AN: Based around Season 8 Episode 21... One more chapter left...
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Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.
Death Comes Walking In
It was storming like mad outside, and the rain was forcefully hitting my window as it came down from the sky. I didn't mind thunderstorms too much, but its usually what they bring with them, that makes me feel anxious. And for the most part, it's rarely something good. Especially if the power goes out, that's when all heck breaks lose.
Speaking of the power going out, the lights just happened to flicker off right after a bright flash of lightning shined through my window, followed by a loud clap of thunder. I groaned as I got out of my bed and dug for the flashlight in my dresser. Once I got a hold of the light, I turned it on, and went to see what was going on downstairs.
Once I was downstairs, I found my uncle lighting some candles and saying to my aunt, "So, the power is out, the phones are down. You know what that means? No late-night calls from work to interrupt our game of naked Twister."
"Oh God… Not again… I still can't get the image out of my head when I accidentally walked in on you two the last time you played," I said with a look of disgust on my face.
"Sorry Emily, but in fairness, we thought you were asleep," Castle said with an awkward smile gracing his face.
"It's the city that never sleeps… Why would I be asleep?" I said with a smirk.
Castle gave me a dry laugh and said, "Very funny."
My aunt came out of their room dressed for work, and Castle said, "What, why are you still dressed?"
"I've got to go to the precinct," she said.
"What? Now?! T-There's nothing more romantic than a blackout."
"Yeah, and nothing more deadly. You know as well as I do that as soon as the lights go out, bad things happen," an alarm started to go off in the loft and aunt Kate said, "What the hell's that?"
"The panic signal from the P.I. office. I had it set up for when Alexis is there by herself," Castle pulled out his cell and said, "No service."
As we went to head out of the building, Aunt Kate got on her walkie-talkie to let her team know something was up.
We got to the P.I. Office, and the door was shattered, with glass littering the floor. We walked in, and Castle went straight to his daughter, giving her an affectionate hug.
"Alexis? What happened? Are you all right?" he asked her.
"Yeah. That guy broke in with an axe, yelling something in Latin. Then he just dropped dead," She said.
"What did he say?"
"I don't know. It all happened so fast."
"Is that what he broke in with?" my aunt asked.
"Yeah. Talk about crashing a party," Hayley answered.
"He probably just wanted to axe them a question," I said.
Everyone gave me a small glare and I shrugged my shoulders, "Just trying to lighten the mood."
Hayley sighed and said, "Anyway, Turns out it's the fire ax from the downstairs lobby."
"So our intruder must've grabbed it on his way up. But why? I mean, there's easier ways to break into this office," Aunt Kate said while looking at the body.
"Yeah, and more silent. He certainly wasn't planning on sneaking up on anyone."
"You get an ID on the guy?"
"No. No wallet, and your, uh, portable fingerprint thingumajiggy is down due to weather."
Lanie came out from Castle's backroom, and said, "He bled to death from a wound in his left side. My guess is whatever he was stabbed with punctured his subclavian artery. After that, he would've had about 30 minutes to an hour, tops."
"Well, he came in here with this around 9:00 p.m. He keeled over shortly thereafter," Hayley mentioned.
"So he must've been stabbed between 8:00 and 8:30. There's a… There's a hospital bracelet," Aunt Kate as she took a look at it, "Our intruder's name is G. Shaw, and he was a patient at Peakmore Psychiatric Facility?"
"Yikes," Castle said.
"You know it?" Hayley asked.
"It's a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Our ax-wielding psycho is an escaped mental patient."
Castle decided to go to the psychiatric hospital with Esposito and Ryan, so I decided to head to the precinct with my aunt. She was currently putting the last bit of information on the investigation board, not that there was much to put on there anyway, and I watched her intently as she finished up. We were still a long way from figuring out what was really going on, but at least we have a few details to help us along in this bizarre case.
Aunt Kate took a step back from the board, after setting the marker she was writing with down, and looked over the information she just put on it.
"So, what do you think happened?" I asked as I looked at the board as well.
"Honestly, I have no clue. He might have encountered an old enemy while he was out, or he just got extremely unlucky, and met his match," My aunt said.
"Hmm… I wonder why he stumbled into Castle's office?"
"Me too, but there has to be some kind of reasoning for it."
"Yeah… Or it could be some weird coincidence."
