Part 19
(TIME UPDATE: APPROXAMETLY 10:30 PM, 2 1/2 HOURS LEFT)
Angel made it to the hospital and carefully carried her inside, and up to the desk. "Hey, miss?" he asked, "She's got a broken arm, and... maybe a dislocated shoulder. Can you get her a doctor?" Angel was trying his best to stay calm, not having a great memory of past hospital visits. "You'll have to fill out these forms, please, sir," she informed him, handing him a clipboard and a pencil. His temper was threatening to emerge as he chose to not take the forms, "She's unconscious. How about I fill out the forms while they help her."
The lady got a little worried when she looked up at him, "Umm... I can have a doctor look at her... Just a second." She stood up and jogged around the corner, then shortly came back with what looked like a doctor. "Yes?" he asked coming up to Angel. "She's badly hurt, could you help her?" Angel asked regaining his composure while she was gone. The doctor looked at her seeing that she was both unconscious and looked pretty beaten up, "Yeah, yeah... Get me a bed over here!"
A few seconds later a girl and a guy wheeled a gurney around the corner, and Angel set her down on it. "What happened to her?" the doctor asked as the wheeled her down the corridor. Angel thought quick to think of an explanation, "We were walking up to her house and some guy came out of no where and threw me out of the way and her down the stairs, I think that's when she broke her left arm. Then he pulled her up really hard, and dislocated her right shoulder. I couldn't get there in time to stop him, but I got him away before he could do anything else."
The doctor nodded, even though he looked a little confused, "She doesn't have a concussion then?" Angel shook his head, "I don't think so, no. She passed out from the pain." He nodded again, "It'd be very painful. Well we'll go to work here and fix her up. You'll have to leave, don't worry, she should be fine."
"Do you know how long it will take?" he asked him before leaving. "Oh... it shouldn't take more than a half hour or so to get her back in place wrapped up." It was Angel's turn to nod as he watched them push her into a room. He sighed, sitting down with the forms, filling them out, waiting for the call.
Back at the Summer's residence, Spike was reading through the translated book, happy to have found the spell they were looking for. The Spell of the Dying Undead, it sounded like it fit their situation perfectly, and it did. "Well, the Slayer knew it. I don't know how she knew it, but she did," Spike whispered to himself as he examined the ingredients, "I know we don't have any of that just laying around the house."
He jumped off the couch and with the list in hand strolled out the door. "Right now is a time I wish I had a car. Hmmm, guess who has one?" Spike looked smug as he ran back in the house. He dialed the number for Angel's cell phone and waited for him to pick up.
"Angel."
"Yeah, I know who it is. Spike, here. I need a car, and you 'ave it. Come and get me." Angel rolled his eyes, "Why don't you walk to where-ever it is you're going?" Spike then rolled *his* eyes, "Because, it's far, and it'd take a while. We don't 'ave a while." Angel closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."
He then hung up, and walked to the nurses desk, "I've got to go pick up a friend, here's the forms you wanted filled out." She looked a little shocked by his friendly tone of voice, but responded, "Thank you." "You're welcome."
The girl nodded once, "Um, sir? How long will you be? It shouldn't take long to fix her up." "Yeah, that's what they told me, I'll try and be back in 20 minutes if I can. If she gets out before I'm back, could you have her wait here, tell her I'll be back soon," Angel instructed.
She smiled at him, "Sure. She's your girlfriend?" He smiled back, "Yeah, she's the world to me." "Well, she's in good hands, I'm sure she'll feel much better soon." Angel nodded, "Thanks," then turned and left.
A few minutes later he arrived at Buffy's house to get Spike. The bleach blonde vampire strutted down the drive way to the car and hopped in. "How's our favorite Slayer?" he asked as Angel turned the car around.
"She's gonna be okay. So where are we going, by the way?" he asked, wondering if he was even going in the right direction. "That's good. Why, the Magic Shop of course. Need some supplies to do this lovely spell we've got here," Spike said matter-of-factly, gesturing towards the sheet of paper.
Angel sighed and slowed the car to make a U-turn. "Will it take long?" he asked looking at the clock, "She'll be out in about 15 minutes." Spike seemed cheery, between finding the spell and hearing that Buffy was going to be alright, "Cool it, peaches. I'll be in and out. Shouldn't take long to get this."
