Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampires, Alternate Universe - Magic

Pairing: Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams

Spoilers/Warnings: possessive!Steve. Spoilers for these four chapters are specifically for 1.19, 1.23, 1.24, 2.01.

Author's note: The vampire mythology I use is influenced by The Lair, The Vampire Diaries and Moonlight but is pretty much a general mishmash of random vampire lore. Hopefully it's all understandable!

Originally published (on ao3): March 2013

Sequel to 'Seeing a Light (a face in the crowd) and None Like You (You Shine so Bright). Best to read these ones in order.


If there was something that made Danny uncomfortable it was keeping secrets from the team, but he also didn't want them being put in danger because of him. As it was though, Steve had given him very little choice. He had been reluctant to use his contacts in Naval Intelligence for this until they knew more about what they were dealing with.

Whatever was wrong with Danny, they didn't have enough information yet.

That was exactly how Danny looked at the situation - clearly something must be wrong with him.

After the incident with the bomb collar a few months back, Chin and Steve had done some vague experiments with different devices used to detect magic and all of them had spiked when close to Danny. The excuse of 'it must be broken' didn't work when three separate MDF machines all gave the same readings - readings Danny wasn't fond of because they were high. If he did have magic, it made no sense because he couldn't use it. He'd tried, at the team's behest, to light a candle with his mind. He told them it was stupid after 5 minutes of staring with nothing happening so he'd walked off in search of coffee.

Instead they'd begun to research. Their only problem was that they wanted to keep it secret. Sure, doing some google searches at first was fine - they could pretend it was for a case. But nothing came up in general searches about magic and about the Guild.

The Guild were an organization not to be messed with and Danny had hoped and prayed when Grace was born that she didn't manifest. Rachel had a cousin who was a practitioner, but nothing closer. Luckily, Grace had never accidentally set anything on fire or shown any telekinetic ability, and Danny had never been so relieved. The Guild was notoriously secret, and kids who manifested were usually taken away to boarding schools, ostensibly with parental consent, but Danny always suspected they were scared into doing it. Parents were lucky to see their kids during holidays, and even then, it could be a big part of their children's lives they would miss out on - especially if the talents skipped a generation, and parents didn't know what their kids were going through. As Rachel had put it once: 'there's no way we are sending our child to bloody Hogwarts, Daniel'.

Magic was strictly controlled. It was licensed. The Governments had insisted on it, especially after The Wars in the late 17the century. Nowadays it was just like having another form of ID. If Danny did have magic, like Steve insisted, then they were skirting the lines of legality by not coming forward about it.

As the team delved in, they couldn't find anything of interest until a search brought them to a stone tablet at a museum in Scotland. The website had pictures of it with most of the words now too faded to read, but in a translation it mentioned something about the light of the sun, something about a key and protection. It had been enough for Steve to latch onto and for some wacky reason, he'd reached out to a friend at Navel Intel who pointed them towards the D.o.D and then he proceeded to drag Danny to Toast, who hacked the D.o.D Guild Branch for them.

A whole bunch of redacted files later about protection spells cast during the Cold War and Danny was as confused as ever and Steve gave the computers death glares.

After they had the files, Steve spent as much time as he could going over them, though the important information was hidden under big black marks that Danny knew Steve couldn't intimidate to give up their secrets. After a few days they hadn't got any closer to answers, and Steve's intense possessiveness reared its head again. It had resulted in another 'Talk' about balance in their relationship and just when Danny would indulge Steve's Neanderthal side - something Steve maintained wasn't Neanderthal at all, but entirely vampiric in nature. Danny didn't believe him, instead he chose to think that McGarrett had always been a possessive bastard considering what he knew of his background from even before he'd been turned into a vampire. With issues of his mother disappearing and his father dying when he was still young, Steve clearly had abandonment issues that Danny was sure were now manifesting in his need to keep those things that he loved close to him.

That morning, they'd taken separate cars to work. Danny insisted that they try to have both cars on standby more often, in case they needed them for a case, but it was also because he needed a moment of peace from Steve's overbearing protection.

They left at the same time, and arrived roughly together, which is why Steve's first question when they met up after parking seemed pretty stupid.

