Still reading from the text, Spike stuck the root into the flame and allowed it to catch fire. He brought the burning tuber to his face and blew upon it, extinguishing the flame. Gazing at the smouldering growth, he was amused to find that the heat of the flame had contracted the finger-like offshoots into a tiny fist.

Spike moved closer to the sleeping Drusilla. As he read the last page of the banishment spell he brought the Limb of Impetus closer to her face and touched it to Laibach's mark on the smooth pale skin of her forehead. Then he read the final words and waited.

Drusilla's lids flickered open and her eyes rolled back in her head. Her body convulsed as if some great battle were being fought within her. Spike took her thrashing form into his arms and held her. As quickly as the convulsions had begun they now ceased and Drusilla relaxed, eyes closed once again.

Did it work? Seemed a bit too simple, dinnit? he wondered, fixing his eyes on the thick smudge of ash on her forehead. Gently he brushed it away and saw that Laibach's mark still prevailed beneath. Spike gritted his teeth and tried not to show the fear and rage he felt. Dru had been growing worse with time and he suspected that if he did not get Laibach out of her soon, she would die the true death, an eternal death. He wanted to be patient, to trust that Laibach would know how much she could endure-but Laibach was a demon, one of the first of them. And demons could not be trusted.

Drusilla's eyes fluttered open.

"There's my girl," he said, looking deep into her beautiful dark eyes. "How are we feeling?"

"Betrayed," said the voice of Laibach from Drusilla's mouth. Her hand clamped around his throat in a vice like grip before he had a chance to react.