"One of those Cherries has X in it." He just sat back and grinned, resting his head on his fist while he stared at me.

"X? You spiked one of my cherries with ecstasy? Why?...How?" I stared at him, open mouthed, unable to believe what he had called my 'birthday present'. "Do you realize how painful the side effects are after it wears off?"

"That's a lot of questions." He was still grinning, "Which one do you want me to answer first?"

"All of them!" He didn't flinch when I shrieked, and that worried me more.

"Alright, Why? Because I felt like you needed to feel something enjoyable for once, that you couldn't think yourself down about in just a few minutes." He scooted to the edge of his bar-chair.

"How? Let's just say dear ol' dad does a little more side work than you thought." His hand reached for the only cherry that I'd noticed still with a stem.

"And I can promise you, that you wont feel a single second of any negative side effects. I wouldn't let you hurt like that." He lifted the cherry to my lips, which I parted slowly. My heart was racing. In the back of my mind, I knew he was up to something, but I didn't care. Whatever he wanted me to do, at this point I would have done it. When he popped the cherry into my mouth, I chewed cautiously, feeling a slight crunch when the taste of medicine mixed in with the sweetness.

He leaned in and whispered, "We should probably go somewhere a little more private, so no one sees you."

I nodded, watching as he grabbed the plate of cherries and carried them with us to the basement. On the way down, I reached over for another, noting how much sweeter it tasted. Oh...it was like heaven. I tried to get another, but he held the plate out of my reach. I should probably have been focusing on the stairs a little more.

My feet reached the bottom. I opened my mouth playfully, refusing to move from my spot unless I'd been given another cherry. He laughed and tossed it in, then set the plate down. "See? You're already feeling it. Its nice isn't it?"

Nice didn't come close to how I was feeling. When I looked at him, he looked even more attractive than he had before. Like a God almost. He should have been shining. The devilish grin on his face made me melt, then evaporate, and then I was just gone. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, let alone my hands. I wanted to be close to him, so I was. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, so I did. He returned every motion, running his hands along my body, my sides, my back, my neck, through my hair.

I was going through sensory overload. Everything was amazing. Even the rush of air that blew past my face as I fell onto the mattress. The cold sheets felt more like plush than cotton when I rubbed them against my cheeks. My back tickled as it twisted back and forth to feel the fabrics of my dress as they slid.

Tate just sat there and watched me for a minute, smiling. He was knelt over me. My eye caught his when I was mid-rub on my pillow, and I looked at him, smiling. I could tell him how I felt right now, and he wouldn't think anything of it. He definitely wouldn't freak out, he probably wanted me to tell him so that he could stop pretending.

Unabashedly, I stuck out my arms extending my fingers to let him know that I wanted to hold him. He obliged, leaning down so that I could wrap my arms around him and hold him close.

"I've been obsessed with you ever since I first moved her, you know. I couldn't stop thinking about you even though you'd only ever threatened to kill me, all to protect Violet. That's why I pushed her away," I noticed a whine in my voice, but I couldn't understand why, or what emotion I was feeling to have made it, "Is because she just made it worse. And I was so jealous of what she had, and she didn't even appreciate it. She didn't appreciate you and the love you had for her, she didn't even want it. But Tate," I gently tugged on his jaw to make sure he was looking me in the eye, "I would kill for you if you asked. I would die for you. I'm horribly, pathetically in love with you, despite everything you did. Every time I thought about what you had done, it just made me love you more."

I paused for a moment, catching my breath. He pulled out of my arms and steadied himself above me, his face directly over mine. The look on his face was...relieved. His smile was softer as he put his elbows on either side of my head and brought himself closer to me. His body pressed to mine, like it had in all of my fantasies. "Say it," he whispered breathlessly.

My heart skipped. I got lost in his dark eyes. "I love you, Tate."

His lips crashed onto mine, soft but hard, prying my own lips open. Tears fell from my eyes as he kissed me. My fingers found the back of his skull, my legs wrapped around his waist. The most amazing feeling rushed through me, building in the center of my chest. As the kiss got deeper, the feeling got stronger and stronger until it was pouring out of me. His hands roamed my body then, holding me as close to him as possible. I finally understood all of those songs where they talked about holding the person until they were inside of them—its because they never feel like they're close enough, they could always be closer.

Before I knew it, my hands were under his shirt, tugging it off of him. He shook the hair out of his face with a goofy smile when I succeeded, and leaned back down to kiss my neck. The zipper that was hidden in the folds of my dress in the front, quickly came undone, showing the black bra and leggings I was wearing underneath it. He groaned, his eyes taking in the sight of me for a moment. Then his lips made a light, lingering trail from my ear to my stomach and back, with very few detours.

"Say it again," He crooned in my ear, then gently tugged at it with his teeth.

"I love you, Tate."

He kissed another trail across my cheek and to my lips again. His hands went from the side of my face, to my body, sliding down until his thumb hooked my leggings. Our eyes met, his asking permission, mine begging him to do anything and everything that he wanted.

