THE CARNIVAL SAGA
folder
G through L › Labyrinth
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
4
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6,478
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5
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Currently Reading:
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Category:
G through L › Labyrinth
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
4
Views:
6,478
Reviews:
5
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Labyrinth, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
INTERLUDE
INTERLUDE
At last the breeze of the night stirred the curtains and cooled her burning and moist face; it brought with it an intense fragrance of jasmine, mimosa and oleander blending with the strong and musky scent of their lovemaking that still filled the room.
He was heavily asleep with his head resting on her chest, and she had put an arm around him and caressed his neck. Both their bodies were glistening with sweat, and she had no intention of washing it off. She wanted to keep the scent of him on her body forever if that was possible. She put her hand around his penis, still half-swollen. It quivered in her hand, but he didn't wake up. ‘If I hold on to him like this,' she thought in an almost childish way, ‘he will not be able to disappear again.' She put a feathery kiss on his forehead and reveled in the thought of how she had triggered his climax and ecstasy with her lips and hands, the taste of his semen, salty and reminding her of almond, still in her mouth.
He was so heavy resting on her breast, and her arm was almost going numb but she didn't mind. She could have taken even more of his weight — anything to ensure her that his presence was real; that he was here with her tonight.
She wetted her dry lips and tried to close her eyes. Sleep wouldn't come though. She may have slept off and on for a while, but very lightly, and all the while her thoughts were roaming wildly in her head.
**********
Sarah's last meeting with Jareth in Venice had been a disaster and when contemplating the event and analyzing it afterwards, she had to admit that perhaps it wouldn't have turned out so wrong, had she only been prepared and not shown her doubt so clearly.
After she had received his message, hidden in the volume of poems, she thought that it would be a matter of hours — at most a day or two — before she would meet him again, but it didn't happen that way. The days went by, and suddenly she grew wary and uncertain. What was she about to throw herself into? Had she really thought about the consequences? How on earth would she explain all this to Dad and Karen — and to Toby?
When finally it was time to leave Italy and go back to the States in early April, she found that it was impossible. Frances tried to reason with her, but Sarah wouldn't listen.
"Frances, I can't leave before I have settled this issue. It's a matter of life and death to me!" she cried.
"Well, if you are not prepared to go now, you MUST talk to your folks back home and tell them so," Frances interrupted her vehemently.
"You can't expect me to make up some fake story about your whereabouts, and you know as well as I do that they will pin me down to the floor to get the details out of me, if I show up without you!"
Sarah hid her face in her hands and felt a wave of shame wash over her when confronted with Frances. She knew it was true. She had — consciously or unconsciously — wanted to let Frances take the blow and hide behind her.
"I'm sorry Frances," she said in a subdued voice. "Of course I won't let you take the confrontation. I can't change my mind though. I just can't leave right now. I will call Dad tonight and tell him. And I will tell him that I am invited to stay in Europe for a while. It is a lie, I know that, but I'm not giving you any more details for your own sake. When they ask you, and of course we both know they will, you can honestly say that you haven't heard anything more about my plans."
"I'm sorry too," Frances said, "I'm so worried about you, and I will not be able to hide that from your father and stepmother."
They hugged for a long time.
"Please, phone me or write to me," Frances added before they parted.
**********
When Sarah came back to her own room in the late evening with her head full of what she was going to say to her father over the phone, she walked right into Jareth. She was totally unprepared for his visit, and he almost scared her out of her wits. He didn't greet her in any way but walked in silence back and forth in her room, filling it entirely with his presence. His eyes were guarded, and he threw a cool glance at her now and then.
"I didn't expect you," she was flustered now, "I mean, of course I expected you but . . .” Her voice trailed off.
He curled his thin lips into a smile that didn't comfort her and said in his low, melodious voice, "You don't have to elaborate on your explanations, my dear; I know exactly what you are trying to say."
As always, when he "undressed" her mind and confronted her with her own naked image, she got furious with frustration. Why couldn't he leave her with just a shred of dignity?
"Do you think this is EASY for me?" she cried out. "I don't know what to do any longer. You leave me here stranded in the middle of a foreign city all alone. I can't leave and I can't stay. You tell me that you won't leave me. How shall I interpret that when I'm left alone all the time? I'm scared stiff of my future and what help do you offer me?"
As she was talking, tears started to run over her white face, and she clenched and unclenched her fists in impotent rage. He stopped his pacing and approached her. He took her face in both his hands and turned it up to him, and he looked her intently into the eyes.
"I'm never going to leave you, that is a fact, and you can interpret that as you like. In the end, you may not even like the idea, but I'm NEVER going to give you up to anybody else." He spoke to her in a calm but serious voice.
Sarah became quite still inside all at once, and she listened to him and became aware of the unfathomable depth that lurked beneath his words. She looked into his eyes, searching for the compassion that she knew he was capable of, and at long last his austere face softened, and he bent down and kissed her, brushing his lips over hers, gently licking the corners of her mouth and waiting for her to give in and open up to him. She closed her eyes and let him take possession of her mouth as she wondered in desperation why she had had to be the one that like a moth had flown right into his white burning fire. Was she going to die after all?
When she opened her eyes again, she could still feel him, but she could no longer see him. She cried out in anxiety and surprise. She felt him withdraw, and she tried frantically to hold on to him. When she turned around and for a moment confronted her mirror, she saw his image there, and she ran up to it and started hammering the glass with her fists.
"Don't leave me," she screamed. "Don't LEAVE ME!!"
"It's strange," he said with a wry smile, looking at her in amusement, "that after all these years, you haven't understood. And still you have said the words yourself. You should know what these words mean by now."
He was fading fast, and she could almost see nothing more of him than his burning mismatched eyes.
"Listen Sarah," he whispered urgently to her, "I'm never going to leave you, but I have no power over you. You must solve that riddle."
