Current location:	My room
Current mood:	weird
Current music:	David Bowie - Starman
Entry tags:	bug juice, fanfiction

Title: Bug Juice
Rating: Mature. Language really.
Summary: When someone is looking to take out some revenge on Lydia's ghost-friends, her world becomes more strange and unusual than it was before, and in a way Lydia isn't fond of. Movie-verse.

A/N: At one point I told my beta not to worry because this chapter was definitely going to be shorter than Chapter Three. After I finished this chapter I thought maybe I had lied to her, but nope! This is still short by a couple thousand words. So go me!

Still, long chapters make you want to die when you edit them. My brain is mush and I probably should have edited this one more time, but I get impatient working over this stuff too many times. Oh, and I keep finding myself using Betel Geuse threats now and I get really excited to write his scenes. I choose to believe this is a good influence on me. Alright, enough with the damn authors note, enjoy!

Other Parts
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three



Chapter Four


Just imagining what he was about to do was giving him a hard on. It made him unable to think very clearly, but that had never been a problem before and he was always this pumped on a job.

It was with a feeling of renewed confidence and a smug look on his face that he stood before Juno's desk this time, ignoring her request for him to have a seat. He'd rather look down at her. Slowly, he walked around the desk, trailing a hand along the cool wood leisurely. When he walked around the corner to her side, she stood up abruptly but he was still looking down at her.

"What do you want Betel?"

"Relax June," he said, using the pet name she hadn't been called in centuries. "I'm just here for a peace of mind is all."

"May I remind you, Betel, that the smallest mistake can cost you any future you might have in becoming a Bio-Exorcist again."

"Mistake? Toots, calm down a sec'. I only just got here and you think I'm makin' mistakes already. It's as if you don't know me."

"It's because I know you that I feel that way." Juno said, taking a step back, "And call me by my name Geuse! I demand some professionalism!"

"Well... if you say that June," Betel said and took a few more steps towards her, he watched as she backed herself into a corner and realized her own mistake, "Means you really don't know me at all."

He crept a hand towards her waist, inching it underneath the coat of her suit.

"Don't you think this is much more like those 'good ole times'?" He asked, dipping his head closer to hers.

---

The green mist clouded their vision, but Adam and Barbara held onto each others hands as they walked on in search of The Waiting Room.

Barbara was sure they were very close when suddenly a hand grabbed a hold of her arm. With a shriek, she tried to get closer to Adam for his protection, but the hand had a death grip on her arm. Through the mist emerged the smirking face of a dark haired man.

"Welcome, Maitlands." He spoke in a voice much younger than he appeared.

No, not smirking, she realized. Indeed the man looked as though he was smirking at her, but with him so close to her she recognized that his face was heavily scarred and only gave him the appearance of smirking. It was eerie.

"Who are you?" Adam demanded, moving to stand in front of his wife.

"The name's Ben... King. Juno's assistant, at your service." The man said and gave them a sweeping bow.

"Assistant?" Barbara repeated.

"Juno didn't have an assistant before." Adam said.

"Well yes, but that was before." Ben King said as he stood up straight again. "We're changing things around, more people are needing more help. Less and less want to take the time to read their damn handbooks. Which is why I was needed."

"What is it exactly that you do?" asked Adam.

"I evaluate your case and see if Juno's services are required." King said simply.

"Evaluate our.... look, this is an emergency." Barbara said.

"Oh I'm sure it is." King said, "But everyone has their own definitions of 'emergency' don't they? Don't worry folks, Juno trusts my judgment, and if you trust me she can take care of your mess that much sooner."

The Maitlands were silent, but Adam figured the man before them looked professional enough, and he seemed to know what he was talking about. He was just as rude as The Waiting Room workers had been...

"So you gonna take me to your place or what?" King asked. Exchanging a look with his wife, Adam waited for her to put forth her opinion on the deal.

"Well... whatever it takes to get Juno's help." Barbara said carefully and Adam nodded.

"Good." King stepped out of the way and extended an arm out to give them a clear path. "After you."

He watched them pass and a real smirk was on his face when they led him to the door to their home.

Betel was right, they really are dumb.

---

It had been so long since she had felt this way, was it such a sin to give in to these feelings now?

She had closed her eyes -- when had she done that? -- and was concentrating on what he was making her feel. These had been the delightful benefits of having a young assistant.

But those days were short lived and she knew why.

"No." Juno said, before she realized she was saying it.

"No?" Betel growled against her neck, his hand clenching around the Nox Box in his pocket.

