Disclaimer: I don't own the VA characters or NCIS characters! Only the plot!


A few hours later and we had received confirmation from Director Vance that an agent would meet us at the airport and would bring us in so we could be debriefed on the full situation and offer our "expertise" that the agents had been unable to notice. We were told that we would be staying at the house of the lead agent instead of a hotel. It would be easier to guard and that the headquarters would be warded ahead of our arrival just to keep the humans we would be working with protected. Rose was practically bouncing in her seat, a mix of adrenaline and nerves about having an "actual goal that would be easy to achieve and see the results of" quoting her from when we had been getting packed. I pulled a Western out of my pocket and began to read, slinging my arm casually around her shoulders, pulling her close to me from my enjoyment and to also calm her down slightly.

"This will be exciting, Comrade! I know it's serious that we have Strigoi practically knocking on the human's preverbal doorstep, but it'll be nice to be away from prying eyes so we can maybe enjoy a night or two to ourselves. Maybe go on a date?" Rose seemed almost hesitant, shy even with her request. I smiled and tightened my grip on her shoulders before placing a kiss softly on her lips.

"Of course, we will, Roza. We need to keep up some professionalism when we work, but the nights we aren't will be ours. Besides, we still should keep up our training and I have yet to take you on a proper date. We will find time to go, I promise. Maybe we can visit a museum or see some of the 'touristy stuff'? Whatever we can find where we can just be ourselves, OK?" I sighed against her cheek, relishing in her scent and proximity, feeling my own anxiety slowly ebbing away. I gave her another kiss softly on her lips, which she reciprocated just as softly. Soon, however, I felt her shift and the kiss became more urgent and insisting. She sighed against my mouth, her lips parting just enough for my tongue to gain entrance into her mouth. I groaned against her mouth as our tongues began to clash, fighting for dominance as they always did, and as her hands snaked around my neck, pulling herself onto my lap. All too soon, however, the seatbelt sign turned back on and we broke apart, breathing rapidly and adjusting ourselves back into our seats as the plane descended.

We placed our gun and stakes in their respective holders before grabbing our documents that authorized conceal and carry in the human world. I grabbed down Rose's duffle bag then my own and we made our way to baggage claim to get our suit cases. Once we had gotten them, we made our way over to curb pickup, keeping an eye out for the agent that was supposed to pick us up. Rose spotted him first and shook my arm, nodding in towards where a well-built man was standing, holding a sign that read "Hathaway/Belikov". We made our way through the crowd of bustling people and stopped in front of the man.

"Well, well, well, it's about time you showed. I was beginning to get rather bored just standing here." The man scoffed, looking us up and down, although he did linger on Roza a little longer than I would have liked, causing me to tense up and narrow my eyes slightly. Rose caught my change and shook her head slightly, snapping me out of my jealous stint.

"I'd hate to keep you bored, but I don't even know your name. It's rather hard to entertain a total stranger, you know," Rose said flippantly, holding out her hand.

The man took it with a grin on his face and shook her hand then mine. "Name's Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo." He laughed then, with a crooked finger, began to walk back towards a black Charger. I whistled softly as I took it in. I had never been much of a car man, but I could appreciate the car for what it was, a power house. The agent, DiNozzo, popped the trunk open and I put Rose and my bags into it and slammed it shut before opening the rear door for Rose. She snorted and rolled her eyes before sliding gracefully into the back of the Charger. I closed her door then slid into the front, next to DiNozzo and strapped myself in. DiNozzo strapped in, started the car, and pulled out towards the NCIS building, chatting animatedly with Rose while I tuned out, watching DC fly past me.

"Now, before we go in, I need to know, are you armed and do you have your papers in order?" DiNozzo turned to Rose and myself, glancing nonchalantly between the two of us. Rose and I nodded and I grabbed our paperwork from inside my duster, showing that we both were permitted to carry a concealed firearm and miscellaneous weapon. DiNozzo's eyebrow shot up, earning a groan and eye-roll from Rose, before handing the papers back and exiting the car, "grab what you need from the bags in the back. We might be here awhile so you won't have time to change or anything, if what you're wearing is comfortable and everything. By the way, what did your papers mean by 'miscellaneous weapon'?"