And with that remark he was gone.
She stood staring at the mirror for what seemed an eternity, then she slowly sank to the floor, and there she lay all night, not knowing whether she slept or not.
**********
When she came to her senses again, it was full daylight, and she felt as if she just barely had survived a terrible disease, all weak and shaking.
She thought about his last words and turned them over and over in her mind. Of course, she knew that she had said the words to him in the Underground when she claimed Toby, but what did he mean by bringing them up now? She had never felt more bereft of power than now, never more vulnerable and exposed than now, never more at his mercy than now, never more lacking a will of her own than now. What power did he mean that she possessed?
Numbly she managed to get up from the floor. ‘I should go home,' she thought, ‘but I can't make myself do it. At first, I have to sort this situation out somehow.'
She picked up the phone in her room and when connected to the Front Desk, asked to have an outside line. Then she dialed her home number. ‘It must be early morning in the States by now,' she thought, ‘I hope Dad is awake and that he will take the call. I don't think I could talk to Karen just right now.' She was lucky. After what seemed ages, she heard her father's faint voice on a very bad line.
"Sarah! How wonderful to hear from you!" She heard the joy in his voice. "When are you coming home? Shall I go to New York and pick you up?"
"Dad," she faltered a little, cringing before the lie she was going to serve him, "I have been invited to stay in Europe for a couple of weeks. I hope you don't mind my being away a little bit longer . . ."
There was a profound silence at the other end of the line. "Dad? Are you still there?" she asked anxiously.
"Funny, you know," her father said, "hadn't I known that it was you, I could have sworn I was talking to your mother. Your voices are so very much alike."
His comment hit her like a blow in the stomach. She nearly doubled over. She couldn't remember the last time when he talked to her about her mother. It must have been years since that happened. She didn’t know what to say, but he continued as if almost talking to himself.
"She sounded just like that when she phoned from France and said to me that she wasn't going to come back — either to the States or to us."
"But Dad," she cried, "why do you say that? It isn't fair comparing me with Her in that way! Of course, I'm coming back. I'm just going to stay a little while longer, now that I'm here."
She stopped finding it almost unbearable to continue, not being able to make up any more lies and tangling herself into the ones she had presented already. She had to find a way to end the call and came up with yet another lie.
"Dad," she raised her voice, "the line is getting weaker all the time, a lot of extra noises, you know. I have to put the phone down now, but as soon as I know whether we are going to stay in Italy or not, I will call and let you know."
Then she closed the call and stood shaking beside the phone for a long while, repeatedly swallowing the bile that threatened to fill her mouth.
**********
Later on that day Sarah went out in the old city and wandered aimlessly about without any goal; she didn’t want to do anything, see anything or meet anyone. She felt like a refugee from some terrible disaster. She stopped in a coffee shop for an espresso and some warmth — it was raining hard outside, and the winds were icy from north. She stayed at her table until a man came up to her and asked her in a low whisper, what she had to offer and her prices. She looked dumbfounded at him for a second; then she rose and left the table without a word. ‘Do I look like a prostitute?' she asked herself, ‘But why not? Maybe I should have stayed and found out what his unique obsession was.'
All of a sudden she found herself standing in a cul-de-sac by a small murky little canal, and she stopped as if this was the end of her journey. She stood unmoving, frozen, looking down at her image in the water. ‘It would be easy just to fall here,' she thought. ‘It would take ages before anyone missed me.'
"Don't," said a quiet voice behind her and someone gently took hold of her arm.
Sarah almost fell out of fright and turned around at the same time. There stood a strange, beautiful woman, whom she vaguely recognized from somewhere.
"I see that you don't remember me," the woman continued, "I'm Anna, and we met each other in Palazzo Corsari a little over a month ago."
Yes, now Sarah remembered and almost all too vividly.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, "How come we meet again just right here?"
She tried frantically to break free of Anna's grip, but the other wouldn't let go of her.
"Please trust me, I have come to fetch you and take care of you — and it seems I came at the very last minute — and if I say that Jareth knows I'm here, will that be enough for you to trust me?"
"Jareth," Sarah exclaimed, "what has he got to do with this? How do you know him?"
Anna smiled gently and said "So many questions. Please, please just trust me, and I will answer all of them in due course. It's vital now that we get you out of this terrible weather and that I can arrange for you to rest and gather strength."
Sarah felt then how exhausted she was, and she thought that going with Anna could at least not be worse than throwing herself in a canal. So she followed her out of the alley. Around the corner, a small covered motorboat was waiting, and the young man in charge carried her onboard and wrapped a blanket around her. Anna said something to him in Italian in a low voice and he nodded. Soon they were on their way, and Sarah shortly recognized her surroundings. They were evidently heading for her hotel.
Before she could open her mouth and ask why they were going there, Anna turned to her and said, "We are just going to pick up your things and settle whatever debts you have left there, and then we will leave. I even think that we will leave Italy, I'm tired of being here now. I thought for a moment that we could go to my flat in New York, but then again, that is a little too close to home for you just right now, and I can see that you need some time to sort things out before facing whatever awaits you there."
Sarah remained silent, wondering how Anna could know so much about her, but if Jareth was involved somehow, just about anything and any setup were possible; she should know that by now. So she closed her eyes, let go and settled back into the seat. She left it to Anna to do all the necessary practical things and she was asleep when Anna and her servant came back from the hotel with her luggage. She didn't even wake up when she was taken into Anna's house, and an elderly maid took off her clothes and put her to bed under an enormous eiderdown quilt.
**********
It was late morning when Sarah woke up, and she neither knew where she was or what day or time it was. She lay still for a while in the bed and listened to her frightened, beating heart and to strange noises from the strange house. Then she started to remember her meeting with Anna, and she sat up in bed only to see Anna sitting by the window reading a book. When Anna heard a movement from the bed, she turned and smiled.
