If I should die before I wake - Novel version: Anytime I want it
by Gaius Petronius
"If I Should Die Before I Wake"
by Gaius Petronius

DISCLAIMER:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on
the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox
and Mutant Enemy, Inc. I only borrow them, mess with their heads,
make them cry and, every once in a while, torture them. I do lay
claim to the character of Johannes Martel since he is the central
character in an original novel I've been working on now for too
many years.

Spoilers: BtVS season two. Originally written in script format
during the spring of 1998, "If I should die before I wake"
is the sequel to my first Buffy novel, "Carpe Diem."

Rating: PG for violence and language."

* * * * * * * *

"But in the grey of the morning,
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose."

The Moody Blues, "Question," 1970

* * * * * * * *

"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Anonymous child's prayer

* * * * * * * *

Chapter 7 - "Anytime I want it"

"Try it again, love," Spike said calmly encouraging
Drusilla.

"It doesn't work!" Drusilla snarled as she tossed
her long dark hair off her shoulders.

Angelus and three other vampires stood at the far end of the
conference table watching. The soulless but now clothed body of
Johannes Martel sat in the central chair with two burning candles
at opposite ends of the table. The young telekinetic's eyes were
open but there was no wakefulness to his features. He was cast
in a pallor not so much of death as of someone frozen in time
with a sadness etched deeply into his face. Again, Drusilla slowly
waved her hands in mid air. Her twisting motions were not directed
towards Jonathan but rather at an empty chair set aside by the
end of the table. She appeared to be trying to coax the piece
of furniture into motion.

"The spells are all correct and in place," Spike
said with a touch of excitement in his voice as he spotted the
deep glow emanating from Drusilla's eyes, "Reach out now,
Pet. Ask the wizard nicely one more time."

"Johannes, this is your love, your fiance, Drusilla,"
the vampire whispered to the empty body next to her. Her hands
swept up and down first his face and then around his shoulders
and down his naked waist.

"You remember me," she hissed as her teeth nicked
the bare skin on Jonathan's neck, "We always shared everything.
Well, I need you to share with me just a little of your powers.
I'd like to move that chair. Will you help me pleeeeze,"
the last word she let slide out like a snake slithering from between
her lips.

Drusilla gazed at the empty chair at the end of the table as
she stretched out her hands. Her fingers trembled in the air while
her eyes bulged as if they were exuding the souls of the tormented
writhing in Hell itself.

Spike grinned with anticipation. He couldn't help but feel
the excitement stirred by expectation.

"Reach out, Dru!" he almost shouted, now swept up
by Drusilla's suggestive swaying "Search for his mind! Grasp
the source of his power!"

"Bippity, boppity, boo!" Angelus snickered from the
corner of the conference room.

"Shut up, Angelus!" Spike snapped.

"Spike! . . . It's there . . . I can feel it! It's there!"
Drusilla cried out, her voice trembling

Drusilla now glowered at the chair, her eyes blazing with the
building demonic fire. She waved her hand as if commanding the
inanimate object to approach and bow in subservience. The wood
of the chair shivered and then slowly slid towards her.

"Fabulous, love!" Spike exclaimed, not quite believing
what he saw. "You've got it! Don't lose your concentration!"

"Wow, I'm impressed. Musical chairs." Angelus smirked
in spite of his own growing fascination with Drusilla's transformation.

"Oh, Spike! It's wonderful!" she breathed heavily,
her chest heaving in ecstasy, "No wonder Johannes wanted
to keep it all to himself. It's better than my harvesting!"

"Dru, I'm hurt," Angelus said in a mock pout, "I
was your first. How could you say that!"

"Oh, Angelus, darling, if you could only feel it!"
Drusilla exclaimed, her body now waving back and forth as if it
were held firmly and enveloped in the grip of a continuous surging
ocean tide. She closed her eyes and turned her head up towards
the ceiling, all the while drinking in the flow of new strength
sweeping around her body and finally pouring into her.

"All the power he has at his command!" she suddenly
cried out as her figure stiffened, her chest and hips thrust forward
and her hands thrown wildly towards the ceiling. "It's mine
now! All I have to do is take it anytime I want it!"

"Kinky, love!" Spike smiled appreciatively at the
same time as his gut felt a new twinge of jealousy.

"I didn't realize jiggling a chair could be such a turn
on," Angelus said, his voice betraying true puzzlement.

"No, Angelus, watch!" Drusilla exclaimed.

She lowered her hand to eye level and gave it a slight twirl
from the wrist. From out of a pile of broken furniture in the
corner of the room a long, sharp wooden dowel rose up. It hesitated
momentarily in mid air and then, as if slammed by an irresistible
surge of energy, flew furiously towards Drusilla. She reached
out to grab it but her reflexes were still dulled from the sensation
created by the power transferal. She missed. The wooden pole struck
one of the vampires stationed on the other side of the room next
to Angelus. The hapless victim exploded into dust.

"Oops!" Drusilla cooed with a huge fang laden smile
as her face morphed.

"You didn't mean to do that?!" Angelus exclaimed
half mocking and half with an eye to the close proximity of the
new pile of vampire particles.

"Not too bad for a first try," Spike nodded with
a grin, appreciating Angelus' discomfort. He turned to the remnants
of the recently dusted vampire.

"Sorry about that," he remarked casually as he quickly
returned his attention to Drusilla, "We'll have to work on
your control, Pet."

"No, Spike! I'm ready now!" she said with a command
in her voice that neither Spike or Angelus had ever heard. Angelus
hesitated momentarily, but Spike smiled as his face morphed as
well.

"Let's do it, love!"

Drusilla turned to Jonathan Martel. Deliberately, she moved his chair
away from the table to face her. In a sweeping motion, she raised
her leg and slid across his thighs to settle down on his lap.
Smoothly, she slipped her hips firmly down against his and began
moving her body rhythmnically as she whispered in his ear.

"Thank you, Johannes! That was sooo good!" she hissed
as her tongue played up and down his face and neck. The body in
her arms remained unresponsive. The light from the candles cast
deep shadows across his face.

"Come, darlings!" she suddenly shouted out in mid
motion, "I feel like partying!" Drusilla jumped back
off Jonathan's lap and swept across the conference room as if
she were still Crown Princess of the Holy Roman Empire. Like a
favored courtier, Spike rolled his wheelchair right behind her.
The two surviving vampires followed as a nervous Angelus took
up the procession's rear. In a moment more, the conference room
was empty save the motionless body of the young telekinetic.

He sat still in the chair where Drusilla had discarded him.
His head was tipped slightly to one side, his long brown hair
disheveled and his blue eyes wide and staring out unseeing.

The only light in the growing darkness of the evening came
from the two candles still burning on the table. As their flames
flickered, they threw Jonathan's wavering shadow across the wall.
In the moving flames, the shadow jerked and twisted in the illusion
of a soul writhing in torment.

* * * * *


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=6314