The Vampire Slayer Diaries

The Gift

 I walked into the magic shop after dealing with something in the ally. I walked down the hall into the main room finding Xander sitting at the table with Giles and Buffy behind him looking at books. Willow beside Xander and Anya standing to the side and Spike sitting behind them on the ladder leading up to the loft, smoking. He stayed far from the rest of the gang. I gave him a simple look over.

"Something goin' on out back?" Buffy asked drawing my attention.

 I walked over to the table.

"Talking to Chantry and reporting to Calum." I told her shrugging. "Making sure our people are following lockdown protocols."

"Oh." She said nodding in agreement.

"Anything?" I asked sighing looking at Giles.

"Nothing you want to hear." Giles told me. "The ritual is, uh...."

"Explain it again." I told him cutting him off.

"There's nothing new to-"

"Go through it again."

Everyone looked at me nervously, making me roll my eyes.

"The key was ... living energy. It needed to be channeled, poured into a specific place at a specific time. The energy ... would flow into that spot, the walls between the dimensions break down. It stops, the energy's used up, the walls come back up. Glory uses that time to get back into her own dimension, not caring that all manner of hell will be unleashed on earth in the meantime."

"Um but only for a little while, right?" Anya asked. "The walls come back up, uh, n-no more hell?" 

"That's only if the energy is stopped and now the key is..." Willow said looking over her shoulder at me. "Is Nick."

"The blood flows, the gates will open. The gates will close when it flows no more." Giles said removing his glasses. "When Nick is dead."

A long silence passed.

"I have places to be!" Tara snapped.

We looked over she was curled up in a chair, she went silent again and we turned back.

"Why blood?" Xander asked. "Why Nick's blood? I mean why couldn't it be like a, a lymph ritual?"

"Cause it's always got to be blood." Spike said calmly.

"We're not actually discussing dinner right now." Xander told him.

"Xander." I muttered sighing. 

He looked at me and sighed defeated. 

"Blood is life, lack brain." Spike said making me give him a look. "Why do you think we eat it?" He gestured to the two of us. "It's what keeps you going. Makes you warm. Makes you other than dead." He got quiet. "Course it's his blood."

"Pretty simple math here." Buffy said making me nod.

"We stop Glory before she can start the ritual." I added. "We still have a couple of hours, right?"

"If my calculations are right, but Tori-" Giles said.

"I don't wanna hear it." I told him turning away.

"I understand that-"

"No!" I said snapping loudly whirling back. "No, you don't understand. We are not talking about this."

"Yes we bloody well are!" Giles yelled jumping up from the table.

I growled, glaring at him.

"If Glory beings the ritual." Giles said getting quieter. "If we can't stop her..."