Tony paced in the living room, looking out the window every few seconds.

"Not gonna get them here any faster, Tone."

"I know. It's just…"

"Yeah." Gibbs walked over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Be nice to know why we keep having these… encounters."

Tony nodded. "And it was a long, boring day. When was the last time we had no lead whatsoever on a case? It's just wrong."

Gibbs' lips twitched. "Got leads, just not any we can follow." He grinned at Tony's morose grumble. "Thought Ziva was finally gonna throw one of those knives at you."

"No kidding."

They fell silent as they saw Ducky's Morgan pull up to the curb. They watched him get out of the car and walk around the front, opening the passenger-side door for Abby and taking her hand as she stepped out.

"She looks upset," Tony fretted.

Gibbs sighed. "Better not let her know we're disappointed if she didn't get us any answers."

Tony's eyes widened. "What if she did get answers, and they're horrible answers? What if we're up against the worst, most evil Big Bad ever seen?"

"Big Bad?"

Gibbs didn't get an explanation; Tony went to open the front door and wait for their friends to enter.

Abby gave him a one-armed hug on her way in, then went to give one to Gibbs. She held the book in her other arm; Gibbs could see pieces of paper sticking out from underneath the front cover.

They greeted Ducky, then went to the living room, sitting in the same seats as the previous night. Abby took the papers out from the book, and shuffled through them for a moment before looking up at them all. "I'm so sorry… I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't find what you needed."

"Did the translating program not work?" Ducky asked, laying his hand on her arm.

"Oh, it worked, or at least it mostly, well, sort of half worked."

Tony cleared his throat and shot Gibbs an apprehensive look before he spoke. "So, no idea why we're dealing with all this weirdness?"

Abby shook her head. "The book… it's a combination of history and mysticism. It's all about werewolves… you'd think there'd be a werewolf on the cover instead of all these arrows, or maybe just a wolf – or would they look the same?"

"Abs," Gibbs said gently.

"Right." She took a deep breath. "The first part of the book is a history of werewolves. They seem to have originated in Eastern Europe, did you know that?"

Ducky smiled. "I would never have considered werewolves anything more than a fairy tale before last night. It wouldn't have occurred to me to wonder about their origins."

"There's lots of stuff on different packs, tracing genealogy, migration patterns across the globe. At least, you know, what happened before this book was written when one of the packs moved to Ireland. Nothing about them coming to America, of course, since in the ninth century no one knew about America. Except the Americans."

"Ah!" Ducky exclaimed. "I am delighted to discover that I can still make an appropriate diagnosis as to the time of publication, if you will pardon the expression."

"It's pretty cool," Abby went on, smiling at him, "there's all sorts of info about pack behavior and how the werewolves tried to fit in to human societies. All that Hollywood stuff is way off base."

Tony leaned forward. "What about the mystic stuff? Anything in there that could help us?"

Abby grimaced. "That's where the translator fell apart. I guess there's a lot of terminology it didn't have in its programming… it didn't recognize a lot of words, and that threw off the grammar. The whole second half is basically gobbledygook. There are a few phrases here and there, but nothing that makes any sense." She looked from Tony to Gibbs and back again. "I'm sorry, you guys."

Gibbs sat back, shaking his head. "Then why did that… thing give us the book?"

Tony met his eyes. "We broke rule eight, Jethro. We assumed because it gave us the book that the book would tell us what we wanted to know. But what if its reasons had nothing to do with us? Or at least nothing to do with our problem?"

They brainstormed what those reasons might be for the next couple of hours, through dinner and then over coffee. No one was in the mood for more than a single beer, and Gibbs' gut told him they needed to keep their heads in the game, so he stayed away from the bourbon.

Eventually Ducky patted Abby's arm and rose to his feet. "It's getting late, my dear. Can I give you a ride home?"

Abby smiled and nodded, then turned to Gibbs. "I can try to find a better translator… or maybe see if there's an expert in Old Irish at some university who could help us?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Thanks, Abs, but I don't think we want to bring anyone else into this."

Ducky and Abby made their way to the door, with Tony close behind. Gibbs staying in the living room, stacking plates. He heard the door open, voices and laughter, and then sudden silence followed by someone yelling. He was running for the gun safe on the shelf before he was truly aware of the hideous rumbling growls coming from the entryway. He turned, his gun in one hand, Tony's in the other, to see his friends all backing into the living room, followed by a huge grey shape.

