Sarah was torn. She wasn't sure if she should be pleasantly surprised or insulted by Jareth's actions. Sure, she was surprised by the fact that Jareth had kept his word – despite the fact that he was completely (and gloriously) naked, he hadn't made so much as a suggestive comment after getting in bed. In fact the only sound he had made for the last four hours was just the occasional soft snuffling sound of a sleeping male. At the same time, she was incredibly irritated by the insult of the thing. Here she was, in bed with the (deliciously nude and incredibly well built) Goblin King, while wearing nothing but his shirt – and the cad hadn't made so much as made a lewd comment. Not even a hint of a perverse suggestion.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo!
After several hours, she finally dozed off; but that turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing considering the nature of her dreams. It wasn't the first time she had enjoyed an explicit dream about the Goblin King, but this was the first time she had multiple micro-dreams about him, back-to-back, while laying right next to him. After the fourth dream in which she found herself pinned under him as he drove deeply into her, making her arch and scream his name with pleasure, she woke up panting and shuddering from a full body orgasm. Gasping, with her heart still racing erratically, she turned toward Jareth, terrified she had cried out in her sleep. Gulping, Sarah's heart stuttered in her chest again at the sight of the Goblin King, laying on his back, one arm thrown up above his head, as the other rested across his chest. A slow, wavering sigh slipped past her lips when she saw that he was sleeping peacefully.
With relief rushing through her, she took her time looking him over, a flush of heat rising to her cheeks at what she saw. The silken sheets were draped low around his waist, barely hiding his rather sizeable 'assets'. Feeling a warm drip slide from within her, teasing hotly along the still tingling folds, Sarah bit her lip.
'Escape! Flee! For the love of all that's holy…get…away!' screamed the warning claxon in her head – and for once Sarah thought listening to it would be the best course of action.
Holding her breath, she slowly rolled to the side and slipped off the bed, freezing as Jareth stirred slightly on the bed. For several long seconds she forgot how to breathe, waiting to see if he had noticed her departure. When nothing happened, she shivered, taking a quivering breath that made the silk of Jareth's shirt caress her body in ways reminiscent of his hands in her dream. Shaking her head, she moaned softly trying to push the memory away, as she peered around the dimly lit room. 'Pants… pants…where the fuck are my pants?' she thought frantically, as she crept around the bed, keenly aware that she was walking around nearly naked in a room with a sleeping Goblin King – who was definitely naked. 'This is soooo not good. Gotta find pants. Find shirt. And get the hell out of here.'
As she walked past the armchair, she felt the cool smoothness of leather and sighed, picking them up.
"Is there a reason you are fondling my breastplate? I assure you, my chest is far more receptive of such treatment."
Gasping, Sarah looked up to find Jareth lounging on the bed looking at her with a wickedly mischievous glint in his eyes. As he propped his head up on his hand, his hair fluttered softly, teasing his arm in a way that made Sarah long to feel the soft strands teasing her own skin. Reflexively clutching the breastplate to her chest, Sarah squeaked softly, his sultry smirk set her heart thudding wildly. "I…I just… was looking for my pants." A sleekly arched eyebrow rose in response, as he regarded her. Sarah gulped, the combination of stern authority and leonine sensuality threatening to overwhelm her.
"Sneaking out? How rude. And after I shared my bed and my shirt with you."
Growling, Sarah dropped the breastplate back on the chair and continued creeping around the bed looking for her clothes. "Hah hah…unlike you, Goblin King, some of us actually have to work for a living," she grumbled, snatching her pants from the back of another chair. "Now where the Hell is my shirt."
Jareth leaned over the side of the bed and plucked the shimmery silver material from where it had landed half-under the ornate structure. Catching the movement from the corner of her eye, Sarah glared at him, then blushed as he dangled the thin material from the tip of his finger – a finger of his bare hand. Gulping she fought to tear her eyes away from the sight of his bare hand. The movement had not only succeeded in unearthing her shirt, but the sheet had fallen lower around his hips, revealing the sculpted 'v' of muscle low on his abdomen.
"Oh, off to peddle your poppets and potions to the gullible populace, then are you?"
Sarah harrumphed, snatching the shirt from his fingertips. "For your information, Mr. High and Mighty, I'm due at a lab meeting in….shit… twenty minutes." Scrambling toward the bathroom, her foot twisted into the dangling bed-sheet as she neared it, sending her crashing to the floor and dragging the sheet to the floor with her. "Some gentleman you are," she mumbled, as Jareth laughed at the sigh. Growling, she pushed herself upward only to find herself inches away from Jareth's now naked body.
'Holy shit! His tights didn't do it justice!' screamed her libido, before fainting. Sarah's face burned hotly as she realized that his assets were far more impressive up close than they had seemed when encased in his customary tight pants. Forcing herself to look at his face, Sarah instantly regretted that decision, when she saw his knowing leer.
"Last night you got upset when I was acting a gentleman and clothed you appropriately, therefore I assumed you'd prefer a cad. However, to make it up to you…." He purred, then waved his hand above his head. In an instant, an ornate golden clock appeared. Jareth glanced at the clock and twirled his finger counterclockwise, the clock hands swirling backward two hours. "There… a peace offering."
Pushing herself away from the bed and getting up, Sarah muttered to herself, "I hate it when you do that."
"What… did you say?" Jareth gave her a thoughtful look, his mismatched eyes narrowing under steeply arched eyebrows
Playing off her hasty words, Sarah shrugged and clutched her clothing to her body, as she moved away from him toward the bathroom. "I suppose when you're immortal, time means nothing."
