An After Dark Fairy Tale
Chapter 2
Sarah blinked in an attempt to focus her eyes on her surroundings. The place was dimly lit but it seemed to be a small cell of some kind. The once whitewashed walls were chipped, revealing the brickwork underneath, and stained in ways she would rather not dwell on. Her last vague memory was of being in a room with red décor and black leather chairs. There had been a strange man — Nox, and Sarah was pretty sure he must have drugged her.
Panic hit her and she tried to move before realising, with horror, that her hands and feet were manacled together. She thrashed around, shouting and screaming for help, but none came. Eventually, hoarse from yelling and exhausted, Sarah fell silent. Her mind was reeling as she recalled the news reports of the missing women and the speculation on their possible gruesome fates.
Who did she have in her life who would miss her or even notice she was gone?
The people she owed money to might, although they'd probably just assume she'd skipped town. Sarah despaired, there wasn't a single person she could name that would notice her absence.
There was a hissing noise and an unpleasant aroma filled the air. It was reminiscent of the smell of sweaty feet at the gym, like the Valerian root tea she bought for her insomnia. The scent became overpowering, and unable to fight the tiredness engulfing her body, Sarah drifted into a deep sleep. She dreamt of strange blue eyes, fantastical creatures, and wondrous places. On a few occasions, her eyes fluttered open and she could have sworn someone was standing over her holding a glass orb in their hand.
When Sarah awoke, the woman with raven hair who'd directed her to Nox in the first place was looming over her. She slid back against the wall in fear as her limbs tensed in their restraints.
"My name is Ebony, and I'm here to tell you the way things are gonna be from here on in." She spoke in a business-like tone, devoid of pity, as she informed her captive, "You belong to the Midnight Prince now, body and soul."
"What the fuck? You can't keep me prisoner here." Sarah hissed, struggling against the chains that held her down.
"The shackles are only temporary. But, if you refuse to abide by the rules, there will be severe penalties," Ebony warned. "You will do as you are told — from working the bar in the club to pleasing its clients. Failure to perform satisfactorily will bring harsh punishments."
Sarah couldn't believe what was happening to her. It had to be a bad dream.
"I don't understand, you can't go around enslaving people. This is almost the twenty-first century, for fuck sake!" she protested. "And who the fuck is the Midnight Prince, anyway?"
Ebony's lips curled into a mirthless smile. "All you need to know is he is your lord and master. And from this moment on, you live only to please him."
Sarah shook her head, determined to stay strong and defiant. "You can't keep me here. People will notice I've gone — they will be looking for me. Like the families of those other missing women are searching for them. Did you kidnap them too?"
Ebony cackled. "No one will find you here." She fixed her dark eyes on her captive. "You can't leave this place. Not ever."
Sarah screamed in frustration and thrashed against her restraints.
"Save your strength, you're gonna need it," Ebony cautioned.
She whistled and two big, burly, bald men entered the room.
Sarah was reminded of an illustration of ogres she had seen in a book about folklore and mythology and shrank back in fear as they advanced towards her.
"Take her and put her in with the others," Ebony commanded.
The men unshackled her and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing. Their brute strength soon quashed any ideas she might have had about attempting to escape.
Before they hauled her away, Ebony gave her one last warning. "If you value your life, you'll be good and make it easy on yourself. And even if you don't, you would do well to remember that there are worse fates than death."
Sarah was dragged through a maze of corridors in what felt like the bowels of the building. The place had a curious smell. It was a mix of bleach and something rotten like old garbage. Eventually, they came to a heavy metal door and she was unceremoniously pushed through it. There was no handle on the inside of the door and Sarah kicked at it repeatedly.
"That ain't gonna do no good," a gentle female voice said.
Sarah looked around to find herself in a kind of dormitory. There were a dozen simple, metal-framed beds arranged in two lots of six down each side of the room. All, except one of them, were taken. At the far end was a shower cubicle and a toilet stall with multiple lockers outside. Out of the eleven other women in the room, she recognised the one who spoke to her from the missing person reports. It wasn't Meredith Laker but another girl who had disappeared a few months earlier.
"Aren't you Lucy Green? I heard about you on the news." Sarah was glad to discover that she was alive at least.
The young woman acted as if she hadn't heard the question.
