Sire. It's weird how one little four letter word can mean so much. It's not like 'father'. When I was alive I barely knew my father. I was sent away to boarding school so much that I hardly saw him, and when I did he didn't speak much. Then he died when I was sixteen, and I took over looking after my mother. I think Drusilla's relationship with her parents was good, actually, although Darla and Angelus never mention their own lives as humans.

But a Sire isn't a father, or a mother, or even a parent in that sense. It's more than that. To me, my Sire is like a god, a parent, a master and a teacher all rolled into one. My Sire. One word with so much meaning.

After that night with the Varl Beasts, Angelus and I went on a hunt, and a damn good one at that. We took a young couple, and Angelus gave me the girl. She tasted like sugar, it was wonderful. Then we went home and the night was spoilt by Darla. From the minute we got in until the minute I fell asleep, all I could hear was her shrill voice, punctured occasionally by Angelus' voice raised in anger at her. They were arguing about the Varls and what had happened, but I shut the words out deliberately not wanting to hear.

Right now they were all asleep, in separate rooms I think. Drusilla wasn't with me and she wasn't in the room next door so I assumed she was with Angelus, which didn't put me in the best of moods. I should really be up and sorting things out by now, but I'm tired and I don't want to. Besides, I don't want to encounter Darla at the moment. I'd been hiding up here since we got in, because she's really annoyed with me about something. I have a feeling that it was her idea to negotiate with the Varls, only I messed it up.

I picked up movement from below with my ears and froze, hoping Darla would just forget about me. Futile, but worth a try.

"BOY! GET DOWN HERE!" Oh. Not Darla then. Angelus' voice did not sound particularly welcoming and I scurried downstairs hurriedly. He was waiting for me with his night shirt on and a scowl.

"Yes?" I said, only it came out cheekier than I'd meant. Angelus grabbed my ear and twisted it in one deft movement. I yelped and tilted my head away, but he only tightened his grip.

"You were supposed to be up an hour ago. My boots aren't polished and the three men we brought home last night are dying of thirst." He wasn't in a good mood. "Why. Aren't. You. Up?" He yanked my ear on each word.

I hissed through the pain slightly and once again tried to find a suitable answer. As he continued to twist my ear I decided I might as well tell the truth. "I was tired." I showed him my mangled arm from the night before. "I wanted to heal."

He let go of my ear and whacked me so hard round the head that I fell over. "That is no excuse, William. You are the youngest and therefore you do what you are told! I will not tolerate disobedience!"

That's a bit drastic, I thought dryly. It wasn't disobedience.

"I have told you this before, William. I don't want to have to tell you again. Now fetch me my clothes."

"Ok." He definitely was in a weird mood. One minute he's all angry, and the next minute he doesn't even tell me off for saying ok instead of 'yes Sire', something that was a daily occurrence with me.

I gathered his full set of clothes from various wardrobes and took them all to his room. Drusilla was still asleep, but Angelus was nowhere to be seen. I left the clothes at the foot of the bed and climbed up next to Drusilla, stroking her hair softly. She'd slept through all that shouting, bless her. I leant down and kissed her head, inhaling her scent which was tainted with Angelus'.

"What are you doing?" I spun round. Angelus had come in and I hadn't even noticed.

"Um..." I sprang off the bed quickly. "Bringing up your clothes, Sire," I said, motioning to the pile beside me.

"Oh really?" he said disbelievingly, picking up the clothes and starting to get changed. Dru still wasn't awake and I hovered around, unsure what to do.

"Er, can I go now?"

"What?"

"Can I go now, Sire?" I repeated, and he nodded.

As I was leaving, he added in an undertone, "Watch out for Darla, boy, she'll skin you alive if you do anything wrong today."

I shuddered at that thought. Darla probably would, actually. Luckily though, I didn't see her until she came downstairs with Angelus a couple of hours later. Once again, they were as clingy as... something clingy, with Darla permanently hooked on Angelus' arm. Clearly they had patched up their disagreement last night, and Angelus announced that they were going out. He told me that if I went out I was to be back by three at the latest, and was to take Drusilla with me. I didn't really feel up to taking care of Drusilla tonight, so I fed off one of the men in the kitchen and took one up for Dru, who happily ignored me.

I spent the night tasting various drinks that were all over the place, and smoking Angelus' cigars. No doubt I'd get beaten for it but hey, the way I saw it was if Angelus was back round Darla's little finger, I was going to get beaten for existing, so it didn't really matter to me.

"Will? Dance with me?" Drusilla hovered in the doorway with her night dress on.

"There's no music, pet."

She cocked her head. "The stars are singing. They bring the music..." she started to sway and then dance in the middle of the room. I got up to join her and smiled as she leant into me. My beautiful Drusilla.


Darla and Angelus didn't get in till the very early morning so Dru and I were asleep. Sometimes, if Angelus had been out very late the night before he wouldn't sleep during the day, but spend hours downstairs in the cellar while we were all asleep.

It was two in the afternoon when Angelus called for me. I was asleep, actually, and he had to come upstairs after I didn't answer his call. He hit me in the jaw to wake me up and I rubbed it as I got up.

