, as soon as the transfer happened. "I need to go to my library; there's a talisman I can use to enhance my magic further." It was extremely dangerous and Mark swore he'd never use it unless it was an emergency.

"Claira, you don't leave your father's side for any reason, do you understand?" Brooklynn ordered, folding her arms in front of her chest and watched Claira nod, hoping the girl didn't make any more mistakes. "Milayna's safety and very life is in your hands now."

"I won't fail again, Mom. Don't worry, Dad won't let anything happen to us."

"If only we didn't have that stupid blood oath hanging over our heads, we could kill off Seth and be done with this without opening the dimension."

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and the dimension had to open, even a little bit, for the blood oath to take effect. "I will call Mickie and John, explain what's going on and hopefully, they can make it back here in time for Milayna's return."

There would be no rapid exits because the blood oath was still in effect so, technically, Seth couldn't harm any of them. Mark had to wonder how Seth could hurt Milayna if he wasn't allowed to hurt any of them. She was technically, by extension, one of them, and that courtesy had extended to Dean. He was fried at the moment.

"Just… set up a time and a place."

Later that night, Glenn and Steve took off to Dallas to dig up Nemesis's sister's grave. Amelia. Brooklynn was forced to stay home with the others while Claira left with her father to go save Milayna. Her Dad thought by giving her powers to Seth, enough of them to open the dimension, that she fulfilled her end of the blood oath. However, Seth had been very clear with the stipulation and it wasn't helping him so much as opening the dimension that would seal her fate. The dimension HAD to open, or she would die. Claira would rather die than do this, but Milayna didn't deserve to have her young life severed. Seth wanted to meet at the same place they made the blood oath together…the same place he killed Roman. Claira really screwed herself and the circle this time by doing the blood oath, wishing she wouldn't have done it.

There was a silver lining to this. Claira would no longer have her magic. If they really managed to pull this all off, letting the blood oath be fulfilled by Nemesis getting loose and then killing him off, killing off his spawn, then technically, there was no need for magic or the circle. They had never faced something like Nemesis, he was always one of a kind and, to be honest, his daughter being removed from this life wasn't a bad thought. Mark wanted to retire from it, that was for damn sure.

This was atonement for Claira. She wasn't good at magic and never had been, even with all the training she'd gone through. Some people just didn't gel well with certain aspects of their lives. Magic and Claira did not mix; if this was a way for her to be rid of magic once and for all, so be it. She deserved not to have magic after everything she'd done. Sure, she still had the 'gift' of seeing ghosts, but Claira had gotten used to ignoring them and would continue doing so…as much as she could anyway. However, she had a newfound respect for her mother's gift and what she went through to help people find peace. She didn't expect anything in return, not even a thank you, feeling as though she was helping the world in her own way.

When they arrived at the specified location, Mark's nose wrinkled at the scent of magic, darker than what he liked to dabble in, hit him. Seth was just letting his own magical signature roll off of him. It was an intimidation tactic and he felt his own aura roaring to do the same, rising to the challenge and checked it. From the look on Claira's face, she could feel it too and he reached out to squeeze her hand gently.

"Come on, lil darlin', quicker we get this over with…"

"The quicker we can go home with Milayna." Claira finished in a whisper, not releasing her father's hand for a second.

Slowly, they made their way further inside and Seth suddenly appeared, in all black, with a magically bound Milayna. She had blood running from her head down the side of her face, looking somewhat out of it. Her lip was split, and she had bruises on her arms and legs.

"You're not supposed to hurt her!"

"It's amazing what loopholes you can find in a blood oath, baby. I didn't raise a hand to her." Seth caressed the girl's face with the back of his hand lovingly, a sick smirk curving his lips. "That doesn't mean I didn't have a backup plan though, in case she got feisty, and it was VERY rewarding breaking her." He shoved her on the ground on her knees, her mouth duct taped to keep her silent. "Now then, let's get this show on the road, shall we?!"

Milayna was scared out of her mind, breathing extremely hard through the duct tape and her baby blues pleaded with them to help her.

