Sarah had taken to stealing her stepmother’s Valium, and used it sparingly by sleeping a lot less. If she couldn’t get her hands on some, she would take over the counter sleeping pills, she would set her alarm to ring every two hours, she would even go without sleep.

She would do whatever it took to escape dreams of him. The Goblin King.

At first she hadn’t wanted to believe…but when she had held the peacock feather between her fingers, the light catching on the radiant blue-green wisps, the black eye staring at her, she couldn’t deny it; ever since she left the Labyrinth, she had dreamed about him. She had just forgotten until now

He haunted her.  If she was at the dinner table, or mowing the lawn, or even watching television, sparks of hot pleasure swam through her veins as the last dream flashed in her mind. Dancing wantonly in front of hundreds of nameless men…stripping in front of Jareth…putting her mouth on his most secret places and then letting him do the same to her…Jareth naked, hot and hard, poised to take her and her crying out in need… And in the dark, in bed, when she was all alone…the memories and phantom sensations threatened to overwhelm her.

Real or not, she was losing her identity, fearing to fall asleep. So Sarah drugged herself, night after night.

There had been no contact for weeks, no relief from the insurmountable pressure that had built inside of him. Fear that something had happened blossomed into a dark rage as he realized she was deliberately keeping herself from him. The time for action was at hand.

Sarah had taken to long walks in the dead of night around her neighborhood. It was well outside the city, so after midnight everything was still. Today had not been easy; her stepmother had finally found out about the Valium, and had threatened to commit Sarah to a rehabilitation center. The look of disappointment on her father’s face had been enough to break her heart, and her walk was longer than normal, taking time to clear her thoughts.

Something was moving in the darkness; she saw it out of the corner of her eye. She turned, and her breath caught. A crystal orb was floating against the wind, directly toward her.  Panic was instant; she turned off the sidewalk and ran into the trees. She ran no more than fifty feet into the woods before she heard the flap of a cape, the tinkling of magic…she ran directly into him, and fell down in a heap.

“Sarah,” he acknowledged coldly.

It was hard to breathe. “No, no, no,” she moaned.

“After all these years, is that any way to greet me? I thought you and I were friends. In fact,” he continued, pulling her up by her arms and pushing her roughly against the trunk of a tree, “I thought we were more than friends. At least, darling, that’s what you led me to believe…” he hissed.

Her mind may have been unable to deal with the sudden appearance of the phantom specter of Jareth, but his strong attack caused her instinctive defenses to flare. She refused to squirm away from him as he leaned in close, eyes blazing fire, sheer stubbornness giving her the courage to bare her teeth back at him.

"This is the end, Sarah. I will not be your puppet any longer," he warned.

"You're not my puppet. You’re a stupid childhood fantasy that doesn’t realize I’M THROUGH," she insisted.

"Can a fantasy make you come like I do?" he said harshly, relishing the stain he brought to her cheeks. Her lower lip poked out substantially as it always did when she was forced to defend herself.

"It was just dreams, fantasies,” she insisted.

He grinned bitterly, a cruel sight. "No more, Sarah. I take back what I have so generously given you."

She glared at him, hating herself for the desire that was welling now, even now!

"Generous? How have you been generous?"

Now his cynical grin was replaced with a small, sad smile. All his anger transformed into immense sadness; a change so tangible that Sarah could almost feel a drop in temperature, a change in the air around them.

"Has it been so long that you have forgotten? I have not. It has plagued me for the last three and a half years. Let me refresh your memory." In his gloved palm was a crystal orb. It glowed dully as a picture formed. There was a bedroom, and a beautiful teenager with a stocking cap, reciting words to a crying baby.

'What no one knew,' she heard herself say, 'was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her special powers.'

The crystal popped like a soap bubble.

"No longer," he repeated. "I take back what I have given you. You can no longer call on me in sleep, our minds are no longer joined and,” he harshly hissed in her face, "no more controlling your dreams. You will be as average as the people who sit next to you on the bus,” he condemned.

He spoke so rapidly that her mind was having a hard time following.

"What?"

"I take my gift back," he said, pushing off the tree and extending an open hand towards her torso, "-now!" He closed his fingers, clenching his fist.

And it was like someone had turned off a light switch inside her that she hadn't even known was on.

Sarah sagged, her knees giving out. She crumpled to the ground, clutching her heart, eyes wide as she looked up at him. What was wrong with her? Was this real? If she thought he had looked merciless before…that was nothing compared to the cruelty that now shone out like a beacon. He stooped, bringing his face on level with hers.

“How does it feel, Sarah? How does it feel to be ordinary?” he mocked. “And just so you don’t forget about me…”

One gloved hand reached around her head to cup her neck, bring her towards him before she knew what he was doing. He covered her mouth in a searing kiss, his tongue tasting her for the first and last time. His arousal claimed him so fast that within seconds he was hard and ready. His entire body cried out to forgive her, take her …

Wild moans escaped her throat. This was the first time she had actually been kissed in real life, and it was nothing compared to the dream. Her nipples were points of fire, and a searing heat flowed through her sex. And just like that, he not kissing her…

Her hands flew to her mouth, her eyes weeping as he stood again, his raging erection apparent through the tight fabric of his breeches, breathing harshly as he wiped his mouth with the back of one gloved hand. Tears glistened in mismatched eyes.

“I can’t live within you, Sarah,” he said huskily, and with a twist of his cape and the glitter of magic, he was gone.