A/N: A collection of unrelated AU Halloween themed one shots written for the Castle Halloween Bash 2016. They will vary in theme and rating. Warnings will be posted as appropriate. Thank you for reading.
What do you see in those yellow eyes?
'Cause I'm falling to pieces
She's been gone a month, maybe a little more, when the desire drives him out into the late afternoon sun. The pleading eyes of her father offers no deterrent, the caution Lanie throws at him falling on deaf ears. His own suspicion and, of course, love for Kate spur him into action.
The cabin is ridiculously secluded for a woman recovering from a gunshot wound and, as the last twenty miles or so fall away with no sign of civilisation, his belief takes hold. The rental pitches a fit as it hits a rock, shakes and forces his attention back to the ever changing landscape. He's getting close now and he doesn't have much time.
Sunset is only an hour away.
That she answers when he knocks take him by surprise, he half expected her to have barricaded herself in against the oncoming threat. But his fist has barely connected with door once before she throws it open wide, her eyes flying to the setting sun behind him.
"Did you hear me coming?" He asks, half heartedly attempting to joke his way into a conversation.
Her gaze startles to his briefly before she tries to close the door in his face. "You can't be here, Castle."
Frustration boils immediately and weeks of them being apart sends it rocketing to the surface.
"Too late, Kate." Castle growls, pushing as hard as he dares, keeping her from barring the way. "We need to talk."
She grunts and a sharp spasm of guilt stabs at his gut. The gunshot wound in her chest still new, still raw and here he is forcing her to push against the heavy door of the cabin, to argue with him.
It's almost too much, too ridiculous a theory even for him. Just as he's doubting himself enough to apologize and step back her entire body spasms in front of him. He sees the way her hands fall to her stomach instead of her wounded side, clutching at her thin frame through the over-sized shirt. Her knees buckle and he catches her before she can go down hard on the stone floor.
"Get out."
"No."
In his arms now, chest to chest, something flares behind her iris, yellower somehow in the setting sunlight. Defiant, angry. Scared too he can see. She clings to him for a heartbeat before pushing away.
"Please, Castle." Kate hisses, the strain of keeping herself upright bleeding through every pore, visible in every tense muscle and throbbing vein making itself know.
The darkness settles in around them, light fading and she barks, "Castle leave."
"No." The next time she grips her stomach, he pushes his way inside. With one hand under her arm Castle drags Beckett with him, raising his hands in defeat when she shrugs him off and clambers for the couch.
His name on her lips in desperation startles him, but not in the way she hopes. It grounds him, makes him resilient.
"Please." She gasps, "Rick, I can't do this right now."
"Don't think you have a choice Beckett. I'm not going anywhere."
"You don't understand." She growls, whines, clamps a hand over her mouth to silence herself.
"More than you give me credit for." He sighs, pulls a chair from the table and sits down heavily, "You have about fifteen minutes until the moon's up." Her gaze startles to him and he nods, "I know. And I'm not going anywhere."
"I'll kill you." It's not a threat she sounds terrified, face twisting in pain.
"You disappear, Kate." He starts, determined to tell his story, and she clings to the sound of his voice as her bones start to shift. "I thought it was me, maybe you needed a break, but then I noticed the pattern. Every twenty nine days."
He doesn't move when she pitches forward, landing hard on her knees, but she sees him grimace, forcibly holding himself back from going to her aid. She's grateful, couldn't stand it if she hurt him.
"You take off, get out of the city. Three days, always three and you come back looking more exhausted than before you left."
Something shatters and he forces himself not to flinch, keeping his movement as minimal as he can.
Castle swipes at his face when she cries out, closes his eyes and carries on. "I've done some research."
"You wooo...would." Beckett grunts, a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Everything racing fast through her blood, beyond her control and agonizing. Her vision blurs then rights itself and everything burns with crystal clarity. She can see the blue of Castle's eyes as though the rest of the world exists in black and white.
Outside an owl hoots, the rustle of a snake unaware it's being preyed upon. The mice in the roof.
Too much. Too loud.
Castle's heartbeat. Stronger than the rest. Louder. Thump, thump, thump. She'll never hear it again if he stays.
She forces herself to her feet, stumbles backwards and glares when he goes to stand. To follow. His scent drowns her in desire. She can smell his intentions. His worry. His love.
It's killing her.
Kate holds her breath, pushes herself into the furthest corner of the small kitchen, into shadow and darkness trying to escape his gaze.
Ashamed.
God, she loves him and she's going to kill him.
"There's a gun," she breaks, back snapping, the muscles in her legs changing shape, pulling and dragging as though on some medieval rack, " - behind you in the lock box." She hisses through the pain, ankles snapping upright then back harsh and fast the wrong way. Torture. "The combination - your birthday." She cries out and drops to her knees, "Shotgun in the barn out back - don't think you'll make it there now," she pleads with him again. "Try."
"I'm not going to shoot you, Kate." Castle grits out, rising to his feet, "
"I'll try to kill you," she shouts, "I'll try and I'll do it and it will break me, Castle please -"
"No."
She sobs, sounds defeated. "Please don't let me hurt you." She cries again, fingernails ripping from their nail beds, "Or anyone else. Don't let me hurt anyone, Castle." Her finger bones splinters and snap, "Promise me."
