Part 11
Anya had the shop opened already they noted when they opened the door, and walked in. The former demon looked up seeing Willow, and not recognizing Spike at all, except for his black clothes and trench. "Hi, Willow. Giles called, filled me in on what happened. Is that you, Spike?" she asked staring open mouthed at the transformation that had taken place in him.
"Yeah, it´s me. Like the new look?" he smiled, spinning around before coming down the step to where she was at while Willow headed to the phone to check in with Giles, and to let him know that they were at the shop.
"Like wow. It´s so different—the hair—the glasses, especially the glasses," she said, deciding it was a good look for him after all.
"I got contacts too, probably ought to be trying them out, but it´s so bloody nice to be able to see again. Don´t think I look like a bloody poof, do you?" he asked, enjoying the attention.
"No, …definitely not," she said and keeping her comments for once to herself that she thought he looked a little like a younger, much better looking version of Giles. "So you are enjoying being human. My first few days were terrifying, and real confusing for me," she told him as she unpacked a box, and checked the items off the invoice.
He shrugged leaning his elbows on the counter, noticing she wasn´t cringing back as she normally did before when he was a vampire. "I will say it´s bloody strange after all this time, but I´m starting to get the hang of it. I like it being able to really feel things. So did Giles tell you about us killing Glory who was also Ben this morning? And about how messed up Buffy is?" he asked her, changing subjects.
"Yeah, we would have come over, but Xander had to go to work. He´s getting to be foreman for a whole big project downtown, and the big bosses want to go over things with him on the new job, so he couldn´t beg off, and not show. Then someone had to open the shop because Giles needs to be there with Buffy and Tara since Angel is there. Why is he here anyway? Giles wasn´t too clear on that," she asked him.
"I called him, needed to get some of my paperwork back from him. He´s been holding it since the mansion. Then he wanted to see if I was really human, and I guess see Buffy again, so he drove down here last night. Since he was going to show up early, Giles, and I crashed at Buffy´s. Lucky thing too since Angel found one of Glory´s minions outside, and next he knows she´s there behind him. I heard the ruckus, and opened the door to see her, warned Buffy, and we grabbed weapons. We just wanted her to leave, but then she started mouthing off. It´s when she told us she had killed Joyce that we both lost it, and went after her. We were both beating her to a bloody pulp when suddenly she changed to Ben, and he tells the Slayer to end it, and she lops off his head. Then it was over—no more Glory, no more worries for any of us especially Dawn. She´s safe now or until some other nasty decides they want the bloody 'key´," he told her giving her a brief run down on what had happened.
"Sounds messy. So she´s dead. Dead in not going to come back dead?" she asked enthusiastically with a large grin, finishing up the first box, and starting in on another.
"We think so. Going to burn the bodies soon as we can, then destroy the ashes just to be safe. Right now we got to worry about Buffy. She snapped during the battle, and collasped afterwards. She´s lost somewhere in her mind. Willow´s going to try going in, and seeing if she can reach her, and bring her back," he told her, and she nodded.
"Yeah, got to be all the stress. She really needs a vacation. How´s Dawn? Is she okay?" Anya asked, remembering to ask.
He straightened up, and leaned back against the counter. "Fine. Relieved that Glory is gone. And mad that I made her go to school. She wasn´t too happy about that. Buffy would have wanted her to, and there wasn´t anything she could do except just sit around and worry," he told her and she nodded in approval over his getting Dawn to cooperate.
"True, and the school people have been getting on Buffy, and Giles case about Dawn missing so much school. She´ll probably have to take summer classes to get caught up. Then Buffy just dropped out of college so she could stay home, and deal with everything."
"She did? Hadn´t heard that. I thought she liked going to college," he asked surprised, and a little dismayed that the Slayer had gotten so overwhelmed that she had quit school.
"She did, but since she now has to be full time mom, run a house, then there was all her slaying duties, and worrying about Glory showing up again, something had to give. She hopes she can go back next fall after it quiets down. In the meantime she was looking for part time work, so she could make ends meet. But not here, since Giles was already helping her out," she explained.
"The slayer was going to work? She didn´t have a job yet that she has to check in on, did she?" he asked in case someone had to call in for her.
Anya shook her head. "No, not yet. But she was looking."
