Spike

"I may be love's bitch but at at least I'm man enough to admit it!"

- Spike

Spike (born William Pratt) was a famous and widely feared vampire, well-known among both humans and demons for having faced and killed two Slayers throughout his unlife and for his history of torturing his victims with railroad spikes (which is what it is rumored the moniker of "Spike" is derived from); in fact, his reputation for evil and bloodshed was second only to that of his grandsire Angelus'. In his human life, William was an unsuccessful and unappreciated romantic poet known as William the Bloody, for his "bloody awful" poetry, though after he became a vampire, that moniker was repurposed to imply he was very violent. After being sired by Drusilla, he reinvented himself and terrorized Europe alongside Drusilla, Angel and Darla throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Spike first traveled to Sunnydale in 1997, accompanied by Drusilla. Though he quickly established himself as one of Buffy Summers' most dangerous enemies, he was eventually forced into multiple uneasy alliances with her and her team, the Scooby Gang, after he was captured by the Initative and implanted with a cerebral microchip that rendered him unable to harm humans. Eventually, Spike realized that he had fallen in love with Buffy and officially joined the Scooby Gang, later being motivated by his love for her to successfully fight to regain his soul.

Spike sacrificed his life in battle against the First Evil, both defeating its army of Turok-Han and permanently closing the Sunnydale Hellmouth, as well as the town of Sunnydale itself. However, bound to an ancient amulet, Spike became an incorporeal entity haunting the halls of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart, then under the management of Team Angel. After becoming corporeal again, Spike struggled to find a place in the world, only to join Angel in his battle against the Senior Partners and become a champion in his own right.

Early History
"They call him "William the Bloody" because of his bloody awful poetry."

- unidentified woman (1880)

William Pratt was born circa 1850 to 1853 in London, England to Anne Pratt and her unidentified husband. By 1880, William had grown into a sentimental, yet ineffectual gentleman who still lived with his mother. He was a poet, and enjoyed a certain level of economic comfort. Struggling to make a place for himself in London's high society, he attended parties, and was nicknamed "William the Bloody" because his poetry was so "bloody awful". This moniker– with far deadlier connotations– would follow him into his future as a vampire. While he moved within elite circles, William found little in common with his contemporaries, who saw fit to treat him like a fool rather than a peer. Still, he showed a strong capacity for loyalty and was highly devoted to the prospect of love, two traits that would remain with him long after his siring. After his romantic overtures were rejected by the aristocrat Cecily Addams, a despondent William literally collided with Angelus, Darla and Drusilla, who had been terrorizing London. Drusilla followed him into an alley, where she found him in tears. She desired a playmate (a "knight") whom she could make hers forever. After a brief talk with the young poet, Drusilla seduced him and turned him into a vampire.

After Drusilla sired William, she buried him and allowed him to be reborn; he crawled from the depths of his own grave. The pair partied for several days afterward, both draining human victims and drinking alcohol. They eventually decided to go back to William's mother's residence, where a live-in servant ignorantly invited them inside.

William's devotion for his mother remained with him after he became a vampire. Anne suffered from tuberculosis, and, not wanting to see his mother die while he was gifted with eternal life, William sired her so she could join him and Drusilla's afterlife.

Unfortunately, after being sired, William's mother was no longer the woman he had known. Without a soul, she taunted him, claiming that she had despised him all along, and insinuating that William had always had a sexual fascination with her. In the end, he staked her because he could not bear to see his mother in such a twisted light. The entire experience remained terribly traumatic for William; he would later write a poem about it entitled "The Wanton Folly of Me Mum". He would be haunted by the memory over a century later when The First Evil used it to control him.

After staking his mother, William chose to begin a new existence with Drusilla. Euphoric with his newfound vampiric abilities, he partly abandoned the genteel hypocrisy of Victorian life; however, he remained emotionally sensitive. He was eventually introduced to Drusilla's sire Angelus, who initially embraced him by expressing an interested in killing with another man. At first, the innocent William idolized Angelus, but was still quick to disagree when he insulted Drusilla in his presence. He preferred to think of her as childish than insane, and treated her with undying loyalty, an impressive feat considering he had no soul. After walking in on Angelus having sex with her he was once again denied in the area of romance; Drusilla was no more his than Cecily had been, and as a vampire, he would never truly own anything. This incident brought about the beginnings of a rivalry that would carry on through both William and Angelus's unlives. In order to keep Drusilla's attention, he was urged to give up his last drop of aristocracy, and became a rebel, adopting a working class North London accent and embracing impulsiveness and violence. He took on the nom de guerre "Spike" due to his habit of torturing people with railroad spikes, inspired by a detractor from his human days who had exclaimed he would rather "have a railroad spike driven through his head" than listen to William's poetry. It is even indicated that he was involved in criminal activities, as Spike later remarked that he spent "the better part of a century" in delinquency. In the company of Drusilla, Darla and Angelus, Spike tyrranized Europe and Asia for the better part of two decades. As time passed, he remained utterly devoted to Drusilla, and grew to hate and envy Angelus. Though Angelus did enjoy the company of another male vampire in their travels, he found Spike's eagerness for battle to be unnecessary. Angelus regarded killing as an art, not a sport, and brutalized for the sheer act of committing evil. He reveled in destroying his victims' minds and bodies, while Spike did it for amusement and to feel the "rush". Angelus avoided fights that he feared could result in his demise; Spike thought danger added to the thrill. Tension also arose around Angelus's sexual relationship with Drusilla, which continued despite Spike's strong disapproval. Spike at one point referred to Angel as both his "sire" and his "Yoda," likening Angelus to a mentor. Spike later noted that although Drusilla made him a vampire, it was Angelus's influence over him that made him a monster.

Spike also developed an intense obsession with the idea of the Slayer. He reveled in dangerous battles, and to him there was nothing more exciting than a life-and-death struggle with his greatest adversary, the chosen one. He first learned about the Slayer from Angelus, who used the term in an attempt to frighten him. It had a very different effect on the young vampire, who would from then on seek out Slayers to do battle with.

1890: Spike, Drusilla, Angelus, and Darla attend the ballet Giselle, in St Petersburg, Russia.

1894: The four vampires were in Rome, Italy and encountered the Immortal. He locked up Angelus and Spike whilst simultaneously bedding Darla and Drusilla. This sparked a rivalry with the Immortal that made him the enemy of both Spike and Angel.

October 1898: Spike & Dru were in Borsa, Romania with Angelus and Darla. Spike, however was oblivious that Angelus had regained his soul due to being cursed by gypsies. But he joined in the massacre of the gypsy clan Kalderash.

November 1898: In a London book store, Spike marveled at a copy of Dracula. He observed that the book contained detailed information on how to kill vampires. Drusilla remarked that it's convenient; Spike argued that it's very inconvenient for them. The shop owner demanded eleven pounds for the book, as it was signed by the author. Spike thought this price was ridiculous, but Drusilla asked for the book, so Spike paid.

November 28th, 1898: Spike tried to convince Drusilla to forget about Angelus; since the incident with the gypsies, he believed that they should consider him gone. Elsewhere, Darla was approached by Dracula. Dracula offered to remove Darla's pain if she'd come with him, and Darla, under Dracula's hypnotic thrall, agreed. Meanwhile Spike and Drusilla attended another performance of Giselle, which they saw 8 years previously in Russia. Darla took Dracula back to her townhouse. Dracula tried to convince Darla to be his bride, at which point Spike and Dru arrived. Spike confronted Dracula, who was amused by Spike's name. He announced his own name, and Spike produced the novel he had purchased, saying he had a bone to pick. Dracula called the novel "fabricated rubbish," and threw it into the fireplace. Darla interjected, telling Spike that accepting Dracula as their new leader was a good way to move on after the loss of Angelus. Spike resented the implication that he'd be an inadequate leader, and demanded his eleven pounds from Dracula. Dracula began to take Dru under his thrall, and Spike angrily attacked. Dracula effortlessly grabbed Spike by the throat and threw him into the fire. In flames, Spike leapt from the townhouse window and into the nearby Thames.

November 30th, 1898: Drusilla and Darla departed in a carriage bound for Whitby, Yorkshire, with Dracula, to be his brides, unaware that Spike was hiding beneath the coach. Dracula summoned his brides to him. When they arrived, Drusilla began to speak of a "party" and said that many people were coming with unpleasant gifts. Dracula presented the girls with gifts of his own: two wooden stakes. Using his hypnotic powers, he ordered them to pick them up, saying that it was the only way to end the pain of losing Angelus. Just as Dracula was ordering the girls to kill each other, a flaming arrow crashed through the window. A mob was raiding Dracula's mansion, and the girls were able to escape. Dracula found a letter from Spike left in their place, saying that he had attacked the village and led the angry mob to the mansion. He concluded the letter with, "P.S. You still owe me eleven pounds."

June 18th, 1900: in Beijing, China, Spike killed a slayer during the Boxer Rebellion. She gave him the scar on his left eyebrow, which remained a century later. Shortly afterward, he and Drusilla lost touch with Darla and Angelus, and the couple wandered the world seeking amusement and mayhem, occasionally separating to pursue separate interests but always reuniting.

1933: Spike and Drusilla were in Chicago, Illinois and attended the World's Fair, but the brothers of Chinese slayer Xin Rong attacked them seeking vengeance.

October 1934: Spike and Drusilla were in New York. They then headed to Los Angeles and watched Bela Lugosi perform as Dracula on stage. They soon encountered the real Dracula once again. Spike fought Dracula on a bi-plane that crashed into the Hollywoodland sign, destroying the last four letters. Spike presumed his rival was killed in the explosion.

World War II (sometime between 1939-1945): Spike and Drusilla accepted a commission from the ice demon Skrymir, and were tasked with the elimination of all potential Slayers, as well as the Slayer herself, in exchange for Freyja's Strand, a task at which they ultimately failed.

September 1943: Spike's feud with Dracula continued. Dracula made a deal with Hitler to hand over Spike, Nostroyev, and the Prince of Lies to Nazi agents in exchange for the release of gypsies. Dracula invited them to a virgin blood bath in Madrid which was where they were captured by Nazi forces for experimentation, and taken aboard a submarine which in turn was seized by Americans. However, Spike and the two other imprisoned vampires, Nostroyev and the Prince of Lies, broke free and killed most of the crew. The trio was stopped from killing everybody by Angelus, who arrived with instructions to deliver the submarine and the records of the Nazi experimentation with vampires to the United States military. While the submarine was delivered thanks to the help of the newly sired Sam Lawson, Spike, who had burned up the notes from the experiments, was forced by Angel to leave the submarine and swim back to land.

1947: Spike was in Los Angeles working as a bodyguard, where he encountered Número Cinco and was framed for the Black Dahlia murder.

1953: Back in Rome with Drusilla, Spike had apparently caused a Black Widower demon to be in debt to him. The demon had avoided it however and instead had sex with Pearl before attempting to eat her. Never being one to forget debts, Spike dropped in and became a accidental hero, decapitating the demon and inadvertently rescuing Pearl, causing her to proclaim him as her hero while Nash had been knocked out. Spike then lit up a cigarette and quickly left with Drusilla, his business finished. Pearl become fascinated by the vampire that she considers like his hero.

June, 1959: Spike had reunited with Drusilla and the pair spent some time in Rome, Italy. Their reunion was short lived as Comte De Saint - Germain kidnapped Drusilla as he required her company for his 200th birthday. Spike rescued Drusilla and as they left he noticed a statue of Dracula. As retribution, he knocked over the statue, not knowing that Comte De Saint - Germain turned Dracula to stone in 1947 and kept it as a victorious trophy. The imprisoned Dracula was released and he killed the Comte. At some point later, Spike spent time in prison for tax evasion because of the Immortal.

1963: Spike and Drusilla were caught in the middle of slaughtering an orphanage. Spike killed two members of the Watcher's Council before Roger Wyndam-Pryce escaped with his life.

At some point in a century or so of being his own boss, Spike employed a pair of Fyarl Demons as muscle, which is unusual because vampires and demons rarely get along; he continued this diversity in friendships and relationships throughout his unlife.

1969: Spike attended Woodstock, where he drank blood from a flower child and spent the next several hours watching his hand move a side effect from the psychoactive drugs in their bloodstream.

July 13, 1977: He fought and killed Nikki Wood, a Slayer in New York City aboard a subway train, and stole her black leather duster, which he continued to wear even decades later.

1997: Spike and Dru traveled to Prague, where the pair was attacked by an angry mob. Drusilla was also kidnapped and severely tortured as a warning sign for other vampires to stay away from the city. On their way to Sunnydale, Spike and Drusilla stopped off at St. Louis to try some riverboat gambling. The detour ended up less relaxing than they might have hoped.

Conflict With The Scoobies
"Once he starts something he doesn't stop, until everything in his path is dead. Stay away."

- Angel on Spike

Spike first appeared in Sunnydale accompanied by his longtime lover Drusilla, who had recently been wounded by an angry mob in Prague. He was a devoted caretaker to Drusilla in her weakened condition, and initially hoped the Hellmouth's powerful energy would help to restore her strength. The presence of a Slayer made the town an even more attractive retreat to Spike. He tracked Buffy down at The Bronze and observed her from afar. His interest in her immediately seemed more perverse than homicidal. He was quick to reveal that he had killed two Slayers throughout his life, and hoped to make Buffy his third victim. Ironically, his plans were thwarted by his grandsire Angelus, whom he greeted as an old friend before realizing he was cursed with a soul and allied with the new Slayer, Buffy Summers. Spike observed that it was very unusual for a Slayer to have family and friends so dedicated to her wellbeing– Buffy's way of life proved to be a direct affront to the duties of past Slayers. Still, Spike's impatience to fight Buffy had foiled the Order of Aurelius's plans for the Night of Saint Vigeous. He killed the Anointed One and took control of the then-defunct Order, planning to make things "a little less ritual and a little more fun."

Eventually, Spike discovered that Drusilla could only be healed by the the blood of her sire; he was more than happy to kill Angel to restore her, and kidnapped him with the help of Willy the Snitch. He subsequently hired the Order of Taraka to assassinate Buff, though he ultimately cancelled the bounty when she defeated the three assassins who had been sent. With the help of Kendra Young, a second Slayer activated when Buffy drowned the previous year, Buffy tracked down Spike and Drusilla to the church where the were going to perform the ritual to heal Drusilla. The ensueing fight ended when Spike was crushed under a collapsing pipe organ; he was left paralyzed from the waist down for several months. Though Angel was saved, Spike's ritual succeeded, and Drusilla was restored to perfect health.

Despite being incapacitated in a wheelchair, Spike made huge preparations for Drusilla's birthday. He planned a large party at the factory, dressed their vampire lackeys in Gothic attire, arranged flowers to Drusilla's insane standard and collected the pieces of the Judge's body. Meanwhile, Angel and Buffy had grown closer than ever– his curse was broken when he achieved a moment of pure happiness upon sleeping with her, and reverted to his soulless self. Angelus rejoined Spike and Drusilla, and plotted with Drusilla to destroy all of humanity. Spike initially celebrated their reunion with Angelus and demonstrated affection towards his grandsire, but their longtime rivalry was renewed over arguments about how to attack Buffy. Angelus, who was cruel and calculating, preferred playing mind-tricks with her, while Spike feared such actions would only anger her. Angelus also taunted the temporarily helpless Spike by pursuing Drusilla as a lover while Spike was unable to fulfill her needs as a result of his paralysis.

