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

[Starfox5]

New York, July 2009

"That's… a trick," Kate Beckett stated, slowly shaking her head, but Richard Castle could tell she didn't really believe her own words. Her logical mind wouldn't accept that.

"Look for wires?" he grinned, even though he was wondering, mentally, how much a drop from this height would hurt.

"Maybe magnets…" she trailed off.

"Anything metal would be affected by that." He pointed at his belt buckle.

"Technically, antimagnetic metal wouldn't be affected," his daughter corrected him. He heard Vi chuckle.

"Alright… you can set me down again. The point is made."

Vi set the couch down, though with enough of shock that he was jolted out of his seat and almost fell down. "Maybe there is a reason that the traditional way to demonstrate a Slayer's strength was to twist an iron poker," he mused.

Beckett was recovering her composure. Rick could see she was eyeing both him and Vi warily, and even glanced at Alexis with some suspicion. "What is she?" the detective asked, pointing at the Slayer.

"She's a Slayer. A girl gifted with the power and toughness to hunt vampires and other demons. Gifted ... or cursed." Castle added with just a hint of drama.

"That's the introduction of your first novel. You just replaced 'a Slayer' with 'a Vampire Hunter'," Beckett retorted.

"Yes." Castle sat down again and Vi retook her place on the couch's armrest while Alexis moved to stand behind him. A nice show of solidarity and support, in his opinion. It also placed his daughter behind the the reinforced couch, in case she needed to take cover. It was unlikely, but Beckett was still visibly stressed, and Vi could start a fight with a saint if she wanted to.

"So… all your books are based on real events?" Beckett wasn't yet back to normal, but Castle could see how she was shifting from shocked to interrogating.

"I took a few liberties in my novels to protect the source of my stories. All the information about demons is correct though." Rick smiled.

"Victoria was based on me!" Vi grinned. "He did tone down her ass-kicking though, to make it less obvious."

Castle coughed. "I do recall a certain redhead complaining until I made her more formidable."

"What?" Vi affected an air of utter innocence and turned towards Rick's daughter. "Alexis, how could you do that to your dad!"

"What?" Alexis sputtered. "You're blaming your vanity on me?"

"Children…" Castle rolled his eyes. "Do you see what I have to deal with? I hope you'll not follow Vi's example when I am writing Nikki Heat."

"Could you be serious for once?" Beckett asked in a strained voice. Castle could see that she was clenching her teeth as soon as she had finished her question, probably to keep herself from cursing.

"Sorry!" Rick sat up straight and looked at her with exaggerated seriousness - for about two seconds, then his mouth started to twitch. When he saw the detective's expression darken, he held up a hand to stop what he suspected would be a very memorable tirade. "I truly am sorry. But… joking around is how we cope with the fact that we are risking our lives every day. Or almost every day."

"It's better than what other Slayers and their Watchers do to cope," Alexis nodded.

Rick narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "And what exactly are those people doing to cope with stress, and how do you know that?"

Alexis's smile froze on her face, and she pointed at Vi.

Castle turned to his Slayer. "Vi!"

"Hey! I am innocent! She listened in to a talk with … London!" Vi protested.

"And you didn't spot or hear her?" Castle glared at her. "Are you getting sloppy?"

"Err…" Vi winced.

Before Castle could threaten her with more sensory training, Beckett interrupted their discussion. "So, you joined those… Watchers… while you were in London."

"Yes." They were spilling secrets faster than he had planned to, but he trusted Beckett. Or wanted to. "My first wife saved me from a vampire, and I joined her group of vampire hunters in gratitude." That was his story.

"Mary Wilkinson is a Slayer too?" Beckett sounded surprised, as well as concerned.

Vi snickered. "She wishes! No, she's a tweed-wearing watcher. Slayers are much hotter than her!" The redhead struck a pose straight out of a pin-up calendar on the armrest. Castle made a mental note to check what exactly his family had been up to.

"Those are the 'Loremasters' in the novels." Beckett wasn't asking but stating now.

"Yes." Castle was starting to feel like one of her suspects. Vi must have picked up on that since she glared at the detective.

"How long has this been going on? This demon hunting?" Yes, Beckett was now back to normal.

"Ah… I've been doing it for 20 years, though with a break of a few years. Before Sunnydale." Rick pointed his thumb at Vi. "Since then I've been training and working with her."

He was about to go into greater detail of his work when Beckett shook her head. "No… I mean the 'Loremasters'. How long have they been at it?"

"We don't exactly know," Alexis cut in while Rick was pouting. "The records only go back until the time writing was invented."

"You're joking!"

"No, she's not. Those Brits in the 90s? So stuffy and hide-bound, they thought our letters were a newfangled invention!" Castle snarked.

"Dad!" Alexis shook her head at him, before addressing the detective again. "Let me tell you, trying to read hieroglyphs can be a pain. And the Sumerian cuneiform is worse."

Yes, Rick definitely had to find out just what his daughter had been up to.

"That's… why doesn't the world know? Why haven't you told people?" Beckett was standing now, agitated. But she seemed to have accepted the existence of demons. Progress!

Castle pointed at her. "That's exactly what I asked when I joined!" Well, not exactly - back then, he had been too enamored with the idea of joining a secret society of vampire hunters. And with Mary. But there was no need to go into those details. When the detective's stare turned into a glare, he hastily continued. "It's related to the Old Ones. The true demons. Or demonlords. The big bads of the big bads." Judging by her expression, he really shouldn't be using Scoobie terms when talking to adult people. He'd probably just wrecked his cred as a writer. "Anyway. Those monsters are far more powerful than vampires or lesser demons. They are gone from the world, but not completely. More like sleeping. If too many people learn of the existence of demons, their belief, their fear, could wake up one of them. Or more."

"But… people believed in them before…" Beckett blinked. "The population explosion!"

"Yes. If seven billion people start believing in magic and demons…" Castle grimaced. "Do you need a drink?"

Beckett nodded, and Castle went and got a bottle of whiskey.

Vi smiled, showing her Irish heritage. Then she frowned. "Why does she rate the good stuff?"

"It's not every day your worldview is shattered." Castle filled three glasses.

"Well, I didn't get that kind of treat when I was told about demons," Vi pouted.

"You were underage then." Castle raised his glass, ready for a toast.

"Wait… 2002… you started hunting vampires at 17?" Beckett stared at Vi, then glared at Castle. "You sent children against demons?"

Castle downed his drink, then filled it again. He just knew he would need it.

*****​

"Why is it that explaining how demons live among us, hunting humans, is less of a problem than explaining Slayers?" Castle muttered to himself, after Beckett had calmed down and stopped threatening to arrest him.

At least Alexis had taken care of the explaining part. "... so you see, back when the Slayer was created, eligible girls were considered adults. While standards have changed since then, the Slayer spirit still works according to those archaic rules."

He took over "And before you ask - no, we cannot keep the Slayers from hunting until they are adults. It's in their blood. If they don't hunt, they get antsy. And if Slayers get antsy, things tend to break around them." Or people.

"That wasn't in your novels!" Becket glared at him.

"I told you - I protect my sources. It wouldn't do to give the demons information about us. We're at war." He ignored her muttered 'child soldiers', and Vi's 'I wasn't a child'.

"I still can't believe no one knows about this." Beckett stared at her glass, not her first, then emptied it and held it out for a refill. The woman could hold her liquor.

"Well… some do. The government, even if they prefer to look away when we deal with demons. Some of the Feds, the army has a demon-hunting unit…"

"More like a demon-baiting unit. We've had to bail them out half a dozen times so far. When it comes to demon hunting, they are more special ed than special forces." Vi snorted.

Castle laughed. He'd have to tell Riley that, next time they met.

"But you're the… Watcher… for New York." Beckett sounded as if that was hard to believe.

"Yes. I am the resident Watcher."

"And I'm his Slayer!" Vi added.

"And you hunt demons. In New York."

"Yes." Castle nodded.

"Why are you following me around then, instead of doing your job?" Beckett asked.

"That's a very good question!" Vi smiled sweetly, far too sweetly at the other woman.

"I am actually using you as inspiration for my new book," Castle admitted.

"Yes. You'll be the normal sidekick to the best Vampire Hunter!" Vi beamed at her.

"She'll be Nikki Heat, saucy, sassy, smart supernatural detective," Castle corrected his Slayer. Strangely, Beckett didn't seem to be as happy about that honor as he had thought.

"But… you were not just following me about. You were… investigating. On your own. You were hunting demons involved with my cases!" Beckett sounded outraged.

Castle refilled his glass again. This would be a long night.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, July 2009

"The last one, with the burning house… that was a demon." Detective Beckett was putting more things together.

Rick Castle nodded. No point in trying to deny it.

"But why didn't… the coroner is in on this! Perlmutter doing overtime? I should have known!" Beckett hissed, probably angry at herself for missing it. "And the ritual murder! That was a working ritual!"

"Actually no… I made sure that the ritual I wrote about was a fake. But the killer was possessed by a demon, and tried to free it anyway. I'll certainly not tell any crazy out there how to summon demons! How irresponsible do you think I am?" He blinked. "Don't answer that please."

"Yeah. We've got enough apocalypses to prevent already!" Vi tried to help. Emphasis on 'tried'. Castle wondered how many glasses she had drunk already.

"Apocalypses?" Beckett's voice rose an octave or so.

"Well, technically there haven't been that many attempted real apocalypses. That means world ending stuff. Only about… hm… less than half a dozen in the last 20 years, depending on how you count them. We just call all the rituals that would destroy a city or so 'apocalypses' out of tradition..." Castle trailed off when he noticed that Beckett didn't seem to be reassured at all. Maybe he should have wondered how much he had drunk so far.

"You're joking. This is all a big joke, right? Right?" Beckett was glaring at him.

Castle shook his head, a weak smile on his face. "... no? But we've got it in hand, really. We've foiled every attempt so far." That should be obvious, really - the world was still around, after all!

"And what about Sunnydale then?"

"Oh. That was a foiled real apocalypse. There was a Hellmouth, and the First Evil was attempting to send its army through, but we sealed the rift. Unfortunately, that caused the town to implode. When I say I've seen the hell, I mean the real thing." He'd always wanted to say that.

Vi nodded eagerly. "We kicked demon ass on their home turf!"

Beckett drank straight from the bottle this time. Castle went and fetched another.

*****​

"Good morning, dad!" Alexis's cheerful voice sent shards of pain through Castle's head.

"There's nothing good about this morning," he muttered. What had he done? There was that warehouse… and then they had met Beckett… oh, right. He remembered. To a point. Somewhere past the second or third bottle, things started to get… fuzzy.

"How much did I drink last night?" he managed to ask.

"I don't know, dad. I went to bed just a bit after midnight. I've got school today," Castle's far too sensible daughter answered. "I just wanted to wake you up before I leave. Gran met someone at her party, and stayed the night with him."

"Well, you did wake me up. Mission accomplished. Now shoo. I need more sleep," Castle bit out while sledge hammers were pounding his aching head.

"Bye dad!" Alexis waved and started to leave. At the door to his bedroom, she stopped. "I locked the pistol of our guest in the safe."

Castle blinked. Guest? "Guest?"

Alexis's smile was hard to read, but Castle though she was a bit gloating, at least. "Detective Beckett is sleeping in the guest room."

"Oh." How could he have forgotten that?

*****​

"Where is my gun?"

"Good morning to you too, detective. Coffee?" Castle turned to the new arrival in the kitchen with a mug of freshly brewed coffee in his hand, and almost winced. Beckett looked like she should have been still in bed. Or in a detox clinic.

She all but ripped the mug out of his hand and took a mouthful. "Where. Is. My. Gun?"

"It's locked in the safe, to be, ah, safe." Castle answered. He didn't think he should mention who put it there. Women were possessive about their weapons.

Beckett didn't say anything, just kept staring at him.

"Ah… I'll get it right away, ma'am!"

Handing an obviously angry and hungover person a loaded gun wasn't the safest thing Castle had ever done, but at that moment he was dea… quite certain that not doing so would be much more dangerous.

"Who undressed me?" And now he wasn't quite so certain anymore. Beckett's voice could have frozen a tropical ocean. She checked the gun's magazine with the kind of ease born of long practise before holstering it.

Come to think of - how had he managed to not only find his bed, but get into his pajamas as well? He blinked. "Vi!" It had to have been her. To think he might have put Beckett to bed, undressed her, and then forgot all about it? That was inconceivable!

"I see." His guest sounded a bit doubtful.

"So… ah… How much do you remember from last night?" Rick held up his hands when he saw her expression darken. "I am just asking because I want to know if I have to repeat something I already said, not because I would like to insinuate that something else happened. That would have been far too cliche anyway!"

"I remember everything up to the time you started talking about a desert trip, and Vi tried to stuff a sock in your mouth," Beckett said with a slightly sardonic smile. "Quite an effective way to shut up up, and less paperwork to deal with than after shooting you." Or sadistic.

"That explains the taste in my mouth in the morning."

Beckett snorted. For a hungover woman wearing the clothes from the day before, she looked entirely too fit. Coffee was truly a miracle drug.

"So… you're now a member of the few, the proud, and the slightly suicidal people who know about the real world," Castle smiled at his guest.

"I have only your word for it, and Vi's display of … strength." Beckett stated, grimacing.

"We'll have to visit Clark's then." That would prove it beyond any doubt.

"Clark's?"

"A demon bar."

"Demons have bars? Do they serve type B blood, chilled, in there, with a side order of virgin hearts?" Beckett snorted.

"No, we put a stop to that when we started in New York after Sunnydale." Good times, then. Castle had felt like a marshall cleaning up a boom town in the Old West. Vi hadn't let him wear a stetson though.

The detective looked flabbergasted, and Castle grinned. "And I am delighted to see you know my books so well!"

That earned him a glare, but no further comment. Point Castle!

"Not that I want to get rid of you, but… won't you be late for work?" he asked casually.

"I called in sick." Beckett answered in a clipped tone.

"Ah! Does that mean you're stuck in the apartment with me since you can't risk going out or you could be seen and your lie would be exposed?" Rick smiled widely.

While she was gaping at him, he heard the door open - either Vi or his mother had just arrived.

"Morning, Rick! Have a nice night?" His Slayer's loud voice, obviously meant to make his hangover's effects worse, rang through his apartment, interrupting whatever Beckett had been about to say.

Vi entered the kitchen, and added another all too cheery and far too loud, "Good morning detective!" Of course she'd not suffer from a hangover. Slayer healing was very unfair, Castle thought.

Both Castle and his guest winced, then glared at the girl. Vi ignored it and grabbed some breakfast for herself. "You need to restock the fridge."

The detective stared at the amount of food Vi had piled on her plate. Vi grinned, and started to eat. Just when the redhead had her mouth full, Beckett said: "I was planning to get you some help with your bulimia."

While Vi was trying not to choke on her food, Castle spoke up. "Really?"

The detective shook her head, smirking. "No, not really."

"I should have taken a picture. Or a video." Castle smiled ruefully while weathering Vi's glare.

"We'll have to hit Clark's later today. The dear detective is not entirely convinced demons exist, even if she doesn't doubt the existence of Slayers."

Vi's eyes lit up. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from the big bad demons." Vi smiled sweetly, far too sweetly at Beckett.

The detective narrowed her eyes in response, but didn't say anything. Yet.

Castle felt the urgent need to intervene before the two started a fight. From a safe distance though, he wasn't suicidal. "So… Clark's is like a normal bar. Just filled with demons. Most of its patrons know better than to start trouble."

"Meaning: We scared them into behaving peacefully."

"Mostly her work, actually," Rick pointed at his Slayer. "She tends to break a couple demon faces on each visit."

"Your flamethrower scared them plenty!" Vi retorted.

"You've got a flamethrower?" Beckett's voice was rising again, not a good thing with a hangover like Castle's.

"I got a permit!" he defended himself.

"For a flamethrower?" If Beckett's eyebrows rose any higher, they'd hit the ceiling.

"Among other things, yes. Whatever gets the job done." Castle wasn't about to mention the AT-4s in his gun safe if the detective had problems with flamethrowers.

"Jealous?" Vi grinned at the detective.

"Of course not." Beckett smiled sweetly at that Slayer. Too sweetly.

Castle closed his eyes. He was going to die as collateral damage in a fight between Beckett and Vi. At least he'd not suffer from his hangover anymore.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, July 2009

Richard Castle had spent most of the ride to the demon bar turned towards the back seat, giving last minute advice: "Alright… it's like a normal bar, just with demons. Well, more like a biker bar. Or a mob bar. Or the lions' habitat at the zoo. Or the…"

"I get it, Castle. 'Don't show fear, don't let them cow you, and if they start anything, finish it', right?" Beckett interrupted him.

"That's from 'Peril in Paris'!" Castle smiled, then grew serious again.

"You said the information about demons in your novels was correct."

"Yes, but that piece of advice was for a Slayer," Vi cut in, turning her head to smile at the detective. "Not for a cop without supernatural powers."

"Keep your eyes on the road or we won't make it to the bar," Beckett responded, baring her teeth in an approximation of a smile.

"As Vi said… that's how Slayers tend to handle demons. As normal humans we have to cheat a bit more," Castle went on. He wasn't certain it was a good idea to coach Beckett in how to visit a demon bar without losing one's life, but he had a feeling she wouldn't take well to being told to only visit with Vi.

"Cheat?" Beckett raised her eyebrows.

"Weapons, and the attitude to use them at the slightest provocation. I've got to stress again: Some of them may look and act human, but they aren't. Think large, man-eating predators. A Slayer can get away with roughing a demon up because they know she's a predator, and will accept her dominance. A normal human? They see us as uppity happy meals on legs. Which means that if someone tries anything, challenges us in any way, we don't play dominance games with it, we kill it." Castle stared at the detective, trying to make her see how serious he was.

"He's not kidding about them seeing humans as food. We needed to burn this joint down a few times until they stopped selling human blood and meat." Vi added while taking a turn so sharply, Castle felt his seatbelt engage.

Beckett's eyes widened.

Castle nodded. "Yes. Just remember that: Everyone in there will either want to eat you, do something worse, or is fine with hanging with monsters who want to do that. There are no innocents in there. Only demons who are too afraid to do anything, and demons who need to be killed."

"Why do you let them live then?"

"I've been asking that each time we go there!" Vi added.

Castle sighed. "If we start killing demons indiscriminately, we'd have a war on hand. We don't want the different demon clans to unite against us. And some demons are peaceful. They don't usually frequent such bars though."

"But as a rule: Kill a demon if you feel threatened in the slightest way. Or just feel like it," Vi cheerfully cut in again.

"Vi…" Castle glared at her.

Beckett was silent for a few minutes. "You mention half-breeds in your books. Humans with demon blood. Descendants of demons."

"Yes. A number of demons can interbreed with humans." Castle didn't know where Beckett was going with that.

"And even if they can't breed, some still like to try it!"

Beckett seemed to ignore the redhead. "In 'The Seer' you mention that many of them are born humans, and don't even know about their heritage until they are awakened in some way."

"That's correct."

"They would be American citizens then. Not monsters to be slaughtered." Beckett's voice was firm, and there was a challenging glint in her eyes.

"They go demon, we go Slayer on their butt!"

Castle saw Beckett tense up, and quickly started to explain what his Slayer meant - or should have meant. Slayers tended to be a tad too bloodthirsty for modern sensibilities. "What Vi meant, in her own, unique and language-mangling way, is that unless they become a threat to humans, we leave them be. But should they embrace their heritage to the point of attacking humans, then we embrace our heritage of killing what is a danger to us. Don't tell PETA, please."

"If they were born to humans, they have rights. Killing them would be murder." Beckett was sitting very stiff now, very tense. And totally ignoring his jokes.

Castle didn't think pointing out that self-defense was legal anyway would be a good idea, no matter how he might love to nitpick in an argument. He addressed the core issue instead. "It's actually not murder. It's legal."

"What?" Becket had that surprised, slightly shocked expression again.

"Yes. There are ancient treaties granting the Council the right and duty to deal with all demonic threats, no matter their origin." Rupert had found them while searching the archives that hadn't gone up with the Council Headquarters.

"We got a license to kill!" Vi gleefully simplified the issue while looking for a free spot to park the Shelby.

Castle coughed. "In a matter of speaking, yes."

"That can't be legal! That goes against everything the constitution stands for! The Supreme Court would never accept that!" Beckett's voice was getting louder and louder. She seemed more shocked than when she had realized demons existed. The woman really was a good cop, and Castle hated to do this to her.

"Consider them 'enemy combatants'. And think of Slayers as drones." Even the names fit perfectly - 'Predators' and 'Reapers'.

"Hey!"

Both Beckett and Castle ignored Vi's affronted yell. Beckett, because she was thinking this over, Castle because he was watching her like a hawk. Even though constantly turning his head towards the back was getting very uncomfortable now.

"It's not perfect, but it works. It has been working for centuries." He wasn't about to mention that they hadn't had the numbers to cover even just the major cities of the world until a few years ago.

Before they could resume the conversation, the car stopped.

"We've arrived!" Vi announced.

Beckett didn't react to the announcement.

"We can turn around and leave again, if you prefer to …" Castle started to say

"No, let's do this." Beckett pressed her lips together in what Castle knew was her version of Willow's 'resolve face', and got out of the car.

"Alright. Let me fetch you your gun." Castle got out and went to the trunk.

"I've got a gun," Beckett declared, patting her jacket.

He couldn't resist. "That's not a gun." He pulled out a 12 gauge shotgun with a pistol grip. "That's a gun!"

Judging by the way Beckett rolled her eyes at his quote, she was back to normal. Tough, smart and annoyed by him. He'd have to work on that last part.

She still took the gun when he handed it to her. "It's loaded with Dragon Breath rounds. Grab a couple shot and slug rounds too, so you can load them if something is fire resistant." He followed his own example.

"You're not taking your flamethrower?"

"We're just visiting. I don't expect real trouble." It hadn't been that long since Vi had wrecked the last patron there, so the demons should still be cowed enough. Or so Castle hoped.

Vi grabbed a HK53 with collapsible stock, which barely fit under her jacket, and started towards the bar, with Castle and Beckett trailing behind her.

"I always feel like a Sheriff approaching the Saloon full of bad guys." Castle's comment earned him another eyeroll.

Vi reached the entrance, and the bouncer ignored her. That was a good sign. Castle kept an eye on the disguised demon though, as he and Beckett passed it. Maybe they wouldn't encounter any trouble. Or start it, in Vi's case.

When they entered, Castle felt even better. The crowd didn't contain any vampires - not anymore. There was some dust in front of the back door, next to a tipped-over chair, and Vi had a smug expression on her face. Mostly regulars too, as far as he could tell. A Loose-Skinned Demon, two Brachen Demons, and what looked like a Pockla Demon under his hood.

"Don't drink anything," he cautioned Beckett, who was still staring, but not quite as obviously as when she had entered, as they walked over to the bar, where Vi was putting the fear of the Slayer into the bartender.

Yes, Castle had a good feeling about this visit.

Five minutes later, a demon biker gang walked in.

*****​

"That was great!" Vi exclaimed as she drove the Shelby away from the bar. Castle could see smoke still pouring out of the broken window while he rummaged through the glove compartment for some aspirin. He just knew he'd have a new set of bruises the next morning.

"Is it always like that?" Beckett asked from the backseat. She wasn't hurt, as far as he could tell - and he hadn't felt like checking in person when she had told him she was fine - but she had kept the shotgun.

"Nope. Those were newcomers to New York. Usually we don't see that much action during a visit. Good shooting, by the way. You set two on fire with your first round! And the big one you shot in the balls... "

"He was asking for that with his comments," Beckett smiled grimly.

"Yeah. Totally!" Vi nodded several times, still hyped up on adrenaline. Castle was just thinking the two women might be bonding when Vi continued: "You're still no Slayer, but I guess you can handle a demon or two on your own."

"Thanks…" Becket said in a flat voice.

Judging by the amount of teeth shown in his car, Castle might have been safer staying in the demon bar.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, August 2009

"So, this is Clark's," the leader of the demon bikers, clad in ripped leathers, with studs to match the many horns and spikes sprouting from his skull, had declared in a loud, alien voice. He had looked around, then turned towards the others who had entered with him. "Doesn't look like much, eh?"

"Bunch of pansy-ass grass eaters!" He had smiled, showing double rows of pointed teeth. Suddenly, his nostrils had flared, and he had sniffed the air. "Humans?"

Kate Beckett had watched him turn towards her, Castle and Vi. Had watched his smile widen, and heard him chuckle, then swagger over to them. And despite his alien, growling voice, and his utterly inhuman appearance, she had seen a punk. A dangerous, demonic punk, but still a punk. Dressed and acting like a punk.

And she could handle punks.

Next to her, Castle had tensed up, and Vi had smiled, ferally, while the regulars had started to back away.

The big demon had marched up to them, licking his lips. "I may have to eat my words - not many places offer such an entertaining meal."

The way he had leered when he said 'entertaining' had left no doubt about what he had planned to do with her and Vi. And maybe Castle too. The other demon bikers had laughed, and the biggest among them had even pointed at her. "Dibs on her."

Castle's smile had widened then, but his eyes had gone cold. Apparently dismissing the demon, he had turned to the Slayer. "What do you make of them, Vi?" He had been looking for a fight, Kate had realized then. And she had realized that she wasn't a cop there. Wasn't facing a human punk. Wasn't bound by human laws.

Vi had cocked her head sideways, and made a show out of studying the demon and his biker buddies who had come to flank him. "Bunch of bumpkins. Think they're hot stuff, but too chicken to head to Cleveland. Too stupid to keep their head down and too ugly to get any woman. Worse than a vampire."

The leader had stared at her, gaping, before he had drawn a deep breath, likely to shout or roar in rage. When Vi's fist had struck his belly though he had folded around it, and all he had managed to utter was a whimper.

That had caused the other demons to freeze for a second, in shock and surprise. Enough for Kate and Castle to whip out their shotguns and fire. She hadn't fired a Dragon's Breath round before and had aimed for the closest demon's center of mass. The flames shooting out of the barrel though had not just struck that demon, but the one next to him as well, and their clothes had ignited.

Vi meanwhile had driven a blade right into the neck of the leader before kicking the bleeding, dying monster into the others charging her. Castle had shot one demon in the face with another flame throwing shotgun round before the next demon slammed him into the bar. Before the monster had been able to hurt the author further, a dagger from Vi had hit it in the back of its head, and it had gone down.