'Good,´ he thought, 'at least she doesn´t have try to explain anything to a boss.´ It had been harder on Buffy that he had thought once her friends started opening up, and filling him in on things. Whether she wanted his help, or not he was going to help her, so she didn´t have to worry about meeting ends meet, or her dad, or anything. Giving up slaying would be nice too, but she couldn´t it was in her blood, what she was. He would just have make sure that she survived, and did manage to make it to a ripe old age, so she could retire rather than die.
"Maybe, something will pop up to solve all her problems," he said conversationally with a smile to himself.
"Like a rich boyfriend, or husband you mean?" Anya said bluntly. When he started laughing, and she looked at him perplexed, not understand how close to the mark she was. "What? What did I say?" and he just laughed harder as Willow came over to him after getting off the phone so he could get out of answering her since at the moment only Giles and Buffy, besides angel knew his secret.
"Sorry to interrupt, guys, but I just got through talking with Giles. She´s still sleeping, like real deep dreaming. No one can wake her up. She doesn´t seem to respond to anything. Though she did jerk when Angel tried touching her to see if he could wake her up. Then she mumbled your name, Spike, and said 'bad vampire´, and a bunch of other stuff that weirded out everyone of the naughty, sexy kind. I´m beginning to think that maybe I´m not the one to go in, and try to get her to come out of this—maybe it´s you she needs," she said looking pointedly at Spike, her face a bit flushed from what Tara had told her Buffy had said.
Spike just looked at her shocked. "Me? I don´t know how do bloody trips through people´s minds. Why me?" he asked scared.
"Well, it seems like you are on her mind. And every once in a while she does call out for you, not anyone else. And if she is having erotic type dreams about you, I´m not sure whether I want to deal with them, capish?" she told him, regarding him steadily.
"Yeah, I gotcha, Red. But how in hell am I supposed to pull this off? I´m not a bloody witch," he asked her.
"Tara and I will guide you, at least get you into her head, and from there you should be able to handle it. In theory," she added.
His eyes narrowed, studying her from behind his glasses. "You´ve never done this before, have you?" he asked her point blank.
"Sort of, last year when we fought Adam, we joined with Buffy to create a super Buffy, though afterwards we had to deal with the first Slayer who was all pissed because we had woke her up, or something," Willow told him. "So will you do it?" she asked him.
He nodded, "yeah, I´ll do it because I want her back to herself. I´m just hoping this bloody well works, pet, otherwise you might lose both of us. So what all do we nee for this whatever?´ he asked with a sigh.
"Let me go get the books, and we´ll go from there," she told him heading over to the study table to find the books she remembered seeing the spells that she was going to combine into one to make it work the way she wanted.
He followed her over, and sat down. Then noticed the coffee pot over in the corner and got back up to make himself a cup. "Want one, Red?" he asked as he was fixing his.
"Yeah, I could use one. Cream and two sugars, please," she told him as he poured her a cup and brought it over while she looked through the book piles from their recent Glory researches. "I found one of the books, and I´m still looking for the other two. I want to combine a couple of spells and saw something like a shaman´s trance spell for the base," she explained.
"Why don´t you bloody just create one from scratch? You´ve been working these things long enough to be able to do that, haven´t you?" he asked, idly thumbing through one of the volumes in her keep pile.
"Sort of, but Tara and Giles always insist I use an existing spell as a base."
He rolled his eyes, "figures. Sometimes that´s good and sometimes that´s a bloody disaster because you get odd elements into the equation that shouldn´t be there. No wonder you´ve been have bloody problems. What is it you are wanting to do exactly?" he asked seriously, looking at her as she stopped and looked back at him in surprise.
"You´re offering to help me? Do you know what you are doing?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"A bit, pet. Like I was telling you earlier in the car, I hung around Angelus and Dru and they were always messing about with magicks for the fun of it. I did learn somethings and then went and learned the right way on my own so I didn´t get done over by them or some other wanker trying to have fun with me," he told her. "Just don´t be telling Giles and your girlfriend I helped—they´ll have a bloody fit, especially after everyone figures out I could have been doing this all along—if you get my drift," he told her in a low voice so that Anya couldn´t over hear them.
"Got it," she replied thoughtfully and a bit scared now realizing what he had just said, and what he could have been doing if had wanted to. "Okay, what we want to do is like an astral projection to get you into her head, and for her to accept you being there with safeguards, so you can get out if you need to, and for you to help her find her way back," she explained and saw him take in all her information and digest it with a thoughtful frown. Sitting down next to him, she handing him a legal pad to write on.