Blood drips from her hands and he gasps, "I -"
She screams.
"I promise, god, Kate, I swear."
Her body shivers, she jolts, live current passing through her bloodstream and light brown hair, the same shade as her own, erupts slowly through the surface of her skin.
For a moment she stills, as though the pain is dulled by the change, the fur sprouting free.
"Tell me." Her voice is barely a whisper now, fading off into animalistic sounds, each word fought for and hard earned as her body sheds it human self and roars with ferocity.
"The female werewolf," he states bluntly noting the way she jumps at the name, knowing instinctively she's shied away from naming it, this, what she has become. He barrels on. Talks hoping he can still reach her.
"Rare."
She growls, ears elongating, stretching, pointed tips lifting through the long strands of hair that still fall around her face.
"Majestic and deadly."
The light catches her as she turns.
Beautiful and terrifying.
"More vicious than her male counterpart she hunts alone, transforming on the night the full moon reaches it peak."
She whimpers again, another crunch, a yelp.
"Tonight."
She moans
"They kill without regard, without mercy." He recites from memory, pushing on even when she breaks, even when though doused in shadow he thinks he can hear her crying. Human and animal alike.
"Cassstle...leave."
"No. They heal fast. That bullet wound- "
"Hurt then." She growls, electricity snapping in the air between them now, building up. "Now. Don't feeeel a - a thing."
"You almost died," he grits out, the feel of her warm, wet blood still vivid, still tainting his hands.
"Upside?" It's weak, pitiful. " Don't - please - don't want to kill you, Castle."
"You won't," Castle drops to the ground, submissive, crawls closer on his knees, catching the ripple that shimmers around her, the jolt of adrenalin immediate.
"I will."
Her jaw snaps shut, hard, bones crunching as they reform, reshape.
She rises, taller somehow, human and wolf coming together. He stands with her, voice now low, heard by her ears alone. "Female werewolves are territorial -"
She stalks toward him and he falters, unable to stop the instinctive need to step back.
"Fierce."
A crack like lightning brings her fully upright, transformation complete. She sniffs at the air, tilts her head to him, sharp and quick, as though hearing his voice for the first time.
Castle pushes himself to keep talking. "The only known survivors of a female werewolf transformation are her young -"
Taller than him now, every predatory step of her long legs arched with feline grace, odd given she's more wolf than human.
"- and her mate."
Hot airs bursts through her nostrils at the word. Elliptical eyes, serpentine large, inky black and doused in yellow flame. She stares back, barely blinking.
"You know I love you."
They narrow with deadly focus.
She stills for a moment. Cocks her head.
"Kate, I love you and I think you love me too. Think you heard me when I told you."
He gasps as she drops to all fours, a thunder crash as her weight beats against the ground. The torn strips of her clothes fall away behind her paws as she walks toward him.
"But if you didn't -"
Naked now, she steps out of them, teeth barred and body hunched, prone, prepared to pounce.
"Kate."
She bares her teeth, the force of the growl coming from her chest rumbling the floorboards beneath her feet. Vibrations shoot up his legs. He braces -
"I love you, Kate."
The Beckett wolf leaps and Castle goes down hard, the full weight of woman and beast landing on top of him. He grunts, forces himself still, not giving in to the fight or flight demands of his shaking body.
Long toes of once slender fingers hold his shoulders down, tongue licking at razor sharp teeth, a snarl rippling through her chest.
He stares up into the glowing yellows eyes of the woman he loves, the woman he can still see hidden behind the creature perched atop him. Castle breathes out slowly and the movement catches her attention.
She pants, hard heavy breath, hot as it falls over his face, snout and head dipping down to sniff him. She inhales at his jugular, grunts, shifts above him and sniffs again. The soft glance of her fur over his cheek has him closing his eyes, the press of teeth to his throat brief before the swipe of her tongue follows.
She nudges him once, hard and sharp with her head, not a nuzzle but not terrifying either, then she's up and gone.
The door explodes as she barrels right through it, howling, out into the night.
He lets her get as far as the dock, the lake milk white as the full moon dances over it. She raises up, snout arching, and emits a long and lonely howl aimed at the heavens. She laments, a sad call that makes his heart ache.
He keeps his promises, pulling the gun from the holster hidden under his jacket, firing off one shot that takes her down at the water's edge.
He drops to her side and pulls her cold body close to his. He stays there until the sun rises.
"You shot me in the ass with a tranq, Castle."
She's pissed, shivering in the morning sun. He'd shielded his eyes when handing her his coat, her threat to bite him keeping him from peaking this time around. The coat stops a few inches short and when she stands he can't help but see the livid red and purple mark on her right buttock. He bites back an offer to rub it better for her.
"I told you I wasn't going to kill you." He grins, handing her another blanket, "But you are a werewolf Beckett, I'm not an idiot."
He opens his arms and she smiles, soft, exhausted as she tips into him. "Yeah you are, Castle, coming up here -" she fists her hands in shirt, eyes falling to his lips, "- I could have killed you."
"Nah, couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to," his voice loses all humor as his eyes drift to hers, no longer yellow with the force of change. "You love me. "
It doesn't need a response, not right now. Last night's proof falls between them on the tail end of a sigh.
She kisses him, hard, her growl now a low and pleasant rumble in her chest.