"Not 'nothing' per se, but we don't place as much importance upon it as you humans do. Humans have such quaint theories of time, but none come close enough to the truth," Jareth mused, slowly twirling a small pyramid of shimmering crystals in his hand. Seeing Sarah stop and open her mouth to question him, he chuckled, the sound a deliciously sultry purr deep within his chest. "And don't bother asking me to tell you that particular secret of the universe so you can make a lovely name for yourself in your field. You'll have to do the hard work yourself, Precious."
Sarah's mouth snapped shut with an audible click, as her green eyes smouldered with irritation. "Pompous Fae. What makes you think I haven't already come up with a theory for things. I have some knowledge of your kind and plane of existence after all."
Tilting his head, Jareth's eyes sparkled with mirth. 'She has fire,' he mused. 'I bet she'd be a hellion in bed.'
"Well then, don't keep me in suspense. Do tell me how time really works, darling," Jareth said, carefully rearranging the crystals in his hand so that they seemed to twirl in a double-helix pattern.
Watching him, Sarah smiled. "Actually, while many theories of time say that it is elastic, and such, I think it is more like… this," she replied, plucking the top-most crystal from the moving stack as Jareth twirled it upon the palm of his hand. "Time is always moving, but not always in the same direction," she added, gently slipping the crystal back into the middle of the stack without disturbing the movement of the other crystals. "While humans may only be aware of the time flow in their own sphere, it is possible, with the right means, to change our position in time, if you can find the right point where the time flows…intersect." Smiling Sarah plucked a bottom crystal out of the stack, only to slip it back into the middle, without causing the slightest pause or tremor of the stack.
"Impressive," Jareth murmured, giving an almost imperceptible nod of his head. "Very close to an accurate description of things. Sad that there is no way you can prove it and secure your name within the field of theoretical physics."
"Give me time. I've already got a plan to prove that magic exists," Sarah muttered, stooping to pluck her knickers from the floor. "Not that I can show it to anyone at the university – they'd have me committed for even suggesting that matter can be created from nothing more than energy."
Jareth's eyebrows curved upward as he looked at her, then his lips curled in a slow smile. "Interesting. I should very much like to hear how you would prove such a thing."
"Hah! Well my notes are at the lab, and since you won't be getting into my lab, you'll just have to live with the curiosity." With her hand on the knob of the bathroom door, Sarah turned and pointed at Jareth. "Thanks for the extra two hours. I'm going to clean up and get dressed, then get out of your hair. I'm sure you'll need plenty of time to fluff it up. Just do me a favor and resist your usual pervy instincts."
Spinning a crystal over the back of his hand, Jareth didn't even bother to look up at her. "Perish the thought, witch. I've already seen all of you I'd care to just now. Lovely though you may be, I've got better things to attend to this morning."
Sarah pursed her lips, the insult needling her just as she was sure he intended. "Just as well…sit… stay…. And while you're at it, keep Lucifer out as well."
"What do you think I am?" the Goblin King snapped, bristling at the insult to his station. "A guard dog?"
"If the collar fits…."
In the blink of an eye, Sarah found herself pinned to the bathroom door by a very naked Goblin King, his eyes blazing hotly as they bore into her. She gulped, then registered two things at once, the massive wave of heat pouring off his nude body, and the presence of his bare hand around her throat. While his touch was light, she felt its presence keenly, her entire body trembling with a desire she didn't know she was capable of.
"I promise, witch…" he growled, dipping his head until his lips were a mere hairsbreadth from hers, making her gasp, then moan softly. "You would relish my collar in ways you can't even begin to imagine, woman. I could make you bark for my touch, if I wanted to."
Without warning, the image of being collared in his bed, with him on top of her flooded her mind, sending another shuddering moan past her lips. Hearing the moan and seeing the glazed look in her eyes, Jareth chuckled darkly and reached behind her. Grasping the doorknob, he opened it with a flourish that sent her stumbling backward, only to see him close it just as quickly.
"Fucking Fae, bastard…." Sarah muttered, rubbing her sore bum.
"Believe me, witch… when I'm 'fucking' you…you'll know it…" whispered the phantom voice of the Goblin King, the sound of his laughter echoing from outside the bathroom making Sarah shiver.
~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~
Lounging in the back seat of the grey limo, Jareth twirled three crystals easily over his hands, his pale eyes flickering grey as he gazed out the window at the Hollywood scenery flying past. Outwardly, he looked as any powerful executive might look in this town of falsehoods and fakery. His dark grey suit was immaculately cut to frame his body, the very sheen of the fabric giving off an air of power. His features were glamoured to appear more 'normal' to mortal eyes, even his hair was shortened dramatically, standing short and casually spiky over his head – a style he personally disliked, but found that the women of this time and place favored.
Despite the fact that he could easily have his pick of any of the women he met in L.A., Jareth had no interest in any of them. No, when it came to women, there were only two that interested him – and the second was something of a surprise to him.
His thoughts were torn between memories of Sarah and the niggling feeling that there was more to the purple-haired witch than he first suspected. Sarah's innocence and determination still intrigued him, particularly the way she stood up to him, even when she was cowering in fear inside. Yet, the witch Amethyst intrigued him as well – she wasn't as innocent, but she was determined in her own way and showed little fear of him, which was refreshing. Amongst the Fae he was both revered and feared, which in and of itself pleased him, but made any form of relationship impossible to sustain. Sure, he had no problem finding a willing bed-warmer, but any female who became too 'familiar' with him, seemed to think they could rule him, as if he were just some silly, love-struck fop of the court. More than one found themselves becoming intimately familiar with the lower dungeons of the castle for making such an error. The trick, as far as he could tell, was finding a woman with enough fire to match him, but enough sense to know that she would never be the power 'behind the throne'.
