A/N: Hi there loyal readers! Firstly, I would like to apologise for the fact that I haven't been very swift with the updates recently. I hate to offer excuses, but the fact is I've just moved to Limerick to attend university and with all the changes it's been really hard to get my creative juices flowing. Thankfully, we are nearing the end of our story, so it shouldn't drag out that much longer.

Thank you so, so much to all my wonderful readers, especially those of you who have taken the time to review. It really means a lot to me! So, this chapter, thanks to: twilightsk8r, Swing Girl At Heart, Bella1992, juleszapineapple, Ducks Go Moo, MmmStrawberryLips, LittleMissCheese, VoiceInMyHead, , banjojd, Cribellate, Kkaty, Tayler, islay12 (twice), KairiNamineStar, yowzers, mia bella jacob, TotesGleek120, Maddie, lynxpanther (9 times!), seducedlikemagic, JAMES-EAI, Lucy-Gleek, AG3293, LiveLoveLaughLife, SawyersNumberOneFan, Shadowed Night Sky and anyone else I may have forgotten...

Title? You Won't Feel a Thing from the Script's new album Science & Faith. Yes, that is a shameless plug. We Irish have to look out for each other, right?

DISCLAIMER: Blah, blah, blah, does not own Glee, blah, blah, blah.

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"Jacob," Will said, attempting to conceal the fear in his voice. "Why on earth would you do this?"

Jacob shrugged and the movement caused his knife to press more firmly against Shelby's throat. The woman tried to scream but no sound came out. Instead, she squirmed in discomfort. Rachel grabbed Finn's hand and squeezed it tight. Their attacker glared at the contact.

"Why do you think, Mr Schue?" he asked, mild interest in his voice as though he were simply enquiring about the conjugation of a Spanish verb. "Why. Do. You. Think?"

His tone had become steadily more deadly as he continued and a vein pulsed in his neck. The slight tremble of his hand as he readjusted the knife did not go unnoticed by the little bunch of survivors.

"I-I don't know," said Will despairingly. "I don't know what could possibly convince you to-"

"Finn, do you have any insight? Or would you like me to wait while you look up the meaning of the word?"

"Dude, I-"

"Don't call me that," Jacob interrupted icily. "You never treated me like your 'dude' before, so don't start now. It's too late."

"You're crazy!" Puck growled, but his voice trembled slightly and his eyes couldn't be prevented from flickering to the menacing knife that winked in the light of the halogen lamp. It seemed he was weighing up the options, attempting to figure out if he could rush Jacob and knock him off balance. Jacob, however, seemed to read his mind.

"Oh no, Puck," he grinned as he spat out the other boy's name. "I'm not crazy. A crazy person couldn't pull off what I have. And don't even think about trying to play the hero- one step and I'll slit the lovely Miss Corcoran's throat."

Puck's face fell and he resorted to staring despairingly around the room for some nonexistent saviour. Jacob nodded his head approvingly.

"That's better. Though I must say, I feel a tad disappointed. Can't any of you guess why your friends have been falling like dominoes?"

Stony silence remained.

"Nobody?"

Silence.

"Not even you, Rachel?" Jacob asked, a note of hurt filtering through his voice. He gave the small brunette a wounded frown. "Really?"

He looked hopefully at her and held her gaze unwaveringly. Rachel stared fearfully back at their tormentor and when she allowed their gazes to meet, Jacob smiled broadly.

And then Rachel understood.

"Me?" she gasped incredulously. "You did this... because of me?"

"Not because of you Rachel, for you. I did all this so you could be happy. So we could be happy."

"Happy?" exclaimed Rachel, horrified. "You think murdering the rest of my glee club will make me happy?"

"Rachel, they've been awful to you," Jacob argued, a mad glint in his eyes. "I've seen how unhappy you are at school, where the teasing and the taunting never stop. I've seen how heartbroken you are when somebody betrays you. I've seen the real you Rachel, the one you hide behind that beautiful, bright show face, and I don't like what I see. I don't like what they've done to you. That's why I had to make them pay. I had to make them hurt the way they've hurt you."