"When I call you, you come," He stated and I mumbled under my breath.

"Well I can't exactly hear when I'm asleep."

"What was that?" he snapped.

I was still pissed off from being woken with a fist, so I didn't stop to think. "I can't come if I can't hear you and I can't hear you when I'm asleep."

He sighed again and I could tell he was trying not to loose it. "Well then don't sleep. Or at least learn how to listen and sleep at the same time."

I raised my eyebrows at that but didn't speak; I didn't want to add to his list of 'Things William has done to annoy Angelus'.

"Follow me," he ordered and I followed him down to the cellar level of our house. It was where he kept all his weapons. It still amazed me that he had so many. He could sell them to a museum for a fortune.

He stopped in the middle of the room and turned to face me, his eyes challenging. I frowned. What did he want me to do?

"I've been thinking, Will. We need to sort some things out. Like proper training for you. I taught you a little but its obviously not enough because you're useless."

That stung, even coming from Angelus. "Hey!"

He shrugged. "Well it's true enough. And I won't have useless childer, do you understand that William?"

I went cold, something very remarkable for a creature that was already cold. I knew what he meant by that. If I didn't improve, he was going to disown me. That is quite possibly the worst humiliation ever. Being turned then deserted by your sire is bad enough, but having been claimed then disowned... that was bad.

"I understand, sire."

That seemed to satisfy him. "Good. Then we'll start with the more simple things. Basic hand to hand combat. Run at me now."

"What?"

"Launch an attack, same way as you would if I was guarding something you wanted."

I hesitated, unsure, but shrugged it off and ran at him. He was larger than I was, not to mention a hell of a lot older and stronger. Was it hardly surprising that I didn't want to fight him? I punched him feebly in the face. He rubbed his chin slightly and laughed. Put out by that, I punched him harder, this time in the nose, and I smelt the blood as it pooled in his nostril. Inspired, I aimed again.

This time he brought his arm up to block and I stupidly didn't realise, and whacked my fist into his muscled forearm. He caught my wrist and twisted it until I yelped in pain. He slammed me against the wall and glared into my face.

"Never forget, William, that I am in control. I call the shots, I am the master here." He twisted my arm a little more and I winced. "Understood?"

"Yes," I squeaked. He twisted again. "Ow! Yes... Sire."

"Better. Now I'm going to blindfold you and you're going to fight me."

He let go of me finally and turned away. Me, fight Angelus? Impossible, even under normal circumstances, but with a blindfold on? He came back with a dark cloth and tied it round my eyes. Instantly my other senses went into overdrive, I could smell more than ever the blood from his nose and hear his chest rising with the pretence of breath. But my world was black. I couldn't see him. And that was a serious handicap.

He moved away from me. "Let's fight."

I hesitated. "Sire... I – I can't..."

"What?"

"I can't see," I said lamely, stating the obvious.

"That is the point, Will," He replied, and I heard him move away from me and up the stairs. He left the room and I stood there in the middle of the floor like a lemon.

"W-what? Angelus, Where are you? Are you coming back?"

A moment later he returned, bringing with him the overpowering smell of blood. I realised what he was doing. He was tipping blood all over the room. Everywhere, so that the only thing I could smell was human blood. He was immobilising another of my senses. I mentally ticked off what senses I had left. Taste – that would do no good – touch – that would only help when I was fighting him, or, more to the reality, he was thrashing me – and hearing. The last one would be the most useful, but even then, Angelus could be pretty silent when he wanted to.

"Sire... please –" I didn't have a clue where he was. I turned round clumsily, hoping to catch a glimpse of his scent of hear a footstep. Suddenly a fist landed on my shoulder and I spun round, aiming a kick at where I guessed he was. I caught what I think was a piece of his clothing with my toes, and moved to punch where his body was. Lunging into thin air, I imagined how stupid I must look, and how Angelus must be laughing. He kept this up for ten minutes, dodging and attacking, until he started talking as we sparred.

"Sense it, Will, don't try to listen for me. I could bring down Dru's gramophone down and play it so you can't hear either, but I won't."

Thanks to his speech, I was able to get one good punch in and he started to really fight back.

"You have to – know – where I am, feel it – Will – sense where I am."

Easy enough to know where someone is when they're punching you blue. I thought I was actually starting to get the hang of it, even blocking a few of his blows, until he took me by surprise and knocked my legs out from underneath me, making me crash to the ground. I took the blindfold off over my head and saw him looking down at me, disapprovingly.

"Gonna have to work on that."

I held back a defensive snarl in my throat and got to my feet without speaking. I was covered in blood and bruises. And damn was I hungry. I turned away from Angelus, and to my surprise he didn't call me back, just followed.

"One last thing Will." I turned round to look at him. "Where are all my cigars?"

Uh oh.

Well... I know these chapters are getting kind of pointless now. There will be one last chapter after this one – one last chapter containing loadsa snuggles I promise. But it might take a while to get out because of school starting on Monday and stuff...

Review please? I only got one for the last chapter... :(