A/N: Well, this is over four months since I had intended on finishing this story. I can't even begin to explain why it took me so long to post this chapter. Let me just say that I am sorry, and glad that the past 4 months are over. This is the LAST chapter! I will be returning to my other fic "Whale of a Time" after this, I've had some other fics in the wings waiting to get started (Firefly, SG:A and Keen Eddie) but I really like this genera and I'll be making at least one more. Un-Beta'd

Standard Disclaimers apply.

It had been about two hours since Castle and Dresden had left Michelle's apartment. They had decided to split into three groups, one watching each location. Ryan and Esposito were together as per the usual, but today Castle and Beckett were not paired together. The captain had decided to keep the teams watching the locations small so that they wouldn't spook Daniel.

"What do you mean I can't be with you?" Castle whined. "I know what this guy looks like! I can identify him!"

"We got a clear picture of him off a surveillance camera from across the street, don't worry." Beckett was trying to be reasonable with him, Castle knew it. But he still wanted to be there if anything happened to her. "Besides," Beckett continued. "What do you think you'll be able to do in the shape you're in?"

Castle unconsciously stood a little straighter as he rubbed his hands across his broken and bruised ribs. That act alone made him flinch, but his pride wouldn't allow him to admit the pain was a problem. "I'm fine! So he got me with a sucker punch, you're just going to sideline me for that?" Castle was sure Beckett wasn't going to take him out of the game, she had pulled him out into the hallway to the staircase, she had some kind of plan in store for him.

Beckett took a breath and adjusted a loose strain of her hair before starting. "I'm not sidelining you. I need you to keep an eye on that Dresden guy. I know he's on our side, but he's not a cop and I've had a weird feeling about him ever since I laid eyes on him. I need you to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid while I stay with Sergeant Murphy. And before you suggest it, I need Ryan and Esposito to stay together. For some reason, when those two work together they get results. Can I trust you to not be stupid and get yourself hurt worse and to keep him in line?"

Castle smiled. If she was going to be with Murphy he was sure she's be safe. He remembered what she did to that thug in the station.. "All right. I'll keep an eye on him."

Beckett smiled. "Good. The two of you are going to be with Officer Washburn. You'll all be in an unmarked van watching the third location, by the waterfront."

Castle nodded in agreement. "No problem. Just be careful O.K.?"

Beckett smirked at him as she walked past him back to the apartment. She stopped about halfway to the door, turned to Castle and looked him in the eyes. "You too. I don't want a repeat of this afternoon."

The sun had set about ten minutes ago.

"—and it just drilled the guy into the ground!" Castle and Officer Washburne both started laughing. They were laughing so hard that Castle's ribs started hurting. This only served to make Washburn and Dresden laugh harder.

"So-so let me get this straight: you killed a guy by dropping a turkey on him?"

Dresden leaned back into his chair, "Long story short, yep. Technically speaking, I just re-directed the entropy curse."

Castle was about to start a very interesting story from his first marriage involving clowns, balloon animals, and restraining orders when the radio crackled to life.

"Dresden," Beckett's voice came from the dash mounted radio. "Are we sure these are the right places? It's been hours since we last saw him, how do we know he hasn't already killed the next person?"

Officer Washburne grabbed the radio microphone from between his toy Stegosaurus and several plastic palm trees that were scattered across the dash board and handed it back to Dresden. Dresden grabbed the mic and everyone in the van was treated to screaming feedback. When it settled down me slowly spoke into the mic.

"He has to wait until the sun has set. The rising and setting of the sun has a significant effect on the energies of magic. The rising of the sun more-so than the setting, but there would be an—"

"Fascinating, " Beckett's didn't sound too excited, "So he should be at one of these locations soon?"

Dresden glanced out the window at the full moon that was now visible in the sky. "Yeah, the moon's out now so everything's ready. However, he does have till sunup to do this. He can be here anywhere from now till about an hour before sunrise to perform the ritual."

Castle could hear Beckett sigh over the radio. "Wonderful. Keep your eyes open, radio if you see anything. Beckett out."

