This story takes place in the year 1880, shortly after Spike is made a vamp, as per the ep "A Fool In Love", from season 5... It answers the q of just how exactly Spike got his name...

William was a man of his times, to be certain. He just wasn't a very good one.

He'd fallen in love with a woman who epitomized the ideals of his contemporaries. Poise. Beauty. A certain standoffishness that was often called "an air of aristocracy". Well-bred, well-educated, well-mannered (as far as ettiquette was concerned, anyway). Cecily was a jewel well out of his reach.

WAS. Not anymore.

William had strived at, but never achieved, being all that a man of his times was expected to be. Intelligent -- well, all right, that, at least, he succeeded in. Otherwise, he failed miserabley at being charming, dashing, witty, graceful. He was too sweet, too gentle, too honest.

One day all that changed.

Well, not all of it. He was still blindingly honest. Still honorable, oddly enough.

He'd lost all traces, however small they might have been, of the two of the traits that would have served him well had he sought to join high society: cowardice and self-centeredness (he was still selfish, to be certain, but Dru was now the center of his universe, not himself). What little deceit there might have been in him; although that would have served him in his new role well.

It was as if becoming a vampire had been a long sought-after key, one that unlocked a dark nature deep inside him. Or perhaps it had never been there before, was only newly installed. In any case, he was now closer than ever to being all the things a man of his times was expected to be, if not spoken of in such terms. Strong. Cruel. Sarcastic. Sadistic. Lewd. Deadly. Cunning. He also developed an astonishingly large ego when he'd once been sure he had none. And had become utterly charming.

All these things were a gift from his very new love, of just a few days or so, Drusilla. She'd killed him, and in doing so gave him a new lease on life. No one was more surprised than him at how quickly he became acclimated to this new existence, one that was almost a polar opposite of what he'd once been. He was eager to show off to his friends. But not even he was sure if he meant his old ones or his new ones.

"There's a party tonight, love. Wanna go? There'll be lots of tasty snacks..."

Drusilla giggled. William had quickly adapted the slur of an unsavory in his speech. His total transformation from dainty poof to dark prince was her finest work yet; she was very proud of him. "Will I get to meet all your friends?"

He grabbed her by the waist and drew her in close. "Intimately."

Luckily he'd recived an invitation for this party before he'd died, one that also stated he could bring a guest of his choice. There was none of the nasty unpleasantness of trying to find a way around the "must be invited" clause in the vampire rulebook. He was worried for a moment when they were stopped by the doorman, but he'd managed to clean himself up enough that he was "passable". It wasn't unusual for some of the guests to be a bit disheveled, especially if they had been drinking before even arriving. The man sniffed disapprovingly when Will refused to let him take his coat.

A number of the guests regarded him and his escourt with distaste. He wasn't sure if that was simply because of how he looked or who he was. He didn't really care; he was after a particular prey tonight, a herd of fine deer amidst rabbits that would barely whet his appetite. Dru eyed the rabbits mournfully as they passed, but he assured her the main course would more than make up for having to pass up the hors d'oerves.

And then his keen new eyes espied them. They were huddled out in the sun room, fine stags trying to win the attraction of succulents does.

His grip tightened about one of the long bits of metal in his coat pocket. He could almost feel his eye teeth fighting to grow. Not yet. He didn't want to scare his prey away by making the wolf's presence known prematurely.

As he approached, one stag on the farther side of the circle spotted him. "William!" The group turned as if one entity, a mix of surprise and disgust on their collective faces. His former love looked especially like she was viewing a duel or a bad carraige accident; she obviously wanted to look away, but was too curious to stop staring.

"We thought you'd been robbed and dumped in a gutter!" one of the women laughed. "Guess they forgot to make sure you were dead first!" added her male companion. "Who's your friend?" asked another man, who eyed Dru like he was sizing up a whore for sale.

The third man was the one who'd told Will that he'd rather have a railroad spike through his head than listen to William's poetry... This was the man's birthday party.

Dru spoke to Cecily. "Aren't you the sad one? You let pretty William get away, and now I've caught him, and won't ever let him go!"

