Her dark red hair cascaded over her bare pale shoulders as her crumbled form sat in a trembling heap. Tears of blood flowed from her eyes as she let the grief of the loss of her love, her creator, take its toll. The dark and dank walls echoing her grief as she openly sobbed. Slowly lifting her self off of the ground Navea forced her tears to stop as she glared about the room with intense green eyes. Grief was replaced with that of anger as she wiped away the blood on her tear stricken face.

She looked about the room with a sickening detachment as she took in her familiar surroundings. Ever since her creation as the Elfin Vampire that she was, this had been her home. Her eyes stopped focussing on their bed where they shared her most cherished of memories. Taunting and pleasing each other with a euphoria of pleasure and pain.

Slowly and painfully she walked forward stopping at the beds edge her fingers lightly tracing the silken sheets. Roughly she grabbed at the sheet tearing them to shreds as she cried out in rage. Collapsing on the floor in front of the bed she took in what she had done sitting back on her knees. Looking to her now open hands she watched as the shreds of material that was once the bed sheet of their bed fell smoothly from her hands like falling water.

“I will make you pay for this. I won’t stop until they’re all dead at my feet. They killed my Sire, my love. Jonathan, you will not have died in vain. I swear it.”

Standing she took one last look at the room before she made her way to gather her forces. She would make them pay all of them. No one will be safe from her wrath, no one.

Buffy looked slightly lost as she tried to figure out what had just happened. She had been fighting that vampire when all of the sudden he had been impaled by a wooden stake, dusting him. Slowly rising from the floor her eyes focused on Giles leaning over her unconscious boyfriend. She limped as quickly as she could to her boyfriend swearing that he had better be all right. She vaguely noticed Willow standing beside the Goblin King, Sarah at one corner of the room, and Xander on the other side of Riley.

His head felt like a mountain had fallen on it, as he tried to open his eyes only to quickly shut them again the dim light making his head hurt even worse.

Giles helped Riley to sit up as he tried to see how badly he had been injured. As he felt the back of Riley’s head for the bump he knew he would find he pulled his hand away feeling a wet sticky substance he knew to be blood.

Riley grimaced as he felt the back of his head erupt into yet more pain as Giles touched it. “Owe, do you mind?” he hissed as he pulled away from the man’s touch.

“Sorry, you’ll probably need stitches.”

Riley looked to Giles through slighted eyes, “Thanks for the prognosis.” Opening his eyes a little more he slowly looked over the room but his view was suddenly obscured.

Buffy knelt down in front of Riley, touching his cheek with her good hand she looked intently into his eyes, “You alright?”

Riley smiled as Buffy’s face came into view, she was so beautiful, “I’ll live…” Looking down he noticed that she wasn’t using her other arm, “Your arm?”

Shrugging her good shoulder she smiled, “I’ll live. Come on we need to bandage up that hard head of yours.” Helping him to stand she looked to Xander noticing the purple and black bruises starting to form on his throat, “You okay?”

Xander faintly smiled as he softly answered with a horse voice, “Yeah, just a slightly crushed neck, nothing to worry about.”

Buffy was about to say something more when Willow came up, “Hey, everybody okay?”

Giles smiled reassuringly to the young red head, “Yes, partially thanks to you. That was impressive what you did back there.”

Willow blushed, “Oh, it was nothing,” she answered sheepishly.

Buffy looked slightly puzzled, “What are you two talking about?”

“I uh, dusted that vampire you were fighting. Not that I didn’t think you could do it and all, it’s just I had that stake and you looked like you needed…”

Buffy stopped Willow before she could continue to ramble on, smiling widely, “Thanks Willow.”

As the Scooby gang conversed Sarah ran to Jareth diving into his open arms as she buried her head into his chest. Jareth’s arms tightened comfortingly about her as he breathed in heavily taking in her presence relieved that she was all right.

Sarah pulled away lightly punching him in the chest, “I thought you were dead.”

