Doppelgänger 6
Snohbal needed to figure out exactly what she'd stolen from her previous home. It was highly unlikely that they would ever be able to chase her down after he realized he had been robbed. Still she needed to be careful. She chose one of the books first.
At first glance, this book appears to be covered in rather old leather with two newer leather straps holding the book closed. Upon further investigation, the leather binding on this book is actually human skin. The book contains 100 pages. Each page is an extradimensional space within the covers of the book. The first two pages contain the tools required to harvest samples from the creatures that are to be logged within the book. The tools that are contained within include: a narrow sharp knife for skinning, a small hatchet, a hollow section of dragon bone that has been sharpened for collecting liquid samples, a writing utensil, and goggles that enhance the wearer's vision to a distance of three feet. Each additional set of pages are broken down into four sections as follows.
Section 1: Contains drawings of the creature and the name of that creature.
Section 2: Contains a detailed description of that creature including physical characteristics and how that creature behaves in and out of combat.
Section 3: Contains small leather straps to hold physical samples from the creature (examples: skin, claws, hair, teeth, etc.).
Section 4: Contains eight vials to store liquid samples from the creature (examples: blood, saliva, urine, etc.).
Snohbal was really shocked when she opened the next book. It didn't actually have pages inside it. It turned out to be hollow and held a number of small crystals along with a description of each one.
1. The Crystal Parrot does have a clear and genuinely useful purpose – you turn it on, and it watches over the room in which you've set it. If intruders come in, the parrot sends you a telepathic message that you have uninvited guests.
2. The Crystal Owl communicates with its owner by telepathic means, informing her of all it sees and hears.
3. The Golden Lions become normal adult male lions that follow your commands.
4. Ruby Raven can be used to send a message over any distance on the same plane of existence to any single person.
5. Diamond Stick of Rain can summon a thunderstorm complete with balls of hail the size of a marble.
6. Dizzy Crystal will make everyone around the user dizzy within a 60 foot radius so long as they remain in the area of affect. The user is immune to the effect.
Snohbal wasn't sure what they could be used for, but they might come in very handy. She had been expecting a book, not items. Still she moved on to the third of four books.
The Sibylline Book containsprophecies which are consulted in times of danger and disaster.
"Predictions of the future." Snohbal was interested to know if she was anywhere in this book. Problem was it was thick and as she turned pages to take a look it was proving to be far more difficult than she thought.
The first page she could read since she understood the language in which it was written. The next 16 pages were written in a language she didn't understand. Then it changed to yet another language that fortunately she understood just enough to read it.
She didn't have time for this so she moved to the last book. So far she was happy with what she had stolen but wasn't sure how useful any of them were going to be to her.
Snohbal moved on to the next book. This one looked a little thicker than any of the others which made her wonder what was in it. Turning it open to the first page she quickly found that it unfolded and she had buildings, lamp posts and other things. It even had these towers on stilts on top of a few of the buildings.
She was puzzled because none of these buildings looked anything like the buildings in her home. For one they didn't have lamp posts and none of her buildings were built using brick. Plus there was a lot of glass. Turning to the next page, up popped some really tall buildings, one even had what she thought was a silver top. "This makes no sense." The rest of the book was more of the same. It even included bridges and what looked like entrances to tunnels. "Where is this?" Snohbal said to herself and sucked in a breath when suddenly words showed up that hadn't been there before.
Brooklyn
This word suddenly hit her with a memory of Kate Beckett. "This is this city or at least a part of it." She turned back a few pages. "Where is this?" She watched in amazement as a new word appeared.
Queens
"The book is this city! How is that possible?" She didn't know of anyone who had been here. Granted she'd kept to herself as much as possible so she didn't know that many people, but still, this was amazing. As interesting as it was, what good was it? What could she possibly use it for? She sighed and closed the book. She would play with it when she had more time.
Next was the globe she'd found. It was small with a wooden base. Inside it was what she thought to be a fist-sized blue-white gem that had tentacles reaching out from it and touching the side of the globe when she placed a finger against the globe.
Looking all over it, even the bottom, garnered her nothing. She placed a tentative finger against the glass and watched as a blue pulse came from the center and danced at her fingertip. Since it didn't hurt and she didn't feel any different, she placed her entire hand on it. Her touch caused most of the blue tentacles to pulse and shimmer. Still she didn't feel or sense anything different.
Since she felt no need to keep looking at what she had, she left it for now.
Next was the dagger – the prize that she had gone there for in the first place. She had heard stories about it from overhearing others talk. If what they said was to be believed this might be the most powerful thing she had ever owned. Not that it used to be hers but was now.
