~*-*~

"Where do you want me to start? There's "long story" and then there's stories like mine that start over a century ago."

"Oh don't worry, got nothing else to do right now."

Damn. I was hoping I could get out of the long story. Well, they didn't need to know everything. I plan to leave out the majority and just give them the facts. How I got here basically. Surprisingly, that's a long story in itself.

"Well, I'm William, better known as Spike."

"Spike? As in...?"

"As in William the Bloody, Scourge of Europe."

Wesley's sighing. I wonder if he had to do a case study on me too...

"Listen, it's best I do this without interruption. I'm about to condense a century into a few minutes; I could do with continuity."

"Sure."

Cute girl.

"What did I just say about interruption? Right then. Spike. I'm a vampire. A bloody good one, no pun intended, and I'm old. Not as old as our precious Angel, but above average. After all, average vamp gets dusted in less than a decade. I was sired in 1880. Which I believe gives me the right to say I'm old. I'm English and I didn't lose my accent after travelling around for a few years unlike *some* people. So, what's the official stint? "Sired in 1880, Childe of Drusilla, Childe of Angelus..."

"Whoa. Spike? Did you say you're Drusilla's kid?"

Interesting. Warrior has more information on me than I thought...

"Well, Childe yes, I wouldn't quite go as far as saying I was a goat... You know her?"

"Know her? Lost my job over her and Darla."

Oops.

"She was here then?"

"Still is. Something about not straying far from Daddy."

Well that's just fantastic isn't it? Stays in California, and not so much as a peep. It would be nice of her to drop in, say hello once in a while. Actually, possibly not. I know her, and she'd be able to smell the Slayer all over me. Her reaction would be less than desirable.

"So... you're saying Drusilla's still here in LA, and Angelus hasn't dusted her yet?"

"*Angel* says he couldn't do that to her. Blames himself..."

"And then starts on the brooding trip I suppose Watcher? Not surprised. She is his fault."

"Well, of course she's his fault. He sired her."

"Not exactly Fred. Yes, he sired her, but he didn't just do that. He made her insane. She would sing her stories at me for the hundred years we roamed together. Angelus was obsessed with Dru. Stalked her, followed her everywhere, killed her brother and sisters and left them in her bed, killed her parents right where they ate. She started going nuts and the nanny put her in a convent, before Angelus killed the nanny too. But once Angelus starts something, he doesn't stop. Killed every single nun in the place right in front of her and then turned her. Dru was a normal girl once. Now all she does is sing that song about blackberries. Shame really. Then I wonder if I would have loved Dru as much were she sane. I really don't know."

"Wait a minute, loved her? Don't tell me you screwed with each other too! Man you vampires are weird."

"She may have been my sire, but we were still together. Until Angelus came back in '98. Took her away from me..."

"Now Angelus slept with his Childe? What's with you people and the incest?"

"They're vampires Gunn. There are demons that can survive in a pretty chaste manner, but vampires can't. Of all the demons, they are ones with a very finely tuned sexual prowess. Heaven forbid you combine a vampire with incubi. Hate to think of the consequences..."

"Nicely put Watcher."

"You're welcome."

"Wow. He really was as much of a monster as Holtz said."

"Indeed he was Little Poof. He's all smiles and sunshine now I assume. Shiny little soul and all."

"Erm... hate to interrupt you *again*, but why are you here? Please continue."

"Oh right. So we travelled across Europe, got the nickname."

"No you didn't."

"Excuse me Watcher?"

"I read all about you whilst training to be a Watcher. You got the nickname Spike from your killing methods. Don't deny it."

"I was referring to us being the Scourges or Europe... As for Spike, yes, I did get that from killing people with them. But I haven't killed anyone like that since I left England in 1887."

"You're evil."

