CHAPTER FOUR: Appearance and Habitat

The Psychology of "Spike"

Introduction

In the course of my studies, I have been able to observe one distinct pattern about William the Bloody, namely, that his appearance varies according to the environments he inhabits and the self-image he wishes to project. This is not altogether surprising. Survival through the ages depends on adaptation. Times change and vampires must evolve with them, if for no other reason than as a survival mechanism. However, over the course of an unnaturally long lifetime, this kind of evolution can be embraced conservatively, with reservations, or with joie de vivre and gusto. In the case of William the Bloody, it is the latter option that pertains.

William the Bloody's evolving appearance is tied closely into the ever-developing mythos of his personality. Moreover, as I shall show below, it is this evolving personality that is one of the "secrets" of his longevity and his success as a notorious slayer of Slayers. William uses his very appearance to fixate attention on his fame as a vampire who has bested Slayers, thus the deliberateness of his dress at this time. No wonder then that his appearance now is quite similar to the way he looked at the time he murdered his last Slayer, Nikki Wood. He believes it is his reputation as a slayer of Slayers that instills respect for him in other vampires and fear in the hearts of his enemies. For him, the clothes or outward appearance symbolize the man.

To show how his presentation of himself has evolved, I plan to present an account of William the Bloody's changing appearances and habitats in a unit organized historically. In this way, we can see how this notorious vampire's appearance and his reputation developed self-consciously over time.

For much of my information, I will rely on accounts of Watchers who have spotted him from time to time in various cities across the globe and demon hunters who have hunted him over the years - always unsuccessfully.

Section I: Two Sharp Points of Origin

There is some dispute in the literature over William's true age, although several mainstream sources place his genesis in the late 1700s. (1) Edwin Marsh, a highly influential scholar and Watcher, describes William thus in his Compendium of Vampiric lives (Marsh, 1977):

Spike: Known as William the Bloody. He earned his nickname by torturing his victims with railroad spikes. He is barely two hundred years old. Spike has fought two Slayers in the last century and killed them both. Do NOT allow his cherubic appearance to mislead you as to his deadly nature. This vampire is known to be particularly manipulative and he fights ruthlessly with no quarter given or taken, often combining his considerable skill with the latest available technology. He enjoys fighting most when the odds weigh heavily against him. He relishes boasting about his deeds to others. Above all, he is willing to do anything to please his consort, the raving Drusilla. (2)

Curiously, however, Marsh musters no evidence to support his conclusion that William is "barely 200 years old". The absence of evidence leads inevitably to the consideration that Marsh is relying on older authorities on this point, not on any first hand knowledge.

After extensive reviewing of the literature, I found a partial answer to this puzzle in a description that Aubrey Gareth provides of "William the Bloody" in the VIIth Volume of his Diary of a Watcher (Gareth, vol.7, 1932).

The vampire is attractive of countenance, with high cheekbones, light brown hair, and a thin and noble face. Yet his face belies his true nature, for he is known to be particularly manipulative and he fights ruthlessly with no quarter given or taken. Indeed, he appears to enjoy the fight most when the odds are entirely against him. He rarely loses an encounter. (3)

The use of the phrase, "[he] is known to be particularly manipulative and he fights ruthlessly with no quarter given or taken," in Gareth is the exact wording that later reappears, unattributed, in Marsh's Compendium of Vampiric Lives (Marsh, 1977 (4)). The repetition of this precise language, and then his paraphrase of the next line, surely no accident, confirms that Gareth is Marsh's main source on this point.

However, it is clear from Gareth's biographical dates, from 1890-1941, that he, himself, could have only encountered William sometime within the twentieth century. Marsh's description of William the Bloody in the 18th century bespeaks an earlier, more authoritative encounter. And so it is, after much research in dusty libraries and the scouring of filthy attics seeking manuscripts hidden in ancient trunks, I believe I have finally tracked down the original source for Aubrey Gareth's description of William the Bloody. And this, in turn, is the source of Marsh's "authoritative" dating of William the Bloody's siring by Angelus in the late 1700s.