Dresden made to respond, but was rewarded with another bout of feedback and let tossed the mic into the front of the van.

Castle picked up the mic and hung it back on it's place on the radio unit. "So, do you think he's going to wait it out a while or is he gonna show up soon?"

Dresden rubbed his eyes, "I think he's gonna show up soon. This guys been working on this rite for months. I'd be pretty antsy to get it over with if it were me."

Officer Washburne turned in his seat to face Dresden, "So why haven't you ever tried one of these rite thingies? Sound to me like if you got the kind of power boost it offers, you wouldn't always be half dead."

Dresden shifted in his seat. Castle had a flashback to his Soulgaze with Dresden, there was the desire for power within him. Despite Dresden's efforts to keep it at the back of his mind, it was always nagging at him. Dresden took the glove off his left hand, it looked like he had patches of skin ripped off a while ago and it was still re-growing.

Dresden spoke with a far away voice. "I've been tempted to before."

It was obvious that it was a touchy subject, but Castle couldn't stop the words from leaving his mouth, "Why didn't you?"

Dresden looked up at Castle and Washburne, put the glove back on his hand and answered in his normal voice, "It wasn't worth it. There's no free way to gain power except to earn it yourself. There are things out there that you can use to cheat: rites of ascension, talismans, potions, spells, the list goes on and on. But none of them are truly free, they always require some kind of sacrifice."

Castle nodded. He could understand the temptation of power, especially if it meant being able to protect his own friends and family. But he wouldn't kill innocent people to be able to do that.

Officer Washburne nodded along with Castle before suddenly clapping his hand together, "Well, I'm going to lighten the situation with a hilarious story. It's about the first time I met my wife. So there I was- undercover in a carnival, I had this little side show where I did these shadow puppets—"

"Target spotted at sight two!" The radio crackled with Beckett's voice. "All units move to sight two to apprehend. "

"Hold on boss." Ryan's voice came over the radio. "We've got a sighting here at sight three also. Can you guys confirm that you've got the right guy?"

As Beckett and Ryan went back and forth describing what sounded to be like the same person at both sites, Castle saw Daniel walking towards the abandoned building in front of them. "Uh, I got a visual on the target here also."

"Castle, are you sure?" Beckett's now upset voice came over the radio.

"He broke one of my ribs and tried to kill me! I know what this guy looks like."

The radio was silent for a second before Beckett's voice came back. "He's trying to play with us. Try to get closer and confirm the identity of your sightings and report on radio what you've got. Oh, and Castle, you stay in the van. Beckett Out."

Washburne laughed, "All righty. Dresden, I want you to come with me and confirm his identity. Stay behind me. Castle stays in the van."

Castle turned in his seat, a little faster than his ribs liked, "Ugh, why do I have to stay here? Another pair of eyes can't hurt."

Dresden poked Castle in the side causing him to wince in pain. "THAT'S why you need to stay in the van." Dresden opened the side door and moved to the front of the van.

Washburne gave Castle an apologetic look as he opened his door. "I'll tell you what, if it's him then I'll give you a thumbs up and you can radio Beckett."

Castle usually loved getting pity, but this was patronizing "Thanks. You're too kind."

Castle watched as Dresden followed Washburne towards the entrance that they had seen Daniel enter through. Castle idly picked up a dinosaur and twirled it around his fingers, a slight whine from the radio the only noise. As Dresden and Washburne neared the door, the whine on the radio spiked to an ear piercing screech then stopped as the radio sputtered out a few sparks and died. Castle just stared at the radio for a while not knowing what to think. Looking up to Dresden and Washburne, Castle saw them on either side of the door, making gestures on what would happen and how they would enter.

Then Castle remembered what Dresden had told him about how magic affects technology. Had a trap been laid for them? He didn't know what was going on, but he was sure that Dresden should be told. Castle looked up just in time to see Dresden open the door and Washburne take one step into the building. Suddenly, Washburne was thrown back when what looked like an over sized spear slammed into his chest. Washburne was carried off his feet and send flying back about five feet, his body coming off the tip of the spear. Dresden had jumped back and had taken a few steps toward the motionless Officer Washburne when the wielder of the spear walked through the door.

