AN: Thanks to everyone who read the story and reviewed. Sorry, Uma da puma () I couldn't sent you a private message so I am thanking you now for your wonderful review and yes I am Asian but I am not Hindu. Everybody else who reviewed the chapter I hope you have got my thanks in private messages.

I am kind of nervous about this chapter. So please read and tell me what you think. Sorry for the grammatical mistakes. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 24: End Of A Chapter

We wait for a special day in our whole life and then one day it's today. Finally it was the day of Reid's ascension. The sons of Ipswich had been waiting for this for many days now. Reid's ascension; without any doubt, would be the most difficult one. Caleb was constantly trying to trace Chase's powers so that he could locate him. The fact that Chase didn't strike us yet made everyone more worried and tensed. It was like the calm before a deadly storm.

I didn't let Rosalie out of my sight for one single moment. And to everyone's surprise including mine, Rosalie didn't let Reid go out of her reach the entire time as if she knew that her father was in danger and she needed to protect him. It was nearly the time for the Sons of Ipswich to go to the old Danvers house, the one that they used for meetings once in a while. However, Pogue decided to stay behind with the girls while Caleb and Tyler would go with Reid to help him during the ascension and keep him safe from any kind of danger.

The entire day, everything seemed to be alright but suddenly I got a call from an unknown number on my cell phone. I picked it up, wondering who that could be.

"Hello!" The first thing I heard was a lot of noises in the back ground. As if the person on the phone was in a very crowded place.

"You know (sigh huskily) I thought you would be different than them Rayna but now it seems to me that you are just as selfish as they are" said a husky pleasant voice that without any doubt screamed evil.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?" I asked even though I had already guessed who the person could be however, I really had no idea what he was talking about. I heard a dark chuckle that increased my heartbeat successfully.

"Don't act so naive sweetheart...There you are; hiding in a safe place but have you ever wondered about your precious friends? After all the things they have done for you, how could you just leave them unprotected? Personally, I think this is very selfish of you Rayna. Now only because of you, they are suffering from sweet nightmares of spiders and unimaginable pain." Suddenly, I heard a scream of a girl and it sounded like Angela's voice. I understood then that the noises in the back ground wasn't a crowd. They were screams of my friends. Then I heard a different male voice.

"Please make it stop, she will die… please make it stop." It was Troy and he was screaming there too. When the realization properly sank into my mind, I felt my heart jumping and pumping madly in my chest and my knees went weak as well.

"Please, don't hurt them….. Leave them alone. They have nothing to do with any of this." I yelled over the phone desperately. My whole body started shaking when I heard more painful screams from others as well. By the time, everyone was surrounding me in the room and they were looking worriedly at me. Anxiously wanting to know what was going on.

"Do you think I don't know that? But, you see Rayna, they have proved to be quite useful for me...But of course, it's not them who I want. Obviously, I am just using them as a bait to get to you." I have never encountered with someone so bluntly evil in my entire life. It seemed to me that Chase was proud of himself for being the bad guy.

"What do you want from me?" I asked firmly; gathering up all the courage that I could muster at the moment.

"Well, I want you to bring your precious daughter and the love of your life to me. Your friends and I will be waiting for you at the old Putnam barn where it all started." Before I could talk back; Chase hung up the call. I stood there still just like a statue made of stone. Until Caleb shook my shoulders a little; to bring my senses back.

"Rayna, talk to us. Who was it? It was Chase, wasn't it? What did he say?" Everyone was looking at me for answers.

"Yes, it was Chase…. And he has everyone…..he is torturing them." My voice was shaking terribly as I spoke about my unfortunate friends. Learning about this, Caleb got furious instantly.

"Chase could be playing tricks with us" said Tyler; looking more worried and concerned than angry and frustrated. And he was definitely considering all the possible options.

"But, I heard Angela and Troy screaming. What if he really has them? I can't let anyone suffer because of me. We have to do something immediately." I wouldn't have given it a second thought if I had to die to save my friends; but it was not my life that Chase desired for. It was my daughter's life and Reid's. How could I possibly save one without endangering the other?

