"Start with mine. Funnel it upward. Do it, now."

She took his hand and absorbed what she could of his power. It mingled with the magic of the monument, and she threw it upward, towards the sky. Light rippled through the clouds.

"Again."

She obeyed, this time keeping some back.

"Now, take theirs and do the same."

The men had crept closer. Her father fell back, and she took a deep breath before approaching the men. She felt Jule's presence without seeing him.

"I'll go," Darian said, stepping in front of her. He drew a knife and lowered his stance.

Yully pulled what she could of his energy into her body. As if feeling what she did, Darian lunged at her. The magic took hold of her, and she danced away from his strikes as if they were in slow motion. His knife blade grazed her once and turned into a feather that he flung away. He snatched her throat, and she closed her eyes, pulling his magic into her and using it to fling him away.

Her father laughed coldly. The magic made her head spin, but she focused on the two most powerful sources: Damian and Jonny. A large form stepped in front of them suddenly, blocking her. She stared at the towering man with red eyes, not sensing him at all.

Worse, she was losing her grip on the magic within her. It shouldn't have been flooding her like it was, as if someone there was feeding her while Darian seemed to be sucking it out of her, despite her attempt to restrain it.

"I'm not done yet," Darian said and rose from the ground. "You got a piece of me, but that's it."

He pulsed as strongly as the two blocked men with the power he'd absorbed. Yully faced him, unable to pull his power without touching him or reverse the drain he had on her.

"Again," she said. She stretched her senses and pulled everything to her. The ground around the monument was rich with the long dead whose souls were trapped.

Amplified by magic, Yully's fighting skill was inhuman. Jule watched the beautiful woman knock Darian to the ground for a second time. Her hair glowed as if it were on fire, and she floated, her slender form clad in simple leggings and a tunic. Her movements were faster than any Guardian's. She fought with tenacity born of desperation. His newfound power had broken whatever barrier the Watcher put between them. Their bond was stronger than ever, and Jule's body bristled with magic that felt both foreign and familiar, like a memory long ago forgotten.

Xander stood before the Black and White Gods, the only thing keeping Yully from stealing their magic. The Other on the other side of the monument watched with a cold smile, his gaze traveling upwards.

Jule looked up. Yully sent lightning into the sky every time she touched Darian and yet was brimming with more magic than he thought possible for her to contain. Her gaze went from Darian to her father, and Jule saw the flash of anger that crossed her face.

Darian got up again, distracting her. Jule looked at the clouds, able to feel the gateway cracking with his newfound powers. Darian's own power seemed to grow every time she knocked him down, and Jule looked at the Grey God curiously.

"Jule," Damian called. "Fix this, or I will."

Jule stepped forward and motioned for Xander to follow.

"Darian, move!" he shouted.

The Grey God grunted as he hit a column and rose. Jule waved him away. Darian's head was spinning, his mind reverberating with the power of the site. Instead of draining his power, the woman was shoving power into him. He staggered away from the monument and lightning connecting the woman with the clouds and dropped to his knees on the other side of the hill.

The strange sensations within him remained. She'd taken power from the Other, from the dead, from the Guardians, and even from the Original Beings, who fed her power in hopes of short-circuiting her. She'd blasted him with it. Instead of destroying him, it made him stronger.

It became his. Panting, he rolled onto his back, unable to regain his balance while his body twitched from magic. The gateway yawned open over the monument. He'd cracked the gateway when Jonny became the Black God, and now, the immortal realm peeked from the clouds into the mortal world.

Darian didn't remember it any more than he remembered much of the thousands of years he spend enslaved by Jonny's predecessor. He recalled agony, and the darkness of his thoughts amplified the pain of the new magic in his blood.

"Darian." The Watcher's voice pierced his confusion. "You don't have much time."

"I can't kill her," he said.

"It's too late for that. The Original Beings will handle her. It's time for you to act."

The Grey God pushed himself to his knees. His body seemed too weak to contain his newfound power.

"The seal will never be whole again," the Watcher said in a hushed tone, his green eyes on the sky. "So be it. You will have to balance the realms in a way we didn't desire."

