Chapter 12 – In The End

"What are we going to do?" Rachel asked, looking at Quinn.

Quinn could see the fear in her eyes; she wanted to say something—anything—to assure her everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't seem to find the words. And Rachel would know she was lying, anyway, and she had made a promise to never lie to her. So, she silently looked back to the window as Rachel's question rolled around in her mind. After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head and said, "I don't know."

"We have to do something," Rachel whispered.

"I know," Quinn replied, running her hand through her hair. "We—we need to find where he is."

"Do you think he's at the vortex?" Rachel asked.

"I do," Quinn answered.

"So we go there and we stop him," Rachel stated.

Quinn knew that was going to be easier said than done. There were only two of them and Dustin was bound to have help. She wondered where Brittany and Santana were and if they were having the same idea they did. Her first thought had been to send them a message, telling them to get to the vortex, but she figured there was no point. Judging by the chaos she was looking at, the cell phone towers were bound to be down.

There was another rumble beneath them and Quinn stepped away from the window, pulling Rachel with her. It wasn't quite as strong as the last, but that didn't mean the window wouldn't bust. She could hear some more picture frames falling off the walls in the hallway and Rachel's alarm clock shook off her nightstand, hitting the floor.

When the shaking finally stopped, Quinn grabbed Rachel's hand and said, "Come on."

If they were going anywhere, they needed weapons, and, thankfully, they had a small arsenal in the basement. There were better weapons at the school, but she had no idea if they would be anywhere near it, so she would take what she could get.

She avoided the broken glass in the hallway from where some of the picture frames at smashed on the hardwood floor. When they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, Leroy was rushing up the stairs with a flashlight in his hands. He had a small gash on his head and Rachel immediately ran the rest of the way down to him.

"Daddy!" Rachel said.

"I'm fine," Leroy said. "I was in the kitchen and a box fell off the top of the fridge." He looked at Quinn. "What's happening?"

"The apocalypse," Quinn answered.

As she walked past the father and daughter, Rachel said, "I told you about the warlock; this wasn't supposed to happen until the end of the month, but it seems it's coming early."

Quinn didn't listen to the rest of Rachel's explanation. Stepping over an overturned plant and some more broken glass, she made her way into the kitchen and into the basement. She grabbed the flashlight that sat at the stop of the stairs and quickly descended the steps as another tremor started. There were multiple crashes in the room as things fell from where they sat, but Quinn ignored it, grabbing the duffle bags they always kept in case of a moment like this.

She began putting everything she could in the bags, not knowing what they would need. As she stood there, she noticed the sound of water and looked up, shining the light toward the corner of the basement. At ceiling, water was coming out of a pipe in a steady stream. Thankfully, there was nothing on that side of the room now that Santana was living at the school or it would have been directly over the vampire's bed.

"Quinn!" Rachel called down.

"Yeah?" Quinn asked.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, and Quinn could hear the worry in her voice.

"I'm fine," Quinn answered. "There's a leak down here, though."

"Can you shine the light at the stairs?" Rachel asked. "I don't want to trip."

Quinn did as Rachel asked, and a few moments later, the brunette appeared, carefully making her way down the stairs. As soon as she was far enough down, she ducked her head, looking toward the corner of the room. Sighing, she walked the rest of the way down and joined Quinn.

"We should really have more flashlights in this house," Rachel remarked.

"Here," Quinn said, handing the light to her.

"What do you need me to do?" Rachel asked.

"Just hold that so I can see," Quinn instructed.

Everything was packed, so Quinn began searching around for anything she had missed. She pulled open all the drawers, finding a few bottles of holy water in one and same extra stakes in another. She didn't know if she would need either, but she put them in one of the side pockets, nevertheless.

"I can take one," Rachel said, shouldering one of the bags.

Quinn ran her hand through her hair with a sigh and admitted, "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"That's okay," Quinn said, taking her hand. "We'll figure this out and we'll stop him."

Quinn wanted to believe the brunette, but she wasn't so sure at the moment. She felt like she was running on autopilot, finding it hard to believe that any of this was happening right now. But it was happening, and she was the one who had to stop it.

As soon as they walked into the kitchen, there was pounding on the back door. Rachel and Quinn looked at each other before the latter walked to the door and peeked outside. She was relieved to see that it was Brittany and Santana on the other side and quickly opened the door to let her friends inside.

"The world is going to hell," Santana said the moment she stepped into the house. "It's even warm out there now."

"It's bad out there," Brittany added, looking concerned as she looked at Quinn.

"I thought this shit wasn't supposed to happen for a few weeks," Santana stated. "Who fucked up that one?"

"The books must have been wrong," Rachel said. "Or he found a way to speed up the process."

"Do you know where the vortex is coming from?" Quinn asked.

"I think it's coming from the school," Brittany answered.

"Then I guess we're going to school," Quinn replied.

"How did you guys get here so quickly?" Rachel wondered.

"San's been texting you since yesterday and you never answered," Brittany replied. "She was getting worried and wanted to make sure you were okay, so we were on our way over here."

Santana scoffed and said, "I wasn't worried."

"Yes, you were," Brittany argued.

"Whatever," Santana said, throwing her hands up. "We were over on Pine Street when everything started shaking. The car behind us fell into a big hole. Britts saw the ground cracking and moved up or we would've been in that pit, too."

"And there were weird noises coming from it," Brittany added.

"Weird noises?" Rachel asked.

"Like something was coming out of it," Santana replied.

"That can't be good," Quinn mumbled.

"No, it can't," Rachel agreed.

"We're lucky we were so close," Brittany said. "A lot of the roads are blocked."

Quinn sighed. They needed to find Dustin, and if the roads were impassible, it was going to make that a lot more difficult. Wherever that vortex was coming from, it was nowhere near where they were, and now her friends were telling her that it was going to be hard to get to it. That was time they didn't have to waste; she had no idea how long the ritual took to complete, but she wanted to get there as soon as possible and stop him.

"We'll get there," Rachel said as if she had read her mind.