"You have slept for ten hours, and I think that has done you some good after all. I will see to that you get something to eat and then I'll tell you about my plans."
She got up and went to the door and called out to an invisible servant, who soon brought a small breakfast tray.
Anna, who was dressed only in a silk kimono, sat down at the end of Sarah's bed and pulled her legs under her. She sipped on a large cup of coffee, and she remained peacefully silent while Sarah was eating. Sarah glanced furtively at her now and then. Anna looked younger today with her long blond hair falling loosely about her face and dressed in such an informal way. It was only when one looked her directly into the eyes and saw the depth of wisdom there that one could start wondering about her age.
Sarah drew up her legs under the comforter and put her arms around them as if seeking both comfort and protection. She looked at Anna, who now raised her gaze towards her, and they were looking at each other in silence for a while.
"You are very beautiful," Sarah said tentatively and Anna smiled and replied,
"So are you."
They looked steadily at each other again for a while, and then Sarah smiled too. Anna reached out a hand and lightly touched Sarah's forehead and Sarah rested her head on her knees and closed her eyes when Anna began to stroke her head as if comforting a frightened animal. It was something almost hypnotic about Anna's movements, and Sarah felt after a while that the cramp inside her body slowly dissolved.
"I'm so afraid," Sarah whispered at last.
"I know," Anna replied. "I know exactly how you feel, but hopefully it will all be better in a short while. The issues may not be solved right away, but you may be able to deal with them in a constructive manner at least."
"Now listen" Anna continued "to my immediate plans for us and tell me whether it will be all right with you. I thought of many places to go yesterday, but I finally decided that we will go home, meaning my home, if you don't mind that?"
"Where is your home?" Sarah asked.
"My home is in New Orleans." Anna smiled when she saw the expression of surprise in Sarah's face.
"But I thought you came from Europe," Sarah said taken aback.
"Living in New Orleans doesn't automatically make me American by birth, does it?" Anna laughed teasingly.
"Besides, New Orleans has a long "European" history. We had a foreign rule in Louisiana until 1803, remember? However, I assure you that I'm born in the city as well. I trust that New Orleans is at a safe distance from your home and that you don't know anyone there?"
At which Sarah replied with a "yes" and a "no" and it was settled that they would leave for New Orleans that very afternoon.
**********
Of the long flight, Sarah didn't remember much. She hated traveling that way and slept the better part of the journey. When they arrived in New Orleans international airport, it was evening, and stepping out into the warm night was a little bit of a shock after cold Venice. Although it was only April, there was talk of the first heat wave of the season and possibilities of thunderstorms. They were met by yet another of Anna's many servants — Sarah wondered how many they were all in all — a stately colored chauffeur, who only answered in monosyllables and raised an eyebrow when Sarah attempted to take care of her own luggage. He brought them safely into town — right to the heart of the city, the Old French Quarters — and he stopped in front of a small but graceful town house, situated in a quiet alley not far from the Ursuline Convent.
"Welcome to my home," Anna said and made a gesture towards the house.
"Is it all yours?" Sarah whispered incredibility creeping into her voice.
"Yes, it has been in my family for a very long time."
Anna ushered her through the big old oak-door and the next thing she knew, Sarah stood in a small inner courtyard filled with bushes of jasmine, mimosa and oleander. The noise of the city could hardly be heard here, only the hushed splash of a small fountain.
"I thought you should have the third floor with the good view and the balcony," Anna offered her. "I'll ask Aaron to take your luggage up there, and when you have freshened yourself a little, please come down to the garden, and we will have a drink before turning in for the night."
Anna was about to add something when the door to the house was opened and an old colored woman slowly made her way out into the courtyard.
"Miss Anna you're home!" the old lady called out in her wheezing voice.
"Celia!" Anna cried and rushed to meet her and threw herself into the offered embrace.
Sarah looked at them silently, observing that this was the first show of genuine emotions that she had seen Anna display, and she quietly eased her way into the house after Aaron, who carried her luggage upstairs, leaving Anna there to hug and be hugged, and suddenly Sarah felt extremely lonely.
She went down to the courtyard when she had washed her hands, and slumped into a wooden chair. ‘Jareth,' she thought, ‘you are chasing me around the world. Where will I end up and where ARE you?' She closed her eyes and almost instantly opened them again when she became aware of a light footfall nearby. A young beautiful girl approached her with a big silver tray balancing in her hands. The girl gingerly put the tray down on a table nearby and gave Sarah a big flashing smile. Anna appeared with a bottle of bourbon and a siphon.
"Let's do it the proper way, this first night," Anna said and poured her a small drink of bourbon and water.
Sarah rolled the sweet taste around her tongue and thought it suited the evening and the mood very well.
"I hope that you will be able to sleep after this long day," Anna continued. "If you need anything call for Georgina;" — she indicated the young girl, who was heading back towards the house — "she is sleeping in one of the rooms on the third floor, and she will attend to your every need."
"You have everything it seems, don't you? The whole world is at your feet," Sarah observed and cast a wondering glance in Anna's direction.
"No." Anna was quiet for a while. "I am poor in the sense that I lack the most essential things in life, but we shan't talk about that tonight. I will explain to you later."
They stayed in silence for a while with their drinks before saying good night and part company.
**********
Sarah learned Anna's story a couple of evenings later. They were sitting in the courtyard with drinks after dinner when Sarah asked, "How old are you, Anna?"
Anna looked at her for a long time before answering. Then she sighed deeply and said, "Had it been anyone else but you, I should have refused to answer or evaded the question, but since you have to know in the end because of Jareth, I will tell you. If ever there was a Gothic tale, my life is surely one," she added with a rueful smile.