"I'm... going to put you in jail." She said even as she was kissing a trail along his jaw. "Going to make you sorry."

Smirking, Betel took out the Nox Box, taking advantage of Juno's eyes being closed.

"I know, so I guess I gotta take what I can get now, huh? So let's turn on the juice and see what shakes loose." He said distractedly as he concentrated on turning on the box he held.

Juno froze and her eyes snapped open. It was when he rhymed that she knew something wasn't right. And now Betel had to act quickly.

---

"Here we are.... what did you say your name was?" Adam asked as he pushed open the door he had drawn.

"Ben, uh... King." Kise said, caught off guard by the question.

"Right." Adam couldn't remember why they had to take him here, perhaps assistants didn't get their own office.

"So what's up kids, what can I do ya fer?"

"We need some help," Barbara began, "I don't know if Juno told you of our trouble before."

"With the Deetzes?" Kise asked, hoping he would remember everything correctly.

"Right." Adam said, "But we got mixed up with a Bio-Exorcist who we have reason to believe might be back to harass us, or more importantly Lydia."

"Lydia?" Kise repeated the name, Geuse had never mentioned anything about someone by that name, but he had to remember what his role was and so he put the smile back on his face.

"Oh, you mean Betel Geuse, right?"

"Shh!" Barbara said quickly, her eyes widening. Adam clutched Barbara's hand and they both knew something wasn't right. The man who called himself Ben King had a look on his face that made them feel uneasy.

"Did I say that correctly? Betel Geuse?"

This time Adam tackled the man in front of them and attempted to use his hand to stop him from speaking. The problem with being dead, though, was that you could still feel pain and Adam was reminded of that fact when Kise bit into his hand hard.

With a shout, Adam retracted his hand from Kise's mouth who still had that smile on his face when he said a third time, "Betel Geuse!"

---

"Let me out you bastard!" Juno was shouting, but Betel could hardly hear her. He smirked delightedly at the tiny Juno he now had trapped in his Nox Box. He shook the Box a bit for good measure and shrieked with laughter as she tumbled about.

He had moved more quickly than he had wanted when he heard Kise say his name the first two times and now he was trembling as he waited for that third time.

"Betel Geuse!"

Finally.

Dusting some not-so-imaginary dust from his trench coat, Betel tucked the Nox Box safely into one of his many pockets, told Juno to shut her damn mouth, and promptly disappeared.

When he reappeared, it was with a grin on his face for what had welcomed him was the ear piercing sound of Barbara's shriek.

There they were, those two dead beats. Holding each other and looking like they just saw a ghost...

That was a lame joke, even I gotta admit that.

"Hey, remember me kids?" He asked, then looked down to see his sidekick laying on the job.

"Oh hey boss." Kise said sheepishly and jumped up.

"Just get away from us." Barbara warned. "Betel Geuse Bete--" Betel was quick to stop that little outburst with a nice shiny piece of metal on the mouth, which had done wonders before if he remembered correctly.

Finally catching on, Kise was sure to stop Adam as well before he could say anything.

At least I can always rely on the Maitlands being more slow than most. Betel thought, but he was glaring at Kise.

"I tell you to do one thing and you can't even get that right?" He asked, his voice rising in anger.

"One thing!?" Kise repeated, his turn to get annoyed. "I had to memorize all sorts of useless shit and so excuse me if I forget one little thing."

"Oh a little thing my ass!" Betel shot back, "If they had been a little bit quicker on the uptake and said my name three times, that could have been all of my planning - wasted!"

"Right, your whole one day of planning, whoop-de-doo." Kise said, rising his hands in mock surrender to go along with his sarcastic tone.

On the edge of his line of sight, Betel saw Barbara inching towards the door to the attic. No more than a second later, Betel was in front of her blocking her way and she gave a muffled shout. Grinning wickedly, Betel stalked towards her, forcing her back into the attic.

"And who were you going to go warn? My favorite little goth?" He saw Barbara's eyes widened and he had to laugh - but stopped when he heard a familiar voice downstairs.

"Adam?" Lydia called from her room, not sure what had woken her up, but she could hear someone upstairs. "Barbara?" She called. "Did you bring Juno back with you?"

Maybe it was Dad and Delia, Lydia thought when she got no answer, but why would they be in the attic?

Betel had been hoping to have more time with the Maitlands than he had with Juno and was getting really bummed out that his play time kept getting shorter.