"You can take that one." Lucy pointed to the end bunk. "There are robes and towels in the lockers, and there's a nightdress under the bed sheets," she instructed.
Closer inspection revealed all the missing women Sarah knew about, except there was no Meredith amongst them. The whole room was eerily silent. None of the women were chatting to each other and they were either sitting or lying on their beds. Sarah didn't understand why they were all so accepting of their situation.
She turned to Lucy for answers. "Your mom's looking for you, you know? Don't you wanna go home?" she questioned.
Lucy shook her head. "Why would I want to leave? I live only to please the master." She sounded as if she'd been brainwashed.
Sarah shuddered at the prospect of being turned into a mindless automaton programmed to do goodness knows what.
"What's wrong with you people?" she raged at the other women. "I don't get why you're all cool with this. If they have us working in the club, surely we could get out of here somehow. We could at least call for help or something. What about the folks that come in here, won't they help? Why are you all okay with being used as sex slaves? I just don't understand."
Lucy smiled, patiently. "You will understand when you become one of us," she insisted. "We make people happy and that makes the master very happy."
Sarah could see now that the women's eyes appeared vacant, as if they'd been drugged or were under some kind of hypnosis. She sighed and realised she was wasting her time. No one there would help her. Her only hope was to look for a way to escape on her own and then raise the alarm about the others. Sarah reluctantly made her way to her allocated bed and past her fellow captives. Not one of them looked in her direction as she slumped down and wept into the pillow.
Sarah approached a strangely familiar castle. Ahead of her were a set of stone steps that led up to a maze-patterned wooden door. Heavy iron chains hung from both sides of it. Alongside the castle, giant spikes jutted out at odd angles. To her horror, she discovered some of the spikes were adorned with rotting decapitated heads. Sarah advanced slowly towards the door, trying to keep her gaze averted from the spikes until she reached the very last one. A strong compulsion overtook her and she looked up to see a pair of familiar, fuzzy-browed, blue eyes, staring back at her. Open wide, they told of unspeakable horrors. Sarah screamed — not Hoggle, her friend.
The chains rattled as the wooden door parted before her. An unseen force was beckoning her on and she stepped into the castle. That someone or something was waiting for her somewhere inside. Sarah looked around and a flash of ginger fur caught her eye. It was the rug inside the hallway. The closer to it she got, the more the feeling of dread within her grew. Soon, all became clear and Sarah let out an ear-piercing shriek — not Ludo. She bent down to stroke his stuffed horned head. He had been such a dear and sweet creature, it broke her heart to see him that way.
A glint of light on a nearby glass display case caught her attention and Sarah walked over to it. There, mounted on his faithful steed, Ambrosius, was Sir Didymus. His one uncovered eye held a hint of accusation in its glassy glare. No, no, no, she yelled out in despair. Her friends had needed her and she hadn't been there for them.
Sarah… Someone was calling her name. It was just a whisper at first, growing louder as she looked high and low for the source. The voice echoed around her, mocking her as it led her onwards through corridors and up staircases, until, suddenly, it was behind her. Sarah came to a standstill, her heart pounding as she felt the hot breath of her tormentor on her neck…
The piercing sound of a bell ringing jolted Sarah from her dream. The details of which quickly faded leaving her with a deep sense of unease. She watched in bemusement as the other women automatically leapt into action.
"Time to go to work," a pretty blonde informed her.
Sarah hesitantly got out of bed and joined the others at the door. It opened to reveal the two burly men she had had the displeasure of meeting earlier. The pair ushered the women out of the room and into a small dining area with two tables. Her stomach growled and Sarah couldn't even remember how long it had been since her last decent meal. The women were each directed to collect a tray that contained some of the most unappetising food and drink she'd ever seen. Sarah recalled a rotten peach she had once been tricked into eating and vowed not to touch anything for fear it had been drugged. But hunger gnawed at her and she took a couple of spoonfuls of something she hoped was oatmeal.
After dinner, Sarah reluctantly fell in line with the others as they were all led to a dressing room area.
Ebony was there, and she beckoned Sarah over to a curtained cubicle. "This one needs waxing and plucking," she instructed a heavy-set woman in a white overall. "Virgins have special value around here, you know?" Ebony turned to Sarah with a cruel smile. "Someone will pay top dollar to fuck you bloody," she cackled.