"I was born here in New Orleans during the summer of 1792. My parents were refugees from the French Revolution. My mother hated it here in the delta. Not much land was permanently out of the water in those days, and people died like flies from malaria and other such diseases. Father was moderately successful in business, but of course he couldn't provide mother with all the luxury that she was used to. She was constantly wailing about everything she had lost. Then I was born, and she didn't look upon that fact as an improvement, I was told. In a fit of rage one day, she wished me away to the Goblin King. I have to say to her defense that she regretted her decision almost at once, but what was done couldn't be undone."
"At that time, Jareth's father was the Goblin King and I was saved to the life I'm living today by Jareth's mother. She took pity on me, maybe because I was the daughter she never could have — Jareth was her only child. She pleaded with Jareth's father to keep me in the form of a human, and he couldn't resist her tears in the end. So, I was never turned into a goblin, and I was to be allowed to walk the earth whenever I wanted. Already at this early stage in my "career" Jareth's father used me as a go-between because that is really what I still am. There are times when the Fay people cannot walk the earth freely and show themselves to whomever they wish, and that's the point where I — being born a human — come into the picture. They send me instead, like Jareth has done right now."
"Jareth's father took a great liking to me. He thought I would be the perfect playmate for his son. So I spent a lot of time with Jareth when we were growing up."
"Yes!" She held up a hand to stop Sarah from interrupting her when she heard Sarah take a deep breath. "I have slept with Jareth, of course I have. That was inevitable. But you needn't worry. It happened so very long ago, almost in another age. There is no other woman in his life now but you. He is consumed with you. And I have a love of my own, walking the earth, and I see him age slowly in front of my eyes."
A bitter note crept into Anna's voice.
"We age too, the likes of Jareth and the likes of me, but it literally takes ages. In the meantime, I'm also trying to persuade my love to come and share my life so that he could spend the half eternity with me that is at our disposal."
Sarah shivered lightly and felt a cold hand over her heart when hearing Anna's last words. She knew that they were also directed at her, telling her of Jareth's pursuit.
"My mother almost had a fit when I showed up several years later — it took a long time before I could bring myself to visit her. She thought I had come back for revenge and perhaps that was my initial idea. But she was already a broken woman when I saw her again. She had had another child after me, a boy, but he died and mother always looked upon that fact as her punishment for abandoning me. She left me a substantial fortune at her death and among other things, I bought this house. I needed a place where I could hide once in a while when I wasn't requested to go to the Underground."
Anna fell silent, and they both remained silent until Sarah, much to her own surprise, heard herself say, "My mother wished me away too in a sense." And then she began to cry.
Never before had she openly admitted to anyone, how immensely she grieved over the fact that her mother had chosen to leave her.
"My father thought he was talking to Her the other day when I called him, and I called to lie to him about the reasons for not going home. He said I sounded just like Her when She told him that She wouldn't come back to either us or the States."
Sarah cried so hard now that she could hardly talk. Anna didn't interrupt her, just looked intently at her.
"The worst part of it all," Sarah continued, "is that I UNDERSTAND Her for the first time in my life. I'm more or less exactly in the same dilemma. She had to make the awful choice of letting go of Her family or Her career. She chose to pursue the latter. I'm facing the choice of letting go of my family or the love of my life. I don't know what to do! I'm dying inside for having to make that choice!"
She turned her tearstained face towards Anna and formed her lips into the words "Help me!"
Anna rose from her chair and took hold of Sarah. She held her quietly until the tears had subsided.
"Why doesn't Jareth show himself to me if I mean that much to him? Hasn't he forgiven me for hesitating and stalling for time?" Sarah asked when she could talk again. "I don't know how many times I have called for him."
"Only if you don't have the slightest doubt in your mind about him, only if you believe fully in him, you can see him," Anna explained.
"But I don't doubt him," Sarah protested.
"Something deep down in you has put up a guard against him," Anna said. "I'm quite sure of that he is around. Of course, he can also will himself not to be visible. He is after all the Goblin King, and he is very powerful."
"Yet he said that he has no power over me . . ." Sarah's voice trailed off, and she looked warily around.
Anna poured out two more drinks and handed Sarah one. She sighed and raised her glass and smiled wryly.
"Here's to motherless children," she said, "it only shows that human nature will never change. What took place over two hundred years ago can still happen today. Not much comfort to be had from this fact though."
The first flash of lightning broke the sky in two.
"So, we're going to have a thunderstorm tonight," Anna observed, "I hope it clears the air, because it has been unbearably oppressive the last few days. Let's go inside."
**********
The humid air of the sultry night made it hard to breathe. Sarah lay naked on top of her bed, having thrown the covers aside. She could hear the muffled sounds of soaring traffic from the big city outside the house. The thunderstorm was now raging over the great lake nearby. She heard it only faintly but saw the flashes of lightning brightening the horizon. ‘I'm in a limbo and steadily falling,' she thought.
"Jareth," she moaned for the hundredth time, "Jareth, take pity on me and come to me. Haven't you forgiven me by now?"
She tossed around in the bed and felt the sweat covering her whole body. ‘If he were here, he would kiss and caress me,' she thought, and she wetted her fingers and began to squeeze her nipples. The moisture made her feel as if his mouth had just left them, and she couldn't resist continuing wetting and fondling them with her fingers. At the same time, she felt the heat in her sex, and she moved her hand to her cunt and pressed her hands to it, grinding herself against her hands. Her breath now came in small sharp intakes and little moans, and she rolled back and forth in the bed. She opened up the slit and hesitantly put a finger in the opening, and her juices instantly poured over her hand. Again she imagined that it was his finger probing her cunt walls, and she inserted two more, cramming herself relentlessly, tightening her muscles around them, sucking on them. She took the liquid of her juices and started to rub it around her breasts, squeezing them hard. Then she went for the swollen clit and began flicking it with her thumb. All the while she felt the heat building up inside her guts, begging for release, pulses beating heavily between her legs and her heart was hammering wildly.