"Hello? Vampire. Yes I know. Not proud of it, but that's what I am now. I can't change that. I'm evil. Devil spawn. Happy? I hate to remind you of this but your father was worse than me. *Much* worse. So, we went across Europe killing as we went. We were a foursome of death. I loved it at the time. Darla, Angelus, Drusilla and I. Had so much fun, well, as much fun as you can have being dead. Angelus was never all too fond of me, and although Darla was his senior, he was in control of us all. He looked after all of us, and he instructed us, told us what to do. Didn't like me all too much most of the time. I was stubborn. A threat to his authority. After all, he'd spent so much time with just him and his girls. We had different killing styles really. He dealt in pain, mental kind. I was never much for that. Fight, feed and move on."

I could see the look of shock on their faces. My word, even Dawn wasn't this scared when I told her stories. Especially Fred. She seemed so upset.

"Don't worry Fred. This is Angelus I'm talking about, completely different. Angel wouldn't do anything like that again."

"I beg to differ."

"Oh really Watcher boy? Care to explain?"

"No, not really."

"Well then, I'll continue. Travelled across Europe on our way to Russia, and we ended up in Romania in 1898. We planned on returning to Europe for the war. It was brewing and we knew it would start. Just didn't know when."

"Wait a minute, The War? Like, World War One?"

Eurgh. Wesley was clearly thinking likewise. We exclaimed in unison:

"Your generation has no idea of history..."

It's true, they don't. I mean how many wars started the first half of the 20th century?

"Well, I don't really think I need to tell you the story of what happened in Romania. We all know how that turns out. It ends up with Dru and I being abandoned with *Darla* of all people. She's not the nicest of people you know... especially when her Angelus was taken from her. We had to do whatever she said. And she wanted to go to China. The Boxer Rebellion, 1900. I didn't want to go. Who would want to bother going all the way to China when we could cause trouble in Europe? But if Darla wanted to go, we had to. No choice involved. The only person who could overthrow her command was The Master... and he wasn't showing up anytime soon. I didn't want to go to China. Well, until I got there of course and found out what was waiting for me."

"What?"

"A girl."

"A girl?"

"Not just any girl. One girl in all the world chosen to fight me and my kind."

"A slayer?"

I can feel the smile creeping across my face every moment. I can't help but think of China and smile.

"A slayer. My first."

They all looked so puzzled. Apart from Wesley. I assume he knows all anyways. They always do. I sometimes think that the Watcher's Council know more about me than I do...

"Well I can imagine that she didn't kill you cause you're still here."

"No Fred, she didn't kill me. We did fight. Fought hard too. Fight to the death. Her death. I killed her. And believe me, that's quite a feat. Very rarely can a vampire say that they killed a slayer. Slayers usually die averting apocalypses. But against a single vampire? Very unusual. That's when I was truly accepted as a Master Vampire. Being from the master line was all well and good, but you had to prove yourself. That's when I did. Angelus caught up with us in China. Except I now know that wasn't Angelus. It was Angel who met us there. Darla never told us until after he left us again. Afterwards we travelled around, and after we hit the USA in the Thirties, Darla met up with The Master and stayed with him. Then onwards it was just me and Dru. By this time of course we were strong. So strong in fact, that we didn't fear anyone or anything. We had the guts to hang about in Germany during the Olympics in '36. Except we didn't get out and ended up hanging about during the war. That's what separated me and Dru from the rest. We stayed and helped. Other vampires revelled in the murder of all those people, we didn't. We preyed on Storm troopers purposefully. Got people out of concentration camps. Dru understood the orphans, she did. Cause the same thing happened to her. Back then, we weren't vampires doing the work of evil, we were English. And we were helping. Like I said, we weren't in the game for the torture, and none of those people deserved that. See? I'm not quite as bad as you all thought am I?"

"Saving a few lives in a war doesn't make you a saint. You still killed a lot of people."

"I know, Poof Jr. And I'm sorry. But I killed to eat. I killed to survive. I'm more of a man than a monster, and I know it. But anyway, I digress. Dru and I wandered the globe and ended up in New York in 1977 after the Jubilee. Which is when I came up against a third slayer."

