Chapter 3

Danny woke up with a moan, and found himself in bed, curled to a few blankets this time.

'What?' He thought, 'Should I not be on the floor of the living room? Or I just stupid enough to dream something that bad, as if my life hasn't been totally fucked up already?'

He made an effort to get himself up, but instead of success he lay back with a sigh. Danny felt like he was tired to the bone, none of his muscle was willing to be moved.

'Hell.' He stared to the ceiling. 'Just when you thinking 'How could my days ever go worse' and there it is.'

"Danny?" He turned a bit and saw Flack standing at the bedroom door, with a small smile, "You awake?"

"How……"Danny tried to get up again, just as he's about to failed for the second time an arm caught him and helped him sitted up against the pillows. Danny's surprised gaze travelled to the right side of his bed – a strong man, probably in his fifties, greyish brown hair and green eyes, though with a small smile, his face still showed some kind of strict authority. 'Just like Mac.' Danny mused. He quickly shook himself off and asked again: "Who are you?"

"We are……" Gibbs was lost of words for a second, before another spoke for him: "We are Don's friends, and we're here to help."

"O……K." Danny's eyes were back to the door now where the man who answered him was standing, besind Flack. "But I got to ask, first, how did you ever get here?" He gestured for Flack.

"Well, that could be a long story, but in short……" Flack shrugged, "When someone attacked you I was on the phone with you, so I came here to check what's wrong, found your appartment door unlocked, and you were lying on the floor."

"So I was on the floor." Danny muttered, "and then……Oh yeah, you said something about 'turned' and……" He narrowed his eyes when memories flowed back, "You promised to explain."

"That's why I'm here." Flack shrugged again.

Tony couldn't help but watched in growing interest. The state of Danny actually reminded him of Gibbs. He glanced at Gibbs and found the same interest in those green eyes too.

"Then spill." Should he not be so tired he'd crossed his arms in front his chest.

"OK……" Flack took a deep breath, "First, Danny, you are now been turned to vampire, which means you're technically dead, and no longer human. Second, as you're turned without consent, which means you know nothing about real vampires, and you now need help to learn, these two here," he gestured for Tony and Gibbs, "are here to help. Third, because you're turned without consent, and we suspected that you are turned by Sonny Sassone, it's very likely that he'll come back for some trouble, so there will be more help come in. Oh and by the way, Timothy Speedle and Horatio Caine will be one of those help."

Tony now found himself having a hard time putting on a straight face. Flack did spill, literally, though it would seem more like babbling. 'Yeah. Definitely Gibbs.' He got a shot from Gibbs that told him his mate had an exact idea on what he's been thinking, and threw back an innocent look. 'Though I do wonder where did he get it from?'

"……Why vampire?"

Flack blinked. He looked at Tony who was standing by his side all these time and got the same slightly confused expression. "……Excuse me?"

"I said, why vampire?" Danny repeated impatiently, "Why not werewolf? That way I can rip Sonny into pieces. I do believe that's a much harder way to die then just let me suck up all his dirty blood."

"……Because……" Flack blinked again, "……because Sonny's vampire too?"

"Oh great." Came the flat answer, "By the way I am extremely hungry right now, so if I'm a vampire, that means I need to drink blood, right?"

"……Yeah, right." Tony now frowned slightly. He closed the distance between he and Danny in a few strides, and grabbed Danny's right hand, before he could protest, put it on his own left chest against his heart.

He watched as Danny's eyes slowly went wide, dawned with realization, then avoided his gaze before he could catch a glance of some of the complex emotions that tangled in those blue eyes.

The four on them remained silence for some long moments. Tony shifted a little, exchanged several meaningful looks with Gibbs before turned to looked at Flack, who gave him a worried glance.

Tony sighed. He knew what Flack was worrying for, but he had to ask – it is the rule: "Listen, Danny……if you do not wish to live like this……we can actually take care of you, if that's what you want."

"You mean, kill me?" Danny moved his eyes from Tony to Flack, then back to Tony, "Well, if I choose it, it's not going to be now." He gave a half laugh, "I have some unfinished business in this world."

Gibbs could tell Flack's relief without seeing his face. Though it might be temporary after all, at least he still would have his friend for some time. He knew what's it felt like lossing someone who was close. 'Yeah. We knew it all too well.' Almost immediately he felt Tony's soothing through their bond. He lifted his eyes and shared a comforting smile with his mate.

