(A.N.: hey all! *waves* i know, i know. it's been a long while since i've updated but real life likes to stop me from playing in my own sandbox, let alone S. Meyer's and Joss'. trust me, i've been trying to continue on word by word, sentence by sentence and chapter by chapter. i save every review alert, every follow author alert and every follow story alert. you guys are the main reason i even keep writing. so, thank you so much. mwah!

i recently read two reviews from dhh and i felt the need to address them publicly.

this story will NEVER be abandoned. never. end of story. life may distract me, i might get sick with mono for almost four months straight(do not kiss strange guys on New Year's Eve, girls), my original stories might take up most of my time set aside for writing but i have planned out the storyline even past Breaking Dawn. i wouldn't waste my time doing that to just abandon a story.

yes, it might 'suck' that i decided to pair together my two main characters in a story that is a supernatural romance*rolls eyes*, but newsflash: Willow is Edward's mate. it makes no sense to ignore S. Meyer's mythology just to make good drama. Willow ignored Edward as a human, she thought he was a prick and her Slayer senses heightened that feeling. even now when she's in love with him, she still isn't 'dazzled'. but he's still her mate and mates don't do the 'friend zone dance' we mortals do ;p they will seperate for a bit, Bella will enter the picture and there might be the faint traces of a triangle there but unless one of them dies, Edward and Willow are endgame. i was trying to be coy in my disclaimer, but that's the bottom line. sorry if it's a turn-off but you knew what you were getting into when you clicked on a story where the main character isn't Bella and her 'competition' became a vampire less than five chapters in.

and yes, Alice is a bitch. Rosalie's a bitch. Willow's pretty cunt-y. Edward and Jasper are raging assholes at times. Xander killed someone. Carlisle hit Willow. did you even bother to read the disclaimer? this isn't the Twilight world where insults and pushy behavior is meekly accepted and quickly forgiven. in the real world/the Buffyverse, people get angry and bear grudges and not everything comes to a nice and shiny conclusion where everyone gets a happy ending. if you read the Twilight novels and really get a good look at the characters, you'll see that they are all a big ball of fucked-up-ness. every single one of them is flawed and that's why i love them so much. like Willow says in Chapter 20, "There's no happily ever after for us. There's just this, forever, and we chase our tails and go on shopping sprees because what else is there for eternity?"

i LOVE that line. like, seriously. i don't think i'll ever write a line that good ever again. maybe it's vain but i gave myself chills when i wrote it. it's just so goddamn bleak but true for the Cullens. they just bounce around the same places, waiting until nobody remembers them before they go back, then spend a shitload of money on things to amuse themselves with because they never sleep or rest.

anywhoo... i just wanted to get that off of my chest. i welcome all reviews, honestly. flames, praise, whatever. but don't expect to slam my story with poor spelling and what seems to be a bit of a shitty attitude and not expect me to respond. and hey! if you would rather see my story or any other take a different turn, then go out and write your own version. i don't mind. that's how fanfiction started in the first place. Justagirl28 wrote an AMAZING story called Awakening the Elements, which is based off of Chemical Jane's The Heart At Its Darkest. so if you think you could write something better, go for it.

thanks for letting me vent *sheepish grin* - Josie *^_^* )

I swung my arm through the air gracefully, watching the axe I was holding cleave the head of a vampire from his neck. It's oddly beautiful seeing it disintegrate into ash before hitting the ground.

I look up and flash my boys a smile. Angel and Jasper are busy egging Xander on as he wails on the last vamp of the nest we came across.

I feel a tingle go down the back of my neck, a familiar tingle by now. I fire off a sharp whistle.

Xander quickly finishes off the vamp and pops up as I jog over.

I roll my eyes and gesture vaguely towards the rooftops. "He's watching and she's with him," I inform Angel.

Receiving a brief nod from him, I fall in line behind him in our regular diamond formation. Xander, always to Angel's right, Jasper, to his left and I'm at Jasper's right and Angel's back.

We make fast work of exiting the building and piling into the convertible. As we pull off, I settled into Jasper's waiting embrace.

Ever since Buffy's resurrection at the hands of Tara and Anya, the blonde Slayer and Spike have been making frequent trips to our turf, spying on us at night.

I refused to read their minds and all Jasper could sense was a maelstrom of negative and conflicting emotions coming from the pair. Not knowing what they were planning made him very protective while we were outside The Hyperion.

Ever since Angel had his 'moment of darkness', there was an obvious chasm between the two sides of Angel Investigations. Even though Angel had given up his spot as the boss to Wesley, Jasper, Xander, Fred and I only took orders from him. Jasper and Xander were more blatant, ignoring any commands until Angel repeated them. Fred and I chose to go along with whatever Wesley said as long as Angel didn't disagree.

