"Deadly Dealings"

Ch. 1

"I'll make them pay for doing this to me…" Beetlejuice grumbled to, himself while climbing over a sand dune. He had been able to escape the jaws of the sandworm, but now he had to find a way to get off of Saturn and back to the Netherworld. He wanted to get back at that ghost couple and Lydia… he had something special planned especially for her.

He had ditched his coat and had the sleeves of his violet-red blouse rolled up to above his elbows. He cursed softly under his breath as he heard the approach of another sandworm. He hated the bastards.

"Need some help?"

Beetlejuice glanced up to see a man with long purple hair that covered the right side of his face, yellow eye, tan skin, elf like ears, devil horns and wolf-like tail. He wore a black, sleeveless tunic with slits on the sides to reveal part of his hips and thighs, a belt, arm warmers and black boots that reached past his knees. "Scram, pretty boy, I don't think you can –!" he stopped short, something suddenly dawning on him about this man. Taking a closer look at the other, his eyes widened when he realized just who he was talking to. "Hey, aren't you Dominick, the banished prince from the Netherworld?"

Dominick chuckled softly. "Indeed I am. Now, do you want my help, or would you rather be eaten by the sandworm and erased completely from existence?"

Glancing behind him, he saw the creature rapidly approaching, and then he turned back to the demon. "Yes! Just hurry up before I'm sandworm food!"

"Wise decision..." Smiling, Dominick snapped his fingers and they found themselves in what appeared to be limbo.

"Hey, where the hell, are we??" Beetlejuice stared at the other suspiciously.

"We're in limbo; I want to discuss the matter of my payment for saving you from certain death."

"What the–? You didn't say anything about payment! What's your deal, Mac? What were you doing on Saturn in the first place?" He stared up at the demon, his arms crossed defiantly across his chest.

Dominick yawned glancing down at his claws. "I was bored and was hoping to find something to entertain myself with. I just happened across you and I sensed your amazing powers. I didn't want those powers to go to waste, so I saved you. Now the most important question is how are you going to entertain me?" He got up close to Beetlejuice, staring at him avidly. "It's not every day I come across someone like you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, ever heard of personal space?" He pushed Dominick away. "Plus, I'm not entertaining anyone, kapeesh? I have more pressing matters to attend to."

The demon prince frowned. "Fine, then I will just take something from you… something very important to you."

"Now just wait a second!" Beetlejuice interrupted angrily, putting his hand up in an objecting manner.

"Yes?" Dominick stared at the other, smiling. This ghoul was highly amusing to the demon. He was happy he had saved him.

"There is no way in Hell you're going to take my powers away from me! You'd have to kill me first!"

The demon laughed. "Of course I'm not taking your powers! Why would I want them when I have my own? Not like taking yours would make any difference since my powers are so great."

Beetlejuice growled under his breath, glaring at Dominick, earning a soft chuckle from the other. "So then, what do you want?" He looked at the other skeptically.

"I will let it be known what I want from you at a later date. When I do come for it, do not fight me or I will throw you back to the sandworms and take the item anyway. Now, do we have a deal?" Dominick held his hand out to the other.

The ghoul looked down at the demon's hand then up at Dominick. "Will you take me back to the Netherworld??"

"Of course, don't you trust me?"

Beetlejuice hesitated, then took Dominick's hand in his and shook it. "Fine, you got yourself a deal. But when will you come to retrieve your payment? How will you find me?"

"Don't worry about a thing; I will come when I have decided what is most important to you. That might be in a few days, weeks, months… maybe even years. But it would be good if you didn't think about that too much. Until that day… farewell, Beetlejuice…" Dominick laughed as he disappeared from sight.

"Wait, how did you know my name?" But by the time the words had left his mouth, the demon was gone and Beetlejuice found himself back in the Netherworld. Beetlejuice was beginning to wondering if he should have taken his chances on Saturn with the sandworms. There was something about Dominick that had put the ghoul on edge, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

He shook his head. He had more important things to worry about like getting back to the mortal world so he could enact his revenge.

Just then his stomach growled. He had to get some grub first; who knew exactly how long he had been stuck on Saturn? He grinned to himself. He knew the perfect place where he could go to crash at and find some food. Laughing, he headed to the Roadhouse where a pair of good 'friends' would be more than happy to let him stay. Feeling pretty good about things, Beetlejuice completely forgot about Dominick. Soon he would have his revenge and make Lydia his once and for all and that was all that mattered at that moment.