"He wanted me to take Rosalie and Reid to him or else, he will kill them all." Caleb wasn't the one to lose control on his powers so easily but he couldn't control it this time and used on a flower vase in the room. In a blink of an eye, it burst out into pieces and shattered completely. Sarah rushed to Caleb quickly and put a hand on his chest to calm him down. It worked a little but not much given the circumstance.

"That bastard!" spat out Pogue hatefully, and glared in the space heatedly. He also felt enraged like Caleb but he didn't lose his control.

"Isn't there any way out of it?" Kate asked worriedly as Pogue pulled her into a hug. She looked quite scared because of her previous encounter with Chase. She nearly died last time. Suddenly Reid came up and gave Rosalie to me who was resting in his arms peacefully during the whole discussion. I looked at Reid with questioning eyes; unsure about what he was thinking to do. However, I was sure that he had something going on in his mind.

"I am going to the barn alone. I will not let anyone get killed for me." When Reid said that; at that moment, it felt like I never knew him in the first place. He was willing to risk his own life for my friends. Was he always like this and I've never noticed it or did he change this way while I was gone from his life? Either way, I felt respect for him that time.

"Reid, don't do anything stupid right now or you might risk their lives as well, along with yours. And it's not just you that he wants." Tyler glanced at Rosalie as he said that. I knew too that Reid was being irrational and he couldn't possibly take down Chase alone; all by himself. And moreover, during the time of his ascension which was approaching too fast for my liking. Reid wouldn't be able to fight Chase while ascending. It was simply impossible. I needed to think of something fast before it was too late.

"Caleb...it's going to be a bit risky but I have a plan."

Later, I got in the car with Rosalie. Reid drove us up to the old Putnam barn. I had planned on doing whatever Chase asked me to do over the phone. But the real plan was that when he would get busy with Reid, the others meaning Caleb, Pogue and Tyler would rescue everyone and get them somewhere else at first. Once everyone was safe Caleb and Pogue would join the fight as well and Tyler would take Reid away from there to help him complete his ascension.

It sounded suicidal and everyone rejected the idea at first but none of them could think of a better idea while arguing about it. So, in the end, everyone agreed to do what I planned for. When I reached the barn with Reid and Rosalie; it seemed deserted and there was no sign of anyone. But then Reid was suddenly knocked off on the ground and a man landed on the ground like a cat; right in front of me. I didn't need to ask his name to know who he was.

"I knew you would come to me. You are such a good girl, Rayna." Chase looked at someone past me and before I could turn around and see the person myself, Rosalie was snatched away from me.

"Rosalie NO!" I screamed, shocked and startled. Rosalie let out a scream too. The person was none other than Bianca. She was holding Rosalie roughly, almost bruising her. I remembered the first time I saw Bianca. She didn't look so evil to me back then. But now she was. Rosalie was struggling hard to get out of her hold but obviously Bianca was much stronger than her. I was trying with my life to get to Rosalie but something invisible prevented me from doing so. When, Reid saw this, he grew ferocious with anger. Bianca was hurting Rosalie with an evil smile plastered on her face. Reid literary growled out at her. It seemed to scare her a little but the girl covered it up quickly.

"Where are they?" I asked Chase about my friends, though not taking my eyes off of Rosalie for a millisecond. Chase laughed darkly that could definitely make a grown man shiver from fear.

"Oh! they are doing just fine Rayna. Look there they are..." said Chase cheerfully and pointed behind me. I turned around to look behind me. The place was empty just a moment ago but now Troy, Angela, Michael, Jessica, Melody and even Sam were there; suffering from pain, twisting and turning in agony.

Everyone I loved and cared about was there, being tortured horribly. Their painful screams filled in the air and made it completely unbearable. Though, Jessica and Melody were sleeping but spiders were walking all over them. And they weren't regular spiders but poisonous black magic laced ones. Sam and Troy were in worst kind of condition and that was only because they had tried to fight back. Sam's eyes fell on me and it widened with shock and horror.