Angel looked at him strangely, "Why are you so happy?" Spike looked shocked, "Well poofta, we've got your spell, to make ya all better, and there's some nice doctors making Blondie all better. What's not to be happy about?" Angel smiled and shook his head, "Nothing, but I just wouldn't expect it to make *you* so happy." Spike shrugged, "What can I say? I like havin' you two around, the Slayer at least... she keeps me on my toes."
Angel rolled his eyes, thinking he liked having her around for more than that, he could tell that Spike liked her, but he'd rather not think about that, "Yeah. Here we are, get out." Spike climbed out, then stood up straight and saluted him, "Yes, sir." Angel glared, "I'm gonna go get Buffy then pick you up on the way back, since..." he looked at his watch, "She should be getting out about now." Spike nodded, and with that jogged up to the entrance to the Magic Shop.
Angel put the car back into drive and headed for the hospital, hoping Spike didn't run into any trouble. When he reached the hospital, and parked, he went inside and up to the nurse that he'd talked to earlier. "Hi, do you know if Buffy Summers is out, yet?" he asked her leaning on the tall desk. "Oh, hi again. I'm not sure but I'll go check for you," she, Jessica her name tag read, turned and walked down the hallway.
Angel tapped his fingers on the top of the counter as he waited for her to return. When she came back she was still smiling, "She conscious, and they've finished most of the work, but they aren't quite done wrapping her arm." He nodded, "Thanks... do you know how long she'll be?" "I'd say another 5-10 minutes max.," Jessica said shrugging. Angel nodded again and went to sit down and wait.
Time went by quickly, it seemed only seconds later Buffy came walking down the hall. He stood and saw her wince in pain as she tried to move her shoulder. The doctor that had spoken with Angel 50 minutes earlier was following a short distance behind her and smiled lightly when she kept trying to move her shoulder around in the sling. "You really should leave that alone for a few days, or it'll take even longer to heal," he reprimanded, and she stopped to look at him. "I guess so, it's just annoying," Buffy told him. Then let her right arm hang in the sling and dropped her right, with a cast around the lower arm, to her side.
She turned to look forward and saw Angel standing a few feet away grinning. He spanned the gap with a few steps, and ever so gently put hands on her arms. She closed her eyes and sighed, his hands so light that it almost tickled. "You're all right," he half questioned, half stated. She opened her eyes and nodded, "Yep, fine."
Angel looked at the doctor, "She can come home?" He nodded, "Yeah, she'll need to come back in a few weeks to get the cast off so we can make sure it's healing right. You can call sometime and schedule it, other than that, and making sure she doesn't move that shoulder around like she's been trying to ever since I put it into the sling."
All three of them smiled, then Buffy spoke, "Will do. Knowing, Angel here, I probably won't be getting out of the house for the next few weeks." The doctor smiled, but the two lovers looked at each other and shared a forced smile. "We'd better be going then, if we're done here," Angel said starting to steer Buffy towards the door. "I'll see you in a few weeks," the doctor told their backs as they exited the lobby.
Angel led her to the car, having to tell her to leave her arm alone 3 times. "We have to go pick up Spike from the Magic Shop before we go home," Angel informed her as he drove. Buffy nodded, "Getting supplies?" "Yea," he affirmed, parking along the side-walk.
Spike jogged out of the door and to the car with a paper bag in his hand. He opened the door to see a banged up Slayer, "Hey luv, do I get to sign your cast?" She just rolled her eyes at him in response. "Fine, but you're gonna have to get out before I can get in," Spike informed her, grinning. Buffy glared at him before turning and standing, not using either of her arms, then stepped out of the way as he climbed in the back seat. She sat back down and Angel glared at Spike himself before driving home.
They were all surprisingly quiet on the way home. When Angel pulled into the drive the trio all walked silently into the house. Buffy sat with Angel on the couch and Spike sat across from them, placing the paper bag on the coffee table separating them. "This is going to work right?" Buffy questioned Spike timidly. "Of course, luv," Spike reached over and patted her knee reassuringly, then held up the book, "Your intuition must be pretty slick if you picked this book out to be the one." She just smiled slightly and sighed, "Then let's get to it. What do we have to do?"