"Whoa whoa whoa. Third? What happened to the second?"

"Don't like to talk about her. Found her in Switzerland 1954. I was minding my own business and everything. I just went to watch the World Cup. That's my one weakness, my passion for football. I've seen every World Cup you know? Live and all. What can I say? I've never let sunlight bother me too much. Crowded stadiums are great, especially world class ones. They're always roofed. And even if they're not, the crowd helps keep sunlight out anyway. We would only miss the midday kick offs, when the sun was at the top of the sky. I have a deal with the sun. I stay out of its way so it stays out of mine. We're cool. As for the Swiss slayer, I fought her, but I got complacent. I'd beaten the last one I'd come up against, and assumed this would be just as easy. She nearly got me you know, if Dru hadn't been there. Knocked her unconscious. Dru wanted to finish the job, but I wanted to watch the game. So we left her there to go and wait for kick off. She didn't die, we know that much. Cause on our way out of town we saw her again. I promised myself not to make the same mistake again. And I didn't. Which is how I left the third one dead too. And of course, that made me legendary. Two slayers. That's why people like old Wesley here had to study me."

"I suffered studying you. It was the only exams I failed."

"I'm so terribly sorry."

"As you should be."

My antics had made even more people suffer. Great.

"But that's not what you need to know. You want to know how I ended up here. I made mistake number one of being too open in Prague, 1996. The moment it was discovered that vampires were around, the town were in went nuts. It was a witch-hunt. Well... vampire hunt actually. And the mob found us. Nearly killing Dru. So I took her to the one place I thought could heal her and make her better. Mistake number two. I went to Sunnydale. Why Sunnydale? Because it was on a Hellmouth, and Hellmouths have healing powers for evil things like Dru. And because Sunnydale had a Slayer. I wanted a third one on the tally."

"Buffy."

"Buffy? The blonde one who died? And then came back from the dead?"

"That's the Buffy, Fred. I came to Sunnydale to kill her."

"And you didn't succeed, obviously."

"No Gunn, I didn't succeed. She's still alive."

"But you're not dust."

I've always wondered this. I know that one of us should have walked away from each other dead or dust. But we were both alive and kicking... well, kicking at least.

"Now I don't know how much of this Angel's has told you..."

"We know how Angelus was released and what he did."

"Yeah. Well, Angelus was back and wanted to end the world. I didn't want him to. So I joined teams with the one person I wanted to kill. Buffy and I made a pact that I would help her fight Angelus if she would let Dru and I skip town. So she did. As you can understand I was getting pissed that Angelus kept taking advantage of me being in that wheelchair."

"Wheelchair?"

"Buffy dropped an organ on me."

"She's strong."

"Yeah."

"And she ended up making a pact with you?"

"Yeah."

"And you agreed, even though she was not only your mortal enemy, but also dropped an organ on you and left you in a wheelchair?"

"Yeah."

"Dude, you're crazy."

"Saved the world didn't I?"

"Suppose..."

"Anyway. Buffy averted the apocalypse. Sent Angel to hell. Dru and I left for Brazil. But things were never the same after I helped the Slayer. Dru cheated on me. She cheated on *me*! *Me*! With a chaos demon no less! Not that I'm still bitter over it. I've moved on. But a chaos demon! I mean, I'm more attractive than those things, with the antlers and the gloopy slimy muck all over them... No really! Fred, you'd go for me over a human reindeer hybrid covered in muck right?"

"Erm... yeah, I suppose so."

"Thank you! Lousy bitch... walk out on me why don't you. But I'm not mad. Not mad at all."

Wow. I can't believe all those feelings came out again. I thought I was over her, I mean *really* over her. I suppose I'm not. I still love Buffy with my whole being but there will always be a part of me devoted to Dru. Forever more.

"I still don't see, Spike, how this story ends up with you here."