"I hope so," Quinn replied.

"We're coming with you," Brittany stated.

"You don't have to," Quinn said.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Like you're going to be able to kill that asshole without us? Everyone knows Britts and I are the reason you haven't died yet."

"Sure," Quinn said, rolling her eyes at the smirk on Santana's face.

The house began shaking again and Rachel grabbed onto Quinn's arm. It was much more intense than the last few, but it only lasted for a few seconds. As soon as it was over, Rachel looked at her in concern. Quinn had no idea what to say to make her feel better—what can you say when an apocalypse was happening around you—so she removed Rachel's hand from her arm and entwined their fingers together.

"We should go," Quinn said.

"Can I talk to you a minute?" Leroy asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said.

"We're taking B's car," Santana said, grabbing the duffle bag Quinn had hanging from her shoulder.

Quinn wasn't going to argue as she watched Santana head for the door; her car was small and would be cramped with the four of them and two bags full of weapons. Rachel gave her hand a squeeze before letting go and following Santana and Brittany toward the front door. Quinn, however, turned and followed Leroy into the kitchen.

"I need you to promise that you're going to keep my daughter safe," Leroy began as they walked into the room and turned to face her. "I've already lost my husband; I can't lose her too. I know you love my daughter, Quinn, and you always try to keep her safe, but I need you to promise me that she will come home."

"I'll die before I let anything happen to her," Quinn swore.

Leroy nodded and then hesitated before hugging Quinn. "I need you to come back, too. Losing you would kill her."

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked.

"Everything's fine, sweetie," Leroy said, releasing Quinn, and looking down at her. "Can I—"

"I'll leave you two alone," Quinn interrupted.

As Quinn walked away, she looked back at Rachel, who was being hugged by her father. She couldn't promise that nothing would happen to Rachel, but she meant what she said. She would die before she let anything happen to the brunette.

She just hoped it didn't come to that.

"Go left," Santana instructed.

"There's a tree in the road," Quinn stated.

"Then go right," Santana replied.

"I think we've already been down that street," Rachel said, looking out the window. "That's where the electric pole was."

"Then go straight," Santana said. "We're out of other options."

Quinn could see a bunch of cars backed up, which probably meant they couldn't get through that way, either. They were still far away from where they needed to be, and they really were running out of options. Everywhere they went, there were trees, poles, fires, overturned cars, or chunks of the road that had just collapsed. It was impossible to get anywhere, and when they could make it through, she felt like they were just going around in circles.

"Hold on," Quinn said, noticing a gap between an overturned tree and the cars on the road.

She put her foot on the gas and turned the wheel, driving onto the sidewalk. The right side of the car hit a mailbox and she was fairly certain it cracked the headlight, but she didn't stop. The driver's side mirror nearly hit one of the other cars, missing it by only an inch or two, as she drove past. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Rachel was flinching every few seconds as she gripped the edge of her seat.

"Dios mío," Santana said, leaning forward, looking over Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn followed Santana's gaze toward the road; the roof of a car was smashed from a light pole, crushing the two passengers inside. She felt sick at the sight and quickly looked away as she turned the car back onto the road. As she looked in the rear view mirror, she couldn't help thinking how eerie the scene looked. The whole town was bathed in a red glow like something out of a horror movie. Combined with the crushed car and the deserted street, it made her feel uneasy.

When Quinn slowed for the stop sign at the end of the street, she debated which way to go. Both ways looked clear from where they were stopped, but that had rarely been the case so far.

"Left is usually quicker," Brittany suggested.

"But there is that large tree at the bed and breakfast," Rachel said. "It may have fallen into the road."

"Rachel's right," Brittany agreed.

Quinn made a right turn as the car's inhabitants began discussing all the roads that should probably be avoided. Unfortunately, there were electric and light poles on every street, so there was no telling if one of them would be lying across the road. Sure enough, there was an electric wire on the road they had gone down, but Quinn managed to drive around it by going onto someone's lawn and then getting back onto the road.

"Why are these dumbasses just standing around?" Santana asked when they passed by several people standing on the front porch of a house, looking up at the sky.

"What would you do if you didn't know what was happening?" Rachel asked.

"I'd be finding me someplace to hide," Santana replied. "Haven't these people watched any sort of disaster movie."

"Like Independence Day!" Brittany said.

"Yeah, like those idiots in that movie standing on the skyscraper," Santana remarked.

"Except in this scenario, we're the ones going to the epicenter," Rachel said, looking over her shoulder at the vampire.

"Why are we going toward the middle of town?" Santana asked when Quinn made a left turn.

"It is probably going to be incredibly hard to get through," Rachel said.

"Did you look the other way at the stop sign?" Quinn asked. "The road was caved in."

"What is with the road around here?" Santana asked. "Is it normal for them to just fall in like that during an earthquake?"

"No," Rachel answered. "I think that is something else."

They all looked at Rachel, who continued, "Well, this town is built on the Hellmouth, right? Maybe something is trying to come up from it. It would explain the earthquakes and the roads collapsing." She looked around at them. "Or maybe not. I've heard that the city government can be highly corrupt; they could simply not be doing the repairs they are supposed to do to the roads. It could be shoddy craftsmanship."

Quinn knew Rachel didn't really believe that, but she wanted to pretend it was the latter. She really didn't want to think about some monster coming up from hell. It was going to be hard enough fighting a powerful warlock; the thought of fighting some hell-beast was something she couldn't let herself dwell on.

"What's going on up there?" Brittany asked.

"I don't know," Quinn said as she began slowing the car down.

There were cars back up all along the road; a lot of people were out of their cars, standing next to them. There was definitely no way through, so she tried taking a side street, but ended up on another road that was just more of the same. Sighing, she pulled the car into a parking spot and turned off the engine, saying, "I think we're going to have to walk the rest of the way."

"At least we're considerably closer than where we started out," Rachel commented.

"Not close enough," Santana replied.