Jareth looked to her with mock hurt, “Sorry to disappoint you.”

She rolled her eyes at his display and pulled herself to him once again, “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

Jareth smiled against her soft hair, “Promise…” God, how he loved the smell of her, he wondered how he could have ever fallen for Navea’s ploy. He would never fall for that illusion again. Seeing the group of Sarah’s friends staring at them he cleared his throat and reluctantly pulled himself away.

For a moment Sarah looked hurt as he pulled away but as she saw her friends standing on the other end of the room she, along with Jareth, made their way towards them. Looking to each of them she noticed Xander’s bruised neck, a young man she had not met being supported by an injured Buffy. Worriedly she met the group and was a little relieved to see that Giles and Willow were unharmed.

Jareth was the first to speak when they reached them, “Well, I see that you found a way to open a doorway to my world and that you’ve successfully extinguished Jonathan Novay not to mention injuring yourselves in the process.”

Sarah ignored the Goblin King’s lack of thanks, “Sorry about the reception. You guys all right?”

Buffy smiled to Sarah, thankful that she seemed okay, “We’ll recover. What happened to that other vampire?”

Sarah’s eyes hardened her voice reflecting her eyes, “She got away.”

Giles cut in, “Well, at least we were able to get rid of one of them. I say, he wasn’t as much of a challenge as I thought he would be.”

Buffy looked hard to Giles, “Like that was easy!”

Giles expression reddened with embarrassment, “No, no it wasn’t…Sorry.”

Riley was starting to tire of standing around conversing when his head felt like it was about to explode, “Uh, not to be rude or anything but can’t we discuss this later.”

Buffy looked to Giles speaking to him in an hushed tone, “He didn’t do anything to harm you while I was gone did he?”

Jareth glared at the blond Slayer and answered the question for Giles, “As you can see he is perfectly fine. For the meantime, you all are welcome to stay here within my castle.” Allowing no time for any to argue he materialized one of his crystals tossing it up above them he looked to Sarah as they disappeared. “I believe that we have some training to begin.”

Crossing her arms she glared at the Goblin King, “You know, you could at least try to be nice to my friends. They did after all help.”

“Sarah,” he warned only to be met with that stubbornly angry expression that let him know that she was not going to let go of the issue. She was so beautiful when angry. Instead of saying anything more he pulled her to him taking in the sweet taste of her lips.

Her anger forgotten she lost herself in his arms moaning slightly against his lips as he ignited a fire deep within. Her hands snaked through his soft blond hair as her body leaned against his for support, her legs feeling weak from her growing desire.

Jareth smiled against her lips enjoying his effect on her, she seemed to always melt with his touch. She would do almost anything for him as he would do the same for her. Slowly and skillfully he moved his lips across her jaw line making his way down her neck across her collarbone. He could now feel her shivering underneath him all of her defenses down, vulnerable to his touch. Self-control he needed to use his self-control. Moving back to her lips he tasted her once more before reluctantly pulling away. If he did not stop now he would not be able to stop at all.

Sarah felt incomplete as he pulled away. It was almost a physical pain to be so far away, though they were only inches apart. Her eyes locked in his she wanted so much to pull him to her once again. She had almost lost him and now more than ever she wanted just to be with him, to feel his presence, his touch. Sarah wanted more than anything to lean into his arms and allow him to take her away from everything, just him and her together alone. Instead, one hand leaned against his chest as the other rested on his shoulder.

Taking both her hands from his shoulder and chest he clasped them together bringing them to his lips, “That wasn’t exactly the training I had in mind but I’ll be willing to when you’re ready.”

Sarah’s face flushed crimson, “I…you…you were. You’re the one that kissed me remember.”

Smiling at her response he held out his arm for her waiting for her to take his silent invitation. Too tired to argue let alone think up some kind of spiffy retort she silently slid her arm through his. Magic surrounded them and they were suddenly back within the gardens where they had started that morning.

