Chapter 4
The ghoul that had not spoken cracked its knuckles and started toward Beetlejuice in a very threatening manner. Beetlejuice's eyes widened as he recognized him.
"Armhold Musclehugger. Nice to see you're still in the cronies business." Beetlejuice said sarcastically.
Instead of answering, Armhold grabbed Beetlejuice's scraggly blond hair and pushed his head to the floor. Or at least tried before Beetlejuice zapped him back with a bolt and made the ghoul fall into Prince Vince. Unfortunately, as Armhold fell, another immediately took his place and this one was a lot quicker and a lot stronger. The ghoul grabbed Beetlejuice's neck and lifted the ghost off the ground. There, Beetlejuice could do nothing but spit colorful insults at his captor.
"Prince, stop! We're your friends; you owe us. The least you could do is to turn a blind eye to this. We'll fix it, but we need time." Lydia pleaded. Prince Vince looked at Lydia for the first time with his always-gloomy eyes. A female came up next to the prince who looked almost like Beetlejuice's captor. Beth's eyes widened in fear.
"Vampires!" She gasped in a hushed voice.
Lydia looked in awe at the Vampiress, for the she had only ever seen one, and that was going after Delia at the Hotel Hello when they were on vacation in the Neitherworld.
"Sir? You never told us that there were living. Human blood is almost impossible to find in this world. May we?" The Vampiress asked politely, even though it was obvious she was excited.
Prince Vince looked at Lydia, then to Beth. Lydia was shaking her head, pleading silently with the prince of the Neitherworld. He sighed, satisfied, as he came to his decision.
"Leave the short one alone." Vince said, indicating how short Lydia still was. She fidgeted very slightly at the reference. "Do what you wish with the other."
"NO!" Lydia screamed and started towards the prince, but large bodyguard ghosts surrounded the gothic girl.
Two more vampires took the lead Vampiress place and judo chopped Beth before she could get a martial arts move in. They grabbed her arms before she hit the ground and brought her, disoriented, towards Vince. Beetlejuice was now being disabled by the vampire and a small device that looked like a scarab was being placed on his chest.
"Well Beetlejuice, I hope you enjoyed your last 600 years." Armhold sneered. "You see that beetle that's being placed on you. It disables the powers of the dead, a little trick we picked up from the Egyptians."
Beetlejuice squirmed helplessly in the vampire's grasp. Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes at the bloodsucker.
"Where did you get them, Prince?" Beetlejuice spat Vince's title. "Vampires usually don't stray away from the outskirts of the sandworm land that they were exiled to years ago. Only a few actually live in the Neitherworld"
Prince Vince smiled slightly, but never straying from his depressing façade.
"They owed me a favor. Besides, who wouldn't volunteer to stop the destroyer of our home? I'm sorry our friendship has to end like this. I'm glad you liked my music." Prince Vince said.
Beetlejuice sneered angrily at the irony and awkwardness of what the prince had just said. However, before he could come up with a snide remark, a yell made his head (with little mobility) whip around to see Lydia holding her head and screaming in distress.
"Stop this! Vince! Let them go or they'll be exorcised. Don't do this. Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!!!" Lydia screamed.
As she vehemently said the last words, she brought her hands down in front of her in frustration. A burst of gold light came from her hands and hit the nearest ghost that was blocking her. He immediately went ridged and fell over, paralyzed. Everything stopped and all the vampires suddenly released Beth and Beetlejuice.
"Vince, you fool. How dare you not tell us that the girl was a-" One of the vampires that had been holding Beth said.
"I didn't know." Vince interrupted.
"Well you should have thought about that before you decided to use us." Another Vampiress with a British accent said angrily. "We're out of here. Come on."
With a turn on their heels, the vampires walked out of the roadhouse as swiftly as they came. The remaining ghosts picked up their fallen mate and followed. Vince took a quick, gloomy glance at Lydia, then slammed the door shut.