As the four got out of Brittany's car, Quinn walked around to the trunk and pulled out the two duffle bags. A few seconds later, Rachel was by her side, taking one of them out of her hand and shouldering it.

"Don't close that!" Brittany said when Quinn put her hand up to shut it.

"What's in there?" Rachel asked as the blonde grabbed a small bag from the trunk.

"Supplies," Brittany answered.

Rachel frowned as she looked around at all the people. She couldn't imagine that it was very safe to be out on the streets at this time, but there were dozens—maybe even hundreds—of people around. Many were standing beneath buildings that could easily collapse or whose windows could shatter the moment another tremor happened. She didn't know why people were being so careless when there was clearly something bad happening around them.

"Is there some way we can get all these people inside?" Rachel asked.

"How?" Santana asked. "If these people are dumb enough to be out here, then they deserve what they get."

"There really isn't anything we can do," Quinn quietly said as she squeezed her hand.

Rachel sighed; she supposed they were right. Why would anyone listen to four teenagers? Plus, it would look awfully hypocritical of them considering they were walking down the sidewalk at the moment. Regardless, she wished there was something they could do. Something they could say to make everyone get to safety. Of course, she didn't know where that would be; no place was probably safe at the moment. Not with Dustin out there doing whatever he was doing.

She looked at Quinn and she could see the worry on her girlfriend's face. It had been there since the first earthquake hit and it hadn't gone away. She hated seeing her like this—like the weight of the world was on her shoulders—but she knew there was nothing she could do about it except be there for her. As much as Rachel wanted to be able to make everything better, she knew there were just some things she was powerless to fix.

"Maybe they'll figure it out," Brittany said.

"Or they'll die out here," Santana replied.

"Don't talk like that," Brittany said, frowning at her girlfriend.

Rachel tripped into the vampire's side when the ground began to shake. Santana stopped her from falling, though, and Quinn pulled her up by their conjoined hands. She could hear windows shattering somewhere along the street as several car alarms began to sound. There was also the sound of something hitting the ground and she looked around to find bricks falling from the top of a nearby building. Underneath, people were running for cover, and to Rachel's relief, no one seemed to be hurt.

"Is that Tina?" Rachel asked, spotting someone that looked an awfully lot like her friend walking toward them.

The closer she got, she realized it was definitely Tina and Mike wasn't far behind. They both looked worried—not that she could blame them—and they quickly made their way over to the group.

"I'm so glad you're here," Tina said.

"Do any of you know what's going on?" Mike asked.

"I didn't tell him," Tina said.

"Tell me what?" Mike asked with a frown. "You know what's happening?"

"Are you going to the cyclone?" Tina asked, ignoring her boyfriend's question.

"Yes," Rachel answered.

"I'm coming with you, then," Tina declared.

"What do you mean you're going with them?" Mike asked. "Why would any of you go there?"

"You can stay here if you want to," Tina said, turning to him. "It's going to be dangerous, and I would completely understand if you don't want to go."

"Can one of you tell me what's happening?" Mike asked.

"It's the end of the world," Santana stated. "Either come with or stay here—I really don't care—but stop holding us up."

"What do you mean it's the end of the world?" Mike asked following after them.

"Is it okay if I—"

"Go ahead," Quinn interrupted.

"Mike, there is a warlock who is trying to take over the world," Rachel explained. "Quinn is what is called the Slayer. She fights the evil in this world like vampires and demons."

"But—"

"It's true," Tina said, rubbing his arm.

"Something killed Matt, didn't it?" Mike asked.

Rachel glanced at Quinn for a moment and then nodded. "Yes."

"And Santana?" Mike asked.

Rachel hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, she was turned into a vampire."

"I'm right here," Santana added.

Mike did a double take and nearly stumbled over his feet. "But you just—you were—" Mike shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed together and his mouth hanging opened. "You just changed."

"Brittany cast a spell on her so she appeared different to anyone who didn't know about her," Rachel replied. "I assume since you now know the truth, she changed back to her actual self."

Mike slowly shook his head and said, "A spell?"

"I'm a witch," Brittany stated.

"I know this is a lot to take him," Rachel said, feeling a bit sorry for him. "What we are about to do is highly dangerous, and I think we can all agree that you should turn back now if you're not committed one-hundred percent to coming with us. We are going to try to stop the warlock before he completes this ritual. He is probably going to have all kinds of supernatural beings on his side; we're prepared to fight them, but we would understand if you're not."

"How long have you known about this?" Mike asked Tina.

"A little while," Tina answered, looking a bit guilty. "I kind of helped with the last apocalypse."

"There have been others?" Mike asked.

"We stopped that one and I'm completely confident we will stop this one, too," Rachel replied.

"I feel like I need to sit down," Mike said, but he continued to follow them, nonetheless.

"You can stay here," Tina said. "No one will think any less of you."

"I would," Santana interjected.

Mike shook his head. "No. I'm coming with you guys."

"How are we going to get through that?" Mike asked.

Rachel peered around the building they were hiding behind and saw what Mike was talking about. It was going to be difficult to get to the school—there were plenty of Dustin's minions around—but she didn't think it would be impossible. She was confident Quinn could come up with a plan of some kind to get them to the building, though.

"That's a lot of vampires," Quinn mumbled, coming up to her side.

"I know," Rachel whispered.

Quinn sighed and backed away, leaning against the wall. Rachel looked at her in concern, and with one last glance toward the school, she joined her girlfriend against the wall. She could tell by the slight furrow of Quinn's brows that she was trying to come up with a plan, so Rachel remained silent.

"What are we going to do?" Santana asked.

"I'm thinking," Quinn replied.

"Think faster," Santana demanded.

"I'm trying!" Quinn snapped.

"Leave her alone, San," Brittany said, pulling the vampire away from Quinn.

"Well, I don't know why we're just standing here," Santana replied, throwing her arms up.

"If you want to run out there then feel free," Quinn said.

"You know we need a plan, Santana," Rachel interjected, trying to stop the two from arguing even more. "Quinn is trying to come up with one, so I think we should leave her to it."