Spike continued to use his wheelchair even after he had recovered, feigning weakness to avoid suspicion while he plotted against Angelus. When Angelus decided to use the demon Acathla to suck the entire world into Hell, Spike, having no desire to see the world end, decided to ally himself with Buffy Summers; he explained to Buffy that, in addition to wanting Drusilla back, he also wanted to "save the world." Despite Buffy opposing the idea to save Drusilla considering she had killed Kendra not hours earlier, they made an agreement when Rupert Giles's life was on the line. Spike promised Buffy that he and Drusilla would leave Sunnydale for good after the battle ended. He helped Buffy during her battle against Angelus and Drusilla, and knocked Angelus unconscious long enough for Buffy to kill his minions and rescue her Watcher. Spike briefly fought Drusilla, who resisted betraying Angelus; he managed to knock her out; ever loyal, Spike departed Sunnydale with his love once more, leaving Buffy to face Angelus alone.

It was later revealed that Spike and Drusilla traveled to Brazil, where she remained horrified by his alliance with the Slayer. Drusilla's abilities caused her to sense that Spike would come to develop romantic feelings for Buffy; she rejected him and cheated on him with a Chaos Demon, which sent the lovelorn Spike into an long drunken depression. He returned to Sunnydale, where he attempted to force Willow Rosenberg to cast a love spell on Drusilla. While in town he visited Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers, who listened sympathetically to his heartache, and recruited Buffy and Angel to help him gather spell ingredients for the spell. After reveling in the rush of an intense battle with his former minions, Spike cheerfully abandoned the idea of enchanting Drusilla, resolving instead to win her back by torturing her until she loved him again. He also told Buffy and Angel that no matter what happened, they would never be friends because of their eternal love for one another. Buffy later remarked to Angel "I can fool Giles, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself–or Spike, for some reason". This final quote foreshadowed the pivotal role Spike would someday come to play in Buffy's group.

The Chip
"Hate to break it to you, O Impotent One, but you're not the "Big Bad" anymore. You're not even the "Kinda Naughty"! You're nothing but a waste of space. My space! And as much as I always got a big laugh watching Buffy kick your shiny, white bum, and as much as I know I can give you a little bum-kicking myself right now, I'm here to tell you something... you're not even worth it."

- Xander taunts Spike over his inability to harm humans.

The following year, Spike once again became estranged from Drusilla, prompting him to return to Sunnydale alone to search for the Gem of Amarra, a talisman that rendered vampires completely immune to all of the conventional vampiric weaknesses. He had an entire crew mine for it; when he acquired it his first action was to do battle with Buffy, now a college freshman, during the day. Buffy, however, took it from him mid-fight, causing him to flee from the sun. Buffy decided to give it to Angel. Spike later followed Scooby Daniel Osbourne to Los Angeles to retrieve it. He faced Angel and his new team, hiring a vampiric torturer who claimed he wasn't interested in the gem and had him torture Angel for its location. After arranging a trade with Cordelia Chase and Allen Francis Doyle, he was double crossed by the vampire and driven out of the city without the ring, which Angel subsequently destroyed. By then, he had become involved with Harmony Kendall, a shallow young vampire who had been Cordelia's best friend at Sunnydale High. Despite her beauty and affection, Spike treated her as little more than a nuisance and sexual plaything. Spike's existence took a pivotal turn when he was captured by the The Initiative, a secret demon-fighting government organization, the members of which implanted whim with a cerebral microchip that rendered him unable to willingly harm or attempt to harm humans without experiencing crippling pain. This chip became Spike's surrogate soul, as it forced him to consider the consequences of "right" and "wrong". Unable to hunt for blood, and still pursued by The Iniative, he reluctantly made the decision to turn to the Scooby Gang for help. He was kept in Giles's apartment, where the Scoobies bound him to a chair with ropes. He bartered his knowledge of The Initiative for shelter and blood; after briefly being held captive, he moved to a crypt.

Spike and Buffy briefly became engaged after Willow accidentally performed an enchantment; although the spell only commanded them to get married, each expressed love for the other, comically foreshadowing the bond they would in time share.

Reduced to little more than an impotent prisoner of the Scoobies, Spike sank into a suicidal depression, and nearly staked himself in Xander's basement. He became ecstatic when Xander warned him of an upcoming apocalypse because he wanted the world to end. He nonetheless managed to cheer himself up by viciously tearing down Willow and Xander emotionally, remarking that they were both useless to Buffy, who as a Slayer, would be better off if she didn't have to constantly watch out for both of them. Willow and Xander were visibly forced to thought by his words despite their mutual denial.

"Come on! Vampires! Grrr! Nasty! Let’s annihilate them. For justice - and for - the safety of puppies – and Christmas, right? Let’s fight that evil! Let’s kill something! Oh, come on!"

- Spike discovers that he can hurt demons

Spike came to discover that the chip did not prevent him from hurting demons, much to his joy; he subsequently became a reluctant ally of the Scoobies, and provided then with assistance in exchange for cash or brawls. At this point, Spike was still interested in his own selfish well-being, and reminded the Scoobies of this constantly with one of his many catchphrases: "I'm Evil"! Upon learning that the unstable Slayer Faith was on the loose, he proclaimed that he would find her and tell her the Scoobies' exact whereabouts, and gleefully watch while she tore them apart.

Spike later allied with Adam, a monstrous bio-mechanical demonoid created by The Initiative as part of their super-soldier project, and helped him in his quest to destroy both the Initiative and the Scoobies once and for all. Spike's price was simple: he wanted The Initiative's chip removed for good so he could return to his "Big Bad" self. In accordance with Adam's plan, he managed to turn the Scoobies against each other by manipulating existing tensions within the group. Buffy, however, discovered the scheme and reconciled with the gang when Spike revealed too much information about his plot during an encounter in Adam's former lair. When Adam discovered that Spike had failed to split up the Scoobies, he made an attempt to kill him, but Spike managed to escape. After Buffy slew Adam, Spike saved Willow, Giles and Xander from an attacking demon in hope that they wouldn't kill him for his actions; indeed, they agreed to spare him out of fatigue and gratitude. Spike helped the Scoobies and Riley Finn battle the rampaging demon hordes within The Initiative's complex, rescuing most of the soldiers. The Initiative was then shut down by the U.S. government, as it had proved an unsuccessful operation.

Falling In Love With Buffy
"Oh God, no. Please, no."

- Spike realizes his feelings for Buffy.

Following the fall of the Initiative, Spike began offering more and more assistance to Buffy and the Scoobies. He told Riley about his old rivalry with Dracula, and later and punched Tara to prove that her father's tales about her being a demon were untrue (his chip would have caused him pain when he struck her, thus confirming that she was purely human). Despite this, after a failed attempt to force a former Initiative member to remove his chip, Spike became justifiably sick of Buffy's near-constant presence in his unlife; an erotic dream sequence forced him to reconsider everything he had come to learn in his past hundred years of living. Initially, the dream featured Spike attempting to force Buffy to kill him in the hopes that he wouldn't have to exist in her world anymore; he even tore off his shirt in order to give her a clear shot with her stake. The dream concluded with them passionately kissing; this led Spike to realize (much to his horror and confusion) that he had fallen in love with a Slayer. Unsure how to proceed, he began keeping a nightly vigil outside her home, occasionally breaking in to collect items for his shrine to her beneath his crypt.

Spike became a much more active participant in the Scooby Gang, jumping into several fights to give Buffy assistance regardless of whether she wanted it. Buffy sometimes took out her anger and frustration on Spike; he went along with it, as it allowed him to spend time with her. His one-sided devotion soon culminated in Buffy confronting him about his past after being severely wounded by a vampire; the experience had caused her to become briefly obsessed with the deaths of past Slayers, and Spike, having been responsible for two of them, had the information she desired. They went to The Bronze, where Spike recounted the high and low points of his life, from poet William Pratt to rebellious vampire Spike (the night Drusilla turned him, his rivalry with Angelus and the day he first heard of the Slayer). His story revealed his fixation with Slayers to Buffy, who had him replay his battles with the two Slayers in great detail, fights he related to "dances". Buffy was disgusted by his desire to "dance" with her, and pushed him to the ground. Spike was visibly hurt when she told him that he was "beneath her", as this was first said to him when he was turned down by Cecily Addams as a human. He went to her house with the goal of killing her, but upon finding her on her back porch in tears about her mother's illness, cast aside his feelings of anger and humiliation and comforted her for the first time.

Before his departure, Riley Finn rightfully assessed that Spike had fallen in love with his girlfriend after he caught him sniffing Buffy's clothes in her room. Spike took great pleasure in informing Riley about Joyce's illness, which Buffy had intentionally neglected to tell him about. Spike then took Buffy to an abandoned house and exposed Riley's scandalous activities with vampires. Riley confronted Spike soon afterward, but Spike only taunted him about his relationship with Buffy. They drank together and discussed their separate situations regarding the Slayer. Riley asked Spike if he really thought he had any chance with Buffy and Spike responded with self-deprication, stating that he knew he didn't but that he had to try anyway. Spike believed his situation better than Riley's, who was close to Buffy, but never had her completely. Riley left Buffy and Sunnydale behind soon afterward.

Later, when Dawn snuck out of the house on Buffy's birthday in order to go to the Magic Box, Spike, who was standing vigil, decided to go along in order to protect her from any possible threats. He helped her break into the store, but ended up partly responsible for Dawn discovering her identity as the Key. Upon learning of Spike's involvement, Buffy immediately confronted him in his crypt. She attacked him, but Spike turned the tables on her by informing her that he had only accompanied Dawn to keep her safe. He also remarked that they should have just told Dawn earlier because she was bound to find out sooner or later. When Dawn ran away again during her identity crisis, Spike was quick to join the search party. Buffy tearfully admitted to Spike that he had been right; Spike then made an awkward attempt to comfort her, stating that Dawn, being a "fourteen-year-old hormone bomb," would eventually have sneaked out anyway. He assured Buffy that they would indeed find her little sister.

Dawn, who had developed a crush on Spike, perceived his feelings for Buffy. She casually mentioned it to Buffy, who confronted Spike. She quickly rejected his advances, and Spike, not willing to give up without a fight, kidnapped her to witness him killing Drusilla, his once forever love. His plan failed, however, and a furious and disgusted Buffy destroyed his shrine, had Willow revoke Spike's invitation into house house (something she had not bothered to do in the almost three years since their alliance against Angelus), and alienated him from the Scoobies.

Following the sudden death of Joyce Summers, Spike attempted to pay his respects by leaving flowers at Buffy's house, as he regarded her as the only person in Buffy's life who had ever treated him decently. Xander immediately suspected he was merely attempting to take advantage of a painful situation to score points with Buffy, and couldn't be convinced otherwise until Willow discovered that Spike had left the card for Joyce completely anonymous. When Dawn attempted to resurrect Joyce, Spike helped her, but assured her that he didn't want any credit for it, as Buffy would "drive a redwood through his chest" if she found out he was involved. He was badly injured by a Ghora demon when they attempted to steal one of its eggs in order to perform the spell. Their efforts proved worthless when Dawn raised her mother as an assumed zombie; she ultimately broke the spell before the results were revealed. Still in the midst of his obsession, Spike had Warren Mears make Buffybot, a robot created in Buffy's likeness that was programmed to love and obey him. He briefly used the robot as a substitute for what he couldn't have with the real Buffy, but was soon captured by Glory's minions, who had mistaken him for the Key. Though still thoroughly disgusted, Buffy lost much of her disdain for Spike after learning that he had refused to reveal the true identity of the Key to Glory, even under intense torture. She realized that he had laid down his life to protect Dawn, something she wouldn't have thought possible of him. She was very moved by his unexpected sacrifice, and as a reward, kissed him and told him that she would never forget what he had done for her.

Buffy's trust in Spike grew immensely from there; a prime example being when she left Dawn with him in his crypt after Glory "brain-sucked" Tara. While there, Dawn tearfully blamed herself for Glory's attacks on her friends (including Spike's torture at Glory's hands) and believed herself a lightning rod for pain. Spike consoled her as best he could, telling her that as a vampire, he knew a thing or two about evil, and she wasn't it.

After Glory discovered that Dawn was the Key, Buffy allowed Spike to accompany the Scoobies when they fled from Sunnydale (much to the chagrin of Giles and Xander). Buffy knew that Spike was the only person besides herself who stood any chance at protecting Dawn against Glory. In the days and hours leading up to the final showdown with Glory, Spike fought bravely by Buffy's side, earning both her trust and a re-invitation into her home. Spike ultimately accepted that Buffy would never love him, and settled for having her trust; he said that though he knew he was a monster, she treated him like a human being. During the final battle, he tried desperately to save Dawn from Glory's minion, Doc, who was attempting to draw Dawn's blood as part of the ritual. Spike was easily outmaneuvered and fell off a thirty foot tower, where he was unable to assist Dawn further; this would remain one of his deepest regrets after Buffy's death in the battle. Upon setting eyes on her lifeless body, he collapsed in sorrow and wept openly. Ever faithful, he honored her memory by remaining loyal to her friends. He fought at their side and served as Dawn's protector/baby-sitter for months, and even helped Willow and Tara raise her in Buffy's absence. Deprived of purpose, he kept track of the number of days since her death until her resurrection.

Spike remained unaware of the Scoobies' plan to resurrect Buffy until after the event; he returned to the Summers' residence in search of Dawn, only to discover Buffy alive-and-well 148 days after her death. He, like a few of the others, considered the possible drawbacks of doing something so extreme, but later expressed that, had the spell gone wrong, he wouldn't have let the others destroy the result if it retained even the slightest part of the real Buffy. Unable to guiltlessly confide in her friends about being torn from Heaven, Buffy began to go to Spike for comfort, who willingly accepted both the best and worst of her emotions. Their physical relationship began after the demon Sweet cast a spell that caused them to share their true feelings through song. Buffy had begun to crave the ability to "feel" again, and expressed that she wanted "the fire back". Meanwhile, Spike accused her of using him in the form of a serenade. Their mutual desires clashed in the alleyway behind The Bronze, where they kissed passionately. Though Buffy denied the act at first, their tension was finally consummated when Spike discovered that his chip no longer stopped him from harming the "resurrected" Buffy. He initially thought that it had stopped working, and attempted to feed on a woman, only to be shocked with pain. He then extorted a band of geeks to assess his chip, who told him that it was still completely functional; Spike came to the conclusion that it was Buffy who had changed, rather than the chip. He showed her, claiming that to Buffy that she had come back "wrong". Fighting back, she pushed Spike into an abandoned house (a metaphor for her broken state of mind) where they exchanged both insults and blows until Buffy finally gave into her desires and they shared their first sexual encounter. Although the already dilapidated house crumbled down around them, they showed no notice, and allowed the moment to unfold. The house was a metaphor for the near-future of their relationship, which was both literally and figuratively destructive for both Buffy and Spike; it would come to evolve further throughout the next year, after Spike fought to regain his soul. Buffy initiated their relationship partly as a way to punish herself, and partly as a means of connecting to life again. Buffy instituted both the violence and sex between them, and threatened to kill Spike if he ever told anyone about their time together. Both members remained unsatisfied with their continued sexual acts; Buffy was very ashamed of her dark desires, while Spike pitifully craved the love, trust and affection that she refused to give him. When Buffy believed she had killed a human, Katrina Silber, Spike tried to fix the problem by dumping the body into a river before Buffy could confess. When he revealed what he did and attempted to prevent her from alerting the police, a guilt-ridden Buffy took out her frustration on Spike, and beat him thoroughly.

