!REDUCED! William "Spike" Pratt, played by James Marsters, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Spike is a vampire and played various roles on the shows, including villain, anti-hero, trickster, romantic interest and an unsuccessful aspiring poet in the Victorian era who was mocked and called "William the Bloody" because of his "bloody awful" poetry:
Real love isn't brains, children.
It's blood.
It's blood SCREAMING
inside you
to work its WILL.
I may be LOVE'S BITCH
but at least
I'm man enough to admit it