"Jareth!" she groaned as she steadily approached her climax, and she began furiously working her sex, spreading her legs as if wanting to receive him in her arms and take him all in. At last she felt the muscles of her stomach tense and contract, and the blissful relief finally came. She screamed his name and opened her eyes wide.
And then she saw him standing by her bed, bent over her.
She couldn't stop the searing orgasm shaking her body, but when it was over, she hid her face in her hands, curled up and rolled away from him, hiding her shame. She felt the bed move as he crawled on it, and the next moment he encircled her in his strong arms and she felt his heavy weight. She heard him purr deep down in his throat, and then he whispered in her ear
"Why do you hide? You are the most beautiful one I've ever seen. You are the sexiest thing that ever happened to me, coming off on the mere thought of me."
She buried her head in the pillow and still wouldn't turn to him. He put his hands on her breasts and began to knead them gently.
"Oh god, I'm horny," he groaned, his mouth in her hair, "I want you so badly."
When she still refused to look at him, he brusquely turned her around in his arms and made her face him. His nostrils flared with excitement, and he had bared his pointed teeth as if prepared to bite her. Finally, she yielded and stopped fighting him and then the tears came. Something within her snapped and her long pent-up anguish gave away. His gaze softened, and he began to kiss her all over the face, licking her tears and her eyelids.
"Even your tears turn me on," he mumbled as his lips traveled over her cheek down to her neck.
He rocked her gently in his arms until she had stopped crying, and then he dried her cheeks and made her blow her nose.
"Tell me," he said softly.
She cleared her throat, but her voice was still a hoarse whisper, exhausted from crying.
"Anna said that I would have to believe in you beyond the shadow of a doubt, for you to appear to me. And I do, you know, I DO believe in you! I don't know how many times I have called for you since you disappeared in Venice and you didn't show up."
"When you call for me, you shouldn't call from here" — he touched her forehead — "do it from here" — he caressed her breasts — "or better still from here" — he put his warm heavy hand on her stomach and pressed it gently.
She gave a short gasp, as the heat from his hand spread within her. He let his hand remain for a while where he had put it and then slowly, as if by accident, he let his index finger travel farther down and slip into her wet cunt, exploring and probing her tender walls. Her hips bucked involuntarily, as he dipped yet another finger into her, and she let out a low moan. He pressed his palm firmly against her mound as he still worked his fingers inside her, and then he bent down and kissed her. His eyes remained open, and the soft and savage burning within them mesmerized her. He took his fingers from her opening and started to draw tiny wet circles around her swollen nipples. She shuddered at his touch and leaned back into the bed, exposing more of her body to him. She saw him smile, and she heard a low, soft chuckle from him, as if he couldn't hide how much he was enjoying the situation.
He kicked off his boots and untied the complicated knots in his soft linen shirt. With a groan, he rolled on top of her again and rubbed his naked breast against hers. Then he began to explore her with his tongue.
He licked her ear and then he moved down to the hollow of her neck, continuing his slow journey down between her breasts. There he made a halt to concentrate for a while on her nipples. Moving to the first one, he wetted it with his tongue and scraped his teeth over it, gently tugging at it until it was all stiff and swollen. Then he unhurriedly moved over to pay the same attention to the other one. She squirmed under him and mewled softly in answer to the mounting waves of pleasure.
He trailed a line of fire and desire over her body with his tongue, now dipping into her navel and circling it, then continuing down to her swollen vulva. He took her clit between his lips and sucked it in between his teeth and flicked his tongue over it with quick lashing strokes. At the same time, he again filled her cunt with his fingers, sliding them in and out of her in a frenzied movement. Her hips now undulated in rhythm with his hand and tongue, and her moans grow to high groans. When it seemed as if she was on the point of no return, he slowed down and wrapped his arms around her again, not permitting her to climax just yet. She closed her eyes and breathed in short staccato intakes. He kissed her ferociously with his mouth wet from her juices, and she could hear him moaning low as he pressed and rubbed his rock-hard erection against her stomach.
Then he sat up straddling her hips with his powerful legs and began to rid himself of his now disheveled clothing. She looked at him when he released his swollen cock and she watched his fingers stroke over it. There was still a mischievous smile in his eyes, although they were now veiled with carnal hunger, his face a mask of desire.
She was absolutely and totally focused upon the pleasure she was about to receive, nothing else in the world existed just right now. She raised her hips towards him and felt him guiding his cock closer to her wet opening, rubbing it gently and then sliding into her. She sucked in her breath at the first sensation of him entering her, and when she exhaled her whole body pushed a cry out of her. She arched upwards, meeting him, and wrapped her legs around his waist to enable him to enter her still deeper. He took a firm grip of her hips controlling the movements, still unhurried. She could feel him throb inside her, and she tightened her inner muscles around him.
He bent down over her and kissed her, licking his way all over her face, biting her lips, sucking on her earlobes. He moved his hands to her shoulders taking a firm grip of them and at the same time he changed the rhythm of his movements and began thrusting in and out of her in hard, long and quickening strokes. She rocked with him, and her gasps for breath turned into groans of pleasure. Then he almost withdrew, letting only the tip of his cock stay between her folds, and he brusquely turned her around, spreading her legs on either side of his hips. He fell on top of her and at the same time he savagely pushed his swollen thickness so deep inside her that she thought he would penetrate her womb. The new angel of penetration caused new sensations hitherto unknown to her. She cried out out loud with his every thrust and almost lost her breath under his weight. He fully possessed her now, and he mastered her every reaction to the smallest detail. She felt the oncoming orgasm as an ache that slowly traveled her whole body. Utterly helpless as she was under him, she fought for some control over the situation and twisted in his arms. She managed to reach down between her legs and found his balls. She clasped her hand around them and fondled them ever so gently, fingering the base of his shaft where it entered her body. He sank his teeth into her shoulder and moaned and his now uncontrolled movements told her that he was approaching his climax too. At last she turned herself over to the awesome shudder that started at her toes and worked its way up to her scalp and shook her entire body, and at the same time she felt him contract and pulsate under her hand as he cried out and flooded her with his hot liquid. Then he collapsed over her body and they lay inert, totally spent. She could feel his heart beating heavily against her back, and their breathing was the only sound breaking the silence.
