TITLE: The Case of the Snuffed Out Dracula
AUTHOR: Drusilla
SUMMARY: Castle and Beckett are called in to investigate a murder. Where? A funeral home: where an infamous vampire was put to rest.
FANDOM/S, PAIRINGS: Castle
PROMPT LIST: 1
*vampire
*cemetery
*fangs
*coffin
*tombstone
*blood
*bat
*Song-Teeth- Lady Gaga
*Movie-Twilight
*Quote: You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
CHOSEN PROMPTS: vampire, fangs, coffin, bat, blood, & Movie
Dis: I don't own Castle
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Castle rushed through the throng of people loitering in the lobby of Winston's Funeral Home in downtown New York. A coffee in each hand he expertly dodged CSU, uniforms, as well as funeral home workers. He soon caught sight of who he considered his partner: Detective Kate Beckett.
"Hey!" he greeted, handing her one of the coffees before eagerly looking around.
"What do we have?"
"Evan Winston came into work this morning to find our John Doe in one of his coffins," said Kate, turning on her heel and leading Castle into one of the private chapel rooms. "The back door had been jimmied open."
Castle stopped when Kate did and his eyes feel upon Dr. Lanie Parish, camera in hand. She was photographing a shiny, black coffin that was open and had a bouquet of red roses on top of it. As Castle drew nearer, his eyes widened when seeing that in the coffin, was a man dressed as Dracula. He had the classic attire and the slicked back hair. Fangs protruded out of his mouth and his eyes were closed, dark lashes resting upon a grey colored skin. Cause of death? A wooden stake through the heart.
"Nice!" At the glares he received from Kate and Lanie he cleared his throat. "I mean, uh, so… Any leads?"
"No witnesses. No one knows who John Doe is and he had no I.D. on him. Security tapes were taken so we have no leads on that. CSU is dusting the office area, especially the tape decks."
"From what I can tell," said Lanie. "The stake IS what killed him. The lack of blood in this coffin lets me know that he was killed elsewhere. I found some trace of blood on the side of the coffin."
"We got some in the back as well," said Detective Kevin Ryan as he and Javier Esposito walked up to the group. "We're thinking this was a one person job. The blood might've been placed after putting down the body to jimmy the lock. A small drag mark was left next to the small puddle, as if they struggled to lift the guy up before getting him in here. We interviewed everyone and no one knows who this guy is."
"The receptionist, Stephanie Collins, said that the only calls she got yesterday was that of family members save for one. Made around noon yesterday, male, asking when they closed that night."
"Good place to start," said Castle. "Not too many people are calling funeral parlors to ask their hours of operations."
"Could be a family looking for a service provider but go ahead and run that number and see what you come up with," said Kate.
Ryan and Esposito nodded, turning on their heels and quickly exiting the building. Lanie was giving orders to those around her on moving the body to her lab, thus leaving Castle and Beckett.
"So," said Kate. "This is looking to be an interesting case."
"Indeed. Have any ideas?"
"Oh I'm sure if I did you would still want me to wait until you were done telling me yours."
"You wound me," said Castle, hand to his heart. "You know I value your opinion." Kate gave him a pointed glare. "But, I'm thinking…" Castle changed his voice to mimic that of a vampire. "som-vun is out for blud, muahahaha!"
"Wow. And here I thought you couldn't get any nerdier," said Kate, backing away from Castle, eyes sparkling with amusement before turning her back to him to head to her car.
"Oh, believe me, I can!" He frowned at himself. "I mean… Wait up!"
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"Wait… this is it?" asked Richard Castle, twisting his head around from left to right, taking in the normal, Victorian styled housing that lined the older block of New York City. Children were out riding their bikes as red and golden leaves danced down the residential streets. Halloween decorations were plastered upon some of the homes and that was the only thing that was supernatural in this area. Decorations. "I expected…"
"What?" asked Kate. "A large estate with bats swarming it and people with pitchforks?"
"Yeah!" he said, sounding disappointed. "Instead I'm here in the land of the normal!"
"Uh huh… Do remember that this is the Dracula wannabe's mother's house."
They had run the number and a hit had come up. The Dracula impersonator was Evan Seely, a college drop out that had been arrested at a protest that'd gotten out of hand at an animal testing facility. His booking photo was enough to gain a positive I.D. They'd gotten a hold of his mother, and found that he still lived with her. Kate hated these kinds of calls, having to meet with someone and tell them that their loved one was dead. However, before they could make the request to speak to her, she'd already guessed he was dead.
Evan hadn't come home the night before and they'd been in a big fight. Though it wasn't on his record he had an addiction to coke and sex. She'd caught him in her home, dressed as Dracula, banging a woman his mother's age in HER bed. Kathy, his mother, had kicked him out and told him not to come back unless he was willing to change his act. He said she never had to worry about seeing him again, that it'd soon be over, and before she could get an answer as to what he meant by that: he was gone.
