Who is Angelus?

The patriarch of the Order of Aurelius, the vampiric "family" into which Liam was sired, was one of the most powerful vampires of the past millennium. The Master, as he was known, originally sired Darla when he discovered her in North America's Virginia Colony in 1608, dying from the syphilis which she no doubt acquired though her profession as a prostitute.

Liam's body was laid to rest by his family,and was ressurected the night after his funeral. Waiting patiently by the tombstone for her new mate was Darla. Liam's first kill came moments after clawing his way out of the earth, when he supped on the blood of a terrified graveyard caretaker.

Wasting no time getting his bearings, Liam headed straight to his family home, with darla in tow. His next victim was his younger sister Cathy, who thought he had returned as an angel. He then made short work of his parents, taking pleasure in their demise. But, as Darla was quick to point out, the memory of his father's disapproval would haunt him forever.

For the next several years, Liam, now known as Angelus - "the one with the angelic face" from the Watcher Diaries - maimed and murdered everyone he had ever known an cared for. With Darla by his side, he cut a swath of destruction through South Wales and Northern Ireland.

In 1760, Darla decided it was time for Angelus to meet his grandsire, the Master. Upon entering the Master's lair beneath the streets of London, Angelus took an instant dislike to the intimidating vampire. Showing a dangerously cocky level of disrespect, Angelus insulted the Master and invited Darla to continue living with him in the open air, rather than dwelling with her sire in a dank subterranean fortress. For the second time in his life, he renounced his "family", and was lucky enough to have the Master permit his freedom out of respect.

The lovers continued their violent conquest of Europe, tearing through Italy, but finding resistance in France. In 1765, a cunning vampire hunter named Holtz pursued them across the French countryside with a hostile mob as his army. When the weary vampires found their barn hideout surrounded, Darla stole their only horse and left Angelus to be slain. As an afterthought, she instructed him to meet her in Vienna some day if he made it past Holtz's militia.

For the latter part of the 1700s, Angelus became even more brutal and twisted inhis barbarous onslaught. He took to carving a Christian cross in the left cheek of his victims as a gruesome trademark of his attacks. It was during this period that he sired a man named Penn, who emulated his creator and turned up in modern day Los Angeles as "The Pope Killer".

By 1860, Angelus had returned to England with Darla at his side once again. It was there that she introduced him to Drusilla, an innocent young woman who was gifted with the ability to see the future. Angelus decided to make Drusilla his special toy, and began to ruthlessly dismantle her sanity.

He posed as a priest and told the naïve young lass that her visions were the work of Satan, from whom she was spawned, and that there was no hope for her soul but to give in to evil and fulfill the Lord's prophecy.

He then went to her home and slaughtered her entire family in front of her. Drusilla was able to escape to a convent in the countryside, where she hoped to cleanse her soul of the horrors she had experienced; but Angelus caught up to her, and on the day she was due to take her holy orders, he descended on the convent and murdered every last nun. After that, he made love to Darla in front of the quivering, now insane Drusilla, and then sired her into vampiredom.

The three vampires travelled to Budapest, among other regions, and in 1880 found themselves back in England butchering mortals on the streets of London. By this time, Drusilla had begun to thirst for the intimate companionship shared between Darla and her childe, and so decided to find a man to share eternity with. Her quest ended quickly when she spotted a skinny, insecure poet named William. Drusilla sired the easily-seduced outcast, and he was resurrected into the vampire known today as Spike.

After becoming well acquainted with each other, Angelus, Darla, Drusilla and Spike set up camp in Yorkshire, where they hunted as a disciplined pack. Although they were experiencing blood-drenched prosperity under the leadership of Angelus, Spike's brazen attempt at gaining notoriety drew too much attention to the crafty predators, and they were forced to move on.

By 1898, the Fanged Four had brought their whirlwind of slaughter to Borsa, Romania. It was on a fateful night during that year that Darla gave Angelus a young gypsy girl to kill for his birthday. The girl turned out to be a favourite daughter of a Romany tribe called the Kalderash clan. The enraged elders put a vengeance curse on Angelus, which restored his soul and forced him to live in anguish over the acts he had committed as a vampire. Darla, Drusilla and Spike attacked the Gypsy camp and slaughtered the entire tribe to avenge their fallen leader, but the damage had already been done.

(adapted from the Warner Brothers site)