Story: Dawning Radiance

Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romance/Action

Rating: T

Claimer: I own each and every one of the characters in this story, so please do not use them, as they are my babies...enjoy!

I padded down the cream carpeted hallway, almost too lost in thought to hear the door open and close in front of me, stopping just short of being hit by it.

Standing at the door with a small smile on his face was Nate (I doubt the other one could manage a smile) and when I made eye contact with him, his smile got a little bigger "Morning" he greeted, moving to walk beside me "Morning" I grumbled back.

We walked past multiple other doors in silence, when Nate glanced at me out of the corner of his eye "I heard about Valshe" he commented, watching as my body became a bit rigid "Oh?" I questioned, trying not to bite my cheek; apparently everyone had heard about it.

He nodded easily and shrugged "Mhmm, she was telling me about it earlier; she's kind of mad, but I think you should try talking to her about it you know? Just tell her why you did what you did and I'm sure she'll understand" he suggested, stretching his long arms above his head and closing his eyes.

Because of his lack of attention- or maybe the holy Ethereals weren't all as graceful as they thought they were- he just missed the first step with his foot and tripped, quickly unfurling his wings and sending a powerful gust to the ground to keep him from falling.

For a moment, we simply stared at each other; Nate blushing in slight embarrassment, before I burst into laughter "Real smooth Nephil, real smooth!" I laughed out, moving aside to dodge his playful punch "Shut up!" he chuckled lightly, brushing chocolate brown hair from his eyes.

At the bottom of the stairs we were still giggling the slightest bit, talking as if we were friends on our way to get something to eat; I was enjoying myself, as was Nate, and I started to think that maybe, just maybe, not all holy Ethereals were so horrible.

That was of course, until there was knocking on the front door and Nate excused himself to go check who it was. In the meantime, I entered the dining hall and took a seat next to Damien, greeting Malachi with a small wave so he'd leave me alone, and a smile at Valshe, who avoided my eyes the best she could.

"Did you come down with that Nephilim kid?" Damien muttered when Malachi excused himself for a moment and Valshe wasn't paying attention "Yeah, why?" I inquired, leaning my head to his so we wouldn't be heard "I just don't think it would be the best idea to get close to anyone here Xander…" he replied, turning to look out the window and refusing to discuss it further.

When Malachi returned, he told us that it might be for the best if Damien and I laid low for a little while, maybe head back to Earth for a little while, though if we really wanted to stay, we were 'by all means welcome'.

After Nate returned he explained that someone important was visiting the house and they needed to get it ready before dinner when he was scheduled to show up and when we could come back. We agreed with no hesitation and headed upstairs with Valshe (though we could all tell she didn't want to come with) and formed a Portal to get to Earth again.

Though it hadn't been at all intentional, we'd ended up in one of the smaller cities of California, near a rather large looking library with large, floor to ceiling windows letting in all of the warmth and sunlight outside.

We'd wandered for a few minutes, trying to figure out something that we could do to pass the time to when we'd return when Valshe stopped in her tracks "Maybe we should just go somewhere else huh? I doubt there would be anything fun to do in a dinky little town like this…" she fidgeted slightly, eyes roaming the streets alertly, causing Damien and I to exchange suspicious glances.

"Why do you want to leave so badly?" Damien asked, smiling slyly at her "I just…don't want to be here" she replied, taking a few steps back "Oh, I get it! You live somewhere around here don't you?" he prodded, smile spreading into a grin.

Valshe turned away, lips drawn, eyes narrowed, before she nodded hesitantly "We're not going" she added when she saw the interest in both of our eyes, and turned back to the library, motioning for us to follow her.

She led us to the back of the library, where a dirt path was stomped out and a pond was visible in the middle of it, crystal clear and surrounded by all sorts of plants and animals.

All of a sudden, she stopped under a huge, flourishing pine tree, gripping one of the low branches with her smooth hands before hoisting herself onto it and climbing deftly up to the middle of it, where the branches parted and you could see the whole lake, plus the rest of the city behind it.

