CHAPTER 1
Sarah was a twenty nine year old woman with a successful career as a Research Assistant for Professor Gainbridge in Yale University in the Research Development Department. Her day had gone slowly and she was doing nothing but running from department to department for her professor all day. By the end of the day, her feet were tired. Normally she would be looking up information in the research library or school library, but not today. The professor was giving a speech on the new breakthroughs in the Chemical Engineering Department. In the last three days she was running around like crazy getting the last minute facts and figures. She was finally glad to go home, but she had a blind date set up and dreded it.
Sarah was getting ready for her dinner date. Her father had set it up and she wasn't very happy with him making her go out with some other loser that was a new partner in his firm. The last one was fat, bald and way too old for her tastes with hands like an octopus. She spent the entire date skirting and trying to stay out of arm's reach and here she was again being forced to go out with another jerk.
She had her hair up and curled in a side style over her left shoulder. She was in a sexy long sleeve, off the shoulder dark blue cocktail dress. It was a mid-length, dark blue velvet, bodycon dress with a slit up the side to mid-thigh. with her sapphire jewelry set on. She had her Manolo Blahnik dark blue velvet high heels on to match the dress. Sarah was looking in her mirror putting on the last touches of her make-up before she was to meet her date. She leaned into look at herself in the mirror putting on her dark burgundy matte lipstick.
From behind her she heard, "My, my, my you have certainly matured beautifully in the last thirteen years, Sa-rah. Did you miss me?" She froze knowing that voice anywhere. She closed her lipstick and turned around looking around for him. He stood in her hallway looking into her bedroom admiring her ass as she was bent over her vanity.
Sarah stood up, walked out of her bedroom skirting around him so as not to touch him in any way. She walked to the front of her house. She entered the kitchen and took a short glass from the cupboard as he followed and watched her. She took the bottle of freezing vodka from the door of her freezer, poured about three fingers of it into the glass then put the bottle back in the freezer. She shot about half of it down in one go. She inhaled and exhaled heavily.
She turned to him and said, "What are you doing here? I haven't wished or called out your name in over thirteen years. I haven't done anything to have you come here. Go away!" She shot the other half down and breathed heavily again putting the glass down on the kitchen table. She noticed he hadn't changed a day from when she last saw him. He was in his all-black leather and high collared cape just like when she saw him the first time in her parents' bedroom. Jareth looked like a predator.
Jareth tilted his head to the side and asked curiously, "Oh I am well aware of that fact. I do enjoy how you just forget and dismiss people from your life, Sarah. Well, I am here to rectify that mistake on your part. Sarah, are you drinking?"
She nodded and said, "It's the only way I can deal with you being here. What do you want now? What do you mean to rectify?" He started walking towards her and she went around the table to keep furniture between them cautiously.
He cocked his head to the side and took in her beauty. He said in a smooth and sultry tone, "You see, once you completed the labyrinth and got your brother back, you went home. But the story doesn't end there. You were protected by the labyrinth as the champion for thirteen years. It gave you time to be… of age, to mature. Your time is up here. I'm here to take you back, because you belong to me now, Sarah mine. And maturity you surely have plenty of, my pet." He spread his hands dramatically while leering at her. She was surprised he wasn't drooling as he ogled her. He kept going around the table as she countered keeping away.
She spat, "I don't want to go back!" He kept coming like stalking prey with a feral look in his eyes.
He said condescendingly, "That doesn't matter, love. Your protection has expired and you are mine to claim."
Sarah said, still moving, "I was never told there was a time limit. It was not part of the deal."
Jareth clucked his tongue and said, "Hogsbreath warned you before you entered the gate of my labyrinth. He said these words exactly, 'You take too many things for granted. Take this labyrinth, even if you get to the center, you'll never get out again.' Just what did you think he meant? He meant even if you won, you would always be part of the labyrinth and the Underground. You were only given thirteen years, Sarah and your time is up." He kept walking around the table.