"OK, what just happened?" Lydia spoke up after a minute. Beth rubbed her neck and looked at Lydia.
"They've gone to get a Razer. We'll need to leave soon." Beth sighed. Beetlejuice looked at Beth and raised an eyebrow.
"Who needs to shave?" He asked. Beth slapped her forehead in exasperation.
"Not a razor, a Razer. A ghost who razes the dead; performs exorcisms and," Beth looked at Lydia, "destroys see'ers."
Lydia cocked her head, confused.
"What's a see'er?" She asked. Beth sighed.
"A person, one who is alive, that has more that a sixth sense for detecting ghosts. A see'er can see, talk to and control ghosts. And I'm almost certain that you're one of them." Beth said and Lydia opened her mouth to instantly deny the statement. "No one can control Beetlejuice, except for you. Think about it. And that was some power you displayed."
"Um, I hate to break up this little enlightenment here, but we have to go NOW!" Beetlejuice said as he glanced out the window. He grabbed Lydia's elbow and dragged her out the back door with Beth following.
"What was that all about?" Beth asked, annoyed as they walked quickly away from the roadhouse.
"The mob just decided to show up at our house. Now I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be caught alive there." Beetlejuice said.
"I see your point. But we need a place to stay." Beth said. The two bio-exorcists looked at Lydia.
"Hey, don't look at me. If my parents found either one of you in my room and with no explanation about how I got myself home without my bike, I'll be punished worse than that time you brought me to the Catskull mountains, Beej." Lydia protested. Beth laughed at this and smiled, amused, at Beetlejuice.
"You brought a living to the Catskulls? Why didn't you just save yourself the trouble and teleport them to the real Catskill Mountains in upstate NY? They're very nice in the fall." Beth laughed. Then her eyes lit up with an idea. "I know! I have a friend who lives on the outskirts of New Yuck City. It'll be perfect, nobody ever sees him."
***
Beth slammed her fist on the wooden door of a small, dark store that said Sean's liquids: For all your liquid needs.
"Sean! Open up, I know you're in there!" Beth yelled at the door. There was no answer. Beetlejuice sneaked a peek inside the window and saw nothing but multicolored bottles. The room itself, however, was very dark.
"Beth, babes? Are you sure no one will come in here? I'm almost certain my face is all over the news by now." Beetlejuice questioned.
"Yeah and I'm sure if everyone wasn't dead already, they would be from horror." Beth said sarcastically. "Believe me, no one will come here." She smiled. "Sean doesn't exactly run a legit business here."
The door gave a soft click and a blue eye peeked out from the crack.
"Who ever you are, go away. No one can be here. No, no, no. I-I-I-I'm busy." A fast, small voice said. Beetlejuice raised an eyebrow at his student, which she promptly ignored.
"It's me, Beth Jalenski. You got to let us in. You know I won't hurt you." Beth said slowly and carefully, as though she was talking to a frightened child.
The door opened more and slowly a short boy who seemed no older than 18 came out. His hands twitched and fumbled like he was extremely nervous and from where Lydia was standing, she could see a long scar that ran down the side of his head and behind his neck. He was dressed in clothes that looked like they were from the 1940's, but very dirty and worn. Sean pointed a finger at Beth.
"You're not supposed to be here. You've been bad Beth. Very bad. Why are you here?" Sean said in a super fast tone. Now Lydia knew something was wrong with this ghoul.
"You know why." Beth said slowly. Sean nodded his head vigorously.
"Yes, yes. I don't care. You have vampires on your tail. Yeah. They'll get you and…" Sean sniffed the air by Beetlejuice in disgust. "Stinky. You're going to be exorcised. You can't come in. No, no, no, nooooooo."
Beth had had enough. She grabbed Sean by his ragged shirt and pulled him up to her face.
"Sean, tell me, who do you trust in this world?"
Sean's head tilted to the side and he looked at the ground besides him.
"You." He said in a somewhat sad voice.