Willow noticed he was a lefty when he grabbed a pen from the pile on the table, and started writing. She hadn´t noticed that before about him. His slender fingers flew as he bent over the pad in concentration, silently mouthing some phrases to himself. He wrote furiously for a couple of minutes, and then slid the pad over for her to read. Her eyebrows arched in total surprise. "Damn, this is good," she told him impressed, elevating him more than a couple of notches up in her estimation of his abilities.
"That´s just off the top of my head because I´m out of practice for doing this. I added in all the goddess stuff because I know you´re heavy into it, and I do know which deities to call on for something like this. This is actually simple stuff, really. All we need is a focusing crystal, some herbs for atmosphere, some salt for the protection circle, and a bit of background music—preferably native American, or something with a steady rhythm to help the journey. None of that monks chanting stuff because it throw my concentration off," he told her sitting back and drinking his coffee and fighting an urge for a cigarette still.
Willow hugged him, surprising him. "Thanks, Spike. This is perfect and it´ll work a whole lot better than what I was going to try to cobble together. Do you do do lessons?" she asked hopefully letting him go, blushing at her impulsiveness.
He looked thoughtful. "I might, once I get settled, but it´ll be just between us two. I´m not quite ready to let the others know I do know all this stuff. They´ve had enough bloody shocks recently as it is. And I like my hide fine as it is as the Watcher will really have it when he finds out. Well, let´s get this on. The list of herbs you´ll need for the incense is at the bottom, and then I´ll need a tea to drink to help me focus, and that´s in there too. While you´re getting all that I´m going to go back and work out a little," he told her getting up.
"Sure no problem," Willow told him, not sure about his shift of mood. She watched as he took off his trench and then headed back to the training room.
After he had left Anya came over. "I couldn´t help but overhear. He knows magick?" she asked, glancing over Willow´s shoulder at the spell he had written out.
"Yeah," she answered cautiously, "but you can´t tell—promise. He´ll tell Giles when he´s ready to. He doesn´t want to freak him out or any of us. I have a feeling we have been way underestimating him all these years. But at least he´s on our side—I hope," she added, wondering how much they really didn´t know about the former vampire.
"So all of this is bring Buffy back to herself so it comes out the magick use fund?" Anya asked looking at the list of ingredients, so she could figure out how, and whom to charge it to.
Willow just shook her head at Anya´s obsession with money. "Yeah, what do you think. Come on, you can help. I want to do this as soon as possible," she told her getting up and they went to go get the stuff on Spike´s list.
In the back, Spike had taken off his shirt and was going through an entire series of martial arts warm up exercises so he could get a handle of what his new body could do. So far he wasn´t finding its reactions too different from his vampire ones except that he did have to breath and he couldn´t push himself quite as hard as he could before. Overall he was still able to move easily, jump, flip, and do most of the things he had been able to do before. By the time he was finished he was thoroughly tired, covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. He grabbed a towel and wiped the heavy sweat off, still amazed that he had do so now. He went off to the small sink in the corner ran some cool water, and rinsed off and then dried himself again before he sat down on the couch to think, and recoup from his exercises.
He was still thinking over what Willow had asked him after she saw his spell writing ability. He hadn´t wanted to let anyone really know about his hidden talents, but if he was going to be a useful and effective member of the group which he wanted to be very badly, and had wanted since the chip, he was going to have to let them know what he could really do, and had knowledge of. A lot of times it amazed him that the group didn´t see the talents that they did have among them. Like Anya for instance. He shuttered to think how much knowledge the ex-demon did posses. She rarely volunteered because the others didn´t think she knew that much. He was not going to be dismissed like that. The problem was going to be getting them to listen to him.
He was just going to have to have patience. This was a very tight group as he had discovered from his attempts to break them up off and on. They were not breakable. That was one of the thinks that he had admired about them because when the chips were down they would present a very formidable unbreakable front to any threat. The biggest factor in his acceptance as part of group was and would always be Buffy as it was her group and she had the say as to who was in or not. Though thinking about last night on the porch and how he had finally be able to kiss her and get some small admittance that she did like him out of her, he didn´t think it would be too much of a problem. As long as he could keep from pushing her in any way it ought to be cool.
