I do not own Beetlejuice or any of its characters. I apologize now for any spelling or writing mistakes. This ones a little longer then usual.

Strangers and Blood

Beetlejuice sat slowly drinking a large jug of beer. He had returned to his original dirty state of being. He was at the only bar in the neither world. Thankfully it wasn't too crowded today.

"Hey big boy, I've been a little lonely, why don't you come on over to my place? I've been dying for some good fun around here." A blond rubbed Beetlejuice's leg. He looked at the girl. She had a thin noose around her neck. She had to be in her late twenties early thirties.

"Is that what brought you here?" Beetlejuice turned back to his drink. "I don't need any company at the moment.

"Is there something troubling you? Do you need someone to talk to about it?" She scooted closer. "I'm a great listener. Except for my last boyfriend, I didn't listen to his excuses of how he ended up in my ex-best friend's bed with both of them with nothing but the sheets covering them." She twirled Beetlejuice's hair.

"So is that necklace a present from the breakup?"

"I was fed up with life. I need something new to play with, someone new."

"Funny, I'm not." Beetlejuice retorted.

"Oh come on. You must be so bored, besides I've been a bad girl and I need to be punished by someone strong and forceful, someone powerful."

"Well you've come to the right place at the wrong time."

"What do you mean? Am I wrong in saying you're powerful?"

"Not as much as I want to be. I will be soon though."

"How?" Claire asked innocently. Beetlejuice rolled his eyes. What a nosy person, isn't there someone else she can talk to.

"None of your business," Beetlejuice gulped down the last of his beer. "Hey waiter refill."

The girl spun her chair away from the bar and looked at the people hanging out at the tables all around the room.

"So what's your type?"

"Girls that aren't nosy and don't ask so many questions." Beetlejuice retorted. The girl pouted.

"How about looks. Like that girl in the corner over there?" The blond pointed to a dark haired girl.

"I'm not really interested in anyone at the moment." Beetlejuice thought of Lydia.

"Well what about her?" The girl pointed to another girl with bright red hair. If it'll make this girl shut up. Beetlejuice turned to look at the girl, his back to the blond. She quickly took the bottle of clear liquid out and let a drop fall into the beer. She quickly stuffed the small bottle back into her bra. Beetlejuice turned back around.

"Nah, I have a bad history with red heads." He took a sip of his beer.

"What about brunette? Blond? Black?"

"Black. With brown eyes." Beetlejuice felt funny. He shrugged, it was probably old beer. "She needs to be younger, older women are a pain."

"Do you have someone that fits this description?"

"Sure as hell, I do." Beetlejuice took another sip.

"Well where is she at?"

"She's still alive."

"Alive! Where at? Why do you like someone who's still alive?"

"Whoa whoa slow down. She lives in New York City." Whoa why am I telling her this. I can't stop. " She's actually my fiancé, we're in a deal, she has to marry me."

"Why are you marrying her?"

"So I can ditch this hellhole and do whatever I want." Beetlejuice got up. He had said too much. Way too much what was it with nosy girl? "Later babes gotta go." Beetlejuice paid for his beer and left the bar.

The blond followed him out but instead of heading down the road she turned and went behind the building. A man was waiting for her, his face was hidden in the shadows. The blond stopped only a few feet away from him.

"He's getting married to a living girl that lives in New York. That's how he is getting his power. She's got black hair, brown eyes and young. That's all I got."

"Thank you Claire, you have been most helpful. It's enough that we can go to New York and follow his trial that he has been so kind to leave behind." The man threw his cigarette to the ground and smashed it into the ground with his shoe.

"I did what you wanted now can you let him go?"

"Oh you want your boyfriend back, even though you're the one who sent him here?" The man waved his hand at his henchmen. They dragged a man out from behind the bar.

"Simon!" Claire cried.

"Women are so fickle." The man turned and started walking away. "You know what a really hate about everyone being dead? It's that I can't kill them, the worst I can do send them to the sand worms." The man stopped and sighed. "Toss him." He said over his shoulder and continued walking.

