Disclaimer: I do not own Being Human. If I did, I'd fill the whole hour with Tom and Hal bromance. Every week.

Tom McNair lounged on the sofa, absent-mindedly rocking Eve in her carrier while he watched the nighttime quiz shows. He'd always enjoyed the quizzes; McNair had always said it was an easy way to get a little education on the road. Annie was folding up a pile of clothes on the table behind him.

"I'm telling ya, it's the Eiffel Tower." Tom told her in reference to the question on the quiz show.

"It's not." Annie insisted, "It's the Louvre, I'm sure of it." As Tom was about to argue further, Hal walked into the room.

"It's actually the Tower of London." He said casually by way of greeting. As Tom took a breath to speak, the announcer informed the contestant that the answer was the Tower of London.

Tom and Annie both groaned as Hal gave a small, satisfied smirk. Hal grabbed the remote off the arm of the couch and turned the TV off.

"I was watching that." Tom protested angrily, sitting up.

"We've got bigger problems." Hal said warily, setting the remote back down and sitting in the armchair.

"Is this where you tell us who you went to go meet and why all the secrecy?" Annie asked, walking over to Tom and picking Eve up out of her carrier. She rocked the baby slightly as she sat down next to Tom and looked expectantly at Hal. Hal took a deep breath and leaned forward.

"Regus sent word, said he needed to see me quickly and quietly." Hal informed them. "Nomads are coming to Barry." He looked expectantly at Tom. Tom frowned in confusion.

"Whats are coming to Barry?" He asked.

"Yeah," Annie added, "What are Nomads? I mean, I know what a nomad is, but what are you talking about?" Hal looked at the pair in confusion.

"You haven't heard of the Nomads before?" He asked in shock. Tom shook his head. Hal sighed.

"The Nomads is the collective name for tribes of wandering vampires. They don't stay in any one city or town for longer than a few weeks. They like to stay out of civilization; they think it makes a vampire soft."

"All vampires are soft." Tom interrupted. "That's why they're so easy to kill."

"Not these vampires." Hal said cautiously, ignoring the jibe. "They're known for causing problems wherever they go. Most vampires try to stake Nomads as soon as they enter a town."

"So they're vampires even other vampires don't like." Tom interrupted again, "I still don't see the big deal, Hal. We can take 'em."

"No we can't." Hal insisted. "You're still not listening. You've never fought vampires like these before, Tom. Even Fergus and his men weren't in the same league. These vampires are used to someone trying to stake them weekly. They've killed more vampires than the two of us put together." Annie cut in as Tom opened his mouth to argue further.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked, holding Eve closer to her body.

"I'm going to talk to them." Hal said simply. Tom stared at him in amazement.

"You've just been telling us how dangerous these blokes are, and now you're just gonna talk to 'em?" Tom asked in amazement.

"Something like that." Hal responded, standing up and grabbing his jacket. Tom stood up as well.

"I'm coming with ya." He said suddenly. Hal nodded.

"Good, I was hoping you would." He replied. Tom grabbed his coat off of the back of his chair. He pulled a stake out of the jacket's pocket and handed it to Hal. Hal nodded his thanks and slipped the stake into his pocket.

"I've got more stakes in me room." Tom told Annie as he put on his jacket. "Get one ready and don't let anyone in until we get back."

"I know how to protect Eve, Tom." Annie said curtly. "You two just be careful, don't start any fights, and just, just come back."

"We will, Annie." Tom assured her. He kissed Eve lightly on the head and followed Hal out into the brisk night.

XXXXX

Hal walked briskly towards the outskirts of town. Regus had told him that the Nomads were planning to enter through the storage facility and infiltrate the town from there. Regus wasn't sure what tribe the vampires were, so Hal was exercising extra caution. And even though he'd never admit it, he was glad to have Tom along as back up.

"So your plan is to just talk to these vampires, yeah?" Tom asked as they walked. "And what makes you think they'll listen to ya?"

"I'm an Old One, remember?" Hal reminded him. "A disgraced, self-exiled Old One, but an Old One nonetheless. They'll have to listen to me."

"But why, though?" Tom insisted. "Why would they just leave? What could make them go?" Hal sighed, Tom wouldn't let it go.

"There's more to the Nomads than I told Annie." Hal said slowly. "She doesn't need to worry about it right now, she's got Eve to fuss over."

"What else is it?" Tom asked, now looking more interested. Hal sighed.

"The reason every vampire tries to kill Nomads is the trouble they cause." He informed Tom. "They swoop into a town, kill a lot of people in a short amount of time, and then leave again. They leave the clean-up to the vampires who live in the cities and towns they hit. Unfortunately, thanks to you, me, and your friend, George, there aren't many high ranking vampires left. If the Nomads hit Barry, it couldn't be covered up."

"So they'd be arrested, sent to jail." Tom said, "I quite like the idea of a vampire being locked up."

"But what happens when they try to take the vampire's picture for processing?" Hal asked. "Before you know it, the whole world knows about vampires. And werewolves won't be far behind. Me and my kind will be hunted down all over the world. And you, my friend, you will spend the rest of your life as a prisoner being poked and prodded and tested for twenty-nine days out of the month. And observed and experimented on every full moon. If vampires are exposed, everyone will suffer." Hal looked at Tom, who seemed lost in thought.