Shortly after Buffy's ex-boyfriend, Riley, returned to Sunnydale in search of a Suvolte Demon egg smuggler, Spike egotistically informed him of his relationship with Buffy. Though Riley pretended not to care, he did accuse Spike of being "The Doctor". His suspicions were confirmed when he found the Suvolte's eggs in Spike's crypt. Buffy ended things with Spike after Riley left, admitting that she had just been using him and that it was tearing her up inside with guilt. Spike subsequently tried to make her jealous by bringing a date to Xander and Anya Jenkins' wedding. After Xander left Anya at the alter, he got drunk with her. They were able to relate easily, as each had recently been abandoned by their loved ones, and sought brief solace in each others' arms. Xander tried to kill Spike in a jealous rage but Buffy stopped him in time and her secret relationship with Spike was revealed as a result. After witnessing Buffy's clear jealous reaction to his sexual liasion with Anya, he came to believe that he still had a change to win her back.

His attempts proved worthless, however, and he began to grow mad with frustration. After being lectured by Dawn, he lost control of his obsession and cornered an injured Buffy in her bathroom. He made aggressive sexual advances towards her, and when she refused him, he grew desperate and attempted to rape her. After Buffy fought him off, Spike was so disgusted with himself that he couldn't do so much as apologize; in the end, he was violently reminded that the "demon" portion of his being still existed, regardless of what he had done to help Buffy and her friends in the past. In tears, she dared him to ask why she could never love him, but he fled her house in shame before giving her an answer. He returned to his crypt, and, horrified by his own actions, left Sunnydale for the first time in nearly three years. He traveled to a remote location in Africa, where he underwent the Demon Trials, a series of brutal physical and mental tests, to prove his worth to the demon shaman. At first, it appeared as though he wanted to have his chip removed so he could return to his "Big Bad" self, but his intentions were in reality far more noble. His attack on Buffy had sparked a grand change within him. Spike's redemption ultimately came to fruition with the returning of his soul and human conscience. He once again would posess William the poet's capacities for love, loyalty and self-control, and would no longer require artificial understandings of "right" and "wrong" granted to him by the chip. The demon shaman granted his wish upon Spike's completion of the trials, and restored his soul.

Soul and Redemption
"The spark. The missing... the piece... that fit. That would make me fit."

- Spike reveals to Buffy that he has regained his soul

With the returning of Spike's soul came a conscience filled with guilt, both for the sins he had committed throughout his life and his more recent attack on Buffy. He couldn't bring himself to see her for some time, and took shelter in the basement of the newly constructed Sunnydale High School, where he presumably lived on rats. There, he was tormented by both the the First Evil and his soul, and appeared to be losing his mind; he forced Buffy to leave when she discovered him, and sadly showed her that he had tried to cut out his own heart in contempt. During a moment of clarity, he helped Buffy to track down a Sluggoth Demon created by Anya, during which time Buffy came to realize what had happened to him during his missing weeks. Buffy, touched by his efforts, asked him why he had fought for his soul. Spike replied in partly incohesive mutters: "For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man who would never... to be a kind of man... and she shall look on him with forgiveness and everybody will forgive and love and he will be loved." Spike wanted not only redemption for his past, but for Buffy to forgive him for what he had done to her. Buffy agreed in compassion, and after enlisting his assistance for a while, brought him out of the basement and welcomed him back into her circle of close companions.

Because Buffy insisted and because he had nowhere else to go, Spike once more became reluctant roommates with Xander Harris. Though Spike's mental and physical conditions rapidly improved, the arrangement backfired when he, under the influence of the First Evil, unwittingly killed innocent humans. Spike initially had no memory of his actions; after discovering what he had done, he begged Buffy to kill him, but Buffy refused to do so, and instead took him home to her house. She told him that he would live on because she saw him change. In the Summers' residence he suffered from human blood withdrawals, and remained vulnerable to the First's influence, and was willingly confined with ropes. Meanwhile, Buffy guarded and cared for Spike throughout his recovery. She told him that she believed in him, a statement that would sustain him later through his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the First.

After Buffy rescued him from the First, Spike helped her to train Potential Slayers by sparring with them. In the meantime, his chip began to malfunction, causing him intense pain and threatening to end his life if left untreated. To the dismay of Giles and her friends, Buffy showed her lasting trusted in Spike by ordering the Initiative's operatives to remove the chip from his head for good, telling him that he had the potential to be a good man. She also took Spike's side when Robin Wood attempted to kill in in retribution for the murder of his mother, Nikki Wood, the Slayer Spike killed in New York in the late 70's. Ironically, by trying to kill Spike while under the influence of the First, Wood freed Spike from his hypnotic trigger (a song called "Early One Morning" that Spike's mother once sang to him). The song evoked Spike's traumatic memories of his mother's abusive behavior after he turned her. Finally able to address these issues, Spike realized that his mother had always loved him, knowledge that freed him from the First's control for good. Afterward, he bit and brutally pulverized Wood, but let him live out of respect for Nikki. Spike assured Buffy that he had given Wood his last change, and that he would kill Robin without hesitation if he so much as looked at him the wrong way again. Buffy was more than supportive, stating that she would let him do it; both she and Spike knew that they had no more time for pointless vendetas.

From there, Spike and Buffy's relationship developed into emotional closeness, devotion and trust, a very different bond from the one she shared with Angel as an adolescent. Spike remained selflessly loyal to her when the other Scoobies and the Potentials abandoned her, and criticized them for treating Buffy with so little respect after all she had done for them. He even brawled briefly with Slayer Faith Lehane leaving to find Buffy. He tracked her down in a house that had been left abandoned when its owner fled Sunnydale. The last time they were in a dilapidated house together they began a violent physical relationship, but this time, they remained steadfast in their ambitions. Spike and Buffy achieved a new level of trust in each other, and spent three nights together. During the first night, Spike bowed down to Buffy and told her that she was the only thing in his past one-hundred years that he had ever been sure about, and told her she was "the one" (paralleling both his love for her and her state as the true chosen one). Buffy had Spike hold her while they fell asleep, a night he would later declare as the best of his life. His words had also restored the depressed Buffy's self confidence, and allowed her to find the strength to continue fighting. She successfully won back her role as leader of the army when Faith accidentally led the Potentials into a near-fatal trap. Spike returned with her.

When Angel returned to Sunnydale to help with the battle against the First, Buffy gave him a welcome kiss for saving her from Caleb; Spike witnessed this from a distance, and overheard Angel tell Buffy about the magical properties of a mystical amulet that was to be worn by a "Champion" during the final fight. After an argument with Angel, Buffy declared to him that Spike was "in her heart" whether he liked it or not, and sent him back to Los Angeles. Later, Spike was seen hitting a punching bag with a self-drawn picture of Angel on it. When Buffy came to see him Spike told her what he had seen, and proclaimed that he wanted to wear the amulet, as it was meant for a being who possessed a soul, but was more than human (thus, an ensouled vampire). Buffy made it very clear that the amulet was meant only to worn by a true "Champion" before handing it to Spike, wordlessly declaring her belief in him. They slept in each others' arms again during that second night, and unknown to him, Buffy left an encounter with the First inspired by the idea to abolish the entire Slayer line by creating an army of Slayers.

Buffy and Spike spend one last night together in her basement, though it is never revealed what occurred between them. The following day, Spike, wearing the amulet, fought alongside Buffy, Faith and the newly awakened Slayers against the First Evil's army of Turok-Han. In the midst of battle, the amulet suddenly activated and began emitting a channel of mystical sunlight through his body. The sunlight destroyed all of the Turok-Han, and collapsed the cavern containing the Hellmouth, sealing it and creating a crater that swallowed up the entire town of Sunnydale. Buffy went to him and pled that he accompany her to the surface, telling him that he had done more than enough, but Spike remained true to his desire to die for "love, honor and all the right reasons". He told her that he could feel his soul within him, and Buffy, devastated but accepting of his resolve, locked fingers with him in order to feel it too. She told him that she loved him (thus realizing the prophetic Cassie Newton's statement). Spike replied to Buffy, "No you don't, but thanks for saying it," in disbelief. He forced Buffy to leave his side then, and was slowly incinerated by the sunlight. As he burned and crumbled to dust, Spike reveled in the destruction before him, glad to be able to see the fight to its end. He died in the Hellmouth and saved the world, becoming a true Champion of The Powers That Be, and more importantly, Buffy's hero.

Los Angeles
Spike appeared in Los Angeles 19 days after his apparent death in Sunnydale. The amulet he'd worn during the battle against the First had mysteriously been mailed to Wolfram & Hart in a parcel. When Angel opened the package, the amulet fell out and Spike materialized from a cloud of dust. Confused and afraid, he immediately attempted to attack Angel, but found that he could no longer touch anything, and had become incorporeal. At first, he complained about being brought back, stating dramatically, "Can't a man die in peace without some high almighty deciding it's not his time?" He intended to leave Los Angeles and travel to Europe to reunite with Buffy, who was gathering Slayers there, but discovered that he was mystically bound to the city and was unable to leave its limits. He opted to stay at Wolfram & Hart in order to find a way to regain his body, and to haunt Angel, whom he still hated with fervency.

Spike's connection to the human world was unstable, and caused him to dematerialize at random, increasingly frequent intervals. As his disappearances became more regular, a terrified Spike confided in the Winifred Burkle that every time he vanished he was being transported to Hell. He feared that despite his status as a Champion, he would still be damned for all eternity for his past sins. He asked Fred to save him, and she promised to find a way to make him corporeal again. It was later discovered that Spike's disappearances were being caused by Matthias Pavayne, a ghost who toyed with the many souls trapped in Wolfram & Hart in order to delay his own sentence to Hell. Although Fred successfully created a machine to recorporealize Spike, when Spike was forced to choose between his body and Fred's life, he faithfully threw away his opportunity to save her life. Despite Angel's continued lack of confidence in Spike, Fred later told him that she believed him "worth saving." Spike then told Fred that his battle with Pavayne did not end completely in vain, as he discovered that he could touch objects if he concentrated, thus making him able to assist in fighting without being corporeal.

Just as Spike began to grow accustomed to his ghostly nature, a mysterious package arrived for him in the mail; upon opening it, a flash of light restored his body. Chaos concurrently erupted at Wolfram & Hart. Eve soon arrived with an addition to the Shanshu Prophecy that stated that the existence of two corporeal ensouled vampires would complicate the outcome of the prophecy, and perhaps even destroy the fabric of reality. She told Angel and Spike that an extended translation of the text revealed that, in order to restore balance, the two must compete to drink from the Cup of Perpetual Torment. The winner would be bestowed with great responsibilities and pain before ultimately having his past washed, allowing him to live as a human again. Spike, who desperately wanted to defeat Angel, traveled to the abandoned Nevadan opera house where the Cup was said to be kept. Upon his arrival, Angel engaged him in battle for the Cup. The two vampires fought intensely with fists and fangs, but in the end, the deep roots of their century-old rivalry proved far more important to the battle's outcome. In anger, Spike threw Angel against a pile of crucifixes, and told him that in the end, he was still a monster. Angel countered by saying that Spike was no different, but Spike denied any similarities between them, and said: "You had a soul forced on you. As a curse. Make you suffer for all the horrible things you've done. Me, I fought for my soul, went through the demon trials, almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting. Because I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny." Their battle culminated with Spike revealing his resentment toward Angel for making him the monster he became; he justified that although Drusilla had been the one to turn him, it had been Angelus's influence that had truly destroyed William Pratt and allowed Spike's more savage persona to develop. In the end, Spike defeated Angel for the very first time in their long history. Angel later noted that Spike had possessed a far greater desire for the Cup, and was able to overcome Angel's superior strength. Spike succeeded in drinking from the Cup, but the prophecy turned out to be a sham. The liquid in the Cup was merely Mountain Dew.

Although Spike was was now a corporeal vampire again, and was no longer bound to Los Angeles, he chose not to go to Europe in search of Buffy. He revealed that he wanted her to remember him as a hero who died to save the world, and later mentioned to Andrew Wells that it would be foolish of him to see her again so soon. He mockingly simulated a phone call between him and Buffy, stating: "Hello, Buffy, it's Spike. I didn't burn up like you thought I did. How are things?" Angel's old enemy Lindsey McDonald subsequently chose to take advantage of Spike's desire to do good by pretending to be the late half-demon Doyle and persuading him that he is destined, like Angel before him, to "help the helpless." Alienated by Angel's corporate, bureaucratic approach to fighting evil, Spike willingly stepped into his shoes as a hero. While in business, he took on Dana, a psychotic Slayer who had escaped from a mental institution. As a Slayer, Dana was burdened by dreams and memories that were not her own, and mistakenly believed Spike to have killed her family (she was confusing other Slayers' memories with her own). She captured and drugged Spike, and cut off his hands. The experience caused Spike to more deeply examine the nature of the evil within him; he later told Angel about Dana's misconception that he had murdered her family, and said: "And I'm supposed to do, what, complain, 'cause hers wasn't one of the hundreds of families I did kill?" Spike expressed to Angel that there was little hope for Dana, who had become a monster like them, but Angel responded that she was an innocent victim. Spike then pointed out that he and Angel were innocent victims too, "once upon a time." Spike's hands were later reattached at Wolfram & Hart, after which he was instructed to play video games for physical therapy, including Donkey Kong and Crash Bandicoot.

Spike and the gang eventually learned that "Doyle" was actually Lindsey, and that they had been manipulated. Spike's relationship with Angel became even more acrimonious after the showdown with Lindsey, and Angel contemplated the possibility of Spike leaving Los Angeles after a petty argument over whether cavemen or astronauts would win in a fight. When Fred became infected with the essence of the Old One, Illyria, Spike worked alongside Angel and the others to find a cure. Upon their failure, he mourned Fred's death, and decided to stay in L.A. because Fred would have wanted him to. He officially joins Team Angel in her honor. Spike was then put in charge of "testing" the newly-awakened Illyria's abilities, which generally involved fighting with her and recording details on a clipboard. The two develop a unique bond, though Illyria actually seemed to think of Spike as her "pet." Spike and Angel also made it clear that although they would always dislike each other as a result of their  history and their rivalry over Buffy Summers, they proved a highly effective fighting team. Their relationship greatly improves after Spike officially joins Angel's crew.

At some point, Spike was tricked into admitting himself to the Mosaic Wellness Center, a rehabilitation clinic where supernatural beings could be cured of their demonic nature, by the parents of one of Spike's victims; in reality, Mosaic was a maximum security prison from which inmates were unable to leave. As it turned out, Spike had a reputation as a "boogeyman" at Mosaic, with inmates telling stories about him to scare each other. During his time in Mosaic, Spike befriended Beck, a pyrokinetic teenager, and Betta George, a telepathic fish; this friendship nearly killed Beck when the vampire Wiseau stabbed her with a stake as a message to Spike. Spike eventually rebelled against Mosaic's oppressive regime and, along with Beck and George, transformed Mosaic into an actual sanctuary for the supernatural.