Tony turned toward Gibbs and Gibbs threw him the gun all in one fluid motion. Both men had the gun safeties off and were in shooting stance. Tony moved in front of Abby and Ducky, guiding them out of Gibbs' line of fire.

The massive grey wolf stood at the entrance to the living room, that rumble still coming from deep in its chest. It ignored the guns and the men; its gaze was focused on Abby. It paced forward, head lowered.

Tony pushed Abby further behind him. "Don't suppose you have silver bullets, Jethro?" His voice was unnaturally high.

Gibbs gritted his teeth. Abby had told them the book described the werewolves' immunity to harm, except from silver, fire, or decapitation. They were defenseless. He kept his gun out anyway, reasoning that lead bullets might at least slow the beast down.

Tony lowered his gun, flicking the safety back on. He kept himself between the wolf and Abby. Gibbs had gotten Ducky out of the way; the older man was relatively safe next to the window.

The wolf was circling around Tony, still focused on Abby. Tony moved, his eyes on the wolf, keeping himself between the two of them, his outstretched arm making sure Abby moved with him. Her eyes were wide and horrified.

Gibbs watched closely, waiting for some sort of opening, though he couldn't have said what he'd do with one. He noticed Tony holding his gun by the barrel, ready to use it as a hammer if the wolf attacked. Gibbs pulled his knife from his belt, and debated running to the kitchen for more, but he didn't want to leave Ducky unprotected.

The wolf stopped its forward motion; its head rose, ears pricked, still staring at Abby. Then it slowly turned the other way, still ignoring Tony, pacing in the opposite direction. Tony reversed his own motion, keeping Abby behind him. He stepped forward once; the wolf's attention shifted to him, laying its ears back and snarling. Gibbs read it as a warning. "Tony! Don't antagonize it."

Tony nodded, not taking his eyes off the wolf, backing up to his previous position and resuming his slow circling.

"Jethro!" Ducky hissed from his position in the corner. "I don't believe it means to attack. I once watched one of Mother's corgis..."

"Not exactly a pet dog here, Duck," Gibbs responded. He was still trying to figure out how to break the stalemate.

Suddenly there was a blur of motion from the hall; a second wolf crashed into the first. Tony turned, lifted Abby up into his arms, and bolted for the back of the room, setting her down next to Gibbs. They all stared at the writhing, snarling, furry grey and black mass of muscle and fangs that whirled through the room.

There was a high-pitched yelp, and the flurry of movement stopped as quickly as it had begun. One of the wolves, Gibbs was sure it was the first one, lay on its side, breathing heavily, its neck extended beneath the fangs of the even larger, darker wolf that stood over it.

The new wolf lifted its head, growling, and stepped back.

The first wolf got to its feet, head still lowered. The two wolves stared at each other for a moment, then backed off, moving several yards away. Each one was surrounded by a shimmer of light; there were sounds like joints popping, and then two muscular and very naked men stood in Gibbs' living room, still facing each other.

"Oh my," said Ducky, suddenly dropping onto the couch.

Gibbs resisted the urge to cover Abby's eyes with his hand. He relaxed tense muscles, putting his knife back in its sheath.

Tony muttered quietly, "Okay, now that is just not fair." He tucked his gun into his belt.

"Those guys are hot," Abby exclaimed, taking a step forward from behind Tony. "And the wolf thing? Even hotter."

The first wolf had become a young man with dirty blond hair. The second one had dark brown hair. Both men had beards. The dark-haired man glared at the blond, who looked away. Then the dark-haired man turned to face Gibbs. "My apologies, Special Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs ignored the man's nakedness, just as he ignored Abby's sounds of appreciation. "You know who we are."

The dark-haired man smirked. "Obviously. My name is Daniel, alpha of the Dayton pack from the Shenandoah Valley. This," he gestured toward the other man, "is Patryk, my second." He glared at Patryk and made a growling sound. Patryk whined low in his throat, then lowered his head and turned in Abby's direction. "My apologies, Miss Abigail. I acted without thinking."

Silence descended, until Abby realized she was expected to say something. "Um, sure, no problem?" Her voice was higher than usual.

Daniel smiled, showing very white teeth. "My second is young and impulsive. He has been observing you, and he has no mate. He seems to have decided to attempt to impress you. He will regret his actions more than he already does." He turned in Patryk's direction, his eyes flashing with anger. "I should break you down to omega and elevate Erik to your place, you fool!" He reached out and delivered a stinging head slap, making Patrick cringe.

