AN: Besides me, who's surprised I updated?

I now have spell check, and I'm older and wiser, with a lot more experience under my belt. Please enjoy the fanfiction!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, minus my main three slave girls and their bitch of a leader.

CHAPTER 3

Sarah was starting to get really bored, much to her chagrin. Hadn't he said he'd not leave her alone too long? Not that she really wanted him to come back, but she was just so damn bored!

It brought back to her head the horrible predicament she was in, what was she supposed to do? The unfortunate truth was; she simply could do nothing. He had thought of everything that she could think of, he had predicted her every thought ahead of time, blocked all possible escape. It was clear that he was determined to win, far more determined than she was stubborn, it would seem.

And, it was brutally, and painfully obvious that he had been planning this for a very, very long time. Flattering, but scary, scary mostly.

Still, she had no intention of loosing, not to him, never, for god's sake, she wasn't completely out of fight not yet. Hope, perhaps was elusive, but she wasn't completely gone into the depression that was eating away at her. 'there must be someone in this forsaken world that can help me.' After all, not everyone in this place could want her to loose, and there were her friends, what had Jareth done to them, with them?

That sent a thrill of fear through her so fast she almost lost her stomach. Damn that Jareth!

There was no choice, the second he let his guard down, even for a moment, she'd have to seek help. Someone would have to help her, someone in this world had to want her to be the winner, or at the very least, not care who won. Then again, who would dare defy Jareth? Her friends, they would, but in this world…

She shook her head when an unpleasant thought entered it, one she had to address no matter her fear of it. Jareth had given her a warning and she took it to her very core, in this world of nightmares there was something she wouldn't dare allow into her darkest of nightmares.

Vampires lived and thrived in this world as they couldn't in her own. A fact that she was very much aware and afraid of, she couldn't even hope that Jareth was bluffing, better safe than sorry, at least where vampires were concerned.

Jareth spoke of them in tense tones, but also, he saw them the same way he saw all other creatures in this place. The same as a goblin, a dwarf, or a faerie, not as something to be feared unless you were a woman.

"What am I going to do?" she asked no one in particular, putting her head into her hands. 'A very happy birthday to me,' Sarah thought morbidly, her heart clenching in her chest in anticipation of crying, but she managed to squish the urge, Jareth could return any moment and she wouldn't let him see her despair. After all, she had the unpleasant feeling that he'd enjoy seeing her so thoroughly beaten.

Just then, as if to confirm her fears the door opened, and loudly, slamming against the stone wall, bouncing halfway back before being stopped by a rather forceful hand. "Aerabella, get your slow ass in here now!"

There in the door stood not Jareth, but an adult woman. The woman whom had yelled this unpleasant thing was the same woman from before, the one who'd taken her measurements with the crude rope. She no longer looked passive, or the image of a servant at all, in fact she looked ready to kill any and all who would oppose her.

As ordered from behind her a young girl, looking no more than 8 years or so walked in, holding many clothes in her arms. Her face was blank, completely void of emotion, it was strange to see on someone so young, Sarah thought briefly.

"Yes, miss Tiea, as you wish." Her voice was dead and lifeless, like you'd expect from someone far older, and depressed.

Quickly the girl rushed into the room, her feet silent on the floor, covered by what appeared to be a thin animal hide. She too had no top, but her young breast were well concealed with her long, very strait, brown hair. Why couldn't they at least wear tank tops?

Tiea, as what Sarah now understood the older woman's name to be, stood tapping her toe most impatiently, her short blonde hair hiding nothing of her breast as she snapped at the young Aerabella gain. "You're not supposed to use my name you little brat."

"Yes… Mamma." The girl amended, with great hesitation, and Sarah found herself gawking. Why was this woman treating her daughter so? The young Aerabella didn't even flinch when Tiea raised her hand as though to smack the child. Was she used to this kind of treatment?

Instead of smacking the girl, Tiea's eyes landed on Sarah and she cursed like a sailor. "You're Jareth's new bitch huh? Genuine article this time, I guess, since he's giving you the clothes of his house." Her voice made no attempt to hide her disgust as she made an annoyed sound and walked deliberately forward, her nose high. "You look filthy, why would our Lord take interest in a common girl like you?"

"Excuse me," Sarah snapped, sitting up in the bed, clutching the covers to her breast. "I didn't ask to be forced down her, I don't know what that egotistical bastard wants me for, and I certainly don't care what you think about me or any of this." The words fought over one another to leave her mouth.

Her heart was filled with the anger she was most familiar with, what right did this woman have to behave as she did? Oh how she'd like to take her down a couple of notches! No one had the right to treat other people as this woman did, and the way she treated her own child! That brought forth all the anger she'd ever need.

"Puh, no wonder our Lord waited so long to bring you down here! You have a filthy mouth were you my daughter-"

"Were I your daughter I'd have killed myself or you by now." Sarah interrupted angrily. This woman acted as though she was so old! She couldn't be past mid-thirties! Hardly old enough to be her mother.

"Why you impudent… Never mind," Tiea bit her tongue and snatched the clothes from her daughter. "For some reason or another our Lord wants you clothed in these before your other clothes can be made. Made me trim them up and everything! Puh, how troublesome you already are!"

Sarah decided not to say anything, but instead waited for the woman to bring the clothes forward. She stood still, and Sarah almost growled as she stood up and tried to grab the clothes from her. Tiea though, had a strange grin on her face as she pulled the clothes out of her reach, and grabbed her arm.

"Hey! What're you-" Sarah's sentence was cut short when Tiea brought a knife out of the clothes and held it to Sarah's neck. What the devil…? What kind of woman was this Tiea? What was her goal?