The humans stayed and worked at the smaller office that Wesley leased except for Xander. Fred dropped in every other night to hang out, patrol, help research or spend the whole night doing all three things. The newest member of the group was also the one who passed on messages about Cordelia's visions.

After Gunn, Wesley and Cordelia were so quick to turn on us when Gunn's old gang went on a killing spree at Caritas, the already fragile working environment was even worse.

Angel recognized this and was quickly establishing the Hyperion as the go-to for any serious supernatural cases. Gunn and Cordy argued this move but Wesley, as a former Watcher, saw the wisdom in leaving the heavy lifting to creatures that were stronger and could survive and win against forces trying to upset the balance.

Oddly enough, everything was quiet on the home front which made me antsy. The first lesson I learned on the Hellmouth was 'aim for the heart'. The second was 'it's always quiet before the apocalyptic storm'.

A shiver went down my spine at that thought, thinking briefly about the situation going on in the room next to mine back at the Hyperion. Jasper caught my tense mood and dropped a quick kiss on my forehead.

His face is a mask of calm, doing more for my nerves than his powers ever could.

"Shhhhh, Tree. Darla and lil' C.J. are snug as a bug. You know that. Lorne and Fred just sent you a text less than ten minutes ago," he soothed.

I shook my head, hoping to shake my bad feelings away with the act.

"I know, I know, but Spike and Buffy hanging around at the same time Darla's due to give birth is just a train wreck waiting to happen. Plus, it's quiet," I explained.

Xander nodded in agreement as Angel stated, "Too quiet. It's not a Hellmouth but Los Angeles is a big city and two to three hours from Sunnydale. Dealing with nothing but nests for this long since…"

Angel let his voice trail off, not wanting to bring up the memories that came with the name Billy Blim.

Right before Darla came back to Angel after their 'moment of despair', we had to deal with the fallout from Angel's attempt to help Cordelia when her visions were being amplified by Wolfram and Hart.

The prisoner Angel freed, Billy Blim, was a half-demon spoiled rich brat who had the ability to cause human males to become misogynists by touch.

Faith came through town as an early birthday present and Oz came along on far better terms with Faith and me as a result. It took Gib Cain passing through town due to Veruca's inability to stay caged and keep people safe to show Oz his future if he kept letting the primal nature of the wolf rule his actions.

Faith was eager to 'get the band back together' and Oz was just as eager to make amends, so they helped Wesley and Fred figure out how Billy was able to transfer his virus of hate.

By touching cell samples, Oz and Wesley became enraged and they practically ignored Fred and I, focusing their anger on Faith.

I was able to form a barrier with my magic, too scared to risk hurting them by subduing them physically.

Until Angel came back with Lilah and Cordelia, we were trapped in Fred's room, forced to listen to Wesley and Oz verbally attack Faith for hours.

If Angel being too 'demony' for Cordelia, Gunn and Wesley was the beginning of the end, then Wesley blaming Faith for everything from Diana and Kanno's deaths to my own mini-death and saying it should have been her dead by Glory's hand was the finisher.

Faith took off the next night without a word, leaving only a hastily written note for Jasper and I. Esme was quick to inform us a week later that Faith, Rose and Em were all staying in Diana's old brownstone.

Oz spoke to Angel about that monastery in Sri Lanka, but Angel was quick to direct him towards Tibet.

Everything was already so broken and jumbled up by the time Darla came back.

Angel, Fred and I were getting our nerd on with translations while Xander and Jasper were doing their weekly stake-making/guy-bonding thing.

I was fetching some water and blood when Darla practically strutted into the building.

I froze out of shock at the huge bulge that was her pregnant stomach while the ice blonde looked me over from head to toe.

"Looks like my dear boy traded up for once. I do like being replaced by Volturi with style much more than I liked being replaced by a Slayer," she purred.

I glanced down at my outfit. Tight white tank top, plaid tartan miniskirt, white tights, navy suede Louboutin heels and my hair was yanked up into two high pigtails. I was looking the part of Catholic schoolgirl jailbait, just like Darla when she met Jesse.

I smirk at Fred's quiet 'eep!' as she darts into Angel's office. She was still in cave-girl mode, even with the boys around.

I set the pig's blood and bottle water down and hopped up on the counter as my guys scrambled for weapons at the sound of small, blonde and deadly being pure bitch.

I was more than okay with sitting back and watching them freak out over a pregnant Darla.

Between Angel's shock which quickly dissolved into awe at the thought of being able to have a child with his sire and Jasper's classic southern manners come out at the sight of a tiny pregnant woman, I barely noticed Xander slide over next to me.

"The moment it's born…," he trailed off quietly.

I stared off for a moment, ignoring the sharp teeth and blue-green demon that tried to grab my attention during every vision.

"You won't want to by then," I promised.

