A/N: Those of you who have been following my story may wish to go through and re-read the previous chapters, as I've made some minute changes. Mostly grammatical. The biggest change was that I changed Mandy's incident with the frat boys to having taken place two years ago, instead of one, to allow for a more realistic time frame for the trial and Mandy's healing process. Thank you BeetlejuiceLvr03 and OccupationalLurker2016 for your reviews! Please, if you have any constructive criticism or spot any grammatical errors I would very much appreciate it if you pointed them out to me so that they may be corrected. I'm striving for perfection here.

IX

He did, of course. They were the same drunk frat boys he'd seen the night of Lydia's birthday. After getting over the shock of witnessing his juice at work, insignificant as the parlor trick was, Nona bounded to his side to show him pictures of the other slimy rapist fucks.

Lydia was having a fit. "I can NOT believe you, Nona! I get it, I want justice for Mandy, too, but this- this is NOT justice. This is murder and I will have NO part in it!"

Nona was losing her patience. "I don't give a damn, Lydia. They don't get to get away with this shit. Do you think Mandy's the only girl they've done this to?"

Lydia knew the answer. How could she be? These were obscenely rich kids, privileged and entitled. As far as they were concerned, the world was their oyster. If a few nobodies were crushed under the weight of their influence, what did it matter? "No."

"No," Nona repeated bitterly. "And they'll keep on doing it. Long after they leave this place and plant their roots. And they'll always, always, get away with it."

Lydia felt lost. She knew in her heart that Nona was right, and yet her gut lurched sickeningly at the thought of being complicit in two murders. Guilt was already weighing down heavily on her for the loss of Todd, piece of shit that he was. It was her fault that Betelgeuse killed him. If only she'd just moved somewhere more secluded, blocked herself off from other people, kept her guard up- then none of this would have happened.

"So... what?" Lydia was on the verge of hysteria. "We just stalk them and let my dead psychopath husband-"

"Ouch." He muttered, clutching his chest in mock offense.

Lydia continued without missing a beat, unconcerned for his feelings. "-murder them? Just like that? Problem solved?"

"That's the idea, honey," Betelgeuse answered, though it was clear her inquiries were directed towards Nona.

The caramel skinned girl placed taught, manicured fingertips against her hairline and took a calming breath before approaching Lydia and placing her hands on the girl's shoulders beseechingly. "Look. Love. I wanted to murder those sons of bitches as soon as I found out what happened. You talked me out of it, and I thank you for that. I wouldn't do well in prison. But," She broke off and took another frustrated breath, dark coffee eyes meeting honey shaded ones, "we did things your way already, and Mandy was devastated-"

Lydia pulled away from her, roughly shaking her friend's hands from her shoulders. "Are you saying it's my fault that Mandy lost?"

"What?" Nona followed after her, "No! I just-"

"You know what?" Lydia interrupted as her eyes welled up with tears, deeply hurt, and blinded by her warring emotions. "Why don't you two," she gestured to Betelgeuse bitterly, "just go off and do whatever you're gonna do and leave me the fuck out of it." She turned abruptly and stormed to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her.

"Lydia!" Nona chased after her, banging on the door. "C'mon, you know that's not what I meant!" The only answer she got was silence. She pressed her ear against the door and heard muffled sobs. "Fuck..." She muttered, slumping against the door. She and Lydia had never fought before. Nona checked her watch, then raised her gaze to the only other person in the room. "I've got a couple hours before work. Wanna go get a drink?"

Betelgeuse had never felt so conflicted before. He very much wanted to be on his wife's good side, especially now considering the recent development in his plans to get into her pants. However, he'd never not killed when he wanted to kill. He was an impulsive creature. And these fucks were just begging for it. Her hot little lesbian friend was egging him on, too, which made the idea of slowly torturing the kids even more appealing. The poltergeist wanted to comfort his wife after her emotionally charged disagreement with Nona but knew that he didn't have much to say that would diffuse the situation. Probably just make her angrier.

So when Nona offered to take him out for a drink, he heartily complied. They walked down the street from Lydia's apartment in silence for a little while, Betelgeuse with his hands in his pockets and Nona with her arms crossed. "Why isn't anyone giving you funny looks?" She'd asked after awhile, having grown tired of the silence. It was broad daylight. There was traffic and they'd already passed a handful of students. No one had spared them a second glance, seemingly looking right through him.

"You only see me because I let you see me." Betelgeuse chuckled, an idea coming to him as a student approached them walking the opposite way. "Watch this." He reached out and physically removed the kid's baseball cap, flipping it into the air. It blew away in the breeze and the kid scrambled after it, dropping his books. Nona laughed, the tension from her fight with Lydia easing a bit.

"Lydia's a freak." He continued as they started up towards the bar again. "The living shouldn't be able to see the dead, but she can. I can hide from her when I want to, but not completely, and that's only because I'm especially powerful. Weaker, younger ghosts don't stand a chance."

Nona contemplated his words. "Why do you think that is? What makes her different?"

"I've gotta theory, but I'd have to see her family tree." They stopped in front of a rustic looking tavern and Betelgeuse opened the door for her with a flourish, following behind as she entered. The few patrons there were staring at her as if she had two heads. 'Oh!' It must have looked as though the door magically opened and closed to grant her entrance. Nona ignored the stares and made her way to a dark corner of the bar, where she could converse with her friend's husband quietly, away from prying eyes.

She ordered two whiskeys, neat, and resumed her questioning. "Well, I know that her mother came from Russia, and her father's parents are Aryan Germans. What exactly do you need to know?"

Betelgeuse furrowed his brows, downing his whiskey in one shot. It burned pleasantly on the way down. He was incapable of succumbing to the effects of drugs and alcohol, but it was nice nevertheless. He dug in his pockets and passed Nona some crumpled up bills. "Get me another one, I'm paying. I woulda pegged her mom as Irish, with the red hair n' all."

Nona scoffed and shot him a look. "That uptight bitch is not Lydia's mother," Nona called over the barkeep and ordered some more drinks while he stroked his chin. "Lydia doesn't talk about her mother, and for good reason." The curly haired girl's expression had turned grim as she sipped her whiskey slowly. "I'd tell you all about it, but it's really not my place. Lydia's pissed enough at me." The memory of the fight turned Nona solemn.

Betelgeuse clapped her roughly on the back with one hand and lit a cigarette with the other. "Don't worry about it! Shit, she forgave me and I almost killed her. She'll definitely forgive you. Girl's got a big heart. Doesn't have it in her to hold grudges."

Nona lit a cigarette of her own and regarded him coolly. She blew out a smooth stream of smoke before speaking next. "What exactly are your intentions with her?"

Betelgeuse cackled madly. "Now you wanna give me the third degree? Alright, mama bear. My intentions are to keep Lydia from getting herself killed as long as possible and to eventually worm my way into her tight little pants. Happy?"

She was not. "She's too good for you."

He threw back another drink. "I know. Don't care. I'm a selfish bastard like that."

"I should exorcise you."

The poltergeist's eyes glinted dangerously and he leaned across the table to stare Nona down. The girl stood her ground. "It'd kill her. Worse than that, actually. Our souls are bound for an eternity. Wherever one is, the other must follow. Exorcise me and you exorcise her, toots." He smirked and leaned back in his chair to throw his legs up on the table, knowing he'd won.

"Besides, you need me. This town's got a pest problem," his smirk evolved into a fully fledged bloodthirsty grin and he threw his arms out to his sides, presenting himself, "and I'm just the exterminator for the job."