Disclaimer: These characters (Cassie and the Circle, etc.) were originally created by L.J. Smith. They all belong to her creative genius. However, the plot of this story and a few new characters are my own creations. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me.

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter of The Prophecy! Please let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy! Thanks again for reading! (More author's notes are at the end.)

Cassie was still pondering Faye's prophecy when the raven-haired girl strolled into the hospital waiting room. She was dressed to kill in a fuchsia mini-dress and spike heels. It was entirely inappropriate for the hospital with its cheap plastic furniture and out-dated television sets. A few strangers on the far side of the room looked at her with mild curiosity.

"I thought you had a date," said Deborah.

"I did," answered Faye. "But Carl never showed up. His mother said he left an hour ago, so I figured I'd check here. Maybe he got confused about where to pick me up."

Her confident tone gave the impression that she wasn't considering the possibility that she had been stood up.

Cassie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she stood. "I'm going to see if Nick's awake."

She could hear Adam trying to convince Deb and the Hendersons to stay at the hospital and to leave Portia alone, as she headed through the doors toward Nick's room.

Nick's door was open, but his eyes were closed. Cassie sighed in disappointment.

She was leaning against the doorframe when the messenger approached.

"Are you Cassie Blake?" he asked, looking down at his clipboard.

"Yes," she answered, slightly confused.

"This is for you." He handed her an envelope, that appeared to contain a card and a bundle of helium balloons. Then he disappeared down the hall, presumably to make other deliveries.

This must be for Nick, Cassie thought. She tied the balloons onto the drawer of the small nightstand in the room and then tore open the envelope.

To her surprise, the front of the card was blank. Frowning, she opened it, revealing a handwritten message.

Cassie,

If you ever want to see your witch-loving friend Carl again, come to pier 26 at ten p.m.

This is between you and me. Come alone or he dies.

Portia

Cassie recognized the perfectly formed cursive script. She had seen Portia practice it numerous times during their summer on Cape Cod.

Cassie ran a nervous hand through her hair. This was no joke. Apparently Portia had wasted no time once she had been released from jail. She had taken Carl and she was serious.

He could already be hurt. He could already be… Cassie stopped herself before her thoughts sent her into a blind panic. Carl was an innocent bystander. He didn't deserve to be brought into all of this.

She had to do something.

It was 9:55 pm when Cassie knocked on the ramshackle door of Pier 26's lone boathouse.

There was no answer.

Taking a deep breath, Cassie reached out and turned the knob, which was surprisingly unlocked. She slowly pushed the door inward and took a few paltry steps inside. The room was filled with stacks of old, wooden crates that were half rotted by the briny sea air. The entire area was dimly lit by a few naked light bulbs hanging from the dilapidated ceiling. "Portia?" she called. "Carl?"

There was a muffled sound coming from the center of the room. Cassie stepped past a tall row of crates and saw Carl, bound to a chair with a handkerchief stuffed in his mouth.

"Oh, my God!" she cried out, rushing over to him. Portia was nowhere to be seen. Cassie quickly pulled the gag out of his mouth.

"Thank God you're here," exclaimed Carl.

Cassie moved behind him to start working on the ropes. She had just bent down when she realized something. The rope was loosely gathered near Carl's hands, but it wasn't tied.

Uh-oh.

Cassie's heart thudded loudly in her chest.

Carl easily pulled his hands away from the loose coils. He smiled over his shoulder at her. "Now we can finally stop pretending."

Cassie took a few steps back, stumbling into an old pile of boxes. "Carl, what are you talking about? Where's Portia?"

"Portia?" He raised an eyebrow, as if he thought it was interesting that Cassie had asked. "She's right there." He gestured to the other side of the room.

Cassie could barely make out the terrified girl in the corner. It was Portia, all right, and she had several strands of rope wrapped around her waist, binding her to a chair. "Help me," she whined. "He's crazy."

Cassie took another step away from Carl. She needed to get to the door; to help. But now she'd have to walk around him to get to it. And that might not be possible.

Try to remain calm, she told herself. Don't panic.

Carl took a step closer to her. "This isn't about Portia, you know." He studied her thoughtfully for a moment, gauging her reaction. "I just needed an excuse to get you away from the hospital. You've been there for days. And I needed a place where we could be alone."

Cassie's eyes flickered to the door. Carl stepped directly in front of her, blocking her view. Then he slowly grinned. "You see, this is about you and me."

"What are you talking about?" gasped Cassie. Has he completely lost his mind?

"Yes, what are you talking about?" demanded Adam, as he burst through the door. The rest of the coven, except for Nick, followed.