Sarah may have been young when he encountered her, but Jareth, being both Fae and Nephilim could feel it in the threads of time that she would only become more determined and enchanting as she matured. With Sarah on his mind, he glanced down at the shimmering crystal still spinning in his hand, unsurprised to see that it was filled with swirling purple mist – the same thing happened every time he had tried to scry for Sarah since her return home.
Six words.
That was all it took to effectively block her from him – indefinitely.
The knowledge of it still stung, despite the passage of time both in the mortal realm and his own. With a sigh, Jareth set the crystals spinning once more, his eyes absently looking out the window as his mind turned to the purple-haired witch. Despite the fact that he had felt no desire for another woman since Sarah returned above, something in Amethyst stirred the urge in him. This puzzled him greatly. 'Perhaps it is her possession of Labyrinthian magic,' he mused. Never had he known any being save himself, who possessed Labyrinthine magic. While Lucifer was curious as to what Amethyst was since she was not a pure mortal, Jareth had no such questions, because he was reasonably sure that what she was, was less important than why – and he was quite sure that the 'why' was the Labyrinth magic that coursed through her. 'She's new to her magic though. If she had possessed it for any length of time, she would either have learned to control it or destroyed herself.'
Frowning slightly, Jareth shook his head. Although he had no true feelings for the woman other than the heat of desire to have her in his bed, he had no real wish to see her destroy herself with untested and unmastered magical power. 'She'll have to be taught control at the very least,' he mused, absently letting a crystal float upward, until it spun in front of him, the purple mist swirling lazily inside it.
His frown deepened.
"Show me Amethyst," he demanded of the crystal. Still the mist remained, dancing lackadaisically within the shimmering sphere. A low growl rumbled in his throat, as a flare of irritation burst to life inside him. "How is she blocking me? Do all women that possess the power to intrigue me, also have the power to block themselves from me?!"
As the car pulled to a stop at one of the infernal stoplights that dotted the mortal roadway, the Goblin King glanced up, then smiled seeing a familiar, garishly painted building. "Pull into the parking area for that shop, Balen. We're making an unscheduled stop before my meeting."
The glamoured hobgoblin driving the car inclined his head slightly, his orange eyes flicking to the rearview mirror in acknowledgement of his Master's request. "Yes, Sire." As bidden, Balen pulled the car into the parking lot next to the garishly colored building, his nose wrinkling up in distaste.
Seeing the look on Balen's face, Jareth chuckled. "You are of the Labyrinth, Balen. You should know that things are not always as they appear. The woman who runs this quaint little eyesore of a shop, is actually a witch with some affinity for fortune-telling. Wait here. I will be back shortly." Before Balen could even nod, Jareth unfolded himself from his seat and made his way to the door of the shop. Pushing it open, the small glass chimes above the door filled the air with a pleasant tinkling sound.
"Good morning. May I help you find something?" asked a petite woman, with a scarlet pixie cut.
Coming out from behind the counter, the diminutive woman smiled warmly at him, pushing her oversize glasses up her nose. His grey eyes looked her up and down, before casting a small tendril of his magic toward her. He smirked inwardly when she gasped as the wisp of magic curled inside her, finding a small well of pixie magic within her. 'That explains her size,' he thought to himself, then recalled his magic, watching as she shivered when it left her.
"Wow… I didn't realize the air conditioning blasted this spot," she muttered, moving several steps to her left to avoid the 'draft' she felt from his magic. "Now then…was there something I could help you with, Sir?"
Fingering a purple crystal vial on a counter display, Jareth gave a wickedly charming smile and nodded. "As a matter of fact there is something I require…."
~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~
Sarah was stumped. She had been staring at the formula on the white board of her lab for what felt like days. Each time she looked at it, she felt the glorious tickle in her chest that always heralded a breakthrough in her research – but this time she was stumped. The electrons in the formula just wouldn't do as she needed them to do, but she was sure, she was close. But every time she started to see how the formula should change, her train of thought would jump the tracks and go careening on a wild ride to 'Naked –Jareth-Land'. Her libido wasn't helping matters by insisting that riding Jareth would be very wild indeed.
"Arrrgh!" Sarah cried in out, throwing the whiteboard marker at the whiteboard, after what felt like the millionth time she caught herself thinking about Jareth's rather 'generous' assets.
'I have been generous, Sarah…I can be cruel,' her mind whispered in his voice.
"Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!"
"I haven't said anything yet, but if that is the mood you're in, you're going to really happy about my news," muttered lab-mate Melanie, rushing through the lab door and toward the tiny closet marked with an eye-searing neon orange biohazard symbol. "I ran into Dean Marshall on my way back from teaching my 11 o'clock. He was headed this way with someone very handsome and very important looking. And Patrick caught me on my way into the building The handsome guy is a potential donor , who is particularly interested in your work."
Preoccupied staring at the white board, Sarah sighed and ran a hand through her hair, leaving faint streaks of pink whiteboard marker ink on her forehead and cheek. "Yes…I know it won't work. I'm missing two protons and I'm not sure where they went. They are here. I just know it. I just have to find them." Sarah was so distracted that she was only partially aware when Melanie pulled her cozy cardigan from her arms, tossing it onto a chair, then drew a button-down shirt up Sarah's arms.
Trying not to fumble, Melanie worked to button the shirt. "It's wrinkled, but it's still better than your geek t-shirt," she muttered, quickly folding the collar under Sarah's hair. With Sarah still focused on the whiteboard, Melanie grumbled and started tugging a black blazer up Sarah's arms, brushing pink fluff from Sarah's favourite scarf from the sleeves.