Spike was the first to vote for Angel's plan to wound the Senior Partners by taking out the Circle of the Black Thorn and going out in a blaze of glory. Before Angel's team entered what could very well have been their final battle, Angel gave them the day off, and told them to do whatever they wanted. Spike chose to return to his mortal roots as a frustrated poet, and went to an open mic poetry slam at a bar, where he drank copious amounts of alcohol to gather "Dutch courage" before reciting the completed version of a poem he wrote before his siring. The poem read as follows:

My soul is wrapped in harsh repose

Midnight decends in raven coloured clothes

''But soft, behold! A sunlight beam''

Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam

My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in it,

Inspired by your beauty effulgent.

After he finished reading, Spike received tumultuous applause from the audience, and appeared very pleased that his poetry was finally acknowledged. The following day, he single-handedly rescued an infant and destroyed the Fell Brethren, and then joined Angel, Illyria, and a badly-wounded Charles Gunn in the alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, where the four survivors prepared to incur the apocalyptic wrath of the Senior Partners, as a way of going out in a blaze of glory. Spike however, survived the battle.

Becoming the Lord of Beverly Hills
After the Fall of Los Angeles, Spike and Illyria separated from Angel and began watching over a group of human and demon survivors. One such civilian, Jeremy Johns, became Spike's right hand man. Illyria soon began randomly changing back into Fred, and Spike was forced to urge her to remain as Illyria in order to protect her. He briefly considered the prospect that he had developed feelings for Fred.

While wandering the city, Spike encountered a dragon, and considered killing it until it telepathically told him that he should mount it. The dragon took Spike to the ruins of Wolfram & Hart, where he found a figure suspended inside a field of energy, writing in pain. Meanwhile, in Spike's absence, the civilians were left at the mercy of a group of strange demon women. After leaving the law firm, he encountered one of the women, and commandeered her truck in order to rescue the hostages. He tried to run down the leader of the group, who threw Illyria, who had transformed into Fred once more, into the front of the truck; she reverted to Illyria on impact. Together, Spike and Illyria meleed with the demon women; their leader used a life-draining magic on the hostages to turn them into zombies, and knocked Illyria and Spike unconscious. Spike woke up in chains in a dark room filled with his then-zombified wards; the demon leader, who introduced herself as Non, told him she was keeping him alive for his connections. Spike remains chained in the dungeon for quite some time, where he was tortured and forced to live on rat blood. He kept himself entertained with daydreams, one of which involved him shopping in a supermarket with Fred. He was also approached by one of Non's lackeys, a spider-like girl named Spider, whom he had previously met when he took her truck. She kissed him while he was tied up, and according to Non, the two also had a short-lived sexual relationship.

Non attempted to bargain with Charles Gunn to return Spike to him; however, the newly turned Gunn beat her instead, leading her to decide to kill Spike, Illyria and their remaining survivors; her power was revealed during her fight with Gunn: she could absorb powers from humans by "feeding" on their energy. Non brought Illyria and Spike to be executed the following day; when Spider tried to intervene, she was easily able to conclude that Spide had betrayed her because she could smell Spike all over her. Non then attempted to behead Illyria– Spike couldn't watch– but the axe shattered on impact with her skin. Illyria broke free and started killing members Non's army. As the battle broke out, Illyria remarked to Spike that he had slept with Spider. As he tried to explain, she forcefully kissed him. Non then prepared to kill the last human hostage but Angel's son, Connor, appeared suddenly and stopped her. Spike initially goaded Connor for talking too much in battle, but "Angel Jr", as Spike called him, proved a useful warrior in the battle against Non. In the midst of the fight, Non attempted to feed on Connor, but realized that because he was the child of two vampires and thus couldn't. Spike then discovered that Non's Sadecki demon, Noelle, was controlling her flock of female warriers; he instructed that Illyria kill it. During her confrontation with the demon, she once more reverted between Fred and Illyria, but after much encouragement was able to gather herself and kill the Sadecki. The girls were free, and realizing that his plan had worked, Spike brutally attacked Non. After taking a beating from Spike, Non began to use Jeremy to regain some of her power. Illyria realized this and horrified Spike by mercillessly killing Jeremy; though upset, Spike took advantage of the situation to kill Non.

Spike then became the lord of Beverly Hills. Illyria and several members of Non's army, Spider included, joined him. Spike partly chose to keep the girls with him in hopes that they would cause Illyria to remain on guard, thus making sure she wouldn't transform into Fred so often. He buried Jeremy's body, and told the other lords of Los Angeles to stay away from him. Later, Spike and Connor met up again and began their crusade to save the remaining humans in Los Angeles.

Reuniting with Angel
Spike eventually adjusted to Los Angeles' new status as a literal hell on Earth. He and Illyria both served together as demon Lords of Beverly hills, during which time it appeared as though both of them had returned to their evil roots. It was eventually revealed that their position was a facade; Spike and Illyria were secretly rescuing humans and benevolent demons and evacuating them into the care of Connor, Nina Ash, and Gwen Raiden. Spike was given the opportunity to return to the side of evil again, but as always he remained loyal to the good fight, and helped Angel to bring down the other Lords' champions. Spike rallied with the rest of the gang against the machinations of Charles Gunn, who had unfortunately become a soulless vampire, and was unknowinginly working under visions from the Senior Partners. He also struggled to control Illyria's increasinly unstable powers in the hell dimension; she had continued to periodically revert to Fred's form and gentle personality, leaving Spike with the duty of protecting her.

During Gunn's attack on the Hyperion Hotel, Spike fought three of Gunn's enslaved Slayers, but was unable to defeat them all at once and was staked; however, Illyria's manipulation of time saved him. After Gunn managed to unleash Illyria's truest form by killing Illyria's mental connections to Fred's personality, a gravely-wounded, now-human Angel, Connor and Spike were the only surviving members of the team. After Illyria was defeated and Connor was killed by Gunn, Angel went on a rampage and began killing everything in sight. Spike prevented the others from interfering in his grief, stating that they had to let him get it out of his system. As Angel realized what needed to be done for them to return Los Angeles to Earth, Spike was asked by Wesley to watch over Illyria, who's shell still contained essences of Fred. After time was reset to before the Fall, Spike kept his distance from Illyria, but finally made peace with Angel after more than a century of hating him.

Back to Earth
In the non-official comics following Los Angeles' return to Earth, Spike maintained a loosley-affiliated relationship with the newly-reopened Angel Investigations, often collaborating with Angel and his assiciates while maintaining some degree of independence. At the premiere of Last Angel in Hell&mdash; a film based on Los Angeles' time in hell, Spike noted that his movie counterpart, who was a woman, was at least attractive.&mdash;temporarily transformed into a version of Angel at a comic book convention as a result of a spell, and attempted to implement a plan to coordinate the "good" costumes against the "bad" but lacking Angel's tactical mentality. After Angel's disappearance&mdash;during which Connor took charge of Angel Investigations&mdash;Spike lost his leg while fighting alongside Gunn in an alley (Although they are able to restore his leg with various healing spells and a supply of blood), his thoughts revealed that he didn't trust Gunn due to his actions as a vampire. Having learned that an organization was claiming that Angel had begun to aid them in providing immortality to their clients, the first subject being an actress who went on to attack a talk show host, Spike suggested that he seduce the actress to learn where Angel was. Following James' betrayal of the group, Spike attempted to contact movie writers to write a film about him in order to increase his image in comparison to Angel's current fame. However, his image suffered drastic upheaval when Liss&mdash;a soul-eating demon James had summoned to eliminate Spike and Angel&mdash;attacked Angel Investigations, only to angrily proclaim that Spike did not have a soul.

After Spike and Illyria managed to subdue Liss, he discussed the possibility that he may indeed be soulless again with Angel. Though Spike admitted to having been feeling "off his game" as of late, he was still adamant that he was on A.I.'s side. Though Angel expressed a belief that Spike may be going insane again as he had when he was first ensouled, he nonetheless agreed to allow Spike to stay. While Angel and Illyria searched for the recently-abducted Connor, Laura Kay Weathermill, a former Watcher and member of the new Angel Investigations, attempted to deduce what had happened to Spike, eventually concluding that he had been infected by a rare spiritual parasite during his "ghost" phase that was now "feeding" on his soul&mdash;possibly explaining some of his recently morally ambiguous actions such as sleeping with vampires. As such, Liss had not have registered his soul's presence as the parasite was "corrupting'" it; Laura subsequently removed the parasite. Despite being cured of the "soul flu," Spike decided to take a leave of absence to figure out who he really was without trying to beat Angel, realizing that, even without the "soul flu," he had been trying to make up prophecies about himself simply to escape Angel's shadow, with Angel's complete understanding of his situation.

Las Vegas
Spike relocated to Las Vegas with his associates, the telepathic fish Betta George and pyrokinetic Beck, where he attempted to create "Team Spike." Spike learned about Wolfram & Hart's presence in the city, but his attempts to stop them were hampered by a confrontation with Jeremy, who was possessed by the liason to the Senior Partners in Las Vegas, and a man called John. John had become romantically involved with Spike's sire and ex-lover Drusilla, and was convinced that Spike had "stolen" his soul. He was thrown from a window, and rescued by Groosalug and his dragon. After John took Beck hostage, he attempted to extract Spike's soul with a ritual, but Spike remained good even without his soul due to the changes he had already undergone in his time with Buffy and the Scoobies. Although a visiting Willow eventually offered to restore Spike's soul, Spike instead had her give it to Drusilla in the hopes of redeeming her. When she killed John, he resolved that she was too fargone, and that her fragile mind could never handle the weight of the evil she had committed throughout her life. He chose to take his soul back. Spike later met Lilah Morgan, who had been sent to assess the Las Vegas branch of Wolfram & Hart. She executed all of its members for their failure to either recruit or eliminate Spike, who revealed that the company was about to experience an elaborate unheavel and that the Senior Partners were trying to escape. Spike then took command of a ship that Wolfram & Hart had been preparing for an escape, a pod-like machine piloted by a crew of insect-like beings, and decided to follow the Senior Partners in order to figure out why they were running.

Twilight Crisis
"You wanna put these demons down and end this "Twilight" crap once and for all? You talk to me."

- Spike.

Spike returned from a different dimension with his ship and crew after discovering why the Senior Partners fled this dimension. After having been out of action for a long time, Spike took to a coffee shop in London when he got up to speed on the new anti-Slayer, pro-vampire world due to Harmony exposing Slayers and vampires. Spike was quick to get up to speed with rumors of "Twilight," the leader of an anti-Slayer cabal, and was quick to ascertain that Twilight was, in fact, Angel. During this time, he chased leads and pulled together a cogent theory of the prophecy which Buffy and Angel both pertain to, and later sought out Buffy and her friends, arriving at the climax of their confrontation with Twilight, appearing to the Scooby Gang as they and Angel fought off a mass of extra-dimensional demons, claiming that he alone could stop the current crisis as reality's "evolution" was thwarted by Buffy rejecting her role.

Reunited, Buffy finally thanked Spike for destroying the Turok-Han and closing the Hellmouth and also revealed that she had known he was still alive for a time, but merely could not find the time to get in contact with him. Spike explained the nature of the prophecy she was party to, and informed her that the Seed of Wonder (the source of magic and "heart of the world") currently resided in Sunnydale and had the power to end all of the chaos of Twilight. Though Buffy still had romantic feelings for Spike, she did not give in to them. Together, they delved into the heart of the Hellmouth where they found the Seed and its protector, the Master. When Angel returned, possessed once more by the Twilight entity, he attempted to kill Spike, forcing Spike to retreat to his ship and recover from the sunlight. From there, he watched as Willow&mdash;in full connection to the Earth through the Seed&mdash;led a charge against the military and new dimension demons, and then witnessed magic suddenly disappear from the world as a result of Buffy destroying the Seed. Spike witnessed demons disappearing into the sky, and immediately gave chase to one that escaped.

San Francisco
"I told you. Something's coming. Not human, and not nice. I don't know if it's 'cause of you destroying the seed."

- Spike warns Buffy of approaching danger.

Four months after Buffy shattered the Seed of Wonder in the Sunnydale crater, Spike, having relocated to San Francisco with the remaining Scoobies, visited Buffy on the fire escape of Dawn and Xander's apartment. He tried to warn her that he had heard rumors about a new evil tracking her, but their conversation quickly turned to the destruction of the Seed. Spike expressed that, unlike Willow, he supported her decision, and empathetically reminded her that she had done right by her companions in the end. As he tried to cheer her up, she unexpectedly started to cry, and quickly went back inside the apartment so Spike wouldn't be witness to her growing insecurity.

As the gang settled down in San Francisco, Spike chose to remain there to give Buffy whatever support he could. He was a welcomed guest at her housewarming party, where he and Buffy's new roommate, Tumble, drunkenly expressed their desire to start a band called A Dirigible Run By Insects. As always, he followed Buffy on her nightly patrols, and continued to warn her about the reports of approaching danger. When she was mistakenly held responsible for a string of murders by the San Francisco Police Department, Spike found her atop a skyscraper and once more attempted to console her. She admitted to him that she wished the Seed's destruction would have resulted in the demise of all vampires, but Spike blatantly reminded her that if that were the case, he would be dead. He promised her that he would find out who was looking for her. Following a lead, he took a boat to Alcatraz island in search of the demon whom he'd been told was seeking to kill her. There, he encountered Eldre Koh, a demon who had been freed from imprisonment when the Seed was shattered. He expressed his desire to serve Buffy rather than kill her, and although Spike didn't believe him at first, Koh quickly disclosed the true threat: the mysterious "Siphon", a prophesied being with the power to drain mystical and demonic energy from anything he touches.

Joined by Koh, Spike returned to the mainland to save Buffy, who was under attack by Severin, the Siphon. Koh asked him why he, a vampire, would have such a strong desire to help a Slayer, which caused Spike to relay his and Buffy's store without reluctance. When Koh deduced that he was still in love with Buffy, Spike admitted that after everything she had been through, she deserved someone "normal."

As soon as they reached the harbor, Spike and Koh ran ashore to an abandoned warehouse surrounded by police cruisers. Inside, they found Robert Dowling, an detective for the SFPD. Though Dowling initially pointed his gun at Spike and Koh, they quickly realized they were on the same team, and went to help Buffy. Spike caught Severin in the midst of draining Buffy's powers; when he and Koh tried to intervene, Koh was knocked unconscious by an energy blast, and Spike was caught by Severin, who began to siphon the demonic energy from his body. They were all saved by Detective Dowling, who shot Severin before he could completely drain them. After the battle had subsided and Buffy was being interrogated by Dowling, Koh told Spike that Buffy would want to talk to him for risking his life for her; Spike, however, chose to keep his distance.