Amongst the Annals of the Society of Demon Hunters (Anonymous , vol.11), I found the rumor of a fierce hunter named Holtz, prominent in the late 18th century throughout Europe and Britain. His hunting aide, Bertrand Childe, tells the tragic circumstances of Holtz's life, how Angelus and Darla slaughtered his wife and children, and turned his youngest daughter into a vampire (5). This is what fueled Holtz's personal hatred of Angelus and Darla, so that it became the ruling obsession of his life. Holtz himself writes as follows:

With the world around me now shrunken so that it was entirely dark and cold and joyless, I lived for one purpose alone. Daily and nightly, for months on end, I sought Angelus and Darla, a cat and mouse game of betrayal and flight. And, in Marseilles, in the year of our Lord 1767, by whose eternal grace I still toil, I tracked down the unholy pair through the excesses of their ill deeds and drew near to them once more. And then, at last, I snared them in my net. Yet, once again, through devilish machinations and their joyful betrayal of each other, they wriggled free, like two snakes slithering in the grass before escaping down some dank hole that no one else can discover. Nor did the Gendarmes who accompanied me, provided locally in the name of King Louis XVth, aid me in their recovery. They were ill trained, though much afraid of what we faced that night, I have no doubt.

Angelus and Darla were not alone that night in Marseilles. Angelus had by his side a young man of attractive countenance, high cheekbones, light brown hair, a thin and noble face, such that it was a tragedy, indeed, the man had been deformed to the vampiric state. Angelus taunted the man for loving his lady passionately, for she, too, like Darla, was fair. I make no doubt that these were recently turned vampires, mortal lovers fledged to their unholy state by Angelus and Darla as fodder to amuse and torture. Indeed, in the love and concern they still showed each other, traces of their mortal love lingered on, proving their extreme youth in vampire years. For it is against the nature of a vampire to love profoundly. Love is the sign of Our Lord, never of the devil's works. Amongst demons, love cannot be sustained, only eroded. (6)

It is the second paragraph that is of interest here. We see that Holtz's description of this male vampire in company with Angelus is paraphrased in Gareth's language. It is obvious that Gareth understood Holtz to be referring to William the Bloody and Drusilla. Note further that this is the first mention of a vampire couple sired by Angelus and Darla and in company with them. Can this be the first historical mention of William the Bloody and Drusilla? If it is, then Gareth and Marsh are proven correct in their assumption that William the Bloody is near two hundred years old.

To this, I answer a resounding no, as I now have access to two pieces of evidence that lead me to dispute Gareth and Marsh's conclusion in its entirety. In October 1997, Dr. Fliesning and I traveled to Yorkshire to visit the Reading estate. At Holtz's death, his young sister who had married into the Reading family inherited all of his affects. There, at the Reading estate, Dr. Fliesning persuaded the family to give us exclusive access to a trunk of Holtz's private papers. (7) By the merest good fortune, this contained private correspondence from Bertrand Childe to Holtz. Bertrand Childe was for a period of a few years, from 1766-1772, one of Holtz' adjutant demon hunters. 1772 is the year that Holtz disappeared, presumed slain by vampires and his body disposed of in some unsavory way. Holtz received some of Childe's letters and presumably answered them although we do not possess his responses. The latest letters in the series, however, were never opened, apparently because by the time they arrived, Holtz had already disappeared, his fate unknown. These last letters were preserved among his effects, their seal left intact, unopened until recently. They were sent back to England with the rest of Holtz' possessions in a leather bound trunk, which sat for 228 years in the Reading attic, covered by accumulating dust and debris.(8)

Childe writes from Naples in January 1772, where he pursued Darla after her escape from Rome with Angelus in 1771. To weaken their pursuers' forces, Darla and Angelus chose different roads, Darla went South while Angelus traveled North to Lake Como where he left a trail of carnage through the Italian Alps.(9) Their pursuers were forced to split their small troop in half, which weakened their effectiveness. Childe voyaged south where his small band soon lost Darla's trail. On a hunch, he ended up alone in Naples. And then, long after he had given up hope for his mission and was about to take ship for Dover, he ran into Darla by chance. In the interim, she made rendezvous with the young vampire couple she and Angelus had traveled with in Marseilles.

By the merest good fortune, I spotted my prey carousing through the market place one dark winter's day when the sun stayed hidden and the vampires had emerged early to wreak havoc in the city. She was with two others I recognized--a vampire couple I had seen five years ago, with you, my friend, in Marseilles. I followed carefully behind them until I saw the three of them enter a three-story house with curtains drawn. I spied on the house for hours from late afternoon to evening to night, but no one emerged. The next evening and the next, I tracked them on foot with the utmost care towards my own safety, changing my appearance both day and night so that they would not recognize me and applying various oils and fragrances to my person to disguise even my scent so they could not identify it on the air. Several times, I sat near by them in an inn as they imbibed alcohol and heard them call each other by name, Darla, James and Elizabeth.