Damien and I Shaded and spread our wings, leaping gracefully into the air and landing on branches near hers before neatly folding them back up and fazing into the visibility of the humans once more.

"This is my spot" she explained when we made ourselves comfortable "I always come up here when I need to think about things, or when I want to be alone, but I guess it doesn't really matter if you guys are up here of not" she continued, her eyes sleepy looking and leaning up against the wide trunk of the tree while the wind rustled her light hair and the sunlight made her golden eyes glitter.

I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair slowly "Valshe…?" I murmured almost silently, and she turned her head the tiniest bit to face me "Mhmm?" she questioned, looking as if she was trying to get a handle on what I might be trying to do "I'm sorry" I managed to get out "I'm sorry I kept those things from you; I just didn't want you to worry about something that might not even be happening" I blurted, feeling unbelievably lame until the smallest smile crept across her pink lips and she nodded, turning to look at me more fully.

"It's fine" she replied "I know you were just trying to look out for me, but I hate how all of you keep these things from me; I should be entitled to know everything you guys find out about me, but for whatever reason, maybe you don't think I can handle it, or whatever, no one ever does, and that makes me feel like I'm nothing more that a piece on a chess board to you all…I just want you to talk to me is all, okay?" she finished, turning from me to Damien, and when we both nodded, her smile widened "We'll try" I told her quietly "No promises" added Damien before a low rumble echoed through the sky.

The three of us looked up just in time for a fat raindrop to fall and land right under Valshe's eye, making it look like a tear was falling down her smooth cheek, and for whatever reason, the thought made my heart wrench.

Why should I care if she gets upset?

I looked back at the lake and thought about this for a bit; love was out of the question because there was no way I'd fall for a human, right? Because I cared for her in some way obviously…I cared for Damien too; he was like an older brother to me, so maybe it was the same way with her? I didn't want to see her upset because she was important to me; like a friend, not a lover. That was it wasn't it?

Wasn't it?

Shaking my head to clear the useless thoughts, I glanced back over at them to find Damien was watching me as well, with what seemed like concern. But it was only there for a split second, as his face crinkled into a grin when he noticed me looking.

"Well, as great as this is, I'm bored and it's going to rain soon, so I vote we go find something to do inside, okay?" he quipped, glaring up at the sky, which was swiftly pelting rain and gusty wind in our faces, leaving us shivering in the abrupt cold, so we both nodded in agreement.

Valshe began to adjust herself so she would be able to scoot back down the tree to the ground and Damien and I shared an exasperated look "Hey Valshe? Tell me, have you ever flown before?" Damien asked, pulling himself up on one of the many large branches and grinning down at her. "Flown? Why would I…" she paused, her eyes wide "Ahaha, very funny guys, it's not gonna happen" she said, dropping herself down to the next branch.

Damien and I grinned at each other "That's what you think!" I replied, grabbing one of her arms while Damien grabbed the other and we jumped from the huge pine to let the wind claim us once more.

Valshe, realizing that if she were to struggle, we might drop her, gripped our arms tightly and curled her legs closer to her, scrunching her eyes closed in fear before a tiny scream of shock left her lips.

"It's not that bad Valshe! Just open your eyes, it's not like we'd drop you or anything…" I told her, and she shook her head "I hate this!" she screamed, biting her lip hard "Come on Valshe, we won't let anything happen to you" Damien laughed, spreading his wings so he was gliding.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to take everything in, and a nervous giggle escaped her throat "See? Its fun isn't it?" I asked her and she nodded enthusiastically, smiling wide "So this is why you guys like it so much" she commented, tipping her head back with a laugh.

Damien and I rolled our eyes and laughed as well, deciding that we should probably land before a human wonders what a girl is doing floating through the air.

Once back on the ground, we ran to a small store nearby and walked through the sliding glass doors graciously, sighing happily as the heat hit our cold, damp bodies.

