"Take her to my quarters," Jareth sighed. He flexed his right claw and watched the tendons move beneath the skin. He had expected better of her, but it seemed she was still scared of monsters. "Leave her there and return."
Pel saluted quickly and nodded to his companion to help. They lifted the girl between them and carried her further to the short cut in the back wall of the platform. Slipping through it, they set her down in the pile of fur and velvet. They left her there and went back to the Cathedral.
The Goblin King had returned to his public form and was calmly standing behind the chair she had used, drinking in the remains of her scent.
Lyndon was standing with him, gesticulating with his hands to the king's bedchamber. "She won't help us, Jareth. We frighten her."
"All the better. If charm won't work we can try force," Jareth replied negligently.
"It takes too long. Drain her now and you have the added bonus of her life in your veins. This is not a hard decision."
"On the contrary. If she realizes what she has become, she might decide to use that magic for her own needs."
Lyndon sighed and removed his belt from around his waist, opening the pouch to remove his handgun. The belt he handed to a younger vampire. The gun he slipped into his pocket. "I can only advise you," he warned, "And my advice is to end it now while she is vulnerable."
"So noted," Jareth agreed, moving away from the chair, "My way is better."
No one dared refute the arrogant statement.
One of the soldiers returned with a brace of rodent-like creatures slung over her shoulder. She dropped it to the ground and then presented herself to Jareth. "Your Majesty, may I approach?"
"Yes."
"The goblins are in an uproar. The rock creature that befriended the girl has returned to the City. They plan to execute him."
Jareth raised an eyebrow. "I really don't care."
"I- I thought you might want to…"
"Interfere as a sign of good faith?" he asked avidly. The guard looked confused. "Alright. Go back and stay the execution. Keep it locked up, however. She might want it later. By the by, how were they going to do it?"
"Poison."
"What kind?"
"Lacewing."
The Goblin King shared a look of amusement with his Commander. "A humane killing," he remarked.
Lyndon laughed and went back to cleaning his gun.
The guard bowed and left, returning to the outside world. Several others were already skinning the animals and expertly slicing them for food. A slight skirmish arouse when one surreptitiously raised a hand to lick the almost-fresh blood from his fingertips.
Jareth stayed with his guards for the night, resting in the cool darkness. They were a silent people in general, their strict self-control only adding to the economical use of movement and noise. A few played dice or cards. Others talked of mundane things and memories. One sat by himself and carved wood into animals of the Underground. Lyndon sat with three other guards, tending minor ailments and discussing what was known of the creature's apparently indestructible frame. Jareth stayed with them.
When the natural clock in their minds told them morning approached, the hunted rodents were placed in a pot and cooked. The drained blood was given to those vampires allotted fresh blood for the day. The others contented themselves with what was stored.
They ate, as all living creatures are wont to do, and then they set about preparing for the day. Weaponry was either put away or kept to hand in bedding. Utensils were washed and stacked. Personal hygiene was taken care of in the anteroom to the left, where a warm spring bubbled its way beneath the rock.
Jareth left them to it and went to what passed in these times for his bedchamber. He went in, lit the sconces on the wall and turned around.
Sarah was not asleep. She was sitting up, knees hugged to herself, thinking feverishly. She noticed him, but she didn't stop.
She didn't retreat either, and that pleased him. Seeing her faint had been quite disappointing.
"How did you sleep?" he asked her, keeping his voice low so as not to frighten her, "I hope you are rested."
"I need to go Aboveground," Sarah said sharply, "My Dad's going to be worried sick."
"A tragedy. Our business here is not yet done." Jareth shed his coat and unbuckled the wide belt slung on his hips.
This time Sarah moved. She almost fell over as her eyes went as big as saucers at the sight. "What are you doing?" she squeaked.
"Removing unnecessary layers." Jareth sat down on the edge of the bedding and tugged at his boots. The stockings beneath were removed as well and the lot were tossed untidily to the other side of the room. "There is food outside on the table and water in the jug. Try not to disturb my guards."
"You're going to sleep? I thought we were going to talk."
"Vampires sleep during the day, Sarah." He was deliberately casual. Better to tell her the truth without any drama.
"You're really a vampire."
"You knew as much." He waited for the screaming but she only cowered and looked frightened- frightened and cornered- like a rat preparing to fight because it knows it is going to die and doesn't actually like the idea. "You're shivering."
"Please, just let me go home."
"I told you I can't."
"I'm sorry about all of this. I didn't know the world would fall apart if I said those words. I just wanted my brother back. You have to believe that I didn't mean it."
Jareth undid a few buttons for good measure. "Begging doesn't suit you," he said offhand, "Don't do it again."