"Tony," Gibbs said mildly, "go upstairs and get some sweatpants for our guests, would you?"

Tony gave Gibbs a sidelong glance, then brushed past him on his way up. "His head slap has nothing on yours, Jethro," he whispered.

There seemed to be a general agreement to hold off on any further conversation until Tony returned with the sweatpants, tossing a pair to each of their new guests. The two werewolves put them on; Daniel then turned to Gibbs with a questioning expression.

Gibbs gestured to the couch. "Have a seat. Beer?"

Daniel sat, followed by Patryk. "No, thank you," Daniel responded. His eyes fixed on the book that lay on the coffee table. "It is here," he said quietly, clearly relieved.

Abby sat gingerly on one of the arm chairs. "You were following me?" she asked Patryk indignantly. Tony stood next to her, still acting as her protector.

Patryk nodded, glanced at Daniel, then replied. "My task was to follow the book, while Daniel kept watch on your house. We meant to speak with all of you tonight. You are very attractive, and Daniel speaks true – I have no mate. I sought to impress you and thought maybe you would return to Dayton with me."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "You attempted to court a human female as if she were a wolf. No wonder you have no mate."

Patryk glowered at him, but kept quiet.

Gibbs smiled at Tony. "I have some experience with an impulsive second in command."

"Hey!"

Daniel grinned. "You have chosen to keep yours in line by bonding to him. I have respect for Patryk, but not that sort of respect."

Abby looked up at Tony and winked. He sighed heavily.

Ducky leaned forward, fascinated. "I confess to a great deal of curiosity… you said Dayton? That was Lieutenant Conrad's hometown. Was he of your pack?"

Daniel inclined his head. "Yes. A great loss for us."

"Our condolences. And... how did you know Jethro and Anthony were given the book?"

Daniel shifted on the couch. "It is a long story. We have been in conflict with the vampires for many years – "

Tony interrupted. "It is Underworld!"

Daniel laughed. "Not quite. But we had a hand in creating that story. It helps to distract humans from our reality." He turned his attention back to Ducky. "Our conflict had been relatively peaceful of late. We did not encroach on each other's territories, until a few weeks ago, when a young vampire seeking to prove his worth came to Dayton and stole the book." He reached out and touched his fingers lightly to the cover. "This book, it has our history, our rituals. We read from it at ceremonies… matings, births, deaths, and so on." He sat back. "John was our emissary to the vampire community, asking for the return of the book. We aren't clear on why he was killed. He was generally very diplomatic." He looked at Gibbs. "You witnessed the fight that resulted from his death."

Gibbs nodded thoughtfully. "Why did we end up with the book?"

"We were winning the fight, although it may not have seemed that way to you. We negotiated a truce. It was decided the vampires would hand the book over to you, a neutral party; we would then collect the book from you. The idea was to avoid further conflict. We were still tending to our wounded when you left, so we tracked the book and were led here."

Ducky looked at Gibbs, then continued. "Jethro and Anthony were hoping the book would explain why they witnessed your battle when everyone else slept. I assume their slumber was imposed rather than natural?"

Daniel nodded. He looked at Gibbs and Tony, his head cocked to one side. "You do not know why you saw us?"

Gibbs shook his head slowly. "Since last September we've encountered ghosts, a kelpie, and now vampires and werewolves. Life was normal before that. We don't get why it's changed."

Patryk looked up, surprised. "You cannot tell that you are marked?"

"Marked?" Tony exclaimed, "What do you mean, marked?"

Daniel nodded. "We can smell it on you." He gazed at them thoughtfully. "Can you describe what happened the first time you encountered a supernatural being?"

Gibbs and Tony looked at each other; Tony then launched into the same story he'd told Ducky and Abby the previous night. He ended up going into far more detail this time, answering the werewolves' questions. Gibbs supplied some things Tony had forgotten. When he was done, Daniel and Patryk looked at each other and spoke quietly in a language that seemed both strange and familiar at the same time.

Patryk turned to Tony. "We think that when the ghost threw you up against the wall, it marked you. When you fell on Gibbs, he was marked as well. And when you became emotionally involved, the bond you formed strengthened the mark."

"It's as if you hold a beacon that attracts otherworldly beings," Daniel added.

"Can we drop it?" Tony asked, his tone plaintive.