Taking out the last two Nox Boxes, he tossed one to Kise who knew well what to do by then. Throwing an arm around Barbara, she struggled against him but Betel was too powerful for her and managed to hold the Nox Box against the bare skin of her neck long enough. He watched as her skin began slowly to disappear around the cube. She struggled harder and he laughed. "I gotchya now."

Over Barbara's disappearing shoulder, he saw Kise having trouble with Adam but figured he would manage. And if not, Barabara was close to being done and he could lend his help in less than a moment.

Soon enough Barbarba was trapped as a tiny figure in the Nox Box and was banging on the sides with all of her might, but she had no idea yet how futile her efforts were.

These were the kind of things that made Betel genuinely happy.

Betel helped Kise get a hold of Adam who was cursing at them and using words Betel hadn't previously thought the guy knew.

Eventually Adam was an inch tall and looking very pissed in a shiny Nox Box that was added to Betel's now bulging pocket.

They hadn't finished too soon either, because just then the door knob turned and Betel and Kise had to think fast. When Lydia opened the attic door, she looked around, growing more and more confused. If she had only heard footsteps, maybe she would have passed it off as the house creaking, but she could have sworn people had been talking in there.

"Adam?" She tried calling again, looking around the empty room. "Barbara, where'd you disappear to?"

Maybe she had imagined it... maybe she had heard Delia and her dad in their room... Whatever it was, Adam and Barbara weren't there.

Lydia left the attic, feeling miserable. Running a hand through her tangled hair, she thought maybe a shower would do her some good while she waited for them to return, and so she went to her bathroom.

Once Lydia had closed the door behind her, Kise and Betel reappeared. Having been invisible, they had been able to watch her and so Kise had a few questions for Betel.

"I was only told about Delia and Chuck Deetz, Geuse. So who. The. Hell. Was that?" Kise asked quietly, a tiny bit angry at not being told about Betel's favorite goth, but also curious about what Betel wanted with a mortal teen.

"That, uh..." Betel now had a sheepish grin on his face and it only made Kise want to know more. "That's Part B to Amazing Plan. See... she called me here before and we had made a deal. Only she never kept her part of it."

Kise gulped, he couldn't imagine the wrath of not keeping up a deal with Betel Geuse.

"What do you need me to do?"

Betel shrugged, "I'll keep you informed, but we already have two witnesses I'm pretty sure."

---

Lydia let the warm water run down her face and began to feel more relaxed. Being clean always helped her feel better, and though it was only a tiny improvement it was still one step. She just had to take the next one and the one after that. She would feel better once the Maitlands returned.

Maybe I could call Jack once this sorts out. She thought, but immediate beat that thought down.

Jack hates me... and I don't think I can change that, especially not over the phone.

Lydia squeezed her eyes shut tight as tears threatened to escape and she tried not to think about it. She had already cried that morning until falling asleep again. It was time to stop crying, because if she let herself go... she felt she would cry forever.

Turning the knob of her shower, the water flow stopped and Lydia moved the curtain to step out. She froze when she heard a piercing scream and all thought stopped.

Except that she knew the scream had come from her parents room.

She tried to move quickly, but her feet slipped on the wet floor and she fell down hard onto the bathroom tile.

Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around herself as she hurried out, not giving a shit at the moment if she was getting water everywhere.

"Dad? Delia?" She called. Oh God, I should have told them right away, I should have told them what happened this morning, let them know all the facts for once. So they could have left or... something. Oh no, why were they screaming?

"Hey purdy lady." A man appeared in front of her and Lydia screamed and slapped him across the face as a reflex.

It wasn't Betel Geuse, it was a scarred man with black hair and that was all she bothered to notice before she turned to run away. Clutching onto the towel, she wasn't sure what direction she was going, only that she had to get away from the man who had broken in. Her plans were ruined, however, when she slipped on the bottom step that led to the front room and her feet flew up. She landed hard on her bottom and it was becoming quite sore.

Lydia hurried to sit up and made sure the towel was still covering her body, she didn't like the idea of running from a pervert while totally naked. But she froze when she heard that unmistakable gravelly voice.

"Aw... wet and naked for me already?"

Looking over her shoulder, she saw a man she didn't expect to come with the voice, but clean or not she knew it was him.

"You were supposed to wait for the honeymoon, but I suppose I don't really care."

He bent down and grabbed her arm, forcing her to her feet. That was when she saw the red dress she was wearing, the dress she had worn four years ago.

"No." She said, finding her voice at last. "No."