Gatekeeper. The Original Vamp and Sofi had called him the same thing. Darian wobbled to his feet.

"I'm ready, I think," he said. "What do I do?"

"Whatever you must. The Others cannot be allowed into your world." The Watcher winked out of existence, and Darian looked up.

The power within him stabilized and filled him until he felt ready to explode.

"Sofi?" he whispered. "I don't know what to do."

The Oracle was silent. Darian drew a deep breath.

... balance the realms ...

Gatekeeper.

Xander approached the woman from one side and Jule from the other. He met her gaze and saw the confusion that crossed her features. Xander took the first shot. She blocked, her gasp audible as the Original Being's energy flew through her. The vamp's blow and magic threw her to the ground. He stepped back, and Yully rolled away before climbing to her feet.

The Other no longer smiled and took a step forward, unwilling to move closer to his daughter with the Original Vamp standing between them. Yully was floating again. Instead of preparing to face off the vamp, she floated upwards. Jule could see the energy flying to her. Lightning no longer left her for the clouds. She was holding it within her.

"Yully!" he shouted. "Yully, stop!"

The vamp snatched her out of the air and flung her to Jule. Jule caught her. He almost missed her first punch and caught the second, pulling her against him. Her eyes were glazed, her body too hot.

"Jule," she whispered. "I need your magic."

"Sweetheart, you have to let it go before it kills you."

"No. I have to destroy him, or he'll destroy you. I can do this, Jule."

Something melted within him at her words. Her body shook with her effort to contain the magic. Jule looked up at Xander, who stood near the Other, waiting. Their plan was risky, but the alternative was killing the woman he loved.

"You still with me?" he asked as she started to sag.

"Yes."

"On the count of three. You can end this, Yully." Jule released his newfound power into her. Yully's body bucked in his arms, and she opened her mouth in a silent scream. "Three, two, one. Now, Yully."

The woman didn't respond immediately. Jule held her tightly, struggling to balance the power flowing between them.

"You can do it," he whispered.

The woman pushed away from him and staggered. She dropped to her knees. Her gaze settled on the Other, and she forced herself up. The vamp moved out of her path. Jule trailed as closely as he dared.

Yully closed her eyes and reached out towards her father. Power flowed from Xander and Jule, through her toward the Other, pinning him against the pillar behind him. A loud crack, as if lightning were striking, sent a shockwave of power that made the monument tremble.

And then there was silence. Jule caught the woman as she fell. He heard a gurgled scream and looked up. The Original Vamp was tearing out the Other's throat. Xander raised the Other over his head and snapped his back over one knee.

"Yully," Jule called, cradling the woman in his arms. Her heartbeat was faint and slow. "C'mon, sweetheart. Stay with me." The bond between them was fading.

"Take her to Bianca," Damian said, approaching. "Unless healing is one of your newfound powers."

Jule looked up at him. The White God's fiery gaze was pinned to the Original Vamp, who lingered over the Other's body. Jule glanced at the vamp, who shrugged in response to his silent question about healing.

"Xander, what are you?" Jonny asked, drawing abreast of Damian. "And what was that?" He indicated the body of the Other at Xander's feet.

Jule gathered the woman in his arms. He couldn't yet understand the magic in his veins, unleashed by the vamp without any explanation of its depths.

"Damian," Jule said, standing with his mate cradled in his arms. The White God's power pulsed around him, and he looked ready to blast the vamp before him.

"I know, I know. Tell Dusty not to blow everything up, and leave the vamp alone," Damian said. "Go on. We're just going to chat."

If not for Yully's fading energy, Jule would've stayed to make sure Damian's version of chat resembled his and not Dusty's, who was more likely to shoot first and discuss later. Instead, he closed his eyes and Transported to the ranch.

"You'd think if you're a god, people wouldn't keep secrets from you," Damian started. "Jonny, to answer your question, Xander is an Original Being, one of the handful of the oldest immortals in existence."

"Wow," Jonny breathed.

Damian looked at him, irritated at the Black God's youth. While he would never claim to miss Jonny's crazy predecessor, Czerno, at least the former Black God was capable of a poker face. The kid beside him was openly gaping in awe at the massive vamp.