A few nights later, Detective Dowling had Spike meet him in order to learn the basics of demon hunting. As they searched the streets for zompires, Dowling got Spike to explain his complicated relationship with Buffy in a succinct way. Spike encouraged Dowling to pursue her romantically if he was interested, reiterating once more that he would like nothing more than to see her with someone normal like Dowling. Dowling, however, saw through Spike's ruse and encouraged him to tell Buffy how he felt before it was too late. After giving Dowling a quick run-down, Spike received a text from Buffy asking him to meet her at her apartment. There, he found her dangling her feet in a pool, looking rather distressed. As Dowling had suggested, he announced that he had something to tell her, but she interrupted before he could confess his feelings by revealing her assumed pregnancy. She admitted that she had considered running away with him to raise the baby, but that she had since come to accept that she wasn't ready to carry such a burden. Spike was supportive of her decision to have an abortion, and agreed to accompany her to the procedure. He made arrangements for her, and in the meantime she moved briefly into his ship. As she unpacked her things he asked her if she had meant what she'd said about running away with him and the baby. She confirmed her prior statement, but told him that it never would have worked because he epitomized a part of the world she would be trying to escape. Frustrated and disappointed, Spike stormed out of her room complaining about how she only came to him when she was in a bind. He received a call from Dowling in the midst of walking away. He agreed to help the officer, but when Buffy tried to accompany him he took on a more caring air and told her that she couldn't play Slayer in such a fragile state. He brought his ship to the park where Dowling was engaging a hoard of zompires in battle, and began fighting them off. Buffy, who had gone to save Dowling despite Spike's wishes, helped Spike to defeat the last of the zompires and then abruptly asked him if he was still in love with her. He admitted to her without hesitance that he was, but also expressed his reluctance to continue acting as her "dark place." He tried to assure her that he could give her the normal life she deserved, but just as he leaned forward (presumably to kiss her), her arm was torn off by a zompire, and she was revealed to be a robot.

After moving past the initial shock of discovering Buffy was a robot, both he and Buffy went to confront Andrew, who revealed that he had swapped Buffy's mind from her real body into the body of a robot in an attempt to protect her from impending danger. He had installed food consumption in the robot, but had forgotten to add a menstrual cycle; the robot had given a false positive on the pregnancy test. Buffy, Spike and Andrew then traveled to the suburban house where Buffy's real body had been living with no memory of her identity as the Slayer, only to discover that she had been kidnapped by the rogue Slayer Simone. They tracked the robot to Simone's hideout, and together stormed its front in order to reclaim Buffy's body. While Buffy fought her body, Spike confronted Simone with the help of his bugs. Though she shot him repeatedly and killed several of his insects, he was able to deter her long enough for Buffy to convince her robot-minded body to abandon Simone and her illogical plot. Simone fled during the commotion.

After the robot business had been dealt with, Spike told Buffy that he needed to take a break from San Francisco. He confessed that he didn't want to return to lurking around the edge of her life as he always had in the past. Though Buffy tried to convince him to stay and fight with her, he remained insistent in his decision. He assured her that he loved her, but didn't fail to acknowledge that he was never sure where her heart was; once more, he told her that he believed in her and that he would always have her back, and then left the city on his ship. "I love you. You know this. But I can't get jerked around no more. I'm not even saying that I blame you. I can never tell for sure where your heart's at, so I'm not going to stand here under a romantic, albeit deadly sunset. I believe in you, Buffy. And I know you'll do right. That's how I have your back."

- Spike to Buffy before he leaves

Finding Himself
"I thought a soul would free a fellow. It doesn't. It ties you to a place, to people, in a way chains never could."

- Spike

Wanting to come to terms with himself, Spike left San Francisco and the Slayer residing there behind and underwent an interal of highly uncharacteristic brooding. He drowned his sorrows in alcohol, and sat alone in the dark for prolonged period of time. He even traveled to the literal "dark side" of the moon on his ship. His bugs began to worry that in such a stae, he was unfit to be their master, and repeatedly tried to cheer him up. They decided that he had been spending too much time in the dark, and opted to bring him into the solarium he had built to be Buffy's "light place", where they had set up an artificial beach inspired by the pictures from a magazine. They also replaced the solarium skylights with "necrotempered" glass that blocked the rays dangerous to vampires, allowing Spike to sit in the sunlight without being harmed. He and his bugs reflected on the philosophies of "real" and "fake", and decided that human beings fell for artificial ideals because they wanted to. As he related this to his own life, the ship was suddenly attacked by a frog-like demon. He managed to cut it with a broken bottle, but was subsequently overcome and captured by a group of demons that had been left stranded on the moon after attempting to flee the Sunnydale crater on the back of a lunar demon. They threatened him to bring them back to the crater to search for shards of the Seed of Wonder. Spike managed to convince them that he would be a valuable asset to them, considering he knew the location of the Seed chamber. Once there, he led them to the place where the Seed had been situated, but upon discovering the shards were gone, he declared that someone had gotten there first. He engaged the demons in battle once more, and was aided by a female demon named Morgan, who explained that she had come to the crater in search of a shard to return to her home dimension. They were attacked by Angel's enemies, Pearl and Nash, who were also searching for the remaining shards of the Seed.

A fight between Spike and the siblings briefly broke out, but Spike and Morgan managed to escape with the help of Sebastian and the other bugs. When the two began to talk, she elaborated about wanting to find her way back to her homeland, and revealed that she was a succubus, but a "classier one", better known as a "higher-up courtesan demon." Still, she remained evasive and suspicious; her behavior did not go unnotced by the bugs, and to a certain extent, Spike. Despite her elisive conduct, he agreed to help her and the two shared some sort of flirtatious, intimate moment. He admitted to her that he felt like nobody's expectation of a hero, and that he wasn't as confident as he had been in the past (inderectly referring to his soulless self). Sebastian began to fear that his leader was falling for Morgan's feminine charms.

Spike and Morgan traveled to her home, and unknown Hellmouth. On the way there, the two talked in the solarium. She started up a conversation with him, seemingly friendly and supportive. She quickly began to question him about Buffy, and attempted to comfort him while he wallowed in his lovesick sorrows. She was interrupted when they reached Easter Island, where the Hellmouth was situated. She once more attempted to make sexual advances toward him. Spike rejected her, and came to understand why Buffy had rejcted his offer to come with him on his ship; he realized that leaving her had been unfair. Still, Morgan refused to give up, and in a moment of weakness, Spike kissed her; however, he pulled away quickly, and rejected her once again, claiming that any relationship they shared wouldn't be "real." He went on to describe his love for Buffy, with whom he shared something "genuine." Furious, Morgan slapped him and revealed her true motives; she had had the shard with her the whole time. Consequently, Spike fought with her. The bugs almost succeeded in capturing her, but she managed to escape. "Every perfect second of every perfect day would just be a reminder that it wasn't ... real. With Buffy, it was up and down and frustrating and confusing, but real. I know it's sick in the head ... but part of me cherishes every moment I've spent miserable over her."

- Spike to Morgan

By the time Spike managed to catch up with Morgan, she was already beginning the ritual to open the Hellmouth. The incantations she performed awakened the Morai on Easter Island, and the statues attacked Spike and his crew. However, much to his surprise, they were not controlled by Morgan, and attacked them both. The bugs attempted to fight the Morai, but were knocked out of the sky. Spike and Morgan split up. In no time, the ship became consumed with fire and they were forced to abandon it. Morgan saved Spike, while Sebastian's life was taken; the other bugs managed to survive by using escape pods. The remaining members of Spike's bug crew decided to remain on Easter Island, and Morgan departed as well. Spike briefly mourned the loss of his ship before uncertainly wondering what he would do next. Before he could make a decision, he received an unexpected phone call from Angel, who reluctantly requested his help in London. Spike, welcoming a distraction from his constant thoughts about Buffy, agreed to meet Angel and arrived at Alasdair Coames' place in London to discuss a strategy to defeat Eyghon the Sleepwalker. Spike was vital to the operation because he would likely not be controlled by Eyghon. After some common competition and petty bickering with Angel, Eyghon and his zombies attacked. Angel and Spike worked together in an attempt to capture and defeat the demon. They came very close to apprehending him, but Eyghon overcame the demon within Spike and managed to possess him. While Eyghon failed to corrupt Angel because of the three spirits inside of him (Giles, Angelus and himself), Giles briefly dominated and managed to kill Eyghon, releasing his control over the zombies. Having regained his composure, Spike, along with Faith, noticed that Angel had become completely erratic with multiple beings with him. With the final piece of Giles's soul, Spike and Faith were forced to come up with a new plan, considering Angel was the only person who had any clue how to restore Giles' body.

Due to Angel's temporary insanity, Faith decided to retrieve a magical item called an Essuary, one that would extract Giles' soul from him and store it inside until it's needed but to do that, they had to fight soul-sucking demons called Enders. Spike seemed nervous, suggesting that they should extract the soul another way and let him be in peace only to have Faith bluntly turn it down. Along with Faith, Spike decided to travel to the Enders' nest in Kensal Green Cemetery, where they subsequently saved a human from having her soul taken. As they began to fight, he almost had his soul taken (something he had been fearing) only to quickly kill him before it's possible. After eliminating some Enders demons, the two discuss their love lives. Spike expressed a physical interest in her and attempted to make a pass at her only to have Faith shockingly reject him under the pretenses of not being a rebound. When she soon took up the opportunity to compare to him to Angel, he habitually denied it only for Faith to enforce it by saying they both fell in love with Buffy and chose to leave her despite their intense love for her, a point Spike reluctantly agreed with. He revealed to her that he was still in love with Buffy and if he said otherwise, he'd be lying to himself. Faith showed support, giving him some advice on getting over Buffy before gathering the Essuary and returning to Angel.

Back at the apartment, Spike made a failed attempt to flirt with Sophie and Lavinia,he began drinking alcohol again until he was told to go watch over Angel in the basement. There, he ranted to a deranged Angel about his own insecurities about his difficult relationship with Buffy. In the process, he admitted that he envied Angel for being able to move on from Buffy, meet new friends and be with other women. Much to his surprise, Angel responded coherently that he hadn't moved on from Buffy either. Embaressed that he had confessed so much to Angel, Spike made an attempt to brush off is words. In gratitude for helping him, Angel texted Spike Harmony's phone number. The following day, Angel and Faith witnessed him exiting the bathroom shower with Harmony, and Faith joked that he was using her as a rebound.

"This is entirely your fault, you know. Look at me, I have a soul now. I brood. I flagellate myself. I have oh, so many feelings. I'm worthy of the Slayer. And of course, it works for you. It works like a bloody charm. So like a right wanker, I put myself through unimaginable agony... by choice, unlike some people in this room. I win my soul back. So I won't be a monster anymore. Never asking if perhaps a monster was what she wanted."

- Spike to Angel

Slayers
"Death is your art. You make it with your hands day after day. That final gasp, that look of peace. And part of you is desperate to know: What's it like? Where does it lead you? And now you see, that's the secret. Not the punch you didn't throw or the kicks you didn't land. She really wanted it. Every Slayer has a death Wish. Even you."

- Spike to Buffy

Spike's reputation is perhaps most unique because he has fought and killed two Slayers in his lifetime. He was once very proud of his conquests, and admitted to Buffy that he was able to overcome the Slayers because he perceived their desire to be free of their burden. He believed that all Slayers possessed an obsession with death, Buffy included. Ironically, Spike seemed to have some sort of obsession with Slayers. He did not fear them as other vampires did, but sought them out with the sole intention of fighting them to the death. He told Buffy how he first learned about the Slayer from Angelus, who spoke of her in an attempt to scare Spike. Spike, however, became haunted by the thought of fighting Slayers, and pursued them. His first victim was Xin Rong, a Slayer active in China during the Boxer Rebellion. She managed to cut him above his left eye with her sword, giving Spike his trademark scar. He overpowered her and fed on her special blood, which he revealed is an aphrodisiac to vampires. Later, in the 1970's, he tracked down Nikki Wood in New York City. They had two heated battles, the second of which resulted in her death by having her neck snapped. Spike stripped her body of her leather duster, which he wore from then on as a symbol of victory.

Before joining Buffy and her friends in Sunnydale and fighting to regain his soul, Spike attempted many times to make Buffy his third victim. His fixation with the Slayer eventually evolved into a perverse obsession with Buffy herself, and later, genuine love. His devotion to her has become a driving motivation for him and his actions. After gaining a soul, Spike's perspectives have also changed dramatically. He no longer has any desire to kill Slayers, a prime example being Dana, a Slayer he encountered during his time with Angel Investigations. Also, he had previously met the estranged son of the second Slayer he killed while preparing for the fight against the First Evil in Sunnydale. When confronted by a grownup Robin Wood, Spike did not apologize for murdering his mother, but threatened him for his pointless vendetta; the monster that killed Xin Rong and Nikki Wood ceased to exist when Spike regained his soul. Spike no longer wears Nikki Wood's coat, but an identical one he received from the Italian Branch of Wolfram & Hart.

Personality
Spike can be seen as something of a paradox amongst vampires; he exhibits many characteristics that separate him from his soulless brethren, and he very often challenges his kinds' supposed emotional and physical limitations. He embraces certain elements of humanity, most notably love, and is exceptionally loyal. Both love and loyalty would be considered too "human" to other vampires, and would therefore be offensive. If anything, Spike is clear evidence that a being need not have a soul to develop a moral compass. With or without one, he displays strong senses of honor and devotion: he doted on Drusilla for over a century, kept his promise to Buffy to leave Sunnydale after helping her to defeat Angelus, left anonymous flowers to show his respect for Joyce Summers after her death, endured intense torture at the hands of Glorificus in order to protect Dawn, continued to aid the Scooby Gang even after Buffy's death, assisted Willow and Tara to raise Dawn, chose to remain in Los Angeles with Angel's crew after Fred Burkle's death because he knew she would have wanted him to and agreed to accompany Buffy to accompany Buffy to the abbortion clinic when she believed herself pregnant.

Spike has very romantic convictions where love is concerned. He seems to believe strongly in monogamy, as he was devastated every time Drusilla cheated on him (whether with Angelus, the Immortal or other various demons), and sunk into states of drunken depression. Spike is a "fool for love" in every poetic sense of the term; his actions, whether good or evil, were– and still are– most often motivated by his deep affections for either Drusilla or Buffy. He has even called himself "love's bitch" on several occasions, and has been shown in states of self-consuming obsession over both women. Simply put, his loyalties lie in the same place as his passions, and unlike Angelus or Angel he does not enjoy philosophizing about "good" and "evil." He knows himself to be an ambiguous hero at best, and does not try to defend his actions as a vampire.

"But, uh, for a demon I never did think that much about the nature of evil. No. I just threw myself in. Thought it was a party. I liked the rush, I liked the crunch. Never did look back at the victims."

- Spike

One of Spike's most notable traits is his lust for violence and his love of brawling. Shortly after his siring, he became quite the thrill-seeker, but unlike Angelus, he liked to engage himself in life-and-death battles, and became obsessed with fighting Slayers as a result. He has noted that he finds the act of violence to be quite therapeutic: he once responded to a lackey's incompetence by snapping the neck of a hostage that he had considered "too old to eat" and expressed that he felt better afterward. Similarly, while pining for Drusilla, he observed that taking out his aggression by staking vampires "put things into perspective for him." After a prolonged period of time under the chip's influence, he was delighted to discover that he was able to fight demons without feeling the effects of the chip, and gladly began accompanying the Scooby Gang on patrol. This proved that he does not really care what he fights as long as he can fight. Even when Spike was protecting Dawn after Buffy's death, he watched demons destroying the town outside and remarked that it looked like fun. However, Spike has claimed that, contrary to Angelus, he never enjoyed inflicting pain on others; he simply reveled in the "rush" while ignoring the countless victims left behind.