Rose snorted and shrugged, "you'll just have to trust us, pretty boy, at least until we can have a chance to sit down and discuss things properly." DiNozzo started at the title but shrugged it off and headed towards the visitor's desk to get our passes and allow us entry to the building until further notice.

Once we got our passes and had our fingerprints and pictures taken, we were lead through to the metal detectors where we had to show our weapons and paperwork to the security guard. I noticed, with luck, that the guard was a Dhampir like us, meaning we could show our stakes without being questioned and/or detained. Rose picked up on this as well and we both pulled our guns out, flashing our stakes holstered on our waist and leg respectively (since I had managed to convince Roza to always carry two stakes now, after the whole debacle with the former queen). The guard nodded at the guns and paperwork, then his eyes flicked to the stakes and he nodded again before handing the paperwork and guns back, waving us through without a passing glance.

"You'll be welcome to go anywhere you'd like on the main floor without an escort, but we ask that if you go up to our offices or the labs and garage, that you are with one of us at all times, for security reasons. There is also a gym in the basement that you are welcome to use at any time, but we ask that you notify us if you're down there. We do have a few secure areas down there and don't want you two to get caught up in something as silly as a misunderstanding," DiNozzo looked at us with a glint in his eye as he hit the elevator button.

"Can we use our cell phones or are those off limits while we're here?" Rose asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

I gave her a look but she waved it off, locking her eyes with DiNozzo who shrugged and called out once the doors opened, "any rules on phones, boss?"

"Just don't discuss anything that needs to be kept confidential, and keep cell phone calls to a minimum here and in the labs, mainly for Abby's sake in the labs," an older man, looking to be in his mid-60's, stated back from where he was standing, in front of a monitor that was like ours back in Lissa's office. Rose nodded and whipped out her phone, sending a text to Lissa, letting her know we made it safely and were about to go to be debriefed.

The older man looked back from the monitor and stared at Rose and myself, his gaze lingering slightly on Rose, but his was more wistful and almost pained, like he was seeing something from the past, but it disappeared quickly as another man and a woman walked hurriedly down the stairs. He was snapped out of his reverie as the woman walked up to him and whispered something in his ear. The older man nodded and beckoned the three of us to follow the man and woman back up the stairs. We followed behind the pair, while DiNozzo and the older man followed behind us. The woman knocked on a door and we entered into an office where another woman, a secretary of some sort, was typing away at her computer. She looked up as we entered and she hit a buzzer on her phone before motioning for us to wait a moment.

"Ah, these must be the experts that are here to help with our current case yes? Please come in, I trust your flight was enjoyable?" The door opened to reveal another man who looked to be in his 50's with dark skin and shrewd dark eyes. He held his hand out to Rose and myself, "Director Vance of NCIS, it's a pleasure to meet you two, Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Belikov," he acknowledged us with our proper titles. This man knew about us, there was no doubt about that, which would make part of our explanations easier since we would have a human who believed us. He stepped aside for the group to enter his office then he closed and locked the door before settling behind his desk. He gestured for everyone to take a seat and folded his hands on-top of the desk, "I told them that you were experts in who our potential serial killer is and could offer insight in how to capture or take down this menace, but I didn't explain much more than that, figuring it would be easier for you to make whatever facts that were necessary known, correct?"

I nodded but turned to Rose since, despite the fact I was the senior Guardian, she was still Head Guardian and the direct representative for the Queen and had the more senior position over me. Rose raised her eyebrows at me then nodded once before standing up, clearing her throat, and reaching into her leather jacket, pulling out a silver stake, "well, this is as good a place to start as any," she motioned to the stake before turning to the now shocked agents, "this is my miscellaneous weapon I can carry. In fact, I have two of these," she pulled the second stake out and placed them both on the table in front of her then stood there, waiting for the questions to begin.

I was surprised that no one seemed to be jumping at the chance to harp on Roza for literally showing two very dangerous and, when it came to the human world, very comical weapons but no one seemed to get beyond the rather large silver stakes sitting in front of them. After a few more awkward minutes, the man who had led us into the room seemed to warm up, eyeing the stakes warily. He cleared his throat and looked up at Rose, "I think we should start with introductions? Then maybe we can get an explanation as to why you are here and why you carry rather… odd weapons?" Rose nodded and tilted her head to the side, waiting for the man to continue. He sighed and stood up, "my name is Special Agent Tim McGee. This is Special Agent Ziva David and Special Agent Leroy Gibbs," McGee motioned to the woman who had been in front of them and the older man who had followed, "you already know DiNozzo since he picked you up," DiNozzo nodded his head in recognition before returning is attention to the silver weapons on the table. "You'll be meeting Abby Sciuto, our forensics specialist, and Dr. Mallard, our medical examiner and his assistant Mr. Palmer later, I'm sure."