Cassie sighed with relief. It was about time they decided to come inside!

Carl sighed briefly. When he spoke again, his voice was flat. "You were supposed to come alone."

"She's not stupid," snapped Melanie.

"Please! Help me! Somebody, please!" Portia cried from the corner.

Carl glanced over his shoulder at her. "Silence."

Portia's mouth continued to move, but no sound came out. Her eyes widened in horror and tears spilled over her cheeks.

"What the-?" Doug muttered.

"Holy shit!" Chris exclaimed.

The whole coven shifted uncomfortably on their feet. Whoever Carl was, he wasn't human.

And he was incredibly powerful.

Cassie could feel something carefully contained within Carl, just below the surface. But she couldn't sense it very well. It was too deftly hidden.

"Who are you?" Cassie asked.

He shot her an amused look. "You mean you don't know?"

Suddenly, Carl began to tremble and convulse. He fell to the floor and began to jerk and twitch, as if having an epileptic seizure.

"What's happening?" cried Suzan.

"I don't know!" answered Diana.

"Everyone stand back," ordered Adam.

Cassie hurried over to stand with the others on the opposite side of Carl's collapsed figure. After a minute or so, Carl's body became horribly still.

"Is he breathing?" asked Melanie.

No one immediately moved to check. After a brief hesitation, Diana bent down. "It doesn't look like it." She put a hand to his neck. "I can't find a pulse."

Suddenly, there was a terrible gasping sound and Carl's chest rose several inches off the ground. Then he began coughing and sputtering loudly.

"Carl? Carl, are you ok?" Diana asked, from beside him.

He blinked rapidly, looking up at her. "Who are you? And where the heck am I?" He began trying to sit up.

Diana looked up at Cassie with confusion. Adam's eyes were wide. Everyone in the Circle looked at each other.

What the heck just happened?

Cassie was shaking her head in bewilderment when she saw him.

A shock of blond spiky hair. Eyes as black as midnight. The face of an angel.

He was dressed entirely in black and he was leaning against a stack of old row boats piled against the far wall.

Cassie's heart nearly stopped in her chest.

Oh, God.

And then she knew.

Darkness follows.

Not from the spell. From California.

"Well, do you think a person can change their fate?" she had asked him.

"I think it's possible," he had replied. "But only if they know someone powerful enough."

Bastian. Bastian was powerful enough.

"You would give anything?" That silky voice echoed through her head.

Oh, God, she had invoked the dark powers long before she had ever performed the soulmate spell.

How could she have been so stupid? The Oracle had even warned her.

"As the child of Black John, darkness will always find you. You must be prepared."

But she hadn't been. This was all her fault.

She had been blinded by his charming smile, his graceful manner, and his handsome looks. She'd even thought that he had the face of an angel.

Well, of course he did. He had been one once, a very, very long time ago…

"Oh, I definitely believe in God," he had said. "But I'm not one for religion."

Pff… could have fooled me, she had thought. And he had. He had fooled her all along.

But the truth was simple. Jordan Bainbridge had even said it himself. "You make a deal with the devil and there's going to be hell to pay."

Oh, the devil was here alright. And he had come to collect the price.

With her terror building inside, Cassie continued to stare at him, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. Part of her wanted to turn and run away as fast as she could, but she knew it wouldn't do any good.

There was no running from this.

After a moment, Bastian casually walked over to the group of teens that were examining Carl. They were asking him numerous questions that he couldn't answer. He seemed to have no idea about anything.

"Don't worry about Carl," Bastian said in that velvety smooth voice of his. "He'll be just fine."

Adam and the rest of the circle startled at his appearance.

"Who the hell are you?" Adam asked.

Cassie grabbed at Adam's arm and tried to pull him back, away from the strange blond guy. "He's Lucifer," she exclaimed.

The others gasped in both awe and confusion.

But Bastian simply laughed. "That old bastard? Hardly. I've told you before, my name is Bastian. Besides, when did you turn all Judeo-Christian on me? I thought witches were supposed to be Pagan?"

"You know what she means," Adam said. "The devil has many names. He's part of many cultures."

"Very true," Bastian nodded, his tone becoming serious. "But I'm not him. I'm nothing like him." There was a hint of disgust in his voice.

Diana gazed at him in wonder. She blinked her emerald eyes. "You're his son."

Bastian glanced at her sharply, as if surprised, but he kept his composure. "Not by choice," he told her. "But yeah, you guessed it—I'm the bloody Prince of Darkness." He sighed. "Now can we get on with this?"

"Get on with what?" Adam asked. He seemed to be one of the few people brave enough to speak.

