AN: I had an episode planned out for this chapter, but I didn't get to it in time. So I came up with this little thing. I have to go on hiatus for about a month and a half, but I'll be back sometime in August, hopefully. Thank's to everyone for following, favoriting, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy. Don't forget to Review. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.

Seven

"Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin, ring ting tinglin to... Come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you... The snow is fallin and friends are callin "you who." Come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you..." I sang as I went into the kitchen of Castle's apartment.

"Are you going to be singing that all winter long, Em?" My aunt asked me.

"Maybe... But at least I didn't start before Halloween, like some people," I said as I looked over at Castle who was drinking coffee.

"Hey, it's not my fault they started to put up the Christmas displays early. I just can't help it, once the spirit of Christmas hits, I'm all in," Castle said.

"Well, as long as you two keep your caroling to a minimum, I'm okay with that," my aunt said.

"Okay, Scrooge."

"Bah humbug."

We chuckled and I asked, "Hey, aunt Kate?"

"What's up, Em?"

"Can I go to the mall with Mike and Leon today?"

"Yeah, sure... Just make sure you bundle up and stay out of trouble.".

"I always stay out of trouble."

"Yeah right... I always have to worry about you and Castle getting into something."

"Hey, I don't get into that much trouble," Castle said.

"Sure you don't."

"I dont."

I laughed at him and then my aunt's phone rang. She picked it up and Castle leaned into her, so he could hear what was going on. My aunt pushed him away from the phone with her hand and said, "Yeah, I got it. We'll be their in ten."

She hung up and Castle asked, "Do we have a murder?"

"Yes, a double homicide at a mechanic shop."

"Ooh, so much fun."

Aunt Kate rolled her eyes and said, "let's go," before turning to me and said, "Don't get into any trouble and don't stay out to late."

"I know... I know. I'll be back by dinner time," I said.

"Okay, I'll see you later."

"Bye mini Beckett," Castle said with a wave goodbye.

I waved bye to my aunt and uncle, and got my breakfast before meeting up with my friends.

I was at the mall with Mike and Leon and we started window shopping for things our family might like and what we might like.

"Ooh... Check it out," Mike said as he squished his face against the window of the electronic shop we were at.

"It's the new games system everyone's been talking about," Leon said.

"It's like 500 dollars," I said.

"Bet your uncle can get it for you?"

"Probably, but why should I get the new one when the old one is just a year and a half old."

"Uh duh... Because the graphics are higher quality and I heard this new one has some sweet new features. Man... Gaming at it's finest," Mike said.

"That's definitely true. Man, I'd kill for that system," I raised a brow at Leon and he reiterated his sentence carefully, "You know what I mean... I'd do anything for it."

We laughed at him and I said, "I know what you mean. But I bet in just a year or two they'll come out with something better."

"More than likely, but I'll probably want that too... Keeping up with the joneses, am I right?"

"yeah, yeah... Let's just go before you guys want to raid the whole store."

"Okay..." Mike said with a pout.

We started walking through the mall again and Mike asked, "Hey Em, is it okay if Leon and I go check something out?"

"Why can't I come?" I asked looking at Mike questionably.

"It's no reason... I just... It's just a surprise, okay?"

"All right... All right, I was just messing with you."

Mike got all flustered and his brother started laughing at him.

"Shut up," Mike said as he pushed his brother.

Leon tried to cover up his laughter, but it was still coming out as small chuckles.

"Anyway, you two go do whatever you're doing, and I'll go use the restroom," I said.

"Okay, we'll meet back here in ten," Leon said.

"Sure thing."

We both went our separate ways and I headed to the restrooms.

When I reached the hallway of the bathrooms, I found a couple arguing by the fire exit. As I approached, I made sure I stayed low and hid behind a steel garbage can by a bench. Thankfully it was large enough to cover me from view, and I continued to watch the couple from the shadows.

"Get away from me... You're a psycho," the lady said.

"I'm just doing what they tell me..." He said as he took out a blade.

"Please..." She started, but was cut off by the man stabbing her in the abdomen several times.

She dropped to the floor and he quickly took off, leaving through the fire exit's door. I waited until he was fully out of sight and made my way over to the woman. I dropped to her side and she took several ragged breaths. She reached for my hand and I took it, not wanting her to be alone.

"S... Se..." she started to say.

"What?" I asked her, not knowing what she was trying to say.

"Seven..."

Her eyes went wide as she took her final breath, and then she closed her eyes, her body going still. I looked at her lifeless body and wondered what seven meant.

Several minutes later, the police arrived at the mall. They shut the whole place down for the rest of the day because of this bizarre incident. I was standing with my aunt and Uncle by the body and she said, "How does this always happen?"

"It's not my fault I always come across a murder," I said.

She sighed and said, "I know... But it seems like you and Castle always have death gravitating around you."

"Eh... Makes us sound like we're Grim Reapers," Castle said.

Ryan and Esposito came over and Esposito chimed in, "Well, you two kind of are... I mean, how many bodies dropped between the two of you since you started hanging out here."