"How do you know I'm a virgin?" Sarah asked, her stomach churning in horror. Nobody knew, she'd never been close enough to anyone to reveal such personal information about herself.
Ebony rolled her eyes. "We know everything about you."
"Not everything," Sarah protested. "I'm not one of your mindless little robots. I won't just lie back and take it."
Ebony delivered a sharp, stinging slap to her cheek. "We'll see about that," she threatened.
In desperation, Sarah glanced around for someone that might aid her escape, but it was to no avail. She was left to be made over and prepared for her club debut.
Once she had been stripped in more ways than one, she was directed to the wardrobe. There was a rail full of leather underwear, mostly in black, and she was handed a lace-up Basque with matching stilettos. Her hair was back-combed within an inch of its life and her face heavily made up. The image that stared back at her in the mirror after the transformation was complete was a smoky-eyed, wild-haired and rouge-lipped stranger.
Ebony emerged from Nox's office. "Alright girls, take your usual places," she instructed, ushering them on. "You will wait tables, for now," she informed Sarah.
"And you won't cause any trouble or it's back to the shackles for you, and that will be just for starters," she warned.
Sarah couldn't do much except go along with it and bide her time. Her plan was to get the lay of the land and find a way out. As soon as an opportunity for escape presented itself, she would grab it.
The first thing she noticed was the appearance of the barman. He was tall with blond hair and blue eyes. His looks were striking in a way that was beautiful rather than handsome. He seemed to have an otherworldly air about him and Sarah was reminded of the Goblin King from her dream. Strangely, she had imagined him with the same kind of ethereal beauty. It was odd how his image had stayed with her long after other childhood fancies had faded. She watched, mesmerised, as the club began to fill up and the barman mixed multiple drinks, seemingly producing shot glasses out of nowhere.
As far as Sarah could tell from observing and eavesdropping, the patrons were an eclectic bunch. She saw a local politician known to have a shady reputation and a handful of businessmen. The rest were almost supernatural in appearance. It was makeup, she assumed. Some people did enjoy dressing up for a night out and she had certainly seen plenty of oddballs on the city streets after hours. Sarah hovered around the curtained entrance area, hoping to slip away unnoticed. But the two heavies were guarding it and they glared menacingly at her as she scooted back to the bar. There had to be another exit or fire escape somewhere and she would find it.
Sarah had been serving drinks for an hour when a slim man wearing a white Panama hat with a black band around it, and a white trench coat, entered the club. He also had on tailored, wide-leg, black pants with a matching waistcoat and a white shirt, open at the neck. Sarah's eyes were immediately drawn to him and she went over to take his drink order.
The man took a seat at a corner table. "I think a Bellini would be an amusing idea, given the name of this establishment," he said with a crisp English accent.
Sarah frowned in confusion. What was the name of the club? She thought back to the mysterious flyer. Peaches, yes, that was it. She shuddered at the name without fully grasping why it made her so uneasy.
"Coincidental, but appropriate, wouldn't you say?" The man added, cryptically, his wide hat brim keeping his face in the shadows.
"Have we met before?" Sarah asked. There was something about the guy that was very familiar but she couldn't place him. Her heart almost stopped when he looked up at her with his odd blue eyes." It couldn't be. "J-J-J..." she stuttered, unable to get the name out.
The man removed his hat to reveal slicked-back, collar length, strawberry blond hair. "Jack? Joker? Jean Genie?" He teased, his lips twisted into a sinister smile that exposed his sharp teeth.
"It's impossible," Sarah gasped, backing away from him.
The man couldn't actually be the Goblin King from her childhood playbook. It was just a story. He had to be someone who looked like him. But the Goblin King's appearance came from her imagination, didn't it? He was her teenage fantasy made flesh. No, it wasn't real — he wasn't real.
The man crooked his head to the side as if he could read her internal monologue, and gave her a knowing wink.
Sarah shook her head. "No, you can't be him." She felt as if she was going mad.
"Who?" he inquired, smirking. "Who do you think I might or might not be, precious?"
All doubt was removed.
