Snuggled between a clean set of silk sheets and a down comforter with the highest tread count available was the well known, best selling, author, Richard Castle. Rolling over, he pulled the covers to his chin and snored softly. Castle's leg jerked and he startled awake, sucking in air, causing him to snort as he jolted upright. He'd just had one of those dreams where you trip down a flight of stairs and wake up right before you land at the bottom. Castle rubbed his eyes and glanced at the alarm clock glowing on his night stand, four AM, it displayed in glowing green numbers.

After laying on his pillows for another second, finding that sleep didn't come back to him, he tossed the blankets off his body and swung his legs over the edge, letting his bare feet sink into the carpet. Castle forced himself off the king sized bed and out of the room. As he traveled down the hallway he passed by Alexis' empty room. She was staying the night at a friend's house, even though it was a school night, but they were finishing an English project then going to school together the next day.

Martha was also out on the town, some of her old college friends came into town. Although she didn't refer to themselves as old, since that'd imply they were old. So they were he 'former' college friends. Castle descended the steps and entered the darkness of the kitchen and living room. He heard something clatter, rubbing the grogginess and sleep from his eyes he squinted trying to make out the figure. "Mother?" He asked, wondering why she was home, because her and her 'former' friends were staying the night in a hotel.

Except, it wasn't Martha and suddenly there was a bright white light shining in his face, from a LED flashlight. Castle closed his eyes, for the sudden light stung his pupils. As his eyes were closed he heard the person in the house move quickly, there was a sudden pin-prick feeling in the back of his neck and a tingling sensation followed immediately. The bright light that was still shining in his face grew dimmer and dimmer by the second as Castle's body started to become weak and crumpled. He was on his knees, then face first on the floor, still fighting for his consciousness. When the dark figure was fed up by how slowly the author wasn't succumbing to the comatose state, the intruder whacked him on the back of the head with the heavy, metal flash light.

xxx

Detective Kate Beckett was called on to a crime scene just a few minutes before five in the morning. Her hair still wet from the quick shower she had taken, the detective ducked under the yellow tape with a coffee in hand. Ryan and Esposito were already around body, when they saw Beckett enter the taped off area they immediately came to her attention.

"What's the situation?" Beckett asked, handing her coffee to a uniformed officer.

Ryan glanced at his partner and then back to Kate. Esposito did the same, they both stayed quite. "Guys? I wasn't called down here for nothing." She said, placing her hands squarely on her slender hips.

Finally Esposito spoke up. "Vic is a young female, early twenties, a couple of uniformed officers found her this morning." His voice trailed off, a glance over to Ryan, a subconscious nudge for him to take over.

Ryan caught the hint and picked up where his partner stopped. "She was found clutching a piece of paper." He said and reviled a plastic evidence bag that held a blood stained piece of paper, that had been smoothed out after being crinkled.

Beckett perked an eyebrow and took the bag from his hand, the back side was blank but she flipped it over and in a very old style, script, handwriting the words 'You will, on no account, discover you're precious sanctuary.' Kate looked up to the two men. "And what does this mean?"

They both shrugged. "We have no idea." Ryan said as he took the evidence back from Beckett. "We figured, Castle might have an idea, since it's all convoluted, wordy, stuff…"

Esposito looked at him, "You go from using 'convoluted' to wordy stuff?"

"Hey, it's early." Ryan quipped, defending himself. Esposito just shook his head and the two detectives went back to work, not letting the bicker about contrast in word choice end.

Beckett rolled her eyes and turned to go the victim. Speaking of Castle, she took her phone from her pocket and pressed send twice, he was the last person she had called. Holding the phone to her ear as she approached the deceased women. There was no answer, the detective didn't think much of it, for she was distracted when Lanie started to tell her about the preliminary findings.

The medical examiner clearly had a nice night, because her make-up was still done up and her hair was in tight curls, and the heels she was wearing also gave that away. "Have a nice night?" Kate asked as she approached.

"Yes, and it wasn't over either." Lanie stated with a bit of bite to her voice, not even looking away from the body. "From what I can tell she was killed by blunt force trauma to the temporal lobe. I'm placing time of death between midnight at three AM. " She said, pointing towards the area of impact with the pen she was writing with. Beckett made note of the wound in her mind. Lanie continued, "The strange part," she moved the deceased woman's shirt up. "She's covered in small puncture wounds."

Beckett crouched down to get a closer look. "What are they covered in?" She was referring to the black substance around each wound. Lanie shrugged.

"I'm not sure, I'll run some tests when I get her back to the lab." Lanie added, which was always the case, there wasn't to many definitive answers she could give when she was in the middle of central park.

Kate raised up and thanked her. "Call me when you are updated." Lanie nodded and with her final words, Kate left to find out more about the recent victim. She also placed one more phone call to Castle, figuring he just wanted to sleep in and ignored her last call, it went to his voice mail again.

'You've reached Richard Castle, I'm either busy or doing something more important that you. Leave a message and I'll return your call as soon as I see necessary.' Kate just hung up the phone and didn't bother to leave a message. She looked at the blinking end time and wondered what he was doing.

xxx

A muffled groan escaped his lips, Castle blinked as he tried to focus his eyes to take in his surroundings, but the room was too dark and his head hurt to much. He went to move but found his hands bound behind his back, and his feet secured together. Another second later and he realized that there was a cotton cloth gagging him. Castle's eyes closed quickly when a bright light turned on and flooded the room with white illumination.

Once the contrast of the room became clear he saw that he was in a giant warehouse, tied to a tall steel support. The space was cluttered with all sorts of junk and the floor that he was sitting on was filthy and cold. His eyes darted around the room and he heard a metallic clank echo through the room and his ears, someone was coming. Castle squirmed but there was no getting free, he was tied, chained and latched into place and wasn't going anywhere. Who ever was coming grew louder and louder, followed by a rhythmic tapping sound.

The person was a few feet away, a silhouette casting long on the floor. The writer closed his eyes and the tapping, or clicking, sound stopped. A few long seconds later and Castle opened one eye to see the individual sitting in a chair, three feet in front of him, staring, watching, calculating. Castle's eyes were wide as the being introduced another syringe into his view. "This won't hurt a bit." A laugh escaped into the air and the space between Castle and the person closed, another sharp injection and Castle faded out of reality and back into unconsciousness.