A dangerous sorcerer named Felix Faust has come to Sunnydale, intent on raising an ancient demon to subjugate all of humankind. To succeed, he must perform a powerful curse to displace his enemies, transporting them from one time and place and exch...
Delvina eyed them each in turn. "Since you are here with Whistler, I will accept your account of the events, and trust him to ensure this is completed in the right way."
"I can vouch for Mister Giles," Whistler assured her. "You tell him what to do and he'll get it done, trust me."
"Very well," she said. "I will provide you the spell to reverse it, if you can make certain to return it afterward and prevent such a catastrophe from occurring again."
"I will," Giles promised.
She stared pointedly at Giles. "You must also understand that reversing the Remnant curse will require a blood sacrifice."
Giles suddenly felt hollow. "A blood sacrifice?"
"Are you willing to submit to that?" she asked.
Giles glanced at the others. He had no choice. Either sacrifice himself or allow Buffy and the rest of humanity to suffer.
He swallowed, wiping his brow. He removed his glasses and blew harshly to clean them before pushing them back up on his nose. "... Yes," he said, sighing heavily. "I am. Whatever must be done, to bring back Buffy and the others. I'll perform the sacrifice."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Not you," Delvina said. "You cannot make the sacrifice. It must be done by the same one who first performed the spell, to reverse their prior intent."
Giles blinked. Then slid his eyes toward Ethan, who began to tremble.
"Ah, yes," Ethan said. "I suppose that would be me."
Giles squinted at Delvina. "How did you know I wasn't the one who cast it?"
"I can read people well enough," she said. "You don't impress me as the sort of person willing to risk the destruction of the world over personal gain."
Ethan shrugged his acknowledgment. "Yes, that would also be me."
"Ordinarily, I'm not in favor of bloodletting," Giles said. "But in Ethan's case, please take all you need."
Ethan gave a sardonic grin. "Charming, Ripper." He turned to Delvina. "I don't suppose there are any sort of loopholes that don't require giving up my blood."
"I'm afraid not," she said. "Once you have called on Kalderon as a Summoner, he attends to your voice and yours alone, until you dismiss him."
Whistler nodded. "Makes sense. You opened it, you gotta close it. Almost poetic. Cleaning up your own mess."
Ethan nodded, swallowing hard as he took a couple of awkward steps backward. "Well, then. That ... answers that. I don't suppose you have anyplace here I can –." He backed into a stack of boxes and fell against them, sliding straight down to sit heavily on the dusty hardwood. "The floor's fine. I'll just ... rest here a moment. Let it all settle in." He cleared his throat, smiling up at Giles. "You've finally got your wish, Ripper. Suppose I won't be bothering you much longer."