The man was five feet tall, toned and lean grey muscles covered his body. He wore only what looked to be leather pants that were torn and tattered beneath the thigh. His hair was bunched into black dreadlocks that made is just past his shoulders. Black tattoos covered his body from his exposed legs to his face. His face. Castle had never seen anyone with a face like his, where his nose should have been there was a snout. Even though Castle was over 50 feet away, he could make out the row of sharp blood red teeth behind his snarling appearance.

He's not Human. That thought echoed though Castle's mind and left him unable to move. The revelation of magic hadn't been too big of a surprise to him, he had thought it was cool. He had heard Dresden talk about Werewolves and Vampires, so it wasn't like he didn't know that there were monsters out there. But to actually see one? He hadn't been prepared for that. It was nothing like the movies, even looking at this creature made him want to turn and run the other way.

By the time Castle had snapped out of his trance, Dresden had managed to move the downed officer several feet from the door towards the van, though currently the creature was wailing against Dresden's shield as he stood over the lifeless body of Officer Washburne. Every now and again, Dresden would fire a quick burst of fire at the creature, but none of the shots hit home. The creature would stab with its spear, jump over the shield and attack from the other side never staying still long enough for Dresden to line up a shot.

Think-think-think, what the hell can I do? Castle took a quick account of what he had available to him. His arsenal included broken radio, three plastic dinosaurs, a dead cell phone, the keys to the van, a broken rib and his wits. Nothing was coming to him, he cursed his idealess mind. If he didn't get a plan, he was dead the second he got out of the van to help Dresden. Then castle realized: he was in a van.

With a nervous smile now on his face, Castle moved into the driver's seat and started the engine. He flashed the lights once, and saw that Dresden had seen it. Castle floored the accelerator and drove right for a spot about ten feet from Dresden. Just as the creature was about to jump again, Dresden expanded his shield and threw the creature back. It landed right in Castle's path on its back and roared in anger as it started standing up. Castle laid on the horn and turned on the headlights. The sudden noise and bright light stopped the creature from standing up as it tried to figure out what was barreling towards it. Castle felt the entire van shake as if he had hit an elephant when he drove over the creature. Slamming on the brakes, Castle brought the van to a rest. Castle's heart was thundering behind his broken ribs and he felt the increasingly familiar sensation of adrenaline pumping through his system. In the rear view mirror he saw Dresden impale the creature with its own spear where it lay.

Castle had just helped to kill a monster.

He had never taken a life before, well not a human life. He was contemplating just what this meant. He had always had an open mind to the possibility of the supernatural, but he had always had an image in his mind of the kind of monsters you'd find in a Scooby-Doo episode. What he had just seen shattered that image. These monsters weren't just around to scare and make empty threats; these creatures would and can kill you without a second thought.

Castle was shaken from his trance by a hard shove of his shoulder. It ached a little in his chest, but nothing those pain pills couldn't cover up. When he turned, he saw Dresden looking at him. "Hey, you all right?"

Castle actually had to think about it. "Yeah. I will be….I will be."

Dresden gave Castle a knowing smile. "You're tougher than you look Castle. Don't worry though; first times are always a bit of a shock." Dresden conspiratorially looked around before continuing. "You should have seen Beckett after her first time. Ha! She could barely form a sentence."

That actually did help Castle feel a little better about the whole thing. "How's Officer Washburne?"

Dresden looked over the hood of the van to where the body lay. "Looks like he's still sleeping, might have a bruised rib or two."

"What?" Castle was sure he had seen him run through. "He's alive?"

Dresden gave castle a confused look. "Uh, yeah. Kevlar vest stopped the spear from breaking skin. After I killed the Orc I went over and checked on him. I gave you a thumbs up and everything, didn't you see that?"

"No." Castle shook his head, a weight being lifted off his conscience. "No I had….other things on my mind. So, Orc huh?"

"Yep. Nasty suckers. Murphy had to deal with a Troll for her first. Um, you know you can get out of the van now. And your nose is bleeding."

