The big consuming question as to weather spike has a soul or not. My question is does spike, does anyone truly lose there soul when they become a vampire? My argument for the case is I think not. The soul is what makes you who you are, bad or good, for them to retain any of their old characters, which they all do, some remnants of the soul still have to exist. I feel to say a vampire without a soul as Buffy put it is lame.

Now a vampire without a conscience, that is an fairly accurate statement. I will make a case by case basis and let me know what you think.

Darla:

I can never forget Darla in her human form, as she is getting ready to die. She is on her death bed, and the priest is comes to her room to see if she wants repentance. She has no desire for repentance and continues to be adamant. There are no words of oh I'm sorry for what I have done and who I have been. She is just Darla, a prostitute, who's path has lead her to a horrible death of from syphilis. Repentant she is not, and that's what the master sees in her, that's what makes her worthy. When he makes her a vampire the conscience she might have had is pretty much eroded. What's left is the latent side of her, which is suppressed in so many humans. It comes to the front full force in Darla.

Angelus:

He was a drunken, wasteful, noble man. The behaviors we see in Angelus are things he did on a to a lesser degree. He had an instant attraction to Darla and she to him. She had him pegged, she saw the potential inside him. He never really had a great deal of caring or concern for anyone. When he was turned into a vampire all that came forth was the latent that remained burried within.

Drusilla:

Drusilla was sweet, she was the good daughter. But she was also really quit, so we don't know much about her home life. She travelled with her gypsy family most of her life. The slight bursts of insane visions, that she is always having and the rydilic speak she pumps out from time to time, this all seem to be in par with whom she was. She kills for food, but so do we. -Ask any cow or chicken.- Vampires have to have their consciouses subdued. How else could you perform what under other circumstances would almost be an act of cannibalism? We become happy meals with legs. All she did was learn to adapt to new circumstances, loyalty to a new family, where her old one would have killed her.

Spike:

I will never be able to say enough about Spike, so I will try to make it brief. He was William the bloody awful. Laughed at, humiliated, shot down. I believe the desire for revenge against those who treated him like that was always latent. The need to fit in and be something more. Look at the vampire who makes him, Drusilla. They are similar in a lot of ways, and when she chooses, she chooses him. The quite one, but with this rebellious side she must have been able to see into. He offset her perfectly. Their relationship was really good. He would have done anything to save her when she was sick, when she first came to Sunnydale. He was always pretty tender with his pet, and yes, he loved her. Very soul like indeed. Also when Angel wanted to destroy the world, he came to Buffy of his own free will. He did not want to see the world destroyed. He put aside his dislike enough to join with the enemy to save the world. Buffy would have had a hard time fighting Angelus and Drusilla at the same time. That was way before his chip. He let his conscience surface. I don't think they are without, but I do think it is fully suppressed in most vampires. William was always a little sweet and nerdy as a human, but he was this hidden rebel, and when he turned he excelled at food hunting, -us- and slaying, his natural enemyies. (Slayers.) Then there is his relationship with Buffy's mom. From the time they met to the time of her death, they had this special relationship. He is the only would be boyfriend who has taken the time to really know Joyce. I think she would have liked Buffy with Spike. He did all that before any chip. I think the "chip" made him have to be more aware of the "ow " factors of his actions. He is impulsive, he does stupid things, and most of his actions lately end in humor, not carnage. He proved soul worthy long before a chip. What he has been doing lately, due to his love for Buffy, -which has nothing to do with a chip,- is getting in touch with the now latent conscience, and bringing it to the surface.

Vamp Williow:

Willow as a vampire, well that we have seen. "I think I'm a little gay" plus her want for carnage. All we ever see now is sweet Willow Rosenberg, kind, nerdy school girl. If she had been bitten by a vampire, and turned power hungry, and gay, we would have assumed it was because she was bitten by a vampire. We would not attribute the change to her latent qualities surfacing, and her conscince being supressed. She is going to be fully capable, of being this seasons big bad. She is so obsessed with magic, it's scary. It caused her to Abuse Tara of all people, someone she says she loves. Playing with Tara's mind like that. Then after Tara asked her to stop, she did not think twice, about abusing the magic a second tiem. If she became a vampire, all the potential is there now, we would see the "dark" side rise to the surface, that's all it would be.

Giles:

He would become this bad ass version of the ripper, his old high school self. He would smash stuff, and yes he would be evil. He would easily kill to protect his own kind which vampires do. Did we not see him kill a Ben to protect Buffy? He wanted to make sure that Glory would never come back. He smoothered Ben without a second thought, at the end of the episode the gift. That was almost like murder, but when it's done to protect Buffy or the Scoobie gang, it's all good. We have really bad double standards.

Faith:

We don't have to see Faith as a vampire. At the end of high school, Faith with the Mayor. That is what vampire Faith would be like. Faith, no teeth, no lumpies, but what a bitch. And the stuff she was able to do, the lack of conscience she put forth. She did not need to be bitten for that. Should we say she lost her soul? Or did her conscience just go mighty latent? What would faith do differently if she was a vampire? Drink blood, be stronger. She could hardly do worst. We all have the potential to do really bad stuff, faith showed us that.

Wesley:

Now you would have to have seen a recent episode of "Angel" to know what I am talking about, but the men all became brutes. Wesley, sweet, shy, Wesley was no exception to the rule. He showed his dark self up fully. He was mean verbally and physically abusive. That had nothing to do with not having a soul. It made something, primal rise to the surface, and I hate to say it, but I think that was a true depiction of who Wesley could be. yet it's a side he fully chooses to push down, and keeps very latent. A vampire Wesley would be free of that and he could do all the carnage he liked, and no conscience headache the next day.

I could go on and on with this subject, but I think a soul is something they all have. How else could they retain any semblance of the persons they use to be, likes dislikes, a lot of that stays. Conscience is a choice, as is really bad behavior. The need to drink blood for the vampire is not a choice. What's latent rises to the surface, when you are a vamp, and conscience gets pushed down into this hidden place. A lot of people go through life like this, but there are the few, who do not do this. If they changed to vampires we would see a lot of the same, because the latent is already showning on the surface.

Spike Quotes.

Spike tells Angel and Buffy about love in Lovers Walk:

"You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains children, it's blood. Blood screaming inside you to work it's will."

Quote 2.

"I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."