Chapter 11

Merlot

He eyed the back of Keith’s head as they hurried back up to the main level to speak to the rest of their family. Cobalt had always been fierce. Merlot may be Alpha, but there was very little he would force Cobalt, or any of his other siblings, to do. It was a respect thing. There was no way he himself could be worthy of respect if he didn’t give it. That was why he had let Cobalt handle the dungeon. Merlot would rather have tortured them all slowly, but he understood why Cobalt wanted to rid the world of them so quickly. Merlot was just glad he got to kill one of those bastards for hurting his Margo, gaining some vengeance. Keith turned around to face him at the top of the stairs.

“Do you think Rose will be okay?”

Merlot chuckled as he nodded. “I’d be more worried about us up here if she’s anything like Aunt Sasha. The coven might not get to eat them if Nora eats them first.”

Keith burst out laughing. “That is true.”

They walked to the living room and were immediately shocked to find fewer people inside than they had left. Their mother immediately rushed over to them with pride shining on her face. She hugged them both, squeezing them tightly.

“I am so proud of you three. As soon as you two went to the dungeons, Joyce started interviewing the coven. So far, everyone has checked out. I hope you guys learned something good in the dungeons.”

“We did; that’s why we were coming to get you. We need to go to Obsidian, but we have to find the children that are being kept here.”

“Where are they?”

“In the catacombs, but I don’t know where they are,” said a soft voice from behind them.

Merlot turned to face Jenna, who stood ashamed beside Joyce with her head down. He tugged her into his arms, hugging her tight.

“It wasn’t your fault! We’ll find them, and we will help them.”

Joyce bared her teeth at her brother, making him roll his eyes and let Jenna go. Joyce immediately pulled Jenna back to her side with her arm around her waist.

“As soon as she told me, I sent the rest of our siblings out to search for them.”

“Even Lola?” Merlot growled.

Joyce rolled her eyes. “Lola is with Margo. I’m not stupid, Merlot. I’m aware of how breakable humans are. You need to learn that Lola is on our level. Just because she is human does not mean that she can’t handle herself.”

Merlot’s anger softened a little as he studied his little sister’s face. “I know she has the ability and skill. She’s probably on a higher level than us in terms of tenacity, but she doesn’t have a very great ability to heal herself. We have to do that for her. That’s what I’m worried about.” He held up his hand to silence Joyce’s argument. “Two things, sister: I know where the catacombs are and how to access them. I also know what Jenna is to become. Which do you want first?”

Jenna poked Joyce in the ribs. “Catacombs first.”

“Jenna, we-”

Jenna put her finger over Joyce’s lips. “I’m not sure that I want to know what was done to me. Can I just have a little more time to pretend I’m just human? Please,” she begged quietly.

Joyce instantly conceded. “Alright, but after we deal with the kids, I want to know so I can be able to help you.”

Merlot chuckled, before giving Jenna a little bow. “Ok, but just know that the DNA now floating in your veins made Joyce and a lot of our family able to exist as we are. Anyway, let’s go to my office. Mom, will you come with us?”

“Of course.”

They all stepped out of the living room before the three siblings turned to face it. Keith and Joyce immediately placed their hands on Merlot’s shoulders, just like they had been doing since they were young, to pour their power into him to strengthen the containment spell he was putting up. Once it was up, Merlot sent a link to the rest of his siblings and his fathers to come to his office. Yola was the last to arrive, and as soon as she did, Merlot and Keith moved the bookshelf, revealing a dark tunnel, before sighing.

“I know you all know about the catacombs. This is where they are. We need to bring the kids up here and assess them for damage. We will need to return them all home. Keith, Joyce, and I will go to Obsidian while you return the children.”

“Who’s in Obsidian?” Joshua asked.

“Two more people are being forced to become shifters, just like our triplet mates.” He took a deep breath. “We may be wrong, but we think the people who are being taken are our mates. All except for Junior, as he already has his mate.”

Josh Jr. flushed. “I don’t have a mate, and my name is Jay.”

Merlot rolled his eyes, ignoring his brother’s attempt to correct his name. “I'm pretty sure you do. It just hasn’t clicked yet. When it does, you will be glad I didn’t include you.”

“Do you know anything about the ones in Obsidian?”

“Yes, their names are Link and Minton. They are twin males.”

“Minton,” Mayra purred, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She met Merlot’s eyes. “I’m going with you to Obsidian!”

Merlot eyed her curiously before nodding. “Sure. Let’s get the kids situated, and then we will.”

“But what if they kill-”

“They won’t. We think they need the twins for something.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

Merlot turned to Jenna. “Do you want to come?”

She shook her head. “I shouldn’t. They will be scared and not trust you. Every time they saw me, it was when I was supposed to kill them.”