"You know what they say, 'Married in red, better off dead!'" He said with a leer before he threw his head back and laughed. That laugh, it was a scream and it was unbearable to endure. Lydia covered her ears with her hands to try and block it out, but when Betel pulled her against his body, she had to endure it to try and push him away from her.

"Come on, you weren't complaining last night!"

"What?! You're insane! Get. Away. From. Me!"

"Aaaand that's enough outta you." And with that there was a shiny piece of metal covering her mouth much like the one he had used on Barbara. As she was still breathing hard from shouting and running, Lydia's eyes widened in panic as she began to breath hard through her nose.

I'm gonna suffocate! Was all she could think of and she clawed at the metal.

"Stop it, just cut it out so we can get to the honeymoon, babe. Kise! Do ya mind?" Betel asked.

"Oh right, right... ehm..." Kise looked around helplessly, not really sure what Betel wanted him to do. Rolling his eyes, Betel said "Do I gotta do everythin' 'round here?" and pointed at the ceiling.

Horrified, Lydia tried to jump as far out of harms way as she could when the ceiling cracked, but Betel held her in place. In a flurry of wood and bedsheets, her father and step mother crashed through the ceiling and landed none too gently in the chairs Kise had set up for them helpfully.

They were gagged and bound with Delia's three hundred dollar bedsheets and both looked terrified out of their minds.

"Just like ole times, eh?" Betel whispered into her ear. "But no damn losers this time to get in our way."

Betel dragged Lydia by the arm up to the fireplace and grinned at her, his face too near hers and Lydia was forced to smell his breath. If memory served her well it was no where near as bad as before, but she had never been the optimistic one and instead focused on the fact that she was going to die from suffocating in foul, beetle breath.

Then she focused on what he said about 'no damn losers this time to get in our way.' Where's Barbara? Where's Adam? Oh God. Oh God.

She wanted to scream, but all she could do was breathe hard through her nose and try not to pass out.

The fireplace grew and morphed into an odd shape, just like last time, and when a mutated little pastor stepped through, Lydia thought she might die from all of the Deja vu.

"Do you, Be-"

"Hey - sh! We've been through this already! She said I do, I said it, come on. Where we left off. Look, she's got the ring, we're dressed. Come on!"

"I don't see a ring." Kise pointed out, ever the helpful one.

"WHAT?" Betel shouted, bringing Lydia's hand to his face. He turned to her, looking extremely pissed and when he shouted spittle flew into her face. "You little ingrate! That's how you treat gifts? It's a good thing I'm the ghost with the most babe, or I'd be so pissed."

He held out his hand and the ruby ring appeared in his palm. Lydia tried to struggle her hand away, knowing the end must be near.

"Knock. It. Off!" He grunted and finally managed to wedge the ring onto her finger. "Now... COME ON!" He shouted at the pastor.

"Where's your ring?" Kise asked, taking on the full duty of Best Man.

"You are making the list, fucker." Betel said, pointing at Kise angrily who promptly shut up. Betel turned back to the pastor. "Can we just get this over with?!"

Lydia shook her head. No this isn't happening. This can't be happening. I'm alive you moron! Dead people can't marry live people! Isn't that against some... code of ethics? Or something? This is the worst day EVER! I'm going to shoot you all.

When the pastor said, "I know pronounced you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Betel laughed loudly, it was a laugh of triumph, and Lydia felt she may have another panic attack.

"Alright, don't need this anymore." Betel said, looking far too pleased with himself as he removed the metal plate from her mouth.

"Betel Geuse, Betel Geuse, Betel Geuse!" Lydia exclaimed once she had gotten a proper breath.

But Betel remained where he was standing and just kept that stupid grin on his face. "I told you, wait for the honeymoon babe."

And then Lydia got a mouth full of beetle breathe because he was kissing her. She wasn't just going to stand there and take it, though, and bit his lip as hard as she could. This seemed to have the opposite effect that she had wanted for Betel only growled and deepened the kiss, his tongue slid between her lips and she was afraid she would start gagging.

Clawing at his face, Lydia tried to make it stop before she puked on the front room carpet. She could hear Delia crying behind her and she wished so much that they had been warned.

This shouldn't be happening. It can't be happening.

Betel backed away, and Lydia felt an odd sense of pride to see the long scratches along his face and his swollen lip. He didn't yell at her like she thought he would, but with a small smile he knelt down and threw her over his shoulder very unceremoniously. It was embarrassing really, and Lydia shouted and cursed and kicked as hard as she could.