Sarah suddenly felt tired, drained from the events of the long day. Breaking away from Jareth’s arms she sat down on the wooden red oak bench that stood a few feet from where they were standing. “Jareth, can this wait until tomorrow?”

“Sarah, we need to begin your training now. You were barely able to fight off Navea’s power over you and that was when I had helped you.”

Sarah sighed at his words, ‘Why was life being so difficult lately?’ Looking up to the large moon in the star light sky she silently wished that this would just be over with.

Jareth could see that she was tired but she needed to learn how to control and summon her powers. Uncontrolled or unrecognized power was a dangerous thing especially with what she was going to have to face. Sitting down beside her he took one of her soft hands into his, “I know you’re tired but this is something you can’t put off any longer. We’ll start with a few mental exercises and then try to tap into that power that lies within you.”

Smiling weakly she looked away from the large moon meting Jareth’s gaze, “Okay, lets get started.”

Pacing the room like a caged tiger Buffy rubbed at her arm that only moments ago was broken but now was healed. Whether or not it was the Goblin Kings doing was still a question that she knew the answer to but didn’t want to admit it. He was a rude, arrogant, self-conniving stuck up jerk that she was itching to beat the crap out of. His action of a moments ago, being the only thing keeping her from fulfilling that impulse. That and the fact that Sarah was in love with the creep, why she would never know.

Riley sat on the large bed silently watching his girlfriend pacing about the room silently brooding. Smile tugging at his lips he finally broke the silence, “Do you want to talk about it or are you going to walk a hole into the floor with your pacing?”

Buffy stopped to glare at her boyfriend making him hold up his hands in mock surrender. She smiled making her way towards him taking his hands in hers, “Sorry, it’s just that we come here, save his and Sarah’s life and he doesn’t even thanks us. Just, oh looky at what you did now away with you!”

Riley smiled bringing her hands up and lightly kissing them, “He did heal our wounds, maybe that was his way of saying thanks.”

Sighing heavily she rolled her eyes upward, “Yeah well he still could at least given us time to argue before abruptly sending us here! I wonder where the others are?”

Just as the question left her lips she heard a soft knock at the door. Looking to Riley for a moment she walked over to the door and opened it. There, standing before the door, were the rest of her group, Willow, Xander, and Giles.

Opening the door further she allowed them to enter and proceeded to shut the door after everyone passed through, “Hey guys, come on in.”

Willow rubbed her hands together in excitement, “I love this place! It’s a real castle and the rooms are totally cool!”

Buffy smiled to her best friend, “Glad someone’s enjoying our little stay.”

Willow continued, “Oh come on Buffy! We’re in the Underground, a place where fairytales are real and magic thrives! Can’t you feel the magic in the air? It’s like living a dream come true.”

Xander broke in, “Willow, when we first got here we were attacked. Don’t tell us that that’s apart of your dream.”

Her happy state of euphoria was dimmed as she took in his words, “No, but…that’s just because our timing was bad.”

Giles sat on a chair that sat close to the door leaning back tiredly, “Are you two through? Yes, then could you possibly tell me what you’re doing here and how you got here?”

Buffy sat beside Riley on the bed, “Well, we came because we thought that you and Sarah were in danger. Which by the way was true by what we were greeted with when we did come. Coming just in time.”

Before Giles could continue Willow added in, “We found a crossing spell and I added a few phrases!”

The Slayer continued, “Anyway, like I was just going to leave you here alone with that Goblin King.”

Removing his glasses he rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to ease some of the tension, “Buffy, I know this is hard for you to believe but the Goblin King is not the enemy.”

Her mouth fell open at that, “How can you say that? He practically threatened us and then just sends me back to Sunnydale like a return item at a Wal-Mart. He’s bossy and didn’t even bother to thank us after we saved him.” Giles was about to say something but Buffy continued as she lifted herself off of the bed and began to pace once again, “If it wasn’t for the fact that Sarah was in love with that jerk I would have kicked his ass by now.”

