Disclaimer: Castle and all of its characters belong to Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Productions.

Previously in Situational Control:

"C-Castle," She stammered between gasps for air. "You...he didn't scratch you." Castle quirked a brow curiously.

"What? What do you mean?" He whispered, suddenly finding it hard to summon the words.

"He didn't scratch you." She stood and helped him to his feet before leading him into the bathroom. She lifted his shirt so that he could look at the wound that was gouged out of his tanned skin. Castle let out a choked cry himself. "He bit you."

And now...

"He b...bit me?" He stammered, tearing the shirt over his head and spining so that he could see it in the bathroom mirror more accurately. Sure enough, there was a clearly visible bite mark deep into the flesh of his back. The skin around the bite was already darkened to a deep purple color, and an bright, angry red color. The skin was scorching hot when he pressed his shaking fingers to it. "Holy shit..." He breathed pulling his fingers away and looking at them, blood covering his fingertips.

"Castle, what are we going to do?" Beckett whispered, her hand touching his bicep gently. She barely noticed that his skin had a film of grimy sweat covering it. He thought a moment before reaching to the waist band of his pants and handed her his service weapon.

"You've got to shoot me, Kate." He whispered softly, leaning in so that she was the only one that could hear him.

"I...no. No!" She barked, stepping away from him as if what he'd said had burned her. "I can't!" Castle sighed and turned to everyone else.

"Can you give us a minute?" The others nodded cautiously and stepped out, shutting the bathroom door behind them. "Kate...you've got to. You know what's going to happen to me if you don't. I don't want to become one of them, Kate. I can't. That provides the oppourtunity for me to end up hurting you and I don't want that." He whispered, his hands falling on the sides of her face and forcing her to look at him.

"Cas...Rick. I can't. I'm not going to kill you. There's no way. Maybe it won't happen to you. Maybe you'll be different, you never know." She replied, her shaky arms slipping around his shoulders, holding him tightly to her. They stayed that way for longer than either of them had anticipated, her face buried into the crook of his neck, and his nose nuzzled into her hair. It was only when Castle inhaled a deep breath, and the scent of metallic blood filled his nose that he allowed himself to pull away. He took another deep breath, trying to pinpoint the location of the scent.

"Do you smell that?" He scowled, glancing around the room and wrinkling his nose.

"Smell what? I don't smell anything, Rick."

"It smells like...pennies. It's a metallic smell...blood, maybe..." He spoke in broken half sentences, not really able to focus on one particular thought. Kate furrowed her brow as she watched him, his eyes darting around the room like a caged animal. She gasped when she caught his gaze, the normal intense blue was flecked with bright yellow.

"Rick...I think it's happening. We need to get you out there so we can figure something out." She whispered and he nodded slowly, following her out of the bathroom and into the living room. The windows rattled and quaked with the slow, methodic knocks of the...things that were outside the door. "Goodwin, we've got a problem." She snarled, keeping a wary eye on Castle, who was bracing himself against the wall unsteadily.

"What's going on?" He stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of Castle. His chest was heaving, his breathing ragged and unsteady, and a sound that was suspiciously close to a growl eminated from low in his throat. "Oh, shit...it's started. Come with me, we need to move quickly." He bolted back down the stairs, everyone else hot on his heels, and crossed the dingy basement to a section of wall. He pressed the wall and a panel slid open, revealing a bright white room with a metal chair welded to the floor in the middle of the room. Black, leather straps hung from the arms and legs of the chair, and across the room there was a large window and door leading into a small observation room.

"What the hell is this?" Castle heaved, his words short and ragged.

"This is the oservation chamber. We needed a way to contain and regulate the experiments. Captain Castle, we're going to need you to sit in this chair." Castle nodded and slid into the cold, metal chair and allowing Goodwin to strap him into the chair. His head begun spinning, turning the room on its ear. His stomach rebelled angrily and he turned his head away, spilling the contents of his stomach onto the cement floor. "That's how it starts. You can't keep anything down but you can't quell the hunger that seems like its eating you alive." As if on cue, his stomach twisted in pain, and he called out in agony, leaning forward as much as the chair would allow. His eyes screwed shut in pain as the dagger-like claws of a scream tore at the back of his throat.

Beckett covered her face with her hands, unable to watch the scene unfolding before her, but when she pulled her hands away and Castle allowed his eyes to open, the sinnister laugh that bubbled out of his throat was enough to have her stomach tied in knots. His eyes had morphed completely yellow, reminding her of the colored contacts some of the perps that she'd arrested had been wearing. He pulled at the abrasive leather straps, his jaw snapping like a rabid dog at all of them. His teeth sunk into his tongue and blood dripped off the curve of his chin onto his shirt in seemingly slow motion. They all looked at him in horror.

Captain Richard Castle had become a monster.

I'm sorry that this is so short, but I really feel like a bum for not updating this sooner. Hopefully I will be able to update this sooner, and with longer updates. For now, this is what I got. Thoughts? Reactions? Suggestions? Drop me a review and let me know.

Much love, J. Rook