The clock had not yet struck ten when he first saw her, the golden lights of the ballroom making her dark tresses shimmer, as she spun across the dance floor in the arms of a Nephilim Prince. Throwing back her head, she laughed, his keen ears picking out the sound over the chaotic din that filled the room. The prince twirled her toward a towering column draped in golden material, pinning her to it, as he dipped his head to kiss her. At the last moment, she turned her head away, spurning the Prince's advances - all the while her emerald eyes glittered with sultry mischief.
She shouldn't be here.
The Beltane Ball of the Goblin King was notorious for the level of unfettered hedonism that heralded the seven-day celebration - a celebration to which Sarah Williams was most certainly not invited. Few mortals were worthy and even fewer understood the risks of attending such a festival. Yet here she was, twirling through the crowd, the burgundy silk of her dress flaring out around her body, only to curl tightly around her when the spinning stopped, showing off the lithe form underneath.
For the last two hours, Jareth had watched her, drinking his wine, eating his food, dancing with royalty, and boldly teasing Unseelie court members of both sexes. Every time he spied her, she was intertwined with another, sharing flirtatious kisses with the subtle press of her body against theirs. And each time he saw her, she knew it. Her green eyes sought his, teasing the velvet tip of her tongue along her ruby lips - challenging him with a look.
He was a King, he would not stoop to playing her game of cat and mouse. Not this time. This was no longer a ballroom enchanted to fulfill her dreams. This was no longer a distraction from a goal. No, if he engaged her in this time, in this place, he would do so on his own terms and not because Miss Sarah Williams wished to goad him into it.
Jareth did his duty. He danced with nobles and flirted with royalty. He preened and paraded as expected of a king, but all the while his attention sought her out, seething with anger at the very sight of her. As the clock neared thirteen, he lost her in the crowd, a rush of fury flooding him at the thought that she had retreated to an alcove to give into the primal desires guests had been indulging all evening long.
Two could play that game.
Snarling inwardly, Jareth clasped the hand of a Drow Princess, pulling her into the dance without a word - his touch alone enough of an enticement. The dark-eyed princess purred, sliding her body close to his. The open way she gyrated her hips against his elicited a visceral response from his flesh, his cock hardening to throb against her. Purring, she draped a slender arm over his shoulder, then leaned in to nuzzle his ear.
While the princess teased and tempted him with her body, whispering suggestively in his ear, Jareth whirled her through the dancers, her steps matching his as if they had been partnered for years, yet he cared not for the way she matched him. Instead, his eyes flickered darkly scanning the crowd for his errant mortal.
Sarah.
Her very name lit something dark within him, burning with a heat that threatened to consume the last thread of control - both irritating him and enticing him.
As the song ended, he relinquished the Drow to another Unseelie Lord, pausing to take a goblet of spirits from a passing servant. Sipping the fruit-laden drink, his eyes skimmed the gathered revelers. A flash of dark hair and burgundy silk at the edge of his vision, and he found her again.
Sarah….
His manhood throbbed with the want of her, even as his anger at her presence burned through him like a raging inferno.
She was lounging in a cushioned pit of pillows in the middle of the ballroom, an elven courtesan curled next to her. Their jewel-hued skirts were pushed high on their thighs, their legs intertwined in their gyrating dance of desire. Scarlet lips caressed one another, as the two women arched in tandem, exploring the heated depths of their lust. Turning her head, the brunette minx arched her neck, allowing the Vampire on her other side to lean in, dragging his fangs along the column of her throat. Crimson droplets welled into the cuts, only to disappear as he flicked his tongue over the skin, savoring her offering and healing the cuts in one sensual caress.
Draining his goblet, Jareth's pale eyes flickered golden, their shape changing as his vision honed in on the temptress, her own eyes finding his, moments before she dipped her head toward the vampire. Emerald orbs locked to his, as she lightly ran the tip of her tongue over her partner's fang, a ruby droplet hanging from it. The vampire's sultry snarl carried over the noise of the ballroom, setting Jareth's blood boiling through his veins with the urge to see the bloodsucker burst into flame for daring to taste of her, even though she offered her blood freely. Bending over her, the vampire devoured her in a hungry kiss, his fingers threading through her hair to tug her head back, supping of her heated depths.
Jareth's fingers tightened around the stem of the goblet until the fine glass shattered, crystalline shards piercing the thin leather gloves that encased his hand, yet he did not feel the bite of the glass, nor the heat of his blood, dripping upon the floor. Growling, Jareth watched Sarah gave herself up to the kiss only for a moment, before deftly freeing herself from the vampire's embrace. As much as the sight of her in this ballroom infuriated him, he could not help but be impressed by the way she easily freed herself, laughing merrily as the vampire attempted to enthrall her. The sultry sound of her laughter had not died from Jareth's ears before she was out of the cushion pit and making her way into the throng of revelers once more.
Sarah had entered his kingdom without an invitation, flaunting herself and her sensuality. She had taunted and teased him while remaining out of reach. She threw down the gauntlet by her actions, he would be a cad if he didn't accept her challenge - on his own terms.
Reaching the edge of the dancefloor, he reached out, grasping her arm and spinning her around, to pull her against his chest, even as he walked her backward. Semi-sheer golden enveloped their bodies, the rustling sound swallowing her startled gasp.