He was sure what he had written out would work because he had used a similar spell to help Dru when she had gotten really bad, and withdrawn into herself after Prague. He hadn´t been able to restore her mind completely because it had been already damaged before her turning by Angelus. He had a least gotten her to come back and be functional. That was the best that he could have hoped for. But wandering through the mazes which she had in her mind, it had scared him how very damaged, and sickly twisted she really was. Only his love for her had made him go forward to find her to bring her back to herself. It was then, too, that he realized that though she liked him, and loved him in a way, her heart would always be for her sire, not him. All their years together meant nothing to her because she wanted Angelus not him, and she was only biding her time until they found him again. He had seen clearly in her mind that she was going to leave him when they did find her daddy. And it had broke his heart and after that he had begun his own mental separation from her because he finally knew the truth.
That he had fallen immediately in love with Buffy when he first saw her dancing at the Bronze did not surprise him now. He had been looking for love, but to find that what he wanted was his mortal enemy had really messed up his head, and had taken him a while to consciously accept. And he did want her, more now because he was mortal, and had actually gotten to experience her kisses, and feel her body next to his. There was no doubt in his mind now that at least on the physical level she wanted him, but he did not want a relationship just based on sex. Those always ended badly. He wanted her to want all of him, accept him fully as a man. He wanted her like he had always wanted her as an equal, and not an appendix to himself like Angel and Riley had treated her.
Willow and Anya popped their heads in looking for him. "Spike, you still back here?" Willow called not being able to see him over in the corner on the couch.
"Yeah, Red, over here. Just sitting and cooling down," he called back, standing up to go find his shirt and put it back on.
Both girls looked in open admiration at his rippling muscles, and lean body. 'And Buffy has been rejecting him?´ they both thought, resisting the urge to whistle. He found his shirt, and grinned a little to himself as he knew they were staring, and why. The only one that had seen him without a shirt had been Buffy and that had been during the spell. He causally put it on, then cocked an eyebrow at both of them. "See anything you´d like?´ he asked them crossing his muscled arms then turned on the charm with an uplifted eyebrow.
"Ahh,…ummm….we´ll wait in here," Willow stuttered, blushing redly, and grabbed Anya, pulling her with her. "I think I hear customers," she added as incentive.
"Nice bod," Anya grinned very appreciatively as she was drug off, and let Willow make her leave.
He followed slowly, still grinning, and shaking his head. Willow almost couldn´t look at him when he went back over to the table to collect his trench.
"I got all the stuff we need, Spike," she managed to say. "I also called Giles to see how Buffy was doing, and to let him know we should be there shortly."
"And how is she?" he asked getting serious again.
Willow sighed. "The same. She´s still out of it, and no one can wake her. He´s sitting with her because she had to go to her classes. Angel is asleep in the basement, but said if we need him he´ll help," she told him and he nodded.
"You got everything?" he asked, and she nodded, "okay, let´s go see if we can wake her up," he told her grabbing up the box of supplies she had packed on the table and heading out towards her car.
"Good luck guys," Anya called after them as Willow followed Spike.
She got ahead of him and went and opened the trunk because there wasn´t that much room left in the back with all of their bags. He set the box down carefully making sure it was level, and braced because there were a few glass containers and breakables in it. Willow set down another bag next to it then closed the trunk. Going around she unlocked his door then hers and they both got in and buckled up. Then she took off towards Buffy´s house.
"So you found everything you needed?" he asked, trying to get his mind prepared for the trip he was going to taking shortly.
"Yeah, no sweat. Luckily, Anya´s been right on top on ordering stuff, even the odd ball stuff since most of the time Giles is pretty clueless where, and who to get really good supplies from. I thought she was going to be a disaster working in the store, but since she´s been there, she´s made the shop really turn around, and make a profit. That with the shop on the Internet, the store has more business than it can handle sometimes," told him as she drove.
"That´s good,. I had kind of wondered how that was going. Though Anya´s ex did do a real number on it I heard."
"Yeah, Olaf," she said with a remembered grimace. "Luckily, Xander is good at rebuilding stuff so it wasn´t a complete disaster. He got it all fixed up and new in nothing flat, and cheap too which made Giles happy. Anya and I were banned from doing magick together in the store unless it´s an absolute emergency," she added and saw him grin.
"So, you doing okay? The workout worked out?´ she asked, curious.