"No!" Claire shrieked as the henchmen tossed the body off the edge and into the fog below.

Lydia opened one eye. Light was trying to get in from behind her curtains.

"It was just a dream." She mumbled and snuggled into her blankets. It had been such a weird yet wonderful dream. She had been dancing with Mike and then a man with green eyes came in and swept her off her feet. The world around them disappeared and it was as if they were dancing in the stars. He was so handsome but somehow he reminded her of Beetlejuice. Why, she couldn't say. Beetlejuice was dead, and rude and . . . a guy who she was . . . totally in a one-sided love with.

Then the man had pulled her close and kissed her softly. It had been a cheesy but romantic dream. Something she had never had before. Lydia replayed the dream over in her head again. It made her so happy. She stretched and finally opened both eyes. Lydia sat up only to flop back down onto the pillow. Her head was spinning and her body felt like it was full of lead. It must be from that drink. Lydia tried to think about her night before. She remembered at least the first four drinks and then her memory was a blur of faces and places. She had been with Mike then someone else had come. Who? There were vague memories of walking back to her apartment. There had been someone else with her, someone alive. Lydia tried to remember who and what had happened past that. This is so irritating, I can't remember anything else. Lydia glared at the ceiling.

"Arg, stupid alcohol, I'm never drinking again." Lydia gave up on trying to recover her lost memory. She looked over at her clock. It was 11:43 am. She sighed. She was wasting her day in bed. Lydia slowly sat up and pulled her legs out of the sheets.

"Why is there paper and books all over the floor?" Then she rolled her eyes at the obvious answer. "Beetlejuice." She muttered. Lydia stood up and tumbled to the bathroom. She reeked from the dance, she hated the smell. I wonder if Beetlejuice is back yet. Lydia stripped off her clothes and stepped into the steaming water. She poured her favorite shampoo into her hair. She closed her eyes and hummed a little tune.

A shadow passed across the outside of the curtains. Not long after the water started to lose its steam. Lydia felt for the knob to make the water hotter. She rinsed the rest of the shampoo out and reached for the conditioner. Large globs of something hit Lydia's back. It ran slowly down her body, the water felt thick and sticky. Lydia looked down at her body to find the red liquid starting to cover every inch of her body. It clogged the drain and started filling up the tub. A pair of hands reached up from the bottom and grabbed her ankles and started pulling her in. She didn't have time to scream. Lydia pulled at the curtains. The pole gave at and Lydia was pulled in up to her waist. She reached for the side of the tub.

"Beetljuice!"

Something was wrong with him. He felt awful and sick, which was rare since Beetlejuice never got sick. He walked along the road back to his place. He wondered if Lydia was awake yet or not.

"Beetlejuice!" Beetlejuice stopped.

"Lydia?" There was no way she was here. Was she calling him? She sounded hurt. Beetlejuice didn't waste a second returning to the living world.

"LYDIA!" Beetlejuice appeared at right outside the shower. Blood was everywhere filling the tub up fast. Lydia was chest deep in the blood, gripping the side of the tub.

"Beetlejuice!" Lydia cried. Beetlejuice grabbed her arms and tried pulling Lydia back up out of the blood. The hands pulled on her body. Beetlejuice set them on fire. Shrill cries erupted as the hands let go and disappeared into the blood. Beetlejuice gave a giant tug and pulled Lydia all the way out. Lydia fell onto Beetlejuice as he slid against the wall to the floor.

"Bj." Lydia sobbed on Beetlejuice's chest.

"It's okay I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against him. The blood slid off Lydia and made its way back over the tub and mixed with the water down the drain. Beetlejuice pulled the towel down off the counter and placed it over Lydia.

"I was so scared. I really thought I was going to die. There were so many, and the blood, I thought," Lydia choked on her words.

"Shhh, you're safe now." He stroked her hair.