It was going to be hard to run in her Manolo Blahniks high heels. Sarah kicked off her heels and darted out to the door into the living room and grabbed the front door knob, but Jareth's arms were already around her waist, and she screamed and struggled, turning around in his arms to push him away and kicking at his legs. She was pushing against his chest with all her might to get out of his grasp. She was writhing and trying to wiggle out of his arms. Jareth was thoroughly enjoying the whole thing. She was rubbing up against his body and he was getting aroused by it.
She yelled, "I didn't ignore you! You cut off my mirror!"
Jareth chuckled and said, "Don't lie Sarah. It's so unbecoming." Her eyes flared and he was mesmerized by the look of how beautiful she was when she was angry.
Sarah said, "Don't you dare call me a liar, that's your forte! Go check my mirror then you'll see!" He picked her up and put her over his shoulder as she let out a loud squeak which made him chuckle. She started hitting him in the back and he reached up and spanked her hard on the rump making her growl in anger. Jareth loved it and kept chuckling.
He went into her bedroom and cast a magic identifying spell on the mirror, and was shocked to see his brother, Jared, the Gremlin King's magical signature on it instead of only his own. He slowly slid Sarah's body down the front of his body until she was standing again facing him.
Jareth said conceding, "Ok, Sarah, someone else shut your mirror off, but you never made a wish in all this time? Why not? All you had to do was ask to see me?"
Sarah said, straightening herself up, "See I'm not a liar. I was afraid to ever wish again. I didn't want to complicate my life like that again, so I didn't do it." She slowly walked back to the living room. She suddenly grabbed the front door knob fling the door open and ran for it out into the snowy winter's night barefoot. She was flying down the sidewalk hearing boots running after her.
Suddenly, Jareth appeared in front of her and she squeaked loudly and turned running across the snowy empty lot. He tackled her from behind in the snow. They fell to the ground and Sarah started fighting him doing defensive fighting moves to get away from him. She struggled, hit and bit him, making him holler.
She got free and started running again. Her feet were freezing, going numb and hurting but her adrenaline was driving her on. He caught up to her and threw a crystal at her hitting her square in the back making her stiffly stand still. He picked her up over his shoulder and smacked her in the ass again. She shouted, "Damn you, Jareth!" They disappeared in a swirl of glitter and a minute later all of her belongings and existence vanished too.
Sarah reappeared over Jareth's shoulder in the middle of the floor in a bedroom in Jareth's castle. She knew it was his castle because it was all gray stone walls, ceiling and a giant fireplace with a fire burning. Jareth put her down on the floor to stand and must have lifted the spell because she could move again. He glared at her as she backed away from him slowly.
She shouted, "What the hell are you doing? Take me back, you big glittery jerk!"
He said seething, "You certainly led me on a merry chase, hit me and bit me, you naughty girl. What shall be your punishment for that, Sarah mine?"
She shouted angrily, "Send me back, Jareth! Send me back now!" He started walking cautiously and slowly towards her like cornering a caged animal.
Jareth spat, "Never! You belong to me and are subject to my will!"
Sarah shouted back, "I belong to no man, especially you! How dare you ruin my life! You have no right!"
He said sarcastically, "Ha! You completely refused me, ignored me for thirteen years and you have the nerve to say I ruined your life?!!"
Sarah said, "Yes! You just kidnapped me from my world and my life! I only did what I did thirteen years ago to correct my mistaken wish! I did it within the rules, the time limit you altered and set then avoided the obstacles you created with magic against me!"
He shouted, "I did exactly as you wanted! I played your villain so you could play the heroine! I did everything you wanted!"
Sarah got quiet for a moment, then glared at him and asked, "You put that damn book on that bench in the park, didn't you?!" He stood there looking at her silently.
She shouted enraged, "You caused all of this to happen, didn't you? All from the very start, didn't you?!!!!" He still said nothing, sniffed, plucked his ruffled cuffs and stood there putting his hands on his hips arrogantly not looking at her.
She narrowed her eyes and seethed, "I'll never forgive you for this, you fucking royal jerk!" She stomped over to the door, flinging it open as it slammed back shut before she could move. She jumped, spun around and glared at him.
He said with a hard look in his eyes looking right through her, "You are in the Underground and in particular in the Goblin Kingdom. I am king here and you will do as I say or your time here will be fraught with misery. At this very moment you will remove all of your clothing and get in that bed!" He pointed to the four-poster over size bed. She looked at him like he had lost his mind.
