A little shorter than usual, but that's because the next chapter is going to be extra-specially-hugelumpsofpain-fully good. Promise. If I can find my muse, that is; she ran away with a certain ff writer who updates so often it makes me feel really guilty. Love you guys.

The Master smirked at the sight of Angelus and William asleep together. He kicked Angelus in the damaged side of his head and then pushed Will off his Sire with the same foot. Will slipped to the floor where he stirred but didn't wake up. Angelus woke straight away and moved a little so that he was between William and the Master.

"Sweet." The Master crouched down and roughly pushed Angelus out of the way. William's face was covered in dried blood, and the Master growled softly as he looked at the boy's sleeping face. Suddenly he grabbed Will by the throat and pushed him against the wall in the same way he had done the day before. William woke up with the slam of his head against the wall but still held the air of confusion; he had no idea what was going on.

Angelus closed his eyes, lacking the energy to intervene. The Master began to repeatedly smash Will's head against the wall in something resembling anger, although Angelus didn't understand why he would be angry, and what Will had done to deserve his wrath…

Oh. Yes he did. Angelus hadn't agreed. He remembered now. It wasn't Will's fault at all; it was his, and the Master was just trying to persuade him to hand over his Childe.

It was a tradition upheld by the Master's bloodline; when a fledgling reached a certain age - they did four months of service in the Master's company. Drusilla had done it; Angelus himself had done it. Darla was the Master's favoured Childe anyway so he doubted she'd done anything of the like. But the issue was, it should be Will's turn. The Master had requested him, but Angelus didn't like it. He remembered his own four months badly – hell. He had prayed for it to end every day.

As the Master continued to crack William's skull against the wall, Angelus watched. His Childe's head was turned away from him, so he couldn't see the boy's expression, but he could hear the cracking sound of his head – a sound that he would usually revel in. Now was different, however. He felt something like guilt. The very thought disgusted him, and he wanted it to end.

"Stop!" The word erupted from his mouth and the Master did indeed stop.

"What was that?"

"You can have him." Angelus was looking at the floor, and Will had now managed to turn his head so he was looking at Angelus. If his Sire had looked up, he would've seen a thoroughly confused, partly scared and not fully awake William frowning at him from under the haze of blood around his eyes.

A delicious smile crept across the Master's face. "Wonderful."

Angelus raised his face, his jaw tight. "Four months. Starting today,"

"Tomorrow."

"Today," Angelus insisted, a defiant hint of a snarl in his voice.

The Master lunged out and kicked him in the head, sending Angelus back into the wall. Then he yanked William by the throat and left the room, stopping at the doorway. "I will send someone to release you. And I will see you four months from tomorrow."

William got one clear look of his Sire's face before he was pulled through the door after his Master. Angelus' eyes were closed, a muscle twitching in his jaw and as William looked, he raised his head and opened his eyes. Will hated the look he saw there, in the second of eye contact between them. It was a look he'd never seen before – and Will couldn't place it.

Angelus opened the door to his London home wearily. It was about five o'clock in the morning and he had walked all night, not having any money for a cab. Sighing, he deposited his boots by the door and yelled for the only person left at home in their family.

"DRUSILLA!"

She appeared a moment later half way down the stairs, her eyes wild with madness. She was unnaturally thin, and he wondered how long he'd been away for. Not long enough for her to have starved surely. "Ooooh," she keeled, gripping the banister with her pale hands. Angelus held back an impatient growl. She was clearly in the midst of one of her fits and he did not have the patience to deal with her at the moment.

"Where are the minions?" he asked sharply, annoyed that they hadn't come as soon as they heard the door slam. Drusilla didn't answer, she just stared wildly at him and whined some more. "Drusilla?" He sighed exasperatedly. "SAMUEL!" He called for his head minion.

The vampire appeared from the kitchen. He looked as if he hadn't slept for a week; there were dark hollows under his eyes.

"What has been going on here!" Angelus practically exploded.