Of course… of course, they had to play by all the rules and, about the only loophole they had been able to find, wouldn't do anything outside of keeping Claira alive. Being the good guy SUCKED. "Come here, boy." Mark ordered darkly, raising one hand towards Claira and one at Seth.

"Do I get to call you 'pops'?" Seth snickered roguishly. "That is what Ambrose calls you, right?" He sauntered over, eyes raking Claira.

"Stop it, Seth. I'm not doing anything with you until you release Milayna." Claira didn't step up to do the magic transfer, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"No – no, baby, that's not how this works. How do I know you'll even do the magic transfer if I hand her over?"

"How do I know you will release her after the magic transfer is done?"

Seth narrowed his eyes at her, the former love of his life and scowled. "Touché." He glowered down at the pitiful girl and shoved her toward Claira, unbinding her from the magical bonds he put on her. "Fine, I'll let you have her first, just to show I'm a man of my word."

Milayna immediately scurried over to where Claira and Mark was, shaking like a leaf and ripped the duct tape off her mouth, biting back a cry of pain.

"Now then, shall we?" He held his hand out, tilting his head at Claira.

Swallowing hard, Claira knew she had no choice except to do this or she could possibly, most likely, die during the dimension opening. "Answer one more question for me, Seth. Do I have to be here when the dimension opens to release your father?"

"No. I'd prefer if you weren't."

"What about bringing Roman back to life?"

Seth let out a contemptable sigh. "Don't worry. I'll keep my word because of the blood oath, baby. He will be revived, just as I vowed. You don't need to be here to see it, I'll even have him show up at your front door to say boo."

Claira gritted her teeth and nodded stiffly, holding her own hand out. "Do it, Dad. Let's get this over with and go home with Milayna."

Touching Seth's hand felt a lot like touching slime. Cold, wet, mucky… Mark inwardly gritted his teeth, focusing on drawing from Claira. He would be the conduit, her power running through him and then delivered to Seth. Latin flowed from his lips as he began, his own acidic aura washing over both of them as the spell began. Claira instinctively recoiled, his father's grasp on her hand tightening to prevent her from breaking loose. She felt like… her energy was being sucked right out of her.

"D-Don't struggle, Claira." Milayna advised, having her own powers seeped from her body at the hands of Seth.

He said he needed a 'boost' of magical power and nothing more, but he hadn't taken all of her magic, thankfully. The same would happen with Claira. Most of her magic would be taken, but not all and overtime, it would charge up.

"O-Oh god…" Claira stammered out, breathing erratically and felt her father release her hand once the transfer ended, almost all of her magic flowing into Seth.

"Yes…YES!" Seth felt like he was having the biggest and best orgasm of his life, his eyes glowing ice blue as the magic siphoned into his body. "THIS IS IT! THIS IS ENOUGH!" A wave of power blew over them, sending Mark, Claira and Milayna flying to the ground.

"Claira!" Milayna shouted, holding her side since it was heavily bruised and reached for her friend's hand, knowing she would be incredibly weak from the magic siphon.

Moving to stand between the girls and Seth, Mark kept his eyes trained on Seth.

"Old man, you are NO match for me, not now…" Seth snorted, still coming down from his magically induced moment.

Didn't mean he wouldn't give it his best college try, if it came down to it. Not that Seth was allowed to lay a finger on them, theoretically, due to that blood oath. Suddenly, Seth was gone and so was that pulsing aura, now enhanced due to the surplus of magic the spawn had received.

"Fuck…"

"Dad…" Claira reached her hand out and then dropped like a sack of potatoes, passing out.

"That's what happened to me." Milayna quietly admitted, looking at Mark Calaway as his head snapped to meet her gaze, tears in her eyes. "I-I wanna go home, Mr. Calaway…"

Seth Rollins had scared her and siphoned most of her magic, nearly killing her because of how badly she struggled. She watched as Mark lifted Claira in his arms and guided them back to the car, letting her take the passenger seat after laying Claira down in the back. Silent tears flowed down her cheeks as she buckled up and wrapped her arms around herself, just wanting to be back with her Mom and Dad.