I shook my head quickly, sending droplets of water spraying out everywhere and causing D to glare half heartedly at me "Gee, thanks Xander, as if we weren't wet enough already" he told me sarcastically "Anytime, D" I replied, just as dramatically, causing Valshe to giggle at our childishness.

Walking a little farther into the building, still talking happily with each other, a group of teens around Valshe's age stopped what they were doing near a rack of clothes to our left and watched us for a minute.

"Valshe? Valshe? Omigod guys, it's Valshe!" one of the girls squealed, running over to us and tackling Valshe in a relieved hug "Where have you been? We thought you like, died, you know, since you've been gone for what, a week?" she chattered while Valshe grinned and nodded at her. "I know! I've just been sooo busy lately! How've you all been?" she was sucked into their group faster than the rain falling outside, leaving D and I standing dumbstruck on the sidelines.

There was a lot of laughing, and a lot of playfulness, each of them taking turns giving her enthusiastic hugs while talking a mile a minute. Damien and I exchanged glances and turned to leave, figuring we would give her a bit of space and avoid the utter chaos the group was emitting before Valshe and the girl ran up to us "Come on, you have to meet everyone!" Valshe pleaded, grabbing both our hands and pulling us into the fray.

It was noisy and people were very touchy feely; I must've forgot how humans had to have physical contact just as much as they needed the mental, and we had somehow stuffed ten teenagers total into a small corner in an even smaller shop.

Once everyone calmed down a bit, we were greeted by the four girls in the group (five including Valshe) Tia, a short, twig thin girl with blonde and black hair that fell just under her ribs was very loud and hugged both of us tightly, talking so fast that we could barely make out what in the world she was saying.

Leanne was the tallest girl there and had more of an hourglass shape with wavy shoulder length light brown hair and gave us each a quick hug and thanked us for 'looking out for our poor little Valshe~!' before moving close to Tia and laughing giddily with her.

The third girl was quieter, told us her name was Emily, "but everyone calls her Emmy!" interrupted Tia; and she had loosely curled blonde hair down to about her shoulders, thin glasses that rested lightly on her straight nose, was medium height and about average weight, and after a little hesitation, and some playful remarks by D, she gave us both a shy hug.

Finally we reached the girl who still had yet to leave Valshe's side; she proudly announced that her name was Luka 'and you'd better not forget it!', her hair was the same color black as mine and only went down to about her chin, but was perfectly straight, she was almost the exact same height and weight as Valshe and she flung herself on us much the same way she had with Valshe.

After Luka was done with her borderline assault and re-glued herself to Valshe, she cleared her throat "This is my best friend, okay? If I ever find out that either of you upset her or make her cry, I'll tie you to a chair and castrate you!" she declared obnoxiously, before turning us to the three boys in the group.

The first boy was my height, looked like he was pretty athletic, had black hair that was just starting to cover his eyes, and told us that he was Lukas older brother, Reid and put out his fist for us to bump.

After Reid was a virtually silent boy with black hair and caramel brown eyes, was about half an inch shorter than me and had a somewhat girlish figure, introducing himself as Grey before smoothly putting his hand out.

Lastly was Sam who informed us he was Tia's boyfriend and that he was sure we'd be great bros. He had short brown hair that had been gelled so it would stick up in the front, was a little taller than me and was just starting to put on some noticeable muscle.

He greeted us by playfully, but roughly punching us both in the shoulder, first Damien then me and I couldn't stop the pained hiss that slipped from my lips. "Aw, that hurt man? Sorry 'bout that!" he apologized with a grin "Sam, look what you did! He's bleeding!" Reid exclaimed and I groaned in annoyance "Oh no! Are you alright? What happened?" Leanne asked, moving to look with the other girls.

I was shoved into a changing room with the others (or as many of them that could fit; the door was open for the rest), had my shirt yanked off despite my struggling and denials and I could swear they all gasped simultaneously when they saw the bleeding wound sitting as if to grin on my shoulder.

