Spike (born William Pratt) was a famous and widely feared vampire turned in 1880. He was well-known among both humans and demons for having faced and killed two Slayers during his unlife, as well as his history of torturing his victims with railroad spikes. His reputation for evil and bloodshed was second only to that of his grandsire, Angelus. In his human life, William was an unappreciated romantic poet known as William the Bloody for his "bloody awful" poetry; though, after he became a vampire, that moniker was repurposed to imply his violence. After being sired by Drusilla, he reinvented himself and terrorized Europe alongside Drusilla, Angel, and Darla throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.