(BREAK)

"Grace?" Tim calls out after entering the harbingers' lounge – or the psych domain as Tony calls it (though Tim does think it's rather unfair and prejudiced to call it that). He has gone on a lead on the case they are working (a double homicide) and wants to be given advise from the cool-headed harbinger. Even though she is Jimmy's twin, she is much more rational and seems more mature. Not older, mature. Her blondish red hair makes her seem like a mermaid rather than a human with precognitive abilities. She doesn't work out of a cavern but a sunlit office with monitors and calenders and paperwork and phones. She is precise in her tellings, but combined with Jimmy (though Tim doesn't believe it), they're powerful. Her visions make her a very open-minded person and Tim feels that it's slightly less weird if he confides in her with his own visions. Except he sees ghosts. Not the past, the present nor the future. He sees an actual ghost that shows him things. Things nobody else can see. Not even Grace (Godiva's her stage name when she's off work) can see if he's seeing a ghost in one of her visions.

"Tim!" the harbinger exclaims with a huge smile. She rises from her chair and reveals a fashionable outfit of pencil skirt, comfortable stilettos and a capri-blue blouse. Her red-blonde hair is rippled on her shoulders, ringlets reflecting in the sunlight. She is beautiful and so genuine. She has a wonderful vibe and Tim doesn't need to be an aura reader to sense that.

"Am I intruding?" he asks friendly. She shakes her head.

"No, I was just doing some paperwork. It's due next Wednesday, so I'm not busy or anything. I take it you're here about that double homicide case you're having?"

Tim raises a brow at her knowledge. "I'm not psychic, I just tell the future. No, Jimmy told me," she explains with a light chuckle. Tim lets go of his tension.

"But I do have some information for ya," Grace states, meeting Tim's eyes. "You're not looking for your average night-stalker. He's more sophisticated, more composed.." Grace frets, visibly upset. Even though she isn't technically a part of their team, she cares for them. The feeling is mutual. Besides, it helps that prior to joining NCIS, Grace babysat for the Gibbs family, which is why their team leader trusts her and her visions.

However, Tim is usually the liaison between the Harbingers (because Gibbs thinks it's bullshit, and Tony makes fun of them). It would make more sense if it was Palmer, but Tim and Grace's connection allows them to tunnel the visions and interpret their unique powers. They understand each other, like Jen and Jethro have a connection, and therefore Jethro is the contact to Jen, like Abby is their contact to the sub-society of vampirism. Even though she is afraid of vampires because of her father, she has the best contacts of any of them, including Jenny.

"Also, you need to beware of the liaison," Grace warned clearly, her golden eyes seeking his orbs. "She isn't what she says she is."

(BREAK)

"DiNozzo, go home," Gibbs orders strictly as he reenters the office lounge and sits down. The younger agent's facial expression is clueless.

"But, boss, I'll just do this pile and then –," Tony tries to reason, but is cut off by Gibbs' voice. It's not anything he has tried before and the tone is stern and demanding. He shutters slightly because it reminds him of days passed.

"Tony, I want you home. In an hour."

Ziva's head pops up from the paperwork she's filing. Interested, she eavesdrop on the unusual confrontation between the agent-in-charge and the senior agent. They have a special bond between them and this is the first serious argument they've had since she joined the team. She can see the tension between them spring like sparks of negativity in the air. She has always been good at spying on others; but she has always had the talent to see things others do not.

"It's only 1900, boss, I really need to get this done before ..." Tony's eyes flicker to Ziva. ".. before my leave. Sheppard says it's due Monday, or she'll –."

"I'll deal with it," Gibbs replies hastily.

"Boss, I –."

"Ziva, take him home," their team leader orders, and Ziva is surprised to be involved in the fight. Why would Gibbs bring her into this? Her eyes flicker to Tony, much like his did just a minute ago. She wants to ask why but she can sense that Gibbs doesn't like to say things twice. She slowly rises from her desk and packs her things, ready to leave. Out of the corner of her eye she can see the look of bewilderment and defiance Tony is giving Gibbs, like he cannot believe that Gibbs is telling her to go with him. Ziva has learned not to question authority so she waits for Tony, who resistantly begins to grab his gear and leave the offices. Ziva looks over her shoulder, at Gibbs, but doesn't see a smirk over winning the little fight.

She has no idea if Gibbs only expected her to walk him to his car, but when they're at his Mustang, he throws his bag in and looks at her.