"As is Jule," Xander added. "Seems he kept that secret from you as well, ikir."

"I knew I could trust him to tell me when he needed to," Damian replied. "You, on the other hand, I don't trust."

"I'm the Black God's most trusted servant," Xander said.

"Damian, he's my most trusted servant," Jonny echoed, turning to him.

Xander smiled at the demonstration of his power. Damian wasn't amused.

"Jonny, step aside," he ordered.

The Black God hesitated and then moved away, leaving Damian with the Original Vamp.

"You here for very long?" Damian asked.

"Looks that way. All the Originals have been freed and expelled. I landed here," Xander replied.

Damian studied him, not sure what to think of the oldest vamp in the universe. Xander was too powerful to care what went on around him. Nothing on this world-- with the exception of the combined power of the awestruck Black God and Damian-- were threats to him. Xander seemed like nothing more than a bored guest. One of Sofi's peculiar predictions returned to Damian, and he thought of the Guardian he'd assigned to Jonny. Sofi claimed Jenn would have a protector, and there was no need to worry about what Jonny might do. There was only one vamp in Jonny's camp more powerful than the Black God.

Damian never imagined her protector might be the towering vamp before him. There was more to Xander than Damian could pinpoint. He didn't have the need to kill like a normal vamp, and he hadn't landed here by accident.

"I take it you're not a fan of the Others," Damian said.

Xander's lip curled with a growl. He looked at the body beneath him and kicked it. Damian almost smiled.

"I have about three weeks left in my truce with Jonny," Damian started. "The gateway between realms is cracked, and I have a slight Watcher infestation problem. Jonny isn't quite ready yet to deal with the Others who have been stirring up trouble within the vamp ranks."

Xander crossed his arms, his head tilted in interest as he listened.

"I don't want either the Watchers or Others on my planet," Damian finished. "And I can't wait for Jonny to figure out how to do his job. With Jule-- and you-- I think we have a chance of ridding the planet of the immortal interference and returning to our day-to-day battle between good and evil."

"Jonny is not the only God who doesn't know his job," Xander pointed out. "The Gatekeeper has yet to step up."

"Leave that to me," Damian replied. "He'll be ready when the time comes. I want the immortals to fight in their realm and leave us to fight here."

"And after the truce?"

"Business as usual. I'll have Jule, and Jonny will have you. The balance will be maintained."

"What's in it for me?" Xander asked.

"Nothing," Damian said and crossed his arms. "Your choice."

"You Guardians don't understand how to bargain."

"I don't have a need to bargain."

The vamp said nothing. Damian turned to walk away. Xander was there for a reason, and Damian suspected it had something to do with the immortals plaguing both gods. Damian made it halfway to the grass, where the Black God paced beside a calm Jenn, when Xander's low voice stopped him.

"Very well, Guardian. I will work with Jule."

"Good. He'll find you in a day or so," Damian said without turning. His gaze went to Jenn. "You okay?"

"Yes, ikir," she replied, though her eyes strayed to Xander. Damian heard the uneasy note in her voice and looked her over, his gaze lingering at her hips, where her weapons should've been.

"I told you she'd be fine, Damian," the Black God said, irritated.

"When Jule goes to see Xander, he'll stop by to have a chat with her," Damian replied. "Maybe she can explain to him why you stripped her of weapons."

Jonny glanced at Jenn, as if noticing for the first time that she wasn't armed. The Black God frowned and looked towards Xander. His hunch confirmed that Jonny wasn't running the show, and Damian pinned the youth with a heated look.

"I'll have them returned," Jonny said. "And Charles? Where is he?"

"He can track Others. He led us here." Damian lifted his head, indicating the three forms standing at the top of the hill. Charles' eyes glowed red in the night. He stood next to Dusty and another of Dusty's Guardians.

"Useful ability," Xander said. "Unfortunate I didn't know that before you traded him, Jonny."

Jonny flushed at his tone.

"Just part of the game, kid," Damian said to the Black God. "That's what happens when you have an Oracle for a mate."