"Wench… you have some nerve showing up here," he hissed, thrusting her firmly against the wall, his thigh pressing between hers to pin her in place. With heavy-lidded eyes, Sarah smiled at him, arching toward his hand, as he caressed the slender column of her throat. "You've been very naughty, tonight...Precious."
"You have no power over me… your Majesty."
"Think again, little girl."
The fingers teasing her throat slowly traveled upward, to thread into her hair, twisting tight enough to pull, the sensation pleasure bordering on pain. A longing moan rent the air between them, as Jareth tugged her head back, his lips grazing the sensitive flesh at the hollow of her throat. Flicking his tongue into the depression, relished the way she writhed against his thigh. Sarah squirmed, her breaths coming in heated pants, as he kissed his way along her throat with agonizing slowness.
"Bite me," she snarled, struggling against him.
"With pleasure."
His teeth dug sharply into her throat, sucking on the tender flesh until Sarah gasped his name, her head falling back. Leaning up, he captured her gaze, his eyes darkening at the wild look on her face, her lips parted in a sultry pout. Twisting his hand tighter in his hair, he gave her head a sudden jerk, ravishing her lips with his.
Sarah's hands flew up, raking through his hair, trying to wrest control - and failing.
Breaking the kiss, Jareth nipped her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Still smiling, he licked the bite, letting her swollen lips and sex-starved moan imprint themselves upon his own lusts, until it was impossible to tell where his desires ended and hers began.
Jareth fought down the urge to drop any pretense toward her cat and mouse game, but he could not give up her challenge. She started the game… but he would finish it.
"You dress and flirt like a courtesan, let's see if you fuck like one."
Struggling against the steel grip of his hand in her hair, Sarah reached up, sliding her fingers through the feathery wisps of his hair, and dragging his lips to hers. Momentarily surprised at the intensity of her kiss, Jareth growled, releasing her hair, only to fist his hands into the fullness of her skirt, pushing it upward until his fingers met bare flesh. Higher still they trailed, finding no further impediment of fabric. Twisting his hand into the fabric with one hand, his other released the full length of him, dripping with heated lust.
Kissing and biting every inch of his lips and throat she could reach, Sarah scratched is scalp, running her nails down the back of his head and neck, leaving red lines, stinging upon his flesh. Far from dampening his desire, the scratches only inflamed him further.
The sound of tearing fabric was lost amidst the panting of their combined need. With one firm thrust, Jareth drove upward into her velvet heat, welcoming him. Feeling nails down his cheek, Jareth's gloved hand fastened tight around her throat, pressing until her eyes widened, to lock upon his. The force of his thrusts moved her roughly against the wall, each thrust punctuated with the slick sucking sound of her body, gripping him tight.
The feel of her silks caressing his body inflamed and enraptured him, as he lost himself to the feel of her body, pulsing around him, even as she scratched, clawed and bit.
Silken dress. Silken hair. Silken lips. Silken channel. Silk on silk.
The mark of a courtesan.
Pounding thrusts slammed her against the wall, the sound of tearing silk seeming to echo in his ears with each stroke. An ethereal roar, accompanied by a keening cry, rippled through the ballroom. Around them the air shimmered with the power of their lust, as he spilled himself in heated spasms within the silken sheath of her body.
Sarah shivered against him, gasping when another rolling wave of release washed over her.
Without a word, Jareth slid from within her. Waving his hand, his clothing was righted in an instant.
"A gentleman would have fixed my dress and cleaned me up as well."
Jareth's lips quirked in a wicked smile, his eyebrow arching upward as he regarded her. "True. However, I made no claim to being a gentleman. I am King, that is enough."
Sarah tugged her skirt back into place, frowning at the tear up the side of her dress, revealing a swath of tanned leg, from foot to hip. She shifted from foot to foot, the smell of sex clinging to her body, as his mark clung to her thighs.
A single gloved finger traced along her throat, his pale eyes narrowing upon her.
"A courtesan may dress in silks, and offer their pleasures to those that wish to partake… but even a courtesan knows to show respect to those who have power over them," he murmured, his tone quiet and foreboding.
"You have no power over me."
"I didn't… until you presented yourself to my court as a courtesan. Now you are marked by the King in more ways than you realize, Precious."
The sonorous bongs of the clock chiming thirteen vibrated through the hall, shivering up Sarah's body to settle in the pit of her stomach, as she felt the subtle weight of a fine golden chain around her neck - a chain she had not been wearing when she arrived at the ball. Grasping it her eyes widened.
"No!"
"Oh yes, Sarah," Jareth purred, his eyes sparkling malevolently. "Welcome to my court."
As the thirteenth gong sounded, Sarah felt the world around her shift, to twist in upon itself, forcing her to close her eyes. When the sensation ended, she whimpered as she opened her eyes, finding herself sitting in the Goblin King's throne, a fine golden chain looped around her ankle and bound to the stones of the throne itself. She felt the subtle shift of air around her and shivered, more from the realization of what she had done than from cold -
Her dress had been replaced with a courtesan's silks.
She had misjudged her gambit - and won a place in the Goblin King's court while losing herself to the silken chains now binding her to the Goblin King.
Author's Note: As always...please review. Woot...I actually managed to keep this as a one shot! :)