Richard Castle, Watcher (Castle/Buffy) (Complete)

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"So… we're going to sift through a sewer. Why can't those demons hide in a nice, sunny warm place?" Buffy complained with a sigh and pout that made Richard Castle wonder how Rupert had managed being her Watcher for years.

"Well, there was Sunnydale," Xander said.

"That doesn't count! They were hiding in yucky icky places there too." Buffy shook her head.

"Like our high school?" Dawn asked.

"Yes!"

"And yet you sent me there!" Dawn sniffed. "Forced me to attend, brutally crushed my dreams of freedom…"

"You were playing hooky. And it's still yucky."

Rick cleared his throat. "Technically, it's not a sewer. Many of the tunnels are storm drains and maintenance tunnels."

"That's hardly better! And you said 'many', not 'all'! My poor shoes!"

"You're wearing boots," Dawn said.

"Designer boots."

"No one forces you to wear them. You could wear sensible, sturdy, cheap boots." Dawn shook her head.

"What?" Buffy looked horrified.

"I hate to interrupt this wonderful display of sibling love, but… we do have a cult to stop from destroying a greater chunk of New York." Rick said.

"Including several shoe stores," Beckett said. She was snarking with the best of them - Castle was so proud.

"Right." Buffy looked at Willow. "Will, were you able to narrow the area down with your magic?"

The witch shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. I couldn't refine the detection spells enough, not without more information about the seal." She frowned, then smiled. "But I think I can track the noose demon with even miniscule amounts of blood, if I use some parts of the coffin it was locked in for so long. The residue should act like a catalyst and sympathetic link, and allow me to track it down using an adjusted detection spell, and…"

"Bottom line: Once we have dealt with the seal, we can deal with the noose demon thanks to Will's mojo." Xander grinned. "Sorry to interrupt your fascinating explanation, but we are on the clock, as Rick pointed out."

The author in question wondered who still used the word 'mojo'. Somehow he didn't think that Xander was quoting Austin Powers.

"Alright." Buffy looked at everyone present. "We'll split in three groups. Faith, Spike and Dawn are one group, me, Xander and Will another, and Vi, Rick, and Detective Bucket will be the third.

"Beckett," the woman whose name had just been mangled said with a frown. Castle was tempted to add 'with two ts'.

"Yes." Buffy pointed at the map spread on Castle's dinner table. "Faith will start with the main sewer entrance there, my group will enter through the storm drains on this side, and the locals will cover the maintenance tunnels on the other side. We'll work our way to the center. Our Wi-Phones will still work underground, so use them to alert the others once you find the seal."

"Wi-Phone?" Beckett whispered next to Castle.

"Cell phones enchanted by Willow. Perfect reception anywhere on the planet." Castle didn't think adding that the phones also could use all networks without paying was a good idea. Beckett was adjusting to the realities of demon hunting, but she might still take offense at such details.

"Any questions?" Buffy asked. "Serious questions only," she added when several hands were raised. All hands dropped quickly. "Good. Let's go! We have shoe stores and malls to save!"

*****​

"To think that the fate of the city is in the hands of a Valley Girl and her friends…" Beckett said later while Vi did her best to break as many traffic laws as possible without crashing Castle's Shelby.

"The world's fate has been in her hands several times. And as it still stands, I think it's in good hands," Castle said, a bit sharper than intended. He understood Beckett, but the Scoobies had earned more respect. Even if they did all they could to make the worst impression - the things he had heard from Rupert, back when they had started to rebuild the Council… apparently, there had been a bet running of any of the older members of the Council who had survived the First would suffer a heart attack after meeting them.

"And no matter how they act, they know their stuff. We were sent to the maintenance tunnels since we're the locals and have the most experience with them," Vi said. "Well, Rick and I, at least. You're not that experienced."

"To my great envy," Beckett said.

"At least they aren't steam tunnels!" Castle said. No one got the joke, though.

Vi turned another corner, right into an alley and stopped in front of a locked metal door. "Vi, remind me to tell you to drive through a car wash on the way home," Castle said, after he had stepped into something right after leaving his car. "This alley looks like it wasn't cleaned in decades."

"The door's hinges are oiled, though," Beckett said. "Someone's been maintaining them."

Vi sniffed the air, then the door. "I don't smell demon."

"Homeless people like to seek shelter in such locations too," Castle said, pulling his Ack Pac out of the trunk and handing Beckett a shotgun. Vi wa already armed. "Although only the inexperienced ones - the older ones know that it's dangerous, even though they might not know about demons prowling the tunnels."

"Do they avoid the maintenance tunnels still in use?" Beckett asked while Castle opened the door with one of the keys he had acquired for such occasions.

"No, they generally avoid the workers, though - those would be missed." Castle pushed the door open, and Vi slid inside. "Although the urban legends of albino crocs living in the sewers are not entirely unfounded."

Beckett sighed. "Next you'll telling me the tooth fairy is real too."

"Oh, no - that demon was dealt with by a Slayer in Kent in the 18th century," Castle said. She stared at him, and he shrugged. "Apparently, the demon liked to rip the teeth out of the children's mouths to make necklaces. Don't ask me why the legend claims it'll leave a coin for a tooth."

Beckett muttered something Castle didn't catch, but Vi snickered. "Onward!" he said. "We have malls to save, as our fearless leader said."

Thanks to his maglite, he could see Beckett glare at him. Nothing like a little joke to relieve the tension.

*****​

"I would have thought you'd use night vision gear instead of a maglite," Beckett said an hour and a dozen tunnels later. They hadn't found any demons so far. The other groups hadn't had more luck either, though Faith's group had wiped out a vampire nest.

"I do, on occasion. But since you're not trained in its use, we couldn't use the gear anyway." Castle was almost certain the detective would ask for such training at the next occasion. Which meant, he thought with a grin, laser tag in dark tunnels! Alexis would love it. "Besides, it's mounted on the barrels of the guns, so it's quite handy." Though finding a way to mount the thing on his flamethrower's nozzle had been a pain.

Vi, who was on point, suddenly stopped and held her fist up. Castle hissed and checked his flamethrower.

"I smell demons," the redhead said. "Several of them, and I've smelled them before."

"Like a bloodhound," Beckett muttered.

"That sounds, I mean, that smells like the ones we're looking for," Castle said. He thumbed his phone and informed the other two groups that they had a probable contact. "We're checking this out. Lead the way, Vi!"

His Slayer moved forward, disappearing in the shadows. Castle and Beckett waited so their lamps wouldn't betray their presence. A few minutes later, Vi returned. "I haven't seen the seal, but there's about a dozen of demons hanging around in large room up ahead. The seal could be behind a few doors."

Castle nodded. "I'll call the others." They could take a dozen with Vi and surprise on their side, but if there were more hiding nearby, this could get dicey. It was better to wait until the rest was here as well.

A scream interrupted him right when he was sending the coordinates to the other groups.

"They've got a hostage!" Vi said.

Castle and his Slayer exchanged a glance. His plan to wait for reinforcements had just been shot. If they waited, the hostage might be killed. He nodded. And Vi took off running.

Rick and Beckett followed, not quite as fast. "I thought they didn't sacrifice people to open the seal."

"They don't. But they might still want dinner," Castle said.

Screams and yells from up ahead told them that Vi was engaging the demons already. Then they reached a small door, squeezed through - Castle almost got stuck with his flamethrower - and faced a large room full of demons. Vi was in the midst of a dozen of them, trying to cut her way to a screaming girl bound next to what looked like an industrial grill. Dinner indeed.

While he was still trying to find a way to use his Ack Pack without frying either Vi or the girl, one of the other doors opened, and more demons rushed in.

Castle greeted them with a burst from his flamethrower.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Three demons were lit up and started to stumble around on fire, their roars turning into screams of pain. One of them hit another demon with its flailing arms, sending the creature to the floor, where Beckett shot it in the head.

More monsters managed to avoid the flames, though, and came at them. Richard Castle snarled, and snapped off another burst of flame that turned the two closest into living torches. The rest were still charging, but they had to dodge the two burning creatures, and Castle used the time gained to back off and spray fuel on the ground. He ignited it with his third charge and a curtain of flames sprang up.

One of the demon cultists apparently couldn't or wouldn't stop in time, though, and ran through the flames, screeching horribly as it tried to claw Castle's face off. He deflect the blows with the nozzle of his Ack Pack, then smashed the horned demon into its face, following up with a kick that sent it back through the flames. Unfortunately, he almost lost his balance as a result, and stumbled for a second when the monster turned out to be much lighter than expected.

A quick glance showed him that Vi had reached the bound girl over the bodies of half a dozen demons, but was now surrounded by the remaining monsters. Beckett was trying to fend off two demons with her bent shotgun, but was driven back into Castle evading a swing from another horned demon.

He pushed past her and aimed his flamethrower. The demons angry roars turned to horrified screeches when they saw him, and their raised arms did nothing to stop the flames. The wailed as they burned. Six charges left in his Ack Pack.

A series of shots - pistol shots - erupted behind him, and seconds afterwards, something large and heavy slammed into his back, forcing him to the floor and driving the air from his lungs. Liquid splashed on his back, and for a moment, he feared that his tank had ruptured. When he managed to twist his hps and throw the weight on his back off, he realised that it was the blood of the demon who had rammed into him - it was making a gurgling noise while trying to stem the blood pouring out of its wrecked throat.

Castle pushed himself up to his knees, almost blindly spraying fire to cover his exposed flank - five charges left - while Beckett was emptying her pistol into an apparently bullet-proof demon which was already so close, Castle couldn't hit him without burning Beckett as well. The Detective was dodging the creatures wild swings, until a foot caught her in the stomach. She was thrown back a few feet, then collapsed with a groan.

Castle hissed with sudden, blazing rage and torched her assailant. Four charges left. He laid down another curtain of flames - three charges left - then turned to help her, but Beckett was already getting back on her feet, although she was swaying a bit. "Are you OK?"

"Don't mind me, we've got a city to save!" she said, looking around.

"Your pistol is on the other side of the fire," Castle said.

"And my shotgun is broken."

"Take my pistol!" He pulled it out of its holster and handed it to her, noticing her wince when she reached out with her right arm. "You're hurt." Bruised ribs for sure, broken maybe, even.

"Yes," she snapped, and moved past him, towards Vi, who had whittled her enemies down to two. Beckett brought the Glock 20 up in a two-handed grip, and shot one of them in the back of its head. It didn't kill the demon, but it was hurt enough for Vi to easily dispatch it with a blew from her sword. The last demon tried to run, but her blade slashed at its legs, and it collapsed, howling until the slayer stabbed its neck.

Vi looked hurt as well. The redhead was bleeding from several gashes in her arms, one along her ribs, and her left cheek was swelling, Castle noticed. But she was still ready to fight, and the girl the demons had been about to eat was still alive. A few cuts later, she was free of her bounds, but shivering and sobbing.

They couldn't remain much longer in the room - with all the fires Castle had started, the air was getting really bad. Not to mention the stench from burning demons.

"Let's move back before the air runs out," Castle said.

Vi nodded and picked the girl up. "Go on. I'll bring up the rear."

Castle would have made a remark about overprotective Slayers if not for his near-brush with death, and took point. "I need my gun," she said. She was already stepping around the flames, and Castle, muttering a curse, followed her.

"We don't have that much time."

"It's registered. I'm not going to leave it here and later lie about where I lost it." Beckett shot him a glare, then picked up her gun.

"Paperwork, more terrifying than demons," Castle said, which prompted a short chuckle from the Detective which turned into a cough.

They really had to get out - it was already difficult to breath, and his throat ached.

Just as he reached the door they had entered through, Vi growled.

"Incoming."

*****​

"How many of those demons are there?"

Richard Castle glanced at Beckett before answering. She looked focused, tense, but she was a bit unsteady on her feet. The pistol in her hand didn't waver, though. "The usual answer is 'too many'."

"Or 'too damn many', if you're asking Faith," Vi added. The girl - they hadn't even asked her her name, Castle realised, whimpered.

"Don't worry, we'll kill them all!" Castle's Slayer said. Judging by the way the girl was cringing, Vi's reassuring smile hadn't been quite as reassuring as she had it intended to be. It had to be all the blood covering her - most of it not hers. At least the girl wasn't screaming.

"Where are they coming from?" Castle asked. He could neither hear nor spot any enemy.

Vi pointed behind them.

"Good." He had been worried that the demons had cut them off. "We're almost clear."

Right then, VI suddenly jumped back, and a second later, the tunnel in front of them caved in, sending a cloud of dust towards them. Castle barely managed to turn away, and avoid inhaling a lungful of the stuff. "Murphy really has it in for me tonight," he muttered.

"What?" Vi, already on her feet again, turned towards him. "Did you provoke Murphy?"

"I didn't say it out loud, that doesn't count!" Castle protested. The girl was screaming again, despite Beckett's attempts to calm her down.

"Those cultists are entirely too prepared for my taste," Castle said, aiming his flamethrower down the tunnel. Three charges left. Then he'd be down to his sword. "I'm beginning to think that Buffy is on to something with her complaints about unfair demons."

"Imagine that: Evil Demons not playing fair. Who'd have expected that." Beckett stood up and stepped to his side. She really was adapting quite well to the snark.

"I'll fry the first waves. After that, we'll let Vi have fun, and mop up the leftovers." Castle tried to sound more confident than he felt. The tunnel was narrow, which favored them, but the demons knew the area better, and if they had managed to cave one part of the tunnel in, who knew what else they could do? He wasn't keen on finding that out the hard way, but it didn't seem as if he had a choice.

Vi nodded. No backtalk - she must have realised their predicament. He took a small step forward. Did he hear them coming now? Footsteps. No, those scraping noises - claws.

He fired as soon as he saw the first demon. Two charges left. It shrieked and went down, but more were coming. The burning vanguard provided a nice choke point, and Castle fired again when more of them were trying to slip past the dying creature in front. One charge left. He'd love to put down another wall of flames, but the tunnel was narrow, they'd risk suffocating.

The howling and shrieking was hurting his ears now, resounding from the tunnel walls, while half a dozen demons burned to death. But there were more waiting behind. "There must be a nest somewhere," he muttered, reading his last charge.

"No shit, Sherlock," Vi said, loud enough to be heard over the noise.

"She's the detective, I'm the consultant author."

"Which would make you Watson - he wrote the books," Vi retorted.

"He's a fictional character," Castle said. He saw movement up ahead. The fires were dying down. Soon they'd rush them again. Although, he thought suddenly, if they survived this, then that scene would so go into the book. Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, just with a happy ending.

That was when the first stone flew past him, hitting the cave-in behind them with a loud crack. He ducked, and another sailed over his head. Vi deflected a third with the scabbard of her blade.

"I really hate it when demons get smart," Castle muttered. They'd have to charge them, or be stoned to death. He didn't relish either choice.

Buffy really was on to something here.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Damn demons," Richard Castle heard Vi mutter, "see how you like a taste of this!"

Then her arm whipped forward, and Castle heard a crack, followed by howl.

"Yes! Strike!"

Castle resolved right then and there to never let Vi play baseball with anyone he cared about on the other team. Although if the demon was howling, it was probably not hurt enough. "Did it stay down?"

"No!" Vi snapped, throwing another stone. No howling this time. "But now it did!"

They still couldn't stay in the tunnel, but they had gained some time to find a better solution than to charge a horde of demons. Though, Castle thought, as far as getting killed went, it had a certain flair.

He banished the morbid thoughts - sometimes, his talent as a writer really wasn't helpful, although he'd never admit that to anyone else - and focused on the task at hand: Surviving this trap. He had one charge left in his Ack Pack, and probably a bit less fuel than he'd like. There had to be something clever he could do with that. He heard another rock flew overhead, and was glad that he was crouching. Something that wouldn't lead to him getting stoned - and not in the good way - or suffocating.

Ah! He'd miss the Ack Pack, but he had a spare, and a line on another. Castle pulled the flamethrower off and quickly secured the nozzle to it with its straps. "Vi! Throw this!" It worked in the movies, after all. And the tank should be empty enough for some explosive fumes to have built up. And if not… fire would still work.

Vi grinned, took the flamethrower, and almost took Castle's head off when she whirled it around before launching it towards the hiding demons. His Slayer had drawn her Glock before the Ack pack was halfway on its way, and she fired right before it reached the demons.

The explosion filled the tunnel with fire and screams.

"Yes! Perfect airborne burst!" Vi cheered, already sprinting forward.

Castle, drawing his sword, was close on her heels. Or as close as he managed with a charging Slayer. Beckett would have to bring up the rear in her wounded state - they needed to break the enemy now!

In front of him, Vi jumped through the flames both illuminating and obscuring the tunnel, leading with her sword. A gurgling noise told him that she had found a mark already. A howling scream cut short indicated another dead demon.

Then Castle reached the fire, shielded his face with his arms and jumped. He felt the heat wash over him, and then he was through - only to slip on blood or fuel on landing, and fall down, hard - and right on his back, which already was hurt. He thought his sleeve had caught fire too, but he couldn't do anything about it right then since a demon with flaky, mottled skin roared, far too close, and Castle had to roll to the side to evade a claw swipe. His own swipe had longer reach thanks to his sword, and cut into the limb, but not deep enough to maim it. The creature still pulled back, snarling, and Castle stood up and lunged before it could recover, burying his blade into its protruding gut.

The demon's belly popped like a balloon, showering Castle with blood and other liquids. At least the demon collapsed, mouth moving without making any sound, so it probably was done for. And his sleeve was no longer on fire. He still cut off its head while checking on Vi and Beckett with a glance.

His Slayer was wreaking havoc on the demons, slicing and dicing with her blades - she had drawn her combat knife as well. At least the large amount of money he had spent on her collection was being put to good use, he thought. Even if modern blades would have been as good or better, at a tenth the cost. Still, he could afford the money.

A few demons seemed to be running, although Castle didn't know if they were breaking, or trying to rally or fetch reinforcements. A few shots rang out, and the furthest toppled over, holding its legs - Beckett had arrived. She looked a bit singed - she had probably not jumped through the fire - and madder than hell while she shot the other fleeing demons in the legs. Hotter than hell too, he thought, blinking at the sight.

Then a demon evading Vi stumbled towards him, and Rick lunged again - most demons didn't expect humans to charge them, not that it mattered with this one since it was still looking over its shoulder back at the Slayer when Rick's blade slid into its throat. That didn't kill it, unfortunately, at least not immediately. It held one hand to its throat and flailed with the other, to keep him at bay, but Castle ducked, and stabbed low. The monster shrieked even louder, then toppled over and died. Or did a pretty good imitation of it. Vi was finishing off the last demons Beckett had shot, so Castle crouched down and sawed through the monster's head.

"Fetch the girl," he told Beckett, "we need to leave."

While the detective went back to grab the rescued girl - Castle hoped they'd not have to send Vi to carry her - he moved a bit ahead with Vi, checking for more demons.

"We need an alternate route out… let me check my maps." A few clicks on his magically reinforced smartphone - 'Buffy-proof', Willow called it, 'much better than fire and water and shock-proof' - revealed that they would have to back up through the chamber they saved the girl in to get out of these tunnels. And the other two groups were still quite a distance away. Castle muttered a curse. "We can either go through the chamber we met those nice monsters, or we hole up somewhere and wait for the Scoobies to arrive."

"Let's kill more demons!" Vi said, as expected. His Slayer was covered in as much blood and gore as Castle himself, but hers was from many different monsters, not one bloated one, and she looked eager to ruin her clothes some more. No wonder her cleaning and clothes bill rivaled her mortgage.

"With our bare hands?" Beckett said.

"I'll loan you a blade of mine," Vi said. "As long as you don't break it."

Beckett glared at the girl, and while she'd never admit it, Castle thought, she didn't look like she was in any shape to wield a blade effectively - if she had even trained in its use. And, once the excitement of combat had passed, Castle had to admit that he wasn't in a good shape either. His back hurt so bad, he didn't think he could carry a flamethrower if he had one. He shook his head. "We'll hole up somewhere and wait for reinforcements." 'Holing up' sounded much braver than 'hiding'.

*****​

"It's like Aliens, just in a good way," Castle commented twenty minutes and thirty seconds - he had checked - later, in a former storage room.

"What?" Beckett stared at him. Even the girl, who had been close to catatonic, Lisa was her name, Castle recalled, looked up from where she had buried her head in her arms, leaning on the detective.

"That scene in Aliens. The Colonial Marines are in a small room, one is checking the scanner, to see where the aliens are." Castle held his smartphone up. "This is the same, just the dots are our friends, and we don't have dots showing the demons' positions." Which would be a very handy app for his cell phone, Castle thought. Even though Willow claimed it wasn't possible to turn her spells into apps.

"Didn't that scene end with the aliens dropping from the ceiling and massacring everyone?" Vi asked. The Slayer was leaning on the wall at the door.

"Not everyone," Castle protested, but judging by the whimpers from Lisa, and the glare from Beckett, not everyone found his musings as interesting as he himself did. Well, he was the bestselling author!

"Pf!" Vi snorted, then tapped her nose. "I can smell them far before they are in range, anyway."

"Like a female bloodhound," Beckett said.

"Exactly!" Vi blinked. "Wait… did you just call…"

"No, she didn't!" Castle cut in, even though he thought Beckett pretty much had done it - the detective was adapting to the ways of the snark quite quickly. And, Castle added, he was getting corrupted by the Scoobies' Cali-speak more than he had thought. 'The ways of the snark'? His editor would kill him for such a phrase!

Just as he was about to bemoan his cruel fate, his scanner, no, his smartphone, beeped. The Scoobies were near! He opened his mouth to announce the good news when Vi preempted him.

"The cavalry's arriving."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You just deduced that from my smartphone's signal!" And his smile, of course.

"No, I smelled them! I'm just that good!" Vi said.

"I'll tell them you said they smelled. So bad, you could detect them from a hundred yards away," Castle said.

"Buffy and Faith will know how I meant it!"

"But will they admit that?" Castle said.

"If it's supporting me, or you? What do you think, 'corrupter of Dawn'?"

"What?" What had his Slayer been telling the Scoobies?

They were still arguing when Buffy knocked on the door.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Wow, you smell like you've been showering with soap-au-demon!"

As greetings went, this was one of the ruder ones Richard Castle had experienced. However, since Buffy's arrival meant that he, his Slayer, his - or so he presumed - detective, and the girl they saved - Lisa - were safe, he didn't mind.

And he had to admit that he did smell - the demon's blood and gore and whatever fluid had had filled its belly stank to heaven. "I gather you speak from personal experience," he said, "but it was just a rather volatile demon."

Vi giggled, and Buffy pouted. "What? No! That's über-yucky! Gross!"

"Well, you mentioned it," Xander said.

"But only because he does smell that bad!"

"So, you do have personal experience to compare it to!" The young man was grinning.

Behind him, Willow sighed. "We do have a seal to save. The anti-demony type, not the cute and fluffy mammalian type."

"And designer boots to avenge!" Buffy added.

"That's not exactly a priority," Xander said.

"Xander! Please show some consideration for Giles!" Buffy shook her head,

"What?" Xander sounded as confused as Castle felt.

"You know how worked up he gets when he has to replace the shoes that died in the line of duty!" Buffy sighed.

Castle cleared his throat. "We can discuss poor Rupert's troubles later."

"Right. How badly is he hurt, Vi?" Buffy asked.

"My back's bruised, but I can still fight," Castle said, glaring at his Slayer before the redhead could say anything. He nodded at Beckett and Lisa. "Going back by ourselves is not safe anyway, and neither is staying here."

"Right." Buffy looked at him, then nodded. "But you stay in the back! No heroics!" She sighed. "Not that you'll listen, anyway. Giles never did! Old people must have a death wish!"

"To be honest, he tried to stay safe," Willow said.

"There is no try." Xander was grinning, or so Castle assumed - the man was covering the way they had come from with his own flamethrower.

"Shut up, Yoda!" Buffy said. "Let's go! We have demon butts to kick, and a ritual to stomp. Stop, I mean. You know what I mean!"

"What about Faith's group?" Vi asked.

"We'll meet them on the way, or at the seal. Time's running short."

And they were off.

*****​

Castle knew things were about to turn ugly when he felt the ground shake just a bit.

"Fooey!" In front of him, Willow cursed, or tried to.

"Will?" Buffy had stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Someone just did a powerful spell. The Earth is shuddering in response."

"That means bad things are happening," Buffy said.

"Really bad things," Willow said.

Just what Castle wanted to hear.

"Hurry!" Buffy was already moving, far quicker now than before.

"Faith's group is still half a click away," Xander said, as if he was commenting on the weather - and while keeping pace with a speeding Slayer. That man was far too calm and far too fit for a Watcher, Castle thought. Of course, Castle himself was hurt, and had an excuse for falling behind them.

Castle looked behind him. Vi was still bringing up the rear. "Go!" he said, between gulping down air. "They'll need you!"

His Slayer was past him before he could say anything else. Not that he needed to - they knew each other too well.

He followed after them, but at a slower pace. Both because of his back, and because of Beckett, who was holding Lisa's hand and dragging the girl with them. Lisa had been silent so far, still under shock, Castle thought.

"It's not looking good, isn't it?" the detective said when she reached him.

"Well… do you know how in my books, it always looks like the heroes are about to lose, but then pull through and win? They are based on actual events." Castle smiled encouragingly.

"Half of them also end with the heroes dying."

"Err… yes. But this is not going to be one of those stories, trust me."

"If you're wrong I'll never read any of your books again."

"That's fair, I guess," Castle said. He chuckled, despite the pain that caused in his back. Definitely a bruised rib.

Up ahead, he heard screaming and howling, and things breaking. He forced himself to speed up a bit, so he'd be in front of Beckett and Lisa. After two winding turns, he stepped over the broken remains of a door. And stopped.

In front of him, the Scoobies were battling dozens of demons. The monsters were protecting a pedestal upon which the seal was mounted - together with half a dozen bound people, and a pink-skinned demon with tufts of hair growing from the weirdest places, wearing a robe that looked like a dress.

"I guess they decided that volunteers were no longer cutting it," Castle muttered.

That wasn't grounds for concern. The fact that Willow, standing right in front of them, seemed frozen, hands spread, and eyes locked with the pink demon, was.

"The seal's broken, Willow's holding it closed!" Vi yelled. His Slayer and Xander were protecting the witch while Buffy was trying to reach the pedestal. Three Polgara Demons were blocking her, though - and those creatures seemed far tougher than normal. Almost as if they were on a Hellmouth. That must be the effects of the broken seal, Castle thought. He cursed. Xander had used his flamethrower to great effect - half a dozen demon corpses were smoking on the ground - but then must have ran out of fuel. Vi was holding three demons at bay, but she was hard-pressed to keep them from passing her.

Shots rang out next to him. Beckett was firing her pistol - no, Castle's - at the pink demon. The detective had adapted well to demon hunting. Sadly, the shots were not having much of an effect. The monster had not even the courtesy to stagger a bit, and glare at them.

Castle hated being ignored.

"Faith and her group will be here soon," he said, moving up behind Xander, his sword ready. If Willow held out until then… but the Witch was trembling. Stopping a ritual right when it was succeeding and holding an ancient seal closed was taxing even the Red Witch.

He saw Buffy behead one of the Polgara Demons, but there were still dozens of demons between her and the seal. What could they do? Bullets didn't seem to work, Castle had no flamethrower, and grenades might break the seal entirely, even if he had some. He made a mental note to bring grenades with him, next time.

How could they… he saw something dangle from the ceiling in the back, and looked up. His eyes widened. Old power lines criss-crossed the ceiling. They wouldn't hold him, but… "Buffy! Jump to the ceiling!" he yelled.

The blonde Slayer looked up, then ducked right under a swing from the by now sole surviving Polgara Demon, then jumped straight up. She grabbed two lines with her hands - one of them ripped loose, but the other held. Castle saw her grin while the demons howled, and then she let go off the fixed line, and used the loose line to swing forward, landing right next on the pedestal.

The pink demon gestured, and was backing off, but not quickly enough - the Slayer caught its head with a round kick, and sent the creature flying into the back wall.

Beckett gasped next to him. A glance showed him that Willow's hair was changing color to white, and she was now floating. Buffy must have broken whatever stalemate the witch hed been in. Crackling lightning appeared around the witch, then surged forth towards the seal. Buffy dove off the pedestal, leading with her blade and landed right on top of the pink demon while behind her, the seal lit up, and blinding light filled the room.

Castle blinked, briefly blinded, and waved his blade in front of him, in case a demon tried to attack right now, until he could see clearly again. Buffy was holding up the head of the demon leader, and Vi had used the distraction to cut down two more demons. For a moment, everyone, Scoobies, Team Castle, and the demon horde, seemed frozen. The bound sacrifices couldn't move anyway.

Then Willow growled, and reached out with her hands, and white lightning struck the demons in front of her. They shrieked, twitched, and dropped, smoking. And the lightning jumped from them to the next demons. That seemed to finally break the resolve of the horde, and the demons turned to flee.

They didn't make it. The lightning filled the whole room, frying the demons where they stood, while Willow floated above them, her hair rising around her head. Castle suddenly understood why Willow was the scariest member of the Council, and not Buffy or Faith.

The witch rolled her head back, shuddered, and gently set down again while her hair started to return to her natural colour.

"Sheesh, Willow! Watch where you throw the force lighting!"

Xander, unsurprisingly, was either used to such displays, or masking his own reaction with a joke.

Willow glared at him. "I told you many times: It's an elemental spell, not Force Lightning. Force Lightning would be evil!"

"Did she get my hair? Is it all poofy and fried? Do I need to visit an emergency hairstylist?" Buffy was looking around wildly, presumably for a mirror.

They just couldn't stay serious for a second longer than absolutely necessary, Castle thought. Out loud, he said: "More importantly: Is the seal unbroken again?" He really needed to watch his language near the Scoobies, he thought - that was another phrase his editor would loathe.

"Yes. I have restored the bindings they had broken," Willow said.

"The city's safe then?" Beckett asked.

"Yes."

As safe as New York could be, with the Scoobies visiting, Castle thought.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Richard Castle felt like sitting down. The Scoobies seemed to have the matters in hand. Or in the grip of magic, to be precise - right now, Willow was levitating the seal on some hand pallet truck Buffy had procured. Castle assumed it was the same one the demons had used to transport the seal. Not that he cared much, with his back aching.

"Why haven't they freed the hostages yet?" Beckett asked.

Rick glanced at her. The detective was sitting on the floor, with Lisa in her arms. He started to shrug, then thought better of it when even the slight movement caused him pain. "I think they want to check them first. Some of them might not be exactly innocent, even if the demons tied them up." They were curiously, suspiciously silent, too - not demanding to be released. That could be shock, of course.

"Like in 'Darkness Falls'? When the victim attacked the Loremaster after being freed? But that girl was under a magical compulsion."

She really knew his books by heart, Castle noted, not for the first time. "Exactly. But I was more concerned about the fact that the demons had deals with the mob. Maybe after Marconi's arrest, they decided to use force rather than deals."

"I see." Beckett looked at him with an unreadable expression, then stared at the still bound victims. "And if they are criminals? What are you doing with them?"

"It depends on what crimes they have committed." Castle wasn't about to expand on that; she knew what he meant.

She knew it and she hated it. He was well aware of that. But some things couldn't be let unpunished, and couldn't be taken to judges.

Vi and Buffy suddenly stopped manhandling the pallet truck and turned to the side door, blades in hand. Castle tensed and was about to move in front of Beckett and Lisa, then he saw the two Slayers relax.

"You're late!" Buffy yelled. "Did you get lost? Or did Dawn find some runes and want to translate them?"

The door was opened a tad forcefully, and Faith entered, followed by Spike and Dawn. The Slayer's sister was scowling. "No, we were simply the farthest group from here."

"And the slowest!" Buffy said. "Maybe you need to exercise some more, so you're fitter."

"Maybe you need to meditate some more, so you're not so impatient."

"Girls!" Xander shook his head. "Play nice!" The man seemed utterly unimpressed by the two glares leveled at him. Castle was impressed.

"What's with the humans?" Spike asked, pointing his thumb at the bound former sacrifices while the two girls went through the 'she started it'/'did not!' routine.

"We're not quite certain if they're victims or accomplices," Willow explained.

"Did you tie them up?" The Vampire eyed the captives. "A bit sloppy."

"I didn't! The demons did it!" the witch said.

"Good excuse!" Spike said, grinning.

"Oh, you!" Willow pouted.

"Guys! Can we get a move on?" Faith apparently had her priorities straight. "I'm feeling the H&Hs, and I can't really take care of them down here." Or not.

"H&Hs?" Beckett asked in a low voice.

Not low enough, since Faith turned and grinned at her. "Slayers are hungry and horny after fighting."

"Some Slayers, not all of us," Buffy said, frowning.

"Sure, sure," Faith said, her grin widening. "And demons are totally not dangerous."

Castle closed his eyes for a moment, then cleared his throat. "I don't want to interrupt this fascinating discussion, which will make for a very nice scene in my next book, but both the detective and myself are hurt, and we still need to deal with the captured people there, Lisa, and the seal."

"You wouldn't really use this for a scene in your book, would you?" Buffy was making puppy-eyes at him.

Castle gave her his best grizzled veteran stare. "Try me."

Unfortunately, Buffy had more battles under her belt than he had, and was unimpressed. But at least she got the rest moving. Castle might yet see his bed before the sun was up again.

*****​

"A truth spell? You never mentioned that in your book." Beckett sounded either jealous or annoyed. Or both. Castle couldn't be certain - it wasn't as if she could use that in her day job, after all. Not legally, at least.

"I don't give away all of our tricks. And it's more a 'detect lies' spell than a truth spell," he explained. "And not many can cast it. Outside D&D games, at least." That earned him a snort. And a glare from Buffy.

"Be quiet, Willow has to focus!" the blonde Slayer hissed. Quite a bit a louder than either Rick's or Kate's comments, to be honest. Not that he'd tell her that. Or ask why a witch with Willow's power would have to focus that much for a single spell. He just wanted it over with.

Finally, Willow, and Dawn, who acted as a translator, stood up and came over to the group. "They didn't know exactly what the demons were planning, but they were not opposed to getting some supernatural boost. The demons turned on them two days ago, or so they say."

"After Marconi was arrested," Castle said, nodding. As he had expected.

"Probably." Dawn shrugged. "Lethe's?"

"Lethe's." Willow and Buffy nodded.

"Lethe's?" Beckett asked.

"Lethe's Bramble. A magical flower used for mind control and memory modification spells," Dawn explained. "They'll not remember anything." She looked at Lisa, who hadn't let go of Beckett's hand yet. "You can forget all of this too, if you want."

The girl gaped at her, then shook her head.

"Are you sure? You'll have nightmares about this. I know, I've been there myself."

"Dawn's got a lot of experience being kidnapped," Buffy said. "We didn't let her go out of the house by herself until she had turned twenty." The blonde nodded sagely. "And I still think we should have waited a bit longer."

"Buffy!"

"What? I care about my little sister." Buffy grinned.

Dawn glared at her, then turned back to Lisa. "We'll get you a good psychologist then. Someone who knows about demons and won't think you're crazy."

"Yep. Trust me, loonie bins are no fun." Buffy stood up. "All done, Wills?"

"Yes. They'll wake up in an hour, and won't know what happened." The witch sounded more tired than after the battle. Maybe those spells took more effort than Castle had thought.

"Good. We can drop some drugs around them, and make them think those are responsible," Faith added.

"That won't fool a cop," Beckett said.

"It will," the Slayer said. "Cops don't like to think about things outside their narrow world view. If they hear about missing memories, and see drugs near them, they'll blame the drugs. If they even get involved."

Beckett looked like she wanted to argue, then clenched her teeth and frowned.

"Hey, Faith, help us put the sleepyheads on the pallet here!" Buffy yelled from where she was trying to stack the unconscious people next to the seal.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" Faith yelled back, then suddenly grinned at Castle and Beckett. "Want to get on it as well? You'd not have to walk then."

Rick would rather walk than get too close to the seal. He shook his head. "No, thanks. We're not that badly wounded."

"But worse than last night. I'll need more of that magical ointment, and even so, Will might notice," the detective said.

"Oh." Castle pondered this. "We'll need an excuse."

"We could arrange a car accident," Vi said. "Your car's cheap and expendable," she added with a smile at Beckett.

"No," the detective hissed in response.

"Claiming we both fell down the stairs is a bit clichéd. More than a bit, actually. Isn't it code for spousal abuse?" Castle said.

"We're not claiming that we both fell down stairs," Beckett said.

"Well… we could have slipped in the bathtub. Together!" Castle said, grinning.

"We're not claiming that either. I don't want my co-workers to think I'm stupid enough to risk my neck during sex." Beckett was glaring now.

Rick didn't think mentioning that they already thought that after her last excuse would be a good idea. "I think the stairs are the best option then," he said instead. "We can claim a drunk idiot stumbled into us and pushed us down." He smiled at her. "Perfectly reasonable and harmless. Could have happened to anybody."

Beckett stared at him, then pressed her lips together and slowly nodded. "I don't like it…"

"... but you don't have a better idea, right?" Castle grinned widely. "Trust us, simple deceptions are the best way to handle this."

"That won't fool Will forever," Beckett shook her head.

"What won't fool me? Or rather, what is fooling me right now?" Willow asked.

"Wrong Will, Willow. We're talking about the annoying federal agent you've all met."

"Oh, him!" Willow pouted. "That guy." She obviously didn't like being mistaken for Stalkerson. Castle understood that - he'd rather not be mistaken for the Fed either.

He grinned. "Yes. Although I think we need another name for him, so we won't confuse you again. How about 'Agent Annoying'? 'That foolish Fed'?"

Beckett was glaring at him again, though then she smiled, if a bit ruefully, and shook her head. "You're quite like the rest of them, you know." She nodded at the Scoobies arguing about how to best stack unconscious people on top of each other.

"Please! I'm far older and far more mature!" Rick protested.

Beckett didn't have to laugh at that quite as loudly, he thought, but then, they all needed a laugh.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Until I started fighting demons, I didn't really notice that your books do not mention just how much you hurt after such a fight."

Rick Castle narrowed his eyes as he looked at the detective, who was walking in front of him with Lisa, as they slowly made their way back to the surface. Which was a phrase that sounded far too much like a line out of a D&D novel to use in his own work, he noted. "In my defense, dwelling overly long on convalescence scenes, apart from the usual bedside visit after the victory, was discouraged by my editor." And by everyone else - even Rupert.

"So this was not by design, to avoid scaring prospective demon hunters off?"

He couldn't see her face, but her tone was light, joking. She really was fitting in with the Scoobies, he thought, and snorted. "No! We don't exactly want amateurs hunting demons, and we want amateurs hunting demons thinking that it's easy and safe even less." Which, seeing as how the Scoobies all started as amateurs, including Buffy, was kind of hypocritical. But they also knew just how dangerous it was, of course, and didn't want anyone else to experience what they had gone through. Although apparently Alexis didn't count as an amateur.

"You didn't exactly try to deter me."

"I rarely attempt anything I know is impossible," Rick said. Behind him, Vi started to cough loudly. "Apart from trying to teach my Slayer basic manners, of course."

"Hey!" Vi protested, while Beckett chuckled.

"See? Eavesdropping is impolite." He slowly shook his head, sighing loudly. "I try, and try, but it's hopeless…"

"Hey!"

A sudden crash from up ahead, and loud curses interrupted further banter. Apparently, navigating a pallet truck through the sewers was not quite as simple as it looked, even for Slayers.

"Willow!"

"I told you Buffy: I'm not going to float the seal all the way."

"But I just ruined my boots in this muck!"

"Then you have nothing more to lose. Stop bothering Willow for petty reasons!"

"Dawn! Says the girl who wanted her to enchant her leather jacket so it'd have air conditioning!"

"I was seventeen at the time and that's not a petty reason! It's needed for any trek through a desert!"

"You were studying in London."

"I could have been called off for an emergency translation in egypt any day!"

"There's e-mail and scans for that these days!"

"B! Stop feuding with your little sister and grab the other side!"

"Oy! What about me, Slayer? I'm the one getting pushed in the muck here!"

Castle was distracted from following the most recent episode of 'Days of our Slaying Lives' by Beckett's comment: "You know, it's actually comforting to listen to them bickering. If they are acting like teenagers, it means we're safe."

"Well…" he started to say.

"It's not exactly a perfect indicator," Xander, who had dropped back from the mess at the head of their little column, smart of him, Castle thought, cut in. "They also bicker when things are really bad." He shrugged. "But I don't think the demons left will try anything. Not when we've received reinforcements, and they've lost most of their force."

"And," Rick said, "we have three Slayers and one Willow here. If they are bickering, then they are ready to deal with a lot of demons."

"I'm not bickering!" Vi protested.

Xander coughed, then smiled at Beckett. "Anyway. I would like to officially welcome you to the stock human vampire hunter association."

"What?" Beckett jerked.

"Hey! No poaching! I've already recruited her for the New York Watchers!" Castle glared at the younger man. Even if he was joking, there were some lines you didn't cross.

Xander laughed. "More seriously, how are you holding up? You were hurt before we met up."

"We're not about to collapse on you," Beckett said.

Castle nodded. He wasn't quite certain if the detective simply didn't want to get carted around - after the third time the pallet truck had a little accident, he thought it would be safer and less painful to crawl if needed rather than sit down on that - but he wasn't about to contradict her. "Yes. We'll be feeling this in the morning, but we're fine."

"Fine or F.I.N.E.?" Xander asked, then, chuckling, made his way back to the now-moving pallet truck before Beckett caught the joke.

Which reminded Castle that he still needed to get his gun back.

*****​

"Ah… sweet smog of New York! How have we missed you!" Castle exclaimed when they finally left the tunnels. He'd probably have to burn his clothes, and not just because of the dried demon blood and whatever else it was. "Vi! Get the plastic sheets and the deodorisers from the trunk."

"You know, Castle, if your car ever gets searched, and a cop finds the weapons, and the plastic sheets, you'll have to answer a few rather pointed questions," Beckett said.

"I'll point them at my hunting license, and the pictures taken from my trip to the Everglades." Rick grinned.

"Did you think of that before or after you were searched for the first time?" Beckett raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, look, they got a van ready for the seal." Castle pointed at where the Scoobies were manhandling - slayerhandling, to be precise - the seal into the car. "Although a white nondescript van is certainly not the most inconspicuous means to transport something. All the villains use them. Or black vans."

"Not everyone thinks that life conforms to books, Castle."

"Detective!" He put his hand over his heart. "Books - and, unfortunately for my author's soul, movies and TV series even more so - do influence people. I bet that many people would think a white van is more suspicious than say… a purple party car."

"Did you test that? It sounds oddly specific." Beckett coked her head to the side. Lisa was still holding her hand, and hadn't spoken a word in an hour.

"No." It hadn't been a real test, after all.

"Involuntarily." Vi was there, grinning.

"Frumpy. Dumpy. Convent," Castle said, glaring at her. They had agreed to never speak of that again!

"I'm silent like a grave!" Vi said.

"Which, given our experience, isn't always that silent."

"A graveyard is actually far more quiet than any flat in New York," Spike cut in. "Even in Sunnydale, where there were more undead in graveyards than corpses, I never had to deal with loud neighbours as much as in London."

"That's because you killed your neighbours in Sunnydale," Xander said.

"It was more like pest control. Damn fledglings thought they were Dracula, until I showed them otherwise." Spike grinned and pulled out a blood bag from his pocket, then cursed when he noticed that it had been punctured during whatever fight his group had been in.

"So, what happens with the seal now?" Beckett said.

"It'll be transported to a safe place," Castle said. "Archived with proper documentation, so our descendants will know what it is, and how to deal with any trouble." There wouldn't be any forgotten relics in the Council's archives on Rupert's watch. With a grin, he added: "Imagine the final scenes from Indiana Jones!"

"I'd rather not imagine that there are that many dangerous magical artifacts around, thank you," Beckett said dryly.

Castle nodded. "Understandable."

"That was your cue to tell me that there aren't that many dangerous magical artifacts, Castle."

"Ah… I would love to, detective, but I think you also didn't want me to lie to you, so…" Castle said.

Beckett used a few Russian curses Castle wasn't familiar with yet. He hoped he'd be able to sneak them past his editor in the next novel.

*****​

Two hours later, everyone was back in Castle's apartment, showered and with their wounds treated. Castle had turned out to be 'just bruised'. Given how quickly his family and friends had turned from 'you're hurt! Let us help you' to 'you'll be fine then', he wasn't quite certain if he should be glad nothing was broken.

He was glad that Beckett wasn't seriously hurt, of course. The woman was sitting in the most comfortable armchair he had, watching as the Slayers went through the mountain of pizza and other take-out food Alexis, bless her diligent, responsible mind, had ordered as soon as she had heard they had been victorious.

"You said you could wipe the memories of the other victims."

Castle tensed. He knew what she was about to say. "You want to use it on Marconi?"

She looked at him. "You wouldn't have to kill him."

He shook his head. "Even if we could remove everything we needed from his memory - that would need a thorough interrogation, which I doubt we could do while he's under guard - that kind of memory loss would be investigated, since his lawyers would insist. And I'd rather not let everyone know that their memories can be removed - or even altered."

"You'd have a man killed for that?"

"No. But I'd have a man killed for working with demons against humanity." Marconi deserved death. He took a deep breath - which hurt his ribs - and added: "Besides, things have been dealt with already."

"What?" She stared at him.

Castle wasn't about to go into details. She was a cop, after all.

Beckett must have realised that, since she scoffed, and looked away.

"You saved a lot of lives today," Rick said after a moment.

"I'm a cop; it's what I do. What I chose to do."

That sounded more than a bit bitter, but Castle didn't think it would do much good to revisit the topic of how to deal with humans working with demons. Instead he offered her a drink.

Sooner or later, Beckett would come around. You only could discover so many dead people, dead children, until you stopped feeling sorry for the scum who helped demons.

Those were rather gloomy thoughts for a victory party, as Buffy had called it, though. So Castle grinned. "We still need to make certain that our stories match, you know."

"Stories?"

He pointed at his back. "The cover for our bruises, remember?"

"Ah. Good idea." She nodded.

"So, what do we tell Agent Snooperson about our sex life? I've got a few ideas already!" He leaned forward, smiling widely, while she gaped at him.

"What?"

"I'm just planning ahead!"

"I bet you are!"

She didn't glare at him. Much. He was making progress!

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

The demon roared, baring fangs the size of her thumb. Claws extended from its hands and blood-red eyes glared at her. She shot it, right between the eyes, but the monster wasn't hurt. She pulled the trigger again and again, the bullets bouncing off the creature's thick skin as it slowly closed in on her, it's mouth opening wider and wider, a forked tongue slithering between the pointed teeth. She ducked under the first swing, but a clawed foot caught her in the stomach, throwing her back against the wall, her breath knocked out of her. Dazed, she could only watch as the demon raised its claws again, unable to dodge the next swipe...

Detective Kate Beckett woke up with a scream, covered with sweat and panting. She was groping for her gun on a nightstand that wasn't where it should be before she realised that it had just been a nightmare, not real. When she noticed that she was in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed, she gasped again, then remembered she was in Castle's bed. The bed in Castle's guest room, she quickly corrected herself - all the innuendo from the Scoobies was corrupting her. She wondered briefly if she'd have had nightmares if she hadn't slept alone, then buried that thought. It would take more than a warm body and arms wrapped around her to ward off nightmares after what she had seen last night. No matter how tempting it would be to try it. She could blame her nightmares… she shook her head.

Beckett let her head fall back on her pillow, ignoring the pain the sudden movement caused her. It was all Castle's fault, of course. That cover story of them being lovers, the need to act like it in public… She sighed. She knew Castle would love for the act to be real. He was charming, brave, well-educated, kind, witty, passionate…

But he was also a very good actor, playing the role of an eccentric bestselling author while he hunted demons with superpowered girls and witches. What was an act, and what was his real self? She could trust him with her life - had trusted him with her life a few times now - but what about her heart?

And more importantly: Was he in love with her, or with the character he was creating in his books?

*****​

"Morning," Kate said, entering Castle's kitchen.

"Ah, there you are! We were about to draw lots to see who'd have to brave your ire and wake you!" The author greeted her with a smile and a cup of coffee.

She accepted the coffee and took a sip. Just how she liked it. Will had never managed to make that. He hadn't had an expensive Italian coffee maker, though. She took another sip, sighing.

"A new blend I just ordered. I take it you like it?" Castle asked, beaming at her.

"It's... good," she said.

"Only good?" He pouted. "I was assured by the vendor that it would be perfect! I've been swindled!"

She chuckled. "If I claim it's perfect, you might get complacent."

"Two marriages have me taught better than that," Castle said.

"Would your ex-wives confirm that claim?" She wasn't quite certain that she wanted to talk about his past marriages, but she was too curious to change the topic.

"They'd not even admit that I exist, if not for the fact that we still work together," Castle said. "If Congreve hadn't been dead for three hundred years before Mary and Gina were even born, I'd suspect they were the source for his famous quote."

"'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?" Kate asked.

He beamed at her. "Most think it's from Shakespeare!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you quizzing me?" Did he think she was some uneducated cop?

"No, no. Just making conversation. I blame my lack of finesse on my lack of coffee."

She looked at his half-empty mug, then at him.

He smiled. "Well… I need more coffee than that, after the night we had." He blinked. "That's a good line! That's so going into my next book!"

Kate stared while he grabbed a notebook and wrote it down, shaking her head. To think that she had seen the same man burning down demons just hours before...

She glanced at the food piled on the dinner table in the living room.

"Help yourself before the vacuum cleaners wake up!" Castle said.

Kate glanced at her watch. She usually ate breakfast on the way to work - a bear claw or a doughnut - but she was already late. And it would help her cover story. And let her talk to Castle without any supernaturally-powered eavesdroppers.

"Will you be tracking down the noose demon today?" she asked while filling a plate.

"That depends on whether or not we can get the blood sample. Willow should be up for it - it's not exactly a difficult spell for her."

"And how do you plan to get the sample?" Kate could get it, she thought. She had access to the evidence lockers, Lanie knew her too, and wouldn't think it odd if she visited - and if she timed it right, her friend would be on a break, or distracted by a call… Kate realised that she was turning into a criminal. Castle was corrupting her!

"I'll call Perlmutter."

Of course! Perlmutter was routinely faking reports to conceal the existence of demons. He wouldn't have any trouble - or scruples - to swap the blood sample. Heck, he probably did that anyway, to keep demon blood from showing up in a lab.

"You look disappointed," Castle said, frowning at her.

"Ah, I blame my lack of coffee," Kate said. "I was already planning a heist before I was reminded that you have the medical examiners on call."

"Detective!" Castle sounded both surprised and delighted.

Kate hid her own smile by taking another sip from her coffee.

*****​

"You're late. Really late, not just on time."

"And a good morning to you too, Will." Apparently, the man had reverted back to jealous ex-lover over night.

Kate's ex-boyfriend didn't seem to let her remark faze him. Had he been so self-absorbed when they had been a couple, or was that the result of becoming a federal agent? "You never used to be late to work."

She couldn't resist. "I never used to have such a talented lover." Kate smiled widely, sighed a little, and rubbed her shoulder, which still ached from the fight last night. "We didn't get to sleep until very late last night."

"Ohh! Details, Beckett, details!"

And she had missed Esposito approaching them, again. Turning to her colleague, she shook her head. "In your dreams, Esposito. I'm not about to kiss and tell."

"You just did," Will muttered.

He really was living up to Castle's latest moniker for him, 'Agent Annoyance', Kate thought. She scoffed at him. "That was just a reminder that my private life is none of your business, since you seem to have forgotten that we're not a couple anymore."

"Kate! That man is hiding something!" Will hissed. "I got a call this morning, from Quantico. I was told to stop investigating him! Kate! He's not a mere author!"

"What?" Esposito blinked.

Kate managed to curse. Will should have known better than blurt this out. Her friend was losing it, it seemed. Or, she suddenly thought, he had wanted her colleagues to know this. "Just because other federal agents are willing to tell you to stop abusing your power to investigate my boyfriend instead of working on your case doesn't mean that there's something more going on than Castle having friends with some influence. And we already knew that the Mayor is a fan of him."

"The FBI doesn't answer to New York's mayor," Will said.

He was digging in, she realised. He wouldn't let this go. "He's not the only fan of Castle. And as a famous author and father of a teenager, my boyfriend is quite concerned about his private life staying private - a concern many other people share."

"And how many authors have a 'bodyguard' like that girl?"

"She's got a name," Esposito said. "Vi."

Will ignored the detective. "And how many authors and their bodyguards come out of a shootout with a dozen mafiosi without a scratch? They were not even fazed, Kate!"

"Castle has the money to spend on the best," Kate said. She briefly pondered mentioning that the parents of his ex-wife had been killed by terrorists, but that would just make her boyfri… Castle appear even more suspicious.

"You know what he is hiding!" Will accused her.

"Yes - his private life. Which I am a part of. And you are not." Kate said. She smiled at him, showing her teeth. "Stop acting like a stalking ex, Will!"

"Marconi is dead."

"What?" She looked at him, glad she didn't have to fake her surprise. When had Xander…?

"Heart attack, according to the preliminary report from the medical examiner," Will said.

"You don't sound like you believe it."

"He tries to kill Caste, and then conveniently dies before we can interrogate him." Will was looking at her as if she had pulled the trigger.

"Wasn't he under guard?"

"Yes." Will pressed out.

"Two uniforms?"

"Yes."

"So, are you trying to tell me that Castle somehow snuck into the hospital, past the two cops standing at the bed of the man, and killed Marconi with a fake heart attack?" Kate scoffed.

"Not him. Her."

"Vi?" Kate shook her head. "Now she's not just a bodyguard, but an assassin? And an assassin good enough to kill a man under guard? Without leaving any traces the investigation will uncover?"

Will glared at her. He had to know just how ridiculous this sounded, Kate knew that. But he was right- it had been murder. Or an execution, as Castle called it. It didn't matter. Will would not let this rest. In his place, she'd not let it rest either.

The special agent shook his head and walked away.

Kate sighed. Then she saw Esposito's expression. "What?" she snapped.

"Vi could do it, couldn't she?"

"No." Beckett shook her head. "She could get to Marconi, and kill him. But without getting noticed, and without leaving traces? No."

Esposito nodded, but she could tell that he wasn't convinced either.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Hold the door!"

Kate Beckett, heading out to lunch, saw Esposito hurry towards the elevator. For a moment, she considered pushing the button to close the doors. She didn't want to deal with her fellow detective right now. But that would just make things worse. So she waited, though frowning, until the man stepped into the elevator.

The doors had barely closed when he started: "So, your boyfriend has friends in very high places."

"He's rich, and famous," Kate said.

He ignored her annoyed tone. "In very different places. The Feds, the Mayor, the British government…"

"He lived in England for ten years. His first wife is from the British Upper Class. Which still means something over there."

She could tell that he wasn't buying it. "Enough to get the ex-husband diplomatic immunity ten years after the divorce?"

"What's your point?" She didn't quite glare at him, but she saw him flinch and lose his smile, before he straightened up.

"Look, Castle and Vi have a secret, and you know it. It's nothing illegal, or you'd have arrested him yourself. And the Feds wouldn't protect him against their own if it was illegal. Too risky with people like your ex." He took a deep breath. "I just… I want to know. I want in."

"In?" Kate drew the word out a bit.

"Sorenson might be your ex, but I've been working with you for years. You're not just sleeping with Castle, you're working with him on… whatever he and Vi do. Marconi was no accident." He sighed. "I don't want to be the outsider."

Kate could understand that, but… he wasn't there with Ryan, his partner. She sighed. "You think this will give you a better chance with Vi."

His expression was answer enough.

"It's not my secret to tell."

"But you'll ask?"

She closed her eyes and nodded. She'd dump this on Castle. After all, he had decided to get involved with a cop, he should have known this would happen.

Further conversation was stopped by the elevator doors opening. She shook her head. She wasn't even sleeping with the man, and he still managed to complicate her entire life pretty much daily.

*****​

That afternoon, Agent Clapton, Will's partner, called Kate, Ryan and Esposito to him. "We've received a report of a missing persons case that might be related to the serial killer. Four people went missing yesterday, all of Russian descent, two of them acquaintances of the murdered family. They were found today, near a hospital. All claim to not remember anything."

"A likely story," Esposito said.

"I don't know any drug that would cause that," Kate added. It wasn't even a lie - magic potions didn't count as drugs.

"According to the investigating officers, their stories remained consistent," Clapton said.

Ryan frowned. "That's not really hard if you claim to not remember anything."

"Yes." The federal agent nodded.

"Is that the only link to our case?" Kate asked.

"No. The hospital found rope marks on two of them. They were tied up, and struggled. They might be covering something up, but we don't know what. Did they see the killer? Did they make a deal to be spared?"

"Let me guess: That's our job to find out?" Esposito asked.

Clapton nodded. "Here are the room numbers of the four."

Kate took the slip of paper. She really hoped that Willow's potion worked well - those four had seen her last night, and were unlikely to forget her face, given what they had gone through.

Another worry for her.

*****​

As his text had told her an hour ago, Castle was waiting for her when she left the precinct, leaning against his Shelby in a pose straight out of a car magazine. His face lit up in a smile that made him look ten years younger when he spotted her. "Kate!"

"Castle." She wasn't angry, but she had spent an afternoon either worrying that the four former kidnapping victims would recognise her - fortunately they didn't - and trying to avoid Esposito and Will, and later Ryan. "Did you study that pose?"

He pouted. "It's supposed to look casual and spontaneous."

"Well, Castle, it looks like you're trying too hard. It makes you look like a poser."

His pout grew more pronounced, and she had to chuckle. Then he had that glint in his eyes, and opened his arms to hug her. And in front of the precinct, she couldn't really refuse him, could she? And she better made it look good; her cover story was already wearing thin.

Being in his arms felt nice. He smelt nice as well. She wondered if he'd try to kiss her - for their cover. And how she'd react.

"Agent Solong is watching."

She tensed, then nodded. "Let's go then." She'd not kiss Castle just to make a point with her ex.

Once the Shelby was pulling away from the precinct, she sighed. "We've got a problem."

"We do?" Castle sounded less surprised than she had thought. Then again, he probably was used to having problems.

"Will's superiors have told him to stop looking into your past. He hasn't taken it well."

"Ah. If Agent Jealouson doesn't follow orders, he'll probably get transferred to somewhere else. Does the FBI have a bureau in Alaska?"

She couldn't tell if he was serious or not, but rolling her eyes was an appropriate response either way. "I doubt that will stop him. He seems rather obsessed."

"With me or you? I mean in two completely different senses of the word, of course," Castle said. "Not that I don't understand him," he added, smiling at her. "You're pretty obsession-worthy."

She chuckled. "That line can be seen as rather creepy, Castle."

"Oh." He blinked. "But you know how I mean it - in the roguishly handsome way, not the creepy stalker way. I'll leave that to federal pretty boys."

"Will? A pretty boy?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well…" he drawled, "He's certainly rather young. And he's not ruggedly handsome. That's taken by me. Which means he's stuck with the pretty boy role."

"Castle, I know it must be a shock for you, but life's not a novel."

He sighed. "Sometimes, it comes far too close."

She was reminded once again that for all his often childish antics, Castle had lived through things that she would have thought were purely fictional a few months ago. He didn't show it that often. After a moment, she went on: "Esposito 'wants in', as he puts it. He knows you're hiding something, and he is quite sure that it's nothing illegal."

"He wants to hunt demons?" Castle sounded surprised. "He didn't strike me as the type to believe in such things."

"He doesn't. He has no idea what you are doing - just that it's secret, covered up by two governments, and that involves Vi."

"Ah!" Castle nodded. "Cherchez la femme! It all makes sense now!"

She didn't react to the banter. Esposito was a good detective. She had been where he was, a few months ago. Although unlike him, she hadn't been motivated by a crush. Well, only marginally, at most.

Castle grew serious quickly. "Well… do you trust him?" He kept glancing at her, she noticed.

Did she trust him? With her life when they were at work, yes. But with keeping Castle's secret? Esposito knew better than to make fun of her love for Castle's books, but she knew that he wasn't interested in Fantasy, or the supernatural. And he wasn't exactly that religious either. "I don't know how he'll handle demons."

"He's a former soldier," Castle said, focusing on traffic again. "They're usually quite good at handling such things. The old council used to recruit a lot of veterans."

"Used to?"

His wry smile lacked any humour. "That was before the Slayers multiplied. There was just one, later two Slayers. Normal humans had to pick up the slack." He snorted. "They recruited a lot of veterans, but there were never that many veterans on the payroll at any given moment."

"Oh."

"Yes." He sighed. "Things changed. We don't lose that many people anymore. But we still take losses. Slayers, Watchers…" he turned his head and looked at her for a moment.

She knew what he meant. "If I had trouble risking my life to protect the people, I would not have become a cop."

He nodded, then snorted. "Well, we'll have to ask Vi. It's her fault, so it's her responsibility."

"Do you blame her for him falling for her?"

"No. I mean, if I was younger, not in love with someone else, and not her Watcher, I would probably fall for Vi as well - she's a great girl. A girl who deserves better than risking her life each night to hunt demons."

Castle shouldn't be looking that wistful, Kate thought. Though he had said he was in love with her as well.

"But," Castle continued, with a snort, "she's the one constantly flirting with him. So, she has some responsibility."

"You're constantly flirting with me," Kate pointed out.

He nodded with a road smile. "Yes, I am. And I'm fully prepared to take any responsibility resulting from said flirting. Just give the word!"

Kate Beckett was at a loss for words. Was he serious? And if he was, what did he mean? She didn't know and she couldn't ask. So she chickened out, as Lanie would say. "In your dreams, Castle!"

"Oh, definitely." His grin grew even wider.

And she remembered her own dreams.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Violet 'Vi' O'Malley was handling the news with the maturity and understanding Rick Castle had come to expect from his Slayer when it came to such matters.

"Hah! Men are willing to risk their lives fighting demons for me!" The redhead was grinning widely while she piled a third helping on her plate. Rock was looking forward to again spending less than a Football team's worth of food per meal once the Scoobies returned to England.

"One man, and he doesn't know that demons exist, so he doesn't know that he's risking his life," Alexis said. Rick could always count on his responsible daughter to help him deal with Vi's ego.

Vi snorted. "He suspects that we are secret agents, so he is willing to risk his life for me!"

"You know that men in love act like idiots." Alexis shook her head, sighing.

"Hey!" Castle protested. "As a man myself, I have to point out that this is slander."

"I'd say it's based on empirical evidence," Dawn said, gesturing with her fork. "After observing Buffy's boyfriends. Then again, they were in love with my sister, so..."

"So what?" Buffy asked in a flat voice.

"... so they were far too close to me for an unbiased judgement?" Dawn finished, grinning.

The blonde Slayer glared at her, then scoffed. "Anyway, the real question is not if he's acting stupid, but if he can handle the truth."

"After all, some of the best demon hunters joined the fight in an attempt to impress a woman," Willow added, smiling at Castle and Xander.

"So, can he?" Buffy asked, looking straight at Beckett.

The detective sighed. "I don't know. Finding out that magic exists, that demons exist… that's bound to turn anyone's worldview on its head."

"Well, he was a soldier and was in a war. He already had to deal with the horrors of war, and if that didn't break him, he can probably handle it," Xander said.

"He was in Iraq, not Vietnam," Dawn said.

"Same experience," Xander said. "I was in the sandbox in 2004 with Riley, for the Temple of Doom."

"It was a ziggurat, not the Temple of Doom," Willow corrected him.

"Close enough," Xander said, between bites.

"Well, even if we don't think he can handle it, could we stop him from finding out?" Willow asked. "And what about Agent Sorenson?"

Rick wanted to correct her pronunciation of Agent Bothersome's name, but restrained himself. "I spoke with our contact at Quantico. He'll have the man reassigned if he doesn't comply with his orders."

"That won't really stop him. This is personal for Will," Beckett said. "And if Esposito is in, his partner will sooner or later find out as well."

"Looks like you're forming your own Scoobie Unit," Xander said, grinning at Castle.

"You could call it a 'Scrappie Unit'," Dawn added. "I charge less royalties than Xander."

"We already had a Scoobie Unit." Alexis folded her arms. "We're just expanding the roster."

"We haven't yet decided on anything," Rick pointed out. "And we're not taking Agent Snooperson." That would be a really bad idea. There wasn't enough room for both of them in one city. Even one as big as New York.

"We have to deal with him, though." Beckett shook her head. "He will not give up otherwise." With a glare at Rick, she added. "And by 'dealing', I don't mean wiping his memories or worse."

Rick laid his hand on his chest. "Perish the thought! I'd never even think of such a thing." Far too simple, after all. In his next book, he'd turn the man's expy into a dog, probably. A clumsy, slobbering dog annoying Nicky Heat until she sent him to the pound to get fixed…

"Dad! No spacing out!" Alexis's voice ended his brief fantasy.

"What about using the Secret Agent cover for the pig? The Federal pig, not the local one," Spike asked. Castle had ignored the vampire, despite the noise he had made sucking from his blood bag, but that actually was a good idea!

"Would that even work?" Faith asked.

"Well, the detective here thought we were the Avengers, and she's smarter than the Fed," Vi said. Her tone was not quite as complimentary, though, and the smile she sent at the detective was a bit too wide.

His Slayer was playing dominance games again. It had to be the proximity of Buffy and Faith, Castle thought. He quickly said: "It can be done. It's what people expect when they notice us. It won't be hard to fool such a rigid mind."

"And what about the other guy? The other guys?"

"Buffy means Esposito and Ryan," Dawn added, not so helpfully.

"Esposito wants in, so I guess claiming we're secret agents won't work," Rick said.

"It won't," Beckett said. "Since I'm obviously involved, he'll not accept that he can't be involved." The detective was glaring at Vi as if that was her fault.

"So we'll recruit him, or them. Can I do the speech?" Xander said, smiling.

"No you can't!" Buffy said. "The last time you did the speech, the guy wanted to shoot you."

"He wanted to shoot me before I even had started the speech!" the young man defended himself.

"See? You're obviously not suited for that." Buffy nodded.

"You're just too shootable, Xander," Faith said, chuckling. The Slayer had finished her own meal, and was flipping a throwing knife around in her hand.

Xander pouted, but the rest of the Scoobies nodded.

"It has to be done by a stuffy, old Watcher," Buffy said. "It's tradition."

"We don't have a stuffy old Watcher," Rick pointed out. Then he noticed that everyone was smiling or chuckling at him, even Beckett, and Alexis was rolling her eyes.

*****​

"I'm not old, nor stuffy."

He wasn't, Rick knew. He was the very opposite of old and stuffy. Well, of stuffy. Age was creeping up on him - but only on his body. And even there... "I still would be too young to become a Roman Consul!" That required a minimum age of forty-two.

He thought it was a compelling argument, but his Slayer, driving the Shelby again, chuckled. "Trying to use such an argument is proof that you're old!"

He turned his head to get Beckett, who was sitting on the back bench, to support him, but the woman was grinning at him. "She's correct, Castle."

"See? Beckett would know, being old as well!" Vi said.

The grin on the detective's face turned into a frown, and Castle turned away so she'd not see his smile. She must have heard him snort, though, despite his best efforts, so he changed the topic. It was a boring topic anyway. It wasn't that he was opposed to doing the speech - telling people that the world was older than they thought never got old - but to think he was considered the best stand-in for Rupert… it was probably a compliment. He cleared his throat. "Let's focus on catching our lynching demon!"

"That's what we have been doing," Vi said, "while you were dealing with your midlife crisis."

Castle told himself that for a Watcher, being old enough for others to mistakenly assume he was having a midlife crisis was a great feat. He sighed.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the location Willow's spell had picked out.

"Yes! First!" Vi pumped her fist. Then she started cursing when she spotted a familiar bike parked around the corner.

"Did you honestly expect to outrace Faith on a bike?" Castle asked, shaking his head.

"You turned this into a race?" Beckett asked from behind them in a clipped tone.

"We can't let the demon escape," Vi said. "We don't have enough blood to redo the spell multiple times."

Buffy's rental pulled in behind them. The blonde was scowling as she stepped out of the car, and Vi's mood brightened.

Castle sighed. Slayers! He turned to Beckett. "Let's guard the rear entrance."

"You're not storming the house?" Then detective noticed the three Slayers already charging ahead, Buffy kicking the door open while Faith went through the window - the window barred with wooden boards, of the first floor - and Vi was heading to the back. "Ah."

"Yes," Rick said, gripping a shotgun and loading it with beanbag rounds. The demon would have to be bound by burying the corpse in a casket with sealing runes inlaid with silver in the lid and a noose with silver threads in the hemp around the neck, and that would be a tad difficult if it lost its head. "It'd be more dangerous to try and get between them and their prey than to fight the noose demon itself. Vi's been chomping at the bit to kill it for weeks."

Xander, stepping towards them and carrying a shotgun himself, nodded. "Slayers really like 'the one that got away' stories."

"And they are sore losers!" Dawn chimed in. She was carrying a short-barreled shotgun. Nothing that would pass for a hunting shotgun, but it was easier to conceal. "Trust me, I grew up with Buffy. Never play a board game with her unless you are willing to let her win."

"I think that's more a quality of Summers girls," Xander cut in.

Rick thought that that was a good moment to go and cover the rear of the building. Before he could say so, though, a crash sounded, and a body flew out of the window - of the second floor - and landed on the street with an ugly crunching sound.

"And there's the demon-possessed corpse," Xander said. "Notice the lack of screaming and yelling despite the fact that it must have broken several bones."

Castle wasn't about to let the young man outdo him. He started to walk towards the twitching corpse. "And take note of its attempt to move with said limbs."

"Are you going to bag it or talk to it?" Dawn asked.

Castle exchanged a glance with Xander. No appreciation for humour! "We'll wait for the Slayers - the thing is stronger than a human." He didn't want to end up with broken bones himself.

Xander nodded. "Oh, yes. They've got the brute force for that."

The Slayers must have heard them since they insisted that the two of them dug up Brighton's grave later without lifting a finger - Rick was certain that it didn't take three Slayers to keep the possessed corpse bound with rope and extra-strength zip ties under control until the casket was ready.

But at least that was one demon bound and sealed off again. And Castle had proven that he wasn't old.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"I would have expected you to comment how this ending was rather anti-climatic by now."

Rick Castle looked up from his laptop, where he was typing up the report of the sealing of the noose demon. Beckett was smirking at him, holding one of his crossbows in one hand. It occurred to him right then that their roles seemed to have been swapped - she was poking around in his office while he was trying to finish his work.

But it was a good question, and no one could say he could not take it as well as giving it. He grinned at her. "Oh, I never complain when it means less work for me."

"I would have thought that it would make writing your next book harder." The detective sighted the crossbow at the hellhound head mounted on his wall, then put it back on the wall.

"Oh, it doesn't really make it harder. I never stay that close to the real events, or give too many actual details, lest our enemies gain information we don't want them to have," Castle said.

She frowned. "That means at least some demons know that you're writing stories based on real events."

"Oh, yes. Not all of them, but such things spread. I am a famous author, after all, and you'd be surprised how many demons like to read Fantasy stories." He smirked. "Although I think the fact that the demons tend to lose in most series offends them."

"Didn't anyone try to attack you? Or at least try to find out why you know so much about demons and Slayers?" Beckett had stopped fiddling with his various weapons, and was looking straight at him.

He shrugged. "I'm not exactly hiding. Vi and I did put the fear of the Slayer into the local demons, after all, and we weren't wearing disguises. That would have been tacky." Although a scarf, and a domino mask, and a hat… he shook his head. Vi would have never let him forget it. And the Scoobies… Well, Xander would have probably thought it was cool.

"You haven't actually answered my question." She was staring at him now. Not quite glaring, but clearly disapproving.

Rick sighed. There were disadvantages to dating, or courting, smart women. The advantages far outweighed them, of course. "Yes, I've been attacked, although not that often - the Council takes a dim view of demons attacking us, and we make quite impressive efforts to demonstrate that on anyone doing it. Vi's a good bodyguard, though." He chuckled. "It's even sort of nice not to have to chase them down all the time." When he saw her glare at him, he grimaced and spread his hands. "Sorry, that kind of humour tends to grow on you."

"I was afraid of that," she said, sitting down on the edge of his desk. Just like he used to do on hers. He wondered if that was deliberate or unconscious. And, he added to himself, it meant she was not about to stop hunting demons with him. "But what about your mother and daughter?"

And she had just called out the elephant in the room. He sighed deeply and leaned back in his seat. "We do what we can to keep them safe. Teach them how to spot demons, how to take precautions, to be security-conscious - we'd have to do that anyway, given my wealth and fame, we're just adding supernatural threats to the mix."

"And are Martha and Alexis heeding the advice?"

He almost glared at her, but it wasn't her fault that his family was being so unreasonable.

Beckett snorted. "They won't let you lock them up somewhere safe, hm?"

He shook his head. "Mother uses her career as an excuse, and Alexis has been wanting to become a Watcher since she was first told about demons." And damn Mary for that! Five -year-olds were not supposed to be told that yes, there might be monsters under the bed!

"They're your family." She seemed oddly pleased.

"Alexis is supposed to be the responsible one in the family." Wanting to become a Watcher wasn't responsible. Why couldn't she have gotten a tattoo instead, for her teenage rebellion? But it was a done deal. He had accepted that. That didn't mean he had to like it, of course.

"She is." The woman chuckled.

Rick pouted at her. But he had walked straight into that one. "You haven't been wearing a mask yourself."

"I'm also not a famous bestselling author."

She didn't have to say this as if that was a bad thing, Castle thought. "But you'll be famous too."

"What?" She snorted. "And how, please would I end up famous?"

Castle didn't mention that if they started dating officially her pictures would be plastered over the yellow press society pages and several blogs. He didn't want to appear as if he was presuming something, Even if he was, and with good reason. "You're the muse and role model for my next book. Have you forgotten our dear friendly reporter, Miss Varshney?"

"Didn't she tell you to call her 'Jane'?" Apparently, Beckett hadn't forgotten nor forgiven the reporter.

"I don't always do what I'm told." Rick shrugged. He knew better than to appear too friendly with the reporter, given Beckett's obvious dislike of her. "But her article's just the start. Have you looked into the comments on my forum?"

"Do you honestly think I read your forums? She chuckled, but to Castle, it sounded a bit forced.

He narrowed his eyes, then grinned. "Why, yes, I do think so. I believe that if I had Willow investigate my oldest and most active fans, I'd discover a username belonging to you, Miss 'Beckett, with two 't's at the end'."

She was actually blushing! He smiled widely. "So… you know what my fans are writing."

"Yes. And you need better moderators, Castle. Some of those posts are crossing lines that shouldn't be crossed."

He blinked. "That bad? A few were jealous of you, as I recall, but that settled down last I knew." It wasn't as if he checked the forum every day. At most, every second day.

"I'm talking about the speculation and stories that claim we're a couple, Castle," Beckett said. She was glaring at him as if that was his fault.

"Well… that's a very easy assumption to make," Rick said, smiling at her.

"Are you insinuating that you're so attractive, any woman spending time with you would fall for you?" She had her arms crossed now, frowning, but it looked a bit too defensive to him.

He stood up and started to walk around his desk. He saw her tense up, but she remained sitting on his desk. Standing up would have been giving ground, and Beckett was too stubborn for that. "No, I'm not." He was ruggedly handsome, witty and charming, and rich too boot, but that didn't mean all women would fall for him, given the chance. Just a lot. "But," he said, "I think you're far closer to 'falling for me' than you want to admit, Detective." He was standing in front of her, so close, he'd just have to move his leg a little bit to touch hers.

"And on what facts do you base that entirely mistaken assumption, Castle?" She was meeting his eyes, raising her chin.

"You're here, aren't you?" He smiled. "You could be home already, sleeping. Or watching TV. Or reading. Or talking with the others." She snorted. "With Alexis," he said. She had a soft spot for his daughter. "But you're here. In my office, fiddling with things you've seen before. Doing essentially nothing." He leaned forward, bringing his face closer to hers and lowered his voice. "I know the signs. I've been doing the same, after all. You want to be with me."

She wasn't giving any ground, and she was lowering her voice as well. "You're projecting."

"But I'm not wrong."

Her mouth was slightly open, but she wasn't saying anything. Her tongue flicked over her lips. He licked his. He just had to lean forward a bit more and their lips would meet. He wanted her, had wanted her since he had seen her. And she wanted him. He was certain of that.

"Come on! Kiss already!"

Vi's voice startled them both, and Castle took a step back while he turned around. There was his Slayer, and next to her, his daughter. Vi was shaking her head at him while Alexis had that sheepish expression on her face that told him that she was feeling very guilty for whatever she had done. Walking in on him, in this case.

He sighed. The moment was ruined. "I wasn't aware that we had asked for an audience."

Vi was, as expected, entirely unrepentant. "If you didn't want an audience, maybe you should have closed the door before putting the moves on the detective. And in your office, even! I work here as well!"

"The door was closed," Castle pointed out.

"Well, it wasn't locked." Vi shrugged.

"And why did you decide to enter anyway, instead of celebrating with the rest?"

"Ah… I wanted her help to get you to go to bed, instead of working too late, Dad," Alexis said. Her smile looked more than a bit forced. "Sorry. I didn't know that you weren't working."

"Right," Vi said. "So… we'll leave the detective to tuck you in. Good night!"

Castle didn't have to look at Beckett to know she would do no such thing. Not now.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Kate Beckett was sitting on the bed in her room - in Castle's guest room, she corrected herself. She was rather annoyed, no, angry, with Vi. It wasn't as if she had been sleeping with Castle, but it wasn't any business of that Slayer. That was just between her and Castle. His family, which included that infuriating girl, had given her their blessing anyway, she reminded herself half-jokingly.

Not that it mattered. Kate wasn't even quite certain whether she'd have kissed Castle, or pushed him away. No, that wasn't quite true. She closed her eyes and lay back on the bed. She had been about to kiss Castle. Caught in the heat of the moment, she would probably have gone further than that. Castle certainly wouldn't have stopped.

She smiled at that thought. The man had been after her ever since they had met for the second time. He had gone to quite length, too, to court her. She chuckled - she was now using the vocabulary from his medieval fantasy books.

In any case, it was very flattering, she had to admit to herself. Castle could have, well, not any woman he wanted, but there were not that many women who'd resist a rich, famous, handsome and charming man. A good father, even. Well, maybe she'd adjust that to 'passable'.

Kate sighed. She wanted him, too. Wanted to jump his bones, as her father would say. Had for a while, too, even if she hadn't wanted to admit it. Hadn't wanted to be a groupie, or even worse, a gold digger. She clenched her teeth. She knew that that was what people would think about her, should she and Castle start to date. She had thought so herself about some of his past girlfriends after skimming the society pages of a magazine left in the break room. And she had read some of the comments on Castle's forums, after that stupid article. Thank god she had never revealed her username.

The detective snorted. What went around came around, indeed. It would be worse this time, of course. It had just been speculation, back then. Mostly based on that picture, 'The author and his muse', and some suggestive lines written by that woman. Things had died down after a while, when she and Castle hadn't been seen in public together, and had never confirmed the rumours.

She blinked. They recently had confirmed the rumours, at least as far as her colleagues were concerned. The other cops didn't know it was just a cover story. And the news would spread. Sooner rather than later the newspapers would hear about it. And dig out all those old pictures and speculation.

"Damn." She had to tell her father before he read about her and Castle in the newspaper. Or was informed by others, like his neighbour, Mrs. Brown. But what should she tell him? That it was all a cover story? He'd ask what the cover was for. And he'd worry. Well, she'd have to tell him about demons anyway. If something happened to him because he had remained ignorant of the dangers, or because some demon wanted to hurt her family… Kate shook her head. She couldn't lose him. She had almost lost him to alcohol, after her mother.

But it wasn't just a cover story. She was attracted to the man, no matter how infuriating he could be. Of course, after she had learned that demons and magic were real, she had seen many of his annoying antics in a new light. All those absurd, seemingly delusional theories were neither absurd nor delusional. Since then, she had seen the real Rick Castle. The Watcher. The father. The mentor. And she liked what she had seen. Very much.

So, why hadn't she jumped his bones already? Just because she didn't want others, people she didn't know, to think she was a gold digger, or a fangirl? If she cared about what others thought, she'd not have joined the police. Was she just too stubborn for her own good?

Kate frowned. That was what Lanie had been telling her. Of course, Lanie didn't know what was really going on. Which didn't mean, though, that her friend was wrong.

She muttered a curse to the ceiling. She was too stubborn, too proud for her own good. Like a character in some of those cheap romances she only read when she was caught on a flight without a real book. Well, she was about to become a character in a fantasy novel. A fantasy novel series. And people would speculate just how closely Nicky Heat mirrored herself. And it would be all Castle's fault. His and that journalist's.

Kate rolled on her stomach and stared at her pillow. None of that really mattered that much. In the end, all those problems were just excuses. What mattered was what she wanted. Well, she knew what she wanted. And she wasn't the kind of woman who let others decide her life for her.

She stood up. She didn't have many clothes in the guest room here. Just enough so she could change after a messy fight with demons. For a few days in a row. She sighed. She had been moving in for some time now. What she didn't have here was lingerie. She had practical underwear, the sort no redhead could tease her about. The sort she didn't really want to wear for tonight. The sleepwear she had was practical as well. Although… she glanced at the door and smiled.

*****​

A few minutes later she was walking towards Castle's bedroom. Halfway there, Vi appeared in front of her. She hadn't heard or seen the Slayer move and jerked back before she could control herself.

Vi looked at her, at the thin and not too long bathrobe she was wearing, and frowned. "Are you taking a bath now?"

Kate met the Slayer's eyes and smirked. "No."

Judging by the redhead's surprised expression, she understood what Kate meant. The detective smiled sweetly, nodded at her, and walked past.

Vi's next words stopped her, though. "Are you doing this to prove something?"

"Hardly." Kate snorted and turned around to look at her. "This has nothing to do with you. Or anyone else but Castle and me."

Vi stared at her for a few moments, then slowly, almost reluctantly nodded. "I see."

"Good."

Kate turned away, but once again the Slayer spoke just when she was about to go on: "If you hurt him they'll never find your body."

Kate looked over her shoulder at the girl. "Shouldn't you be polishing a shotgun while you say this?"

Vi chuckled. "I'm a Slayer; there's no need for that."

Kate shook her head and continued towards Castle's bedroom, knocking on his door. Belatedly, she realised that she'd look rather silly if Castle was still in his office. Then she heard the muffled "Yes?" from inside. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked in.

Castle had been about to head to bed, already in his pajamas. He was standing there, next to his bed, as if he had been frozen, staring at her with an open mouth while she pushed the door behind her closed with her foot.

She saw him starting to smile, looking vulnerable for a second, before his smile widened. He opened his mouth, but she put a finger on her lips before he could say anything. Then she locked the door.

Turning back to him, she opened the belt holding her robe closed. He swallowed, then licked his lips.

Kate slowly pulled the robe open and let it slide down over her shoulders, to the ground. She wasn't wearing anything underneath it.

Castle took a deep breath himself, then, staring at her body while she slowly walked over to him. She had been a bit nervous, but seeing his expression, her confidence grew with each step she took, until she was standing in front of him, as close as she had been in his office.

She ran her hands over his chest, feeling his muscles under the thin top, then grabbed the back of his head while she felt his arms wrap around her nude body.

Their lips met and whatever doubts Kate had still been harboring vanished.

No one interrupted them this time.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Rick Castle woke up to a sight he had dreamed about for months: Kate Beckett, in his arms, asleep. In his bed too. And nude. And the night they had spent together… truly, his dream had not just come true but been exceeded. To think the proud detective would sneak into his room, at night, clad only in a short, thin bathrobe… that was something Nikki Heat would have done. Which meant, he thought with a smile, that he had judged Beckett's character better than he had thought!

In that moment, the woman started to stir. He saw her slowly twist her shoulders, trying to stretch, and encountering resistance - his own chest, to be exact. Then her eyes opened, blinking. For a moment, she looked surprised, and he felt her tense and draw a sharp breath, then she must have remembered the night, and she relaxed - although not completely.

"Morning," he said, in a low voice.

"Good morning."

"The best." He smiled. "It was… "

"A dream come true?" She smirked, but he thought there was just the slightest bit of bravado there. Not that he minded.

"Oh, yes." He grinned. "When you ripped my clothes off… that was straight out of a fantasy."

Her eyebrows moved in that adorable expression she showed when she was confused. "I ripped your clothes off?"

Rick pointed at the crumpled remains in the middle of the carpet. "My pajama top." His author colleagues would be so jealous - a beautiful woman had literally ripped his clothes off.

She actually got up and picked it up, then held it out. "Two buttons were ripped off," She said, cocking her head sideways and raising an eyebrow.

He had been watching her nude body move, bend down, and so his retort was a few moments late. "It still counts! Buttons are parts of the clothes, and they were ripped off."

"Technically." She stared at him, then chuckled.

He chuckled as well. He hadn't felt this happy in a long time. They had bound the noose demon, New York was safe from the cultists, and Kate Beckett had finally realised, no, admitted, that he was the ideal partner for her. Now if Agent Secondbest would be transferred to Alaska, this perfect morning would become a perfect day!

"Dad? Breakfast's ready!" he heard Alexis through the door.

Beckett gasped, and quickly pulled the pajama top on to cover herself.

"Don't worry, the door's locked," he said. "You locked it yourself." Not that it would have stopped Alexis - his daughter had picked a really bad time to show, at last, some teenage rebellion by learning how to pick locks from that damned vampire. Even though he might not be damned any more, after regaining his soul. Or after having gained a new soul - Castle wasn't privy to exactly what had happened.

Kate sighed with relief, then giggled. "That would have been embarrassing."

Rick nodded.

She frowned. "You do not seem relieved."

"Alexis only doesn't come in to call me for breakfast if she knows I'm, ah, not alone. In bed," he added.

She shrugged. "I met Vi on the way, last night."

"Ah." Rick hadn't known that. He wanted to ask how the redhead had reacted, but that would make him look like he didn't know his Slayer well enough to know, or guess her reaction.

"She told me that if I hurt you, they'd never find my body." Kate snorted. "She's very protective of you."

"They all are." Maybe a bit too protective - after Gina, there had been a few girls who had broken up with him quite surprisingly. One of them even moved to the West Coast without having an appartment ready, as he later was told by a shared acquaintance. "Did she mention a shovel?"

Kate shook her head with a slightly puzzled expression. "No, she didn't."

"It's a multitool. You can use it to bash the head in, and then to hide the body," he explained. "And in a pinch, you can stake a vampire with the shaft." Xander had had to do that, once, when he had dug up a grave with suspicious markings, and the 'corpse' had turned out to be a vampire trapped by said markings.

"Your family has a slightly morbid touch. And a more than slightly violent one." She chuckled, sitting down on the bed next to him. "Usually, I'm the one with the violent stories to tell." She wasn't quite looking at him.

"Mh." She looked damn sexy, wearing just a shirt. His shirt. With the top two buttons ripped off. He was late with his answer, again. "It's worse when you have to hide it. Can't talk about your real work, and people start to think you've got an alcohol problem, as often as you end up 'falling down the stairs'." Gina had tried to use that against him, once.

"I better get back to my room, and my clothes," Beckett said. "As much as I like your reaction, I think your family would take exception to me appearing like this at your table." She ran her hand down her front, chuckling.

And Rick had a new fantasy. A new dream to become real.

Kate narrowed her eyes. "You're not thinking to use this in your next book, are you?"

"I always change the details, as you know." Of course he'd use it!

"And what kind of details would you change?"

"I'm not certain, yet." Maybe he should replace the bathrobe with a trenchcoat, and have Nikki walk from her apartment to his?

"Why do I have trouble believing that?" She was not glaring at him, but grinning, amused. She was probably even closer to the character based on her than he had thought.

"Déformation professionnelle?" he ventured, smiling.

She snorted. "I think I know you a bit too well."

"In the biblical sense now too!" he said.

They kissed, and Castle was tempted to skip breakfast. And maybe lunch. He was quite certain Kate was tempted as well, judging by how she looked when they separated again.

"Maybe…" she started, with an impish grin.

He shook his head. "It would likely result in a visit from Vi, 'to check up' on me." Even Alexis might grow concerned - although in her case, she might legitimately worry about him.