"That's true… I'm sure we'll figure it out though."
"We always do."
Aunt Kate's walkie cackled to life, and Lanie could be heard on the other end, "Kate, are you there?"
"I'm here, what do you got?" my aunt asked.
"You're going to want to check this out… I've never seen anything like it."
"I'll be right down."
"And the plot thickens," I said.
My aunt rolled her eyes and said, "Come on."
We went down to the morgue, and found Lanie looking over our victim, who had symbols and scripture, littering his body.
"On one hand, cool… On the other hand, creepy…" I said as I looked closer at the inking on his body.
"I agree… What is this Lanie?" Aunt Kate asked.
"Not real sure, to be honest. I was about to head to the lab and have them process the ink, to see what kind it is," Lanie said.
"So, it's not blood?"
"Nope, it's definitely some kind of ink. We just have to figure out what it's made of. So, I'll be back, and the boys should be down here soon."
"Okay, thanks Lanie."
Aunt Kate pulled out her flashlight, and started looking over the strange markings some more. As I watched her do this, I said, "Man, this case keeps getting weirder by the minute."
"Tell me about it… But he did escape from a mental health facility."
"That's true… But maybe that's what they want us to think. Maybe, he wasn't crazy at all, and was about to out whoever he had the drop on."
"Your theories are getting just as bad as Castle's."
I shrugged and said, "It's just a thought."
"Mmm-hmm," she said as she went back to the body.
Just then, Castle, Esposito, and Ryan, came into the room, and Castle said, "So, what is so… Whoa. Is that blood?"
"Well, not according to Lanie," Aunt Kate answerd.
"Then what is it?" Ryan asked.
"Some kind of ink. Lanie sent samples to the lab. But one thing that we do know is, based on the writing, there's no way that Gabriel did this to himself."
"So, then, someone at the hospital?" Esposito inquired.
"Yeah, I called, and they said that he didn't have any writing on him when he escaped this morning."
"The Roman numerals are bible verses, and the words are all in Latin. "Protect me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked."" Castle said, reading one of the quotes off the victim's body.
"It's a prayer for salvation," Ryan said.
"Sounds like he was scared, but of what?" Esposito questioned.
"The mysteries don't stop there," Lanie said as she walked in the room, making us all jump from her sudden presence, "When I conducted the autopsy, I found that the wound had been inflicted by some kind of talon or claw."
"Like an animal?" Ryan asked.
"It gets even weirder. There was a strange substance inside the wound."
"Let me guess. Sulfur?" Castle questioned.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Guys, isn't it obvious? Latin prayers, a claw, sulfur. Also known as brimstone?"
Everyone scoffed at Castle's theory, and Esposito said, "Come on, Castle."
"Castle, you don't think that…" Aunt Kate started to say, but Castle cut her off, "Oh, but I do. We all have our demons, but Gabriel was killed by his."
The next morning came around, and I insisted to go to the precinct with my Aunt and Castle, just to see what was happening with this strange case. We were getting off the elevator and Aunt Kate said, "What did I tell you? I mean, as soon as the lights go out, bad things happen. You know, at least the precinct is on a backup generator, 'cause the rest of the city is gonna have intermittent power. Today's gonna be hell."
"Well, that's appropriate, since that's the likely place our killer is from. You know, do you think we're gonna need specialized equipment to capture this demon murderer, something exorcism-esque?" Castle asked.
"There's nothing supernatural about this case."
"Our victim was stabbed with a brimstone-covered claw, or gored by a horn, perhaps. Now, what but a demon could do that?"
"Look, Ryan and Espo are bringing in Dave Holmby, our rogue orderly, and I am sure that they are going to get a very sane and grounded explanation as to why he killed Gabriel Shaw," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
""Seek the truth and thou shalt be enlightened.""
"Is that scripture?"
"From the book of Castle," he mumbled as she walked away.
"Do you really think it's something supernatural, Castle?" I asked him.
"This whole case doesn't scream normal to me. So, it has to be."
"Half of the cases we solve aren't normal… Doesn't mean they have some supernatural causes behind them."
"Well, there's always a first time for everything. But I thought if anyone believed me, it'd be you Emily."
"Who says that I don't?" I asked as I pulled out a gold, cross, neckless that I had tucked under my shirt.