"Did you stop for malasadas this morning?"

"No."

"Is that evidence from a case of something?"

Danny glanced to the brown bag in his hand then back up to Steve confused. For a guy who tended to watch Danny like a hawk at times, he must have really been in a world of his own that morning if he hadn't realized Danny had been in the kitchen for longer than normal. Didn't mean he was going to make things easy on the guy. "No."

"You know, just stop, stop," Steve's hand shot out to halt Danny's tracks as he moved in front of him. "What's in the bag, just… what's in the bag?"

Danny looked about himself, seeing if anyone walking by would sympathize with him for what he had to put up with. "It's my lunch. Genius."

"Your lunch? What did you bring?" Steve challenged.

"You've got to know every last minute detail of my life? We talked about this Steven! What's it to you what my lunch is? Is it because I already know what you're having? 'Cause right now you're looking at stale blood from the fridge. For a week," he threatened.

"What? Why don't you want to tell me if it's just your lunch? It's not like I'm going to steal it. What is it, some deep fried sub you've had flown in from Jersey?"

"It's a salad. Salad, okay?" Steve made a grab for the bag that Danny deflected. "There's nothing else in here, just a salad. Grace has been taking nutrition class and she is concerned about my cholesterol so I promised her that I would eat better."

Suitably chastised, Steve stood with wounded aneurism face on as he scowled. "Huh. That is actually incredibly sweet."

"I appreciate that," Danny answered as he put the salad away and then dragged Steve by the arm into the building. As they made their way up the steps, he turned back to Steve. "You're forgiven, by the way, for being such a goof. But you're still drinking fridge blood today."

"What? Why?" Steve pouted.

"What did I just say? Grace is concerned about my health and since you insist on getting sugar into me after drinking, it will completely nullify this lovely yet entirely boring lunch I have with me. So not today, babe."

"Maybe it's not so sweet after all…" Steve trailed off on a sigh.

"I feel you, babe. This whole modern eating thing is just ridiculous to me. I mean, when I was a kid we ate whatever we wanted, you know what I mean?"

"Not anymore, buddy," Steve said as they sauntered in through the doors to their offices.

"Hold up," Danny stopped them. "Who's that?" He pointed into Steve's office at the figure of a woman in a suit standing waiting.

"I don't know," Steve said slowly, then turned to Danny. "Wait here, okay?"

"You get to stick your nose into my life and I can't go find out who our visitor is?"

"We hacked the D.o.D last week, Danny. I'm not taking any chances. Stay."

"Not a dog, Steven."

"Good boy," Steve threw over his shoulder as he left Danny behind.

"Woof," Danny muttered as he headed to the kitchen area and shoved his salad in, purposely choosing a different shelf to Chin and Steve's blood supplies. He set about making himself a coffee while trying to carefully get a look into Steve's office to tell what was going on, but they were standing in the wrong line of sight.


Steve stopped in his door, trying to measure the woman in front of him, already wary of her despite her build. "Can I help you?"

She turned around with an air of arrogance, "Jenna Kaye. Central Intelligence Agency. Guild Branch."

Mention of the Guild immediately worried him but he'd been around a long time and knew how to hide nerves. He summoned her closer so he could see her badge. "Special Agent Kaye, what can I do for you?"

"I believe you know a man called Adam Charles." At Steve's blank glare she continued. "He goes by the hacker name 'Toast'."

"It's possible that he's a confidential informant. But I don't see what that has to do with the CIA."

"He hacked into the Department of Defense last week."

"Okay but why is the Guild's CIA branch getting involved?"

"It's more about what he was looking for. We know that he downloaded Top Secret files from the 60s and 70s related to the use of magic. I spoke with him this morning. Did you know he had glandular problems? Sweats a lot under pressure…."

"Why don't you just tell me what you're here about?" Steve asked impatiently, though he already knew where this was headed. His mind working overtime for excuses, cover stories and how to keep Agent Kaye away from Danny.

"I know that he handed a copy of those files to you, Commander McGarrett, which leads me to believe that he did the hack on your behalf. I need you to hand over all copies of those files that you have."

"You're mistaken, I don't have what you're talking about."