Right then the demon who had called dibs on her before had charged Kate, and she had had to focus on defending herself. The monster had been strong, but slow, and the detective had ducked under a wild swing, then rammed the muzzle of her shotgun into his groin, racking the slide at the same time. He had howled in rage. Then she had fired, and the monster had shrieked and collapsed, bleeding and thrashing. She barely noticed how Castle had jumped behind the bar and then had shot a demon who had jumped on the bar, following him - the unbalanced biker had been thrown off by the shot. But then she had noticed Vi fighting.

Vi had simply slaughtered the rest of the gang. Kate had known the woman was very dangerous ever since she had seen her shoot, but she hadn't known what the redhead had truly been capable of. The Slayer had moved in the middle of the demons, nimbly dodging their blows while striking hard enough to throw the monsters around like rag dolls. One was thrown in a window, ending up impaled on broken glass, howling until another thrown dagger silenced it. Kate had heard bones and skulls break despite the screams from wounded demons, had seen throats cut and eyes pierced, until the only ones left standing had been the ones she had set on fire. And their screams of agony had been cut off with Vi's blade a few seconds later.

The redhead had stood there, wiping green blood from her sword, and had grinned widely. "As I thought - big-mouthed pushovers."

Kate had stared, still tense and worked up from the most brutal fight she had ever been in. Had she really just fought demons? And won?

"That one's still alive," Vi had said, pointing at the one she had shot in the groin. Kate had turned, and seen that it was whimpering, rocking back and forth on the ground.

"I'm certain it wishes it wasn't. Alive, that is," Castle had commented from behind the bar, then had shot the demon in the head with a slug. "Happy to help." The author, no, the Watcher, had rubbed his arm and shoulder, wincing.

Kate had blinked. "We just…"

"... killed a bunch of cannibal rapists." Vi grinned at her, then frowned at some spots of green blood on her jacket. "Damn… I'll have to act the clueless wanna-be painter again with dry-cleaning."

"Technically, since demons are not human, they are not cannibals, but man-eaters," Castle had said, stepping around the bar. "Let's leave."

*****​

Kate Beckett woke up with a gasp, eyes wide open, then closed them again. That was the third time that week she had dreamed of that night again. Maybe she should have taken up Castle's offer to celebrate her first 'Demon Barfight' 'Slayer style' - enough alcohol, and she might not have remembered anything.

She shook her head at her own foolishness. Trying to forget would be a coward's choice. She was no coward, she could handle demons. In more than one sense.

She wasn't sure she could handle Vi though.

*****​

Richard Castle was smiling when he entered the bullpen of the 12th Precinct and dropped off a box of doughnuts at the break area, saving one for himself, and one for Beckett. And another box for Vi. And coffee of course.

"Good morning, detective!" he said while sitting down in the chair he had come to consider his next to her desk, resisting the urge to swivel around.

"Morning Castle," the detective answered, briefly glancing up from her work and grabbing the offered doughnut and coffee. "Thanks."

"So, what exciting case is waiting to be solved by my inspired help today?" He grinned while toasting her with his own cup.

"The exciting case of the piled up paperwork." Beckett pointed at a stack of files.

He pouted. "Unfortunately, that task is beyond me." He already wrote more reports than he wanted to for London; he had no intention of doing more paperwork.

"Really? I would have expected an author to excel at paperwork, seeing as you make your living by writing." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Ah, that's a misconception many share. We successful authors have agents for that." If only he had an agent for handling the paperwork Vi was prone to generate. Well, Alexis would help, he was sure, but he wasn't sure he wanted her help.

"In other words, you're lazy and will watch me work while doing what you can to distract me." Beckett made a point of looking at the file in front of her again.

"I'm distracting you?" He grinned. Progress!

"You're annoying."

"Close enough." He shrugged. "So, what are you doing?"

"Going through cold cases, to see if any of them might have connections to demons." Beckett said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Really?" He perked up. That might be interesting.

Then he heard detective Esposito laugh behind him. "Of course not, Castle. We're just checking the old cases for similarities to current ones."

"Aren't there computer programs for that?" Rick knew Willow had programmed some search-algorithms, 'loosely inspired by google's code', to search databases for demon activities.

"Normal people have a budget to worry about. That includes the police." Beckett rolled her eyes at him as if it was his fault the city lacked funds. He was paying his taxes.

Before he could respond, he saw Captain Montgomery walk towards them with a young woman at his side. Esposito at once returned to his own desk, where Vi was poking around in his files.

The captain was smiling. "Detective Beckett, Mister Castle - this is Miss Varshney. She's a reporter for the 'Post, and interested in the consulting Castle does for us."

Miss Varshney smiled, nodding enthusiastically. "Call me Jane. I am so looking forward to see you two work together. The famous author, solving crimes with his muse!"

Right then, Castle realized two things. First, Beckett would be hating whatever article came of this. And second, this had to be the work of his agent and ex-wife Gina. As usual, she was making his life difficult while making money.

"Well, we're not currently investigating a case, we're just doing some paperwork," Beckett explained.

"Boring paperwork!" Castle cut in. Maybe the reporter would leave.

"So you have time for an interview then?" Miss Varshney beamed at them.

Castle glanced at Beckett, and shivered at what he saw. If looks could kill, he'd need medical help.

Fate intervened though, in the form of Detective Ryan. "We've got a case. Dead man found hanging from a tree in the Central Park."

"Yes!" Castle was out of his chair and ready to leave before he realized that this was probably not the kind of reaction to a murder he wanted to show to the press.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, August 2009

The elevator was a bit crowded, with Rick Castle, Vi, Detectives Beckett, Ryan and Esposito, and Varshney all inside. Not crowded enough to be pressed against each other though. Actually they had enough space to stand comfortably, just not enough right now for Castle to feel safe from Beckett's wrath. Though his slightly blundering reaction to the murder news seemed to have blunted her anger somewhat.

"Miss Varshney, let me introduce you to Violet O'Malley. She's my bodyguard and driver."

"Hi! I am also his inspiration for the new Vampire Hunter character in his next book!" Vi smiled widely and shook the woman's hand.

The reporter looked slightly confused. "I thought Detective Beckett was the inspiration for the next 'Vampire Hunter' book."

Vi made a dismissive gesture. "She's the inspiration for the sidekick of the hunter. You know, research gal, hostage of the week, straight woman for any joke, that kind of character."

Castle saw Beckett's cheeks twitch as the detective clenched her teeth and stared at the elevator's door, and the author hastily injected. "Actually, the book's central character, Nikki Heat, will be a smart, sassy detective dealing with paranormal cases. Not a sidekick."

Esposito and Ryan were carefully not saying anything, but their expressions seemed to be wavering between fear of Beckett's temper and amusement at her reaction.

"Ah… so, there's some competition over who gets to be your muse for this book, Mister Castle?" the reporter asked cheerfully.

"Ah, no", Castle smiled and out on his best charm. "And call me Rick please."

"Call me Jane then, please," she beamed at him.

Of course, Vi had to 'help': "No, there's really no competition at all. Right, Detective Beckett?"

"None." Beckett shook her head. The two women exchanged sickly-sweet smiles. Castle couldn't help but feeling that the elevator wasn't big enough for the two women.

"I see," Jane commented, then winked at Castle. Rick didn't know what she thought she had seen. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, so he simply smiled politely while he waited for the blasted elevator to reach the parking garage.

"So… how long have you been working together?" Jane asked, holding her notepad.

"He has been following me around since March," Beckett answered. "But it feels like it's been much longer. Time flies, you know."

Castle blinked at the implied statement that she wasn't having fun with him around and was about to retort, but then thought better of it. Fortunately, the doors opened right then - they had finally arrived.

"A Mustang! This is great!" Jane exclaimed when she saw his car. Like a beach bunny from a car ad aimed at men in a midlife crisis. And didn't that say a lot about himself?

"A Shelby, actually!" Vi gushed. "I used to drive Rick in his Z3 to the cases, but the Detective was a bit too heavy to sit in his lap when we needed to rush somewhere, so he bought a fast car that had more room for her."

"I never thought the Detective was too heavy to sit in my lap", Rick blurted out, "but it wasn't safe for …" he trailed off when he saw the death glare from Beckett aimed at him.

Jane laughed at what she probably thought was a joke.

"Strap in, everyone!" Vi announced, sitting down behind the wheel.

"We're not in a rush, Vi," Castle remarked as he climbed into his car.

"Time's money!"

"We can afford it." He glared at her.

"You seem very close to each other", Jane said, smiling. Castle wondered which section she was writing for - he guessed it was "People".

"Oh, yes. She could be his daughter, couldn't she?" Beckett grinned. Vi frowned at that.

Castle was very tempted to tell his Slayer to rush it. He had a feeling this wouldn't be a relaxing drive either way.

*****​

"It looks like he was lynched!" Castle exclaimed when he saw the crime scene.

The victim was still hanging from a tree when they arrived in the park. It was a middle-aged man, balding, wearing a cheap suit and cheaper shoes. The rope he was dangling from had been thrown over a branch, and tied on a lower one. It also was sporting a classic hangman's knot, not a simpler one. Lanie was already there, removing one of her probes from her bag.

"Looks like it, right?" Lanie commented.

Beckett, who had traded barbs with Vi that seemed to go over the reporter's head for the entire duration of the drive, shot him a glare while she pulled on her disposable gloves. "Do we have an ID yet?"

Lanie shook her head. "He had no wallet on him, nor any papers."

"That would be a very unusual holdup murder."

"About one and a half yards from the ground to his feet. No sign of any ladder or chair he could have kicked off. If he had hung himself, then he would have to have climbed up after preparing the rope, and then jumped down from the branch. That would be very unusual for a suicide," Beckett said while studying the corpse.

Castle noticed that Vi was sniffing the air. He glanced at her, and she nodded. She had smelled a demon. Great… a demon case with Beckett in the know and a reporter in tow.

Beckett hadn't missed it either. "Castle, if this was one of those paranormal cases, which kind of demon would be behind it?"

He frowned at her, briefly, for putting him on the spot like this, with a reporter around, while Esposito and Ryan snickered. "Well… any demon with an affinity for hanging, or lynching people. Vampire cowboys, for example." Esposito certainly wouldn't be laughing like he was if he had ever met the Gorch Brothers before Buffy had killed them. "But," he continued, after he had seen Vi shaking her head, "the corpse is not lacking any blood, so whoever did this wasn't trying to frame vampires."

"My preliminary estimate for the time of death is between 11 PM and 1 AM last night." Lanie announced after withdrawing her probe. "And his neck didn't break. He was strangled."

"Looks like someone slowly pulled him up then. Nasty way to go," Vi commented. Jane, who had been looking slightly pale already, was now turning green.

"Jogger found the body in the morning," Ryan announced. "She didn't see anyone nearby, and she didn't disturb the scene at all."

"No witnesses, no tracks… and no ID." Beckett summed it up.

"Quite a mystery," Castle agreed. Next to them, Vi was crouching, and studying the grass below and around the corpse.

"Oh, Jane!" Beckett suddenly addressed the reporter. "Did you see the stains here?" She pointed at the pants of the corpse.

Slightly unsteady on her feet and taking deep breaths, the woman approached. "No?"

Beckett proceeded to explain how the bowels emptied after death, and what exactly the stains were. Halfway into her exposition, the reporter lost her breakfast and the detective waved a uniform over to help the woman to the next bathroom.

"That was cruel," Castle commented, under his breath.

"But funny!" Vi added.

"While she is fixing her hair and replacing her far too tacky blouse, and Esposito and Ryan are talking with the jogger, you can fill me in what you smelled," Beckett stated, smiling innocently.

*****​

"So… you smelled two different demons, but couldn't narrow it down?" Beckett asked later, on the way back to the Precinct.

"No. I don't recognize the scent", Vi admitted.

"Your nose is that good?"

"Yes," Vi smiled. "I can track some demons by scent."

"Wow. You're like a bloodhound that can talk."

Castle saw that Beckett's smile widened when Vi realized she had just been called a bitch.

Coughing, he tried to interrupt them before they started getting physical. "I'll run a search. If this is the signature work of a demon, we should have reports on it." He pulled out his smartphone and accessed the Council's database. "Bingo!" he smiled. "There's a report about a demon preying on criminals in the 19th century. He left them hanging." He frowned at the two groaning women. That hadn't been a bad pun!

"More importantly, how can you keep our nosy shadow from following you around and exposing your secret?"

"You could tell her that Javier and Kevin are your models for a yaoi couple in the next book," Vi proposed.

"If they knew what you said, they'd not let you in the breakroom anymore", Beckett answered.

"Pf! I'd like to see them try!" Vi grinned.

"She's not really a problem. We'll simply hunt down leads after work," Castle said, before Vi could come up with more helpful suggestions.

"Good. At which time should I head over?"

Castle stared at the Detective for a second. "... around eight. We'll eat on the way."

*****​

Jane had returned to the Precinct with fresh clothes and a fresh hairstyle in the afternoon. Just in time for Lanie to call them down to the morgue. Everyone tried to stay a bit away from her, in case she lost her lunch this time. If she had eaten any in the first place - she didn't look like she had.

"What do you have for us, Lanie?" Beckett asked.

"Something rather disturbing", the Medical Examiner answered. "I checked his stomach's content, to find out what he had eaten before his death." She paused. "It was human flesh."

"We're dealing with a cannibal?" Castle exclaimed. That was something new indeed. When he saw Jane running to the toilets, one hand pressed against her mouth, he commented "Looks like not everyone has the stomach for cannibalism."

Vi actually hit him for that one.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, August 2009

Beckett arrived right on time at Castle's that evening. Castle checked the mirror, then opened the door.

The detective entered, then remarked: "You know, not inviting anyone into your flat will take some time to get used to it. some people might consider you rude."

"I'm rich, so I'm not rude but eccentric," Castle grinned at her, then proceeded to help her out of her coat.

"I thought we'd chase down leads."

"We will. But Vi's a bit delayed," Castle explained. "Can I offer you a drink?"

"Water please. And what did she do? Break a nail playing with her swords?"

"Oh, snark! Well done! That's so going into the book!" Castle grinned, and went to fetch her a glass of water, as well as a beer for himself.

"You're actually writing a book about me? That's not just some cover?" Beckett sounded as if she was actually surprised.

"Of course not! Why would you think that?" He might have not told her that demons and magic were real, and that he had been hunting vampires for 20 years, but why would she assume he lied to her about his plans for his next book?

"Because so much else about you is a lie," Beckett answered in a flat tone.

Castle chuckled, though the accusation stung more than a bit. "I've been a paragon of openness. Even my fiction books are based on true stories."

"You play the eccentric author, but you're actually a veteran demon hunter. You play the fop and hide your skills and experience with the help of Vi… oh no. Please don't tell me you're imitating Bruce Wayne." The detective stared at him.

"I'm not wearing a bat costume at night. Unless you want me to in the bedroom!" Rick gave her another ruggedly handsome smile. "But I can assure you: I am neither as rich, nor as neurotic as Bruce Wayne. And, sadly, not as built either."

"He's a comic character, Castle," the detective said sighing.

"I know! That's an unfair advantage right there!"

"Can you be serious for once?"

"You started with the Batman meme," Castle grinned at her. "But… if you think I am not serious, then you'd be horrified by the Council's leadership, Well, apart from my ex-wife and Rupert. They are as stuffy as it gets."

"And yet Mary Wilkinson married you."

"That she did. I think that was due to my ruggedly handsome charm." And his persistence. And probably the lack of handsome british Watchers who didn't think she should be a housewife after marriage.

"And you ran out of that during the marriage?" Beckett sounded far too sceptical there for his taste.

"I regained my mojo once I was free of the tweedy clutches of that woman!" No need to mention Gina the money and soul stealing bitch.

"You're no Austin Powers either."

"I might not be an international man of mystery, but I write mysteries, and I am far better looking than he is."

"Can we focus on the case now?" The detective rolled her eyes at him. He'd mark that as admitting defeat.

"Of course." He pulled a few files up on his laptop and turned it towards her. "We found a few leads. Or leads to leads, to be precise. There was a local historian, Dr. Burton, who had been writing a story about the "Noose Murders", before his untimely demise. His estate was bought by a man named Andrej Miller, apparently a collector of old texts." Beckett was staring at him for a second, then started to read the files.

"Did this local historian actually die of old age?" She looked up from the laptop and met his eyes.

"His heart gave out during intercourse with a woman 60 years his junior." Castle sighed. Once, that would have been his favorite death. Beckett rolled her eyes again, but didn't comment further until she had finished reading the file. "Does Mister Miller expect us?"

"He didn't answer his phone all day."

"So we're going to see if he answers his door?" Beckett sounded incredulous. "That's not really… wait. You're planning to enter his home no matter if he's there or not."

"Ask me no question, hear no lie?"

"Castle!" She stood up from her seat and looked down at him. "You can't just break into a man's house!"

"Actually I could. But I won't," he stated as sincerely as he could.

"I am glad to hear you have some sense left!" She shook her head at him, muttering something under her breath he missed.

Just then the door opened, and Vi walked in, dressed all in black, from skin-tight top to leather pants and ankle boots. "Hi detective. Ready to join us on our little fact-finding mission?"

Beckett took one look at her, and turned back to Castle. "You lied! You're having her break in!"

"Technically, I didn't lie. And for the record: I am not saying Vi will break in either."

Before she could answer that, he continued. "Anyway… let's be on our way. It would be rude to arrive too late at the man's house."

"Not as rude as breaking into his home," Beckett retorted, but she followed him and Vi without trying to arrest either.

Castle smiled. They'd make a Scoobie out of her yet.

*****​

"He's not at home. And don't try to sneak off, Vi. We're not breaking into a house," Beckett stated, after ringing the doorbell for five minutes.

"We're not." Vi had stopped halfway to the corner of the wall.

"Don't try to mince words!" the detective hissed. "I'm not going to let you… what are you doing?"

Vi was sniffing the air, frowning.

Castle knew that face. "Demons?"

"I smell decaying flesh," His Slayer answered.

"Could be a zombie then." Castle nodded. "Enough of a reason to check it out. Legally," he added with a glance at Beckett.

"What?" she was gaping at him.

"If there could be a demon or zombie, we've got enough of a reason to enter the house and check it out. Like the Police, just for demons."

"The Police follow the law!" Beckett put her hands on her hips and clenched her jaws together.

"So are we. Our law's just a bit older. And our jurisdiction bigger." He smiled apologetically at her. Behind her, Vi added "Just think of us as the Feds for demons!"

"The Feds don't do such things."

"Well, they should!" Vi stated, then disappeared around the corner, leaving Castle alone with an angry, armed cop. Sometimes his Slayer really didn't know her priorities.

"Are you honestly claiming that just because Vi smelled some rotten meat, you can legally enter a stranger's house?"

"Yes?" Castle didn't see the problem there.

"This is crazy. I am not smelling anything."

"Well, neither am I, but Vi's got the nose of a bloodhound," Castle smiled and held up his hand. "Please, no bitch jokes."

"Not everyone is fond of teenage humor, Castle."

Before Castle could answer, the door opened. Vi stood there with a grim expression. "The owner's at home. Kind of - he's hanging from the ceiling."

*****​

"So, we got our second victim. Or first, since he died before the park guy," Detective Esposito shook his head. "How did you notice the corpse?"

"We were looking for the writings of a man who had been about to write a book about a string of murders like this, the 'Noose Murders', back in the 19th century. Mister Miller was the current owner of them. When he didn't answer the door, and Vi saw something hanging through the windows, we grew suspicious and entered." Castle wasn't about to go into more details. He was pretty certain this case wouldn't see a courtroom.

"Wow, that's creepy. A copycat killer, a 150 years after the original!" The detective shook his head.

"Well, maybe the ghost of the murderer returned. Or he woke up from suspended animation. Or it was an immortal demon, killing criminals who escaped the law." Castle lowered his voice.

Esposito sighed and exchanged a glance with his partner, Detective Ryan. "Yeah, sure, Castle. Did he have what you were looking for?"

Castle ignored the look. He had expected that - he had made the comment to get that reaction, after all. "Yes. That man has had a very big library, focused on the occult. Almost as big as mine. Detective Beckett is currently reading the notes we came for, together with Vi."

"Those two are working together?" Ryan sounded incredulous.

"Should we take cover?" Esposito added.

"They're not that bad. We drove here together," Castle frowned at the two men.

"Well, that was the truce of the road," Esposito said, nodding slowly. "You can't afford to distract Vi when she's driving, or you might cause a crash."

The way he said it… "She invited you for a quick drive, right? What was it, a doughnut run?" Castle asked, suppressing his smirk.

"Coffee," Esposito confirmed his guess.

Castle chuckled. He'd have to ask Vi if she had made any pictures. You never knew when you needed some material for blackmail.

*****​

"So… those were extensive notes. The author Dr. Burton had researched the murders very thoroughly. He even had a suspect identified, and found his grave," Beckett summed the notes up she and the Slayer had studied.

"He researched the man's grave?" Castle asked, with a sinking feeling in his stomach. That didn't sound good.

"Yes," Beckett answered, her puzzlement giving way to growing comprehension. "You expect he raised the dead?"

"Or set free a demon trapped in a corpse. We'll have to check the grave." He didn't like that - it took a lot of effort to make Vi dig, even though she was far stronger than he was.

"Great. Breaking and entering, and now grave robbing."

"All in a day's work!" Castle smiled brightly at the woman. "Though we're not robbing the grave. We're just checking if the owner is still there, or went walkabout." Although anything that looked dangerous or useful might go missing, of course.

"And if we go right now, we might catch a fledgling vampire at the cemetery!" Vi sounded eager. No surprise there. All Slayers usually were spoiling for a fight. Some just hid it better.

Castle nodded. "She's right. With a bit of luck, you can stake your first vampire tonight!"

"Hey! I thought of that first, so any vampires we find are mine! She can get her own vampire to stake!"

"Don't be greedy, Vi! We don't even know if there will be a vampire or not."

The two had reached his car when Castle noticed Beckett hadn't been following them, but was still standing where they had been talking, staring at them. "Aren't you coming?"

Beckett glared at him, as if he had said something wrong.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, August 2009

"Do you break into cemeteries often?"

"Hm?" Richard Castle looked up from the files on his phone and turned his head towards Detective Beckett, who was sitting on the back bench. "Not that often." He waited until she had nodded to continue. "We've got keys to all the major cemeteries, to make patrolling for new vampires easier."

He thought she muttered "why did I ask" under her breath, but he wasn't certain - Vi was driving, and the big engine's roar was not completely muted by the car's insulation.

"Anyway. We'll be checking for vampires on the way to the grave…." Castle glanced down "... of Elias Brighton."

"You mean I will be checking for them. Unless you want to play bait," Vi cut in while taking a turn so sharply, Castle thought the right side wheels lost contact with the road for a second.

"It's a team effort," he smirked. Turning more serious, he addressed Beckett again. "Since we don't know what we might encounter, I'll be taking the Ack Pack." Seeing her puzzled look, he added: "British flamethrower model from the Second World War. My favorite."

"The Doughnut of Death!"

"Thank you, Vi. Anyway, a crossbow would be traditional, but I'd suggest a shotgun with Dragon's Breath rounds for you. We're not in Britain, and it'll finish a fledgling vampire easily. And it won't kill a human hit by it. Burn them, yes, but not kill." Hopefully, that would make the detective less prone to hesitate - some people had trouble shooting human-looking bloodsuckers. Some Star Trek fans allegedly even had trouble shooting the vampires with their demon faces on, but he thought that was an urban legend. Or a prank from Xander.

Beckett nodded, looking a bit queasy.

Twenty minutes later, they were walking past grave after grave while Rick tried to make sense of the layout of the cemetery and Vi was trying to sense any undead in the area. So far, neither had had any success, but hopefully, Beckett wouldn't notice.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

Damn. "We're taking the scenic tour, so Vi can sense any undead trying to dig themselves out of their graves. It would be bad if we were jumped by a freshly-risen and very hungry vampire while digging a grave up."

"Ah."

Hiding a grin, Castle continued trying to find Brighton's grave. It took him ten minutes, but he managed it. Vi hadn't sensed any vampire though.

Beckett knelt down and felt the grass, fingers tracing the soil. Castle was about to ask what she was doing, when she suddenly held up a grass sod. "Someone's been covering up something."

"Oh, smooth!" Castle smiled while Vi frowned. The Slayer frowned even more when he nodded at the uncovered grave. "OK, your turn."

"Why me?"

"You're the Slayer, you're the one with superhuman strength, endurance…"

"Hotness!"

"... and the ability to procrastinate more than a college fraternity."

Turning to Beckett, he added: "Just like when we had to dig up the Hellmouth.", then had to dodge the first shovelful of earth thrown his way.

Fifteen minutes later, they stared at an open casket with a shrunken corpse in it, next to the cut up remains of a noose.

"Freshly cut, but a very old rope," Beckett declared, after climbing down and checking it.

"Sealing runes on the inside of the lid," Rick pointed at the sigils. "Inlaid with silver - this was a demon's prison."

"There's silver thread in the hemp rope too." The detective held up a piece of the ancient hemp rope.

Rick took several pictures with his phone. "I'll mail the details to London, but I think we can assume that to be defeated, the demon has to be hung with a rope with silver thread, then buried in such a casket."

"There's still a corpse here," Beckett pointed out.

"That's probably the man it possessed back then."

"Oh."

Judging by her expression, she too had realized that they'd have to hang a possessed man. "What about an exorcism?"

"Those seldom work well, but maybe London has a few ideas." Castle wasn't really expecting anything, and didn't try to hide that.

"Can't we leave it open?" Vi complained a minute later, shoveling earth on the casket. "I'll just have to dig it up again once we have the demon."

"Of course not! That would be unsafe. Even Slayers can fall into graves carelessly left open." Castle shook his head.

"I'm not a Californian, I'd be fine."

"Not once I tell Buffy you said that."

Vi coughed and shoveled harder.

"Buffy?" Beckett asked.

"The oldest Slayer."

"I'll tell Buffy you described her like that!"

"The most experienced and most skilled and most powerful Slayer," Rick hastily corrected himself.

"I'll tell Faith you said that!"

"Ah." Beckett looked like she had just realized something, but she didn't say anything else until the grave had been filled again.

"Who's the 'Vampire Hunter' styled after Buffy?" the detective finally asked after they were back in the car.

"Branda."

"Branda the Blonde, who was in love with the Loremaster double her age?" Beckett was gaping at him. "That's what you made out of the most experienced Slayer?"

Castle and Vi started laughing, but no matter how much she asked, neither would explain why.

