“Do you love my insides? The parts you can’t see?”

Played by Juliet Landau

First Appearance: School Hard

Drusilla began as a young woman cursed with visions in 1860, her prophetic gifts drawing the attention of Angelus. Chosen by Darla as their next plaything, Drusilla was systematically broken: Angelus murdered her family, tormented her faith, and drove her into a convent. On the night she was to take her vows, he sired her, binding her madness into undeath. For two decades she travelled with Angelus and Darla, their relationship a twisted knot of devotion and cruelty. In 1880 she encountered the heartbroken poet William Pratt and made him a vampire, beginning a century‑long partnership with Spike that passed for love in their monstrous world.

In 1998, weakened after a beating in Prague, Drusilla followed Spike to Sunnydale, where he sought to restore her health. Using Angel’s blood, he succeeded, and Drusilla returned to full strength — her visions and hypnotic powers aiding her in killing the Slayer Kendra. When Spike betrayed her to stop Angelus from ending the world, she left him for a Chaos demon. She resurfaced in 2000 when Wolfram & Hart recruited her to restore Darla to vampirism, and the pair rampaged through Los Angeles until Angel set them on fire. Drusilla later attempted to lure Spike back to her side, but finding him in love with Buffy, she abandoned him once more.

A few years later, Drusilla was found beaten and institutionalised, the doctors unaware of her true nature. When Los Angeles fell to Hell, she slaughtered the staff and found the infernal landscape oddly comforting. When time was restored, she emerged even more unstable. Years later in Las Vegas, Wolfram & Hart recruited her again, this time to aid a murderer named John in stealing Spike’s soul. Though she slept with John, she eventually joined Spike’s travelling team — Beck, Betta George, Jeremy Johns and Willow — with Spike insisting that even Drusilla deserved a chance at redemption.

When John succeeded in extracting Spike’s soul, he revealed that Drusilla’s renewed madness stemmed not from Hell but from Wolfram & Hart’s medication. Spike’s soul was transferred into Drusilla, but the presence of a conscience only tortured her further. Drusilla killed John, and Spike used the magic circle to reclaim his soul, freeing her from the torment. Willow then committed Drusilla to the Mosaic Wellness Center, and before departing, Spike begged her not to kill the other patients.

Drusilla later resurfaced in London as “Mother Superior,” having gained control of a Lorophage demon once known as the Highgate Vampire. By siphoning away her trauma, the Lorophage restored her sanity, leaving her memories intact but stripped of pain. With this clarity, Drusilla sought to “help the helpless,” removing trauma from Londoners — a process that left many unhinged or devoted to her cult. When Angel confronted her, she urged him to accept the same release, but he refused. To restore the victims’ emotions, Angel forced the Lorophage to feed on itself, returning Drusilla’s trauma and shattering her sanity once more. She fled, warning of a dark future.

Her final known chapter unfolded in Magic Town. Contacted in dreams by her vampiric ancestor Archaeus, she agreed to serve as his lieutenant and attempted to sire the students of St. Cuthbert’s Preparatory School. Thwarted by Faith, Fred and Eldre Koh, Drusilla fled to Magic Town, where she terrorised its transformed residents and kidnapped Nadira. She duelled Faith, briefly gaining the upper hand before being forced to retreat. After the battle with Archaeus, Drusilla abandoned him and vanished into the shadows once more — a creature forever oscillating between prophecy, madness and the faintest glimmer of redemption.

APPEARANCES

Buffy SEASON 2