"Guess you have a point."

"Well whatever the case may be, we have a murder to solve," my aunt turned to me and asked, "Did you see anything that could be helpful, Em?

"No, the man who was here never turned... And he was wearing a black hoodie, so I only heard his voice," I said.

"All right... And there was nothing else?"

"Actually... There was one thing."

"What was it?" Castle asked, anticipation written all over his face.

"She said Seven."

Castle went from giddy to confused in a heartbeat.

"Seven? Seriously?" My aunt asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"What does that even mean?" Ryan asked, looking just as confused as everyone else.

"I got it..." Castle said with a smirk on his face.

"Here we go," Esposito said.

"Here me out... Seven... Seven days... Like that horror movie. Emily only has seven days to live."

"That's the worst theory ever," I said to him.

"What? Why? It makes sense."

"I don't want to die in seven days."

"You're not going to die, Em. I'm pretty sure there is a more logical explanation for all this," my aunt said.

"Yeah, like part of a license plate number, phone number, or PO Box," Ryan said.

"Exactly... Now let's see what we can dig up," my aunt said.

Back at the precinct we were all gathered around the investigation board, trying to figure out what took place at that mall. While we were all looking at the board with puzzled faces, aunt Kate's phone buzzed with a message. She looked at it and said, "Lanie said she found some things that might be important."

"Okay, you guys go check it out. Ryan and I will go survey the the footage we retrieved from the malls security cameras," Esposito said.

"All right."

We left the room and went down to see Lanie. There were a few bodies on the slabs down in the morgue and Castle said, "You sure are busy."

"She's my fourth one in two days. But she is my first murder victim though. This guy was just discovered this morning in his house."

"Natural causes?" Aunt Kate asked.

"Yeah... His house was filled with items. A class A hoarder. I'm surprised he could even live in that kind of condition for as long as he did."

"Wow... Isn't that crazy," Castle said.

"Sure is."

"So... What do you have on our murder victim?" Aunt Kate asked.

"Not to much, just some bruising and a note in her back pocket. But other than that, Monica didn't have much else to offer."

"Can I see the note?"

"Mm-hmm," she said as she handed over the note in a plastic bag.

We all looked at the note and it said "SEVEN" in big squiggly handwriting.

"Another seven... What does this mean?" Castle asked.

"I honestly don't know, but it has to have some meaning of importance," my aunt said.

"That's true..."

"I got it," I said.

"Oh no..." my aunt said with a sigh.

"No it's good. Think about it... Seven... Seven deadly sins."

"I honestly don't know who's theory is worse."

"Wait, she might be on to something," Castle said with a smirk.

"That guy died recently inside a house with piles of stuff, Greed. This lady was killed by a man, Wrath," I said explaining my theory.

"How do you even know about the seven deadly sins?" my aunt asked me.

"A short story in school... We had to read it and write an essay on what seven deadly sin we think we have."

Castle put on the goofy grin he wears when he's excited about something and said, "This is awesome."

"Castle, it's not the seven deadly sins. It's just a coincidence."

"But shouldn't we give it a shot though. Look into this old mans past and see if he has a son or something, that may or may not link to our dead girl."

"Okay, fine. We'll look into it," she turned to Lanie and said, "Thanks, if you find anything else, let us know."

"You got it," Lanie said.

We went back to Aunt Kate's desk, and Esposito and Ryan made their way over to us.

"Find anything?" Aunt Kate asked.

"Not at first," Ryan started, then Esposito picked it up, "But after not finding a good angle inside the mall, we found our suspect entering a vehicle."

"He went right past the the security camera outside and we got a clear license plate number," Ryan finished as he handed over a folder.

"Lucifer Allen... In and out of mental health facilities and spent two years in prison for aggravated assault," my aunt said as she looked over the file.

"Yeah. Says he's living in the Bronx at The Purgatory apartment complex," Ryan said.

"Do you guys not here this?" Castle asked.

"What?" My aunt asked.

"His name is Lucifer... He lives in The Purgatory apartments... The seven deadly sins are real."

"Come on dude... That stuff isn't real. This guy probably watched the movie Se7en way to many times," Esposito said.

"Maybe..."

"Okay... You two check it out and see if you can find him. I'm going to check up on some things," Aunt Kate said.

"You got it boss," Ryan said as he and Esposito left.

A little while later, Aunt Kate came back with some papers in her hand and said, "So, I did some research on our potential suspect."

"And...?" Castle and I asked with anticipation.

"And... Lucifer is the son of our dead hoarder, Rafael Allen."

"So it is the seven deadly sins," Castle said with excitement.

"No, it means it's just a coincidence... There are still five of the sins missing."

Ryan and Esposito came into the precinct, dragging a man with unruly blond curly hair with them roughly.

"Come on man... Can't I just give my statement at home?" the guy asked, and I noticed he was still wearing his pajamas.

Castle leaned over to aunt Kate and said, "Sloth."