"Mel…what are you doing? We don't have a faculty meeting scheduled." Grumbling, Sarah brushed Melanie's hands away and starting to shrug out of the blazer.
Melanie slapped Sarah's hands away, trying to artfully loop the fluffy pink and purple scarf around Sarah's neck, even as the purple-haired physicist tried to turn away. "Damnit Sarah Jane! You haven't been listening to a word I've said have you?! The Dean is on his way here to see you…with a rich donor!"
This time Sarah heard her.
"What? Here?!" she squeaked, her voice cracking as, her violet eyes frantically flitted around the messy lab. "Crap! There's no time to tidy up."
"I'm on it. Disaster plan Alpha!" Melanie yelled, running toward a group of lab benches at the back of the lab, as Patrick burst through the door. "Alpha action plan," she called to him.
Not even stopping to acknowledge the girls, Patrick threw open the closet door and started tossing bags and books into it willy-nilly. "Got it! And it's about time…Marshall and the donor got held up in the front office by Professor Scott. So we've got about 5 minutes before they'll be able to get free," he said, grabbing Sarah's tatty cardigan and throwing it into the closet on top of the pile of miscellaneous items, before slamming the door shut.
Coming along behind him, Melanie began opening bench drawers and shoving papers into them. "Fire up the laser, that always impresses donors – especially those that have no clue how to understand the theoretical stuff."
"On it," Sarah shouted, darting toward the laser platform mounted along the far wall of the lab. While the others rushed about the lab shoving things in drawers, Sarah began flipping switches to trigger the start-up sequence for her baby – the magnetic proton laser. A soft hum began around her as the laser warmed-up.
Patrick peered out the window then ran for the door. "Donor and Dean heading up the walk. I'm outta here. Good luck. May the force be with you!"
"And also with you," both girls laughed, still frantically shoving items into drawers and cabinets.
With the lab now 'tidied', Sarah bent over, picking up the pink whiteboard marker from where it had landed beneath a sketch she had done years ago of what she thought of as 'Jareth's Escher Room'. Glancing wistfully at the picture, she sighed. "Time to look busy, official, intelligent…."
"And worthy of having rich dudes give you wads of cash to fund your research," added Melanie, before ducking through the door to her adjoining office. "Good luck, hon. Give me a shout when the big-whig is gone."
Taking a deep breath to center herself, Sarah tried to focus on the laser and her lab, knowing the donor would likely ask a bunch of questions regarding how her research would help mankind – they all did that at some point. 'Everyone wants to save the world,' she thought, looking at the whiteboard and finally seeing where one of the missing protons should be. Leaning forward, she started to adjust the formula, erasing a section and rewriting it. 'Or they just want the formula for endless energy so they can capitalize on it and make yet more money,' she thought bitterly. Hearing footsteps in the hall, she felt her heart race, a strange feeling akin to stage fright settled over her. 'I hate this shit.'
Oddly enough, between rushing around to tidy the lab and the case of nerves that had descended upon her, Sarah found for the first time since she had woken up, that thinking about Jareth's naked body was not high on her focus list.
Then the lab door opened.
"Ahh, Dr. Walsh… I'm glad we caught you in your lab," purred the Dean. Sarah cringed at the oily tone that he always trotted out with important donors who had obscene amounts of money for to use for university endowments. Sighing she added the final figure to the formula, then capped the pink marker. "Mr. Brenin…this is Dr. Sarah Jane Walsh, our most promising physics post doc. Dr. Walsh, this is Mr. Brenin…."
Turning around Sarah looked up, and immediately dropped the marker on the floor once more, a loud buzzing sound filling her ears as the world seemed to swim around her.
Standing just inside the door of her lab was Dean Marshall, his bald head glinting in the harsh fluorescent lights, while he gave her a fake 'warm' smile that clearly said – 'Fail to impress him and I'll make your life a living hell. There are worse labs than this decrepit pit of despair.' Despite the clear threat from the Dean, it was the figure next to him that made her wish for the floor to open up and swallow her. The man's hair might be short and spiky, and his eyebrows might look more 'normal', but there was no mistaking the upright figure in the sleek grey suit.
The Goblin King. In her lab.
If Sarah didn't know that Lucifer had already tried to make Hell freeze over, she'd think that he'd actually succeeded.
Seeing the stunned look on Sarah's face, the dean frowned. It was bad enough that she was wearing jeans and a wrinkled shirt when he needed her to impress an important potential donor, but the way she was gawping at the man was a definite problem. "Are you all right, Dr. Walsh?"
Numb, Sarah nodded, her mind flying in multiple directions at once. Part of her was intensely glad she had thought to change her name trying desperately to get her voice to work and failing. Finally she managed a small murmur, "Fine…I'm fine. We…we've already met."
"Oh? That is fortunate. Where did you meet?"
Jareth's lips curled into a supercilious smirk. 'Sarah Jane…figures she'd be another Sarah. Am I to be cursed with them for the rest of my days?!' he thought bitterly, even as he nodded to Dean Marshall. "It's okay, Dean Marshall, Miss… Sarah Jane and I met recently at a clu…."
"Umm… at a social function," Sarah cut in, trying not to snatch her marker from his fingers, when she really wanted to fling it at his smug face.
The Dean smiled broadly, no doubt already counting the many dollars he hoped Mr. Brenin would donate to the university. "Well then, I'll leave you two to renew your acquaintance. Mr. Brenin was particularly interested in your new work on energy and matter, Dr. Walsh." Nodding briefly at Mr. Brenin, Dean Marshall left the room, unaware of the visual war going on behind his back, as Sarah and Jareth squared off.