"That's right." Beth said. She let him go. "Now, we need your assistance. Understand."
Again, Sean's head nodded rapidly.
"Fine, fine, fine." Sean said quickly. "But don't touch anything." He looked at Beetlejuice. "And you, Stinky…"
Sean lashed his hand out at Beetlejuice's neck and ripped something off that made Beetlejuice cry out slightly in pain. Sean's twitchy hand held up a tick looking object.
"No bringing vampire trackers into the lab. Bad for business." Sean said indignantly. He then put the tracker in his mouth, chewed and then spat the pieces on the ground. "Oh, yuck. They already have your ectoplasm trail, Stinky. Yours is very bad tasting and is going to lead those sandworm land dweller right to my shop! You owe me, Beth."
Beth sighed and rolled her eyes. Luckily, Sean still let them in and the trio was soon standing in a room surrounded by nothing but bottles. Both Beetlejuice and Lydia looked in awe at the room. The extent of the collection of bottles was amazing, ranging from clear to colored to opaque and from shaped to thin and thick to tall and short. Beetlejuice reached for a purple vase looking bottle, but Sean quickly snatched it.
"No touching! These are very delicate and it takes a long time to create that stuff." Sean exclaimed. Beetlejuice gave him a skeptical look.
"Really?" Beetlejuice said.
With that Beetlejuice grabbed the bottle back, took off the top with a small pop and sniffed the contents. Then he narrowed his eyes at Sean and shoved the bottle into Sean's chest, where he quickly fumbled to hold it. Beetlejuice looked at Beth.
"Just as I suspected. Beth, your friend is a potion maker. Potions have been outlawed for centuries. This place is dangerous." Beetlejuice said in a mad tone.
"I told you his business wasn't legit." Beth protested.
"Not legit. This is more than not legit. This place is illegal and immoral and I think your friend's insane!" Beetlejuice said angrily. Beth breathed deeply in order to calm herself.
"He's not insane. Sean is a paranoid schizophrenic. But he's one of the most intelligent geniuses I've ever met." Beth whispered at Beetlejuice as Sean looked at him with a loathing.
"And your business is, Stinky?" Sean said indignantly about the legit comment. He gingerly placed the bottle back on a shelf. "I've heard of what you do from Beth. You scam ghosts and run the alive out of their own house for a living. Potions are only truly dangerous to the living."
"Guys, don't argue." Lydia said quietly. Sean whipped his head around and raised an eyebrow at Lydia. He then floated over to her and examined her eyes and face.
"A see'er! Beth, are you training her yourself? Considering all your experience in that subject and stuff." Sean said. He let out a high pitched laugh. "She's kind of cute, for one with a pulse."
Lydia looked at Beth, confused.
"What does he mean?" Lydia asked. Instead of answering, Beth grabbed Sean by the shirt and pulled him up close to her face. Since she was tall and he was short, that meant lifting Sean off the ground so they were eye-level.
"I didn't come here to deal with your unnecessary commentary on matters you don't understand. We need help and you're the only person with the guts or idiocy to have a place devoted to selling illegal concoctions." Beth said through clenched teeth. Sean smiled widely.
"Help? Maybe I can do that, maybe not. Depends. What type of trouble are you in?" Sean said.
Beth, Beetlejuice and Lydia then proceeded to tell Sean of what they had encountered with the ghost SID. As they did, Sean sifted through bottles and bottles of potions, looking for a specific one. He gave up as they finished.
"Potions will not help you here. No, no. I have clients you know. All ghosts who seek power come in here and they aren't patient. Mayor Maynot could come in at any second. You should leave." Sean persisted.
"What do you mean they won't help?" Lydia asked, looking around at the rainbow of glass that surrounded her. She picked up one of the bottles. "One of these should help."
Sean floated over to her and looked at the label of the bottle she had.