Spike picked the bag back up and took out a bag of what looked like sand, an orb that looked very similar to the Orb of Thessula, a bottle containing some sort of liquid, 8 small candles, matches, and a small dagger, and set each thing carefully on the table. "We've got..." Buffy looked at the clock, "About and hour and a half."
Her face fell, and she looked like she could cry, but held it in, "What do I need to do?" Spike pulled the papers out from the safety of his coat pocket, "All right, we'll need some space..."
He went on to direct them. Angel and Buffy moved all the furniture out of the living room, making way for Spike to draw a thick, line in a large circle, approximately 3 feet in diameter, with the brown sand. He set out the candles, but read to wait to light them until after the next part.
"Angel, come 'ere," Spike motioned for him to come near the circle, where he had the bottle of liquid and the dagger. "What's next?" Angel asked sitting next to him on the floor. "Well..." he was going to continue when he saw Buffy swaying anxiously a few feet away, "Buffy.. I don't need you for this... in fact you might want to leave, even." "Bu-" "No buts, he'll be all right, but it could be painful. So if you'd just listen to me, I'd appreciate it," Spike told her as nicely as he could.
She sighed then nodded as she gave Angel as happy a smile she could before entering the kitchen and sitting at the island with her head in her hands, and let her guard down, letting a few tears streak her face.
Angel looked expectantly at Spike. "Right, it says 'ere you have to cut your wrist, then I've got to put one drop of this 'ere on it, and it should bleed freely, I need a... container of some kind, be right back," he stood and jogged quickly to get something in the kitchen. Angel had a slightly bewildered look on his face as he watched him go, then picked up the papers to make sure that was right.
"I need a big bowl of some kind... preferably one I can easily pore out of," Spike instructed Buffy who's head shot up when he entered. She swallowed and wiped a stray tear as she walked over to a cupboard, "Ummm...." Buffy pulled out a plastic bowl with a handle and a small spout, "Here, will this work?" He took it from her and nodded, "Yup, thanks luv."
Spike reached out a quickly wiped another tear from her cheek, the corners of his mouth turning up as hers did, "It'll be all right." Then he, as quickly as he came, disappeared back into the living room.
Spike sat back down next to Angel, "Ready?" Angel nodded and raised his hand above the bowl before slitting his wrist. Spike had the bottle open and slowly tipped it, and a single drop came out and fell to the skin, making Angel scream in pain.
Buffy ran in from the kitchen, but stopped when she reached the doorway. Seeing what was going on she turned and slowly walked back to her chair.
Angel was bleeding profusely, and the liquid could be seen bubbling on his wound, stopping it from healing. "Buffy!" Spike yelled, and she was there in a second, "Do you have any blood in the house?!" "I-I-I think so," she stammered, practically shaking. "Go get it!" and after Buffy was out of sight, "Damn it! I can't believe I didn't think about this." Spike looked over to see Angel getting paler and paler.
The bowl was full when the bleeding finally stopped and Angel collapsed over, head landing in the sand. "Shit!" Spike whispered harshly under his breath before sprinting to find a rag and Buffy.
He found the rag first, and Buffy came running up the stairs shortly after. Spike was kneeling next to Angel the rag pressed firmly on his wrist cleaning it up. Angel had his eyes closed, and if he weren't a vampire Buffy would have thought he were truly dead. "I couldn't find any," she said more stable than before. Spike cursed under his breath, "You'll have to stay here, we can't do the spell with him like this, and if you even suggest that he feed off of you I will slap you across the face, and I don't *care* how much it'd hurt!" Buffy didn't say a word as Spike dashed out of the house to his car. She took a deep breath before doing what she hadn't wanted to do at any point in the past day, she looked at the clock, 12:22. *We're running out of time...* she thought as she wiped the blood off of her love's wrist.
Spike broke every road law ever written as he sped to the other side of town. He made it to the butcher's, the closer of the two places he could go, about 10 minutes later looked out the window to see it closed. He hit the wheel before driving the rest of the way to Willy's.