Because this was bad, this was very, very bad.

Betel was struggling to carry her and wished she would just knock it off. If it had been any other girl, they'd be leaping for joy. But not her, of course not. Not the one he picks.

"You really - need to - stop - kicking." He grunted, taking careful steps up the stairs. He hadn't thought it would be so difficult to carry her, he usually didn't even break a sweat. You toss girls over your shoulders with ease when your the ghost with the most.

But he couldn't deny it, he had to put her down. Dropping her roughly on the steps when they were halfway up the stairs, he tried to rest but it was proving difficult as she cursed and struggled.

"Dammit, calm down you fat cow."

The insult made her stop and her jaw dropped. "Fat cow? Well excuse me Mr. Beer-Gut, but I'm not the one sitting on my ass all day and then attempting to throw people over my shoulder."

Betel ignored her insult but grabbed her and roughly pulled her to her feet.

"Get up." He ordered and began to walk up the stairs, dragging her along after him.

Lydia was getting the idea of what Betel was taking her up here for, and she didn't want it to happen. She knew that once he took her into one of these rooms and closed the door, she might lose the fight in her. God, she was so tired of struggling.

Delia's sobs still went on and listening to them stirred something in Lydia. There was no way she could stop fighting, she was the only one left to fight.

Gotta help them, where are Adam and Barbara? What do I do? Lydie thought desperately.

"You got what you want, you got a marriage and now you're here in the mortal world or whatever the hell your reason was for marrying me, so let me go!" Lydia said, clawing at the hand that held her tightly. Betel's fingers dug into her skin and she cried out in pain. Tiny rivulets of blood appeared on her arm from where his fingernails cut into her skin.

"Right, you're right. But this is a marriage, so first of all it wouldn't be complete with out the honeymoon. And secondly, I am now the man of the house and I do whatever I fucking want to. Got it?"

"Go to hell." Lydia said, holding onto the railing and locking her knees. Her mind was made up, she was going to fight and scream and make this as difficult as she could, there would be no giving up. Just because he was succeeding in taking everything away from her, didn't mean she would stop fighting. She wasn't fourteen years old anymore.

Not really in the mood for her struggling, Betel jerked her arm as hard as he could. Lydia's fingers slipped from the railing and she stumbled over her feet, hitting Betel in the chest.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust when he leered down at her and struggled again, but he held her tightly against him.

"I'm guessin' the room with the huge hole in the floor wouldn't be a good idea... Now the bedroom would be a little repetitive, so let's spice things up." Betel grinned and pushed her into her father's study.

Lyia met the floor for the fifth time that day and scrambled to get back up, she was not going to let him bully her just so that she would seem weak.

"Stay away from me." She said, backing away as he stalked towards her. Always with that damn grin on his face.

At least the green mold was gone, he didn't look so dumb.

But he is still every bit as creepy.

"No." Was all Betel said and he waved a hand carelessly behind him to shut and lock the door. As he stalked towards her, pushing her into a corner, he had a grin on his face. He could practically smell the fear in her.

Placing a hand on the wood above her head, he was reminded of the night before. The night had started similarly like this, only he had her backed up against her front door.

"Like I said before, you weren't complainin' last night." He said and chuckled, looking forward to a repeat of the night before.

But then he froze, the chuckled died on his lip as he realized he had never heard the door slam shut. Looking over his shoulder, he frowned at the wide open door.

"I told you to close." He said angrily, but before he could tell it again, Lydia took that opportunity to act and her knee met Betel's groin.

"FUCK! You WHORE You - FUCK! Oh DAMN! SHITASS!"

Lydia ducked when Betel tried to backhand her, but it had been an ill attempt as he was only seeing white and he felt like he was going to puke for three days.

As he fell to his knees, howling in pain, Lydia ran out of the study and headed for the stairs, but the scarred man was still there. Grinning at the foot of the stairs.

Changing directions, she ran to her room and shut the door behind her before turning the lock.

There was no clear thought going through her head of what to do, just that she needed to get out. And there was her bedroom window.

Lydia ran to it and pushed it open. God, that's a far way down.

"Kise, get me the fucking book!" Betel's shout came through her door. She didn't know what that meant, but it was all the incentive she needed to get over her fear of heights at that moment.

First one leg went through, then the other... and the damn dress was getting in the way. It was afternoon and more than likely she was mooning all those nice neighbors who liked to have their binoculars handy.

She froze when she heard a scream.

