Spike, also known as William the Bloody, got his nickname due to his penchant for torturing victims with railroad spikes. However, his William the Bloody nick name has less glamorous origins � it turns out that he had the name before his vampire days, as a result of his "bloody awful poetry." William wasn't always a bad boy � prior to being vamped, he was a shy, sensitive, aspiring poet. After getting shot down by the girl who inspired his poetry, he was killed and then sired by Drusilla. Drusilla, of course, was the love of his un-life, until she left him � twice: first for a Chaos demon and then for a Fungus demon. Only 120 years old (using the most recent evidence, "Fool For Love"), Spike has already killed two Slayers. He tried multiple times to kill Buffy, but to no avail (but then again, she didn't kill him either). After being gone for all but one episode of season three ("Lovers Walk"), Spike became a regular in season four, and he's not having any better luck in Sunnydale this time around � thanks to the Initiative, he's got a chip in his head which renders him unable to kill or hurt anything other than another demon (which he does, leaving him unpopular in the demon world). Much to his chagrin, he's not only impotent, but also dealing with a major crush on the Slayer herself. This crush led him to reject both Drusilla and Harmony in favor of the non-reciprocating Buffy, and to have a Buffy sex-robot built to allow him to fulfill his kinky fantasies. Unfortunately for Spike, the real Buffy came across the robot, and took it from him. The combination of the chip and his love for Buffy appears to be having a positive effect on Spike, who is no longer quite the bloodthirsty demon he once was.