In SPARK AND BURN, fan-favourite Spike - the other vampire with a soul - takes centre stage. For centuries he was a bloodthirsty scourge of humankind, killing without bias, feeding on whomever (or whatever) came his way. That would all change when Riley Finn and the covert organisation known as the Initiative planted a microchip in his brain which rendered him incapable of harming a human being. As Spike learned to cope with this handicap - the worst a vampire could imagine - he found himself falling in love with the woman who had been his nemesis - Buffy Summers, the Slayer. Their relationship is a stormy one, with years of mistrust between them. But after Spike regains his soul, undergoing terrible trials in the process, he and Buffy come to a kind of peace with one another; and Spike, finally, begins to find peace with himself.