Now that Bastian was no longer hidden by Carl's body, he emanated waves of dark Power. The intensity of it was daunting.

"I've got myself a soul to collect," Bastian said flatly. He looked at Cassie. "We had a deal."

There was a colossal uproar from the group.

"You what?" demanded Melanie, her eyes wide.

"Cassie, you know this guy?" Chris asked.

Diana's hand flew to her mouth. The others looked on in horror.

"I didn't know who you were," Cassie exclaimed. "I never promised you anything!"

"That's not true. You said you would give anything." Bastian's midnight eyes seemed bottomless, eternal. There was not a single emotion reflected in them. "And this is the price."

"No!" Adam cried out. "There has to be some way out of this! What was the deal about?"

"He told me where to find the shop with the black magic," Cassie said. "The stuff I used and caused all of those terrible things to happen."

Bastian arched an white-blond eyebrow. "You really think that's what all this is about?" He shook his head. "That was not our deal. Well, not entirely. 'I just wish that my friends and I could choose what we wanted to happen,'" he mocked. "That's what you wished for. And I made it so. I lent you my power to break the soulmate bonds. You couldn't have done that on your own. Your kind simply doesn't have that ability. The black magic from that spell only affected you—made you more susceptible to your desires, easier to anger, and closer to the darkness. All of the other crazy events that have happened during the last few weeks were just what you had asked for originally. They were simply what you and your friends wanted to happen. They weren't side effects of black magic. They were your friends' inner most thoughts, secret desires, and wishes."

"I didn't want Logan Bainbridge to die!" Cassie cried out.

Bastian shrugged. "Ever hear the phrase 'be careful what you wish for?'"

Cassie couldn't help the tears that began to fall then.

"You bastard!" Chris charged straight for Bastian with Doug right at his heels.

It was no use. Bastian sent them both flying into the nearby stacks of crates with a mere look and a twist of one hand.

Luckily, neither brother was seriously hurt. But it left the entire coven stunned silent.

"Yes, my dear," Bastian said to Cassie, as if the Henderson brothers had never existed. "It was your thoughts that sent poor Logan right over a cliff." Bastian then turned to Adam. "And your thoughts made your friend Nick wolf-bait. But I have a feeling you knew that already."

Adam gritted his teeth as the others stared at him.

Bastian stepped forward a few paces and stopped in front of Faye. "And you have quite the temper, young lady. You not only threw Sally down an elevator shaft but you nearly drowned your cousin, as well. And all over minor annoyances, really." Then he sighed, turning back to Cassie. "You do have to admit, however, that some good did come out of it all. You were able to save the life of your friend—or is he your lover?" He shrugged. "Either way, you were able to reach inside yourself and want so badly for him to live—and there you go! He lives. You couldn't have done that on your own. You don't have that kind of power naturally."

So that's how we saved Nick, thought Cassie. It all went back to my deal with Bastian.

At the moment, Bastian's handsome face was beginning to look bored. Cassie knew she was running out of time.

Think, Cassie, think! There had to be a way out of this or at least a way to buy some time.

Goodness knows, there was no way a spell was going to work on someone as powerful as that. But what could she possibly do?

"Why did you save Diana from drowning?" Cassie asked on a whim.

"What?" Bastian almost seemed taken off guard.

"Well, you said Faye's thoughts almost drowned her. And they would have, except that you stopped it. So why did you?"

Bastian was not amused by this line of questioning. His voice was harsher than before. "I had my reasons."

"In fact," Cassie continued, "why have you been hanging around all these weeks going to class and stuff. High school can't be that appealing. Why didn't you come to collect earlier? Why wait until now?"

Bastian glared at her, but he didn't respond.

It was Melanie who answered. "He saw Diana."

"What?" Adam's eyebrows were in his hair.

"It was you," Diana whispered, recognition dawning on her face. "All this time…" She shook her head.

"He's your admirer?" Faye's voice was heavy with disbelief.

"Admirer? What admirer?" Adam demanded.

"So that's why you couldn't let her drown," Cassie said. "You're in love with her."

Bastian's lips curled into a sarcastic sneer, but he didn't deny it.

Diana stepped past Cassie and Adam, positioning herself so that she faced Bastian directly.

Cassie could feel the waves of dark power originating from Bastian's lithe physique. She wondered how Diana could stand being so close to him. It had to have been overwhelming.

"So you stuck around New Salem because of me?" Diana's voice was crisp, but soft.

