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(O.O)

Drusilla

"I know something you don't know." I sing-songed in my head as I listened to Grandmummy rant in my room of the large house we had purchased here in Sunnydale.

It was funny seeing Grandmummy fuss about William. She has been doing so since my Spike had come back from seeing the sunshine last night. She'd been so angry at first when he'd returned. She'd even threatened to chain him in the basement, the naughty boy, but when William apologized, her whole tune changed. She'd started to fret and worry because that wasn't like my Spike at all. Every time she turned around she'd be asking him about what'd happened, but William either said nothing or just gave her a little enigmatic smile. He didn't get angry at all, which just wasn't like him. He was always fighting with her, arguing about the smallest details. The lack of animosity from him was really bothering her, because she knew it must mean something was wrong.

She thinks something happened when he saw the Slayer last night and that he just won't tell us about it. Darla's consternation made me giggle because she was right: something did happen! Something I had been telling my William for years and years that would happen to him one day, and now it has. Only Grandmummy didn't know that. Nope. She didn't know and I wasn't telling. It's not my secret so she'll have to wait until William understood what had happened and then wait until he was ready to tells us himself.

Grandmummy was walking around grumpy about William's secret, but I'd better tell her to change her tune. She wasn't singing about the right things.

"He's going to be alright," I told her so she would stop pacing. She was making me dizzy with all that walking back and forth and back and forth. "Don't worry about our Spike, he can handle himself. It's Daddy we need to worry about. He doesn't know. Why doesn't he know we have the spark like he does? Is that why he left us?"

My questions went unanswered. After I asked them Grandmummy stared at me with pain filled eyes and left my room. I'm not mad at her, not at all. I'd known the answer to my questions all along anyway. It was the pixies who told me that I was mad at. Naughty, naughty pixies, spilling Grandmummy's secret without permission! Ms. Edith was cross!

I then heard a knock in the door. It was one of the minions. He was here to give me my blood. I told him to enter, and he looked around nervously. They were all nervous around the three of us, and I never could understand why. It's not like we would kill them. We didn't kill minions who served us. Not unless they'd broken any of the three important rules.

No hunting, no feeding and no killing.

They were simple, and if they were followed, then we had no reason to harm any of our minions. It had been William's idea to utilize the fledglings that always seem so abundant. We got them to serve under us and then stopped them from doing evil. We gave our blood to those who'd chosen to serve. It strengthened their loyalty to our family. Those that refused to serve were hunted down and dusted. If they were smart they'd leave before we had the chance. Simple and effective. This was the best way to deal with vampires around small towns like Sunnydale. Also it helped the town once we left. The minions we put under our service would remain loyal until such time some other older and stronger vampire would try and take control of them. Only that rarely happens, meaning that those vampires would continuously follow our rules even long after we were gone from that town. They would stop hunting, feeding and killing. There were even times when they would start fighting demons and saving people from other vampires that'd come to their town because that's what we did and what we'd taught them to do. It was an amazing thing that we'd accomplished: converting the demonic nature of vampires and getting them to fight for good. It was almost a miracle, and was only possible because of the system my William had come up with. He well deserved his upcoming reward.

I could hear that my William was at it again. He was instructing some of the fledglings on how to fight in the training room downstairs. He did that sometimes, when he was restless during the day. If he couldn't sleep than nobody could. Usually he waited till we'd been in a town longer to begin training them, just enough time for the minions to have proven that they were indeed loyal and worthy of learning what he had to teach. The skills would serve them well when it was time for us to move on again. If he was already drilling them in this early stage it just showed how troubled he was. Problems of the heart were always the hardest ones to resolve.

I giggled into my hand. No one knew his heart was involved except me. Not even William himself. He shouldn't feel so unsettled about this girl though. After all, what's happening was meant to happen. It was written in the stars long before he was born.

Knowing it was destined didn't keep me from being saddened that Prophecy had already started and that I was now slowly losing my William. I knew he was not mine to begin with and that I'd merely been keeping him company until this girl had arrived. I still ached inside.

"Mistress Drusilla, is everything alright?" the minion, I think his name was Dalton, asked me. "Are you hurting? Shall I call Mistress Darla and Master Spike?"

"No, no, I'm fine. I'm not in pain. No need to fuss, and no need to call Grandmummy or my Spike. I was only thinking of something sad just now, that's all." I gave him a small, tired smile.