Although Spike's love for mindless destruction might suggest otherwise, he is highly intelligent and educated. He has displayed excellent skills of insight and analysis, particularly in regards to relationships, and makes regular references to literary works. He was easily able to discern romantic undertones in Willow's "friendship" with Tara before her other companions, and he used his deep understanding of Riley Finn's anxieties about Buffy to undermine him. Ironically, he was often delusional about his own relationship with Drusilla, and refused to acknowledge her repeated acts of infidelity. As a human, he was a poet, and appeared to have a great knowledge of literature. When Giles parodied a line from Shakespeare's Henry V ("We few, we happy few..."), Spike was quick to respond with the continuation of the couplet: "... we band of buggered." He has referenced many other literary works, including Shakespeare's Othello, and due to his advanced age, he also appears to have a rich understanding of history. When the vengeful spirit of a native american attacked the Scoobies and Buffy proposed apologizing to him, Spike irritatedly proclaimed that their "peaceful" tactics were annoying him because they were preparing to express regret for something completely illogical; Caucasian settlers did steal the land of natives when they arrived, and did slaughter them. Spike wisely said to the Scoobies: "You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do. It's what Caesar did, and he's not goin' around saying, "'I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it.'" The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story."

Unlike Angel, Spike has an ability to differentiate between his human, soulless and ensouled selves. As a human, he was a romantic, ineffetual gentleman who was constantly mocked by his peers. He spent much of his time and energy trying to separate himself his contemporaries, whom he thought mediocre. As a vampire, he became a direct affront to his previous nature, and rebelled against European society with the Whirlwind. He refused to give up the romantic aspects of his personality, even after Angelus attempted to desensitize him emotionally by sleeping with Drusilla. William took on a new persona in order to maintain Drusilla's affections, and to anger Angelus, but remained a romantic at heart. He later told Angel that although Drusilla turned him, it was Angelus's influence over him that caused him to become a monster." Despite this, he does not seem to blame Angel for his past sins; he merely made the observation that Angelus was constantly trying to see his own "disgusting" traits in others, even if he had to bring them about himself through emotional torture and manipulation. While Spike changed throughout his years with and without Angelus, he remained as true to himself as he could without a soul. He eventually gained a swaggering posture, a love for punk and rock music and continued to live by his own unique moral compass. After winning back his soul, he was at first understandably confused and overwhelmed, but eventually came to examine the natures of "good" and "evil" in an entirely new way; while William Pratt and Spike are two undeniably different entities, ensouled "Spike" is a mixture of both: he possess William's human capacities for love, trust, friendship and loyalty, and Spike's confidence, maturity and outward persona.

Spike speaks with a strong lower class English accent and often uses slang; while suffering from amnesia, he labeled Giles a "nancy boy" for being English before realizing: "Bloody hell! Sodding, blimey, shagging, knickers, bollocks, oh God! I'm English!" Still, because he retains much of his human literary intellect, he routinely references poems, songs and books. Because of his history as a poet, he on occasion borders on poetic in his understanding of love (and life) as being driven by blood. He believes that blood is more powerful than any supernatural force because it separates the living from the dead. He also uses "dancing" as a metaphor for both fighting and love, and stated to Buffy that he could have "danced all night" with Slayer Nikki Wood. He also irritated her by stating that all they had ever done was "dance", and proclaiming that she wanted to "dance" with him." He has a habit of making pithy remarks and glib insults, even toward the few he does not view as antagonists. Among his favorite targets are Angel, Xander, Giles, and (to a lesser extent) Buffy. Whenever he is sickened, injured, frightened, angered, or overall disgusted, Spike typically shouts the phrase, "bloody hell," which is more or less his catchphrase.

After Buffy's resurrection, Spike remained with her friends and became a full-fledged member of the Scoobies, but was still a victim to his own murderous impulses due to his lack of a soul. Buffy believed him incapable of loving her because of this, and observed that he was nothing but a "soulless thing" despite all the good he had done for her, Dawn and the Scoobies. Her constant damaging remarks prompted him to attempt to attack an innocent woman with only slight hesitation when he believed his chip had stopped working. This, of course, reflects one of Spike's most detrimental personality traits: his intense sensitivity. William Pratt was sensitive as a human, and much of it has followed him into his unlife. After Drusilla cheated on him, he became comically depressed and even joked about suicide, when Buffy pushed him to the ground and told him he was "beneath her", he sobbed to himself, and even followed her to her house afterward in an abandoned attempt to kill her.

Of course, it was often Buffy's deprecation that caused him to want to be a better person. Before winning back his soul, he became obsessed with the prospects of being a monster or a man. While under Sweet's spell, he sang about Buffy: "First he'll kill her, then I'll save her", and: "No, first I'll save her, then I'll kill her." His erratic sentiments about his "good" actions caused him to separate himself into two portions emotionally, the monster and the man. He said to Buffy: "I know that I'm a monster, but you treat me like a man." While that seemed to be enough for him for a long time, he eventually realized that he wanted to be one or the other, not both. Following his attempted rape on Buffy, he fled her house, disgusted with himself. He reflected on his inability to be either monster or man: "What have I done? Why didn't I do it? What has she done to me?" It was this final event that caused Spike to leave Sunnydale in order to find himself. In essence, it was his desire to be a "man" that caused him to want to reclaim both his soul and Buffy's trust.

Spike often nicknames the people in his life, both as insults and as terms of endearment. He referrs to Dawn, for instance, as "Little Bit," "Nibblet," and "Platelet". He called Drusilla and Buffy "Pet" and "Love" and also referrs to Buffy as "Slayer" very often. He has also nicknamed Willow "Red", and Angel "Poof", "Peaches" and "Captain Forehead;" Gunn "Charlie Boy;" and Illyria "Little Shiva", Smurf", "Blue" and "Blue Meanie. He also called Buffy "Slutty the Vampire Slayer" on one occasion. He has given himself the nickname "Big Bad", a reference to the nickname for the major enemies faced by the Scooby Gang.

Spike often treats his vampiric vulnerablities as simply annoying inconveniences rather than actual limitations: he drives in broad daylight in vehicles with blacked-out windows, and regularly travels outside during the day, using a blanket for cover. While fighting Angel, he picked up a cross, withstanding the pain, and hit him with it. He also has a taste for normal food and drink,  such as beer, whiskey, bourbon, cookies, hot chocolate (he even asked Joyce Summers if she had any of "those little marshmallows"), chocolates, Buffalo wings, and onion blossoms, constituting the most varied diet of any vampire in the series. He sometimes adds extra ingrediants to his blood, like Weetabix (for texture), and spices and burba weed (for flavor). He also smokes cigareets, and seems to prefer the brand Morley, which he lights with a trademark silver Zippo lighter.

Spike appears to be a fan of pop culture; when held captive by the Scooby Gang, his biggest concern was missing his favorite soap opera, Passions. He makes references to movies and shows such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Dawson's Creek, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Ghostbusters, Knight Rider, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. After his hands were cut off by Dana and subsequently reattached at Wolfram & Hart, he was instructed to play video games for physical therapy, including Donkey Kong and Crash Bandicoot, and played a Game Boy Advanced.

Spike also dislikes Halloween, much like most vampires and demons, who largely avoid hunting on Halloween because they believe it to be an idiotic cliché, to the extent that he took personal offense when a teenage group of self-proclaimed vampire rebels hunted on Halloween and constantly criticized Wolfram & Hart's Halloween Bash.

As the series has progressed, Spike has become a genuine hero at heart rather than an evildoer trying to do good for Buffy's sake. He remains loyal to Buffy's friends and new companions, such as Robert Dowling and Eldre Koh, to whom he admitted he still loved Buffy. Additionally, he has complete respect for human life to the extent that he was unwilling to sacrifice thousands of innocent people just to save Fred and was horrified when Illyria killed Jeremy Johns to help him defeat Non. Like Angel, he lives solely on animal blood, and continues to help Buffy and her friends in their various pursuits (fighting Twilight, destroying the Seed of Wonder and taking on a resurrected Eyghon the Sleepwalker with Angel and his crew).

Appearance
Spike has a punk look which strongly resembles that of English rock musician Billy Idol. His hair is platinum blonde and combed back, although previously it was a natural medium brown (unstyled) as well as dyed black. Spike received a scar on his eyebrow from the sword of the Slayer he killed in 1900. Angel once sarcastically asked him, "What color is your hair? Radioactive?" He has been called "Captain Peroxide" by both Xander and Angel. His nails are also painted black.

Spike usually wears long black leather coats, including one that he took from a Nazi officer and another that he took as a trophy from Nikki Wood, the second Slayer he killed. He wore the Slayer's black duster for over twenty-five years. When the coat was destroyed by a bomb planted by the Immortal in Italy, Spike heartbrokenly declared it to be irreplaceable. However, the Italy branch of Wolfram & Hart quickly supplied him with a whole wardrobe of new, nearly identical ones which he happily began wearing. His trademark look includes the leather duster, a black t-shirt or v-neck shirt and black denim pants, usually with heavy boots. He also wore a red long-sleeved shirt fairly often. Spike has also occasionally worn black or blue button-up shirts, black wifebeaters, and a black long-sleeved shirt which was torn apart during the demon trials that won Spike his soul.

On rare occasions, Spike deviates from his trademark look, wearing a stolen tweed suit while on the run from a demonic loan shark, a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of shorts belonging to Xander after he accidentally shrunk his normal clothes in the wash, and a blue sweatshirt that he described as a "costume."

Powers and Abilities
In addition to the the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire (albeit substantially enhanced due to his age), Spike is famous for having killed two Slayers. His skill is so great that after re-gaining his soul, Buffy even once went as far as referring to him as the strongest fighter the Scoobies have during their fight against the First. Spike is a highly skilled, and versatile fighter in both armed and unarmed combat. For example, he is able to briefly overcome Illyria during a testing of her abilities when she is at the height of her powers, however he had been training with her for months and had adapted to her abilities so others could have achieved this as well if given the time Spike had. Illyria criticizes his (and others') ability to adapt, calling it "compromise." He is able to withstand excessive amounts of pain for extended periods of time, particularly when properly motivated, however Angel has shown this same trait. While not as skilled or as sadistic as Angelus, Spike also proves himself to be effective at torture, noting that he had gained "screams, various fluids, and a name" from Doctor Sparrow. Much like Angel, he is proficient in various forms of martial arts, and his typical fighting style blends karate, kung fu, and others.

Spike often displays insight and skills in perception and observation, especially with regard to relationships and personalities, so long as the relationship in question doesn't concern him personally. This ability allows him to wield powerful psychological weapons as easily and effectively as physical ones. For example, when he wants to create disharmony among the Scoobies, Spike divides-and-conquers with exploiting tensions that exist under the surface to turn Buffy and her friends against each other. He explains to Buffy that he was able to defeat two Slayers because he sensed and exploited their secret desires to be free of their burden. Spike's skills of analysis allowed him to be the first to see through Tara's abusive and controlling family, forced Buffy and Angel to admit that they were more than "just friends," and identify when and why some relationships, such as that between Buffy and Riley, are not meant to last, feeding Riley's insecurities in an effort to sabotage his relationship with Buffy so that Spike can pursue her. His analytical skills also help him in battle from time to time; for example, he identified Illyria's fighting style as a Tae Kwon Do/Brazilian Ninjitsu hybrid.

Although capable of developing sound battle strategies, Spike (particularly in the days before receiving his chip and being ensouled) often loses patience with anything more complicated than outright attack:

He is also impatient to fight the Slayer upon his initial arrival in Sunnydale; the attack is supposed to coincide with the Night of Saint Vigeous, but he "couldn't wait" to go after the Slayer and attacks the night before, which results in the deaths of many vampires of the Order of Aurelius. However, Spike did exercise patience when he was confined to a wheelchair after a brutal battle with the Scoobies left him paraplegic for several months. Feigning weakness, he endured tortuous weeks watching Angelus sexually pursue Drusilla as he waited for the right time to strike against his rival.

Much like Angel, Spike, presumably due to his long lifetime, often displays in-depth knowledge of different demon species and other supernatural beings, being aware of Rack and surprised at Willow's trips to his place and also knowing that Wolfram & Hart represents "the worst evil in the universe." Spike has also proven to be far more intelligent than others give him credit for; for example, he quickly realizes that Angel and Twilight are one and the same.

Spike's "vampire constitution" provides him with an extremely high tolerance for alcohol (which he regularly consumes in copious quantities). Due to his experience in criminal activities, he is skilled at picking locks, hotwiring cars, and pick-pocketing. He is also capable of easily operating various vehicles, such as various cars, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and a Winnebago. He has also been shown using video game systems and a computer, treating injuries, and playing poker and pool. Spike is also seen speaking Latin, Luganda (a language of Uganda, where he meets the demon shaman), and the language of Fyarl Demons. Spike has shown to be significantly more competent and comfortable with modern technology than Angel; his knowledge allowed him to turn an old crypt in a Sunnydale cemetery into a comfortable home with electricity and cable television.

When Spike was transformed into a ghost-like intangible state following the destruction of Sunnydale and the Hellmouth and his subsequent materialization at Wolfram & Hart, he was capable of walking through solid objects. He was initially unable to make contact with objects around him until he learned how to focus his abilities through desire, allowing him to make brief contact with people and things if he concentrated enough. However, this ability was relatively useless in a fight, as he was unable to pick up a wooden bar to hit the demon Tezcatcatl, and required a few moments to properly punch a cyborg that was strangling Gunn. Naturally, he lost the capabilities he had as a spectre after being recorporealized, as seen when he attempted to phase through Angel's office door and comically bounced right off.

Romantic

 * Cecily Addams- A woman that William was in love with during his life as a human. However, she was completely insensitive to his feelings, considering him "beneath her." Years and years later, Cecily became Halfrek, a vengence demon, and instantly recognized Spike when they met again. Spike recognized her too but they denied that they know each other, too embarrassed to reveal it.
 * Drusilla- Drusilla is Spike's initial love interest. Spike referred to his century-long loverSpike6.JPG as "the face of his salvaton," praising her for delivering him from "mediocrity." It could be said that Spike's doting devotion to and co-dependancy on his mother transferred to Drusilla after he was forced to kill his mother. Upon ariving to Sunnydale, Spike's main motivation was to help Dru recover from having been nearly killed by a mob in Prague. However, Drusilla began to cheat on him with Angelus while Spike was stuck in a wheelchair, prompting him to betray Angelus and escape Sunnydale with Drusilla against her will. Drusilla cheated on him with a chaos demon, prompting Spike to return to Sunnydale to create a love potion. He later changes his mind and decides that torturing her will win her back, though this too fails. After Spike gets the chip in his head, Drusilla returns to Sunnydale in hopes of reforming their "family." However, Drusilla's conquest was short lived when Spike threatened to stake her as a symbol of his love for Buffy, Drusilla revealing that she had known that he was in love with the Slayer long before he knew thanks to her precognitive abilities. After escaping, Drusilla gave up on Spike and fled. The two were briefly reunited when Drusilla was hired by Wolfram & Hart to assist her new lover, John, who went after Spike in his warped belief that the vampire stole his soul, Spike briefly transferring his soul to Drusilla to protect it before he takes it back as he recognises that her mental state cannot cope with the guilt that his soul is causing her. Spike then had Willow admit Dru to the Mosaic Wellness Center.


