Giles and Wesley studied the ancient volumes intently in the Angel Investigations office. Giles closed his book, frustrated.

'There's nothing here. Since Angel is the only known vampire to have had his human soul restored, there is really no precedent for this.'

'There must be something, somewhere.' Wesley was not ready to give up. 'Perhaps Kathy and the girls can come up with a magical solution.'

Giles picked up the scroll of Abergion and opened it.

'What's this?' He asked, looking at the text.

Wesley told him, adding 'There's an entire passage referring to Angel.' He pointed to it.

'And the vampire with a soul, after he has fulfilled his destiny will ... Shanshu,' Giles read. 'Shanshu. The other prophesy mentioned that. This is why you believe that Angel is the warrior mentioned in the writings of Deimos?' Wesley nodded. 'And Shanshu means...?'

'To die. And to live. In other words to become human.'

'Angel's humanity is to be restored to him?'

'It's his reward. If he stops the apocalypse,' Wesley stopped, realising. 'I, uh… I think it might be best not to tell Buffy about this. For now.'

Giles knew what he meant and nodded.

Kathy looked at her drawn complexion in the mirror. She knew she had to get her strength back quickly. The next twenty four hours were vital if they were going to save Angel. Only problem was she didn't know how.

She shut her eyes and lent her head against the cool surface of the mirror. 'Doyle,' she sighed, 'I could use a hand right about now.'

'Well, I don't know about a hand, but I might have a bit of an idea.'

She turned to see Doyle leaning up against the bathroom door, his arms folded across his chest.

'You look like death kiddo.'

'I feel like it too. What's your idea?'

'Well, first we need to get some iron into you. You didn't think about going to a hospital?'

'No time. And he didn't drain me enough to do any permanent damage. Just weaken me.'

'A weakened state is the last thing we need you in right now. Can anything be done?'

'I have some crystals and potions at my apartment that should help. I'm more worried about Angel at this point.'

Doyle nodded sadly. 'Why I'm here. I'm thinking magic's the answer. Perhaps from a slightly unorthodox source. For you, I mean.'

'Unorthodox?'

'The Romani. I've heard of a Kalderash ritual that might be just what we need here.'

Kathy shook her head. 'They won't help us Doyle. You know what that clan's like. All they care about is revenge. The curse. I've tried to access gypsy magic for years, and they keep shutting me out.'

'Well, somehow we need to get our hands on the book of Enyos. It contains the ritual you need.' Kathy nodded, exhausted. 'Get some rest would you. You'll be no help to Angel if you collapse, now will you?'

She smiled weakly, 'Thanks Doyle.'

'Hey, it's what I'm here for.' And with that he was gone.

Willow and Tara were going through the many spell books they had brought with them when Kathy came out of the bathroom. Cordy looked worriedly at her.

'Can I get you anything?' she asked.

Kathy shook her head. 'I'm going to head over to my apartment in a minute. Get some supplies. I should have something there that'll make me feel a little more human.'

Buffy walked over to her looking penitent. 'Kathy,' she said softly.

'It's okay Buffy. You needed to unleash,' came the reply. Kathy smiled gently, 'This must be really hard for you.'

'I want you to know that I'm grateful for what you did,' tears formed in her eyes with the memory. 'If you hadn't have intervened, he would have died. I couldn't convince him. I couldn't do anything.'

'You gave him a reason not to try again the next morning.' She looked past Buffy at Willow and Tara. 'You guys up for a little field trip? I need to get home for supplies, and then we need to hit the occult shops.'

'What are we looking for?' Willow asked.

'A Kalderash book called Enyos. There's a ritual in it that might help Angel. Unfortunately I don't know of any members of the Kalderash that will help us. Not when they know it's for Angel.'

'Enyos? I know that name,' Tara said. She thought for a moment. 'Will, I've seen it in one of your books.'

Willow's memory kicked in. 'Oh my goddess.' She rummaged to the bottom of her pile of books and pulled out a leather bound volume. 'It was Miss Calendar's.'

Kathy took the book and opened to the first page. 'It's Romani all right. We just need to find the right ritual now.' Gratitude overwhelmed her as she beamed at the two young witches. 'Thank you.'

'Did someone mention me killing Lindsey?' Angelus asked from the open door. 'Cuz that sounds like my idea of fun.'

'Angelus!' Darla exclaimed.

Drusilla gleefully clapped her hands. 'Daddy's home!'

'There's my girls,' he said, coming into the room. 'Has the lawyer been looking after you?'

'He tries,' Darla replied. She smiled as Angelus went vamp-faced. 'Come here.'

Angelus grabbed her, pinning her to the wall. Her faced changed as he kissed her with ferocious passion. Lindsey looked on in disgust.

'As touching as this reunion is,' he interrupted, 'we really do have more pressing matters to attend to.'

Angelus broke the kiss. 'He's right. This'll take just a minute, he said, about to advance on the lawyer. Darla stopped him.

'He might be annoying at times, but he hasn't outlived his usefulness just yet, Angelus.'

Angelus looked disappointed as he looked into his lover's eyes. He turned to Lindsey, 'Looks like you get to live. For now.'