The minion looked concerned. It was funny seeing such emotion from a soulless vampire. He reminds me of how my Spike was when he'd been newly turned. He'd retained so much of his human self that I'd thought I'd made him wrong. Thankfully I'd been concerned over nothing; William was just different. He was just more human than other vamps. He'd learned how to hide it over the years, but of course there still were moments when the humanity would shine through like a brilliant ray of sun in the darkness. This minion, Dalton, was like that, and it made me like him more. I'd remember his name next time.

"Do you want to play with me?" I asked him. "I love having tea parties with Ms. Edith and the rest of my dollies. It's more fun when someone else drinks with us. William is busy, and Grandmummy is always too preoccupied to play with me. I'm alone and I want to play. Will you play with me?" He looked first surprised, and then nervous again. Maybe he didn't like playing dollies. Too bad. "You don't have to play with me if you don't want. I won't hold it against you. You must want to join William's training session downstairs, you can go. I can feed myself," I told him while I took the glass of pig's blood to prove my point.

I made a face as the stuff went down my throat. I never could get used to the taste of swine. It was horrible, but beggars can't be choosers, as Grandmummy would say. At least for dinner tonight we were going to be having human blood. The local hospital had to throw away unused blood once it was past its expiration date. We'd buy the bags on the black market whenever we could and had lucked out when we'd first arrived.

I looked at Dalton in confusion. He hadn't left the room. Why was he still here?

"If you don't hurry you won't be able to follow what William is teaching," I told him.

"I-I'm not going to join their training," he stuttered quietly, making me even more confused. He must've seen it on my face because he hastened to explain. "I'm not re-really good at fighting. In fact I-I d-on't really like to fight. The Anointed One only had me turned be-because they needed me to translate old texts for them. I'm a linguist from the local university. They t-turned me for my skills in language. I don't do well with vi-violence despite being a vampire. S-so I won't be joining them."

"I see," I said with a smile. It made me like him even more.

"I-I w-was thinking of pl-playing with you. If you still want to." He dropped his eyes to the floor, unsure of my reaction. I wondered if he'd had a family before he'd been turned. Maybe a daughter that he missed. The pixies were dancing around my head.

"I do still want to play. But I am thinking of playing dress-up this time. We can play with my dollies and change their clothes. Are you alright with that?"

"Yes, I am," he said with a smile.

I asked him to get my dollies and their dresses from my trunk. When he came back we started playing. I brushed the hairs of my dollies starting with Ms. Edith, while Dalton picked the dresses for them.

It was fun playing with Dalton, he talked to my dollies like I do. And I can tell he was having fun too, and I knew why for sure by then.

"Your daughter misses you," I told him quietly as I changed Ms. Edith's dress again. "She still keeps those flower crowns she made for you. She placed them inside her box of treasure."

"How did you-"

"I'm sorry. It was the pixies who told me. They don't know when not to tell me secrets. You can get angry at them. I do sometimes." He didn't say anything, only looked at me with sad eyes. I bent down to hear Ms. Edith's whispers and passed the message on once she was done. "Your daughter loves you and hopes you are happy where you are. She promised to be a good girl and watch over her mummy. You should be proud of her." I smiled at him and he gave me one back.

"I am," Dalton said right before William entered our room. His Master's sudden appearance surprised Dalton and made him drop one of my doll's hair brush on the floor with a loud clatter. "I-I'm sorry."" He quickly picked up the brush and placed it on my bed before excusing himself and leaving the room.

I pouted, crossed my arms and glared at my Spike.

"You scared him off," I scolded. Spike only chuckled.

"He's a vampire. He's not supposed to be afraid of anything. But in my defense I had no idea you weren't alone," he said as he approached my bed and sat on the side.

"He's not just a vampire, his name is Dalton, and he, I and Ms. Edith have become good friends. You should apologize to him before he becomes afraid and won't play with us anymore."

William looked angry because he doesn't like it when I show interest in other vampires beside him and Grandmummy. Before the soul I would have said he acted like a jealous lover, but with the soul he does it because he's being an overprotective big brother.

William and I never again saw each other as lovers after our souls were returned to us. We hadn't even been intimate since that fateful day. It had just felt wrong for the two of us. Incestuous. We loved each other though, and we cared deeply about what happened to each other.