I was right. Only a few weeks had passed and Xander had seen how between having her old human soul for awhile and the soul of her unborn child currently influencing her, Darla had changed from the monster that killed Jesse.

She had still killed until coming to us, but she had to cope with the guilt from the things she did. Lorne and I were scared that after C.J. was born she would stake herself.

We pulled up to the Hyperion only to hear a bunch of loud voices, loud human voices.

I jumped out of the car before Angel could shut off the engine and ran into the lobby. What I saw stopped me cold.

"Bitch, get your hands off of her now or lose them," I snarled.

Jasper was right behind me, moving forward to gently move Darla away from a red-faced Buffy Summers.

"I don't care what your damage is. If you don't live here or come by on the regular, get the fuck out. I'm not Angel, I don't fight the good fight for redemption and I will kill you," I coldly stated.

Spike reached for Buffy's shoulder as she squared off, but she shrugged him off.

I smirked, "Listen to your friend, Billy Zane. He's a cool dude."

I hear Xander trying to muffle his giggles at my Zoolander reference. He taps me on my shoulder, "You love that shirt, Wills."

I shake my head, grinning at our theatrics. "Oh, yeah," I chirrup.

Making an exaggerated show of taking off Angel's thin, loose black cotton sweater that I turned into a half-shirt and wore over a white tank top, I turn back to see Buffy looking like she could spit nails while Lorne and Fred safely escorted Darla upstairs.

Now that Fred, Lorne and Darla are away from the center of the storm, I'm more than ready to hand the bitch her own ass on a platter but I let Xander do his thing. After Angelus' second coming due to happy pills, Xander tended to do a little monologue to talk me and Jasper up to make up for the fact that we looked like skinny high school students.

"Jasper senses your feelings and has been kicking ass since even before the Civil War, but you better not sleep on my Wills here. Telekinesis, telepathy, technopathy, visions, a natural polyglot, not to mention that her photographic memory and endless well of energy for spells; it's a heady cocktail. I'd tuck my tail and run, Slayer. I'd hate to see all of Anya and Tara's work wasted by your stupid mouth," Xander's calm tone had no trace of warmth for our former friend.

It seemed that Angelus' tried and true approach worked even in the context that Angel and Xander used it.

Xander's speech and the fact that even Spike, slayer of Slayers, seemed cautious must have gotten past Buffy's irrational anger over Darla being alive and pregnant with Angel's child.

She shrugged off his hand and stormed towards the front exit. Stopping briefly at the door, she spoke without turning around, "Message received. I'll stay out of your town and you stay out of mine. But I wouldn't be too cocky, Willow. Seems Alice and Edward aren't too happy with you two and they were more than grateful for the tip on where to find you."

I barely register the slam of the door and the tinkle of broken glass falling from the panes.

I turn to Jasper. "What the hell was that about," I spit out.

Jasper stiffens and reaches for me. "Lil' Tree, get behind me," he warns.

The broken doors get smashed beyond repair as two pale blurs race inside.

A super tiny brunette with crazy short hair and a tall, lanky guy with weird copper hair come to a stop in front of us.

The small chick is practically skull-fucking us with a glare, while the redhead has a blank look upon his face.

Even if I couldn't sense it, I could tell these two were like us by looks alone.

The florescent lights that somehow made Angel, Darla and Spike look warm and human didn't have the same effect on us. It made Jasper and I look chalky and drew out the many crescent-shaped bite marks on his flesh and the bite mark on my neck. The violet colored shadows under our eyes also stood out in this lighting. Jasper and I were sporting a very light dusting of the purple color since we fed only a few hours ago, but these two were way worse for the wear.

Their skin showed signs of starvation, their venom-filled veins were a dark purple that seemed almost black. With pitch black eyes to match and deep purple bags underneath them, this strange duo seemed like no threat to me.

I glare back at the small chick. "You broke my front door, bitch," I hiss.

The girl snarled at me and lowered into a crouch. I launched myself at her, I was sure that Jasper would be on the strange guy like white on rice. Somehow the thought of Jasper hurting the weird redhead made me a bit nervous, but the feeling soon disappeared.

I barely landed two hits on her and already I had her flying across the room. I began to stalk over to finish the job when a strong arm wrapped around my midsection, stopping me from moving any further. I was forced to watch the small woman get up slowly and walk over to the redhead.

I tensed until I smelled Jasper's unique scent. Relaxing in his grip, I stomped my foot. "Why did you stop me," I pouted.

Jasper sighed deeply, before explaining in a pained voice, "Because as much as they deserve to get an ass kicking from you, killing our mates is a little bit overkill."

"What," the midget cried shrilly.

Her partner placed his hands on her shoulders in what seemed to be an effort to calm her. "She made herself forget us, Alice," he informed her in a monotonous tone.

The tiny girl's face crumpled up as she stared at Jasper and I. "All of us," she cried out.

"No, just us."