I was in the observation room with Aunt Kate and Castle, as we watched Esposito and Ryan interrogate the man.

"So Billy, you're Lucifer's roommate?" Esposito asked.

"What? Who are you talking about?" Billy asked.

"You don't know this man?" Ryan asked as he placed a photo in front of him.

"Wait, Luci? His full name is Lucifer?"

"Um... You didn't know?"

"No, He always made me call him Luci. Didn't know, bro."

"Have you noticed anything strange?" Esposito asked.

"Nah... I mean, his father died the other day... So he was pretty hung up on that."

"But nothing else?" Ryan asked.

The guy thought for a second before saying, "Nope... But I mean, I was pretty out of it every time we hung out."

"Do you know this woman?" Esposito asked as he placed another picture down.

"Oh my god... That's Monica Ruiz, she was Luci's ex-girlfriend. What happened?"

"She was murderd Billy... We think it might be your roommate."

"Yo, I swear I had nothing to do with this. I don't even know where he is."

"We understand... But are you sure you have no idea where Lucifer can be?" Ryan asked.

"He could be with his new girlfriend. Her name is Jasmine... Jasmine Smythe."

"Do you know where she lives?" Esposito asked.

"No... I don't get out of the house much."

"All right... Thanks for your help," Ryan said.

They found Jasmine's address and brought her in for questioning. There was still no sign of Lucifer, and frankly, I don't want to meet him. My aunt Kate and Castle were interogating her and I was watching from the observation room once again.

"Jasmine, where is Lucifer?" my aunt asked.

"I don't know," she said.

"We have reasons to believe he murderd his ex-girlfriend."

"That whore... She got what was coming to her."

"So you know what happened?"

"No..." She said with annoyance, "I just knew she was bound to get her self killed. She cheated on my boyfriend, she cheated on her ex, and she cheated on her new boyfriend."

Castle turned to me and mouthed, "Lust."

I chuckled and watched them interrogate her further.

"So you have no idea where he is?" Castle asked.

"No... I haven't seen him since my party two nights ago."

"All right, thank you Ms. Smythe," my aunt said.

We were practically at square one, and we were all looking at the investigation board with utmost confusion. We had no clue where Lucifer could be; they checked his job, they checked with local transportation, but no one has seen him. It's like he disappeared into thin air.

"Hey guys... You'll never believe this," Ryan said as he came over with a piece of paper.

"At this point, I think I'll believe anything. So what do you have?" my aunt asked.

"I got in contact with Lucifer's mother, Cecilia, in Conneticut. Turns out, Lucifer wasn't an only child. When he was ten, his dad had an affair with another woman, and has a half brother named Christopher."

"Do You think he'd go after him?"

"His mom said after Christopher was born, he spent more time with him than Lucifer. He even paid for him to go to school and got him into a decent job."

"Which leads to our next sin, Envy. A real life Cain and Able," Castle said.

"Well, hopefully we'll get there before that happens," my aunt said.

Two hours later, Aunt Kate and the rest of the gang came back with a struggling Lucifer in their hands. They brought him into the interrogation room and I wanted to see how this all ended, so I was in the observation room once again.

"You have two counts pending on you Mr. Allen. First degree Murder of Ms. Ruiz and attempted murder of your brother, Christopher," my aunt Kate said.

"They told me to do it. They told me I needed to rid of these horrible people before they brought me down," Lucifer said.

"Who told you to?" Castle asked.

"The voices in my head. The angels."

"Mr. Allen, what you did today was wrong, no matter how you look at it."

"But I was the better child, I was the better man than anyone. I am the righteous man."

"I'm sorry Lucifer, but you're not even close," my aunt said.

Turns out, Lucifer wasn't to right in the head, which we pretty much knew since the beginning of this investigation. They decided to send him to a mental health facility so he could get proper treatment before sending him to prison, if they even send him to prison. I have a feeling he'll be in a padded room for a long time.

We were sitting around Uncle Rick's living room and Castle said,"Hey Em, You never said what you did your paper on."

"My seven deadly sins paper?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"I did it on Gluttony. Food is the best."

my aunt chuckled and said, "Really Emily?"

"Um yeah... I've raided the fridge plenty of times in the middle of the night."

"I was always wondering where all my food has gone. I thought it was Alexis or my mother..." Castle said with realization.

"My bad."

"You know, there is still one more sin."

"Yeah, the worst sin of all, Pride. But technically, didn't Licifer have that as well?"

"I guess you could say that... He did favor himself over everyone and put his need to be righteous in the forefront."

"I guess so."

Aunt Kate decided to take the conversation somewhere else and asked, "Why don't we all get dinner, especially after this crazy case?"

"Sounds good to me... How about you, mini Beckett?" Castle asked.

"Come on, you're talking to a person who has gluttony. I want food... Scratch that... I need food," I said as silly as I could.

"All right, you goof. Let's go overindulge in some delicious food," Castle said.

We left the apartment and treated ourselves to a delicious dinner for another awesome case solved.