 * Harmony Kendall- After becoming a vampire, Harmony began a relationship with Spike. However, he saw her as nothing more than a sexual plaything and a nuisance rather than a true girlfriend. Spike expressed extreme impatience at Harmony while trying to find the Gem of Amarra, often violently threatening her and yelling at her. When Harmony complained about him loving the tunnels (where the gem was) more than her, he had bluntly replied " I love syphillis more than you."  His anger had reached the point where had had even staked her with a stake, trying to kill her. However, she had survived thanks to the Gem of Amara; Spike seemed unregretful of his attempted killing of her.  They broke up when Spike was captured by the Initiative though they reunited when Harmony's plan to kill Buffy failed. Their relationship ended when Spike dumped her to reunite with Drusilla and Harmony later left town after trying to kill him because of it. The two are reunited at Wolfram and Hart where they have a brief but disastrous sexual fling, because Spike's soul, conscience and devotion to Buffy prevented him from wavering. Later on, they are able to have a civil, humorously heart-to-heart conversation in which Spike alleviates some of Harmony's insecurities. A year and a half later, when Buffy mockingly calls him "Blondie Bear", Spike told her to not call him that, as it reminded him of Harmony who, according to him, completely ruined Dancing with the Stars and was a "moron".


 * Buffy Summers- Spike's interest in Buffy was completely subconscious at first; he had helped her defeat Angelus, and was only later informed of his attraction by Drusilla when the pair traveled to Brazil. Drusilla's abilities caused her to foresee Spike's devotion to the "Slayer". Indeed, a little over two years later, Spike woke up from a dream that involved him passionately kissing Buffy. By that time he was living in Sunnydale again, and upon realizing his feelings he made many failed attempts to connect with her: purchasing a box of chocolates for her birthday, practicing conversations with her with a mannequin dressed in her likeness and attempting to help her in her Slayer duties. Unfortunately, his lack of a soul caused his emotions to run wild; he came off as more despicable than sentimental, and more obsessive than caring. He stood guard outside of her house at night, and occasionally broke inside to steal clothes and photographs for a shrine he built to her beneath his crypt. When Buffy came to him for information about Slayers he murdered, rather than have the conversation in his crypt he brought her out to The Bronze, a location that could suggest he wanted to make the outing seem as much like a date as possible. After telling her his life story and replaying his battles with the two Slayers, he declared that she, like all Slayers, wanted to "dance", and even tried to kiss her, at which time she forced him to the ground and told him that even if she did want to, it would never be with him. Buffy subsequently learned out about his obsession with her from Dawn, and quickly cut him out of her life and alienated him from the Scoobies. It wasn't until Spike endured torture at the hands of Glory to protect Dawn that she finally accepted him back into the fold, much to his gratitude. At that time, he came to accept that Buffy would never love him, and settled instead for her trust in him. When she lost her life in the fight against Glory, he broke down crying, guilt-ridden for his inability to protect her. By then, his attraction to her had undergone an enormous transformation; he desired her on an emotional scale as well as a physical one. After her resurrection, he initially comforted her and served as her confidant. She felt that she couldn't discuss the fact that she was ripped out of heaven with her friends, so she began to to go Spike instead. The two eventually began a violent sexual relationship. Though Spike knew he was being used, he went along with it in the hopes of gaining some emotional closeness from Buffy. Ashamed, Buffy made several attempts to end it before finally revealing it to her friends. Spike continued to pursue her even afterward they had broken up; his obsession quickly grew out of hand, and culminated in him making an aborted attempt to rape her while she was wounded. Utterly repentent for his mistake and disgusted with himself, he left Sunnydale and underwent several dangerous trials to restore his soul. Upon his return to Sunnydale, he begged in a near-insane state that Buffy forgive him for his past actions. Above all, he still desired to be loved. The two grew closer than ever while planning for the battle against the First Evil. Spike remained loyal to her when her friends abandoned her, and in a moment of pure strength, confessed not only his love for her, but his admiration of the woman she had become. On the night preceding the final fight, Spike oversaw Buffy kissing Angel, and felt briefly betrayed; his frustration vanished when Buffy declared him her Champion by giving him the amulet Angel had left with her in anticipation of the battle. As Spike prepared to sacrifice his life to close the Hellmouth, Buffy told him that she loved him, much to his disbelief. After his resurrection in Los Angeles, he delayed telling her about his continued survival, as he felt it would cheapen his sacrifice, but she found out on her own anyway. His intense love for her never faded, even as he gained new companions with whom he shared rapport. He built a solarium for her on his ship; his bugs later made the glass above the room more resilient so he could enter it too. After reuniting with her during the Twilight crisis, he battled by her side once more. He accompanied her when she delved into the ruins of Sunnydale to destroy the Seed of Wonder, and subsequently met her on the fire escape of Xander and Dawn's apartment to assure her that he agreed with her decision to remove magic from the world. He was welcomed into Buffy's new apartment during her housewarming party. Both Eldre Koh and Detective Dowling of the San Francisco Police Department got Spike to admit his feelings for Buffy, and encouraged him to tell her. Just when he was about to confess once more, Buffy threw him for a loop by announcing that she was pregnant and intended to have an abortion. She asked Spike to accompany her, and he agreed. After Buffy was revealed to be a robot created by Andrew Wells, Spike resolved to leave her, stating that he was never sure where her heart was, and that he had grown tired of being her "dark place". He reassured her that he didn't blame her and that he believed in her just as much as ever, knowing full-well that she would always do the right thing and that he would always have her back. He then departed on his ship, much to Buffy's sadness. Following his departure, Spike went through a depressed state of mind, stating in his inner monologues that there would always be darkness in him and that he could never embrace the light Buffy represented. While leading Pearl and Nash in Sunnydale, he reminisced about her and became further depressed. After his conversation with the succubus Morgan, Spike realized that leaving Buffy had been unfair, given the circumstances. He also mentioned to Morgan that he would rather be miserable in "real" love than happy in something "fake", and that through thick and thin, the relationship he had shared with Buffy had been completely genuine. When he traveled to London to help Angel, he admitted to Faith Lehane that he still loved Buffy, and desperately poured his insecurities about her out to a deranged Angel.


 * Buffybot- After Buffy's initial rejection of him, Spike arranged for Warren Mears to create the Buffybot for him as a sex toy. Though he initially enjoyed it, it resulted in him being captured by Glory's minions under the belief that he was the Key. Buffy later posed as the inactive Buffybot to see whether or not Spike had betrayed Dawn's identity as the Key, presenting him with a kiss when she discovered the lengths he went in order to protect them. After Buffy's death, the Buffybot was reprogrammed to perform Slayer duties, but its original programming resurfaced at times, much to Spike's dismay.Screen_Shot_2013-03-18_at_8.59.49_AM.png


 * Anya Jenkins- While both were grieving over their failed relationships, Spike and Anya drowned their sorrows in alcohol and had sex in the Magic Box. This became complicated due to the cameras The Trio inserted in the Magic Box, and their liaison was found out by the entire Scooby Gang. They never interacted romantically again. Nonetheless, they shared a certain bond due to their then-states of powerlessness, namely Spike's anti-human aggression chip and Anya's human status. The two return to a friendly relationship afterward.


 * Fred Burkle- Spike initially flirted with Fred after he materialized at Wolfram & Hart, and his feelings later evolved into affection and esteem. Fred was the first person in Angel's team to believe thScreen_Shot_2013-03-18_at_9.00.37_AM.png Spike was worth saving and she worked tirelessly to recorporealize him (while denying being taken in by his charm, saying that she simply wants to use Wolfram & Hart's resources for the good that Angel promised). When fighting the demented ghost Matthias Pavayne, Spike sacrificed a chance at becoming corporeal to save Fred's life, and ultimately chose to stay in Los Angeles with the Angel Investigations team in honor of her memory when she was killed by Illyria usurping her body. He later remarked to Illyria in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact manner that had, in a way, loved Fred. In fact, after Illyria took over Fred, Spike expressed visible concern to Angel that Fred may very well be gone, which was very uncharacteristic of him showing weaknesses or vulnerability before his former nemesis. This signifies how close Spike must have gotten emotionally with Fred . In After the Fall, Spike questions himself, debating over the idea that he had romantic feelings towards Fred. Spike's memories of Fred were used, along with Wesley's, to make a monstrous Illyria hesitate to destroy all things, Betta George telepathically sending their memories of Fred into Illyria to make her realize that what she was doing was not something Fred would want. Spike later admitted to Illyria that he had loved Fred, but not the same way that Wesley had.


 * Laura Kay Weathermill- Spike and Laura had sex together while undergoing the side effects of Illyria being in "heat." Once Illyria's influences wore off, Spike and Laura agreed that they had no physical attraction to one another at all.Screen_Shot_2013-03-18_at_8.49.46_AM.png


 * Morgan- Morgan was a courtesan demon Spike encountered after leaving an Francisco on his journey of self-discovery. She was sultry and flirtatious with him, who was once more recovering from depression as a result of his continued love for Buffy Summers. Spike kissed her in a moment of weakness, only to reject her advances, deciding that he would rather be miserable in "real" love than happy in something "fake".

Antagonistic

 * Angel- Though often allies, Spike and Angel always had a tense relationship and rivalry whether they were on the side of good or evil. Angel reflected that part of their hostility towards each other is because Spike has always wanted to be Angel, noting that every action Spike takes is something Angel has done first; Drusilla turned Spike as a substitute for what she couldn't have with Angelus, Spike tried to take Angelus's reputation after Angel dropped off the map, and the chip was initially Spike's equivalent of a soul before he actually received his own again. The most direct cause of their conflict is often because their romantic attentions are focused on the same woman, either Drusilla or Buffy, with their antagonistic relationship only strengthening when Angel and Spike realize that they both are in love with Buffy, causing more animosity directed towards each other. Many people say that they are alike, being ensouled vampires, but both Angel and Spike deny it, always saying that they are nothing alike. Once, in anger, Spike declared that he blames Angel in part for the murders he committed without a soul. Though both eventually come to fight together on the side of good, their personalities clash with Spike taking their missions far less seriously, although the two make an effective team against such foes as the guardians of the Deeper Well or their later fight against Illyria. Despite their constant antagonism, there does seem to be some affection between them, as Spike appears genuinely happy to see Angel and even hugs him in "School Hard," and Angelus greets Spike with a kiss on the forehead in "Innocence." He and Angel had some sort of sexual history. Spike later left Los Angeles because he recognized that Angel had been accurate when he accused Spike of wanting to be him, acknowledging that his interest in the Shanshu Prophecy was mainly based around beating Angel rather than wanting to be human himself. After assisting Angel and Faith in defeating Eyghon, Faith remarked that, despite their rivalry, Angel and Spike understand each other better than anyone else.
 * Robin Wood- The son of Nikki Wood, a Slayer killed by Spike. Robin spent his life searching for the vampire that killed his mother in hopes of vengeance. With the help of Rupert Giles, he manages to trap the ensouled Spike in a room filled with crosses. Playing a song that the First Evil used as Spike's trigger, Robin turned Spike from his rational self to a murderous beast. Though Spike eventually turned the tables on him, he spared him out of respect for Nikki, but vowed to kill him should Robin attempt to try something again.


 * Xander Harris- One of Spike's most volatile relationships is with Xander. On two occasions, Xander was forced to accept Spike into his home, which he did with extreme reluctance and open disgust. Even when Spike was ensouled, Xander remained distrustful of him, certain for some time that he would attempt to rape Buffy again at the first opportunity. Despite this, they are capable of working together when the situation calls for it, most notably when the girls of the Scooby Gang were all the victims of a love spell.


 * Rupert Giles- Aside from watching episodes of Passions together, Spike and Giles had somewhat of a bad relationship. When his feelings for Buffy became known to the Scoobies at large, Giles' reaction was the most volatile; when Spike appeared at the Magic Box, the other Scoobies limited themselves to verbally attacking him, but Giles shoved him back into a wall before informing him that the Scoobies were neither his friends nor his way to Buffy and ordered him to get over his feelings for her. Nonetheless, Giles eventually softened his attitude towards him when he saw Spike's commitment to the good fight. However, during the First's campaign, Giles conspired with Robin Wood to kill Spike, believing him to be a distraction for Buffy, straining their relationship after Robin failed.


 * Wesley Wyndam-Pryce- When Spike joins Angel Investigations, Wesley is the only member which interacts least with the vampire. Possibly because the former Watcher has difficulty in believing that the arch-nemesis of the council became a kind person. Spike has for this last, the same consideration as he had for Rupert Giles, considering him stuck, too sensitive and old british (ironically, before meeting Drusilla, Spike had a similar personality). However, while Illyria abused Fred's appearance, the vampire demonstrated certain respect for Wesley in mourning, by limiting interaction with the Old One so that she teams up with him on the ground.

Parental

 * Anne Pratt- Spike's mother. Some time in his adulthood, William's mother became ill and he took care of her, often reading her his poetry. His focus on her detracted from his social life and, despite his mother's urgings, he had no interest in finding a romantic partner and considered her as the woman in his life. After being sired by Drusilla, Spike sired his mother with the intention of saving her life and bringing her with them. However, becoming a vampire brought out the darker aspects of Anne's personality. She tells him that she had hoped a girlfriend would remove his smothering presence from her life and that she resented being a captive audience to his doting presence and terrible poetry. She then implied that he had always had sort of an Oedipal complex with her, wanting to have her in a sexual way. Grieved by this change, William killed his mother.


 * Joyce Summers- After his breakup with Drusilla, Joyce gives Spike hot chocolate and advice. The two also shared a love of the soap opera Passions. Spike was greatly saddened by her death because he felt she was the only one who treated him decently.

Friendships

 * Faith Lehane - While temporarily inhabiting Buffy's body, Faith mercilessly flirted with Spike which visibly affected him.  When she later returned to Sunnydale to help the Scoobies fight against the First Evil, they revisited that conversation, with Spike remembering every word ("It's not the kind of thing a man forgets"). The two conversed easily, relating to each other on a personal level. They discussed how they have both been "dangerous" in the past, and acknowledged each other's efforts toward redemption. This connection did not go unnoticed by Buffy, who was visibly jealous of the pair's chemistry and fledgling friendship.  Faith's complicity in the mutiny against Buffy led her and Spike to fight before he left the Summers' home, although they ultimately became allies once more in the final battle against the First. A couple years later, Spike and Faith are reunited to help Angel defeat Eyghon the Sleepwalker. When he became temporarily insane, they form a two-man partnership to retrieve an Essuary, an item that would extract Giles' soul safely and store it. After defeating the soul-sucking demons that carried it, Faith and Spike once again have a heart-to-heart. He displayed a physical attraction to her and flirted with her only to have Faith shockingly refuse him, reasoning it by she saying she would only be a rebound. Under her constant prodding into his love life, Spike admitted to her that he did still love Buffy and was trying to move on. Understanding this, she showed support and gave him advice on how to get over her her, now seeming to return to their previous easy, relatable friendship. However, this did not stop Faith from mocking him for his choice of rebound (Harmony) when they returned to the apartment and extracted Giles from Angel into the Essuary.