**********
Later on, in the early hours of the morning, he carried her to the bathroom. Georgina saw them, but scurried away quickly, hiding behind a curtain, not wanting to make her presence known. They stood in the shower holding on to each other closely, just letting the water pour down over their heads.
Outside it was raining, the thunderstorm having departed. He held her gently, close to his body. There was no desire between them for the moment, only a great contentment. It was cool and soothing and very relaxing. But soon enough Sarah started to shiver lightly with cold, and Jareth wrapped her in a bath towel and carried her back to her sleeping chamber.
"Let's sleep," he yawned stretching his body and flexing his muscles like a big cat, "god, I'm tired."
She moved close to him and wrapped a leg around his hips. "So, you're not leaving me now then?" she asked.
"No," he murmured in her hair, "I'm going to sleep here with you, and we're going to make a nuisance of ourselves, not leaving the bed until very late, and then we're going to have the most gorgeous breakfast in the garden, and then maybe we will make love again, and then I'm going to take you out for dinner."
"Oh, stop it!" She slapped him playfully on the chest. "You're just rambling now. By the way, what do you mean by taking me out for dinner? How could we go to dinner?"
"Of course we can go to dinner, why not, don't you have dinners in your part of the world?" She heard the mirth in his voice.
"I often go to dinner here in New Orleans. It's one of my favorite places in fact."
Her eyes darkened a shade. "Do you stay with Anna then on these occasions?"
His eyes narrowed to slits that glittered teasingly and mischievously.
"Oh, I believe my Honey is jealous," he mocked her gently and cradled her in his arms.
She sniffed and tried to maintain some dignity. But he laughed softly and drew her body against his with mild force until she relented and cuddled up to him.
"You needn't be," he murmured sleepily, lips pressed to her forehead, "it should indeed be beneath my Queen to be jealous of anyone or anything."
She heard him fall asleep and before she knew it, she slept too.
**********
When Sarah woke up, she was alone in the bed; she sat up and her heart began immediately to hammer in fear. She saw his note on the table beside the bed and snatched it. "I'm so sorry that I can't have the leisurely day with you the way I wanted, but an urgent matter has come up that can't wait. However, I will come for you in the evening as I promised."
She stepped out of bed and went downstairs. The house seemed totally deserted. Then Georgina appeared and asked if she wanted breakfast although it was late morning.
"Where is everyone?" Sarah asked.
"Missy Anna is away with the car. She and the . . . gentleman left together. And Celia is visiting the convent. Me and Cook are here," Georgina concluded.
So, Jareth and Anna had left together. The demons of jealousy again tugged at her heart, and she felt very much deserted and left out.
She wasn't especially hungry but had something to eat after all. To occupy herself, she offered to help with the shopping and went to the French Market and was all happy for a while among the tables, overflowing with fresh fruit and vegetables.
In the afternoon when she had returned to the house, she wandered listlessly about, feeling as if she didn't belong anywhere and least of all here. Finally, she decided to find a book to read and went into the library. Her father had once said that a person's library told you more or less everything you wanted to know about its owner's character. There she came across an old album with snapshots. The pictures were old, prewar even, and it was so strange to recognize Anna in them. She knew with her mind that Anna was immensely old compared with earth-standards, but it was another matter to see actual proof of this fact.
She fell asleep among the books and woke up when someone lightly kissed her nose. Jareth stood bent over her chair, and it was already dark outside.
"What time is it? Where is Anna?" she asked.
"It is six o'clock in the evening and Anna hasn't returned," he answered. "I doubt if she will come back this night. But why worry about her? She will take care of herself, and I will take care of you and take you out to dinner."
He effortlessly lifted her from the chair and carried her upstairs. He put her down on the bed and stood in his magnificent black cape in front of her. His eyes were dancing with amusement.
"Of course, obviously I can't go out to dinner here, dressed like this. People would indeed wonder and tell me that Mardi Gras was over long ago. So, we have to decide where to go, and I shall dress accordingly."
Before she could answer, he quickly threw light into her eyes, and when she could see again, he stood in front of her in a smart Armani suit made of grey silk. The boots now reached his ankles instead of his knees, and his unruly hair was tied in a ponytail with a small leather band.
"However," he continued, "we may not want to go to a fancy French restaurant. Perhaps you prefer the excellent but shabby seafood joint in Algiers across the river?"
And he did another turn on the floor, and the next time she managed to open her eyes, he was dressed in tight and well worn jeans and an old but expensive linen shirt.
"Oh, stop it!" she cried and started to laugh. "You make me all dizzy!"
He stopped indeed and went up to her and took her face in his hands and looked at her with so much wild love in his eyes that she fell silent in awe.
"You know something?" he murmured in a low voice. "This is the very first time that I've made you laugh. The sound of your laughter is killing me."
And he bent down over her and kissed her with ferocious tenderness.
"If you don't let me go now, we will not make it to a restaurant at all," she teased him against his lips, and he reluctantly released her.
"By the way," she added, "I think I'm more tempted by the seafood joint than by the posh restaurant, so keep your jeans on."
She went to the closet and found a linen dress in off white that she thought suited the occasion. It didn't seem expensive or fancy but flowed over her body like a caress or an extra skin. She could see in his eyes that it met with his approval.