"Rayna, why did you come here? They are gonna kill you too." Sam yelled for me to get out of there. But I couldn't. Reid and Chase were already engaged in a deadly power fight. Instead of leaving like Sam was telling me to, I ran up to my friends instantly but unfortunately, I couldn't touch them because there was some kind of a magical shield on them. It kept me away from rescuing them. Troy looked at me with a strong stare and spoke up firmly.

"Rayna, they are planning to kill us anyway. You can't save us now. Take Rosalie and run away from here now." But I shook my head vehemently.

"Whether everyone's gonna make it out of here alive or no one at all." I said to them with determination in my voice.

Caleb and the others would be arriving soon. Once they'd get here, everything would start rolling according to our plan. As there was nothing that I could do about rescuing others, I ran back to Rosalie. Bianca was trying to strangle her mercilessly. She was laughing and enjoying the moment as well while Chase kept hurting Reid badly. I did the best thing that I could do at that time. I punched her hard in the face, using the element of surprise. She lost her balance instantly and fell on the ground but it didn't do much damage to her as she stood up rather quickly and attacked me right away with a knife that was hidden in her jeans pocket. I grabbed her hand before she could stab me. I was making it hard for her to inflect pain upon me but Bianca didn't want to give up so soon.

She kept attacking me until she finally cornered me at one point. There was no way for me to escape the death stab now but before I knew it, she was thrown away from me. I looked around to see the person who saved me and my eyes fell on Rosalie then. She was staring angrily at Bianca's half unconscious lying form on the ground. I scooped her up in my arms quickly, making sure she was okay. Meanwhile, Bianca got up and charged at me again but Tyler came there on time and threw a wave of power at her which knocked her out completely.

"I wanted to do this for a long time now" said Tyler more to himself than to me and looked quite pleased with himself for that. Bianca's unconscious body lay on the ground as we went to rescue the others. Caleb and Pogue already joined Reid and they were fighting against Chase as well. Reid was screaming in pain though once in a while in every few minutes. The time of his ascension finally arrived but the circumstances weren't suitable at all.

"Tyler, you have to get him out of here, NOW." I said to Tyler anxiously. Tyler rushed towards Reid right away and dragged him away from the fighting place. Chase was still very strong and he kept fighting against Caleb and Pogue alone. My friends were already saved but they were still feeling the pain. I gave Rosalie to Troy and ran back to Reid and Tyler, not noticing Sam's gaze on me a bit. I couldn't think of anything else but going to Reid at the moment and take care of him. His ascension was almost over; so far he did very well. Of course Tyler was helping him to cool down as well. He was still very sweaty and panting heavily as well when it finally ended for good. Tyler left us to give us some time alone and also to join Caleb and Pogue in the fight. Reid wrapped his arms around me and I pulled him into a hug. I buried my face in his chest, tears escaping my eyes uncontrollably.

"I love you….. I love you so much. I am so sorry for hurting you… I love you more than anything else in the world..." Reid kept saying those beautiful things and I kept listening to him knowing he really meant them this time.

"I love you too." I said and couldn't help but lean in and kissed him softly on his lips. Suddenly we heard a loud bursting sound. Reid got up slowly and we ran to the others as fast as possible. Thankfully what we found out was a good thing. Caleb and Pogue finally had Chase and he was lying on the floor, dead. And for real this time.

"I guess it's finally over now" said Caleb. They walked up to us, both Caleb and Pogue were hurt pretty badly. Caleb looked at Reid with concern and asked-

"You good?" Reid just nodded his head. However, his silence said the rest that he was glad that Caleb was concerned for him. But he would never say that out loud ever and we all knew that.

Everything was calm again. Troy had Rosalie with him, safely. Michael was preparing to take Angela and Jessica to somewhere for medical care. Tyler and Melody seemed to be patching up slowly because he was taking care of her very attentively and affectionately. And Melody was letting him do it without any complain. Their relation was ruined for me and Reid once. I was glad that they would start over again. But among all of us someone left alone. I walked up to Sam slowly, feeling awkward and nervous about facing him. I shouldn't have done that to him, I shouldn't have broken his heart when I knew myself how it felt to be heartbroken. I had no right to put him through trouble, pain and sufferings and I didn't want to either but somehow fate was making me hurt him. I couldn't explain how sorry I really felt for Sam and I was willing to do anything to make it up to him.