"You, you stupid bitch!" Tiea was hissing in Sarah's ear as she twisted her arm behind her back. "It's your fault you know! Oh how I've waited to kill you, but no, now that'd be too obvious wouldn't it? Our lord would be furious with me, and never again take me into his bed."

Tiea's grip tightened on Sarah's arm, her anger evident. "So what do I do, hmm? I can't kill you, and I can't make anyone else kill you. Instead, I think I'll have him kill you."

That was laughable! This woman hated her, because of Jareth! Apparently she'd been rejected by him, and wanted to find someway to get him all to herself. Even funnier was the one flaw in this woman's plans. "That won't work. He won't kill me."

"Oh, yes he will." Though Sarah couldn't see it, she could imagine the smile on Tiea's face. "He believes himself quite thoroughly in love with you, don't you know? Ha! Love is for blind fools, and I know he is no blind fool."

She gripped Sarah's arm tighter and started walking her out the door. Sarah was most grateful that she still had her sheet, but was at the same time still completely pissed off, what did this woman plan to do?

"Oh, I imagine you'll scream that it was I who did this to you, that I was the one to cause all this mess." There was a light-hearted tone in Tiea's voice that made Sarah feel a sudden surge of light panic. "But he'll be so angry with you, he won't listen to a single word you've said, and after he beats you to death, I'll just show him that it could not have been I who was to blame, only Aerabella came up to give you your clothes."

Tiea was so happy with her plan, she couldn't seem to find any flaw with it. Couldn't see that Sarah didn't want to be here, and Jareth would more than likely view whatever this woman planned as an act of rebelliousness, and he would punish her, most certainly, but he wouldn't kill her, that to him, would be allowing her to escape him. This woman was little more than a fool if she thought this would work.

Still, it brought to mind, just what did this woman plan? What atrocity did this woman plan to commit? They were now walking down a hallway, and for a second, Sarah thought she might just be shoved out the door. That sent a shiver of fear up her spine, if Tiea threw her outside she could very well have to confront a vampire. What then would she do? Hope Jareth came to her rescue before it was too late? Damnit, that was exactly what she'd have to do.

However, they steered away from the steps as they neared them, and Sarah was finding herself relieved, hoping that Jareth would be her savior was the last thing in this world, or her world, that she wanted.

Tiea began humming in a light-hearted manner as they walked up a set of stairs. "You know that song? I don't imagine you do, you're too young… I wonder what kind of music you listen to now? Don't bother telling me though, I wouldn't understand, after all, I got stuck down here nearly ten years ago. Didn't even realize that I was pregnant with that brat Aerabella, damned unlucky too."

So the girl was closer to nine or ten years old. She was just so shy that it was hard to tell, and her head was constantly down, as if she was ashamed of being alive. With a mother like this woman, Sarah couldn't doubt it.

"Damn unlucky," she shoved Sarah a bit harder when they left the stairs and started down another corridor. "Always unlucky, I get here, find out I'm pregnant, and give birth to that little bitch, then I'm messed up for a while, nearly a year. After though… Oh yes, well, I'm not sure whether you know yet or not, but Jareth is an excellent lover. Forgot about me though, when you came into the picture, forgot about all of his loyal servants."

She made "tch" noise at that, rambling to herself. "Servant! Pah! I had servants, many of them, hundreds of them, three different houses, too. Don't you understand? I got stuck in this place, a rich woman like me became a servant! Still, it was delightful, I didn't really do so much work, I was a favorite, until I refused to allow myself to take on that damn disguise."

Sarah wasn't paying much attention to what Tiea was saying, the woman had to get some things off her chest. Whatever, Sarah didn't care about the pains of a rich woman turned poor, not when she treated everyone around her like crap.

Suddenly Tiea seemed to realize that Sarah wasn't paying attention and pulled back, slapping Sarah so hard she fell to the floor.

For a second, Sarah didn't feel the pain from the slap, only felt the anger that came along with it, but Tiea's knife was back at her throat in an instant. "Ignore me again, or scream, and I'll cut out your throat, and make it look like you did it to yourself."

Sarah's eyes were probably burning, she didn't doubt it, she was so very angry, but she didn't want to die, not after the threat Jareth had made. So she remained still, until Tiea grabbed her hair and yanked her to her feet.

"I can't imagine what he sees in a spineless little bitch like you anyway." Tiea went on as she released Sarah's hair. "Making the other three women walk around disguised as you!"

'Disguised as me?' Sarah thought confused, had Jareth's obsession gotten that bad? There simply was no way anyone thought so much of her! It was flattering and creepy at the same time, but more creepy than anything else. A man willing to do that, what would he do to keep the genuine article?

"Almost there, little bitch. Quiet now."

'Almost WHERE!' Sarah's mind screamed as she and Tiea moved increasingly faster. What did this woman-

Sarah's thoughts were cut short when she heard the voices of several men coming from a partially open door. One of those voices was Jareth's. 'Oh god, what does she plan on doing?'

"Shh…" Tiea said, putting the knife back at Sarah's throat. There were a lot of men past that door, many of them she didn't know how many, four or five, at the very least.

Tiea motioned with her head for Aerabella to move, and the little girl came up from behind Sarah and pulled the sheet away from her. Sarah nearly screamed but the knife at her throat silenced her.

The look in Tiea's pure blue eyes was quiet triumphant as she opened the door a bit more, and pushed a completely nude Sarah into the room. Sarah stood for a moment, looking into the eyes of six men, all starring at her, one of them being Jareth.

The last thing she registered before she saw white, and then a very welcoming black, was the look of fury on Jareth's face.