Swathed in black, platinum coif gelled to perfection, James Marsters is every inch Spike, the ultra-cool, punked-out vampire he inhabits on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Until he opens his mouth, that is. For it is then that you realize that James speaks not in the snarky British cadences of his character, but in the kickback tones so familiar to his hometown: Modesto, CA. "I don't fit in in Modesto very well, I'm a sore thumb there, big time," James says of visiting his old digs. "They just know I'm a freak, man. I'm a dyed blonde, with rough clothes, sometimes I wear chains. It's high school all over again, basically."

James is holding court at posh Pasadena eatery Il Fornaio, where The WB's finest have gathered to chat it up with TV critics. Just like his flamboyant character, the chatty James is the center of attention, attracting gaggles of reporters (and starry-eyed admirers) all through the night. The burning question on everyone's mind: what's going to happen now that diabolical Spike has a thing for the lovely Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar)?

"Oh, man! I'm gonna make her knees weak, I swear to God," laughs James. "If I have my way, I'm gonna rock her world. I don't know. I have stopped myself from asking Joss what's going to happen. I don't want to know, frankly, because Spike doesn't know, and I don't want to play the end in the beginning. Or maybe there's no end, maybe she's just going to get away from me. But I think that there's a lot of meat anywhere we go."

Indeed. Though James doesn't know exactly what will happen between vampire and Slayer, he does offer a few speculative scenarios. "If Buffy rejects me to the point of me wanting to kill her, that is wonderful. If she doesn't reject me and I decide to embrace good for the love of Buffy, that's also very interesting, there's a lot there," he says. "If we just keep it where it is, that's very interesting, very funny. I could go on a maniacal rampage through Sunnydale and kill Xander because she pissed me off, you know? I'd like to kiss her again, maybe in a fantasy sequence."

The last time I chatted with James, we had a ball dishing on all things X-Files. Has he been keeping up with all of the Scully/Doggett action this season? "I haven't seen it," he admits. "I'm still an X-Files fan, but I haven't seen it. I used to watch it with an ex-girlfriend and she broke me up with me."

Ah -- bad memories, then.

Even though he's not watching the Files, James is keeping up with another non-Buffy pastime -- singing. Expect to see him back at Santa Monica club 14 Below sometime this month. "I was just rehearsing a couple of songs for that today, actually," he says. "I've got a couple of originals, but I do Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen. I really like wordsmiths, and it's really embarrassing to follow up one of their songs with your own."

And as always, James reiterates his desire to duke it out once again with that soulful vamp who has been mentor, friend and enemy to Spike -- Angel (David Boreanaz). "I would love to go back to Angel," he says. "David and I work so well together. I've seen him in the trenches, when it really mattered, deliver so consistently."

He chuckles to himself, recalling one such instance. "I always tell this story, but it's so David," he says. "He broke a 2x4 with his head. He was doing a stunt on a wire, and it went a little bit wrong -- he got ripped through a bunch of lumber and broke a 2x4 with his head. And everyone's like, freaking out, and he just gets up and goes, 'Wow! Alright. Let's go.' And they're wanting to make a big thing out of it, and he's like, 'No, I'm OK. Let's just go.' I was like, 'That guy's cool.'"

And speaking of "that guy," Mr. Boreanaz himself is also on hand at Il Fornaio -- and he is indeed a vision of cool. Decked out in a brown coat rather than Angel's standard pitch black fare, David is suffering from the flu, but still manages to field questions like a pro (and look quite slick and Angel-like while doing so).

He says that he's pleased with the new, darker direction our Angelus seems to be taking these days (firing his pals, going after Darla and Drusilla). "I think that he's definitely on a road to destruction, this character," he says. "How it's going to pan out, I can't really tell you, but I know it's gonna be dicey. He's going to be on his own for a while. But he'll see that he's got to go back to his family, his group of people that were helping him."

David also echoes the sentiments of many a fan, saying that Angel has truly become its own deal this year -- though it's still evolving. "I think we've established ourselves this season as a show that can stand on its own," he says. "I mean, I look at Buffy's second season and I go back to that time when it was still growing, and we're still growing."

One thing you probably won't be seeing, according to David -- more Angel karaoke. "They always give me these high-pitched songs," he chuckles. "I can't sing those songs!"

As for his upcoming flick, Valentine (opens Feb. 2), David says that the whole experience was a blast. "Being able to work with [director] Jamie [Blanks] and, you know, four beautiful women was just fantastic," he says. "I [play] a sportswriter -- it was a lot of laughs. He gets involved with five women that are, unfortunately, being killed left and right. It kind of turns into this romantic thriller between me and Marley Shelton's character."

Wait a second -- did the man who breathes life into Angel's tormented soul every week just make a reference to...laughing? Well...yes. In fact, David even admits to pulling a prank or two on the set of Valentine. "There's no way you would live life without having a good time," he says. "I mean, I'm a big laugher, it's pretty hard for me to control my laughing."

Uh huh. You heard it here first, people -- Spike may get all of the good jokes on Buffy, but Angelus is the true comedian.

--Sarah Kuhn is an aspiring karaoke diva.