"Whoa, how'd you do that? Holy battle scars bro!" Sam commented with interest, leaning in to get a better look "I uhh, got into a fight" I lied, watching as Luka took my shirt and began ripping it into strips before she and Valshe approached and began to wrap them under my arm and around my shoulder "That must'a been some fight; I'm surprised none of us heard about it!" Reid added, handing me a large black hoodie from his backpack, which I put on when the girls were done poking at my shoulder.

After that was dealt with, we were approached by an angry store clerk who told us that we were making too much of a scene and had to leave, so we left quickly, the guys with defiant smirks on their faces while the girls laughed in embarrassment.

Damien fell into step beside Luka, who was near the front of the group; his seductive little smile spread on his features "It was so nice of you to take care of Xander like that Luka!" he complimented smoothly, moving to put his arms around her shoulders while she giggled.

Then Reid came up behind the two with eyes spelling murder.

He cleared his throat and they turned around, Luka scooting out from under Damien's arm, with a slightly guilty smile, Damien still smiling like he had been five seconds before. "That's my sister you know" he growled, hands clenched at his sides "I do know that; and I hope you know that I'll hit on her anyways" he returned with a mischievous grin "But don't worry, it's just for fun seeing as how she's probably too young for me" he added, stepping around Reid and back over to where I was walking by Sam and Grey.

Luka cocked her head to the side and glanced at Valshe "How old are you two anyways?" she asked, frowning slightly at the mention of Damien being older than the rest of us "Nineteen" he stated smoothly.

Luka seemed to blanch at this; her mouth dropped slightly and her eyes widened "How old are you?" she asked again, brow wrinkling in concentration. "Like I said, I'm nineteen; you?" he repeated with a pleased grin "I'm sixteen…" she replied, causing the rest of the group to chatter excitedly amongst themselves at their discovery "In other words, my sister is off limits to you" Reid informed him smugly. Damien shrugged; age never really mattered to him as long as it wasn't a huge gap "Can't blame me for trying" he sighed, unfazed as usual by the turn of events.

"What about you, Xander? How old are you?" Luka asked, her eyes narrowed at me "I'll be eighteen in a few weeks" I replied, giving her a confused look when she turned to Valshe and whispered something in her ear.

We wandered for a little while, as the rain was starting to lighten up and the day was starting to become nicer, with the sun just starting to peek through a tiny gap in the clouds, causing the puddles to give a dull gleam as their surfaces were rippled by droplets that were becoming less and less frequent.

The people, now noticing that the weather was taking a turn for the better opened their windows and poked their heads out of their doors while younger children in their summer clothes jumped and splashed through puddles, giggling happily; oblivious to any existence but their own.

Now that the light was starting to spill through the clouds, I started to notice more and more about the town. It was small without being stifling, but not so big that no one knew each other. The houses and apartments were old, their paint dulling enough to make it look lived in, some with small, lavish gardens in the front or sides, while others had large trees with tire swings or other things that helped to describe the inhabitants of them the slightest bit.

Also, it wasn't dead; there was so much going on everywhere, a couple holding hands while they walked down the street together, a group of friends laughing under an umbrella at a small coffee shop, a mother and her child arguing about why they can't eat out tonight.

So, this was where Valshe grew up then? I found myself wondering as I took everything in with a small smile; it was so different from the life I was used to, where no one ever had time to really look at anything, and even when they did, they didn't care to.

After we'd eaten lunch at a fast food restaurant filled with other teens and their friends most of the people in the group had to either get home or had some other activity they had to go to and eventually we decided it would be best if we just split up.

"Well, it was fun, huh guys? Nice to see you're finally back Valshe!" Leanne called as she walked away with Emmy in tow, both waving until they turned a street corner and were out of sight.