The very moment lab door clicked shut, Sarah threw the marker straight at the arrogant smirk on the Goblin King's face. Dismissively Jareth waved his hand and the marker flew toward the whiteboard and neatly deposited itself upon the metal railing.
"Really…is that any way to treat a potential, and very generous donor?"
"You! What the Hell are you doing here?!" Sarah demanded, turning away from him and picking up the marker once more. Uncapping it she ignored him and tried to recapture the brainstorm she had been on the verge of when the Dean arrived.
With a casual air, Jareth slowly strolled around the lab, picking random bottles of reagent and reading the labels, before carefully replacing them. Sarah fought hard to focus, while her mind kept wondering at the silence from the Goblin King as he inspected her lab. Working his way back toward the whiteboard, Jareth leaned against a lab bench and surveyed the sprawling formula that covered the wall sized whiteboard.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Sarah snarled, slamming the marker into the tray and turning toward him. "WHY are you here, Jareth? Don't you have a baby to steal or something?!"
Ignoring her outburst, Jareth gestured toward the board. "You're missing a proton, you know. And the sub-equation in part two has an error in it – that's where your proton should be."
"I…huh…wha?" Sarah muttered, deflating a bit as she turned to look at the board again. The moment she did, she felt a firm and very warm body pressed against her back, and an elegant arm reached over her shoulder. Gloved fingers pointed at a section of the whiteboard, where the pink formula was surrounded by bright orange marker.
"See… right there. The sigma should be an alpha, and you left off the subscript formula, which gives you 7, thereby accounting for the missing proton," he purred in her ear, chuckling at the tremor that went through her. "And as to why I am here, I am here to see your work. Just as the Dean said." Moving back toward the lab bench, he leaned against it once more, watching her with an amused air. "I have money to donate – if I am suitably impressed by your research, of course. Impress me enough, and I may just decide to fund you well enough to establish your own lab. Enough money, little witch, or should I say Sarah Jane…. That you would no longer be beholden to the university to approve your ideas."
Sarah blinked, looking at the whiteboard, then slowly peered over her shoulder at the Goblin King. "I…you…you'd do that?" Seeing him nod, she frowned slightly, her lavender eyes narrowing as she turned around, dropping into a nearby rolling chair. "Why? What's the catch?"
"No catch."
Her frown deepened. "Hah. I didn't just come down in the last rain storm. I know that the Fae don't just grant boons like that without a reason – and that reason is generally because they expect something in return. What's your agenda, Goblin King?"
The Goblin King's pale eyes flickered deep blue, looking her over, then looking back at her whiteboard, his smile slowly growing broader. She was a challenge. And the fact that she didn't trust him was a testament to her intelligence. "Someone needs to bring you mortals to a higher plane of understanding and quite frankly, based merely on the work I see on your board here, and I think you have the best hope of doing that."
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, and sat back in her chair, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. "No tricks. Complete truth?"
"As Lucifer so astutely reminded you in the wee hours of this morning, I can't actually lie to you, witch. It's against the rules, so to speak. Oh…I may bend the truth until it screams for mercy, but I cannot lie." Harrumphing, Jareth rolled his eyes. "Why must you always cast me as a villain Sarah?"
Feeling her blood run cold at his use of her real name, Sarah fought to control the panic welling up inside her until he shook his head, his expression darkening a bit as he regarded her. Recovering, she shrugged and glared at him. "Well, when you're cousin-brother-whatever…buddies, with the Prince of Darkness, what do you expect?"
A wave of irritation burned in Jareth at his own slip up, allowing him to ignore her jibe. 'Get hold of yourself man! True, there are two too many Sarah's in your life, but this is not the Sarah who spurned you,' he berated himself, while giving Amethyst a sly, searching look. "So…Sarah Jane. Or Amethyst. Who are you really…Hmm?"
Tossing her head, the purple-eyed witch stood up and grabbed a green marker from the tray. With harsh movements she uncapped it, then snatched up an eraser, swiftly removing the error from her equation and correcting it – per Jareth's advice. As much as she hated to admit it, she was surprised. Aside from her PhD advisor at Stanford, no one else ever seemed to truly understand her work to the level of being able to correct it. While she was impressed that he knew enough to spot the error, when she herself had been wrestling with the missing protons for the last two weeks, the very fact that he could correct her work infuriated her deeply.
"Only family and superiors call me Sarah Jane – and you, Goblin King, are neither."
Jareth chuckled at her show of spirit. "Well, since I was the one to spot your missing proton and the error in your work, I'd say that makes me…."
Growling she capped the marker and tossed it into the tray with a loud clattering sound that echoed dully in the lab. "No. You aren't. You got lucky."
Jareth tilted his head in that decidedly owl-like way that both thrilled and annoyed her, his eyes flickering gold before shifting back to their usual pale blue-grey. "No. I didn't. If you check your work, I think you'll find that particular formula is one you built on; one which was originally published by another academic in the early 1930s." Leaning toward her, his smirk grew. "Me…in point of fact."
"You…what?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide as she sunk into the worn sofa against the wall near the whiteboard. "You…no…that paper was written in…"
"1932. At the University of Scotland," he added with a satisfied smirk.
Sarah felt as if her brain would melt at this information – it was really too much to handle all at once. Rubbing her forehead, she peeked at him. "So you were what? A professor?"
Jareth, a sly twinkle in his eyes. "Something like that, yes. As you know from Aine`, my kind reach a certain age and seek the Above for a season or so, to learn about mortals and experience 'life' in a different way. Most spend a relatively short time here, as they find it parochial and stifling to have their powers bound. In contrast I found it freeing to have no other obligations but to engage my mind, which is what I have done for a period during each of the centuries of your kind. In the 20th century, my sabbatical coincided with the precursors to your 'Great War' – knowing the strife that was to come, it made sense for me to use my interest in science to meet my own ends…while potentially having a positive impact upon your race."