Joyce hugged Jenna. “I’ll wait here, and we’ll tend to them up here. Should I get Lola and Margo?” She turned to look at Nalani. “Are you going to be able to help us, or do you need to step out?”

Nalani shifted her weight uncomfortably. “I’d like to help.”

“Okay, then. No venom. And yes, please, get Lola and Margo. I’m sure our Luna will want to help,” Merlot said as he straightened his back.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Merlot and Keith led the rest of them into the tunnel, leaving little orbs of glowing light along the way. When the tunnel finally evened out, oil lamps were lit along the walls, and they could see the long hallway where dozens of small rooms had been carved out of the rock. Inside each of the rooms, there were one, sometimes two, children inside, ranging from around 5 to young adults. Merlot stepped up to the first door to peer into the room. The child inside the room was a frail girl, about 8 years old. Merlot opened the door before kneeling down in the doorway.

“Hi, little one, my name is Merlot. I am here to help you. Are you hungry?” he asked, loud enough to be heard by the others but with softness in his voice so as not to frighten the already terrified girl.

The girl swallowed hard as she tried to shrink back into the wall. Merlot could smell her blood in the air and wanted to kill the bastards that had hurt her all over again. He put his hand on the floor, making a plate of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese appear.

“Eat, and when you are ready, you can come out. Nobody will hurt you. We only want to help you,” he told her.

He stood back up and moved to the next cell to repeat his actions as he shot a spell down the hallway, leaving plates of food in front of every door. His family quickly moved down the hall with him, presenting each child with a plate of food. When the last door was opened, each of the family members settled back against the opposite wall to wait for the kids to start coming out. Merlot quickly counted the opened doors and the children inside. 52 tiny rooms held 73 badly beaten and starving children. He was furious. He wanted to rage and heal them, but he knew if he pushed them, it would be worse for the children, so he was left waiting.

“Mr. Merlot?” He turned to look at the first little girl. “I miss my Mommy,” she whispered.

He slowly got to his feet. “We will take you home to your mommy, little one. Do you know where you came from?” She shook her head. “It’s okay. We will find out for you.” He held his hand out to her. “Would you like to go upstairs and shower? We have a very special doctor named Rose waiting for you. She will make you feel better.”

She hesitated before taking it. He squeezed her fingers before leading her to the office, where the triplets, Rose, Shadow, Joyce, Lola, and Nomad waited. Margo and Nalani immediately hurried forward when they stepped out. Vines came out of Margo to wrap around the girl, who cried out before relaxing against Margo’s chest. Merlot watched in awe as the girl’s face gained color and the bruises, along with the marks on her skin, healed in seconds. When Margo’s vines let her go, the girl smiled up at her.

“Thank you.”

Margo brushed her hair back. “How do you feel?”

“Much better.”

“Good. These are my sisters, Nalani and Jenna. Nalani is going to take you to the kitchen and start preparing food. After you eat, Jenna will show you to a room where you can shower and sleep in a bed. Okay?”

The girl nodded. Nalani and Nomad led her out of the room as 5 more children were brought up by Keith. More vines came out of Margo, wrapping each of the new children up to heal them. Merlot sent Keith back down to the catacombs before taking his shirt off. He lifted the back of Margo’s, and her tendrils came out to attach to his chest as he pressed against her from the back. The more children she healed, the more she leaned against him, and the harder the tendrils sucked at his skin. By the time Beckham brought the last child up, Margo was fully cradled in Merlot’s arms. He could feel her exhaustion and wanted to tell her to stop, but he knew how much she needed to completely heal all of the children, so he kept his mouth shut. When the last male was healed and removed from the office, Merlot carefully turned Margo into his chest before removing her shirt entirely.

“Margo needs to sleep. When she wakes up, we will be leaving for Obsidian to get Minton and Link,” he informed his family with his eyes on Lola as he tested his theory.

“L-Link?” Lola stuttered.

“Yes.”

“I want to go.”

Merlot chuckled as he stood up. “I thought you might want to. Keith, Joyce I need you to find Gary and Easel. We need to make sure they are safe. Rose, Shadow, I need you to start finding the rest of the Diablo family.” He scanned the rest of his family. “Everyone else, start looking at missing children. I want to get them home as soon as we can.” He lifted Margo up, taking great care not to flash anyone her breasts. “Mom, can you get my bed from Locust?”

She beamed at him. “That’s already done. Rose helped me while you were in the dungeons. She thought Margo might need it.”

Merlot stopped beside Rose to kiss her cheek. “Thank you.”

She waved her hand. “You can thank me after this is done. This coven was a win for us. There are more out there. We might not win them all.”

Her words settled over everyone in the room. They all knew she was right, no matter how much they prayed she was wrong. Merlot lifted Margo higher to put his cheek on her forehead.

“We are going to do our best to make sure every Coven is a win. That I can promise you all.”