Disclaimer: Already said it.

Author's note: So I've already gotten followers to this story when I've barely even gotten to the true meat and grit of this story. I guess some of you are eager to know what's going to happen. I hope I don't disappoint you. As I said last chapter, much of the mythology of both series will be largely intact, but for the Buffyverse, some of the mythology will lean a little bit towards Lords of Shadow, so as to actually draw off of where the myths actually came from. And in all honesty, in regards to Buffyverse mythology, you're bound to run out of ideas for demons before you start imitating the mythology and calling it your original idea. Anyway, on with the story.

En route to the Bronze

Sunnydale

Jesse walked along the darkened streets of Sunnydale towards the only club that people could enjoy. He had always thought Sunnydale a very strange place to be in as he grew older. It wasn't so much the fact that the town was boring as watching paint dry. Really, it was usually the fact that he had heard the rumors about the death-rate of the town and it had disturbed him greatly. He remembered that from time to time, some students would be new to the school, and then suddenly leave not long after a particular incident. He could chock this up to an extreme paranoia but he always knew for sure that there was something about this town that he couldn't put his finger on. As he came to an alleyway near the Bronze, he stopped in his tracks, cold. He wasn't quite sure why, but he knew that something wasn't sitting well with him. As he turned around to see behind him, he saw a lone figure wearing a hood, standing and looking directly at him.

"Hey man. I don't want any trouble! If you're looking for cash, I don't have any," Jesse lied hoping this stranger would leave him be.

"I'm not seeking any currency or anything of monetary value. I have been looking for you, Jesse McNally," the stranger replied in a deep, Romanian male accent. Jesse stood stock still as he began to think that this stranger has been stalking him.

"Hey, if you're a pants-dropper, I don't get down that way!" Jesse shouted hoping someone heard him.

"Heh heh. You're as funny as your friend Alexander. Don't worry. I'm not here to do any harm to you, or him for that matter. I wanted to give you something. No doubt your friend has already received his gift from the other," the man said.

"What? What are you talking about?!" Jesse asked confused, despite himself.

"It's funny. Whenever I think about humanity, I think about the choices that everyone is capable of making. I remember when I made the greatest choice that made me what I am today. And now I'm here to make sure that you don't fall to a worse fate and carve a path to a better one. Things are going to fall apart for this place. And you will be needed," the stranger explained.

"You're still not making any sense dude," Jesse replied.

The stranger approached him as if without care, because he was on a mission and it had to be done. As he came to stand three feet in front of Jesse, he removed his hood. The stranger had paled skin which was fairly smooth. He had long hair dark-brown hair that reached to his shoulders. He also sported a goatee which connected with his mustache. As Jesse got a good look at the rest of him, he noticed that the man seemed to be wearing what appeared to be armor that covered most of his body except for his head. On the stranger's chest appeared to be a skull with a sharp-pointed chin. There were gauntlets that reached just below the stranger's wrists which revealed his hands, which had fingerless gloves. The armor itself was covered in what appeared to be a red cloak. What caught Jesse's interest about this man's appearance were the numerous items adorning him, such as the daggers, and orbs that seem to be filled with water. Even stranger was that this guy carried what looked like a sword on his left hip, and then there were his eyes. His eyes seemed to glow with an unholy shade of red, which was terrifying Jesse.

"Who the hell are you?!" Jesse asked as he began to back away.

"My name...is Gabriel," the stranger said looking deadly serious at the young man.

"As in the Angel? Oh man...I can't believe...I mean my folks always said that-" Jesse was cut off as Gabriel raised a hand to tell him to stop.

"No. Believe me. I'm NO Angel. But as I said, I'm not here to hurt you, so you can stop babbling the way your redheaded friend does," Gabriel replied.

"Alright, so what did you want to give me?" Jesse asked, even knowing that this was likely a bad idea.

"The first is something you would not believe was possible. So hold still," Gabriel said coming closer to Jesse.

"Wait, wha-AAAAAGH!" Jesse screamed as Gabriel placed a hand on the young man's chest, where sparks of red energy were emanating from. When the sensation subsided, Jesse was panting heavily.

"Whoa! What a rush! I feel stronger and...different. What was that?!" Jesse asked with excitement.

"You'll know in time. Until then, keep your wits about you. Oh, and watch out for the blonde in the schoolgirl uniform. You'll know what I mean when you see her," Gabriel said as he turned and began walking away. Jesse stood up and turned to continue heading towards the Bronze. When he turned about around to address the older man, Jesse found that he was gone. He never even heard the man's footsteps. 'This town just gets weirder' he thought to himself.

