A Different Shade of Pale

Chapter 10

Castle sat behind the wheel of his Mercedes. In the financial district no one would give the upscale car a second look. If the stakeout went on for very long, he might try a few rentals. The same car every night would eventually draw notice. Beckett fidgeted in the seat beside him. "Kate, if you won't go home, you really should try to get some sleep, you have to work in the morning. The seat does recline. I'll wake you if I see anything."

"Castle, it's your first night out. I just want to make sure everything goes all right. I'm not tired."

"Okay," Castle conceded grudgingly, "but get some rest if you need it. You don't have to worry. After all, I was trained by the best."

"I'll give you that, Castle," Kate laughed.

The night was quiet except for the occasional scuttling of a rat. Despite her protestations, Beckett dozed, jerking awake every so often to check on Castle. He found himself gazing too often at her, rather than at the back door of Sânge. As strong as his desire to be with her was, he didn't need the distraction. Finding whoever was responsible for his plague was too important, especially if the culprit was a killer as well. He checked the time on the glowing dial of his watch: five A.M. The sun would be up in ninety minutes. If something was going to happen, it would have to happen soon. The drive back to Beckett's apartment was only nine minutes, but if he got stuck behind a garbage truck or there was an accident, he could be caught out. He supposed he could have Kate drive. Worst come to worst, he could hop in the trunk. But he didn't want to wake her. He needed to be able to do this on his own. At six A.M. he regretfully decided the night had been a bust and drove back to sanctuary.

Shortly after sunset Castle received a text from Dr. Morris. The stakeout hadn't been the only thing that was a bust. The virus in Castle's blood showed no signs of diminishing. Castle felt the ever present smoothness of his jaw. He was disappointed but not surprised. Morris proposed trying a new protocol and requested that Castle drop by his office. Castle was hesitant to give up time that he might have spent on his stake-out. He wasn't eager to have his nights punctuated by more rounds of retching either, but Morris was still his best chance at getting his life back. He acknowledged the meeting.

Beckett had not yet returned from the Twelfth, having started her shift mercifully late. Castle drove up to Columbia by himself. Morris was apologetic that the first round of treatment had not gone better and handed Castle a new set of bottles with an accompanying sheaf of instructions. "I know it's difficult for you, but try to take the morning doses with at least some form of food, whatever you can manage. It should help you to tolerate the regimen better."

Castle thought of the raw steak he'd eaten before Halloween. As off-putting as it had obviously been to Kate, raw meat had been the only thing he'd been able to consume since Lockerby bit him. If he timed it right, he could have some before she woke up. The picture in his minds eye of bloody meat was disturbingly appetizing. He made a stop at the market and stowed his purchase in the back of Kate's refrigerator before taking up his post at Sânge.

In Kate's absence, Castle had prepared to fill his time in the car. Using voice recognition software, he dictated Nikki Heat's adventures into his laptop. The software was far from perfect and he knew he'd have to correct what were sometimes mind-blowing errors later, but editing was easier than writing and getting the work done would have the added advantage of keeping Gina off his back. There was only one woman he wanted front, back, or anywhere in-between, and that was Kate. Most of the night passed without incident, but quickly.

The opening of the door at three-thirty A.M. was startling, immediately interrupting Castle's flow of gritty dialogue. He pulled off his headset and watched as a figure crept into the darkness. Not wanting to alert his quarry by starting the motor of the car, Castle decided to follow on foot. Clutching his pepper spray, he stayed as far back as he could while still keeping the figure in sight.

The trail led to a brokerage house where the traders were arriving for the opening of the Asian stock markets. Castle's target hid in the shadows while the traders made their way inside, until moving on a lone late arrival, a limping white haired man. Castle began to run as the victim was knocked to the ground. Arriving just before teeth could meet neck, he pulled the attacker off. Castle's opponent flew at him enraged. Castle sprayed him, but was close enough to inhale the vapors himself. Choking, Castle fought to subdue the still struggling man, using the techniques Beckett had drilled into him to get the attacker down on the ground and restrained with a plastic tie. Still coughing, Castle sat on the would be bloodsucker and pulled out his phone to call Kate.

Marked units beat Kate to the scene, despite her full employment of siren and gumball. She jumped out of her unit to join Castle, who was giving a uni his account. "You all right Babe?"

Castle smiled in surprise at the endearment, the first one he'd ever heard leave her mouth. "Couldn't be better," he replied, a rasp edging his words. He pointed at his prisoner, now in the back of a squad car. "Can't wait to hear what that one has to say."

Other than stating he was allergic to sunlight and demanding a lawyer, Castle's collar had nothing to say at all. "He needs blood," Castle told Kate, watching the increasingly agitated man through the mesh of the windowless holding cell. "Give him time, when he's desperate enough, he'll talk."

"And you need to get undercover before the sun comes up," Beckett reminded him. "I'll make sure the paperwork moves slowly. He'll be safe in there. If he's anything like you, he'll probably sleep and have his lawyer arrive tonight. Maybe you can sit in on the interrogation."

Castle drew an unsteady breath. "I hope I'm not much like him. The man he attacked was disabled and wasn't even bleeding. And you could use some rest too. I woke you hours before you should have been up."

"I'll sack out on Captain Montgomery's couch. And I'll call you if anything happens."

"All right," Castle agreed, looking around before quickly squeezing Beckett's hand. "See you later."

"See you later," Beckett repeated.

Castle returned to Kate's apartment and pulled a piece of raw steak out of the refrigerator to eat before taking his new pills. "At least," he thought grimly, savoring the fresh blood too much for his own peace of mind, "Kate isn't here to watch this."