Castle let out a small chuckle and said, "Where'd you get that?"
"My dad gave it to me when I was a baby… It's the only thing I have from him, but I never wore it before. I thought this would be a good time to wear it though."
"I knew you'd believe me."
I shrugged and said, "You never know, right? So, just taking some precautions."
"You are very right mini Beckett. Now let's go see if they have their man."
"Okay."
We walked by the investigation board, where Ryan was updating it, and Castle said, "Ooh, updating the murder board must mean Holmby's alibi checked out."
"That it did," Ryan said.
"Yes!"
"Really?"
"Come on. I'm just excited to get off the whole orderly thing and on to the trail of the true killer, which is most likely a road paved to hell, because we all know that's where demons come from."
"Well, I will be sure to cross reference Shaw's visitor against the list of fallen angels, okay?" Ryan mentioned as he looked through crime scene photos.
"Has Esposito gotten the visitor logs yet?"
"Well, he's trying, but the power outage is slowing everything down. Something wrong?"
"Look at that," Castle said as he pointed at himself on the crime scene photo.
"Strange…" I said as I looked at the odd light shining on Castle.
"Yeah, it looks just like a lens flair. Why?" Ryan asked as he looked at it some more.
"There it is again."
"Weird…"
"That's not…" Castle started to say before he was interrupted by his cell phone ringing, "Hey."
Castle walked away to talk on his phone, while Ryan and I continued to look through the crime scene photos. Ryan walked away leaving me there, and Castle turned around and said, "Write this down."
He looked for Ryan with a confused face, and I just shrugged at him. He talked back into his phone and said, "Hang on, let me get a pen."
I grabbed a pen for Castle, and he quickly wrote down an address on a piece of paper. He thanked Alexis for the information, before he hung up and looked over the address.
"What's that?" I asked.
"This is our next lead."
They brought in a family that happened to know Gabriel Shaw before he went to Peakmore. Apparently, Gabriel worked as a consultant for a PI named, Noah Kramer, who happened to work out of Castle's office almost 20 years ago. We're hoping Kramer's wife and son will have some more information on Gabriel, and what they were working on all those years ago.
After Ryan and Castle questioned Kramer's wife and son, Castle decided to head back to his P.I. office. I decided to go along with him because it seemed like he had some ideas running through his head, and I wanted to know what it was.
We arrived at the office, and Castle said, "I know why Shaw came here wielding an ax last night."
"To commit unholy murder on two unbelievably exceptional women?" Hayley questioned. Castle made his way over to his safe in the backroom and replied, "Close, but no. He was trying to get in there."
"The safe?"
"This was all drywalled over when I rented the office. The contractors found it when I was doing the renovations. The landlord thought it had been removed, but clearly Noah Kramer walled it up before he died, intent on burying whatever he and Shaw were working on."
"That's why Shaw grabbed the ax, to try and break into the safe," Alexis said.
"So, what's inside?" Hayley asked.
"I don't know," Castle replied.
"Wait a minute. You've never opened… Why the hell not?"
"Schrodinger's cat."
"Oh, God, is this another one of his…"
"Mm-hmm…" Alexis and I said whilst nodding our heads.
"Great!"
"No, no. It's… look… If I opened it, I was bound to be disappointed with whatever was inside. If I never opened it, literally anything I imagine could be in there," Castle explained.
"So, you chose fantasy over reality?"
"Well, duh."
"But we're going to open it now, right?" Alexis asked.
"Well, duh. When an ax-wielding psychopath is killed by a demon trying to get inside, clearly whatever's in there is worth seeing. If only I knew someone who could crack a safe…"
"It's a Jefferson Titanium 500 vault," Hayley mentioned.
"Meaning?"
"I need 28 minutes and a chocolate milkshake."
"You're kidding."
"Chocolate milkshake."
"Chocolate milkshake."
"Chocolate milkshake," Alexis said.
"Yum," I said with a smile.
We grabbed some milkshakes at a local shop, and were currently waiting for Hayley to finish cracking the code to the vault. Castle and I were drinking our milkshakes while watching Hayley, and Castle started slurping his, signaling that he was close to finishing it. Hayley stopped what she was doing to give Castle a firm look because he was bothering her concentration.
"Is this… this is… This is loud. I'm gonna…" Castle fumbled out as he went to put his cup down.