"Yeah. If you´re asking whether the vampire/slayer whatever has worn off—no, doesn´t seem to have. I can still do pretty much everything I used to except I have to remember to breathe, and not be quite so rough on myself. And I bloody sweat too. That still takes getting used to," he told her.
"You will, at least you´re taking this all good. Think you´re going to have problems from the vampires since you´ve changed?"
"Some. Had a run in with a bunch of my old crew last night, so the word is going to out and I´m just going to have to keep on my guard some. That´s why I picked up some portable protections in case I did get jumped," he said holding out his wrist.
"It´s nice," she said, "all kind of gothic, and all. If you want I can bless it," she offered.
"Thanks, but I think I´ve got that covered already," he told her hoping he hadn´t disappointed her too much. She just nodded understanding now after he had already showed what he could do she wasn´t going to question him. As soon as he had left the store he had 'blessed´ all his new jewelry with a powerful, ancient incantation, that he knew none of the locals would be able to get past. Though the locals messed around with magick, luckily none of them were that good, and for the most part had no clue what they were doing.
They pulled up in front of the house and parked. "They got the stuff out of the trunk first after Giles let them in. "We´ve got more," Willow explained as Spike turned around and went back to the car, and started bringing in his bags and hers. It took two trips to get it all brought in, and he just left his stuff in the living room until he could get a chance to put it in Giles car.
He went into the kitchen and got himself a bottle of water out of the fridge, wanting something to drink but not any soda when he still had the ritual to do in a bit. He could hear bits and parts of Willow and Giles talking in Joyce´s office. He was trying to question Willow where she had found, or come up with the spell, and whose handwriting it was in. He could tell Willow was getting flustered and nervous. He sighed and got up and went to bail out the witch before Giles decided he didn´t want her to do it.
"I came up with the soddin´ spell, so if you want to yell at anyone, yell at me, Watcher," Spike told him leaning against the door frame.
It took Giles a moment to register that it was really Spike as he had only gotten a hurried glimpse of him when they had come in carrying stuff. "It´s your spell? You know how to do magicks?" he questioned, shocked.
"Yeah," he admitted. "Think I didn´t? Call it years with Dru, and Angelus under the heading of self preservation, mate. I know all the stuff, but I don´t actively practice it like Red, here, or you. Only when I need to use it, I do. She was looking through a bunch of books, and was going to put something together, when I decided to volunteer, and just give her one that I know that bloody works as I had to do something similar with Dru when she went out of head on me after Prague," he explained. "The original was by an old gypsy seer that I knew, and she guaranteed it´d work, and it did," he added trying to reassure Giles it would work.
"If you sure it´ll work? I just worry how Buffy is going to react to it, and your presence in her mind. But Willow says you would be better going in there than her. Though after listening to Buffy mumble in her sleep, I am more inclined to agree with her," the Watcher said flushing a little. "How soon do you two want to do this?" he asked.
"As soon as we can. The longer she stays like this the harder it will be for her to come back from where she has retreated to," Spike told him seriously. "And I would rather do it before Dawn has to come home," he said looking at the clock behind Giles which was saying it was around one o´clock. He knew Dawn got out of school around three so they should be able to do this, and have her sister back by the time she did come home.
"Okay, we can try this. I don´t think we have any other choices right now," Giles said standing up, and handing back the spell to Willow.
"You guys start setting up, and I´ll go make the tea Spike needs to drink," Willow told them taking a large jar of herbs, and a couple of packets out of the box to go head for the kitchen to do what needed to be made.
Both men went upstairs, and went into Buffy´s bedroom to set up. She was still out cold, but moaning a little as if she was fighting something, or someone in her deep sleep. Spike´s heart went out to her, and made him more determined to bring his love back to herself. He went over and gently wiped the sweat off of her fevered face. "How long has she been doing this?" he asked.
"The sweating just started. Is that bad?´ Giles asked, as he started unpacking the box.
"Hopefully not. Last time I was dealing with Dru, and she had been torn up pretty badly from the crowd. At least Buffy doesn´t have any physical injuries," he said, trying to catch what Buffy was saying, but it was only parts of words, and none of it was clear even with his enhanced hearing.
"Since this is your show what do you need done?" Giles asked him pointedly.
"Since we have to work around the limitation of the bed, and the limited space we have, we need the circle to enclose her bed, and space for me to sit on the floor next to her so I can use the candle, crystal, bowl, and the knife. Buffy does have a CD player, doesn´t she?" Spike asked, selecting one of the CD´s Willow had picked out.