"You're a vampire, Commander, I know magic doesn't work on you, but it will work on the members of your team who aren't. I've done my homework, I have memorized everything about you and the three others you work with. I know that if I want to get to the truth, then perhaps Detective Williams or Officer Kalakaua would be more forthcoming. Or perhaps an easier route would be to have my Director call your Governor and compel you to hand over the files."

"Are you threatening me?" Steve leaned on his desk, measuring the woman before him.

"I just want to know if you're going to make things hard on yourself, or are we going to get along?" She stood, hands clasped together in front of her body looking calm and collected. Steve had known practitioners over the years but for the most part he stayed away from magic. In this moment he could see why Danny was hesitant to associate himself with them in any way. She was being far too smug.

That was when Danny pushed the door to the office open and when Steve looked up, this was one time he couldn't hide the fear in his eyes.

"Hey, we got something, sorry to interrupt," Danny said and Steve immediately cut him off with a 'be right there,' hoping Danny would disappear out of sight before Kaye turned around. His worry was too evident in his eyes and his voice, which peaked Kaye's curiosity and before Danny could finish closing the door, she turned to him and Steve watched her eyes widen.

"Hey!" She stopped him with a raised voice before he could walk away. Danny re-opened the door. Steve shook his head, knowing Kaye couldn't see, but Danny's eyes darting between the two of them were confused.

Kaye looked Danny over, "You're not… I read your file there was nothing in there."

Danny put his hands in his pockets and looked at Steve for clarity. Again, all Steve could do was shake his head and widen his eyes hoping Danny would heed the warning.

"That's insulting. I'm pretty sure my file is more impressive that 'nothing'. I know for a fact I've got a great conviction record."

Steve had no choice but to step in. "This is Agent Kaye. She's from the CIA, Guild Branch." He emphasized his last point.

"The Guild Branch?" Steve watched as Danny took his hands out of his pockets and rubbed them together almost nervously. "That's very nice, we don't get a lot of you guys around here. Surprising really considering the whole Island spirituality thing."

Kaye held her hand out to Danny, who reached forward slowly to shake hers in return. Before Steve could try to somehow stop Danny from doing so, the two of them were touching. Danny hadn't had much choice but to shake a hand offered to him, it was probably just automatic to do so, but it was a poor choice - practitioners could always sense the magic in another person by touch.

Kaye closed her eyes in concentration for a moment before opening them and looking sternly at Danny. "I wasn't mistaken."

"Mistaken about what?" Danny sounded calm, but Steve knew him well enough to hear the worry underneath.

"You have magic."

"I'm sorry?"

"I can feel it." She looked over him. "I can see it," she frowned.

Danny looked down at himself then back to her. "See what?"

"That light," she said. "It's not something that can be hidden. As a practitioner, you know that."

Danny looked over at Steve. He had always made fun of Steve for the 'glow' and 'light' comments he made, thinking the vampire mad, but to have someone else mention it to him, it was as if Danny couldn't deny it anymore. But just because someone else confirmed what Steve saw, it didn't change things for the better. The fact that a member of the Guild had taken one look at Danny and spotted him could be really bad. Steve would not let them take Danny away from him.

"I'm not a practitioner."

"You're not registered," Kaye narrowed her eyes. "I don't know how you've done it, staying hidden like this, but things are becoming clearer…" She turned and glared at Steve who stepped around his desk again and came closer to Danny.

"He's not a practitioner. We haven't been able to explain the 'glow' yet." He put his hands together in front of himself, using both to gesture up and down Danny's body.

"You…? How can you know what he looks like? You're a vampire, you can't see magic."

"He's a freak. He can see something."

"Hey!" Steve chastised the other man for giving away information to someone who was not just a stranger to them but part of the freaking GUILD.

"What? If I'm getting in trouble for something that's not my fault, then you're going down with me, babe. Misery loves company. And besides, all this talk of 'glowing' and frankly I've never seen anyone glow, not even you." He pouted at Agent Kaye, "And I assume you're supposed to if you work for the Guild."

"I do, you should be able to see it." Agent Kaye responded, her eyes moving between them both like she was watching a tennis match.

"Danny!" Steve interrupted. "Would you shut up for a minute? I'm trying to make sure they don't do anything to you, you're not making it easy."