Hayley went back about her business, and a few seconds later she pulled away and said, "Got it. Okay, it's your last chance to let your imagination run wild."
"I'm good," Castle said.
"Uh, maybe we shouldn't," Alexis said stopping her dad, as she held a bowl of gummy bears, "Given the whole Satanic, escaped-mental-patient angle?"
"Alexis, we can't let fear control our actions."
Castle opened the vault, and the first thing we see is a creepy, dark, brick room, with a statue of some guy up against the wall. Beyond that was still unknown, but it looked like there were stairs leading to somewhere, and I was starting to have second thoughts about figuring out what was in there.
"Care to rethink that?" Alexis asked with a sigh.
"Here we go," Castle said as he grabbed his flashlight and went inside, leading the way.
We went downstairs, and the whole place gave me the heebie-jeebies. There were creepy religious figures and artwork scattered around the room, not to mention a few animal heads that were stuffed. On one of the walls, there were a whole bunch of pictures, and news clippings about a family, but it seemed to be heavily focused on the young boy of the family.
"What is it all?" Alexis asked.
"Looks like research," Castle answered.
"Into what?"
"The end of days. Which, according to this, is two days from now."
"Creepy…" I mumbled.
Ryan and Esposito were here now, after we gave them a call about what we had found. They were looking over the pictures and articles that were plastering the wall, and Ryan said, "Man, I hate walls of crazy."
"What if it's not crazy? Shaw believed the apocalypse starts in two days," Castle said.
"Then why did Shaw want to get back inside of here? What was he after?" Alexis questioned. "Yeah. It's a good question. It's insane to think that this has all been sitting right next to us all this time," Hayley said.
"It's twisted. Looks like they were following this boy, Victor Crowne."
"Wait, Crowne. That was the family that Shaw tried to murder 20 years ago," Esposito mentioned.
"Yeah, I looked into them. Warren and Alice Crowne were the parents. They had a nine-year-old boy named Victor. What's worse, after surviving Shaw's attacks, they were killed in a freak
skiing avalanche and Victor became an orphan," Ryan explained.
"Poor kid," Alexis said.
"Well, yes and no. They were billionaires. Victor stood to inherit the entire fortune."
"Are you kidding me? Guys, tell me you're seeing this. A targeted orphan standing to inherit an empire in the center of a religious Armageddon plot? Hello! It's The Omen! Shaw believed that Victor Crowne was the Antichrist," Castle said.
"The… As in…" Alexis asked.
"As in the personification of the devil. Yes, dear. Yes. It… That's why Shaw went after the Crownes. He was going after their son."
"Except that was a film. Please don't tell me you are Googling the Antichrist right now?" Hayley asked Alexis who was currently on her phone.
"I'm looking into Victor Crowne. He still lives here in New York," Alexis mentioned.
"If Shaw believed that Victor was some sort of devil, maybe that's why he escaped from that institution so that he could finish his mission," Esposito said.
"According to this article, in two days, Victor Crowne turns 30 and will gain full control over his parents' empire."
"That's it. Jesus began his ministry when he was 30. Many people believe that the Antichrist will begin his reign on Earth at the same age. And that once his ascension has started, it cannot be stopped. Guys, what if Victor Crowne is the Antichrist and Shaw isn't crazy?" Castle pondered aloud.
"No, Rick. He was very crazy. Remember He tried to kill a child," Hayley said.
"You know, we still haven't accounted for all of Shaw's time after he escaped.
If he's still obsessed with killing Victor, there's a chance he took a run at him last night," Esposito said.
"Except Victor is a full-grown man now, able to defend himself," Alexis said.
"And if Victor stabbed Shaw in self-defense, he might be too afraid to come forward."
"We need to talk to this guy," Ryan said.
Ryan, Esposito, and Castle headed to Victor Crowne's business to see if they could get some information from him. Hayley and Alexis started looking through all the evidence we found in the creepy room, trying to find anything they could to help figure out this case. After a bit, I started to get bored, so I decided to head to the precinct and see what was happening there.
When I got there, it was just as boring as Castle's PI office. I decided to wait around to see if anything interesting came about, and that it did. A little while later, Ryan, Esposito, and Castle arrived, and Castle was looking a little worried.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked.
"What are you doing here?" Castle questioned me.
"I got bored at your office… But seriously, what's wrong?"
"I'm marked for death, and I almost died."
"Uh… Wow, I didn't see that coming."
"Yeah, me either."
"Do you really think the Antichrist has it out for you?"
"Yes…"
"Well, just in case, I'll be over here," I said as I moved about a foot away from Castle.
"Why?"
"Just taking precautions. If you die somehow in some freak accident, I don't want to get caught in the middle of it."
"Gee, thanks Em."
"But while we're on the subject, I'm in your will, right?"
Castle glared at me and said, "Not anymore."
"Fine…"
We went to aunt Kates office, and as soon as we walked in, I said, "Castle's marked for death."
She just rolled her eyes and said, "He's not marked for death."
"Then can you explain to me why I almost died 20 minutes ago?" Castle asked.
She leaned against her desk and said, "It was a frayed cable."
"Yes. Yes, I agree. If by "frayed cable", you mean Satan."
"Look, Castle, don't take this the wrong way, but you're starting to sound crazy. And not your usual crazy, I mean, next-level nutter."
"Beckett, listen to me. I looked into the cold, soulless eyes of Victor Crowne, and let me tell you what I saw. Evil," Castle said before taking a seat on the love seat in Aunt Kate's office.
"Well, I looked into the surveillance tapes from Victor Crowne's building, and let me tell you what I saw. Victor Crowne working all night. He never left the building, Castle. He's not our killer," she said as she sat next to him.
"He's not gonna be bound by earthly laws, Beckett. That's Demon 101."
"Yo, Cap. We're still not having any luck figuring out where Shaw was during that time-of-death window," Esposito said as he walked into the room.
"Well, someone must've seen him, so why don't we get unis to re-canvass?" Aunt Kate requested.
"All right."
"Yo, I just got a call from Lanie. Uh, do you remember the biblical verses painted all over our Vic's body? Well, the lab ran an analysis, and the results are odd. It's a paste made from a mixture of olive oil, cassia, cinnamon, cymbopogon, and myrrh," Ryan said as he read off a piece of paper.
Castle walked over and looked at the results, ""Cymbopogon and myrrh?" I've seen this somewhere before. I swear it."
Castle walked out of the room, and Aunt Kate whispered, "Go."
"All right," Ryan said with a nod, before he and Esposito followed Castle.
Aunt Kate let out a sigh and I started to say, "Do you…"
She raised a hand, stopping me from finishing, and said, "No."
"But I…"
"No."
"Come on Aunt Kate, don't you think all of this seems just a little supernatural?"
"No, I do not. Castle is not marked for death, and our killer is not the Antichrist."
"Such a skeptic…"
She put a disapproving look on her face and said, "We're done with this conversation."
"Aww…"
"And since when do you wear a necklace?" she questioned me as she glanced at my neck.
"Since yesterday," I said, showing her necklace around my neck.
"Really, Em?"
"Hey, you never know."
She just shook her head and walked out of her room, leaving me alone with nothing but my own thoughts to keep me company.
Later that evening, after Castle and the guys came back, Esposito and Ryan happened to do some digging, to try and track down any surveillance footage that might show Gabriel's whereabouts around the time he was stabbed. Apparently, they found something interesting, and we were currently following them to see what they got.
"Okay, so good and bad news. The good news is we found surveillance footage of Shaw in Oscar's neighborhood and we were able to track him back to the location where he was stabbed." Ryan relayed to us.
"You have video of Gabriel Shaw's murder?" Castle asked.
"Well, yeah, uh, sort of," Esposito said.
"Oh. This is where the bad news comes in?" my aunt questioned them.
"It appears that due to the thunderstorm, none of the cameras are functioning properly," Ryan mentioned.
"What does that mean?"
"Uh, it's just gonna be sort of odd," Esposito said.
"Like odd-odd, or work-of-the-Devil odd?" Castle asked.
"No, just odd-odd, Castle. All right? Go ahead."
"Yeah," Ryan mumbled as he went to play the tape.
We watched the hazy footage of Gabriel Shaw walking down the city streets, and a blurry figure popping in and out of the picture, as he followed behind him. The footage was definitely creepy, but whether it was a demon or not, that's debatable. Of course, the footage got a little messed up because of the storm, and both Shaw and the person following him were blipping in and out of existence. If it had just been the killer going in and out of the picture, I think it really could have been something unhuman.