"What do you want from me?" Sarah was slowly getting agitated, her hands clutching tightly at her jeans. "Why me?"
"I want you to stop lying to yourself. You knew I would bring you back here. And you knew you would agree to it. Once you have mastered honesty, we can proceed."
"You bastard."
"Apt, in a purely literal sense."
Sarah was out of worse insults. "You're lying to me," she snapped, "You always lie. You want some little innocent who'll walk right into your trap and let you take whatever it is you want, don't you?"
"Perhaps. What do I want from her?"
"Blood… I don't know. You know what you want. And you won't tell me because you know I'll fight you. You know it!"
"I know you will fight me. And I know I can overpower you." He sat up and looked very intently at her mouth. "I can take whatever I like from you and you can try to fight me but you won't win."
"You said the same thing about your Labyrinth. I beat that."
"I told you not to confuse the two. Fighting me will be harder."
"You really do just want my blood. Is it revenge?"
"Somehow you seem very unperturbed by that fact."
She frowned and squinted at him. "What are you talking about?"
He lifted his head and drew in a long breath. "No smell of fear or worry. And your voice is more interested than appalled."
"Why would I be appalled? I knew you were evil from the moment I met you. I just thought you were a Goblin King, not a vampire. But it all makes sense now. Everything makes sense."
"It should."
"So why didn't you just set your guards on me the last time? You sent goblins."
"So many questions, Sarah. I didn't believe you would ever make it through the goblins in time. The Labyrinth itself- that was sheer luck. But the goblins were meant to stall you. Keep you in the City until your thirteen hours were up."
"It didn't work," she observed.
"No, it didn't. An error in judgment on my part." He looked her over with a detached kind of approval. "You have a refreshingly determined nature, Sarah. Most people would have concentrated on fighting me instead of getting the baby. You didn't."
"Well, you made it clear that Toby was what I needed to go for. You threw the crystal to him. I followed the crystal."
"Clever," he chuckled, "Very clever."
"Not really. It's just common sense," she argued, "Most of it was."
"You don't see the beauty of it, Sarah. Those who come here, who wish children away to a magical land with a magical king, they are dreamers. When they encounter a riddle, they don't stop to reason it out. They rely on instinct. Instinct leaves them with a fifty percent chance of being wrong. You reasoned it out. That makes it remarkable."
"For someone who's going to suck my blood, you sound approving."
He smirked at her, a slow smirk with a great amount of aware deliberation. "I never claimed not to admire you. I also never claimed to want to suck your blood."
"The one I don't believe. The other I also don't believe."
"Ah, but you are in the land of the unbelievable. Anything is possible here."
"Like a Vampire King, huh?" Sarah scoffed.
He tipped his head, knowing such scrutiny unnerved her. "Can it be we're having a civil conversation?"
She hesitated and he itched to find out why. "Yeah," she said reluctantly, "Yeah, you can call it that."
"Most surprising." He sat back and propped his chin in his hand, his elbows on his knees. "Would you like to leave the room? I won't stop you. There is food and water outside."
She looked down at the rich bedding, at the thick cushions and soft pillows. And Jareth. Somehow the picture went together, even if she didn't quite know how or why. But the reds and pale mauves and moss greens seemed the perfect backdrop to his pale colouring and stark clothing.
She shook her head and hugged her knees tighter to her chest.
Jareth watched her, kept silent for a little longer than was necessary. "None of them will hurt you," he said gently, "I told you as much when we came here."
"You didn't tell me you were all vampires."
"Does it make much difference?"
"Yes, it does."
"Intriguing. I wonder how."
Sarah didn't answer. She just pointedly raised her hand to rub her neck and shifted further away from him.
Jareth nodded and lay down again. "Then stay here," he said, "Sleep. You will probably find you have precious little of it down in the Underground. Times are rather exciting just now."
She blinked in surprise but Jareth had already shut his eyes, his entire body relaxing with just one long exhalation.
For a vampire, he was surprisingly human.
Maybe it was all a joke. Sarah went to sit with her back to the wall, far enough away that her skin didn't crawl having to share the bedding with him. He didn't move, but that could be because he was deeply asleep. He'd talked of not getting enough sleep before so it stood to reason that he was just exhausted.
He didn't look like he was breathing deeply, though. He didn't look like he was breathing at all! Sarah pushed that observation away with the blinding realization that Jareth had said all of them were vampires. All of them! But all of them had been in the sun in what seemed to be evening in the Goblin City. Vampires weren't supposed to be able to go out in the sun. It burned them. Perhaps in the Underground, though… no, no, no! They'd been out in the sun and they shouldn't have been able to do that. Therefore they were not vampires.
It was all just a joke.
Sarah leaned her head back against the wall, more relieved than she cared to admit even to herself.