*****​

"Miller had eaten human flesh as well? Sounds like a new trend. We'll have to watch out for hipsters taking a bite out of people." Castle whistled while putting Beckett's morning coffee on her desk and reading the file on her screen. He didn't see the reporter around - if she were present, she probably would be on the toilet already. Hopefully, she'd not return until this case was dealt with. It would be better for her stomach, at least.

"Yes. Lanie finished the autopsy this morning." Beckett grabbed her cup. "Thanks, by the way."

"You're welcome. Once is a freak, two though… that sounds like a cabal of cannibals. Who are hunted by a Hanging Demon. Which in turn is hunted by the Police. Do you think that'd be too contrived for Nikki Heat's introduction?"

"A cabal of cannibals?" Beckett sounded dubious. She also ignored his question.

"Yes. Are you familiar with the wendigo myth? The Native American tribes in this area believed that if you ate human flesh, you'd become a wendigo, a monster feeding on humans, never sated, always hungry. Kind of like every model, ever."

"You think those two dead people were trying to become such monsters?" Now she sounded more worried than dubious.

"In some versions of the myth, the wendigo corrupt others. That's how they breed." Castle explained.

"And the Hanging Demon hunts those people down?"

"It looks like it. But that leaves the question of who released it. Miller had the information, but as a cannibal himself, why would he have done that?" Castle rubbed his chin, thinking. He was missing something.

"He might have been tricked into eating human flesh," Beckett offered.

"That would fit some stories about the wendigo. Miller bought the files from Burton's estate months ago. Probably just for his collection. He met someone with the same interests in the occult. They talk, dine together… and he's hooked. Then, somehow, he realizes what was done to him, he looks for a way to counter it. Finds it and releases the demon, but ends up murdered by it." Castle nodded. It did sound right. It made a good story too.

Beckett smiled, looking both pleased and a bit feral. "So, now we need to find out who was tricking people into eating humans. IT should have cracked his computer soon and should give us access to his schedule."

"The wonders of technology. Who knew electronics would make hunting demons easier?" Castle sighed. "It makes converting some stories into Fantasy novels harder. Nikki Heat will change that, of course."

"Demons don't use computers?" Apparently, Beckett didn't want to talk about her future literary alter ego.

"Some do. There even was one demon trying to take over the internet. Or create a robot body. Or both."

"What?"

Castle took a look at her expression, and held up his hands. "Hey… I don't know the details, just some broad story… more like a few hints… really." Willow had been rather adamant about not wanting to talk about that incident. And Castle had been rather fond of his computer security. "But it was handled, trust me."

That didn't seem to reassure Beckett much. She really had to work on that lack of trust issue.

*****​

Castle looked at the condo complex, mentally comparing it to his own residence. The building was newer, but its location wasn't as nice as his own. And the apartments looked like they were a bit smaller.

"Trying to guess if you need to upgrade your own home?" Beckett asked while climbing out of the car.

"Don't give Vi ideas!" Castle admonished the detective when he saw the Slayer perking up. He coughed, then tried to change the subject. "So… this is where the Central park victim lived?"

"Yes. Ryan managed to identify him through a dry cleaning stub found in his pants. Alessandro Fernandez. Worked for a Wallstreet day trading firm, and got out before the bubble popped. Apparently a well-known collector of Native American art." Beckett summed the information on the victim up.

"Ah… Native American art. Such a dangerous hobby," Castle said, shaking his head. "He should have stuck to sky diving or alligator wrestling."

Beckett laughed, then stopped when neither Rick nor Vi joined her. Muttering something Castle didn't catch, she entered the building.

Uniformed cops - Castle told himself to simply call them 'uniforms' for the tenth or so time - had already opened the door to the dead man's apartment.

"Quite a bit bigger than ours, Rick!" Vi exclaimed, looking around. It was more like a penthouse, taking over the entire floor.

"Ours?" He glanced at her. "You've got an apartment of your own."

"Which you bought," Vi answered, looking around. "Hm. Think you could buy this penthouse, since the owner's dead?"

"I think we're fine where we are," Castle said, glaring at his Slayer. She wasn't impressed, of course.

"If you're done showing off your money, maybe we could start looking for a killer?" Beckett's tone brooked no argument.

"At once!" Castle stated and started for the closest suspicious - or interesting - looking piece of art or furniture. Vi would, or should, sense the demonically-tainted pieces anyway, so he could indulge his curiosity.

Rick was studying a shaman mask - or a good fake of one - when Beckett called out: "Castle!"

"Yes?" He walked over to where she was talking with a cop.

"They can't reach the housekeeper, a Mister Francis Lee," Beckett informed him.

"Oh? Judging by the dust I saw, he might have been missing for a while. Did you check the fridge?" The human flesh the two dead had eaten had to have come from someone...

"They didn't find any human parts in the kitchen or pantry." Beckett informed him.

"If he wasn't the meal, maybe he was the cook?"

Beckett tensed up - she knew what he was hinting at - and addressed the cop. "We'll check out Lee's apartment." Castle caught her glancing at Vi, who hadn't given any indication yet that she had felt anything demony. Demonic. He really had to do something about the Californisation of his language, before his editor noticed.

He nodded. "Yes, let's go before Vi gets bored."

*****​

"That's quite a surprising home for a housekeeper in Manhattan," Castle commented when they reached the address on file for Francis Lee. It was a shabby apartment house in the Bronx.

"He recently moved in." Beckett reported. "Three months ago, until then he was living in his room in Fernandez's apartment."

"That's quite a surprising move. Unless his employer was insufferable, there's no reason to move to… here. No good reason, at least. Are you sure you didn't sense anything in the apartment, Vi?" Castle looked at his Slayer as they got out of the Shelby.

"Only some lingering stench, it was strongest in the kitchen." Vi looked around, and Castle saw she was tensing up.

"Trouble?" He casually dropped a hand to his belt, near his holster.

"Just a feeling. Ugly." Vi stared at the house.

"Let's get the shotguns, just in case. Try silver ammo first, then cold iron, and if that doesn't work, we set it on fire and let Vi beat it up." The sun was setting, and the shadows growing longer and longer. Rick had a bad feeling about this as well.

"You know, before I met you, I didn't enter every second building loaded for bear," the detective commented while she grabbed a shotgun. Castle made a mental note to get her one of her own. Maybe with a customized grip and stock. It would be a good christmas or birthday gift.

"That should be 'loaded for demon', but I understand what you mean. You must have been terribly bored." Castle started for the entrance while Beckett gaped at him and Vi giggled.

Lee's apartment was on the second floor. The elevator was out of order - probably had been so since Reagan's election, given the amount of debris inside the cabin. A few more years, and archeologists would lay claim to the site.

Beckett knocked on the door. No one answered. "Mister Lee? Open up, NYPD!"

Vi snorted.

"Something funny, Vi?" Beckett asked.

"Just heard two deadbolts get slammed shut above us. I guess the other residents don't like the..." Vi suddenly snarled, her nostrils flaring. "It's in there!"

The Slayer kicked the door open, ripping the lock out of the wall in the process, and the stench of rotten meat and decay hit Castle's nose. "Should have thought to bring a mask," he muttered, following Vi into the apartment.

Or what was left of the apartment. Broken and smashed furniture littered the floor, deep gashes had been scratched or cut - or slashed - into the walls, and patches of dried blood were visible under hooks dangling from the ceiling. "Dear Lord, we're standing in a monster's butcher shop!" Castle exclaimed.

"You're standing in my apartment."

Someone wearing a blood-stained apron and what looked like a shaman mask stepped out of the kitchen. He looked unarmed and human, and Beckett reacted predictably. "Mister Lee? Detective Beckett, NYPD. We have a few questions about your employer." She kept her gun ready though.

Whatever Lee had been about to say remained unsaid since Vi charged him right then, kicking him in the face. The force of her blow spun the man around and ripped the mask from his face. He didn't fall down though.

"Vi!" Beckett shouted. "What are you…"

Castle was already shooting. Anything that didn't go down after such a kick from Vi wasn't human. His round hit the man in the chest, staggering him. Instead of dying, or at least screaming and falling down, Lee just smiled, showing yellowed teeth. And his smile kept growing wider and wider, until it literally split his face and revealed the hideous head of a monster covered in shaggy fur.

Vi kicked it again, throwing it against the next wall, and Castle heard bones breaking. They kept breaking, and he realized that the whole body of the thing was changing, growing, rearranging itself.

He shot it again, as did Beckett, but the thing kept changing, ripping out of its human skin and clothes until a shaggy, stooped monster was facing them, drool dripping from razor-sharp yellow teeth and half a foot long claws sliding out of its fingers.

Rick was reloading his shotgun with the cold iron slugs while Vi attacked it with her sword. The wendigo was tough and strong - one of its blows went through the wall as if it was cardboard - but it wasn't quick enough to hit the nimble redhead, and the low ceiling hampered its movements as well.

On the other hand, Vi didn't seem to be able to hurt it much either. The cuts she left on the body were not bleeding much and seemed to be healing already, and it covered its neck and head from Vi's strikes.

"Clear!" Castle shouted, and Vi somersaulted back, her head narrowingly dodging the monster's claws and her feet almost striking the ceiling. Before the Slayer touched the ground again, two shotguns roared and the monster was hit with cold iron and fire. The slug didn't seem to do much, but the Dragon's Breath set its stinking fur on fire, and the wendigo howled in rage and pain.

Vi used the opening provided by the creature's attempts to beat the flames on its body out. The Slayer charged it again with her sword. At the last second, the monster reacted, and lashed out. The redhead was ready though, and ducked under the burning claws, then jumped up, her blade slicing deep into its throat.

Choking and gripping its bleeding neck, the monster staggered back against the battered wall. The Slayer landed on its flank, and lashed out again, cutting the tendons in its left leg. Making a horrible gurgling noise, the wendigo finally fell on the floor, setting trash on fire and splattering blood on the wood.

Vi grinned ferally and went in for the kill, dodging the the flailing arms and striking at its neck as if she was a lumberjack working on a log until the monster's head rolled over the floor.

Breathing hard, Castle stared at it. "Damn."

The two women looked puzzled at his reaction, and so he explained. "It would have been real handy if the wendigo had either changed back to a human form, or turned to ashes."

Beckett groaned. "You're right. I can't report this. And we were heard by the other tenants."

"If in doubt, set fire to the place?" Castle proposed, then winced at the glare he got. Beckett needed to work on her unhealthy aversion against arson too.

*****​

"I can't believe I falsified a report," Beckett commented the next evening, sharing a drink in Castle's apartment with him and Vi.

"You didn't. You just omitted a few details. The report clearly stated that the apartment was set afire, that shots were fired on a shaggy creature, and that we had to retreat from the apartment due to the flames. All that happened." Castle refilled his glass.

"Yes. But the exact order of those events was different."

"Details, details. Perlmutter will identify one of the wendigo's victims in the flat as Lee, and explain the shaggy thing as a dog." Castle grinned.

"No one who looks at the data will believe that." Beckett held out her glass, and he refilled it as well.

"No one will look at it. And if anyone digs around, it'll get buried by our contacts higher up the totem pole." He almost reached over to pat her reassuringly on the knee, but he needed his hand for work. And other things. Beckett still didn't seem to believe him, but she'd come around in time. "Anyway, we still have a Noose Demon on the loose. Did you find any suspects that could have served as his vessel?"

"Miller withdrew five thousand dollar from his bank account the day before he died. He probably hired someone to help him dig up Brighton's corpse with that, but we don't know who." Beckett sighed and held a hand up. "Let me guess: It's likely that Miller's hired help ended up possessed by the demon he helped dig up."

"Probably. Those possessions usually go for what is closest."

"So we have a murderous demon vigilante in New York, and we don't know how he looks or what name he might be using, just that he is likely to be using a noose to kill criminals." Beckett finished her drink in one go and held her glass out to him to refill it again.

"Exactly! That's quite a bit more than we usually know about the demons we hunt," Castle told her cheerfully.

Vi, refilling her own glass, nodded emphatically.

"So, here's to another successful case closed!" Castle raised his glass in a toast.

Beckett stared at him, then at Vi, then at her glass. Muttering something about 'contagious craziness', she chugged her drink, then held it out for another refill. All things considered, she was taking this really well.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, September 2009

"Really? The stomach flu, for two weeks?"

RIchard Castle, bestselling fantasy author, raised his eyebrows at Violet 'Vi' O'Malley.

"That's what she just told the captain." Vi, who had shamelessly abused her Slayer hearing to eavesdrop, sounded amused, not quite looking at Captain Montgomery's office. Jane Varshney, Reporter not so extraordinaire, had returned to the 12th Precinct.

"Wow… makes one wonder if she's as truthful when she's writing," Rick commented, shaking his head.

"She a glorified and overpaid gossip columnist, Castle. You don't honestly expect her to win a Pulitzer Prize anytime soon, do you?" Detective Kate Beckett rolled her eyes at the two of them. "And is there a reason you have to be sitting on my desk?"

Vi, who was letting her legs dangle, nodded. "Rick took the chair."

"It's my chair. I saw it first." Rick wasn't about to let himself get evicted. Though he might get away with purchasing a chair of his own, if that was what it took.

"It's my desk. And you're occupying quite a bit of it with your rear." Beckett glared at Vi.

"Are you calling me fat?" Vi narrowed her eyes.

"No, I am trying to get you to stop occupying my desk and keeping me from my work."

"Rick doesn't have any trouble working when I am with him," Vi declared. The Slayer leaned backwards, arching her back and pushing her chest out while her leather jacket slid down her shoulders. "Am I distracting you?" she whispered while licking her lips. Rick made a mental note to talk to Faith about not being a bad influence on impressionable younger Slayers. Then he scratched the note - that would only encourage her. And Vi. He barely noted how Esposito was so distracted by the sight that he kept pouring coffee into his mug until it overflowed and scalded his hand.

"No, you're simply annoying me. And you're giving Castle ideas about his hypothetical book involving a certain detective with a stripper name and some redheaded hunter." Beckett deadpanned.

Castle blinked. He had planned to have a ruggedly handsome journalist with a slight resemblance to himself romance Nikki Heat, but this… everyone knew love triangles attracted readers. Especially if it involved two hot women. His editor would love it.

"See? His mind just got lost in the gutter. Earth to Castle, the real world just called. The world where you're currently fantasizing about an armed detective and a 'trained bodyguard'." Beckett waved her hand in front of him.

On the other hand, Castle loved to be alive. And whole. And he didn't want to insinuate that kind of interest in Vi. He coughed. "You're wrong. Besides, Nikki Heat strikes me as the more straight-laced kind of woman."

"Oh, you might be mistaken about her past. But Nikki Heat wouldn't go and rob the cradle. She would like a more mature partner." Beckett smiled sweetly at Vi.

Castle just kept from reflexively blurting out that he was mature.

Vi had less self-control, and growled: "I'm no teenager anymore."

"Oh? Could have fooled me." Beckett said so innocently, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

The two women locked eyes with each other. They were so close now, Vi would have just to lean to the side a bit, or Beckett lean a bit forward…

"That's so going into the book!" Castle said. His editor wouldn't be happy, but it wouldn't be the first time he had made changes at this stage.

He was saved from their ire by the Captain announcing that they had a case. Jane, standing next to Montgomery, was looking like she was about to have a relapse.

*****​

"I have to point out though that there's nothing hypothetical about my book. My editor has seen the first draft already," Castle commented on the way to the crime scene.

"Hopefully he'll change the name of the main character."

"She," Castle corrected the detective. "And she liked 'Nikki Heat'. All the possible titles from the name alone...."

"What about Vivian, the real main character?" Vi wanted to know.

"She liked that character too, but thought it was a bit too close to another character I had already used."

"Well, duh!" Vi smiled.

"Oh?" Jane asked, leaning forward.

"Vi also served as the inspiration for 'Victoria' in 'Facing the Old One'," Rick explained.

"Oh!" Jane seemed to read a lot into that, judging from the amount of notes she was making. Castle reminded himself that he would get to read the article before it was published. Would have to read it. Damn, he'd have to act as an editor too, if the woman's questions were any indication of her writing skills.

They reached the crime scene - the Upper New York Bay. "We got a floater?" Castle asked, perking up.

"A man checking on his boat found the corpse. Tied to an anchor, floating right beneath the waves next to his boat's hull."

"An anchor…" Rick didn't recall any demon using anchors. Not the kind found on ships, at least.

"We're not going to dive, are we?" Vi asked.

"Don't worry about ruining your hair, the police has that in hand." Beckett commented from the back bench. One of those days, she'd accept his place in front. And she and Vi would be the best friends. And the World would be at Peace.

Vi parked between a patrol car and the van from the morgue, and everyone got out. Jane, who had grown steadily more quiet the closer they got to their destination, was taking deep breaths already. Rick spotted Ryan standing nearby, and quickly walked over to the detective. "Put me down for '5 minutes after she sees the corpse', and with 20."

"Got you."

When he caught up with the rest of the group, Vi was smirking at him, and Beckett was glaring. He mouthed 'You told her?' to his Slayer, but she shook her head. He hadn't thought he was that obvious. Or Beckett that perceptive. Then again, she had found out about his secret. Sort of.

"What do you have for us?" Beckett asked Lanie as soon as she saw her.

"Us." Castle glanced at Beckett, smiling despite the glare he got in return.

The medical examiner pulled the blanket back from the corpse. "White male, about 30 years old, found tied to a small anchor with a chain."

Castle whistled at the corpse's chest. "That's a lot of bullet holes."

Lanie nodded. "Yes. But he might not have died from those wounds."

"Water in the lungs?" Beckett crouched down to study the bullet holes. "The bullets must have perforated both lungs though. Small caliber. Less than 9 mm even."

"Yes. I'll have to conduct an autopsy to find the exact cause of death."

"Do we have an ID yet?"

"He had his wallet on him." Lanie held up a clear plastic bag with a slightly damaged ID in it.

"It wasn't a robbery gone wrong then," Castle stated.

"Alexei Ivanovich Berezin. Russian national." Beckett stated, frowning.

"You can read Cyrillic?" Castle asked, surprised.

"I can speak Russian. I spent a semester in Kiev as a student," the detective answered without taking her eyes off the document.

"Nikki Heat has even more hidden depths than I thought!" He'd have to find a way to get that in his next book.

"Time!" Vi suddenly said. Castle turned to her, and she pointed to the side, where Jane was bent over a plastic bag.

"Two minutes and 20 seconds," Ryan said, handing over several bills to Beckett.

Castle stared at her. And she had been frowning at him for betting? He huffed.

"I told you I might not be as straight-laced as you assume," Beckett said with smirk as she pocketed her winnings.

"Cops gambling… my faith in the police's integrity just was shattered!" Castle sighed theatrically.

"Don't be mad you lost, Castle. Just get used to it."

"Never!"

*****​

"Shot, drowned, and poisoned too? Who was this guy, the second coming of Rasputin?" Castle exclaimed after reading Lanie's report back at the Precinct.

"That's a good question, Castle. There are no records of this man entering the country legally. But judging by the parking tickets and receipts we found in his wallet, he has been in New York for months."

"Oh… illegal immigration, and… polluting the environment? Does bleeding into the water after getting poisoned count?" Rick wondered.

"He's dead, Castle. He won't get prosecuted for anything."

"Given how much it took to kill him, I'd not rule out resurrection."

Beckett laughed, then stopped. "So that's why Vi is watching Lanie working."

Castle nodded.

"Do you think it could be a vampire?" Beckett asked in a lower voice, after checking for eavesdroppers.

"I don't think so. This would be the first case of a rising after a burial at sea. Sort of." Rupert would be ecstatic about such a novel case. "I'd suspect an exotic demon at work. Unless it was just adrenaline and luck."

"Can't Vi smell demons?"

"She can. But it's not 100% foolproof." Emphasis on 'fool', Castle thought.

"Did she ever have false positives?"

"Not so far," Castle answered. Unless that unfortunate misunderstanding with the man who had just had messy sex with a succubus before encountering Vi counted. But he survived, and probably learned to pick his lovers more carefully, and shower more often. "But false negatives could happen without anyone realizing it."

"We've got the vic's address. We matched the key we found to an apartment building in Soho." Esposito interrupted their discussion, handing Beckett a note with an address.

Castle peeked at it. "Oh? Gentrification involves illegal immigrants these days?" With a glance to the two detectives, he added: "I got the sales brochure for that building's condos last year. It's not exactly something you can pay while working in a sweatshop."

"Contrary to popular belief, Castle, illegal immigrants are not all slaving away in sweatshops."

"Well, he didn't look like a stripper to me either."

 

[Starfox5]

New York, September 2009

"That's really posh. More so than it looked like in the brochure," Richard Castle commented when they stood in front of the dead man's home.

"Careful, Castle. Your English contamination is showing." Beckett grinned.

"Damn. Next, I'll drink tea instead of coffee, and then I'll get deported." Castle sighed as the entered the building. The inside wasn't posh. It was gaudy. Expensive, but ugly.

"They don't deport people for drinking tea." Beckett flashed her badge to the concierge. "NYPD. We need the key to the apartment 306."

The man checked her badge carefully - longer than most people Castle had seen interact with the detective so far - before he disappeared into the office behind the desk.

"I thought we had the key."

"That's evidence. There's no need to take it with us." Beckett explained.

The man returned, and handed the key over. He had the faintest accent - East European. Or Russian. He was still looking at them when they entered the elevator.

"I would feel better if Vi was with us," Rick stated inside the cabin. "That receptionist guy creeps me out. And that means something coming from a man who deals with demons regularly."

"He's probably a member of the Bratva." Beckett looked around.

"The what?" Castle couldn't spot what she was looking for. Hidden cameras?

"The Russian Mafia."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"There's this thing called 'evidence' we need to arrest people, Castle. We can't just burn them down on a suspicion." Beckett frowned at him. She was probably jealous that a Watcher didn't have to follow the same rules as a cop.

"Why would you think he's with the mob anyway? His accent?" Castle wondered. Beckett wasn't the type to do racial profiling.

"That, and the fact this building is owned by a front for the Bratva," Beckett said, as if she was talking about the weather.

"What?" Castle gaped at her. "And you only mention this now?" He didn't know much about the Russian Mafia, but he did know that they were brutal, lethal, and had no scruples at all. And with possible demonic influence… That would be a really ugly combination. A good story, though.

"If I had known you'd react like this, I'd have mentioned it earlier," Beckett snorted. "And gotten a camera." She shook her head, amusement audible in her tone. "Just don't insult them, don't provoke them, and don't hint at knowing anything about them that might get them jailed, and they'll not harm you at all." Beckett smiled at him.

"You've been waiting for an opportunity like this since we went to Clark's, haven't you?" Rick pouted at her.

"Would I do such a thing?" she asked, and he saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

"In a heartbeat." He knew she was rather competitive, or she wouldn't clash with Vi that much.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a hallway with too much brass and marble to look stylish or classy. "And they thought I'd want to live in such a house?" Castle asked, shaking his head.

"Shocking, isn't it? That someone could misjudge you so."

"I'll have to check with my publisher if my public image needs some corrections." He wouldn't want to be known as a rich man without class. He'd had enough of that attitude in England.

Rick didn't know why Beckett snorted at that.

The victim's apartment was not quite as ostentatious as the rest of the building. Not spartan, nor cheaply furnished, but definitely a cut below the standards, so to speak, of the Russian Mafia, as far as he could tell. "Do you think he was killed because he didn't have the required amount of gold-plated things in his apartment? Sort of like the mob version of the neighborhood association?"

"You know, these kind of comments do not fill me with confidence that your next book will be any good. You might want to stick to medieval fantasy," Beckett said while opening drawers of a cabinet in the hallway.

"Oh, you'll love the book, trust me!" And she would - who wouldn't like to be immortalized in a bestselling novel? As the main character?

"I would trust you a bit more if I could shake the suspicion that you'll have Nikki Heat go undercover as a stripper."

"Oh!" That was an idea!

"Castle! That was a joke, not a suggestion. Don't you dare…" she trailed off after opening the door to the victim's living room. "Bozhe moi!"

Rick didn't like the sound of that. And he liked the sight of a living room turned into a ritual chamber even less. "I don't know what you just said, but it sounded appropriate."

"Is that a real one, or a fake one?" She pointed at the circle edged into the wooden floor.

"I'm no expert, but it looks serviceable." A pentagram, lined with candles. He crouched down and ran a finger over the small grooves. "Dried blood." He took pictures of the scene, and sent them to London. Beckett didn't comment.

He turned to Beckett. "Did you see any books? Old, leather bound, maybe?" This kind of ritual wasn't done from memory.

"No, nothing like that."

They didn't find any tomes or grimoires by the time the uniforms arrived. Castle had a feeling that they too wouldn't find anything. Maybe Vi would sense something, when she swung by later.

*****​

"The dead guy stayed dead. And he was completely human," Vi was reporting, once again occupying part of Beckett's desk. "Perfectly ordinary."

"And yet he had a ritual circle in his living room, a used one," Castle shook his head. "And a working one, according to Dawn."

"Dawn?" Beckett asked.

"A fellow Watcher," Rick explained.

"She had the biggest crush on him, a few years ago, but she was too young," Vi added, smirking. "She was his biggest fan."

"And she grew out of it, years ago." Castle glared at his Slayer. "Of the crush, that is."

"She'd still jump your bones given half a chance."

"And then Buffy would break my bones. Not that I have any intention of sleeping with Dawn." Castle clarified hastily.

"Suuure." Vi's grin widened.

"Anyway," Castle changed the topic before Beckett could get the wrong impression, "Dawn's sure that this kind of ritual wasn't done from memory. So, there have to be some notes around, or - as I suspect - a grimoire." And if those notes or that book were the real deal, they were worth to kill for.

"Anyone with connections to the owners of the building could have entered the apartment with the keys from the concierge." Beckett said.

"Was the victim a member of the mob too?"

"We don't know yet. IT is still trying to reconstruct his finances." Beckett didn't sound too optimistic with regards to that part of the investigation. "But the stubs and receipts found in the dead's wallet indicate that he often frequented a nightclub popular among Russian immigrants."

"Ohh!" Vi perked up.

Castle glared at her. "No beating up the Russian Mafia, Vi! They're not demons."

"Self-defense is allowed!"

"No provoking them either just so you can claim they started it." He knew about that trick, quite popular among Slayers, especially Faith.

"Are you two planning to visit that bar?" Beckett looked from Rick to Vi and back.

The Slayer nodded, grinning.

"How do you expect to find out anything without understanding Russian? Do you think they'll all speak English for you to overhear?"