They decided to have a drink in the garden before leaving. Sarah wanted to pour the drinks, but when she lifted the decanter, she found a little bit too late that it was too heavy for her. It slipped from her hands and hit the table just as Jareth was trying to save it and it broke in hundreds of pieces.
She saw at once that he had cut his hand, and she reached out for him and cried, "Oh, I'm so sorry, please let me take care of your hand," and she brought forth a handkerchief.
His reaction scared her violently.
"Don't!" he exclaimed with fury and fear in his face and his voice. "Don't touch me!"
He had almost bared his teeth, and she was backing away from him, trembling and white. He quickly put his hand to the small wound, and she saw it heal and disappear in front of her eyes. Then he exhaled with a deep sigh, and his face looked almost normal again; he went up to her and when she backed away, he got hold of her arm and drew her into his embrace.
"Please listen to me, I will explain it all to you, please, please stop trembling, I'm not going to hurt you."
At last she was at rest in his arms, and he turned her face up towards him so that he could look her into the eyes.
"You mustn't touch my blood," he whispered in a low voice. "My blood could change your life forever. If you get in contact with it, you will enter my realm and be an equal to Anna and the likes of her. That is how my mother gave Anna her long life. Anna came to her as a baby, I'm sure you know that, and my mother pierced her nipples until they started bleeding and made Anna suckle. I will not hide that I want you to come and live with me and share my life in all its details. But I will not trick you into it. It's a decision that I hope that you one day will make out of your own free will."
**********
Sarah was still shaking inside from the incident in the afternoon when they reached the restaurant, but she decided with an effort of willpower that this should not spoil her entire evening. She had set her mind to enjoy this rare occasion. Jareth chose lobster and a very dry white wine for them. The smoky bar was filled with people and the din was enormous, so they moved to a quiet corner, where the conversations faded to a constant murmur and blended with the sound of music from a nearby dance hall. Sarah wasn't very hungry but not bothered by the fact tonight. Jareth ate with a ravenous appetite, and she just marveled sitting across the table watching him. ‘This is happening in the middle of nowhere,' she thought. ‘It is an interlude, a lull in the storm. What has happened up until now is of no consequence and of the future we know nothing.'
"Come, come," he broke off her trail of thoughts, "you're not eating."
"Yes, I am, I'm eating you," she smiled and reached out to touch his hand, and he smiled too and let her explore his long supple fingers and the palm of his hand.
Later they went out onto the wooden balcony that faced the river and the still boisterous traffic there. The river never slept, and there was a constant movement of vessels traveling both upstream and downstream. Jareth rested his elbows on the wooden railing, and Sarah wrapped her arms around him from behind and moved her body close to him. A lazy evening breeze tugged at her skirt and her hair. He obviously enjoyed the contact with her because he leaned back a little to feel more of her breasts and stomach against his back. She smiled resting her head on his shoulder. The night was full of fireflies and mosquitoes, and one little beast flew past her eyes and landed on his neck close to a prominent vein. The sight of the small, lethal creature hypnotized her, and she didn't breathe or move. At first, Jareth didn't seem to notice it, then he made an irritated gesture towards his neck, and the mosquito lifted reluctantly. In its wake, a drop of blood formed that slowly began to run down his neck. Totally mesmerized by now, she leaned into him, moving in extreme slow motion, and she caught the drop of blood on her tongue and licked it up.
At that very moment, something exploded within her and a searing pain shot through her body. He instantly stiffened and turned around at the same time. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her and before he could say anything she stammered,
"It is done. I have done it!"
And then she fell to the ground.
When she regained consciousness he was carrying her upstairs in Anna's quiet house, and she couldn’t see the expression on his face, hidden in the shadows, but she felt the rapid and hard beating of his heart. He put her down, rather roughly, on the bed and lit the lamp in the ceiling; she blinked in the glaring light and looked silently at his stern, beautiful face with white vibrating nostrils and a mouth set to a thin line.
"Why?" he bit out through his clenched teeth. "To spite me, to defy me, to play with me? Don't forget, you belong to me now!"
"Yes!" She was visibly shaking, but she rose to her feet confronting him.
"Yes, I belong to you now, forever I suppose, yet you have no power over me as I have no power over you and this time I understand why."
Her eyes were glimmering with a strange light, reflections of his light.
He went close to her and dug his fingers into her shoulders and shook her again as if words weren’t adequate for what was happening to them. Then he ripped the dress from her body and tore her underwear to shreds. He drew her naked body towards his, lifted her up and fell with her onto the bed. He rid himself of clothes with a flick of his hand, and then he rose to his knees spreading her legs wide apart. He held her hips hard while he entered her and filled her with brusque, urgent, savage strokes. She cried out, but she didn't fight him, knowing there was no stopping him now. As he tensed, and his whole body started to shake with violent spasms, he bore down on her neck and buried his teeth there, causing her excruciating pain, sucking and biting her as he released himself deep within her. Then he shuddered and his body slowly relaxed on top of hers, and she felt against her bruised neck that he began to cry when his tears flowed beneath her ear into her hair. She sighed deeply, and she wrapped her legs and arms around him and began to rock him, sensing his rage and sorrow; this time comforting him instead of the other way around.
"Forgive me," he whispered in her hair.
At last, the rhythm of his heart became steadier and his breathing more normal and he raised his head. He looked at her now with calm, serious and very dark eyes. Then he rolled off her and turned her around in his arms so that they lay facing each other. He put two fingers against the bruise on her neck, and she felt a strange tingling feeling as he made it vanish.
"In the beginning, after you had crumbled my world for the first time and left with Toby, I wanted to kill you," he began with a voice hardly audible.
"I watched you greedily through the years, biding my time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. It thrilled me that you started to seek me out, never knowing what I had in store for you, and I liked the idea of how you became more and more addicted to my company up until the point when you wanted me to share your bed in all innocence. But I was totally unprepared for the exquisite feeling of having you in my arms sleeping in total trust of me. I lay awake the whole night just holding you and looking at you, and I was bewildered and furious at the same time. I had to come back for this sensation again and again until I realized that I wanted your company as much as you wanted mine, and I kept away, hating you for invading my life and breaking my guard."