Before Santana could say anything else, Rachel took her arm and pulled her even further away from Quinn. She figured the vampire would resist, but she let Rachel pull her away without a struggle.

"Look, Quinn is under a lot of pressure right now, and I think we should help her instead of antagonizing her," Rachel whispered. "I know you're scared and you want to stop Dustin, but we can't just march up to the school. It will get someone killed, if not all of us, and I know you don't want that to happen."

"I'm not—"

"We're all scared," Rachel stated before Santana could argue with her.

"Puck," Brittany said behind Rachel.

Rachel turned to look at the blonde, who was pointing toward the road. Sure enough, when she stepped to the side to see past Brittany, Puck was crouching behind a car with what looked like Finn and possibly a third person. He glanced at them and then looked over the hood of the car before motioning to his companions. Together, they ran while still kneeling down, clearly trying not to be seen as they made their way to the next car.

They kept running from one car to another, slowly making their way over to the group. As they got closer, she could see that Kurt was also with them, following just behind Finn. Finally, the three were about twenty yards away with nothing between them and the building. They had no choice but to just run for it, which they did after a few moments of hesitation.

"Dude, it's crazy out there," Puck said, running his hand over his mohawk.

"What are you doing here?" Quinn asked.

"I thought you could use some help," Puck said. "It's obvious some bad shit is going down and I didn't know if it'd just be you and Rachel. I saw that thing and knew it's where you'd go." He looked back at Finn and Kurt. "I was at Finn's house when everything happened. I sort of had to tell them what was going on. Sorry, babe."

"Beiste is going to kill me if I live through this," Quinn replied.

"I think she'll understand," Rachel soothed, running her hand down her girlfriend's arm.

"Why is she here?" Finn asked, looking at Santana.

"Why are you here, Finnept?" Santana asked. "You're just gonna get yourself killed."

"That's San," Brittany said.

"I knew it!" Kurt said, pointing at the vampire.

"Santana?" Finn asked, looking confused. "But she's—"

"Dude, I told you vampires are real," Puck said, clapping his friend on the back.

"A vampire?" Kurt asked before shrugging. "So she's essentially the same as always?"

"Don't think I won't bite your pasty neck," Santana said, coming toward Kurt.

"She can't really hurt you," Brittany chimed in, seeing the look of alarm on Kurt's face.

"Guys, this isn't the time," Rachel said, hoping to calm the situation down. "We have an apocalypse to avert, after all."

"Yeah, how're we gonna do that exactly?" Puck asked, looking toward Quinn.

"I don't know," Quinn answered. "We need to distract them, but I don't know how we're going to do that."

"Maybe I can help with that," Brittany said. "I told you I had supplies; I've been keeping herbs and candles and stuff in my car in case we ever needed them. Maybe I can distract them with a spell." Brittany sat on the ground, pulling a book out of her bag. "I think I might know exactly the spell to do it with, and I'm pretty sure I have everything I need for it."

"She's going to do a spell?" Finn asked, looking around.

"What did you tell him?" Rachel asked Puck.

"Just the basics," Puck answered.

"I'm so confused," Finn said, shaking his head.

"What else is new?" Santana replied.

"We're all a little confused right now," Mike said.

"How are you feeling?" Rachel quietly asked Quinn. "You know—about everyone knowing?"

Quinn sighed and asked, "If I fail, it won't really matter, will it?"

"Are you ready?" Brittany asked.

Quinn nodded. She wasn't too certain about this, but it was the best they had at the moment. They were wasting too much time just standing there; they needed to do something. She trusted that Brittany knew what she was doing, though. There was just a lot that could go wrong with it once the spell was cast.

"Remember, you can't let any of them touch you or they'll know," Brittany reminded her.

"I know," Quinn replied.

"I'll do it on the count of three," Brittany said. "One—two—three—"

Brittany blew the mixture she'd been working on in Quinn's face as she recited the spell. After only a few seconds, Quinn's body began to tingle and she felt completely weightless. Her vision turned blurry and she closed her eyes, imaging the place she wanted to be just as Brittany had instructed. When she opened her eyes, she was just outside the school, standing behind two vampires, who didn't seem to realize she was there yet.

"Hey," Quinn said before she began running.

The two vampires shouted and started following her. Thankfully, she had a slight head start, so they were about five yards behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that several others were running after her, abandoning their post. She continued running, trying to get them as far away from the door as she could before the spell wore off. If all went according to plan, she would buy everyone enough time to get to the school without being seen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her friends running toward the school. She looked over and saw that Puck was lagging slightly behind, her body draped over his shoulder. It was a weird sight to see, but Brittany's spell caused Quinn to astral project, leaving her physical body behind. Since she could move her body and there wouldn't be enough time after she went back into it, someone had to carry her, and Puck had volunteered, saying he was the strongest.

She was running as fast as she could, but she was about to run into another group of vampires. She made a slight detour, barely dodging one of them, and began leading them toward the side of the school. If she could just get them all around the corner, she figured they would be in the clear. Just before she reached the corner, though, she felt a weird sensation through her, and she knew the spell was wearing off. Brittany had warned her that it would only last a minute or so because her natural state was to be in her body, and it was hard to sustain being apart for very long. After a few more seconds, she began to tingle again and when she blinked, she found herself slung over Puck's shoulder as he ran with her into the school.

"You can put me down now," Quinn said, tapping Puck's shoulder.

Puck set her feet on the ground and then put his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. "You're a lot heavier than you look."

Quinn scoffed and punched his shoulder. "I'm not heavy!"

"You try running with you, then," Puck replied, standing up, and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Quinn rolled her eyes and began walking down the hallway, which was illuminated by the emergency lights. "Come on, guys. We need to get to the training room."

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, catching up to her, and falling in step with her.

"I'm fine," Quinn answered.

"You're sure?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded and said, "That was just a little surreal."

"I can imagine," Rachel replied. "It was for me, too—watching you running around the school while Puck was carrying you. But at least it worked and no one saw us come in. Or at least I assume they didn't."

