Note:

Because of how much everyone enjoyed the start (myself included) and everyone wanted more I have decided to continue this; and with all this continued praise and readers it will probably turn this into a an actual story.

I have replied personally to a few questions asked on the last chapter (oh god I just said chapter) and I would like to post the answers here in case a few of you were wondering the same things. I would also like to say that I am not the best at spelling or grammar and while I do proof read my work I do miss many mistakes and for that I apologise and if you find anything that HONESTLY does not make sense please let me know, I will fix it!

With that I would like to thank an anonymous review under the name 'Person' who pointed out that I had made a mistake of: wrong sentence on wrong line kind of thing - when Sarah said 'hey' when Jareth stole back her pen. It has been corrected.
Marshhad asked why Sarah was rude to Jareth and polite to other creatures. The reason to that is frankly because I couldn't write her being polite to him, it didn't seem right. But I have quickly edited a tiny bit in that paragraph to hopefully make more sense of the matter. It is not essential to the story.

Thank-you for all your kind words and insistence for more, and without it I wouldn't have written this next bit so soon – so this is dedicated to you first eight people.


That night Sarah received a text message from the stranger, reminding her of his name - not that she had forgot it - and informing her that he'd be calling her tomorrow to make plans. He ended it with 'Dream of Me' and three small 'X' kisses. Part of her flushed and a tiny part of her was irritated at the charm, self-confidence - the arrogance - that he gave off in his presence had managed to worm itself into text form perfectly.

She didn't reply and place her phone on the night table beside her. But what was she to do? She had spent her life at a distance from these creatures, and now she felt like there was no way to escape a dinner with one. Turning to her eyes back to the book she sighed, she couldn't focus enough to read it. Tugging the napkin from is trap of pages she stared at it.

Twelve little blue strokes.

She was so shocked at that number. In such a small time she had seen so many, it was startling really, it wasn't the norm. But Sarah figured it really wasn't a normal day. She had after all, agreed to dinner with one of them.

Leaning over Sarah grabbed her pen from atop of the notepad that always sat on her night stand. In black she added the thirteenth stroke for Jareth and his name beside it. Quickly at the top she wrote the date and at the bottom of the tally a rough time estimate. She scrawled the note of the Lion Man and Two Fair Ladies she saw as well. Getting up from her bed she kneeled beside her dresser and from its safe spot she withdrew a book - the catalogue. She placed the napkin at the front and with a small sigh she placed it back and went to bed. A few restless hours later she was finally asleep.

Sarah woke up not far from fully rested. She had dreamed of him just as he had said and while she didn't remember much of what happened besides walking alongside him, there was the vivid memory of his intense mismatched cat eyes. Upon awaking the first thing the young woman did was cheek her phone and couldn't help the small, tiny drop of disappointment at the fact that there were no messages.

She went about her morning, phone tucked into the back pocket of her jeans. A few text messages made her jump to answer, but only to have them be from friends and not the one she was anxious to hear from. Sarah wasn't sure if her anxiousness was a happy giddy or a desperate uneasiness.

Like she had predicted there were indeed five little bruises of Jareth's finger tips on her biceps from where he had grabbed her the day before. They weren't horrible just a faded smudges on her skin they didn't even hurt when she prodded one of them.

On her way to her singing lesson Sarah saw more creatures on the train, in the streets and shops. Still amazed at how their numbers seemed to be multiplying she arrived at the ballet studio that doubled as her singing studio.

Her instructor was a tall woman, whose height was increased with the stilettos that clicked across the wood planks when she walked anywhere. "Sarah how are you," she asked and while she was a polite and rather nice woman she was ruthless in her teaching and took the position very seriously – Sarah thought a little too seriously. But Sarah's voice skills had been improving swiftly in these first initial months– her naturally lovely voice gaining skill and precision. With a quick 'fine' as Sarah's reply the sharp instruction of "Start your vocal warm up," came from her teacher Mrs. Hudson.

Sarah's warm ups sent her voice to a range of note; soaring higher and higher before falling smoothly. While she did this Mrs. Hudson called out "higher", "smoother" but her most common command in Sarah's training was "louder". Mrs. Hudson took her seat at a piano that had been wheeled into the studio. Warmed up Sarah waited as the elder woman played a few keys before starting a familiar song. Sarah sang along to it and another and another and as she was singing to the fourth song her phone interrupted with its generic ring tone. Mrs. Hudson's keys came to an abrupt stop as Sarah fished her buzzing phone from her back pocket.

She glanced at her teacher, "Five minuet break," she said a displeased tone and she stood to fetch a drink of water.