"That is a demon. You guys, you did it. You have video of Gabriel Shaw killed by something not of this world," Castle said.
"All right, Castle. Easy," she said to him before talking to Espo and Ryan, "Look, guys, I know it's late, but I need you to go down to that loading dock and see what you can find, please?"
"Yeah," Esposito and Ryan said together.
"Thank you," she said before they walked out, "I'm gonna go pack up. And, um Castle? It's just a glitch."
Aunt Kate left the room, and I turned to Castle who still looked lost in thought as he watched the surveillance video play over again.
"Don't worry, Castle. It'll be okay, whether it's a demon or not," I said to him.
"I guess so, but I'm still marked for death. And this video, it's not ordinary," he said with a sigh.
"No, it's not… but it's probably just a glitch like aunt Kate said."
"Possibly."
"You'll be fine, Uncle Rick. I promise."
He gave me a small smile and said, "Thanks Em."
"No problem. I wouldn't want you to die, I love you too much."
"Really, or are just trying to get back in my will?"
"Partially, but I really do love ya, Uncle Rick."
He gave me a small hug and said, "I love you too, Emily."
We pulled apart from our hug and I said, "We should probably get going before Aunt Kate gets annoyed."
"I do not get annoyed," I heard my aunt say behind me with a small huff.
"Too Late…"
Castle snickered behind me, while aunt Kate rolled her eyes at me and said, "C'mon, let's go."
"Okay…"
It was late at night, or early morning, if you wanted to be exact. I woke up after a few hours of slumber and was hungry for a snack. It wasn't the first time that I've gotten hungry in the middle of the night, and I'm sure this isn't going to be my last either. So, like every other time I've gotten hungry, I decided to sneak downstairs to the kitchen and get myself a snack.
When I got downstairs, I noticed that Uncle Rick was in his office, probably looking up more information about demons and how it pertains to the case. Since he was still awake, I knew I'd have to be quieter than usual. I snuck into the cabinet that I've placed some of my special snacks in and pulled out some glazed doughnut holes to eat.
I sat up against the kitchen island and opened the bag, so I could dig in. As I munched away at the bag of doughnuts, I heard rustling coming from the living room. I stopped what I was doing and tried not to move a muscle. I thought I was going to get caught, but then I heard another strange noise, a ball spinning above me on the kitchen counter. I still sat stock-still, not knowing what was happening around me. Then I heard weird gasping noises, which sounded like a ghost or zombie.
"Jeez!" I heard Castle yelp.
"Gotcha," I heard my aunt say with a snap of her fingers.
I let out a breath and smiled to myself. I for sure thought it was going to be something else, and not aunt Kate scaring the crap out of Castle. It was quite funny though. It's too bad that I missed Castle's facial reaction though, I bet it was priceless.
"Not funny, Beckett! I am being targeted by dark forces. I'm serious. I can feel it," Castle said with complete seriousness.
"Okay, fine. Can you just feel it in the morning? 'Cause it's late. Let's go to bed," Aunt Kate said.
"Yeah, just give me a few minutes."
"All right."
It was quiet for a few seconds, until I heard my aunt yell, "Boo!"
"Jeez!" Castle yelped again.
My aunt laughed at him, and said, "You're so easy!"
I thought I'd be in the clear after that, but sadly, luck wasn't on my side. The bag of doughnut holes fell over, making a small thud, and not to mention, a few doughnuts rolled out.
"Did you hear that?" Castle asked.
"Castle, I'm not going to fall for that," my aunt said.
"No, I heard something behind the kitchen island."
"You're paranoid, Castle."
I heard footsteps getting closer to my hiding spot, and I prepared to be caught. Castle rounded the corner, and I said, "S'up."
Castle jumped, throwing a hand over his heart, and said for the third time tonight, "Jeez!"
"Castle, you're being ridiculous," I heard my aunt say as she made her way over.
She looked down, to see what Castle was staring at, and I said, "Hi…"
Aunt Kate rolled her eyes at me, and asked, "What are you doing up?"
"Nothing…"
"Are those Doughnuts?"
"Possibly… Maybe… Yeah…"
"Emily, seriously!?"
I shrugged and said, "What? I get hungry sometimes."