"Jacob, they threw slushies in my face and called me names! You're ending lives, there's a difference."

But Jacob didn't seem to hear her. A smile swept over him as though he had been struck by a ray of purest sunlight and his fingertips caressed the blade of his knife with fondness.

"I'd actually been planning it for a while, you know, biding my time. I wasn't quite sure how it would work, but then I heard Mr Schuester talking to Miss Pillsbury about this cosy little trip. It was perfect! I hired a cabin on the other side of the mountain and I've been holed up there for the last week, getting ready for you all. I'll admit, I was a little nervous when I made my decision- I didn't exactly have any prior experience. So I did St James and that black girl, Candace, first. They were practice runs, you know, to make sure I could get things right? St James broke your heart, and not only that, he stamped on it to make sure the deed was done. And that girl, she started that dreadful egging debacle. I know you're a vegan Rachel; I converted myself when I found out so that we would have more in common, so I understand how traumatic that experience must have been for you. I promise, I put Candace through things that were just as bad, St James too. I'll admit I found it a bit difficult at first, but once I got into the swing of things it got easier. Actually, it was kind of fun."

Rachel stared at him in horrified comprehension. Jacob tugged roughly at Shelby's arms, forcing her to follow him as he paced up and down. His eyes had misted over in happy recollection and he didn't even seem to notice the rest of them standing there. Puck made to move towards him, but Mercedes held out a hand to stop him.

"No," she hissed. "You heard what he said, he'll kill Rachel's mom."

"We can't just let him do what he wants!" Puck spat back, a pained expression on his face. "He killed our friends, we have to-"

"Rachel," Matt said suddenly, cutting Puck off mid-rant. "You have to play along with him."

"What? No, I-"

"Do it. It's the only way any of us stand a chance of getting out of this alive. If you play along, we can find out stuff to use against him, and you can distract him."

"Dude," Finn whispered. "You're freakin' smart."

"Not really," mumbled Matt, but he smiled broadly in spite of the situation. "I watch a lot of cop shows on TV, that's how they get the bad guy."

"I-I don't know if I can," Rachel whispered brokenly. "He's saying all these horrible things about our friends and I don't think... I don't know if I can..."

"Rachel," said Will. "You want your mom to live, don't you?"

She nodded weakly.

"Well the only way that will happen is if you play along with Jacob, make him think you're on his side."

"But I... I don't..."

"Rach, you can do this," Finn hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "It'll be like the ultimate acting audition."

Before any of them could say anything more, Jacob had whipped around to face them once more.

"What's going on?" he snapped viciously, his gaze darting from face to frightened face. "Rachel, what are you doing?"

Rachel paused for a moment. She nibbled frantically on her lower lip and looked up at Finn. The tall boy, towering over her, didn't appear to make any movement at all, but she could feel him silently urging her to go for it. She steeled herself, drawing on the spirit of Barbara for courage.

"I-I was just telling him how right you are," she said gingerly. "How- how they have all hurt me. You're right Jacob, I can't believe I didn't see it before. I think I was just blinded by my outstanding selflessness and loyalty to my teammates."

There was no denying it; Rachel Berry was good at what she did. If the rest of the group hadn't known any better, they would have thought she had genuinely turned on them. Her voice betrayed no trace of fear. In fact, it was full of her usual pompous narcissism. She even managed to throw Will a convincingly scathing look with a toss of her long dark hair. Finn felt a surge of pride.

"Oh Rachel," Jacob breathed ecstatically. "I'm so glad you understand. I was beginning to think you would never realise how special our love is."

"I'm only sorry it took me this long," the brunette smiled shyly. She took a step forward, allowing her fingers to brush against Finn's briefly as she passed by him. "You've always been so sweet to me, Jacob, how could I not have seen it?"

"Rachel, my goddess, don't beat yourself up," said Jacob. "They were poisoning your mind against your true path in life. You and I have always been destined to be together. It's meant to be."

"You're right!" Rachel exclaimed delightedly with a clap of her childlike hands. She moved closer to Jacob, allowing her gaze to slip every so often to Shelby, who was paralyzed with fear in his clutches. "Jacob, how can I thank you? You've freed me from their poison. I mean, it must have been so difficult for you..."

