IN: Drusilla, or Dru, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the American television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. The character is portrayed by American actress Juliet Landau. Drusilla is introduced alongside her lover Spike (James Marsters) in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to serve as new antagonists to the series' heroine, vampire Slayer Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and alongside Darla (Julie Benz) and Wolfram & Hart as the main antagonist of the second season of Angel. In contrast to the series' previous central villain, the ancient and ceremonious Master (Mark Metcalf), Spike and Dru were introduced as a more unconventional but equally dangerous pair of vampires.

Drusilla has all the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire, plus minor psychic abilities. She is immortal, regenerates damage, drains human blood to survive, and is stronger than most humans. Drusilla's technique in combat, although awkward-looking, has allowed her to briefly hold her own in a fight against Angel (in "Reunion") and Spike (in "Becoming, Part Two"), along with besting Kendra the Vampire Slayer (in "Becoming, Part One") before using the hypnosis technique and then killing her. It was also in this fight with Kendra that Drusilla showed that her fingernails are sharper than one would normally expect, as she uses them to slit Kendra's throat. Darla had demonstrated a similar technique when she sired Angel; whether this is due to vampiric abilities or physical manipulation of nails is unclear.  Drusilla is also a seer with minor psychic abilities. However, since she had these before becoming a vampire their source and cause are unknown. She receives vivid visions that contain possible glimpses of the future, and can also see into people's minds and project false imagery into them (e.g. in "Becoming, Part Two", when she convinces Giles that she is really Jenny Calendar). She is also capable of hypnotizing people, which she does by catching their gazes, pointing her fingers towards her victim's eyes and then to her own, whispering to them ("Be in my eyes, Be in me"). Drusilla uses this technique to murder Kendra in the episode "Becoming, Part One". The Master uses a similar skill to paralyze Buffy in "Prophecy Girl".  Like all vampires, she is vulnerable to holy items and sunlight, can be killed by decapitation or a stake to the heart, and cannot enter the home of a living human without first being invited by someone who lives there.

Are there other ways she can slay them?

OUT: She is also capable of hypnotizing people, which she does by catching their gazes, pointing her fingers towards her victim's eyes and then to her own, whispering to them


IN: Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-American novelist, short story writer, poet, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from several tribes. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and now lives in Seattle, Washington. His best-known book is The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), a collection of short stories.

In order to better his education, Alexie decided to leave the reservation and attend high school in Reardan, Washington. The school was twenty-two miles off the reservation and Alexie was the only Native American student. He excelled at his studies and became a star player on the basketball team, the Reardan High School Indians. He was elected as class president and participated as a member of the debate team.  His successes in high school won him a scholarship in 1985 to Gonzaga University, a Roman Catholic university in Spokane. Originally, Alexie enrolled in the pre-med program with hopes of becoming a doctor, but found he was squeamish during dissection in his anatomy classes. Alexie switched to law, but found that was not suitable, either. He felt enormous pressure to succeed in college, and consequently, he began drinking heavily to cope with his anxiety. Unhappy with law, Alexie found comfort in literature classes.  In 1987, he dropped out of Gonzaga and enrolled at Washington State University (WSU), where he took a creative writing course taught by Alex Kuo, a respected poet of Chinese-American background. Alexie was at a low point in his life, and Kuo served as a mentor to him. Kuo gave Alexie an anthology entitled Songs of This Earth on Turtle's Back, by Joseph Bruchac. Alexie said this book changed his life as it taught him "how to connect to non-Native literature in a new way". He was inspired by reading works of poetry written by Native Americans.  With his new appreciation of poetry, Alexie started working on what was published as his first collection, The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems, published in 1992 through Hanging Loose Press. With that success, Alexie stopped drinking and quit school just three credits short of a degree. However, in 1995, he was awarded a bachelor's degree from Washington State University.

What was wrong with Alexie's parents?

OUT: