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

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Do I want to know what you and your colleagues were up to after I left last night, or should I simply ask for the results?" Beckett said after sliding on the backseat of Castle's - and it was his, no matter what Vi thought - Shelby.

"You wound me, Detective!" Richard Castle said. When she narrowed her eyes at him, he added. "But maybe we shouldn't bother you with the details of our information gathering. Rather boring, really." He cleared his throat. "We've been tracking the van the demons used, and we have mapped its route, and the likely locations they might have transported the seal to."

"You've been busy then."

Was that appreciation in the woman's voice? Yes, it was! Castle smiled. "We've done our legwork."

"Yep. Like detectives." Vi grinned.

"Private eyes." Rick hastened to add, then glared at Vi. His Slayer just smirked.

Beckett rolled her eyes. "But you haven't found the place yet."

Castle pouted. She could have at least asked, instead of assuming that they hadn't had any success yet. "No, we haven't", he admitted. "There are a lot of locations in New York that would suit such a ritual."

"We've checked the most likely so far, but without any luck," Vi said. "Willow's spreadsheet was a bust."

"Those demons might be a bit smarter than I thought." Rick sighed. "It's really annoying when cultist intent on causing an apocalypse are no idiots." He rubbed his chin. "Although in this case, I wonder if they deliberately avoided the most obvious locations, or if they simply didn't know them, being foreigners."

"If they act dumber than they are, then that's cheating according to Buffy" Vi nodded.

Beckett stared at them. "I don't know if I should be glad or worried that you're apparently joking about an upcoming apocalypse we have to stop."

"Well, I was always fond of dark humour, as should be evident in my writing, but..." Rick started to say. Then he saw her expression, and quickly turned his head towards the Slayer who was sitting behind the wheel. "Vi, hit it!"

*****​

"I must admit that as a bestselling author, I do feel vexed that those demons visited so many abandoned warehouses and former industrial areas. As lairs, those are utter cliches." Castle was shaking his head. That was the fifth such location they were visiting. So far they hadn't found the demons they were looking for, but had dealt with one vampire nest and a scared a group of teens doing drugs.

"My heart is bleeding for you, Castle," Beckett said. "Such a burden you have to bear."

"I know." Castle sighed loudly. "It's so vexing when the real world follows literary tropes instead of being original."

"It's not actually a literary trope, but more of a televisonary one," his Slayer said.

"That's not a word, Vi," Castle said.

"Sure is! I just used it! I couldn't have done that if it wasn't a word."

"Buffy is a really bad influence on you." Castle was shaking his head.

"I'll tell her you said that." Vi stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll deny it and bribe her with new shoes." He grinned.

"That's unfair."

"That's smart, young grasshopper."

"Grasshopper?"

"It's a figure of speech."

"Must be a misshapen, ugly, unwanted one. 'Grasshopper'... what's next, you calling the detective 'bug'?" Vi snorted.

"Why would I call her that?" Castle still was surprised by how Vi's mind worked at times.

"She's bugging us all the time!"

"I'd rather say that Castle is bugging me," Beckett cut in.

Rick pouted, but before he could rectify this accusation, they arrived at their next stop.

"Yet another abandoned warehouse. This one even comes with a partially caved-in roof!" Rick muttered as he grabbed his shotgun from under the seat.

"No flamethrower this time?" Beckett asked, checking her own shotgun. Actually, Castle's, it was just on loan, but he wasn't certain that it would be a good idea to mention this when she was holding it.

He shook his head. "If there are too many, then we might have to run quite quickly, and the Ack Pack would slow me down too much."

"Meaning, he couldn't outrun you, Miss High Heels," Vi added.

"I wouldn't outrun her, Vi. I would bravely cover our retreat," Rick said.

"You'd bravely protest while I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out while the Detective does her duty to serve and protect and distracts the enemy," Vi said.

"How many demons would be too many for you?" Beckett looked straight at Vi. "Two or three?"

Vi gasped, then grinned. "That was almost a decent zinger - for a newbie. Keep it up and you can rival Alexis."

Beckett was about to say something, but Vi suddenly froze and held up her hand. Castle saw the Slayer's nostrils flare, and her expression showing eagerness.

"Demons."

*****​

They were out of sight of the warehouse - even the average demon apart from a Hellmouth was not quite as dumb as to not pay attention when a car drove up to their lair - but they were apparently close enough for Vi to smell them.

"Do you recognise the scent?" he asked.

Vi shook her head. "No. It's more a general stench."

"None of the particularly smelly ones?" Castle asked.

"No."

"Do you actually identify demons by their scent?"?" Beckett asked, staring at Vi.