"Well… " The detective made that part of the plan sound like it wouldn't work.

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Or do you plan to shake down the Bratva for information like you shake down demons?"

That had been the backup plan, not that Castle would admit that. "I was hoping we'd find some demons there, and 'talk' to them." That usually worked.

Beckett closed her eyes. "I've got a mind to let you try that, but if you got killed, the mayor would be unhappy with the captain, and he'd be unhappy with me."

"Your concern for our health is overwhelming, detective," Castle said, slightly cross. As if she didn't really care about him!

"Yes, it is. Astonishing too." The detective sighed. "I just know I will regret this, but it is our best lead, and I doubt walking in there with a badge will do much good."

"We're going undercover then?" Castle asked. That sounded interesting.

"Me and her. I to eavesdrop on the Russians, she to sniff out demons."

"I'm rich and famous. I can visit any nightclub without looking suspicious." Castle grinned. As if he'd let the two women go there alone.

"True," Beckett conceded.

"So, Operation Undercover is a go!" Castle declared. "Vi can be my arm-candy. What will be your cover identity? I've got two arms!" And it would be great to see the detective in a sexy cocktail dress, again.

"I do not think it would be smart to go together," Beckett stated, rolling her eyes. "That way, if one of us gets into trouble, the others are not compromised."

"You sound as if you expect us to get into trouble."

Beckett didn't say anything, but her expression told Castle that this was exactly what she was expecting.

The woman had no faith in him. He'd prove her wrong!

 

[Starfox5]

New York, September 2009

"You know, I almost wish we'd get to wear a wire. Using our phones seems so… normal," Richard Castle said while checking if his smartphone, slightly enhanced by Willow, was fully charged.

"We're not exactly about to enter a secret meeting of mob members, so no one will ask for our smartphones," Beckett said, shaking her head at him.

"I still wonder where you'll be stashing yours though. That dress doesn't seem to let you carry a credit card, much less a phone." He didn't quite leer at her, though he wanted to - the cocktail dress she was wearing looked like she had been poured into it.

"Purses exist for a reason." Sighing, she smoothed the dress out. "That's what the kind of young, immigrant girls visiting that club are wearing. Trust me, I'd rather wear something a bit more…"

"... decent?" He grinned.

She glared at him. "I was about to say classy, thank you."

"But you had that indecent dress already," Vi got a dig in with barely-hidden glee.

"Remnants of my rebellious youth," Beckett grinned, if a bit forcedly, at the Slayer, who was wearing a very similar-looking dress which Castle had paid for in the afternoon. "Though since it still fits me perfectly, I don't see the need to spend money on another slutty dress."

That made Vi frown. "We'll have to introduce you to Faith! You'll hit it off!"

Castle coughed. "No, we don't!" He turned to Beckett. "Faith is the second-oldest - second-most experienced - Slayer and she dresses rather provocatively."

"Which you'd call 'slutty'!" Vi added.

Castle glared at his Slayer. "And she's got a penchant for violence."

"I thought every Slayer is prone to using violence," Beckett raised her eyebrows.

"Well, they are…" Castle ignored Vi's "No, we're not!" and continued: "... but Faith is kind of… exceptional. The other Slayers fear her."

"No, we don't!" Vi put her hands on her hip.

"I'll tell her that you said that," Castle retorted, smirking when she faltered.

"We just… respect her. Very much," Vi admitted, sulking.

"Well, noted. But this 'Faith' isn't here, and we've got a nightclub to visit, so how about we focus on that for a bit? I am sure there will be ample opportunities to indulge in sharing scary Slayer stories later."

She obviously didn't get how scary Faith was, Castle thought. But she had a point.

"Why are you posing as an immigrant anyway? Wouldn't it be better if the mobsters didn't know you spoke Russian? They might let their guard down around us."

"They would wonder why three Americans are visiting the club, and probably keep a closer eye on us," beckett explained. "Especially if one of them is a famous author."

"So, we're to be the distraction then."

"Exactly. I'll ask around after our dead man, see if anyone knows him. Just play the fool and his arm candy." Beckett smiled. "If anyone asks, claim you heard about the club from a fan. Please try to not start a riot for an hour or two."

"Hey! I've never started a riot!" He had done a lot, but that particular achievement had eluded him so far.

"And we've only set fire to, like… five demon bars!" Vi wasn't helping.

"You're not taking your flamethrower with you!" Beckett glared at them.

"Of course not!" He'd leave it in his car. Just in case.

*****​

The nightclub - Hotel Moscow - didn't look impressive from the outside. If not for the groups of underdressed smoking people outside, and the two hulking bouncers at the door, the entrance would have looked like it belonged to an office building.

Castle and Vi waited in the car while Beckett went in first. Rick had to admit to himself that the detective was almost unrecognizable with her blonde wig, makeup, and that slutty dress that drew the attention far away from her face. Though he didn't think complimenting Beckett for the fact that she could pull off 'looking like a call girl' very well would go over well. He really hoped Vi would not make a comment about that.

"If I didn't know she was a cop, I'd ask for her rates. Do you think she worked for Vice before she became a detective?"

And there went that hope. Maybe she'd not mention it to Beckett. And pigs would fly - without Andrew messing up a ritual. "You'd ask for her rates?"

"It's just an expression to say she looks like a professional, you know." Vi glared at him. "Don't get any ideas."

"Perish the thought!" But there'd be an undercover mission in his next book. Definitely.

The detective passed the bouncers without trouble. Castle didn't think they'd even took a look at her face. Understandable, really.

"How long do we wait?" Vi had that whiny undertone already. Slayers and patience didn't go hand in hand at all, to the detriment of their Watchers.

"At least a quarter of an hour," Castle said. It would feel like an hour, of course. Vi was already fidgeting. "You're usually not quite that impatient."

"I just don't like letting her go first."

"Ah." And that explained it. Slayer competitiveness. He often wondered how Xander managed to handle a dozen of the girls. Without getting killed as collateral damage.

"They didn't frisk her. I'll be able to slip in my blades. You gonna pack your Glock?"

He didn't comment on the fact that she would have an easier time concealing weapons with a slightly longer skirt. He blamed Buffy and Faith for the predominant 'Slayer style'. "No. I think I'll be safer as the famous clueless author."

"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe." Vi patted his arm.

"That would be more reassuring if you didn't have to keep me safe from trouble you started at least half the time."

"Hey!"

He smirked at her outraged reaction. Two minutes down, thirteen more to go.

*****​

Castle and Vi got a bit more attention from the bouncers, as Beckett had predicted. Mostly Castle though - Vi got the kind of attention any pretty girl wearing a too short skirt and too tight top would get. He smiled at the bouncers. "Richard Castle. You may have heard of me. I've certainly heard of this club!" They didn't recognize him, but they did recognize a hundred bucks, and waved him through with a smile. Money was the universal language.

The place was packed full of people dancing, drinking and flirting. Judging by the smell, they didn't really enforce the ban on smoking inside clubs, and he doubted they qualified for an exception. He saw Vi wrinkle her nose, and raised his eyebrows at her. She met his eyes, and nodded. So there was a demon nearby. That didn't have to mean anything, of course. But he'd bet it did.

It was almost impossible to find a demon or two in such a crowd though, apart from personally checking everyone out. And that wouldn't end up that well in this place either. Not even for a pretty girl like Vi.

So the two of them made their way to the bar while he tried to spot Beckett. He had no success though.

"Cop ten o'clock, cozying up to a slimeball," Vi whispered, leaning with her back against the bar next to him.

Rick slowly turned his head, and spotted Beckett, laughing next to some ugly brute of a gangster who was staring down her dress. The man had a face that just begged to be introduced to Castle's, or better, Vi's fists.

Castle turned towards the bartender, smiling and ordering a Bloody Mary for himself, and a cola for Vi. A generous tip followed.

"They're talking in Russian," Vi said.

"Well, that was to be expected. But does he seem to be buying her act?" Castle slowly leaned a bit closer to Vi, with a wide smile pasted on his face.

"He seems to be buying her drinks, at least," Vi answered.

Castle glanced over. "Well, so far so good." He took the rest of the room in. "This looks like a nice club, actually. If not for the fact that it's owned by the mob."

"Mister Castle?"

Rick turned towards the man who had just approached him. 'Thug' was the first impression. But he looked friendly. And Castle had a role to play. "Yes, that's me! Are you a fan of my books?"

"Ah, I must confess I barely find the time to read the newspapers, these days. Work, you understand. But I recognized you from my girlfriend's magazine. I am Petar Kusmich, and this is Natasha." The man pointed at girl next to him. She was pretty, young, and beaming at Rick.

"Pleased to meet you. This is Vi," Castle presented the Slayer.

Kusmich bent to kiss Vi's hand, displaying remarkable manners for a gangster. At least as far as Castle thought - his knowledge of the Russian Mafia might be a tad lacking, he realized. He knew far more about Russian monsters than mobsters. "Work?"

"I own the club." The Russian smiled and made a sweeping gesture. "Where did you hear of it, if I may ask?"

"It's a bit of an embarrassing story, so I trust your discretion," Castle said, leaning forward. "I met a pretty fan of mine at a vernissage, and we got in a drinking contest that turned out not to be any contest. The girl drank me under the table. She mentioned this club, which is the only thing I recall of that evening." He held up his glass. "I've been training since then, to offer her a better challenge in case we meet again, and where better than here?"

Kusmich laughed loudly. "A hard drinking man, I like that."

"More like working hard at drinking, still." Castle had the distinct feeling that he was about to be played, but no idea in what way.

"Do you play poker, by chance?" Ah, that way.

"I've been known to play a few hands with colleagues of mine. Fellow writers. But our schedules don't line up too often."

"Would you be interested in a little game?" Kusmich asked, eyes glinting.

Castle smiled back. "Definitely!" Playing poker with Russian mafiosi? Who could resist that? And since it wasn't Kitten Poker, he wouldn't be saddled with either a basket full of meowling animals, or a reproachful look from his family for letting kittens get eaten. Win win.

"Let me show you a more private room then, Mister Castle."

"Call me Rick!"

They were passing closer to the table Beckett was getting leered at by that brute when Castle froze. The concierge of the victim's condo was there, a few meters away, and pointing at the detective. That was very bad!

"That's a demon," Vi whispered.

And that was worse!

 

[Starfox5]

New York, September 2009

Richard Castle was in a bind. The thug had stopped leering at Beckett and was now glaring at her instead. Two more gangsters were on the way, attracted by the commotion, and the demon-concierge - was that like a gatekeeper of hell, he briefly wondered - had gripped the detective's arm.

He was unarmed - mostly, he still had a stake up his sleeve - with Vi only carrying a few knives, but they could take those men and Kusmich. But there were too many people around. Too many witnesses, and potential victims of stray shots - he didn't doubt the the Russians would hesitate to shoot. So he put a hand on Vi's arm when he saw the Slayer tense, met Beckett's eyes for a fraction of a second, and steered his Slayer after Kusmich. The man had just briefly stopped and glanced at the scene with the detective before continuing towards the door in the back. The same door, so Castle thought, the gangsters would drag Beckett through as well.

Perfect. Or close to it. He wasn't that picky.

Kusmich was walking a bit faster. The man probably wanted to get them into the poker room before the thugs dragged Beckett into the torture room. Natasha easily matched his stride, despite her six inch heels. Castle risked a subtle glance - Beckett was now cornered by three thugs, and one demon, and they were obviously waiting.

Kusmich reached the backdoor, nodding at the guard there. That man was very tall, and his muscles would make Schwarzenegger jealous. Castle looked at Vi, but she wasn't showing any reaction, so it was probably steroids, and not demonic blood.

They passed the door - thick, sturdy, and sound-proof as well, since as soon as it closed, Castle couldn't hear the music from the club anymore. Which worked both ways. Kusmich started to talk again. "Welcome to our private rooms…" was as far as he got before Vi punched him in the gut, doubling him over. She withdrew her fist, holding a pistol, and handed it to Castle while dropping the gangster with a blow to the neck. Castle didn't recognize the model, but as he racked the slide, a 9 mm cartridge fell out. It'd do.

Natasha was staring at them, her mouth open, while Vi hefted the man up and dropped him a few meters to the side, in front of another door. "Don't mind us. Demon hunting in progress," Castle said, smiling. The girl gasped and started to run away. Or tried to - she stumbled and fell, then kicked her heels off before scrambling away on bare feet.

"You've got to work on your smiles, Rick," Vi commented, taking up a position next to the door.

"I think it was the gun. It doesn't look as nice as my usual one," Rick retorted, and matched her on the other side, gun held at his side.

Just in time - the door was opened again, and the first thug walked in, followed by the two goons dragging Beckett between them. That meant the demon was bringing up the rear.

"Freeze!" Castle said, pointing the gun at the lead thug. The man froze, cursing under his breath.

That was as far as things went according to plan, though. Castle heard a croaking noise, and something slimy wrapped around his arm and hand, ripping the gun out of his grip. He turned his head and saw that it was an elongated tongue the demon had shut out of his suddenly far too wide mouth. Vi slammed the door into the demon, stunning it, and Castle went for the gun, only to be tackled by the lead thug.

The gangster hit him like a freight train, bowling the author over and rolling over the ground. Rick managed to shield his head, but a few blows hit his stomach, almost making him lose his meal. He managed to hit the man back, but the thug didn't seem to feel his blows, at all. One hand closed around his throat, and he had trouble breathing. With the man straddling him, he couldn't get to his stake. In desperation, he groped around for the gun, it had to be around here somewhere… his fingers closed around something smooth… it wasn't the gun, it was one of Natasha's heels!

He hit the thug throttling him with it, several times, until the man let go of his throat with a pained yell, and pressed a hand to his bleeding ear. Coughing, Rick saw the man straddling him had pulled back a bit, out of reflex probably, and hit him in the groin with his makeshift weapon. The thug choked, then whimpered and rolled off Castle.

Panting, Castle was about to look for the pistol once more, but a shot made him freeze up.

"никому не двигаться!"

Beckett was standing there, gun in hand. She'd lost her shoes too, and her dress had seen better days as well. But the two guys who had been holding her were down, one moaning and gripping his groin while staring wide-eyed at the tongue-demon, the other was knocked out and bleeding, sprawled in a heap below a suspicious dent in the wall. Vi was wrapped in demon frog tongue, but seemed to have gotten the upper hand - the monster was looking rather battered, and the tongue seemed to have lost its tension. Her clothes were a lost cause though.

As far as fights went, this had gone well.

While Beckett kept the gun trained on the semi-conscious Russians, Castle frisked them, finding three more pistols, and Vi unwrapped herself from the demon tongue, muttering about slime, clothes and spas owed to her. Everything was back to normal then.

Castle coughed a few times until he was sure his voice was working properly still, then addressed the demon. "Now… we have a few questions. What do you know about Alexei Ivanovich Berezin?"

"я трахну вашу мать!

Castle didn't know Russian, but that hadn't sounded helpful, or polite. "Let me introduce my charming friends here. This is, as you probably know already, Detective Beckett. She's armed and got a temper. And this is Vi, the resident Slayer of New York. You just ruined her favorite outfit. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

The other thugs were still staring at the demon, as if they had never seen him before. They probably hadn't. The frog-tongue-demon itself started talking rapidly once Vi hefted him up with one hand. Unfortunately, he was talking in Russian. At least Beckett looked like she understood most of it.

*****​

"So… the demon concierge was working with the victim on a ritual to make him tougher and stronger, but didn't kill him. The victim was afraid of some unnamed other Russian gangsters. And the tome they used for the ritual is missing." Castle summed the results up while the three of them were walking back to his car.

"He has an alibi for the time of death, Ryan checked that today already." Beckett checked her recovered phone for new calls and messages.

"It was a suspect?" Castle asked, surprised. "Never mind - of course it was."

"What do you think will happen to the demon?"

"It'll probably run. Those thugs didn't look like they were happy to discover one of them is a monster. Well, a worse monster than gangsters."

"We should have killed it. It ruined my outfit!" Vi growled.

"We don't slay demons for ruining dresses."

"Well, we should! Buffy would agree with me!" The blonde Slayer probably would.

"It was a slutty outfit anyway. No big loss," Beckett commented.

"It's the principle of the thing! If you let them get away with ruining one dress, they'll do it again, and with more expensive and classier dresses too!" Vi pointed at her ruined top. "Plus, this should count as sexual harrassment too!"

Castle was very carefully not looking at what she pointed at. They didn't tell you about that when you joined the Watchers.

*****​

The next morning, Rick was carefully walking into the bullpen of the 12th Precinct. His bruises were hidden by his shirt, but he could feel each spot on his body that the Russian thug had hit, and even breathing hurt a bit. His only consolation was that the guy would be in much more pain - that stiletto heel had done good work.

Vi of course was all fine again, if still a bit mad about the lost outfit. No matter that it had been rather slutty, even by Slayer standards. Not that Castle would say that.

He walked up to Beckett. The detective didn't show any signs of the fight they had been in either, but she looked tired at least, and shot him a grateful smile when he put her coffee down on her desk. "Rough night?" he asked.

"Long night," Beckett answered, with a slight glare. Obviously, she didn't appreciate his attempts to keep up appearances.

"Any further news on the case?" He took a sip from his own coffee. He really should buy the Precinct a coffee maker of their own, for the breaks.

"No, but…" her desk phone rang, interrupting her. She took the call, listened, and Castle could see her face growing hard. "We'll be right there."

She looked at him. "A patrol just found four men, hanging from a tree in the Central park. With an old leather-bound tome placed at their feet."

"Looks like our noose-demon has not left town."

And it was messing with their case.

 

[Ack]

The demon's killing humans, that's a big no-no.

Click to shrink...

Oh god, I want to see this.


Vi kicked the door; it flew off its hinges, crashing into the opposite wall as she followed it in. Castle went to go in next, but he was too slow; Beckett beat him to it. She entered the room in Vi's wake, pistol out and ready. Mentally grumbling about how she was pushing in line, Rick entered the room last.

The demon was there all right; at least, he assumed it was a demon, the way Vi was eyeing it and preparing to unleash some sort of devastating move upon it. The fact that it looked like a normal, if muscular, human male didn't matter much right then. After all, it was holding some sort of weapon, pointing it at Vi. Rick frowned; a demon with a ... a pistol?

Beckett, by sheer habit, brought out her badge as she aimed her own pistol at it. "NYPD! Hold it right there!"

And that was when the demon produced its own badge, to augment the odd-looking pistol. "Department of Extra-Demonic Affairs! You hold it!"

Vi's jaw dropped. "What the hell?"

"Demons have law enforcement?" asked Beckett.

Castle shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Should I kill it?" That was Vi.

"How about instead of killing each other," the demon suggested with heavy sarcasm, "what say we talk instead?"

****

They were seated at an outdoor cafe; all weapons and badges were stowed away, but Vi was as tense as a cat within striking range of a particularly toothsome mouse. Rick shot her another frown; he didn't want her jumping the gun, at least not until this particular mystery had been solved.

"It came to our attention, several hundred years ago," the demon began, sipping at his coffee - he'd used artificial sweetener, the fiend - "that humans from your realm were enabling members of our criminal element to come here and cause havoc."

"So wait," interrupted Beckett. "These demons we've been fighting, they're your criminals?"

"Well, of course," the demon agreed. "It's not like they're particularly law-abiding, right?"

Rick snorted. "That's the understatement of the century."

"Oh, don't get me wrong," the demon hastened to add. "Our laws are different from yours. Less in the way of due process, for instance. And the death penalty's a little more widely applied. Also, torture is kind of a standard procedure during interrogations. But I digress. Over the last decade or so, it's been noticed that more and more humans are pulling demons across for various reasons, and some demons are setting up enclaves here on your world. Which is why the DEDA was formed."

"To police your own?" asked Beckett.

The demon nodded. "Mainly, yes. We're still finding our feet. I'm on special assignment."

"And what's your assignment?" asked Castle.

"To thin out the number of humans who are likely to cause more demons to come over," the demon explained carefully. "To reduce the overall problem, or at least keep it manageable."

"There's just one problem with that," Vi snapped, making her first contribution to the conversation so far. "You're killing humans."

"How is that a problem?" asked the demon reasonably. "You're killing demons. And the humans I'm killing are guilty as, if you'll excuse the term, sin. I'm even using standard human methods of execution. Hell, if you had free rein, you'd be killing them yourselves. Am I right?"

The look on Vi's face, Castle decided, was priceless.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

There were things a famous author and veteran demon hunter didn't need to encounter in the morning. A gaggle of men in cheap suits taking up space in the bullpen when he brought his muse her morning coffee was one of them.

"So, they declared our noose-vigilante a serial killer, and now the Feds are trying to poach our case?" Richard Castle wasn't happy about the situation. A demon on the loose was bad enough, but that demon attracting the FBI's attention - and not even the attention of the agents who knew about the supernatural - was worse. But worst was that among the agents that had arrived at the Precinct to take over was Special Agent Sorenson.

"Shh. They can hear you." Detective Beckett made a shushing notion at him before the men in suits turned their attention to them. At least Beckett didn't sound too happy to see Mister FBI.

"Agent Soso! Nice to meet you again!" Castle beamed at the man.

"It's Sorenson, Mister Castle." The agent didn't smile in return.

"Oh, excuse me. I was thinking of the character in my next book." Castle noted with well-hidden satisfaction that that made the agent twitch and Beckett grin, briefly.

"Book?" A tall, lanky agent who had been following Sorenson asked. Smiling, he introduced himself. "Agent Clapton."

"I'm Richard Castle. You might have heard of me." Rick smiled back.

"He's an author who's following the detective around in the hope of getting inspiration for his fantasy novels," Sorenson cut in.

"Bestselling author, thank you," Castle corrected the agent. "He'll be a bumbling agent in my next book, messing up the work of the main character, the smart and sassy detective dealing with demonic cases."

"And I'm Vi, his bodyguard and driver." His Slayer beamed at the agents. She didn't seem to mind that their expressions pretty much showed they thought she was Castle's lover. Well, Sorenson's expression probably showed his opinion of Castle's work more than that of Rick's private life.

"This is now a federal investigation, Mister Castle. Whatever deal you have made with the city's mayor doesn't matter anymore." Sorenson glared at Rick. "And if I find you sniffing around our scenes I'll have you arrested and tried for obstruction of justice."

"Oh, do not worry. I'm busy researching an old case from the 19th century. A vigilante who hung his victims from trees. I'm going with the hypothesis that he returned from the dead to continue his crusade against criminals who escaped the law." Rick waited until the agent drew breath to answer him, then continued: "For my next book, of course." Then he leaned forward, and his smile slipped while he lowered. "And should you try to keep me from researching a historical case that's 150 years old, then I'll bury you. With my lawyer. He managed to get the better of two of my ex-wives' lawyers, an agent trying to restrict me from researching ancient history for petty reasons won't even be a challenge."

Vi snickered, having heard him despite the distance. Beckett grimaced, but acted as if she hadn't heard it. Agent Clapton hadn't heard it - he had been busy checking Vi's permits. And, apparently, talking shop about guns. Castle had thought he had heard the remains of a faint Texan accent…

"Anyway… we'll be off this 'federal case' now, Agent," Castle grinned at him, then turned to smile to Beckett. "We're still on for the evening, I hope. I'm thinking Italian, there's this new spaghetti recipe… to die for. I'll tell you all about the next book too." Glancing back at the FBI agent, he added: "Before you blow a gasket: All we'll be talking about are demons and other supernatural stuff. You should know that Kate wouldn't be as unprofessional as to compromise a case and risk a killer getting away for personal reasons."

Beckett opened her mouth, then closed it again. "Ah, of course. Around eight?" Of course she had understood what he had been implying. She was brilliant, after all.

Beaming, he said "Splendid! I'm sure you'll be dressed to kill, as usual."

"Oh, of course."

Now that kind of smile had too many teeth for his taste. And health.

*****​

"You know, the detective will kill you for implying you're in a relationship in front of her ex;" Vi mused, back in the Shelby.

"I'm sure she'll understand that we've got a demon to catch and can't afford to let Agent Testosteroneson's insecurities interfere with that," Castle said, with slightly more confidence than he felt.

"She might delay the execution then, until the case is over." Vi snorted. "I call dibs on your blades."

"Good enough. By then, she'll have calmed down." And maybe also have finally been won over by his ruggedly handsome charm. "And Alexis gets first pick."

"I'm not sure if you're far too optimistic about the detective, or too pessimistic about our chances to catch the demon. Probably both." Vi shook her head.

Castle didn't deign that with an answer. "We need to get our hands on Dr. Burton's estate. He might have information about how this demon was summoned or created in the first place."

"Isn't that still sealed up by the courts?"

"Until Miller's heirs have settled their dispute, yes." Which could take years, given the amount of money involved.

"Oh, goodie. I get to be a catburglar again!" Vi grinned.

"We will get to be catburglars," Castle corrected her. Vi was smarter than she acted - another legacy Buffy would have to answer for, one day - but she hadn't his experience in sifting through books. He'd been a librarian for ten years after all, and they couldn't steal all the books and sort out the relevant ones later. They had to do that on-site.

"You? You're not a catburglar. More like a dogburglar. You know, slightly clumsy, not as elegant or smart as a cat, loud…"

"Are you quite finished?"

"Let me think… "

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh, touchy!"

Castle sighed. Rupert had been right - Watchers got no respect from their Slayers. He blamed Buffy, again.

*****​

"What were you thinking, insinuating that we were a couple?"

Detective Beckett arrived at eight, as beautiful as ever, and, sadly, quite annoyed. At Castle too.

"Good evening, Detective." He took her coat and hung it on the rack. She was wearing a dress under it, which was a surprise. Before he could comment on that though, she noticed where his eyes had been straying to.

"That's just to help keep up that cover you forced on me."

"Ah. Quite ingenious, wasn't it?"

"Annoying is the word you're looking for."

"Oh, come on - being mistaken for my girlfriend is hardly a hardship. Just look at Vi." He pointed at his Slayer, who was busy in the kitchen polishing off the hors-d'oeuvres not already on the couch table. "Hey!"

Vi stuffed the last canape into her mouth with a grin with just the slightest hint of guilt. Alexis, already sitting on the couch, just shrugged her shoulder - she had long since stopped trying to keep Vi from 'surplus food', as the Slayer called anything not already served.

"You always tell people she's not your girlfriend."

"And they never believe me anyway." He frowned for an instant. "It can't be Esposito or Ryan; they know better than to tease you. So… Sorenson?"

Sighing, Kate sat down and grabbed a salmon canape. "Hello Alexis." She nodded at the girl. "He told me not to come. When I refused, he tried to order me not to."

It took an effort for Castle not to grin as he sat down in a seat himself. That had been a very big mistake of the agent - trying to order Beckett around? The headstrong detective hated that.

Kate narrowed her eyes at him. "No comment?"

He shook his head. "I prefer to let stupidity speak for itself."

"That's new," Kate commented.

"Since when?" Vi yelled back from the kitchen. Of course she would have overheard that.

"Dad?" Even his own daughter sounded honestly surprised.

"Hey!" He acted all wounded, but noted with pleasure that the detective laughed at that. Her face softened for a moment, losing that hint of bitterness and grim stubbornness.

Vi joined them carrying a tray of drinks. Non-alcoholic ones. "So, did the agent act all macho-viking?"

"No," Beckett shook her head. "He was all about rules and regulations and how that meant he could tell me what to do in my private time."

"He actually thought you would be unprofessional?" Castle was surprised. Maybe the fed didn't know his ex as well as Rick had thought.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, but you are aware that we're about to break those regulations, aren't you?" Beckett raised her eyebrows at him.

"Only if the FBI actually made headway in the case. Which I doubt, since they're looking for a human killer."

"They're looking for Miller's helper."

"Oh." Maybe Soandson was a bit more capable than Castle had thought. Or lucky. Or it was Clapton. "That might make breaking into Miller's house a bit more difficult."

"What?!"

If Beckett had been drinking, Castle would now be wearing orange juice.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

The detective had calmed down after her initial overreaction to a little breaking and entering. The new recipe - which was to die for - had helped with that.

Richard Castle smiled winningly. "It's not as we're actually breaking the law. We've got a right to investigate, we're just … ah… circumventing red tape in the name of …"

"...not wanting to bother with going through the proper channels?" Beckett said.

"... I was about to say 'keeping the needed secrecy'." Rick didn't quite pout. But he felt like it.

"Really. And it's not because breaking into a sealed house makes for a better story than filing a request to examine the contents?"

"Perish the thought!" Castle put his right hand on his heart. "I'd never jeopardize our sacred duty for such selfish reasons!"

The detective raised her eyebrows at him.

"Ah, you should have heard the old Council. All full of pathos and duty. After ten years, some stuck with me, I'm afraid."

She didn't look like she bought that, but didn't pursue the matter. He counted that as a win.

"He's just very fond of dramatic expression." Vi smirked.

Rick coughed. "Anyway. The other reason why we're doing this slightly unorthodoxically is that going through the proper channels takes too much time. The bureaucracy at the FBI is a bit slow despite the importance of our task."

"Does the FBI have a demon hunting team?" Beckett asked, in a voice that seemed torn between fascination and horror.

"Not like that. But there are a number of people in the Bureau who are aware of the supernatural," Rick explained.

"Some of them even got demon blood," Vi added. That didn't seem to please the detective at all.

"I suspect that is the cause of the occasional … delay … we encounter when going through our proper backchannels." Rick sighed. "The fact that instead of one Slayer there are now hundreds did kind of scare a number of peaceful demons too."

"Why would that be the case?"

Vi grinned widely. "They think we're always just one second away from slaying them.

"They're not entirely wrong though. Slayers got the urge to slay. Demons, that is. Of course, they control themselves around the non-violent demons, but I could imagine that demons and half-demons would be a bit nervous around a Slayer."

"That's just their guilty consciences!" Vi chuckled.

Beckett frowned. "They are scared of you, and you find that funny?"

Vi nodded. "Yes!"

Rick coughed before things could get tense. Tenser. "Anyway. I would simply buy the notes, but I fear Detective Sonoton would not take well to such an offer and would interfere."

Beckett nodded. "He doesn't like you."

"Why wouldn't he? Must be jealous," Rick nodded. He ignored the detective's eye-rolling and how Vi giggled at what Beckett must have said under her breath. Many men would feel threatened by a famous, ruggedly handsome and rich author. If Detective Soso knew Castle was also a veteran demon hunter, he'd probably have an aneurism. "As you can see, we're practically forced to break into the house if we want to avoid further loss of life."

Beckett didn't look that convinced, but she didn't voice any further objections.

*****​

"You know, even a dog would have been a bit quieter than you," Vi whispered.

"Says the girl with supernatural stealth and hearing," Castle spat out after hauling himself over the wall surrounding Miller's house. "Besides, there's no one around. It's not as if this building is under surveillance."

"I still say we should have used the detective as a distraction."

"That would make her an accomplice. Even if she would have agreed to that - and I doubt she would have - it wouldn't have been fair. If we get caught we'll get bailed out. If she gets caught she'll lose her career."

"Good point. We don't want another amateur demon hunter around to keep from getting killed," Vi whispered into her headset while she scrambled up the wall to the balcony. Both were clad in the classic black turtlenecks and slacks associated with catburglars everywhere.

"She could hire on with us." That would be a nice development, Rick thought.

"And you'd be her boss."

That wouldn't be that nice. Castle doubted that Beckett was the type to have an affair with her boss. She was rather the type who'd vehemently oppose such a relationship. "Good point. One woman with a temper is enough for me to handle."

"Yes... what do you mean?" Vi asked.

"No further questions, your honor." Rick smirked at the silence that followed. He also dodged the end of the rope ladder that was thrown down right at his head rather than gently lowered - sometimes, Vi was just so predictable.

A short climb later, the two were inside the house. According to the list they had from the court, the notes were in the library. Sadly, the list was neither well-organized nor adequately detailed. The old Council would have had Castle's hide had he ever delivered such shoddy work. The new Council… Rupert had been a librarian for years. Not even Buffy crossed him when it came to book-related things.

Rick didn't mind searching the library for an hour or two. That was not problem. The problem was Vi waiting for an hour or two. Slayers didn't have the best attention span to start with, and a bored Slayer was a disaster waiting to happen. Especially in a library. Fortunately, as a veteran Watcher, he was prepared for that. "Vi, since we're already here, go check the house for any remaining demon-related things."

"Gotcha, Rick." Vi nodded and left him to his search. That should keep her busy for half an hour or so. After that… hopefully her cell phone's battery was good enough so she could play a game or watch some series.

*****​

"We've got company coming. The Feds."

"What?" Rick hadn't made much progress. He could tell which shelves and storage boxes the notes were not in.

"Sorenson. I told you, we should have gotten Beckett to honey trap him." Vi walked without making any sound.

"You did nothing of that sort!" Rick whispered while he hastily stored the boxes he had been rifling through.

"Well, I should have! Come on, Rick. They're almost at the door!" Vi grabbed him and started to drag him away. "And try to be a bit more silent this time!" Why were women always telling him that?

But she was correct - when Castle and his Slayer were leaving the library, even he could hear the agents… arguing?

"Why couldn't that have waited until tomorrow?" That was Clapton, complaining.

"It's not as if you had a hot date tonight." That that was Mister Ex-boyfriend.

"Damn, Will! This is about Beckett having a date, right? You're planning to call her as soon as you find something, hoping she'll rush to you?"

Castle would have waited to hear the agent's answer, but Vi dragged him out to the balcony. He was rather certain that Agent Clapton was right on the mark though.

*****​

Back in their car a few blocks over - one of the disposable ones, not his beloved Shelby - Rick shook his head. "I take back what I said about Agent Jealouson competence. If he already made the connection to those notes…"

"He could just be stumbling around in the dark, trying to impress Beckett," Vi said, smirking.

Castle grinned, then realized she was smirking at him. "I'm not doing this to impress the dear detective!"

"Rick, you joined the Watchers to impress a woman. Anything you say to the contrary looks not too convincing after that."

Rick grit his teeth,. Even ten years after his divorce, his first wife was making his life difficult!

*****​

"You almost got caught, and you didn't get the notes?" Beckett sounded even more annoyed than Castle felt. Though she also sounded annoyed at him. He looked at his daughter, who had been keeping the detective company while Vi and Rick had been away, but she just looked at him with a slightly disappointed expression too. Did everyone expect him to be a professional burglar? He just looked the part in his turtleneck!

"Well, it's your fault," Vi said, snacking on a bowl of chips.

"What?" Beckett turned towards the Slayer, and Rick had the sudden, irrational urge to find cover.

"Yeah. Your ex-boyfriend is only working the evening in the hope of finding something that he can call you about, to wreck your imaginary date with Rick." Vi pointed at him with the thumb of her left hand, almost dropping a chip on the carpet.

Beckett blinked. "That's ridiculous!"

"That's what Clapton said."

"And we'd have heard his answer if you hadn't dragged me away," Rick cut in.

"I heard his answer. He denied it, of course. But he was lying."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that Will would act like, like… Castle?" Beckett stood there, hands on her hips, a small muscle in her face twitching.

Castle couldn't help but smile when her phone started to ring right then.

"A date says this is your not quite that professional agent!"

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"... yes, I'll see you in the morning." Beckett hung up and stashed her cell phone while Richard Castle was carefully not saying 'told you so'.

He had been correct - it had been Agent So-So. Sadly, the detective hadn't taken his bet. Unfortunately, the Fed had called because he had found an unregistered phone number in one of Miller's notes - probably dumb luck, the author thought. "It could be his drug dealer. Did he do drugs?"

"He didn't do drugs according to the autopsy. At least not the illegal kind," Beckett explained.

"Oh? Did he go for the organic variants? The kind of exotic herbs the government hasn't yet banned?" Castle didn't think so, the man hadn't had shown the - at least in Rick's opinion - typical signs for a new age or wiccan faith at his home. He had been invested in the occult, not in a religion.

"There were some trace amounts of an unidentified substance in his blood."

"That might have been the special Wendigo seasoning," Castle speculated, then blinked when the detective made a face and Vi grinned. "Too soon?" Apparently it was too soon for jokes about cannibalism. "Anyway, without the number, and the notes, we're reduced to the tiring way of investigating: Asking around." He sighed, and looked at Beckett.

"Stop the puppy dog eyes, Castle. I'm not getting you the number, or the files. I'll call you in if we're close to a demon, of course, but I'll not break the law." Beckett met his pleading gaze with a stern one.

"Any further, you mean," Castle corrected her, a bit petulantly. Now she and Agent Meddleson were an 'us' again? Rick didn't like that at all. Even though she hadn't rushed to the other man's side. "OK. I guess you'll be working the agent, and we'll be working the demonic underbelly of the city." He looked at Vi, who understood. They didn't need Beckett to get them the number, especially not if she - unknowingly - distracted the Fed while the Slayer did her thing.

"If Miller had any contact to this… 'demonic underground', will Will find demons?"

Castle didn't quite grin. Agent Will-Will… that had a ring to it. He coughed. "It's not easy to make contact with them, not without someone who introduces you." Or a Slayer to bust some demon heads.

"Like the mob?"

"Exactly!" He smiled widely. "Nikki Heat will be facing the vampire mob in the next book, hindered more than helped by a bumbling and possessive Federal agent."

"There's not exactly a vampire mob though, right?"

"No, there isn't. Though some vampires form families, and others form gangs, it's rarely on a size to rival a real mob. Mind you, those can grow a lot, if left unchecked, but they don't really form the sort of network a syndicate needs."

"Why? Wouldn't the old vampires have a network of contacts, and 'minions'?" Beckett didn't quite wince at the use of that word, but it was clear she didn't like it. "Is the racism against vampires that bad?"

"Mostly. Vampires are seen as the weakest demons, half-breeds, and the few that make demons fear them are seen as individuals, not vampires. But apart from the Slayers knocking them down, vampires don't play well with each other. As long as they are weak, minions will obey and follow their sire's lead. But once they grow in power, they tend to either split off, or try to replace their sire." Castle explained.

Vi demonstratively yawned. "Thank you, professor." She turned to the detective. "Few vampires live that long. And those who do don't want to make waves either; if they started a big organisation, they'd attract the kind of attention that shortens their lifespan. My attention." She shrugged with a grin.

"Watch that ego, Vi, we still need room to breathe in here," Castle admonished her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Beckett shook her head, but seemed either amused or reassured. Either was good. He smiled at her. "So… since you seem to have picked up a stalking ex, would you like to use my guest room, to avoid getting ambushed at your flat?"

"Why do I think I'd trade one stalker for another in that case?" Beckett answered, drily, while getting up.

"Because your trust in others has been damaged by Agent Stalkinson's possessive and utterly unprofessional attitude?" He winked at her with his best smile.

That got a laugh out of her. She still didn't stay though.

*****​

"So, he's taken all of Dr. Burton's notes?" Rick asked while brewing two coffees, one for himself, and one for Vi.

"Yes. He took it to the evidence locker in the Precinct. Can you sick your lawyers on him?"

Rick was rather certain this latest fed-shaped hitch in his plans was due to Agent Jealouson having taken offense at Rick telling him off the day before. He shook his head. "No. If it's considered evidence, there's nothing they can do."

"We won't let him get away with that though, right?"

"No, we won't." He smiled over his cup at his Slayer. "But we'll have to look into the underground angle first. He had to have gotten supplies, and information. That sort of 'unsealing ritual' can't be done with household supplies."

"Well… that sounds like Watcher work." Vi finished her coffee. How she had managed that without scalding herself, Castle couldn't tell; he was still taking careful sips from his cup. "I'll be…"

"Right next to me," Rick cut her attempt to escape off.

"Wouldn't you rather have me make sure the Fed won't put the moves on the detective?" Vi asked innocently.

Rick opened his mouth to agree, then shut it. "Nice try. No, we'll both be safer if you're with me instead of getting into trouble on your own."

"So, I'll get into trouble with you then?"

"We won't get into trouble. You're simply insurance."

*****​

"Who names their shop 'Wicked Goods'?" Rick shook her head.

"Hey, it's a good pun!" Vi protested.

"For a teenager who still thinks 'wicked' is a cool word."

"Well, if you're too old to understand teeangers, you're too old, period."

Rick coughed. "I'm a parent of a teenager. I'm contractually required not to understand them."

"Well, in your and Alexis's case the traditional roles are more like reversed."

"So, I'm the teenager? I guess that means I'm not too old then." Castle grinned at his Slayer and entered the shop. It was run by a rather smarmy horned demon who went by the name of 'Jack'. Castle rarely visited the shop since it tended to keep their business to the harmless crowd of wanna-be witches. But it was on the list, so to speak.

"Welcome to the…" the way Jack trailed off when he recognized Castle and Vi didn't bode well for their investigation.

"Hi Jack. It's not a social call, we've got a few questions about your business. Namely, your list of customers."

"That's confidential information, Mister."

"He just pushed a button under the counter," Vi stated, moving forward.

Before she reached Jack, two huge, hulking minotaur-like demons entered from the back, roaring something, probably an insult, in a demonic language Rick wasn't familiar with.

"Kill them!" Jack shrieked, and turned to run out the back.

He wasn't fast enough to escape a Slayer though. Vi vaulted over the counter, grabbed the demon and threw him to the side. Then she had to dodge a wild swing from one of the monsters.

Rick really wished he had his flamethrower with him when the second demon charged at him. The Watcher dove to the side, between two shelves with crystals and pots. The monster didn't manage to stop and crashed into another shelf, toppling it, and sending more down to the ground, and littering the floor with broken merchandise. The demon managed to run over two such selves, then stumbled over the third, and crashed into the wall.

Rick had drawn his pistol in the meantime, and put a few rounds into the monster's back and head, though the bullet wounds looked superficial. The demon roared and stood up, red eyes almost glowing above its flat nose, looking none the worse for wear.

Rick shifted his aim downwards, and emptied his magazine into the monsters groin while he moved back towards Vi, almost stumbling over Jack, who was trying to crawl away. The minotaur screamed in pain - at least Rick hoped it was pain - and folded over, but it didn't go down. Instead it seemed to be recovering. Rick kicked Jack while he was at it, sending the smaller demon to the floor again, then glanced at Vi. The Slayer was busy pulling her sword out of her demon's chest.

"Vi! One mad demon incoming!" Castle shouted while he jumped over the counter, which was hopefully solid enough to stop another charge.

"What did you do to him?" Vi asked while she turned around, then ducked when what looked and sounded like half a ton of demon hit the counter, cracking the solid wood. Snarling, the Slayer jumped on the counter and slashed at the monster while it was still reeling. Castle, standing up himself and reloading his pistol, noted that the sword had a far better effect on the demon than his bullets had - the monster must be vulnerable to the cold iron, or the silver the blade was inlaid with.

Vi kicked the demon in the head, sending it tumbling back into the wreckage of the shop's main room, and followed it with a yell. Castle saw Jack trying to escape again, and stopped him with a few warning shots. "Stay put, Jack," he ordered while Vi and the demon tore through the room.

*****​

"So much for 'simply being insurance'." Rick shook his head at the destruction Vi had visited upon the 'Wicked Goods' magic shop and some of its non-human employes.

Vi shrugged. "Well, you know, with the deductibles today, I thought you should get something out of your insurance."

Rick laughed at that, then stared down at the proprietor of the shop, who was cringing in a corner, staring at the carnage. "Now, Jack, about those customer records…"

"They'll kill me if I snitch!"

Who was he talking about? "Who are they? Who are you afraid of?"

Jack shook his head, one of his broken horns falling off completely. "No… no… No!" Suddenly, he jumped up and charged at Rick, screaming like a madman. Before the demon reached him though, Vi was there, kicking him back into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

"Now, that was a mistake, Jack. Then again, you did try to have us killed already…" Rick trailed off when he saw the demon choke on green blood, then shiver and grow still.

Vi smiled weakly when he glanced at her. "He was coming right at you… and I didn't think he was that fragile…"

"Well, can't be helped now." Castle ransacked the shop's ledgers and packed them into a bag with the shop's logo on it. "We'd not have let him get away with attempted murder anyway. But a bit more information would have been nice. Now let's get a fire started."

*****​

Once outside, Vi looked at the flames flickering inside the shop. "You really like burning things down."

Rick shrugged. "Who doesn't? And it's the easiest way to hide what really went on there." A message to the right people ensured that this fire wouldn't be investigated.

"So, what was that about? Demons don't usually suicide by Slayer, do they?"

"Only the dumbest vampires. But those weren't." Rick answered. "I don't know yet. But they wouldn't have tried to kill us over some material used to unseal the Noose Demon. Unless something else is going on here."

"You'll sending it to London then?"

"Yes. Scans at least." Maybe they'd find out more about the Noose Demon as well, while they were at it. Rick wouldn't mind someone else doing part of the work, after he got almost killed over a simple question.

He'd still have to do the scans himself though - Alexis was at school, and Vi wouldn't be in the right state of mind to do such work right after a tough fight.

Which was actually a good reason to do the scans himself, and soon.

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"So, what did London say?"

Richard Castle looked up from his computer and saw Vi enter his office. "I only finished mailing the scans a minute ago."

"Perfect timing then!" Vi grinned and sat down on his desk. The Slayer had changed into exercise clothes upon their return, and had worked out for a few hours while he did all the scans.

"More suspicious minds than mine would think it's a bit too perfect," he stated, blandly.

Vi chuckled, neither confirming nor denying anything. "It's not as if you'd want me to help. You know how Slayers are with computers. We break things too easily. Just ask Buffy."

"I noticed that all the breaking happens when it's related to 'boring work', and never when it's related to surfing the web or chatting." Castle stared at her.

Vi coughed. "Well, just a coincidence, I'm sure. Just ask Buffy!" She grinned and fiddled with one of his paperweights - that one was a figurine carved out of a tusk from a Brz't Demon.

"I should, actually," Castle said. Vi didn't even flinch, though. The girl knew Buffy would back her up.

He sighed in defeat. For now - he'd get back at her. Probably. His computer beeped - he had mail. He looked at it and frowned. "That was a quick response… oh."

"What's the matter?" Vi put the bone figurine down.

He looked at her with a rather forced smile. "The scoobies are coming to New York."

Her response wasn't printable.

*****​

"Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Faith and Spike? Why are they coming to New York? Did someone tell Buffy Manolo Blahnik has a sale?" Vi was pacing in his office like a caged panther.

"That would explain Buffy, but not the rest of the Scoobies," Richard Castle said. He was calmly sitting at his desk, as befitted a Watcher. And fighting the urge to pace himself.

"Giles would know that they'd need everyone to keep Buffy from spending all of the Council's budget on shoes!" Vi shook her head.

Rick chuckled. "To be fair, they are usually cheaper than new swords."

That earned him a glare from the redhead. "That's a business expense! I need weapons to kill demons with!"

"More swords than you can carry, much less wield?" Castle raised his eyebrows. He still hadn't the Spock move down, but he was getting closer. Or so he hoped.

"Weapons break. It's best to have several replacement blades ready for emergencies." Vi sniffed. "That's called being prepared and thinking ahead. Something you keep telling me I should be doing!"

"You're past the 'being prepared' point, and way into the 'being obsessed' point." Castle's wallet and credit cards would agree, if they could talk.

"It's still cheaper than your midlife-crisis bait car!" New York's resident Slayer folded her arms and huffed at her Watcher.

"Does that mean you'd prefer a station, or a mini van? Your wish is my command!"

"You wouldn't!" Vi looked shocked. "Consider what your dear detective would think!"

"She'd certainly applaud my choice of a more economical and sensible car." Women liked responsible men.

Vi gaped at him, then scoffed and looked away. He counted that as a victory in the eternal struggle between wise Watcher and foolish Slayer. Then Castle sighed. "Joking aside, the Scoobies are not coming for a shoe sale. Apparently," he said, glancing at the message he had received, "we've stumbled upon something matching a prophecy."

Vi's comment was, once again, very expressive, but not fit to be printed.

*****​

"Hi Dad, hi Vi!"

"Hi, Alexis!" Castle looked up from his laptop and smiled at his daughter. "Take your bugout bag, you're leaving New York at once!" He pointed at the duffel bag he had placed next to the door.

"What?" His daughter stared at him, then narrowed her eyes, opening the bag. "Did you go through my things and just picked random clothes? I have an emergency travel bag ready under my bed!" She picked the bag up and walked towards him.

He should have expected that Alexis was prepared, Castle realised. His daughter was the responsible one of the family, after all. "We have no time to lose. Your plane leaves in…" he looked at the laptop "... two hours, and with traffic as it is, you don't have that much time to reach the airport." He blinked. "Vi! You're driving Alexis!"

"What? Dad, have you gone crazy?" Alexis put her hands on her hips, scowling at him. "I'm not setting a foot outside the apartment until you tell me what's going on!" Apparently, his daughter was not quite as sensible as he had thought.

"The Scoobies are coming to visit," Vi said from the table, where she was cleaning her weapons.

Alexis's face lit up, then she scowled again. "And you're sending me away? Dad! Stop trying to be an overprotective parent, or I'll really go to England for college!"

Ordinarily, Castle would have been overjoyed at the hint that his daughter was not planning to study abroad, but they were pressed for time. "Honey, why do you think the Scoobies are visiting?"

"There's a show sale at Macy's, and they don't want Buffy to waste all of the Council's money without getting their cut?"

Castle blinked, then shook his head. "No, our latest case is related to a prophecy." He realised two things as soon as he had finished: He was starting to think like a detective, and this had been the worst thing he could have said.

"A prophecy? Dealing with New York?" Alexis sounded far too eager. She was supposed to be the sensible one of the family! "Dad! You can't expect me to leave in the middle of a crisis!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I can expect you to do!"

"No, you can't. You'll need all the help you can get." Alexis shook her head, reminding him far too much of her mother when she was being stubborn. Or his mother when she was being foolish.

"That's what the Scoobies are coming for. They'll also need your room." Castle folded his arms.

"What?" Alexis glared at him. "We have a guest room here, and Vi has three guest rooms!"

"Hey! Two of those rooms house my sword collection! I can't trust Buffy or Faith near it, they'll try to nab the best blades for themselves!" Vi supported her Watcher, as a good Slayer should, Castle noted with satisfaction.

"They wouldn't do that!" Alexis said.

"Faith would!" Vi said.

"She'd give them back… eventually."

Castle couldn't help but noticing that his responsible, young daughter seemed to be far too familiar with Faith. He couldn't let himself be distracted, though. "Alexis… this is too dangerous for you. Please, for me, take a trip over the pond, and visit your mum. I couldn't bear losing you."

"No." Alexis folded her arms. "I'm not going to hide and worry about you. I'm old enough to help with apocalypses."

"You're not old enough! You're barely fifteen!" Castle said.

"I'll never be old enough in your opinion, Dad!" She huffed.

"Well, of course not!" Castle blinked. "I mean…"

"I know what you mean! You don't want me to become Watcher. You don't want me to follow in your and mum's footsteps. You want me to be safe and protected until I die from old age."

That was a very precise summary of Castle's plans for his daughter, if he was honest. Of course, he wouldn't admit that.

"But, Dad! I'm going to be a Watcher. I've been studying and training for years already!"

"What? Training?" For years? He had taught her to defend herself, any responsible parent would have done the same. And he had taught her about the supernatural threats, of course. But… Dear Lord, he had turned his daughter into a Watcher!

She made a very familiar dismissive gesture. "That's not important. Important is that you expect me to leave the city and do nothing while my family, my friends, and millions of people are in danger. I will not do that when I can do something to help, instead." She looked at him with a fairly decent imitation of what Willow called her 'resolve face'.

Castle realised that she wouldn't budge. And that even if he managed to tranq her and ship her to England - his desperate contingency plan - she'd return with the first plane. He muttered a curse under his breath.

"Dad!" His daughter frowned at him. "Don't curse."

Vi was laughing.

Castle sighed. "I guess I have raised you too well." He couldn't help but feel proud too, though.

"That you did, Dad," Alexis said, smiling.

Of course, Vi had to ruin the moment. "I thought you raised him?"

He glared at his Slayer while his daughter laughed.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Did you order enough groceries for two more Slayers?"

"Yes." Richard Castle knew how much one Slayer ate - he paid Vi's bills, after all - so of course he had thought of increasing their standing order.

"Do we have enough doughnuts too?"

"Is that a trick question? You know those have to be fresh!" Castle narrowed his eyes at his daughter, who was smirking behind the list she had made. "I have bought enough of those abominations against nature that Xander loves to last a week, though." He pointed at a case full of Twinkies.

"That won't last two days," Alexis said, shaking her head.

"What?" Rick blinked, Xander wasn't a teenager any more, he couldn't… Of course the man could! Castle mumbled something uncomplimentary under his breath.

"Don't act jealous, Dad! Everyone's growing old!" Alexis frowned at him. "Besides, too many cakes are bad for you."

"Slayers are not growing old!" Vi cut in from where she was pushing furniture around - they'd need the large table for all of their guests.

Castle glanced at her. She was correct in that Slayers were not growing old. But that was because they died in battle before age could creep up on them.

"Did you order enough beer as well?"

"What?" Rick whipped his head around. "Beer?"

"Well… Faith is coming." His little angel shrugged. "And you know how she is after a night spent slaying."

"I don't, actually." Castle's experiences with Faith's habits was mostly based on secondary and biased - but usually trustworthy! - sources. He didn't think Rupert would be pulling his leg about such matters. "But you seem very familiar with her habits."

"Err… mum told me tales to warn me off?" Alexis was smiling just a bit too widely. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she looked away. He'd have to talk to Mary about this.

"Anyway, I think we've covered all important matters. We're ready for the Scoobies." His daughter tried to change the topic. Rick would have been proud for her finally acting not as straitlaced as her mother, but he'd have preferred if she hadn't have done that right when he needed her to be as responsible as possible.

"Nobody's ready for the Scooby Gang!" Vi said.

"If you're starting to quote Monty Python, know that I will retaliate with extreme prejudice!" Castle interrupted her.

"I think she would have said 'Nobody expects the Scooby Gang' in that case, Dad." Alexis helpfully informed him.

"She's always mangling our language, she'll mangle quotes as well." Castle ignored the indignant "Hey!" from his Slayer. As a successful author, he was the expert there.

"But you're wrong," Vi said. "You forgot one thing: Detective Tightass doesn't know about the Scoobies. And she's bound to visit regularly."

Castle winced. He hadn't known that when he had created their cover. Sometimes he was too clever for for his own good.

*****​

Detective Kate Beckett was a very observant person; she knew as soon as she had entered Castle's apartment that something was wrong. Something other than their current case, at least. "Alright, Castle, spill!" she said, right when he was about to greet her.

The author closed his mouth, then smiled. "Spill?"

She rolled her eyes. With all the stress at work, she wasn't in the mood for their games. Or any games. "Don't give me that innocent act, Castle. You're nervous, your daughter is nervous, and your not-girlfriend is fidgeting worse than usual. What did you do? Break into the evidence locker room?" He wouldn't feel that nervous about it, not unless they had been caught - and Will would have informed her at once if Castle or Vi had been seen doing something illegal.

"We didn't do anything!" Castle said. "You wound me, Detective!"

"Don't tempt me!" She glared at him. "What. Is. Going. On?"

"Ah." He cleared his throat. Stalling. "The leaders of the Watchers Council are coming to New York."

"Most of them, Dad, not all of them," Castle's daughter piped up.

Beckett smiled at the girl, then turned back to Castle. "Your superiors are coming to visit?" She smiled. "I understand why you're nervous; I'd be nervous too in your place." The Council was based in London, after all. She could just imagine how well British gentlemen would like Castle's usual attitude. Her smile widened. "And now you're trying to act all prim and proper, so you will not get reprimanded." That would be entertaining to see, she bet.

"Err… not exactly."

Beckett frowned. Vi was laughing so hard, she was almost falling off her chair, supernatural grace or not, Alexis was hiding behind her laptop, but her shoulders were shaking, and Castle… Castle was smiling smugly.

He cleared his throat again. "The thing is… compared to the, ah, delegation from London, I'm the prim and proper one."

"What?" She stared at him. Castle, prim and proper? Mister 'My daughter's the responsible one in my family'?

"They call themselves the 'Scooby Gang'," Vi said, still chuckling.

"What?"

They had to be joking, Beckett thought.

*****​

"An apocalypse? Your 'Scooby Gang' is coming to New York to prevent an apocalypse?"

Richard Castle had known that Detective Beckett's voice could reach that high a pitch. She must be really stressed, he realised. Time to calm her down. "Well… it's not really an apocalypse, that's just what we call events that could lay waste to a town or so."

"We also call the world ending events apocalypses, though," his Slayer cut in. Unhelpfully, as usual.

"But, this is not such a case. I think." He shook his head. The Scoobies would have been using Willow to travel otherwise. Unless, of course, time wasn't of the essence.

"What?"

"Dad! Vi!" Alexis scowled at both of them. "Stop trying to scare the Detective!" Igoring his protestations, Castle's daughter turned to Beckett and smiled. "The Scoobies are very experienced at dealing with such events."

"Like they dealt with Sunnydale?" Beckett had taken off her jacket, but she hadn't taken a seat.

Castle stiffened. That wasn't a topic he liked to talk about. And not just because, contrary to his expectations at the time, 'I have seen hell - no, really!' wasn't a good line to impress people.

"Sunnydale was on a Hellmouth," Vi said. "New York isn't."

"What are we dealing with then? Zombie plague? Pestilence demons? Giant Sea Monsters? Evil Witches?"

Beckett knew his works by heart, Castle noted, smiling. "Something like that," he said. "Nothing the Council's finest can't handle." He blinked. "Don't mention evil witches, though - Willow is sensitive about discrimination and stereotypes." And she was very verbose when she felt the need to lecture people.

"Oh, yes," Alexis nodded slowly. "Her rant about Harry Potter is very impressive. I used part of it in English Lit class."

"Willow?"

"Ah, right!" Castle grinned. "You wouldn't know. Willow is the Head Witch of the Council."

"Also known as the Red Witch. Or Darth Willow," Vi said.

"Don't call her that either! Darth Willow, that is!" Castle quickly said, glaring at his Slayer.

"That sounds ominous." Beckett was narrowing her eyes at them. "And… wait a minute! The Red Witch… Willow is Westlyn? The witch that ensouled a Master Vampire as her first spell? The witch that killed the knight threatening her family by bringing his castle down upon his head and sealed a Hellmouth?"

"Well… I took a few liberties when adapting her story to my books, but, essentially? Yes." Castle forced himself to keep smiling. He had received quite the lecture from Buffy and Xander during their stay at the Hamptons about using Willow as a character, or rather, about not using her since she was still dealing with her tragic past. While both had been cleaning their weapons. Subtle Scoobies were not.

Of course, shortly afterwards, Willow had taken him aside to 'help him with a few details about Wicca' for his portrayal of her in his books. With Kennedy cleaning her weapons in the background.

There were many reasons why he had taken so long to write that particular book. His sense of self-preservation was just one of them.

"Willow's a really nice witch!" Alexis spoke up. "She's one of the smartest people I know, and a great hacker too!"

"And she can turn a man inside out with a flick of her fingers, and can go toe to toe with a hellgod for several minutes," Vi said, smiling. "We'll squash that prophecy problem easily with her on the job!"

Neither Castle's nor Alexis' glare seemed to impress the Slayer.

"Anyway, apart from Willow, Buffy and Faith are coming, as well as Dawn and Xander," Castle said. "The two oldest - don't call them that though - and most experienced Slayers, the Council's Chief Linguist, and their Chief of Operations." Castle had heard that Xander didn't like his title, but his own proposal had been too silly even for the Scoobies.

"And Spike!" Alexis said, with a smile that was utterly inappropriate when talking about that vampire.

"Spike?"

"Ensouled Vampire," Castle said in a flat voice, glaring at his utterly unrepentant daughter.

"Rick's best friend," Vi cut in, grinning.

Beckett raised her eyebrows.

"He's not my best friend. He just thinks he is, since I saved his life in Sunnydale," Rick said. For a change, his glare had an effect on his Slayer and she looked apologetic - she should have known better than to bring up that event. He really did not want to remember Wood's screams as the man burned alive.

"Anyway, Spike's very old, over a century. He was a poet in Victorian London," Alexis said.

"An old-fashioned British Gentleman?"

Beckett looked both confused and angry when everyone else broke out in loud laughter.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"Rick!"

Richard Castle's eyes widened when a brown-haired girl - woman - rushed towards him right out of the gate, her arms spread wide. He barely managed to brace himself - he had been leaning against a pillar in a casual and cool pose - before she wrapped herself around him as if she was a limpet mine. Quite an apt comparison, he thought, since the girl embracing him as if he was her long-lost lover was Dawn Summers. Sister to the very experienced, very dangerous and very protective of her last family Buffy Summers. Bane of demons and prospective lovers of Dawn everywhere - not that Castle would fit under either of those labels.

"Let me guess: Buffy was annoying during the flight, and you decided to annoy her back at the first opportunity, right?" he whispered, trying to pack as much of his own annoyance into his words as was possible.

"Right in one!"

Obviously, that hadn't been enough. He could hear Dawn smile as she kept hugging him. And he could hear Vi chuckle.

"Dawn! Rick!"

And there came the Slayer. Carrying two oversized suitcases as if they were empty, and not loaded down with shoes, clothes and weapons, and with an expression that would send demon lawyers flying in panic - had sent demon lawyers sent fleeing, according to the latest gossip.

Rick managed to free one of his arms and wave at the tiny blonde. "Hi, Buffy!"

"Since Dawn will be obviously rooming with Richie Rick, I call dibs on her room."

"Hi Faith. Dawn will not be sharing my room." Much less his bed, Rick thought. Buffy wouldn't kill him - probably, maiming might still be on the list - but Detective Beckett might not feel so merciful. Or, worse, turn to the waiting Agent Soandso.

"She certainly will not! Or we'll send her right back to London - by FedEx!" Buffy was crossing her arms and looking far more cute than threatening to anyone who didn't know her.

Dawn released Rick and turned to her sister. "Pf!" She stuck out her tongue at Buffy in the display of maturity Castle was used to from the leaders of the Watchers Council. He was so glad Beckett had to go to work and didn't see this.

"Rick! Mate! How are you doing? Looking great!"

Once more Castle found himself being hugged far too familiarly, and once more he felt tempted - though in a quite different way. "Hello Spike," he managed to say while Vi chuckled again.

"You know, this will be great - I love New York! Once we've dealt with this apocalypse, I think I'll stay a bit longer. We can paint the town red, together - not in the bloody sense of course!"

Not for the first time, Castle wondered why he hadn't let the damn vampire get staked in Sunnydale.

*****​

"I can't room with her!"

"Why not? Afraid you'll fondle me in my sleep and wake up satisfied, B?"

"I'm not rooming with Buffy! Sharing a bathroom with her while growing up was bad enough!"

"That's rich! You were usually still sleeping when I got up!"

"You are a Slayer, you don't sleep!"

"I do sleep!"

"Yes, in class!"

"Rick, mate - don't you have a balcony? I need a smoke."

"Rick! I told you, Xander can room with me!"

"Not according to Anya, I can't!"

"Or would you rather room with Spike?"

"Dad, tell them that the rooms are fixed. We're not changing them on a whim."

Rick covered his face with the palm of his hand. Not for the first time, he wondered how Rupert was still sane. It had to be karma - after having been blessed with a precocious, sensible and responsible daughter, he was now faced with a bunch of Scoobies.

*****​

"Alright. Now that we've finally settled in," Buffy stood at the head of Castle's dinner table, glaring at an apparently unrepentant Dawn, "let's plan how we'll wreck another prophecy!"

Alexis raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"What exactly does the prophecy say?"

"Ah, right!" Buffy's chuckled. "There's apparently a cult that's trying to free a big bad who was sealed millennia ago." She sighed. "And of course, they botched the job, and now the seal is weakening. 'And as the vessels' power grows, the prison's weakens'... blah blah blah." She dropped a large tome on the table and the librarian in Castle winced at how centuries-old books were treated by the Slayer.

"It sounds much more impressive in Greek," Willow added. "An epic poem, actually."

"Will - stopping the apocalypse first, demon poem literary criticism later, OK?" Xander smiled.

"Sorry!"

Buffy cleared her throat. "Anyway, that frog-tonguey demon you encountered is apparently part of that cult, and they are using rituals to drain the power of the seal into the people."

Castle noticed Willow shuddering and mumbling something about truly evil frogs.

"I knew we should have killed the demon! But no, let's not listen to Vi!" Castle's Slayer pouted.

"Does that mean that they are using the seal for the ritual?" Castle asked, ignoring Vi's outburst.

"The seal itself is a bit big." Willow opened the book and tapped her finger at an illustration of a pentagram made of metal, big enough for a man to lie down in. "But they are likely using sympathetic crystals for the rituals."

"Damn." Castle frowned. That would have greatly shortened the available locations for their ritual. They still could track such a delivery, with a bit of luck - the demons must have smuggled that in, and that meant … he winced when he realised what that meant.

"But, those 'vessels' need to be descendants of the ones who sealed the demon in the first place. So, they can't just use anyone for their icky rituals," Willow said.

"And how many of those people are around?" Castle wasn't an expert, but a bloodline reaching few millennia back probably meant there were millions of suitable vessels around.

"Not too many. Most of them lived isolated in a village on the Crimean Peninsula. It was destroyed during the Russian Civil War and most of the survivors fled to New York."

"That's the Russian Connection then!" Castle smiled. Then he remembered their other problem. "Ugh. What are the chances our Noose Demon is hunting down the potential vessels before they can be used in a ritual?"

Judging by the grim looks the rest of the table exchanged, he bet that they were rather high.

*****​

A few hours later, things were, well, not exactly under control, but the Scoobies who had taken over Castle's apartment - Vi's apartment seemed to be only used to sleep, train, and store weapons - had settled down a bit. He saw the redheaded Slayer enter and slowly - for her - walk to the couch, sitting down with a groan. She looked rather battered, and not quite as cocky as usual.

Castle tried to hide his smirk as he grabbed a few Mars bars from the fridge and walked over to his Slayer. For once, it wasn't him nursing bruises after a training session.

The redhead glared at him, then grabbed the chocolate bars and started to wolf them down. Castle sat down next to her and grabbed his smartphone. "I take it you had an intensive workout, hm? Good training for the real thing, right?"

The glare from his Slayer intensified as she recognised her own words. She didn't say anything, though - not that she could with her mouth full of chocolate and caramel. Castle snapped a picture while acting as if he was looking something up - 'Hamster' would make a good caption for a little bit of blackmail.

"Laugh it up, old man! I'm certain they'll want to spar with you too."

"Buffy and Faith?" He shook his head. The two Slayers usually focused on the 'minis', as Faith still called the Slayers activated after her. "I trust you didn't embarrass us." That earned him another glare. Castle could get used to this. He reached over and patted Vi's shoulder, then winced when she hissed in pain. "Sorry! Sorry! Just remember: They have a few years of experience on you, and, well… they're the chosen two."

Vi snorted. "I'll just have to train harder!"

Rick nodded. "Indeed." That should motivate Vi for month - Slayers were competitive like no one else he knew.

"With you," Vi added, smirking.

Castle winced. He hadn't considered that. Well, he'd deal with that once the current crisis had been solved.

"Where's Alexis?"

"Showing Willow and Dawn her library and her computer." And hopefully not bringing the federal cybercrime taskforce down on his head. His daughter should know better, Castle thought.

Vi turned her head towards him, then winced and rubbed her neck. "You know what that sounds like," she said with a smirk.

He glared at her.

The Slayer smirked, then suddenly sniffed the air. Castle could see how her nostrils flared and she tensed up. "Blood."

"It's just Spike preparing his weetabix." Castle still didn't know if the vampire actually liked the cereal, or simply liked the reaction he usually received when he poured blood over it.

Vi made a face. "Isn't it a bit… late for that?" It was almost dinner time.

"I'm a vampire, we get up in the evening." The blonde undead said, sitting down in the seat across of them.

"It's the middle of the night in England," Castle said. He didn't know if vampires suffered from jet lag. Maybe one of the new watchers would investigate that.

"Well, would you get up at dawn?" Spike grinned at him, then started eating his bloody cereal.

"Good point," Castle said. He certainly wouldn't get up early unless there was a case, or Alexis needed him - a Slayer and her Watcher usually worked at night.

"I can't wait to hit the town again, see what changed since my last visit. Oh, those were the days..." Spike sighed, then blinked. "Well, but for the fact that I was an evil mass-murdering soulless demon then, of course."

"Of course," Castle said in the dryest tone he could manage.

Spike nodded, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, which he then licked.

Castle didn't flinch. He had seen worse, and more disgusting.

"So, when will your bird get here?" Spike put the bowl down on the couch table. Rick noticed Vi staring at it.

"She's not my bird," Castle said.

"He just wishes she was his bird," Vi added, grinning.

Castle didn't deign that with an answer. Beckett was warming up to him. Slowly but surely.

When he heard the doorbell ring, he told himself that again.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Detective Kate Beckett had had a tiring day at work. Will had spent almost as much time asking her about her 'relationship' to Castle as on the job of tracking down a serial killer. And she had spent most of her time dodging her ex-boyfriend's questions - damn Castle for making Will think they had a relationship! And damn herself for going along with it! - as well as worrying that Will would actually find what he thought was a vigilante killer. And all that on top of worrying about a 'not really apocalypse' happening in the middle of her city!

Before she had known Castle, she hadn't worried about parts of her city disappearing in a bottomless pit, or ending up in hell. And a zombie apocalypse had been a silly movie plot, not something to actually prepare for.

After parking her car, she leaned forward, resting her forehead on the steering wheel for a moment. To think that as a child, she had actually wanted to be a Vampire Hunter, or a Loremaster. "Be careful what you wish for, indeed," she muttered.

Well, at least the leaders of the Watchers were here now, and would take care of the matter. Despite the circumstances, she was looking forward to meet the woman who had been the inspiration for Branda - Buffy Summers. Of course, Castle had claimed that compared to the Council's leaders, he was a stuffy tweed-wearing librarian, but that was hyperbole. Had to be - Castle was one of the most immature men she knew, most of the time. This was likely an attempt at a tasteless prank - in his books, the characters often made jokes in dire situations, to break the tension. 'Don't mention her height, she's sensitive about it', indeed!

She chuckled, remembering a few particularly entertaining scenes from her favourite books as she entered the building Castle lived in.

*****​

Beckett was greeted at the door to Castle's apartment by a short blonde girl in skin-tight designer jeans, a top that showed far more skin than appropriate for the weather in New York, and high-heels that added at least 5 inches to her height. She still was short. "Hi! You must be Detective Beckett! I'm Buffy Summers! Oh, those are nice boots, where did you get them? They go so well with your slacks!"

Kate blinked. That was Buffy Summers? She had trouble believing that. It wasn't the height, or lack thereof - Vi proved that physical size and mass was irrelevant when it came to a Slayer's power. No, it was the appearance, and even more so, the attitude. This wasn't a Slayer, dressed in leather and acting like a big cat out on a prowl among the prey, this was a… Californian valley girl on Prozac. "Hello." Kate managed not to stare - at least not too much.

"Buffy! Stop that!"

Beckett saw a taller, brown-haired girl - about 20 years old, Kate would guess - walk towards them. She was frowning.

"What?" The blonde turned around.

The other girl smiled at Beckett. "Hello. I'm Dawn Summers. Please excuse my sister; she refuses to grow up and tries to act like a teenager despite her advanced age."

"What advanced age?"

Now the blonde sounded more like a Slayer… a teenage Slayer, though, Kate thought.

"Do you prefer old age?" Dawn looked down at Buffy. "You're almost thirty!"

"Pardon?" Kate narrowed her eyes, but otherwise controlled herself. Thirty certainly wasn't old!

"Ah… oops?" Dawn had the grace to blush.

"Please excuse my little sister's horrible manners," Buffy said with a wide smile. "She grew up with wolves, and then lived in a library for years. We're still trying to teach her not to bite people when she wants something from them."

"That's funny coming from the girl who tried to raise me - and who went all cave woman on her friends once!"

"That was all the fault of demonic beer, and so not the point!"

Right when Kate was looking around for a hidden camera, Alexis arrived. "Detective Beckett! I thought I heard the door."

Kate smiled at Castle's daughter. "Hello, Alexis." When the two girls in front of her turned around, she quickly mouthed 'who are they?' behind their back.

The redhead's smile seemed to grow a bit forced. "I see you met Buffy and Dawn Summers. Please have a seat, I'll fetch Dad - he's been hiding in his office ever since this afternoon." There was more than a hint of disapproval audible in her tone, too, Beckett thought.

"Hey - I'd have been hiding too, if Faith had hit on me!" Buffy said, chuckling.

"Oh, please!" Dawn rolled her eyes. "That's so not true!"

"What? It so is!"

Beckett almost expected the girl - the Slayer - to stomp her foot, judging by the blonde's pouting expression. If that was the most experienced, and most powerful Slayer, then New York was doomed!

"Rick's just acting coy," a voice cut in.

Kate looked up and saw a woman descend the stairs from the upper floor. Even if she hadn't known it was a Slayer from the fact that the girl had overheard them from that far away, the way the woman moved would have given it away. And she was wearing leather - tight leather. Like a biker. In a calendar. And she had the attitude, like Vi. Just more… impressive. As was her figure.

The woman walked up to the group, swaying her hips just a bit too much. And her smile was a bit too blatant too, Kate thought. She was trying too hard.

"You must be the cop," she said. Boston, Kate thought.

Kate met the woman's eyes. "And you are?"

"Faith." The girl slowly, provocatively, looked Kate over, from her face down to her boots.

If the Slayer was trying to unnerve Kate, then she needed to step up her game - the detective was used to worse, much worse, from perps and suspects. And Castle. So, she returned the favour. That seemed to amuse the girl.

"Oh… I bet you're fun in bed." Faith even licked her lips. "All that tense posture, all that stern attitude must be hiding some kinky urges, am I right?"

"Faith!" Dawn Summers glared at the Slayer. Turning to Kate, she smiled again. "Please excuse her. She's, well… Faith."

"I'm just checking out the competition, D. Nothing to it." Faith said, smirking.

"Competition?" Kate raised her eyebrows. Did the girl insinuate what she thought?

"For Rick."

She did. Kate should tell the girl that there was no competition, and no relationship. Or interest. She pursed her lips instead and stared at the Slayer. "Ah." Faith was acting a bit like Vi, Kate realised. Just… more so.

And Kate was used to Vi, by now. And she wasn't about to give in to either girl. No matter what it was about.

"Detective Beckett! You've met our guests already!"

And there was Castle, walking towards her with a wide smile - was that relief? she wondered - while Alexis trailed behind him, looking a bit stressed.

"Castle." She nodded curtly at him. This was, after all, entirely his fault. "Been hiding in your office, I heard."

"What?" He stared at her, blinking, for a second, then took a deep breath. "I was not hiding, I was working! Unlike some others who should remain anonymous, I might add." His pointed look at Buffy and Faith was anything but subtle. Kate blamed his mother being an actress with a flair for drama for Castle's tendency to overact.

"We were working!" Buffy said.

"Working out, yes. Which reminds me - I still need to check your fitness, Rick."

Faith's leer left not question in Kate's mind about how the girl wanted to check that. And that annoying author and demon hunter just smiled in response, instead of telling the girl off! Beckett couldn't resist. "Really, Castle? Isn't she a bit too… immature for you?" She ignored the mouthed 'Old' from Dawn. And the chuckling from Buffy.

"She was just kidding, my dear Detective," Castle said, with one of his more infuriating smiles.

"If she's coming with us when we kick demon ass, then I should check her fitness too," Faith said.

Castle blinked again and let his eyes wander from Kate to Faith and back. "Oh…"

"Dream on, Castle," Kate said drily.

"Oh, I will!" He was grinning widely and nodding his head.

Kate glared at him. That wasn't what she had meant. She ignored Dawn and Alexis whispering to each other and grinning at her. She was here to save her city. Not to… compete with Slayers for annoying authors. She already had enough of that with Vi, even though there was nothing to compete for in either case.

Speaking of… "Where's Vi, Castle?"

"She's still in her flat. Resting," Castle said.

"Are you going tweed on us, Rick?" Buffy stared at him. "You said 'flat', not 'apartment'. Oh my god! British-ness is a chronic condition! Soon I'll talk all stuffy-like and old as well!"

"Buffy!" Dawn palmed her face while Faith laughed.

And to think this girl was the model for one of Kate's favourite characters!

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"That was just one little slip of the tongue," Richard Castle said, shaking his head. "Ask my ex-wife - I'm quite far from being a proper Englishman."

"Shouldn't that be 'gentleman'?" Detective Beckett - Kate, he reminded himself - said.

She seemed to be annoyed with him, for some reason - even though the Scoobies had been the ones to annoy her. He pouted at her. "Are you insinuating that I'm no gentleman?" He put his hand on his heart and put on his best English accent. "You wound me, Detective!"

"Don't tempt me." Beckett's smile reminded him of a Slayer's. No wonder the two oldest Slayers had been trying to play their dominance games, which they still refused to admit to. Slayers!

"See? He's so going tweed!" Buffy said, nodding to her own words.

"There's nothing bad about acting a bit more mature," Castle's traitorous daughter said.

"Oh, I have no doubt that Castle can act mature. But being mature?" Beckett shook her head.

"Hey!" He was standing right there!

"He's plenty mature where it counts." Faith was not helping.

Rick cleared his throat. "I think we should sit down for dinner. The lasagna should be ready any minute."

"Oh! Dibs on the first casserole!"

"Buffy! You can't call dibs on that!"

"I just did!"

"Don't run inside!"

"There's enough for everyone!" Rick yelled after them. "But anyone other than me who touches the oven will be fed last!" Alexis would hopefully keep them in line if that threat was not enough. He turned to Beckett, who was - again - shaking her head. "So, you've met the two most experienced Slayers. What do you think?" He flashed his most charming smile at her. She glared at him with an expression that made him wince. "I'm sorry?"

"You should be," she said in a flat voice.

Once again he noticed how beautiful she was when she was angry. "I did warn you that the Scoobies do make me look stuffy." Even though he was entirely correct, she glared at him again. It was as if she was blaming him for all of this!

"You're trusting my city's safety to a bunch of…?" She trailed of.

Either she lacked the words to describe the Council's best experts and Slayers, or she remembered that Slayers had supernatural hearing, Castle thought. "I think you do not quite understand my situation, Kate," he said. "Coming here was their decision." And there was nothing he or anyone else with the possible exception of Rupert could do to stop them.

She seemed to understand, if the Russian swear words she whispered were any indication. "I'll need a drink before dinner."

"An apéritif? You wish is my command!" He opened his liquor cabinet with a flourish. "What's your favorite poison? I have a vast range of drinks to offer." Strangely, that didn't seem to impress her - she frowned even. And now she was staring at...

"Castle, why is there an empty blood bag in your liquor cabinet?"

Rick ground his teeth. He should have staked that damn vampire years ago!

Before he could explain that this was the fault of another of his house guests, the door opened, and Vi, Xander and the demon he was just about to mention entered.

