Willow's spell, as enhanced by the Devonshire coven, was taking forever. Buffy supposed that was good – maybe that meant it was safer – but she was bored. She looked down at her arm. At least the swelling was going down. Stupid adder. She'd dropped it after it had bitten her and taken the other instead, which had turned out to be a good idea. Who knew that snakes used up their venom when they bit?
Finally Willow was bringing out the dragon's blood, which was really a nice smelling incense and not blood at all. When she added the dragon's blood, white smoke billowed up, but Willow didn't look upset so maybe she expected that to happen. Willow picked up the smoking potion. She'd told them she had to circle Spike six times. The smoke kept billowing out. Xander started choking a minute or two before Buffy did. She tried waving her hand to move some of the smoke away. Didn't work. Buffy didn't worry too much – Willow had seemed unconcerned after all – until she heard Willow's voice. "Um, Buffy?"