I sighed, happy when he rested, propping himself above me. Close to the end I'd felt as though my heart was going to explode with emotion. Though the ecstasy was wearing off, I kept running my hands along his arms, neck, and chest, enjoying the feel of his muscles. There's blood on his chest, I had thought, tired and confused. Only now did I notice the small knife laying beside me on the mattress, and pressed my hands to my own chest. It was warm and wet.

"I love you too, Cherie. More than you realize." He lay on his side then, and pulled me into him. I felt myself start to cry again, overwhelmed with how happy I was now as I clung to him. Not only did he love me back, but he planned on keeping me with him forever.

In the words of Lemony Snicket, "If you like happy endings, then put this book down, immediately."

"I don't understand how any of this has to do with why you killed an innocent human. You were one of our top Clairvoyants, and such a sweet girl when you were younger. Cherie, what would you're mother think?" Cordelia sipped on her tea, eying Cherie pitifully.

The dead girl returned the look, keeping her expression leveled. "My mother by this point would have paid as much attention to me as my father. She would think I was insane, which, I am." Her grin was vicious and sarcastic.

"Now, you tell me. Where is your council? Shouldn't they be with you on a matter like this, to condemn me? Or did you already know you wouldn't be able to?"

Cordelia just shook her head sadly. "I've always liked you Cherie, really I have. But I cannot show favoritism, even to one of my best students."

"I'm already dead Cordelia. How do plan on dragging me out to the stake?"

"Yes. You are." She tilted her head, "I'll never understand it. To kill yourself not only for someone like him, but in a house that our own ancestors had cursed. What did you think you could achieve? A happy ending? Don't you regret any of it at all?"

"There is one thing that I will tell you right now: I love him, with the time we've spent together, what little precious time we've had at all. He made me human. It's with him that I can feel, really feel. So no, Cordelia. I do not regret my decision one bit. Had he asked me too before hand, I would have died for him then." Cherie watched her defiantly, as the Supreme stood, making her way to the door. Before she opened it, she turned around, giving one last sad look, as though she wished she could do something, anything different..

"Cherie Levins, in the absence of the Council, and as reigning supreme of this coven, I sentence you to re-death by fire, for the vindictive murder of an innocent, Liam Langdon." She opened the door and stepped out, walking as far out as the yard. It hit Cherie with the force of a freight train when she realized what Cordelia was doing. When Cherie left the window, the other woman had faced the house, and lifted her arms. In seconds the house was encased in flames and Cordelia had gone.

"Tate!" Cherie screamed, running to the basement to find him. Desperately, they held each other tightly, for as long as they could. Unfortunately, the more the house burned, the more they burned. Every ounce of happiness Cherie had felt was gone, replaced by fear. Her love's shoulders began to char, just as her own hands did. Spots of burned flesh marked his cheeks. She closed her eyes, unable to look at him any longer as the flesh began to melt off of his jaw, and her fingers. She could hear everyone else in the house screaming and clung to him tighter. He held her just as tight, whispering to her calmly, "It's okay, Cherie. We're going to be okay. I'll find you in the next life, I promise, just don't give up on me."

"I could never give up on you, Tate. I love you."

"I love you too, Cherie."

Despite their condition, they pressed their lips tightly together, for one last kiss. Neither pulled away. Seconds later, everything was gone. Her arms, clung to nothingness.

She was alone.

"Sing it all away"

.

Open your mouth,
And sing all your sorrows away,
Let the mess of despair,
Pour out with the music.

Feel it drain from your soul,
Like infection from a wound,
And the sweet soft emotion,
The sweet, delicate sanity,
The love,
The joy,
Everything...
Let all of it just...
Become.

Let it become a part of you once more,
Let it last.
Hold on to it.
Don't let it go.
Just keep singing away your sorrows,
Your loneliness.
And maybe,
Just maybe...
Everything will be okay.

Constance Langdon saw the house on her way home from the hairdresser that morning. The sight of it made her panic. Tears poured from her eyes as she paced the smoldering remains of the house, calling out to her children with no answer. It was several hours before she could calm herself enough to return home and face her grandchild. How was she supposed to tell him that his father and Cherie were gone? That they couldn't even come back in death?

She stepped through the door way to her home. The blood on the fridge was the first thing that she noticed, dropping her milk and following the trail of blood up to Micheal's room. When she looked in, she relaxed, seeing that he had only killed the maid, instead of having been hurt.

Carefully, she knelt in front of him where he sat in the rocking chair, staring somberly at the dead maid.

"Cherie's gone, Grandma. Daddy went with her, but she's still hurting...why wont she stop?"

And THAT is my ending for this series. It was so much fun to write! And I'm really sorry if it seems a bit rushed or anything at the end, I just really wanted to get it out and finished, I've had it swimming around in my head like crazy while I tried to get to it.

So, thoughts? Be brutal!

Thanks everyone for your reviews!