Tia and Sam were the next two to leave, announcing that they were heading back over to Sam's house before Tia had to go to her cheerleading practice "Nice meeting you guys; sorry again 'bout the shoulder Xander, I swear I don't know my own strength sometimes" Sam laughed, and Tia shook her head with a giggle "Strength? You? I never would've thought!" she teased, playfully smacking his arm "Bye everyone! See you tomorrow!" she yelled before heading opposite the direction the others had gone.

Last to go were Reid, Grey and Luka, whom Valshe had to give hugs with long drawn out goodbyes and promises that they'd see each other soon "You two better look out for her, you hear? I will make good on that threat I made earlier~!" she told us in a singsong voice before running to catch up with the boys who were already half a block ahead of her.

This left Damien, Valshe and I standing in the same spot we'd started in; in front of the library, debating on what to do for the next few hours before we had to head back.

"We could just head back now" Valshe suggested; in a hurry to leave now that her friends had gone "But it's only two thirty" I commented "They probably wouldn't be too pleased with us" this apparently warranted a scoff from Damien "Who cares if they're 'pleased' with us or not? Either way, I don't want to go back now" he yawned, stretching his arms high above his head.

We were left at a stand-still, silent for a few minutes before Damien snapped and brought us out of our thoughts "I know" he began mischievously "Let's go see what Valshe's house looks like" he suggested with a grin that could only be described as devilish.

At the mention of going home Valshe's face paled, and she drew back cautiously "Why my house? It's no fun over there" she insisted "Besides, my mom is probably going to flip out if I've been gone for a week and suddenly show up on her doorstep with two boys she doesn't even know!" she cried, hands fisting at the material of her shirt.

"It can't be that bad" I retorted, putting my hand on her shoulder reassuringly "Yeah, and it's not like there's anything else to do at this time of day…" Damien grumbled, frowning slightly "No!" she whined, her voice taking on a childish tone, and she shifted her weight to one leg, crossed her arms over her chest, and put on a slight pout to show that she'd made up her mind and wasn't about to be moved.

Damien and I sighed in unison, both of us knowing it would be useless to argue with her when she was acting like this.

"Maybe we could just walk by it?" I half pleaded, trying my best to look desperate, and the hard set look in her eyes softened just the tiniest little bit. She sighed, and looked away from me abstinently, glancing back out of the corner of her eyes before frowning and muttering something about being childish.

Not being one to sit on the sidelines, Damien stepped up beside me and made the same face "Come on Valshe, we're bored~! You won't even let us walk by…?" he whimpered, his bottom lip just barely sticking out, and you could almost feel her reaching her breaking point.

There was more grumbling, and a few glares tossed in, but we didn't quit; we'd already taken it upon ourselves to beat her at her own game "Would you cut it out? You two are how old now?" she snipped, spinning angrily to face us.

"Seventeen" "Nineteen" we replied without hesitation before going back to our previous charade. Valshe tapped her foot a few times, as if she were seriously mulling it over and finally threw her hands in the air "Fine! But we're walking across the street and you two are going to walk on my right side so if my mom's outside she doesn't see me, and" she ranted, beginning to guide us towards her house in a quick, agitated rhythm "Just shut up, we get it!" Damien cut in with an exaggerated roll of his lavender shaded eyes, before grinning at her "Really, what're we gonna do? If they find you, we'll be in just as much trouble as you are, plus it would make it a heck of a lot harder to get you back" he stated, shrugging nonchalantly.

I laughed in amusement when Valshe smiled shyly and thanked Damien for 'watching out' for her and Damien paused, giving her a look of mock horror "Maybe you're not so bad after all" she added with an innocent smile, which made his face contort into one of confusion and slight shock "Look, I know I'm great and all, but I think of you as more of a sister, and I've never been into the whole 'incest' thing…" he teased and jumped back when she swung a light hearted punch at him.

We continued down the roughly paved streets, laughing the one time Valshe tripped on a fairly deep pot hole near the side of the road before she slowed down and eventually came to a stop "It's the next street up…" she informed us, suddenly becoming very quiet.