Vi's nostrils flared. "Mh… right on time!" his Slayer said, smiling widely. "Dinner will be served in an instant."

"Dinner will not be served until I know why there's a bloody blood bag in my cabinet!" He had to watch his temper - that had been an awful wording.

"Sorry, mate, I must've forgotten to throw the thing away." Spike was shrugging "No harm done, right?"

"You picked the lock on my liquor cabinet," Castle said. He had paid a lot for this lock, too.

"Well, I didn't want to bother you for a key. You seemed tired and all." The vampire flashed that evil smile of his.

He took a deep breath. "Kate - Xander, Spike. Xander, Spike - Detective Beckett."

"Hi!" Xander said. He was, Castle saw, dressed for work in black cargo pants and a matching turtleneck.

"Charmed, luv," Spike said, grinning. He was wearing his customary t-shirt and pants and looked almost respectable. "We've heard a lot about ya."

Castle whipped his head around to stare at Vi.

His Slayer smiled widely, and very insincerely. "Only good things?" He started glaring at her, and she fled to the dinner table.

Fortunately, Beckett seemed to be more amused than angry. Until Spike grabbed the blood bag, sniffed it, and then tried to suck the remaining blood out of it. Then she looked simply disgusted.

"Is that safe to drink?" Xander on the other hand sounded fascinated.

"I mixed it with enough vodka, even if I were still alive I'd be safe." Spike licked his lips.

Castle gasped, and reached down for his best vodka. The bottle was empty!

And Beckett seemed to think this was funny! She was chuckling!

"I need a better lock," Castle mumbled.

"Yes, you do. This one is not challenge for Alexis any more," Spike said.

Castle blinked. What did… "Did you teach my daughter to pick locks using my liquor cabinet?"

"Well, she's not yet ready to pick the lock on your safe."

"Alexis!"

*****​

During dinner, Alexis was ignoring Castle's glances as she had ignored his earlier words. It was really unfair - when Castle was putting his foot down and acting like a responsible parent, his daughter didn't heed his advice. Even though it should be obvious to everyone that learning how to pick locks from Spike wasn't a good idea!

"Most locks are not any better than the one on Rick's liquor cabinet, A. If you can get the booze, you can go places too."

Everyone but Faith, Castle amended his thought.

"I'll show you how to fool electronics locks tomorrow. It's really easy with the right tools!"

And Willow.

"If the lock's too complicated, or if you're in a hurry, thermite can open the door without much noise."

Castle gaped at Xander. "You're planning to teach her how to use explosives?"

"And make them too - they're very useful," the man answered, between two forkfuls of lasagna. "There are not many demons the right amount of boom won't kill."

"Am I the only one who is concerned that my daughter is learning how to become a burglar and a bomber?"

"Yes?" Buffy asked, momentarily stopping her attempt to secure a whole casserole for herself.

Castle didn't like being the straight man. Not at all. Straight, as in the straight man for a joke, not the other meaning, of course.

"Don't be a hypocrite, Dad! You learned the same in England. Mum told me all about it. And about the flame traps." Alexis scowled at him. Then she smiled at Beckett. "If we all weren't just hypothetically speaking, of course."

"Of course," the detective said, with that smile on her lips she usually showed when she thought she had gotten one over Castle. Or had actually gotten one over him.

Castle frowned at her. She was supposed to be the straight man, or woman, here! And just as with his attempts to woo her, she wasn't cooperating. Much, at least - he was certain that he was making progress in romancing her. She was hardly threatening to shoot him, anymore. He sighed. "I was quite a bit older than you, Alexis."

"Which just means that at worst, I'll be tried as a juvenile, instead of as an adult." His daughter smiled far too widely at him.

Castle wasn't giving up easily where his daughter's future was concerned. "But even so, having a rap sheet will impact your career prosp…" He blinked, then palmed his face. "And of course, the Council wouldn't care about that."

Alexis smiled. His daughter was far too smart for her own good.

He decided to cut his losses, and change the topic. "So, how's Agent Soandso trying to meddle in our case this evening?"

"Will's checking into the Russian connection of the murders," Beckett said.

"Oh? Like in the French Connection? Is he traveling to Moscow?" That happened in the sequel, but an author and demon hunter could hope. Agent Meddleson freezing in Moscow, was a pleasant thought.

Willow chuckled, but other than her, no one seemed to get his joke. Well, Beckett did, but she was frowning at him. "You really need to watch more classic movies."

"We do!" Xander said. "Just last week we watched 'Surf Nazis Must Die'."

And everybody laughed. Castle didn't pout. But he felt like it.

"Will we have to do something about this Will?" Buffy asked. "Is he one of those obsessed cops who don't ever quit a case? Like the one in that movie with the other one?"

"The only obsession he has is our dear Detective here," Castle said.

"Oh! You're a honey trap?" Willow asked, then winced. "I mean… in a totally decent and non-sexist way, of course."

"I'm not a 'honey trap'," Beckett said in a voice so cold, Castle shivered.

"He does seem to be a bit more interested in rekindling your relationship than would be professional," Alexis pointed out.

Castle smiled at his daughter. He ignored the glare he received from Beckett. Of course he'd talk with his daughter about that!

Beckett frowned, then shook her head. "He won't compromise a case for anyone."

"That could be troublesome." Buffy pursed her lips and grabbed the last casserole to help herself before Vi managed to take it.

"Is he cute?" Faith grinned. "Just asking. If he is, I could distract him."

"You're not his type." Beckett was unsheathing her claws, Castle thought.

"He's a bit old," Vi said. "Not bad looking, but stuffy, in an American way."

"Just kidding. Cops are not my type." Faith smiled at Beckett. The temperature dropped a few more degrees.

Time for dessert, Castle thought. Hopefully, the tiramisu would help calm things down.

Unless they started arguing over it.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

They had argued over dessert - of course. Rick Castle felt like sighing. And Alexis had scolded him for not making enough tiramisu - as if it was his fault those women ate like starving hyenas. Not that he'd ever say that out loud - Xander and Buffy were a bit sensitive about those animals. He didn't know why - not even Dawn would tell him the story behind that. At least Detective Beckett wasn't exchanging barbs with Faith any more - though her barely-polite reaction to the dessert wars was not much of an improvement.

"Alright. Dinner's over. Let's talk business." Buffy put down her fork. "We've got a demony cult to find, an evil ritual to stop, a possibly misguided but likely evil vigilante demon to stop, and a number of Russians to keep from soaking up demon-power and freeing the big bad." She blinked. "And an apocalypse to stop, but that's kind of a given."

"It's Russian Americans, I think," Dawn cut in. "Most of them should be US citizens by now, due to having been born here."

Buffy waved her hand. "Same thing. We need to find them before the evil demon cultists inject them with the seal's power." She blinked. "That sounds kind of kinky…" she turned to Willow. "They don't do that kind of ritual, right?"

Willow looked confused. "What kind of ritual?"

"Like, you know, the non-bloody virgin sacrifice."

"She means tantric rituals. Sex." Dawn rolled her eyes. "For a girl with her love life, she's astonishingly prude at times."

"What do you mean, 'my love life'?" Buffy glared at her sister.

"Technically, those virgin sacrifices are bloody as well, though not in the fatal sense," Willow said, a bit too loud - she probably wanted to stop the brewing argument between the two Summers sisters, Castle thought.

"I don't think we should get into those sorts of details. Unless those are the rituals we are talking about," Xander said.

Spike scoffed. "If there's no blood, then it's not a sacrifice. It's all in the blood."

"Of course you'd say that," Xander said. "But you're kind of biased."

"It's actually not a tantric ritual," Alexis said. "Those cannot be used to syphon power off a seal, unless that seal was human enough to have sex."

Castle resolved to find out who had taught his little girl about Tantric rituals, and teach them the error of their ways. Unless, of course, it had been Willow. The last time he had complained to the Red Witch about her lessons, he had received an hour-long lecture about parenting, gender stereotyping, earth lore, Christian oppression of Wiccans, and a dozen other things he had forgotten.

"Well, the ritual they are using isn't one of those," Buffy said. "Rick mailed us the scans of the grimoire they used."

"Why did you start to talk about it then?" Dawn said, glaring.

"I was just remarking about the wording."

"You have a dirty mind."

"Do not!"

Xander cleared his throat. "As much as I like a Summers catfight," he said, his tone making it clear he didn't like it at all, Castle thought, "we are kind of on a timer."

"Right." Buffy nodded. "We have Russian Americans to find and protect before the mad noose demon kills them to keep the other demons from freeing the big demon. There are way too many demons in this sentence."

"And in this city," Vi added.

"Just need to cull them, luv," Spike said.

"That would be much easier if they were not hiding among innocent and not so innocent bystanders," Rick's Slayer complained.

"Focus, folks!" Xander said.

"Before we can protect them we need to find them. And since we can't track them magically without their blood, we'll have to look through the immigration archives," Willow said. "Unfortunately, the electronic archives don't cover all the files yet."

"We can get you some blood from the hanged victims," Castle offered. "Unless the blood needs to be fresh." He didn't fancy Willow doing her magic where an impressionable young innocent girl was around, but they had to save those people."

"Fresh and freely given is best."

"So, we find one, then persuade them to donate some blood."

"I can do that!" Spike said. "I'm kind of an expert."

"Not that kind of persuasion, Spike," Dawn said, frowning.

"I can do the other kind too," the vampire said, leering. That earned him glares from most of the table.

"Right. I vote for another plan than setting Spike on poor innocent people." Xander raised his hand.

"Motion passed!" Buffy declared.

Castle glanced at Beckett. She had been remarkably silent so far… Ah, she was still dealing with seeing the Scoobies in action. He patted her hand. She glared at him - no gratitude there.

He sighed. "So… who breaks into the archives, and who talks to the local mob?"

"The mob? You want to talk to the mob?" Beckett said, sharply. She was back to normal then.

"They might know where the seal the demons smuggled in is," Willow said.

"I think it's best if you tackle the Russian angle, Detective," Castle said. "You speak Russian, and the mob might not react well to a cop asking them."

"You think a cop breaking into the city archives is a better idea?"

Castle wondered why the woman always managed to make his plans sound bad.

*****​

"If this goes wrong I reserve the right to say 'I told you so'," Castle said as Vi, at the wheel of his Shelby, took another turn a bit too close for comfort.

Beckett didn't answer, to his surprise - she should be used to Vi's driving style, by now. He looked over his shoulder, struggling slightly with his seatbelt, at the detective. She was looking out of the window with an unreadable expression. Or at least an expression he hadn't seen before. "Detective?"

"What?" She whipped her head around and glared at him.

He was relieved, sort of - he knew that expression. "Are you having second thoughts? We can still drop you off at the archives."

"No, Castle, I'm not having second thoughts."

"I didn't think so, actually." When he saw her frown at him, he quickly added: "Not in a negative way!" Although she was, maybe, a bit too stubborn for her own good. "So… what's eating you?"

"I was looking at the city. All those people, living their lives, ignorant of the danger they face."

Rick nodded. He had had similar thoughts, at times.

Beckett went on: "And then I thought that the only thing standing between them and a violent death at the hand of some magic monster was a bunch of people stuck in their teenage years."

Castle had had thoughts like that as well, but he'd be damned before he admitted that. The Scoobies had earned his respect, no matter their sometimes - often - infuriating antics. "They are not actually immature, you know," he said. "It's their way to cope with the pressure they are under."

Vi nodded. "They've been risking their lives since forever."

"Since high school, actually, but that must have felt forever," Castle said. His attempt to add some levity died under the glares of both women. "Everyone's a critic," he mumbled under his breath, which at least made Vi grin. Louder, he said: "The city out there, the people, living in ignorance of the danger they are in? The Scoobies have seen that each day, since over a decade. They grew up on a Hellmouth, and fought demons and worse for years, with very little support from anyone." He sighed. "They've suffered and sacrificed so much, yet hardly anyone will ever know. And they know that if they fail, just once, it could mean the end of a city, or the world." Castle shook his head. "So, they joke and act up to unwind." There were other reasons behind their behaviour, but there was no need to go into that, not now, not here. Some things you kept in the family. And Beckett wasn't family. Not yet, he added.

"You've been doing this for a long time too, Castle."

He forced himself to chuckle. "Oh, I wasn't at the frontlines. I was a librarian, an author, and then quit to be a father. I can assure you, my dear detective, that I was my charming, witty self before I joined the Watchers Council."

"According to your ex you two were hunting vampires whenever possible in London. And you certainly were on the frontlines in Sunnydale," Vi added.

"And you seem to get into fights quite regularly, ever since I've known you," Beckett added, staring at him.

He wanted to make a joke, but he couldn't. Not about this, not about Vi's risk. So he shrugged his shoulders. "Vi keeps me safe."

Beckett stared at him for a few moments longer, then turned her head to the side and stared out of the window again. No one said anything for a while, but astle caught Vi smiling at him.

He smiled back.

*****​

"Here we are! The 'Alfredo', favourite restaurant of the man responsible for most of the clandestine business at the docks!" Castle announced when Vi drove past the restaurant's front, looking for a parking spot.

"'Clandestine business'? It's crime, Castle. Organised crime," Beckett spat out. "Don't romanticise the mob."

"Oh, I'm aware of that," he said. "But they do romanticise themselves: 'Alfredo'? Small Italian restaurant? Family business? How cliche can you get? If I used that in my books, the critics would crucify me!" He shook his head. "This mob boss has to have a peculiar sense of humour."

"In my experience, few criminals have any sense of humour," Beckett said as Vi parked the car.

"I think that's because you usually meet them under very serious circumstances," Castle said. He wouldn't be that funny either if he was about to be arrested. Well, he'd try, of course! He blinked. "Just to make sure: You're not thinking of arresting Marconi, right? We are here for information, not to start a fight." Crucial information.

"We won't start a fight, but we'll finish it if anyone else starts!" Vi declared, checking her Glock.

When he saw that Beckett mirrored his Slayer's action with her own gun, and nodded in agreement, Castle wondered if he should have picked another assignment. "Just let me do the talking," he said.

He hoped the lack of opposition meant the two women agreed with that.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"You know, they will not let us talk to him while we're armed," Richard Castle said on the way to the restaurant's entrance. Trying to get Vi to leave her weapons when they were meeting armed criminals was an exercise in futility, Castle knew that from experience. His Slayer was sometimes a bit too protective of him. On the other hand, he hadn't been hurt nearly as much as Rupert had been in Sunnydale - although to be fair, New York was not built on a Hellmouth. "So, unless you have a plan to bypass the bodyguards of Marconi, I think you should stay back and let me meet the man."

"As a matter of fact, I have a plan to make them let us pass." Beckett's smile was entirely too close to a Slayer's, for Rick's taste.

"You're not going to shoot them, are you? I know it works in the movies, but I doubt you can get away with self-defense in reality," Castle said.

Beckett didn't answer, and then they too close to the bouncers, who had noticed them approaching. Castle saw hands sliding under jackets, and winced. Talking them past those would take a miracle.

"Detective Beckett, NYPD. I have a few questions for Marconi," Beckett said, showing her badge.

A miracle, or a cop, Rick corrected himself. "This is so going into the book!" he whispered as the bouncers contacted someone through their headsets. He ignored Beckett's glare and Vi's chuckling. He could just see the scene, well he just saw it, but maybe he should make the Mob boss a vampire? No, better a demon who was not always evil. Brachen Demon, maybe.

"Mister Marconi will see you now," the man said after a moment of listening to his radio.

"'He will see us now'?" Castle shook his head while they entered. "That sounds more like a doctor's appointment than a meeting with a mafia capo." A hard-boiled detective meeting a mafia boss should sound much more… hm… mafia-like.

The restaurant's interiour looked as cliche as its name promised. Another thing Castle would have to change. Actually, he realised, the more changes, the better - it wouldn't do to insult a mob boss by mistake.

Marconi didn't look like a mob boss. He looked like an elderly accountant, with thinning grey hair, Castle thought. Definitely a Brachen stand-in.

"Good evening, detective. Please have a seat." Marconi gestured at the chair across from him

"I'd prefer to stand. This shouldn't take too long," Beckett said.

The man frowned, and for a moment, Castle thought he saw behind the polite mask, into the eyes of a violent killer. Then Marconi smiled again, and nodded. "What brings one of our city's finest to this humble restaurant?"

"Sometime ago, a rather unique thing was smuggled into the city," Beckett said. "Castle, show him the sketch."

Complaining that he had wanted to do the talking wouldn't do much for his image as a ruggedly handsome and charming author who knew his way around the seedy underbelly of new York, so Rick pulled out the sketch Willow had made and slid it over the table towards the criminal. Rick was certain that Beckett was doing this to get back at him for defending the Scoobies. Maybe.

Marconi barely glanced at it. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm a legitimate businessman; I have no knowledge of any smuggling going on."

"A legitimate business man with a rap sheet longer than your arm," Beckett said, putting her hands on the table and leaning forward.

"Sins of a troubled youth, Detective," Marconi said with narrowed eyes. "I paid for them with a lengthy stay in prison. But I learned my lesson, and have become a model citizen."

Beckett frowned, then sneered. "You learned not to get caught. But legitimate businessmen don't have half a dozen armed men standing guard when they eat dinner."

Castle wished he could take notes.

"I am security-conscious, Miss."

"Detective."

"Detective." Marconi's tone was patronising. Insulting. He wanted to provoke Beckett, Castle realised. But why?

"This is not about smuggling, Marconi. This thing is a threat to the city. You don't want to be tied to that kind of trouble, trust me." Beckett said.

Castle nodded in support of the detective's words. Which earned him a glare from said detective, instead of a smile.

Castle couldn't tell if the implied terrorist charge impressed the man - Marconi simply smiled.

"I can assure you that I'm not party to any act of terrorism. Detective." The small pause made a mockery of the title. Beckett glared at him, but the man remained unfazed. Nerves of steel, Castle had to admit.

"Do you really want to risk that?"

"There is no risk, Detective."

Marconi was too confident, Castle thought. That kind of confidence, when faced with the charge of aiding and abetting terrorists, felt off. Why was the man so certain that he would not be sent to Guantanamo, or wherever the USA sent domestic terrorists?

Because he knew what had been smuggled, Castle thought. Marconi might have been duped, of course, but then he would not react like this. No, he knew that the thing was magical, Castle would bet his… well, something on it. And that meant a change of plans. He cleared his throat. "Well, it's obvious the good man doesn't know anything. We're wasting our time here."

To her credit, Beckett understood at once. She probably had come to the same conclusion as he. She nodded at the man, then turned around. "Let's go."

Castle kept looking around as they made their way towards the door. Half the room was watching them, and the other half was pretending that they couldn't see them. Another bad sign. Two more and they could start a band.

"He just told the men to stop us," Vi whispered.

"So much for polite, honourable meetings with the mob," Castle said under his breath. "Hollywood lied to me!"

"The three outside just just were ordered to come inside and cut us off." Vi's Slayer senses were coming through again.

"Time for Plan B," Castle said. "Break left once the door opens."

"Break left?" Beckett asked in a strained whisper.

Before Castle could answer, the door started to open, and all hell broke loose.

Vi grabbed the closest table and threw it at the door, smashing it closed and breaking the hand of the first man who had stepped inside with his gun out. Castle ducked and started to run towards the kitchen entrance to their left. There would be a back door for deliveries, an obvious escape route. Marconi's men would expect that.

Castle pushed past a shrieking couple and drew his own gun. Then he dropped to the ground. Just in time - shots were fired, and people started to scream in panic, before their screams were drowned out by a Slayer emptying her Glock 20 in three seconds while vaulting over tables and guests. Probably.

Castle wasn't looking at her. He was aiming. With most of his goons down, Marconi would start to run… right now. Rick pulled the trigger twice, and the man went down, clutching his leg. Rick rolled around the next table, then scrambled over a screaming woman who was obviously regretting getting breast implants right now, and reached a corner.

A quick glance showed him that Vi and Beckett were shooting it out with the two remaining bouncers outside. Which didn't take long. Marconi was still trying to escape despite his bleeding leg. A kick from Castle put an end to that. He shook his head at the mafioso. "That was a mistake. Working with demons, that is. As well as attacking the resident Slayer of New York." The man paled, which clinched it - he knew about the supernatural. And he was working with demons.

Which would make cleaning up this mess simpler. Not easier, though. Executing humans should never be easy anyway. After Willow had made him talk, of course.

"Clear," Vi said, replacing the magazine in her pistol with a fresh one as she stepped up to him. And when a Slayer said 'clear', it was. Usually. Slayer senses were just that good.

The last of the guests were just fleeing through the kitchen now, Castle saw.

Beckett was frowning, despite their victory. Castle wondered why - had Vi shown off too much?

"That'll be hard to explain to my precinct," the detective said.

"Oh. Not at all. Internal conflict. Some of Marconi's own men tried to kill him. I had a craving for pasta, and we were here when the thing happened, and intervened to protect the innocents. Who, judging by how quickly they all fled, might not have been that innocent, actually." Castle grinned.

"No one will believe that we just happened to pick Marconi's restaurant for dinner." Beckett glared at him.

"Of course not! I, being eccentric and rich, and fascinated by crime, decided to visit to do some research for my next book!" Rick's grin widened. "My reputation does come in handy, right?"

The detective was less impressed by his plan than he had expected. Less grateful too.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

Detective Kate Beckett shook her head as she stared at the wrecked restaurant. "It won't work. There are too many witnesses." The guests had fled, and Vi hadn't killed any of the men shooting at her. Unlike Beckett. Her bullets would be found in two dead men. They had been trying to kill her, but still… She shook her head. "We'll play it straight. We came to talk to Marconi, on your initiative. Since you wanted to find out about some obscure thing for your research. And," she added with a glance, "because you wanted to meet a capo. He had us attacked out of the blue."

"That's not straight. It's more… slightly bent? Sort of," Castle said.

He had that grin on his face again that made her want to both hit and… she wasn't going there. Her colleagues already thought that she was sleeping with him. After this, they'd be even more convinced - they'd think she was following him around like some love-struck girl.

"But we'll roll with it." He smirked at her. "It's a cunning plan, Detective."

She rolled her eyes. He was joking, but she could lose her job over this. And even if all worked out, something always stuck to you in those incidents. Especially with Castle involved. People talked and speculated. She'd have a reputation.

"It's clear." Vi was back from a quick sweep of the street. "The rest of the thugs have fled."

"Alright. Call it in. We'll get the truth out of Marconi."

"What?" She stared at Castle and his Slayer.

"We don't have much time, and interrogating him when he's under guard in a hospital will be too difficult."

She hated feeling like she lost control of the situation. She was a cop, and this was a crime scene. She should be calling the shots here.

But it wasn't her case, but the Council's. Castle's case, as weird as that still sounded. She pulled out her phone and called it in while Castle walked over to the whimpering mob boss.

*****​

Beckett watched as two paramedics pushed the stretcher with the unconscious Marconi into an ambulance. Castle hadn't tortured the man, which she had feared at first. It hadn't been quite the 'roughing up' of a suspect some older cops called it either. But he hadn't exactly been gentle with the wounded crook. And after the man had told them what he knew… "Was it really necessary to knock him unconscious at the end?" she asked in a low voice.

"Yes!" Vi said, too far away for a normal human to have overheard her, flashing her a predatory grin. The Slayer was very protective of her Watcher.

"It simplifies things," Castle answered, next to her.

She looked at him. His expression was serious. Dead serious, she realised, with a sinking feeling in her gut. "You're going to kill him?"

"Not personally. But those who willingly work with demons against humanity share the fate of their fell allies."

He was quoting his books. Loremaster William had said that in 'Shadows over Paris". She clenched her teeth together. When she had joined the force, she had sworn that she'd not become one of those cops who bent the law while claiming to pursue justice. Or looked away when crimes were committed against criminals. But what was the alternative? Letting the mob join forces with demons?

She told herself that killing Marconi wasn't a crime according to those treaties Castle had mentioned. She wasn't a crooked cop. Not really. She was just a cop moonlighting as a demon hunter.

"Hey, Beckett!"

She turned her head and saw Esposito walk towards her, carefully stepping around the corpse at the end of the bar. Ryan was following him. "This looks like a gang war gone bad," the former soldier said, shaking his head. "What happened?"

She knew what he really meant: What had she been doing in the middle of all of that? "Castle wanted to meet Marconi, to do some research for his next book. I didn't want to let him and Vi go alone…" She sighed. "Apparently, the capo didn't take well to Castle's questions and set his goons on us. They didn't expect us to defend ourselves." They hadn't expected Vi, to be honest. But Beckett wasn't about to mention that.

"I thought that old spinster at the New York Times was my worst critic," Castle cut in, "but apparently, I was wrong." He sighed, almost theatrically. "Some people take Fantasy novels far too seriously." He rubbed his chin. "Or they are just jealous."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, Castle," Kate said, "but it wasn't your books, it was your personality he took offense to."

He gasped at her. "No!"

"Yes." She grinned at him. "Weren't you aware that a number of people would love to shoot you once they know you? Marconi simply acted on this urge. I'm almost jealous, to be honest."

Esposito and Ryan laughed with her while Castle pouted. He had told her to blame him, hadn't he? She still owed him for claiming they were a couple as their cover.

"That's a new record," Ryan said. "Don't your girlfriends usually take a few weeks until they want to shoot you? Not literally, I mean."

Beckett saw a glint appear in Castle's eyes, but before she could warn him to not even think about it - no matter what it was - he had wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. "Oh, but she wanted to shoot me from the start, until she finally fell for my roguishly handsome charm!"

Beckett forced herself to smile while her own arm slid around his hip, until she could pinch his side without the two other detectives spotting it.

"That sounds like a rather special relationship," Ryan said. Esposito nodded.

"You have no idea how special!" Castle said, beaming at them while she felt him squirm a little under her grip.

Judging from the glance the two men exchanged, neither Castle nor herself were that good at acting, Beckett thought. She wasn't certain if she should be happy or disappointed. Castle was arrogant, infuriating, and acted less mature than his teenage daughter, but he was also, though she loathed to admit it, attractive and charming - and very brave. She blinked suddenly. Dear god, she was thinking like a character in a cheap romance novel!

*****​

"You were getting right cozy there with each other. Did something happen that I, as your best friend, bodyguard, and Slayer, should know?" Vi asked while she took a turn at a speed that only a Slayer or professional race driver could safely handle.

It said a lot about how crazy Beckett's life had become since she had met Castle that she didn't really notice such things any more.

"Oh, my impressionable young Slayer," Castle said, "I wish I could tell you all about our passionate love affair."