"When you went to Venice I saw my chance. It would be so much easier to destroy you away from home, and Venice is a place I have many opportunities in. But first, I decided, I would have you. I had waited for it so long and my guts burned. I was consumed with the thought of your naked body beneath mine."
He closed his eyes for a moment, took her hand and pressed her fingers against his lips. She remained silent but moved her hand in a feathery caress, giving solace to his feverish face.
"Then I had you there, cornered in front of me," he continued warily.
"Never had I wanted anything so much in my whole life, as I wanted you then. But when I took possession of you, you took possession of me and again you broke me into thousand pieces. In a flash, I realized that you wanted and loved me more than you feared me. I had no power over you; I never have, because I have loved you ever since I set eyes on you. You defeated me already from the start."
He was silent for a while as if contemplating his last words; then he went on.
"I tried to keep away from you, but seeing your despair it was impossible. Yet I didn't know how you would react to the thought of sharing my life — by the way, I still don't — and I thought that you needed time to think and perhaps someone to talk to other than me, so I sent Anna to take care of you."
"Then I heard you calling, it was like a scream within me, and I had no option but to come to you. And I am still here although I fear that I will bring you more sorrow than happiness, and I don't know how the future will be solved. You have chosen, and it can't be undone. I don't know if you fully realize the implications of your choice, but . . . your will is as strong as mine, and I fear that there is a battle ahead of us."
She raised herself, resting on an elbow, and looked down on him. Then she started kissing him lightly all over the face; on his eyelids and nose, on his prominent cheekbones and lips, and she began feathering languid caresses over his neck and breast. He released his grip on her and fell back into the bed, and the cramps seemed to leave him at last. She sat up and moved both her hands over his body, feeling the softness of his skin and the hardness of his muscles beneath. Lower and lower her hands traveled over him until reaching the silver-golden hair at the base of his sex that began to swell at the touch of her fingers. He shivered with pleasure as she traced her fingers along his inner thighs, and he spread his legs as if begging for more touches, more caresses.
She replaced her fingers with her tongue and licked her way up his thigh until she reached his sack that she gently cupped in her hand. A groan escaped him, and she felt him twisting under her, but he didn’t interfere with her explorations, evidently relishing playing the passive part for once. She moved her fingers to his now swollen, rock-hard cock and started tracing its full length, feeling the silk-soft skin, raking her nails over the hardness, making him squirm beneath her hands. Then she gingerly put her tongue to the tip of the sensitive head, lapping up the droplets of clear, salty liquid that had formed there. She took him into her hot mouth and sucked hard on him, letting her tongue dance over him. He couldn't help thrusting deeper, and she let him glide across her tongue towards the back of her throat. He trashed in the bed and the breath was pushed out of him as his stomach muscles tensed and his swollen cock was throbbing in her mouth. He clenched and unclenched his fists and arched his hips upwards, meeting her every movement. She lashed her tongue over the head with more and more frenzy. She added to his pleasure when she started stroking his shaft with her hand in rhythm with her sucking and licking. His moaning grew louder and his whole body jerked now, tensed to the maximum. Then he let out a wailing cry and exploded in her mouth, filling it with his hot cream that she lapped up and greedily swallowed, and he writhed a few more times as she milked the last drops out of him before letting him go; he fell back onto the bed, and she dropped down between his legs, her head coming to rest on his stomach. She felt the throbbing between her legs and her body yearned for satisfaction, but she smiled and thought ‘This one was for you only.'
She didn't know how long she lay on top of him, perhaps sleeping perhaps not, dreaming wild disturbed dreams just below the surface of consciousness. She broke the surface, because the need grew within her. She touched his soft penis with her hand and blow gently on it. He stirred, and she felt that he woke up. His hand came down and moved over her head and under her hair, caressing her neck. Then he sat up beside her, and he lifted her and turned her into his embrace. She eased her hand down between them finding his cock. He was already hard and her need was so great and urgent that she couldn't wait. With feverish hands, she guided him into her hot wetness, engulfing him, sucking his swollen flesh with her inner muscles. He caught her by the shoulders with strong hands, steadying her. Then he put an arm around her waist supporting her back; he moved his free hand to her hot and wet opening, seeking out her clit with his thumb. He worked it relentlessly in rhythm with the convulsive movements of their dancing hips. She held on to him as if a storm was wrecking her when her orgasm shook her and drained her, and although this was coupling out of pure need, her climax was the most fulfilling she had experienced. Sated, she let him stretch her out beneath him, and he pinned her arms to the bed and with gentle fury he satisfied himself, filling her with his juices. Then he lifted his head and looked down on her, and she saw him smiling in the dark.
"If this is your way of killing me softly, then I'm prepared to die a thousand deaths."
He stroked her hair and added tenderly "Don't you think that we should try to catch some sleep now? We need to rest a while."
"Tomorrow you will be gone again," she sighed exhausted, and the fatigue brought tears to her eyes.
"No," he replied softly, "I give you my word that I will be here when you wake up tomorrow. Will you promise me that you will try to sleep a little now?"
She nodded in silence, and he slid down into the bed and put his head to rest on her breast.
But sleep eluded her. In her thoughts, she tried to come to terms with her situation. ‘This is an interlude,' she repeated to herself, picking up the thread of thought from earlier in the evening. ‘The old life is over and the new hasn't begun, and I must somehow gather strength in this pause to be able to continue.'
At last the breeze of the night stirred the curtains and cooled her burning and moist face; it brought with it an intense fragrance of jasmine, mimosa and oleander, blending with the strong and musky scent of their lovemaking that still filled the room....