"I guess it was a little," said Jacob shyly, fishing for more compliments. He was visibly swelling with pride as Rachel heaped more praise on him.

"How did you do it all?" Rachel whispered. She closed the distance between them even further and ran her hands down her slim body. Jacob's eyes widened and his glasses misted over.

"I... uh, I..." he stammered, sounding much more like the strange, microphone-toting teen they all knew from school. He shoved his glasses further up his nose and grinned slyly at Rachel. "I'd been planning it for a while, I just didn't know how to put it into action. And then..."

He broke off and turned his attention to Will, who was watching him with a mixture of disgust and grave disappointment. He beamed broadly.

"Then you told me how, Schue!" he taunted. "I was waiting patiently for my weekly appointment with Miss Pillsbury, but you were in there so long I was starting to worry that I would miss my next class. I had English, you see, and Rachel was in that class. So I was just about to knock on the door and come in when I heard you telling Miss P about this delightful little bonding trip. It was perfect. I rented out a little cabin on the other side of the mountain and went to practice on St James and that Candace girl. Then I came up here to wait. Figgins and the rest of the faculty at McKinley are under the impression that I'm deathly ill with glandular fever."

"That- that's so clever," Rachel said in a tight voice, swallowing the bile that had risen in her throat.

"I did Tina first," Jacob continued eagerly. Mercedes whimpered at the mention of her friend's name on the murderer's lips. "She was a bit of an experiment too, I'll admit. She was quiet, Tina, she never really did you any harm Rachel."

"Then- then why did you kill her?" Puck spat out furiously. He had always had a soft spot for the Goth-clothed girl, who was the gentlest of souls despite her appearance and had rarely criticised him as harshly as the rest of the club, even when he deserved it. Jacob rolled his eyes at the football player and shrugged.

"She was in the way."

"You bastard," Will said with quiet fury. "Tina was a good kid, she-"

"Oh Schue, give it up. You think everyone is a good kid, that's your problem. I bet you thought the same thing about Mike Chang. But you were wrong. Wasn't he, Rachel?"

The small girl shot Matt an apologetic look and was eternally grateful that he had Mercedes to comfort him as his best friend's memory was besmirched.

"Yes," she whispered weakly. "You were wrong."

"Mike never did anything wrong, he was a shy kid who just wanted to express himself-"

"Like when he and his Neanderthal football teammates-" Jacob shot Puck, Matt and Finn ugly glares "-chose to express their bodily fluids all over the side of Rachel's house? Or when he joined in the teasing when they slushied her day after day?"

"Mike never joined in," Matt interrupted fiercely. "He never did any of that stuff, he just stood in the background and stayed quiet."

"So he knew it was wrong?" Jacob challenged. "He knew what they were doing was despicable and he just left them to it? He was a coward? Well then, that's rather fitting. I took away his filthy yellow belly."

"No!" Matt exploded, all thoughts of their plan forgotten. "No, you don't get to talk about him like that! He was my friend and the only coward here, Jacob Ben Israel, is you!"

"Tell me what you did next," Rachel said quickly. She shot Matt a calming glance and Mercedes stroked his cheek. The tall boy took a deep shuddering breath and bit his lip so hard that he drew the slightest droplet of blood from the torn flesh. He swallowed a sob. "Tell me, Jacob."

The big-haired boy gave Matt one last, coldly calculating glance and turned his attention back to the object of his affections. A warm smile played on his lips as he caressed her body with his eyes. Rachel was forced to suppress a shudder and instead moved a little closer to their captor. Jacob maintained his vice-like grip in Shelby, who had stopped struggling in his arms. She lay limp in his clasp and held Rachel's gaze with maternal support in her eyes. Rachel nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Next..." Jacob murmured thoughtfully. His brow puckered in concentration and then almost immediately his expression cleared. "Oh of course! Next was that delightful little tramp, Quinn Fabray."