Castle wiped a hand under his nose and turned it over to reveal blood. Castle looked from his hand to his shirt which also had blood on it. "I'm gonna have to change my shirt again. I think I'll just stay in the van for now. "

Dresden hit the hood of the van with his staff and the entire vehicle shook. "I think you're safer out of the van. Besides, anything worth summoning can tear this thing apart like aluminum foil. "

With that happy bit of information in his mind, Castle unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the van. He took a deep breath and walked to the back of the van. He was fairly startled to not see a body, just a small pile of goo with a spear laying in the middle.

"What happened to the…the..." Castle began, but was still slightly overcome by the situation. Luckily, Dresden understood what he was trying to get at.

"Orc. Since it was summoned here, when you killed it, it was forced back to the NeverNever. It's hard to explain where and what that is exactly, so let's just say it's a parallel world made up of magical things. When something is summoned to our world it takes on magic and ectoplasm to take a solid form. When you destroy the magic holding it together it falls apart back to the ectoplasm. This stuff will evaporate and be gone in a couple minutes."

Castle couldn't help but reach down and touch the ectoplasm. It was about as thick as syrup, but as he rubbed it between his fingers it did indeed evaporate leaving his hands totally dry. So many questions began to form in Castle's mind about creatures, summoning, the NeverNever that he couldn't keep track of all of them. He never got a chance to ask any of them though, as Dresden grabbed him by the arm and began to lead him to where Officer Washburne lay.

"Hey! No need to be so ruff." Castle complained as he allowed himself to be led.

Dresden loosened his grip of Castle's arm. "There's one important thing you should know about Orcs, they always work in pairs."

Castle's head snapped up, "What?"

Dresden didn't slow his pace. "Sush. Now listen closely, my Wizard senses tell me that he's on the roof behind us. He's going to try to take you out first because you killed his brother. I'm going to use you as a distraction to lure him out then strike when he's focused on you. We're going to have to do this quick because Daniel's getting ready to start the rite."

Castle's voice raised slightly in pitch. "Why do I have—" Dresden clapped a hand over Castle's mouth and held a finger over his lips before removing the hand. Castle began again in a stage whisper, "Why do I have to be the bait? What about Washburne? And last time you could barely hold him at bay!"

Dresden let go of Castle's arm as they reached Washburne's body. "Don't worry. I'm done playing nice." Before Castle could protest any further with Dresden reached down and touched Washburne's neck. After a few seconds he hung his head, slowly stood up, winked at Castle and said rather loudly "He's dead."

Castle understood. "Damn." Raising his voice a little he added. "At least we got him."

Dresden nodded. "Yeah. Why don't you go check to see if the radio in the van's still working."

Castle's stomach dropped. It was time to be the bait. Unable to say anything he just nodded and turned and slowly started to walk toward the van. Halfway back he turned and looked back at Dresden. Castle's stomach dropped further, Dresden wasn't even looking at Castle. He was facing Washburne's body just staring into the night sky. Continuing on, Castle made it to the van, trying not to look like he was scared out of his mind.

As he approached the car, Castle could feel predatory eyes on him. He couldn't explain it, it was something he'd never felt before and he didn't want to feel it ever again. Castle fought back the urge to turn and run for his life and opened the passenger side door. The inside of the van was a mess, the surveillance equipment in the back was scattered all over, with the occasional plastic dinosaur or palm tree among the mess. Castle twisted the rear view mirror so he could see Dresden; Castle saw that Dresden was still facing away from the van.

Any time now would be nice. Castle didn't know how much longer he'd let himself stay out in the open. He was about to say something to Dresden, when he heard it. Castle had no idea what to classify the sound he heard as. It was some kind of a cross between a human scream and an animal roar. He jerked his head out of the van to look up at the source of the sound and what he saw froze the blood in his veins and made time seem to stop.

Falling from the rooftop was the second orc with a club the size of guitar case. He seemed to be hanging in mid air just a few feet below the rooftop, four stories up. His club was held over his head with both hands, his mouth open still producing that terror invoking battle cry. His hair was longer than the first orc and as he was falling it was spread out around his head, like an octopus with too many tentacles lashing out in attack. And the eyes, they burned like the sun with an almost tangible desire to kill. Castle was unable to think, unable to move. He didn't think about death, his family or even himself because all of his senses were sending and receiving only one signal.