Once I witnessed the trio commit murder, a horrible sight. But I was alone at that time and did not care to risk myself at those odds on a deserted lane. It would have meant my own certain death against all three. The police, when I contacted them both before and after the deed, proved both suspicious and superstitious, providing me with no help at all. I have attempted to locate Gibson and Smythe but they have not yet ridden to my aid. My only hope is to find the vampires venturing out on their own and so one by one, pick them off.

In a later letter, Childe adds:

I found a young artist here who draws a credible likeness. His straits are desperate, so he was easily persuaded to accompany me one evening as I tracked the vampires. Also, he did not realize his full danger. He made several good likenesses of them once they settled into a tavern. I include one of the sketches he made of the couple for your records to show you they match your recollection of the couple we first sighted five years ago. The artist seemed much impressed by Darla's looks. I worry for the poor man, as he seemed disinclined to believe what I told him of her doings. I believe he took it into his head that I was a scorned and jealous lover who would not leave the poor woman alone. (10) A romantic. I only hope his foolish notions do not cost him his life. (11)

It is evident from the text of these letters that its subject is not William the Bloody, but rather a young vampire called James. The man in the sketch is handsome with light brown hair and chiseled cheekbones, but it is not William's remarkable face in the charcoal drawing. (12) The look of the woman, too, is entirely different from Drusilla. Elizabeth is fair-haired where Drusilla is dark. Furthermore, there is no report that this vampire is mad or a seer.

Accordingly, this new evidence conclusively disproves Marsh and Gareth's theory that William is over 200 years old. Indeed, there is no confirmed sighting of William the Bloody until 108 years later, in 1880.(13) This is the notorious murder of an American entrepreneur, Mr. Bryan Ganning, and his British mistress, Mrs. Jenny Winston, that so rattled society of its time that it was discussed for weeks in the London newspapers.(14) William earned his moniker "Spike" at this time by driving railroad spikes through the brains of Ganning and Winston and leaving their corpses neatly arranged on the steps of Mrs. Winston's mansion, in plain sight of passersby, or for Mrs. Winston's husband to discover. From then on, we hear of the deeds of William the Bloody, or a vampire it seems reasonable to suppose is him, at fairly regular intervals. There is never a long hiatus between his deeds. Thus, in vampire years, his true age is most likely in the range of 118-140 years.

CHAPTER FIVE: Feeding Habits

Introduction

In this chapter, I attempt a general synthesis of what is known about the feeding habits of the entire vampire species, in order to shed light on the habits of my particular vampire, William the Bloody. This William the Bloody matter lends itself particularly well to the ethology-based approach I have employed. For maximum clarity I have, for this chapter alone, consequently used the style of analysis generally followed in that subdiscipline.

When speaking of vampires, most reputable sources tend to treat them as if they were predators, peculiarly ignoring demonic motivators. I argue that there is a difference between feeding for sustenance, and killing for pleasure (be it robbery, world dominance or the causing of general mayhem). On feeding for sustenance there is a relative wealth of material, as detailed in the final section of this chapter , "General Feeding Habits". I will attempt here to explore Feeding for Pleasure, a more speculative area.

Feeding for sustenance

1. General

I begin by dividing the material at the Council's disposal into three categories:

Actual Observations:

The excellent Database of confirmed sightings of elder vampires (www.CoW.org.uk), Watcher's diaries, Slayer diaries, FBI X-files; Accumulated Data on sub terrestrial Feeding Habits, species 3079 (Walsh & Goldstein)

Speculative:

B. Stoker's Dracula; accumulated works of Elrod, Hambly, Hamilton, Huff, Harris, Simmons, Sizemore, etc.

Balderdash:

A Pointed Autobiography, B. Lugosi (Hollywood Press 1939)

2. William the Bloody-specific data

1. Whilst traveling with the Darla/Angelus troupe

William the Bloody was sired circa 1880 (see chapters 2, 4, and 10), either by Angelus or Drusilla (accounts conflict); all eyewitness accounts and legends firmly place him in the Angelus/Darla troupe until c. 1900, when Angelus disappears completely from our accounts. Darla apparently leaves the troupe circa that same time, and has been sighted in the company of the Master since.

During that period, no specific claims can be made about his individual feeding habits; we simply cannot distinguish individual kills from troupe kills. Accounts are sketchy and unreliable at best; they indicate planning and forethought on the part of the leader (it is unclear whether Angelus or Darla is the true leader; vampires may be either matrilineal or patrilineal). Huge feeding binges are varied by long periods of no (reported) kills. There is evidence of torture and random kills, where many victims were not even halfway drained. Rumors of whole families stalked, tortured, turned or killed for feeding abound, but can unfortunately not be confirmed.