"Over there," Giles pointed to where it resided in the corner under a discarded shirt. Spike went over moving the shirt, and put the CD in, and set it to repeat, pleased at the ancient rhythms coming out of the machine. Giles quirked an eyebrow in question, but decided not to ask. Though he did note that Buffy was seeming to relax with the music. "The only thing I am not happy about is the part where you cut Buffy and put a drop of her blood in your tea. Sure you are still human?" Giles questioned.
"Yes, I´m still human. I wouldn´t be able to wear all these damn crosses if I weren´t," Spike growled, showing him the wristband, and the necklace which Giles hadn´t seen. "The blood was part of the original spell, and the gypsy explained to me the blood is to give my soul a focus on her soul. In the one I did on Dru there was a lot more blood exchanged. Here, I´m only taking a couple of drops not bloody bleeding her. I´m fangless, and I plan on staying that way, satisfied?" Spike said shaking his head as he went about setting up a make shift altar on a red cloth on the floor by Buffy´s bed with the items he was going to need within the sacred circle.
He was going to wait for Willow before he made the circle as it would take both of them chanting and spreading the salt to consecrate it properly. He would also need Giles burning the herbs. Spike was almost through when Willow arrived with the covered container of tea and handed it to him.
"Thanks, luv," he told her setting it down by they other ritual items. Then he sat down on a chair and removed his boots and socks, then strip off his shirt. Giles raised an inquiring eyebrow, and was relieved when Spike went no further in removing his clothes. "Anytime you´re ready," he told the red haired witch who nodded she was ready. They both picked up small earthenware containers of prepared and blessed salt.
"Hear me old Ancient Mother, she who always has been, and always will be, look kindly upon us your servants as we prepare to bring our friend back from where ever she has gone, lost in the mazes of her mind, and other realms. We consecrate this sacred circle to keep out those forces of evil that may seek do us harm as we perform this great work. We consecrate the North, where wisdom and air dwells. We consecrate the East, from whence life and water springs. We consecrate the South, where truth and fire issue forth. Lastly, we consecrate the West from whence comes death, and all things of the earth must once again go to. So sayeth the goddess who wears many names, many faces, from the time of the beginning to the time that will end, a perfect circle, round, and round, always changing, never still, so shall it be, thy will be done, blessed be," Willow chanted as did Spike who matched her word by word as they walked counter to each other spreading the salt as they walked to meet together where they had started.
Giles had lit the herbs to spread their fragrances. He too was circling the room as best he could since their was very little room to maneuver. Already he could feel the energies shift and that the sacred circle was complete almost like a solid barrier between Spike and Buffy and the rest of the room.
"William, you are the Seeker. Do you accept this responsibility knowing fully the risks that you shall undertake?" Willow asked Spike.
"Aye, bright lady, I do. I do this with open heart, with no fear, to bring back she who is most precious to me, and to restore her back to herself and to her loved ones," he replied solemnly.
"Then, by the power of the Goddess, do that which must be done to enter into her mind," Willow charged him.
He turned away from her to bend down, and pick up the knife, and the tea before he turned to Buffy. "Only through pain can the way be made clear. Only by the blood shall you be known," he said, then picked up her limp hand and sliced across the tip of a finger which began bleeding and he allowed two huge drops to fall into the herbal tea. When he was done he wiped the blood off on a piece of gauze he had left there for this purpose. Taking the knife he dipped it in and swirled it around three times. "Three times three, your blood shall be mixed. Three times three, you shall come home to me. Three times three, Great Triple Goddess, thy will shall be done. Blessed be," he chanted, and then drank the mixture. He sank down to the ground facing Buffy´s bed, his right hand grasping hers. His left hand had grabbed the crystal and he held the large pure white crystal firmly in his hand pointing upward towards the sleeping young woman. "I am in you, you are in me, we are here together in this place. My mind to your mind, as one, as one, we are merged into one," he chanted over and over until his words got softer and softer and his eyes closed as he entered a trance state to be on the same wave length as Buffy was.
Giles whispered in Willow´ ear to ask her, "now what?"
She turned to him and motioned to the floor. "Now we sit and wait.´
And they did watching the ex-vampire, his head bowed, and holding Buffy´s hand as he tried to make contact with her in her mind.
End part 11
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