She didn't think of herself as being evil even if stealing might be thought of as being an evil act. However, the person that had owned it now held a little less power which she saw as a good thing.
She picked it up and studied it closely. Some items required a command word to activate others just needed you to use it. Some did things simply because you had it in hand or on your person. It wasn't that big but she didn't know where to hide it on her person all day long. "Maybe a scabbard strapped to my leg. Instead of the gun that's there now?" Snohbal reached down her leg where she had attached the holder the held the gun.
"The other leg maybe?" she wondered. Now she needed a place to get the scabbard for it. "Where do you get a scabbard for it to attach to my leg?" she questioned out loud. Suddenly she saw a glow coming from the pages of the last book at which she'd looked.
She opened it and flipped pages until she saw the spot that was glowing. "Where is this?" Snohbal asked it and was rewarded with a building's name and an address.
She started smiling and laughter bubbled up. "It will show me where what I want is." Maybe this book was going to come in handy after all.
Now that she had somewhere to go she went back to the dagger. The stories said an actual Red Dragon was inside it and when called forth would serve you and do as commanded. Calling it forth now would not be a good idea. For one this place was probably way too small for it and calling for it now would destroy it. "I definitely need that scabbard." She now had a bodyguard of sorts. Since she shied away from actual physical combat she now had a dragon who was all physical combat. That pleased her greatly.
She was finished with what she had come here with save for a few personal items and some food that was in her bags. Along with a little bit of coin from her world.
She was in what Kate was calling a living room. Next to it was a kitchen. "Food." It reminded her that she was starving since she had only eaten a snack back on a landing with stairs.
She started opening cabinets and found a number of things, none of which was really food. They were mostly utensils to cook or eat with. Opening a larger container she was in shock. "It's cold inside." She closed it only to reopen it. "Still cold."
Inside she found a number of white containers. She pulled the first one out, looked at it, and sniffed. "EWW!" She threw in the sink behind her.
In under a minute the refrigerator was empty and the sink was full. "What in the world did she eat? I'm not eating that crap." She needed to get rid of it all since it was starting to stink up the place. She remembered seeing something and soon she had a white bag filled with what she'd tossed in the sink inside it and tied it closed. "Now where does it go?" She didn't want it staying here. The stench would be terrible.
Somehow she knew it was outside, out back. She walked past the bag that was still on the floor, down the elevator and out the back door where she found an alley and threw it in a dumpster where all the other trash looked to be.
Once back upstairs and in her space, she picked up the bag and took into into the living room. Curious as to what was inside it she opened it and started pulling out its contents. Snohbal's eyes went wide at some of it. For a reason that escaped her some of it was sexy and she was dying to see what she looked like wearing some of it.
She was holding up the corset, the likes of which she had never seen before. She fell back against the sofa as the memories hit her. "SEX, she was planning on having sex. Lots of sex… but with whom?" The idea of having sex with someone was one thing she was very, very interested in. Right up until she remembered what happened to those she kissed.
"CASTLE!" He was the man she was in love with but scared of at the same time. That made no sense. Bags like that one were used for travel. To go somewhere and either stay or take something to another person. Based on what was in the bag and how strongly Kate Beckett felt about Castle, she was betting Kate Beckett had been planning to go over to his place.
Snohbal sighed heavily. "Where does Castle live?" It was likely in her memory somewhere. But then her map started to glow and she opened that page. It was there she saw his name and his address. "Okay, then where am I?" she asked it and had to change pages to see where she was located. "Too far to walk, can't use my wings… Another yellow vehicle. Is that the only way to get around?" Unfortunately the map didn't answer her question.
She wondered what was she going to do with Castle. Kate was obviously in love and they had clearly had had sex. While the prospect of loving someone and having sex was certainly appealing, reality crept in. "I'll kill him if I kiss him." She feared she would drain him dry. "Maybe a single kiss every year?" Yeah, it even sounded stupid to her. "So much for searching out Castle." Snohbal came to the conclusion she was going to stay alone.
*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/X\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*\/x\/*\/\/*
Rick had found an office and what looked like a bedroom, both of which were clearly masculine looking. The rest of the place had a few feminine touches spread out all over. He was betting this Rick's, Alexis, and his mother were the contributors of this.
Still it was a good place to study. He set up his reader and started reading what he had downloaded of this Rick's memories.
"HE… I mean, I'M a writer? Well, fuck." He figured he was so dead. What did he know about writing? He was a hunter. Since he had no choice really he went back to reading. He was learning and trying to remember everything.
"I work for the police?!" That sounded a lot more like him. This was something he could get behind big time. Then he groaned. "I'm only an unpaid consultant for the 12th precinct." Suddenly his happiness at the prospect of working for law enforcement just took a big hit.
