{This is based on Bram Stoker's Dracula, some of the characters have needed some of their personalities fixed slightly, but they should be all relatively similar. I own nothing.}

Chapter 1

January 18th, 2004, LA

The phone rang loudly. The blonde woman making the sandwich sighed and ran for the cordless white mess of plastic and wires, tucking her hair behind her left ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey Buff, it's me"

"Hey Angel, what's up?"

"Just got a call, they want me to fly out to England to see some Lord or whatever about a partnership, basically I have to fly out this evening, and I'll be back in about a week"

"Oh...but, tonight was meant to be-"

"I know, I know, and its killing me, but this is real important for the label, and, y'know how it is..."

"Yeah, I guess" Elizabeth 'Buffy' Anne Summers sighed heavily, putting her hand over the phone so that her fiancée of 6 months, Angel didn't hear. He was an executive in a record label and often had to travel, not normally at such short notice, and never when he had promised they'd get a quiet night in together.

"Look, I gotta run. But, I love you, and I'll call you when I get there"

"Okay, love you too. Bye" Buffy put down the phone, and then went back to her sandwich. Looked like she'd be spending a night out with her friends Willow and Anya after all...

Angel checked his watch and pulled his coat around him a little closer. A sea mist was closing in, damp and needle like as gloom continued to cling the small train station he had found himself in, waiting for his cab to take him over to Lord Rayne's estate. The flight had been boring an uneventful, as it had been for the train journey to this small town in Suffolk. Now though, he was getting pretty creeped out. The train station was completely deserted at 4 am and there was a thick fog. In addition to this, the one other person who had been on the train, upon finding out that Angel was visiting Lord Rayne, had given him a startled look, nodded his head jerkily, folded up his newspaper and fled into the next carriage.

Shivering at the sudden decrease in temperature, Angel looked to see the lights of a car. A black cab, looking suspiciously like a hearse, pulled up. The window rolled down and a man wearing black, with a large hat covering his face enquired

"Are you Mr. Angel O'Conner?"

"Yeah, I am"

"Please, get in Sir"

"Uh, right…where?"

"Preferably the seat behind me, the far back is currently occupied" The window was rolled back up, leaving a surprised Angel. He raised his eyebrows, then opened the car door and dumped his bags before climbing in himself.

They started off by driving through the small village. It was made up of small thatched cottages, in the high street there was a crossing for the trains, a pub, a second hand bookshop and a large funeral directors. The driver did not engage in conversation on the hour's trip to the manor. Angel sat, staring out of the window, finding himself more and more apprehensive as the distance increased. Not only was the mist thick, but the trees were completely void of leaves, and instead were hunched up over the bleak landscape like skeletons. No animals inhabited the large fields, save for a large hare that Angel saw dart from one side of a field to another.

After what seemed like a year, they came to a long wall, they drove along it for about 15 minutes, before they came to an archway with statues of gargoyles leering from above. A coat of arms was engraved into the stone of the wall either side, and the hearse drove under the arch, and onto the very long driveway. A huge, grey mansion, which looked more like a fort than a stately home loomed from the middle of the grounds. Hedges and flower beds were in immaculate condition, and more dead looking trees were dotted around. The car passed a large fountain, and parked itself next to a small amount of black cars.

"We're here" The driver stated "You may leave now"

"Uh, right…" Angel gathered his bags "How do I get in?"

"The gate is unlocked, if it is however, use the communicator"

"Okay, well, thankyou"

He received silence, so opened the door and walked up to the wall surrounding the mansion. The gate was unlocked, and he pressed the button to open it. It rose with a loud clatter and nervously, Angel walked up to the arched front door, glanced at the gargoyles, and then hesitantly rang the bell.

The door opened with a loud creak. Angel took a step back, then found himself greeted by a man a little shorter than him. His age was impossible to tell, his hair was bleached and combed back, his face thin, pale and accented with razor sharp cheekbones. His eyes were a bright blue and his lips were fixed in a smirk, or sneer, it was hard to tell. He worse a red dress shirt, and black trousers, in his hand (with suspiciously long, black fingernails) he held a wine glass, half full of the dark red alcoholic.

"Good evening Mr O'Connor" He said in a refined cockney accent, "I am William Rayne…you can call me William."

"Good…evening" Angel replied, deciding not to point out that it was in fact, 5am, and not the evening at all.

"Do come in" William turned and strode through the candle lit hallway into a side room. "Leave your luggage in the hall, my butler will come and deposit it in your room"

Angel swallowed, then stepped inside. The first thing he noticed was the complete lack of temperature inside the richly furnished home. The second was the Tudor portraits of deceased family members, and the third, the non existence of electrical appliances. It was as if the hallway hadn't been refurbished since 1600…

"Do come through Mr O'Connor" Lord Rayne called.

"Please, call me Angel" He was startled by the contrast of this room with the hallway, it was a modern office, complete with Andy Warhol paintings and an Apple Mac computer on the glass topped desk. William sat in the high backed, lather office chair, his feet resting on the desk. He waved a free hand at the chair in front of the desk, and Angel sat in it.

"I hope your journey was pleasant" William said idly

"Oh, yeah, it was fine"

"And you slept"

"On the flight"

"Well, you won't mind getting straight to business then eh, Angel?"

"No, not at all"

For an hour and 47 minutes, according to the digital clock on the desk, they discussed Angel's label, and various contracts and deals. After Angel had disguised a yawn for the 7th time, William smiled

"Ready to be shown your room then?"

"Uh…little jet lagged"

"This way then" William swung his legs off the desk and bounced out of the chair. He then waved his arm for Angel to follow, he rose out of his chair and followed the Lord up the main flight of stairs, then another, and into a fair sized room with a window overlooking the lake behind the house. Angel's luggage was neatly piled in his room, and he took off his coat, placing it untidily on the bed, his wallet slipped out, and due to the age of it, it fell open. Not noticing this, Angel picked up his coat and put it on the back of the door, which William stood by.

Lord Rayne's blue eyes noticed the wallet, and he went to pick it up. On the inside, there was a photo of a smiling young woman, and a familiarity stirred inside the man, he knew her, he just did not know how.

"Who's she?" he asked sharper than intended

"Huh?" Angel turned and saw William holding the wallet, in which there was a picture of Buffy "Oh, that's my fiancée, Buffy, well, Elizabeth"

"…Elizabeth" William muttered in barely more than a whisper.

Drusilla Elizabeth Anne Rayne. Drusilla Elizabeth Anne Summers before she had taken William's name instead of her own. Although her facial features were different, and she was blonde, he knew that the name was not a coincidence, he knew it so well it felt like his heart could start beating again after nearly 400 years.

"You're a very lucky man then, congratulations. I will see you later today if not tomorrow. I'll have my butler send for you in time for dinner tomorrow." He made to leave, then stopped "I should like it if you would stay for the next month or so, I think it would be beneficial to the type of deal we aim to make. Good night Angel"