Puck attempted to lash out at him but Finn and Will clamped his arms behind him and held him firmly. The shaven-headed footballer gnashed his teeth and his nostrils flared with undisguised hatred. Jacob watched this with an air of supreme satisfaction.

"Yes, Quinn was particularly fun. She made you so miserable, didn't she Rachel? I heard her in the halls, calling you Man-Hands and Stubbles and all those other names. She was such a hypocrite, you know, always harping on about her precious Bible when in reality she was the biggest sinner of them all. I drowned her in a bath full of slushie. I thought it was a nice touch."

He raised his hand and began to tick off fingers. He held up the fourth uncertainly for a moment and then snapped his fingers.

"It was Artie next, I think. Oh, that one was fun. I'm good with my hands, and my dad used to make me chop wood for my grandpa. I got really handy with an axe."

Mercedes gagged and Finn retched. Jacob laughed mirthlessly.

"Does that upset you?" he taunted. "It hurts, doesn't it? Rachel hurt too, but you didn't seem particularly bothered then."

"Dude, I-"

"What have I told you Finn?" Jacob snapped. "Don't push me."

As though to demonstrate, he pressed his knife to Shelby's neck and made a shallow incision. The woman moaned with panicked pain and Rachel flinched.

"Jacob," she whispered. "Jacob, please let her go. She's my mom."

"But she abandoned you!" he exclaimed. "She left you and then swanned back into your life when it was already too late. Of all of them, she deserves to die the most."

"I've regretted giving Rachel up every day since I did it," Shelby gasped. "She's always been a part of me."

"She's sorry Jacob," insisted Rachel. "She's sorry for what she did. Please."

The boy seemed to struggle with conflicting emotions. His gaze flickered from Rachel to the mother who so resembled her and back again. He saw the genuine longing in Rachel's eyes. His grip on Shelby loosened slightly.

"Rachel," he said softly, apologetically. "I don't know if I can. I mean, I know it's what you want but I... I made a deal and..."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Rachel exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Jacob, what do you mean, you made a deal?"

"Oh, I forgot I hadn't told you! You see Rachel, I'm intelligent and, despite appearances, I'm actually quite physically fit. I tried to hide that at school, so they wouldn't know I was a threat. But in spite of that, I couldn't do everything by myself. Some of these tasks took two."

"Pinning Santana up," Matt said slowly. "And that-that thing that killed Miss P..."

"Aren't you the boy genius?" sneered Jacob. "You were wasted on that god-awful football team, Matthew, really you were. Yes, creating the final effect for Santana was something I couldn't do alone. And the blade that killed Miss Pillsbury- you know, I truly feel bad about that, she tried to help me with my feelings- I couldn't fix that one up by myself. Plus, time passes so quickly; I knew I couldn't get everything done by myself. So while I was making some preparations, my accomplice dealt with that dumb blonde cheerleader. That gave me time to get things ready. And, of course, I had to get rid of Kurt Hummel. That cross-dressing little oddity had been plaguing you for so long, Rachel."

Rachel didn't even bother to feign a simpering response. She simply stared in horror at the bespectacled boy.

"Jacob, who..."

"She should be here soon enough," Jacob said with an impatient wave of his hand. "But the thing is Rachel, in return for helping me she made certain... requests. She had her own reasons of course, not as noble and chivalrous as mine but to each their own. I can try to persuade her to allow your mother to go free, but-"

"But there is no way I'm letting that skank get away with making out with my husband," a calm, cool voice said, filtering in through the open door. "We had a deal Jew-fro. I helped you get rid of this little bunch of misfits and in return I got to kill this tramp and that doe-eyed redhead. Now slit her throat while I get ready to torch this place."

A series of slow footsteps echoed in the deathly silence and then the figure entered, tall and slender and cocking a handgun in one hand and a large petrol can in the other. She tossed her head of honey-blonde curls and smiled coyly at her captivated audience.

"Hey there Will," she said nonchalantly. "Long time no see."

Will felt faint. His head spun and the room seemed to blur before his eyes.

"Terri?"

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Meh. Not sure if I like it, this was always the chapter I was nervous about writing. As we near the end of our tale, please drop me a line. Reviews are love.