Chapter 6

Jareth was pacing around his room and the early rays of sunlight were starting to peek across the Labyrinth. He had not closed his drapery that late night and in the early morning he had still not slept a wink. He was beyond frustrated with the confused mess his mind was spinning through his head. He was angry, yet happy, sad and yet depressed.

Angry because Sarah had went off with that horrid blood sucking nuisance who seemed to swoop upon anything Jareth loved; happy that Sarah had not slept with him, to bare one of his children or was laying in a pool of blood dead; sad because Sarah was the one he believed he wanted to be with after all these years and yet he had not had the chance to confess his feelings but he most likely wouldn't after what happened the last time he tried that…and depressed because everything worth fighting for was always exhausting. Always.

Anything breakable, was shattered, or ripped around the room. Jareth plopped himself down onto his winged back chair and sat staring around at his mess. It was beautiful destruction he decided as he saw all his portraits were hanging pathetically down; flower vase porcelain and glass were piled around the walls in little mountains; curtains were pulled down and torn into rags which hung here and there and his table was upturned. His clothes were scattered everywhere but as he sat in his chair, he snapped his fingers and everything was back to right.

It wasn't fair to make someone else do the cleaning work when he could do it so fast.

He turned the chair to face his balcony and watched the sun rise; he didn't remember anything much more because he fell asleep shortly after. After all tonight more events were to occur. And as it is in Sarah's world, it is known that that is when all the danger comes out.

Sarah had scrubbed herself raw in a state of frustration and anger. Her skin was flaming red and tender to the touch. Truly, Jareth's kingdom knew how to provide bathing equipment as she had poured a herself a silky mixture of heaven scented foam and bubbles and used soft cloths and hard exfoliates–but none of it seemed to help scrub away the shame she felt as Jareth's eyes and facial expression keep in the forefront of her memory. And then his gloved hand that kept under his nose…he probably couldn't even stand the smell of her now and he wouldn't even look at her after he sent Yarin running…

Sarah just kept thinking that she had really messed up again with him. But, a tiny part of her mind kept telling her that he hadn't yet thrown her out back home. Not yet anyways. She half expected that when she came out of the bathroom in her lush and ultra-fluffy robe that all her belongings would be packed and at the door. But they weren't.

In fact, as Sarah awoke that next morning a tray of food was next to her on the night stand and two letters. Both were written in flowing handwriting from a fountain pen or quill and Sarah, thinking that they were both from the Goblin King opened the first, and her eyes went straight to the bottom of the page and saw it was from the vampire Duke, Yarin.

Sarah's eyes trailed back to the top of the paper as she started to read what he had to say to her, first thing in the morning. If it was morning, she thought as the room was dim; someone had gone and shut her lace and drapes.

The letter in short was an apology and Sarah couldn't even continue to read it without feeling sick. She screwed up the letter and tossed it to the far side of the room. She opened the other letter and it was from Jareth. It too was an apology, but rather in one line instead of a page. The next few lines regurgitated last night and then it closed with a 'you'll come to understand'. And then he signed it.

Sarah screwed up that page too and tossed it. Men were ticking her off now. Especially when she didn't quite understand them with her lack of experience and years on top of it—and now two handsome, immortal, unearthly males were after her both of whom she wanted to strangle a bit. Something had to be wrong with her for sure because no man wanted her and now this…

"Ugh!" Sarah screamed into her pillow and tugged the covers back over her head. She had decided that she was not going to leave her bed for the rest of the day. But the rest of the week wasn't sounding so bad either…when she woke, she decided she would get Jareth, perhaps strangled close to death would work....

"Where is she?" Jareth growled into the face of a little goblin who was freshly enlisted last week into the army. He had him lifted off the ground and had his fist bunched into his collar to dangle him behind the catering's back service hallways.

"I's don't know! I's swear!" He squealed.

"Then I suggest you find out!" Jareth spat. He needed to know where she was as dinner had come and gone and now the second night of gallivanting was about to start and he hadn't seen any sign of her. Of course, the first person he spied was Yarin and immediately he narrowed his eyes and observed him oiling his way around another young woman who was giggling and flustered as Yarin's hand disappeared under the table. Jareth would have conjured a crystal to look but he didn't want to cause a scene…besides any goblin or person could glimpse over and see who he was looking in on.

The goblin went scurrying off as fast as he could and Jareth heard chairs being slid back and chatter picking up again as the guests headed to the ballrooms again. He leaned against the wall and shut his eyes, exhausted and fed up with the charade. He couldn't wait for it all to be over and he could propose and then marry and everything would be alright. But no…he had to wait two more days before his parents came down and gave their consent…

And Jareth never knew any one more anti-mortal than his father.

And so Sarah woke up quite rudely after thinking she had just shut her eyes to the feeling of a rather heavy goblin bouncing on her side of the bed saying something.

Sarah had almost flew out of her bed being startled and shrieked. Somehow that resulted in a nasty tangle of blankets and sheets with a young woman inside of them upside down. The little goblin recruit was peering down at the woman.

"I's found you! I's did! Found you!" He kept repeating.

"What do you mean you found me, you horrid devil, thing, you!" She rose spitting angry. She felt like she had a level four hangover and was holding her head which she felt like would topple off if she wasn't too careful onto the spinning floor and would end up somehow splattered onto the wall. Ugh.

"His Highness—angry and wants to know where you be—"

So—that got through her fuzzy mind and sharpened it. He was being nosy. Wanting to know where she was when she was resting, thinking she might be doing what she was last night, eh? She would teach that good for nothing, lousy, nosy, meddling man.

