Cup of Perpetual Torment

A newly translated portion of the Shanshu says if the balance is disrupted by the existence of 2 vampires with a soul, the souled vampire referred by the prophecy will drink from the Cup of Eternal Torment, and that further torments will be visited upon him until he saves the world — or destroys it. Afterwards, said vampire will have a clean slate and live again as a human. Whoever is supposed to drink from the cup will be the one to drink from the cup; and once that happens, the universe should realign.

When Spike became corporeal again, the balance was disrupted; he and Angel eventually fought for the Cup, and Spike won and drank from it — Mountain Dew. All things turned to normal again. The Cup of Eternal Torment was located in a former opera house in Nevada (Destiny).

All this seemed to be a fake, a set-up for Angel and Spike, made up by Sirk, a researcher from Wolfram & Hart, following orders given by Lindsey — according to Eve, things became normal again just because the Senior Partners intervened.