Sarah pursed her lips, running a restless hand through her hair. "Isn't it against the rules to interfere with other races or species?"
"You're thinking of Star Trek's 'Prime Directive, darling," Jareth chuckled, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"Fuck!" Sarah moaned, rubbing her eyes again. "I can't believe that the Goblin King is quoting Star Trek to me. Am I dead? Have I had a stroke?" Looking up suddenly, she glared at him, pointing a painted nail in his direction. "Hang on, that formula was a key starting point for the Manhattan Project!"
Jareth sighed, his supercilious smirk fading. A faint flicker of sadness shone briefly in his eyes, before they turned hard and cold. "Yes. I have few regrets in my dealings with humans, but that is perhaps the biggest. I had hoped for the formula to be used to create a weapon that would essentially destroy matter – so it could be used to 'delete' the weapons of Axis forces. Unfortunately, your scientists, most notably those associated with the Manhattan Project, took my formula and used it to destroy matter in a completely different manner. As Lucifer frequently laments – free will is a bitch," he added, his hand slipping into the pocket of his suit jacket. Slender fingers curled around the cool angles of the purple-crystal vial.
Sarah nodded, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her work was a derivative of Jareth's work, whose work indirectly led to the development of nuclear weapons. "So, the offer of funding or a donation to the university then?"
Chuckling, Jareth smiled at her. "Ahh… spoken like a true researcher bound in the chains of the academic servitude." Her purple eyes narrowed tightly upon him, lips pursed in an irritated line. "It's okay, Ameythyst. I am not offended by the bluntness. As to your question, my offer is genuine. How generous I am prepared to be…well that remains to be seen, or more precisely…negotiated."
"Negotiated? Hang on…you said no tricks. No agenda. No…no…expectations!"
A sly smile curled the ends of Jareth's lips, "The money is, as you human's say, offered with 'no-strings-attached'. The amount however depends upon you."
"Me?" Sarah's blood coursed through her hotly as her libido squealed with delight and demanded that she offer him anything – everything.
Before she could reply and tell him what she really thought him and his money, the lab door opened and Dean Marshall. Glancing up at him, Sarah groaned inwardly, the look of hopeful greed in his eyes made him look as if she should be running his hands together gleefully at the sight of the two of them talking. "Oh good…I do hope you have had a good visit. Isn't her work amazing?" the Dean said to Jareth.
"Yes, it is. She is a quite a gifted physicist and has done some excellent work building off the research of my great-grandfather," Jareth replied, his blue-grey eyes sparkling mischievously at purple-haired witch, delighted by the angry twitch of her jaw.
The Dean's grin broadened almost sickeningly at that. "Oh really? What an amazing coincidence. How wonderful."
Biting back a growl, Sarah could just imagine how the Dean would spin that little tidbit when it came to publicizing the donation. Lost in her thoughts, she was surprised when the Dean actually clapped his hands and beamed at her.
"Excellent, then it is settled. Dr. Walsh will accompany you to your event tonight so that you can continue discussing her research."
"I…wait…what?" she muttered, pulled from her musing by his words and confused by the decidedly greedy grin on the Dean's face, and the smug smirk on Jareth's.
"Perfect," Jareth chuckled, his eyes alight by perplexed look on the witch's face. "I shall pick you here at 7 o'clock tonight." Turning he followed the Dean toward the door. "
Finally breaking free of her paralysis, Sarah hoped up and rushed toward the door, grabbing the arm of Jareth's grey suit jacket. "Wait…what…Jareth, why are you picking me up tonight?"
Poking his head back in the door, the Goblin King's eyes darkened as he purred, "Why, you are accompanying me a charity dinner tonight. It's black-tie, so do dress accordingly, pet. Oh… and we can continue our negotiations to see just how generous I will be with your funding. So, start thinking about what you are willing to offer in exchange for such generosity."
Then the door shut behind him, leaving Sarah alone in the empty lab, still wondering how she managed to get volunteered to go on a date with the Goblin King.
~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~
The remainder of the day was a blur. An hour later as she was slumped on the sofa trying to explain the 'date' to Melanie, the Dean's secretary came in with a note from the Dean. Opening it, Sarah stared blankly at it, then handed it silently to Melanie.
"Bloody Hell," Melanie whistled, while Sarah glowered at the hapless secretary. "He's authorized you to use your departmental credit card for up to a $1000 to prepare for tonight?! Fuck! The last time I asked for $200 to go to a conference, he told me there was no money for such an extravagance."
"It's unethical. It's…it's…the equivalent of academic whoring," growled Sarah. "The asshole is basically pimping me out to secure a donation."
Melanie gawped at her as the secretary practically fled from the room. Picking up the letter again, she gave Sarah a filthy grin. "Well, there is nothing saying you can't lead him on. You used to do acting, so find your way into the part. Buy the dress. Buy the shoes. Hell, splurge on a new hairdo and make-up. Flirt a bit, dance a bit. Then once he's promised the donation, go home."
Frowning, Sarah considered Melanie's suggestion, then shook her head. "I've met Mr. Brenin before. I don't think he'd be taken in by mere teasing and empty promises."
"Well, he was sexy as Hell. Surely you could…."
"Melanie! You can't be suggesting….you know I don't do that sort of thing." Balling up the note, Sarah tossed it in the trash bin next to the lab bench. "I'll go buy a dress and such, but I'm not sleeping with him." As soon as the words left her lips, her libido howled in dismay, demanding to know how bad it would be to sleep with Jareth just once, if it meant securing enough funding for her lab that the university would effectively have no power over her or her research any longer.
