For the Dead Travel Fast

—-xxx—-

The first run was a success.

They had plotted it out, made a couple passes in the parking lot to be sure they knew the lay of the land, and rehearsed their actions out loud. Kate was to go for pain reliever, trail mix, and dried fruits, while Castle would clean out the cold drinks fridge; they each had leeway to snag something that looked particularly helpful.

They had parked at the farthest edge of the row of spaces, near the outside men's bathroom door (gas station bathroom, he had gagged) and the smell had been near-crippling for Castle—she could tell—but he hadn't complained, simply stayed right on her heels as they power-walked to the door. They'd executed perfectly, ninety seconds flat, and were back in the car without incident, loaded up for the next leg of their journey.

Castle was driving. He had convinced her he was capable of pulling over should the phase fall on him suddenly, but she hadn't much objection. She was weary to the bone, and she knew she needed to catch up on sleep if they were going to drive straight through.

While he adjusted the mirrors with faint obsessive touches at the controls (despite his presets ostensibly being perfect), Kate cracked open a cold bottle of vitamin-enhanced water and washed down some dried prunes which should help with the heme iron absorption. She tilted her seat back a little to recline, ease the strain on her neck from her tension, and pulled her knees up to take the pressure off her ribs.

She felt the scar under her breast where the wound was closing up, on its way to healed. The other gunshot wounds, by comparison, were barely a glimmer on her consciousness, but she was reminded of her limitations rather sharply right about now.

Castle was still messing with the console, though now she realized he had bought an audio cd inside the convenience store. "What's that?" she said, craning her neck.

"No, don't ruin the surprise," he said, gesturing her away as he increased the volume. The text display would tell her soon enough, but she subsided, even closed her eyes, willing to be surprised.

It took a minute, and maybe she drifted for some of that, but when the low tones of the narrator started with the opening lines of Dracula, she had to laugh. "Is it not a little on the nose, Rick Castle?"

"Come on. I also found one of mine."

"You didn't!" She laughed and opened her eyes, gripping his forearm on the console. "Which?"

"Guess."

"Rose for Ever After."

"How'd you know?"

She smiled to herself. "Publisher over-estimated the run. So you see it everywhere, in the bargain bins, lots of wholesalers and—"

Castle made a rude noise and stopped up his ears, began humming loudly until she stopped. "I'm not listening, la la la, I'm not listening."

Kate giggled and slapped at his shoulder, settled down in her seat as he slowly lowered his hands. "Such a child," she murmured.

"Don't ruin my happy bubble," he shot back. "You could have just said you saw it too."

"Okay, sure, babe. I saw it in there too." She was smiling even as she sipped her water, contemplating the day, the Nebraska countryside, the thrum of the interstate, their chances for success. The Dracula narrator was doing his utmost to sound like a frigid day in October, but she was too content for it to penetrate. "That went well," she said finally.

"Yeah, we make a good team."

The sound of the car on the blacktop was a soothing white noise, but she fought it a bit longer. "Feel more confident we can make it to Utah."

"I'm 100% confident," he said.

"When we get close to the lake," she started. But it was weird how even saying it, she didn't know what came next. A big blank where something was supposed to go.

"Yeah?"

"That's just it. I have no idea."

"We can use our burner phones to look for a place to rent," he said. "I mean, before we get there. So we go straight to wherever we're going to hole up."

She blinked. "Oh. Yeah, we could."

"I figure we could use Hayley's credit card again."

"The company card," she said, nodding slowly. "I… had been worried about securing lodging without a credit card. We'll have to show ID."

"Only if we're desperate and forced to get a hotel room. If it's bed and breakfast or a guy renting out his cabin, that's a different story, Kate."

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah. I've done it before. Hell, I did it at Tahoe a couple times for a this—" He hastily shut his mouth, shook his head. "Never mind that. But it happens a lot. No luxury tax if you're renting out your parents' winter home or lake cottage."

"Good point," she said, nodding. But she laid her hand lightly on top of his elbow where he was resting it on the center console as he drove. "Tahoe, huh?"

He colored. "It was nothing."

"Mm. Now I'm sure it was something."

"It really wasn't. A woman from the fan club, decade or so back."

They were both surprised by the rough snarl that sprung from her throat, Kate no less so than Castle, and she hastily swallowed a mouthful of water as if she could wash it down.

Castle chuckled, loosening his hold on the steering wheel. "Really."

"Shut up," she muttered, her cheeks heating.

"No, I get it."

"It's the vampire, I think."

"Although, I was quite flattered when we first got together and you were definitely jealous and touchy about the fans."

She scowled.

"In fact, you were less than pleased by the weather forecaster who—"

"She put her boobs in your face!"

"Many women have—"

"Maybe you shouldn't," she snarled.

He laughed, big and wide, giving her a look so pleased with himself that she could've hit him for it. But he wasn't wrong exactly.

"Okay, so I might have a natural possessive streak," she gritted out. "But it's not jealousy. You're mine, and she thought you were no one's."

His lips twitched, but she looked away, huffing to herself because he wasn't wrong. The vampire lichen perhaps enhanced that too, but they were equally possessive of each other.

"You know," he said slowly. If he teased her about it, she would hit him. "This brings up an interesting point."

"Oh, does it?" she snapped.

He laughed. "Hang on now. Look. If you and I both are finicky about who touches, who gets close, then there might be something to that. An actual vampire trait, I mean, for the survival of the species. Remember the woman with her pet?"

"You keep bringing that up," she muttered.

"It made an impression," he shot back. "I don't know if you noticed at the time, but her husband, the pet she had?, he was not happy about the idea of sharing like she was."

"Was he not?" She couldn't remember much about the man, actually. "The dog was distracting me."

"I was fairly certain, at the time, that the man wouldn't have liked it much, but he'd have gone along, had been going along. Made himself want it, plastering on the look."

"But she wanted to share," Kate reminded him. "You."

"Yeah, but… think of it in terms of power. She was the stronger, she had the power. She didn't mind sharing her pet, the man, because he wasn't powerful. She was looking to land you by way of sharing him, really."

"I don't follow," she said slowly.

"It's power dynamics on a very basic level. She was a powerful vampire but she saw you and saw a more powerful vampire. She was willing to share to get a taste of your power. But you, being the more powerful, naturally wasn't willing to share."

"Castle," she growled. "I wasn't willing to share because you are my husband."

"No, I know that," he said, waving it away like it was nothing here. "But the point is that—"

She snatched that dismissive hand and crushed his fingers—just a little—in her grip. "No, that is entirely the point. I've told you before. This is it for me. One. And. Done."

He gaped at her a little, shut his mouth and turned his eyes back on the road. She could see him thinking furiously as he tried to reclaim his point. She let him squirm and offered nothing.

"Jealousy," he said finally. "Possession. Vampirism naturally enhanced your monogamy, yes, your natural value system, but it also did for me—which isn't, or hasn't been the case—"

"Castle," she clipped. "If you're about to tell me you're not naturally monogamist, I will bite you."

"You have already," he laughed. His cheeks were flushed when he flipped his hand in her grip and brought her knuckles to his mouth for a soft kiss. No teeth. "Don't let my lack of pretty words put you off the idea here, Kate. The hope."

"What hope?" she said crossly.

"That most vampires react with possession and jealousy over their mates or partners. The hope that they don't want someone else tapping those veins, or someone else's blood in their mouths. Only the deranged have actually gone after us. That's what I'm getting at."

"Oh," she said, scowling at him. "Why didn't you just say that."

"You seem to prefer to have a bit more evidence when I make my case."

"Evidence?" she scoffed. "When has that ever stopped you before?"

—-xxx—-