During her escape from the madman, she had forgotten about Delia and her father. She had forgotten about the Maitlands.

But I can't help them if Betel Geuse gets to me... I gotta get out. I gotta get a... Oh God, what do I do?

Before she could decide what would be the best move to make, her footing slipped and she was hanging onto her window sill by the tips of her fingers. And as her fingers slipped, she had a flashback to gym class when she had faced the pull up bar and failed miserably in front of the whole class. They could all do a pull up, but not her. Not even one.

This time when she fell she couldn't get up. Not for a long time.

---

"What book?" Kise asked carefully, thinking Betel had gone off his rocker. You don't ask for a book when you get your nads kicked in! You get an ice pack and ask God over and over again "Why!?"

Then you kick the ass of whoever did that to you. It was common knowledge.

"The... book. The damn, FUCKING BOOK!" Betel screamed and Kise held his hands up in surrender.

"I swear, I never seen it. I'm just the best man."

Betel stalked past the Deetzes still tied to their chairs and paid them no mind. Not until Delia gave a muffled sob.

In no mood for shitting around, Betel turned to her and she froze, her eyes widened when Betel pointed at her.

He stood like that for a long time, pointing at her and she stared back at him in fright. Charles watched in silence, scared for his wife and his daughter and Kise watched in silence as well, scared his employer had gone insane and would massacre everyone.

After a full minute of this, Betel screamed with rage. There were no words or shouts, it was a scream of pure rage and he was pulling at his hair.

"Find me the FUCKING BOOK KISE! I need to KNOW WHY I can't DO ANYTHING!"

He stalked through the house, kicking over everything in his way. Lamps crashed as did expensive decorations. He didn't care. All he wanted now was the book that must have shown up somewhere by now. It had the answers, it had to have the answers.

Kise stood awkwardly in the front room with Betel and Lydia's witnesses still tied to their chairs. Delia had fainted and Charles was trying to say something to him, but Kise ignored him. All he cared about, right now, was not getting skinned for fucking something up.

Carefully, he sat down on the sofa. Ready to get up and look like he had been searching for a... book... or whatever the hell Betel was talking about this time.

---

"FOUND IT!" Betel shouted triumphantly some time later as he came down the stairs. It was sunset now and there had been many hours of Betel screaming and shouting obscenities.

"Nobody fuck with me, I'm reading." He said as he sat down in a chair and opened up his hard earned book.

Curious, Kise looked at the cover and read out loud, "Handbook for Marriage Between the Living and the Deceased."

"Yeah, gotta find out some things. Shuddup."

Kise nodded and looked at the floor, wondering what happened with the girl after all that screaming and stomping.

Just then, Chuck chose that moment to attempt to communicate just how pissed he was, or that's what Kise figured he was trying to do. That tone in his muffled voice sounded pretty pissed.

With a calmness that Kise didn't know existed in him, Betel slowly looked over the top of his book he was currently devouring and met Chuck's gaze.

"I know I'm a funny guy, but I think I made it clear how serious it is that I'm reading and not to FUCK with me... Kise, take them somewhere else... upstairs. I don't care. Just... outta here dammit."

Knowing better than to ask why he couldn't just do it himself, Kise made the two float back up through the hole in the ceiling and then patched it up nicely enough. It looked good as new to him.

A scream broke through the silence and Kise looked out the window curiously.

"That damn bitch... I didn't forget about her, but it was good for her to get a taste of certain... benefits to our marriage."

"What?" Kise asked, Betel had that smile on his face. The eerie smile that reminded Kise why he chose to be his ally.

"Go get her. Take one of the cars." Betel shrugged before getting back to reading.

Kise grinned as he looked around for where he thought there might be keys. This could be fun.

"Touch her in any way I should, being her husband and all, I'll send you to sandworm land." Betel warned as an afterthought. Kise's shoulders slumped visibly.

---

Lydia had woken hours later with a horrible headache and a torn dress. With an odd clarity of mind, despite the lump forming on the back of her head, Lydia jumped to her feet.

Dad and Delia are sill in there. I gotta... I gotta go.

Lydia looked around, it was getting dark. Stumbling, the stilettos Betel Geuse had put on her were sinking into the dirt. She took them off quickly and held the stupid dress up high enough to not get caught around her feet... and then she ran.

Her feet hit the gravel of her driveway and she ignored the pain. This pain she could deal with for now... but she hadn't expected to fall again.