"Oh, sorry Watcher Boy. I went back to Sunnydale. Cried a bit. Left again to find Dru after I got my rocks back. Found her. Tied her up. Tortured her until she loved me again. And things were peaceful between us for about a year, until she ran off with a fungus demon. Apparently I was tainted by the Slayer. I wasn't evil enough anymore. Then I had really had enough. Cause you can love someone from the pit of your stomach, and yet still not be able to take it. So I did what I always did to dull the pain. I set out to do something. Kill the Slayer. By now, though, she was tough, and I knew I needed an upper hand. So I set out for The Gem Of Amarra. I knew it existed. I just had to find it. And I did. And I fought Buffy in sunlight. I saw sunlight for well over a day, and it was beautiful. When it came to fighting Buffy, she got the ring off me, and sent it to LA. To Angel. So I chased after Angel. And ended up skewering him for it."

"Skewering him?"

"I tortured him, for hours. That was the last time I saw him, and I was hoping that he had forgiven me enough for me to be here... but since he's not here... I'll assume that it's all passed. Water under the bridge and all that. Then I returned to Sunnydale after Angel destroyed the ring. And I was captured and received the new name of Hostile 17."

"Hostile 17?"

"I was captured by the Initiative and castrated."

"Castrated?"

"They put a behaviour modifying chip in my brain. Meant that I couldn't attack humans without getting a migraine the size of Texas.

"You know I come from Texas... sorry. That wasn't the point of the story. Go on."

"The chip is redundant now anyways. I'm not killing you by choice."

Gunn sighed.

"How very comforting."

"So I went to the one place I always do when I don't know where else to go."

"The Slayer?"

"The Slayer. Giles took me in for a while, then Xander, and I finally got a place of my own. I could fight demons and such, and I had a passion for the kill so I'd help them out as a demon killer every so often in exchange for cash. Needed a few bob to keep my nicotine habit alight, no pun intended."

"Oh I get it. You helped them out for cash, kinda like us here."

"Exactly. I've been doing that for the past 2 years and more. Except something happened, I don't really wanna go into it, and I had to go and find something. So I left Sunnydale."

"When?"

"Last summer. I left to find something and I ended up in Uganda. I completed some trials set by a demon and I got what I was looking for."

"What were you looking for Spike?"

"Oh God. I didn't really think about talking about this. But I went to Africa... and the demon returned my soul." Plus other things, but I *really* don't want to go into that...

Silence. I think this is a good silence. A silence I'm going to interrupt anyway.

"And I couldn't, I can't cope. I wanted to find Angel. He did this and he lives day after day with this pain, and I can't bear to be alone. I need him. He's the only one who understands. And you don't know where he is..."

"I can't believe the same William the Bloody I studied for years went and got a soul of his own volition."

"I can't believe I did either. But since Angel's not here, I was wondering if I could hang here. I could sleep on the couch or something..."

"Couch? Hell man, we have like a thousand rooms. Take one."

That's the best news I've heard all day. I just need rest really. Talking has worn me out. But I don't want to sleep. When I sleep the nightmares come. And that's bad.

"Well, vampire, remember. So I'm going to hang about the clubs for the next few hours, kill things and stuff, and crash here before dawn. Is that alright?"

"I think that should be alright. There are some spare rooms on the third floor. There's blood in the fridge. We'll talk some more in the morning."

"Thanks Watcher, Warrior, Fred, Mini-Poof. For everything. Say... you don't have a spare axe do you?"

~*-*~


Author's Note: I'm not exactly the biggest AtS fan, but I watch it pretty often. Just wanted to know from the huge AtS fans - do you think I've got their characterisation right?

I've finally got the rest of the story in my head now, all that I need is to get it down on paper... well screen.

I understand now what people talk about when they say reviews make them write more. It's true. Reviews are like inspiration, they give me a happy. If I continue writing like I have been this weekend, the next chapter should be up tomorrow. Yay! So thanks to all who've given me feedback. I love you!