"But since it's just his imagination, he can't," Beckett interrupted him.

"But I can, actually! I'm a bestselling author! Turning my imagination into words is how I became rich."

"Don't tell me that the tough and sassy detective in your next book will have an affair with an author," Beckett said. She still didn't know if she should be proud that her favourite author wanted to use her as a model for his next main character - she was even less certain after meeting some of the people who had served as such models in the past - but to read a sex scene involving her expy, and what would be Castle's self-insert…

"Of course not!" Castle said. She was relieved - and a tiny, very tiny, bit disappointed - until he continued: "He'll be a journalist instead, I think."

"And what about the beautiful and sexy Vampire Hunter who will end up saving them both?" Vi asked.

"I don't think that will go further than some unconscious flirting between the two women," Castle said. "At least in the first book."

"What?" Beckett and Vi said in unison.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" the author quickly said, holding his hands up.

"You don't sound like you're kidding," Vi said. "And you won't look me into the eyes!"

"I don't want to look into your eyes because you're driving! And at a rather high speed, if I might add!" Castle's English accent was peeking through - he must be stressed, Beckett thought.

"Don't try to change the subject!" Vi said, taking another turn without more than glancing at the road once. "This is important!"

"Priorities, Vi! We have a city to save, remember?" Castle said.

The redhead huffed, then glanced over her shoulder at Kate. "Aren't you going to tell him that a character based on you would never fall for a woman?"

Kate couldn't resist. "Why would I do that? Didn't you experiment in college?" she asked, acting as innocently as possible.

When Vi gasped and Castle whipped his head around to stare at her so quickly, she could almost hear his vertebrae crack in protest, the detective laughed.

When Castle loudly declared: "That's so going into the book!", she stopped laughing. She should have expected that. She knew Castle well by now. But maybe not yet well enough.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"So… the evil cultists had a deal with the evil godfather. That sounds like a fairy tale." Richard Castle saw Buffy purse her lips while she pondered this. "Fairies are of the bad. Well, the fairy tale-y ones, not the other kind. Which is a derogatory word we shouldn't use anyway."

"That's not exactly the point, Buffy." Xander shook his head. "In any case, we managed to get the immigration records. But tracking the Russians - the Russian-Americans - down will take some time."

"It would be faster if they had more electronic records," Willow cut in, looking up from her laptop. Where, Castle noted, his daughter, who was nearing her bedtime, was paying rapt attention to what was certainly a rather illegal hacking attempt. "Bunch of luddites!" the witch added.

"Well, we can start to track them the old-fashioned way," Xander said. "Like private eyes! I need a fedora. And a trench coat."

"Daddy's already a consultant for the police. He can be Sherlock Holmes," Alexis said.

"He'll need a deerstalker then. And more tweed," Xander said.

"Leaving aside the fact that the original novels never mentioned a deerstalker, I'm not going to wear tweed." Castle laid the law down. He had a reputation to maintain.

"Do the malls in New York even sell deerstalkers? Or did the city ban them for to avoid traumatising the fashion-conscious population?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not going to wear a deerstalker," Castle said.

"Beckett should be wearing the deerstalker. Not only would it be a great disguise, but she's already a detective," Vi said.

Castle glanced at Beckett, who hadn't said much for the entire meeting so far.

The detective shook her head. "Does anyone care about the fact that the local mob is involved with this demon cult? That we had a shootout with the mafia? That you are apparently going to kill the capo while he is in police custody?"

"Technically, he's in a hospital under guard. Though that counts as police custody, I guess," Willow said.

Beckett glared at the women - apparently, Castle thought, she had not been impressed by his tales about the Red Witch. "How can you talk about clothes with this hanging over our heads?"

"Fashion's important!" Buffy said, with a wide smile.

"Murder's a bit more important than fashion." Beckett clenched her teeth and she had that slight twitch near her eyebrow that Castle knew meant she was really angry.

"It's not murder. It's an execution," Xander said.

"Without a trial."

The young man shrugged. "We know he's guilty. If we let him go he'll likely contact more demons. Those who work with them usually do. And I think New York would fare better without a demonic mafia." He scoffed. "Imagine trying to arrest mafia goons with magical enhancements. Or the ability to curse their enemies. Not to mention that he did help demons trying to free a big bad, which is enough to merit the death penalty by itself."

"It's not as if we can lock him up," Castle added. "We're hard-pressed to protect the world without having to guard a prison."

"I could turn him into a rat, and we could keep him in a cage, but that way lies badness." Willow grimaced.

Beckett stared at the witch. "You can turn people into rats?"

"Yes." The redhead nodded. "It's dangerous, though. An acquaintance of us turned herself into a rat to escape a witch burning. She was stuck as a rat for years, though, since rats can't cast spells."

"That witch also turned me into a rat when we were both under the influence of a love spell." Buffy scowled. "It wasn't fun, and when I was turned back I had lost all my clothes!"

"According to what I heard you had already stripped nude in an attempt to seduce Xander before you were turned into a rat," Dawn said, grinning.

"Where did you hear that? Spike? Xander?" Buffy was glaring around.

"I wasn't involved, but I know the story," the vampire said, grinning.

"We all swore never to talk about that day again!" Xander said. "Have you forgotten that Anya starts to talk about her past whenever it is brought up?"

"What does that mean?" Beckett asked. The detective looked slightly shocked - apparently, she hadn't grown as used to the supernatural as Castle had thought. Or maybe he had underestimated the effect close proximity to the Scoobies had on normal people.

"It's a long story," Buffy said.

"Anya worked as the vengeance demon for scorned women and punished men in very cruel and creative ways," Dawn said.

"Apparently not that long," Buffy said. "But we have a mission to accomplish here."

"And we can't just declare it over before it's over," Xander added. "Well, we could, but it would be a bad idea. And we don't have an aircraft carrier."

Castle saw Beckett blink, and decided to move things back on track before the detective suffered an overdose of Scooby trivia. Their war stories made his own sound boring. "So… we need to track Russian immigrants and the dockworkers who helped the demons smuggle the seal in. Who is on which task?"

"Dawn and the detective both speak Russian. That should help gaining their trust," Xander said.

"They fled Russia. I don't think they're easily trusting strangers speaking Russian." Dawn shook her head. "Especially if you or Miss Overprotective keep glaring at them."

"I don't glare!" Buffy said.

"Sure you do! You scared away half my dates!" Dawn retorted.

"Half your dates?" Buffy gaped. "That's not… you dated people I didn't met first?"

"Of course! All who met you were too scared to date me!"

"They wouldn't have been scared if they could be trusted!"

"As if you are a good judge of dating material, given your love life!" Dawn huffed.

"Oy!" Spike said.

"Present company excluded," Dawn added with a smile.

"Present company included!" Xander said.

"Oy!"

Castle was about to attempt to get the planning meeting back on track when the doorbell rang. At once, the spat between the Summers sisters was over.

"Do you expect anyone?" Buffy asked, halfway to the door already, Mr. Pointy in her hand.

"No, I don't," Castle said, grabbing his jacket to cover up his gun holster, if needed.

Vi was at the door, peering through the peephole, while the rest took up positions.

"It's the Special Agent," she said. "And he looks mad."

Castle muttered a curse under his breath. He should have expected this.

*****​

"Agent Sorelosoron!" Castle greeted the man with the fakest smile he could manage this side of being polite.

The man glared at him. "Is Kate here?"

Rick was tempted to ask if the man had a warrant, but that would be too much for the obviously tense agent. Probably. Weren't Feds supposed to be more calm? Then again, if he had heard about Beckett being in a shootout, he'd not be calm either.

"Yes," Beckett said behind him.

The agent took in a sharp breath, then tried to push past Castle. For a moment, Rick wanted to stop him. Grab him and tell him to get lost. He was invading a private residence, wasn't he? But Kate would hate that. And he was a better man than that, too. So he stepped to the side, though he couldn't help adding: "I guess manners are not taught at the FBI academy."

"Kate! I just heard that you were in a shootout with Antoinio Marconi's men!"

"You just heard that?" Castle whistled. "Wow, I knew the cooperation between the Feds and the local cops was bad, but that bad?" Both cops glared at him, so he held his hand up. "I'm just making an observation."

"An observation we can do without right now," Agent Can't-take-it-son said. "What happened? Why were in his restaurant?"

"That was his restaurant? That explains the biggest collection of Italian cliches I've ever seen!" Castle shook his head.

"Castle!" Beckett hissed at him.

"Sorry. I'll be quiet now and leave our dear Special Agent to have a special moment." He mimed zipping his lips shut.

"Five bucks say he won't stay silent longer than five minutes!" Vi loudly commented, which caused the Scoobies to chuckle. Even Alexis giggled!

"And who are those people?" The agent gestured at the assembled Scoobies. They had stashed and holstered their weapons, but they were still spread out just right to cover the door, something the agent might just have realised, Castle thought.

"Friends of mine from England," Castle said.

"I knew it!" Vi crowed. "Pay up!"

"I didn't bet, duh," Xander said. "That was the mother of all sucker's bets!"

"He's weaseling out of another bet?" Dawn shook her head. "I thought he had changed his slippery ways."

"I never accepted that bet either!" Xander said.

"And he even won that bet!" Dawn pouted. "He's really bad at this."

"You wanted to lose that bet, duh!" Xander was glaring at the girl now.

"So?" Dawn wrinkled her nose. "You're welching on bets, that's a fact!"

"I am not welching on bets!"

"Dawn! Xander! Stop that!" Buffy snapped, glaring at both. Then she turned to the agent, and smiled so sweetly, Castle could almost fele his teeth starting to rot. "Please excuse my sister and my friend. They'll behave now, so you can continue with… whatever you were doing, I guess."

"What?" The agent was staring at the blonde Slayer.

Castle snorted, which earned him another glare from Beckett - another reason to keep Agent Jealouson away from her; she was usually far more receptive to funny quips, or so Castle thought.

"They are guests of Castle, Will," Beckett said.

The agent was visibly struggling to get his mind back in gear. Rick wasn't surprised - rigid minds usually didn't do well when faced with such situations. Beckett had to have realised that as well, since she was showing far more patience with the agent than she usually had with Castle.

"But… whatever. Kate! What happened?"

"Castle wanted to meet a mob boss, to do some research for his next book. So we went and visited Marconi's favourite restaurant," Beckett explained. "The man did meet with him, but somehow must have taken offense at his questions, since he ordered his men to attack us."

"Well, as far as attacks go, that was barely above an attempt. For hardened criminals, they really were not much to talk about," Vi said. "We shot, what, eight of them?"

"Maybe they are not much to talk about because they misunderstood the Omerta?" Castle said. When no one laughed and Alexis rolled her eyes at him, he pouted. That hadn't been a bad joke. Not one of his best, but still - it wasn't as if their own quips were always award-worthy!

Suddenly, Beckett's very ex-boyfriend lunged for him. "Castle! What did you do?"

Rick could have taken him, of course - he had fought vampires and other demons who were far stronger than a puny Special Agent in a cheap suit - but Vi had the man down on the ground and in a very painful armlock - Castle knew that from experience - before anyone else could do anything.

While Beckett was gaping - hopefully shocked at the potential for unprovoked violence her ex-boyfriend had been displaying - Castle was thinking of how to work that in his next book, and Buffy was criticising his Slayer's form, Spike shook his head and said: "Oy… I want it on record that I had nothing to do with this assault on a cop!"

Trust the damn vampire to totally misrepresent the situation!

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

While Richard Castle was glaring at Spike, who was looking as if he didn't know exactly what he had done, the special agent in question was making himself heard.

"Let me up! Attacking a special agent of the FBI is a crime!"

"Yeah? So is attacking an author!" Vi snapped. Rick's Slayer was straddling the man's back, her grip on his arm forcing his face into the floor.

"Let him up, Vi," Castle said. "I don't think he'll try to attack me again." Rick doubted that the man's fragile ego would be able to handle that.

Almost growling, the redhead released the agent and stood up.

Beckett's very ex-boyfriend was enraged, his cheap suit rumpled - not torn though, Castle noted. He was rubbing his arm, but his attention was on the author. "What did you do to cause a shootout with a notorious criminal?"

Castle shot a glance at Beckett. When he had agreed to her plan, he hadn't agreed to this. She knew he couldn't exactly explain the real reason for the mob's attack to the special agent. She wasn't even looking at him, but glaring at her ex-boyfriend. Which was, Castle had to admit, probably a good thing. He was the ruggedly handsome, rich and brave demon hunter, and Agent Alsoson was the former lover who couldn't control his temper and acted all possessive. Or protective. Castle shrugged. "I believe - and that's just an assumption, mind you - that the not so good mob boss misinterpreted a planned plot - more like a subplot, really - for my next book. He must have thought I was talking about a criminal operation of his."
"What?"

Castle ignored the brief but incredulous glance from Beckett at him and shrugged at his wanna-be rival. "A freak coincidence, I think. How was I to know that he actually was involved with demon cultists?"

And now the entire room was glaring at him from behind Soso's back. Didn't they realise that the best way to hide the truth was to state it in a way so no one would believe it?

At least the agent was playing his intended role. "Stop with your games, Castle! An experienced mafia leader does not suddenly attack someone over a dime novel plot! Tell me the truth!"

"Dime novel plot?" Castle was incensed. "I'll have you know that my bestselling books are priced far higher than that!"

"Yes!" At least Dawn valiantly came to his defense. "He writes great books!"

"Leave the literary merit of Castle's books out of this, Will," Beckett cut in. Castle grinned - he was her favourite author, after all. Insulting his work was insulting her taste. "As unbelievable as it sounds, Castle really was discussing a demon plot with Marconi when the man lost it."

"Marconi probably had an overly active imagination, coupled with the paranoia a career criminal like him would develop over the years. So, when he thought he was exposed, he panicked." Xander shrugged. "Foiled by Fantasy."

Rick had to admit that was a nice one-liner. He should be able to use that in his book.

"You told them about this but you didn't inform me?" The former boyfriend was working on cementing his status, Castle noted. Women didn't like that sort of comment.

Beckett was no exception. "I wasn't aware I had to inform you about everything that's going on in my life as soon as it happens, Will. You're not part of my life any more, remember?" Oh, yes - scorned woman there, Castle thought.

"A shootout you could have been killed in while working on my case is something I should know about!" the good agent snapped. "And you're talking about this with civilians?"

"I was talking with them about it, as it happened," Castle said.

"And there was no real danger!" Vi was glaring at the agent. "I easily took care of those thugs."

"I'm certain he didn't intend to slight your skill as a bodyguard, Vi," Castle said. He knew that his Slayer was a bit sensitive when her skills were put in doubt, especially in the presence of Buffy and Faith.

"He better not or I demonstrate takedown techniques on him again!" The redhead huffed.

"If you do, try to grab his wrist for additional leverage," Buffy said, smiling brightly. "Other than that I think your form was very good!"

While Vi beamed and the special agent gaped at the blonde, Castle saw that Beckett was rolling her eyes. She was probably not happy that Vi had insinuated that the detective had needed her protection as well.

"This…" The agent was shaking his head. "This is madness!"

"This is Sparta!" Xander quickly said. That earned him half a dozen glares.

"No, this is not Sparta! We're not about to drop the good agent down a well." Buffy said. "We don't even have a well here."

"The window would do. Pigs don't fly." Faith said.

"I could arrest you all for obstruction of justice and assault!"

"My lawyer is still ready to bury you, Agent!" Castle said.

"Not literally, of course!" Buffy said. "We don't hire that kind of lawyer."

"Being buried is not really a bad thing, under the right circumstances," Spike said. "It's an experience."

The agent was close to losing it, Castle realised. He was far too tense and glaring around. The Slayers had noticed already, and had moved closer, just in case. And while the good agent's ego could probably use another face-to-floor meeting, Castle doubted Beckett would appreciate it. And the agent could make some trouble for them - not much, and nothing they couldn't deal with, but they had an apocalypse to stop. He held up his hands. "Everybody calm down, please. Let us deal with this as rational adults."

Castle frowned at the looks directed at him right then.

*****​

"So, you see, Agent Soandson, I was not asking about anything related to your serial killer, but a hypothetical smuggling of a cursed artifact," Castle finished explaining a bit later. "We haven't told our friends anything they didn't already knew from the newspapers, either. We've been perfectly good." He ignored Vi's snorting and smiled at the other man.

"For a certain definition of good," Buffy said. Castle ignored that as well.

Sadly, the special agent didn't seem to appreciate his explanation. He was calmer now, though. Or colder. A kind of cold fury. Castle shook his head - he couldn't use that in his next book. It wouldn't fit the bumbling federal agent character he was writing. Impotent fury was more like it.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

Castle was certain the man didn't want an honest answer.

The Fed stared at him. "You are far too calm to have been in a shootout. As is the girl there." The man hadn't really looked at Vi since she had introduced him to the flat's floor, Castle realised. Wounded ego, much? "Kate's acting weird about it as well. And everyone here seems to treat a shooting in a restaurant that left several people dead and even more wounded as a joke!"

Castle glanced to Beckett. That sounded more than a bit familiar. She was tense too, he noticed. He should have expected this, Rick thought - Beckett wouldn't have been involved with Agent Meddlesome if he actually was stupid.

"Are you on drugs?"

Castle blinked. He hadn't expected that. Before he could answer the man's question, though, Buffy piped up, all Californian Valley girl. "Does coffee count as a drug? I mean, I read once that it should count, since we grow addicted to caffeine, and if I don't get my morning cup I'm all grumpy and growly - although even then I'm not as frazzled as Dawn claims." The blonde Slayer ignored her sisters 'I've got video evidence!' and continued: "But if it was a drug, wouldn't it be at least restricted or prohibited? Although, Willow said prohibition doesn't work and only helps the drug dealers."

The Special Agent was looking like he wanted to be on drugs. Castle had to suppress a chuckle - Buffy had the airhead babbling down to an artform. An artform not everyone appreciated, he amended after a glance at Beckett. He sighed. "No, we're not on drugs. We're just eccentric, and prefer to joke to deal with trauma." He grinned. "As you may have noticed, Vi is a very skilled bodyguard. Buffy, Faith and Xander trained her."

"So, what are you? Some private military contractors just visiting?" The good agent was still suspicious, of course.

"We're not exactly military," Xander said. Buffy snorted. "We're private security, based in Britain."

"I've made the acquaintance of their boss when I was studying in London and working part-time in a library." Castle smiled. "I met my first wife there as well."

"And you expect me to believe that it's just a coincidence that you're all here?" The Fed scoffed. "I should have you all deported!"

"Good luck with that," Buffy snorted. "We've got diplomatic impunity."

Castle hoped the agent would think that was a joke.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

New York, October 2009

"I think that went well," Richard Castle said when the not so good special agent had finally left his apartment again.

"If that's your definition of 'well' I don't want to know what you'd consider a 'bad' outcome," Beckett said, glaring at him as if anything was his fault, instead of the fault of Agent Stalkinson.

"Someone hurt, or killed," Buffy said.

"What?" Beckett had that peculiar expression again, where she left her mouth halfway open. Adorable, Castle thought, although he'd never say it out loud.

"The usual definition of a bad outcome," the blonde Slayer clarified.

"Well, Buffy, someone getting hurt doesn't have to be a bad outcome, if it was needed to save others," Xander cut in.

"I'm pretty sure that the dear agent was hurt," Dawn added.

"He doesn't count," Buffy said. "He asked for this when he attacked Rick. We can't let people attack our Watchers like that. They're a bit too breakable. And if we lose one, we might get an über-tweedy replacement who'll need a lot of sense knocked into him, which might break him as well, and… where was I going with this?"

"To Stupid Town. Population: One blonde." Dawn said, shaking her head.

When that received a few chuckles, Buffy pouted. "What's this, pick on Buffy day?"

"It's always pick on Buffy day," Dawn said, grinning. "Her ego would grow too large for our ecosystem if it wasn't regularly cut down to size."

"Can you be serious, for once?" Beckett snapped. The detective wasn't looking amused at all. "I know Will. As soon as he has the opportunity, he'll investigate. And he'll not give up until he's found the truth."

"The truth? He can't handle the truth," Xander said. "I'd wager he'll go full Sunnydale."

"What?"

"That's Scooby-speak for 'he'll ignore the supernatural and forget about it'," Castle explained to Beckett. "A lot of people react like that when confronted with magic and demons. They rationalise it away."

"Sometimes they try to burn you at the stake instead, though," Buffy said, frowning.

"They were under the influence of a demon, Buffy," Willow said. "In Sunnydale, even some people who were bitten by a vampire and survived repressed the experience and rationalised it - or simply ignored it. Although according to a theory that was an effect of the Hellmouth, to keep the humans from fleeing the place once they realised how many people died there."

"You have to feed all those demons attracted to a Hellmouth. And catering or takeout would get far too expensive," Xander said, nodding sagely.

"Will isn't like that." Beckett crossed her arms, her expression daring anyone to contradict her.

Castle was tempted to, but decided against it. The detective looked a bit too tense for a rational discussion. He'd offer a massage to help with that, but she'd probably take it the wrong way. "We'll see. Now, we have to plan our next step."

*****​

"You're not drinking that in my car!" Castle glared at the vampire sitting next to him, who had just pulled out a blood bag from his coat. "If you get blood over the seats… is that a thermal bag?"

"Of course it is. I only drink cold blood with cereal!" Spike said. "And don't fret, mate. I haven't spilled blood in decades. Well, not like that, you know."

"We are all aware of how much blood you have spilled, Spike," Buffy, who had unfairly and illegally called dibs on Castle's usual seat, said, looking over her shoulder at them.

"That is beside the point. I don't want you to open a bag of blood in my car. Not while Vi is driving!"

"Are you criticising my driving?" the redhead asked, glaring at him.

"No, I'm not. Eyes front!" Castle retorted, as Vi took the next turn with barely a glance. "Show off," he mumbled, earning him a smirk.

"Can we stop for a drink then? Interrogating dockworkers is thirsty work," Spike said.

"Work? You glared at them and they wet their pants!" Buffy scoffed. "That's not work!"

"I had to shake down the last one!" Spike protested.

"You had fun doing that."

"No one said work can't be fun, Slayer."

"If it's fun it's not work!" Buffy said, pouting.

"If you're getting paid for it, it's work."

"Well, you're not getting paid!" Buffy huffed.

"I am getting paid by the Council. A regular salary, even."

Buffy's pout deepened. "We're not stopping anyway - we're on the clock! We've got an apocalypse to stop! You can drink your blood at Rick's flat."

"We stopped so you could get a hot dog!"

"That's different!"

"How?"

"It is!"

"You're just jealous that you can't terrify people without beating them up."

"I so can terrify people!" Buffy turned to Castle. "I can, right?"

Fortunately, Castle hadn't to answer that - he was certain that there was no right answer - since Spike snorted. "He doesn't count, he knows what you can do, Slayer." And the two were bickering again.

Castle exchanged a glance with Vi. For a change, the Watcher and his Slayer seemed to be in complete agreement. She sped up. The sooner they were back home, the better. At least they had knew which van the demons had used to move the seal - one of the dockworkers had been quite observant, and noticed that the van had been a rental. Even if it was stolen, they should be able to track it. Unless the demons had been smarter than the average criminal.

*****​

By the time they arrived at Castle's apartment, he knew more about the history between Buffy and Spike, and Spike's personal unlife, than he had ever wanted to know. And Buffy had complained about middle-aged Loremasters seducing young Vampire Hunters? Though he wasn't quite certain who had seduced whom, in that case. And if there still was a relationship. Or a 'co-workers with benefits' arrangement. He could ask Rupert, he thought. Or sound out Vi - his Slayer probably knew more about that sort of gossip than Castle. Heck, Alexis probably knew more about Council gossip than Rick. And wasn't that a terrifying thought!

"We have returned, bearing important information!" he announced when he entered his apartment. The rest of the group was gathered in his living room, spread out over several of his couches and seats. Willow was still glued to her laptop, which probably had more processing power than most supercomputers. Dawn was barely visible behind a wall of book stacks. Most of them from his library. Faith was munching on the cashew nuts Castle had had imported, and Xander was showing Alexis how to make homemade explosives.

He blinked. "Alexis!"

His daughter smiled innocently at him. "Dad?"

"What are you doing?"

"Learning how to make a bomb," his daughter told him.

"I can see that!"

"Why do you ask then?" Alexis was looking at him with that disapproving expression he was so familiar with. Like his mother's, just more effective.

"Well, he's old. I heard the mind is the first thing to go when you're growing old," Buffy said with a smile.

He glared at her, then turned back to Alexis. "Why are you learning how to make a bomb?" If the special agent had seen that...

"So I can make one when we need one, of course," she said. "I'd rather know what I'm doing when I'm cooking up explosives in our kitchen."

Castle's first impulse was to tell her to go to her room, and then look for good boarding schools. His second impulse was to tell Xander to stop corrupting his little angel. He wasn't quite as stupid to do either, of course - contrary to his mother's frequently and loudly voiced opinion. He said: "Does your mother know what you're doing?" Mary was a very traditional Watcher. She had never approved of Rick's flamethrower, so she should go ballistic when she heard about Alexis learning how to make bombs.

"She knows I'm getting lessons and training from experienced Watchers." Alexis smiled widely. In other words, Castle's little angel had managed to pull one over his ex-wife. Rick didn't know if he should be proud or appalled. He shook his head with a wry grin and went to get himself some coffee.

"See, Buffy, Rick's got his priorities straight: No bitching about bedtimes when the world is at risk!" Dawn said.

"That's different!" the blonde Slayer said.

"How so?"

"It just is!"

"That's no argument!"

"Right. We're not having an argument about this because I'm right!" Buffy turned away from her sister and joined Castle for coffee.

"So, what did you find out?" Xander asked.

"We found out that the demons transported the seal in a rental van. Probably rented from Avis using a fake address," Castle said while his cup was slowly filling with black Italian coffee. "But since it's a new model it should have a locator beacon built in which can be tracked." Technology was wonderful for hunting demons, Castle thought. He would have to be careful when turning this into a novel, though, to avoid giving the bad guys and demons pointers.

"On it!" Willow said, her finger flying over her laptop's keyboard. "Alexis, do you want to see how to hack into a car rental company?"

"Yes!" Alexis hurried over to the witch.

Castle sighed. Other fathers had to deal with their little girls growing up and coming home with boys. He had to deal with his little girl growing up and learning how to commit several felonies in order to hunt demons.

His mother said it was karma.

*****​

 

[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?"

*****​

 

[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.

*****​

 

[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.

*****​

 

[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!

*****​