"Is that all?" she asked as she bent to cover herself with the blankets. She was a tad bit exposed.

The goblin stood on the bed, tapping his chin thinking if that was all. He hummed a bit and decided that if there was anything else to say to her he couldn't recall, so then he nodded that that was all. Sarah fisted her blanket with one hand then, and then with the other pointed at her door, growled lowly, "Then get out now and knock next time."

The little creature then scurried out, afraid that this maiden was too much in temper like her master.

Sarah moaned into her hand and saw through the curtains that it was getting late and perhaps time she dressed and made an appearance. Just as she was going to her wardrobe someone tapped at her door.

"If that's you Jareth, I swear—"

"No, Ma'am, it's Apepi."

"Apepi?" Sarah repeated trying to think of who that was and then remembered that it was the female Fae from the previous night. "Come in!"

Apepi opened the door and slid in through a small gap then closed it again. "Good evening Lady Sarah," she said with a curtsy.

"Evening."

"Are you ready to get prepared for this evening?"

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"It is not my duty to wake those who choose not to be awoken."

"But—"

"It is for the better that you use your time to try to attract his majesty's attention, which you have again this evening attained by your absence. I think that it is working."

"Working in the wrong light."

"Neverless, working," Apepi grinned again and with a flick of her hand had Sarah's outfit chosen and had started working on her.

By the time that Sarah was ready and making her way down the stairs, she paused as she heard the other guests emptying out of one of the rooms and with their laughter and voices, were making their way outside another door.

She couldn't see this door, so she waited until the hall was silent before creeping down and very faintly she could hear where they had ventured over too. She carefully looked about to make sure she wasn't seen by anyone and found large French doors which were pulled back. In the doors place she saw sheer looking hangings billowing in the wind and through them she saw that she could see what could only be more of the Labyrinth beneath a large stone tiled patio. She crossed over and through to the outside and saw that this section of the Labyrinth was a hedge garden. From the height that she was at she couldn't see the faces or make out who was who, but she could see people in their finery running around through the hedges and hear the giggles and such as people went taking off to be hidden. She could see that the people were either playing a hide and seek game or something akin to tag—but she just didn't know who the one was doing the chasing.

But, she did believe that she was familiar blonde and so Sarah stepped off of the landing, lifting up her skirts and went jogging into the garden hedged Labyrinth.

"Big mistake, Sarah, big…It's not like before now is it---what did I do before—blue worm…blue worm…there are no blue worms!" Sarah moaned at herself and stomped her foot but it wasn't as satisfying when one can't see or hear it since it's muffled under a ton of material.

Sarah was lost. She lost sight of everyone and soon the sound muffled out and silenced. The light was quickly fading and when Sarah backtracked she could swear that the walls had changed on her. Then she remembered why everything wasn't fair—

It was because they had changed.

Then she remembered what that blue worm had said so very long ago to her. That nothing is what it seems and so she raised her hands, faced a scratchy looking hedge and started walking into it—but it didn't give.

So Sarah picked up her skirts and started running with her hand bushing against the wall getting slightly cut and pricked as she trailed it along. Her breathing was hitched because of some corset Apepi had trapped her into and her hair was falling loose from her loose bun she had. She was not happy at all.

And while a rather foul word spewed from her lips she found an opening in the wall which caused her to trip a stumble sideways and out of the wall into a stone section of the Labyrinth. She tried to go back but the entranceway was now shut or it only worked the one way.

"Freaking hell—now I'm deeper in this shit hole. Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Sarah sat down on the stone with her skirts hitched around her middle and her eyes stinging from holding back her frustration.

"I swear that once I find that man, I will pull out every strand of his hair! Yank all of his toenails out with pliers and shove those damn crystal balls so far up his nose—" she muttered to herself, but fell silent because she thought she heard something.

There it was again.

Sarah stood up quietly and waited to see if she heard it again. She couldn't quite make out where it was but every time she heard it, she hurried a few feet in the direction she thought it was and waited till it happened it again. It sounded like some animal noise or something deep.

It was within minute or so that it started to increase the occurrence of the noise and Sarah started jogging faster then, like a cadence letting that rhythm guide her and then as she turned corner after corner she heard it get louder and louder and more and more animalistic. She was a bit nervous that she was running towards some unknown, but then thought, it could be something like Ludo for all she knew.

And then she skidded around a corner and paused as quickly as slamming on some emergency brakes.

It wasn't an animal—well, not the kind she was expecting. There was a female with her head back, swaying side to side as she moaned and groaned and shrieked in some pleasure or pain, Sarah couldn't decide, sitting on a stone bench. Her breasts were exposed as the lace up front corset was undone and a man whose hand was groping her and fondling her reached up. He was kneeling in front of her, with one leg over his shoulder as he was feasting on her. Sarah could barely hear him moaning a little, lapping and sucking, as his other arm was holding her to his face.

She was hypnotized by the sight in front of her and though her mind told her to flee right now, run far away, she couldn't somehow get her feet to do what her mind told her to. Her senses were heightened at the sight and she felt her skin tingle, her nose flare at the scent, her mouth become wet as did her nether regions. Her legs were weakened and Sarah could not tear her eyes away, watching the woman and at the same time wondering what it was like, wanting to know all that she didn't know and had no opportunity to try.

When she almost did, Jareth had taken it from her. And in the back of her mind, Sarah knew that she had hated Jareth then—she wouldn't be in this predicament if it wasn't for her wanting to find him and tell him to stop being nosy, or even here at all if he hadn't invited her—no, it was Jareth's fault.

All his fault.

And so Sarah fell into a bit of temptation as she let a small moan escape her lips.