Terror.

Nothing else in the world existed for Castle in that brief moment, only complete and utter terror.

Then the frozen moment shattered and reality came crashing back full force. The orc was no longer falling, he was suddenly thrown against the building wall as if hit by an invisible car. The dropped club crashed onto the hood of the van, mere inches in front of Castle's face, buckling the roof to the floor. Castle's barely even recognized it happening, he could only stare at what just a second ago had filled him with more fear than he ever thought a person could feel.

The orc was pressed against the wall which now had a body shaped indent by some invisible force. Looking around, he saw Dresden pointing his staff at the orc. He noticed that the runes on the end of the staff were glowing and that Dresden's mouth was moving. It took Castle several second to realize that Dresden was calling his name.

"Castle! Are. You. OK?" Dresden shouted for the um-teenth time.

"Physically." Castle looked back to the orc pinned three stories up. "I don't have another van to run this one over with so how're you going to finish him off?"

Dresden smirked, "Definitively." Dresden pointed towards the van, and with a flourish of his wrist the first orc's spear floated over to him. As it came closer, Dresden closed his hand into a fist and the floating spear took aim at the orc pinned to the wall.

Regarding the orc for a moment, Dresden spoke. "Normally I like to say one last zinger before the final blow, but you know what?" With a flick of his index finger, Dresden sent the spear hurdling through the air right between the orc's eyes.

"You're not worth the time." The orc went limp and within a few seconds the body began to return to ectoplasm. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Somehow, Castle had brought himself to walk over to where Dresden was standing. He could just make out the sounds of sirens approaching.

" Sounds like Beckett's on her way." Castle gently rubbed his bruised ribs as he surveyed the scene around him. The van was destroyed, Officer Washburne was still out cold, there was still a pile of goo behind the van and a new one under where a spear was sticking out from the brick side of the building. He was never going to be able to explain this; Beckett was going to kill him.

"Then I have to be fast about this." Dresden and castle turned to face each other. "Rick, I'm going to need you to stay out here with Washburne till the NYPD gets here and then stall them. This is a fight for wizards, not humans."

As Dresden started to jog over to the building's door Castle yelled, "How the hell am I going to explain this? I can make something up fine for Washburne, but what about the van?"

Dresden shouted over his shoulder, "Tell them he threw a grenade at us."

"The van looks like it had another van dropped on it! Not like it was bombed!" Castle argued.

Dresden turned to the van, pulled out a rod with runes on it and pointed it at the van. "Fuego voncanis"

The runes on the rod began to give off a light red color as motes of energy appeared out of thin air a rushed to a point at the end of the rod. A ball of fire the size of a baseball formed in half a second then shot out at the van. When the fireball connected with the van, it exploded. The crumpled van was torn almost in half and Castle felt the percussion in his bruised ribs over 50 feet away. He was sure everyone in half a mile heard the blast.

Dresden was at the door to the building, "Maybe two grenades." As Dresden reached for the door handle, the ground next to him started to….bubble. That was the only word Castle could think of to describe what the gravel was doing; it looked like water that was violently boiling. The gravel began to rise from the ground into a general pillar shape that came to Dresden's chest and was a little thicker than he was. After half a second the gravel receded back to the ground leaving in its place a man in a grey hat, suit coat and cloak. Castle was sure he felt his jaw hit the ground.

As the man looked around Castle was able to see his emerald tie and walking staff. "It seems I've missed some of tonight's program."

Dresden quickly shook hands. "Only the pre-show Vincent, the main event is just about to start."

The Warden rapped his cane on the ground twice. "Splendid. Let's get on with it then." He opened the door to the building. "I'm sure this won't be too much of a chore."

Dresden shook his head and followed him into the building.

Castle was left by himself.

