The first thing Willow checked was if her partner was still breathing, relieved when she felt warm air against her fingers as she held them to the taller woman's nostrils; clearly, Pat was out cold though, and since she knew how many of the men Deira had hired for his dirty work were around, the witch was well aware of the fact that just waiting for her to wake up so she could heal was not an option.

Not to mention the blood loss, she thought to herself, her heart clenching up as she watched how blood kept dripping from the numerous wounds, forming puddles on the floor, who knows how much she lost already, and will lose until she wakes up… there has to be something I can do…

"She's dying, and you know it", Deira's voice spoke to her, surprisingly loud despite the fact that he had been shrunken down to a mere twentieth of his former size, "and you also know that there is nothing you can do."

"Shut up or I'll step on you", she threatened in reply, not even looking at the tiny insect; giving her best to calm down, she took in a few deep breaths, her mind still racing as she tried to figure out how to help her lover, knowing deep inside that there had to be something she could do, even if it'd only be a small healing spell to stop the bleeding.

Thinking of a healing spell made her remember the moment not too long ago, when she had eased her lover's blinding headache with her magic; it hadn't been a particular spell she had used, just the need to help the woman she loved guiding the energies within her, and now, she tried to tap into that again as she placed both hands on the wound which looked the most dangerous and was bleeding the most, the gaping slash in the taller woman's throat, giving her best to ignore how the blood made her fingers sticky and wet as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Heal, she thought to herself, breathing slowly and calmly, thinking of all the times she had seen her partner heal in her demonic form, how the flesh had mended itself, and trying to make it do just that again now; and after a minute, a warm, golden glow started to form around her hands, the flow of blood lessening, then stopping as the glow spread, seeping into the wound and bathing it in its warm light.

With sweat forming on her brow, Willow kept up the flow of energy, even though she felt that it was taking a lot of her power; and not too long afterwards, the wound had closed, and she moved on to the next, ignoring the strain it was putting on her as she let the magic take care of the injury, so focused on her spell that she didn't even notice how the fingers of the demon's right hand started to twitch.

"Heal", she now said out loud, the bites slowly starting to mend themselves as the magic did its job, "come on, you can do this, you can do this... It'll be—"

Both of Pat's hands shot up with shocking speed and closed around her throat, cutting her off; her eyes went wide as she struggled instinctively against the grip, the iron-like grasp of the taller woman's fingers around her throat keeping her from saying anything, from explaining that she wasn't evil anymore, only permitting her low, helpless choking noises.

Gasping, she grabbed at the demon's arms, trying to gain her attention long enough so she'd notice that the darkness was gone from her eyes; and moments later, she felt the taller woman's fingers slide beneath the torc, the demon gritting her teeth as she got a good hold of it and pulled, breaking it in two moments later.

The moment the torc was gone from around her throat, she felt the dark magic retreating to where it had been, forced back to the farthest edge of her mind, where it couldn't do any harm or damage unless she'd let it; and at the same time, Pat was retreating, scrambling awkwardly away from her on all fours, either not noticing or not caring that she still was bleeding from several wounds – and that others had been healed, gone without a trace.

"Pat, no", Willow hurriedly spoke up, coming to her feet again and raising her hands in what she hoped was a gesture of surrendering and not seen as threatening by the black haired woman, "it's me, I'm me, I swear, it's under control again…"

In response, the demon stopped moving backwards, but still eyed her warily, clearly not sure if she could believe her; smiling calmingly at her, Willow dared to take a step closer in reply, still keep her hands up, not wanting to give the impression that she might attack after all.

"Just take a look", she then added, gesturing at her eyes, trying to make her partner see that they had gone back to their regular green colour, "the darkness is gone, I already pushed it back before you woke up again and now that you broke the torc, it can't take over anymore…

"Prove it", Pat flatly replied, clearly not willing to believe her so fast, even though Willow could see it in her gaze that she wanted to, needed to, almost ached to do so, "prove that this isn't some kind of nasty mind game you're playing."

"I remembered", Willow gave back after thinking about this for a moment and trying to figure out how she should prove that she wasn't her evil self anymore, "while that… demon was hurting you, I remembered all the times you protected me, saved me… risked your life to save mine… and, and I thought of our first kiss, and all the others, and of how you held me whenever I needed it, and of how good this always made me feel, and it… it helped me to push the darkness back and to take control again, and I healed you…"

In response, the demon's good eye momentarily went wide – before she grabbed at her throat, her surprise only growing when she realized that the wound there indeed was gone, as well as most of the injuries in her right shoulder, only those on her other one and her back remaining, the almost comically surprised look on her face making the redhead smile slightly.