"Well, then that will mean you need to feed now." Tony stood up walked out the room, returned with a glass in his hand, "drink it."

Danny eyed the contain, then slowly took it with great care, like the glass's going to bite him. He sniffed it a bit, looked more than a bit shocked by the exotic aroma, and downed it in few swallows.

"First rule: never ever get yourself this hungry." Tony took the glass when Danny tried to put it down somewhere, "'cause when you do, you could end up hurting someone."

"Like……I could have hurt you, Flack, am I right?" Danny suddenly realized what could happened a few hours ago, when Flack was beside him in the living room, "Oh my god."

"Yes you could, but you didn't." Tony handed the glass to Gibbs, who nodded in returned before stepped outside the room, then seized Danny by shoulder, "We assume that's the reason why whoever turned you would leave you at that state. He's definitely wanting you to hurt or even kill someone. But that didn't happen, no one got hurt, so the only thing you need to do right now is just remember the first rule: "

"Never ever get myself this hungry." Danny noded for agreement, and eyed the glass being carried back with some more blood by Gibbs, "I think I need more?"

"Because you're newly turned so you'll be particularly starving." Tony watched as Danny took the glass with a slight nod and a "thank you" to Gibbs, he wondered about the small smile that crossed his lover's face. "But normally we feed once a day and unless not fed for days – or suffer from massive blood loss, we don't usually get this hungry."

"Huh." Danny had finished the second glass, and asked a bit confused turning to the window, "I thought vampires are staying underground in daytime."

"That's myth." Tony smiled. He had been expecting some questions like this all the time. "Created to protect us from unfriendly spying."

"Hide in the plain sight. Smart." Danny experimentally stretched his fingers, then his arm, pleased to find out he's not feeling that tired some moments ago. "So what will hurt a vampire?"

"Vampire's body is technically dead so to speak, but any harm that comes to it will still hurts, just we can cure really fast, given fresh blood. And the only way to kill a vampire is to behead him."

"Then turn to dust?" Danny licked his lip. He just finished the third glass, brought in by Flack this time. He still wanted more blood, but the edge seem to off.

"That's the only thing Buffy got it right."

"So is that the real blood you just gave me?" Danny tried himself for strength to get out of bed, but could only sat up by bedside.

"Yes and those are from blood packets, and we have cloned blood for daily living." Tony watched Danny's move carefully, "What are you doing?"

"Blood packets, like the ones used in hospital?" He got a nod as answer, and answered back, "I want to get out of bed."

"You can rest today." Flack stated, "I got a sick leave for you – and in case you want to know, I'm out of the office by personal reason today."

Danny seem to stiff for a second, then exhaled heavily, "Ok. Well, I guess I'll look sick enough if anyone happen to check on me, but that's more impossible than I actually got sick, so I'm going to let it pass. Oh and by the way?" He looked up at Tony then at Gibbs, "Do I get the pleasure to know your names, or I'll have to call you by Stranger A and Stranger B?"

"I'm Tony DiNozzo, NCIS agent." Tony had to smile. He already liked Danny, and he thought Gibbs liked him too.

"Wow, nice to meet you, Agent DiNozzo." Danny grabbed Tony's hand and shook it, before turned to Gibbs with a smile.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS agent."

"Huh……if I'm wrong don't bite me, but I'm thinking that……" Danny tilted his head, "Agent Gibbs, are you an ex-marine?"

"Yes I am." Gibbs' response sound a little amused, "but I was not awared that there's something written about it on my face?"

"Oh I'm just taking a guess……" Danny suddenly blinked, "I lost my glasses." He said surprised.

"Yeah, right, your glasses were already lay broken by the time I found you." Flack replied, "probably lost them when you struggled with Sonny."

"No that's not what I'm saying." Danny shifted and gazed at some coners of the room, "Why is it everything so clear?"

"Ouch we nearly forget that." Tony laughed a little at Danny's suddenly confusion, "Ok now your sense is extremely sensitive, you need to try to turn it down for normal life. Try imaging some sort of turning knobs, and get yourself to the normal standard."

"……Ok……" Danny closed his eyes for some seconds before opened up again, "Well, everything seem to normal enough now, just I need my glasses again."

"If you get use to it, it's possible to use your sensitive scale seeing instead of glasses." Tony watched as Danny got his spare glasses out of the bedside drawer. "But it needs practice – lots of practice before getting to there."

"I'll try." Danny grinned. "So, could I get some more blood?"

TBC