"Wanna grab a beer?" he asks sincerely. She quirks a brow at this, since she knows that he was definitely given orders to get home, but reasons that Gibbs didn't say anything about driving directly home. Just get him there. Eventually. She glances at Tony and asks herself if she really wants to go have beers with her partner. They have never been friendly and after that little quarrel today, she doubts they ever will. She can feel the hostility between them. She is about to decline, but then she sees the apology in the sea-green eyes of the senior agent.

"Sure," she stammers. He gestures for her to get in the car and she hesitantly does so.

(BREAK)

Ten minutes after, Tony pulls the car over. It's a bar named "Catastrophe" and Tony steps out of the car and walks in, expecting her to follow. She is surprised to find out that several of the clientele knows Tony. They exchange hellos and hi's before Tony sits down at the bar, ordering two beers. They are served just as Ziva slips into the bar stool next to him. They sit there in silence for a while until Ziva talk.

"So, why do Gibbs want you out of the office early?" the Israeli questions, sipping her beer. Tony stares at her, probably wondering how much she already knows. He deflects the question.

"Y'know, I'm sorry I yelled at you today. I shouldn't have. Sorry," he says drunkenly although he's not. She doesn't know how to respond. She has been told by her father that she tells the truth so sincerely that the lies become sincere as well. He warned her that they might become natural one day, but she didn't listen. Either way, she decides to keep it simple.

"I accept. I should not have pushed you like that. You can just be quite annoying at times," she tells him bluntly. Music in the background becomes more prominent. She orders two shots for them before DiNozzo can order another beer. Surprise is evident in his features but accepts, his gaze distrusting.

"I learn less and less about you, David," he admits, downing the shot. His voice is sincere and he pronounces her name right. For the first time in the month she has been working for Neutral Controlled Investigations of Supernaturalism. He has mocked her, taunted her and teased her endlessly and caused her great annoyance, but she has shrugged it off as common DiNozzo policy until earlier today when she decided to strike back and get even. Her own manners surprised her and she regrets the initiative she took. She hopes that this bonding will help their civic partnership. It doesn't take a telepath to know that Tony possesses a great dislike for her. At first Ziva assumed it was because she was an outsider. It is partially that, but also the fact that he despises her the way she despises him. She has grown to evolve past that, and admittedly, Tony seems sincerely sorry for his lashing out.

"Jacob, another shot for my friend!" Tony calls out to the bartender, whose name apparently is Jacob. At least he reacts to it and places two shots in front of them. Ziva is a bit taken back by the new status in Tony's book, but she writes it off as something he just says to the bartender without thinking. She sobers up when she with her peripheral vision sees that the clock on the wall says 9.03 PM., and she promised Gibbs. She sids out of her chair before dragging him off.

"Tony, we need to leave," she says and totters a bit, mostly because she's out of balance. It takes her awhile to convince Tony that it's time and she resorts to using pressure points, to which he snarls but drunkenly totters so she is sure it's safe. The pale moon shines faintly behind the puffy night clouds, and Ziva's certain he barks subtly when she drives him home in his Mustang.

(BREAK)

It is late when Jethro arrives home. As soon as the door smacks behind him, hurried footsteps run down the stairs and he can hear Kelly's sigh of relief from where he's standing. Even though she is seventeen years old, she worries for him. She worries for him being shot, she worries for him being kidnapped, she worries for him not sleeping properly. That way she reminds him much of her mother, Jethro's wife. Shannon was killed by wers back when Kelly was five years old, so the memories she has of her Mum are vague. This saddens Jethro, but Kelly does her best at being the responsible teen. Tonight she is wearing shorts and a tee stating that the army has nothing in comparison to the marines. Jethro still remembers when she got it. Jethro was dating an Army CID – Holly – and although Kelly is generally okay with him moving on from her mother (sometimes she even encourages it) – she had something against it. Said it was unnatural when he was an ex-marine. Either way, the tee has made him chuckle since Holly and he broke up.

"Dad, you're home," the strawberry-blonde girl says. Her hair was red when she was little but when she grow older, the reddish strands were replaced by a darker blonde. Her eyes are sapphire-blue like his own, but her uniqueness is all Shannon. She is slim like her mother and carries a light weight, and her height is similar to Shannon's.

"Kels, don't you have school tomorrow? It's nearly eleven o'clock," Jethro begins lecturing but Kelly, the true daughter of the fiercest hunter in the DC area, stops him, ranking herself.

"No, dad, I was worried. I even almost called Joann," she argues and her father looks strictly at her as if it's the worst scenario.

"Kelly, please tell me you didn't call your grandmother –."