Kate frowned, and he shrugged. "It's a Slayer thing. They are a bit… territorial."

"Great. It's the stepdaughter from hell." The detective shook her head, snorting.

He perked up - even if she was joking, if she considered Vi her stepdaughter, then wouldn't that mean she was at least thinking of him as husband-material? Then she stood up, and his shirt slipped some, and he was distracted again.

Until she opened the door, and found her clothes, neatly folded, in front of it.

When she turned around and looked at him, eyebrows raised, he shrugged. "Alexis is more subtle than Vi." When she sighed, he added: "She's trying to be helpful?"

He didn't comment on her muttered "Great. A fifteen year old stepmother."

*****​

Breakfast was, as expected, a bit… wearing, was a good word. Alexis and Vi, even Martha, Rick could have handled without too much of a strain. But all the Scoobies? While he certainly didn't regret anything that had happened, his day would have been even further improved if the Scoobies had taken the earliest flight back to merry old England.

"Who had 'after we bag the noose demon'?" Xander asked, between taking large bites out of a croissant he had covered with a mix of honey and butter from his plate.

Dawn raised her hand, and Buffy groaned.

"How do you do this?" the blonde Slayer asked. "That's the third time you've won the pool!" She was polishing off her third plate. Earlier, she had repeatedly complained that she'd not get a real breakfast in England, which had started an argument with Spike about what consisted a 'real breakfast'. An argument the vampire had lost decidedly, on the grounds of both being English and a blood-drinking vampire, and therefore ignorant of the topic, as Buffy had declared.

"You were betting on when we would..." Kate's voice sounded as if she couldn't believe her ears. She seemed to even have forgotten the bear claw in her hand, halfway to her mouth.

"Yes," Xander said, nodding. "It was so obvious, we mainly disagreed whether or not you'd do it during our visit, or after it." He must have noticed the detective's intent, since he hastily added: "Hey, we do that for everyone."

"To everyone," Dawn corrected him.

"Well… it's sort of a welcome ritual?" Xander looked around.

"Hazing," Dawn cut in again.

"Hazing is bad," Willow said. "And it's not really hazing. Just… good-natured teasing?"

"We'll go with that!" Xander exclaimed. "Good-natured teasing. Willow nailed it again - she's a genius, you know."

While the Scoobies nodded to each other - Faith laughing openly - Rick consoled himself with the thought that compared to the Council, he was the epitome of maturity and wisdom.

"Anyway, enough of teasing the new old couple!" Buffy said. "Now let's plan our next mission!"

"Next mission?" Kate asked, tensing up.

"Today's shopping trip!" Buffy answered with a wide and - in Rick's opinion - slightly manic smile.

He couldn't wait to get to the Precinct.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"The big bad demon hunter, running from a shopping trip."

Rick Castle pouted at the amused tone of Kate's voice and turned his head to look at the detective on the back bench. "I'll have you know that better men than me have fled when Buffy mentioned thinking of going shopping." He also made a mental note to look into cars that seated three up front - his neck would be grateful.

The detective's chuckling told him that he needed to work on his delivery. Vi's snort didn't help either. Weren't those two supposed to be at odds with each other, instead of ganging up on him? He sighed. "It's not actually the shopping by itself that made me vacate my own premises before I was press-ganged, but the consequences of being dragged along by the Scoobies to pay for it."

"I honestly doubt that they'll put a dent into your bank account," Kate said. "I didn't have the impression that they were like that."

"Well… not unless there's a weapon convention. You know how Slayers are about all kind of weapons. Vi's purchases alone would be enough to equip a small army."

"Hey!"

He smiled at his Slayer. "You know, when Ray says that you're putting his daughter through college, he is not quite joking?"

"I'm a Slayer, I need my weapons!" she huffed.

"Of course. Although I think a line should be drawn when their weight surpasses what you can carry."

"Pf! Says the man ordering flamethrowers in bulk!"

"I'm just stocking up in case I lose another one." Rick cleared his throat. "Anyway - since New York actually has not changed their weapon laws to emulate those of Texas…"

"Which they totally should!" Vi cut in. "I can't carry my minigun with me due to those laws!"

"You don't actually have a minigun, do you?" Kate didn't sound amused anymore.

"No, she doesn't," Castle said.

"Sure I do!" Vi protested.

"It's not yours, it's the Council's."

"I called dibs!"

"That's not how weapon procurement works," Castle said. "Besides, that's between you and Xander."

"He said you vetoed it!"

Castle had a few nasty thoughts about the other Watcher throwing him under the bus, or the Slayer in this case. "In any case, it's not a practical weapon." It couldn't fire Dragon's Breath rounds, and the ammunition didn't last long enough for most fights. And it was too mechanically complex for a good field weapon.

"But it's fun! And you always tell Alexis to have more fun!" Vi pouted at him.

"Note, please, that I tell that to Alexis. Not to you." Rick said. "And in light of the recent revelations about her extracurricular activities, I am sorely tempted to change that." Turn his responsible daughter into a budding burglar, would they?

"Pf!"

Kate was shaking her head, her face showing a mixture of amusement and exasperation, as Castle saw glancing over his shoulder. He cleared his throat. "It's not actually the financial consequences that I'm dreading, but the social ones."

He resisted the temptation to shake his head and sigh at the blank looks from both Kate and Vi. "Buffy wanted to use my 'celebrity bonus' to get VIP treatment in the boutiques." Which his credit card would guarantee her anyway - they were not in England, after all. "That means news of a ruggedly handsome and rich author bankrolling the purchases of a group of nubile young women will make the rounds in New York's society. At best, that means some tabloid will run the touching story of my reunion with the Sunnydale survivors I put up in my vacation home in the Hamptons after their town disappeared in a sinkhole. And that would draw attention to that particular event, and my involvement in it." He saw that Kate understood - she had found out about his double life using that connection, after all. Her very ex-boyfriend was not quite as smart as she was, but he might get lucky and manage the same feat. "At worst, we'll have to read about our impending break-up and my orgies with college girls not even a day into our relationship." He smiled weakly when Kate's eyes widened. "Welcome to dating a famous author in New York?"

"I didn't think of that," Kate said, as much to herself as to him, or so Rick thought.

"Getting cold feet?" Vi asked.

Kate glared at the Slayer. "No."

"It's not that bad, usually," Castle said. "Remember the article about Nikki Heat, a few months ago?"

"Yes. I heard stripper jokes for a week."

Castle made a note to avoid that particular topic. And he glared at Vi - her laughter wasn't helpful right now. "Well… it's really not too bad. Like neighbours gossipping, just on a slightly larger scale."

"Slightly larger?" And the eyebrow went up.

"Well… with online communities spreading, even neighbour gossip can reach the other side of the country in minutes. All the intellectuals I know claim that newspapers are about to die out anyway." He smiled at her. "You'll get used to it before you know it?" He could see Kate take to it. She was not just beautiful and smart, she also had that je ne sais quoi.

"You're not helping, Castle." She frowned, then leaned back in her seat.

He didn't give up that easily. "Well, there won't be any journalists in the precinct. And if there are, I'll have my lawyer slap them down with court orders so hard, their feet will pierce the core of the Earth!"

That made her laugh.

*****​

If he still had thought that visiting the 12th Precinct had been a good idea, then Castle quickly would have learned differently. He might not have to deal with nosy journalists and gossips, but the precinct housed trouble of its own. Namely, the Federal Ex and Esposito. A jealous man, and a lovestruck man.

Kate's former boyfriend had been glaring at Castle ever since Rick and Kate had arrived. The agent hadn't even taken one of the doughnuts they had brought with them - if Rick had learned one thing hunting demons and wrangling Slayers, then that bringing food was always a good idea no matter the occasion.

Or bringing a Slayer - Esposito hadn't even glanced in Rick's direction. The detective was busy flirting with Vi. Who was shamelessly lapping up the attention, and even trying to flirt with Ryan as well, even though Esposito's partner was in a relationship, and not quite as receptive to Vi's charms. Which, of course, the redhead took as a challenge. Slayers!

Castle shook his head and took another sip from his coffee. Or what passed for it in the precinct. Not for the first time he told himself he'd buy the precinct a better coffee maker. As soon as the Fed Ex was gone, so the jealous man couldn't try to arrest him for attempted bribery or so. "You know," he casually remarked to Kate, "I wonder why you haven't arrested the makers of this… thing here." He pointed at the machine.

"What for?"

"Attempted assault with a lethal weapon, I'd say. But at the very least it's fraud - they are trying to pass sewage as coffee!"

Kate laughed. "Castle! Just because your palate is used to the most expensive italian blends doesn't mean that this is bad coffee." She took a sip from her own cup, then winced. "It probably needs a revision."

"It needs to be put out of its misery!" Castle said. Then he tensed "Heads up! Fed Ex at nine o'clock, headed towards us." The agent was walking towards the break room.

"He's not our enemy, Castle," Beckett said.

"I know. He'd be easier to deal with if he were." That earned him a glare. "Too soon?" he smiled at her.

She shook her head.

The Fed entering the break room prevented further conversation.

"Kate. Castle." He nodded at them and closed the door behind him.

Castle thought the man sounded even more stuck up and frustrated than usual. He looked angry too. No, livid. "Yes?" Rick smiled as sweetly at the man as he could.

"I've been reassigned."

"Oh? To Alaska, I hope?" Castle's smile slipped a bit when Kate stepped on his foot.

"I've been called back to Quantico. Apparently a profiler has deduced that our serial killer has left the state."

So, that was the excuse the FBI was using, Castle thought, to avoid keeping agents working on cases the Council had solved for them. He smiled. "That's impressive."

"It's bullshit," the agent snarled at him. "I know you're behind this. I know you're hiding something, Castle. I don't know what. But this smells. And if I ever find out that you've been protecting a serial killer…"

"You don't honestly think that the government, the FBI even, would protect a serial killer?" Castle did his best to sound incredulous. He knew the government had done worse, in Sunnydale. "Please. That's straight out of Conspiracy Theories Weekly!" He chuckled.

"I know a cover-up when I see it, Castle. I've friends in high places too, and they told me that this is coming straight from Homeland Security. If Langley is operating on American soil there'll be a lot of unhappy people once it comes out. And it will come out. And I'll be there." He nodded at them, and left.

"Wow. He really is a sore loser." Castle shook his head. "And he thinks I'm working for the CIA! Isn't that cool?"

He saw her expression and winced. No, Kate didn't think that it was cool.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Oh, this is great! Did you know that…"

"Castle! If you won't let me finish this paperwork in peace, then I'll take the afternoon off."

Rick Castle perked up. That sounded like a great idea!

"And I'll drag you with me to Buffy."

Or not. He pouted, but his lover was clearly not going to budge on this, so he had to settle for quietly surfing the web on his smartphone next to her desk.

At least the Fed Ex - and Rick would just have to use that nickname in his book, he thought - had had enough sense of dramatic tension to leave them alone after his more-than-a-tad clichéd 'promise'. And since Vi, obviously determined to have more than one man willing to risk death by demon for her, had kept up her flirting with Ryan, Esposito was spending most of the day alternatively glaring at his partner and sighing at the redhead. And the Feds were dismantling all the nifty gear they had brought with them, and moving out of the precinct.

Now if only Kate wouldn't be so focused on her paperwork, the day would be perfect. But it would probably take a small miracle for that, he thought. Or maybe not - Kate had surprised him last night already, after all. Maybe he should consider doing some overtime with her…

"What are you daydreaming about now, Castle?"

"Last night," he said, smiling at her.

She actually blushed a tiny bit, and turned her head down to stare at her paperwork again.

Point Castle!

*****​

"So, what's the plan?" Rick, leaning against Kate's desk, asked sotto voce hours later, when the bullpen in the precinct started to empty.

"Plan?" Kate looked at him, wrinkling her nose while she kept closing the windows on her computer.

"You know, to deal with Esposito," Castle whispered, leaning forward.

She looked at him as if he had said something stupid. "We take him to your home, and tell him."

"That sounds rather simple," Rick complained. "That would never fit into a novel."

"Life is not a novel, Castle."

"While I cannot disagree with that statement, I have to point out that life chooses to be far too much like a novel at the most inconvenient times." Or a b-movie. Or a TV drama.

"Which doesn't change the fact that simply telling them is the most obvious way to handle this."

"Them?" Castle raised an eyebrow.

"Of course it's 'them'!" Vi was suddenly next to him. Long experience, iron self-control and the slight tiredness from spending a day at work kept Rick from yelping in surprise. "Ryan will now be willing to brave death by demon for me as well!"

Kate cocked her head to the side and gave Castle's Slayer a flat stare. "He's simply sticking with his partner. Not everything is about you."

"Pf!" Vi sniffed. "Since Esposito is doing this for me, Ryan is indirectly doing this for me too!" She didn't quite strike a pose, but Rick was certain that the way her leather jacket slid down her shoulders while she sat down on Kate's desk and leaned back had been carefully calculated.

He had other things to worry about than his Slayer's ego. "Are you certain?" he asked Kate in a low voice. "Ryan hasn't shown any interest so far."

"Ryan is Esposito's partner. He won't get involved in what he thinks is Esposito chasing Vi…"

"He is chasing me!" Vi cut in.

The detective continued unfazed: "...but he'll notice once his partner starts moonlighting as a demon hunter. And since he's a good detective, he'll start to look into it."

"You seem certain that Esposito will be hunting demons," Rick said.

"I know him. Once he knows the truth he won't be able to ignore that there are monsters on the streets of New York preying on people and just go on as before," Kate said, standing up.

"He won't be able to ignore me, you mean!" Vi said, pushing herself off the desk.

Kate ignored her and walked over to the desks of the two other detectives. Castle rushed to catch up with her.

"Esposito! Ryan! You two are invited to dinner at Castle's," Kate announced.

Esposito glanced at his partner, then to Vi, then at Kate before nodding. "Ok."

Ryan though, looked confused for a moment, then asked: "Any special occasion?"

"To celebrate that the feds have finally left!" Rick said. He ignored Kate's glare.

The two detectives chuckled, though Rick thought that Esposito looked a bit put out at Ryan being invited as well. That was Vi's fault, of course - his Slayer had been flirting far too much with the detective.

Shaking his head, he took out his smart phone to call ahead and let the Scoobies now. At least Faith didn't like cops, and would not hit on the two detectives.

Probably.

*****​

As soon as Rick entered his flat, a blonde Slayer made a beeline towards him. "Rick! We missed you today! Why do you work when you're rich already?" Buffy pouted at him, both hands on her hip.

"B! He wanted to spend the day with his lover, instead of following you through more shoe shops than you count." Faith shook her head. "Oh, those must be your guests." She grinned at Esposito and Ryan, who were staring at the assembled Scoobies with obvious surprise.

"Exactly," Castle said. "Everyone - Detective Esposito and Ryan. Esposito, Ryan - Buffy, Faith, Dawn, Xander, Willow and Spike."

"Also known as the Scoobies," Xander said.

"Or the British Invasion," Vi said.

"Hey! We're Californian, not British!" Buffy protested. "I've not been infected with Brit-ness."

"Unless Brit-ney Spears counts," Dawn added.

"Speak for yourself, I'm British," Spike said.

"They're lookin' fine. Too bad they're cops," Faith said, making a show of undressing the two slightly shell-shocked looking detectives with her eyes.

"Faith!" Buffy whirled around to glare at the other Slayer.

The girl shrugged. "What? It's a compliment."

"You're being rude."

"You're being a prude."

Castle cleared his throat before the scene could degenerate further. "And this is my daughter, Alexis," he said, gesturing at the redhead.

"Good evening, gentlemen."

"She's the responsible one in my family," Rick went on. His smile slipped a bit when his daughter simply nodded sagely and with a slightly suffering air. It was true, but she could have acted as if it was a joke, at least!

"Wow, that's a lot of swords and crossbows," Ryan commented, looking at the walls as they made their way to the couches and seats.

"That's nothing!" Vi said. "You should see my collection!"

Esposito frowned. He probably had realised that the Scoobies had, consciously or not, spread out again, almost surrounding the two detectives. Or he simply was irked at Vi's flirting with Ryan, Castle thought.

Before the author could say anything, though, Buffy cleared her throat. "Alright. Let's do the big reveal before dinner, so we don't have to talk around the elephant in the room while we eat." She grinned. "It also means we don't have to waste any of that great pasta on Spike to keep up appearances."

"Oy! I like eating."

"Too bad! You don't need to, and we have to prioritise food since it's a limited resource." Buffy smirked.

"My sister, the glutton." Dawn sighed.

"Hey! I need the food!" Buffy protested.

Kate spoke up: "Can we skip the sibling squabble, and get to the heart of the matter?"

Rick saw that Esposito was paying close attention now, and Ryan's surprise and amusement had given way to puzzlement and, unless Castle was very much mistaken, growing suspicion.

"That's your job, Dad," Alexis said.

"It's actually Giles's," Buffy said, "But Rick will do in a pinch. He's British enough."

"I'm a red-blooded American!" Rick said. "I'm not even living in London any more."

"You did live there, though, and you were a librarian, and a writer. That pretty much means you're an honourary Brit."

"My first wife would vehemently contest that," Rick said. "But you are correct; I'd rather tell the tale myself than listen to someone else mauling it."

"Good!" Buffy beamed at him, then blinked. "Wait, did you mean…"

Rick didn't let her finish. He looked at the two detectives, sitting on the couch.

"The world is older than you know…"

*****​

As Castle had expected, neither Esposito nor Ryan took him seriously. They let him finish, at least, but as soon as Rick had sat down again, Esposito shook his head. "That's a nice plot for a Fantasy book."

"It's the whole truth," Castle said, smiling. "Vampires and other demons are real, and all of us here are fighting them to protect humanity."

"That's bullshit," the detective said. His partner was silent and seemed to consider the matter, although Rick didn't know if Ryan was contemplating if it could be true, or simply pondering how to get all of them institutionalised.

"No, that's reality. But we anticipated your doubts, and so we've prepared proof."

"Proof?" Esposito looked at him. "You've got a monster hiding under your bed?"

Castle wouldn't get a better cue. He nodded at Spike. "Not under my bed, actually."

A moment later, Spike had vamped out and was holding up both detectives by their collars.

"Madre de dios!"

"Holy mother of god!"

Castle was impressed by the synchronised reaction of Ryan and Esposito.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"As you can see, gentlemen, vampires are real. As are many other demons." Richard Castle smiled broadly while Spike released the two detectives.

As soon as the vampire had taken a step back, Esposito, still coughing, drew his pistol. "You…"

His next words were lost when he gasped at his pistol flying out of his hands to the ceiling, then towards Willow, coming to a stop near her. The witch promptly proceeded to unload the gun telekinetically. "We don't like firearms," she said, looking at Ryan, who slowly lowered his hand, which had been almost to his own gun.

"Speak for yourself!" Buffy said. "I love my M60!"

"Well, of course you would! Mr. Gordo proves that you love pigs," Dawn said.

"Firearms are an essential part of a well-prepared demon hunting force," Xander added while Buffy glared at her sister.

"That doesn't mean that we have to like them!" Willow said.

"Well, no… but we do it anyway!" Buffy said.

"You love all weapons. It's a Slayer thing," Spike said, changing back from his 'game face' back into his human facade.

So much for the dramatic reveal, Castle thought. He cleared his throat. "Any way, yes, vampires, werewolves, witches, werecats, lizardmen, bezoars, and pretty much every monster you have heard of in Fairy Tales are real. But for Leprechauns - those do not exist. Don't ask me what the Irish thought when they made those up."

"That strength… Madre de dios! Vi's a vampire!" Esposito looked at the redhead with horror written over his face. "I've fallen for an undead!"

While Vi gaped at the detective, apparently at a loss for words, the Scoobies broke out in laughter and even kate was chuckling. Rick carefully wasn't laughing. Vi was his Slayer, after all. And she had a key to his flat.

And, he noted with some alarm, she was close to losing her temper. He quickly took a few steps forward, putting himself between her and the unfortunate detective. "No, Vi's not a vampire."

"But she's pale! And quick as lightning! And superstrong!" Esposito was looking past Castle, and growing quite pale himself, right then.

"Her skin tone is the fault of her Irish heritage."

"Fault?!"

"Dad! How could you?"

"Genetics are no grounds for discrimination. Red hair and pale skin certainly are nothing negative! And I strongly object to labeling witches as monsters!"

Castle cringed when Vi turned her ire towards him, joined by his daughter and Willow. Even Ryan seemed to be glaring at him, but the detective with Irish roots still looked too shocked to tell. "I meant to say 'that sublime skin tone is the result of good Irish genes!'," he quickly added. "Moving on. Vi is not a vampire, she's a vampire hunter. If you had read my books, you'd have realised this at once." He frowned at Esposito.

"Slayers are the monster's bogeymen. Bogeywomen, actually," Willow cut in. "Or rather, bogeywoman, singular, since for millennia, there has always been just one Slayer. Which you would have known had you paid attention to Rick's speech."

"Esposito! You have seen her out in the sun multiple times!" Even Kate seemed exasperated.

"Well, I've been out in the sun once as well. Magic jewel protected me," Spike said. "The Slayer freaked out." He chuckled.

"The Slayer," Buffy said testily, "kicked your ass and took the thing from you, and you had to jump down into the next sewer to avoid burning to ash!"

"Those weren't the sewers!" Spike said. "Those were access tunnels!"

"Good old Sunnydale, were all infrastructure was built so light-sensitive monsters would not have trouble accessing the buildings." Xander sighed. "A clear case of political correctness taken too far."

At least, Rick told himself, the Scoobies' antics had defused Vi's anger, somewhat at least. He sighed. "I see I have repeat my explanation. Please pay more attention now." Maybe he should test them afterwards. No, that would be too much work for him. He started the speech again. "The world is older than you know…"

"Hurry it up, Rick! Food's going to be ready soon!"

Castle's glare was utterly ignored by Faith while Buffy gasped. "Oh my god! She's right - we can't miss dinner! Xander! Do one of your long story short summaries!"

Castle would never laugh at Rupert's complaints again, he told himself.

*****​

"So… Vi's a supernaturally powered vampire hunter."

"Yes." Castle nodded at Ryan while he dished out more pasta.

"As are Buffy and Faith," the cop continued.

"Yes."

"And Willow is a witch."

"And witches are not monsters or evil!" the witch in question said, lifting her plate towards Castle.

"They can be, though," Xander added. "Like all humans."

"And you two are normal humans who hunt demons."

Castle nodded. "Yes."

"Demons which have been hunting humans for centuries."

"Far longer than that, actually. The records of the Council only reach back to the time writing was invented." It wasn't quite true, but it made for a very nice story.

"And this is kept a secret with the help of the government."

"All of the governments, actually. Or most - I'm not certain how long we need to approach some of the newer states." Rick didn't think joking about the Council still waiting if these "United American States" would work out or not was appropriate here. "But I can assure you that we're not doing anything illegal. We have treaties with the government. Secret ones, of course."

"Of course." Ryan was talking in a flat voice. Like Kate had when Rick had explained that, he remembered. It had to be a cop thing. Still, this was going better than he had thought. True, Esposito hadn't said much, but Ryan at least was talking quite calmly for a man who had just had his worldview shattered, Castle thought. Talking over dinner helped, he had to make a note of that.

"And why is this kept a secret? Why don't you tell people about this danger?" Ryan stood up, gesturing wildly. "Vampires murder people by the hundreds, and they don't even know about this?"

Apparently, Ryan wasn't the calmer of the two, Castle noted. He sighed. "We would love to tell everyone. But if we did, if humanity as a whole was aware of demons, then the consequences would be catastrophic."

"What would be worse than hundreds of people being murdered - eaten even! - by monsters?" Now Esposito was getting into the argument as well.

"The Old Ones awakening," Castle answered. "The end of the world, in short." He nodded at them. "Our records tell us that the more people believe in them, the more powerful they become. That wasn't that much of a problem at the dawn of time, when very few humans were around, but with billions of us around..." He shook his head. "We cannot risk that."

"Yes. We've stopped far too many apocalypses already, we're not letting you start another one!" Buffy said, nodding emphatically while waving a fork full of pasta around, sending some flying towards her sister. Since he knew how good Buffy was with anything thrown, he didn't think that had been an accident.

Neither did Dawn, judging by her outraged expression.

"Apocalypes?"

Once again, the two detectives had spoken in unison. No wonder they were partners, Castle thought.

*****​

Rick thought that people generally should be more impressed with the fact that the Council had saved the world several times in the last decade when they were told about it. It wasn't as if he often had the opportunity to inform others about his own part in preventing the end of the world - an achievement he was quite a bit more proud of than his success as an author.

No, instead of being at least a tiny bit awed, Esposito and Ryan were focusing on the fact that the world had been in danger of ending. He shook his head. Life wasn't fair!

"You mean… you're all that stands between us and the end of the world?" Ryan said.

"Yes," Buffy said.

Vi was probably still put out with the detectives' reaction to her, and simply nodded.

"Pretty much," Faith said between shoveling dessert into her mouth.

"Indee...ow!"

"No imitating TV shows in a serious discussion, Xander!"

"Dawn! It's obvious that they are taking this far too seriously!"

"It's the end of the world! It's meant to be taken seriously!" The Slayer's sister was not budging.

"A bit of humour always helps!"

"No, it doesn't! Have you forgotten Mrs. Henderson's funeral?" Willow was getting in it as well.

"I still say that everyone loved my comment, they just acted outraged so they'd not be cut out of the will!" Xander pouted and folded his arms.

"The world is still standing, despite half a dozen attempts to end it in the last decade and half," Castle said. "So, it's obvious that we've been doing a good job." He glared at Willow before she could correct him with statistics. The two detectives needed to trust them.

"There were more attempts to end the world than that!" Buffy complained. "We stopped a dozen in Sunnydale alone!"

"We're only counting those with a good chance to succeed in actually destroying the world. Things that would just have wiped out a town or state don't count," Dawn explained.

"What? That's so not fair! An apocalypse is an apocalypse, no matter how big!" Buffy huffed and pouted.

"If it's too small it's not really an apocalypse, Buffy," Xander said.

"Exactly! And since it's called an apocalypse, it is an apocalypse!" Buffy beamed, pleased with herself.

This time Castle didn't stop Willow.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

It took a few more demonstrations of magic by Willow - after she had stopped lecturing Buffy - and a bit of weight- or rather couch-lifting by a Slayer, until Esposito and Ryan fully accepted that this really was no trick, that there was a hidden world full of monsters and magic. Which, Castle made a note, sounded far too much like a roleplaying ad for him to use in one of his books.

The two detectives were currently putting a bit of a dent into his liquor cabinet. Which still needed a better lock, as his daughter had oh so helpfully pointed out.

"So… that's why you've been following us around!" Esposito said suddenly, spilling some of Castle's expensive single malt when he gestured with the glass in his hand. "You're looking for monsters among our cases!"

"That actually not true," Rick said. "We've been doing this for years before we met." He smiled at Kate, sitting next to him, and wrapped his arm around her. "I'm following her around because she's my muse for my next book." And now his girlfriend. Lover. Future fiancée.

"And I'm still not pleased with having a character with a stripper name patterned after me," Kate cut in.

"It's rather sexist," Willow added. She was drinking orange juice, hand- or more precisely, magic-pressed from organic oranges.

"It's not sexist! It's sexy," Rick defended his work. "My editor agrees with me!"

"Your editor agrees with everything that she thinks will sell more books," Alexis said. "That doesn't mean it's not sexist."

"It means I'm a bestselling author," Rick said. He wasn't pouting. Not really. "Besides, the character's character is far more important than her name."

"It had better be," Kate said, frowning at him.

She really was fitting in well with his family, Castle thought - she already was trying to influence his work like everyone else.

"Can we get back to the demons?" Ryan said, a bit testily in Rick's opinion.

"Of course." He smiled at the two detectives.

The detective pointed at Spike, who was munching on his blood-soaked weetabix. The vampire was doing this just to mess with the two men, Rick was certain. "You said vampires were corpses possessed by demons with the memories, but not the soul of the human who died. And that you hunted them mercilessly. What is the matter with him?"

"Ah, he's an exception. He's got a soul," Buffy said. "One of two vampires who are not irredeemable monsters."

"I earned my soul!" Spike said, licking his bloody lips. "Unlike the poofter, who was cursed with it."

"And who might have lost his soul again when he went evil lawyer," Xander said.

Buffy glared at both of them, before sighing. "Anyway - soulless vampires hunt humans for food and kicks. They don't feel any remorse killing people. They love killing people."

Spike nodded. "Yes. I lost count of how many humans I killed. And I enjoyed it." He grinned, then noticed the glares from everyone and quickly added: "That was the soulless demon, not me."

"Yes. Now you're a souled demon," Xander said. "Such an improvement."

Esposito blinked. "Does that mean you got your soul back from… heaven?" He was rubbing the cross in his hands.

Spike shrugged. "I don't know, mate. I know I got a soul, but whether it's my original, or a new one… I'll find that out once I die, I s'pose." With a grin, he added: "I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, of course."

"But..." Esposito trailed off. "Does that mean you have met God? Jesus?"

Maybe there was truth to the saying that there were no atheists in foxholes, Castle thought. He didn't know how to answer that - religion was a very complicated subject among the Scoobies.

"No," Buffy said. "We've met a hellgoddess. And kicked her ass." She sounded less flippant than usual, Rick thought.

"Holy water affects vampires, though," Xander said. "As does a cross. Both burn them real good." He turned to Spike.

"Don't even think about demonstrating them on me," the vampire snarled.

