Dubbed 'The Bloody' for his bloody awful poetry, William was crushed when the subject of said poetry, an aristocratic woman named Cecily, flatly rejected his affections. Crying as he tore his poems to shreds, William caught the eye of a vampire named Drusilla. She appealed to his loneliness and offered to show him something effulgent. When he eagerly accepted her offer, Drusilla sank her fangs into his throat and made him a vampire like her. Well, not exactly like her because she's both clairvoyant and insane, but still. Vampire.

William's first order of business after rising was to introduce his new lady to his mother. Item number two was to sire his mother so that she'd always be with them. Dru wasn't partial to the "bring your mum with us" plan, but she didn't have to worry. Once turned, Anne was viciously cruel to her sensitive son, and unable to bear her taunts, he dusted her.

Mother disposed of, William accompanied Dru, Angelus, and Darla, and the four of them cut a swath through Europe and parts beyond. Adopting the name Spike (presumably after driving a railroad spike through the head of the man who said he'd rather receive such treatment than listen to William's poetry), he discarded his upper-class accent and embraced the violence and mayhem of his new life. Fascinated by Angelus' mention of The Slayer, Spike sought out and killed his first, Xin Rong, during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. His second Slayer kill was on a subway train in New York in 1977, a young mother named Nikki Wood, whose leather duster he took after snapping her neck.

He was still wearing that duster when he hit Sunnydale in Season 2. With a badass attitude and a complete lack of respect for authority, he was more than happy to shake things up after The Master's reign. Dru had been attacked and nearly killed by an angry mob in Prague, so he brought her to the Hellmouth in search of a cure to restore her health. This search often brought him up against Buffy, Angel, and the Scoobies, but Spike wasn't intimidated. Disgusted to see Angelus in league with the White Hats, of course, but definitely undeterred.

He kidnapped Angel to heal Dru with her sire's blood, but he was up against two Slayers, Buffy and Kendra. Between the two of them, they were able to save Angel but not before Dru was healed. Then it was Drusilla's turn to care for Spike because Angel's rescue left him wheelchair-bound. Effectively sidelined, Spike was at first overjoyed when Angelus returned, but that joy quickly dissolved into simmering, jealous rage as Angelus moved in on Drusilla. So once he regained the use of his legs, Spike entered into an unlikely alliance with Buffy in order to win Dru back. He would help the Slayer stop Angelus, then take Dru out of the country, never to return.

The plan worked fine, except for the 'never to return' part. Broken-hearted, Spike wandered back into Sunnydale in Season 3 after Dru left him for a chaos demon. He tried to force Willow to do a spell to make Drusilla love him again, but after a bracing spot of violence, he abandoned the plan, resolving instead to simply torture Dru until she loved him again. The two reunited, but Drusilla's wandering eye soon found her cheating again, this time with a fungus demon. Spike wasn't single for long, though, because Season 4 saw him back in town with his new girlfriend, Harmony Kendall.

Spike managed to find the Gem of Amara, a relic which would render a vampire invulnerable, but Buffy took it from him and sent the ring to Angel in Los Angeles. Unable to recover the ring, Spike came back to Sunnydale again, this time intent on revenge, but he was captured by The Initiative, a military group that planted a behaviour-modifying chip in his head that left him unable to kill - or even hit - humans.

Spurned by Harm and unable to feed, Spike found grudging sanctuary with the Scoobies in exchange for his limited information about The Initiative. He tried to stake himself, but the discovery that he could still fight demons brightened his outlook considerably. He helped out the Scoobies when it served his interests - meaning, when they paid him to or when it helped him evade the town's demon population (who didn't really appreciate his new zeal for killing them). But his unrepentant nature (and Buffy's frequent abuse) saw him just as likely to betray them all.

Things changed in Season 5, however, when Spike was horrified to realize that he'd fallen hard for Buffy. He began to help out the good guys in an effort to win her affection, but she insulted and rebuked him time and time again, unaware of his feelings for her (or that he'd begun stalking her). When he declared his love for her, however, Buffy was disgusted and told him so in no uncertain terms. Still, with an insane hellgod after her sister, Buffy entrusted Spike with safeguarding her family. He defiantly endured Glory's torture, refusing to tell her where to find The Key (aka Buffy's sister, Dawn). And when Buffy and the Scoobies went to face Glory, Spike stood with them.

When Buffy returned from the dead, she found that Spike was the only one she could talk to honestly about the experience. The two of them became friends, but the more Buffy leaned on him, the more he wanted. Before long, they began a violent sexual relationship. Buffy ended it when she saw how unlealthy it was, but Spike wouldn't let go. Convinced that Buffy would love him if only she would let herself, Spike's persuasive efforts escalated to attempted rape.

Horrified at what he'd tried to do - and that he, a vampire, would care - Spike set off on a quest. What he truly intended to find is open to debate, but when he passed his trials, Spike was rewarded with the return of his soul. He found his way back to Sunnydale yet again and hid himself in the basement of the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High. Between the soul that gnawed at him and The First Evil whispering in his ear, Spike was pretty certifiably insane.

Feeling somehow responsible for his mental breakdown, Buffy decided that he would move in with Xander, but attacks Spike carried out under The First's influence soon made it clear that the chip in his head was no longer working. Unfettered, Spike also seemed to make peace with his soul, which didn't stop him from feeding on Robin Wood when the fallen Slayer's son tried to stake him.

The rest of the Scoobies were firmly convinced that Spike was too dangerous a wild card to have around, but Buffy still believed in him. When Angel brought Buffy an amulet to use against The First, she chose Spike to be the one to wear it into battle. Facing down an army of uber-vamps, the assembled Scoobies and Slayers held their own until the amulet began to glow. Then a blinding light erupted from it, obliterating the uber-vamp army in its tracks. The Hellmouth began to collapse, and Buffy ordered a retreat. But Spike stood his ground, determined to see it through. Light continued to pour from the amulet, bringing the Hellmouth down around him. As the roof of the cavern collapsed, sunlight streamed through, and Spike laughed as he burned to cinders...

...and appeared in Angel's new office at Wolfram and Hart! His soul was still intact, but his body? Incorporeal. A ghost. A ghost stuck haunting the Wolfram and Hart building, in fact. Fred made it her mission to make him solid again, but much as he wanted his body "back" again, Spike passed up his one chance in order to save Fred. But then fate - or Lindsay - intervened. After receiving a mysterious package in the mail, Spike turned to ghost himself through Angel's door but smacked right into it! With his body back, the first item on his list was a little recreation. And hey, there's Harmony! The two ducked into an empty office for some desktop sex, but before Spike could "fully appreciate" the experience, Harmony was possessed by an evil spirit and threw him off of her. Miffed but unharmed, Spike took off after a chalice that was supposed to grant "shanshu" to the vampire with a soul. Only there were two of them now, and it was a furious race between Spike & Angel to reach it first. Spike won but was disappointed to find that the prize was a prop chalice full of Mountain Dew. Still, when she final battle loomed, Spike seized the chance to recite some of the poetry that earned him the name Bloody at an open mic night, then faced down the demon hordes at Angel's side.

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