He stormed in, not having the time or energy to be surprised to see no one there but Willy. "I need blood, and I need it now, I don't care what kind, what type just *now*," Spike demanded, getting in his face, slamming his hands down on the counter. Willy looked and felt so frightened he didn't bother to retort before reaching under the counter and grabbing a bag of blood. He handed him the blood, then turned about to speak and get him a glass, but when he turned around Spike was gone.
Spike glanced at his watch as he sat at a red light with a cop next to him. "12:45. Damn bloody cops, I'd speed out of 'ere if I didn't think they'd chase me down, and that would do me even less good," he sighed in relief when the light turned green and the cop turned off the street. He then sped the rest of the way home.
When he reached home it was 5 minutes later. Spike jumped out of the car so fast he almost forgot about the blood. He reached back inside then went back inside, glad to see that Angel looked to be conscious. He scratched his head before moving to the kitchen and pouring the blood into a cup. Spike went back into the living room and bent down to the floor handing the cup to Buffy whom fed him the blood slowly. He paced back and forth as he waited for Angel to drain the cup. *12:52...* he thought as he bent down next to the bowl of blood. Spike read this part of the instructions over again, knowing they'd have *no* time to redo anything. He poured the rest of the bottle into the pool of blood and watched as it sizzled lightly then stopped. Spike left the blood there and moved Angel into the circle without damaging it any more. "Hand me the sand," he ordered and Buffy did so obediently, also noticing the clock. Carefully he fixed the circle, as he noticed Angel beginning to take notice of his surroundings once again. Then he picked up the blood and walked clockwise around Angel pouring the blood over the sand. "Light the candles and set them around the circle," he told her next and she began to place them there and light them along with Spike. THey lit them quickly and Spike had Buffy stand back away from the circle, and he sat down outside of it faceing Angel. *12:57...*
I call to those that will listen
We need your guidance through dark
He lives yet he is dead
Though his place here has mark
Soon he shall be gone
We need help to restore him
To what he once was
Our time left is growing dim
Spike handed Angel the paper to have him read the final verse.
Let the light grow
Let your power show
Grant me the life I once had
As Angel read the last phrase his entire body burst into light and then dissapeared, leaving only ash. The candles all went out. Buffy looked at the clock, *1:01....*
(TIME UPDATE: APPROXAMETLY 10:30 PM, 2 1/2 HOURS LEFT)
Angel made it to the hospital and carefully carried her inside, and up to the desk. "Hey, miss?" he asked, "She's got a broken arm, and... maybe a dislocated shoulder. Can you get her a doctor?" Angel was trying his best to stay calm, not having a great memory of past hospital visits. "You'll have to fill out these forms, please, sir," she informed him, handing him a clipboard and a pencil. His temper was threatening to emerge as he chose to not take the forms, "She's unconscious. How about I fill out the forms while they help her."
The lady got a little worried when she looked up at him, "Umm... I can have a doctor look at her... Just a second." She stood up and jogged around the corner, then shortly came back with what looked like a doctor. "Yes?" he asked coming up to Angel. "She's badly hurt, could you help her?" Angel asked regaining his composure while she was gone. The doctor looked at her seeing that she was both unconscious and looked pretty beaten up, "Yeah, yeah... Get me a bed over here!"
A few seconds later a girl and a guy wheeled a gurney around the corner, and Angel set her down on it. "What happened to her?" the doctor asked as the wheeled her down the corridor. Angel thought quick to think of an explanation, "We were walking up to her house and some guy came out of no where and threw me out of the way and her down the stairs, I think that's when she broke her left arm. Then he pulled her up really hard, and dislocated her right shoulder. I couldn't get there in time to stop him, but I got him away before he could do anything else."
The doctor nodded, even though he looked a little confused, "She doesn't have a concussion then?" Angel shook his head, "I don't think so, no. She passed out from the pain." He nodded again, "It'd be very painful. Well we'll go to work here and fix her up. You'll have to leave, don't worry, she should be fine."
"Do you know how long it will take?" he asked him before leaving. "Oh... it shouldn't take more than a half hour or so to get her back in place wrapped up." It was Angel's turn to nod as he watched them push her into a room. He sighed, sitting down with the forms, filling them out, waiting for the call.