He finally arrived at the Bronze and noticed that it was a bit more packed than usual. He paid the cover charge and walked in and heard the alternative rock music filling the building. As he looked at the stage, he saw the band Sprung Monkey, a personal favorite of his, performing and the crowd was loving every minute of it. He spotted Willow by herself at their usual table. He always thought that Willow was cute and adorable and would've made a move on her. But he could see that she was madly head over hills for Xander. He decided to let things go their course for the time being.

"Hey Jesse," she said flashing that brilliant smile of hers. Whenever he saw it, Jesse's heart would melt just a little because it was a genuine smile. He could see subtle hints of affection towards those she cared about, particularly towards Xander. And whenever he thought of the two, his heart died a little. Still he kept strong.

"Hey Wills. How's my favorite girl tonight?" he asked humoring her.

"Well, the band is always cool. And as usual, no guys trying to get an all-access pass to Willow's World," she replied, a little melancholically.

"Hey, don't say that. I'm sure someone likes you. Maybe they're just shy," Jesse said, trying to be subtle with Willow. Despite his crush on Cordelia, he had held true affection for the Jewish redhead. His infatuation with Cordelia was more his way of trying to move on.

"I don't know Jesse. I just get tired of everyone seeing me as some mousy girl that can't get a date, let alone talk to a cute guy," Willow said looking down. Jesse knew she meant Xander but chose not to comment.

"Hey, it's gonna be alright. Come on, let's dance," Jesse said, rubbing the space on her back between her should blades.

"Thanks. You go on ahead and mingle. I'll be fine," she replied. Jesse hated leaving her alone like this, but decided to give her some space. He knew that Xander's presence would be the thing that would jar her out of her misery. Jesse couldn't really so anything, so he settled for patting her shoulder before setting off to find a girl to hang with.

Jesse's attempts at flirting weren't going as well as he'd hoped. Every girl he tried talking to either looked like she was taken or she was just annoyed by him. When he chanced a glance at Willow, he saw that Buffy was with her and she had perked up considerably. As he looked up, he saw the school librarian looking down form the balcony. He thought it odd as Xander had described the man to be 'stuffy and British' to really be in a place like the Bronze. The band began playing a slightly faster song as the drummer played a beat similar to a marching band. As the lead guitarist began playing smoothly, Jesse began looking for more ladies. Soon the bass guitarist joined in a a semi-hardcore fashion. The song made for a nice alternative rock piece. Soon the lead singer began the song. Jesse spotted his crush not too far away and decided to maybe try and get her attention again. He heard her talking about some thing or another involving her mother. He didn't really care much but he just enjoyed her reactions to his come-ons.

"Hey Cordelia!" Jesse greeted excitedly.

"Oh good, it's my stalker," Cordelia said sarcastically to her friend.

"You look great as always. You wanna dance?" he asked.

"No. But I'm glad we had this chat. Now shoo!" Cordelia said giving him the brush-off.

"Okay. No worries. Plenty of fish in the sea. Oh yeah. I'm on the...who am I kidding," Jesse said, his act deflating with him.

As he moved towards one of the walls of the club, he noticed a blonde girl smiling at him. She was looking at him with a sultry gleam in her eyes that he barely recognized. As he got a good look at her, he noticed that she was wearing a dark blue sweater and a plaid skirt. He thought back to Gabriel's words and immediately started feeling fear. He wasn't sure what to think of this development; whether or not Gabriel may have paid this girl to stalk him or if this is some sick joke.

"Hi," she said in a voice just as sultry as the look in her eyes.

"Hi. I'm Jesse," he said reaching his hand out.

"Darla. It's a pleasure," she said taking his hand. He immediately noticed how cold it was. He had known people who were anemic but Darla's hands were practically freezing. He wondered if Gabriel was really setting him up for something. He felt something was off about Darla but he couldn't really tell for sure what it was.

"It's amazing how much this song speaks about birth. If one thinks hard enough, it also applies to rebirth," she added.

"Yeah. It's really cool. They're one of the best bands around. So do you live around here? I don't think I've seen you before," Jesse started.

"No. I'm just visiting family. Maybe you could meet them?" Darla said batting her eyes at the young man.

"Um...we just met. We don't even know each other," Jesse said. He missed Buffy passing him as she headed out of the club.

"Well, why don't you come with me and we can get to know each other really well," Darla said taking him by the hand and leading him out of the club.

Outside of the Bronze, Xander was finally approaching the building after getting over his encounter with Whistler. He wasn't sure what the hell the man was or how he did what he did. But one thing Xander knew for sure was that he felt stronger and different. He felt like the world around him had been opened up to him. It was a little overwhelming at first but then he found that if he focused enough, it would lessen the strain on his senses. As he was approaching the entrance, he spotted Buffy moving past him.