"I think if they did, they'd already be in here," Quinn said, glancing over her shoulder.

It was a relief that they had made it into the school. She doubted the rest was going to be any easier, but at least now they would have more supplies. And with nine people, they were going to need them. The least she could do was make sure everyone was well equipped to go into battle. Maybe then they would stand a chance of surviving it.

"Where're we going?" Finn asked.

"Training room," Puck answered.

"What training room?" Kurt asked.

"It's in the Cheerios' locker room," Rachel answered.

"Is that why you're always disappearing into there?" Kurt asked. "I always thought maybe you were just having sex."

"Dude!" Finn said, frowning at Kurt.

"What?" Kurt asked. "You know they're together, and that is something together people do."

"I can assure you that is not what we were doing in there," Rachel replied, and Quinn could see her cheeks visibly redden.

"Can we stop talking about this?" Quinn asked as she walked into the locker room.

"I second that," Rachel added.

When she opened the door to the training room, she was surprised to find her Watcher inside. The room was fairly dark, lit only by one emergency light and the red glow from outside. Unfortunately, it wasn't dark enough for Coach Beiste not to see the group of people behind Quinn.

"Did you bring the whole neighborhood?" her Watcher asked after a few moments.

"Something like that," Quinn replied.

"What's Coach doing here?" Finn asked from somewhere behind her.

"We need all the weapons we can get," Quinn said to her Watcher, ignoring Finn's question.

"We should just run in there," Puck said.

"I may be new to this, but something tells me that's not the best course of action," Kurt replied.

"Only if you have a death wish," Santana said.

"I don't know about Puck, but I definitely don't, so let's come up with another plan," Kurt replied.

"I wouldn't call 'just running in there' a plan," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"What all can this Dustin guy do?" Mike asked, looking around. "You said he's a warlock, but what exactly does that entail?"

"That means he can probably kill you before you have a chance to take one step," Santana stated. "You saw what Britts could do out there."

"And she's only been a witch for a year," Tina added.

"Okay, so we don't wanna piss this guy off," Finn replied. "What do we do, then?"

Quinn's stood back as she listened to her friends bicker as they discussed what they were going to do. She didn't join in on the discussion, though; instead, she remained silent as she looked up at the window.

The window was above her head, so she couldn't see anything other than the sky, but that told her enough. The clouds were swirling in weird patterns, all converging above the football field. Her Watcher had informed her that Dustin was standing directly in the middle of it, surrounded by the vortex that crackled with lightning. She had walked out into the locker room to take a look outside. Sure enough, it was exactly as Beiste had said.

The earth around him was cracked and part of one of the bleachers had collapsed. Lightning constantly flickered, and every now and then, it would strike further out, sometimes hitting the bleachers or even the school. The earthquakes still continued and the crashes from the lockers hitting the ground would echo through the halls. She had no idea what the rest of the town was like, but she doubted it was any better, and it was probably only going to get worse if she didn't act soon.

"Are you okay?" Beiste asked her, causing her to look up.

"Yeah," Quinn answered.

"What're you doing over here?" Beiste asked.

"Sitting," Quinn answered.

"That much is obvious, kid," Beiste replied. "Why aren't you over there with yer friends?"

"Because I know what I have to do," Quinn said with a sigh.

Beiste nodded and said, "It's hard, ain't it? Knowing what you need to do, and havin' to work up the nerve to do it."

She looked at Rachel, who had been oddly quiet since they walked into the training room. The brunette had been pouring over books with her brows furrowed in concentration. She knew it was because Rachel knew what Quinn had to do, but she was trying to come up with another solution. Unfortunately, Quinn didn't think there was one. She was going to have to walk through that vortex, avoid being hit by the lighting, and then she was going to have to fight Dustin. And she was going to have to do it alone because she wasn't going to risk someone else's life when she didn't even know how she was going to make it through.

"What if we, like, drive a car through and hit him with it?" Finn loudly said over Santana and Puck, who were arguing.

"Do you really think that would work?" Kurt asked, sounding exasperated.

"It might," Finn said with a shrug.

"Dude, really?" Puck asked.

"You come up with a better plan!" Finn angrily replied,

Quinn took a deep breath and stood up, saying, "I already have a plan."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Mike asked.

"Because she knows we're not going to like it," Rachel softly stated.

Quinn locked eyes with Rachel for a moment and then looked back to the rest of the group. "If I'm going to be able to kill Dustin, I'm going to have to go where he is."

"To the vortex?" Tina asked. "How are you ever going to get through it?"

"Yeah, it's all spinny," Finn replied.

"Not to mention the lightning, which will fry your ass," Santana added.

"They're right," Rachel said. "How are we going to make it through that?"

"There is no 'we' with this," Quinn replied. "I'm going in there alone."

"What are we going to do, then?" Puck asked.

"You're going to fight everything else," Quinn answered. "There are still vampires and demons around the school."

"Okay, but what's your plan for getting through that out there?" Kurt asked.

"Actually, I may be able to help with that," Brittany chimed in.

Her friend walked to her bag, which was sitting on the counter, and pulled out a different spell book from earlier. As she rifled through the pages for whatever she was looking for, Rachel took Quinn's hand and led her to the other side of the room, away from all their friends.

"I don't like the thought of you going in there and facing him alone," Rachel whispered, the worry evident in her brown eyes.

Quinn sighed and said, "I don't think I have a choice."

"But if you just give me a little more time, I'm confident I can come up with a different solution," Rachel replied.

"I don't know how much time we have left," Quinn stated. "The sooner we do this, the better."

"But—"

"Rachel, I know you're worried, but you have to trust me," Quinn said. "Everything is going to be okay."

"I do trust you," Rachel softly replied.

Quinn pulled her girlfriend closer, kissing her forehead before wrapping her arms around Rachel and resting her cheek against her dark hair. She hoped she hadn't just lied to Rachel after promising to never lie to her again.