Back at the Summer's residence, Spike was reading through the translated book, happy to have found the spell they were looking for. The Spell of the Dying Undead, it sounded like it fit their situation perfectly, and it did. "Well, the Slayer knew it. I don't know how she knew it, but she did," Spike whispered to himself as he examined the ingredients, "I know we don't have any of that just laying around the house."
He jumped off the couch and with the list in hand strolled out the door. "Right now is a time I wish I had a car. Hmmm, guess who has one?" Spike looked smug as he ran back in the house. He dialed the number for Angel's cell phone and waited for him to pick up.
"Angel."
"Yeah, I know who it is. Spike, here. I need a car, and you 'ave it. Come and get me." Angel rolled his eyes, "Why don't you walk to where-ever it is you're going?" Spike then rolled *his* eyes, "Because, it's far, and it'd take a while. We don't 'ave a while." Angel closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."
He then hung up, and walked to the nurses desk, "I've got to go pick up a friend, here's the forms you wanted filled out." She looked a little shocked by his friendly tone of voice, but responded, "Thank you." "You're welcome."
The girl nodded once, "Um, sir? How long will you be? It shouldn't take long to fix her up." "Yeah, that's what they told me, I'll try and be back in 20 minutes if I can. If she gets out before I'm back, could you have her wait here, tell her I'll be back soon," Angel instructed.
She smiled at him, "Sure. She's your girlfriend?" He smiled back, "Yeah, she's the world to me." "Well, she's in good hands, I'm sure she'll feel much better soon." Angel nodded, "Thanks," then turned and left.
A few minutes later he arrived at Buffy's house to get Spike. The bleach blonde vampire strutted down the drive way to the car and hopped in. "How's our favorite Slayer?" he asked as Angel turned the car around.
"She's gonna be okay. So where are we going, by the way?" he asked, wondering if he was even going in the right direction. "That's good. Why, the Magic Shop of course. Need some supplies to do this lovely spell we've got here," Spike said matter-of-factly, gesturing towards the sheet of paper.
Angel sighed and slowed the car to make a U-turn. "Will it take long?" he asked looking at the clock, "She'll be out in about 15 minutes." Spike seemed cheery, between finding the spell and hearing that Buffy was going to be alright, "Cool it, peaches. I'll be in and out. Shouldn't take long to get this."
Angel looked at him strangely, "Why are you so happy?" Spike looked shocked, "Well poofta, we've got your spell, to make ya all better, and there's some nice doctors making Blondie all better. What's not to be happy about?" Angel smiled and shook his head, "Nothing, but I just wouldn't expect it to make *you* so happy." Spike shrugged, "What can I say? I like havin' you two around, the Slayer at least... she keeps me on my toes."
Angel rolled his eyes, thinking he liked having her around for more than that, he could tell that Spike liked her, but he'd rather not think about that, "Yeah. Here we are, get out." Spike climbed out, then stood up straight and saluted him, "Yes, sir." Angel glared, "I'm gonna go get Buffy then pick you up on the way back, since..." he looked at his watch, "She should be getting out about now." Spike nodded, and with that jogged up to the entrance to the Magic Shop.
Angel put the car back into drive and headed for the hospital, hoping Spike didn't run into any trouble. When he reached the hospital, and parked, he went inside and up to the nurse that he'd talked to earlier. "Hi, do you know if Buffy Summers is out, yet?" he asked her leaning on the tall desk. "Oh, hi again. I'm not sure but I'll go check for you," she, Jessica her name tag read, turned and walked down the hallway.
Angel tapped his fingers on the top of the counter as he waited for her to return. When she came back she was still smiling, "She conscious, and they've finished most of the work, but they aren't quite done wrapping her arm." He nodded, "Thanks... do you know how long she'll be?" "I'd say another 5-10 minutes max.," Jessica said shrugging. Angel nodded again and went to sit down and wait.
Time went by quickly, it seemed only seconds later Buffy came walking down the hall. He stood and saw her wince in pain as she tried to move her shoulder. The doctor that had spoken with Angel 50 minutes earlier was following a short distance behind her and smiled lightly when she kept trying to move her shoulder around in the sling. "You really should leave that alone for a few days, or it'll take even longer to heal," he reprimanded, and she stopped to look at him. "I guess so, it's just annoying," Buffy told him. Then let her right arm hang in the sling and dropped her right, with a cast around the lower arm, to her side.