He walked over next to the sleeping body of Officer Washburne and sat down, an act that Castle found remarkably enjoyable. The sirens sounded like they were within the block. Castle only found himself waiting for another 15-20 seconds before three squad cars came rushing around the turn into the building area. Tires squealed as the cars stopped. Beckett and Murphy were the first out. Beckett had a look of astonishment and anger on her face, Murphy just looked annoyed.

When Beckett's eyes found Castle, more anger crept into her features. "What in the he-"

"Not now!" Castle interrupted, "Washburne needs an ambulance. I think he broke a few ribs."

Murphy had an officer in one of the other cars call for the ambulance. Murphy, Beckett and the other two officers made their way over to Castle.

Beckett repeated her earlier question after the other two officers confirmed that Washburne wasn't in a life threatening state. "What happened here? And what happened to you? Do you need an ambulance also?"

"I'm fine, it's just a nosebleed. But what happened here? Well, short version: it was a trap. He'd set up-"

Castle was interrupted by half the lights on the police cars exploding and everyone's walkie talkies letting out a nails-on-chalkboard screech then dying in a puff of smoke. Beckett's cell phone let off some sparks. Everyone was looking at the cars and at each other in confusion asking each what had happened, but Castle noticed that only Murphy had turned to look at the building. Just as Castle followed suit, a giant purple tentacle shot through the roof of the building only to come crashing back down. The sudden noise grabbed everyone's attention, and the sounds of gunshots got everyone moving. Murphy and another officer picked up Washburne and hid him behind the nearest cop car, while Beckett and Castle ran to cover behind another one. It sounded like the building was being demolished from the inside by men with wrecking balls. Fire could be seen occasionally through the windows.

Five minutes hadn't yet passed; Beckett and Murphy were still trying to make sense of the situation, when Castle noticed that the ground was rumbling. It started lightly, like cars driving over a bridge, but it was now at the point where it felt like he was standing on an unbalanced washing machine. Then it stopped and all the windows of the building shattered. A wall facing away from Castle's position was split in half by a crack, half the roof fell down and a rock spire crashed through another wall. A split second later a deafening roar was let out from inside the building.

Everyone had been frozen where they stood when they heard the roar. The silence after the roar seemed to be too quiet to everyone's ears. It almost sounded like a gunshot to Castle when Murphy asked him where Dresden was. Before he could answer, more noise came from the building. This time is sounded like a roaring river made of fire. It had all the sounds of rapids, but also the crackling sounds of fire. The front door was thrown open and a figure ran out carrying something. As he turned, the glow of fire from the building illuminated the figure and revealed it to be Dresden with a body in a fireman's carry.

Dresden ran towards the police cars as fast as he could while carrying a body. "It's gonna blow! Take cover!" Despite his warnings, Murphy ran from behind the cover of the police cars to help Dresden carry the body to cover. No sooner had Dresden and Murphy gotten the body behind the same car as Castle and Beckett that the explosion happened. Castle didn't get a chance to see the explosion itself, but he heard it and felt it. Even behind the squad car, the shockwave found his broken ribs. Despite his pain he had managed to grab hold of Beckett in an attempt to help shied her from the blast. After the blast had passed, Castle gave Beckett a little shake to get her attention only to feel her do the same to him.

"Are you OK?" The question had left each of their lips at the same time. Despite his pain, Castle couldn't help but smile and give a quick nod. Beckett gave a quick nod of her own as well. Leaning back against the squad car Castle closed his eyes. He was at the end of his rope for the day, the pain medication had worn off a while ago, the pain from his ribs was back in full force, he was tired and exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to sleep.

Castle found Beckett's hand and gave it a squeeze. Without opening his eyes he knew she was looking at him. "Beckett, I'm going to pass out now." And he did. The symphony of sirens from police, ambulances and fire engines that accompanied the current flurry of movement and voices following the explosion faded into the background as Castle slipped into unconsciousness.

Beckett was at her desk. She had been at her desk for over an entire day. She wished she could go home, but the amount of paperwork that the fallout this case provided had prevented that. She didn't like to swear, but the only word that she could use to describe the station right now was "Shit-storm."

