Chapter Two: Tight Fit
Underground…Labyrinth
"Kingy! Kingy! He is here!" The small lizard like goblin screeched as he ran into the throne room, the little creatures already unpleasant features twisted into a look of terror, shutting the doors of the throne room. The other goblins looked at the goblin, their king still lazily lounging, the riding crop taping against his boot. "Red vampire is he-!" The creature was cut off as a riding boot kicked it across the room through the doors, the rest of the tall imposing form fazing through the door as if his body was made of mist. Alucard looked down at the goblins staring at him, giving them a shark toothed smile; the creatures scrambling from the room quicker than if the dinner bell had rung. Walking further into the room Alucard looked over the space from behind his glasses, turning up his nose at the smell of rotting food and ale.
"Just because you keep company with goblins does not mean it must smell like them." Alucard crossed his arms and leaned against the wall near Jareth's head, peering down threateningly at the Fae. Slowly Jareth looked up, looking every bit the tired Fae king of such low level creatures. The only other creature in the room was a chicken that was scratching at the floor to pick up the crumbs of food.
"How better to keep nosy nobles away than by surrounding yourself with the undesirable?" Jareth was still tapping his crop against the heel of his boot, his mismatched eyes looking over the figure before him. "Surely you of all…well you aren't really a person any more…can understand that my dear impaler prince." A crystal floated into the room from a window, the glimmering reflection in it showing another poor fool being trapped in the world of dream and fantasy the Fae knew how to weave with careful precision. "Ah, and it seems the last runner of the day has failed." The crystal was shrunken down till it was no large than the head of a pin needle, and placed inside the medallion around his neck. "Tell me my old chap, how ever did you get through my Labyrinth so quickly?" Alucard smirked, giving off an aloof air of superiority.
"I flew in. I gave your subjects quiet a good fright as a cloud of bats swarming around the castle." Alucard had not bothered with running the maze; he had a schedule to keep. Jareth thought it over for a moment, laughing.
"They need a scare every now and then. Keep them in their place. Now on to the matter of why you are here, accept or decline?" Jareth had risen from his chair, summoning more crystals to play with as they spoke.
"I can kill every chicken here if that's what you want. But how will you upkeep your end of this bargain?" Alucard looked around the throne room, wrinkling his nose as the smells came upon him. It had been a while since he had dealt with smells like this. The medieval ages had not been the most tidy of eras, so he was not disgusted by the smells; it was just different since humans actually strived for keeping everything smelling clean in modern times. The Fae put down the crystals with his playing with and summoned up one with which he spied upon the girl Alucard was dating. A smirk crossed Jareth's lips as he started to spin the crystal on the tip of his finger, the crystal orb spinning faster and faster. As it spun it started to elongate, removing his finger Jareth molded the spinning crystal with his fingers into a particular shape, examining it as it continued to spin. It was like blown glass without fire. Finally the spinning stopped as Jareth was finished with his work, the crystal now was in the shape of a snake bracelet, and as it cooled it began to form gemstone shapes and it sparkled brilliantly in the sun. Jareth tossed the finished product to Alucard.
"After you finish this I will find a way to get that around her wrist and when she wears it, the snake will bite her, and the poison will make her think of no man but you. She'll be on you every hour of every day, and will obey every command without fail. Does that satisfy you?" Jareth picked up the sleeping baby in the center of the throne room, looking over the babe with a malicious grin. A crystal flew to him and changed to a pacifier, and as the baby would suckle it the magic would change it into a goblin.
"It's a bit much. I like her obsessing over me, but I am a solitary creature. I need some degree of freedom, and allowing this means I have to keep her like a pet. I'll never have time to be alone." The bedazzled snake bracelet hissed viciously before slithering away from Alucard and back to its creator. Jareth had already started the baby's transformation, a goblin running in to take it away to finish the process.
"How noble of you." Sarcasm was heavy in the Fae's voice as he tossed himself back into the throne, considered another payment. "Tonight is Samhain…if your aim is simplicity I could always give you a costume. And I can promise she will be thinking about you if you wear it. Of course you'll need to have a bit of showman ship. If you think you can handle it."
"What did you have in mind?" Alucard never backed down from a challenge; it just wasn't in his nature.
"You will go as me. Tight breeches and all." Jareth was too pleased by the disgruntled look Alucard made at the suggestion. "Do we have an accord?" Alucard put his hand out for the Fae to shake, pleased by the wince he caused as he squeezed much too hard.
"We do." With a short squawk the chicken that had been cleaning the crumbs of the castle floor was now laying on the ground, its neck snapped by a shadowy tendril. "This is going to be a piece of cake." Alucard turned to leave the throne room, shifting his shape into his hellhound form.
"Oh, do leave the ones in the coups alive. I do enjoy eggs for breakfast." Jareth called out as the massive beast walked down the hallway. The hellhound wagged its tail in a manner Jareth was certain was an equivalent of the middle finger. With a smirk Jareth moved to his chambers, looking out his window and upon his kingdom. All over the city his goblins were screaming as the chicken were mauled by a great black beast. He watched them scrambling for their weapons to protect the live stock, bursting into laughter as Alucard simply ignored them, able to cast his minions off with a swipe of his tail. As Alucard finished with the chickens in the city Jareth watched as the vampire ran up his city walls and out into the massive labyrinth. The snake bracelet came slithering out from his sleeve, its massive jewel eyes looking up at its creator. "He may not find it entertaining to watch that mortal cling to him, but I can't wait to see how that plays out. Now…we just wait a small bit till his defenses are lowered and sneak you up there for her." The snake hissed approvingly, returning up the king's sleeve.
If you want to know how the costume turned out its chapter 16 of my Crimson Smiles story. Thank you all for liking that first chapter so much.
