--

--

With a shrug and a vicious grin Betelgeuse dropped the ring and broke the tension. Things were finally starting to go his way a little.

"Well, look on the bright side, babes. You wanted in, right?"

Lydia continued to avoid eye contact and began to look around the room instead. It took a minute or two for her to realize what she was looking at.

"Oh my god… This is my room." It was as if her room had been deserted for fifty years, and then lived in by ten slovenly college students for another ten. Filth covered the floor, walls, and furniture. "This is disgusting, what happened to it?"

"It's the underworld, babes. The things here are dead… even the inanimate ones."

Lydia was still examining the room with awe. Opening drawers and pulling out treasured objects that would have suffered less damage had they been dropped through a trash compactor.

"Is this how the Maitlands see our house?"

"Nah, different plans, you know? They get to stay in the real world, barely any powers invisible by most, confined to the house. I stay in the underworld, powers galore, but no way into the real world." He paused, and smirked a bit. "Well, almost no way. What are you going to do about your debt to me, babes?"

Lydia pursed her lips and shot him a dirty look. "No wedding, think of something else."

Irked, Betelgeuse bristled at her, "Now lookit here, little girl. A deals a deal, I didn't change my end any, did I? I saved your little ghostly buddies and you didn't give me nuthin'. In fact, you gave me worse than nuthin'." He paused at that and considered. While a wedding would get him out of the netherworld for good, at the very least he could get the damned curse taken off him and go after some other gullible little sap of a girl.

Lydia watched as Betelgeuse's features shifted from indignant rage to something disturbingly accommodating. "I'll think about it. Huh, why don't we look around, you know? I can show you around, introduce you to a couple-a buddies of mine."

--

Another blush threatened to creep over Lydia's face and she forced it away. "I feel a lot better here." She frowned a little in a puzzled sort of way. "Actually, it's kind of weird. I don't feel sick at all."

Lounging against the battered shadow of her desk, Betelgeuse shrugged nonchalantly, "Dead don't get sick, I guess."

Lydia chuckled a little, "No, I suppose they wouldn't. Shall we, then?" She started for the door of her room, wondering vaguely if the havoc he'd wreaked in the hallway would still exist under the overall decrepit nature of the netherworld.

Betelgeuse swept past her, floating through the doorway with ease. "Now hold your horses, babes. You can't go out there lookin' so lively."

"What would you have me look like?." She said, tilting her pretty little head to the side. Damn, she was pretty cute, wasn't she?

Betelgeuse grinned impishly and snapped his fingers. He guided her to the mirror and waited for the shrieks of horror.

"Oh my god…" Lydia drawled the words slowly and carefully. Betelgeuse wriggled in excitement for the impending explosion of fear. "This is SO COOL." Wait, what? "This is.. I mean, wow. This is perfect. You have to do this for me next Halloween, I mean seriously."

She stood before the mirror in awe, her appearance had changed drastically. Normally she was pale and somewhat delicate looking, but now she looked practically brittle. Her skin was bone white with dark sunken eyes to match Betelgeuse's, her hair hung black and limp and she wore a tattered black dress.

"As much as I like the shredded dress bit, mayhap you should leave a bit more fabric behind."

Grumbling, Betelgeuse snapped the request into existence, "God you're a demanding little..." He stopped himself. Anywhere he took that sentence promised more trouble than he was willing to stir in the girl he needed something from.

"Little what, BJ?"

"Girl?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not what you were gunna say."

"You're probably right."

Lydia gave up, she was getting too excited to see the rest of the dead world.

"Huh, fine then."

Betelgeuse extended his elbow and she wrapped her arm around his. A thrill of excitement coursed through her entire body. She was really going to see the netherworld.

--