The police had been working with the fire department, bomb squad and the city gas services to try to figure out what had caused the explosion. Where the warehouse once stood, there was now a large piled of charred rubble and a slight crater. The damage seemed to be too extensive to be the result of a gas line break, but the bomb squad couldn't find any trace of an explosive device or substance. However, after a nearly 24 hour investigation into the explosion, it had been ruled as a catastrophic gas line malfunction. The only thing that they were able to find at the scene was a severed arm in leather armor. It was assumed to belong to the murderer, Daniel Kazicky. No one had any idea how it so cleanly severed and there was no other evidence that he had ever been there, but it was sent to the lab for a DNA analysis anyway.

She hated to admit it, but Castle had been a huge help in getting the paperwork done. Beckett had one of the many ambulances that had arrived to the scene give Castle a thorough evaluation. Despite her insistence that he spend the night in the hospital, the EMTs said he needed nothing more than bed rest. He had woken up an hour after he passed out to find that Beckett had called his mother so that she could take him home. He wasn't willing to leave at first, but the threat of being permanently relocated to the break room was enough to get him to go home. He spent the next day mostly on his cell phone pulling strings and calling in favors in order to keep any blame off the police and to get lab tests pushed to the top of the pile.

The woman that Dresden had carried out of the building was Janet Graceman. She had cuts on her body identical to the previous victims and was suffering from severe blood loss. She spent four hours in surgery before she died and became the third official victim.

Officer Washburne was in the hospital with 3 broken ribs and a punctured lung. According to doctors he was going to make a full recovery.

Sergeant Murphy and Mr. Dresden had given their statements and filled out the necessary paperwork. Beckett still wasn't sure how she felt about Dresden. Washburne's statement about how they were attacked matched Dresden's, Castle stood up for him, Sergeant Murphy trusted him without question and Beckett couldn't prove that he had done anything illegal so for now she kept her feelings to herself. She found herself looking over at the self proclaimed wizard. He was sitting in the break room scribbling in a notebook with the pictures from Michelle's apartment and the new ones of the severed arm.

Her thoughts of Dresden were pushed to the side when she saw Castle give Dresden a cup of coffee. Thoughts of Dresden and the oddness about him turned to thoughts of Castle in Michelle's apartment looking like he had just been shot. Beckett thought she was going to lose him there. She had been so worried for him. She hated to admit it, but he did mean a lot to her. Perhaps more than she would ever admit.

She shook her head to break the chain of thoughts, "This isn't the place for this. Not now. Need to finish the paperwork." Focusing back on her computer screen, she returned to finishing the last of the mountain of paperwork needed to finish the case.

Castle handed the cup of coffee to Dresden, who accepted it with tired eyes and a muttering of thanks. Dresden took a moment to enjoy the coffee before setting it down and returned to writing in the notebook. Castle settled down into a chair at the paper strewn table to the side of Dresden.

Normally, Castle would have launched right into all the questions that he wanted to ask Dresden, but he was exhausted. He'd never thought that he could talk so much that he wouldn't want to. He'd read entire books out loud at press rallies for his books before, but that paled in comparison to what he had gone through in the past day and a half. For most of the day he had been in the break room, his cell phone tethered to the wall by its charging cable. Not to mention that the pain medicine he was on was making him feel like he had couple beers in him.

Castle spend a few seconds before deciding that he's ask something that had been bothering him since he woke up in the hospital. "Is it over?"

Dresden's pen paused mid stroke. He set the pen down and took a deep breath before answering. "Time will tell. I'd like to think that he died in that explosion, but this arm makes me think he got away."

"How?"

"Well, here's what I think happened. Vincent and I got inside just as Daniel started the Rite. The Demon was summoned and began to bind his power to Daniel. But that binding takes time, the power has to flow into the host through the victim like water through a pipe. We started to fight and his magic was in a state of flux which was why he had those giant tentacles, but it also made him fairly sloppy. Vincent broke the circle and I grabbed the girl, which effectively blocked the flow of magic. But since the Rite had started, the energy had to go somewhere, so it kept bottling up until it ruptured the 'pipe' and exploded."

"Do you think he shielded himself from that blast somehow?"