"But then I said to myself; 'self, he's probably staying late in the office and ensuring that DiNozzo comes safely home the day before the lunar phases'," Kelly argues, obviously aware of the duties her father carries on his broad shoulder. Shoulders she has leaned on her entire life, and shoulders that has carried her though emotional stampedes.

Jethro is appalled by the extent of her knowledge, but it makes him smirk. Kelly has a natural talent – some would categorize it as a supernaturalistic ability – to recognize supernaturals. So far, Jethro has managed to keep this a secret. Society is filled with prejudices today and an ability like Kelly's can be used for many menacing things. He doesn't want Kelly to know that side of society until she is at least twenty-five. Or ever.

"Plus I called Jen and made her push you home," Kelly adds, grinning. She wanders to the kitchen, knowing their usual routine; they talk everyday, even if Jethro has a case. Often Kelly has an input that her father has missed. She takes the pot from the hotplate and reveals that she's been making tea. He raises a dominant brow at her timing but she smilingly shrugs it off.

"Howd'ya make Tony leave this time?" she casually asks. Jethro has told her about his mentoring of the wer but he has never told Kelly that her mother was killed by wers. To her, Shannon died in a car accident. At least it makes her more cautious when she is driving a car. The only reasons she has a car is because they both know what is out there; human and supernatural, Jethro doesn't allow his daughter to walk home alone. And he has learnt the hard way that he can't pick her up every time there is a party or a sleepover. He has to learn gradually to let go off her. Luckily, Kelly has admitted that she still needs him.

"I forced Ziva to take him," her dad reveals as he accepts the tea. Kelly has forbidden him (with as much authority that she can muster) to drink coffee when it's past midnight if a case is not urgent, but he knows that she appreciates him not taking more caffeine in after dark. They have a secret oath that she is never to reveal that fact to his agents.

"The new liaison?" Kelly fishes, her brows knitting. Her father hasn't mentioned her much, but she has a way of understanding him better than any of his subordinates. She sits down, sipping her own tea. Freshly brewed, it makes her face red but calms her.

"Yes, the one Jen's has assigned to our team. We still know nothing about her, only that she knows many things about the supernaturals we deal with. She took down a master vampire, remember?" Normally he squirms whenever Kelly mentions his work and he tries to get himself not to share the grotesque themes, but in this case he knows that Kelly would use it as a counter argument.

Kelly nods. "Yeah."

"Today he was barely able to contain himself around her."

"Sparks flying in the office?" Kelly asks giggly like the teenage girl she truly is. But all teasing leaves her face when she spots the seriousness in her father's piercing blue eyes. "All right, sorry..," she mutters quietly but then dodges it. "A wer's anger is not to be toyed with, I know, I know. You've told me a hundred times."

"And you should never forget it," Jethro points out. Then his phone begins to buzz. Caller ID tells him that it's someone from work. Someone he has no idea why is calling him now.

"Hello."

"Gibbs?"

"Who is it?" Kelly asks curiously.

Ziva, he mutes. "What's wrong, David?"

She exhales. "It's Tony, Gibbs.." Regret is evident in her voice. Gibbs clenches his jaw at the thought of what might have happened. There's a certain edge to the Israeli's voice that alerts the grey-haired ex-marine. "We had drinks, and I took Tony home and when we came.." Her voice grows unsteady. ".. someone was there, expecting us."

"Who, Ziva?" His tone alerts his daughter whose eyes flicker to his own.

"Wers, Gibbs. Two of them. They were able to change at will and Tony'd had something to drink, so he couldn't defend himself... it was an unfair fight, Gibbs," she hesitates.

"Are you okay, Ziva? Where are you?"

"I'm still at Tony's apartment. But, Gibbs.."

He bites his lip nervously.

"They said they were friends of Larkin. And then Tony changed."

Jethro wouldn't take any risk. He asked his daughter to dress and then drove to Tony's, no matter what kinds of classes she had tomorrow. Now he is standing outside the wer's apartment downtown, a frightened though mostly confused Kelly in his car. He has called both Tim and Abby, the latter because of her instincts and the friendship between them. The memory is foggy in his mind, but the next on his list is Jen, who is currently on her way, talking to Kelly whilst driving.

"Ziva!" Gibbs calls, making sure Kelly has locked the doors of the Sedan. He doesn't know how bad it is; two wers able to change at will versus a drunken young wer and a woman whose abilities are unconfirmed. Would he be walking into a bloodbath or a distraught Israeli?