'The journey to the soul,' Kathy read. 'This must be it… Oh.'

'Oh?' Willow didn't like the sound of that 'oh'. 'Why 'oh'?'

'It's a bit tricky,' Kathy replied. 'Unfortunately, we have to work it outside, under the light of the moon.'

'Bang goes our two best defences, indoors and sunlight,' Cordelia remarked. She thought for a moment. 'There are some gardens near here. They're locked up at night. Minimises the chances of civilians getting caught up in the middle.'

'Good idea,' replied Kathy, as she continued to read. 'Damn. It also calls for a coven.'

'A coven is at least three witches,' Tara replied. 'I count three.'

'Why is it talking about covens anyway,' asked Willow. 'It's a gypsy text.'

'It's written in Romani,' Kathy replied, 'but this doesn't seem to be a gypsy ritual. It's more like old witchcraft. Maybe the Kalderash were trying to hide it.'

Kathy finished reading and looked at the two younger witches. 'It won't be easy. Are you guys up for this?' she asked.

'I'm more worried about you,' Buffy had been listening quietly the whole time. 'You look exhausted. Are you sure you're up to it?'

'I have to be,' Kathy replied. 'I'll be fine.' She looked at Willow and Tara. 'The ritual calls for you to form a protective circle while I go into the nether-world to look for Angel's soul. Once there you need to anchor me. It's extremely volatile. One false move and we lose him. And me.'

'We're up for it,' Willow replied with more confidence than she felt. Tara nodded in agreement.

Kathy turned to Buffy again. 'I'll need you to distract Angelus while we work,' she told her. 'I don't know what we'll do if Darla and Drusilla are around.'

'I'll handle them.'

'Buffy, all three of them together are an unstoppable force. You can't fight them alone.'

'What's this about fighting alone?' Gunn said as he entered the apartment. 'If there's any fighting going on, I'm gonna be there.'

Buffy turned to Cordelia. 'Call Giles and Wesley. Tell them we need them back here.'

'I need to get to my apartment. I have most of the supplies we need there. But there are a couple of things we need from a magic shop.'

'We'll get those,' Tara said. She and Willow got up.

'All meet back here in an hour.'

'Have you eaten yet dear?' Darla asked.

'I managed a bite of my long lost little sister. Unfortunately, she wriggled away. Damned witch.'

'Your sister?' Darla looked confused.

'She been sent to put pay to all our lovely plans,' Drusilla swooned in the midst of a vision. 'The stars are whispering of her power - she's preparing to hurt us all,' she wailed.

'The witch is here!' The Vampires turned as the First materialised in the corner of the room, in the guise of Jenny Calendar. She looked at Lindsey. 'Why wasn't I told!'

'I didn't know,' the lawyer replied.

'Find out where she is and kill her!' the First commanded.

Lindsey left quickly and she turned to Angelus. 'Glad to see you back to your old self again. You realise however that now the witch is in the picture, tonight will prove vital to you staying that way. She'll do whatever it takes to stop you.'

'I figured as much. Don't worry, she escaped once. It won't happen again.'

'Good. Just make sure you kill all your little friends, and that pesky soul of yours won't be tormenting you anymore.'

Kathy felt dizzy as she and Cordelia entered her apartment. She sat her bag down on the couch and went to a large mahogany cupboard which Cordelia guessed was antique. Opening it revealed a huge collection of magical supplies, from crystal balls to newt's eyes to things Cordelia couldn't even begin to name.

A wave of nausea swept over Kathy, and before she could steady herself, she collapsed. Cordelia rushed to her side.

'We need to get you to a doctor,' Cordelia exclaimed, resting Kathy's head on her knee.

'No, we don't have time,' Kathy replied weakly. 'It'll be dark soon. There's some healing magic we can work. I need you to do it.'

'Um, if it involves Latin, I kinda suck at that.'

'No Latin, I promise.'

Cordelia helped sit Kathy up against the sofa. 'What do I have to do?' she asked.

Kathy talked her through the ingredients for the potion, and Cordy mixed together the not so pleasant smelling concoction. 'You're really going to drink that?' she cringed.

'Tastes worse than it smells.' She managed a grin. 'Now, there's a purple velvet box in there. Inside is a blue-green crystal.'

'Got it,' replied Cordy.

'Good, now when I drink the potion, I need you to direct the crystal over me, and really focus. You need to visualise positive energy flowing out of you, through the crystal and into me. Can you do that?'

'I'll try.'

Taking a deep breath, Kathy drank the potion down in one go. It was really vile and it almost choked her. As soon as she was done Cordelia pointed the crystal at her and shut her eyes. For a while Kathy felt nothing change and she was afraid that this wouldn't work. After all, it often took years for people to learn to focus healing energy.

Suddenly warmth began to creep through her body, slowly at first, and then gaining strength as energy flowed from the crystal. She shut her eyes and focused, directing the energy through her blood, allowing it the restore her strength. Minutes later, she opened her eyes.

'Wow,' she said. Cordelia opened her eyes. 'Cordy I think you did it.'