I've never really had to worry about him and his heart because I've always known William was destined for someone special- his soul mate. He himself believed that he'd never fallen in love because he'd been too deeply scarred by that horrible shrew Cecily. Of course that wasn't true anymore, not since last night when he first saw the Slayer. He didn't know yet that he'd lost his heart, and I wouldn't tell him. He needed to suss it out for himself.

"You shouldn't be playing anyway," he said crossly. "You're supposed to be resting." He picked up my dollies and their dresses and put them back in the trunk.

"All I do is rest, ever since we arrived in this town. I was bored and I wanted to play. You and Grandmummy were busy and Dalton was here, so we played. Don't fault him for it, and don't you dare be angry with him, he's just my friend," I whined at him.

He laughed, my William, and it made me angry. He was always doing that: treating me like a child. I was the older vampire of the two of us and it irritated me to no end.

"Don't laugh!" I yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, pet. But I couldn't help it. You're just so adorable when you are angry," he smirked at me.

"Whatever," I snapped, looking away from him. I was still angry.

He sighed and slowly wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a gentle hug.

"I'm sorry Dru, really. I was messing with you, you know that, luv." I did know. "If it makes you feel better I'll apologize to that minion and tell him that he can come and play with you anytime you want."

I turned to face him and smiled brilliantly. I'd had forgiven him.

Ooooh...

It hurts...

I moaned in pain. William immediately jumped up, aware I was feeling unwell again. He gently helped me to lay down and pulled the sheets up to my chin. Taking the wet wash cloth on the nightstand beside my bed he wiped my forehead with it. I was burning up inside again with the fever. No vampire should be able to do that. Everything was hurting again.

Mummy. I want my mummy.

"You're gonna be alright, Dru. We're gonna find a way to help you. You're gonna be back to your usual playful self in no time. Then we can go hunt naughty vampires together and save towns and people from demons like we used to. Just hang on, pet. Everything's gonna be alright." He was trying to be comforting. Whether he was trying to convince me or himself, I couldn't tell. I was in too much pain to think.

"It hurts, my Spike. It hurts so much. When is daddy going be here?" I ask whimpered. My mind was lost in fevered haze. He didn't answer me, and that's when I realized the implication of what I'd said. "William don't-" I tried to stop him as he got up from my bed. He was going to do something reckless and stupid again. I couldn't make him listen. Instead he walked out of my room, leaving me alone again with only my thoughts and visions for company.

"Dammit William," I cursed as I writhed in pain.

I rarely swore. Something that'd been true even when I was soulless. Grandmummy said William cursed enough for us both. Over the years though, I'd found the occasional swear word to be oddly helpful in expressing my displeasure when it comes to William. I blamed Grandmummy for this as she's the one who loves to curse when William does something idiotic.

William. God's blood! He's not supposed to meet with daddy just yet. Nor is he supposed to see the Slayer tonight either. Now, because of my big mouth, he was going to. I'd seen it, and it didn't end well for him. Sacré blue!

I was fuming and in too much pain to notice the door opening and Dalton reentering my room.

"Mistress Drusilla, Master Spike told me to come and sit with you," he whispered, alerting me to his presence.

"Dalton! Thank heavens you are here. You need to call Grandmummy. Tell her William is going to do something stupid and is on his way to see daddy. She needs to stop him, it's not time for us to meet just yet!" I told the other vampire urgently. Only he just looked at me in confusion, apparently not understanding the gravity of the situation. So I had to raise my voice to get my point across. "Go to Grandmummy and tell her William left to see daddy! She needs to stop him! Go now, Dalton! Please!" I begged.

Finally realizing the importance of my command he hurriedly left my room to find Grandmummy. Once he'd gone I felt drained. I curled up under the sheets and closed my eyes to rest. I was still worried about what would happen, but not quite as much as before. Grandmummy would be there with William when he finally met up with daddy. The secret will come out, and everything will fall into place at last.

I hummed softly despite the pain. It was nice. I loved humming and it calmed me down. Ms. Edith was humming along with with me. That's good, I adored it when Ms. Edith hummed. She gave me peace and kept those nasty pixies away. Time to sleep now, by the end of the night all the secrets would be revealed and my family would be whole again.

Humming...

Humming...

Humming...

Goodnight.

(O.O)

A/N: I loved Dru in this chapter and I hope I did her justice again. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this double update, because I did it as an apology for getting my entire fic erased and also losing all of your wonderful reviews in the process. Anyway, next chapter will be the high school scene in School Hard but with a twist. Hope to see there. Again sorry for the delay and thank you for reading! Have a nice day!