As I entered the WB's press party at Il Fornaio Restaurant in Pasadena California, I immediately noticed that a blond, attractive vampire was lurking in the corner, so I approached him with caution. As the 120-year-old bloodsucker in TV's Buffy The Vampire Slayer, James Marsters has captured the imagination and the hearts of the viewing audience with his amusing, brooding portrayal of the sadistic Spike, a moniker the character received from his history of torturing his victims with railroad spikes.

Marsters, obviously enjoying himself as he greets the members of the media as they pass by, is quick to discuss his total lack of knowledge about Spike's participation in the new season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

"I know absolutely nothing," he laughs. "I'm a fan now. I was only on one episode last year, so I've just been watching the show like everyone else week to week. I'm all caught up in the whole, 'How could Faith do that? I hate her!' syndrome!"

Spike, along with his girlfriend Drusilla (Juliet Landau), entered Buffy Summers' life in season two, following the death, at the Slayer's hand, of the Master. Killing his successor, a boy Spike mockingly referred to as 'the Annoying One,' the vampire elected himself the leader of the group - a position he didn't hold for long. Still gnawing at Spike is that fact that Drusilla became enamored with Angel, Buffy's vampire boyfriend, who was responsible for Dru becoming a bloodsucker herself in the 1800s.

To add insult to injury, Angel, aka David Boreanaz, has now been given his own series!

"I'm going to be on Angel a couple of times," says Marsters. "I can't imagine what I'm going to do on the show except mess with him. I'd like to 'clock' him. I'm going to have to make life very difficult for him because he put me through hell. There's no love lost there. But whatever happens I know it's going to be nothing like I expected, but much better than I imagined. That's what it's like working with Joss Whedon [the series' creator]. This last season when he brought in a new Watcher, I was like, 'Why did they do that to Tony?' [Head, who plays Giles]. He's such a good Watcher. Why have they taken the spotlight off him? But then, as it turns out, the character of Wesley got to be the authority figure so that Giles could be the rebel, and now Giles is breaking all the rules and being Mr. Rebel Coolguy.

"It's such a good move and it's not one that you readily expect. Joss almost wants to tease you. He gives you something that you want, and you halfway think it's going to happen, and then he'll deny it so you keep tuning in thinking maybe you're going to see it."

As for Spike's arch enemy, Marsters has a lot to say, "I hate Angel. I don't want him within 15 miles of Dru. I would like him to go to Hell and stay there. Angel trained Spike and their relationship is very complex. There is a part of Spike that would like to just go and hang with Angel again. Angel was like his dad, so he misses that but, at the same time, Spike wants to smack him."

In the past, the boisterous vampire has been given the opportunity to 'smack' Angel, as he recalls. "They did let David and I fight together and David's a really good fighter. He's a tough guy. In the last episode I did, when Angel is trying to come into the house while I'm talking to Buffy's mom, he got stopped by the force field.

"David had a wire on his back and he's supposed to come charging up and the wire goes taut and he gets yanked back - that's the gag. One time he lost his footing, because the floor on the soundstage was dusty, and he went flying back and broke a two-by-four with his head. He shattered it in the middle of the wood with his bare head and the whole stage went completely quiet, like, 'Oh my God, call a medic.' But the guy gets up, shakes it off and goes, 'Okay, let's go again!' He's a man's man! He played football, so he's used to that physical stuff.

"He'll need it when he's filming Angel in Compton at midnight! His character's a vampire so they have to shoot at night - can you imagine working on that show? The hours? But I want to be on it... I'm a night owl anyway. I don't get up until noon."

In between his stints on Buffy, Marsters worked on the new horror movie The House on Haunted Hill, which he speaks about with pride. "I got to do three days in an elevator with Geoffrey Rush. He is the best actor, and he's so nice. He didn't know me from Buffy. He didn't let on that he knew who I was and I wasn't about to say, 'Hi, I'm on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.' He's Geoffrey Rush! He scares the absolute shit out of me in that movie and then I go away. It's a very small role, but when I heard Geoffrey Rush was in it I said, 'I'll do it.' It's a really good script. On the page it read a lot better than the one that's out now, The Haunting."

As the fourth season of Buffy begins, Marsters is fascinated to see how his character will challenge the Slayer this time - he's also looking forward to working once again with Sarah Michelle Gellar. "She is so cool. She's the best. On the set if you don't have a director's chair with your name on it you end up sitting on the floor and being in everyone's way, which just causes more stress. Neither Juliet nor I had chairs.

"Sarah finally went up to the producers and said, 'Look, these guys have done seven episodes so far, they are going to be in it until the end of the season, can we get them some chairs? I'll pay for them.' I thought that was so classy. She's very intelligent, very strong, very articulate. Basically, she makes 22 one-hour movies a year and she always knows her lines. She's in almost every shot. I can't say enough about her. I like her a lot as a person and as a co-worker. To some people she has a bit of a boundary because she's a big star and people will take from her as much as she's willing to give, so she protects herself because she needs to."

As Buffy, Sarah also needs to protect herself, particularly from Spike, as Marsters warns, "If you're not fighting with Buffy or kissing Buffy, you really aren't in the mix, so I hope to do one or the other this season. A lot of fans want to see the two characters come together. It would be very interesting. But I don't know if her character will be wanting to go out with a vampire after what happened with Angel!"