- Angel: “I did a lot of unconscionable things when I became a vampire. Drusilla was the worst. She was... an obsession of mine. She was pure, and sweet and chaste.”
- Buffy: “You made her a vampire.”
- Angel: “First I drove her insane. Killed everyone she loved, visited every mental torture on her I could devise. She eventually fled to a convent, and the day she took her holy orders, I turned her into a demon”
- — Angel and Buffy Summers[src]
Drusilla (born c. 1840 in London) was a vampire with psychic powers and member of The Whirlwind. She was portrayed by Juliet Landau.
History
Human life and Angelus
Drusilla with her family.
Not much is known about Drusilla's life prior to being sired. She had an uncle, a mother and two sisters - one of whom was apparently named Anne. One night, in 1860, while walking with her family, she was first seen by the vampire, Darla, who sensed what made Drusilla unique: she was not only chaste and sweet, but she also had visions of future events. Darla showed Drusilla to her lover, Angelus, who became instantly obsessed with the notion of not just killing the young woman, but with destroying her both emotionally and psychologically.
At the time, Drusilla was fearful of her visions, which she regarded as a curse, as her mother had told her that they were an affront to the Lord. One day, after having the vision of a mine crash, in which two men died, she sought the help of a priest. She didn't realize that the man inside the confessional was Angelus, who had just killed the real priest. Drusilla told him about the vision and her fear of becoming evil, causing the bemused Angelus to taunt her by calling Drusilla a spawn of Satan and that she was fated to become evil. This was the first of the many tortures the sadistic Angelus visited upon Drusilla, slowly shattering her fragile psyche.
After his initial stalkings, Angelus then proceeded to murder the entire family of Drusilla: her mother, uncle and two sisters. It is very likely he made her witness each one of the murders and then let her flee to revel in her suffering. With her sanity nearly shattered both by her visions as well as the deaths of her family and the psychological torture Angelus had devised, Drusilla sought refuge at the convent of the Sisters of Mercy, not realizing that Angelus had a taste for nuns.
The Sisters of Mercy welcomed Drusilla, oblivious to the fact that Angelus was coming after her. The very same night Drusilla was supposed to take her holy orders, Angelus appeared and massacred the Sisters before Drusilla's eyes, finally destroying whatever hold of reality Drusilla had left after the deaths of her family. Believing that death would merely release Drusilla of her suffering and considering her his masterpiece, Angelus sired her, despite Darla's objections of having a lunatic vampire alongside them.
For the next twenty years, Drusilla joined Angelus and Darla's whirlwind, becoming Angelus' lover as well. The pure, shy girl had been replaced by a highly sexual predator who enjoyed preying on the weak and innocent, such as children, and also reveled in her psychic powers and her unique view of reality. She did retain a childlike quality and kept a collection of china dolls. However, after 20 years with her sire and "grandmother," as Dru called Darla, Drusilla began to desire a playmate of her own.
The Poet
- “- I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land and make him mine forever with a kiss.
- Bloody... watch where you're going!
- Or you could just take the first drooling idiot that comes along.” - ―Drusilla, William and Darla[src]
By 1880, Drusilla sired the young poet William (William later adopted the name Spike) after he had poured his heart out in poem to Cecily, a young noblewoman who rejected him. Shortly after Angelus is cursed with a soul, Spike and Drusilla (unaware of the ensoulment) go their separate ways from Darla and Angel.
Prague
Drusilla is tortured by a human Inquisitor.
At some point before their arrival in Sunnydale, in mid 1997, Spike was nearly dusted by an angry mob and Drusilla was kidnapped and tortured by a human inquisitor, leaving her in a weakened and frail condition. Spike, infuriated and full of wrath, killed the inquisitor and saved Drusilla. Spike cared for her, and the couple decided to travel to the Hellmouth in hopes that its energy would help to restore Drusilla's strength and health.
Sunnydale
Drusilla and Angel in her ritual
They arrive in Sunnydale in the episode "School Hard", and Spike plots the downfall of the current Slayer, Buffy Summers. When he discovers that Drusilla can be cured by the blood of her sire, Spike captures Angel and allows Drusilla to torture him until it is time to perform the ritual. Although Buffy and her friends save Angel, the ritual is successful. Drusilla, fully restored, now takes care of Spike, who has been temporarily paralyzed by Buffy's attack. When Angel reverts to Angelus, he re-joins the couple. Drusilla soon kills Kendra, another Slayer, by hypnotizing her and slicing her throat. Kendra is the only Slayer known to have been killed by Drusilla.