"But the mother goddess's blessings work as well," Willow added. "So, it's not as Christianity is the one true religion! It doesn't mean that it's wrong, either," she added, "but, of course, for all the misogynist dogma, and the intolerance, and…"

Castle cleared his throat. "Anyway - back to demons. Vampires are among the most common demons, but there are a lot of different demons, and not all of them are evil monsters."

"Some are good monsters," Dawn said.

"Although it's better to be safe than sorry - don't trust them as a rule," Xander said, "unless you know them."

"Oh, yes. We'll need to introduce you to a few of the good demons," Alexis said. "We wouldn't want you to kill them by accident."

"Speaking of killing," Xander spoke up with a grin," there are lots of ways to kill demons. Bullets sadly don't work well on too many demons - such as Spike here - but fire works well enough, as does decapitation. Then there are the specific weaknesses of various demons..."

"Xander! We don't know if they even want to hunt demons," Willow said, frowning.

"They'll need to know this for self-defense."

"They've been fine so far without knowing about demons."

"I'm not fine anymore," Ryan said. "To know such monsters are out there…" He glanced at Spike. "Are you hunting demons, Beckett?"

"Yes. I kind of ended up dragged into this," Kate said.

"More like you butted in." Vi snorted. "Fortunately, I was able to keep her from getting herself killed."

"It wasn't quite like that," Kate said.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to keep her from hurting her head, which led to her memory loss," Vi said, sighing theatrically. "Tragic."

"As you can see, Vi's not just fighting fantasy monsters, she's also living in a fantasy," Kate retorted. Her smile was more a baring of teeth, too.

Castle cleared his throat before things could escalate further. "Anyway. I can give you some special bullets that will hurt a number of demons, as well as some Dragon's Breath shotgun shells." He couldn't resist to add: "A flamethrower would be more effective, but they are a bit hard to carry around."

"Castle, you don't… you don't have a flamethrower?" Esposito said.

"Yes, he does," Kate said. "Several, in fact. And yes, he actually has a permit for his various weapons."

That started a discussion about the legalities of demon hunting. Unsurprisingly, Ryan took almost as long to accept that demon hunting was legal as Kate had, while Esposito was far more accepting.

*****​

"That went better than I expected," Rick said, once he was - finally! - alone with Kate again. Not yet in his bedroom, alas.

"What did you expect?" Kate asked, gathering up the empty glasses. Alexis had offered to do it, but Castle had sent her to bed - she had school the next day, after all. Vi hadn't offered, and hadn't school, but Rick's Slayer had gone out hunting with Buffy and Faith. And Spike had gone drinking with Xander, of all people. Castle had known the Scoobies for the better part of a decade by now, and still couldn't make heads or tails of their relationships. And Willow had done the sensible thing, and headed to bed.

"More screaming, and shouting, and shooting," he said. When he saw her frown, he added with a grin: "among the Scoobies."

She snorted. After a moment, she said: "I'm surprised your mother hasn't returned yet."

Castle coughed. "I told her it was safe, but apparently, she has met a man in the Hamptons, and is staying a bit longer." He should have expected that, knowing his mother. "So, do you think they'll want to hunt demons as well?"

Kate hesitated. "Honestly?"

"Always." he raised his right index. "Unless you're about to criticise me. In that case, feel free to spare my feelings and lie." He grinned, to show he was joking.

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. A little. Then she grew serious. "I don't think so."

"Oh?" That surprised him. He would have expected the two detectives to follow Kate's example. Especially Esposito, since the man was a veteran.

"Esposito quit the army because he didn't want to fight in the war against terror any longer. I doubt he wants to in the war against demons." She put the glasses into the washer.

"Not even to impress Vi?" Men did a lot to impress women. Castle knew that from his own experiences.

"Didn't you see him today? He hasn't looked at her since the revelation." Kate sighed.

"Oh." Rick had missed that. "Can't handle a girl stronger than him?"

"No. I think it's the 'superhuman' part that is the problem." The detective winced.

"I see." Rick frowned.

"Do you think this will hurt her?"

"More her pride, I think." Rick didn't think Vi was interested in Esposito. Not seriously. But then, she didn't have to, to be hurt by someone rejecting her for being a Slayer - she hadn't chosen to be chosen.

He might have to talk to Esposito about this.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, November 2009

Rick Castle felt relieved - it was finally time to say goodbye to his guests. He liked the Scoobies, but two weeks of them would test the patience of a saint, and Rick would never be accused of being a saint. But finally, after two shopping trips that made the society pages in the newspapers, and probably the business reports, the Scoobies were boarding their flight back to London, where they'd be Rupert's problem.

"Dad! Don't smile that much! You don't have to show everyone that you're glad our friends are leaving!"

"Alexis! How can you think that?" He pouted at his daughter.

"Because you marked the day in the calendar a week in advance, and were ready to drive them to the airport hours before their scheduled flight?" Rick's daughter was shaking her head at him.

"It's important not to mix the dates up after they rescheduled their flight, and you know how bad traffic in New York is." Rick smiled.

"You're a bad liar, Dad. Not to mention that they are using a private jet, so they can't miss their flight."

He frowned at her. Alexis knew him too well. Which was generally a good thing, of course. "As a responsible parent, I have the right and duty to be glad that you're no longer exposed to such corrupting influences."

"Spike promised he'll send me a list with more complicated locks to train with." Alexis was smiling widely. "And Dawn already gave me access to the restricted section of the digital archives of the Council. And I think we both know what will happen if I tell Faith that you think she's corrupting me."

Oh, yes. Rick rubbed the bridge of his nose. "When I told you that a bit of teenage rebellion would be good for you, I didn't mean that."

"If I did what you wanted, it wouldn't be a rebellion, Dad." His daughter was smirking.

He sighed. At least Alexis was responsible enough to have resisted Buffy's attempt to turn her into a clothes horse.

"New York is mine again!" Vi declared when the private jet of the Council had taken off, balling her fist.

"Ours," Rick corrected her.

"Vi!" Alexis frowned at the Slayer.

"I'm just glad that they are back to protecting the other parts of the world," Vi said, grinning, "since Rick and I are perfectly capable of protecting New York. Wouldn't want to leave other countries defenceless. Besides," she added, "Buffy's shoe-shopping ate into my sword budget."

Castle frowned at her. "Are you insinuating that my bank account is your personal shopping budget?"

"Yes!"

He glared at her, but his Slayer just giggled. As did his daughter. Story of his life.

*****​

Rick and Vi stepped out of the lift - the elevator - into the 12th Precinct with their usual gifts for the staff: doughnuts and coffee that wasn't violating several regulations from the FDA. He'd gift the precinct a decent coffee maker for Christmas. Or have his agent do it. That way, it would probably be considered a business expense.

Kate wasn't at her desk, though he saw that there were files spread out on its surface, so she was in. Rick hadn't broached the topic of her moving in, yet. He didn't want to appear pushy. Even though it would make so much sense, and would be far safer for her. And they would wake up together each morning.

"She's with the Captain," Vi said, unasked. He glanced at her, and she added with a smirk: "Yes, you're that transparent."

"I get no respect," he muttered, shaking his head as he proceeded to Kate's desk and his chair there.

"Aren't you curious what they are talking about?" Vi asked, following him.

"She'll tell me if it's important." And he could always ask Vi later.

Castle put the smaller doughnut box and two cups to go with coffee down on the desk.

"I'll take this to the break room," Vi announced, grabbing the rest. She was wearing her leathers, again, and walking like Faith.

Rick glanced over at the desks of Ryan and Esposito. Both were tracking the Slayer, but trying to act as if they were focusing on their work. He sighed. The two were adjusting to the reveal, but taking their time. At least they didn't avoid Vi anymore. Or not too obviously.

Ah, there was Kate! He smiled at the detective leaving Captain Montgomery's office. He frowned, though, when he realised that she didn't look too happy, and held out her cup of coffee. "Morning, Detective."

She grabbed the cup without a word. After a gulp, she relaxed. "Thanks, Castle."

"I live to serve." He took a sip from his own. "You don't seem to be in a good mood."

She quickly glanced around. "The Captain noticed that Esposito and Ryan seem to have some issues with us. And since I couldn't tell him what their issues are, I had to evade his questions. Which he noticed." She pressed her lips together for a moment. "As a result, he thinks that they are jealous of you, and that there's a love-triangle involving me, you, and Vi. Or possibly a ménage à trois."

Castle just knew that Vi, who had undoubtedly overheard them, would find this immensely amusing. Which meant the rest of his family would hear about this.

Which explained his relieved smile when Captain Montgomery yelled out of his office: "Beckett! You've got a case!"

*****​

As expected, Vi was chuckling for most of the drive to the scene of the crime.

"It's not funny," Kate said from the back bench of Castle's Shelby.

"Yes, it is!" the Slayer said while passing a speeding pizza delivery car.

Rick could feel Kate's eyes on the back of his head. He coughed. "For someone not involved, it could be seen as amusing, I guess." And it would fit so well into his book!

"Castle! Do you have any idea what the rumour mill at the precinct will make of this?" Beckett hissed. "Or the tabloids?"

"Ah… the tabloids will keep Vi out of this." His lawyer had seen to that.

Kate didn't seem to as happy about this information as she should have been, to his surprise. "That still leaves all my colleagues thinking that I'm in competition with Vi for your affection!"

"You should be flattered!" Vi chuckled. "Not many can be considered competition compared with me!"

"I think the rest of the precinct has taken Esposito's sudden loss of interest in you to mean you're not that hot," Kate said.

"What?" Vi turned her head to stare at Kate while taking the next turn. "Who is spreading that rumour? It's so his fault for not being able to handle me!" She scowled. "Just because I'm faster, stronger and a better shot than he is!"

"It's not that. He has trouble with the fact that you're a magically powered demon hunter," Kate corrected her.

Vi bared her teeth and turned her attention back to the road. "Damn bigots!"

It wasn't exactly bigotry, Rick knew that, but he didn't think that it would be a good time to explain the issues some religious people had with the supernatural. He exchanged a glance with Beckett, who winced a bit, then sighed. Maybe he could leave that to Alexis. It would be good training for her future Watcher-ness. Dear Lord, he still was using Scoobie terms! And English terms!

*****​

"Morning, Lanie. What do you have for us?" Beckett asked, stepping past the yellow tape into the side alley, past two uniforms keeping the gawkers away.

The medical examiner, bent over a man sprawled on the ground between two trash cans, looked up. "Male, twenty to thirty years old. Preliminary cause of death: Gunshot wound in the chest, no exit wound."

Castle stared at the body. "He's nude." Sometimes you had to state the obvious, if no one else did it.

Lanie nodded. "Yes." She probed the wound with a pair of tweezers. "I don't see any fabric inside the wound canal."

"So he was nude, or at least bare-chested, when he was shot," Castle deduced. He looked up at the fire escape above them. "Maybe he was fleeing from a cuckolded husband." Then Lanie pulled the bullet out, and held it up. It was deformed, and there was blood stuck to it, but Castle recognised a silver bullet. He had used them often enough himself. "Or it was a werewolf." It just been the full moon, after all.

Kate frowned. "Wouldn't he have been in his wolf form then?"

"Not if he was shot after changing back," Castle said.

"I'll have you a time of death once I'm back in the lab," Lanie said. "Unless werewolf bodies in human form are different from normal bodies," she added with a chuckle as she left for the ambulance. Perlmutter hadn't talked to her yet, then, Castle thought.

"Do you think it's a werewolf?" Kate said.

Vi bent down, sniffing the corpse. Castle looked around to check that no one was watching, and moved to block the line of sight anyway.

His Slayer stood up, frowning. "He smells like a wolf."

"A werewolf!" Castle nodded.

"No, a wolf."

"Or a dog?" Kate asked.

"It's a wolf!" Vi said. "I know what they smell like."

Her expression discouraged Rick from making a 'raised by wolves' joke. He would save that for his book. "So, we have a nude man, shot after the full moon, smelling of wolves." He grinned. "This is bound to be an interesting case!"

Unfortunately, the others didn't seem to share his enthusiasm.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, November 2009

"Do we have a name for our vic yet?" Richard Castle asked once they were back in the precinct.

"No. The uniforms haven't found any form of ID nearby and his prints are not in the system," Kate said without looking up from the file she was reading.

"There can't be that many people in close contact with wolves." Rick sat down on his chair. Which was not quite as comfortable as it could be, he thought. Maybe he could replace it with a more comfortable one.

"And how can we explain that connection? 'Our human bloodhound smelled wolf' will not go over well with the DA." Kate shook her head.

"Hey!" Vi glared at them from two desks away, where she was trying to flirt with Esposito and Ryan.

Castle frowned at Kate. Both because she was reminding him of the problems of mixing Slayer powers with proper police procedure, and because she was riling Vi up with her bloodhound remark. Even though his Slayer did have a better nose than most breeds. He rubbed his nose. "Well… hopefully Lanie will find some hair or such on the body."

"Which you'll make more werewolf comments about."

"Of course!" It was the best cover, after all.

"Don't you think Lanie should know the truth? Since she's working with bodies all day."

Now Kate was looking at him. He sighed. "Perlmutter said he'd do it 'when she's ready'."

"Don't tell me that the Medical Examiners have their own secret organisation!" Kate was making that cute surprised face again.

"Alright, I won't," Rick answered. When he saw her expression change into a glare, he quickly added: "It's not exactly an organisation. Just some… network, you might call it. Or maybe mentors is a better expression. Just some more experienced guys teaching the younger ones the ropes. I think."

"I might have to talk to Perlmutter then."

Castle hoped that talk would be more successful than his own with Esposito. Apart from assurances that it was him, not her, nothing had come of it. And Vi was still trying to 'crack him', as she called it. Apparently, it was now a matter of pride. Slayers!

"Anyway… what do we do if there is no wolf-trace on the good or bad man?" Rick played around with a pen taken from Kate's desk until she grabbed it out of his hands.

"We'll use the standard methods," she answered.

"Which work oh so well," he said, sighing.

"Not everyone has their personal supernatural…"

"Hey!"

"...organisation to help them in their investigations," Kate finished, rolling her eyes at Vi.

"It's not actually my personal organisation," Castle said. "I work for them, not the other way around. Just saying."

"You know what I mean," Kate said, frowning some more.

"Yes." It would be very nice to have an organisation of his own, of course. With special equipment and handshakes. Maybe not the handshakes.

Lanie calling Beckett interrupted his planning of an underground base.

*****​

"So… what did you find?" Rick asked when he and Kate entered Lanie's office.

"Cause of Death was a silver bullet that entered his heart. Shot from far enough that there are no powder burns on the chest." Lanie smiled. "DNA tests do not show anything out of the ordinary, and I have found no sign of anything inhuman in his anatomy. He's not even particularly hairy. Nor has he eaten human flesh - his stomach contained the remains of a quite normal burger with fries. Sorry, Castle, but he's not a werewolf."

"The transformation is magical in nature, so he could still be a werewolf," Rick said. Lanie rolled her eyes, and Beckett frowned at him. He coughed.

"But I have something for you, Castle: The man had contact to wolves. I found several wolf hairs on him." She grinned at him.

"Oh! Maybe he's a werewolf sitter?" Rick rubbed his chin. "It was the night of the full moon, after all. Such skills would have been in demand."

"Wolves, Castle. Not werewolves," Lanie said, glancing at Kate.

"A man can dream."

"We'll be looking into any zoo or wildlife preserve employees," the detective said. "Coming, Castle?"

*****​

"You know, Lanie's probably wondering why you didn't shoot my 'theories' down as usual," Rick remarked when Kate and he were back in the lift taking them back to her office.

She sighed. "I know that they are not absurd, which makes it hard to tear into them - unless I examine them with the knowledge that magic real in mind."

He blinked. "You're testing my theories?"

"Yes, Castle."

"I am one of the foremost experts on demons, you know." He grinned - he should have expected that.

"No one is perfect, Castle. And neither are theories." She grinned back at him.

"Some come close though." He smiled at her, until she understood, and blushed slightly.

*****​

"People always say that today's youth is growing up far apart from nature. You'd not be able to guess that, seeing as we must have gone through a dozen zoos and preserves so far," Castle complained - commented - when Vi stopped their car in front of the gate to the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge.

"You don't sound much like a nature lover yourself, Castle." Kate Beckett stretched - the drive up here had taken some time, even with Vi breaking traffic laws left and right.

"I do love nature!" he protested. "I've visited this area several times in the past, to be exact!"

"You mean you've been to Lake Placid," Kate deadpanned, already walking towards the entrance.

"That counts!" Rick said, hurrying after her while Vi chuckled.

Kate rang the bell, and after a minute or two, a middle-aged woman in sturdy clothes appeared. "The refuge is closed on Tuesdays," she said, not quite looking at the sign that displayed opening times next to the gate.

Kate flashed her badge, or her 'universal door opener', as Castle had once called it. "NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions."

*****​

"Yes, I recognise this man. Martin Miller. He visited the refuge a few months ago. Half a year, actually. He wanted to buy some of our great plains wolves. Pups. We refused, of course - he was just one more of those enthusiastic 'animal lovers' who wanted to have wild animals as pets, usually keeping them in pens in horrible conditions." The woman, who had introduced herself as Anne Smith, pointed at the fenced-in area behind her. "Wolves need more space than most people can provide for them."

"We have evidence that he was in close contact with wolves, shortly before his death," Kate said. "Do you think other preserves might have sold animals to him?"

"Not preserves, no." Anne shook her head. "We all know better than that. What kind of subspecies was he in contact with? "

"We actually haven't determined that yet. Could we have some hair samples to compare?"

"We have samples of our own wolves, but you'll have to ask other preserves and zoos for theirs." Anne looked over her shoulder. "Do you want to see our wolves?"

"Yes, please," Kate and Vi said, at the same time Castle said: "No!"

"Afraid of the big bad wolf, Castle?" the detective asked, with a grin.

"I'm not afraid of wolves." He had dealt with werewolves, after all. "But I think we don't have the time to visit them, and it's their day off, right? We shouldn't disturb them." He glanced at Vi, but his Slayer was studying the fenced-off area in front of them, smiling wildly. Her nostrils were flaring a bit, even.

Unfortunately, Kate and Anne mistook that as enthusiasm. "You can stay here," Anne said. "Or wait in the car," Kate added.

They were off before Rick could object any more. He sighed. Why weren't people listening to him?

*****​

"That was a disaster," Kate said once they were driving away from the preserve. "Anne couldn't understand why the wolves reacted that way. Fortunately, we could persuade her that we'd been contact with bears at another preserve, and that Vi had been hugging one."

Rick glared at his Slayer, who grinned.

"I just wanted to check if our vic smelled like those wolves," she said, with that innocent tone that hadn't fooled him, ever. "He didn't, actually."

"And you wanted to show them who's boss," Rick said. Slayers!

Her grin widened.

"Like a dog," Kate added from the back seat, and Vi's grin disappeared.

*****​

"That's probably the closest 'out in the woods' area to New York you can find," Rick commented a few hours later when they drew up in front of Miller's address.

Vi sniffed the air. "Wolves. Same scent as Miller."

"That was to be expected," Kate commented, then approached the door. She rang the bell. No one answered it.

"That was to be expected as well," Castle said, grinning.

"Someone's running inside," Vi cut in. "Towards the back." And she took off, at Slayer speed, and disappeared around the corner.

Castle and Beckett exchanged a glance, and then followed. Rick wanted to comment that there was no need to run as well, but that would have made him look lazy.

As expected - again! - it was over before either of them arrived. Vi was kneeling on a young man, a teenager, Castle thought, holding him in a painful arm lock.

"Let me go! I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Why did you run then when you heard the doorbell?" Kate asked, crouching down next to him and pulling his wallet out from the back pocket of his jeans. "Mister… Jeremiah Bancroft?"

"Jim. It's Jim Bancroft," the boy said. "And I just wanted to save the puppies!"

"The puppies?" Rick asked.

"He keeps them in the basement! A dozen of them!"

Which was, as they quickly found out, not quite correct. Miller had kept puppies in his basement. Emphasis on 'had'. It was empty, but it was clear that the dead man had kept several wolves down there. There were pens - or cells. Food bags, mostly empty, and poop bags. Not empty. Castle gagged at the stench.

"Blood," Vi suddenly said, and moved towards a door in the back. It wasn't locked.

"I didn't think people took 'puppy mill' that literally," Castle said a moment later, staring at the blood-covered tools and tables.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, November 2009

Both women glared at him, and he winced. "Too soon?"

Kate rolled her eyes and stepped inside, pulling on latex gloves while she carefully navigated the various stains on the concrete floor.

Rick and Vi followed her. "He skinned them," the Slayer said, pointing at a bloody frame from which straps of fur hung.

"Is there a market for wolf pelts?" Rick wondered. And if it was, would it be profitable? The whole set-up looked rather small-scale. He peered at a few cans with chemicals. "Did he cure the pelts too? Quite the entrepreneur, I think." Something didn't add up, though.

"Bottles of what looks like blood," Kate said, pointing at a shelf. "And dried meat."

"More meat," Vi said, after opening a large fridge.

"And bones here. It looks like he was a very wholesome butcher - no part went to waste;" Castle said. When no one laughed, he muttered "Though crowd."

"Ew…"

He looked up and saw Vi standing in the frame of a door at the back. Rick walked over to her and peered inside. "A sewing machine… 'Silence of the Lambs', anyone? Or would that be 'Silence of the Wolves'?"

"Castle, making clothes out of fur is not a sign of a serial killer. People have been doing that for thousands of years," Kate said, joining Rick and Vi.

"Not a serial killer… but a furry!" Rick nodded at the most prominent template pinned to the wall. "That's a fur suit!"

"That's not illegal either." Kate was shaking her head.

"It should be," Rick muttered under his breath. Then he blinked. "There's a book under those templates! And it doesn't look like a sewing book."

Kate walked over and brushed the papers on top of the book away. "'Skin-Walkers'," she quoted the title. "Those didn't appear in any of your books, Rick." She looked the book over. "And unless grimoires have started to be published with ISBNs, that's not a magic book either, isn't it?"

"Willow would have dealt with anyone trying to publish books covering real magic," Rick said. The last thing the world needed were more people dabbling in magic without a responsible teacher. "Not that there would be any books about real skin-walkers; the Navajo do not share any information about them with outsiders, and they certainly wouldn't write in English."

"This doesn't smell like magic either," Vi added, her gesture encompassing the whole basement.

"There's no ties to demons then," Kate said. "I'll call it in."

"Maybe there was a furry convention in New York, and Miller was killed by militant vegan furries after they realised that his suit was made from real fur?" Rick rubbed his chin.

"Is there even such a thing as militant vegan furries?"

"Well… wouldn't it make sense for plant-eating furries to be hostile towards carnivorous furries?" Rick held up his hands when he noticed the stares. "I'm no expert on furries. And I don't want to be."

"Too freaky for you, Castle?" Kate asked.

"No. But some of them look far too much like some demons, at night, without good lighting."

"Castle?"

"I didn't kill anyone… but a few might have been accidentally singed, a bit. By someone else. Hypothetically." Rick smiled widely.

Kate kept frowning at him, though.

*****​

"So, Mister Bancroft. Would you care to explain what exactly you were doing in Mister Miller's house?"

Sitting next to her in the interrogation room, Rick glanced at Kate when leaned over the desk between her and Bancroft. She was a sight when she was all focused like this. Impressive. And intimidating - for the suspects. Bancroft would crack soon.

"I told you - I wanted to save the puppies he had locked up in the basement."

"And you broke into his house for that."

"I had to!"

"And how did you know about those puppies? His neighbours had no idea that he had been keeping such pets."

The young man hesitated. "Ah…"

"You are currently studying biology in college."

"Yes?"

"Wildlife Biology, to be exact. And you spent one month helping out at a preserve - working with wolves." Kate stared straight into the kid's eyes. "You're almost an expert on wolves."

"Almost? I'm top of the class!" Bancroft said with an indignant tone.

"Were top of the class - until you took a sabbatical," Kate said, sitting down again.

"Dropped out, in other words," Castle added. "And not even for a good reason, like having painted the deacon's car pink." Mother had been amused even if she denied it, he was certain.

The kid glared at him, but pressed his lips together.

"We also found a stack of bills in your home." Kate dropped the bundle on the desk. "You're in financial troubles, aren't you?"

"I have a temporary cash flow problem."

"Which you wanted to solve by working part-time. You applied at several preserves, without success," Castle said. "Not enough experience."

"But," Kate continued, "there was an offer from a man in need of an expert on raising wolf pups. Quite a generous one, too."

Bancroft stared at her. Castle hoped the man would say that they couldn't prove this - that would make the scene perfect.

"So, you accept, and begin your descent into the dark shadows of the puppy mill world," Rick said in the same tone he used to read scary stories to Alexis. "Driven to crime by your debts and desire to work with wolves."

"No! I didn't know that the man had acquired the pups illegally!" Bancroft fell silent, realising too late what he had just admitted.

"And when did you realise that Mister Miller had not legally acquired those wolves?"

The man hesitated. Rick would have prodded him again, but Kate simply waited. She was right - Bancroft started to talk. "He kept saying that the permit for the pen in his backyard would soon arrive, that the basement was just a temporary solution.... I believed him, he was very convincing."

"And he paid you well," Rick cut in.

Bancroft looked down on the floor - Rick had been on the mark! "After a month, I started to question him. The puppies needed space. I wanted to get them to a preserve, until the pen was ready. That's when he fired me."

"Why didn't you inform the authorities?" Kate asked.

The boy took another deep breath. He wasn't looking at Kate or Rick. "I had… faked some documentation. And he knew it."

"A college degree?"

The kid nodded. "I needed the work, and I have the knowledge and training, but without a degree, no one would be hiring me, so I thought…"

Castle nodded. A classic tale. So classic, indeed, that he'd have to twist it some, to be able to use it, or his editor would complain. Maybe add some romance… expelled after a steamy affair with a professor, and blacklisted by the jealous husband of his paramour… no, people would think it was autobiographical.

"But if you broke in to save the animals, why didn't you leave when you discovered that the pens in the basement were empty?" Kate made a few notes on her pad.

"I saw the… remains, and I searched his house to find the names of his buyers."

"His buyers?"

"He must have sold the meat and fur - there wasn't enough in the house."

"Unless he was a very big eater," Castle added as they got up. The kid looked green in the face at that, as planned.

*****​

It was already late when they returned to Kate's desk, where Vi was sitting. On Kate's chair, Rick noticed.

Kate glared at her, and the Slayer got up - slowly. And then she stretched. Provocatively. Rick glanced around, but he couldn't spot Ryan or Esposito. A uniform was staring at Vi's chest as if the man had never seen a young woman in a tight top before. Castle shook his head.

"Where are Ryan and Esposito?" Kate asked while she adjusted her chair.

"Ryan was called home by his girlfriend, and Esposito went to Lanie's office to check on the results of her tests. Half an hour ago."

Rick coughed, and she glared at him, as if it was his fault that the two detectives had not enthusiastically joined the demon hunting. Granted, he had jumped at the chance to finally share some of his more impressive hunting stories when he had shot the breeze with the two detective, but he hadn't even mentioned Sunnydale. Not by name at least. Not everyone was cut out for that, anyway. Vi shouldn't be taking it personally, but of course, she was. Not that he was commenting on that - he knew better.

Instead, he said: "Well, we could go home as well. There's a few bookshops I'd like to check."

"You think Miller tried to get the real deal." Kate was closing windows on her computer.

"Yes. And I doubt that he would accept that there were no books by the Navajo, so some of the vendors might remember him."

"First wolf blood and shit, and now moldy books with a touch of evil… my poor nose." Vi pouted.

"You could use plugs if it's too much for you," Kate said. She sounded almost sincere.

"It's nothing," his Slayer said, quickly.

"Of course." Kate nodded.

Rick had the impression that this would be a rather tiring drive.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, November 2009

"We should get paid overtime for this," Vi said, passing the car in front of them with a very illegal manoeuvre in the middle of a crossing.

"We don't get paid for this at all," Rick Castle said. "We're private consultants, as far as the police are concerned."

"Everyone knows that consultants get paid!" his Slayer insisted.

"Actually, officially you're not consultants. You're just private citizens tagging along for PR reasons," Kate remarked from the backseat.

"We have helped solve quite a few cases, though," Castle said. "I like to think that this is at least unofficially appreciated."

"Almost as much as your doughnut and coffee bribes," Kate answered.

"We do their work for them, and we feed them..." Vi sighed. "I feel like we've adopted the NYPD."

"Says the girl who eats more of those doughnuts than the rest of the precinct combined." Kate was shaking her head; Rick knew that without having to glance over his shoulder. "I guess that makes you Castle's adopted daughter."

Rick saw Vi frown at hearing that.

"That would mean you're the stepmother, right?" the Slayer said, and Castle heard the unsaid 'evil' clearly.

Castle changed the topic before things could escalate, the best way he could think of: "Where do you want to stop to eat on the way?"

Of course, Vi's enthusiastic response triggered a remark about gluttony from Kate. Rick couldn't win.

*****​

"Skin-Walkers?" The old woman, 'Ms. Brooks', as the owner of the 'New Dawn' shop had introduced herself, pushed her tiny glasses up with one finger. "We're a respectable shop; we don't sell books about such topics." She raised her chin. "We respect the beliefs of our Native American brothers and sisters."

Rick thought the curses some shamans could cast upon those who defiled their rites were a good reason to respect the Navajos' faith, but commenting on that would have been counterproductive.

"Have you seen this man?" Kate showed the woman a picture of Miller.

Brooks peered at it, then pulled her glasses off and squinted. "Oh… him. Yes. A rather rude young man. He said he wanted to reconnect with his Native American ancestry, but if he had one drop of Native American blood in his veins, it'd have to be the result of a transfusion." She shook her head. "I sent him on his way."

