TKAM Chapter 7

*Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or story line of Labyrinth, Tenth Kingdom, etc. **

**Due to the process of writing a book, I will be making my chapters much shorter than usual. I have previously been doing about 12 to 18 Word pages (12 pt., TNR font, single spaced) of writing, but will be shortening it to about 5 pages. Thank you for all of your continued support! Please don't forget to review so I can make improvements! **

(Several Months Aboveground Time Later…)

The night was dark and ominous, even for the Aboveground. For someone who spent their life in the darkness, you would think that they would be used to the macabre, however, Dimitri was not. He was a vampire and a dream strider, but he didn't feast on the blood of humans and on the dreams of the innocent. Rather, he was the tool The One used to seek vengeance on the ones who had stolen innocense. He was the one who snuck through the night traveling by shadows in the Aboveground and in the Kingdoms, and by flight in the Underground to feed on the nightmares that evil would lay upon its innocent and unwilling victims. He drank from the manufactured and cloned blood of humans, but never from humans themselves.

Here he was now stalking an evil that he had been tracing for many years. It seemed to have attached itself to a young woman. He watched this woman closely and made note of the night that she made her escape from the mental institution. Something far more destructive than the individual bouts of evil and chaos would be taking place and soon, by the looks of things.

People had been going missing. Not all at once or in one location, but enough that the humans were now noticing it. At first, it was hard to pick up, as there were no bodies left and the number of homeless people were diminishing in the US. However, when those numbers were not adding to the employment rates, people began to question what had happened to all of those homeless people.

Next, there were people in third world countries that began to disappear. Same MO. No bodies left behind, only a growing number of disappearances spreading through each country. Now, the woman behind this was growing more emboldened. Well known faces such as wanted criminals, famous fighters from various martial arts backgrounds from various countries all disappeared.

Slowly but surely, the number of disappearances grew until it spread through the entire Aboveground world and into the kingdoms. From unknown and unwanted people to the more prominent. Overall, there were nearly 100,000 people who simply ceased to be without warning or explanation as to their whereabouts.

Dimitri was investigating this again tonight. Another fae had disappeared, but only when they had gone Above to visit a friend. It wasn't uncommon for fae to have Aboveground friends, but usually those friends weren't aware of the fae's true essence of being. This particular fae was friends with a teenage girl who witnessed some of the disappearance. Since he was first on the scene, he was pointed in the direction of the crime and where the voices trailed off into darkness.

Here he was, standing in an empty field with a feeling that he was going to come under attack at any moment. If Sarah was creating what he suspected that she was, he was going to have to run, and not fight. With the King and Queen of the Goblins still enduring the slow and agonizing process of reuniting the kingdoms into one, there could be no one to expend for his aid. He was on his own. His own forces would have to suffice, though how one kills a voided creature, even he did not know.

He took a deep breath and listened carefully. His backup was hiding in the trees disguised as bats and shadows.

"Come on out and show yourself," he shouted into the air with a deep baritone voice laced with an Australian accent.

Instantly a low maniacal laugh came from all around them. The wind began to blow. A Voided Creature stood in front of him. It was not like the usual ones. This one was much more powerful.

"How do you like my Void Elite?" Sarah cackled from behind him.

"She'll die as you will, mate," Dimitri countered with a smile as he whirled around to high kick her in the face, but she disappeared before he could land the blow. At that precise moment the Void Elite pounced on him knocking him to the ground, and his small team of backup took that as a signal to counter the attack.

The fight was gruesome. Every attack that the team of vampiric creatures threw at the voids never seemed to make its mark. It was as if the creatures were invulnerable to all kinds of attack. They fought until they were too weak to keep going. The morning sun was coming up, Dimitri and his warriors were running out of time. He was the only day-walker among them. If they wanted to live to see another moonrise, they had to retreat. This wasn't over, not by a long shot.

Dimitri stormed down the hall a blur of fury and hunger. His team had suffered substantial injuries, but had fortunately all come back alive, and before sunrise. Each time the voids struck, no matter what world it was in, he was left in a painful hunger from the nightmares and horror that proceeded from the devastation, but he had to find her. That ever elusive Sarah that left destruction and death in her wake. It wasn't so much the woman that was being used, but the darkness that used her. It was the ancient evil known as the Lost that powered her dark magics. The only way to stop her, was to stop it.

However, it wasn't his fight to fight the Lost alone. No, The One would do that, but Dimitri was tasked with recreating the peace that was once stolen from the people that the Lost encountered. This seemed an ever-hopeless battle with its attachment to the silver tongue. He had no choice now. The only way to counter her, he thought while standing over his war table, was to get the council of the realms involved. Since that hasn't been done for nearly 1,000 Underground years, this proved to be a monumental task indeed.

The first place he needed to start was with the newly restored kingdom of Jerethanen. With their past ties to the young woman involved, they would carry more weight than anyone else. It seemed a visit was in order, but he would not go alone. He would need to bring protection for both himself and the still-vulnerable kingdom.

Xxxxxxx

Jareth sat in the window watching Liz sleep. Her golden curls flowing endlessly over the pillows made her look quite a lot like an angel. He was hopelessly in love with her. It didn't matter what life threw at them, she seemed to overcome anything, but something was amiss. In the last few weeks, she has been irritable and distant. Not wishing to make her feel uncomfortable or as though he didn't trust her, he let her be whenever she needed space. But whenever she slept, he was there, spending time with her however he could get it. He silently asked the One to reveal the source of her discomfort so that he could ease it in whatever way was possible. For the time being, however, she was at peace, and he would not disturb her.

She stirred and then finally opened her eyes, but before he could rise to exit their bedchamber, she spoke to him in a sweet yet groggy tone.