Exiting the car they walked up the path to the older home and were greeted at the door by an elder woman wearing a large, grey sweater and glasses. She offered them a seat in the living room and went off to get coffee for her 'favorite author and Nikki Heat', leaving them alone in the living room. Soon, they were seated in the living room, speaking to her about her son.
"Do you know of anyone that would want to hurt your son?"
"Many of the people he starting associating himself with were violent, drug addicted criminals," said Kathy, biting her fingernails. "Any one of them could have done it."
"Anyone in particular?" asked Kate, eye on the mother. She was biting her fingernails and looking at little nervous.
"Sean Grady was someone he hung out with a lot," said Kathy, nodding her head. "He is where I would start. He works over at that tattoo place on first."
"Been there," said Castle, earning a look from Kate. "Book research. Mrs. Seely, Evan was dressed as Dracula, was that something he did a lot?"
"Role play, you mean?"
"Ah, yeah," said Castle.
"He was always into things like that. He's been to Comicon as well as Kumoricon. This past year, though, he's been dressing more frequently, even dressing up going to places like the grocery store. It's embarrassing."
The phone rang and she left the room to answer it, leaving Beckett and Castle alone.
"I'm getting the weird vibes from the mother," said Castle.
"Me too," said Kate. "Evan was dressing up, embarrassing his mother, she demands he changes his ways. He refuses, they get into an argument…"
"She's a small woman. How would she get him in the coffin?"
"Just because someone is small, doesn't mean they aren't strong enough to accomplish something. Remember there were small drag marks, she could have done it."
"So, maybe he's hanging with his friends that night, the one she thought was a bad influence. She finds out they are going to be breaking into a Funeral Home and she follows…"
"Remember," said Kate. "He wasn't killed at the Parlor."
"True. I'm sure he chose Dracula because of being at a parlor filled with coffins."
"Maybe he just had a thing for vampires," said Kate.
"Ah, fellow Twilighter's getting together to-"
"I hated that movie," interrupted Kate.
"Oh the movie was awful. I mean the casting of Bela Swan alone-"
"Anyway," interrupted Kate again, looking to make sure Kathy was on the phone. "I'm going to go take a look around. Keep her occupied."
"Me? Why me?" asked Castle.
"You're a great bullshitter. Keep her occupied for a couple minutes."
Leaving Castle, Kate snuck upstairs and stilled at the landing. There, barely visible by a corner of the rug, was a splotch of blood. She hurried up the rest of the stairs, knowing that as soon as she got off the phone, Kathy would want them out of the house. By the time it took to get a warrant, she would have plenty of time contaminating the evidence. She did a quick sweep of the upper levels. Kathy's room, the attached bathroom, that was all clean. When she stepped into Evan's room she got a whiff of cleaning products. Taking out her gloves she put them on and started searching along the floor. She didn't hesitate to pull back a misplaced throw rug. There was a large, rust colored splotch against the white carpet and she straightened as soon as rushed footsteps sounded up the stairs. She heard Castle trying to stall, but all she did was pull out her cuffs and as soon as Kathy came around the corner, Kate took her by the arm.
"Kathy Seely you are under arrest for the murder of Evan Seely."
The mother didn't deny it, all she did was nod, then burst out into tears as soon as the cuffs enclosed around her wrists.
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As it turned out, the night they argued, she'd overheard him talking about meeting his friends at the parlor. Upset that he would break it, they'd gotten into an argument in his room. His room was filled with memorabilia as well as items he made himself. He'd been aspiring to become a write and during the search of his room, Castle found a manuscript for a horror film that was very well written.
The wooden stake had been in the room. Kathy said he was getting into old shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and had started making his own stakes for research in his script. After he refused to listen to her, and threatened to leave and not come back, she said something inside her snapped and the next thing she knew he was on the floor with one of his handmade stakes in his chest.
"What a night," moaned Kate, massaging the back of her neck.
"It wasn't too bad. For once it was an open and shut case, we didn't have to keep running around from person to person trying to figure out who did it."
"True, this was one of the easier ones," said Kate. "So, what are your plans for the rest of the night?" Castle held up the manuscript. "Is that…?"
"Evan's manuscript. It's really good. I have some friends that are interesting. Make it sort of a dedication for his talent, someone may make a movie out of it."
"Wow, Castle, I'm impressed. That's really nice of you," said Kate, smiling.
"I can be nice when I want to be," he said with a grin, tucking the manuscript under his arm. "Goodnight Kate."
"See you," she said, watching him walk away, pushing her growing feelings for him away once again before turning around toward her desk to finish her paperwork.
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END
Short & Sweet. Comments welcomed. : )