Sarah said incredulously, "Who do you think you're talking too?! Are you crazy?! I will do no such thing! You may have me in this God forsaken world, but you will never have sex with me! For my will is as strong and my kingdom is as great! You have no power over me!"
He started walking towards her with determination and intent, grabbed her by her upper arms and pinned her against the wall with his body. She glared at him defiantly. He forcefully kissed her as she struggled against him and he guarded her from raising her knee to hit him in the crotch. Then she bit his lip and he reared back glaring at her and backhanded her across the face. Sarah saw stars because he had hit her so hard it knocked the wind out of her. She fell to the floor holding her face.
He turned and Jareth walked out the door and slammed it. Sarah crawled over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked from the outside. She screamed, banging her fists against the door, "Damn you, Jareth! I hate you!" All she could hear was his cruel laughter as it faded down the hallway. She leaned against the door and held her head in her hands. She sat on the floor in her dress. Sarah realized at that moment that she was never going home.
After a while, Sarah got up and ran to the two other doors in the room and one was to a balcony. The doors were locked, it was nighttime outside and the snow was two feet deep. Sarah had no shoes on and her feet had just thawed. She went to the other door and found it was a huge bathroom. The room she was in was large, had plush rugs, Georgian and Victorian Gothic era furnishings. There was a huge four poster bed with beautiful carvings, a large dresser, armoire, and night tables on each side of the bed all in the same dark wood. The ceiling was dark gray stone like the walls that had lit torches scattered throughout the room on the wall sconces. There was a rugged sitting area by the fireplace with two wingback chairs, a large soft rug, and a small divan. The fireplace was huge, enough to heat the whole room, being it was winter. No wonder the floor was cold.
She saw the armoire, which turned out to be full of all men's clothing. She smirked to think he had more clothes than a woman does. She grabbed a green velvet robe from out of the bathroom and put it on over her dress. She realized he had locked her in his own bedroom, and she was held as a prisoner. Well she knew what that meant was going to happen to her eventually being he kinda already implicated it by demanding her to get naked in his bed. She shuddered.
There was a knock at the door, and it opened. Two soldiers were carrying in an armoire. The third soldier closed the door in the hall and stood guard over it. They placed the armoire on the opposite side of the dresser from the other one. The soldiers all filed out and she went right behind them. The one soldier put out his hand and stopped her from going out.
Sarah said emphatically, "I'm not a prisoner! Let me out!" A fae woman came towards them from down the hall and the guard pushed Sarah back to make room for the fae woman to get through the door. It slammed afterward.
The woman was dressed in a plain gray, long sleeve dress with a white collar and white apron. She had red hair tied back into a braid then pinned up into a bun at the base of her neck. Without a word, and her nose in the air, she went to the armoire and opened it. It was filled with dresses. She picked a dark green heavy velvet dress and put it on the bed. The woman ordered, "Come, human, you must get dressed to eat dinner with his majesty."
Sarah said, "You can both live in disappointment. Sorry, it's not going to happen." Sarah walked away from her and flounced lounged on the divan.
Next thing Sarah knew, she was wearing the dress and her panties had disappeared. Sarah looked at the woman in surprise and shock. The woman was smug.
Sarah said angrily, "Where the hell is my underwear you filthy pervert!"
The fae woman looked at her in a scathing way and said, "Mind your tongue human!"
Sarah said, "Whatever." She laid back down on the divan. The fae woman marched over to the back of the divan and jerked her up into a sitting position hurting her arm.
Sarah yelled, "Ouch!" The woman started to brush out her hair roughly yanking on her hair without removing the pins first.
It was hurting badly, and Sarah screeched, "What the fuck is your problem lady! Leave me the hell alone! I can brush my own hair without you yanking it out in hunks!" Sarah grabbed the brush from her hand and threw it across the room. The woman violently backhanded her, hitting her in the opposite side of the face where Jareth had struck her. The woman had busted her lip open and bruised her cheek. Sarah's hands flew to her mouth and face as she glared at the woman. The fae woman marched out the door and slammed it as it locked immediately.