In the end, she had to admit that going shopping with a decent budget had been fun. She and Melanie spent two hours at a dress shop near Rodeo Drive searching for the right dress, finally settling on a black floor length sequined sheath, with a slit up to her thigh. Much to Sarah's surprise, Melanie was not only a talented astrophysicist, but also an excellent sale shopper. Within three hours Sarah had a dress fit for the red carpet and a pair of Manolo Blahnik's that would make any red carpet diva drool. Another two hours saw her with a new dye job of variegated purples, silver and black, the effect of which was stunning when her hair was twisted up into an elaborate, geisha-esque hair style. She even splurged and had an aesthetician do her make-up for her. All in all, as much as she might hate to admit it, she looked good.
But she wasn't stupid.
There was no way she was going anywhere with the Goblin King without adequate protection against his magic. Pulling into the parking lot of her shop, Sarah jerked up on the emergency brake viciously, then hopped out of the car, a small black fringed and sequined handbag dangling from her wrist. The chimes on the door jangled harshly as she pulled it open and raced inside, surprising Jeannie, the small red-headed pixie who was staffing the shop. Startled, Jeannie smiled wide-eyed at her.
"Amethyst…Wow…you look gorgeous. But aren't you a bit over-dressed to run the shop?"
"I'm not staying. I've got a… 'date' of sorts," Sarah said, the word threatening to choke her before she could speak it. "I just stopped in for a few things."
Jeannie grabbed her small purse and nodded. "Look, I'm starving. Can you watch things for ten minutes so I can run across to In-and-Out to get some dinner?"
Smiling, Sarah nodded, waving her hand at the door. "Go ahead. I've got a few minutes before I need to head out again. Go get some food."
"Thanks soooo much!" Jeannie chirped and ran out the door, the chimes above the door clattering and clanking in her haste.
Sarah was relieved when the door swung shut, leaving her alone in the shop. Dropping her evening bag on the counter, she tugged open a drawer behind the counter and began to rifle through the amulet and pouches inside. Grabbing an iron triskellion amulet, she tucked it down the front of her dress, then thinking better of it, added a second one for good measure. "That should keep him from getting too handsy," she muttered to herself, pushing around the contents of the drawer and picking up a small black pouch. Turning she looked through the small display of crystal potion vials on the counter. "Hmm… truth… love…lust…oh Hell no. Where is it," she grumbled, finally plucking a red vial from the rack. "Ahh… here we go." As she was slipping the items into her bag, she hear the merry chime of the door and grinned, turning to the door to greet Jeannie, only to drop her bag back on the counter, her purple eyes wide, seeing Lucifer strolling into the shop dressed in a full black tuxedo with a blood red tie and pocket square.
"Oh good…I was hoping you would be here," he purred, giving her a broad grin.
Growling, Sarah opened her bag and shoved the items back into it. "Look, I don't have time to put up with your nonsense tonight, Lucifer. Your bloody brother…cousin…whatever… conned my boss into volunteering me to be his date for the night," she spat, shoving her wallet into the glittery black handbag. "I'm only here to pick up some… 'protection'…."
Lucifer chuckled and shook his head. "Condoms won't work on one of his ilk…"
"Condoms?!…ewww! I wouldn't sleep with him if he was the last Fae…nephiliim…whatever he is on Earth or any of the other seven realms!"
"Well technically, you did last night…" Lucifer replied, running his fingers through a basket of pouches and amulets, clearly looking for something.
Huffing, Sarah glared at him, the amulets in her dress making it far easier to ignore the aura of intense sensuality he exuded. "Shut up, Morningstar…. Did you actually want to purchase something or are you just here to make my life more miserable than it already is?"
"Actually, I did want to avail myself of your wares. More specifically, I'd like to see what you have in a love or lust potion."
Sarah's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked at him. "Why? With your Lord of Darkness whammy power, don't you just have to be in the room for people to lust after you?"
"You'd think that, wouldn't you. Why? Is it working on you?" he asked, his eyes lighting up almost hopefully.
Rolling her eyes, Sarah shook her head. "Nope. I'd sooner fall back into bed with Jareth than throw myself at you." Seeing his face fall slightly, a wicked grin tuggeds at the corner of her dark purple lips. "What? Has the Master of Hell lost his touch?"
Lucifer shrugged, plucking imaginary fluff from the arm of his suit coat. "What? No, no, no… of course not. Enough people still bend to my 'suggestions'. You don't because you are protecting yourself somehow…"
Sarah laughed, then nodded. "That's just smart business considering my usual clientele."
"True," he agrees. "Which is why I am here. There is this mortal of my acquaintance who is remarkably immune by my 'influence'. I'd like a potion in order to test whether any powers will work on her, or whether it is just mine she is immune to."
Sarah frowned, pursing her lips. "I'm not sure I want to sell you anything of the sort. What happened to your Father's insistence upon free will?"
"Intent, darling." Lucifer smirked, his black eyes glittering merrily at her. "With mortal witch magic, the power is in the intent, so technically it is your intent that went into creating the spell. Since I didn't create the spell, I am merely using it, it is not my intent and therefore…"
"…You aren't the one interfering with her free will – assuming that the mortal in question is female," Sarah sighed, then grumbled. "Loopholes. Bloody immortals and their bloody loopholes. And in this case it is a Damned Immortal and his damned loophole."
"Don't blame me, darling…blame my Father. Honestly, he has quite a lot to answer for."