"You are him, aren't you?" Sarah could do nothing but stare at him in astonishment. She felt as if she was fifteen again. For years, she had convinced herself everything that happened after she wished her baby brother away had been a dream. But the Goblin King wasn't a fantasy figment of her childhood imagination. He was spellbindingly real, and he appeared not to have aged a day since their last meeting.
"You know who I am, precious. Say it, say my name," he urged her.
The right words wouldn't come out. Everything Sarah thought she knew about the world was crumbling. She was back in the Labyrinth, lost and alone, until she was startled back to the present by a gruff voice behind her.
"Get the guy his drink."
It was Nox and he didn't look happy. He was dressed in an open-to-the-waist black silk shirt and leather pants with a prominent crescent moon shaped pendant around his neck. His dazzling blue eyes were cold and cruel. He gave Sarah a menacing glare when she took a moment to react to his order. She scurried away to the bar, stumbling slightly on her high heeled shoes. As the barman mixed the cocktail, she watched furtively as the Midnight Prince and the Goblin King talked. The latter wore a dark expression as if he might go on a murderous rampage at any moment. Nox appeared equally uptight. But, after a brief discussion, the tension between them seemed to be resolved and the Midnight Prince broke into a wide smile.
Sarah warily approached them and set the peach cocktail down on the table. Neither of the males acknowledged her and she hurried away to blend in with the crowd. The music pulsed and some of her leather-garbed, fellow captives were twirling around poles on the stage. What a surreal situation she had found herself in. To think, a day ago she was a struggling actress, walking a line between the real and the make believe. The world certainly wasn't what she thought it was.
Nox broke into her reverie. "Hey, sugar tits, with me." He appeared unexpectedly behind Sarah, grabbing her roughly by the elbow and marching her backstage.
"What's going on?" Her panic was rising.
"One of our clients has made an offer for you that I can't refuse," he said, leering down her bosom. "I wouldn't have minded breaking you in myself. But business is business."
Sarah tried to pull free from Nox's grasp, only to find he was unnaturally strong for his diminutive size. He dragged her along with him until they arrived at a long corridor. There were six doors, three down each side. They went to the room numbered one and he shoved her inside.
"Let me out of here," Sarah screeched and charged at him.
Nox pushed back, sending her crashing onto the floor. "Do you wanna see what will happen if you defy me?" He was wild-eyed as he produced a crystal orb in his hand.
"How did you do that?" Sarah gasped in disbelief. What the hell was he? Was he like the Goblin King?
She took deep breaths to try and steady herself but it was all in vain. Her eyes widened in shock as an image formed in the glass. She watched as her family appeared, they were watching TV together and laughing. "What the fuck is happening?"
Nox broke into a malevolent grin. "Which one would you like me to kill first, uh? How about the boy?" he questioned.
Sarah was horrified. "If you touch them, I will fucking kill YOU," she spat.
Nox advanced on her and grabbed her by the throat. "I don't need to touch them. I have the power to turn nightmares into reality." he hissed. "People dream about some pretty fucked up shit, don't they? What about your daddy, uh? How about I make his worst nightmares come true? He'll wake up the next morning all relieved it was only a bad dream, until he sees the blood."
"No, please, don't hurt them," Sarah begged.
"Then get on that bed," Nox snarled. "And make sure the client comes out of this room with a smile on their face or I'll turn your family's nightmares into a real life slaughter," he vowed.
The Midnight Prince allowed Sarah to get to her feet. Tears streamed down her face as she staggered back against the mattress. What choice did she have? There was a loud knock at the door. Nox turned to her with a questioning glance. She nodded and he went to answer it. He walked out and the client walked in, locking the door behind them. Sarah laid back on the bed with her eyes screwed shut and her body frozen in terror. She heard the clink of footsteps crossing the floor towards her as a spicy, seductive aroma filled the room.
"Well now, precious, where shall we begin?"
When Jareth entered the club I wrote him as resembling 'Thin White Duke' era Bowie in his style of dress.
The Jack, Joker, Jean Genie references Jareth makes refer to :- a) Halloween Jack - another 70s era Bowie persona. b) The Joker - specifically from the Grant Morrison Batman comic series, as his version of the Joker was inspired by 'Thin White Duke' era Bowie. Morrison even titled one of the chapters of the Batman R.I.P series, The Thin White Duke of Death. c) Jean Genie - from the Bowie song, of course.