Darla

                                   

Darla was Sired in 1609, where she lived in the Virginia Colony of what is now the United States of America. She was dying of syphillis -- a nasty acquisition of her "profession" as a self-admitted prostitute -- when the Master, commander of the Order of Aurelius, made her. She was not born "Darla". The Master gave her that name -- just as she gave a name to Angelus, and Spike was given a name -- sometime shortly after her Siring.

Darla is Anglo-Saxon for "beloved" or "precious."

 She made Angelus in Galway in 1753, on a brief holiday away from her Sire, who she had been living with since her Siring. She left the Master to be with her Child in 1760, after Angelus presented her with an ultimatum: "Whose face do you want to look at for eternity? His -- or mine?"

They were joined by Drusilla in the early 1800's, then by Spike in 1880. She lost her beloved Angelus in 1898 to a Gypsy curse, joined up with him again in China in 1900 and then lost him once more. She came, with the Master and without Drusilla and Spike, who had gone on to Prague, to Sunnydale, the Slayer, and Angel, in 1997. That year she met her end . . 

 She was brought back from Hell as a human by Wolfram and Hart in 2000. But she was dying from an S.T.D ...She was resired the same year by Drusilla

Darla as a Vampire

 

                                              

 

 Darla was made a vampire in 1609, by the Master of the Order of Aurelius. As a vampire, Darla was cold and precise, a deadly killer with a sharp wit and sharper tongue. She and her favorite child, Angelus -- who she stayed with for one hundred years -- ravaged the better part of Eastern Europe, in many instances leaving no survivors, and earning Angelus the name "The Plague of Europe".

Darla, in the tradition of most vampires, kills without qualms or second thought. What makes her special is that she is both creative and highly intelligent; she does her job well and doesn't get caught, which is a much needed plus, since when it comes to brute strength, she's no match for a Slayer.

Darla as a Human

As a human, Darla retains her sauciness, her sharp wit and intelligence. In her first home at the Virginia Colony of 1600's America, she was "a woman of some property. No husband, no inheritance . . ." and a whore. She was dying of syphillis -- quite literally on her deathbed -- when the Master Sired her.

Unfortunately, when she is risen by Wolfram and Hart, her body picks up where it left off, ravaged by the disease. Darla is sick. Dying. Desperate.

After several attempts to cheat death, she accepts it, and decides to let Angel help her, stay with her, until she dies.

Raising Darla

 

In Buffy's first season episode Angel, Darla was rather unceramoniously dusted by her child, Angel, in order to protect Buffy.

In first season Angel's To Shanshu in LA, the law firm Wolfram and Hart brought her back from Hell, to the present, as a human. If you want to raise Darla from Hell either in an AU or in a point previous to Shanshu, you might consider taking pointers from the episode.

 

Darla and the Master

AThe relationship between Darla and the Master is very similar to that of many vampires and their Sires.

In their case, it's nearly an Electra complex. The Master was Darla's "savior", he brought her back from her deathbed, gave her another shot at life. And Darla loves him for it, holding for him nearly the same adoration he holds for her.

When you write Darla and the Master, you'll want to really bring forth the feeling of adoration between them. Unlike the relationship between Darla and Angelus, Darla is completely subservient to the Master, lives for him, and there is not competition between them.

 

Darla and Angelus

                                                    

Darla and Angelus are the perfect Oedipus complex. Darla was enamored with Angel in the beginning . . . she would have had to be, or she certainly wouldn't have bothered seducing and making a daemon out of him. But she must have had more than a physical attraction for him, because she left the Master, her Sire and longtime companion, to go gallavanting around the countryside with him. Angelus, in turn, is quite devoted to her, staying with her, hunting with her, living with her. Always very eager to please her, to make her happy, to give her everything she wants, despite the fact that he is without soul or the desire to provide common courtesies.