"This isn't your first time?"
"Uh… No."
"Huh, that explains the weird noises I hear sometimes. I always thought it was rats," Castle said.
"Okay… Time for bed," my aunt said as she ushered me up, "And the next time you snack, eat some fruit."
"Fine," I said as I threw the empty bag of doughnut holes away, along with the three doughnuts that rolled onto the floor.
"Goodnight, Emily."
"Goodnight, aunt Kate… Night, Scaredy-cat," I said with a snicker.
"Not scared," Castle said with a huff.
"Uh-huh," I mumbled as I went up stairs to go back to bed.
Later that morning, I woke up, and decided to go down and make myself some breakfast. When I went back to bed after I had my late night/ early morning snack, I pretty much tossed and turned the rest of the night. I guess I still had demons on the brain, and Castle being marked for death had me a little worried as well.
As I was eating, I heard aunt Kate come into the room, and she said, "What are you doing up so early?"
I shrugged my shoulders and answered truthfully, "Couldn't sleep."
"Well, I'm about to head over to Castle's office, if you want to come with me."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"Yeah… Kind of. Castle went to look for some dagger he had saw on the internet, and apparently, someone was there with him."
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine, he was just knocked unconscious for a bit. The safe was ransacked as well."
"Okay… Well, I'll go get dressed," I said as I put my bowl in the sink, then went upstairs to get changed.
We were at Castle's office, and Aunt Kate handed Castle an ice pack, while he explained what he saw to Alexis and me, "I saw his eyes. It was a demon."
"Or someone with night-vision goggles," My aunt said as she took a seat in front of him.
"Beckett, how much proof do you need before you finally accept the fact that your husband has been marked for death!"
"Okay, if you were marked for death, then the demon would've killed you.
Instead, you were knocked out by a very human attacker who managed to run off with your… whatever dagger."
"Angel Dagger," the three of us said together.
"Angel Dagger. It's something only a demon would want," Castle said to get his point across.
"Look, if that's true, then why did the demon ransack your safe?" my aunt asked.
"Hello? To look for other items with supernatural abilities."
"Hey, Castle. How you doing, buddy?" Ryan asked Castle as he and Esposito entered the room. "Well, boys, I looked into the eyes of the Devil, so there's that."
"Did they check him for a concussion?" Esposito asked.
"Uh, no, he's fine. He's just a little shaken. You guys got anything on the canvass?" my aunt inquired.
"Yeah, a bouncer who was working at a club across the alley from where Shaw's stabbing took place saw a gray Explorer tear ass out of there."
"All right, did you get the plates?"
"Nope, and we don't need them. Turns out there's only one person in this case who has a gray Explorer," Ryan said.
Turns out the vehicle belonged to none other than Mrs. Kramer, and we were now at the precinct, where Aunt Kate and Ryan were interrogating her. Castle, Esposito, and I watched the interrogation go down from the observation room, so we could see if we indeed have our killer.
"Oh, yeah? Well, a lot of people have that kind of SUV," Mrs. Kramer said.
"Yes, but not a lot of people have the murder weapon in their garage. See, we got a search warrant for your place, and, uh, we found your garden claw," Ryan explained.
"Oh. So, that explains the claw-shaped wound on Shaw's body. See, Castle? No demon," Esposito said from his seat.
"Yeah? Then, uh, why was there sulfur, i.e. brimstone, found in Shaw's body?" Castle questioned him.
"Our labs did an analysis of the murder weapon, and not only did they find traces of Shaw's blood on it, but they also found particles of sulfuric gardening fertilizer, which matches the sulfur we found in the wound," Ryan said to Mrs. Kramer.
"Anything else?" Esposito asked Castle with a smirk.
"I was just trying to talk some sense into him, but Shaw just started rambling about his mission to vanquish evil. He was the true evil," Mrs. Kramer said.
"If all you wanted to do was talk, then why did you bring the murder weapon?" my aunt asked her.
"I keep tools for my flower shop in my SUV. And, I don't know, he just started going on and on… And I grabbed the claw. 20 years ago, that man ruined my family, and I couldn't let him do it all over again to us."
"Mrs. Kramer, why did you break into your husband's old office last night?"
"What are you talking about?"
"There's no reason to lie now. We know you took the Angel Dagger."