"Well I'm not going to be a party to this. It's the equivalent of emotional rape and I won't get involved. So get out, Lucifer," Sarah snapped, the air around her sizzling with green sparks.
"Temper temper, little witch." Lucifer backing up a step from the unstable Labyrinthine magic shimmering around the purple-eyed witch. "Perhaps spending the evening with my brother could be useful. He really needs to school you in controlling your magic."
"My what?" she asked, confused. Looking around puzzled, she seemed to deflate a bit, the magic evaporating. "Oh yeah…that."
"Yes… that." Arching an eyebrow, Lucifer chuckled darkly as he stepped closer again, surveying her. She was always unusually attractive, but tonight she looked stunning, and it wasn't just the sequined dress – the magic was doing something more to her. "Very interesting little witch. I for one would love to know how a quasi-mortal such as yourself ended up with that amount of Labyrinthine magic."
"Quasi? What the hell are you talking about, Lucifer."
Lucifer gave her an incredulous look, his laugh a baritone purr that seemed to tease inside her head. "What? You mean you don't know? You aren't 100% human, little witch. And more puzzling is the fact that neither Jareth nor myself caught that fact when we first encountered you. It was Maz who saw you for what you are, or rather what you aren't… of course, even she isn't sure just what you are, but it isn't purely human."
Sarah's face blanched, as she collapsed in the cushioned chair by the shawl covered table. "I'm not… human? But… how…."
Tilting his head, Lucifer gave her a calculating look. "If I had to guess, I'd say it happened whenever you stole that power coursing through you."
"I didn't steal anything!"
Lucifer shook his head, his eyes glittering darkly. "Ahh…yes…you did - otherwise you'd know how to wield it properly."
Sarah frowned, slamming her purse down on the table. "I…no….No, I didn't. Maybe the Labyrinth gave it to me? Did you consider that?!"
"No, I didn't, because that would be unprecedented," Lucifer scoffed, waving a hand dismissively at the very idea.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Sarah snapped, "It only takes one negative result to disprove a 'law', no matter how immutable you think it is. Until you can prove that the Labyrinth didn't give me the power, you can't claim that it is impossible for such a thing to happen. Besides, isn't Jareth the expert on the Labyrinth?"
Much to her surprise, Lucifer laughed. "Expert? Hardly. The Labyrinth puts up with him, more than anything. It is a being unto itself and does as it will. So, I suppose it would be possible for it to have granted you power, but that begs the question of when you encountered the heart of the creature and why it felt that you should be granted such a boon, when even Jareth has only limited access to her power – and he's at least immortal and her 'ruler' – as much as anyone can rule her," he mused, then added as an afterthought. "Typical female really."
Groaning, Sarah closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "This is really starting to give me a headache. The Labyrinth is sentient. And female. And Jareth is her King…but doesn't actually rule her."
Lucifer leaned casually against the cash register and nodded. "That about sums things up, darling. Now about that love potion."
"No, Lucifer."
Pouting momentarily, Lucifer suddenly perked up. "How about if I promised not to use it on my mortal, but on Jareth instead? You have to admit, he needs to get laid. Unless you'd be willing to take him on…."
"Out! Get…out!" Sarah shouted, standing up from table and shooing him from the shop. "It's bad enough that my boss is encouraging me to do that…I'm not going to take it from you too!"
"Honestly, darling! Is that any way to treat a paying customer?" Lucifer cooed, still stepping back from the angry witch, as another cascade of green sparks filled the air around her.
Growling, Sarah snatched up one of the small purple filled vials on the counter and threw it at his head. "GET OUT!"
Lucifer snatched the vial out of the air and looked at it. "This isn't a love potion or a lust potion. What good will this do?"
Sarah grabbed the sleeve of Lucifer's suit jacket and bodily dragged him toward the door. "All you want to do is test whether she is immune to any influence or just yours. It's a truth spell. That is as close to a love potion as I'm going to give you. Put it in her drink or on her food and she'll act upon her personal truth. That's as much of a loophole as I will give you to tamper with her free will," she snapped, letting go of his sleeve long enough to jerk the front door open, setting the wind-chimes above the door clanging discordantly. "Since she is immune to your powers of persuasion, I suspect that for her to tell the truth would be within her very nature, so it's not actually interfering."
Lucifer looked at the vial, then at the witch, a slow grin twisting his lips. "Well, I had rather hoped to have her throwing herself at me, but I can work with this. Now…how about the lust potion for Jareth. He really needs to blow off some steam." Seeing the fury growing in Sarah and the green sparks zapping through the air, he backed through the open door with his vial in hand. "What about a love potion? Something to help him along with this Sarah girl."
"GET OUT!" Sarah roared. The small shop seemed to shake on its foundation, as the walls wobbled, and items all around the shop shook on their shelves. Tinkling and chiming filled the air, as bottles and trinkets knocked together. Then the front door slammed in Lucifer's face, locking him outside.
Blinking at finding himself so handily removed in the midst of a localized, magically-induced earthquake, Lucifer pursed his lips in thought. "Hmm… maybe she needs to get laid instead," he mused, looking at the two small purple vials now in his hand - One marked with a handwritten script reading 'Verum', the other saying 'Libidine'. Picking up the one marked Libidine, Lucifer rolled it across his fingers where it vanished. "Who says mortal magic is useless? Houdini may have been shit at clarvoiyance, but his slight of hand was second to none." Chuckling, Lucifer rolled the other vial across his hand, nodding when it too disappeared from sight. "And he was an excellent teacher."
Author's Note: Hmm... such a tangled web these three are weaving. As always, please review, they do inspire me to write. :)) I love to know your favourite parts :)