"When was that?" Kate was remarkably professional, Rick noticed, while Vi was strolling through the shop and poking at the various trinkets on sale. Hopefully, she'd not break anything and claim it had been an evil item.

"Oh… six months or so ago." The woman frowned. "I told him there were no respectable books on that topic, but he didn't listen! He was as bad as that werewolf hunter asking around."

"Werewolves?" Kate's question was aimed as much at Brooks as it was at Castle, he realised.

"There haven't been any troubles with werewolves in New York in years," Rick said. "Why would a hunter visit?"

"And without asking for permission!" Vi growled. "Didn't Buffy teach Cain that that you don't hunt in a Slayer's territory?" The sound of breaking wood interrupted her next words, and she stared at the wrecked dream catcher in her hands.

"You broke it, you bought it," Brooks said firmly.

"More like, she broke it, I bought it," Castle muttered.

Vi pouted while Kate tried not to laugh.

*****​

"I have to grant our victim this," Rick said a few hours and shops later, when they were walking back to his Shelby, "he certainly was persistent. He visited every shop catering to the magically-minded in New York."

"And he made such an ass out of himself, that everyone remembered him," Vi added.

"And he had no success," Kate said. "And seeing as he has not shown much concern for the law when he started raising wolves, what are the odds that he tried to gain his information illegally?"

"From the Navajos?" Rick shook his head. "Slim to none. Their shamans would have… dealt with him, should he acted like he did in those shops. And not in the 'making a deal' meaning of the word."

"Maybe there's a record of an altercation at the reservation," Kate said. "I'll have Esposito and Ryan look into it."

"Oh… if there's a casino around, they'll have a fun time sifting through all those reports," Rick said.

"Serves them right!" Vi scoffed.

"Just because they do not return your feelings is no reason to be angry at them," Kate said.

"What feelings?" Vi snarled.

"Wounded pride?" Rick ventured. He ignored Vi's glare. She certainly hadn't been serious about either of the two detectives. He cleared his throat. "In any case, we'll have to look into the werewolf hunter rumour. Miller was killed with a silver bullet."

"But Miller was no werewolf," Kate pointed out.

"A hunter might not have known that," Rick said.

"Poachers in my territory! Damn kill stealers!" Vi growled again.

"Vi, Miller was no demon; you wouldn't have killed him." Or so Rick hoped.

"It's the principle of the thing!"

"Many animals are territorial," Kate said, nodding. Which earned her a glare from Vi.

"In any case," Castle said, "we'll have to find out if any of the known hunters are in New York."

"There are known werewolf hunters?" Kate raised her eyebrows.

"Known in the right circles, yes. There's a thriving black market for werewolf pelts in Sri Lanka - don't ask me why." Rick chuckled. "But there aren't that many." It was a high-risk profession. Almost as dangerous as being a Watcher, Rick thought. "We'll get you names to run through the system."

"I'll have to make up an anonymous tip again, so the D.A. won't know that we're following a demon hunter's knowledge?" Kate sounded more resigned than annoyed.

"Well… it works?" Castle smiled at her.

Now she seemed annoyed. He wondered why.

"Do you really think it's possible that a hunter mistook Miller for a werewolf?"

"If he had been wearing a fur suit, and acting like a wolf…" Richard Castle paused while he opened the door to his car for her, "I can definitely see such a thing happening."

"Those amateurs don't have Slayer senses, so they'd not be able to tell a furry from a furball!" Vi said, sliding into the driver's seat with her usual grace.

"It's not impossible to hunt demons without supernatural help," Rick said. "Nikki Heat certainly will manage just fine using her brain and guts."

Vi snorted. "She'll have to get bailed out by the Vampire Hunter main character often enough."

"I rather think that Nikki Heat will have to bail out the short-sighted, impulsive Vampire Hunter from trouble," Kate remarked, "until she learns that not all problems can be solved with violence. Which shouldn't take her more than, say, a dozen books to learn."

While the two women had their proxy war in the car, Castle was very tempted to ask if they were forming 'Team Nikki' and "'Team Vicky', as he had decided to call the Vampire Hunter in his next book. He didn't, of course - they'd gang up on him at once. At least, he told himself, Kate seemed to have warmed up to her alter ego starring in one of his novels.

Although that could just be because Vi was needling her about it. Sometimes, Kate was as competitive as a Slayer.

*****​

"The lab sent their results," Esposito announced the next morning as soon as they arrived at the bullpen. "Five months ago, there was a break-in at the Wolf Mountain Nature Center in Chenango County in upstate New York. Several of the animals escaped, and while most of them were recaptured, a few pups were never found. The hair found on Miller matches that pack, or so the tests claim."

"Wow, that was quick. I guess everyone loves puppies, even the forensic labs," Rick said. "I bet the FBI would love to make pupnapping a federal crime. Their funding would double."

Ryan chuckled, but Kate was rolling her eyes. Even though that hadn't been a dig against the Fed Ex. Well, mostly not. "Tough crowd," he muttered.

"While it's nice to know where his wolves came from, I doubt he was murdered in retaliation for stealing puppies," Kate said.

"You never know… maybe the Great Wolf Spirit possessed a man to avenge this slight against his children…" Rick trailed off when he saw everyone but Vi staring at him. "I'm joking!"

There were drawbacks to having more people know the truth, he thought.

"We found out that there are werewolf hunters in New York. One of them could have killed Miller. I've received an anonymous tip with a few names," Kate said.

Esposito and Ryan turned to stare at Castle at once. They were even worse at keeping a secret than Buffy! He glared at them until they cringed and turned away. At least some people reacted to his glares as they should!

After picking the jelly-filled doughnuts from the box in the break room, Castle joined Kate at her desk.

"You were right, Castle," she said. "Here's a report about a man who was stopped because he was carrying a rifle on his back. He had a hunting license, and told the uniforms checking him that he was carrying it to a gunsmith."

"Who is it?"

"Gib Cain."

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, November 2009

They found Gib Cain in the hotel he had given as an address to the police. That might mean that the hunter was not involved in the murder, Richard Castle thought, or he would have made a runner. He was in the lobby, reading a newspaper.

"Mister Cain? NYPD," Kate said, showing her badge.

The man looked up from his newspaper - the National Enquirer, Castle noted - and scowled. "Is this about my rifle again? I showed you my license!" He was about fifty years old, but looked older - or more weathered, Rick thought. If Cain had been a sailor, 'crusty' would be a good attribute for a character patterned after him.

"You did, which is why we're here. Where were you in between Monday 11 pm and Tuesday 2 am?" Kate asked while Rick snuck a peek at the article Cain had been reading. Bigfoot sightings? There were a number of demons behind that myth, but Castle hadn't heard of any recent trouble with them.

"During the night of the full moon?" Cain's scowl deepened. "I was drinking with a few acquaintances, and then I went to bed. The concierge saw me return. What's this about?"

"A man was found shot to death with a silver bullet," Castle said. "Sound familiar?"

"My rifle was with my gunsmith, locked up. You can ask him."

"We will," Kate said.

"But as a big bad werewolf hunter, you'll have a backup piece." Rick smiled. "Just in case your rifle gets damaged… or bent."

The hunter's eyes widened, and he glanced from Castle to Vi and back. "Slayer," he hissed.

"Right on the mark," Vi said, widely grinning. "And you're poaching in my territory!"

"I'm not hunting in any Slayer's territory!" Cain spat out. "Even though there are far too many of you around these days. Used to be, there was one of you, on the Hellmouth, and the rest of the world offered plenty of game! Nowadays it's worse than trying to hunt big game in Africa!"

"Without us, you'd be demon chow!" Vi hissed.

Rick stepped between the two. "Now, now… we know you've cleaned up your act since your run-in with Buffy - she was just in New York, by the way," he added, and Cain cringed. "But you have to admit that your presence in our fair city, right when a man is shot with a silver bullet, raises some questions."

"Especially since we haven't had any troubles with rabid werewolves!" Vi said, moving to Castle's side to glare at the man.

"Really? I heard differently from the locals. I was given a list of feral werewolves, even!" Cain sneered at them.

Rick exchanged a glance with Vi. That was a first.

"And who gave you this list?" Kate cut in. The man hesitated "You can tell us here, or on the precinct."

"Your choice!" Castle said, smiling brightly.

"Brooks."

Castle exchanged a surprised glance with Kate. "The owner of the 'New Dawn' shop?" he asked, to make certain they were talking about the same person.

"Yes. But I wasn't about to hunt in a Slayer's territory. Not even if they didn't keep it safe for the rest of the humans."

"Do you have that list?" Kate asked while Castle took a step to the side, blocking Vi while she snarled at the hunter.

"Yeah." The man pulled out a rather grimy note, with five names on it.

Martin Miller was the second from the top.

"Don't leave the city," Kate told the hunter before they left.

*****​

"The names on the list don't match up with known werewolves," Castle said, after a quick check on his phone back in the car. Cain had sounded sincere - resentful, but sincere - back then.

"You have a list of known werewolves?" Kate asked. "Of course you do," she added before Castle could confirm it.

"Most of the werewolves are perfectly nice people who lock themselves up in their basement three nights per month," Rick said. "Not any more dangerous than people who practise bondage. Who, I have to add, are not dangerous at all. But every once in a while, someone gets bitten who likes being a werewolf. It makes hunting those down easier if you can quickly check the other werewolves."

"Do they all have a unique scent?" Kate asked. Almost innocently, Rick thought,

"Yes," he said while Vi ground her teeth. He quickly continued before his Slayer could retort. "So… we have a list of names of allegedly dangerous werewolves, given to a known werewolf hunter by a woman 'in the know' about the supernatural. Who then complains to us about a rude hunter asking around. Why does that sound like a set-up?"

"Because it is one? I knew you couldn't trust that woman! She so scammed me with her far too easily breakable shoddy merchandise!" Vi exclaimed.

"Where's the motive, though?" Kate asked. "It's not enough for a case yet. Nor for one of your 'interventions'."

"We'll need to look into Mrs. Brooks again," Rick said. "There has to be a connection. People don't get murdered for being rude when asking about books."

"Librarians might dream about it, though," Vi said. "Giles certainly did."

Castle cleared his throat. This wasn't the time to speculate about Rupert's inclinations. "So, we need investigate Mrs. Brooks. And without using supernatural or illegal means," he added, for Vi's benefit. "This looks like a mostly mundane case, and should be solved through the proper channels."

"Boring and inefficient channels," Vi complained.

"You might be surprised at what modern forensics can achieve," Kate said from the backseat. She sounded quite smug.

*****​

"So? What has CSI: New York found out?" Vi could sound really smug as well, Rick noted.

"That Miller visited Brook's shop the day before he died," Kate answered, dropping grainy traffic cam pictures on her desk. "We found his car, but forensics hasn't found anything in it."

"Isn't that enough for us to interrogate her?" Vi asked.

"It would be - but if she lawyers up, we have nothing to hold her for. We might get a search warrant, but if we do not find anything in her shop…" Kate trailed off with a frown.

"See? That's why it's boring and inefficient!" Vi said. "We should just go in and shake her until she confesses. Poaching in my city…"

"Miller wasn't a demon or werewolf," Rick pointed out.

"It's the principle of the thing!" Vi pouted.

"If only you were that principled when dealing with the law," Kate said.

"I am!" Vi perked up. "I always ignore the law if it gets into the way of slaying!"

Rick sighed. "So, since he was found naked and meant to be mistaken for a werewolf, we can assume someone took his suit."

"Brooks!" Vi said.

"She probably disposed of the suit already," Kate said.

Castle kicked Vi, who was sitting on Kate's desk again, before she could utter a snarky remark. "But she has to have been there, too. And she must have used a car."

"Not hers, though." Kate said, picking up his thought. "Not a cab either, nor a borrowed one or a rental - that would have left witnesses."

Rick nodded. "I don't think she'd risk stealing a car..."

"...which leaves buying a used car just for the occasion," Kate finished.

"A very cheap used car," Vi added. "She's a greedy one!"

*****​

"Bingo!" Esposito said, waving a fax around a few hours later. "A woman matching Brooks's description bought a used car at a dealer in New Jersey - under a fake name. The DMV noticed the discrepancies in the paperwork filed by the dealer. We've got traffic cam footage of the car near the location of the murder, and we're checking if we can find where she ditched the car."

"Foiled by the efficiency of the bureaucracy!" Rick said.

For some reason Vi glared at him.

"Can we go and arrest the poacher now?" his Slayer asked.

"We'll need to find the car first, to nail the case shut," Kate explained. "Be patient."

"I think we'll take a stroll through the usual haunts," Castle said. "Visit a few bars, maybe, while we wait."

"Oh!" Vi perked up - as usual for her when faced with the prospect of violence. Castle wouldn't have minded waiting at the precinct, but Vi was getting a bit too impatient. A patrol would do her good.

"Text us once you have the car?"

"Sure, Castle. Take the girl for a walk."

Castle had to push Vi out of the precinct after that.

*****​

"We found the car, we found blood inside, and we could link it to Brooks through witnesses, and fibres found inside the car that match her clothes," Kate explained during dinner the next day. "She confessed already. Too bad you weren't there at the arrest."

Rick, propping up his sprained ankle on a cushion, couldn't tell if she was truly sympathetic or not. He decided to assume the best. "Thanks."

"What did that?" Kate nodded at his leg.

"He stumbled while dodging a claw swipe from a Polgara Demon," Vi said, sliding on her seat.

"The floor gave way," Castle said.

"Clumsy," Vi whispered to Kate loud enough for Castle to hear.

"And the eye?" Kate asked, pointing at his head.

"Dumb jock hit him while we were saving the idiot from a vampire posing as his girlfriend," Vi said.

It wasn't his best night, Castle thought, but everyone had a day or night off once in a while. He coughed. "So… why did our dear Mrs. Brooks kill Miller?"

"For money."

"She didn't strike me as a hit-woman," Castle said. Although a harmless-looking old woman who worked as a professional assassin would make a great character for a novel!

"Her money. Apparently, Miller had found out that she was dealing with poachers…"

"I knew it!" Vi said gleefully.

"... the normal kind of poachers," Kate clarified, "and blackmailed her into supporting his 'ignorant attempt to become a skin-walker' until she felt that killing him was better than paying him off. So she sold him a lie about a ritual, waited until he was 'sky-clad', and shot him, trying to make it look like a werewolf hunt gone wrong."

"Which, given her greed, was probably five minutes after he started!"

Vi was still carrying a grudge for that broken piece of merchandise, Castle thought.

He smiled. "So… case closed! And we didn't even have to threaten her with telling Cain who tried to frame him for murder!"

Kate was glaring at him.

"What?"

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

"Either there is an Apocalypse looming," Rick Castle said out loud, looking at the display on his desk phone, "or someone's hacked my computer." He had been on the way to the kitchen, for a late breakfast, when he had noticed his phone was blinking.

"Hm?" Alexis asked, less than eloquently, from the door to his office, waving with a paper bag containing fresh croissants and doughnuts.

"Six missed calls, all of them from London," he explained, pointing at the phone.

"Willow did the security on all our computers; no one can hack through her code," Alexis declared, digging into the bag and retrieving a croissant while she walked towards him.

"Unless it was Willow herself who did the hacking." If that could be called hacking - she had full access after all. He reached for the bag, and she dropped it on his desk while looking at the phone herself.

"Why didn't you take the calls?" His daughter frowned. "Wait… they called at five in the morning? That has to be important!"

"If it was important they would have called Vi when I didn't answer," Rick said. "Since she didn't shake me out of my bed, I can only conclude that there is no apocalypse scheduled. Which means that someone has to have hacked my computer."

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Alexis asked, between two bites from her croissant. Unlike him, who was in his pajamas and a dressing gown, she was dressed in street clothes already. Bu she hadn't pulled an all-nighter either.

"Because I sent the finished draft of 'Heat Wave' to my publisher at 4.47 am this morning." In hindsight, Rick thought, he shouldn't have told the Scoobies that in his new series, there would be more than one vampire hunter at a time. They had all taken this to mean that they might appear in the book as well, even if only as a cameo. As if he would do that! Well… maybe in the next book.

"Oh. OH!" Alexis was glaring at him. "You told Gran two days ago that you were stuck on the final scene!"

"I was," he defended himself. "But I had a breakthrough last evening, and I finished the book in one go!" Well, the first draft. The editors would wreak havoc on it - especially on a new series. He'd probably have to rewrite half of it. But a good bestselling author listened to their editors if they wanted to keep being a good bestselling author and to avoid becoming a mediocre bestselling author with a lot of indiscriminating fans.

"And you didn't tell me? Dad!" She was frowning at him, hands on her hips. It would have looked more impressive if she hadn't been chewing hastily on the rest of her croissant a moment before.

"I just woke up!"

"You didn't wake up when Kate left?" She looked at him as if she expected him to lie to her!.

"No." It didn't count when you fell asleep again after five minutes of semi-coherence.

"Well, you're awake now. Send me a copy!"

Claiming that his publisher had sworn him to secrecy wouldn't work - it hadn't worked since Alexis had started to read his contracts five years ago. Rick bought himself some time by picking a doughnut before answering. "It's just the first draft. You know how much a book changes until the final version."

"Yes. Which is why I want to read the first draft, so any urgently needed changes can be implemented early on." Her smile looked disturbingly like Vi's when his Slayer was in a particularly belligerent mood.

"'Urgently needed changes'?"

"Just in case you modeled a character after me." And she showed her teeth. Vi definitely was a bad influence on his daughter - the wrong kind of bad influence, to be exact. Why had he ever thought that the Scoobies would be good for his too-serious daughter?

"I didn't!" He hadn't. Really.

"Not consciously, maybe. But you do remember the Loremaster's daughter in 'Munich Massacre', don't you?"

"That character was just a generic cute kid." That was his story, and he as sticking to it!

"A kid my age, described as 'precocious'. With red hair." She put both her hands on his desk and leaned forward - a very familiar looking pose, he thought, another thing to blame Vi for. "And a stuffed rabbit named 'Mister Bunny'."

"Alright! That time, I may have been influenced - subconsciously - by my absolutely wonderful experiences raising my precious and precocious daughter," he admitted, "but I can assure you that nothing like that happened in this book."

"What did you tell me when it came to boys and their promises, Dad?"

He blinked. He had told her a lot about boys over the years. "Um…"

"'Trust, but verify'. And you certainly count as a boy," she added.

"I don't!" he protested.

She merely glanced at his laser tag gear in response. Damn!

He sighed. "Don't tell anyone that I sent you a copy, though. I don't want to be called out for favoritism." Or was that nepotism when it came to his daughter?

"Favoritism?" Vi peeked inside his office. "Oh, doughnuts!"

Rick managed to pull his hand away before he lost it when his Slayer made a grab for the bag. Four seconds and two unhealthy bakery products later, she blinked. "What was that about not telling anyone?"

He pleaded silently with his daughter to remain silent. They shared a secret as father and daughter. It was a bonding experience.

"Dad finished the first draft of Heat Wave," Alexis said. When Vi gasped and stared at Castle, his daughter used the opportunity to grab another croissant from the bag before leaving him to the tender mercies of his Slayer.

She definitely had inherited that ruthlessness from her mother, Castle thought.

*****​

"You finally managed to get up, Castle?" Kate greeted him when he entered the 12th Precinct.

Her pointed glance to the clock at the wall was a fine touch, Rick thought. Apparently, his girlfriend - and, he hoped, soon-to-be fiancée - hadn't been as understanding of his need to write all night when inspiration had finally hit him as he had thought this morning.

He handed her a cup of coffee - just as she liked it - and sank into his usual chair - he really should replace that one with a more comfortable one, maybe one with a massage function, for those days after a demon hunt left him sore and stiff - and sighed. "I actually got up earlier than it may appear, but my family and friends ganged up on me, and it took me some time to escape from their clutches."

"Speaking of clutches - were is Vi?" Kate looked at the entrance to the bullpen.

"She is staying home today." He had finished his own cup on the drive there already - without Vi at the wheel, the trip took longer than usual - and he needed more coffee. But unless he decided to buy a coffee maker for the precinct right now, he'd have to either drink the brown dishwater in the break room, or go outside. Wasn't there some coffee delivery service?

"Oh? She wasn't hurt, was she?" Kate asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh?" He blinked. "No, no. She's reading."

"Reading?" Kate looked puzzled for less than a second. Then her eyes widened. "You finished your book!"

"The first draft," he corrected her, almost automatically at this point. "Very raw. Very much not a finished work. You'd lose all respect for me as a writer if you read that mess, trust me. Almost a drunken ramble, in parts."

Kate didn't say anything, just stared at him with narrowed eyes. She wasn't buying his excuses. Story of his life. And especially, of this morning.

"I'll mail the draft to you as soon as I get home," he said.

She smiled at him, and he felt his heart lift. What was one more critic, anyway? Feedback was good! Oh, wait. Kate was the model for the main character. And he had taken certain liberties…

Why was here never a case when you needed a distraction?

*****​

Four hours later, he cursed himself for thinking that. He should have known better than to tempt Murphy.

Alexis was missing.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

On the TV on the bullpen, a pillar of smoke was rising into the Sky above New York. Police and News helicopters were circling it, and the reporter on the ground was repeating what they already knew: There had been an explosion on the roof of Marlowe Prep. No reports of any victims, yet. Very little visible damage to the building. The first experts were talking about a hoax. Or a warning by a terrorist group.

Rick Castle knew better. This wasn't a hoax - Marlowe Prep was his daughter's school, and she wasn't answering her phone. Alexis was smart; after such an explosion, she would immediately contact him, Vi or his mother. Maybe even Mary. Even if she had lost her phone, she would call from someone else's. Or find a landline.

But she wasn't answering her phone, and she wasn't calling. Which meant she couldn't call. Which meant…

"Alexis has been kidnapped!" he yelled at Kate.

"What?" The detective turned around and stared at him.

He pointed at the TV. "That's her school. It happened right when she was leaving, and I can't reach her on the phone." He held up his own cell phone, which was once more dialing his daughter's number.

"Are you certain?"

He controlled himself, even if he wanted to yell how obvious it was. "Her grandparents died in a terrorist attack on a building. If a bomb went off at her school she would call me - with her phone, or someone else's," Castle said.

"He grandparents died in a terrorist attack?" Ryan was staring at him. Rick realised that he was now the center of attention.

"London 2002. Entire building gone." He remembered how afraid Alexis had been for her mother, that day.

"The school was barely scratched," Esposito commented.

"Plenty of students will have run away in panic," Ryan said, "and forgot to call their parents."

"Not Alexis," Castle insisted. "And even if she did - she's not answering her phone. You know how attached teenagers are to their phones; she would have noticed by now if she had simply lost it." If it hadn't been Alexis, he would have laughed at that.

"That's true," someone said in the background. "They would take pictures of themselves in front of the school."

Not Alexis, Castle wanted to say. He didn't - the faster the police accepted that this was a kidnapping, and not some hoax, the better. His daughter's life depended on it.

Kate looked at him for a second, then nodded. "Start the investigation. I'll take responsibility."

"Isn't that usually my line?" Relief made him blurt the words out, but no one laughed.

*****​

"Their cell phones were found in a dumpster near her school." That was Esposito, just back from canvassing the area around Alexis's school, holding up a plastic bag containing two phones.

Kate Beckett nodded at him. "Good. Pass them to the IT department; they might find something in the memory." Alexis might have managed to set the phone on recording, Kate thought - the girl had received training for such situation, given her family's background.

As soon as Esposito had left, Ryan leaned back from his computer and yelled to her: "I've got the recordings from the security camera of the electronics shop on the other side of the street."

She hurried over to him, looking over his shoulder.

"See? Here are the two girls leaving school together."

"They're not leaving together," Kate corrected him. "They aren't talking to each other or even looking at each other; they're just walking into the same direction at the same time."

He nodded, then pointed at the screen. "Look at this van. Drives slowly, and stops when it passes the two. And right at that moment, there's an explosion on the roof of the school."

That made everyone turn around and look at the school, away from the van. And started a panic. Kate saw the students starting to run and the van drive on - and Alexis and El-Haddad had vanished. "Did you get the van's license plates?"

"Yes. According to the registry, they belong to a flower service in Queens." Ryan's face told Kate that he didn't think that anything would come of that.

She agreed. "Probably stolen. Send a uniform to check up on the shop." They couldn't afford to miss any lead, no matter how improbable. Maybe there was a fingerprint on the delivery van the plates had been taken from. Such things happened, after all.

"Right."

"And track the van's route through traffic cameras."

He nodded. That was far more likely to get them results - but it would take time, or a lot of luck. And the longer it took them to trace the van, the further the kidnappers would have gone.

She went back to her whiteboard and added the results from her colleagues. The board was still rather empty, containing nothing more than a map of the school and pictures of the two victims, Alexis Castle and Aicha El-Haddad. Pictures of their parents. Both of them rich - the El-Haddad significantly more so than Castle. A fact Kate would have mentioned with a smirk during any other investigation.

But it wasn't just any investigation. Kate knew Alexis. And liked the girl. They might even become family one day, as Castle had been hinting at lately in his not so subtle ways. This was personal. So personal that Kate knew that she should withdraw from the case - she wasn't objective enough. But if she did that, who would deal with Castle and keep him from going out of control? Vi certainly wouldn't; the Slayer would back Castle up to the hilt. Probably literally, too.

She shook her head and focused on the case again. She was a detective, she could, had to do this.

The two girls had no ties - Castle and their classmates had confirmed that. So, one had been the kidnapping target, and the other… had been taken as well. Using a spectacular distraction that was bound to draw attention from both the news and federal agencies. Even if the bomb had been an 'overgrown firework', as the Precincts expert had called it, at least some agencies were going to treat this as a terrorist attack.

Why would anyone do this? Why draw that much attention? The rest of the kidnapping had been professional. This wasn't just a kidnapping. This was a demonstration. But who would go to those lengths, and for whom? Castle, or El-Haddad?

She walked over to Ryan. "I need a thorough background check of the El-Haddads!"

He looked at her. "I'm still tracking the van."

"Pass that to IT. This is more important."

"Are you certain?"

Kate nodded. It made sense, and her gut agreed. "People who fake a terrorist attack as a distraction won't be caught in their first getaway vehicle. Pass that task on and get on El-Haddad."

She saw Esposito return to the bullpen. "Esposito! We're going to the El-Haddads."

She saw him shake his head, and frowned. What… Then she saw the men and women in familiar (and rather cheap, Castle would say) suits enter the precinct. Feds, here to take over.

They were faster than usual - but then, this was a potential terror attack.

Kate sighed. She hoped Castle wouldn't antagonise them. Or they him.

Then she saw Will among the agents and winced. Her hope had just died.

*****​

"Mister Castle."

"Agent Sorenson." During any other investigation, Rick Castle would have made a joke about the man's name, or asked how Alaska had been this time of the year. But this wasn't any other investigation, and he had far more important things to do than cut down Agent Jealouson's ego.

"You know each other?" the female agent asked. Walker something.

"We've met," the Fed Ex said. "Unfortunately."

On the other hand, the man had just started it. And Castle always worked better when he didn't have to control his tongue too much. "We've worked together on a or two case before," he said with a wide smile.

"I was under the impression that you were an author." Walker's face showed what she thought of authors.

"That's what my bulletproof vest says. Actually, it says 'Writer', but close enough for government work." He smiled. Behind the two Feds, Kate was baring her teeth at him. Maybe he should cut the snark down a bit? No.

"This is a federal case. What deal you have with the local police department doesn't matter now. But even if you were a federal agent you are far too close to the case to be part of the investigation," Walker stated.

"And it's on American soil," Fed Ex added. The man still thought Castle was working for the CIA, then. And judging by the puzzled look of his colleague, he hadn't shared that suspicion.

"Trust me, Agent, breaking the law is the furthest thing from my mind." He wasn't even lying - until Alexis was safe, he didn't care at all about laws. "You have my number, or Kate's, if you need me."

He turned to leave.

"Mister Castle! We require your cooperation in this case. Your daughter's life is in danger," Walker said.

"I know. I'll call you should the kidnapper contact me. And no, you don't need to tap my phone - it's already set up." He nodded at them, then left the precinct.

"Castle!" Kate hissed behind him before he reached the elevator. "What are you doing?"

"Going home."

He entered the elevator. Kate followed him. When the doors had closed, she asked: "Where's Vi?"

"Shaking down the usual suspects for information." Without success so far.

"And what will you be doing? You're not about to wait at home for her or us."

"I'll actually be waiting at home," he corrected her.

She blinked, then her eyes widened. "You called London."

Castle nodded. "The Council's prepared for such an event. Willow will track Alexis with a spell." He grinned with more humour than he felt. "They'll arrive in two hours."

Which would be the longest two hours of his life.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

"No, Agent Smith, you do not need to be here. As I've told your superior before, I've set up a relay, so you will be informed at once and can listen in, should the kidnappers call me to name their demands." Richard Castle was glaring at the two Feds standing in front of his door. That was the second time they had come to bother him.

"Mister Castle, I understand that you are under a lot of stress. Anyone in your situation would be. But we cannot help your daughter if you do not cooperate with us," the other agent - a young woman, Hutchins - said. "Please, let us do our job."

He was tempted to shout at them that he could deal with stress much better than they could - had stared into hell itself, and had fought the First Evil - but that might make them try to have him committed, so he controlled himself. "I am cooperating with you. I am providing you with all the information and access you need to do your job. But you do not need to do your job in my home! You can sit and wait for a call on my landline in one of your black vans outside!" He really couldn't have any Feds in his flat when the Scoobies arrived. That wouldn't end well.