Samuel swallowed and lowered his head, speaking so quietly and quickly that if it weren't for vampire senses Angelus wouldn't have heard him. "N-no one knew what to do sir, and y-you'd forbidden mistress Drusilla to go out on her own s-so we tried to keep her here we brought her food but she wouldn't eat and t-then she stuck a knife in Tom's eye and n-no one wanted to stay with her anymore I tried to make them stay master I'm sorry-"

"Stop. They've gone?"

"All except me and Daemon sir."

"What about Drusilla? Why is she in this state?"

"Sh-she wouldn't eat, sir, and after Tom…"

Angelus strode forward and clouted the vampire across the head. "You didn't go anywhere near her did you? Look at her!" He turned to the stairs. "Drusilla? Come here for me a minute." Drusilla hurried to him obediently and he slipped a hand round her waist comfortingly as she shook with the force of her madness. He turned to Samuel. "Tell Daemon to prepare a bath in my room, and lay out clean clothes for Drusilla and myself on the chairs. Then you go and fetch us someone to eat – is there anyone left in the cellar?" Samuel shook his head. "Then go and find someone from the street."

Samuel nodded vigorously. "Yes master," and hurried into the kitchen. Angelus led Drusilla into the drawing room and settled her on a settee. He heard Daemon going upstairs and Samuel about to leave the house.

"And Samuel," he said, poking his head out of the door. "Don't take all day. Forget the 'will they be missed' rule, just get the first person you can." Then he added sternly, "As an exception, mind."

Samuel muttered a hasty 'yes sir', and left. Then Angelus returned to Drusilla who was staring straight in front of her, tears rolling down her face. He knelt in front of her and raised her hand to his lips. "Drusilla?" he asked softly. "Are you there sweetheart?"

She slowly fixed her eyes on him. "My Angel?" she whispered, and he smiled softly.

"There you are. Now tell me what's wrong."

She whimpered a little. "William…"

"Will be fine," he finished for her. "Now, Drusilla, I want you to do something for me," he began, as if speaking to a child. "I want you not to think about William, or talk about him, for the next four months. You know where he's gone don't you?" She nodded slowly, her eyes wide, and Angelus smiled internally with pride at how good she was. "So can you do that for me? Not think about William?"

She raised the hand Angelus wasn't holding and waved it in front of her, as if touching something he couldn't see. "But, daddy, the stars tell me things, they whisper little secrets in the night… They say William's hurting, ooh, he's hurting!" She began to tremble, getting herself in a state again, and Angelus soothed her a little more, wishing to god Will was here to do this.

"Ok, but maybe the stars are lying to you Princess, yeah? Especially when they talk about Will. If they start whispering to you again you tell them to stop it all right? Can you do that?"

She nodded slowly. "Bad stars."

Then Samuel knocked on the door and Angelus told him to enter, dragging an unconscious woman behind him. Drusilla snarled at him like a defensive dog, but Angelus took the woman and told Samuel to go and help Daemon; they'd be up in a minute.

He bit into the woman's neck, carefully so that Drusilla saw him do it, and drank until he felt a little better. Then he handed her to Drusilla and nodded at her. She sank her fangs in hesitantly, as if unsure if she should, but eventually she drank until the woman was dry.

Angelus wasn't completely sated, however, and he vowed to himself that when night came again he would hunt savagely, and take Drusilla with him. He led her upstairs to the room and Samuel helped him peel of the remainders of his clothes, then he sent the two minions to go and get some sleep. He sank slowly into the bath, sighing and closing his eyes. Drusilla hovered around by the door watching him, and after a while he opened his eyes and beckoned her.

"Come on Dru," he said, indicating the space next to him in the large custom made bathtub.

She joined him gladly, and the two of them spent the day washing, resting, and in Angelus' case, taking out his frustration by periodically screwing his older childe brutally. Drusilla loved it. It was the most attention she had got from her 'Angel' for about a month, and all thoughts of Will were driven swiftly out of her head.

Yeah so the Drusilla/Angelus went on a little longer than expected. Next chapter is lonely William. Looking forward to it? Yeah, me too.

Reviews: Like caffeine for the legs chasing the runaway muse!