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Acknowledgements: Thanks to Mia McDavid for suggesting part of the ending.
Notes: This was not originally written as an AU fic. This story was started prior to the airing of "Becoming" and its flashbacks, and was my version of what exactly Drusilla had been talking about in "Lie to Me."
"It was so long ago I think it may have happened to someone else ... "
She was very young. Unaware of the picture she cast, destined someday to be hauntingly beautiful, a pale white shadow. Her long nightgown trailed along the floor as she snuck out of her bedroom. She ignored it, trying to find a good hiding place at the top of the stairs to watch the people who had come to her parents's party.
All of the assorted people were waltzing and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. After a time her gaze narrowed to two couples who had her completely entranced. Her parents, of course, looking as in love and in tune as ever when they were young and then a nother couple — a man with dark hair and a beautiful blonde woman. The couple was enchanting. They danced as if there were no one else in the room. And yet, 'He's looking for someone,' the thought came to her, as so many did, unasked for. Just lying there in her mind. Then it happened. The man's head lifted and his eyes seemed to settle directly on her hiding place, pinning her down, only a heartbeat, then his eyes moved away. 'I wonder if he saw me? Yes, he did. I'm the one he's looking for.' The thought scared her and she raced madly back to her bedroom, leaping into bed and pulling the covers over her head.
A time later the door opened. She scrunched her yes tightly shut and pretended to be asleep. The door shut firmly and the lamp was lit, casting a red glow against her eyelids. A heavy weight settled on the bed. "Open your eyes, little girl, I know you're awake," a voice so soft she had to strain to hear it.
Her eyes popped open and she sat up in a rush. "I'm not a little girl!" she cried indignantly, forgetting her fear in her ire. She was looking at the man from the party. His eyes were as dark as his hair and his gaze was penetrating.
He smiled indulgently and put a finger to his lips. "Shh, and how old are you?" he asked.
"Eight," she said proudly.
"You're ancient. What is your name old woman?" he said.
She giggled. "Drusilla, and you are?" she asked guilelessly.
"Angelus."
"Why were you looking for me?" she asked.
"How did you know I was looking for you?"
She shrugged, "I just did. Sometimes I," Just then the door opened and the blonde woman came in.
"Angelus, I'm getting hungry," she said.
He turned, annoyed. "So go get something to eat," he said.
"I've already done that. We can't have too many people disappearing from this party. The Master doesn't want to move again just yet," she said and then she noticed the young girl sitting on the bed. "What a tasty little morsel," she said.
"No, we're not going to kill her," he said, standing up and placing himself between the two of them.
Her eyes narrowed. "She's too young and since when do you like brunettes?"
"Sheath your claws, darling. No one is ever going to steal me away from you. I know she's young." He turned back to the girl on the bed and reached up to finger a lock of her hair. "So pretty, so sweet, so innocent," he whispered. "How perfect."
At the words, a ribbon of fear twisted through the little girl. She didn't understand what they were talking about, but it scared her, neveretheless. She shivered and then shivered again and clutched tight to her doll. Angelus saw her fear and smiled.
He kissed her softly on the forehead. "Go to sleep, Drusilla, and don't tell anyone we were here. We'll see each other again." And then Angelus took the blonde woman's hand and walked out of the room without a backward glance.
He was back the next night. Drusilla was awakened from a sound sleep to find im staring at her speculatively. "Are you a dream?" she asked. "I thought you were when I woke up this morning."
"Close," he said. 'Actually, I'm a nightmare.'
"What are you then?" she said.
He ignored her. "If you could do anything you wanted to, anything at all, what would it be?"
"I'd have a tea party. I used to have them all the time when I was little. But now, I can only have them two or three times a week, because I have lessons," she said.
He looked disappointed in her answer and sighed, but he smiled at her. "Then we shall have a tea party," he said.
"May I really?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, and they did.
Not only that night, but for a whole week, until the day Angelus came in her bedroom, but didn't sit at his accustomed seat.
"Put your shoes on. We're going out," he said.
"I'm not allowed to go outside without my governess," she informed him primly.
"Too bad," he said. "Now put your shoes on."
She stared at him. "No, I want to have a tea party!" she said, on the verge of a tantrum.
He sighed and faster than she had thought possible he had picked her up and clamped a hand over her mouth. She fought and kicked with all her mighty, but he didn't hardly seem to notice. She was trapped, wedged in his strong arms. Luckily, she was too angry to be scared.