"Also", she then added, allowing a hint of mischief to enter her voice and her eyes, "I shrunk Deira. He's of a more natural size for a praying mantis now. You can step on him if you like?"

With those words, she gestured at the mantis, ignoring how it jumped up and down in response, as if to express anger about how it had been treated; then, her gaze softened as she walked over to the black haired woman and knelt down in front of her again, her eyes never leaving hers as she spoke on.

"I'm so sorry", she told her lover quietly, daring to reach out with one hand and grasping Pat's, glad when the demon didn't pull back, "for all the things I did to you while the dark magic was running wild… For how I treated you when I had you locked up here and how I hurt you…"

"That must have been the first time I didn't like it when you kissed me", Pat mumbled in reply, then gave her a wry smile; and in response, Willow moved in to hug her, her heart soaring in her chest when she felt the taller woman wrap both arms around her and hold her close, ignoring the pain this brought up in her still aching wounds.

"I'm sorry", she repeated, "I can't believe I hurt you like that, and let that mantis demon hurt you… and that if Buffy hadn't come down in that cellar, I would have…"

She couldn't even say out loud what she would have done, falling silent and swallowing heavily; clearly seeing her distress, Pat just shook her head in reply, then reached up with one hand to tenderly cup her cheek, all pain and terror forgotten as it was her turn to hold the redhead's gaze.

"To be honest, it wasn't really nice", she then told her, making the witch swallow heavily again, "but I'll survive, and I'll deal. It's what I do, especially for you… You're my girl."

"I love you", the witch breathed in reply, then leaned closer to her partner and kissed her tenderly; and to her relief, the demon immediately responded to the kiss, her hand moving from her cheek to her neck and pulling her even closer, her wounds once more ignored.

"Love you, too", she mumbled after the kiss, smiling slightly at her, "but I'll love you even more if you'll help me to get up now so I can demon out and heal."

"Oh, of course", Willow immediately gave back, momentarily feeling like slapping herself for forgetting about this and making the taller woman endure her pain much longer than necessary; quickly, but carefully, she moved out of the embrace, then helped Pat to her feet, and while the demon changed into her furrier form, she moved over to where Deira was still sitting on the ground, glaring up at her, letting out little squeaks of outrage when she bent down and picked him up, keeping a grip tight enough on him to keep him from flying or hopping away, but making sure she wouldn't accidentally squish him.

"That Deira?" Pat wanted to know while she slowly felt her wounds heal, the flesh knitting itself with the usual rather wet and sloppy noises, until no trace of them was left; nodding, Willow looked around for something she could stash him in, shaking her head at once when the demon asked if it wouldn't be better to just squish him.

"Not yet", she then told her partner, "we have to question him first. Find out what he wanted to do…"

"But you knew", Pat pointed out, sounding slightly confused now, "you were talking to him about it before… before you nearly squished me with the door."

"Sorry about that", Willow grimaced, "and, I did, really? I can't remember…"

"Yup, really", the taller woman nodded, changing back now that the healing was complete, "even though I have to say, it didn't reveal much. Just something about a ritual and how you needed to grow stronger first and how using the Staff would make the task easier."

"The Staff!" Willow nearly yelled in reply, making the black haired woman jump, "I nearly forgot about it! We have to take it along!"

"Indeed", Pat agreed at once, "and we should find a glass or something where we can stash our little friend here."

"You'll do no such thing", a third, unexpected voice spoke up behind her, surprising her so much that it made her flinch before she spun around, already bringing up her fists, the group of robed men glaring and snarling at her as they all tried to get through the doorway at once.

"Kill them!" Deira shrieked, squirming in Willow's grasp, surprisingly loud again, "now! Kill them both, now!"

In response, the men finally figured out that they couldn't get through the doorway all at once, but had to enter the room one after the other; and while they were still doing that, Pat was already moving forward to meet them, growling loudly as her good eye flashed up brightly red, the chance to finally cause some pain after having been given so much taken more than gladly by her, none of the men having an idea what they were up against until she met them and it was far too late for them to change their minds.