Cecily gave the strange girl an incredulous look. "HIM?!? You can HAVE him, dearie!"

Dru pouted. "I'm not a deer, I'm a wolf. YOUR the deer..."

William realized he needed to get things moving before she vamped out prematurely. "Thomas, I can't stay long, I just came to give you your gift."

Thomas snorted. "A gift? Please tell me you didn't bring a coin you found on your little excursion in the gutter!" The other deer laughed, Cecily loudest of all.

William smiled unpleasantly. "Well, I was going to write you a poem, but then I remembered that you don't LIKE my poetry. Said you'd rather have a railroad spike in your head, as I recall." William pulled a spike from his pocket.

The deer laughed, granting William a bemused look. This was most unlike him! They were intrigued.

Thomas laughed with them, and shook his head. "Who are you? You couldn't be our dull little William!"

William smiled. And drove the spike right through Thomas's ear.

"You're right, I'm not."

He turned to face the rest of the circle, deer that were to frightened to move. "I'm SPIKE!" He told them with a predatory grin. He turned back to Thomas's corpse on the floor. "'Appy birthday, bloke!"

Dru clapped happily. "Oh, Bravo, Bravo!"

The does screamed and fainted. The stags tried to leave, but Dru and Spike quickly caught and subdued them, knocking them all out cold in the process.. The rest of the drugged and drunken revelers, outside the room, were oblivious. Spike closed the door and locked it, to make sure it stayed that way. Dru pulled out the rope she had under her skirts, and they began to tie everyone up. They ripped strips from the does' fine gowns to gag them all.

The herd began to revive. One of the does began to faint again, but Dru slapped her awake. "Naughty, naughty, it's rude to nod off during a performance!"

Spike gave Dru an affectionate kiss on the head. He pointed to her and addressed the herd. "I love this gel! SHE appreciates me! SHE knows artistry!" He pulled out the spikes he had stored in his coat. "Well, YOU will all learn to appreciate my art tonight."

He began reciting poems he'd written when he was still alive. As he did, he rammed the spikes through one eardrum of each member of the herd, but not far enough to kill them. Cecily he left alone. "Now, shall I finish the job, so you won't have to hear my awful poetry anymore -- or the screams of your friends, for that matter?" he laughed. "Or shall I let Dru here have a snack?" He began to recite again.

"Oh she's a rare one,

my carnivourous belle

That's how she likes her meat,

uncooked, my queen of Hell..."

"Well, I don't see why we cant have our cake and eat it to!" He shoved a spike into the other ear of one of the does, so she was completely deaf. "Go ahead, love!" he told Dru.

Dru squealed with delight. "'E's such a gentleman! Ladies first!" And she sank her teeth into the doe.

Spike made the rounds of the group, ridding the herd of their remaning eardrums. Again, all save Cecily.

He knelt before her, and forced her to look at him. "I think I'll give you a kiss..."

He took her in his arms almost tenderly, and pressed his lips to her neck. As he drank her, he reflected that his first (and lets' face it, last) kiss with her was far more intoxicating than even HIS imagination had come up with. Yet Dru's had been far sweeter still.

He didn't kill her. He stopped and pulled back. Cecily gave him a look of utter hatred.

"Don't you understand, Cecily? I can make you live forever! Your beauty preserved for eternity! What could THEY --" he gestured to the fallen stags "-- give you to equal that?"

He removed the gag. She spat at him. "You're a MONSTER!"

His eyes grew cold. From them she could feel the chill of death sweep over her. "Am I? No more than you or your friends, my dear, with your snide remarks, your cutting twists of phrase, your petty entertainments. Don't think words can't kill, my dear. She," he gestured to Dru, who was now feeding on her third victim, "may have ended my mortality, but YOU killed me."

He considered her a moment. "You once said I was beneath you." He pushed her back against the ground and straddled her. "Looks like it's the other way 'round t'me."

"Now I'll ask you again. Do you want to live with me forever or die?"

"I cannot bear to look at your face NOW, nevermind eternity!"

He sighed. "That can be arranged, y'know?" And he drove his last two spikes deep into her eyes.