| "What the hell is going on?" Collette asked the world in general. "Nothing that effects you little girl," said the man. The boy on the floor groaned. "Come brother, we�re going home." "No he's not! What have you done to him? He's staying here 'til he can move!" "Feisty, aren't we?" Jareth smirked. "Very well, I have bigger and more interesting fish to fry. I will warn you, my treacherous brother, I will return. You will learn to show respect for your elders and betters." He vanished. Collette was amazed and puzzled. Then the boy groaned again and she needed to tend to him. Emily was lying on her bed when Jareth stormed in. She tried to sit up but found that she couldn't. She struggled but found that it was no use and suddenly Jareth roared at her. "Even now. Even after everything that's happened you still defy me! I thought you were learning to accept me and be trustworthy, so I send my own brother to feed you. And you throw it all back in my face! You turn my brother against me and you try to escape." He slapped her hard around the face. She tried to curl into a little ball for protection, but the invisible bonds stopped her. She turned her face away only to have it pulled back roughly by the chin. "There is no escape!" He said right up to her face. He moved back to continue. "Luckily for you, and her, my brother didn't manage to convince your friend. Maybe she finds you untrustworthy to." He grabbed her wrists and dragged her off the bed. He bent them back a little. Then more. "I'm sorry," Emily managed. She closed her eyes as the pain in her wrists became unbearable. Jareth felt the anger well up inside him again. He threw the girl at the wall with a huge force, stunning her, and catching her before she fell with an arm under her neck, restricting her breathing. "You're sorry," he said, he hit her again, in the stomach this time, and once she fell to the floor he lifted her up again, his hands under her arms. "When will you learn?" he said softly, "I love you Emily Jefferson," he leant forward and whispered in her ear, "and I'm the only one that so much as cares what happens to you." She expected him to vanish as he normally did, but instead she felt him lightly massage her neck with his lips. Then suddenly he was biting her. She could feel the blood leaving as he sucked hard. She tried to scream but didn't have the energy. After quite a while he seemed to have had enough of this activity. He lifted his head and shook her violently, before throwing her to the floor, where she stayed as he stormed out of the room. "What did he do to you?" asked Collette, handing Ben a cup of tea. "I don't know exactly. Ii know it hurt," he answered, grinning slightly. He was liking Collette, at least a lot more than he liked Carol and Em right now. "Well are you gonna be ok?" asked Collette worried. "I'm fine," he answered, "It's your friends you should be worried about. I don't know what they thought they could achieve by sending me here, but it's not gonna be fun for them now he knows." "What'll he do to them?" asked Collette out of curiosity more than anything. "Only he knows that. Oh and them once it's happened." "So how can we rescue them?" "I'm not sure. Normally someone has to go through the labyrinth, but no one is this time. He's getting bored of the silly games he's expected to play, so this time he's skipping to the interesting bits." "Look, if this is a joke..." "It's not a joke," he said, "Look." He reached into a pocket and produced a crystal. Collette looked into it. Inside she saw an image of Carol looking dreadfully bored and sitting on a bed in an otherwise empty room. Carol decided that the problem with being kidnapped by the Goblin King wasn't the man himself, it was the boredom while he wasn't there. She wondered how Emily was getting on in the labyrinth. She had tried peering out of the small barred window to see if she could see her. She couldn't even see the labyrinth let alone her friend. Judging by how unchanging the light was, she guessed that it wasn't even a real window. She decided to see what she could see through the window, again, for some reason she kept forgetting what she saw very soon after she looked. It was while she was looking out that she felt a hand on her shoulder. She knew who it was this time so it didn't surprise her. She turned to be face to face with the King. "Why did you vanish?" she asked, softly, "Didn't you enjoy the kiss?" "Oh, my dear Carol" he answered, smiling like he would to a child, "it had nothing to do with that. No, I simply had pressing matters to attend to. The same pressing matters that have bought me back again." "What's happened?" asked Carol, innocently. "People generally," he said, "I mean that broadly - not humans as such. Everyone is betraying me, even my own brother." "Was he the boy that came in earlier?" "Yes. I sent him to give you some food, as I was worried about you, and found that I could not come myself. Straight after that he betrays me and joins my enemies. My own brother. I don't believe it!" He looked into Carol's eyes purposely. She had not understood the meaning of his speech. She took his hand from her shoulder and smiled at him. He felt belittled. His fiery temper got the better of him. He grabbed both her hands and held them above her head against the wall. It was suddenly turned around - she was confused and scared and he was higher than her. "I don't think you fear me enough," he said angrily into her ear. "Now," he said letting go of her hands and sitting on a chair which appeared behind him. Carol tried to lower her hands but found they wouldn't move, they were held in real chains this time. "If I find that you've said anything that could be interpreted as encouragement to him I will be very angry. Do I make myself crystal clear?" Carol was terrified. Just a moment ago Jareth had seemed so gentle. Now he was behaving like an ogre. "I haven't done anything," she said meekly. "You're sure about that?" "Yes. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't understand." "I hope that's true. If I found you to be untrustworthy, well, not even I know what I'd do." He walked closer looking into her eyes. She looked away terrified. "Carol?" he continued, "is there something you want to tell me?" he managed to catch her eye, and she couldn't look away. "If there is, I think you'd better start talking" "OK," she said, "I asked him to do me a favour. He must have taken it the wrong way. He spouted a load of nonsense and ran off. I really didn't know what he was talking about!" "Oh, Carol, Carol, Carol!" the Goblin King smirked. "What am I to do with you?" He smiled evilly and surveyed her up and down. Carol tried to move into the wall, wishing it would swallow her up. "Mmmm," he said, for effect more than anything, "I think I am going to enjoy this." He slid a hand behind her neck and the other around her waist. "This is going to hurt," he whispered. He bit deep into the pale flesh on her neck. She let out a loud moan but could manage little else. It was the most painful thing she had ever experienced. Eventually she felt herself drifting away. Slowly everything went black. When she awoke she was lying on the bed alone with a pain in her neck and feeling of weakness throughout her whole body. |