"Gentlemen, as cute as this routine is, I'm going to have to launch an investigation into this. An unregistered practitioner? I hope you realize how serious this is."

"For the love of God," Danny threw his head back, "I'm not a practitioner. Whatever the hell it is that you people seem to think is wrong with me, it's a recent development. Some kind of sickness, I don't know. We want answers, okay?"

"I can't give you answers unless you're honest with me. As it is you should have contacted the Guild before now."

"No, because we all know what the Guild does. You take people away from families. I have a daughter, a daughter that I followed to Hawai'i for the measly two weekends a month I get to spend with her. I get here, to this volcanic purgatory, and this goofy vampire latches onto me and now I'm stuck with him as well, so forgive us for not trusting that the Guild would simply explain things to us and walk away and let us live our lives."

Kaye stared at Danny while he ranted. Steve, admittedly, kind of enjoyed it as he watched Danny stand his ground. When the rants weren't directed at him, they were entertaining, and just a little bit of a turn on.

There was silence for a moment once he finished before Kaye stepped closer to him. With a silent incantation on her lips she brought forth a fireball in her hand. It was small and rested on her palm burning slowly.

"Take this," she gestured to Danny.

"What are you nuts?" Danny reeled back. "My father was a fire fighter and he taught me well so I know that fire BURNS. Why would I willingly take that from you?"

"Because if you don't, I'm going to have you taken away and locked in a Guild prison for false identity. I'm sure a good lawyer would get you out in a few weeks."

Danny looked up at Steve. They had little choice - jail time and separation from each other, or Danny gets a burn on his hand.

"This is going to hurt," Danny winced as he leaned forward. He scooped his hand into Kaye's but a few moments later he dropped the fire and it went out mid-air. He pulled his hand back with a yelp and cradled it to his chest in pain. "Son of a BITCH."

He turned from them both and then back to face them just as quickly, lumping Steve into his anger. "Are you happy now? Does injuring me prove a point to you?"

Steve reached out for Danny's hand, "Let me see."

Kaye moved closer as Steve forced Danny's hand open from where he'd fisted it up in the pain. Red marks from the burn were clear, but they watched as they faded and disappeared. All three of them looked at it with different expressions of shock and wonderment.

"Does it still hurt?" Steve asked.

"It tingles," Danny said, voice roughened.

Kaye looked between them. "That kind of reaction only happens to those recently manifesting. Children mostly. I've never seen a fully grown adult manifest so late. This doesn't make any sense."

"What reaction?" Danny asked.

"The magic you have protects you, instinctively, from harm. The fact that you were burned initially means that the connection between your body and the magic in you isn't fully up to speed."

"But it healed. Magic does that? Speeds healing?"

"Only with injuries caused by direct conjuring," Kaye answered. "The fire wasn't real. I willed it into existence and the magic in you knows it doesn't exist. You can't be hurt by something that isn't real."

"That's just confusing," Danny said.

"It's the best way that I can explain it right now. After proper schooling, people tend to understand it better."

"She just took a dig at my intelligence, Steve,"

"Yes, she did, but let it go, Danny, at least she believes us."

"I need to look into this, there's something strange going on here… late manifestation, the fact that a vampire can see base magic? None of this makes any sense. No wonder you hacked the D.o.D."

"No, no, no," Danny tried to stop Kaye from leaving the office. "No looking into things, we've been keeping this quiet for a reason. Reasons I already explained."

"I'm sorry, Detective. It's my job." She took off before they could find a better reason to stop her.

"Steve, this is not good." Danny held up his now uninjured hand and waved it in front of Steve's face. "Because of your stupid idea to investigate, we've now got the CIA, D.o.D and the Guild breathing down our necks! What the hell?!"

"I'm sorry, Danny, but we need answers that maybe only the Guild can give us. But I promise you, okay? No one is going to take you away from Grace, I will not let them. I'm going to be by your side the whole time." He pulled Danny into a hug that Danny returned reluctantly after a few seconds, arms winding around Steve's back.

Steve took a breath, remembering why Danny had interrupted in the first place. "We caught a case?"

"Yeah, we've got a body. Max is on his way already."