Jenny looked away from Tom.

Her surroundings were just as she had guessed.  The school cafeteria seemed very empty she thought distractidly.  She quickly glanced at her crowd of friends.  "You lied to me," said Michael in an accusing voice, his puppy brown eyes staring at her.  "Not that it matters now," he added solomingly.

Jenny looked down, then up to Julian.

"I thought you might like to say goodbye, you don't know when you will see them again."  His voice came out almost sarcastically at her flinching eyes.  "It's only sporting," he added.

  "You," she started.

  "Won the game."

  "How?"

  "I play to win Jenny, you know this."

  "I was going to win, I knew the answer but…."

  "You didn't win."

  "Is this it then?  The end?"  What she couldn't understand was the excitement she felt under her skin.  Julian smiled at her as if he could hear her thoughts.

  "The end is indeed nigh, but like I said, I thought it might be considerate if first you said goodbye to them."  His entire focus was upon her.  She faintly realised his hand, so cool yet gentle, was rested at her waist.  Her body was responding even as her mind was frozen.  She was turning towards him, her head tilting backwards slightly to look up at him.  Her eyes found his lips.

How bizarre, she thought vaguely, because usually it was his eyes she normally focused on.  He was leaning down.  Very slowly, Jenny thought, I want to kiss him, was her next thought.  The first time she ever just wanted to kiss him.  But she did, her body quickly responded to the thought and met his lips.

Her body shook with quivers.  She could feel the hairs rising all over her body.  Her legs went weak again but Julian now had both arms around her, supporting her actions.

  "Jenny?" Came the enquiry from somewhere.  She dismissed the voice quickly.  Her whole being was focused on the person holding her.

They were locked together, lip-to-lip, but now she felt a difference: his tongue.  It flickered quickly across her lips sending sweetness through her.  It passed over again.  Bemusedly she compared it to someone licking salt, or she thought, to someone licking a block of sugar.  The next time it passed her lips she opened her mouth, a gasp escaping at the same time. 

The tongue brushed her teeth.

The sensation travelled through all the bones in her body.  Tiny vibrations shook her as she met his tongue with hers.

Then, just as suddenly, someone was pulling her back.  Their contact broke off, painfully sharp.  Jenny's eyes snapped open as she looked around.

Julian's eyes, cobalt blue eyes, were a mirror to her own shock, but even as Jenny watched anger, no, fury replaced the expression.  Jenny followed his gaze to see who was receiving the brunt of his fury.  Vaguely she recalled being pulled out of an enraptured embrace, and hands still held her painfully for her to realise she was still being pulled away.  She looked frantically for a face, turning in the process.  And met Dee. 

The hands released her, and thankfully her legs held.

  "What are you DOING?!?!" yelled Dee and Jenny together, then both stopped confused at each others response.

  "You were kissing him Jenny!" yelled Tom for a corner somewhere.

  "Kissing the enemy!" enforced Audrey, in a tone of voice that could only be interpreted as disgust.

  "Not the enemy," Jenny said in a normal voice, octaves lower and quieter than everyone else's, "the game is over, the deal says I have to go with him.  I'm not going to fight it, there simply is no point!" 

Julian smiled, just like a well-fed cat.  His eyes sparkled, but his lids suggested at hidden intention.  "Besides," he added to the huddled group, "you have no choice over the matter."

  "And just what is that supposed to mean?"  asked Audrey in a flat tone.

  "It means," he said approaching slowly, "that under the rules, you are mine to do with as I please…" he left the phrase just hanging in the air, waiting for the next question to appear.

Silence ensued within the large room.

Dee backed away from Jenny.  With the departure of her friend, Jenny felt her last ray of hope vanish that things could ever be the same again.  She knew that a distance had been growing between them, now she realised just what that distance meant.  She wasn't part of the group anymore.  The shadows had claimed her, and her alone to join them.  She was to be a light among the dark, it was time she accepted the fact.

And finally, as Dee edged towards Tom, she did.

Jenny looked up to Julian and Julian looked at her.  Yes, she thought, that is where I belong.  She walked up to Julian and took his hand.

Just that.  She didn't have to say anything.  Julian already knew, Jenny realised slowly.  He had, after all, watched her constantly for years; he would know her better than she knows herself. 

Still, he was a little wary, that was probably after the last time I did something like this, Jenny realised, I tricked him before, and now would be when I repeat the trick. 

But she couldn't.  There was not a single thought in her mind that betrayed her trust to him at that moment.  She had chosen her future, now she had to trust into that, or suffer severely.  She belonged with him, if she went back to what her friends have now, it would all seem too tame.  Her life would be without any of the extremes that she craved so desperately with Julian. 

Tom might love her, but he didn't bring out so much of her that Julian did.  Julian adored her, and now, finally, Jenny craved Julian.

Still the silence was left untouched.

Jenny put a slight pressure onto Julian's hand then turned to face her friends.

  "Goodbye."

Eyebrows raised, all eyes looked astounded into Jenny's.

  "What!" shouted Tom.

  "Jenny!" reprimanded Audrey

  "What?"

  "You CAN'T!" cried Audrey, suddenly bursting into tears.

  "She can" said Julian, finally returning the pressure on Jenny's hand.  She smiled, reassured she wouldn't be facing the nightmare alone this time.

  "So, you are just going to leave us to whatever fate this…. This…. Jenny NO!"  Audrey was really in tears now, clinging onto Michael in a way that Jenny had never witnessed before.  She stared despite herself.

  "Come on Jenny," said Julian quietly to her, "I'll get you out of here and sort out this lot later, they are going nowhere quickly." 

With that Julian steered Jenny away from them and turned towards a sudden doorway that had appeared.  The door had patterns all over it, covered in runes she realised.  This was a door to the shadow world.  No turning back now, she tightened her grip on Julian and followed him through the doorway.