She cowered behind us as we made our way down the streets, looking around frantically for anyone who might recognize her, and jumping at the littlest sounds. "What're you so scared of? It's your house" Damien quipped, walking slowly and fluidly down the beaten up road with a bemused smirk "I already told you; I've been gone for a week without so much as a word of where I've been and now I might be caught and she'll kill…" she paused when Damien stared at her in concern "Mentally kill me!" she corrected herself, sighing as Damien's face smoothed.

We'd made it a little more than halfway down the street when Valshe stopped and half pointed at a single level grey-blue house with white trim and an elegant looking white doorway with circular frosted glass panes, a shiny cobalt blue Corvette convertible sat in the driveway with the trunk open and grocery bags inside it.

Noticing this, Valshe picked up the pace a bit more, so she was almost jogging away from the house, making it around the corner to the next street when the front door opened and a beautiful woman with pale blonde hair and sharp crystal blue eyes stepped through the door, heading over to the car and picking up two bags at once, struggling slightly as she made her way back to the house.

The woman had made it about halfway back to the house when one of the bags began to tip precariously in her arms. Rushing over to help her, I caught the bag just as it was about to fall and pulled the bag into my own arms with a disarming smile.

"Need some help?" I asked, and she nodded gratefully, continuing her way up the drive with a worn smile. Damien came up behind us, holding two bags, and the woman glanced back at the car to find the trunk shut up tight and beamed at us "How kind of you both" she complimented, stepping through the door to the house, indicating for us to follow.

The inside of the house was open, filled with natural light from the multiple windows in the back that faced the lake and forest by the library we'd been at earlier. It was organized to a point, but it didn't look too clean. Lived in I suppose.

The carpets were a lush cream color and the walls of the living room were a light tan, pictures and paintings covering each of the four walls and an oak coffee table set up in front of a fading off white couch and love seat set.

There was a medium sized flat screen TV against the far wall, hanging over a small glass entertainment center, where the TV box, a bluray player and random picture frames and other knickknacks were strewn across the top of it.

Damien and I entered the kitchen which had white tile floors, white walls and mostly black or sterling silver appliances. Dropping the groceries onto the countertop with the rest of them, we watched as she busily flitted around the room, pushing things up into shelves or arranging them neatly in the refrigerator.

She finished quickly and guided us through a small dining room and into a porch giving us a direct view of the lake and woods behind the house, where we sat on cushy lawn chairs around a glass table with a huge umbrella sticking out of the middle of it. "Would either of you like something to drink?" she inquired with a sweet smile "Alright" we agreed easily.

"Let's see…we have water, milk, iced tea, and coffee" she listed off politely "Oh, and if you'd like, I made cookies yesterday if you'd like some of those" she added thoughtfully, waiting patiently for our responses.

We both told her we'd just have some water, and when she went back into the house, we both turned to each other "That's Valshe's mom? I really don't understand why she doesn't want to come back" Damien exclaimed, jerking a thumb towards the kitchen window "I think she's just being hospitable; she'd probably be pretty mad if Valshe just showed up on the doorstep after going missing for a week" I replied, twisting a frayed piece of wicker from the arm of the chair in my fingers.

Shaking his head, he rested his cheek on his hand "She's probably going to be pissed you know" he chuckled, and I laughed with him "Probably, but it's not like we planned for this to happen" I said, sitting back in the comfortable chair.

When Valshe's mom returned, she held a tray of cookies in her hands, both of our glasses balancing on them as well as a glass of iced tea for herself. She set them down fluidly in front of us before taking a seat at the foot of the table, facing both of us.

"So" she began, taking a dainty sip of her tea "What are you're names?" she asked, leaning back and smoothing her deep purple shirt out slowly "My name is Damien Ravi" Damien told her with an innocent smile "Xander Costello" I replied, mimicking his expression easily.

She nodded "I see…thank you for helping me with the groceries by the way" she thanked us, reaching to grab a cookie from the tray "Don't you have anyone here to help you with them?" Damien inquired slyly "Surely a woman as beautiful as yourself has a husband, or at least a child to help you out, right?"