Silence filled the room as everyone waited for someone to break the silence. Loudly clearing his throat Giles put his eyeglasses back on, “Are you through?”

Buffy stopped hand on hip, “Yeah.”

“Good. Buffy he might not be one of the greatest beings in the world but he is helping us as we are helping him. He as of yet has done nothing to harm us.”

Dropping her hand away from her hip and shifting her wait to the side, Buffy couldn’t believe her ears, “I can’t believe that you’re defending him.”

Riley, Willow, and Xander were now all siting on the large bed watching the argument between Buffy and Giles continue.

Sighing Giles continued, “It may be true that his methods are a bit questionable to us but this is not our world. The beings within this place live by different rules than we do and I’m sure that his requiring our help isn’t easy for him. What I’ve heard about this Goblin King, he’s not one to admit in needing help.” Rising from his seat he headed towards the door, “Now, I know that I am tired, so I will leave you to do what ever it is that you feel the need to do, while I go to sleep. I suggest that the rest of you do the same. Good night.” With that said he left the room closing the door behind him with a loud click.

“Wow,” Willow said a few minutes after he had left, “talk about speech.”

Buffy silently stared at the door when she was brought out of her shock by Riley’s arms wrapping about her waist. He leaned his head down on her shoulder, “You okay?”

Buffy leaned back into his warm embrace, “Yeah, he’s just never acted that way towards me before. I think there’s more going on than we know.”

Giles closed the door behind him sighing deeply, ‘Wasn’t I just a little bit harsh with her. She has every right in not trusting the Goblin King. She didn’t see what I did between him and Sarah.’ Lying back in the large bed of his appointed room he stared blankly up towards the ceiling, not really seeing it. His quiet moment of self-reflection was brought about to an end as he heard someone knock on his door. Rising from the bed he made his way to the door wondering who it could be.

As the door opened Buffy stood at the door with both hands held behind her back, “Can I come in?”

“Of course,” Giles answered motioning for her to enter.

Buffy slowly walked in taking in the room, it looked almost identical to the one that she and Riley found themselves in. Turning to face Giles she looked to him with concern, “What was with that speech, is there something going on that I don’t know about? I thought that we were on the same side.”

He should have known that she wouldn’t have let the conversation end where he had left off. “Buffy, there was a good reason why he sent you back…” he rose his hand to stop her before she could reply the words that were about to come out of her opened mouth. “I know that he could have at least given you the reason before doing so… While you were gone things had been getting pretty bad in Sunnydale, it needed its Slayer and he knew it.”

Buffy waited for more but he remained silent, “So your saying that he wasn’t just thinking about himself trying to rid himself of having me stand up to him.” Giles remained silent, “OK, I give. What happened while I was gone to make you change your mind about that jerk?”

“His kingdom is in great danger and it won’t stop here either. The sleeping evils could possibly step over from this world to ours. We need his help and support. I have yet to find anything to stop this occurrence from happening.” Giles moved over to the bed sitting on its edge. “It seems that Sarah is our only hope in this. All of what I’ve found out seems to point to that conclusion. She needs our support and Jareth’s more than any.”

Buffy sat beside him, “Okay, wow you found all this out while I was away huh! That’s a lot for Sarah alone to carry and I thought just being the Slayer was hard. I’ll tell you what, I won’t question his highnesses trust but don’t ask me to trust him too much. He is still the Goblin King, remember he turns helpless babies into goblins and if he tries that while I’m here don’t ask me to look the other way cause I wont.”

Giles smiled to Buffy in return, “I don’t think that we’ll have to worry about that happening, not with Sarah around. I don’t think that she would let him get away with it either if he did try.”

Buffy sighed, “Know what? I don’t envy her. Not only is she a slayer but now she’s the protector of right within the Underground and not to mention totally and completely in love with Jareth. She is definitely going to have her hands full.” With that said she bid Giles goodnight as she headed back to her room and her Riley. She might not care for being in this place but there were evils to vanquish and she needed some R&R.