"No," Daniel responded, amused. "The mark is a part of you now. If you were to go your separate ways, it would fade over time, but you will always be of interest to the supernatural now."

"Crap," Tony muttered.

"Your combined energy is why you didn't sleep through our fight," Patryk added. "You may be able to use it to your advantage."

Abby straightened in her chair. "You said otherworldly. You mean, like other dimensions?"

Daniel nodded, reaching for the book again and tracking the pattern of arrows on its cover. "I am not a shaman, but I know the basics. We believe there are eight dimensions; we live in one of them. Our ancestors came from another, to this dimension and this world. The dimensions intersect at different times and places; vampires come from yet another one."

"Ghosts," Patryk said, "may be spirits of this dimension who have not crossed over to another, or may instead be from another dimension, crossing over into this one."

"That is so cool!"

Tony spoke up. "So, because we went to that hotel on the one day in the year that it's haunted, Jethro and I are magnets to interdimensional beings and we're gonna keep running into weird stuff for the rest of our lives."

The werewolves nodded.

"Great."

Daniel raised his head and sniffed the air. "It's getting late. We have a long way to travel. If you don't mind, we'll take the book and our leave."

Gibbs nodded. "It's yours; you're welcome to it." He paused, then added, "Thanks for the information."

Daniel inclined his head in a motion eerily reminiscent of the vampire. "You are very welcome. Thank you for the return of our book."

The werewolves stood; Patryk inclined his head to Abby, then strode out of the room. Everyone got up; Abby went to Daniel and pulled him aside, speaking quietly. Gibbs watched until Ducky approached him. "Don't worry, Jethro… I'm sure our Abigail has no intention of running off with a werewolf."

Gibbs smiled slightly. There was a noise in the hall; they all turned to see Patryk back in wolf form, carrying the sweatpants in his jaws. He wore a leather pack strapped around his shoulders and chest. Patryk approached Tony, giving him the sweatpants, and went to Daniel, who picked up the book and put it in the pack, fastening it closed. Patryk stepped back, Daniel stripped off his sweatpants, then shimmered and popped into the form of the wolf. He barked once, and the two wolves turned and headed out the door.

Abby went to Gibbs, who took her in his arms and hugged her. Ducky and Tony just looked at each other; for once, each was at a loss for words. Abby eventually pulled away and led Gibbs to the couch. Everyone sat silently for a moment, until Ducky spoke up.

"If what our new friends say is true, and you are both attracting the supernatural, you will have to tell Timothy and Ziva."

Gibbs nodded. "They need to know the risks." Tony grunted in agreement, but he didn't look happy.

Abby noticed. "Tony?"

"Oh, they need to know… I'm just not sure how I feel about them knowing about me and Jethro being together."

Abby let go of Gibbs' hand and went to Tony, settling into his lap. "They'll be okay. Timmy will be shocked at first, but he'll dig the supernatural stuff… hey, maybe he'll start a whole new series of books!"

Several groans greeted that statement. "As long as he doesn't write Tibbs and Tommy love scenes, I guess I can handle it," Tony grumped. Then he sighed, running his hands through his hair. "What about Ziva?"

Ducky smiled reassuringly. "Ziva will adjust, Anthony. She always does."

Tony nodded, but didn't seem convinced.

"Well," Ducky said, rubbing his hands together, "Jethro, I thank you for a highly enlightening and dare I say entertaining evening! It is now quite late… Abigail?"

She got to her feet. "Give me one sec, Ducky? I have to tell Gibbs something." She took his hand again, pulled him up off the couch, and led him to the kitchen.

Tony watched them go, then turned to Ducky. "Thanks. I know I shouldn't worry so much. It's just…" His voice trailed off.

Ducky patted his shoulder. "I understand. It's difficult telling friends about one closely guarded secret, let alone two." He gazed at Tony thoughtfully. "Ziva is your friend, Anthony. I know the two of you have had many verbal sparring matches. Did you know she and I have tea together at least once a week?"

Tony shook his head.

"I shall not break any confidences, but I will tell you that she will appreciate being taken into your confidence. It may help strengthen your relationship."

Abby came out of the kitchen, running to Tony and hugging him. "Give him a few minutes," she whispered into his ear, and then she and Ducky were gone.

Tony walked slowly to the front door and opened it, watching to make sure they were safely in the car and away. Then he locked the door and headed for the couch, laying his head against the back and closing his eyes.