Quinn looked around at her friends as they chose their weapons. She wouldn't have blamed them if they backed out, but everyone looked determined. Even Mike, Finn and Kurt, who had all been thrown into everything only hours ago, were suiting up for battle. She knew it was all a lot to take in, but here they were. Even her Watcher was preparing to fight.

She almost wanted to laugh as Finn held a stake the wrong way, looking uncertain as he put it in his back pocket. Kurt, however, had two small swords and was twirling them around like he had been doing it his whole life. Mike was swinging a staff around and nodded in approval when he stopped. Thankfully, with what she brought from Rachel's and what was in the training room, there were plenty of weapons to go around.

"Everyone, make sure you have multiple stakes," Rachel announced. "There are many vampires out there, and other than beheading them with a sword, it is the easier way to kill them."

"Cool, a crossbow!" Finn said.

Just as Quinn was about to tell him to drop it, he shot an arrow toward the ceiling, hitting the light in the middle of the training room. Kurt and Tina both ducked for cover as a few bits of glass fell. Without saying a word, Finn slowly put the crossbow back onto the counter and backed away with his hands held high.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"I think it would be best if you stuck with this," Rachel said, handing him a long sword.

"Or maybe something a little less pointy," Santana replied.

"He needs to protect himself," Rachel argued.

"Or he'll fall on it," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll be okay," Finn replied.

Quinn sighed, shaking her head. They were all so unprepared; even the people who knew this was coming. If only they'd had the next two weeks to prepare, maybe she would be feeling a little more confident about this. As it was, she couldn't help feeling like she was sending everyone to their death. Three of them had never even so much as fought a vampire before, and now they were going up against a dozen or more of them, not to mention the fact that she saw at least four different demons from the locker room window. Rachel had tried to quickly research them, but it was no use. They didn't have the time, and now her friends were going to have to fight demons with unknown powers.

"You're really quiet," Rachel said to her.

"I'm just—"

"Scared," Brittany said for her. "I know."

"Why do I feel like this is the last time I'm going to see everyone?" Quinn whispered.

"You can't think like that," Rachel replied. "We're all going to be together again. You'll see—we'll all be in the choir room together for Glee in a few weeks and you'll feel silly for ever thinking the contrary."

"I want to believe you," Quinn said.

"So believe me," Rachel stated. "We're not allowed to lie to each other, remember? I promise you everything will be okay."

"I thought you weren't so sure about this plan," Quinn reminded her.

"One of us has to stay positive," Rachel said, giving her a sad smile. "Besides, I trust that you know what you're doing."

Truthfully, Quinn never felt like she knew what she was doing. She just did the best she could and, thankfully, it had been enough to get her that far. She just hoped it was enough to get everyone through this; she didn't know if she could forgive herself if she let anyone in that room die

"Look at me, Quinn," Rachel instructed, putting her arms around Quinn's neck. "I just experienced the two most perfect days of my life and refuse to believe I'll never have another one like them. We're going to make it through this—we're all going to—because I simply will not accept anything else. We're going to stop this. I promise."

"I love you," Quinn said.

Rachel smiled. "And I love you."

Quinn looked over Rachel's shoulder and saw that everyone was just about ready to go. She then looked over at Brittany, who had finished preparing everything for what she was about to do. She knew it was time, but she couldn't seem to make herself say it. Not with Rachel in her arms, looking up at her the way she was.

"We need to go, don't we?" Rachel asked.

Quinn reluctantly nodded and said, "Yeah."

"Well, then, let's go out there and stop Dustin," Rachel replied, removing her arms from around Quinn's neck, and reaching down to squeeze her hand. "The sooner we do, the sooner we can go home."

Rachel marched to the door and everyone began to follow her. Most of them—particularly Finn and Mike—looked worried, but they all followed Rachel, nevertheless. In the end, only Quinn and Santana were left in the room.

"So this is it, Q," Santana said.

"It seems so," Quinn replied before looking over at the vampire. "Do your best to protect everyone, okay?"

She wanted to say 'especially Rachel' but she left that part out.

"I will if you will," Santana replied.

Quinn nodded. She knew it was hard for both of them; they were both going to have to trust the other to take care of the person they loved the most.

Rachel looked over her shoulder at Quinn and Brittany. Santana was instructing the group, but Rachel was only hearing every other word of it. As optimistic as she'd tried to be for Quinn, she couldn't help worrying this could be the last time she may see her. So many things could go wrong with this plan, and she hated that she had to be away from Quinn. She wanted to be fighting by her side, but Quinn and Brittany were going off together to find Dustin while the rest of the group was going to provide a distraction and attempt to take on the vampires and demons.

"Berry!"

Rachel hummed and looked at Santana. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Stay near me!" Santana repeated.

Rachel nodded and said, "Okay."

"Stay near your partner," Santana continued. "If you get in trouble just yell and someone will try to help. Remember, take a vampire's head off with a sword or put a stake in its chest. Beheading usually works for most demons, too, but you won't know until you try."

"I'll try and identify any of 'em out there," Beiste said. "If I know how to kill it, I'll holler."

"Let's go," Santana finally said, nodding toward the door.

With one last look at Quinn, who was waiting at one of the other doors next to Brittany, ready to run out when she got the signal. The blonde locked eyes with her, giving her a small smile. With a determined nod, Rachel turned and followed the rest of the group.

They waited at the door for a moment before Santana opened it and everyone began running toward the football field. Rachel tried to keep her sights on Santana while looking around to see how many enemies there were. Two vampires were already coming from the right, a demon was to the left of the group, and they were running right toward a whole pack of nasty things. She could tell the vampires were going to get to them first, so she pulled a stake from her waistband and gripped it tightly.

Puck and Kurt were the first two to get to the vampires, though, followed closely by Mike and Tina. Rachel gasped when one of the vampires hit Tina, knocking her to the ground, but she had to trust that her friends could handle it because Santana was running toward the demon and Rachel was supposed to stay near her.