"Cocafline. That's sure not going to help you. The reason potions are prohibited is not for the safety of the ghosts, but for humans. For you, that potion that your holding is a narcotic that will kill you if not taken in very small dosages. To us it is a relaxant." Sean said. He placed the bottle back on the shelf. It was obvious he was avoiding the question.
"Sean, Lydia is a see'er and I am alive. That makes me a see'er again too. Now would you rather have two happy see'ers who will make sure that your business can go on, or do you want two really pissed off see'ers in your shop whose powers derive from their emotions." Beth gave Sean the ultimatum. "Now then, will you help us?"
Sean rubbed his hands together and made a whining noise.
"You have to understand, I don't have anything that can help you. My potions will not help you defeat him; even power boosting potions can only go so far. I've seen what you and stinky do. You can't control your powers well enough." Sean said.
"My name is Beetlejuice, ya nutjob." Beetlejuice said indignantly.
"Then what do you have?" Beth said dangerously.
Sean shrugged his shoulders in defeat.
"Boosting potions, relaxing potions, high-energy potions, figure shaping potions (a big one this year), possession potions, healing potions…" Sean listed on his finger. Beth suddenly cut him off.
"Did you say possession potions?" Beth asked. Sean nodded his head rapidly.
"Uh huh, uh huh. External and internal possession. Not very popular since The Exorcist came out in theaters but then again, most ghosts can do external possession with out the use of a potion."
"External possession?" Lydia said, confused. Beetlejuice answered.
"It's the power to control ghosts or the living without being inside them. I can easily do it, but it doesn't give the possessor as much mobility as internal does. But internal possession is only done by those who want to end up in the lost souls room." Beetlejuice said, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Sean and Beth. "It's a dangerous practice."
"Oh yes. But it's useful and very much fun. It's used by ghosts who wish to have some mobility outside of the house they haunt. Besides, the possessed get to be immortal and have the power of the ghost that's possessing them." Sean said. "But why go to all the trouble? It's a very expensive product and you have a limited amount of time."
Everyone in the room stared at Beth. She sighed.
"I and I alone know how my powers work and to what extent they can be used. If I get possessed by Beetlejuice I can implement his powers with my knowledge and try and defeat SID again." Beth said. Beetlejuice immediately shook his head.
"I've heard the rumors. It's dangerous, for both you and me. You can try to get yourself killed, but I rather like my afterlife thank you very much. Besides, it wouldn't be very good if I was exorcised and SID was left up to his own accord." Beetlejuice snubbed. Sean snorted in laughter.
"Not very good!? This is the end of the world if you fail. It's been written in prophecies." Sean said. Beetlejuice raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't realize you were into such mumbo jumbo like prophecies." Beetlejuice said. Sean nodded his head vigorously and flew to the window of his shop. He pointed at the slowly enlarging hole in the sky. It was now the size of a harvest moon.
""It has been written that if that ugly hole touches the horizon, everything you love and care about will be gone with this world, sucked into a void that will make death unbearable. Even the living will feel the change and they will dread the day they die instead of embrace it. Without this world, life is just a prolonging of the inevitable nothingness that will be left if you fail. I suggest you don't mess this up." Sean said darkly. His speaking had slowed considerably as he talked.
"Right. So we shouldn't risk our chances with possession." Beetlejuice said.
"It's not that simple." Beth argued. "What if you do get captured. Then no one will be able to take us to the crease. Ever thought about that?"
Beetlejuice didn't answer.
"We do this as a last resort. If you get captured, we take the potions. If not, then there will not be a need for them. But I'd rather be safe than sorry." Beth said.
Beetlejuice looked at Lydia. The he turned to Sean and nodded. Sean nodded his head back.
"Ok, okay. I will be down in my lab. It will take me a few hours to create a batch of the stuff. Make yourselves at home. But don't touch anything." Sean said.
With that, he disappeared.
AN: Next chapter may take a little while to get up. I'm going away for a month and will not be able to work on it so quickly. Please review