The female Fed flinched, so Rick probably hadn't sounded as calm as he thought. Smith, though - and that Fed only needed sunglasses and about twenty more years and he would fit into M.I.B. - looked distinctly unamused. In the Royal sense of the word. "Mister Castle. It's not just about your daughter. The circumstances of this kidnapping indicate a strong possibility that an organised group with more than just monetary goals is involved. And seeing as your ex-wife's parents were killed in a terrorist attack seven years ago, an attack which has never been solved, I have to point out, you and the rest of your family could be in danger as well. You need our protection."

Castle took it back - no one in the movie would have talked like that. He didn't mention it, though. Nor did he point out that the only danger his mother was currently facing was wearing a hole in the floor of his flat. Instead he smiled at the two Feds. "I do believe that I'm already as safe as I can be, Agent Smith."

"Yep, he is!" Vi said, right behind the two Feds. Completely surprised - Hutchkins loudly gasped - they whirled around. Smith even went for his gun, but Vi grabbed his arm and held it in place. "You're a bit jumpy, aren'tcha?" Her toothy grin would have made even a Polgara Demon jumpy, Castle thought.

"My bodyguard, Miss O'Malley," he said with a wide smile. "As you can see, she's easily able to guarantee my security." Rick didn't have to add 'much better than you two idiots' - they understood his meaning perfectly well, judging by their expressions. "Now, please leave and start doing your job." He waited until they had gone a few steps, then called after them: "And tell Agent Sorenso that I don't need spies in my flat!"

Once inside his flat, he sighed. "Did you find out anything from the demons of New York?" If she had, she would have called him, but he had to ask anyway.

Vi shook her head. "Nothing. And I was thorough. Either those guys are new in town, or they have no ties to the resident scum."

"Not to the resident demon scum," Rick amended her statement. "But this looks too organised for a group of strangers not familiar with New York."

Mother appeared on top of the stairs, a glass in hand. Castle hoped it was her first or second. She slowly descended. "I take it there have been no news."

Vi shook her head. "Busting demon heads was a bust."

"And the Feds are as useless as if this was a typical crime drama," Castle added.

"Speaking of, where's our detective?" Vi asked, making a show of sniffing the air.

Castle overlooked her attitude - she was as tense as he was, and needed the release it provided. "Kate's picking up the Scoobies at the airport."

"Oh? I'd wondered if you'd spring for a chopper." Vi slid out of her leather jacket and threw it on the backrest of the couch, revealing the harness for her Glock and for the various blades she wore underneath. It covered almost as much skin as her tank top. If Alexis started to follow her example… then he would be happy beyond belief because that would mean she would return safely.

"No, that would draw too much attention." He had actually considered that, but the time gained would have been marginal, since there was no good landing spot near his flat. And the Scoobies rappelling from a hovering helicopter definitely would draw too much attention. Especially if they were carrying their usual assortment of weapons.

"Well have to hope that there won't be a traffic jam," Vi commented, heading to the kitchen to raid his fridge.

"If that happens I have it on good authority that it would justify using the siren in her car," Castle responded.

"Really?" Vi was leaning back so her head peaked out from behind the fridge's open door. "She'd break the law for us?

"It's not exactly breaking the law," Rick retorted. "Just… stretching it a bit."

"I'll remember that next time I get a traffic ticket!" Vi yelled back while grabbing the ingredients for a sandwich. Or three. Feeding her was a bigger drain on his grocery budget than restocking his wine cellar after one of Mother's parties.

He stared at the clock at the wall, then, then checked the time on his phone. That said the same: Eighty-five more minutes until the plane arrived. His phone also informed him that he hadn't received any calls since he sent all information he had to the Scoobies thirty minutes ago. It looked like the Feds had - finally! - gotten his message.

The doorbell rang again.

Or not, Castle thought, clenching his teeth. If they couldn't take a polite hint, maybe they needed an impolite hint? Vi throwing them out into the street, headfirst, might do the job. Maybe they tried to enter, and he could claim self-defence too?

He reached the door and checked the spyglass. It wasn't the Feds, but an old man. He could see his reflection, so he wasn't a vampire. Full head of white hair. Good suit, a class above the usual federal suit - had the government a special agency to procure them in bulk? He buried the stray thought and checked the screen next to the door for the cameras covering the hallways. No one was waiting around the corner. "We've got a stranger in front of the door," he announced.

Vi was at his side in a second, swallowing what was probably one half of a footlong sandwich as she drew her gun and loosened the short sword in its sheath on her back. "Ready."

He checked that Mother had retreated from the living room, then nodded and opened the door. "Yes?" Maybe it was a fan. Or someone looking for his neighbour. Both had happened before.

"Mister Castle?"

Vi pushed Castle to the side before he could answer and pointed her gun straight at the man. "He's armed. Three guns." She sniffed the air. "And he has recently fired one!" Not a demon, or she would have said so.

For an old man faced with a large-calibre pistol aimed at his head - a pistol in the hands of a decidedly hostile Slayer - the stranger showed a remarkable lack of a reaction. He slowly raised his hands. "I don't mean you or yours any harm, Miss O'Malley," he said in a calm voice - much calmer than Castle would have been in his situation. And he knew Vi's name. Granted, so did everyone who read the yellow press's society pages, but still - something fishy was going on. Castle's gut told him so.

"Who're you?" Rick asked

"Hunt. Jackson Hunt."

Funny guy, Castle thought. Too bad he wasn't in the mood to laugh. Hunt - if that was his name - sounded vaguely familiar, though. He was the right age for a Watcher of the old generation, but his accent was American. Castle would have known if the Council had had a fellow American among their ranks before Sunnydale - he had looked into that. Rick had his hand near his own gun. The man was carrying more weapons than the Feds, after all. And he was much too calm to be harmless. "What do you want?"

"I'm here because of Alexis's kidnapping," Hunt said. When Vi started to growl, he quickly added: "I didn't kidnap her! I'm here to help!"

So, he wasn't as unflappable as he had first appeared, Castle thought, with no small amount of satisfaction - it would have been bad if an old man was more cold-blooded than a veteran Watcher. He narrowed his eyes and was about to tell the man to slowly step inside the flat when he heard Mother gasp behind him and a glass shatter on the floor.

Hunt smiled, rather weakly, Castle noticed. "Hello, Martha."

Rick glanced at his mother. She was gaping at Hunt, one hand pressed to her lips. "You know him?" he asked her, already dreading her answer, given how shaken she was.

"Yes." She took a deep breath, and slowly inclined her head. "Yes, I do." She turned her head to look at Rick.

"Richard, he's your father."

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

His father! Hunt was his father! The father Richard Castle had never known. The father who had left his mother after one night. The father Mother had never talked about. The… Castle blinked, closed his mouth, and focused on Hunt. Now that he knew, he could see the roguish charm and class evident in the older man's features. His father!

Whom Vi was still pointing her gun at. Who apparently knew about Alexis's kidnapping. And carried three guns of his own. Castle blinked again, then narrowed his eyes. "I don't suppose your surprising visit is closely related to my daughter's kidnapping."

"I just told you that," Hunt retorted, with a rather too familiar expression. Mother even was faintly smiling!

"What I mean is that I can't help but thinking that without Alexis's disappearance, you would not have reappeared after forty-one years." And four months, but who was counting? "You haven't bothered to visit at all, after all." He wasn't bitter, not really. Anyone in his place would feel the same.

Hunt sighed, and, for a moment, looked far older than before. Less Sean Connery in 'Never Say Never Again' or 'Hunt for Red October', and more like… had Connery ever looked really old? And was Castle's subconsciousness trying to tell him something with all those tangents his thoughts came up with? "I think this is something we should better discuss while sitting down. And maybe without weapons pointed at each other," Hunt added with a glance at Vi.

The Slayer scoffed. "Not as long as you're armed!"

Castle saw Mother close her mouth - she must have realised that there was no way Vi would drop her guard. Not now. Not after Alexis had been kidnapped. Which wasn't her fault at all, Castle knew. But he also knew that telling her that wouldn't help either.

Fortunately, Hunt nodded. "That's acceptable. I assume you want to remove them?" He hadn't lowered his hands yet.

"Yes. Don't move." Vi all but snarled, and started to frisk him. For a normal human, getting so close with a gun would be a mistake. But she was a Slayer - they were even more dangerous up close and personal.

Hunt either knew this, or hadn't any plans to attack them, and therefore nothing to worry about being disarmed. Either way, he didn't move a muscle until Vi had divested him of three pistols - a Heckler & Koch USP, a Glock 26 or 27, and a Derringer-looking hold-out - and two knives.

After sniffing once again, Vi stepped back. "He's clean now."

Castle looked at her gun and raised his eyebrows. Pouting, she lowered it. "Let's sit down then," he said and gestured at the couch.

Once everyone had taken a seat - Vi on the armrest of Castle's couch, ready to shoot Hunt in case he tried something, or maybe to pounce and strangle him; Slayers were fond of melee combat, after all - Hunt cleared his throat and started to talk. "You're probably wondering why I didn't contact you until now."

"I'm currently more wondering what you know about my daughter's kidnapping," Rick said. His personal issues could wait until Alexis was safe. He had been fine without a father for over forty years; he could wait a bit longer.

"It's related," Hunt said. "I'm working for the government. I… solve problems."

"With your guns," Castle said. His father was a secret agent. As he had imagined as a kid.

"Yes." Hunt glanced at Vi, then at Rick. "A job I think with which you are more than a little familiar as well."

Vi snorted, and Castle knew she was grinning now. "I'm doing the actual work!" Slayers!

"You weren't when he started, though," Hunt retorted. Rick wasn't a hundred percent certain, but his father sounded almost proud. How much did he know about what they really did? "Back then he worked with Alexis's mother. Who recruited him for her agency."

That wasn't entirely accurate, Rick thought, but close enough. "London," he said, nodding as if that said everything.

"I didn't realise exactly what organisation you had joined until it was too late," Hunt admitted. "I hindsight, I should have arranged for your recruitment. It would have made things… easier," he added with a glance at Rick's mother.

"You've been keeping tabs on us for a while then," Rick said. That was… disconcerting.

"Since I heard of your birth." Hunt smiled at Rick's mother. "I had to leave on a mission after… you know. And I didn't return until he had been born already."

"Why didn't you visit?" Mother asked. She was hiding it well, but Rick could tell that she was very fragile right now. First the kidnapping, then this...

"I'm in a very dangerous business. If I had made contact with you, you would have been in danger too."

Hunt's smile looked sincere, but Castle didn't believe him. He knew about dangerous business, every Council member did, and he hadn't let that stop him from having a family. But his personal issues were not as important as Alexis right now, he reminded himself. Still… "After I started to work for London I was in a rather dangerous business as well." The implication was clear.

"Yes. But you were working for London. The British are not exactly the other side, but for all our 'special relationship', we don't exactly work that closely together in the kind business for which I am usually needed. And when I tried to do more than keep tabs on you, feel out the situation, I was quite strongly warned away by my superiors." He chuckled, once. "I had to use private contacts to keep track of you - and quite loosely, too."

So, he didn't know, Rick thought. He probably thought Castle was working for Her Majesty's Secret Service. Well, it could be possible - he certainly was charming and handsome enough for a double-oh agent! He snorted when he realised that his father probably had made the same assumption Kate had made, and almost hummed the intro of 'The Avengers'.

That seemed to surprise Hunt, and his father narrowed his eyes. Rick gestured. "Nothing. So… you knew I was involved in some British business, and you kept your distance. On orders from your superiors, too." Which was a very convenient excuse - although not an implausible one.

"Yes. I kept up with the more public part of your life, of course. Your marriage. The birth of my granddaughter. Your books. Your apparent retirement."

His tone told Castle that he didn't think Rick had actually retired from the Council. Castle glanced at the clock again. Still more than an hour left, but if they went over his entire life, especially the whole fight against the First Evil, they'd still be talking around the real issue when the Scoobies arrived. Time to cut to the chase. So to speak. "Leaving my career aside, you think Alexis's kidnapping is connected to you."

"Yes." Hunt nodded. "By using a bomb as a distraction, the kidnappers ensured that every media in the USA, maybe the world, would report the incident. They ensured that no matter where I was, I would know about it at once. Even if the kidnapping would not be reported, I would recognise my granddaughter's school."

That sounded… plausible. Not impossible, at least, Rick had to admit. Better than his own theories.

"So, Alexis is in danger because of your secret agent work?" Vi said, glaring at Hunt.

"Vi." Castle's mother looked at the Slayer, and to Rick's surprise, Vi relented. A little, at least. She didn't apologise, of course.

"I strongly suspect that this is the case," Hunt said. "Though I cannot yet say who is behind them. The group I was investigating didn't have the resources for such an operation. Nor the skill."

"So it's related to your past work." Castle rubbed his chin. "Unless this is all a coincidence."

Hunt scoffed at that notion.

"That leaves us with… how many dozen suspects?" Rick went on. If his father had been a secret agent for more than four decades…

"I didn't leave many loose ends when working."

His father sounded almost proud of that, Castle thought. But then, Rick had a similar attitude towards dealing with demons. They might be more alike than he might like. But Rick would never leave his family under the pretext of keeping them safe. "If this is aimed at you, they'll plan to contact you," he said. "And since you're so hard to get ahold of," - he couldn't keep the bitterness completely out of his tone - "they'll do so through me."

"Yes."

"Unless they simply want to hurt you through Alexis." Rick hated to say it, but he had to mention that possibility. To go as far as fake a terror attack on US soil… no sane people would do that.

Mother gasped and Vi snarled - and pierced the upholstery of the couch's armrest with her bare fingers. Hunt didn't show any reaction other than a slow nod, but his expression probably mirrored Castle's. Whoever hurt Alexis would pay for it. With their lives.

Rick took a deep breath. "I've called in a few of my colleagues. They'll arrive in about an hour, and they'll track Alexis's location." They'd also check Hunt's story, but he didn't think he should mention that.

Hunt raised his eyebrows. "London?"

"Yes."

"I've been warned to stay away from them, even after you started to work in New York with Miss O'Malley." And if that wasn't fishing for information, Castle didn't know what was.

"This is personal. Washington will understand that." They knew better than to mess with the Council.

His father looked sceptical, and Rick grinned. "You don't know what exactly 'London' does, do you?"

"Covert ops. 'Problem solving'. World-wide. Often using rather young, but highly trained female operatives," Hunt answered. Predictably, Vi grinned at that. Ever since Kate had come into Castle's life, Vi had started to embrace her younger age. Slayers!

He glanced at the clock again. Still a good hour left. Not counting traffic. More than enough time for the classic version. He took a deep breath and began.

"The world is older than you know…"

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

"... and after Sunnydale, we've rebuilt, spread out and increased our efforts against the demons on all fronts. We have the active Hellmouth in Cleveland locked down and the rest of the Hellmouths are under close surveillance. Vi is the resident Slayer in New York, and I'm her Watcher. We've kept the population of hostile demons quite low." Richard Castle finished his story with a smile and a well-deserved bow to his Slayer.

"I did all of that - while at the same time keeping you out of trouble!" Vi interjected.

Maybe not so well-deserved, Rick thought while he frowned at the redhead. Then he turned to his father. "So, now you know what 'London' stands for."

Hunt looked sceptical. Or to be more precise, he looked as if Castle was a lunatic in dire need of institutionalisation. Rick was more familiar with that look than he liked - why didn't anyone ever believe him when he told them the truth?

Fortunately, he had proof available. He sat down on his couch again. "Vi? I think my… father needs a demonstration." He had to get used to that word.

Vi rolled her eyes, but she bent down, grabbed the couch on which Castle and his mother were sitting, and lifted it up. Rick waited half a minute, then gestured at the couch. "Feel free to check for wires, magnets, anything you can think of."

Hunt actually did, running his hand below the couch, then glancing up. Castle nodded to Vi, and she slowly lowered the couch and Castle's father actually checked for wires. Kate hadn't done that, he remembered. She had trusted him that far at least.

"Are you now convinced that I told you the truth?" Castle asked with a wide grin. This never failed.

"No." Hunt responded in a flat voice.

What? Rick stared at his father. "And how do you explain this feat of strength without magic?"

"Bionic augmentation. Drugs. Genetic engineering." Hunt bared his teeth. "I've been hearing rumors about black projects. Cyborgs able to carry weapons meant for vehicles. Special drugs to enhance soldiers." He nodded at Vi. "She would fit either project. Or some gene splicing - if the civilians are starting to clone people, the government could be far further down that road."

Castle exchanged a glance with Vi, who seemed torn between amusement and outrage, then shook his head at his far too cynical father - what kind of man would so stubbornly deny that magic existed when it was demonstrated in front of him? An accountant, maybe? "Those experiments you heard about happened in Sunnydale, and they used magic for them." Maybe he shouldn't have skipped the mess with ADAM when he told his story.

Hunt looked at him with an almost pitying expression.

Rick set his jaw. "It's the truth. We know people who were there. Hell, we know people who took part in those experiments. And who had to clean up the mess when it went out of control."

"An entire army base, wiped out by monsters - including a cyborg-human-demon-hybrid," Vi added, nodding as if she had been there.

"I've heard better cover stories," Hunt said. "The British have a reputation for a reason. Especially if they were active on our soil for so long."

"The treaties with the Council actually go back to a time before the American Revolution," Castle pointed out. "The first records of the Council date back to the time writing was invented."

"Richard. When someone doesn't believe your story, doubling down on your claims won't make it more believable." Mother shook her head. "I was sceptical myself, but seeing a vampire rise from the dead quite convinced me."

"We don't have the time to organise that," Rick pointed out - was he the only one remembering that Alexis had been kidnapped? - "but fortunately, we'll soon be visited by someone who can demonstrate the existence of magic." He blinked and held up a hand before his father could say anything. "Don't tell me - you would consider that psionics."

"There have been rumours of agents with special talents…" Hunt started.

Castle cut him off with a gesture and crossed his arms. He wasn't pouting, though. Not really. "Foiled by an overly strong faith in government conspiracies… who would have thought that would ever happen to me?" He ignored Vi's raised hand. And that of his mother. Then he frowned. What if Hunt was correct, and the US government had such programs? He would have to remember to ask Willow to check the government systems for that, before they had to deal with another ADAM mess.

"I could hit 'Clark's and fetch a demon," Vi offered. "Someone he can't explain away as genetic engineering."

Rick checked the time, then shook his head. "No, we can't afford that." And he preferred to keep Vi with him - in case Hunt decided that Castle had to be institutionalised for his own good. "We'll just have to hope that the Scoobies brought Spike with them."

And if anyone had told him that he'd ever utter those words, he would have called them crazy.

*****​

"Scoobies in da house!" Xander entered with a wide smile.

"Xander! Show some respect!" Willow.

"I just wanted to raise morale." Xander again.

"Well, you failed miserably." Spike. His usual self.

"At least he tried." Dawn. Not helping.

"He'd need to dress more sexily to raise my morale." Faith. Who else?

"Hello, Richard." Mary. Of course she would come as well.

"Hi everyone!" Buffy, being professional. "Kate's off to the precinct, to get the latest information. Oh, who's the old guy?" Or not.

Glancing at his father's expression, Rick felt like rubbing the bridge of his nose, if that wouldn't make him look far too much like Rupert. Hunt's first impression of the Scoobies was, predictably, not the best.

"Rick, we came as quick as we could. Well, as quick as we could while still being able to track Alexis - we could have come more quickly, but then I would have been too exhausted to do anything for a longer timespan than it took us to fly in," Willow said. Her lack of breath told Castle just how agitated the witch was. Then she noticed Hunt. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I didn't notice you, I'm sorry. Hello."

Castle decided to cut in before Willow did breathe. "Hello everyone. This is Jackson Hunt, my long-lost secret agent father. Who has decided that his granddaughter getting kidnapped is sufficient grounds to enter our lives. Dad," he said in as sweet a voice as he managed, "these people are the Scoobies. Also known as 'London', 'the Council', and a demon's worst nightmare."

"A secret agent?" "Your father?" "Where was he for the last forty years?" "Now we know where Castle gets it from." "Hello, Mr. Robinson!" "'Lo." "Your father is alive?"

Long experience allowed Castle to understand what the Scoobies - and Mary - were saying, despite everyone talking at the same time. He cleared his throat before Hunt caught on. "Also, I've given him the speech," - he ignored Xander's 'the talk' comment - "but he remains somewhat sceptical of the existence of the paranormal. Even after a demonstration of Vi's supernatural strength. His scepticism is based on rumours of cybernetic experiments and enhanced combat drugs."

Willow got it first. "ADAM!" Then she gasped. "Does that mean there actually are such experiments going on? But how could they manage that outside the area of effect of an active Hellmouth? The magic required to compensate for the rejection and physics couldn't be provided in any other location apart from sacred groves and similar hallowed ground, and the very presence of what such experiments would need would defile them…"

"Breathe, Willow!" Buffy cut in, smiling at the witch, then narrowed her eyes and walked towards Hunt until she was looking down at him from her not so impressive height of five foot nothing. "So, you're Mister Agent Sceptico."

"He's not a cat," Castle heard Dawn mutter.

Hunt met her gaze without flinching. Castle's father had nerves of steel. Or he didn't know the Slayer. On the other hand, he thought that she was a combat cyborg able to rip him in half. A secret combat cyborg. Castle's father did have nerves of steel.

"Yes." And a very expressive voice, Rick added. Which, unfortunately, was currently expressing Hunt's profound scepticism and lack of respect, unless Castle was mistaken.

"I guess me mangling one of your guns, or maybe you, wouldn't convince you that magic is real?"

Hunt shook his head.

"And Willow dismantling a gun with her magic?"

"He'll think it was psionics," Vi said.

"But psionics is just another term for magic, since both cannot be produced by conventional physics or technology," Willow said. "And while Magic is often deemed more fantastical, ultimately both are terms for the same - a paranormal power most humans lack."

"I think the problem is that as long as he thinks it's just a special power, he will not accept that there are demons, hell, and all the rest," Dawn cut in.

"Ah!" Willow nodded. "I see the problem. So…"

"And I have the solution," Buffy declared. The Slayer sounded as impatient to Castle as Rick himself felt. "Spike!"

"Oy! Forget it!" the vampire exclaimed. "He'll claim I'm some freak."

"You are a freak," Xander said.

"Not that kind of freak. The wrong kind," Spike clarified. "Besides, you heard the man. Or the author, in this case - his daddy will think I'm a pisonic. Or a mutant. Or some escaped experiment."

"Technically, you are an escaped experiment," Xander said, smirking. "Did they ever stop searching for 'Hostile 17'?"

"Xander!" Willow scolded him while Spike snarled - and vamped out.

Rick saw his father react to that, before regaining his composure. Progress, maybe.

"See, Mister Hunt - by the way, are you related to Ethan Hunt from the movies?" Buffy smiled at Rick's father in that vapid way of hers that made people underestimate her all the time.

"No." Hunt said, in the same tone you usually talked to children. Of course he could be faking it, and make her think that he was underestimating her.

"Ah… just a coincidence then. Where was I?" Buffy blinked.

"You wanted to abuse Spike to prove the existence of demons and magic," Xander helpfully pointed out.

"Oy!"

"Thank you," Buffy said, smiling widely. "We will now thoroughly demonstrate that Spike is a real vampire, cursed, walking corpse and all that, and not some weird experiment."

"I never agreed to that!" said vampire protested.

"If he's connected to Alexis's kidnapping, then we need his help," Buffy pointed out. "And he'll not help us if he thinks we're a bunch of loons."

"We aren't?" Xander asked, acting surprised.

"Xander, not the time!" Dawn glared at him.

Spike sighed. "Alright. Let's get this over with. But just because it's for Alexis."

While the vampire was soon undergoing all kinds of painful demonstrations of his magical nature - the various crosses he was touched with, to show it was a metaphysical and not an allergic reaction were an especially thoughtful touch, Castle felt, but his lack of a reflection had a bigger impact - Rick wondered just how close Alexis was to the vampire. And if he should be concerned. Spike had taught her how to pick locks, after all, and the vampire had the morals of… Castle couldn't actually think of a suitable comparison until Hunt, after Willow had briefly transformed Spike into a rat, finally was convinced that yes, magic existed.

Which meant that they could get on with saving Alexis.

******​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

Kate Beckett knew Castle had done something to rile up the Feds when she entered the precinct and saw Will make a beeline towards her. Or, to be exact, she knew he had done something else to rile them up - he had been rude to them when they had first met, after all. Though she would have known that even if she hadn't been present then - the dozen messages on her phone sent by Will would have told her so.

"Kate!" She saw that Will had trouble controlling his temper - he was opening and closing his left hand, one of his tells.

"Yes?" She tried to sound as calm and professional as she could. One of them had to.

"Where were you? You haven't answered any of my messages!"

"I was driving." She almost added 'and messaging while driving is illegal' - she blamed Castle's influence. She certainly wasn't being influenced by Vi, and Alexis wouldn't use such an excuse.

Will took a deep breath and even closed his eyes for a moment. "Get your lover," - he almost spat the word out - "under control. We cannot solve this case if he doesn't cooperate!"

Kate narrowed her eyes. Castle could be aggravating, but Will hadn't been as bad during his last visit. Something else was going on. "What happened? As far as I know, he has cooperated and set up a trace on his landline."

"He has thrown out the agents sent to protect him."

Kate felt like sighing herself - or laughing. She didn't either and kept her cool. "He has a very capable bodyguard. He doesn't need additional protection." Not from the FBI, at least. Those agents would be more useful somewhere else.

"Why are you helping him?" Will stared at her. "Are you involved in his work?"

"What?" Did Will know about the demons, or did her ex still think Castle was working for the CIA? "He's using me as a model for the character of his next book." And she still hadn't been able to read the first draft.

"Don't play dumb. He's CIA, and this kidnapping is connected to him. And you're covering for him."

Kate snorted this time. "He's not working for the CIA."

Will was clenching is teeth in frustration. "Who is he working for? We can't afford any interference. The lives of two girls are at stake!"

And careers, the cynical part of Kate whispered inside her mind. Out loud she said "Castle will not hinder the investigation." Quite the contrary - Willow would find them, Kate knew, and then they'd make the kidnappers wish they had never set foot in New York. "But you really don't need to waste anyone on a protection detail for him. Vi is very good, and I'll be with him as well."

"Ah." She knew that tone. Far too well.

Kate sighed. "Are you still not over the fact that I'm with him?"

Will pressed his lips together for a moment. "This is not about that." Meaning, yes, it was.

She sighed. "Get over it." Leaving him, she walked towards Ryan. "Anything new?"

He shrugged. "I'm just checking electronic trails on the Feds' orders."

Turning her head, she looked at Esposito, who was standing behind his partner with a cup of what passed for coffee here in his hand.

"I'm helping him," he answered her unspoken question.

She caught Will talking to Walker, his superior, and frowned.

"Trouble with the Fed Ex?" Esposito asked, his grinning mouth half-hidden behind his mug.

When had Castle's bon mot become popular? Kate thought, then shook her head. "Maybe." When she saw Walker coming towards her, she added: "Yes."

"Detective Beckett."

"Yes, Agent Walker?" Castle would have made a 'Texas Ranger"' remark, she thought.

"Are you related to one of the victims?"

"No. But I am in a relationship with the father of Alexis Castle." She hadn't anything to hide.

"And you didn't think to mention that before?"

"I assumed that Agent Sorenson had informed you." Kate tried to sound as bland as possible. "He was well aware of that fact."

"He has… just now." Walker glanced at Will, who pressed his lips together. Kate waited. She knew what was coming. Walker went on: "You are too close to this case, Detective. And you should have known that."

She had expected that, and prepared for it. "I wasn't aware that I was still on the case," Kate said. "I haven't worked on it since you arrived, and I even signed out for today two hours ago. Private errand." She shrugged. "I did check in to see if there were any news, before returning to Castle's apartment." But that was nothing they could hold against her.

Will opened his mouth, then closed and glared at her. Walker snorted. "I see. You wouldn't have been doing some private investigation?"

Kate gave her same look she had perfected on Esposito when he had been speculating about her love life. "No, Agent. I was actually picking up friends at the airport."

"Your friends or Castle's 'friends'?" Will interjected, causing Walker to frown.

"Shared friends." She turned back to Walker. "If there is nothing else and no new information for us, then I'll head back home."

Before Walker could answer, another agent yelled from the section of the precinct the FBI had taken over. "Someone's calling the El-Haddads!"

A few seconds later, everyone was gathered around the speakers relaying the conversation - if you could call a curt ransom demand that.

"Where is it from?" Walker asked the FBI technician.

"We're still tracking it, ma'am." He didn't sound very optimistic, though.

"Nothing on Castle's line?" Walker asked.

"No, ma'am."

Kate wasn't surprised. Concerned, but not surprised.

*****​

She was surprised when she reached Castle's flat - had she really called it home in the precinct? And found an older man sitting on the couch she certainly hadn't picked up at the airport. And he was talking with Martha.

"Kate!" Rick hugged her. "Right on time - Willow's about to cast the spell. Did you find out anything else at the precinct?"

"There was a ransom demand sent to the El-Haddads." She nodded at the couch. "Who is your visitor?" She had almost said 'our visitor'.

"Ah… that's my father. He works as a secret agent with a license to kill."

"What?" She stared at him with her mouth open. If that was his idea of a joke, she would kill him. And if wasn't a joke…

Her face must have betrayed her thoughts since Rick quickly lost that infuriating grin of his and started to explain.

*****​

"Hello, Mr Hunt."

"Hello, Miss Beckett."

His handshake was firm, she noted, and his smile told her where Castle's had come from. Definitely Rick's father. She nodded towards the room where Willow was working her magic. "You've been told about magic."