Drusilla is delighted by Angelus's determination to destroy the world and encourages his ongoing sexual attention; both dynamics strongly disturb Spike, who wants Drusilla to himself again and does not particularly want the world to end. Spike decides to help Buffy save the world in exchange for his and Drusilla's safe passage from Sunnydale. Drusilla resists Spike's betrayal of Angelus, and he attacks her, ultimately carrying her unconscious body from the fray.
Break-up with Spike
Drusilla and Spike flee to South America, where Drusilla becomes disillusioned with their relationship. Spike's alliance with the Slayer, combined with Dru's skills of foresight and perception, prove to her that Spike is now tainted (not "demon enough" for her) and that he is developing feelings for Buffy. Drusilla breaks up with Spike, and he rejects her offer to remain friends.
LA
After Wolfram & Hart had brought Darla back as a human to torture Angel and hopefully make him evil, the law office learned she was dying. Rather then let her die, Drusilla was called in to sire Darla (Charles Gunn commenting that the idea of the 'granddaughter' remaking the 'grandmother' freaked him out almost more than the traditional blood-sucking did).
Drusilla placed Darla in a nursery under a star filled sky, seeing it not as a death, but as a birth. She battled Angel, giving Darla enough time to rise.
The newly sired Darla and Drusilla would fight briefly before Darla realized she was better off as a vampire. They then murdered everyone in a clothing store before going to a Wolfram & Hart party with the intent to slaughter everyone there. Angel locked the two vampires inside, allowing it to happen; only Lindsey McDonald and Lilah Morgan were spared so that they could provide Darla and Drusilla with inside information later.
Shortly after, Drusilla and Darla began recruiting demons who enjoyed carnage, wanting to turn LA into a demon playground. While they were announcing their intentions to a gathering of demons, Drusilla sensed Angel's presence, Angel- currently in a darker phase due to his inability to 'save' Darla- setting them on fire after they discovered that he'd killed their recruits.
Return to Sunnydale
Drusilla returns to Sunnydale in the episode "Crush" to persuade Spike to join Darla and herself in reforming their "family" unit, but instead, Spike seizes the opportunity to try to prove his love for Buffy by offering to stake Drusilla. Heartbroken by the actions of her former lover, Drusilla departs Sunnydale and remains at large. However, in Season Seven of Buffy, the First Evil impersonates Drusilla in an unsuccessful attempt to break Spike's spirit.
Powers and abilities
- “Look at me, Dearie. Be in my eyes. Be in me.”
- ―Drusilla hypnotizes Kendra Young[src]
Drusilla has the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire. She is immortal, regenerates damage, drains human blood to survive, and is stronger than most humans. Drusilla's technique in combat, although awkward-looking, has allowed her to hold her own in a fight against Angel (in "Reunion") and Spike (in "Becoming, Part Two"), along with holding her own against Kendra the Vampire Slayer (in "Becoming, Part One") before using the hypnosis technique and then killing her.
It was also in this fight with Kendra that Drusilla showed that her fingernails are sharper than one would normally expect, as she uses them to slit Kendra's throat. Darla had demonstrated a similar technique when she sired Angel; whether this is due to her vampiric abilities or physical manipulation of her nails is unclear.
Like all vampires, she is vulnerable to holy items and sunlight, can be killed by decapitation or a stake to the heart, and cannot enter the home of a living human without being invited by someone who lives there first.
Drusilla is also a seer with minor psychic abilities. She receives vivid visions that contain possible glimpses of the future, and can also see into people's minds and project false imagery into them (e.g. in "Becoming, Part Two", when she convinces Giles that she is really Jenny Calendar). Drusilla had these powers since before being made a vampire; their source or cause is unknown. She is also capable of hypnotizing people, mesmerizing her prey and rendering them helpless, which she achieves by catching their gazes, pointing her fingers towards her victim's eyes and whispering to them ("Be in me"). Drusilla uses this technique to murder Kendra in the episode "Becoming, Part One", and earlier in Season Two, taunts and threatens Spike's academic minion, Dalton, with her talents. The Master uses a similar skill to paralyze Buffy in "Prophecy Girl."
Unlike most vampires shown on the series, Drusilla rarely is shown in her demonic form. Only when she is about to kill someone does her face change.
Drusilla's vampire face
Personality
Drusilla has been described as many things through out the series of Buffy and Angel. She is widely known as 'insane' and Darla described her as 'a lunatic'. Spike commented that she 'never stopped surprising him', which suggests that she has a varying personality. Spike also said that she 'still had a bit of child in her' in contradiction to Angelus's comment on her insanity.
Appearances
Buffy Season 2
Buffy Season 5/Angel Season 2
Buffy Season 7
Angel Season 5
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