"Sometimes," the redhead answered.

"She's like a bloodhOW!" Castle winced, rubbing his arm. "I need that arm for fighting!"

"Then don't risk it by calling me a bitch." Vi huffed.

"That's not what I meant!" Castle protested.

"You didn't mention that in the Vampire Hunter books," the detective said.

"No, I didn't. I didn't want to clue the enemy in." Castle grinned. "Many of the older vampires grew up in a time without TV, and are therefore quite fond of reading."

"So, like your age?" Vi said.

That hit a bit close to home. Castle frowned at her. "As a former librarian and current bestselling author, I would be fond of books no matter if I were half my age."

"Can we now deal with the demons, instead of hashing out Castle's midlife crisis?" Beckett was tapping her shotgun with her fingers.

Castle would have made a joke about the life expectancy of a Watcher in the field being half his age, but that would have touched upon the Slayers' life expectancy, and some things you didn't touch if you were not Slayer yourself. So he said: "Making deals with demons is generally ill-advised." When the woman frowned, he added: "But I do think we should, as the teenagers say, 'get a move on'."

"We don't say that anymore, gramps," Vi said.

"You're not a teenager anymore either."

"We didn't say that when I was a teenager." The Slayer wasn't relenting.

"Let's just go and kill some demons," Castle said.

Before Becket lost her patience. It was the detective's first apocalypse, so she was understandably a bit stressed.

"How do we do it? The Xander way, or the Buffy way?" Vi asked.

"We're pressed for time," Castle said, "so we'll use Buffy's method." With a glance at Beckett, he explained: "Breaking down the front door and marching in."

She blinked. "And the 'Xander way' would be?"

"Scouting beforehand, and having multiple entrance methods." He saw her expression, and added: "Both methods have their uses. Xander's is often overkill for a demon den."

"Not always though," Vi said.

"Yes." Castle remembered those occasions well enough without the reminder.

Beckett sighed. "Let's just do this."

"That's the spirit!" Castle cheered.

They didn't actually kick down the front door, though. With Vi in the lead, they made their way to the back of the warehouse, sticking to the walls, until they reached a side entrance that looked like the last time it had seen better days had been back in the Great Depression. He saw Vi eyeing the roof, and shook his head. "We don't split up." Not with just one Slayer, and without the heavy weapons.

Vi pouted - she liked climbing and breaking and entering, which Castle felt he should have to worry about, if it wasn't so useful for their work, then nodded, and moved to the door. A few kicks later, the door was no longer barring their way. Or being much of a door at all.

"I didn't realise you meant it literally when you mentioned your plan," Beckett said.

"Oh, I didn't. We're not kicking the front door open, after all," Castle said, grinning as he followed his Slayer inside. He couldn't hear a response, but he'd bet that Beckett was rolling her eyes behind him.

They were in a narrow hallway, with a few doors - storage rooms, bathrooms, he guessed. He didn't want to guess in what state they were, after demons had used the building for some time.

At least their entrance hadn't been that loud, so if no one was in the office part of the warehouse, then they might not have been noticed yet. Still, they'd better hurry. They turned around a corner, and a door was opened practically in their face. A demon - a M'Fashnik Demon, Castle noted - was staring at them, obviously surprised. It opened its mouth to yell or roar, but Vi buried her steel-toed boot in its stomach and knocked the air out of it. All it managed was a whimper. Then her sword went up into its wide-open mouth, and out the back of its head. For a moment, Vi kept the demon upright, then pulled her sword out - she hadn't got it stuck this time, but he made a mental note to that she might need a reminder why it was better to slash throats than stab skulls - and the demon slid to the floor, dead.

"Those are usually mercenaries," he said. "Someone's got money. Or kittens."

Vi growled, but Beckett shook her head. "Kittens… Of all the things, they want to be paid in kittens..."

"Well, they are apparently tasty, far easier to handle than souls, and used for Kitten Poker…" Castle said, rushing after Vi, who had rushed on. He found her listening on the next door.

"They're behind this door, it's the big hall. About a dozen I'd say."

Those were not great odds, but they could handle a dozen. After a glance to check that Beckett was ready - she was; her face was set and she was holding her shotgun with the muzzle pointed at the floor - he nodded at his Slayer. Showtime.

Vi opened the door - it was unlocked, so she didn't have to use her boot this time - and Castle blinked.

In front of them were about a dozen demons, servicing three vans, all with different colors and ads on them. One was made light-proof, another was getting cleaned of what looked like blood, and a cage of kittens was getting unloaded from the third. There was a lot of crates and other containers around as well, all sorted in different groups. There was an explanation for all the stops they had to check, and the half a dozen warehouses they had visited, but...

"Did we just discover a demon trucking company?"

*****​

 

[Ack]

I still can't get over 'kitten poker'.

 

[Winchester]

I still can't get over 'kitten poker'.

Click to shrink...

I tried to find a youtube clip of the whole scene, no luck though... (IIRC there's more than one of them).

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"And apparently, they just discovered us," Kate Beckett heard Richard Castle mutter under his breath when one of the demons spotted them, and yelled something she didn't understand. Since, a second later, half the demons in the hall started to rush them, she could imagine what it had meant.

"Take at least one of them alive, Vi!" she heard Castle yell, right before firing his shotgun at a horned demon running towards the wildly waving a large wrench around. A slug to the stomach stopped its charge, though, and another shot took the creature's head off.

Then she was busy defending herself. A demon with gray, stone-like skin jumped out from behind a carte and took a swipe at her. She ducked the wild swing and slammed the barrel of her shotgun into its crotch. While it howled, she took a step back and fired a Dragon's Breath round at it. For a second, the monster was engulfed in flames, and then it was stumbling away, flailing its arms while it tried to put out the fire. She was about to put it out of its misery with a another shot when another demon jumped at her.

She tried to dodge, but didn't manage it - the monster hit her shoulder and both of them went down in a tangle of limbs. The demon ended up on top of her, roaring in triumph as it raised its claws to slice into her face and chest. When it reared back it gave her an opening, though, and she hit it in its face with the barrel of the shotgun, sending teeth fragments and blood flying. The monster howled, and Beckett twisted her hips to throw it off. It was too strong and too heavy, though, and a wild swing sent her shotgun flying. Then it drew back its arm to take her head off. Beckett couldn't draw her pistol with the monster's legs pinning her down. She raised her arms in a futile gesture, expecting to die, when Castle slammed into it, pushing it off her.

She scrambled on all fours to grab her shotgun, hearing Vi yelling in the background, followed by inhuman howling. She couldn't shoot, though, not with Castle and the demon grappling each other. For a moment, she hesitated.

Then Vi was there, reaching down and pulling the demon's head back. A second later, she had slit its throat. "That's why a blade is so much better!" she said, then charged at two demons that were opening a crate inside a van, her sword lopping off a limb from another demon who was trying to stand up. More bodies littered the floor, Beckett noticed - Vi had gone through the creatures with inhuman speed and power.

Castle got back up, groaning. "That demon was bulletproof, and I hadn't time to draw my blade," he said.

"Thank you," Beckett said. She looked around. The demons had broken, as Castle would call it in his books - the surviving ones were trying to flee. One was at the front door, fumbling with the lock. Beckett was about to shoot it - a demon had almost killed her - but Vi was already there, kicking the creature's legs out and then subduing it with a few blows to the head.

Suddenly, she heard an engine roar, and one of the vans started forward. She yelled a warning, but Vi had already noticed, and jumped out of the way. The van crashed into the front doors, and got stuck. A second later, Vi ripped the door off the van and dragged the demon out.

"I got two live ones!" she announced as she dragged both of them to Castle.

"Good work, Vi," the man said, and the Slayer seemed to preen. "Do a sweep around the warehouse, to see if we missed someone, while we find out what they know."

Vi nodded, and took off.

Castle crouched down next to the groaning demons. "Now… what exactly were you doing here?" he asked, prodding the one still conscious with a short sword.

The demon growled, baring its teeth - oversized fangs, Beckett noticed, a pure carnivore - at them. Castle stuck his blade into the monster's arm, which made it howl in pain.

Kate pressed her lips together while the demon started to talk. That wasn't 'roughing up' someone; that was torture. But it was a demon. A species, if she remembered 'Black Forest Cannibals' right, that preyed on humans. And they had to stop that ritual to save New York.

She still didn't like it.

*****​

Half an hour later, Beckett watched as Castle and Vi prepared to burn the warehouse down. "Who would have thought it - it was a demon trucking business! Those were quite the entrepreneurs," Castle said shaking his head while he emptied a jerry can of gasoline on the collected corpses of the demons. "That's an entry for the Watcher Journals! Giles will be so jealous!"

"And we've got their client list!" Vi added, gleefully.

"Yes!" Castle beamed. "They not only ran a business, they kept records! I'd admire that work ethic, if it hadn't involved transporting demons and their victims."

Beckett didn't want to imagine how many people had been killed due to those demons offering their services to others. They had been operating for over half a year, and had been about to expand. "There will be another such business, won't it?" she said.

Castle lost his grin, and nodded. "Yes. Even if we killed all of them - which I doubt - their clients are still around. Obviously, there is demand for this sort of service, so someone else will be stepping up to take over."

"It never ends, does it?" Beckett said. "The war against those… monsters." The thought that in a few months from now, such vans would be driving through her city again, carrying monsters, maybe even captured humans… she couldn't stand it.

Castle shook his head. "No, not really. Hell won't go away. But we've been doing very well, in the last few years, with so many Slayers as opposed to just one." He smiled, and lit a rag with his lighter.

"Oh, yeah!" Vi said. "We've been cleaning up!"

The fact that things used to be worse was but a small comfort for Beckett. She sighed. It wasn't as if her work as a detective was that different - for every perp she caught, someone else would take their place. In a weird way, that realisation made her feel better - she had had to come to terms with that part of her work, or she would have quit long ago.

Castle dropped the rag on the gasoline and took a step back. "Let's go!"

A minute later, Vi was again breaking traffic laws by the dozens. Beckett didn't complain, though - she didn't want to be in the vicinity when the fire was reported.

"I wanted to ask," Castle said, breaking the silence as he looked over his shoulder at her, "What did the special agent say about last evening?"

Beckett glared at him, but he simply grinned. "He kept asking me what I knew about you and your friends."

"I trust you didn't tell him anything?"

"You have the right to remain silent!" Vi said.

Beckett ignored the Slayer. "I stuck to the cover story. But he didn't really believe me. I suspect he'll run your names through the system as soon as he has the opportunity."

"Why, that's really unprofessional!" Castle shook his head in mock outrage. "I'd even call that abuse of power!"

Beckett knew he was more or less correct, but such things happened in the force. "Don't tell me you'd not run Alexis's boyfriends through the system, if you could!"

Castle suddenly coughed, and Vi chuckled. "He did, actually!"

"What?" Kate stared at the man. "How… did you hack the FBI?"

"Well… not me, personally." Castle smiled sheepishly. "But we needed access to their files, to track some slippery demons."

"And checking teenagers' rap sheets is part of your work?" Beckett should feel outraged, but… if she had a daughter, she would probably do the same. Only if she had a reason to suspect something, of course. And it was the FBI's system that was hacked, not the NYPD's.

"Well…" Castle shrugged. "Guilty as charged?" He grinned.

Beckett shook her head. She suspected that would have hacked the police's system too. But she didn't want to know - ignoring that would have been a bit more difficult. "Will he find something that will cause trouble?" she asked.

Castle frowned, then shook his head. "Not really. If he triggers a flag he'll be warned off. The Council does have diplomatic immunity, and friends in high places."

"That won't stop Will. Not if he thinks there's something illegal going on." And if he thought she was in danger - or involved, Beckett added to herself. "He is a good investigator."

"Well… let's hope he isn't too good at his job." Castle frowned again. "If he stumbles upon a demon nest…"

Kate winced. When they had been a couple, Will hadn't made fun of her Fantasy books, but she knew he didn't think much of them. He'd not believe in demons, right until he met one trying to kill him. And he'd not know how to fight them either.

Her expression must have betrayed her thoughts, since Castle muttered a curse.

"Well, there's always plan F!" Vi said.

"Plan F?" Kate looked at the Slayer.

"F stands for Faith. Or for Fucking," the redhead explained. "She can distract him until he has forgotten all about you, and us."

Kate snorted. "I doubt that will work." Will wouldn't fall for that.

"Mhh." She could just see Vi grin, and frowned.

It wouldn't work.

*****​

 

[macdjord]

It wouldn't work.

Click to shrink...

Aaaand cue the Gilligan's Cut~

 

[Prince Charon]

Well, I think it would work on me, but I'm not so sure about Will.

Also, there's the question of how long it will work for.

 

[Ack]

To quote Lucifer:

"Every time he starts asking inconvenient questions, I have sex with him. It seems to render him mute."

 

[Starfox5]

Faith wasn't really serious - Will probably reminds her of Wesley, and she doesn't like cops to begin with. Kate of course thinks it won't work because Will as her ex would have better taste than to be interested in Faith.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Back in Castle's apartment, Kate Beckett realised quickly that "plan F" hadn't been serious. It should have been obvious, she thought, but those 'Scoobies' were so eccentric, it had sounded like something they'd actually try. At least she didn't show any reaction - Vi wouldn't get that satisfaction.

She leaned back in her seat and winced when her shoulder flared up in pain - that demon had done a number on her; she'd have trouble moving in the morning, and hiding it from Will would be a pain. If he noticed, he'd not rest until he had found the culprit, and she couldn't exactly tell him that they had already killed it. Or what it had been.

"Are you hurt?" Vi asked, startling her.

"You should have said something!" Castle cut in. "I saw the demon tackle you, but I didn't realise it had hurt you that much."

"My shoulder is bruised, or rather, will be bruised."

"That's going to be nasty," Vi said. "Especially since you don't heal as quickly as we do."

"She's not the only one," Castle said. "I don't heal quickly either."

"That means you should make more of an effort to not get hurt," Vi said.

"Oh, yes!" Buffy said. "Watchers - they have a death wish!"

Spike snorted in the middle of drinking, and blood splattered all over his shirt. "Slayer! See what you did?"

"What?" Buffy turned to him. "Why are you blaming me?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Spike stared at her.

"Oh." Buffy blinked. She coughed. "Anyway, Watchers should be more careful."

"We try," Castle said. "But the demons don't always cooperate. Quite inconsiderate of them, really."

"Oh, yes!" Buffy said, smiling. Then she frowned. "Wait… you're being sarcastic! You're talking like Giles again!"

"If I am, then only because we share the same burden."

"What? Are you saying I'm a burden?" Vi turned away from where she had been checking Kate's shoulder and and was, as far as the detective could tell, pouting at Castle.

"I was talking about our work," Castle said.

"Ah, OK." Vi turned back to Beckett, smiling. Then she frowned. "Wait… did he just…"

"Can we please take care of my shoulder? I'd rather not look like a cripple tomorrow and make Will even more suspicious of us," Kate said, grinding her teeth before the Slayer could start another round of childish back and forth.

"Ah… yes."

To her credit, Vi knew how to render first aid, although Kate was a tad sceptical that the ointment she used would work 'like magic'. Unless it was something magical.

Kate glanced at her shoulder, suddenly wondering what exactly was seeping into her skin there. She couldn't help remembering all those tales of magical mishaps, and hoped fervently that they wouldn't use anything that wasn't safe on her.

Watching Buffy and Spike having an argument about death wishes, she wasn't certain.

*****​

"Thank you." Kate Beckett said, sitting next to Castle in the man's car as they drove towards her apartment.

"For driving you? It's my pleasure!" Castle said. "No, really," he added quickly, "I rarely get to drive my baby. Vi is quite possessive of things that do not belong to her."

"I meant for saving my life, back there," Kate explained.

"Oh, that." After a moment, Castle grinned at her. "It was my pleasure as well."

Kate hesitated for a few seconds, then said: "For you, that was normal, wasn't it? Nothing special."

"Tuesday," Castle said.

"Pardon?"

"For most people, it would have been a pitched fight against a horde of demons. For us, it was tuesday, as in, just another day at work," Castle said.

"Ah." What she had meant, then. "I think I understand you and your friends a bit better now." And she couldn't help wondering if they were all crazy. Castle had said that they coped with this madness by joking and being silly, but… you couldn't really cope with that kind of stress. Or that kind of pressure.

"Good." Castle wasn't glancing at her, his attention on the road. Or so it seemed.

"You've been doing this for twenty years."

"I took several years off, so it's more like fifteen."

"Yes." It didn't matter, fifteen or twenty, it was a far too long time. "And you're not planning to stop."

This time he glanced at her. "Could you stop, knowing what dangers are out there?"

She hissed. She hadn't thought about that. Could she stop? Stop hunting demons, stop keeping New York safe, or safer? "No, I guess not." Even though she should stop, she knew that.

He snorted, but didn't say anything.

Kate bit her lower lip for a moment. "And Alexis is following in your footsteps."

Once again he glanced at her, though with a serious expression this time. "Mine and her mother's." She was wondering if she could push a bit further and how best to word it, when he continued: "Before you ask: No, I don't like it. I wish she would do something else - anything else. Even joining the army would be safer than this. But she's mine and Mary's daughter. As stubborn as either of us. She was born into this, daughter of two Watchers, and knew about demons and magic from the start. She wants to do this, and I can't stop her. She's too responsible to do something else." After a second, he added: "All I can do is support and protect her as much as possible." He snorted. "I'm told all parents worry about their children when they grow up, but I bet not all of them worry about the child fighting vampires."

Beckett nodded, although she wasn't certain he noticed. Castle would keep fighting in this war, if only to help protect his daughter. And should something happen to her, he'd keep fighting to avenge her.

They didn't say anything else until they arrived in front of Kate's home.

*****​

The next morning, Kate was pleasantly surprised to wake up in less pain than she had expected. It seems the ointment had been magical. Unfortunately, she still had a rather large and ugly bruise, and prodding it with her fingers showed that bumping against something wouldn't be a good idea either. But she could move more or less normally.

If Will still noticed... Well, she thought, with a grin, she could blame it on Castle. It would even be true, from a certain point of view. She forced the fantasies that thought had conjured away and got ready for work.

Half an hour later, she entered the 12th Precinct, and almost spilled her coffee when Will all but jumped at her. "Kate!"

"Good morning to you too, Will," she said, with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

It didn't seem to faze him. "You're late."

"Late?" She frowned and checked her clock. "I'm on time."

"You used to come in earlier than this when we were working on our last case together."

She suddenly felt angry at her her ex-boyfriend. Had he been that possessive when they had been together? They had mutually agreed to break up when he had moved to work at the FBI, and she was now wondering how he would have reacted if she had broken up with him. On the other hand, this was a good opportunity. She smiled sweetly. "Well, back then I wasn't quite as busy at night." When he was gaping at her, she rubbed her shoulder, not bothering to hide her wince. "Although we were a bit too adventurous. I must have sprained something."

Her satisfaction at seeing Will frown was short-lived, unfortunately - she heard Esposito whistle behind her. Great. By noon, half the precinct would know about this. And she couldn't even glare at the man. She blamed Castle - obviously, she was picking up the bad habit of not thinking things through before acting from him. And of course, he would think this was all very amusing.

But the worst was that she'd have to tell him, or he'd be impossible once he heard it from Esposito.

*****​

"Marconi woke up, but he hasn't been declared fit to be interrogated yet," Will said once they were in the room the Feds had appropriated for their investigation.

Kate shrugged, as if she was unconcerned. "He was rather beaten up."

"Castle seems a tad violent." Will was staring at her.

She met his eyes, and didn't bother to hide her anger. "What are you insinuating? They were shooting at us."

"His friends are violent too. I've been asking around."

She frowned. "You've been investigating Castle's friends?" She had expected that, of course. Still...

"You saw how fast that girl took me down. She is much stronger than she looks. And she has been trained in combat." He shook his head. "Something is fishy there. I know Castle is hiding something." Will stared at her, waiting.

"If you find out anything, tell me."

"You know what he's hiding."

Kate shrugged. "I looked into his past. I found nothing." It wasn't exactly true. But there hadn't been anything illegal.

Will frowned, but didn't press the matter.

Kate was certain, though, that she was facing a rather tiring day. Will wasn't the kind of man to let such a matter drop.

*****​

 

[The Halfa Wannabe]

She suddenly felt angry at her her ex-boyfriend. Had he been that possessive when they had been together? They had mutually agreed to break up when he had moved to work at the FBI, and she was now wondering how he'd reacted if she had broken up with him. On the other hand, this was a good opportunity. She smiled sweetly. "Well, back then I wasn't quite as busy at night." When he was gaping at her, she rubbed her shoulder, not bothering to hide her wince. "Although we were a bit too adventurous. I must have sprained something."

Click to shrink...

Just a small thing but it seems how he'd have reacted or he would've reacted would have gone better here.

 

[Starfox5]

Just a small thing but it seems how he'd have reacted or he would've reacted would have gone better here.

Click to shrink...

Good point. Changed.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Will, for the last time: My relationship to Richard Castle is none of your business." Kate Beckett was glaring at Will, or, if her former boyfriend kept this up, Agent Sorenson. That was the third time in an hour he had brought this up.

"But you can't deny that he is hiding something." Will was leaning forward, his hands flat on her desk.

She had withdrawn from the Feds temporary offices to do paperwork on her own - and to avoid his questions. "Everyone has secrets, Will. That's why the police is not allowed to investigate someone without sufficient cause."

"Don't you think that Castle's bodyguard is one of the most dangerous persons in the country is sufficient cause?"

"Please… Vi's good, but not that good." Even if she hadn't been told, Beckett would have deduced that Buffy, Faith and Willow were far more dangerous than Vi from the way the three were treated.

"Oh really?" Will almost sneered. "Your colleague was so kind to tell me just how well she can shoot. And the reports from the Marconi shootout confirm that."

She'd make Esposito pay for that, Beckett swore. "She's a quick shot. Nothing that unusual - there are similar or better shooters in the quick-draw competitions." But those didn't hit that well, at that range.

Will wasn't convinced, she could tell. She hadn't expected it. "Why are you covering for him? You're a cop."

"Exactly. I know not to abuse my power." She set her jaw. Try to insinuate she was a crooked cop, would he?

"Kate…"

Whatever Will had been about to say remained unsaid when his partner, Agent Clapton, interrupted them. "The killer struck again!"

*****​

If there had been any doubt that the noose-demon had to be dealt with, permanently, then it had died with the Anosovs. Father, mother, teenage daughter, all dangling from the ceiling of their own apartment. They had struggled, Kate could tell from the way the furniture had been upended and pushed around. But they had stood no chance. Not against a demon. She stared at their faces, then shook her head.

"The daughter's boyfriend found them. He was late for lunch," Esposito said. That would have been the boy shaking inside a blanket she had seen when entering. "His car broke down, and he walked. Exercise saved his life."

She snorted, more out of habit than because she found the joke funny. "I guess they took fingerprints again?"

"The same as found on the other locations," Esposito confirmed. "But they're not in the system."

"Not unusual for serial murderers." Not all of them had a rap sheet before they went over the edge.

"But it's unusual that he's not using gloves," Esposito said. "Serial killers are usually smart. Anyone would know not to leave finger prints."

Anyone but a demon who had been sealed in a coffin since the middle of the 19th century, Kate thought. "Maybe he wants to get caught. Or he's taunting us."

"Maybe. Sick bastard." Esposito shook his head. "Too bad Castle's not here."

"Why?" She looked at him. "Will would have him arrested."

"Yes. But he'd have some weird theory. I could use a laugh right now."

So could she.

At least Will was now acting as professionally as she knew him to be. He walked over to them. "We found blood under the fingernails of the daughter. If she managed to scratch the killer, then we might have his DNA."

"Which won't be on record either," Kate said.

He frowned, but she was correct - there was no way that the DNA would be on file, but not the fingerprints. "We might link it to more crimes."

"The modus operandi is quite distinctive." She pointed at the nooses. "I think we've had heard of such murders. Can we take them down now?"

Will hesitated, then nodded. "The family was Russian-American. Like the last victims."

"Ties to organised crime?" Kate asked. It was a logical question, but she still felt guilty for deceiving the agent. She knew the motive, after all.

"It's a possibility." Will looked not quite convinced. "But hanging would be very unusual as a murder method in that milieu."

Kate nodded. "What do the profilers say?"

"Nothing concrete yet. A possible fixation with lynchings. The vigilante hypothesis looks unlikely now." Will looked at the daughter, whose body was now let down by two uniforms. "Unless the girl was involved in organised crime."

"Any witnesses?"

"An old woman in the neighbouring house reported seeing someone 'dark and tall' leave through the backyard, but she didn't see a face, or could describe anything beyond that," Esposito said.

Will ground his teeth, Kate could tell. "It's not much, but pass it around. Canvas the neighbourhood. Someone has to have seen something!"

Esposito went to pass the order on. Kate nodded, but she doubted anything would come from it. Not when the murderer had supernatural powers.

But, she thought, if they had his blood, then there might be something Willow could do. There had been that tracking ritual in 'Blood Shadows', where the Loremaster had used magic and a drop of blood from a demon to track the monster to its lair. Kate hoped that Castle had based this on a real spell.

*****​

Kate hated herself for the thought, but the newest murder had caused one good thing: Will had turned back into the driven cop she was familiar with. Instead of the borderline stalker she had discovered recently. Although she had to admit that if their roles were reversed, she might have had a similar - slightly similar - reaction. She had investigated Castle quite… thoroughly… herself, after all, once she noticed the discrepancies of that annoying and yet charming man.

She wouldn't be obsessed over a new girlfriend of Will, though. She hadn't even asked him if he was in a relationship when they had met again after their breakup, back when they had been investigating that kidnapping case. Not that she had had to ask, given how Will had acted towards her.

She pushed the idle thoughts away. She had to focus on the task at hand - they had to stop those cultist demons from breaking the seal. And they had to stop the noose-demon from murdering more families. Hopefully, the blood they had found would help - provided there was enough left for a spell. Castle understandably, but at the moment frustratingly, didn't put the correct details concerning magic into his books.

And without knowing how much was needed, or if it was even possible, there was no sense in trying to secure a sample herself. Which was a small consolation - it was quite the torture to be sitting in the precinct, working, yet knowing nothing she did here would advance either case.

She checked her watch. Just a few more hours.

"Hey, Beckett!"

The detective looked up. Esposito and Ryan were walking towards her, smiling. Either they had a breakthrough… no, that was not a proud smile. That was a teasing smile.

She glared at them, but while Ryan flinched, Esposito wasn't deterred. She had known it would be a tiring day.

*****​

New York, October 2009

"Good evening!" Richard Castle, leaning against his car, smiled brightly when he saw Beckett leaving the 12th Precinct. She looked a bit annoyed, though - and it wasn't because of him, he was certain of that. "Something wrong?"

She sighed, frowned at him. "Your cover story."

"Oh?"

"I had to explain my hurting shoulder, and now everyone thinks I sprained my shoulder having wild sex last night. With you."

He fought not to smirk, much less chuckle, but his face must have given him away, since her frown turned into an icy glare.

"It's not funny."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid you're mistaken - it's very funny." He held up his hands when she narrowed her eyes. "Of course, it's funny in a very inappropriate way, and utterly unsuitable, considering our current situation," he quickly said.

That seemed to placate her. She must be warming up to him! He gestured at the car. "Your carriage awaits, milady."

"Vi's letting you drive again? Generous of her."

"Well, she's busy preparing for tonight," Castle said, walking around the car.

"Tonight?"

"We think we found the location of the seal. Or rather, the area it's been hidden in," he said when they drove away. "It's, sadly, underground, which means it'll be a bit tricky to get the drop on them. Not to mention that we'll have to find the exact location."

"How big an area are we talking about?" Beckett said, rubbing her shoulder.

"About a couple blocks. Volume," he clarified.

"That'll take the whole night."

"Yes." He grinned.

"Don't say it!"

Castle pouted. That had been a great opening! "I wasn't," he said.

She rolled her eyes. Apparently, he had to work on his acting. His mother had said that frequently, of course, but hadn't been in the habit to listen to her that much. "There was another noose murder. A whole family."

He clenched his teeth and cursed. That damn demon… if only they had managed to track it down before.

"But we found a blood sample, under the fingernails of one victim. Is that enough to track it with a spell?"

He grinned. "It just might. I'll have to ask Willow." That was good news - if all went well, they'd stop the cult and the noose demon in one day.

Then he frowned. Had he just tempted Murphy? He hadn't said it out loud, so it shouldn't count!

*****​

 

[The Halfa Wannabe]

Ahh poor Castle. It always counts.

 

[Ack]

So handy having a cop in the know.

 

[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.

*****​

 

[Ack]

Flamethrowers; the perfect way to un-invite unwanted party-crashers.

 

[macdjord]

Flamethrowers; the perfect way to un-invite unwanted party-crashers.

Click to shrink...

Uh, pretty sure it's the heroes doing the party-crashing here...

 

[Ack]

Uh, pretty sure it's the heroes doing the party-crashing here...

Click to shrink...

The party don't get started till Castle is there.

 

[Walkir]

"Which won't be on record either," Karte said.

Click to shrink...

Kate.

 

[Starfox5]

Kate.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! Fixed.

 

[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.

*****​

 

[macdjord]

Smart enemies suck.

 

[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.

*****​

 

[steamrick]

I wasn't too sure about reading this story at first because I'm completely unfamiliar with Castle, but the lure of Buffy drew me and even if Buffy only has a rather minor role in the story, I stayed for the hilarious character interactions. Thanks for the laughs

 

[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.

*****​

 

[Tranquil Zebra]

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

Click to shrink...

Well, being half right is nothing to sneeze at.

If I haven't said so before, though, I really love your story. I love Castle, Buffy, your portrayal of the characters therein, how you do not dick around with vampires going public and gaining the sympathy of the masses, the dynamics between Beckett and Castle, and so on. I tip my hat to you, good sir!

 

[Prince Charon]

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

"Yep. Trust me, loonie bins are fun." Buffy stood up. "All done, Wills?"

Click to shrink...

Should that perhaps be 'aren't,' instead?

Good part, otherwise.

 

[Starfox5]

Well, being half right is nothing to sneeze at.

If I haven't said so before, though, I really love your story. I love Castle, Buffy, your portrayal of the characters therein, how you do not dick around with vampires going public and gaining the sympathy of the masses, the dynamics between Beckett and Castle, and so on. I tip my hat to you, good sir!

Click to shrink...

Thanks!

Should that perhaps be 'aren't,' instead?

Good part, otherwise.

Click to shrink...

Thanks, Corrected.

 

[The Halfa Wannabe]

I wasn't too sure about reading this story at first because I'm completely unfamiliar with Castle, but the lure of Buffy drew me and even if Buffy only has a rather minor role in the story, I stayed for the hilarious character interactions. Thanks for the laughs

Click to shrink...

Let us be very clear about Starfox's characterizations. They're spot on. Castle really is an overgrown man child with a heart of gold, his mom is every bit as theatrical as she appears and Alexis is the most mature of the lot. It is a wonderful series and I highly suggest it. Just don't go expecting Vi or demons.