"Yes," Bastian replied. He was looking down at Diana with his endless onyx eyes and Cassie was abruptly struck by the contrast between the two of them. Diana was everything that was light, radiant and warm. She was the epitome of goodness and life. Bastian, on the other hand, seemed filled to the brim with darkness. She could almost imagine that his insides were cold and empty. Just looking at him was like staring at the glimmering edge of a knife point. He was incredibly beautiful, but oh, so very sharp and lethal.

Suddenly, Cassie couldn't help but recall part of the last poem he had sent Diana—the one about the winter breeze and the window flower.

But he sighed upon the sill,
He gave the sash a shake,
As witness all within
Who lay that night awake.

Perchance he half prevailed
To win her for the flight
From the firelit looking-glass
And warm stove-window light.

But the flower leaned aside
And thought of naught to say,
And morning found the breeze
A hundred miles away.

And somehow Cassie knew that Diana was recalling the same thing.

"You stayed because you wanted me to come with you. You thought you might make me understand," Diana said.

"Maybe," Bastian replied.

"And then you gave up. You decided to leave and cash in on your deal," Diana continued.

Bastian's midnight eyes were studying Diana thoughtfully. "So what if I did?"

"Diana, no!" Cassie cried. She knew what the other girl was about to do.

"Release Cassie from the deal and I'll go away with you." Diana spoke confidently, her emerald eyes never wavering from Bastian's.

"You'll be mine completely?" Bastian asked. He seemed unaware of the ten teenagers screaming at Diana and trying to pull her back.

"Yes," Diana called out over the chaos.

"Done." Bastian's reply was emotionless and immediate.

"No! Take me instead! Don't do this, Diana!" Cassie cried. "It was my deal!"

"Take me! I volunteer!" Adam said, trying to pull Diana back and step in front of her.

"Shut up, both of you!" hissed Faye. "He ought to take me. Come on, do you really want the Princess of Purity?" she asked Bastian. "We could have so much fun together."

Bastian simply shook his head. Then he extended his arm to Diana. She took the hand that was offered, and before anyone could say another word, they disappeared.

"No!" screamed Adam, but it was useless.

Diana was already gone.

Several moment of terse silence passed.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Sean.

"We find her, you idiot," snapped Faye.

Cassie nodded.

"We're going to get her back," said Adam. "We have to."

It was at that moment that Cassie recalled her recurring nightmare in which they had been searching in the darkness for someone, over and over again. Now Cassie knew that person was Diana.

And they did have to find her. The thought was unsettling.

Cassie sat back on her heels and watched as Laurel finally succeeded in untying the now mute Portia. The terrified blond girl tried in vain to say a few more things, but to no avail. Then she turned and fled on shaking legs, disappearing into the night.

"Well, at least we won't be hearing any more threats from her," Suzan muttered.

The real Carl was still looking befuddled, but he kept quiet in his seat on the floor next to Cassie. He was focused on the action in the center of the room.

Cassie followed his gaze to where Faye was pacing the floor, her spike heels tapping loudly against the old wood. She was already spouting off instructions to Deborah and Melanie, who both nodded eagerly.

The raven-haired girl with the golden eyes looked like an angry goddess preparing for war. "There's no way he's keeping my cousin prisoner forever. We're not going to stand for this."

Who'd have thought that when it came down to it, Faye actually cared so much about her cousin? Cassie thought.

Adam took a seat on the floor next to Cassie. He didn't have to say a word. The devastation was written all over his face. Cassie reached out and took his hand, fighting the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

It was hard to be hopeful at the moment, when everything was just so horrible. And really, how were they going to find Diana? And what could any of them possibly do against Bastian?

But they couldn't just give up. They couldn't just let Diana be lost forever.

They had to find her! They had to fight for her, dammit!

Cassie's thoughts suddenly rewound to Faye's prophecy and a chill traveled up her spine.

The ultimate battle was coming.

The end!

Stay tuned for the sequel, Child of Darkness.

Redemption comes with a price…

The Circle fights to save Diana from the most powerful evil known to man, and finally, Cassie must choose between Adam and Nick.

A/N: Anyway, there are so many people that I would like to thank but it would take up way too much room here to do individual shout outs! So to each and every last person who reviewed, thank you so much! It took a lot of effort and time to write this story and it means so much that you all took a second to tell me what you thought. Every time I looked at this story and thought that maybe I was wasting my time or that maybe it was utter crap and I should just give up, I thought about the people who expressed such a desire to read more and I realized that no matter how long it took, I couldn't let them down.

I had originally hoped to be finished with this story long ago, so I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting. I'd always planned on telling this story in two parts, so hopefully I'll be quicker about updating on the sequel. Anyway, stay tuned and I hope you enjoy what comes next!