When you write Darla and Angelus, they are going to be a bit combative with one another, always trying to be strong, to best the other -- and this will lead to another factor of their relationship . . . lots of killing, lots of sex -- but there is still the underlying fact that they are actually . . . maybe not in love, but something close. They dote on one another.

Darla and Angel

 

ATheir relationship changes dramatically, however, when her Child is cursed with a soul. Darla goes through several emotions dealing with this, then several more when deciding how to percieve him.

Depending on what period of time you're writing them in, their relationship will be different. At first, right after he's Cursed, Darla is angry . . . disgusted with him because he has a soul, livid with the people that gave it to him. However, these emotions do not come from just a casual annoyance. Despite the rage she's feeling, she calms down and tries to bargain with the gypsies to get her boy back.

Prior to her pleading, she did throw him out, tell him to leave, threatened him. And leave he did. But when he came back -- having spent a substantial part of his time away looking for her again -- she is doubtful, unsure that he can be "her boy" again. When he fails, she's angry again, hurt that she's alone once again.

In Angel, when Darla goes back to him, she's happy to see him, but a bit condescending of him and the lifestyle he's leading. She's living with her old flame again -- her Sire, the Master -- but makes it perfectly clear to everyone that she wants Angel back. Her approach to this was hasty, and turned out badly for her . . . souled Angel sought to protect the Slayer rather than return to the Fold.

When Darla is risen as human To Shanshu in LA, and then becomes an active player again in the episodes that follow, she is at first vengeful of her murderer -- torturing him in his sleep -- but her aim is always to get him back. Instead of sending him nightmares, she gives him wet dreams, and keeps him sleeping, to be with her.

When he goes after her, finds her, they fight, briefly, but it isn't long before she returns to him as her protector . . . she doted on Angelus, and now on Angel, finding that he isn't her boy, and he isn't a replacement for him, but he is someone who will help her, a companion to work with, not fight against. She is ready to trust him, and does, fully, after he fights for her life in Trials, and proves that he does love her enough to die for her.

A good line to remember from this period of Darla, one to write by:
Darla (on Angel): Do you know what we've become?
Lindsey: Enemies.
Darla: Oh, no. Much worse. Now we're soulmates.

When Drusilla reVamps -- if you'll excuse the expression -- previously human Darla, her attitude towards Angel changes. Angel tried to help her, Angel was interested in saving her soul.

More importantly than this, Angel is trying to kill her again.

He soon becomes an enemy once more, and they fight again and again, and she stops caring about bringing him back, having her boy again . . . or so it seems.

Re-vamped by Dru she returned to her evil ways until showing up pregnant with Angel's baby.

Darla might not have been able to give Angel happiness, but but she did give him something special instead--a child. At first, she tries to get rid of this impossible pregnancy with the help of shamans, but when that doesn't work, she arrives at Angel's seeking his help. Being pregnant hasn't made her vulnerable, however. She's more a force to be reckoned with than ever.Under the influence of her unborn child's human soul Darla comes to love her baby. She realizes that she will probably kill her own child once he is born and she becomes unsouled and evil again. When it looks like the child will not even be born at all, Darla decides to take her own life,Staked herself in the alley to save the baby - Later her ghost has visited Conner.( her son)

 

Darla and Drusilla

The relationship between Darla and Drusilla has taken a complete one-eighty from where it began. At first, Darla was jealous, worried of Angelus's attachment to his Fledgling, and his near obsession with her before he Sired her, but then that led to mere resentment. Darla did not like being addressed as "Grandmother" any more than she did having to share her boy.

                               

After Spike, Darla treated Drusilla more like a henchman than anything else. "Drusilla . . . the camp. Go, kill things." Things changed, however, after Wolfram and Hart brought in the English vampire to change Darla back to a fanged creature of the night. At first, Darla hated Drusilla for doing that, for changing her without her permission, after she'd fought so long to accept dying, to accept being human. After a while, though, Darla and Drusilla's relationship became more of a partnership, more balanced and equal, than it ever had been.

Of all Darla's relationship, the one with Drusilla is perhaps the most healthy.