 * Willow Rosenberg - Spike had great affection and respect for Willow, who was one of the few members of the Scooby Gang who was genuinely friendly to him throughout his time in the group. When Spike kidnapped her in an attempt to force her to do a love spell, he confided with her his sorrows, and she awkwardly comforted him. Later, Spike offered to sire her when he attacked her; though Willow responded by smashing a lamp over his head, she nonetheless seemed flattered by his offer. Willow treated the "neutered" Spike with sympathy and kindness when Buffy and Xander were completely unsympathetic and even delighted in tormenting him. Though she joined in the Scoobies in ostracizing him after his feelings for Buffy become known, she, like Buffy, softened toward him when he endures torture at Glory's hands to protect Dawn. Spike was also respectful of her relationship with Tara, and even defends her decision to attack Glory, and Willow personally apologized to him when Tara's insane behavior gets him injured. Following Buffy's death, Spike helped Willow and Tara to raise Dawn, later showing concern over Willow's magic addiction and intervening on her behalf when Anya attempted to peer-pressure Willow into using a spell during her recovery. While Spike was investigating the Wolfram & Hart Las Vegas branch a long while after his resurrection, Spike contacted Willow, reasoning that his enemies would expect him to look to the Angel Investigations team for help. Willow helped him and his team, also re-ensouling Spike in the process after the soul was given to Drusilla. The two later decided that they would keep this team-up between themselves so as to leave Buffy out of the loop for obvious reasons. Spike occasionally called Willow "Red" in an affectionate manner. During Willow's time in Vegas with Spike, he often referred to her by her shortened name, "Will."
 * Dawn Summers - Dawn initially had a crush on Spike, though it faded when she realized that he was in love with Buffy. Their relationship soon evolves into that of a big brother and little sister. Their relationship is briefly strained when Spike attempts to rape Buffy, leading Dawn to threaten to set Spike on fire should he hurt Buffy in any way, though they began to repair their relationship when they discovered Spike's ensoulment, with Dawn being quick to defend Spike when Andrew asked why Buffy was so desperate to save him.
 * Illyria- After her ressurrection, Illyria shared an emerging bond with Spike. Each was on a path from murderous demon to hero and they shared a love for violence. Their sparring sessions were mutually satisfactory; Spike honed his fighting techniques and Illyria was able to regularly inflict pain and dominate him in combat. She, at one point, even expressed an interest to have him as her "pet". After her powers were diminished, he helped her regain confidence and venture into the world again, developing mutal respect for one another. In After the Fall, Illyria considered Spike her "pet" and came to his defense when Angel appeared. He also became very protective of her when she started randomly changing into Fred. Illyria possibly felt romantic feelings for Spike as she forcefully kissed him out of jealousy once she heard about his sexual relationship with Spider. Spike was asked by Wesley to look after Illyria, as he could not do so himself. He for a time kept his promise and aided her in her existental crisis, only to at some point seperate for her as Illyria went off on her own.

Other

 * Tara Maclay- Much like Willow, Spike had great affection and respect for Tara. When Tara's family attempted to take her home with them, Spike, realizing that their tale about Tara's "demonic heritage" was a lie, proved it by punching Tara in the nose, which caused his chip to go off. When his feelings for Buffy became known, Tara was the only one of the Scoobies to speak civilly to him in a subsequent encounter at the Magic Box, calmly telling him to leave as apposed to the others, who openly criticized and insulted him. When Tara was brain-sucked by Glory, Spike defended Willow's decision to attack Glory, and later attempted to comfort an insane Tara when she accidentally exposed him to sunlight and was reduced to tears when Willow snapped at her. After Buffy's death, Spike helped Willow and Tara raise Dawn, and this, along with his remaining loyal to the Scoobies in the months before Buffy's resurrection, caused Tara to respect him. Tara was one of the few members of the Scooby Gang who was genuinely friendly towards Spike, to the extent that she was the only Scooby who believed that his feelings for Buffy were genuine and not just a twisted obsession. When Buffy confides to Tara about her and Spike's dangerous sexual relationship, Tara attempts, multiple times, to stop him from flirting with her. Spike's reaction to her death was never revealed.
 * Gunn- When Spike first materialized in Wolfram & Hart, Gunn, having apparently heard tales of the infamous William the Bloody, initially viewed him as an enemy, but relented upon discovering that he had a soul and saved the world. When Spike was recorporealized, he presented Gunn with a hug while reveling in his restored physical body, and later offered him a drink. The two eventually became good friends, with Spike being one of the few members of Team Angel to refer to him by his given name. However, after the Fall was reversed and Gunn rejoined Angel Investigations, Spike held a degree of distrust for him and regarded him as a traitor due to his actions in Hell, even though Gunn was a vampire and thus not in control of himself at the time.
 * Connor - During Los Angeles' time in hell, Spike worked with Angel's son in saving people, and they built what Connor describes as a relationship between a boy and a weird uncle. Spike often spoke to Connor about his battles, seemingly having had trained him, as well as became someone who Connor went to about relationship advice. When Connor was killed by a vampiric Gunn, Spike held his body and grieved.

Behind the Scenes

 * James Marsters was added to the main cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel for the same reason: to replace Cordelia. Joss Whedon felt that the main characters during the fourth season of Buffy were without a source of conflict (usually present in Cordelia), and Seth Green's departure from the show clinched his decision to bring in Marsters. After Charisma Carpenter left the cast of Angel, Spike was brought in to provide comic relief.


 * While Drusilla has been shown as Spike's sire, in "School Hard", Spike's first appearance on the show, he says that Angel was his sire. The apparent contradiction was solved by Joss Whedon in an interview in which he states that the term sire refers to anyone prior to them in their "line".


 * Spike was originally intended to die in "What's My Line, Part Two", at which time Drusilla would become the main villain along with Angelus. However, due to the immense popularity of the character and Marsters' performance, the character was given a reprieve and placed temporarily into a wheelchair instead.


 * It was after Marsters' guest appearance in one episode of Season 3, and Marsters' immediate chemistry with the cast, when Joss Whedon decided that he wanted Spike to return as part of the permanent cast and devised the chip storyline.


 * Joss Whedon credits this antipathy as what convinced him in the episode "Lovers Walk" to bring Spike back as a cast regular. As James Marsters put it, "I was supposed to be the one who stood at the side and said, 'Buffy, you're stupid, and we're all gonna die'."


 * James Marsters auditioned for the role with both a Cajun accent and the eventually-chosen Cockney accent.


 * Spike's present-day resemblance to British punk rocker Billy Idol was mentioned in "Sleeper". The bouncer refers to Spike as "a Billy Idol wannabe" and Buffy starts to say that Billy Idol actually stole his look from Spike. In fact, Spike's resemblance to Billy Idol was previously shown (though not said) during his flashback fight with Nikki Wood, at which time Spike's attire and hair mimicked Idol almost perfectly while still taking place several years before Idol's fame.


 * Spike has a resemblance and a similar personality with David, the vampire leader, played by Kiefer Sutherland, in the horror movie The Lost Boys, realized by Joel Schumacher in 1987.


 * Though it is frequently made clear that soulless vampires are incapable of being benign, Spike has apparently proven that theory wrong, having managed to become a faithful ally, and later full-fledged member, of the Scooby Gang after being experimented on by the Initiative.


 * Marsters' V/Y-shaped scar on his left eyebrow, which he received during a mugging, was worked into the show; make-up artist Todd McIntosh decided to shave out his eyebrow in order to make it more prominent. He also included the scar on Spike's "vamp face" prosthetic, albeit slightly altered as though the skin has stretched. In Spike's first appearance in the series, the wound still looks fresh, but it gradually blends in over the course of the series, eventually to the point where it is barely visible.


 * K. Todd Freeman was in the running for the role of Spike.


 * A running gag is Spike knocking over the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign at the city's limits. He first does this deliberately with his car in "School Hard" and again while drunk in "Lovers Walk", both times saying "Home sweet home." He knocks the sign over one final time by closing the Hellmouth in "Chosen".


 * Spike is one of three characters to be a main character on both Buffy and Angel, the other two being Angel and Cordelia (Wesley and Harmony were only ever guest stars in Buffy). He was also the only character with this distinction that was not a main character for the first season of one of the shows.


 * Along with Angel, he is one of only two characters to appear in the series finales of both Buffy and Angel: "Chosen" and "Not Fade Away".


 * He is the only character to appear in the 100th episodes of both Buffy and Angel: "The Gift" and "You're Welcome".


 * Spike appeared in a total of 120 episodes of the Buffyverse. The only characters to appear in more episodes are Angel (167), Willow (147), Buffy (146), Xander (143), Cordelia (140) and Giles (121).


 * Spike is the only Buffyverse regular character to have met all of the others on screen at least once.


 * Spike had met los Hermanos Número when he was in L.A. in 1947.


 * Spike is a fan of the Sex Pistols and the Ramones.


 * Spike is also the only vampire after Angel to recieve a soul and fall in love with a slayer. And also the only one so far to have re-acquired it out his own volition.


 * The name "William" is the English counterpart of the Irish "Liam", giving him, ironically, the same human name as Angel.


 * Spike was the third member of Whirlwind to be ensouled. Angel was first, Darla second, and just recently, Drusilla was ensouled with Spike's soul for a little while before it was given back to him.
 * He is one of the last characters to die on Buffy.
 * Spike's birth name was William Pratt. Which is also the birth name of iconic horror actor, Boris Karloff.


 * James Marsters later starred with Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Julie Benz (Darla), Mercedes McNab (Harmony Kendall), Harry Groener (Richard Wilkins), Jack Plotnick (Allan Finch), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), Amy Acker (Winifred Burkle/Illyria), John Rubinstein (Linwood Murrow), Felicia Day (Violet), Chad Lindberg (David Kirby), Jack Conley (Gib Cain/Sahjhan), Jeff Kober (Zachary Kralik/Rack), Aldis Hodge (Masked Teen), Rob Benedict (Jape), Todd Stashwick (M'Fashnik Demon), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Sam Ryan), Megalyn Echikunwoke (Vaughne) and Ridge Canipe (Tommy) on Supernatural.

Appearances
Spike has appeared in 120 episodes: 96 on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and 24 on Angel. {{Scroll box
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Buffy Season 2

 * "School Hard"
 * "Halloween"
 * "Lie to Me"
 * "What's My Line, Part One"
 * "What's My Line, Part Two"
 * "Surprise"
 * "Innocence"
 * "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
 * "Passion"
 * "I Only Have Eyes for You"
 * "Becoming, Part One"
 * "Becoming, Part Two"

Buffy Season 3

 * "Lovers Walk"

Buffy Season 4/Angel Season 1

 * "The Harsh Light of Day"
 * "In the Dark"
 * "Wild at Heart"
 * "The Initiative"
 * "Pangs"
 * "Something Blue"
 * "Hush"
 * "Doomed"
 * "A New Man"
 * "The I in Team"
 * "Goodbye Iowa"
 * "This Year's Girl"
 * "Who Are You"
 * "Superstar"
 * "Where the Wild Things Are"
 * "New Moon Rising"
 * "The Yoko Factor"
 * "Primeval"
 * "Restless" (In dreams)

Buffy Season 5/Angel Season 2

 * "Buffy vs. Dracula"
 * "Real Me"
 * "The Replacement"
 * "Out of My Mind"
 * "No Place Like Home"
 * "Family"
 * "Fool for Love"
 * "Darla"
 * "Shadow"
 * "Listening to Fear"
 * "Into the Woods"
 * "Triangle"
 * "Checkpoint"
 * "Blood Ties"
 * "Crush"
 * "I Was Made to Love You"
 * "Forever"
 * "Intervention"
 * "Tough Love"
 * "Spiral"
 * "The Weight of the World"
 * "The Gift"

Buffy Season 6

 * "Bargaining, Part One"
 * "Bargaining, Part Two"
 * "After Life"
 * "Flooded"
 * "Life Serial"
 * "All the Way"
 * "Once More, with Feeling"
 * "Tabula Rasa"
 * "Smashed"
 * "Wrecked"
 * "Gone"
 * "Doublemeat Palace"
 * "Dead Things"
 * "Older and Far Away"
 * "As You Were"
 * "Hell's Bells"
 * "Normal Again"
 * "Entropy"
 * "Seeing Red"
 * "Villains"
 * "Two to Go"
 * "Grave"

Buffy Season 7

 * "Lessons"
 * "Beneath You"
 * "Same Time, Same Place"
 * "Help"
 * "Selfless"
 * "Him"
 * "Conversations with Dead People"
 * "Sleeper"
 * "Never Leave Me"
 * "Bring on the Night"
 * "Showtime"
 * "Potential"
 * "The Killer in Me"
 * "First Date"
 * "Get It Done"
 * "Storyteller"
 * "Lies My Parents Told Me"
 * "Dirty Girls"
 * "Empty Places"
 * "Touched"
 * "End of Days"
 * "Chosen" (Killed)

Angel Season 5

 * "Conviction" (Resurrected)
 * "Just Rewards"
 * "Unleashed"
 * "Hell Bound"
 * "Life of the Party"
 * "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco"
 * "Lineage"
 * "Destiny"
 * "Harm's Way"
 * "Soul Purpose"
 * "Damage"
 * "You're Welcome"
 * "Why We Fight"
 * "Smile Time"
 * "A Hole in the World"
 * "Shells"
 * "Underneath"
 * "Origin"
 * "Time Bomb"
 * "The Girl in Question"
 * "Power Play"
 * "Not Fade Away"

Angel: After the Fall/Angel IDW ongoing

 * "After the Fall, Part Two"
 * "After the Fall, Part Three"
 * "After the Fall, Part Four"
 * "After the Fall, Part Five"
 * "After the Fall, Part Six" (aka "First Night Part I")
 * "After the Fall, Part Nine"
 * "After the Fall, Part Ten"
 * "After the Fall, Part Eleven"
 * "After the Fall, Part Twelve"
 * "After the Fall, Part Thirteen"
 * "After the Fall, Part Fourteen"
 * "After the Fall, Part Fifteen"
 * "After the Fall, Part Sixteen"
 * "After the Fall, Part Seventeen"
 * Aftermath
 * Boys and Their Toys
 * Immortality for Dummies
 * Crown Prince Syndrome
 * Illyria: Haunted

Spike: After the Fall

 * "Spike: After the Fall, Part One"
 * "Spike: After the Fall, Part Two"
 * "Spike: After the Fall, Part Three"
 * "Spike: After the Fall, Part Four"

Spike: The Devil You Know

 * "The Devil You Know, Part One"
 * "The Devil You Know, Part Two"
 * "The Devil You Know, Part Three"
 * "The Devil You Know, Part Four"

Spike: Ongoing Series

 * Spike #1-8

Buffy Season 8

 * The Long Way Home
 * Always Darkest
 * Twilight
 * Last Gleaming

Buffy Season 9

 * Freefall
 * On Your Own
 * Apart (of Me)

Spike: A Dark Place

 * All five issues

Angel & Faith
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 * Death and Consequences, Part Three
 * Death and Consequences, Part Four

Gallery
See Spike/Gallery