Chapter Twelve

A/N: Sorry about the delay, but here it is. Last chapter! Thanks to all my reviewers over the entire course of this, rainydaymonday, queenlovett, MonkeesDoctorWho1987, the-sadisticalovett-nutcase, MelodiesMusic, misswitty, LadyFfion, zonakist, RichelleBrinkley, InsanityRunsInMyBlood, inuyasha6457, Ghostwriter9000, csifan, Guest, anon, my bff headinclouds123, Minnie McGee, BE-YOURSELF-NOBODY-ELSE-CAN, LittleLeStrange67, thefanficwriter and Shenelopefan. You guys have all been amazing, so thanks! Now, on to the end!

When they finally reached the beginning of the peak of Widow's Hill, the group could just about make out the figure of Julia balancing right on the edge of it. Barnabas stepped forwards from the rest, urging them to stay back for the time being, being making his way tentatively towards a seemingly oblivious Julia.

"Julia?" asked Barnabas, causing the redhead to jump slightly, but still not turn around.

"Julia?" he asked for the second time, this time triggering Julia's turn towards him, her face impassive.

"Oh, Julia, thank goodness you are alright. We were so worried, we thought that Angelique had gotten to you. Come along, let us return to Collinwood." He stated, smiling and turning to return to the family, who had moved forward rather a lot more than he had told them. However, something in Julia's voice made him turn back to her.

"Who says she didn't?"

Barnabas stopped, the entire family looking at her in shock. Tears started to streak quietly down David's face, soaking into Carolyn's jumper once more, while she stroked his hair, standing in disbelief.

"What did you say?" Barnabas near whispered.

"Oh, did Angelique take your brain with her when she died?" scoffed Julia, a wicked smile creeping its way across her pale face.

"Julia, you've been bewitched by Anqelique. You would not be saying this if you were not. You just need to come here toward me and we can find out how to save you together."

"Oh, save your breath!" laughed Julia, her smile still dominating her features.

"Please, my love, you must-"

"My love!" she cried, her smirk becoming wider. "Do you really believe that I loved you? No-one could ever love you, Barnabas Collins. You're a monster. That's all you were, all you are and all you ever will be. You're nothing to me, just a route to immortality."

She turned to gaze up to the moonlight, her satisfied smirk beaming in the darkness. Barnabas took advantage of the situation and approached Julia quietly and pinned her arms behind her back. She screamed in frustration and tried to pull away from him, but his grip wasn't relinquishing.

"Let me go!" she whispered, before going limp in Barnabas' arms. Seeing this, David cried out her name and ran towards her, jumping out of the way of Elizabeth's arms that were trying to stop him. Suddenly, Julia kicked Barnabas and he doubled up. She saw this and threw herself on top of him, Barnabas barely being able to hold her arms away from his face. He suddenly managed to throw the redhead off him and was about to resume the fight when a piercing cry attracted both of their attention.

The pair both jumped to their feet to see that David was clinging onto the edge of Widow's Hill, crying and screaming. Barnabas tore his gaze away from the boy for a moment to see Julia reeling backwards, her mouth wide open and her eyes unblinking. She met Barnabas' gaze for a moment, then her gaze moved from David to the cliff edge then back to the boy. She paused. Then she ran. Not away from the edge, to it.

Barnabas watched in shock as she pulled him over the edge and back onto Widow's Hill itself, wrapping her arms around the boy and pulling him close to her, whispering into his ear.

"David, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." she whispered, cradling him in her arms, while he looked up at her.

"Julia?" he asked, lips trembling as he said the word.

"Yes, it's me, David, I'm back. I'm so sorry." she cried, tears streaming down her face in floods. She led David over to Elizabeth, who gave Julia a quick hug, before the redhead returned to the edge, where Barnabas stood stock still.

"Barnabas, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do what I did, Angelique was controlling...me..." Julia suddenly stopped, her gaze directed to the floor. Barnabas at first thought she was at a loss as to what to say, but then he noticed her rapid breathing, the blood rushing from her face. He reached to help her, but all was as it was before. Just like Josette, Julia plummeted backwards from the peak and fell, down and down and down into the pitch blackness below. There was a sickening thud as Julia's body collided with the smooth rocks below, then silence.

No-one moved. They were all so shocked about what had happened that they almost forgot to breathe. Almost as one they began to sprint for the steps that led to the rocky space below and were shocked at what they saw, tears filling the eyes of more than one of them. Julia was sprawled across the rocks, her violet dress spread around her and her vibrant orange hair fallen across her face. Carolyn decided that, as she seemed to be the least affected, even though she loved Julia just as much as the others, she would go to check on Julia. She felt almost sick as she approached the woman, but continued nonetheless and pressed her fingers to Julia's wrist. She was about to pull them away again, her worst fear confirmed, when she felt something. A weak pulse.

"She's not dead." she breathed, her heart pounding with relief. She then turned her head and repeated the revelation over her shoulder in a scream. "MUM, SHE'S ISN'T DEAD! JULIA ISN'T DEAD!"

The family came running over at once to her side, their mouths open in shock. Elizabeth immediately flipped her head around to her relative, who met her gaze and shook his head.

"Elizabeth, no! I cannot do that to her, I will not! Her life will never be the same!"

"But she'll have a life, Barnabas, and that is all that matters." countered Elizabeth, staring down the vampire. She emerged the stronger of the two and Barnabas moved to Julia's side, leaning over her. He brushed the hair from her face and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Please forgive me, Julia. Please wake up for me. Please." he whispered, before drawing back his head and sinking his teeth into the nape of her neck. He pulled away barely a moment later, looking at her in desperation. Elizabeth moved past him a little and placed two fingers onto her wrist. This time, the fingers came away with a despaired face. All Elizabeth had to do was shake her head. David screamed and buried his head in Carolyn's jumper, while she closed her eyes in pain. Barnabas turned away in anguish and Elizabeth's head sunk downwards until it rested in her lap.

"She's dead."

Then a voice shocked them all, making David and Elizabeth raise their heads, Barnabas turn and Carolyn open her eyes, which were filling with tears once more.

"Well, of course I'm dead, Liz. You know, sometimes you can be really thick!" The voice belonged to the redhead sat up on the rocks, touching her head gingerly. Carolyn and David ran to hug the woman, Elizabeth right after them and she was laughing before long. Soon only Barnabas remained. He was still stood in shock a few metres away from her, but when the rest of the Collins' cleared the way for him, he came sprinting towards the woman, wrapping her in his arms and giving her the most passionate kiss of her life.

Yes, their lives were upside down, but one thing they knew for sure. Trouble had awakened at Collinsport.

The End

A/N: The end! Finally. Please review! I love you all, and check out my story 'Ghosts of the Present'.