"Sam, I am really-" I started talking guiltily but he didn't let me finish.

"Don't say anything, Rayna. You don't have to be sorry for being with someone you love." When he said that, at that time I really wished he would start yelling at me rather than being understanding. It would've been much easier for me handle. I knew Sam was hurting and he was trying to cover that up by looking normal and accepting. He took my hands in his and looked into my eyes.

"I don't doubt your love for me Rayna but...you belong with him. However, I have one thing to ask from you." I nodded, eager to hear what I could do for him.

"Can we still stay friends?" I couldn't contain the happiness that I felt and threw myself at him excitedly. Sam engulfed me into a warm hug that felt so comforting but he let go quickly.

"Go to him now, he is waiting for you" said Sam and I looked back at Reid who was smiling at us. I kissed Sam on his temples and walked over to Reid; feeling overjoyed about what just happened. Reid was happy that things settled down between me and Sam in a good way. I would have hated to lose a friend like Sam.

"Come on everyone, let's go to my house. Sarah and Kate are waiting for us there." Caleb yelled for everyone. I started to walk towards the cars but Reid stopped me. I looked back at him with questioning eyes and wondered why he stopped me suddenly. Wasn't he feeling alright?

"Rayna, I have something I still didn't apologize to you for." I frowned at him with complete confusion. Reid took something out of his jacket packet. It looked like a photograph and it was indeed.

"What is it?" I asked curiously and in reply he turned the picture for me to look at. I found that it was the same photo of mine that he took the night we slept together after I fell asleep and gave it to Aaron as proof. I looked away from it quickly, not wanting to bring back those memories. Reid's eyes flickered and the photograph caught fire. It slowly burned away. The next moment, I felt his eyes on me but I kept my face lowered due to embarrassment. Reid cupped my face lightly and made me look at him.

"I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness or love...after all the terrible things that I have done to you. And I also know that there is nothing I could do to take them back. But I want to tell you this...Rayna, I am really really sorry for what I did to you and I'd wait my whole life for your forgiveness." At that moment, I wasn't entirely an innocent person myself anymore. I did just break Sam's heart, didn't I? And holding onto the past wouldn't let us begin a new future.

"Reid, if I wouldn't have forgiven you already, I wouldn't be here with you. I have already let go of the past and so should you. We have to start a new life with our daughter." As I said that, we both ended up kissing each other. I couldn't believe myself that everything went so perfectly. Most importantly, everyone was safe and happy as well. Reid finally ascended, Rosalie was safe too, Sam and I remained friends, Reid and I got together again and Chase was finally gone from our lives for good. Things couldn't get any better for us. It was a perfect happy ending for all of us, specially me. But I forgot that happy endings rarely happen in real life.

We got so busy after the fight was over that no one suspected a bit that Chase wasn't dead yet. He was just faking it, to catch everyone off guard and cause a major damage. When everyone thought it was over and no one was looking at him, Chase stood up on his feet and sent a power wave towards us which headed straight for Rosalie and Troy. Troy didn't know what to do, he terribly panicked and stood there rooted on the spot. Caleb and Pogue ran towards him but they were too late. The wave did hit someone but not them, not Rosalie or Troy. Sam had pushed them out of the way before it could touch them and took the entire hit on himself. Caleb immediately hit Chase with his full power and he disappeared into smokes and ashes piled up on the ground.

Sam slowly fell on the ground and my breathing stopped at the sight. When I reached him, he was barely breathing.

"Sam NO! Somebody please do something." I screamed out loud and kept telling Sam to stay with me, to hang in there.

"Sam, you can't do this to me. You can't leave me like this, Sam. Please….. Please. Please don't punish me like this." He was closing his eyes slowly but whispers came out of his lips.

"I…. promised…..you…. to protect her….. I love you." Saying that in barely audible whispers, Sam closed his eyes forever and his breathing stopped, never to start again. I pressed my ear against his chest and tried to hear his heartbeat. It was barely beating at first, and then abruptly it stopped beating completely. I lost Sam that moment. A loss that I would suffer the rest of my life.