The woman in question shows her face when he walks though the door that's agape. There's claw marks on the hinges, explaining that at least one wolf left the apartment alive. His liaison stands, composed yet shaken, in the middle of the room where a panting man is gasping. It takes Jethro a moment to realize how it is that Ziva is upset; knife-inflicted cuts and lacerations covers his exposed torso. Ziva's knife is out, preparedness evident in her brown eyes. Apparently torture is another of Ziva's "abilities". How delightful. The man is bleeding, which causes Jethro not to notice Ziva at first. The living room is the obvious evidence of a transformation. It had demonstrably been too crowded for the human body to transcend into a large, bear-sized wolf. Claw marks cover walls, thresholds and furniture. Ziva's ragged breath is one of anger and resentment.

Jethro leans down to put a weight on the wer's chest. He groans in pain, flickering his eyes between Ziva and Jethro, but realizing that neither will show any mercy. He spits blood out, having bitten someone. Presumably Tony. "What does Larkin want with Tony?"

"Larkin gives, Larkin takes, Hunter, you know the rules of the Initiation." The wer tries his best tough guy act but eventually fails. Fear flicker in his eyes. Ziva looks confused but determined.

"Again I ask, what does Larkin want with my agent?" The words are spat and fierce.

"You'll have to wait and see. Be on the lookout for bloody corpses these days, Hunter," the man coughs uncontrollably just as Jen arrives, Kelly in tow. They arrive early enough to see the life seeping out of the wer, his last breath a loud gasp. The Elemental is dressed for politics, her slacks and heels out-of-place in this grotesque scene. She looks around, horrified.

"Ziva, are you okay?" First then Jethro notices the huge gash on her arm. It's from an unkept claw and Jethro knows by personal experience that it must hurt like hell. Before Jen can act, Kelly breaks the silence.

"She'll heal," the seventeen-year-old states coldly. Jen looks at her, surprised, and Ziva both offended and intrigued.

"Who are you?"

"How do you know?"

Kelly shrugs, but begins to examine the wound. "I'm his daughter, and I just know. Like I know Jen's an Elemental and I can see he's a wer. Or, rather, was. You, you're something different. Indefinite," Kelly tells. "And it's not a bite. She won't turn."

Jethro, satisfied with that answer, begins to question Ziva. "What happened?"

Methodically, the Israeli begins to describe the events of the night. "We came down the hallway and Tony fumbled with his keys but essentially got the door opened. He was a little drunk, so I helped him. Suddenly, two wers step out of the shadows and transform –."

"You sure the door was locked? That they didn't follow you from where you were?"

The intense anger of his accusation is directed at him, and she gets defensive. "Yes, the door was locked and no, we were not followed. I recognize a tail when I see one."

"All right, then, go on." Kelly is finishing the arm after they conclude it is her worst injury.

"They were in control of their change, so Tony stumbled at first. They wrestled and then one of the wolves, confident that he could allow his friend there –." She points her head in the dead wer's direction. "– to manage Tony, he launched at me. We fought, and I got my knife close enough for me to gut him, but then I was thrown back by something. It surprised the wer, too."

Her eyes face Jethro. "Tony changed. Right there, in the middle of the living room."

"I thought you said DiNozzo had no control over his transformations," Jen argues. Both Jethro and Kelly simultaneously declare:

"He doesn't."

Ziva continues. "At some point, Tony managed to harm his wer enough for him to see that my temporarily blackout had created an advantage for the wer I had been fighting. The moment the wer bit me, Tony went amok. I don't know how to describe it properly, but he launched himself at the wolf with enough strength for me to find an opening to knife the wer. It gave up and Tony followed. I couldn't stop him," Ziva apologizes (or, the closest thing Gibbs allows as an apology).

The three of them now notice the bloodied pant leg of Ziva's cargo pants. Her ankle is messed up. Soon Abby and Tim arrive, horror on their faces. Jethro immediately instructs Tim to try ad resurrect the ghost of the wer for his eyes. Shocked at the sight, Tim attempts while Jethro informs Abby what has happened; even though she might already know due to her likeliness to envision what happened. Jethro knows that the room makes her on edge thanks to the obvious scent of wer. She has grown to tolerate the stench of Tony, but the air of other wers cling to her nostrils like a disease.