"Hey Buffy. Leaving already?" Xander asked as she approached. As she got closer, he felt something off about her, the closer she got. She could see a slightly dark and dingy aura coming from her. He shook his head to clear away the weird thoughts.

"Xander have you seen Willow?" Buffy asked in return.

"Not yet. Why?" Xander responded.

"I need to find her. She left with a guy," Buffy explained, gaining a shocked look from Xander.

"Wow. Way-to-go Will! Scoring at the Bronze!" Xander said, happy for his friend, not knowing what was going on.

"Xander focus! We need to find her! This guy could be dangerous!" Buffy said hoping to impress the seriousness upon him.

"I hope he's not a vampire because then you'd have to slay him, right?" Xander said, gaining Buffy's attention.

"Was there a school newsletter? Is there anyone who doesn't know about that I'm the slayer?" Buffy asked rhetorically.

"You're serious?" Xander asked not liking where this was going. As he thought about his question, he remembered his encounter with Whistler as well as his enhanced senses and what he saw coming from Buffy. He began to think on what exactly was going on in this town that a young girl would call herself a vampire slayer, let alone their being actual vampires.

"You know what? Follow me," Xander told Buffy heading away from the Bronze.

At one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries, Willow was following the guy she was talking to in the Bronze, named Thomas. She was honestly feeling pretty weirded out by the whole deal as she had never seen this guy before. She regretted her choice in following him out of the club.

"Well, this is nice...and scary. Where are we going exactly?" Willow asked, not getting an answer from him. He stopped in front of a mausoleum and reached out asking Willow to follow. She walked inside hoping this wouldn't lead anywhere as he took her hand.

"Ever been inside one of these before?" he asked, trying to play the cool guy act.

"Not till today. Well this was fun. Gotta go, bye," Willow rattled off and made to exit, only for the guy to grab her roughly and pull her back in, making her fall to the floor.

"Uh...what are we doing here?" Jesse's distinct voice asked as he walked in the mausoleum with a blonde girl Willow had never seen before.

"Jesse!" Willow shouted.

"Willow?" Jesse asked confused.

"What are you doing here?" he asked his friend.

"I could ask you the same thing. These two led us here and it seems weird," Willow answered.

'You're telling me,' Jesse thought as he recalled his entire night.

"We should get out of here," Willow said, only to see Darla blocking their escape.

"No one goes anywhere until we've FED!" Darla responded, with her face morphing into something monstrous.

'THIS is what Gabriel meant?! What the hell is she?!' Jesse asked himself as he felt a strange reaction in his body. Whatever Gabriel had done to him earlier was starting to kick in, almost as if responding to something within. Outside the mausoleum, Xander and Buffy were approaching. Xander himself was beginning to feel the effects of what Whistler did to him kick in as well. At the same time, he felt several different powers in the immediate vicinity. 'What the hell is going on?' he wondered as he and Buffy came to an open mausoleum.

"They're in there. We have to hurry!" Xander said. As he and Buffy entered, they saw the morphed faces of Darla and the vampire Willow left the Bronze with, while Willow was looking frightened beyond belief, and Jesse, strangely, was looking more primed than scared.

"Well, this is nice," Buffy says.

"You know with some decorations, throw pillows and furniture, this place can be called home," Buffy quipped, while Xander and Jesse looked at each other confused then at Buffy strangely.

"Who the hell are you?" Darla asked as she circled around Buffy trying to get close to Xander.

"Wow! So there's someone in this town who doesn't know who I am. Good. Because having a secret identity in this town is WAY too much-" Buffy was cut off as Xander launched a haymaker at the side of Darla's head knocking her to the side.

"Work?" Buffy said confused as no one she ever tried to help was brave enough to attack a vampire first. Even the other vampire was surprised by Xander's audacity.

"We SO don't have time for this," Xander said looking pointedly at Buffy.

"Point taken," Buffy said taking her stake out of it's place and approaching the vampire boy, Thomas.

As the slayer and vampire boy began fighting, Darla came to and snuck up behind Xander and grabbed him, putting him in a full-nelson. However, Xander put his arms up, bent down and slipped out of her hold, which allowed Jesse time to approach her and swing. As his fist connected with the vampiress' face, she flew towards the right wall of the mausoleum. As Jesse marveled at what he did, he noticed that red sparks of energy were surrounding his fist. Willow noticed it as well but didn't think further as she noticed Buffy had dusted Thomas. Buffy began fighting Darla, when Jesse noticed another presence sneaking up on the slayer.