"Where are you going?"

"My love, I don't wish to disturb you. I'll leave you for now," he answered her.

Liz sat up in the bed with a look of confusion across her face. She didn't know how to answer him, and before she could, he was gone. She didn't want him to be gone, she wanted him to stay, but she didn't know how to tell him that she was going through culture shock without making him feel as though he wasn't enough for her.

Liz dressed herself and wandered through the halls of the castle tending to the minor details here and there. She desperately sought to do something more with her time. She needed to do something, or she would go insane. But for some reason, Jareth withheld part of her duties from her as Queen. She wasn't sure why, but she did know that it was within his rights to do so if he felt that she wasn't ready to lead. By now, she should have been answering the calls of children with wishes. Only Jareth could answer those questions now, and since the morning conversation, he hadn't been seen anywhere. She thought to herself that a stroll in the garden may cheer her up, and who knows, maybe Hoggle and her other friends were there.

Just as she had expected, Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo were all in the garden. She met up with them and the four sat down to tea and pleasant conversations. Hoggle and Brody were the only ones who really knew what was bothering Liz and were more than helpful in her overcoming it.

As they were preparing to make their way around to the front of the castle where the city lies, Brody came rushing around the corner out of breath.

"Yer majesty! There's a man nam'd Dimi'ri 'ere ta see ya! Be'a come quick"

"Alright, Brody, I'll be in Jareth's study."

With that the pair of fae vanished into thin air leaving the trio of unusual companions sitting at the table.

"She didn't even say goodbye" Hoggle exclaimed.

"Calm thyself, Sir Hoggle, her majesty had important business."

"Liz friend. Liz not Sarah."

"That's right, sir Ludo. Valiant thought indeed. We need not fear that we'll be abandoned a second time. My Lady is more noble than Sarah."

"Yeah? Yeah! You're right!"

"That's the spirit, Sir Hoggle!"

Liz walked into the study and sat at the window sill listening to the conversation that took place as she left them. A few tears made their way down her cheek. She felt terrible about just leaving, but she needed to be present and knew that if a ruler from another realm was here, it meant that something very dire or extremely important was about to happen.

Jareth and Dimitri walked into the study and paused for a moment. That was Liz's cue to rise and curtsey to the two rulers. She walked around Jareth's desk, to the side of the room, and took her seat in a chaise. Brody was standing there as well. From where she was sitting, she could still see Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. She preferred to watch them while she listened to the ongoing conversation.

"Mate, you see, Sarah's runnin' amok out there and needs to be stopped. This was your mess. You need to have a part in fixin' it," Dimitri countered.

"I am well aware of the mistakes I have made, but I can assure you that if she is as powerful as you say, what makes you think I have any power to stop her?"

The two went back and forth in this manner for what seemed like hours. The sun began to set in the sky. The day was cooling down and turning cold. Finally, Dimitri made his true emotions known to the monarchs.

"Jareth, I'm surprised I even came to you. Everybody knows you only married Elizabeth because she is more powerful than you. You'd do anything to have your old power back!"

This outburst turned even Liz's head from the window. The tears were no longer hidden from her face. She was angry. It was an anger that even Jareth had yet to see. Simultaneously, Liz had never seen the fires of rage that were now burning behind Jareth's baby blues.

Liz calmly rose to her feet and smiled a gracious smile. The thunder began to crack, the sky turned dark and ominous. Rain fell once again at the beckoning of Elizabeth's anger and emotion. Lightening illuminated the room even more than the candles and cast a deadly glow about the place. Yet, the whole while, her face remained calm. In fact, no one would suspect that Elizabeth could have possibly been the cause of the storm, had Jareth not already seen the likes of it before.

"My good sir," Liz began politely, "My husband is more powerful than I. Yes, I have power, but I am afraid that without the proper training, I am as unpredictable as the storm that beats these castle walls. I could be lethal without meaning to, or not powerful enough against my enemy. And with trying to discover the location of Sarah's hideaway, run a kingdom that has recently been united, and take care of a new wife, I am afraid my Jareth is a busy monarch. So, If you'll excuse me, I will leave the defending of his honor to my loving husband, as he is more than capable to do so."

"Yeah. He's more than capable of running a kingdom, but the powerful woman in his bed, he refuses to let help him or train. I'm sorry milady, but he's not fit.."

A dangerously loud clap of thunder warned Dimitri to choose his next words with care.

"I'm sorry, my queen. It's just that he hasn't released you into your duties yet and you seem more than capable. I just don't understand the reasoning."

"We're done here," Jareth said curtly. "Show Dimitri to his room, Brody, then inform me where my wife has gone."

Liz curtseyed to Dimitri and left the room. She calmed the storm and began to allow herself to feel the emotions she had been keeping at bay. She needed to do something, so she headed directly to the training room. It was a vast open room much like a ballroom, only there were targets, dummies, and weapons lining the walls. She pulled a sword from the rack on the wall and began to practice her sword training in a fierce and angry manner.

Jareth found her in the training room and watched her for a moment before stepping inside. He pulled a sword from the wall and met her blows. He knew she was angry and needed to work out her emotions, but there was something deeper that needed to be addressed. Something that she wasn't telling him, and as usual, he would need to force it out of her.

Brody had arrived with Hoggle and the other two just a moment later and watched the spectacle take place. It was about to hit the fan. They all knew it. Liz would explode on Jareth and Jareth would say something that he would regret. Brody looked at the three friends and they looked back at him. Each of them wore a look of dread and knowing. As if they could read each other's thoughts, Brody shook his head in anticipation of what was to come. Hoggle hung his head and muttered an "Oh no", Sir Didymus just stood there mouth agape, and Ludo was silent as the grave.