"Abby, you okay?" a weak voice asks. "'Cause if you need to, I can step out with you for a moment," Kelly offers. It is almost not noticeable, but she is unraveling from horror. Her face shies away from the horrid sight of the dead wer, and she tries to act stoic. Abby, who is taking in the scene with her super-senses. It comes in handy to have a dhampir on his team to analyze the scene with the precision of a modern mass spectrometer. They don't have the time to bag and tag all the possible evidence, their only way of gaining more information is dead, and they have no possible way of tracking down an incontrollable wer that has spontaneously changed the night before the full moon. Jethro isn't happy about it and mentally curses himself for not activating the tracking device under the skin of Tony's neck.

"I'll be fine, Kelly," the goth says absentmindedly as she zooms in on a spot next to the dead wer. "He has a name tag," Abby states suddenly, then looks at Jen and Jethro for permission to touch the corpse. Their leaders nod, and she kneels down and pushes his long hair aside. Like most wers, he possessed a great deal of hair due to the stress between transformations. Technically, he had died in-between the state of wolf and man.

"'Chris Roan'," she reads aloud. Without looking at the ID, she scents him with a disgusted expression on her face. "Blood-type AB positive. Rare. But it's not only his blood that's here. It's the other wer, the one that escaped," the dhampir concludes with certainty after having recreated the scenario.

"The one I gutted," Ziva says from the corner.

Bluntly, Abby zooms in on her. "The one who bit you."

Horror is written on everybody's faces, maybe except Kelly's, who has already stated that she won't turn into a wer if bitten. Jen looks appalled, and so does Jethro and Tim, but Abby looks intrigued. Tim hesitantly touches her shoulder and she retreats.

"Bitten?" Jen tries to sound authoritative, but fails. Worry is eminent. Worry for her friend because she knows that a bite like that should either have her seizing on the ground or changing into a werewolf. Jethro's hand subconsciously moves to the gun he keeps for taking down wers. The one he nearly killed Tony with three years ago.

"I'm fine," she says, at the same time as Abby says:

"You're not. Even if the disease doesn't alter you genetically, the bite has severed through tissue and muscle. You really should get that looked after, Ziva."

"I'll heal," the Israeli deflects and pulls the pant leg up. Even Kelly is curious about this one; her ankle is re-altering itself beneath her skin. The blood already shed is still there but the wound is almost healed. Somehow, Jethro is not surprised by this.

"How?" Tim asks, flabbergasted.

"I'm a healer. It's a part of my blood lineage. That's why Jenny wants me here." The news is both relieving but also eerie. It means she could have saved the wer and she intentionally chose not to. Jethro eyes her with a newfound caution. He is beginning to understand what kind of image his wer agent was creating of her.

"How can we find Tony, guys?" They all expect it to be Tim McGee that's asking, but it's the shivering Kelly Gibbs that with her sapphire-blue eyes clears the throat of the conversation.

"We don't have to." Jethro's voice is dark, his face gloomy. His eyes don't leave the tortured body of Chris Roan. When Jen, Kelly, Tim, Abby and Ziva stare at him, he continues. "Larkin is the alpha wer of the Craven pack, the one who claimed territory in New York a few years back." They all know the pack of vicious wolves he's talking about. The one the news channels called mountains wolves gone crazy who were attacking humans in Central Park. "He personally turned Tony. I arrived there on the night of Tony's first full moon," Gibbs reveals sadly.

"Oh my God.." Jen whispers in the background. It is something she hasn't been told by Jethro, even though she's his confidante. Even though Jethro recommended Tony and even though he vouched for Tony's lycanthropy. The fact that the virus that had made him a wer came from the most sadistic and vicious wer the eastern seaboard has ever seen changes everything.

"I took down a lot of his pack the night I found Tony. Some were killed, others were arrested and prosecuted. Taken in, as they say. I don't know what Larkin had in plans for Tony, but it was something bigger," Jethro says, pushing away the guilt from lying; the 'big plans' started with having Tony kill a college student. "The Craven wers do not believe in confinement, so let let him roam freely during his first change. When I found him... that's the only time I've seen Tony change at will."

"But what's Larkin doing here?" Abby asks, confusion written on her face. The paleness is familiar in the dim, grey setting. Her black clothes, broken posture, and full lips are the ones of a scared teen, one that matches the one of Kelly. Only her being is just as supernatural as the vision before her eyes.

"My guess would be revenge," Jethro suggests. "Or to collect," Ziva interrupts. She hasn't said anything for awhile, so her breath is back to normal and she's composed. She's eerily calm, even when Jethro begins to ask her why she thinks that. "Because of what the wer said. He called you a Hunter, which makes me assume that he knows who you are. It is quite possible that he even knows you personally from back then. You heard it, too." She looks directly into Gibbs' orbs. "He was talking about the Initiation."