She turned to look forward and saw Angel standing a few feet away grinning. He spanned the gap with a few steps, and ever so gently put hands on her arms. She closed her eyes and sighed, his hands so light that it almost tickled. "You're all right," he half questioned, half stated. She opened her eyes and nodded, "Yep, fine."
Angel looked at the doctor, "She can come home?" He nodded, "Yeah, she'll need to come back in a few weeks to get the cast off so we can make sure it's healing right. You can call sometime and schedule it, other than that, and making sure she doesn't move that shoulder around like she's been trying to ever since I put it into the sling."
All three of them smiled, then Buffy spoke, "Will do. Knowing, Angel here, I probably won't be getting out of the house for the next few weeks." The doctor smiled, but the two lovers looked at each other and shared a forced smile. "We'd better be going then, if we're done here," Angel said starting to steer Buffy towards the door. "I'll see you in a few weeks," the doctor told their backs as they exited the lobby.
Angel led her to the car, having to tell her to leave her arm alone 3 times. "We have to go pick up Spike from the Magic Shop before we go home," Angel informed her as he drove. Buffy nodded, "Getting supplies?" "Yea," he affirmed, parking along the side-walk.
Spike jogged out of the door and to the car with a paper bag in his hand. He opened the door to see a banged up Slayer, "Hey luv, do I get to sign your cast?" She just rolled her eyes at him in response. "Fine, but you're gonna have to get out before I can get in," Spike informed her, grinning. Buffy glared at him before turning and standing, not using either of her arms, then stepped out of the way as he climbed in the back seat. She sat back down and Angel glared at Spike himself before driving home.
They were all surprisingly quiet on the way home. When Angel pulled into the drive the trio all walked silently into the house. Buffy sat with Angel on the couch and Spike sat across from them, placing the paper bag on the coffee table separating them. "This is going to work right?" Buffy questioned Spike timidly. "Of course, luv," Spike reached over and patted her knee reassuringly, then held up the book, "Your intuition must be pretty slick if you picked this book out to be the one." She just smiled slightly and sighed, "Then let's get to it. What do we have to do?"
Spike picked the bag back up and took out a bag of what looked like sand, an orb that looked very similar to the Orb of Thessula, a bottle containing some sort of liquid, 8 small candles, matches, and a small dagger, and set each thing carefully on the table. "We've got..." Buffy looked at the clock, "About and hour and a half."
Her face fell, and she looked like she could cry, but held it in, "What do I need to do?" Spike pulled the papers out from the safety of his coat pocket, "All right, we'll need some space..."
He went on to direct them. Angel and Buffy moved all the furniture out of the living room, making way for Spike to draw a thick, line in a large circle, approximately 3 feet in diameter, with the brown sand. He set out the candles, but read to wait to light them until after the next part.
"Angel, come 'ere," Spike motioned for him to come near the circle, where he had the bottle of liquid and the dagger. "What's next?" Angel asked sitting next to him on the floor. "Well..." he was going to continue when he saw Buffy swaying anxiously a few feet away, "Buffy.. I don't need you for this... in fact you might want to leave, even." "Bu-" "No buts, he'll be all right, but it could be painful. So if you'd just listen to me, I'd appreciate it," Spike told her as nicely as he could.
She sighed then nodded as she gave Angel as happy a smile she could before entering the kitchen and sitting at the island with her head in her hands, and let her guard down, letting a few tears streak her face.
Angel looked expectantly at Spike. "Right, it says 'ere you have to cut your wrist, then I've got to put one drop of this 'ere on it, and it should bleed freely, I need a... container of some kind, be right back," he stood and jogged quickly to get something in the kitchen. Angel had a slightly bewildered look on his face as he watched him go, then picked up the papers to make sure that was right.
"I need a big bowl of some kind... preferably one I can easily pore out of," Spike instructed Buffy who's head shot up when he entered. She swallowed and wiped a stray tear as she walked over to a cupboard, "Ummm...." Buffy pulled out a plastic bowl with a handle and a small spout, "Here, will this work?" He took it from her and nodded, "Yup, thanks luv."