Her hands and the left side of her face were scrapped from the fall, but what really concerned her was the hand that had grabbed her ankle and caused her to fall in the first place, the hand that still had a hold of her.

Twisting, she saw the creature that loomed over her. The creature had one arm and two legs. That one arm had four fingers and a thumb. There was a chunk of skin missing from its right cheek and its eyes were glazed over but she knew it was staring at her. And as it loomed over her, drool dripped from its lip and splattered on her dress.

Something clicked on then and Lydia was no longer petrified with fear, and she screamed as loud as she could before kicking the thing in the face with a bare foot.

Then she was up on her feet running again.

She ran past her driveway and didn't stop until she crossed bridge. Leaning against a tree, she placed a hand on her stomach and tried to catch her breath.

What was that? A trick? Betel Geuse, he's playing tricks on me. The bastard, the fucking bastard. I'll kill him, I swear I will.

She didn't want to think about how she couldn't kill him and chose instead to imagine that she could. She was imagining how nice it would be to take a cheese grater to his stupid face when something fell out of the tree and hit her in the head. Hard.

"What the HELL?" Lydia shouted and looked up, puzzled. There was only darkness up there, and so she concentrated on what had fallen out. It may have been a bird and with that thought, she knelt down and tried to make out the shape in the darkness.

There it was, lying in the grass just in front of her. It was long and thick... must have been a branch. She had the worst damn luck...

But no... it was moving. Yes... and it had a curve in the middle of it.

An arm, she realized. And on the end, four fingers... and a thumb. She screamed as she jumped up and kicked it away from her.

Backing up against the tree, she began breathing hard. I need to help Dad. I gotta help Delia... gotta help the Maitlands. She reminded herself, but she was frozen with fear. The night was so big and scary and she was a little girl again who wanted her parents to come make all the monsters in her closet disappear.

Something slimy was running down her neck and she brought a hand up to it quickly to find out what it was. Her hand came away wet and she saw it was clear and stringy in the moonlight.

Lydia jumped away from the tree and wished she could hear more than her own breathing, but she could see them. So many of them. Those creatures, they had missing limbs and they all looked at her hungrily...

And they're climbing the God damn trees. Was the only thought that ran through Lydia's mind before she realized she needed to be running again.

She took off down the street, and she had hardly gone more than a block when a pair of headlights shone behind her. Jumping onto someone's lawn she had gotten out of the way just in time, she looked up and was horrified to see her step-mothers purple car speed past. It had gone perhaps fifteen feet before the driver slammed on the breaks. The vehicle shifted into reverse.

Someone came to save me! Thank God!

She opened the door, jumped in and had barely closed it before they were speeding off again. The driver made a screeching U-Turn and then they were headed back in the direction they had come.

"What the HELL were those?" Lydia screamed, and she saw her chauffeur. The heavily scarred man, Kise.

"Those," he said, giving her a once over, "are what happens when you don't take the rules seriously enough. You just experienced a very mild infestation of a group of individuals who have chosen to stay on earth longer than they were supposed to. They deteriorate not only in flesh but in the mind as well, and because of that they crave someone else's in place of their own."

At her blank stare, Kise said with a shrug, "To the more ignorant they are known as zombies."

Earlier that same day, Lydia's impression of the man before her had been that he was a really big idiot but now he spoke as if he was some pompous upper class snot.

"When did you get so smart?" She asked, holding onto the dashboard, smart or not the man had no idea how to drive straight for more than a second.

"Smart? Ha, I just like zombies."

"Fine. But what are zombies doing in Winter River?"

"They're everywhere, not just here... you'll probably be noticing a lot of new things now. You're sort of one of us now y'know... and Betel's sort of one of you guys... y'know?"

"Oh." Lydia looked at the road, feeling a bit overwhelmed considering everything, "Right...

At the mention of Betel Geuse, she realized what would be waiting for her once they arrived back "home," a disgusting man with no morals that she had just been forcibly married to, and it was odd that just a moment ago she felt she was being rescued.

"I don't wanna go." She said, her voice sounding small and scared.

"And I don't care." Kise replied. Lydia was soon learning Kise was not someone she liked very much, even if he had just "rescued" her.

They pulled into her driveway, and she followed Kise obediently. What else could she do now? It was hard to admit, but she was finally ready to give up.

For today at least.

Lydia was shoved into her home and was welcomed by the site of Betel Geuse lounging in a comfy chair and reading an old looking book.

"You read?" Lydia asked stupidly.