"I was going to let you walk. But you had to be stubborn. Quit kicking me," he ground out, yanking on her hair. "It's going to be difficult enough to get you down the side of the house without dropping you." In reply she bit his hand hard enough to draw blood, a few tiny drops spilling into her mouth. He only laughed and there was a deadly, unearthly tone to his voice when he said, "i like girls who bite. Yes, I like them very much." It was such an odd thing for an adult to say. It penetrated the anger in her brain. He was kidnapping her! Suddenly, they were perched over the edge of her windowsill and the ground looked very far away. Drusilla fainted.
When she awoke they were traveling through a forest. Angelus still carried her, but he had long since removed his hand from her mouth. "Where are we going?" she asked.
"To meet some friends of mine. They need to see you. We wouldn't want to have any mistakes. I'll have you back before anyone notices you're gone," he said reassuringly. He seemed unsurprised that she was awake.
'Mistakes?' she thought. "Will that blonde woman be there?" she asked.
"Darla? Yes, she'll be there."
"Who is she?"
"You can think of her as my wife."
"She has a pretty name. It's as pretty as she is. Do you think I'll be that pretty when I grow up?"
"Are you always this inquisitive?" he said.
She looked at him puzzled.
He sighed. "Do you always ask so many questions?"
"My father says its better for me to ask questions, if I can't be quiet. Sometimes when I tell people the things I know about them, it upsets them," she said.
"Like yesterday, when you asked me why I was looking for you?"
"Yes."
There was no more conversation after that and Drusilla sang softly to herself for the rest of the way. Eventually they entered a cave.
"Put your nice faces on. We have a guest," Angelus called out. The cave had labyrinthian twists and turns that made Drusilla dizzy. Soon she was lost. Finally, they entered a dimly lit chamber. There were perhaps 20 people inside. At the center on a stone chair sat a man with a horribly disfigured face. 'This is the man Darla called the Master,' Drusilla thought.
When she saw him, Drusilla shrank back towards Angelus in fear, but she couldn't stop the words that came out of her mouth. "You're old, and you have power," she said.
The man laughed. "And so do you my dear." Then he looked at her for the longest time as if he was reading her soul, seeing all her secrets. "Angelus, when I heard that you'd become obsessed with an 8-year old girl, I was worried. But you've done well. Pity, we'll have to wait for her to grow up. Then again, we've got all the time in the world, and I mighty just choose to bring her across. She would make an exquisite addition to our little group," the Master said.
Drusilla looked at Angelus. He looked angry and dangerous and for a second his eyes seemed to glow. "She's mine. I've marked her. She's already tasted a few drops of my blood," he said.
The two men's eyes locked and a silent battle of wills ensued. 'They're both strong and powerful, but they respect each other. They don't want to fight. They aren't sure who would win,' Drusilla thought.
The Master backed off. "I have minions enough for the time being. You'd better take her back. None of us will harm her," he said, looking around significantly at the others in the room. "You'll have to hurry to make it back before sunrise."
Angelus carried her back and she fell asleep, lulled by the rhythmic lilt of his walk. She awoke when they got back into her bedroom.
"What was that man talking about?" she asked.
"I didn't think you heard that," he said. "What was that song you were singing earlier?"
The distraction worked. "My mother taught it to me. She sings all the time. She could have been an opera singer if she hadn't married my father," she said.
"How sweet," he said dryly. "I have a present for you. A doll," Angelus said, pulling it from under his coat. Drusilla was so pleased to get a present that wasn't for her birthday or Christmas that it drove all thoughts of the cave out of her mind. ----- After that he would visit Drusilla frequently, but with no regularity. He might come every night for weeks on end or he might not show up for months. Drusilla never knew if or when he was coming. After that first night he never asked her again to keep silent about his visits, but it was understood. Drusilla didn't know what would happen if she told anyone, but she suspected she wouldn't be allowed to see him anymore and she craved his attention. She was the fourth child out of seven, the exact middle and a girl. She was mostly ignored and when she wasn't, her parents were trying to explain away the shocking or often odd things she said. They loved her, but they didn't understand her. But Angelus liked it when she told him the things she sometimes knew. In fact, he would often ask her opinion. Little stuff at first. "Will it rain tonight?" And then more complicated things. Sometimes, she didn't know what he was talking about, but the answers would be in her head just the same. And he brought her presents from places far away.