Santana punched the yellow-skinned demon in the face, but it didn't seem to faze it. It opened its mouth in a grotesque smile, showing its very pointy, red tinged teeth, and something told Rachel she didn't want to know how they got that color. A moment later, Santana was flying through the air, landing on her back with a thud.

As the vampire stood up, Rachel exchanged her stake for the sword she had on her back and pulled it out with only a little difficulty. Santana walked toward the demon, hitting it several more times, but it still didn't appear to affect the demon. Rachel tried to swing the sword at it, but the demon blocked her strike and gripped her by the throat. She kicked at the demon, but considering she was far weaker than Santana, she doubted it even felt her blows.

"Glyeric!" Beiste yelled. "Its heart is in its stomach!"

With that, Santana grabbed the sword from her hand and jabbed it into the demons stomach. It instantly dropped Rachel and she barely landed on her feet. Dropping to her knees, she gasped for breath as Santana pulled the sword out of the bleeding demon.

"You okay?" Santana asked, pulling her up by her arm.

Rachel nodded quickly and said, "Yes."

"Good," Santana replied. "Duck."

Rachel didn't hesitate. She quickly ducked and looked back, where Santana had thrown a stake into the chest of one of the vampires that were coming for them. Rachel stuck her foot out, tripping one of the others as it ran by, and grabbed her stake again. Santana punched the female vampire several times, knocking it back toward Rachel, who thrust the stake into its back just as the other vampire was scrambling to get up from the ground.

As they killed the last vampire, Rachel could see Brittany and Quinn moving out of the corner of her eye. They were nearing the vortex, which was no longer protected by anything. They had all abandoned their post when the first group ran out, which was exactly what they'd hoped would happen.

More and more vampires were showing up, and Rachel assumed they heard the commotion from their positions around the school grounds. Thankfully, they weren't showing up all at once or they would have been completely overwhelmed by them. Santana was at the front of the group, dusting the majority of them. She had her vampire face on, though, which seemed to confuse the vampires that were appearing; most didn't seem to know which side she was on and would go after the humans, leaving her to stake them when their back was turned.

"Brittany is casting her spell!" Rachel called out to Santana.

"This better work!" Santana called back, kicking a vampire in the stomach, and turning to block the punch of another.

"Please let this work," Rachel whispered as she watched Quinn, praying this wasn't the last time she would see her alive.

Quinn felt the area around her warm and looked back to Brittany. The blonde had a single white pillar candle in her hands and was chanting under her breath, needing to repeat the same words over and over in order to sustain the spell. Quinn knew it was working; not only could she feel it, but she could see a light shimmering glow around her body.

With a deep breath, she walked toward the vortex that surrounded the warlock. It was about twenty yards in diameter and she wondered if there was a center to it or if the swirling winds went all the way through. Lightning continuously shot out from it, striking the ground near Quinn as she neared. Brittany assured her that the bolts of energy wouldn't harm her, but it was still a bit unnerving to see it strike so closely.

She stood just outside the vortex and slowly reached out, putting her hand into it. She had expected to feel the wind, but she felt nothing. The protective bubble surrounding was certainly working, so she stepped into the vortex. For a few seconds her vision was obscured by the fast winds, but then she stepped through the wall of it and into the eye of the storm. In the center was Dustin, his hands held high as he said something in a language she couldn't understand.

After a few moments, he seemed to sense her presence and stopped chanting. As he looked at Quinn, he lowered his arms and smirked. "Well, well, if it isn't the Slayer. I must admit I'm a little surprised you got this far."

"Don't be," Quinn replied, drawing her sword.

She knew she needed to make quick work of Dustin. Every moment Brittany kept the spell going was weakening the witch. She was using her energy, and any blow Dustin hit Quinn with would be absorbed by the bubble, but it would weaken Brittany that much more. Brittany had failed to tell Santana that that's how the spell worked, only telling Quinn once the other group had left. Brittany knew the vampire would never let her do it, and she also knew it was their best hope. Quinn was reluctant to go along with it, but it had been too late to change their plan.

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck Quinn and she staggered back at the impact, but didn't feel a thing. Dustin tilted his head, looking curiously at her and said, "The Shield Charm—interesting. I guess my sources were right; you do have a witch on your side."

Quinn didn't say anything; instead, she walked toward Dustin and tried to slash him with the sword, but he was quick and managed to avoid every swing. A moment later, he hit her with a jet of fire and followed it with a bolt of energy. It crackled around her but dispersed into nothing.

"How long can she keep it going?" Dustin asked, and Quinn rolled, dodging another energy bolt.

She knew she just needed to wait for the right moment. If she could pierce him with the sword, it would be over. He may be a warlock, but thanks to the Watcher's Council, she also knew he was only human.

The Council had sent Beiste an email just before the city lost power. They had finally found Dustin in the history books; he'd changed his name many times, but they found him. He had managed to keep himself alive for centuries with potions and magic, gaining followers as he moved from city to city. He had been around for a very long time, but he was still just another human, hungry for power, and it was going to be his downfall. Quinn was going to see to that.

He hurled several more bolts of energy at Quinn; she managed to dodge two of them but was hit with the third. She ran forward, swinging the sword. She nicked Dustin's arm and it began to bleed, but just then, the ground began to rumble under Quinn's feet, sending her off balance. Something felt like it was coming up directly from beneath Quinn and the ground began to split, cracking between her feet and creating a small chasm.

"You're too late!" Dustin called.

Quinn jumped to the right as the small chasm began to widen, a strange roaring sound coming from it. This time, the shaking didn't stop and it was so strong that Quinn found it hard to move. Fortunately, Dustin also seemed to be affected by it, looking unsteady on his feet.

"I know your secret, you know!" Quinn called out. "You're human."

Dustin's eyes flashed as he looked at Quinn. A few seconds later, a gigantic tentacle emerged from the hole and the roaring got louder. Quinn flinched at the sound and slowly pulled a dagger from behind her back, keeping it hidden from the warlock.

"What makes you think that isn't going to kill you?" Quinn asked.