"And you've been informed - like everyone else here - about my background."

Ah, that smile could slip. Rock's father wasn't as happy as he tried to appear.

"Most of my friends don't take well to secrets. Some even have an almost pathological need to ferret them out," Castle interjected. "Present company excluded, of course," he added quickly with a forced smile.

"Why? I'm not about to deny that I've got a healthy curiosity," Dawn said while she grabbed some of the peanuts that had managed to survive three Slayers.

"She means that she's an incorrigible snoop," Buffy said, reaching out for the snacks herself.

Dawn smacked her sister's hand, but that didn't deter the blonde and she left the bowl almost empty.

"And she's an incorrigible glutton," Dawn said, scowling.

Buffy's retort was hampered by her mouth being full of pilfered peanuts.

Kate tried to ignore the antics of their guests. "So… you think this kidnapping is related to you and your work." Which, she suspected, were one and the same for the man - otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed away from his son for so long.

"Yes. All circumstances point at that conclusion."

"Will your employers involve themselves in the investigation?"

"No. I was actually warned several times in the past not to contact my son. I now realise why exactly my employers were so keen on keeping me away." Hunt smiled wryly.

"You make it sound as if we're bad," Buffy said, in her 'blonde airhead' voice, with a pout that would have made Brigitte Bardot jealous.

"Did you threaten to tear out his rib cage and wear it as a hat, Buffy?" Dawn asked.

"No… but I think I should." Buffy nodded slowly. "In case he wants to go to spain after this."

Hunt looked as lost as Kate felt. Mary, who hadn't said anything so far, sighed, and leaned forward. "She means that she wouldn't like it if Rick's father disappeared from his life after this."

Buffy nodded emphatically. "Yes. I really don't like runaway Dads. Children need their parents - just look at how Dawn turned out."

"Hey!"

"I'm not a child anymore," Castle said. "Kate, back me up!" he added after a few seconds full of throats being cleared and eyes being rolled.

Fortunately, Xander's loud "Willow's found her!" saved Kate from having to answer that.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, December 2009

"She's in France? As in France, Europe?" Richard Castle asked again. "How is that possible?"

"Well… if we can fly from London to New York, anyone else can fly from New York to Paris in about the same time," Buffy said.

"The distance is longer, though," Willow pointed out. The witch looked rather tired, but Castle had her seen fight in even worse condition - not that it mattered now, since she would have a transcontinental flight's worth of rest soon.

"But de Gaulle is not as complicated to get through as Heathrow." Buffy dug her heels in. "That saves time."

"That's French propaganda," Xander cut in.

"That's my experience." Buffy crossed her arms and pouted. "I've been in Paris often enough - actually, no, I haven't been in Paris often enough, not by far, and you can tell Giles that at the next budget meeting! - to know that."

"Anecdotal evidence is no evidence." Dawn entered the living room, carrying a bag with the supplies Willow had used for her spell.

"It so is! For me!" Buffy huffed.

"Fortunately, you're not an authority on such things." Dawn stuck her tongue out and handed the bag to Xander.

"She's only an authority on shoes and bad boyfriends," Faith said from where she was lounging on the couch in a seemingly relaxed manner - if not for her left foot, which was tapping the floor.

"Oy!" Apparently, Spike had decided to stop sulking in Castle's office after his role as a demonstration of magic to Rick's father. He hoped that his guest hadn't made a mess.

"Are you saying that you're not a bad boy?" Dawn raised her eyebrow at the vampire.

"Of course I am! But she makes that sound bad."

"Mhh." Faith smirked, and grabbed another handful of crackers from the bowl on the table. If they were eating that brand, then the Scoobies had probably emptied his fridge and pantry already, Castle thought.

"Can we stop talking about the history of my love life and focus on more important matters?" Buffy asked, with a rather theatrical eyeroll. Castle agreed with the sentiment, though.

"Your shoes?" Dawn apparently did not.

"Am I the only one who cares about my kidnapped granddaughter?" Hunt suddenly asked through clenched teeth. Castle could see the CIA killer coming to the fore behind the man's until now polite facade.

"The answer to that question is always 'no'." Dawn smirked. She obviously wasn't paying attention. Or her sense of self-preservation had been killed by her strange diet, as Buffy claimed. "But to answer more seriously: We all care about her. But staying all Batman-like won't help her, and will just make us tense and worry and all."

"Yeah. Dawn would know, She's been kidnapped… how many times now? Did she make the dozen yet?" Buffy said.

"Do we count the time she was mistakenly kidnapped?" Xander asked. "And was returned without anyone noticing, because they couldn't stand her any second longer?"

"Hey!" Dawn pouted at him. "I was freed when they realised that I'm the sister of the most scary Slayer in existence."

"A likely story." Xander shook his head in apparent disbelief.

"Not a likely story!" Faith cut in. "Buffy's not half as scary as I am."

"I am too so scary!" Buffy said, looking for all the world like a teenager making a scene when she was told about her curfew.

"Yes, you are." Dawn's smile and tone said the opposite. "Totally scary!"

Kate cleared her throat. "Tension-relieving banter aside, what do we do now?"

"We'll fly directly to Paris using the Council's private jet," Buffy answered, in a calm and professional manner completely at odds with her earler attitude. Castle marveled how quickly the Slayer managed to grow serious. "We'll prepare for a strike on wherever Alexis is being held while in transit, and will arrange for support from the local Slayer and her Watcher. After another spell to check that Alexis wasn't moved, we'll strike, rescue her, and ensure no one will ever do that again. And then Rick will take us all shopping in Paris!" she added with a bright smile.

"I'm in!" Dawn stated, raising her hand.

"Good plan," Faith agreed.

Willow nodded, her nose buried in a notebook, where - so Castle hoped - she was pinpointing the location she had found on a map.

"Ah… Paris! So many memories!" Spike smiled and seemed to sigh - with him not needing to breath, it was hard to tell. "I mean... so many horrible memories of my time before I won my soul. Really depressing!"

"Yeah, sure." Xander glared at him.

"Who is the resident Slayer in Paris?" Vi asked.

"Rona."

"Rona?" Vi gasped. "Wasn't she in Mexico City? Why does she get Paris? The only French she knows is French kissing!"

"She was replaced by Valeria, a new Slayer from Mexico, and since Paris was free, she volunteered," Dawn explained, and hastily added: "It was Giles' decision! Complain to him!"

"I will!" Vi huffed.

"Do you really want to leave New York?" Kate asked.

"Of course not! Rick needs me here!" Vi scoffed. "But it's the principle of the thing!"

"She means she's jealous," Xander butted in. "Even though Parisian fashion is way overhyped."

"Coming a guy who thinks Hawaii-shirts are fashionable, that's a recommendation," Buffy retorted. "Vampires have a better fashion sense."

"What? The French comics are also not as good as the American ones," Xander shot back.

"You heathen!" Dawn scoffed. "And it's Franco-Belgian, I'll have you know."

"Everyone! I've rerouted Castle's phones so we can be reached in the air and in France. We can go," Willow announced.

"Alright." Buffy turned serious again. "New Yorkers and newly-discovered Dad - Beckett's car. Me, Dawn, Mary and Spike take Castle's car. Faith, Willow, Xander, take the rental. Slayers drive or we take too long. Move it!"

Rick moved to hug his mother. "I'll bring her back, safe and sound," he whispered.

"Yes," she managed to say, before wiped her eyes.

"I'll bring him back in one piece as well," VI said, hefting his and her bugout-bags. Or mission bags.

"I know you will," Mother said.

"And the dad too - if he wants to or not," Vi added with a grin that only grew wider at the glance Hunt shot her.

*****

Castle's father grabbed a bag of his own out of his car - a nondescript rental, Castle thought, so boring even he had almost missed it in the guest parking area. "Cut-down or bullpup?" Castle asked.

Hunt looked at him, then answered: "M4."

"Good choice!" Vi said as she slid the bags into the trunk of Beckett's car. "If you can't carry a real gun." Castle rolled his eyes - Slayers and their need to be the toughest in the room!

"And what is a real gun?" Hunt asked. He didn't blink at the Ack Pack Vi had carried as well, Castle noticed.

"Buffy likes her pig, but I prefer the MG-3. Or a minigun, if Rick would stop being so stingy," Vi said as she slid behind the wheel.

"I just bought you another sword!" Castle defended himself. Beckett took shotgun - it was only fair, since it was her car, after all. "Ever been driven by a Slayer?" he asked as his father sat down next to him.

"No."

Castle grinned. Buffy might wreck his beloved Shelby, but at least he'd get to watch his father scream.

*****​

Hunt hadn't screamed. Hadn't even shown much of a reaction. Rick still felt cheated when he took his seat in the Council's private jet. At least his Shelby had lived to be driven another time.

"Son, I've been flown around by pilots high on all the drugs on sale in the golden triangle. A little race car driving doesn't faze me." Hunt had a far too familiar smile on his face, Castle thought.

"Well, you should have been a bit worried," Vi cut in, sitting down across Hunt, "I'm usually driving sports cars, not cop clunkers."

Beckett, taking her seat across Castle's, fortunately didn't take the bait. "I forgot to ask: Does the immunity of the Council extend to me and to your father as well?" she asked instead of sniping at the Slayer.

"You've been listed as a Council member since some time," Castle told her.

"What?" She seemed to be annoyed instead of happy, he noticed. "Without asking me?"

Ah. "It's just to protect you in case something goes south." She didn't seem to like that explanation either. He should have asked her, but it seemed so logical and trivial. Then again, nonchalantly telling her that he had cleared half of his armoire hadn't led to her moving into his flat for good either.

He really had to work on his timing. After this.

He leaned to the side. "Willow! Can you add my father to our roster?"

"Sure!" came her cheerful answer. "What name do you want to use, Mister Hunt?"

"What exactly will that gain me?" Rick's father asked.

"Basically, diplomatic immunity. Highest level - though the Council gets really annoyed if you actually use it," Castle said. "Even if it wasn't your fault." Which it hadn't been. Rupert simply wouldn't admit it.

"The highest level?" Hunt seemed to be doubting him.

"The Council's older than any current country." Castle shrugged.

"I see." He turned his head to talk to Willow. "Mark my name down as Jackson Hunt, please."

"Even the governments don't bother you when you're cleaning up their demon problems," Vi added.

"The smart, sane ones, at least." Buffy stood next to Vi. "The not so sane and not so smart ones get cleaned up. Usually after a lot of people died. Also - if you abuse this for any government work, we'll have words. Pointy words." She bared her teeth at Rick's father, and this time, the man's facade seemed to crack a bit - he flinched. "I hope we understand each other."

"Yes." And the mask was back in place.

"Everyone, fasten your seat belts. We're about to take off!" Xander announced. "Always wanted to say that!"

A few minutes later they were on their way to France. To Alexis.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Over the Atlantic Ocean, December 2009

"I've found the identity of the owner of the house Alexis is being held in!" Willow announced an hour into their flight.

"Willow! You should be resting!"

"I've got enough time left to sleep; this is important information," Willow retorted, waving Buffy's concern away. She pointed at her laptop's screen, where the picture of an older man was visible. "The manor belongs to…"

"Gregory Volkov," Hunt interrupted her, glaring at the screen.

"Ah… you know him." Willow pouted slightly.

"Yes. He's a former KGB operative and current vory v zakone."

"Gesundheit!" Buffy cut in.

"That means he's a leader in the Bratva, also called the Russian Mafia, though that is not entirely correct given their very different origins and structures," Willow explained. "They originated in the gulags of the soviet era, and…"

"I don't think we need the history lesson, Will," Xander said. "We just need to know that they are bad guys we can deal with without moral qualms."

As everyone but Willow nodded at that - the witch was pouting, probably at having her revelation spoiled twice in a row - Castle turned to his father. "So… your suspicion was correct."

"Yes."

"That was a prompt to tell us why he hates you so much that he'd kidnap Alexis," Castle continued.

Hunt hesitated, but faced with everyone staring at him expectantly - Dawn putting her hand to her ear to hear him better was a bit over the top, Rick thought - he sighed and started to explain: "I killed his wife on a mission ten years ago." After several seconds of further staring, he grit his teeth. "It's classified. Top secret. Suffice to say that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and took a bullet meant for Volkov."

"Our government at work," Dawn said, sighing theatrically, "making a mess for future generations, as usual. At least this time, it's not a killer cyborg with a nuclear reactor powering him, and an army of demons in an army base. That's top secret too," she added with a wide smile aimed at Hunt.

"Yeah. At least those guys will not shrug off my baby's best bullets!" Buffy exclaimed, patting her M60. "It's so annoying when they don't go down after you hit them."

"If they are wearing bulletproof vests, they might still not go down," Xander said.

"I'm not using wimpy 5.56 ammo!" Buffy retorted. "And if they're wearing those really bulky vests, I'll aim high - or low."

Usually, Castle would wince at the last part, as every man would. But since they were talking about the men holding his daughter prisoner, he simply nodded with a grim smile.

*****​

Paris, December 2009

"Rick!"

Richard Castle had about half a second of forewarning before a Slayer-shaped limpet attached herself to him as soon as he left the airplane. Just enough to brace for impact.

"I'm so sorry to hear about Alexis - but not as sorry as the creeps are gonna be!" she declared, holding on. "Me and Theo got the place scouted out - as soon as night falls, we can move."

'Theo' would be Theodore Sanders, a middle-aged man whom Richard Castle hadn't met before. But he would have recognised a fellow watcher just from the long-suffering look the man wore.

"You can release him now, Rona," Vi hissed behind him.

"Hm? Ah! Hi, Vi. I didn't see you." The Slayer of Paris - that sounded wrong, somehow - made no move to release Castle, and Rick cleared his throat.

"He's taken, Rona." Vi was grinding her teeth now. And baring them, Rick just knew.

"What? Not by you. You had your chance! Now it's my turn."

Sometimes - often - Rick really hated the competitions into which Slayers seemed to turn everything. He had no doubt that Rona wasn't interested in him, other than to rile up Vi and prove herself better than her fellow Slayer.

"No, by me." Beckett's voice was colder than the November air outside. Much colder.

"Huh? Who're you?" Rona released Rick and faced the detective. Castle refrained from rubbing circulation back into his arms. Showing any weakness now would be bad.

Before Kate could answer, Vi scoffed. "She's Detective Beckett, you dolt. Didn't you read my mails about her?"

"What mails?" Rick and Kate asked in unison.

Both Slayers ignored the question. "I thought she would be taller. And uglier," Rona said.

"What?" Kate was now glaring at both of them.

"Why would Rick fall for an ugly woman?" Vi asked, hands on her hips.

"Well, he has kept you as his Slayer?" Rona asked with fake innocence.

"Verona!" Theo spoke up for the first time.

"Vi!" Castle yelled.

"Cut it out you two!" Buffy snapped at them, and the two froze. "We're not here to see who's the bigger Slayer - we're here to rescue Alexis, stomp some bads, and then go shopping!"

Their priorities thus reaffirmed, the group proceeded towards the three SUVs Theo and Rona had had brought up. Castle would have scolded Vi, but Kate had grabbed his arm, and didn't seem to be willing to release him any time soon. Slayers always brought out the worst - or best - in his girlfriend. Not that he would mention that to her, of course.

*****​

Île-de-France, December 2009

"I don't see any other guards," Richard Castle whispered as he stared through the lens of his night vision gear at the old-looking chateau a few hundred metres in front of him. "Just the two on patrol in the golf cart on this side." Golf Carts! Wasn't that just asking for a visit by the Secret Service?

"It's not a golf cart. It's an ATV," Rona, up in the branches of the tree next to him, disagreed with him. "And they have two of them out."

"Mounting bigger tires doesn't turn a golf cart into an ATV," Vi mumbled from his left. "And you don't have to whisper, no one is in range to overhear us."

"There's bound to be a shift in the gate house," Kate said on his other side. "One or two guards."

"And the four on the terraces, with night vision gear," Vi added. "Looks like Rona didn't miscount."

"Hey!"

"So… we proceed as planned," Buffy said once they rejoined the rest of the group in their impromptu base inside an old cottage. "The Infiltration Team - me, Faith, Vi, Spike, Castle, Hunt, Willow, Xander and Kate - go over the wall and sneak through the trees and bushes. The distraction drives up to the gate, with full fog lights on - London level. That will render their night vision gear useless and blind them. We Slayers use the opportunity to sprint over the lawn, and take out the guards on the terrace. While we break into the house, the rest joins us and the distraction takes out the gatekeepers and then brings the rest of the cars up so we can leave quickly once we're done." A typical Xander plan, as the Scoobies called it, if a bit on the Buffy side, Castle thought. But it would do - Hunt hadn't objected to it either.

"I got it the first time," Rona said. "And I still say I shouldn't be the distraction."

"You're the local, you speak the language." Buffy's tone broke no contradiction.

"She can speak French?" Vi had to add her two cents anyway, of course.

"Not perfectly or like a native, but that is essentially correct," Theo said. Rona simply growled.

"Everyone will think she's a tourist who got lost." Rick could hear Vi smirking.

"Be glad you're at least the distraction," Dawn cut in. "I'm the expert on kidnapping, and I only get to be the driver."

"That's 'expert on getting kidnapped', and 'getaway driver'," Xander corrected her.

Dawn huffed but didn't say anything else.

"Alright. Since Kate has found out from her friends that the other girl, Elsa Dada," Buffy ignored Dawn's 'El-Haddad', "has been released after the parents paid the ransom, we've got only Alexis to rescue. Any questions?" Buffy stood up from where she had been crouching at the map on the ground.

"Something's happening!" Spike suddenly said over the radio. "I can see the guards moving - and the lights inside the mansion are all burning now! Looks like someone stepped on an anthill." What? Castle whipped around. "I bet the little chit is making a break for it. She learned how to pick a lock from me, after all!" Spike added in a far too proud voice.

Various curses filled the room and radio channel. Then Buffy spoke up. "Change of plan. All but the drivers rush the mansion, and take out anyone who gets in our way! Willow, cover us! Move!"

Castle, his assault rifle in hand, was barely out of the door of the cottage by the time the Slayers reached the wall surrounding the manor's grounds. They didn't bother with climbing and simply jumped over it with all their gear.

"Damn!" he heard his father curse next to him, and he remembered that this was the first time Hunt truly saw Slayers in action, and the best of them at that. He would have made a smart remark, but he needed his breath for running. Alexis needed his help!

They were close to the wall when lightning seems to strike it from behind them. "I've disabled the sensors on the wall. You can safely climb it now," Willow announced.

Another curse from his dad made Rick look over his shoulder as got the grappling hook out, and he saw that the witch was floating, lightning crackling around her hands. "Focus on the mission," he whispered while throwing his hook.

His dad did - and beat him over the wall. Castle grit his teeth and forced himself to run faster through the woods surrounding the manor. It was one thing to be shown up by a superpowered Slayer, another by his own, aging father! At least Beckett wasn't faster than he was - but she kept pace with him, even in her heeled boots! He wasn't getting too old for this, he told himself.

A flash followed by a blast cut through the night, followed by Willow's voice on the radio: "I've taken out the gate and the guards there."

Gunfire followed from ahead of them. Short bursts. Buffy's M60, he recognised the noise easily. "Guards on the terrace down."

He reached the edge of the forest and saw one of the golf carts turn the corner - they guards on the back of the building must be moving to reinforce this side. He raised his rifle and fired a three-round burst at it, together with his father and Beckett. After a few bursts, the cart took a sudden turn to the left and toppled over, spilling three guards on the lawn. Two of them were still moving. Three bursts later, none were.

"Hit it, Willow!"

Castle had barely time to cover his night vision gear before the entire manor was covered by lightning, turning night to day for a moment. When he looked up again, the entire building had been plunged into darkness - Willow's spell had taken out the manor's power.

"Breaching charges set!" Buffy announced. A second later, parts of the walls blew in, leaving large holes.

"We're going in!"

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Île-de-France, December 2009

Richard Castle sprinted up the wide stairs leading to the terrace, rifle at the ready. He trusted Beckett and his father to cover their flanks. Up ahead, the dust clouds from the charges - quite bright in the low light - were just settling, but the Slayers and Spike were already inside the manor.

"Slayers taking ground floor and basement!" Buffy announced over the radio. "Everyone else, take the second floor. Or first, if you're English!" Castle could hear gunfire both over her radio as well as from the manor.

He didn't like the orders - prisoners were always in the dungeons, after all - but they made sense. "Someone's moving upstairs," Hunt announced. "Tactical lights."

Castle glanced up and could see the cones of flashlights flickering behind the windows. "Guess they don't have night vision gear inside." Or not on them.

"We're coming through!" Dawn announced over the radio. A moment later, Castle could see the first car crash through the remains of the gate. "Guess the SUV was a good choice," he muttered when he saw the car climb over a mound of debris.

Gunfire to his left drew his attention - someone was firing on the cars from the other side of the building! He heard Dawn yelp in surprise, and the leading car started to swerve. A moment later, a machine gun started to fire at the guards from the remains of the gate - Xander, providing covering fire.

"I'll take them out!" Hunt yelled, and Castle saw that he had drawn a grenade.

"No! We're going in!" he retorted. "They can handle the ones outside."

"What?" Hunt stared at him. A second later, lightning struck the other corner of the building.

"Willow's really into the storm goddess theme," Castle quipped, "We should buy her an X-Men costume for Christmas." Or Hanukkah - he wasn't certain what celebration the wiccan preferred these days.

He entered the manor through the closest breach in the walls, leading with his rifle. Two corpses lay in the dust-covered hallway inside, riddled with bullets. "Buffy's baby," he whispered, then took a left, towards the entrance hall with the stairs leading to the second floor.

Hunt and Beckett followed him. There was another dead guard in the entrance hall. This one was covered with the shattered remains of the stairs' railing and had his head smashed in. The Slayers weren't bothering with taking anyone alive. Castle wasn't planning to either.

He slowed down when he reached the foot of the stairs, and kept his rifle aimed at the floor ahead as he moved up. Light was flickering in the right hallway on the first floor - someone was moving there. He pointed at it, then gripped his rifle again and proceeded in a crouch, clenching his teeth. They were facing well-armed and presumably decently trained enemies, and nobody in his group had a supernatural advantage. He much preferred hunting demons - they were often bulletproof, and stronger and tougher than humans, but they rarely used guns.

If the guards were smart they wouldn't move forward with their flashlights on. But if they expected enemies with night vision gear, they would do so to blind them. After a moment's hesitation, he flipped his goggles up, then moved to the top of the stairs, taking cover behind a pillar there.

He peered around the pillar to the right hallway while Hunt covered the left. Something moved there, something flew towards him… "Grenade!" he yelled, dropping to the floor.

A second later the grenade exploded and he felt as if a mule had kicked him in the back, smashing his chest into the floor and robbing him of his breath. And he couldn't see clearly. Flashbang, he realised. The guards would be charging at them now - but Castle had kept his rifle pointed at the hallway. He switched it to full auto and emptied the entire clip into the hallway's direction.

As soon as the rifle stopped firing, he rolled behind the pillar - he could see well enough again - and reloaded. There was a body on the ground, right at the corner. Beckett was on the stairs, looking dazed but otherwise unhurt. And Hunt was already at the other side of the hall, covering the left hallway. Did his father have something to prove, or did he just like to show up Castle? People his age had no right to be so fit!

"Kate!"

"I'm fine!" she responded, scrambling to her feet. She almost toppled over, but managed to join him behind the pillar. "How many are left?"

"I don't know. I got the one there, but I doubt he was alone." Castle briefly looked her over. She was blinking often, but recovering quickly. "Let's go right!"

"Alright." Hunt placed something at the ground. "Left is mined."

Castle hit the button of his radio. "We've mined the eastern hallway upstairs." Then he moved to the right hallway, pressed his back against the wall at the corner and slid down to the ground. "I go low, you go high," he told Hunt. "Kate covers the rear." She would need a little more time to recover fully. "Remember: Alexis may be loose in here - don't shoot unless you are certain it's a guard." He took a deep breath. "On three. One. Two. Three!"

He slid around the corner and went prone, rifle at the ready. The hallway was empty. He rolled to the side and got up, keeping his gun trained down the hallway. At the other end, he saw another flashlight flicker.

"We've found a cage on the first floor. Empty," Castle heard Buffy over the radio.

"That's my girl," Spike added. "Picked the lock like a pro!"

So his little girl was somewhere in the manor… amidst gunfire and explosions. "Let's go!" Castle said, and started to move down the hallway. He wasn't quite running, but certainly not taking it slow. Alexis needed him!

"We're in the basement. There's lots of wine bottles, and a few empty cells, but no one but dead guards!" Vi reported. Castle heard a shot in the background, followed by some scream. "No one but dead guards," Vi repeated.

"Slayer two, we're meeting heavy resistance in the southern part of the ground floor," Buffy said. "Check for secret passages then join us upstairs."

Alexis wasn't in the dungeons either, Castle thought. She would have to know that they were here to rescue her, so why wasn't she showing herself?

He reached the first door on his right. But there was still someone with a flashlight behind the corner ahead. Start clearing rooms, or take the guard out? How many guards did Volkov have left, anyway? There had to be two dozens of them down by now, and the gunfire hadn't lessened.

The guard behind the corner made the decision for Rick and swung into sight, firing at them. Castle dropped to the ground and returned fire. So did Hunt and Beckett. The man dropped to the ground and stopped firing. Hunt shot him in the head anyway.

Castle was about to get up again when bullets ripped through the door on his side, one clipping his shoulder. He threw himself forward, screaming when he rolled over his hurt shoulder, but the rest of the bullets missed him.

"Castle!" Becket yelled.

He wanted to yell back that he was OK, but the pain in his shoulder made him groan instead. While his father placed a breaching charge at the wall next to the door, Castle grabbed his shoulder. He didn't find any blood, so the kevlar had deflected the bullet, but the pain didn't lessen - something must have broken. Probably when he rolled over it.

Then Hunt blew the charge and Castle's teeth rattled too much to care about a broken shoulder. A few bursts from his carbine later, his father announced that the room was clear.

"Castle!" Kate was at his side, probing his shoulder.

He winced and moaned. "Careful! That hurts. Broken, I think." He knew how a shoulder wrenched out of its socket felt like, and this wasn't it.

He was about to get up when he heard a loud, amplified voice with a russian accent:

"Hunt! I know it's you! I have your granddaughter! Call your strike team back, or she dies!"

*****​

"It's my strike team," Rick muttered, standing up with Kate's help.

Volkov - it had to be Volkov - yelled again: "Say something, bitch!"

"Daddy? We're in the big room opening to…"

Alexis! And she was cut off in mid sentence! Castle snarled and turned around. He'd kill that bastard personally!

"He's on the ground floor, south side," Buffy announced over the radio before Castle could ask. "And I can hear Alexis there."

She was still alive!

"I'm not bluffing, Hunt! Stop your team!"

Castle really needed a loudspeaker as well.

"He's moving to the room with the cage. We're falling back. Converge on that position," Buffy ordered.

Every step hurt, but Castle didn't care. His daughter needed him!

*****​

When he reached the room in question, he found Volkov holding a gun to Alexis's head, with a dozen guards surrounding them, assault rifles - Russian ones AK-47 or AK-74s - aimed at the Slayers and Vampire surrounding them. Well, only one was aiming at Spike, since the vampire wasn't carrying a gun; most were covering the Slayers carrying machine guns.

"Dad!" Alexis yelled as soon as she saw him.

"Alexis!"

"You brought your son?" Volkov was staring at Rick's father.

"No," Castle said, pain and annoyance filling him. "I brought him. That's my strike team."

"Well, technically, half of us outrank you," Spike said.

"Since when do we care about rank?" Vi said loyally. Castle would have to buy her a new sword once they were back. Well, he'd do that anyway.

Buffy cleared her throat. "Last I checked I'm in charge."

"Tactical command. Not overall command," Rick said.

Volkov was still staring. Scoobie chatter had that effect on those not used to it. Castle was counting on it. But the Russian mobster recovered quickly. "I don't care - I have a hostage. And I want Hunt!"

"And a chopper out of here?" Faith asked. "Just checking, so we don't have to renegotiate because you forgot one of your demands."

Castle was certain that the Russian expletive wasn't meant as an answer. It didn't matter, anyway, as a glance over his shoulder told him.

Willow entered the room, floating a yard above the ground and surrounded by lightning, her hair spread out in a halo around her head - very dark red, Rick noticed with a wince. Once inside the room, she rose further up in the air and stared down at the group of kidnappers. "Drop your weapons and surrender!" she ordered in an inhuman voice.

For a moment, everyone was staring at the witch - everyone among the Russians. The Slayers didn't need more than a moment. A second later, a dozen bodies hit the ground, shot in the head, and Volkov was staring at the stump of his arm, taken off below the shoulder by a kukri Buffy had thrown with enough force to go through concrete.

And Alexis was running towards Castle.

"Dad!"

"Alexis!" He spread his arms, uncaring of the pain that caused, and embraced his little girl. His not so little girl, he found, when her tight hug sent a lance of pain through his shoulder. "Ugh."

"Dad! You're hurt!" She stared at him.

"It's just a broken shoulder," Rick managed to say through clenched teeth. "I've had worse."

"Alexis!" Like his ex-wife.

"Mom!"

While Mary hugged Alexis, Castle looked back at Volkov. The mobster was on his knees, trying to stem the bleeding from his severed arm. "How… how…" he stammered, his wide eyes flicking back and forth between Hunt and Willow, who was setting down now.

Hunt shot him in the head instead of answering.

Castle sighed. The perfect moment for a good quip, wasted.

*****​