Rose nodded at each person as they were named then she smiled slightly, her eyes glinting dangerously with a snarky comment or two, but she managed to keep the introductions rather civil, "my name is Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway, or just Rose or Guardian Hathaway. The man next to me is my partner Guardian Dimitri Belikov," she gestured at me, unsure of where to go from there with formalities, or in our case, informalities.

I nodded from my seat and grabbed Rose's hand quickly before dropping it, "you can just call me Dimitri or Guardian Belikov, whichever is easier, since a lot of this will probably stay between us and the rest of your team. I'm also, in informal settings, Rose's boyfriend, but for all intents and purposes, I am her partner during this case," I shrugged, figuring it would be easier to get things out in the open rather than try to hide anything. One look at Gibbs and I knew that if he found out the hard way, things could get ugly quickly.

Rose's smile stayed a moment longer before her, as she called it, Guardian mask slid into place and she turned to business, "well, now that we know each other's names, let me answer your burning questions: yes, that is a stake," she motioned towards the silver again, "and yes it's real and very deadly. As you can imagine, stakes are only good against one type of enemy: vampires," McGee snorted and looked like he wanted to interject but Rose held her hand up, "let me finish, please," he nodded and sat back down. Rose stared at him for a moment then resumed her run down of our world, "well, here's the thing: while vampires are real, they are a bit more diverse than what you've seen on TV and probably much more terrifying, at least those that we kill. There are 3 races of vampires: the Strigoi, Moroi, and Dhampir.

"The Moroi are mortal, living vampires who, like everyone else, live, reproduce, grow old, and die. They do drink blood but also need to eat regular food, albeit in smaller portions, and can use magic. They are also sensitive to the sun and have heightened eyesight, but can be out in the sun without dying. Seriously, think of the whitest person you know and multiply their sun aversion by, like, two. Dhampir are half breeds because of Moroi vampires breeding with humans. Although, genetics being what they are, Dhampirs are more commonly born of a Moroi and another Dhampir. Finally, Strigoi are evil incarnate. They are immortal vampires that are made and could have been human, Moroi, or Dhampir in their previous life. They drink blood and only blood, to the point of killing, have a serious aversion to magic, and cannot survive in the sun. Okay, any questions?" Rose sat back down gracefully and straightened herself out, waiting for the questions.

They all sat in silence, absorbing the information for a moment before the woman, Ziva, raised her head and began the questions, "so you said that the Strig- Strigoi?" she looked to Rose for confirmation on the word. Rose nodded and she continued, "Strigoi drink blood and kill. Is that who or what you think we are looking for in this investigation?" Rose looked taken aback for a moment before her mask slid back into place and she nodded. "So, then, how do we kill or protect ourselves against this enemy?"

I jumped in, giving Rose a chance to sit back, "Strigoi can be killed one of three ways, other than direct sunlight: staking, fire, and decapitation. Anything and everything else will stun or knock them down, but will not kill. Also, the staking has to be done with an enchanted silver stake, anything else will, again, stun them but nothing more."

McGee looked up and snorted again, "this sounds a bit like a fantasy novel. You're telling me that vampires are real? Are all the other stories real too? This is crazy! Awesome, but totally crazy!" Rose tilted her head to the side then broke into laughter.

"And here I thought it would take all day to convince you of the truth."

McGee shrugged, "stranger things have happened, I suppose, and who doesn't love a little fiction come to life? Abby will be thrilled to know that vampires are real!"

"Well, do you have any questions about what I said or are you pretty satisfied with my explanations?" No one said anything so she nodded, "well, let's get to the images and we can discuss what we've learned and you can tell us what you know." Rose stood up, grabbed her stakes and holstered them and headed for the door.


A/N: Chapter two done and ready to be read! I know this wasn't super exciting yet, but gotta put some exposition in to get to the good stuff right? Too much, not enough? Let me know!
Thanks,
strangemind