"Hello," Sarah spoke into the device.

"Dream of me?" came his smooth voice and Sarah very nearly dropped the phone stunned into silence. He chuckled, "I will take that as a yes then."

"No," she snapped her cheeks warming but he just chuckled at that as well.

"About dinner tonight," he said, "I was thinking"

"This isn't a good time Jareth," Sarah hissed just before Mrs. Hudson called, "Rapp it up Sarah you know how I feel about phones during class – we have to work on your breathing and voice projection before you go."

"What class?" he quizzed and Sarah could hear the sound of sharp heels walking back to the piano. "Singing I call you back afterwards," Sarah said and snapped the phone of turning it to silent. Sticking it back into its designated pocket Sarah turned back to her lesson.

Exiting the studio Sarah breathed in the chilly air even though it was just past noon. Walking away from the studio Sarah withdrew her phone from her pocket. Flipping it open revealed a text message from Jareth, 'Do not forget to call me back." A reminder.

Sighing Sarah made her way down the street she pressed dial.

"Miss William," he hummed as he answered and again at the sound of his smooth voice her cheeks warm just a little. "I called back," she said keeping her voice even a thing that her singing lessons had helped with was that she could keep her voice steady in various situations.

"Yes you did," and in the background someone yelled something that she didn't catch. She waited not sure how to proceed. "How about lunch?" he asked the voice getting fainter as if he was walking away from a crowd.

"Now?" Sarah asked frowning a little.

"Yes now," he replied there was a touch of static and then the sound of a car horn blaring – people in the city were so impatient sometimes. Feeling her stomach growl at the mention of food she nodded then remember to answer, "Lunch sounds better than dinner," in a stronger voice she continued, "But are you in the city? I'm hungry now so I don't want to wait around for you."

He named a street corner and Sarah gasped, "I am just around the corner from you!" Her steps quickened a little and in a few moments she rounded the corner. "Where are you?" she asked scanning the crowd. "I see you," he laughed and her head swivelled and he laughed. Then she saw his wild blond hair and watched as he snapped his phone shut - she gave a meek wave.

He waited till she crossed the distance to him. "Good afternoon Miss William," he greeted.

"Afternoon," she replied. She felt extremely out of place, here she was conversing with one of the individuals she tried to avoid. But when he took her hand and began striding down the street with her in tow she didn't resist.

It wasn't long until they picked a café tucked away between some tall buildings in an alleyway. With their orders placed Sarah sat with her hands tucked awkwardly in her lap, she really wasn't sure of conversational topics. She knew that 'Do you know the snake man with the hot dog stand? And what about the lion man and goat girl?' where not appropriate ice breakers.

But luckily it was Jareth to start up conversation, "So singing lessons?" Sarah nodded. He raised an eyebrow waiting for her to elaborate. "I've been taking them for a few months," Sarah explained and then she frowned a little, "You know that call got me into strife with my teacher – she hates lessons being interrupted."

He chuckled a little at that like a child amused. "It's not funny!" Sarah huffed and the waitress a busty woman came back with a two glasses and a bottle of water Sarah noticed how she smiled at Jareth and leaned a little too close. Watch how he smiled back and brushed his fingertips across the back of her hand as he took the bottle Sarah knew he was accustomed to it. The he loved the attention the affect he had on women. The waitress flushed a little at his touch and walked away.

Jareth poured two glasses full and Sarah took a sip from hers. "Are you any good?" he asked and she shrugged, "I'm all right."

"Are you alright Miss William? You seem awfully quite today."

"I'm fine," she said taking yet another sip from her drink.

"So this dream you had of me," his smirk smug. Sarah caught by surprise gasped and because she was halfway through a sip of water the results were unsavoury. Her throat and lungs burned at the liquid. Coughing she slammed the cup to the table, spilling some in the process. She bent over hacking and coughing, her hand covering her mouth. Her nose ran and her eyes leaked tears.

After the first initial seconds a big hand thumped on her back. It took a minuet for her to recover. "Here," Jareth said offering her a napkin and she fumbled for it. She whipped her mouth and nose before she looked up but her face a red mess.

Sarah groaned as she blotted her eyes and whipped her nose with the napkin as Jareth sat back down. "That was an unexpected reply," there was a slight smile to his voice. She gave a brief mirth filled chuckle as she pushed back her hair and leant back.

But her eyes drifted past him to the group of girls that were strolling down the pathway. What originally drew her attention was how people parted to let them walk through and how female and male left lingering glances their way.