Spike reached out a quickly wiped another tear from her cheek, the corners of his mouth turning up as hers did, "It'll be all right." Then he, as quickly as he came, disappeared back into the living room.
Spike sat back down next to Angel, "Ready?" Angel nodded and raised his hand above the bowl before slitting his wrist. Spike had the bottle open and slowly tipped it, and a single drop came out and fell to the skin, making Angel scream in pain.
Buffy ran in from the kitchen, but stopped when she reached the doorway. Seeing what was going on she turned and slowly walked back to her chair.
Angel was bleeding profusely, and the liquid could be seen bubbling on his wound, stopping it from healing. "Buffy!" Spike yelled, and she was there in a second, "Do you have any blood in the house?!" "I-I-I think so," she stammered, practically shaking. "Go get it!" and after Buffy was out of sight, "Damn it! I can't believe I didn't think about this." Spike looked over to see Angel getting paler and paler.
The bowl was full when the bleeding finally stopped and Angel collapsed over, head landing in the sand. "Shit!" Spike whispered harshly under his breath before sprinting to find a rag and Buffy.
He found the rag first, and Buffy came running up the stairs shortly after. Spike was kneeling next to Angel the rag pressed firmly on his wrist cleaning it up. Angel had his eyes closed, and if he weren't a vampire Buffy would have thought he were truly dead. "I couldn't find any," she said more stable than before. Spike cursed under his breath, "You'll have to stay here, we can't do the spell with him like this, and if you even suggest that he feed off of you I will slap you across the face, and I don't *care* how much it'd hurt!" Buffy didn't say a word as Spike dashed out of the house to his car. She took a deep breath before doing what she hadn't wanted to do at any point in the past day, she looked at the clock, 12:22. *We're running out of time...* she thought as she wiped the blood off of her love's wrist.
Spike broke every road law ever written as he sped to the other side of town. He made it to the butcher's, the closer of the two places he could go, about 10 minutes later looked out the window to see it closed. He hit the wheel before driving the rest of the way to Willy's.
He stormed in, not having the time or energy to be surprised to see no one there but Willy. "I need blood, and I need it now, I don't care what kind, what type just *now*," Spike demanded, getting in his face, slamming his hands down on the counter. Willy looked and felt so frightened he didn't bother to retort before reaching under the counter and grabbing a bag of blood. He handed him the blood, then turned about to speak and get him a glass, but when he turned around Spike was gone.
Spike glanced at his watch as he sat at a red light with a cop next to him. "12:45. Damn bloody cops, I'd speed out of 'ere if I didn't think they'd chase me down, and that would do me even less good," he sighed in relief when the light turned green and the cop turned off the street. He then sped the rest of the way home.
When he reached home it was 5 minutes later. Spike jumped out of the car so fast he almost forgot about the blood. He reached back inside then went back inside, glad to see that Angel looked to be conscious. He scratched his head before moving to the kitchen and pouring the blood into a cup. Spike went back into the living room and bent down to the floor handing the cup to Buffy whom fed him the blood slowly. He paced back and forth as he waited for Angel to drain the cup. *12:52...* he thought as he bent down next to the bowl of blood. Spike read this part of the instructions over again, knowing they'd have *no* time to redo anything. He poured the rest of the bottle into the pool of blood and watched as it sizzled lightly then stopped. Spike left the blood there and moved Angel into the circle without damaging it any more. "Hand me the sand," he ordered and Buffy did so obediently, also noticing the clock. Carefully he fixed the circle, as he noticed Angel beginning to take notice of his surroundings once again. Then he picked up the blood and walked clockwise around Angel pouring the blood over the sand. "Light the candles and set them around the circle," he told her next and she began to place them there and light them along with Spike. THey lit them quickly and Spike had Buffy stand back away from the circle, and he sat down outside of it faceing Angel. *12:57...*
I call to those that will listen
We need your guidance through dark
He lives yet he is dead
Though his place here has mark
Soon he shall be gone
We need help to restore him
To what he once was
Our time left is growing dim
Spike handed Angel the paper to have him read the final verse.
Let the light grow
Let your power show
Grant me the life I once had
As Angel read the last phrase his entire body burst into light and then dissapeared, leaving only ash. The candles all went out. Buffy looked at the clock, *1:01....*