"Because whoever raises it controls it," Dustin said. "Then I'll have all the power I could desire."

He sent a stream of fire at her; she tried to get out of the way, but she didn't have anywhere to go. It hit her in the chest and she could see the light around her begin to flicker. The spell was starting to fail, which meant Brittany was becoming too weak to sustain it. She knew Dustin noticed because his eyes narrowed and a smile appeared on his face.

Raising his hand, he sent another energy bolt at Quinn. At the same moment, she flung the dagger at Dustin, hitting him in the chest. Quinn saw the look of surprise on his face and less than a second later she felt the spell hit her. This time, though, she felt the full effects of it. The energy crackled through her body, and moments later, everything faded away.

It seemed to happen in slow motion as Rachel watched in horror as Brittany collapsed onto the football field. She looked over at Santana to see if the other girl had noticed, but the vampire was busy fighting two demons at once. When Rachel looked back toward Brittany, she saw no movement from the blonde and she could only assume the worst. She began rushing over to her, but she only made it three steps when something grabbed her from behind, flinging her onto the ground.

Rachel felt dazed as she looked up and it wasn't just because she'd hit the ground hard. Her mind was reeling, thinking about Brittany and what it probably meant for Quinn. Her whole body was going numb at the thought and she found it difficult to move. When she did try to stand, though, she was pushed back down by the vampire, who leaned down, pinning her hands over her head. But just as he began to lean down, he was suddenly thrown off her, and she looked over to find Puck wrestling him to the ground.

When Rachel looked up, everyone was still fighting. No one seemed to notice Brittany lying on the ground or the fact that the vortex seemed to be losing power. When she looked over at Puck again, the vampire was on top of him, but turned to dust a second later as Kurt hovered over him, clutching a stake in his hand.

"Santana!" Rachel hoarsely called.

The vampire didn't seem to hear her; she continued fighting the two demons, slashing one in the throat with a sword, spraying orange colored blood onto the ground.

"Santana!" Rachel yelled more loudly.

Rachel finally got to her feet again just as Santana looked her way. She then began running toward Brittany and she knew Santana wasn't far behind. As she was running, the vortex began ascending into the sky and she could finally see Quinn. Her girlfriend was lying on the ground, as immobile as Brittany was. Not far from her was Dustin, whose clothes were covered in blood, and she knew Quinn had managed to kill the warlock.

"Quinn!" Rachel called, bypassing Brittany.

She knew Santana would see to it that Brittany would be okay if there was anything to be done. Rachel's only thought was on seeing if Quinn was alive. Before she got to Quinn, tears was streaming down her cheeks, blurring her vision. As she all but slowed to a stop a few feet from Quinn, she could hear Santana yelling behind her. However, there was a dull buzzing in her ears and she couldn't seem to make out what the vampire was saying.

As she looked down at Quinn, she couldn't tell if she was breathing or not and she was afraid to check. Quinn looked so peaceful lying there and it was easy to imagine that she was simply sleeping. Slowly, though, she knelt down and reached her hand out, taking Quinn's hand in her. The blonde didn't move at her touch and Rachel cried as she moved her fingers toward Quinn's wrist to check for a pulse.

But there was none.

Rachel looked around frantically, but there was no one else around. Santana was the nearest and she was cradling Brittany head in her lap. Rachel could see that she was moving but just barely. She wanted to yell for help, but the words seemed to be lodged in her throat, and when she looked back down at Quinn, she did the only thing she could think of.

She began doing chest compressions on Quinn. She had no idea what she was doing or what had happened to Quinn, but it was all she could think to do. As she continuously pushed down on Quinn's chest, her tears dripped onto her hands. She could barely see what she was doing as she fumbled to check for a pulse again. There was still no sign of a heartbeat, so Rachel went back to the chest compressions as she let out a small sob.

"Rachel," she heard Kurt quietly say behind her.

She looked over her shoulder as Puck knelt down next to her. He reached out to still her hands, but Rachel jerked them away.

"No!" Rachel yelled, continuing what she had been doing.

"You've been doing this for fifteen minutes," Puck whispered.

Rachel shook her head; she had no idea it had been that long, but she didn't care. She wasn't going to stop until Quinn opened her eyes. She wasn't going to let anyone stop her, either.

"She's gone, Rachel," Puck said, moving to stop her again.

"She's not dead!" Rachel yelled, throwing herself onto Quinn.

"She is," Puck quietly replied.

"Quinn, you have to wake up," Rachel said, looking down at her girlfriend. "Please, wake up."

"Rachel," Kurt said, coming up to her other side.

"Wake up!" Rachel loudly said, hitting Quinn's chest.

Rachel, Kurt, and Puck all jumped back as Quinn opened her eyes with a gasp. Rachel stared at Quinn in complete disbelief before throwing herself at Quinn, crying on top of her.

"Hey," Quinn whispered, putting her hand on Rachel's back.

"I thought I'd lost you," Rachel said between sobs.

"I thought you had, too," Quinn replied.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Rachel demanded, lifting her head to look at Quinn.

"At least it's over," Quinn replied.

Rachel gave a watery laugh as she sat up. "I suppose that is true." She extended her hand and Quinn took it, sitting up as well. "What do you want to do now that you stopped the apocalypse?"

Quinn gave her a soft smile as she entwined their fingers together and said, "Let's go home."

Okay, so, obviously I'd like to give you a happier ending than this, but it's impossible to do when they're in the middle of their junior year and stuck in Lima. Anyone who watches Buffy, though, knows what this means. And if you haven't watched what is wrong with you?

You may want to add me to your follows or pay attention to my tumblr or just check back every now and then because my current plan is to eventually do a few more things with this series. I may not be continuing on like I hoped originally, but I do want to give them the ending I'd always planned. As of right now I'm thinking I'll do a couple one shots or maybe just a short third story.

Thanks to those of you who have continued reading and especially to those who have commented. Your comments have meant a lot and made me feel like I wasn't completely wasting my time with this story, so thanks for sticking with me.