2. Whilst in company of Drusilla

William the Bloody was the amorous companion of the vampire Drusilla (ca. 1850) from 1900 until the present day (1998, last sighting Rio de Janeiro). Most often the pair had great followings of minions, at other times they apparently operated as a duo; occasionally they lived even in an uneasy truce with human beings. William the Bloody's feeding habits appear less exuberant from all accounts during this period; there is less evidence of torture and random kills. Discipline and moderation (in Vampiric terms, that is) seem to be exercised; the goals, I speculate, were easy living and feeding, travel and variation and causing of mayhem and disturbance, instead of torture and terror.

3. Solo

From the fact that at no time until the present William the Bloody has existed alone, we may infer that he/it prefers company to solitude. We have no data on his feeding habits when alone. Our Rio de Janeiro contact unfortunately was killed on duty when gathering data for a continuation of this study.

(N.B. I have requested permission, not yet granted, to travel to Rio de Janeiro to observe and/or interview William the Bloody myself for my post-Dip. research. Recent material [A. Rice, Interview with the Vampire] has given cause to believe that an individual vampire may very well be inclined to give an interview.)

Feeding for pleasure: William the Bloody specific

It has been stipulated that vampires, unlike ordinary predators, gain more from feeding than sustenance and a pleasurably full belly. It is said that feeding generates sexual pleasure in vampires, and in their victims as well. Unfortunately, there has been very little research done to confirm this hypothesis.

The conclusion drawn from chapter 'Preferred Victims', seems to confirm this hypothesis in the case of our William the Bloody. He feeds for pleasure, choosing specific victim types, and mingling his nutritional needs with psychological ones. The methods he uses seem to vary.

1. Feed on the spot
2. Feed and have sex on the spot
3. Lure to dwelling and presumably kill. No data on sexual congress; my assumption is that there would be.

Eyewitness reports

There is actual eye-witness evidence for several feeding occasions.

While traveling with Angelus and Darla; there are no eye-witness accounts for that period. There are several reports from Scotland Yard on victims with damaged throats, but as we cannot even ascertain if they were killed by vampires, we will certainly never know by which ones.

2.2.2

NYPD, 12-11-1983 R. Moscowicz:

"Tanya, Debbie, Ruth and me were going to the disco, and then she went out right away with this punk guy, and I followed her because I was afraid to let her go out on her own, and this guy was, you know, having sex with her against the wall and biting her neck and it looked like she was really enjoying it. And I was embarrassed and I went in again, and we never saw her again! Do you think I could have saved her if I had been braver?"

Sunnydale P.D. 17-10-1997; Bob D., 17:

"Well, dude, Sheila and me and a few guys were going to the Bronze, and I had just stopped to pee ­ is that, like, illegal, man? ­ coz I meant to say blow my nose, like in a Kleenex, and Sheila and Jay and Zack were walking in front of me, when I saw this creepy dude walk up behind them, he was like wearing this cool leather coat, man, and had like eighties hair, and he yanked Zack by his neck and twisted it and just threw him aside, like Superman, and then he did the same with Jay, and then he went to talk to Sheila and she like just went with him, man. She must have been doped to the...I mean, she must have been a little sleepy, I guess.

And then I just went to the Bronze to hang, and I saw some other guys I hang with there, and we had a ball, and then my parents made me go to Parent-Teacher Night, like they were gonna hear anything they wanted, you know what I mean? And then I saw Sheila again, coz she'd been absent, I guess, for a coupla days, and her face was all weird and ugly, and I saw the man with the black coat, too, and his face was all ugly too.

PCP? Is that what people on PCP look like? I don't think so, dude, they just go... Well, if you say so it must be right, dude, I mean, officer."

2.2.3

Clem: (spokesman from Demon Bar, willing to part with this sketchy information for two beers and hot wings)

"He went for the pretty human girls, you know. Who wouldn't? I prefer then less smooth-skinned, but vampires aren't regular demons, they are half-human and have weird tastes. I don't know him personally, but I've seen him around. Usually he just lets his minions bring him food. Yeah, of course I mean people."

General Feeding Habits

From a) and b) we can abstract the following general observations (for stages cf. Definition of Stages in Vampiric Development, N. Bonaparte, New Orleans, 1845)

Feeding habits as

Fledgling	0-2 years
Intermediary development	2-30 years
Master	30-500
High Master (speculative)	500-2000
Ascended (improbable)	(Ascension and/or mating with a Slayer)

Table 1

Status	Feeding (min)	Feeding (max)	Survival rate (victims)
Fledgling	2/3 per night	4 per night	50 %