"I work with Roy Montgomery, Kevin Ryan, Javier Esposito, and Kate Beckett." Suddenly he was inundated with information on Kate Beckett. He was going to hate this part but he had done it a few times before. He took out the terminal and attached it to his temple. He winced in pain since it always hurt. But it was faster and easier to learn and remember.
Katherine Houghton Beckett. Homicide Detective for the New York Police Department.
"She's gorgeous!" Rick commented as pictures and even movies were sent to his brain. "He loves her yet fears her rejection of him. Why…" Just who was Richard Castle? Was he that big of an ass?
"They work together to solve murders. They've saved each others lives. He loves her!" Suddenly he saw a naked Kate Beckett through the eyes of Richard Castle as he made love to her. "He doesn't just love her he thinks of her as being a queen, a goddess even. Extraordinary!" He could hear and feel the word over and over again.
"He's writing books based on her and the work and life she lives." That was a shock. It also made him wonder how she felt about being immortalized in a book.
Rick was immersed in understanding this Rick. "Hi Dad. Dad... DAD!" Alexis didn't recognize the box on his desk but the wire leading to his head gave the impression that he was listening to something and was zoned out, not even aware she was there.
He snapped his head around to face her and yanked the terminal off his head. "ALEXIS!" He recognized her immediately. "Blessed universe! She looks so much like my Alexis." He couldn't believe the resemblance. Maybe if they stood side by side he could pick out his, but holy…
Alexis tilted her head. "Dad?" He didn't usually yell at her. Not even when she was little. Had she shocked him that much? Or was he listening to something he shouldn't be? Knowing her father it was likely the latter.
"You caught me by surprise. How was your trip?" He quickly remembered the note she had left him.
"It was good, we found the books we needed for our project at school." Alexis was happy about that. "What were you listening to?" She was curious. Her father preferred reading to listening, unless maybe it was music.
"SHIT! How did he explain he was listening to her dead father's memories?"
"Audio book… It sounded interesting." Actually learning about his new life was rather interesting.
"It must be if you zoned out on it. I'm going to bed since I'll be up really early tomorrow to start work on our project. Don't forget we're going to the Hamptons this weekend. Grams is already there." It was another reason to start really early. She wanted to make sure she was free to go to the Hamptons and spend it with her grandmother and her dad.
"Hamptons." He needed to do a search of his memories on the Hamptons. "Maybe." Rick decided to be noncommittal.
Alexis turned her head since she didn't like the sound of that. "Did you and Detective Beckett catch a case?" It was the only thing she could think of that would keep him in the city. He loved the house in the Hamptons as much as she did.
"Not yet." Another noncommittal response.
"Maybe you can invite her if you don't catch a case." Alexis knew her father was falling in love with the homicide detective. If she was asked to tell the truth, she kind of hoped he was. But Kate didn't appear to be interested in her father that way. Honestly the detective was starting to piss her off over how she treated her father.
"Perhaps." Actually after knowing that the two of them had had sex thoughts of what what she would look like in a tiny swimsuit ran through his head. Granted he had seen her naked, but he wanted to see just how sexy she truly was.
Alexis walked right up to his desk. "Dad, please don't let her hurt you. Detective Beckett can be nice, but… Don't let her mess with you." Don't let her hurt you and let her get away with it.
"You'd be willing to let her come?" Rick needed to know what she thought. He could already guess Kate would jump at the chance to come, based on what he knew.
"Of course. I know Grams likes her. It'll be good to see her when she's not working." Alexis wanted to find out what kind of person she was when not at work or thinking about work. Was she willing to be a part of their family? If not, her dad needed to dump her before he got hurt.
"Then I'll be sure to ask her." Oh, he was going to ask her all right. The not taking no for an answer kind of asking.
"Good…. I may not see you in the morning. Have a nice day chasing down killers." Alexis smiled at him and if he was close enough she would kiss his cheek. Instead she turned and headed for her room.
Rick relaxed and let out a breath. As first meetings go it wasn't that bad. He decided that he would need to spend the night going over and being a part of this Rick's memories. If Alexis could almost trip him up he could only imagine what others who knew him could do.
Plus he needed to learn how to write since that was going to be his new vocation. He speculated as to how much time this Rick spent writing and how much time he spent with the local law enforcement.
"Talk about a steep learning curve." He wondered just when he would screw up. Telling them that their Rick was dead and he was Rick now was out of the question. If this Alexis was anything like his Alexis, she and maybe others would be shattered at the news. Even worse they would shun him and maybe throw him out.
"Back to it," he told himself and grimaced from the pain when he reattached the terminal to his temple. He needed to learn a lot.