At this she became very quiet and knotted her hands in her lap, looking for the entire world like Valshe when she became upset "I have a daughter…maybe you know her? Her name is Valshe" she replied hopefully, her eyes shining dully in the mid afternoon sunlight "Yeah, we know her" I told her, biting into a delicious peanut butter cookie "She hasn't been around lately though…" I continued, looking away with a frown "It's been about a week now hasn't it? Is she sick or something?" Damien inquired, face written with fake concern.

It was then that she broke; a few fat tears rolled down her face and she shrugged helplessly "I don't know" she confessed shakily "She's been gone for a week and I haven't heard anything…I called the police to put her in as a missing child but nothing's come up yet" she wept and dabbed at one of the tears rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry" she murmured after a while, wiping her eyes and straightening up "I'm just so worried about her" she sniffled, and stood up "And I'm sure you boys have better things to be doing than listening to my problems don't you? Thanks for listening like that though" she smiled at us and stood up, clearing the table and pushing in her chair.

We nodded and stood up as well "We do have to leave but…we'll keep an eye out for her okay? I'm sure she's fine; Valshe is a smart girl" I assured her with a smile "Yeah, she'll be back before you know it!" Damien exclaimed with a grin "Thanks for the drinks" he continued "And the cookies" I added "Hope your day goes a little better Miss Marina" we told her, exiting out the side gate while she waved behind us.

That had taken a bit more time than we'd though it would; it was almost a half hour from when we'd walked by the house in the first place, and we couldn't find Valshe anywhere near the house.

It figured though; she hadn't wanted to come back in the first place, so it made sense that she didn't stick around after we'd gone missing. "We could check by the tree I guess" Damien suggested, so we headed back towards the library.

Naturally, she was there, sitting on the exact same branch she had been when we'd first been up there, looking forlornly out at the scene before her "Hey Valshe! Time to go!" I called to her, and I watched as she looked down at me with a bored expression before nodding and nimbly climbing down.

When her feet were safely on the ground again, she gave us both an impatient look "What happened to 'just walking by' huh?" she accused giving an impatient scoff "It's not like we meant for her to almost drop her groceries all over the place" Damien shot back without missing a beat.

We'd all agreed that we'd need to find somewhere away from the eyes of the people to summon up a Portal and head back up to Heaven, and spent almost a good hour wandering around trying to find somewhere, as it seemed that everywhere we went, someone or another was always right there.

Eventually we found ourselves standing in front of an old abandoned parking structure, labeled for demolition a day or so later and entered hastily, jogging up to about the third level before stopping right in the middle "Ready?" Damien asked us, drawing his Oni with a tired smile. We both nodded and gave the place one last scour before agreeing it was safe enough to go.

By the time we'd made it back to the house (mansion) it was about five fifteen and we'd been locked out. Knocking impatiently at the door, I was just about to turn and make a comment to D about breaking in when the door opened and my insides coiled into rage, my eyes narrowing accusingly.

Before anyone could stop me, before the figure had any time to wipe that smug smirk off their face, I had them pressed firmly into a wall, and a knife pressed tightly to their throat while my wings flared out in barely held back rage. "Why the Heaven are you here?" I demanded savagely, clenching my teeth together.

"Why hello there Xander, you've grown since I last saw you. Oh, you aren't actually going to kill me now, are you? I'd hope not. Not in front of my own child at least"

A/N: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cliff hangers, just so you can all fume angrilly and hate me! I realize this chapter is really long and slightly boring, but I felt the need to get that last bit on this chapter and couldn't really find a place to cut it into two so...I hope it doesn't bother you all too much. I would've had this up a while ago, but for some reason FF wasn't letting me upload anything on the document manager...meh, it'd fixed so I don't mind. Until next time, spread amongst friends, review, and unlike Xander, please do not pull knives on people...even if they might possibly deserve it.