"Xander, take Willow and go!" Jesse demanded. Xander almost objected until he noticed the same presence. Xander and Willow left the mausoleum and were making their way out of the cemetery when they spotted other vampires, dragging someone away. As they got a look at the victim, they realized the vampires were carrying away their classmate...

"Jonathan?!" Willow shouted, getting the vampires' attention. Xander moved away from Willow and approached the two vampires, who dropped their classmate.

The vampires began throwing punches at the young man, who managed to barely avoid their hits. In his head, he heard a voice that sounded strangely like Whistler's telling him how to avoid them. He was improving in the fight, and even threw punches that not only hit the vampires but had arcs of blue energy surrounding his fists. The vampires had enough and cleared out before he could do anything else.

"Jonathan! Are you alright?!" Xander asked as the shorter young man was coming to.

"Xander? What are...how did...why are we in the cemetery?" Jonathan asked trying to regain his bearings.

"Those guys attacked us. They were...uh..." Xander trailed off, looking to Willow who looked just as freaked out as their classmate.

"They were vampires weren't they?" Jonathan responded.

"How did you-" Xander began to ask.

"I've heard rumors from some of the adults. And the murders in this town makes sense if you known what information to look for," Jonathan responded. Xander was surprised by the mention but didn't question it for the moment.

Back in the mausoleum, another vampire named Luke had snuck up behind Buffy trying to gain an advantage, only for jesse to knock him off of Buffy. Luke had noticed the energy that was emanating off of Jesse. He realized that this could be more trouble than the slayer that he tried to take on. Luke fled out of the mausoleum with Darla right behind him. Jesse went to check on Buffy who seemed barely worse for wear after the fact. He was amazed that they had even survived considering what they had gotten into .

"You okay Buffy?" Jesse asked her.

"Yeah. What about you? How did you do that?" she asked in return.

"You got me. We need to find the others quick," Jesse surmised, exiting the mausoleum with Buffy in tow.

As the pair made their way towards the end of the cemetery, they spotted Xander, Willow, and Jonathan, whom Jesse immediately recognized.

"The hell happened to you man?" Jesse asked Jonathan.

"These two vampires jumped me when I was leaving the Bronze. When I woke up, I saw Xander and Willow and the vampires left. What are we going to do now?" the shorter teenager asked.

"We go home. We're safe for now. But these guys need to be dealt with sooner or later," Buffy answered.

"We can go to my house. My parents are out of town. They won't notice a thing," Jonathan offered.

As the five teens came to the Levinson residence, Buffy parted ways with them telling them that she needed to be home so that her mother would not worry. As the others remained, everyone called their parents, letting them now that they were safe. After the calls, everyone settled in for sleep, with Willow taking Jonathan's bed and the boys taking the floor. Sleep didn't come easy for any of them. Xander and Jesse had stayed awake, with the memories of the night still in their minds.

"Hey Xander," Jesse whispered so as not to wake Willow or Jonathan.

"Yeah man?" Xander responded.

"What the hell happened tonight?" Jesse asked.

"Well, we were attacked by monsters we thought existed in books and movies. And then found out the new girl had powers to take on vampires," Xander responded.

"No. Not that. I mean, Buffy I understand. She can kick serious ass. But I mean with us. Those weird powers we have. That wasn't normal," Jesse responded.

"Wait, were you visited by a badly dressed guy with a fedora by any chance?" Xander asked surprised.

"What? No. My guy looked like had just stepped out of the Dark Ages," Jesse responded.

"So we have similar powers then?" Xander asked completely serious now.

"Looks like. I guess that was you that I felt coming towards us when we got surrounded," Jesse thought out loud.

"I felt thing the same thing coming from you. You think this is all connected?" Xander asked his brother in all but blood.

"Considering what we saw tonight, just about anything is possible now," Jesse added just as seriously.

"Then I guess we need to speak to someone who knows this stuff," Xander said thinking of the one person who knows the most about Buffy.

"Who?" Jesse asked in kind.

"You'll see tomorrow. For now, we should sleep," Xander said closing his eyes. Jesse did the same.

As both young men fell asleep, their dreams were plagued by visions of death and destruction. On Revello Drive, Buffy was having similar visions as Jesse and Xander. They saw demons rise and humans die. They saw some of the most monstrous beasts come to destroy everything they all knew. Outside of the Levinson residence, Gabriel stood across the street as he reviewed what he saw of the young men tonight. He smiled as he knew both young men were capable of much as long as they could avoid the outcome that he suffered a millennia ago. With that last thought, he vanished in a puff of smoke, into the night.