"I don't think I could have even at my full power. This is just a guess, but I think he managed to open a way to the Nevernever but didn't quite make it all the way through when the explosion happened."

"So he was over there, but his arm was still here?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Maybe the blast followed him through to the other side and he's dead, or maybe he's on the other side nursing his wounds. Like I said, only time will tell."

Castle silently thought about what had become of the first Warlock he had ever encountered. Dresden returned to writing. The police moved about the station working on various cases, the news trolled on about the BP oil spill, and life seemed to continue like nothing had happened.

Dresden and Beckett left once all the paperwork had been completed and all the statements had been taken. There were many goodbyes and handshakes. Promises to visit if they were ever near again, and offers to give a tour of the city 'next time'. Talk of the case was scarce and if it was brought up it was only a few sentences.

Within an hour after they had left, it was as if they had never been there. Ryan and Esposito bantered off each other and Beckett complained about Castle. The end of the work day finally came and to most of the precinct, it was like finishing a marathon. Castle was absently writing down notes into his notebook when it was snatched from his hands. When he tried to turn around to see who had taken his notebook, his ribs reminded him that they were injured.

The notebook dropped onto Castle's lap. "Sorry bro, forgot."

"Esposito, if you ever end up in a cast or sling I will have my revenge."

Ryan put a hand on Castle's shoulder. "Haven't you heard? Esposito and I are super-cops, worst we can get is a bad bruise." This was met with a fist bump from Esposito.

Castle laughed. "All right then, what brings the super cop duo to my chair for the purpose of interrupting my writing?"

"Well, this case is done and I think we could all use a drink or seven."

Castle took a medicine bottle out of his pocket and gave it a quick shake. "Sorry guys, I can't drink."

Ryan took a set of keys out of his pocket and gave them a shake. "No worries, someone has to drive me home."

Castle looked from Ryan to Esposito to the dangling keys. After a few seconds he just smiled and took the keys. Castle told the duo he'd meet them in a few minutes after he got his stuff. As Castle was gathering his things, his eyes fell to his open pocket notebook lying on Beckett's desk. It lay open to a page where he had doodled a little wizard blasting a vampire with fire. It struck him as odd that despite what he had gone through—heck, he had almost died twice—he was making funny cartoons about the experience. He ran through all kinds of rationalizations and explanations, but decided he liked 'comic detachment as coping mechanism' best.

A gentle hand on his shoulder shook him from his thoughts. It was Beckett. "Hey Beckett. Are you going to be joining us at the bar for a few drinks?"

Beckett smiled and nodded. She started to move towards the door, but stopped and turned back to him with a concerned expression. "Castle, you've been through a lot over the past few days. Are you O.K.? We have someone you can talk to if you need to. Or you can talk to me if you-" Becketts face flushed and she looked at the ground, " I mean we're friends so, if you want to-not that you have to if you don't want to. I'm sure you'd be more comfortable talking to Ryan or Esposito. You know, 'guy talk' and all that. Just forget that I-"

Beckett was cut off when Castle hugged her. The hug turned to an embrace that Beckett returned. They stayed in silence for a while until Beckett spoke, with a quiet and uncertain voice that Castle decided didn't fit her at all. "I was worried about you."

Castle didn't know whether to smile for joy or frown out of shame of worrying her, but somehow he did both at once. "I know. And don't worry anymore, I'm going to be O.K."

With a light squeeze, they broke apart and silently headed out of the station to meet Ryan and Esposito. Castle spent the rest of the night in the bar surrounded by his friends, and he knew that he'd be all right. The revelation that magic was out there didn't seem so bad now, and as far as he cared, the world was right. If only for a night.

A/N: I'm done! HOLY CRAP! I didn't think it'd take me this long to write this chapter. I'm not particularly happy with the ending of this story/chapter, but I'll tweak it later after it's BETA'd. I hope you have all enjoyed this story. I will be returning to my other fic "Whale of a Time" after this, I've had some other fics in the wings waiting to get started (Firefly, SG:A and Keen Eddie) but I really like this genera and I'll be making at least one more.