EPILOGUE( Rory POV)

1 month later

I was hollow.

There was no point to anything now.

I had lost her. I had lost the only one who I had ever loved. Cassie.

I had tried, and failed. She had slipped through my fingers like water.

But it hadn't been my fault. There had been nothing I could do. Or at least that was what was repeated to me over and over again.

"You couldn't have done anything" they told me.

"Fate took her" they repeated together.

"Why? How?" I would ask almost emotionless. If I could pretend that this was all some twisted joke and act like nothing had happened…

"She was the reincarnation of everyone ever taken at the hands of a vampire; all of those spirits were inside of her." They would say. "The venom worked against her blood instead of with it, it slowly shut down everything in her body."

"Could I have saved her?" I would say.

"By what?"

"I don't know biting her again?" I would say the emotion grabbing my voice.

"Adding more venom into her bloodstream would have only killed her faster, it would have stripped you of those last few moments with her."

"But…" I would say hopelessly my voice cracking.

I laid flat on my back staring up at the ceiling. A knock rapped against the door. I didn't move. I didn't think.

I couldn't.

It all reminded me of her.

Jill walked in slowly, sitting on the edge of my bed. I didn't look at her. She rested her hand against my head; I could feel the pity emanating from her. No power needed.

Minutes passed, she left.

Every second was a battle for me to live. I closed my eyes. Without meaning to I imagined Cassie with me.

Her weight leaning against me, lying next to me here, and for a moment, my heart only felt mostly shattered, instead of completely.

But as I opened my eyes, the world crumbled beneath me as it did every time I let myself remember. Once the harshness and unfairness of reality set in. I had stayed over her body, squeezing her lifeless hand until Damien had arrived.

I refused to leave her, I couldn't.

Damien had sat next to me. And all at once I had let out all of my pain, and anguish. Letting myself yell and scream, at the injustice. The pain had numbed me to a point that I couldn't hear anyone, except Cassie's last few words, replaying like a broken record.

I wasn't aware of how long I sat there staring at her. I knew that in time the rest of my family arrived. And that when they tried to pull me away I fought back.

I just couldn't leave her. Her face drained of color, matching the snow beneath her, at least the snow that wasn't tinted pink by the blood that had spilled. Even her lips had changed to an almost white, their usual pink almost completely gone. Her hair scattered around her face. Her eye's just barely open; yet they still seemed full of compassion and love.

I sat up. Across from me a mirror propped against the wall showed me my reflection. I hadn't hunted in three weeks, but my eyes didn't even glimmer or glow. All passion or need was gone. Food didn't matter anymore.

It was as if my body was stuck here on earth even though my soul had already left.

I wanted to think that she was in heaven, but as she had reminded me moments before she was gone, she didn't believe in any of that stuff.

But that didn't mean that I didn't.

For the first time since I had lost her I sat up with purpose and determination. It was a scary idea, what I was about to do. But I knew that it was my only chance to see Cassie again.

For the first time since I got back to the house I left my room. We were back in California, and it was obvious when looking out the window.

We had taken Cassie back with us. She was buried in the one place where she and I had first really spent time together. Where she had laid her head against my chest and realized that I wasn't alive. Down next to the creek.

I walked down the stairs slowly at a normal human pace. At the bottom I heard all go silent. They were surprised that I was up and out of my room. I walked to the kitchen, Damien and Triston stood still looking at me, waiting for the reason that I was down stairs.

"I need your help." I said slowly.

"What for?" Damien asked.

"I need you to kill me." I said even toned. The prospect was actually making me happier, I would be with Cassie, was what I continued to tell myself.

At first it looked as if they were going to deny me. But in the end they said yes. Under a condition.

"You have to tell the others" Triston said, looking me straight in the eye.

I immediately gathered everyone. The sooner that I did this, the better it would be.

They all sat around and on the cream colored chairs.

"Thank you" I said. "I want to say this quickly and I do hope that you understand."

I took a deep breath before continuing.

"I can't go on like this. I can't try to be all right. Or hope that one day I will be. Because I won't. I need her. I need Cassie and the reason I'm about to do what I'm about to do is because an eternity without her only lets me think of some type of unfathomable pain. Which I won't be able to stand. And so I am planning on…"their faces all looked to me worried. "I'm ending my time here, with the help of Damien and Triston."

Everyone's face fell. Jill pushed her face into Triston's shoulder and cried. Elyse looked shocked. Melanie hurt.

"Please understand." I whispered. "I love you all but…"

"But you need her." Melanie said. My mom said. She stood and with grace moved over to me and rested her hands on my shoulders, I was a good 3 inches taller than her.

"I know love when I see it. I know how it feels. And I do understand" she said warming my heart.

"We all love you Rory, we'll miss you." Elyse said.

"We hope that you and Cassie will be together in the end." Jill said sweetly.

(Third person)

That evening as dusk settled across the sky; Rory, Damien, and Triston stood out next to the creeks' edge, next to where Cassie's body lay under the earth.

"Are you ready?" Damien asked.

"Yes." Rory replied.

"Are you sure?" Triston inquired nervously.

"Yes." Rory answered determinedly. His thoughts were directed on his one and only love.

And so as minutes passed Rory stood still, not a sound of pain escaped his lips. And then it was over, the flames licked around him. Shooting up colors.

His ashes were sprinkled over the very spot where Cassie lay beneath.

And as implausible as it may seem they were together.

Wow, that was like a relief but at the same time it made me kinda happy. I mean I put them together. You can fend for yourself on deciding where they went (heaven, hell, other, etc.) but just trust me, they're together!

I promise, this was the real ending, I'm sorry to everyone who I mislead to thinking that the last chap was. I love you all, and it would be fabulous if you reviewed!

-Mel (alwayssmile877)