"Uh… I was home all night with my son."
"If she wasn't the one who attacked me, who the hell did?" Castle mumbled.
Turns out Castle's mystery attacker was Oscar Von Eckland, the man who helped write the different symbols and scripture on Gabriel Shaw. Apparently, he lied about believing in demons and religious stuff, and it turns out he was a believer the whole time. So, he tried to help finish what his dad and Shaw started years ago. Thankfully though, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito were able to track him down in time to stop him from killing Victor Crowne. Now, Oscar will be spending his days in Peakmore just like Gabriel Shaw.
"So, you seriously made a deal with the Devil?" I asked Castle with a snicker, as I hung with him in the breakroom of the precinct.
"Yeah, Victor said if I ever needed anything, just ask. Kind of creepy…" Castle said.
"I bet… At least everything worked out though. But the real question is, are you still marked for death?"
"You're right."
Castle pulled out his cellphone, and started taking selfies of himself. Castle sighed and said, "Dang it…"
"You're still marked for death?" I asked.
"Yeah..."
"Sorry Uncle Rick. It was nice knowing you though."
I earned a glare from Castle before he went back to his phone, to see if it was just a mistake. Aunt Kate walked into the room and said, "Castle, this is getting out of hand."
"I'm still marked for death," Castle mentioned.
"Oh, well, you'd think that saving the Antichrist would actually give you a pass."
"You know, you mock, but you're gonna miss me when I'm gone."
"You're not going anywhere."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Take off your jacket."
"I really don't think this is the time…"
"Take off your jacket," Castle took it off reluctantly and Aunt Kate said, "Okay, now take another selfie."
Castle took another picture and the mark was gone, "How…?"
"The zipper on your chest pocket. It was catching the light, causing a flare," my aunt explained.
"I'm not marked for death."
"You sound disappointed there."
"Are you kidding? I'm thrilled. Let's celebrate. Naked Twister."
"Ew… Why are so obsessed with naked Twister?" I said with disgust.
"Believe me, you'll understand when you're older."
"Much older…" my aunt said to me before she turned to Castle, "But, I actually had something else in mind."
We both looked at Aunt Kate with confusion, wondering what she had in mind.
Turns out, Aunt Kate had a brilliant plan, and a fun one at that. I'm just glad it was something I could participate in. We were back at Castle's office, hiding in the safe while waiting to scare Hayley and Alexis.
"I didn't know you were so devious aunt Kate," I said as we waited.
She shrugged and said, "I can be playful from time to time."
"That she can be," Castle said.
"Ugh… disgusting."
They chuckled at me, but it abruptly stopped, once we heard the muffle of voices coming from Castle's back room.
"We really could've done movie night at my place," I heard Alexis say.
"No, no. We need to get rid of some of the bad vibes in here," Hayley responded.
"So, what are we watching Rom-com? Action-comedy?"
"Horror!"
"You're kidding."
"No. Oh, come on. We just survived the ax man. A little Freddy-Jason action will be cathartic."
"All right, but if I can't sleep tonight, I'm kicking your ass in the morning."
"In your dreams."
Aunt Kate signaled for us to crack open the safe door, and we slowly opened it up, making it creak eerily.
"Hayley?" Alexis asked with fright.
"Hmm?" Hayley hummed, and we creaked the door open more, "Run…"
We heard them scurry out of the office, and the three of us peaked our heads out, laughing at the prank we just pulled on them.
"That was genius. Now can we play naked Twister?" Castle asked.
Aunt Kate and I rolled our eyes at Castle, and his insistence on playing naked Twister.
"Well, while you try to get Aunt Kate to play Twister with you, I'm going to eat some free pizza," I said as I walked over to the pizza Hayley and Alexis left behind.
I took a slice and started munching away on it, and Aunt Kate said, "Don't eat so fast."
"I won't," I mumbled.
"I was talking to Castle."
Castle looked up with a mouthful of pizza and said, "I won't."
We chuckled at him and I asked, "So, horror movie, anyone?"
"Sure, why not," my aunt said.
I dug through the horror movies that Hayley and Alexis left on the table and asked, "The Omen?"
Castle grabbed the movie from me and said, "Anything, but this."
Aunt Kate and I laughed at him and I said, "Okay, Nightmare on Elm Street it is then."