Giles and Willow emerged from the bookcase they had been hiding behind as they had watched the vampire Buffy, Xander and Angel. As soon as the cellar had slammed shut Angel sank back down into the same chair he'd been sitting in earlier that night and rubbed at his eyes, desperately fighting the tears that were threatening him again. God, how weak had he become? Giles, Willow, Xander, they'd all been able to hold it together a thousand times better than he had, all he could think about was that Buffy, his sweet, loving Buffy, was gone . . . replaced by a demon inside her. He supposed it was because he'd let himself grow attached to her, allowed her to become the only thing in his godforsaken life that had any meaning, and now she was gone, replaced by a demon that still had some of her personality traits but was, by no stretch of the imagination, her.
"Did you find anything?" Xander asked Giles eagerly.
"Yes. No. Well . . . kind of," Giles replied.
"What do you mean kind of, you either did or you didn't, which one?"
"Well . . . I'm not sure if it will work. It's never been documented."
Angel looked up in surprise. "You actually found something?" he asked.
"Yes . . . um, according to the book it only works if the vampire is less than two weeks old and has not tasted of human blood," Giles replied hastily, not wanting Angel to come to any false hopes about his own condition.
"So what's the problem?" Angel asked, excited. The thought of a cure for himself was far, far away, concern over getting Buffy back taking precident. "Buffy's barely a day old, vampire wise, and she hasn't tasted human blood, she's been doing nothing but complain about it the whole way over."
"As I said . . . it may not work. It's never been tried, really . . . it might . . . it might kill her."
"But it's a shot," Angel argued. "Anything at all that might help her we have to try."
Giles sighed and looked towards Willow for support.
"There are a few tiny complications," Willow licked her lips, obviously not happy with being the bearer of bad news.
"What?"
Giles took over. "The ritual requires that . . . well . . . it requires the blood of her sire."
"Not the sire thing again!" Xander moaned.
"Oh, I'm sure Spike will be happy to volunteer," Angel said darkly.
"Anything else?" Xander asked, still not sure where the problem was.
Willow sighed. "She'll also need . . . the blood of the Slayer."
Angel and Xander looked at each other, than at Willow. "*What*?" they said, simultaneously.
"When the ritual was written, several hundred years ago, it was written for a Slayer whose sister had been turned," Giles explained, "The Slayer captured her sister and demanded that they do anything they could to bring her back. They tried this spell, which was found in a book lost over a century ago, and, according to her Watcher, it worked."
"I thought you said it had never been tried," Xander questioned, confused.
"It hasn't . . . exactly. There is no proof that it will work, and, as I said, the spell is several centuries old."
"What else?" Angel asked, sure there was more to this ritual than Giles was telling them.
Giles shrugged. "That's basically it. We must combine the Slayer's blood and Buffy's sire's blood, along with a few other ingredients, and somehow make her drink it at precisely midnight. If this book is correct, she should be cured almost instantly."
Xander looked relieved. "This is good," he said. "This is something to focus on."
Willow cleared her throat. "I have another thing to focus on," she said slowly. "Neither one of us has been home tonight and school starts in less than five hours."
Xander's eyes widened. "Parents, school, I'd forgotten all about them!" He turned to look at Giles suddenly. "What are we going to tell Buffy's mom? She's going to be back from her trip this afternoon, obviously Buffy can't go home."
Giles shook his head. "Nothing . . . we have no idea where she is. If this ritual doesn't work Buffy will be dead . . . and if it does she won't be."
"We knew that Giles. Point please?"
"Anything we tell Mrs. Summers may be influenced by the . . . well, the outcome of the ritual. If it works we'll think of something to tell her then."
"And if it doesn't?" Xander asked grimly.
Giles simply shook his head again.
* * *
Parents were called and worries were assauged, all but Joyce Summers', that is. The gang gathered once again in the library and read through every inch of the book before them, memorizing every detail of the ritual that perhaps, just perpahs, might bring Buffy back to the living, where she belonged.
"I'll call Kendra's watcher. She is the also a Slayer, maybe her blood will be, well, maybe her blood will suffice."
"How much blood does this ritual need from Spike?" Angel asked.
"Um, it's not as bad as the ritual you were involved in, Angel, so we don't have to worry about going to that extreme. A pint should be enough."
Angel smiled. "I think I can handle that." He glanced at his watch. "When should we perform this thing?"
"Tomorrow night," Giles said firmly. "It will take that long for Kendra to get here, assuming she'll come. And you will have to wait until nightfall to go after Spike . . . um, do be careful, he's beaten you before."
Angel gave Giles a dark look. "I was previously incapacitated, or he wouldn't have, I can assure you."
"Still, he will doubtlessly be well guarded . . . "
"I'll go," Xander interrupted, aware that three pairs of eyes turned to stare at him. "*With* Angel, ya know, backup, or whatever."
Willow swallowed. "I'm going to."
"Will . . . "
Willow shook her head stubbornly. "I can't just sit by and hope for the best, Xander. I need . . . I need to do something, too."
"There's one small matter I'll have to take care of first," Angel told the two with a slight growl.
"What?"
"Willy. I think Buffy's right, I do need to have a few more recent regrets."
"Angel!" Giles scolded.
Angel sighed. "I won't kill him," he promised. "I wouldn't toss away a hundred year vow for a piece of slime like that. I'll just . . . have a little chat with him."
"Well," Xander said after a moment, standing and yawning. "I have classes and stuff . . . I'll see you guys later." He left the library, Willow following a few minutes later.
"Okay . . . " Angel said slowly, reaching for Giles' book. "Let's go over this ritual one more time."
"Don't you think you should get some sleep? We're going to have a long night ahead of us."
Angel shook his head. "I'll sleep when Spike's dead and Buffy's human," he said coolly, and began to read the book for the twelfth time.
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