They were all tall, one had blue hair tied into a bun and the shortest had her blond hair cut into a short bob that fell in tight ringlets and waves. But the leader was obviously the red amber haired girl. Sarah got the impression of a pack of wolves and when Jareth turned around and frowned she knew that they were going to approach them.

"Jareth," the amber haired one almost sang. The others smiled and the blond gave a small waved.

"Avellen," he said to the leader without his usual warmth that Sarah didn't know he always had in his voice until it was gone.

"What are you doing here?" and then her dark yellow almost orange eyes drifted over her and Sarah felt her skin go to goosebumps, but she didn't lower her gaze. She knew girls like this at school and Sarah never backed down from them when they had turned their gaze to her and when she didn't back down they eventually got bored and left her alone. Just because this woman wasn't human Sarah couldn't see a reason to change her ways and treat her any different than she had to the humans in her past.

"I am having lunch with my new friend," Jareth explain and Avellen's intense eyes slid back to him before she glided into the chair next to him. Her blue and blond haired the four of them re adjusting slight to jam around the small table.

Sarah's nervousness made her a little tense as she was between the blue haired and blond haired creatures. "So what's your name," the blue haired girl asked, "as Jareth didn't introduce us." But as they both glanced at him who was preoccupied in talking with Avellen Sarah felt it wasn't really his fault. She could also see that he wasn't getting free of Avellen in the next few minutes.

"I'm Sarah," she said and she felt his gaze flick to her.

"Sarah it's nice to meet you I'm Odette, this is Elwin," she gestured to the girl next to her who smiled. "It's nice to meet you too," Sarah said and watched as Odette pushed her hair back over her shoulder and Sarah saw the three gills that lined her throat – they were sealed shut and resembled blue tinted scars across her throat. She had webbed fingers and her nails where a shiny blue that reminded her of scales. Sarah had never seen one like her before Odette seemed a mix of the blue skinned lady and the fairer ones like Elwin, Avellen and Jareth.

"So how old are you?" Elwin asked next and Sarah took the chance to look and study her. Her short hair had perfect tightly packed ringlets and her eyes were a sharp pale blue that where very much cat eyes like Jareth's. "I'm seventeen, I turn eighteen soon," Sarah explained.

"So young," Elwin gushed slightly even though she looked just as old as Sarah was and Sarah frowned slightly at her. "It was nice to meet you all," Sarah said her voice even and she smoothly stood, "But I have to go now." Odette said a small good bye and Elwin smiled with a nod – they were nice creatures Sarah concluded. Sarah took one look at Jareth and decide to not to interrupt them as they were bent in a hushed conversation Avellen gripping his wrists.

She walked away around the corner and down the street. She'd be lying to herself if she said wasn't a little upset at the turn of events. Hunching ever so slightly she pushed her hair behind her ear and out of nowhere she was suddenly pulled to a halt by a hand on her arm.

"Sarah wait," Jareth breathed. Looking at him he didn't looked flushed or out of breath from a run but she knew that he had to catch up with her. She frowned at him, her irritation spiking, "That was rude," she said as she shrugged out of his grip.

"I know, I am sorry," and the line of his mouth and the seriousness in his eyes Sarah could tell he was. "I honestly thought they wouldn't have followed." He swept a hand through his hair his awkwardness radiated from him. He didn't apologise often Sarah realised.

Her irritation died as quickly as it sparked and she sighed.

"Look," she said and paused a moment to put her words in order, "I wouldn't normally meet a complete stranger for lunch – let alone give them my number. Frankly I feel awkward about this whole situation for more than one reason," she swept her hair back behind her ear and snuck a glance at his clawed hand.

It was so easy to forget that some of them – that Jareth – were not human.

"And it doesn't help that it looks like your trying to cheat on your girlfriend with me," she gave him a hard, intense look that matched her voice.

"She is not my girlfriend," he confessed and as the frankness of it she felt he was very bored of the idea; it mustn't just be her who had raised the topic.

"Also," Sarah continued, "I am not interested in," she waved her hand in the air as if she was physically trying to grasp a word, before waving it between them. When he laughed something that wasn't smug but genuinely amused at what was at her expense Sarah flushed scarlet.

Had she gotten the wrong idea that he wanted more?

When he opened his eyes and looked at her and he chuckled more due to her red cheeks Sarah knew the answer to be a yes.

"I don't want you to have the wrong idea," he smiled, "that," his hand copied her action, "is not my initial intentions."

"Oh," she mumbled her embarrassment clearly apparent.

A fleeting moment of silence.

"Come on," he said and he took her by the elbow and led her down the street. Glancing over her shoulder she saw Avellen strut from the alley way. Sarah laughed before she and Jareth where lost in the crowd.