"Right," He said finally, "so what are we gonna do if they don't leave?" Hal shrugged, he still hadn't worked out the details of that contingency.

"We stake them and move on." He told Tom, withholding the knowledge that it wouldn't be that easy. Tom nodded and tightened his grip on his stake.

As the pair reached the padlocked fence of the storage facility, Hal held out his hand and stopped Tom from going any further.

"Can you smell anything?" He asked. Tom looked at him in confusion. Hal sighed.

"Can you smell any vampires?" He clarified.

"Not from this far away." Tom said, looking around. Hal nodded and pulled out his lock picks, getting to work on the padlock.

"How does that work, by the way." Hal asked as he worked on the lock. "Smelling a vampire, I didn't think we had a scent." Tom shrugged.

"It's blood, mostly." He replied conversationally. "If someone just smells like they've been covered with blood, they're usually a vampire. Doesn't always work though, I've almost staked innocent people. Like, ones who had a nosebleed or something."

"How did you know about me?" Hal asked curiously, "I haven't had blood in over fifty years and yet, you knew I was a vampire the moment you saw me."

"Vampires have a sort of musty scent." Tom informed him, "Like an old house no one's been in. Gets stronger the longer you've been undead. It's usually hard to smell, but I smelled you from inside the house." Hal opened the lock and allowed Tom to walk through first. Hal experimentally smelled his own arm as he closed the gate behind them. He couldn't smell anything.

"Yours is the strongest I've smelled." Tom added quietly as he led the way through the maze of storage containers.

"Well, I am an Old One." Hal said stiffly. Tom chuckled.

"I know, Lord Harry." He said with a grin. As Hal was about to snap off a retort, Tom stopped dead and tilted his head upward.

"I smell 'em." He said quietly, moving into the shadow of one of the containers. Hal stood next to him pressed up against the wall of the container.

"They're up ahead." Tom whispered. "Other side of that big container. At least six of em. What're you thinking?"

"We get closer." Hal said, moving stealthily forward. Tom followed him and they carefully rounded the corner. Up ahead, Hal could see four vampires standing in a small huddle, talking intently.

"I only see four." He told Tom. The young werewolf moved closer to see the Nomads. He inhaled deeply through his nose.

"That's all of em." He whispered to Hal. "They must've drunk enough for six vampires."

Hal frowned as he tried to get a better view of the four Nomads. He was looking for their tribe patch so he could see who he was dealing with.

"What do ya reckon?" Tom asked in a low whisper. "Do you know any of em?"

"Look for a patch on the right shoulder." Hal instructed quietly. Tom nodded and studied the vampires intently. After a moment, one moved to shift his weight and Hal caught a glimpse of the tribal patch sewn onto the jacket shoulder. He swore under his breath.

"They're Savages." He muttered to Tom. Tom nodded, apparently transfixed by one of the female vampire who'd been exposed by the movement of the first.

"Are you listening to me?" Hal asked, giving Tom's shoulder a small shake.

"She's beautiful." Tom muttered in a daze. Hal frowned in shock and looked back at the female vampire. Tom didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off of her.

"Tom, she's a vampire." Hal whispered sharply. "Remember, predatory, stupid haircuts, you kill them on sight, they murdered your father. Remember, vampires?"

At the mention of his father, Tom shook his head and looked at Hal.

"Right, sorry." He apologized, turning red. "You were sayin', Savages." Hal sighed.

"The Savages are one of the worst tribes to encounter. They'll wipe out an entire neighborhood, men, women, children, even pets. And they'll only feed on half of what they kill; they just go on a killing spree. This would be bad even if there were vampires in power." Tom nodded, but Hal noticed his gaze was back on the female vampire again.

"Will they listen to ya?" He asked, still looking at the small huddle.

"Not if they're all together." Hal said. Tom frowned.

"So we've just gotta split 'em up." Tom said. Hal smiled to himself, Tom was not going to like his plan.

"How fast are you, Tom?" Hal asked innocently. Tom shrugged.

"I dunno, fast enough, I guess." He answered.

"Like, 'outrun a vampire' fast?" Hal added. Tom shrugged again. Then comprehension dawned in his eyes.

"Oh no." He said, ignoring the vampire woman to glare at Hal. "I didn't come with ya so I could be bait."

"You're not bait." Hal said calmingly as he began slowly backing away. "You're the diversion, there's a difference."

"Oh yeah?" Tom challenged, "What's that?"

"The diversion gets to run." Hal stated flatly, still backing away. "Besides, maybe you'll get lucky and your vampire woman will chase you."

"But how do you know they all won't chase me?" Tom protested, "And why're you backing away?" Hal gave Tom a sardonic smile.

"To give you space to run." He told him. Tom grimaced and took a final look at the Nomad tribe.

"I really hate ya sometimes." He said.

"I know," Hal replied. He closed his eyes and reopened them, allowing both of his eyes to turn black. He gave Tom one last smile as his fangs extended. "Now run for your life."

Tom turned and ran, Hal giving chase.