"Kise," Betel said, not looking up from the book he was studying, "Just take the girl outta here and make sure there aint a way she can escape this time, 'k?"

"No problemo boss."

"And remember my warning from before."

"Yeah. Right."

Lydia shoved Kise's hand away from her shoulder and walked up the stairs on her own. Kise followed a couple of paces behind her. After the nights adventures, he was sure she wouldn't try to escape. Not yet anyway, but the morning might be a different story.

Kise made a hammer and a bucket of long nails appear from midair and went around to seal the place up. It would have to do for now.

Passing the room the Deetz couple were in, he saw Lydia untying them. Well, he didn't think Betel cared too much about them, but hammered down their windows anyway. He ignored the glares sent at his back from Chuck and ignored the two ladies and their sobbing.

---

"Son of a BITCH!" The shout woke Kise up and he heard a crash soon after. He had been napping on the couch across from where Betel had been reading. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was nearly midnight.

"Prisoner escape?" Kise asked sleepily.

"No." Betel muttered. "What I'm going to tell you Kise... this is between you and me for now."

"Who the hell else would I tell?"

"Just shut up. What I mean is, the girl can't get a hold of the damn book. GOT IT?"

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Just tell me what the big deal is. All I know is you got married and then you started shouting. A LOT."

Betel stood up abruptly, and Kise jumped back into the couch, fearing being struck. Something was very wrong because this reaction didn't even get a laugh out of Betel.

"Watch." Betel said and then pointed at the book he had thrown at a lamp. It lay on the floor, where it had landed. And as Betel pointed at it, it remained laying there. Still, unmoving... and Kise wondered what Betel was wasting his time with.

"Is it supposed to do a trick?" Kise asked carefully.

"No it's not supposed to do a trick." Betel hissed at him. "I'm trying to make it burst into flames. I should just be able to LOOK at it and then BAM there it would go. Bye. Gone. Up in flames. But no."

"Well, maybe there's something protecting it. It's a government book, aint it? They don't want their property destroyed."

"No, you're not gettin' it. Watch. BAM!" Betel pointed at the couch. "BAM!" He pointed at the television. "BAM!" he pointed at Kise. Then put his hand down and stood their looking calm. It was eerie.

"We're not... bursting in to flames... either." Kise said after awhile.

"Yeah. I know. You won't burst in flame. Your shoelaces won't knot together. I can't throw someone over my shoulder... I can't even make a fucking door close itself!"

"You lost your powers."

"YES I DID AND DO YOU KNOW WHY, SMART GUY?" Betel screamed and Kise didn't answer, because not only did he not know the answer, but he also didn't want Betel to take a knife to his nads.

"BECAUSE OF HER!" Betel stomped around the chair and picked up the book. Flipping through pages in a hurry, he found what he was looking for and shoved the book under Kise's nose.

"Read. There."

Betel pointed to a small paragraph and Kise took the book to see what the big deal was.

"'Once the marriage ceremony is completed - as in rings are exchanged, the couples each have said "I do" and they are pronounced man and wife and may kiss - powers of the deceased are temporarily taken away until the honeymoon or at whatever time the couple decides to consummate their marriage - that is, to make it official.'" Kise paused after reading this a loud.

"Then why don't you just sleep with her?" He asked Betel.

"'Then why don't you just sleep with her?'" Betel mocked in a nasally little voice. "Read more."

Frowning, Kise brought the book back up and read out loud some more.

"'After couples have consummated the marriage, only then will powers be restored to the deceased and then the deceased will take on certain characteristics of the living - see Chapter Four. The living will then take on characteristics of the dead while keeping a form of their mortality but they also get a share of the deceased powers - see Chapter Five. In this way the two of you shall be closer to each other.'"

There was a silence for a moment after Kise finished reading this before Betel took the book and threw it again with a shout of rage.

"I am so FUCKING PISSED!"

"So, she'll get some of your powers? How much?" He asked.

"I don't know... and I don't even want to fucking know. Which is why we gotta find a way around this Kise." Betel said, turning back to his partner. There was a wild look in his eyes and his hair was sticking up in every direction from the hours spent pulling at it in frustration.

"Tomorrow, I want you to go back to our world and I want you to get every damn Handbook there is. I don't care if you think I've read it before or not, we're going to find a fucking way to make this work."

Kise nodded. Things would be easier without Juno. The bitch.

"Um boss?"

"What?"

"If we find a way... could we get me a mortal too?"

Betel grunted and Kise wasn't sure if it was a yes or no, but he would take it as a yes.